Updates - Beirut Schlammschlacht beginnt

Nach unterschiedlichen Angaben sind bei Unruhen in Beiruter Vororten mindestens acht Personen getötet und 29 verletzt worden. Die Umstände der Eskalation sind weiter unklar. [Sunday's protest began in the Mar Mikhael area of southern Beirut, near the site of the massacre of Palestinians that triggered the Civil War. The violence spiraled after an activist from the opposition Amal Movement, Ali Hassan Hamza, was shot dead, reportedly as was urging members of his group to heed army calls to break up an angry demonstration against power cuts.] Sehr bedenklich stimmen die "poltischen" Begleiterscheinungen, die ein gewisses unteres Niveau unterschreiten. Pro-M14-Gucci-Revolutionäre bezichtigen die Amal und Hezbollah "Leute die noch nie ihre Stromrechnung bezahlt haben" wegen der Stromrationierung auf die Straße geschickt zu haben, etc... Angesichts des angestauten Gewaltpotentials ist es nahezu egal ob nun Sicherheitskräfte oder verfeindete Milizen die Demonstranten erschossen. Es darf mit blutigen Gegenschlägen gerechnet werden. ++++ Arab League foreign ministers met in Cairo on Sunday to try to find a solution to nudge feuding Lebanese politicians to elect a new president and put an end to the almost 14-month-old political standoff which has crippled the country. Arab League chief Amr Moussa held bilateral talks with several Arab diplomats ahead of the meeting, including with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu al-Gheit, who told reporters on Saturday the meeting would help shed light on a proposed Arab initiative to end the stalemate in Lebanon.

In der Nacht kommt es in der Rafah-Gegend zu einem Luftangriff der IAF auf ein in der Nähe einer Hamas-Position stehendes Auto. Vier Verletzte. Es werden keine weiteren Angriffe gemeldet. Die Lage an der Grenze: Egyptian security forces and Hamas gunmen in Rafah worked together Monday to string a barbed wire fence across one of the three breaches in the border in the latest effort to stem the flood of Palestinians across the frontier. Three trucks of Egyptian security forces pulled up to the "Brazil" gate and strung wire across this entry point into Egypt. They were aided by half a dozen bearded and uniformed Hamas militants from the other side of the border. Hamas, meanwhile, have stopped civilian cars from entering into Egypt from the Gaza Strip at the main Salah Eddin crossing, permitting only trucks to go into Rafah and buy products. Six days after Hamas blew several holes into the border to foil an Israeli-imposed blockade, Palestinian pedestrians continue to wander through the Egyptian-side of Rafah stocking up on supplies. Six days after Hamas blew holes in the border wall with Egypt to effectively end an Israeli blockade and sent hundreds of thousands of Palestinians across the border in a shopping frenzy, authorities in the region are still struggling to come up with a new system to administer the border. Egypt [zuvor war es noch die Idee von Mahmoud Abbas, teleportiert von Ryad al-Maliki] wants to restore shared control of the border among the Palestinian Authority, Israel, and European Union monitors, while Hamas rejects the old system and is pushing for a new one - presumably with more control in the hands of the militant group. Sehr bissig kommentiert der Daily Star: The anarchic situation in the Gaza Strip marks a new low in terms of the performance of Palestinian resistance organizations. From its beginnings in the 1960s, the movement has been depressingly vulnerable to petty internecine disputes exacerbated by conflicting loyalties to regional powers with little or no interest in liberating Palestinian land - but plenty of appetite for falsely aggrandizing their own images at home and abroad. Reduced to implements in the maladroit hands of cynical regimes, many of the Palestinian factions have been so badly diverted from their raison d'etre that one is tempted to ask whether their respective leaders even know where Palestine is - or was. ++ In an exclusive interview with Asharq al-Awsat, Salam Fayyad stressed that the crossing points ought to be opened, especially Rafah crossing point, and they ought to be organized "not in the same way we saw in the recent period." ++++ An aide to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas says the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt may mediate between his Fatah party and their rival, Hamas, in talks aimed at restoring Palestinian unity. Nabil Sha'ath, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and an advisor to Abbas, told the London-based Ash-Sharq Al-Awsat newspaper that he met with one of the Muslim Brotherhood's spiritual leaders, Muhammad Habib, and the group's Secretary General, Mahmoud Izzat. ++++ Eine technisch interessant Debatte: Martin S. Kramer und Stephen A. Cook über Grenzkosmetik und andere Dinge. ++++ Israel will not tolerate the continued threat to its security posed by Hamas militants' breach of the Gaza Strip's border with Egypt, officials in Jerusalem told Haaretz on Sunday. "Israel will not allow the continuation of the current state where its security interests are being compromised," the officials said, days after the Hamas regime blew up the barrier along the Strip's border with Egypt. The officials added that Prime Minster Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas see eye to eye on what they perceive as the need to refrain from negotiations with Hamas. Following the border breach, Israeli defense officials have expressed concerns that militants from the Gaza Strip may attack towns along Israel's long border with Sinai. ++++ Egypt officials have arrested dozens of Palestinians armed with guns and rifles who crossed the breached Gaza border into Sinai the past few days, sources told Israel on Sunday. ++++ Und wenn schon eine Blockadepolitik fehl schlägt, dann fällt es der nächsten auch nicht schwer: Iran is close to resuming full diplomatic relations with Egypt, its foreign minister said on Monday, but did not say when the ties that have been cut for almost three decades would be re-established. Iran broke ties with Egypt in 1979 after then Egyptian President Anwar Sadat let in the deposed shah of Iran. The two countries now have diplomatic representation through interest sections and not full embassies at ambassador level. "We are on the verge of resuming official political ties with Egypt," Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki told a news conference in Tehran. Egyptian officials have previously been more cautious about the timing of resuming ties. ++++ Das Neueste: The EU is considering the possibility of sending its monitors back to Gaza's border with Egypt, provided there are assurances they will not be at risk in the Hamas-run territory, officials involved in the talks said on Monday.

In der Westbank hingegen werden bei Verhaftungswellen durch die IDF etwa zehn Palästinenser verhaftet. UA wird dabei auch die Stromversurgung in Vierteln in Nablus lahm gelegt. Langsam entwickelt sich die story das unser westliches Lieblingskind Abbas den Krieg bekommt den er als Guter verdient, während die bösen Jungs der Hamas sich im Frieden langweilen dürfen. Und klar, wenn man schon nciht mit der Presse über die Friedensverhandlungen reden darf [Zuchtmeisterin Livni] dann ... redet man wie ein reißender Strom: A senior political source in Jerusalem stressed Sunday that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has still not formulated an idea for resolving the question of Jerusalem and it is likely to be left for last in the negotiations with the Palestinians. This comes after the Israeli side has become convinced in recent weeks that it is too sensitive and complex an issue, with potentially negative ramifications for the entire negotiating process. Noch keine "Idee formuliert"? Tja... das mit den göttlichen Eingebungen ist halt so eine Sache...

Ausgang wie geplant: President Shimon Peres reacted Monday in Nazareth to Attorney General Menachem Mazuz's decision Sunday not to indict the police officers involved in the killing of 13 Arab Israelis during the riots of October, 2000, saying that Mazuz "based his decision on the highest levels of the law." "I do not believe that Mazuz tried to blur the truth, apparently there was not enough evidence from a legal standpoint. This proves that the Attorney General is not a politician," Peres said. The President added that while he "understands the feelings of the Israeli Arabs, Ben Gurion once said that politicians cannot be judges and judges should not dabble in politics". Mazuz released an official legal opinion Sunday, reaffirming the Justice Ministry's Police Investigations Department (PID) decision from September, 2005 to terminate the investigation into the officers' actions.

Und zu Letzt: Newahlen, Ja. Aber erst wenn Baraks Image.... Labor chairman Ehud Barak expressed support for holding the next general election in March 2009, in a conversation with Pensioner Affairs Minister Rafi Eitan at Sunday's cabinet meeting. Barak, who sits next to Eitan at the meetings, spoke to him about the Winograd Report that will be published on Wednesday and hinted at his preference to hold the next election at a time that would be more convenient for his party. Barak's associates downplayed his comments. "In the end, everything is mere speculation until he reads the report," Barak's spokesman said. "Barak will do what is right for Israel, and all the rest is conjecture, including what Eitan said that he said." Labor officials said Barak needed more time to repair his image before a general election. A March 2009 race, they said, would give him nearly two years in the Defense Ministry - about the same amount of time that former prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu served in the Treasury in an effort to prove his professional credentials.