Israel, the mid-east, and Russia - Part 2

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EU FMs to Discuss Mideast Crisis, Nationals' Evacuation

Foreign ministers of the European Union (EU) are to meet in Brussels Monday to discuss the Middle East crisis and nationals evacuation.

During the meeting, Javier Solana Madariaga, EU's foreign policy and security chief, would brief the ministers on his talks with Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Saniora in Beirut over the situation in the region.

Over 100 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have been killed and hundreds more injured in Israeli attacks since Israel launched a massive assault in Lebanon after Hezbollah militia kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight during cross-border clashes on Wednesday.

In addition, the EU ministers are also to discuss the ongoing efforts to evacuate European nationals from Lebanon.

France, Italy, Belgium and Britain have sent planes and boats to help the voluntary evacuation of EU nationals.

The 25-nation bloc has criticized Israel's military attacks on Lebanon, but it also called on Hezbollah to release the captured soldiers "immediately and unconditionally" and to stop its attacks on Israel.

Other nations' evacuation

Alson on Monday, the Indonesian Embassy in Beirut began evacuating 40 Indonesian nationals to Damascus, Syria, following continued attacks by Israel on the Lebanese capital.

The 40 Indonesians included family members of embassy staff, children and female workers in the country, said The Jakarta Post.

"We have decided to evacuate them to Damascus. We put women and children as our top priority," Foreign Ministry spokesman Desra Percaya was quoted as saying.

Desra said the embassy was maintaining contact with dozens of other Indonesian nationals in the country to keep them informed of the latest situation. Speaking about embassy staff members, he said they would remain in Beirut until further notice.

"If security in Beirut worsens, all diplomats will be evacuated," he said.

New Zealand is making plans to evacuate about 30 nationals known to be in Lebanon, Foreign Affairs Minister Winston Peters said Monday.

"Evacuation plans are being made as we speak," Peters, who is in the United States for an official visit, told National Radio.

He said the New Zealand government will work with Britain and France on getting New Zealanders out.

While the military crisis was causing problems, to move people "as much as can be done is being done," he said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said Monday that the British authorities looked after New Zealand's interests in countries where it had no diplomatic post.

"We will need to be guided by them in their efforts to get out the foreign nationals they're responsible for," she told the Newstalk ZB radio network.

New Zealand officials are now contacting with many of the New Zealanders in Lebanon for evacuation.

The Venezuelan government has begun to evacuate its citizens from Lebanon as Israeli attacks on Hezbollah militants continued, Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said on Sunday.

The announcement was made as Israel launched missiles at targets across Lebanon, killing six people and wounding 33 others and heightening tensions between Israel and Lebanon after Hezbollah rockets struck new targets deeper inside Israel.

According to a statement released by the ministry, Venezuela's diplomatic mission is working to facilitate the departure of its citizens.

"The government of Venezuela shows solidarity with its nationals who have relatives in Lebanese territory, but calls for calm," the statement added.

8 Canadians killed in Lebanon

Eight Canadians were killed and six others seriously wounded in an Israeli air raid that hit a Lebanese town on the border with Israel on Sunday, the Canadian Foreign Ministry confirmed.

Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay said the wounded Canadians were in critical condition after the town of Aitaroun was hit in the fifth day of fighting between the Israeli military and the Lebanese-based militant organization Hezbollah.

Some of the victims were from the same family and had come from Canada to spend the summer holidays in Aitaroun, reports said.

In a statement released earlier Sunday, MacKay said Ottawa is sending in commercial vessels to help any Canadian citizen who wishes to leave Lebanon.

"We are securing commercial vessels and pre-positioning them off the coast of Lebanon. We are also working to secure safe passage for these vessels," said the statement.

Canada is also in the process of deploying additional support, including a planning assistance team and more consular staff, MacKay said.

The Canadian Foreign Affairs Department says 16,000 Canadians have registered with the government to say they are in Lebanon, while estimating that there are likely two to three times that many in the country.

EU FMs to Discuss Mideast Crisis, Nationals' Evacuation

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Israel Concurs with G8's Statement on Violence in Lebanon

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said on Sunday that Israel agreed to a statement issued by the Group of Eight industrialized nations which blamed "extremists" for the escalating violence in Lebanon.

"Israel concurs with the position of the international community, which places responsibility for the conflict on extremist elements," Livni said in a statement cited by local newspaper Ha'aretz.

"(Israel) sees the path to a solution through the release of the abducted soldiers, a cessation of rocket fire on Israel and a full implementation of UN Resolution 1559," she added. The resolution, adopted in September 2004, demands the disarmament of all militia in Lebanon. The Shiite Hizbollah is the only armed militant group in Lebanon.

"Israel will cooperate with international parties to turn these principles into concrete diplomatic action," Livni said.

Earlier in the day, leaders of the G8 countries issued a statement in St. Petersburg, Russia, which calls for the release of two Israeli soldiers seized by Hizbollah militia, an end to Hizbollah rocket attacks against Israel while blaming "extremists" for the escalating violence.

The leaders, meanwhile, also urged Israel to exercise restraint. Israel has started a massive assault in Lebanon after Hizbollah militia snatched the two Israeli soldiers during cross-border clashes on Wednesday.

Lebanon has effectively been under an Israeli air, ground and sea blockade since then.

Over 100 Lebanese, most of them civilians, have been killed and hundreds more wounded in the five-day-old Israeli offensive, while 24 Israelis including 12 civilians have been killed and scores of others wounded in the violence with Hizbollah.

Israel Concurs with G8's Statement on Violence in Lebanon

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'Hug a Hezbollah' campaign fails to get off the ground (Gee, I wonder why??  )
16 Jul 2006
David Cameron's dramatic attempt to intervene amid growing hostilities between Israel and Lebanon has got off to a poor start after a Hezbollah spokesman said he would personally shoot the Conservative leader if he came within spitting distance of him.

Following Middle East Envoy Lord Levy's inability to travel to the region, Mr Cameron had offered to solo parachute into the Israel-Lebanon border area, accompanied only by 50 photographers and cameramen, in the hope that he might be able to 'solve the Middle East'.

"I think what both sides in this crisis really need is more love," a newly-long-haired Mr Cameron told reporters from his squat in Notting Hill, with the Beatles' 'All You Need Is Love' playing in the background. "They're not trying to be nasty, they just want to blend in."

"I will personally hug the leaders of both sides if it helps stop the violence," he added, swaying from side to side. "Love not war, man."

Mr Cameron's offer was rejected by both sides, with both threatening violence if he tried to put his arms round any of their men – the first time they have agreed on anything in some time.

'Hug a Hezbollah' campaign fails to get off the ground

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Diplomatic efforts accompany IDF operation

UN delegation to Middle East schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Livni Tuesday in attempt to end fighting in north; Blair, Annan call for deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel, but US opposed to deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon; Bush: Syria should press Hizbullah to stop doing this stuff. (DW)
Ronny Sofer and agencies

A Prime Minister’s Office official told Ynet late Monday that “there is no deadline for the military operation in Lebanon, and it will carry on until the objectives as determined by Ehud Olmert are reached,” but diplomatic efforts to end the fighting are already underway.

On Tuesday a three-person UN delegation to the Middle East is schedule to meet with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in Jerusalem. The team is led by Vijay Nambiar, Annan's special political adviser. It also includes UN Mideast envoy Alvaro de Soto and Terje Roed-Larsen, Anna's special envoy who has overseen implementation of UN Resolution 1559 demanding Syria end its sway over Lebanon.

The three will arrive from Beirut, where they met with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora.

“We will hear what they have to say, but we have nothing to say to them,” one official said.

It is estimated that the mediators will attempt to bring about a ceasefire to examine ways for Lebanon to implement at least part of Resolution 1559, more specifically the deployment of the Lebanese army along the border with Israel.

Sources in the Foreign Ministry said that at this stage Israel does not intend to negotiate with Lebanon - not even through a third party – as Beirut does not have the capability to fully implement Resolution 1559, including the disarmament of Hizbullah, or see to it that the two kidnapped Israeli soldiers are returned home safely.

“Today is the first day of diplomacy, which is accompanying the military operation against Hizbullah in Lebanon,” a government official said. “We come to this day with an advantage, not only because Israel is demanding that the UN resolution be implemented, but also due to the wide international support we received in the G-8 summit and from several European Union countries.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan called Monday for the deployment of international forces to stop Hizbullah from bombing Israel.

"The blunt reality is that this violence is not going to stop unless we create the conditions for the cessation of violence," Blair said after talks with Annan on the margins of the G-8 summit.

'Things cannot go on like this'

"The only way we're going to get a cessation of hostilities is if we have the deployment of an international force into that area that can stop the bombardment over into Israel and therefore gives Israel a reason to stop its attacks on Hezbollah," he said.

Italian Prime Minister Romano Prodi promised that his country would make a "significant contribution" to the proposed peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon.

Prodi told a news conference that he, Blair, and Annan “are holding numerous discussions” on the proposal and that "Italy confirms that it is ready to make a significant contribution to the implementation of this idea."

French President Jacques Chirac said at the close of a G8 summit that returning stability to Lebanon may require "means of coercion."

"Some kind of buffer zone is needed; the idea is to have an international force and a line of surveillance in southern Lebanon,” Chirac said at a news conference.

Asked about implementation Resolution 1559 that calls for disarmament of militias in Lebanon, the French president stated that "this will probably demand some means of coercion".

"Things cannot go on like this," Chirac said. "A means for repression, when needed, and in any event for surveillance, is required. We have a situation that requires outside intervention, in such a way as to assure borders and to avoid cross-border aggression by one side against the other."

Chirac called the explosion of violence "aberrant" and dispatched Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin to Beirut to "express the support of France and the solidarity of the French people in this trial."

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also backed the initiative, but added that is was too soon to discuss the possibility of German troops joining the peacekeeping efforts.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said Russia would consider sending troops to the region, and a similar statement was issued by the Turkish Foreign Ministry. Blair, however, pointed out that British forces are "stretched'' in places such as Iraq and Afghanistan.

The US is opposed to the deployment of international peacekeepers in Lebanon, with Ambassador to the UN John Bolton questioning such a force’s ability to dismantle Hizbullah or stop Syria and Iran’s support of the terror group.

'Get Hizbullah to stop doing this stuff'

Bolton said steps must be taken to strengthen the Lebanese government and army instead of creating a “new international body.”

A microphone picked up an unaware President George Bush saying on Monday Syria should press Hizbullah to "stop doing this s***" and that his secretary of state may go to the Middle East soon.

Bush was talking privately to Blair during a lunch at the G-8 summit in St Petersburg.

Neither immediately realized a microphone was transmitting their candid thoughts on that and other issues.

"I think Condi (Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice) is going to go (to the Middle East) pretty soon," Bush said.

Blair replied: "Right, that's all that matters, it will take some time to get that together." Rice said on Sunday she was thinking of going to the region if it would help.

However, Rice headed back to the United States after the G8 summit closed on Monday, a State Department spokeswoman said.

Blair added: "See, if she (Rice) goes out she's got to succeed as it were, where as I can just go out and talk."

Bush replied: "See, the irony is what they need to do is get Syria to get Hizbullah to stop doing this (stuff  DW) and it's over."

While his language was salty, the message from Bush was what it had been throughout the summit - that Syria is supporting Hizbullah guerrillas in southern Lebanon and should force them to stop shelling Israel and return abducted Israeli soldiers.

Diplomatic efforts accompany IDF operation

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IDF completes mission in Beit Hanun; leaves area
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 18, 2006

The IDF completed its operation in Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip on Tuesday and left the area.

During the operation, 20 Palestinians were killed, Israel Radio reported.

IDF completes mission in Beit Hanun; leaves area

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3 rockets launched at Israel; Thai worker wounded
JPost.com Staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 18, 2006

Two Kassam rockets were launched out of the Gaza Strip early Tuesday morning, landing in Netiv Ha'asara and lightly wounded a Thai worker.

Another rocket landed in an open area south of Ashkelon. No one was wounded in that attack and no damage was reported.

The IDF shelled the rocket launch sites with artillery during the night.

3 rockets launched at Israel; Thai worker wounded

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Hizbollah, Hamas can remove Zionists
02:53:04 È.Ù
Islamic Republic of Iran Broadcasting News Network

Representative of the Palestinian Islamic Resistance (Hamas) to Iran Abou Asamah said Monday that collapse of the Zionist regime would be possible through efforts of Lebanon's Hizbollah and Hamas.

Asamah made the remark while addressing a conference on latest developments in Palestine, held at the Foreign Ministry.

He pointed to two successful operations conducted by Hizbollah and Hamas which resulted in the killing of a number of Zionist forces and capture of three Zionist soldiers, saying both operations angered the Zionist regime to an extent that it attacked Lebanon with no logic.

Lebanon's Hizbollah rushed to the help of the Palestinians, he said, adding despite silence of official institutions of Arab states towards aggressions of the Zionist regime on Palestine, Hizbollah showed reaction to such crimes.

Asamah added operations conducted by Hamas and Hizbollah are based on a scheduled plan and not on adventurism.

He said the process of reconciliation with the Zionist regime was doomed to failure.

He said efforts made by America and the Zionist regime to sow discord among Palestinians would fail, adding that such efforts were neutralized through signing of a unity charter by the Palestinian groups.

He stressed the importance of continuing resistance against the Zionist regime

Hizbollah, Hamas can remove Zionists

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Hizbollah leader's actions hit reputation as shrewd operator

By Roula Khalaf in Beirut
Published: July 18 2006 03:00 | Last updated: July 18 2006 03:00

After raining rockets on the Israeli city of Haifa, a calm and composed Hassan Nasrallah delivered a videotaped message on Arab satellite stations late on Sunday.

Addressing himself to the Lebanese people and the Muslim nation at large, he played the general, briefing on Israeli targets hit by Hizbollah, the Shia Islamist guerrilla movement he leads. Acting as the self-appointed leader of Lebanon, he promised more "surprises" beyond Haifa, dashing hopes he might abide by the restraint demanded by world powers.

"Don't worry about rebuilding the country," he told the Lebanese, as Israeli combat aircraft pursued their destructive campaign, ignited by Hizbollah's capture of two Israeli soldiers. In a clear reference to Iran, which, along with Syria, is a main backer of Hizbollah, he said his movement had friends with vast financial resources ready to help without political conditions.

Mr Nasrallah, leader of a large part of the Shia Muslim community, the country's largest minority, has long been one of the most powerful figures in Lebanon, admired by some and feared by others. But as he launches into a confrontation with Israel that many governments are hoping will lead to his party's destruction, he has become a fixation to all. An anxious population awaits his tapes, assessing every word and gauging his mood. His many critics desperately hope he will end a conventional war he cannot win. His supporters expect him never to waver in his persistence.

As Hizbollah rockets hit an Israeli military ship last Friday, a defiant Mr Nasrallah came on air, vowing open war and dramatically calling on people to turn towards the Mediterranean to watch the ship burn.

But the platform he is seeking now extends beyond Lebanon. Capitalising on the hero status he has enjoyed in the Arab world since 2000 when his guerrillas were instrumental in ending Israel's 22-year occupation of southern Lebanon, he is counting on the support of Muslim populations.

Responding to stern Saudi criticism of reckless adventurism, Mr Nasrallah concluded in his last videotape that Arab rulers and governments had failed to move the Middle East peace process, and declared that his actions provided a historic opportunity for the Arab and Muslim people to achieve a victory against "the Zionist enemy".

Those mesmerised by him compare him to the late Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser who mastered the art of speaking to the Arab public above the heads of their leaders. But people who blame him for the war say he reminds them of Iraq's Saddam Hussein.

Yet Mr Nasrallah's recent actions are uncharacteristic of a shrewd politician who had until recently been careful to balance his party's interests against those of the Lebanese state. With the world community, and many at home, wanting his party to disarm he took a huge gamble last week that has left Lebanon in flames and his organisation in serious jeopardy.

A fiery, charismatic speaker, Mr Nasrallah became leader of the party in 1992, at the age of 32.

Under him, Hizbollah became a formidable guerrilla force in what was then a war of attrition with Israel. But he also steered the party towards a greater political role in Lebanon by participating in elections and last year joining a national unity government. According to people close to the party, he managed to gain a margin of independence from his backers Syria and Iran.

This helped dilute the terrorist image of Hizbollah promoted by the US, which blames it for the 1983 bombing of the US marine barracks in Beirut and later the US embassy and the spate of kidnappings of foreigners - a charge the party denies. It also convinced many Lebanese that Hizbollah was capable of a formidable transformation from guerrilla group to political party.

Inside Lebanon, Mr Nasrallah earned the respect of even his most devoted opponents when he sacrificed his eldest son Hadi to a 1997 military operation against Israeli troops. The day after Hadi died, Mr Nasrallah stunned his own party by insisting on giving a planned speech.

But Mr Nasrallah has faced a dilemma since Syria last year removed its troops from Lebanon, in the face of political uproar over the killing of Rafiq Hariri, the former prime minister and Syrian opponent.

The Syrian exit intensified calls within Lebanon and abroad for the disarmament of the movement, the only group with a military wing since the end of the civil war in 1991.

The Shia community felt under threat by the Sunni and Christian coalition that had ousted Damascus, and Hizbollah feared Lebanon would turn into a stage where the US and Israel would settle their scores with Syria and Iran, and eventually with him.

But at a time when Mr Nasrallah was still sitting around the table in the national dialogue with other politicians to discuss, among other things, Hizbollah's military wing, no one expected a brazen raid inside Israel or a new war.

Hizbollah leader's actions hit reputation as shrewd operator

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 Iran the lurking issue as Mideast violence flares   

By Sally Buzbee
The sudden, shocking flare-up of Mideast violence may really be - underneath - all about Iran. And it's not just Israel, but also the United States and even some Arab countries, who hope the Islamic regime and friends like Syria suffer a big blow.  So far, the battleground has been limited to Lebanon and Israel: Lebanon being pounded by Israeli aircraft and Israel by Hezbollah missiles. But the underlying struggle is between Israel and others who view Iran as a dangerous threat, and Iran and its allies determined to show they can cause serious trouble if pressured too hard.  All that means the fighting could last a long time.
It's been brewing for years as the Palestinian-Israeli crisis has festered and the Mideast has suffered through other destabilising crises like the Iraq war. Yet the reason it erupted now remains unclear. In part, Hezbollah's leader may have decided, facing domestic political pressure, that he needed to show he was still a leader of the anti-Israeli cause. For its part, Israel chose to fight back hard when Hezbollah seized two soldiers, perhaps thinking any sign of weakness could make it more vulnerable. Or perhaps, as some Israeli generals have suggested, it saw a chance to eviscerate Hezbollah once and for all, once the group stuck its head up.
Iran and Syria, meanwhile, clearly had their own reasons for being pleased, whether they ordered Hezbollah's actions or merely supported them. "Provoking Israel creates a natural division between the US, as Israel's ally, and Europe," notes Anthony Cordesman, one of the top Mideast experts in the United States. "It distracts from Syria's crimes in Lebanon and Iran's nuclear programs." And of course, as the United States has learned so painfully, "every Israeli action against Arabs feeds Arab anger against the US," Cordesman says. In that sense, Iran and Syria gain big advantages with few risks from the current fighting. Both countries had in fact warned for months that they had ways to strike back if the United States pressured them too much.
As just one example of how the crisis has distracted from other efforts, the G-8 summit of nations had hoped to focus on a joint policy on Iran's nuclear programme. Instead, the leaders spent their meeting struggling to reach a semblance of consensus on how to stop the new violence. That consensus is far away, despite a joint statement issued Sunday. France, for example, has pushed for a cease-fire, making the point along with other European nations that Israel's attacks on Lebanon rile up anti-Western and anti-Israeli sentiment. President Bush, however, has not called for a ceasefire. He urged Israel to be careful and lamented the suffering of civilians. But he also said the violence had created a "moment of clarification" that showed the world how Hezbollah disrupts peace efforts.
What's more surprising is that Arab countries allied with the United States have lashed out at Hezbollah too. Hezbollah's attacks on Israel were "unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts," Saudi Foreign Minister Saud Al-Faisal said. Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, the Palestinian Authority, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain all agreed. All are governments dominated by Sunni Muslims, most of them worried about the growing influence - and confrontational stance - of the heavily Shiite Muslim Iranian regime. They also worry about the prospect of an Iraq dominated by Shiite parties beholden to Iran. And unlike Iran, Syria, Hezbollah or Hamas, most of those Arab countries also have shown willingness to accept some type of deal on the Israel-Palestinian crisis even if they're lukewarm about it.
In some ways, it should make the United States happy that Arab countries like Saudi Arabia criticize Hezbollah. But as Mideast lines sharpen and hostilities grow, it paradoxically becomes more difficult for such US allies to have any real influence over groups like Hezbollah and Hamas, or countries like Syria. That means the US ability to influence the region falls.
Stability also becomes an issue. Countries like Egypt worry that their people will support Hezbollah, even if they don't, leading to protests and dissent.  Hezbollah and Iran play off that for all it's worth. Hezbollah's leader has cast himself as a protector of the Islamic world, writ large, as has Iran's hardline president. Both are sophisticated in using the region's satellite television stations to spread their message that confrontation alone can give Muslims dignity. The question, of course, is how far all this will go.
So far, the battleground has remained Lebanon and Israel but it could easily spread. Iran has warned that Israel will suffer if it broadens its attacks to include Syria, but what Iran might do in such a situation remains unclear. Both sides clearly view their very existence at risk and thus will be loathe to back down, said Iranian exile Amir Taheri, writing in Sunday's pan-Arab Asharq Al Awsat newspaper. And that could make the fight both long and damaging. "The stakes have been raised beyond anyone's expectation," Taheri said.

Iran the lurking issue as Mideast violence flares

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Tel Aviv plans 4-tier, intensifying offensive

By Abraham Rabinovich
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
July 17, 2006

JERUSALEM -- The fierce Israeli attack in Lebanon is part of a carefully orchestrated plan -- not yet half-completed -- that calls for four stages of mounting intensity, culminating in the movement of ground troops into Lebanon, according to Israeli reports.
    Military correspondents with access to senior military officials say that in the first stage -- which began shortly after Hezbollah raiders seized two soldiers on Wednesday -- Israeli warplanes attacked missile caches throughout Lebanon, particularly those housing long-range missiles.
    Fifty caches, some hidden underground and some in private homes, reportedly were destroyed, a military briefer told reporters yesterday. It is not clear what percentage of the 13,000 missiles known to be in Hezbollah hands that accounts for.
    At the same time, artillery pounded Hezbollah positions and command posts from the Israeli side of the border. In this first stage, the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) also bombed the Beirut airport and imposed a sea blockade to impress upon the Lebanese government the consequences of failing to stop Hezbollah from attacking Israel from southern Lebanon.
    In the second stage, which began early Friday, warplanes attacked the heart of Hezbollah's power, destroying high-rise buildings in southern Beirut that house the organization's command structure and the home of Hezbollah leader Sheik Hassan Nasrallah.
    Sheik Nasrallah reportedly was trapped for a while in the militia's underground command center when the building above it collapsed, covering the entrance. He apparently was not injured.
    The third and fourth stages are secret. However, the operational plan calls for each stage to be more powerful than the previous one, said the correspondents, who appear to have received detailed briefings.
    One reported principle is that the targets should be hit in a predetermined order, with no deviation from the plan, in response to specific Hezbollah actions. A constantly expanding "target bank," consisting of hundreds of sites selected by the IDF, is approved at periodic meetings of a Cabinet subcommittee chaired by Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
    One of the final stages, presumably, is the entry of ground forces into Lebanon.
    If Israel's main objectives -- a halt in the firing of missiles into Israel and a Lebanese government agreement to displace Hezbollah from the border area -- have not been achieved by the end of this week, ground troops will cross the border, according to the sources.
    Israel is unenthusiastic about the prospect of getting bogged down again in southern Lebanon as it was for 18 years before its pullout in 2000.
    But the head of the IDF operations directorate, Brig. Gen. Gadi Eizenkot, said Saturday that any ground incursion will be limited in time and in the area affected.
    Israeli officials say they don't think the international community will force Israel to cease fire before its goals are achieved.

Tel Aviv plans 4-tier, intensifying offensive

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Dear Brethren, the War With Israel Is Over

BY YOUSSEF IBRAHIM
July 7, 2006

As Israel enters the third week of an incursion into the same Gaza Strip it voluntarily evacuated a few months ago, a sense of reality among Arabs is spreading through commentary by Arab pundits, letters to the editor, and political talk shows on Arabic-language TV networks.The new views are stunning both in their maturity and in their realism. The best way I can think of to convey them is in the form of a letter to the Palestinian Arabs from their Arab friends:

Dear Palestinian Arab brethren:

The war with Israel is over.

You have lost. Surrender and negotiate to secure a future for your children.

We, your Arab brothers, may say until we are blue in the face that we stand by you, but the wise among you and most of us know that we are moving on, away from the tired old idea of the Palestinian Arab cause and the "eternal struggle" with Israel.

Dear friends, you and your leaders have wasted three generations trying to fight for Palestine, but the truth is the Palestine you could have had in 1948 is much bigger than the one you could have had in 1967, which in turn is much bigger than what you may have to settle for now or in another 10 years. Struggle means less land and more misery and utter loneliness.

At the moment, brothers, you would be lucky to secure a semblance of a state in that Gaza Strip into which you have all crowded, and a small part of the West Bank of the Jordan. It isn't going to get better. Time is running out even for this much land, so here are some facts, figures, and sound advice, friends.

You hold keys, which you drag out for television interviews, to houses that do not exist or are inhabited by Israelis who have no intention of leaving Jaffa, Haifa, Tel Aviv, or West Jerusalem. You shoot old guns at modern Israeli tanks and American-made fighter jets, doing virtually no harm to Israel while bringing the wrath of its mighty army down upon you. You fire ridiculously inept Kassam rockets that cause little destruction and delude yourselves into thinking this is a war of liberation. Your government, your social institutions, your schools, and your economy are all in ruins.

Your young people are growing up illiterate, ill, and bent on rites of death and suicide, while you, in effect, are living on the kindness of foreigners, including America and the United Nations. Every day your officials must beg for your daily bread, dependent on relief trucks that carry food and medicine into the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, while your criminal Muslim fundamentalist Hamas government continues to fan the flames of a war it can neither fight nor hope to win.

In other words, brothers, you are down, out, and alone in a burnt-out landscape that is shrinking by the day.

What kind of struggle is this? Is it worth waging at all? More important, what kind of miserable future does it portend for your children, the fourth or fifth generation of the Arab world's have-nots?

We, your Arab brothers, have moved on.

Those of us who have oil money are busy accumulating wealth and building housing, luxury developments, state-of-the-art universities and schools, and new highways and byways. Those of us who share borders with Israel, such as Egypt and Jordan, have signed a peace treaty with it and are not going to war for you any time soon. Those of us who are far away, in places like North Africa and Iraq, frankly could not care less about what happens to you.

Only Syria continues to feed your fantasies that someday it will join you in liberating Palestine, even though a huge chunk of its territory, the entire Golan Heights, was taken by Israel in 1967 and annexed. The Syrians, my friends, will gladly fight down to the last Palestinian Arab.

Before you got stuck with this Hamas crowd, another cheating, conniving, leader of yours,Yasser Arafat, sold you a rotten bill of goods — more pain, greater corruption, and millions stolen by his relatives — while your children played in the sewers of Gaza.

The war is over. Why not let a new future begin?

Dear Brethren, the War With Israel Is Over

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Iranian People Tell Pollsters Israel Should Not Exist
By Jim Kouri, CPP
MichNews.com
Jul 17, 2006

United States intelligence officials believe that the current crisis in the Middle East, that began with incursions into Israel and abductions of soldiers followed by terrorist attacks against the Israeli people, is being fomented by Iran.

The hatred of the Jewish State is no where more evident than in Iran with rhetoric reminiscent of the dark days of Hitler's rise to power. Meanwhile there are a number of so-called experts, such as former Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, who continue to tell the American people and the world that while the Iranian government despises Israelis, the people of Iran don't share those views of hatred and ill-will.

Unfortunately, the truth is the Iranian people share their leaders' hatred for the Jews, according to a recent survey conducted by a polling company owned by an Arab-American, who was allowed access to the Iranian population.

Iranians showed almost total agreement, regardless of age or gender; when asked if the state of Israel is illegitimate and should not exist, 67% agreed and only 9% disagreed, according to the Zogby International poll.

Also, a majority (64%) said they would be willing to suffer through a bad economy if that were the price the country had to pay to develop its nuclear program. Also, 25% said they would blame the United States if the United Nations imposed nuclear-related sanctions, although nearly 40% said they were not sure whom to blame. Only one in six would blame Iran's own government. If their country were to develop nuclear weapons, 25% said it would make the Middle East a safer place, but 35% disagreed with that statement.
   
Despite tensions between the United States and Iran, most Iranians -- nearly two-thirds -- said they don't believe that the two countries will go to war in the next decade. Iranian men were more interested than women in making the economy work better. Among men, 47% said the economy should be a top government priority, while just 33% of women agreed. The older the respondent, the less important they considered development of a nuclear
arsenal.
 
When it came to their view of the United States, there was a split between the generations. Older Iranians were much more likely to admire the American people and society than younger Iranians. John Zogby, President and CEO of Zogby International, hypothesized that this generational split may be due in part to the lack of exposure to Americans over the past two decades.
   
Younger and older Iranians would favor a more conservative, religious society, while those aged 30-49 said they would favor a more liberal, secular culture. What is striking is that just 15% said Iranian culture should stay just the way it is right now. Women were more likely than men to say they wanted a more liberal, secular society.

Among those Iranians with Internet access, 41% said they wanted a more religious culture, compared to 33% who said they wanted a more secular society.
   
The attitudes of younger Iranians toward the government, people and policies of the United States have been shaped by years of isolation, largely conservative religious leadership, and anti-US rhetoric. This group is consistently more negative in its attitudes towards Americans and the American government than are older Iranians. However, new technology, including satellite television and the Internet, could be used as tools that connect young Iranians with other nations in the region, and the West, according to Zogby.
   
Those technologies -- Internet access and satellite TV ownership -- appeared to influence attitudes among Iranians, as did gender. Iranians with access to the Internet or satellite TV were significantly more likely than their "unconnected" compatriots to identify the United States as the country they admire the most.

They were also significantly less likely to pick the US government as the one they admire the least: one in three Iranians without Internet access (34%) chose the United States as least admired, compared with fewer than one in five Iranians with Internet access (18%), the poll shows.
   
The American government also appeared to attract more admiration from Iranians who favor a more secular or liberal direction for Iran.

Iranian People Tell Pollsters Israel Should Not Exist

[Shammu]

Thousands rally for Israel in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra
AJN STAFF

MORE than 2000 people have joined pro-Israel rallies in Sydney, Melbourne and Canberra.

The rallies were billed to support the release of Corporal Gilad Shalit, who was taken captive by Palestinians in Gaza three weeks ago.

Since then, two more Israeli soldiers have been kidnapped on the Lebanese border by Hezbollah.

More than 1000 people signed a petition in Melbourne, said Zionist Federation of Australia president Philip Chester.

“If a thousands rockets were launch into cities and suburbs in Australia, how would the Australian Government react,” he told media after the event.

In Sydney, a giant 10-metre blue ribbon was signed by more than 800 people.

Dr Ron Weiser, immediate past president of the Zionist Federation of Australia, told the crowd at Waverley Park in Bondi that Israel has a right to exist in peace and security.

“Enough of the silence of many in the press and international arena when Jews are killed,” he said.

“Enough of the hypocrisy that says Jews should not defend themselves, that Jews should just accept that they can be killed without taking measures to stop such action. Enough!”

State Zionist Council of NSW president Brian Levitan recited a special prayer for the release of the soldiers sent by the Israeli Government.

He said the blue ribbons were part of an Australian campaign to raise awareness of the plight of the soldiers.

At Caulfield Park in Melbourne, Federal MP Michael Danby told the crowd that Israel was exercising its right to self-defence.

“Imagine that the NSW Government allowed a group armed with long-range rockets to bomb the suburbs of Melbourne from NSW and then protested that Victoria should not respond because they had no control of this armed militia in their territory. That is the equivalent of what the Lebanese government is saying,” he said.

”So let us understand that Israel’s cause is our cause. Israel’s victory over terrorism is Australia’s victory. The defeat of Hezbollah and Hamas is indivisible from the defeat of Jemaah Islamiyah or al-Qaeda.”

State Zionist Council of Victoria president Dr Danny Lamm also spoke to the rally, and Temple Beth Israel’s Rabbi Fred Morgan and Mizrachi’s Rabbi Yaakov Sprung said prayers.

In Canberra last Friday, about 40 members of Hineni Zionist youth movement demonstrated outside the Syrian Embassy in protest at Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists.

Among the slogans on posters they displayed were “Israel wants peace” and “HypocriSyria”.

“We call on the Palestinian and Hezbollah terrorists to release their hostages immediately, and cease all terror and violence,” said ACT Jewish Community resident Bill Arnold.

The Melbourne and Sydney rallies were organised by the State Zionist Council of NSW and Victoria with the Zionist Federation of Australia, the Australian Union of Jewish Students and the Zionist Youth Council.

A special prayer service is being held at Caulfield Hebrew Congregation, Melbourne, in solidarity with Israel on Thursday, July 20, at 7pm.

Thousands rally for Israel in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra

[Shammu]

Rudd: Hamas, Hezbollah and Lebanon in ‘violation’

AJN STAFF

LABOR’S Foreign Affairs spokesman Kevin Rudd has defended Israel’s right to self-defence, accusing Hamas and Hezbollah of “violating” Israeli territory, and Lebanon of “violating” United Nations Security Council resolutions to disarm Hezbollah.

In an interview with Sky News, Rudd said: “When it came to the beginning of this conflict Hamas and Hezbollah, the two terrorist organisations, launched rocket attacks on Israeli territory.

“Furthermore, Hamas and Hezbollah engaged in violations of Israeli territory, capturing and killing Israeli armed force members.

“And all of this was done in violation of Security Council resolutions adopted over the last two years which have required the government of Lebanon to disarm the Hezbollah militia in the southern part of that country.”

Rudd also accused Syria and Iran of fuelling the crisis.

“The Iranians and the Syrians have not been helpful in this conflict. They have over a long period of time provided arms and financial supplies to Hezbollah and Hezbollah has been building up its arms and its presence on the border of Israel to Israel's north and in the south of Lebanon,” he said.

“Iran and Syria have kept the arms flow going to this terrorist organisation and that is a large part of the external fuel to this conflict.

“And unless action occurs now on the part of both states to stop the arms supply, it is going to become very difficult to prevent further escalation.”

Rudd last visited Israel last year. His comments follow strong support for Israel by Prime Minister John Howard.

RRudd: Hamas, Hezbollah and Lebanon in ‘violation’’

[Shammu]

Iran In Control
By Robert Spencer
July 17, 2006

As the crisis in the Middle East continues to escalate, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has warned: “If the Zionist regime commits another stupid move and attacks Syria, this will be considered like attacking the whole Islamic world and this regime will receive a very fierce response.”

By the “whole Islamic world,” Ahmadinejad almost certainly means to refer not only to the 57 countries of the Organization of the Islamic Conference, but also to the large and restive Muslim populations of the dhimmi nations of Europe (which has been set against Israel for years as it is).

Why did Hizballah, a client of the Iranian mullahs, step up its offensive against Israel recently, leading to Israel’s current strong response? Ahmadinejad may see this as his big chance to unite the Islamic world behind Iran, positioning the Shi’ite mullahocracy as the best candidate to lead the jihad against the Great Satan. Did he set Hizballah loose on Israel with particular virulence in recent weeks in order to provoke Israeli attacks against civilian targets -- which jihadists have for years tried to provoke from Israel by launching attacks from areas heavily populated by civilians? Perhaps he was hoping to unleash the full force of the world’s dhimmi leftist media against Israel, and to shame Europe, if not America, into refusing to lift a finger in Israel’s defense -- and/or to provoke Europe’s Muslims into full-bore jihad against the dhimmi non-Muslim Europeans.

I am not saying that Israel should not retaliate strongly. Just the opposite. I am saying that President Bush and others should not be fooled into playing into the hands of the Thug-In-Chief by portraying Israel as indiscriminately killing civilians in its response to Hizballah acts of war. Bush, Blair and the rest should stand up at the upcoming G8 Summit and say forthrightly that they stand with Israel against the global jihad that targets their countries as well as Israel, and that they recognize that Israel is not targeting civilians but is doing what it must do in order to destroy the jihadists’ ability to continue to wage war against them.

But they won’t. Bush has already told the Prime Minister of Lebanon that he will ask the Israelis to limit civilian casualties – once again ignoring the fact that Hizballah and Hamas both have no bases of operations as such, but launch their attacks from residential areas, mosques, and homes, hoping to provoke a response that will be useful for their propaganda.

In any case, one thing that this entire situation has made clear is that Iran is pulling the strings. The Israelis have accused Tehran of involvement in the Hizballah attack on an Israeli warship, and certainly the sophisticated weaponry that Hizballah has deployed to the surprise of the world over the last week indicates the hidden hand of Iran. What’s more, he called on the Islamic world to mobilize against Israel just last week at a conference in Tehran: “The basic problem in the Islamic world is the existence of the Zionist regime, and the Islamic world and the region must mobilise to remove this problem….Today there is a strong will... to remove the Zionist regime and implement a legal Palestinian regime all over Palestine. The continued survival of this regime (Israel) means nothing but suffering for the region.”

In the same speech, Ahmadinejad warned the West: “Nations in the region will be more furious every day, and it will not be long before this intense fury will lead to a huge explosion.” That “fury,” he suggested, would reach the West itself: “The waves of fury of Muslim nations will not be confined within the boundaries of the region, and the people who close their ears to the cries of the Palestinians and blindly support this regime will be responsible for the consequences.”

That the current crisis began so soon after this speech is noteworthy. Iran’s increasingly visible influence in the Islamic world, its financial support for both the Shi’ite Hizballah and the Sunni Hamas, its bellicosity toward Israel and its nuclear ambitions (which, not coincidentally, have been shunted from the headlines by Israel’s actions in Lebanon and Gaza), and its vocal support for the global jihad against the West all refute yet again the still common assertion that jihad violence around the world is solely the fault of the Saudi Wahhabis. The Wahhabis certainly bear a great deal of guilt for their global propagation of the jihad ideology; however, Shi’ite Iran may now definitively emerge as just what Ahmadinejad has long been angling to become: the leader of the jihad against the West.

Perhaps we are witnessing is something like an attempt to resurrect the Shi’ite Fatimid caliphate.

Iran In Control