Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

A time to act,? a time to talk

We are into the second week of the campaign against Hezbollah in which Israel Defense Forces soldiers and Israeli civilians have been killed. This heavy price is liable to increase the longer the campaign continues, but if the fighting ends without reaching its goals, then more Israelis will be hurt by the newly empowered Hezbollah. That would encourage other extremists from Iran to Palestinian terror organizations to maintain their aggressive stance toward Israel.

In the current confrontation, time represents an opportunity for Israel ? an opportunity to exhaust the possibilities of the military campaign in order to enhance diplomatic gains. In the middle of a campaign, it is easy to misread the situation. The fog of war, together with the psychological warfare being employed, blur one?s vision and pull one?s conclusions toward the two polls of despondency and arrogance.

The results pile up until the scales are tipped. In the case of Lebanon, the desirable result is for the political echelon to rise up against the only entity that is preventing economic stability and which threatens to destroy what has been created painstakingly following exhausting decades of civil war. That entity is Hassan Nasrallah, whose goals in Lebanon as head of a movement representing a significant and long-oppressed minority have been pushed aside in favor of Iran?s interests. The zealous regime in Tehran appointed Lebanon?s Shi?ites as agents to export its Islamic revolution and wage proxy war against Israel. It has absolutely no connection to the welfare of the Lebanese or to the participation of the various sects and groups in the Lebanese government.

One of the goals of Israel?s current war against Hezbollah, in addition to the immediate desire to protect the northern communities and IDF patrols against attacks and abductions, is to give Prime Minister Fuad Siniora?s government an incentive for dealing with Hezbollah. This goal has two parts: strengthening Siniora and weakening Nasrallah to enable the Lebanese scales to tip toward the moderates. The IDF?s direct actions erode Hezbollah?s strength by depleting its ammunition stores, its chain of command and its image as an organization that can challenge the Lebanese Army and the civilian decision-makers above it. The indirect affect of the IDF operation is intended to operate on both the Lebanese and the international levels.

Druze leader Walid Jumblatt, moderate Shi?ite leader Nabih Beri, cabinet members, the son of former prime minister Rafik Hariri and other important individuals have already dared to speak out against Hezbollah. Siniora needs additional support before he can make the difficult but necessary decision to finally challenge Nasrallah. This support must come from the outside, from Washington, Paris, Arab capitals and United Nations headquarters in New York. President George Bush is leading a firm, united front that gives Israel, in international terms, ?quality time? to destroy their common enemy. The Israeli government and the IDF deserve support at home for their efforts to take advantage of the freedom that has been granted to them for the coming days or perhaps weeks.

A time to act,? a time to talk

[Shammu]

European peace groups protest Israeli offensive in Lebanon
By The Associated Press

LONDON - Peace activists marched in several European cities yesterday to demand an end to Israel's strikes against Hezbollah militants.

In the largest demonstration, an estimated 7,000 activists paraded through rainy central London shouting, "Hands off Lebanon!"

Smaller crowds in Amsterdam and Warsaw called on their governments to do more to pressure Israel to stop its offensive in Lebanon. Protesters also rallied in at least three other British cities.

The London demonstrators condemned Prime Minister Tony Blair, who has publicly supported Israel, and failed to join the United Nations' call for an immediate cease-fire.

"There is a slaughter going on in Lebanon with complete aggression by Israel," Ghada Razuki, a national organizer for the Stop the War Coalition in London, said.

Lebanese demonstrators carried one sign that read, "Lebanese civilians are being slaughtered. Do not turn your back on us."

Ali Abukhalil, 42, a Lebanese businessman from London marching alongside his family, said he felt frustrated and hopeless about the violence that has racked his homeland.

Javeria Khan, 21, of London, joined other Muslim women clad in black abayas as they chanted, "Go to hell, Israel."

"Israel is terrorizing all Muslim nations," Khan said. "It is trying to destroy our religion."

Other protesters openly voiced support for Hezbollah. "We are Hezbollah! Yes, yes Hezbollah!" a group of 50 people chanted in unison as others looked on with shocked expressions.

Later, Abbas Ali Ibrahim, 22, a Pakistani student from Birmingham waved a yellow-and-green Hezbollah flag as he led about 60 protesters in shouting the group's name in front of the U.S. Embassy.

"At the end of the day, Hezbollah are freedom fighters," Ibrahim said.

In Warsaw, about 200 people demonstrated outside the Israeli embassy, waving the red-white-red Lebanese flag with its signature cedar tree, and Palestinian flags.

Organizers in Amsterdam said some 2,000 people took part in their rally, although police put the number closer to 700.

Pro-Israeli supporters are planning their own London rally today.

"We are calling for peace in the region," said Jon Benjamin, chief executive of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, which is organizing the protest.

Benjamin said Israel was responding to "intense provocation," and "has a right, and indeed an obligation, to defend its citizens and its sovereignty."

European peace groups protest Israeli offensive in Lebanon

[Shammu]

1982 versus 2006
By Ze'ev Schiff

Many people see no difference between Israel's 1982 Lebanon War and the present war. For example, some Arabs are astounded that the Israeli public is supporting its government and its military moves. Thus the major differences between the two wars must be pointed out: namely, differences in background, objective and modus operandi.

The substantive distinction is that, in 1982, one of the war's goals was to install a new, pro-Israeli, president in Lebanon - namely, to push for Bashir Gemayel's appointment to this post. He was assassinated, and collaboration with his Phalangists proved a disastrous idea. Another major goal was to go beyond merely removing the Palestine Liberation Organization and its units from Lebanon and to thoroughly defeat the Palestinians in Lebanon, so that the Palestinians on the West Bank would be badly shaken. That is why the Israel Defense Forces brought the war into the refugee camps in Lebanon.

The present war's goals are totally different. The IDF is well aware that Hezbollah cannot be removed from Lebanon - it is an authentically Lebanese organization. Were it only a political party, Israel would not have attacked it. The problem is that Hezbollah is also a militia attacking Israel against the Lebanese government's wishes and after Israel withdrew to the international border.

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In 1982, the Israeli government thought in terms of a military solution. Today, the IDF says that the problem's solution is political, not military: Although the military wing attacking Israel must be countered with force, the ultimate answer is an international agreement. Israel opposed international intervention in 1982, whereas, today, it considers United Nations Security Council Resolution 1559 congruent with the war's strategic aim. That resolution calls for Hezbollah to be disarmed and for the Lebanese government and army to assume responsibility for southern Lebanon up to the border with Israel.

The 1982 war was dubbed Operation Peace for Galilee, but Israel reached Beirut, capturing parts of it, and Israel's presence there was considered an occupation. Furthermore, Israel went to war when its forces were already in Lebanon. This time, the military operation began after Israel withdrew to the international border and the UN authorized the withdrawal. Despite the pullback, Hezbollah continued attacking Israel, shelling it and abducting Israelis. In 1982, then defense minister Ariel Sharon was perceived as having failed to provide the cabinet and then prime minister Menachem Begin with reliable reports, while today, the cabinet is united and the government is receiving detailed reports. After the 1982 war, a state commission of inquiry decided that Sharon must resign, due to the Sabra and Chatila massacre.

Another substantive distinction between the two wars exists with regard to Syria. In 1982, the Syrian army controlled Lebanon. A brigade was stationed in the Beirut area, but most of Syria's forces in Lebanon - including 19 surface-to-air missile batteries - were deployed in the Bekaa Valley. Initially, Begin did not authorize an attack against the Syrians, and he even asked then American president Ronald Reagan's special envoy to the Middle East, Philip C. Habib, to inform then Syrian president Hafez Assad that Israel had no intention of attacking his forces. But after Sharon arranged the military operation so that Israel wound up attacking the Syrian army in the Bekaa Valley, Israel had no choice but to attack the missile batteries.

Today, there is no Syrian army in Lebanon. Nevertheless, Israel has long known that Damascus has been supplying Hezbollah with heavy 220-millimeter rockets. Despite that fact, in order to avoid extending the war's scope, the IDF has been told that Israel has no desire to involve Syria in the war - provided that Syria does not attack.

The two wars are even different in terms of modus operandi. In 1982, IDF divisions launched a ground offensive from the south, and Israeli forces were also brought in by naval craft so that they could reach Beirut and proceed northward to join up with the Phalangists. Today, the Israel Air Force and Military Intelligence are leading the offensive. The IAF can launch quicker, more precise strikes thanks to its guided weapons; furthermore, aerial attacks mean fewer casualties.

Yet the IAF alone obviously cannot solve all the problems, including the presence of thousands of rockets in Lebanon. Many people, including citizens of Arab states, understand that this time, Israel is facing not one Palestinian organization fighting for its nation's independence, but two radical Islamic terrorist organizations plus a state like Iran, which seek Israel's annihilation, and Syria besides.

Israel circa 2006 is trying to avoid repeating the mistakes it made in the 1982 war. Little wonder that many people today support Israel, in contrast to the past, when international public opinion was hostile to Israel. If Israel makes no substantive changes in its objectives, takes greater care to avoid harming the Lebanese people and keeps its operations to the proper proportions, the support it enjoys in the present war will continue unabated.

1982 versus 2006

[Shammu]

  Israel Sees US Giving It Week To Finish Offensive -Report

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- On the eve of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's visit to Jerusalem, senior Israeli officials believe Israel has a nod from the U.S. to continue operations against Hezbollah at least until next Sunday, Israeli daily Haaretz reported early Sunday on its Web site.

Rice will first explore ways with Israel's leadership to end the crisis and begin to shape a new order in Lebanon. She will return next Sunday to try to implement a cease-fire, according to the newspaper.

From Jerusalem, Rice will go on to Rome to meet senior delegates from the U.N. and Arab states. They will discuss formulating a political arrangement and a plan to rehabilitate Lebanon. From Rome she will travel to an Asian conference in Malaysia, from where she will return to Israel.

Rice's trip has two main goals: an attempt to formulate an agreement to end the fighting in Lebanon and sending a strong international force to enforce Security Council Resolution 1559 calling to disarm Hazbollah and deploy the Lebanese Army along the Israeli border.

Rice on Friday dismissed growing pressure for an immediate cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah guerillas in Lebanon, calling it a "false promise" if the root causes of the conflict are not addressed.

"An immediate cease-fire without political conditions does not make sense," she told reporters at the State Department.

Israel Sees US Giving It Week To Finish Offensive -Report 

[Shammu]

Israel Will Accept a Disarmed Hezbollah
Envoy Talks of Future As a 'Political Group'

By Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, July 23, 2006; Page A13

The United States, Israel, the United Nations and the European Union have reluctantly concluded that despite punishing military attacks, Hezbollah is likely to survive as a political player in Lebanon, and Israel now says it is willing to accept the organization if it sheds its military wing and abandons extremism, according to several key officials.

"To the extent that it remains a political group, it will be acceptable to Israel," Israeli Ambassador Daniel Ayalon said yesterday in the strongest sign to date that the Israelis are rethinking the scope and ultimate goals of the campaign. "A political group means a party that is engaged in the political system in Lebanon, but without terrorism capabilities and fighting capabilities. That will be acceptable to Israel."

In a bid to contain Hezbollah, the United States is hoping to persuade Arab allies over the next week -- Saudi Arabia in talks today and Egypt and Jordan at an emergency meeting Wednesday in Rome -- to get Syria to stop arming, funding and facilitating Hezbollah's military operations, U.S. officials said.

Because Syria is also the physical conduit for all Iranian arms and personnel bound for Lebanon, the regime of President Bashar al-Assad could be pivotal to helping end the current hostilities and ensuring that Hezbollah's options are limited afterward.

The Bush administration's task is all the more difficult because of the state of its relations with Syria. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice does not plan to hold talks with Syria, include it in the emergency Rome meeting or travel to Damascus.

To end the bloody 16-day conflict between Israel and Hezbollah in 1996, then-Secretary of State Warren Christopher shuttled for a week between Damascus and Jerusalem to produce a written agreement that lasted until this month. Today, relations are so chilly that the U.S. ambassador to Syria, Margaret Scobey, who was recalled last year, has been reassigned to Baghdad and will not return to Damascus.

In the long term, the United States and Israel hope that Hezbollah is discredited or marginalized politically, too; Lebanon and the Arab world hold it responsible for the July 12 cross-border raid and kidnappings of two soldiers that sparked the punishing Israeli response and widespread destruction, officials say.

Pressure has been mounting on Hezbollah's leadership. Israel has specifically targeted Secretary General Hasan Nasrallah as well as the group's headquarters and political offices. The international community has blamed Hezbollah for starting the crisis. And the Lebanese government has demanded that it disarm.

But Israeli, U.S., U.N. and European officials say they do not envision a solution in which Hezbollah is eliminated. Initial U.S., Israeli and U.N. assessments have concluded that Hezbollah's popularity among Lebanese Shiites is likely to remain significant -- and no one but the Shiites will be able to challenge its status, according to U.S. and U.N. officials.

"Whatever damage Israel's operation may be doing to Hezbollah's military capabilities, they are doing little or nothing to decrease popular support for Hezbollah in Lebanon or the region," U.N. Secretary General Kofi Annan told the Security Council on Thursday.

U.S. experts say Hezbollah's standing may even grow. "Just because many tens of thousands of Shiite Muslims may be living in tents does not mean that they are going to emerge from this war as a diminished political force in Lebanon. I expect the contrary to be true," said Augustus R. Norton, a former member of the U.N. force in Lebanon who now teaches at Boston University.

Hezbollah's future is a contentious issue within the Bush administration. Rice lashed out at the group Friday for violating "every conceivable international norm," as well as several U.N. resolutions, and for ignoring the Lebanese government. "You cannot have people with one foot in politics and one foot in terror," Rice told reporters.

Hezbollah is on the U.S. list of terrorist organizations, but the group, whose name means "party of God," has been elected to parliament in four democratic elections since 1992 and would be hard to squeeze out of Lebanon's complex political system, U.S. officials say. All 17 recognized sects are guaranteed a percentage of seats in parliament and government jobs.

"Ultimately, the question of Hezbollah has to be dealt with politically," a senior U.S. official said, speaking anonymously because of the new diplomatic effort. "If it disarms and abandons terrorism, it's fundamentally a different group."

"If we get rid of the missiles, then we have solved the problem of Israel," a senior European official said, "and Hezbollah will continue to exist as a political force."

Israel Will Accept a Disarmed Hezbollah

[Shammu]

Hezbollah eager to take on Israelis

By Dean Yates

AL QUDS: Hezbollah ambushes that have killed six Israeli soldiers in southern Lebanon suggest the Israeli army, which appears poised for a massive ground invasion, will face a bloody fight driving the militia back from the frontier.

The guerrillas have spent much of the time since Israel withdrew from Lebanon in 2000 following 22 years of occupation preparing for battle. Its fighters and arsenal are well dispersed in the region’s mountainous terrain, experts said.

“We are talking about hundreds of guerrillas, all of them well-trained, intensely motivated, and fighting autonomous of Hezbollah’s high command,” said Alon Ben-David, Israel analyst for Jane’s Defence Weekly.

“They are deployed in a Viet Cong-style network of trenches and tunnels, which allow them to emerge for quick Katyusha (rocket) or gun attacks and take cover again.”

The army confirmed on Friday that four soldiers were killed and several wounded in fierce clashes with Hezbollah on Thursday. Fighting took place in the village of Maroun al-Ras, near where two soldiers were killed on Wednesday.

Israel’s army has said it killed four Hezbollah fighters.

Despite the casualties, signs of a ground invasion are getting stronger with Israel’s offensive in its second week.

Israel warned residents to leave southern Lebanon on Friday while the army ordered thousands of reserves to report for duty.

Israel launched the campaign after Hezbollah captured two Israel soldiers and killed eight in a cross-border raid.

One Israeli political source said the casualties this week would concern the army but were unlikely to dent its determination to dislodge the guerrillas. Israel wants to drive Hezbollah out of southern Lebanon to end rocket attacks.

What has raised concern in Israel is that the forces already taking casualties while conducting small-scale ground attacks in southern Lebanon to destroy Hezbollah bunkers are highly trained elite units.

And despite more than a week of heavy artillery barrages and air strikes, Hezbollah rockets keep hitting northern Israel, though the number of missiles has dropped off.

The Maariv newspaper quoted senior military sources as saying Hezbollah’s forces in southern Lebanon had not been harmed significantly by the operations.

The guerrillas in the south are battle hardened, having largely forced Israel out of the country after a long conflict that cost the lives of 1,000 soldiers and thousands of Lebanese.

Hezbollah eager to take on Israelis

[Shammu]

Middle East conflict will have consequences for Iran
(AFP)

23 July 2006

TEHERAN - Hezbollah’s battle against Israel has served as a timely reminder of Iran’s clout in the Middle East, and diplomats and analysts say the Islamic republic is set to reap or suffer the consequences of the conflict.

Although Iran’s leadership has denied any military or financial links to its fellow hardline Shiites in Lebanon, regime officials have for the past week been heaping praise on Hezbollah’s “heroes”  for their “great job”.

“Hezbollah and other groups standing against world oppression have been and are under the influence of the late Imam Khomeini’s teachings and the Islamic revolution,” Kazem Jalali, a prominent Iranian MP, said of what he viewed as the legacy of Iran’s revolutionary founder.

“So there is moral relationship between them and the Islamic republic of Iran,” he told AFP, while being at pains not to cross the semantic line separating father-figure from financier.

But in Israel and many Western capitals, Hezbollah’s capture of two Israeli soldiers—the event which kicked off the assault on Lebanon—is viewed as being connected to a decision to refer the crisis over Iran’s disputed nuclear drive back to the UN Security Council.

Western diplomats say Iran has in recent months underlined its influence across the region in messages that had been taken as a warning not to confront the country’s atomic programme.

“The nuclear case has no relation to the events in Lebanon,”  replied Jalali, a member of the Iranian parliament’s national security and foreign policy commission.

“The real issue was Zionists trying to divert attention from its killing of innocent people and inhuman acts.”

Mohammad Sadeq al-Hosseini, an independent political analyst, suggested Iran was playing a risky game—even though he argued the Iran-Hezbollah relationship may not be as simple as both sides in the dispute claim.

“Hezbollah is holding the initiative, and it is Hezbollah that is drawing Iran towards itself rather than vice-versa,” he said.

“If Hezbollah wins, Iran can manoeuvre more on its nuclear case. If Hezbollah is weakened, Iran’s position will also be weakened.”

Analyst Hamid Jalaeipour, from Iran’s sidelined reformist camp, also viewed Lebanon as a proxy battlegound for Iran’s stand-off with the West.

“The United States, Britain and Israel are fighting the Islamic republic in Lebanon. In the short term they are aiming to paralyse Hezbollah... but they want to weaken Iran’s position in the region,”  he said.

“Whether they will be able to do it or not is a different story, but I do not think the current situation is in Iran’s favour,”  Jalaeipour added, underlining fears the conflict may yet widen.

This is view shared by many Western diplomats in Teheran.

“The danger is that more and more decision-makers in Washington and elsewhere draw the conclusion that Iran is the main problem in the region and that action needs to be taken,” a senior Western diplomat told AFP.

“Iran could come out in a stronger position if it dons the cap of a mediator, as it has been asked to do,” another Western envoy said. “If not, the prospect of a showdown between Iran and the Americans is sadly more likely.”

But if the commentaries in Iran’s hardline papers are anything to go by, the Islamic republic appears to be in no mood to settle for much less than Israel’s defeat.

“The myth of an undefeatable Israel has been thrown into the trash can of history by Hezbollah,” trumpeted Hossein Shariatmadari in an editorial for his hardline Kayhan newspaper.

“If there is ceasefire tomorrow, Israel will have witnessed an historical and huge defeat incomprehensible for any of the Zionists,” said the editor, who is appointed by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

“The United States is trying to impose a resolution on our nuclear case... and has unleashed its rabid dog named the Zionist regime,” noted the equally ultra-conservative Jomhuri Eslami daily.

“But the Islamic republic of Iran has shown it will stand against the world oppressor with all its power until a time when it is able to wipe out the Great Satan in the region, namely the Zionist regime.”

Middle East conflict will have consequences for Iran

[Shammu]

Agreement on cessation of Qassam fire reached

Reports from Gaza claim Palestinian organizations agree to Hamas initiative to stop shooting Qassams. Islamic Jihad and others express dissent
Ali Waked

Palestinian sources reported that organizations in the Gaza Strip came to an agreement Saturday afternoon to stop shooting Qassam rockets towards Israel. That having been said, a number of Palestinian organizations, including the Islamic Jihad and armed groups aligned with the Fatah said that they have no intention of stopping the barrages.

Pursuant to a number of meetings of the high committee of Palestinian factions in Gaza, organizations allegedly agreed to adopt a Hamas initiative declaring a cessation of Qassam rocket launchings "in order not to give Israel an excuse to continue the escalation of operations against Palestinians."

The committee decided that, in the event of an Israel offensive following cessation of rocket fire, it will be a Palestinian prerogative to attack Israel. The committee further agreed not to publish the terms of the decision in order to prevent internal political responses and "in order to prevent Israel from creating a provocation that would force Palestinians to violate these terms."

In Gaza, despite statements of dissent by the Islamic Jihad and other organizations, sources hope that the agreement will go into effect by Saturday at midnight. Spokespersons from all organizations have refused to confirm or deny the existence of such an agreement or the veracity of the aforementioned terms.

Agreement on cessation of Qassam fire reached

[Shammu]

Injured Lebanese woman to be treated in Israel

MDA ambulance takes injured Lebanese woman from Maroun al-Ras to Safed hospital. Hospital deputy director-general: Most likely hurt by bullet wound to the chest
Miri Chason

Saturday, for the first time since the onset of the conflict on the northern border, a Magen David Adom rescue team brought an injured Lebanese woman to the Ziv Hospital in Safed. IDF forces transferred her to the MDA team at the Avivim crossing on the Israel-Lebanon border, at which point she was immediately taken to the hospital, accompanied by her son.

Lebanese woman treated in Israel

Dr Shapira Calin, the hospital's deputy director-general, said, "the woman sustained an injury to the chest, most likely from a bullet. She was treated by MDA crew members in the field, and is now in our trauma unit. Her condition is moderate to severe; we have not yet completed all of the requisite exams to determine her exact condition."

The woman was evacuated from Maroun al-Ras, where it is unclear whether she was shot by IDF or Hizbullah forces. Dr. Naftali Hadas, who received the patient, said that she is injured in the chest and back. "She was having trouble breathing and one of her lungs wasn't working. We left Safed and drove towards her, meeting IDF forces in Avivim."

"When we got to her, we saw that her condition was severe. She wasn't breathing from one lung. We treated her on the side of the road and her condition improved. She even began talking and said that she was in pain," Hadas continued.

Injured Lebanese woman to be treated in Israel

[Shammu]

Peres advances law to compensate northern residents

Since onset of fight, offices, factories and businesses in north have shut down. How will employees and companies survive the financial crisis? Vice Premier Peres to propose compensation law in Cabinet Sunday
Ronny Sofer

Vice Premier Shimon Peres will initiate legislation during Sunday’s cabinet meeting regarding compensation of roughly a million residents of the north and Haifa for damages incurred due to the war in Lebanon. The issue will be the central focus of this week’s cabinet meeting.

If the initiative is accepted, northern residents will be reimbursed for missed workdays and the closure of businesses, companies and factories. “The State of Israel is obligated to strengthen residents of the north, who are sitting in their shelters in accordance with the orders of the Home Front Command,” said Peres, who heads the Ministry for the Development of the Negev and Galilee.

For the twelfth day in a row, Israelis in the north have been confined to bomb shelters and secured rooms, in keeping with IDF directives. As a result, hundreds of thousands cannot reach their workplaces, and thousands of factories and businesses are not functioning. The financial losses could tally in the billions of shekels. Peres will ask his colleagues in the government to pass urgent legislation in the Knesset on the compensation issue, which will be raised in a special plenum meeting Tuesday.

PMO: Payments can't bankrupt government

Peres will propose that the law be advanced with the mutual agreement of the cabinet, Histadrut workers’ union and employers. On Sunday Peres plans to share with cabinet members the gist of the hundreds of appeals and phone calls to his office by distressed council heads, employers and workers in the north. According to the vice premier, many businesses are in danger of collapsing. Likewise, no solution has yet been found regarding reimbursing workers who cannot work due to the security situation.

Officials at the Prime Minister’s Office told Ynet that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert was well aware of the financial crisis of the northern communities. The prime minister appointed the PMO Director General Raanan Dinor to head an inter-ministry team to deal with the issue. The aim is to compensate workers for wages lost on days they were prevented from working. With that, they clarified that the government cannot provide full, sweeping reimbursement for every claim of damages. “

Compensation will be given in the future, after a thorough examination of each and every claim. Civilians will also need to understand that the government can’t be bankrupted,” officials said.

The Finance Ministry said that Finance Minister Abraham Hirchson was establishing a special committee to suggest solutions for the payment of missed wages. Further, the ministry instructed that full wages be paid to government employees in the northern district for July, even if they missed workdays.

Peres advances law to compensate northern residents

[Shammu]

 French DM calls for end to Israel-Hezbollah conflict
2006-07-23 11:44:54

Special report: Israel-Lebanon conflicts   

    ABU DHABI, July 22 (Xinhua) -- Visiting French Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie on Saturday called for a swift end to the ongoing bombing in Lebanon and the conflict between Israel and Hezbollah.

    Alliot-Marie, who arrived here earlier in the day for talks with senior officials of the United Arab Emirates (UAE), told a press conference that continued fighting would result in mounting civilian and military casualties on both sides and more infrastructure damage, and would make it more difficult to restore the already fragile Middle East peace process.

    The ministers made the remarks as Israel's air raids in Lebanon entered its 11th day on Saturday. Israel launched the air campaign after the Lebanon-based Hezbollah kidnapped two Israeli soldiers and killed eight others in a cross-border attack on July 12.

    More than 300 people, mostly Lebanese cilivians, have been killed in the conflict and thousands of foreigners evacuated from the country.

    France was most likely to participate in a proposed international force to be deployed along Israel-Lebanon borders, the minister added.

    French President Jacques Chirac proposed the establishment of the force at the Group of Eight (G8) summit last week.

    Alliot-Marie also said France and the United States differed on how to resolve the current crisis, with Paris favoring a halt to the fighting as the first step and Washington maintaining that relevant issues must be addressed before a ceasefire.

    Before the press conference, Alliot-Marie met with UAE Prime Minister Sheikh Muhammad bin Rashid Al-Maktoum and other UAE officials.

French DM calls for end to Israel-Hezbollah conflict

[Shammu]

KARACHI: US, Israel held responsible for ME crisis

By Our Reporter


KARACHI, July 22: Representatives of civil society organisations, peace activist, thinkers, writers and analysts have expressed serious concern over derailment of Pakistan-India peace process and strongly condemned the continuing Israeli aggression against Lebanon and Palestinians.

Representatives of Pakistan Peace Coalition, Pakistan-India People's Forum for Peace and Democracy, Pen for Peace, Irtiqa Institute for Social Sciences, HRCP, Women Action Forum, Pakistan Institute of Labour Education and Research, labour activists and senior journalists attended the meeting.

In a statement issued on Saturday, it was observed that reaction of the Indian government to the Mumbai train blasts and subsequent cancellation of foreign secretary-level meeting for a composite dialogue without having any concrete evidence or any serious investigations was a premature step which had caused a major setback to a feeble peace process between the two countries.

The participants noted that the opportunity was lost to review progress on Siachin and Sir Creek and other bilateral realm by calling off the secretary level talks by India. It was also noted that these talks had been stalled after the Indian military had openly advised against scaling down from Siachin.

In addition, the meeting also expressed concern over cancellation of the visits by Indian parliamentarians to Pakistan and a visit of Pakistani delegation of businessmen and industrialists to India and observed that such retrogressive steps would definitely serve the cause of anti-peace elements of both countries and consequently embolden extremists.

Stressing that the issue of terrorism in the region can only be dealt with through closer cooperation between the two governments, the peace activists pressed both India and Pakistan to observe restraint and work to strengthen peace process instead of indulging in anti-people and anti-peace exchanges.

It was observed that the decision of Pakistani government not to follow the agreements of SAFTA in its recently announced trade policy would unnecessarily delay the development of Saarc as a real instrument of regional cooperation.

The meeting also reviewed the evolving situation in the Middle East following Israeli attack on Lebanon and Palestine and observed that peace process in that region was totally destroyed and it appeared that the latest developments were part of a long-term hegemonic designs of both the US and Israel and held them responsible of the situation.

The participants were also critical of the US policy of opposing immediate cease fire in Lebanon and Gaza and for abetting and condoning Israeli brutality.

The meeting unanimously decided to hold a rally against Israeli aggression on Lebanon and Palestine in collaboration with Anti-War Coalition. The date for the rally will be finalised in consultation with the coalition representatives.

KARACHI: US, Israel held responsible for ME crisis

[Shammu]

Rice heads to region, could seek to pry Syria from Iran
(DPA)

23 July 2006


WASHINGTON - With the Israeli offensive in Lebanon reaching its 12th day, a new diplomatic push for resolution was under way, with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice slated to depart Sunday for the region and Germany’s foreign minister already there.

Rice was expected to leave Sunday after meeting with top Saudi officials at the White House along with US President George W Bush to discuss the expanding crisis.

One possible strategy of Rice’s mission in the Middle East could be to try to pry Syria away from its close relations with Iran, The New York Times reported online in its Sunday edition.

The newspaper quoted Bush administration officials as saying they planned to urge Saudi Arabia and Egypt to pressure Syria to turn against the Hezbollah militia that now operates with backing from Damascus and Iran out of southern Lebanon.

“We think that the Syrians will listen to their Arab neighbours on this rather than us, so it’s all a question of how well that can be orchestrated,” the New York Times quoted one official as saying.

The initiative comes as Israel troops were amassing on the Lebanon border for a possible invasion. The army claimed on Saturday it had ousted Hezbollah militia from the strategically important border village of Maroun al-Ras in southern Lebanon. Hezbollah declared it had destroyed three Israeli tanks.

Israel dropped leaflets on Southern Lebanon, warning residents to evacuate.

Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and the head of the Saudi National Security Council, Prince Bandar, are to be present at Sunday’s White House meeting. The meeting took place at the request of the Syrians, the Times said.

Saudi Arabia has condemned Hezbollah’s abduction of two Israeli soldiers, which sparked the large scale Israeli assault that led to the crisis, but also faces increasing criticism in the Arab world for its stance.

In the first direct US diplomatic initiative, Rice is to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas Monday. She will also travel to Rome to meet with the “Lebanon core group,” which consists of US, UN, European and Middle East officials.

Earlier Saturday, Bush made clear in his weekly radio address that ending the spiralling conflict could only be achieved by ”confronting” militant group Hezbollah, as well as Syria and Iran which support it.

“Secretary Rice will make it clear that resolving the crisis demands confronting the terrorist group that launched the attacks and the nations that support it,” Bush said in a radio address Saturday morning.

On Friday, Rice insisted she will not accept a solution that will return the region to the status quo. The US does not want a settlement that leaves an armed Hezbollah in a future position that would allow it provoke a crisis like the one that erupted last week and left the region in turmoil.

German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier met Saturday in Egypt with Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul-Gheit and was to meet with Olmert and Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni Sunday.

A United Nations delegation and European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana have already met Israeli officials over the past week.

After being briefed by the UN envoys, UN Secretary General Kofi Annan said on Thursday that the outlook for an imminent ceasefire was dim. He has called for a humanitarian ceasefire to allow help for the Lebanese people trapped by an Israeli blockade. An estimated 300 Lebanese, mostly civilians, have been killed by Israeli attacks.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to come to Washington on Friday, the second time in less than two months, to consult on efforts to secure a lasting peace in the Middle East.

Earlier Saturday, Bush, who is at his home in Crawford, Texas, until Sunday, held a phone discussion with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan about the Lebanese crisis.

Also on Saturday, The New York Times reported that the Bush administration had sped up its delivery of precision-guided bombs to Israel, as part of a purchase it made last year.

Rice heads to region, could seek to pry Syria from Iran

[Shammu]

 Syria accuses Washington of blocking talks with it
2006-07-23 10:04:40

    LONDON, July 22 (Xinhua) -- The Syrian government on Saturday accused the United States of obstructing others from talking to it over the Middle East crisis.

    "The United States is not only not conducting dialogue with Syria, but it is preventing others from having a conversation and dialogue with Syria," Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mukdad told Britain's Sky News.

    But Mukdad expressed Syria's willingness to talk with Washington. "It has been Syria's ongoing position that we are ready to have a dialogue with the United States."

    "We want a dialogue based on (the) respect (of) mutual interest without giving instructions," he said.

    The diplomat listed the ongoing Israeli occupation of territories of Lebanon, Palestine and Syria as the lingering problems in the region that should be dealt with comprehensively, saying that otherwise "there will be no solution to the Middle East crisis."

    Mukdad's appearance on Sky News came on the same day that U.S. President George W. Bush accused Iran and Syria of posing a threatto the Middle East by supporting the Lebanese militia Hezbollah.

Syria accuses Washington of blocking talks with it

[Shammu]

U.S. hopes Saudis, Egypt influence Syria

Jul. 22, 2006 at 4:06PM

The Bush administration hopes to use Egypt and Saudi Arabia to convince Syria to cut its ties to Hezbollah, The New York Times reports.

      "We think that the Syrians will listen to their Arab neighbors on this rather than us, so it's all a question of how well that can be orchestrated," a senior official told the newspaper.

      The United States has few ties to Syria at the moment. U.S. President George Bush withdrew Ambassador Margaret Scobey last year after former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was killed in a bombing in Beirut.

      Bush planned to meet Sunday with Saudi Foreign Minister Saud al-Faisal and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, a former ambassador to the United States and head of the Saudi National Security Council.

      Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has postponed her trip to the Middle East to attend the meeting.

      Saudi Arabia, Egypt and some other Muslim countries have been critical of Hezbollah for involving Lebanon in a war with Israel.
     
U.S. hopes Saudis, Egypt influence Syria