Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

Debate delayed on int'l force in Lebanon
herb keinon, ap and JPost staff, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 31, 2006

The debate over the establishment of a multi-national armed force southern Lebanon to quell the violence in the region, was postponed by the UN on Monday until an unspecified later date.

The UN will not convene on the matter "until the political picture in the region becomes clear," said a UN official.

On Monday morning US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice issued a statement in which she welcomed the halt in aerial attacks, urging a "lasting settlement" in the conflict between Lebanon and Israel through a UN Security Council resolution this week.

According to Rice, the deal should include the deployment of the international armed force under the control and in conjunction with the Lebanese Armed Forces; the disarmament of terrorist groups; and the deployment of LAF on the Syrian border so as to prevent the transfer of weapons to terrorist groups from that country.

Debate delayed on int'l force in Lebanon

[Shammu]

Gazans also want multinational force
Khaled Abu Toameh, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 31, 2006

The Palestinian Authority is trying to win Arab
backing for the deployment of an international force along the border between the Gaza Strip and Israel, a senior PA official said on Monday.

The official said PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, who is currently on a tour of several Arab countries, has raised the idea of dispatching a multi-national force to the Gaza Strip. Abbas's initiative comes in the wake of US efforts to persuade several countries to join an armed force that would be sent to southern Lebanon.

"We also need international troops to protect us against Israeli aggression," the official told The Jerusalem Post. "If the international community wants to send troops to patrol the border between Israel and Lebanon, there's no reason why a similar force should not be deployed in the Gaza Strip."

According to the official, Abbas raised the proposal during his recent meeting with US Secretary of State Condaleeza Rice, but did not receive a "clear" answer. Abbas has now decided to bring the plan before the leaders of several Arab countries with the hope that they would exert pressure on the US to comply.

Abbas's tour has taken him so far to Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar - countries that are considered close allies of Washington in the Middle East.

The idea of dispatching international troops in the Gaza Strip was first raised by former PA Chairman Yasser Arafat shortly after the beginning of the intifada in 2000. Arafat was hoping to internationalize the conflict by dragging as many countries as possible into the region. His call fell on deaf ears, especially in the Arab world, whose governments did nothing to promote the idea.

Abbas is also hoping that the presence of international troops in the Gaza Strip would force the world to pay more attention to what is happening in the PA-controlled territories. The Palestinians have expressed concern that that the war in Lebanon has shifted attention from events in the West Bank and Gaza Strip as most foreign journalists have traveled to the North and Lebanon.

Abbas's proposal has won the support of the Hamas
government, whose leaders in the Gaza Strip believe that the presence of a multi-national force there would deter Israel from pursuing its military operations against Palestinian militiamen.

Meanwhile, Abbas is said to be eager to resolve the case of kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Shalit, who is being held by Hamas and other groups in the Gaza Strip, independently from the two IDF soldiers who are in the hands of Hizbullah.

Abbas fears that a joint package, whereby Hamas and Hizbullah would release the three soldiers in exchange forPalestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails, would boost the two groups' popularity and undermine his position.

Another PA official said that Abbas has been trying to convince Hamas to hand over Shalit to the PA security forces in the Gaza Strip in return for Arab guarantees that Israel would release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners in the near future. "Unfortunately, Abbas's efforts have failed so far, "the official told the Post. "I'm not sure it would be good for Hamas and the Palestinians to coordinate with Hizbullah."

Like most of the Arab governments, Abbas and the leaders of his Fatah party are worried about growing support for Hizbullah and its secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, on the Palestinian street. In the past few days thousands of Palestinians, including members of Fatah, have demonstrated in support of Nasrallah, urging him to bomb Tel Aviv.

In yet another disturbing sign for Abbas, dozens of private television and radio stations in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have begun broadcasting most of the programs aired on Hizbullah's Al-Manar TV. The stations also air songs praising Nasrallah and calling on Arab and Muslim armies to
destroy Israel. In some Palestinian communities, posters of Nasrallah and Hizbullah's yellow flags have outnumbered those of Palestinian "martyrs" and leaders.

"Nasrallah has become a important symbol for the Palestinians," said a Bethlehem-based journalist. "Some people have even begun referring to him as one of the great Muslim warriors in modern history."

Gazans also want multinational force

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Syria opposes int'l force for Lebanon
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Jul. 31, 2006

Syria has told Egypt's foreign minister it opposed the creation of any new international force in Lebanon, but would not be averse to the expansion of the current UN force there, widely regarded as ineffectual, officials said Monday.

"The Syrians are talking about expanding the UNIFIL," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo, referring to the widely criticized UN force created in 1978 to restore stability in the area.

He acknowledged to reporters that Syria did oppose the sending of any new international force, as the United States and others are pushing, to police the border region.

Privately, diplomats in Cairo said that Aboul Gheit had advised Syrian President Bashar Assad, during a meeting Sunday in Damascus, that Syria should not voice opposition if an international force was sent to southern Lebanon.

"Egypt is trying to convince Assad not to stand in the way of a diplomatic solution," said one diplomat.

Syria opposes int'l force for Lebanon

[Shammu]

Olmert Briefs British PM Blair
01:01 Aug 01, '06 / 7 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Prime Minister Ehud Olmert spoke on the phone with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, briefing him on the ongoing IDF military offensive in Lebanon.

Olmert told Blair that a ceasefire may be actualized at the same time an international peacekeeping force is deployed in southern Lebanon.

Members of the prime minister’s staff indicated the two leaders agreed to remain in close contact regarding the ongoing military offensive against Hizbullah.

Olmert Briefs British PM Blair

[Shammu]

Iran defiant, nuclear crisis set to escalate
Stefan Smith
AFP
July 31, 2006

TEHRAN --  The crisis over Iran's nuclear program looked set to escalate this week, with Tehran vowing to defy and retaliate against a tough resolution expected to be adopted by the UN Security Council.

A prominent MP warned Monday that Iran could halt cooperation with inspectors from the UN's International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) and even quit the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

"If the United Nations adopts a resolution, it could lead to examining suspension of Iran's membership to the NPT and revising Iran's cooperation with the IAEA," Alaeddin Borujerdi, head of the parliamentary national security commission, told Mehr news agency.

Iran's leadership has also signaled that Israel's attacks against the Palestinian territories and Lebanon have undermined the chances of a diplomatic solution to the row by putting the Islamic republic in no mood for compromise.

President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that the Middle East crisis had made it "clear that international organizations have become a tool in the hand of domineering powers."

"The incidents in Lebanon and Palestine have influenced our examination," he said of Iran's consideration of an international offer of incentives in exchange for a halt of sensitive atomic work.

Iran is a major backer of the Palestinian militant group Hamas and the Lebanese Shia movement Hizbullah, but denies providing arms.

"The government is determined to fully exploit the rights of the Iranian nation," Ahmadinejad said, underlining Tehran's continued unwillingness to accept the terms of the international offer.

Iran says that it only wants to enrich uranium to the levels needed for reactor fuel and that this is a right enshrined by the nuclear NPT. But the process can be extended to make weapons.

"Nuclear energy is clean and renewable, and all nations have the right to use it," the president said Sunday.

With Iran accused of trying to buy time, the Security Council is expected this week to pass a draft resolution that gives Tehran until August 31 to halt enrichment. A refusal to comply would prompt discussions on economic and political sanctions.

"By putting pressure and trying to intimidate Iran, no country will achieve anything. On the contrary, the situation will worsen," foreign ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi warned Sunday.

Iran has already ignored a non-binding Security Council demand to halt enrichment.

"If tomorrow they pass a resolution against Iran, the package will not be on the agenda any more," he said of the international offer, which the five Security Council members plus Germany hope will still be accepted.

When asked to elaborate on what specific measures that Iran might take, Asefi replied: "They know what I am talking about."

They have also played up Iran's regional clout and oil wealth, and Asefi said that "issuing this resolution will worsen the crisis in the region."

Diplomats close to the issue said that the expected UN resolution will mark a turning point in the three-year-old crisis, which kicked off when the UN's atomic watchdog sounded the alarm over nearly two decades of undeclared nuclear work in Iran.

"The Iranians are aware that defying a Security Council resolution is a very serious thing," said a Tehran-based diplomat, who asked not to be named.

"But for the time being they appear to be digging in for confrontation, and there is no indication that the position will change anytime soon," he said.

Another senior envoy said that he saw little chance of Iran complying with the expected resolution.

"I think Iran will wait to see what kind of sanctions it is likely to face if it ignores the deadline. We are moving into a period of brinksmanship here," he said.

Iran defiant, nuclear crisis set to escalate

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Qatar accuses some Arab states of backing Israel

Qatar's foreign minister on Monday accused some Arab states of supporting the Israeli offensive on Lebanon to dismantle Hizbullah. Speaking to Al Jazeera television, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jabr al-Thani, whose country is a major US ally and has low-level ties with Israel, declined to name any country.

"I am surprised at the Arab agreement ... For Israel to end this issue and end the presence of Hizbollah in this region. There was more or less agreement from some Arab states that Israel completes its mission before a ceasefire," he said.

Qatar accuses some Arab states of backing Israel

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The Growing Dispute over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount
By Gary Lane
CBN News - International

CBNNews.com –- JERUSALEM -- The Bible says it's a city chosen by God, the place where He put His name, where King David reigned and his son Solomon built the first temple.

It's the most sacred city in the world for Christians and Jews, the third holiest in the Islamic faith.

Tens of thousands of Christians make pilgrimage there each year to walk the streets where Jesus once walked, to see where He was crucified and the tomb where He rose from the dead.

For Jews, the Wailing Wall is sacred. They come to Jerusalem from throughout Israel and around the world to pray at the last remnant of the second temple, a temple destroyed by the Romans in 72 A.D.

Muslims conquered Jerusalem in 637, and shortly thereafter, built the Dome of the Rock shrine on the Temple Mount. They believe a rock located beneath the center of the Dome is the spot where Mohammed ascended into heaven.

Muslims once faced in the direction of Jerusalem when they prayed. They now face toward Mecca -- the place of the annual Haj, the location of the Kabbah -- the sacred altar where Abraham nearly sacrificed his son.

But some Jews and Christians believe that the event may have taken place somewhere near Jerusalem's Temple Mount on Mount Moriah.

Contention over the past and future status of the Temple Mount could potentially lead to a more explosive war in the Middle East, this time over Jerusalem. A group called the Temple Mount Faithful wants to rebuild the temple in the area.

But Muslims worship on the Temple Mount at the al-Aqsa Mosque. They insist that Solomon's Temple was not located here, and Jews have no right to the area.

Jews say Muslims have conducted unauthorized excavations beneath the mosque, digs that are intentionally destroying temple artifacts and exterminating evidence of Jewish history in Jerusalem.

Enter author Joel Rosenberg and his newest novel The Copper Scroll.  It's a book based on the true discovery in 1956 of another Dead Sea Scroll. This scroll reveals how billions of dollars of undiscovered treasures remain hidden in the Judean hills and beneath the city of Jerusalem itself.

Rosenberg's book comes at a time when Israel is fighting for its survival, and when a nuclear- ambitious Iran declares that Israel should be wiped off the map.

The Growing Dispute over Jerusalem’s Temple Mount

[Shammu]

Israel ready to swap 2 Lebanese prisoners for IDF soldiers
By Aluf Benn and Shlomo Shamir

Israel will release two Lebanese prisoners in return for the two soldiers abducted by Hezbollah, as part of a cease-fire agreement, government and defense officials said on Monday.

The sources added that the UN Security Council would call for a cease-fire in Lebanon on Friday, and it could take effect as early as Saturday.

Alternatively, the fighting might continue for a few more days.

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Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told British Prime Minister Tony Blair that as soon as an international force deploys along the Israel-Lebanon and Lebanon-Syria borders, "it will be possible to implement a cease-fire."

Immediately after soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser were captured, Olmert said that Israel would not negotiate a prisoner exchange for their release  a position he also took following the abduction of Israel Defense Forces soldier Gilad Shalit in the Gaza Strip. Olmert's position received international support in the concluding statement issued by the G-8 summit, which called for the unconditional return of all Israeli captives.

However, with the fighting still ongoing, government and military sources said recently that Israel would find it difficult to insist on this position in negotiating a cease-fire.

The sources said that Israel would apparently agree to release Abu Amra Mamad, convicted of weapons possession, plus one illegal alien. It will not agree to release Palestinians. A government source added that Israel would also refuse to release Samir Kuntar, who murdered the Haran family and a police officer in Nahariya in 1979. In the last prisoner exchange with Hezbollah, the "Tennenbaum deal" of January 2004, it was agreed that Kuntar would be released only in exchange for information about missing airman Ron Arad.

On Saturday, Olmert rejected a proposal by U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that Israel agree to discuss a withdrawal from Shaba Farms, on the slopes of Mount Hermon, as a gesture to strengthen the Lebanese government headed by Fouad Siniora. Olmert told Rice that there was no reason for an Israeli concession on Shaba, since Israel has already completely fulfilled the UN's demand that it withdraw from Lebanon  a fact affirmed by the Security Council in 2000.

In his talks with U.S. President George W. Bush and French President Jacques Chirac a few weeks ago, Olmert signaled a willingness to discuss Shaba to facilitate the implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1559, which calls for disarming Hezbollah and deploying the Lebanese army
in the south. However, his position changed after the outbreak of war in the north.

Monday, Rice met with Defense Minister Amir Peretz before winding up her visit in Jerusalem and returning to Washington. The two discussed a suspension of Israel Air Force attacks and efforts to ease the humanitarian situation in Lebanon.

Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni made a round of phone calls to her European Union counterparts and Security Council members Monday, ahead of a meeting of EU foreign ministers today and Security Council discussions later this week. Livni told them that Israel should not be pressured into an immediate cease-fire, and the harsh pictures from Israel's bombing of Qana on Sunday should not distract attention from the main goal  implementation of Resolution 1559.

Meanwhile, differences of opinion emerged yesterday during preliminary talks among the U.S., France and other Security Council members regarding the priorities for a cease-fire.

Lebanon has asked to express its position during the deliberations, and a senior minister allied with Prime Minister Fouad Siniora is expected in New York.

Lebanon on Monday demanded that Israel agree to an immediate ceasefire as the two nations sparred at a special UN Security Council meeting on the new Middle East crisis.

A draft resolution is to be proposed by France, although sources at UN Headquarters said that the U.S. is also considering proposing a resolution of its own. The differences of opinion revolve mainly around the centrality of a cease-fire and when it should take effect.

France is demanding an immediate cease-fire as a central goal, saying that this would enable implementation of Resolution 1559 and the deployment of an international force. However, the U.S. wants a resolution designed to advance a number of elements that would form the basis for a long-term cease-fire.

UN sources said on Monday that the final draft of the resolution would not be ready before at least the end of the week. A western diplomatic source said that the Qana incident had created a fluid situation that made it "difficult to predict developments."

Israel ready to swap 2 Lebanese prisoners for IDF soldiers

[Shammu]

Syria tells Egypt it opposes international force

Syria has told Egypt's foreign minister it opposes the creation of any new international force in Lebanon, but would not be averse to the expansion of the current UN Force there, widely regarded as ineffectual, officials said Monday.

"The Syrians are talking about expanding the UNIFIL," Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit told reporters in Cairo, referring to the widely criticized UN Force created in 1978 to restore stability in the area.

Syria tells Egypt it opposes international force

Yup that way they can run all over the country again.

[Shammu]

Israel rejects pressure to end Lebanon war

By Nadim Ladki Mon Jul 31, 4:14 PM ET

BEIRUT (Reuters) - Israel rejected mounting international pressure on Monday to end its war against Hizbollah and launched a new incursion into Lebanon, as world powers squabbled over the urgency of a ceasefire.

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said at the end of a trip to Israel that a ceasefire could be achieved this week. But despite an international outcry over an air strike on Sunday that killed 54 civilians, most of them children, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said there would be no ceasefire for now.

"The fighting continues. There is no ceasefire and there will not be any ceasefire in the coming days," Olmert told a gathering of northern Israeli mayors, to sustained applause.

A U.N. official said a meeting scheduled for Monday on a new peacekeeping force for Lebanon had been delayed "until there is more political clarity" on the path ahead in the 20-day-old war.

Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, whose country is a main backer of Hizbollah, was meeting French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy in Beirut on Monday evening for talks on the crisis. Douste-Blazy said it was important to maintain contacts with Tehran to try to resolve the conflict.

Civilians fled battered villages in southern Lebanon after Israel said it had agreed partially to halt air strikes for 48 hours, and aid convoys headed into the area to deliver supplies.

Rescue workers found 49 bodies buried for days in collapsed buildings or inside destroyed vehicles, medical sources said.

The Israeli military said it had launched a new ground incursion into Lebanon in the Aita al-Shaab area. Hizbollah said its guerrillas were fiercely resisting the advance.

NO END TO BOMBING

Besides its announcement of a partial 48-hour suspension of bombing, Israel said it was giving a 24-hour window to allow aid workers to reach the worst hit areas and residents to flee.

But Israeli jets bombed targets in southern Lebanon, and the United Nations said access had not improved.

"Let's be clear about this. There was fighting today in south Lebanon and there were Hizbollah rocket attacks. We don't have a cessation of hostilities and we don't have a cessation of aerial bombardments," spokesman Khaled Mansour said.

At the United Nations, U.N. emergency relief coordinator Jan Egeland said Israel had given no information on the scope and timing of any pause in the bombing.

Israeli artillery shells hit two villages. An air strike on a Lebanese army vehicle killed one soldier and wounded three.

At the main border crossing into Lebanon from Syria, Israeli drones fired at two trucks and a third truck was destroyed by a warplane, security sources said. Four Lebanese customs officials and the three drivers were wounded.

DIVISIONS OVER CEASEFIRE

Rice said a ceasefire could be forged this week. But Israel said the war was not over.

"If an immediate ceasefire is declared, the extremists will rear their heads anew," Defense Minister Amir Peretz told a heated parliamentary debate in which four Israeli Arab lawmakers were escorted out for heckling. One called Peretz a murderer.

Despite its pause in air raids from early on Monday, Israel said it may still use aerial strikes to target Hizbollah leaders and rocket launchers and back up ground operations.

Olmert said a ceasefire could be implemented immediately after an international force arrived in Lebanon.

But French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin said an international force could be deployed only once a ceasefire and a clear political road map had been agreed. France and Germany welcomed Israel's suspension of most air strikes but said it was not enough. Russia also demanded an immediate ceasefire.

But the United States, which blames Hizbollah for the war, is refusing to back calls for an immediate halt to the fighting. President Bush repeated that he wanted a sustainable end to the violence.

After the Qana raid Lebanon called off planned talks with Rice, telling her to secure an unconditional ceasefire first.

"As I head back to Washington, I take with me an emerging consensus on what is necessary for both an urgent ceasefire and lasting settlement. I am convinced we can achieve both this week," Rice told reporters in Jerusalem.

Hizbollah fired two shells into the northern Israeli border town of Kiryat Shmona on Monday, but nobody was wounded.

It was the first Hizbollah bombardment of Israel since Sunday evening -- a distinct lull compared to the scores of rockets they had previously fired daily.

Israel launched its onslaught on Lebanon after Hizbollah captured two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid on July 12.

At least 598 people have been killed in Lebanon, although the health minister puts the toll at 750 including bodies still buried under rubble. Fifty-one Israelis have been killed.

Israel rejects pressure to end Lebanon war

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Bush looks to U.N. for Mideast solution

By NEDRA PICKLER, Associated Press Writer 13 minutes ago

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. - President Bush acknowledged growing international pressure for an immediate Middle East cease-fire Monday but dismissed any idea of simply "stopping for the sake of stopping" without a plan for lasting peace.

Bush said the United States was working with allies for a United Nations Security Council resolution to get a "sustainable cease-fire, a cease-fire which will last" — but not necessarily anything immediate.

The U.S. also is seeking the authorization of an international force to help secure Lebanon. Bush told television interviewers that U.S. troops probably would not be deployed on the ground as a part of it, but might help with logistics or command.

"I think most nations would not see us involved, and most people understand that we're committed elsewhere," Bush said in an interview with Miami television station WPLG. "But also, however, if there's a need for some maybe logistical help or help in command-and-control, which we're good at, they may want to consider us."

Bush met Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and National Security Adviser Stephen Hadley for dinner at the White House on Monday after he returned from Florida and Rice returned from her mission to the Middle East. The Israeli attack that killed 56 civilians in Qana — the deadliest single incident in the onslaught against Hezbollah militants — prompted Rice to cut her trip short.

Earlier Monday, Bush made it clear that the U.S. position in firm support of Israel had not changed, despite the strike that heightened criticism from other nations.

The president, speaking to members of the Coast Guard in Florida, said the world must remember that the Islamic group Hezbollah started the fight and that Israel is exercising its right to defend itself.

During his speech he made no direct reference to the Qana deaths. But he said, "We mourn the loss of innocent life, both in Lebanon and in Israel."

More than 500 people have been killed in Lebanon since Israel began bombing its neighbor in an effort to weaken Hezbollah militants based there. Hezbollah has been sending rockets into northern Israel, killing 18 civilians in addition to 33 Israeli soldiers.

Asked about the Israeli attack later in an interview on Fox's "Your World with Neil Cavuto," Bush said the deaths had added pressure on Israel to stop bombing. But, he said, "stopping for the sake of stopping can be OK, except it won't address the root cause of the problem."

"Yesterday's situation was awful," Bush said. "I understand that, but it's also awful that a million Israelis are worried about rockets being fired from their neighbor to the north."

Although pro-Israel sentiment runs deep in Congress, Sen. Chuck Hagel, R-Neb., broke with the president Monday and said Israel's pounding of Lebanon was hurting America's image in the Middle East. "The sickening slaughter on both sides must end now," Hagel said. "This madness must stop."

Hagel has also been critical of the administration's Iraq policy.

The fighting began July 12, when Hezbollah captured two Israeli soldiers. The tensions overshadowed Bush's overnight trip to Florida, where he wanted to highlight his efforts to improve port security, the economy and hurricane preparedness after the disastrous response to Hurricane Katrina last year.

Bush stopped briefly at the National Hurricane Center, a room filled with maps and monitors of the hurricane zone. Christopher Landsea, a science and operations officer, told Bush of a paper he had just written that found there was not a consensus linking hurricane patterns to global warming.

The president replied, "There is a consensus you're doing good work."

Bush said it was important that people take the center's forecasts seriously, and he noted that the height of hurricane season begins next week and runs through mid-September. After a pause, National Hurricane Center Director Max Mayfield corrected him. "Actually, mid-October," Mayfield said.

Later, Bush took a half-hour boat tour of the Port of Miami to examine security improvements. Then his motorcade took him to the exclusive Gables Estates neighborhood, where he attended a private fundraiser at the home of industrial developer Armando Codina that brought in $1 million for the Republican National Committee.

Bush looks to U.N. for Mideast solution

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Talks with Syria, yes - but not now
By Itamar Rabinovich

Since Syria's military intervention in the Lebanese civil war of March 1976, a triangular relationship has replaced the bilateral ties that existed previously between Israel and Lebanon, and between Israel and Syria. The nature of this three-way relationship has undergone changes during the years, and the present war in Lebanon is to a large extent the outcome of one of them: the weakening of Syria and the effort to turn Lebanon into an Iranian frontline base.

The second Lebanon war and the manner in which it has developed give this triangle a renewed significance. In recent days, an increasing number of voices are being heard in Washington and other world capitals, calling for the inclusion of Syria in every diplomatic solution concerning the current crisis. This makes Damascus relevant and important in a Lebanese context, in ways that had all but disappeared a year ago.

Three-way equation

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The equation of Israeli-Syrian-Lebanese relations has undergone three main phases:

1976-1991: In March 1976 the Syrian army intervened in the Lebanese civil war, with Israel's tacit consent. The United States, Israel and Syria had a mutual interest in preventing the victory of the Palestinian-left coalition, and in diffusing the danger of a Syrian-Israeli war.

Early in the 1980s this situation changed. The decision by the Begin-Sharon government to enter the Peace for Galilee war also reflected the desire to push Syria out of Lebanon, and the unrealistic ambition to set up a pro-Israeli regime there. When the dust settled in 1984 Syria managed to thwart both Israel and the United States, and to reestablish its domination of Lebanon. Syria kept a quiet border in the Golan Heights and chose to conduct its conflict with Israel by aiding the Palestinian resistance organizations and Hezbollah.

1991-2000: In this decade a peace process between Israel and Syria has taken place. The Clinton Administration and four Israeli prime ministers (Yitzhak Rabin, Shimon Peres, Benjamin Netanyahu and Ehud Barak) gave priority to the "Syrian option" over the "Palestinian option" - and each one, in turn, failed. As long as negotiations with Syria have been taking place, Israel has claimed that the fundamental solution to the South Lebanon problem will be found in an agreement with Syria. This policy included a tacit acceptance of Syrian hegemony vis-a-vis Lebanon. Israel and the United States were also willing to accept a "double game" with Syria involving its continuing aid to Hezbollah and Palestinian terror organizations while it was negotiating with Israel.

Hafez Assad's approach was that efficient diplomacy must rely on force, and that one doesn't forfeit such leverage before an agreement has been accomplished. This approach was outrageous, but American and Israeli governments agreed to it, while gnashing their teeth. Syria did have a central role in creating the accord that ended Operation Accountability (1993) and Operation Grapes of Wrath (1996), which Israel instigated in reaction to Hezbollah attacks and Katyusha firings.

This phase ended with the final collapse of Syrian-Israeli negotiations in a summit between Clinton and Assad in Geneva in March 2000. Ehud Barak, prime minister at the time, made a resolution and shortly afterward carried out an independent withdrawal from Lebanon, and in so doing severed the Gordian knot of the Israeli-Syrian peace process and the South Lebanon issue in that decade.

2000-2006: These years were a time of profound changes in rapid succession. Syria, led by Bashar Assad, has weakened from within and without. Its relationship with the United States was hurt primarily as result of the double game that Assad, Jr. tried playing on the Iraqi issue. Through that, he provoked the personal animosity of George Bush and found another enemy in his administration. Lebanon became the second central issue in the U.S.-Syria relationship. In the ideological worldview of the Bush Administration, Lebanon became a key element in its campaign of democratization in the Middle East.

The expulsion of the Syrian army from Lebanon is seen as a crucial step in the rebuilding of Lebanon and its democracy. The involvement of the Assad regime in the assassination of Rafik Hariri provided the United States and its allies with a pretext for removing the Syrian army from Lebanon.

At a certain point toward the end of 2005, it seemed that American and international pressure might topple the Assad regime, but it turned out that the Iraq situation had been depleting most of the United States' diplomatic capacity. Assad realized that American pressure on Syria had no real "teeth."

The Bush Administration's animosity toward Syria has strengthened another tendency: toward removing the Syrian-Israeli peace process from the Middle East diplomatic agenda. Prime ministers Ariel Sharon and Ehud Olmert gave the Palestinian issue exclusivity, making it very clear that they have no interest in a renewal of negotiations with Syria. Syria occasionally signaled its desire to renew talks, if only as a move to extract itself from diplomatic isolation and to alleviate American pressure. In the absence of a diplomatic option, Syria returned to the familiar pattern of increasing aid to Palestinian resistance and terror organizations and to Hezbollah.

The message to Israel has become clear: Syria will not accept the loss of the Golan, and in the absence of a military or diplomatic option, it will continue its struggle with Israel via an indirect route.

Syrian assistance to Hezbollah has changed as well. Syria lost a major card in Lebanon - its military presence. Its weakening under the rule of Bashar made it a junior partner in its alliance with Iran. This alliance was established in 1979 and one of its key elements has been cooperation in Lebanon. Hafez Assad's Syria provided the ayatollahs' regime with comfortable access to the Shiite population in Lebanon, and allowed it to achieve the sole success of the "Revolution Export" doctrine.

cont'd next post

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But while Assad, Sr. knew to draw the lines on Iranian influence in Lebanon, his son has failed to maintain control in this realm. In recent years the junior-senior partner relationship has further changed into one that is more reminiscent of a patron-client relationship.

Fear of entanglement

Since the present war has broken out with Lebanon, Syria has been motivated first and foremost by the desire to avoid entanglement in the fighting. Syria is aware of the power balance existing between it and Israel. It continues to transport supplies to Hezbollah, but avoids any direct involvement in the war. Damascus is also aware of the fact that the United States is not taking it into consideration when planning the processes that are designed to ultimately bring about a cease-fire and more stable settlement in Lebanon, or at least in its southern part. But Syria does not display concern over this.

Syria's foreign minister, Walid Mualem, in effect served as ambassador to Washington in the previous decade. He hears the voices coming from Washington which predict that the Bush Administration will have to get over its animosity toward Assad, to disregard the long list of offenses perpetrated by Damascus and to open a dialogue with it, if it wishes to reach an effective settlement in Lebanon. The chance of a direct dialogue with Iran is slim, but the temptation to talk with an element that has been presenting itself over months as a possible mediator with Iran might grow stronger.

There isn't necessarily any immediate move in the offing. A solution to end the fighting without Iranian and Syrian involvement could certainly be achieved. Iran and Syria might decide that in order to stop the pounding of Hezbollah, they will avoid sabotaging a formula that will answer Israel's minimal requirements - release of the hostages, removal of Hezbollah forces from the proximity of the border, the deployment of a multinational force and the declaration of Lebanon's sovereignty over the entire country.

Such a formula will allow for the ending of the war, but will not uproot the fundamental problem. Iran, Syria and their Lebanese partners could start gnawing away at it shortly after the fighting is done.

The government of Lebanon and the Lebanese army are not a stable basis for the rebuilding of their state. Iran will not give up its frontline base in Lebanon and Damascus might just wait a few weeks for an American or European offer to help in the long-term establishment of an agreement in Lebanon. Then Damascus could reintroduce the price it demands in return: renewal of Syrian-U.S. talks and the reinstatement of the Golan Heights issue on the political-diplomatic agenda of the Middle East.

Beyond these immediate questions stands a more profound issue. Everyone understands that the present war is a war by proxy, and that beyond Hezbollah and Syria stands Iran. Iran casts a tall shadow over the Middle East even before it has achieved full nuclear power.

The Arab countries understand this well and this is what spurs their quiet support of attempts to weaken Hezbollah.

When the fighting settles down the question that will take center stage will be how Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan plan to confront the Iranian ambition of supremacy in the region. The issue of the Golan Heights and Syria's wish to have its special status in Lebanon acknowledged again will come up. This is a considerable price-tag as far as Washington and Israel are concerned. Israel will find it hard to accept any concession that will be seen as diminishing the war's achievements. Thus, the diplomatic process with Syria must be considered as a matter for a later time, and not as a step in ending the present war.

Itamar Rabinovich is the president of the Tel Aviv University, and served in the mid 1990s as Israel's ambassador to the U.S. and head of the delegation that negotiated with Syria.

Talks with Syria, yes - but not now

[Shammu]

Zest for martyrdom fuels Hizbollah in battle
   
     

By Tom Perry
Reuters

BEIRUT — A sister of Hizbollah fighter Mustafa Zalzali wears mourning black for her brother, but his death in battle with Israel elicits more pride than grief.

"We thank God almighty for making us the family of a martyr," she said. "We received the news of his martyrdom with pride," she told Hizbollah's Manar television. Hizbollah fighters are well armed and trained. But one of the group's greatest assets in its war with Israel is the willingness of its fighters to die for their cause.

Hizbollah has killed 33 Israeli soldiers, including some of the army's best, in the war triggered when the fighters captured two soldiers in a raid into Israel on July 12.

"Hizbollah's strength really lies in its fighters — that they are ready for death," Hizbollah expert Amal Saad-Ghorayeb said. "The edge they have is their steadfastness and resolve, which is derived from their religious ideology." The fighters killed eight Israeli soldiers in one battle alone in the southern town of Bint Jbeil on Wednesday. They also put up a stiff fight at the border village of Maroun Ras.

Israel says it has killed more than 200 Hizbollah fighters, but the group says it has lost only 31.

"We do not hide our martyrs," Hizbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah told Al Jazeera television. "On the contrary, we always take pride in our martyrs." Fighters killed in combat are celebrated as heroes by Hizbollah, which emerged in the early 1980s to fight Israeli occupation and enjoys strong support among Lebanese Shiites.

Ready for sacrifice

Families of slain fighters are held in high esteem by Hizbollah followers. Nasrallah himself draws his popularity and legitimacy partly from the death of his eldest son at the age of 18 in combat with Israel.

"For 23 years, we have been speaking and mobilising the people," Nasrallah said. "Speaking about martyrdom, the honour of martyrdom and the stature of martyrs." For Hizbollah's supporters, martyrdom is a sublime goal rooted in their Shiite Muslim traditions.

Shiites annually mark the martyrdom of the Prophet Mohammad's grandson Imam Hussein in battle at Kerbala in 680.

Hizbollah fighters killed in battle are also remembered in the Ashura ceremonies which mark the death of Imam Hussein.

Shiites differ from Sunnis in seeing Hussein's father, Ali, as the rightful successor to the Prophet Mohammad.

"The desire for martyrdom among Hizbollah followers and the willingness to be martyred is absolutely essential," said Samer Karanshawy, a researcher on Lebanese Shiites.

"This cannot be separated from the tenacity of their fighting in Maroun Ras and Bint Jbeil." Willingness to sacrifice is a key qualification for joining Hizbollah's military ranks. "Hizbollah would not open its doors to secular Shiites because they lack this commitment which is crucial in terms of military power," Saad-Ghorayeb said.

The family of Zalzali, killed in a recent battle, say they are ready for more sacrifices.

"His martyrdom has lifted our heads high," said another of his sisters. "Whatever more we can offer, we will. Our men, our children, our siblings."

Zest for martyrdom fuels Hizbollah in battle

[Shammu]

IDF hacks Nasrallah's TV channel

IDF intelligence unit manages to hack al-Manar broadcast, plant caricature of Hizbullah's leader with caption: 'Your days are numbered'
Smadar Peri

After repeated Israeli efforts to destroy Hizbullah's al-Manar television station have failed, an IDF intelligence unit succeeded this week in hacking the station's live broadcasts, planting Israeli PR messages in the transmissions..

IDF hacks Nasrallah's TV channel