Biblical countries, in the news.

[Shammu]

US calls on Syria, Iran to honour UN resolution on Lebanon
(AFP)

12 August 2006


UNITED NATIONS - US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice called on Iran and Syria to respect the terms of a resolution adopted by the UN Security Council on Friday in a bid to end a month of fighting between their ally, Hezbollah, and Israel.

“We call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community,” she said in an address to the Security Council.

She also said, “Hezbollah now faces a clear choice between war and peace” in light of the resolution, which was unanimously adopted by the 15-member council.

The resolution, drafted by France and the United States, calls on Israel and Hezbollah to immediately cease hostilities following a month of fighting that has left more than 1,000 Lebanese and over 120 Israelis dead.

It also calls for Israeli forces to withdraw from positions they have occupied in southern Lebanon in parallel with the deployment of Lebanese army units and a robust international military force in the region to prevent future Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

If implemented fully by Lebanon, the resolution will end Hezbollah’s existence as a militia armed and supported by Iran and Syria.

The US administration was frequently criticised in recent weeks for refusing to deal directly with either Syria or Iran in its efforts to end the fighting in Lebanon.

Critics argued that the two states, as the primary providers of weapons and financial support to Hezbollah, needed to be part of any effective plan to halt Hezbollah attacks on Israel.

Rice and President George W. Bush defended the stance, saying Damascus and Tehran had in the past failed to respond to approaches aimed at easing tensions between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

Rice said the UN text should “open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel that will end the suffering and violence of this past month.”

“The people of the Middle East have lived too long at the mercy of extremists,” she said.

“It is time to build a more hopeful future. This resolution shows us the way.”

Immediately before Rice spoke, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan lamented that it took the Security Council’s major powers a month to achieve Friday’s ceasefire proposal.

“I would be remiss if I did not tell you how profoundly disappointed I am that the council did not reach this point much, much earlier,” he said.

“All members of this council must be aware that this inability to act sooner has badly shaken the world’s faith in its authority and integrity,” he said.

“It is absolutely vital that the fighting now stop,” Annan told the gathered council representatives, who in addition to Rice included the foreign ministers of France, Britain and several other countries.

US calls on Syria, Iran to honour UN resolution on Lebanon

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Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office
By Ari Shavit

Ehud Olmert may decide to accept the French proposal for a cease-fire and unconditional surrender to Hezbollah. That is his privilege. Olmert is a prime minister whom journalists invented, journalists protected, and whose rule journalists preserved. Now the journalists are saying run away. That's legitimate. Unwise, but legitimate.

However, one thing should be clear: If Olmert runs away now from the war he initiated, he will not be able to remain prime minister for even one more day. Chutzpah has its limits. You cannot lead an entire nation to war promising victory, produce humiliating defeat and remain in power. You cannot bury 120 Israelis in cemeteries, keep a million Israelis in shelters for a month, wear down deterrent power, bring the next war very close, and then say - oops, I made a mistake. That was not the intention. Pass me a cigar, please.

There is no mistake Ehud Olmert did not make this past month. He went to war hastily, without properly gauging the outcome. He blindly followed the military without asking the necessary questions. He mistakenly gambled on air operations, was strangely late with the ground operation, and failed to implement the army's original plan, much more daring and sophisticated than that which was implemented. And after arrogantly and hastily bursting into war, Olmert managed it hesitantly, unfocused and limp. He neglected the home front and abandoned the residents of the north. He also failed shamefully on the diplomatic front.

Still, if Olmert had come to his senses as Golda Meir did during the Yom Kippur War, if he had become a leader, established a war cabinet and called the nation to a supreme effort that would change the face of the battle, a penetrating discussion of his failures could be postponed. But in blinking first over the past 24 hours, he has become an incorrigible political personality. Therefore, the day Nasrallah comes out of his bunker and declares victory to the whole world, Olmert must not be in the prime minister's office. Post-war battered and bleeding Israel needs a new start and a new leader. It needs a real prime minister.

Olmert cannot remain in the prime minister's office

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UN Security Council endorses Lebanon resolution
8/12/2006 1:00:00 AM GMT

The UN Security Council has unanimously adopted a resolution calling for ending the four-week long fighting between the Israeli occupation army and Hezbollah resistance fighters, as Israel began "broadening" its ground offensive in Lebanon.

Resolution 1701, originally submitted by the United States and France, calls for "a full cessation of hostilities", and the deployment of up to 15,000 UN troops to monitor a withdrawal of Israeli occupation troops from southern Lebanon to help the Lebanese army enforce a ceasefire.

    * Israeli strikes continue

Despite the agreement, described by the U.S. Secretary of State as a step expected to "open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel", Israel continued its brutal and relentless strikes on Saturday, killing and wounding many in South Lebanon.

Israel’s military announced Saturday, hours after the UN Security Council adopted the resolution aimed at ending the fighting in the country; that it had started broadening its ground offensive in south Lebanon, with its troops reportedly heading towards the Litani River.

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz gave orders to broaden the offensive in the country, officials said.

Early Saturday, Israeli airstrikes in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre, already devastated by previous Israeli attacks, left many killed and wounded.

Also reports said that power station in the city of Sidon, north of the Litani River, was also hit by new Israeli strikes.

    * Israeli losses

Hezbollah has dealt Israel its heaviest losses in the recent conflict that broke out in Lebanon following the capture of two of its soldiers in an attempt by the Lebanese resistance movement to pressure the Jewish state release all Lebanese detainees held in Israeli jails.

Israel failed to carry out its threat to damage Hezbollah and its weapons arsenal and establish a "security zone" free of resistance fighters, planned to extend two kilometers into Lebanon from the Israeli border.

Israel's offensive, which as entered its fifth week, has so far failed to hinder Hezbollah’s rocket attacks.

    * Lebanon accepts resolution

The Lebanese government accepted the resolution and would issue a formal acceptance to the Council on Saturday, an official source said.

But an adviser to Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora gave the resolution a cautious welcome.

There was no immediate reaction from Hezbollah.

Olmert told U.S. President George W. Bush he backed the resolution, according to an Israeli government official.

“The prime minister spoke with President Bush and thanked him for his assistance in keeping Israeli interests in mind at the Security Council,” the official said.

Israeli attacks killed 26 people on Friday, including seven who died when an Israeli drone fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of cars fleeing south Lebanon.

Hezbollah rockets wounded seven people in Israel.

Also an Israeli soldier was reportedly killed in fighting.

More than 1,041 people had been killed in Lebanon in the month-old fighting.

After ceasefire, according to the text, the Israeli army must withdraw from southern Lebanon at the earliest opportunity, and Lebanon will deploy its forces.

    * Blair welcomes the resolution

British Prime Minister Tony Blair welcomed the adopted resolution.
He unveiled plans to visit the Middle East soon, claiming it will be aimed at reaching ways to install peace in the region, especially between Israelis and Palestinians.

“We must work to address the underlying root causes of this conflict,” Blair claimed in a statement.

“We must never lose sight of the fact that the conflict in Lebanon arose out of the desire to exploit the continuing impasse in Palestine.”

• Israel warns of a “greater tragedy”

Meanwhile Israel warned of an even “greater tragedy” in the Middle East if the UN Lebanon resolution did not produce “change” in the country.

“A resolution alone will do nothing,” Israel’s UN ambassador Dan Gillerman told the Security Council of the UN statement, repeating calls for the disarmament of the Lebanese resistance movement, Hezbollah.

He also called for establishing what the Israel army calls “arms free zone” in southern Lebanon.

“Unless the tools set out in this resolution are used, with resolve and decisiveness, we will be back at this table -- if not in a week then in a month or a year, facing an even greater tragedy.

The Israeli diplomat threw the blame for the current bloodshed on Lebanon, accusing the government of failing to control Hezbollah and claim its authority over the country.

“Israel, like any state, has the right and duty to 'defend' its citizens from Hezbollah’s unprovoked attacks,” claimed Gillerman.

“However it is ready to respond to the calls of this Council and to give another chance to the government of Lebanon and the international community to create a new reality on the ground.”

Gillerman used the alleged airline-bombing plot that has been foiled by Britain this week to stress the Jewish State’s claim that “terrorism” has become a mark of the Middle East, which he claimed, poses a real threat to the whole world, arguing that “the tragedy we have seen in our region over the past weeks ... is but a preview of a coming attraction, produced by Iran, directed by Syria, acted by terrorist groups, soon to be seen in a theatre near you.”

• U.S. asks Iran, Syria endorse UN resolution

In an address to the Security Council, the U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice asked Iran and Syria to accept the UN resolution.

“We call upon every state, especially Iran and Syria, to respect the sovereignty of the Lebanese government and the will of the international community,” she said, adding;
“Hezbollah now faces a clear choice between war and peace.”

Israel’s relentless attacks and indiscriminate bombardment of Lebanese towns and villages over the month-long conflict have left more than 1,000 Lebanese, mostly civilians, dead.

120 Israelis have died since the fighting broke out last month.

The U.S. Secretary of State, moreover, stated that the UN resolution should “open a path to lasting peace between Lebanon and Israel that will end the suffering and violence of this past month.”

“It is time to build a more hopeful future. This resolution shows us the way.”

    * “War is not politics by other means”

The UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan expressed disappointment that the Security Council's major powers couldn’t reach a resolution to end the fighting sooner, before civilians on both sides “have suffered such terrible, unnecessary pain and loss”.

“I would be remiss if I did not tell you how profoundly disappointed I am that the council did not reach this point much, much earlier,” he said.

“All members of this council must be aware that this inability to act sooner has badly shaken the world’s faith in its authority and integrity,” he said.

“It is absolutely vital that the fighting now stop,” Annan said.

“War is not politics by other means.”

The Security Council's session in which the UN text was endorsed included, other than Rice and the Israeli ambassador to the UN, foreign ministers of France, Britain and several other countries.

UN Security Council endorses Lebanon resolution

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Iran presses Shi'ites to step up Iraq attacks - Times
Sat Aug 12, 2006 5:57 AM BST253

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Iran is pressing Shi'ite militias to step up attacks against the U.S.-led forces in Iraq in retaliation for the Israeli assault on Lebanon, the U.S. ambassador to Iraq told The New York Times in an interview.

Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad also told the Times in Baghdad on Friday Iran may foment even more violence as it faces off with the United States and United Nations over its nuclear program in coming weeks. The newspaper reported on the interview in Saturday editions.

The remarks were the first public statements by a senior Bush administration official directly linking violence in Iraq to Washington's support of Israel's military campaign in Lebanon, and to growing pressure by the United States over Iran's nuclear program, the Times said.

Khalilzad said the Iranian incitement had already led to a surge in mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, now the seat of the Iraqi government and the American Embassy.

Western security advisers confirmed Friday there had been a recent spate of mortar and rocket attacks on the Green Zone, the Times said, but it was unclear whether anyone was wounded or killed and a spokesman for the American military, Lt. Col. Barry Johnson, declined to provide details.

According to the ambassador, the Shi'ite guerrillas behind the recent attacks are members of splinter groups of the Mahdi Army, a militia created by the radical Shiite cleric Moktada al-Sadr. Those groups are tied to Iran as well as Hizbollah, he told the Times.

Khalilzad said that while there was no proof Iran was behind any particular militia operations in Iraq, there was evidence Iran is pushing for more attacks, although he offered no specifics, the Times said.

"Iran is seeking to ... encourage more pressure on the coalition from the forces that they are allied with here, and the same is maybe true of Hizbollah," he was quoted as saying.

Khalilzad insisted, however, that the most powerful Shi'ite leaders in Iraq had not yet pushed for more violence against U.S. troops, despite Iran's desire for them to do so.

"Generally the Shia leadership here have behaved more as Iraqi patriots and have not reacted in the way that perhaps the Iranians and Hizbollah might want them to," Khalilzad said.

In the interview at his home in the Green Zone, Khalilzad said Iran could stoke more violence among Shi'ite militias as the end of the month approaches. A UN Security Council resolution gives Iran until August 31 to suspend its uranium enrichment activities or face the threat of economic and diplomatic sanctions.

"The concern that we have is that Iran and Hizbollah would use those contacts that they have with groups and ... use those to cause more difficulties or cause difficulties for the coalition," he told the newspaper.

Iran presses Shi'ites to step up Iraq attacks

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Muslim leader calls for vigilance against fanatics

Updated Fri. Aug. 11 2006 11:36 PM ET

CTV.ca News Staff

One of Canada's leading Imams has said Muslims must be wary of Islamic fundamentalism, and fight radicalism in mosques head on.

Imam Syed Soharwardy, president of the Islamic Supreme Council of Canada and the founder of Muslims Against Terrorism, told CTV News that fanatics are a danger to everyone.

"I'm concerned about not only my family but all Canadians," he said. "What's going on? God forbid if this increases, and something happens in Canada, the entire Muslim community in Canada will be in big trouble."

On Thursday, British authorities announced the arrest of 24 people suspected of plotting an elaborate attack on several trans-Atlantic aircraft. It was a chilling reminder of the 17 terror suspects arrested in Toronto on June 2.

Those 17 suspects are alleged to have planned attacks on Canadian soil. An 18th suspect was arrested just last week.

Shaheed Sonier, a Canadian Muslim convert, knew some of those arrested. He claimed they were partly influenced by the 9/11 hijackers, who they considered as martyrs.

"They obviously felt that there was nothing wrong with that act," he said.

Soharwardy said some of the seeds of their alleged beliefs may have come from within Canada's borders.

"That brainwash is coming from the Internet and from some leaders in our community," he said.

In a press conference in Calgary on Friday, Soharwardy warned Canadian Muslims to be vigilant against fanatical Imams.

"We are not doing enough to counter this terrorism within our community, to counter extremism, to counter fanaticism," he said.

"And that's what I'm asking the entire Muslim community -- not only Imams, not only leaders of Muslim organizations but every individual Muslim."

Sohardy added that terrorism goes against the teachings of Islam, and Muslims should report anyone who acts suspicious.

"Based on their Islamic requirements, if they see a person who may be thinking or who may have extreme thinking about the West or Canada, then they must report this to law enforcement agencies," said Soharwardy.

"It is their obligation, otherwise they will not be practising Islam because Islam says you must be faithful to the country where you live."

But he stressed that terrorists, such as those responsible for 9/11, should not be called Muslim terrorists, nor should they be defined by their religion.

He singled out U.S. President George Bush's recent comment that America "is at war with Islamic Facists."

"The approach toward countering terrorism is absolutely producing more terrorists," said Soharwardy.

"It is helping people to become fanatics, it is helping people to take an extreme path. It's not working and that has to change."

Muslim leader calls for vigilance against fanatics

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Israeli troops push towards Lebanon's Litani river
Sat Aug 12, 2006 6:02 AM BST137

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - The Israeli army said on Saturday it had started broadening its ground offensive in south Lebanon and its forces were pushing towards the Litani river.

Troops were carrying out orders issued by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Defence Minister Amir Peretz, the army said after the U.N. Security Council adopted a resolution calling for an end to the month-old war between Israel and Hizbollah.

Israeli officials had said before Friday's U.N. vote that the army would press ahead with its military campaign to quell Hizbollah cross-border rocket fire, at least until Olmert's cabinet met on Sunday.

They said Olmert would urge his cabinet to approve the U.N. resolution, which authorises 15,000 U.N. troops to be deployed to monitor a phased Israeli withdrawal and to help the Lebanese army deploy in southern Lebanon, now controlled by Hizbollah.

But for now, the Israeli army was moving forward.

The army said in a brief statement that its forces overnight "began broadening ground operations in Lebanon to areas in the direction of the Litani river". There was no immediate word on the level of resistance they faced.

The Litani lies up to 20 km (13 miles) from the Israeli border, where thousands of Israeli troops had already been carving out a "buffer" zone.

Fighting erupted on July 12 after Hizbollah guerrillas abducted two Israeli soldiers in a cross-border raid. Israel launched an air and ground campaign, and Hizbollah started firing rocket barrages into northern Israel.

Israeli troops push towards Lebanon's Litani river

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Why jihad is picking up steam now and fanatical Muslims are on the march

By Caroline B. Glick

The truth may hurt

As the Israeli people waited Thursday for Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to implement his cabinet's decision to widen the ground offensive in Lebanon, Britain found itself under siege. British security officials announced that the entire country was on a red alert for a terror attack. The night before, British security forces foiled a terrorist conspiracy to explode some ten US bound passenger jets.

As London's deputy police commissioner Paul Stephenson told reporters, ''This was intended to be mass murder on an unimaginable scale." By Thursday morning security forces had arrested some 21 suspects. All are British citizens. All are Muslims.

It is not a stretch of the imagination to assume that these British Muslims are jihadists. Indeed, it can probably be assumed that like their predecessors last July 7, they made their decision to commit an unspeakable atrocity against their countrymen to advance Islam's takeover of Britain.

The path of jihad is the path of terror. Using terror, the jihadists believe that they can destroy the confidence of citizens of free societies and so coerce them to bend to their will.

In his letter to US President George W. Bush last May, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad enunciated the coercive goal of jihad when he threatened the US with war unless Bush converts to Islam. Iran, which today leads the global jihad, has managed to make the language of jihad the lingua franca of the Muslim world.

Many have noted that Hizbullah's initial attack against Israel on July 12 was highly convenient for Teheran. Distracted by the war in Israel and Lebanon, the G-8 and the UN Security Council put off their discussions of Iran's nuclear weapons program, which were scheduled to take place that week.

While the actual date of the attack is easily explained, the question still arises, why is the jihad picking up steam now? Why are fanatical Muslims on the march this summer?

It would seem that the answer to this question is found in the increased cultural weakness of the two states leading the war against radical Islam: the US and Britain. In both countries, for the past two years the forces of leftist radicalism and appeasement have been on the rise. Both countries' leaders are hated by ever larger swathes of their countrymen for their stand on the war against jihad. And so they waver.

On Tuesday, Britain's Home Secretary John Reid discussed the twin dangers of jihad and Western cultural weakness. Reid argued that Islamic terrorism has placed Britain in its greatest peril since the end of World War II. Reid proceeded to utter a stinging indictment of the British judiciary for preferring the "human rights" of terror suspects to the right of British citizens to security. Just last week, the British High Court ruled that security forces had to loosen restrictions they had placed on six Iraqis suspected of links of terrorism.

Tuesday also saw the defeat of Connecticut Senator Joe Lieberman in the primary elections for the Democratic nomination to the Senate. He was beaten by wealthy businessman Ned Lamont who based his entire campaign on attacking Lieberman for his support for the war in Iraq. The months long primary campaign against Lieberman was replete with venomous anti-Semitic attacks against Lieberman, his family, American Jews and Israel by Lamont supporters.

Lieberman's defeat by an "anti-war" candidate is a clear sign that the Democratic Party is morphing into a radical leftist party. If this trend is not reversed, America's political climate will likely become much less sympathetic and supportive of Israel and much more supportive of countries like France, Egypt and Saudi Arabia. A deterioration of the position of American Jews is also liable to ensue.

Under attack domestically, both Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair have less time and ability to rally their nations to fight against the forces of global jihad. Moreover, as a result of its own culture wars, Israel today finds itself led by the weakest government it has ever had. The weakness of all three governments presented Iran with an unmistakable opportunity to strike.

While Bush and Blair's weakness is the result of political forces, Olmert's weakness is inherent. He is a dilettante and a dandy, not a leader. Yet, today, the ability of both Blair and Bush to convince their nations to support their war efforts against forces committed to the destruction of their nations' ways of life is dependent on Olmert's ability to lead Israel to victory in the war against Hizbullah.

With a quarter of our population under attack, our cities and forest in flames and our economy surging towards recession and debt, most Israelis agree that the war we face is a war for our national survival. In that sense, it is not all that different from previous wars.

Yet there is a qualitative difference between the current war and wars of previous generations. In the past, our enemies were states. They wished to conquer Israel and take our land for themselves. Today our enemies do not wish to conquer Israel. They wish to destroy Israel as a stepping stone on their path towards global domination. An Israeli victory or defeat in the current war will influence not only Israel's future. It will influence the future of the free world as a whole. If Israel is defeated, if we do not fight to victory over Hizbullah, the march of jihad will move forward with unprecedented force.

cont'd next post

[Shammu]

Not surprisingly, Olmert hesitates as he faces this challenge. His nation tells him to choose victory. His instincts tell him to seek the path of least resistance.

If Olmert allows the IDF to fight, if he orders the implementation of the security cabinet's decision to widen the ground offensive to the Litani River and so enable us to vanquish Hizbullah, we will be able to change the face of the region and of the world as a whole.

A clear Israel victory against Hizbullah that destroys Hizbullah as a fighting force would enable leaders like Bush and Blair to defend their decision to wage war against jihad. Quite simply, an Israeli victory will help them inspire their nations to believe that they can win this war as well.

Since his ascension to power last year, Ahmadinejad has been on one long winning streak. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's success in convincing Bush to open direct negotiations with Teheran regarding its nuclear weapons program was a huge victory for Ahmadinejad. And nothing breeds success like success. Because he has yet to fail, the Iranian leader enjoys an aura of invincibility that deters other leaders from challenging his power. An Israeli victory against the Iranian military's advance guard would shatter that aura and facilitate a much more robust Anglo-American stand against Teheran and its client Syria.

As well, events in Iraq will be critically influenced by how Israel comes out of this war. On the one hand, an Israeli defeat is liable to foment a violent Shiite revolt led by Nasrallah's underling Muqtada al Sadr and his terror squads. On the other hand, an Israeli victory will galvanize the moderate Shiite forces in Iraq that are working to stabilize their country.

Finally, an Israeli victory will put paid the fiction which claims that Israel is a strategic liability for to West. The forces who call for Israel's abandonment and a US "engagement" of the Syrians and Iranians will be exposed as fools.

But the option of defeat has an allure of its own. Defeat, or as Olmert might put it, "bowing to international pressure" has the advantage of being the path of least resistance. Unfortunately for Israel, if Olmert surrenders to his nature and opts for capitulation, the result will be catastrophic.

If, as Rice, Shimon Peres (and Olmert himself) recommend, Israel holds its fire and waits for a multinational force to deploy along the border, Israel will lose its right to self-defense. The laws of political gravity dictate that a relinquishment of the right to self defense is tantamount to a surrender of sovereignty. If Olmert decides that he would rather have foreigners patrol our borders than the IDF, his message to the world will be clear: As far as he is concerned, Israel does not value its liberty because it is unwilling to make the necessary sacrifices to defend it.

If Olmert truly wants for foreign forces to be stationed in south Lebanon, he can do us all a favor and agree to Hizbullah's demand to keep UNIFIL in place. At least UNIFIL, for all its fecklessness, is more or less harmless. It is not empowered to limit Israel's right to defend itself.

If Olmert decides to surrender to outside pressures, he will be serving the interests of the forces in Washington who claim that Israel is not worthy of America's support. An Israel that is unwilling to contend with Hizbullah is an Israel that cannot be trusted as an ally. That is, if he goes along with Rice and her colleagues at the UN and agrees not to fight to win, Olmert will be paving the way for the defeat of pro-Israel forces in US policymaking circles and politics.

The fact of the matter is that those who push for Israel's abandonment are the same people who push for a US-British retreat from Iraq and an end to their war against radical Islam. If Israel capitulates and so strengthens the powers who oppose it in the US and throughout the West, it will similarly contribute to the political defeat of the political forces that call for the jihad to be defeated. So in a very profound sense, as goes Kiryat Shemona, so go Washington and London.

Today Israel is gripped by dread. There is not a household in the country that is not directly impacted by this war. All of us have family and friends in the North and in the IDF. All of us are concerned about the future of our country.

It would be nice to think that there is some shortcut that we could take to secure our country and our freedom on the cheap. It is the natural tendency of men like Olmert to look for such a shortcut.

But there are no shortcuts in this war, this existential war that in many respects we brought on ourselves by attempting to disengage from the reality of our surroundings.

At the cabinet meeting on Wednesday, Olmert demanded that his ministers behave like grown-ups because "the whole nation is watching us now." This is true. We are watching. And at this time, it is up to our nation to force our leaders to lead us to victory.

Why jihad is picking up steam now and fanatical Muslims are on the march

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 Iran's FM discusses issues of mutual interests with Turkish PM
Istanbul, Aug 12, IRNA

Iran-Turkey-Mottaki
Visiting Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki met here on Friday afternoon with Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan.

In the 40-minute meeting, held behind closed door, Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul was also present.

Mottaki arrived in Istanbul on Friday afternoon and in a brief talk with reporters at the airport said, Iran and Turkey have common concerns about current crisis in the Lebanon.

The Iranian foreign minister said he was carrying a message from President Ahmadinejad to senior Turkish officials concerning current developments in Lebanon and added, negotiations between the two countries are going on at a high level, the latest one being recent meeting of President Ahmadinejad and Prime Minister Erdogan in Malaysia.

Iran's FM discusses issues of mutual interests with Turkish PM

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Pressure on Egypt to Curtail Relations with Israel
02:25 Aug 14, '06 / 20 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Public pressure in Egypt, particularly from groups opposed to President Hosni Mubarak, has been intensifying to persuade the Egyptian government to curtail formal relations with Israel.

A number of parliament members are demanding that Egypt halt oil and gas exports to the Jewish state. In June 2005, Egypt signed a 15 year agreement to supply Israel with oil and gas beginning in October 2006.

Pressure on Egypt to Curtail Relations with Israel

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China does not deny Hezbollah used its missile to attack Israel - U.S. Senator

Beijing. August 11. INTERFAX-CHINA - China has not denied that a Chinese-made missile got into the hands of the Lebanese militia group Hezbollah, according to a U.S. Senator.

Chinese officials did not deny that a Chinese made missile was used during a Hezbollah attack on an Israeli warship last month, U.S. Senator Arlen Specter, R-Penn., said in Beijing on Friday.

Last month, Hezbollah fired a cruise missile that came from Iran at an Israeli warship off the coast of Lebanon, according to press reports.

In response to questions about the claim, China's Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a written statement that "China maintains a mature and responsible attitude regarding military exports" and only conducts sales to sovereign nations that must promise not to transfer weapons to third parties.

The ministry said exports must help the recipient develop a "reasonable" national defense, not harm regional or world peace and not interfere with country's internal affairs.

"Representatives of the National People's Congress said that there was a condition on the sales of missiles, like the one China sold Iran, that it would not be transferred," Specter said.

When asked if China would continue to sell missiles to Iran in light of the apparent transfers and violations of the agreement, the officials did not respond, Specter said.

Specter said the United States may develop policies to stop Chinese arms sales to Iran if the weapons will be transferred to third parties.

Specter said Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice may take up the issue of Chinese arms sales and develop a policy to stop sales to Iran.

China does not deny Hezbollah used its missile to attack Israel - U.S. Senator

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EU will help make Lebanon force 'robust', says Solana

14.08.2006 - 09:57 CET | By Honor Mahony

EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana has said that he expects a quick deployment of troops to southern Lebanon and that troops from Europe will make the force "robust".

"I've been speaking to several countries during the day and night and I think we will be able to guarantee that the force, as far as the Europeans are concerned, will be robust," Mr Solana said on Sunday (13 August) while in Jerusalem.


Mr Solana, who was in Lebanon on Saturday before travelling to meet Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert indicated Canada, Australia, Indonesia and Malaysia may be non-EU countries prepared to take part in the international force.

He went on to say that "in a very, very short time" at least 4,000 soldiers would be prepared to move into southern Lebanon.

Later on Sunday, Mr Solana told Reuters news agency that deployment could start this week.

"I would like to see people beginning to deploy by the end of the week, early next week - elements of the force, the headquarters", he said.

France is expected to lead the force with Italy, Spain, Portugal and Finland all considering sending troops.

On Sunday, the Israeli cabinet approved a UN resolution, passed unanimously in the UN on Friday, calling for an end to hostilities between the two sides with foreign minister Tzipi Livni calling it the "the best that could be extracted from the Security Council."

The ceasefire resolution went into force at 8am local time this morning (14 August) and calls for the withdrawal of Israeli troops after UN and Lebanese forces move into southern Lebanon.

Mr Solana said he hoped the past month of fighting between Israel and Hezbollah would never be repeated.

"It's important for the Israelis . . . to make a reflection about the significance of what has happened this month. It is a month that we must do the utmost never to repeat," he said.

The fighting was sparked off by Hezbollah's kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers on 12 July and seen over 1000 people killed – mainly civilians.

US knew of Israel plans to strike Hezbollah, says report
According to leading US investigate journalist Seymour Hersh, Washington knew and gave the green light to Israel's strikes against Hezbollah some two months before they began.

Writing in the current edition of the New Yorker and quoting a US government consultant, Mr Hersh said: "Earlier this summer ... several Israeli officials visited Washington, separately, 'to get a green light for the bombing operation and to find out how much the United States would bear'."

"A successful Israeli Air Force bombing campaign ... could ease Israel's security concerns and also serve as a prelude to a potential American pre-emptive attack to destroy Iran's nuclear installations", sources told the veteran journalist.

The US government has denied the allegations calling them "flat wrong."

EU will help make Lebanon force 'robust', says Solana

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 Abducted IDF Soldiers in Exchange for 13 Hizbullah Terrorists?
17:16 Aug 14, '06 / 20 Av 5766
by Hillel Fendel

      The ceasefire agreement now in effect contains no operative clause for the return of the 2 Hizbullah-kidnapped IDF soldiers - but PM Olmert says the 13 terrorists in Israel's hands may be the bait.


Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with the parents of Ehud (ben Malkah) Goldwasser and Eldad (ben Tova) Regev early Sunday morning, before the Cabinet approved the ceasefire. He acknowledged that the agreement does not provide complete answers regarding the captives, but noted that Israel captured 13 Hizbullah terrorists during the warfare. Olmert said that Israel would offer their return in exchange for the return of the two abducted Israelis.

At least one of the Hizbullah terrorists in Israeli hands was wounded and treated in an Israeli hospital, and another one took part in the actual kidnapping attack.

Olmert announced today that he had appointed Ofer Dekel, former Deputy Head of the General Security Service, to head the task force dealing only with the captives' return.

At yesterday's Cabinet meeting, several ministers brought up the issue of the captives, but Olmert told them it had not been possible to make the ceasefire agreement contingent upon the soldiers' return.

Many critics of the agreement note that both Prime Minister Olmert and Defense Minister Amir Peretz said repeatedly during the course of the war that its goals were to return the captives and neutralize the Hizbullah threat upon Israel. In the event, however, the agreement states only that the UN will "act for the return of the captives" and will present a periodic report on progress to this end.

A UN representative, questioned about why the agreement does not obligate Hizbullah to return the captives, said, "We prefer to work by way of persuasion."

Regev and Goldwasser are not the only Israeli security and military personnel being held by enemy or foreign entities. The soldier Gilad (ben Aviva) Shalit, of Mitzpeh Hila in the Galilee, was kidnapped from his tank just outside Gaza seven weeks ago and is being held in Gaza by the Hamas Authority. In addition:

    * Guy (ben Rina) Hever disappeared near the Syrian-Israeli border in the Golan Heights in August 1997;
    * Ron (ben Batya) Arad was captured when his plane was downed over Lebanon in Oct. 1986;
    * Yehonatan (ben Malkah) Pollard is nearing the end of his 21st year of a life sentence in the U.S. for having passed information to Israel;
    * Tzvi (ben Pninah) Feldman, Yehuda (Yekutiel Yehuda Nachman ben Sarah) Katz, and Zecharia (Shlomo ben Miriam) Baumel were all captured at the Sultan Yaaqub battle in Lebanon on June 11, 1982.

Abducted IDF Soldiers in Exchange for 13 Hizbullah Terrorists?

[Shammu]

 Egyptian FM Reprimands Both Israel and Hizbullah
17:02 Aug 14, '06 / 20 Av 5766
by Hana Levi Julian

      Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Aboul Gheit had criticism for both Israel and Hizbullah in a “Monday morning quarterback” analysis of the Re-engagement War. He said terrorism is not the problem.


The foreign minister’s remarks echoed comments made by Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak at the beginning of the war, in which he warned terrorist groups in Gaza and Lebanon to consider the cost-benefit ratio of entering into a conflict with Israel.

On Monday, Aboul Gheit reiterated the president’s words, chiding Hizbullah for moving ahead with a plan that did not take into account the price its people would pay. Although he acknowledged that Hizbullah is very popular in the Muslim world, Aboul Gheit said nonetheless that it is his job to ensure peace and stability in the region.

“How about the hundreds and hundreds of Lebanese children who have been lost?” he said. “There is a feeling of deep anger that the West jumps and attacks this part of the world.”

Echoing Mubarak's statements that the terror organization should have known that Israel would respond to the attacks on its people, he said, “Hizbullah should have been careful.” He added that Israel used the rocket attacks as a pretext to strike.

Aboul Gheit reprimanded both sides for having entered into a war which created hardship for everyone in the region. In an interview with Reuters, Egypt’s foreign minister was careful to be even-handed in his remarks.

The Israeli foray, he said, “led to the difficulties that everybody is facing,” blaming the Jewish state for starting the war. As for Hizbullah, Aboul Gheit praised the terror organization’s fighting ability and endurance – “they fought with honor,” he said - but “the result, after all, is a disaster for Lebanon.”

Ultimately, said Aboul Gheit, the real cause of the conflict is the “Palestinian problem,” noting that other Arab governments friendly with the United States hold the same view. The problem, he said, was not terrorism. “Terrorism is a reflection of the malaise that we are all suffering.”

Egyptian FM Reprimands Both Israel and Hizbullah

[Shammu]

Netanyahu: War Puts End to Unilateral Withdrawals
16:55 Aug 14, '06 / 20 Av 5766

(IsraelNN.com) Opposition Leader Binyamin (Bibi) Netanyahu (Likud) told the Knesset late Monday afternoon that the Hizbullah terrorist war clearly puts an end to the concept of unilateral withdrawals.

Israel demolished more than 25 Jewish communities in the Gaza and northern Samarian regions last year and turned over the territory to the Palestinian Authority (PA) without a bi-lateral agreement. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has proposed further unilateral moves throughout Judea and Samaria.

MK Netanyahu is addressing the Knesset at this moment.

Netanyahu: War Puts End to Unilateral Withdrawals