UK Accused of Double Standards Allowing Israel to Play in London

8 September 2007

Tehran-The British government Saturday was accused of double standards by denying visas to a Palestinian Under-19 squad, while allowing Israel to take part in Euro 2008 qualifying match against England at Wembley Stadium.

The recent decision to prevent the Palestinian team from traveling to play friendly match was "bizarre, taken with no formal reason being given," said a letter to the Times newspaper signed by over 300 prominent Jews in the UK.

"Where the UK should have facilitated a morale-boosting tour it has instead proffered double standards," said the letter, which was organized by Jews for Justice for Palestinians to coincide with England's controversial game against Israel.

Signatures included many academics and artists, including leader playwright Sir Tom Stoppard, film director Mike Leigh and author Jonathan Miller as well as Labour MP Harry Cohen.

The British government was urged to give the Palestinian the same chance to participate in sporting contests as the Israeli national football team.

"It is not too late to rectify the situation; the tour can go ahead more or less as planned. It requires only that the Government treats Palestinian footballers in the same way as their Israeli counterparts. We strongly urge they do so immediately," they said.

The call comes as the Boycott Israeli Goods Campaign and Jews for Boycotting Israeli Goods (J-BIG) were hold a vigil outside Wembley Stadium to protest against England playing Israel.

The Palestinian Solidarity Campaign (PSC) said that the protest is part of the campaign to suspend Israel from international football until it complies with international law and UN resolutions.

To coincide with the match, an online petition has also been launched to bar Israel from participating in European and international competitions.

Bush's Latest Visit to Iraq

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 8, 2007
Audio

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Earlier this week, I traveled to Iraq's Anbar Province to visit our troops and see with my own eyes the remarkable changes they are making possible. If you want to see some photos from this trip, go to whitehouse.gov where you can view a slideshow of my visit.

Success in Anbar is critical to the democratic future of Iraq and to the war on terror. This largely Sunni province covers nearly a third of Iraq. It stretches from the outskirts of Baghdad to Iraq's borders with Jordan, and Syria, and Saudi Arabia. And until recently, Anbar was al Qaeda's chief base of operations in Iraq.
Last year at this time, Anbar was all over the news. Newspapers at the time cited a leaked intelligence report that was pessimistic about our prospects there. One columnist summed it up this way: "The war is over in Anbar province, and the United States lost." But local citizens soon saw what life under al Qaeda meant for them. The terrorists brutalized the people of Anbar and killed those who opposed their dark ideology. So the tribal sheiks of Anbar came together to fight al Qaeda. They asked for support from the Coalition and the Iraqi government, and we responded.

Together we have driven al Qaeda out of strongholds in Anbar. The level of violence is down. Local governments are meeting again. Young Sunnis are joining the police and army. And normal life is returning. The people of Anbar have seen that standing up to the terrorists and extremists leads to a better life. And Anbar has shown that improving security is the first step toward achieving economic progress and political reconciliation.

On my visit, I met with tribal sheiks who have fought with us against al Qaeda -- and who are now building a better future for their people and for all Iraqis. One Sunni sheik told me: "We have suffered a great deal from terrorism. We strongly support the democracy you have called for. The previous regime [of Saddam Hussein] should not be characterized as a Sunni regime -- it was a regime against the Sunnis, Shia, and the Kurds."

I also met with national leaders from Iraq's government: President Talabani and Prime Minister Maliki, Deputy Prime Minister Barham Salih, Vice President Abd al-Mahdi, Vice President Hashimi, and President Barzani of the Kurdish region. These men come from different religious and ethnic backgrounds. But they all understand the importance of succeeding in Anbar. And so they're reaching out to help, with positive steps such as sharing oil revenues with provincial leaders. I thanked the representatives of Iraq's government for their efforts to support the bottom-up progress in Anbar. And I told them that the American people expect them to meet their commitments and pass the legislation they've agreed on.

While in Iraq, I also received a good briefing from General David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker. They gave me an update on our military, and political, and economic efforts to support our Iraqi partners. They told me about the progress they're seeing across Iraq and their ideas for the way forward. In the next few days, they will come to Washington to give Congress their assessment of conditions on the ground. I urge the Members of Congress to listen to these two well-respected professionals -- before jumping to any conclusions.

Most importantly, during my visit, I met with our troops serving in Anbar. Every day, these fine men and women show courage under incredibly difficult circumstances. The work they're doing on the sands of Anbar is making us safer in the streets of America. Because of their bravery and sacrifice, our troops in Iraq are denying al Qaeda safe havens from which to plot and plan and carry out attacks against Americans both here and abroad. I know how hard it is for our men and women in uniform to be away from their families. I told them our Nation appreciates their willingness to serve and that the American people stand with them.

Next week, after consulting with the Joint Chiefs of Staff, my national security team, Members of Congress from both parties, and Iraqi leaders, I will speak directly to the Nation about the recommendations General Petraeus and Ambassador Crocker have presented to me. I will discuss the changes our strategy has brought to Iraq. I will lay out a vision for future involvement in Iraq -- one that I believe the American people and their elected leaders of both parties can support. By coming together on the way forward, we will strengthen Iraq's democracy, deal a blow to our enemies, secure interests in the Middle East, and make our Nation safer.

Thank you for listening.

Those Seeking Help in Allah

If you are true to the teaching's given by Allah through Muhammad (PBUH), those who do not know; will find these things within your heart.

For it will be as though they see a light upon your face.

In turn, they will go to the Masjid (Mosque), asking for help and guidance; praying to Allah for repentance and revert to Islam.

They will not come in one’s, but by many.

Alhamdulillah

When is Ramadan 2008?

Ramadan Mubarak

Israel Condemned Over Lebanon War

Over 1,000 Lebanese died in Israel's bombardment of Lebanon during the war[GALLO/GETTY]

6 September 2007

Indiscriminate Israeli attacks were responsible for the high civilian death toll in Lebanon in last year's war against Hezbollah, Human Rights Watch (HRW) has said in a report.

The report, released on Thursday, accused Israeli air raids of causing "most of the approximately 900 civilian deaths" during the war.

"Responsibility for the high civilian death toll of the war in Lebanon lies squarely with Israeli policies and targeting decisions in the conduct of its military operations," the report said.

Israel has said it attacked civilian areas because Hezbollah set up rocket launchers in them.

Mark Regev, an Israeli foreign ministry spokesman, said: "We faced a very specific problem in that Hezbollah adopted a very deliberate and premeditated strategy to embed itself among the civilian population."

The rights organization, though, said there was no basis to the Israeli claim.

In an earlier report Human Rights Watch also accused Hezbollah of indiscriminately firing rockets against Israeli civilians during the war.

A HRW news conference in Beirut last month was canceled because of threats by Hezbollah.

Civilian casualties

More than 1,000 Lebanese were killed in the 34-day conflict between July and August last year after Hezbollah staged a cross-border raid, killing three Israeli soldiers and capturing two others who are still being held.

Kenneth Roth, HRW executive director, said at a press conference in Jerusalem that, while Israel did not appear to have had a deliberate policy of killing civilians, there was "a pattern of killing that amounts to indiscriminate fire".

Forty-three Israeli civilians and 12 soldiers died as a result of rocket attacks by Hezbollah, HRW said, while about 250 Hezbollah fighters were killed, according to Roth.

Hezbollah party officials have said "about 150" of its fighters died, without providing an exact figure. Israel claimed to have killed around 300.

Civilians targeted

HRW acknowledged that Israel warned civilians that aircraft were going to bomb villages, at one point announcing a 48-hour cease-fire to let civilians leave.

But the air strikes that followed targeted civilians as well was militants, the report said.

Israel's army said its forces distinguish "at all times" between civilians and combatants.

The findings in the 247-page report are based on the investigation of 510 civilian deaths, including at least 300 women and children, visits to more than 50 Lebanese villages, and more than 350 interviews.

Source

Israel Syria 'violation' Criticised

7 September 2007

The Arab League has described Israeli fighter jets' alleged violation of Syrian airspace as "unacceptable manoeuvres", saying that they showed the country's bad faith towards peace talks in the Middle East.

Syria said its forces intercepted an Israeli aircraft early on Thursday and has warned that it might respond to "aggression and treachery".

The Syrian statement said Israelis "dropped munitions" that did no damage.

It is still unclear what exactly happened but Thursday's incident has sparked fears of an escalation into war.

The Israeli government has stuck to a blanket refusal to comment on the incident.

Echoing the Arab League, Qatar, a non-permanent UN Security Council member, on Friday urged the Middle East peace Quartet "to shoulder its responsibility".

It asked the Quartet, which groups the US, UN, European Union and Russia, "to put an end to such aggressive behaviour in order to avoid any negative consequences which would affect security and stability in the region".

Israeli denial

Although one Syrian official said troops "fired heavily" at Israeli jets, the state news agency on Thursday only reported air defences "confronting" them.

Analysts speculate that such a foray could have been probing Syria's defences or monitoring long-range missile bases

Israeli officials have refused to deny orconfirm the Syrian complaint [AFP]

The reported path also would have taken the jets near Iran, whose growing power and hostile government worries leaders of Israel.

Ghaleb Majadele, Israel's science, sport and culture minister, said on Friday that Israel Air Force planes had entered Syrian airspace in the past without leading to an outbreak of hostilities.

Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, denied all knowledge of the incident.

"I don't know what you are talking about," he was quoted by Haaretz daily as saying, hours after his office and the Israel army both said they refused to respond to Damascus' claims.

He insisted that it was business as usual, asking reporters, "Do I not look relaxed?"

Tzipi Livni, foreign minister, and Haim Ramon, vice prime minister, issued similar responses.

"I don't know what happened there," Ramon said.

Source

Israeli’s Murder 17 Year Old Palestinian Boy

One of Ramzi Helles relatives at his funeral procession in Gaza [Ma'anImages

Palestinian teenager shot dead by Israeli soldiers at Karni crossing

8 September 2007

Gaza – Ma'an – A 17 year old Palestinian boy, Ramzi Hillis, was killed in Shuja'iyya neighborhood in eastern Gaza city as Israeli forces opened fire in the direction of Palestinian homes and farms.

Director of ambulance and emergency department at the Palestinian ministry of health, Muawiya Hassanein said that Hillis was hit by gunshots in the upper part of his body near the Karni border crossing east of Gaza city.

Hassanein said that the boy was hunting birds when the Israeli troops fired at him. Hassanein reminded of dozens of Palestinian boys who were killed in a similar way.

The Israeli army said their troops were monitoring a group of people approaching the crossing, and fired towards them in an attempt to disperse them. As a result, a boy was shot dead. The army claimed to be investigating the incident.

On Israeli Human Rights Violations in the Occupied Palestinian Territory

30 August - 5 September 2007

Israeli Occupation Forces have continued to arrest Palestinian Civilians

Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) Continue Systematic Attacks on Palestinian Civilians and Property in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT)

· 16 Palestinians, including 6 children and a woman, were wounded by IOF.
· IOF conducted 31 incursions into Palestinian communities in the West Bank and 2 ones into the Gaza Strip.
· IOF arrested 44 Palestinian civilians in the West Bank.
· IOF have continued to impose a total siege on the OPT.
· IOF have isolated the Gaza Strip from the outside world and a humanitarian crisis has emerged.
· IOF troops arrested a Palestinian civilian at a checkpoint in the West Bank.
· IOF have continued settlement activities.
· IOF demolished 4 houses in Jerusalem.

Summary

How to Stand Out in a Crowd

Be Abbas:

Run your government into the ground; create chaos,
collaborate with the enemy,
attempting to illegally sell out Palestine with its people, as you're condemned by Allah.

President Bush Meets with South Korean President Roh

President George W. Bush welcomes President Roh Moo-hyun of the Republic of Korea, to a meeting Friday, Sept. 7, 2007, at the InterContinental hotel in Sydney.

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
September 7, 2007

InterContinental Sydney

Sydney, Australia
Video
Audio

PRESIDENT BUSH: Mr. President, thank you for your time. As usual, we had a very friendly and frank discussion about important matters. We discussed our bilateral relations, which are very strong. And we thank you for your contributions to helping young democracies, such as Iraq.

But we spent a lot of time talking about the six-party talks and the progress that is being made in the six-party talks. I understand you're having a summit with the leader of North Korea, and I appreciate the fact that you will urge the North Korean leader to continue to adhere to the agreement that he made with us.

And in our discussions I reaffirmed our government's position that when the North Korean leader fully discloses and gets rid of his nuclear weapons programs, that we can achieve a new security arrangement in the Korean Peninsula, that we can have the peace that we all long for. You and I discussed the Northeast Peace and Security agreement -- arrangement, which we support.

And so I'm optimistic. There's still more work to be done. But nevertheless, Mr. President, when we have worked together we have shown that it's possible to achieve the peace on the Korean Peninsula that the people long for.

So thank you, sir.

PRESIDENT ROH: (As translated.) As President Bush has stated, we had a very constructive discussion on six-party talks and the North Korean nuclear issue, as well as other bilateral issues between our two countries.

Before we discussed these issues I reaffirmed my support for President Bush and his policies and efforts in Iraq to bring peace. I also thanked the President for his efforts in the visa waiver program -- for his constructive position on this issue.

We both agreed on the positive outlook for the six-party talks. We believe that this progress is very meaningful. And I also thanked President Bush for his resolve to bring peace to the Korean Peninsula and Northeast Asian region, for making a strategic decision to bring peace to the region through dialogue.

As is outlined in the 2005 September 19th joint statement, we have a plan for the peace regime on the Korean Peninsula, and President Bush also reaffirmed in November of last year in Vietnam of his willingness and his resolve to end the Korean War officially, once and for all. Today we revisited this issue. President Bush reaffirmed his determination to replace the current status in the Korean Peninsula with a permanent peace regime, and he stressed that he would be proceeding with this move after the North Korean nuclear issue is resolved.

We also share the view that should there be more progress in the six-party process, this will be followed by talks to initiate a Northeast Asian regional security mechanism. I also reassured President Bush that the inter-Korean summit will underpin the progress at the six-party talks, that relations -- the inter-Korean relations and the six-party talks should be a mutually reenforcing relationship.

I think I might be wrong -- I think I did not hear President Bush mention the -- a declaration to end the Korean War just now. Did you say so, President Bush?

PRESIDENT BUSH: I said it's up to Kim Jong-il as to whether or not we're able to sign a peace treaty to end the Korean War. He's got to get rid of his weapons in a verifiable fashion. And we're making progress toward that goal. It's up to him.

PRESIDENT ROH: I believe that they are the same thing, Mr. President. If you could be a little bit clearer in your message, I think --

PRESIDENT BUSH: I can't make it any more clear, Mr. President. We look forward to the day when we can end the Korean War. That will end -- will happen when Kim Jong-il verifiably gets rid of his weapons programs and his weapons.

Thank you, sir.

END

Demonstration in Jayous 10am 8th September

Jaayus, Saturday Sept. 8th at 10:30 am

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

On Saturday, September 8th, a demonstration has been organized in the village of Jayous.

As the olive season soon begins, more than 30 work permits the local villagers need to access their lands have been denied “because of opposition on the part of security elements.” Many of the people denied permits are free to enter Israel for work or leave the country entirely yet are somehow denied access to their own property and land for “security” reasons. The system of denying villagers these permits prevents them from tending to land that has been in many of their families for hundreds of years and continuing their cultural tradition of harvesting their olives.

Out of the 4,000 residents in the town only 90 of them are today allowed to work on their land. This is not an isolated occurrence. These restrictions are repeated all along the route of the Apartheid Wall.

Even for the farmers who do have permits, they are restricted in their ability to work their lands by gates manned by the Israeli military. They must go through the gates only within certain times dictated by the Israeli military, and it is the military who decide how much time it takes to go through the gate itself.

The short term objective of the planners of Apartheid is to annex the territories west of the Apartheid Wall. The long term objective is to cause social and economic deprivation east of the Apartheid Wall.

Jayous has been the site of joint Palestinian – Israeli non-violent activism for years. People will gather at 10:15 at the gas station Alfei Menashe, on Road 551, 6 kilometers from Hapeirot junction (the old entrance to Kalkilia), the demonstration will begin soon after.

For more information about the demonstration or transportation contact:
ISM Media: 022971824
Amit: 0545450041

Some “dry” statistics:

Jaayus Village population: 3,500, agricultural land west of the wall: 2,200 acres (about 75% of the village total farm land)

The land in question grows citrus and avocado orchards, holds vegetable greenhouses, and the village’s water wells!!!

Number of people prohibited by Shabbak from tending their lands: 34

Fallame Village population: 750

Jammal Village - population: 2,500

We hope you can join us in acting in solidarity with the Palestinian people to help reclaim their stolen lands.

Bright Lights, Big City

Yesterday is a dream, and tomorrow is only a vision, but today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness and every tomorrow a vision of hope.

I never saw anyone as just as the world.

As long as you pursue the world it will pursue you, but when you turn away from it and seek Allah, it will leave you alone and its glamour shall no longer fascinate you. [Al Hujwiri]

Where Have All the Politicians Gone?

With the exit of Tony Snow, US President George W. Bush's press secretary, a historical jinx is reaffirmed. A year ahead of the second term's end, the president's aides fly the coop - just before they become nobodys.

6 September 2007

By Gordon Robison

One by one they are going, going … gone. Alberto Gonzales and Karl Rove. Harriet Miers, John Bolton and Scott McClellan. Last week, even Tony Snow, McClellan's short-lived replacement as press secretary, announced that he, too, is headed for an exit. What is happening to George W. Bush's White House?

These departures follow an earlier wave of changes that saw many of the administration's most prominent figures leave, sometimes in far from ideal circumstances. Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and his deputy Paul Wolfowitz (whose subsequent fall from grace in his short tenure as head of the World Bank is a separate matter). White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card and Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge.

The exodus has become so pronounced that editorial cartoonists have lately begun to focus their attention, tongues-in-cheek, on President George W. Bush's dog Barney.

Beating around Bush

One recent drawing portrayed the scottish terrier striding across the White House lawn waving a haughty goodbye to the president and bidding him good riddance. Another shows dog and owner facing each other from opposite ends of an otherwise empty cabinet table — name cards for Gonzales, Rove, Wolfowitz, Rumsfeld, Miers and Bolton separating them.

As Bush intones: "I have all the confidence in the world in the job you're doing, Barney", the dog looks panicked and says to himself: "I'm toast!"

Of the inner core of senior officials who arrived with the president in Washington in January 2001, few remain beyond Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the obscure, if influential, Clay Johnson. The latter is at present the number two official at the Office of Management and Budget but like Gonzales, Rove and Karen Hughes — who heads American public diplomacy efforts around the world — his ties with the president are deep. The two have known each other since they were teenagers.

The administration's opponents, notably Democratic Senator and presidential candidate Barack Obama, are trying mightily to find political advantage in all of this. When questioned about his own conspicuously thin political resume, Obama routinely replies that the Bush team's failures are proof that experience per se is an overrated commodity.

For their part, Republicans have taken to criticising the Democrats and the news media for focussing on the departures, charging that both seem more concerned with bringing down the president and his aides than with getting anything accomplished.

As is often the case with American politics, all of this requires a bit of perspective.

Historically speaking, the seventh year of any American president's tenure tends to be marked by a rush for the door.

To understand why, it is important to understand two particular elements of the American system. The first is that presidents are limited to two terms in office. The second is that every new president wants to put his own team in place — even presidents who come from the same party as their predecessors.

Every new president arrives in Washington with a group of aides, political hangers-on and old friends (Bill Clinton's first Chief Of Staff, Mack McLarty, had known Clinton since kindergarten). Vaulted to the top level of national politics, some of these people excel and others, inevitably, do not.

Two-phased exists

The weeding-out process is often in two stages. Sometime in every administration's second year, a few of the newly powerful are brought down because of ethics charges (Jimmy Carter's Budget Director, Burt Lance; and Ronald Reagan's first National Security Adviser, Richard Allen, are cases in point). Others simply find Washington to be a less enticing place than they first thought.

Those who stay often find that, should the president be re-elected, a second winnowing takes place around year seven. The difference is that while this too involves some scandals, it is just as often a function of self-interest.

One of the strange truisms of American politics is the degree to which every president, once re-elected, becomes captive to misbehaviour and wince-inducing incompetence of his aides. Two decades ago, the Iran-Contra scandal exploded into public view in the days after the 1986 elections that marked the mid-point of Reagan's second term. The fallout from the Monica Lewinsky scandal and Bill Clinton's impeachment led to a similar exodus.

In Bush's case, it is soon-to-be-ex Attorney General Alberto Gonzales who has come to embody incompetence and mendacity on an operatic scale in an administration that is now routinely charged with both — even by some of its supporters.

Former United Nations ambassador John Bolton is another case in point. One of the most divisive figures in the administration, Bolton managed to hold the UN job for about a year through a procedural quirk known as a recess appointment. He departed after Bush's Republican party lost control of Congress, a development that ended any hope he might win the senate confirmation required to keep the UN job beyond the beginning of this year.

But many other officials are heading back to private life because they sense greater rewards are on offer if they leave now instead of sticking around till January 2009.

Looking beyond government, these men and women see that their market value is as high now as it is ever going to get. Today, they are well-connected insiders. By the end of next year, they run the risk of looking like slightly desperate job-seekers.

The clearest recent example of this is Karl Rove. Known as Bush's closest aide, he stands to make a lot of money writing a book and returning to the ranks of highly paid political consultants. For such persons, access and prestige are their stock in trade. In Washington, these are directly related to the contacts one has (or is perceived to have) with those in power. And, after the next election, one's highly placed friends may no longer be highly placed.

A little-noticed subtext to this is that many lower-level political appointees will remain in an administration through its waning months precisely because high-level departures create high-level vacancies.

It might seem that a stint in power so brief that one barely learns the layout of the office would be unsatisfying, but for the ambitious it can be a key to future success. The secret lies in understanding that whether seeking a post-government job or a higher position in a subsequent administration, people ask how important your last job was, not how long you held it.

Thus, it is far better to leave Washington and the State Department having been an Assistant Secretary rather than someone's assistant.

Take the case of Frank Carlucci. An obscure, relatively non-political technocrat for most of his career, he ran the Defence Department for 14 months as the Reagan administration drew to close. Ever since, he has been a "former secretary of defence" a title that commands immense respect in the private sector and lends prestige to his present job as a principle at the Carlyle Group, a private equity firm with lots of investments in … the defence sector.

The years following Donald Rumsfeld's first stint at the Pentagon during the Ford administration are another instance of a very lucrative private career being jump-started by a relatively brief period of cabinet service.

Perhaps the best example, however, is Lawrence Eagleberger. A talented diplomat and long-time Washington insider, Eagleberger is always introduced as a former secretary of state. Rarely is it mentioned that he actually held that title for a mere six weeks as the first president Bush's administration drew to a close.

In fairness, it should be noted that this sort of thing has a very long history in the US. Edwin Stanton served as Attorney General for barely three months in 1860-61, but that credential was a key element in his later appointment as Secretary of War under Abraham Lincoln.

As this implies, money often plays as large a role as politics in these calculations, though it is rarely acknowledged by anyone involved.

So, in measuring future prospects, outgoing Bush Press Secretary Tony Snow deserves credit for honesty. In announcing his departure, the spokesman could easily have cited a desire to spend more time with his family (the most time-honoured of all excuses for an uncomfortable-looking exit from public life). He might also have said he needs to concentrate on his personal battle with cancer.

Instead, Snow dismissed both of these excuses, saying flatly that he wants to make more money. If that sounds odd coming from a man paid $168,000 per year to spin the press, bear in mind that Snow's previous job as a TV host at Fox News almost certainly paid a lot more.

Considering that median household income in the US is about $48,500, it takes a certain brazenness to plead poverty at more than three times that figure.

That may make Snow the most honest man in the administration when it comes to describing the reasons for his departure, but one can rest assured he will not be the last to go.

Gordon Robison's column on American politics appears every alternate Wednesday in Gulf News.

The departed

Some of the more prominent figures to exit the Bush administration in recent months include:

Karl Rove – It is a sign of how important Rove has been to the Bush administration. Despite holding the relatively innocuous title of Deputy Chief of Staff, he had something approaching universal name recognition and his resignation announcement was worldwide news. Rove is, first and foremost, a campaign strategist. Like all great campaign managers, he rose to prominence by combining a close relationship with a successful candidate (Bush) with a technical mastery of the campaign process (in his case of direct mail – the art of building a base of political support through fundraising via the post). The Democrats' pursuit of Rove bordered on the obsessive (comparisons with Moby Dick were not uncommon) and served mainly to increase his legend. He can be expected to spend the next year or so writing a book before returning to the field of campaign consulting and probably commanding an even higher fee than he did before he latched onto George W. Bush.

Alberto Gonzales – A disastrous tenure as Attorney General (where he seemed to be out of his depth almost from day one) has obscured the fact that until a few years ago Alberto Gonzales was one of those uniquely American success stories, an example of why so many people around the world want to move to the US. Born to extremely poor immigrant parents, he worked his way up the ladder, earned a law degree from Harvard and became a State Supreme Court Justice in Texas. Had he stopped there, he might have been an inspiring figure rather than an object of ridicule. As White House Counsel (essentially, the top lawyer on the president's private staff) in Bush's first term, he concocted increasingly forced justifications for the administration's "war on terror" policies. This could be forgiven on the grounds that finding legal rationalisations for whatever the president wants to do is, to some degree, the White House counsel's job. Attorneys general, however, are supposed to be a brake on presidential ambition, not its enabler. Gonzales never seemed to grasp this distinction and his reputation has suffered accordingly.

Harriet Miers – Every administration includes someone like Harriet Miers: an unexciting local politico who comes to Washington with the president only to be devoured by the media and the Washington establishment after a misstep on the national stage. In her case, the misstep was letting Bush nominate her for the Supreme Court despite her complete lack of judicial experience. After the debacle of her Supreme Court nomination, Miers stayed on as White House Counsel (a job in which she was Gonzales's successor) for nearly 18 months, returning to private life early this year. She has been back in the news in recent months because she appears to have played a central role in the controversial sacking of eight US attorneys.

Andrew Card – The White House Chief of Staff until 2006, Card, a longtime aide to both presidents Bush, was among the first members of the inner circle to return to the private sector. It should be noted that five-plus years is an unusually long tenure for a chief of staff. The job is, in some ways, more demanding than the presidency itself. It is a testament to Card's political acumen that despite having been a key player during some of the administration's worst periods, he appears to have emerged from the Bush White House with his reputation relatively intact.

Tony Snow – One must give the former Fox News anchor credit for this: he actually appeared to believe what he was saying. As he stood before the assembled media, Snow's predecessor, Scott McClellan, often seemed to be thinking ‘and how, exactly, did I get myself into this mess?' Even that was an improvement on the open contempt with which Bush's first press secretary, Ari Fleischer, regarded the media. What Snow understood is that few people are more convinced of their own greatness than the reporters who cover the White House and that feeding the media's collective ego can by itself win the White House (or at least the press secretary) a certain degree of sympathy. He knew this because he came from the Washington media establishment to which, it appears, he will now return.

Executive Force Arrested Fatah Men on Charges of 'planning to spread chaos'

7 September 2007

Gaza – Ma'an – The Hamas-affiliated Executive Force has arrested a group affiliated to the so-called "Brigades of the security services, and Brigades of the coup," the spokesperson of the Executive Force, Islam Shahwan asserted Thursday evening. Shahwan said the groups were affiliated to the Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip.

In a press conference held in Gaza city, the Executive Force spokesperson accused the groups of receiving orders from the Ramallah-based Palestinian government to "spread chaos and destruction."

Shahwan also accused the Palestinian government in Ramallah of suspending salaries of more than 90% of the Palestinian national security service members.

Examples of the explosives and grenades, which were seized at Fatah members' homes were displayed by the head of the investigation in Gaza Strip, Abu Isma'il Shamasi. He said, "Hamas and the government in Gaza will not allow that the Strip be transformed into "a new Iraq". Shamasi also harshly criticized Muhammad Dahlan, the Fatah strongman who controlled Gaza before the Hamas takeover, accusing him of funding the groups planing to create chaos in Gaza Strip.

Plight of Afghan Recycling Children

6 September 2007

Children as young as six recycling plastic for a pittance in the southern Afghan city of Kandahar.

This is the harsh reality of life for some in Afghanistan growing up through seemingly endless wars. But is child labour acceptable when there are perhaps worse alternatives for the children?

James Bays reports.

Languages Among People

Some people speak one language, maybe two and if they are very lucky more.

But if Allah’s wishes, you can understand all languages, for languages sometimes can be like the water in the ocean of understanding.

16 More Gitmo Detainees Return Home

by Samir Al-Saadi

JEDDAH, 7 September 2007 — Sixteen Saudi Guantanamo detainees returned home yesterday after their release from the US-run detention center in Cuba.

This is the second group of detainees to return to the Kingdom in less than two months after a recent high-profile visit by an official Saudi Delegation to the camp to secure the release of Saudis imprisoned there. The visiting delegation urged Guantanamo officials to make arrangements for the speedy transfer of detainees, who would be tried under Saudi law.

In a statement carried by the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) yesterday, Interior Minister Prince Naif said that the Kingdom, under the direction of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah, is keen to see the return of all Saudi Guantanamo detainees.

Prince Naif said the men would be tried according to the Kingdom’s laws, and expressed satisfaction and appreciation at US cooperation.

The released Saudis were identified as Abdulhadi Abdullah Al-Sharikh, Abdullah Razaq Al-Sharikh, Fahd Atteh Al-Harazi, Abdulhakem Abdulkarem Bukhari, Rami Saad Al-Juaid, Khaled Hassan Al-Sharif, Majed Abdullah Barayan, Muhammad Mubarak Al-Karbi, Abdullah Thani Al-Unizi, Zibin Dhaher Al-Shamari, Abdulaziz Saad Al-Ushan, Mousa Ali Saed Al-Amri, Salem Abdullah Al-Shihri, Fahd Mohammed Al-Fouzan, Umran Baker Huwsawi and Bakri Awad Al-Sumari.

Maj. Gen. Mansour Al-Turki, spokesman for the Interior Ministry, said the ministry arranged for the families of the detainees to meet with the prisoners in Riyadh.

This is the third group to arrive this year after US authorities released 16 detainees on July 16 and seven on Feb. 21. Yesterday’s release brings the number of released Saudi Guantanamo prisoners to 93. There are currently 37 Saudis remaining at the jail. The number does not include three detainees, who allegedly committed suicide at the detention camp.

The body of Abdul Rahman Al-Amri, 34, was sent to the Kingdom on June 1 after he allegedly committed suicide. According to US Navy sources, he was found dead in his cell. He was one of many detainees who went on a hunger strike in 2005. Al-Amri was buried in his hometown of Khamis Mushayt in mid-June.

The other two Saudi nationals, who reportedly committed suicide in Guantanamo, were Yasser Al-Zahrani, 21, and Manie Al-Otaibi, 26. US authorities say the two men hanged themselves with clothing and bed coverings in their cells on June 10, 2006. Their deaths are still under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Al-Turki said that 54 of the 77 released detainees have been tried and have undergone a rehabilitation program before rejoining their families.

The Interior Ministry rehabilitation program has proven successful so far. “The program is still in its primary stages and is undergoing continuous changes,” he said.

Hundreds of relatives of the new group of released detainees arrived at Riyadh’s Marriot Hotel yesterday to meet with their loved ones, who are being kept at Al-Hair Prison.

The relatives arrived in the capital early in the morning from different parts of the Kingdom. Visits are open for a week.

Relatives and friends of the released can contact the Interior Ministry on 01-403-4375.

Al-Malki Warns Hamas Against Preventing Friday Prayers Public Squares

6 September 2007

Ramallah – Ma'an – The Minister of Information, Riyad Al-Malki warned Hamas and the Executive Forces against flooding public squares to prevent Friday prayers from being held in the open air.

The minister urged all citizens to be aware of what he called 'the conspiracy hatched by Hamas against them' and to be ready to prevent any action taken against worshipers on Friday.

Israeli Border Police Arrest 50 Palestinian Workers

6 September 2007

Nablus – Ma'an – Israeli border police arrested 50 Palestinian workers without Israeli work permits in the city of Jaffa in central Israel on Thursday.

The workers claim they were beaten and humiliated before they were taken to appear before Israeli courts. The penalty for working without a correct permit in Israel is usually a fine or a jail sentence.

Head of the General Union of Palestinian Workers, Shahir Sa'd, said that the Israeli authorities deprive the Palestinian workers of their right to work and provide for their families by not issuing work permits.

Palestinian workers are subjected to the worst treatment in the world when they are jailed in Israel on charge of working without permits, he added.

Sa'd called on international organisations and labour unions to put pressure on Israel to stop committing atrocities against Palestinian workers, and to adhere to the Geneva Convention which calls for the protection of civilians under occupation.

"Do You Like Me?"

What is the worth of anything, but for the happiness it brings?

In humility and giving up of egotism is a pleasurable reward by which a person is saved from the heavy burden of trying to make himself liked.

The Best War Over

“Lies got us into this war. Only the truth will get us out.”

Stop U.S. Aggression Abroad

This is actually a lapel pin, that can be purchased at different net store’s and Ebay.

Court Orders Israel to Re-Route Barrier

A demonstrator covers his mouth as he waves a Palestinian flag during a protest against Israel's controversial barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin, July 2007. Israel's Supreme Court has ordered the government to re-route a section of its West Bank barrier at a Palestinian village in Bilin that has come to symbolise the protests against the construction.(AFP/File/Abbas Momani)

4 September 2007

by Joseph Krauss

BILIN, West Bank (AFP) -Israel's Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered the state to re-route a section of its West Bank barrier at a village that has become a potent symbol of Palestinian opposition to the construction.

The court ruled that the route of the separation barrier in the Bilin area was "highly prejudicial" to the villagers and demanded that the government map out an alternative route "within a reasonable period".

Palestinians have accused Israel of seizing around 200 hectares (500 acres) of land in the farming village for the barrier and charged that thousands of olive trees have been uprooted for construction work.

In the unanimous ruling by a three-judge panel, the court said the villagers had been discriminated against by having land seized and trees cut down to make way for the snaking maximum security wire fence outside Bilin.

"Furthermore, the villagers of Bilin are cut off from a large part of their farming land by the current route of the barrier," said the court.

For two and a half years, foreign peace activists, Israelis and Palestinians have demonstrated against the barrier at least once a week in Bilin, 12 kilometres (about seven miles) west of Ramallah.

The demonstrations have frequently turned violent, with stone-throwing protestors standing off against Israeli soldiers armed with tear gas and rubber bullets.

Dozens of Bilin residents came out to celebrate their victory, waving Palestinian flags and throwing candy at the impassive Israeli soldiers on the other side of the barbed wire fence.

"The Israeli court decision proves that peaceful struggle can be effective," said Abdallah Abu Rahmeh, who has coordinated many of the rallies.

"We have managed to recover more than 100 hectares of our lands without losing a single martyr," he said.

Bilin Mayor Ahmed Issa Abdallah Yassin, who brought the complaint that resulted in Tuesday's ruling, hailed the decision as a "victory."

"We will recover a part of the lands that were confiscated by the wall," he told AFP.

Lawyer Michael Sfard, who took on the case more than two years ago, said the ruling meant that the villagers' traditional farming livelihoods would be guaranteed, although he recognised that not all their land would be returned.

"Unfortunately not all the land of Bilin will return to their owners but at least 1,000 dunums (250 acres) will remain on the Bilin side of the fence and that will secure the livelihood its inhabitants," he told AFP.

Israel says its massive "security barrier," made of electric fencing, barbed wire and concrete walls, is needed to stop potential attackers from infiltrating the country and Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank.

Palestinians have denounced it as an "apartheid wall" aimed at grabbing their land and undermining the viability of their promised state.

"The reason for the route was not security but to enlarge the settlement which stands nearby, Modiin Ilit," said Sfard.

In 2004, the International Court of Justice issued a non-binding ruling that parts of the 650-kilometre (410-mile) barrier criss-crossing the West Bank are illegal and should be torn down. Israel has vowed to complete the project.

Israel's high court has issued several rulings ordering a dismantling or re-routing of pieces of the controversial barrier.

But it has also rejected petitions, ruling that Israeli security is of primary concern and finding no alternative route other than the one outlined by the Israeli army.

Anarchists Against The Wall, the main Israeli group that has demonstrated in Bilin, welcomed the decision as an "important political victory".

"It proved that the people, when they chose to act, have power over Israeli institutions," said one of its activists, Jonathan Pollak.

"But the court decision still approved building the wall on Palestinian land in the West Bank in violation of international law."

Palestinians have likewise vowed to continue their protests.

"We got some of our rights," said Wajih Burnat, a shepherd in Bilin. "But we have not recovered all our land. So the struggle must continue."

New Assassination Campaign Against Hamas Backed by Palestinian Authority

5 September 2007

GAZA CITY — Fatah has launched an insurgency campaign against the Hamas regime in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian sources said after two months of preparations, PA security agencies were targeting Hamas members for assassination.

"It's not an official campaign," a Palestinian source said. "But the PA leadership is aware of it and quietly supports it."

The sources said the insurgency campaign was led by former Fatah security chief Mohammed Dahlan. Dahlan fled the Gaza Strip weeks before the Hamas takeover in June 2007. He has been based in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

On Tuesday, a senior Hamas operative was killed in Gaza City in a bombing attributed to the new Fatah-led insurgency. A new group, Security Martyrs Brigades, claimed responsibility for the car bombing of Hamas operative Nasser Al Dahshan.

A statement by Security Martyrs Brigades said the bombing was meant to avenge Hamas attacks. The group said it was one of several factions that had declared war on the Hamas regime.

Another insurgency group was identified as the Revolt Brigades. The group claimed that it blew up two vehicles of Hamas's Executive Force near Gaza City on Aug. 30.

"Those who direct these cells are former Fatah commanders in the West Bank," Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said.

In the statement, Security Martyrs Brigades cited a PA report that Hamas sought to stage a coup against the PA in the West Bank on Sept. 1. The brigades said Al Dahshan had been an organizer of the coup.

"Nasser Al Dahshan was party in the coup against the legitimate Palestinian leadership last Saturday," Security Martyrs Brigades said.

The statement also said Security Martyrs Brigades targeted a former Fatah official in Gaza City on Sept. 3. The group identified the target as Khaled Abu Hillal, the former Fatah spokesman who defected to Hamas. A bomb exploded near Abu Hillal's home.

"I am from Fatah, and over the last two months I established a party called Fatah-Yasser," Abu Hillal said on Wednesday. "Our position is different from that of Abu Mazen [PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas]."

Mousa Warns Over Planned US Peace Conference

5 September 2007

Cairo: Arab League Secretary-General Amr Mousa said yesterday that a planned Palestinian-Israeli peace conference that fails would pose a threat to Arab interests and regional stability.

Speaking at the opening of a meeting of Arab League foreign ministers in Cairo, Mousa echoed comments made by Egypt a day earlier, warning of the negative repercussions that would follow from a failure of the meeting.

"A meeting convened as a political demonstration, devoid of real substance, will not just be useless, but will be profoundly harmful to Arab interests and the regional situation," he said.

Since US President George W. Bush announced the conference idea, the United States has done little to bridge the gap between the Israelis and Palestinians, diplomats say.

Mousa said that Israel appeared to want to make the meeting, slated for November, devoid of substance, and that Arabs had to forcefully resist any attempt to lower the ceiling of expectations to avoid further deterioration in the issue.

He said a serious meeting required the attendance of all Arab states directly concerned - an apparent reference to Syria, thus far uninvited - and that the meeting be based upon the peace initiative adopted by Arab countries in 2002 and relevant UN resolutions.

The meeting should address issues, such as an Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab land, the dismantling of Jewish colonies, the establishment of a Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital and culminating in Arab recognition of Israel and normal relations with Israel, he said.
Blair's plan to spell out practical steps

Middle East envoy Tony Blair is developing a plan that would spell out practical steps that Israeli, Palestinian and business leaders would gradually take to try to boost peace prospects, officials said yesterday.

Israel is expected to be asked under the plan to take a series of steps including easing travel restrictions in the occupied West Bank, officials involved in the talks said. Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's aides hope the former British prime minister will use his influence to get Olmert to enter serious negotiations for a Palestinian state ahead of a US-sponsored conference in November.

US Air Strike in Baghdad Kills 14

6 September 2007

Baghdad: A US air strike on a Baghdad neighbourhood overnight killed 14 people and demolished several houses, the police said on Thursday.

US military spokesmen could not immediately be reached for comment.

Two police sources said the air strike took place at about 3 a.m. in the Washash neighbourhood, a stronghold of Shi'ite cleric Moqtada Al Sadr's Mehdi Army militia, in western Baghdad's Mansour district.

Police said nine people were wounded in the attack, which one official said destroyed five houses.

The US military has launched a series of operations, including air strikes against what it calls rogue elements of the Mehdi Army. It says many of these "special groups" have links to Iran, which it says is supply weapons and training, a charge Tehran denies.

Sadr last week ordered the Mehdi Army to suspend its operations for six months in what was seen as a move to restore his authority over the militia, which US officials say has fractured into splinter groups that do not obey him.

Prince Edward Visit's Israel

A prince has Come

5 September 2007

By Daphna Berman

Prince Edward, the earl of Wessex and the youngest son of Queen Elizabeth, arrived in Israel yesterday, marking the first royal visit here in more than a decade. But despite his high-profile four-day tour, the prince's visit has been categorized as "private" and so the situation remains unchanged: not a single member of the British royal family has ever been to Israel on an official visit.

Prince Edward, who is seventh in line for succession to the British throne, is the third member of the British royal family to visit Israel. Both his father, Prince Philip, the duke of Edinburgh, and his brother, Prince Charles, have been here on unofficial visits.

The Prince was invited by the Israel Youth Award program, a self-development group for Jewish and Arab youth that is affiliated with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award International Association. In recent years, Prince Edward has taken on several of his father's roles, including the awards scheme.

During his visit, Prince Edward will not be meeting with Prime Minister Ehud Olmert or President Shimon Peres. His schedule includes a tour of Yad Vashem today, where a tree has been planted in honor of his grandmother Princess Alice of Greece, who was recognized as "Righteous Among the Nations" for sheltering a Jewish family in her Athens home during the Holocaust.

He will also attend Shabbat dinner in Jerusalem with Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger, as well as prominent members of the British community in Israel. Though members of the royal family are frequent fliers and have paid numerous official visits to other countries in the Middle East, Israel has yet to be bestowed the honor.

During her more than five decade reign, Queen Elizabeth has undertaken over 256 official overseas visits to 129 different countries, including Jordan in 1984. During a 1979 tour of the Middle East, she visited several Arab countries include Kuwait, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. Other members of the royal family have also paid official visits to the region.

In 1989, Prince Charles and his then wife, Diana, visited the United Arab Emirates. Last year, the prince and his new wife, Camilla, the Duchess of Cornwall, visited Egypt and Saudi Arabia as part of a two-week official tour. And in 2004, Prince Charles visited Iran, where he met with then president Mohammed Khatami in what British officials described as "entirely non-political."

Yesterday, a Buckingham Palace official confirmed that Prince Edwards's visit was "private," but would not comment on the reasons that members of the royal family have yet to pay an official visit here.

"Official visits are organized and taken on the advice of the Foreign and Commonwealth office," Meryl Keeling, a press officer for the royal family said from London.

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office, in turn, said that Israel is "not unique" in not having received an official royal visit.

"Many countries have not had an official visit," the spokesperson said. "Members of the royal family travel extensively, and not having dialogue with the Prime Minister or Foreign Minister [during visits to foreign countries] is not uncommon." The Foreign Office spokesperson added that the queen and Prince Philip have restricted their travel considerably in recent years, presumably because of their age. "State visits, both incoming and outgoing, are not at the same frequency as they were 10, 20 or 30 years ago."

Prince Philip, the Duke of Edinburgh, was the first member of the British royal family to visit Israel when he took part in a 1994 ceremony at Yad Vashem honoring his mother. A year later in 1995, Prince Charles visited Israel to attend Yitzchak Rabin's funeral.

In recent years, however, there have been two official Israeli state visits to Britain - President Chaim Herzog visited Britain in 1993, and President Ezer Weizman visited in 1997.

Last year, former British Ambassador to Israel Simon McDonald told Haaretz that a member of the British royal family will only make an official state visit to Israel once there is peace.

"The key issue in deciding a state visit is peace, and when there is peace, there will be a state visit," he said. "The queen is our head of state and so we need to be careful."

McDonald added that when there is peace, he "will be pushing" for a state visit to Israel. Lord Greville Janner, a member of the House of Lords and a leading figure in the British Jewish community, said that an official state visit to Israel would be too "politically controversial."

"A state visit would be a very clear gesture that the government does not want to make because of the reaction that might arise from neighboring states," Lord Janner told Haaretz yesterday. "I do hope that the queen will visit Israel on a state visit. It's a pity, but they do not want to stir up trouble."

Other prominent members of the British community also expressed disappointment in the decision to classify the visit as private.

"Israel has existed for 60 years now, and it is time we had an official royal visit," said Brenda Katten, chair of the Israel, Britain and Commonwealth Association. "It feels strange that we are the only ones excluded, and I don't know why that is. We've been told that when Israel has peace, someone will come, but the fact of the matter is, that other countries haven't had peace and they've nevertheless received official visits."

The British Embassy in Tel Aviv said that the government "regularly looks at places members of the royal family should visit and will continue to do so." It said, however, that the decision takes into account "a combination of diary commitments, the objective for the proposed visit, and the situation on the ground."

Red Cross Builds Shalit Pressure

6 September 2007

The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross has met the Hamas leader to try to gain access to the captured Israeli soldier, Gilad Shalit.

The Director General of the ICRC, Angelo Gnaedinger, met Ismail Haniya in Gaza on Wednesday.

Afterwards, Mr Gnaedinger said he was told a visit to Corporal Shalit was "under consideration and that everybody is working on a positive solution".

Cpl Shalit was seized in Israel by Palestinian militants in June 2006.

Prisoner swap

Two other Israeli soldiers died in the raid carried out by militants from Hamas and other Palestinian groups from Gaza.

The militant groups want Israel to release several hundred Palestinian prisoners in return for Cpl Shalit's release.

ICRC officials say they have raised the issue of gaining access to the captured Israeli soldier in five previous meetings with Hamas, but Mr Gnaedinger's visit was the most senior-level attempt to resolve the issue.

A statement from Mr Haniya after the meeting made no mention of any possible visit to Cpl Shalit. Instead, he said he hoped that Palestinian prisoners and the Israeli soldier would be released in an "honourable prisoner-swap deal".

The Haaretz newspaper reports that Israel has sent Hamas a new proposal in its negotiations over Gilad Shalit. No further details are given.

Quoting a senior Hamas official, the paper also says European officials from more than one country have recently begun mediating between Israel and Hamas over the soldier.

Source

Further Reading:

Hamas denies Haaretz report of new Israeli offer on Shalit deal

Israel presents Hamas new proposal on Shalit deal

Israel Accused over Lebanon War

Many of those killed in the 2006 conflict were women and children

6 September 2007

A human rights group has accused Israel of carrying out indiscriminate air strikes that killed hundreds of civilians during the 2006 Lebanon war.

Human Rights Watch said Israel showed "reckless indifference" to the fate of civilians and queried its argument that Hezbollah used them as human shields.

A spokesman for the Israeli government insisted its forces had acted lawfully.

More than 1,125 Lebanese died during the 34-day conflict, as well as 119 Israeli soldiers and 40 civilians.

Last week, the New-York based group criticised Hezbollah for "indiscriminately and at times deliberately" attacking Israeli civilians.

It also said the Shia movement had failed to take precautions to spare civilians during the conflict when it fired rockets from populated areas and deployed its forces in residential areas.

'Deliberate campaign'

In its 249-page report, Why They Died: Civilian Casualties in Lebanon during the 2006 War, HRW said it had spent five months investigating the deaths of 510 civilians and 51 fighters.

At least 300 of the deaths investigated were of women and children, the group said.

HRW said a simple movement by a civilian, such as going out to buy bread, was often enough to cause an Israeli air strike, even when there was no evidence of Hezbollah fighters in the vicinity.

Israeli warplanes also targeted many moving vehicles that turned out to be carrying only civilians trying to flee the conflict, it added.

"Hezbollah fighters often didn't carry their weapons in the open or regularly wear military uniforms, which made them a hard target to identify," HRW executive director Kenneth Roth said.

"But this doesn't justify the Israel Defence Force's failure to distinguish between civilians and combatants, and if in doubt to treat a person as a civilian, as the laws of war require."

HRW also said the Israeli military repeatedly failed to take into account the presence of civilians when it targeted Hezbollah, despite numerous media reports and Israel's own experience of past conflicts.

"Israel wrongfully acted as if all civilians had heeded its warnings to evacuate southern Lebanon when it knew they had not, disregarding its continuing legal duty to distinguish between military targets and civilians," Mr Roth said.

"Issuing warnings doesn't make indiscriminate attacks lawful."

The report also accused Israel of undertaking a deliberate campaign against Hezbollah's military wing, the Islamic Resistance, but also its political and social welfare institutions.

'Accepted norms'

A spokesman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry, Mark Regev, defended his country's conduct, saying it had acted lawfully.

"We conform with accepted norms in the conduct of military conflict and we conformed with the accepted norms in the conduct of the rules of war," he told Reuters.

Mr Regev also disputed HRW's claim that it could find no evidence - including in videos and photos published by the Israeli military - that Hezbollah fighters had used civilians as "human shields".

"Hezbollah had a clear pattern of behaviour where it embedded itself among the Lebanese civilian population and exploited it as human shields. This is not just the Israeli understanding," he said.

He then cited the UN humanitarian relief co-ordinator, Jan Egeland, who said in July 2006 that the group were unlawfully "shielding themselves close to UN posts and close to the civilian population".

The war in Lebanon started with a border incursion by Hezbollah, in which eight Israeli soldiers were killed and two others kidnapped, prompting a massive Israeli response.

Source

Congress to Hear From Iraq Panel Today

6 September 2007

WASHINGTON (AP) - Retired Marine Corps Gen. James Jones, who led a 20-member panel studying Iraqi security forces, is to testify before Congress today. His report, a copy of which was obtained by The Associated Press, said Iraq's security forces would be unable to take control of their country in the next 18 months.

The readiness of Iraq's security forces will be an important element in the congressional debate over the war. Republicans see success by the Iraqi forces as key to bringing U.S. troops home, while an increasing number of Democrats say the U.S. should stop training and equipping such units altogether.

The study found that the Iraqi military, in particular its Army, shows the most promise of becoming a viable, independent security force with time. It predicted that an adequate logistics system to support these ground forces is at least two years away.

Worse off is the Iraq national police force. The study, which described the police force as dysfunctional, corrupt and infiltrated by militias, recommended that the force be scrapped and entirely rebuilt.

These units "have the potential to help reduce sectarian violence, but ultimately the (Iraq Security Force) will reflect the society from which they are drawn," according to the report. "Political reconciliation is the key to ending sectarian violence in Iraq."

The United States has spent $19.2 billion on developing Iraq's forces and plans to spend another $5.5 billion next year. According to Jones' study, the Iraqi military comprises more than 152,000 service members operating under the Ministry of Defense, while the Ministry of Interior oversees some 194,000 civilian security personnel, including police and border control.

The review is one of several studies that Congress commissioned in May, when it agreed to fund the war for several more months but demanded that the Bush administration and outside groups assess U.S. progress in the four-year war.

A senior Pentagon official said Wednesday that the U.S. military does not believe the Iraqi national police should be disbanded but acknowledges that getting the Iraqi army up to speed will take a while.

"We've always recognized that this was a long-term project," Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell said.

Several lawmakers—many of whom face tough elections next year—said they would be unswayed by the Jones report and other independent assessments. Congress would fare better by finding a bipartisan solution that would bring troops home, they say.

"No matter what these reports suggest or what Congress infers from them, it is clear that it is time to develop a post-surge strategy," 13 lawmakers, including three Republicans, wrote on Wednesday to House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., and Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

According to the study, the panel agreed with U.S. and Iraqi officials that the Iraqi Army is capable of taking over an increasing amount of day-to-day combat responsibilities, but that the military and police force still would be unable to take control and operate independently in such a short time frame.

"They are gaining size and strength, and will increasingly be capable of assuming greater responsibility for Iraq's security," the report states, adding that special forces in particular are "highly capable and extremely effective."

The report is much more pessimistic about Baghdad's police units. It describes them as fragile, ill-equipped and infiltrated by militia forces. And they are led by the Ministry of Interior, which is "a ministry in name only" that is "widely regarded as being dysfunctional and sectarian, and suffers from ineffective leadership."

Accordingly, the study recommends disbanding the national police and starting over.

A group of liberal Democrats said Wednesday the U.S. should stop supporting these forces entirely and withdraw U.S. troops.

"How can we be sure we are not putting guns into the hands of a future enemy and empowering them for generations to come?" said Rep. Maxine Waters, D-Calif.

Other Democrats say party leaders have set their sights on the $147 billion President Bush requested for the war as a means of forcing a drawdown of U.S. forces.

Rep. James Moran, D-Va., a member of the House panel that oversees the military budget, said an option being considered is a bill that funds the troops, but in three- or four-month installments, and directs that the money be used only to bring them home.

Syria Says It Fired on Israeli Aircraft

6 September 2007

DAMASCUS — Syrian air defenses opened fire on Israeli aircraft that violated Syrian airspace, a Syrian military spokesman said Thursday.

The Israelis broke the sound barrier and "dropped ammunition" over deserted areas of northern Syria overnight, the spokesman was quoted by the official Syrian Arab News Agency.

"We warn the Israeli enemy government against this flagrant aggressive act, and retain the right to respond in an appropriate way," the Syrian spokesman said.

It was not clear if Syria was accusing the Israelis of using warplanes or some type of other aircraft such as drones.

"The Israeli enemy aircraft infiltrated into the Arab Syrian territory through the northern border, coming from the Mediterranean heading toward the eastern region, breaking the sound barrier," the spokesman said. "Air defense units confronted them and forced them to leave after they dropped some ammunition in deserted areas without causing any human or material damage."

Israel's army said it was looking into the report.

Israel acknowledges flying over Lebanon routinely, but it is unclear how often its aircraft fly over Syria.

At the beginning of last summer's war against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, Israeli warplanes buzzed the palace of Syrian President Bashar Assad in what analysts called a warning to Damascus. They also flew over Assad's summer home in the coastal city of Latakia, after Syrian-backed Palestinian militants in Gaza captured a young Israeli soldier.

11-year-old Girl Goes Missing in Gaza

6 September 2007

Gaza – Ma'an – An eleven-year-old girl has gone missing in Gaza City after she went out to buy a pencil case for the start of the new school year.

Iman Tayseer Mghafel left home on Monday afternoon at around 1.30 pm and did not return home. She was last seen wearing a blue tracksuit and carrying a black bag.

Her uncle, Yusry Mghafel who lives in Al Shaga'eyeh neighborhood of Gaza City said that
her family searched the streets for her before calling on the Executive Forces for help.

The family is appealing for anybody with any information to come forward.


Update:

Iman Tayseer Mghafel has been found and was not hurt, as the Security Force found her.

She was abducted by a child predator and I am sad to say they was Palestinian and was said to have extreme mental illness.

The child abductor was executed for the kidnapping and this lovely child was returned safely to her parents.