LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 10/09

Bible Reading of the day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 5,12-16. Now there was a man full of leprosy in one of the towns where he was; and when he saw Jesus, he fell prostrate, pleaded with him, and said, "Lord, if you wish, you can make me clean."Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, "I do will it. Be made clean." And the leprosy left him immediately. Then he ordered him not to tell anyone, but "Go, show yourself to the priest and offer for your cleansing what Moses prescribed; that will be proof for them."The report about him spread all the more, and great crowds assembled to listen to him and to be cured of their ailments, but he would withdraw to deserted places to pray.

Saint Antony of Padua (c.1195-1231), 13th century Franciscan friar, Doctor of the Church
Sermons for Sundays and Feasts of the Saints
"Jesus stretched out his hand, touched him, and said, 'I do will it. Be made clean'"
Oh! How I marvel at that hand! That «hand of my Beloved, of gold adorned with chrysolites» (Sg 5,14). That hand whose touch loosened the tongue of the dumb man, raised the daughter of Jairus (Mk 7,33; 5,41) and cleansed lepers. That hand of which the prophet Isaiah said: «My hand made all these things!» (Is 66,2). To stretch out one's hand is to present a gift. O Lord, stretch out your hand – that hand which the executioner stretched out on the cross. Touch the leprous and grant him your favor. Everything your hand touches will be cleansed and healed. «He touched Malchus' ear» Saint Luke says, «and healed him» (22,51). He stretched out his hand to grant the gift of healing to the leper. He said: «I do will it. Be made clean» and the leprosy left him immediately. «Whatever he wills, he does» (Ps 115[113B),3). In him nothing divides the will from the deed.
Now, God works this kind of instantaneous healing daily in the sinner's soul through the ministry of the priest. Priests have a threefold office: to extend the hand, that is to say to pray for the sinner and have mercy on him; to touch him, comfort him, assure him of forgiveness; to will this forgiveness and grant it by absolution. This was the threefold pastoral ministry the Lord entrusted to Peter when he said to him three times: «Feed my lambs» (Jn 21,15f.).

Free Opinions, Releases, letters & Special Reports
Gaza: A Tragedy for All.By Amir Taheri. Asharq Alawsat 09/01/09
Tiptoeing around death in South Lebanon-By Michael Young 09/01/09
Gaza is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of perils for Arab states-The Daily Star 09/01/09
Barack Obama's historic speech on the Middle East-By John V. Whitbeck 09/01/09

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for January 09/09
Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire-AP
Violence in Gaza continues despite U.N. call for cease-fire-AP
Analysis: Syria deals with Gaza, eyeing own peace-The Associated Press
Rockets from Lebanon reignite tension in Israel's north-Los Angeles Times
 Israel to continue Gaza offensive despite U.N. call for cease-fire-AP
Israel, Hamas Battle it Out Despite U.N. Resolution-Naharnet
March 14 Forces Question the Extent of Harmony Between Military and Cabinet Position Concerning Missiles-Naharnet
PFLP-GC Set Up Missile Platforms in Qossaya Directed toward Israel-Naharnet
Hizbullah Relocated Positions … Next Battle to be Launched from Bekaa-Naharnet
Jumblat: Resistance Arms Underline Defensive Nature-Naharnet
Israel Sends Letter of Protest to U.N. over Rocket Attack-Naharnet
Feltman: Party Behind Rocket Attack on Israel Not Looking after 'Lebanon's Interest'-Naharnet
UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire-AP
Pressure increases on Israel as toll rises-International Herald Tribune
Iranian speaker meets radical Palestinian leader in Syria-France24
Tensions rise as rockets hit Israel from South Lebanon-Daily Star
Israel to present complaint to UN over Lebanon rocket fire-Ha'aretz
Tensions rise as rockets hit Israel from South Lebanon-Daily Star
Lebanese president reaffirms commitment to UN resolution on calm ...Xinhua
Fears Subside Over Rocket Fire From Lebanon-New York Times
Hizbollah says it’s ready for war 08/01 20:34 CET-euronews
Rocket attack on Israel violates UN pact -Lebanon-Reuters
Red Cross criticises Israel of blocking access to Gaza injured-guardian.co.uk
Sleiman again exhorts Arabs to save Gaza-Daily Star
Nasrallah warns Israelis not to pick another fight- (AFP)
'Lebanese must unite to ward off dangers'-Daily Star
Sarkozy insists Damascus will soon send envoy to Beirut-Daily Star
US goes after Hizbullah's Waad rebuilding effort-Daily Star
Obama warns drastic moves needed to rein in $1.2 trillion deficit-(AFP)
Shatah revises growth projection for Lebanese economy down to 3 percent-Daily Star
LOG head accuses Hizbullah of following Iran's orders-Daily Star
Some Shiites shed blood to mark Ashura while others opt to donate it for Gaza-Daily Star
EU party to Israel's crimes against humanity - NGOs-Daily Star
 

Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire
By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press
 JERUSALEM – Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas officials said. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light.
By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to more than 760 and in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
A U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night called urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The U.S., Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, abstained.
While the call is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's troops won't be required to pull out of Gaza until there is a durable cease-fire. The resolution calls on U.N. member states to intensify efforts to provide guarantees in Gaza to sustain a lasting truce, including prevention of illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.
In Israel's first official response to the resolution, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the Hamas rockets fired at Israel Friday "only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."
A Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested" in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands. Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas has kept up rocket attacks on southern Israel. The rockets fired Friday hit in and around two of the largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon. Cities within rocket range of Gaza have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet since.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement."Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people.
"This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the Al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel. Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting.
One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said. Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building 24 hours later, killing 30 people.
The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human rights group. The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts. The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.
The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the Israeli offensive.
***AP writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Gaza violence rages on despite UN cease-fire call
 By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press Writers
JERUSALEM – The U.N. Security Council called for an immediate cease-fire in Gaza, but an intense bombardment of missiles from Israeli jets and helicopters early Friday and a barrage of Hamas rockets indicated there may be no quick end to the fighting.
The Security Council resolution was approved Thursday night by a 14-0 vote, with the United States abstaining. The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza."
Israel and Hamas were not parties to the council vote and it is now up to them to stop the fighting. But a Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested" in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.
Israel's top leaders were set Friday to discuss the cease-fire — or a possible expansion of the ground offensive.
"Israel has acted, is acting and will act only according to its own considerations, the security of its citizens and its right to self defense," Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said in a statement from her office ahead of the meeting.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas security officials said. By mid-morning, 13 Palestinians had been killed.
In all, Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and constant explosions continued after first light. Friday's deaths in Gaza pushed the Palestinian death toll to about 760 in the nearly two-week-old conflict, at least half of them civilians, according to Gaza health officials. Thirteen Israelis have died.
Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas continued to bombard residents of southern Israel. Rockets hit Friday morning across southern Israel, including in and around Beersheba and Ashkelon, which — like other cities within rocket range of Gaza — have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
Israel called up thousands of reserve troops earlier in the week, and they are now ready for action.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet since.
The United States abstained from the Security Council vote even though it helped hammer out the resolution's text along with Arab nations that have ties to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories. U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
The resolution expresses "grave concern" at the escalating violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasizes the need to open all border crossings and achieve a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
It also calls on U.N. member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained reopening" of border crossings.
In addition, the resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians" and calls for "unimpeded" humanitarian access to Gaza."
Israel has paused its operations for three-hour periods in the last two days to allow aid to reach civilians.
Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement." Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people. "This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Following the resolution, Egypt was expected to take the lead in persuading Israel and Hamas to accept it. Israeli representatives returned home from talks in Cairo Thursday, and Hamas was due to send political leaders to the Egyptian capital on Saturday.
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel. Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting. One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said.
____
AP writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

Israel, Hamas defy UN call for cease-fire
By MATTI FRIEDMAN and IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writers Matti Friedman And Ibrahim Barzak, Associated Press Writers
JERUSALEM – Israeli jets and helicopters bombarded Gaza Friday and Hamas responded with a barrage of rockets on two cities as both sides defied a U.N. call for an immediate cease-fire.
One Israeli airstrike killed two Hamas militants and another unidentified man, while another flattened a five-story building in northern Gaza, killing at least seven people, including an infant, Hamas officials said. Israeli aircraft struck more than 30 targets before dawn, and there were constant explosions after first light.
By midday, 19 Palestinians had been killed, pushing the death toll to more than 760 and in the two-week-old conflict, according to Gaza health officials who say at least half of those killed were civilians. Thirteen Israelis have also been killed.
A U.N. Security Council resolution approved Thursday night called urgently for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza. The U.S., Israel's closest ally and a veto-wielding member of the Security Council, abstained.
While the call is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's troops won't be required to pull out of Gaza until there is a durable cease-fire. The resolution calls on U.N. member states to intensify efforts to provide guarantees in Gaza to sustain a lasting truce, including prevention of illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition.
In Israel's first official response to the resolution, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's office said the Hamas rockets fired at Israel Friday "only prove that the U.N.'s decision is not practical and will not be kept in practice by the Palestinian murder organizations."
A Hamas spokesman said the Islamic militant group "is not interested" in the cease-fire because it was not consulted and the resolution did not meet its minimum demands.Israel launched its assault on Dec. 27 in an attempt to halt years of rocket fire from the Hamas-controlled territory.
Despite the devastating offensive, Hamas has kept up rocket attacks on southern Israel. The rockets fired Friday hit in and around two of the largest southern cities, Beersheba and Ashkelon. Cities within rocket range of Gaza have largely been paralyzed since the fighting began.
The Security Council action came hours after a U.N. agency suspended food deliveries to Gaza, and the Red Cross accused Israel of blocking medical assistance after forces fired on aid workers. It also followed concerns of a wider conflict after militants in Lebanon fired rockets into northern Israel early Thursday, though the border has been quiet since.
Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the U.S. "fully supports" the resolution but abstained "to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, also aimed at achieving a cease-fire. Osama Hamdan, a Hamas envoy to Lebanon, told the al-Arabiya satellite channel that the group "is not interested in it because it does not meet the demands of the movement."
Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri said the U.N. failed to consider the interests of the Palestinian people.
"This resolution doesn't mean that the war is over," he told the Al-Jazeera satellite television network. "We call on the Palestinian fighters to mobilize and be ready to face the offensive, and we urge the Arab masses to carry on with their angry protests."
Israel's government says any cease-fire must guarantee an end to rocket fire and arms smuggling into Gaza. During a six-month cease-fire that ended with the current operation, Hamas is thought to have used tunnels under the Egypt-Gaza border to smuggle in the medium-range rockets it is now using to hit deeper than ever inside Israel. Hamas has said it won't accept any agreement that does not include the full opening Gaza's blockaded border crossings. Israel is unlikely to agree to that demand, as it would allow Hamas to strengthen its hold on the territory which it violently seized in June 2007.
With Israeli troops now in control of many of the open areas used by militants to launch rockets, gunman have continued shooting from inside populated neighborhoods.
The conflict has left hundreds of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza increasingly desperate for food, water, fuel and medical assistance, and the situation was expected to worsen as humanitarian efforts fall victim to the fighting.
One of the dead Thursday was a Ukrainian woman, the first foreigner to die in the fighting, according to Gaza Health Ministry official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain. He said the woman was married to a Palestinian doctor who trained in Ukraine and returned with her to Gaza. Her 2-year-old son was also killed in the tank shelling east of Gaza City, he said. Details are emerging of other incidents in which civilians were killed. A U.N. agency said Israeli troops evacuated Palestinian civilians to a house in Gaza City on Jan. 4, then shelled the building 24 hours later, killing 30 people. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs report was based on eyewitness testimony. It added details to an incident previously reported by The Associated Press and an Israeli human rights group. The U.N. agency said 110 people were in the house. The 30 people reported killed is a far higher figure than in other accounts.
The Israeli military had no comment on the report Friday.
The West Bank saw its biggest protests so far Friday, as thousands took to the streets following prayers to express their anger at the Israeli offensive.
**AP writers Edith M. Lederer and John Heilprin at the United Nations contributed to this report.

UN Security Council calls for Gaza cease-fire
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer Edith M. Lederer, Associated Press Writer
UNITED NATIONS – The U.N. Security Council approved a resolution Thursday night calling for an immediate and durable cease-fire between Hamas militants and Israeli forces in Gaza. The U.S. abstained from the 14-0 vote.
Israel and Hamas were not parties to the vote and it will now be up to them to stop the fighting. But the text of the resolution was hammered out by the United States, Israel's chief ally, and by Arab nations that have ties to Hamas and the Palestinians in the Israeli-occupied territories.
"We are all very conscious that peace is made on the ground while resolutions are written in the United Nations," British Foreign Secretary David Miliband said.
U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said the United States "fully supports" the resolution but abstained because it "thought it important to see the outcomes of the Egyptian mediation" with Israel and Hamas, aimed at achieving a cease-fire.
The Egyptian and French initiative must be "not just applauded, but supported," she said.
In deciding that the U.S. should not block the resolution, Rice said, "the Security Council has provided a road map for a sustainable, durable peace in Gaza."
The decision came on the 13th day of an Israeli air and ground offensive against the Islamic group Hamas which rules Gaza and has been launching rockets and mortars into southern Israel for years. It followed three days of intense negotiations between ministers from key Arab nations and the council's veto-wielding Western powers — the U.S., Britain and France.
With Palestinian civilian casualties mounting, the Arabs were under intense pressure to get a resolution — and several diplomats said they wanted it before Friday prayers at mosques in the region.
As of Thursday, about 750 Palestinians, at least a quarter civilians, had been killed along with 13 Israelis.
The resolution expressed "grave concern" at the escalating violence and the deepening humanitarian crisis in Gaza and emphasized the need to open all border crossings and achieve a lasting solution to the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Arab nations called for the emergency Security Council meeting to get the council to call for an immediate cease-fire.
They had been pressing their own resolution, which not only would have demanded an end to all military activity in Gaza but was revised to include mention of Hamas by name and call for an international force to prevent arms smuggling — two key U.S. demands.
But the changes in the Arab text didn't meet all the demands of the United States and its key Western allies, Britain and France, all veto-wielding members of the council.Those nations countered by shelving a weaker "presidential statement" they had proposed Wednesday and introducing a rival resolution written by the British.
The resolution "stresses the urgency of and calls for an immediate, durable and fully respected cease-fire, leading to the full withdrawal of Israeli forces from Gaza." While the "call" is tantamount to a demand on the parties, Israel's troops won't be required to pull out until there is a "durable" cease-fire.
The resolution calls on U.N. member states "to intensify efforts to provide arrangements and guarantees in Gaza in order to sustain a durable cease-fire and calm, including to prevent illicit trafficking in arms and ammunition and to ensure the sustained re-opening" of border crossings.
This is a weaker statement than Israel sought, and the U.S. would have liked. There is also no mention in the resolution of an "international observer force" proposed by the Arabs — and the word "Hamas" was dropped during the negotiations.
The resolution "condemns all violence and hostilities directed against civilians," calls for "unimpeded" humanitarian access to Gaza, and welcomes the initiative to open "humanitarian corridors." It urges international efforts to provide humanitarian aid and rebuild Gaza's economy.
While the resolution was not drafted under Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which is militarily enforceable, the Arab League's Moussa said it is "legally binding."
As for implementation, he said, "we'll get it" because following the Security Council's unanimous approval, the council "will have to supervise the implementation."
Shortly before the final day of U.N. negotiations began, Israeli envoys went to Cairo and held talks with Egyptian officials on an initiative by the presidents of Egypt and France that calls for a temporary truce. Hamas militants have yet to commit to coming to Cairo for talks and said they have major reservations about the plan.
In a possible sign Hamas was unwilling to compromise yet, a senior Hamas official in Syria, Mohammed Nazzal, told Syrian TV on Thursday that the group would never surrender and vowed to fight house to house against Israeli troops in Gaza.
A joint statement issued by Palestinian groups based in Syria's capital Thursday rejected the Egyptian-French initiative, saying it would undermine Gazans' resistance and give Israel "a free hand" to continue aggression.
Hamas is normally a member of the coalition, but it wasn't clear if it signed the statement. Hamas officials in Syria were not available for comment.
Israel's government said Wednesday that it viewed the Egyptian-French proposal positively but stopped short of acceptance.
The leaders of France and Germany met Thursday to discuss the crisis and urged quick action to halt the fighting. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said any time lost would play into the hands of those who want war.
German Chancellor Angela Merkel backed the Egyptian-French plan. "We must do everything we can so that this cease-fire occurs as soon as possible," she said.
Speaking in Madrid, Spain, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas called the Egyptian-French initiative "a positive element" in the peace process and said that "we support it." Abbas' Fatah faction, which controls the West Bank, has little sway in Gaza.
The Egyptian-French initiative aims to achieve a "lasting halt" to the fighting and a pullout of Israeli troops along with a cessation of militant rocket fire into Israel and arms smuggling to Hamas, French Foreign Ministry spokesman Eric Chevallier said.
In Washington, the Senate unanimously adopted a resolution stating an "unwavering commitment" to Israel and its right to defend itself, while also calling for "a viable and independent Palestinian state living in peace alongside a secure state of Israel." The House was expected to pass a similar measure Friday.
**Associated Press writers John Heilprin at the United Nations; Omar Sinan in Cairo, Egypt; Albert Aji in Damascus, Syria; Christine Ollivier and Jamey Keaten in Paris, and Anne Flaherty in Washington contributed to this report.

Israel Attacked from the North
By Daveed Gartenstein-Ross
My colleague Josh Goodman and I published a Center for Terrorism Research Intelligence Briefing this morning that examines today's Katyusha rocket attacks into Israel from Lebanon. An excerpt:
* ROCKETS LAUNCHED FROM LEBANON. According to reports, at least three Katyusha rockets were fired today from Southern Lebanon into Northern Israel. One landed in the kitchen of an old age home in Nahariya, wounding two elderly Israelis. Israel immediately responded by firing artillery shells at the location from which the Katyushas were fired. An Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) spokesman told Haaretz that the retaliation was intended as a "pinpoint response at the source of fire."
* LEBANON'S RESPONSE. The Lebanese government was quick to condemn the rocket attacks into Israel. According to a statement released by Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's office: "Prime Minister Siniora regards what happened in the south as a violation of the international resolution 1701 and something he does not accept and Siniora called for an investigation into the incident."
* WHO BEARS RESPONSIBILITY? No group or individual has, to this point, claimed responsibility for the Katyusha attacks. Lebanese Information Minister Tarek Mitri was swift to deny Hizballah's role, saying that the group "assured the Lebanese government that it remains engaged in preserving the stability in Lebanon and respects Security Council resolution 1701." Israel blamed Palestinian factions in Lebanon, and does not believe this signals a broader escalation. Minister Rafi Eitan said, "I think these are isolated incidents. We expected this." FDD research fellow Tony Badran writes that the Damascus-based PFLP-GC is believed responsible for the rocket attacks, and that Hizballah "naturally knew about it and turned a blind eye, in order to conveniently maintain deniability."

Gaza: A Tragedy for All
09/01/2009
By Amir Taheri
Asharq Alawsat
As the war in Gaza enters its third week, we are offered torrents of analysis not on how to stop the bloodletting- no one has an answer for that- but on the possible causes of the crisis. Suggestions in that domain range from one of a full-sale war of civilizations to Hamas's attempt at breaking the Israeli quarantine that has dealt serious blows to the movement's numerous business interests in Gaza.
However, reasons more mundane may also be considered.
For example, Israel's Defence Minister and Labour Party leader Ehud Barrak may well want save his camp from meltdown in next spring's general election. His colleague, Foreign Minister and Kadima leader Tzipi Livni may also a personal agenda. Accused by her opponents of being a soft touch, presumably because she is a woman, Livni may wish to cast herself in the role of war leader modeled on Golda Meir. As for Ehud Olmert, the prime minister agonizing on a cheap political life-support machine, he may want to leave behind a better impression than the one he created during the war against Hezbollah in Lebanon two years ago.
The spectre that haunts all this cast of characters is named Benjamin Netanyahu, the Likud leader, who opposed the unilateral withdrawal from Gaza that, in time, gave Hamas its opportunity to carve a fiefdom, smash its domestic opponents, and start its rocket game against Israel.
Yet another reason why Israel decided to hit Hamas at this time might be related to the Jewish state's fear of the Islamic Republic in Tehran. After mote than a year of heated debate, the Israeli elite have decided that President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's threat of wiping Israel off the map must be taken seriously. The prospect of Israel hitting Iranian unclear installations is no longer fantastical, although such a move could do irreparable harm to Irano-Israeli ties even under a new regime in Tehran.
Thus, if Israel were to hit Iran it would have to be certain that Iran's allies and clients close by do not open new fronts against the Jewish state. Right now ran has three regional assets: the Baathist regime in Damascus, the Nasrallah-Aoun duo in Beirut and Hamas in Gaza.
Israel, with help from Turkey, ahs already all but neutralized the Syrians with prospects of are turn to peace talks and the return of the Golan Heights. It is now certain that Syria will not risk entering a larger regional war simply to please the mullahs of Tehran.
As for the Nasrallah-Aoun tandem, the Israelis think that they are no longer in a position to pose a clear and present danger. Aoun will certainly not invite the Maronites to join a jihad in support of Ahmadinejad. As for Nasrallah, his mythical victories notwithstanding, he knows that any new round of fighting next time will end differently. In any case, few would be surprised if, after dealing with Hamas in Gaza, the Israelis decided to take the Hezbollah to the dentist once again to eliminate the latest teeth supplied by Tehran.
That leaves Hamas that, having destroyed its ties with virtually all Arab states, is left with no choice but to look to Tehran for support.
Tehran propaganda claims that Hamas has been converted to the Khomeinist brand of "victory through martyrdom". "Our brethren in Hamas have learned the lessons of Hussein's Ashura," boasted the Islamic Republic News Agency (IRNA), the official mouthpiece of the regime on Tuesday. IRNA seems to believe that Hamas is now a Sunni version of Hezbollah rather than a branch of the more sophisticate Muslim Brotherhood.
Nevertheless, it is unlikely that Hamas would enter a war whose sole aim would be to allow Tehran to develop nuclear weapons. The Israelis, however, seem to have decided to take no risks. It is better to defang Hamas before attacking Iran.
The fact that the US is caught between two administrations provides an added opportunity for Israel. Barack Obama, whatever the truth of his supposedly secret sympathies for the Palestinians, will have to cope with the facts on the ground.
Having said all that, it is clear that what is happening in Gaza is a tragedy. It is a tragedy in the strict classical sense of the term, that is to say a drama in which everyone loses. By the time this column was being written Gaza already counted more than 4000 dead or injured. Proportionately that would be equal to some 200,000 Egyptians or Iranians.
Hamas has already lost because it has destroyed the biggest achievement of the Palestinians since 1967, that is to separate the issue of Palestine from the bigger power rivalries in the region and beyond. One again, the fate of Palestine depends on foreign powers, this time including Iran, with their own agendas.
Israel will also lose because it lacks the unity and resolve to pursue this war until a new status quo is created in Gaza. Israel may win in military terms, as it did in Lebanon, but would lose politically because it would leave behind a smaller but emboldened Hamas still capable of holding Gazans hostage to a strategy ultimately decided by others.
The so-called "international community" is also a loser. For despite the various leaders and diplomats running hither and thither like headless chicken, it lacks the will to see reality, let alone cope with it.

Tiptoeing around death in South Lebanon
By Michael Young
Daily Star staff
Friday, January 09, 2009
The rocket attacks yesterday across Lebanon's southern border with Israel were a worrying sign that the conflict in Gaza may escalate into a wider conflagration. Hizbullah, or whichever group it allowed to fire the weapons from its territory, sought in some degree to push a fearful international community into imposing a cease-fire in Gaza, where the Israeli stranglehold may lead to the imposition of an Egyptian-French plan whose outcome is the military neutralization of Hamas.
Hizbullah must have also found intolerable its immobility in the past two weeks, reduced as it was to providing Hamas with verbal encouragement. For a party that claims to be the vanguard of the armed struggle against Israel, cheerleading from the sidelines was surely mortifying. However, at this early stage it seems that neither Hizbullah nor Israel wants to go to all-out war. Responsibility for the attack on the Lebanese side was kept ambiguous, while Israel's response was limited in scope, with some officials there preferring to put the blame on unidentified Palestinians.
The reality is that Hizbullah's secretary general, Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah, is facing constraints as he ponders what to do next. For starters, he must evaluate the consequences of Hizbullah's two pyrrhic victories, in 2006 and 2008, which he and his followers still insist are incontestable.
The first is Hizbullah's purported victory in summer 2006. Presumably, victories over Israel are so desirable that the Lebanese in general, and the Shiites in particular, would care to turn them into an annual event. If so, then why are the Shiites so reluctant to repeat what happened that year? Perhaps they sense that the brutal displacement of 1 million people, and the killing of 1,200 others, only qualified as a victory in the narrowest and most counterintuitive of ways. Nasrallah, for all his bravado two years ago, must now factor in the Shiite refusal to be similarly punished once more, and the refusal of a Lebanese majority to suffer his whims.
The second victory Nasrallah must consider is that of early May 2008, when his men overran western Beirut and humiliated the Sunni community. In the short term, that episode gave the opposition veto power in the government and an election law that will preserve Hizbullah's share in Parliament. But in the context of the party's long-term struggle against Israel, it may have been catastrophic. A reason why Nasrallah has hesitated to intervene more publicly over Gaza is that last May he squandered any national consensus behind the idea of resistance that Hizbullah once enjoyed, and today the party cannot even be certain of protecting its rear if Israel again devastates Lebanon.
An interesting subplot is playing itself out in the local media. Most Lebanese want to be seen as on the Palestinians' side, but there is marked competition between the Hariri camp, through its Future satellite television channel and Al-Mustaqbal newspaper, and Hizbullah's media outlets, over who can best express outrage when it comes to the Palestinians' plight. In Lebanon's polarized sectarian atmosphere, the Future movement and other Sunni political groups, particularly the Jamaa Islamiyya, have done everything but say what is really on their minds: that Palestine is, above all, a Sunni concern, regardless of Hizbullah's efforts to place itself at the center of the battle against Israel; therefore, Nasrallah should not repeat what he said in 2006, when he accused his local rivals of colluding with Israel against Hizbullah.
If Nasrallah feels pressed domestically, he can't be much very more reassured by what is happening regionally. What, for example, are Syria's calculations? It's quite possible that the rocket attack on Thursday was carried out, with Hizbullah's acquiescence, by pro-Syrian Palestinians. Like all good merchants in carrion, the Assad regime will probably emerge from the Gaza confrontation stronger. If Hamas is neutralized, the Syrians will doubtless see one of their cards devalued, but they will also be able to compensate for that because the United States and the Europeans will embrace Syria as an ally in containing troublesome non-state actors such as Hamas and Hizbullah. That Syria helped arm these groups in the first place will be stubbornly ignored. President Bashar Assad will be given a chance to bargain over the dead of Gaza in the same way that his father bargained over the dead of Qana in April 1996.
Nasrallah knows that any Hizbullah move on Israel's northern border would only give Assad a stronger hand to offer his services abroad, at the expense of the party. In that complicated minuet, Iran, too, must be careful of the consequences if a broader conflict ignites in southern Lebanon. Syria would use this to better sell its Lebanese return to the Americans; Hizbullah could find itself isolated domestically in the run-up to parliamentary elections in June; and Iran risks not only seeing its Hamas ally in Gaza diminished, but Hizbullah as well. And this time Tehran's ability to throw money around to placate Lebanon's Shiites might not be what it was two years ago. The results in Lebanon would feed into Iran's presidential election, so that what happens here could determine the political fate of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.
These concerns notwithstanding, Nasrallah also faces a more profound problem if he comes across as a helpless prisoner of Lebanese realities. By showing he can do nothing on the Israeli border, for fear of heightening tensions at home, he undermines Hizbullah's deterrence capability in the event Israel strikes against Iran's nuclear facilities. From the start of the war in Gaza, Iran's containment has hovered over Arab decision-making. That explains why Hizbullah could not remain idle indefinitely. Nasrallah had to establish that, even in the most unpropitious of times, he could still use his weapons, or allow others to do so, against Israel.
As the abduction of Israeli soldiers in July 2006 showed, however, attacks too carefully calibrated can easily get out of hand. Israel and Hizbullah may not want to return to those days, but they will fight a new war with relish if one becomes unavoidable. More bothersome, Lebanon is back to being a hostage to the choices of one man, who in order to defend his party, and particularly its standing with its regional sponsors, needs to engage in brinkmanship at the expense of his own compatriots.
*Michael Young is opinion editor of THE DAILY STAR.

Gaza is just the tip of the iceberg in terms of perils for Arab states
By The Daily Star
Friday, January 09, 2009
Editorial
Everyone with a stake in the Middle East professes to be aware of the mortal threats posed by Israel's bloody war on the Gaza Strip, but none of those most imperiled seems to recognize that the issues are much larger than the current crisis. Hamas is the purported target of the Israeli offensive, but regardless of who "wins" or "loses" the Arab state system will continue to be highly vulnerable on at least three crucial fronts so long as it fails abjectly to answer myriad concerns among its peoples: Israel will continue in the short term to have its way with its neighbors; non-state actors will continue to gain domestic influence at the expense of hapless governments; and more and more individuals will look outside the Arab world - i.e. to Iran - for succor in the face of divided and therefore inert Arab leadership.
This should not be the case. Hamas and its primary Palestinian rival, Fatah, have begun at last to apply a little wisdom to the squabbles between them that opened up the very gaping holes in Arab solidarity through which Israeli forces have charged into Gaza. But the damage is done: Key regimes like Egypt's have been humiliated both at home and abroad, non-state groups have actually increased their legitimacy as Arab and Muslim standard-bearers, and Iran has been encouraged to believe that its best bet for settling its own grievances against the West is to keep Arab-Israeli tensions boiling.
Each of Hamas and Fatah should, in fact, be the other's most trusted ally on any and all issues that touch anywhere beyond the Palestinian house; countries like Egypt and Syria should be working in concert to protect Arab rights; and the Arabs should be partners of the Iranians (and the Turks, among others) to secure the interests of all Muslims. Instead, by permitting needless division on multiple levels, all of these actors have exposed themselves to defeat in detail from both within and without.
Apart from those Israelis who view conflict as a means of imposing their will via the military might conferred on their country by the United States, no one can look on this state of affairs with anything but foreboding. By all means, end the carnage in Gaza - but don't forget what started it.


Barack Obama's historic speech on the Middle East
By John V. Whitbeck
Commentary by
Friday, January 09, 2009
President-elect Barack Obama has a problem. Particularly in the wake of Israel's holiday-season massacre of Gazans, he is under heavy pressure to focus immediately on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and to "do something." However, if he were simply to announce an intention to work harder to achieve an impossible goal by means that have repeatedly failed - a decent "two-state solution" through bilateral Israeli-Palestinian negotiations - such a commitment to further years of time-wasting would kill hope rather than inspire it and be counterproductive.
Furthermore, Obama's entourage has let it be known that he would like to make a major speech in a Muslim country early in his presidency. A welcome gesture, to be sure, but what would he say? If he were simply to promise "more of the same," as he did during his campaign, his frustrated audience might be tempted to throw shoes. What could he say that would be new and exciting, would truly represent "change" in American policy and would inspire genuine and justified hope that Middle East peace really is possible?
A conclusion to his speech along the following lines would offer change to believe in and audacious hope and could produce a far better future for Israelis, Palestinians and all mankind than most people would dare to dream possible in these somber days:
"During the 20 years since the Palestinian leadership formally committed itself to seeking peace with some measure of justice through a 'two-state solution,' virtually the entire international community has, at some point, come to subscribe, at least formally, to that goal. Unfortunately, during those same 20 years, the realistic possibility of actually achieving a decent 'two-state solution' has become more remote with each passing year. Constantly expanding 'facts on the ground' which render a viable and coherent Palestinian state virtually inconceivable have aggravated the multitude of excruciatingly complicated and difficult 'final status issues' which have proven too sensitive even for serious discussion between the Israeli and Palestinian leaderships. As a result, the most knowledgeable and realistic observers have reluctantly concluded that a decent 'two-state solution' is no longer possible.
"I therefore call on Israelis, Palestinians and all who truly care about peace, justice and the best interests of both Israelis and Palestinians to consider the only other acceptable alternative - democracy: a single state in all of the land which both Israelis and Palestinians love and consider rightfully theirs, with full and equal rights for both peoples and free of any form of discrimination based on race, religion or any other distinction, in accordance with the inspiring aspiration of the United States and all true democracies.
"Just as marriage is vastly less complicated than divorce, democracy is vastly less complicated than partition. A democratic solution to this century-old conflict would not require any borders to be agreed, any division of Jerusalem, anyone to move from his current home or any assets to be evaluated and apportioned. Full rights of citizenship would simply be extended to all surviving natives still living in the country, as happened in the United States in the early 20th century and in South Africa in the late 20th century.
"The obstacle to such a simple and morally unimpeachable solution is, of course, ethical, intellectual and psychological - on both sides of the current divide. No one would suggest that the ethical, intellectual and psychological transformation necessary to achieve a democratic one-state solution will be easy. However, since the only transformations necessary would be in the human mind, they could occur suddenly under proper leadership and inspiration. In any event, it is in no one's interests to waste further time before striving to inspire minds to accept the only remaining acceptable alternative to perpetual hatred and bloodshed.
"In this context, Israelis might wish to consider and reflect upon the experience of white South Africans. The transformation of South Africa's racial-supremacist ideology and state system into a truly democratic one has liberated white South Africans, as well as black South Africans, and has transformed white South Africans from international pariahs into people welcomed throughout their region and the world. It has also ensured the permanence of a strong and vital white presence in southern Africa in a way that prolonging the flagrant injustice of a racial-supremacist ideology and state system and imposing fragmented and dependent "independent states" on the natives could never have achieved. This is not a precedent to dismiss. It is one that could and should inspire.
"As an incentive to encourage all Israelis to adopt a more humanistic, humane, hopeful and democratic view of present realities and future possibilities and as an accommodation to those Israelis who might have difficulty doing so, the United States would commit, upon the implementation of such a democratic one-state solution, to welcome in the United States any Jewish Israelis who held Israeli citizenship as of today and who would then prefer to resettle in the United States, according them an immediate right of residence and a fast track to citizenship. The United States would also encourage other countries, particularly those with a moral obligation toward the Jewish people, to make the same generous offer.
"I solemnly call upon not only Israelis and Palestinians but on nations and peoples everywhere to unite to make this vision of peace through democracy and equal rights a reality and, by doing so, to make the world in which we live and in which future generations will live a far better and safer world than the one in which we have lived in recent decades and in which we live today."
Likely? Of course not. Possible? Absolutely. All that is needed is an American president with true ethical values and a genuine belief in democracy who is willing to risk putting the interests of his country and mankind ahead of narrow calculations of personal political self-interest. It is far from certain that America has finally elected such a president, but it is certainly possible.
If Barack Obama dared to advocate democracy as the path to peace for Israelis and Palestinians at the start of his presidency and to press for its achievement in the years remaining to him, it might well happen. No greater service to mankind can be imagined.
**John V. Whitbeck, an international lawyer who has advised the Palestinian negotiating team in negotiations with Israel. This article is published by permission.