LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
January 20/09
Bible Reading of the
day.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Mark 2,18-22. The disciples of
John and of the Pharisees were accustomed to fast. People came to him and
objected, "Why do the disciples of John and the disciples of the Pharisees fast,
but your disciples do not fast?"Jesus answered them, "Can the wedding guests
fast while the bridegroom is with them? As long as they have the bridegroom with
them they cannot fast. But the days will come when the bridegroom is taken away
from them, and then they will fast on that day. No one sews a piece of
unshrunken cloth on an old cloak. If he does, its fullness pulls away, the new
from the old, and the tear gets worse. Likewise, no one pours new wine
into old wineskins. Otherwise, the wine will burst the skins, and both the wine
and the skins are ruined. Rather, new wine is poured into fresh wineskins."
Rupert of Deutz (c.1075-1130), Benedictine
monk
The Trinity and its works, Book 42, On Isaiah, 2, 26/"The bridegroom is with
them"
«I rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul» (Is 61,10)...
The coming, the presence of the Lord, spoken of by the prophet in this verse, is
the kiss desired by the bride in the Song of Songs when she says: «Let him kiss
me with the kisses of his mouth» (Sg 1,1). And that faithful bride is the
Church: born in the patriarchs, she was betrothed in Moses and the prophets;
from the ardent desire of her heart she sighed for the coming of the Beloved...
Now, full of joy at having received this kiss, she cries out in happiness: «I
rejoice heartily in the Lord!» Sharing in this joy, John the Baptist, the
renowned «friend of the Bridegroom», the confidant of the secrets of the
Bridegroom and the bride, witness to their love for each other, declares: «The
one who has the bride is the bridegroom; the best man, who stands and listens
for him, rejoices greatly at the bridegroom's voice. So this joy of mine has
been made complete» (Jn 3,29). Without a doubt he who was the Bridegroom's
precursor in his birth, the precursor, too, of his Passion when he descended to
hell, announced the Good News to the Church that was waiting expectantly
there... So this verse is extremely apposite to the rejoicing Church when, in
the resting place of the dead, she hastens even then to meet the Bridegroom: «I
rejoice heartily in the Lord, in my God is the joy of my soul. What, then, is
the reason for my joy? What is the cause of my exultation? It is that he has
«clothed me with a robe of salvation and wrapped me in a mantle of joy» (cf.
v.10). In Adam I was stripped naked; I had to gather fig leaves to conceal my
nakedness; wretchedly clad in garments of skin, I was expelled from Paradise (Gn
3,7.21). But today my Lord and my God has replaced those leaves with the robe of
salvation. Through his Passion in our flesh he has clothed me in a new robe,
that of baptism and the remission of sins; and in place of the leather tunic of
mortality he has wrapped a second robe around me, that of the resurrection and
immortality.»
Free Opinions, Releases, letters &
Special Reports
A viable peace plan for Gaza and
Israel. By: Walid Phares
19/01/09
Europe's plea for peace
ignores the Gaza reality.By
DAVID HOROVITZ/
Might alone can't achieve Gaza quiet.By STEVEN GUTKIN 19/01/09
Latest News Reports From
Miscellaneous Sources for January 19/09
GAZA: In Lebanon and Iran, Israel
described as loser-Los
Angeles Times
Arab leaders patch up differences over
Gaza - Qatar-Reuters
Strong words heard at Arab
summit-BBC
News
Arab Leaders Open Summit on
Gaza, Economy-Naharnet
Ban urges Arabs to back Abbas in
Gaza crisis
Saudi Arabia pledges $1 billion to
help rebuild the Gaza Strip-Xinhua
Hezbollah: Lebanon needs Shiite group since
Israel is aggressive-Xinhua
Scale of Gaza destruction emerges-BBC
News
Israel to pull out of Gaza
by Obama inauguration
Palestinians use truce
to search for dead-United
Press International
Sfeir Called for Settling Issue of Sisters at
Marjaayoun Hospital-Naharnet
Report: Azerbaijan Thwarts Hizbullah Plot to Blow up Israeli Embassy-Naharnet
Hizbullah for an 'Efficient Christian Role' and a 'Permanent Defensive Force'-Naharnet
Hizbullah Calls for Abolishing Arab Peace Initiative-Naharnet
Geagea: Nasrallah Should
Reconsider his Resistance Theory-Naharnet
New Truck-Jam Crisis on
Abboudiyeh Border-Naharnet
Opposition to US, Israel unites conference
attendees-Los
Angeles Times
Backed by EU, Olmert
says wants out of Gaza fast-Reuters
Qatar grants Israeli
trade office 7 days to close-Xinhua
Israel, Hamas Both
Claim Victory After Cease-Fire in Gaza Strip-Bloomberg
Haaretz: Egypt
Monopolizing Management of 'The Palestinian Problem'-Naharnet
Arab Leaders Open Summit on Gaza, Economy
Naharnet/Arab leaders opened an economic summit in Kuwait on Monday amid sharp
differences over Israel's deadly offensive in the Gaza Strip and ways to deal
with the regional fallout of the 22-day war. Seventeen Arab heads of state are
attending the two-day summit while another five countries are represented at
senior official level. The summit is tipped to approve a two-billion-dollar fund
for the rebuilding of Gaza, which was badly battered by the Israeli offensive.
The war ended on Sunday with parallel unilateral ceasefire declarations by
Israel and Hamas, which controls the impoverished coastal strip. Saudi King
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz announced the donation of one billion dollars for the
reconstruction of Gaza. The summit is also expected to approve a number of
resolutions to accelerate Arab economic integration, including the launch of an
Arab customs union in 2010 and power grid and railway projects.(AFP) Beirut, 19
Jan 09, 13:47
Saudi Arabia pledges $1 billion to
rebuild Gaza
News KUWAIT CITY – The Saudi king says his country will donate $1 billion to
help rebuild the Gaza Strip after Israel's devastating three-week offensive in
the Palestinian territory. King Abdullah criticizes Israel for using excessive
force in Gaza and says "one drop of Palestinian blood" is more valuable than all
the money in the world. The king spoke Monday in Kuwait City at a summit focused
on boosting economic growth and development in the Arab world.
New Truck-Jam Crisis on Abboudiyeh Border
Naharnet/The Abboudiyeh border crossing has witnessed a new truck-jam crisis
with a long queue of trucks heading to Syria stretching at least 4 kilometers.
Lebanese sources told the daily Al Liwaa that this is natural since the truck
flow is the result of overloading which calls for additional measures and
approvals necessary to allow them to cross. Al Mustaqbal newspaper, meanwhile,
said Lebanese authorities have not been able to explain what is happening, as
Syria only allowed 30 of 300 trucks to cross. The Abboudiyeh border crossing had
witnessed similar crises since 2005 due to strict Syrian inspection measures on
trucks from Lebanon. Beirut, 19 Jan 09, 10:01
Report: Azerbaijan Thwarts Hizbullah Plot to Blow up
Israeli Embassy
Naharnet/Azerbaijani authorities have thwarted a plot by Hizbullah to bomb the
Israeli embassy in Baku, the Kuwaiti newspaper al-Watan reported on Monday.
It quoted well-informed Russian sources as saying Azerbaijan's security
apparatus thwarted Hizbullah's alleged plot which aimed at avenging the killing
of the Shiite group's military commander Imad Mughniyeh in a car bombing in
Damascus last February. Hizbullah has accused Israel of involvement in
Mughniyeh's murder but the Jewish State has denied the charge. After Mughniyeh's
murder, Israeli embassies worldwide went on alert and Israeli authorities
advised Jewish institutions across the globe to be vigilant. The same sources
said that Egypt uncovered a Hizbullah cell that was preparing an attack on
Israeli targets in Sinai. The ring leader was reportedly a Lebanese while the
cell members were Palestinians. Al-Watan said Baku recently announced that it
thwarted a large-scale plot by an extremist group aimed at targeting foreign
embassies and institutions. According to the daily, Azerbaijani authorities said
they arrested the cell members, including a former officer, and seized weapons
from them.
Beirut, 19 Jan 09, 11:35
Hizbullah for an 'Efficient Christian Role' and a
'Permanent Defensive Force'
Naharnet/Hizbullah's international relations official Nawaf Moussawi has called
for the formation of what he called an efficient Christian bloc and said Lebanon
needs the Shiite group because Israel is in a continuous state of aggression.
"Resistance is needed in order to remove Israeli occupation. We are still in a
state of liberation of what's left of occupied Lebanese lands," Moussawi told
Kuwait's al-Qabas daily in remarks published Monday. He said Israel was in a
continuous state of aggression even if it withdrew from occupied Lebanese
territories. "Lebanon needs a permanent defensive force. Where do we get this
force? The resistance is the defensive force that would face this aggression
anytime," Moussawi stressed in the interview carried out in December 2008. He
said the Lebanese army didn't have enough arms to face Israel. The Hizbullah
official also rejected the concept of liberating land through peace talks.
"Regaining territories through negotiations is a useless process," he said. "We
liberated most of our lands in 2000 through resistance not through
negotiations."
"The Arabs announced the Arab peace initiative at the Beirut summit and what was
the Israeli answer? We should not bury our heads in the sand … Israel doesn't
want it (peace). It wants aggression," he told the newspaper. Asked if the
reason for the Israeli attacks was Hizbullah's presence, Moussawi said: "The
Israeli aggression on Lebanon is not linked to Hizbullah or any other
resistance. Israel's objective is to control Lebanon's water and land."
He also denied Iran was funding Hizbullah.
"The party has its own budget that relies on self capabilities," he said.
Iran insists that its support for Hizbullah is only moral in nature and rejects
allegations it funds or arms the group via Syria.
Asked if Hizbullah was working for the interest of the Syrian-Iranian axis,
Moussawi said: "We are against the American-Israeli axis and welcome anyone who
joins us Financial support has been given by several Arab countries. What Iran
gave was part of assistance to the Lebanese people." The Hizbullah official
accused some "militias" of wanting to drag Lebanon into civil war during last
year's clashes in May between the Shiite party's fighters and al-Mustaqbal
movement gunmen. When asked about the parliamentary elections scheduled for June
7, Moussawi said Lebanon needs an "efficient Christian role" in order to create
a balance. "The efficient Christian role comes only from a large Christian
parliamentary bloc … We are fully ready to help form a big Christian bloc," he
said. He said Hizbullah holds onto its alliance with Gen. Michel Aoun's Free
Patriotic Movement. Beirut, 19 Jan 09, 10:55
Hizbullah Calls for Abolishing Arab Peace Initiative
Naharnet/Hizbullah on Sunday said it opposes the Arab peace initiative and
called for abolishing it. Hizbullah's second in command Sheik Naim Qassem also
said the party's stand on President Michel Suleiman has "not changed." He
criticized the Kuwait summit as "non effective. It would be convened 23 days
after the aggression on Gaza." "If this summit wants to be serious … let it
adopt a clear stand rejecting a settlement with Israel and let the Arabs stand
to support Gaza, militarily and financially." Beirut, 18 Jan 09, 22:10
Geagea: Nasrallah Should Reconsider his Resistance Theory
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea on Sunday indicated that Syria is
behind the launching of rockets from south Lebanon to "regain lost influence."
Geagea, in an interview with the Kuwaiti daily al-Rai also criticized verbal
attacks by demonstrators on President Michel Suleiman saying they contradict
Lebanese entente because Suleiman had been elected by consensus approval of all
factions. He also praised Suleiman's address during the Doha meeting saying "for
the first time in 30 years we felt that we have a free national authority that
adopts stands in line with the Lebanese people's interests." The confrontation
in Gaza reflects a "major tragedy that necessitates a reconsideration of (Hizbullah
leader) Hassan Nasrallah's resistance theory." Beirut, 18 Jan 09, 19:24
Hezbollah: Lebanon needs Shiite
group since Israel is aggressive
www.chinaview.cn 2009-01-19
BEIRUT, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- Hezbollah's head of international relations Nawaf
Moussawi said that Lebanon is in need of the Shiite community because Israel is
still aggressive, Kuwait's al-Qabas daily reported Monday. The resistance is
needed to end the Israeli occupation, Moussawi said in an interview to the
daily, adding that Israel is "still in a continuous state of aggression even
after withdrawing from Lebanese territories." He stressed that the Lebanese army
does not have enough arms to confront Israel. He also said Hezbollah rejected
the concept of liberation through peace talks. "Liberating territories through
negotiations is a useless process, Israel does not want peace but wants
aggression," He added. He ruled out Iranian funding to Hezbollah, but said "we
are against the American-Israeli alliance, and we welcome anyone who joins us,"
pointing out that several Arab countries gave Hezbollah financial support, and
"Iran gave some assistance to the Lebanese people."
Lebanese Shiite armed group Hezbollah is the strongest ally with Iran in the
region, Shiites in Lebanon form a majority in number, and have been determined
to keep their arms to resist Israel.
Europe's plea for peace ignores the Gaza reality
By DAVID HOROVITZ -Jerusalem Post
While European leaders gathered twice Sunday in Egypt and Israel to hail the
fragile Gaza cease-fire as an opportunity to revive Middle East peace efforts,
the Hamas leadership-in-exile gathered in a Damascus TV studio to essentially
state: Not over our dead bodies. Or, more accurately, not over Gazans' dead
bodies.
Its heroic resistance fighters had withstood the might of the Israeli occupation
forces for three full weeks, said members of the Hamas leadership-in-exile,
seated around a black table bearing a map of all of Palestine. Now, said Hamas
spokesman Moussa Abu Marzouk, it was consenting to a tentative cease-fire, but
only if Israel vacated Gaza within seven days.
Otherwise, the invincible rocket crews would again be called into action, and
the valiant assault on Israel would recommence.
Just like Hizbullah in 2006, Hamas was either astonishingly cynical in provoking
Israel's Operation Cast Lead onslaught by escalating its rocket fire, or it was
astonishingly stupid. Either it anticipated the crushing Israeli military
response and didn't care about the consequences for Gazans. Or it failed to
appreciate what it was about to let Gaza in for.
Either explanation reflects dismally on Hamas. And try as it might, unlike
Hizbullah, it cannot even credibly claim that it inflicted high Israeli losses,
pummeled large sections of the country with 100-plus rockets per day, wrought
despair and confusion on the Israeli home front or exposed an incompetent
Israeli military and political leadership.
Again, unlike Hizbullah, it cannot credibly claim to have fought bravely against
the IDF. Its fighters, rather, melted away into the deepest recesses of civilian
protection. And while the likes of Marzouk and his colleague Khaled Mashaal
sounded consistently indomitable from the comfort and safety of the Syrian
capital, the local Gaza leadership simply hid.
But will the people of Gaza, who chose Hamas as their leadership three years
ago, internalize any of this? The fragile denouement of Operation Cast Lead saw
Egypt and Israel graced by the presence of so many world leaders on Sunday that
they barely had room to put their elbows on the shared table at Sharm e-Sheikh.
They took so long to make their speeches in Jerusalem that all three Israeli
nightly news shows cut away to other stories.
The European leaders put on a public display here and in Egypt that was designed
to underline the illegitimacy of Hamas and its Iranian and Syrian backers. The
inclusion of Turkey's President Abdullah Gul at the Egyptian gathering
highlighted that, ultimately, Hamas remained beyond the pale, despite all
Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's vicious criticism of Israel these
past three weeks.
But will Gazans get the message? Or, confronted with the ruins all around them,
will they instead redouble their hostility to Israel, forgive Hamas what was
either cynicism or foolishness, and rededicate themselves to helping their
elected Islamist leadership to eventually prevail over the Zionists? One after
the other in Jerusalem on Sunday night, the dignitaries from Europe declared
that the cease-fire was not enough - not an end in and of itself. The unstable
truce had, rather, in the words of German Chancellor Angela Merkel, opened "a
window of opportunity" to a broad Israeli-Palestinian peace.
Each of the guests had their own stresses and nuances. French President Nicolas
Sarkozy, who had slammed Israel on the very first day of Operation Cast Lead for
its "disproportionate" response to eight years of rocket fire, was by far the
most critical, declaring, in apparent contradiction of his professed support for
Israel's right to self-defense, that "the IDF's role is not in Gaza."
He was "not out to lecture Israel," Sarkozy went on, and then did precisely
that: "What is at stake is the future of the State of Israel," he declared with
tremendous passion. And what was needed was "a major international conference,"
built on "trust" and the current "glimmer of hope," to "hammer out a great final
peace plan" and "make peace this year."
Britain's Prime Minister Gordon Brown was characteristically more circumspect.
Unlike Sarkozy, he recognized that "permanent peace may seem a very, very
distant prospect."
But, like the French president, Brown, too, said he could "see a road" opening
up in the direction of a permanent accord.
Any such road, however, must of necessity run through Gaza. And there, Hamas is
vowing to regain and then strengthen its capacity to hurt Israel. There, the
Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin warned yesterday, Hamas will have the Philadelphi
Corridor weapons smuggling operation back at full strength in two or three
months if Egypt does not radically bolster prevention efforts. And there, as
President Hosni Mubarak emphatically told his VIP guests on Sunday, Egypt will
not allow a single foreign adviser, monitor or soldier to assist in the
anti-smuggling work.
Tony Blair echoed his successor Brown and the other European leaders when he
stated on Sunday that "the cease-fire won't hold" unless there was a new effort
to move toward a two-state solution. But long-since sobered by his work as the
international Quartet's Middle East envoy, Blair added a caveat that was not
stressed by the guests in Jerusalem. A new peace effort, he said, required a new
Palestinian unity based on consensual Palestinian support for a two-state
solution.
What Blair left unspoken, on the day that the Hamas leadership in Damascus
celebrated its victory and set out its conditions for maintaining the
cease-fire, was that so long as Hamas dominates Gaza, there will be no such
consensual Palestinian support for viable peace. And as of Sunday night, with
the IDF starting to pull back after three weeks of Operation Cast Lead, Hamas
has every intention of continuing to dominate Gaza.
Might alone can't achieve Gaza quiet
By STEVEN GUTKIN –
JERUSALEM (AP) — With the guns falling silent in Gaza, stabilizing the
war-ravaged territory will require more than just stemming the flow of weapons
to Hamas — Israel must also do something for the Palestinians who live there.
Three weeks of punishing air and ground assaults in Gaza might buy Israel a
period of quiet by making Hamas think twice before firing rockets again. But in
the long run, moderation is unlikely to flourish in Gaza with so many lives
shattered and the territory's borders closed to all trade.
More than 1,200 Palestinians were killed and much of Gaza was flattened before
the two sides declared a fragile truce. Now, some are wondering if brutal
deterrence might be canceled out by the hatred it causes.
"What we have to be concerned about is the radicalization that flows from
violence and the impact on the mindset, outlook and orientation of the people,"
said John Ging, the U.N. point person in the Gaza Strip.
Israel stressed throughout the war that it was not targeting civilians and that
the reason so many of them died — more than 800, according to the Palestinian
Center for Human Rights — is because militants hid among them.
Yet it's no secret that a top war aim was to make attacks on Israel so costly
that no one would dare contemplate them. It's a logic of deterrence that also
played a part in Israel's 2006 war against Lebanon's Hezbollah guerrillas:
inflicting enough pain on the general population so that they in turn pressure
militants to stop firing rockets on Israel.This is powerful logic for Israelis,
who see themselves as a besieged nation surrounded by enemies who want them
dead. Given the rocket attacks from both Hezbollah and Hamas — and the suicide
bombing campaigns that killed hundreds of Israelis — their fears are not
misplaced.
Many Israelis believe Iranian proxies such as Hezbollah and Hamas can never be
diverted from their stated goal of eliminating the Jewish state no matter how
much goodwill Israel might show.
"If we want to make this issue go away, it must disappear — Hamas or other
terrorists organizations like it," Israeli author Yossi Klein Halevi said.
Such feelings are reflected in Israelis' overwhelming support for the Gaza
offensive, despite worldwide protests over its toll on Palestinian civilians.
Yet even if the offensive leads to a year or two of quiet on Israel's southern
border, as the Lebanon war has done in the north, it can be argued that seeds
have been planted for a bitter crop.
"The children follow what's going on, they know what's going on," said Maher
Labbad, a 44-year-old human rights worker and father of six in Gaza. "They say:
The Jews are shelling. The Jews are destroying people's houses. They know who it
is. It's the Jews."
"I try not to teach revenge or negative thoughts, but they adopt it naturally
from other children, their brothers. It's deep within them, that they are the
enemy," he said.
Giving hope to such children could serve Israel's long-term security interests
as much as any war.
Yossi Alpher, a former agent of the Israeli spy agency Mossad, argues that
Israel should end the economic blockade of Gaza imposed after the Islamic
militants violently seized power there 18 months ago, saying it did nothing to
improve Israel's security.
"It didn't make Gazans love Hamas less or support it less. It didn't break the
back of Hamas," said Alpher, who co-directs Bitterlemons.com, an academic forum
that promotes Israeli-Palestinian dialogue.
Israel launched its Gaza offensive on Dec. 27 in response to Hamas' rockets,
which the militants fired largely because they wanted to force Israel to lift
the blockade that has crippled Gaza's economy.
Gaza and its 1.4 million people are surrounded by Israeli and Egyptian fences
that keep anyone from going in and out — and Israeli patrol boats deny access by
sea.
A longer-term cease-fire deal being discussed in Egypt would give Israel
assurances that Hamas will no longer smuggle weapons into Gaza. It also foresees
the opening of Gaza's border to people and trade.
That has the potential to cement Hamas' power in Gaza by easing the economic
pressure on it. But it could vastly reduce regional tensions and provide a
better life to Gazans, 80 percent of whom rely on U.N. food aid to survive.
The emerging deal could also help pave the way for moderate Palestinians to
regain a foothold in Gaza by bringing in Fatah, a rival of Hamas, to help manage
the territory's crossing into Egypt.
Hamas wrested control of Gaza from the Western-backed Fatah movement in June
2007, leaving President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah in charge of just the West Bank,
which together with Gaza is supposed to one day make up a Palestinian state.
Hamas is shunned by the international community, while Abbas is welcomed in
capitals around the world.
Bringing Fatah back to Gaza would be crucial to U.S.-sponsored peace talks
between Abbas and Israel, as no final peace deal is likely to be implemented
with the Palestinians divided in two.
*Steven Gutkin is the AP bureau chief in Israel and the Palestinian territories.
AP correspondent Diaa Hadid contributed to this report.
The Divine Victory achievement in Gaza
BBC?More than 1,300 Palestinians killed
Thirteen Israeli deaths
More than 4,000 buildings destroyed in Gaza,
more than 20,000 buildinds severely damaged
Tens of thousands of Gazans homeless
Scale of Gaza destruction emerges
BBC/Rubble is cleared in a devastated Gaza City
The full scale of devastation in Gaza following Israel's three-week offensive is
becoming clear, after both Israel and Hamas declared ceasefires.
UN official John Ging said half a million people had been without water since
the conflict began, and huge numbers of people were without power.
Four thousand homes are ruined and tens of thousands of people are homeless.
Israeli spokesman Mark Regev said he expected border crossings to open for aid
later on Monday.
"We are going to see a massive volume of aid entering the Gaza Strip," he told
the BBC.
Medicines, foodstuffs, energy, all will be reaching the Gaza Strip in the volume
that is required and in an expeditious manner."
Meanwhile the Arab League, meeting in Kuwait, is expected to discuss a proposal
for a $2bn fund for reconstruction in Gaza. Saudi King Abdullah said his country
would donate $1bn.
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said he wanted troops to leave as quickly as
possible, and some have already left.
The BBC's Christian Fraser, on the road from Rafah in the south to Gaza City in
the north, says the troops are pulling out fast.
Traffic jams are building up, as people try to get to Gaza City to reunite with
friends and relatives, he says, while Hamas fighters stride confidently down the
road with rifles slung across their shoulders
Big questions
Israel called a ceasefire on Saturday, saying it had met its war aims.
Hamas later declared its own truce with one of its leaders claiming a "great
victory" over Israel and saying its ability to fire rockets had not been
affected by the Israeli strikes.
The BBC's Bethany Bell in Jerusalem says many people face shortages of food,
medicine and fuel.
Mr Ging, director of operations for the UN agency for Palestinian refugees (Unrwa),
said most important was how to get basic supplies into Gaza.
"We have a big recovery operation ahead of us, reconstruction - none of it will
be possible of course, on any scale, until we get crossing points open," he told
the BBC.
Unrwa was keen to reopen its schools, Mr Ging said, where 50,000 people were
sheltering. Tens of thousands have been made homeless by the bombardment.
Big questions remain, our correspondent says, such as who will police Gaza's
southern border and how much power Hamas still has.
At least 1,300 Palestinians, according to Palestinian sources, and 13 Israelis
have been killed since Israel launched its offensive on 27 December. Palestinian
medical sources say at least 95 bodies have been pulled from the rubble since
Israel halted its offensive.
Correspondents say the ceasefire in Gaza remains fragile, although no air
strikes, rocket attacks or major clashes were reported overnight.
Palestinian militants fired about 20 rockets over the border after the Israeli
ceasefire announcement, and Israel responded with an air attack.
'Israeli failure' Surrounded by an array of European political leaders,
some of whom were highly critical of Israel's tactics in the conflict with
Hamas, the Israeli prime minister said his country was not interested in staying
in the Gaza Strip.
We didn't set out to control Gaza, we don't want to remain in Gaza and we intend
on leaving Gaza as quickly as possible," he said.
Anonymous Israeli officials, quoted by AP news agency, said the withdrawal would
be completed before US President-elect Barack Obama's inauguration on Tuesday.
Correspondents say Israeli leaders want to get off to a smooth start with the
new administration in Washington.
Israelis and Palestinians give their views on Israel's ceasefire announcement
The top Hamas leader in Gaza, Ismail Haniya, said Israel had "failed to achieve
its goals".
In a speech broadcast on Hamas TV station, he said: "God has granted us a great
victory, not for one faction, or party, or area, but for our entire people."
Hamas said it would hold fire for a week to give Israel time to withdraw its
forces from the Gaza Strip.
A spokesman for Hamas' military wing, Abu Ubaida, said its rocket capabilities
had not been affected by the conflict.
"We hereby stress that our rockets are being developed and are piling up, and
that the enemy will receive more rockets and God willing, our rockets will hit
more targets," he said in a news conference broadcast live on Hamas' al-Aqsa TV.
A viable peace plan for Gaza and Israel
By: Walid Phares
Monday, January 19,
The United Nations has the duty to seize Gaza and take over its day-to-day
operations and secure its people with a multi-national force.
It may be too early to discuss both a comprehensive solution for the future of a
Palestinian state and to anticipate an end to the global War on Terror at the
same time, but here goes. In any discussion of peace in the Middle East it is
important to remember the intentions of the Iranian and Syrian regimes and their
proxy, Hezbollah, when we think about saving the civilian population of Gaza
from war, shielding the Israeli population from rockets, and avoiding an
escalation of violence that could engulf the entire region. The Iranian and
Syrian regimes -- and their ally Hezbollah -- will always oppose the peace
process and try to sink it.
So is there a plan to bring peace to the southern shores of the Levant? In an
interview with Al Jazeera, Israeli President Shimon Peres said his country will
stop military operations when the strikes by Hamas and its allies come to an
end. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said his Palestinian Authority (PA) is
ready to assume responsibility for the sake of his people. Egyptian President
Hosni Mubarak and Jordan's King Abdullah said their governments are ready to
solve the crisis in Gaza if the PA is part of it. The United States, the
European Union, and the United Nations all affirmed that everything must be done
to end the war in Gaza. Excellent.
If all the players listed above are ready to stop the violence, end the war, and
save Palestinian and Israeli civilians from bloodshed, then the plan seems to be
clear: demilitarization and internationalization of Gaza.
Establishing a fully-fledged U.N. sponsored and managed security system in the
enclave has precedents across the planet: Bosnia, Kosovo, East Timor, and to
some extent in Lebanon and possibly in the near future, Darfur. When an area
slips under the control of a militia which is neither bound by a peace treaty
nor operating under international law, and when a population comes under fire
from any party because of the military actions of such a militia, until a
recognizable and recognized sovereign state becomes responsible for such an
enclave, the U.N. Security Council must step in and apply Chapter 7 of the
charter, that is: to bring peace to civilian populations.
In this case, the United Nations has a duty to seize Gaza and manage its peace
until an internationally recognized and responsible Palestinian state rises
again in that province. How will this be accomplished?
1. The Security Council meets and declares Gaza as an area under U.N. emergency
management and votes, under Chapter 7, for a strong multinational force (MNF) to
enter the enclave in coordination with Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
2. The MNF should not include forces whose governments are in a state of war
with Israel or with the Palestinian Authority, and must have diplomatic
relations with both, for the purpose of peace-building.
3. The MNF proceeds with the disarming of Hamas and all other militias first.
Gaza should be demilitarized fully. Israeli forces would fully withdraw to the
lines of demarcation. 4. The MNF would reestablish police centers and remit them
to a reformed and transparent PA.
5. The MNF would protect the civilian population, in coordination with the PA
units.
6. The Arab League and the Organization of the Islamic Conference would provide
all needed expenses for the MNF and the PA security forces. A consortium of oil
producing governments from the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) would
grant Gaza's U.N. sponsored local administration $10 billion or so to end the
economic crisis, fund new schools, hospitals, and basic infrastructure.
7. The Arab League would commit to grant Gaza residents visas to visit all Arab
countries, and work permits if they wish.
8. Israel commits to allow Gaza workers to travel to the West Bank and vice
versa.
9. The final security and economic arrangements would be integrated in the final
status negotiations between the PA and Israel.
10. The PA and Israel would resume their direct negotiations for a peace
settlement.
This 10-point plan can, first and foremost, bring peace and security to the
Palestinian population in Gaza, the Israeli civilians in the surrounding areas,
and also engage the responsibility of the United Nations, the European Union,
the Arab League and the OIC in peacemaking.
Evidently, such a plan will never see the light of day as long as any party to
the conflict thinks they can only count on a military solution -- and
particularly as long as Hamas is instructed by Tehran and Damascus to sink the
peace process. Sadly, as long as democracy is not on the rise in Iran and Syria
we cannot predict the end of the War on Terror.
**Walid Phares writes for The Cutting Edge News and is
the director of the "Future Terrorism Project" at the Foundation for the Defense
of Democracies. He is the author of the acclaimed Confrontation: Winning The War
Against Future Jihad.
GAZA: In Lebanon and Iran, Israel described as loser
Los Angeles Times
Though Israel says it has achieved all the goals it set out for its offensive in
Gaza, Palestinian advocates were loath to admit that Israel had gained anything
from the offensive other than to damage civilian lives and the tools of
Palestinian statehood built up since the Oslo Accords.
"It is not a defeat," Salah Salah, a Lebanon-based member of the Palestinian
National Council, said of the conflict's shaky end. The council is a 669-member
legislature that represents Palestinians in the occupied territories and the
diaspora.
"It is a victory for the resistance and the Palestinian people of Gaza," he said
along the sidelines of a conference sponsored by a think tank run by the
Lebanese militant group Hezbollah.
"After being bombed for three weeks, they did not give up. They did not stop
shooting rockets. They’re still fighting," he said.
"Israel declared a ceasefire; it means they were defeated," Salah continued.
"They could not destroy Hamas. They could not stop the rockets. What did they
prove other than that they can destroy anything?"
Ali Fayad, the director of the Consultative Center for Studies and
Documentation, the Hezbollah think tank, said Hamas won just by continuing to
stand and fire rockets into Israel, likening the conflict to the monthlong war
between Hezbollah and Israel in 2006.
We think that Hamas will be stronger, he said.
Fayad argued that one consequence of war and defeat for Israel and its allies
was the emergence of a rival to the Arab League, which he described as the
"League of Doha," a reference to the gathering in Qatar last week that excluded
pro-American Arab states such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
The Doha forum included delegates from Syria. Turkey and Iran, as well as Hamas.
"We expect this will result in changing the regional balance," he said. "We can
no longer talk about one regional system. We now have two. This will make the
moderate, pro-American axis weaker and weaker."
He said the war also had badly damaged the U.S.-sponsored peace process, which
Hezbollah and Tehran staunchly oppose in favor of opposition to the Jewish
state.
“There is no way to normalize Israel in the region,” he said. “The Arab and
Muslim people have become more and more angry [and] reject peace or any
compromise with Israel.”
Iranian foreign minister Manoucher Mottaki, whose country is a major patron of
Hamas, said that the cease-fire in the Gaza Strip could collapse unless Israeli
troops withdraw outside of the seaside enclave.
Mottaki told the official Islamic Republic News Agency, or IRNA, that Israel’s
decision to stop its offensive in Gaza while leaving its troops in place was not
acceptable.
"The forces should leave the occupied areas in Gaza, otherwise there would be no
guarantee for cessation of conflicts," he told IRNA, urging Israel and Egypt to
reopen border crossings into the enclave.
Despite the shaky ceasefire, Iranian officials continued bellicose talk about
Gaza, spinning the ceasefire as an indication of Israel’s failures in achieving
its objectives. Iranian lawmakers and officials publicly urged Muslims and Arabs
to pressure their governments to pursue the Gaza issue at the United Nations
Security Council.
They also continued lambasting pro-American Arab states, saying they did not do
enough to counter Israel. It was an indication that Tehran is not yet willing to
let tempers cool between the two camps -- one led by Iran and Syria, the other
by Egypt and Saudi Arabia -- that have emerged in the Middle East.
Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Jordan 'have indeed supported the oppressor," said
Ali-Reza Zaker Isfahani, a foreign policy adviser to firebrand President Mahmoud
Ahmadinejad, according to IRNA.
Israel and its allies hope to avoid the reconstruction pitfalls of Lebanon after
the 2006 war, in which the Iranian-backed Hezbollah and Tehran took credit for
much of the rebuilding efforts in areas of southern Lebanon devastated by
Israeli airstrikes.
But Iran appears primed to help in Gaza’s reconstruction. Ahmadinejad, in a
phone conversation with Syrian President Bashar Assad, said the two nations were
"duty-bound to help the Palestinian nation and create suitable grounds for them
to continue their decent lives," according to IRNA.
Salah, the Palestinian activist, said the greatest threat to the Palestinian
cause was the rift between Hamas and the Western-backed Fatah faction, the
dominant political force in the West Bank.
Reconciliation, he conceded, "will take time, and it will not be easy."
The rift ultimately plays into the hands of Israel, he said.
"The main thing I am worried about is that the conflict between Hamas and Abu
Mazen will lead to the creation of two cantons," he said. "It means the conflict
between the Palestinians will continue. This is what Israel wants."
**Borzou Daragahi in Beirut