War on Lebanon: Planned? Disproportionate? Or both?

The picture couldn’t be clearer. Hundreds of civilian deaths in Lebanon, all significant civilian infrastructure damaged, and no sign of slowing down any time soon. The offensive against Lebanon was bound to happen sooner or later. There have been intelligence leaks to the media suggesting that an Israeli army official have been giving media presentations to US diplomats.

If you disagree that the war was planned, then you have to at least agree that the Israeli response was disproportionate. Why bomb the runways of a civilian airport and roads leading to Damascus? What did the poor UN observers do to deserve death? Not to mention Qana, and yet another massacre discovered today near Tyre.

Human Rights Watch, an independent, unbiased, international organization is currently writing a report regarding the civilian casualties in Lebanon. The report examines numerous incidents of civilian deaths, concluding that Israel is committing war crimes. In all the cases studied in the report, none show any evidence of military presence at the time of the bombing.

Meanwhile while as the whole world is working hard to reach a ceasefire, the US is standing in the way. Not only that, but they’re also supplying laser guided missiles to Israel. One of which, is believed to have been used in Qana, according to an article on Alarabiya.net. I guess the IDF had to test the missiles sooner or later.

technorati tags: lebanon, israel, IDF, war, UN, war, crime, Qana

A Cartoon Deja vu - Norway on the chopping block this time

I couldn’t believe what I was reading. This story could have been a sketch on SNL. The parallels between these cartoons and the infamous Mohammad cartoons from Denmark are remarkable.

Israel's ambassador to Norway has complained to press regulators about a cartoon showing Israeli PM Ehud Olmert as a Nazi concentration camp commander.

Miryam Shomrat told the BBC the caricature in Oslo's Dagbladet newspaper went beyond free speech.

Ms Shomrat said it would be open to prosecution in some European countries.

Dagbladet's editor said the caricature was "within the bounds of freedom of expression," according to Norway's NRK state broadcaster.

Ms Shomrat made the official complaint to the Norwegian Press Trade Committee following the publication of the cartoon on 10 July.

In an interview with the BBC's Europe Today, she said however that her protest could not be compared to the outcry in the Muslim world over the publication in a Danish newspaper of cartoons depicting the Prophet Mohammed.

Lars Helle, Dagbladet's acting editor-in-chief, said the newspaper was taking the complaint seriously.

"But I do not fear that Dagbladet will be found guilty," Mr Helle told the NRK.

The cartoon shows Mr Olmert standing on a balcony in a prison camp.

He is holding a sniper's rifle and a dead man is seen lying on the ground.

The drawing clearly alluded to the Hollywood film Schindler's List, in which a sadistic Nazi commander shoots Jewish prisoners for fun, according to Dagbladet. [source]

I don’t want to get into a whole new discussion over the cartoon issue. But I don’t think a fair comparison could be drawn between a Nazi Olmert vs. a Terrorist Mohammad.

Don’t you love the world we’re living in?

technorati tags: Israel, Olmert, Nazi, Cartoon, Norway

Refugees helping refugees

My dad arrived in Damascus last night. I asked him about his first impression and any stories that he had heard in the few hours that he was there, regarding the Lebanese situation.

He told me that UNRWA schools have been opened to host Lebanese refugees, and that people are doing whatever they can to help out. A local butcher took it upon himself to feed the refugees residing in two of the mentioned schools. My aunt is seeking a family to host. Numerous people are giving money to those in need.

Palestinians living in refugee camps have not forgotten the hospitality of the Lebanese when they left Palestine in 1948, and they feel that this is their opportunity to give back what they once received.

I will be going to Syria in a few weeks, and I’m excited at having the opportunity to help out first hand. I will try to document the suffering of the refugees as best as I can, to show the world what I saw. Stay tuned.

technorati tags: Refugees, Lebanon, Lebanese, Israel, Palestinian, UNRWA, School

بلاد العرب تنساني

بلاد العرب تنساني...من الشام لبغدان...

ولا نجد ولا يمناً...ولا مصر وتطوان...

فلا دين يحركهم...ولا عرض ولا قلم...

لنا القدس و قد سلبت...أماتوها و قد قتلت...

وعلينا ساندوا الأعداء...ودهاة الإنس و الجان...

بلاد العرب تنساني!!!

Source [Daya3]

Canada Demonstrates Against the Israeli Aggression In Lebanon

This saturday marked demonstrations all over Canada, condemning the exaggerated Israeli response against Lebanon, and the prime minister's one sided stance on the situation.

وفي كندا تظاهر آلاف الكنديين في عشرين مدينة احتجاجا على العدوان ولإدانة موقف حكومة حزب المحافظين الكندية المساند لإسرائيل. ففي تورونتو، أكبر المدن الكندية تجمع حوالي خمسة آلاف متظاهر من مختلف الديانات والعرقيات أمام القنصلية الإسرائيلية في المدينة.

ورددوا هتافات غاضبة ضد الهجمات الإسرائيلية على لبنان، كما رفعوا لافتات تدين موقف رئيس الوزراء الكندي ستيفن هاربر الذي اعتبر -في تصريحات أدلى بها في أكثر من مناسبة- الأعمال التي تقوم بها إسرائيل "مبررة ومدروسة".

وفي مدينة مونتريال عاصمة إقليم كيبيك الناطق بالفرنسية، تجمهر نحو خمسمائة متظاهر أمام القنصلية الإسرائيلية، حيث أطلقوا الهتافات ورفعوا شعارات منددة بالتراخي في عملية إجلاء الرعايا الكنديين من لبنان.

وفي مدينة كالغاري حمل المتظاهرون في مسيرة ضمّت حوالي ثلاثة آلاف شخص ثمانية نعوش لفّت بالعلم الكندي كدلالة رمزية على مقتل الكنديين الثمانية الذين قضوا في بلدة عيترون خلال القصف الإسرائيلي على جنوب لبنان.

كما احتشد آلاف المتظاهرين في العاصمة أوتاوا أمام مبنى البرلمان، حيث طالبوا النواب بتحمّل مسؤولياتهم في حمل الحكومة على تبني موقف محايد تجاه الصراع في الشرق الأوسط، والتسريع بعملية إجلاء الرعايا الكنديين المحاصرين في لبنان.

ونظّمت مسيرات أخرى في العديد من المدن الكندية الكبرى، أبرزها لندن وأونتاريو وهاميلتون وكيتشنر ووندسور وفانكوفر
[source]

And in English

In Ottawa, 1,000 people marched on Parliament Hill, waving Canadian, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and demanding that Prime Minister Stephen Harper protect the civilians — some of them Canadians — who are being killed in Israeli attacks.

Protesters also criticized Harper's support of the Israeli mission and the slowness of the Canadian evacuation from Lebanon.

"Mr. Harper doesn't represent the opinions of the Canadian people by unconditionally supporting Israel," said Jerome Charaoui. "Canada should not support Israel, a country that is perpetuating war crimes."

In Calgary, about 2,000 people marched to a federal government building carrying eight boxes draped in Canadian flags representing Canadians killed by an Israeli air strike in the volatile region last week.

Chanting "We want peace," the crowd, waving Lebanese flags and placards calling for an immediate end to the violence, said it wanted Ottawa to use its influence to end hostilities immediately. [source]

CNN Host Lou Dobbs Speaks Out

This is perhaps the most intelligent analysis I read on CNN in a long time.

President Harry Truman took about 20 minutes to recognize the state of Israel when it declared independence in 1948. Since then, more than 58 years of war, terrorism and blood-letting have led to the events of the past week.

Even now, as Katyusha rockets rain down on northern Israel and Israeli fighter jets blast Hezbollah targets in southern Lebanon, we simultaneously decry radical Islamist terrorism and Israel's lack of restraint in defending itself.

And the U.S. government, which wants no part of a cease-fire until Israel is given every opportunity to rescue its kidnapped soldiers and destroy as many Hezbollah and Hezbollah armaments as possible, urges caution in the interest of preserving a nascent and fragile democratic government in Lebanon. Could we be more conflicted?

While the United States provides about $2.5 billion in military and economic aid to Israel each year, U.S. aid to Lebanon amounts to no more than $40 million. This despite the fact that the per capita GDP of Israel is among the highest in the world at $24,600, nearly four times as high as Lebanon's GDP per capita of $6,200.

Lebanon's lack of wealth is matched by the Palestinians -- three out of every four Palestinians live below the poverty line. Yet the vast majority of our giving in the region flows to Israel. This kind of geopolitical inconsistency and shortsightedness has contributed to the Arab-Israeli conflict that the Western world seems content to allow to perpetuate endlessly.

After a week of escalating violence, around two dozen Israelis and roughly 200 Lebanese have died. That has been sufficient bloodshed for United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan and British Prime Minister Tony Blair to join in the call for an international security force, ignoring the fact that a U.N. force is already in Southern Lebanon, having failed to secure the border against Hezbollah's incursions and attacks and the murder and kidnapping of Israeli soldiers.

As our airwaves fill with images and sounds of exploding Hezbollah rockets and Israeli bombs, this seven-day conflict has completely displaced from our view another war in which 10 Americans and more than 300 Iraqis have died during the same week. And it is a conflict now of more than three years duration that has claimed almost 15,000 lives so far this year alone.

An estimated 50,000 Iraqis and more than 2,500 American troops have been killed since the insurgency began in March of 2003, which by some estimates is more than the number of dead on both sides of the Arab-Israeli conflict over the past 58 years of wars and intifadas.

Yet we have seen no rescue ships moving up the Euphrates for Iraqis who are dying in their streets, markets and mosques each day. French Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin has not leaped to Baghdad as he did Beirut. And there are no meetings of the Arab League, and no U.S. diplomacy with Egypt, Syria and Jordan directed at ending the Iraqi conflict.

In the Middle East, where is our sense of proportion? Where is our sense of perspective? Where is our sense of decency? And, finally, just how smart are we? [source]

technorati tags: Israel, Lebanon, CNN, Dobbs, Hezbullah, War

A Point of No Return

I think I can safely say we have reached the point of no return with the current Middle East conflict. A ceasefire will not be agreed upon, mainly because the conditions for a ceasefire established today in the G8 summit are one sided.

On other hand, the Israeli conditions for a ceasefire are ridiculous from Hezbollah’s point of view. Israel is calling for disarming Hezbollah, deploying the Lebanese army on the borders, and the return of the soldiers.

Now let’s put ourselves in Hezbollah’s shoes. They captured two soldiers, on the basis of trading them with prisoners in Israeli jails. The capturing lead to an all out offensive on civilian and military targets in Lebanon, resulting in roughly a 100 civilian deaths and hundreds injured. The only civilian airport in Beirut was hit, plus many bridges and main roads. After all this destruction, why would Hezbollah give the Israeli soldiers back? Hezbollah reached a point of no return. They will fight until the end.

On the other hand Israel cannot afford to trade the prisoners. First, they believe that a few weeks of fighting will exhaust Hezbollah’s arsenal leaving them with no option but to give the soldiers back. But as Israel waits, frustration from within will being to rise, and perhaps the Israelis will put pressure on their government to exchange the soldiers. But even then, Israeli government will shy away from a prisoner exchange. If Hezbollah’s demands are met, then Israel will appear weaker in its enemy’s eyes. The Palestinians will use Hezbollah’s success as inspiration. Furthermore, disarming Hezbollah will become a thing of the past. After all they won the battle against Israel again. They proved themselves worthy of beating the fourth strongest military in the world. Why would you take disarm such a militia?

technorati tags: Lebanon, Israel, Hezbollah, Conflict, Middle, East, War, Soldiers, Palestine

The Hezbollah-Israel Confrontation - a personal perpective

The situation is a real mess. There are two directly involved parties, and a few in the background, which could come in to the story at any time. I’m trying to think of more optimistic scenarios, and every now and then I convince my self this whole issue will dissolve soon.

There’s more and more talk of the possibility of Syria getting involved in the conflict. My view is that Syria will only get involved if they were drawn into the war by Israel. There’s no contest in a war against Israel, and Syria knows that very well.

This summer is supposed to be my first time back in Syria, after a long 5 year absence. I’m crossing my finger everything will go as planned. Having my whole family back there, and thinking of a possible strike, leaves me feeling helpless and quite frankly, extremely stressed. I can only imagine how worried Lebanese expatriates are feeling right now.

Sometimes you wonder, with all the laser guided missiles, satellite tracking, and ultra sophisticated electronics, why civilians get hit all the time… In one case a family of ten, the parents and 10 children all died when a missile buried them alive underneath their home. What did they do to deserve this? Are the innocent children’s lives a small price to pay for the release of two soldiers?

technorati tags: Lebanon, Hezbollah, Israel, War, Middle, East, Innocent, Civilians

Syrian Bloggers: Today, we are all Lebanese...

Today, we are all Lebanese.

Lebanon has been sentenced to death. On Wednesday 12 July, she was put in prison, and now she's being tortured.

Israel's war is with Lebanon's civilians, not Hizbollah. Nearly every person killed has been a civilian. Power stations, bridges and petrol stations have been targeted. Israel has warned residents to get out of certain villages, but bombed roads to make it difficult - and refugee convoys have been picked out for deadly air raids.

And getting out of the country is impossible now too. The airport has been destroyed, the sea ports are blockaded, and the border posts and highways have been razed to the ground.

Lebanon is held hostage to the angry Israeli war machine. And now more than ever, Syrians bloggers, just like every Syrian stand by her.

Another generation of Lebanese will know nothing but war. We can't let this happen, Again.

Sasa, The Syria News Wire
Yazan Badran, My Stupid Corner
Ammar, My Many MY's
Ayman Haykal, The Damascene Blog
Omar Salaymeh, Earth to Omar
Annie (in French), Blog.Syrie.Be
Aleppous, Aleppous
Stellar, Rollercoaster Journey
Abu Fares, Abu Fares Says
Ahmad, ضـ ـيـ ـا ع
Ihsan, Bits & Bites of Syria
Oz, Between Syria and France
Shady Zayat, مبعثرة
Omar Faleh, Deconstructed Life

technorati tags: bloggers, Syrian, Syria, Lebanon, Lebanese, Israel, War, Middle, East

How I've come to know Gilad Shalit

This is an interesting article published in the Toronto Star, passed on to me by a friend

I know Gilad Shalit. Not personally, but I could tell you what he looks like, his age, where he went to school, his hometown, his father's name, what his father looks like, and how he weeps for his son.

I know that this is not the first time that the Shalit family has felt the emotional impact of armed conflict. I know that during the Arab-Israeli war, Gilad's uncle, Yoel, was killed. I know that Gilad's brother is named after Yoel.

I know that his brother attends university in Haifa and is worried about him. I know that Gilad is being held by Palestinians after his army outpost was raided and Gilad was captured.

I know that Gilad is the first Israeli soldier captured by Palestinians since 1994. I know Gilad's friends describe him as a peaceful and quiet young man.

I know that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has spoken with Gilad's father. I know that Olmert has assured Galid's father that everything in his power is being done to secure the release of his son.I

also know that the "everything" Prime Minister Olmert speaks of includes the collective punishment of the Palestinian people by further military incursions into their territory, destroying Palestinian infrastructure and cutting their power supply, leaving families in the dark.

I know these things because I watch the nightly news and read the daily paper. Since his capture, I have been unable to avoid the image of Gilad Shalit and the life and history behind this image.

What I do not know is the names and faces of the hundreds of Palestinian children held in Israeli jails.

I could not tell you about their brother or sister, whether they would like to go to university, or whether they have a dead relative for whom they were named after.

Nor could I tell you about the thousands of Palestinian men and women who are held by the Israeli state without charge or trial. I could not tell you whether their friends and family describe them as peaceful or quiet.

These people are nameless, faceless, reduced to bare life — human beings not entitled to rights, dignity and respect.

Nor do they merit the attention of the BBC, The Globe and Mail, Ha'aretz, or The New York Times.

Unless of course they engage in an act of violence so horrific, so apparently unexplainable and incomprehensible that they must be subject to biography, psychological profiling, a where-did-it-all-go-wrong-for-the-aspiring-fun-
loving-university-student-type docudrama.

Apparently their suffering does not deserve the attention of the media.

Their incarceration is not the stuff of headlines in the national media. Their detainment is without explanation and justification in the op-ed section of the dailies or subject to the analysis of talking heads on the evening news.

No ink will be spilled over their life stories.And here lies the tragedy of the Palestinian people. Here lies the tragedy for many of us.

We only know Gilad Shalit. [source]

technorati tags: Gilad, Shalit, Palestine, Gaza, Israel, Prisoners, Hamas, Human, Rights

Syria's Representation on the WWW

A few weeks back, I sent my final papers to the Syrian Embassy in Ottawa, to get a paper allowing me to enter Syria without being dragged to military service. Long story short I filled out all the papers, and I went through the checklist. To my surprise one of the items on the checklist was, get this, an empty envelope with a stamp so they can mail the visa back to me.

A stamped envelope? I remember thinking to my self… “How poor is the embassy?” But then I remembered how much effort they put into their website design, and I thought “hey, they splurged on the website, so they have to cut down somewhere” Right :-| … So, for contrast sake I decided to have a look at the website of the Canadian Embassy in Syria, and the difference was clear. The Canadian embassy website looks like every other official Canadian website, clean and easy to navigate.

But then I thought to my self, maybe I’m not being fair. So I checked other Syrian embassies… to my disappointment, there were worse, much worse. For instance check out“Maktab al 3alaqat's” website in Libya, to give you the heads up it’s on a geocities account. Most websites have the ever cheesy waving flag, and some have an excessive use of fancy scripts that don’t belong on a government website. On the contrary, Belguim and the UK had decent websites.

I’m very sure there are tens of Syrians that have the ability to create stunning websites, and who would love to put time and effort into such a project. I’m going to try to do something about the website for the embassy in Ottawa, let’s see how far I can get.

technorati tags: Syria, embassy, www, web, website, government

Au revoir Portugal... in pictures and some commentary

Zidane yo3allim al burturghal darsan lan yansooh..

Overall I don't think the French played as well as they played against Brazil, but they proved they can hold on to a lead, even if Bartez fumbles the ball. In my opinion the penalty was fair. Henry probably exaggerated the fall, but the player clearly tripped him without any intentions of getting the ball. Sagnol, and Thuram were amazing in the back, and Rebery was great as usual. The game against Italy will be a tough one for France, but if they find some inspiration I'm sure they'll come through.

Protugal's game was very pathetic and sad. If the players actually stayed on their feet, they would've at least had a chance against France. Christiano Ronaldo is the definition of a horrible soccer player. Does all this fancy step overs, and then dives. The guy doesn't know what sportsmanship means, which was clearly shown by the fans booing him everytime he touched the ball. Figo continued to show he was useless. Everyone raves about Figo..why? I haven't seen him do anything worth mentioning. My tip to the Portugese, learn how to act, because quite frankly, the dives were pathetic.

even she can't get me to cheer for Portugal..

3omar mota7amesson ba3d ada2 faransa irraheeb

technorati tags: Zidane, France, World, Cup, Portugal, Ronaldo, Figo, Dive, Patehtic, Finals

Au revoir Brazil

Ya salam 3alek ya ba6al, 2al Ronaldo 2al, sho jab ittoz lal mar7aba

Les Blues prove themselves once again. A spectacular game that got my dad and I and I jumping with joy, and left are hands red from high fives and table banging (for missed chances)

Zidane is back and better than ever, can't wait to recieve his jersey.

Had Brazil been playing any other team, I would have cheered for them, but with France, it's a different story.

Zidane yo3allim raks il samba li la3ibeen al barazeel

technorati tags: Brazil, France, Zidane, World, Cup, Soccer