Egypt FM to US: Recognize Palestine State, Zahar Doesn’t Trust UN to Grant Palestinian State

Egypt FM to US: Recognize Palestine State

The Egyptian foreign minister has called on the US to recognize Palestinian state, as Palestinian factions were preparing to sign a unity deal.

Nabil al-Arabi urged the visiting US Congressman Steve Chabot on Sunday to “press Washington to recognize Palestine as a state” in line with previous statements by the US administration about a two-state solution, Egypt's official news agency, MENA, quoted him as saying.

The issue came into view as Hamas political leader, Khaled Meshaal, will meet Fatah leader and acting Palestinian Authority Chief Mahmoud Abbas at the Arab League headquarters in the Egyptian capital, Cairo, on May 4 to sign the Egyptian-brokered deal.

The Palestinian movements, which have been at odds since Hamas came to power in 2006, reached an initial agreement on all controversial issues, including the elections and the formation of the interim unity government. They have also agreed to hold the elections within one year.

Al-Arabi also said a united Palestinian side would be ready for peace negotiations. He also urged Washington to arrange an international conference on peace in the Middle East.

Hamas has vowed that the reconciliation deal will stay in place despite all the pressure from the US and Israel, which have been campaigning to prevent the recognition of a Palestinian state that includes the resistance movement.

Zahar Doesn’t Trust UN to Grant Palestinian State

Senior Hamas official in Gaza Mahmoud al-Zahar on Sunday said Hamas has little faith in the "so called" international community to confer statehood on the Palestinian people, in an interview with Jerusalem-based investigative reporter and radio host Aaron Klein on WABC Radio.

Asked whether Hamas supports Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas's September initiative to seek statehood in the United Nations, Zahar said, "First of all, we don't trust what is called the international community."

Zahar called the very suggestion that statehood could be handed to Palestinians by a world body an "imaginary question." By entertaining the question, he said, "you are [giving] the impression that something can be achieved." Hamas, he added, has serious doubts about the very line of argument.

Although, the senior Hamas official said his group has no hopes for Palestinian statehood derived from the United Nations, he said that if the UN does follow through with Abbas' initiative, "we will discuss that and declare our state."

Listing instances of Palestinian disappointment in recent years, Zahar said, "[former US president George W.] Bush promised the Palestinians an independent state ... [US President Barack] Obama came in order to give the Palestinians just the basic demand - to stop the settlements - and he failed."

Questioned as to whether Hamas is willing to accept the existence of the Zionist entity, Zahar countered: "The question is whether Israel is ready to accept the Palestinian state. Is Israel ready to accept the right of the Palestinian people to come back to their homeland?"

He added "these imaginary questions will not be answered."

On the Syrian issue, Zahar declared, "will be decided by the Syrian people." He described Hamas' position in Arab countries that host it as "guests," he added that if the Syrian people decide to bring about regime change "by agreement or by force, we are not interfering. Half a million Palestinian people live in Syria," he said, "we will not interfere."

Discussing the recently-announced reconciliation agreement between Hamas and rival Fatah, Zahar addressed the details of future security arrangements in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Hamas, he said, will continue to control security affairs in the Strip - and Fatah in the West Bank - but the yet-to-be-formed interim government that includes both Fatah and Hamas, "will lead the policy in the West Bank and in Gaza." In the first year of the agreement, he added, "security affairs will [remain as they are] in the status quo. But security policy will be controlled by the government."




River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Hope for a new dawn at Rafah in Gaza Strip

By Richard Lightbown

2 May 2011

Following the recent announcements of Egypt’s intention to open the Rafah Crossing with Gaza, Richard Lightbown describes some of the hypocrisies behind Israel’s objections and speculates on what might follow.

Egypt announced last week that it intends to open the Rafah Crossing to the Gaza Strip on a permanent basis. Commenting on Israel’s Army Radio on 30 April the chief of staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces, General Sami Anan, was reported to have said that this is not a matter of Israel’s concern. Officially, perhaps he is incorrect since the 2005 Agreed Principles for Rafah Crossing make it plain that the opening of the crossing is very much dependent on the cooperation of the government of Israel. However, since Israel has never seen fit to abide by the Agreement on Movement and Access (hereinafter called “the Agreement”) of which these Principles are a part, one might conclude that General Anan has a valid point.

The 2005 crossings agreement

The Agreement was intended to facilitate movement within the Palestinian territories, open Rafah as an international crossing point to enable the passage of people and “promote peaceful economic development and improve the humanitarian situation on the ground”.

It is worthwhile reiterating here the main points agreed by Israel and Palestine following negotiations facilitated by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, European Union representative Javier Solana and Quartet Special Envoy John Wolfensohn.

• Crossings into Gaza were to operate continuously. Of the five crossings from Israel, the main crossing at Karni would process 150 trucks of exports per day in December 2005, which would rise to 400 by the end of 2006.
• Israel would permit the export of all agricultural products for the 2005 season and ensure the continued opportunity thereafter of Gazan producers to export.
• Israel also undertook to make the West Bank passages fully operational as soon as possible. Bus convoys were to be established on the link between Gaza and the West Bank by the end of 2005 and truck convoys were to begin in January 2006.
• Construction of the seaport for Gaza could start once Israel gave assurances that it would not interfere with its operation.
• Discussions were to continue on the rehabilitation and operation of Gaza’s airport.
• Rafah Crossing would be restricted to Palestinian ID card holders and others in agreed categories by prior notification to Israel with approval of senior Palestinian Authority leaders. The crossing would be operated by Egypt and the Palestinian Authority monitored by EU officials.
• Rafah was also to handle exports from Gaza while imports into Gaza from Egypt would pass via the Kerem Shalom crossing with Israel.

What happened in reality

One year after the agreement, the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) reported that “the ability of Palestinian residents of the Gaza Strip to access either the West Bank or the outside world remains extremely limited and the flow of commercial trade is negligible”. For people in Gaza the situation never got any better.

The main crossing from Israel at Karni was opened in December 2005 but during 2006 it was closed for more than 50 per cent of its scheduled operating days by the Israeli authorities citing security reasons. On average, only 12 truckloads of goods per day were exported from Gaza (three per cent of the target figure for the end of 2006).

Despite emphasis in the Agreement on permitting the export of agricultural produce for the 2005 harvest season, only 465 tonnes were exported of nearly 14,000 tonnes produced (i.e. slightly more than three per cent) while a further 25 per cent was sold locally or through Israeli wholesalers. The remainder of the crops were given away or destroyed.

Sufa Crossing was used primarily for the import of construction materials. During the first year of the Agreement it was open for only 60 per cent of scheduled days. Erez Crossing was not used for commercial goods and Kerem Shalom Crossing was boycotted by the Palestinian Authority and was open for humanitarian cargos only.

Since the introduction of the Israeli closure regime on Gaza in 2007 all crossings other than the small inconvenient crossing at Kerem Shalom were gradually closed to goods traffic. This remaining crossing has not been open continuously, and was closed between 5 and 13 April this year on the grounds of continuing rocket fire and security threats against Israeli soldiers. The reopening on 13 April allowed the resumption of imports and one truckload of export produce. During the week of closure approximately three-quarters of a million cut flowers designated for export from Gaza were lost through spoilage (incurring estimated losses of 110,000 US dollars).

Truck and bus convoys between the West Bank and the Gaza Strip were never introduced.

Plans to upgrade the port of Gaza following the Oslo Accords began after finance was provided by Dutch, French and European investments. Starting in 1994 the work was constantly hampered by Israeli obstruction of materials and workers. Finally, one year into the project, Israeli forces bombed the port and completely destroyed it. The revival of the scheme under the 2005 Agreement was stillborn because of Israel’s refusal to provide the required assurances. (The US-led committee to oversee these arrangements as required under the Agreement was never established.)

Nothing came of the intentions to reopen Gaza’s international airport, which has been closed following bombing by Israeli forces in December 2001.

In five months following the capture of Gilad Shalit on 25 June 2006 the Rafah Crossing was open for only 14 per cent of the time and since that time has never been open continuously. Although deposed Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak must shoulder much of the blame for this and the Palestinian authorities are not without responsibility, the government of Israel was largely to blame for this situation by its manipulation and use of the terms of the Agreement for the opening.

What might the future bring?

Egypt’s declared intention to open the crossing into Gaza reflects a radical change from the policy of Mubarak and promises to provide a lifeline to the moribund Gazan economy that has been deliberately targeted by Israeli policies which are illegal under the Fourth Geneva Convention. In February, Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN) reported that the World Bank believed that using Rafah as a trade corridor to the Suez Canal container terminal or Cairo International Airport could be done at a cost equivalent to or less than using Israel’s port or airports. Continuous opening will allow producers to effectively plan their transport arrangements free of the whim of a malignant border control. It will also allow students with overseas placements to take up their studies, and provide an opportunity for the rebuilding of Gaza, including the refurbishment and replenishment of its dire medical system. (For as the surgeon Dr Mustafa Yassin told the Turkel Committee on 13 October 2010, “I haven’t seen anything like Gaza in my life, and I hope that I won’t ever see it again.”)

The question remains whether Egypt will be allowed to carry out this policy or whether it will be prevailed upon to reverse its plans. Israel’s quisling administration in the US has already provided more the 116 million US dollars to Egypt in order to finance border security and combat tunnel trafficking. This included provision for a mobile ground surveillance radar and support system and a border tunnel activity and detection system. Will the US sit idly by as Egypt’s new regime renders this expenditure irrelevant and worthless? Or will it dare to defy the winds of change in the Arab world by racking up the pressure on its erstwhile ally to bring it into line against Gazan resistance?

Meanwhile, in nearby corners of the Mediterranean Sea, Mossad and the organizers of the next flotilla are playing out a sophisticated game of hide and seek. If the flotilla avoids the saboteurs and successfully takes to the sea, Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu will be forced against his natural inclination to make a major political decision. Does he unleash the dogs of war and try to face down world opprobrium, or does he sit meekly by and allow the fleet to pass on victorious to Gaza? Either way he stands to be hoist on the petard of his own intransigence. Perhaps the Egyptian government will make the decision for him by rendering the blockade obsolete.

At the same time a successful entry into Gaza by sea will demonstrate many things. It will show the possibilities for trade by sea to complement the land crossing. It will refute the liars that deny that Gaza has a port and the doubters at UN Human Rights Council and elsewhere that it is a place where one can unload cargoes even now. It will also demonstrate the need for the world to insist that Israel allows the Gaza port to be refurbished. Above all it will demonstrate that people of courage and determination can accomplish what weak, collaborative governments fear to do.

Dare we hope this time that righteousness will prevail?

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Egypt-Gaza border opening scares Israel

Posted on May 2, 2011 by rehmat1

The military junta ruling Egypt since the ouster of Hosni Mubarak, has announced to open the Rafah border-crossing with Gaza permanently within a few days. The Wall Street Jounal has called Egyptian decision a violation of an agreement reached in 2005 between the US, Israel, Egypt and the EU.

Chief of Staff of the Egyptian Armed Forces General Sami Anan warned Israel against interfering with Egypt’s plan, saying it was not a matter of Israel’s concern, Army Radio reported on Saturday.

Behind the Israeli propaganda lies to scare the hell out of its western puppet regimes about the so-called ‘Jew-hating Islamists’ replacing the former Israel-friendly regimes in Tunisia, Egypt, Yemen, Bahrain, Morocco, Libya, etc. – in fact the new regimes with the exception of some cosmetic changes, have turned to be more oppressive than the ones they replaced.

Egyptian military junta, so far has not fulfilled even a single public demands;
1) cancelling Egypt-Israel peace-treaty,
2) opening borders with Gaza and recognizing Hamas as the only elected government and
3) lifting ban on the popular Islamic political party Muslim Brotherhood. Furthermore, Egypt has not opened diplomatc relation with the regional power, Iran.

Several American lawmakers, both Republican and Democrat, have threatened to stop US funding to PA if the Fatah-Hamas unity government is established in Gaza and the West Bank. They have also recommended that Obama administration stop $1.5 billion annual aid to Egypt if it cancels its peace agreement with Israel.
On May 1, Professor Franklin Lamb wrote a timely article from Beirut entitled Panic in the Houses of Congress and AIPAC?.

“On April 13, 2011, more than a dozen Israel “First, last and always” US congressional leaders from both houses of Congress held an urgent conference call organized by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

What AIPAC operatives reportedly told the conferees was that Netanyahu is once again furious with President Barack Obama and outraged by what he sees as a vacillating US Government attitude towards Israeli needs. They were told that the Israeli PM sees real political danger for Israel in the shifting US public opinion in favor of the young sophisticated attractive Arab and Muslims increasingly seen on satellite channels from the region who remind the American public of their own ideals.

Netanyahu, the conferees were told, wants Congress to flex its muscle with the White House and deliver a strong message to President Obama that his political future is tied to Israel’s. Hence, the current “America needs Israel more than ever stupid!“ campaign is wafting from the Israel lobby across the talk radio airwaves.

Congressman Eric Cantor lamented that “Israel is badly losing the US College campuses”, despite heavy financial investments the past few years to curb American students growing support for Gaza, Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, all dreaded symbols of the growing opposition to the 19th Century Zionist colonial enterprise. “Support for Palestine is skyrocketing,” he claimed. “Until Palestine is freed from Zionist occupation no Arab or Muslim is truly free of Western hegemony,” according to one assistant editor of Harvard University’s student newspaper, the Crimson….”

Benji Netanyahu during his addresses late this month at AIPAC conference and joint meeting of the US Congress is expected to include;
1) Bashing of the Islamic Republic for its support for Hamas and Hizbullah and country’s civilian nuclear program,
2) Warning against the dangers to “the peace process” of any PA-Hamas unity government,
3) Warnings about the threats to Israel from Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood – scraping peace-treaty and abandoning subsidary on gas supply to Israel,
4) the usual hasbara lie: “Israel has no peace partner to negotiate with and
5) Ben-Obama is too hard on Israel.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Egypt frees Hezbollah members to Gaza ...

FLC

GAZA, May 1 (UPI) --" Two Palestinian members of a Hezbollah cell arrived in Gaza this weekend following their release by the Egyptian authorities.Mohammed Ramadan, 17, and Nidal Fathi Juda, 23, were arrested three years ago along with other cell members for terror activities..."

Posted by G, M, Z, or B at 10:23 AM

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Israel Slams Bombing of Gas Pipeline and Palestinian Reconciliation and Egypt strongly Responds

April 30, 2011 posted by Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

“What Mr. Netanyahu is unaware of is the fact that the Arabs currently in revolt, as much as they reject both the Israeli-Egyptian natural gas deal and the Israeli inhuman blockade on Gaza, feel the same way about the Israeli-Palestinian so called peace talks”

“Egypt to officially announce its border with Gaza open in the coming few days”

Bombing of Egypt's natural gas pipeline to Isarel at Alarish terminal.

Dr. Ashraf Ezzat

With the first light of the dawn of Wednesday 27, Egypt witnessed yet another unusually turbulent day of post-Mubarak open display of anti-Israeli sentiments. Those sentiments have been long entrenched in the Egyptian psyche, though not primarily directed at the Israelis but fueled by the Israeli aggressive policy towards its Arab neighbors and above all by its ongoing criminal plan of the ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinian population out of their Arabic homeland.

The pro-democracy uprisings ripping through the heart of the Arab world, besides toppling dictators and corrupt regimes, and aside from being a blatant display of western hypocritical Mideast policy, have been rare historical moments for people on the Arabic street to freely speak their minds and openly express their unrestrained opinions. After all, that what democracy is all about.

Once they have managed to fully implement the famous slogan of the Egyptian uprising “the people want the regime down”, Egyptians insisted the head of the regime along with his inner circle of corrupt aides and officials put on trial and held accountable for all the crimes they committed against the Egyptian people- an unprecedented claim in all of Egypt’s long history.

The list of charges against Mubarak’s regime is a long one that included harming national interests, profiteering, selling government assets and public enterprises, squandering and wasting public money and shooting peaceful protesters. But the deal of exporting Egypt natural gas to Israel that Mubarak himself endorsed back in 2005 stands at the top of the list.

Pro-Zionist Mubarak.

The end of a deal.

According to the crooked deal, Egypt is to sell its natural gas with a fixed price of $1.25 per million British thermal units (Btu) – while Global gas prices in the meantime jumped to $4 per million Btu- for 15 years.
Economists estimated that Egypt wasted at least $714 million in potential revenue from the deal to date, while independent analysts opposed to the deal put the number of losses much higher, up to $8 million per day.
The fervent Egyptian protests never lost its momentum by overthrowing Mubarak. Thousands of angry protesters kept coming back to Tahrir square Friday after Friday venting out their dissatisfaction over continuing to keep Mubarak and his gang of former politicians on the loose.
Finally and to appease the enraged people specifically in regard to the gas deal, two previous oil ministers were arrested and faced legal prosecution and Mubarak himself was indicted over the suspicious deal and held under detention.
Truth of the matter is, that deal with Israel made every Egyptian feel personally affronted. Not only because of the much needed millions of dollars that went right into the pocket of Mubarak and his Zionist friends, but to the audacity of selling Egypt’s national assets and pride to a formidable foe at such a cheap price.



Mr. Binyamin Ben-Eliezer, Israeli minister of national
infrastructure and Mr. Sameh Fahmy, Egypt petroleum
minister at the signing ceremony of the natural gas deal.



In was hurting the Egyptian sensibility as it dishonored the memory of thousands of fine Egyptian soldiers who willingly gave their lives in the long military conflict with Israel defending their land.

When January 25 revolution attacked the natural gas deal with Israel a spot light was thrown at Egypt’s most controversial issues; post-Mubarak Egypt’s political fabric, corruption and Israel.

Egypt has been a key player in the Arab-Israeli conflict since day one of its inauguration. It has engaged in 4 wars with Israel since 1948 till 1973 trying to hold back the Zionist military piracy, and signed a controversial peace treaty with Tel Aviv on 1979.

Mubarak and due to his 3 decades of dancing to the tunes of his Zionist allies in Israel, has transferred Egypt from the leader of the Arab camp to the pro-Zionist circus of puppets and drove the Egyptians into one of their ugliest tunnels of political inertia they have ever been through.
With Mubarak gone, and As Egypt was stripping itself of a long and shameful Zionist kippah, the country felt like coming out of this dark tunnel to the light for the first time. Egypt’s potentials for engaging in the Middle East conflict, with whole new palette of all shades of political colors, have reemerged and come back to life again.
Once the ruling autocratic party in Egypt was dissolved, the country’s political arena began to accommodate parties and groups of all political strata; socialists, leftists, liberals and of course the right wing represented by the Muslim brotherhood.

All Egyptian political blocks regardless of their background ideology agreed on one principle; the Egyptian-Israeli political relations should be conducted from an Arabic perspective that would serve both the Egyptian national security and interests while adhering to an Arabic agenda aimed at resolving the Israeli- Palestinian thorny file.

But while nationalists, leftists and liberal forces believed in conducting the Egyptian-Israeli tangled issues through open political dynamics, other parties, and due to their long history of covert operations and sort of underground organization were inclined to tackle this in a way that only the Zionist machine in Israel are familiar with.

Scenario of the hot Wednesday

At dawn break, near the northern Sinai city of Arish, some 50 kilometers away from the Israeli border with Egypt, a group of 5 masked men drove away in a 4×4 car after they bombed the terminal of the pipeline that supplied Israel with 40% of its total requirement of natural gas utilized to generate 80% of its electricity.

Leaving the place after remotely detonating the bombs, the whole terminal went up in soaring flames, frightening the nearby residents and forcing the station’s safety department to completely shut down the feed of gas to Israel

Though there have been a couple of sabotage incidents aimed at the same pipeline station in the last two months, but compared to this seemingly professional and carefully carried out operation, they were nothing more than amateurish trial to leak out gas.



Rafah, Egypt crossing point with Gaza

Later in the morning, and for the first time, scores of Palestinian syndicate professionals – doctors, pharmacists, accountants and free traders- protested at the Gaza side of Rafah crossing point- the border checkpoint with Egypt- and while raising the entwined flags of Egypt and Palestine called for putting an end to the siege long imposed on Gaza from the Egyptian side.

Before noon, hundreds of college students from Cairo University belonging to The Palestinian Revolution Supporters Group, The Islamic Work Party, Democratic Students and Egyptians against Zionists broke out of the gates of the university and headed in a big march to the Israeli embassy. They burned the Israeli flag and called for the immediate halt of gas supply to Israel, chanting “ wake up Egypt, supplying Israel with our gas is a shame for all Egyptians”

After few hours, Israeli Infrastructures Minister Uzi Landau said that “though gas is one of the most important economic components of the peace treaty between the two countries signed in 1979, nevertheless, our government has to face up to the fact that Israel has to do without Egypt gas from now on”

Following the sequence of events that consequently happened throughout this hot Wednesday, From the blast at the early hours of the morning to the protests in Cairo and Gaza reaching to the solemn statements of Mr. Landau in Tel Aviv, one can’t guess twice that certain elements from Hamas in Gaza- who now regard Sinai as an accessible operational field- in close cooperation with their Egyptian right wing counterparts of the Muslim brotherhood were responsible for this bombing of the gas line terminal in Arish and the protests on both sides.
But then, this would remain purely speculative, with all the legal irregularities involved, as long as nobody claimed responsibility for it.

The new middle east

Post-Mubarak Egyptian foreign policy is bound to show some major changes of strategy. And with a figure like Dr. Nabil el-Araby, Egypt’s new foreign minister, who doesn’t distance himself from his previous calls for Arab states to sue Israel for its atrocities committed against the Palestinians, Netanyahu unreluctantly expressed his concerns over Egypt’s newly evolving and apparently anti-Israeli politics.
As the night was falling on this hot Wednesday, the last hours were yet to reveal the biggest events of that day. And as the morning started with a blast so did the evening.

“Fatah- the Palestinian political organization- has reached an agreement with its rival Hamas on forming an interim government and fixing a date for a general election” Egyptian intelligence announced on Wednesday evening. And Cairo is to invite both parties, who agreed on all discussed points, to a signing ceremony to mark this historical Palestinian reconciliation.

Benjamin Netanyahu

This Egyptian–brokered deal, which came few month away from the expected UN vote on the recognition of Palestine as an independently sovereign state- infuriated the Israeli government and considered it crossing the red line for Israel, as Avigdor Lieberman, the Israeli foreign minister announced.

But as Mr.Landau, said earlier that Israel would have to do without Egypt’s natural gas so did Mr. Netanyahu, Israeli prime minister, who declared on response to this reconciliation that Israel would have to find herself another partner to carry on with in the Mideast peace talks.
On April 30th, And in quick response to Netanyahu’s provocative statement, Hussein Tantawi, Egyptian Field Marshal, head of the supreme military council and the Egyptian interim government announced ..

“the latest Israeli threats to the Palestinian coalition government have enraged the Arab peoples and they are totally unacceptable. And he added that the Egyptian military council is to officially open Rafah border crossing point with Gaza on permanent basis in the coming few days to alleviate the suffering of the besieged Palestinians living in Gaza”

Hussein Tantawi, Field Marshal and
head of the Egyptian supreme military council

What Mr. Netanyahu is unaware of is the fact that the revolting Arabs, as much as they reject both the Israeli-Egyptian natural gas deal and the Israeli inhuman blockade on Gaza, feel the same way about the Israeli-Palestinian so called peace talks.

The so called peace process has been nothing more than a disgusting and theatrically staged waste of time brokered by the United States to peacefully allow more Israeli settlements to be built and more of Palestinian land quietly annexed.

Israel will have to do without a whole much more than just Egypt’s natural gas in the future. The Arabs will certainly be crossing a lot of red lines in the coming days as they resketch the long advocated for- new Middle East.

A new middle East is emerging, alright, the Arabic version, that is.

For more articles by Dr. A shraf Ezzat visit his website.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Mubarak Could Be Executed if Convicted

Egyptian Justice Minister Abdel Aziz al-Gindi was quoted on Saturday as saying that Egypt's ousted president Hosni Mubarak could be executed if convicted of involvement in the deaths of anti-regime protesters.

Mubarak, who was toppled in February after mass protests, is under detention on suspicion of involvement in the deaths of more than 800 people.

"Absolutely, the crime of killing protesters could lead to a death sentence if there is convincing evidence," the justice minister told Egyptian daily Al-Ahram in response to a question on whether Mubarak might be executed.

The 82-year-old former strongman is in police custody in a hospital in the Red Sea resort town of Sharm el-Sheikh, after reportedly suffering a heart attack during questioning.

Earlier this month, the head of Cairo's appeals court, Zakaria Shalash, said Mubarak may face execution after a trial he expected to last at least a year. He said testimony by Mubarak's former interior minister Habib al-Adly, himself on trial for ordering the shootings of anti-regime protesters, would make Mubarak an accomplice if proven.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Right or Wrong

You were Right, Right, Right 

Yvonne Ridley said Linyan war "is another oil-fuelled, reckless act by gung-ho leaders who would end up being sucked in to a long military campaign as futile as the Bush-Blair adventures into Iraq and Afghanistan that we are still paying for in terms of wasted lives."

First: I don't think USA-Nato is ready into a long military campaign in Libya as futile as the Bush-Blair adventures into Iraq and Afghanistan. On the contrary, because of their bloody intervention in both Iraq and Afghanistan they are using the so called soft power, divide the people ethnically, religiously, tribally, and let them kill each other.

Second: its not only about oil, they were getting the oil from Khadafy. its also about creation of a separation zone to prevent the integration of revolutions in Tunis and Egypt. Despite The Interim Transitional National Council wishful thinking and its committment to liberate every part of Libya from Aamsaad in the east to Ras Jdir in the west, and from Sirte in the north to Gatrun in the south, The No fly zone, and the "humanitarian intervention" is drawing the new borders of divided Libya, the US-Nato, and their Arab puppets wanted the people of Libya to be "brutally crushed without mercy" until they cry for help, as Sheikh Mohammed Bosidra told you. Those Libyans who are crystal clear in one thing: Gaddafi must go, should have thought and planed how they would force him to go, like in Tunis, Egypt, Yemen, and Bahrain, they should have avoided violence, and giving Khadafy an excuse to crushed without them mercy. So far the conspiracy failed in Tunis, and Egypt, but brought Libyans to their knees, and turned it from a popular revolution into a civil war.

Its not true that the war in libya is led by no one, with no particular aim, and its not true that the No fly zone prevented a Massacre. In every revolution, there is the people's will to get free, and there is the conspiracy's will, where conspiracy try to ride drive the people to face the wall untill they cry for help.

Somebody, called, the Arab uprising, "The Grand Arab Revolution", referring to the Grand Arab Revolution led by Sharif Husain of Mecca, where the people wanted liberation from the Ottoman Empire, and the Conspiracy was about dividing Arab world, and creation of the Zionist entity.

History is repeating itself, but in other forms. The so called "constructive chaos" is now used to redraw the region according to US-Israeli "geo-strategic needs and objectives." Therefore and Syria is the main target, because its the corner stone of the Resistance Axsis, The loss of Syria, God fordid, shall compensate the loss of Egypt, and pave the way to the NEW zionist middle east. The struggle is greater than Libya, its about the middle east, and its heard, Syria.
So the question is, even in Tunis and Egypt, is about who would laugh at the end.

Uprooted Palestinian

+++++++++++++++

Yvonne Ridley: “I was wrong to oppose military intervention in Libya – wrong, wrong, wrong”  

By Yvonne Ridley in Benghazi

30 April 2011

Yvonne Ridley explains from Benghazi in eastern Libya why she was wrong to oppose Western intervention in Libya, which she now accepts was necessary to avoid the bloodbath Libyan mafia chief Muammar Gaddafi had planned for Libyans for daring to rise up against him.

Just a few weeks ago I stood on a public platform and vigorously slammed proposals for Western military intervention in Libya.

The hasty scramble by the Americans, French and Britons lacked strategy and a clear goal.

To me it appeared to be yet another oil-fuelled, reckless act by gung-ho leaders who would end up being sucked in to a long military campaign as futile as the Bush-Blair adventures into Iraq and Afghanistan that we are still paying for in terms of wasted lives.

“Here we go again,” I said. “Another imperialistic adventure with the long-term aim of getting our grubby hands on other peoples’ oil.”

To those few Libyans present, I warned they would live to regret this pact with the West that I likened to jumping into bed with the devil.

Being very conscious of the fact I’m not a Libyan and desperate at not wanting to be seen as another opinionated Westerner sticking my nose into matters I didn’t understand, I sought the views of many Libyan friends and contacts.

Their reaction was mixed, but more often than not I was told that without outside help the Libyan people would be slaughtered by Gaddafi who himself described those who opposed him as cockroaches that needed to be crushed.

To justify my stand I reasoned that all revolutions are bloody and that the heroic people of Tunisia and Egypt had paid the blood price in their hundreds to win freedom.

I even recounted Malcolm X telling people that if they were not prepared to die for it they should remove the word freedom from their vocabulary.

Of course, making grand statements from platforms in central London is one thing but going to see for myself what was happening on the ground was something else.

My few days in Libya proved to be extremely humbling, illuminating and provided me with a reality check.

I was wrong about opposing military intervention. No if, buts or maybe – I was wrong, wrong, wrong.

The people of Libya would have been brutally crushed without mercy if the West had not responded to their cries for help.

Perhaps the greatest shame is that Arab leaders stood by emotionless as the Libyan people begged everyone and anyone for help to bring down Gaddafi.

Some of those Arab leaders had no such hesitation in answering cries for help from the oppressive royal regime in Bahrain – obviously the Saudis and rest of the Gulf Cooperation Council cabal felt uncomfortable helping to bring down an evil, brutal, dictator who routinely abused and oppressed his people while happily propping up another.

It could have been an opportunity for the rising regional power Turkey to step in to the breach but to the massive disappointment of the Libyan people Recep Tayyip Erdogan refused to become embroiled.

So in the end the West did intervene and although the blood of innocents is still flowing in the streets at least it is not a torrent.

And maybe this is a war led by no one, with no particular aim, but the enforcement of the no fly zone has prevented a massacre.

That is the view held by one of Libya's spiritual leaders, Sheikh Mohammed Bosidra, who told me: "We had no choice. It was either make a pact with NATO or be crushed. It was a matter of survival, as simple as that."

However many have already paid the ultimate blood price. Each town and city has a special place for its martyrs, and there are many. Faces of young men stared back at me from family portraits proudly hung in the central square in Benghazi and what struck me was how young they were.

In Derna, more portraits of the sons of Omar al-Mukhtar hung in the town centre and some of the bodies have been buried in a cemetery next to the tombs of three Sahaba and 70 other martyrs who fought against Roman and Byzantine forces in 692AD.

“We have a very fine tradition of producing martyrs in Derna and that is why Gaddafi hates the people of Derna more than anywhere else in Libya,” one woman told me.

And then she pointed to a French Tricolor and a Union Jack whispering: “Thank you, we will never forget what you have done for us.”

I admit I felt uncomfortable, even a fraud, on several different levels by accepting her thanks. Usually I end up apologizing for the deeds of various British governments and empire so this was something new for me.

We are still not clear what is the endgame of the NATO-led force, but the Libyan people are crystal clear in one thing: Gaddafi must go.

Only then can they begin to work out the next move, and it won’t be easy.

The Interim Transitional National Council says it is committed to liberate every part of Libya from Aamsaad in the east to Ras Jdir in the west, and from Sirte in the north to Gatrun in the south.

But from what I could see the mission is unstable and unpredictable, chaotic, disorganized and confused.

“It is clear to me that once Gaddafi is gone – and he will go – the Libyan people will not replace him with another tyrant or a Western puppet. Whatever government and constitution they choose will be one of their own making.”



However, what is undeniable is the bravery and courage of the Libyan people who we in the media routinely refer to as rebels. These people are not rebels. They are shopkeepers, students, doctors, businessmen and mechanics who have never owned a gun or wanted to pick one up in anger, until now.

And yet there they are tens of thousands prepared to die for freedoms and liberties they’ve never known in Gaddafi’s 41-year rule.

I was moved to tears by a regiment of young men who marched, rallied and chanted demanding to be sent to the front lines in Misrata to help their brothers in arms.

Their personally-delivered message in Benghazi was to the members of the interim government and they were extremely critical of some elements of the ITNC who they said were more interested in parading around with bodyguards intoxicated with the little power they had than making real decisions.

The criticism of the leadership was stinging but reassuring that these young men were not blind to the shortcomings of their own. Too often in the Middle East people are blind and unquestioning in their loyalty to their leaders.

It is clear to me that once Gaddafi is gone – and he will go – the Libyan people will not replace him with another tyrant or a Western puppet. Whatever government and constitution they choose will be one of their own making.

But first we in the West must give them all the help and support they need to accomplish the removal of Gaddafi until it is time for NATO to go in a dignified exit.

And who knows, for once, Western intervention might just be regarded as a force for good.

[Wishfull thinking]

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

On Khalid Amayreh, Syrian Brothers "revolution" and the great day for Palestine

Dear Khalid

I hope you are right, but in a previous article ( Not posted at PIC - I appreciate that) you decided that  "the totalitarian police-state apparatus which has been ruling Syria since the early sixties must be dismantled and terminated once and for all. The Baath party is inherently undemocratic; it can't be reformed, it must be ended."

Do you really believe the Police State which has been rulling the WB since Oslo, and Gaza upto the so-called Hamas coup must not be dismantled and terminated once and for all. That Fateh "is inherently undemocratic; it can be reformed, it must not be ended."

Yes "Hamas has won by having all its conditions and objections met. We must not forget that Hamas was supposed to be destroyed according to the American-Zionist designs; so the fact that Hamas has remained a hard, independent variable is indeed a great achievement. This proves that not everything Palestinian must be subject to the Zionist will."

But, how come you forget that Syria, the solid corner of resistance in Lebanon and Gaza "was supposed to be destroyed according to the American-Zionist designs;" so the fact that Syria has remained a hard, independent variable is indeed a great achievement. This proves that not everything Syrian must be subject to the Zionist will.

I would have expected "A great day for Syria", if your Sytian Brothers are like our Hamas Brothers, tortured to death in PA's and Mubarak Prisons while their leaders, talking shelter in Syria.

I understand and second your call for working "overtime to rectify and correct all that went wrong during these gloomy four years. Prisoners or detainees must be set free, media incitement must end immediately, closed institutions must be reopened; and human rights and civil liberties must be reinstituted. Also grievances must be settled and hard feelings soothed and reconciled."

But, Khalid, why you don't ask your "Syrian" brothers to "work overtime to rectify and correct all that went wrong during the "Syrian" gloomy years?????

I understand your applauding our big sister and its "The revolutionary leadership" for its "tireless efforts" and dedication for four months to bring about this paramount national reconciliation among the brothers in Palestine.", but I can't understand, nor forgive  smearing our "little sister, Syria, though it didn't fire a single bullet on the Israeli occupiers of the Golan Heights, paid tireless efforts and dedication  for 40 years to keep resistance option up, in Palestine, in Lebanon at least since 1982, and in Iraq after the invasion??

Some consistency please

Khalid Amayreh: A great day for Palestine

[ 28/04/2011 - 07:12 PM ]

By Khalid Amayreh

[ 28/04/2011 - 07:12 PM ]

Much to the chagrin of the hateful Zionist entity, Hamas and Fatah seem to have reached a final agreement, putting an end to four years of a crippling national rift which exhausted the Palestinian people as never before and gave Israel a valuable opportunity to try liquidate the Palestinian cause.

News of the agreement has already generated instantaneous reactions of excitement and joy, even euphoria in the occupied territories.

Motorists honked their car horns, youngsters took to the streets shouting "Fatah and Hamas: one people not two." Some women ululated with joy as Fatah and Hamas leaders appeared on TV screens in Cairo, announcing the conclusion of the long-awaited agreement. Some restaurants and eateries offered free coffee, tea and juices as celebrations went on until around midnight.

On the Israeli side, Israeli leaders were visibly angry and disappointed, with Prime Minister Benyamin Netanyah threatening the Palestinian leadership with what looked like a virtual ultimatum:

"The PA would have to choose between peace with Hamas and peace with Israel. It can't choose both."

One Fatah official retorted: "We also say Israel would have to choose between peace with the Palestinian people and peace with racist settlers, it can't choose both."

Well, Netanyahu's threats should be rejected outright and treated with the utter contempt they deserve.

After all, this is an internal Palestinian matter and Israel has absolutely no right to intervene in our internal affairs.

Netanyahu may argue that Hamas doesn't recognize Israel. Well, Netanyahu should be reminded that he presides over a government the bulk of which doesn't recognize Palestine.

In the final analysis, why should Hamas, or for that matter Fatah, recognize Israel when Israel refuses to recognize the very existence of the Palestinian people.

So, if the next Palestinian government of national unity shouldn't include groups that don't recognize Israel, by the same token, Palestinians have the right to demand that any Israeli government must exclude groups and parties that don't recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.

Needless to say, the current Israeli government includes explicitly fascist parties that don't even recognize the very existence of the Palestinian people.

The conclusion of the reconciliation agreement in Cairo has really dealt a sharp blow to nefarious Zionist designs. Israel first lost a great strategic asset in the dramatic downfall of the Mubarak dynasty and now we have these good tidings from Cairo. More good news is coming up, inshallah (God willing). [From where Khalid?, I guess from syria - God forbid]

Netanyahu and other Zionist supremacists may rant and rave for as long as they may. This shouldn't shake even one hair on our bodies.

None the less, we must not be too preoccupied with self-congratulating ourselves on this auspicious occasion. Yes there is no doubt that the present that both Hamas and Fatah have handed over to the Palestinian people is great.

However, we must work overtime to rectify and correct all that went wrong during these gloomy four years. Prisoners or detainees must be set free, media incitement must end immediately, closed institutions must be reopened; and human rights and civil liberties must be reinstituted. Also grievances must be settled and hard feelings soothed and reconciled.

In short, we must get the slate clean as soon as possible and allow for the total obliteration of all the scars of division.

In this agreement, there seems to be only winners. Everyone is winning as a result of this breakthrough except Israel and the enemies of our people.

Hamas has won by having all its conditions and objections met. We must not forget that Hamas was supposed to be destroyed according to the American-Zionist designs; so the fact that Hamas has remained a hard, independent variable is indeed a great achievement. This proves that not everything Palestinian must be subject to the Zionist will.

Fatah has also won by showing Israel that Fatah won't be co-opted and manipulated against Palestinian national interest. Fatah won by demonstrating that it will remain a national and patriotic movement despite American and Israeli designs.

And the Palestinian people has won by overcoming one of the most formidable internal crises ever to mar the Palestinian struggle for freedom from the claws of diabolic Zionism.

We must also thank our big sister, Egypt, without which the conclusion of this agreement wouldn't have been possible. The revolutionary leadership in Cairo must be applauded for its tireless efforts and dedication to bring about this paramount national reconciliation among the brothers in Palestine. This should be a good omen for the future.

Finally, we Palestinians should instill in ourselves a feeling of optimism. The restoration of Palestinian national unity, along with the strategic changes in the Arab region, is huge assets and opportunities that should be utilized for the ultimate liberation of Palestine .

• US Intervention in Syria

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian

Arabi pledges to lift Gaza siege in ten days, Rizka welcomes the news

[ 29/04/2011 - 02:58 PM ]

CAIRO, (PIC)-- Nabil Al-Arabi, the Egyptian foreign minister, said on Thursday that Egypt would take a decisive decision rescinding the unjust siege on the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip, adding that the decision would be taken within ten days.

"The humanitarian condition in Gaza is very miserable, inhuman, and I believe that the political decision to seal the Rafah crossing point was unethical and inhuman," Arabi said in statements he made in the capital Cairo Thursday.

He added that a political decision regarding lifting the siege on Gaza and opening the Rafah crossing point permanently will be taken by the new Egyptian leadership, underlining that matters in the Gaza strip will drastically change to the better.

Arabi’s statements were received well in Gaza and stirred an atmosphere of jubilance in the coastal Strip that had been under repressive Israeli blockade for the past five years that former Egyptian government of deposed president Husni Mubarak supported.

For his part, Dr. Yousef Rezqa, the political advisor of Palestinian premier Ismael Haneyya welcomed Arabi's statements, describing them as "good news".

"We fully back the new Egyptian steps in this regard, and we are filled with hope that those statements will be translated on the ground in order to give chance to the besieged Palestinian people to get rid of the five-year old blockade," Rezqa said in reaction to Arabi's statements.

He added that the signing of the Palestinian reconciliation on Wednesday in Cairo would help Egypt and the rest of Arab countries to rescind the unjust siege on Gaza.

"If Egypt indeed decided to break the siege then we can say that the blockade would end 100% because we pay great attention to our brothers in Egypt in this regard as we consider Egypt the center of the Arab backing that we had demanded in the past stage," Rezqa underscored.

River to Sea Uprooted Palestinian