Month: June 2007

Israel gears up to fight possible academic boycott — as Israeli academics fight the occupation of Palestinian territory

Israeli academia and other institutions may soon be the subject of an international boycott called by the U.K. Universities and Colleges Union (UCU). academia, due to the prolonged and increasingly harsh occupation of the oPt, which has resulted in the “denial of educational rights” to Palestinians.

The Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and the Israeli Education Minister Yuli Tamir are gearing up to fight a possible British boycott of Israeli academics.

And, as we all know, when the Israelis fight, they don’t do it half-way…

The Israeli Foreign Ministry has issued a press release Sunday evening reporting that “At a meeting convened by the two women ministers last Thursday, Livni said ‘We must fight the boycott on every level and with all the means at our disposal. This is an act of hypocrisy and hatred that must not be allowed to raise its head, even if it comes from marginal bodies … We must convince everyone who shares the values of Israel and the rest of the free world to join this struggle. Whoever supports a boycott of this type should know that there will be a price to pay. We cannot afford not to act; we have an obligation to prevent the spread of this process. Our meeting today is the beginning of a well-designed, coordinated action.’

The meeting, called to discuss possible political and PR responses to the British call for a boycott of Israeli institutions of higher education, medical institutions and labor unions, was attended by political and academic leaders. In addition to Ministers Livni and Tamir and other senior officials of the Foreign and Education Ministries, the participants included the Chairman of the Histadrut Labor Union; heads of the Israel-Britain Parliamentary Friendship Society, the Israel Medical Association and the International Advisory Board for Academic Freedom; and the presidents of Tel Aviv University, the Technion, and the Interdisciplinary Center-Herzliya. In addition, the Students Union, various colleges and other government ministries were represented.

It was decided to form a task force composed of representatives from all the bodies that took part in the meeting, to be headed by Mr. Raphael Barak, Deputy Director General for Europe at the Foreign Ministry. Ministers Livni and Tamir charged the task force with implementing concrete recommendations for dealing with the situation, with an emphasis on the Internet, working through such voluntary bodies in Britain as friendship societies, the British Jewish community, churches, labor unions, etc. The task force will report to the ministers regularly.”

Meanwhile, some of the Israeli academics who are the potential targets of the possible boycott have been working hard to fight the occupation of Palestinian territory.
Continue reading Israel gears up to fight possible academic boycott — as Israeli academics fight the occupation of Palestinian territory

Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does, cont'd …

The AP reported today that “Lebanon’s army on Saturday pounded al-Qaida-inspired Islamic militants hiding in a Palestinian refugee camp in renewed heavy clashes following a few days of intermittent fighting. Black smoke billowed from the Nahr el-Bared camp in northern Lebanon where witnesses reported some of the heaviest army shelling since June 1, when the Lebanese army — using tanks and artillery — launched an offensive to drive the Fatah Islam militants from their positions inside the settlement. Ambulances were seen rushing to the area of the camp …
Continue reading Just when you think it can't get any worse, it does, cont'd …

The PLO representative in Lebanon has visited the West Bank to consult with Mahmoud Abbas about crisis in Nahr Al-Bared

The Israeli newspaper Haaretz is reporting that: “The Palestinian Liberation Organization’s representative in Lebanon, Abbas Zaki, said Thursday that Lebanon’s Palestinians should be allowed to set up their own security force inside the camps to prevent formation of armed gangs in the future. Speaking after talks with Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank town of Ramallah, Zaki said the PLO proposes a force of 4,000 to 5,000 members for the Lebanon camps”.

Read the full Haaretz story here.

Turkish troops enter northern Iraq to chase Kurdish fighters

Turkish troops have crossed into northern Iraq, but “the raid is limited in scope”, according to two senior Turkish security officials interviewed by the Associated Press.

Their mission is to chase Kurdish guerrillas who operate from bases there, Turkish security officials told The Associated Press.

The last major Turkish incursion into northern Iraq was in 1997, when about 50,000 troops were sent to the region. Turkish authorities rarely acknowledge such military operations, which were more frequent before the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003.

There has been alarm recently at reports that Turkey has been building up its military forces on the Iraqi border.

AP is also reporting that “The officials said any confrontation with Iraqi Kurdish groups, who have warned against a Turkish incursion, could trigger a larger cross-border operation. The Turkish military has asked the government in Ankara to approve such an incursion, but the government has not given formal approval.

Continue reading Turkish troops enter northern Iraq to chase Kurdish fighters

Journalists with nothing to do

You can tell when there’s a big news story in the Middle East, simply by going to the American Colony Hotel in East Jerusalem.

This lovely hotel is now too expensive for Palestinians to frequent, or for anyone who doesn’t have an organization behind them and a big expense account. It has been not exactly deserted lately, but rather more taken over by wealthy Israeli tourists who are willing to dip their toes into the pool of Palestine – in a safe environment.

But, yesterday, in the garden couryard of the stone structure, with its lemon trees, and its pansies, and the sparrows swooping in to grab stray french fries, it was clear that some of the old-time glamor had returned: BBC and Al-Jazeera were back in town. Producers and go-fers sat reading newspapers and ordering food at tables in the outer perimeter, while the reporters and on-air “talent” were sitting at the more central tables with what looked like Palestinian politicians, who seemed pleased to be getting some outside attention.

The travelling bands of important journalists must have come for the 4oth anniversary of the Six-Day War, from 5 to 11 June — which they could combine, or so they thought, with the projected meeting in the midst of this weighty period between Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen).

In a briefing with journalists on Sunday, the Palestinian national unity government’s Minister of Information, Dr. Marwan Barghouthi, made comments critical of the proposed meeting, particularly its timing. When asked about it, Dr. Barghouthi said that Abu Mazen had said he didn’t want to give the Israelis any excuse to accuse the Palestinian side of insincerity — and maybe he is right, Barghouthi added.

Then, this afternoon, President Abbas cancelled the meeting.

Post-election violence erupts in East Timor

Jose Ramos-Horta, East Timor’s newly installed and second president, has today accused police of shooting two activists in the new political party to which he belongs – the National Congress of Reconstruction of Timor. This party is headed by Timorese liberation struggle leader Xanana Gusmao, who is now running in elections set for 30 June for the post of Prime Minister, after stepping down as Timor’s first president.

The Agence France Press is reporting that: “East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta on Monday said it was police personnel who shot dead two activists during campaign rallies for a new party headed by former East Timor president Xanana Gusmao. A group of five armed men opened fire on Alfonso ‘Kuda Lay’ Guterres at the rally by the National Congress of Reconstruction of Timor (CNRT) party in the eastern town of Viqueque, on Sunday, he said. Later in the evening, gunmen also killed another CNRT activist identified as Domingus in Ossu, also in Viqueque district. Another man was wounded in the attack, Ramos-Horta said. ‘They were CNRT elements who were shot dead by members of the PNTL (the national police)’, Ramos-Horta told journalists at the presidential palace…
Continue reading Post-election violence erupts in East Timor

An interesting take on the situation in Lebanon —

China Hand, meanwhile, has posted this perceptive piece on his/her China Matters blog:

“The Hariri Tribunal and the Approaching Lebanese Train Wreck – China Abstains and Gets out of the Way” — “The Security Council, by a vote of 10-0-5 (five abstentions by China, Russia, Indonesia, Qatar, and South Africa), authorized the imposition of a tribunal to investigate, try, and sentence the murderers of Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and maybe some other Lebanese citizens possibly murdered by Syrian agents. Middle Eastern affairs are way out of my bailiwick, but this is nuts. Lebanese Prime Minister Siniora invited the United Nations in because he was unable to reach an agreement with pro-Syrian and Hizbollah forces inside Lebanon concerning the investigation. In the least generous interpretation, Siniora surrendered Lebanese sovereignty for the sake of advantage in a domestic political squabble. That’s not the kind of international action China likes. Theoretically, if Taiwan deadlocked between pro and anti-reunification forces, a pro-independence president could cite the Hariri precedent and ask the Security Council to help out. I imagine China abstained, instead of vetoing the tribunal resolution, in order to stay on the good, not-blowing-up people side of the debate and avoid an argument over a situation in which it has little leverage and few compelling interests.
Syria is a bridge too far for China: too distant, too isolated, too beyond sustained, effective Chinese assistance for China to risk its political and diplomatic capital in the Middle East with an overt demonstration of support for Syria against the concerted efforts by Europe and the United States to establish the tribunal.

But after the tribunal gets going, well that’s another matter…

Continue reading An interesting take on the situation in Lebanon —

Dreadful attacks continue on Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon

It should be remembered that in the failed Camp David Negotiations between the now-deceased Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and Israel’s then-Prime Minister Ehud Barak, hosted by U.S. President Bill Clinton in July 2000, the Palestinian delegation stated that the situation of the 425,000 Palestinian refugees in Lebanon was among the worst that existed — and he asked that a solution be found for these refugees — certainly, for those who are “undocumented”, and thus unable to work, to build, to travel — first.  The Israelis and the Americans agreed…

Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does — continued…

Fighting has broken out at a second of the 12 Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon — at Ain el-Hilwe in southern Lebanon. What? They have Islamic militants there, too?

The Fatah al-Islam forces fighting against a Lebanese Army onslaught in Nahr Al-Bared camp in the north have refused to surrender.

The current Palestinian Minister of Information in the present “National Unity” government, Dr. Marwan Barghouthi — who headed the Palestinian Red Crescent Society and ran twice for the office of President, once against Yasser Arafat and once against the current President, Mahmoud Abbas — told a journalist who asked about the situation in Nahr Al-Bared at a press conference in Ramallah today that “This is another indication of the suffering of the Palestinian people. When you don’t treat the underlying disease, the situation can become very serious”…
Continue reading Just when you think it can’t get any worse, it does — continued…

North Korea's money still not transferred – so no deal yet

The latest reports from the Koreas say that South Korea is refusing to send food aid to North Korea until it shuts down the nuclear reactor as promised. But, this is awaiting U.S. freeing of frozen North Korean funds.

AP reports that: “North Korea’s No. 2 leader, Kim Yong Nam, affirmed the North’s intentions to shut the reactor down, but only after a dispute over frozen assets is resolved. At issue is North Korea’s desire to reclaim funds from a Macau bank that was blacklisted by the U.S. in 2005. North Korea’s money was freed earlier this year, but the North has not withdrawn it, apparently seeking to receive it through a bank wire transfer to prove the funds are now clean. The U.S. had alleged the funds were tied to money laundering and counterfeiting. Kim Yong Nam said Washington has not explained the hold up in the transfer…

Read full news report here.