From Lebanon to Palestine/Israel to Harvard; Who are the "Militants/Terrorists?"

Well, today I'd like to run through the bunch of headlines and trends that have caught my eye this morning, with news from Lebanon, Palestine/Israel, to our very own tower of academic achievement, Harvard University. Why Harvard, do you ask? Well, it's where the renowned war-criminal Dan Halutz is hanging out, haven't you heard?

Here's the scoop from the student activist group in question, The Alliance for Justice in the Middle East;

WAR CRIMINAL HALUTZ ON THE LOOSE AT HARVARD!
Activists appeal to the community as to his whereabouts

Activists and community members will converge today at Harvard Business School (HBS) in search of notorious war criminal Dan Halutz [dossier], last spotted there attending an executive management course.

The search kicks off today at the Business School. If Halutz is still missing after two days of vigorous searching, activists will reconverge at Harvard Yard on Wednesday, May 16 to declare him a fugitive from justice.

A seasoned war criminal with a long record of human rights abuses in Lebanon, the West Bank and Gaza, Halutz is now rubbing elbows with top CEOs and business leaders at HBS in an exclusive two-month, $56,000 executive training program.

Halutz, former chief of staff of the Israeli military, is reportedly hiding out at the Business School, holed up in its luxury dormitory, McArthur Hall.

Halutz is by no means the first Israeli general/politican who is guilty of war crimes, as Yaalon, Mofaz, Sharon, and others have been dealing with the ever-growing reality that parts if the world will remain difficult for such Israelis to travel to without gathering such attention. Anyone remember the experience of Major General Doron Almog?

Israel general 'avoids UK arrest'

The warrant relates to the bulldozing of more than 50 houses

The former head of Israeli forces in the Gaza Strip has told how he dodged arrest on war crimes charges after receiving a tip-off at Heathrow.
Major General Doron Almog is accused of breaching international laws during Israel's occupation of the Gaza Strip.
He said he had flown straight home after the Israeli military attache had warned him not to leave his El Al jet.
Lawyers acting for the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said a UK court had issued a warrant for his arrest.
Solicitors Hickman and Rose said the 54-year-old had been due to be arrested on suspicion of committing a breach of the Fourth Geneva Convention 1949, which is a criminal offence in the UK under the Geneva Conventions Act 1957.

Now, is this unique to Israel? is this an example of me just posting random "Israel-bashing" information, etc etc?

Not at all, in fact this is simply keeping in line with American policy and practices when it comes to the client states in the US empire; we train them (see the School of the Americas), or just fund their country, like Israel for example, with billions in direct aid, military aid, and loan guarantees, thus welding the Israeli economy onto the US military-industrial complex, so that the links are of a higher order of magnitude. And then, when the sun sets on their blood-stained careers, or lets say they sell some shares on the stock market while slaughtering Lebanese civilians, they need to find a safe place for their retirement. But don't worry, like the Shah of Iran and so many other petty gunmen for US hegemony worldwide, we'll be there;

US lawmaker asks Bush to arrest anti-Castro bomb suspect
AFP
Published: Wednesday May 9, 2007

A US lawmaker on Wednesday called on President George W. Bush to detain anti-Castro militant Luis Posada Carriles, after a US judge freed the alleged airplane bomber.

"The world will conclude that this administration has a double standard when it comes to fighting terrorism unless President (George W.) Bush takes swift action to detain Posada," said House Democrat Bill Delahunt.

Venezuela and Cuba want to try Posada in the 1976 downing of a Cuban airliner, killing all 73 civilians aboard.

Rather than extradite Posada, a judge in El Paso, Texas dropped felony immigration charges and released him on Tuesday.

US authorities refuse to honor extradition requests from Cuba and Venezuela.

Delahunt's statement was in a letter to Bush and Attorney General Alberto Gonzales calling Posada "one of the Western Hemispheres most notorious killers."

Now onto Lebanon, where the headlinesare blaring news of fighting between the Lebanese government and militants of the group Fatah al-Islam in the Palestinian camp of Nahr al-Bared near the city of Tripoli. With CNN and others doing their best to tell us next to nothing of what is really going on, let's turn to a few other sources. First, As'ad AbuKhali, the Angry Arab, who is Lebanese and teaches at UC at Stanislaus & Berkeley;

First, some interesting information on this new group and its previous relations with the Sinora government;

"This "off the record"comment was reported earlier as being made by a Siniora "official", when the reality of the matter is that it was Siniora HIMSELF who said that his government "tolerated the presence of Esbat Al Ansar and Fath el Islam ..." just as he voiced his concern that they would be the "first line of defense" against the Shia'as, most notably Hezballah. FLC has learned from the "journalist" that Siniora was not too comfortable with his "comments" and asked to see and severely edit the transcripts of the story!" (thanks Fadi)

And as for the fighting, here's his take;

It is very clear. The Lebanese Army soldiers were defeated yesterday by the fighters of Fath-Al-Islam, so the Army is taking revenge on the civilian residents of the refugee camp of Nahr Al-Barid. It is most distressing that none of the Lebanese politicians or parties--not to mention the civic associations, with the exception of Usamah Sa`d (MP from Sidon), has spoken on behalf of the Palestinian refugees. NBN-TV (owned by Nabih Birri) has been running non-stop salutations to the Lebanese Army (as if it lifted a finger when it should have--when Israel invaded Lebanon). Hizbullah media (on the internet) is also barely saying a word about the suffering inside the camps. Al-Arabiya TV is now reporting that shooting started while the Red Cross team was supposed to be visiting the camp. I saw the PLO ambassador in Lebanon, `Abbas Zaki (an Abu Mazen's protege), and he was also busy sending salutations to the Lebanese Army. This is the PLO ambassador, mind you... this PLO ambassador who is now run by the Hariri family. Former Minister, Sulyaman Franjiyyah, told NBN TV that some of the people who were fighting with Fath-Al-Islam yesterday had been previously arrested by the Lebanese government but were subsequently released due to intercessions from Hariri family. And the "spiritual guide" of Fath-Al-Islam is a fanatic cleric who resides--you guessed it--in Saudi Arabia.

And last but not least, here's some information about Lebanon and the Phalangist militas that we hear little about (as compares to the chorus of dennuciation and disgust in reference to Hizboallah);

Watching the news from Lebanon, you can't help but think. What do you say about a nation that celebrates its nationalism by taking its rage out on the weakest and most defenseless in society? But then again you realize that a major figure in Lebanese nationalism, Pierre Gemayyel, derived his inspiration from Nazi Germany while attending the Olympic Games in Berlin in 1936. He is now celebrated as one of the "founding fathers" of Lebanon. His son (and successor in the leadership of the Phalanges Party) was only recently visiting with Mr. Bush in the White House.

It makes my head hurt when I think of these things; Israel allies with Gemayyel, not once, but over generations & multiple heads of state an defense ministers, a man whose family and it's related militas openly pattered themselves after Hitler, but no, it's Carter or Finkelstein, or go knows whom else that is a holocaust-denying antisemite that is our to destroy Israel and drive us all into the sea; and don't even get me started on the ties between Zionists in the 30's and 40's and the Nazis. It's just mind-boggling.

Here's Juan Cole's rundown, from veteran reporter Nicholas Blanford as to what is happening in Lebanon.

1. Fath al-Islam is a splinter guerrilla group established last December that has links to the international Salafi Jihadi movement (which some call "al-Qaeda" as shorthand). Its leader has ties to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. It is tiny, with at most 300 fighters, and not all of them may be Palestinian. It is opposed by all the major Palestinian political groups, including Hamas and the PLO.

2. The group, which robbed a bank and functions as a small local Mafia, has used the Nahr al-Bared Palestinian refugee camp (pop. 30,000) in north Lebanon as a base. There are thousands of Palestinian refugees in the camp, displaced there from their homes in Galilee by Zionist forces in 1948. Once Israel was formed, these refugees from the fighting were locked out of their former home by Israeli PM David Ben Gurion. Because Lebanon has a Christian political elite, Beirut did not give the Palestinians citizenship, since they are 85% Sunni and it would have upset the demographic balance of the country. Also, the Palestinians of Lebanon generally insist that they will some day go home to Palestine (Israel) and fiercely reject "tawtin" or naturalization as "Lebanese." Their stateless condition has left the Palestinian population of Lebanon poverty-stricken and barred from certain occupations, including medicine! If you think about it a little bit, you see the analogy between their condition and that of 19th century Jews in some parts of Europe, confined to ghettoes and forbidden from certain occupations.

Until there is a comprehensive settlement of the Palestinian refugee problem, this sort of trouble will go on in the Middle East. And all that time, the Zionist Right will blame the Palestinians for being dispossessed.

And last but not least, to shed more light on what is hapening in Lebanon, here's an article by Sy Hersh that the MSM has pretty much forgotten, or is trying to forget at least, which puts the current violence and the Bush admninistration's plans in some perspective;

The Redirection
Is the Administration’s new policy benefitting our enemies in the war on terrorism?
by Seymour M. Hersh March 5, 2007

Efforts to curb Iran’s influence have involved the United States in worsening Sunni-Shiite tensions.

Efforts to curb Iran’s influence have involved the United States in worsening Sunni-Shiite tensions.

A STRATEGIC SHIFT

In the past few months, as the situation in Iraq has deteriorated, the Bush Administration, in both its public diplomacy and its covert operations, has significantly shifted its Middle East strategy. The “redirection,” as some inside the White House have called the new strategy, has brought the United States closer to an open confrontation with Iran and, in parts of the region, propelled it into a widening sectarian conflict between Shiite and Sunni Muslims.

To undermine Iran, which is predominantly Shiite, the Bush Administration has decided, in effect, to reconfigure its priorities in the Middle East. In Lebanon, the Administration has coöperated with Saudi Arabia’s government, which is Sunni, in clandestine operations that are intended to weaken Hezbollah, the Shiite organization that is backed by Iran. The U.S. has also taken part in clandestine operations aimed at Iran and its ally Syria. A by-product of these activities has been the bolstering of Sunni extremist groups that espouse a militant vision of Islam and are hostile to America and sympathetic to Al Qaeda.

One contradictory aspect of the new strategy is that, in Iraq, most of the insurgent violence directed at the American military has come from Sunni forces, and not from Shiites. But, from the Administration’s perspective, the most profound—and unintended—strategic consequence of the Iraq war is the empowerment of Iran. Its President, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, has made defiant pronouncements about the destruction of Israel and his country’s right to pursue its nuclear program, and last week its supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said on state television that “realities in the region show that the arrogant front, headed by the U.S. and its allies, will be the principal loser in the region.”

Let's just let that sit back and simmer for now, and I'll end on two more news reports. The first is of an airstrike by Israel in Gaza, one of the many, as it seems this summer's Gaza bloodbath/offensive is getting into full gear;

8 killed in air force strike on home of Hamas MP
By Avi Issacharoff and Amos Harel

The Israel Air Force last night bombed the house of Hamas parliamentarian Halil al-Haya in Gaza. He was slightly injured in the attack, but eight others - including seven members of his family - were killed, and 13 people were wounded.

In total, 12 Palestinians were killed in Gaza yesterday by the Israel Defense Forces, and more than 15 rockets were launched from Gaza at Sderot and the western Negev.

The security cabinet yesterday authorized the IDF to intensify air attacks on the Gaza Strip and targeted assassinations of senior Hamas activists. Government sources in Jerusalem said the cabinet decision called for assassinations of leaders of the military wing of Hamas, not the political wing. The sources said al-Haya's name had not been mentioned in the meeting.

It is amazing how "objective journalism" can just run through such horrifying acts of brutality and clear war crimes; and notice, there is no belated explanation of it being an accident or a mistake. The IOF is being quite clear, that if you dare resist by any violent means, we will kill you, you family, and anyone else we choose, whether or not you are involved in hostilities or not (and as joeskillet's latest diary shows, if you use non-violent means, we will use violence). I strongly oppose the firing of Qassams, as they are a form of violent resistance that is also illegally targeting civilians (although to much lesser degree than the IOF by any stretch if the imagination) but one must realize that greater and more brutal force by the IOF will not stop them, it wil only spur on more attacks and a greater desire for revenge on the part of the imprisoned, malnourished & traumatized Palestinians of the Gaza Strip. What is needed, overall, is a political solution, one that achieves peace through real justice for Palestinians; however such a peace would require Jewish Israelis to relinquish power and privilege in Palestine/Israel, a move I don't see them ready for anytime soon.

But will the IOF listen, now or in the future, and allow the "democratic" government to be.. well, a democratic government?

A kind of military coup
By Haaretz Editorial

Does Israel still uphold that proper state of affairs in which the elected government sets policy and civil servants carry it out? According to an article published in Haaretz yesterday ("The spirit of the commander prevails" by Meron Rapoport), it seems that with regard to the army, the answer is negative. While ministers speak about a two-state solution, a kind of military coup is taking place in the West Bank, in which the Israel Defense Forces are turning the area into the state of the settlers. While the Palestinian population is being suffocated, the settlements are flourishing.

It does not make much difference whether the Defense Ministry is headed by a civilian minister, because the army has its own agenda, and its subordination to the government is often simulated. For years, Israel was proud of the democratic miracle of an obedient army that did not accumulate too much power and served the elected government loyally, even though the country was engaged in a continual existential war. During the last war, however, cracks appeared in this faith, when it turned out that the cabinet had been dragged into approving military plans that were never even submitted to it. And even worse things happen every day in the occupied territories. Haggai Alon, an adviser to the defense minister who is responsible for the fabric of life in the West Bank, says that the army disregards the government's diplomatic agenda and essentially serves as the settlers' army. Or at least, that is how it was throughout Dan Halutz's tenure as chief of staff.

And Israeli citizens, you who may try and end this violence legally through the "democratic process" in Israel, may have some difficulties in doing so;

Shin Bet: Wiretaps can be used to guard state's Jewish nature
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent

The Shin Bet considers itself authorized to use surveillance techniques that violate privacy, such as wiretaps, when activity that "sabotages the state's Jewish character" is carried out, even if this activity is not illegal.

The security service made this assertion in a letter sent yesterday by its head, Yuval Diskin, to the Association for Civil Rights in Israel and Adalah, the Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel.

The Shin Bet, said the letter, plays "an essential role" in Israeli life, "and for this purpose, it has been given broad powers and authorities." Specifically, it said, the organization is responsible both for national security and for preserving Israel's fundamental values as a "Jewish and democratic" state, and therefore, its job is to protect "the democratic system of government and its institutions from subversive threats."

"Subversive," Diskin acknowledged, "is a vague term. The service's view is that 'subversion' could include seeking to change the state's basic values by abolishing its democratic character or its Jewish character."

So I ask you, from Lebanon to Palestine/Israel, to Harvard, who are the terrorists/militants?