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Israeli attack on Syria

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unheimlich manoeuvre

16:27 / 25.10.03

*subtly irradiates Dizfactor*

Neo-Colonialism and “preventive” war in the Middle East

..."we believe the administration should demand that Iran and Syria immediately cease all military, financial and political support for Hezbollah and its operations. Should Iran and Syria refuse to comply; the administration should consider appropriate measures of retaliatory action against these known state sponsors of terrorism".

Israeli forces nab Palestinian in W.Bank hospital

16:40 / 26.10.03

War is looking more and more likely:

Syria Threatens to Attack Golan Settlers if Israel Strikes Again

Assad: Israel Tries to Create Disputes in the Region

17:50 / 26.10.03

The simmer is rising to a boil:

IDF Destroys Buildings in Gaza Town "With such attacks you are bringing about the destruction of the Palestinian moderate camp."

There are still Palestinian moderates? I though the period for moderation ended the day Rabin died.

09:40 / 31.10.03

Over half of Europeans believe that Israel and the US are the biggest threat to world peace:

http://www.euobserver.com/index.phtml?aid=13324&sid=9

What a surprise...NOT!

10:27 / 31.10.03

What a surprise...NOT!

Actually, it does come as rather a surprise to me. Is there a breakdown of the figures or more detail anywhere? I was under the impression that the majority of the public, here in the UK at least, were kept pretty ignorant of most of Israel and the US' extremeley dodgy activities, and that support, though damaged, remained pretty high for the "War on Terror" and everything that goes with it.

Or...

a) Am I just completely out of touch with popular media what's public opinion? (It must be said, the majority of my news comes from Barbelith...)
b) Does it reflect the rest of Europe, which as a whole has always been a little less ready to jump on the "anti-terror" bandwagon, much more than the UK?

15:43 / 31.10.03

I think that in the US at any rate, the popular opinion about the whole shebang has gotten extremely polarized. Certainly moreso now than just prior to the Iraqi invasion. It seems like many are willing to get into a screaming match (and then some) to defend their views, be they pro- or anti-US & Israel.

Where I live, this could simply be due to the fact that its a big college area with many outspoken individuals, but I think it goes beyond that. As far as I can recall, this is about the most polarized that I've ever seen people become, and folks I know who are a bit older attest to this as well, saying that they haven't seen people behave like this since the height of the Vietnam war.

Its just starting to feel very ugly. Late Weimar Republic ugly. Maybe that's an exaggeration, but I think people are looking for someone to scapegoat these days. I think it goes hand in hand with the rising economic disparity emerging as well, ie: more gentrification, more low-income folks being displaced by nouveau riche yuppie/bobo types, more homelessness, fewer jobs available, etc. Lots of political rallies of both far-right and far-left variety, people getting into loud arguments and occasionl fistfights over opposing political views, etc.

Upshot being: I do think that people are a lot more informed than they are given credit for. But it may be a sign of something deeper than mere political views.

17:54 / 07.11.03

Syria (and most other countries where people have video recorders available) know more about the Israeli missile capability now:

JERUSALEM (AP) - In a rare breach of military security, portions of a secret Israeli missile test could be seen on television across the Arab world after the company conducting the exercise apparently failed to encrypt its video transmission.

The broadcast from the supersecret control room conducting the test, including the range and performace of the missile and the discussion among top officers, was available to anyone with a satellite television dish for 48 hours.

State-owned Israel Aircraft Industries carried out the test Wednesday over the Mediterranean and intended to make an encrypted broadcast for an internal channel so the exercise could be monitored by officials on land.

Transmissions from the ocean test site were encrypted and not available for viewing. But a control room on land failed to encrypt the video at its end, said Alon Ben-David, a reporter for Channel 10, the station that discovered the security breach and broadcast a heavily censored version of the test.

``This was just like sending the test results to Damascus by fax,'' Ben David said, referring to the Syrian capital. ``The whole thing is terribly embarrassing for the Israeli defense establishment. It clearly should never have happened.''

21:34 / 12.01.04

I couldn't find a thread on the barrier itself, but this one seemed to be the most recent Israel related thread. It seems the wall construction has started in Jerusalem

The wall, running down the center of a main road in the Palestinian neighborhood of Abu Dis, separates thousands of residents from Jerusalem, a city they consider home. The towering new wall replaces a far shorter divider that had slowed, but not stopped, the flow of people and goods between the West Bank and Jerusalem in this area. But in Abu Dis, a suburb in the shadow of Jerusalem's Mount of Olives, the new wall strikes far deeper emotional chords.

During previous peace efforts, negotiators had proposed Abu Dis as the center of a compromise Palestinian capital that would have incorporated parts of east Jerusalem — the part of the city that Israel captured in 1967 and that Palestinians want as their future capital. The building slated to hold the future Palestinian parliament is in Abu Dis, as are many government offices. Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia lives there.

Many Abu Dis residents consider themselves Jerusalemites, carry the blue identification card of residents of Israel and pay Jerusalem city taxes. They go to Jerusalem for work and school, to shop and visit family, to collect marriage licenses and death certificates.

Where once they simply walked west over a street to enter Jerusalem, now they have to head east and loop around the Maaleh Adumim settlement, a trip that could take half an hour by car, and even more if they are stopped at checkpoints. Residents used to go to hospitals a few minutes away in Jerusalem for emergencies. Now the closest are in the West Bank town of Jericho, 15 miles away.

03:54 / 13.01.04

Regardless of how that money has been used, a link in and of itself could be the justification for military action

Doesn't the Iraq precedent effectively eliminate the need for substantial justification for military action? And Israel is beholden to no-one except the US.

On the Arab-Israeli conflict: the best guide to the situation I have read is Joe Sacco's comic Palestine. Although it's a few years old now, I don't think the issues have changed substantially...

I have heard the idea of a democratic secular state that incorporates all religions before, and it seems to me as well the best way forward. The only way forward? But probably the least likely solution, considering the way that Palestinians (or, for that matter, Israeli Arabs) are considered not only second class citizens, but in fact not citizens at all.

Also, my friend pointed out that just before the 2000 Israeli elections, Ariel Sharon was about to be implicated in some sort of financial fraud crime, something akin to insider trading and money laundering, and then it all just vanished from the Israeli media once Sharon staged his fall 2000 appearance on the Temple Mount.

I seriously doubt that Sharon, who was able to come into power despite being, as we all know, convicted in an Israeli military court of war crimes, would be shaken up in the slightest by allegations of fraud...

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