Bandar ibn Israel

By Sharmine Narwani

The recent acts of political violence in the Middle East’s Levant are not unrelated.

Car bombings in the predominantly Shia southern Beirut suburb of Dahiyeh; twin bombings targeting Sunni mosques in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli; an alleged chemical weapons attack in the suburbs of Damascus blamed on the Syrian government; a secret IDF operation across the Lebanese border foiled by Hezbollah; rockets lobbed by an Al Qaeda-related group into Israel; an IDF airstrike on a pro-Damascus Palestinian resistance group base in Lebanon…

From one perspective, the common thread is the crisis in Syria, where a 29-month conflict has cemented divisions in the rest of the region and set the stage for an existential fight on multiple battlefields between two highly competitive Mideast blocs.

From another perspective, the common thread drawing these disparate crimes scenes together is the “culprit” – one who has strong political interest, material capabilities and the sense of urgency to commit rash and violent actions on many different fronts.

In isolation, none of these acts are capable of producing a “result.” But combined, they are able to instill fear in populations, stir governments into action, and in the short term, to create the perception of a shift in regional “balances.”

And no parties in the Mideast are more vested right now in urgently “correcting” the regional balance of power than the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and the state of Israel – both nations increasingly frustrated by the inaction of their western allies and the incremental gains of their regional rivals Iran, Syria, Hezbollah and now Iraq.

Worse yet, with every passing month the “noose of multilateralism” tightens, as rising powers Russia, China and others offer protective international cover for those foes. Israel and Saudi Arabia are keenly aware that the age of American hegemony is fast declining, and with it, their own regional primacy.


Common foes, common goals

At the helm of efforts to “correct” the imbalance is Prince Bandar bin Sultan bin Abdul Aziz al-Saud, the US’s longtime go-to man in Riyadh – whose 22-year reign as Saudi Arabia’s ambassador to Washington provided him with excellent contacts throughout the Israeli political and military establishments.

Like Israel, Bandar has long been a vocal advocate of curtailing the regional influences of Iran and Syria and forging a neocon-style “New Middle East” – sometimes to his detriment.

When he all but disappeared from public view in 2008, one of the reasons cited for Bandar’s “banishment” from the royal circle of influence was that he had “meddled in Syrian affairs, trying to stir up the tribes against the Assad regime, without the king’s approval.”

The frustrated Bandar, who at the time officially headed Saudi’s National Security Council, was also notably absent when Saudi King Abdullah paid a highly visible visit to the Syrian president in late 2009 to renew relations after four years of bitter tensions.

All that changed with the Arab uprisings in early 2011. Regime-change in Syria – according to an acquaintance who visited various prominent Saudi ministers (all key royals) in 2012 – suddenly become a national priority for the al-Saud family. According to this shocked source, the Saudis had come to believe that if the battle for control over Syria “is lost,” the kingdom would lose its Shia-dominated Eastern Province where its vast oil reserves are concentrated.

That year marked Bandar’s return to influence in the kingdom, and within short order he was promoted to head the powerful Saudi Intelligence Agency, known for its myriad links into the underworld of global jihadis.

But the kingdom’s once-reliable western powerhouse ally, the United States, appeared to be withdrawing from the region. Highly sensitive to the fall-out over its aggressive interventions in Afghanistan and Iraq, Washington was shying away from the kind of overt leadership that the Saudis desperately needed to re-establish their equilibrium in the region.

Which is where Bandar comes into the picture. The former ambassador to Washington has the kind of relationships that go deep – no Saudi knows how to twist American arms better than he. But to push western allies in the desired direction, the Saudis were in need of an influential and opportunistic ally that was also passionately fixated on the same set of adversaries. That partner would be Israel.

Says a 2007 Wikileaks cable from the US embassy in Riyadh:

“We have also picked up first hand accounts of intra-family tension over policy towards Israel. Some princes, most notably National Security Advisor Bandar Bin Sultan bin Abdulaziz, are reportedly pushing for more contact with Israel. Bandar now sees Iran as a greater threat than Israel.”

Bandar’s ascendancy to his current position suggests more than ever that the Saudis, at least for now, have put aside their reservations over dealing with Israel. And Iran’s election of a moderate new President Hassan Rouhani has brought urgency to the Saudi-Israeli relationship – both fearing the possibility of a US-Iranian grand bargain that could sink their fortunes further.

Putting wheels into motion

For Riyadh and Tel Aviv, Syria is the frontline battle from which they seek to cripple the Iranians in the region. None have been as ferocious in lobbying Washington on the issue of Syrian “chemical weapons use” and “red lines” as this duo – perhaps even setting up false flag operations to force its hand. Since last Winter, says the Wall Street Journal:

“the Saudis also started trying to convince Western governments that Mr. Assad had crossed what President Barack Obama a year ago called a “red line”: the use of chemical weapons. Arab diplomats say Saudi agents flew an injured Syrian to Britain, where tests showed sarin gas exposure. Prince Bandar’s spy service, which concluded in February that Mr. Assad was using chemical weapons, relayed evidence to the US, which reached a similar conclusion four months later.”

The following Spring, it was Israel’s turn. In an article entitled “Did Israel Ambush the United States on Syria,” Alon Ben David says:

“By stating that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad had used chemical weapons, Brig. Gen. Itai Brun, the director of Israel’s Military Intelligence Research Department, cornered the Americans. Washington finally — and very tentatively — admitted that such weapons had been used. If Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu planned to ambush the Americans, it was a phenomenal success. From an Israeli standpoint, this was a chance to test America’s supposed “red line.”

The Russians, however, have stood in the way of every effort to draw the US into intervening directly in Syria. In the past year, the Saudis and Israelis have tag-teamed Moscow, by turns cajoling, threatening and dangling incentives to shift the Russians from their immovable position.

Just last month, Bandar beat a path to Moscow to test Russian President Vladimir Putin’s appetite for compromise. According to leading Lebanese daily As-Safir, a private diplomatic report on the Saudi prince’s visit claims that Bandar employed a “carrot-and-stick” approach to wrest concessions from Putin on Syria and Iran.

In what has to be the most delusional statement I’ve heard in a while, Bandar allegedly told the Russian president: “There are many common values and goals that bring us together, most notably the fight against terrorism and extremism all over the world.” He continued with a threat:

“I can give you a guarantee to protect the Winter Olympics in the city of Sochi on the Black Sea next year. The Chechen groups that threaten the security of the games are controlled by us, and they will not move in the Syrian territory’s direction without coordinating with us. These groups do not scare us. We use them in the face of the Syrian regime but they will have no role or influence in Syria’s political future.”

According to the report, Putin responded to Bandar thus: “We know that you have supported the Chechen terrorist groups for a decade. And that support, which you have frankly talked about just now, is completely incompatible with the common objectives of fighting global terrorism that you mentioned. We are interested in developing friendly relations according to clear and strong principles.”

Bandar ibn Israel: a terror Frankentein

Chechen jihadis have, of course, turned up in Syria to fight alongside their brethren from dozens of other countries against the government of Syrian President Bashar al-Assad in the past two years.

The Saudi links go beyond jihadis though. Seventeen months ago in Homs – and barely a month after the battle over Baba Amr – 24 Syrian rebels groups sent an email to the externally-based Syrian National Council, complaining about the rogue behavior of the Saudi-funded Al Farouq Battalion. This is the group to which the infamous lung-eating Syrian rebel once belonged.

Alleging that Al Farouq was responsible for killing at least five rebels and fomenting violence against civilians and other fighters, the group wrote:

“The basis of the crisis in the city today is groups receiving uneven amounts of money from direct sources in Saudi Arabia some of whom are urging the targeting of loyalist neighborhoods and sectarian escalation while others are inciting against the SNC.
They are not national, unifying sources of support. On the contrary, mature field leaders have noted that receiving aid from them [Saudi Arabia] entails implicit conditions like working in ways other than the desired direction.”

In a reprisal of his role in Afghanistan where he helped the CIA arm the Mujahedeen – who later came to form the backbone of the Taliban and Al Qaeda – Bandar is now throwing funding, weapons and training at the very same kinds of Islamist militants who are establishing an extreme version of Sharia law in territories they hold inside Syria.
Says an analyst at a Beirut-based think tank:

“These fighters, many of whom are ideologically aligned with Al Qaeda, are much more pragmatic today. They are ready to take funding, facilities and arms from the Saudis (who previously they targeted). There is no concept of a main enemy – it could be the US, Russians, Iranians, Saudis, Muslim Brotherhood. Their only priority is to use the new situation of instability in the region to form a core territorial base. They now think in Syria they have a real opportunity to regenerate Al Qaeda that they didn’t have since their defeat in Iraq. In the Sinai too. Through a central Syrian base they are ready to converge with other regional actors from which they will move into Lebanon, Iraq and other places.”

“Some of them know Bandar for a long time,” says the analyst. “There have always been Saudi intelligence officers dedicated to oversee jihadist groups in Afghanistan, Bosnia, Kashmir, Chechnya.”

Though the Saudis tell Washington that their goal is to keep extremists out of power in Syria, elements in the US administration remain uncomfortable about where this could end. Says the Wall Street Journal, quoting a former official concerned about weapons flowing into jihadi hands: “This has the potential to go badly” – an understatement, if ever there was one.

Using Lebanon as a lever

Whereas western powers have sought to maintain stability on the Lebanese front, the Saudis – who lost influence in the Levantine state when Hezbollah and its allies forced the dissolution of a Riyadh-backed government in early 2011 – are not as inclined to keep the peace.

Paramount for Bandar’s Syria plans is halting the battlefield assistance Hezbollah has provided for the Syrian army in key border towns which had become supply routes for rebels.

To punish Hezbollah and weaken its regional allies, the Saudis have used their own alliances in Lebanon to hammer daily at the Shia resistance group’s role in Syria. One easy route is to sow sectarian tensions in multi-sect Lebanon – a tactic at which the conservative Wahhabi Saudis excel.
Pitting Sunni against Shia through a series of well-planned acts of political violence is child’s play for Saudis who have decades of expertise overseeing such acts – just look at the escalation of sectarian bombings in Iraq today as example.

This does not necessarily mean that Riyadh is involved in planning these operations though.

Says the Beirut analyst: “The escalation may be Saudi-run, but not necessarily the deed itself. (When they back these Islamist extremists in Lebanon), they know the software of these people. They know they will attack Shia and moderate Sunni, use rockets, car bombs, etc. They empower these groups being conscious of the consequences. These guys are predictable. And the Saudis also have some trusted men among these groups who will act in a way that will conform to Saudi interests and projects.”

The diplomatic report on the Bandar’s Moscow visit concludes: “It is not unlikely that things [will] take a dramatic turn in Lebanon, in both the political and security senses, in light of the major Saudi decision to respond to Hezbollah’s involvement in the Syrian crisis.”

Two bombings: one, targeting a Shia neighborhood, the second aimed at Sunni residents. On another front, the IDF launches a secret mission across the Lebanese border, swiftly thwarted by a Hezbollah counterattack. Soon after, an Al Qaeda linked group called the Abdullah Azzam Brigades (AAB), which last year acknowledged its fight against the Syrian state, launches four rockets into Israeli territory. Israel does not retaliate against this Salafist militia though. The IDF choses instead to strike at the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), a group that supports the Resistance in Lebanon and Syria.

It appears that Israel, like the Saudis, has a message to relay to Lebanon: Hezbollah should stay out of Syria or Lebanon will bear the consequences.

The escalation of violence in the region – from Lebanon to Iraq – is today very much a Bandar-Israel project. And the sudden escalation of military threats by Washington against the Assad government is undoubtedly a result of pressures and rewards dangled by this duo.

While Putin may have told Bandar to take a hike when the he offered to purchase $15 billion in weapons in exchange for a compromise on Syria and Iran, the British and French are beggars for this kind of business. Washington too. With $65 billion in arms sales to the kingdom in process, the Obama administration is prostituting Americans for cold, hard cash.

Let there be no mistake. Bandar ibn Israel is going for gold and will burn the Middle East to get there.

This article was first published by Al Akhbar English on August 28, 2013.

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Nasrallah calls for regional support of Gaza

An image grab from Al-Manar television channel shows Hezbollah General Secretary Hassan Nasrallah delivering a speech on 12 November 2012.

Related by Huzaifah (R.A.) the Prophet said "Whoever does not take an interest in the affairs and problems of the Muslims, he is not of them. And whoever's state is such that, each morning and evening, he is not loyal and earnest to Allah, his Apostle, His Book, the Islamic ruler and towards the Muslims, as a whole, he is not of them."

Hezbollah Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah Thursday called on all Arab and Muslim countries to use all means possible to stop Israel’s vicious assault on the Gaza Strip, including raising oil prices.

Nasrallah urged Arab nations to suspend relations with Israel and the US, saying the only solution is for the world to pressure the United States, which will press Israel to end its blockade on Gaza.

He advocated the use of financial levers such as limiting oil production to push the West into stripping Israel of economic and political support.

"Some say the Arabs don't have the courage to stop oil production," he said.

"Decrease your oil exports … you will shake the United States, you will shake Europe ...Put on some pressure. No one is calling for armies or tanks or planes."

The Hezbollah leader also hailed the firing of long-range rockets from Gaza into Israel as a “very significant development” for the Palestinian struggle.

"The firing of Fajr 5 rockets on Tel Aviv today shows the maturation, the wisdom and strength, and the courage of the Palestinian resistance in the Gaza Strip," Nasrallah said. He added that Israel had not expected retaliatory fire on Tel Aviv, the Jewish state’s economic center.

He reaffirmed solidarity with the Palestinian struggle, saying "we in Lebanon are concerned about events in Gaza, because this is not only the battle of Gaza but of all of us."

Source

Hezbollah confirms sending drone into Israeli airspace

Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah (file photo)

Hezbollah Secretary-General Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah confirms the Lebanese resistance movement has sent a drone deep into the Israeli airspace evading radar systems.


The operation code-named Hussein Ayub saw Hezbollah’s drone fly hundreds of kilometers into the Israeli airspace and getting very close to Dimona nuclear plant without being detected by advanced Israeli and US radars, Nasrallah said during a televised speech late on Thursday.

"This is only part of our capabilities," he stressed, adding that Israelis have admitted to their security failure despite being provided with the latest technologies by Western powers.

Hezbollah secretary-general stated that Hezbollah’s drones are made in Iran but assembled by the resistance movement.

Hezbollah plans to send more drones over Israel in the future, he added, adding that the operation shows the resistance movement is ready to defend Lebanon.

The resistance leader further dismissed Western accusations of Hezbollah's intervention in the Syrian unrest, describing the allegation as "sheer lie."

"Hezbollah has not fought alongside Syrian forces.... It is not true that Hezbollah is going to take some land from Syria," Nasrallah stated.

Hezbollah's leader also rejected allegations that Abu Abbas was the movement's commander in Syria, and condemned insurgents in Syria for threatening Lebanon.

"Threatening Hezbollah is of no use," he emphasized.


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A War Israel is Just Begging for an Excuse to Start

By Gilad Atzmon

 

Just hours after the attack on Israeli tourists in Bulgaria, Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu and his Defence Minister Ehud Barak were quick to announce that Iran and the Hezbollah were behind the attack. In fact, it didn’t take the Israeli PM more than two hours to blame another country for committing an act of war on Israeli citizens in a third country’s territory. Of course, Netanyahu didn’t provide any evidence to support his thesis. In fact, even today, three days after the attack, no clear leads suggesting any Iranian or Hezbollah's connection are available.

What was it then that made Netanyahu so determined? Is it because he himself was privy to the knowledge that Israeli agents have been murdering Iranian scientists for years? Did Netanyahu react the way he did because he thought to himself that considering Mossad’s assassinations in Tehran, Israel may well have brought on itself an Iranian retaliation? Was Bibi projecting?

I obviously do not have access to Netanyahu or Barak’s minds, but Israel has certainly by now made it clear that its desperation to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, even if such an attack would escalate into a global nuclear conflict. In order to grasp such morbidity we have to bear in mind that collective self-annihilation is inherent to Israeli culture. As it happens, the story of Masada and Samson, both heroic suicidal narratives, are cherished in Israel. Yet, as much as Netanyahu and Barak are keen to launch a world war, it is far from being clear whether the Israeli masses are quite as keen to sacrifice themselves on the Jewish national altar.

I guess that both Barak and Netanyahu’s rush to blame Iran must be seen as an indication of their clear eagerness to attack the country. By now, the two Israeli leaders have managed to rid themselves of any significant voices against such an attack. The former head of Mossad Meir Dagan and IDF Chief of Staff Gabi Askenazi, both of whom opposed military action against Iran, are now excluded from any decision-making process. Veteran Major-General Shaul Mofaz, the leader of the Kadima party, who also opposed an attack on Iran, left Netanyahu’s coalition last week. It seems as if no one within the Israeli cabinet is there to stop Barak and Netanyahu’s genocidal enthusiasms.

Furthermore, from an Israeli military perspective the current chaos in Syria is interpreted as a ‘window of opportunity’. Israeli generals assume that Assad’s regime, fighting for its survival, would refrain from joining any attack on Iran. Also Israelis believe that without Syria’s backing, Hezbollah also would stay out of it. In Israeli military terms, this means that the north of Israel is in no imminent danger of Hezbollah’s medium and short range missiles - at least for the time being.

The Israelis are, as usual, deluded. For some peculiar reason, they fail to grasp the possible devastating consequences of such a conflict. Barak, for instance, commented ‘optimistically’ last week that a clash with Iran may ‘cost the lives of up to 500 Israelis.’ First, it is interesting to learn about the ease in which an Israeli Defence Minister is happy to sacrifice 500 of his people. Second, it is far from being clear on what Barak’s estimate is based. Considering the common assumptions that Iran would retaliate immediately launching a first wave of more than 1500 missiles in the direction of Tel Aviv, Barak must believe that each Iranian rocket is capable of destroying no more than one third of an Israeli. Barak is indeed an optimist.

It is also far from being clear whether Israel possesses the military capacity to hit Iran and imperil its nuclear project. Earlier this year, American analysts suggested that the Israeli Air Force doesn’t posses the necessary might to attack Iran. For example, it lacks the airborne re-fuelling capacity needed to dismantle the Iranian nuclear project. It is also far from being clear whether Israel would attack Iran without an American green light and it is widely accepted that it is more than unlikely that Obama would provide such an approval ahead of the American election.

I guess the meaning of it all is pretty simple: whether Israel attacks Iran is obviously an open question. However, we have a clear indication that the Israeli leadership is more than keen to do so. Barak and Netanyahu are begging for a pretext to launch a global conflict. The meaning of it is totally is clear - the Jewish state and its pro-war lobbies are the ultimate threat to world peace. This threat must be taken care of immediately.


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Israel: ‘Hamas as strong as Hizbullah!’

The Zionist regime is so paranoid that it cannot differentiate between its Islamist enemies. For it all of them are equipped with WMDs and they all want to ‘wipe the Zionist regime of map’. Jewish army has always depended on western military and financial support to win wars against its Arab neighbors. However, there is one exception to that rule. The Jewish army failed to defeat Lebanese Hizbullah - both in 2000 and 2006. As a result, Jewish army is affraid to fight its only non-Arab Islamist foe, Islamic Republic of Iran. Israel’s deputy prime minister, Gen. Saul Mofaz, admitted last month that Israel would rather let the US fight Iran on its behalf.

Palestinian Islamic Resistance, Hamas, which has roots in Egyptian Muslim Brotherhood, has ruled Gaza Strip since 2006 and have been under Israeli blockade since day one. Hamas has successfully withstood several of Israeli genocidal attacks – but has never defeated Jewish army as Hizbullah did, not once but twice. However, with the possibility of Muslim Brotherhood’s Dr. Morsi being elected the new president of Egypt – will certainly bolster Hamas position.

 Keeping this in view, on Wednesday, Yoram Cohen, head of Israel Security Agency ( Shin Bet) informed Knesset’s committee on foreign affairs and defence that Hamas has an armed force to rival that of Israel’s Lebanese foe, Hizbullah.

“Hamas has military capabilities almost of a state. Some of its military capabilities are even better than Hezbollah’s,” he said.

Now, how can one educate Cohen that to qualify ‘state army’ – both Hamas and Hizbullah need at least a conventional airforce, army with tanks and helicopters – and a few old-fashion naval vessels – none of which they have. What Hamas and Hizbullah fighters have and the Jewish army don’t – is the moral courage.

Israel daily The Jerusalem Post reported on May 30, that Yoram Cohen told Knesset committee: “Iran is the central actor behind the world-wide terrorist attacks against Jews and Israel – most of which are not publicized“. He also claimed that Shin Bet, Mossad and IDF had been successful in gleaning enough intelligence about the terror plots and infrastructure to stymie their operations.

Shin Bet chief claimed that Iranian agents have also entered the Gaza Strip, imparting military knowledge to Hamas and Islamic Jihad groups. Cohen refereed to Gaza as a “giant arms warehouse,” with Hamas possessing some 8,000 rockets with a range of four to forty kilometers.

Interestingly, in January 2011 – Shin Bet’s retiring chief, Gen. Yuval Diskin, along with three other generals had warned defense minister Ehud Barak that an Israeli attack on Iran would be suicidal.

 Source

Resistance And Liberation Day: Fleeing With Israel

An unidentified fighter scouts the surrounding area at the southern Lebanese border. (Photo: Hassan Bahsoun)

By: Amal Khalil

With the expulsion of Israeli troops from South Lebanon in May 2000, hundreds of Lebanese collaborators and their families fled with the occupiers. Many have since returned and faced reduced prison sentences, others remain behind the wall that Israel is erecting to block the view of a land where it once roamed.

A sad tune emanated from a car parked on the main road of Ain Ebel in Lebanon’s deep South.

“Lebanon is a tear in my eye. For children whose laughs have faded. For men whose cries have diminished. Through martyrdom they paid the price for you. To become a home for freedom. Approaching, I carry a candle. For eyes longing to be free...In a land protected by soldiers. Our soldiers, O Lebanese,” a woman’s voice sings.

At first, one might think the song was new, recorded in solidarity with the Lebanese army after the latest clashes in Beirut and North Lebanon. That thought is reinforced after seeing a large portrait of Lieutenant Colonel Ibrahim Salloum Rifaat, a resident of the village.

The poster had been hanging in the church’s courtyard since his death five years ago in the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp war along with a number of portraits of General Francois al-Hajj, the former Lebanese army operations chief who was assassinated in 2007.

But it did not take long to discover that the song is part of a campaign around the “Day in Solidarity with the Lebanese Forcibly Deported to Israel,” scheduled to be held on June 2. This year, the slogan “Lebanon Is a Tear in My Eyes” commemorates 12 years of “displacement.”

It did not take long to discover that the song is part of a campaign around the “Day in Solidarity with the Lebanese Forcibly Deported to Israel.” 

 

The townsfolk are organizing a Mass and gathering in the pine forest, where the families of the deported will be speaking. Also on the occasion, Ain Ebel will light candles and ring its church bells, along with 12 other towns, to salute the families “exiled” to Israel.

Presiding over Mass will be Cardinal Boulos Sayyah who is expected to be appointed by the Maronite Patriarch Bishara Rai as General Patriarchal Deputy in a few days.

The event is the first of its kind and comes a few months after parliament passed a law regulating the affairs of those who fled to Israel. However, the town residents aren’t too eager to talk about the upcoming event.

Many are very cautious and prefer to remain silent. They defer to the priests. “We delegated them to speak in our name and follow up on our cause,” they say.

In this framework, Patriarch Rai held a congregational visit to the nearby village of Alma al-Shaab a few months ago. It was an opportunity for the families to discuss the issue of the approximately 100 men – many with their families – who fled during the liberation of the South in 2000 and remain in Israel.

Today, the village remembers the occasion, praying for its son Nassif al-Haddad who returned home a corpse through the Ras Naqoura crossing. He was not the first to return in a coffin. His relatives pray he will be the last.

On the other hand, some women and children have been returning, leaving behind husbands, brothers, fathers, and mothers. Two sisters returned before the July 2006 Israeli assault.

“They barely made it,” says a relative, pointing to the “repercussions of that war and the discovery of networks of collaborators. It impacted negatively the Lebanese in Israel and sustained the animosity towards them back home.”

One of the sisters tried to break the isolation from her surroundings imposed by her “profile” and enrolled in an academy in Sour to continue her studies.

She reintegrated in her original home as a young woman living in multireligious and multicultural environment after spending 6 years growing up in hostile surroundings.

She does not tell the new friends she made that she is “the daughter of a collaborator and that her family is still in the occupied land.”

While this young woman was able to settle in her home environment, many who return “do not have the courage” to do so.

Last March, four women returned. One was from Adaisseh and three from Jezzine. They went directly to Beirut to stay with relatives and did not even pass by their villages.

Before that, a woman from al-Bayyada returned after four years and joined her family who live between Sour and Beirut.

On the Adaisseh–Kfar Kila road, along the separation wall being built by Israel, people get tongue-tied when asked whether they will participate in the solidarity day called by Ain Ebel.

Collaboration with Israel, before and after liberation, transcends sects and towns. Fifteen of Adaisseh’s residents are still on the other side of the border. Ten of them had fled following the July 2006 war. Kfar Kila has ten also, and from the southern district of Marjayoun, there are more than a hundred.

"Only a few will dare participate, even from the Christian villages. Even if many of them remain nostalgic for the time of occupation."

 

Villages in the districts of Sour and Bint Jbeil, such as Naqoura, Rmeish, Dibil, Aytaroun, on the borders with Israel, also have their share.

An old man sits across from a sculpture unveiled recently to commemorate the martyrs of the battle between the Lebanese Army and Israeli occupation forces in Adaisseh. He sighs and takes his time elaborating that a “lifetime of resistance and collaboration will not be erased in 12 years.”

His neighbor ponders the issue for a while. “Only a few will dare participate, even from the Christian villages. Even if many of them remain nostalgic for the time of occupation due to the state of bliss they lived in compared to the era after liberation.”

At a local cafe popular with residents, visitors, the army, and international peacekeepers alike, a local resident points at the owner of the cafe and says, “He is a former collaborator and comes from a family rooted in the field.”

When asked about the manner in which he is treated by people here, he replies that “people forget and forgive as they wish.”

Referring to some wealthy individuals and members of parties and security forces, he says, “people blocked out their past and opened a new page for them. They integrated them in the country following liberation, as if blood was never spilled.”

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"Israel's" so-called democracy and freedom of speech proves to be faked when it comes to denouncing the Zionist entity.

"Israeli" Knesset Member Aryeh Eldad belonging to the so-called "National Union" asked the "Israeli" Attorney General Monday to investigate Neturei Karta group for meeting with Hizbullah officials in Beirut on Sunday. 

Karta is an anti-Zionist Jewish Hasidic group that continuously declares that "the establishment of the Zionist entity is a major sin."

Karta participated in Lebanese rallies of the Global March to al-Quds commemorating the Land Day. The delegation of rabbis met Hizbullah officials including The Deputy Head of Hizbullah's Executive Council His Eminence, Sheikh Nabil Qaouk.

Hizbullah released an official statement that the Neturei Karta delegation, which included Rabbi "Israel" David Weiss, had come to show its support for "Land Day," which was officially commemorated last Friday.

"Jewish identity has been stolen by Zionism," Rabbi Weiss said to the attendees and encouraged Hizbullah to continue its efforts "to be free of the presence of "Israel" in the Middle East."

In an interview with "al-Intiqad" website, Weiss further confirmed that "as the "Israeli" crimes still continue to the permanent day, they are shameful for us, as Jewish people, since this is being done in our name and our religion."

He also prayed and hoped that "the state of "Israel" is dismantled."

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The Zionist war on Palestinian Resistance

"Hezbollah called on the Arab people to “direct its compass and to unite all its efforts in order to free Palestine, all of Palestine form the growing Zionist terrorism which has been absolutely backed by the United States and the West”.

Two new Palestinian martyrs have been fallen on Sunday in new Israeli air strikes on the Gaza strip, raising the death toll to 18 people. Another 30 people were wounded, six of whom were in critical condition.

Zionist air forces triggered the violence on Friday when they killed the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), Shiekh Zohair al-Qaisi, sparking cross-border exchange in which another 15 resistance fighters were martyred, in the most deadly 24-hour period in more than three years.

"Over the past 24 hours, over 45 rockets have hit communities in southern Israel- injuring four people, one severely, one moderately and two lightly." NON of it was fired by HAMAS, though Hamas said All options are open to retaliate to Israeli aggression. The movement called for unity of lines and urged the Arab, Islamic countries and free people of the world to adopt serious stands to pressure Israel into halting its crimes against the Palestinian people. The Qassam Brigades, affirmed that the IOA would pay for its crimes sooner or later (After getting a fatwa from Nato Mufti).

Dr. Ismail Radwan, a Hamas leader in Gaza, denounced Mahmoud Abbas, Fatah leader and PA chief, for insisting on maintaining contacts with Israel despite its repeated military escalations.

Acting Palestinian legislative council speaker Dr. Ahmed Bahar condemned the Israeli military escalation against the Gaza Strip and urged Cairo to intervene to halt the aggression. Bahar Claimed  that Israel targets obstructing national reconciliation. No Mr Speaker, Israel is targets factions insisting, after you Hamas decided to go for popular resistance, on keeping the armed resistance option alive,

Osama Hamdan opined that the aggression reflected an internal Israeli crisis and fear of the spirit of change that swept countries of the Arab Spring.

Haneyya's priority is halting aggression, on the Strip and protecting the Palestinian people, by holding intensified contacts to end the attacks on Gaza, not  by firing rocketsm because “Egyptian brothers” were working round the clock to end the aggression.

Khaled Al-Batesh, a leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Gaza said his movement would continue to retaliate strongly to Israeli attacks, adding that Israel wants the Palestinian resistance factions to accept calm according to its own standards, which is rejected by those factions. Batesh said that Egyptian efforts to restore calm would not succeed as long as Israel continued in its attacks. The Jihad leader asked the Arab countries to arm the Palestinian resistance to enable it to defend the unarmed Palestinians, who are butchered at the hands of Israeli army’s American-made warplanes.

Israeli Prime Minister Banjamin Netanyahu said on Sunday that Israel was going on with Gaza raids “as long as necessary”, Zionist ministers are discussing a ground operation in the strip. 

"We extracted a high price from them and will continue to do so," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting. "We will act as long as necessary."

Meanwhile, Finance Minister Yuval Steinitz said the flareup meant that the Zionist entity would soon have to consider sending troops into Gaza as it did in the massive 22-day offensive which ended in mid-January 2009, leaving 1,400 Palestinian martyrs.

"Sooner or later, we will probably have to put an end to the Hamas regime, the terror regime, in Gaza," he said at the start of the weekly cabinet meeting.

But Environment Minister Gilad Erdan argued that a ground operation would be a dangerous diversion “from Israel's current priority -- preventing a nuclear Iran”.

"Our defense systems are working well, particularly Iron Dome, and the army has inflicted heavy losses on the terrorists, so for the time being, there is no need for a ground operation," he said.

"The Israeli interest is for the world to focus on sanctions on Iran, not on an Israeli military campaign."

For his part, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman justified the initial attack against PRC leader Sheikh Zuhair al-Qaisi, calling him "a ticking bomb" who was about to attack the Zionist entity.

But he said a ground operation was "not desirable," unless it had the clear goal of overthrowing the territory's Hamas rulers.

Sheikh Qaisi was martyred on Friday as Israeli air forces staged a strike on Gaza strip.

He asked Palestinian resistance factions to coordinate their stands in dealing with the Israeli aggression, and called on the Arab and Islamic countries to restrain Israel

Hezbolalh denounced on Saturday the assassination of the leader of the Popular Resistance Committees (PRC), Shiekh Zuhair al-Qaisi, as a new crime in the Zionist terrorism. “Hezbollah condemns this terrorist Zionst crime, and what followed it of raids on the Gaza strip which caused the martyrdom of several other Palestinians, especially figures and fighters of the Islamic Jihad movement”, the party said in a statement released by it Media Relations office on Saturday. “The hand of Zionist crime has been extended for another time to kill one of the resistance figures, writing another chapter in the book of the Zionist terrorism”. “This new crime is a reminder of the criminality nature which is originated in the mentality of this entity’s leaders, soldiers and settlers”, the statement said, describing the assassination as a coward act. The party added that the assassination came at a time the Arabs have been busy to follow the Zionist terrorism and were engaged in their internal affairs. It also came at a time “some Arabs are drifted by the American-Israeli project which aims at creating new enemies for the Arab people in order to forget the danger of the Zionist offense on the nation, its future and people, especially the Palestinian cause”. Hezbollah called on the Arab people to “direct its compass and to unite all its efforts in order to free Palestine, all of Palestine form the growing Zionist terrorism which has been absolutely backed by the United States and the West”. Source

Netanyahu: No ‘Lebanon’ will be on the map

Israel what was that about MAPS?

 

by  Lisa Karpova

 

For years, the paranoid Israelis have been screaming bloody murder that the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, said that “Israel should be wiped from the map.” Of course, the man said no such thing, it was a deliberate mis-translation meant to serve their purposes: to demonize Ahmadinejad and Iran and to justify an unprovoked attack against the Islamic Republic of Iran.

So what did Ahmadinejad actually say? To quote his exact words in Farsi:
“Imam ghoft een rezhim-e ishghalgar-e qods bayad az safheh-ye ruzgar mahv shavad.”

The full quote translated directly to English:

“The Imam said this regime occupying Jerusalem must vanish from the page of time.”

Word by word translation:

Imam (Khomeini) ghoft (said) een (this) rezhim-e (regime) ishghalgar-e (occupying) qods (Jerusalem) bayad (must) az safheh-ye ruzgar (from page of time) mahv shavad (vanish from).

So that should settle the disinformation campaign being waged in order to set the stage for an aggressive attack against Iran and their paranoid delusions that Iran is building a nuclear weapon in order to “wipe them off the map.”

If they are nothing, they are constantly hysterical, while collecting billions annually in American taxpayer money to feed the hysteria and the lust for war and to take out those governments they don’t like, preferably by proxy in the form of NATO or the US Armed Forces.

But it’s ironic. There was no fuss or screaming when Netanyahu actually told an interviewer that when Israel is done with them, there will be NO Lebanon on the new world map.

At a news conference in Switzerland, on the occasion of the building an Israeli railway there, the German newspaper Die Zeit interviewed Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu:

“Congratulations Mr. Netanyahu, my first question is that does the beginning of the large train line’s construction confirm the announcement of the dissident Syrian Intelligence Office that you will strike Lebanon?”

In reply, Netanyahu stated:

“Yes, and it is not a secret that it will happen with U.S.-Gulf support and that is why they have been warned, but before you ask, you have a look at the new map of the world and see that there is no nation with this name.”

Given that the UN Security Council has listed 388 Israeli airspace violations by Israel against Lebanon, there is no doubt what Israel is planning regarding Lebanon.

President Michel Suleiman condemned Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s recent statements on Lebanon, saying that its existence will not be affected by his remarks. Odd that no one else, no big mouth, big talking, big stick western nations voiced the slightest concern that this nuclear armed, racist apartheid state, that has used weapons of mass destruction against Lebanon in the past, committing a genocide against the Lebanese people, was threatening them yet again.

He added in a statement: “Lebanon is the only country to have defeated Israel militarily and the Jewish state is still recovering from it.”

Indeed, the only thing that stopped Israel in 2006 from wiping Lebanon off the map was the defense against them provided by Hezbollah, who sent them crying with their tails between their legs.

“Lebanon’s diversity is the complete opposite of Israel’s racist system, which has no place in the world,” stressed the president.

Odd, isn’t it, that all of the countries attacked by the west, enemies of Israel, can all say the same thing. That they were the models of tolerance, brotherhood, prosperity and human rights, unlike the western allies of Saudi Arabia, Qatar. etc. that are horrid feudal examples of barbaric practices and backwardness.

“Lebanon is one of the founders of the United Nations and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and Netanyahu’s statements reflect his contempt for humans,” Suleiman added.

Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon are on high alert in anticipation of an Israeli attack on Lebanon, the London-based A-Sharq al-Awsat daily reported recently. According to the report, Hezbollah has been monitoring with caution the reinforcement of IDF troops along the Lebanon border.

It is also interesting to note that the Emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, admitted that the Israeli train line is funded by Qatar, UAE, and Saudi Arabia. Asked if he was not afraid of his people, he affirmed the close friendly relations between the two countries. Qatar, the one that has had a vested interest in formenting terrorism and and ‘regime change” in Libya, Syria and elsewhere.

Isn’t it odd that Israel is allowed to wave the stick at anybody it feels like with impunity, while they maintain a monopoly on nuclear weapons in the Middle East? The same country that has threatened all the capitals of Europe.

 Pravda.Ru