Palestine’s Own SLA
October 17, 2006
During its earlier invasion of Lebanon Israel exploited existing divisions in the Lebanese society and relied on several proxies to implement its brutal rule. The most ruthless of these was the South Lebanon Army which fought the PLO for Israel while at the same time terrorizing the towns and villages of southern Lebanon. A similar model was exported to Iraq where Israel trained Kurdish death squads while the Americans trained Shia death squads in the South. Through “Wag the Dog” style denials of the so called “Salvador Option”, the occupiers succeeded in generating enough suspicion and ill will that soon Sunni death squads were also in evidence (In other instances, Shias and Kurds from within Iraq’s Vichy army have exchanged shots). The civil war, which seemed like a remote prospect only a short while back, is finally a bloody reality but the events that triggered it remain of dubious provenance.
After the successful experiment in Iraq, Israel and the United States are at the verge of instigating a civil war in the Occupied Palestinian Territories as well. With his power diminished by Hamas’s sweeping electoral victory, Mahmoud Abbas, with his cronies in Fatah, has actively colluded with Israel and the United States to undermine the new government. He has variously threatened to dissolve the Hamas government, or to call a national referrendum, however, his plans have failed to gain majority support even within the leadership of his own party. In the meanwhile the United States and Israel have tried to shore up Abbas while at the same time punishing the Palestinian population for electing Hamas. According to The Observer:
Officially the US has put up some $42m to bolster Hamas’s political opponents ahead of possible early Palestinian elections…reports in Israel suggest that cash is being diverted to military training and to purchase weapons for forces loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas…
US cash is reportedly being used to set up training facilities for Abbas’s special guard, Force 17, in the West Bank town of Jericho and in Gaza.
In the latest episode of this unfolding tragedy, the US is now courting renowned thug Muhammad Dahlan:
Secular and tough – some say brutal – Mr Dahlan, a member of the Fatah party, is being courted by American diplomats anxious to counter Hamas’s rising influence in the occupied territories.
Last week, as the worst inter-factional infighting in 10 years fuelled fears of a Palestinian civil war, US officials described him as a man who could “get things done” in a violent climate.
In less diplomatic terms, that means having the clout, if needed, to summon armed Palestinians into battle with Hamas, which Washington regards as a terrorist group. “He can be viewed as a thug,” said one official, “but he is one of the very few people who has authority and can impose some order on the ground who is not from Hamas.”
NYT’s Foot in its Mouth…Again!
October 17, 2006
The ‘agenda setting…paper of record’ has put its foot in its mouth again. Only months after misquoting the Iranian president (and providing the necessary soundbites for the Zionist propaganda machine), the New York Times has set a new genie out of the bottle. How best to clip the wings of a man threatening to steal the show? Make him appear like an ignorant buffoon. So, shortly after Chávez’s blistering speech at the UN, the NYT published a news item in which it claimed that the man was so ignorant that he believed Chomsky, whose book he had just recommended to the world body, had died two years back. In customary fashion, the NYT has now issued a retraction:
It reported that later, at a news conference, Mr. Chávez said that he regretted not having met Mr. Chomsky before he died. The article noted that in fact, Mr. Chomsky is alive. The assertion that Mr. Chávez had made this misstatement was repeated in a Times interview with Mr. Chomsky the next day. In fact, what Mr. Chávez said was, ”I am an avid reader of Noam Chomsky, as I am of an American professor who died some time ago.” Two sentences later Mr. Chávez named John Kenneth Galbraith, the Harvard economist who died last April, calling both him and Mr. Chomsky great intellectual figures. Mr. Chávez was speaking in Spanish at the news conference, but the simultaneous English translation by the United Nations left out the reference to Mr. Galbraith and made it sound as if the man who died was Mr. Chomsky.
The Saudi-Israel Alliance
October 7, 2006
During the recent Lebanon war, Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan and Kuwait tacitly supported Israel until Hizbullah spoiled their hopes with its humiliating defeat of the world’s 2nd most technologically advanced military. The details of this disgraceful are only being revealed now by Ha’aretz:
The unofficial liaison between Riyadh and Jerusalem was Prince Bandar, from his luxurious suburban Washington home in McLean, Virginia. Bandar’s Israeli contact is Mossad head Meir Dagan, who discreetly reported on their meetings to Sharon. The connection was maintained when Bandar returned to Saudi Arabia, and according to Israeli sources became closer during the war in Lebanon.
Last month Dagan arranged a meeting between Bandar and Dagan’s new boss, in Jordan. Few real details were leaked in the Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper story two weeks ago that broke the story. The article emphasized the common Iranian threat shared by Israel and Saudi Arabia. Olmert, who was left without a political agenda when the convergence program was shelved, has a clear interest in creating such an impression. He has publicly praised the Saudis for not supporting Hezbollah during the war.
