Archive for June 2, 2007

“In 1981 the [Lebanese] air force received french “Gazelle” type helicopters which are very effective against tanks and armored vehicles.” Well, there are no tanks or armored vehicles in the Nahr Al-Barid refugee camp, so why are you using them there then?

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Can somebody translate this sentence into English, please: “The [Lebanese] Army Command assures once again its strong adherence over the lives of civilians inside the camp and considers that the Palestinian people are consigned to all the soldiers of the Lebanese army and the aggressions of the Israeli enemy during the war of July against [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“The Lebanese army commander at the scene said anyone who had not left during the ceasefire was unlikely to be considered a non-combatant. ‘We risked our lives for 10 days to allow all the civilians to escape,’ he said. ‘If someone did not take the decision to leave, then they took the decision to stay, [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Today, one Palestinian organization finally came out against the Lebanese Army attack on the Nahr Al-Barid refugee camp: the PFLP (an organization that has no members left–or barely any). Hamas in Lebanon has been clearly supportive of the assault on the camp.

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“BRITISH commanders in Iraq have drawn up plans to allow Gordon Brown to withdraw almost all UK troops by the end of the year.”

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“The number of unidentified corpses discovered in Baghdad soared more than 70 percent during May, according to new statistics from the Iraqi Ministry of Interior, an indication that sectarian killings are rising sharply as militias return to the streets after lying low during the first few months of the troop “surge.””

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“As U.S. troops push more deeply into Baghdad and its volatile outskirts, Iraqi insurgents are using increasingly sophisticated and lethal means of attack, including bigger roadside bombs that are resulting in greater numbers of American fatalities relative to the number of wounded.Insurgents are deploying huge, deeply buried munitions set up to protect their territory and [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Sarah Helm set off by car to see Palestinians in Jenin but soon found that her road map was of no use. In the four decades after the Six-Day War, a labyrinth of walls, unmarked roads and checkpoints has arisen, hiding whole towns from Israeli eyes”

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Do you notice that Saudi media are making a big deal of an unclassified British report which makes a reference to a possible role by Israeli intelligence in the PFLP hijacking in Uganda? It is not that they are making a big deal, but they are distorting what the report had said (based on somebody’s [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

I knew that he would correct me. Kamal points out that the term Naksah (in reference to the 1967 defeat) was coined not by Muhsin Ibrahim (as I mentioned below) but by Muhammad Hasanayn Haykal in the resignation speech delivered by Nasser on June 9th, 1967.

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Puppet vice-president of Iraq, Tariq Al-Hashimi, said the states that interfere in Iraqi affairs should be “deterred.” He excluded the US because he said that US intervention in Iraq is “cute and adorable.”

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Iran’s interior minister faced criticism from women activists on Saturday after advocating the practice of temporary marriage as a way to meet the needs of young people in the Islamic state, which bans extramarital sex. “Is it possible that Islam is indifferent to a 15-year-old youth into whom God has put lust?” newspapers quoted Interior [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Complete Murder by Syrian poet Muhammad Al-Maghut (my translation):“I gave it freedomIt gave me prisons.I gave it palaces and fortresses…It gave me huts.I gave it the sun…It gave me darkness.I gave it eloquence, rhetoric, and elucidationbefore kings and clerics,and it gave me stumbleness stutterbefore servants, concubines, and eunuchs.I gave it the road, bridges, andtraffic lights,and [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Amnesty International, as well as Palestinian and Lebanese NGOs will be holding a press conference tomorrow morning to discuss the deteriorating humanitarian situation in Nahr Al-Bared Camp. Place: Al-Lajnah Al-Sha’biyyah, Baddawi Camp. Time: Sunday June 3, 11 am

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

Why did Ghassan Bin Jiddu interview Ghassan Tuwayni on the anniversary of the June ’67 war on his program Hiwar Maftuh? What does Tuwayni have to offer–on anything? And Tuwayni (in addition to tons of nonsense) said that Constantine Zuraqy coined the term “naksah” (setback) for the ’67 war. My understanding is that Muhsin Ibrahim [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“At the heart of the shake-up are questions of whether the former executive director of the organization, the Save Darfur Coalition, wisely used a sudden influx of money from a few anonymous donors in an advertising blitz to push for action. The advertisements strained relationships with aid groups working on the ground in Darfur, the [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“Just as Israel could have come into being in 1948 only by sweeping aside hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, Israel’s ongoing colonization of Palestinian territory–its imposition of itself and its desires on the land’s indigenous population–requires, and will always require, the use of force and the continual brutalization of an entire people. Indeed, the discriminatory [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

During Black September, I was 10 years-old. But I remember my disillusionment with Nasser. Nasser did nothing during Black September. Even his rhetoric was very restrained, and if you read King Husayn speeches from the period, he expressed his gratitude to Nasser.

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“QUESTION: Yeah, the Lebanese army resumed shelling this morning of the — today of the Palestinian refugee camp near Tripoli. I wondered if you have comment on that, and particularly on the humanitarian situation in the camp. Is the U.S. involved in any way in trying to alleviate some of those problems?MR. CASEY: Well, it’s [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad

“…”They’re bombing all around us. They’re bombing everywhere, at innocent civilians in their houses,” said Munir Abu Mohammed, a 35-year-old schoolteacher who said he was trapped in a building near the centre of the camp along with members of 12 families who had clustered together for safety. He was speaking on his mobile phone and [...]

Posted on June 2, 2007 by As'ad