[Peace-discuss] Just Foreign Policy News, August 7, 2006

Mon Aug 7 12:44:09 CDT 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
August 7, 2006

In this issue:
1) Just Foreign Policy Pacifica "The Monitor" Interview on Uniting for Peace
2) Cease-Fire Draft at U.N. Falters Amid Arab Criticism
3) Lebanese Premier Seeking Changes to U.N. Proposal
4) Editorial: A Truce for Lebanon
5) Israel threatens to expand Lebanon ground offensive
6) In Southern Lebanon, Weary Resignation: Many See Lives Caught Up in Long War
7) The Militia: A Disciplined Hezbollah Surprises Israel With Its
Training, Tactics and Weapons
8) Arab World Finds Icon in Leader of Hezbollah
9) As Shelling Continues, Few Residents Remain in Towns That Once Took Refugees
10) Reuters drops Lebanese photographer over doctored image
11) L.A. Mayor Apologizes to Muslim Leaders
12) Iran Says It Will Ignore U.N. Deadline on Uranium Program
13) Lamont Leads Lieberman 51 - 45 In Dem Primary
14) MoveOn Seeking 1st 2006 Election Victory
15) Iraqi Woman's Blog Taken on Stage
16) Iraqi Medic Describes Carnage: Testimony Begins in Hearing for
U.S. Soldiers Accused of Rape
17) Mexican Candidate Says Civil Disobedience Will Continue

Contents:
1) Just Foreign Policy Pacifica "The Monitor" Interview on Uniting for Peace
http://archive.kpft.org/mp3/060806_180001monitor.MP3
Show information:
http://themonitor.wordpress.com/2006/08/06/show-details-for-august-6th-2006/
Just Foreign Policy emphasized that pressure is still urgently needed
for the UN General Assembly to act for an immediate ceasefire. Please
post and forward our petition:
http://www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/justforeignpolicy.org/petition.jsp?petition_KEY=325.
The Irish Labor Party has joined the call: "'Uniting for Peace'
mechanism can be used to achieve an immediate ceasefire"
http://www.labour.ie/press/listing/20060804152344.html

2) Cease-Fire Draft at U.N. Falters Amid Arab Criticism
Warren Hoge and Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07diplo.html
Efforts to adopt a draft resolution to halt the fighting between
Israel and Hezbollah faltered at the UN Sunday amid sharp criticism
from the Middle East. France and the US, which announced agreement on
the draft Saturday, renewed negotiations to meet objections to the
proposal offered in amendments by Lebanon and by Qatar, the Arab
representative on the Council. The turn of events reflected an
outpouring of condemnation across the Middle East that the proposed
resolution spoke to Israel's demands, backed by the US, without
addressing those of Lebanon and Hezbollah. The resolution calls for a
truce, asks the current UN peacekeeping force to monitor the border
area and lays out a plan for a permanent cease-fire and political
settlement. But while it called for immediate cessations of "all
attacks" by Hezbollah and "offensive military operations" by Israel,
it did not require Israeli troops to leave southern Lebanon. In
Lebanon, speaker of Parliament Berri said Lebanon rejected the
resolution because it did not call for the immediate withdrawal of
Israeli troops and an exchange of prisoners. Arab diplomats were
skeptical about the resolution having any chance of halting the
fighting. "They are attempting to gain diplomatically what they failed
to achieve militarily," one said. "I expect the cease-fire to be
rammed through, but it will turn into a war of attrition." Iran and
Syria rejected the resolution. The resolution was being viewed in the
region as more a vehicle to calm Western public opinion than one that
would actually address the problems on the ground.  The principal
amendment introduced by Lebanese Foreign Ministry official Nouhad
Mahmoud would require Israel to hand over its positions in Lebanon to
Unifil, the UN peacekeeping force, and withdraw its troops from the
country "forthwith." A second amendment asked for an Israeli
withdrawal from the Shebaa Farms area that Israel seized in the 1967
war.

3) Lebanese Premier Seeking Changes to U.N. Proposal
Nora Boustany and Edward Cody
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; A10
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600786.html
Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora said Sunday he is seeking
amendments to a draft U.N. Security Council resolution that would
combine the dispatch of UN and Lebanese army peacekeepers with the
immediate pullout of Israeli troops from southern Lebanon.
Siniora, in an interview, said his suggestions were an attempt to meet
the interests of Israel as well as Lebanon and its Hezbollah movement
in seeking an end to the fighting. The resolution proposed by the US
and France, he said, is "impractical" because it would leave Israeli
occupation troops and Hezbollah militiamen face to face in the border
hills, virtually certain to keep fighting. He said Lebanon stands
ready to deploy 15,000 soldiers and accept a 2,000-member
international force led by the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, or
UNIFIL, until a political settlement can be worked out and a more
permanent international peacekeeping force can be assembled and
deployed to Lebanon.

4) Editorial: A Truce for Lebanon
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/opinion/07mon1.html
It is now 26 days since Hezbollah and Israel began their latest
combat, a very long time for the world to allow such a deadly conflict
to rage in the Middle East powder keg. Yet the fighting still
continues. Diplomats still dither over cease-fire details. Innocent
people still keep dying. Enough. This is the week that the
international community must impose a truce, to be followed, in short
order, by a political settlement and the dispatch of a robust
international force to patrol Lebanon's oft-violated border with
Israel…The first resolution, as it currently stands, would permit
Israeli forces to remain in Lebanon, at least until the second
resolution is approved and the new international force put in place.
That provision has sparked sharp opposition in the Arab world. The
longer Israeli troops remain on Lebanese soil, the more likely they
are to become a magnet for renewed Hezbollah attacks. Israel would, of
course, respond, and that would be the end of any truce.

5) Israel threatens to expand Lebanon ground offensive
Reuters
Monday, August 7, 2006; 10:28 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/07/AR2006080700354.html
Israel will broaden its ground offensive in Lebanon within days if
diplomatic efforts to end the fighting fail to make progress, Defense
Minister Amir Peretz said on Monday.
"I gave an order that, if within the coming days the diplomatic
process does not reach a (successful) conclusion, Israeli forces will
carry out the operations necessary to take control of Katyusha rocket
launching sites in every location," Peretz told a parliamentary
committee in broadcast remarks.

6) In Southern Lebanon, Weary Resignation: Many See Lives Caught Up in
Long War Anthony Shadid
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; A09
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600902.html
The US and France have agreed on a draft U.N. resolution calling for a
cease-fire in the nearly four-week-old war, but already Sunday, U.S.
officials were saying that it was only a first step and that it would
take a while to end the fighting. Few appeared to disagree in
beleaguered southern Lebanon, where weary residents began settling in
for the long wait across a terrain more battered by fighting than at
any time in the country's modern history.With a sense that both Israel
and Hezbollah have the stamina and endurance to fight on, many in
southern Lebanon have started to think of their futures placed within
a long-running war: Doctors talk about leaving the country for good;
some of the hundreds of thousands of displaced within Lebanon have
simply come back to their homes in places such as Tyre, fearful the
temporary was becoming permanent. "Brother, you try living in a
school," said Khodr al-Ruz, who returned two days ago to Tyre after
spending three weeks sharing a classroom with 15 other displaced
Lebanese.

7) A Disciplined Hezbollah Surprises Israel With Its Training, Tactics
and Weapons
Steven Erlanger And Richard A. Oppel Jr.
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07hezbollah.html
Hezbollah has sharply improved its arsenal and strategies in the six
years since Israel abruptly ended its occupation of southern Lebanon.
Hezbollah is a militia trained like an army and equipped like a state,
and its fighters "are nothing like Hamas or the Palestinians," said an
Israeli soldier who just returned from Lebanon. "They are trained and
highly qualified," he said, equipped with flak jackets, night-vision
goggles, good communications and sometimes Israeli uniforms and
ammunition. "All of us were kind of surprised."

8) Arab World Finds Icon in Leader of Hezbollah
Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07nasrallah.html
The success or failure of any cease-fire in Lebanon will largely hinge
on the opinion of one figure: Sheik Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary
general of Hezbollah, who has seen his own aura and that of his party
enhanced immeasurably by battling the Israeli Army for nearly four
weeks. With Israeli troops operating in southern Lebanon, Sheik
Nasrallah can continue fighting on the grounds that he seeks to expel
an occupier, much as he did in the years preceding Israel's withdrawal
in 2000. Or he can accept a cease-fire, perhaps to try to rearm, and
earn the gratitude of Lebanon and much of the world. Analysts expect
some kind of middle outcome, with the large-scale rocket attacks
stopping but Hezbollah guerrillas still attacking soldiers so that
Israel still feels pain. In any case, the Arab world has a new icon.

9) As Shelling Continues, Few Residents Remain in Towns That Once Took Refugees
Jad Mouawad
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07lebanon.html
It took weeks of continuous shelling in southern Lebanon and one long
sleepless night for Sheik Naim Hazir to admit it was time to leave.
What forced his decision was the death of five of his next-door
neighbors, three of them children, as a rocket flattened their
two-story home in a raid overnight Saturday. But getting out of Insar
with his 90-year-old father and 82-year-old mother was tricky.

10) Reuters drops Lebanese photographer over doctored image
Reuters
Sun Aug 6, 5:46 PM ET
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20060806/ts_nm/mideast_reuters_dc_1
Reuters told a freelance Lebanese photographer on Sunday it would not
use any more of his pictures after he doctored an image of the
aftermath of an Israeli air strike on Beirut.
The photograph by Adnan Hajj, which was published on news Web sites on
Saturday, showed thick black smoke rising above buildings in the
Lebanese capital after an Israeli air raid in the war with the Shi'ite
Islamic group Hizbollah, now in its fourth week. Reuters withdrew the
doctored image on Sunday and replaced it with the unaltered photograph
after several news blogs said it had been manipulated using Photoshop
software to show more smoke. He was among several photographers from
the main international news agencies whose images of a dead child
being held up by a rescuer in the village of Qana, south Lebanon,
after an Israeli air strike on July 30 have been challenged by blogs
critical of the mainstream media's coverage of the Middle East
conflict. Reuters and other news organizations reviewed those images
and have all rejected allegations that the photographs were staged.

11) L.A. Mayor Apologizes to Muslim Leaders
Associated Press
August 7, 2006
Filed at 9:22 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-Mayor-Muslims.html
Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa has apologized to Muslim
leaders who accused him of taking Israel's side in the violence in
Lebanon by going to a pro-Israel rally and ignoring their invitations
to interfaith peace vigils. Villaraigosa met with Muslim leaders
Sunday and said a mix-up by his staff had prevented him from seeing
their invitations. Villaraigosa called the meeting after the Muslim
leaders held a news conference Friday accusing him of not representing
all groups touched by the conflict. They noted that he attended a July
23 rally by the Jewish Federation of Greater Los Angeles, at which he
condemned Hezbollah guerrilla rocket attacks on Israel, but failed to
respond to repeated invitations to interfaith vigils for people killed
on both sides in Lebanon. ''It was gracious of him to say 'I apologize
for the lack of communications,''' said Shakeel Syed, executive
director of the Shura Council of Southern California. The mayor
pledged to visit mosques and attend events in the city's Islamic
communities, and assigned one of his senior advisors as liaison to
Muslim groups.

12) Iran Says It Will Ignore U.N. Deadline on Uranium Program
Michael Slackman
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/middleeast/07iran.html
Iran's chief national security official said Sunday that Iran would
defy the UN Security Council by refusing to halt enrichment of uranium
by the end of the month. During a news conference in Iran, Ali
Larijani, the country's security chief and top nuclear negotiator,
condemned the West. He said it had engaged in double-dealing, by first
offering a package of incentives in exchange for suspension of its
nuclear-enrichment program, and then by issuing a threat. In remarks
reported by the official Iranian News Agency, Mr. Larijani did not
appear to chart new ground, sticking with Iran's position that it
would not halt enrichment as a precondition of negotiations. Western
diplomats in Iran said in recent interviews that it appeared that
Iran's leadership had bet on the notion that it was more likely to get
what it wanted if it refused to budge from its position, believing
that the Security Council, and the West in particular, would do
anything to avoid another ugly confrontation in the Middle East.

13) Lamont Leads Lieberman 51 - 45 In Dem Primary
Quinnipiac University Polling Results
August 7, 2006
http://www.quinnipiac.edu/x11362.xml?ReleaseID=945
Connecticut likely Democratic primary voters back challenger Ned
Lamont 51 - 45 percent over incumbent Sen. Joseph Lieberman in the
U.S. Senate race, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released
today. This compares to a 54 - 41 percent Lamont lead among likely
Democratic primary voters in an August 3 poll by Quinnipiac
University. In this latest survey, 4 percent of likely Democratic
primary voters remain undecided, but 90 percent of voters who name a
candidate say their mind is made up.
Lieberman's support for the war in Iraq is the main reason they are
voting for Lamont, 36 percent of Lamont voters say, while 54 percent
say it is one of several reasons.

14) MoveOn Seeking 1st 2006 Election Victory
Associated Press
August 7, 2006
Filed at 7:22 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/us/AP-MoveOns-Moves.html
Other than the candidates, no one has more riding on this week's
Connecticut Democratic Senate primary than MoveOn.org, a liberal
organization at the edgy intersection of politics and the Internet.
With victory for Ned Lamont, the group can claim a role in helping an
anti-war challenger dump Sen. Joe Lieberman, who supports President
Bush's policy in Iraq and has the backing of the Democratic
establishment. A come-from-behind win for Lieberman would mark yet
another setback for MoveOn in its parallel campaign -- to strengthen
its credentials as a force to be heeded by Democrats as they seek
congressional majorities this fall.

15) Iraqi Woman's Blog Taken on Stage
Reuters
August 7, 2006
Filed at 5:34 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-arts-mideast-blog.html
"Is it time to wash our hands of the country and find a stable life
somewhere else?'' The question in "Girl Blog from Iraq'' was posted
last weekend by a young Iraqi woman whose weblog has been adapted into
a theatrical documentary at the Edinburgh Fringe arts festival. Played
by actresses of Palestinian, Syrian, Iranian and Iraqi origin, she
recounts the horrors of abduction, murder and rape alongside her
determined efforts to carve out a normal life amid the carnage. Known
only as "Riverbend,'' the Iraqi blogger has been providing regular
dispatches since August 2003, writing in her first entry: ``I'm
female, Iraqi and 24. I survived the war. That is all you need to
know. It's all that matters.'' Her online diary on
www.riverbendblog.blogspot.com was nominated for a major literary
prize in Britain. The tone of the diary has markedly changed since
war's end. In March, she wrote: "Even the most cynical war critics
couldn't imagine the country being this bad three years after the
war.'' In the latest update, Riverbend reflects on the Middle East
conflict, especially the Israeli air attack on the Lebanese village of
Qana. "I woke up this morning to scenes of carnage and destruction on
the television and for the briefest of moments I thought it was
footage of Iraq. It took me a few seconds to realize it was actually
Qana in Lebanon. I just sat there and cried in front of the
television. I didn't know I could feel that sort of sorrow toward what
has become a daily reality for Iraqis. It's not Iraq but it might as
well be.''

16) Iraqi Medic Describes Carnage: Testimony Begins in Hearing for
U.S. Soldiers Accused of Rape
Joshua Partlow
Washington Post
Monday, August 7, 2006; Page A12
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/06/AR2006080600803.html
An Iraqi medic who responded to a home where U.S. soldiers allegedly
raped and killed a teenage Iraqi girl and murdered her sister and
parents described on Sunday a display of carnage so horrific he said
it made him sick for two weeks.

17) Mexican Candidate Says Civil Disobedience Will Continue
James C. McKinley Jr.
New York Times
August 7, 2006
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/07/world/americas/07mexico.html
Andrés Manuel López Obrador vowed Sunday to take the daily mass
demonstrations supporting his demand for a full recount of the results
in last month's presidential race to the courthouse where a special
electoral court had denied his request. Speaking to thousands of
supporters in the capital's central square, the candidate shied away
from calling for more confrontational acts of civil disobedience, like
seizing the city's international airport or shutting down major
highways, as some of his supporters had expected. Instead, he told his
supporters to prepare themselves for a long, drawn-out battle with the
government, a fight "to defend democracy." He suggested that he would
carry on his protest even after the electoral tribunal, which on
Saturday turned down the demand for the recount, makes its final
decision and certifies the president-elect in September. López Obrador
has charged that there were enough irregularities and, in some
instances, fraud, to warrant a complete recount. But on Saturday, the
seven-member electoral court that must ratify the results said he had
not proved widespread fraud. The court rejected his request and
instead ordered a partial recount in about 12,000 polling places,
fewer than 10 percent of the total, where there were irregularities.
With the help of allies in the city government, Mr. López Obrador and
his allies have already closed Paseo de la Reforma for several miles,
covering it with tents and protest camps.

--------
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming
U.S. foreign policy so that it reflects the values and interests of
the majority of Americans.