The Gaza Bombshell: How the Bush Administration attempted to overthrow Hamas
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- Written by David Rose, Vanity Fair David Rose, Vanity Fair
- Published: 29 April 2008 29 April 2008
- Hits: 4731 4731
[Hamas won a majority of seats in the Palestinian Authority's parliment after fair and open elections. These elections were foisted upon the Palestinians by the Bush Administration in the name of "Democratizing the Middle East." Afterwards the Bush administration, deciding that the Palestinians have had too much "democracy" already, used the FBI and CIA in cooperation with Fatah, the ousted party, to try and overthrow Hamas. This Vanity Fair article by David Rose breaks this amazing story . . . So much for democracy. How much more disasterous meddling in the lives of the people of the Middle East can the U.S. engage in for the sake of Oil , Power, and Israel? Based on the responses by many politicians, both Democratic and Republican, there is no end in sight!]
“An Institutional Failure”
How could the U.S. have played Gaza so wrong? Neocon critics of the administration—who until last year were inside it—blame an old State Department vice: the rush to anoint a strongman instead of solving problems directly. This ploy has failed in places as diverse as Vietnam, the Philippines, Central America, and Saddam Hussein’s Iraq, during its war against Iran. To rely on proxies such as Muhammad Dahlan, says former U.N. ambassador John Bolton, is “an institutional failure, a failure of strategy.” Its author, he says, was Rice, “who, like others in the dying days of this administration, is looking for legacy. Having failed to heed the warning not to hold the elections, they tried to avoid the result through Dayton.”
With few good options left, the administration now appears to be rethinking its blanket refusal to engage with Hamas. Staffers at the National Security Council and the Pentagon recently put out discreet feelers to academic experts, asking them for papers describing Hamas and its principal protagonists. “They say they won’t talk to Hamas,” says one such expert, “but in the end they’re going to have to. It’s inevitable.”
It is impossible to say for sure whether the outcome in Gaza would have been any better—for the Palestinian people, for the Israelis, and for America’s allies in Fatah—if the Bush administration had pursued a different policy. One thing, however, seems certain: it could not be any worse.
David Rose is a Vanity Fair contributing editor.
ACTION: West Bank Orphanages Threatened by Israeli Military
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- Written by Middle East Children's Alliance Middle East Children's Alliance
- Published: 29 April 2008 29 April 2008
- Hits: 4203 4203
The Israeli military is about to close down
schools and orphanages run by the Islamic
Charitable Society (ICS) in the West Bank
city of Hebron. More than 240 boys and girls,
aged 5-18 live at the orphanages, while
thousands of other children, many of whom
have lost at least one parent, receive
schooling, food and clothing from the
charity. The Israeli military has already
seized $157,000 worth of goods - including
rice, oil, sugar, clothing and first aid kits
- from the ICS warehouse.
Read more: ACTION: West Bank Orphanages Threatened by Israeli Military
Acknowledging the Past;Imagining the Future: Israelis and Palestinians on 1948 and Right to Return
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- Written by Will Seaman, PDXJustice.org Will Seaman, PDXJustice.org
- Published: 29 April 2008 29 April 2008
- Hits: 4413 4413
Muhammad Jaradat of the Badil Resource Center for Palestinian Residency and
Refugee Rights and Eitan Bronstein of the Jewish Israeli group Zochrot,
speaking at Reed College on April 1st, 2008: "Acknowledging the Past;
Imagining the Future: Israelis and Palestinians on 1948 and the Right to
Return"
The program is available through the pdxjustice Media Productions website
at:
http://www.pdxjustice.org/#ZochBad_01Apr2008
Or you can go straight to the Google Video site at:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-4586199048283400362&hl=en
Israeli attack kills Palestinian mother and four children
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- Written by Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem Donald Macintyre in Jerusalem
- Published: 29 April 2008 29 April 2008
- Hits: 3670 3670
A mother and four of her young children under seven were killed in their home yesterday by what Palestinian sources said were Israeli missiles which landed at their door during an armoured incursion into northern Gaza.
The Israeli military said it had been targeting nearby gunmen and suggested the deaths had been caused when explosives it said were being carried by two militants blew up. The children were about to eat breakfast when they were killed.
The deaths of the children, and the wounding of two older siblings, overshadowed efforts by Egypt to broker a ceasefire between Israel and the armed factions in Gaza. At least one militant and another unidentified man were killed by Israeli forces during the incursion.
Palestinian medics identified the dead children as sisters Rudina and Hana Abu Meatak, aged six and three; and their brothers, Saleh, four, and Mousad, 15 months. Their mother, Miyasar, who was in her late 30s, died later of wounds she sustained. Seven rockets were later fired into Israel, three claimed by Hamas in response to the deaths of the family.
The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights said that, according to its preliminary investigation, around 20 armoured vehicles moved over a kilometre into northern Gaza at around 6am, and that at around 8.15am Israeli aircraft had fired a missile at a group of militants. The missile landed 10 metres away from the Meatak home, seriously injuring a militant, it said.
Less than a minute later, the PCHR said, two further missiles were launched at the same area, landing at the door of the same house and killing another militant. The centre said that shrapnel from the missiles destroyed the door and sprayed around the house, killing the children outright.
The Israeli military said there had been a big explosion after it had targeted two gunmen from the air "indicating the presence of bombs and explosives" in what it said had been large bags being carried by the gunmen on their backs. The military said it was a result of this explosion that the home had been damaged and "uninvolved civilians" hit.
The children's father, Ahmad Abu Meatak, told Associated Press that he was on his way to a nearby market when his home was hit. "What a black day. They killed my family," he said, sobbing outside the local hospital where the bodies were taken.
After contradictory Israeli signals in response to last week's offer by Hamas for a six-month ceasefire in Gaza, an Israeli official last night suggested that negotiations on the subject were unnecessary. Instead, he said, if Hamas halted the firing of mortars and rockets, Israel would respond by halting its own operations in Gaza.
The Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak laid the blame for civilian deaths on Hamas, saying: "Hamas is also responsible, by way of its activity within the civilian population, for part of the casualties among uninvolved civilians."
The PCHR condemned a "heinous crime" by the Israeli forces. Abu Mujahed, of the hardline Popular Resistance Committees, said: "The blood of the children will not be spilled in vain."
Pariah Diplomacy
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- Written by Jimmy Carter in The New York Times Jimmy Carter in The New York Times
- Published: 29 April 2008 29 April 2008
- Hits: 3723 3723
Atlanta - A counterproductive Washington policy in recent years has been to boycott and punish political factions or governments that refuse to accept United States mandates. This policy makes difficult the possibility that such leaders might moderate their policies.
Two notable examples are in Nepal and the Middle East. About 12 years ago, Maoist guerrillas took up arms in an effort to overthrow the monarchy and change the nation's political and social life. Although the United States declared the revolutionaries to be terrorists, the Carter Center agreed to help mediate among the three major factions: the royal family, the old-line political parties and the Maoists.
In 2006, six months after the oppressive monarch was stripped of his powers, a cease-fire was signed. Maoist combatants laid down their arms and Nepalese troops agreed to remain in their barracks. Our center continued its involvement and nations - though not the United States - and international organizations began working with all parties to reconcile the dispute and organize elections.
The Maoists are succeeding in achieving their major goals: abolishing the monarchy, establishing a democratic republic and ending discrimination against untouchables and others whose citizenship rights were historically abridged. After a surprising victory in the April 10 election, Maoists will play a major role in writing a constitution and governing for about two years. To the United States, they are still terrorists.
On the way home from monitoring the Nepalese election, I, my wife and my son went to Israel. My goal was to learn as much as possible to assist in the faltering peace initiative endorsed by President Bush and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. Although I knew that official United States policy was to boycott the government of Syria and leaders of Hamas, I did not receive any negative or cautionary messages about the trip, except that it might be dangerous to visit Gaza.
The Carter Center had monitored three Palestinian elections, including one for parliamentary seats in January 2006. Hamas had prevailed in several municipal contests, gained a reputation for effective and honest administration and did surprisingly well in the legislative race, displacing the ruling party, Fatah. As victors, Hamas proposed a unity government with Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah as president and offered to give key ministries to Fatah, including that of foreign affairs and finance.
Hamas had been declared a terrorist organization by the United States and Israel, and the elected Palestinian government was forced to dissolve. Eventually, Hamas gained control of Gaza, and Fatah is "governing" the Israeli-dominated West Bank. Opinion polls show Hamas steadily gaining popularity. Since there can be no peace with Palestinians divided, we at the Carter Center believed it important to explore conditions allowing Hamas to be brought peacefully back into the discussions. (A recent poll of Israelis, who are familiar with this history, showed 64 percent favored direct talks between Israel and Hamas.)
Similarly, Israel cannot gain peace with Syria unless the Golan Heights dispute is resolved. Here again, United States policy is to ostracize the Syrian government and prevent bilateral peace talks, contrary to the desire of high Israeli officials.
We met with Hamas leaders from Gaza, the West Bank and Syria, and after two days of intense discussions with one another they gave these official responses to our suggestions, intended to enhance prospects for peace:
• Hamas will accept any agreement negotiated by Mr. Abbas and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert of Israel provided it is approved either in a Palestinian referendum or by an elected government. Hamas's leader, Khaled Meshal, has reconfirmed this, although some subordinates have denied it to the press.
• When the time comes, Hamas will accept the possibility of forming a nonpartisan professional government of technocrats to govern until the next elections can be held.
• Hamas will also disband its militia in Gaza if a nonpartisan professional security force can be formed.
• Hamas will permit an Israeli soldier captured by Palestinian militants in 2006, Cpl. Gilad Shalit, to send a letter to his parents. If Israel agrees to a list of prisoners to be exchanged, and the first group is released, Corporal Shalit will be sent to Egypt, pending the final releases.
• Hamas will accept a mutual cease-fire in Gaza, with the expectation (not requirement) that this would later include the West Bank.
• Hamas will accept international control of the Rafah crossing between Gaza and Egypt, provided the Egyptians and not the Israelis control closing the gates.
In addition, Syria's president, Bashir al-Assad, has expressed eagerness to begin negotiations with Israel to end the impasse on the Golan Heights. He asks only that the United States be involved and that the peace talks be made public.
Through more official consultations with these outlawed leaders, it may yet be possible to revive and expedite the stalemated peace talks between Israel and its neighbors. In the Middle East, as in Nepal, the path to peace lies in negotiation, not in isolation.
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Jimmy Carter, the 39th president, is the founder of the Carter Center and the winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize.