By ANTON TROIANOVSKI
Associated Press Jul 20, 2006 MOSCOW - Russia on Thursday sharply criticized Israel for its offensive against Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon, saying it went "far beyond the boundaries of an anti-terrorist operation" and repeating calls for an immediate cease-fire.
The Foreign Ministry said Russia affirms the need to fight terrorism and called for the immediate release of captive Israeli soldiers, but it added that "the unprecedented scale of the casualties and destruction" in Lebanon indicates that Israel is using too much force. The comment echoed a statement by President Vladimir Putin, who said while hosting a summit of the Group of Eight nations Saturday that Russia had the impression Israel was "pursuing wider goals" than the return of abducted soldiers. |
AFP
July 21, 2006 JAKARTA - Indonesia and Malaysia said they could send troops as part of a UN deployment to the Middle East as Asia showed mounting concern and urged the international community to intervene.
With the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon well into its second week, countries in the region warned of spiralling violence if world powers failed to check the current conflict. |
Ben Russell and Colin Brown
UK Independent 21 July 2006 Ministers faced strong criticism from across the House of Commons yesterday as MPs accused the Government of helping to fuel the crisis in the Middle East.
Margaret Beckett, the Foreign Secretary, faced angry claims from Labour and Opposition benches that the Government had given diplomatic cover to continued Israeli bombing by failing to call for an immediate ceasefire. In the Commons, Labour MPs led by Clare Short, the former international development secretary, attacked the Government for its stance on Israeli attacks. Ms Short warned that "massive killing of innocent Lebanese civilians and destruction of infrastructure" amounted to a war crime. She said: "We are heading for further violence and catastrophe. And I'm sad to say that our Government is following President Bush's errors and pouring petrol on the flames." |
Timesonline
20/07/2006 As Israel wages war against Hezbollah "terrorists" in Lebanon, Britain has protested about the celebration by right-wing Israelis of a Jewish "act of terrorism" against British rule 60 years ago this week.
The rightwingers, including Binyamin Netanyahu, the former Prime Minister, are commemorating the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem, the headquarters of British rule, that killed 92 people and helped to drive the British from Palestine. They have erected a plaque outside the restored building, and are holding a two-day seminar with speeches and a tour of the hotel by one of the Jewish resistance fighters involved in the attack. Simon McDonald, the British Ambassador in Tel Aviv, and John Jenkins, the Consul-General in Jerusalem, have written to the municipality, stating: "We do not think that it is right for an act of terrorism, which led to the loss of many lives, to be commemorated." Comment: It is a little 'rich' is it not, for the British to feel "annoyed" by Israeli government glorification of an act of Israeli state terrorism 60 years ago when the British state has been at the forefront of state-sponsored terrorism for much longer than 60 years.
This story, from the traditionally right-wing paper the London Times is strange. Note the first sentence and the use of quotation marks which calls into question whether Hizb'allah attacks against Israel really are "terrorism". We can't remember a time when the British establishment and it's media questioned whether Arab attacks on Israel really is "terrorism". Is the tide turning against Israel? Was this the plan all along? Time will tell, or maybe the London Times will tell us first. |
UK Independent
Kim Sengupta in Nicosia 21 July 2006 Outside the cavernous US government-run holding centre in Nicosia, Mohammed Shami shook his head. "I feel embarrassed to be an American. They have given Israel the green light to destroy Lebanon. What they are doing is wrong; it is immoral."
Mr Shami, who is of Lebanese-American descent, arrived here with 1,000 fellow Americans early yesterday, part of the exodus to Cyprus expected to reach more than 80,000 people fleeing the ferocity of the conflict in Lebanon. For Mr Shami and others from the successful and settled Lebanese community in the US the relief at escaping the violence is mixed with deep feelings of anger and guilt at the actions of their government. "My father is of Lebanese birth and my mother is American", said Mr Shami, a 21-year-old student from Michigan. " I am very proud of my mother and the American people. All I can say is that most American people are not like Condoleezza Rice, they are not like George Bush; they have a sense of decency." Comment: Yes indeedy, most Americans are not like George and Condi. Listen to this week's podcast for more information.
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North Korea Times
Thursday 20th July, 2006 The U.S. House of Representatives, in a 98% vote in favor, has dramatically thrown its weight behind Israel in its conflict with Lebanon.
House Republican leader, John Boehner, pointed to Israel's 'unique relationship' with the United States as a reason for his colleagues to swiftly go on the record supporting Israel in the latest flare-up of violence in the Mideast. A resolution solidy backing Israel was passed 410 votes to 8. |
By TONY KARON
Time July 20, 2006 If warfare is a violent contest of political will, then cease-fire agreements are its scoreboards. And the Bush Administration wants to make sure that when hostilities are halted in Lebanon, Hizballah's score is a round zero. That's why even as most of the international community clamors for an immediate cease-fire to end the fighting that has so far killed 300 Lebanese (mostly civilians) and 29 Israelis (15 of them civilians), the U.S. is dragging its feet - as a matter of policy. While other Western and Arab powers will engage players from Hizballah and the Lebanese government to Iran and Syria, the U.S. remains key to the diplomatic process - for the simple reason that it is the only one capable of persuading Israel to accept a truce. But Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice won't head for the region until early next week, a delay calculated to give Israel more time to succeed in its objective of eliminating Hizballah as a military threat. A senior Administration official told CNN Wednesday that the U.S. was giving Israel's military operation time to "defang" Hizballah, saying Rice would press for an end to the fighting only "when conditions are conducive to do so."
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By ANNE GEARAN
AP Diplomatic Writer July 21, 2006 WASHINGTON - Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will lay out U.S. plans for a diplomatic solution to the Israeli-Hezbollah fighting Friday, an administration official said.
Rice plans a trip to the Mideast as soon as early next week, and will carry the U.S. strategy for ending the 10-day-old warfare and establishing stability in southern Lebanon, a senior Bush administration said. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because Rice has not yet made her plans public. The secretary is expected to detail her itinerary and agenda in Washington later Friday. Comment: Luckily, our roving reporter Ignacious O'Reilly was able to obtain a copy of Condi's Top Secret peace proposal:
- All members of Hezbollah will be required to surrender to the Israeli military. Rice is expected to state that she has been reassured by the Israeli Prime Minister that no harm will come to the Hezbollah members; Israeli forces just want a chance to talk peace with their neighbors over tea and cookies. - The land now known as Lebanon will become part of Israel. - In exchange, any remaining Lebanese civilians will NOT be mercilessly slaughtered by the Israeli army. Rice is expected to announce that the Bush administration believes that this is the only way toward a "free and peaceful and democratic" Middle East, and that anyone who disagrees is quite obviously "with the terrorists". |
AFP
Friday July 21, 2006 Australia has despatched 65 military personnel to the Middle East to help thousands of citizens flee Israel's bombing of Lebanon, as the government rejected charges of bungling the evacuation.
The unarmed soldiers will handle logistics operations and will join an extra 29 diplomatic staff who have been sent to the region to help process some 7,000 Australians trying to escape the violence, officials said. The government announced it had arranged for six ships to arrive in Lebanon from Friday to transport up to 6,000 people to safety by Sunday evening. |
By Ira Moskowitz
Haaretz.com Fri July 21, 2006 SHARON, Massachusetts - A special El Al flight from New York brought 220 American immigrants to Israel yesterday. The flight was the second of seven Jewish Agency/Nefesh B'Nefesh charters planned for this summer, and the first to arrive since warfare erupted on Israel's northern front. According to the Nefesh B'Nefesh organization, 20 prospective immigrants who had signed up for yesterday's flight decided to postpone their arrival at least for a week or two.
On the eve of the flight, Haaretz visited with Joel and Debbie Wine in Sharon, Massachusetts as they struggled to finish packing their belongings, complete a list of last-minute errands, tend to their three young children and say good-bye to friends and family. "Yes, it's crazy globally and crazy in our little world, getting everything done," Joel acknowledged, sitting on a folding chair among the open suitcases and sprawl of unpacked items. After the war in the north began, people started asking them whether they still planned to move to Israel. "With what's going on now, we're being made out to be some sort of heroes," Joel said. "But this is Israel, and if you think of yourself as Israeli, you realize there's really not a choice. We've mentally, psychologically, emotionally made the commitment to be part of the people of Israel in the Land of Israel, and unfortunately, this [war] is part of the reality." When he received an email from Nefesh B'Nefesh this week confirming that the flight was still on, he sent a one-word reply: "Good." |
Kurt Nimmo
Thursday July 20th 2006 "It is absurd to consider morality on [using poison gas] when everybody used it in the last war without a word of complaint from the moralists or the Church. On the other hand, in the last war bombing of open cities was regarded as forbidden. Now everybody does it as a matter of course. It is simply a question of fashion changing as she does between long and short skirts for women," wrote Winston Churchill during the Second World War, long after the Geneva Protocol had outlawed the use of poison gas. The Brits used mustard gas against Bolsheviks in 1919 and Kurdish rebels in Iraq. As to the latter, Churchill wrote: "I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas.... I am strongly in favor of using poisoned gas against uncivilized tribes" (see Winston Churchill's Secret Poison Gas Memo).
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