Watching the unbelievable destruction wrought by the Israelis in Gaza and Lebanon a simple question very high on many minds must be ' How in hell does this artificially concocted child of European guilt and American ambition get away with all this again and again and again?'

The answer is that instead of being a strange historical aberration Israel may well be a model state that global elites want to establish to control the world in the days to come.

A world where the ruling classes live off the stolen resources and labour of those they contemptuously deem 'lesser human beings' in a system of institutionalized apartheid.

A world where the forces of the militarized State can routinely shoot anybody, even entire populations and call them 'terrorists' with complete impunity.

A world where the process of nation building automatically involves smashing the sovereignty of every other nation reducing their people to a faceless, nameless, helpless mass.

The question of why Israel's brazen crimes against humanity have been tolerated by the so called 'international community' is not new at all, being one asked from the very day this nation was violently forged six decades ago. The legacy of Zionist terrorism, the numerous pogroms against the Palestinians, the systematic usurpation of their land, the routine bombing of civilians, the murder of peace activists--- any other fledgling nation even contemplating crimes on this scale would have been ostracized out of existence by now.

Many have attempted to answer this conundrum in many different ways. Israel is the bulldog of the US in the Middle-East - there to keep an eye on the region's oil wealth, promote the sales of Western arms and intimidate Arab regimes into meek submission. And in all its actions Israel merely imitates its mentors in the United States, whose own list of crimes against humanity make that of its protégé pale into nothing.

For some others it is Israel, run by Jewish supremacists, that is manipulating the West for its own devious purposes. They are abetted in all this by Christian fundamentalists in the US who believe in some complicated bull about the role of Zionists in bringing about rapture, the return of Jesus Christ and Armageddon. (An end of the world hastened and brought about by these strange bed fellows themselves)

In yet another version the formation of Israel, aided and encouraged by Western powers, was a historical fobbing off of Europe's abused Jewish masses onto the heads of the hapless Palestinian people- fulfilling the Nazi dream of getting Europe rid of the Jews. A cynical pitting of the victims of European racism against the victims of their colonialism.

There is no doubt of course that the history of Europe and post-Second World War geopolitics of the United States have a lot to do with the creation of Israel.

In many ways the State of Israel carries over into our era all the baggage of Europe from the turn of the 19th century with its simplistic understanding of race and biology, the crude equation of national interest with conquest of territory, the brutal trappings of the colonial state and worst of all the tryst with fascism that deeply shaped the worldview of Zionism. In the past six decades Israel's behaviour, within its own region, has also mirrored the relentless American need for control over the world's natural resources.

But all this focus on historical trends obscures the fact that in contemporary Israel today has become the template of a terrible global future. Here is where the accumulated burdens of the past, stoked to the right temperatures in the crucible of the present, are shaping the contours of a world yet to come.

Already, the aggressive Israeli 'whatever the cost' pursuit of self-interest - unfettered by any principles of civilized behaviour and contemptuous of all international law- has become the role model for governments in many other parts of the world. Every indicator points to this sad trend. The way the leaders of the world have openly acquiesced in the Israeli assault on the Palestinians and Lebanese in recent days is testimony to the fact that elites everywhere find this violence a useful exercise, not just in the context of the Middle-East itself but on their own home turf too.

Just take your eyes off for a minute from Israel and look around the globe and you can see what I mean. Look at the mini-Israels that governments everywhere are operating within their own national boundaries against the poor, the ethnic minorities, the historically marginalized or any population that can be enslaved at low cost. For the votaries of the hard state and the preservers of privilege everywhere Israel is the pioneering trendsetter in newer and more brazen ways of exercising illegitimate power.

That is why even as many governments condemn Israel in public, they are also slyly figuring out how best to incorporate elements of similar repression within the apparatus of their own states.

At one level is the exhortation to emulate Israel internationally. In India, after the mysterious Mumbai bomb blasts in early July that killed over 200 people there has been a clamour from the right wing to 'do it like the Israelis' and bomb whoever is responsible for the blasts wherever. That's a call for bombing nothing less than four countries, given the officially aired suspicion that the mastermind behind the blasts is somewhere in Kenya, was trained in Pakistan, hatched the plot in Nepal and infiltrated into the country through Bangladesh.

Going by this logic, now that the Israeli bombing of Lebanon has already killed two Indians and injured several more that makes a strong case for India bombing Tel Aviv too. (That would be truly ironic as India is today the largest customer for Israeli weapons!) Imitating Israel, in anything it does, is a recipe for perpetual World War- something that suits the designs of some countries and their rulers perhaps but not of a majority of this planet's residents.

At another level governments around the globe are using the excuse of the Israeli example to terrorise their own populations. While Israel certainly did not invent the concept of kidnapping, torture and assassination of its opponents it has done more than any other regime in the world to legitimize such behaviour internationally. (This has been possible of course because of its special hold over Western governments- particularly the US - who define what is 'legitimate' and what is not.)

Given the discontent produced by the forces of globalization throughout the world and the need of the elites for controlling the 'rebellious masses' Israel's approach to law and order are a 'valuable' contribution towards maintenance of the unjust status quo everywhere. All you need to do is to close your eyes, shut your conscience out, pretend to be the Israeli government and imagine all your opponents - workers, farmers, students anyone- as Palestinians.

In that sense it is not just nation states but also corporations- which are the main shareholders of the Empire - that seek guidance from Israel for ideas on how to put down dissent and continue ruling the world. After all at the core of global capitalism lies a fierce authoritarian urge that seeks to monopolise everything that exists but is unable to do so because the little people of the world have fought and established, over the centuries, some basic norms and laws of human and social behaviour. If Israel keeps demolishing these 'barriers' and advances the forces of barbarism - it makes complete world domination by the moneyed that much easier.

What emerges then is that, given the importance of Israel to global elites, a solution to the Palestinian question can never really be achieved through a struggle that focuses exclusively on the politics of the Middle-East itself. Contrary to what Condoleezza Rice believes a lasting resolution of the issue will not come from eliminating the Hezbollah. Instead a just peace is possible only by promoting more organizations that are willing to take on the various global interests that are bent on making our entire world look like one large State of Israel.

Satya Sagar is a journalist, writer, video maker based in New Delhi. He is also a Mathaba author. He can be reached at:

Annan "asked them to set their differences aside," Ahmad Fawzi, a top UN information department official, told a briefing. "We all know there are differences".

The meeting at the UN headquarters on an international force was originally planned for Monday but it was postponed at the last minute. The UN announced that it has been reorganised for Thursday.

A French official said, however, "France will not take part in a meeting that it considers premature," in a comment which reflects the divisions over how to end the
Israel-Hezbollah war.

The major powers also want to call a meeting of foreign ministers on Lebanon, but Britain's UN ambassador Emyr Jones Parry told reporters: "I don't see at the moment prospects for an early ministerial meeting here."

France has drafted a resolution calling for an immediate cessation of hostilities but for no international force to be sent to the southern Lebanon battleground until a political settlement is agreed.

The United States is refusing to call for an immediate end to the fighting, but wants an international force sent in quickly after any resolution is passed, according to US officials.

The ambassadors "discussed the cessation of hostilities, a ceasefire and political framework for a settlement, the composition and deployment of a stabilisation force for Lebanon and the humanitarian situation," said a UN statement.

"The secretary general is satisfied with the outcome of the discussions, which permitted clarification of the critical issues and discussions of timelines."

"We are still discussing how to proceed," US ambassador John Bolton told AFP as he left the meeting at Annan's residence in New York.

French ambassador Jean-Marc de La Sabliere said: "It is important that we can exchange views sometimes in a small committee, and that is why we met with the secretary general."

He added: "There is a French draft on the table. There are other ideas as well. The aim is to make sure that the council can make an effective contribution that is a stable solution."

No formal Security Council time has been set aside for consultations Wednesday on the crisis.

"There's a gap, so they are trying to bridge that gap, and so for the moment it is not worth having full council consultations," said Ghana's ambassador, Nana Effah-Apenteng, the council president for August.

US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Monday that she would "push very hard" for a ceasefire agreement by the weekend.

France also wants a resolution passed as quickly as possible. It should be "a question of days", French foreign ministry spokesman Denis Simonneau said in Paris.

The French spokesman acknowledged, however, that there were differences with the United States over the "sequence" of events. France believes that an international force cannot be sent unless there is a political settlement between Israel and Hezbollah to enforce.



International calls for a ceasefire have mounted, particularly after the killing of more than 50 people, including many children, in an Israeli strike on the Lebanese town of Qana on Sunday.

The United States insisted on Tuesday that progress was being made in negotiations on a UN resolution, despite the lack of public signs of agreement.

"I think you are beginning to see some real progress on the diplomatic front behind the scenes," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.

He said there was "widespread agreement" that a resolution to halt the fighting needed to "encompass" three elements, including having the Lebanese government assert effective control over Hezbollah strongholds in the south of the country.

The UN's deputy secretary general, Mark Malloch Brown, said the current crisis should be dealt with by France, the US, Egypt and Jordan - with the UK "following not leading" on Lebanon.

In an interview with the Financial Times Mr Malloch Brown said the crisis between Israel and Lebanon could not be resolved by "the team that led on Iraq".

"This cannot be perceived as a US-UK deal with Israel," he added.

Mr Malloch Brown said the UK and US were poorly placed to broker a deal over Lebanon because of their role in bringing about war in Iraq. "One of my first bosses taught me it's important to know not just when to lead, but when to follow. For the UK, this is one to follow.

"We need [the French president, Jacques] Chirac and [the US president, George] Bush, or Chirac, Bush and [the Egyptian president, Hosni] Mubarak and [Jordanian King] Abdullah on a podium, not President Bush and Mr Blair."

Ann Clwyd, chair of the parliamentary Labour party, said the "vast majority" of Labour MPs were "very critical" of Israeli policy and wanted a ceasefire to get humanitarian aid to the Lebanese civilians.

Ms Clwyd defended Mr Blair from accusations of "taking his eye off the ball" of the plight of the Palestinians, but said it was "nonsense" to think Hizbullah could be eradicated.

"It's like veins running through the body of the Lebanon," she told the BBC's Good Morning Wales radio programme.

"Before the recess, in the run-up to the end of our session, a lot of people were very angry.

"I think the vast majority of [Labour backbenchers] felt that there should be a ceasefire and the vast majority of them are very critical of Israeli policy.

"That I know is a fact because that is a view that has been expressed very strongly in the House of Commons." She did not criticise the PM, saying: "He has not taken his mind off the ball I can tell you that. I know the amount of time he has spent phoning individuals up, attempting to get some movement on what is a very difficult issue.

"He wants conflict to end. His argument is there's no point in having a pretend ceasefire.

"We have seen that of course in the last 48 hours where Israel was supposed to cease its air bombardment, but certainly that didn't happen. It continued on and off.

"He wants a ceasefire that's going to be meaningful."

But she added that "some of us would like a ceasefire at any price" in order to get humanitarian aid to the Lebanese.

In another interview, with the BBC, former foreign office minister Tony Lloyd bemoaned the UK's loss of influence with allies such as Egypt and Jordan, and expressed the hope Mr Blair's speech represented a "rowing away" from Washington's stance.

He said: "Any sensible observer would have said that these last weeks and days have meant that Britain's influence on the people worth influencing - our friends like Egypt, our friends like Jordan - is smaller now than it would have been at the start of this present conflict.

"If the Foreign Office were advising a much more cautious approach, a much more sensible approach, an approach that said that values do consist of not bombing the life out of the civilian population of the Lebanon, then the Foreign Office would, of course, be right in that."

"I hope it's a rowing away from Washington. I do hope, very fervently, that what we can see, for example, is a recognition that most of the issues in the Middle East that we've got to resolve - the settlement, for example, of the question of Iran's nuclear ambition - have been probably made more difficult by the last three weeks, not easier.

"An independent Palestine is more likely to see a democratically-elected Hamas element in any government and a democratic Lebanon would almost certainly see a stronger Hizbullah.

"That's the price we all pay for the last three weeks.

"I think people this morning waking up in the slums of the now broken cities and towns of the Lebanon might wonder about the values being stronger and better and more just, and would look at America as being part of the problem, frankly, not part of the solution," he told the BBC Radio 4 Today programme.

"US-inspired policies sees Iraq engulfed in problems, Afghanistan not finished and Israel tearing apart both the Lebanon and Gaza."

In Glasgow today, human rights lawyer Aamer Anwar, backed by the Stop the War coalition and the Muslim Association of Britain, which is outlining possible legal action to stop flights carrying weapons from the US to Israel via Britain.

Acting on behalf of Lebanese clients, Mr Anwar argues that the UK's continued permission for the flights is a breach of international law.

The landing at Prestwick airport near Glasgow last week of two US aircraft believed to be carrying bombs to Israel sparked major protests.

The Foreign and Commonwealth Office said yesterday that US military planes en route to the Middle East can land at UK airfields "as long as the proper procedures are followed".

It would not confirm reports that only military, rather than civilian, airfields would be used for the flights.

"The behavior and the aggressive essentiality of Israel and the United States will arouse the spirit of resistance more than before in the Islamic world and will further prove the value of Jihad (holy war)," he continued.

Khamenei also vowed to support Lebanese and the Palestinians in the face of Israeli attack.

"Iran will stand with all oppressed peoples, particularly the Lebanese people and the Palestinian people," said the top leader.

"Regional nations and Islamic juntas and followers of other religions in Lebanon and all Islamic countries should give a hand and unite, and they should not allow divisions which can enhance our enemy," he said.

Iran's top officials recently have reiterated strong indignation at Israel and the U.S. role in the Israeli offensive in Lebanon and the Gaza Strip, calling on international community to be more active in an effort to stop the conflicts.

Israel kept up a massive offensive against Lebanon's Shiite group Hezbollah, which was launched on July 12 following the capture of two Israeli soldiers by Hezbollah guerillas.

On another front, Israel continued an over-one-month-old large-scale air and ground operation in the Palestinian territory of Gaza in a bid to bring home a kidnapped soldier and halt Palestinian rocket fire.

On Thursday, the Security Council passed a draft that demands Iran "suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development" by the end of August. If Iran doesn't comply, the council will consider adopting "appropriate measures" under Chapter 7 of the United Nations' charter. Those measures relate to economic sanctions.

"If some think they can still speak with threatening language to the Iranian nation, they must know that they are badly mistaken," Ahmadinejad said in a speech broadcast live on state-run television.

The United States and other countries accuse Iran of seeking to produce highly enriched uranium and plutonium for nuclear weapons. Iran insists its nuclear program is peaceful and aimed only at generating electricity.

The resolution would call on the UN's Vienna-based International Atomic Energy Agency to report back by Aug. 31 on Iran's compliance with the resolution.

The military said more than 40 Tigers were killed on Wednesday, but that the rebels had left the bodies of only a few behind.

Officials said five military personnel and two civilians were killed. Truce monitors say military tolls of rebel deaths are often wildly overdone, while the Tigers often deny suffering losses at all.

But one diplomat said: "This certainly looks like a war. Neither side has shown any sign of wanting to de-escalate this situation and seek peace."

Police said rebels had infiltrated government-held parts of Mutur town near Trincomalee, had overrun a police post and were firing at troops from buildings in the town. The military said the Tigers had tried to capture a navy jetty checkpoint but had been repulsed.

"There are Tigers in Mutur town. They are firing from buildings in the government-held part," said Eastern Range Deputy Inspector-General of Police Rohan Abeywardene. "We had to pull men back from a police checkpoint, but the Tigers are not in control of the town."

Two Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) mortar bombs fell near a civilian hospital in Mutur, causing some damage to the building, but there were no immediate reports of casualties.

On Tuesday, suicide bombers tried to sink a ship with 850 troops aboard.

The Colombo stock market was sharply lower as fighting escalated, trading two percent lower in afternoon trade.

Petroleum Resources Minister A.H.M. Fowzie said there was no reported damage to storage tanks in Trincomalee used by fuel retailer Lanka IOC. State-run Ceylon Petroleum Corp. sources fuel from the island's only refinery near Colombo, he added.

VIOLENCE SPIRALS

The ceasefire halted a two-decade civil war that has killed more than 65,000 people since 1983. But tensions between the Tigers and the government have risen markedly since last November, peace talks have been called off, and mine attacks and ambushes have killed over 800 people this year.

But last week's clash over water supplies south of Trincomalee was the first time the two sides had fought in a ground battle since the ceasefire.

Elsewhere, there was sporadic violence in the northwestern district of Mannar. where the military said a Claymore fragmentation mine blast killed one soldier while another was shot and injured by suspected Tigers.

On Monday, a senior rebel in the east said an army offensive near the water tank meant the ceasefire was over and that war had restarted. But the government says it remains committed to the ceasefire and the Tigers say they are only acting defensively.

The government accuses the Tigers of attempted ethnic cleansing through cutting off the water supply to around 50,000 mostly Sinhalese and Muslims in army-held territory.

"Denying civilians water is a war crime," said Dr. Palitha Kohona, head of the government's peace secretariat. "Wars have started over less. Look at Lebanon."