The International Committee of the Red Cross has been doing a heroic task of looking after the Palestinians trapped on the boarder between Iraq and Syria. This effort, reported below, to find them homes far from the region (Bravo Chile) is no doubt a result of ICRC efforts as well as Chilean kindness. Many thanks to Jean-Jacques Fresard, chef de delegation of the ICRC in Damascus [[email protected]] and to Irenee Herbet [[email protected]] the communications and field officer, who gave me a thorough overview of the ICRC's efforts to help the Palestinians last summer.

They have kept up constant pressure on International organizations to do something for these Palestinians, who are the forgotten refugees of the Iraq war. They have also taken every occasion to publicize their plight and to lecture people like me, sending pictures and details in an effort to humanize their conditions and put faces on the numbers. The ICRC is also responsible for the economic and human exchanges between the Syrian population of the Golan Heights and Syria. They have been working tirelessly to get international observers in Syrian prisons, something Syria Comment has covered in the past.

37 Palestinian refugees fleeing Iraq fly to Chile

DAMASCUS, Syria (AP) — A group of Palestinian refugees stranded on the Iraq-Syria border since 2006 flew to Chile Sunday under a resettlement plan sponsored by the Catholic Church in the South American country and the U.N. agency for refugees.

The group of 37, including 17 children, was the second to make the trip to Chile. Thirty-nine left in early April.

"It's a lovely day for me," said 45-year-old Youssef Darwish. "At last I will feel that I am a human being. But the sad thing is that I will leave behind my friends whom I lived with for two years."

A third and final group will leave at the end of this month. The 735 Palestinians fled the violence in Iraq in 2006 but were denied entry by Syria, leaving them stranded at a desert camp close to the border. Chile has agreed to take 117.

Syria is already home to an estimated 1.5 million Iraqi refugees and about 500,000 Palestinians.

On arrival in Chile, each of the refugees will receive a monthly stipend of $50, or about $500 per family, as well as free housing, health care and education for the children, until they are fully settled in.

During their first few weeks, they will begin learning Spanish, obtain residency documents and receive physicals.

Authorities also have pledged to find jobs for the refugees, who include tailors, plumbers and drivers.

Iraqi Christians Struggle With Fear After Slayings

BAGHDAD — At the Rev. Thair Abdal's church, where on Sunday mornings sweet songs of prayer stream from the doorway, the congregation's fear of death leaves the sanctuary half-filled. "It's very clear," Abdal said. "Like the light of day, you cannot hide it."

Guards with AK-47 assault rifles man the heavy gates outside. Priests remove their black robes and white collars when they travel in the city. Violence in Iraq has declined dramatically since last year, but members of the country's Christian denominations say they are increasingly under threat.

In March, Paulos Faraj Rahho, archbishop of Mosul's Chaldean community, was found dead after being abducted. This month, Youssef Adel, an Assyrian Orthodox priest, was fatally shot in a drive-by attack in Karrada, one of Baghdad's safest neighborhoods and home to Abdal's Holy Catholic Assyrian Church.

Dozens of churches, monasteries and other buildings have been firebombed, looted or occupied by Muslims since June 2004, according to Assyrian church leaders. Christian relief organizations describe the plight of Iraqi Christians as "ethnic cleansing."

Most Christians in Iraq are Chaldeans, members of an Eastern Rite denomination that recognizes the pope's authority. Other sizable denominations include the Assyrian Catholic Church, which traces its roots to the 1st century. Iraqi Christians are also affiliated with the Church of the East, the Anglican Church and other Protestant faiths.

Pope Benedict XVI and President Bush said that in a meeting last week they discussed the "precarious state" of Christian communities in Iraq and elsewhere in the Middle East.

The Iraqi Christian population numbered 1.35 million before the Persian Gulf War in 1991, according to politicians who cite government statistics from the time. That number has dropped by at least half, according to politicians, priests and religious organizations, mainly because Christians have fled the country in the years since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003.

Iraqi Christians Struggle With Fear. Washington Post

In Syrian Villages, the Language of Jesus Lives By ROBERT F. WORTH in the NYTimes. "As Aramaic-speaking Christians disappeared, only a number of villages remain the keeper of this largely forgotten language.

North Korea Helped Syria's Nuclear Program
Revelation Could Upset North Korea Nuclear Talks|
By JAY SOLOMON
April 22, 2008 5:04 p.m.

WASHINGTON—North Korea was helping Syria build a plutonium-based nuclear reactor, the Bush administration is set to tell Congress, a revelation that could undermine diplomatic efforts to dismantle Pyongyang's nuclear-weapons program.This week, the Central Intelligence Agency is expected to begin briefing members of the Senate and House Intelligence Committees on the Israeli strike, according to Congressional and administration officials, based in part on intelligence provided by the Israeli government.

The information is expected to confirm that North Korea was helping Syria develop a plutonium-based nuclear reactor similar to the Yongbyon facility North Korea built north of Pyongyang, said an official familiar with the deliberations. The briefings are also expected to confirm that North Korean workers were active at the Syrian site at the time of the Israeli attack.

Less conclusive, however, is any firm evidence that Syria was attempting to develop nuclear weapons, according to the U.S. official. "People will probably spin this information in whatever direction they want," the official said.

A spokesman for the White House's National Security Council, Gordon Johndroe, said: "The administration routinely keeps appropriate Members of Congress informed of national security and intelligence matters, but I'm going to decline to comment on any specific briefings." A spokesman for the CIA declined to comment.

Destination Martyrdom,
A Legacy of Resistance: The hundreds of insurgent documents that were captured in the raid at Sinjar included personnel files on 52 recruits from Darnah; 10 of them included the enlistee's photo
By Kevin Peraino | NEWSWEEK

What drove so many Libyans to volunteer as suicide bombers for the war in Iraq? A visit to their hometown—the dead-end city of Darnah. 

Even before he vanished, Abd al-Salam bin-Ali was an easy young man to miss. Pale, lanky and blind in one eye, the unobtrusive 20-year-old didn't leave much of an impression in Darnah, his hometown in eastern Libya. In school he had studied to become a veterinarian, but after graduation he couldn't find a job. "The economic situation was terrible," recalls his older brother, Abd al-Hamid. "He was looking for work every day." Sometimes Abd al-Salam would set up a folding table in Darnah's Old City and hawk cheap perfumes.

Unmarried, with few prospects, he still lived with his mother. At home, for distraction, he would sprawl in front of the family television and watch "Lion of the Desert," the 1981 epic of Libyan resistance fighters starring Anthony Quinn. Abd al-Salam had seen it over and over. As the war in Iraq dragged on, he also tuned in to Al-Jazeera. Nobody in the family had supported the American invasion, but Abd al-Salam was particularly affected by the bloody images he saw on the Arabic cable news channel….

The Institute for Public Policy Research has released a new in-depth report by Syracuse Professor Joshua Stacher examining the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt.  The paper includes an overview and history of the organization; the group's policy positions on issues including the rights of women and minorities, political reform, and the application on Shari'a law; its performance in parliament since winning 88 seats in the 2005 parliamentary elections; and an analysis of western policies toward the organization.

Lebanon

France resumes contacts with Syria
By DPA
Apr 22, 2008, 10:04 GMT

Paris – French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner has met with his Syrian counterpart, Walid al-Muallem, in Kuwait, ending a freeze on bilateral contacts imposed by Paris in December, the French Foreign Ministry said Tuesday.

Kouchner and al-Muallem met on the fringe of a conference on Iraq held in Kuwait. The two men discussed primarily regional issues, 'particularly the political crisis in Lebanon,' the foreign ministry said in a statement issued in Paris.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy broke off diplomatic contact with Damascus in December after accusing Syria of blocking a political solution to the Lebanese crisis.

Sarkozy said links would be restored only when France had proof that Syria was not blocking progress towards installing a consensus president in Lebanon.

Lebanon has been without a president since November, as rival factions argue over who should fill the post.

Carter Says Hamas and Syria Are Open to Peace By ETHAN BRONNER in the NYTimes. "Given the general pessimism surrounding Israeli-Arab peace, the upbeat assessment of former American President Jimmy Carter had a contrarian quality to it."

"Carter's New Doctrine," Sami Moubayed

… Contrary to what many Arabs believed, [Carter] was never anti-Israeli but believed that just like the Israelis, the Arabs had the right to live and hope. They too suffered. They too existed and feared. They had legitimate interests, he claimed, that needed to be respected to bring peace to the Holy Land. These views were shared by his new secretary of state, Cyrus Vance, and national security advisor Zbigniew Brzezinski.

This year, Brzezinski (who is now a foreign policy advisor to Democratic presidential challenger Barack Obama) visited Damascus and met Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. He then visited one of the private universities in Syria and spoke to students of the Faculty of International Relations. Most of them asked questions about the Carter era. They wanted to know why was it that America's number one ally in the region, Shah Reza Pahlavi of Iran, had been toppled by the Islamic revolution of 1979, despite assurances of support from the Carter White House?

They asked him about the arming and training of jihadis to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan in December 1979. They asked him what could be expected in Syrian-US relations if Obama made it to the White House? That visit was frowned on by decision-makers in Washington, who accused Brzezinski of visiting a nation "that disrupts regional peace and supports international terrorism".

The psychological shock of seeing Brzezinski in Damascus was nothing, however, compared with what happened when Carter landed in the Syrian capital on April 18 to meet not only Assad but also Khaled Meshaal, the head of the political bureau of Hamas, a Palestinian military group that the US brands a "terrorist organization". ….

The Carter Center explained the trip, saying it aimed to "support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East". Carter said, "I feel quiet at ease in doing this. I think there's no doubt in anyone's mind that if Israel is ever going to find peace with justice concerning the relationship with their next door neighbors, the Palestinians, that Hamas will have to be included in the process."

Pro-Israeli think thanks in Washington have been slamming Carter for his audacity — "He actually hugged a Hamas official" –to meet with Hamas.  See the barage of articles by WINEP here.

Syria tunes in the West on Madina FM

Popular 'Good Morning Syria' host Honey Sayed and others on the airwaves are mixing thumping music and racy U.S.-style talk shows, providing a rare cultural bridge in the Arab world.

By Borzou Daragahi
Los Angeles Times Staff Writer 
April 22, 2008 

DAMASCUS, SYRIA — It's the midmorning commute, and time for the horoscope on "Good Morning Syria," the nation's hottest radio show.  "Cancer," host Honey Sayed addresses listeners first in Arabic, then in English, with an air of sisterly candor, "don't get all worked up for nothing." On the other side of the window, deejay Abdullah Shaaban cues an oldie from John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John. "I got chills, they're multiplying," Travolta sings. "And I'm losing control."  Honey laughs and continues with her astrology report. "An opportunity is present," she coos into the microphone, "so take it, Leo."  Newly instituted freedom on the nation's airwaves has transformed Syria's sonic landscape. Some say it is shaping the way people view themselves, part of a wave of global influences turning this nation, whose government is the most hostile to the West in the Arab world, into the culture most amenable to it…..

The following article tries to make sense of the almost constant war scares emanating from Israel over the last two years. My bet is that the threats and psychological warfare will not escalate into full battle. Most sensible people in the US and Israel know that war would be foolish and self-defeating. Israel would not get the peace it hopes for. The Middle East would be further radicalized. Oil prices would go through the ceiling. These are the same reasons that the US and Israel will not bomb Iran.

US and Israeli analysts have tried to depict Syria as the low hanging fruit. But like the fruit that Tantalus wanted so badly, it is always out of reach. It is not as low as it seems.

In April 2003, Israel's ambassador to Washington, Daniel Ayalon, explained what conditions the US and Israel believed would cause Syria to abandon its claim to the Golan and its support for Hizbullah. He said:

The way to deal with [Syria] is to de-legitimize its regime and the way to do that is by applying political pressure and to really apply economic sanctions… this is the key element to pressure [it] into regime change… So, this is the direction – a lot of psychological pressure.

The bombing of Lebanon in 2006 was carried out so severely in order to signal to Assad that Syria could not resist Israel and the US. He would have to make peace on favorable terms with Israel or suffer Lebanon's fate. The neo-cons in the White House insisted that the only way to convince Asad to change was to bomb him. This is why the Wurmsers berated Israel for refusing to hit Syria directly. Unfortunately for the neo-cons, most Israeli analysts are not so stupid. They understand the futility of such action. As I wrote in March 2004:

The United States would be unwise to squeeze Syria to the breaking point. Regime change will present the U.S. with a number of immediate dangers and few clear advantages. The likelihood of Syria producing a fully democratic regime in the next ten to fifteen years is remote; it enjoys none of the recognized prerequisites for sustaining democracy: its elites are not committed to democracy, its population is not homogeneous, its national institutions are extremely weak and its per capita GDP is closer to $1,500 than the $5,500 commonly viewed as the democratic tipping point. Moreover, the strategy of promoting external opposition groups, such as Farid Ghadry’s Reform Party, is unlikely to succeed. Similar efforts to support exile groups to bring change to Cuba and Iraq have met with an unbroken record of failure. Should the Asad regime collapse, state institutions such as the army and police would likely disintegrate and the country would slip into chaos and inter-confessional violence…. By threatening Syria’s stability, the U.S. will elicit the opposite effect it desires. Syrians will rally around their government rather than demand change.

Behind TV Analysts, Pentagon’s Hidden Hand

  

• Interactive Feature: How the Pentagon Spread Its Message

See Col. Lang's comments on this story: "They did not drink the Koolaid?"

Yes, and those who did not "play ball" were systematically excluded from access by the Pentagon.  The MSM picked up those cues (presumably transmitted by the Administration) and stopped talking to many of the best people. 

I was invited to one briefing at the Pentagon.  At the meeting, many of those mentioned in this article were present.  The purpose of the meeting was to give Rumsfeld the chance to explain the Abu Ghraib mess. I asked some awkward questions and was not invited again.  pl

The presentation of SHIBLEY TELHAMI here with all the breakdowns and comparison with 2006..

Iraq: Only 6% of Arabs polled believe that the American surge has worked. A plurality (35% ) do not believe reports that violence has in fact declined. Over 61% believe that if the US were to withdraw from Iraq, Iraqis will find a way to bridge their differences, and only 15% believe the civil war would expand. 81% of Arabs polled (outside Iraq) believe that the Iraqis are worse off than they were before the Iraq war.

Iran: In contrast with the fears of many Arab governments, the Arab pu public does not appear to see Iran as a major threat. Most believe that Iran has the right to its nuclear program and do not support international pressure to force it to curtail its program. A pl plurality of Arabs (44%) believes that if Iran were to acquire nuclear weapons, the outcome would be more positive for the region than negative.

The Arab Israeli conflict: There is an increase in the expressed importance of the Palestinian issue, with 86% of the public identifying it as being at least among the top three issues to them. A majority of Arabs continues to support the two?state solution based on the 1967 borders, but an increasing majority is pessimistic about its prospects. If the prospects of a two state solution collapse, 50% believe it would lead to a state of intense conflict for years t to come, while only 9% believe it would lead to a one one?state solution, and only 7% believe that the Palestinians would eventually surrender.

Palestinian Divisions: In the conflict between : Hamas and Fatah, only 8% sympathize with Fatah, while 18% sympathize with Hamas, and 38% sympathize with both to some extent. In so far as, they see Palestinians as somewhat responsible for the state of they affairs in Gaza, 15% blame Hamas’s government, 23% blame the government appointed by President Mahmoud Abbas, and 39% blame both equally.

The Lebanese Crisis: Only 9% express sympathy with the majority governing coalition in the current in internal crisis in Lebanon, while 30% sympathize with the internal opposition led by Hizbollah, 24%, sympathize with neither side, and 19% sympathize with both to some extent.

Popular Leaders: Hezbollah’’s leader, Hassan Nasrallah, increased his popularity as the most admired, leader in the Arab world (26%) There was also an increase in the popularity of President Bashar Assad of Syria. Also striking, however, was the emerging popularity of modernizing Sunni Arab leaders, particularly Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid al Maktoum of Dubai, when respondents identify the two leaders they admire most.

Attitudes toward the US: 83% of the public has an unfavorable view of the US and 70% express no confidence in the US. Still, Arabs continue to rank the US among the top countries with freedom and democracy for their own people. 32% believe that, from the point of view of advancing peace in the Middle East, American policy will remain the same, no matter who wins the US elections. 18% believe that Barack Obama has the best chance of advancing peace, 13% believe Hillary Clinton has the best chance, while 4% identify John McCain as having the best chance for advancing peace.

Global Outlook: France continues to be the most popular country, China continues to make a good showing, and views of Pakistan have declined.

Media: Al-Jazeera continues to command the largest share of the Arabic news market, with 53% of Arabs polled identifying it as their first choice for news, with practically no change from last year. Egyptian Television and Al Al?Arabiya have made some gains over last year. To a plurality of respondents, the quality OF both Al-Arabiya and Al-Jazeera has improved over previous years, with only a small minority perceiving a decline.

Clayton Swisher, the author of the excellent book, The Truth About Camp David, is now working for al-Jazeera TV and has done an excellent story on Carter's Visit to Damascus. It includes a bit with the second in command of Hamas, Dr. Musa Abu Marzook.  See it on U-tube.

Former President Jimmy Carter Meets With Hamas Leader Khaled Meshal ABC News

"You have to involve Hamas. They have to be involved in some way," Carter said. Leading Israeli columnist Akiva Eldar told ABC News today that this policy would not work. "It's no use just talking to the good guys like Abbas, if you don't also talk to the bad guys like Hamas. Any deal Israel makes with Abbas can be destroyed by Hamas if they don't agree," Eldar said.

Carter also attacked current Israeli policy of blockading the Gaza Strip, which since June has been ruled by Hamas. "It's an atrocity that is perpetrated as punishment on the people of Gaza. It's a crime. … I think it is an abomination that this continues to go on," he said.

Syria, US at Odds Over Hariri Probe By ADAM ZAGORIN/Time

The war in Iraq has become "a major debacle" and the outcome "is in doubt" despite improvements in security from the buildup in U.S. forces, according to a highly critical study published Thursday by the Pentagon's premier military educational institute.

Back to Jordanian option/ Eiland Four reasons why final-status agreement with Palestinians is unfeasible…

An Ominous Rift Grows in the Arab World By: Rami G. Khouri | The Daily Star As oil income to Arab producers continues to rise, we are witnessing sharper polarization between the wealthy, energy-producing states of the Gulf with their small populations on the one hand, and the more populous, energy-importing Arab countries in the Levant, the Nile Valley, and North Africa on the other….

The Age of Nonpolarity
by Richard Haass
Foreign Affairs
The era of American hegemony is over–and Washington will have to change its ways to succeed in the new environment.

The State Department on Tuesday issued a new travel warning on Syria, telling U.S. citizens to "thoroughly consider the risks of travel to Syria" and to "take adequate precautions to ensure their safety."

Syria — which the U.S. has labeled as a state sponsor of terrorism — continues to be home to the offices of several terror groups, the new warning says.

Groups like Hezbollah, Hamas and Palestinian Islamic Jihad along with other extremist organizatiosn "have the potential to be either the targets of or perpetrators of acts of violence," the statement reads, pointing to recent incidents that likely would make the usual day-trekker reconsider a leisurely visit.

"On February 12, 2008, an explosion occurred in the residential Kafer Soseh neighborhood of Damascus, killing Imad Moughniyeh, a senior Hizbollah operative.

"In 2006, the U.S. Embassy in Damascus was attacked by terrorists armed with guns, grenades, and a car bomb.

"The Syrian Government has allowed anti-U.S. demonstrations to occur; the latest was on March 3, 2008. Anti-U.S. demonstrations date back to September 2005, some of which have turned violent and led to damage to Western embassies, including the U.S. Embassy."

Abbas to Discuss Borders, Refugees, Jerusalem Status With Bush
By Massoud A. Derhally

April 15 (Bloomberg) — Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas will discuss the so-called final status issues in the Middle East peace process when he meets President George W. Bush in Washington on April 24.

Abbas discussed the violence in the Gaza Strip with Jordan's King Abdullah II today in Amman, the Royal Court said in a statement. The two men talked about final status questions, which Abbas will also raise with Bush, according to the statement.

Posted by Alex

Thanks to IDAF who translated the highlights of President Assad's talk during his meeting with Arab Intellectuals who participated in the "Conference on Pan-Arab Thought Revival and Arab Destiny" held in Damascus this week.

Former Lebanese Prime Minister Salim Hoss and Palestinian activist Azmi Bishara were among the attendees.

Original article in Arabic here: http://www.al-akhbar.com/ar/node/70804
 

 
Lebanon:
Syria does not keep an equal distance with all Lebanese factions, nonetheless we acted responsibly and invited PM Saniora to the Arab summit despite all the insults directed at us from the Lebanese fraction that Saniora belongs to. We view our differences with some Lebanese political factions as temporary disagreement. We feel that the US is satisfied with the current situation in Lebanon and does not want to reach a solution.
 
Other external parties that have influence in Lebanon do not support the Arab initiative.
 
I met with Saudi FM prince Saud Al-Faisal here in Syria and told him that we are ready to cooperate, but you Saudis have greater influence in Lebanon, as the governing authority in Lebanon includes key leaders "that grew in your lap and live through your support and are directly under your influence". The opposition on the other hand was not manufactured at the presidential palace in Syria. It is not true that we have more influence on the Lebanese opposition compared to your influence on the government. We have a clear vision for the solution for Lebanon.

Any initiative from our part would require establishing good relationships with the other external parties with influence in Lebanon such as the Saudis and the Egyptians.
 
Iraq:
Collin Powel met with me in Damascus weeks after the fall of Baghdad and read what is now known as the "conditions list". The list did not only ask for expulsion of Palestinian leadership from Syria, but also included a condition that I never mentioned before, that forbids Syria from hosting Iraqi scientists and Iraqi intellectuals. Later we saw these targeted in Iraq.

We were expecting to see an Iraqi resistance emerging against the occupation, but we were surprised with the pace that this resistance transformed its efforts quantitatively and qualitatively, compared to similar experiences of resistance movements in Lebanon and Palestine.
 
Syria calls for an Iraqi national reconciliation congress that would draft a new Iraqi constitution.
 
The case in Iraq today is not a civil war, but a group of militias fighting to create a reality on the ground. Syria hosts over 1.5 million Iraqis from various backgrounds. No fighting took place between these sects in Syria. This proves that there are no inherent problems that make civil war inevitable… It is mainly the occupation that is behind the violence in Iraq.

Any talk on the interests of sects will not bear any fruit, and will not lead to development and unity in Iraq. Any constitution that is based on distributing interests based on sectarian divisions will not lead to stability. Al-taif constitution in Lebanon is a case in point.
 
Some in the Arab world might be waiting for the new US administration so they can decide their next steps on Iraq and other issues.
 
Iran:
There is a joint Israeli-US interest in creating an enemy of the Arabs out of Iran. We know that Iran has its interests [in the Arab world] and maybe there were Iranian mistakes in managing some issues. This does not justify looking at Iran as an enemy of the Arabs. I told Arab leaders who blame Syria for its relation with Iran that we have to judge this relationship case by case and not take an absolute stance.

 
Palestine:
As the president of the Arab summit this year, Syria is coordinating between Hamas and Abbas.
 
If Syria's relationship with Egypt was in a better state, we would have managed to find a solution for Gaza's closure.
 
We considered the Yemeni initiative to be a solid starting point, and Hamas told us that they are willing to go with this initiative all the way, but the other side was not enthusiastic.
 
I think that there is a veto against Palestinian reconciliation. Syria does not have direct methods to interact directly. 

Syria:
I'm optimistic, everyday our situation is improving while, Syria's enemies situations are getting complicated.
 
Syria is immune from the sectarian problems, because there is an agreement on the national stance between the people and the government.
 
Israel
Israel wants to normalization with the Arabs instead of peace.
 
War is a possibility now. It will depend on US interests. For example, Israel wanted to halt the war (in 2006) in Lebanon at one point in time, but the US forced it to continue fighting. We understand that a [Syrian-Israeli] war would be a demand by this US administration and we are preparing for the worst. However, we do not see it happening. After the last war on Lebanon, I noticed an increase in the nubmer of visits by western delegations [to Syria], especially Jewish ones. I noticed that the discussions' nature has changed dramatically from threats and pressure [on Syria] into seeking a way to peace. Some frankly said that the last war should speed up the process for reaching peace. Israelis have offered us secret negotiations and we rejected. We do not have anything to hide. 

I'm more optimistic than any time before.

———————–

Comments by Alex:

I think the obvious message from Syria is:

“Any initiative from our part would require establishing good relationships with the other external parties with influence in Lebanon such as the Saudis and the Egyptians.”

American, Egyptian and Saudi leaders are talking to anyone but Syria .. yet they want Syria and only Syria to solve the problems of Lebanon.

And they say that Lebanon is very important for them … but president Mubarak and King Abdullah (not to mention president Bush) do not want to meet with Assad.

King Abdullah even refused to meet with Lebanese speaker of Parliament, Nabih Berri.

But he frequently meets with the President of Iran that many of his allies consider to be a dangerous man. And his media talking heads frequently express their country's disappointment in Assad's close relations with Iran.

Also this week, President Mubarak met with King Abdullah … it was their own Arab summit. The summit of the clueless Arab leaders.

In the mean time, a recent poll conducted in leading Arab states found President Assad to be the most popular Arab head of state.

Today Assad met with former President Jimmy Carter in Damascus. According to Haaretz "Carter is very upbeat"

Qadhafi to Leaders at the Arab Summit: We All Hate One Another. The Americans Might Hang You All One Day Like They Hanged Saddam

Anyone who has not watched Muammar Qadhafi's speech at the Arab Summit in Damascus is in for a treat. This is an historic piece of theater by the the old jester.

Here are two views on Hamas and its Struggle printed by the Washington Post today. One by Hamas' Foreign Minister and the other by the editorial writers of the Post

No Peace Without Hamas
By Mahmoud al-Zahar
Thursday, April 17, 2008; A23

GAZA — President Jimmy Carter's sensible plan to visit the Hamas leadership this week brings honesty and pragmatism to the Middle East while underscoring the fact that American policy has reached its dead end. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acts as if a few alterations here and there would make the hideous straitjacket of apartheid fit better. While Rice persuades Israeli occupation forces to cut a few dozen meaningless roadblocks from among the more than 500 West Bank control points, these forces simultaneously choke off fuel supplies to Gaza; blockade its 1.5 million people; approve illegal housing projects on West Bank land; and attack Gaza City with F-16s, killing men, women and children. Sadly, this is "business as usual" for the Palestinians.

Last week's attack on the Nahal Oz fuel depot should not surprise critics in the West. Palestinians are fighting a total war waged on us by a nation that mobilizes against our people with every means at its disposal — from its high-tech military to its economic stranglehold, from its falsified history to its judiciary that "legalizes" the infrastructure of apartheid. Resistance remains our only option. Sixty-five years ago, the courageous Jews of the Warsaw ghetto rose in defense of their people. We Gazans, living in the world's largest open-air prison, can do no less.

The U.S.-Israeli alliance has sought to negate the results of the January 2006 elections, when the Palestinian people handed our party a mandate to rule. Hundreds of independent monitors, Carter among them, declared this the fairest election ever held in the Arab Middle East. Yet efforts to subvert our democratic experience include the American coup d'etat that created the new sectarian paradigm with Fatah and the continuing warfare against and enforced isolation of Gazans.

Now, finally, we have the welcome tonic of Carter saying what any independent, uncorrupted thinker should conclude: that no "peace plan," "road map" or "legacy" can succeed unless we are sitting at the negotiating table and without any preconditions.

Israel's escalation of violence since the staged Annapolis "peace conference" in November has been consistent with its policy of illegal, often deadly collective punishment — in violation of international conventions. Israeli military strikes on Gaza have killed hundreds of Palestinians since then with unwavering White House approval; in 2007 alone the ratio of Palestinians to Israelis killed was 40 to 1, up from 4 to 1 during the period from 2000 to 2005.

Only three months ago I buried my son Hussam, who studied finance at college and wanted to be an accountant; he was killed by an Israeli airstrike. In 2003, I buried Khaled — my first-born — after an Israeli F-16 targeting me wounded my daughter and my wife and flattened the apartment building where we lived, injuring and killing many of our neighbors. Last year, my son-in-law was killed.

Hussam was only 21, but like most young men in Gaza he had grown up fast out of necessity. When I was his age, I wanted to be a surgeon; in the 1960s, we were already refugees, but there was no humiliating blockade then. But now, after decades of imprisonment, killing, statelessness and impoverishment, we ask: What peace can there be if there is no dignity first? And where does dignity come from if not from justice?

Our movement fights on because we cannot allow the foundational crime at the core of the Jewish state — the violent expulsion from our lands and villages that made us refugees — to slip out of world consciousness, forgotten or negotiated away. Judaism — which gave so much to human culture in the contributions of its ancient lawgivers and modern proponents of tikkun olam — has corrupted itself in the detour into Zionism, nationalism and apartheid.

A "peace process" with Palestinians cannot take even its first tiny step until Israel first withdraws to the borders of 1967; dismantles all settlements; removes all soldiers from Gaza and the West Bank; repudiates its illegal annexation of Jerusalem; releases all prisoners; and ends its blockade of our international borders, our coastline and our airspace permanently. This would provide the starting point for just negotiations and would lay the groundwork for the return of millions of refugees. Given what we have lost, it is the only basis by which we can start to be whole again.

I am eternally proud of my sons and miss them every day. I think of them as fathers everywhere, even in Israel, think of their sons — as innocent boys, as curious students, as young men with limitless potential — not as "gunmen" or "militants." But better that they were defenders of their people than parties to their ultimate dispossession; better that they were active in the Palestinian struggle for survival than passive witnesses to our subjugation.

History teaches us that everything is in flux. Our fight to redress the material crimes of 1948 is scarcely begun, and adversity has taught us patience. As for the Israeli state and its Spartan culture of permanent war, it is all too vulnerable to time, fatigue and demographics: In the end, it is always a question of our children and those who come after us.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, a surgeon, is a founder of Hamas. He is foreign minister in the government of Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, which was elected in January 2006.

Wash Post EDITORIAL: Zahar Is a Terrorist
The former president, on what he says is a road to peace, embraces Hamas terrorists.
Thursday, April 17, 2008; A22

ON THE OPPOSITE page today we publish an article by the "foreign minister" of Hamas, Mahmoud al-Zahar, that drips with hatred for Israel, and with praise for former president Jimmy Carter. We believe Mr. Zahar's words are worth publishing because they provide some clarity about the group he helps to lead, a group that Mr. Carter contends is worthy of being included in the Middle East peace process. Mr. Carter himself is holding what appears to be a series of meetings with Hamas leaders during a tour of the Middle East. He met one militant in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Tuesday and was reportedly planning to meet Mr. Zahar in Cairo today before traveling to Damascus for an appointment with Khaled Meshal, Hamas's top leader.

Mr. Zahar lauds Mr. Carter for the "welcome tonic" of saying that no peace process can succeed "unless we are sitting at the negotiating table and without any preconditions." Yet Mr. Zahar has his own preconditions: Before any peace process can "take even its first tiny step," he says, Israel must withdraw to the 1967 borders and evacuate Jerusalem while preparing for the "return of millions of refugees." In fact, as Mr. Zahar makes clear, Hamas is not at all interested in a negotiated peace with the Jewish state, whose existence it refuses to accept: "Our fight to redress the material crimes of 1948 is scarcely begun," he concludes.

In that fight, no act of terrorism is out of bounds for the Hamas leader, who endorses the group's recent ambush of Israeli civilians working at a fuel depot that supplies Gaza. The "total war" of which he speaks was initiated and has been sustained by Hamas itself through its deliberate targeting of civilians, such as the residents of the Israeli town of Sderot, who suffer daily rocket attacks.

These facts would hardly need restating were it not for actors such as Mr. Carter, who portray Hamas as rational and reasonable. Hamas is "perfectly willing" for Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas "to represent them in all direct negotiations with the Israelis, and they also maintain that they will accept any agreement that he brokers with the Israelis" provided a referendum is held on it, the former president told the newspaper Haaretz. Compare that claim with Mr. Zahar's own words on the opposite page. In fact, Mr. Zahar has called Mr. Abbas "a traitor" for negotiating with Israel — a label that is, in the Palestinian context, an incitement to murder.

Mr. Carter justifies his meetings with familiar arguments about the value of dialogue with enemies. But he misses the point. Contacts between enemies can be useful: Israel is legendary for such negotiations, and even now it is engaged in back-channel bargaining with Hamas through Egypt. But it is one thing to communicate pragmatically, and quite another to publicly and unconditionally grant recognition and political sanction to a leader or a group that advocates terrorism, mass murder or the extinction of another state. That is what Mr. Carter is doing by lending what is left of his prestige to an avowed terrorist such as Khaled Meshal — or Mahmoud al-Zahar.

The People's Army of Hizbullah
Ma'ariv by Jacky Hugi — (Thanks to Timur Goksel, the man in Lubnan)

Quietly and efficiently, Hizbullah has turned into the Lebanese 'people's army' in the past months. The Shiite organization has established special units for Sunnis, Christians and Druze, and now they have even been joined by former SLA (South Lebanon Army) fighters, who were loyal to Israel.

The details were revealed by the US-based Christian Science Monitor, in an investigative report conducted by its correspondent in Beirut. According to the investigative report, "Hizbullah militants regroup amid war jitters," carried out by British journalist Nicholas Blanford, service in Hizbullah is not limited to Shiites only. Special units made up of other ethnic groups, known as saraya ('companies'), have been set up within the organization and are mainly intended to serve as reserve forces.

These non-Shiite activists, whose number was not stated, join Hizbullah of their own volition. Hizbullah thus expands its ranks and enjoys great legitimacy in Lebanese society. For the Sunni community, this is a problematic development since its leaders have traditionally been considered to be opposed to Hizbullah. The Christians, in contrast, have become closer to the Shiites in recent years and some of them have even become their allies.

'I assume that this was a result of pressure that was put on them,' said a former SLA officer who lives in the Galilee panhandle, who was surprised by the report. 'After all, Hizbullah controls everything there and it has the ability to threaten people. In addition, their livelihood is also at stake, and the economic situation there is also a pressure factor.'

Hizbullah's Vision

If this is not information aimed at psychological warfare, and Hizbullah has indeed recruited young Sunnis, Christians and Druze, then it is an interesting development. If it should become stronger and branch out into other realms, the day is not far when Hizbullah will turn into a multi-ethnic organization under Shiite control, and will effectively realize its plan of conquering the hearts of the Lebanese people by peaceful means.

Anyone who has been closely watching the events inside Lebanon in recent years will not be surprised. Many Lebanese, irrespective of religious affiliation, give Hizbullah very high marks. After decades of weak and atrophied Sunni-Christian control of Lebanese politics, Nasrallah and his men represent a refreshing governmental model for them: Modest living, care for the weak, efficient management, a spirit of volunteerism and above all lack of corruption. All this, without religious coercion and while lending an attentive ear to non-Shiites.

 The gaps dividing between Hizbullah and large sectors of [Lebanese] society are still very great, but it is no secret that many Christians admire Nasrallah for his strength and moral character, particularly after surviving the war in the summer of 2006. Had we said this only ten years ago, it would have raised eyebrows. Today, it is an established fact. Hizbullah is well aware of this, and presents an intriguing alternative to the public. On the day the order is given, when the people will have to choose what is best for them, [Hizbullah] hopes to be there before all the rest.

One imminent test is already just around the corner. These is the Lebanese parliamentary elections, which are due to be held in exactly one year. The parliament, which is elected by the public in the ballot boxes, will appoint the government. Hizbullah hopes to make use of its improved image in the general public to further its standing in the legislature and advance into the government, all in a legitimate manner. From there, Nasrallah and his men will aspire to change the constitution and give the Shiites slices of the governmental pie, which will properly express their share of the population. This vision is not immediate, and it may take time before it materializes, but it is not imaginary.

Conspiracy of Silence

Ma'ariv by Jacky Hugi (op-ed) — Two whole months have passed since unknown figures assassinated Imad Mughniyah, commander of Hizbullah's jihad wing, on Syrian soil. Everyone is waiting for a Syrian response, or at least an announcement about the conclusions of the investigation. But Damascus remains silent.

 The Syrian silence is not self-evident. One could expect a country whose sovereignty was crudely violated to respond in some way. This is true for any country, and particularly for the proud Syrian regime, which took another blow five months earlier, the reverberations of which have not yet subsided: The mysterious strike by IAF jets on September 6.

In both cases, the Syrians preferred to keep a low profile, to restrain their response and direct feeble accusations at Israel. The reason is Bashar Assad's dilemma. If he accuses someone, he will have to react. And if he reacts, he could become entangled in another blow, particularly if Israel is the party in question. Assad, unlike Nasrallah, he has something to lose in such a clash. He is not the leader of belligerent militias, but the leader of an orderly state, which is exposed and vulnerable. An Israeli chain reaction would undermine his stability even further.

From the first moment, Syria understood the complexity of its situation. Therefore, it maintained a thunderous silence. The revelations of a member of Hizbullah's Shura Council, in the Al-Haqiqa newspaper, which were published this week in the Israeli press as well, show the depth of Syria's embarrassment. The senior source related that after Assad learned that Nasrallah and his men had succeeded in smuggling Mughniyah's body under the nose of Syrian intelligence, on the night of the assassination, Assad demanded that Nasrallah remain silent. The latter objected, and was the first to tell the world about the fall of his friend.

The same rules from the Mughniyah affair apply to the attack on the secret installation in September. Assad knows full well what was attacked and who was behind the operation, but he is not able and does not want to get into a head-on collision with Israel. The truth is that he does not really have to. Hamas, to which he extends his sponsorship, punishes Israel every day.

Official Jerusalem kept quiet in both cases, despite the fact that the Americans blabbed, for their own reasons, after the strike in September. According to reports from the past week, Israel applied pressure to Washington so that it would not reveal details from that night in a discussion in Congress. The Americans have their own interest in clarifying the truth in this issue, due to the suspicion that North Korea was involved in the Syrian nuclear program.

In its care to maintain silence, Israel is assisting Assad in the effort to enable Arab public opinion to forget both affairs. The result is a rare convergence of interests between Damascus and Jerusalem. Each of them is keeping silent, so as not to force Assad to be shamed publicly and forced into an act of revenge. In the meantime, we can certainly send him a bouquet of flowers.