Short summary of the Spanish articles posted yesterday:

1. FINUL/UNIFIL (i.e. Guiseppe Cassini) suspects al-Qa’ida.

2. A witness saw how a person parked the Renault and then left in a second car.

3. Another witness saw the Renault in Khiam together with a Mercedes.

Reports by Al-Akhbar and As-Safir also mention the Mercedes.

Al-Qaida Fingerprints on UNIFIL Bombing, Report

A car bomb attack that has killed six U.N. peacekeepers in southern Lebanon carries the fingerprints of the al-Qaida terrorist group, the daily As Safir reported Tuesday.

It said initial evidence and analysis indicate that al-Qaida fingerprints are on the bombing that targeted Sunday the Spanish contingent of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon.

As Safir, citing Lebanese security sources, said the attack resembled “al-Qaida style” bombings.

It said the explosives used in the attack were “very sophisticated,” adding that the car was rigged with 50 kilograms of TNT in addition to explosive powder designed to double the impact of the bomb and ignite fire. …
Naharnet

“The Hizbullah source said members of the movement were helping the Lebanese army seek information on a Mercedes car which was seen driving around the area the day before the booby-trapped Renault car was placed next to the roadside and detonated by remote control when the peacekeepers drove past.”
Naharnet

At Least 2 Men with Danish Ties Arrested in Northern Lebanon

A Danish national and a man with a residence permit in Denmark are among alleged Islamic militants arrested in northern Lebanon in recent weeks, the Foreign Ministry in Copenhagen said Tuesday.
Lebanese troops arrested the two men in late May in the northern port city of Tripoli, said Lars Thuesen, head of the Danish Foreign Ministry’s consular department.

It was not clear on what grounds they were being held, Thuesen said, adding that Danish authorities had requested information about the arrests from Lebanon.

Danish authorities also were investigating reports that a third man with Danish ties was arrested Sunday during fights in Tripoli between Lebanese troops and alleged Islamic extremists, Thuesen said. …
Naharnet

Four Australians ‘held in Lebanon’

The Department of Foreign Affairs says Lebanese officials have confirmed they have arrested four Australians since June 20 in relation to terrorist activities.

DFAT says Lebanese authorities are refusing to give Australian embassy officials access to the men.
…

Meanwhile, according to a report on SBS radio, Omar Hadba, a former Australian taxi driver arrested in Lebanon, turned in a group of radical Muslims arrested there last Wednesday.

Three Australian men, including former Sydney financial adviser Ibrahim Sabouh, were captured in Abu Samra, near Tripoli, after Hadba was arrested earlier by Lebanese police.

It is believed Hadba was arrested last week by Lebanese authorities before he exposed the radical cell.

SBS Radio’s Beirut correspondent, Antoine Salameh, reported today that Hadba had been the “key that led to the arrests”.

“Hadba migrated to Australia a few years ago before returning to Lebanon last year,” he said.

“The Lebanese authorities found explosives in his apartment near Tripoli. He was the key that led to the arrest of the sleeping cell in Abu Samra, near Tripoli.

“It is believed he worked as a taxi driver but it’s unknown if Hadba embraced radical Islam while in Australia or after his return to Lebanon.”
…

Newspapers said Mr Sayyed was known to NSW police, but police could not confirm that. …
AAP

This “thoughtful analysis” by a “Western analyst who knows Arabic well” is a regurgitation of Syrian regime propaganda, in its general thrust as well as its specific vocabulary. S/he has nothing but praise for Syria and Hizballa, and drools with venom on everything Lebanese.

So, what propagandist is this… Juan Cole? Helena Cobban? Tell tell.

Once again it is clear that the Sunnis of Lebanon have no genuine leadership. They are adrift without cadres or institutions that can put a program for them. The reliance on fringe groups to counter the HA presence is amateursih at best and can be catastrophic as the jihadist ideology has demonstrated recently. This is the result of a long standing policy on the part of the KSA of restricting the political debate among sunnis and confining the topics to mundane issues of rituals of the faith. Any faith will disappear unless it provides answers and solutions to its adherents. This is what happens when the Saudi family runs the Waqf in such a stupid way.
Syria will never initiate a war with Israel, there simply is no strategic parity in classical warfare style for Syria to even have a chance of scoring one point. The last thing that will happen is a war on the Golan. I also think that regaining influence in Lebanon is more important for the regime than regaining the Golan. The Golan will be prime target for Gulf money to develop as summer and winter resorts as is already happening in the southern part of Syria now. But Lebanon is the bigger prize. The article today in the Daily Star shows that the Syrian businesses continue to rely on the Lebanese banking system and vice versa. The private banking system in Syria has not matured and the laws remain too vague for people to move their monies into Syrian institutions. This will change over time.

Is Hanyeh very important speech not translated? Anyone has found it?

K,

Can you name anyone -who does not subsicribe to your school of thought of course- without calling him a Regime something-or-the-other? Your “Regime apologist, Regime propagandis, Regime spporter” theme is getting somewhat overused. NO other different and more creative approaches and themes availlable?

But if it makes you feel good, then just keep at it and to hell with everything else.

Here is why America is having a hard time understanding Syria.

I would agree with the Western analyst 100% that Syria is working relentlessly to win back the good relations with the EU, it’s a matter of national interest for the Syrians do achieve this important goal and gain access to the EU body. But, I am afraid other shadowy elements within the regime possibly working uncompromisingly to create a mayhem and impede any peaceful mean of reconciliations in Lebanon for reasons known to the public’s.
the acts done by the “elements” has been conflicting with the instituted policy of the state I would even speculate that this “elements” is working independently form the executive branch and above the security apparatuses!!! “ sound more like a Steven King movie script”

Atassi, I agree, everything is possible. Unfortunately, Lebanon remains wide open to international intelligence agencies as well as the many Lebanese ex-warlords and their extensive experience with these acts. I can imagine many capable parties being interested in ordering this attack on the Spanish troops. Who knows how they think. For example

1) Atassi’s hypothesis could have three types:

– Palestinian hard line organizations present in Syria (and/or Lebanon). They might not be happy with Syria’s attempts to seek a separate settlement on the Golan without waiting for a comprehensive solution that includes the Palestinian part of the Middle East conflict.

– “Element” in Syria not happy with the same (Above). One would have to imagine that these “elements” would be old-fashioned Baathist ideologues who want to take a more hard line position.

– “Elements” in Syria with fundamentalist religious motivations. They might want to rid the area of these foreign troops.

2) My other possibilities:

– Lebanese fundamentalist forces. Hitting Spanish troops is an attack on both foreign non-muslim forces present on Lebanese soil, and it is an attack on Hizbollah’s relations with Europe … since HA will be a prime suspect for such an attack in that part of Lebanon.

– Lebanese freinds of neocons … doing them a favor while helping the Spanish leaders to conclude that Syria is indeed led by the thuggish regime that Mr. Jumblatt has been trying really hard to explain. I would imagine that the neocons would not mind teaching Spain a lesson for its foolish withdrawal from Iraq and its refusal to stick to their directions when it started to clearly open up to dialogue and cooperation with Syria.

Who knows what Mr. Jumblatt, who stated publicly that he will try to assassinate the Syrian president, can think of doing… he surely is frustrated that Europe is opening up to Syria and thus helping “the thugs” get away with everything. His last visit to Washington and his extensive meetings with senior neocons could have helped him pick Spain as the target of Syria’s thugs’ and their criminal disregard to international law … etc.

EFE reports that the same type of explosives was used in both the UNIFIL car-bombing and the attack on Walid Eido. Both also contained aluminum powder.

As I had pointed out earlier, large quantities of aluminum powder were confiscated in raids on Fatah al-Islam apartments in Tripoli, according to reports by Al-Akhbar and Al-Hayat.

El atentado llevó 10 días de preparativos

El atentado que costó la vida a seis militares españoles el pasado domingo necesitó al menos diez días de preparativos, según dijeron a Efe fuentes militares libanesas que participan en las investigaciones.

Además, las fuentes aseguraron que el atentado fue perpetrado por “entre tres y cinco personas”, que utilizaron un Renault Rapide como coche bomba y un segundo vehículo de apoyo, pero no especificaron cuál pudo ser el cometido de este segundo coche.

El material utilizado, “muy inflamable”, es el mismo que fue empleado el pasado 13 de junio en el atentado contra Walid Eido, el diputado suní asesinado junto a nueve personas, entre ellas su propio hijo.

Este material utilizado en aquel atentado y también en este contenía aluminio en polvo mezclado con los 50 o 60 kilos de explosivos, especificaron las fuentes.

La carga fue detonada desde una distancia de unos 40 ó 50 metros de donde se encontraban los dos vehículos de la patrulla española, añadieron. …
EFE

Most likely,it is Samir Geagea who is behind this crime,against the spanish soldiers

L’ONU critique l’absence de surveillance à la frontière libanaise

Dans un rapport qui devait être remis, mardi 26 juin, au Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies, et dont Le Monde a obtenu une copie, cinq experts internationaux mandatés par l’ONU estiment que le dispositif de surveillance mis en place par les autorités libanaises à la frontière avec la Syrie est “insuffisant pour prévenir la contrebande, en particulier celle d’armes”.

Le groupe, dirigé par le Danois Lasse Christensen, estime que seul “le déploiement d’experts internationaux de la sécurité aux frontières” permettrait de remédier aux nombreuses lacunes observées au cours d’une mission d’évaluation qui s’est déroulée au Liban du 27 mai au 15 juin.

Les experts jugent “troublant” qu'”aucune saisie d’armes de contrebande à la frontière ou près de la frontière” ne leur ait été rapportée. Cette absence totale de résultat, “ne serait-ce que par chance”, soulève selon eux “des questions sur l’intégrité des agences et des personnels attachés à la sécurité de la frontière” (sic; t_d).

“Des décisions illégales sur la gestion de la frontière sont prises, motivées par des sympathies politiques, des connexions familiales ou de clan ou la corruption traditionnelle”, affirme le document.
…

Selon le rapport de 46 pages, de “multiples chemins et passages” rendent “possible pour des trafiquants et des terroristes ou agents infiltrés étrangers de traverser la frontière”. Même aux postes-frontière, le manque d’organisation “a pour résultat un flux de cargaisons de véhicules et de passagers incontrôlable”.

Les techniques de contrôle sont telles qu'”un trafiquant ingénieux pourrait trouver relativement facile de dissimuler non seulement des explosifs, des armes légères ou des munitions, mais aussi des armes lourdes assemblées ou désassemblées, telles que des missiles ou des roquettes”.

Selon les experts de l’ONU, “les bastions militaires palestiniens lourdement armés qui couvrent les deux côtés de la frontière” posent aussi “un problème majeur en termes de sécurité”. L’armée libanaise ne peut pas entrer dans les camps palestiniens –à l’exception, actuellement, de celui de Nahr Al-Bared– et se borne à en contrôler les alentours.
Le Monde

The English version:

Lebanon needs help to stop arms from Syria: UN

International security experts should be deployed to help a new Lebanese border force stop arms smuggling from neighboring Syria, according to a UN assessment team’s report released Tuesday.

The team, which was sent by UN chief Ban Ki-moon to assess monitoring of the Syria-Lebanon border, said that “the present state of border security was insufficient to prevent smuggling, in particular of arms, to any significant extent.”

It called for the deployment “of international border security experts” to back up a new Lebanese “multi-agency mobile force” that would be tasked with doing a better job of stemming the arms smuggling.
…

“There is still substantial room for improvements on the Lebanese border security management, some of which can only be reached through assistance and support from the international community,” the report said.

It recommended that Lebanon set up “a multi-agency mobile force focusing on arms smuggling with the purpose of creating seizure results within a short timespan through its intelligence and rapid interception capabilities.” …
AFP

Murr blames Al-Qaeda-inspired groups for attack on peacekeeping forces

Defense Minister Elias Murr characterized the car-bomb attack that killed six UN peacekeepers Sunday as “extremely dangerous” in an interview with Al-Arabiyya television on Tuesday. Murr blamed the attack on Al-Qaeda-inspired groups, citing intelligence reports. …
The Daily Star

Ex-Dinnieh detainees deny link to Fatah al-Islam

A group of former detainees captured in the Dinnieh region in 2000 denied in a statement issued Tuesday allegations of their involvement in the Nahr al-Bared conflict, saying that a “flood of false accusations by politicians and media members” had misrepresented the group. …
The Daily Star

Update on the Australians:

Aussies knew Lebanese cleric

THE small cell of Australians caught in the violence in northern Lebanon have two things in common.

They all lived in Sydney and were associates or followers of Australian-born Islamic radical cleric Sheik Feiz Mohammed.

At least four Australian passport holders, Ibrahim Sabouh, Ahmad Elomar, Mohammed Basal and Omar Hadba, remain in custody in Lebanon unable to speak with Australian diplomats after their arrest last week.

And officials still can’t confirm another former Sydney man, Bassem al Sayyed, and his Lebanese wife were killed or held when Lebanese troops raided an apartment building on Sunday at Abu Samra, Tripoli.

Sheik Feiz Mohammed is the former head of the Global Islamic Youth Centre at Liverpool in western Sydney and he now lives just a few kilometres from Abu Samra with his wife and six children.

The Sheik, 37, a graduate of Medina University in Saudi Arabia, left Australia after it was revealed he had produced hate videos urging Muslim parents to give up their children as martyrs for jihad. …
Herald Sun

“Ahmed Elomar, an undefeated super featherweight who fought on the undercard of the Anthony Mundine-Danny Green bout last year, left Sydney suddenly two months ago without telling anybody, according to friends.

Elomar is the nephew of Mohamed Ali Elomar, one of the nine men charged with plotting a terrorist act in November 2005.

Omar Hadba, a dual Australian-Lebanese citizen, is still being questioned after Lebanese police raided his home last weekend and found what they said was a large quantity of weapons and military equipment.

Lieutenant-Colonel Bassem al Ayoubi, chief of police in Tripoli, said Hadba told them of the cache under interrogation after being arrested last Wednesday, and also informed them of the militant cell involved in a 10-hour siege on Sunday.

Colonel Bassem said that contrary to earlier reports no Australian died in that shoot-out, but that the Australian owner of the flat where it took place, Bassam el Sayed, was arrested later and is being held by Lebanese military intelligence. Police said the five militants who died in the shoot-out were Saudi, Chechen and Lebanese, not Australian.

Another three dual Australian-Lebanese citizens are also still being questioned by police after being arrested in Tripoli last week but no connection has yet been established between them and the weekend violence.

Consular officials have not been able to speak to any of the men. Besides Elomar, they are believed to be former Sydney financial adviser Ibrahim Sabouh and Muhammad Basal.

SBS radio said yesterday that Hadba had migrated to Australia a few years ago but returned to Lebanon last year.”
Sydney Morning Herald/AAP

Hadba was a neighbour of Omar Bakri Mohammed:

“Sheikh Bakri told The Age he saw the weekend raid on the apartment of his neighbour, former Australian taxi driver Omar Hadba, where police allegedly found a cache of weapons and military equipment.
…

Sheikh Bakri said he lived opposite Hadba in the Abu Samra neighbourhood of Tripoli, only 500 metres from the new apartment building where fighting broke out between the Lebanese army and Islamist militants on Saturday night. “I saw them carrying out a lot of stuff but it was only equipment. I didn’t see any weapons,” Sheikh Bakri said.”
The Age

This is not a reason for excluding Syria as a potential and strong suspect. Your argument would be acceptable if you are talking about a person who knows their interest but Syrian Regime is so off course that does not knows its interest and its limit. We all know and the Syrian Regime knew that extending the mandate of LaHood will bring disaster to both Syria & Lebanon as we see now. Despite this and the repeated warnings by the whole international committee the Syrian Regime did not recognize its interest and its limit and went ahead with the mandate. It has lead to a major defeat and humiliation for Syria and losing one of the most important cards in Syrian hand (Lebanon). So this inexperienced regime would do what it takes to create chaos in the region even if it further put it in an awkward position. They do not realize unfortunately where they are taking Syria.

Bilal,

“Despite this and the repeated warnings by the whole international committee”

I think in your eagerness to accuse the Syrian regime of every evil under the sun, you refuse to remember that the ” whole international community” was motivated mostly by Chirac (who later wanted to bomb Syria, and who got a nice appartment as a gift from from Hariri the day he retired) and the Bush administration who gave us Iraq among other “creative Chaos” strategic successes.

Go follow them, Bilal.

It won’t even get you the overthrow of the Syrian regime which you would love to see… because your heros are not only “bad” .. they are lacking in skills, and wisdom.

Alex,

Please be calm as I did not accuse Syria. What I said that this is not a reason for excluding Syria as a potential and strong suspect. So for me Syria is still a suspect and not an accused.
Please go back to UN resolution1559 and you will see that was passed by 15 vote and not just Bush & Chirac. Do not be close minded like our regime and blame every thing on Bush, Chirac, & Israel. This regime has survived so long by following this strategy to blame everything on Israel and the US. At one point in time Bashar & Co. were accusing Israel for the bad Syrian economy 5 years ago. Frankly it has worked in the past and we Syrians have believed them but no more. Look at 1559 as it is a very clear example. Bashar & Co has accused Bush, Chirac, & Hariri of resolution 1559 and some Syrians had believed this. Then we all found out that prior to this resolution Syria has asked Spain to mediate an agreement where Syria does not push the extension of the mandate of LaHood in exchange that no UN resolution will take place. After few hours Spain was able to succeed to get this arrangement but the Syrian Regime was ill informed that 1559 will not get the 9 needed votes and changed their mind like always and went ahead with the extension of LaHood. The next week 1559 get unanimous vote. So who do you think made 1559? Chirac & Bush or Bashar & Charaa?
Don’t just blame your enemies for your stupidities. It is becoming more & more obvious now for the Syrian people and the Syrian Regime cannot use this anymore. He has to be creative and find a new lie to cover his mistakes.
As for the gift to Chirac from Hariri it does not have to do with this. The Hariri family knows Chirac sine 25 years and the exchange of gifts since then and it is not new. This is not the first gift and definitely will not be the last. By the way, do you know that the present palace where Bashar lives and receive his delegates is a gift from Hariri?
Yes I & a lot of fellow Syrians would like to see this corrupt regime go away and it will happen very soon even sooner than you think. As for my hero you are wrong as Democracy will never be as you said: “bad” .. They are lacking in skills, and wisdom.” Trust me the only replacement for this corrupt & family oriented regime is DEMOCRACY and nothing else. Here again do not blame your enemies for your mistakes Mr. Alex.

Regarding Nabil Rahim:

I just found this earlier (19/04/2007) report by As-Safir which also makes the connection between “Sheikh Nabil R.”, Ahmed Abu Adass and the Mehlis Commission.

Where does this story come from? Does anybody know?

It seems rather unlikely, given that Nabil Rahim was based in Tripoli and Ahmed Abu Adass lived in Beirut (and nothing in the Mehlis report suggests that he traveled to Tripoli before the day of his disappearance).

(As-Safir server seems down at the moment; I hope the link will work later.)

Bilal Says,

“So for me Syria is still a suspect and not an accused.”

You guys seem to have lost touch with reality.

Syria??? Suspect of killing spanish Unifil soldiers????

With full respect guys, kiss my butt, the whole bunch of you. Do yourself a great favore: Stop getting involved in Political Discussions, you aint cut for it. Go watch the X Files, James Bond movies, Rambo style things or just go visit your nearset shrink, if he will accept to treat advance cases such as yours.

Look at this , you will see what is coming according to Israelies,

General Predicts Israel Will Attack Iran, Syria, Hamas, Hezbollah, “al-Qaeda” this Summer

Kurt Nimmo
Tuesday June 26, 2007

It is a provocative headline: “Israel braces for July war with up to five enemies.” If we are to believe Israeli military intelligence chief Maj. Gen. Amos Yadlin, this attack will be launched by Iran, Syria, Hizbullah, Hamas and, of course, “al-Qaeda,” the database. “Each of these adversaries is capable of sparking a war in the summer,” Yadlin told the World Tribune. In other words, Israel is capable of attacking one or all of these “adversaries,” as Israel has a notorious history of attacking its neighbors under contrived pretense.

Few remember the words of the Irgun terrorist Menachem Begin, later Israeli prime minister—as Israelis, much like Americans, prefer to be led by terrorists and war criminals—who admitted in 1982 “that Israel had fought three wars in which it had a ‘choice,’ meaning Israel started the wars,” according to Donald Neff, writing for the Washington Report on Middle East Affairs.

Here is Begin’s quote in full: “In June 1967, we had a choice. The Egyptian army concentrations in the Sinai approaches do not prove that [Egyptian President] Nasser was really about to attack us. We must be honest with ourselves. We decided to attack him.”

As Livia Rokach writes in the introduction to Israel’s Sacred Terrorism, based on the memoirs of Moshe Sharett, the former Israeli prime minister, the “Israeli political/military establishment aimed at pushing the Arab states into military confrontations which the Israeli leaders were invariably certain of winning. The goal of these confrontations was to modify the balance of power in the region radically, transforming the Zionist state into the major power in the Middle East.” In order to realize this modification of power, Israel engaged in “military operations aimed at civilian populations across the armistice lines,” in particular against a defenseless Palestinian population, but also against Israel’s Arab neighbors, and these “operations [were] designed to dismember the Arab world, defeat the Arab national movement, and create puppet regimes which would gravitate to the regional Israeli power.”

“A clear, lucid, coherent logic runs through the history of the past three decades,” Rokach wrote in the 1980s. “In the early fifties the bases were laid for constructing a state imbued with the principles of sacred terrorism against the surrounding Arab societies on the threshold of the eighties the same state is for the first time denounced by its own intellectuals as being tightly in the deadly grip of fascism.”

“Lebanon was the model, prepared for its role by the Israelis for thirty years, as the Sharett diaries revealed,” explains Ralph Schoenman in his book, the Hidden History of Zionism. “It is the expansionist compulsion set forth by Herzl and Ben Gurion even as it is the logical extension of the Sharett diaries. The dissolution of Lebanon was proposed in 1919, planned in 1936, launched in 1954 and realized in 1982.” Schoenman cites Oded Yinon’s A Strategy for Israel in the 1980s, a document that “outlines a timetable for Israel to become the imperial regional power based upon the dissolution of the Arab states.”

In regard to Syria, Israeli peace activist Uri Avnery tells us the Zionist state created a convenient myth in order to escalate hostilities and thus steal land. “According to legend, the Syrians exploited their control of heights overlooking the Israeli villages in the valley below them. Again and again the evil Syrians (the Syrians were always ‘evil’) terrorized the helpless kibbutzim by shelling. This myth, which was believed by practically all Israelis at the time, served as a justification for the occupation of the Golan Heights and their annexation by Israel. Even now, foreign visitors are brought to an observation post on the Golan Heights and shown the defenseless kibbutzim down below.”

The truth, which has been exposed since then, was a bit different: Sharon used to instruct the kibbutzniks to go to their shelters, and then he would send an armored tractor into the demilitarized zone. Predictably, the Syrians shot at it. The Israeli artillery, just waiting for its cue, then opened up a massive bombardment of the Syrian positions. There were dozens of such “incidents.”

Earlier this month, Jan Muhren, a Dutch UN observer stationed interchangeably at the Golan Heights and the West Bank in 1966-67, told a Dutch current affairs program “neither Jordan nor Syria had any intention to start a war with Israel,” according to Monsters and Critics. Muhren said “Israel was not under siege by Arab countries preceding the Six-Day War … and that the Jewish state provoked most border incidents as part of its strategy to annex more land,” that is to say steal land at gunpoint, most notably from Syria, although the “war” resulted in the theft of Gaza and the West Bank from Egypt and Jordan respectively. As well, Israel grabbed the Sinai Peninsula from Egypt.

Once again, Israel is not “under siege by Arab countries,” or Hezbollah, Hamas, and the fantastical “al-Qaeda” for that matter, and yet we are told each “of these adversaries is capable of sparking a war in the summer.” Israeli officials, according to the World Tribune, “said Iran has direct influence over Syria, Hizbullah and Hamas. He said Al Qaida has increasingly come under Iranian influence and was being used by Iran and Syria in such countries as Iraq, Jordan and Lebanon.” In short, the Israeli “security myth” documented by Livia Rokach in the 1980s and in the current era buttressed by ludicrous fairy tales, is alive and well. Under such a “security” pretense, never examined by the corporate media, we can expect Israel, or more likely the United States, under an AIPAC and neocon zombie trance for some time now, to attack Iran and Syria, possibly next month, certainly before the Commander Guy leaves office.

Iraq was attacked and 750,000 Iraqis slaughtered in the name of “Israeli security,” that is to say Israeli hegemony. “Why would Iraq attack America or use nuclear weapons against us? I’ll tell you what I think the real threat (is) and actually has been since 1990—it’s the threat against Israel,” Philip Zelikow, Bush insider and former executive director of the nine eleven whitewash commission, told a crowd at the University of Virginia on September 10, 2002, according to Emad Mekay, writing for the IPS-Inter Press Service. Naturally, the corporate media completely ignored Zelikow’s comments.

As should be expected, the Likudniks and American neocons will demand, in the wake of Israel’s defeat to Hezbollah last summer, another go, this time making certain to accomplish their goals. Meyrav Wurmser, the Israeli married to the neocon David Wurmser, admitted as much last December. “Hizbullah defeated Israel in the war. This is the first war Israel lost,” she told Yedioth Internet. “I know this will annoy many of your readers… But the anger is over the fact that Israel did not fight against the Syrians. Instead of Israel fighting against Hizbullah, many parts of the American administration believe that Israel should have fought against the real enemy, which is Syria and not Hizbullah.” Wurmser, of course, is talking about the neocon part of the administration, the part that has control of American foreign policy. Iran, naturally, figures prominently on the target list as well. If the Israeli Likudniks and the American neocons have their way, Israel will have a second go this summer.

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INFOWARS: BECAUSE THERE’S A WAR ON FOR YOUR MIND

INFOWARS.net Copyright © 2001-2007 Alex Jones All rights reserved.

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http://infowars.net/articles/june2007/260607General.htm

Norman;

Your pasted article will set off a hornets nest!

I eagerly await Akbars response (this should be funny) How could you Norman paste such an article to possibly shatter the myth about those evil arabs (syrians et al) ?

What kills me as a reader of history is the propoganda on both sides of the fence, ie the Miraculous victory over 6 arab armies been the main one. (1948). There is nothing miraculous about military victories the victor is always the victor because he was better prepared, more stronger and more cunning than his adversary.

The region will never be ready for peace, both sides just simply dont want it!

Norman quotes Avnery :’According to legend, the Syrians exploited their control of heights overlooking the Israeli villages in the valley below them.”

How right !

A close friend of mine lived at the foot of the Golan heights, around 1960, in a kibbutz within range of a Syrian observation position. The place was never attacked and had not been according to her collegues in the kibbuts.
On the other hand she witnessed how , once a year, a tractor would plough up the hill towards the border and get fired at. It was provocation pure and simple. The driver would get 100 dollars for the job and was in an armoured tractor. He was not even a kibbutz member.
Also, one night she heard a cannon firing for the longest time and when asked what had happened on the following morning her friends told her they had not heard anything. She thus concluded that the attack had come from the Israeli side.
She sometimes, but rarely, would work in full sight of the Syrian soldiers above and they would not move.
Back in Europe, she saw a movie about the place made by a team of Frenchmen and could not believe her eyes on how the narration ran.
It was pure propaganda and btw several kibbutz members had refused to be in it because they knew what use would be made of it.

Annie,

how do these Kibbutz members and settlers in the occupied Golan view their occupation of the plateau?
Are they willing to withdraw, being aware of the “use [that] would be made of [the propaganda movie]”?
Do they want peace?
Or is it like: we know our gvt lies and employs propaganda for dirty goals, we know it’s not our land, but we like it here and we want to keep the Golan forever?

MO,

Unfotrunately, it is more like in Might is Right.

Any thief knows that what he stolen does not belong to him. Even if he has stole a lot of things. But he keeps hoping that he will be able to hold on to it as long as possible. Or that the real owner and his hgires would die or forget or give up on such a claim. And I bet you that those to-be relocated Israeli settlers on the Golan (same as their brethern in Gaza and Sini before)are sure of the fact that they will one day leave, but the most important material question for them is: with how much money would we be compansated for all this land and effort once we are eventually told to leave.

Now never mind the emotional outbursts and the made-for-the-media theatrics o “shocked and Saddened| Israelies “uprooted from a land (stolen of course but the TV clip would skip that part) i which they have invested bolld, tears, sweat and many bottles of Beer and Wine. THat is show-business. Well, not totaly. Would you not feel very bad if had you stolen a Ferrari, fixed it up and used it for ten years, then the police comes round and forces you to give it back to its original owner? Now of course you would not steal, but if you did, you would not feel “right” and “good” about giving a stolen nice Rolex back? In the case of the Israeli residents of the occupied Golan, they know the day will come, and I ould bet that they are always contemplating how much the Police will refund to them of the Gas money, insurance, repair bills, etc… they spent while driving this stolen car for the last 40 years.

It was provocation pure and simple. The driver would get 100 dollars for the job and was in an armoured tractor. He was not even a kibbutz member.

Annie –

How do you think the Glorious Syrian people can get the Golan back?

Do you think this “method” could have been employed prior to the ’67 war in order to prevent losing this land?

To Aussama

Very good and insightful analysis of the relationship the israeli kibbutz people have with the Golan, or any other land they stole, for that matter, and their resistance to the necessity of returning it,and their alliegeance to their gov.even though they know it’s wrong because their interest lies there.

If you change names around a bit, sustaining the same logic, you might begin to understand what some honest minds have been trying to tell you here about the attitude of Syria towards Lebanon. But the problem is that your obvious capacity in logical reasoning doesn’t want ot go that far.

Mo asks:

how do these Kibbutz members and settlers in the occupied Golan view their occupation of the plateau?

For one thing, they don’t considered it occupied.

Are they willing to withdraw, being aware of the “use [that] would be made of [the propaganda movie]”?

Most don’t want to, but would move if the government forced them to move (sort of like the Gazan residents, except that Gaza was never annexed).

Do they want peace?

No, they want to arm and fund Hezbollah terrorists in order to fire missiles into Syria.

Or is it like: we know our gvt lies and employs propaganda for dirty goals, we know it’s not our land, but we like it here and we want to keep the Golan forever?

No, they prefer the “truth” as presented in the Arab media, and they are hoping one day for the final Arab victory over the Zionist impostors.

Ausamaa states:

Any thief knows that what he stolen does not belong to him.

Yes, today the problem is Israeli “occupation”.

Prior to the Six Day War, the problem was Israel existence.

It’s always something, isn’t it?

No Akbar Palace, Israel is not the source of all eviles in the Middle East. It is the eternal fountain of peace, love and justice, but we stupid ones – Arabs and unbiased others who represent 99% of the Earth inhabitants- are simply failing to see that truth. Forgive our ignorance.

Akbar,
Shouldn’t have you concluded your illuminating remarks above with some links to Wikipedia? Your argument seems to be incomplete.