Sewage in water threatens Gazans
GAZA CITY (IPS) — Gaza is being forced to pump 77 tons of untreated or partially treated sewage out to sea daily due to the Israeli blockade of the coastal territory. The fear is that some of this is creeping back into drinking water. "The health of Gaza's 1.5 million people is at risk," Mahmoud Daher, from the U.N. World Health...Hawks belie Iran’s “existential threat” to Israel
WASHINGTON (IPS) — New arguments by analysts close to Israeli thinking in favor of U.S. strikes against Iran cite evidence of Iranian military weakness in relation to the U.S. and Israel and even raise doubts that Iran is rushing to obtain such weapons at all. The new arguments contradict Israel's official argument that it faces...U.S. forces to hand over hard-won Anbar Province?
FALLUJAH — This is a city literally rising from the ashes. While reminders of two major U.S. assaults here in April and November 2004 are inescapable, signs of rebirth are plenty. Men in jumpsuits busily work on construction sites, sewers are being installed, and a hospital is nearly completed. Now, the U.S. military is poised to...Muslim Brotherhood stronger after party election
CAIRO (IPS) — Recent internal elections within the Muslim Brotherhood opposition movement were trumpeted in the local press as a victory for the group's "conservative" faction over its "reformist" rivals. But according to independent commentators and a Brotherhood spokesman, media claims of a split within the movement's ranks are...Poll backs greater U.N. role in Mideast peace
WASHINGTON (IPS) — A majority of global publics say their governments should "not take either side" in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, instead supporting a call for the United Nations to play a greater role in regional peace, according to a new international poll of 18 countries released here Tuesday. World publics gave low...Is Doha unraveling in Lebanon?
BEIRUT — Unresolved disputes and sectarian rancor have bubbled to the surface in Lebanon this week, jeopardizing the brief respite provided by the Doha agreement to end the 18-month political crisis. Having filled a six-month presidential void by the election of Michel Suleiman on 25 May, the country may be on the brink of yet...
Hizbullah affirms prisoner swap
July 5th, 20080 BEIRUT — Hassan Nasrallah, the secretary-general of Hizbullah, has announced his group's agreement to a prisoner exchange deal with Israel. In a televised speech on Wednesday, the Hizbullah leader said he expected the swap to take place in one to two weeks. He said that the exchange should include the release of Samir Kantar, a...Hamas and Hizbullah gain, almost hand in hand
CAIRO (IPS) — Hizbullah's dramatic seizure of Beirut last month stunned observers and dealt a heavy blow to Washington's Lebanese allies. In Cairo, analysts compared the episode to last year's takeover of the Gaza Strip by Palestinian resistance faction Hamas, noting that both actions were pre-emptive — rather than offensive — in...
A blueprint for withdrawal from Iraq
June 27th, 20080 WASHINGTON (IPS) — Proponents of a U.S. military withdrawal from Iraq routinely brush off criticisms that their ideas are "irresponsible." But until this week, the charge that withdrawal cannot be accomplished responsibly — and just how that would be done — has never been coherently answered. With the release Wednesday of the...IAEA: Syria nuclear visit ‘inconclusive’
An initial investigation into a Syrian site alleged by the U.S. to have hosted a secret nuclear reactor was inconclusive, a senior U.N. inspector has said. Olli Heinonen, a deputy director general of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA), said on Wednesday that "work needs to be done" in investigating claims that Damascus...Tense Israeli-Hamas truce holds
A fragile quiet has been maintained in the Gaza Strip following the implementation of a ceasefire between Israel and the Hamas movement. The Egyptian-mediated truce started at dawn on Thursday but Israeli tanks remain on the Gazan border and leaders continue to express doubts about how long the deal can last. Ehud Olmert,...Questions abound on Hariri’s relation to radical Salafist backers
Almost two weeks after the Doha agreement put an end to 18 months of political conflict in Lebanon, the situation on the ground remains shaky. Sectarian and partisan-inspired incidents have become almost a daily occurrence in Beirut and other areas. In the past week alone, Lebanese opposition forces documented 37 instances in which...How the war will end in Iraq
All eyes are on the U.S. presidential campaign, in which the candidates have taken quite different positions concerning the war in Iraq. This is the wrong place to look. I believe it is fairly certain that Barack Obama will be the next president of the United States. And his views of the war in Iraq are almost the polar opposite of...Celebrities and celebration take their toll
BEIRUT (IPS) — In the dark streets across from the main Hamra road, one of the major commercial arteries in the Lebanese capital Beirut, light streams from behind the drapes of a first floor apartment. A politician's speech blaring from a TV resonates loudly in the night. As music cues the closing credits of the show, sudden...Israel detains Fulbright scholars in Gaza
Gaza City — Zohair Abu Shaban graduated at the top of his 2007 class in electrical engineering at the Islamic University here and after a lengthy application process, he was awarded the U.S. State Department's prestigious Fulbright Scholarship to study in Connecticut. But first Mr. Abu Shaban has to get out of Gaza. So far, that's......
Israeli attack looking more likely
JERUSALEM (IPS) — The likelihood of a large-scale Israeli military operation in the Gaza Strip has crept closer as more rockets continue to land in southern Israel and another Israeli was killed by a mortar shell, further hardening attitudes amongst senior ministers against a proposed truce with Hamas. Speaking to reporters aboard...Ahmadinejad faces heavyweight foe in Larijani
UNITED NATIONS (IPS) — This week, Iran's new speaker of Parliament, Ali Larijani, proposed forming two joint committees of the legislative and judiciary branches in an effort to reconcile new legislation with the Islamic penal code. The step is viewed as part of Larijani's enthusiasm to build strategic alliances within Iran's......
Revealed: Secret plan to keep Iraq under U.S. control
June 6th, 20080 A secret deal being negotiated in Baghdad would perpetuate the American military occupation of Iraq indefinitely, regardless of the outcome of the U.S. presidential election in November. The terms of the impending deal, details of which have been leaked to The Independent, are likely to have an explosive political effect in Iraq....When the kettle calls the pot black
I cannot say that I ever liked Ehud Olmert. But now I almost feel sorry for him. It is not pleasant to see how they pounce on him, like jackals and hyenas fighting over a carcass. And that also raises some questions. Was Olmert the only fallible human being in this paradise? Not at all. The stories about the envelopes stuffed with...Investment conference a success?
BETHLEHEM — Amid lavish settings and tight security, hundreds of investors and entrepreneurs from around the world last week gathered in the southern West Bank town of Bethlehem to discuss and plan joint business ventures. Palestine Authority (PA) officials described the "Palestine Investment Conference" as a "mega event" in light...Iraqis questioning U.S.-Iraq deals
WASHINGTON (IPS) — Iraqi parliamentarians are increasingly concerned that they are being left out of talks between Iraqi and U.S. officials over a strategic deal to determine the future relationship between the two countries, at a time when the U.S. Congress failed to include a provision in a bill to fund the Iraq and Afghan wars......
Why Qatar is emerging as Middle East peacemaker
Doha — This tiny Gulf state emerged this week at the forefront of regional diplomacy, successfully shepherding the negotiations between feuding Lebanese factions to end months of political turmoil and violence. With regional powers, such as Saudi Arabia and Iran, aligned behind rival players in Lebanon, Qatar is uniquely suited to...
Siniora to head Lebanon government
May 30th, 20080 The U.S.-backed March 14 bloc nominated Fouad Siniora as prime minister Tuesday, although members of the Hizbullah-led opposition signaled they were unhappy with Siniora becoming head of the new cabinet. President Michel Sleiman's office made the announcement on Wednesday, following the president's meeting with legislators and the......
Bush ‘plans Iran air strike by August’
May 30th, 20080 NEW YORK — The George W. Bush administration plans to launch an air strike against Iran within the next two months, an informed source tells Asia Times Online, echoing other reports that have surfaced in the media in the United States recently. Two key U.S. senators briefed on the attack planned to go public with their opposition...Will the U.S. negotiate with Hizbullah?
Editor's note: This is the fifth and final installment of Franklin Lamb's series on Hizbullah, reprinted from counterpunch.org. What the Bush administration wants from Hizbullah • A public announcement of, and adherence to, a Hizbullah policy that separates Islam from terrorism in the minds of the Western public, i.e. between......