Mid East Daily

Iran has won the first round of its proxy war against America in the streets of Beirut. Hezbollah gunmen flaunting their snipers have become the norm and the Lebanese government condemnations have been reduced to mere symbolism. Shias, it seems, are in complete control.

Hezbollah isn’t vying for a coup nor does it want an all out war. It is happy with displaying its power and showing to the world that the elected representatives count for nothing. Fouad Siniora’s men are reduced to puppets – people whose actions are of no consequence whatsoever. That their position is similar to Maliki’s government in Baghdad is quite true.

Israeli Prime Minister, Ehud Olmert, due to face parliament dissolution bill, has lost last chance to make ceasefire negotiations with Hamas mediated by Egypt work in his favour. A rocket attack on Israeli border town of Sderot from Hamas controlled Gaza strip not only violated ceasefire within five days, but is also likely to cost Ehud Olmert his office. Knesset, Israeli Parliament, is set to vote for a bill for its dissolution today. Faced with growing opposition demand to step down or face the bill, the Israeli Prime Minister tried his best to overcome domestic troubles by forging new diplomatic openings and dialogue to give peace a chance in Middle East.

A major military exercise carried out by Israel earlier this month has given rise to the speculation of a possible military aggression against Iranian nuclear establishments by Israel. Rumors doing the rounds in media are strongly supported by US officials. Greek air force’s central command too has come up with the revelation that it had taken part in a joint exercise with Israel off the Mediterranean island of Crete on May 28 and June 12. It was code named “Glorious Spartan 08.” The exercise involved 100 Israeli F-16 and F-15 fighters.

While this report warrants a serious scrutiny, media assigned it a form that demonstrated Israel’s serious concern over Iran’s nuclear ambitions. The result was that senior Iranian cleric Ayatollah Ahmad Khatami warned Israel of a strong repercussion if it nurtured armed designs against Iran. Most probably, the report of this joint military exercise brought the June 6 statement of Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz to the fore of his brain, in which Mofaz had warned that Iran would face attack if it did not halt its nuclear weapons program.

The American election campaign between Senator Barack Obama and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton is getting really interesting with each passing day . In an attempt to rally the Democratic Party around him on Thursday he took a sarcastic stand against Senator John McCain when he said McCain was ‘losing his bearings’ in his mad rush for the White House.

Obama did get a red-carpet welcome in the Capitol, where an overwhelming public gave him a rousing reception on the House floor indicating his stature as the party’s presidential nominee. On the contrary, Hillary Clinton had reiterated her resolve not to give up the fight for the race, just not yet.

Fire and disaster management drills have already had their share of attention for being really helpful during times of actual disasters. These drills are actually enactments wherein a disaster-like situation is taught to be dealt with. The participants act as the disaster is actually taking place and act accordingly. However, when the country in question is Israel the drills they undergo are of a little different nature. The country after been attacked by the Hezbollah in 2006 has now started conducting drills as a part of an exercise to deal with terror attacks.

Cuba has welcomed the European Unions decision to lift sanctions against the Communist nation. Cuba was always convinced that ‘truth’ and ‘reason’ would prevail over the measures taken against them. This is one of the first positive reactions that are coming out of the regime of Raul Castro after Fidel Castro transferred power recently. The move however, was not welcomed by the US.

Fidel Castro had his own opinions after the sanctions were lifted. He felt that the EU had no right to critic human rights in Cuba while keeping a blind eye towards the abuses by the Bush administration.

‘U.S. attack cannot stop Iran’s N-program’ - Better late than never, finally White house is banking on diplomatic measures instead of military action to act as deterrent for Iran’s nuclear program. Speaking on behalf of President Bush, White House Spokesperson dismissed prospects of military attack against Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Is it that Bush administration waking to reality that violence begets only violence and military attack is an expensive futile exercise? Experts have warned that any attack will only delay Iran’s nuclear plans and encourage them to acquire some more nuclear expertise and nuclear weapons. US also lacks intelligence information on number of nuclear facilities the country has throughout Iran. Mulling military action will make Iran bury its facilities too to be detected from air. So is it lack of intelligence information and precise evidence that’s forcing Bush to use diplomacy here?

The future of the Gaza strip and the West Bank remains again in a loop even as Hamas and Fatah have signed a reconciliation deal sponsored by Yemen at Sanaa. The deal, which is being referred to as the Sanaa Declaration was signed between the Hamas negotiator Moussa Abu Marzouk and Fatah official Azzam Al-Ahmad, who have jointly admitted and asserted the ‘unity of Palestinian people, territory and authority’.

Overcome by continuous instability along its coastal strip bordering Gaza that is threatening a population explosion with exodus of Palestinian refugees breaching the Rafah border and growing prominence of Iranian influence in the politics of western Asia, Egypt is trying its level best to broker a peace deal between Israel and Hamas. Egypt is currently the only state that is carrying out dialogues with both Israel and the Hamas about the escalating conflict in Gaza.

A long-term solution to the current crisis in Gaza would require halting rocket attacks on Israeli settlements by Hamas, stability along the Rafah border, Hamas getting some kind of an international recognition and handing over the Palestinian Authority control over Gaza. In the current political scenario, it is unlikely that Israel would accede to the Palestinian demands. With hardly any leverage, Egypt is trying to reach a “mutual tahdiyeh”, the Arabic for “calming” between Israel and the Hamas. The Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Suleiman is overseeing the “tahdiyeh”. Two weeks back Mahmoud al-Zahar, a Hamas politician linked to its military wing had traveled to Cairo. The Israeli Defense Ministry official Amos Gilad had twice been to Cairo in the past week.

Hamas is demanding that the economic siege of Gaza be lifted by Israel. Israel is reluctant to lift the siege completely, but it might agree to reopen partially the Rafah crossing. At Egypt’s behest USA has been urging Israel to reopen Rafah that would besides easing tensions would also bring back the European monitors who abandoned it when Hamas seized control of the Strip last summer. Among the issues to be negotiated are who should be allowed to pass through Rafah and whether the monitors could resume their rights to search and confiscate large sums of money. The Hamas officials have been alleged to use Rafah in the past to move huge amounts of money to fund their activities in Gaza and Palestine.

Israel has estimated that Hamas is looking for a relatively long-term cease-fire as it has lost a large number of fighters and has nearly depleted its arsenals.

Meanwhile, US officials have urged Israel not to do anything that would undermine its relation with Egypt. Israel had earlier accused Egypt of not doing enough to stop arms smuggling across the Gaza-Egypt border.

Image credit: ny times

Source: cs monitor

MSNBC tells us that the heads of Islamic nations have just concluded a high level meeting at Dakar, Senegal. The Muslim heads of states are worried how Islam is portrayed by Western countries. The delegates were each given a tome prepared by the Organization of the Islamic Conference, chaired by the Senegal President, Abdoulaye Wade. The tome records all the anti-Islamic rhetoric of the past year and some more from older times. The consensus reached is that Islam is under attack and there is an urgent need for settling old scores. In short, the repercussions of the summit may prove detrimental in the long run.