Egyptian Brotherhood calls upon Egyptian Jews to rturn to Egypt and Israeli offer to Palestinian families: Take $500,000 and Leave W.B.

While the Egyptian Brotherhood official Issam Al-'Aryan calls upon Egyptian Jews to rturn to Egypt "to Make Room for the Palestinians", Israeli offer to Palestinian families: Take $500,000 and Leave W.B.   One year ago Rashad Bayoumy, an Egyptian brother asked: "Is it a pre-condition to recognize Israel in order to govern?" On that I wrote: "The answer is clear, Mr. Bayoumy, and its up to you and your party. The shortest way govern is Pleasing the USA, Via pleasing its Tool Israel, and its Zionist Lobby. Ask your brother Ghanushi. But it's also the shortest way to lose power, morals, and political future. I am sure that worries you and you brothers. You can't stay on the fence, and should come down to this side or that.... ....Thirty years ago, Khomeini, faced a similar situation, without storming his brain and thinking about the "spasmodic and uncalculated statements (ACTIONS) may do more harm than good...that could invite uncalculated reactions from the United States and its western allies, and its tool the Zionist entity, he turned the Zionist embassy into a Palestinian Embassy. I am sure you know the Story of the American Embassy. He did it because, the vision was clear, the enemy was clear, and because he was after power to put Iran on the right track, and he did. Iran now, despite the 8 years war launched by Arabs (almost all Arabs except Syria, Islamists, and nationalists except Syrian) and 30 years of sanction, is super power who dared to say to US: get out of Gulf. .....Its not enough to say "the Brotherhood will not recognize the "criminal state of Israel." People don't care about what you say, they care about what you do, and we saw what you did so far. Because of your wrong calculations, and for short term political benifets, you missed a great chance to lead the revolution to the end, putting your history (Your best offspring), your future at risk, . Hamas, as a resisrance movement washed all you historical mistakes/sins. Hamas is entiltled to be your "Hezbollah", you crane, all it needs is a MB Assad in Cairo, to destroy all walls with Gaza Hashim, Gaza Al-izza. Don't kill your best offsping." End of the qoute -------- Instead, Brotherhood destroyed the Gaza tunnels, and turned Hamas into a sectarian terrorist movement, turned the Shaikh of Aqsa, into a Shaikh of Nato. As'ad AbuKhalil hit the nail in saying: "There is no question about it: the Muslim Brotherhood’s organizations all over the Arab world have stumbled on a foreign policy governing formula that ruling Arab families have stuck to for decades. It’s simple: an alliance between a governing party or a ruling family in the Arab world and the Western Zionists can bring about Western governmental support." Finally, if I am the Israeli PM, I would accept the Brotherhood's stupid offer, granting the Jews the right of return to Egypt,..besides their "God" given right of return to the "promosed land". Brother's of America paved the way for endless zionists claims. Egyptian Jews and the Muslim Brotherhood By As'ad AbuKhalil - Wed, 2013-01-02 21:21- Angry Corner There is no question about it: the Muslim Brotherhood’s organizations all over the Arab world have stumbled on a foreign policy governing formula that ruling Arab families have stuck to for decades. It’s simple: an alliance between a governing party or a ruling family in the Arab world and the Western Zionists can bring about Western governmental support. The House of Saud dealt with growing US public and congressional criticisms after September 11 by solidifying an alliance with Israel. Once the House of Saud worked to elevate the alliance with Israel, all public and congressional criticisms of Saudi Arabia – even its role in funding Islamic fanaticism around the world – died down. In Egypt, Anwar Sadat established a unique dictatorship that enjoyed unprecedented Western support because he surrendered to Israeli occupation and attained the Western “honor” of being the first Arab leader to sign publicly a peace treaty with Israel. (Of course, many Arabs before him, from the Maronite patriarchs to Hashemites had signed secret treaties with the Zionist movement.) The Muslim Brotherhood is about to solidify its rule by striking a strong security-political alliance with Western Zionists and with Israel. It was not a coincidence that Mohamed Morsi released his Ottoman-style presidential decrees hours after gaining US approval for brokering a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas. Gone are the grotesque speeches about jihad about the anti-Jewish chants about Khaybar and the threats to Jews, qua Jews. Muslim Brotherhood leaders from Tunisia (in the form of an-Nahda) to Egypt and Syria have been feverishly sending delegations (in public and in secrecy) to Washington to meet with the leaders of AIPAC (or of its research arm, the Washington Institute for Near East Policy) in order to reassure Zionists about the peaceful intentions of the Brotherhood toward the aggressive state of Israel. The Muslim Brotherhood have enjoyed the taste of power in more than one country and they are – with Qatari support – wishing to extend their rule to several Arab countries. And just as the sponsoring Qatari royal family opened toward Israel in order to bolster its stance vis-à-vis Saudi Arabia, and just as its ruling emir initiated negotiations with Haim Saban about the sale of al-Jazeera in order to deflect or postpone US congressional criticisms of Qatar (as the Emir himself admitted to me two years ago), the Muslim Brotherhood seems to increase the flirtation with Israel and Western Zionists with every increase in their grip on power. The latest episode was about Egyptian Jews. Issam al-Arian, who has been negotiating with Western Zionists over the last few months in the hope of winning more Western support for Ikhwan rule, suddenly discovered the issue of Egyptian Jews and criticized Nasser’s regime for “expelling” Egyptian Jews. But al-Arian was clearly trying to score political points for the enjoyment of Western Zionists. First, the Muslim Brotherhood is in no position to speak on the matter of any religious minority, in Egypt or elsewhere. This is a movement that poisoned public rhetoric even about the Arab-Israeli conflict. The founder of the movement, Hasan Al-Banna, may have been (according to my own research on the matter) the first Arab to ever threaten to “throw the Jews into the sea” (his statements were cited in al-Musawwar magazine in 1948). Its chants about Khaybar made it clear that the Ikhwan’s hostility has been directed against all Jews qua Jews, and not against the political project of Zionism. Secondly, the laws affecting the economic status of Egyptian Jews were enacted under the Faruq monarchy, but the Ikhwan are loath to attack the monarchy as they do with Nasser. Al-Arian’s comments made no reference to Faruq. Attacks on Jewish interests took place in the wake of the Arab-Israeli war of 1948 and before Nasser assumed power. Thirdly, the Lavon Affair (in which the Israeli government recruited Egyptian Jews to perpetrate acts of terrorism in Egypt in order to sabotage Egyptian relations with Western governments) should be blamed on Israel, not Nasser. If there is one issue that made Egyptian Jews seem suspect in the public eyes, it was this dangerous conspiracy. And let us remember that the Nasserist prosecutor of the case made it very clear in his remarks before the court that Egyptian Jews as Jews should not be blamed for the affair and that they belong to Egyptian society just like any other community. Israel has wittingly and unwittingly, purposefully and carelessly, jeopardized the status of Egyptian Jews by recruiting spies and terrorist from the ranks of Jews in Arab countries. In the US, the entire Muslim American community became suspect due to the deeds of 19 hijackers who were not even recruited from the American Muslim community. Fourthly, Israel has made it difficult for Arabs and others to differentiate between Israelis and Jews when the state of Israel presents itself (bogusly) as the state of world Jewry. Israeli propaganda has aimed to make Israel the spokes-state for all Jews. Fifthly, yes, some Egyptian Jews (who included many affluent Egyptians among them) were targeted by nationalization laws, but that was directed against Egyptians of different religious affiliations. Most nationalization and land laws of the Revolution targeted Muslim Egyptians. Sixthly, yes, repression under Nasser affected Egyptian Jews, but it also affected Egyptian non-Jews as well. Seventhly, there were Jewish victims of targeted repression in the Arab world, but they were victims of the repercussion and effects of the creation of the state of Israel. The laws and regulation against Jews, like the ones against their inclusion in the Lebanese Army according to a law drafted by MP Munir Abu Fadil, came after the creation of the state of Israel and should be seen as part of what Bernard Lewis called “political anti-Semitism,” as reprehensible as any discrimination against any group and with the understanding that discrimination can’t be justified. Finally, the plight of Arab Jews should be discussed and even subject to legislative debates, but it can hardly be left in the hands of the bigots of the Ikhwan who still (in Arabic) refer to Jews and Christians as “the descendants of apes and pigs.” The Ikhwan don’t have any credibility on the matter and they certainly are not qualified to offer criticisms of the Nasser regime, which deserves criticisms. Arab Jews (if there is evidence that they were forced to leave) should be allowed to return and even compensated if their properties were seized illegally. But the subject of Arab Jews has been shrouded with lies and fabrications by Zionist propaganda for decades. Lebanese and Syrian Jews, for example, left on their own and the Israeli government and Western Zionists lobbied the Syrian governments over the years to allow Syrian Jews to leave Syria. But once Syrian Jews left Syria, Western Zionists immediately claimed that Syrian Jews were kicked out. One has to treat the story of Arab Jews on a country-by-country basis and should not be in any way linked to the Arab-Israeli issue although the aggression and occupation by the state of Israel poisoned relations between Jews and non-Jews in the region as a whole. Israeli Offer to Palestinian Families: Take $500,000 and Leave W.B.

Local Editor

A Zionist Likud hardliner suggested paying Palestinian families $500,000 each to emigrate from the West Bank to the West. Moshe Feiglin, who earlier on Tuesday was detained by Israeli police after trying to pray at the so-called Temple Mount, proposed paying Palestinians to leave West Bank. "The State of Israel is paying 10% of its GNP every year for the two-state solution and the Oslo Accords. It's paying for separation fences, Iron Domes and a guard at every café. Soon we'll have to place Iron Domes in every school in Tel Aviv. "With this budget we can give every Arab family in Judea and Samaria $500,000 to encourage it to immigrate to a place with a better future. "You may say, 'But no one will have them.' That's not true because the Western nations are shrinking due to low birth rates. The question is whether the world will have Sudanese migrants who can't build or migrants from Judea and Samaria who do know how to build.” THE JEWS OF IRAQ - TESTIMONY OF A FORMER ZIONIST

Jewish terror state planning to evict 1000 Palestinians

 

Israeli Authorities to Deport 1000 Palestinians Wednesday

Details

Published on Monday, 31 December 2012 09:51

PNN

On Monday 31st December, Head of the al-Wadi Maleh village council in the Northern Jordan Valley, Aref Daraghmeh, said that Israeli authorities issued a decision to deport around 1000 Palestinians from their homes, and to be executed on Wednesday 2nd January.

Daraghmeh also said that few days ago, the Israeli authorities delivered the Palestinians written evacuation warnings, in order to evacuate their lands for military training purposes.

He revealed that Palestinians will be deported from several areas in the Jordan valley including: Wadi Maleh, Ein Hilwah, Wadi al-Faw, al-Maita, al-Burj and other areas.

It's worth mentioning that this deportation process is considered the biggest of all the other mass deportations carried out through this summer, as the Israeli authorities forced dozens of families to leave their homes and move to other areas until the military trainings finish as they claimed, but their lands were confiscated and they couldn't return to their homes.

The Jordan valleys have been witnessing deportations and demolitions processes since 1967.

Human Rights Get Short Shrift in Israel

by Stephen Lendman

The Association for Civil Rights in Israel (ACRI) assesses human rights in Israel annually. It's 2012 report is "bleak."

It's true in virtually every category assessed. Netanyahu and dominant Knesset hardliners spurn human and civil rights. They do so for Palestinians, Israeli Arabs, and most Jews.

Neoliberal harshness is policy. So are hardline belligerence and institutionalized racism. Poverty, homelessness, and hunger harm growing numbers in society.

Conditions in Israel get worse, not better. Palestinians suffer most. Horrific conditions harm them. They're reflected in ruthless police state policies. Militarized occupation enforces them.

In 2012 alone, 557 Palestinian structures were lawlessly demolished. So were 172 homes. Over 1,000 Palestinians were displaced. Their land was stolen. Israeli policies mock fundamental freedoms. Palestinians have no rights.

Asylum seekers and African immigrants are relentlessly persecuted. Occupation harshness silences dissent. Affordable housing exists nowhere. Water is a precious luxury. Peaceful social protests face harsh crackdowns.

Israel's budget includes enormous amounts for rubber bullets, tear gas, concussion grenades, toxic chemicals sprays, and other implements of police state repression.

Jews aren't exempt when they resist. In solidarity with Palestinians, they're treated harshly. Equity, justice, mercy, and fairness aren't in Israel's vocabulary.

It's a model police state. It matches the worst of regional tyrannies. It mocks democratic governance. Israel tolerates none.

ACRI's 2012 came down particularly hard on housing. In Arab towns and villages, restrictive planning policies limit residential building. Effective development is prevented.

Many Israeli Arabs have no viable option. They're on their own to supply housing without means or ability to overcome onerous restrictions.

Bedouin communities face especially harsh treatment. In late summer 2011, forced Bedouin evictions began. Thousands in Israeli-controlled Area C were affected. They were ordered to leave. They were threatened with force if they refused.

They were displaced to a regional garbage dump. Their homes were demolished. They had no say. Israel wanted their land for Jewish development.

Most Bedouins were expelled from the Negev in 1948. Some lived on Israeli declared land. Others lived on private Palestinian land.

Twenty Bedouin communities living in the E1 corridor now face eviction. Whether or not construction begins, Israel wants them out.

About 2,300 people are affected. They have no say. Israel freely violates their rights. They're removed at the whim of ruthless authorities. They're prevented from building permanent housing or connecting to essential infrastructure.

They're dispossessed on their own with no rights. ACRI calls Netanyahu's Bedouin policies particularly harsh and discouraging.

Around 160,000 Bedouins live in Israel. Over half live in so-called unrecognized villages. Around 35 communities are affected. They're denied schools, healthcare, running water, electricity, paved roads, postal service, and other vital services.

Most are deeply impoverished. They struggle daily to get by. Israel's Prawer Plan intends greater harshness. Forced displacement will affect tens of thousands of Israeli citizens.

It's a significant blow to justice. It facilitates state-sponsored discrimination. It spurns fundamental rights. It summarily disenfranchises long neglected people who deserve better.

It contradicts Goldberg Commission findings. They called Bedouin treatment unjust and ineffective. It recommended injustices be corrected by recognizing their communities as they exist.

Israel refuses. Historic injustices continue. Netanyahu wants harsher enforcement. He represents the worst of despot authority.

From day to day, Bedouin communities aren't sure whether police, soldiers and bulldozers will show up to evict them forcibly.

Israeli Jews and Arabs face public housing crisis conditions. The issue was central during summer 2011 protesters. Netanyahu promised change. He lied. He did nothing. Harsh neoliberal policies remain.

Knesset hardliners oppose affordable housing legislation. At the same time, they "systematically eviscerate" what's left of public housing.

Water rights were harmed when rates were raised sharply. Nothing in place or planned protects disadvantaged, elderly or disabled Israelis. Arab citizens and Palestinians are entirely out of luck.

West Bank housing and water rights are more tenuous. Palestinians are gravely affected. Israel controls Area C. Many Palestinians live there. Brutal persecution affects them.

Homes are demolished. Cisterns are destroyed. Netanyahu's Levy Commission recommendations will be followed.

His report rewrote international law. He claims occupation "as set out in the relevant international conventions cannot be considered applicable to the unique and sui generis historic and legal circumstances of Israel’s presence in Judea and Samaria spanning over decades."

"Israelis have the legal right to settle in Judea and Samaria and the establishment of settlements cannot, in and of itself, be considered illegal."

He recommended legalizing illegal outposts. He said zoning officials should authorize them without further political approval. He urged no restraints on settlement construction.

Netanyahu praised his report, saying:

"In my opinion, this report is important because it deals with the legalization and the legitimization of the settlement enterprise in Judea and Samaria on the basis of facts, a variety of facts and arguments that should be seriously considered."

Dominant Likudniks support colonizing all valued parts of Judea and Samaria Israel wants. They claim Jerusalem as Israel's exclusive capital. They want Palestinians gone. They'll tolerate them only on isolated bantustans on worthless scrubland.

Levy is a former Israeli Supreme Court justice. His rulings spurned justice. He's more facist than jurist. He embarrasses legitimate juris prudence. He rejects Green Line separation of Israel and Palestine.

So do Likudniks. Netanyahu and Lieberman reflect the worst of their agenda. They're ideologically on the lunatic fringe. They're world class thugs.

Under their leadership, free expression suffered. Both sides of the Green Line are affected.

Jerusalem and Tel Aviv are Israel's two largest cities. They enacted new regulations. They make it extremely hard to demonstrate publicly.

West Bank diktats ban all forms of protest. Activist leaders and supporters are persecuted. Repression continues against the backdrop of dual legal systems. Laws affecting Palestinians violate fundamental international laws and standards.

Israeli security forces target them ruthlessly. Repression is official Israeli policy. It's systematically enforced. Police state harshness is severe.

Reports from East Jerusalem reveal illegal interrogation practices used on accused minors. Pre-dawn arrests target them. Children young as 10 are detained. Parental and legal contacts are denied.

ACRI discussed statements, legislative initiatives, and policies infringing on the human rights of asylum seekers. Most face severe repression or death if deported to their home countries.

Propaganda viciousness targets them. They're called criminals, disease-ridden, demographically threatening, harmful to Israeli security, and malignant to Israeli society.

They're desperate human beings. They threaten no one. They deserve safe haven help. Israel criminalizes them. Vicious mobs attack them. Security forces don't intervene.

ACRI also discussed privatizing judicial and police authority. Human rights are weakened in the process. Other policies institutionalize privacy violations.

ACRI's annual reports show Israel on a slippery slope toward full-blown tyranny. Palestinians and Israeli Arabs suffer most. Increasingly, so are growing numbers of Jews.

Israel isn't fit to live in. Many fed up Jews vote with their feet and leave. Others consider doing so. Many obtain foreign passports in preparation.

Mass exodus one day may follow. Why would anyone accept what's intolerable? Safer environs exist elsewhere. Even in a hazardous world they exist.

Stephen Lendman lives in Chicago and can be reached at lendmanstephen@sbcglobal.net.

His new book is titled "Banker Occupation: Waging Financial War on Humanity."

http://www.claritypress.com/LendmanII.html

Visit his blog site at sjlendman.blogspot.com and listen to cutting-edge discussions with distinguished guests on the Progressive Radio News Hour on the Progressive Radio Network Thursdays at 10AM US Central time and Saturdays and Sundays at noon. All programs are archived for easy listening.

http://www.progressiveradionetwork.com/the-progressive-news-hour

posted by Steve Lendman @ 8:44 AM

Political Grinches Stealing Christmas From Palestinian and Syrian Refugees

 

Damascus Street Notes…

By Franklin Lamb

Church of Notre Dame, Damascus.

Church officials in Damascus advanced the hour of last night’s traditional Christmas Eve midnight service to 6 pm because few Damascenes’ venture out past sunset these days. The reasons include ubiquitous checkpoints, security fears and the fact that there are few taxis and no buses around. Plus most shops and cafes close early and the thuds and whining of artillery and bomb blasts from this ancient city’s suburbs tend to sound more menacing at night.

But that does not mean that Notre Dame and other churches in Damascus were not over-flowing with Christians and Muslims for Christmas Eve service, which has become an ecumenical event in this secular country where Syrian and Palestinian refugees of both faiths attended from Yarmouk camp and elsewhere. One Palestinian friend, who had been turned away at the Lebanese border at Maznaa just three days earlier, explained that his family was celebrating ” both the birth of Jesus Christ and the birth of the state of Palestine” referencing last month’s 130 to 8 UN General Assembly vote.

A bizarre Lebanese politically motivated assault on this well establshed Syrian-Palestinian-Muslim-Christian sisterhood caused unnecessary angst and in some cases unconscionable needless hardships during Christmas week. Some Lebanese politicians, apparently experiencing a memory lapse which made them forget how during the 2006 Israeli aggression, Syrians helped Lebanese refugees decided there were votes to be had in next year’s elections if they bashed the Syrian and Palestinians fleeing for their lives and seeking temporary refuge in brotherly Lebanon.

This observer distinctly recalls in mid-July 2006, crossing paths in the Internet supplied Business Center, at the Sheraton Hotel in Damascus, with an international team from the World Food Program. Led by some New Zealanders, the WFP team invited me to join them as they made a survey of Damascus ‘refugee camps” for Lebanese who were arriving by the scores of thousand fleeing the Zionist aggression. There were long lines at the Mazaa and other border points.

It was an impressive sight. The Syrian government and the Syrian people, as well as private Syrian NGOs, to their eternal credit, gave vast and in many cases, lifesaving aid to the Lebanese, asking nothing in return. The aid we witnessed being distributed throughout Damascus and surrounding areas included food, cash, clothing, medical aid, schooling, and housing.



Lebanese refugees sheltering in the Al-Shariya high school in southern Damascus.

Lebanese refugees and asylum seekers watch the news together in a communal living space, Muhajireen, Damascus.

Refuge was provided in public spaces, mosques, churches, private homes, and government buildings of all types as well as in cheap hotels near the Omayyad Mosque (formerly the Basilica of Saint John the Baptist) and the Old City. Rarely, as it was reported by the UN at the time, had one country had done so much to help so many caught in crisis.

In a Machiavellian political move designed to create sectarian tensions in Lebanon, and to cause more spillover from the Syrian crisis next door, one Lebanese Minister, and several like-minded politicians called for closing the every Lebanese borders to Syrian and Palestinian refugees, fleeing for their lives. In a recent speech he gave on Lebanese Wine Day, reportedly after sampling a few glasses, the Minister declared: “When we say we don’t want Syrian and Palestinian refugees, it is because they take our place.” He added: “Don’t we not have enough Palestinians in Lebanon to let the rest of the refugee camps come to Lebanon too?”

The minister in question, is perhaps best known for “marrying up” politically and for his $ 1.3 million Bugatti Veyron 16.4 Coupe which he brags can reach a top speed of 253 mph around Mount Lebanon where he likes to drive it, and despite that it can drive at high speeds for only 12 minutes before all the fuel is gone. He explains to his neighbors that power is transmitted to the pavement via four-wheel-drive and a seven-speed dual-clutch automated manual transmission.

He is also known for his average intellect and this week won a prize from Lebanese political analyst Imani Hamad, contributor to Now Lebanon, for topping the list for the “Dumbest political statements made in 2012.” His prize winning statement was:

“A decision was made by a former prime minister that Beirut is allotted electricity for 21 hours. This is not acceptable. Beirut has to have the same amount of electricity as other areas that means only 12 hours.” Ms. Haddad explained the logic of the Minister who has been roundly criticized this year for not solving or lessening Lebanon’s electricity problems. Wrote she: “The Ministers logic? Why solve the problem when you can create another?”

According to Lebanese journalist, Qassem Qassem, writing in Al Akbar this week, “The Minister perhaps does not realize that the refugees did not come out of their volition to Lebanon’s camps, which are nothing but ghettoes thanks to his racist “patriotism” and that of his ilk.”

Perhaps as a student, the Minister was absent from school the day when his teacher in his sectarian school was explaining that the monks of St Maron, who founded the Church in Antioch by the Orontes River, were persecuted by the Monophysites but given sanctuary by the Syrians, including many Muslims.

The Progressive Socialist Party, led by Walid Jumblatt, and PSP member, Social Affairs Minister Wael Abu Faour, insist that Lebanon will not close its borders to Syrian or Palestinians refugees fleeing violence in Syria. Minsiter Faour also said that he agreed with Palestinian Ambassador to Lebanon, Ashraf Dabbour, on a plan to facilitate the return of Palestinians fleeing from the Yarmouk camp in Damascus as soon as possible. Meanwhile, Dabbour said that there is a consensus among Palestinians in Lebanon to reject new refugee camps in the country, adding that all the Palestinians coming from Syria would return as soon as the crisis ends in the country.

This holiday season many in Yarmouk camp, despite their latest ordeal, are thinking of and praying for the quarter millions of their countrymen in Lebanon, who like themselves are still waiting to return to Palestine.

Several times over the past month this observer has heard from Palestinian refugees in Syria of their dismay at seeing the living conditions their countrymen are forced to endure in Lebanon, partly due the laws forbidding them the right to work or to own a home.

No country has treated Palestinian refugees as well as Syria and no government, save the Zionist regime still occupying Palestine, has treated them worse than Lebanon. Several academic and NGO studies over the past three decades have documented this fact.

It is a 90 minute drive from Lebanon to Straight Street in Damascus, much less in a Buggati Veyron 16.4. It was on Straight Street here in Damascus where in the year 34 c.e. the blind Paul of Tsarus is said to have regained his eyesight and devoted his life to helping those in need.

May the Minister, who appears to have lost his moral sight for the needs of others, come here to Damascus this Christmas season and walk along Straight Street and among the alleys of Yarmouk camp, to learn, perhaps experience an epiphany, and thereby regain his sight and moral compass.

And in the name of the one whose birth and message and spirit are celebrated this season, may the Minister and his political allies cease sectarian incitements seeking cheap political advantage in this troubled region. And instead open his vacant real estate properties this Christmas to those for whom there is no room at the inn.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Syria. He is reachable c/o fplamb@gmail.com

Syrian minister rails against media lies

Syria’s information minister railed on Sunday against media portrayals of the country’s 21-month-long conflict, as the top international peace envoy prepares to visit Damascus for talks.

 

Omran al-Zaaby told reporters at a press conference that “the majority” of news reports on the Syrian crisis are “lies.”

He insisted that the army was battling al-Qaeda-linked terrorists across the country, and said opposition groups were not interested in opening dialogue with the government.

“The army is not one 'side' in a battle as the media tries to show,” he said. “The army is the nation. The army is the people.”

He rejected speculation over deteriorating relations with Russia, claiming that “there have been no changes from the Russian government stance from the beginning of the crisis.”

“Russia does not interfere with [Syrian affairs]. Russia respects Syria’s sovereignty … and is working for a solution through dialogue,” the minister added.

The remarks come as Lakhdar Brahimi, the international envoy for Syria's civil war, arrived in Beirut on Sunday and planned to travel by land to Damascus to meet with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, according to Lebanese airport officials.

But when asked about the visit, Zaaby responded: “We have no news whether Brahimi is coming or not coming.”

Brahimi, who represents the United Nations and the Arab League, has made little apparent progress toward brokering a negotiated solution to Syria's crisis since he assumed his post in September.
The security situation inside Syria has declined in the meantime, with rebel forces expanding their control in the north and near the capital and storming a number of army bases, making off with valuable arms as booty.

Fighting in and around Damascus has also intensified in recent weeks. Last week rebels entered the Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp near the capital after weeks of bloody clashes with a pro-government Palestinian armed group.

On Sunday Palestinian Prime Minister for Hamas, Ismail Haniyeh, appealed to the Lebanese government to “embrace” the thousands of Palestinian refugees that have fled Syria’s fighting.
In a press conference, Haniyeh said that Palestinian leaders ultimately bore responsibility for the wellbeing of their people while calling for their human and civil rights to be respected.

Before the recent influx of refugees from the Syrian crisis, Lebanon had been host to about 400,000 Palestinian refugees. Most of them the descendants of those who were forced from their homes by Jewish militias during the 1948 Nakba and the creation of Israel.

Referring to all Palestinian refugees in Lebanon, Haniyeh emphasized their right of return to Palestine, and rejected the idea of naturalization.

“I am calling on the state institutions of Lebanon to give the Palestinians the pillars for a decent life so that they can go back to their country,” he said.
(Al-Akhbar, AP)

“As Yarmouk goes, so goes Damascus. As Damascus goes, so goes Syria”

 

Photo: “Homemade” weapon fragments from Yarmouk Camp in Ahmed Jebril’s office

Rebel controlled Yarmouk Palestinian Camp empties pending a government counter-attack

Damascus Street Notes

Franklin Lamb

Yarmouk camp, Damascus
Al-manar



Photo: Hoping to escape the fighting at Yarmouk camp
but held at the Syrian-Lebanese border

A few thoughts rushed through this observers mind when he saw a distraught looking woman sitting alone, tightly holding two babies, at one corner of the vast parking lot of the central Damascus bus station known as Al-Soumariyeh. It is from here where inexpensive transportation can be had for those traveling west, east, north and south.

One thought was about a character out of a Charles Dickens novel and the other was ‘waif, frail, malnourished, frightened’, so the lady, holding the babies appeared. She managed a polite but weak smile as I passed and she said
“hello.” 

Long story made short, the lady and I chatted and it turned out that Souha was fleeing the al-Hajar al-Aswad neighborhood on the southern edge of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp.

This is one of the ‘hot-line’ areas of Yarmouk, where on 12/16/12 approximately 400 Jabhat al-Nusra (Nusra Front) militia fighters joined by various other salafist jihadists defeated Palestinian “popular committees” fighters supposedly loyal to Ahmed Jabil’s, Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-GC (PFLP-GC).

There are various unconfirmed estimates of how many ‘General Command’ fighters defected during the fighting to the rebel forces, but the PFLP-GC admits that some (ONLY TWO) did. Also in the camp are some fighters from the Democratic Front for the Liberation of Palestine (DFLP) and the Popular Front (PFLP).

Souha who is studying English literature, had lost her husband and was trying to travel to Ein el Helwe refugee camp in Saida, Lebanon. She had the name of a distant relative, she thought was still living in Ein el Helwe, but she was unsure how to find her but knew that she desperately needed to get out of Syria.

“As Yarmouk goes, so goes Damascus.
As Damascus goes, so goes Syria”

Nearly 70% (UNWRA puts the figure at 90%) of the 180,000 Yarmouk camp residents in the 2.1 square-kilometer camp area have, as of this morning fled. This figure was provided by, Anwar Raja, politburo member of the ‘General Command” with whom this observer had a three hour meeting during the night of 12/18/2012 inside the north edge of Yarmouk. Any camp resident with a MTN or Syriatel mobile phone got a text message, from the Syrian military to leave the camp for their own safety.

Souha asked me if I had heard about the problems of the Palestinian people and explained that she fled the bombing at Yarmouk camp and that most of her neighbors also scattered. Some of the thousands of refugees who continue to flee Yarmouk can be seen today near central Damascus, andsitting in the streets of Midan. These areas are still safe. Other are huddled in parks and camped under concreteunderpasses, in schools, mosques and basically anywhere they can find a spot. Many are sleeping on sidewalks at al-Sabaa Bahrat square. A friend and I spoke last night to a family of four who had only thin UNCHR blankets for the night.

Souha said she was afraid to seek safety in a Mosque because they are no longer a safe refuge and she explained that she passed about a dozen bodies on the steps and front ground next to the Abdul Qader Al-Hosseini mosque as she left Yarmouk.

Happy to learn that there are actually non-stop vans going from central Damascus to Saida, Lebanon, without having to change vehicles, we found the driver, agreed on a price of 30 LL (about $ 45) for Souha and the same price for her two babies. I insisted on a two-for-one price for the little ones and since it was starting to get dark, the nice fellow agreed. I gave Souha what money I had and also contact information for friends in Lebanon who I knew would help her.

As the van pulled off she waved from the window and I could not help thinking that she may not get much help from the Lebanese government on arriving. Yet I knew that Palestinians there would assist her. I recalled the words of the late murdered Khalil al Wazir (Abu Jihad) when he explained nearly three decades ago, to this observer and the American journalist, Janet Stevens,: “At the end of the day, we Palestinians can rely only on ourselves.” I did not dwell much on his words at the time but since then I have come to understand very well what the great Resistance leader meant.

Yesterday morning I assumed Souha was in Lebanon and had arrived to Saida. Then I began to hear the unsettling news of long lines at the Maznaa crossing from Syria into Lebanon. The news got worse. Thousands of Palestinian refugees were lined up, some waiting for 10 hours or more to cross and many being refused entry into by Lebanese General Security because of “inadequate documents.” Many right now are being forced to return to Damascus.

Lebanon has an international humanitarian duty to ease entry and to assist refugees, as required by well-established and globally accepted international law. But with the exception of Zionist occupied Palestine, Lebanon has the worst human rights record toward Palestinians than any country on earth. The Lebanese Parliament still refuses to grant Palestinian refugees in Lebanon the elementary right to work or to own a home. Even though according to various economic studies, if Palestinians could work, they would help dramatically to build Lebanon’s weak economy.

During the morning of 12/19/12 the news got even worse regarding Souha. Someone from Reuters sent me a published photo showing her stuck on a bus at Maznaa for over 12 hours. According to one report she was forced to return to Damascus. Wherever Souha is she is hopefully someone is helping her.

Ahmed Jebril, an ally of the Syrian government is blaming foreign paid terrorists for the attack that is forcing the emptying of Yarmouk and also the rather quick defeat of his fighters. He and his GC staff told this observer that the General Command had no plans to attempt to return to Yarmouk. Reports (rumours) from the camp claim that more than half of the GC’s 1000 fighters, mainly younger ones, defected to the rebels. It is difficult to know the truth, but it is fairly clear that Yarmouk has substantially been emptied and that government forces are surrounding the camp, presumably in preparation for a massive counter-attack and or aerial bombardment.

One statement that Ahmed Jebril, who contrary to a New York Times report, has not fled to Iran or Tartous, made that is probably accurate is that “As Yarmouk goes, so goes Damascus. As Damascus goes, so goes Syria”. Jabril’s aid Anwar Raja said that the camp will be used by the rebels to destroy the airport and to launch their “final assault” into the center of Damascus. They showed this observer fragments of ‘home made’ weapons similar to those collected from around Syria by military intelligence who in late October briefed this observer.

The near term will reveal the fate of Yarmouk Palestinian refugee camp and who, in the coming battle, are the winners. But it is sure that Souha and all Palestinian refugees ethnically cleansed from their homes in Palestine are once again the losers.

Franklin Lamb is doing research in Syria and can be reached c/o fplamb@gmail.com.


The people of the Yarmouk district of Damascus demonstrations against FSA

مظاهرات اهالي حي اليرموك بدمشق ضد ميليشيات الحر

Ahmad Jibril to be expelled from the PL(iquidation)O

What happened in Yarmouk Camp: A story of Fatah and Hamas betrayal

Do you Remember the Operation of Qibya in the night of gliders?

Who is the benificiary of the displacing of the displaced Palestinian in Syria?

Leila Khaled: We sent a request for the gunmen to leave "the Yarmouk refugee camp" nothing happened until now, the Syrian army halted its operations in order to preserve the camp.

 

ليلى خالد : أرسلنا طلبا للمسلحين كي يغادروا "مخيم اليرموك" ولم يفعلوا حتى الآن ، والجيش السوري السوري أوقف عملياته حفاظا على المخيم

20 كانون الأول 2012 12:12 عدد القراءات 2466

عمان ، الحقيقة (خاص): حذرت القيادية في الجبهة الشعبية لتحرير فلسطين ليلى خالد من خطورة زج المخيمات الفلسطينية في أتون الصراع المسلح في سوريا، وتفريغ المخيمات من لاجئيها كمقدمة لتوطينهم وإنهاء قضيتهم. واكدت عضو المكتب السياسي للجبهة عن محاولات بذلتها الفصائل الفلسطينية في مخيم اليرموك جنوب العاصمة دمشق لإنسحاب مئات المسلحين الذين إقتحموا المخيم وتجنيبه تبعات أي إشتباك بين المسلحين وقوات الجيش السوري.

وقالت القيادية الفلسطينية التي تحظى باحترام واسع في الساحة الفلسطينية والعربية لموقع "البوابة" الأردني "أرسلت فصائل المخيم عبر أحد الاطراف رسالة للمسلحين يوم الثلاثاء تطلب منهم الإنسحاب من المخيم، ليتسنى لعشرات الألوف من ساكنيه العودة لمنازلهم بعد أن تقطعت بهم السبل، فكان رد المسلحين بالموافقة على تلك المطالب بشرط عدم تواجد السلاح داخل المخيم".وأضافت القيادية الفلسطينية "أنه حتى اللحظة لم يغادر المسلحون المخيم على الرغم من ذلك الإتفاق، مشيرة في الوقت ذاته إلى توقف الجيش السوري عن القيام بأي عملية عسكرية واسعة ضد المسلحين في المخيم حفاظا على المخيم وعدم تعرضه للخراب".

ونوهت ليلى خالد ، المقيمة في عمان، إلى أن الفصائل الفلسطينية أكدت في أكثر من مناسبة ضرورة الوقوف على الحياد وتجنيب أكثر من 600 ألف فلسطيني يقيمون في سوريا تبعات الصراع، خاصة في ظل تجارب سابقة بعدد من الدول العربية دفع فيها الفلسطينيون أثمانا باهظة.

وفيما يتعلق بطبيعة الصراع الدائر في سوريا قالت خالد "إن فصائل العمل الفلسطيني أكدت منذ بداية الاحداث في سوريا على حق الشعب السوري في الحرية وتحديد مصيره في ظل السياق الوطني السوري، ولكن بالمقابل لايمكن أن نكون مع دمار وتخريب سوريا من قبل مجموعات مسلحة مدعومة من جهات خارجية".

وأثنت خالد على النظام السوري الذي أعطى الفلسطينيين كامل الحقوق الإجتماعية والمدنية بإستثناء المشاركة بالإنتخابات، وذلك تأكيدا من النظام على حق العودة، مؤكدة على الدور السوري في دعم حركات المقاومة في المنطقة، وعلى رأسها المقاومة الفلسطينية.

وأشارت إلى أن سوريا تتعرض لهجمة شرسة على كل الصعد للنيل من مكانتها وإنهاء وجودها ودورها في المنطقة، وأن المجموعات المسلحة المرتبطة بقطر والسعودية وأمريكا والقوى الغربية هدفها تدمير سوريا.واعتبرت خالد أن الهجمة التي تتعرض لها المخيمات من قبل المجموعات المسلحة لاتصب إلا في صالح إنهاء قضية اللاجئين عبر تفريغ المخيمات الشاهدة على مأساة اللجوء الفلسطيني.وقالت المناضلة الفلسطينية إن تفريغ المخيمات يفرض أمرا واقعا جديدا يتمثل بإجبار اللاجئين على القبول بالتوطين بعد تدمير رمز لجوئهم "المخيم".

وقال سكان من المخيم إن عمليات نهب وسرقة جرت للمباني وعيادات الأطباء والمراكز الطبية، كما للمنازل والمتاجر، وذلك في الوقت الذي انتشر قناصة المعارضة على أسطح الأبنية ومآذن الجوامع

• What happened in Yarmouk Camp: A story of Fatah and Hamas betrayal
• The real roots of Nusra front
• “As Yarmouk goes, so goes Damascus. As Damascus goes, so goes Syria”
• Ahmad Jibril to be expelled from the PL(iquidation)O

Palestinian Refugees Return to Syria’s Yarmouk Camp

Local Editor

Palestinian refugees in Syria returned to Yarmouk camp, south the capital, Damascus, after harsh clashes between armed groups and Palestinian popular committees forced them to flee the camp.

The Associated Press reported that, according to the Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, hundreds of people have returned to Yarmouk after clashes were over.

Refugees held on Thursday a massive rally at the entrance of the camp, pushing their return to their homes after days of displacement.

Local media said that the Palestinians started moving back homes during the rally in tandem with the militants’ withdrawal.
The massive rally was called for by many Palestinian organizations in Syria.

The battle at Yarmouk, began Dec. 14, as the armed groups pushed into the camp earlier this week and fought pitch battles with local committees there. Militants managed to sweep the camp, igniting deadly fights there.

Yarmouk houses some 1,60,000 refugees, which is also a house to more than 500,000 Syrians.
Local observers blamed the militants and the al-Qaeda-linked al- Nusra Front for the deteriorating situation in the camp.

Meanwhile, media outlets reported that negotiations with the militants with the mediation of many Palestinian organizations were ongoing, which aim to pull all arm aspect from the camp and allow all the displaced refugees to return to their homes.

Damascus-based Palestinian official Khaled Abdul-Majid told the AP that Cairo-based Palestinian leaders were negotiating the armed groups’ exit.

• ماذا يحصل في مخيم اليرموك؟ ومن يسيطر عليه؟