New Page 5

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

Bible Quotation For Today/Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
Luke 10/38-42: "Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

Bible Quotation For Today/ We speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts
First Letter to the Thessalonians 02/01-13: "You yourselves know, brothers and sisters, that our coming to you was not in vain, but though we had already suffered and been shamefully maltreated at Philippi, as you know, we had courage in our God to declare to you the gospel of God in spite of great opposition. For our appeal does not spring from deceit or impure motives or trickery, but just as we have been approved by God to be entrusted with the message of the gospel, even so we speak, not to please mortals, but to please God who tests our hearts. As you know and as God is our witness, we never came with words of flattery or with a pretext for greed; nor did we seek praise from mortals, whether from you or from others, though we might have made demands as apostles of Christ. But we were gentle among you, like a nurse tenderly caring for her own children. So deeply do we care for you that we are determined to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you have become very dear to us. You remember our labour and toil, brothers and sisters; we worked night and day, so that we might not burden any of you while we proclaimed to you the gospel of God. You are witnesses, and God also, how pure, upright, and blameless our conduct was towards you believers. As you know, we dealt with each one of you like a father with his children, urging and encouraging you and pleading that you should lead a life worthy of God, who calls you into his own kingdom and glory. We also constantly give thanks to God for this, that when you received the word of God that you heard from us, you accepted it not as a human word but as what it really is, God’s word, which is also at work in you believers.

Question: "How can I know God's will for my life? What does the Bible say about knowing God's will?"
GotQuestions.org/Answer: It is important to know God’s will. Jesus said that His true relations are those who know and do the Father’s will: “Whoever does God’s will is my brother and sister and mother” (Mark 3:35). In the parable of the two sons, Jesus rebukes the chief priests and elders for failing to do the will of the Father; specifically, they “did not repent and believe” (Matthew 21:32). At its most basic, the will of God is to repent of our sin and trust in Christ. If we have not taken that first step, then we have not yet accepted God’s will.Once we receive Christ by faith, we are made God’s children (John 1:12), and He desires to lead us in His way (Psalm 143:10). God is not trying to hide His will from us; He wants to reveal it. In fact, He has already given us many, many directions in His Word. We are to “give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you” (1 Thessalonians 5:18). We are to do good works (1 Peter 2:15). And “it is God’s will that you should be sanctified: that you should avoid sexual immorality” (1 Thessalonians 4:3).
God’s will is knowable and provable. Romans 12:2 says, “Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—His good, pleasing and perfect will.” This passage gives us an important sequence: the child of God refuses to be conformed to the world and instead allows himself to be transformed by the Spirit. As his mind is renewed according to the things of God, then he can know God’s perfect will.
As we seek God’s will, we should make sure what we are considering is not something the Bible forbids. For example, the Bible forbids stealing; since God has clearly spoken on the issue, we know it is not His will for us to be a bank robbers—we don’t even need to pray about it. Also, we should make sure what we are considering will glorify God and help us and others grow spiritually.
Knowing God’s will is sometimes difficult because it requires patience. It’s natural to want to know all of God’s will at once, but that’s not how He usually works. He reveals to us a step at a time—each move a step of faith—and allows us to continue to trust Him. The important thing is that, as we wait for further direction, we are busy doing the good that we know to do (James 4:17).
Often, we want God to give us specifics—where to work, where to live, whom to marry, what car to buy, etc. God allows us to make choices, and, if we are yielded to Him, He has ways of preventing wrong choices (see Acts 16:6–7).
The better we get to know a person, the more acquainted we become with his or her desires. For example, a child may look across a busy street at the ball that bounced away, but he doesn’t run after it, because he knows “my dad wouldn’t want me to do that.” He doesn’t have to ask his father for advice on every particular situation; he knows what his father would say because he knows his father. The same is true in our relationship to God. As we walk with the Lord, obeying His Word and relying on His Spirit, we find that we are given the mind of Christ (1 Corinthians 2:16). We know Him, and that helps us to know His will. We find God’s guidance readily available. “The righteousness of the blameless makes their paths straight, / but the wicked are brought down by their own wickedness” (Proverbs 11:5).
If we are walking closely with the Lord and truly desiring His will for our lives, God will place His desires in our hearts. The key is wanting God’s will, not our own. “Delight yourself in the LORD and He will give you the desires of your heart” (Psalm 37:4).

LCCC Latest analysis, editorials from miscellaneous sources published on August 22-23/15
Sheik Bachir: We Miss You & Long For Your Leadership Calibre/Elias Bejjani/August 23/15
Unity of Free Patriotic Movement at stake/Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon/August 23/15
Train gunman: French intelligence fails again to distinguish between informer and Islamist terrorist/DEBKAfile/August 23/15
Sectarian Re-Engineering of Syria’s Demography Followed by Cease-Fire/Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/Middle East Briefing/August 23/15
Kuwait Answers the Question: Should Iran’s Containment Policy be Dropped after the Deal/Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/Middle East Briefing/August 23/15
The Year of the Wall: The Story of Borders in the Middle East/Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/Middle East Briefing/August 23/15
Is Spain Fueling the BDS War Against Israel/Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/August 23/15
What is the BDS "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions"/Logo for the BDS movement/August 23/15

LCCC Bulletin titles for the Lebanese Related News published on August 22-23/15
Sheik Bachir: We Miss You & Long For Your Leadership Calibre
Unity of Free Patriotic Movement at stake
Report: U.N. Security Council Unanimously Agrees Renewal of UNIFIL Term
Salam Calls for Cabinet Session Next Week to Tackle Pressing Issues
Downtown Beirut Turns into War Zone as Police Battle Anti-trash Protesters
Rights Group Decries Violence against Protesters
Fatah Official Escapes Murder Attempt in Ain el-Hilweh, 2 Dead in Clashes
Berri Urges 'those Paralyzing Cabinet Sessions to Cease Obstructing People's Lives'

Sheik Bachir: We Miss You & Long For Your Leadership Calibre
Elias Bejjani/August 23/12
John13/15: "The greatest love you can have for your friends is to give your life for them".
Free patriotic Lebanese citizens in both occupied Lebanon, and all over the world remember annually on August 23, with pride, honour and anguish Sheik Bachir's anniversary electoral presidential day.
The "Dream" leader Sheik Bachir Gemayel was elected president for Lebanon on 23 August/1982.
Unfortunately and sadly Sheik Bachir was assassinated by Syrian agents before he was able to assume his presidential responsibilities because these stone age terrorists feared his honesty, nationalism, devotion, determination, courage and strong will.
Sheik Bachir who successfully led the Lebanese Christian resistance against the PLO and the Arab dictatorships, fanatic regimes and their regional and global terrorist organizations is seen as a unique national and patriotic hero in many Lebanese eyes from all Lebanese religious denominations. He is still highly considered to be a remarkable leader that Free Patriotic Lebanese people love, adore and cherish. God bless his soul.
Sheik Bachir was extremely faithful, devoted to Lebanon's cause of freedom, committed to the Lebanese rights and dignity, never compromised on his solid and transparent national stances or cajoled or appeased on the account of the Lebanese holy cause.
With strong self confidence, self respect, dignity and fear of Almighty God he continuously witnessed for the truth no matter what, and openly, courageously and loudly uttered what must be said.
He loved both his people and his country and accepted with no fear or hesitation to be a sacrifice on their alter.
Thirty three years after his departure Bachir's dream, vision, and leadership role model are still vivid and alive in the souls hears and minds of the majority of the Lebanese in Lebanon and all over the world.
The Syrian Bathist assassins who are now killing and murdering their own people, were able to kill his body, but definitely failed to kill his dream in a sovereign, free and independent Lebanon.
Thirty three years passed and the free Lebanese still strongly believe in Bachir's dream and are struggling with courage and faith to make it happen and become a reality.
By God's will and blessings they will achieve this goal no matter what the sacrifices will be.
Sadly the majority of the current corrupted and deviated Lebanese officials, religious and political leaders are dead in the eyes of many faithful, free and patriotic Lebanese, while in reality these leaders are still alive and breathing.
Meanwhile Bachir who was assassinated 33 years ago is still alive in the hearts and minds of all these strong will Lebanese.
Those criminals and terrorists who killed Bachir, killed only his ash body, but failed to kill his dream or his the deeply rooted love in the hearts of the Lebanese
Every Free and Patriotic Lebanese is Bachir, and that's why Bachir is still alive as well as his dream.
God Bless Sheik Bachir
Long Live Freedom

Elias Bejjani
Canadian-Lebanese Human Rights activist, journalist and political commentator
Email phoenicia@hotmail.com
Web sites http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com & http://www.10452lccc.com & http://www.clhrf.com
Tweets on https://twitter.com/phoeniciaelias
Face Book https://www.facebook.com/groups/128479277182033 & https://www.facebook.com/elias.y.bejjani

Unity of Free Patriotic Movement at stake
Myra Abdallah/Now Lebanon
Published: 22/08/2015 04:35 PM
Will Alain Aoun’s dropping out of the FPM leadership candidacy create a schism in the party?
“Dear leader, dear General, you who have taught me the love of my country […], this decision will cause the disunity of the [Free Patriotic] Movement. How can we demand that the [Lebanese] people elect a president while we are unable to elect our own president? Gebran [Bassil] does not represent me nor does he represent the majority of the Aounist striver crowd,” tweeted Michel Abi Khalil, a now-former memeber of the Free Patriotic Movement, along with a picture of his FPM membership card cut in half.
Free Patriotic Movement (FPM) members had put high hopes on the internal election of a new head of their party — meant to be an example of democratic behavior for all other Lebanese parties — so they were surprised on Thursday when MP Alain Aoun – Michel Aoun’s son-in-law – dropped out of the race, leaving Gebran Bassil — also Michel Aoun’s son-in-law — the lone candidate for the leadership of the party. The head of the party was supposed to have been elected, with two vice presidents nominated by Michel Aoun, and Alain Aoun’s abdication is seen by many as a result of Michel Aoun’s influence and favoritism.
“Alain Aoun certainly did not retreat out of personal initiative,” said Abi Khalil. “Michel Aoun was putting a lot of pressure inside the party in order to reach this agreement.”
Aoun has pushed Bassil forward for official positions against consensus before. In 2009, when Bassil was striving to be part of Saad Hariri’s cabinet, Michel Aoun went as far as paralyzing the formation of the cabinet if Bassil was not a minister in it, despite the March 14 coalition’s rejection of him. One of Aoun’s most famous statements came from this debacle: “For the eyes of the general’s son-in-law, let there be no cabinet.”
Joseph Fahed – the FPM’s electoral campaign coordinator in Keserwan – says the elections are a means, not an end. “The elections are a chance for a person to express his expectations. These expectations can be reached either through direct elections or through a certain agreement,” he said. “It does not matter if we could achieve a goal with a minimum effort — the important thing is the fact that the goal is achieved, especially that the agreement happened inside the same environment and the same house. Democracy is not about winning but about reaching a certain goal and finding a common ground regardless of the way it happens.”
Alain Aoun dropped out of the race on the first day of the candidature period opening. “If the plan was to restrain other members from running, Alain Aoun’s retreat would have happened on 27 August, not yesterday,” Fahed told NOW. “Later on, when the National Council is formed, it will have the chance to organize new elections if it finds that Bassil is not qualified to be head of the party.”
While other members still have time to announce their candidacy before 27 August, Bassil becoming the lone candidate has angered many FPM members who believe democracy should be applied inside the party in the first place. This had encouraged Fares Louis, for one — an FPM member and one of the party’s founders — to run against Bassil. Repeated calls NOW made to several other FPM members and MPs who are allegedly planning to become candidates had not been returned at the time of this writing.
Alain Aoun expressed concern in a statement that his retreat might put the unity of the FPM at risk. “Being aware of the danger that the fallout of the elections might threaten the unity of the Movement, especially in this period when [the party] is facing a big political attack, I call on you to surpass this and keep working together,” he said. But many FPM members NOW spoke to are indeed afraid that Bassil’s de facto nomination might cause a certain rupture in the party. “FPM officials considered that by putting aside the internal elections, they could avoid an internal rupture,” said Yvonne Souaiby, Al-Akhbar journalist and FPM member. “Currently, the situation is worse. If the elections took place, members would accept the results no matter who was elected. We would wait for the next elections and prepare ourselves and our candidate to win the next elections. The elections were our last hope, and now it is broken.”
Several FPM members told NOW that the controversy around this issue is not about whether Gibran Bassil is competent for the position, but is rather a question of his popularity within the party itself and in the broader Lebanese public. Bassil has lost parliamentary elections twice — once in 2005 and again in 2009 — and many consider him to have been imposed on the party and the state.
Fahed says that “Gebran Bassil has the greatest experience compared to other members. He has also proved successful in many ministries [that politicians] used to avoid taking charge of. We should invest this success inside the FPM.”
But not all FPM members agree with Fahed. Abi Khalil says there are two approaches within the party — Bassil’s and his camp, and Alain and Naim Aoun’s (Michel’s nephew). “In my opinion, the second approach is the one that represents the cause of the FPM combatants in Lebanon,” he told NOW. “Gebran Bassil does not represent me. The idea that the head of the FPM is nominated and not elected does not represent me. General Aoun taught us how to be democratic and this is what used to discern the FPM from other political parties.”
Souaiby says that an FPM rupture can’t be confirmed as yet. “We need to wait a couple of weeks to know what the outcome of this campaign will be,” she told NOW. “All the members who objected to the fact that Alain Aoun retreated — even those who were going to vote to Gebran Bassil anyway, but are refusing the fact that he gets nominated — might decide to vote for Fares Louis. Fares Louis, even though not very popular, could win just like Camille Khoury won against Amin Gemayel in the Metn elections, though he was unknown to the public.”“I am definitely not a member at the FPM anymore,” Abi Khalil reiterated to NOW. “Even if the elections happened and a member other than Gebran Bassil became head of the FPM, I will not join again. The party lost its credibility for me.”
Myra Abdallah tweets @myraabdallah

Report: U.N. Security Council Unanimously Agrees Renewal of UNIFIL Term
Naharnet /August 22/15/The United Nations Security Council unanimously approved on Friday the renewal of the term of the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon, reported al-Joumhouria newspaper on Saturday. It said that the agreement was reached after closed-door consultations over the situation in southern Lebanon. All members agreed to the renewal, which will extend to the end of August 2016. The members urged international support for each of the Lebanese army and international peacekeeping force, added the daily.They also called for continued cooperation between the army and UNIFIL, urging all concerned sides to halt hostile acts and prevent any violation of the Blue Line border that separates Lebanon from Israel. Moreover, they demanded the Israeli government speed up the withdrawal of its army from north of the occupied Ghajar village in coordination with UNIFIL. The Security Council members underlined the importance of achieving comprehensive, just, and permanent peace in the Middle East in accordance with all international resolutions, said al-Joumhouria. UNIFIL was created by Security Council resolutions 425 and 426 of March 19, 1978, to confirm Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon, restore international peace and security and assist the Lebanese government in restoring its effective authority in the area. Following the July 2006 conflict, the Security Council, by its resolution 1701, significantly enhanced UNIFIL’s mandate and capacity and assigned it additional tasks working closely with the Lebanese Armed Forces in southern Lebanon. Today, UNIFIL comprises almost 12,000 troops from 38 countries and it is supported by over 1,000 civilian national and international staff. This includes about 800 naval personnel of the UNIFIL Maritime Task Force deployed along the Lebanese coast.

Salam Calls for Cabinet Session Next Week to Tackle Pressing Issues
Naharnet /August 22/15/Prime Minister Tammam Salam called for a cabinet session next Thursday as the country faces a number of pressing issues. The agenda of the session includes 39 articles, including the waste disposal crisis, the wages of public sector employees, and other economic concerns. Ministerial sources said the premier resorted to the “vote of the simple majority of ministers in making the call for cabinet to convene.”In addition, he coordinated with the cabinet general secretariat and the general directorate of the presidency to publish in the official gazette next week a number of decrees. These decrees were signed by at least 18 ministers, revealed the sources. Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions, including agreeing on alternative ways of dealing with the garbage crisis, which erupted when the Naameh landfill south of Beirut was closed on July 17. Garbage has been accumulating on the streets in Beirut and Mount Lebanon for the past month and Health Minister Wael Abou Faour has said the country is on the brink of a "major health disaster" unless an immediate solution is found for the trash problem. The salaries of civil servants are also under threat. The Finance Ministry has warned that it would be unable to pay state employees their wages without an authorization from Parliament. But the legislature has not convened since last November when it met to extend its own term in office. The cabinet plunged in a crisis when the Free Patriotic Movement insisted that it discusses its decision-making mechanism before any other issue. It has been holding street protests against what it calls Salam's violation of the Christian president's powers amid a vacuum at Baabda Palace. It is seeking to amend the cabinet's working mechanism and wants to pressure the government to appoint high-ranking military and security officials rather than extending their terms.

Downtown Beirut Turns into War Zone as Police Battle Anti-trash Protesters
Naharnet /August 22/15/Police used tear gas and water cannon on Saturday to disperse thousands of anti-garbage demonstrators in downtown Beirut's Riad al-Solh square and to stop them from moving towards the nearby Nijmeh Square, leaving scores of protesters injured. The demonstrators said they were adamant to stay in the area and urged all the Lebanese people to join them but anti-riot police opened fire in the air and broke up the protest with baton charges. The demonstrators later erected tents near Martyrs' Square, vowing to stay there until police release several activists they arrested during the protest. A video shot by a protester on a mobile phone showed police opening fire at the demonstrators, which resulted in the injury of a young man in his waist. Another man was heard shouting “killer” to a police officer. The clashes turned parts of downtown Beirut into a war zone as the protesters hurled water bottles and rocks on police to stop security forces from chasing them out of the area. The protesters were seeking to march towards the parliament in Nijmeh Square when the clashes erupted. Security forces had already put barricades to prevent them from reaching the legislature. The Internal Security Forces said 35 policemen were injured in the confrontation with protesters whom it accused of trying to enter the security zone near the Grand Serail and the parliament. They shouted slogans calling for the fall of the regime and for the resignation of lawmakers, saying the government is "dirty." "The people want to topple the regime!" That's a phrase used by protesters during Arab Spring uprisings that toppled governments across the region. Others cried: "Revolution!"One demonstrator held a placard showing photos of Lebanese politicians placed in trash bags, and saying: “Some trash should not be recycled.”The Syndicate Coordination Committee and a large number of activists and artists attended the protest. Several officials expressed regret on the use of force by police. Education Minister Elias Bou Saab told LBCI: “I am not honored to be part of this government.”Interior Minister Nouhad al-Mashnouq is responsible for the attack on the peaceful protesters, he said. “This is a dark day in Lebanon's history,” Bou Saab added. But al-Mashnouq said he is abroad and claimed that he has not asked police to open fire to disperse the protesters. He also vowed to resolve the waste crisis during the cabinet session next Thursday. Health Minister Wael Abou Faour urged police not to use force and asked demonstrators not to hurl stones on security forces. “All those who have taken the decision to use force should be held accountable,” Abou Faour told LBCI. He urged the demonstration's organizers to form a delegation to meet with Prime Minister Tammam Salam. Progressive Socialist Party chief MP Walid Jumblat used stronger words, saying “enough lying.” “Al-Mashnouq is responsible (for the use of force) and he should leave,” he added. Kataeb Party leader MP Sami Gemayel also said it was “unacceptable to deal with demonstrators this way.”“All options are available,” he said when asked if Kataeb ministers would resign from the cabinet. Change and Reform bloc MP Nabil Nicolas suspended his membership in parliament until the officials responsible for the use of force against demonstrators are held accountable. The attack on the peaceful demonstrators sparked anger on social media. “I prefer mosquitoes rather than such politicians to rule me,” said an angry Lebanese woman on Facebook. “The government of water cannon will sooner or later fall,” said a man. “Losers, corrupt, unethical, senseless politicians,” wrote another citizen on Facebook. Earlier Saturday, the You Stink campaign, which had organized the protest, urged police to protect them and to not beat them similar to what happened on Wednesday during a demonstration.The Lebanese government is locked in disputes and has failed to agree on a solution to Lebanon's garbage collection problem after Beirut's main landfill in Naameh was closed on July 17. Trash has accumulated on the streets meanwhile.

Rights Group Decries Violence against Protesters
Associated Press/Naharnet /August 22/15/An international human rights watchdog has decried police violence against Lebanese demonstrators protesting the government's failure to resolve the country's mounting trash crisis. Police used forced to disperse a protest of around 100 people in downtown Beirut this week after some of the demonstrators tried to break a security cordon around the government building. Human Rights Watch urged authorities in a statement Saturday to ensure accountability for excessive use of force and refrain from repeated violence against demonstrators. “Violence has no role in responding to peaceful assembly and basic social demands,” said Nadim Houry, deputy Middle East director. “Lebanese authorities should respect the protesters’ rights and listen to their demands for a sustainable solution to the garbage crisis,” he added. The Lebanese government is locked in disputes and has failed to agree on a solution to Lebanon's garbage collection problem after Beirut's main landfill was closed down a month ago. Trash has accumulated on the streets meanwhile.

Fatah Official Escapes Murder Attempt in Ain el-Hilweh, 2 Dead in Clashes
Naharnet /August 22/15/A Fatah movement official escaped on Saturday an assassination attempt at the southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, leading to clashes that left two people dead. The state-run National News Agency and local media said one of the bodyguards of Abou Ashraf al-Armoushi, the chief of national security at the camp, was injured when they came under fire. Al-Armoushi, who was attending the funeral of a Fatah member in the camp's Hattin neighborhood, escaped the attack unharmed. The murder attempt prompted Fatah gunmen to exchange fire with Jund al-Sham militants, which left two Palestinians dead and more than 14 others injured, said NNA. The clashes took place mostly near the camp's northern entrance, and dozens of fearful families fled to mosques in the nearby city of Sidon. Ain el-Hilweh has been the location for the settling of scores between several factions, and a breeding ground for extremist groups because of the poverty there. Most Palestinians live in squalid conditions in the country's 12 official camps. The Lebanese army does not enter the camps, under a tacit deal agreed after the 1975-1990 civil war. Palestinian factions are responsible for security.

Berri Urges 'those Paralyzing Cabinet Sessions to Cease Obstructing People's Lives'
Naharnet /August 22/15/Speaker Nabih Berri condemned the ongoing paralysis of cabinet, urging those behind it to end their obstructive practices, reported the daily An Nahar on Saturday. He said in an address to those powers, which he left unnamed: “You should cease such practices that have obstructed the lives of the people and manipulated their future.” He therefore called on the government and Prime Minister Tammam Salam to “do what is necessary” to tackle the situation. The speaker explained that he “is raising his voice as it is not logical that the cabinet to be subject to such pressure because all sides will be harmed.”“Ending the crisis can be achieved through returning to the Constitution,” stressed Berri to An Nahar. “The cabinet should implement the Constitution over the most minor issue instead of being faced with failure,” he added. Political disputes have blocked the government from making any major decisions. The cabinet plunged in a crisis when the Free Patriotic Movement insisted that it discusses its decision-making mechanism before any other issue. It has been holding street protests against what it calls Salam's violation of the Christian president's powers amid a vacuum at Baabda Palace. It is seeking to amend the cabinet's working mechanism and wants to pressure the government to appoint high-ranking military and security officials rather than extending their terms.

Abbas Quits PLO Leadership ahead of Internal Election
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas resigned Saturday as head of the Palestine Liberation Organisation's Executive Committee in a bid to force new elections for the top body, an official said. Wassel Abu Yussef said that more than half of the 18-member committee had also stepped down. "The resignation of the president of the executive committee Mahmoud Abbas and more than half of its members has created a legal vacuum, and therefore the Palestine National Council has been asked to meet in one month to elect a new executive committee," Yussef told AFP. Yussef added, however, that the resignations will take effect only when the PNC meets. The PNC, or Palestinian parliament, has 740 members who live in the Palestinian territories and in the diaspora. It has not met in nearly 20 years. The executive committee is the PLO's highest decision-making body and acts on behalf of Palestinians in the occupied territories and the diaspora, namely in the peace process with Israel. In 1993, Abbas, then executive committee secretary general, signed the Oslo autonomy accords on behalf of the Palestinians. Yussef said that before the resignations were announced, the executive committee elected chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat as its secretary general. That move came after Abbas suspended another key member, Yasser Abed Rabbo, as secretary general.It was not immediately clear why Abed Rabbo, a veteran PLO figure, had been sidelined.

20 Civilians Dead in Syria Regime Bombardment Near Damascus
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Shelling and air raids by Syrian government forces killed at least 20 civilians and wounded or trapped 200 on Saturday in rebel-held Douma east of Damascus, a monitoring group said. "At least 20 civilians were killed in the heavy shelling and air attacks since this morning on Douma," said Rami Abdel Rahman, head of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. He said around 200 more were either wounded or still trapped under rubble, and that the death toll was expected to rise. On Sunday, regime attacks on Douma killed more than 100 people and sparked international condemnation of one of the bloodiest government attacks in Syria's war. According to the Local Coordination Committees activist network, Saturday's bombardment struck four adjacent buildings in the town. Photographs published by a local activist group depicted a young, bloodied child being carried across a field of concrete rubble. Volunteers searched through crumbling buildings, some of which were missing entire walls, to find survivors. Douma is part of the rebel-held Eastern Ghouta area, which is regularly targeted by regime shelling and bombardment. Last week's attacks, in which the Britain-based Observatory said 117 people had been killed, drew harsh criticism of the Syrian government's indiscriminate attacks on civilians. More than 240,000 people have been killed and millions have been forced to flee since the conflict began in March 2011.

Iran Shoots down Suspected Spy Drone near Iraq Border
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Iran's military shot down a suspected reconnaissance drone in a province on its western border with Iraq, a military official said Saturday. "A while ago, an unknown drone entered the area and was identified by our monitoring systems," Farzad Fereydouni, air defense commander for Kermanshah province, told the official IRNA news agency. The unarmed drone was "engaged and shot down" by Iran's missile systems, he said, without giving any details on its origin or when it was intercepted.

Iran Unveils New Short Range Ballistic Missile
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Iran's President Hassan Rouhani unveiled the country's latest domestically produced surface to surface missile on Saturday, saying such weapons are necessary for defense in the Middle East. The Fateh (Winner) 313 ballistic missile has a 500-kilometer (300 miles) range and features more advanced sensors and technology, according to Sepah News, the website of Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guards. It was rolled out little more than a month after Iran and world powers concluded a deal that requires Iran to curb key parts of its nuclear program in exchange for a lifting of economic sanctions. The missile was displayed as part of Defense Industry Day, an annual event that showcases Iran's hardware. "A weak country incapable of confronting and defending against the military power of its neighbors and enemies cannot claim to seek peace," the president said in a televised speech, citing the need for diplomacy and military efforts to stand side by side. "Iran's strategy is based on defense and deterrence. The first line is diplomats and the second line is generals. Diplomats should be backed by generals. If they fail, it is the generals' turn to come forward." Several versions of the Fateh missile have been produced in the past few years. The 313 model has been successfully tested and is scheduled for mass production, the Sepah News report said. Iran's ballistic missile program was a contentious issue in the talks that led to the nuclear deal in Vienna on July 14. To ensure a lifting of sanctions Iran must implement changes to its atomic activities and guarantee they are for energy and medical purposes. Iran has always denied seeking a nuclear bomb. However critics of the nuclear deal in Tehran said that a recent U.N. resolution regarding missiles, albeit a non-binding measure, placed unacceptable curbs on Iran's military capabilities. The latest U.N. Security Council resolution adopting the nuclear agreement bars Iran from owning missiles "designed to carry nuclear warheads".It also stipulates that transfer to Iran of ballistic missile technology during the next eight years will be subject to the approval of the council. The U.S. has said it would veto such requests.

Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood Chief Gets New Life Term
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohamed Badie, who has been sentenced to death, was handed another life term in prison Saturday for an attack on a police station.A criminal court sentenced Badie, the Islamist movement's spiritual leader, over the attack in the northeastern city of Port Said on August 16, 2013. Eighty-eight co-defendants were also handed life terms, which in Egypt is 25 years in jail. Only 18 of them were in court with Badie, however, and the rest were sentenced in absentia. Twenty-eight others received 10 years in prison and 71 were acquitted. The attack came two days after a bloody crackdown by security forces in Cairo on supporters of ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi that left hundreds dead in Rabaa al-Adawiya Square. In June an Egyptian court upheld death sentences against Morsi and Badie for plotting jailbreaks and attacks on police during the country's 2011 uprising. He had already been sentenced to death in April, and has been handed life sentences in five other cases. Morsi, Egypt's first freely elected president, was ousted in 2013 by then army chief and now President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi after mass street protests against his year of rule. An ensuing police crackdown targeting his supporters has left hundreds dead and thousands jailed. Hundreds more have been sentenced to death after speedy trials criticized by the United Nations. The Muslim Brotherhood, which made major political gains following the 2011 overthrow of longtime Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, was designated a "terrorist group" in late 2013.

Dozens Die in Fighting, Air Strikes in Yemen's Taez
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/Dozens of people, mostly civilians, have been killed in fighting and air strikes by a Saudi-led coalition in Yemen's third city Taez, the International Committee of the Red Cross said Saturday. Yemen spokeswoman Rima Kamal said the Friday violence between Iran-backed rebels and pro-government forces had killed 80 people by late evening, adding that it was unknown if people in the city were "dead or alive under the rubble". "My colleague was told that by noon yesterday, there were 50 killed; in the evening it went up to 80. These are figures we are receiving from various sides," she told AFP. The Doctors Without Borders aid group said Friday that 65 civilians had been killed and several wounded in coalition bombing runs in Taez's Salah neighborhood. The rebel-controlled Saba news agency said the raids had killed 63 civilians and wounded 50. Backed by Saudi-led air strikes and support from a mainly Arab military coalition, loyalists in Yemen have made sweeping recent advances in the south against rebel fighters. They retook second city Aden last month, and have taken four additional southern provinces in their advance towards Taez, which is viewed as the gateway to the rebel-held capital Sanaa.

North, South Korea Hold Top-Level Talks to Defuse Military Tensions
Agence France Presse/Naharnet /August 22/15/North and South Korea sat down to urgent top-level talks Saturday, seeking some way out of an escalating crisis that has pushed both their militaries to the brink of an armed conflict. The talks in the border truce village of Panmunjom began shortly after the expiration of a North Korean deadline for Seoul to halt loudspeaker propaganda broadcasts across the border or face military action. Despite skepticism that Pyongyang would follow through on its threat, the ultimatum raised border tensions to their highest level for years, with the North re-positioning artillery units and South Korean and U.S. fighter jets flying simulated bombing runs. The dialogue in Panmunjom, where the Korean War ceasefire was signed, offers a chance for both sides to step back, although analysts said finding a workable compromise would be difficult. Seoul has refused to turn off the loudspeaker broadcasts until Pyongyang apologizes for mine blasts this month that maimed two South Korean soldiers on border patrol.
North Korea denies any responsibility for the blasts and has accused the South of fabricating evidence of its involvement. "It's not easy to see a simple way out where neither side loses face," said Dan Pinkston, Korea expert at the International Crisis Group in Seoul.
"It'll be interesting to see if the North can bring something to the table -- possibly a resumption of North-South family reunions -- that will allow the South to turn the loudspeakers off," Pinkston said. The four delegates -- two from each side -- include the South Korean president's national security adviser, Kim Kwan-Jin, and the man widely seen as North Korean leader Kim Jong-Un's number two, Hwang Pyong-So. The two men last met in October when Hwang, who is vice chairman of the North's top military body, the National Defense Commission, led a delegation on the highest-level visit to the South for years. Those talks ended with an agreement on resuming a high-level dialogue, which never actually got off the ground. According to South Korea's presidential Blue House, the request for talks came from the North, despite its aggressive rhetoric and military posturing of recent days. On the orders of Kim Jong-Un, the North Korean People's Army (KPA) has been in a "fully armed, wartime state" since Friday, while the foreign ministry in Pyongyang warned Saturday that the situation had "reached the brink of war" and was "hardly controllable". The international community has long experience of North Korea's particularly aggressive brand of diplomatic brinkmanship, and the request for talks will confirm for many that this has largely been another exercise in attention-seeking by Pyongyang.
For the moment, there has been little sense of panic among ordinary South Koreans who have become largely inured over the years to the North's regular -- and regularly unrealized -- threats of imminent war.
But the military has been on maximum alert, and U.S. and South Korean jets flew simulated bombing sorties around midday Saturday in a clear show of defiance and force. Thousands of South Korean civilians living on frontline border islands or near military propaganda units were evacuated from their homes to underground shelters as a preventive measure. Technically, the two Koreas have been at war for the past 65 years, as the 1950-53 Korean conflict ended with a ceasefire that was never ratified by a formal peace treaty. Kim Jong-Un's order to move to a war footing came after an exchange of artillery fire on Thursday that claimed no casualties but triggered a dangerous spike in cross-border tensions. On Friday South Korean President Park Geun-Hye appeared on television, wearing army fatigues and telling top military commanders that further North Korean provocations "will not be tolerated". The situation is being closely watched, with U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon calling for restraint from both sides and the United States urging Pyongyang to avoid further escalation. There are nearly 30,000 U.S. troops permanently stationed in South Korea, and the U.S. military's top officer on Saturday reiterated Washington's commitment to the defense of its ally. A call for calm and restraint also came from China, the North's main diplomatic protector and economic supporter. Ties between Beijing and Pyongyang have become strained, and China will be keen to avoid any regional flare-up as it seeks to attract world leaders to Beijing next month for a three-day celebration of Japan's defeat in World War II.

Obama reveals compensation to Israel over Iran nuclear deal
Yitzhak Benhorin/Ynetnews/Latest Update: 08.22.15
US president says Washington will increase military aid to Israel for development of anti-missile systems and tunnel detection technologies; in letter to Congressman, Obama insists he will respond firmly if Iran fails to meet commitments. US President Barack Obama has committed in writing to increase American military aid to Israel for the development of anti-missile systems, as well as to accelerate cooperation on the development of tunnel detection technologies. "Our governments should identify ways to accelerate the ongoing collaborative research and development for tunnel detection and mapping technologies to provide Israel new capabilities to detect and destroy tunnels because they could be used to threaten Israeli civilians," Obama said in a letter dated August 19, published in full by the New York Times on Friday, to Jerrold Nadler, a Democrat in the House of Representatives who announced that he will vote to approve the accord.
In the letter, Obama promises to increase cooperation with Israel and with the United States' allies in the Gulf in the fight against Iran's efforts to destabilize the region by supporting the Houthis in Yemen, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Syria, and Syrian President Bashar Assad. "My administration is prepared to enhance the already intensive joint efforts underway to identify and counter the range of shared threats we face in the region, as well as increase missile defense funding so that Israel and the United States can accelerate the co-development of the Arrow-3 and David's Sling missile defense systems," he writes. He also notes that he has "proposed to Prime Minister Netanyahu that we begin a process aimed at further strengthening our efforts to confront conventional and asymmetric threats." The American president further states his administration intends to continue talks with Israel on a new 10-year Memorandum of Understanding on foreign military financing that "would cement for the next decade our unprecedented levels of military assistance." On top of receiving over $20.5 billion in foreign military financing since 2009, Israel is due to receive another $3.1 billion installment of foreign military aid from the US, Obama states. He notes his administration invested an additional #3 billion in Iron Dome, as well as other missile-defense systems. The president keeps detailing American military assistance to Israel, saying Israel has been provided with "unparalleled access to some of the most advanced military equipment in the world, including the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, which will be delivered in 2016." Israel, Obama says, is the only Middle East nation to which the US has sold the fifth-generation aircraft."More recently, I authorized an unprecedented $1.879 billion multi-year munitions resupply package that will provide Israel continued access to state-of-the-art precision-guided munitions, including penetrating munitions (the BLU-113 super penetrator), Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) tail kits, and air-to-air missiles, all of which will give the Israel government access to the most sophisticated arsenal for years to come," Obama adds. "I also have offered Israel the V-22 Osprey - a hallmark US air platform - which the Israeli government has chosen not to procure at this time."
Military option to remain available
The letter mostly aims to assuage concerns by senators and congressmen about the deal aimed to curb its nuclear program, and to that end Obama vows the United States will respond firmly if Iran fails to honor the accord."We have a wide array of unilateral and multilateral responses that we can employ if Iran fails to meets its commitments," Obama said. Obama reiterated his view that the accord reached last month in Vienna is good for the United States, Israel and the Middle East in general. The president also insisted, as he has many times, that all options remain on the table if Iran does not abide by the accord. The agreement lifts economic sanctions against Tehran in exchange for restrictions and other measures designed to prevent it from developing nuclear weapons. "All of the options available to the United States – including the military option – will remain available through the life of the deal and beyond," Obama said. Obama also promises to use a multinational commission policing the accord to block Iranian procurement of nuclear-related technology. The letter was released as opponents of the accord wage a fierce campaign against it ahead of a vote in Congress in September.
Opponents say the accord goes too easy on Iran, by not allowing spot inspections of nuclear sites or forcing it to halt support of militant groups, for instance. So far only two Democratic senators – Chuck Schumer and Robert Menendez – have come out publicly against the accord. According to a Reuters tally, Obama is eight votes away from capturing one-third of the Senate, or 34 senators, with about a month remaining to find the additional support he needs. The Bipartisan Policy Center, which is tracking lawmakers' positions, said on Thursday that 69 House members now support the Iran deal, with another 140 in the 435-member chamber still undeclared. Obama would need the support of at least 146 House members to safeguard the agreement in that chamber. In days ahead, much attention will focus on senators Benjamin Cardin and Barbara Mikulski, both senior Democrats from Maryland who have not yet staked out a position. It is unlikely that opponents can muster the two-thirds majority they would to override a certain Obama veto if an initial vote by lawmakers rejects the accord. Nadler said Friday he supports it. It is not perfect, but it "gives us the best chance of stopping Iran from developing a nuclear weapon," he said in a statement. Nadler said he had reached this conclusion from his perspective as "an American Jew who is both a Democrat and a strong supporter of Israel."The accord, vehemently opposed by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has sharply divided the US Jewish community.
AFP and Reuters contributed to this report.

Hard to buy Barak's claim that IDF, ministers tied his hands on Iran strike
YOSSI MELMAN/J.Post/08/22/2015
When the Boaz Harpaz affair was being investigated by authorities, it became apparent that unlike the tapes recorded by then-IDF chief of staff Gabi Ashkenazi, the audio recordings from the office of his superior, then-defense minister Ehud Barak, were destroyed.
Experts, analysts, Barak adversaries, and conspiracy theorists claimed that the destruction of those tapes by a man like Barak - who is notoriously cautious and suspicious - was no coincidence. The state comptroller, the attorney-general, and the police exonerated Barak. They came to the conclusion that the destroying of the tapes was simply a mistake made by Defense Ministry underlings. This time, however, it seems that Barak's circumspection, cunning, and guile failed him. This past Friday evening, Channel 2 aired audio segments in which the former defense minister is heard explaining why he and Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu did not order the IDF to attack Iran.
Barak blames Ashkenazi, his successor, Benny Gantz, as well as ministers Moshe Ya'alon and Yuval Steinitz, all of whom opposed the attack. According to Barak associates, Ilan Kfir and Danny Dor, the authors of an upcoming Hebrew-language biography about the former defense minister, violated their subject's trust. They claim that Barak had agreed to have his interviews recorded in order to expedite the writing process and to make life easier for the authors. The former defense minister, however, did not consent to having the tape's content publicly disseminated. When contacted by The Jerusalem Post's corporate sister Ma'ariv for comment on Barak's claims, Dor did not respond. Just prior to the Channel 2 report, Barak tried to prevent the airing of the audio clips. He appealed to the military censor, which promptly - and with full justification - rejected his request to bar Channel 2 from airing the story. Once Barak revealed information about secret cabinet discussions to journalists, the question of whether he intended to have his position aired publicly is a secondary one - and it certainly is one that does not concern the censor.
Either way, even if he did not intend for the information to emerge in audio, Barak certainly had every intention to have his point of view known by the public. He is trying to shape the historical narrative by portraying himself as the one who pushed for a strike against Iran, only to have his wish denied by those who were opposed - cabinet ministers and military commanders. According to Barak, Ashkenazi told him in 2010 that the IDF simply did not have the operational capacity to execute an attack on Iran's nuclear facilities. In 2011, Ashkenazi was replaced by Gantz as chief of staff. Gantz told Barak that the military did indeed have the operational "maturity" for a strike. While Gantz made it clear that the IDF would carry out any directive issued to it by the civilian leadership, he was convinced that an attack was unnecessary. Barak also said that he was surprised to see ministers Ya'alon and Steinitz "melt" at the last minute after he was led to believe by Netanyahu that the two men supported the plan. Ya'alon and Steinitz instead chose to side with the opposing ministers in the diplomatic cabinet - Dan Meridor and Benny Begin. As a result, Netanyahu and Barak were left without the necessary majority for approval of an attack. A year later, Barak and Netanyahu tried once again to convince the cabinet to approve an attack plan. This time, however, it was weather considerations that proved to be an obstacle. Israel had only two "windows of opportunity" to attack, but none of them were exploited due to external factors. There was a large-scale military drill with the US military from May to July and there was also the upcoming US presidential election in November 2012.
Barak's comments should not be construed as absolute truth. They are just one version of events - one among others that have not been aired publicly, like that of former Mossad director Meir Dagan, and those of Gantz and Ashkenazi. Dagan and Ashkenazi have already hinted in the past that Netanyahu and Barak acted manipulatively on the Iran issue. There was one claim, which was first reported by Ma'ariv, according to which Barak told the cabinet that he was personally told by then-CIA chief Leon Panetta that the Obama administration had reversed its opposition to an Israeli strike against Iran. When the Americans were informed of Barak's claim, they were furious. They then sent a special emissary to Israel with the exact protocol of the Panetta-Barak conversation in question. Barak and Netanyahu tried to get the chief of staff to "get the system activated" - the significance of which is mobilization of the reserves and ordering the air force, intelligence services, and home front authorities to undertake a number of preemptive measures. "Activating the system" was liable to lead to a "miscalculation."
During this time period, the Iranian enemy could expose these preparations and launch ts own preemptive actions that would've threatened to drag the entire Middle East, as well as the United States, into a regional war. Was that Barak's and Netanyahu's intention? Such a possibility should not be ruled out. These conflicting versions of events remind me of the Japanese film Rashomon, where a number of characters retroactively recall events each through their own lens. The narratives often contradict one another, even though they are aimed at describing the same event. The truth may only be fully known 70 years from now, if at all, when the protocols are made public. That is not a sure thing. In the most sensitive, secret discussions, there are those who write down things for protocol simply with an eye toward the history books.In any event, even if we were to believe Barak, it's difficult to be swayed. If the prime minister and the defense minister really wanted to win cabinet approval of a decision to attack Iran, they would've successfully overcome opposition from their ministers. Never in the history of the State of Israel has a determined, dominant prime minister been prevented from getting government approval for his decisions - especially those relating to existential issues - by opposition from other ministers.
Now one is left to wonder whether Netanyahu and Barak really wanted to make the decision to attack - or whether it's all a bluff. It is worth acknowledging that if indeed it was a bluff, it was a successful one. In effect, they played a game of "hold me back" with the Israeli public and - more importantly - with the Americans.

'Israeli bombing of Syria aimed at rallying US Jews against Iran nuclear deal'
YASSER OKBI/ MAARIV HASHAVUA/J.Post/08/22/2015
The Israeli reprisals against targets in Syria which were launched on Thursday and Friday were a means to rally American Jewish public opinion against the Iran nuclear agreement, pro-Iranian and Hezbollah officials told Arab media over the weekend.
Photographs showing the vehicle which was bombed by IDF forces in the Syrian province of Quneitra were published on Friday, Arab media reported. Five people inside the vehicle were killed in the airstrike. The group was suspected of firing rockets toward Israel in an attack on Thursday. According to the official news agency of Syria, SANA, the vehicle which was destroyed by the Israeli air force was a civilian vehicle carrying five Syrian nationals. Syria said the attack was "part of the enemy's (Israel's) aid towards Islamist terrorist operating in the region." The news agency also reported that during the time of the aerial attack, insurgents attempted to take over the town of al-Baath, but they withdrew after a tough battle. Provincial governor Sheikh Ahmed Abdul Qader visited the city's Buildings and Transportation Authority to view damage caused by the Israeli Air Force attack on two buildings. Meanwhile, Hezbollah was on high alert on the southern border. The Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Rai quoted what he called "insiders" as saying that the Shiite organization heightened security along the border with Israel "for fear of attempts by Israel to drag Lebanon into the escalation with Syria in something that is less than war, but more than a standard military operation." Hezbollah operatives believe that Israel may be planning to take action against them because the Israeli leadership considers the current situation as "critical" due to the signing of the nuclear deal with Iran. "For the last 35 years, Iran was able to assist resistance movements led by Hezbollah and Palestinian groups in the Gaza Strip despite imposed sanctions against it," said Arab sources. "What would happen then, if Iran had nuclear capabilities in addition to its economic and military capabilities? It would be more powerful, particularly after Russia opened its strategic warehouses." It also stated that "the Israeli escalation came in parallel to the accusations of Defense Minister Moshe Ya'alon, who blamed Iran for being responsible for firing rockets into northern Israel and while the Israeli air force began to attack Syria."According to the report, "Israel wants to mobilize the American Jewish side, before the vote in Congress on the nuclear deal."

Train gunman: French intelligence fails again to distinguish between informer and Islamist terrorist
DEBKAfile Special Report August 22, 2015
The Moroccan gunman, Ayoub Qahzzani, 26, who injured three passengers on the Amsterdam-Paris fast train Friday, Aug. 21, before he was subdued, was one more Muslim extremist known to French intelligence who was nonetheless able to commit an act of terror. He was heavily armed, yet two unarmed American servicemen and other passengers tackled him and so prevented a massacre on the packed Thalys train as it sped through Belgium. Commended for bravery were Anthony Sadler, from Pittsburg, California, Alek Skarlatos from Roseburg, Oregon, and Chris Norman, a Briton living in France. The terrorist was arrested when the train stopped at Arras in northern France. debkafile’s counterterrorism sources: El-Qahzzani resided in Spain for some years before traveling to Syria in 2014 and then moving to France. It turns out that he was under the radar both of Spanish and French counterterrorism authorities. This was yet another case of a potential terrorist threat, suspected of contact with the Islamic State in Syria, who was nevertheless at large.
This selfsame scenario has been repeated time and again. Last month, another suspect under French surveillance beheaded the owner of a US-owned gas factory near Lyon and seriously injured two people. An intelligence file was opened on his case in 2006 and not renewed in 2008. Three years ago, Mohamed Merah murdered a teacher and three pupils at a Jewish school in Toulouse after killing two French servicemen. Not only was he known to French security services, but they had sent him on trips to the Middle East and Israel.
The terrorist who attacked the Jewish Museum in Brussels in May 2014 and murdered a Jewish couple and a museum guard was a familiar face to the French secret service. Its agents were indeed waiting for when he stepped off the bus from Belgium.
In the most dramatic attack, the Islamist terrorists who raided the Charlie Hebdo satirical magazine for a massacre - and the killer who murdered four Jews at a Paris supermarket three days later - were likewise on the books of French security services.
Since the Charlie Hebdo attack, France has been on high security alert for terror. The high-speed train is popular for travel between France, Belgium, the Netherlands and Germany. It is used extensively by businesspeople, diplomats, European Union officials and tourists. Yet, unlike the Eurostar train between Paris and London, luggage does not pass through X-ray machines or other forms of screening. President Francois Hollande is rightly outraged and stricken by these tragedies, but it is also his responsibility to prevent their systematic recurrence on his watch. Every one of those episodes has been characterized by the perpetrators being “known to French intelligence.” It is therefore obvious that French anti-terror agencies are badly in need of an overhaul and a fresh approach to the recurrent terrorist attacks, that enables them to differentiate between inside informers and dangerous terrorists, otherwise the next outrage will not be long in coming.

Sectarian Re-Engineering of Syria’s Demography Followed by Cease-Fire
Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/MEB/Middle East Briefing/August 22/15
The recent intensity of attacks by Assad forces and their backers in Iran’s Revolutionary Guards and Hezbollah in Syria reveals what could be expected to follow soon. It is almost self-evident that we should expect a rise of international pressure to reach a cease fire in Syria in the next few months. It seems the trilateral alliance has been given a timeframe to secure the areas considered vital for their future strategic intentions. These forces focus relentlessly on certain areas like Ghota in general and Duma in particular, Ghab valley near Hama and Qalamoun Mountain.
These intensive attacks almost draw the map which the trilateral alliance have in mind in the near future. One can almost read this map from simply following the logic of their intensive military operations on the ground.
These recent merciless operations tell us that the trilateral alliance has indeed divided its targets into three zones. The first is made of areas that are considered, for the three parties, unnegotiable due to their strategic importance. The second is areas that the alliance should try hard to keep under its control, either to protect the first or to be used later as negotiating cards. And the third is areas that are already hopeless.
For this reason, Assad ordered an almost hysteric and repeated attacks on Duma. The quality of ammunition used was higher than what is used normally in other places like the north of Aleppo. The only valid reason for the difference in the intensity of the attacks lies in how the trilateral alliance prepares itself for a moment when the call for cease fire will be coupled with serious pressure from the international community, and in order to be the side which is ready to promptly agrees, thus claiming to be the peace loving side.
MEB explained in previous issues that the categorization planned by the three parties is obviously based on what we called then “Plan B”, that is the partitioning of Syria. However, to implement this “Plan B” there needs to be some modifications on the demographic map of Syria. And that is precisely what is going on now. The criteria for this re-engineering and re-constructing of Syria’s demographic map is not only sectarian, it is also political and strategic.
By this we mean that in the views of Assad and his backers, the good Syrian Sunni is the one who supports the regime. The relevancy of this Sunni is measured by a two-folded criteria: where he lives, and where he stands politically. This categorization standard is useful and practical as there are areas that cannot be “cleansed” from all Sunnis easily. For example, the number of Sunnis in Latakia now is thought to be equal to the number of Alawis if not more. In Hama there is an entangled mix of both Sunnis and Alawis.
There are other areas that should be controlled, in the view of the trilateral alliance, for strategic reasons related to securing Hezbollah in south Lebanon, like the Qalamoun Mountain. Zabadani, for example, is the gate to these mountains. Its Sunnis oppose the regime and fight it heroically. Therefore, they are targets of cleansing. The intersection of the three lines, the sectarian, the political and the strategic in one spot like Zabadani, makes its capture, and forcing its population to leave, an urgent necessity for the trio.
In the particular case of Zabadani, as we expect to be the case in all of Qalamoun region, the objective of the trilateral alliance is to get the Sunnis out. Therefore, the talks between the IRGC and the opposition group called Ahrara Al Sham was bluntly based on making a demographic exchange. Sunnis out of Zabadani in return for Shias out of Kafraya and Al Foua’a.
According to Syrian opposition sources, an Iranian delegation invited Ahrar Al Sham for negotiations on the three towns. Kafraya and Al Foua’a are in Idlib. The mostly two Shia villages are surrounded with Sunni armed groups, particularly Ahrar Al Sham. The armed groups were putting pressure on the two Shia towns to reduce pressure on Zabadani.
A spokesman for Ahrar Al Sham said that the organization accepted to negotiate. The talks started in the beginning of August in Istanbul and ended with a deal on a short cease fire without solving the problem. “The Iranians have gone mad. They want us to give up Zabadani, move its people out, and in return they will move all the inhabitants of Kafraya and Foua’a and relocate them in a site close to the Lebanese borders or in the Rif of Hama. They warned us and the Turks that if we capture the two villages, they will move the Shia inhabitants out anyway but will then reduce the two villages to rubbles. They will level them to earth. We refused the offer”, the Spokesman said.
The Iranians have not gone mad. They are simply implementing what we described previously as “Plan B”. It is obvious that the trilateral alliance has a clear concept of how Syria will be partitioned. Zabadani will be the spring board to clear the southern Damascus belt of either opposition presence or Sunni presence or both if necessary. The idea is to secure Qalamoun and Damascus, re-enforce defenses around the controlled stretch of territory that includes Hama and then see what will come in the diplomatic channels.
While it is normal that the joint Assad-Hezbollah-IRGC command has a clear division of labor that serves one clear plan, it is not obvious that the Syrian opposition has a unified parallel plan, either to abort the trilateral partitioning intentions or to wage a meaningful counter-attack.
For example, during the Istanbul talks between the Iranians and Ahrar Al Sham, and while the cease fire around Kafraya and Foua’a was enacted, some opposition groups around the two Shia villages deliberately broke the cease fire to embarrass Ahrar Al Sham.
It is a structural problem in the Syrian opposition that we find warlordism mixed with legitimate political opposition groups. While it is possible to overcome political differences between legitimate opposition groups by reaching a joint political platform, warlordism is not political to start with.
The game of the trilateral alliance is becoming more readable now than any time before. What is happening is that they are trying to implement this game as fast as humanly possible in order to enable themselves to move to the negotiating table. The moment we will find the three parties around the table waiting for the interlocutors is that when they would have finished carving their areas. We should be ready to hear then, once the job is done, very conciliatory calls from Tehran and a flood of calls and confirmations that “the Syrian crisis will only end through a political solution”. The solution would have already been drawn by sheer force on the ground. But the world will applaud the “flexibility” of Iran anyway.
In order to force the Sunnis to flee the areas designed by the trilateral alliance as strategically important, unheard of violence will be used as we saw recently in Duma. The psychological impact of atrocities in one place will make civilians flee from other places if they are ordered by the regime to quit their houses. The Rif of Damascus, east and west, is part of the trilateral strategic zone. The ruthlessness that will be shown there will not be comparable to anything we have seen in Syria since the beginning of the war.
Therefore, we will witness two consecutive phases in the next few months:
1- Ruthless military attacks by IRGC, Syrian army and Hezbollah to cleanse selected areas – deemed strategic and unnegotiable – of the opposition or the Sunnis or both. This will be done under a barrage of soft talks about diplomacy and political solutions, but no serious moves other than the funny Russian imitative. All the while, Moscow will keep the diplomatic road opened and oiled with its right hand, and continue giving Assad military hardware with its left hand.
2 – At one point, and after controlling all the strategic areas required, Iran will say that is ready to go as far as convincing Assad to leave Damascus. International calls for “immediate” cease fire will become louder, pressures on relevant parties will intensify and the trilateral alliance will suddenly assume the role of the dove. This will be introduced by this alliance to the world as a genuine love for peace and sincere feelings for the suffering of Syria’s civilians. But in return, the trio will want to institutionalize the status quo, that is to make its areas recognized by the new regime constitutionally the same way the situation in the South of Lebanon is institutionalized as the land of Hezbollah. Tehran is already building the Syrian Hezbollah under the command of the former prisoner in Israel Samir Al Qentar.
The whole Syrian war would have ended with the expansion of Hezbollah and Iran on a larger stretch of territory than what they control already in the south of Lebanon and in addition to keeping the coastal west of Syria.
Not bad. Not bad at all.
What is the counter-plan of the opposition? None.

Kuwait Answers the Question: Should Iran’s Containment Policy be Dropped after the Deal?
Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/MEB/Middle East Briefing//August 22/15
The US strategy towards Iran prior to the nuclear deal was that of containment. No one tells us now what will replace this strategy. We only hear this barrage of simplification and flat arguments defending the deal and accusing its critics of war mongering and repeated parroting from the deal supporters of the “blockbuster” question: What is the alternative?
Fine. Time now to ask: What is the alternative to the containment policy with Iran? The expected answer in the current politicized debate is: We are placing Iran in the watch list. There are many problems with this answer. First, Iran exists in a region that has a very rapid crisis tempo. Iran is not Gabon or Liberia. This tempo requires swift responses and clearer categorization. Second, being in the so-called “watch list” is not a strategy. It is the polished name of lacking one. Third, for are all the cheap shots directed towards the critics of the nuclear deal, no official effort to explain the position of the new relations with Iran within a clear regional strategy was ever provided.
In the Middle East, you cannot claim to stand on the “neutral” fine line. There isn’t such a thing. You cannot claim to stand idle “watching” those who are in your watch list when your interests and alliances are directly threatened. The degree of polarization and levels of threat are such that you cannot avoid to have a stand.
And there is an invitation coming from Kuwait at this critical moment to remind all of us that the post nuclear deal debate should really get serious. The invitation calls us to avoid partisanship, cheap and flat rhetoric, attempts to shortcut the debate by representing the critics as war mongers and parroting the flat and deceptive question of the “alternatives”.
Any one in his right mind will resist any kind of moves towards another war in the Middle East. Do the critics, or us at least, prefer a war? Absolutely not. A new war will be even more catastrophic than the previous two. Do we think that it is a good thing to deprive Iran of nuclear weapons? Only a mad person will wish to see a nuclear Iran. The Middle East is absolutely safer with Iran minus nuclear weapons.
But that should not be the end of any meaningful debate. It should be its starting point. Now, it is time to answer: What is the alternative to the previous containment policy?
The Kuwaiti answer should be very significant in framing this debate.
But first a couple of words about the context in which the Kuwait response came. There was a proposed conference between the Gulf 7. The conference, started as a Qatari idea, was roughly scheduled for the last week of September, and was to host all members of the GCC + Iran. But what came as a total surprise, particularly in the context of Iran’s charm offensive in the Gulf in the post nuclear deal era, was that Kuwait uncovered an expansive Iranian-Hezbollah terrorist ring Aug 12.
Kuwaiti security officials announced at first the arrest of three persons. The ring turned out later to be much bigger than that. A large cache of arms was found hidden in a room underground. The amount of explosives found, as reported by Kuwait’s interior ministry, was staggering indeed. A total of 144 Kilograms of high grade explosives, 19,000 Kilograms of ammunitions, hand grenades, guns and RPG’s were also caught in the ring’s storage room.
Kuwaiti newspapers identified the suspects as Lebanese and Kuwaiti Shias affiliated with Hezbollah and Iran’s Revolutionary Guard (IRGC). A list of names were sent to the Lebanese authorities to investigate and explore chances of extradition of other suspects based in the south of Lebanon. The suspects confessed that they picked their massive arms cache on several loads from specific spots underwater off Kuwait’s Gulf coast after getting the GPS locations from their handlers.
Gradually, the real size of the ring was coming to light to stun even veteran terror observer. The facts emerging from the large scale investigation of Kuwaiti security forces were shocking. Smuggling arms to Kuwait was going on undetected for the past five years. The liaison officer of the ring to Iran’s Revolutionary Guard was Abdul Rezza Baqer Dashti, a known Kuwaiti politician and a close relative of an Iranian Parliamentarian. The total number of operatives in the ring reached well over a hundred, mostly Lebanese, Syrians and Kuwaitis. The ring planned a campaign of assassinations targeting foreign and Arab ambassadors, Kuwaiti officials and politicians, clerics and members in the ruling family.
It appeared as well that the ring was well organized and financed. The sources of finance were Hezbollah, the IRGC and local economic activities (particularly currency exchange and construction businesses owned by members). The targets were designated, researched, photographed, and some dry runs were done. A group of sympathizers and facilitators were organized, some of them in high and sensitive positions.
Just after the arrest of the group, Hezbollah dispatched a group of its fighter to the Kuwaiti embassy in Beirut where they circled the embassy in a not-very-discreet manner as if sending a message to the Kuwaitis.
But why? This is the last thing Iran wants to see in the horizon of the current delicate moment. Jawad Zarif visited Kuwait only three weeks prior to the uncovering of the terrorist ring. While there, Zarif announced in a press conference that “good neighborhood, mutual cooperation between the Islamic Republic and working together to defeat terrorism” are the “unshakable foundation of Iran’s strategy in the Gulf.”
It is likely of course that the IRGC is moving according to a different drum than that of Zarif. After all, the Commander of Al Quds Brigades, the regional branch of the IRGC, Qassem Sullimani, hardly hides his dislike to the sophisticated foreign minister. But that does not make a big difference. It was Iranians who made their own foreign minister the laughing stock of the region.
Internationally, arresting the terrorist ring comes as a huge embarrassment to Iran just on the heel of signing the nuclear deal. The ring raises doubts about the authenticity of Tehran commitment to fight terrorism or to improve its ties with the GCC. Who can guarantee now that Tehran will not use terrorism internationally as it used to?
Kuwait’s response to the arrest of the agents was as balanced as its response to the attack on a Shia Mosque last June. In fact, Kuwaiti authorities arrested another ring, this time belonging to ISIL, just few days after announcing the first news about the Iran-Hezbollah group. The authorities kept their line of confirming that all Kuwaitis are determined to preserve their national unity. Kuwaiti authorities correctly warned that any sectarian cracks inside Kuwait will benefit only those who want to harm the country. It is more obvious than ever that the security of the GCC is really challenged.
Back to the Iranian-Hezbollah ring, it is known in the Middle East that Iran built a retaliatory mechanism prior to signing the nuclear deal. This mechanism was set in anticipation of a military action against Iranian nuclear sites if the negotiations broke down and must have contained operations where the US military bases are located in the Gulf. GCC countries as allies to the US were considered targets for Iran in case of military action.
What should have happened after signing the nuclear deal, assuming Tehran’s good will, is a decision by Iran to dismantle its sleeper terror cells in the GCC. But obviously Tehran did not do that. In fact, it did exactly the opposite. Just three weeks before uncovering the Kuwaiti terror ring, Bahrain stopped a boat carrying 44 Kilograms of C-4 explosives and an amount of machine guns and ammunition coming from Iran.
Once again, the nuclear deal in itself is not the issue. The real issue is the strategic context in the Middle East when the deal was signed. Regional security is threatened by continuous Iranian expansionism. The quest for security in the region cannot be reduced to military hardware or joint exercises. There is a neighbor bullying all the others around him and threatening their security and US vital interests in the region. Patriot systems and Iron Domes cannot stop asymmetric war tactics. What can stop these tactics is international pressure on Iran to change its behavior. But what has just happened is the US administration and the international community lifted all pressure on Tehran after signing the nuclear deal with the Iranians. Furthermore, they consider Iran an ally in Iraq sharing military bases with its forces and coordinating military operations with its commanders.
The administration deliberately mislead the public in presenting the nuclear deal. A nuclear weapon was going to harm the region’s security and everybody is better off without it. But this should only be half the argument. For the nuclear weapon, by definition, is a weapon. There are reasons why people seek such weapons. If these reasons are preserved and if those who seek to have it keep their full arsenal, strategies, intentions, and set of goals, they would have only lost one single tool, however destructive, and preserved all their aggressive policies. It would not alert anybody if France, for one example, added a more sophisticated nuclear arm to its nuke arsenal or if Japan made a bomb. French and Japanese policies are known and clear. Therefore, the weapon itself is not the principle question. The principle question is the context for trying to have it.
It is time that the administration abandons its methods targeting those who approach the nuclear deal critically. It should just explain in clearer term what kind of strategy will replace the previous containment policy and how does it intend to prevent Iran from harming US and its allies’ interests in the Middle East or if there is any strategy to start with? Or is it that the Administration decided to handle Tehran as a “normal” player, like Gabon or Liberia, if not as an ally, while it is neither.
Kuwait shows clearly the nature of Iran’s intentions. Maybe it is time that the US congress asks the intelligence community to assess the Iranian threat to the GCC countries in the post nuclear deal region.

The Year of the Wall: The Story of Borders in the Middle East
Samir Altaqi &Esam Aziz/MEB/Middle East Briefing//August 22/15
Late President Ronald Reagan’s timeless “Tear down the wall” is still stuck somewhere in the airwaves on its way to the Middle East. Everyone over there seems to be busy building walls on the borders somewhere.
We certainly do not believe those who say that some officials own construction companies beside their official jobs. But it is indeed amazing to see the number of walls being erected on the borders of some of the region’s countries. Since the rise of the so-called political Islam, we saw the following:
* Between Egypt and Gaza: As tunnels are thought to be used to smuggle weapon to the local ISIL in north Sinai, Cairo decided in July 2014 to erect a security wall on its borders Gaza.
* Between Tunisia and Libya: A year later, and following the Sousse attack that killed 38 tourists, Tunis Prime Minister announced plans to construct a wall on his country’s borders with Libya. The decision came after discovering that the perpetrator was trained in Libya.
* Between Saudi Arabia and Yemen: Last April, Saudi companies started building a wall on the Kingdom’s borders with Yemen. The wall stretches 1100 miles and is 10 feet high. It is equipped with motion sensors and cameras.
* Between Saudi Arabia and Iraq: Riyadh decided earlier this year to build another fence on its borders with Iraq. It is “only” 600 miles long but a little more sophisticated than the Southern wall.
* Jordan started already building a “smart wall” on its borders with Syria and Iraq. The decision followed ISIL’s capture of the Iraqi and Syrian Desert. Work is still going on along the border lines with the two countries.
* Israel, which obtained an early experience through building its own separation wall with the Palestinians in the West Bank, is building a wall on its borders with Jordan. The decision, taken last June, will be implemented next year.
* Turkey decided in August 2014 to build a wall on its borders with Syria. The first portion of the wall is just south of the Turkish town of Rehaneli and is already under construction.
The construction business should be booming over there. We hope the conspiracy theorists, abundant in the Middle East, wouldn’t discover a hidden connection between the construction businesses and ISIL.
And this business has more potentials to expand. Some suggestions: A wall dividing Libya into East and West. A wall dividing Syria into the West and the Rest. A wall dividing Iraq into Central and South. A wall dividing Yemen into South and North. Where else?
Times They Are A-Changing. But that much? Well, yes, that much.
Less than 60 years ago, Arabs were singing and demonstrating in the streets of most regional capitals for the “Arab Unity”. The short lived United Arab Republic was announced in 1958 making Egypt and Syria “one” country. A barrage of speeches about the “one destiny, one people and one nation” filled the airwaves.
Now, however, walls are being built everywhere. Yet, while we see these walls which are made of bricks and cement, the most significant ones, however, are not seen at all. They are the walls built around each single citizen’s mind in the Arab world.
Walls, seen and unseen, are reflections of the quest of the political state for achieving maximum security. But will they really provide security?
They did not in Mubarak’s Egypt. They did not in Ben Ali’s Tunisia. Neither in Saleh’s Yemen, Qaddafi’s Libya or Assad’s Syria. Security walls, bugging equipment and spying software cannot stop ideas. Ideas have this stunning quality of jumping walls, crossing borders, passing checkpoints, eluding metal detectors and making a mockery of the most sophisticated security officials and equipment. No political power can defeat ideas whatever powerful their controlled media maybe.
The central point that may improve security is to allow free social debate. Really free. Social consensus is built on free choices. We can see consensus similar to the North Korean brand where only the great and beloved leader speaks for every creature on the land. Or we can get real consensus which occurs only among free people.
In Egypt, we recently saw a writer, Islam Al Behairy, specialized in Islamic studies and a devoted Muslim, banned from television under pressure from Al Azhar. Mr. Behairy’s fault was that he criticized the text based interpretation of Islam. He raised serious doubts about the Books of Hadith (utterances of the prophet). He provided compelling evidences that some of the Hadiths were written hundreds of years after the passing away of the prophet and contradict verses of the Holy Quran. He later was taken to court, accused of blasphemy, but acquitted. Yet, Mr. Behairy was lucky. In other places, critical writers receive harsher treatment. Much for a free debate.
If it is easy to sign a contract to buy bugging equipment and sophisticated security software, why then it is not as easy to just decree in one clear morning that free speech is allowed? Well, here is exactly where the current paradox is. While ideas are the first security threat to the political order, they are somehow the first line of defense as well. It depends on which kind of ideas.
Allowing any kind of ideas other than the sort distributed by street ATMs, otherwise called media or official discourse, may upset the stability and institutional balance of power in the given country. The issue, in many cases, is that of the content of the political legitimacy equation of the ruling order and its internal equilibrium.
In many cases, legitimacy is based on a self-claimed pious adherence to the word of God or on the ridiculous creed of the “good dictator”. While this may have been due to historical reasons, there was no early vision as to how the system can be moved to the sphere of true national identity.
Based on the religious self-justification of some ruling elites, ISIL is challenging this raison d’etre from its own territory. ISIL is the product of dogmas that were kept sealed from real people’s critical thoughts, hence left to slide freely, unchecked by any national brakes, to radical forms. Now, the arrow of self-justification is making a U-Turn. It is ironic how legitimacy can produce its own negation. Is it then “external” threat? The Middle East is not a haven of theology. It is the utter manifestation of how real spiritual life can turn to be neither.
In other cases, legitimacy is based on an oppressive equation that trades bread for basic rights. People are forced to choose and are pushed gently, or not so gently, into the bag of the “one and only” savior of the nation. Once in, the bag is closed and the population becomes a politically dead quantum.
The main allies of ISIL and all its species of radical organizations could be found in these two specific areas, namely the political legitimacy discourse of some governments which is a discourse capable of breeding a more radical version of itself, and the authoritarian suppression of freedom of speech that is followed by a legitimate backlash.
The other source, looming in the background, is the Nation-State Question which we mentioned in our last issue of MEB. Building an ISIL-proof Iraq, for one example, should not be understood in any ahistorical manner. You ask someone: if we have a country divided on sectarian bases, what should be done? Well, the answer is “form an inclusive government that represents all segments of the society”. The problem with this answer is that it is valid anytime, anywhere, in Thailand as in Burkina Faso. It looks like an eternal mathematical equation. In that sense it is isolated from place and time, hence almost always erroneous.
But for now, what is indeed urgent is to keep hammering a different understanding of the issue of security into a region that does not want even to admit the magnitude of the existential crisis it is going through.
Sorry contractors, this Wallmania in the Middle East has to stop.

Is Spain Fueling the BDS War Against Israel?
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/August 22/15
http://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/6374/spain-bds
*Spain's center-right government under Mariano Rajoy continues to pursue policies that are antagonistic towards Israel — policies that are virtually unchanged from the government of former Socialist Prime Minister of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero — policies that largely coincide with the objectives of the BDS movement. *Although Spain's Foreign Minister has repeatedly said that the government does not support a boycott against Israel, under his watch the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Foreign Ministry's primary aid-giving agency, has continued to subsidize organizations that work to delegitimize Israel.
*Between 2009 and 2011, the Zapatero government funneled more than €15 million of Spanish taxpayer funds to Palestinian and Spanish non-governmental organizations that are among the leaders in campaigns aimed at delegitimizing Israel via BDS, lawfare and other forms of demonization, according to a comprehensive analysis published by the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor.
*The Rajoy government continues to fund NGOs that are involved in anti-Israel activities.
According to the Official Gazette of the Spanish State, for example, NOVA-Centre per la Innovació Social, a Barcelona-based NGO with a history of anti-Israel activism, is slated to receive more than €200,000 in 2015... AECID awarded €200,000 in 2014 to the Catalan Association for Peace, a group that has co-organized a three-year project to "raise awareness" for the BDS movement against Israel. "The EU calls our ambassadors in because of the construction of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors about incitement that calls for Israel's destruction?... They don't tell the Palestinians that they have to make their peace with a nation-state for the Jewish people. They just give the Palestinians a nation-state." — Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Meanwhile, Spanish BDS activists continue their efforts to prevent Israeli artists from performing at Spanish music festivals, and vice versa.
The Jewish American singer Matisyahu has been re-invited to perform at an international music festival in Spain, days after he was disinvited for refusing to make a public statement about his position on Israel's "apartheid policies" against the Palestinians.The organizers of the Rototom Sunsplash festival, an annual reggae festival held in Benicasim, a resort town on the Mediterranean coast, said in a statement that they were sorry for cancelling Matisyahu's concert and that he was now welcome to perform at the festival on August 22, as originally scheduled.The organizers said that the decision to disinvite Matisyahu — an American citizen who does not hold an Israeli passport — was due to a "campaign of pressure, coercion and threats employed" by BDS País Valencià, a local branch of the pro-Palestinian Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement.
In a post on his Facebook page, Matisyahu wrote:
"The festival organizers contacted me because they were getting pressure from the BDS movement. They wanted me to write a letter, or make a video, stating my positions on Zionism and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict to pacify the BDS people. I support peace and compassion for all people. My music speaks for itself, and I do not insert politics into my music. Music has the power to transcend the intellect, ideas, and politics, and it can unite people in the process. The festival kept insisting that I clarify my personal views; which felt like clear pressure to agree with the BDS political agenda. Honestly it was appalling and offensive, that as the one publicly Jewish-American artist scheduled for the festival they were trying to coerce me into political statements. Were any of the other artists scheduled to perform asked to make political statements in order to perform? No artist deserves to be put in such a situation simply to perform his or her art. Regardless of race, creed, country, cultural background, etc, my goal is to play music for all people. As musicians that is what we seek. - Blessed Love, Matis" The decision to ban Matisyahu was applauded by Compromís per Castellón, the provincial branch of the left-wing coalition that governs alongside the Socialist Party in the Province of Valencia. Compromís spokesman Ignasi García issued a statement calling on Matisyahu to "make clear his views on the 'apartheid the Palestinian people are subjected to every day.'" He said that although "we respect free speech and artistic expression," the festival "is about more than music, and we do not accept certain [pro-Israel] attitudes as normal." Not surprisingly, the move to ban Matisyahu, whose given name is Matthew Paul Miller, ignited a firestorm of international criticism and, once again, cast a spotlight on the problem of anti-Semitism masquerading as criticism of Israel in Spain.
In a letter to Spanish Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy, the president of the World Jewish Congress, Ronald Lauder, wrote:
"The organizers have done the honorable thing and apologized. However, this affair leaves us with a sour taste in our mouths. It was yet another example of how anti-Jewish attitudes, dressed up as vicious and unfair criticism of Israel, are still widespread, and are especially prevalent in a number of far-left global political parties. This affair also showed that the BDS movement is rotten at its core: Although pretending to fight racism, it is fuelled by anti-Semitism. It's time people realize that and stop listening to this vicious form of propaganda."The Spanish Foreign Ministry, which is spending tens of millions of euros to improve Spain's image abroad, distanced itself from the imbroglio. In a statement it said: "The Government of Spain condemns the cancellation of Matisyahu's performance at the Rototom reggae music festival in Benicasim. The obligation for him to make a public statement, one that only he was required to provide, constitutes a violation of the freedom of conscience, and to the extent that this was determined by Matisyahu's Jewishness, calls into question the principle of non-discrimination, which is the basis of plural and diverse societies.
"The Government expresses its understanding for the unease expressed by Jewish communities and reiterates its rejection of all manifestations of anti-Semitism. "Spain also reiterates its rejection of campaigns that call for boycotts of Israel, as well as its strong position in favor of a negotiated solution on the basis of an independent State of Palestine living in peace and prosperity with Israel."At the same time, however, Mariano Rajoy's center-right government continues to pursue policies that are antagonistic towards Israel — policies that are virtually unchanged from the government of former Socialist Prime Minister of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero — policies that largely coincide with the objectives of the BDS movement in Spain and elsewhere. In March 2013, for example, Spanish Foreign Minister José Manuel García-Margallo announced a plan to open a Spanish consulate in Gaza, accredited to Hamas. He backtracked after learning that the EU classifies Hamas as a terrorist organization, and that his plan would have established Spain as the only EU country with a consulate in Gaza. In January 2014, the Israeli Foreign Ministry summoned the Spanish ambassador to protest his "perpetual one-sided stance" vis-à-vis the Palestinians. At a press conference after the meeting, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said it was "time to stop this hypocrisy" and "inject some balance and fairness to this discussion." He added: "The EU calls our ambassadors in because of the construction of a few houses? When did the EU call in the Palestinian ambassadors about incitement that calls for Israel's destruction?"
In August 2014, the Spanish government announced an arms embargo against Israel aimed at forcing the Jewish state to halt its military operations against Hamas. Israel launched Operation Protective Edge to stop incessant rocket fire from Gaza into Israel, which Hamas had restarted shortly after the terrorist group kidnapped and murdered of three Israeli teenagers. In November 2014, García-Margallo praised the Spanish parliament for voting overwhelmingly to recognize "Palestine" as a state. He said: "I want to express my satisfaction that all political parties have decided to vote for this declaration." Netanyahu said the resolution was counterproductive. "They don't tell the Palestinians that they have to make their peace with a nation-state for the Jewish people. They just give the Palestinians a nation-state."In January 2015, García-Margallo called for an inquiry into the death of a Spanish peacekeeper in southern Lebanon. Corporal Francisco Javier Soria Toledo died after being wounded by Israeli artillery fired in retaliation for a Hezbollah attack that killed two Israeli soldiers. García-Margallo said he "would not hesitate to bring those responsible to justice," a no-so-veiled threat to prosecute Israel officials. The Israeli Ambassador to Spain, Alon Bar, said that the UN peacekeepers were partly to blame, because they had failed in their duty to prevent Hezbollah from firing into Israel.
Although García-Margallo has repeatedly said that Spain does not support a boycott against Israel, under his watch the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), the Foreign Ministry's primary aid-giving agency, has continued to subsidize organizations that work to delegitimize Israel. Between 2009 and 2011, the Zapatero government funneled more than €15 million ($20 million) of Spanish taxpayer funds to Palestinian and Spanish non-governmental organizations that are among the leaders in ideological campaigns aimed at delegitimizing Israel via BDS, lawfare and other forms of demonization, according to a comprehensive analysis published by the Jerusalem-based NGO Monitor. Anti-Israel activists in Gijón, Spain are pictured above calling for a boycott and sanctions against the Jewish state, in 2012.
Although the Spanish financial crisis has led to a steep reduction in Spain's foreign aid budget — Spanish support for Palestinian causes has decreased from €71.3 million in 2009, €32.5 million in 2010 and €48.9 million in 2011, to €11 million annually from 2015 to 2017 — the Rajoy government continues to fund NGOs that are involved in anti-Israel activities. According to the August 18 edition of Official Gazette of the Spanish State, for example, NOVA-Centre per la Innovació Social, a Barcelona-based NGO with a history of anti-Israel activism, is slated to receive more than €200,000 in 2015 for a project to "promote the political participation of women and the rule of law in Palestine."
NOVA also received €270,000 (2014) to "strengthen the mechanisms for the implementation of international humanitarian law" in Gaza. NOVA was instrumental in launching the so-called Russell Tribunal on Palestine, an ongoing "people's tribunal" that puts Israel "on trial" for "crimes against humanity." The tribunal recently said that it "commends and restates its support for the BDS campaign, which needs to be stepped up within the European Union and expanded to other states, regional organizations and intergovernmental institutions." NOVA, which supports a flotilla to break the Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip, has also co-organized "Free Palestine, Boycott Israel," a three-year effort to promote BDS activities against Israel.
AECID also awarded €76,000 (2015) to a group calling itself the State Coordinator for Fair Trade (Coordinadora Estatal de Comercio Justo, CECJ) for a project cryptically titled "Entangled for Fair Trade" (Enredados por un comercio justo.) The CECJ is a member of the Network of Alternative Economics and Solidarity (Red de Redes de Economía Alternativa y Solidaria, REAS), a group that is active in anti-Israel BDS activities.
AECID awarded more than €30,000 (2015) to an NGO called Soldepaz Pachakuti for a project titled "Cooperation for Peace, Defending What is Shared." Soldepaz Pachakuti is a member of Nodo50, a network of "anti-capitalist, anti-fascist" groups heavily involved in the BDS movement against Israel.
AECID awarded €300,000 (2015) to a Madrid-based NGO called Movimiento por la Paz, El Desarme y la Libertad (MPDL), a group that supports the Russell Tribunal as well as "Rumbo a Gaza" (On Course to Gaza) which aims to break Israel's blockade of Gaza.
In 2014, AECID awarded €468,000 to a group called "Alianza por la Solidaridad" to perform humanitarian work in the Gaza Strip. In April 2015, the group signed a briefing paper titled "Charting a New Course: Overcoming the Stalemate in Gaza" which calls on the international community to develop a "common response to the government of Israel if immediate progress is not made to lift the blockade." Implicit is the threat to implement boycotts and prosecute Israeli leaders. AECID awarded €60,000 (2014) to a group called "Iniciativas de Economía Alternativa y Solidaria (IDEAS)," which supports a BDS initiative called "Spaces Free of Israeli Apartheid," (Espacios Libres de Apartheid Israelí, ELAI).
AECID awarded €200,000 (2014) to the Catalan Association for Peace (L'Associació Catalana per la Pau), a group that has co-organized a three-year project to "raise awareness" for the BDS movement against Israel. AECID appropriated €200,000 (2014) to "support the institutional functioning" of the "Diplomatic Mission of Palestine in Spain."
In 2013, AECID awarded €270,000 to "Bimkom - Planners for Planning Rights," an Israeli NGO, to "improve access to Area C [an administrative division in the West Bank] for the Palestinian population." Bimkom's executive director, Hedva Radovanitz, once told US embassy officials "that she believed that in 100 years Israel would be majority Arab and that the disappearance of a Jewish state would not be the tragedy that Israelis fear since it would become more democratic."
Also in 2013, AECID awarded €150,000 to the Palestinian Center for Human Rights, a well-known anti-Israel NGO, for a project titled: "Improve the collection of information, testimonies and documents about violations of human rights in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and the local and international broadcasting of abuses committed by Israel and the Palestinian Authority."
In January 2015, the Simon Wiesenthal Center (SWC) presented García-Margallo with a report documenting how AECID was funding anti-Semitic exhibitions and forums in Spanish cities.
One such exhibition, organized by the Autonomous University of Madrid, displayed a map of Israel covered with a Nazi swastika, as well as a picture of the late Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon, who was falsely quoted as saying, "I don't recognize any international laws. I swear I will burn every Palestinian child that is born in this zone."
The exhibit also featured a photograph of Israel's security barrier, accompanied by the following caption: "The wall continues its route, enclosing more than 2 million persons in ghettos or concentration camps under Israeli control...."Another event allegedly funded by AECID was the "International Conference of Local Government and Civil Society Organizations in Support of Palestine." Held in Seville in December 2014, the event was coordinated by the Andalusian Fund of Municipalities for International Solidarity (FAMSI), the UN Division for Palestinian Rights and the Al Quds Association. According to the SWC, the forum "planned the international BDS campaign for 2015 against the State of Israel. There we learned of forthcoming BDS motions to be presented at the American Anthropological Association and the American Historical Association." The report continued:
"We were sickened to hear that boycott-compliant universities were to be honored as 'Israel Apartheid-Free Campuses' and municipalities would extol compliant shops and businesses as 'Israel Apartheid-Free Zones' — redolent of the Nazi designation 'Judenrein' (ethnically cleansed of Jews)."
One speaker at the event was quoted as saying: "We cannot accept the two-state solution as we are close to Hamas' 'one man, one vote' policy. Together with its exiled base of consensus, this means the return of all refugees, the restitution of all the land, resulting in one Palestinian state."
The conference was attended by Israeli Arab Knesset MP Mohammad Barakeh who claimed, "Israel has never been democratic... We are the only natives of this land." According to the SWC, the general coordinator of the Palestinian BDS, Mahmoud Nawajaa, said: "Israel is committing crimes not only against the Palestinian people, but against the entire human species... All settlements are illegal, even from before 1967, so all Israeli products must be boycotted." The event in Seville, and another one in Málaga, included a conference document, "Andalucía con Palestina" (Andalusia with Palestine), which stated: "For any Jihadist in the audience, this is the call for re-conquest of the lost territories of the Caliphate." The SWC asked García-Margallo: "Is it Spanish policy to promote the deletion of the Jewish State of Israel to be replaced by a State of Palestine? If your reply is negative, why should Spanish tax-payers fund measures to that end?"
The Spanish government denied that it had subsidized the events.
Meanwhile, Spanish BDS activists continue their efforts to prevent Israeli artists from performing at Spanish music festivals, and vice versa.
In May 2015, BDS Catalonia sought to have three Israeli bands ejected from the Primavera Sound music festival in Barcelona. According to the group: "Primavera Sound enjoys the backing of the Israeli Embassy in Spain, which makes the festival an accomplice of the policies contrary to International Law and Human Rights the Zionist State has been implementing in Palestine since 1948. The Israeli Embassy's support for the festival is a cultural smokescreen for colonization and apartheid in Palestine."Also in May, BDS Catalonia succeeded in dissuading the Catalan singer Marinah from performing at music festivals in the Israeli cities of Ashdod and Tel Aviv. In April, BDS activists called for the boycott a concert in Alicante featuring Spanish singer Joaquín Sabina, because Sabina rejected their previous demands that he cancel performances in Israel in 2012 and 2014. In January 2015, BDS activists called on María Juncal, a Spanish flamenco dancer, to cancel her performance at the Eilat Chamber Music Festival. In July 2014, anti-Israel activists called on the organizers of the Vitoria Jazz Festival, an annual jazz festival held in the Basque Country, to prevent the Israeli singer Noa from performing at the event. Her performance went ahead as planned, but was interrupted by shouts of "Israeli genocide" and "Free Palestine."
*Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on Twitter.

What is the BDS "Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions"
Logo for the BDS movement
http://us.wow.com/wiki/Boycott,_Divestment_and_Sanctions?s_chn=84&s_pt=source2&v_t=aolsem
"Refuse to finance the occupation – Boycott Israel" – a Swedish poster calls for a boycott of Israel
The Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions Movement (BDS Movement) is a global campaign[1] attempting to increase economic and political pressure on Israel to comply with the stated goals of the movement: the end of Israeli occupation and colonization of Palestinian land, full equality for Arab-Palestinian citizens of Israel, and respect for the right of return of Palestinian refugees.[1][2]
The campaign was started on 9 July 2005 by 171 Palestinian non-governmental organizations in support of the Palestinian cause for boycott, divestment and international sanctions against Israel. Citing a body of UN resolutions and specifically echoing the anti-apartheid campaigns against white minority rule in apartheid era South Africa,[3] the BDS campaign called for "various forms of boycott against Israel until it meets its obligations under international law".[4]
There is considerable debate about the scope, efficacy, and morality of the BDS movement. Critics argue that the BDS movement is antisemitic[5][6] and promotes the delegitimization of Israel.[7][8] BDS supporters argue that both the movement (and criticism of the movement) are similar to the earlier boycotts of South Africa during its apartheid era,[9][10][11] a comparison that the critics categorically reject on the grounds of dissimilarity of the regimes.[12]
The effectiveness of the movement has been questioned. Many reports from both in and outside of Israel indicated that the movement had made very little impact on the Israeli economy, and suggested that it was unlikely to for the foreseeable future.[13][14][15][16][17]
In June 2015, the Financial Times cited the leak of a government report by Calcalist (a financial paper owned by the Yedioth Ahronoth Group) which stated that BDS could potentially cost Israel’s economy $1.4bn a year if the European Union implemented a plan to label goods exported from Israel that are produced in the occupied territories.[18]
In June 2015, the Rand Corporation reported that a successful Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel, if it could be maintained for 10 years, could potentially cost the Israeli economy $47 billion - this figure, which was not published in the report, was reportedly determined by using a model examining previous attempts to boycott countries. However, the Rand Corporation also noted that "evidence on the effectiveness of sanctions is mixed, making an assessment of the potential economic effects of the BDS movement problematic."[18][19]

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006 Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006

News Bulletin Achieves Since 2006
Click Here to go to the LCCC Daily English/Arabic News Buletins Archieves Since 2006