LCCC
ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJuly
12/2010
Bible Of
the Day
Proverbs 3:5–6
Trust in the LORD with all your heart, and do not lean on your own
understanding. In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your
paths.
Today's Inspiring Thought: With All Your Heart
In this passage, two phrases jump out: "all your heart" and "all your ways." Try
replacing the word "all" with "some of" or "most of," and it doesn't work, does
it? The only way to trust God is to trust him entirely. The only way to follow
him is with 100% undivided commitment. Trusting God also means not leaning on
your own understanding. If your path is a rocky one, full of obstacles, hairpin
curves, and other steep and treacherous problems, perhaps it's time to examine
your heart. Are you trusting the Lord exclusively? Are you acknowledging him in
every area of your life
Free Opinions, Releases,
letters, Interviews & Special Reports
The Forgotten Minority/By: Jonathan
Spyer/ July
11/10
Latest News
Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 11/10
Sfeir: Lebanese Wondering What
Future Holds for Them/Naharnet
Gueant Rules Out War, Stresses No
Pullout from UNIFIL/Naharnet
Security Lapse Exposed at Beirut
Airport after Body found on Plane Tires/Naharnet
Qaouq Says 'Resistance, Too,' Plans
to Hit Several Israeli Targets in Next War/Naharnet
Reconciliation Meeting in Toulin to
be Followed by Watching World Cup Final on Giant Screen/Naharnet
Question marks over security at
Lebanon's Rafik Hariri international airport/Al-Bawaba
UN force under pressure four years
after Lebanon war/AFP
Hezbollah says it has list of
military targets in Israel to hit in any future/Ha'aretz
Ambassador to Syria: Who is Robert
Ford?/AllGov
Mohammed Fadlallah: Lebanese cleric
branded
terrorist by Washington/Calgary
Herald
Bus Overturns on Halat Highway,
1 Killed, 20 Injured/Naharnet
Question marks over security at
Lebanon's Rafik Hariri international airport
Published Today - The discovery of human body remains on the rear tires of an
airplane that flew from Beirut to Riyadh has put security at Lebanon's Rafik
Hariri international airport in question. Sources told An Nahar daily in
comments published Sunday that despite measures preventing anyone from reaching
the tarmac, the man was able to approach the Saudi-owned Nas Air jet. Such an
incident could be used to commit terrorist acts, the sources added. On its part,
al-Hayat daily said that Lebanese security authorities at Rafik Hariri
international airport received from their Saudi counterparts a photo of the body
which indicates the man was in his 20s. Nas Air flight XY 720 took off from
Beirut airport late Friday with 130 people on board and landed Saturday morning
in the Saudi capital. Lebanon's National News Agency said passengers on the
plane reported seeing a man running towards the plane. "The passengers and
flight attendants informed the pilot, but he did not take any action and
continued takeoff without informing the Beirut control tower" that anything was
amiss, according to the NNA.
Security Lapse Exposed at Beirut Airport after Body found
on Plane Tires
Naharnet/The discovery of human body remains on the rear tires of an airplane
that flew from Beirut to Riyadh has put security at Rafik Hariri international
airport in limbo. Well-informed sources told An Nahar daily in remarks published
Sunday that despite measures preventing anyone from reaching the tarmac, the man
was able to approach the Saudi-owned Nas Air jet. Such an incident could be used
to commit terrorist acts, the sources said. Lebanon has been suffering since the
1990s from the problem of illegal buildings in the vicinity of the airport that
prevent the control tower from seeing part of the runway, they told An Nahar.
The sources added that the incident will give Ethiopian Airlines an opportunity
to escape its responsibilities towards the victims of its flight that crashed
upon take-off from Beirut in January.
Meanwhile, pan-Arab daily al-Hayat said that Lebanese security authorities at
Rafik Hariri international airport received from their Saudi counterparts a
photo of the body which indicates the man was in his 20s. Nas Air flight XY 720
took off from Beirut airport late Friday with 130 people on board and landed
Saturday morning in the Saudi capital. The National News Agency said passengers
on the plane reported seeing a man in a baseball cap with a backpack make a dash
for the plane as it prepared to taxi. He stumbled once and then continued
towards the plane. "The passengers and flight attendants informed the pilot, but
he did not take any action and continued takeoff without informing the Beirut
control tower" that anything was amiss, according to the NNA. The Saudi al-Watan
daily said the man's backpack included his personal belongings and no
identification card. It quoted sources as saying that the man's facial features
were very clear. Sources in Beirut said he was seen in the vicinity of the
airport several times. Transport Minister Ghazi Aridi told al-Hayat that he
ordered airlines based at the airport to investigate whether one of their staff
was missing and urged security at the facility to probe the infiltration of any
person from the airport building to the runway. Aridi did not rule out the
possibility to carry out DNA tests to find out the identity of the man. Beirut,
11 Jul 10,
Baroud Remains Quiet Pending Probe into Possible Airport Security Breach
Naharnet/Interior Minister Ziad Baroud on Sunday refused to comment on reports
about a security breach at Beirut airport following the discovery of the remains
of a human body on the rear tires of an airplane. Baroud told Voice of Lebanon
radio that he was waiting for the investigation "because the issue could be less
than a security breach particularly that there are workers on the runway." The
minister was commenting on the discovery of the remains on the tires of
Saudi-owned Nas Air jet that flew from Beirut to Riyadh early Saturday.
He vowed to complete the investigation into the incident, saying the probe was
not just administrative but judicial as well. While admitting that mistakes were
committed by Internal Security Forces in providing security to emergency wards
of hospitals, Baroud said the judiciary should be given all the necessary
support to prevent any political cover-up for attackers. Baroud told VDL that
the attack on the Makassed hospital was now from the past because measures were
taken to link the emergency ward with the ISF through a direct line. Beirut, 11
Jul 10, 12:44
PA Intelligence Agent: Hamas and Fatah Plotting to Kill Fayyad
by Tzvi Ben Gedalyahu/Arutz Sheva /Fatah and Hamas leaders are plotting to kill
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad because he is becoming more
popular than PA chairman Mahmoud Abbas, according to a senior PA intelligence
agent quoted by Arab activist and writer Fadi Elsalameen. "Hamas and Fatah agree
only on one thing: getting rid of Fayyad by hook or crook,” the agent,
identified only as “J,” told Elsalameen, who runs the PalestineNote.com web
site. “They will kill him if need be, and this is the only issue they work on
together. Fatah wants the Ministry of Finance, and Fayyad refuses and threatens
to resign every time they bring this up. No one has loyalty to him."Elsalameen,
who also is a leader in the American-funded Seeds for Peace program, wrote that
the senior intelligence agent also complained to him that “all I'm doing is
chasing Hamas guys for Fatah, and now in the strangest circumstances, Fatah and
Hamas are plotting together.”The agent also revealed that Fayyad acts as though
he is not aware of the assassination plan. “Fayyad thinks he commands the
loyalty of the security apparatuses, but he doesn't.” he said. “ Elsalameen
wrote, “This is a dangerous sign. The fact that Fatah and Hamas could disagree
on every national agenda item but agree on the elimination of Fayyad is sinister
and telling. If Palestine is to be established as a legitimate state, dirty
backroom dealings to squeeze out an inflexible political element must come to an
end."
UNFIL Under Pressure 4 Years
after Israel-Hizbullah War
Naharnet/Four years after a devastating war between Israel and Hizbullah, the
U.N. forces keeping them apart in southern Lebanon are under mounting strain
amid fears of a fresh conflict and hostility from villagers. The United Nations
Interim Force in Lebanon, or UNIFIL, is in a delicate position "between two
armed parties preparing for a possible new conflict," Paul Salem, who heads the
Beirut-based Carnegie Middle East Center, told AFP. "It is feeling somewhat
trapped," he said ahead of the July 12 anniversary of the start of the war. The
2006 conflict was triggered by the kidnapping of two Israeli soldiers by
Hizbullah in a cross-border raid. About 1,200 Lebanese were killed, the majority
of them civilians, while 160 Israelis died, mostly soldiers.
UNIFIL, established in 1978 after the first Israeli invasion of Lebanon, was
beefed up following the 34-day war. The 12,000-strong force is entrusted with
overseeing a ceasefire between the Jewish state and the Shiite militant party.
For decades UNIFIL has maintained good relations with the people of southern
Lebanon, offering them education and health services in addition to their
peacekeeping duties. But in a rare string of events this month, villagers
attacked the multinational force after taking to the streets to protest a
36-hour maximum deployment exercise by UNIFIL. In the most notable
confrontation, residents of the southern town of Touline disarmed a French
patrol and attacked them with sticks, rocks and eggs before the Lebanese army
intervened. Michael Williams, the U.N. special coordinator for Lebanon,
described some of the protests as "clearly organized," singling out one
encounter he said involved about 100 villagers. The U.N. Security Council on
Friday unanimously approved a statement of support for its peacekeeping mission
in Lebanon and called on all parties in the country to allow the forces to move
freely.
The rising tensions also prompted UNIFIL commander Alberto Asarta Cuevas to urge
villagers to continue to work with his troops for peace. "Whereas we take all
possible measures to mitigate inconveniences to the people, there may still be
problems you may face," Asarta said in an open letter on Thursday. "The way to
deal with those problems is to discuss them directly with UNIFIL, as we have
always done in order to find amicable solutions, not by obstructing the work of
peacekeepers or by beating them." But some southerners told AFP they were far
from happy with the troops. "For three months we feel that the behavior of
French soldiers in particular has changed. They watch us all day," said Ali
Ahmad Zahwa of the municipality of the town of Kabrikha.
Abu Imad, a butcher in the town of Sawana, said: "We are not against UNIFIL, but
the soldiers began to inspect our houses, take pictures and use sniffer dogs."
A UNIFIL spokesman contacted by AFP denied the soldiers had entered any civilian
homes. Lebanon's president, government and army chief – Gen. Jean Qahwaji, who
rarely makes public statements -- have all voiced their support for the
peacekeepers. "We commit ourselves 100 percent to protecting the U.N. Interim
Force in Lebanon against any attack," Qahwaji was quoted on Friday as telling
An-Nahar newspaper. But Hizbullah, which controls large swathes of southern
Lebanon, has shown growing distrust of the blue-helmeted troops, with deputy
chief Naim Qassem saying UNIFIL should "pay attention to what it does." "Their
behavior is incomprehensible," Agriculture Minister Hussein Hajj Hassan, a
member of Hezbollah, told local television on Thursday. "One wonders what they
want." Tension on the Lebanese-Israeli border has been on the rise since April
when Israel accused Damascus, Hizbullah's main backer along with Iran, of
smuggling Scud missiles to the Shiite party. The Israeli military this month
published a series of aerial photographs of what it says is evidence of
Hizbullah stockpiling weapons in towns and villages near the frontier. The
Israeli army also accuses Hizbullah of having stockpiled 40,000 rockets since
the end of the 2006 war.
Salem for his part says UNIFIL may well be the only factor keeping war at bay.
"Although UNIFIL is acting in good faith, its image has blurred," Salem said.
"But nobody wants to see them go, certainly. "There presence is preventing the
outbreak of new conflict for the moment."(AFP) Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
Qobeissi: South Lebanon Incidents 'Minor'
Naharnet/AMAL MP Hani Qobeissi on Sunday described recent incidents between
UNIFIL and villagers as "minor."He said the skirmishes have no political
overtones.
Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
Sfeir: Lebanese Wondering What Future Holds for Them
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Nasrallah Sfeir said Sunday that the general
situation in Lebanon is worrying and makes the Lebanese wonder what the future
holds for them. During his sermon in his summer seat in Diman, the prelate
prayed that God brings comfort for the Lebanese. After celebrating mass, Sfeir
met with Lebanese Forces MP Elie Kayrouz who handed over to the patriarch a
document prepared by the Mustaqbal Movement, the LF and the general-secretariat
of the March 14 forces on the improvement of the humanitarian and social
conditions of Palestinians Sfeir also held talks with Social Affairs Minister
Salim al-Sayegh. Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
Mousawi for 'Serious' Solution to Palestinian Rights, Says
Resistance, Not UN Resolutions, Defend Lebanon
Naharnet/Hizbullah official Ammar Moussawi on Sunday said the Resistance along
with the people -- and not U.N. resolutions -- defend Lebanon. "Lebanon is being
protected by its Resistance and people, and not by international resolutions,"
Mousawi told a political gathering in the Bekaa town of Mashghara. He also
urged the government and the various political sides to find a "serious" and
"responsible" solution to the Palestinian civil rights issue. Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
Qaouq Says 'Resistance, Too,' Plans to Hit Several Israeli Targets in Next War
Naharnet/Hizbullah's top official in southern Lebanon Sheikh Nabil Qaouq on
Sunday responded to Israeli warnings, by sending a similar signal to the Jewish
state. He warned Israel that the Resistance, too, has plans to hit several
Israeli targets in any future war against the Jewish state. "Let Israeli leaders
know that the Resistance, too, has a bank full of targets,"Qaouq warned.
He said the Israelis know well that "all these threats and intimidations and
maneuvers will cease to exit in the face of Resistance equations and surprises
in any coming war."
Qaouq said statements by Israeli Army Chief of Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi
have "exposed" those involved in plans to target the Resistance at the political
and media levels.
"They also revealed the scheme that is being prepared internationally and
regionally and perhaps locally to target the Resistance," he believed. Qaouq
pointed out that recent incidents between U.N. peacekeepers and villagers in
southern Lebanon were "part of efforts by international sides that were putting
pressure on UNIFIL … to provoke them to change the rules of engagement."Israel
has hinted that it would attack locations where it said there was evidence of
Hizbullah stockpiling weapons in towns and villages near the border.
Security sources told Israel radio that in case of a deterioration in the
situation, Israel would give an ultimatum for residents of the south to leave
their homes to pave way for an attack on what the Jewish state claims to be
depots inside villages. Earlier in the week, the Israeli military published a
series of aerial photographs of south Lebanon showing the alleged depots.
The images and maps show what the military says are bunkers and arms caches
located in the middle of al-Khiam village, only four kilometers from the border.
The sources said that the discovery of the alleged depots signals the difficulty
of the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701. Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
Abboud Denies Remarks on Cancellation of Tourist Reservations
Naharnet/Tourism Minister Fadi Abboud on Sunday denied remarks attributed to him
that many tourists had cancelled reservations to visit Lebanon following the
latest skirmishes between southerners and U.N. peacekeepers. The minister said
he told the last cabinet session that exaggeration over the clashes could lead
to a drop in the rate of reservations. He said Rafik Hariri International
Airport is currently welcoming around 15,000 people daily, most of them
tourists, a 30% rise from last year. "We believe in sustainable tourism in
different Lebanese regions … that's why we are working to limit measures
(preventing) the arrival of tourists through different ports," Abboud added.
Beirut, 11 Jul 10, 14:14
Gueant Rules Out War, Stresses No Pullout from UNIFIL
Naharnet/Secretary-General of the French presidency Claude Gueant has stressed
that Paris will not withdraw its troops from UNIFIL and said France was making
all efforts to prevent a war between Israel and Lebanon. "France is there (south
Lebanon) under an international resolution, will stay committed to peace next to
Lebanon and will not withdraw," Gueant told pan-Arab daily al-Hayat in an
interview published Sunday. "I cannot imagine that Israel would launch war on
Syria and Lebanon," he said. "We are seeking with all our efforts to avoid
that."
Gueant expressed regret at the latest skirmishes between southerners and U.N.
peacekeepers. "We regret the attack on UNIFIL. This is not in harmony with the
spirit of our existence in Lebanon," he told his interviewer. "We are there to
protect Lebanon," Gueant said, adding: "I believe that the Lebanese government
should impose its authority and existence" in the south. Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
08:16
Geagea: Arms Solution Only Through Dialogue, Rights of Palestinians Shouldn't
Motivate them to Stay Here
Naharnet/Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea has said there was no solution to
Hizbullah's arms except through dialogue and stressed that rights given to
Palestinians should not motivate them to stay in Lebanon. "The issue of
Hizbullah's arms cannot be solved except through dialogue and slowly because
some things take time," Geagea told the Aspen Institute.
Asked about a national unity cabinet in which Hizbullah has representatives, the
LF leader said: "We consider that a step for the party to be more within the
legal framework."
About Palestinian rights, Geagea reiterated "the need to improve the
humanitarian and living conditions of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon but
without reaching a point where to give them the incentive to stay" in the
country. He said consolidation of Lebanese-American ties was essential and the
most important was for Washington to remain committed to Lebanon's sovereignty
and independence. Asked about Lebanese-Syrian relations, Geagea said: "I still
haven't noticed a change that would make ties between Lebanon and Syria natural
and advanced."
"There are still pending issues such as border demarcation," he said, adding
that Damascus should also stop its support for armed Palestinian bases in
Lebanon and solve the issue of Lebanese arrested in Syria. Beirut, 11 Jul 10,
11:32
Israel Hints it Would Hit Lebanese Villages if Situation Deteriorates
Naharnet/Israel has hinted that it would attack locations where it said there
was evidence of Hizbullah stockpiling weapons in towns and villages near the
border. Security sources told Israel radio that in case of a deterioration in
the situation, Israel would give an ultimatum for residents of the south to
leave their homes to pave way for an attack on what the Jewish state claims to
be depots inside villages. Earlier in the week, the Israeli military published a
series of aerial photographs of south Lebanon showing the alleged depots. The
images and maps show what the military says are bunkers and arms caches located
in the middle of al-Khiam village, only four kilometers from the border. The
sources said that the discovery of the alleged depots signals the difficulty of
the implementation of Security Council resolution 1701. Beirut, 11 Jul 10, 10:07
Bus Overturns on Halat Highway, 1 Killed, 20 Injured
Naharnet/A woman was killed and 20 people were injured when a bus carrying
civilians and soldiers hit two vehicles before overturning in Halat on the Jbeil-Beirut
highway on Sunday, Voice of Lebanon radio said. VDL identified the dead woman as
Salwa al-Khouri. It said that 14 of the injured were soldiers. The victims were
taken to hospitals nearby.
Military police opened an investigation into the incident which caused
bumper-to-bumper traffic on the highway. Beirut, 11 Jul 10, 13:48
4 Leaders in Beirut Soon, No Info Yet on Assad's Possible Visit
Naharnet/The visit of Syrian President Bashar Assad to Beirut will not take
place in the next few weeks as media reports had said. "Circumstances are not
ripe yet for the visit of President Assad to Beirut," informed sources told
pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat in remarks published Sunday. The
Secretary-General of the Higher Lebanese-Syrian Council, Nasri Khoury, denied he
had any information about Assad's visit. He told the newspaper: "I haven't been
informed yet about the date of the visit." However, the newspaper said that
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's visit to the Lebanese capital is almost
confirmed. Contacts are underway to set the trip's date, according to Asharq al-Awsat.
His first visit to Beirut is controversial because it comes weeks after Lebanon
abstained from voting against new Security Council sanctions on Iran. Qatar's
emir, the UAE president and Bahrain's King will visit Beirut in the next couple
of weeks. Beirut, 11 Jul 10, 09:32
Libyan ship to sail to al-Arish and not Gaza
Published Yesterday -
Israel said on Saturday diplomatic efforts have likely prevented a Libyan aid
ship from trying to reach the Gaza Strip. "Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman
spoke several times in recent days with the foreign ministers of Greece and
Moldova and reached understandings with them about dealing with the Libyan
ship," a ministry statement said. "The foreign ministry believes that due to
these talks, the ship will not reach Gaza," the statement added, according to
AFP. A charity headed by Seif al-Islam Kadhafi, the son of Libyan leader Moamar
Kadhafi, said on Friday it was sending an aid boat from Greece to Gaza. Agents
for the Moldova-flagged cargo ship Amalthea said the ship was expected to set
sail from Lavrio, some 60 kilometres southeast of Athens. Israeli officials said
that Moldovan authorities had made contact with the captain of the ship who
agreed to divert the cargo to the Egyptian port of El-Arish. Meanwhile Israeli
media on Saturday reported that Israel had asked the United Nations to stop the
Libyan ship.Moldovan ship © 2010 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
The Forgotten Minority
By Jonathan Spyer*
July 10, 2010
http://www.gloria-center.org/gloria/2010/07/the-forgotten-minority
We depend on your contributions. To make a tax-deductible donation through
PayPal or credit card, click the Donate button in the upper-right hand corner of
this page. To donate via check, make it out to "American Friends of IDC," with
"for GLORIA Center" in the memo line. Mail to: American Friends of IDC, 116 East
16th Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10003.
On March 21, 2010, the Syrian security forces opened fire with live ammunition
on a crowd of 5,000 in the northern Syrian town of al-Raqqah. The crowd had
gathered to celebrate the Kurdish festival of Nowruz. Three people, including a
15-year-old girl, were killed. Over 50 were injured. Dozens of injured civilians
were held incommunicado by the authorities following the events. Some remain
incarcerated. This incident was just one example of the repression taking place
of the largest national minority in Syria - namely, the Syrian Kurdish
population.
Kurds constitute 9 percent-10% of the population of Syria - that is, around 1.75
million in a total population of 22 million. Since the rise of militant Arab
nationalism to power in Damascus, they have faced an ongoing campaign for their
dissolution as a community.
All this is taking place far from the spotlight of world attention. The current
US Administration pursues a general policy of considered silence on the issue of
human rights in Middle East countries. The Syrian regime remains the elusive
subject of energetic courting by the European Union and by Washington.
As a result, the Kurds of Syria are likely for the foreseeable future to remain
the region's forgotten minority.
The severe repression suffered by the Syrian Kurds has its roots in the early
period of Ba'ath rule in Syria. The Arab nationalist Ba'athis felt threatened by
the presence of a large non-Arab national majority, and set about trying to
remove it using the methods usually associated with them.
In 1962, a census undertaken in the area of highest concentration of Kurdish
population in Syria - the al- Hasaka province - resulted in 120,000-150,000
Syrian Kurds being arbitrarily stripped of their citizenship.
They and their descendants remain non-persons today.
They are unable to travel outside the country, to own property, or to work in
the public sector. People in this category today number about 200,000 - though
no official statistics exist for them. They are known as ajanib (foreigners).
A large additional group of around 100,000 Kurds in Syria remain entirely
undocumented and unregistered.
This group, known as maktoumeen (muted), similarly live without citizenship or
travel and employment rights.
The bureaucratic struggle of the Syrian regime to wish away its non-Arab
population has been accompanied by practical measures on the ground to alter the
demographic balance of the country.
In the 1970s, a campaign of "Arabization" of Kurdish areas commenced, on the
order of president Hafez Assad. The intention was to create a "belt" of Arab
population along the northern and northeastern borders of Syria with Turkey and
Iraq, where most of the country's Kurds live. The purpose of this was to prevent
Kurdish territorial contiguity. Kurdish place names were changed to Arab ones,
Kurds were deprived of their land and instructed to re-settle in the interior.
Kurdish language, music, publications and political organization were banned. It
was forbidden for parents to register their children with Kurdish names.
The vigorous policy of Arabization later largely faded into bureaucratic torpor.
But for a while it produced the desired result - of a divided, demoralized,
repressed and largely silent population.
THIS SITUATION no longer pertains. In March 2004, following the recognition of
Kurdish autonomous control of northern Iraq, something resembling an uprising
began among the Kurds of Syria.
The spark that ignited the wave of protests that month was the shooting dead of
seven Kurds by the security forces following a clash between Kurds and Arabs at
a football match in Qamishli, a city of high Kurdish population close to the
Turkish border. Further shootings took place at the funerals of the dead, and
unrest spread across the Jazira, and as far as Aleppo and Damascus. The army
moved into the Kurdish areas with heavy armor and air cover, and the protests
were crushed.
Despite conciliatory noises made by President Bashar Assad following the 2004
unrest, nothing of substance has been done to change the conditions endured by
Kurds in Syria. As a result, the situation since 2004 has been one of simmering
tension between the Syrian regime and its Kurdish subjects, with occasional
flareups.
In August, 2005, and again in October, 2008, and then again earlier this year,
there were clashes between Kurdish citizens and the security forces in Qamishli,
with some deaths and many arrests.
Syrian oppositionists speak of the emergence of a young, increasingly
nationalistic younger generation, estranged from the Arab opposition in Syria as
well as from the regime. As yet, no single movement has emerged to reflect this
sentiment. Twelve different political parties exist among the Kurds of Syria, a
reflection of the peculiar divisiveness to which regional opposition movements
in general, and Kurdish ones in particular, remain prone.
For a variety of reasons, the Kurds have difficulty making their voices heard on
the international stage. Their oppressors are fellow Muslims, rather than
Christians or Jews, so the powerful alliance of Muslim states on the
international stage is not interested. Arab states are by definition indifferent
or hostile to their concerns.
And with their regular lucklessness, they now face a situation where the rising
powers in the region - Turkey and Iran - and their enthusiastic smaller partner
Syria all have sizable Kurdish populations and a shared interest in keeping them
suppressed.
The misfortune of the Syrian Kurds is compounded by the fact that contrary to
the accepted cliché, the enemy of their enemy is not their friend. This is
because the enemy of the Syrian Kurds' enemy is the west and the United States.
These are today led by a philosophy which believes in accommodating, rather than
confronting rivals. As a result, the systematic, half-century old campaign of
the Syrian Arab Republic to nullify the existence of its Kurdish minority looks
set to continue apace.
*Dr. Jonathan Spyer is a senior research fellow at the Global Research in
International Affairs (GLORIA) Center, Herzliya, Israel.
The 10 worst things about
summer in Lebanon
Aline Sara, July 11, 2010/Now Lebanon/Brace yourselves, residents of Lebanon —
it is that time of the year: the summer tourist season! Last month, Tourism
Minister Fadi Abboud announced he believes Lebanon is in store for the biggest
tourist season yet, with 2.2 million visitors expected. But though they are a
boon for local businesses, it might be good to look into the downside of the
country receiving half as many as the number of full-time residents over the
course of a few months. NOW Lebanon checks in with some locals to hear about the
flipside of summertime in Lebanon, when the living is not so easy