LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
ِJuly 30/2011

Bible Quotation for today
Romans Chapter 12/16-21: " Bless those who persecute (you), bless and do not curse them. Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep. Have the same regard for one another; do not be haughty but associate with the lowly; do not be wise in your own estimation. Do not repay anyone evil for evil; be concerned for what is noble in the sight of all. If possible, on your part, live at peace with all. Beloved, do not look for revenge but leave room for the wrath; for it is written, "Vengeance is mine, I will repay, says the Lord." Rather, "if your enemy is hungry, feed him; if he is thirsty, give him something to drink; for by so doing you will heap burning coals upon his head." Do not be conquered by evil but conquer evil with good.

Latest analysis, editorials, studies, reports, letters & Releases from miscellaneous sources
New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage/By: Raymond Ibrahim/July 29/11
Interview with Haaretz, Republican stalwart and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich/Haaretz/July 29/11

Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for July 29/11
Protests break out across Syria following Friday prayers/Now Lebanon
Soldiers defecting from Syrian army, activist says/Now Lebanon
Libyan rebels killed their commander for secret parley on war's end with Qaddafi/DEBKAfile
Geagea to Nasrallah: Army alone to protect oil wealth/The Daily Star
Syrian opposition to the Arab regimes: Your silence is killing us/The Daily Star
Israel announces diplomatic ties with South Sudan/Agencies/The Daily Star
Obama extends assets freeze on figures ‘destabilizing’ Lebanon/The Daily Star
Profiles of Hezbollah suspects in Hariri killing/The Daily Star
STL releases names, profiles of Hezbollah suspects/The Daily Star
Connelly: Mikati Cabinet appears to reflect will of external interests/The Daily Star
Assad faces armed challenge in oil-producing east/The Daily Star
Pro-Syria Lebanese group behind UNIFIL attack: Future Movement MP Jamal Jarrah/The Daily Star
Mikati’s strongest card: the threat of resignation/The Daily Star
U.S., N. Korea Hold 2nd Day of Nuclear Talks/Naharnet
Suleiman Holds Talks with Aoun on Ways to Resume National Dialogue/Naharnet
Qahwaji on Army Day: Army Must Not Allow Lebanon to Become Means to Target Any Fraternal State/Naharnet
Ministries, Parliament Speeding up Efforts to Set Lebanon’s Exclusive Economic Zone/Naharnet
Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjie meets with Patriarch al-Rai/Now Lebanon
Protest in support of Syrian people held in Lebanon’s Tripoli/Now Lebanon

Soldiers defecting from Syrian army, activist says
July 29, 2011
Soldiers have defected from the Syrian army’s seventh battalion, Syrian Observatory for Human Rights chief Rami Abdel Rahman told Al-Jazeera television on Friday.
He added that “security forces and Shabeeha (thugs) raided houses and arrested people in the city of Banyas as well as in Reef Damascus.” He also told Al-Jazeera television that “helicopters are still hovering above Deir az-Zour, where thousands of anti-regime protesters are gathering.” “Checkpoints erected by security forces [across] Aleppo are preventing people from protesting.” The human rights activist also said that “the uprising [in Syria] will continue and will be joined soon by [protesters in] Aleppo and Damascus.” Anti-regime protests erupted in Syria in mid-March. According to activists, the Syrian government’s crackdown has left more than 1,400 civilians dead and thousands jailed.-NOW Lebanon

Protests break out across Syria following Friday prayers
July 29, 2011
Security forces shot dead at least two civilians as thousands of Syrians massed for protests following Friday’s Muslims prayers, activists and reports said.
Responding to a call under the slogan "Your silence is killing us," the protesters emerged from mosques in urban centers, including Edleb, Maarat an-Naaman, Damascus and its outer suburb of Douma, the activists said. They also turned out in force in the eastern city of Deir az-Zour, where security forces killed at least eight people as over one-million people rallied at demonstrations staged after Friday prayers a week ago.
This week, several other demonstrators were wounded as the two people were killed in the coastal city of Latakia and southern flashpoint town of Daraa, the rights activists told AFP in Nicosia by phone.
"A young man was killed and several others injured by gunfire from security forces who tried to disperse hundreds of demonstrators gathered at a square in Latakia," said Rami Abdel Rahman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights.
Another "young man was killed by security forces" in similar circumstances in Daraa, said Abdel Karim Rihawi, who heads the Syrian League for the Defence of Human Rights.
Thousands of demonstrators had poured onto the streets of Deir Az-Zour in honor of four people killed on Thursday in the city, they said, also reporting that security forces deployed in large numbers in Daraa. Men under 50 have been barred from entering mosques and all worshippers from taking in camera-equipped mobile phones in Daraa, one of the first places where Syrians rose up against President Bashar al-Assad's autocratic regime in March.The protests, called for by Facebook group The Syrian Revolution 2011, are aimed at putting pressure on the rest of the world to act in the face of the deadly crackdown on dissent by Assad's government. The Avaaz non-governmental organization says 1,634 people have died in the crackdown and 26,000 have been arrested, of whom 12,617 are still in detention.-AFP/NOW Lebanon

Geagea to Nasrallah: Army alone to protect oil wealth
 July 29, 2011/ The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea hit back Friday at Hezbollah chief Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, telling him the Lebanese Army alone would deal with defending any future oil installations from Isreali aggression. “The Lebanese Army, not you, will deal with our oil installations in the event they were exposed to risk,” Geagea told a news conference that addressed the general political situation. Nasrallah warned Israel Tuesday against trying to steal Lebanon’s maritime resources and said it would retaliate against any Israeli attack on Lebanon’s oil and gas installations. “Those who harm our installations will have their own installations harmed,” Nasrallah has warned.
The LF leader also accused Hezbollah of “usurping the state.”But Geagea said that despite the political disagreement with the Hezbollah-led March 8 coalition, “we stand behind the government on the issue of the oil wealth.” “Who assigned the secretary-general of Hezbollah to look after our rights? Do we have a president and a government?” Geagea asked.
“The Lebanese did not task Sayyed Nasrallah, and he knows that he does not have a mandate from the Lebanese people and that there are Lebanese institutions responsible for that. Yet, he did it.”While Geagea stressed that Nasrallah knew what he was doing, the LF leader said Nasrallah did so “because he considers himself to be the ruler of Lebanon, not only that but he is acting to be so.” Geagea, however, said Nasrallah’s acts were “rejected because the rules of Lebanon are the Constitutional institutions.”
Future Movement MP Hadi Hobeish also voiced a similar position to that of Geagea.
“Who asked you [Nasrallah] to set out a strategy, rather than the Lebanese state, under the pretext of protecting maritime resources?” asked Hobeish, who spoke at a forum held in the northern province of Akkar. Hobeish said the Future Movement-led March 14 coalition would return to power in 2013 “stronger than before,” a reference to the Lebanese parliamentary elections.

Samir Geagea
July 29, 2011
Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea held a press conference on Friday to address the issue of Lebanon’s natural resources:
“Studies have been conducted in the past 10 years noting that there are natural resources in the Mediterranean and off the coast of Lebanon. I remember a meeting with [former] Prime Minister Fouad Siniora around 2005-2006, before the July War. He told me that, according to a Norwegian company which had been tasked [by the cabinet], natural offshore resources do exist. I believe that the pace with which Lebanon followed up on the issue was acceptable, especially amid [the 2006] war and [domestic - political gridlock].
In the last two months, Speaker Nabih Berri started contacting [UN officials] to begin demarcating the maritime borders of Lebanon. Berri received eventually a promise from [UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon] Michael Williams to have the UN assist with the border demarcation process. The most important thing is that we slowly reach a solution regarding the issue.
Nevertheless, Hezbollah Secretary General Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah spoke two days ago about the oil issue. I agree with him on certain points. We support the cabinet attempt’s to take all necessary [measures] in order to extract offshore oil. However, Sayyed Hassan warned that ‘those who harm, or those who put a hand on the Lebanese [territories] that contain [oil], will have their [territories harmed] in return.’
We cannot remain silent about some of the comments made by Nasrallah. Putting everything aside, I have a question to ask Sayyed Hassan: ‘Who appointed you [chief] of Lebanese affairs? If so, why do we hold elections? Is there a president of the republic [or not]? Is there a cabinet and a premier?’
I am a Lebanese citizen who is represented by Lebanese government administrations… who appointed Nasrallah to defend the rights of the Lebanese? Did the Lebanese assign Nasrallah with devising a tactic that defends their interests while there is a government and a president whose jobs are to do so? Why does Sayyed Hassan act like that? Because he believes he is the [sole] ruler of Lebanon. As long as we don’t reach an understanding regarding this issue, the country [will not move forward].
Who told Sayyed Hassan that this is the time to escalate and make such statements? Berri and [Prime Minister] Najib Mikati could be holding talks with the UN regarding the matter, but Nasrallah is making [his own] statements about the oil issue. This is wrong.
The more dangerous thing is that if he had warned [Isreal] that the Lebanese army will [defend the country] against anyone that puts a hand on Lebanese territories, it would have been acceptable….[but Nasrallah] did not. The Lebanese army is capable [of defending Lebanon], no matter what.
How does this logic work? We put the army aside and [Hezbollah] will handle everything? Hezbollah has privatized the making of strategic decisions. Sayyed Hassan is taking over the rule. When it comes to [defending] Lebanon’s rights, we are willing to take part in any war, but [we are not willing to participate in a war whose purpose is to] satisfy heroic behaviors.
Does Sayyed Hassan not trust that the army can carry a rifle and defend the country? Of course he does. However, he is acting like that because he knows what he is doing and because [he considers the country] to be his. I want to ask a very simple question: Regarding oil extraction, which is the better [choice]? To have Hezbollah or the Lebanese state - supported by its people and army - defend the country’s natural resources?
Of course, it is much better to have the Lebanese state as the façade dealing with the issue, [and not Hezbollah]. I think that Sayyed Hassan marked the start of a real threat to Lebanon’s natural resources, and I will tell you why. When it comes to economic resources, the entire Arab world and international community will stand behind Lebanon, worst case scenario, they will be neutral. When Hezbollah gets involved, it would implicate the entire ‘Iran versus the Arab world’ conflict.”

Mikati’s strongest card: the threat of resignation
July 29, 2011 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The government of Prime Minister Najib Mikati is poised to face a host of challenges in the coming months, the most important of which is Hezbollah’s position on the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon’s indictment, which accused four party members of involvement in the 2005 assassination of statesman Rafik Hariri and issued arrest warrants for them. Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has rejected the June 30 indictment, vowing never to turn over the four accused. Hezbollah’s position at least publicly contradicts with that of Mikati who has promised that his government will cooperate with the STL and apprehend the suspects if they are in Lebanon.
Another challenge facing the government is Tuesday’s roadside bomb attack that wounded five French U.N. peacekeepers on the coastal highway in the southern city of Sidon and the difficulty of finding the bombers with the speed with which Paris is demanding from the Lebanese government.
September is the month during which the government is supposed to debate the 2011 draft state budget, an issue that could trigger a heated debate if not a split within Mikati’s 30-member Cabinet. One group, led by Mikati, supports the idea that the government fulfill Lebanon’s financial obligations to the STL, while another group wants the tribunal to take Lebanon’s share of the STL’s costs from former Prime Minister Fouad Siniora who had approved the agreement to establish the tribunal in breach of the constitution and laws as Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun claimed after last week’s meeting of his parliamentary Change and Reform bloc. Aoun is backed in this position by Hezbollah.
But on Aug. 12, the STL’s deadline to the Lebanese government to carry out the arrest warrants against the four Hezbollah suspects expires. On the basis of the government’s response, the STL will decide whether to publish the indictment, whose contents could enhance divisions among the parties inside the Cabinet.
Likewise, the situation in Syria, where an anti-regime popular uprising has been raging on since mid-March, will have an impact on the situation in Lebanon in general, and on the Cabinet situation in particular. In this context, the opposition March 14 parties, according to political sources close to them and according to public statements made by some of their leaders, are betting on an imminent collapse of the regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad with all the negative repercussions entailed on the ruling faction. This trend was reflected in the opposition’s recent escalatory verbal attacks on Hezbollah. There is no doubt that the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance has sufficient votes inside the Cabinet to achieve what it deems fit for its interests, either in administrative appointments or in any other issue, regardless of whether Mikati agrees with them or not.
However, Mikati has a card described by political observers as the strongest among cards held by the parties participating in the government: The threat to resign, something which the March 8 parties cannot afford to live with. Therefore, these observers do not rule out the possibility that Speaker Nabih Berri will play a major role in maintaining Cabinet unity as much as he can until the picture becomes clear with regard to regional developments and the Western states’ assessment of the Lebanese government’s performance concerning its commitment to U.N. resolutions.

Profiles of Hezbollah suspects in Hariri killing
July 29, 2011 /The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The following are profiles of the four Lebanese suspects charged with involvement in the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri by the U.N.-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon. Mustafa Amine Badreddine
Also known as “Mustafa Youssef Badreddine,” “Sami Issa” and “Elias Fouad Saab,” was born on Apr. 9, 1961, in al-Ghobeiry, Beirut, Lebanon. He is the son of Amine Badreddine and Fatima Jezeini. His precise address is not known, though he has been associated with the property of Khalil al-Raii, Abdallah al-Hajj Street, al-Ghobeiry, in south Beirut and the Al-Jinan Building, al-Odaimi Street, Haret Hreik, in Beirut. He is a citizen of Lebanon. His Lebanese civil registration number is 3411Al-Ghobeiry.
Badreddine is charged with conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act, committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, intentional homicide of Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, intentional homicide (of 21 persons in addition to the Intentional Homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials, and attempted intentional homicide (of 231 persons in addition to the intentional homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials.
Salim Jamil Ayyash
Born on Nov. 10, 1963, in Harouf, Lebanon. He is the son of Jamil Dakhil Ayyash and Mahasen Issa Salameh. He has resided inter alia at al-Jamous Street, Tabajah building, Hadath, in south Beirut and at the Ayyash family compound in Harouf, Nabatiyeh, in south Lebanon. He is a citizen of Lebanon.
His Lebanese civil registration is 197IHarouf, his Hajj passport number is 059386, and his social security number is 63/690790. Ayyash is charged with conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act, committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, intentional Homicide of Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, intentional homicide (of 21 persons in addition to the intentional homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials, and attempted intentional homicide (of 231 persons in addition to the intentional homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials.
Hussein Hassan Oneissi
Also known as “Hussein Hassan Issa” was born on Feb. 11, 1974, in Beirut, Lebanon. He is the son of Hassan Oneissi, also known as “Hassan Issa” and Fatima Darwish. He has resided in the Ahmad Abbas Building, at al-Jamous St, near the Lycee des Arts, in Hadath, south Beirut. He is a citizen of Lebanon. His Lebanese civil registration is 7/Shahour. Oneissi is charged with conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act, and being an accomplice to the felony of committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide of Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide (of 21 persons in addition to the Intentional Homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials; and being an accomplice to the felony of attempted intentional homicide (of 231 persons in addition to the Intentional Homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials.
Assad Hassan Sabra
Born on Oct. 15, 1976, in Beirut, Lebanon. He is the son of Hassan Tahan Sabra and Leila Saleh. He has resided at apartment 2, 4th floor, Building 28, Rue 58, in Hadath 3, south Beirut, also described as St. Therese Street, Hadath, in south Beirut. He is a citizen of Lebanon. His Lebanese civil registration is 1339/Zqaq AI-Blat. Sabra is charged with conspiracy aimed at committing a terrorist act, being an accomplice to the felony of committing a terrorist act by means of an explosive device, being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide of Hariri with premeditation by using explosive materials, being an accomplice to the felony of intentional homicide (of 21 persons in addition to the intentional homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials, being an accomplice to the felony of attempted intentional homicide (of 231 persons in addition to the Intentional Homicide of Hariri) with premeditation by using explosive materials.

Israel announces diplomatic ties with South Sudan
 July 29, 2011 /Agencies /The Daily Star
JERUSALEM/ KHARTOUM: Israel established diplomatic ties with the newly formed nation of South Sudan Thursday as the country was also admitted as the newest member of the African Union. South Sudan also became an AU member after receiving a majority vote from member states, including one from Sudan, the bloc said Thursday.
“The Commission has received the requisite number of written communications supporting the admission of South Sudan to the African Union as the 54th union member state,” the AU said in a statement.
Its AU membership means South Sudan will contribute to policy relating to security, economics, culture and democracy on the continent.
Israel’s Foreign Ministry meanwhile Thursday announced that the two countries will have “ambassadorial level” relations.
Israel has no ties with Sudan but has been flooded in recent years by Sudanese refugees fleeing the South.
South Sudan became the 193rd member of the United Nations earlier this month. It achieved independence after a referendum that resulted from a 2005 peace agreement, which ended decades of civil war with the Arab-dominated North.
But there are several unresolved disputes with its northern neighbor Sudan, including striking a new oil deal and border demarcation.
Negotiations between the two nations are due to resume in Addis Ababa next week, led by AU mediator and former South African President Thabo Mbeki.
In continued violence this week, North Sudan carried out airstrikes on a village in Darfur, killing one civilian, UNAMID peacekeepers said Wednesday, in the first confirmed strike since Khartoum signed a peace deal with small rebel group Liberation and Justice Movement two weeks ago.
A UNAMID spokeswoman said it was unclear exactly when the strikes near Abu Hamara in South Darfur took place. A spokesman for the Sudanese army was not immediately available for comment. Analysts see little significance in the Qatar-brokered deal as Darfur’s biggest rebel groups have rejected it. Rebel divisions and continued fighting have been the two main blocks to previous peace talks in Chad, Nigeria, Libya and Doha. Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir is wanted by the International Criminal Court for alleged war crimes in Darfur.

STL releases names, profiles of Hezbollah suspects
July 29, 2011 /By Thomas El-Basha, Dana Khraiche/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: The U.N.-backed court probing the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri released Friday the names, charges and detailed information of the four Lebanese individuals indicted by the court late June. “These are the four individuals named in the indictment: Mustafa Amine Badreddine, Salim Jamil Ayyash, Hussein Hassan Oneissi, Assad Hassan Sabra,” a statement by the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) said.
“The Prosecution alleges that the four individuals named in the indictment were involved in the 14 February 2005 attack that killed the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and others,” the statement, posted on the court’s website, added.
The names of the four men were leaked to the media on the day the international court handed Lebanon sealed indictments and arrest warrants against the four members to State Prosecutor Saeed Mirza. Lebanon should report on the progress made in carrying out the arrest warrants on Aug. 11.
On July 3, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah confirmed that the four names leaked to the press were members of his group but said they would never be apprehended, “not even in 300 years.” Describing the four as having fought valiantly against Israel’s occupation of Lebanon, Nasrallah said the four would instead be tried in absentia.
The STL also released a “statement of reasons” justifying the release of the suspects’ details saying that making the requested information available to the public might increase the likelihood of apprehending the suspects.
“The pre-trial Judge considers that there are no reasons not to grant the request of the prosecutor [Daniel Bellemare] for partial variation of the order on confidentiality, as it appears that the prosecutor has carefully considered the effects that revealing the identities and personal information of the accused would have on the ongoing investigation and on any attempts to arrest the accused,” the statement said, adding that some parts of the indictment would remain confidential as they might hinder ongoing investigations.
Hezbollah has repeatedly slammed the tribunal as a “U.S.-Israeli” project aimed at targeting the resistance group, and has vowed not to cooperate with the court.
The STL, established in 2007 under United Nations Security Council Resolution 1757, has been a point of contention among the country’s rival political parties and led to the collapse of the government of Hariri’s son, Saad Hariri, who leads the March 14 alliance, early this year.
Prime Minister Najib Mikati, Hariri’s successor, has said that his government will cooperate with the STL and apprehend the suspects if they are in Lebanon and has rejected accusations that Hezbollah was “impeding” the government’s cooperation with the STL.
Hezbollah refused to comment on the news of the release of the names by the STL.
“We are not giving statements at the present time,” Hezbollah MP Nawaf Moussawi told The Daily Star by telephone.
MP Ammar Houri, a member of Saad Hariri’s Future Movement, said the release of the details of the four men reflected the transparency of the Netherlands- based court, adding that Hezbollah’s leader should now respond to the court’s decision. “I believe he [Nasrallah] should respond to the indictment if he is concerned with [Lebanon’s] stability and justice,” Houri told The Daily Star. Addressing the four Hezbollah suspects, Houri said: “We tell them again that you should enjoy the right of the presumption of innocence until proven otherwise.” - Additional reporting by Rima Aboulmona.

Obama extends assets freeze on figures ‘destabilizing’ Lebanon
July 29, 2011 /Daily Star Staff Agencies
WASHINGTON: United States President Barack Obama Thursday extended a freeze on assets of persons threatening stability in Lebanon, targeting those seeking “to undermine Lebanon’s legitimate and democratically elected government.” A White House statement, extending the freeze imposed in 2007, said that “certain ongoing activities, such as continuing arms transfers to Hezbollah that include increasingly sophisticated weapons systems, serve to undermine Lebanese sovereignty.” The move comes amid tense relations between the U.S. and Syria, which has links to Hezbollah, considered a terrorist group by Washington.
Hezbollah was blamed for the fall of former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s government in January after the party and its March 8 allies resigned over a U.N. probe into the assassination of former premier Rafik Hariri. On Aug. 2, 2007, President George W. Bush ordered a freeze on the U.S. assets of anyone Washington deems to be undermining Lebanon’s pro-Western government. The Bush administration did not identify those targeted by the decree, but it came just a month after he imposed a U.S. travel ban on Syrian officials and Lebanese politicians whom the United States accused of fomenting instability in Lebanon. The travel ban did not list individuals subject to the ban, but the White House released information that named 10 individuals who were suspected of being engaged in the type of activities Washington had been seeking to end.
They included top Syrian military intelligence officials, an adviser to Syrian President Bashar Assad, and former Lebanese ministers and an MP.
The Syrians are Hisham Ikhtiyar, Jamaa Jamma, Rustom Ghazaleh and Asef Shawkat. The Lebanese officials listed included former ministers Abdel-Rahim Mrad, Assad Hardan of the Syrian Social Nationalist Party, Assem Qanso of the Baath Party, Wiam Wahhab, Michel Samaha, and former MP Nasser Qandil.

Syrian opposition to the Arab regimes: Your silence is killing us
July 29, 2011 /Daily Star Staff &Agencies
BEIRUT/ DAMASCUS: Activists and opposition groups are calling on the “silent majority” to stand up and be counted in the last Friday mass rallies across Syria before Ramadan.
Opposition groups have given Friday rallies the label “Your silence is killing us” in attempts to mobilize prominent community leaders, intellectuals, the business elite, religious leaders and other Arab countries to join the opposition cause. While mass protests have been marked in regional centers around the country, Syria’s two largest capital cities, Damascus and Aleppo, have so far failed to attract the large numbers of protesters like the regional centers of Hama, Homs and elsewhere. Many believe the protest movement must take hold of the business and political capitals to progress from the deadly ritual stalemate that has claimed the lives of up to 1,500 civilians.
With mass arrests of, by some estimates, 11,000 people across the country since the uprising began in March, many say Syria’s middle and intellectual classes are still too afraid to openly join the opposition movement.
But a number of small but important developments in the two cities this week have encouraged opposition groups that these segments of society may be slowly coming around.
In the country’s economic hub, Aleppo, Wednesday, a group of medics in two hospitals protested in order to release detainees.
Elsewhere Wednesday hundreds of lawyers protested at the Aleppo Justice Palace chanting “freedom, freedom.”
A legal activist from Aleppo told Ash-Sharq al-Awsat newspaperthat “the lawyers protested demanding the independence of the bar association, and stressing that Syrian blood is sacred, shouting: the bar association free, free … pro-regime militants out!”
Activists posting on the Syrian Revolution Facebook page Thursday called for protesters to raise photos of silent academics, Syrian notables and silent Arab leaders in the protests and write on them, “Your silence is killing us!” “The silence of the international community is killing us, the silence of the Arab countries is killing us, the silence of people inside Syria is killing us, the silence of Tartous, Aleppo, Al-Raqqa, Al-Hasaka and other towns and cities that have not taken part [in the revolution] is killing us,” wrote one person on the page.
“Above all, the silence from the heart, Damascus, is killing us.”
From Damascus, Syrian civil rights campaigners described a growing sense of dissatisfaction with the state.
“There is not one person here who doesn’t know someone who has been arrested, beaten, tortured or killed at this stage,” said a campaigner. “And each time one of their friends or family is injured or arrested, another person joins the opposition.”
Elsewhere, opposition groups called for people to carry pairs of boots in response to Sunni cleric MP Mohammad Said Ramadhan al-Bhuti, who’s comments against the uprising angered those who believed he would take a different position following his opposition to secular government policies on the Damascus Casino and a controversial niqab ban.
Bhuti this week denied rumors of a cancellation or shortening of tarawih prayers during the month of Ramadan designed to prevent large gatherings for protests, typically staged after prayers.
Elsewhere Thursday, Syrian opposition activists responded quickly to denounce attempts by the new Al-Qaeda leader Ayman al-Zawahri to brand the movement as an Islamic uprising.
In his first video message since assuming the role following the death of Osama bin Laden, Zawahiri praised anti-regime protesters in Syria claiming the U.S. is seeking regime change in Damascus and hailing pro-democracy activists as “mujahedeen,” or holy warriors.
Syrian forces pressed their clampdown on the pro-democracy movement Thursday, killing a protester and arresting two leading activists, rights groups said.
“Security forces in Damascus on July 27 arrested two known Syrian opposition figures Adnan Wehbe and Nizar al-Samadi,” the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said in a statement Thursday, adding their fate “remains unknown.”
In the eastern city of Deir al-Zour, where security forces were carrying out operations in nearly all neighborhoods, a civilian was shot dead Thursday night, said Rami Abdel-Rahman, head of the Syria Observatory for Human Rights.
Afterward, some 3,000 people gathered in front of the house of the new governor, Samir Othman al-Sheikh, to “demand an end to the killing,” he said.
Earlier, residents were out in the streets trying to prevent security forces carrying out arrests, he said.
In Qatana, 25 kilometers south of Damascus, security forces armed with machine guns and other weapons arrived in the town in pickup trucks overnight and carried out the arrests before searching for more protesters.

Assad faces armed challenge in oil-producing east
July 29, 2011
By Khaled Oweis/The Daily Star
AMMAN: Fighting flared between Syrian military intelligence agents and residents in the eastern city of Deir al-Zor Friday after the killing of five protesters, witnesses said, in what appeared to be a serious armed challenge to President Bashar al-Assad.
Syrians in their thousands took to the streets nationwide for the 17th consecutive Friday to demand an end to Assad’s 11-year rule, activists said, by telephone, defying an intensifying military crackdown on an uprising for political freedoms.
Security forces shot dead a civilian when they fired at demonstrators in the southern village of Museifra, rights campaigners said.
They added that demonstrators came under fire in the nearby city of Deraa, cradle of the uprising, in the coastal cities of Banias and Latakia, and in the Damascus suburb of Hajar al-Assad, mostly inhabited by refugees from the Israeli-occupied Golan Heights.
The official Syrian news agency said a member of the security police was killed in the town of Albu Kamal on the border with Iraq, and that saboteurs bombed an export oil pipeline near the central city of Homs Friday.
The attack caused an oil leak, it said. Homs hosts one of Syria’s two oil refineries and has been hit by big street protests. Assad has deployed tanks in Homs.
Syrian authorities have expelled most independent journalists since the uprising began, making it difficult to verify reports of clashes, and do not usually comment on reports of killings.
“Our main goal is the downfall of the regime,” a preacher told worshippers at the central Orontes Square in the city of Hama, scene of a massacre by the military in the 1980s.
Popular unrest against four decades of repressive rule by the Assad family, now in its fifth month, is taking on sectarian overtones with protesters from the Sunni Muslim majority pitted against minority Alawites dominating the power elite.
Military intelligence, in charge of securing loyalty to Assad among the army’s mostly Sunni rank and file, has been spearheading a crackdown in Syria’s Sunni tribal east, a strategic oil-producing region near the border with Iraq.
Many inhabitants of the region have weapons because the government earlier armed eastern tribes, which have close links with Iraq, as a counterweight to Syria’s Kurdish population, much of it in regions adjacent to Deir al-Zor province.
“Fighting is concentrating in the northwest of Deir al-Zor. It has been going on non-stop since 2 a.m. (2300 GMT),” a resident, who declined to be named, told Reuters by telephone.
“Tanks entered the city overnight, but there is talk of entire army units defecting. Electricity and communications have been cut,” he said with the crackling of heavy machinegun fire audible in the background.
Residents earlier reported tank shelling in Deir al-Zor.
There have been individual instances of Syrians using weapons during the unrest, for example defending their homes during assaults on restive cities by security forces.
But the fighting reported in Deir al-Zor appeared to represent an armed response by a significant number of people to Assad’s iron-fisted clampdown on public dissent.
On Sunday, Assad replaced the civilian governor of Deir al-Zor Province with the head of the country’s main prison, two days after the biggest pro-democracy demonstrations in the province so far.
Last week the army surrounded the town of Albu Kamal on the easternmost edge of Deir al-Zor after 30 soldiers defected following the killing of four protesters, residents said.
Deir al-Zor is the center of Syria’s daily oil output of 380,000 barrels but is among the poorest of the country’s 13 provinces, afflicted by drought and economic mismanagement.
The Syrian leadership blames “armed terrorist groups” for most killings during the revolt, which began with demands for political liberalization and now seeks the toppling of Assad, who succeeded his late father, Hafez al-Assad, in 2000.
The global activist group Avaaz said in a new report that Syrian security forces have killed 1,634 people while at least 2,918 people had disappeared in Assad’s violent crackdown. Another 26,000 people have been arrested, many of whom were beaten and tortured, and 12,617 remain in detention, it said.
The Syrian government has said more than 500 soldiers and security personnel have been killed. Human rights campaigners say soldiers who have refused to fire on civilians have been shot dead. They add that army conscripts and rank and file members have been defecting in increasing numbers.
Assad has relied on ultra-loyalist security units, which are mostly Alawite and commanded by his dreaded brother Maher, to quell the uprising.
Overnight on Friday, witnesses said they saw over 3,000 republican guards being transported around Damascus ahead of Friday prayers in the biggest such deployment against possible protests in the capital since the uprising started.
In Madaya near the capital, residents told Reuters two civilians were killed in a security sweep on Friday. Madaya has witnessed large anti-Assad disturbances despite the stationing of armored vehicles in the area.


Pro-Syria Lebanese group behind UNIFIL attack: Future Movement MP Jamal Jarrah
July 29, 2011/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Future Movement MP Jamal Jarrah accused a pro-Syrian Lebanese group of being behind a recent bomb attack that left six French U.N. peacekeepers wounded earlier this week. “The bomb that targeted UNIFIL’s [United Nations Interim Forces in Lebanon] French contingent was carried out by a pro-Syrian Lebanese group as a message of protest of France's position on the events in Syria," Jarrah told a local radio station. Six French soldiers serving with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) were wounded Tuesday when a roadside bomb exploded as a four-vehicle convoy made its way in the southern port city of Sidon. Investigators continued Thursday to comb the site of the attack, even as suspected leads in the probe into the bombing proved fruitless for authorities seeking to apprehend assailants. A judicial source told The Daily Star that contrary to some reports, no individuals had been arrested in connection with the attack.

New Saudi Fatwa Defends Pedophilia as ‘Marriage’
by Raymond Ibrahim /FrontPage
http://frontpagemag.com/2011/07/25/new-saudi-fatwa-defends-pedophilia-as-%e2%80%98marriage%e2%80%99/
Muslim “child-marriage”—euphemism for pedophilia—is making headlines again, at least in Arabic media: Dr. Salih bin Fawzan, a prominent cleric and member of Saudi Arabia’s highest religious council, just issued a fatwa asserting that there is no minimum age for marriage, and that girls can be married “even if they are in the cradle.”
Appearing in Saudi papers on July 13, the fatwa complains that “Uninformed interference with Sharia rulings by the press and journalists is on the increase, posing dire consequences to society, including their interference with the question of marriage to small girls who have not reached maturity, and their demand that a minimum age be set for girls to marry.”
Fawzan insists that nowhere does Sharia set an age limit for marrying girls: like countless Muslim scholars before him, he relies on Koran 65:4, which discusses marriage to females who have not yet begun menstruating (i.e., are prepubescent) and the fact that Muhammad, Islam’s role model, married Aisha when she was 6-years-old, “consummating” the marriage—or, in modern parlance, raping her—when she was 9.
The point of the Saudi fatwa, however, is not that girls as young as 9 can have sex, based on Muhammad’s example, but rather that there is no age limit whatsoever; the only question open to consideration is whether the girl is physically capable of handling her husband/rapist. Fawzan documents this point by quoting Ibn Batal’s authoritative exegesis of Sahih Bukhari:
The ulema [Islam’s interpreters] have agreed that it is permissible for fathers to marry off their small daughters, even if they are in the cradle. But it is not permissible for their husbands to have sex with them unless they are capable of being placed beneath and bearing the weight of the men. And their capability in this regard varies based on their nature and capacity. Aisha was 6 when she married the prophet, but he had sex with her when she was 9 [i.e., when she was deemed capable].
Fawzan concludes his fatwa with a warning: “It behooves those who call for setting a minimum age for marriage to fear Allah and not contradict his Sharia, or try to legislate things Allah did not permit. For laws are Allah’s province; and legislation is his excusive right, to be shared by none other. And among these are the rules governing marriage.”
Fawzan, of course, is not the first to insist on the legitimacy of pedophilia in Islam. Even the former grand mufti of Saudi Arabia supported “child-marriage,” since “the Koran and Sunna document it.”
Nor is this just some theoretic, theological point; the lives of many young girls are being destroyed because of this ruling. Recall, for instance, the 13-year-old girl who died while her much older husband was copulating with her (it was later revealed that, due to her reluctance, he was tying her up and “raping” her—as if there is another way to describe sex with children); or the 12-year-old who died giving birth to a stillborn; or the 10-year-old who made headlines by hiding out from her 80-year-old “husband.”
Then there are the countless anonymous girls who do nothing to warrant any media attention—such as die—and have learned to live with their elderly husbands pawing at them, like, no doubt, the girl who married Islam’s most popular cleric, Yusuf Qaradawi, when she was 14.
What do we make of the fact that it is always Islam’s religious, authoritative voices—not aberrant voices, not “terrorists,” “extremists,” or any other euphemism coined for the occasion—that are constantly demonstrating Sharia’s savageries? Weeks before this fatwa, a female politician and activist in Kuwait called for institutionalizing sex-slavery (recommending that Muslims buy and sell female Russian captives from the Chechnya war); a popular Egyptian preacher not only said the same thing, but added that the solution to Islam’s poverty is to go on jihad and plunder the lives and possessions of infidels.
Sounds odd? Perhaps; but it is perfectly consistent. After all, distilled and in the eyes of the non-believer, Sharia law is nothing less than a legal system built atop the words and deeds of a 7th century Arab, whose behavior—from pedophilia and sex-slavery to war mongering and plundering—was very much that of a 7th century Arab. Having enticed or enslaved his contemporaries into following him, his teachings continue to entice and enslave their descendants; and, now as then, it is always the innocent who suffer.
About Raymond Ibrahim
Raymond Ibrahim, a Shillman Fellow at the DHFC, is a widely published author on Islam, and an Associate Fellow at the Middle East Forum. Join him as he explores the "Intersection"—the pivotal but ignored point where Islam and Christianity meet—including by examining the latest on Christian persecution, translating important Arabic news that never reaches the West, and much more.

Libyan rebels killed their commander for secret parley on war's end with Qaddafi
DEBKAfile Exclusive
Report July 29, 2011, Gen. Abdel Fatah Younis, commander of the Libyan rebel forces fighting Muammar Qaddafi, was put to death on the orders of Mustapha Abdul Jalil, head of the rebel Transitional National Council, who wanted him out of the way before the start of peace negotiations, debkafile's intelligence and military sources report.
His execution was set up by TNC officers who first abducted him and the two colonels who never left his side. After they were removed to a point 20 kilometers east of the rebel stronghold of Benghazi, all three were shot in the head. The killers brought the bodies back to Benghazi to prove the TNC chief's orders had been carried out and collect their payment.
Younis, a former interior minister, defected to the rebel side in February after working with Qaddafi for 40 years. The circumstances of his death were deliberately confused by Benghazi.
Our sources report that the TNC chief Jalil wanted the powerful Younis out of the way for good before negotiations for the transition of government in Tripoli began. Jalil is a weak figure who enjoys scant respect – even among the Libyan tribes supporting the insurgency. He was clearly concerned that at some point in the negotiations, Gen. Younis's name would be put forward as the most suitable candidate for leading rebel representation in the post-war government in Tripoli, Qaddafi would then appoint his son Saif al-Islam as his successor and the two would run the future government as a team.
This plan is revealed here for the first time. It was already taking shape at the highest levels in Washington, Paris, Moscow and Berlin when it was derailed by the death of Younis. French foreign minister Alain Juppe brought the plan to London on Tuesday, July 26 to help the British government climb down from the demand to keep the war going until Qaddafi quit and departed Libya.
And indeed, the Cameron government agreed to line up behind Washington, Moscow and Berlin and conceded that the Libyan ruler would stay in the country after he stepped down.
But then, on Thursday, the TNC announced the death of the rebels' military chief. It was followed by a claim that pro-Qaddafi loyalists had shot him to impair rebel military capabilities and punish him for defecting. Jalil claimed that Younis had been called to the Benghazi headquarters for questioning but never arrived, tacitly encouraging the rumors that he had been a double agent who secretly served Qaddafi after his defection and made sure the rebels lost the war.
Those rumors were disseminated as a smokescreen to cover Gen. Younis' warning to the rebel administration in closed meetings - starting four months ago - that they would never defeat Qaddafi's army in battle and they would do well to stop the bloodshed and sit down to work out a power-sharing deal.
The general explained that were it not for the NATO air umbrella and Qaddafi's fear of the losses air strikes would inflict on his army he would have trounced rebel forces in eastern and western Libya and retaken Benghazi in less than a week.
When the TNC leader Jalil refused to heed these warnings and cut rebel losses, Younis gave his field commanders a free hand to negotiate a ceasefire with their opposite numbers on the pro-Qaddafi side. As a result, from the second week of May, an informal truce descended on the main battle fields of Misrata and Brega.
From time to time, rebel headquarters in Benghazi sent out officers with orders to tackle Qaddafi forces in defiance of the truce. But they were no match for the superior strength of government troops and were forced back - proving Gen. Younis had got it right.
When negotiations for ending the conflict hove in sight, Jalil suspected Gen. Younis of planning to beat his own path to Qaddafi and bypassing both the TNC delegation and the NATO powers. The TNC leader resolved to protect his own standing and bid for power by scotching the threat posed by the general.

Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjie meets with Patriarch al-Rai
July 29, 2011 /Marada Movement leader MP Sleiman Franjieh met on Friday with Maronite Patriarch Bechara Boutros al-Rai at the latter’s summer residence in North Lebanon’s Diman.
Franjieh said that “he will support any electoral law that [the Patriarchate] chooses,” according to a statement issued by his party’s press office. Franjieh also discussed with the Patriarch the current situation in Lebanon and the region.- NOW Lebanon

Protest in support of Syrian people held in Lebanon’s Tripoli
July 29, 2011 /Tens of people protested in support of the Syrian people in the Al-Qobba neighborhood in North Lebanon’s Tripoli after the Muslim Friday prayers, the National News Agency reported. Syrian anti-regime protests erupted in mid-March. The Syrian Observatory put the death toll since protests erupted at least 1,400 civilians and 352 members of the security forces, with more than 1,300 people arrested. -NOW Lebanon

'The Arab Spring is a fantasy'
In interview with Haaretz, Republican stalwart and presidential candidate Newt Gingrich is quite clear in his views regarding the biggest enemies of the United States and Israel.
By Natasha Mozgovaya /Haaretz
The walls of the office of Newt Gingrich, former speaker of the House of Representatives, are covered with a big photo of an American flag with the Capitol in the background, a dozen framed magazine covers bearing his portrait, and shelves loaded with books - mostly written by him. In the last three decades, the former Republican congressman from Georgia has published 23 books, on subjects ranging from government and economics to religion and energy, his latest being "A Nation Like No Other: Why American Exceptionalism Matters" (Regnery Publishing, 2011). The bulk of his writing is what can be termed "alternative" history.
Now pursuing the Republican nomination for the presidency in advance of next year's elections, Gingrich can take credit for issuing warnings about the directions his country has been taking long before they became part of mainstream discourse. Nevertheless, today some of the predictions of the man with a thousand ideas seem to be slightly off target. For instance, in his 1999 book "To Renew America," he wrote that "honeymoons in space will be the vogue by 2020." This month, with the last space shuttle on its way to a museum, it seems Gingrich was too optimistic. But the presidential hopeful still returns to his mantra about what he sees as the wrong turns his government has been taking.
"In 'Window of Opportunity,' which I wrote in 1984 - at the peak of Reagan's optimism - I talked about terrorism and nuclear weapons. We failed to solve our problems. Radical Islam is a much bigger threat today. China is a greater factor than it was in 1984. And, yes, we are at a crossroads," Gingrich tells Haaretz, sitting in his office on K Street in Washington.
"The United States is either going to have the American people repudiate the establishment and get back on track - or it will have the establishment preside over the decay of the country. If the latter happens, it is going to become a dramatically more dangerous world."
And this is precisely the reason Gingrich has decided to throw his hat into the presidential ring, he adds. He brushes off the inevitable questions about his chances of winning, and about his campaign's financial problems and the recent mass exodus of his staff.
"I think an amazing number of people who have never run a campaign make a living rendering judgment on things they don't know," he declares. "I am intent on trying to win the Republican nomination, and then win the presidency."
Fundamental change
Gingrich was once portrayed as panicking about the future of America, but the rise of China confirms his fears. A recent poll by the Pew Research Center has shown that in 15 out of 22 nations, the majority opinion is that China either will replace or already has replaced the United States as the world's leading superpower. In France, this was a view held by 72 percent of the respondents, in Spain 67 percent, Britain 65 percent, Germany 61 percent, and Israel 47 percent.
"We are at the crossroads that's that big," Gingrich says. "We have a fundamental rejection of the establishment in both parties, and [need to] go back to being the arsenal of the democracy and a decisive, very entrepreneurial country - or my grandchildren will inherit a country that is clearly subordinate to China, and clearly threatened by radical Islam, and clearly incapable of creating and shaping its own future. Such a big choice, of having somebody run who has balanced the federal budget, been part of the national security since 1979, and who has thought about this at the level I am describing to you - it's an important option for the American people to look at. Do they want somebody who actually is prepared to lead an extraordinary and dramatic change, or do they want somebody who is a normal politician?"
He thinks the United States needs a fundamental change, and this includes putting a stop to its illusions about positive changes in the Arab world.
"The whole concept of the Arab Spring is an interesting fantasy," Gingrich explains. "We have no idea what is going to come out of this. It's like saying that the rise of the young colonels in the 1950s who replaced the Egyptian monarchy was a step toward modernity and the better future, or that the killing of the Iraqi king [Faisal II] in 1958 was a step toward modernity, and not a totalitarian system. Are the rebels in Benghazi the same people who are killing Americans in Iraq? Benghazi was the leading city contributing to anti-American fighters, ranking second after Saudi Arabia. Or are they in fact people who want modernity and democracy? I don't think we have a clue."
You say the U.S. shouldn't have intervened in the Libyan crisis.
Gingrich: "I think it's useful to use covert operations to get rid of Muammar Gadhafi, but I don't think the U.S. should have troops there. I think this whole effort to have forces on the ground has turned out to be a swamp, whether it's Afghanistan, Iraq or Libya. Because we are not prepared to be engaged deeply enough to change the culture, and we are [only] prepared to engage deep enough to get in and out. And that leaves you with the worst of all worlds. Because over time your enemies hate you, your very presence leads to more people deciding you are their enemy. You become a symbol around which to organize anti-Western radicalism.
"I am going to make a speech in August in which I'll argue that 10 years after 9/11, the U.S. is in greater danger, that we are relatively weaker and the forces of radical Islam are relatively stronger, and that anyone who is not deeply worried doesn't understand the facts that are evolving. We are not focusing on the main enemies. Iran is the largest threat in the short term. Pakistan is the largest threat in the long term. People are talking about Iran's nuclear weapons, when there are probably 100 nuclear weapons in Pakistan."
Do you believe they had any role in hiding Osama bin Laden?
"If you had asked me where he would be the day we'd find him, my working assumption was that he was hiding in some cave in Waziristan. If you'd say: 'Oh no, he is in a fairly large compound in a military city, about a mile from their National Defense Academy' - I would have said that it was only possible if a substantial part of the Pakistani intelligence service was actively helping him. Today, I say we have to confront the fact that our so-called ally is deeply divided, and has some very strong anti-American elements who would be thrilled to see us leave and become allied with the Chinese.
"Each of these things create a level of danger that our establishment wants to ignore. And that requires rethinking. We are told we have to be in Afghanistan, which is a country which is deeply corrupt and deeply tribal. Yet we are not investing enough in order to modernize it. Well, in order to be there, you have to have Pakistan's support - and they are clearly doing a number of things that are not supportive. So you end up with policy in which the secondary theater, Afghanistan, blocks you from thinking clearly about the primary theaters - Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Iran and Pakistan."
It seems Israel gets disproportionate attention in this arena - is it actually good for us?
"I think it would be much better for Israel if there was a broad consensus that the survival of Israel is integral to the survival of the U.S., and if Israel was a nonpartisan issue. With this president, it's not possible. He clearly has no understanding of the threat, no willingness to tell the truth about it, and has a fantasy vision of how the world works. His proposal [concerning] the 1967 borders was suicidal. An Israel that accepts 1967 borders is an Israel that accepts the demise of the country."
But he stressed "1967 with mutually agreed swaps." Former Prime Minister Ehud Olmert basically already proposed the same concept.
"What Obama actually said, and what he is now saying that he said, are two different things. Obama in his original speech created a framework for Hamas and the PA [Palestinian Authority] to say: 'We'll start the negotiations with the border.'"
(Note: Here is what President Barack Obama said in his May 2011 Middle East speech at the State Department: "We believe the borders of Israel and Palestine should be based on the 1967 lines with mutually agreed swaps, so that secure and recognized borders are established for both states. The Palestinian people must have the right to govern themselves, and reach their full potential, in a sovereign and contiguous state.")
So what is your alternative solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict? What do you think about the settlements?
"I think the settlements are irrelevant. If Israel closed every settlement tomorrow morning, there would be a new demand. You have two ways of looking at what's going on in the region. The optimists say: 'Gee, if only we found the right formula, we could find peace.' The pessimists say: 'Until you find a way to defeat your enemies, you are not going to find peace.' And the optimists then say: 'Since it's impossible to defeat our enemies, we should be optimists and find peace.'"
So you don't see it as a political conflict?
"I see it as an identity conflict. It's much more profound than political. And it's a very hard thing to fight. The attitude of the radical wing of Islam, going all the way back to the 1920s and '30s, has been profoundly anti-Semitic, long before the establishment of the State of Israel. Hostility against the Jews in Palestine was extraordinary. The Grand Mufti of Jerusalem was very pro-Nazi. It's not a political problem, it's a fundamental question of identity."
Astonishingly hostile
So should there be a two-state solution?
"One of Reagan's greatest contributions to defeating the Soviets was to describe them in 1983 as the 'evil empire.' Hamas is evil. Hamas isn't a normal political operation and negotiating partner. Hamas is dedicated explicitly - publicly and repeatedly in every form of propaganda - to killing Jews and wiping out Israel."
There is still the PA with President Mahmoud Abbas.
"And Mahmoud Abbas said in a meeting a month ago in Qatar that he wants Palestine free of Jews. [Abbas explained later that he meant there will be no presence of Jewish soldiers in the sovereign Palestinian state.] You have a genuine problem, because you have a 60-year pattern denying the reality of Israel. Which I see no particular evidence [to say it] has changed. If you look at the educational materials used by the PA, I've been told, it's astonishingly hostile. So if you look at the effort to recruit children as suicide bombers - these are things actively going on in your neighborhood. You don't sit to negotiate with neighbors who in the process are trying to kill you."
Aren't you supposed to negotiate with your adversaries? The U.S. has changed its attitude toward the Taliban and the Muslim Brotherhood.
"The Obama administration is seeking a method of appeasement to enable it to leave the region - which I believe will leave the region more dangerous and violent and anti-Western."
How would you deal with the looming September vote at the UN on the recognition of the Palestinian state?
"I would advise the U.S. to take [former] Secretary of State Jim Baker's advice to President George H.W. Bush, who said that if the UN does that, we should suspend all payments to the UN."
How realistic is that?
"This administration probably won't do it, but of course it's a realistic policy. If the U.S. indicates that a totally corrupt and irresponsible and destructive UN is an unacceptable vehicle to discuss things, it would have a huge impact on the world. But currently we are not seen as a serious country, but as a country whose leadership is not capable of dealing with threats. The very fact that 60 countries went to an antiterrorism conference in Tehran - including Iraq, Pakistan and Afghanistan - it was their view that it's less dangerous to irritate the U.S. than to irritate the Iranians."
So what would constitute an effective strategy to deal with the Iranian regime?
"I think we should learn a great deal from Reagan, Thatcher and Pope John Paul II. Our goal should be to replace the current dictatorship in Iran, and to replace it using covert operations, using propaganda, using sanctions, funneling money into dissident groups, ceasing communications strategies. Reagan broke the Soviet Empire in Eastern Europe without firing a shot. You apply the whole range of pressures, consciously designed to break the regime - from economic pressure to cutting off technology, to fomenting things like the solidarity movement. We are now passive, while the Iranians are waging war against us. We had the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff say flatly that Iranian equipment is killing Americans in Iraq - yet we do nothing about it. We exert no costs."
This August, unlike some other presidential candidates, Gingrich won't appear at the Jerusalem rally organized by the conservative radio and television host Glenn Beck.
"I spoke with Glenn, but it wasn't something I could do," he explains. "But it's nice of him to be doing it. We might go to visit the region at some point in the fall. If we go, we'll certainly visit Israel - but probably also Egypt, Jordan and the Gulf states."
The Tea Party movement seems to be having a big influence on the Republican Party's current primaries race. In Israel, many people have mixed feelings about it.
"There is a significant overlap between the Tea Party movement and the Evangelical movement. And Evangelicals are very pro-Israel - it goes back to the Bible and that whole belief that Israel is a Promised Land in the Old Testament. Recently, I was in South Carolina at the Tea Party town hall meeting - and I said that one of my first steps as president will be signing an executive order to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. And I got a standing ovation - and it wasn't a Jewish group. But it's the intensity of identity which has been compounded by radical Islamists, because a growing number of American conservatives see U.S. national security and Israeli national security as faced by the same enemy. It's a parallel interest."