Latest News Reports From Miscellaneous Sources for November 19/12 
Obama: Preferable to avoid Gaza ground operation
Hamas says rejected Israel's ceasefire terms
Gaza: Diplomacy in race with carnage
Horror as Israeli strike kills Gaza family
Gaza War: Rampant butchery
Report: Iran denies supplying Fajr-5 rockets to Gaza
Report: Jihad stipulates terms for truce
Iranian arms ship carries fresh, improved Fajar supplies for Gaza
Gaza death toll hits 87 as truce efforts intensify
Jordan's King Abdullah II cancels visit to Britain
Syrian rebels eye Assad's economic lifeline in east
Iran starts building gas pipeline to Syria
Ashton: Gaza rocket attacks must stop
Erdogan: Israel turning region to blood swamp
Erdogan: Israeli strikes a pre-election stunt
Morsi: There are indications of ceasefir
Mofaz: Gaza op long overdue, must continue
Netanyahu: First stop firing, then we'll talk
Hamas says rejected Israel's ceasefire terms
Mofaz: Gaza op long overdue, must continue
Jabari widow: He was a good husband
Abbas calls for 'peaceful' anti-Israel protests
March 14 to boycott Nov. 27 parliament session, MP says
UK voices support for Lebanon Army, Dialogue
Lebanon's Arabic press digest - Nov. 19, 2012
Cabinet committed to hold elections on time: Mikati
24 Assir supporters issued search warrants for carrying arms
Lebanese MP reveals “scandal” in Deir Aamar energy plant project
Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi Attends Tawadros' Enthronement before Heading to Rome
Lebanon's Axis Of Evil puppet PM to call on French officials to “understand Lebanon’s disassociation policy”
Lebanese Pro Evil Of Axis puppet FM: Strict measures should be enforced against Israel
The Hezbollah minister and his brother
Kataeb will only accept country with single army
The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Geagea: Real traitors are those who protect collaborators
Future MP Khaled Daher r: Hezbollah’s arms aimed at us, not Israel
March 14 wins Beirut Bar polls
March 14 Wins Pharmacists Order Elections, 2 Seats in Bar Association By-election
Lebanese economy to end 2012 with positive growth
Mikati in Paris for talks
You can’t drive like a Lebanese on Mars
Lebanon poised for prolonged political stalemate
New leader of Egypt Coptic Christians enthroned

Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi Attends Tawadros' Enthronement before Heading to Rome
Naharnet/Maronite Patriarch Beshara al-Rahi attended on Sunday the enthronement of the new Coptic pope in Cairo ahead of the Nov. 24 ceremony that would officially appoint him as a new cardinal in the Catholic church. The enthronement of Bishop Tawadros was held at Cairo's St. Mark's Cathedral. Tawadros, 60, was chosen on Nov. 4 to succeed Pope Shenuda II, who died in March after four decades on the patriarchal throne. He becomes spiritual head of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East and 118th pope in a line dating back to the origins of Christianity and to Saint Mark, the apostle and author of one of the four Gospels, who brought the new faith to Egypt. Lebanon's state-run National News Agency said al-Rahi will travel to Rome for the Nov. 24 ceremony to officially appoint him as cardinal. He will attend mass celebrated by Pope Benedict XVI on Sunday Nov. 25 and preside mass the next day at the Saint Peter's Basilica in Rome at 6:00 pm. The pope announced the appointment of al-Rahi last month along with five other non-European cardinals, becoming the fourth patriarch from Lebanon to be chosen as cardinal.

March 14 Wins Pharmacists Order Elections, 2 Seats in Bar Association By-election
Naharnet/The March 14 forces on Sunday achieved victory in the Pharmacists Order elections and won two seats in the by-election of the Beirut Bar Association. “March 14 candidate Rabih Hassouna has been elected as the head of the Pharmacists Order,” Future TV reported. Meanwhile, MTV said “the list backed by March 14 and the independents won the Pharmacists Order elections.”In the by-election to choose four new members for the Beirut Bar Association, the March 14 coalition won two seats. The National News Agency identified the winners as Toufiq al-Nwairi of the al-Mustaqbal Movement, Hadi Msallam of the Lebanese Forces, George Nakhle of the Free Patriotic Movement and the independent Wajih Saad. George Haddad was elected as a substitute member. Last Sunday, the March 14-backed list won the by-election of the Tripoli Bar Association which was held to fill two vacant posts, with Michel Khoury elected as the head of the association.

The leader of the Lebanese Forces, Geagea: Real traitors are those who protect collaborators
November 18, 2012 /The leader of the Lebanese Forces said on Sunday that traitors were those who turned a blind eye on collaborators who are in tune with their political line.
“Real treason lies in those who turn a blind eye on actual [Israeli] collaborators and on all those who cover for them, while they [keep on] dishonestly accusing others who oppose them of treason, only because they are their political adversaries,” Samir Geagea’s office quoted him as saying in a reference to Hezbollah and its allies. “Truly honest people are those who [admit to] the truth whether or not it was in their favor, and not those who deny their [mistakes] and their opponents’ [good deeds],” Geagea added. Last week, the Lebanese Forces and Hezbollah engaged in a war of words, as Geagea retorted to Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah who implicitly accused him of inciting strife among Muslims.
-NOW Lebanon

Lebanese Pro Evil Of Axis puppet FM: Strict measures should be enforced against Israel
November 18, 2012 /Lebanon’s Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour called for harsh political and economic repercussions for Israel in light of the ongoing hostility in the Gaza Strip, the National News Agency reported. “Palestine is calling us today to take wise and courageous action to prove to the world and to the terrorist state of Israel that [its] aggression will not go unpunished… It is imperative to adopt strict political and economic measures against Israel,” Mansour said on Saturday during an emergency meeting held by the Arab League in Egypt’s Cairo to discuss the situation in Gaza.
The foreign minister added that the proposed measures would entail pursuing Israeli officials for war crimes through the international tribunal, suspending all contact between Israel and the Arab states and calling on the European Union to voice its condemnation over the assault on Gaza. Mansour also addressed the humanitarian aspect of the conflict and called for “opening all border crossings to facilitate the entry of emergency equipment and humanitarian aid.”The escalating conflict between Israel and Hamas has drawn expressions of deep concern internationally and sparked anger in the Arab and Muslim world.Israel began its military operations on Wednesday afternoon. Hamas has retaliated, firing rockets over the border.
-NOW Lebanon

Lebanon's Axis Of Evil puppet PM to call on French officials to “understand Lebanon’s disassociation policy”
November 18, 2012 /The Lebanese prime minister said he would ask that French officials understand and support his cabinet’s policy of disassociation from the crisis unfolding in Syria. “There is no doubt that I have ideas in several fields that will be the focus of my talks with French officials, [I will] call on the French officials to understand the cabinet’s disassociation policy and to support it,” Najib Miqati told An-Nahar newspaper in remarks published Sunday. Miqati, who is heading to France later on Sunday, also said that new agreements would be signed between France and Lebanon, with particular regard to economy, media and culture. He also said that his hand is “extended to all the Lebanese people, especially to the opposition.” “Until a solution is found for the political impasse, the cabinet will continue with its productivity to preserve political and security stability.” Last Month, the March 14 opposition coalition announced that it was cutting all ties with the current government of Najib Miqati following the assassination of Lebanon’s Internal Security Forces intelligence chief Wissam al-Hassan on October 19 in Beirut’s Ashrafieh.-NOW Lebanon

New leader of Egypt Coptic Christians enthroned
November 18, 2012 /Pope Tawadros II was enthroned as the new leader of Egypt's Coptic Christian minority on Sunday in a ceremony at Cairo's St Mark's Cathedral attended by Prime Minister Hisham Qandil, an AFP correspondent said. Tawadros, 60, was chosen on November 4 to succeed Pope Shenuda III, who died in March after four decades on the patriarchal throne. He becomes spiritual head of the largest Christian minority in the Middle East and 118th pope in a line dating back to the origins of Christianity and to Saint Mark, the apostle and author of one of the four Gospels, who brought the new faith to Egypt. Shenuda, a careful, pragmatic leader, died at a critical time for the increasingly beleaguered minority, which has faced a surge in sectarian attacks after an uprising overthrew president Hosni Mubarak in February 2011. The pope leads the country's Coptic Orthodox community. Christians make up between six and 10 percent of Egypt's 83-million population. Amid increased fears about the community's future after the overthrow of Mubarak, Tawadros will be its main contact with Islamist President Mohamed Morsi.-AFP

The Hezbollah minister and his brother
Now Lebanon/
Minister of State for Administrative Development Mohammad Fneish did not put his resignation at the prime minister’s disposal as a scandal erupted about his brother Abdellatif falsifying the health minister’s signature on documents allowing the importation of certain medications. This holds true despite the fact that Fneish is the minister for administrative development and represents a party that has long claimed to be wholly unattached to any worldly prestige and prosperity. The least Fneish could do is to put his resignation at the cabinet’s disposal until the results of the investigations into his brother’s involvement [in the case] come up. Fneish did not deny the facts and merely said that he is not providing his brother with any cover. However, the acts of forgery were committed during Fneish’s ministerial tenure, which means that it is possible – and rather likely – that the person who committed this forgery has taken advantage of the fact that his brother is a minister. Fneish did say that he had no knowledge of his brother’s forgery activities, but this is not enough since [Abdellatif] has quite likely taken advantage of his brother’s influence. Abdellatif Fneish actually had a tremendous clout in the Ministry of Health. Al-Akhbar reported that the man could complete formalities there faster than anyone else, which drove many companies to have recourse to his services in return for paying him a certain percentage.
Abdellatif Fneish is the brother of Hezbollah MP and Minister Mohammad Fneish and enjoys great influence within the Ministry of Health, which is led by Amal Movement Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, and Abdellatif Fneish stands accused of major forgery in that ministry today. How should this news translate in the minds of a Lebanese newsreader? The scenario is pretty obvious: The person who committed the forgery used his brother’s name to extend his clout within the Ministry of Health, which is steered by a minister hailing from a party that is allied with his brother’s party. In other words, the health minister also has to put his resignation at the prime minister’s disposal until the results of investigations [into the matter] come up, as what we have at hand is by no means a traditional corruption scandal. Two major parties that have taken over the cabinet are behind this operation. These parties are power in the making; rather, they epitomize power and they were taken by surprise by a brother who forged medication that could have poisoned the Lebanese people. In this case, the fact that Minister [Mohammad Fneish] is the brother of a man who committed forgery takes precedence over the fact that [Abdellatif Fneish] has committed forgery, since the negative implications of the first statement are far more potent…Assuming that Mohammad Fneish, as a brother and minister, is not corrupt, which has now come into question, he is certainly not a wise minister for as long as he does not put his resignation at the prime minister’s disposal. In fact, the scandal is far too big and obvious to be glossed over, and its personal implications on the minister [in question] can only be addressed by his resignation. Hezbollah, however, will not escape the political repercussions, which indicate that the party is now engrossed in the worldly pleasures provided by power. In Hezbollah’s consciousness, power is exemplified by Damascus and Tehran where corruption is widespread, but this still did not make any dent in [Hezbollah’s] speech… hence the fact that there will be no resignation.
Note: The judiciary issued a search warrant inquiring after the whereabouts of the minister’s brother, which means that the man is gone into hiding. Where could he possibly be?
**This article is a translation of the original, which appeared on the NOW Arabic site on Friday November 16, 2012

Kataeb will only accept country with single army November 19, 2012/The Daily Star
BEIRUT: Kataeb Party leader Amin Gemayel vowed Sunday that his party would only accept Lebanon with its sovereignty intact and with one army. Speaking at a mass on the sixth anniversary of the assassination of his son MP Pierre Gemayel, the former president also said that the Kataeb Party would remain committed to the principles of the Cedar Revolution. “We vow to remain committed to what you [Pierre] demanded: We will not accept half dignity but full dignity; we will not accept half sovereignty but full sovereignty; we will not accept half an army but a single army.” Politicians from the March 14 coalition, ministers and representatives of President Michel Sleiman, Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri attended the mass at Jdeideh’s Saint Antonios Church, meters away from where Gemayel was shot dead in 2006. “The Kataeb Party will remain at the forefront in defending the principles and values that Pierre, [former prime minister] Rafik Hariri, Antoine Ghanem and others of the Cedar Revolution died for,” Gemayel added. Former Patriarch Cardinal Nasrallah Butros Sfeir led the mass. “I promise your dad and all other martyrs, as long as Lebanon remains in danger, we will be ready for the country,” said Amin, Pierre’s 10-year-old son. “We thought that the coward criminal had enough, we thought you would be the last of the heroes who gave their lives for the nation. Until when will mothers in Lebanon have to wear black mourning clothes and until when will the eyes of children be filled with tears?” he asked

March 14 wins Beirut Bar polls
November 19, 2012 /By Youssef Diab/
The Daily Star/BEIRUT: Lawyers backed by the March 14 coalition scored a victory at the Beirut Bar Association Sunday, winning two of four vacant seats on the association’s board. The win came a week after March 14 swept elections for the North Lebanon Bar Association and elected Michel Khoury as the association’s president. A list backed by the March 14 coalition also won by-elections in Beirut’s Order of Pharmacists Sunday. During the by-election to fill four vacancies on the 12-member board of the Beirut Bar Association, March 14 won two seats; the Free Patriotic Movement won one and a fourth seat was grabbed by an independent. Toufiq al-Nouairi of the Future Movement came out in first with 1,770 votes, while Hadi Mussallem of the Lebanese Forces received 1,641 votes, George Nakhle of the FPM grabbed 1,527 votes and the independent Wajih Masaad edged in with 1,432 votes. With at least 2,000 lawyers participating in the Sunday morning polls, the Beirut Bar Association saw a tight race between rival lists. Christians have won recent elections but the Future Movement-backed Nouairi, a Muslim lawyer, came out on top Sunday, while his ally backed by the LF came second.
The by-elections’ results underscored a strong March 14’s alliance against a weaker and less committed list backed by the March 8. Many lawyers from the March 8 coalition expressed their disappointment at the results and blamed some parties within the alliance for their lack of commitment to the elections. The by-election comes less than a year before the bar elects a new president to succeed its current head, Nuhad Jabr. March 8-backed candidates, George Haddad and Tarek al-Khatib, failed to win enough seats to join the association’s board. Lawyers backed by the Progressive Socialist Party also voiced disappointment Sunday after their candidate received roughly 440 votes. “This negative result was mainly because our allies have distanced themselves from us,” said one lawyer backed by the PSP, who didn’t specify whether the party’s allies at the association are from March 14 or March 8. The March 14-backed pharmacists also won the by-elections of the Order of Pharmacists Sunday, electing Rabih Hassouna as the order’s president and six board members. Hassouna received 1,790 votes, defeating his rival Ali Safa, who was backed by the March 8 coalition and took home 1,659 votes.
The “Rights of the Pharmacist” list backed by the March 8 grabbed two seats on the order’s board. In Maarab Sunday, LF leader Samir Geagea congratulated the newly elected officials of the Tripoli Bar Association during a meeting with a delegation of lawyers headed by the association’s president Michel Khoury. “Your victory was not only a small victory; the difference in the number of votes was more than 200 votes from a total of less than 1,100 voters. Your victory made a big difference in a place where March 8 has for long dominated,” Geagea said. Geagea also said that the opposition March 14 is in a confrontation against demagoguery and a series of lies framed by the government: “We are in a big confrontation especially against attempts to obscure and change facts, [against] demagoguery and exploitation of sacred causes like that of Palestine and defense of Lebanon.”

Future MP Khaled Daher r: Hezbollah’s arms aimed at us, not Israel
November 19, 2012/The Daily Star /BEIRUT: Future MP Khaled Daher said Sunday the Sunnis would fight to defend their rights in the country in the face of threats posed by Hezbollah’s weapons. Speaking at a ceremony to eulogize slain police intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan in the town of Berqayel in the northern district of Akkar, Daher said the Syrian regime and Hezbollah, despite their rhetoric, have done nothing to defend the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to Israel’s devastating airstrikes since last Wednesday. Addressing the Syrian regime and Hezbollah, the Akkar MP said: “You must be hiding your missiles and arms to use them against us and face our peaceful movements. Today, they [the Syrian regime and Hezbollah] think that the Lebanese will surrender to the logic of arms and its arrogance.” “We tell them – while they thought that the Sunnis will not fight and will not carry arms and that the Christians have surrendered to the de facto matter – that the matter has reached its end and that we will fight to defend our rights in this country,” Daher said.

Lebanon poised for prolonged political stalemate
November 19, 2012/By Hussein Dakroub The Daily Star
With its rival political leaders not talking to each other to defuse sectarian tensions linked to the 20-month-old bloody conflict in Syria, Lebanon appears to be poised for a prolonged political crisis. With the current stalemate anything could happen, from the opposition March 14 bloc’s escalating its street protests to bring down the government to incidents that can jolt the country’s security.
The Nov. 11 clash between supporters of Hezbollah and Sunni preacher Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir in Sidon that left three people dead, last month’s assassination of the country’s top intelligence official and frequent clashes between supporters and opponents of Syrian President Bashar Assad in the northern city of Tripoli have raised fears about the country’s security and stability amid local and international concerns over a spillover of the turmoil in neighboring Syria into Lebanon. Worse still, the two regional heavyweights – Saudi Arabia and Syria – that used to intervene in the past to prevent the country’s slide into sectarian violence and even to help in the government formation efforts, are currently locking horns over the uprising in Syria. This situation, which further complicates things in Lebanon, has left the feuding parties on their own to iron out their political differences and try to reach a deal to prevent the country from drifting toward the abyss.
Furthermore, Israel’s current military blitz against Hamas in the Gaza Strip, which has left more than 60 Palestinians dead and over 460 wounded since the start of the assault Wednesday, has for now overshadowed attempts to bring the feuding parties to the dialogue table as popular and government attention has been shifted to the Gaza conflict and its possible implications on Lebanon.
“Unless the March 14 [parties] drop their conditions for National Dialogue, the current political stalemate is expected to drag on for long,” a ministerial source told The Daily Star.
Similarly, the March 14 coalition has reiterated its demand for the resignation of the government and the formation of “a neutral salvation Cabinet” as a prerequisite for attending a new round of National Dialogue, which President Michel Sleiman has been trying to convene in a bid to solve the political crisis touched off by the Oct. 19 assassination of police intelligence chief Brig. Gen. Wissam al-Hasan.
Seeking to meet the March 14 demand for a Cabinet change, Sleiman, who has been consulting with National Dialogue members, has signaled his readiness to discuss the possibility of a forming a new government at the dialogue table. However, Sleiman’s stance has so far failed to budge the March 14 parties on their insistence on the formation of a new Cabinet as a condition for attending a National Dialogue session. “No dialogue before the government’s resignation. As long as the government remains in office, there can be no dialogue with the other [March 8] side,” Beirut MP Ammar Houri told The Daily Star.
“The formation of a neutral salvation Cabinet is the key to resuming National Dialogue,” he said.
Asked if the March 14 coalition was planning to escalate its protests to force the government’s resignation, Houri, who belongs to former Prime Minister Saad Hariri’s parliamentary Future bloc, said: “The March 14 parties will use all democratic and legal means to bring down the government.”Some March 14 politicians have suggested that civil disobedience could be used as part of the coalition’s escalatory moves to force the government to step down.
The killing of Hasan, along with his driver and a woman in a car bomb in the Beirut district of Ashrafieh has provided the opposition with new ammunition to press with its long-sought demand for the government’s resignation.
“The martyrdom of Hasan will not pass easily. Our demand is to bring down the government, not for the sake of power but for the sake of security ... The toppling of the government peacefully is the only way to reach a real dialogue in the country,” Hariri said in an interview with Future TV last month.
However, given the parties’ conflicting attitudes on how to break the current deadlock, the ministerial source ruled out an early breakthrough in the crisis which raised Arab and international concerns over stability in Lebanon following political and sectarian tensions stoked by Hasan’s killing.
“The chances of National Dialogue are dim because the other [March 14] side has linked dialogue to the government’s resignation,” the source said.
The source added that if the March 14 parties stood firm on their rejection of dialogue before the government’s resignation, “there would be no solution and the political crisis with all its repercussions would drag on.”Another ministerial source from the Hezbollah-led March 8 alliance ruled out the formation of a new Cabinet as demanded by the March 14 parties before attending a dialogue session: “There will be no dialogue or a new Cabinet. The government’s resignation will throw the country into further political malaise and a power vacuum.”
Arab and Western countries have voiced concerns for stability and a power vacuum in Lebanon following the opposition’s calls for the government’s resignation. The March 14 coalition has called on Prime Minister Najib Mikati to step aside after accusing his government of complicity with the Syrian regime in Hasan’s assassination. The coalition has also announced a total boycott of the government and all Cabinet-related meetings in Parliament as part of its moves to pressure the government to resign.In an implicit criticism of the March 14 stance on National Dialogue, Sleiman again underlined the need for rival Lebanese parties to engage in dialogue, saying that the talks must not be conditional.
“Dialogue should be unconditional and not just temporary,” Sleiman said in a statement Saturday.
In what was seen as a toughening of the March 8 stance on all-party talks, Hezbollah leader Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah has rejected as “meaningless” March 14 calls for the formation of a neutral or technocrat government, but said the possibility of a Cabinet change could be discussed only at a National Dialogue session.
However, Nasrallah’s statement drew a quick response from Hariri’s Future bloc which accused the Hezbollah chief of closing the door to National Dialogue.

Gaza War: Rampant butchery
November 19, 2012/The Daily Star
What is happening in Gaza right now is an exact deja vu of four years ago, albeit with stronger Palestinian rockets. Then, as now, the conflict was completely unbalanced, the rapidly growing civilian Palestinian death count evidence of that, should proof be needed. In terms of the international reactions, this conflict also mirrors Operation Cast Lead. Responses from the Western powers have been non-committal, largely blaming Hamas for the outbreak of violence and giving Israel the green light to carry on with its policy of wanton destruction. The regional reaction, too, has been predictably passive, with words spoken, and visits undertaken, but little else besides condemnation for continued Israeli aggression.
Egypt, as the strongest country sharing a border with Israel, with a new leadership, might have been expected to take on a more vocal stance, but, despite the visit of Prime Minister Hashim Kandil to the Gaza Strip Friday, the reaction has borne little divergence from that of the country under Hosni Mubarak.
Allegedly allied with Hamas, Cairo’s new leaders are supposedly working as mediators on the crisis. Global powers are turning to Egypt, encouraging the new state to do all it can to usher in a cease-fire.
But nobody has yet spoken of the need to address the roots of the conflict. Talking Israel down from its gratuitously disproportionate response to Hamas rocket fire, which, in any case, followed weeks of incitement from Israel, is all very well, and needed urgently so that the people of Gaza can be allowed a degree of peace. But until the existential issues are addressed – the right to Palestinian statehood, the issues of land, refugees and water access, political prisoners, the Jerusalem question – outbursts of such senseless violence inflicted upon the Palestinian people will continue.
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has certainly picked his timing well for this latest Gaza offensive. Syria is distracted by its own civil war, Iraq is unstable, Jordan’s problems are worsening, Egypt is still in a transition phase and Lebanon is divided. The rest of the Arab world’s impotence in the face of Israeli aggression is similarly ensured by the chasm splitting its members into two ideologically opposed camps. Ahead of an election he was more than likely to win anyway, Netanyahu is effectively neutralizing the opposition, as many Israeli leaders have done so before him, by stressing, without a hint of irony, the notion that Israel is in fact a country under attack, its people susceptible to indiscriminate attacks. Simultaneously Israel’s military leaders are able to test the new aerial defense system and gauge the strengths and weaknesses of Gazan arms. Despite a new Muslim Brotherhood presence in power across the region, the region is once again letting the Palestinian people down, with the Arab League proving itself to be as useless as ever. This rhetoric of responsibility to the Palestinians must become reality if their suffering is ever going to end.

Iranian arms ship carries fresh, improved Fajar supplies for Gaza
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report November 19, 2012/An Iranian 150-ton freighter departed Bandar Abbas port Sunday, Nov. 18, with a cargo of 220 short-range missiles and 50 improved long-range Fajar-5 rockets for the Gaza Strip, debkafile’s intelligence sources report. The ship turned toward the Bab al-Mandeb Straits and the Red Sea.
The new Fajar-5s have a 200-kilo warhead, which packs a bigger punch than the 175 kilos of explosives delivered by the rockets in current use with the Palestinian terrorists in the Gaza Strip. To extend their range to cover the 85 kilometers from Gaza to Tel Aviv, Hamas removed a part of their payloads to make them lighter.
Tehran is sending the fresh supply of disassembled rockets to replenish the stocks its allies, the Palestinian Hamas and Jihad Islami, depleted in their round-the-clock attacks on Israel since Nov. 10. .
To throw Israeli surveillance off the trail, the ship started its voyage called Vali-e Asr owned by the Islamic Republic of Iran Shipping Lines, and was quickly renamed Cargo Star and hoisted the flag of Tuvalu. This South Pacific island nation, which lies between Hawaii and Australia, has a tiny population of 11,000, most of them Polynesians. Iran provides most of its revenue since earlier this year when Prime Minister Willy Telavi agreed to register Iran’s entire tanker fleet of 22 vessels to Tuvalu, to help Tehran dodge the US-EU oil embargo.
Our intelligence sources have learned that four big Sudanese shipping boats sailed out of Port Sudan early Monday and are waiting to rendezvous with the Cargo Star and offload its missile cargo in mid-sea.
The Sudanese will then be told by Tehran whether put into Port Sudan with the missiles, or turn north and sail up the Red Sea to the Straits of Tiran to link up with Egyptian fishing boats which regularly ply this waterway in the service of Palestinian-Iranian smuggling networks. They would unload the missile cargo in a quiet inlet on the Sinai coast. From there, it would be carried to the smuggling tunnels running from Sinai under the border into the Gaza Strip.
Palestinian teams assisted by Iranian and Hizballah technicians in the Gaza Strip would then assemble the new rockets and make them operational.
Through most of the voyage, two Iranian warships, the Khark heliicopter carrier and Shahid Naqdi destroyer, which are posted permanently in the Red Sea, escorted the arms ship until the cargo changed hands. debkafile’s Iranian sources also disclose that the Jihad Islami leader Ramadan Abdullah Shelah was sharply remanded by Tehran for meeting Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi in Cairo Sunday to discuss terms for halting Israel’s counter-missile operation in Gaza now in its sixth day.
Iran bankrolls these Palestinian extremists and has no intention of letting Shelah bow to Cairo’s wishes which run counter to Tehran’s plans and interests.
While Egypt’s new Islamist leaders are intent on carving out for themselves a responsible role in the region by restoring order, solving crises and restraining radicals, radical Iran has its own fish to fry and is bent on escalating war tensions in the Middle East.

The blood of Gaza again
By Hussein Shabokshi/Asharq Alawsat
Once again we are witnessing the scene of Israeli aggression on Arab soil, this time on the stricken Gaza Strip. New victims are falling dead, including women and children, for the Israeli weapon does not differentiate; it targets everyone regardless.
The Israeli Prime Minister, who is thirsty for blood and is seeking to achieve any military glory at the expense of the Arabs (like his predecessors in office), suffers from a weak point. All Israel’s former Prime Ministers who have “shone” are remembered for their impressive military legacy, and Netanyahu does not have anything of note in this regard. He failed to convince the world to strike Iran under the pretext of thwarting its nuclear program, and in fact he even failed to convince his own intelligence service (Mossad), his Defense Minister Ehud Barack, as well as public opinion in Israel. Therefore he then thought he could get what he wanted with a forceful and violent strike on Gaza.
In addition to this, we must also consider that Hamas has now liberated itself from the dominance and restrictions of the Bashar al-Assad regime in Damascus. Al-Assad effectively used to govern Hamas and prevented it from realizing its dreams of confronting Israel, and he even used to “discipline” its leaders on occasions if they exceeded the political and military red lines set out for them from Damascus. Now Hamas is acting of its own volition after being liberated from the age-old Syrian influence, and having become free from the chokehold of the Syrian intelligence services.
Furthermore, Benjamin Netanyahu is fully aware that Barack Obama’s re-election as US President is a real source of concern, for it lessens his chances of a strike against Iran. Had Netanyahu's Republican friend Mitt Romney succeeded in reaching the White House, the situation would be considerably different.
All these points helped the Israeli Prime Minister to quickly reach his decision to strike Gaza, in order to disrupt any real chance of Palestine being voted in as a UN member state. Netanyahu intends to persuade the public, especially in the West, that Palestinian terrorism is on the rise in Gaza as well as in regions under the control of the Palestinian Authority. This is a campaign of misinformation intending to make it difficult, if not impossible, to properly vote for Palestine as a UN member state.
Under the Netanyahu government, there will be no peace negotiations between the Palestinians and Israel, something Israel has made abundantly clear. Instead, there are "factions" within the ruling party in Israel that now overtly demand the deportation of Gaza's residents to resettle in Sinai (in the same manner that they previously demanded the deportation of West Bank residents to settle in Jordan).
This language seems to be gaining acceptance now and is being openly spoken in public. As a result, the current Israeli military operations (which Netanyahu is threatening to expand by mobilizing 30,000 reserve troops) are an opportunity to secure political gains for the ruling party before the upcoming elections, according to recent reports.
The Israeli aggression is also intended to test the new Egyptian government, to see what extent it is inclined towards Gaza and its rulers, and to sense the degree of its "commitment" to the peace agreements signed with Israel. The Egyptian intelligence apparatus has so far failed to reveal those "responsible" for the ongoing criminal incidents in Sinai. Is it Gaza, Hamas and the extremists there? Or is the Israeli Mossad playing a dubious role in this regard?
The Israeli government’s latest aggression against Gaza will not be the last crime or massacre committed by a rogue state that persists in violating international laws. Israel is like a wild dog whose owner says: Excuse the dog if it bites you, it is defending itself!
Netanyahu has been shaken by the Arab Spring and now fears its consequences. He is facing unexpected scenarios as freedom in the Arab world continues to rise. The Arab people will not accept anything less than freedom and dignity for the states in which they live, and for the states that have been seized from them.