Israel calls Mideast terror

LCCC NEWS BULLETIN
APRIL 19/2006

Below news from the Daily Star for 19/04/06
Chirac to seek Mubarak's help as regional mediator
Bush keeps Tehran guessing about use of force
Israel holds off on military response to suicide bombing
Israeli, Palestinian envoys trade swipes in UN session
Siniora extracts promise of White House support
Hamade wants Berri's help on 'terrorist subpoena'
Border village is off the beaten path - way off
Karami denies new party is led from Damascus
Qassem leads delegation to Tehran, wins praise for resistance from Ahmadinejad
Salloukh: Blood of Qana stains Israel
Jumblatt presses Damascus to demarcate border
Moving from the realm of angst to the arena of change
Fourth General Arab National Conference In Defense of Resistance, Under the Banner "Resistance Weapon is The Honor of the Nation"
Hamas and Israel: partners in stalemate. By Rami G. Khouri
Below news from miscellaneous sources for 19/04/06
Syria's President Holds Phone Conversation with Kofi Annan.Focus News
Q & A with Leader of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party-Asharq Alawsat
Lebanon to press US for support-BBC News - UK
US Urges Political Changes in Lebanon-ABC News - USA
Israel calls Mideast terror declarations of war- Reuters.uk,
Free World's Obligation To Protect Middle East MinoritiesGlobal Politician
Israel's UN Ambassador: "Declarations of War" by PA, Syria -Arutz Sheva
US Urges Political Changes in Lebanon- Houston Chronicle
Profile of Lebanon's Prime Minister Fouad Siniora-Ya Libnan
Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror'-AP

Moving from the realm of angst to the arena of change
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Editorial-Daily Star
The sense of foreboding that defines much of the Middle East these days is not so surprising, in view of the active wars, simmering conflicts and underlying tensions that plague the region. Yet beneath the surface of violence and political incoherence, there is also a spirit of engaged concern that has been asserting itself in a variety of quiet ways in recent years, among individuals, small groups of activists and a range of people and institutions involved with public policy issues. Many in the Arab world in the past few years seem finally to have started to move from the arena of their collective angst to a new world of action to chart a path forward to a better Arab polity.
Tangible signs of a determination to change the Arab order, rather than merely to bemoan it, have become more obvious in various ways and places. Activists challenge their leaderships. Dissidents insist on organizing movements to change the way power is wielded in their societies. Concerned members of civil society and the private sector get together in small groups to explore how to achieve meaningful change. Groups of activists explore how to mobilize larger numbers of people to push their systems toward more equitable political and economic orders. Even some members of the incumbent political elites have grasped that their world is not sustainable, and have tried to pre-empt or control the inevitable change by offering their own recipes for reform.
Some of the ruling elites throughout the Arab world have instituted changes in administrative systems, others by fostering more efficient service delivery, a few by opening up their mass media systems. Yet nowhere in the region have we yet seen the kind of change that is required to pull us out of the cycle of mediocrity and stagnation that still defines the exercise of political and police powers in most Arab lands. Nowhere has a ruler fostered the combination of a foundation of law, an infrastructure of accountability and a culture of transparency that are the bedrock of good governance and stable, prosperous statehood. This will happen in due course, whether by the actions of citizens who are now, finally, seriously seeking the levers of change, or by sensible leaders - so far sorely lacking - who wake up and realize that orderly and meaningful change is also possible if citizens and governments work together for the common good. We are not there yet, but we should not lose sight of the fact that activist citizens in every Arab country are working to generate slow but real momentum to change their woeful condition.

Syria’s President Holds Phone Conversation with Kofi Annan
18 April 2006 FOCUS News Agency
Damascus/New York. Syria’s President Bashar al-Assad had telephone conversation tonight with UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, Kuwaiti news agency KUNA informs. According to declaration of the Syrian government the two men discussed problems like the crisis in neighboring Iran and relations between Damascus and Beirut. Al-Assad and Annan expressed their hopes the tension between Syria and Lebanon will subside soon and the two countries will be able to have normal relations, the agency notes.

Lebanon to press US for support
By Kim Ghattas -BBC News, Beirut -Tuesday, 18 April 2006,
Lebanon's Prime Minister, Fouad Siniora, is in Washington DC to meet US President George W Bush.
Mr Siniora, who will also visit the UN in New York, is expected to seek US political and economic support for Lebanon, in crisis since last year. In February 2005, former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri was assassinated and his killing blamed on Lebanon's then political master, Syria. Damascus denies the accusation, but had to withdraw its troops from Lebanon.
It has been almost a year since then, but the government is still unable to extend its authority all over the country.
The Lebanese central state has rarely been strong, but Mr Siniora wants to change that now and this is one of the issues that will be topping the agenda of his US talks.
Israel pressure
Lebanon has been under international pressure to disarm all militias in the country. That means Hezbollah, the anti-Israeli Shia guerrilla movement, which is also represented in the government, and a number of radical Palestinian factions. All these groups are allied to Syria. Hezbollah maintains it needs to hold on to its weapons because Israel still occupies a small piece of Lebanese land, known as the Shebaa Farms. However, the UN has ruled that the Farms are actually Syrian territory, occupied by Israel. Now Mr Siniora wants to convince President Bush to put pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Farms regardless of whom they belong to. This would undermine Hezbollah's excuse to hold on to its weapons, and allow the Lebanese government to extend its control all over Lebanon. It is unclear how Mr Bush or Israel will respond to this proposal. Mr Siniora, who is from the anti-Syrian coalition, has already been harshly criticised by Hezbollah for his move.

Q & A with Leader of the Lebanese Progressive Socialist Party Walid Jumblatt
18/04/2006- Interview by Turki Al-Saheil in Riyadh-Asharq Alawsat
(Q) What is the purpose of your visit to Saudi Arabia this time?
(A) The purpose of the visit is to hold consultations with the Saudi officials, led by King Abdullah, and stress the importance of implementing the remaining clauses of the Al-Taif Agreement, which was sponsored by the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in 1989 and according to which Lebanon managed to end civil war, live in stability, and embark on development and reconstruction. What is required now is the implementation of the remaining clauses of the Al-Taif Agreement, represented by establishing diplomatic relations with Syria, drawing the border line between Beirut and Damascus, particularly in the Shab'a Farms, and dealing with the issue of Palestinian weapons outside the refugee camps.
(Q) What were the results of your consultations with the political leadership in Saudi Arabia?
(A) The issue is not one of results. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia presented these ideas in its initiative seven months ago and we unanimously accepted these ideas in our national dialogue. What remains to be done is that the Arab world, primarily Saudi Arabia, should tell the other side (Syria) that these clauses must be implemented.
(Q) Would the Syrian Army have pulled out of Lebanon had it not been for the assassination of Al-Hariri?
(A) The Syrian Army was forced to leave Lebanon under the pressure of the political, media, and popular campaigns that followed the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
(Q) What are the latest developments of investigation into the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik al-Hariri?
(A) International investigation has its mechanism in dealing with the issue. An international court will be set up. We in Lebanon have reached agreement with the United Nations to set up this court. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia and big powers like France and the United States support the idea. We will see what happens.
(Q) You said in previous statements that you were threatened with physical liquidation. Are there still such threats against you?
(A) I have not only been threatened. There is a bad and fearful atmosphere in Lebanon. We hope to be able to build the country, control our services, and send the army to the South.
(Q) Do you think Resolution 1559 was fully implemented?
(A) Resolutions 1559 was not fully implemented. There are areas in Lebanon from which the Syrians have not pulled out. Also there is interference in some Lebanese affairs by sending weapons and ammunition to Lebanon. The issue of the Shab'a Farms also remains unresolved.
(Q) You called on President Emile Lahoud to step down. Do you think he has failed to manage the crisis?
(A) We as a political parliamentary bloc mainly objected to extending Lahhud's term. When we objected to this extension, assassinations began with the attempt on the life of Minister Marwan Hamadah and then the assassination of Al-Hariri and other bloody incidents.
(Q) But Lahoud's term was finally extended.
(A) Yes, his term was extended by force. We do not consider him a legitimate president. We need to have a new legitimate president who is elected by the Lebanese.
(Q) Are you satisfied with the Khartoum statement on the Syrian-Lebanese file?
(A) No, we want the clauses which were unanimously approved to be implemented. These are related to diplomatic relations, demarcation of the Shab'a Farms borders with Syria, and collection of Palestinian weapons that are present outside the camps.
(Q) Do you think the Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon are penetrated by the Syrian intelligence?
(A) Forces loyal to Syria have influence in some camps.
(Q) Do you still call for disarming the resistance?
(A) The South has been liberated and these weapons must be incorporated into the Lebanese Army.
(Q) What about the Shab'a Farms?
(A) The Shab'a Farms are linked to the issue of border demarcation. If the Syrians draw their borders, let them then liberate them. If Lebanon draws the borders, we will then see how we can regain Shab'a.
(Q) How do you view the current security situation in Lebanon?
(A) The security situation will remain bad as long as there are areas the government cannot enter.
(Q) How do you view President Mubarak's statements on the Shiites' loyalty to Iran?
(A) I cannot say all Shiites in the Arab world are loyal to Iran. There are Shiites in Lebanon and other parts of the Arab world who bear allegiance to their countries and their Arab identity. At the same time, there is a large political extension by the Islamic Republic of Iran that tries to use the Shiites in purposes that are not in the interest of the Arab world.
(Q) Do you think Iran poses a demographic threat to Lebanon?
(A) We do not want Iran to use Hezbollah in Lebanon to serve its interests. We want Lebanon to be an independent, pluralistic, and sovereign country. We will not interfere in the affairs of other countries, including Iran.
(Q) Do you see signs of an Iranian interference in Lebanon?
(A) Yes, Hezbollah is a faction that is politically linked to the Republic of Iran.

Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror'
Apr 18, 2:24 -By LAURIE COPANS
TEL AVIV, Israel (AP) - After Hamas defended a deadly suicide bombing Monday, Israel's U.N. ambassador warned that recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran and Syria "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value."
Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" - Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government - was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. "A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," he said. A Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant during Passover, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest bombing in more than a year. In a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian government's condemnations of bombings, the Hamas-led administration defended the attack as a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression."
(AP) Graphic shows European aid to Palestinian government; two sizes: (AP Graphic)
Full Image
The Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, condemned Monday's suicide bombing and the loss of innocent civilians on both sides. But he attacked Israel for its latest military escalation - which killed 21 Palestinians from April 7-9.
The bloodshed and Hamas' hard-line stance could set the stage for harsh Israeli reprisals and endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance.
Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the attack in Tel Aviv even though a separate group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility. Islamic Jihad has close ties to Israel's archenemy, Iran.
"Hamas' constant preaching for the destruction of Israel serves as a catalyst for these attacks," said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman.
In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by the Popular Resistance Committee's militant group to manufacture homemade rockets to launch at Israel.
The Palestinian suicide attack took place just two hours before Israel's newly elected parliament was sworn into office, and Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert said Israel would react with appropriate means.
The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, condemned the suicide bombing and said he had ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent future attacks.
"These kinds of attacks harm the Palestinian interest, and we as an authority and government must move to stop it," Abbas said. "We will not stop pursuing anyone who carries out such attacks."
But Abbas is currently in a power struggle with Hamas, and it remains unclear who is ultimately in charge of the Palestinians' security forces.
The European Union condemned the bombing, and Russia called on the Palestinian Authority to stop future attacks. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Palestinian government "to take a clear public stand" against such acts. And the United States warned of grave consequences for the Hamas-led government.
Despite the suicide bombing, Annan announced later Monday that the four key players promoting Mideast peace efforts - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - would meet in New York on May 9 to discuss prospects for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The bombing was the first inside Israel since the Hamas Cabinet took office 2 1/2 weeks ago. Militants from Islamic Jihad celebrated by handing out pastries on the streets of Gaza.
The attack came amid a sharp increase in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border. Militants have fired barrages of homemade rockets at Israel, and Israel has responded with artillery fire.
The suicide bombing took place about 1:40 p.m. when the attacker, carrying a bag stuffed with 10 pounds of explosives, approached "The Mayor's Falafel" near Tel Aviv's central bus station. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the weeklong Passover holiday.
A guard outside was checking the bomber's bag when the device exploded, police and witnesses said.
"Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi Otmazgo, 35, who was wounded on his hands, foot and head.
The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields, smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard's body was torn in half.
The explosion killed a woman standing near her husband and children, said Israel Yaakov, another witness.
"The father was traumatized, he went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up, and the children were screaming, 'Mom! Mom!' and she wasn't answering, she was dead already," he said.
The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher.
Police said nine civilians and the bomber were killed and dozens were wounded.
The attack was the deadliest since a double suicide bombing on two buses in the southern city of Beersheba killed 16 people on Aug. 31, 2004. It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. A 2002 attack at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya killed 29 people and triggered a major Israeli military offensive.
Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a 16-month truce with Israel, but Hamas leaders defended Monday's bombing.
"We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry.
Israeli President Moshe Katsav appealed to the Palestinians to reject violence.
"We want to believe that the political path of the Hamas government is not the path of the Palestinians," he said.
Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Samer Hammad, 21, from a village outside the West Bank town of Jenin.
In a video released by the group, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he said, wearing an Islamic Jihad headband.
Islamic Jihad was behind eight of the nine suicide bombings since the truce declaration.
The attack complicated the Hamas effort to raise money for the bankrupt Palestinian treasury. Hamas is two weeks late paying March salaries for the government's 140,000 workers.
The U.S. and European Union cut off aid to the government because Hamas refused their demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel also stopped transferring tens of millions of tax dollars it collects on the Palestinians' behalf every month. Hamas said it would turn to Muslim countries to make up the shortfall. Iran and Qatar each pledged $50 million

Press Conference, Beirut, April 17, 2006
Statement by Dr. Leo Spigt on behalf of the
European defense team of Dr. Muhamad Mugraby
As one of the main European counsels for Dr. Mugraby, I was very pleased to learn that the Military Court of Cassation has taken the decision to end this latest case against him.
Although the grounds are not utterly clear, the outcome is satisfactory. The Military Court of Cassation concludes that there is no case against Dr. Mugraby based on the fact that his behavior was not criminal in the sense of the charges: defamation. Dr. Mugraby merely exercised his right (and may be we should say: also his duty) of freedom of speech as laid down in art. 23 of the UN Basis Principles on the Role of Lawyers 1990 and Article 19 UDHR.
Yet, Dr. Mugraby's difficulties are not over.
There are still other criminal cases pending against him. What happened is that the Beirut Bar, confronted with the same type of criticism as Dr. Mugraby presented in front of the European Parliament - criticism related to the judiciary system, the Military Courts, and the absence of the independence of the Beirut Bar - decided to try to expel him.
While Dr. Mugraby still continued his work, the Bar invited the public prosecutor to charge Dr. Mugraby with the crimes of:
a. defaming the Beirut Bar and its President
b. unlawfully practicing the profession of a lawyer (impersonation of a lawyer)So where are we now?
The Military Court of Cassation decided that Dr. Mugraby did not misbehave.
Is it not strange that his own bar, instead of protecting the freedom of speech and supporting Dr. Mugraby in this, would pursue him even more fanaticly than the military judiciary system did on the ground of defamation?
For European lawyers this is very difficult to understand.
It is the purpose of Dr. Mugraby's defense team to try to end all the remaining harassment of their client.
For this reason we are glad to have not only a protest of the President of the Dutch Bar, related to these facts, but also an outcry of the Council of the Bars and Law Societies of the European Union, representing 700.000 lawyers. This council is charged with an advisory role to the European Commission regarding the legal profession. The council, CCBE, has formally protested against the continued harassment of Dr. Mugraby.
This is even more relevant now that Lebanon is seeking a steady institutional relationship with the EU.
We, as counsels will present Dr. Mugraby's position towards his own bar within the next two weeks once more to the Human Right Committee of CCBE and we are confident that the CCBE and the EU authorities will put even more pressure towards ending all harassment to Dr. Mugraby's free practice of the legal profession.
**For further information: E-mail info@cdrl.org and visit http://www.cdrl.org/.

Iran: What's Next?
Jubin Afshar - 4/18/2006
The president of the Iranian regime called it "good news." The world, however, looked on with deep concern and condemned the latest provocation by Iran's theocracy in enriching uranium after 18 years of pursuing a covert nuclear program that many suspect is aimed at producing nuclear weapons capability. The Iranian regime seeks the nuclear capability to bolster its drive to dominate the Muslim world and threaten regional and world security from a position of power atop a new "Caliphate," (Islamic empire). This has been the dream of Khomeini's Islamic fundamentalists since their usurping of the Iranian revolution of 1979. Regime ideologues have long pointed to Iran's rightful place as the leader of the Muslim world in imposing their narrow and regressive socio-political and economic model, diametrically opposed to democratic and human rights values. Test
The West has misread the mullahs dangerously and for too long. Western analysts and intellectuals have unsuccessfully strained to identify an eventual sobering of Iran's fanatically fundamentalist vanguard and to discern signs of an emerging pragmatism that they hoped trade and engagement would have brought about, as the logic would have it. But the more the West engaged in critical and constructive dialogue, the more the mullahs learned that they could game the system and win their way while pulling the wool over the eyes of Western leaders too wary of conflict and firmness. Leveraging Iran's oil and gas wealth, its enormous market potential, their political clout in the region, and their unspoken but distinct terrorist capabilities, the mullahs of Iran blackmailed and took Western policy in the region hostage. A feeble and self-centric European and American response that was a product of a commercialized foreign policy failed to check their thirst for expansion and the realization of their "Islamic Caliphate" dream.
In 1998 the Clinton Administration offered Iran's Khatami a sacrificial lamb (the Iranian Mojahedin-e Khalq / MEK / PMOI) by listing the legitimate resistance movement to the mullahs as a foreign terrorist organization. Clinton and his Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright, went further in 2000 and actually apologized to the mullahs about past American intervention in Iran. Most Iranians thought that apology should have come when a democratic government was in place in Tehran and saw it as a tactless gesture to Iran's new despots. It didn't do the Administration any good with the mullahs either because as they say on the Iranian street, "Give a mullah a hand and he'll want your arm."
Europe didn't fare any better in understanding the dynamics of the Iranian problem. The Europeans fell head over heels and were not to be outdone by the Americans. Jack Straw admitted recently that he personally intervened at the Ayatollahs' entreaties to put the MEK on the British proscribed organizations list in 2000. The Foreign Office, under Mr. Straw's direction, also played an instrumental role in pushing the MEK's name on the EU terror list as well in 2002.
It would be fair to ask what terrorist acts the MEK had participated in to deserve the listing. The answer to that question lies in Mr. Straw's and Mr. Martin Indyke's admissions that both the US and the European listings were goodwill gestures to Tehran. The British government admitted that the MEK posed no security threat whatsoever to US, British, or EU interests. A sixteen month long investigation by seven US agencies of thousands of MEK members in Iraq found no links to terrorism either. A commercialized foreign policy that wished for a sobering of Iran's mullahs amorally used the MEK to bribe the mullahs into becoming respectable members of the international community. It simply didn't work.
Now the game is up and the cards are on the table for all to see. Western bribes didn't mollify the mullahs, the Iranian regime now has an advanced secret nuclear weapons capability and an admitted overt break-out capability, it is clamoring for wiping nations and peoples off the face of the earth, it has already wiped out a generation of Iranian freedom-lovers and continues to wage a brutal campaign to suppress Iranian society and in particular women, it is militating for the formation of a "Global Islamic Rule," and fomenting sectarian violence in Iraq and terrorism throughout the Middle East. It's time to admit that the world needs to change course on Iran and do so rapidly if it wants to avoid facing the horrible consequences of a devastating conflict.
Iran's Islamic fundamentalist regime has an Achilles heal: the Iranian people and a diametrically opposed Muslim opposition that challenges the mullahs' supremacy in interpreting the Islamic faith, namely the Mojahedin-e Khalq. The MEK is the only Muslim movement calling for and supporting a secular state. Maryam Rajavi, the President-elect of the National Council of Resistance (NCRI), recently told the European Council of her parliament-in-exile's 10-point plan for future Iran:
"1. From our point of view, the ballot box is the only criterion for legitimacy. Accordingly, we seek a republic based on popular vote.
2. We want a pluralist system, freedom of parties and assembly. In Iran of tomorrow, we will respect all individual freedoms. Expression of opinion, speech and the media are completely free and any censorship or inquisition is banned.
3. In the free Iran of tomorrow, we support and are committed to the abolition of the death penalty.
4. The Iranian Resistance will establish the separation of Church and State. Any form of discrimination against the followers of all religions and denominations will be prohibited.
5. We believe in complete gender equality in political and social rights. We are also committed to equal participation of women in political leadership. Any form of discrimination against women will be abolished. They will enjoy the right to freely choose their clothing. 6. We want to set up a modern legal system based on the principles of presumption of innocence, the right to defense, and the right to be tried in a public court. We also seek the total independence of judges.
Cruel and degrading punishments will have no place in future Iran.
7. We are committed to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and international covenants and conventions, including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the Convention Against Torture, and the Convention on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination Against Women.
8. We recognize private property, private investment and the market economy.
9. Our foreign policy will be based on peaceful coexistence, international and regional peace and cooperation, as well as respect for the United Nations Charter.
10. We want the free Iran of tomorrow to be devoid of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction."
The NCRI and MEK deserve the moral and political support of the free world as they strive to change the brutal regime that rules Iran today. They do not seek nor do they need financial or technical support. They are resourceful and intelligent and supported by a vast number of Iranians inside Iran and abroad. All that is needed is for the West to realize the error of hampering them with a terrorist tag in a vain attempt to win favor with the mullahs. They are the world's best hope for peace and democracy in that troubled region which might potentially be the starting point for a catastrophic war. As Maryam Rajavi told the European Council just last week, "I have come to say that the international community is not required to choose between the nuclear-armed mullahs or a war." She then offered her solution to the Iranian crisis as the third option which was: "Democratic change by the Iranian people and their organized resistance," and stressed that "making concessions to the mullahs is not the way to avoid war. It would increase the possibility of a war. It is necessary to react quickly. We do not have much time." The world would be better off heeding this call sooner rather than later.
**Jubin Afshar is Director of Near East Studies at Near East Policy Research, a research and foreign policy analysis firm in Washington, D.C.

Hamas and Israel: partners in stalemate
By Rami G. Khouri - Daily Star staff
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
The bomb attack against civilians in Tel Aviv on Monday was no surprise, and the Israeli response of military and political strikes, and the further economic strangulation of Palestinians, is equally predictable. In both cases, heartfelt but misguided actions will only accelerate the cycle of war between the two peoples. The danger that looms over the situation now surpasses mere tit-for-tat punitive military strikes; it is the rapid transformation of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict from a national to a civilizational one, with potentially dangerous linkages between the conflict and events in the rest of the Middle East.
It seems that little has changed in Israeli-Palestinian relations. The Hamas-led Palestinian government and the future Kadima-led Israeli government both represent new political realities, focusing largely on their citizens' domestic concerns about security, order, and socio-economic wellbeing. Hovering over them, however, is the monster of their century-old national conflict, represented by the Israeli occupation of Palestinian lands and Palestinian military and political resistance.
The suicide attack in Tel Aviv and its aftermath remind us that if we play by the failed old rules, we will get the failed old results, with a fairly steady kill ratio of four Palestinians to one Israeli. The failed old policies of Israel and the United States were that daily hardship, ostracism and humiliation would render the Palestinians weak, desperate and amenable to any proposed unilateral Israeli plan. The reality has proved to be the opposite.
Palestinian weakness and acquiescence to Israeli dictates rendered the administrations of Yasser Arafat and, now, Mahmoud Abbas virtually irrelevant, and powerless to control their own people. Israel's disdain for Palestinian rights generated only a greater will to resist Israeli oppression and colonial subjugation. The elections reflected this in the Hamas victory, sending two important messages: ordinary Palestinians wanted a government that gave them a sense of integrity, decency, normalcy and hope; and peace with Israel, like the ongoing war, is a two-way process that needs concessions by both sides, and cannot be achieved by Israel continuously humiliating and emasculating the Palestinians.
The Hamas victory is about the Palestinian people's determination to end acquiescence and colonialism. If the Israelis and Palestinians are to re-engage one day to make peace, they can only do so on the basis of two peoples with equal national rights. Palestinian suicide attacks against Israeli civilians and soldiers and Israeli Army attacks on Palestinian civilians and militants perpetuate the cycle of occupation and resistance, but without offering a way out of it. If we do not acknowledge the acts of both sides in this war, we will only exacerbate it, as is happening now.
Since its electoral victory, Hamas has insisted that armed resistance and attacks against Israelis are justified self-defense against a brutal occupation, though Hamas itself adheres to the truce it initiated over a year ago. Even if others carry out these attacks, however, Hamas is now held responsible. As the dominant party in the Palestinian government, it cannot expect to be left alone and be exempted from responsibility for the attacks against Israel conducted by other groups. Incumbency brings with it responsibility and accountability.
All concerned must now make hard choices. Hamas and the Palestinian people must decide if they wish to pursue armed resistance or a path toward peaceful negotiations. They now say that they wish to do both. Israelis for their part must decide if they want to negotiate peaceful coexistence with the Palestinians, or want to impose a new status quo based on unilateralism, colonial land grabs, and militarism.
Israel, with American backing, is now on a course to destroy the Hamas-led government and the Palestinian Authority, as it has been doing for the past four years or so. Hamas is pursuing a policy that will help this process along, based on its diehard commitment to armed resistance against occupation as a right that it will not abrogate or curtail.
This path will have enormous regional consequences. It will discredit two important dimensions of recent Palestinian political change: the integrity and legitimacy of democratic elections, and Hamas' decision to enter into mainstream governance at the local and national levels.
If the current Israeli-American policy prevails, with increasing European support, the collapse of the democratically elected Hamas-led government will send political shockwaves throughout the Middle East. Hundreds of thousands of young people who pursued peaceful democratic politics will feel betrayed and will become disenchanted, leading to more radicalism. The wellspring of support for democratic engagement by Islamists will slowly dry up in favor of more intense armed struggle.
We should not be surprised, then, to see large numbers of young men and women shifting from the path of electoral democracy to that of military attacks against civilians and official targets, along with broader Al-Qaeda-style terrorism. They will conclude that Israel, the United States and Europe value Israeli rights more than Palestinian rights. They will stop wasting their time trying to achieve a redress of grievance through peaceful democratic politics or diplomacy, and instead fight the larger civilizational battle they see before them. Bringing down the Hamas-led Palestinian government will not bring quiet and more Palestinian and Arab acquiescence. It will result in further radicalization, resistance and terrorism across the region.
***Rami G. Khouri writes a regular commentary for THE DAILY STAR.

Fourth General Arab National Conference In Defense of Resistance, Under the Banner "Resistance Weapon is The Honor of the Nation"
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
Beirut, Lebanon, March 30, 2006
Beirut Declaration In Defense of Resistance
At a whole day, the 30th of March 2006, the Fourth General Arab National Conference was convened, at the invitation of the Arab National Congress, the National Islamic Congress and the General Congress of Arab Political Parties. Proceedings and members of the Conference were distributed to four Committees:
At the opening session were the speeches of the representatives of the inviting organizations: Dr. Khair El-Din Haseeb (Iraq), Dr. Salim Al-Hoss (Lebanon), Dr. Aziz Sidqi (Egypt), Mr. Khaled Meshaal Chairman of the Political Politibureau of HAMAS (Palestine) and Al-Sayyed Hassan Nassrullah Secretary General of Hizbollah Party.
Two working sessions were held; at the first, chaired by Mr. Abdel Aziz Al Sayyed, Secretary-General of the Arab Political Parties Conference, working papers to the Conference were presented. These were: "Resistance in Lebanon: Its Role and Future" by Dr. Nawaf Moussawi International Relations Director at Hizbollah; "Arab Resistance in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon: Its Impact on the Arab and International Political Scene" by scholar Nassr Shemaly, member of the General Secretariat of the ANC; third paper titled "Resistance, National Sovereignty and International Legitimacy" by Dr. Abdallah Al Ashaal, former Undersecretary of the Egyptian Foreign Ministry.
The second session, chaired by Mr. Ma'an Bashour, Secretary-General of the ANC, was dedicated to debating the draft final statement and the reports of the four committees: (1) Defending the Palestinian Resistance (Repporteur: General (ret.) Talaat Musallam/Egypt); Defending Iraqi Resistance (Co-ordinator: Dr. Mohammad Al-Mussfir/Qatar), Defending the Lebanese Resistance (Co-ordinator: Dr. Khalid Suffyani/Morocco/ and the Legal Committee (Co-ordinator: Dr. Issam Nouman/Lebanon).
At conclusion of the Conference Mr. Dia Ul-Din Daoud (Egypt) presented the participants opinion.
The Conference issued the Beirut Declaration in Defense of Resistance, the full text of which follows:
The Conference was held in the land of Lebanon, with its Arab identity, belonging, the font of resistance, steadfastness and its shining cultural mission, in Beirut the capital of resistance and liberty, where first bullets against zionist occupation were shot in 1982 on the Day of Earth, embodying Palestinian people and all peoples who respect life and deserve respect, hold on every inch of its occupied territory, on the third anniversary of the aggressive war against Iraq; with initiative of the ANC, the A-I.C. and the General Conference of Arab Political Parties, under the slogan of "Resistance Weapon as the Honor of the Nation".
The Conference gathered together 323 personalities (participants and observers) representing different shades of the Arab intellectual and political spectrum, from all countries of the Arab Nation and several countries of expatriation. Their aim was to reaffirm unanimous will to defend resistance wherever occupation exists, considering national unity and democracy the fortified castle of all resistance, a source of its strength and continuity. All convinced that no real democracy and no national unity can live outside of the course of resistance against imperialist and foreign interventions.
The Conference, while welcoming the unanimous resolutions by the Khartoum Arab Summit to support national Lebanese resistance and to adopt the official and popular daring position taken by the Lebanese vis a vis resistance, noticed that the Summit still ignores and turns blind eye toward the main problem in Iraq, that is the occupation and deals with it and with its consequences ignoring the heroic Iraqi resistance facing the occupation and hindering its projects. The conference also noticed that the Summit, with regard to the Palestinian question, did not respond positively to the democratic choice of the Palestinian people. It ignored its elected government, obviously submitting to U. S. zionist pressures aiming at besieging this government and the Palestinian people. The summit, thirdly, refrained from taking political and economic actions necessary to break open the siege on the Palestinian people, and to thwart attempts at politicizing humanitarian and economic assistance.
In this respect participants agreed on a number of principles and recommendations:
On principles:
- The right to resist occupation is genuine and sacred, it is even a national and legitimate duty.
- Peoples experiences have proven that resistance, in different forms and means, with armed resistance on top, is the essential method confronting occupation with the aim of defeating its forces and ending its presence on the occupied territory. It is the crucial element to secure permanent protection against aggression, especially wherever forces are not equal.
- Characterizing resistance as terrorism is but a one recent means manufactured by forces of occupation and racist domination, aiming at denying peoples their rights to liberate and defend their territories, their identities, their dignity and sovereignty. Resistance against occupation and its agents deserves all forms of appreciation, support and backing by all citizens of our notion, meanwhile, terrorism attacking innocent people in their peaceful communities and even in their worshipping houses, should be condemned at all levels.
The Arab Nation, in all its entities, official and popular alike, is called upon to back resisters and provide them with all possible political, material and moral aids, and to reject all pressures and dedications from abroad. Resistance is a way to liberate occupied territories, thus it constitutes the defense line for the existence of this nation, its independence, sovereignty, dignity, and resources, in the face of Middle East projects targeting the nation, its Arabism and its religion, as well as its fortunes. These projects attempt at tearing down this nation into ethnic, sectarian and religious entities in fight with each other, and at restructuring this nation in constitutional, economic and social levels in compliance with the strategic interests of the U. S. zionist project.
- Peoples right to resistance against occupation and to self-determination is a right provisioned by heavenly and earthly legislations, and stipulated in the preface of the U. N. Charter and the Human Rights Declaration. Thus any international resolution relating to it would lose its legitimacy if it is not in harmony with the U. N. Charter and international laws and treaties, as well as with securing the national rights.
National unity, based on the choice to resist and objection in each country and on democratic participation, are the two formidable shields of every resistance, the two deep-rooted pillars for resistance victory, thus defending resistance is not separate from the pursuit to cement national unity and strengthening democratic life. Also national unity cannot be achieved separate from strengthening the method of resistance and objection in the face of all imperialist efforts, old but new, aiming at fragmenting the national entities of the nation and at tearing down its united social fabric.
Arab and Islamic resistance against occupation and domination, with several fields areas and methods, is one and aims at one project, integral with all other positions of nation's objection to foreign pressures and interventions, especially against Syria and Lebanon.
The resistance and objection movement of our nation considers itself part and parcel of the world movement against globalization, that is imperialistic, racist and zionist, a movement that in several occasions expressed solidarity with us in our nation's just causes.
The Conference commended the marches of condemnation against war, and occupation of Iraq, that extended over 200 cities all over the world in the occasion of the third anniversary of aggression on Iraq, thereby expressed astonishment at the absence of similar popular moves in Arab and Islamic capitals and cities, with the tiny exception of a sit-in in Cairo, the Conference calls upon all forces of our nation to reflect deeply on this dangerous phenomenon that never expresses the real feelings and positions of the nation's citizens.
The culture of resistance constitutes a main part of the comprehensive net of resistance against the enemies of this nation and their ambitions. This culture is the deep expression of our nation's spiritual heritage and its belief of Jihad, and is considered a strong guarantee in the face of the culture of surrender and submission to imperial dictations, especially that the culture of surrender and its logic are responsible largely, of disasters and plights suffered by our nation.
- The resistance media plays the role of effective weapon in its battles; it protects resistance in the face of attempts at penetration and deception, at hiding facts and triggering civil upheavals; this all requires attention on the part of journalists, media people, writers and all Arab intellectuals in order to regulate media terminology and editing news in a way that gives resistance its right status while uncover occupation means of deception. Resistance media is required to disseminate consciousness that helps public to participate actively in uncovering all attempts at fraud and distortion, as well as boycotting official media outlets, U. S. and zionist, that were off springs of occupation and work for its perpetuation.
The Conference emphasized the necessity of forming national bodies in each of the Arab countries to defend and support Arab resistance in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, in order to mobilize forces to support resistance and outlining workable plans for this purpose, both on the political and media level, in addition to organizing donation campaigns in favor of resistance and pushing for popular moves in solidarity with resistance under a central council on nation - wide level.
The Conference called for activation of bodies opposed to normalization (of relations with the Israel) and boycotting states and companies supporting enemies of Arabs; this requires considering the use of oil as a strategic weapon in confrontation with our enemy, as well as considering the feasibility of substituting dollar in monetary and commercial dealings.
On Lebanese Resistance
Under the circumstances and atmosphere, both regional and international, caused by the political developments in Lebanon as a result of the assassination of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and his companions, manipulated by certain forces to try to end the existence of Hizbollah and all Lebanese resistance, as well as eliminating Lebanon's Arabism, its unity, its equal relations with brotherly Arab countries, Syria first,
The Conference decided:
- To condemn the globalized U. S. – Israeli assault on the resistance and on Lebanon's Arabism; reaffirms that resistance is a sacred right as well as a national duty. All citizens of the Arab nation and all freedom loving people have the duty to support it.
- To reject characterizing Lebanese resistance as a militia. It all started with fighting Israeli occupation, successfully forcing its invading army to withdraw from most of occupied Lebanese territory unconditionally. Resistance has always rejected to be drawn into armed civil strife. Thus it is not interested in the Security Council resolution number 1559, issued on an historical moment in order to implement a zionist U. S. – French plan to intervene in internal Lebanese affairs, creating upheaval among Lebanese, between the Lebanese and brotherly Syrians and Palestinians, setting Lebanon and the whole region back to "Chaos" circle serving plans of racist hegemony of zionism and U. S. imperialism. If there were a judicial, constitutional international terms of reference to judge the legitimacy of international resolutions, this resolution (1559) would have been abrogated as contradictory to the U. N. charter and Lebanese national sovereignty.
- To show full solidarity with the resistance known for its leadership wisdom and its rank and file commitment; to acknowledge the resistance deep recognition of correlation between national unity and resistance, between democratic participation and the choice of confronting Israeli occupation and zionist plans, knowing that resistance has chosen the path of unconditional dialogue internally, abide by the idea of enhancing the method of resistance and depending on the domestic abilities in the face of aggression, as well as openness and understanding in relations with the Arabs and the world. Thus undermining attempts at division and upheaval. The Conference, hence, declares firm rejection of unjust campaigns of accusation against Hizbollah, its militant positions and patriotic, national commitments.
- To alert Arab abilities and efforts to back resistance in Lebanon in its pursuit of achieving its pledge to work to set free the prisoners of war and other detainees in Israeli detention camps, headed by the dean of Arab P. O. W. Samir Qantar; and backing resistance in its positions and moves to defends the rights of Lebanon and the Arab nation as a whole.
- To call upon the Nation, in all its locations, to confront firmly the globalized U. S. – Israeli assault on resistance and Arabism in Lebanon, to reject their logic, tools and dictates, in order to defeat their attempts at widening the assault to the whole Arab region or to Lebanize it. The Conference expressed pride in the Lebanese resistance, its leadership and forces, its achievements, and continuity, regarding this resistance a basic pillar in the project for Arab-Islamic Renaissance.
- To build Arab popular mechanisms aiming at providing moral and material support to Lebanese resistance, at the prevention of attempts at isolating or besieging it under whatever banners; to give constant attention to pressures and conspiracies by the zionists and the U. S. to disarm resistance and to suppress its opinions, isolating it from Arab, Islamic and World forces of support. Thus, it is imperative to preserve the political position of Lebanon and a front position in the structure of resistance, steadfastness and objection, especially to enhance Lebanese-Syrian relations basing on unity of destiny and confrontation in a framework of integration and equality, as understood from the experiences of past phases.
- To launch an Arab and world movement in order to put pressure on our zionist enemy to withdraw completely from Lebanese territory, release prisoners of war and other detainees in its prisons, reveal the facts on the fate of those missing; to transform the Arab P. O. W.s Day in April into a day of Arab and World solidarity with our P. O. W.s, detainees and missing in the prisons of zionist and U. S. occupation.
- To work for turning the liberation Day of May 25 in Lebanon into an Arab, Islamic and World Day of solidarity with resistance; to organize a week in every Arab country and countries of expatriates, on the same occasion for political and media mobilization and donation campaign in support of resistance.
- The Conference reflected on the case of hiding and detaining the venerable Imam Mussa AlSadr, the symbol and founder of Lebanese resistance, together with his two companions, 28 years ago. It called upon all concerned to find a prompt solution to this problem, that ends up in returning him and his companions to their families and country to resume their struggle. The Conference took notice of the proposal of the Federation of Arab Attorni to form a committee together with all those interested and capable of contributing to solve this critical case in a framework of transparency, and in a way to respond to the wish of all Lebanese, Arabs and Moslems to see the Imam of resistance and his companions free again.
On Palestinian Resistance
Since early 20th century no conspiracy or assault directed against Palestinian resistance succeeded in extinguishing its flames, imposing surrender on the Palestinian people, or leading it to regress from the resistance choice that people decided to go with since the very beginning of the zionist migration movement at the beginnings of the 20th century, or in its thirties which witnessed the Qassam leadership of that resistance, and then to the present stage of Palestinian revolution constant for four decades now.
The Palestinian Arab people kept adherence to resistance as a main course of struggle to gain its rights. It showed itself able to renew its vitality to continue its march even when disappointment seemed to prevail the Arab atmosphere in general. The Aqsa uprising of the year 2000 uprising of the year 1987, is a truthful witness to this fact.
The Conference, looking at the current scene of the Palestinian reality and that of the Palestinian resistance, reaffirms the following:
- The defeat of zionist occupational forces and their retreat from the heroic Gaza Strip, unilaterally and unconditionally, is the first and most important heading expressing the real ability of the Palestinian resistance, forcing its will successfully on the occupier. This defeat of the occupation may have some loopholes, but its completion is inevitable.
- The Palestinian people, through legislative elections, beyond any doubt, affirmed that the resistance choice is his genuine one, thus all those backing democracy, peoples rights to self-determination and shaping their future, are called upon to support the choice of the Palestinian people, standing firm beside them till the regaining of these rights.
- The Conference re-affirms that "Israel" is but a racist, colonial and expanist entity that impose threat to the security and peace of the region and the entire world. The zionist movement is fascist and racist in nature that calls for a state open to all Jews of the world in the name of the "Law of Return", while denying the "right of return" of the Palestinian people to their land and homes, although this is a right recognized and established by international resolutions, in particular the resolution number 194.
- Hence, the struggle of the Palestinian people and the Arab nation against this racist entity is launched against one of the ugliest offsprings of world imperialism and new fascism.
The Conference debated extensively on the results of the recent elections in Israel that showed clearly the deep structural crisis of the zionist entity, the state of division and fragmentation prevailing in its political components.
In this respect the Conference took notice in particular of the Olmert project aiming at controlling 60 percent of the West Bank territories, at imposing a de facto policy on the Palestinian people. The Conference considered this a continuation of zionist attempts aiming at the judization of Palestine in its entirety, starting with Al-Quds (Jerusalem) up to every inch of Palestinian territory, thus the Conference called for a confrontation by Palestinians, Arabs, Moslems and the whole world to this project that contradicts with all conventions, norms and treaties.
The Conference reflected on the zionist continuous measures to Judize Al-Quds and isolate it from the rest of the West Bank, on the practices of Israel aiming at destruction of the Aqsa Mosque, despite of its symbolic and religious status; it called upon Arab and Islamic countries, their religious leaders, to bear fully their responsibility in retaining Al-Quds Arabism, protecting its Islamic and Christian shrines and offering all forms of aid to its population to stand fast in the face of all schemes of Judization.
- The Conference debated in earnest on the real sufferings of the Palestinian Arab people as a result of the continuous occupation, aggression, siege, closure, killings, murders, detention, cutting life needs from Palestinians; it called for an emergency Arab and Islamic plan to deal with this tragic situation, in a way that is proportionate to these sufferings by the Palestinian people.
The Conference confirmed the whole Arab nation's holding fast to the Palestinian people's right of return, individually and collectively, a right that can never be abrogated by time, no body can ever concede, especially that the Palestinian people kept rejecting all forms of settlement and displacement since 1947.
The Conference re-affirmed the urgency of continuing Lebanese-Palestinian dialogue in the interests of the two peoples, to enhance Lebanon's invincibility, to secure a life of freedom and dignity to the Palestinians and enhance their ability to struggle for their return. The Conference confirmed the urgency of considering all the files related to the Lebanese-Palestinian relations at dialogue table in a way to secure Palestinian observance of the sovereignty of Lebanon and its laws, as well as Lebanese observance of social and human rights of the Palestinians, including the rights to work, ownership as applied to other non-Lebanese residents.
Any attempt to characterize the Palestinian arms in Lebanon as arms of militia, is contradictory to the fact that Palestinians in Lebanon are part of a Palestinian national liberation movement, struggling for the liberation of its territory, regaining its rights and protecting the security of its people, especially under conditions of collapsing international guarantees which made the genocide of Sabra and Shatilla and the recent crime of assaulting Jericho prison possible.
The Arab nation in its entirety have to stand fast vigorously to support the elected Palestinian Authority, to demand that Arab regimes reject dictates of zionist – U. S. pressures, doing its utmost to dissolve isolation the enemy tries to impose on the Palestinian people, and consider these forms of pressure as collective punishment against the whole Palestinian people.
Pressure put on HAMAS and the new Palestinian government to make concessions and recognize all forms of dictates on the Palestinian people all along the previous stage under conditions and circumstances, are all attempt at voiding the Palestinian democratic victory of its contents and implications, an attempt directed against the choice of resistance. In this context, the Conference:
1- Condemns and rejects those pressures, calls upon Arab and Islamic governments and peoples to alleviate siege on the Palestinian people and their elected government, by allocating a small percentage of their revenues to support Palestinian people in their steadfastness, particularly given the upturn of oil prices.
2- Calls upon the Presidency of the Palestinian Authority, that provided all conditions for elections to be held honestly and transparently, to deal with their results in a way matching with the peoples merits and decision.
3- Calls upon all Palestinian forces to solidarity with the new Palestinian Government in order to defeat those pressures put on the people and its national forces as much as on the newly elected government.
4- Demands Arab regimes and international community to put pressures on Israeli occupation and to the United States not on elected Palestinian Authority, to force them to respect the will of the Palestinian people on one hand, on the other to abide by international resolutions relating to the Palestinian causes, including the fate of Al-Quds, the right of return, the refugees, water and settlement.
- The Conference demands, on the Arab level, the activation and implementation of the legal opinion of the World Justice Court on the illegitimacy of the racist separation wall, halting its construction, destructing what had already been built and compensating those harmed by its works.
- The Conference demands the releasing of thousand of p.o.w.s and detainees in the occupation prisons, first those Palestinain prisoners of democracy, members of the former and present legislative councils, the p.o.w.s of the tripatriate aggression of zionists – U. S. on the Jericho prison, Ahmed Sa'adat, the Secretray-General of the Popular Front of the Liberation of Palestine, General Fouad Al-Shobaki, together with hundreds of Palestinian Security Service elements and thousands of other Palestinain and Arab p.o.w.s.
The Conference regards that the enhancement of Palestinain resistance, enabling it to stay steady with dignity raising the standard of Palestinain people's struggles till full victory and liberation, all require constant, sincere interest in developing national unity, rebuilding the Palestinian liberation Organization, the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people, reviewing its basic entail Charter and its working institutions, on solid bases of patriotic and national constants agreed upon by the Palestinian people since the start of last century, and embodied by the National Charter of the PLO since mid 1960's.
The Conference decided to declare a whole week of solidarity with the Palestinian people, heroic resistance starting on 28 of September (the anniversary of Al-Aqsa uprising), with political, cultural and media mobilization, including activities of collecting donations and organizing seminars, festivals and marches of solidarity.
While condemning U. S. plans to prohibit donations and monitoring financial transits of the families of martyrs, especially the Palestinians, and the Palestinian institutions in general, the Conference calls upon Arab masses to joining on large scale it's project of twinning Palestinian families and families in different Arab countries.
The Conference debated attentively on the zionist attempts at displacing the population of Naqab (Negev) desert, and called for supporting the efforts of the Islamic Movement in occupied Palestine in the year 1948 aiming at supporting the steadfast position of tens of thousands of the desert's Arabs to keep on their homes and villages.
The Conference calls for the formation of a Palestinian, Arab and International committee of investigation on the circumstances of the mysterious death of the late President Yasser Arafat, particularly in the light of information leaked on the possibility of him being poisoned subject of a zionist order to remove him from the scene.
On the Iraqi Resistance:
While the U. S. & U. K. occupiers and their coalition attempt to evade the security, political and financial crises resulting from the heroic resistance of the Iraqi people, in all its forms, above all the armed resistance, using the card of civil upheaval, given the failure of all their other cards, the Conference confirms the following:
- The urgency of extending moral and material support by all citizens of the Arab nation and all freedom-loving people of the world to the Iraqi People's resistance, under all their patriotic, nationalist and Islamic banners, given its great achievements during the relative short time of its existence against the U. S. – U. K. occupation, with results that will never be confined to Iraq and the region, but will go beyond that to the international level. The time of receding of the total U. S. hegemony has already started in several spots of the world.
- The urgency of distinguishing clearly between resistance against occupation, its tools and offspring on one hand and the terrorist operations aiming at creating civil upheavals among Iraqis, inseparable from the projects of the occupier itself, its intentions and plans since the very beginning of its military pressure on the Iraqi sacred soil when it disseminated the poisonous terms of racism, sectarianism and confessionalism, its agents established a system of ethnic and sectarian quota system in order to deepen division in Iraqi life, and sought by all means to distort the image of the resistance and its achievements.
- The full confidence in the ability of the Iraqi people to overcome attempts, as preserver as they are, to ignite civil war in Iraq, an attempt adopted by the zionist – U. S. project in order to divide Iraq and to negate its Arab identity, transforming Iraq into a gate to fragment the entire Arab region, ignoring the fact that Iraq by the nature of its social fabric and the high spirit of patriotism prevailing among its citizens will always remain formidable to upheaval or civil war, whatever Iraq's enemies will do to put on fire and commit of genocides or crimes.
The Conference confirmed, in this respect, the urgency of uniting efforts of Iraqi forces opposed to occupation and resistance to its crimes and tools, in an Iraqi broader national front that goes beyond all obstacles and known sensitivities in order to liberate Iraq and build a democratic pluralistic regime, by common effort to confront courageously and daringly the occupation as a military presence and as a political project that aims at the fragmentation of Iraq and set it on fire of civil upheaval.
- The urgency of moving the whole nation in all its entities, official and popular from side lines overlooking what the Iraqi resistance is doing, or from timid support to its actions, to public support and total embrace of its forces. Some of the Arab regimes are called urgently to come out and for good of the position of direct or indirect collaboration with the occupation and its offsprings; from a state of fear and submission to U. S. and zionist pressures aiming at deploying Arab and Islamic armies to be used as human shields to protect occupation.
The Conference called upon Arab and international organizations of human rights to move fastly in order to materialize the immediate release of all prisoners of war and other Iraqi detainees from the prisons of occupation and its agents, to form an Arab and world observatory to monitor violations of human rights by the occupying power and its aides inside prisons and in cities and communities of Iraq, and to call for a trial to perpetrators of those violations and those backing them, of committing crimes against humanity.
The Conference, within this framework, emphasized the urgency of launching an Arab, Islamic and world move to protect Palestinians in Iraq from the wave of racist collective crimes committed daily against them in order to force them to immigrate from Iraq as a part of a clear zionist imperialist project.
Declaring a whole week every year in solidarity with the Iraqi heroic resistance, starting from the 19th day of March, the anniversary of the invasion and occupation of Iraq, during the week a campaign will take place for mobilization, politically, media-wise and culturally, against the occupation of Iraq and in defense of the Iraqi resistance. This campaign would include collecting donations, organizing seminars, festivals and marches in favor of the resistance.
On the Legal Level:
The Conference adopted the urgency of founding a legal center specialized in documenting the crimes committed against the Arab nation. It will have the task of writing legal opinion on those crimes, suggesting legal and judicial actions, on the domestic, national and international levels to haunt down perpetrators and to retain rights of victims, as well as considering the financial and research requirements to enable the Center to meet its obligations. The Center projected is recommended to be affiliated to the Federation of Arab Attornies as an independent national institution qualified for this task, beside keen interest in utilizing all the institutions and centers of research of relevance allover the countries of the Arab region.
The Conference also emphasized the urgency of continuing legal and rights actions in order to confirm separation of resistance from terrorism, the first being a duty as much as right of all peoples under occupation, with the second considered as hostile to all heavenly religious, human values and moral ideals.
Conclusion:
The broad and quick response of the national elites, active popular leadership to the appeal of the Forth General Conference in Defense of Resistance is an expression of the close attachment of the nation to its resistance to occupying powers on every inch of its soil, to its full support of each and every one of its heroic freedom fighters, a proof of unity of resistance, Arab and Islamic nation wide in confrontation with enemies of its existence, sacred entities and identity, those enemies craving for this nations resources and revenues.
Glory to the Martyrs of Resistance in Palestine, Iraq and Lebanon, in the whole Arab nation; Freedom to P. O. W.s and Detainees in prisons of occupation in Palestine, Iraq and Guantanams,Victory to our nation in the battle for liberation, progress and Unity.
Fourth General Arab National Conference In Defense of Resistance, Under the Banner "Resistance Weapon is The Honor of the Nation"