Juan Cole produced a suberbly fitting epitaph for Zarqawi:

DPA says there are mixed reactions to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi in Al-Anbar province. Some hope security will now improve. Some think that the US exaggerates Zarqawi's importance. This was the chilling one:

' Thirty-year-old professor Ahmad Yassin said 'the martyrdom of the jihadist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi represents a grave loss for both the Arab and Islamic Worlds. We lost a great man who died defending the Islamic civilization from Zionist imperialism. I don't think this man can be replaced.' '

[more]

by Moderator @ 03:40 AM CST [Link]

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Saturday, June 10, 2006

Tragedy in Gaza

Yesterday, members of the Ralia family enjoying themselves on a Gaza beach were killed by an explosion. Palestinians -- and most of the world-- blame Israel for the explosion, but Israeli authorities were unable to pinpoint the source of the fire. Israelis claim Palestinians are not providing accurate information that would allow verification of the source. Israelis claim the IDF was not firing in the area at the time, though the explosion might have been caused by a stray artillery shell. [more]

by Moderator @ 03:24 PM CST [Link]

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Thursday, June 8, 2006

Zarqawi killed: A good day for Iraq

If we can believe the news, it is for once a very good day for Iraq. The head of the al-Qaeda organization, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was killed in an air attack on his safe house, based on intelligence supplied by the Iraqi army. Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki also got parliament to -- at long last -- approve a defense minister, a minister of national security and a minster of the interior. Jawad Bulani is the new interior minister, Abdul Qadir Obeidi the defence minister and Shirwan Waili has been approved as minister of national security.

If the government can continue to supply successes and hope, it may succeed against the odds in winning the support of the people and uniting Iraq. However, we should not exaggerate the importance of this dramatic and symbolic victory. Zarqawi was one of those people whose main virtue is that they are mortal, and he has exercised that potentiality. However, experience indicates that will not be the end of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, and certainly not the end of terror activity.
[more]

by Moderator @ 03:17 PM CST [Link]

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Prisoners' document dilemmas

There is no doubt that Mahmoud Abbas's proposal for adopting the Prisoners' document was a master stroke, though the power behind the throne may be Marwan Barghouti, who engineered the document. He used his National and Islamic coalition to push it through. He used the document to make the National and Islamic front, dormant since the fizzle out of the "al-Aqsa Intifada," relevant again.

The document creates more than one dilemma however, in part because it is a masterpiece of ambiguity, in part because Fatah and PLO supremacy are woven into the document in such a way that it is hard for the Hamas to object, in part because it was a product of processes in Palestinian society, and in part because that was the purpose of the document. The Prisoners' document was not meant to solve everyone's problems and make peace, but to sow confusion among the enemies of Barghouti, including Israel and the Hamas, as well as hitching Mahmoud Abbas's fortunes irrevocably to the National and Islamic front.

The first dilemma is for the Hamas government. As noted previously, about 80% of Palestinians support the Prisoners' document. This is not surprising because prisoners are immensely popular in Palestinian society, and the leaders who signed the document have immense personal prestige. Hamas cannot oppose this initiative. On the other hand, the document poses two problems for the Hamas. The document does not exactly recognize Israel, but it might do so implicitly. Much worse for Hamas is the proposal that the PLO and President Abbas would be in charge of the negotiations. [more]

by Moderator @ 10:58 AM CST [Link]

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Wednesday, June 7, 2006

Hamas: Twisting in the Wind

On the evening of 6th June 2006 during the BBC Newsnight programme, a representative of Hamas (Aziz Dueik) was asked directly whether Hamas recognised Israel's right to exist. His response was very interesting as an insight into the perspectives of Hamas and the dilemma it finds itself in. He provided two responses. The first that the PLO had already recognised Israel, the inference being that any further statement of recognition was unnecessary. The second was that Israel as the occupier / oppressor should be the first party to state that it recognised the right of the Palestinians to a nation state and the final boundaries of that state. It was in this second part, that he elucidated more upon his and Hamas' paradigm.
[more]

by Moderator @ 04:02 PM CST [Link]

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Saturday, June 3, 2006

Maskiot Settlement tells us about realities of Israeli Policy

On the face of it, Israeli PM Ehud Olmert talked a good line about peace and fighting terror in his election campaign and in his trip to the United States. Olmert's government supposedly represents peace loving and pragmatic Israel. He is willing to give up a large part of the West Bank in order to obtain security in his unilateral convergence (or realignment) plan. He is also willing to talk peace with Palestinian partners, if any such can be found, says Olmert.

Actions, however, speak louder than words. The new settlement of Maskiot tells us that that Olmert's governments may not be the government a lot of Israelis thought they had voted for, and Olmert's policies may not be precisely what he sold to the Americans. Maskiot is probably the first new settlement to be created outside Jerusalem, with full government approval, since the Oslo peace process began. Its establishment violates two undertakings to the United states: Not to establish new settlements and not to settle settle evacuees from Gaza in them. True, the settlement existed as an army base, and Israel may claim it is only "firming up" an existing settlement. However, that is clearly not the case. [more]

by Moderator @ 04:33 PM CST [Link]

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