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Audio Report: General Strike 2007

25 January 2007


Listen to an interview with Bilal El-Amine on KPFA’s Flashpoints. This interview outlines the realities of the general strike called by Lebanon’s opposition movement lead by Hezbollah and the Free Patriotic Movement. This interview addresses the central political demands of the Lebanese opposition, which center on the neo-liberal economic policies of the current Lebanese government backed by international financial institutions like the IMF and World Bank. Bilal El-Amine also addresses the connections between the current Lebanese opposition movement and the 2006 Israeli strike on Lebanon. 

EI EXCLUSIVE: Leaked Israeli document gives frightening glimpse of apartheid

Ali Abunimah 25 January 2007


President Jimmy Carter angered Israel and its friends by describing “the abominable oppression and persecution in the occupied Palestinian territories, with a rigid system of required passes and strict segregation between Palestine’s citizens and Jewish settlers in the West Bank.” Now, The Electronic Intifada has obtained an Israeli Ministry of Defense Powerpoint presentation which provides a frightening glimpse into the mindset of the bureaucracy of apartheid. The first page of the document bears the name “Coordination of Government Activities in the Territories” as well as the acronym “COGAT” at the bottom of each page. 

Donors Buy Government Time, Not Peace

Mattias Creffier 25 January 2007


PARIS, Jan 25 (IPS) - Representatives of 50 industrial countries and international institutions have pledged 7.6 billion dollars to a recovery plan for Lebanon at a donor conference in Paris Thursday. The fresh aid certainly buys time for the embattled government of Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora, but it remains doubtful if it can buy it peace. “This is not a one-shot event to support one particular government,” Siniora told the press, emphasising that the aid should benefit all Lebanese, regardless of their political or religious affiliations. French President Jacques Chirac, who hosted the conference, said that “all political forces and all actors in the region should be involved in the recovery plan.” 

Is a Military Government our only Choice?

Sami Hermez 24 January 2007


On January 23, 2007, the Lebanese opposition shut down the entire country, pummeling heavy black smoke over its skies and sending the entire country into an economic standstill. It was and is a top-down “democratic” movement, nonviolent in its intent, but with empty demands; this primarily because of a fundamental flaw in the system that requires any opposition to build coalitions of national unity, thus forced to share power with former and current thieves and murderers, and making higher demands a form of political suicide. The day’s event leaves one with a feeling of the surreal and a sense of absurdity. And how does one begin to recount the surreal, the absurd? 

A rebuttal to the Carter Center Board of Councilors resignation letter

Michael F. Brown 30 January 2007


Fourteen members of the Carter Center Board of Councilors resigned on 11 January to express their dismay over President Jimmy Carter’s book, Palestine Peace Not Apartheid. Their criticisms are petty and inaccurate and say much more about them than about President Carter. They fail to grapple in the letter with Israel’s subjugation of the Palestinians and with President Carter’s call for substantive peacemaking. EI contributor Michael F. Brown responds with the following point-by-point rebuttal to the resignation letter. 

The Cedar Revolution Goes South

Trish Schuh Beirut 24 January 2007


Two years after the killing of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, America’s Cedar Revolution in Lebanon has gone “Citrus”. The chic Lebanese divas with maids in tow wagging protest signs on their employer’s behalf are absent. Riad El Sohl Square in downtown Beirut is now occupied by a working class tent city with “Citrus” supporters from the Opposition: Religious Shias — Hezbollah (yellow), secular Shias — Amal (green), and Christians of the Free Patriotic Movement (orange). But all are united under one banner “Clean Up the Government!” 

Review of Identity

Toine van Teeffelen Bethlehem, Palestine 24 January 2007


Mary: Why don’t you buy a car and get an international driving license? We are having a month-long permit to visit Jerusalem and now we cannot find a taxi driver who is going to bring us with my mother, who does not walk easily, to Jerusalem. The taxi drivers are all busy. Only a few have permits and the right licenses. Toine: Do you know what I read in an email here? Persons driving a yellow-plate Israeli car cannot anymore take Palestinians from the West Bank as passengers. So if I am going to rent a car in Jerusalem and come over here into Bethlehem, I will refuse you on behalf of the Israeli army the privilege of sharing my car. 

Security forces struggle to hold the line

Maria Abi-Habib 24 January 2007


BEIRUT: Lebanon’s army - backed by police forces - tried Tuesday to stamp out violence erupting from street protests, only to see it resume again in area after area. By the time The Daily Star went to press, at least three people had died and 133 others, including eight policemen, were wounded in clashes. Hotspots for Tuesday’s clashes included Jounieh, Batroun, Chekka, Koura, Akkar and Tripoli in Northern Lebanon; Dekkwaneh, Nahr al-Mott and Jdeideh in Mount Lebanon; and Corniche al-Mazraa and Tariq al-Jdideh in Beirut. 

Strike or Riot?

Marcy Newman Beirut 24 January 2007


It has been an insane twenty-four hours in Lebanon. It began when a photojournalist friend called to invite me out to accompany him on his shoot. The first stop was the tent city sit-in downtown. I’ve been there many times, but he was going around with Aoun and Hezbollah officials so I was excited to have an opportunity to speak with them while my friend shot his pictures for a European newspaper. It’s so interesting periodically walking around this space. Each time I go there I see new elements of a mini village set up. One tent in the Aoun area has potted flowers and tents all around it and last night I met the woman who stays in that tent. 

One killed, three kidnapped in Gaza and West Bank lawlessness

24 January 2007


On Tuesday evening, 23 January 2007, S’oud ‘Ouda al-Qadhi, 33, from Rafah, was killed by unknown gunmen. According to initial information available to PCHR, al-Qadhi was killed because of a financial conflict among members of his clan. Meanwhile, in the evening of Tuesday, 23 January 2007, an armed group affiliated with Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, released the French vice-consul and his two guards in Nablus. The trio was detained in Nablus for hours as they were suspected of being undercover Israeli army operatives.