seven points of wisdom (re the palestine situation)
fact one: israel will not back off from its offensive before george "dubya" bush is out of the white house, bar an almost impossible capitulation from hamas.
fact two: hamas is virtually dead.
true, it is pictured as a victimized hero of the philistines under israeli fire but it already fell far short of hezbollah of lebanon in representing and protecting the interests of its cohorts and backers. unlike hezbollah, hamas only won the elections because the fatah clique was unbearably incompetent and corrupt and simply unbearable. however, little changed for the better in gaza since, except hamas got more despotic.
Israel, Palestine Wage Web War
An anonymous reader writes "A war has erupted on the Internet between Israel and Palestine, alongside the war being fought on the ground in Gaza. A new report claims that a group called the ‘DNS Team’ has defaced an Israeli Website, with anti-Israel graphical images —
Vatican deplores Gaza situation
The Vatican’s justice minister criticises Israel’s actions and compares Gaza to a "big concentration camp".
Middle East: new media reporting on Gaza
The current Israeli-Gaza conflict has proved ground-breaking in terms of the way that news is being spread. For a start, Israel has blocked foreign journalists from entering Gaza since launching its air attacks on December 27, so although Al Jazeera has been reporting extensively as it had correspondents already inside, as does the AP, many media organizations have no reliable source of independent information. It is the perfect time for blogs, Twitter, and other forms of citizen journalism to show their merits.
Gaza: outlines of an endgame, Ghassan Khatib
The ground offensive that Israel started in the beginning of the second week of its war against the Palestinian people in Gaza was expected and, once the air operation had begun, to some extent wanted by both Israel and Hamas.
France Wary of Strife Spreading From Gaza
PARIS, Jan. 6 — Alarmed by a firebomb attack on a synagogue, French leaders expressed concern Tuesday that strong feelings over the Israeli offensive in Gaza could lead to street violence and increased tensions between Muslims and Jews in France.
The culture of complacency by YUSAF NADIR QAZI
Once again the war hammer of Israel has come crashing down on Gaza, and once again the Arab and Muslim world has been torn asunder.
Turkey must suspend all relations with Israel
The massacre Israel has been conducting in Gaza with no discrimination between children, infants and women has stripped us of our right to criticize Hamas, which is an organization that would normally be the target of harsh criticism under any other conditions.
International law and the weakness of diplomacy
With the launch of Israel’s operation in Gaza a new environment that necessitates the reconsideration of international humanitarian law and mediation activities has emerged.
A draft open letter to President Obama
A group of Arab and Muslim democratic leaders and activists are planning to write and publish an open letter to Mr. Barack Obama, the US president-elect, who will be inaugurated on Jan. 20, urging him to support democracy and democrats in the Arab and Muslim worlds.
Gaza attacks may affect Iraqi local elections
This is the second week of Israel’s attacks against Gaza. It seems that the conflict in the western region of the Middle East will make radical groups stronger and elevate anti-Western attitudes.
How to stop the Israeli atrocities
Turkey has so far been one of only a few countries that have strongly condemned the ongoing massacre being perpetrated in Gaza by Israel that has killed more than 550 people and injured more than 2,500 others.
No security, peace as long as Israel attacks
I saw no chance for peace and security while I was watching the Israeli attacks on TV. I said it before: Israel will be remembered as a cursed country if it remains committed to this aggressive policy.
"Israeli Officials Lie, Palestinians Die"
Z-Net
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WESTERN hawks of a certain stripe seldom miss an opportunity to pounce upon anyone who has the temerity to suggest that the upsurge in Islamist terrorism over the past decade or so may bear some relation to policies followed by the United States and its allies in the international arena. "You cannot," they screech, "blame the victims."
Time to deploy unique moral authority in Gaza
As we reported yesterday, the Turkish-Israeli relationship is deep and has withstood many a disagreement. It is a relationship informed by many elements.
Opposition not satisfied with Erdoğan’s initiatives
ANKARA – Despite their condemnation of Israel’s Gaza strikes that match Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s tone, opposition members rebuffed the Prime Minister’s efforts to broker a cease-fire as insincere and hollow, during speeches in Parliament yesterday.
As Babies Are Being Slaughtered, Where Are The Western Human Rights Advocates?
Published: 1/6/2009
BY AYDIN AYAYDIN
VATAN
(Istanbul-based Turkish daily)
The recent images in newspapers and on TV are inhuman. This shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century. Innocent people, including children and the elderly, are being slaughtered.
As Israel is hitting civilian targets, the world is watching.
Gaza as Mexico and other Israeli hypotheticals
The debate continues on Steve Walt’s "thought experiment." Today, David Rothkopf joined Chris Brose in taking on Walt’s hypothetical Jewish Gaza. Ross Douthat also weighed in over at the Atlantic. Walt seems to be taking the impressive buzz he’s generated in his blogosphere debut in stride and has just posted a follow-up experiment.
Brussels condemns Israeli bombing of UN school
Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe
Gaza aid diary: Nowhere is safe
by Salwa El Tibi in Gaza, Al-Jazeera, Tuesday, January 6, 2009
Arabs’ perceptions of Turkish activism in Middle Eastern politics
Arabs discuss Erdoğan’s role in the Middle East
Turkish activism in Middle Eastern politics is received well by a majority of Arab leaders and the public, but linger remnants of old “anti-Turkish” sentiments nurtured during the British and French mandate regimes.
Observing Turkey’s strong stance against Israel’s operations in Gaza and the harsh language used by Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdoğan to criticize Israel, the Arab streets and intellectuals have started to question their perceptions of Turkey.
Turkey Could Be Key Player in Gaza Peace – TIME
By Pelin Turgut / Istanbul Wednesday, Jan. 07, 2009
There’s a historic echo in the fact that Turkey is being tapped to provide the troops to keep the peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the latest Gaza cease-fire proposals: for hundreds of years, Istanbul was the seat of power for an empire that, among other things, maintained tranquility between Jews, Muslims and Christians in the Holy Land. But since its founding in 1923, modern Turkey has shied away from any involvement with the Muslim world, once ruled by the Ottomans, instead orienting its foreign policy firmly toward the West. The predominantly Muslim nation is officially secular — it’s a long"
Clout, politics behind Turkish diplomacy over Gaza | Reuters
Erdogan’s multi-pronged foreign policy
By Sami Moubayed, Special to Gulf News
Published: January 06, 2009, 23:58
Turkey’s Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan certainly added a new element to the ongoing Israel’s war on Gaza, by appearing on Aljazeera TV and saying that his country will be conveying Hamas’s conditions for a ceasefire to the international community through its new post as a rotating member of the UN Security Council, which started on January 1."
DALOGLU: Hamas and Turkey
Ankara tips Mideast scales
OP-ED:
Israel’s operation into Gaza has brought disunity in both Europe and the Arab world. Even in this electrified environment, however, each country has its reasons and differences as to how it relates and plays its role in this conflict. And every decision has consequences. For that matter, here is a look into how Turkey plays its role.
Paris et Ankara relaient une Ligue arabe très divisée
Le Figaro (France), 01/01/2009
Pierre Prier
Après s’être rendu en Syrie et en Jordanie, le premier ministre turc devait s’entretenir jeudi en Égypte avec le président Moubarak.
La communauté internationale continuait jeudi de rechercher, en ordre dispersé, les conditions d’un cessez-le-feu à Gaza. Une réunion d’urgence du Conseil de sécurité des Nations unies a pris fin mercredi soir sans qu’un vote soit organisé sur le projet de résolution de la Ligue arabe. Le document appelait à un «cessez-le-feu immédiat» et demandait la protection des civils palestiniens, l’ouverture des points de passage de la bande de Gaza et dénonçait le «recours excessif, disproportionné et indiscriminé à la force par Israël». La seule allusion aux tirs de roquette des militants palestiniens mentionnait la «détérioration de la situation dans le sud d’Israël». Un texte inacceptable en l’état par les États-Unis et la plupart des pays européens.
An Unnecessary War
I know from personal involvement that the devastating invasion of Gaza by Israel could easily have been avoided.
Can You Finish Terrorists by Killing Them–and Their Kids?
[Originally published in Hurriyet Daily News] Sometimes an article by one man summarizes the mindset of millions. The piece titled "Bam Stirs Fear in Israel," written by Ralph Peters and published in the New York Post on January 1, was like that. Fearing that "Bam" (i.e, Obama) could "stab Israel in the back" (i.e., tell her to stop the bloodbath in Gaza), Mr. Peters was trying to persuade his readers why it was crucial that the Israeli military kept on bombing the Gaza Strip – a deadly operation which has killed more than 150 women and children up to this point. "Fighting terrorists effectively means going in on the ground, and sooner is better than later," argued Mr. Peters. "You can’t impress fanatics into surrendering. You have to kill them. Nothing else works.
" "Let me repeat that," he continuingly wrote to make sure that we all get the message right: "You have to kill fanatics. Nothing else works."
Is Tel Aviv losing Ankara?
Turkey’s reaction to the war on Gaza is stirring up a heated debate in the major capitals of the world. Angered by the inaction and silence of Arab states, the Arab and Muslim masses are behind Turkey’s reaction to the war. Turkish public opinion is more or less unanimous: The Israeli response to Hamas rockets is unacceptable. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan is particularly hurt and feels that, in his own words, "Turkey has been disrespected."
Erdoğan’s discourse on Gaza tragedy
As Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan is embracing a gradually harsher and more furious rhetoric about the ongoing tragedy in Gaza, terming it “c
The occupation of intellectual capacities
The Israeli occupation of Gaza and the atrocities perpetrated there are producing terrible pictures. The Turkish media are willing to feature the most graphic pictures with the most graphic stories. This is not healthy in terms of the psycho-sociological impact these images will have on the mental capacities of the nation. This is not to say that what is going on in Gaza is not sufficiently tragic to arouse the kind of anger and hatred these selected pictures are arousing in our minds. Israel has left a dark mark on the history of humankind — an inerasable dark mark. But the Gaza we recreate in our minds using the raw material we are receiving from the media is not the real Gaza.
Pope, take action for Gaza!
As Israel’s mass killings in Gaza continue, the Turkish capital’s only agenda item is Palestine. Ankara is doing its best to ensure that a ceasefire is in place as soon as possible. Choosing candidates for the nearing municipal elections has been overshadowed by the tragedy in Gaza.
Realizing Israel’s Gaza move
The Israeli assault, which, I must confess, has been criticized and protested more strongly than I expected, is a move so comprehensive that it cannot be regarded as only targeting Palestinians.
Show of Israeli faith despite setbacks after crisis in Gaza
ANKARA – ’To say the least, we cannot support the position Turkey has taken throughout the Gaza crisis. We certainly express dissatisfaction with some of the statements made by the Turkish Foreign Ministry,’ says Israel’s Ambassador to Ankara Gabby Levy
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