Buying the peace on higher cost

“Peace” has always been a beautiful and highly romanticized word humanity ever invented but no period of time in history passed without a war the more long period without war more devastating the war have been.  Since last one century word “peace” has been used as many times as now it has lost its meaning.  Modern European history which has been more or less interpret rated as history of the modern world is full of wars but students of history always hope for a peaceful world in their generation where there would be no war. The whole world looks in one direction and works for one aim that how permanent peace could be achieved but what is the reason that peace has always been a distant dream and not reality. The biggest reason which I see is very much different what others perceive and that reason is that over emphasis on peace is always a wrong goal to achieve because once you told others that you want to establish peace it implied to others that you are ready to achieve this goal at any cost. Once any individual, group or nation commits itself for peace onus goes on his side to establish peace at any cost and it gives breathing space for other rivals who are not interested in peace and they use this humanistic and romanticized view as their major weapon to intimidate and blackmail. Rather than peace word must have been used “Justice”. Justice is a phenomenon which is always relative to circumstances and self conscience. Read more

Obama, the Middle East and Islam – An Initial Assessment

Why, just two weeks into a 209-week term, assess a new American president’s record on so esoteric a subject as the Middle East and Islam? In Barack Obama’s case, because of:

(1) A contradictory record: His background brims over with wild-eyed anti-Zionist radicals such as Ali Abunimah, Rashid Khalidi, and Edward Said, with Islamists, the Nation of Islam, and the Saddam Hussein regime; but since being elected he has made predominantly center-left appointments and his statements resemble those of his Oval Office predecessors.

(2) The outsized role of the Middle East and Islam: His first fortnight in office witnessed an inaugural address that mentioned them prominently, a first diplomatic telephone call to Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority, the appointment of two high-profile envoys, and the first interview granted to Al-Arabiya television channel.
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Yemen on high alert amid fears of al Qaeda attack

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Over the last several weeks a growing number of al Qaeda operatives have entered Yemen from Saudi Arabia and have established a renewed network that potentially threatens U.S. and Saudi targets in the region, both U.S. and Yemeni officials have told CNN.
“There are strong indications of heightened activity in Yemen,” one U.S. official told CNN. “There is real concern in the U.S. government that al Qaeda is trying to mount attacks in Yemen.”

The United States continues to worry about attacks against the U.S. embassy or other U.S. business interests in Yemen the official said. But there are also growing concerns that a renewed al Qaeda network in Yemen could plan attacks against Saudi oil infrastructure or the massive cargo shipping operations that run through the immediate region — potentially disrupting an already shaky world economy.

The official said there is a flow of intelligence information in recent weeks backing up that assessment. “There are clear indications al Qaeda is placing emphasis on Yemen as a place to conduct operations and train operatives.”

Both U.S. officials said one of the major concerns is that a number of al Qaeda operatives have crossed the border from Saudi Arabia since a Saudi crackdown has stepped up. Al Qaeda, he said appears to be looking for a new place in the immediate area where it can still operate.

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New Poll: Palestinians Support Suicide Bombings By 55% To 37%

A new poll has shown that Palestinians support continued suicide bombings against Israel by 55.4 percent as compared to 37.6 percent who oppose it. The poll, conducted by Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, also found:

 

·        That 50.8 percent of Palestinian believe that rocket attacks upon Israel from Gaza help Palestinians achieve their goals, as against 20.8 percent who believe such attacks harm the attainment of Palestinian goals;

·        If elections were held today, 28.6 percent of Palestinians would vote for Hamas and 27.9 percent of Palestinians would vote for Fateh;

·        Similarly, 27.7 percent of Palestinians most trust Hamas while 26 percent most trust Fateh. (Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, Poll No. 67, January 2009).

 

ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is often said that Palestinians no longer embrace a program for eliminating Israel, but merely wish to live in their own independent state within the territories Israel captured in 1967. As a result, many conclude that Israel has an obligation to negotiate a peaceful outcome with Palestinians. However, this poll and others show that the majority of Palestinians continue to support unreconstructed terror movements that do not accept Israel’s existence as well as further suicide bombings and rocket attacks upon Israel. This demonstrates that that Palestinians do continue to embrace Israel’s elimination.

“One seemingly contradictory finding in the poll showed that 54.8 percent of Palestinians favored setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as opposed to 18.4 percent who openly sought a single, bi-national state. However, there is a November 2007 poll which shows something similar (67.1 percent of Palestinians supported ‘the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories’) but which also went on to ask the pertinent question – ‘Do you support or reject the creation of two states on the historic land of Palestine (a Palestinian state and Israel)?’ – which most Palestinians (54.3 percent) rejected.

 

“In short, as we pointed out at the time, most Palestinians do not accept Israel’s existence as a Jewish state even if they support the idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside it for now. They simply regard a Palestinian state as a useful step towards one day removing Israel from the region.

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Explaining Israel’s Strategic Mistakes

In an article earlier this month, “Israel’s Strategic Incompetence in Gaza,” I made three points: that the Israeli leadership unilaterally created its current problems in Gaza, that the war against Hamas meant ignoring the much larger threat of Iranian nuclear weapons, and that the goal of empowering Al-Fatah makes no sense.

These arguments prompted an earful from readers, who made interesting points that deserve answers. Slightly editing the questions for clarity, I reply to some of them here:

“Your article was a real downer. Do you have any uppers?”

The Middle East is a source of nearly unmitigated bad news these days. Two rare positive developments concern economics: Israel has finally, thanks for the reforms carried out by Binyamin Netanyahu, weaned itself from the debilitating socialism of its earlier years; and the price of energy has gone down by over two-thirds. Read more

No Israeli apology for defeating Iran’s Islamic proxy

Amir R. Gissin

Looking at Canadian media coverage of Israel’s operation in Gaza, some fundamental Mideast realities were left out. One is that the majority of Israelis and probably the majority of Palestinians support a two-state solution. Hamas does not.

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