01-04-2009, 06:40 PM
ISRAEL, ARABS SEEK DIVIDED GAZA
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80397§ionid=351020203
Hezbollah's Secretary General has urged Hamas to strike Israel and compared what is happening in Gaza with Israel's July 2006 assault on Lebanon.
"Our brothers in the resistance in Palestine know that it is by inflicting the biggest possible losses on the Israeli enemy during the ground confrontation that they will win the battle," Nasrallah said.
"It is when the resistance kills soldiers and destroys tanks that the course of the battle will be determined," he added.
Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking through a large screen as he marked the seventh night of Ashura at the Sayyed Shohada complex in Beirut's southern suburb, Dahiyeh on Saturday.
He said that the Israeli incursions into Gaza were aimed at physically dividing Gaza and imposing a new status quo in the besieged strip.
He emphasized that what had been taking place and would take place during the few coming hours is identical to what took place during the last days of the July war.
"This is not new, we experienced it in 2006 in Lebanon and we were able to overcome it," Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said.
"The Israeli government is seeking to impose a new status quo and create new data to be exploited in a potential international resolution."
The Hezbollah leader said a decision by Arab foreign ministers this week to take the Gaza issue to the UN Security Council next Monday is meant to give Israel more time to accomplish its mission and destroy Hamas.
"Arab foreign ministers gave Israel until Monday to proceed with its military attacks on Gaza."
He added that if the Israelis failed to achieve their mission by Monday, then the Arab leaders might also want to extend the 'grace period for the enemy.'
On Friday, Seyyed Nasrallah had slammed Arab leaders for their stance over the aggression, calling on them to, at least, let their people express themselves freely and declare solidarity with their Palestinian brothers.
Nasrallah's remarks come as Israel entered Gaza after pounding the densely populated impoverished strip after eight days of heavy air and sea bombardment that has left 460 people dead and 2,600 wounded.
EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES CLAMP DOWN ON GAZA PROTESTS
Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers
Jan. 02, 2009
Demonstrators gathered across the Muslim world Friday in fresh protests against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, while Egyptian authorities again used force to silence protesters in Cairo.
Thousands of demonstrators, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans, marched in cities from Amman, Jordan, to Karachi, Pakistan - as well as in Malaysia, the West Bank and parts of Europe and Australia - following afternoon prayers on what's traditionally the Muslim day of rest.
The protests, the largest in several days, came after the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza, called for "a day of wrath" in opposition to the Israeli bombardment. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in seven days of airstrikes that Israel says are aimed at stopping Hamas from firing rockets into Israeli territory.
The airstrikes have fueled intense anger among Arabs, not just at the Israeli military and its chief patron, the United States, but also at Egypt, the only Arab nation that shares a border with Gaza. Egypt occupied Gaza from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war until Israel conquered it in 1967.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a U.S. ally who fears the rise of militant Islam in his country, has kept the Gaza border crossing in the town of Rafah sealed even as television images show bloodied Gazans being carted away from blast sites.
Egypt has allowed in scores of wounded Gazans to receive medical treatment, but officials have blocked journalists from entering Rafah, and many Egyptian convoys carrying aid to Gaza have been turned away.
Authorities blocked a protest called at Cairo's Al Fateh Mosque on Friday by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that has ideological ties to Hamas and is a frequent government target. Authorities detained 40 Muslim Brotherhood members, according to Egyptian news reports, although smaller protests were allowed in Alexandria, El Arish and other towns.
Egypt has been a key mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but analysts say that its response to the fighting in Gaza has badly strained relations with Hamas, which accuses Mubarak of collaborating with Israel and of failing to invite the Syrian-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, to Cairo for talks.
As other Muslim nations, chiefly Turkey, have taken a greater role in trying to broker a truce this week, some Hamas leaders have questioned whether Egypt can continue in its role as the main go-between.
A visit to Cairo by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni the day before the onslaught began fueled that perception. In the Middle East's swirling rumor mill, images of Livni and Mubarak shaking hands provided all the proof that Egyptian critics needed that Mubarak was warned of the Israeli military campaign and might even have signed off on it.
Egypt's response to Gaza has been "very depressing," said Mohammed Nahas, a 42-year-old Cairo sculptor, who called it the latest example of Mubarak's tightly controlled regime prioritizing security concerns above all else.
"We're not being asked to fight, but at least let's be fair," Nahas said. "Europeans and even progressive Jews have sent humanitarian supplies to Gaza, and we as Muslims and Arab neighbors haven't done much."
The gap between pro-Western regimes in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and their citizens in the "Arab street" has widened over the Gaza conflict, just as it did during the 2006 war between Israel and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah. Egypt criticized Hezbollah - whose popularity was surging as it stood up to Israel - for provoking a conflict, just as it's done with Hamas.
Then, as now, anger among Egyptians and workaday Arabs flared. However, experts say that protests have little effect on a regime as authoritarian as Mubarak's.
"In terms of domestic unrest, no doubt that Egypt looks very bad and you can expect more demonstrations," said Issandr El Amrani, a Cairo-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, a research center. "But whether this can bring any serious threat to the regime is unlikely. This country is very tightly policed, and security forces have experience at controlling dissent."
SAUDIS WARN ISRAEL AGAINST REPEATING 33 DAY WAR
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80048§ionid=351020205
Prince Bandar bin Sultan
A high-ranking Saudi national security advisor has warned Tel Aviv against repeating the mistakes it made during the 2006 war on Lebanon.
Citing "informed sources", Al-Moltaqa news website reported that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi advisor, contacted Israeli officials to caution them.
The Israeli onslaughts on Gaza, which started on Saturday, have killed at least 387 Palestinians, while over 1,800 others are reported to be wounded.
The Saudi prince termed the situation in the Gaza Strip as grave and warned that his country could not stand the mounting pressure by Arab and regional nations for a long time.
He reportedly told Israeli officials that Saudi Arabia would do its best to delay the Arab summit with Egypt and even Jordan.
According to the sources, Prince Bandar met an Israeli official in Jordan on Sunday and apparently discussed the issue of Gaza.
The report came as Saudi sources said that in a telephone conversation with US President George W. Bush, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia informed the president that he would not ask Israel to halt its operations immediately.
Political analysts believe that Saudi Arabia and particularly Egypt would try to delay the summit by any means possible in order to provide Israel with the opportunity to destroy Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
According to diplomatic sources, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has put pressure on his Arab counterparts form Persian Gulf littoral states to postpone the emergency Arab summit called over the Gaza issue.
The Saudi state-run news agency had earlier quoted Saud al-Faisal as saying that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had not made a decision on a call for an emergency meeting on Gaza.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80397§ionid=351020203
Hezbollah's Secretary General has urged Hamas to strike Israel and compared what is happening in Gaza with Israel's July 2006 assault on Lebanon.
"Our brothers in the resistance in Palestine know that it is by inflicting the biggest possible losses on the Israeli enemy during the ground confrontation that they will win the battle," Nasrallah said.
"It is when the resistance kills soldiers and destroys tanks that the course of the battle will be determined," he added.
Sayyed Nasrallah was speaking through a large screen as he marked the seventh night of Ashura at the Sayyed Shohada complex in Beirut's southern suburb, Dahiyeh on Saturday.
He said that the Israeli incursions into Gaza were aimed at physically dividing Gaza and imposing a new status quo in the besieged strip.
He emphasized that what had been taking place and would take place during the few coming hours is identical to what took place during the last days of the July war.
"This is not new, we experienced it in 2006 in Lebanon and we were able to overcome it," Seyyed Hassan Nasrallah said.
"The Israeli government is seeking to impose a new status quo and create new data to be exploited in a potential international resolution."
The Hezbollah leader said a decision by Arab foreign ministers this week to take the Gaza issue to the UN Security Council next Monday is meant to give Israel more time to accomplish its mission and destroy Hamas.
"Arab foreign ministers gave Israel until Monday to proceed with its military attacks on Gaza."
He added that if the Israelis failed to achieve their mission by Monday, then the Arab leaders might also want to extend the 'grace period for the enemy.'
On Friday, Seyyed Nasrallah had slammed Arab leaders for their stance over the aggression, calling on them to, at least, let their people express themselves freely and declare solidarity with their Palestinian brothers.
Nasrallah's remarks come as Israel entered Gaza after pounding the densely populated impoverished strip after eight days of heavy air and sea bombardment that has left 460 people dead and 2,600 wounded.
EGYPTIAN AUTHORITIES CLAMP DOWN ON GAZA PROTESTS
Shashank Bengali
McClatchy Newspapers
Jan. 02, 2009
Demonstrators gathered across the Muslim world Friday in fresh protests against the Israeli offensive in Gaza, while Egyptian authorities again used force to silence protesters in Cairo.
Thousands of demonstrators, many waving Palestinian flags and chanting anti-Israeli slogans, marched in cities from Amman, Jordan, to Karachi, Pakistan - as well as in Malaysia, the West Bank and parts of Europe and Australia - following afternoon prayers on what's traditionally the Muslim day of rest.
The protests, the largest in several days, came after the militant Islamic group Hamas, which controls Gaza, called for "a day of wrath" in opposition to the Israeli bombardment. More than 400 Palestinians have been killed in seven days of airstrikes that Israel says are aimed at stopping Hamas from firing rockets into Israeli territory.
The airstrikes have fueled intense anger among Arabs, not just at the Israeli military and its chief patron, the United States, but also at Egypt, the only Arab nation that shares a border with Gaza. Egypt occupied Gaza from the 1948 Arab-Israeli war until Israel conquered it in 1967.
Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, a U.S. ally who fears the rise of militant Islam in his country, has kept the Gaza border crossing in the town of Rafah sealed even as television images show bloodied Gazans being carted away from blast sites.
Egypt has allowed in scores of wounded Gazans to receive medical treatment, but officials have blocked journalists from entering Rafah, and many Egyptian convoys carrying aid to Gaza have been turned away.
Authorities blocked a protest called at Cairo's Al Fateh Mosque on Friday by the Muslim Brotherhood, an Islamist movement that has ideological ties to Hamas and is a frequent government target. Authorities detained 40 Muslim Brotherhood members, according to Egyptian news reports, although smaller protests were allowed in Alexandria, El Arish and other towns.
Egypt has been a key mediator in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, but analysts say that its response to the fighting in Gaza has badly strained relations with Hamas, which accuses Mubarak of collaborating with Israel and of failing to invite the Syrian-based Hamas leader, Khaled Mashaal, to Cairo for talks.
As other Muslim nations, chiefly Turkey, have taken a greater role in trying to broker a truce this week, some Hamas leaders have questioned whether Egypt can continue in its role as the main go-between.
A visit to Cairo by Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni the day before the onslaught began fueled that perception. In the Middle East's swirling rumor mill, images of Livni and Mubarak shaking hands provided all the proof that Egyptian critics needed that Mubarak was warned of the Israeli military campaign and might even have signed off on it.
Egypt's response to Gaza has been "very depressing," said Mohammed Nahas, a 42-year-old Cairo sculptor, who called it the latest example of Mubarak's tightly controlled regime prioritizing security concerns above all else.
"We're not being asked to fight, but at least let's be fair," Nahas said. "Europeans and even progressive Jews have sent humanitarian supplies to Gaza, and we as Muslims and Arab neighbors haven't done much."
The gap between pro-Western regimes in Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia and their citizens in the "Arab street" has widened over the Gaza conflict, just as it did during the 2006 war between Israel and the militant Lebanese group Hezbollah. Egypt criticized Hezbollah - whose popularity was surging as it stood up to Israel - for provoking a conflict, just as it's done with Hamas.
Then, as now, anger among Egyptians and workaday Arabs flared. However, experts say that protests have little effect on a regime as authoritarian as Mubarak's.
"In terms of domestic unrest, no doubt that Egypt looks very bad and you can expect more demonstrations," said Issandr El Amrani, a Cairo-based analyst for the International Crisis Group, a research center. "But whether this can bring any serious threat to the regime is unlikely. This country is very tightly policed, and security forces have experience at controlling dissent."
SAUDIS WARN ISRAEL AGAINST REPEATING 33 DAY WAR
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=80048§ionid=351020205
Prince Bandar bin Sultan
A high-ranking Saudi national security advisor has warned Tel Aviv against repeating the mistakes it made during the 2006 war on Lebanon.
Citing "informed sources", Al-Moltaqa news website reported that Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi advisor, contacted Israeli officials to caution them.
The Israeli onslaughts on Gaza, which started on Saturday, have killed at least 387 Palestinians, while over 1,800 others are reported to be wounded.
The Saudi prince termed the situation in the Gaza Strip as grave and warned that his country could not stand the mounting pressure by Arab and regional nations for a long time.
He reportedly told Israeli officials that Saudi Arabia would do its best to delay the Arab summit with Egypt and even Jordan.
According to the sources, Prince Bandar met an Israeli official in Jordan on Sunday and apparently discussed the issue of Gaza.
The report came as Saudi sources said that in a telephone conversation with US President George W. Bush, King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia informed the president that he would not ask Israel to halt its operations immediately.
Political analysts believe that Saudi Arabia and particularly Egypt would try to delay the summit by any means possible in order to provide Israel with the opportunity to destroy Hamas and Islamic Jihad.
According to diplomatic sources, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal has put pressure on his Arab counterparts form Persian Gulf littoral states to postpone the emergency Arab summit called over the Gaza issue.
The Saudi state-run news agency had earlier quoted Saud al-Faisal as saying that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had not made a decision on a call for an emergency meeting on Gaza.