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May 2, 2012
Daily Summary 04/29/2012
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FAYYAD: WE REJECT ISRAELI ATTEMPTS TO DISTORT PALESTINIAN CURRICULA IN JERUSALEM
Prime Minister Salam Fayyad stressed yesterday that the PA rejected Israeli attempts aimed at distorting Palestinian curricula in Jerusalem, saying the PA continued to support Jerusalem institutions in their steadfastness. Fayyad’s statements came during his participation in the march organized by the Palestinian coalition for a safe educational environment to expose the occupation’s violations against education in Jerusalem. He said Israeli attempts to change the Palestinian curriculum in Jerusalem were part of their overall goal to create a climate of expulsion for the Palestinian presence in the city. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)

THE PRESIDENT DISCUSSES WITH HIS TUNISIAN COUNTERPART WAYS TO REVIVE BILATERAL PALESTINIAN-TUNISIAN COMMITTEE
During his four-day visit to Tunisia, President Mahmoud Abbas discussed with his Tunisian counterpart Mohammed Marzouqi ways of reviving the bilateral Palestinian-Tunisian committee and holding a meeting for it as soon as possible. He said the two leaders discussed developments in the Palestinian case, especially the exploratory talks that took place in Jordan with Israeli negotiators and the Quartet. He said they also discussed the reconciliation and the possible role Tunisia could play in helping to bring it about.  During an official dinner, Abbas thanked Tunisia for embracing the Palestinian leadership during its exile, which has now returned to Palestine. “This is a debt we will always owe Tunis,” he said (Al Ayyam)

SOURCES: ISLAMIC JIHAD TO HOLD FIRST ELECTIONS TO CHOOSE LEADERS
Sources in the Islamic Jihad in the West Bank revealed that the movement is planning to hold its first internal elections since its inception in the mid-eighties. The sources told Al Sharq Al Awsat that the elections, which would be similar to those in Hamas, would take place within the next few months. Other Jihad sources in Gaza also confirmed the news. The sources also said the decision was taken after a number of requests from the movement’s leaders to get their internal ‘house in order’ including its politburo, in the field and the various regional leaders. According to the sources, the decision was also a result of differences between some in the movement in Gaza over authorities and general policies. There is an internal debate within Jihad over its relationship with Hamas and Fatah and over the nature of its resistance in addition to the other issues mentioned. Apparently, well known leaders within the movement such as Abdallah Shami and Abu Hazem Al Najjar were the ones who led the movement to formulate bi-laws for the movement and to choose a leadership through elections. It was decided that institutional work and committees in the regions would be established to broaden the role of the movement within Palestinian society and not be confined to armed resistance. The elections, which are expected to take place within six months, will include the West Bank, Gaza, abroad and prisons and will elect a new politburo different from the one composed two years ago in order to pump new blood into the movement. (http://www.aawsat.com/details.asp?section=4&issueno=12206&article=674937&feature=)


PRESS RELEASE: DR. ASHRAWI ON THE BLOCKING OF PALESTINIAN NEWS WEBSITES

PLO Executive Committee member and Palestinian lawmaker, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi, expressed deep concern that violations of freedom of opinion and expression continue to take place in the Occupied Palestinian Territory: “The blocking of Palestinian news websites and other measures that prevent access to information and curb freedom of expression are in complete contradiction to the principles enshrined in the Basic Law.  Palestine should not promote censorship, whether on the Internet or in other forms of communication.” Dr. Ashrawi stressed, “Unfortunately, these recent acts undermine our efforts to create a Palestinian democratic pluralistic and tolerant society based on the rule of law.”  "It is imperative that we safeguard the freedom of expression, access to information and all other fundamental human rights of the Palestinian people,” concluded Dr. Ashrawi

MOLCHO WILL HAND ABBAS NETANYAHU’S RESPONSE TO LETTER WITHIN DAYS
Israeli government spokesperson Ofir Gendleman said he expected Israeli peace process envoy Issac Molcho to travel to Ramallah within days to hand President Abbas Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s response to the former’s letter on the future of the peace process and a Palestinian state. (Dar Al Hayat) Palestinian officials say they have not been informed of time or place in which the Israeli response will be delivered (MAAN)

MORE PRISONERS JOIN HUNGER STRIKE IN ITS 12TH DAY
The prisoner hunger strike, which entered its 12th day, saw up to 100 more prisoners joining the already 1,300 who have been on strike since April 17, including a group of prisoners in the Ofer Prison. According to press reports, up to 60 new prisoners in Ofer have joined the strike. A small group of prisoners entered their 63rd day of hunger strike, having begun long before their fellow inmates in protest of their administrative detention. According to Prisoner Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqe, said the remaining prisoners who have not joined would do so on May 2 if Israeli authorities did not response to the prisoners’ demands. Qaraqe’ also denied reports of a prisoner on hunger strike dying in the Eishel prison yesterday, telling Maan News Agency that a criminal prisoner with Israeli citizenship hung himself inside his room. Meanwhile Israeli authorities continued their punitive measures against the prisoners on hunger strike. Yesterday, Israeli prison services put Leena Jarboui in solitary confinement in the Ramleh Prison after she began her hunger strike six days ago. Jarboui is the longest standing female prisoner from the city of Arabba inside the Green Line. According to her lawyer, Jarboui is being held in the civil prisoner section of the prison, which is he says is a “danger to her life”. Jarboui was sentenced to 17 life imprisonments and it’s a member of the Islamic Jihad. At present, Israeli prison authorities are holding between 12 and 20 prisoner leaders in solidarity confinement including PFLP secretary general Ahmad Saadat, Hamas military leaders Abdallah Bargouthi and Abbas Sayyed. They do not leave their cells except for one hour a day and remain handcuffed and shackled by the feet. Israeli guards wage daily inspection raids of the rooms to look for cell phones. As for the prisoners who have been on hunger strike for 63 days, their lawyers say they are in a state of total exhaustion and could face sudden death at any minute. (http://international.daralhayat.com/internationalarticle/390172). In related news, a number of families expressed their concern over their imprisoned sons being transferred from one prison to another without their knowledge. One more prisoner, Mohammed Hillis has also been transferred to the Soroka hospital after his health took a severe turn for the worse after 12 days of hunger strike. Israeli authorities also continue to deny a number of hunger striking prisoners from visits by family and attorneys (Al Quds)

FATAH LEADER: SIX NEW MINISTERS ON THEIR WAY INTO FAYYAD’S GOVERNMENT
PLO Executive Committee member for Fatah Jamal Mheisen said today that the government reshuffle would most likely take place after President Abbas returns from this Arab tour in which he is visiting Tunisia and Libya. According to Mheisen, the new ministers could reach up to six saying the last word goes back to the President. He also said that the new government would be a caretaker government until Hamas allows for the CEC to do its work in the Gaza Strip after which a national unity government would be formed. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480510)


SHARQ AL AWSAT: REINFORCEMENT OF MESHAAL’S STATUS; ZAHHAR’S POPULARITY DROPPED IN HAMAS ELECTIONS WHICH SHOWS NEW PUSH TOWARDS RECONCILIATION
According to an informed source, a meeting of Hamas leaders from inside and abroad will take place within the next two days in Egypt to discuss the Shura election in Gaza and the fate of elections in the West Bank in addition to the reconciliation with Fatah. According to Al Sharq Al Awsat on Saturday, a number of leaders, including oppositionist Mahmoud Zahhar would attend the meeting with Khaled Meshaal and his deputy Mousa Abu Marzouq. According to the source, the election results in Gaza which endorsed the position of Meshaal, will be a deciding factor in a number of files including the reconciliation, adding that the endorsement meant that the reconciliation would be addressed seriously now. The sources said Zahhar, who is an opponent of the Doha Agreement, is said to have received the lowest number of votes in the recent Hamas elections and only won a place after Abu Marzouq personally intervened. (Al Quds). Meanwhile, Meshaal met yesterday with the head of Egyptian intelligence Murad Moafi and spoke about the reconciliation, reconstruction of Gaza and the prisoner strike. (Al Ayyam)

PALESTINIAN INDEPENDENET FIGURES LAUNCHE NEW INITIATIVE TO PUSH NATIONAL RECONCILIATION FORWARD
In a press release, independent Palestinian figures announced the launch of a new initiative to push the process of national reconciliation forward within a framework of preserving our national rights. The figures called for the immediate implementation of the reconciliation files so as to support the prisoners and their hunger strike and also out of loyalty for our martyrs and wounded. The statement said the initiative started with the CEC being allowed to begin voter registration in the West Bank and Gaza by May 15 and for no more than a month. The initiative also called for holding a comprehensive national meeting to decide on the date for presidential, PLC and PNC elections stressing on the necessity for these elections to also be held in east Jerusalem, saying if Israel refused to allow this, it could be done through electronic voting. (Al Quds)

THE PA URGES ARAB COUNTRIES, US, TO FULFILL THEIR FINANCIAL PROMISES TO SECURE SALARIES
Yesterday the PA urged the United States to expedite the transfer of financial assistance which President Obamas decided to release. It also called on the Arab countries to fulfill the promised financial obligations about providing employee salaries. Cabinet secretary general Naim Abul Hummous welcomed Obama’s decision, saying the American aid reaches $200 million a year, most of which goes to infrastructure development projects. Economic analyst Dr. Nasr Abdel Karim said that while the US funds were ‘small and would not solve the crisis” it would still help in solving part of the problem “at a time when the PA needs every dollar”. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)


Prison Services propose solutions to end solitary confinement
Al Ahrar Center for prisoners and human rights said yesterday that a breakthrough has taken place in the position of Israeli prison services which used to completely refuse discussing the issue of ending solitary confinement on Palestinian prisoners. it used to say that this was a ‘red line” related to Israeli national security, according to its intelligence services.
However, head of the center, Fouad Khafash said a concession of some kind was made by an Israeli intelligence chief in one of the prisons who proposed a compromise in order to end the hunger strike. He said he would demand that all isolated prisoners be put into one section on condition that they promise not to intervene in any activities outside of prison.
Khafash said the proposition was rejected by the prisoners, who said they would not accept partial solutions and that ending solitary confinement was a right guaranteed by international law. The strike’s leadership said they would not end the hunger strike until all prisoners are released from solitary confinement without conditions.
Khafash said that the compromise nevertheless constituted a breakthrough in terms of Israel’s ‘no’s’ given that they used to refuse even to discuss the issue. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480521)

Armed robbery on money delivery truck for the Jerusalem cigarette company
Unidentified armed men carried out an armed robbery against a money delivery truck belonging to the Jerusalem cigarette company at noon today in Abu Dis near Jerusalem. According to Maan sources,  a group of armed and masked men in a private car intercepted the truck in Abu Dis in front of the PLC headquarters right after it left the company and most likely on its way to the bank. The thieves stole all the money in the truck, which was estimated at hundreds of thousands of shekels before escaping. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480646)




Armed robbery on money delivery truck for the Jerusalem cigarette company
Unidentified armed men carried out an armed robbery against a money delivery truck belonging to the Jerusalem cigarette company at noon today in Abu Dis near Jerusalem. According to Maan sources,  a group of armed and masked men in a private car intercepted the truck in Abu Dis in front of the PLC headquarters right after it left the company and most likely on its way to the bank. The thieves stole all the money in the truck, which was estimated at hundreds of thousands of shekels before escaping. (http://maannews.net/arb/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=480646)


Headlines

*Al Riyad closes its embassy in Cairo and summons its ambassador after anti-Saudi demonstrations on the backdrop of the detention of an Egyptian rights activist (Al Quds)
*Bank of Palestine’s general assembly agrees to distribute shares valued at $23 million among shareholders (Al Quds)
*United States spreads out a number of ghost planes in Abu Dhabi (Al Quds)
*Occupation forces open fire at farmers east of Qarara (Al Quds)
*Abbas and Hawatmeh reconfirm the internationalization of national rights by going to UN for recognition of Palestine (Al Quds)
*The President: we are determined to remain steadfast, establish our state and achieve reconciliation (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Peres: Israel is obligated to immediately come out with a peace initiative with the Palestinians (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Hajja Latifa Abu Hmeid, who is on hunger strike in solidarity with sons: Without my children I would be a body without a soul (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Prisoner Affairs Ministry: deterioration of health conditions of Ashraf Dharee’ and Ahmad Samara (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Israeli ministers criticize Diskin on statements he made saying that Netanyahu and Barak are unable to lead Israel (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Residents of Nabi Samuel are prisoners in their isolated village (Al Hayat Al Jadida)
*Cairo moves quickly to save its relationship with Saudi Arabia after Riyad closes its embassy and consulates in Egypt (Al Ayyam)
*Kadima joins efforts by Labor and Mertez to push up Knesset elections (Al Ayyam)
*Cracks increase in Assad forces and violent battles in Damascus countryside, Al Lathiqiya and Idlib (Al Ayyam)
*Four activists injured in anti-wall demonstration in Beit Ummar (Al Ayyam)

Front Page Photos

Al-Quds: Tunis: President Mahmoud Abbas and his Tunisian counterpart Munsif Marzouqi
Al-Ayyam:  1) Tight security on Saudi embassy in Cairo after demonstrations organized in front of  it; 2) Marzouqi shakes hands with Abbas upon his arrival to Tunisia; 3) Fayyad speaks to participants in march  for safe educational climate; 4) Citizens prays in the Nabi Samuel split between Muslims and observant Jews
Al-Hayat Al-Jadida:  1) Abbas and Marzouqi received by honor guard; 2) Children light candles around pictures of a  prisoner during solidarity activities in Gaza; 3) Panoramic view of Nabi Samuel village

Voice of Palestine Interviews

*Arab MK Talab Al Sane’ on the Israeli Praver plan in the Negev Desert
Q:Are Israeli authorities still insisting on carrying out this plan?

Yes, they are escalating it in terms of legislation. There is now a draft law in the Knesset and also at the level of government action – it set up a police unit to demolish homes and erase the so-called “unrecognized” Arab villages. These villages were there before the establishment of the State of Israel; we are talking about 36 Arab villages in the Negev desert in which 60,000 Arab residents live in over 20,000 homes threatened with demolition.  Furthermore, this plan is aimed at annihilating whatever is left of Arab land in the area. We are talking about 850,000 dunams of land which they want to control. They have already laid their hands on half a million dunams of this land and now want to confiscate the rest.

Q: Do you think this draft law will be passed in the Knesset?
If it is passed, this will be another Catastrophe for the Arabs of the Negev. It is a threat to the Arab existence in the Negev. The issue has become an existential one: to be or not to be, in the Negev. We are insisting on “being” there and we formed a higher committee to combat this plan. There was a decision made yesterday for a general strike in the Negev on May 17 and there will be a demonstration in front of the justice ministry to expose them in how they have double standards in their dealings with Arab citizens. We completely reject this.

Q: What is the alternative to this plan?
The alternative is for them to fully and unexceptionally recognize the 36 villages, which meet all the requirements for state recognition of them according to law. The Arab Palestinians constitute one-third of the population of the Negev. We are demanding only 6% of the land in the Negev, so this is a just demand and it is our right. We want recognition of the villages and our ownership rights and a halt to home demolitions. This is happening because they are Arabs, not for any other reason.

**Dr. Naim Abul Hummous, secretary general of the Cabinet, on the call for ratifying the minimum wage system
Q:On the eve of Labor Day, there is talk from the government that the minimum wage system will be adopted. Will this happen in the next few day?

The government is committed to what it said about determining minimum wage. It formed a committee of more than 20 institutions and unions and headed by the labor ministry. This committee has already presented a study before the cabinet on the living conditions and poverty and ways to calculate wages. We are continuously working on this issue until we are ready to present it to the Cabinet which will take the suitable decision.

Q:There are charges that the government does not want to ratify the minimum wage system because this will affect it and have to raise the salaries of a large number of PA employees. Is this true?
This is not true because it does not include government employees but employees in the industry and economic sectors. The government does not have any employees under the minimum wage. Also, the government is serious about this. if it was not it wouldn’t have formed such a broad-based committee. We would also like to say that this is the first time this issue is addressed in Palestine, which means it needs studies and cross sectioning with companies and businessmen, to see how this will affect them but at the same time we want to guarantee laborers their full rights and not just their wages.

Q: Last month, the PA was in financial crisis; should we expect the same thing this month and will salaries be late?
The financial situation has been difficult not just from last month but from 2011. Since then, millions of dollars have been transferred to the 2012 budget which we could not pay in 2011. At the same time, the major reason for this is the lack of financial assistance reaching us, which was promised to us. As long as these funds have not reached us, this may reflect on the salaries in any given month. Until now, there are not clear indications that money is incoming to support the budget.

**Head of the Prisoners’ Society Qaddoura Fares, on the ongoing hunger strike in prisons
Q: It seems as if the hunger strikers have increased over the past two days
This is true. Today, around 80 prisoners from the Ofer Prison will join the strike. There will be more prisoners on Tuesday that will join, especially since prison authorities are stalling in offering their responses to the prisoners’ demands. May 2 will be decisive because the authorities are supposed to give their responses. If they are positive, the strike would have achieved its major goals. But if they are negative, the strike will only grow.

Q: Are there any contacts by the leadership or the prisoner ministry regarding the demands of the prisoners?
As for the PA, from the first day of the strike, it handed Netanyahu a list of demands that came from the prisons; Saeb Erekat has been mandated to follow the strike closely but until now there have been no results. As for the Society, we have no contacts with the Israeli side. This is not our function. As for the ministry, because of Netanyahu’s policies, there is a kind of boycott by ministries of dealing with the Israeli side.

Q: Is there any news about the sick prisoners, especially Bilal Diab and Thaer Halahleh?
These two prisoners have entered their 62nd day of hunger strike, so their condition is very dangerous. At any minute either could die. I hope I will be able to visit them today and I will know more about their health condition. Yesterday, prisoner Mohammed Hillis was moved to the Soroka Hospital and we heard he was taken into surgery last night. He has been on strike for 12 days but we don’t know why he needed surgery.

Arab Press

Israeli-Iranian secret war
by Musa Keilani

Israel’s military chief of staff, Major-General Benny Gantz, has contradicted a report about the country’s super-secret agency Mossad by disclosing that the Israeli military has dramatically increased the number of covert operations against “enemy countries” across the world.

“You almost won’t find a point in time where something isn’t happening somewhere in the world,” Gantz said in an interview published in Israel’s Yedioth Ahronoth daily last week.

“I am escalating all those special operations.”

One would not have expected Gantz to give details and he did not. His disclosure of stepped-up Israeli covert operations is in stark contrast to reports that Mossad was said to have scaled back its assassination campaigns against Iranian nuclear scientists at the order of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, what was said to fear that the operations might “go awry”.

Well, Netanyahu should know. He had first-hand experience, as an Israeli prime minister, when a Mossad operation gets bust.

It was Netanyahu, as is the Israeli custom, who, as prime minister, authorised the failed 1998 attempt against Hamas leader Khaled Mishaal in Amman. The plot blew up in his face when the two Mossad agents who were carrying forged passports were caught. At the time, King Hussein skilfully negotiated the delivery of an antidote for the poison that was administered to Mishaal in return for the release of the undercover agents. In the bargain, King Hussein also secured the release of Hamas leader Ahmad Yassin from Israeli detention (Yassin was killed in an Israeli “targeted” assassination later on).

Yet another Mossad blunder came when, under Netanyahu’s premiership in January 2010, closed circuit television footage and false passports exposed that Mossad agents were present in a Dubai hotel where Hamas leader Mahmoud Al Mabhouh was found murdered.

Time magazine reported last month that Mossad had scaled down covert operations inside Iran by “dozens of per cent” in recent months, in a campaign to disable or delay the Iranian nuclear programme.

“The reduction runs across a wide spectrum of operations, cutting back not only alleged high-profile missions such as assassinations and detonations at Iranian missile bases, but also efforts to gather firsthand on-the-ground intelligence and recruit spies inside the Iranian programme,” according to Israeli security officials quoted by Time.

No country other than Israel ever boasts with its covert intelligence-related activities, let alone state-sponsored assassinations. Of course, Israel never issues any official statements on such operations, except an occasional and implicit denial when it suits it. However, comments by unnamed officials clearly indicated Mossad’s involvement in many assassinations of “Israel’s enemies” in foreign lands.

Former Mossad director Meir Amit said: “We are like the official hangman or the doctor on death row who administers the lethal injection. Our actions are all endorsed by the state of Israel. When Mossad kills it is not breaking the law. It is fulfilling a sentence sanctioned by the prime minister of the day.”

An Iranian Mossad agent, Majid Jamali Fashid, confessed on Iranian television that the Israeli agency was behind the January 2010 killing of nuclear scientist Massoud Ali Mohammedi. Confirming that the confession was genuine, Israeli officials told Time that an unnamed third country was behind exposing the Mossad cell in Iran.

At the time, the confession did not make waves because of Iran’s routine of blaming anything and everything that goes wrong on “foreign powers”.

In January this year, Iranian nuclear scientist Mostafa Ahmadi-Roshan was killed. In an unusual move, the United States “categorically” denied involvement in the death and issued a condemnation. That approach pointed the finger at Israel, which was furious because it thought that the US should not have issued such a statement.

Israel was said to be responsible for a November 2011 explosion at a missile base outside Tehran, which also claimed the life of the commander of Iran’s missile programme.

Iran has been trying to hit back. It is suspected of having been behind recent foiled plots against Israeli targets in Thailand, Azerbaijan, Singapore and Georgia.

Indian officials blamed Iran for an attack in New Delhi, where the wife of an Israeli diplomat was injured by a magnetic bomb attached to her car. It was the modus operandi seen in the killings of Iranian scientists.

When Israeli’s military chief says that Mossad is involved in “something... happening somewhere in the world” all the time, one had better believe him. (http://jordantimes.com/israeli-iranian-secret-war)

Opinions

Crisis of unemployed university students rises in Gaza
By Saleh Al Naami

After a little argument, Ahmad Masri, 24 was forced to backtrack in his cab by about half a kilometer on Al Wihda Street after he had already reached Omar Al Mukhtar Street. He didn’t want to get into a futile argument with the passenger who claimed he had agreed with him to get down at a certain place on Al Wihda Street.

Ahmad took a deep breath and hoped for patience; he had lost seven minutes of his time which means he lost gas money in light of the lack of gas in the Gaza Strip. The passenger insists he asked to be dropped at a certain place even though the other passengers were sure he asked to be dropped on Omar Al Mukhar Street.

This behavior is untypical of cabdrivers in the Gaza Strip, who insist on dropping their passengers in places they agreed on beforehand. However, Ahmad is a university graduate who found no other job to make a living out of. He told Al Sharq al Awsat that he could never take on the attitude of the other cab drivers.

Ahmad is one of thousands of university graduates in the Gaza Strip who are forced to make a living through working jobs that are not in their field because those jobs are just not available. No doubt, Ahmad is luckier than most, including Sami, 26, from Rafah. Sami finished his university education in engineering and has not found any work save for inside the smuggling tunnels that link the Gaza Strip with Egypt. He works in electricity line maintenance inside the tunnels.

Sami says working in the tunnels is the only way he can secure a few hundred dollars a month because the other choice is to stay unemployed at home. The local market is unable to absorb the hundreds of graduates from the engineering department. Sami understands well the dangers of his job. The tunnels are often subject to Israeli air strikes which sometimes drop one-ton bombs on them. Also, the rainy climate in winter leads to sand slides which contribute to the destruction of many tunnels. This is in addition to all the other technical problems that could happen in the tunnels, which could result in a fire or suffocation. Still, he has no other job or opportunity, no alternative.

University students take on an array of jobs in the Gaza Strip when they cannot find employment in their field. They set up stalls that sell vegetables, closes and cosmetics. They even become movers, taking goods from one place to another on their tuk-tuks (drawn carts).

Recently, approximately 26,000 graduates took the teaching exam required by the education ministry even though there were only 400 job openings available.

Given the crisis of unemployed university students in Gaza, which has turned into an obsession with so many families, the prime minister of the deposed government Ismail Haniyeh spoke of his government’s efforts to solve the problem. He said the siege on Gaza for the past five years has deprived many university students from competing over public positions and getting jobs suitable to their university degrees. In a press conference at the end of last week, Haniyeh said the number of university students in the Gaza Strip was high calling for a “gift from the Arab countries to help the Palestinians there and strengthen their steadfastness.” He said during his most recent tour to Arab countries, he spoke to leaders about the need to absorb the large number of university students, saying while he received positive responses from them, the promises needed decisions to be put into action. (http://www.aawsat.com/print.asp?did=674956&issueno=12206)


Almost nothing
By Mahmoud Abul Hayja’

The political horizon does not look promising – not just here but just about everywhere else too because the ‘empire’ is busy with its elections year. Of course I am talking about the United States. There are also those who are saying that some Arab countries will have a ‘hot summer” within the context of the Arab Spring. I personally don’t see this happening. There is nothing ‘hot’ that could happen at this moment except for our wrenched hearts. The reason, I believe is that the sparks that ignite, if you will, will also be busy with election year. There is no point in “heating things up’ for free, where the executed may become the executioner!

Of course, after the experience of the Egyptian Spring, it is clear that understandings are necessary with the empire in order for the Spring to blossom with the flowers of acceptance and obedience.

After the Palestinian revolution exited from Lebanon in 1982, our poet laureate Mahmoud Darwish – may he rest in peace – wrote in one of his most famous poems, “In Praise of the High Shadow”: “Beirut offered her obedience and became a capital”, the metaphor being very clear.

Even in the Syrian situation, the hot blood was not enough to ignite a huge flame because this blood has become a number, a statistic in a news bulletin. And these numbers can no longer compete with shows such as Arabs Got Talent for example. This is because no one knows for sure what the powers on the Syrian front want – not the Syrian revolution or the Syrian regime.

The only thing possible this summer is, simply put, nothing. Even if things seems to be happening here and there, everything boils down to a will for real change which is still absent among the nation and its political and social forces. (Al Hayat Al Jadida)

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