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-- an Aish.com video
This year Holocaust Remembrance Day was observed on May 1, 2011.
Memorial Day will be observed May 9, 2011.
And Israel's Independence Day will be celebrated on May 11, 2011, marking the Declaration of Independence of the State of Israel in 1948.
-- Politicarp for refWrite
Reporter for Ha'aretz, Israel's left liberal self-anointed élite, Yossi Verter, says of the immediately current situation, "In terms of results, the construction freeze was a failure - it delayed the Palestinians' entrance into talks and may end negotiations completely."
-- Politicarp
International Herald Tribune, an English language edition published in Paris, carries a report by Hassan M. Fattah, "Pelosi meets Syrian president despite Bush criticism" (Apr4,2k7). In her representations, Pelosi conveyed a new ambiguity in the official American view, having stopped off in Israel first and bringing to Prez Assad of Syria the impression that Israel was softening on the issue of Israeli-Syrian peace talks in future. Israeli Prime Minister Olmert had to put a statement on his website to correct Pelosi's misrepresentation by ambiguation:
"The prime minister emphasized that although Israel is interested in peace with Syria, that country continues to be part of the axis of evil and a force that encourages terror in the entire Middle East," the statement said.Picking up after Pelosi's mess and after her elbowing out the constitutional role of the President and the Secretary of State (in this case of course Mdme Condoleeza Rice), Pelosi attempted to take over USA foreign policy and diplomacy. Why Pelosi arrogates this extra-constitutional role to herself is not motivated by any clear interest of the USA, nor for that matter, of Israel. In one stroke, Pelosi anointed herself Queen of Congressional meddling. Needless to say, the manoeuvre did not please Prez Bush.
It went on to list several preconditions for talks.
"In order to conduct serious and genuine peace negotiations, Syria must cease its support of terror, cease its sponsoring of the Hamas and Islamic Jihad organizations, refrain from providing weapons to Hezbollah and bringing about the destabilizing of Lebanon, cease its support of terror in Iraq, and relinquish the strategic ties it is building with the extremist regime in Iran," the statement said.
DAMASCUS: Nancy Pelosi, speaker of the House of Representatives, met here Wednesday with President Bashar al-Assad and discussed the situations in Iraq and Lebanon and the prospect for peace talks between Syria and Israel.A Canadian mag's online website, Maisonneuve in an article by mediascout Philip Trencer in his typically twisted way, remains all too apt with a telling metaphor:
Pelosi, the third-ranking elected official in the United States after the president and the vice president, is the most senior American politician to visit the country since relations between the United States and Syria faltered in 2003. Her visit has been criticized by President George W. Bush and other administration officials, who have sought to isolate Syria diplomatically.
The visit is being seen as a strong signal of re-engagement with Syria by the United States, and appears to have raised the profile of Assad internationally. But it remains unclear how the development is being received by other countries in the Middle East that have uneasy relations with Syria.
The legislative branch of the US government is in revolt against the executive branch, and the rebellion is playing out today in Damascus, where House Majority Leader Nancy Pelosi is to meet with Syrian President Bashar Assad, in a flagrant and very symbolic repudiation of the White House’s hardline stance against a government accused of backing the Hamas and Hezbollah militant groups.NorthAmerica/MidEast > USA/Israel/Syria
President George W. Bush, well known by now for his administration’s resistance to diplomatic relations with antagonistic countries, pulled no punches in his criticism of Pelosi’s move. The visit will “lead the Assad government to believe they’re part of the mainstream of the international community, when in fact they are a state sponsor of terror,” he told a press conference in the Rose Garden yesterday. Senate Democratic Leader Harry Reid shot back, saying Bush “should become in tune with the fact that he is the president of the United States, not the king of the United States, and he has another branch of government … to deal with.” Meanwhile, Pelosi, who in Damascus yesterday shunned her usual business-suit look in favour of a flower-patterned head scarf and black abaya robe, said the visit was meant to “hopefully build some confidence” between Syria and the US.If Trencer had originated the metaphor, I may not have paused to reflect as deeply as I have attempted; but Trencer's metaphor originates with US Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid, like Nancy Pelosi over in the House, Democrats both, both now sitting in the catbirds' seats. Reid has a sl+t edge over Pelosi as to constitionality. The US Constitution mandates the Senate to advise and consent to the Executive branch's initiatives on Foreign Policy, but not to control it. Reid, too, in my judgment verbally overstepped the Senate's role. And, of course, there's quite a difference between a strong Presidency as provided by the US Constitution and the world's kings (being a king does not determine political powers in all monarchies, as in the case of Her Majesty, Canada's Queen, Elizabeth II.
Pelosi’s trip can be interpreted as either a symbolic rejection of Bush White House policy, or an attempt by Congress to launch its own foreign policy, or both.
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Britain-based blogger Celal's Icarus Redeemed carried the following entry on Sep8,2k6, replete with the personal circumstance of discovering an old news item dated back to Jun2,2k6, some 6 weeks before the outbreak of the Hizbullah War caused by the political vacuum created by the uxurious and decrepit Lebanese state at the time. In the quotation the bracketted matter is mostly Celal's, but I interspered two of my own items, signed "Politicarp" and then just "P".
MidEast > Israel / LebanonDid Israel give Lebanon full and fair warning of attacks? I keep a stack of old newsprint beside my bed to use to catch my whiskers when I trim my beard.
The other day, as I was tearing off the top few pages of newsprint for this purpose, I casually looked down and the article caught my eye. It happened to be the June 2nd edition of Jewish Chronicle. [This is Britain's leading Jewish newspaper, a 164-year-old enterprise; its website is accessible only by paid subscription. - Politicarp]
The news report was written by Joseph Millis, Foreign Editor of the paper. It's on page 9 . As I quote from that article bear in mind that the Israeli onslaught on Lebanon did not happen until July 12th:Israel this week warned Lebanon that the country would pay a "heavy price" if it allowed Hezbollah to continue to operate from the south of the country. The warning -- issued by a top military commander -- came after Israel responded with air strikes to a Katyusha rocket attack across the border on Sunday. (...) One of the rockets hit an Israeli Air Force installation on Mount Meiron, near Safed.
Thanks, Celal, for that timely repristination of a seemingly lost detail, as much of the mainstream press works already at historical revisionism, burying critical facts to one-sidedly blame Israel and the Israeli Defense Forces for "over-reacting" and "disproportionality." In the meantime, Hizbullah's chief honcho has acknowledged that his war provocations were a colossal mistake."We hope the message from our response [on Sunday] was understood correctly by the other side", Brigadier-General Gal Hirsch, the commander of the Galilee division, told reporters on Monday. (....) The fighting ended on Sunday afternoon after the Lebanese government requested via the UN a cease-fire with Israel. On Monday, senior officers revealed that prior to the Lebanese cease-fire request, Israel had threatened to bomb additional parts of Lebanon, including Beirut, and not just the southern part of the country controlled by Hezbollah. "We told them that we would expand our firing to other parts of the country", one senior officer told Jerusalem Post. "they understood very well what we meant". Last Wednesday - the [sixth] anniversary [of Israel's withdrawal from Lebanon] - the pro-Syrian Lebanese President Emile Lahoud [a Christian! - P] praised Hezbollah, saying it should "stay[ in place] until a just and comprehensive peace is achieved in the region". However, Lebanese Christian, Sunni Muslim and Druze groups were less enthusiastic about Hezbollah. "Firing rockets from South Lebanon is a violation of Lebanese sovereignty," the anti-Syrian March 14 Forces executive committee said in a statement. "There is a serious security vacuum in the area due to the lack of the government's control." [The group's] leaders include Sa'ad Hariri, the son of assassinated former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri, and Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader.
Israel's June 2 warning to Lebanon - Google Search (Sep8,2k6)
Lebanon failure to respond to June 2 warning
