NST article on Syria,what to believe now?
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COMMENT: Syria, target of the West yet again
Chandra Muzaffar
ONCE again, Syria is being blamed. This time it is accused of instigating and engineering the fighting in the Nahr el-Bared Palestinian refugee camp.
A segment of the mainstream Western media — whose views are echoed all over the world — alleges that Syrian intelligence has chosen to pit a militant group, the Fatah al-Islam, against the Lebanese army in order to prevent the international tribunal charged with investigating the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafiq Hariri on Feb 14, 2005 from carrying out its work.
This is utterly ludicrous. Fatah Al-Islam is a splinter group that broke away from the Fatah Al-Intifada in November last year and is ideologically orientated towards al-Qaeda.
Its leader, Shaker Abssi, was once imprisoned by Syrian authorities for smuggling arms to Jordan. He is still on the Syrian wanted list.
Independent analysts point out that groups like Fatah Al-Islam are sponsored and supported by wealthy, politically influential individuals in the Lebanese establishment who in turn are linked to certain Saudi personalities who share their goal of using militant Sunnis to weaken the Shia Hizbollah, LebanonÂ’s most powerful peopleÂ’s movement.
Sunni elements in Beirut, Riyadh, Amman and a number of other Arab capitals have become obsessed with this goal in the wake of the rising popularity of the Hizbollah among both Shia and Sunni communities throughout the Arab and Muslim world largely because of its ability to thwart Israeli aggression against Lebanon in the 34-day war in July-August 2006.
Needless to say, Washington and Tel Aviv also see the containment of Hizbollah as a vital component of WashingtonÂ’s strategy to ensure its control and dominance over the Middle East.
As the respected investigative journalist Seymour Hersh opines, Washington is prepared to manipulate militant Sunni groups for this purpose. This explains why the media is so willing to camouflage the role of Sunni militants by scapegoating Syria.
Even in the Hariri murder, the media and Western governments immediately pointed their finger at Damascus.
To this day, they have not been able to furnish hard, direct evidence of DamascusÂ’ involvement.
The murder ignited mass demonstrations that led to the expulsion of the Syrian army from Lebanon.
This was what Israel and the US wanted. In fact, the neo-conservatives (neo-cons) had all along pushed for SyriaÂ’s expulsion from Lebanon as part of their larger plan to create a "new Middle East".
Why, one should ask, is Syria targeted in this manner? The primary reasons are linked to Israeli interests in the Middle East.
Syria has been one of the staunchest supporters of the Palestinian cause.
For Syria it is not just rhetoric.
Syria has for decades served as the hospitable home for a whole variety of Palestinian liberation forces opposed to Israel, ranging from George HabashÂ’s secular Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine to Khalil MeshalÂ’s Hamas.
Besides, Syria will not concede to Israel on the question of the full and unconditional return of the whole of the Golan Heights to Syria.
Because Syria will neither sacrifice the rights of the Palestinian people nor surrender to Israeli insolence, it has earned the wrath of the US, Israel’s patron and protector — and that segment of the media that serves their interests.
By criticising the vilification of Syria one is not exonerating the Syrian government of its misdeeds.
From the time of Hafez AssadÂ’s presidency, there has been widespread political suppression. Dissent has been curbed and controlled. As in other authoritarian societies, political accountability has yet to emerge as a social norm.
Nonetheless, the constant smearing of SyriaÂ’s image has created a situation where even its friends and sympathisers abroad are not aware of some of its stupendous achievements.
Three of these will be highlighted here.
One, whatever one may say of SyriaÂ’s involvement in Lebanese politics from the 1970s onwards, it was instrumental in ending a bloody civil war, restoring peace and stability and rebuilding some of the institutions of governance that functioned reasonably well until recently.
Two, Syria, often accused of harbouring terrorists, is the one nation in the region that has provided shelter to millions of refugees from neighbouring countries.
Today, it feeds one million Iraqi refugees, victims of the US-led occupation of their land.
Since 1948, Syria has looked after almost a million Palestinian refugees, victims of IsraelÂ’s policy of ethnic cleansing.
For a while, in the midst of IsraelÂ’s 34-day onslaught upon Lebanon, it protected more than 300,000 Lebanese who had fled their homes.
Three, despite the tremendous pressure exerted upon various states in the Middle East in recent years by Washington and Tel Aviv as they pursue their diabolical agenda of re-shaping the Middle East to guarantee their long-term hegemony, Damascus has stood its ground and refused to yield.
It is not prepared to barter the sovereignty of the nation or the dignity of its people for meagre crumbs from the banquet table of the superpower and its ally.
Syria is one of the few states in the Middle East that has adopted such a principled position which, there is no need to emphasise, reflects the feelings of the people.
Much of the credit for this should go to not only the late Hafez Assad but also to his young son Bashar, who has displayed courage and integrity in grappling with the challenges confronting his nation.
In my one-on-one meeting with him in Damascus in early May, I was impressed by his lucid grasp of international politics and his clear understanding of what was at stake for Syria and its neighbours in the "new Middle East".
These three achievements aside, Syria can be justifiably proud of its inter-religious harmony.
With a 74 per cent Sunni population that combines with other Muslim communities such as the Alawite and the Druze who constitute 16 per cent of the total, and a 10 per cent Christian minority, Syria is a country where religious affiliation has little significance to public life.
Christian worshippers, for instance, move in and out of the illustrious Ummayyad Mosque which houses the shrine of John the Baptist (the Prophet Yahya to Muslims).
SyriaÂ’s growth rate has risen steadily to 5.7 per cent in 2006 from less than one per cent in 2000.
At the same time, unemployment has decreased to 8.7 per cent in 2006 from 20 per cent in 2000.
However, more than the economy, what really impacted upon me was the helpful nature of the people; their generosity and kindness.
Civility and courtesy are the hallmark of the Syrian.
There is, at the same time, a profound pride among Syrians in their nation and its long and magnificent history.
It is this pride, and the sense of dignity that accompanies it, which will ensure that in spite of all the dangers that lie ahead, Syria will survive — and thrive.
Dr Chandra Muzaffar is president of the International Movement for a Just World (JUST)
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so which side of the story u believe ?
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The Middle East is not a place to see things from the Uniquely Singaporean pov. I hope our officials better realise that.
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Let's put it this way, there are people who are willing to abuse the notion of "Muslim Brotherhood" for their own ends.
And there are people who like to be idiots and want to be idiots for its own sake for stupid reasons such as power.
This doctor, I suspect, isn't too naive to believe what he himself says, but it is entirely possible, he is just ignorant.
Whatever it is, he can just STFU. -
Salaam,
[quote]
Fatah al-Islam had support from US, claims Hersh
Fatah al-Islam, the militant Sunni group that has been fighting with the Lebanese army since Sunday was actually supported by the Lebanese government in the past, claimed investigative reporter Seymour Hersh.
Hersh, in an interview on CNN International's “Your World Today,” said that according to an agreement between U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney, Deputy National Security Advisor Elliot Abrams and Prince Bandar bin Sultan, the Saudi national security adviser, the Saudi regime was to “covertly fund the Sunni Fatah al-Islam” as a counterweight to the Shiite Hezbollah.
Accusing the White House of “no longer acting rationally,” Hersh said: “We're in the business of supporting the Sunnis anywhere we can against the Shiite … We're in the business of creating ... sectarian violence."
The support to Fatah al-Islam was given “to stop the spread of the Shiite world,” he claimed, adding that now this policy has “bit us in the rear.”
Hersh had reported in March that the Lebanese government was giving support to Fatah al-Islam, in order to defeat Hezbollah.
Hersh's claim runs counter to accusations from pro-government circles in Lebanon that the obscure group is “supported by Syria,” and the latest violence was instigated to stop the creation of an international tribunal that would try the killers of Rafik Hariri, the former Lebanese Prime Minister.
“This was a covert operation that [Prince] Bandar ran with us,” the investigative reporter said. “You know, we got into the war in Afghanistan with supporting Osama bin Laden back in the late 1980s with Bandar and with people like Elliott Abrams around, the idea being that the Saudis promised us they could control … the jihadists.”
Hersh noted that when he was in Beirut, he “talked to officials who acknowledged the reason they were tolerating the radical jihadist groups was because they were seen as a protection against Hezbollah.”[/color]
The video
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlIzWg6P5fU&feature=PlayList&p=980F347E58136B38&index=10
Look into history and see how much the US goverment actually support coutnerweight.
Proxy groups are the soul for secratarian goverment. -
journalists are really great especially those who risk their lives in the danger zone to cover the the news.
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Trudy Rubin: Syria's smoke screen
Published 12:00 am PDT Wednesday, June 13, 2007
JERUSALEM -- With prospects for peace talks with the Palestinians looking dim, the talk of this town is whether Israel should start talks with the Syrian regime.
Israel's Yedioth Ahronoth newspaper reported last week that Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz was off to Washington to seek America's blessing for a secret channel to explore peace talks with Damascus.
The Bush administration, which wants to isolate Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, has been cool to this idea. After talks with Condoleezza Rice, Mofaz backtracked, saying Israel wanted to give greater priority to peace with the Palestinians.
That's not what one hears from government sources here.
Israeli officials and intelligence experts downplay any expectations on the Palestinian front. But they're actively debating whether to try the Syrian option -- again.
The prospects are tantalizing but uncertain. Assad, who is allied with Iran and a key supporter of Hezbollah, has been openly proposing peace talks.
Some Israeli experts believe the Syrian leader wants to one-up his more famous father, Hafez al-Assad, by achieving the return of the Golan Heights, lost to Israel in 1967. The younger Assad may also be driven by the fact that Syria's oil fields will dry up in the next decade, leaving the country in dire need of more foreign investment.
What makes the debate so intense is that no one is certain of Assad's motives. He may be trying, as Washington fears, to distract attention from an international tribunal trying to discover who killed former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri. A U.N. investigation has pointed the finger at the Syrian regime.
Or Assad may be aiming to divert attention from a Syrian military build-up. Israeli officials say Assad signed a memorandum of understanding with Iran in June 2006 in which Iran agreed to fund major arms purchases from Russia. Israeli news sources have reported a Syrian troop and missile build-up along the border. Assad has hinted that Syria might use force if diplomacy didn't retrieve the Golan.
"Is Assad ready for peace?" one senior government analyst asked me rhetorically. "We don't have a long-term answer. We aren't interested in negotiations which give him a cover for a military build-up." Indeed, the Israeli military has been leaking dire predictions to the media of possible war with Syria this summer. One scenario predicts that Assad -- inspired by Hezbollah's war against Israeli civilians -- might stage a terror attack on Israeli settlements on the Golan. Then, this scenario continues, the Syrian leader could use his bulked-up military to dissuade Israel from mounting a reprisal.
The media speculation about imminent conflict grew so heated that Prime Minister Ehud Olmert felt compelled last week to insist that "Israel does not want war with Syria." He also warned against miscalculations that might provoke a war.
And still, the tantalizing talk of peace negotiations with Syria continues, embraced by politicians across Israel's political spectrum.
Some cautions are in order.
First, all the publicity about a secret channel makes one wonder how it could remain secret. Consider the story told me by former Likud Deputy Prime Minister Silvan Shalom about a previous back channel to Syria. In 2003, soon after the Iraq invasion, Shalom sent an envoy, Eitan Ben Tsur, to Amman to meet the Syrian president's sister, brother, and brother-in-law. News of the meeting leaked, however, and Damascus denied it. Subsequently, Iran became Syria's protector, and all peace bets were off.
Second, before embarking on a Syria option, Israel should be sure it is ready to pay the price Assad would surely be asking. Israel has come close before to a deal with Syria, but the sticking point always has been the demand for the return of every inch of the Golan.
Last, and perhaps most important, the Syria option shouldn't become an excuse for evading talks on the Palestinian issue. The Israeli government has shown little interest in the Arab Peace Initiative, promoted by Saudi Arabia, which proposes that all Arab states normalize relations with Israel in return for a withdrawal to 1967 borders. If Israel's government wants changes to the Arab plan, especially the vague language on return of Palestinian refugees, it should offer a counter-proposal.
At a time when Palestinian institutions are collapsing, and creating a dangerous vacuum, it is crucial that Israel focus on the Palestinian issue. The Arab Initiative is too important to dismiss without more serious exploration. Check out Assad's offer by all means, but not at the expense of the problem that concerns Israelis most.
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chinese idom 'si mian chu ge' fit just nice for Israel.