Saturday
Jun192010
Middle East Inside Line: US & EU Back Israel on "Eased Blockade", Lebanon-Israeli Crisis?, Egypt's Manoeuvre, and More...
Saturday, June 19, 2010 at 7:10 
Two Powers Welcome Israel's Decision: The Obama Administration and the European Union have applauded West Jerusalem's announcement that it will ease its land blockade of the Gaza Strip. The White House called the decision a "step in the right direction". US State Department spokesman Mark Toner said the Obama administration was interested in seeing an "expansion of the scope and types of goods into Gaza...while addressing, obviously, Israel's legitimate security needs."Gaza Latest: Varied Reactions to Israel’s “Eased” Blockade
The European Union's foreign policy chief, Catherine Ashton, added:
Israel must make sure that many, many more goods can get in to Gaza. I look with great interest at what the Israeli cabinet is saying. This is an in-principle statement ... obviously the detail is what matters.
Former Spanish PM Sees Eye to Eye with Israel: Spain had summoned Israel's ambassador following the flotilla crisis. However, former Prime Minister José María Aznar announced that he plans to promote a new initiative called "Friends For Israel" comprised of journalists, philosophers, politicians, writers, and other figures.
According to Aznar, there is radical Islam on one side and Israel that is providing the Judeo-Christian-rooted West with its Jewish elements. Therefore he says, this initiative must defend Israel's right to exist, as "if Israel goes down, we all go down." He added:
Israel is our first line of defense in a turbulent region that is constantly at risk of descending into chaos... To abandon Israel to its fate, at this moment of all moments, would merely serve to illustrate how far we have sunk and how inexorable our decline now appears.
The real threats to regional stability are to be found in the rise of a radical Islamism which sees Israel’s destruction as the fulfillment of its religious destiny and, simultaneously in the case of Iran, as an expression of its ambitions for regional hegemony. Both phenomena are threats that affect not only Israel, but also the wider West and the world at large.
Aznar also criticized Turkey:
In the wake of the recent incident on board a ship full of anti-Israeli activists in the Mediterranean, it is hard to think of a more unpopular cause to champion. In an ideal world, no state, let alone a recent ally of Israel such as Turkey, would have sponsored and organized a flotilla whose sole purpose was to create an impossible situation for Israel: making it choose between giving up its security policy and the naval blockade, or risking the wrath of the world.
Lebanon-Israel Crisis Approaching?: Lebanon aid ship Miriam is set to sail to Gaza on Sunday. Israeli officials accused Hezbollah of being behind the mission; Hezbollah rejected the claim.
In response, Israel told the United Nations on Friday that this could "affect the peace and security of the region" and said it reserved its right to use "all necessary means" to stop the ships. Israel's ambassador to the UN, Gabriela Shalev, wrote:
It appears that a small number of ships plan to depart from Lebanon and sail to the Gaza Strip which is under the control of the Hamas terrorist regime while those who organize this action claim that they wish to break the blockade on Gaza and to bring humanitarian assistance to the people of Gaza, the true nature of the actions remains dubious.
Meanwhile, Israeli officials added the Turkish-based Foundation for Human Rights and Freedoms and Humanitarian Aid (IHH), the funders of the Freedom Flotilla, to its terror watch list.
Egypt Rejects Israel Demand on Iran Aid Ships: Cairo newspaper A-Dar reported Friday that Israel issued a request to Egypt to prevent aid ships from Iran reaching Gaza via the Suez Canal. However, Egyptian officials declined Israel's request on the grounds of the "requirements of international law" which makes it "not possible to prevent the passage of any ship through the canal".
Reader Comments (10)
[...] Middle East Inside Line: US & EU Back Israel οn “Eased Blockade … [...]
This will certainly put a new twist on "appearances of the Virgin Mary"! :-)
Some 30 Lebanese women activists and 20 Europeans have announced their intention to set sail aboard the Mariam, named after the Virgin Mary, carrying medical supplies in an attempt to break the Israeli blockade of Gaza.
"Our only weapons are faith in the Virgin Mary and in humanity," a spokesperson for the group, comprised of Muslim and Christian women, told Agence France-Presse.
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2010/06/lebanon-israel-politicians-trade-barbs-as-activists-prepare-to-set-sail-for-gaza.html" rel="nofollow">http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2...
I haven't looked from this angle. So, the "inter-faith" dialogue is used as an alternative motivation to a leftist or Islamist aid organisation.
Thank you Catherine.
And, we must remember, both Christians and Muslims believe in the Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus (Issa) and in the virgin birth .... and they both use prayer beads! This is going to be some crusade .... ;-)
(Sorry for being fascetious - I do take your comment seriously and I think you're on to something, but I just can't help myself sometimes.)
And, we must remember, both Christians and Muslims believe in the Virgin Mary as the mother of Jesus (Issa) and in the virgin birth .... and they both use prayer beads! This is going to be some crusade .... ;-)
********
So? Muslims believe in Jesus but only as a prophet, not as the son of God.
Non-Muslims should criticise Muslims for their unwillingness to address the culture fostered by their co-religionists which breed violence and death in our world in the name of Islam. I don't see how non-Muslims participating on these flotillas can do so with a clear conscience.
"Non-Muslims should criticise Muslims for their unwillingness to address the culture fostered by their co-religionists which breed violence and death in our world in the name of Islam. I don't see how non-Muslims participating on these flotillas can do so with a clear conscience."
There are millions of Muslims criticizing those who claim that the violence they are using is by God itself. So, I don't know what you exactly mean by "muslims"?
On the other hand, yes, there are million of Muslims who do not criticize those "Muslims" applying to violence and this is exactly a hypocrisy. However, if we are looking for a scape goat while knowing that no culture is taken as given unlike Huntington's "clash of civilizations", I would point out the main underlying reason of this violence and hypocrisy producing culture: The West's continious domination over these lands through exploitation of the surplus, imperialism and global capitalism's superstructural check & balance mechanisms.
@ Catherine: No need to be sorry. I am happy to try to answer your questions. Thank you...
To anyone who reads these comments,
My quip to Ali 3 comments above, followed a ;-) and referred to by me as being "facetious", but taken so dead seriously by Dave, was a JOKE. Mike - if you read this, we really need to have some way of enlarging the tongue-in-cheek ;-) and the smiling :-) signs!
:-)
Yes, it's always the callous West. It's the West's fault that that part of the world has coped badly with the challenges of globalisation and modernity. The Islamic peoples fear the loss of their cultural identity. Muslim nations also make a tiny contribution to scientific research. Christian missionaries exploit Western political and media influence so they can make in-roads into The House of Islam. Muslims see this as an act of aggression. It's not surprising that a search for a scapegoat would be the consequence of all of this. I believe this is what is fueling radicalism in Islam and the religious revival in the Muslim world over the last 30 years.
Christianity has grown exponentially in Africa over the past 100 years, especially after decolonisation (ironically enough). Evangelisation was financed with Western money. Muslims regard Africa as historically their sphere of cultural influence and that's why we are witnessing so much violence against Christians on that continent.
The Muslim world is lashing out.
Sorry, but Belgium was snubbed first:
http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Israel-denies-Belgian-Minister-Charles-Michel-entry-into-Gaza/98667.php" rel="nofollow">http://www.neurope.eu/articles/Israel-denies-Be...
And since our cabinet fell we don't have a development minister, but I'm sure if former development minister Bert Koenders tried, he'd be turned away too, responsible as he was for a horticulture project in Gaza funded by the Dutch foreign ministry which supported Palestinian growers in Gaza who sell their products to the flower market in Aalsmeer, the Netherlands, through Israeli exporters. Repeated closures of the Gaza Strip over the years led to equally repeated demands from the Dutch government that Israel open the border for these fragile products to reach their export destinations. But it's probably a moot point because the flower-growing project was entirely blown up during the Cast Lead war on Gaza.
Ali,
I understand your in a bit of a heated debate with Barry but I do have to take you to task over the following point: "The West's continious domination over these lands through exploitation of the surplus, imperialism and global capitalism's superstructural check & balance mechanisms." While there is some truth to the statement I do believe it is a bit of a generalization and an over simplification of the problem.
For starters the West is not responsible for the Islamic world:
1) Spending only .2% of their GDP on average on research and development yearly
2) Having a state like India having more Universities than most of the OIC states put together
3) Publishing and translating so few books that the grand total is eclipsed by most states in Europe by themselves
4) The Arab world having almost a 1/3 of their population illiterate
5) Being soley depedent on accidents of geology(ie energy resources) for 70 to 80% of the OIC's total GDP
6) Having the educational systems overally focused on religious studies instead of core subjects like science, math, and social studies
7) Barring women from the work place and higher education in many spots of the Islamic world
Some will argue the captialist machine of the West, colonialism, western imperialism, and awful foreign policy from the West are to blame. While some truth exists in this statement it ignores the fact other states like India, Japan, Brazil, China, Vietnam, and the Phillipines have all faced this scourge yet somehow they managed to thrive today. They thrive today because like the West they embraced free markets, invested heavily in education, and invested heavily in building industries to support the people. The Islamic world on other hand has not and that my friend is part of the problem. Compounding the problem is the Islamic world's rigid adherrence to the predestination concept of "its Allah's will" in favor of critical thought.
Al Ghazali's master work "The Incoherence of the Philosophers" in my estimation demarked the time when critical thought was rejected in the Islamic world. Just as the Islamic Golden age was in full swing with scholars like Al Kindi and Al Razi embracing Greek Thought(critical thought) Al Ghazali's work was published declaring critical thinking heresy(this was also when the Sufi's started to decline and also when the gates of ijtihad were closed rendenring Islamic law largely unchangeable.) This essentially said how could man figure out things for himself when everything the Ummah needed was revealed? It also questions man's right to investigate the unknown which should be only the right of Allah. It was done so because it was viewed as a threat to one's religion and also was haram because they would be immitating the non Muslim. It was why the printing press was banned in the Islamic world for 300 years literally setting back Muslims centuries in development.
Now while the West bears some blame I would posit the Islamic world does so as well. The problem is with critical thought in such short supply throughout much of the Islamic world they simply cannot see they themselves are often the problem. The Islamic world got left behind in so many areas simply because they reject much from the West and then are left scratching their heads wondering what happaned. I would only encourage you to temper your unilateral view and recognize while the West bears fault much of the imbalance is the direct result of the Islamic world's inability to see they must simply invest in themselves. In short the Islamic world has got to stop blaming everything on the West or the Jews and realize they are in fact part of the problem.
In closing I will leave you with a quote by Bill Gates when asked by a Saudi audience how they can be one of the world's foremost technology centers: "'Well, if you're not fully utilizing half the talent in the country, you're not going to get too close to the top." I would also encourage you to read this article titled "Western Civilization has Liberated Mankind" by a Saudi intellectual: http://spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=5445" rel="nofollow">http://spme.net/cgi-bin/articles.cgi?ID=5445 . The article was originally posted in Elaph but a friend sent me this article in english about a year ago.
Thx
Bill