Can Iraq overcome its land mine infestation?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/iraq-kurdistan-demining.html
ERBIL, Iraq — Iraq is one of the worst-off countries in the world in terms of minefield and projectile pollution, with 25 million land mines and other unexploded ordnances scattered across the country. The concentration is especially dense in Iraqi Kurdistan, and efforts to clear the land are meeting with a number of obstacles.
Will Israel create safe zone in southern Syria?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/southern-syria-opposition-israel-safe-zone.html
According to Labwani, “When Israel helps the Syrian people in the south with aid and medication, they stop looking at Israel as the enemy and a threat. Today the atmosphere is very appropriate to do this.” He added that Israel operates a comprehensive intelligence-gathering and communication network across the south.
“People are poor now and hungry, so would work for anyone for a little money,” he said. “[Israel] has access everywhere and to a lot of information.”
Moti Kahana is the Israeli-American founder of the US-based nongovernmental organization (NGO) Amaliah advocating for the safe zone. Kahana, who works closely with Labwani, said the Israeli government has given him the green light to operate within the designated safe zone.
“We started working already,” Kahana told Al-Monitor from his office in New York. “So in the next few weeks, we will be bringing supplies into the safe zone of Syria.” He went on, “The Israeli government will allow us to bring humanitarian supplies to the Syrian people,” adding that Israel is “willing to allow an American NGO — which is us — to expand and bring in supplies.”
Kahana explained that the first stage is to bring in medicine and equipment, the second stage is to open schools and focus on education, and the third stage is to help create and equip a local police force. “We have identified which towns and villages we will be working in, but I cannot yet share their exact locations,” he said. He also declined to identify the opposition groups the organization is coordinating with.
And sure enough, following the establishment of the liaison unit, Israeli aid suddenly appeared in opposition-held areas. Abu Omar al-Joulani, spokesman for the Revolutionary Command Council for Quneitra and Golan, told Al-Monitor, “A network of collaborators working with the Israelis enabled this aid to come through from the occupied Golan Heights.”
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/southern-syria-opposition-israel-safe-zone.html#ixzz4FYKUcGgT
BDS movement targets Palestinian investors in West Bank mall
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/west-bank-israel-mall-palestinian-companies.html
According to an article published by the Israeli website Walla Jan. 15, Levy had announced his plan to build a shopping mall — which is currently under construction — to promote Israeli-Palestinian coexistence in Jerusalem by attracting Palestinian businessmen to buy or lease shops in the mall, Palestinian customers and Israelis living in nearby settlements. Levy’s plan sparked an angry reaction from many Palestinians.
The mall is being built in the Qalandiya industrial area, Atarot, which lies north of Jerusalem, just meters from Faisal al-Husseini International Stadium, the home of the Palestinian national football team. This area is classified as Area C and the industrial zone is considered a settlement area. Palestinians living in Jerusalem as well as residents of Ramallah and the surrounding villages are allowed access to this area, as the mall is located at its entrance.
Kerry: Critics of Obama administration’s Syria policy ’completely screwed up’
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/kerry-critics-obama-syria-policy-erdogan-coup-army.html
Laura Rozen reports, “The US proposal for deeper US-Russian coordination against Jabhat al-Nusra is controversial within the US administration, with some Pentagon, intelligence and State Department officials expressing doubt the Russians could be trusted to restrain the Syrian regime or not to use the intelligence to target US-backed rebels, given their track record of doing so in the past months.”
In a joint press conference with Lavrov, Kerry described critics of his initiative as “completely screwed up.” He reminded the “dissent” crowd that Jabhat al-Nusra, just like the Islamic State (IS), is designated as a terrorist organization under numerous UN Security Council resolutions. He said that “Nusra is plotting against countries in the world” and that “what happened in Nice last night could just as well have come from Nusra.” Kerry refused to characterize Jabhat al-Nusra as “opposition” and expressed confidence in the “non-terrorist organization opposition, the legitimate opposition, the opposition we have supported.”
Kerry noted that, in addition to the Syrian government, Jabhat al-Nusra and its allies have also violated the cessation of hostilities, as this column has reported — a fact often missing in press accounts. The secretary said opposition forces pairing up with Jabhat al-Nusra because of a shared commitment to fight President Bashar al-Assad’s forces “will not excuse it in our eyes. We saw what happened when people said the same thing about [IS] for a period of time — oh, don’t worry, they’re just a force against Assad, and down the road we can take them on. Well, they became more than just a force. And so I think that it is important for the United States, Russia, the entire coalition of ISSG [International Syria Support Group] to stand up against terrorism, and that is what we intend to continue to do.” Kerry made clear that the United States maintains that Syria can’t have peace while Assad is there,” and that Washington and Moscow disagree on this point.
Les habitants d’Alep assiégée craignent la famine - L’Orient-Le Jour
▻http://www.lorientlejour.com/article/997057/les-habitants-dalep-assiegee-craignent-la-famine.html
Comme dans Le Monde, les communicants bossent leurs titres ! J’aime assez ce « Alep assiégée » qui, sous cette forme, laisse entendre à la majorité des lecteurs pressés que c’est la ville d’Alep qui est assiégée et non pas une partie de la ville...
L’article (OLJ/AFP) parle de 200 000 habitants dans les quartiers assiégés, d’autres sources évoquent un chiffre très (trop ?) inférieur (60 000).
Half a million people in Aleppo stuck inside regime’s siege
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/syrian-regime-impose-blockade-aleppo-castello-road.html
Union européenne : l’occupation israélienne est la cause « à la racine » de la violence
17 juillet | Andrew Rett pour EU Observer |Traduction JPP pour l’AURDIP |
▻http://www.aurdip.fr/union-europeenne-l-occupation.html
Les États de l’Union européenne déclarent, dans un rapport interne établi l’an dernier, que le déclenchement des attaques palestiniennes au couteau et à la voiture-bélier contre les Israéliens à Jérusalem est dû, pour une grande part, à l’occupation d’Israël.
EU to push Israel-Palestine peace process as Quartet report flops
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/israel-palestine-eu-road-map-for-two-state-conference.html
July 17, 2016
The recent report by the Middle East Quartet bluntly criticized Israel’s systematic settlement expansion and large land takeovers in Area C, targeted at preventing a two-state solution. Nevertheless, the report was met with considerable disappointment at the highest levels of the Palestinian Authority, and also a sigh of relief in the prime minister’s office in Jerusalem.
The Palestinians had hoped that similarly to the June 3 Paris summit declaration, the report would include terms of reference for the permanent status negotiations. They expected the report to specifically highlight the 2002 Arab Peace Initiative as the main basis for negotiations leading to a state along the 1967 lines with East Jerusalem as its capital. Ramallah had even asked the EU and the United States for a binding timeline for negotiations, followed by a Security Council resolution.
A senior Palestine Liberation Organization official close to President Mahmoud Abbas told Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity that Abbas is severely critical of US Secretary of State John Kerry for pressuring the EU not to make the Quartet report a policy platform for future negotiations. The senior official assessed that the United States will publish guidelines for future negotiations as a platform for the next administration, possibly via a presidential policy speech. He also expressed concern that the US policy statement will allude to the need to recognize Israel as a Jewish state. According to this source, Ramallah is committed to working with Egypt and France on a binding UN Security Council resolution on Palestinian statehood referring in detail to settlement expansion, the 1967 lines, East Jerusalem and a two-year timeline. As the official put it, “For us the Quartet report is a non-paper; our sole basis is the Arab Peace Initiative.”
After 20-year break, these Iranian Kurds are taking up arms again
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/turkey-iran-kurds-resumed-clashes-against-tehran-regime.html#ixzz4DBVCzi
What prompted the KDPI’s sudden change in course? Most people believe that regional countries or global powers are behind the resurgence of the Kurdish activity. Iranian-Kurdish political activist Hadi Azizi believes the KDPI is engaged in legitimate self-defense against Iran. He told Al-Monitor that he does not believe that external elements were instigating these attacks, saying, “No doubt Iran doesn’t have a major say in Middle East politics. They don’t always have the support of international powers. Iranian Kurds are ready to rise."
How will this conflict affect the autonomous Kurdish Region of Iraq, which just signed new economic deals with Iran? Azizi believes the clashes will not affect the Kurdish government in the region. He said, “South Kurdistan [the Kurdistan Regional Government] is not like it was before. They have relations now with world powers. The peshmerga fought [the Islamic State] and served humanity. They have good support. They can’t forever stand idle to just preserve their interests."
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/turkey-iran-kurds-resumed-clashes-against-tehran-regime.html#ixzz4DWFrSo
Did Turkey abandon Hamas in Israel deal?
▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/hamas-reaction-turkish-israeli-agreement-restore-ties.html
Hamas worked to contain “the shock” of the Turkish-Israeli agreement, which at first seemed to be a complete abandonment of the condition to totally lift the siege on Gaza, particularly since it did not stipulate the establishment of a seaport or sea-lane passage to the outside world. But people close to Hamas tried to defend and justify the Turkish position.
These people are probably reflecting Hamas’ desire not to direct sharp criticism toward Ankara, as it does not have the privilege of multiple regional and international ties, while other posts and reports of people close to Hamas continued to criticize the Turkish-Israeli agreement.
Abdullah Abdullah, a member of the Fatah Revolutionary Council and head of the Palestinian Legislative Council’s Political Committee, told Al-Monitor, “The Palestinians and Hamas should not blame Turkey for waiving [its condition] for the deal with Israel. The deal represents a chance for Hamas to feel its extreme vulnerability, because it had great expectations from Turkey and did not realize that bad circumstances are governing Turkey’s ties with Russia, Syria, Iran, Israel and Egypt. This has prompted [Turkey] to speed up the signing of the agreement with Israel in a Machiavellian way, contrary to Hamas’ liking and hopes.”
Read more: ▻http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2016/07/hamas-reaction-turkish-israeli-agreement-restore-ties.html#ixzz4DGl6MxuA