Sunday
Feb282010
Middle East Inside Line: US Warns Syria on Hezbollah, No ICC for Israel, Jerusalem Clashes
Sunday, February 28, 2010 at 14:34 
US to Syria "No Arms to Hezbollah": On Friday, Syrian Ambassador Imad Moustapha was called to the State Department. Damascus was asked to lower the temperature and avoid an escalation in the region and, in particular, to stop transferring arms to Hezbollah.Haaretz says that the most recent visit to Damascus by Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs William Burns on February 17 was unsatisfactory, with Syrian leader Bashar al-Assad denying American claims that his regime was providing military aid to Iraq, Hezbollah, and other Palestinian groups.
Israel Video: The Ambassador vs. California Students (8 February)
Middle East Inside Line: Israel Presses US on Syria, Dubai Killing, Palestine’s “Quiet Revolution”
No ICC Date for Israel: A former International Criminal Court official, legal attorney Nick Kaufman, told Haaretz on Sunday that the claims of alleged war crimes in the Goldstone Report on the Gaza War will not reach the ICC at the Hague, since the US will veto such a move.
Clashes on Temple Mount in Jerusalem: Four policemen were wounded and a dozen protesters were hurt in clashes between security forces and Palestinians at the Temple Mount on Sunday. Seven people were arrested on suspicion of hurling rocks.
Reader Comments (9)
I've been "watching this spot" since last Monday for news and especially analysis on the 'sledge hammer' coup plot arrests in Turkey and wondering why there hasn't been even a mention here of a story that has been on TV daily on CNN INT, Aljazeera and our local Dutch news hours - just to mention the few I see.
On 22 February, 49 active and retired military officers, including generals and colonels, were rounded up in dawn raids and taken in for questioning over allegations they had plotted to overthrow Prime Minister Recep Erdogan's government shortly after it took power in 2002. Twenty officers have since been formally arrested, ending years of military immunity from civilian prosecution. Turkey has remained calm this week despite fears of a reprisal by the military, but that doesn't mean the power struggle is over or that tensions have subsided.
If anyone has any analysis of this they'd like to share, I'd be happy to read it!
Catherine,
Let me have a word with Ali Yenidunya, who may be able to give you the analysis you desire....
S.
Curious assertion by Mr. Kauffman, in Ha'aretz, that the US would "veto" any attempt by the ICC to try Israel for Gaza war crimes. Wonder how that would work. Did the US somewhere actually join the ICC? If it's not a member, how can it veto what the court does?
Data,
Mr. Kauffman means the US, as a member of the UN Security Council, would veto any decision by the Security Council to refer the case to the ICC.
Interesting Catherine.... esp. as Israel & the US -- along with Sudan -- "unsigned" the Rome Statute -- thus exempting themselves.... leaving the the UNSC as the only remaining way to refer cases to the ICC. Nice game.
Yet another unfortunate example of "bait & switch" approach of the US towards human rights.... It talks a great game, uses it as a club to beat our adversaries with (e.g. Iran) but then claims American "exceptionalism" when the very norms it helped establish and advance might be applied to itself or a certain friend....
And so it goes.
Data,
The Bush administration missed no opportunity to undermine the ICC. During President Bush's first term, the United States suspended military aid to more than 20 countries that refused to shield Americans from potential prosecution, including Mali (a fledging democracy), Ecuador (a partner in drug interdiction efforts), and Croatia (a fragile government trying to stem a nationalist tide).
In one of its most astounding moves, the administration teamed up with Republican lawmakers in August 2002 to pass a law (the American Servicemembers Protection Act of 2002) that includes a measure known colloquially as the "Hague invasion clause," which authorizes American troops to use "all means necessary and appropriate" to liberate American servicemen should they ever be imprisoned, thereby authorizing the invasion of The Hague, The Netherlands, if the ICC were to prosecute American soldiers.
!!!
Catherine,
Your correct the US does veto a lot of the resolutions on Israel. Some of it smacks of hypocrisy but more often than not they are shielding Israel from unjust findings. Many of the resolutions stem from the general assembly and the Human Rights council. Both of the bodies are controlled by the 57 OIC memembers which always votes in a block when Israel is brought up(each state gets a seat and thus the OIC outnumbers any other potential block.) Here is a good, but long read, that summarizes the issue:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Israel,_Palestine,_and_the_United_Nations
I am not a fan of much of Israel actions but you can't help but notice the obvious bias. When you read my reference pay close attention to the number of resolutions against Israel respective to other issues(249 UNGA resulutions vs 14 for Sudan from 97 to 06), how UN condemnation on anti antisemitism didn't pass until 1998(the OIC states blocked it every other time), and the OICs continual claim Israel is an apartheid state when in fact most OIC countries are clearly religious apartheid states. It is also noteworthy that the OIC states are also responsible for the anti free speach legislation called Defamation of Religions. This resolution only mentions Islam by name and essentially strives to institute blasphemy laws across the world shielding Islam. The OIC pushes this despite the fact that they are actually the worst abusers of relgious minorities the world over--human rights reports clearly prove it.
The reason this has happened is because the Jews did the unthinkable. They reclaimed their ancestral home for good or bad. This went against two edicts in Islam 1) Once conqured the land always remains an Islamic Wafq for all time(it is why you hear the fanatics claiming Spain needs to be retaken to this day) and 2) Mohammeds injunction that the Arabian penisula must be cleansed of all non Muslims. Thus Islam will not rest until Israel is gone. The Jews can only live in Israel as Dhimmis at best.
Frankly I am tired of the whole issue, because as seen from the obvious bias this is largely a political war in which the Palestinians are used as a proxy for the Islamic world to eradicate Israel. It is selective outrage becasue the Islamic world can igonore 2 million deaths in the Sudan due to Jihad yet bleat on and on about Israel in which 50,000 have died since 1948. This issue to the detriment of much greater humanitarian issues occupies the conscience of the world simply because the Islamic world will never let it go. To the Islamic world perceived "oppression is greater than slaughter" and especially so if they are the ones doing in slaughtering(ie Sudan.) When western nations started to bring up Sudan the OIC official response(sourced from Iran) was "this is an attack on Islam." They then stated the real genocide is occuring in Palestine and there was no genocide in Darfur!!!!
I'm sorry I have no sympathy for the Israeli Arab conflict while millions die elsewhere because the Islamic world is trying to settle an old score. This is old fashioned Islamic supremacism at work in which their truth and issues they deem are important are the only ones that matter. It is always Israel and boo hoo to the 2 million dead in Darfur, the 4 dead million in Congo/Rawanda, 400K dead in Somalia, and 400K dead in the ongoing Islamic seperatist movements in Kashmir/Thailand/Philipines.
Thx
Bill
Well said, Bill. Even Turkey welcomed Omar al-Bashir to Istanbul - AFTER the ICC issued the warrant for his arrest! Bunch of hypocrites.
"It is also noteworthy that the OIC states are also responsible for the anti free speach legislation called Defamation of Religions. This resolution only mentions Islam by name and essentially strives to institute blasphemy laws across the world shielding Islam. The OIC pushes this despite the fact that they are actually the worst abusers of relgious minorities the world over–human rights reports clearly prove it."
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We're always being told that Islam is a tolerant religion, even though every Muslim majority country is chock full of intolerance.
This is what is happening in Malaysia. Yeah, Malaysia. -- http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/01/11/96980.html
You can't make this stuff up!