Eric Umansky

Flagging, a Problem

From the NYT:

George Habash, founder of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a hard-line Marxist group that shocked the world with a campaign of airline hijackings and bombings in the late 1960s and early 1970s, died Saturday of a heart attack in Amman, Jordan.

From the bombing of a Jerusalem supermarket in 1969 to the simultaneous hijacking of three Western airliners to Amman, Jordan, in September 1970, the Front stayed in the news with high-profile attacks that other Palestinian groups never seemed able to match.

“When we hijack a plane it has more effect than if we kill a hundred Israelis in battle,” he told the German magazine Der Stern in 1970 ...

The Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, ordered three days of mourning and flags lowered to half-staff in the Palestinian territories.

What's Going on in Gaza

This was a long-planned operation.  The border wall went on for 17 kilometers and two-thirds of it was toppled yesterday.

A snippet from the scene:

Among those returning were Osama Hassan, 25, who went shopping with his 17-year-old fiancee Sarah for their wedding essentials. He bought a special mattress for his injured back; she brought kitchen supplies.

“I’m Fatah, but today, I wish I could see (Hamas prime minister Ismail) Haniya and kiss his forehead, because without the gunmen doing this, we would have been stuck in the Gaza Strip,” he said.

So why did Hamas make the move and what will the upshot be? My guess would be Hamas figured they had little to lose: They'd be viewed as heroes in Gaza for breaking the siege.  Egypt couldn't do much about it , since  they'd want to avoid images of having their own soldiers crack down on Palestinians. And by opening the border, they seem to have check-mated Israel and U.S., who had put their eggs in the really questionable of a siege.    

Tony Karon has some deeper thoughts on it:

The Israelis have no choice but to recognize that the group’s control of Gaza is an intractable reality, that will force the Arab world and Abbas himself to accelerate efforts to restore Palestinian unity. And Israel will have no choice but to pursue the cease-fire option offered by Hamas as the most effective means for ending rocket fire out of Gaza.

The whole Annapolis strategy is based on the false premise that Arab leaders could be rallied to the purpose of isolating Hamas (and also Iran) through blockades and even military action in furtherance of U.S. and Israeli objectives.

We'll see, but sounds about right to me.

Torture, Part MCMXI

From the NYT:

WASHINGTON — President Bush on Wednesday renominated Steven G. Bradbury to be an assistant attorney general in a move certain to be controversial because of Mr. Bradbury’s link to Justice Department memorandums authorizing the harsh interrogation of terrorism suspects.

Mr. Bradbury, who is from Maryland, has been serving as acting head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, in effect the department’s lawyer. If confirmed, he would become the office’s permanent head.

In his capacity as acting head, Mr. Bradbury came under intense scrutiny last fall when it was disclosed that he was the author of a pair of secret legal opinions that endorsed rough techniques for suspects in the custody of the Central Intelligence Agency.

Keep in mind, Bradbury wrote these greenlight-for-torture memos after the Abu Ghraib broke and after the administration had publicly (and lying -ly) disavowed the previous pro-torture memos, calling them "abhorrent."

Also, note to NYT: "rough techniques"?  It's not like Khaled Sheikh Mohamed got sent for some special time with an S&M hooker.

Winter in Damascus

There are many more important things to write about but....look, snow!

 

P.S. No, I don't live there anymore. But I do surf the Web.

Meadow, a M.O.T.

From the Jerusalem Post:

'Sopranos' Star on Birthright Discovers Her Jewish Spirit

"Everyone assumes I'm Italian," says Jamie Lynn Sigler, 26, with a sigh, pausing over her hummus lunch at the open-air market in Jaffa, one of the stops on her birthright israel tour. "Even kids on the trip keep asking, 'Are you Jewish?'"

...

On the birthright trip, which brings Diaspora young people between 18 and 26 to Israel for free 10-day tours, her group was accompanied part of the time by a small group of Israeli soldiers.

Through them, Sigler said she heard about a much different life than the one she and her friends lead in America. She was taken by their sacrifices and the pride they have in their country and history.

"It's so different but so inspiring to be part of that," said Sigler, her face dominated by a pair of large designer sunglasses. "I would want to move here and join the army" too.

[Hat-tip: Nextbook via my sister]

The Jewish Taliban?

A Haaretz report from the holy city of Jerusalem:

An American immigrant was attacked and beaten Sunday night in Beit Shemesh by a gang of ultra-Orthodox zealots, in what appears to be an escalation of tension between religious groups in the city....

This week, a family in one of the city's modern Orthodox neighborhoods received warnings and threats because a television in their living room faced a main thoroughfare that borders an ultra-Orthodox housing project. In October, five ultra-Orthodox men assaulted a woman and an Israel Defense Forces soldier for sitting next to each other on a bus bound for Beit Shemesh.

Signs along main streets call on people to dress modestly, meanwhile, and women say they no longer feel comfortable jogging along some roads.

Useless disses and the art of diplomacy

U.S. commanders in Iraq say that while the number of weapons from Iran has dropped, Iranian training and funding of Iraqi militias has kept right up.  I could believe that. But here's what I can't friggin' believe:

US and Iranian officials were scheduled to meet in mid-December for a fourth round of talks on quelling violence in Iraq. The meeting was canceled because of time constraints on US diplomats as Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visited Iraq.

Ali al-Dabbagh, Iraqi government spokesman, said no new date had been set for the meeting.

Would somebody like to explain to me the benefit of not talking to the Iranians and slapping them in the face? Perhaps some super-duper secret strategy going on here I'm missing that will help settle things in Iraq?

I can only imagine how the cancelation went down.

"Oh my god, we had such a long day. Can we reschedule that breakfast tomorrow? .... No no, we totally still want to talk. Let me just look at our schedule. We'll call right back. I swear."

Gaza, where failed States meet failing policies

Israel continues to tighten the noose on Gaza. With fuel supplies cut again* Gaza's  main powerplant went off-line,causing a strip-wide blackout:

"As far as I'm concerned, all the residents of Gaza can walk and have no fuel for their cars, because they have a murderous terrorist regime that doesn't allow people in the south of Israel to live in peace," said Prime Minister Olmert

And things could be about to get a whole lot worse. The U.N. gives a lifeline of food aid to most of Gaza's 1.4 residents--and the U.N. is about to suspend deliveries:

"We are going to have to suspend operations on Thursday or Friday... because we are running out of plastic bags we use for food, and we are running out of fuel," said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the United Nations Relief and Works Agency.

I understand why Israel has been cutting off supplies. Hamas has firing rockets  into Israel. (In one survey, about 90 percent of residents of Sderot said a rocket had landed on their block or one next to it.) The problem is that Israel's response, in addition to be understandable is also disastrous.

As one Israeli columnist wrote earlier this week, "“The objective of the operation in Gaza is to prevent the Qassam fire. But the operation in Gaza is causing Qassams to be fired. The Qassam fire will, in turn, bring about the next operation in Gaza, which will lead to the next round of Qassam fire.”

What's needed is a way to break out of the cycle.

That's not to say that Israel shouldn't bust out the sticks when Hamas does things like fire rockets into towns. But those sticks need to also be balanced with the potential for carrots. (My feelings on groups like Hamas is don't worry so much about labels--about who they "are"--and focus on changing their actions, through both carrots and sticks.) Also, when it comes to the sticks, you should try to calibrate them to maximize their pain for those in power while minimizing the pain for the population in general. A complete blockade of Gaza is just about the opposite of that approach.

That's not just a humanitarian concern It's a national security one.  After all, failed states don't make good neighbors.

Israel's policy reminds me of its approach to the July 2006 war with Hezbollah, when it  busted up Lebanon's  infrastructure and caused millions of Lebanese to flee. The notion was that it would force Lebanese to turn on Hezbollah.  Now, say what you want about how things are going in Lebanon right now, but if you think Israel improved its position to reigning hell on Lebanon, well, I have an economic blockade to sell you.
 

* Israel is publicly blaming Hamas for allegedly manufacturing the fuel crisis and essentially diverting fuel from Gaza's power station. But I'm skeptical. Here's what Haaretz said about that:

The Jerusalem sources said the fuel supply to Gaza was tens of percent less than planned, a problem exacerbated by the closure.

UPDATE: Israel opens the spigot just a wee:

Defense Minister Ehud Barak agreed Monday to allow a one-time shipment of diesel fuel and medical supplies into the Gaza Strip, after an Israeli-imposed closure left much of the coastal area without essential supplies.

Arrada!!!

A few weeks ago, when the finacee and I were still living in Damascus, we walked out of our door one night and came across a wedding party. And I mean party. There were guys swings knives, others blowing fire and one singer doing a very catchy call-and-response thing. So catchy in fact that much to Sara's chagrin, I've spent the past month whistling the guy's tune.

As I later learned, the call-and-response song is  an old Damascene tradition called Arrada. And it's on YouTube. Enjoy!

The Real Deal(ers)

Former drug dealers give their feedback on The Wire.