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[5]
Reporting from Beirut
Syrian forces for the first time deployed naval power in an attempt to quell an anti-government uprising, pummeling a coastal city that one activist described as a fortress of support for the country's rulers until nationwide protests recently grew larger there.
The use of gunboats and tanks in Latakia on Sunday is likely to antagonize Western powers and Syria's neighbors, who have been pressing for an end to the violence. Turkish diplomats said they extracted a promise from President Bashar Assad last week to curb the use of force.
DAMASCUS — Syrian troops backed by tanks clamped down Monday on the flashpoint province of Homs, a day after gunboats joined an assault that killed more than 20 people in Latakia city, activists said.
As the country's anti-regime uprising turned five months old, the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights said snipers shot dead an old man in the provincial town of Hula and reported another killing in Latakia.
"The community of Hula is under siege ... The army is carrying out raids and arrests under the cover of heavy gunfire" in Homs province, said the Britain-based rights group.
Hundreds of Palestinians streamed into the streets of Ramallah on Sunday evening to demand Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad stand down.
The mass demonstration in support of the Syrian people came hours after news broke of Syrian military shelling the port city of Latakia, killing 26. Human rights groups said Palestinians living in a refugee camp in the district of Ramel were among the dead.
The Palestinian leadership sent mixed messages to a Democratic Congressional delegation visiting Ramallah, with Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad saying that no decision on the UN bid in September has been finalized, while PA President Mahmoud Abbas gave the impression that going to the UN was a done deal.
"Fayyad said that the decision to go to the UN had not been made, in other words had not been finalized, which we were pleased to hear," US Congressman Steny Hoyer (D-MA), the head of the delegation, told The Jerusalem Post shortly after the talks.
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas will submit an application for full U.N. membership at the General Assembly next month, his foreign minister said on Saturday, without specifying exactly when the request would be made.
"I think that the president, when he gets to the United Nations and meets the secretary general, will present the application," Foreign Minister Riyad al-Malki said in a briefing in Ramallah.
The Palestinian Authority is doubling its efforts to get as many countries to recognize it before September, when it plans to officially ask the United Nations for recognition and membership.
Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Riyad Malki said on Saturday that “we have made very important breakthroughs, but we need to do more and build on what we have achieved so far.”
President Mahmoud Abbas revealed he held four secret meetings with his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres in a bid to revive stalled peace talks, a Palestinian official said Saturday.
He quoted Abbas as saying at a meeting of his Fatah party on Friday that: "I met Shimon Peres four times in Amman and London in an attempt to restart negotiations and the peace process on a correct foundation."
The official, speaking on condition of anonymity, added that Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had thwarted those efforts.
Hamas on Sunday accused Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement of violating a reconciliation agreement by opening voter registration for local elections due to be held in October in the occupied West Bank.
Islamist Hamas, which seized the Gaza Strip in a 2007 civil war with Fatah, has described the planned ballot as illegitimate. Fatah is the dominant party in the Palestinian Authority, which exercises limited self-rule in the West Bank.
As he prepares to submit a request to the UN in September for recognition of a Palestinian state, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has also found time to wage a relentless war against his former ally and friend, Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan.
The rivalry between the two men, which reached its peak last month when Abbas ordered his security forces to raid Dahlan’s villa on the outskirts of Ramallah, has caused severe damage to Fatah and will only serve Hamas’s interests, Fatah officials warned.
A Palestinian minister was referred to the attorney general Sunday for questioning on corruption charges, a source said.
The source, an official at the Palestinian National Authority's anti-corruption commission, said that the consumer protection society filed a suit against Minister of Economy, Hassan Abu Lebda, accusing him of corruption, mismanagement and receiving bribery.
This is the first time that a Palestinian minister is referred to prosecution while he is still in office.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak okays largest housing project in single settlement since establishment of the Netanyahu government.
Defense Minister Ehud Barak has approved the building of 277 apartments the West Bank settlement of Ariel, defying U.S. criticism of continued settlement construction.
Barak authorized the construction in Ariel, the core of the settlement bloc deepest inside the West Bank. One hundred of the apartments will house Israelis evacuated in 2005 from a Gaza Strip settlement.
Juliano Mer-Khamis' legacy weighs heavily on the internationally acclaimed youth theatre he founded inside this turbulent Palestinian refugee camp, where some suspect his killer still lurks.
In April, a masked gunman shot dead the 52-year-old Israeli actor and filmmaker, born to a Jewish mother and Palestinian father, as he sat in a car in front of his Freedom Theatre in Jenin.
Since its establishment, the state of the Israel Defense Forces has lived amicably alongside the State of Israel. Borders between the two states are well-known, and are defensible.
Many leading Israelis support calls for the recognition of Palestine.
Next month, the Palestinian delegation to the United Nations is expected to ask the General Assembly to recognise a Palestinian state. We believe Australia should support such a move.
Palestinians have lost more land to Israel in 20 years and there does not seem to be a wisp of peace on the horizon.
The Palestinians have been brought to the negotiating table with the Israelis countless times over the past six decades. The net result has been more usurpation of their land and territory along with civilian casualties to boot.
We don't often hear about nonviolent resistance in the Middle East, but it happens much more often than we might think.
Maxine Kaufman-Lacusta has written a book on the subject called Refusing to be Enemies - Palestinian and Israeli Nonviolent Resistance to the Israeli Occupation.
The hardcover came out in January 2010, but the paperback with an updated afterward arrived in North American stores sometime in March of this year.
"It's based on interviews with over 100 Palestinian and Israeli nonviolent activists, and a few internationals, and also conference presentations," she says.
Shaul Goldstein knows that most everyone on Earth dislikes him and his kind. For some, it's visceral hatred. For others, he represents the largest obstacle to solving a problem everyone everywhere wants resolved.
"We are the enemy of the world," he volunteered without any prompting. "We have to hide behind a curtain."
To be honest, what's the difference between the potential UN declaration in September 2011 and the Palestinian declaration of independence in Tunis 22 years ago?
Even MK Aryeh Eldad (National Union ), the professor of the extreme right, is not particularly upset by the fact that the United Nations General Assembly may recognize a Palestinian state. He sees no legal difference between the decision that is expected next month and the decision that was made there - with a huge majority of 104 to 2 - following the Palestinian declaration of independence in Tunis 22 years ago.
Contrary to the near-hysteric reactions in Jerusalem, defense establishment doesn't believe the world will come to an end. Far from it.
What will happen on September 21? Probably not that much. It will be the day after the Palestinian Authority unilaterally declares statehood at the United Nations General Assembly, but contrary to what one might be led to believe by the near-hysteric reactions in Jerusalem, the defense establishment does not believe that the world will come to an end. Far from it.
Links:
[1] http://www.americantaskforce.org/print/20613
[2] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printmail/20613
[3] http://www.americantaskforce.org/printpdf/20613
[4] http://www.americantaskforce.org/rss/wpr
[5] http://www.americantaskforce.org/atfp_sixth_annual_gala
[6] http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-syria-latakia-20110815,0,6615800.story
[7] http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5gShbjIBIEmnS1bYFSRWrVMekwKHQ?docId=CNG.a78f407608e7be2cf4c7361ba8475f55.5d1
[8] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=413182
[9] http://www.jpost.com/DiplomacyAndPolitics/Article.aspx?id=233507
[10] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/palestinians-to-seek-un-statehood-vote-next-month-fm/
[11] http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/babylonbeyond/2011/08/west-bank-palestinians-determined-to-get-more-recognitions.html?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+BabylonBeyond+%28Babylon+%26+Beyond+Blog%29
[12] http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=412912
[13] http://www.trust.org/alertnet/news/hamas-criticises-fatah-over-election-plan/
[14] http://www.jpost.com/MiddleEast/Article.aspx?id=233792
[15] http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-08/14/c_131048653.htm
[16] http://www.haaretz.com/news/diplomacy-defense/israel-approves-227-new-homes-in-west-bank-settlement-of-ariel-1.378725
[17] http://www.thenational.ae/news/worldwide/middle-east/paranoia-and-intrigue-on-the-west-bank
[18] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/the-state-of-israel-and-its-neighbor-the-idf-1.378510
[19] http://www.theage.com.au/opinion/politics/why-australia-should-back-creation-of-a-palestinian-state-20110814-1isxn.html
[20] http://gulfnews.com/opinions/columnists/when-negotiations-result-in-a-net-loss-1.851128
[21] http://dailygleaner.canadaeast.com/entertainment/article/1431684
[22] http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/08/12/INBD1KL75B.DTL
[23] http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/opinion/israel-will-use-palestinian-un-bid-to-restore-status-quo-1.378664
[24] http://www.jpost.com/Defense/Article.aspx?id=233785
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