World Governments Impotent, Arab Governments Divided Into Three Groups, Israeli War Crimes in Gaza Continue Unabated By Hassan El-Najjar

World Governments Impotent, Arab Governments Divided Into Three Groups, Israeli War Crimes in Gaza Continue Unabated

By Hassan El-Najjar

Editor of ccun.org,

January 14, 2009 6:00 pm ET

The Arab foreign ministers succeeded in passing a UN Security Council resolution 1680, calling on Israel to stop its war on Gaza. However, the resolution did not include a phrase to forces an immediate ceasefire. This resulted in the humiliating situation the world governments found themselves in. The Israeli war criminals have continued killing and injuring Palestinian civilians, using all the weapons the US-EU governments supplied them with, short of their nuclear bombs.

People around the world, including Arabs and Muslims, protest the Israeli war crimes and demanded their governments to interfere to stop the Israeli madness. However, no actions have taken by any government in the world to stop the Israeli killing machine.

Some countries like Venezuela and Bolivia were the most courageous in defying the Zionist control on the world system, particularly the Zionist control over US-EU governments. They expelled the Israeli ambassadors and Venezuela went a step further by severing all relations with the Zionist state. While this is the braves and greatest diplomatic action against the Zionist terrorist state, it still does not have any influence on the behavior of the Israeli war criminals.

Turkey, Spain, and Egypt have been trying to mediate between Hamas and Israel. But their job was ranging between neutrality and putting pressure on Hamas to accept the Israeli conditions. But their mediation does not influence the Israeli war criminals to stop their crimes against humanity in Gaza.

The most embarrassing situation is that of the 22 Arab League states. The people came out in protests against the Israeli terrorist war but the governments were incapable to take a unified stance. In fact, the Arab League has been divided into three groups.

The first is the group which support the Palestinian resistance against the Israeli terrorist war. This group includes Qatar, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Iraq, Sudan, Libya, and Algeria. The leaders of this group announced that they would take action in support of the Palestinian people. They would threaten to suspend their membership in the United Nations, their relations with the EU, and use their resources against countries which support Israel (US-EU).

This group agreed to meet in Doha, capital of Qatar, on Friday. However, a quorum of two thirds (14 states) was not achieved after three states (Morocco, Tunisia, and Somalia) changed camps and left to the Saudi-Egyptian camp (the second group).

On Tuesday, 16 Arab states agreed to attend the Doha summit in Qatar. These were Syria, Qatar, Palestine, UAE, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Yemen, Djibouti, the Comoros, Somalia, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Iraq.

After the defection of the three states, a quorum failed to happen. The Arab League Secretary-General, Amr Moussa, announced that the Doha summit cannot be held under the Arab League auspices. Then Shaikh Hamad, Emir of Qatar, addressed the Arab Nation saying that Qatar is still willing to host the summit even without quorum.

The second group includes the states of Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Morocco, Tunisia, Somalia, Oman, Bahrain, and Kuwait.

The second group will meet in an unofficial session about Gaza during the regular economic Arab summit in Kuwait, on Monday. Saudi Arabia and Egypt pressured some states to leave the first group and join them, particularly Morocco and Somalia. The second group of the moderates have the position of pressuring Hamas to accept the Israeli conditions for a ceasefire.

Saudi Arabia also called for a third summit conference on Gaza tomorrow, Thursday, for the Arabian Gulf states in order to pressure them not join the Qatar summit.

Apparently, there's an Arab internal strife, leading to more weakness toward the Israeli terrorists. The world governments are impotent, doing nothing to stop the blood-thirsty Israelis. The US-EU governments continue to provide Israelis with all the military, financial, and diplomatic assistance they need to continue their sick endeavors.

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Has Hamas accepted the Egyptian ceasefire proposal?

Date: 14 / 01 / 2009 Time: 17:58
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmad Abu Al-Gheit announced on Wednesday that Hamas has accepted an Egyptian proposal for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.

The Egyptian plan calls for a withdrawal of Israeli forces from the Gaza Strip, the opening of Gaza’s borders, and a role for the Palestinian Authority in controlling the borders.

At a press conference in Cairo, Abu Al-Gheit said ”we will tell the Israeli side what Hamas had informed us.”

A Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil praised the Egyptian initiative during a press conference in Cairo on Saturday evening.

“The Egyptian initiative is the only one that called for an immediate stop to Israeli aggression on the Gaza Strip,” he said.

A delegation of Hamas leaders left Cairo on Wednesday afternoon for Syria after talk with Egyptian intelligence officials who are mediating between Hamas and Israel.

Hamas representative in Lebanon Usama Hamdan, while praising the Egyptian effort, told Al-Jazeera that his movement is seeking some changes to the Egyptian document.

Earlier in the day Egyptian news agency MENA reported that the Hamas responded “positively” to Egypt's efforts to promote a ceasefire in Gaza. The report cited an Egyptian official.

"Hamas responded positively to Egypt's attempts to bring an end to the shedding of Palestinian blood, during the talks that were held in Cairo in the last three days," an Egyptian official told MENA.

Israeli military official Amos Gilad is scheduled to arrive in Cairo Thursday for talks with Egypt's Intelligence chief Umar Suleiman.

The deputy Chairman of Hamas Political Bureau, Moussa Abu Marzouq, told the Al-Arabiya television network earlier on Wednesday: "Israel did not abide by any of the previous truce's conditions, and therefore there must be a short and pre-defined period between each stage, that would allow us to evaluate the situation and agree to move on to the next stage."

***Updated at 20:34 local time

Spanish foreign minister cites progress in Hamas talks

Date: 14 / 01 / 2009 Time: 16:42
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Spanish Foreign Minister Miguel Moritanos cited improvement in ongoing talks with Hamas over a potential ceasefire agreement.

Moritanos, during a news conference alongside his Egyptian counterpart, said that “after international pressure, particularly by Turkey, there is great improvement on getting Hamas to agree on a ceasefire in line with the Egyptian initiative.”

The two foreign ministers also met with United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to discuss the ongoing Israeli assault and urged Israel and Hamas to agree to a ceasefire “immediately.”

Doha to host summit on Gaza despite Saudi, Egyptian refusal

Date: 14 / 01 / 2009 Time: 11:00
Bethlehem – Ma’an –

Sources close to the Arab League’s urgent summit scheduled for Friday said on Wednesday that the participants had finally reached the necessary quorum following the announcement that the United Arab Emirates plans to attend.

Along with the UAE, 16 Arab countries plan to attend the talks, namely: Syria, Qatar, Palestine, Lebanon, Libya, Sudan, Algeria, Yemen, Djibouti, the Comoros, Somalia, Jordan, Mauritania, Morocco and Iraq.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia refused to take part, suggesting deliberations during a Kuwait economic summit planned for this week.

Tunisia, which has originally refused, later said the ongoing bloodshed forced it to agree to the talks in Doha and announced its participation.

Fourteen Arab countries have agreed to attend an urgent summit in the Qatari capital city of Doha next Friday.

The Arab League had until Wednesday failed to achieve the necessary quorum to discuss Israel’s ongoing assault on the Gaza Strip, a Syrian news agency reported.

On the agenda is Hamas and Israel’s refusal to comply with UN Security Council Resolution 1860, Syria’s Sana press agency said.

Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa told the Syrian agency that he is awaiting word from other Arab countries on whether or not they plan to attend the urgent summit in Doha.

Moussa had originally announced that 12 countries agreed to the Qatari proposal, which required 14 nations to reach quorum.

Tunisia announced late Tuesday evening that it, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait would not take part in the summit next Friday. Tunisia had said it supported discussing the Gaza situation in Kuwait during a scheduled economic summit Monday and Tuesday.

Tunisia is traditionally allied with the Palestinian Authority, along with Egypt, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

Qatar called the urgent meeting in Doha for Friday to discuss the situation in the Gaza Strip, not expecting that both Saudi Arabia would refuse the invitation and the Arab split in support between allies of Fatah and affiliates of Hamas.

***Updated 14:15 Bethlehem time

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