Even though we have a “business” account with Netfirms, which I thought meant we’re “omg important,” it seems as though the only thing we’re paying for is an inspiration to blow our heads off. Which we are about to do, by the way!

[/bitter customer rant]

Update: Yaman helped fix this problem, and he also helped us move everything to our current host, mostly because he’s generous/genius enough! So the new layout will be ready as soon as Lalith implements the changes. Sit tight, stay tuned, etc.

PS - It’s my 21st birthday. Last year, same time, we were the laughing stock of the blogosphere, with less than 15 hits a day. Now look where we are! Other than constantly complaining about hosts, we managed to pull 16 projects through and maintain our 1,000+ daily readership. Which is not a lot, but certainly more than most Middle Eastern sites out there! *insert internet domination dance*

Update II: It’s fine for you guys to comment on the archived entries, for those who asked.

There’s also one particular article which I thought was excellent discussion material, and it’s about how different and active Arab youth in the 50’s and 60’s were compared to us because of the revolution in communication and “globalization.” Apparently we’re too distracted to be involved in politics or anything important, but the author didn’t really justify why he links apathy to globalization.

Anyways, another excellent (and extremely addictive!) site is Elaph, with way more articles about … well, everything. Probably the best Arabic e-zine ever.

During my trip to Cairo, and on the bus ride coming back from our visit to an Orthodox church and the Ben Ezra synagogue, my friend Dalia read a powerful poem called “Lam Alef” (the letters for “No” in Arabic) which I had to ask her to share with us. Hopefully Dalia will be sharing more of her writing seeing as she’s interested in being a part of this site.

I asked Dalia to translate this poem for our non-Arabic speaking readers to understand. She works as a translator for the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, so she’s very much used to translating text, even though translating poetry is a bit tricky.

This is her brief but powerful introduction to the poem she wrote:

I wrote this poem almost one month ago. It was my very first time to notice that our Arabic alphabet includes that letter; i.e. “Lam Alef”. The letter “Lam Alef” just looks like the famous word “La”; meaning “NO” in English. The weirdest part here is that in our primary schools, Arabic teachers (slaves of dictatorship) told us that “Lam Alef” is not among the 28 letters of Arabic alphabet. They were liars! They wanted to produce generations unable to utter the word “La”, unable to refuse the unlawful and awful practices of their government.

I wrote the poem in Egyptian colloquial, to help people to remember the magical “NO”. Unfortunately, or may be that is what was expected from the start, I received some threats. However, I just insisted to publish the poem and I did. You know what? It was so easy to say my “NO” [my Lam Alef], and those who threatened me were not able to do anything. Now, I am much stronger thanks to “Lam Alef”.

Fascinated yet?

Here it comes:

Hearing her recite this out loud left me with goosebumps, it’s that good. Creative and original too, great job!

You may also want to read her contribution to the HAMSA Dream Deferred Essay contest, where she received a well-deserved honorable mention -

Feminine Dream Deferred: The Oppressed Majority

It started out with me sending him a lengthy proposal, and an explanation of this site and its intentions. To be honest, I expected him to express interest, but only after apologizing for the lack of time and commitment. Fortunately for me, I was wrong. He agreed to help out and to be fully dedicated. He wanted to help out mostly because I’m charmingly witty (sarcasm), but partly because he understood the fact that I needed someone who feels just as passionate as I do about this initiative.

After I saw how enthused and hard-working he is, I couldn’t hold myself from offering a bigger but slightly more difficult position, especially since he was already working on similar projects which this site would benefit from. Handling a project, especially if the main project has several pet projects, comes with a lot of stress and responsibility, so it’s extremely helpful to have a second hand who’s willing to help us through more than just content. Lucky for us, we have other great writers helping us in that field such as Patrick, Leah, Joel, and Esther (with her wonderful suggestions which we have already taken into consideration.)

It’s only been one day since he’s been officially a part of this site and already he is thinking about several ways to improve the overall quality, so finally, I can say that I no longer have to worry about finding the “other half” of this project. All decision making and planning for future events will go through both of us and not just me, taking a huge burden off my back.

Other than world domination we have a lot of things in mind, so when we disappear for a bit you can start thinking “I wonder what Esra’a and Drima are up to now?”, and rest assured it will be something rather good.

Thank you, Drima, for doing this! Whenever worrisome things happened on the site (most of which were technical difficulties) it was like being repeatedly hit with a snooker ball in a sock, and after a while it gets really discouraging. So now we have someone else taking care of this, making sure that our readers, as well as our beloved contributors, are happy with the site and what it has to offer.

CAIRO, Egypt - Naguib Mahfouz, who became the first Arab writer to win the Nobel Prize in Literature for his novels depicting modern Egyptian life in his beloved, millennium-old corner of Islamic Cairo, died Wednesday, his doctor said. He was 94.

Mahfouz, who was accused of blasphemy by an Islamic militant and survived a stabbing attack 12 years ago, was admitted to the hospital last month after falling in his home and injuring his head. He died Wednesday morning after his health declined sharply, said Dr. Hossam Mowafi, head of a medical team supervising his treatment at the Police Hospital.

“His wife last night was whispering on his ears and he was smiling and nodding,” Mowafi said.

I read Palace Walk a couple of months ago and it has to be one of the most moving things ever, completely relevant to what’s going on today in the Arab world. I had to review some of his other work for college. Speaking of college, I’m already worried about exams. The worst thing about exams is that it kind of ruins the couple of days before, it’s hard to enjoy yourself knowing that you really need to be revising. It’s kind of like going to bed knowing that you’ve set your alarm clock and you’re going to have to wake up to the sound of construction workers yelling at each other. There’s something spiteful about exams. It’s like “Hey, I hope you enjoyed your summer, you stupid fuck! Here, sit in the world’s most depressing room with a bunch of asthmatics writing for 4 hours! Twat!”

These days I have to wake up at around 7 in the morning, which is pretty hard for me to do since I don’t usually go to bed until 3 AM. The period between midnight and 3 is usually spent deleting spam and upgrading other blogs I host, because I’m a very fun person. I should probably stop leaving my computer on all the time, it’s beginning to give out that low hum of what seems to be a World War 2-era air conditioner.

Someone in this dorm is a huge fan of Madonna and insists on listening to her every minute of every day. From afar she sounds like a semi-interesting stop-start guitar figure being bludgeoned into rubbishness with a big stick. She probably misses those days when she was actually inspirational. Her 1998 album inspired me to make my own music by running my finger around the top of a wine glass.

How the hell did this entry go from the death of Mahfouz to spam to Madonna? My attention span is decreasing every day. This is what happens when you live in a 5,000 channel universe.

To go back on topic, this part of the news article pissed me off:

In 1994, an attacker inspired by a militant cleric’s ruling that a Mahfouz novel written decades before was blasphemous stabbed the then-82-year-old author as he left his Cairo home.

Mahfouz survived, but the attack damaged nerves leading to his right arm, seriously impairing his ability to write. A man who had once worked for hours at a time — writing in longhand — found it a struggle to “form legible words running in more or less straight lines,” he wrote in the aftermath.

It’s sick that most people promoting religious tolerance and moderation in the Arab world either have been attacked or have to live with the constant threat and fear of being attacked. Some people, particularly religious leaders, really need to get a grip.

A Syrian blogger has been arrested by the country’s security forces without explanation, raising fears that President Assad’s government is seeking to curb freedom of speech on the internet.

Ali Sayed al-Shihabi, an English language teacher, has not been seen since he was summoned to a meeting with security agents in Damascus on 10 August. It is believed his detainment may be linked to articles he has written on a political website.

Amnesty International warned that Shihabi, who is 50, is at risk of torture, and urged its members to write to the Syrian authorities.

Amnesty’s joint campaign with The Observer, at Irrepressible.info, calls for an end to governments’ censorship of the web and has attracted more than 36,000 signatures.

Two days after Shihabi was taken, his wife was told that he was being held at the state security centre at Kafr Soussa, Damascus, but that she could not see him. Shihabi has written political articles on the website Hiwar al-Mutamedn (’Civilised Dialogue’). He also has had two books about social affairs published in Syria and was detained between 1982 and 1991 for his membership of the outlawed Party for Communist Action.

Amnesty said Syria has a history of persecuting bloggers. Tim Hancock, its UK campaigns director, said: ‘We know Syrian military intelligence has held internet dissidents in secret locations in the past and we know they are then at risk of torture.’

Unbelievable. Shihabi better be released soon and without a scratch.

Despite frequent denials by Gamal Mubarak that he will run for presidency or that he has the intention to succeed his dad in office, a prominent figure from the ruling National Democratic Party said an in interview to AlWafd newspaper (Arabic) that the party is preparing Gamal Mubarak as a successor and alternative for presidential plans. These statements are the first of their kind. Though almost every Egyptian talks about the ruling party plan, officials from the party never went blunt in public to announce the party’s agenda in bringing the son of the president to power.

My good friend Aisha and I were talking about this in Cairo, and she said that while he has some good qualities, he is definitely not leader-material. His possible leadership is something many Egyptians will fear.

This is how Freedom concludes:

This succession plan puts an end to the shiny statements of the United States about bringing democracy and peace to the Middle East region and to one of the its allies, Egypt. It dashes the hopes of millions of Egyptians who believed once in the Middle East Spring. Gamal Mubarak is an Egyptian citizen and he has the right to be a presidential candidate but he should be like all Egyptians who also wish to run for presidency. There should be equal opportunity if democracy plans are serious.

Couldn’t have said it better myself. One may think about the similar situation of of the Bush leadership, a lot of people said that Bush Jr’s main goal was to finish his father’s business, hence the invasion of Iraq, Afghanistan, etc. People were tracing everything back to Bush senior’s presidency. I don’t necessarily believe that, but I could definitely see the possibility of this happening as soon as Gamal is in power.

Not the most reliable source ever, but interestingly shocking nonetheless.

We have nothing against the show. It just does not meet the notability requirements we have for articles.

But the creators of Israelisms find that questionable:

Some may have seen it as an advertisement; or Wikipedia shouldn’t be political; or it doesn’t belong in Wikipedia. But when the entry for “Daily Source Code”, which is only an advertisement for DSC and Podshow remains untouched, it makes one wonder.

[…]

So, what was it? It’s pretty clear that the only entry for a podcast dealing with everyday life and talking about politics from within Israel bothered some people with an anti-Israel agenda, and either Wikipedia folded… or they agree with that agenda.

If you want to find out whether or not this is the case, you can try writing a Wiki entry about the Israellycool blog and podcast to see if any action against it takes place.

Soon they’ll end up on MySpace. Who knows, at this rate maybe they’ll even start an emo band together.

If you’re intersted in what Chinese human rights activists have to go through on a daily basis, you’ll learn to fully appreciate their ongoing efforts through this article:

BEIJING - A “green, high-tech and people’s Olympics” in Beijing 2008? Nothing is more ironic than this official slogan as I look out of my window at my home in Bobo Freedom City in the Beijing suburbs, not far from where the Games are intended to bring glory to my country.

I live here with my husband, Hu Jia, an environmentalist and AIDS activist. We chose to move here because we loved the area’s greenery and the Bohemian lifestyle it promised, as well as the idea of a “freedom city” in which civil rights were respected. But instead we have often found ourselves under house arrest or round-the-clock surveillance.

Since we moved in two years ago, state security police officers have been frequent visitors to Freedom City. My husband has been repeatedly harassed, including being detained by plainclothes police, without any legal procedure, for 41 days earlier this year.

National holidays, politically sensitive dates and visits by foreign leaders, all become “black dates” for us, when we and many other human-rights and democracy activists in Beijing are routinely deprived of our freedom of movement. In 2005, Hu lost his freedom for a total of 126 days, during which he was barred from medical checkups for his chronic hepatitis B.

In February 2006, just before the opening of the annual session of the “two meetings” - the Chinese People’s Political Consultative Conference and the National People’s Congress - Hu was abducted by plainclothes police and simply vanished.

I went around Beijing, demanding that law-enforcement and government officials conduct a search for my missing husband. I met a wall of silence and repeated denials of any knowledge of his whereabouts. After persistent appeals to international agencies and the news media, Hu was finally released by the state security police, who had all along denied responsibility. Blind-folded, he was dropped off by a police vehicle on the roadside near our home. He was frail, his liver condition seriously aggravated due to the lack of treatment for his hepatitis during incarceration.

When I was running around looking for traces of Hu, I discovered that his case was far from unique. I met families whose loved ones were also suffering from such inhumane treatment - arbitrary detention, abduction and forced disappearance - for their efforts to defend human rights, including the family of Chen Guangcheng, the blind activist from Linyi City, in Shandong Province, who on Thursday was sentenced to more than four years in prison.

For many days now, Hu has again been subjected to house arrest. Police officers standing guard outside our flat even prevent us from taking walks in the enclosed grounds of Bobo Freedom City. I am followed and watched wherever I go. My colleagues have been told to pull out of our joint business venture, my friends are threatened and driven away, and my neighbors questioned and harassed if they talk to me.

Four official vehicles and a dozen policemen are camped downstairs, observing every movement in our flat. When I dialed the emergency police number, 110, to report illegal tailing, the person who answered my call just hung up. I wrote to the mayor of Beijing to seek help, but I got no answer.

This is how we have to live in Beijing. Our aspirations for freedom and respect for fellow human beings are suffocated, our care for each other as fellow citizens is being destroyed. Beijing fears the force of justice and conscience. Its law-enforcement officials resort to illegal means under cover of darkness to isolate and threaten social activists.

This is the Beijing that will be hosting the “green, high-tech and people’s Olympics” in two years’ time.

Zeng Jinyan is a businesswoman and an activist involved in environmental issues and the rights of people infected with HIV/AIDS.

If this isn’t a powerful statement, I don’t know what is. I just wish that we could do something about this other than sit around and sign petitions all day long. It’s times like these that I wish that the trio-hacktivists can finish their jobs more quickly, so that people can at least have some freedom within the internet, which isn’t much, but it’s still something. I highly appreciate anyone who’s working towards the betterment of their country by putting their lives on the line.

Quite an exciting road trip, isn’t it?

I’m not really a big fan of exposing these kinds of pictures online, unless it’s for a good cause and not just for the sake of showing such pictures off, cheap tabloid-paper style. The way certain Arab men (not just Saudis, but this practice seems to be most popular amongst them) treat women, especially foreign* women who are left with hardly any rights, is disgraceful. These women, even if they are prostitutes by choice, need to be treated better than this. There are many crimes committed against prostitutes here and no one is willing to fight it, mainly because people tend to think that prostitutes ask for it by agreeing to be “sex slaves” to begin with. It’s worth noting that a lot of these women weren’t even given the choice to be prostitutes; they were manipulated, brutalized and forced into such a deal. It’s a horrid crime and human traffickers always get away with it in the Arab world because not enough people care to stop it. None of the politicians are making this dreadful issue a high priority.

*Mostly Asian and Eastern European. In Bahrain, our government puts the interests of American and British citizens living here ahead of Bahraini citizens. And people from India, Sri Lanka, and Bangladesh are treated like 2nd class citizens who continue living in horrid conditions.

Here are some articles that you may find interesting:

→ Wife snatched by prostitution gang in Bahrain
→ Sex trade’s reliance on forced labour
→ Factfile: Sex trade trafficking
→ (Lebanon) Child prostitution still taboo, despite laws
→ Commercial sexual exploitation of children
→ Israel women trafficking soars
→ Sex, drugs and guns in the Balkans (ethnic Albanian rebels benefit from sex slavery)

We plan on making more documentaries in the future to help increase awareness on the issue, but after some research I found hundreds of documentaries concerning human traficking in numerous languages. Yet the problem keeps getting ignored by the masses. If awareness doesn’t help, what will? What other options do we have in order to stop this crime from happening as often?

Here’s the article from Ynetnews:

For an entire month Israelis and the rest of the world eagerly waited to hear what Israel had to say about the developments in Lebanon . Europe and the US expected Israel’s foreign ministry to clarify the war’s objectives, even if they were not as clear cut as we would have liked – isn’t that the role of diplomacy?

Even the Arab states wanted to hear Jerusalem’s version so that they could prepare their arguments. Hizbullah waited in fear and anticipation: Would Israel refute its lies and expose them to Lebanon and the world? But nothing happened. You remained in your office.

The world couldn’t understand what Israel was doing and what was happening in the areas under attack. The Arab world took advantage of the media stage by spreading lies and distorted reports that went unheeded: Nasrallah sighed a sigh of relief.

You are Israel’s face and voice

He probably told himself that his task was much easier than he had anticipated, that there’s probably something very screwed up in the Israeli system if Israel didn’t even attempt to deal with his wild tales. Did you forget that you are the foreign minister – Israel’s face and voice? Particularly in wartime?

Tzipi, today’s war is a combination of a violent clash at the front along with a fierce struggle for media attention, which could prove to be more important than the conflict on the ground. We probably won this war by gaining substantial points in the fighting arena; however, Hizbullah declared victory and its declaration was accepted by the Arab world and by Iran.

They are saying that Israel is no longer invincible, that its end is near, while at the same time moderate Arab states are apprehensive about the strengthening of radical Islam forces.

Washington’s disappointment in Israel

This feeling of victory stems more from Israel’s failure in the media conflict than from the actual results of the war. This is not about a loss in points but rather a defeat, which alters the situation on the ground.

Washington is already talking about its disappointment in Israel, its loyal ally who was always able to win the battle.

Europe deepened its hatred and anti-Semitism towards Israel against the background of false and exaggerated images coming out of Lebanon, which went by without an adequate response and without representation. We could have shown bombed hospitals and senior citizen homes and the harm inflicted on our civilian populations. Now, instead there’s a feeling in the Arab world that the strategic situation in the region has changed for the worse against Israel.

Hizbullah’s aggressive media strategy

Hizbullah’s media victory, which turned the tables, is the result of aggressive media and propaganda strategies adopted by all the Arab TV stations and which stemmed from its hatred toward Israel.

Aljazeera, admired by all, served as Hizbullah’s propaganda channel and shamelessly aired all the organization’s reports. It didn’t broadcast news, but rather reports. This channel never once showed an armed Hizbullah guerilla. Neither did the channel express it’s bewilderment as to how Hizbullah did not suffer any casualties, and it never probed its people on the developments on the ground.

However, it wasn’t just Aljazeera and the other 500 Arab TV channels, but also the European media who shamelessly surrendered to Nasrallah’s dictates and pressure from Arab states. It continuously aired dictated or censored reports, so as God forbid, not to offend anyone.

The images aired on TV almost always focused on the destruction, giving an impression that the whole of Beirut was bombed and destroyed. Not a single journalist thought it appropriate to explain things as they were. They all complied. They didn’t bother to report on the situation in northern Israel, or they provided minimum coverage to secure an alibi.

The impressions gleaned from a month of daily newscasts, was Hizbullah’s victory, with operatives who were never harmed and who always succeeded in hindering the IDF.

Where was Tzipi?

Where was Tzipi when all this was going on? You had the world’s broadcasting studios at your disposal. Everyone was eager to hear what Israel had to say about the war, and you? You hid away in your office or in some other place.

You should have been giving interviews day and night to every possible TV channel in an effort to explain our side of the war, to refute the enemy’s claims, to employ strategies that would be detrimental to the morale of those fighting us. You should have tried to create a different media scene, more favorable to Israel and less so to the enemy.

You may have not entirely succeeded and no one would have expected you to, however, even if your success had been partial, you could have minimized the damage.

Your office didn’t ensure that the foreign press would receive appropriate assistance, but only did so after receiving numerous complaints – by then it was too little and too late.

And no one reproached the international media when it betrayed its profession and distorted the reality in Lebanon and in Israel. No one assured efficient coordination with the IDF so that the written and filmed footage would quickly arrive at the international news desks. Nothing was learned from the media defeat during the Intifada.

Foreign Ministry still doesn’t recognize media role

How unfortunate it is to discover that the foreign ministry still doesn’t recognize the extent of the media’s importance; that it has yet to become acquainted with the arena of public diplomacy.

Tzipi, even international policies and UN resolutions are formulated and phrased on the basis of the atmosphere created by the media, along with the political preference of the various countries. You neglected the media and the bi-lateral diplomacy prevalent among the nations who had an influence on the phrasing of the UN Security Council resolution.

Instead of granting interviews again and again, you opted to remain in your office. And yes, you, our biggest hope, have disappointed us by causing severe damage to Israel. Please go back the Justice Ministry.

According to the article, over 13,000 prisoners are continuing their education, and 52 prisoners participated in college exams, 22 of whom succeeded. About 4,218 prisoners are currently registered for long-distance learning, and 270 prisoners completed their college degrees while in prison.

Quite impressive and promising figures, I must say. Though I’m sure that if you consider the total amount of prisoners these stats will seem worthless. But the point is that the number of Algerian prisoners enrolled in higher education is increasing.

Any help and suggestions would be great, thanks.

Also, I’m going to be re-organizing this main index page sometime next month. I think we really need to sort posts by category instead of by author, so instead of having people click through the list of authors, we’ll have a list of topics discussed. This will be very time consuming and unfortunately right now I can only find some time to dedicate to the sites that need to be ready as soon as possible so that people can start posting (especially the Arabic version which I’m having some trouble with.) Hopefully by next week it will be fully installed, configurated and ready for usage.

I guess the leader of Iran has his ambitions, too. Let’s hope that instead of running for president again he’d just be running for the 2006 Blog Awards. But keep your eyes open, if he doesn’t win there’s always the threat of a cyber jihad.

I’d like your opinion on the things I’m about to offer. Some of these I’ve already made my decision on since I already ran it by other leaders of the project, but would like your input anyways, and I’d like some comments advising me whether or not I should do the other things I’m about to propose.

Things that are going to happen:
1) We’ll be launching an Arabic version of this site. Meaning the articles here won’t necessarily be translated unless the author wants it to be, in which case I will translate it or might ask someone with more experience to do so. The editor of this version will be a Syrian-Kurd called Kamal. This site, including its comments, will only be accepted in Arabic since Kamal doesn’t speak English and we’d like to keep the site only in Arabic for our Arabic speakers. Kamal is interested in Kurdish rights in Syria, and will also be representing other less talked about minority religions whose rights need to be protected.

One of the contributors in the Arabic version is a journalist from Kuwait whose focus is mostly political, but she’s very, very well-read and is very determined and hard-working. She works for a well known newspaper in Kuwait and will be writing for us weekly.
2) We’ll also be launching a French version of this site. Same deal as above - articles here won’t necessarily be translated but the French articles, depending on level of importance, will most likely be translated into English for this main index version. The editor of this version is going to be El Mokhtar, a Morrocan student of journalism. He’ll be gathering lots of sources from the West and East and will be comparing them, with his focus being religion.
3) A seperate page to promote interfaith understanding, something I hope Leah will be contributing to since she seems to have some experience in that field.

The Arabic and French versions of the site will be published weekly, while this site remains the way it is. Hopefully with more writers. Some people have expressed great interest in being a part of this and having met them personally makes me feel like part of an actual community. I hope I’ll get the chance to meet the rest of the writers at some point.

Edit: I forgot to mention that there will also be annual awards for the best posts promoting interfaith tolerance and understanding. The awards will be offered by HAMSA.

Under the “war crimes” section, this much has been admitted:

REFUSING TO CLOSE EYES:
Our ‘temporary’ occupation of the territories has been going on now for nearly 40 years and the harsh repression of Palestinians in the territories continues under the guise of our disengagement from the Gaza Strip and the relative lull in the armed struggle. Millions of Palestinians in the occupied territories, unable to move from place to place, are subject to the caprice of the occupying army and ruthless settlers. In the West Bank there are now new generations of Palestinians who have never in their lifetimes experienced normal human rights or even a free day. War crimes continue to take place incessantly in the territories and Israeli settlements continue to expand.

ALL THAT’S BEING DONE IN OUR NAME:
Not only does the occupation hurt Palestinians; it morally destroys us and our fellow citizens in Israeli society. It erodes social solidarity ties and harms particularly the weaker sectors of our society. Funds required to strengthen these sectors are invested instead in extension of the occupation.

INTERNATIONAL WAR LAW:
Contrary to common belief, wars and armed campaigns in general take place within a legal framework specifying rules of engagement and limits of permissible actions in battlefields. Nations uphold International Law by means of international covenants and customs. It sets limits on the use of military force and specifies which actions are considered ‘legal’ and which are not. The Army (of every nation that has ratified the International Law Codex), its officer corps and combatants, are subject to International Law and obligated to abide thereby.

International Military Law (also known as ‘International Humanitarian Law’) deals with a variety of combat situations and associated problems. For example: a The conditions under which a state (or combat force) is allowed to use force; what are ‘attackable’ targets, what targets should be immune from attack, what types of armament are legitimate and which not; how enemy combatants are to be treated and how civilians in occupied areas are to be treated.

International War Law addresses each of these issues and the Law has to be obeyed by army commanders and soldiers. If not, they risk committing war crimes.

THE PRINCIPLES OF DISTINCTION AND OF PROPORTIONALITY:
Two prime principles included in International War Law are the ‘Principle of Distinction’ and the ‘Principle of Proportionality’.
The ‘Principle of Distinction’ defines the obligation to distinguish between combatants (who are considered legitimate, attackable, targets) and civilians that are not legitimate targets. Attacking the latter is a war crime, except if the attack is carried out for self-defense. The same principle also distinguishes between military installations (e.g. military bases, arms-manufacturing installations, ammunition dumps, etc.) and civilian installations (e.g. schools, hospitals, government offices, etc.), prohibiting attacks against the latter. The Principle of Distinction requires anyone engaged directly or indirectly in combat (Army officers and soldiers, and civilians issuing orders to military commanders) to distinguish between combatants and civilians.

The ‘Principle of Proportionality’ states that an attack against any ‘legitimate’ target (as defined above) may still be considered illegitimate, and prohibited, if the attack might result in disproportionate damages to non-legitimate targets. For example, bombing a school to hit an adversary combatant hiding there would clearly be disproportionate and forbidden as it would threaten the lives of children in that school. Similarly, using a one-ton bomb to hit one adversary combatant in a residential building in a densely built-up area is disproportionate and prohibited because it would result in massive civilian casualties.

The ‘Principle of Proportionality’ requires that in order to qualify as a ‘legitimate’ military action, military advantage(s) of the action must outweigh damages incurred by civilians.

Based on this principle, International Law imposed restrictions on the use of armaments. For example: the use of ‘firecracker’ artillery shells (exploding above ground and spreading exploding steel balls) and of ‘flanchette’ artillery shells (that effectively kill anyone within a specified radius) are forbidden because these weapons can not be aimed accurately enough to avoid hitting uninvolved civilians.

INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW:
An international legal process that eventually led to codification of an International Criminal Law and the establishment of legal institutions that would try and punish international criminals, commenced pursuant to an assessment of the huge numbers of military and civilian casualties caused by World War One (WWI). The process was intensified after WWII, upon discovering the extent of atrocities committed by Nazis on even larger numbers of civilians in occupied areas. The resultant international law addresses several crimes such as crimes against humanity and genocide. Combatants that violate international war laws are war criminals.

You’ll find more by downloading the full document.

A list of current prisoners.

Here’s an article by Zeev Maoz, featured in Haaretz -

There’s practically a holy consensus right now that the war in the North is a just war and that morality is on our side. The bitter truth must be said: this holy consensus is based on short-range selective memory, an introverted worldview, and double standards.

This war is not a just war. Israel is using excessive force without distinguishing between civilian population and enemy, whose sole purpose is extortion. That is not to say that morality and justice are on Hezbollah’s side. Most certainly not. But the fact that Hezbollah “started it” when it kidnapped soldiers from across an international border does not even begin to tilt the scales of justice toward our side.

Let’s start with a few facts. We invaded a sovereign state, and occupied its capital in 1982. In the process of this occupation, we dropped several tons of bombs from the air, ground and sea, while wounding and killing thousands of civilians. Approximately 14,000 civilians were killed between June and September of 1982, according to a conservative estimate. The majority of these civilians had nothing to do with the PLO, which provided the official pretext for the war.

In Operations Accountability and Grapes of Wrath, we caused the mass flight of about 500,000 refugees from southern Lebanon on each occasion. There are no exact data on the number of casualties in these operations, but one can recall that in Operation Grapes of Wrath, we bombed a shelter in the village of Kafr Kana which killed 103 civilians. The bombing may have been accidental, but that did not make the operation any more moral.

On July 28, 1989, we kidnapped Sheikh Obeid, and on May 12, 1994, we kidnapped Mustafa Dirani, who had captured Ron Arad. Israel held these two people and another 20-odd Lebanese detainees without trial, as “negotiating chips.” That which is permissible to us is, of course, forbidden to Hezbollah.

Hezbollah crossed a border that is recognized by the international community. That is true. What we are forgetting is that ever since our withdrawal from Lebanon, the Israel Air Force has conducted photo-surveillance sorties on a daily basis in Lebanese airspace. While these flights caused no casualties, border violations are border violations. Here too, morality is not on our side.

So much for the history of morality. Now, let’s consider current affairs. What exactly is the difference between launching Katyushas into civilian population centers in Israel and the Israel Air Force bombing population centers in south Beirut, Tyre, Sidon and Tripoli? The IDF has fired thousands of shells into south Lebanon villages, alleging that Hezbollah men are concealed among the civilian population. Approximately 25 Israeli civilians have been killed as a result of Katyusha missiles to date. The number of dead in Lebanon, the vast majority comprised of civilians who have nothing to do with Hezbollah, is more than 300.

Worse yet, bombing infrastructure targets such as power stations, bridges and other civil facilities turns the entire Lebanese civilian population into a victim and hostage, even if we are not physically harming civilians. The use of bombings to achieve a diplomatic goal - namely, coercing the Lebanese government into implementing UN Security Council Resolution 1559 - is an attempt at political blackmail, and no less than the kidnapping of IDF soldiers by Hezbollah is the aim of bringing about a prisoner exchange.

There is a propaganda aspect to this war, and it involves a competition as to who is more miserable. Each side tries to persuade the world that it is more miserable. As in every propaganda campaign, the use of information is selective, distorted and self-righteous. If we want to base our information (or shall we call it propaganda?) policy on the assumption that the international environment is going to buy the dubious merchandise that we are selling, be it out of ignorance or hypocrisy, then fine. But in terms of our own national soul searching, we owe ourselves to confront the bitter truth - maybe we will win this conflict on the military field, maybe we will make some diplomatic gains, but on the moral plane, we have no advantage, and we have no special status.

The writer is a professor of political science at Tel Aviv university.

It’s becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to find solid, undeniable facts. It always boils down to a matter of choice and personal beliefs, which we in turn use to convince ourselves that such information are the real facts, and not biased and skewed material. People need to start admitting their mistakes, reputation and pride aside.

Reuters reports -

Israeli aircraft fired rockets at a convoy of hundreds of cars carrying people fleeing southern Lebanon.

Residents were fleeing Marjayoun in south Lebanon after Israeli troops took control of the town and the nearby villages of Burj al-Molouk and Qlaiah. About 3,000 civilians and 350 Lebanese soldiers and policemen were in the convoy.

You can watch a video of the report here. I remind you that Arabs and any seemingly pro-Lebanese media sources are staging events to conspire against Israel. It’s the only logical explanation. I must be right. The international community is racist for allowing this propoganda to be aired.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Giw3WkNsckA

Hostility and mistrust between Arabs and Israelis have plumbed new depths as a result of the Lebanese war.

The conflict is being seen on both sides as a struggle for existence. Internal differences have been set aside to present a united front to the “enemy”.

Hassan Nasrallah, the Shiite cleric who heads Hezbollah, has emerged as a symbol of Arab potency and a hero to a society steeped in humiliation and defeat.

“Analysts of street politics believe that if [he] nominated himself as a hypothetical president of the Arab world he would win,” wrote Mohammad Abdul Salam, a senior researcher at the Al Ahram Centre for Political and Strategic Studies in Cairo.

In Israel the military is enjoying almost total support even among peace campaigners.

So if the “majority” of the Arab and Muslim world is siding with Hezbollah, and the “majority” of Israelis are siding with their forces, why is “peace” ever expected? Seems like the “majority” don’t want it, or else they’d be striving for it. It doesn’t matter if one side ever “wins,” it’s still a stalemate in the end because nothing new would come of it. There is seldom any winning when war is involved. World War I is a good example of that.

Do not talk or make diplomatic moves. Arabs seek exactly that kind of publicity. When attacked, retaliate cruelly, issue a short statement, but otherwise do not comment. Do not ask Arabs for anything, especially for peace. Do not attempt militarily impossible tasks, like destroying a guerilla army in foreign territory. Deal with Arabs like with nasty flies: kill any number when necessary and without regret, but otherwise pay no attention. Make no concessions. Ignore the Arabs. That is the real cruelty they will not stand.

And to think that nobody would have the heart to agree. Just read the comments in support of this fool. Furthermore, visit the actual website and read the praise his book is getting. You’ll want to run to the nearest bathroom in order to purge yourself.

You can’t just ignore morality in a case as serious and tragic as this. Doing so is being a dimwitted jerk - not a realist. You can’t just commit genocide to ensure supremacy, either. What does this writer want anyways, to destroy the Arab civilization like that of the Minoans?

If Israel followed the author’s rules in this book, it will fail so miserably that it will probably start jogging backwards to where many Arab countries stand. The author’s so unbelievably simplistic and clueless that if Machiavelli was alive, he’d probably want to kill himself out of shame for having such a retarded follower. At least Machiavelli’s work seemed reasonable, if you consider the thorough explanations of his political theories, even though it’s a bit extreme. This guy is just ridiculous, however. And what’s worse is that he makes extra effort to highlight his stupidity.

Here’s a summary of his work:

“The end justifies the means! Kill them all! If Israel listened to me it will be the size of China by now! I repeat, kill the Arabs! Like insects! Islam is the cancer of this world! It grows on you and it starts spreading everywhere! Look at me! I’m quoting the works of a famous political philosopher! Does that make me smart?”

JERUSALEM - Israel’s Security Cabinet on Wednesday approved a wider ground offensive in south Lebanon that was expected to take 30 days as part of a new push to badly damage Hezbollah, a Cabinet minister said.

The Security Cabinet authorized troops to push to the Litani River some 18 miles from the Israel-Lebanon border. Currently, some 10,000 soldiers are fighting Hezbollah in a four-mile stretch from the frontier.

The proposed operation was expected to take 30 days, Cabinet minister Eli Yishai said. However, an internationally backed cease-fire was expected to be imposed well before then.

“The assessment is it will last 30 days. I think it is wrong to make this assessment. I think it will take a lot longer,” he said.

The decision, approved by nine ministers with three abstaining, gave authorization to Defense Minister Amir Peretz and Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to order the wider offensive and to decide its timing. However, it did not obligate them to act.

Such a decision is risky. Israel would set itself up for new criticism that it is sabotaging diplomatic efforts, particularly after Lebanon offered to deploy its own troops in the border area.

Meanwhile, Arab satellite TV Al-Jazeera reported Wednesday that 11 Israeli soldiers were killed in heavy fighting with Hezbollah guerrillas near the border in southern Lebanon.

More Hezbollah rockets were fired at northern Israeli towns — including several medium-range missiles that landed near the West Bank town of Jenin and south of the Israeli city of Afula — bringing the total during the conflict to 3,333, police said.

By mid-afternoon, the guerrillas had fired 132 rockets, but no casualties were immediately reported, said police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld.

This is insane. At first, silence was blamed for the continuation of this ongoing conflict. Now, people are protesting. Writing. Signing petitions. Donating. Lecturing. All in the favor of Palestinian and Lebanese innocent civilians. But which country is going to get the guts to step up and actually attempt to put an end to this? If it’s not our words, what else can we depend on to inspire more actions from our states? We need a promising sign to show us that we’re not wasting our time and breath with protests.

Once again The State of Israel launches a mass war against The Republic of Lebanon and its people. Israel Defence Army (IDA) has been targeting the civil people (Lebanese and Palestinians residents), the civil infrastructure and vital functions such as hospitals, electricity stations and water supplies. IDA has imposed total blockade against Lebanon (aerial, marine ad terrestrial), and severing vital supplies (medicines, food etc.) through the disablement of ports, airports, roads, bridges etc. .It has been attacking any moving vehicle including ambulances, fleeing refugees, and humanitarian supplies trucks.

All these acts are war crimes and crimes against humanity, for which Israeli state leaders should be prosecuted before International tribunal.

The Israeli pretext for launching this war of annihilation is the capture of two Israeli soldiers by The Lebanese Islamic Resistance (LIR) the military arm of Hezbollah. The LIR has captured 2 Israeli solders to trade them for Lebanese Captives with Israel, which should have handed them upon withdrawal from Lebanon in May 2000, plus handing Shaba farms and the maps of Israeli landmines , as part of ending hostilities between Israel and Lebanon,

Regardless of that, Israel is launching a total war against Lebanon and the Lebanese people which is a sovereign country, contrary to international law, UN charter, bilateral armistice agreement, UN Security Council resolution1559, and many others.

Israel is intentionally violating international conventions on the rules of wars.

The Fourth Geneva Convention prohibits “collective penalties and likewise all measures of intimidation or of terrorism - (Article 33). According to Article 147 of the Convention, “extensive destruction … not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly,” hostage-taking and “torture or inhuman treatment” are grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and constitute war crimes. All state parties to the Convention are required to search for and ensure the prosecution of perpetrators of grave breaches of the said Convention.

Protocol I Additional to the Geneva Conventions codifies the principle of distinction, a customary rule of international humanitarian law: “In order to ensure respect for and protection of the civilian population and civilian objects, the Parties to the conflict shall at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants and between civilian objects and military objectives and accordingly shall direct their operation only against military objectives.” (Article 48). International Humanitarian Law strictly prohibits attacks against civilians and civilian objects. The Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) includes as war crimes: “Intentionally directing attacks against the civilian population as such or against individual civilians not taking direct part in hostilities”, and “Intentionally directing attacks against civilian objects” [Article 8 2 (b) (i) and (ii)]

The USA is partner and collaborator with Israel in this war, through military, financial and political support to Israel even as the war goes on. US has blocked UN Security action to stop the war, and practiced pressures against other members of the council. These members along wit UN General Secretary have also responsibility to enact the international legitimacy.

We address all members of UN Security council to shoulder their responsibility to stop the war immediately and curb Israel to end its siege and aggressions against Lebanon. Dispute between Israel and Lebanon should be solved according to international law and not under the blackmail of war.

We urge the international community to deplore the Israeli war and to furnish all kinds of support to Lebanon.

We appeal to all humanitarian agencies and organizations to rush personnel and aid to Lebanon.

We condemn the Israeli war of annihilation against the Lebanese people.

We salute the Lebanese people.

-Bahrain Youth Society For Human Rights (BYSHR)