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RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (Sky News) one hour ago — Saudi Arabia’s king has warned the current crisis between Lebanon, the Palestinians and Israel could spark a full-scale Middle East war.
King Abdullah has also pledged $500m to rebuild Lebanon and $250m to help the Palestinians.
- “If the peace option fails because of Israeli arrogance, there will be no other option but war.”
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King Abdullah
“No one can predict what will happen if things get out of control. The Arabs have declared peace as a strategic choice … and put forward a clear and fair proposal of land for peace and have ignored (Arab) extremist calls opposing the peace proposal … but patience cannot last forever.” Saudi state television quoted the king as saying in an official statement.
PARIS (AFP) July 20 – Saudi Arabia’s Crown Price Sultan Ben Abdel Aziz began a three-day visit to France likely to be dominated by the Middle East and French hopes for large arms contracts. He held an hour of talks with President Jacques Chirac in which the sole topic was the situation in the Middle East and in Lebanon “with a view to strengthening efforts for a de-escalation and a return to peace”, according to Chirac’s office.
The prince will also meet Defense Minister Michele Alliot-Marie and Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin. Although Saudi Arabia has used stronger language than France to criticize the Israeli bombardment of Lebanon, and in particular civilian infrastructure, the views of the two countries are close.
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Sultan Bin Abdel Aziz who is also defense minister, is in Paris to discuss the fighting in Lebanon and Iraq and international efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program, as well as economic questions. AP Photo/John Schults, Pool
On his part, Prince Saud said views of the two countries were about to be identical on issues that concern the Middle East region, and …
- pointed out that the existing instability in the Middle East region was caused by failure to settle the Arab-Israeli dispute,
- slammed the Israeli arrogant policy towards its neighboring Arab countries.
Prince Saud underlined the importance of enabling the Lebanese government to spread its influence throughout Lebanese territories, and said “we should extend economic and political support to Lebanon in all spheres. We are friends of Lebanon, and we cooperate with it.”
● Original statement by Saudi Arabia on Hizbollah and Lebanon
[Critical statement from Saudi FM toward Hizbollah has been removed from the official site – Oui]
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."
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Israel has used artillery-fired cluster munitions in populated areas of Lebanon, Human Rights Watch said. Researchers on the ground in Lebanon confirmed that a cluster munitions attack on the village of Blida on July 19 killed one and wounded at least 12 civilians, including seven children. Human Rights Watch researchers also photographed cluster munitions in the arsenal of Israeli artillery teams on the Israel-Lebanon border.
“Cluster munitions are unacceptably inaccurate and unreliable weapons when used around civilians,” said Kenneth Roth, executive director of Human Rights Watch. “They should never be used in populated areas.”
«« click on image for HRW storyM483A1 DPICM artillery-delivered cluster munition present in the arsenal of an IDF unit in northern Israel. © Human Rights Watch 2006According to eyewitnesses and survivors of the attack interviewed by Human Rights Watch, Israel fired several artillery-fired cluster munitions at Blida around 3 p.m. on July 19. The witnesses described how the artillery shells dropped hundreds of cluster submunitions on the village.
≈ Cross-posted from Steven D front page story —
White Phosphorus — The Lebanese Sequel ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
The song “The Eve Of Destruction” keeps echoing through my head this morning.
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Six years of destruction, visciousness, rovian assault, death and no intention to unite U.S. interior nor in foreign policy, even shunning our greatest allies of the 20th century.
NY & Washington 911 – Afghanistan – Iraq – Gaza & West Bank occupied territories – New Orleans and human loss – Lebanon – blowbackof Bush/Blair ME policy and terror attacks on Ankara – Bali – Baghdad – Casablanca – Kabul – Karachi – Madrid – London – Mumbai.
Is this what I learned from history as the Dark Ages? The scourge of death and hunger spreading our earth.
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
Oui, I do not know quite how to put this, but I personally want to say thanks for all that you bring to our table of knowledge for us to digest. I really do appreciate you more than you will ever know. hugs
Well, as I see it, we are on for a real rough ride to hell and maybe back over all of this mess in the ME. All because bush and his demons are the way they are. I have no words in my vocabulary for saying how I feel today. I am simply so very sad over it all.
computers up and running at the same time tracking down everything you can find in one day. Thank You Oui.
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TEL AVIV (Haaretz) July 19 — Sagi agrees that Operation Accountability did not lead to any strategic change in the sector, but he argues that the operation did succeed in institutionalizing ties with Hezbollah for years. “Today the decision-makers think they know everything,” he says. “They live in the illusion that Israel can continue attacking as much as it wants, and that nothing will happen in the world. We are approaching the point of fully utilizing military might.”
Sagi is furious about Chief of Staff Dan Halutz‘s remarks on the need to “extract a price” from Hezbollah. He suggests that whoever wants to extract a price be aware that such a policy will also extract a price from Israel. Halutz’s call to “force” the government of Lebanon to “impose its sovereignty all the way to the border” also seems to him a little delusional, so long as such a move does not have political and moral support from the international community and from Arab countries, first and foremost among them Egypt and Saudi Arabia, as well as willingness on the part of Syria not to disturb the process.
Yossi Beilin Criticizes U.S. for Not Negotiating with Syria
(IsraelNN.com) MK Yossi Beilin, head of the radical left-wing Meretz-Yahad party, criticized the U.S. for its unwillingness to negotiate with Syria.
● Haaretz — Now is the time to investigate ◊ by Reuven Pedatzur
≈ Cross-posted from my diary —
Saudi King Abdullah: “… no other option but WAR.” ≈
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY
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Recent history should serve as a guide. The international community has identified important goals but gone about achieving them in all the wrong ways: UN Security Council Resolution 1559‘s fundamental flaw was that it aimed at internationalising the Hizbollah question without regionalising the quest for a solution. It is not possible to remove Hizbollah’s arms without dealing with the justifications it invokes for maintaining them; to remake Lebanon by focusing on Hizbollah at the expense of broader questions related to the confessional distribution of power; and to do all this by isolating and targeting Syria, not involving it. Instead, continuous, robust and comprehensive diplomatic effort is required on several levels simultaneously:
resumption of an urgent internal Lebanese dialogue on full implementation of the 1989 Taif Accords and Resolution 1559 items;
swift return of displaced persons to the South as prolongation of the current untenable situation risks producing an internal explosion;
urgent donor and especially Arab commitments to help with Lebanon’s reconstruction;
resolution of pending Israeli-Lebanese issues so as to dry up the complaints that feed Hizbollah’s militancy;
engaging Syria and Iran as a means of inducing Hizbollah cooperation; and
reinvigorating the whole Israeli-Arab peace process.
This last point is key. The accelerated plunge into the abyss is the price paid for six years of diplomatic neglect; without a negotiating process, regional actors have been left without rules of the game, reference points or arbiters. In this respect, although their dynamics are different and they need separate solutions, the Palestinian and Lebanese crises clearly intersect. Only through a serious and credible rekindling of the long dormant peace process can there be any hope whatsoever of addressing, and eliminating, root causes.
[Bold face and links are mine – Oui]
● World powers converge on Rome for Middle East crisis talks
"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."▼ ▼ ▼ MY DIARY