| 9/11 weekend open thread Posted: 09 Sep 2011 01:33 PM PDT On September 11, 2006, I took this photo at about 9 AM, and superimposed an illustration of how tall the World Trade Center was:  Today, the Freedom Tower is the tallest building in lower Manhattan, about 1000 feet high. Junior Elder took a (cheap mobile phone) snapshot a couple of weeks ago: Hope springs eternal - but memory is essential. 
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| Syria kills defector's brother, child Posted: 09 Sep 2011 12:26 PM PDT In June, Lieutenant Colonel Hussein Harmoush defected from the Syrian army to join the opposition movement: Today it was announced that his brother and child were killed by Syrian forces. Syrian security forces killed two relatives of a defecting military officer, as opposition groups urged Russia to abandon its backing for President Bashar al- Assad and help end his government's violent crackdown.
A child and brother of Colonel Hussein Harmoush, the most senior army commander to switch sides, were killed today in the northern province of Idlib, Mahmoud Merhi, head of the Arab Organization for Human Rights, said in a phone interview from Damascus. At least 11 people were wounded in the suburbs of the capital, where gunfire was heard by residents, he said. Seven protesters died yesterday in Idlib and the central region of Homs, Merhi said.
More than 3,100 civilians have been killed in Syria since protests began in March, according to Merhi and Ammar Qurabi of the National Organization for Human Rights in Syria. About 30,000 people have been detained and 13,000 of them are still being held, the activists estimate.
Security forces "forcibly" removed 18 wounded people from al-Barr hospital in Homs on Sept. 7, including five from the operating room, Human Rights Watch said late yesterday, citing witnesses, including doctors. The forces also prevented medical personnel from reaching the wounded in a number of the city's neighborhoods, the New York-based organization said. 
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| Egyptians destroy part of wall protecting Israel embassy (updated, video) Posted: 09 Sep 2011 11:09 AM PDT On Tuesday I posted about a new wall being built in Egypt to keep people away from the Israel embassy, and how many vowed to destroy it today. Thousands of demonstrators came out today, with hammers, to do just that. Al Masry al Youm reports that there were minor skirmishes between the protesters and police, but the military was not able to stop them from destroying parts of the wall. Some demonstrators were injured; one fell from a bridge that the wall was built on top of and one tried to climb an adjacent building and fell as well. (h/t Sylvia) UPDATE: Here's video: (h/t Dan) 
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| Did an Egyptian nuclear scientist defect to Israel? Posted: 09 Sep 2011 10:06 AM PDT El Fagr reports of an Egyptian nuclear scientist named Noha Awad Hached who moved to Israel last June. The Egyptian media is unclear; they seem to be saying that she intends to convert to Judaism and participated in a right-wing conference that claims that Israel should include parts of Egypt, using evidence she took from Al Azhar University. Al Ahram says that she has been working towards her doctorate for over twenty years and still does not have it, and that she had visited Israel previously. It also implies that she is a bit crazy. The Egyptian media quotes Israeli media on this story, but I have not found any articles corroborating this very strange story. 
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| An eyewitness to Arab 9/11 celebrations in Beirut Posted: 09 Sep 2011 08:54 AM PDT The original Wall Street Journal article is no longer available, but this account by Elisabetta Burba about her experiences in Lebanon is a must-read: Whooping It Up
In Beirut, even Christians celebrated the atrocity.
BY ELISABETTA BURBA
Saturday, September 22, 2001 12:01 a.m. EDT
BEIRUT--Where were you on Sept. 11, when terrorists changed the world? I was at the National Museum here, enjoying the wonders of the ancient Phoenicians with my husband. This tour of past splendor only magnified the shock I received later when I heard the news and saw the reactions all around me.
Walking downtown, I realized that the offspring of this great civilization were celebrating a terrorist outrage. And I am not talking about destitute people. Those who were cheering belonged to the elite of the Paris of Middle East: professionals wearing double-breasted suits, charming blond ladies, pretty teenagers in tailored jeans.
Trying to find our bearings, my husband and I went into an American-style cafe in the Hamra district, near Rue Verdun, rated as one of the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Here the cognitive dissonance was immediate, and direct. The café's sophisticated clientele was celebrating, laughing, cheering and making jokes, as waiters served hamburgers and Diet Pepsi. Nobody looked shocked, or moved. They were excited, very excited.
An hour later, at a little market near the U.S. Embassy, on the outskirts of Beirut, a thrilled shop assistant showed us, using his hands, how the plane had crashed into the twin towers. He, too, was laughing.
Once back at the house where we were staying, we started scanning the international channels. Soon came reports of Palestinians celebrating. The BBC reporter in Jerusalem said it was only a tiny minority. Astonished, we asked some moderate Arabs if that was the case. "Nonsense," said one, speaking for many. "Ninety percent of the Arab world believes that Americans got what they deserved."
An exaggeration? Rather an understatement. A couple of days later, we headed north to Tripoli, near the Syrian border. On the way, we read that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, who donated blood in front of the cameras, was rejecting any suggestion that his people were rejoicing over the terrorist attack. "It was less than 10 children in Jerusalem," he said.
In the bustling souk of Tripoli we started looking for the Great Mosque, a 1294 building with a distinctive Lombard-style tower. But in that labyrinth, nobody spoke anything but Arabic, which we don't speak. Finally, in a dark shop, we found an old gentleman who knew French. His round white cap showed that he was a devout Muslim. Leaning on his stick, he managed to get on the street and with most exquisite manners gave us directions. Common decency survives all.
Once at the mosque I donned a black chador, but our Lonely Planet guide attracted the attention of a hard-looking bearded guy all the same. "Are you Americans?" he asked in a menacing tone. Our quick denial made him relax. He gave us the green light to go in. But very soon afterward we were again approached, by a fat young man. He turned out to be one of the 350,000 Palestinians who live in Lebanon, unwelcome by most of the population and subject to severe hardships. Hearing we were Italians, first he recited like a prayer names of Italian soccer players. We were relieved at first that he wanted to talk about sports, but he soon moved on to politics and the "events."
"My people have been crushed under the heel of American imperialism, which took away our land, massacred our beloved and denied our right to life. But have you seen what happened in New York City? God Almighty has drawn his sword against our enemies. God is great--Allah u Akbar," he said.
I heard these appeals to religion so often that I needed some theological help. "How can God do evil?" I later asked an Arab friend, a businessman with an international background. "According to what I learnt in my catechism, God lets evil happen. He doesn't do it," I said, and he answered:
"The Koran has the same teaching, but blood calls for blood."
What about compassion? I asked, pointing out that Jesus had turned the other cheek. Isn't Allah also always called the Merciful? "He is, but when a people has been begging for a piece of land for 52 years and it has experienced only bloodshed, what can you expect?" But the victims of the World Trade Center were civilians, I insisted. "In the new intifada, 500 Palestinians have been killed. America didn't give a damn, so why should Muslims care now about those who died in the twin towers? It's hard, but that's the way they see it."
I couldn't help it. I kept remembering how a day earlier, in Germany, Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder had talked about clash of civilizations.
On Thursday night, in the Christian northern part of Beirut, we heard some loud noises. "Probably they are celebrating the attacks," someone told us when we asked. You mean the Maronite Christians are also celebrating? I asked.
"Yes, they also feel betrayed by the Americans."
On Friday, the national day of remembrance for the victims in Europe and the U.S., I was relieved to see that the Christian church in the Sahet Aukar district was packed with people holding a candlelight vigil. Less comforting was the thick barrier of soldiers and checkpoints that protected the church.
Heliopolis, in the Bekaa Valley, was the Sun City of the ancients. Nowadays it is called Baalbek. Near its lavish temples stands the stronghold of the Hezbollah, the Iranian-backed Shiite Party of God. Along the clean alleys that lead to the Hezbolla's stronghold there are hand-made posters of bearded young men. "They are martyrs," explained a well-dressed, cultivated Arab man who had just gotten out of his Mercedes. "They fought until victory: the withdrawal of Israeli occupants. So they became a model for the all Arab world." Weren't they terrorists? we asked. "Terrorists? What about the Israelis who kill women and babies?"
In the seven days we spent in Lebanon, we saw one young Arab woman with teary eyes. "The stories of the victims touched me," she said, and I began to regain my trust in humanity. Then she added: "But in a way I am also glad, because for once the Americans are experiencing what we in the Middle East go through every single day." Back in Italy, I received a phone call from my friend Gilberto Bazoli, a journalist in Cremona. He told me he witnessed the same reactions among Muslims in the local mosque of that small Lombard city. "They were all on Osama bin Laden's side," he said. "One of them told me that they were not even worthy to kiss his toes." 
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| Would statehood help Lebanese Palestinians? Nah. Posted: 09 Sep 2011 07:52 AM PDT An interesting article in Now Lebanon: On September 20, representatives from across the world will decide in the UN General Assembly whether or not to upgrade the legal status of Palestine from "nonvoting observer entity" to "nonvoting observer state."
While the difference between "entity" and "state" may seem superfluous, such a change, if it happens, could not only have important implications for Israel and the Palestinians, but also for Lebanon.
By some estimates, nearly one in 10 people living in Lebanon can be classified as a Palestinian refugee. But unfortunately for Palestinians here, there is no legal definition accorded to them under Lebanese law. Rather, the 300,000 or so people of Palestinian decent in Lebanon live in legal limbo.
Palestinians living in Lebanon have been accorded a status equivalent to "foreigner." The country's so-called "reciprocity law" means that any rights enjoyed by a foreign claimant in Lebanon are conditional on a Lebanese person enjoying the same rights in that person's home country. Since the Palestinians do not have a country, this leaves them at a severe disadvantage in Lebanon. So if Palestine is recognized as even a non-voting UN state by the General Assembly, then Lebanon would be powerless to discriminate against Palestinian Arabs based on their not having a country, right? Of course not! The discrimination will keep on happening, and no one - not the PLO, not Mahmoud Abbas, not the Paleestinian Arab "leaders" in Lebanon, not the Arab Springers, no one - will do anything to stop it. Even this writer says so: Although Lebanon recognizes Palestine as a state, the reciprocity law has historically been used to discriminate against Palestinians here. They are limited in their ability to obtain employment and to own property, and the vast majority is consigned to life in one of the 12 refugee camps in the country.
The greatest factor leading to the continued discrimination of Palestinians is the fear held by many Lebanese that with greater rights, Palestinians' incentive to return home will be diminished and that they may eventually be naturalized, something that would shake up the sectarian balance of the country, as most Palestinians here are Sunni Muslim. This is coupled with the fear that if they were allowed to work in Lebanon, Palestinians could take jobs away from Lebanese.
It is unclear exactly how [UDI] will impact this country. With respect to employment, the number of professions barred to Palestinians in Lebanon has already shrunk from 70 before 2005 to around 20 today. These remain in "professional" domains, such as medicine and engineering. While competition from educated Palestinians could potentially cause tensions within a market already low on employment opportunities, for this to have a significant effect on the Lebanese labor force there would have to be high numbers of educated and qualified Palestinians in a position to compete with Lebanese applicants – and although there are no reliable statistics in this domain, reports by the Committee for Employment of Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon suggest this to be an unlikely scenario.
The issue of property laws is similar. It is unclear what the position of the Lebanese government will be should the Palestinians be granted nonvoting observer state status, but in order for the implications to be felt by ordinary Lebanese, Palestinians would need enough money to move out of the camps and begin buying up Lebanese property, something most would not be able to do. As this article makes clear, the reciprocity law is not the reason Palestinians are discriminated against in Lebanon - it is the excuse to justify legal discrimination against them. And Lebanon already recognizes "Palestine" today, so the law should already be irrelevant - and yet it is still used for the express purpose of keeping Palestinian Arabs as second-class citizens. So on this count, a UN-sanctioned Palestinian Arab state will change nothing for the Lebanese Palestinians who are already suffering from 63 years of crushing apartheid by their Lebanese hosts. 
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| The phantom airline between Cairo and Tel Aviv Posted: 09 Sep 2011 06:53 AM PDT From The Globe and Mail: The lone ghost-white aircraft – with no logo or name displayed – sits in the far corner of the airfield outside Cairo International Airport. The aged twin-engine Boeing 737 could be mistaken for a CIA plane used for extraordinary rendition of al-Qaeda suspects; it even resembles the DC-2 that flew to Shangri-La.
The plane, in fact, is the entire fleet of the phantom airline: Air Sinai, a semi-secret division of Egypt Air.
Though thousands of people have tried and failed to get a seat on this plane, it is possible to do so. It's just not easy.
Air Sinai was created in 1982, right after the Israel-Egypt peace treaty went into effect. As part of the normalization of relations between the two former enemies, the treaty called for the national airline of each country to fly regularly in and out of the other country's main international airport.
Israel's El Al airline happily complied, taking often-full flights of internationals and curious Israelis to the Egyptian capital.
The owner of Egypt Air, the government of Egypt, was a little squirmier. To fulfill the terms of the treaty without appearing to do so to its citizens and to others from Arab countries to which it flew, Egypt Air created a new division – Air Sinai, operating under the International Air Transport Association code of 4D.
This airline would fly to and from Tel Aviv every week, without forcing Egypt Air to list the destination among its flights, or on its maps. .
...It's hard to even find Air Sinai online, and it's impossible to book a seat between Tel Aviv and Cairo. Pursuing any of the online discount brokers that purport to offer Air Sinai tickets will lead the unsuspecting traveller either to a message that says there is "no service" between the two cities, or will route the person through Jordan on Royal Jordanian Airlines. .
Checking on the parent Egypt Air's website, there is no mention whatsoever of Air Sinai; Tel Aviv can't even be successfully entered in the destination box. .
Air Sinai's telephone number is unlisted. .
It's left to a handful of traffickers – sly travel agents and hotel concierges in Israel and Egypt – to get hooked up. An envelope of cash is sent to an unmarked office and, in return, comes an odd, horizontal yellow booklet that resembles an airline ticket of a bygone era. This is a great description of the entire cold peace between Israel and Egypt. One side really wants peace; the other wants to do the barest minimum it is required to do while still getting billions from the US. (h/t T34) 
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| Israel contemplates playing hardball with Turkey Posted: 09 Sep 2011 05:52 AM PDT For an entire week since the Palmer report mostly exonerating Israel for the Mavi Marmara incident was released, Turkey has been increasing its rhetoric and actions against Israel - and the only official Israeli response has been to express hope that relations between the two countries can improve. That may be about to change. From YNet: Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman has decided to adopt a series of harsh measures in response to Turkey's latest anti-Israeli moves, Yedioth Ahronoth reported Friday. Senior Foreign Ministry officials convened Thursday to prepare for a meeting to be held Saturday with Lieberman on the matter. Saturday's session will be dedicated to discussing Israel's response to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan's recent threats and his decision to downgrade Ankara's diplomatic ties with Jerusalem.
Following Thursday's meeting, officials assessed that Turkey is not interested in an Israeli apology at this time and prefers to exploit the dispute with Jerusalem in order to promote Ankara's status in the Muslim world. Lieberman therefore decided there was no point in seeking creative formulas for apologizing, instead choosing to focus Israel's efforts on punishing Turkey.
The Foreign Ministry has now decided to proceed with the formulation of a diplomatic and security "toolbox" to be used against the Turks. The first move would be to issue a travel warning urging all Israeli military veterans to refrain from traveling to Turkey. The advisory will be especially harsh as it will also urge Israelis to refrain from boarding connections in Turkey.
Another planned Israeli move is the facilitation of cooperation with Turkey's historic rivals, the Armenians. During Lieberman's visit to the United States this month, the foreign minister is expected to meet with leaders of the Armenian lobby and propose anti-Turkish cooperation in Congress.
The implication of this move could be Israeli assistance in promoting international recognition of the Armenian holocaust, a measure that would gravely harm Turkey. Israel may also back Armenia in its dispute vis-à-vis Turkey over control of Mount Ararat.
Lieberman is also planning to set meetings with the heads of Kurdish rebel group PKK in Europe in order to "cooperate with them and boost them in every possible area." In these meetings, the Kurds may ask Israel for military aid in the form of training and arms supplies, a move that would constitute a major anti-Turkish position should it materialize.
However, the violent clashes between Turkey and the Kurds only constitute one reason prompting accusations that Ankara is violating human rights. Hence, another means in Lieberman's "toolbox" vis-à-vis Erdogan is a diplomatic campaign where Israeli missions worldwide will be instructed to join the fight and report illegal Turkish moves against minorities.
The tough response formulated by Lieberman stems, among other things, from the foreign minister's desire to make it clear to Erdogan that his anti-Israeli moves are not a "one-way street." The current Turkish leadership is not the type to back down in face of actions like these, so there is a danger of a macho cycle of escalation that cannot be easily repaired. Perhaps Lieberman's disclosure of his "toolbox" is meant to give a taste of what Israel could do, not a plan of what Israel will do. Combined with European pressure, Erdogan might be persuaded to back off a bit if Israel holds onto these cards for now. And there is some indication that outside of the downgrading of diplomatic ties, Turkey's other anti-Israel moves might be more bluster than reality. No one should discount the fact that Turkey wants to be seen as the leader of the Muslim world, and will act accordingly against Israel. Nor the fact that the Turkish street seems to support Erdogan's rhetoric. But on the other hand Turkey also seeks to be recognized as a serious nation in dealing with Europe and the rest of the West. It also enjoyed its status as a go-to place for certain Arab-Israeli negotiations. So Israel's best response might be to remain low key, to let Erdogan continue to make a fool of himself in front of his erstwhile European friends, and not to burn any bridges. At the same time, Israel can let Turkey know that it has no shortage of matches should it come to that. 
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| The Rachel Corrie Mafia Posted: 09 Sep 2011 04:37 AM PDT From The National Building Museum: The National Building Museum will award Caterpillar Inc. the 2011 Henry C. Turner Prize for Innovation in Construction Technology during a ceremony September 14, 2011. The Turner Prize jury chose Caterpillar Inc. for its long history of innovation within the construction industry.
"Since the early days of the corporation, Caterpillar has consistently excelled in developing innovative products to meet the emerging technical and market challenges of the construction and mining industries," stated Clyde Tatum, Henry C. Turner Prize jury member and Obayashi Professor in the School of Engineering at Stanford University. "Their recent examples of increasing the sustainability and productivity of their products provide further evidence of their leadership."
According to jury member Art Gensler, founder and chairman of the architectural firm bearing his name, Caterpillar has "taken American technology and know-how around the world." This incensed the anti-Israel crowd. The Rachel Corrie Foundation, the Jewish Voice for Peace, the ISM and others went on a campaign to get the museum to rescind the award. Yesterday, the museum announced that the public ceremony was cancelled. The museum's exact words were that it made this decision out of " an abundant concern for the safety of Museum staff and guests." Which means that, implicitly or explicitly, the Museum was threatened. It reasonably decided that a ceremony to honor an American success story should not be marred by ugly protests from people who have decided that Caterpillar represents evil. I never saw these hypocrites issue any condemnations when a Palestinian Arab used a hijacked Caterpillar construction vehicle to kill three civilians in Jerusalem in 2008, or the other bulldozer attacks against Israelis. No doubt they cheered. I see no campaigns against Palestinian Arabs who use bulldozers - even when they are demolishing houses. The simple fact is that a museum was forced to cancel a non-political ceremony because it is threatened by, and fearful of, gangs of hypocritical thugs. That is terrorism. The message being given is that if you accede to the demands of the terrorist supporters, then nothing will happen to you. It is the "activist" equivalent of a protection racket. Now the same terrorist-supporting thugs are trying to get the museum to rescind the award altogether. Contact the museum and give them your support. 
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| Egypt announces names of two Eilat terrorists from Gaza Posted: 09 Sep 2011 02:56 AM PDT Egyptian newspaper Masrawy gives a few details from the Egyptian investigation of the Eilat terror attacks as well as various attacks on Egyptian soil. According to the article, the group that attacked Israel also intended to kidnap Egyptian police in order to bargain an exchange for terrorists in Sinai prisons. Two names of Palestinian Arabs from Gaza involved in the attacks were released: Jomaa Aldoawi and Qazem Saher. The other two terrorists caught were Egyptian. The article says the plot was orchestrated in Gaza, with phone calls being traced between the members of the terror cells caught and their superiors in Gaza. The article also is one of the few in Arabic that tacitly admits that some Egyptians were killed during the attack by an explosive belt worn by one of the terrorists. Up until now, Egypt had insisted that all their soldiers were killed by the IDF. This came out right after Time magazine's always wrong Karl Vick reported that neither Egypt nor Israel is interested in investigating the attacks. In the immediate aftermath of the attack, many critics charged that Israel had no evidence that any of the terrorists were from Gaza. The Masrawy article does not name any Palestinian Arab organizations behind the attack. The PRC has denied any involvement. 
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