Palestinians battle flames

... and its impact

Time for revolution

In April 2008 Egypt’s interior ministry was faced with a dilemma. Should it send state security forces to Mahalla al-Kubra, the restive industrial town in the Nile Delta, or to Egypt’s border with Gaza, where it feared hungry Palestinians would attempt another breakout... read more

Gaza meeting

The Palestinian and Lebanese Leftist Youth Groups

Invite you to a public meeting with Comrade Marwan Abdel Al, a leadership member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) On the current political situation in Gaza, the resistance and the negotiations, and the PFLP position.

Thursday February 5th, 2009, In the Martyr Abu Ali Mustapha hall, Mar Elias camp, Beirut @ 5,30 pm

My speech for Gaza at the London rally

My speech for Gaza at the London rally can be found at solomonsmindfield's blog

French cops

Had to run this story from the AFP...

For French policemen trying to help their Lebanese counterparts bring Beirut's notoriously undisciplined drivers under control, the gestures of the local officers are a source of wry amusement.

"The traffic policemen in Beirut have their own specific gestures: they make small motions with their hands while saying, "yalla! yalla!" (go ahead! go ahead! in Arabic)," says Dominique Szymczak, a police brigadier from Paris's 13th arrondissement.

He takes his Lebanese colleague into the middle of a busy intersection to demonstrate how traffic control is carried out Paris-style.

"It is better to make bold gestures and to stand with feet together and hand raised," says Szymczak, dressed in smart uniform, peaked cap and immaculate white gloves.

Szymczak is one of six officers who have been in Beirut for the past two weeks as part of a cooperation project between the French and Lebanese interior ministries to help improve the flow of traffic through Beirut's heavily congested streets.

He is so absorbed in his mission that he forgets his French. "Come on, come on," he yells at the drivers, waving his arms vigorously.

Now it is he who has become the source of amusement -- especially for the drivers who find his antics hilarious.

Despite Lebanon being a small country of only four million people, its accident rate is among the highest in the world, with around 500 motorists killed and more than 6,000 injured each year, according to police figures.

One police officer orders a motorist to move his vehicle out of the way because it is causing an obstruction.
"You must obey the rules from now on," he tells the driver, smiling broadly.

"Ok, ok," responds the driver, flailing his arms in protest but eventually complying with the order.

"Here we drive as if we are crazy. Everyone does what he wants. Hopefully in time the Lebanese will become more disciplined," says another driver, even as the hooting of cars stacked up behind him reaches a new crescendo.

Nowhere to run, nowhere to hide

Antiwar protesters chased away Israeli colonel Geva Rapp when he tried to address a pro-Israeli rally in central London. Unfortunately his timing was off as 50 metres down the road was a pro-Palestinian rally.... so much for the much vaunted Mosad security services. They need to check Facebook more often.

So farewell then... the Daily Star

Lebanon's English language newspaper, The Daily Star, has folded.

It does not come as a surprise, and I feel deep sadness for the journalists and production staff who turned up to work last week to find the doors locked.

The newspaper reached its peak in the years before the 2003 invasion of Iraq, where it combined good local reporting—especially on the rise of worker's disputes—with some very fine arts writing from Jim Quilty.

Its managing editor Marc Sirois is a gutsy hard working journo who combined a healthy contempt for politicians with a deep respect for ordinary people (who he felt were getting a rough deal).

And although Sirois was a proud and unreconstructed "conservative", he was able to engage in a real way with ideas he did not agree with—even avowedly Marxists ones.

The Star lost its voice when it hired a cabal of neo-cons whose only interest was to peddle the US line on Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon and Palestine. This turn drove away its readership—who were far too well read to buy the gush pushed by bought-and-paid-for hacks like Micheal Young.

These pro-war liberals have destroyed everything they touched. The world eventually grew tired of their false moralism and sickening justification for blatant imperial conquest. They lost all credibility and destroyed the Star in the process.

In the end the paper became a mouthpiece for the US embassy in Beirut. It killed off any hope for a future when it abstained from reporting the 2006 war (it ran pictures instead).

When the whole world was desperately looking for answers and some independent reporting, the paper was muzzled. This was the worse form of journalistic suicide.

The best reports (in English) on that war came from the former journalists in the form of a blog.

I wish all the best to its staff, and thank them for all the great times we had.

***

Here's the IHT report:
The publisher of Lebanon's only English-language daily says a court order forced the newspaper to shut down over financial troubles.

Jamil Mroue says judicial authorities shut and sealed the Beirut offices of The Daily Star on January 14, less than two hours after the order.

The paper has since been out of print and its Web site hasn't been updated.

Mroue says he is appealing the decision and looking for new investors. The Star is a rare English-language daily in the Arab world independent of government control.

The paper, founded by Mroue's late father in 1952, has suffered from financial troubles for years. Mroue says the newspaper owed a Lebanese bank around $700,000.

Occupied for Gaza!

British universities lightening occupations in support of Gaza... read the blogs here!

Essex
www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=45143838671

Kings
kcloccupation.blogspot.com

LSE
lseoccupation.blogspot.com

Oxford
occupiedoxford.wordpress.com

Soas
soassolidarity4gaza.blogspot.com

Sussex
sussexoccupation.blogspot.com

Warwick
warwicksolidaritysitin.wordpress.com

Armed forces

By The Associated Press
Lebanon’s military is a volunteer force of about 60,000 members, and for decades has acted largely as an internal security force to keep the peace in a nation buffeted by conflict and instability. Here’s a look at its strength:

— Infantry: The army has 11 combat brigades, 1 Presidential Guard brigade, and five special regiments. Troops are mainly armed with US-made M-16 and Russian-made AK-47 assault rifles.

— Armor: 160 T-55 Russian-made tanks, 60 M-48 US-made battle tanks, about 1,000 M-113 tracked US-made armored personnel carriers and a number of wheeled armored carriers. The US pledges to deliver M-60 tanks in spring 2009.

— Artillery: 80 US-and French-made 155mm, 30 Russian-made 130mm, 200 Russian-made 122mm, 40 Russian-made multiple rocket launchers.

— Air Force: Four 1950s-era, British-made Hawker Hunters fighter jets, 24 UH-1H US-made helicopters and nine french-made Gazelle helicopters that are unarmed. Russia pledged in December to give Lebanon 10 MiG-29 fighter jets.

— Navy: About 30 patrol boats and landing crafts.

Meeting

The Palestinian and Lebanese Leftist Youth Groups

Invite you to a public meeting on

"Civil Rights for the Palestinian Refugees in Lebanon"

With the member of the central committee of the Leftist Assembly for Change

Ghassan Makarem

Thursday January 15th, 2009

@ 7:00 PM

Jebran Khalil Jebran park, ESCWA, Beirut (Open Sit-in)


تدعوكم المنظمات الشبابية اليسارية اللبنانية والفلسطينية الى المشاركة في الاعتصام المفتوح لدعم اهالي غزة امام الاسكوا إلى لقاء حواري حول



"حقوق الإنسان المدنية للاجئين الفلسطينيين في لبنان"



مع عضو اللجنة المركزية في التجمع اليساري من اجل التغيير

غسّان مكارم

وذلك في تمام الساعة السابعة من مساء الخميس الموافق فيه 15/1/2009

حديقة جبران خليل جبران - الإسكوا، بيروت

Gathering/Sit-In, Saturday Jan 10 @ Sassine Square

Stop the war on Gaza

Both, The Leftist Assembly for Change and
Attac Lubnan (Lebanese Association for Alternative Globalization)
Invites you to a Sit-In and candlelight vigil
on Sassine Square, Saturday January 10th, 2009 @ 5:00 PM

“Shame on Egypt”

This just in from the Associated Press:

An estimated 50,000 people protested in the coastal city of Alexandria after Friday prayers, joining thousands of people across the Middle East rallying against the Israeli offensive in Gaza.

The protesters, who thronged the streets in Alexandria, also berated Egypt for not lifting its border with the beleaguered Gaza Strip, chanting “Shame on Egypt,” and "Gaza excuse us.”

A police official in Cairo, who did not want to be identified because he was not allowed to speak to the media, said an estimated 50,000 people took part in the protest.

In the coastal city of El-Arish, the closest city to the border, protesters clashed with police during another protest. At least 10 people were slightly injured, said a police official.

***

And Earth Times:

Demonstrators in their thousands took to streets in the Arab world following Friday prayers to show their support for the people of the Gaza Strip and denounce the nearly two- week Israeli military offensive there.

Demonstrators in Doha, Baghdad and Amman carried Palestinian flags and chanted slogans in support of Gaza. Others decried the Egyptian government, accusing it of indirectly supporting Israel by keeping its border to the salient closed.

The largest demonstrations took place in Sana'a, the capital of Yemen, where eyewitness accounts say about 200,000 demonstrators took to the streets, calling for "Death to America and Israel" and saying that "Islam would win."

In the southern port city of Aden, police had to fire warning shots and tear gas to disperse tens of thousands of protesters after they tried to access the diplomatic quarter.

In Amman, tens of thousands of demonstrators carried photos of Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who expelled his country's Israeli ambassador.

Demonstrators gathered near the Israeli embassy, but were prevented by security forces from reaching the building. They demanded that the Israeli ambassador be kicked out of Amman.

The Friday demonstrations were called by prominent Egyptian-born, but Qatar-based, Islamic scholar Youssef al-Qaradawi.
He called for Friday to be a "day of support for Gaza" and has urged imams around the Muslim world to deliver their Friday sermons on the Gaza situation.

Qaradawi delivered the Friday prayer sermon in one of Doha's mosques in which he attacked US "double standards" and Washington's "involvement in the Zionist scheme."

Demonstrators then came out of the mosque onto the streets carrying Qatari and Palestinian flags and wearing the traditional Palestinian keffiyeh, or scarf.

In Baghdad, thousands of demonstrators marched in Baghdad and chanted slogans like "Where are the Arab leaders?" and carried placards reading "Gaza martyrs, you are going to heaven" and "The attack on Gaza is an attack on humanity."

The demonstrators then gathered at the Muslim Youth Association, where speeches were delivered and songs sung in support of Gaza.

Police tried to stop protests by 100,000 people in the Egyptian city of Alexandria, but eventually decided to let the protest continue. Proteters decried Egyptian policy.

In clashes in the Sinai peninsula city of El-Arish, eight demonstrators and multiple policemen were injured in clashes. More than a dozen demonstrators were arrested.

Also, about 3,000 people protested in Ramallah in the West Bank at the urging of Hamas. Protesters chanted "Hamas, Hamas," but, unlike previous demonstrations, did not wave Hamas flags. The protest was dispersed by authorities after about half an hour.

Demonstrations also took place in Bahrain and support marches were expected in the United Arab Emirates.

Friday action

Activities of the open sit-in in support of Gaza organized by Lebanese and Palestinian Leftist Youth Groups- Friday 9/1/2009

- Action in front of Egyptian Embassy, in support of the position of Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez who kciked out the Israeli Ambassador- 11 am

- Discussion on the boycott of the supporters of Israel, with the participation of Dr. Samah Idris, 5 pm, at the open sit-in across from ESCWA building, Riad El-Solh square

Street Meeting

The Plaestinian-Lebanese Leftist Youth organizations invite you to a meeting with:

Fawaz Traboulsi on "The War on Gaza: Resistance and Arab Regimes"

Wednesday January 7th 2009 at 6:00 PM,
Open Sit in, Downtown Beirut, Opposite ESCWA

Protest

In Response to the shameful and racist position of the European Union and in response to the "Surrender" initiative of Frensh president Nicholas Sarkozy

The Palestinian and Lebanese Leftist Youth organizations invites you to:

Popular Demonstration on the Office of the European Commission (Charles El Helou) Wednseday January 7th 2009

Gathering point at 2:30 in the location of the Sit-In (ESCWA GARDEN) then to head towards the European Commission office and demonstrating there at 3:00 PM

We say no for surrender, Stop the agression Now, and Full Support to the resistance

Anger in Lebanon

Since the start of the aggression on Gaza, on Saturday 27th 2008, actions, demonstrations and sit-ins are being organized on a daily basis.

During the first few hours of the aggression, groups of students and young workers from different leftist and socialist organizations (The Union of Democratic Youth, Leftist Assembly for Change, Students sector of the Lebanese Communist Party, People’s Movement), Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, Democratic Front for Liberation of Palestine, Socialist Forum) organized an open Sit-In in front of the UN house in Beirut and released a statement calling for action in support of the resistance in Gaza and to resist against the Arab regimes and the Israeli aggression.

A demonstration was called at the Egyptian Embassy in Beirut.

On Sunday the demo started from center Beirut to the Egyptian embassy, starting with 300 protestors and by the time it reached the Embassy it had grown to 500 demonstrators, the Embassy was encircled by barbwires with heavy military and anti-riot police reinforcements.

The demonstrators chanted against Mubarak and calling for the opening of the borders with Gaza, soon enough the demo drew in more and more people from the surrounding areas and clashes started between protestors and the police and army, where water canons were open and tear-gas bombs were thrown at demonstrators, many have fainted and been slightly injured.

At the same day, small demonstrations and sit-ins were called in Saida and Tripoli and inside the Palestinian camps around the country. The Sit-In in front of ESCWA grew by the hours, as it drew more people and became slowly as a coordination and mobilisation camp for actions and demos.

Sunday evening, Hizbollah called for a big gathering in the Southern Suburbs of Beirut on Monday and cancelled all Ashoura activities, joining them all together in one place. The gathering drew in thousands of people.

Tuesday witnessed more small actions and demos around the country, the Sit-In organized mobile demos and leafleting around Beirut calling for a demonstration on Wednesday at the Arab League Office in Beirut, about 400 to 500 people showed up the next day to the demo and it marched towards the office of the Arab League where it managed to push the riot police a few hundred meters to the back.

During the same day more than 10 demonstrations and gatherings were organized around the country, at night (New Year’s Eve) a big gathering was organized in center Beirut, drawing about 300 people, where chants calling in support of the resistance and against the Arab regimes were heard till the early hours of the morning.

On Thursday a direct action was organized in front of the Egyptian embassy where banners and Palestinian flags were put all over the barbwires which were set in a 1 km2 perimeter around the embassy.

On Friday another direct action was organized at the Egyptian embassy after the police have removed the flags and banners, where a call was released from the Sit-In to throw shoes at the Egyptian embassy, in the early afternoon, a march was organized from Hamra to the Egyptian embassy drawing in around 500 demonstrators, after the march has finished, the police closed the road leading to the Egyptian embassy.

On Saturday a big demo was organized by different political groups in Tripoli, North Lebanon, Saturday night, the Israeli troops started the land attack on Gaza, and in a few hours the Sit-In called for a demonstration on Sunday against the US embassy in Awkar Beirut, the next day, people started gathering from 8:30 in the morning reaching 500 people by 10.30 where people gathered in buses and head towards the US embassy.

Many people joined the demo later, the army and police were quite aggressive and water canons started and tear gas bombs were thrown at the protestors, the clashes kept on, protestors managed to cross over the first three blockades, then the army started shooting the tear-gas bombs directly at the demonstrators, six people where injured and taken to hospitals, and 15 have fainted.

Protestors went down directly from the US embassy to the Egyptian embassy where a demonstration was held at 5:00 in the afternoon.

On Monday different opposition political parties (Hezbollah, Amal, Al Tawhid, Haraket Shaáb, etc…) called for a demo at the Egyptian embassy, having around 250 protestors.

The Next Demonstration for the Sit-In is on Wednesday January 7th 2009, at the office of the European Commission in Beirut at 3:00 PM against the European position and more specifically the Sarkosy so called “peace initiative”.

Actions and gatherings are still being called, The Left Alliance (Communist Party, Leftist Assembly for Change, Socialist Forum, Democratic Youth Union, etc…) are currently for a big demonstration in the coming few days.

The political position on the Attacks on Gaza are split in four trends, one which is the official position (March 14th) which is calling against the aggression but sticks with the Mahmoud Abbas Government, actions are mainly done for gathering money and giving it to the Palestinian Authority (Fateh)

Hezbollah, Free Patriotic Movement and the rest of the March 8th coalition (Opposition) are calling against the Israeli aggression on gaza and calling for resistance within Gaza and popular resistance in Egypt against the Regime of Husni Mubarak, put at the same time they are retaining from participating in any actions or demonstrations in Lebanon.

Islamic Groups which support Hamas are organizing some gatherings and public meetings the official position is support to the resistance and call for opening of the borders at Rafah.

The Left has called towards an adherent popular resistance against the Arab regimes and in Support of the resistance calling that the Israel would not have been able to shoot a bullet if it did not have the indirect or direct support of the Arab Regimes and what is called to be the International Community.

Currently the most active body on the streets is the left calling for actions on a daily basis, trying to brake through the general environment of silence in the streets put out by the March 14th and Opposition coalitions, with especially the opposition is still keeping their supporters out of the streets and trying to push back any popular anger against the regimes.

The battle now is to break through that silence, to push and convince as many people to the streets in support of the resistance and against the aggression on Gaza and against the collaboration of Arab states. Regime change is the word that everyone speaks about when asked on how we can support the resistance in Gaza.

These regimes are politically weak and they have failed their people on all questions, and it is not allowed anymore to let them steer us to another defeat.

Resistance against the aggression on Gaza, resistance against the Arab Regimes, only the masses can create that change.

Bassem Chit

Street meeting

The Palestinian-Lebanese Leftist Youth Groups
Invites you to a Public Meeting on

"Resistance in Gaza"

Speaker: Comrade Samir Al-Loubani (Abou Jaber),
From the political relations office of the Popular Front for Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)

Today, Monday 5 January 2009
6:00 PM Open Sit-in, Escwa, Riad el-Sulh, Beirut