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| FEATURED | France's Doomed War on 'Islamist Terrorism' Jul 27 2016 / 12:55 am (Photo: Nino Jose Heredia, Gulf News) Days after a truck ploughed its way into throngs of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, the Los Angeles Times reported that "[Daesh or the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] later claimed indirect responsibility for the attack". The clearly deliberate act killed 84 people, many of whom were children, and a third of whom were Muslims. But knowing what we know about Daesh and its appetite to promote global violence, 'indirect responsibility' likely means that they had no direct involvement in the attacks or links to the attacker, Mohammad Lahouaiej Bouhlel. In fact, Bouhlel's profile doesn't exactly fit the typical profile of ruthless 'jihadists', as is so often repeated in the media and by 'terrorism experts'. The 31-year-old Nice resident of Tunisian origin was already known to the local police, if only for petty street crimes. However, he was not even on the French intelligence's terror watch list. In fact, till now there is no evidence to link the July 14 attacker to Daesh or to any other militant group. Since that is the case, what is one to make of French Prime Minister Francois Hollande's remarks that he will "strengthen [his country's] actions" in Syria and Iraq? If the deadly Nice attack is clearly an outcome of internal French societal dynamics, why should Iraqis and Syrians pay the price of France's vengeance? Clearly, the correlation lacks evidence or even logic. Hollande's statement that "all of France is under threat from Islamist terrorism," is as hate-mongering as it is ambiguous. It is eerily similar to statements uttered by former US president, George W. Bush, and other US officials who also declared their "war on terror" 15 years ago - a war that engendered yet more terrorism and chaos, and destabilised the entire Middle East region, and which continues to bear the remnants of this destabilisation to this day. There is still much we do not know about the deadly events in Nice. But what we do know is that Hollande, whose popularity is at an all-time low, is following in the same mis-steps that the American administration took after the attacks of September 11, 2001. We know all too well the negative effects of those actions, and witnessed military strategy which backfired. Alas, reports already speak of France's misplaced retribution. News media speak of a massacre resulting from French air strikes on July 19 on an area near the Turkish Syria borders. Estimates vary, but all speak of dozens of civilians dead. This cannot possibly solve Hollande's home-grown violence, which is clearly positioned within social inequality and political alienation felt by millions of French citizens from North African descent. What good did France's military adventurism achieve in recent years anyway? Libya has turned into an oasis of chaos - where Daesh now controls entire towns. Iraq and Syria remain places rampant with unmitigated violence. The fate of Mali is certainly no different. Writing for Al Jazeera, Pape Samba Kane described the terrible reality that Mali has become following the French intervention in January, 2013. Their so-called Operation Serval turned into Operation Barkhane and Mali did not become peaceful neither did French forces leave the country. The French, according to Kane, are now occupiers, not liberators. "The question," Kane wrote, "that Malians have to ask themselves is: Do they prefer having to fight against [extremists] for a long time, or having their sovereignty challenged and their territory occupied or partitioned by an ancient colonialist state in order to satisfy a group allied with the colonial power?" Yet the French, like the Americans, continue to evade this obvious reality at their own peril. By refusing to accept the fact that Daesh is only a component of a much larger and particularly disturbing course of violence that is rooted in foreign intervention, is to allow violence everywhere to perpetuate. I visited Iraq in 1999. At the time, there were no so-called 'jihadists' espousing the principles of jihadism, whatever the interpretation of that may be. Iraq was hardly peaceful then. But most of the bombs that exploded in that country were American. In fact, when Iraqis spoke of terrorism, they mostly referred to Al Irhab Al Amriki - American terrorism. Suicide bombings were hardly a daily occurrence; in fact, never an occurrence at all, anywhere in Iraq. As soon as the US invaded Afghanistan in 2001 followed by Iraq in 2003, all hell broke loose. The 25 years prior to 2008 witnessed 1,840 suicide attacks, according to data compiled by US government experts and cited in the Washington Post. Of all these attacks, 86 per cent occurred after the US invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq. In fact, between 2001 and the publishing of the data in 2008, 920 suicide bombings took place in Iraq and 260 in Afghanistan. A fuller picture emerged in 2010, with the publishing of more commanding and detailed research conducted by the University of Chicago's Project on Security and Terrorism. "More than 95 per cent of all suicide attacks are in response to foreign occupation," it emerged. "As the United States has occupied Afghanistan and Iraq... total suicide attacks worldwide have risen dramatically - from about 300 from 1980 to 2003, to 1,800 from 2004 to 2009," wrote Robert Pape in Foreign Policy. It is easy - perhaps, convenient - to forget all of this. Connecting the proverbial dots can be costly for some, for it will unravel a trajectory of violence that is rooted in foreign intervention. For many Western commentators and politicians it is much easier - let alone safer - to discuss Daesh within impractical contexts, for example that of "Islamist terrorism', rather than take moral responsibility. Daesh is but a name that can be rebranded without notice into something entirely different. Their tactics, too, can change, based on time and circumstances. Their followers can mete out violence using a suicide belt, a car laden with explosives, a knife or a truck moving at high speed. What truly matters is that Daesh has grown into a phenomenon, an idea that is not even confined to a single group and which requires no official membership, transfer of funds or weapons. Defeating Daesh requires that we also confront and defeat the thinking that led to its inception, that is, defeating the logic of the George W. Bushes, Tony Blairs and John Howards of this world. No matter how violent Daesh members or supporters are, it is ultimately a group of angry, alienated, misguided and radicalised young men seeking to alter their desperate situation by carrying out despicable acts of vengeance, even if it means ending their lives in the process. Bombing Daesh camps may destroy some of their military facilities but it will not eradicate the very idea that has allowed them to recruit thousands of young men all over the world. They are the product of violent thinking that was spawned, not only in the Middle East, but initially, in various Western capitals. The war option has, thus far, proved the least affective. Daesh will remain and metamorphose, if necessary, as long as war remains on the agenda. To end Daesh, we must end war and foreign occupations. The French need to keep this in mind before thrusting more into this great war gamble, one that not only the Americans and the French, but in fact, the whole world, have already lost. - Dr Ramzy Baroud has been writing about the Middle East for over 20 years. He is an internationally-syndicated columnist, a media consultant, an author of several books and the founder of PalestineChronicle.com. His books include "Searching Jenin", "The Second Palestinian Intifada" and his latest "My Father Was a Freedom Fighter: Gaza's Untold Story". His website is www.ramzybaroud.net.
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| SELECTED |  By Ramzy Baroud Days after a truck ploughed its way into throngs of people celebrating Bastille Day in Nice, France, the Los Angeles Times reported that "[Daesh or the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant] later claimed indirect responsibility for the attack". The clearly deliberate act killed 84 people, many of whom were [...]  Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, urged the General Secretary of the Arab League on Monday to help the Palestinian Authority to sue the United Kingdom over the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which resulted in what is known as the Palestinian 'Catastrophe'. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, Al-Maliki delivered a speech at the Arab [...]  The Microfinance Department in Gaza organized its first trade fair to display products and services of micro-enterprises run by Palestinians benefiting from UNRWA Microfinance loans. The trade fair took place under the patronage of the Deputy Commissioner-General of the UNRWA, Sandra Mitchell, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Microfinance Department [...]  Reviewed by Dr. Ludwig Watzal (Yakov M. Rabkin, What is Modern Israel, Pluto Press, London 2016, 228 pp. $ 27.) Zionism is primarily a Christian Protestant enterprise that has little to do with Judaism. This explains why US Christians are the most ardent Zionists and the most powerful supporters of Israel. The largest opposition to [...]  By Hasan Afif El-Hasan Palestinians have the right to resist like any people under occupation - the Czechs under the Germans or the Algerians under the French - but they have been vilified if they resist and denied justice if they do not! Is there any form of Palestinian resistance to the occupation, the colonization [...]  Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has compared the broadcast of poetry by Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, on Israeli radio to glorifying Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday. On Tuesday, Israeli army radio broadcast works by the iconic Palestinian writer as part of its "University on Air" program, including Darwish's famous [...]  The Israeli Planning and Construction Committee of the Jerusalem Municipality approved a project yesterday to build more buildings and houses along the line of the light trail connecting East and West Jerusalem. Israeli General Radio said, "The committee approved a project to build hotels, shopping malls, and buildings as tall as 30-storeys, along the line [...]  Jameel Mizhir, a member of the political Bureau of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) said the local elections to be held in Gaza and the West Bank in October is a step in the right direction, would pave the road for general elections, and also end a 10-year impasse among Palestinians. [...]  The late Palestinian poet and icon, Mahmoud Darwish, has stirred controversy in Israel eight years after his death after Army Radio aired a show about him as inciting terrorism. Israeli defence ministry yesterday issued a statement saying Defence Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has summoned Army Radio chief, Yoran Dekel, due to the radio's broadcast about Darwish which [...]  Palestinians are using the Pokemon Go game, which has gone viral, to highlight their plight in the face of Israel's continuing occupation, News.com.au reported. The game, which is banned in some countries and is said to breach national security in others, has gone viral though it has not officially been released in the Middle East. Using the [...]  By Ramzy Baroud I visited Iraq in 1999. At the time, there were no so-called 'jihadis' espousing the principles of 'jihadism', whatever the interpretation may be. On the outskirts of Baghdad was a military training camp, not for 'al-Qaeda', but for 'Mojahedin-e-Khalq', an Iranian militant exile group that worked, with foreign funding and arms, to [...]  By Jonathan Cook - Nazareth The grubby underside of US electoral politics is on show once again as the Democratic and Republican candidates prepare to fight it out for the presidency. And it doesn't get seamier than the battle to prove how loyal each candidate is to Israel. New depths are likely to be plumbed [...]  Videos have emerged and gone viral online of what appears to show Syrian rebels taunting and then beheading a boy they say is a captured Palestinian pro-government fighter. Social media was on Tuesday inundated with videos, one of which shows five men posing with a frightened child, who could be as young as 10, in [...] |
| LATEST | Palestinian FM: Arab League Must Help Sue UK over Balfour Declaration Jul 26 2016 / 9:47 am Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad al-Maliki, urged the General Secretary of the Arab League on Monday to help the Palestinian Authority to sue the United Kingdom over the Balfour Declaration of 1917 which resulted in what is known as the Palestinian 'Catastrophe'. Speaking on behalf of Palestinian President, Mahmoud Abbas, Al-Maliki delivered a speech at the Arab League's annual summit, which is being held this year in the Mauritanian capital of Nouakchott. Al-Maliki urged Arab countries to "help us bring a suit against the British government over the ominous Balfour Declaration which resulted in the Nakba (Catastrophe) for the Palestinian people, " stating the need to open " Israeli war crimes profiles, which were committed against our Palestinian people since the end of the British Mandate.." Al-Maliki added, "We welcome the French initiative and the consultation meeting which resulted from it," adding, " We call on Arab states to support this initiative based on the Arab Peace Initiative of 2002 and all International resolutions." Nearly a century ago, a letter sent from British Foreign Secretary, Arthur James Balfour, to Baron Rothschild, a British Jewish leader, declared British support for the "establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people." Palestinians have since viewed the declaration as paving the way for the creation of the State of Israel at the expense of the land's original inhabitants. The declaration was made before the British had wrested control of Palestine from the Ottoman Empire, and was not made public until several years after the World War I, in 1920. By that time, Britain had been formally granted a mandate over Palestine by the League of Nations, and was struggling with its contradictory obligations of "rewarding" Arabs for their support during the war, while also fulfilling their pledge to create a Jewish state. After World War II, British forces withdrew from Palestine, leaving it in the hands of the newly created United Nations, which favored partition. The decision led to the 1948 war between Arab nations, including Palestinians, and Jewish immigrants from Europe, ultimately resulting in the creation of the state of Israel and the expulsion of more than 700,000 Palestinians from their homes inside its borders. The 27th Arab Summit has kicked off with the participation of seven Arab presidents and dozens of foreign ministers. (PC, Masr Alarabia, MA'AN) |
| WEEKLY NEWS ROUND UP .. | | The Microfinance Department in Gaza organized its first trade fair to display products and services of micro-enterprises run by Palestinians benefiting from UNRWA Microfinance loans. The trade fair took place under the patronage of the Deputy Commissioner-General of the UNRWA, Sandra Mitchell, on the occasion of the 25th anniversary of the establishment of the Microfinance Department [...]  Senior Fatah leaders in Gaza have accused the new Fatah leadership commission of taking decisions in favor of the dismissed leader, Mohammed Dahlan, that reinforces his grip on the movement against Mahmoud Abbas, Al-Resalah newspaper reported. In a letter sent to Abbas, the senior Fatah leaders said that the leadership commission in Gaza takes decisions different from [...]  Israeli bulldozers, protected by Israeli forces, yesterday demolished 12 Palestinian houses in the town of Qalandiya to the north of Jerusalem, after imposing a closure on the town. IDF soldiers assaulted the mayor of the town, Yousef Awadallah, who was hospitalized. Another journalist who was covering the demolitions was also assaulted. Medical sources said seven Palestinians [...]  Israel's Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, said Egypt is his country's best ally in the Middle East as it is more serious than other countries. Lieberman added that more considerations should be borne in mind with regards to Israel's reconciliation deal with Turkey, in order not to impact Israel's relationship with Egypt, Greece and Cyprus. He [...]  Saeb Erekat, Secretary General of the Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) has revealed that Palestinians asked Egypt to call for a meeting of the Arab Quartet in order to submit a draft resolution to the UN Security Council denouncing Israeli settlement activity in the occupied Palestinian territories. Erekat responded to Israel's announcement of a new plan [...]  The International Forum for Democracy and Human Rights (IFDHR) has filed a submission with the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) at the International Criminal Court (ICC) concerning the torture of Palestinian detainees by Palestinian security services in the occupied West Bank. The submission has been made in conjunction with the Arab Organisation for Human Rights [...]  Israeli forces detained four people, including a journalist and Oscar-nominated filmmaker, as soldiers dispersed weekly protests in the village of Bil'in in the Ramallah district of the occupied West Bank. Palestinian Filmmaker, Emad Burnat, Oscar-nominated director of the documentary film, "5 Broken Cameras", was detained by Israeli forces along with the head of the local council [...]  The United Nations Projects Office has announced signing an agreement with the German government through the German Development Bank to fund building some 100 houses destroyed during the 2014 summer offensive on Gaza. The UN office said the German government will fund the project in collaboration with the Norwegian Popular Council for Refugees and the [...]
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| MORE .. |  Dozens of Palestinians and their supporters organized a sit-in yesterday in Jaffa's Aqtarjani neighborhood to protest a new Israeli project that aims at taking over the area. The newly-formed neighborhood committee organized the protest and published a petition for residents to sign. Raoout, an Israeli leftist organization participated in the protest, as well as Palestinian [...]  Palestinian Prime Minister, Rami Hamdallah, on Sunday joined a sit-in in front of Bethlehem's Nativity Church in the southern occupied West Bank, organized by activists, in solidarity with dozens of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli prisons. Hamdallah told families of prisoners and solidarity activists that his government and the Palestinian president "have always treated the [...]  The Israeli occupation forces continue their blockade on El-Araqeep village in the Negev, for the eighth day, while continuing to shut down access to it and prevent its inhabitants from staying on their lands. Sources told Safa News Agency, "The occupation forces, on Sunday morning began chasing after young men from their lands who confront [...]  Palestinian MP, Yehya Mousa, member of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PCL) of Hamas Change and Reform Bloc has called on Saudi Arabia to reject all forms of normalization with the Israeli occupation. He told Al-Quds Press, "Hamas's position is clear. We are against normalization with the Zionist occupation regardless of any justification." He added, "These [...]  A Palestinian Bedouin man was charged on Thursday with sheltering the alleged perpetrators of the shooting attack in a Tel Aviv market that left four Israelis dead on June 8. Abdelhadi Abu Afash, 49, a resident of the Bedouin town of Shaqib al-Salam in the Negev in southern Israel was accused of "unlawfully sheltering illegals under aggravated [...]  The Egyptian authorities are "closer to Israel than Hamas" and they "put more pressure" on the besieged Gaza Strip "than is needed," Safa News Agency reported a senior Israeli army officer saying on Friday. The officer's comments were first reported by The Economist and the Israeli media. "Egypt's hostility to Hamas has become greater than its hostility [...]  Nearly one year after his parents and 18-month-old brother were murdered in an arson attack on their home by Jewish extremists, six-year-old Ahmad Dawabsha was released from Israel's Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer, on Friday, according to Israeli media. The young boy was severely injured in the high-profile attack that took place in the town of Duma [...]  The General Israeli Radio has announced that Doctors for Human Rights in Israel has filed a suit before the Central Court of Ber Alsaba demanding that it order the Israeli Prison Service to remove chains tied to Palestinian hunger striker Bilal Kayed, who has been on hunger strike for 39 days. Kayed went on a [...]  By Palestine Chronicle Staff The Central Elections Commission in Palestine has resumed today, updating electoral records in preparation for local elections to be held in October 2016 in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. In a statement, The Central Elections Commission said, "Registration process and updating electoral records will continue for five days at [...]  By Palestine Chronicle Staff Palestinians worldwide, and their supporters yesterday marked the 44th anniversary of the assassination of Ghassan Kanafani by Israel in Beirut in 1972 by planting explosives in his car. Kanafani's niece Lamees Nijim, 17, was killed with him. Kanafani was born in 1936 to a Palestinian family in Acre, and was expelled [...] Israeli Defense Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, has compared the broadcast of poetry by Palestinian poet, Mahmoud Darwish, on Israeli radio to glorifying Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf," the Ministry of Defense said on Thursday. On Tuesday, Israeli army radio broadcast works by the iconic Palestinian writer as part of its "University on Air" program, including Darwish's famous [...] |
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The Palestine Chronicle is an independent online newspaper that provides daily news, commentary, features, book reviews, photos, art, etc, on a variety of subjects. However, it's largely focused on Palestine, Israel, and the Middle East region. The Palestine Chronicle is a non-profit 501(c)3 organization. To contact the editor, submit an article or any other material, please write to: editor@palestinechronicle.com. For other inquiries write to: info@palestinechronicle.com. |
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