Mideast Media Sampler 11/02/2011

From DG:

1) Syria increasingly brazen

There have been three different reports of increased Syrian assaults on its citizens. The New York Times reports Syria Accused of Kidnapping 4 in Lebanon:

In closed-door testimony before the Lebanese Parliament in October, the head of the Internal Security Forces, Gen. Ashraf Rifi, said Syria was behind both kidnappings and presented a detailed report with license plate numbers, cellphone records and statements from witnesses that he said implicated Lebanese security officers and tracked the cars to the Syrian border. A parliamentary report on his testimony, later leaked to the news media, said that General Rifi “personally accuses the Syrian Embassy in Lebanon of kidnapping Aisamy in an operation that was similar to the abduction of the Jassem brothers.” Syria has a long history of meddling in Lebanon with impunity, and occupied it militarily until 2005, when it was accused of involvement in the assassination of a former Lebanese prime minister, Rafik Hariri.

AP reports Syria mining Lebanon border:

The exodus to neighboring Lebanon and Turkey has proven a deep embarrassment for increasingly besieged President Bashar Assad, who warned over the weekend that the Middle East will burn if foreign powers try to intervene in his country's conflict.

A Syrian official familiar with government strategy claimed the mines are meant to prevent arms smuggling into Syria. The official spoke to The Associated Press on condition that his name not be published because of the sensitivity of the matter.

Witnesses on the Lebanese side of the border also told the AP they have seen Syrian soldiers planting the mines in recent days in their territory.

It's interesting that Syria doesn't deny this charge; but gives an excuse for why it's okay to mine the border. Assad knows he has nothing to fear. And Syria's also waging a war against journalists. AFP reports Journalist group fears for Syrian media writers:

In a statement on Monday, the CPJ said Lina Ibrahim, a 31-year-old business reporter for the state-owned daily Tishreen, had been missing for six days. A friend, who feared to be named, told CPJ Ibrahim was last seen leaving her home in the Harasta suburb of Damascus last Tuesday.

Freelance journalist Wael Yusef Abaza also disappeared on October 25 in Damascus, the Syrian Center for Media and Freedom of Expression reported. Abaza writes for several newspapers and Arabic news websites.

Families of both journalists had reported their disappearances to the authorities, who have not responded.

2) Irony  

President Obama: Remarks by the President on the Middle East and North Africa:

We must also build on our efforts to broaden our engagement beyond elites, so that we reach the people who will shape the future -– particularly young people.  We will continue to make good on the commitments that I made in Cairo -– to build networks of entrepreneurs and expand exchanges in education, to foster cooperation in science and technology, and combat disease.  Across the region, we intend to provide assistance to civil society, including those that may not be officially sanctioned, and who speak uncomfortable truths.  And we will use the technology to connect with -– and listen to –- the voices of the people. ... The greatest untapped resource in the Middle East and North Africa is the talent of its people.  In the recent protests, we see that talent on display, as people harness technology to move the world.  It’s no coincidence that one of the leaders of Tahrir Square was an executive for Google.  That energy now needs to be channeled, in country after country, so that economic growth can solidify the accomplishments of the street.  For just as democratic revolutions can be triggered by a lack of individual opportunity, successful democratic transitions depend upon an expansion of growth and broad-based prosperity.

(Emphases mine.) I don't think that this was what he intended to encourage Tunisians spam Obama's Facebook:

Tunisian Facebook users posted thousands of comments on Obama’s Facebook page this week, launching what they dubbed a “virtual surprise attack” mocking him and showing support for the Occupy Wall Street movement, Al Arabiya reported on Tuesday.

The Facebook spamming was organized on Twitter over the weekend through the hashtag #TrollingObama in response to the police brutality some users said they saw at Occupy Wall Street via social media websites.

A number of the most popular and reposted comments were jokes connected to the Arab Spring, such as “Tunisia is the first country to recognize the American Transitional National Council” and “To overthrow any corrupt system in the world, please contact the Tunisian people.”

I don't know that this is related, but it's still interesting. In From an Arab Spring to an Islamist Winter, Khaled Abu Toameh observes:

What happened to all those young and charismatic Facebook representatives who told everyone that the uprisings would bring the Western values and democracy to the Arab countries? Some of the secular parties that ran in the Tunisian elections did not even win one seat in parliament. What many Western observers have failed to notice is that most of the antigovernment demonstrations that have been sweeping the Arab world over the past ten months were often launched from mosques following Friday prayers. 

3) Israel builds, world explodes

The New York Times reports Israel Plans to Speed Up Settlement Growth:

Nabil Abu Rudeineh, a spokesman for the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, said in a statement that the Israeli government’s decision would “accelerate the destruction of the peace process.” The Israeli Foreign Ministry described the Unesco vote in Paris on Monday as a “unilateral Palestinian maneuver” that “further removes the possibility for a peace agreement.” The ministry also said that the vote “places unnecessary burdens on the route to renewing negotiations.” Israel has been calling for a return to talks without preconditions. Israel did not explicitly link its decision to expedite settlement construction to the vote at Unesco, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization, but a senior Israeli official said that it came in response to a list of grievances against the Palestinian leadership, including its refusal to return to negotiations and its efforts to move ahead with “unilateral steps at the United Nations.”

There is some truth in these paragraphs. However it isn't in what's reported but what's attributed to the Israeli government. Yes, Abbas refuses to negotiate. Even Abbas in his New York Times op-ed admitted that the statehood bid was an effort to bypass negotiations:

Palestine’s admission to the United Nations would pave the way for the internationalization of the conflict as a legal matter, not only a political one. It would also pave the way for us to pursue claims against Israel at the United Nations, human rights treaty bodies and the International Court of Justice.

 And yet we read early on:

The Israeli move touched upon one of the rawest nerves of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict: The Palestinians have been demanding a complete halt in settlement construction as a condition for resuming long-stalled peace negotiations, and the international powers have repeatedly condemned Israeli announcements of building plans in these areas.

So it's Israel's fault, even if (as this paragraph makes clear) it's the Palestinians who refuse to negotiate. There's nothing here about Abbas saying he'll never recognize a Jewish state.

“First of all, let me make something clear about the story of the Jewish state,” Mahmoud Abbas tells Dream2TV on Oct. 23. “They started talking to me about the Jewish state only two years ago.”

“I’ve said it before and I will say it again: I will never recognize the Jewishness of the state or a Jewish state.”

Nothing about Abbas praising terrorists (not to mention the glorification of terror that is part of Palestinian culture):

Abbas has responded to the prisoners' release saying that he hopes for freedom for the rest of the prisoners and that he will continue to demand their release. Twice Abbas has singled out terrorists who are serving life sentences for murder: Marwan Barghouti, serving five life sentences for orchestrating suicide terror attacks against Israeli civilians, and Ahmad Sa'adat, who planned the murder of Israeli Minister of Tourism, Rehavam Zeevi. Abbas also specifically mentioned Abbas Al-Sayid, who is serving 35 life sentences and 150 years for planning suicide bombings, including the Passover Seder bombing that killed 30, and Ibrahim Hamed, who planned the Hebrew University, Cafe Moment and Cafe Hillel suicide bombings, among others.

No, the rejection of the premises of peace by the Palestinians doesn't warrant a word; but the expansion of housing for Jews in Judea and Samaria by maybe 1% touches one of the "rawest nerves." As noted above, Syria is becoming even more brazen increasing its reach outside of its borders and the "Arab spring" becomes increasingly Islamist but the main crisis in the Middle East is the increase in Israeli bedrooms

.Technorati Tag: Israel and Middle East.