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Government

Judge strikes down California teacher tenure

2014-06-11

In a rare fit of common sense, A judge struck down tenure and other job protections for California's public school teachers Tuesday, saying such laws harm students — especially poor and minority ones — by saddling them with bad teachers who are almost impossible to fire. Including the pervs, who go on a lifetime of "suspended with pay" because it's so hard to get rid of them. There's nothing wrong with that, is there? In a landmark decision that could influence the gathering debate over tenure across the country, Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Rolf Treu cited the historic case of Brown v. Board of Education in ruling that students have a fundamental right to equal education. Siding with the nine students who brought the lawsuit, he ruled that California's laws on hiring and firing in schools have resulted in "a significant number of grossly ineffective teachers currently active in California classrooms." He agreed, too, that a disproportionate number of these teachers are in schools that have mostly minority and low-income students. The judge stayed the ruling pending appeals. The case involves 6 million students from kindergarten through 12th grade. The California Attorney General's office said it is considering its legal options, while the California Teachers Association, the state's biggest teachers union with 325,000 members, vowed an appeal. "Circumventing the legislative process to strip teachers of their professional rights hurts our students and our schools," the union said. Teachers have long argued that tenure prevents administrators from firing teachers on a whim. They contend also that the system preserves academic freedom and helps attract talented teachers to a profession that doesn't pay well. Another argument to make V'ger's head explode. Other states have been paying close attention to how the case plays out in the nation's most populous state. "It's powerful," said Theodore Boutrous Jr., the students' attorney. "It's a landmark decision that can change the face of education in California and nationally." He added: "This is going to be a huge template for what's wrong with education." The lawsuit was backed by wealthy Silicon Valley entrepreneur David Welch's nonprofit group Students Matter, which assembled a high-profile legal team including Boutrous, who successfully fought to overturn California's gay-marriage ban. In an interview following the decision, Welch tried to open a door to working with teachers' unions, but the enmity of the two sides intensified. "Inherently it is not a battle with the teachers union. It's a battle with the education system," Welch said. "Unfortunately, the teachers union has decided that the rights of children are not their priority." He said he hoped union leaders can eventually work with his group to put in place a system that ensures children get a better education. But the unions were having none of it. Dennis Van Roekel, president of the National Education Association, the nation's biggest teachers union, bitterly criticized the lawsuit as "yet another attempt by millionaires and corporate special interests to undermine the teaching profession" and privatize public education. Los Angeles Unified School District Superintendent John Deasy checks his phone outside the Stanley M They vowed to appeal the ruling for as long as necessary to overturn it. Better wait a couple of years before you take this any higher. The judge declined to tell the Legislature exactly how to change the system, but expressed confidence it will do so in a way that passes constitutional muster and provides "each child in this state with a basically equal opportunity to achieve a quality education." The lawsuit contended that incompetent teachers are so heavily protected by tenure laws that they are almost impossible to fire. The plaintiffs also charged that schools in poor neighborhoods are used as dumping grounds for bad teachers. In striking down several laws regarding tenure, seniority and other protections, the judge said there was compelling evidence of the harm inflicted on students by incompetent teachers. "Indeed, it shocks the conscience," Treu said. He cited an expert's finding that a single year with a grossly ineffective teacher costs a student $50,000 in potential lifetime earnings. California teachers receive tenure after just two years, sooner than in virtually any other state. If a school district moves to fire a tenured teacher and the educator puts up a fight, it triggers a long, drawn-out process, including a trial-like hearing and appeals. Los Angeles School Superintendent John Deasy testified it can take over two years on average — and sometimes as long as 10 — to fire an incompetent tenured teacher. The cost, he said, can run from $250,000 to $450,000. In his ruling, the judge, a Republican appointee to the bench, said the procedure under the law for firing teachers is "so complex, time-consuming and expensive as to make an effective, efficient yet fair dismissal of a grossly ineffective teacher illusory." The judge also took issue with laws that say the last-hired teacher must be the first fired when layoffs occur — even if the new teacher is gifted and the veteran is inept. The case was brought by a group of students who said they were stuck with teachers who let classrooms get out of control, came to school unprepared and in some cases told them they'd never make anything of themselves. "Being a kid, sometimes it's easy to feel like your voice is not heard. Today, I am glad I did not stay quiet," said one of the students, Julia Macias. "I'm glad that with the support of my parents I was able to stand up for my right to a great education." The trial represented the latest battle in a nationwide movement to abolish or toughen the standards for granting teachers permanent employment protection and seniority-based preferences during layoffs. Dozens of states have moved in recent years to get rid of such protections or raise the standards for obtaining them. U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan hailed the judge's ruling as a chance for schools everywhere to open a conversation on equal opportunity in education. "The students who brought this lawsuit are, unfortunately, just nine out of millions of young people in America who are disadvantaged by laws, practices and systems that fail to identify and support our best teachers and match them with our neediest students," he said. "Today's court decision is a mandate to fix these problems."

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

"Palileaks": Vindicating Israel

2011-04-30

The mainstream media got caught lying with the truth again. Christians for Fair Witness did the legwork and deserve our thanks. The Palestinian Authority's decision to seek a deal with Hamas is being seen in Jerusalem as a gamble intended to attract support from the international community for a declaration of statehood from the United Nations General Assembly in September. The PA is wagering that it is more important to present the world with an image of Palestinian unity in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip ahead of the vote than to distance itself from the terrorism of Hamas. By building a government of technocrats that would limit terrorism -- at least for a few months -- the Palestinians are trying to eliminate excuses that could be raised to prevent a state from arising. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu intended to tell European leaders in his visit to London and Paris next week that supporting the UN resolution in September would be giving the Palestinians theatrics but no state, while a state -- and a peace agreement -- could only be born via negotiations. However, the Palestinian unity announcement, which took Israeli intelligence agencies by surprise, could make it harder for Netanyahu to make that argument, because there is no chance for negotiations with a Palestinian government built with a Hamas that refuses to renounce terrorism. Or the Palestinians might have played into Netanyahu's hands by making it easier for him to warn the international community against creating a state that could serve as a base for terrorism against Israel's heartland. Netanyahu and PA President Mahmoud Abbas will travel the world between now and September to try to sell their respective sides of the story. One element that could be crucial in getting world leaders to accept their narratives ahead of September 2011 is to make sure they understand why substantive peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians ended in September 2008. This is especially important now because the Palestinians justified seeking a state from the UN and an agreement with Hamas by saying that reaching a deal with Israel was not an option. One of the central arguments that Abbas is making to world leaders is that he tried to reach an agreement with Netanyahu's dovish predecessor Ehud Olmert, and he came close, but the criminal investigations that brought down Olmert's government also ended chances of reaching peace. Olmert has argued that the reason peace was not achieved is that he offered Abbas a sweetheart deal and the Palestinian leader never responded. He says that on August 31, 2008, three weeks before he resigned, he offered 100 percent of West Bank land (minus 6.8% in land swaps), 10,000 Palestinian refugees returning to Israel's final borders, and the holy basin of Jerusalem's Old City coming under joint Israeli-Palestinian-American- Jordanian-Saudi control. He last met with Abbas on September 16 of that year -- five days before he resigned, and more than six months before he left office -- and Abbas did not respond or make a counteroffer. The 1,700 documents revealed by Al Jazeera and the Guardian in January, called "the Palestine Papers" or "Palileaks," were seen by much of the world as proof that the Palestinians were willing to make unprecedented concessions on Jerusalem and refugees in Abbas's talks with Olmert. That impression was fed by the analysis of the two media outlets that released the documents selectively in a way that made Abbas seem overly generous and Israel overly hard-line. But a new reading of the documents by a Christian organization in the United States found that unlike the way they were reported, the Palestine Papers actually proved the Israeli point of view correct on all the key issues. Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East -- which bills itself as a liberal, non-Evangelical Christian (mainline Protestant and Roman Catholic) organization focused on bringing facts about the Arab-Israeli conflict to American churches -- had a team of researchers read through all of the 1,700 Palestine Papers. The organization has been trying to get the world to look more deeply into the papers as well, rather than accept the misreporting of them as fact. THE KEY concession that the Palestinians were reported to have made was control over Jewish neighborhoods in Jerusalem. Al Jazeera broadcast that the Palestinians had offered to "let Israel keep all but one of the Jewish enclaves it built in East Jerusalem," referring to Har Homa, and settlements over the Green Line amounting to some 2 percent of the land controlled by Jordan between 1948 and 1967. But Christians for Fair Witness found that the Palestine Papers did not indicate that Abbas made a counter-offer to Olmert's August 31 proposal. They revealed documents indicating that the Palestinians had decided ahead of the final Olmert-Abbas meeting on September 16 not to issue a counter-offer at that meeting and that Abbas had been advised by his team to wait to respond until George W. Bush was out of the White House. A December 2, 2008, memo indicated that in response to Assistant Secretary of State for Near East Affairs David Welch's question about Olmert's offer, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erekat told Welch that "We offered a 2% swap that would allow 70% of the settlers to remain." But the 2% figure is not mentioned at all in either a September 16, 2008, memo of "talking points" for Abbas at his final meeting with Olmert, or a September 22, 2008, memo of "Palestinian Talking Points Regarding Israeli Proposal." Therefore, it appears that the 2% figure did not play a part in the Palestinian thinking about possible responses to Olmert's package offer. Moreover, there is no indication whatsoever of this figure having been presented to Olmert post-September 16, 2008. "Nowhere in the Palestine Papers is there any indication that Abbas ever communicated this 'counter-offer' of a '2% swap' -- or any other -- to Olmert," the organization wrote. "And while the Palestinians had memos and maps outlining the Israeli offer in detail, there is no documentation in the Palestine Papers of the parameters of a counter-offer designed to respond to this offer." THE SECOND concession the Palestinians reportedly made in the talks with Olmert involved the fate of the Temple Mount and the Holy Basin. "The [PA] proposed international control of the key Jerusalem holy site," the reports said. But the documents revealed by Christians for Fair Witness found that Al Jazeera had wrongly portrayed the international control over the Holy Basin as an official PA proposal. In the document, Erekat told American diplomats -- and not Olmert -- that he was speaking in his private capacity "That was not an offer, it was just talk," the organization said. Finally, on the refugee issue, Al Jazeera reported that the Palestinians had agreed that Israel would only take in 10,000 refugees a year for 10 years for a total of 100,000, giving up their demand that all refugees from 1948 and their descendants -- amounting to several million people -- enter Israel. But the documents highlighted by Christians for Fair Witness report a conversation between Abbas and Olmert that Erekat recounted, in which Abbas said, "Are you joking?" to Olmert's figure of 10,000 over 10 years. In a September 22, 2008, internal memo drafted in response to Olmert's offer, it states that "while we agree to negotiate the number of returnees in consideration of Israel's capacity of absorption, this particular offer cannot be taken seriously." The Palestinians estimated Israel's absorption capacity at slightly more than a million people over a 10-year period. That's the only concession the Palestinians were willing to make on the issue. And even that would be only temporary. They expected additional "returns" later on. "While there have been claims in the media that the Palestinian Authority was willing to offer great compromises on refugees, the Palestine Papers reveal that this was not the case," the organization wrote. "While Palestinian negotiators spoke publicly about compromise on refugees, privately they spoke of the 'Right of Return' as a matter of individual choice that would have to be extended to each of over seven million 'refugees.' They anticipated the potential 'return' of millions of Palestinians to the State of Israel, with Palestinians retaining the open-ended right to try to negotiate additional 'returns' beyond any number initially agreed upon in a peace treaty." The organization expressed hope that just like the understanding that former Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat turned down a generous Israeli offer at Camp David in 2000 improved Israel's image internationally, the same could happen if the world realized that Abbas repeated Arafat's mistake in September 2008. It said it was praying that this could help Israel avoid a major crisis this coming September.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.S.-Syria talks may be step toward thaw

2008-10-02

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The United States and Syria held a series of meetings this week, signaling a possible thaw between the two countries as the former seeks to peel the latter from its close ties with Iran. No further meetings are planned between the two sides, said several senior State Department officials, who downplayed the expectations of a major breakthrough. "You can't tell yet," one of the officials said. "It gave us a chance to raise our concerns directly, but the results will depend on what we see on the ground." The talks between Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem and U.S. Assistant Secretary David Welch on Monday in New York came on the heels of a brief meeting between Moallem and U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice a day earlier, the senior officials said. "It is significant that the exchange took place in front of several foreign ministers and not some secret thing," one senior State Department official said.

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Israel-Palestine-Jordan

Hamas Leader Khaled Mash'al: Our Proposal for Tahdiah ('Calm') is Tactical

2008-04-29

Following is an interview with Hamas leader Khaled Mash'al, which aired on Al-Jazeera TV on April 25, 2008: To view this clip on MERMI TV. To view MEMRI TV's page on Khaled Mash'al. "If The Siege Is Not Lifted... We Will Explode In The Face Of Everybody" Khaled Mash'al: "Our only real motive for seeking tahdiah ['calm'] and for our willingness to deal with the Egyptian efforts, which were generated in order to achieve a tahdiah, with full knowledge of the Americans, of Rice, and David Welch, and through the efforts Egypt has exerted vis-à-vis the Israeli side, is to put an end to the aggression against our people in Gaza and the West Bank, and to get the siege lifted and the border crossings opened. "Let me tell you that without all this, all options will be available for us. When the [Egyptian] minister Omar Sleiman comes, he will meet with the other factions, in order to develop a general Palestinian position. Then he will move on to the Israeli occupation, and if they accept [the tahdiah], we are ready, but if the Israelis reject it, then it was not us who offered them this tahdiah to begin with, and the Israeli rejection will be vis-à-vis Egypt. "Egypt bears the responsibility, and no one in the world will be able to blame us when we take two measures: We will defend our people and our land in the face of the Israeli aggression, and we [will carry out] the explosion in Gaza, of which we have warned. Yes, if the siege is not lifted, the Gaza Strip will explode in the face of all those besieging it." Interviewer: "Including the Egyptians?" Khaled Mash'al: "No, we don't blame the Egyptian for this. We will explode in the face of everybody. By 'explosion,' I mean that the Palestinian people will choose its own options." [...] "The Tahdiah is a Tactical Means; It Is a Step Within the Resistance™, And Is Not Detached From It" "People should not assume that in the management of this conflict, we are moving from a phase of Resistance™ and battles to a phase of calm. No. According to our concept of the management of this conflict, the tahdiah is a tactical means. It is a step within the Resistance™ and is not detached from it. "It is only natural for any Resistance™ movement, which cares about the interests of its people, to bear in mind the general Palestinian condition. At times, it generates an escalation, and at times, it withdraws a little. It is a process of ebb and flow, going up and down. This is how you run a battle. Hamas is renowned for this. "In 2003, we began a tahdiah, and later renewed the operations. The same thing happened following 2005. Hamas conducted Resistance™ from within the government, as well as when it was not in the government. This is a method of conflict management. [...] "My brother Muhammad, if a tahdiah is achieved - the Gaza Strip was, is, and will continue to be part of this homeland. People in Gaza would be able to recover, and the siege would be over. This would be an accomplishment. [...] "They are worried that Hamas and the other Resistance™ factions will use the tahdiah to grow stronger, both in terms of weapons and training, and that the people will recover and prepare for the next round of Resistance™, because we are talking about a tactical tahdiah, within the constraints I have mentioned. But the Resistance™, in principle, is not directed against the aggression only. In principle, the Resistance™ is directed against the occupation. As long as there is occupation, there must be Resistance™." "In The Face Of Resistance™, In The Battlefield, Israel Will Be Forced To [Withdraw]" Interviewer: "Israel is not so naïve that it would give you what you want, just like that, so that you can recover, and prepare for the next round. What would make Israel do this, notwithstanding all the important things you just said?" Khaled Mash'al: "Herein lies the important paradox, my brother Muhammad. At the negotiating table, since Israel holds all, or most, of the cards, Israel will not give us anything. It is not naïve, and will not give anything out of generosity. But in the face of Resistance™, in the battlefield, Israel will be forced to do so. Otherwise, what made Israel reach the April '96 understanding with Hizbullah? What made it leave South Lebanon? What made it leave Gaza? It did not withdraw as a result of any understandings. The balance of power on the ground forces Israel to do so." [...] Interviewer: "Carter stated on your behalf - and later you clarified this - that you agree that if President Mahmoud Abbas reaches a settlement, a referendum would be held on it following a national reconciliation. You agree to accept the results of the referendum, even if they do not reflect your views. This was considered a sign of openness and moderation on the part of Hamas. "However, shortly afterwards, Sami Abu Zuhri said, 'We are not obliged to accept the results of this referendum.' There were contradictory statements within Hamas. We would like a clarification. "If Mahmoud Abbas reaches a settlement, which he himself accepts, and it is preceded by a national reconciliation, and a referendum is held over it among the Palestinian people - will you accept the results, yes or no?" "[A] Referendum [Over A Settlement Reached By Abbas] Must Include All Our People, At Home And Abroad - Not Just Within [Palestine]" Khaled Mash'al: "Look, brother Muhammad, everything you said represents different angles of the same issue, and not different positions within Hamas. First of all, negotiations must be held on the basis of the Palestinian Rights™. Eventually presenting the results for ratification is not enough. From the very beginning, the Palestinian negotiator must adhere to the [2006] National Agreement Document, and must negotiate on the basis of the Rights™ listed in it. Ignoring these Rights™ is tantamount to violating the documents. This document is a complete package deal, and one cannot deal with only parts of it. "Secondly, as you have said, this must take place following a reconciliation. Today, the negotiations are held in the shadow of division. Moreover, while all the doors are open for negotiations [with Israel], all the doors for [Palestinian] reconciliation are closed. You saw what happened following the San'a Declaration. When the U.S. and Israel threatened the Palestinian president, the [Fatah] withdrew from what they had signed in San'a. [...] "Thirdly, the referendum must include all our people, home and abroad - not just within [Palestine]." Interviewer: "Or else there should be new election for the Palestinian National Council." Khaled Mash'al: "Yes. When all these terms are met, nobody in Hamas - or any Palestinian leader - will have any concern. We will have confidence in the choices of the Palestinian people." Interviewer: "Even if you disagree with them?" Khaled Mash'al: "Yes. Brother Muhammad, I will accept the will of the Palestinian people, as reflected in free elections to the Palestinian National Council, according to terms on which we will agree, or in a free referendum, home and abroad. I respect and accept the rules of the democratic game." [...] Interviewer: "You say: We are ready to accept a Palestinian state within the 1967 borders, within a certain settlement, but we will not recognize Israel. To tell you the truth, it is difficult to accept such a formula. Israel is not likely to give you - whether to Hamas or to the Palestinian leadership, since this is the situation right now - a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza, with Jerusalem at its capital, and allow the return of the refugees, while you say to Israel: Bye-bye, I won't recognize you. "Why should Israel do this? After all, it is not a charity association. Why should Israel give you all this, and I say 'give you,' because this is the situation right now..." "The Formula Of Recognizing Israel In Advance, Which Was Adopted By Some Palestinians And Arabs - What Results Did It Yield?" Khaled Mash'al: "This is a logical question in these difficult times, when things are confused. Brother Muhammad, all the formulas are difficult. The formula of recognizing Israel in advance, which was adopted by some Palestinians and Arabs - what results did it yield? Some people recognized Israel, and discussed normalization of relations, coexistence, and so on. What was the result when we turned to this formula, which seems easier? Did it unravel the secrets of the conflict? Did it drive Israel to respect the Palestinian and Arab will? Did Israel give Yasser Arafat a state, or did it kill him? They killed Yasser Arafat just because he maneuvered between the negotiations game and the game of the Intifada and resistance. "Now, Mr. Mahmoud Abbas is proceeding along a single highway - negotiations. He recognized Israel and everything, but what was the result? Nothing."

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Home Front: WoT

Victims of 1983 attack on US Embassy in Beirut recalled

2008-04-19

The explosion shook the earth. And it wouldn't be the last one. Twenty-five years ago Friday, a suicide bomber drove a pickup truck full of explosives into the U.S. Embassy in downtown Beirut, killing 63 people. It heralded the rise in the Middle East of a soon-to-be common tool in the arsenal of radicals: the suicide bomb. "I don't think we realized on April 18 the significance of the attack," said Graeme Bannerman, a former Senate Foreign Relations Committee staff director who shuttled between Beirut and Washington during much of the early 1980s. "It was a disaster. But most people didn't realize we had a problem with these guys until 9/11." Bombing survivors, victims' relatives, diplomats and embassy staff gathered Friday to remember the dead at a somber ceremony on the grounds of the heavily guarded hilltop U.S. mission in Lebanon, the Mediterranean Sea spreading out below. "We remember today and every day our colleagues, relatives and friends who died at the hands of those terrorists during Lebanon's terrible war years," said Michele J. Sison, Washington's envoy to Lebanon. The event commemorated not only those who died and survived the bombing of the Beirut embassy, but also the bombing of the U.S. Marine barracks the following year, in which 241 American military personnel died, and the Sept. 20, 1984, attack here in Aukar, in the Christian hills north of Beirut, at what was then called the U.S. Embassy annex, in which 24 people perished. Embassy employees, tearful Lebanese survivors and a contingent of visiting Marines gathered around and laid wreaths upon the half-circular monument engraved with the names of the those who died. "They came in peace," it said. As a choir sang, an elderly Lebanese woman with a bent back hobbled with her cane to the monument and brushed her fingers against the name Rudaina Sahyoun, her daughter, who died in the embassy explosion three months after she began working for the Americans. She was 28. C. David Welch, U.S. assistant secretary of State for Near East affairs, described the moment he heard about the attack as the Lebanon desk officer at the State Department. "I will never forget receiving the call to alert me of the attack," he said at the ceremony. "It was quite a blow." Islamic Jihad, a previously unknown group, claimed responsibility. Court rulings later pointed to Iran and the Iranian-backed Shiite militia Hezbollah as having a role in the embassy and barracks attacks. "Since the Beirut attack, we and citizens of many countries have suffered more attacks at the hands of Hezbollah and other terrorists, backed by the regimes in Tehran and Damascus, which use terror and violence against innocent civilians," President Bush said in a statement released Friday..

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Fifth Column

Hamas: Carter to meet Mashaal in Syria

2008-04-10

It's official... DAMASCUS, Syria - Former President Carter will meet the exiled leader of the militant Palestinian group Hamas during a visit to Syria next week, a senior Hamas official said Thursday. The Atlanta-based Carter Center did not confirm the meeting. The senior Hamas official in Syria told The Associated Press that Carter sent an envoy to Damascus earlier, requesting a meeting with the militant group's officials, including exiled leader Khaled Mashaal. Ah'll bring mah own kneepads. And vaseline... Hamas "welcomed the request," said Mohammed Nazzal, who said the meeting would take place April 18. Yes, yes. It will be an honor to meet the most useful idiot of them all. Carter Center spokeswoman Deanna Congileo confirmed that Carter planned a trip to the Middle East at the end of the week but could not "confirm any specifics." Is there a plane crash planned, beacause that's the only specific I wanna know about. A press release from the center said the former Democratic president was to lead a study mission to Israel, the West Bank, Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia and Jordan as part of his "ongoing effort to support peace, democracy and human rights in the region." The statement said the visit would take place from Sunday until April 21. "This is a study mission, and our purpose is not to negotiate, but to support and provide momentum for current efforts to secure peace in the Middle East," Carter said in the statement. "Our delegation has considerable experience in the region, and we go there with an open mind and heart to listen and learn from all parties." Sure ya do, Jimmah. I trust ya. You ain't like the others... Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize in 2002 for his decades of work in mediating conflicts, including the Camp David Accords between Egypt and Israel while he was in the White House and his humanitarian travels for the Carter Center since. Yes. So many successes. So many successes... In Washington, the State Department said it twice advised Carter against meeting any representative of Hamas. "U.S. government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interest of our policy or in the interest of peace to have such a meeting," spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters, adding that Washington would do nothing to facilitate Carter's talks with Hamas. He said the message had been conveyed directly to Carter in a phone call by Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch. Do y'all know who ah am, peon? "If he decides to travel to Syria, we will provide full support befitting a former president of the United States," McCormack said. "One thing we will not do, however, is have the Department of State, in any way, engage in any sort of planning related to a meeting with Hamas." Fuck him. Give him nothing. A Carter-Mashaal meeting would be the first public contact in two years between a prominent American figure and Hamas officials. In 2006, the Rev. Jesse Jackson met Mashaal during a visit to Syria. Why doesn't that surprise me?

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Home Front: Culture Wars

State Department: "Carter should not meet Hamas chief"

2008-04-10

Even the State department thinks Carter has a bad idea. HT LGF The US State Department said on Thursday it had advised ex-President Jimmy Carter against meeting the leader of Hamas in Syria next week, saying it went against US policy of isolating the group. Carter has in recent days discussed with the State Department's point person on Israeli-Palestinian issues, David Welch, his plans to meet Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal. "We have counseled the former president about having such a meeting," said State Department Spokesman Sean McCormack, adding the advice was not to go ahead with such talks. "US government policy is that Hamas is a terrorist organization and we don't believe it is in the interests of our policy or in the interests of peace to have such a meeting," he told reporters when asked about Carter's plans. Earlier, Hamas official Ayman Taha told Reuters in Gaza of Carter's planned meeting. "There is an agreement to hold the meeting and arrangements are underway," he said. Taha said the meeting was to be held following a request from the Carter Center in Atlanta, whose goal is to promote global peace, health, democracy and human rights. The Carter Center had no immediate comment on the former president's trip. Carter, 83, served one term as president between 1977 and 1981. In 2002, he won the Nobel Peace Prize. McCormack said as a former president, the US government would provide support for Carter's Syrian trip but the State Department would not take part in any of his meetings or the planning and scheduling those talks. Al-Jazeera Television said the Syria meeting could also include former UN Secretary General Kofi Annan and former South African President Nelson Mandela, also a Nobel Peace Prize winner. But Fred Eckhard, Annan's former spokesman at the United Nations, said Annan had no plans to accompany Carter to Damascus. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice spoke to Annan earlier this week about Hamas, said McCormack, who declined to provide details of the call. "Secretary Annan is well aware of our position regarding Hamas as he was a former member of the quartet," said McCormack.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

U.S.: Lebanon's Palestinian refugees should be in Palestine

2008-03-18

"Both the Palestinian and Lebanese people believe that Palestinian refugees in Lebanon should live inside a Palestinian state," said David Welch US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs, during a US House Foreign Relations committee hearing titled "Israel's disengagement from Gaza". "I think Palestinians and Lebanese alike see the future of those people inside a Palestinian state," Welch said. "I hope that can be realized, because that would, I believe, also help Lebanon." He added "I think sometimes when I hear from Lebanese their concern about these folks might be pushed upon them, that presents a lot of issues of insensitivities for Lebanon, particularly at this time." Welch said that getting Lebanon to a better situation is a "very serious enterprise for us."

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Home Front: WoT

'Bush approved plot to oust Hamas'

2008-03-04

US President George W. Bush is said to have approved a covert initiative to overthrow the Hamas government shortly after Hamas won the January 2006 parliamentary election, according to confidential documents obtained by Vanity Fair magazine. The documents, which have been corroborated by sources at the US State Department and Palestinian officials, reveal that the plan was supposed to be implemented by the State Department. The report confirms allegations by Hamas and other Palestinians that the US has been supplying Fatah with weapons and money so that its forces could bring down the Hamas government. Some senior Fatah officials have also accused the US of "meddling" in Palestinian affairs by encouraging Fatah to work toward toppling the Hamas government. The magazine said that Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and Deputy National Security Adviser Elliott Abrams were entrusted with provoking a Palestinian civil war, in which forces led by Fatah strongman Muhammad Dahlan - fortified with new weapons supplied at America's behest - would remove the democratically elected, Hamas-led government. The State Department, according to Vanity Fair, declined to comment. The magazine quoted a former US intelligence official with experience in covert plans that said the plan was "close to the margins" with regards to its legality. But, he added, "it probably wasn't illegal." The report said that instead of driving its enemies out of power, the US-backed Fatah fighters inadvertently provoked Hamas to seize total control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007. David Wurmser, who resigned as Vice President Dick Cheney's chief Middle East adviser a month after the Hamas takeover, said he believed that Hamas had no intention of taking over the Gaza Strip until Fatah forced its hand. "It looks to me that what happened wasn't so much a coup by Hamas but an attempted coup by Fatah that was preempted before it could happen," he was quoted as saying. Wurmser said that the Bush administration engaged in a "dirty war in an effort to provide a corrupt dictatorship [led by Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas] with victory." Wurmser said he was especially galled by the Bush administration's hypocrisy. "There is a stunning disconnect between the president's call for Middle East democracy and this policy," he said. "It directly contradicts it." Neocon critics of the administration told the magazine that the old State Department vice of rushing to anoint a strongman rather than solving problems directly had led to the terrible missteps in the Gaza Strip. To rely on proxies such as Dahlan, former UN ambassador John Bolton said, was "an institutional failure, a failure of strategy." Bolton blamed Rice, saying Rice, "like others in the dying days of this administration, is looking for a legacy. Having failed to heed the warning not to hold the elections, they tried to avoid the result through Dayton." Lieutenant General Keith Dayton was the US security coordinator for the Palestinians, who reached a secret agreement with Dahlan to strengthen Fatah's forces. According to three US officials, Bush referred to Dahlan as "our guy," a sentiment that was shared by Rice and Assistant Secretary David Welch, the man in charge of Middle East policy at the State Department. The report uncovers three different confidential memos that describe the covert plan: One, prepared by US Consul-General in Jerusalem Jake Walles, states how the Bush Administration intended for him to tell Abbas in Ramallah in 2006 to dissolve the Hamas government if it would not recognize Israel, promising the US would back him if he did. "We believe that the time has come for you to move quickly and decisively," the text reads. "If Hamas does not agree within the prescribed time, you should make clear your intention to declare a state of emergency and form an emergency government explicitly committed to that platform. If you act along these lines we will support you both materially and politically... We will be there to support you." The second memo, drawn up by the State Department, asserts that means had to be found to produce an "endgame" by the end of 2007 for Abbas to remove Hamas from power by collapsing the government, and that he must be given the means to strengthen his forces. According to the Vanity Fair report, the third memo, described as a US "action plan" for the PA president, set out a plan by which Abbas would fire his own Fatah-Hamas "unity" government and rely on a security deal between Dahlan and Dayton to strengthen Fatah's forces. Meanwhile, the magazine said, US officials led by Rice had spent several months begging Arab governments for money in order to supply Fatah's forces with new weapons from Egypt under a previously undisclosed covert US program - a scheme described by some sources as "Iran-Contra 2." Dahlan goes on the record about these events for the first time, saying that despite pleas from Fatah that they were unprepared for elections, Bush pushed ahead. "Everyone was against the elections," Dahlan is quoted as saying. "Everyone except Bush. Bush decided, "I need an election. I want elections in the Palestinian Authority." Following Hamas's victory, "everyone blamed everyone else," the report quotes an official with the Department of Defense as saying. "We sat there in the Pentagon and said, "Who the f*** recommended this?"

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Syrian FM attacks US over Lebanon's presidential vote

2007-12-21

Syrian Foreign Minister Walid Moallem criticized on Thursday the United States in the Lebanese presidential crisis, accusing it of allegedly blocking Syrian and French efforts to end the deadlock that has paralyzed Lebanon. The remarks by Moallem followed a visit to Lebanon by U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch, who this week accused Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition of obstructing the vote for the country's top post. Moallem's comments reflected consistent Damascus support for the Hezbollah-led opposition in the neighboring country. The Syrian official, speaking to reporters in Damascus, also expressed regret over what he described as failure of the French mediators in Lebanon to distance themselves from the American stand. Lebanon has been without a president since Nov. 23, when Emile Lahoud stepped down without a successor. The sharply divided Lebanese parliament is expected again -- for the tenth time -- to try Saturday to elect a president, but prospects are unlikely because of a lack of agreement between rival groups. The latest crisis follows a yearlong political struggle between anti-Syrian politicians who support U.S.-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora and hold a slim majority in parliament, and the opposition, led by Hezbollah, which has strong ties to Iran and Syria. Moallem said Syria and France, whose foreign minister has been mediating among the Lebanese, both support the choice for Army Commander Michel Suleiman as a consensus presidential candidate the rival sides agreed on. He claimed Damascus and Paris had also agreed that Suleiman's election in parliament should be followed by the formation of a national unity government. Moallem said Welch's comments earlier in the week in Beirut ``confirm that America does not support consensus and instead wants there to be a conqueror and vanquished in Lebanon.''

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Leb majority issues an ultimatum urging Saturday elections

2007-12-20

The March 14 leaders issued an ultimatum to the opposition after a late nigh meeting yesterday urging a fruitful meeting to amend the constitution and elect a president this Saturday or the government will act alone and amend the constitution as needed . The March 14 meeting grouping Parliament majority leader MP Saad Hariri, Democratic gathering leader Walid Jumblatt, Phalange Party leader and former president Amin Gemayel, Lebanese Forces chief Dr. Samir Geagea and Prime Minister Fouad Siniora warned against any further postponement of the legislative session to elect a president. The March 14 leaders rejected attempts by the opposition to bypass the government in the amendment needed to elect General Suleiman as president . They insisted on sticking to the constitution which gives the government a central role in any amendment . "If Speaker Nabih Berri didn't convene the parliament on Saturday and the opposition's MPs didn't attend the session...the government will meet before Christmas to issue a bill to amend the constitution allowing the election of Gen. Michel Suleiman as president and refer it to parliament to force MPs to shoulder their responsibilities," the March 14 majority leaders warned late Tuesday. In another related development US secretary Condoleezza Rice has cancelled her Wednesday trip to Beirut and this is why her assistant for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch and Deputy National Security Advisor Elliott showed up Tuesday in a surprise trip to try and end the impasse.

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Syria-Lebanon-Iran

Welch: Hezbollah-led opposition is putting Lebanon in danger

2007-12-19

U.S. Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs David Welch on Tuesday expressed concern over Presidential void, urging Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri to call MPs to elect a new head of state. Welch, talking to reporters following a meeting with parliament majority leader Saad Hariri, said the Hezbollah-led opposition is putting Lebanon in danger. After an unscheduled return to Beirut and talks with Hariri, Welch said parliament has failed to elect a president because of the opposition stand that blocks the move. The international community, according to Welch, is concerned due to the delay in electing a head of state for Lebanon. He stressed that the presidency is an important status for the Christians in Lebanon. The United States, he added, Supports the Lebanese people and urged domestic and foreign parties to back the election of a president. Nine Parliamentary sessions to elect a new president have been postponed. A 10th session is scheduled for Saturday. Welch returned to Beirut one day after Western and Arab nations urged parliament to elect a president with no further delay. "We share deep concern at the prolonged political crisis in Lebanon, we reiterate our call for unconditional Lebanese presidential elections without any further delay," a statement said on Monday. "In this regard, we urge that parliament be allowed to convene immediately to fulfill its constitutional duties," said the statement signed in Paris by representatives of nine nations and the United Nations. The signatories condemned a string of political assassinations that have plagued Lebanon since 2005, and called on unspecified "outside powers" to respect Lebanon's constitution and democratic institutions. "We support the legitimate, democratically elected Lebanese government and the Lebanese armed forces in their efforts to maintain the sovereignty and stability of Lebanon," the statement added.

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