Just Foreign Policy News, July 31, 2006

Just Foreign Policy News
July 31, 2006

In this issue:
Lebanon/Israel
1) Israel Says No Halt to Strikes in Support of Ground Forces
2) Rice Says Mideast Cease-Fire Is Within Reach
3) From Carnage in Lebanon, a Concession
4) A Night of Death and Terror for Lebanese Villagers
5) U.N. Deplores Civilian Deaths, but Cease-Fire Call Is Blocked
6) As News Spreads of Deaths in South, Anger Boils Over Into Demonstrations in Beirut
7) Child Victims Incite Anger in Lebanon and Beyond
8) Israeli Refugees Seek Friends and Families
9) Israel Is Powerful, Yes. But Not So Invincible.
10) You’re all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in South
11) The “hiding among civilians” myth
12) Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks With Former US Diplomats on Israel
13) Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick airport
14) The Future of Israel is at Stake – Michael Warschawski
15) Days of darkness – Gideon Levy
16) In the Gunsight: Syria! or: A Nice Little War – Uri Avnery
17) Protest? Not now – Lily Galili
18) Cabinet in open revolt over Blair’s Israel policy
19) Casualties of War: Lebanon’s Trees, Air and Sea
20) This Is the Time for a U.S.-Led Comprehensive Settlement – Scowcroft
Iran
21) UN Council set to demand Iran suspend nuclear work
22) Iran to Re – Evaluate Nuke Incentive Package
23) Iran’s Jews Caught Again in No Man’s Land
24) Iran Hangs in Suspense as War Offers New Strength, and Sudden Weakness
25) U.N. Moves Toward Vote on Iran’s Atom Program
26) Tehran faces UN nuclear deadline
Iraq
27) Audit Finds U.S. Hid Actual Cost of Iraq Projects
28) Iraqi Official Warns Against Coup Attempt
29) A Senate Race in Connecticut
30) Violence in Iraq Is Creating Chaos in Bank System
Mexico
31) Mexico Leftists Try to Shut Capital in Vote Battle

Summary:
29) A Senate Race in Connecticut
A New York Times editorial yesterday endorsed Ned Lamont in his challenge against Senator Joe Lieberman. Lieberman’s embrace of the Bush Administration’s assault on civil liberties was the main factor cited in the decision.

Lebanon/Israel
1) Israel Says No Halt to Strikes in Support of Ground Forces
Secretary of State Rice said today that she believes a cease-fire between Israel and Hezbollah can be reached this week, after persuading Israel to suspend its air campaign for 48 hours in the face of an outcry over the air raid on Qana on Sunday that left dozens of Lebanese civilians dead.  Israeli warplanes did conduct air strikes this morning, but army officials said they were in support of ground forces and so not covered by the 48-hour halt. Israel’s defense minister Peretz made it clear today that Israel intends to continue its ground operations against Hezbollah positions in southern Lebanon. “We must not agree to a ceasefire that would be implemented immediately,” he said.

3) From Carnage in Lebanon, a Concession
Taken aback by the carnage from the Israeli bombing of Qana, Lebanon, Secretary of State Rice wrung the first significant concession from Israel late Sunday in its war against the Hezbollah militia: an immediate 48-hour suspension of aerial strikes. Notable about the suspension was that Rice’s deputy announced it, not the Israelis. The American decision to break the news on what was essentially an Israeli tactical change reflected the increased concern in the Bush administration about the rising civilian death toll in Lebanon and the havoc it is wreaking with America’s already shaky relations with the Arab world. The United States is still not calling for an immediate cease-fire. By refusing to call for an immediate cease-fire, even in the face of the Qana bombing, Rice was teetering on the edge of a public relations disaster. The Israeli prime minister released a statement saying he told Rice that Israel needed 10 to 14 more days to complete its war aims.

4) A Night of Death and Terror for Lebanese Villagers
The Israeli government apologized for the airstrike Sunday. It said that residents had been warned to leave and should have already been gone. But leaving southern Lebanon now is dangerous. The two extended families staying in the house that the Israeli missile struck had discussed leaving several times. But they were poor and the families were big and many of their members weak, with a 95-year-old, two relatives in wheelchairs and dozens of children. A taxi north, around $1,000, was unaffordable. And then there was the risk of the road itself. Dozens, including 21 refugees in the back of a pickup truck on July 15, have been killed by Israeli strikes while trying to evacuate. Missiles hit two Red Cross ambulances last weekend, wounding six people and punching a circle in the center of the cross on one’s roof. A rocket hit the ambulance convoy that responded in Qana on Sunday.

5) U.N. Deplores Civilian Deaths, but Cease-Fire Call Is Blocked
The Security Council issued a statement Sunday evening expressing “extreme shock and distress” at the killing of Lebanese civilians in the bombing of Qana after daylong negotiations in which the United States succeeded in blocking a call from Secretary General Kofi Annan for an immediate cessation of hostilities.

6) As News Spreads of Deaths in South, Anger Boils Over Into Demonstrations in Beirut
Beirut erupted into enraged demonstrations and rioting on Sunday at the news that Israeli bombs had cut short so many lives in Qana. As the televised images of children’s bodies were replayed on news stations, dozens of young men crashed into the sleek United Nations building early Sunday, lashing out at an accessible symbol of international inaction. The men broke windows and ransacked some floors of the building, burning an American flag and raising a Hezbollah flag in its place. The U.S. “wants to build a ‘new Middle East’ on the rubble of our homes and our children,” said Ali Mustapha, who fled his home in the south with his family last week, bitterly echoing the words of Secretary of State Rice during her visit to Beirut.

7) Child Victims Incite Anger in Lebanon and Beyond
The images of the dead children in southern Lebanon played across the television screens on Sunday over and over again — small and caked in dirt and as lifeless as rag dolls as rescuers hauled them from the wreckage of several residential buildings pulverized hours earlier by the Israeli Air Force. The images were broadcast on all of the Arab-language satellite channels, but it was the most popular station, Al Jazeera, that made the starkest point. For several hours after rescuers reached Qana, Lebanon, the station took its anchors off the air and just continuously played images of the little bodies there. “This is the new Middle East,” one report from the shattered town began, making a sarcastic reference to a phrase Secretary of State Rice uttered last week when visiting Beirut and rejecting calls for an immediate cease-fire. American weapons caused the deaths, the report said. Village men were seen weeping over the children as they were laid out under blankets in front of damaged buildings.  Arab public opinion, already holding that Americans do not care about Arab lives, given the dozens killed daily in Iraq, will undoubtedly sour even more on the United States. “There is a feeling right now that this war is not really an Israeli war against Hezbollah, but an American war to get rid of Hezbollah,” said Hussein Amin, chair of the journalism department at the American University in Cairo.

8) Israeli Refugees Seek Friends and Families
Israeli officials have estimated the number of displaced northern Israelis at 300,000 since the fighting between Israel and Hezbollah began. Rockets have been falling over Israel’s northern towns and cities, sometimes more than 100 a day, many hitting places that had never before been within Hezbollah’s range. It has created a new kind of war for this generation of Israelis, one in which their homes are on the front line.The Arazi family finally had enough when a Hezbollah rocket crashed within a few yards of their home last week. The family of five loaded the car with a cooler full of food, a duffel bag stuffed with clothes and sheets, a guitar and their 11-year-old Dalmatian, Dali, and headed south to find safety. “I’m not used to living like this,” said Merav Arazi. “We are used to a normal life. We work, we come home.” Scattered across the center and southern reaches of Israel, some displaced northerners are camping out on the beaches of Elat after being turned away by overbooked hotels.

9) Israel Is Powerful, Yes. But Not So Invincible.
As the bloodbath in Lebanon spilled past its second week — with at least 400 Lebanese dead and many more presumed buried in rubble; some 800,000 refugees, nearly a quarter of the population, on the run; and the fragile nation’s infrastructure shattered — there was no easy way out for either Israel or Hezbollah, the combatants locked in what each saw as a deadly existential struggle. The very clear winner, for the moment at least, was Hezbollah and its leader, Sheik Hassan Nasrallah. (Unless, of course, Israel succeeds in its efforts to assassinate him.) As the only Arab leader seen to have defeated the Israelis — on the basis of their withdrawal in 2000 from an 18-year occupation — he already enjoyed wide respect. Now, with Hezbollah standing firm and inflicting casualties, he has become a folk hero across the Muslim world, apparently uniting Sunnis and Shiites. The standoff stunned Israel. Central to the embattled nation’s sense of survivability is the idea of its invincibility. Its intelligence knows everything, the mythology goes, and no army dare stand against it. In truth, Israel has, in part, been lucky in its enemies, mostly Arab regimes with armies suitable mainly for keeping their own populace in check.

10) You’re all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in South
Everyone remaining in southern Lebanon will be regarded as a terrorist, Israel’s justice minister said Thursday as the military prepared to employ “huge firepower” from the air in its campaign to crush Hizbollah. Haim Ramon issued the warning as the Israeli government decided against expanding ground operations after the death of nine soldiers in fighting on Wednesday. “What we should do in southern Lebanon is employ huge firepower before a ground force goes in,” Ramon said at a security cabinet meeting. “Everyone in southern Lebanon is a terrorist and is connected to Hizbollah. Our great advantage vis-a-vis Hizbollah is our firepower, not in face-to-face combat.” Ramon’s comments suggested that civilian casualties in Lebanon, which stand at about 600 after 16 days of bombardment, could rise yet higher. The country’s biggest-selling paper, Yedioth Ahronoth, said the army had raised the threshold of response to Katyusha rockets. “In other words: a village from which rockets are fired at Israel will simply be destroyed by fire,” it said. “This decision should have been made and executed after the first Katyusha. But better late than never.”

11) The “hiding among civilians” myth
Israel claims it’s justified in bombing civilians because Hezbollah mingles with them. In fact, the militant group doesn’t trust its civilians and stays as far away from them as possible, Mitch Prothero wrote Friday in Salon. Israeli planes high above civilian areas send huge bombs capable of killing things for hundreds of meters around their targets, and then blame the inevitable civilian deaths on “terrorists” who callously use the civilian infrastructure for protection. But this claim is almost always false. Hezbollah fighters avoid civilians. They know that if they mingle with civilians, they will sooner or later be betrayed by collaborators — as so many Palestinian militants have been. The analysts talking on cable news about Hezbollah “hiding within the civilian population” clearly have spent little time if any in the south Lebanon war zone and don’t know what they’re talking about. Hezbollah doesn’t trust the civilian population and has worked very hard to evacuate as much of it as possible from the battlefield. And this is why they fight so well — with no one to spy on them, they have lots of chances to take the IDF by surprise.

12) Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks With Former US Diplomats on Israel
Several former former US diplomats sat down with the Hezbollah leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in Lebanon earlier this year. On Friday Democracy Now played excerpts of the interview, and spoke to former US Ambassador Edward Peck, who took part in the meeting. During the meeting, Nasrallah discussed Hezbollah’s strategy to free Lebanese prisoners being held in Israel. Nasrallah said, “The only possible strategy is for you to have Israeli prisoners, soldiers…and then you negotiate with the Israelis in order to have your prisoners released…You have two options, either to have these prisoners or detainees remain in Israeli prisons or to capture Israeli soldiers.”

13) Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick airport
Bombs destined to be used by Israel are being flown via Scotland only because the Irish government refused to allow them to land on its soil, the New Scotsman reported Sunday. Ireland turned down a US request for planes carrying “bunker busters” to refuel at Shannon airport. As a result, cargo planes carrying the bombs, which the Israeli army is using in Lebanon, are being flown via Prestwick airport. The use of Prestwick triggered a furious diplomatic row last week after it emerged that the US had broken aviation rules by failing to notify Britain about the flights. Prestwick is negotiating to allow planeloads of US military personnel on their way to Iraq to stop there. A source said it was bidding to take flights away from Shannon, currently used as a stopover for the bulk of the 900 American soldiers who travel from the US to the Middle East every day. The American airlines which transport the troops through Shannon are understood to be reviewing their use of the airport, following protests in Ireland which have resulted in some of the planes being vandalised. One Irish official said that the bombs would never have been allowed on Irish soil. “There is absolutely no way that we would allow munitions or weapons to be shipped through Shannon to a location where there is an actual war going on…we allow the US to transport troops to Shannon, but sending bombs to Israel is another matter and completely out of the question for us.” Scottish National Party leader Alex Salmond said: “It is highly significant that Shannon put its foot down and drew back from allowing the transport of bunker busters, which could become the tinder to escalate dramatically the Middle East conflict…It is absolutely appalling that we should allow Prestwick to become a stopover to death and destruction.” A demonstration was planned for Sunday at Prestwick by anti-war campaigners.

14) The Future of Israel is at Stake
Michael Warschawski (Alternative Information Center)
“We must reduce to dust the villages of the south … I don’t understand why there is still electricity there.” With these words, Israeli Minister of Justice Haim Ramon summarized his suggestions for the military offensive in Lebanon, notes Michael Warschawski of the Alternative Information Center in Jerusalem. As for the Israeli military high command, the plan is to occupy a portion of South Lebanon after destroying all the villages. While more and more voices among the Israeli public are challenging, if not the legitimacy, at least the scope of the present military operation, the US administration is demanding that Israel not surrender to the pressures of those who are working for a cease-fire: Secretary of State Rice “is the leading figure of the strategy aimed at changing the situation in Lebanon” and not Olmert or Peretz, wrote military analyst Ze’ev Schiff in Ha’aretz.  By its unlimited brutality the State of Israel is demonstrating to the peoples of the region that it is a foreign and hostile body in the Middle East. The hatred generated by the bombardment of Beirut is immense throughout the Muslim world. It will be extremely difficult to eradicate this anger after the clouds of battle dissipate and the dead are buried. Olmert, Peretz and Halutz are the most dangerous and irresponsible leaders Israel has ever had.

15) Days of darkness
Israel is sinking into a strident, nationalistic atmosphere, writes Gideon Levy in Ha’aretz. The insensitivity and blindness is intensifying, with tones of jingoism, ruthlessness and vengeance. Those in Israel who want to know what Tyre looks like now have to turn to foreign channels. Haim Ramon “doesn’t understand” why there is still electricity in Baalbek; Eli Yishai proposes turning south Lebanon into a “sandbox”; Yoav Limor, a Channel 1 military correspondent, proposes an exhibition of Hezbollah corpses and the next day to conduct a parade of prisoners in their underwear, “to strengthen the home front’s morale.” It’s not difficult to guess what we would think about an Arab TV station whose commentators would say something like that, but another few casualties or failures by the IDF, and Limor’s proposal will be implemented. Is there any better sign of how we have lost our senses and our humanity? Maariv, which has turned into the Fox News of Israel, fills its pages with chauvinist slogans reminiscent of particularly inferior propaganda machines, while a TV commentator calls for the bombing of a TV station. Lebanon, which has never fought Israel and has 40 daily newspapers, 42 colleges and universities and hundreds of different banks, is being destroyed by our planes and cannon and nobody is taking into account the amount of hatred we are sowing. In international public opinion, Israel has been turned into a monster, and that still hasn’t been calculated into the debit column of this war. Israel is badly stained, a moral stain that can’t be easily and quickly removed. And only we don’t want to see it.

16) In the Gunsight: Syria! or: A Nice Little War
Uri Avnery, writing for Gush Shalom, says Israel has become like a compulsive gambler, who continues to play in order to win his losses back. He continues to lose and continues to gamble, until he has lost everything. The leaders that start a war and get stuck in the mud are compelled to fight their way ever deeper into the mud. That is what happened this week, following the battle of Bint-Jbeil, which the Arabs have already started to call proudly Nasrallahgrad. All over Israel the cry goes up: Get into it! Quicker! Further! Deeper! A day after the bloody battle, the cabinet decided on a massive mobilization of the reserves. What for? The ministers do not know. As has been said before: it is much easier to start a war than to finish one. Ehud Olmert and Amir Peretz did not think about that when they decided in haste, without serious debate, without examining other options, without calculating the risks, to attack Hizbullah. They did not even think about the lack of shelters in the Northern towns, the far-reaching economic and social implications. The aims change daily. These changing aims are not realistic. The Lebanese army cannot and will not fight Hizbullah. The new “security zone” will be exposed to guerilla attacks and the international force will not enter the area without the agreement of Hizbullah. And this guerilla force, Hizbullah, the Israeli army cannot vanquish. There is an alternative: declare victory and get out.

17) Protest? Not now
Most in Peace Now have decided for now not to become involved in any protests, with an emphasis, they say, on “for now” reports Lily Galila in Haaretz. However, cracks are already appearing under the surface. Moriah Shlomot, former secretary general of Peace Now, participated in a demonstration organized by Gush Shalom and the Arab parties. It was not an easy decision for her; her family still lives in the north. “The question I ask myself now is whether the decision to launch such a grandiose campaign really protects the people living in the north. And I have to say that it does not…Half a million Lebanese refugees and 400 dead so far won’t make Lebanon more friendly to Israel. As a mental health professional, I am very concerned by the matter of proportionality. There is a clear difference between a parent who punishes and a parent who abuses. With the extreme response in Lebanon, we have become abusers perpetuating a cycle of injustice.”

18) Cabinet in open revolt over Blair’s Israel policy
British Prime Minister Tony Blair was facing a full-scale cabinet rebellion Saturday night over the Middle East crisis after his former Foreign Secretary warned that Israel’s actions risked destabilising all of Lebanon, the Guardian reported Sunday.

19) Casualties of War: Lebanon’s Trees, Air and Sea
Environmentalists are warning of widespread and lasting damage in Lebanon, the New York Times reported Saturday. Spilled and burning oil, along with forest fires, toxic waste flows and growing garbage heaps have gone from nuisances to threats to people and wildlife. Many of Lebanon’s once pristine beaches and much of its coastline have been coated with a thick sludge that threatens marine life. A large oil spill and fire caused by Israeli bombing have sent an oil slick traveling up the coast of Lebanon to Syria, threatening to become the worst environmental disaster in the country’s history.

20) Beyond Lebanon: This Is the Time for a U.S.-Led Comprehensive Settlement
Hezbollah is not the source of the problem; it is a derivative of the cause, which is the tragic conflict over Palestine that began in 1948, wrote Brent Scowcroft yesterday in the Washington Post. Now we have an opportunity to achieve a comprehensive resolution of the entire 58-year-old tragedy. Only the United States can lead the effort required. The outlines of a comprehensive settlement have been apparent since Clinton’s efforts collapsed in 2000. The major elements would include a Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with minor rectifications agreed upon between Palestine and Israel; Palestinians giving up the right of return and Israel removing its settlements in the West Bank, with rectifications mutually agreed; those displaced on both sides would receive compensation from the international community; full normal relations of Arab countries with Israel based on withdrawal from the lands occupied in 1967;  a Palestinian government along the lines of the agreement reached between Hamas and Fatah prisoners; Deployment, as part of a cease-fire, of a robust international force in southern Lebanon;  Deployment of another international force to facilitate and supervise traffic to and from Gaza and the West Bank; Designation of Jerusalem as the shared capital of Israel and Palestine, with appropriate international guarantees of freedom of movement and civic life in the city.

Iran
21) UN Council set to demand Iran suspend nuclear work
The U.N. Security Council was poised on Monday to adopt a resolution demanding Iran suspend its nuclear activities by the end of August or face the threat of sanctions. The council has scheduled a vote on the document that demands Iran “suspend all enrichment-related and reprocessing activities, including research and development.” If Tehran does not comply by August 31, the council would consider adopting “appropriate measures” under Article 41 of Chapter 7 of the U.N. Charter, which pertains to economic sanctions, says the draft. The resolution is the first on Iran with legally binding demands and a threat to consider sanctions. Russia and China are reluctant to impose sanctions; Moscow’s U.N. ambassador, told reporters Friday the sanctions provision meant the council would have “a discussion” only on punitive measures. U.S. Ambassador John Bolton told reporters that “if Iran fails to comply with this mandatory obligation, we will move to sanctions in the Security Council.”

22) Iran to Re – Evaluate Nuke Incentive Package
Iran’s president said Sunday fighting between Israel and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon has forced Iran to re-evaluate a Western nuclear incentives package, but his country still plans to respond to the offer next month. Earlier in the day, Iran’s Foreign Ministry warned that Tehran would abandon the package if the U.N. Security Council approves a resolution against it on Monday.

23) Iran’s Jews Caught Again in No Man’s Land
In January, the leader of Iran’s Jewish community issued a rare challenge to authorities after President Ahmadinejad called the Holocaust a ”myth,” an AP story notes. He said Ahmadinejad was questioning ”one of the most obvious and saddening incidents in human history.” Last week, Jews in Shiraz held a pro-Hezbollah rally that was covered by state television. The Web site of the Tehran Jewish Community includes statements opposing Israel’s military offensive in the Gaza Strip and praising uranium enrichment by Iranian scientists. Iranian Jews face no restrictions on religious practices, but must follow Islamic codes such as head scarves for women in public. The same rules apply to Christian and Zoroastrian communities. Iran’s Persian ancestors figure prominently in Jewish lore and tradition, such as the story of Persia’s King Cyrus allowing Jews to return to Jerusalem from Babylon nearly 2,600 years ago. The shrine of Esther and Mordechai is in the western city of Hamedan. The Book of Esther tells how she was raised by the royal adviser Mordechai and became a Persian queen. She saves fellow Jews from slaughter by persuading King Xerxes to call off a plan to attack the community on a date that would be decided by lot, or ”pur.” The change of heart is marked each year by the festival of Purim. On the Net – Tehran Jewish Community: http://www.iranjewish.com

24) Iran Hangs in Suspense as War Offers New Strength, and Sudden Weakness
A New York Times story yesterday supports the view that many Iranian officials are less than enthusiastic about the conflict in Lebanon. Officials believe the war has harmed Hezbollah’s strength as a military deterrent for Iran on the Israeli border. Foreign policy experts and former government officials said that Iran had come to view Israel’s attack on Lebanon as a proxy offensive. They now view the war as the new front line in the conflict with Washington. “They are worried that what’s happened in Lebanon to Hezbollah is the United States’ revenge against Iran,” said a former government official. In building up Hezbollah, ideological motivation fused with a practical desire to put a force on Israel’s northern border. No matter how this conflict is resolved, Iranian officials already see their strategic military strength diminished. In the past, Iran believed that Israel might pause before attacking it because they would assume Hezbollah would assault the northern border. If Hezbollah emerges weaker, or restrained militarily because of domestic politics, Iran feels it may be more vulnerable. The article says “the accepted wisdom” in Iran here is that the Israeli assault was pre-planned, and that the capture of the two soldiers was simply its excuse. The BBC has also reported this. It is striking that these reports from Iran don’t mention that this view has been documented in Western press accounts, such as the San Francisco Chronicle article which described the planning for the war as having been going on for more than a year.

Iraq
27) Audit Finds U.S. Hid Actual Cost of Iraq Projects
USAID, the State Department agency in charge of $1.4 billion in reconstruction money in Iraq, used an accounting shell game to hide ballooning cost overruns on its projects there and knowingly withheld information on schedule delays from Congress, said a federal audit Friday. The agency hid construction overruns by listing them as overhead or administrative costs, according to the audit, written by the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction, an independent office that reports to Congress, the Pentagon and the State Department.

28) Iraqi Official Warns Against Coup Attempt
A Shiite Muslim political leader said Friday that rumors were circulating of an impending coup attempt against the government of Iraqi Prime Minister al-Maliki and warned that “we will not allow it.” Hadi al-Amiri, a member of parliament from Iraq’s most powerful political party, said in a speech in the holy city of Najaf that “some tongues” were talking about toppling Maliki’s Shiite-led government and replacing it with a “national salvation government, which we call a military coup government.” He did not detail the allegation.

30) Violence in Iraq Is Creating Chaos in Bank System
Most private banks in Baghdad try to avoid using armored vans, because they draw too much attention, and instead toss sacks of cash into ordinary cars for furtive dashes through the streets. However the cash goes out, it risks being lost in the wash of robbery, kidnapping and intrigue that now plagues the system. Praised by the United States as a success story as recently as a few months ago, that system has quickly become a wild landscape of clandestine cash runs, huge hauls by robbers dressed as police officers and soldiers, kidnappings of bank executives with ransoms as high as $6 million, American allegations of tie-ins with insurgent financiers, and legitimate customers turned away when they go to pick up their savings and flee the country.

Mexico
31) Mexico Leftists Try to Shut Capital in Vote Battle
Thousands of Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador’s supporters seized control of the Zocalo square in Mexico City Sunday night as well as a long stretch of Reforma boulevard in the capital’s main business district in their push for a vote-by-vote recount of the presidential election. As police looked on, protesters set up tents and tarpaulin covers in the middle of the boulevard and said they would block it to all traffic on Monday. “They wanted to steal the elections from us but we are not giving in,” said Magdalena Salazar, a middle-aged woman who danced with her daughter in the Zocalo as a salsa band called ”Minimum Wage” played into the early hours of Monday. “If they don’t pay attention to us, we’ll shut the city down,” she said. Lopez Obrador called on his followers to seize downtown Mexico City at the end of a massive protest rally on Sunday afternoon. Local police could in theory break up the protests but it is unlikely as the city and its police force are run by Lopez Obrador’s Party of the Democratic Revolution. Polls show that while slightly more than half the country thinks Calderon won cleanly, more than a third believe there was fraud and about half want a recount just to be sure.

Articles:
Lebanon/Israel
1) Israel Says No Halt to Strikes in Support of Ground Forces
Steven Erlanger And Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
July 31, 2006

2) Rice Says Mideast Cease-Fire Is Within Reach
Helene Cooper
New York Times
July 31, 2006

3) From Carnage in Lebanon, a Concession
Helene Cooper
New York Times
July 31, 2006

4) A Night of Death and Terror for Lebanese Villagers
Sabrina Tavernise
New York Times
July 31, 2006

5) U.N. Deplores Civilian Deaths, but Cease-Fire Call Is Blocked
Warren Hoge
New York Times
July 31, 2006

6) As News Spreads of Deaths in South, Anger Boils Over Into Demonstrations in Beirut
Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
July 31, 2006

7) Child Victims Incite Anger in Lebanon and Beyond
Neil MacFarquhar
New York Times
July 31, 2006

8) Israeli Refugees Seek Friends and Families
Dina Kraft
New York Times
July 31, 2006

9) Israel Is Powerful, Yes. But Not So Invincible.
John Kifner
New York Times
July 30, 2006

10) You’re all targets, Israel tells Lebanese in South
Harry de Quetteville
Telegraph (UK)
Filed: 28/07/2006
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2006/07/28/wmid28.xml

11) The “hiding among civilians” myth
Israel claims it’s justified in bombing civilians because Hezbollah mingles with them. In fact, the militant group doesn’t trust its civilians and stays as far away from them as possible.
Mitch Prothero
Jul. 28, 2006
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/07/28/hezbollah/index_np.html

12) Hezbollah Leader Hassan Nasrallah Talks With Former US Diplomats on Israel, Prisoners and Hezbollah’s Founding
Democracy Now
Friday, July 28th, 2006
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=06/07/28/1440244

13) Irish refused bombs sent to Prestwick airport
Eddie Barnes And Murdo Macleod
New Scotsman
Sun 30 Jul 2006
http://news.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=1104532006

14) The Future of Israel is at Stake
Michael Warschawski
Alternative Information Center
Sunday, 30 July 2006
http://alternativenews.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=472&Itemid=1

15) Days of darkness
Gideon Levy
Haaretz
Sun, 30 Jul 2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744061.html

16) In the Gunsight: Syria! or: A Nice Little War
Uri Avnery
Gush Shalom
29-7-06

17) Protest? Not now
Lily Galili
Haaretz
Last update – 09:00 30/07/2006
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/744074.html

18) Cabinet in open revolt over Blair’s Israel policy
Gaby Hinsliff, Ned Temko and Peter Beaumont
Guardian (UK)
Sunday July 30, 2006
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1833538,00.html

19) Casualties of War: Lebanon’s Trees, Air and Sea
Hassan M. Fattah
New York Times
July 29, 2006

20) Beyond Lebanon
This Is the Time for a U.S.-Led Comprehensive Settlement
Brent Scowcroft
Washington Post
Sunday, July 30, 2006; B07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801571.html

Iran
21) UN Council set to demand Iran suspend nuclear work
Evelyn Leopold
Reuters
Monday, July 31, 2006; 12:27 AM
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/31/AR20060731=
00010.html

22) Iran to Re – Evaluate Nuke Incentive Package
Associated Press
July 31, 2006
Filed at 12:07 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Iran-Nuclear.html

23) Iran’s Jews Caught Again in No Man’s Land
Associated Press
July 30, 2006
Filed at 1:30 p.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/world/AP-Irans-Jews.html

24) Iran Hangs in Suspense as War Offers New Strength, and Sudden Weakness
Michael Slackman
New York Times
July 30, 2006

25) U.N. Moves Toward Vote on Iran’s Atom Program
Warren Hoge
New York Times
July 29, 2006

26) Tehran faces UN nuclear deadline
BBC NEWS
Published: 2006/07/29 05:41:17 GMT
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/5226180.stm

Iraq
27) Audit Finds U.S. Hid Actual Cost of Iraq Projects
James Glanz
New York Times
July 30, 2006

28) Iraqi Official Warns Against Coup Attempt
Shiite Cites Rumors, Promises a Fight
Joshua Partlow and Saad Sarhan
Washington Post
Saturday, July 29, 2006; A13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/07/28/AR2006072801746.html

29) A Senate Race in Connecticut
Editorial
New York Times
July 30, 2006

30) Violence in Iraq Is Creating Chaos in Bank System
James Glanz
New York Times
July 29, 2006

Mexico
31) Mexico Leftists Try to Shut Capital in Vote Battle
Reuters
July 31, 2006
Filed at 4:07 a.m. ET
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/international-mexico-election.html

——–
Robert Naiman
Just Foreign Policy
http://www.justforeignpolicy.org

Just Foreign Policy is a membership organization devoted to reforming U.S. foreign policy so that if reflects the values and interests of the majority of Americans.