Informed Comment Homepage

Thoughts on the Middle East, History and Religion

Header Right

Donate

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Google+
  • Email
  • RSS
  • Featured
  • US politics
  • Middle East
  • Environment
  • US Foreign Policy
  • Energy
  • Economy
  • Politics
  • About
  • Archives
  • Submissions

© 2023 Informed Comment

  • Skip to content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
Uncategorized

European Force Of 7000 To Be Deployed

Juan Cole 08/27/2006

Tweet
Share
Reddit
Email
0 Shares

European Force of 7,000 to be Deployed
Israeli Blockade Strangles Lebanon

The illegal Israeli blockade of civilian Lebanese ports continues to inflict massive damage on Lebanon and on ordinary Lebanese from all walks of life. The United States more or less supports this strangling of the little country.

Illegal Israeli cluster bombs go on harming innocent Lebanese. Five were blown up on Saturday, including 4 children.

Israel’s illegal air raid on a major oil refinery, which produced the worst environmental disaster in the history of the Eastern Mediterranean, has profoundly harmed Lebanese fishermen.

Italy is now planning to send between 2,000 and 3,000 troops for the peacekeeping mission in southern Lebanon. France will send 2000 “within 20 days.” Spain will send almost 1,000. Germany may well join in at that level, too.

Israel has vetoed Bangladesh, Indonesia and Malaysia, not in the legal sense. But as the regional superpower it does have a say. The Israelis would prefer Turkey, Egypt and Jordan as contributors. But I can tell you right now that isn’t going to happen. Hosni Mubarak and King Abdullah II cannot afford to be seen by their publics as cracking down on Hizbullah on behalf of Israel. As for Turkey, it is being rejected by the Armenian members of the Lebanese government and parliament [Ar.].

Lebanese Prime Minister Fuad Siniora says he wants to see Hizbullah integrated into the Lebanese army.

Dick Norton and Thomas Milo on the difficulties facing UN peacekeepers in Lebanon. Both have practical experience on the ground in south Lebanon peacekeeping.

Dozens of local Labour Party activists in Derby have defected to the Liberal Democrats. Most of them are Muslims of South Asian ancestry. They were protesting the Labor Party’s strong support of Israel in the recent war on Lebanon. The move is especially embarrassing to Labour because Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett is elected from Derby.

Britain has 1.6 million Muslims in a population of 61 million, and most of the politically active in the community have tended to vote Labor. PM Tony Blair, an evangelical close to George W. Bush on foreign policy, may have started a historic realignment whereby UK Muslims identify with Britain’s third party, the Lib Dems. As Muslims become more politicized and the second and third generations become more integrated, they could emerge as an important swing vote, causing parties to compete for them. Such a dynamic would likely have a significant effect on Britain’s foreign policy.

The Lebanese Bloggers.

Dennis Perrin debates the Arab Israeli conflict. His blog is Red State Son.

Filed Under: Uncategorized

About the Author

Juan Cole is the founder and chief editor of Informed Comment. He is Richard P. Mitchell Professor of History at the University of Michigan He is author of, among many other books, Muhammad: Prophet of Peace amid the Clash of Empires and The Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam. Follow him on Twitter at @jricole or the Informed Comment Facebook Page

Primary Sidebar

STAY INFORMED

Join our newsletter and have sharp analysis delivered to your inbox every day.

Twitter

Follow Juan Cole @jricole or Informed Comment @infcomment on Twitter

Facebook



Sign up for our newsletter

Informed Comment © 2023 All Rights Reserved

Posting....