BULLETIN No. 198

Iran's and Syria's Plan: An Interpretation By: Michael Young The Daily Star Many Lebanese, particularly in the majority camp, have been preoccupied with the court being set up to try suspects in the assassination of the late Rafik Hariri. The resignation of Serge Brammertz from the International Criminal Court to devote himself full-time to the upcoming Hariri trial suggests there is something there for them to look forward to.
Eyal Zisser ‘Turkey is in a central position in Israeli-Syrian peace negotiations’
Syrian-Israeli shiduch There is a bride and groom, but where, oh where can one find a rabbi to officiate?
Syrian FM: Syria ready to renew peace talks with Israel
Syria: Washington blocking renewal of peace talks
Withering Heights Golan residents on reports that Israel could withdraw
Patraeus - Syria Door to Foreign Fighters; Murr - No Evidence yet of Syria Support for Fatah Islam
Russia Starts Delivery of Sophisticated Fighter Jets to Syria
MiGs Will Defend Syria and Iran
“Alawi Identity in Syria,” MA Thesis by Torstein Worren
Former Syrian Minister: Ramallah Could Become Palestinian Saigon
IMF Report: “The Syrian economy did remarkably well in 2006″
U.S. attacks Syria sentencing

TimeBlog Will Lebanon Become A Failed State?
Palestinian mediators bring hope of ceasefire to Lebanon Fatah al-Islam and Lebanese enter negotiations as Palestinian refugees prepare to return.
Six UN troops die in Lebanon blast
Car bomb kills six Unifil peacekeepers in Lebanon At least four Spanish peacekeepers were killed and four were injured when their convoy was hit by a roadside bomb.
Time Summer War in Lebanon: the Sequel
Fearing a Return of the Bad Old Days By: Hussain Abdul-Hussain International Herald Tribune Lebanon is on the brink of civil war, with regional Shiite-Sunni tension running high and domestic political divisions sending the nation to the verge of collapse. But the Lebanese do not seem anxious to repeat the 15 years of civil strife that ended in 1990, the bitter memories of which are still vivid in their minds
Franchising Al Qaeda By: Rita Katz and Josh Deven The Boston GlobeAs the Lebanese Army continues to battle Fatah al-Islam, a jihadist group operating in the Nahr Bared Palestinian refugee camp in northern Lebanon, questions are being raised about the group's relationship to Al Qaeda and whether it is an official part of Osama bin Laden's network.
Adding Hezbollah to the EU Terrorist List
Army Provides a Sense of Unity in Fractured Lebanon
Fred Halliday Lebanon, Gaza, Iraq: three crises The explosion of violence in Lebanon and Palestine is the culmination of long-term shifts in the balance of power between states and armed groups in the middle east. It is ever more clear that the outcome in Iraq will be decisive for the region's future
U.S. Envoy's Challenges, Hopes By: Trudy Rubin Miami HeraldTwenty-five years ago, a young American Foreign Service officer named Ryan Crocker was dealing with sectarian militias and suicide bombers in Lebanon. Today, as U.S. ambassador to Iraq, Crocker is confronting a mess that makes Lebanon look simple by comparison.

Washington Post Last Chance for Abbas By Charles Krauthammer, Gaza is now run not by a conventional political party but by a movement that is revolutionary, Islamist and terrorist. Worse, Hamas is a client of Iran. Gaza now constitutes the farthest reach of the archipelago of Iranian proxies: Hamas in Palestine, Hezbollah in Lebanon, the Mahdi Army (among o...
Guardian Hamas acted on a very real fear of a US-sponsored coup Jonathan Steele: Washington's fingerprints are all over the chaos that has hit Palestinians. The last thing they now need is an envoy called Blair.
Rosner Is there an alternative to a Palestinian state?
ACRI & Democracy / The cost of controlling others It is impossible to rule over a population of about four million people for more than 40 years without democratic rights and continue to be called a democracy.
Abu Mazen's Options In the Aftermath of Hamas' Coup d'Etat Raghida Dergham - Neither is the Syrian government capable of funding more than a Palestinian movement and faction to work for it here and there, nor the Iranian government is capable of funding Hamas to assume the role of a government in Gaza.
Olmert rejects U.S. proposal for final status 'shelf accord'
Zvi Bar'el: What options does Abbas have left?
Gideon Levy: Israel must let Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip live
The only chance to defeat HamasThere is clearly no military option for Israel in the Gaza Strip.
Gaza and the Arabs / Putting the Palestinian house in order
Robert Satloff A secure peace Ze'ev Schiff was the finest military reporter in a land that takes military matters seriously. Washington knew Ze'ev as the wisest of the wise men. He knew his facts, he had impeccable sources; and he checked, double checked, and then checked them again.
Fatah detains many Hamas members in West Bank
Even in Iran, consensus cracks over Hamas actions
PA intelligence chief: Iran aided Hamas in takeover of Gaza Strip
Trusting Mahmud Abbas. Again
Jordan's King: Sharm summit must lead to PA-Israel talks
Shin Bet chief: Hamas may use terror to thwart support for PA
PA intel chief: Hamas takeover was coordinated with Iran
BBC Yellow at your peril In Gaza, choosing the right colour is a matter of life and death ACRI & Democracy / We can't withdraw yet We must not withdraw from the territories except in the framework of a peace agreement that will regularize their status.
Members of the tribe / What makes a Jewish leader The billionaires' and professional executives' control of the Jewish establishment is a relatively new phenomenon.
Indyk Recalling 'Wolfie's' wisdom
Shimon Peres Every word hewn in stone
He understood - and believed By Itamar Rabinovich
Lessons from Palestine
Linking the Gaza Strip with the West Bank: Implications of a Palestinian Corridor Across Israel - Justus Reid Weiner and Diane Morrison (Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs) (64pp., pdf file]
New Approach to Palestinian Question Just a Castle in the Sand - Nahum Barnea
BBC Voices from Gaza Hamas restores order - but Palestinians consider the future 'We support Hamas, Hizbullah' In interview with Newsweek, chairman of Iran's Supreme National Security Council Larijani says terror groups merely ‘defending their own land.’ Additional UN sanctions won’t impede nuclear program, he adds
Who wants to be PM?
Let Egypt into Gaza
Fatah isn't enough/ Shaul Arieli
Israel wants Saudis in on peace effortsPMO hopes to get "moderate" regimes involved in future initiatives after summit.
Twelve Months of National Emergency By: Dan Ben David Haaretz President Bush will have to decide whether to attack Iran within the next 12 months. If he attacks, Israel is guaranteed a ballistic shower from Iran, Lebanon, Gaza, and possibly from Syria and the West Bank as well. If Bush chooses not to attack, then the Israeli government will have to decide during the next 12 months if the country is capable of carrying out a military operation against Iran.
UPI Analysis: What changed after Lebanon War?
Time Seeing Hope in a Hamas Victory
Hamas isolation How the West wants to give its support to Fatah
U.S. to increase military aid to Israel under new deal
Israel Harel: Mahmoud Abbas is a fiction
Washington Institute It's Up to Hamas Now
Fatah's last stand: collapse or conspiracy? By Dion Nissenbaum McClatchy Newspapers As they gave up compound after compound to advancing Hamas forces, weary Fatah fighters fell back toward the seaside presidential compound in Gaza to make their last stand. But there was no last stand. Instead, Fatah leaders fled by boat and on foot, leaving lower-level fighters feeling betrayed
Former Hamas prisoners remember Fatah torture
'Likud will win elections'

Poll: If elections held today Likud will win with majority of 29 seats, followed by Labor with 18
BBC Abbas accuses Hamas of coup plot Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas accuses Hamas of trying to set up its own state in Gaza.
Egypt fears Iranian-backed Hamas
Don't Underestimate Hamas' Extremism By: Barry Rubin The Japan TimesHamas' capture of the Gaza Strip has created, along with Iran, a second radical Islamist state in the Middle East. The region, probably the Arab-Israeli conflict and certainly the Palestinian movement will never be the same.
Haaretz defense editor, veteran reporter Ze'ev Schiff dies at 74 Described as 'the most respected military analyst in Israel'; Schiff wrote for Haaretz for over 50 years.
Burston: Hamas wants Israel to starve Gaza, hold Barghouti
Fatah Central Cmte. decides to completely cut off Hamas ties
Forward Israel Drawn Into Debate on Missile Defense
Dichter to 'Post': Kadima must be ready to replace Olmert
Carter: Stop favoring Fatah over Hamas
Yedioth Ahronoth 'Two-state solution possible' After meeting with Bush, Olmert says Israel seeking to cooperate with new Palestinian government to work towards two-state solution. IDF to stay out of Gaza for now, but will likely intervene if situation deteriorates
Looking to Uncle Sam/ Barnea
Time to destroy Hamas
A new Road Map
Fatah Security Strongman Dahlan: West Bank In Danger Of Being Overrun By Hamas
On the Escalator to Another War By: Patrick J. Buchanan Miami HeraldThese are the "birth pangs" of a "new Middle East," said Condi Rice last summer, as Israel pounded Lebanon. Unfortunately, the new Middle East may make us all pray for the return of the old.