Thurs. 2 Dec. 2010

BANGLADESH NEWS Assad told U.S. security help depends on ties – Wikileaks …1

CHICAGO TRIBUNE Syria's Assad seems to suggest backing for Hamas

negotiable, leaked cables say…………….………………….2WIKILEAKS.ORG

Why France Claims Syria Helped Convince Iran to Free French Prisoner?......................................................................4

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH 'France lauded Assad in bid to hurt Iran' ……………….……8

THE DIPLOMAT India’s Misunderstood Israel Policy ………………………..10

NEWSWEEK Never Mind Democracy ………………………..…………..12

CARENGIE ENDOWMENT IAEA Meets on Iran, Syria, and Nuclear Fuel Bank ……….15

JERUSALEM POST Sarkozy: Not negotiating with Hamas hurts PA ………...…16

INDIA EXPRESS Road journey to Gaza starts today ………………………….19

GUARDIAN Egypt's 'election' was pure stagecraft, directed by a

dictator……………………………………………………...20 UK overruled on Lebanon spy flights from Cyprus,

WikiLeaks cables reveal……………………………………23 Amnesty: police bill will let war criminals go free ………...27

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HOME PAGEAssad told U.S. security help depends on ties - Wikileaks Bangladesh News 24 (Bangladesh's first online newspaper) (original story is by Reuters)Wed Dec 1, 2010

* "I saved American lives" Assad told U.S. delegation* Says resumption of security cooperation comes at a price* Doubts Iran developing nuclear weapon

LONDON, Dec 1 (Reuters) - President Bashar al-Assad told U.S. politicians Syrian intelligence had "saved American lives" but that Damascus would not resume security cooperation until political ties improved, according to cables issued by WikiLeaks.

Assad also told U.S. officials he was not convinced that Iran was developing nuclear arms, as the West suspects.

The United States withdrew its ambassador from Damascus after the 2005 assassination of Lebanon's former prime minister Rafik al-Hariri. Although President Barack Obama has tried to repair relations with Damascus, little progress has been made.

Washington wants Syria to stop support for Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian group Hamas, and has complained that Syria allowed militants to cross into neighbouring Iraq. Syria wants greater U.S. pressure on Israel to withdraw from the Golan Heights, occupied for more than 40 years.

"I have saved American lives," the cable quoted Assad as telling a Congressional delegation in Damascus in February last year, citing information he said he passed to the king of Bahrain about an imminent attack on American citizens.The Gulf Arab state hosts a U.S. naval base.

HEZBOLLAH, HAMAS TIESThe cable said Assad told the delegation that "if the U.S. wished for similar coordination in the future, Syria could not begin security cooperation without concomitant political cooperation."

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The Syrian leader repeated that condition in a meeting last December, according to another cable.

"I won't give it (intelligence cooperation) for free," he said, adding that the two countries had to rebuild relations from a basis of "an absence of trust".

The Obama administration named a new ambassador to Damascus in February. But Congress held up approval of the ambassador's appointment on accusations of Syrian arms supplies to Hezbollah.

Syria has shown no sign of cutting its ties to Hezbollah or Hamas, or distancing itself from its regional ally, Iran.

According to the cables, Assad also said he was "not convinced" that Tehran was developing nuclear weapons. Iran says its nuclear programme is purely for peaceful purposes and denies Western accusations it seeks to develop a bomb.

"He argued Iran could not use a nuclear weapon as a deterrent because nobody believed Iran would actually use it against Israel," the report on the February 2009 meeting said. "Assad noted an Iranian nuclear strike against Israel would result in massive Palestinian casualties, which Iran would never risk."

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Syria's Assad seems to suggest backing for Hamas negotiable, leaked cables sayBut even as President Bashar Assad appeared willing to reduce ties with the Palestinian militant group ruling the Gaza Strip, he brushed off pressure to alter the dynamics of his friendship with Iran.By Meris Lutz, Chicago Tribune & Los Angeles TimesDecember 2, 2010

Reporting from Beirut — Syrian President Bashar Assad described Hamas as an "uninvited guest" in his country in

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confidential conversations with American lawmakers, and appeared to suggest he would be willing to give up the alliance in exchange for incentives, according to several documents contained in the trove of leaked diplomatic cables posted online by the website WikiLeaks.

But even as Assad appeared willing to downgrade ties with the Palestinian militant group that rules the Gaza Strip, he brushed off pressure to change the dynamics of his friendship with Iran. He argued against his government putting pressure on Tehran over its nuclear program in exchange for a peace deal between Syria and Israel.

"Too many cooks spoil the meal," he is quoted saying in a January 2010 cable.

The leaked cables shed new light on international efforts to forge a Syrian-Israeli peace accord and on private meetings involving the leader of Syria's secretive government.

Assad shows himself in the leaked correspondence to be a shrewd negotiator. He told the American delegation visiting Damascus that he could help secure the Iraqi border against the flow of foreign fighters into Syria's neighbor. But he said he wouldn't do it "for free," asking the U.S. to lift sanctions that banned the sale of commercial airplanes and their parts to Syria.

"In the U.S., you like to shoot [terrorists]," he said. "Suffocating their networks is far more effective."

Diplomats and analysts view Syrian cooperation as crucial to ensuring the security of Iraq, Lebanon and Israel as well as isolating Iran.

Although Syria has forged strategic alliances with ideologically driven, Iranian-backed movements such as Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and Hamas, Damascus continues to view the rise of political Islam as one of its primary internal threats. Hamas leader

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Khaled Mashaal has resided in Damascus since 2001, but such a blunt assessment of the group by Assad hasn't been made public before.

"Hamas is Muslim Brotherhood, but we have to deal with the reality of their presence," Assad told another group of American lawmakers in March 2009, according to an additional leaked cable, calling the Islamic movement an "uninvited guest" and likening it to the same Muslim Brotherhood his father, Hafez Assad, brutally uprooted from Syria in the 1980s.

In none of the dispatches does the younger Assad explicitly say that he would cut ties with Hamas, Hezbollah or Iran in exchange for the return of the Golan Heights, which was seized by Israel during the 1967 Middle East War. But he emphasized in the more recent meeting with U.S. lawmakers that the Golan Heights "is our issue," according to the January 2010 confidential dispatch.

The documents also reveal an unsuccessful push by U.S. and regional leaders to persuade Israel to return the mountainous occupied region.

According to the documents, Sen. John F. Kerry (D-Mass.), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, reportedly told the ruler of Qatar in February 2010 that Israel should "work the return of the Golan Heights into a formula for peace" with Israel.

Other regional leaders recognized Syria's willingness to negotiate. Former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf urged the U.S. to seek Syrian cooperation on Iraq and Lebanon. "If you want [Assad] to play ball, he needs comfort on other fronts — namely, the Golan Heights," Musharraf told a high-ranking congressional delegation in April 2007, according to the WikiLeaks disclosures.

Israel has in recent years refused to negotiate a full withdrawal from the Golan. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu told U.S. lawmakers that giving up the heights would only result in

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assurances that Syria would later "tear up," according to a February 2009 cable.

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Why France Claims Syria Helped Convince Iran to Free French Prisoner?Wikileaks.org,2 Dec. 2010, (original document created on 2009-08-25 15:03)

FM AMEMBASSY PARISRHEHNSC/WHITE HOUSE NSC WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATEINFO RUEHXK/ARAB ISRAELI COLLECTIVE IMMEDIATES E C R E T SECTION 01 OF 02 PARIS 001162

SUBJECT: WHY FRANCE CLAIMS SYRIA HELPED CONVINCE IRAN TOFREE FRENCH PRISONER …

1. (C) SUMMARY: Despite their proactive media blitz proclaiming Syria's "important" role in persuading Iran to release French citizen Clotilde Reiss from prison, French officials admit in private they do not know what Syrian President Assad, or his government, actually did. The French have deliberately publicized Assad's role in order to encourage Assad to play a more constructive intermediary role in the region, and to sew seeds of discord between Syria and Iran. This French media effort also aims to validate Sarkozy's policy of early engagement with Syria. In addition, French officials provided a few more words of advice on handling the American hostages in Iran, and described the compromises they made to secure Reiss's release. END SUMMARY.

SYRIAN ROLE: THE SPIN 2. (SBU) Since August 11, when a French Presidency press release first singled out Syria for appreciation, French government officials, journalists, and academics have pondered the "important" and "influential" role Syri played as "mediator" between France and Iran in the conflict surrounding the July 1 arrest by Iranian security officers of French citizen Clotilde Reiss (see ref 1). U.S. mainstream media have followed suit. Time

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magazine published a story on August 17 that quoted a French diplomat (who wished to remain anonymous) describing Syrian President Assad's advocacy as vindication of President Sarkozy's 2008 outreach to Syria, viewed at the time as premature and unmerited by many critics at home and abroad. "There's some genuine (Syrian) gratitude at work right now," proclaimed the unnamed diplomat.

SYRIAN ACTIONS: THE JURY IS STILL OUT 3. (S/NF) How did Assad's purported gratitude manifest itself in this sensitive issue? Despite their laudatory pronouncements, French officials claim to have only a vague notion of what the Syrians actually did. President Sarkozy's Strategic Affairs Advisor Franois Richier told Political Minister Counselor on August 11, and again on August 19, that when the French released their statement, thanking the Syrians, they did not know what message the Syrians might have sent to Iran, nor by what channels. MFA Syria Desk Officer Patrick Durel on August 18 confirmed that President Sarkozy called Syrian President Assad August 5 to ask for his assistance in persuading the Iranians to release Clotilde Reiss from prison. Assad agreed to raise the matter with the Iranians, and shortly thereafter he told Sarkozy that he had placed a call to Tehran. Assad did not, however, name his interlocutor or interlocutors. "I'm doing what I can to help" was the message he sent to Paris, Durel explained.

NEW PUBLIC POSTURE FROM ASSAD? 4. (S/NF) Richier and Durel suggested that the GOF has sought to exaggerate the Syrian role deliberately, in order to demonstrate to Syria the praise they might win for playing a constructive role in the region, and in order to create tension between Syria and Iran. And the French believe they have succeeded on both fronts. As a sign that Syrians welcomed the praise they received for playing a helpful part in Reiss's release, Durel cited the absence of a public denial by Assad. In the past, Assad disavowed such activity. Durel explained, for instance, that Assad had agreed in private during July of 2008 to pass a message from Paris to Tehran about the dangers of the Iranian nuclear program, but he publicly denied

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having done so, declaring he did not want to play the role of intermediary. Moreover, according to Richier, the French believe their reference to Syrian intervention has sewn some discomfort among the Iranians, whom the French hear from various sources want them to "stop this stupid Syria business." In advance of Assad's August 19 visit to Tehran, the French continued to tout Syria's role and encouraged him to raise the issue of Clotilde Reiss's still-pending court case.

ADVICE ON U.S. HOSTAGES IN IRAN 5. (S/NF) Both Richier and MFA Middle East DAS Ludovic PARIS 00001162 002 OF 002

Pouille told us that other countries also sent messages to and applied pressure on the Iranians -- most notably, EU member states, Qatar and Turkey. It is unclear if Reiss would have been freed without such interventions, Pouille commented. Richier made the same point, noting that public and private messages helped shame and embarrass the Iranian regime. He also argued that the French success in painting Reiss as simply a young student/teacher with a keen interest in and love of Iran proved a key to their success.

FRENCH MAKE COMPROMISES TO SECURE RELEASE OF REISS 6. (S/NF) Now that Reiss is at the French Embassy in Tehran, the GOF plans to decrease their public pronouncements about her, according to Richier. In the discussions with the Iranians on her release, the French made some concessions to Iranian demands, but stayed firm on certain principles. Richier said they agreed to pay of bail and to comply with an anticipated court order for Reiss to appear at subsequent judicial hearings. They also elected not to contest Reiss's court-appointed lawyer, but rather to accept him and use him to carry messages. On the other hand, they rejected all attempts at blackmail or negotiation. Richier confirmed that the Iranians did at one point raise the issue of Iranian national, Majid Kakavan, to suggest a trade, but the French refused. (NOTE: Majid Kakavand is an Iranian national whom the French arrested

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March 20 at Charles de Gaulle airport on the behalf of the U.S. Department of Justice on proliferation issues (see reftel 2). END NOTE.)

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'France lauded Assad in bid to hurt Iran' Leaked US cable reveals Paris sought to exaggerate Syrian role in French national's release from Iranian jail in order to encourage Assad to play more constructive role in region, sew seeds of discord between Damascus and Tehran Yuval Mann Yedioth Ahronoth,2 Dec. 2010,

French media deceives global media in a bid to cause a rift between the Syrian president and Tehran: A document published Wednesday night on the WikiLeaks website reveals that the French government praised Syrian President Bashar Assad's involvement in the release of French national Clotilde Reiss from Iranian jail, although Paris did not know what he actually did.

Reiss was arrested in the summer of 2009 on suspicion of collecting information and encouraging anti-regime protestors following the controversial Iranian elections. She was released from Iranian prison on August 16, 2009, and transferred to the French Embassy in Tehran. An Iranian court sentenced her to 10 years in prison, which were converted to a fine. She returned to her homeland in May 2010.

American Ambassador to France Charles Rivkin wrote on August 25, 2009, that "since August 11, when a French Presidency press release first singled out Syria for appreciation, French government officials, journalists, and academics have pondered the 'important' and 'influential' role Syria played as 'mediator' between France and Iran in the conflict surrounding the July 1 arrest by Iranian security officers of French citizen Clotilde Reiss."

According to the ambassador, "The French have deliberately publicized Assad's role in order to encourage Assad to play a more

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constructive intermediary role in the region, and to sew seeds of discord between Syria and Iran."

He added that Time Magazine fell for the French spin as well, reporting of Damascus' positive involvement in the affair.

'Vague notion in Paris' But "despite their laudatory pronouncements, French officials claim to have only a vague notion of what the Syrians actually did." According to Rivkin, French President Nicolas Sarkozy's strategic affairs advisor admitted that when the French released their statement, thanking the Syrians, they did not know what message the Syrians might have sent to Iran, nor by what channels."

A source at the French Foreign Ministry confirmed to the Americans that President Sarkozy called his Syrian counterpart on August 5 to ask for his assistance in persuading the Iranians to release Reiss from prison.

"Assad agreed to raise the matter with the Iranians, and shortly thereafter he told Sarkozy that he had placed a call to Tehran. Assad did not, however, name his interlocutor or interlocutors. 'I'm doing what I can to help' was the message he sent to Paris."

The embassy's two sources in the French government – Sarkozy's advisor and a Foreign Ministry official – suggested that Paris "sought to exaggerate the Syrian role deliberately, in order to demonstrate to Syria the praise they might win for playing a constructive role in the region, and in order to create tension between Syria and Iran. And the French believe they have succeeded on both fronts."

The document stressed that other countries, like Qatar and Turkey, were also involved in the efforts to secure Reiss' release and that it was unclear whether the Iranians would have freed her without such interventions.

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The French also told the Americans that their success in painting Reiss as simply a young student/teacher with a keen interest in and love of Iran proved a key to their success. It should be noted that after her release, a French source said Reiss was in fact a spy, as claimed by Iran.

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India’s Misunderstood Israel Policy By Jim Colbert The Diplomat (Japanese magazine for the Asia-Pacific region launched in 2002)December 2, 2010

Indian President Pratibha Patil caused a minor political earthquake in Damascus recently when she weighed in on Middle East politics. Patil's comments, including remarks that were perceived as criticism of Israeli policies and an endorsement of an undivided Palestinian state with Jerusalem as its capital, jolted those who had thought they understood India to be a stalwart friend of Israel.

But those concerned should rest easy. After all, Patil's comments fall squarely in line with longstanding positions held by successive Indian governments, meaning the relationship between Jerusalem and New Delhi actually remains untarnished. The reality is that it’s the nuances of the India-Israel relationship that are being misunderstood by Israel's supporters in the West.

Headlines in several Israeli publications have screamed that Patil had called for Israel to return the Golan Heights—a strategically significant plateau seized by Israel in 1967—to Syria. However, a careful reading of media reporting on what was said during the state dinner Syrian President Bashar al-Assad threw in her honour reveals something altogether different.

In his opening address, Assad delivered remarks of the type usually associated with such events—copious amounts of Israel bashing. But he also said he hoped that India, soon to take up a

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rotational seat on the UN Security Council, will support Syrian goals including a return of the Golan Heights. The floor now hers, Patil responded with a typical thank you and acknowledgement speech, in the course of which she gave the standard Indian External Affairs Ministry position on the Arab-Israeli conflict. She said that India supported a negotiated solution that would result in a sovereign, independent, viable and united Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital, living within secure and recognized borders, side by side and at peace with Israel.

As far as India's upcoming turn on the Security Council, Patil stressed that India hoped ‘to work closely with other Member States for a balanced approach to peace and security issues,’ as reported by The Hindu, India's second-largest English-language daily. Patil also reportedly said that India supported the Saudi peace plan under which Israel would withdraw to pre-1967 borders and that the state of Palestine would be established, but that this would have to be accompanied by recognition of Israel.

The fact is that none of these comments is news, and as far as parsing the record goes, it was only Assad who discussed the Golan Heights. That said, its return is indeed supported by India, which views the situation through the prism of its own experience. Today, China still occupies Indian territory as a result of the 1962 Sino-Indian War. If India is to ever retrieve that land, New Delhibelieves it can’t turn a blind eye to other states in similar situations—especially ones in the Middle East, where it can’t afford to cede influence to a neighbour that is increasingly seen by many as a direct diplomatic and economic competitor.

Broadly speaking, although India enjoys commercial ties with Israel, especially in the fields of defence and counter-terrorism, it essentially views itself as a regional power. And the region it wants to influence is dominated by Muslims—from Egypt to Iran. In addition, India’s ruling Congress Party and the External Affairs Ministry are also exceedingly sensitive to what they consider to be the feelings of India's own 150-million-strong Muslim population.

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As a result, while India can be expected to pursue bilateral ties with Israel, its regional approach will always employ rhetoric that pleases the Arab states and Iran. President Patil's comments should therefore be understood in this light—they were nothing more than that.

Jim Colbert is Policy Director at the Jewish Institute for National Security Affairs (JINSA) and Deputy Editor of The Journal of International Security Affairs.

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Never Mind Democracy WikiLeaks documents reveal how closely U.S. worked with Mideast autocracies despite lofty rhetoric about freedom.Michael Brendan Dougherty,Newsweek,1 Dec. 2010,

Julian Assange’s data dump has helped confirm that America’s democracy agenda is over. The project of liberating the Middle East from tyrannical regimes and installing free governments was once a centerpiece of the United States’ post-9/11 strategy, but the latest cables released by WikiLeaks reveal a far different reality.

In his second inaugural address, George W. Bush proclaimed that “the best hope for peace in our world is the expansion of freedom in all the world. America’s vital interests and our deepest beliefs are now one.” Bush was echoing the ideology of neoconservatism. Commentator David Frum and defense analyst Richard Perle wrote in their 2003 book, An End to Evil, that “people all over the world want the benefits of American democracy but they do not always possess the skills to launch a representative government by only their unaided strength. We can help, as we helped in Western Europe and Japan.”

In the years following 9/11, neoconservatives argued against coddling the princes of Saudi Arabia and other autocrats in the wider Middle East. Bush promised to “persistently clarify the

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choice before every ruler and every nation: The moral choice between oppression, which is always wrong, and freedom, which is eternally right.”

The released cables, however, show a United States that worked closely with autocracies to ensure the success of its aims in Iraq. Gen. David Petraeus worked to build support in Egypt for Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki. Another cable shows U.S. ambassador to Saudi Arabia James Smith was frustrated by Saudi fundamentalism but felt the alliance “has proven durable.” And another document recounts a meeting of U.S. senators with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad that was cordial. Instead of demanding intelligence cooperation and political liberalization, senators contented themselves with politely inquiring about collaboration on regional peace talks and Assad’s thoughts on Iran. This is hardly the persistent clarity of pushing a regional democratic revolution. It is diplomatic and foreign-policy realism.

The Wikileaks document release also shows that Arab leaders see the rise of Iran as a problem—one they wish America would solve for them. That revelation now has neoconservatives warming up to the same leaders they formerly labeled feckless and untrustworthy. Washington Post blogger Jennifer Rubin, writing in Commentary, said of the leaks: “You can add to the list of the hawks’ confirmed truths: the enthusiastic support of the Arab states for a more vigorous U.S. response to Iran.” On the Saudi royals’ assessment of Iran—“Cut off the head of the snake”—Rubin confessed, “I’m with King Abdullah on this one.” Formerly considered an untrustworthy ally for its financial support of Wahhabi Islam, Saudi Arabia is enjoying a strange new respect.

There are neoconservatives making similar arguments. David Frum, who complained in 2003 that American policy had been too abject toward Saudi Arabia, now cites Saudi anxieties to make the case for a more aggressive policy toward Iran. He wrote at CNN.com this week: “Public opinion in all U.S.-allied countries can now see that the dread of the Iranian nuclear program is not some artificial emotion whipped up by Israel, but a widespread

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fear among Arab and European governments. It’s Iran’s Gulf neighbors who have begged most urgently that the United States hit Iran’s nuclear sites.”

Of course, Saudi King Abdullah’s fears of Iranian power are probably justified. The leaders of Saudi Arabia and Iran are taken as political tokens for Sunni Islam and Shia Islam, respectively, in the Middle East, ergo King Abdullah and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad are natural rivals. Saudi Arabia’s leaders reside in the western part of the desert kingdom, while its oil wells sit nearer to the eastern coast that contains a discontented and significant minority of Shia Muslims. It is easy to imagine the trouble Iran could whip up there. But it is notable that the U.S. has recently concluded a major arms deal with Saudi Arabia. A strike at Iran’s nuclear program or at the regime itself would leave Abdullah the most powerful figure in the Muslim Middle East. This scenario would have horrified democratists just five years ago.

The democracy agenda was already in jeopardy before Assange’s leaks. In 2006, Bush urged Palestinians to have free elections—only to see Hamas take power. In 2007, Israeli legislator Yuval Steinitz urged America to freeze $200 million in foreign aid to Egypt until the Mubarak government had curbed police abuse and passed laws guaranteeing an independent judiciary. But in early 2008, Condoleezza Rice, then secretary of state, admitted that the congressional hold on those funds was waived by Bush. And America’s war in Afghanistan has meant making deals with unsavory allies such as Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan.

But the Wikileaks dump has shown that history is unkind to the demanding visions of ideologues. The democratists once hoped to get out from under the venal Saudis, but a shared zeal against Iran has yoked them together. That’s the comedy of history. The tragedy would be a military strike at Tehran that rallies the Iranian people around its regime and kills as collateral damage the Green Movement, the fitful and reform-minded coalition pushing for a democracy that originates in Iran, not in Washington.

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IAEA Meets on Iran, Syria, and Nuclear Fuel Bank Mark Hibbs,Carnegie Endowment for International Peace,1 Dec. 2010,Hint: we included only issues related to Syria. The FULL Interview is here..

This week, the board of governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency, its main decision making body, will meet in Vienna for its last quarterly meeting in 2010. There are three main items on the agenda: Iran, Syria, and creating an international nuclear fuel bank. In a Q&A, Mark Hibbs explains that while new outcomes are not expected on Iran and Syria’s nuclear programs, the United States is preparing to call for a vote on the fuel bank, which is likely to pass despite opposition from some developing countries and members of the Non-Aligned Movement.

Will the IAEA board take action on Syria’s nuclear program?During the last board meeting and in the subsequent months, Western country diplomats have urged Amano to call for a special inspection in Syria. One recent press report implied that Amano might request Syria to host such an inspection soon.

Syria's relationship with the IAEA has deteriorated even further since the last board meeting. After talks were held earlier this year between Syria and the IAEA to further investigate preliminary information that particles of processed uranium were found at a small research reactor in Damascus, Syria and the IAEA agreed to a so-called action plan to resolve the matter and proceed with the investigation. But since then, discussions have broken down over implementation—and the issue remains stalled.

Still, it is unlikely that either Amano or the board will press the issue of a special inspection in Syria at this week’s meeting. Western governments continue to urge Amano to do so. The board is also unlikely to take action in light of the harsh attack against Amano and Western states in September by members of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), especially Arab states. They urged the IAEA to take Syria at its word that an installation in Syria

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which was destroyed by Israeli aircraft in 2007 was not a clandestine nuclear reactor under construction, as both Israel and the United States assert.

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Sarkozy: Not negotiating with Hamas hurts PA WikiLeaks cables show Jordan believes Iran’s ‘tentacles’ can be severed if deprived of Palestinian issue. Jerusalem Post,2 Dec. 2010,

French President Nicolas Sarkozy believes the Quartet principles that have nixed international engagement with Hamas until the organization recognizes Israel, forswears terrorism and accepts previous Israeli-Palestinian agreements hurts Fatah and the Palestinian Authority more than Hamas, according to a WikiLeaks document released late on Tuesday.

The document – a cable sent to US President Barack Obama from the US Embassy in Paris to prepare him for his first meting as president with Sarkozy in March 2009 – said that while Sarkozy agreed with ideals expressed in the Quartet principles on Hamas, he thought they hurt the PA and he “would welcome any initiative to repackage the Quartet principles.”

According to the cable, Sarkozy “allowed Foreign Minister [Bernard] Kouchner to propose that the EU take a less dogmatic approach on engaging Hamas – in a way that allows the international community to work with the next Palestinian government.”

The cable noted that Sarkozy saw “no credible alternative to Palestinian reconciliation,” meaning that at some point Hamas would probably be inside a PA government, and the world would need to engage it.

Despite Sarkozy’s position, however, the Quartet position remains intact and there is still no formal contact between the EU and Hamas.

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The cable also quoted Sarkozy as having told Secretary of State Hillary Clinton that US special envoy George Mitchell was “too wise.”

On Iran, the cable read, “Sarkozy is the toughest of the EU leaders.”

Another document released late on Tuesday, this one a background cable from Amman dated April 2, 2009, supported Obama’s position of linkage between finding a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict and moving to stop Iran’s nuclear program.

“The metaphor most commonly deployed by Jordanian officials when discussing Iran is of an octopus whose tentacles reach out insidiously to manipulate, foment and undermine the best laid plans of the West and regional moderates,” the cable reads. “Iran’s tentacles include its allies Qatar and Syria, Hizbullah in Lebanon, Hamas in the Palestinian territories, an Iraqi government sometimes seen as supplicant to Tehran, and Shia communities throughout the region.”

According to the document, while Jordan doubted US dialogue with Iran would convince it to “withdraw its tentacles,” the Jordanians believed the tentacles could be “severed” if “Iran is deprived of hotbutton issues that make it a hero to many on the Arab street, such as its championing of the Palestinian cause.”In the Jordanian view, the cable continued, “Iran’s influence derives from the perception that Tehran is able to ‘deliver’ while moderates are not. The main failure of moderates as cited by radicals is ongoing Palestinian suffering and dispossession despite an international consensus favoring a viable, independent Palestinian state living peacefully next to Israel.”

From Jordan’s perspective, “The US would benefit from pressing Israel to proceed to final status negotiations, which would garner Arab support to deal with shared security concerns about Iran.”

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Having said all that, however, the cable then quoted the then-president of the Jordanian Senate, Zeid Rifai, as telling the State Department’s David Hale in November 2008, “Bomb Iran, or live with an Iranian bomb. Sanctions, carrots, incentives won’t matter.”

According to the cable, “while Rifai judged a military strike would have ‘catastrophic impact on the region,’ he nonetheless thought preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons would pay enough dividends to make it worth the risks.”

Meanwhile, Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, in his first public reactions to the WikiLeaks documents, said one of the lessons to be learned was that it was important to tell the truth, even if unpleasant, both publicly and privately. Lieberman was alluding to huge gaps that have been revealed between what Arab leaders have been saying about Iran publicly and privately.

“You need to tell the truth and be consistent and responsible,” he said in an Israel Radio interview. “You have to tell the truth in private meetings, and you have to be responsible in private meetings, and I think that is an important lesson that was clear to me before, and even clearer today.”

Lieberman said he expected that the way diplomats interacted from now on would be considerably different, and that more and more conversations between leaders would be “off the record,” meaning that they would agree beforehand that there would be no written record.

Lieberman dismissed a report that Israel would be the next victim of WikiLeaks, and that in coming days and weeks secret documents putting Israel in a negative light would be released.

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Road journey to Gaza starts today Indian Express,2 Dec. 2010,

A group of pro-Palestine activists will start a road trip to Gaza on Thursday in a bid to take medical aid to the embargoed region.

The Asian People’s Solidarity for Palestine (APSP), an organisation against Israeli occupation of Palestine, will start the journey from Rajghat and travel through Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt, entering Gaza through the Rafah Crossing.

The India Lifeline To Gaza, a constituent of the APSP, will flag off the event, which is expected to be attended by veteran journalist Kuldip Nayyar and former Cabinet secretary Zafar Saifullah.

“More than 50 Indians are part of the journey. We will travel by road through Asia and hopefully get to Gaza by December 28. It should be a fantastic new year in Palestine. Since this is the first convoy from Asia to show solidarity with the Palestinian cause, our aim is only to get to Gaza and not confront the Israeli government,” said Feroze Mithiborwala, founder of APSP.

The convoy will carry with it medical aid worth Rs 27 lakh and donate two ambulances to the authorities in Palestine.

Ashim Roy, general secretary of the New Trade Union Initiative that is supporting APSP, said: “This is one issue which needs a voice because the cause (Palestinian) has worldwide legitimacy and yet the rights of people are being denied.”

Aid caravans, such as this, have increasingly come into the spotlight since the attack on a Turkish flotilla in May this year. So, do the participants have any fears? “There is always going to be an element of risk involved, but everyone is going with the

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conviction that we will fight for the right cause,” said Biraj Pattnaik, Supreme Court’s advisor on the Right to Food, and a member of the contingent. JNU student Pradyumna Jairam: “This is a fantastic opportunity to make a difference, a chance that I probably won’t get again.” the reporter is a student of exims

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Egypt's 'election' was pure stagecraft, directed by a dictator Sunday's farce sends a message that the transition from one pharaoh to the next must take place within autocratic confinesJack Shenker,Guardian,1 Dec. 2010,

Covering Egypt's parliamentary elections this week was a surreal experience. There was, for example, the polling station where security officials cut the power to prevent us seeing stuffed ballot boxes, only for opposition candidates to light burning torches and lead us self-righteously into the darkness.

The day after the poll, civil society monitors, human rights activists and journalists all swapped examples of egregious violations, from vote-buying to police intimidation – yet how can you violate a circus? At times it felt as if merely using the language of "irregularities" helped to confer a sort of false legitimacy on to these electoral theatrics, however systematic those irregularities were shown to be.

Thankfully, Egypt's high elections commission (HEC) stepped in this morning to clear up any misunderstandings over whether or not the country had just conducted a serious democratic exercise. Announcing first-round results, which hand the ruling NDP party 97% of the seats contested and leave the Muslim Brotherhood – previously the largest opposition force in parliament – with nothing, the commission's spokesperson informed us that "the elections as a whole were conducted properly, and the results …

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reflect the will of the Egyptian electorate". In Cairo, farce talks with a straight face.

The HEC's statement unshackles us from the burden of pretending that what transpired last Sunday – and will play out again this coming weekend when a run-off ballot is held – constitutes anything resembling an election; instead, it is better described as a (not particularly artful) piece of stagecraft by Egypt's political elite. Stage performances are designed for an audience though, so the question now becomes "who is this performance aimed at, and why?".

With President Hosni Mubarak's three decade-long rule now coming to an end (he is 82 and frail), the various shades of Egypt's self-perpetuating regime now face a year of deep political volatility as rival NDP insiders attempt to manoeuvre themselves into the position of natural successor.

Sunday's performance revealed little about the dynamics of that race, despite featuring several scenes of intra-NDP competition. That's because the internal struggle to win a ruling party nomination for parliamentary seats is generally a parochial one, with wealthy local businessmen looking to consolidate or expand their privileges through entrance to the legislature – which offers legal immunity, access to the higher echelons of the state, and significant opportunities for personal advancement – and hence doesn't really reflect factional divisions at the heart of the NDP.

The latter exist of course, and they are likely to intensify as decisions are made over whether Mubarak should be handed another six-year term when presidential "elections" are called next year, and as his son Gamal confronts an entrenched military harbouring doubts about his ability to step into his father's shoes.But this show was about something else. It was about sending a message that – whichever elements from within the existing autocracy triumph in the internecine battles to come – the transition from one pharaoh to another will take place wholly within that autocracy, with all other voices excluded.

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The significance of that message, at a time when the Arab world's most populous country is witnessing an outburst of labour activism, sporadic street protests and an explosion of forums of dissent – despite the government's efforts to neuter the independent media – can't be underestimated. It is a warning to the Egyptian nation that there will be no public avenues for expressing grievance, no pressure valves – even of the superficial variety – through which those outside the inner sanctum might be able to speak and help shape the direction this country is travelling in. As Shadi Hamid of the Brookings thinktank put it: "The regime … is not in the mood to take any chances over its own survival as we enter what will be one of the most challenging periods in Egypt's modern history."

In the short term, that means the Egypt that Mubarak has shaped in his own image will continue to thrive – one where a foreign-funded security apparatus, fuelled by a state-led cessation of the rule of law, is given a free hand to snuff out opposition, and where the nation's commonly held natural resources are pimped out to private profiteers. In the long term, it means uncertainty. Yesterday, a senior Muslim Brotherhood spokesman declared that the government was "destroying any hope of the people for change by peaceful means". But with the social, economic and demographic pressures bearing down on Egypt, maintaining the status quo in perpetuity is not a viable option.

And so all eyes turn to Washington, where the state department – pulling the purse-strings of Mubarak to the tune of $1.3bn a year – put out a mealy-mouthed statement of "dismay" yesterday at the conduct of the parliamentary poll.As Hamid points out, the Egyptian regime's own statement of intent regarding its unwillingness to countenance any opposition in the run-up to the transfer of presidential power puts the Obama administration in a tricky position, especially when much of the region – Jordan, Morocco and Bahrain, for example – is moving in the opposite direction, towards more subtle forms of authoritarianism.

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Make no mistake; there is no desire on the part of Egypt's western allies to see the country embrace any genuine form of democratisation – you only have to speak with police torture victims in Alexandria, some of whom have been bound up with American handcuffs while facing the blows of their tormentors, to understand the extent to which the "international community" supports the repression of any dissidents that could potentially upset Mubarak's grip on power.

But the blatant and uncompromising quality of this latest act is problematic for the dictator's cheerleaders, because it peels away the facade and could well be storing up unimaginable problems for the future.Hamid believes that Sunday's farce will force a debate in western policy circles over the wisdom of sticking so close to Mubarak. "Alarm bells are ringing," he says, "and the election results will really force a discussion; whether or not that discussion will lead to concrete changes in strategy is a different story."

But the real story of Egypt's coming political transition will have to be written elsewhere – outside western diplomatic corridors, and outside the self-serving, self-preserving elite that has dominated the country so pervasively for a generation. The curtain is up – and the drama has just begun.

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UK overruled on Lebanon spy flights from Cyprus, WikiLeaks cables revealAmericans dismissed 'bureaucratic' Foreign Office concern that Lebanese Hezbollah suspects might be torturedDavid Leigh,Guardian,1 Dec. 2010,

American officials swept aside objections that secret US spy flights from Britain's Cyprus airbase risked making the UK an

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unwitting accomplice to torture, the leaked diplomatic cables reveal.

The use of RAF Akrotiri for U2 spy plane missions over Lebanon – missions that have never been disclosed until now – prompted an increasingly acrimonious series of exchanges between British officials and the US embassy in London, according to the cables.

Labour ministers demanded a full "audit trail" of the covert operation, codenamed Cedar Sweep, in 1998 amid growing public concern in the UK about CIA rendition flights and complicity in torture. The planes gathered intelligence that was then passed to the Lebanese authorities to help them track down Hezbollah militants.

As the row escalated, the US rejected the British concerns over torture in unequivocal terms, with one senior official at the embassy in London baldly stating in one cable: "We cannot take a risk-avoidance approach to CT [counter terrorism] in which the fear of potentially violating human rights allows terrorism to proliferate in Lebanon."

The cables disclose that as well as the Lebanon missions, U2s from Akrotiri were gathering intelligence over Turkey and northern Iraq. The information was secretly supplied to the Turkish authorities in an operation codenamed Highland Warrior. The British protested that "in both cases, intelligence product is intended to be passed to third-party governments".

On 18 April 2008, Britain demanded the US embassy provide full details of all flights so ministers could tell whether they "put the UK at risk of being complicit in unlawful acts … This is a very important point for ministers".

A US diplomat, Maura Connelly, cabled: "We understand that these additional precautionary measures stem from the February revelation that the US government transited renditioned persons

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through Diego Garcia without UK permission and HMG's resultant need to ensure it is not similarly blindsided in the future."

She complained the demands were "burdensome" and "an unnecessary layer of bureaucracy".

A letter from Will Jessett, then director of counter-terrorism at the Ministry of Defence, said "the use of UK bases for covert or potentially controversial missions" on behalf of Lebanon or Turkey meant it was "important for us to be satisfied that HMG is not indirectly aiding the commission of unlawful acts by those governments".

The letter said other states, particularly Cyprus, might well object should they find out. Ministers therefore wanted the US to submit each time "an assessment of any legal or human rights implications".

On 24 April, the embassy sent a cable back to Washington entitled: "Houston, we have a problem." It stated: "HMG ministers are adamant."

The embassy "pushed back hard" on demands for a full "audit trail" of spy flights. But in what appears to have been a heated dispute, the British detailed other US "oversights".

"Contacts cited instances in which operations Highland Warrior and Cedar Sweep had been conducted from the UK sovereign base areas of Akrotiri without the proper ministerial approvals … In addition, Highland Warrior had raised tensions with the Cypriots, jeopardising the UK's hold on Akrotiri."There were "other lapses that proved embarrassing to HMG (ie renditions through Diego Garcia and improperly documented shipments of weaponry through Prestwick airport".

The US used Prestwick in 2006 as a staging post to ship laser-guided bombs to Israel, causing British protests. The Israelis wanted the munitions to attack Hezbollah bunkers in Lebanon.

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The US embassy concluded: "A new element of distrust has crept into the US-UK mil-mil relationship.

"The renditions revelation proved highly embarrassing for the Brown government. The British proposal … may be disproportionate but is almost certainly an indication of the Brown government's sensitivity … at a time Brown is facing increasing domestic political woes."

A month later Britain was still "piling on concerns and conditions" about human rights, saying that although junior minister Kim Howells was making the decisions, the foreign secretary, David Miliband, was being kept informed.

British officials warned that ministerial concerns "could jeopardise future use of British territory".

US patience snapped when a Foreign Office official, John Hillman, passed on the message that "even the [US] state department's own human rights report had documented cases of torture and arbitrary arrest by the Lebanese armed forces".

Hillman urged the US to ensure the welfare of prisoners in Lebanon "if there were any risk that detainees captured with the help of Cedar Sweep intel could be tortured".

It was at this point that Richard LeBaron, charges d'affaires at the London embassy, cabled Washington that human rights concerns could not be allowed to get in the way of counter-terrorism operations. Britain's demands were "not only burdensome but unrealistic", he said, proposing "high-level approaches" to call the British to heel."Excessive conditions such as described above will hinder, if not obstruct, our co-operative counter-terrorism efforts," he said.Senior Bush administration official John Rood stepped in and the foreign office's director general for defence and intelligence, Mariot Leslie, hastened to placate him.

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The clash had been "unnecessarily confrontational", she told him. "Leslie expressed annoyance at the additional conditions conveyed by the FCO working level," the cable states. "She had not been aware beforehand that such a message would be conveyed. In fact she regretted the tenor of the discussions had turned prickly, and underscored HMG appreciation for US-UK military and intelligence co-operation."

The US was not actually expected to check on detained terrorists, she reassured him. "Ministers had merely wanted to impress upon the US government that they take the human rights considerations seriously.

"She noted that HMG 'desperately needs' [Cyprus] for its own intelligence gathering and operations and was committed to keeping them available to the US (and France).

"However, the Cypriots are hypersensitive about the British presence there and, she said, could 'turn off the utilities at any time'. That, combined with the 'toxic mix' of the rendition flights through Diego Garcia, has resulted in tremendous parliamentary, public and media pressure on HMG."

Leslie stuck to her guns on one point, saying the US embassy would still have to put in full written applications for future spy missions because "Miliband believed that 'policymakers needed to get control of the military'." The cable stated: "Leslie … was very frank that HMG did object to some of what the US government does (eg renditions)."

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Amnesty International say police bill will let war criminals go freeLaw will make it harder to arrest Israeli officials in UK after critics said pro-Palestinian groups had been exploiting the systemNicholas Watt,Guardian,1 Dec. 2010,

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Britain was accused by Amnesty International of handing a "free ticket" to suspected war criminals after the government published parliamentary legislation designed to make it more difficult to arrest Israeli officials and ministers on British soil.

Kate Allen, the UK director of Amnesty International, warned that Britain had gone "soft on crime" after the government decided that the director of public prosecutions will have to approve arrest warrants of suspected war criminals.

"This is a dangerous and unnecessary change," Allen said of the measures, which were included in the police reform and social responsibility bill.

"Unless a way of guaranteeing a means of preventing suspects fleeing can be built into the proposals, then the UK will have undermined the fight for international justice and handed war criminals a free ticket to escape the law."

The goverment indicated over the summer that it would change the way in which arrests of suspected war criminals can be made in Britain under universal jurisdiction. Israel postponed a "strategic dialogue" meeting with William Hague during his first visit to the country last month in protest at the current rules, which allow magistrates to order the arrest of suspected war criminals.

Critics say that pro-Palestinian groups have used the system to target senior Israeli figures visiting Britain. Tzipi Livni, the former Israeli foreign minister who now leads the opposition as leader of the Kadima party, was forced to cancel a visit to Britain a year ago amid fears that she would be arrested for alleged war crimes committed during the war in Gaza.

The Israeli government has been pushing Britain to amend the law since 2005, when a warrant for the arrest of Doron Almog, a former military commander, was issued for alleged war crimes in

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Gaza. Almog refused to leave his plane when it landed at Heathrow after he was tipped off about the arrest.

The government explained the change in the explanatory notes to the police bill. It says the legislative amendment will "require the consent of the director of public prosecutions (DPP) before an arrest warrant can be issued on the application of a private prosecutor in respect of offences over which the United Kingdom has asserted universal jurisdiction".

Amnesty International said the current system allowed victims of crimes to act quickly against suspected perpetrators. It said there was no need to change the law because there is no evidence that magistrates, who have to screen each request for a warrant with care, have acted on the basis of flimsy evidence.

Allen said: "This sends exactly the wrong signal. It shows that the UK is soft on crime if those crimes are war crimes and torture. It risks introducing dangerous delays that could mean people suspected of the worst imaginable crimes are able to flee from justice."

The new bill also outlined plans to create locally elected police commissioners and to force pubs to pay towards policing costs. Nick Herbert, the policing minister, said local communities would be given a greater say over licensing laws after the "disaster" of Labour's experiment with cafe culture.

Herbert told the Today programme: "We are going to propose a late night levy which will allow councils to charge for late night licenses to pay for the extra policing that is needed. Half of all violence is alcohol related.

"There is an important principle here which is that the polluter pays. Where you have problem premises, where you have premises that are benefitting commercially because they are staying open late, it is right that they should pay more for the policing."

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Herbert indicated that the government will introduce plans next year to prevent the sale of alcohol below cost price. "We are working on that. We will announce those proposals shortly."

Labour claimed that plans to establish locally elected police commissioners would cost £130m in the first year. Ed Balls, the shadow home secretary, said: "At its heart this goes against a 150 year tradition of keeping politics out of policing. It raises the very real prospect of a politician telling a chief constable how to do their job." Even the government's own consultation confirms the very real fear that plans for elected police chiefs will see money spent on bringing politicians into running the police instead of on the frontline."

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