Baradei Hits Out at Israel Again

[bemildred]

(Source is AFP)

BERLIN, 10 June 2008 — The head of the United Nation’s atomic watchdog again hit out at Israel’s willingness to take unilateral action against countries such as Syria, in comments published in a magazine interview yesterday.

As well as the buildup of nuclear arms, the increasing penchant of countries to bomb suspected nuclear facilities also posed a growing threat to world peace, IAEA chief Mohamed El-Baradei told news magazine Der Spiegel.

“With unilateral military actions, countries are undermining international agreements, and we are at a historic turning point,” said Baradei. He was referring to the Israel bombardment of Syria’s Al-Kibar complex last September.

“We only heard of the Israeli action from the television. No-one gave us any information or informed us of their suspicions,” he said.

&category=World

[bemildred]

1. How will Britain respond to being slapped in the face by Israel?

Another one ...

Israel's latest violations of Lebanese airspace on Thursday had a quality of outrageous appropriateness to them. The overflights and mock air raids were a timely reminder of the highly destabilizing role Israel has played in this country, especially since they came on the eve of the 28th anniversary of the Jewish state's bloody 1982 invasion. The provocation was also a deliberate poke in the eye of British Middle East envoy Michael Williams because it came on the very day that he and Ambassador Frances-Mary Guy toured South Lebanon. The fact that President Michel Sleiman had asked Williams on Wednesday to help end Israel's serial violations of Lebanese sovereignty - and its continuing occupation of the Shebaa Farms and other areas - cannot have been lost on Israeli commanders.

All this would be bad enough on its own, but Israel's scofflaw behavior also deepens a long tradition of working against the interests of even those few Arab countries that have been willing to engage it on some level. Lebanon's relative stability of late is something in which the Qatari government is heavily invested, so anything that undermines that stability also threatens to erode Qatari prestige - and therefore to lessen its viability as a potential go-between between Israel and much of the Arab and Islamic worlds. If this is how Doha's willingness to maintain low-level diplomatic contacts with the Jewish state are to be repaid, it is reasonable to ask why anyone would bother with such overtures in the future.

This is not the first time Israel has conducted insulting, impetuous and/or intimidating activities of this sort. Its military has been harassing and even endangering foreign dignitaries - including ambassadors and even cabinet secretaries from the Unites States, Israel's number one ally - during their visits to Lebanon for decades. Very likely, it will not be the last, either. With a little luck, however, Williams will go home with a deeper appreciation of the pressures to which this country is subjected on a daily basis by the Israelis - and of the contempt with they regard his own.

Many of the Middle East's myriad problems stem from indigenous factors like awful governance, but many others are due to the impunity with which Israel is able to break all the rules. From the occupation and colonization of Palestinian land to threats of aggression against Iran for allegedly violating a nuclear treaty that they have neither signed nor obeyed, the Israelis are openly dismissive of the international community and the principle of collective security. Perhaps if they were not coddled in return, if they were instead taken to task for their irresponsibility, they might change their ways. Your move, Mr. Williams.

http://www.dailystar.com.lb/article.asp?edition_id=10&categ_id=17&article_id=92787