1) The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS) considers dialogue the only effective means of settling political disputes among the Palestinian factions and forces. In observance of this principle, the movement has played a principal and major role in accomplishing the Cairo Declaration of March 2005, the National Accord Document of June 2006, the Mecca Agreement of February 2007 and the National Concord on the Tahdi’ah (truce or calming) of June 2008.
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| By Franklin Lamb – Northwest of Ghajar Village, South Lebanon "We, as Lebanese, are here to confirm that we cling to freeing every grain of our soil. We will not abandon the great national cause, which is the continuation of the liberation of our land. The resistance looks forward to hoisting the flags of victory again over the Kfarshuba hills, Shebaa Farms, Ghajar and Abbasieh where 80 percent of the land is still occupied" — Sheik Nabil Qwork, Hezbollah leader addressing villagers at Abbasieh Village, 10/2008 Under pressure from the lame duck Bush Administration to withdraw from territory that the Lebanese Resistance did not liberate during its May 2000 rout of the Israel army and its surrogate SLA militia, Israel to date remains unwilling to budge. One reason is that it claims the Bush Administration reneged on secret pledges to bomb Iran. |
A Cairo court on Tuesday overruled the Egyptian government’s decision to allow exports of natural gas to Israel and said the constitution gave parliament the right to decide on sales of natural resources.
But Israel expressed confidence that the Egyptian government would not allow any interruption to gas deliveries under the deal despite the court order.
A senior Egyptian official said the verdict did not require immediate implementation and the government would appeal against it. Cabinet spokesman Magdy Rady said the government respected the judiciary but could not comment until it receives the ruling.
Judicial sources said the government could ignore the ruling, as it has done in many past cases, or postpone action by filing a countersuit challenging the decision.
Israel’s Ministry of National Infrastructure said it was confident the political agreement covering the gas between the Egyptian and Israeli governments would remain in effect.
"The … ministry has no doubt that deals between the Egyptian gas company and its customers in Israel remain valid.
The ministry is convinced that the supply of gas from Egypt to Israel will continue as usual," it added.
Former diplomat Ibrahim Yussri, along with some members of the opposition, brought the case against the government several months ago.
Judicial Wrangling
Gas started flowing to Israel through a pipeline for the first time in May under an agreement signed in 2005 for the supply of 1.7 billion cubic meters a year over 20 years.
The group of lawyers who filed the suit against the government said the Israelis were buying the gas at prices below the international level. The Egyptian government is reluctant to reveal the price it receives for natural gas exports.
The government never submitted the gas deal with Israel to parliament, arguing it was a private arrangement between EMG and the state-owned utility company Israel Electric Corp. and therefore outside the court’s jurisdiction.
The court, however, ruled that "national resources belong to current and future generations, and the executive must first get parliament’s approval" on gas export deals, a judicial source told AFP.
"(Parliament) is the body best qualified to monitor the actions of the administration with regards to granting concessions to exploit natural wealth," the court said, quoted by the Egyptian state news agency MENA.
Some Egyptian leftists and Arab nationalists oppose in principle the sale of gas to Israel, which fought four wars with Egypt between 1948 and 1973 before making peace in 1979, though relations are not “normalized.”
Egypt’s Muslim Brotherhood opposition, which controls a fifth of seats in parliament, has opposed exporting gas to Israel because of what it calls the country’s punishing blockade of 1.5 million Palestinians in the Gaza Strip.
THE PALESTINE CHRONICLE
Valedictory hot air
Rice’s last and final visit to Israel/Palestine is conclusive proof that the neocons achieved nothing and could offer nothing, writes Khaled Amayreh in Ramallah
The 24th visit of US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to Palestine-Israel this week didn’t differ much from her previous visits, especially in substance. Rice, who held meetings with Israeli and Palestinian Authority (PA) officials, followed by joint press conferences in both West Jerusalem and Ramallah, essentially regurgitated the same platitudes and false promises she voiced ever since she assumed the top diplomatic post nearly four years ago.
Finding virtually nothing to clutch to in terms of hard achievements in the so- called peace process, Rice put a brave face on her apparent colossal failure to get Israel to end its decades-old occupation of the West Bank, East Jerusalem and Gaza Strip. She told PA President Mahmoud Abbas, who seemed to be coming to terms with the inanity of the process, that the near end of the Bush administration didn’t mean the end of prospects for peace. She added that she would brief the upcoming Obama administration on the status of Israeli-Palestinian talks so that the new administration wouldn’t have to start from scratch.