[Kabar-indonesia] RI Readies 600 Peacekeepers for Lebanon [+WP; JP Editorial; Muslim Summit]

[JoyoNews at aol.com]

5 reports: 

- RI prepared to send 600 peacekeepers 
  to Lebanon 

- WP: Israel to Widen Ground Operations
  in Lebanon; Airstrikes Resume

- Editorial: Massacre of the Innocent 

- OIC members to press for ceasefire 
  in Middle East 

- Guardian by George Monbiot: The king 
  of fairyland will never grasp the realities 
  of the Middle East 

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

RI prepared to send 600 peacekeepers to Lebanon 

Ridwan Max Sijabat, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

With no sign that the Israel-Hizbollah fighting will stop anytime soon, 
Indonesia 
has readied a 600-member special battalion from the Army and Marines to join 
a potential international peacekeeping force to be deployed in South Lebanon.

Spokesman for the Indonesian Military Rear Adm. Soenarto said Monday the 
special battalion was formed at the order of President Susilo Bambang 
Yudhoyono 
in anticipation of a possible UN request for an international force. 

"The special battalion consists of three companies from the Army's Strategic 
Reserve Command and a company from the Marine Corps; they are ready 
whenever they are needed," he told The Jakarta Post. 

He added that the military personnel were all combat-trained. They are fully 
armed and supplied with other equipment, such as tanks, to make the peace 
mission effective. 

UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has called for a cease-fire and an 
international force to end the war, which has claimed hundreds of civilian lives. Annan 
has strongly denounced the mounting conflict, especially the deadly Israeli 
airstrikes on the Lebanese town of Qana on Sunday, 

Many Middle Eastern countries and the ASEAN Regional Forum have joined forces 
with some of the 15 members of the UN Security Council to call for a truce. 
This would be followed by the deployment of an international peacekeepers in 
Lebanon. 

The Israeli raid Sunday killed at least 52 civilians, mostly children. Asian 
nations have condemned the attack and called for the UN to order a cease-fire. 
Top officials from Muslim countries are scheduled to meet in Kuala Lumpur on 
Aug. 3 to forge a common stand. 

Indonesia has previously deployed its Garuda contingents as peacekeeping 
forces and observer missions to numerous countries under UN auspices: Congo, Iraq, 
Kuwait, Cambodia, Somalia, Mozambique, Slovenia, Georgia, Afghanistan and the 
Philippines. 

Meanwhile, Theo Sambuaga, chairman of the House of Representatives' 
Commission I on military, information and foreign affairs, said the House has asked the 
government not only to condemn Israel's aggression but also to lobby other 
countries, especially members of the UN Security Council, to seek a truce in 
Lebanon. 

"So far, the government has been quite responsive to the fast developments in 
the Middle East crisis and we hope the United States will exert its influence 
on Israel to accept the cease-fire. The House also fully backs the 
government's move to prepare the special battalion to join in a UN peace-keeping force 
in Lebanon," he said. 

------------------------------------

The Washington Post
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

No Cease-Fire Soon, Israeli Leader Says

Wider Ground War Approved; Airstrikes Resume

By Jonathan Finer and Edward Cody
Washington Post Foreign Service

JERUSALEM, Aug. 1 -- Prime Minister Ehud Olmert vowed Monday that there "will 
be no cease-fire in the coming days," and his top security officials 
unanimously approved a widening of Israel's military operations on the ground in 
southern Lebanon after a four-hour meeting that ended early Tuesday morning, 
government officials said.

The decision followed Israel's agreement Sunday to suspend air attacks on 
south Lebanon for 48 hours. About 12 hours after the suspension took effect, 
Israeli planes launched strikes in support of ground operations near Taibe. 
Israeli officials said they reserved the right to continue attacks to prevent an 
immediate threat. [Israel launched airstrikes against southern Lebanese border 
villages early Tuesday, hitting Bayyada and Mansoureh, the Reuters news agency 
reported, citing Lebanese security sources.] Hezbollah launched only four 
rockets into northern Israel on Monday, police and military officials said, a day 
after firing more than 150.

Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice returned to Washington Monday evening 
after vowing to push for a U.N. Security Council resolution this week aimed at 
ending the fighting. State Department officials traveling with her said the 
resolution would include a cease-fire and the "nearly simultaneous" deployment of 
international troops to a buffer zone in southern Lebanon.

Since an Israeli airstrike Sunday killed more than 50 civilians, most of them 
children, in the Lebanese village of Qana, Arab and European pressure for an 
immediate cease-fire has increased, diplomats at the Security Council said.

President Bush on Monday called the Qana deaths "awful" and promised to work 
for a durable cease-fire plan that would extend Lebanese control over 
Hezbollah's stronghold in the south, deploy an international force along the 
Israel-Lebanon border and pressure Iran and Syria to stop backing Hezbollah.

In a Monday evening speech to Israeli mayors in Tel Aviv, Olmert apologized 
for the Qana attack but said the three-week-long offensive, which began after 
Hezbollah seized two Israeli soldiers in a July 12 cross-border raid, would end 
only "when the threat over our heads is removed, when our kidnapped soldiers 
return to their homes and when we can live in security."

"Many days of fighting still await us," he said.

Israel says it is investigating the Qana incident. But Lebanon's acting 
foreign minister, Tarek Mitri, urged the U.N. Security Council to demand an 
immediate cease-fire and launch an investigation into the Israeli strike.

Fighting continued in Lebanese towns north of the Israeli village of Metulla 
and in Maroun al-Ras, where Israeli soldiers began their ground incursion more 
than two weeks ago. Three Israeli soldiers were lightly wounded near the 
Lebanese town of Taibe on Monday when a Hezbollah missile struck an armored 
vehicle and an Israeli tank that arrived to help was also fired upon.

"On the ground, it's not a cease-fire at all, just a limitation of planes 
shooting toward buildings and villages," said Maj. Svika Golan, a spokesman for 
the Israeli army's Northern Command. "If you see a terrorist moving around a 
village, you cannot shoot him from the air. But the ground forces carry on 
working."

Air attacks from both sides were down sharply Monday. Citing an Israeli 
military source, Israel Radio and other local media outlets reported that as much 
as two-thirds of Hezbollah's Iranian-provided supply of longer-range missiles 
had been destroyed.

"We are only attacking in cases when we need to protect our forces or 
civilians," an Israeli military spokesman said. "We are firing on open areas to 
prevent armed cells approaching our forces."

An Israeli airstrike on a vehicle traveling near a Lebanese military base at 
Qasmiyeh, north of Tyre, killed a Lebanese soldier and wounded three others.

"The attack was based on information that a senior member of Hezbollah was in 
the vehicle," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement. But the target 
"was not in the vehicle at the moment of the attack. The IDF expresses deep 
regret for the incident."

In a conversation with British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Olmert said that 
Israel "was interested" in having "an effective multinational force come to 
Lebanon," according to a written account of the exchange provided by Olmert's 
office Monday night. It said he added that it would be possible to implement a 
cease-fire "immediately upon the deployment of the force."

A scheduled meeting at the United Nations of countries that might contribute 
troops was postponed.

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad told his military Monday to boost its 
readiness to cope with "regional challenges," according to Reuters. Syria and Iran 
are Hezbollah's chief benefactors.

Also Monday, Israeli drones and other planes fired at three pickup trucks 
near a Lebanese border crossing into Syria, wounding four civilians and a customs 
officer, according to the Associated Press. An Israeli military spokesman 
said the trucks were loaded with weapons, but Lebanese officials said one vehicle 
was carrying relief supplies, the Associated Press reported.

Hezbollah said its rockets struck an Israeli warship off the coast of Tyre on 
Monday, but Israeli officials said no such attack occurred.

In the Gaza Strip, Israeli artillery killed a Palestinian teenager in what 
the Israeli army called an attack against militants firing rockets into Israeli 
towns, according to the Associated Press. Palestinian radicals vowed to take 
revenge for the Qana attack and threatened suicide bombings.

Lebanon's Health Ministry said 519 people have been confirmed killed since 
the fighting began. Israeli officials said 33 Israeli soldiers have died and 18 
Israeli civilians have been killed by Hezbollah rockets fired into northern 
Israel.

Taking advantage of the abatement in bombing, Lebanese fled north Monday, and 
U.N. and other relief organizations accelerated the delivery of humanitarian 
supplies to the south Lebanon hills, where an estimated 750,000 people have 
been displaced by Israeli bombing over the last three weeks.

Relief officials emphasized, however, that Israel's limited bombing 
suspension was not enough to guarantee delivery of supplies to all the needy in 
Lebanon. "In these circumstances, the United Nations is continuing relief operations, 
but the conditions do not yet exist for a major increase in deliveries," the 
U.N. Beirut office said.

Each convoy heading for south Lebanon must still negotiate with Israeli 
military authorities for permission, U.N. officials said. This has been the 
situation since hostilities erupted July 12.

Amer Daoudi of the World Food Program said that two convoys got to Tyre on 
Monday and would move out Tuesday morning to villages in south Lebanon, with one 
bound for Qana. Another four convoys are scheduled to move toward the south 
Tuesday, he said."We welcome this, but it's just a drop in the bucket," he 
added. "Security remains the biggest impediment we have." Another concern for 
relief officials is Lebanon's dwindling fuel supplies, since the country's 
electricity generating plants all operate on diesel. The government has said that 
only a few more days' supply remains. Once that runs out, electricity would 
quickly stop, making normal health care impossible and the movement of relief 
supplies difficult.

"If we run out of fuel, everything will come to a standstill," Daoudi said.

Mona Hammam, the U.N. relief coordinator for Lebanon, said negotiations are 
underway with Israeli military authorities to allow oil tankers to bring in new 
supplies. If Israel does not quickly grant that permission, she said, "it 
will be a catastrophe of major proportions."

The damage to Lebanon's civilian infrastructure has stopped the country's 
economy in its tracks, Hammam said, and raised the prospect of another long, 
expensive rebuilding effort for a nation still recovering from the ruinous 1975-90 
civil war. She also said Israel's bombing campaign so far has killed about 
750 Lebanese and wounded 3,200, almost all of them civilians.

On Monday, rescue workers searching bombed-out cars and sifting through the 
rubble of destroyed buildings in southern Lebanon found at least 49 bodies of 
civilians, Reuters reported.

Cody reported from Beirut. Correspondents Robin Wright in Shannon, Ireland, 
and Colum Lynch at the United Nations and special correspondent Ian Deitch 
contributed to this report.

----------------------------------------

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Editorial

Massacre of the Innocent 

The global community is outraged by Israel's attack on the small southern 
Lebanon village of Qana. There are no justifications or excuses which Israel 
could offer to soothe the anger over its murder of innocent Lebanese.

Israeli warplanes killed 54 villagers, more than half of them children. Under 
no moral or legal standards is the intentional killing of innocent civilians 
acceptable, although we do respect Israel's right to defend itself. 

The reaction of the New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) to the slayings 
reflects the overwhelming global disgust for Israel's actions. Hizbollah, 
however, should not escape criticism for its attacking of civilian targets in 
Israel. 

As quoted by Agence France Presse on Monday, HRW insisted that even if 
Israeli military claims of Hizbollah rocket fire from the Qana area were correct, 
Israel remained under a strict obligation to direct attacks only at military 
objectives. 

The rights group strongly criticized Israel's military for saying 
responsibility for the Qana attack "rests with the Hizbollah" because it used the area to 
launch "hundreds of missiles" into Israel, and insisting it had warned 
residents of Qana several days in advance to leave the village. 

The Israeli attack early Sunday "is the latest product of an indiscriminate 
bombing campaign that the Israel Defense Forces have waged in Lebanon over the 
past 18 days, leaving an estimated 750 people dead, the vast majority of them 
civilians", the HRW said. 

U.S. President George W. Bush should view the massacre of women, children and 
the elderly as a personal slap in the face, and he should stop Israel from 
further humiliating him. Bush, often portrayed as a born-again Christian, should 
prove his sense of humanity by preventing similar atrocities by Israel in the 
future. 

Bush appears to be the only person in the world with the power to press 
Israel's Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to show responsibility and restraint in his 
country's military actions against Lebanon. 

However, all Bush was able secure from Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice's 
diplomatic mission to the Middle East was a 48-hour cease-fire unilaterally 
announced by Israel on Monday. The international community, particularly the 
Muslim world, finds it difficult to understand why in its bilateral relationship 
with Israel, the U.S. often looks powerless against the tiny state. So far, 
little reason has been given to hope that Bush will be able to counter this 
perception. 

After incapacitating the Hamas government in Palestine, Israel invaded 
Lebanon to eliminate Hizbollah. By destroying Hizbollah's military bases, Israel 
hopes it can weaken the positions of Iran and Syria, Hizbollah's two main 
backers. Thousands of people have fled Lebanon to avoid Israeli airstrikes and the 
country, which was just recovering from the 1975-1990 civil war, is again facing 
a crisis. 

But Israel has found Hizbollah is much stronger than it initially calculated. 
Hizbollah is no longer just a guerrilla organization, but a legitimate 
political party with a significant number of seats in Lebanon's parliament and 
Cabinet. 

Israel and its main ally the U.S. can say they have the right to protect 
their national interests. However, with the arrogance they have displayed in 
Lebanon, they are only providing a very effective fertilizer for the rapid growth 
of terrorism across the globe. In the end they may tame Hizbollah, but the 
impact outside Lebanon and Israel will be very costly for all global citizens. 

It will come as no surprise if, in the aftermath of Israel's punishing 
attacks on Lebanese and Palestinian civilians, the world sees an increase in 
terrorist attacks, including in predominantly Muslim nations. More innocent victims 
will die and the entire world will have to pay a very dear price for what 
Israel and the U.S. call a war against terrorism. 

The Indonesian government has strongly condemned the Qana massacre. In truth, 
the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono is not in a position to 
do more than issue verbal condemnations, with even President Bush unable -- or 
unwilling -- to prevent more civilian deaths in Lebanon. But our country, 
which has suffered much from terrorist attacks, must prepare for even greater 
security threats in the future. 

The 50-member Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) is scheduled to 
meet in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday to discuss the latest developments in the 
Middle East. Judging by its past record, it is difficult to hope the OIC will be 
able to wield any influence over the U.S. or Israel. Uniting its members on any 
issue has been a long-standing problem for the OIC, so it is difficult to 
imagine the group taking an effective position to stop the violence in the Middle 
East. 

Again, we condemn the murder of innocent children in Qana. President Bush now 
has the chance to prove he is a true Christian who practices what he 
preaches. 

------------------------------------

The Jakarta Post
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

OIC members to press for ceasefire in Middle East 

Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Leaders of five Muslim countries, Indonesia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar, 
Malaysia and Senegal, plan to call for an immediate ceasefire and a formation 
of peacekeeping force in Lebanon when they meet in Kuala Lumpur on Thursday.

The leaders from the 57-strong Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) are 
expected to come up with a proposal to end Israeli attacks on Lebanon, which 
have killed more than 600 civilians in the past 19 days. 

Israel's latest air attack on Qana, southern Lebanon, on Sunday killed 56 
civilians, including 37 children. 

"We can't just sit still when Palestine and Lebanon, two OIC members, are 
attacked by Israel. The longer the attacks, the more innocent victims die. We 
will try to unite to call for a quick ceasefire," Foreign Minister Hassan 
Wirayuda told The Jakarta Post in an exclusive interview on Sunday. 

Hassan said the OIC miniature meeting was needed because there were still 
different views among OIC members on how to see the attacks. 

"With the limited meeting, we hope we can quickly come up with a united voice 
that has more influence on the decision-making process for a ceasefire 
currently being discussed by the UN Security Council. We will direct our call to the 
UNSC because it has the mandate to issue a ceasefire decision," Hassan said. 

Because an effective ceasefire needed the establishment of a peacekeeping 
force, OIC members would also discuss a proposal on the form of that force, he 
said. 

Hassan said the UNSC, which is discussing a ceasefire process and 
peacekeeping operations in New York, had the option of activating a peacekeeping force 
under the UN Charter's chapter six or more robust multinational operations under 
chapter seven. 

"Hopefully, the OIC proposal can become an input for the UNSC. Although 
Indonesia has expressed readiness to join a UN-sanctioned peacekeeping force, we 
don't have a tradition of joining multinational forces under chapter seven," he 
said. 

A robust multinational force would aim to disarm Hizbollah, Hassan said. 

"But, there is still a question mark hanging over this. With prepared and 
superior troops, Israel is finding it difficult to disarm Hizbollah," he said. 

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has repeatedly refused to entertain 
backing an immediate ceasefire even after the Qana bombing, stressing that the 
United States wanted a "sustainable" truce for Lebanon. This was because many 
previous truces had failed to last, she said. 

The U.S. also indicated it wanted to see the end of Hizbollah, and has urged 
Lebanese government to disarm the organization, which operates freely in the 
country's south. 

Another important issue is how to address humanitarian assistance in Lebanon 
after the attacks, Hassan said. 

"We will discuss how to send humanitarian assistance, including medicine, 
food and shelter to survivors. We will also find ways to get access to the area 
and reduce the isolation of both Palestine and Lebanon so that we can help 
them," Hassan said. 

-------------------------------------

The Guardian (UK)
Tuesday, August 1, 2006

Comment 

The king of fairyland will never grasp the realities of the Middle East 

A US leader in his second term should have the power to 
rein in Israel. But George Bush is no ordinary president 

by George Monbiot

Of all the curious things that have been written about Israel's assault on 
Lebanon, surely the oddest is contained in Paddy Ashdown's article on these 
pages last Saturday. "There is only one solution to this crisis, and it is the 
same solution we have to find in Iraq: to go for a wider Middle East settlement 
and to do it urgently. 
The US cannot do this. But Europe can."

The US cannot do this? What on earth does he mean? At first sight his 
contention seems plain wrong. While Israel intends to sustain its occupation of 
Palestinian territory, a wider settlement is impossible. It surely follows that the 
country that has the greatest potential leverage over Israel is the country 
with the greatest power to broker peace. Israel's foreign policy and military 
strategy is dependent on the approval of the United States.

Though Israel ranks 23rd on the global development index - above Greece, 
Singapore, Portugal and Brunei - it remains the world's largest recipient of US 
aid. 
The US government dispensed $11bn of civil foreign assistance in 2004. Of 
this, Israel received $555m; the three poorest nations on earth - Burkina Faso, 
Sierra Leone and Niger - were given a total of $69m. More importantly, last 
year Israel also received $2.2bn of military aid.

It does not depend economically on this assistance. Its gross domestic 
product amounts to $155bn, and its military budget to $9.5bn. It manufactures many 
of its own weapons and buys components from all over the world, including - as 
the Guardian revealed last week - the United Kingdom. Rather, it depends upon 
it diplomatically. Most of the money given by the US foreign military 
financing programme - in common with all US aid disbursements - is spent in the United 
States. Israel uses it to obtain F-15 and F-16 jets; Apache, Cobra and 
Blackhawk helicopters; AGM, AIM and Patriot missiles, M-16 rifles, M-204 grenade 
launchers and M-2 machine guns. As the Prestwick scandal revealed, laser-guided 
bombs, even now, are being sent to Israel from the United States.

Many of these weapons have been used to kill Palestinian civilians and are 
being used in Lebanon today. The US arms export control act states that "no 
defence article or defence service shall be sold or leased by the United States 
government" unless its provision "will strengthen the security of the United 
States and promote world peace". Weapons may be sold "to friendly countries 
solely for internal security, for legitimate self-defence [or for] maintaining or 
restoring international peace and security".

By giving these weapons to Israel, the US government is, in effect, stating 
that all its military actions are being pursued in the cause of legitimate 
self-defence, American interests and world peace. The US also becomes morally 
complicit in Israel's murder of civilians. The diplomatic cover this provides is 
indispensable.

Since 1972 the US has used its veto in the UN security council on 40 
occasions to prevent the passage of resolutions that sought either to defend the 
rights of the Palestinians or to condemn the excesses of Israel's government. This 
is a greater number of vetoes than all the other permanent members have 
deployed in the same period. The most recent instance, on July 13, was the squashing 
of a motion condemning both the Israeli assault on Gaza and the firing of 
rockets and abduction of an Israeli soldier by Palestinian groups. Over the past 
few days, the United States, supported by Britain, has blocked all 
international attempts to introduce an immediate ceasefire, giving Israel the clear 
impression that it has a mandate to continue its assault on Lebanon.

It is plain to anyone - and this must include Paddy Ashdown - that Israel 
could not behave as it does without the diplomatic protection of the United 
States. If the US government announced that it would cease to offer military and 
diplomatic support if Israel refused to hand back the occupied territories, 
Israel would have to negotiate. The US government has power over that country. But 
can it be used?

A paper published in March by the US academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen 
Walt documents the extraordinary influence the "Israel lobby" exercises in 
Washington. They argue that the combined forces of evangelical Christian groups 
and Jewish American organisations such as the American Israel Public Affairs 
Committee ensure that "Israel is virtually immune from criticism" in Congress and 
"also has significant leverage over the executive branch". Politicians who 
support the Israeli government are showered with funds, the paper contends, 
while those who contest it are cowed by letter-writing campaigns and vilification 
in the media. If all else fails, the"great silencer" is deployed: the charge 
of anti-semitism. Those who oppose the policies of the Israeli government are 
accused of hating Jews.

All this makes an even-handed policy difficult, but not impossible. Standing 
up to bullies is surely the key test of leadership. A US president in his 
second term is in a powerful position to demand that Israel pulls back and 
negotiates.

But if Ashdown meant that it is impossible psychologically and intellectually 
for the US government to act, he might have a point. At his press conference 
with Tony Blair last Friday, George Bush laid out his usual fairy tale about 
the conflict in the Middle East. "There's a lot of suffering in Lebanon," he 
explained, "because Hizbullah attacked Israel. There's a lot of suffering in the 
Palestinian territory because militant Hamas is trying to stop the advance of 
democracy. There is suffering in Iraq because terrorists are trying to spread 
sectarian violence and stop the spread of democracy." The current conflict in 
Lebanon "started, out of the blue, with two Israeli soldiers kidnapped and 
rockets being fired across the border".

I agree that Hizbullah fired the first shots. But out of the blue? Israel's 
earlier occupation of southern Lebanon; its continued occupation of the Golan 
Heights; its occupation and partial settlement of the West Bank and gradual 
clearance of Jerusalem; its shelling of civilians, power plants, bridges and 
pipelines in Gaza; its beating and shooting of children; its imprisonment or 
assassination of Palestinian political leaders; its bulldozing of homes; its 
humiliating and often lethal checkpoints: all these are, in Bush's mind, either 
fictional or carry no political consequences. The same goes for the US invasion 
and occupation of Iraq and the constant threats Bush issues to Syria and Iran. 
There is only one set of agents at work - the terrorists - and their motivation 
arises autochthonously from the evil in their hearts.

Israel is not solely to blame for this crisis. The firing of rockets into its 
cities is an intolerable act of terrorism. But to understand why the people 
assaulting that country will not put down their arms, the king of fairyland 
would be forced to come to terms with the consequences of Israel's occupation of 
other people's lands and of its murder of civilians; of his own invasion of 
Iraq and of his failure, across the past six years, to treat the Palestinians 
fairly. And this he seems incapable of doing. Instead, his answers last Friday 
suggested, Bush is constructing a millenarian narrative of escalating conflict 
leading to the final triumph of freedom and democracy.

So I fear that Paddy Ashdown may be right. The United States cannot pursue a 
wider settlement in the Middle East, for it is led by a man who lives in a 
world of his own. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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