Sarkozy Visit to Damascus Signals Thaw in Relationsian Black, Middle East Editor s9

15 July 2010

GUARDIAN  Syria is yet to play its cards………...………………………..1

AFP & MIDDLE EAST ONLINE  Assad: 10 years in power marked by US pressure….……….3

JEWISH CHRONICLE  His next career? ……………………………………………..5

YEDIOTH AHRONOTH  Lisbon to summon Israel envoy for criticizing Mottaki visit..8  Syrian bride celebrates honeymoon in Tel Aviv…………...10

MAAN NEWS AGENCY  Hebrew press sees thaw in Syria-Israel relations…………..13

NATIONAL  Niqab ban in Syrian schools ‘is aimed at Islamists’……..…15

NYTIMES  Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise………...………18

WORLD TRIBUNE  Diplomat: Egyptian president 'is a walking corpse'……..…20 HOME PAGE Syria is yet to play its cards President Bashar al-Assad may not be the moderniser the west had hoped for, but his regime shows signs of progress Ian Black, The Guardian, 14 July 2o1o,

Bashar al-Assad, Syria's president, can allow himself a moment of quiet self-congratulation this weekend when he marks 10 years in power. His father, Hafez, was a hard act to follow in a famously tough neighbourhood but Assad the son has gone a fair way in modernising the country after years of isolation.

Syria teems nowadays with western tourists who can enjoy boutique hotels in Damascus, puff shisha pipes in smart cafes and visit breathtaking sights from Palmyra to Krak de Chevaliers. The 2 oldest capital on the planet now has a stock exchange – a far cry from the austerity of the Ba'athist era and stirring slogans about the "beating heart of Arabism".

Assad, a stripling at 44, is more media-savvy than most Arab leaders, though Syria's ministry of information is a hangover from a more strictly controlled era. His resolutely secular wife, Asma, fits photogenically into the picture of a modern republican dynasty and works to promote civil society organisations.

And the president must certainly be satisfied that Syria matters – as shown by the VIPs from the US and Europe paying court almost daily at his discreetly guarded palace on Jebel Qassioun.

Less enigmatic than his father – the "sphinx of Damascus" – Assad is also a key figure in the Middle East. He is a proud nationalist, supporter of the Palestinians and desperately wants – but has so far failed – to achieve a rapprochement with the United States. Peace with Israel and the return of the occupied Golan Heights remain elusive. But a close relationship with Iran and support for the Islamists of Hamas – like Lebanon's Hezbollah

2 considered a terrorist organisation on both sides of the Atlantic but a resistance movement in Damascus – mark him out from the pro- western, conservative Arab mainstream. For some Syria-watchers, these are valuable cards to be surrendered at the right moment. Yet how and when that moment might come is tantalisingly hard to foresee.

Assad deftly managed Syria's humiliating ejection from Lebanon after the assassination of former prime minister Rafiq al-Hariri in 2005. The effect of Beirut's Cedar Revolution – an alarming reminder of alternative paths to regime change after the invasion of Iraq – was in the end fairly limited. The UN tribunal investigating the killing grinds on but looks unlikely to indict senior Syrians. Damascus probably has as much influence in Lebanon as it ever did, not least through its close relationship with Hezbollah. Even Walid Jumblatt, the Druze leader whose father was murdered by Syrian agents, pays tribute to Assad these days. No wonder the mood on Jebel Qassioun is so upbeat. 3 Ten years ago hopes were high that Assad – with the benefits of a British education and a nerdy interest in computers – would prove confident enough to relax his father's grip. In the brief "Damascus spring" that followed his accession, some political prisoners were freed and debate permitted. But the instinct to repress was stronger than pressure to liberalise. It was all over by 9/11 and the overthrow of Saddam.

Still, Syrians like to point to progress: al-Watan has the distinction of being the country's only privately owned newspaper. It prides itself on being more critical than the turgid state media. The revealing snag is that it is owned by Assad's brother-in-law, one of the most powerful businessmen in the country.

Repression has returned with the usual suspects such as lawyers and human rights activists gaoled under emergency laws at the price of pro forma protests from the US and EU – still waiting for Syria to play those cards. The lesson, argues an intellectual who is (privately) critical of his president, is simple: "Five years ago things looked bad for this regime – with Lebanon, Iraq, Bush and

3 the neocons. Now look! Are these guys very smart or is it just that the rest of the world really needs them?"

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Assad: 10 years in power marked by US pressure Analysts stress Syria is not out of the eye of the storm despite rapprochement with West. By Roueida Mabardi AFP & Middle East Online, 14 July 2010,

After years of enduring intense international pressure, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad has engaged in a process of rapprochement with the West whose results remain unclear.

Assad, who celebrates 10 years in power on Saturday, re-opened a 4 dialogue with Western nations by making concessions on Lebanon, the smaller western neighbour over which Damascus held sway for three decades, analysts said.

That enabled Assad to return to the international scene, as he demonstrated by attending a 2008 reception in Paris by French President Nicolas Sarkozy.

And relations with the United States began to improve under the presidency of Barack Obama.

The rapprochement continues, but "mistrust remains" because of the close ties that Syria forged with Iran, the Lebanese Hezbollah and the Palestinian Hamas movement, said Paul Salem, director of the Carnegie Middle East Centre in Beirut.

Thus, the Democrat Obama renewed the sanctions that have been in force against Syria since 2004, accusing Damascus of supporting "terrorist" organisations.

4 And the new US ambassador to Syria, Robert Ford, still has not arrived at his post because Republican opposition to Obama has blocked his confirmation.

Lebanon remains the keystone of the thaw in relations between Syria and the West.

It "gives a regional depth" to Syria, which continues to maintain "an important influence" there through its allies, Hezbollah, the Christian leader Michel Aoun and the Baath party in Lebanon, Salem said.

In parallel, since December, Assad has twice hosted visits by Lebanese Prime Minister Saad Hariri, who had accused Damascus of being behind the 2005 assassination of his father, Rafiq Hariri.

Assad also has maintained his country's traditionally close ties with Iran, ignoring calls by the West to move away from Tehran 5 and closer to Turkey.

Assad follows a "median policy," and is not entirely in the "trenches" of the vehemently anti-Western and anti-Israeli Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Salem said.

Thus, in May 2008 Assad began Turkish-mediated indirect talks with Israel over the Golan Heights, which Israel unilaterally annexed from Syria in 1981, and backs direct negotiations in the long run.

But there is still much to be done to consolidate Syria's opening to the West, and Damascus still "is not out of the eye of the storm," said analyst Riad Kahwaji.

The possibility of a US or Israeli air strike against Iran, which denies accusations it is building a nuclear bomb, raise "question marks" about Syria's position said Kahwaji, who is based in Dubai.

5 "Would it (Syria) side with its Iranian ally? Could its leaders avoid a war?" questioned Kahwaji, director of the Institute for Near East and Gulf Military Analysis (INEGMA).

Information from American and Israeli sources about the installation by Iran of a radar in Syria to detect a possible attack means that Syria would be "the first target," Kahwaji said.

Moreover, Syrian leaders have not hidden their disappointment over the bleak chances for Middle East peace under US leadership, demonstrated by the stagnant negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians.

"When one does not obtain results, one is weak," Assad said in Argentina earlier this month, during a Latin American tour.

"Our experience with the United States is that they are unable to manage a peace process from the beginning to the end," he said. 6 At home in Syria, "the political hopes for reforms and democratisation that were raised" by the accession of the young president, who was born in 1965, faded with the imprisonment of several opposition figures, Salem noted.

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His next career? by Staff and Wire Reports Jewish Chronicle, 07.14.10,

WASHINGTON — Sen. Arlen Specter in a Damascus meeting with Syrian President Bashar Assad discussed taking on a role as a peace mediator between Syria and Israel.

JTA confirmed last weekend’s meeting, which was reported this week in the Israeli and Turkish media, with sources who helped organize the event.

6 Specter (D-Pa.), who is Jewish and has longstanding ties with Syria, first flew to Israel to see if Israeli officials wanted to convey any messages to Assad.

According to Ynet, Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Daniel Ayalon told Specter that Israel was ready to resume talks without preconditions, that it did not plan to launch attacks on its northern border and that a Syria-brokered release of Gilad Shalit, the Israeli soldier held captive in the Gaza Strip, would be a goodwill gesture. Hamas, the terrorist group that controls Gaza, is close to the Assad regime.

Specter then flew to Damascus, where he met with Assad. There was no official word about the meeting. The Syrian Embassy here and Specter’s office did not return requests for comment. Specter returned to the United States Monday evening.

7 Syria wants to resume talks where they left off in 2008, when Turkey mediated negotiations between Assad’s government and the Israeli government led by then-Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, who reportedly was ready to cede the Golan Heights at the end of the peace process. Benjamin Netanyahu, Olmert’s successor, has said that is too high a price to pay to restart talks.

Both Syria and Israel have concerns about the prospect of another Israeli war with Lebanon, which borders both nations. Hezbollah, an Iran-backed terrorist group, has built its arms capacity since its last war with Israel in 2006 and reportedly is seeking an excuse to oust the country’s Western-leaning government.

It’s not clear who initiated the Assad-Specter meeting. The 80- year-old senator, who was defeated in a Democratic primary after switching from the Republican Party, is said to be looking for a more majestic career ender. His pro-Israel credentials are impeccable, but he has always counseled openness to Syria.

According to Turkish and Israeli media reports, Assad increasingly is eager to distance himself from Iran, his traditional

7 ally, as the Islamic Republic faces increasing isolation because of its suspected nuclear weapons program. Additionally, the reports say, Assad would prefer a Western nation broker talks with Israel now that Turkish-Israel ties are tense in the wake of Israel’s deadly May 31 raid on a Turkish-flagged aid ship aiming to breach a maritime embargo on Gaza.

Joshua Landis, director of the Center for Middle East Studies at the University of Oklahoma and author of the Syria Comment newsletter, said Specter is a natural choice for mediator because he has visited Damascus nearly 20 times during his time in office and he is Jewish. Landis said Syria wants to use diplomatic means to help stabilize and improve its economy and get back the Golan.

“ Syria is finding out if there’s anything left in the Obama administration that could be useful to them,” Landis said.

Eyal Zisser, director of the Moshe Dayan Center for Middle 8 Eastern and African Studies at Tel Aviv University, said the status of Specter’s Israeli interlocutor — Ayalon, a deputy minister with no power — meant the Israelis did not take seriously the prospect of renewed talks.

“ He’s just a respected American senator who comes to Syria often,” Zisser said. “Unfortunately there is nothing new there.” Locally, Israel observers in Pittsburgh warmly greeted the possibility of Specter as a peace mediator.

“ That’s certainly exciting news,” said Deborah Fidel, executive director of the Pittsburgh Area Jewish Committee.

“Israel’s relationship with the Turks has deteriorated to the point where they can no longer serve as intermediaries between Israel and Syria,” Fidel said, “so we are lucky that someone with Sen. Specter’s history, both as a friend to Israel and with warm ties to Damascus, is stepping into the void.”

She noted that the news report comes shortly after Syria’s Assad told a Lebanese newspaper that he is interested “in a

8 comprehensive peace, i.e., normal relations,” and not just a permanent cease-fire, the Israeli daily Haaretz reported.

“ The Israeli government owes it to its people to explore that,” Fidel said.

That Specter may become a mediator doesn’t come as a surprise to Stuart Pavilack, executive director of the Zionist Organization of America-Pittsburgh District.

“I met with him in Washington last September and he told of his desires to be a mediator in Israeli and Syrian matters,” Pavilack said in a written response to The Chronicle. “We welcome anything he could do to bring about real peace for the region. However, in my opinion, there is little that can be done at this time.”

Noting a Feb. 25 Washington Post story, which reported, “the 9 presidents of Iran and Syria on Thursday ridiculed U.S. policy in the region and pledged to create a Middle East ‘without Zionists,’” Pavilack added, “I don’t think Syria has any intent on trying to create anything we would see as positive.”

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Lisbon to summon Israel envoy for criticizing Mottaki visit Ahead of meeting between Iranian FM and his Portuguese counterpart, Ehud Gol says it is disappointing some European countries acting contrary to decisions of European institution they are part of' Roni Sofer and agencies Yedioth Ahronoth, 15 July 2010

A day after Portugal welcomed Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki, Lisbon said Wednesday it will summon Israel's ambassador over a strongly-worded statement criticizing the move.

9 "The ambassador of Israel will be summoned," a Portuguese foreign ministry spokesman told reporters on Wednesday.

In his statement on Tuesday, Israel's ambassador to Portugal, Ehud Gol, called Iran a "pariah regime" and urged the country against dialogue with Tehran.

"It is extraordinarily surprising and disappointing that some European countries are acting contrary to the decisions of the European institution of which they are a part," said the statement sent to the Portuguese news agency, LUSA.

"By opening their doors to senior representatives of this pariah regime, these countries are sending a dangerously ambiguous message to Tehran," Gol added.

The remarks came ahead of a meeting between Mottaki and his Portuguese counterpart Luis Amado on Tuesday. 10 Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon backed Gol, saying the ambassador's comments were "appropriate and justified in accordance with Israeli police and international calls to isolate the regime of the ayatollahs in Tehran until it stops seeking nuclear capabilities and stops supporting terror."

While in Lisbon, the top Iranian diplomat is also slated to hold talks with Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, whose country - along with Brazil - has been urging a diplomatic end to the standoff over Iran's nuclear program.

Following his meeting with Amado on Wednesday, Davutoglu said his country will remain engaged in diplomatic efforts to resolve the international dispute over Iran's nuclear program. The United States and its allies warn Tehran's program is geared toward making nuclear weapons. Iran insists its activities are for peaceful purposes such as power generation.

"We do not want to have any nuclear weaponry system in our region," Davutoglu said.

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Syrian bride celebrates honeymoon in Tel Aviv Dutch Jew Matthew Lusia and his bride Zalga Kass Hanna, who immigrated to Holland from Syria, forced to cut ties with their families in order to be together. Now they enjoy time in Holy Land, plan to visit Sderot Boaz Fyler Yedioth Ahronoth, 14 July 2010,

Despite having spent their honeymoon in Israel since last week, no one has noticed Zalga Kass Hanna and her new husband Matthew Lusia roaming the streets of Tel Aviv. Indeed, there doesn't seem to be any apparent reason distinguishing them from the crowd. "Everyone here really looks like us. They think we're Israeli, which is funny and very nice," Zalga said. "The people here are all so nice to me, even when they realize that I'm Syrian," she told 11 Ynet and related her unusual life story.

For most of her childhood, Israel was for Zalga, 23, no more than a distant enemy state. She was born in the town of Kamishli in northern Syria, near the Iraqi-Turkish tri-border area. "Every morning we would have to sing and salute to Assad's picture. Israel wasn't even mentioned on the maps in our schools and was constantly referred to as 'the enemy'," Zalga noted,

"If one would have asked me about Israel, I wouldn't have been even able to tell you where it was located. I never heard of the Nazis or World War II when I was there (in Syria)."

Things changed for Zalga when her family left Syria and immigrated to Holland when she was 11-years-old. "When I got there, I told the Dutch girls they should be happy in their school, since during my studies in Syria I felt locked inside a prison. It was hard for them to understand what I was talking about."

After a brief adjustment period and well into her teenage years Zalga began to notice the differences between local Dutch girls

11 and immigrants from Islamic states. "I had many Turkish and Syrian girlfriends and I suddenly noticed all the efforts they were making in order to conceal their sexuality as a moral disguise. It all happened because they had no positive example from home and were not given the proper tools to openly and healthily channel it out. That is why they would 'run wild' in a destructive way behind their parents' backs, much more so than any Dutch friends I had, but they always wound up marrying whomever their parents liked and chose for them."

Zalga criticized her friends but got a painful reminder of life in Syria. "Those friends told my father what I had told them. He said I must stop thinking 'freely' and threatened to 'spill blood' if I didn't listen to him and break my legs so I wouldn't go to university.

"My father was the person who provided me with the final confirmation that the culture I came from was based on false 12 honor. It hurt me because it served as proof that honor, particularly opposite one's neighbors, was more important to them than their love for me. That is the point I lost respect for my parents. I think that whoever comes to a Western country should abide by its rules and not by the old rules, otherwise one can immigrate to another Arab state.

"That's why I always say: Don't cry when Muhammad is being insulted in caricatures and don't belittle your wives. Fortunately, that's when Matthew came and saved me. That is when I started realizing how little I knew of the world."

Secret relationship Zalga met Matthew at the age of 15 in high school. After realizing the rules of the game at home she decided to keep the relationship a secret, but not for long. "Everything was a secret since my parents would not under any circumstance allow me to have a boyfriend. After a year, various people who saw us together told them and I was ordered to break it off with him immediately."

12 In order to avoid a conflict Zalga said she would end the relationship but continued to meet Matthew in secret. "After a year I told them how much I loved him and what a good friend he was to me."

Naturally, the confession didn't go over well with her parents and Zalga realized she would at some point have to choose between her family and the relationship with Matthew and her new lifestyle.

"They tried to separate us and banned me from seeing him, claiming I was too young to understand. The fact that he was from a different culture was a major problem. At the age of 18 I rented out a room alone and became independent. They still, however refused to accept him. At the end, that was what caused me to cut ties with my family," she said.

Zalga nevertheless tried to prove her parents wrong and for a year 13 after moving out of their home had a hard time coming to terms with losing contact with her family. "Only after that did I realize that my parents never really wanted me to be happy with my chosen man, because family honor was at the top of their priorities. Still, I kept trying to prove them wrong and get them to accept me. I was a top law student and they didn't budge. It was clear to me that the real reason for their objection, though they never admitted it, was Matthew's Jewish and Western culture."

Zalga didn't receive a warm welcome in Matthew's parents' house either. "Matthew's parents were very nice to me in the beginning, but after they realized that my family didn't accept him, they began to oppose the relationship themselves and think that it was a bad idea due to the nature of the society I came from.

"Eventually Matthew was faced with the same dilemma I had faced. He, too, cut contacts with his family and although it isn't easy for us both we want to start a new, better family together. In the meantime, we're raising a dog and a goldfish," she said with a smile.

13 'I fit in here' Earlier in the month, the two tied to knot and became husband and wife. Immediately after their wedding, they came to Israel, their second visit in the country within a year. "What's particularly great for me here is that I look like Israelis and fit right in.

"It's a free country with human rights, equality for women - a Western culture within the Middle East. To me it's like a dream. I wish the women in Syria could walk down the street uninterrupted the way they do here, but sadly I'm afraid this will never happen. This is all topped by the great food you have here, tons of falafels, hummus and pizzas."

The couple is scheduled to visit Haifa and Jerusalem during their visit in Israel, as well as a less obvious site – Sderot. "We plan on visiting Sderot to see how the people live there in the shadow of terror attacks and rockets," Zalga said. She nevertheless noted that there are areas she would not like to visit, which remind her of 14 painful childhood memories. "I do not want to visit Jaffa because it bothers me to see women wearing head scarves or men walking with their wife as if they were cattle."

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Hebrew press sees thaw in Syria-Israel relations Maan News Agency (it describes itself as "independent Palestinian news on the internet, but it’s Israeli) 14 July 2010,

Bethlehem - Ma'an - For the first time since Israel occupied and annexed the Golan Heights, a group of Dabka performers from the area's five Druze villages will be permitted to travel to Aleppo to compete, Israel's Hebrew-language daily newspaper Ma'ariv reported.

Viewing the traditional Levantine dance troupe as an example of a thaw in relations between Israel and Syria, the newspaper suggested Israeli officials were easing restrictions on residents of

14 the Golan Heights - taken from Syria in 1967 and illegally annexed in 1981 - to demonstrate a willingness for peace.

Dabka group founder Samir Dabous was "beside himself with excitement" when he received the invitation from the festival organizers, Ma'ariv reported, noting the troupe had earned an excellent reputation in local, national, and regional festivals. Dabous, the daily noted, is one of just over 500 of the 25,000 formerly Syrian residents of the Golan Heights who took Israeli citizenship when it was offered in 1982 following the unrecognized annexation of the area.

The troupe leader's father, the article went on to explain, was killed in an Israeli airstrike on the now destroyed village of Kursi, declared a national park in the late 1980s. The death put Dabous' family on the list of bereaved relatives of the Syrian army, with which his father fought.

15 “ When I received the invitation I applied to the Israeli Interior Ministry for permission to enter Syria via the Kuneitra border crossing,” Dabous said, describing a UN-operated terminal that runs through the ghost-town of the formerly Syrian provincial capital for the Golan.

The dance coach said he was hopeful, given the relatively recent decision by Israel to allow university students to travel back and forth through the crossing for courses in Damascus. “In addition to students, in recent years they have allowed sheikhs, elderly women and produce [to cross the border]. This year, young women have been permitted to cross for the first time," he told the Israeli newspaper.

According to the article, "Druze residents of the Golan have felt a thaw in the attitude of their 'father', Syrian President Bashar Assad," quoting Dabous as saying "I believe that Syria still views us as Syrians." Those born before 1967 retain their Syrian citizenship, and most have family living across the disengagement line in New Kunetra or other nearby villages where they fled during the 1967 fighting.

15 "Maybe they are trying to use us as a bridge to peace. If that’s true, we’d be thrilled. I haven’t been to Damascus since 1966. I’d love to go there," Dabous told the newspaper, hoping Israel would finally return the Golan Heights to Syria.

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Niqab ban in Syrian schools ‘is aimed at Islamists’ Phil Sands, Foreign Correspondent The National (daily newspaper publishes from Abu Dhabi) July 15. 2010

DAMASCUS // The recent ban on fully veiled women from teaching in Syria is the latest move that may signal the authorities are trying to reign in hardline Islamic sentiments. 16 Full-face veils, or niqabs, symbolise a conservatism that, many moderate Muslims and minority groups here say, is not in keeping with local tradition.

Most of Syria’s Muslim women wear open-faced headscarves – frequently white – a stark contrast from the all-enveloping black niqab. But the niqab has become increasingly common, particularly in the northern city of Aleppo, fuelling concerns that ultra-conservative interpretations of Islam are spreading.

The first clear sign of renewed government action against hardline sentiments came at the end of 2008, when tight new regulations were imposed on private Islamic schools. Those measures were introduced after a deadly bombing in Damascus was traced to a private Islamic institute in the city, one described by a former student as a haven of extremist doctrine.

Another scare for Syria’s moderates, minorities and secular groups came last year, in the form of a draft personal status law. It proposed reversing a number of women’s and children’s rights

16 and paved the way for bringing non-Muslims under Sunni Sharia rulings.

Civil society organisations and liberal religious groups, Christian and Islamic alike, were outraged and united against the draft, saying it would “Talibanise” the country. The proposed legislation was scrapped following intervention by the president, Bashar Assad.

The contents of that draft law, civil society activists say, surprised and alarmed the authorities, underlining that ultra-conservative Islam had grown in strength and wielded significant power within the Syrian establishment.

Moves were made to reinforce moderate religious sentiments. In January, Mahmoud Abul Huda al Husseini, was appointed to head the office for religious endowment in Aleppo. One of the wealthiest and most powerful Islamic organisations in the country, 17 it has long had a reputation as a bastion of ultra-conservative Islam.

Mr al Husseini, a genial moderniser with degrees in medicine, Islamic law and history, was given a reforming mandate and said his task was to “clean the environment that fosters radicalism”.

Since taking over the post, he has incurred the wrath of some in Syria’s religious hierarchy by stopping dozens of reactionary imams from preaching publicly, on the grounds they had failed to understand Islam’s inherent tolerance and needed to learn the Quran properly.

There have been other signals that the space given to hardline Islamic sentiment inside Syria is being newly restricted.

Last year, a leaked document revealed the Baath Party, widely assumed to be jealously secular, had approved the opening of a group expounding an ultra-conservative brand of Islam. Run by Sheikh Abdul Hadi al Bani, the organisation contended that

17 television was against Quranic teachings and that women should not be allowed to work outside their home.

According to the memo, the al Bani group was not to be considered a “negative influence” on society if it limited its work to religion and did not dabble in politics.

That decision was greeted with dismay by moderates, who said it was proof a blind eye was being turned towards dangerous grass- roots atavism.

This year, however, the party reversed its decision on al Bani, saying that, as a secular political organisation, it was opposed to such groups having licence to operate.

Then, without public announcement, came the ministry of education’s disputed ban on niqab-wearing teachers, a move the government justified as necessary to defend “secularism”. The 18 minister of education, Ali Saad, hinted that other public sector departments would follow suit.

Religion is a sensitive topic in Syria, in part because the regime is by background Allawite, a minority sect of Shia Islam, but by instinct secular. It governs over a Sunni Muslim majority population.

In the 1980s, radical Sunnis from the Muslim Brotherhood led a violent uprising against the ruling Arab nationalist Baath Party. The rebellion was crushed and, subsequently, the authorities have taken a hard stance against anything they perceive as domestic extremism.

Regular Sunday sessions at the Supreme State Security Court, convened under controversial emergency laws, continue to jail defendants in cases related to radicalism and illegal political movements.

And yet, Damascus has been a major supporter of groups such as Hamas and Hizbollah. The logic behind these alliances is simple:

18 while differing in ideology, they are joined by opposition to Israeli occupation and believe a united front aids their collective cause.

Similarly, when the United States invaded Iraq in 2003 and threatened Syria with regime change, Damascus had little incentive to stop guerillas wanting to wage jihad on US troops. Those same militants would, under different circumstances, be Syria’s sworn enemies.

As a result, Damascus has for years walked a tightrope of contradiction, siding with Islamic radicals on some foreign policy issues while trying to constrain those same forces domestically. Although there is no question of Syria ending its partnerships with Hamas and Hizbollah while still at war with Israeli, it appears the Syrian authorities may now feel that conservative Islam has been given too free a reign at home and should be hauled back in.

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Despite Settlement Freeze, Buildings Rise By ETHAN BRONNER New York Times, 14 July 2010,

JERUSALEM — One of the most contentious issues facing the Middle East peace talks is whether Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will extend the 10-month-old building freeze in West Bank Jewish settlements, as the Palestinians and Americans want.

The Israeli construction freeze, which did not extend to East Jerusalem, was politically difficult for Mr. Netanyahu, with his right-wing coalition partners. He has called the stoppage “exceptional” and “extraordinary.” But an examination of the freeze after more than seven months suggests that it amounts to something less significant, at least on the ground. In many West Bank settlements, building is proceeding apace. Dozens of construction sites with scores of Palestinian workers are active.

19 There are two reasons for this. First, as the Defense Ministry has charged, some cheating has occurred. In February, the ministry said that 29 settlements were in violation of the freeze and that it would increase demolition orders and other forms of enforcement.

Second, when the freeze was announced, it came with the assertion that some 3,000 units were grandfathered in and would proceed during the moratorium. David Ha’Ivri, spokesman for the Shomron Regional Council in the northern West Bank, said the leader of the council, Gershon Mesika, knew a freeze was coming and so approved more than 1,600 units in 2009, nearly 10 times the number that had been approved the previous year for his area.

Moreover, data from the Central Bureau of Statistics for 2006 through 2008 show that on average about 3,000 West Bank settlement units were built in each of those years. So the 10-month freeze offered no fundamental change of pace. In addition, the statistics show, in the last quarter of 2009, more than 750 housing 20 units were approved for West Bank settlements. That was double the number of each of the three previous quarters. So in the first half of 2010, when no more units were permitted, the pace of building remained largely unchanged.

Data for the second quarter of 2010 will not be released until the end of August. Assuming that there are no new housing starts during that time as well, building in Jewish settlements will have shown only a mild drop-off if construction begins again in September, as settlers hope. If, however, the freeze is extended, that would lead to the first genuine decline in settlement building in years.

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Diplomat: Egyptian president 'is a walking corpse' LONDON — Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak was said to no longer be capable of functioning in his position. World Tribune, 15 July 2010,

20 Diplomatic sources said Mubarak's condition has rapidly declined over the last month and his schedule was severely restricted. They said Mubarak was avoiding meetings with most non-Arab leaders to prevent leaks of his true condition. "He is a walking corpse," a senior Arab diplomat who recently attended a meeting with Mubarak said.

In July, the sources said, Mubarak underwent a lengthy examination at a French military hospital outside Paris. They said the examination took place amid alarm by presidential aides and close relatives over the decline of Mubarak in 2010.

"Everybody around him is trying to give the impression that he's a spring chicken," another diplomatic source said. "The truth is he is heavily drugged, particularly before he appears with visitors or in public."

21 On July 14, Mubarak, in a one-day delay of initial plans, was scheduled to meet visiting Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Egypt. This was set to be the fifth meeting between the two leaders over the last year.

The sources said the United States has been concerned over Mubarak's decline and the prospect of political chaos in Egypt. They said the administration of President Barack Obama has urged Mubarak to advance elections, scheduled for late 2011, to prevent a power vacuum.

Mubarak, however, has refused U.S. overtures. The sources said the president has failed to build a coalition within the military for his son, Gamal, to serve as successor.

The sources said the State Department was supporting the unofficial candidacy of former International Atomic Energy Agency director-general Mohammed El Baradei as the next president of Egypt. They said El Baradei has sought an alliance with the banned Muslim Brotherhood.

21 "The situation is very dangerous," the diplomat said.

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 Haaretz: 'Israel's nuclear program implicated in U.S. investigation'..

 Hurriyet: 'Turkey becomes global power in construction'..

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