Comments on issues raised by BBC WHYS

The Palestinian factions did it again in the last days. The political factions were short of money because of the boycott of Hamas government by the West. But they weren’t short of ammunition. They had no money to spend on economic projects for the hard-hit Palestinian population. They seem to have just a surplus of ammunition, which they couldn’t use, in any manners but as a pastime to show strength. They were good at destruction when the Palestinian territories are in great need of more constructions.

The death toll in the past days will enter Palestinian history. The 40th anniversary of the Six Day War was celebrated with killings. If only there had been just forty deaths to make it symbolic. That exceeded 100. This must be considered as the Palestinian version of the Battle of Jenin . In this battle, Israel killed many Palestinians. In the latest round of fights between Hamas and Fatah, at least 100 Palestinians were killed. So Palestinian factions have now their big share in the deaths of the Palestinians, not Israel alone.

It’s ironic that these factions express outcry when one Palestinian is killed by the Israelis and Hamas expresses victory because it outdid Fatah in the number of Palestinians it killed and imprisoned. There may be a lull after heavy fighting. But there is no assurance that the hatchets are buried. It has become common that Fatah and Hamas are sworn enemies. The good news for Israel must be that Hamas is now busy trying to destroy Fatah. Destroying the state of Israel is not its priority. It can depend on Iran to do the job for it. May be this is a tactic by Hamas and Iran as in political gamble or game. A faction must destroy a faction. A state must destroy a state. It’s possible that Fatah can be weakened by Hamas because it is just an organisation. It’s virtually impossible for Iran to wipe out Israel off the face of the Earth for the reasons everybody knows.

Sex appeal has always been one of the key factors for popularity. Obama may not look sexy for many voters but he has a childlike and nice look. He may inspire peace in some contrary to the hawkish looks of the Republicans past and present, mainly George Bush, Rumsfeld and Condoleezza Rice.

The song and the singer are sexy by all standards. The more people view the video, now it has become popular, the more the popularity of Obama will grow. People will tune more and more to see the sexy singer, who in the most part appears in the video with the photos of Obama. This will stick in the mind of many as well as the provocative words of the song.

Maybe the video will be more appealing to the female voters. Let’s remember that Bill Clinton, thanks to his handsome look, was a popular favourite by the female voters. He was the dream of many. The video will have a crush when Obama is elected in the primary as the presidential candidate. Currently it may rival with the song proposed by Hilary Clinton on Youtube.

On a final note, politics and entertainment have never been so intertwined in the USA. Many celebrities are known for their political views who side with one candidate or another. There are shows used as a platform for candidates to transmit their views, the most famous are The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien. Now Youtube has become a new platform. It’s immediate and cheap, not necessitating the colossal sums to buy time on famous channels like NBC or CNN.

The risk is when voters become more influenced by the entertaining aspects of campaigns than by the substance of the political programmes. In this case, the best looking candidate who secures the best song will have more chance to get to the heart of people. He or she won’t have to task their minds with long speeches, which the voters are unlikely to listen to in their entirety or listen to again or download on an MP3 the way they do for an exciting song.

Hamas militants have hailed a series of military victories victories over rivals Fatah in the Gaza Strip as a new “liberation” of the territory.

Hamas being internationally isolated has no choice but to impose itself internally. First, it is working to weaken Fatah through armed battle. Hamas is relatively in a strong position compared to Fatah which appears to have lost political and security control of the situation. Hamas is unlikely to accept any international force (IF) as it feels let down by the international community that deprived it from the financial aids Fatah used to get generously. An IF will be advantageous just to Fatah, which appears unable to winningly confront Hamas in the raging battles.

Ironically, when Gaza and the West Bank were under direct Israeli occupation Hamas and Fatah never came to such armed conflicts. Now they are left alone, they have only themselves as first enemies. An international force will do little to stop them fighting. Hamas is likely to consider it as a new form of occupation. It will turn its guns at it. As Gaza is an unruly land accustomed to armed fighting, international force will have the highest casualties in a lawless land rife with suicide bombers. Hamas will have little to lose in an unchained situation.

It seems the Palestinians haven’t qualified yet for a state as it doesn’t have leaders qualified to run it through the usual institutions like parliament and cabinet. A Palestinian state will look just like Lebanon during its years of the civil wars. The Palestinians through Hamas and Fatah have more to disunite than unite them. With the death of Yasser Arafat who was somehow a unifying force, the dream of a Palestinian state is dying.

What doesn’t make sense is that the Palestinian factions talked of brotherhood when they were under the direct occupation of Israel in Gaza and the West Bank to show unity. Now Israel having left them alone, they are changing brotherhood with fratricide.

Each time, they turn the clock back when they must move on to consolidate their dream of an independent state. With their broken agreement and promises, things just go to square one. Maybe their struggle will be a forgotten one as their cause is no longer the focus of international attention as it used to be due to the new situation in the Middle East like that of Iraq and Iran. As things stand, the Palestinians are to blame. Nobody is currently killing them in massive numbers. It’s they who are killing each other under the smiling eyes of Israel, which is benefiting most from their deadly behaviour.

Perhaps, Israel should do the Palestinians a favour. It should reoccupy Gaza and the West Bank. This will be a chance for Hamas and Fatah to turn their struggle against Israel as in the “old good days”. At least there will be more Palestinian casualties from Israel rather than from Palestinian factions. Does it make sense? It may make some sense in a land where common sense is a rare commodity, a land becoming a laughing stock and a source of pity for anyone trying to understand why factions struggling to free their land from Israel can’t free themselves from ruthless rage against one another.

In some countries, there are no endangered species to protect because those worthy of protection are already extinct. Endangered species have to make way for the species consumed daily like cows. Forests are cleaned to make them grazing lands. The power of the market will make Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (CITES) powerless as governments consider the economic benefits for the population and not the welfare of endangered species like tigers and birds whose habitat can be the home and the workplace of thousands of people.

Saving endangered species needs funds, especially in areas that aren’t tourist attraction. Many of the areas are in poor countries. There is the dilemma, which to save first, poor people in danger of poverty and disease living near the endangered species or these species?
Saving endangered species is a matter of political will. There are economic and cultural pressure against enforcing their protection. Japan is a good example because of its whaling policies despite conservationists outcry.

Trade ban can be effective for species that are traded abroad as pets. There is the cultural issue that makes trade ban ineffective. It can’t work for species that are killed for local use as medicine like tigers in China despite the risk of heavy punishment. Whales caught by Japan are essentially consumed in Japan. Some species like gorillas are endangered because of wars as in DR Congo. Saving endangered species is, first of all, a local and national responsibility.

Militants from the Palestinian faction Hamas are pushing back rivals Fatah in the Gaza Strip after several days of heavy fighting in which 60 people died.

The Palestinians leaders are just mocking themselves by calling themselves brothers and Israel their common enemy. Israel has existed for about sixty years. There has been no record of Israeli politicians mounting killing against one another despite their deep divergence in running the country. Ironically, the Palestinians are catching up with Israel in the number of killed Palestinians. Since the start of the internal armed clashes between Fatah and Hamas, there have been tens of dead if not hundreds. This can turn into thousands if both lose all restraints.

The Palestinians through their self-inflicted wounds can’t be taken seriously, especially by Israel from which they want an independent state. They failed to honour their agreement in Saudi Arabia to never return to “fratricide”. So how can they be trusted by international diplomats that they can be reasonable people and resolve their problems through dialogue?

The Palestinian leadership on both sides seems to be losing control over its armed members. A state with an independent army is very dangerous. So to convince the world that they are worthy of independence, the Palestinian should show their competence in running the territories they are “governing” before they ask for more.

The Palestinian leaders are just rubbing more salts in the wounds of the ordinary Palestinians whose dream must be to leave the land they were brought up to fight for.

There is no power in the world to bring the Palestinian leadership to its senses. There were calls for it from different parts of the world like the Arab governments. All calls falls on deaf ears in an area used just to the sounds of bullets and artillery and all other sorts of gunfire.

Police in Jamaica have confirmed that they are no longer treating the death of the Pakistan cricket coach, Bob Woolmer, as murder.

Declaring that the death Bob Woolmer was of natural causes is an attempt to close the case once for all. Due to progress in medicine and forensic evidence, it’s possible to establish the nature of any death in a relatively short time, especially his body wasn’t in a state of decomposition. It’s possible to know if a person was subjected to torture, poison, asphyxia, strangling etc.

At first, his death was treated as a criminal case. Now surprisingly, it is revealed that he died of natural causes. This also needs further international police investigations into the methods used by Jamaican police in their “investigations” to establish the whole truth. Otherwise, his death will remain a mystery or simply a cover-up to avoid shocking revelations reaching high circles.

A Pentecostal teaching assistant who quit her job at a foundation primary school after she was disciplined for refusing to hear a child read a Harry Potter book is seeking compensation for religious discrimination. She claimed that the book glorified witchcraft. But was she right in refusing to hear the child read?

Schools should be a place where pupils or students learn to develop their personality by learning how to learn and to translate it in their lives. Among the other things, they should learn is how to express themselves and to develop or satisfy their curiosity. Teachers should be good guides. They shouldn’t come to class to stifle the learners’ desire for free expressions.

In a class, students understandably belong to different families with different social and political, religious or secular backgrounds. Teachers shouldn’t be dogmatic by seeking to impose their views on students. In society, there are forums where they can freely acquire views as long as they don’t clash with the norms. Teachers as it is the case of the teaching assistant, Sariya Allen, should keep her faith to herself, especially, her job isn’t to teach religion nor does she have the right to impose her religious views on her students. It is up to parents to choose what religious beliefs they want for them.

In some countries like France, religious signs like the cross or the hijab are banned. Students and staff keep their religions outside school. Ms Sariya Allen should know that she has a curriculum to implement as agreed upon by the school board and not in her own way as far as faith is concerned.

Stopping a child from reading from Harry Potter is in itself a campaign against a popular book, whose aim is to expand children’s imagination and to allow them to live in an imaginary world. Harry Potter isn’t the first children book to deal with witchcraft. There are good and bad witches. Following the logic of Sariya Allen, all such books should be withdrawn because of a particular view.

All in all, schools in free societies are no longer religious institutions. Teachers should move with the held principles of their societies. Schools have in majority to do with the mainstream views for the integration of all in society through training, concepts and opportunities. They aren’t meant to produce minorities whose views can lead them to open clashes or to marginalisation.

G8 has become a forum for the rich nations to lay the basis for what can keep them together economically and politically. This year it has the peculiarity of being slightly different from the previous summits. Sarkozy is attending the meeting for the first time as president of France. Tony Blair is attending for the last time as Prime Minister.

During each summit, at least in the past few years, there are the same scenarios. The largest gathering of the media from all over the world, the heavy security measures and the nice greetings of the head of delegates. As G8 seeks each year a theme or themes for discussion, anti-globalisation protesters find new ways to show their protests. The security forces in full readiness barring them access to the headquarters of the summit.

G8 is an occasion for the leaders to have face-to-face meetings. Many of their commitments to poor countries weren’t implemented like providing them with economic assistance. G8 2007 has one of its themes «the struggle against poverty across the globe will be a priority.”

“The struggle against poverty across the globe” is a laudable objective. But the effort must be taken from the donors and the recipients alike. G8 can’t alone solve the problems of poor counties. It is they who should set the basis for that. They should have good government at the local and the central level. They should deal with deep problems like corruption and embezzlements. It’s better for them to develop themselves to become good partners instead of remaining the object of talks among the rich nations whose leaders are sometimes unable to attend to them. They leave it to charity organisations or NGOs to take care of some countries that are presumably sovereign and independent.

Poor countries, especially in Africa, shouldn’t put all the blame on G8 for failing to provide them with the all the help they need. It’s them who should clean their house to make better use of the help they already receive. It’s shameful that as independent countries, they still need supervision from donor countries and organisations to know where their money go. Good governance and international cooperation is the key to eradicating poverty. G8 isn’t essentially an emergency fund for the poor.

Watch the video broadcast on BBC Haveyoursay

Listen to part of the conversation on BBC Haveyoursay broadcast on June 10th, 2007

The logo has shapes looking like “Z”. There are also the five circles. Using my “skills” in interpreting plastic art, I think the “Z” shapes and the circles stand for zero !. This means there will be zero tolerance during the next Olympic Games.

The proposed colours are slightly like those of traffic lights: green, orange and red. This means when the games are held everybody should know when to stop or go!

The symbol is repeated three times in different shapes from the biggest to the smallest. This means there are giant participants as well as dwarf ones.

The shapes if animated can present a good cartoon.

For these reasons, I stand perplexed. Being utterly ignorant in art, I can interpret the logo just from what it looks on the surface as I don’t have the skill to get into the mind of the artist(s) who made it.

The Six Day War was a war between words and deeds. Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser was an enthusiastic Arab leader who had only projects for his ideology without the effective means to implement them. He tried to bite more than he could chew. Either out of military ignorance, excessive zeal or dependence on good luck, he tried to confront Israel, which was a superpower in the region considering its air superiority.

While the war was a “Naksa” or setback for the Arab countries involved in that war, mainly Egypt, Jordan and Syria, it must be seen as an epic victory for Israel. In a short time, it fought three countries much bigger than it in population and surface. Israel got more than it hoped for as it acquired more land, creating international tension in the region. That made it in a stronger position. The dream of Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser just evaporated. His dream of Arab Unity was replaced by Arab frictions. “Wiping out” Israel changed into “Bigger Israel”. That gave just boost to Israel, which became seen as a victim of “Arab aggression”.

Forty years on, the landscape of the Middle East changed a lot. Egypt, which was Israel’s enemy number one and an ally of the Soviet Union became one of the first allies of the USA in the Middle East. It “befriended” Israel after the signing of the Camp David Peace Agreement. Israel returned Sinai to Egypt but Sharam Sheikh is a favourite tourist destination of the Israelis. Moderate Arab states, especially in the Gulf changed from Bedouin societies to opulent modern ones by showing moderation and distancing themselves from open confrontation with Israel.

But the Palestinians were left to pay for the consequences of the Six Day War. Since 1948, many had to leave their homeland. They are still torn between the internal Palestinian political frictions and Israel refusal to grant them an independent state.

Israel got many military victories in its wars but at the same time, it made a lot of enemies. It is obliged to keep on a constant state of alert as it is threatened from inside and outside. Its forces are the most active ones as they are constantly embroiled in confrontation. The Six Day War is apparently over but its consequences are lingering.

Israel signed peace agreements with Jordan and Egypt. It signed the Oslo Accord with the PLO (Fattah). Despite all this, the Six Day War is still lingering in a different form. It was possible for Israel to create an unpredictable situation in six days. But it failed along with its Arab opponents to establish permanent peace throughout the forty years that followed one of the most famous wars in modern history.

On a final note:

The Arab Israeli conflict was advantageous to many Arab dictatorial regimes as it was exploited by them to hush any opposition. One interesting remark is that after the second major war with Israel in October 1973, there were no coups in the Arab countries, especially in Syria, Egypt whose regime came to power through coups.

It might be possible that Arab regimes in the Middle East benefited from this conflict as it was in the interest of the superpowers and Israel to deal with regimes whose leaders they know well and who could keep their countries stable. It could have been worse if Arab countries remains plunged in coups leading to civil wars.

In a way, Israel was a blessing in disguise for many regimes. The Israeli card became for them a joker they could play in different way