Mideast news brief: Second bomb attack in Iraq in two days kills up 12 more people

Second bomb attack in Iraq in two days kills up 12 more people

Suicide bombers used an ambulance to kill up to 12 more in a police compound in central Iraq, only a day after a suicide bomber killed some 60 people a police recruitment center in Tikrit — Saddam Hussein’s hometown. Both Baquba, the city hit with today’s attack, and Tikrit are with Iraq’s Sunni Triangle, a stronghold of the country’s insurgency.

“Violence overall has ebbed in Iraq, but there remains a steady trickle of deadly attacks, most often focused on security forces, government officials, or, in recent months, Iraq’s Christian minority. The three-month gap since the last major attack, a siege on a Baghdad church that left nearly 60 people dead, demonstrates the progress made by Iraq security forces as American troops prepare to withdraw at the end of this year, said Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, deputy commanding general for operations of American forces in Iraq. Attacks in 2010 dropped by 20 percent from the previous year, despite political uncertainly and the drawdown of American troops to fewer than 50,000, from twice that figure in 2009, the general said. Still, for Iraqis each attack leaves new suffering and renewed anger that the government is unable to protect them, along with speculation that some members of the security forces are conspiring with the attackers.” (New York Times)

• Russia recognizes independent state of Palestine.
• Arabs push for a UN settlement resolution.
• Hezbollah simulates ‘coup’ of Beirut as Lebanese tensions grow.
• Anti-government protests gather steam in Jordan.
• Arab leaders pledge $2 billion to boost Arab economies.
• Kuwaiti leadership vows to ‘clean up’ its ministry.

Shiite Muslim pilgrims arrive on January 19, 2011 in the central Iraqi shrine city of Karbala, 120 kms south of the capital Baghdad, to take part in the upcoming Arbaeen religious festival which marks the 40th day after Ashura. Ashura commemorates the killing of the Prophet Mohammed’s grandson the Imam Hussein in the seventh century (680AD) by armies of the caliph Yazid in the battle of Karbala (MOHAMMED SAWAF/AFP/Getty Images).

Arguments & Analysis

Letter to the President to support UN Resolution on illegal Israeli settlements (Sullivan, Beinart, Dobbins, Pickering, et al.)

A letter to the Obama administration from a host of policymakers, commentators, and former government officials, on a pending UN resolution highlighting illegal Israeli settlements, has just gone live. Signatories to the letter include Andrew Sullivan, Peter Beinart, James Dobbins, Thomas Pickering, Frank Carlucci, Robert Pastor, Carla Hills, Robert Jervis, and many more. For a full list of signatories and the text of the letter, see here. Some key excerpts:

“The time has come for a clear signal from the United States to the parties and to the broader international community that the United States can and will approach the conflict with the objectivity, consistency and respect for international law required if it is to play a constructive role in the conflict’s resolution. While a UNSC resolution will not resolve the issue of settlements or prevent further Israeli construction activity in the Occupied Territory, it is an appropriate venue for addressing these issues and for putting all sides on notice that the continued flouting of international legality will not be treated with impunity. Nor would such a resolution be incompatible with or challenge the need for future negotiations to resolve all outstanding issues, and it would in no way deviate from our strong commitment to Israel’s security.” 

“As you made clear, Mr. President, in your landmark Cairo speech of June 2009, “The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.” There are today over half a million Israelis living beyond the 1967 line — greatly complicating the realization of a two-state solution. That number has grown dramatically in the years since the peace process was launched: in 1993 there were 111,000 settlers in the West Bank alone; in 2010 that number surpassed 300,000.”

“That official US legal opinion describes the settlements as being “inconsistent with international law”. US policy across nine administrations has been to oppose the settlements, with the focus for the last two decades being on the incompatibility of settlement construction with efforts to advance peace. The Quartet Roadmap, for instance, issued during the Bush presidency in 2003, called on Israel to “freeze all settlement activity, including natural growth. At this critical juncture, how the US chooses to cast its vote on a settlements resolution will have a defining effect on our standing as a broker in Middle East peace. But the impact of this vote will be felt well beyond the arena of Israeli-Palestinian deal-making — our seriousness as a guarantor of international law and international legitimacy is at stake.”

‘Lebanon shows shift of influence in the Middle East’ (Anthony Shadid, New York Times)

The ongoing instability in Lebanon, resulting from the decision by Hezbollah government ministers to resign from parliament last week, is the latest sign of a trend of changing influence in the Middle East. In many cases, traditional powers, including the U.S. and its closest regional allies, have seen their influence wane at the expense of growing regional actors like Turkey and Iran. Bottom line: “The confrontation here is the latest sign of a shifting map of the Middle East, where longtime stalwarts like Saudi Arabia and Egypt have further receded in influence, and emerging powers like Turkey, Iran and even the tiny Persian Gulf state of Qatar have decisively emerged in just a matter of a few years. It is yet another episode in which the United States has watched — seemingly helplessly — as events in places like Tunisia, Lebanon and even Iraq unfold unexpectedly and beyond its ability to control. The jockeying might be a glimpse of a post-American Middle East, where the United States’ allies and foes, brought together in the interests of stability, plot foreign policies that intersect in initiatives the United States must grudgingly accept.”

‘Egypt’s Copt crisis is one of democracy’ (Omar Ashour,The Daily Star)

Recent violence directed at Egypt’s Coptic Christian minority reflects a worrying trend in the country–and in the broader Middle East. Yet despite much punditry to the contrary, the crisis is less about inter-necine conflict on its own right, and more about the structural conditions that autocracy and a lack of democratic norms have brought upon domestic social arrangements. “Egypt’s sectarian crisis is rooted in the absence of four factors: equal citizenship rights (regardless of religion); a constitutional right to freedom of belief and worship; a transparent, accountable government; and a comprehensive, transparent strategy for promoting social cohesion. Such a strategy should avoid reliance on intervention by security forces, forced disappearances, torture, and other repressive methods, which seem to be the pillars of the current socio-religious “cohesion” strategy. Copts and other Egyptians directed their anger after the recent Alexandria attack against the regime for reasons far beyond the fact that there were weak security arrangements around the Two Saints Church at a time of high tensions. Rather it was the unwillingness of the regime to uphold any of the aforementioned rights, even if such measures were rationalized as necessary to pre-empt terror. The unresolved crisis of Egypt remains one of democracy rather than of religion.”