Israeli navy plans to intercept aid vessels nearing Gaza

The two ships that set sail from Turkey on Wednesday having gotten about 50 miles from Gaza and are bracing for interception by the Israeli military. Warships came within six nautical miles of the ships, and have contacted the vessels ordering them to change course. According to Israeli Lieutenant-Colonel Avital Leibovich, the military is not certain how they will stop the ships stating, “we will have to assess and see if we are facing violent passengers.” One of the ships, the Irish Saoirse (Gaelic for Freedom) is carrying 15 activists while the other, the Canadian Tahrir (Arabic for Liberation), has six activists and five journalists on board. A spokesman from the Canadian Boat to Gaza campaign asserted the non-violent nature of the mission stating, “Everyone has signed a document in which they pledged not to put up any resistance should they be boarded by Israel.” If the ships are not intercepted, they are expected to reach the Gaza coast on Friday. The activists have stated they would like to get to Gaza to deliver $30,000 worth of medical supplies, however they claimed the voyage is more about displaying solidarity with Gazans, who have lived under an Israeli blockade for over four years.

Headlines  

• The Palestinian Authority said they will only focus on full membership at the U.N., a vote which could come on November 11, and will not apply to any other international organizations.
• Syrian forces continue the violent crackdown on protestors despite the Arab League plan with a second day of tank attacks killing dozens in Homs.
• Of the 34,000 troops that the U.S. will withdraw from Iraq, about 4,000 may be sent to Kuwait to reinforce regional security, according to U.S. officials.
• After weeks of harsh threats, the Obama administration has backed down on imposing sanctions on Iran’s central bank due to concerns over oil markets and the precarious world economy.

• Amid speculation of a proposed U.S. or Israeli strike against Iranian nuclear facilities as an IAEA report is due out, NATO said they have no “intention whatsoever” to intervene in Iran.

Daily Snapshot

Muslim pilgrims visit the al-Noor mountain where the Hiraa cave is located, on the eve of the start of the annual Hajj pilgrimage, near the Saudi holy city of Mecca on November 3, 2011 . Over 2 million Muslims from around the world are expected to perform the Hajj, which this year peaks in the first week of November (FAYEZ NURELDINE/AFP/Getty Images). 

Arguments & Analysis

‘Syria’s tipping point’ (International Crisis Group)

“Behind the thin veil of a so-called reform process that has been premised on the need to restore “law and order”, the regime has in the past three months almost entirely delegated the task of dealing with popular discontent to its security services. In turn, their indiscriminate violence and sectarian behaviour has begun to radicalise the street. The regime’s claim that it is exclusively eradicating armed groups while in reality treating non-violent demonstrators with equal ferocity is doing nothing to weaken the former while pushing the latter to the brink. The protesters’ overall restraint has been remarkable and so far has helped avoid descent into all-out civil war. But there are unmistakable signs of change. Among demonstrators, the prospect of armed resistance is gaining appeal. A pattern of attacks against regime forces has emerged in border areas. Homs has served as a magnet for a steady stream of army defectors whose success in resisting regime attempts to retake the city is inspiring others to emulate its more confrontational tactics. Although still expensive, rudimentary weapons are now widely available due to intensive smuggling. Meanwhile, uninhibited brutality of regime henchmen, chiefly members of the Allawite minority, is fuelling sectarian retribution. Long an imaginary part of the regime’s propaganda, such retaliation is becoming a reality, particularly in central Syria.”

‘A chill on Tahrir square’ (Tim Sebastian, New York Times)

“For now, though, Egypt offers no concensus about this revolution. Eight months old, it’s at best a riderless horse, dragged in turn by the neck and the tail, bruised, bloodied, misunderstood – and widely unloved. No one is sure who owns it or controls it. There are doubts about whether it is even a revolution at all. It has many bizarre faces and some Egyptians are getting scared. Last Friday night three cars full of wedding revelers stopped beside each other on a major highway, shutting all of the lanes leading out of Cairo. “They blocked hundreds of vehicles and made everyone wait while they danced,” said one resident. “The police were nearby but did nothing. There are no rules anymore — and no one to enforce them.” But there are, in fact, one or two new rules and a bunch of brand new enforcers. In the last eight months, some 12,000 civilians have been tried by the military with industrial efficiency, in a country that has often taken months, even years, to bring the simplest of cases to trial. The hearings have been labeled “unfair” by international human rights groups and there are persistent reports of torture in custody and forced virginity tests. The generals, who last month widened and extended their emergency powers to include offences such as broadcasting rumors, have let it be known that they don’t like criticism.”

‘The Quartet merely serves as a facade for peace mediation’ (Sam Bahour, The Daily Star)

“Much has been reported about the office of the Quartet representative and its style of leadership, but this is all a sideshow. The core of the matter is political, not personal. Regardless of who the special envoy is, the parties to the Quartet are political and have a political role to play. In an interview with Haaretz more than a year after he resigned from his 11-month ordeal as Quartet special envoy, James Wolfensohn said it best: “I feel that if anything, I was stupid for not reading the small print. I was never given the mandate to negotiate the peace.” Haaretz noted in reporting the interview that, “The mandate he received, he says — which is identical to the one Tony Blair has now been given — was solely to try to improve the economic situation in the territories and to improve the Palestinians’ situation in general, whereas he naively thought that this included intervention to advance peace.”