The Arab League receives Syrian conditions while Clinton meets with opposition

The Arab League receives Syrian conditions while Clinton meets with opposition

The Syrian regime said that they “would like” to accept a deal that will allow Arab League observers to enter the country to monitor violence. However, the government called for several conditions severely limiting access for observers in addition to demanding that the Arab League remove economic sanctions imposed last week. The Arab League Secretary-General Nabil al-Arabi said he received the letter from Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem, and is consulting with league members. However, it is unlikely the group will be willing to accept such conditions. Meanwhile, the UK-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that 34 bodies were “dumped” in a public square in Homs after being abducted from anti-Assad neighborhoods by pro-regime militias, known as “shabiha,” in what they claim to be the worst atrocity since the beginning of the uprising. Meanwhile, in an act of support, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will meet with seven members of the Syrian opposition in Geneva and offer a speech on human rights.

Headlines  

• Pro-Saleh forces fired upon demonstrators protesting an immunity clause in Saleh’s power transfer deal. Meanwhile, the U.N. called for an end to attacks by all factions on civilians in Taiz.
• Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah, who has rarely been seen in public since the 2006 war with Israel, spoke in Beirut promising Hezbollah will retain arms.
• Islamists battle for votes in the second day of Egyptian run-off elections as fewer voters go to the polling stations.
• Multiple Iraqi bomb attacks in Shiite neighborhoods of Baghdad and about 50 miles south of the capital killed over 20 people and injured dozens on the Shiite holy day of Ashura.

Daily Snapshot

Iraqis prepare food for Muslim Shiite pilgrims as they gather for Ashura rituals in Baghdad on December 6, 2011. Ashura mourns the death of Imam Hussein, a grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, who was killed by armies of the caliph Yazid near Karbala in 680 AD (SABAH ARAR/AFP/Getty Images). 

Arguments & Analysis

‘Morocco’s “New” Political Face: Plus c?a change, plus c’est la meme chose’ (John P. Entelis, Project on Middle East Democracy)

“Do the constitutional amendments passed in July 2011 and the results of the parliamentary elections of November, 2011 constitute sufficient acts of genuine movement away from autocracy towards an authentic democracy or are they simply manipulative measures intended to maintain the status quo under a different political formula? What is clear, is that in the absence of a fundamental change in the nature of how political power is obtained, maintained, and employed in which corruption, privilege, and patronage still dominate the body politic as embodied in the makhzen, Morocco is certain to suffer a more violent Arab spring with uncertain consequences for the monarchy’s very survival.” 

‘The revolutionary Shias’ (Malise Ruthven, New York Review of Books)

“Some of those involved in the recent Arab uprisings claim that sectarian anxieties are being deliberately stoked by authoritarian regimes to maintain their grip on power. The Assad regime is widely accused of frightening Syria’s minorities-Christians, Kurds, Ismailis, Druzes-by raising the threat of a takeover by Sunni fundamentalists or takfiris-extreme Sunni groups who denounce others as “infidels.” The specter of sectarian violence can become self-fulfilling.”

‘Come home to Israel’ (Roger Cohen, New York Times)

“If Netanyahu could show a fraction of the nimbleness evident when American Jews are offended in instances where Turks are offended (by the killing of their citizens in international waters), or where President Barack Obama is offended (by ongoing settlement expansion in the West Bank against his express request), or where Egyptians are offended (by Israel’s dismissal of their democratic aspirations), then Israel would be in a better, less isolated place today.” 

Latest from the Channel

— ‘Rached Ghannouchi: the FP interview’ by Marc Lynch

— ‘Morocco’s Islamist Prime Minister’ by Avi Spiegel

— ‘Saleh wins again’ by Charles Schmitz