Gunmen Kill American Teacher in Libyan City of Benghazi

Unknown gunmen shot and killed an American teacher on Thursday while he was jogging in Libya’s eastern city of Benghazi. Ronnie Smith, a 33-year-old reportedly from Texas, was a chemistry teacher at the city’s English-language international school. No one has declared responsibility for the attack, however Benghazi has seen an increase in violence from militia groups in the city since the 2011 overthrow of Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi. Smith was one of few foreign citizens living in Benghazi since many international governments issued travel warnings after the September 2012 attack on the U.S. Consulate that killed Ambassador Christopher Stevens and three other Americans. Smith was highly regarded at the international school, however he was actively critical on social media of Ansar al-Sharia and other Islamist militias. This week, Libyan Prime Minister Ali Zeidan demanded that all Benghazi militias disarm by the middle of December, though it is unclear if the government’s security forces have the capacity to enforce the order.

Syria

Syrian opposition activists have accused government forces of using poison gas in an attack on Thursday. According to activists, two shells filled with gas hit rebel territory in the town of Nabak in the mountainous Qalamoun region. They reported seven people killed and said victims were discovered foaming at the mouth and with swollen limbs. The Syrian Revolution Coordinators Union also claimed regime forces used poison gas in the attack, reporting nine casualties. In part of efforts to eliminate Syria’s chemical weapons arsenal, the United States plans to conduct a test this month of the hydrolysis equipment, currently being installed on the U.S. Navy Ship Cape Ray, that will be used to neutralize the toxic chemicals. According to a U.S. defense official, "This is a proven technology." However, it is the first time the system will be used to destroy chemical materials at sea. Meanwhile, European security officials have expressed concern over the increasing flow of Europeans into Syria to fight alongside rebel groups with ties to al Qaeda. Belgian Interior Minister Joelle Milquet said between 1,500 and 2,000 Europeans have traveled to fight in Syria. The estimate is more than double of that provided by U.S. intelligence officials in November. 

Headlines

• Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula said it was behind an attack Thursday on Yemen’s Defense Ministry, which killed 52 people, saying the compound housed a control room for U.S. drones.
• U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry met with Israeli and Palestinian leaders Thursday, presenting U.S. ideas for West Bank security arrangements to be instituted alongside a peace agreement.
• A Swiss scientist has challenged findings from a French investigation into the death of Yasir Arafat that concluded the Palestinian leader had not been poisoned.
• Egypt’s Salafist al-Nour party has said it will back the country’s new draft constitution although activists are challenging the document saying it robs them of their freedoms.
• Iran is stepping up a campaign to win western oil investors as hopes grow over a possible lifting of sanctions.

Arguments and Analysis

‘Egypt’s Draft Constitution Rewards the Military and Judiciary‘ (Nathan Brown and Michele Dunne, Carnegie Endowment)

"Egyptian voters might well be asked to approve the new constitution without knowing much about when their new president and parliament will be elected or what sort of system will govern the parliament. They may not know whether the defense minister who ousted Morsi will run for president or whether a malleable civilian will be put forward for the job. They may not even know whether the Brotherhood’s Freedom and Justice Party will be dissolved and therefore banned from running for seats in parliament.

All these are salient points, because the vote in January will be more a popular referendum on the July 2013 coup than one on the draft constitution itself, which few are likely to read.

Meanwhile, the new constitution and military-backed transitional government face increasing dissent from secular groups that supported the coup or were on the fence. Notable among them are the April 6 Youth Movement and the Strong Egypt Party, who have announced that they plan to mobilize for a no-vote on the referendum due to the constitution’s provisions on the military. Brotherhood supporters also continue to oppose the document and the interim government, while protests escalate on university campuses.

The current government’s next challenge is how to procure a voter turnout for the January referendum that surpasses the 18 million that Morsi drew a year ago, and an approval rate that exceeds the two-thirds that Morsi got, in order to prove that most Egyptians are still with the military’s plan. State media and officials are gearing up for a campaign not only to get out the vote, but to get out a yes-vote. Whether authorities allow groups to campaign freely for a no-vote or boycott of the referendum will be another indication of how much political space remains open in post-coup Egypt."

‘Prawer Plan: How the natives became invaders in their own homes‘ (Noam Sheizaf, +972 Magazine) 

"Today, the government makes a big deal out of the fact that some of the unrecognized Bedouin villages did not exist two decades ago — so-called proof of what is presented as a Bedouin attempt to take over the Negev, or what General Almog ca
lls ‘a contagious territory from Hebron to Gaza.’ However, one must wonder what other options a population kept outside the law is left with.

The desire to finally settle the issue could have been a blessing, were it part of an honest attempt to honor the rights of a native population. But the government’s plan seems to be more about the classic ‘maximum land, minimum Arabs’ formula than about the Bedouin population itself — especially since at least in some cases, Jewish settlements are planned to be built on the sites of evacuated Bedouin homes.

Since last week’s protests, Israeli officials and columnists have been complaining that the Arab leadership and left-wing activists are trying to turn Prawer into ‘a Palestinian issue’ and internationalize what is essentially an internal Israeli dispute. The Bedouin are indeed Israeli citizens, but as history has taught us, the only way to defend the rights of an ethnic-native minority is through the mobilization of the international community (and even then, chances of success are slim). Even democracies tend to recognize the rights of natives only after dispossessing them of most of their assets and territories. Only then are books written about their tragic histories and museums built in their honor. The Bedouin are still here. They don’t need a museum, they need their rights."

–Mary Casey & Joshua Haber