Bombings in Iraq Kill 52 People as Maliki Appeals for Support

Several bomb attacks hit the Iraqi capital of Baghdad and a village near the town of Baquba Wednesday killing at least 52 people. The deadliest incident was a bombing in the village of Buhriz at a funeral for a Sunni Muslim pro-government militiaman. The bombing killed 18 people and wounded 16 others. In Baghdad, about six car bombings struck two mainly Shiite districts and two mixed neighborhoods, killing an estimated 34 people and injuring 71. No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attacks. The violence came a day after attacks killed at least 24 people, and amid a continued standoff between the Iraqi army and militants in the Anbar city of Fallujah. Iraqi troops have continued to surround Fallujah, which was overtaken by militants led by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), over two weeks ago. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki made an appeal for international support on Wednesday, saying "If we keep silent it means the creation of evil statelets that would wreak havoc with security in the region and the world." 

Syria

Western intelligence services have reportedly met with Syrian officials to discuss security cooperation with President Bashar al-Assad’s government. Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faisal Mekdad said he would not specify which countries had representatives that met with the Syrian government, but mentioned that many had visited Damascus to discuss the battle against radical Islamist groups. According to unnamed Western and Middle Eastern officials, European intelligence agencies secretly met with Assad’s delegates in order to gather information on at least 1,200 European jihadists that have joined militant groups in Syria. It would be the first known encounter since the countries withdrew their ambassadors after the conflict began. Mekdad said there is a divide between Western security officials, and the politicians who are pushing for the resignation of Assad. Meanwhile, Western and Gulf states pledged $1.4 billion in fresh aid for U.N. efforts in Syria at a donor summit in Kuwait. The United States pledged $380 million, but warned that humanitarian efforts will fail if Assad denies access to the people who need assistance. The pledges have come after the United Nations launched its largest appeal in history for $6.5 billion. It has only received about 70 percent of the $1.5 pledged at a 2013 conference.

Headlines  

• Egyptians continue to vote on the second day of a constitutional referendum amid violence, protests, and celebrations.
• Congress may pass a spending bill as early as Friday that includes a clause that would allow the U.S. to restore $1.5 billion in aid to Egypt if it holds a constitutional referendum and elections.
• Israeli Defense Minister Moshe Yaalon has apologized for comments that Secretary of State John Kerry’s peace efforts are "messianic" and obsessive after the United States expressed outrage.
• Rival Lebanese political parties are coming close to an agreement as officials step up efforts for the formation of a new cabinet.
• The Special Tribunal for Lebanon will begin the trial on Thursday of four Hezbollah members, in absentia, for the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri.
• A mosque in the West Bank village of Deir Istiya was partially set on fire and vandalized in a suspected settler attack Wednesday.  

Arguments and Analysis

‘The War of Attrition for a Yes Vote‘ (Mohamed El Dahshan, Atlantic Council)

"The media, both state and private, continues in its post-July 3 tradition of unbridled support for the government position — a new low in the consistent decline of media professionalism of the past few years. Al-Ahram no longer asks how people will vote, but rather asks, ‘Why are you voting yes?’ Once-independent media is following a similar line. Al-Masry Al-Youm has not only pushed its own agenda through the newspaper, but has also been using its breaking news mobile messaging system to press readers to cast a ‘yes’ vote.

The entire process has been conducted with a meager attempt at fair public debate:  the government deliberately decided that no substantive debate should take place about the very document people are being asked to approve. The Egyptian government has followed its all too familiar ‘attrition war’ strategy, and there was little room for an intelligent discussion of the virtues and demerits of the constitution. Considering the government crackdown on dissenters, few are willing to risk their freedom to educate people on its flaws. And many activists I have spoken to, all loyal to the ideals of the 2011 revolution of a civil state for all Egyptians, are opting to boycott the vote altogether.

While this sentiment finds its roots in a bitter understanding of the political game summarily played by the government, we must acknowledge that far too many in the Egyptian public are unwilling to stop and think critically. And this is perhaps the real irony: the illusionist is barely trying to conceal his trick, but the audience still chooses to gullibly play along.  The blame should be laid at the feet of both."

‘Sharon Didn’t Embrace Peace, He Defeated It‘ (Daniel Levy, Al Jazeera America)

"Sharon and the dominant Israeli nationalist school of thought that he epitomized had never accepted the need to accommodate a Palestinian national narrative or the idea that the Palestinians would be anything like equal partners in determining their fate. Even before they used the term, Sharon and the Israeli mainstream were unilateralists. When Sharon negotiated, it was with the Bush administration. Thus the logic of his 2005 Gaza withdrawal — a move never discussed or coordinated with any Palestinian negotiating partner but for which he won significant praise and even written guarantees from the White House in support of Israel’s negotiating positions.

The withdrawal (and the evacuation of four small West Bank settlements), along with the attendant drama, has been the focus of much of the commentary on Sharon’s passing. It’s important to remember, however, that Gaza constitutes just 6.14 percent of the territory of a Palestinian state based on the 1967 lines, and the removal of settlers from Gaza was accompanied by the far greater expansion of the settler population of the West Bank. It was followed by Israel’s tightening its grip in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and imposing a closure on Gaza (with Egyptian support), and it — whether by design or luck — created rival Palestinian polities that continue to undermine the national movement.

Sharon, as his own advisers acknowledged, gave away a little in order to win more freedom to sidestep negotiations with the Palestinians — of which he’d been a staunch foe and skeptic — while maintaining Western support." 

–Mary Casey & Joshua Haber