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July 17, 2006

When Arabs criticize Arabs ...

rather than Israel, it's time to find out if it's winter in Hell. NYTimes

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 16 — With the battle between Israel and the Lebanese militia Hezbollah raging, key Arab governments have taken the rare step of blaming Hezbollah, underscoring in part their growing fear of influence by the group’s main sponsor, Iran.

Saudi Arabia, with Jordan, Egypt and several Persian Gulf states, chastised Hezbollah for “unexpected, inappropriate and irresponsible acts” at an emergency Arab League summit meeting in Cairo on Saturday.

The Saudi foreign minister, Prince Saud al-Faisal, said of Hezbollah’s attacks on Israel, “These acts will pull the whole region back to years ago, and we cannot simply accept them.” Prince Faisal spoke at the closed-door meeting but his words were reported to journalists by other delegates.

[...]

It is nearly unheard of for Arab officials to chastise an Arab group engaged in conflict with Israel, especially as images of destruction by Israeli warplanes are beamed into Arab living rooms. Normally under such circumstances, Arabs are not blamed, and condemnations of Israel are routine.

But the willingness of those governments to defy public opinion in their own countries underscores a shift that is prompted by the growing influence of Iran and Shiite Muslims in Iraq and across the region.

Of course, that won't make one bit'o'difference to the "Reality-based" Community that is engaged in Blame the Bu$hZionistAllAboutOil Cabal
But make no mistake, this is really an effort by Israel to draw Syria and Iran into the conflict in support of their proxies, whereupon the cabal will have the pretext for what they really want, which is the next war against these two countries. [...]

The Bush Administration’s five-year abandonment of being actively engaged in the region is now about to haunt us. [...] And who could be happy about the dissolving situation in the Middle East? Oil companies, which saw the price of their increasing inventories climb to over $76 per barrel today due to the unrest in the Middle East.

and other conspiracists (h/t Patterico)
Surprised twice by small-scale border raids less than three weeks apart, Israeli leaders have made a deliberate policy decision to seize the opportunity — some call it a pretext — to mount simultaneous large-scale offensives. The goal of each operation is to smash a guerrilla organization that is also deeply entrenched in the business of governance.

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Posted by Darleen at July 17, 2006 09:17 AM

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