Gabriel Helou

“The European Union has decided to lift the arms embargo on the Syrian opposition while maintaining all other sanctions against President Bashar Assad’s regime after June 1, British Foreign Secretary William Hague said late Monday . ” Council of the European Union declaration on Syria - 27 May 2013 

“European Union governments have failed to reach an agreement on easing an arms embargo on Syria to help rebels fighting President Bashar Assad, Austrian Foreign Minister Michael Spindelegger said on Monday . ”

The so-called "Syrian National Coalition" doesn't really have to convene, since all the decisions are made by the United States. SNC only reads them.

The “Friends of Syria” are now holding a closed session in order to... conspire further against   Syria ! The number of the so-called “Friends of Syria” decreased to eleven; soon none of them will be left, but Syria will remain.  

“A top official says Palestinians have done all the legal work necessary to join 63 U.N. agencies, conventions and treaties, but haven't applied yet mainly to give the U.S. peace effort a chance to succeed . ”

I’m wondering: the so-called “Friends of Syria” have spent billions of dollars on the destruction of   Syria. Would they spend the same amount of money on its reconstruction?

Israel foolishly claimed that Palestinians were "politicizing" UNESCO mission to Jerusalem, while the whole situation is political and legal. The story: “Foreign Ministry rescinded its offer to let a team from the UN cultural agency inspect historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem, saying the Palestinians violated a prior agreement that the visit be apolitical. Israel has canceled a visit by a delegation of inspectors from UNESCO, the United Nations cultural agency, which was supposed to begin an inspection Monday of historical sites in the Old City of Jerusalem .”

“Israel will go ahead with its candidacy for an unprecedented seat on the UN Security Council in 2019 despite Germany’s determination to run against it, diplomatic officials told   The Jerusalem Post   on Sunday. Both Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu and Justice Minister Tzipi Livni brought up in separate meetings on Friday with visiting German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle the announcement by Berlin that it will seek a seat on the council in 2019, badly weakening Israel’s chances to win a first-ever seat on the Security Council .”

No political solution to the Syrian crisis can be reached without putting an end to the flow of arms and fighters into Syria.

“The UN voted Friday to add French Polynesia to its decolonisation list, affirming the inhabitants' right to "self-determination and independence". The British-ruled Falkland Islands and the US Virgin Islands are also on the list.   The UN General Assembly voted on Friday to add French Polynesia to its list of territories that should be decolonised, affirming the right of the islands' inhabitants to "self-determination and independence". French Polynesia joins 16 other territories on the decolonisation list, including the British-ruled Falkland Islands and the US Virgin   Islands .”

Today Palestinian youth pierced a 4 meter wide hole in the Israeli-built Separation Wall at Kabseh Bethany, an Eastern suburb of Jerusalem.  Video

Ban Ki-moon calls for solving the Syrian crisis without “foreign interference”. Amazingly, UN General Assembly most recent Resolution blatantly interferes in Syria’s internal affairs!

La Naqbah qui représente la première guerre israélo-arabe de 1948, a entraine l'exode de centaines de milliers de Palestiniens de leurs foyers. Cette Naqbah est à l’origine du problème des   réfugié s - les   réfugié s palestiniens représentent 1/4 de tous les   réfugié s du monde entier. Durant les six dernières décennies il y a eu nombreuses tentatives de résolution politique du conflit israélo-palestinien. Le processus de paix lance au début des années 90 demeure une question complexe, irrésolue. L'accent a été mis sur le processus, mais pas sur la paix. L'impasse des négociations révèle le peu qui subsiste du principe élémentaire selon lequel chacune des parties en conflit a quelque chose à offrir à l'autre en échange de ce qu'elle même revendique. Il semble qu'Israël - la partie la plus puissante, soutenu par la superpuissance mondiale Numéro 1 - est habituée a la situation actuelle et ne ressent pas le besoin de modifier le statu...

65 years - day by day - have passed since Palestinians were forcibly evicted out of their homes towards unknown destinations. In no time, they found themselves living under temporary tents which became their permanent shelter for many many years ahead. They became to be known as Palestine refugees, to live in the most inhuman and miserable conditions. Nakba, known also as the 1st Arab-Israeli War, stands for the  1948 catastrophe surrounding the establishment of the State of Israel, resulting in the dispersion of Palestinians worldwide. The United Nations General Assembly Partition Plan of  1947 - UNGA Resolution 181 - caused the first Arab-Israeli war in 1948, in the wake of the exodus of British Mandate forces from Palestine on May 14, 1948. The Plan granted  the Jews in Palestine just over 56% of the area at a time when they owned less than 7% of the land and constituted approximately one-third of the population. By the end of the War, Israel cont...

قرار الجمعية العامة للأمم المتحدة 194 (3) الصادر في     11 كانون الأول 1948 "الجمعية العامة، ... 11.  تقرر  أن اللاجئين الراغبين بالعودة إلى منازلهم والعيش في سلام مع جيرانهم يجب أن يسمح لهم بذلك في أقرب وقت متاح، وتعويض أولئك الذين يختارون عدم العودة عن ممتلكاتهم وكذلك التعويض عن أي فقدان أو ضرر لحق بالممتلكات يقتضي، بموجب مبادئ القانون الدولي أو العدالة، التعويض عنه من قبل الحكومات أو السلطات المسؤولة؛" .... ------------------------------------------------------- هناك بعض التفسيرات أو الادعاءات الاسرائيلية التي تنكر إلزامية القرار 194 من حيث القانون الدولي واعتباره مجرد توصية، كغيرها من التوصيات الصادرة عن الجمعية العامة، وبالتالي فإن اسرائيل غير ملزمة بما جاء فيه من حيث السماح للاجئين بالعودة إلى ديارهم. إن كل هذه المحاولات هي مجرد تزييف للحقائق من أجل الحيلولة دون تنفيذ اسرائيل لالتزاماتها  الدولية، خاصة فيما يتعلق بعودة اللاجئين الفلسطينيين، فيمكن الرد عليها على النحو التالي: أولاً: لقد اشترطت الأمم المتحدة لكي تمنح اسرائيل العضو...

“Israel has opened a diplomatic mission in one of the Persian Gulf States, according to a Finance Ministry paper being submitted for cabinet approval this week. The paper is an economic plan for the next year and does not name the location of the new mission . ”

“Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu last Sunday joined Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat to dedicate Route 20, a highway that connects Jewish neighborhoods in northern Jerusalem and happens to have an interchange named after the prime minister's father, historian Benzion Netanyahu. "We are working unceasingly, systematically, to link Jerusalem to itself," the prime minister declared. The road may turn out to be the most important legacy of both generations of Netanyahus in that, as part of the road network encompassing Jerusalem, it could be the nail in the coffin for plans to re-divide the capital and attach its Arab areas to a future Palestinian state .”

Palestine will join INTERPOL next November. 

Today, Israel observes the 46 th   anniversary of the annexation of East Jerusalem, according to the Hebrew Calendar - in flagrant violation of international law. In the course of June  1967 war, Jerusalem in its entirely was occupied by Israeli forces. Hundreds of Palestinian homes were demolished in the Old City's Maghrebi Quarter, its residents evicted in order to facilitate the construction of an expanded Jewish Quarter and a plaza in front of the Wailing Wall. For that purpose Israeli bulldozers levelled 135 Palestinian houses. Israel confiscated the keys to the Magharbeh Gate (western gate of the Al-Aqsa Mosque compound) and has not yet returned them to the Islamic Waqf. On June 28 th  the Israeli Government decided to annex East Jerusalem, illegally declared the city as its “eternal, unified and indivisible capital”. Knesset empowered the Government to extend Israeli law, jurisdiction and public administration over the area of the “Land of I...

"A United Nations inquiry into human rights abuses in Syria has found evidence to suggest that rebel forces may have used chemical weapons, its lead investigator has revealed. Carla Del Ponte, a member of the UN independent commission of inquiry on Syria, said that testimony gathered from casualties and medical staff indicated that the nerve agent sarin gas was used by rebel fighters. "Our investigators have been in neighbouring countries interviewing victims, doctors and field hospitals and, according to their report of last week which I have seen, there are strong, concrete suspicions but not yet incontrovertible proof of the use of sarin gas, from the way the victims were treated," Ms Del Ponte said in an interview with Swiss-Italian television, broadcast on Sunday. "This was used on the part of the opposition, the rebels, not by the government authorities," she added, speaking in Italian ."

“The governments of Denmark and Finland wish to upgrade the status of the respective Palestinian Missions in Copenhagen and Helsinki. The joint intention by the two countries to present to the Palestinian Government a draft agreement that would give a status equivalent to that of an embassy to the Palestinian Missions in their respective capitals should be seen not least in the context of the on-going Nordic cooperation.  With this decision, all Nordic countries will be offering the same working conditions for official Palestinian representatives as is the case for accredited diplomats serving in an embassy of a recognized state .”

“Internet giant Google has changed the tagline on the homepage of its Palestinian edition from "Palestinian Territories" to "Palestine". The change, introduced on 1 May, means   google.ps   now displays "Palestine" in Arabic and English under Google's logo .”

Arabs are the worst lawyers for the most just cause - the Palestinian Cause.