Mr. Elections Commissioner, play with a straight bat please

• “Bureaucracy, the rule of no one, has become the modern form of despotism” – Mary McCarthy

 Saturday, 24 March 2018 

The orange embers still burning. The once-busy extraordinarily-long orange drapes washed and put on sagging lines as far as eyes can see. Scattered stones and boulders cleared and removed by the municipalities.

Just as when the minority Muslims thought it was a brief yet well-earned respite, comes further lethal fuel from the unlikeliest of people. Elections Commissioner Mahinda Deshapriya tells the world “most Sinhalese are happy about recent riots,” categorically dismissing the popular view on the predominant attitude of the majority of Sinhalese towards the recent attacks on Muslim-owned properties and mosques.

Personally the jab was more pernicious and damaging than the entirety of the costs Muslims had endured and suffered. The fact that he still has his job sends convulsions in my anatomy. Humanity always stood firm to exonerate the ignorant and foolish. It’s because they are ignorant and foolish. Every society has its share.

Dan Prasad, Amith Weerasinghe and the lot, or should I say rot, are naïve and malleable. The notorious pawns in a much bigger picture. What Muslims have to say them is “go and sin no more”. Obviously the same cannot be said about the Elections Commissioner.

My mind goes back 30 years in history. An unfortunate and despicable act that took place that many years ago. An act of cowardice coincidentally in the Ampara District. The Aranthalawa massacre of 33 Buddhist monks by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam. The incident took place on 2 June 1987 close to the village of Aranthalawa, in the Eastern Province of Sri Lanka.

Imagine a Muslim bureaucrat, without condemning the incident outright, paying a glowing tribute to this macabre incident? What the affable Mahinda Deshapriya had done is exactly this, wallowing in sadism with gross impunity. Trying to recant and issuing puerile alibies is useless after causing the damage.

Bureaucracy or Civil Service constitutes the permanent and professional part of the executive organ of Government. Usually it has the best talent and continuously seeks to retain the best talent. Deshapriya undoubtedly is a talented man with grit. Described as a non-political or politically neutral, permanent, and professionally trained civil servant. It’s unfortunate that this high-ranking civil servant had to behave this way.

Bureaucratic neutrality from politics is a much-cherished value. Maybe, just maybe, this will not apply to Sri Lanka as we witness early signs of decay and degeneration in the length and breadth of the socio-economic and political fabric of this great and beautiful country. Usually Government policies clearly delineates that bureaucracy should be neutral from politics. A well shrouded anti-minority policy is brewing hard with an ominous sound.

In the West there is a strong ban on bureaucrats engaging in politics, the main reason being bureaucracy may be used as political means to get political objectives fulfilled.

We strongly urge the Elections Commissioner to tenaciously observe the above. Play with a straight bat, Mr. Elections Commissioner, if you so wish to play the game regardless.

The “para suddah” by the way has very clear ways to deal with such aberrations. As a Canadian of Sri Lankan descent, I see huge if not gaping differences in comparable context.

For example, take US Carl Higbie, who was appointed by President Trump to serve in the federal agency that runs AmeriCorps and other volunteer service programs. “He was forced to resign his high-level post and apologised after a report emerged quoting racist and anti-Muslim remarks he made in 2013. It ranged from callous to provocative and often tipping into bigotry, Higbie’s comments were unearthed by CNN’s KFile unit, which published audio clips taken from the internet talk radio.”

The US Director of the Homeland Security Department’s Office of Faith-Based Partnerships had to resign following a CNN report on racially inflammatory remarks he made before joining the Federal Government. “Rev. Jamie Johnson was appointed in April to lead DHS’ Centre for Faith-Based and Neighbourhood Partnerships, which works with churches and community organisations on disaster response. In one clip posted by CNN, Johnson said, ‘America’s black community ... has turned America’s major cities into slums because of laziness, drug use and sexual promiscuity.’”

If one notices, in both of the above cases, it was a case of retroactive justice. To reiterate once again, there is much to learn from the “para suddah”.

In Canada, Kent Hehr resigned from Trudeau’s Cabinet. The Minister for Sports and People with Disabilities had to quit Cabinet pending an investigation into accusations he made sexually inappropriate comments to women. Justin Trudeau announced: “Harassment of any kind is unacceptable. As a Government we take any allegations of misconduct extremely seriously, and we believe that it is important to support women who come forward with allegations and that is exactly what our Government will do.”

If Sri Lanka wants to have a strong and all-inclusive democracy, she must follow the “para-suddah” to the letter. After all, there is nothing wrong with his way.

MP and Min Sec under Police 

probe for Kandy Violence

KAVINDYA CHRIS THOMAS- MAR 21 2018

Investigations are underway into a Parliamentarian and Ministry Secretary’s involvement in the communal unrest in Kandy, following the arrest of three Joint Opposition (JO) and Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna (SLPP) Pradeshiya Sabha Members, who had allegedly led the violence.

Revealing the identities of the politicians, Co-Cabinet Spokesperson Minister of Health Dr. Rajitha Senaratne said that the identity of the MP will be revealed in due course. 

However, he noted that the MP, in question, in collaboration with a Ministerial Secretary are alleged to have intimidated the Police and Special Task Force officers who were deployed to quell the violence in the Kandy administrative District, earlier this month.

Dr. Senaratne noted, and Police Spokesman SP Ruwan Gunasekara affirmed that three SLPP Member of the several Pradeshiya Sabhas, are among the arrested.

It was also noted that investigations are underway, after being identified through Closed Circuit Television (CCTV) footage, for the arrest of politically affiliated Buddhist monks. The suspects, also Members of the SLPP, have been allegedly involved in spearheading the riots in several areas.  

Overall, 314 suspects have been arrested from 4 March to 18 March for their riotous behaviour, both in and outside the Kandy administrative District. 

The suspects who were arrested on charges of inciting and participating in violence, with regard to the Kandy incidents, will be charged under the terms of the Emergency Regulations and the general laws.

Do Sri Lankan women need to take the backseat? — A personal Account

Women who have to work and manage the home and child-care can really struggle.

by Seshika Fernando- Mar 23, 2018

( March 23, 2018, Colombo, Sri Lanka Guardian) We have a strict ‘no jerks’ policy at the company where I work. It means we just don’t have room for people who bully or mock their co-workers. Our employees don’t invade each other’s personal space or make uninvited personal contact. Women in Sri Lanka routinely experience sexual harassment in the workplace, but policies like this don’t favour just one gender. Men enjoy the benefits as well.

Unfortunately, my company’s policy is an exception rather than the rule. Recently, I had a chance to meet Sri Lankan women engineers and hear their experiences. One told me about how challenging going to the field was because her male subordinates refused to respect her or follow her directions. Other women have been denied promotions, paid less than their male peers and sexually harassed at work.

Sometimes it’s more subtle than that. In every company I have ever worked for, women are in the minority. They may not have the same interests as their male colleagues or be able to socialise. Not everyone is comfortable conversing in the male lingo, just to fit in. When work is discussed in such social settings, women can very easily miss out. Each time something like this happens, it’s a loss for the company and for the country.

When the opposite of these things happen – when we value the contribution of everyone and treat people with respect – we reap the benefits.

For instance, at work one of my responsibilities is managing multiple cross-functional teams in order to successfully create and deliver financial solutions to global banks and financial institutions. We’ve found that the more diverse our team is, the better our product is. This means we have people of both genders, from different ethnicities and backgrounds.

Quite by chance, my own team has several women on it – and it’s clear they approach problems differently from their male colleagues. Working together, they’ve developed some unique solutions and more user-friendly products.

It makes sense to have these different perspectives, because we want to appeal to an increasingly diverse market. It’s why we have not only a gym, but a crèche. It’s why we have regular anti-sexual harassment training and awareness programs. Our company’s reputation for providing a really safe and supportive working environment has meant we attract some of the most talented and experienced people. In the end, being pro-diversity isn’t about ticking boxes and keeping up appearances – it’s about creating the best product we can. So companies need to adopt policies that reflect this.

When I was pregnant and later when I had my son, supportive company policies meant I was able to work from home on flexible hours. My husband works too – and that’s the other half of the equation.
Women who have to work and manage the home and child-care can really struggle. When we first got married, Suren and I established that housework would be divided 50-50, and when our son came along, childcare also became 50-50. We’ve gotten used to sharing the responsibility. We are both equal in our marriage, and our careers have the same weight. We don’t prioritise one at the expense of the other.

I am glad my son will grow up thinking of equal marriages like this as being normal. It was also how I was raised. In my home, both my mother and father worked and both their jobs were seen as equally important. My brother and I were allowed to pursue our own interests – I was never told by my parents that I couldn’t do something because I was a girl. Studying mathematics, my teachers were mostly women, and they too encouraged me to study STEM subjects. Nobody pushed me to be an engineer – it was enough that they didn’t put up any obstacles.

There needs to be a real change in what we consider women’s work. We can start at home by telling our girls they can do whatever they set their minds to, and by having mothers and fathers be equal partners in caring for their families. We can continue this at work by recognizing that everyone deserves a safe and supportive working environment. We can establish this at a national level with policies that guarantee these rights.

And then as women, we can be bolder and more determined. I regularly represent my company at a lot of international technology conferences. Almost always the audience is filled with men. But when I’m delivering my talk, it’s a woman taking centre stage. I embrace standing out – I think it gives me an edge. It’s made me work harder to make sure I really know my stuff. Women don’t ever have to take a back seat to men – we just have to learn how to back ourselves.

---

Seshika Fernando has a background in finance and computer science. She is currently the head of financial solutions at WSO2 in Sri Lanka.

Legal action against suspects after Appeal Court hearings, FCID informs Court

Siranjani Kumari-Saturday, March 24, 2018

The FCID conducting investigations against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa and six others over a complaint that the D.A. Rajapaksa Museum and Memorial in Medamulana was built using public funds amounting to Rs.90 million, informed the Colombo Chief Magistrate’s Court that necessary legal action would be taken against the suspects after the conclusion of Court of Appeal hearings in this regard.

The Court was informed that the Court of Appeal had further extended until March 27 its interim order preventing police from acting against former Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa under the Public Property Act regarding the Magistrate’s Court inquiry. The FCID told Colombo Additional Magistrate Chandani Dias that the Attorney General has already given instructions them to take legal action against Gotabaya Rajapaksa, the Chairman and members of the director board of Land Reclamation and Development Corporation (LRDC) under Public Property Act and Penal Code.

The Financial Crimes Investigation Division (FCID) had informed the Colombo Magistrate’s Court that Cabinet approval has not been obtained for the D.A.Rajapaksa Memorial Museum in Weerakatiya, Medamulana. The LRDC told FCID that Cabinet approval had not been obtained and the Corporation has violated financial regulations in payments made for the project. Chairman Harshana de Silva had inspected the premises with engineer Eshana Ranawake and former Speaker Chamal Rajapakse, who had come to inspect construction work.

The BOQ was done on September 13, 2013 on the instructions of LRDC Chairman Harshan de Silva. LRDC legal officers acknowledged the fact that they had not monitored the project properly, since no one responsible from the project came for supervision.

Further magisterial inquiry fixed for July 20.

Stepping up on efforts to conquer TB

 2018-03-24

World TB (Tuberculosis) Day held annually on March 24th is intended to promote awareness and knowledge of the seriousness of the disease and to motivate action to be taken in order to cure TB worldwide   

135 years after the discovery of the kochs bacillus, TB still remains an epidemic in much of the world today despite the effective cures which have been made available for decades. This lethal killer of human beings still prevails despite many scientific breakthroughs.   

Tuberculosis has re-emerged with a vengeance and has become the deadliest infectious disease in the world and has become the number one killer causing three (3) million deaths per year. These deaths also create serious implications on the world economy, as it kills or disables mainly young people who form the productive sector of the economy. The World Health Organization (WHO) declared Tuberculosis ‘a global emergency’ in 1993. This illness could affect around 90 million people worldwide within the next decade.   

The emergence of multi drug resistant tuberculosis can be controlled if the treatment of tuberculosis patients is completely supervised. Tuberculosis patients (or for that matter any patient) have the bad habit of forgetting to take their drugs when, they feel better, or throwing their drugs away when they feel better

A study was undertaken in collaboration with the medical personnel of the Respiratory Disease Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, the Centre for Social Survey and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura

Tuberculosis appears in forms resistant to multiple drugs (MDR TB) and cannot be cured by a single medicine. Together with its deadly ally, the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), TB has emerged as one of the most potent threats to the existence of mankind.   

Can tuberculosis be eliminated? Low priority has been assigned to tuberculosis by health policy makers. In many low to middle income countries, less than 1% of the annual health budget is allocated for tuberculosis prevention. Why is this? Is it because Tuberculosis is something to be swept under the carpet?   

The inadequate funding and inefficient tuberculosis control programmes have led to a worsening of the global situation regarding tuberculosis.  

This is because of inadequate treatment that does not cure patients nor cause fatalities, leaving a pool of inadequately or improperly treated patients disseminating multi - drug resistant tuberculosis in the community. In other words, in a poor tuberculosis control programme, many patients will die of the disease, but there will also be half treated half dead patients disseminating the disease to healthy people. Also, if there were no tuberculosis drugs at all in a country, there would be no multi - drug resistant tuberculosis for it is the improper use of anti - tuberculosis drugs that creates multi-drug resistant tuberculosis. 

This is also compounded by patients who are forced to purchase drugs as cases have emerged of patients seeking private treatment having to purchase the drugs cutting costs by self reduction of the dosage or discontinuing the treatment due to lack of funds while in other instances cheaper drugs with less efficacy also causing great harm.   

However, all is not that gloomy. It has been shown conclusively in countries poorer than Sri Lanka, such as Nepal and Bangladesh. (with per GNP of around US$200, compared to a per capita GNP of US$ 840 for Sri Lanka).

 More than 90% of Tuberculosis patients can be cured. The emergence of multi drug resistant tuberculosis can be controlled if the treatment of tuberculosis patients is completely supervised. 
Tuberculosis patients (or for that matter any patient) have the bad habit of forgetting to take their drugs when, they feel better, or throwing their drugs away when they feel better. 

As Tuberculosis has been declared a global emergency many efforts are being made to find new effective solutions and strategies in service, design and delivery to eliminate this global menace which is appearing in various forms.   

New tools, drugs and strategies are being researched and tried out bringing effective results.Lets take a closer look at them. 

The DOTS Strategy (Directly Observed Treatment Short cause)

Represents a major breakthrough in controlling tuberculosis. No other TB control strategy comes close to being as effective and is affordable as DOTS.   

The advantages to the community by using the DOTS strategy are numerous.   

A. Cures the patients
 Dots produces cure rates as high as 95 percent, even in the poorest of countries.  

B. Prevents New Infections
DOTS makes it virtually impossible to cause a patient to develop incurable forms of TB that are becoming more common. 

MDRTB
DOTS Makes it virtually impossible to cause a patient to develop the incurable forms of TB that are becoming more common. 

Cost effective
A six-month supply of medicines for DOTS cost only $ 11 per patient in some parts of the world. This can be less than the price of a few bottles of aspirin. The World Bank has ranked the DOTS strategy as one of the most cost effective of all health interventions.   

Community based
DOTS have been demonstrated to add as many years of life as currently available protease inhibitors to HIV positive people. 

Protects the workforce
Nearly 80 percents of those ill with TB are in their most economically productive years of life. These youthful TB patients represent a workforce nearly as large as the number of people employed by the world’s 20 biggest international corporations. 

 
Protects International Travelers
The only safeguard against TB is to use DOTS more widely. 

Stimulates Economies
The DOTS strategy offers relatively quick payoffs to the economies of developing countries. 

Proven effective
DOTS has been successfully implemented in a wide variety of conditions, including Sri Lanka, India, Tanzania, Guinea, China,   
1. The implementation of the ‘Stop TB Strategy’
This strategy has greatly expanded the Tuberculosis diagnosis and treatment services and has saved millions of lives.   

The development of new tools is a major component of the revised global efforts to stop TB Progress made in this area. They are now in the evaluation process and will be incorporated in to the TB control programme in the near future. 

Systematic Strategy for screening and monitoring high risk zones
Where the population is concentrated such as,   
a) Garment Industries   
b) Factories   
c) Prison Institutions   
d) Rehabilitation Camps   
e) Elderly Peoples Institutions   
f) Orphanages   
g) Mental Asylums   
h) Low income communities residing in congested areas.   

04. Changing of the campaign terminology strategy
In the campaign such terms as TB suspects, defaulters, control, Campaign tend to criminalize and use terminology that is patient unfriendly, Therefore in the control of Tuberculosis consideration is being given to the use of terms which are more humane and patient friendly which will make the patient more co-operative.   

05Greater involvement of NGO’S/ CNAPT
In recruiting and mobilizing volunteers for treatment and supervision which will make Tuberculosis programmes efficient.   

Compared to other South Asian Countries, Sri Lanka is far ahead in terms of quality of life, life expectancy, literacy and maternal mortality. This is a constant source of amazement to developed countries, who wonder how we can maintain such indices comparable to developed countries.

   
Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (CNAPT) Initiatives in Sri Lanka
It has been recorded that in countries poorer than Sri Lanka, such as Nepal and Bangladesh, (with per capita GNP of around $ 200, compared to a per capita GNP of US $840 for Sri Lanka) have managed more than 90% of controlled Tuberculosis treatment.   

However, compared to other South Asian countries, Sri Lanka is far ahead in terms of life expectancy, literacy, and maternal and infant mortality. This is a consistent source of amazement to developed countries like Japan. It would be tragic if the TB situation in Sri Lanka was allowed to deteriorate, in spite of possessing such a record of healthcare.   

This is where the CNAPT steps in educating the public in one of the areas most important in TB eradication. The CNAPT has been at the forefront of the campaign for the education of Sri Lankans. Over the past 70 years, the CNAPT has worked in partnership with the Ministry of Health.   

In 1948 when tuberculosis (TB) was prevalent in Sri Lanka, the Ceylon National Association for the Prevention of Tuberculosis (CNAPT) was formed as a Government approved non government organization (NGO), aimed at launching a nationwide TB programme which had support and international cooperation. 70 years ago when medical treatment was at its infancy and TB was rampant with no definitive cure, Dr. J.H.F.Jayasuriya, Chairman of the Rotary Club, Colombo, sponsored a voluntary organization to combat TB through the auspices of the club. An inaugural meeting was held on 17th June 1948, thus heralding the beginning of the CNAPT.   

A study was undertaken in collaboration with the medical personnel of the Respiratory Disease Control Programme of the Ministry of Health, the Centre for Social Survey and the University of Sri Jayewardenepura.   

With the intention of spreading knowledge regarding TB, its spread, prevention and management as well as to inform the public on how and where to get the help and information required, the CNAPT, with the assistance of the Global Fund, also started a Health Education Programme.

The international community, WHO NGOs and the Sri Lankan Government have done a great deal for the prevention, treatment and management of the disease while also educating the public. Help is available, but people need to be informed where assistance and information can be found.   

 The CNAPT aims at promoting the concept of extending a helping hand by seeking community, public and volunteer assistance. Tomorrow will be better only through our efforts.   

TB in children
Special hospital facilities were non-existent for children afflicted by TB The CNAPT remedied this by constructing three children’s wards: Welisara Children’s Ward (1952) Hawake Memorial Ward, Kandana (1955) and Clarence Nathnielz Memorial Ward, Welisara (1960) which provided a total of 165 beds exclusively for children. The total cost of Rs. 900,000 was raised through the efforts of the CNAPT.   

Health Education
Since its inception the association has concentrated heavily on health education. The objective of the programme was to convey to the public that TB could be cured, patients must take prescribed treatment and those with suggestive symptoms be screened for they must take prescribed treatment and those with suggestive symptoms be screened for the disease. The programme also included lectures to specifically targeted groups, talks via electronic media, participation at public exhibitions and the distribution of TB related literature.  

The proximity of the Health Education Centre to the Colombo Museum makes it accessible to any visitors to the Museum visit the CNAPT’s Health Education Centre.   

Who is behind bombing of Hamdallah convoy?

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah, left, and security chief Majid Faraj arrive to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a new wastewater treatment plant after an explosion targeted their envoy, 13 March.Ashraf AmraAPA images

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh-23 March 2018

Despite a gun battle in Gaza on 22 March that Hamas says left a main suspect dead, uncertainty continues to cloud the bomb attack on the convoy of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah last week in Beit Hanoun.

Four people were killed in Thursday’s gun battle in Gaza when security forces tried to apprehend what Hamas called the prime suspect in the 13 March bombing. Two of the dead were security officers.

Ramallah, however, disputed the announcement. A spokesperson for Hamdallah’s government instead again accused the group of bearing “full criminal responsibility” for the assassination attempt.
“Once more, Hamas is going along the same path of … fabricating weak stories that make no sense,” the spokesperson, Youssef al-Mahmoud, said.

Hamas identified the suspect as Anas Abu Khousa, but did not say if he was affiliated with any political or militant faction.

PA leader Mahmoud Abbas had earlier this week laid the blame squarely on Hamas, rejecting an offer of an investigation.

Analysts are divided over who they think is behind it or whether indeed it was a serious assassination attempt on Hamdallah or the accompanying PA intelligence chief, Majid Faraj – sometimes touted as a successor to Abbas.

Most agree, however, that the attack – not far from the Israeli-controlled Erez checkpoint and minutes into a rare visit by senior West Bank PA officials to the Gaza Strip – has damaged currently stalled efforts to forge unity between Fatah and Hamas, the long-estranged main Palestinian political factions.

The Egyptian-sponsored efforts received much attention in October, when Fatah and Hamas signed a preliminary unity agreement in Cairo, but almost immediately ran into trouble.

Since then, and despite Hamas handing over security at crossings in and out of Gaza to PA forces, there has been no progress in forming a unity government that runs both the West Bank and Gaza. Gaza remains cut off from the outside world, and much needed supplies and materials to rebuild the battered coastal strip have failed to materialize.

A staged attack

Into this stalemate, a report said to have been prepared by PA intelligence under the direction of Faraj was leaked to media just 24 hours before the attack. The report, according to unnamed Fatah sources, warned Abbas against signing a unity agreement with Hamas under Egyptian sponsorship.

Cairo, the report is understood to have claimed according to these sources, is working in the interests of Muhammad Dahlan, an erstwhile Fatah security chief in Gaza now based in the United Arab Emirates, from where he draws significant support. Dahlan is a rival to Abbas for leadership of Fatah.

Any Egyptian-mediated unity agreement would be a “trap” that would allow Dahlan back in at the expense of Abbas, the report warns according to these sources.

If accurate, the timing of the leak has led some to suggest that the attack in Gaza was staged to prevent any further progress in reconciliation negotiations.

“The PA stands accused,” said Abdel Satter Qassem, a professor of political science at An-Najah University in the West Bank. “Abbas is trying to avoid completing reconciliation as he knows that internal unity may pave the way for Dahlan to return. And if that happened it will be the end of Abbas.”
Moreover, there is a suggestion that Faraj rejected a Hamas offer to provide security for the latest visit to Gaza. Hamas has taken partial responsibility for failing to stop the attack, but according to Ahmad Abu Naji, an officer in the Hamas internal security service in Gaza, Faraj once before in November refused Hamas security on a visit to Gaza.

If he again refused a Hamas offer to provide security, Hamas cannot be held responsible, said Hussam al-Dajani, a politics lecturer at Ummah University in Gaza.

“If Faraj refused security like the first time, then Hamas is not responsible.”

Hamas’ responsibility

The fact that no one was killed in an explosion that wounded seven guards – though it has been reported that a second bomb failed to explode – has also prompted speculation that rather than an assassination attempt, the attack was meant more as a message.

Talal Okal, a political analyst and regular columnist for Al-Ayyam newspaper, argued that it would not have been hard to make sure of deadly force in such an attack.

“Whoever planted the bombs didn’t mean to kill Hamdallah and Faraj,” Okal told The Electronic Intifada.

However, Okal did not believe the attack was staged by Fatah either.

“This was a strong message to the PA that it is not welcome in Gaza, especially after the punitive measures imposed by Abbas on Gaza including decreasing salaries and retiring employees.”

Last April, the PA implemented sanctions on Gaza and slashed salaries of former public sector employees who had been paid to stay home rather than work for Hamas-run ministries in the wake of the 2007 fighting that saw Hamas oust Fatah from Gaza.

Some of these sanctions have since been lifted, but Okal suggested popular anger, including from inside Hamas, may have inspired the attack.

“Some angry elements in Hamas may be behind this, but it’s more likely to be an individual act,” Okal said.

Israeli meddling

The attack also came as the US is reportedly preparing its proposal to forge US President Donald Trump’s “deal of the century.”

According to some reports, the US proposal will see a severing of Gaza from the West Bank, temporary borders for a Palestinian entity – statehood is reportedly not mentioned – and a host of other proposals that, for Palestinians would be non-starters.

Keeping the West Bank and Gaza separate and hostile to each other would therefore be in the interest of Israel, who would seem to stand to gain from such a Trump proposal.

“This is targeting the national project, a Palestinian state, not just reconciliation,” said al-Dajani. As such, he suggested, Israel could also have been behind the attack, a view echoed by Omar Jaara, an Israel affairs professor at An-Najah.

“This attack reflects an Israeli vision of foiling reconciliation to deepen the separation between Gaza and West Bank to promote the American ‘deal of the century.’”

Hamza Abu Eltarabesh is a journalist from Gaza.

Abbas: We don’t reject negotiations with Israel

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas speaks during a meeting of the Palestinian leadership at his compound in the West Bank [Issam Rimawi/Apaimages]

March 23, 2018 at 1:26 pm | Published in: Israel, Middle East, News, Palestine

We have never rejected political negotiations with Israel, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said yesterday.

Speaking to reporters in a press conference in Ramallah with his Bulgarian counterpart, Rumen Radev, Abbas stressed that the Palestinian Authority (PA) has always been ready to take part in negotiations with Israel, warning that “it [PA] won’t accept solutions outside the framework of international legitimacy”.

“We want a two-state solution — an independent and sovereign Palestinian state on the 1967 borders, with East Jerusalem as its capital,” The Times of Israel quoted Abbas as saying.

“This city, East Jerusalem, should be open to all religions, Islam, Christianity and Judaism, which will practice their religious rituals freely,” he explained.

Addressing the internal issues with Hamas, the Palestinian president noted that “they [Hamas] must immediately hand over everything, first and foremost security, to the Palestinian Authority,” referring to the reconciliation agreement between Fatah and Hamas that was signed in Cairo in October 2017.

“If Hamas does not hand over everything to the national unity government, it will bear the consequences for failing the Egyptian efforts to achieve reconciliation,” he warned.

Last week, Abbas decided to take “national, legal and economic measures” against Gaza following an assassination attempt against the PA Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah in Gaza. Abbas held Hamas responsible for the attack.

$19.5bn Israeli gas deal with Spanish company scrapped

Egypt likely to supply gas to Union Fenosa from 'supergiant' Zohr field instead, say analysts

A worker on the Tamar platform off the Israeli coast (AFP)

Dania Akkad, Investigations Editor-Friday 23 March 2018 

A $19.5bn agreement that would have seen Israeli gas supplied to a Spanish company for 15 years has been scrapped, according to public filings on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange.

According to a non-binding letter of intent signed in May 2014, partners in Israel’s Tamar field would have supplied gas to Madrid-based Union Fenosa Gas (UFG).

The gas was to be liquefied at an Egyptian plant in Damietta which is operated by Segas, a joint venture between UFG and Italian energy giant Eni, and two state-owned Egyptian companies, and then sent to Spain.

But the agreement is "no longer relevant", according to records which Delek Drilling, one of Tamar’s partners, filed this week.

The cancellation, said analysts, suggests that Egypt, which has started producing gas in December from the Zohr “supergiant” field which Eni found in 2015, may supply the gas instead.

News of the cancellaton comes just weeks after the announcement that Israel's Delek Drilling and Texas-based Noble Energy have agreed to supply $15bn worth of natural gas from Tamar and a second field, Leviathan, to private Egyptian firm Dolphinus over the next decade. 

Egypt was once a net exporter of gas, but years of political instability and mismanagement, including deals which MEE has investigated, led to it importing gas for its rising population.

Recently, Egypt has been putting out signals that it plans to become an exporter again in the coming years.

When the Noble/Delek-Dolphinus deal was announced, Egyptian President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi said the country had "scored a goal" and the deal would "help transform Egypt into a regional energy hub".

Many Egyptians, however, criticised the deal and questioned why the country was importing more gas months after gas started to be produced from Zohr.

Many questions remain over the deal, including how the gas would be transported and at what price.

READ MORE►

Egypt's gas superfield find and its energy future

David Butter, an associate fellow at Chatham House, said in light of recent developments, the end of the Union Fenosa-Tamar deal "seems logical".

"Either because it would be superseded by the Dolphinus deal, which is half and half Tamar and Leviathan, or because Segas reckons it will be able to push some Zohr or other Eni-produced gas through Damietta," he said.

Amnon Portugaly, a researcher with the Chazan Centre at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute, said the gas from Zohr has put Union Fenosa in a stronger bargaining position.

“They can take the gas from Zohr, send it to Damietta, and send it to Spain, and everyone is happy – except Israel, which has to cancel the contract," Portugaly said.

Union Fenosa, Eni, Delek and Texas-based Noble Energy, the largest shareholder in Tamar, did not respond to MEE's requests for comment. 

Gunman shot dead by French police after three killed in terror attacks

Police union official confirms suspect in supermarket hostage-taking situation has been killed

Police outside the supermarket in Trèbes, southern France. An armed man initially took eight people hostage. Photograph: AP

Angelique Chrisafis and Kim Willsher-Fri 23 Mar 2018

A gunman has killed three people in a series of attacks claimed by Islamic State near the picturesque town of Carcassonne in south France, culminating in a three-hour hostage-taking at a supermarket before police shot him dead.

The attacker, named as Radouane Lakdim, 25, was born in Morocco and lived in Carcassonne. He was known to police for petty crimes and drug-dealing. The state prosecutor François Molins said he had been under surveillance in 2016 and 2017 for his “radicalism and proximity to Salafist movements” but had showed no signs he was going to carry out an attack.

The shooting spree and supermarket hostage-taking on Friday, which also left 16 people injured – including two very seriously – was the first major suspected terrorist incident since president Emmanuel Macron lifted France’s two-year state of emergency last autumn and toughened anti-terror laws.

“Our country has suffered an Islamist terrorist attack,” Macron said in a televised address.
Isis claimed responsibility for the attacks, without providing evidence. Macron said French authorities were investigating the claim.

Questions will be asked as to how Lakdim was able to obtain a weapon and carry out attacks when he had been monitored by security services.

The interior minister, Gérard Collomb, said: “We had monitored him and did not think he had been radicalised.” He added: “He was already under surveillance when he suddenly decided to act.”
Just after 10am on Friday, Lakdim, stopped a white Opel Corsa car on the outskirts of Carcassonne, before shooting and killing the passenger and seriously injuring the driver.

The prosecutor said Lakdim then drove off in the car and appeared to wait outside a military barracks for soldiers. Lakdim then drove to a riot police squad barracks and shot at four officers 200 metres away who had been out jogging. He seriously wounded one of group, who suffered broken ribs and a punctured lung. A bullet struck near the officer’s heart.

Lakdim then drove to a Super U supermarket 8km away in Trèbes, a sleepy town of 5,000 people near Carcassonne. At about 11am, he walked into the shop shouting Allahu Akbar and claiming he was a soldier from Islamic State. Around 50 people were inside the building. Lakdim opened fire, killing one supermarket worker and one customer.

Christian Guibbert, a former police officer, was shopping when he heard several shots. He told BFM TV his first instinct was to hide his wife and other customers in a butcher’s fridge, before trying to escape through an emergency exit as the police arrived.

“I saw one person on the ground and a person who had a handgun in one hand and knife in the other and was shouting,” he said. “He was very agitated, I knew at once it was a terrorist. After 25 years in the police force, one knows these things. He shot several times in the air.”

Gendarmesattempting to evacuate the supermarket found Lakdim holding several hostages. A gendarme volunteered to take the hostages’ place. The gunman agreed to the swap, so the gendarme stayed with him while others were evacuated. That gendarme left his mobile phone line open on a table so security forces outside could hear what was going on inside.

When security forces outside the store heard via the telephone that a shot was fired, they immediately stormed the supermarket and shot Lakdim dead. The gendarme who had swapped places with the hostages was found seriously injured. Collomb praised the officer’s heroism. Two other officers were injured by gunshots during the assault.

The situation had lasted just over three hours, during which the gunman had asked for the release of prisoners.

He asked for the release of Salah Abdeslam, the only surviving suspect from the group that carried out the November 2015 Paris attacks, French state TV reported. Abdeslam is in solitary confinement in a French prison as the investigation into the Paris attacks continues.

 Police and ambulances at scene of French hostage situation – video

The interior ministry said Lakdim was acting alone in Friday’s attack. The state prosecutor said he had been on an intelligence watchlist since 2014. Lakdim had been convicted twice in 2011 and 2015 for petty crime, including drug offences. He had served one month in prison in 2016. The prosecutor said that during surveillance, security services had not seen signs that suggested Lakdim would commit an attack.

A woman who lived with him was being questioned by police.

In October last year, Macron toughened anti-terror laws and lifted France’s two-year state of emergency which had been declared by former president François Hollande on the night of the Paris attacks that killed 130 people in November 2015.

Macron said the current terror threat in France was high but different to that two to three years ago when terrorist attacks were organised and ordered from within Syria and Iraq. Currently, the risk was from dangerous in France who had radicalised themselves, he said.

French police have in recent years undertaken training to prepare for hostage-taking situations in supermarkets. In January 2015, after the terror attack on the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, a gunman, Amédy Coulibaly, held hostages at a kosher supermarket in eastern Paris, killing four people before police shot him dead.

How to civilise our civilisations?

We used to hope that politicians wouldn’t be held back from pursuing their personal visions by unnecessary bureaucracy and shadowy forces. Now we pray that they are

by Slavoj Zizek-Mar 22, 2018

( March 22, 2018, London, Sri Lanka Guardian) Addressing members of the Russian parliament, Vladimir Putin said last week: “The missile’s test launch and ground trials make it possible to create a brand new weapon, a strategic nuclear missile powered by a nuclear engine. The range is unlimited. It can manoeuvre for an unlimited period of time.

“No one in the world has anything similar,” he said to applause and concluded: “Russia still has the greatest nuclear potential in the world, but nobody listened to us. Listen to us now.”

Yes, we should listen to these words, but we should listen to them as to the words of a madman joining the duet of two other madmen.

Remember how, a little while ago, Kim Jong-un and Donald Trump competed about buttons to trigger nuclear missiles that they have at their disposal, with Trump claiming his button is bigger than Kim’s? Now we got Putin joining this obscene competition – which is, we should never forget it, a competition about who can destroy us all more quickly and efficiently – with the claim that his is the biggest in turn.

Lately our media reports on the more and more ridiculous exchange of insults between Kim and Trump. The irony of the situation is that, when we get (what appears to be) two immature men hurling insults at each other, our only hope is that there is some anonymous and invisible institutional constraint preventing their rage from exploding into all-out war. Usually, of course, we tend to complain that in today’s alienated and bureaucratised politics, institutional pressures and constraints prevent politicians from expressing their personal visions – now we hope such constraints will prevent the expression of all too crazy personal visions.

But does the danger really reside in personal pathologies? Each side can, of course, claim that it wants only peace and is only reacting to the threat posed by others – true, but what this means is that the madness is in the whole system itself, in the vicious cycle we are caught in once we participate in the system.

Although the differences between North Korea and the US are obvious, one should nonetheless insist that they both cling to the extreme version of state sovereignty (“North Korea first!” versus “America first!”), plus that the obvious madness of North Korea (a small country ready to risk it all and bomb the US) has its counterpart in the US still pretending to play the role of the global policeman, a single state assuming the right to decide which other state should be allowed to possess nuclear weapons.

This global madness becomes visible the moment we ask a simple question: how do the protagonists of nuclear threats (Kim, Trump, Putin) imagine pressing the button? Are they not aware of the almost 100 per cent certainty that their own country will also be destroyed by retaliatory strikes? Well, they are aware and not aware at the same time: although they know they will also perish, they talk as if they somehow stand out of the danger and can strike at the enemy from a safe place.

This schizophrenic position combines the two axioms of nuclear warfare. If the basic underlying axiom of the Cold War was MAD (Mutually Assured Destruction), today this axiom is combined with the opposite one, that of NUTS (Nuclear Utilization Target Selection), i.e. the idea that, by means of a surgical strike, one can destroy the enemy’s nuclear capacities while the anti-missile shield is protecting us from a counterstrike. The very fact that two directly contradictory strategies are mobilised simultaneously by the same superpower bears witness to the fantastical character of this entire reasoning.

In December 2016, this inconsistency reached an almost unimaginable ridiculous peak: both Trump and Putin emphasised the chance for new more friendly relations between Russia and the US, and simultaneously asserted their full commitment to the arms race – as if peace among the superpowers can only be provided by a new Cold War. Alain Badiou wrote that the contours of the future war are already drawn: “The United States and their Western-Japanese clique on the one side, China and Russia on the other side, atomic arms everywhere. We cannot but recall Lenin’s statement: ‘Either revolution will prevent the war or the war will trigger revolution.’”

There is no way to avoid the conclusion that a radical social change – a revolution – is needed to civilise our civilisations. We cannot afford the hope that a new war will lead to a new revolution: a new war would much more probably mean the end of civilisation as we know it, with the survivors (of any) organized in small authoritarian groups. North Korea is not a crazy exception in a sane world but a pure expression of the madness that drives our world.

Former Playboy model gives emotional account of alleged affair with Trump, apologizes to Melania

 Former Playboy model Karen McDougal shared intimate details of her alleged 10-month relationship with Donald Trump, during an interview with CNN. (Taylor Turner/The Washington Post)

 By Eli Rosenberg and Beth Reinhard March 23 at 12:36 AM

Former Playboy model Karen McDougal spoke on camera for the first time about the 10-month affair she says she had with Donald Trump shortly after the birth of his youngest son, baring the relationship’s most intimate details and tracing its arc — from the moment she first met the future president to what she says was her decision to end the romance later — in an intensely personal interview broadcast on national television.

The hour-long interview on CNN marked a particularly sensational moment, for both Trump, as allegations about past affairs draw more scrutiny, and the media, for whom McDougal’s in-depth questioning from host Anderson Cooper was a prime-time event. If Trump’s presidency and the headlines it has generated have been considered a reality show, this was the grocery aisle tabloid rebuttal.

McDougal spoke about a physical relationship she says began in 2006, alleging Trump offered her money the first time they were intimate and choking up as she recounted the guilt she felt for being a party to an affair. She reflected on the connection she developed with the “sweet” man she said she fell in love with and unflinchingly recounted some of the romance’s most salacious details.

“When I look back where I was back then, I know it’s wrong,” McDougal said, choking back tears.

 “I’m really sorry for that.”

The interview came just days after McDougal filed a lawsuit against American Media Inc., which publishes the National Enquirer, in the attempt to void her agreement to sell the story’s rights to the company for $150,000 about three months before the election.

[ How are Donald and Melania doing? Why America cares about the presidential marriage. ]

 1:19

Three women, Stormy Daniels, Karen McDougal and Summer Zervos, are suing so they can speak out about their alleged encounters with President Trump. (Joyce Koh/The Washington Post)

The affair took off in June 2006, McDougal said, which would have been just a few months after the birth of Trump’s 12-year-old son, Barron. The two met during a filming for “The Apprentice” at the Playboy Mansion, where McDougal, who was Playmate of the Year in 1998, was working, she said.

“He said hello and then throughout the night it was kind of obvious that there was an attraction,” McDougal said.

Trump asked her for her phone number at the end of the night, she said. By his next visit to Los Angeles, around his June 14 birthday, they had started speaking on the phone and had planned a “date” for dinner at the Beverly Hills Hotel.

Trump’s bodyguard, Keith Schiller, picked her up and drove her to a rear entrance at the hotel, she said.

“I’m thinking to myself, ‘Are we going to a room because I thought we were having dinner,’ ” McDougal said.

The two did have dinner — in a private bungalow at the hotel, she said.

“Then as the night ended,” she told Cooper, “we were intimate.”

McDougal said that at the end of the night Trump tried to hand her cash — an experience that she had never had before and one that left her feeling “terrible” and crying in the car ride home.

“The look on my face must have been so sad,” she said. “I looked at him and said that’s not me, I’m not that kind of girl.”

“I got over it, but it did hurt,” she said.

[ Ex-attorney for Playboy model Karen McDougal demands an end to attacks]

Still the relationship between the two blossomed into something far beyond a one-night stand, McDougal said. For 10 months, the couple saw each other at least five times a month at hotels, at Trump’s golf courses, a property in Bedminster, N.J., and even at his apartment at Trump Tower, McDougal said. Whenever she booked a flight or a hotel, Trump would reimburse her, to prevent a paper trail she assumed, McDougal told Cooper.

Even so, she felt they formed a genuine bond.

“There were real feelings between the two of us,” McDougal said, saying she considered and “maybe” even hoped that their relationship could lead to marriage. “He always told me that he loved me.”

Unlike the belligerent, invective-flinging character people see on television or Twitter, Trump was “charming,” and “caring,” said McDougal, who described herself as an avid Republican and proud Trump voter.

She described the guilt she felt visiting the businessman’s Trump Tower apartment, where he showed her a room he said was Melania’s, where “she likes to have her alone time or to get away to read, or something like that.”

“That’s when I thought maybe they’re having issues,” she said. “I couldn’t wait to get out. … Doing something wrong is bad enough, but when you’re doing something wrong and you’re in the middle of someone’s home or bed or whatever, that just puts a little stab in your heart.”

She later met Melania Trump at an event, she said.

McDougal said that the president was very proud of his daughter Ivanka and told McDougal she was “beautiful like her.” She says she decided to end the relationship in April 2007 because it was “tearing” her apart.

“What can you say except I’m sorry,” McDougal said. “I wouldn’t want it done to me.”

The tone of the interview was serious, as McDougal reflected on a relationship with a man she said she cared for deeply. Cooper even pried into intimate details, such as whether the two used protection when they had sex. (The answer, if you must know, was no.)

The near-constant chaos and upheaval of the Trump administration has seemed at times to drown out other news events that would have been central scandals during previous presidencies. McDougal’s story has surfaced recently, after weeks of reports about his alleged affair with the adult-film star Stormy Daniels.

It's been nearly two months since allegations surfaced of a past affair between President Trump and adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. Now Daniels is suing. (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post)

Daniels — who is scheduled for her own close-up with Anderson Cooper on the CBS program “60 Minutes” on Sunday — was paid $130,000 by Trump’s lawyer, Michael Cohen, to keep silent about the story before the election. She has also filed a lawsuit to void the confidentiality agreement, arguing in part that it was never signed by Trump.

McDougal told Cooper that Daniels’s decision “made a little bit of an impact” on her decision to speak out.

[ Trump company lawyer involved in effort to keep Stormy Daniels silent, document shows ]

The two women’s stories also appear to intersect.

McDougal described spending time with Trump at a 2006 golf tournament in Lake Tahoe — where Daniels has said she first met and formed a relationship with Trump.

“I knew he talked to ladies,” McDougal said, when asked by Cooper. “I thought I was the only one.”

Cooper asked her about a denial issued by then-campaign spokeswoman Hope Hicks in 2016 that the affair claim was “totally untrue.”

“I think somebody’s lying, and I can tell you it’s not me,” McDougal said.

McDougal said that she began discussions with AMI around the time that Trump secured the Republican nomination — not because she wanted to but because a friend had convinced her that she should own her story, which had started seeping out in rumors on social media. She considered sharing it with ABC’s news division, though they were not going to pay her, and she eventually backed out, she said.

Through negotiations with a lawyer that she had been connected with, Keith Davidson, AMI promised her the opportunity to write monthly columns for a couple of its magazines like Ok! and Star, and be featured on two covers, as part of a push to help her rebrand as an “older” model, she said.

The New Yorker reports that Karen McDougal was paid $150,000 by American Media Inc. for her story about an alleged affair with President Trump in 2006. (Reuters)

McDougal says she knew that they planned to squash the story, perhaps as a favor to Trump, adding that she now believes Cohen was involved — something alleged in her lawsuit, as well.

“What model wouldn’t want that?” she said of the deal she was offered. “It’s a win-win for me. I get the work, and my story doesn’t have to come out.”

The suit claims that Davidson worked secretly with AMI and Cohen as “part of a broad effort to silence and intimidate” her.

The $150,000 McDougal was paid for her story was split nearly evenly between her and Davidson — 45 percent went to the lawyer, the complaint says.

Davidson said he could not comment because of attorney-client privilege.

The White House, Cohen and AMI did not immediately respond to requests for comment.