Tensions high in Syria as Russia blocks UN action

Tension was high on the streets of Syrian cities Friday after the city of Hama, which has seen hundreds of violent incidents during the last 11 months of protests against the regime of president Bashar Assad, was virtually locked down by security forces to prevent residents from commemorating the 30th anniversary of an even bigger massacre carried out there by Assad’s father in 1982. Despite the security lockdown in the city there were scattered incidents of protests and memorials in various cities and in front of Syrian embassies in many countries around the world. Meanwhile, Russia continued to block action against Assad at the UN in New York despite passionate appeals by Syrian opposition groups and diplomats from several Arab and Western countries. Russia has warned that unless the text of a resolution on resolving the crisis in Syria explicitly rule out a Libya-style military intervention, or it will use its Security Council veto. Russia also opposes a weapons embargo on Syria and/or a tightening of economic sanctions on the country.

West Bank Palestinians refuse Israeli assistance
Environmental Protection Ministry and Shomron Regional Council officials led reporters on a tour of the West Bank on Thursday, explaining that part of the problems Palestinian villages suffer from comes from their own refusal to accept Israeli development assistance. As an example, they showed reporters raw sewage running in a stream in Samaria which comes from some of the 21 Palestinian villages who have refused an offer to be connected to a pipe which carries the sewage from Jewish communities to a treatment plant in Eliyahu. “That’s a testament to the fact that we are doing everything we can to prevent pollution in Judea and Samaria, but nevertheless, the Palestinians refuse to cooperate,” Environmental Protection Minister Gilad Erdan told The Jerusalem Post.

Iran launches spy satellite into orbit
Hamid Fazeili, chief of Iran’s Space Organization announced on Friday morning that the Islamic Republic had successfully launched the Navid observation satellite which "will be placed into orbit between 250 and 270 kilometers." It is the third such satellite launched by Iran since early 2009 in what Israeli officials fear is a growing constellation of satellites with the ability to spy on the Jewish State. Officials have also expressed worries that the program to build rockets for launching satellites into orbit could also be a cover for developing skills and industries necessary for Iran’s ballistic missile program.

Indictments issued in murder of Christian leader
The Tel Aviv District Attorney’s office served an indictment charging three members of Jaffa’s Arab Christian community with the murder of the city’s Orthodox Church Association. Attorney Gabriel “Gabi” Cadis was stabbed to death on January 6, the day Orthodox Christians celebrate Christmas, during a parade to mark the holiday. According to the indictment, 55-year-old Talal Abu Maneh recruited his two nephews, 24-year-old Tawfik Dalo, 26- year-old Fuad Abu Maneh, to murder Cadis as a way to settle a legal dispute between the family and the Association over an apartment on Ahiluf Street in Jaffa’s increasingly expensive Ajami neighborhood.

Rare Israeli victory at the UN
Israel saw a rare moral and political victory at the UN Thursday when one of her diplomats was seated on the executive board of the United Nations Development Program, a top UN agency which supports projects in 177 countries promoting health and other human development issues. “This is a milestone in Israel’s integration to the global agenda of the UN,” Israel’s Deputy Permanent Representative Haim Waxman said. “Furthermore, this is the expression of a journey that we have taken from being a developing nation born in adversity to becoming a developed nation, a member of the OECD and now a full member of the UNDP as a representative of the West.”