چرا آمریکا و اسرائیل تا این حد به هم نزدیکند؟ (BBC)

داريوش همايی بخش فارسی بی بی سی - واشنگتن

	بعضی از تحلیلگران می گويند علت نزدیکی اسرائیل و آمریکا را باید در قدرتمندی لابی یا مجموعه محافل طرفدار اسرائیل در آمریکا جستجو کرد

در جنگ اخیر بین حزب الله لبنان و اسرائیل، دولت آمریکا با تقاضای آتش بس فوری که از سوی سازمان ملل طرح شد مخالفت کرد. دولت آمریکا استدلال می کرد که آتش بس فوری اگر به قطع حملات حزب الله منجر نشود بی فایده است.

شماری از صاحب نظران عقیده دارند که این سیاست آمریکا در واقع ناشی از قدرت لابی یا مجموعه سازمان های فعال مدافع اسرائیل است که در آمریکا بسیار فعال هستند.

آمریکا سالیانه سه میلیارد دلار کمک بلاعوض به اسرائیل می دهد. اگر این مبلغ را بین مردم اسرائیل تقسیم می کردند هر سال به هر اسرائیلی پانصد دلار می رسید. به علاوه، آمریکا متحد اصلی اسرائیل در عرصه بین المللی است.

گزارش راديويی در همين زمينه

چندین قطعنامه سازمان ملل در انتقاد یا محکومیت اسرائیل توسط آمریکا وتو شده و در جنگ اخیر هم آمریکا حاضر نشد تقاضا برای فشار بر اسرائیل در جهت آتش بس سریع در لبنان را بپذیرد.

توجه اصلی سیاست خارجی آمریکا در خاورمیانه این بوده که در جریان صدور نفت از منطقه وقفه ایی ایجاد نشود. جالب توجه است که آمریکا که هیچگاه برای دفاع از اسرائیل وارد جنگی نشده است در سال 1991 میلادی برای دفاع از کویت و عربستان سعودی وارد جنگ با عراق شد. جف وینتروب استاد دانشگاه پنسیلوانیا

دولت های دو کشور می گویند این نزدیکی نتیجه همخوانی منافع آمریکا و اسرائیل است چرا که هر دو کشور سخت درگیر "مبارزه با تروریسم بین المللی" هستند. خواه این تروریسم لباس القاعده به تن داشته باشد خواه به شکل موشک های حزب الله لبنان زندگی شهروندان اسرائیل را مختل کند.

اما بعضی از تحلیلگران در عین اینکه اشتراک منافع دو کشور و همخوانی دیدگاه های دو دولت را رد نمی کنند، می گویند علت نزدیکی اسرائیل و آمریکا را باید در قدرتمندی لابی یا مجموعه محافل طرفدار اسرائیل در آمریکا جستجو کرد. آیا واقعاً چنین است؟

یکی از این تحلیلگران، جان مرشایمر استاد دانشگاه شیکاگو است. او در مورد "کمیته روابط آمریکا و اسرائیل" موسوم به ایپک، که اصلی ترین سازمان درمجموعه لابی اسرائیل در آمریکاست، می گوید: "در واقع ایپک بین 250 تا 300 رای در مجلس نمایندگان کنگره آمریکا را در اختیار دارد. یعنی ایپک می تواند روی حمایت بیش از نیمی از کرسی های مجلس نمایندگان حساب کند. در مجلس دوم آمریکا، یعنی سنا هم وضع چندان متفاوت نیست. در اینجا شما با لابی قدرتمندی طرف هستی که می تواند سیاست خارجی آمریکا را به نفع اسرائیل تحت نفوذ قرار دهد.این وضعیت به سود منافع استراتژیک آمریکا نیست.من به آنهایی که می پرسند چرا این همه آمریکا در خاورمیانه با مشکل روبروست می گویم که یکی از دلایل اصلی آن همین نفوذ لابی اسرائیل در آمریکاست."

جان مرشایمر و یکی از همفکرانش به نام استیون والت که استاد دانشگاه هاروارد است چند ماه پیش این نظر را به تفصیل انتشار دادند. بعد از انتشار آن مقاله، انتقادات زیادی بر نظرات آن ها وارد شد و موضوع لابی اسرائیل به یکی از جنجالی ترین بحث ها در دانشگاه ها و رسانه های آمریکا تبدیل شد.

	رهبران آمريکا و اسرائيل می گویند نزدیکی دو کشور نتیجه همخوانی منافع آنهاست، چرا که هر دو کشور سخت درگیر "مبارزه با تروریسم بین المللی" هستند

یکی از این منتقدان جف وینتروب استاد دانشگاه پنسیلوانیا است. او می گوید: "توجه اصلی سیاست خارجی آمریکا در خاورمیانه این بوده که در جریان صدور نفت از منطقه وقفه ای ایجاد نشود. جالب توجه است که آمریکا که هیچگاه برای دفاع از اسرائیل وارد جنگی نشده است در سال 1991 میلادی برای دفاع از کویت و عربستان سعودی وارد جنگ با عراق شد.همچنین باید در نظر داشته باشید که آمریکا سالیانه دو میلیارد دلار به مصر کمک می کند و اگر شما بقیه کمک های آمریکا به کشور های عرب منطقه را در نظر بگیرید در می یابید که مجموع آن ها از کمک به اسرائیل بیشتر می شود."

اما جان مرشایمر می گوید پولی که به مصر و بعضی دولت های دیگر منطقه داده می شود در واقع برای تشویق آنان به ادامه تفاهم با اسرائیل است. آیا واقعاً چنین است و لابی اسرائیل باعث می شود حتی کمک آمریکا به بعضی از کشورهای عرب منطقه ناشی از سیاست حمایت از اسرائیل باشد؟

جف وینتروب می گوید که چنین نیست و نباید نفوذ لابی های دیگر بر سیاست خارجی آمریکا را فراموش کرد.

پولی که به مصر و بعضی دولت های دیگر منطقه داده می شود در واقع برای تشویق آنان به ادامه تفاهم با اسرائیل است. آیا واقعاً چنین است و لابی اسرائیل باعث می شود حتی کمک آمریکا به بعضی از کشورهای عرب منطقه ناشی از سیاست حمایت از اسرائیل باشد؟ جان مرشایمر استاد دانشگاه شیکاگو

به عقيده وی "نفوذ لابی عربستان سعودی بر دستگاه مجریه آمریکا بسیار بیشتر ازنفوذ لابی اسرائیل است. فراموش نکنید که حاکمان عربستان سعودی از دوستان خانواده جورج بوش هستند. بنابراین نباید نفوذ بر قوه مقننه یعنی کنگره آمریکا را بر تمامی دستگاه سیاسی آمریکا تعمیم داد. من می توانم ده لابی دیگر را در آمریکا نام ببرم که از لابی اسرائیل قویترند که یکی از آن ها لابی نفت است. مثلاً دفتر ریچارد چنی، معاون رئیس جمهور، از منافع شرکت های بزرگ نفتی حمایت می کند حال آنکه آقای چنی هیچ مناسباتی با لابی اسرائیل ندارد."

اما گری سیک از اعضای پیشین شورای امنیت ملی آمریکا می گوید که نمی توان در عرصه سیاست خارجی، لابی نفت را با لابی اسرائیل قابل مقایسه دانست.

او می گويد: "لابی نفت در آمریکا در زمینه مسائل بین الملل و بخصوص در زمینه مسائل خاورمیانه بسیار ساکت بوده چرا که در سا ل های اخیر متهم شده که از محل جنگ سود اندوزی می کند و منافع استراتژیک ملی را مد نظر ندارد. در ضمن لابی نفت به اندازه لابی اسرائیل متشکل نیست. البته صدای شرکت های بزرگ نفتی مثل اگزان موبیل این سو و آن سو شنیده می شود اما آن ها از نظر فعالیت مستمر و متمرکز روی موضوعات خاص سیاسی، قابل مقایسه با لابی طرفدار اسرائیل نیستند."

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توضیح: گفته های جان مرشایمر و استیون والت از مصاحبه آنان با شبکه خبری سی اسپن وابسته به کنگره آمریکا برداشته شده است. آدرس این شبکه:
http://www.c-span.org/

مقاله مرشایمر و والت در نشریه "بررسی کتاب لندن" در انتقاد از لابی اسرائیل
http://www.lrb.co.uk/v28/n06/mear01_.html

مقاله آلن درشویتز از منتقدان اصلی مرشایر و والت. او معتقد است لابی اسرائیل از ابزارهای دمکراسی خوب استفاده می کند و می پرسد آیا این یک گناه است؟
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Israel_Lobby_and_U.S._Foreign_Policy

مقاله مایکل مسینگ از نویسندگان نیویورک تایمزکه به بحث لابی اسرائیل در آمریکا دامن زد.
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/19062

آدرس اینترنتی "کمیته روابط آمریکا واسرائیل" موسوم به ایپک
http://www.aipac.org/

Ahmadinejad accused of indecency

The gesture that got Mahmoud Ahmadinejad into trouble

Iran's president has come under fire from a conservative newspaper after he publicly kissed the hand of a woman who used to be his school teacher.

Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, a conservative by the standards of Iranian politics, was attacked by the Hezbollah newspaper for acting "contrary to Sharia law".

It accused him of "indecency and violating religious values".

The elderly woman at the centre of the controversy was wearing thick gloves, a headscarf, and a long black coat.

Ahmadinejad, better known in the west for his fiery anti-Israel rhetoric and his staunch defence of Iran's nuclear program, has been criticised in the past by ultra-conservative elements in Iran.

He once suggested that women should be allowed to watch football matches. This proved highly controversial and was turned down.

Turkey 'must have secular leader'

Abdullah Gul is expected to be elected president

Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul has pledged to adhere to secular principles if, as expected, he is elected president.

PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan announced on Tuesday that Mr Gul had been named the governing AK party's candidate.

The decision came after thousands had taken to the streets to urge Mr Erdogan not to stand.

Secularists fear that a president from the AK - a party with Islamist roots - could undermine Turkey's secular order.

Mr Gul insisted that "the president must be loyal to secular principles", adding: "If I am elected I will act accordingly".

Both Mr Erdogan and Mr Gul have wives who wear the Islamic headscarf - a highly divisive issue in Turkey.

Mr Gul (right) was cheered in the AK-dominated parliament Analysis: Tense election

Mr Gul defended the headscarf choice on Tuesday, saying "these are individual preferences and everybody should respect them".

Parliament will hold the first round of voting on Friday and the AK's majority means its candidate is likely to win.

Turkey has been a republic since 1923, with a strict separation of religion and the state.

The AK party has its roots in political Islam.

But correspondents say that Mr Gul is seen as less confrontational than Mr Erdogan.

Establishment pressure

Turkey's chief of staff, Gen Yasar Buyukanit, and outgoing President Ahmet Necdet Sezer have urged the new president to defend Turkey's secular values.

Speaking to the AK group in parliament, Mr Erdogan said Mr Gul was "the person who emerged at the end of our evaluations as the candidate to become Turkey's 11th president".

There will be several rounds of voting in the 550-member parliament before the new head of state takes office on 16 May.

Mr Gul, 56, has steered Turkey's European Union accession talks since becoming foreign minister in 2003.

He had a brief spell as prime minister after the AK party's election victory in November 2002.

Educated in England as well as Turkey, he is an English speaker and is regarded as a moderate, the BBC's Pam O'Toole reports.

Microsoft aims to double PC base

The OLPC project is also trying to bridge the digital divide

Microsoft software will sell for just $3 (£1.50) in some parts of
the world in an attempt to double the number of global PC users.

The firm wants to bring computing to a further one billion people by 2015.

Governments in developing countries can purchase the cut-price software, if they provide free PCs for schools.

Other companies and organisations are also trying to boost computer literacy in developing countries, notably the One Laptop per Child project.

The OLPC are in the final stages of developing a low cost, durable laptop, designed to
work specifically in an educational context.

Millions of laptops will be start to be delivered to developing nations this summer.

This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business Orlando Ayala

The eventual aim is to sell the machine to developing countries for $100 but the current cost of the machine is about $150.

The first countries to sign up to buying the machine, which is officially dubbed XO, include Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Rwanda, Nigeria and Libya.

Business drive

The Microsoft initiative was launched by Bill Gates in Beijing under the banner of its Unlimited Potential scheme, a program aimed at bridging the digital divide.

The scheme aims to bring the benefit of computing technology to the remaining five sixths of the world's population, who currently live without it.

Intel have developed the low-cost Classmate PC

"Bringing the benefits of technology to the next five billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities," said
Microsoft chairman Bill Gates. One of the first products, that is hoped will reach the next billion people is the Microsoft's student Innovation Suite.

The package includes Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office
Home and Student 2007, as well as other educational software.

The $3 package will start to be sold to governments in the second half of 2007.

"This is not a philanthropic effort, this is a business," Orlando Ayala of Microsoft told the Reuter's news agency.

In many developing countries, pirated versions of Microsoft software are sold very cheaply.

Governments will be required to provide free computers to schools, capable of running Windows, to be eligible for the discounted software.

The scheme is one of many launched by organisations and big business to address the digital divide.

Search giant Google allows anyone to download its Google Apps, which includes spreadsheet, word processing and email programs, for free. In countries such as Egypt, Kenya and Rwanda, Google has also provided engineers and technical support.

In addition, chip-maker Intel has developed the Classmate PC, while its rival AMD has launched a scheme called 50x15 that aims to put computer technology in the hands of half of the world's population by 2015.

Iran dam opens amid heritage fear

By Frances Harrison BBC News, Tehran

Sivand dam is a massive project that will benefit many farmers

A new dam is due to open in southern Iran amid criticism it will flood an ancient site holding archaeological relics dating back 7,000 years.

The government says the Sivand dam in the Bolaghi gorge is needed by farmers in an area that has become desert.

Heritage activists have appealed to the president to postpone the flooding by some years so excavation can continue.

Archaeologists have discovered ancient wine making vessels, clay kilns and prehistoric caves in the area.

Many relics have been removed to be placed in a museum, but the site itself will be flooded which conservationists argue will be a huge loss.

But the government's going ahead with the inauguration of the dam because farmers in the area desperately need water for irrigation.

Persian empire

There has been much confusion about exactly what damage to Iran's ancient sites the Sivand dam will do.

Archaeologists, including foreign teams, have been working to excavate remains in the gorge that is to be flooded.

They found pools and clay pots belonging to an ancient wine workshop, though today grapes no longer grow in the area.

And 7,000 year old clay kilns have been unearthed, along with prehistoric caves and a unique seven-kilometre stone boundary wall that some believe once enclosed a hunting ground 2,500 years ago.

What has worried some experts is that the dam is very close to Cyrus the Great's tomb and his palace, monuments honouring the founder of the Persian empire.

Some experts argue that the dam will increase humidity in the area, sharply exacerbating an already serious problems with lichen eating away at the 2,500-year-old stones.

The controversy of the Sivand dam has highlighted the bitter struggle between those who want to modernise and develop Iran at any cost and heritage experts who want society to place a greater value on the country's rich ancient heritage and do more to preserve it

French Muslim graves desecrated

Thousands of North African soldiers fought for France in WWI

Nazi slogans and swastikas have been daubed on about 50 graves in the Muslim section of a French WWI cemetery.

The military cemetery, near Arras in the north of France, is one of the country's biggest and is on the site of some of the war's early battles.

French President Jacques Chirac said the desecration "was an unspeakable act that scars the conscience".

About 78,000 colonial subjects of France, including many Muslims from North Africa, died in the war.

Rival presidential candidates Segolene Royal and Nicolas Sarkozy also condemned the vandalism.

"This desecration is all the more shocking because it affects the graves of fighters who gave their lives for France," Mr Chirac said in a statement.

The official prosecutor's office said none of the graves had been destroyed.

Final rallies in French election

Mr Sarkozy has been trying to shed his tough-guy image

The main candidates in the French presidential election have held their final campaign rallies.

A new opinion poll indicates that centre-right candidate Nicolas Sarkozy is still leading with 29%, ahead of the Socialist Segolene Royal at 25%.

The BVA poll also showed the centrist candidate Francois Bayrou slipping a few points to 15%.

But at least one-third of voters remain undecided ahead of Sunday's first round. A runoff is expected on 6 May.

All four main candidates headed south for their last rallies.

Click to see leading candidates' poll ratings

Mr Sarkozy appeared before 12,000 cheering supporters packed into a conference hall in Marseille, trying once again to shed the tough image he gained as interior minister.

"To unite the French people, to be able to speak on their behalf, to be able to govern, you must be able to love," he said.

He was joined on stage by footballer Basile Boli and a range of former prime ministers and ministers.

Thumping rock music

Spain's Socialist Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero appeared with Segolene Royal in the south-western city of Toulouse.

To the sound of thumping rock music and the cheers of about 15,000 supporters, she promised a "fairer and stronger" France.

"A France that does not discriminate against a job seeker because he does not have the right skin colour, the right name, the right address. This will be the fight."

Ms Royal promised to build a "fairer and stronger" France Europe Diary: A useful vote

Not far away in the town of Pau, Francois Bayrou, leader of the Union for French Democracy (UDF), said rising tensions in France concerned him.

"I want France to be secure and calmed," he said.

Far-right National Front leader Jean-Marie Le Pen, currently polling about 13%, spoke in the party's Riviera stronghold of Nice.

He said a "great national wave will sweep away the oligarchy". He came a surprise second in the 2002 election, beating the Socialist candidate to run against Jacques Chirac in the runoff.

Hard to predict

An editorial in the French daily Le Monde urged voters to send Mr Sarkozy and Ms Royal into the second round, saying it was important for two differing "visions of society" to be represented in the runoff.

There are more than one million newly registered voters, the biggest increase in 25 years. Many of them are young people or French living abroad, whose voting intentions are hard to gauge, BBC European affairs correspondent Oana Lungescu reports.

Another novelty is the use of electronic voting machines in some districts, criticised by the Socialists and some other opposition parties as dangerously unreliable. They will be used by 1.5 million voters.

Six out of 10 voters say they trust neither the left nor the right to govern the country, and one in eight is ready to switch allegiance, Oana Lungescu reports.

Ms Royal hopes to become France's first woman president, but left-wing voters are among the most volatile, surveys suggest. She has several rivals on the left who could undermine her support.

Le Pen urges halt to immigration

By Emma Jane Kirby BBC News, Paris

Mr Le Pen stunned France by reaching the second round in 2002

Jean-Marie Le Pen has been in politics for more than 50 years, but at his rally at Porte de Versailles in Paris the crowd greet him as if he was the hottest new act in politics.

Some 5-6,000 people waving flags crammed into the stadium on Sunday to cheer on the National Front leader. The overspill who could not fit in still screamed their approval through the open doors.

"I'm voting for the first time," 19-year-old Frederic told me. "And I'm voting Le Pen because immigration is a serious problem in France - that's not racist, it's realistic and Le Pen will deal with the problem, while candidates like Sarkozy and Royal just pretend it's not happening."

Thirty-five years after the National Front party was founded, stopping immigration remains its dominant theme. Mr Le Pen warned the crowd that France was in danger from the thousands of immigrants who arrive in the country each year.

"This is just the start of mass immigration," he warned from the podium. "If we do nothing, we will be submerged."

Racism debate

Last year a French court convicted the 78-year-old far-right leader of inciting racial hatred. But when I mention this to his supporters they insist he is not racist, just braver than most politicians in tackling taboo subjects.

France's vital statistics Send us your comments

Eric now lives in London but has come back to Paris for the day just to hear Mr Le Pen talk. "I don't care about racial issues - that's life and it's not my problem. Le Pen is a great guy because he will take action and France needs someone to take action."

Surprisingly perhaps, a recent survey suggests that up to 8% of French Muslims will vote National Front on 22 April.

Fayid Smahi, a regional councillor and National Front member in Paris, claims Mr Le Pen offers much more wholesome values than mainstream politicians.

"Above everything it's his family values we share. When we're eating our dinner, watching TV at night and we see two homosexual men kissing, it upsets us. As Muslims, and as decent French citizens, it shocks us."

Mr Smahi is convinced that Mr Le Pen also offers more hope to second-generation integrated Muslims who face prejudice because of their colour or race.

"Why is there this fundamental injustice in France? Because we are called Fayid, Zubeida, Monir? We are French citizens, have masters degrees, and yet we only get jobs at fast food restaurants. Well, if Mr Le Pen gets elected we will get proper jobs because he believes in putting French citizens - and that's what we are - first."

Solid support

Browsing in the National Front shop at the rally, among the flashing lapel pins and Le Pen baseball caps, a T-shirt catches my eye. On the breast pocket is a cartoon of an Arab man in Middle Eastern dress, laden with bags and suitcases. It carries the slogan "Bon Voyage Mate!"

France was horrified when Mr Le Pen came second in the 2002 presidential race, but that sense of shock has had no negative effect on his ratings.

The polls currently put him in fourth place and suggest that with between 13 and 16% he could get his highest score yet.

For the thousands of people at the rally who enthusiastically yell their support, it is worth remembering that many more voters will show their approval for the National Front more quietly at the ballot box on 22 April.

More than 150 dead in Iraq blasts

At least 157 people have been killed in a string of attacks in Iraq's capital, Baghdad, security officials say.
In the deadliest incident, some 115 people were killed in a car bombing in a food market in Sadriya district.

An attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City and several other explosions left at least another 42 people dead.

The attacks came as Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said Iraqi forces would assume control of the country's security by the end of the year.

On Monday, the Iraqi parliament bloc loyal to radical cleric Moqtada Sadr withdrew from the cabinet, demanding Mr Maliki set a timetable for a US troop withdrawal.

'Unidentifiable'

The bomb in Shia-dominated Sadriya was reportedly left in a parked car and exploded at about 1600 (1200 GMT) in the middle of a crowd of workers and shoppers.

BAGHDAD ATTACKS Sadriya: Car bomb kills at least 115 at market Sadr City: Car bomb kills at least 30 at checkpoint Karrada: Car bomb near private hospital kills at least 10 al-Shurja: Minibus bomb kills at least two people In pictures: Baghdad carnage Bombs mar handover plan

The market was being rebuilt after it was destroyed by a bombing in February which killed more than 130 people.

The powerful bomb started a fire which swept over cars and minibuses parked nearby, burning many people and sending a large plume of smoke over Baghdad.

One witness told the Reuters news agency that many of the victims were women and children.

"I saw dozens of dead bodies," the man said. "Some people were burned alive inside minibuses. Nobody could reach them after the explosion.

"There were pieces of flesh all over the place."

About an hour earlier, a suicide car bomb attack on a police checkpoint in Sadr City killed 30 people.

Another parked car bomb killed at least 10 people near a hospital in the Karrada district of Baghdad, while in al-Shurja district at least two people were killed by a bomb left on a minibus.

Car and suicide bombings have occurred almost daily in Baghdad in recent months, despite a US-led security crackdown since February.

The bombers are proving that they can slip through the tightened security net and defy the clampdown, says the BBC's Jim Muir in Baghdad.

Security handover

Most of the attacks have been in Shia areas, increasing pressure for the Shia militias to step up their campaign of reprisal killings against the Sunni community in which the insurgents are based, says our correspondent.

As Baghdad was rocked by explosions, security in Maysan province to the south was transferred from British to Iraqi control.

Iraq's national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie said the three provinces of the autonomous Kurdish region would be next.

"Then it will be province by province until we achieve [the complete transfer] before the end of the year," he said in a speech at the handover ceremony delivered on behalf of Prime Minister Maliki.

The attacks in Baghdad came as officials from more than 60 countries attended a UN conference in Geneva on the plight of Iraqi refugees.

The UN estimates up to 50,000 people flee the violence in Iraq each month.

MAJOR ATTACKS

6 March 2007: 90 killed in double suicide bombing in Hilla

3 Feb 2007: 130 killed in lorry bomb in Baghdad's market in mainly Shia area

2 Dec 2006: More than 50 killed in car bombs in same Baghdad market

23 Nov 2006: 200 killed in wave of car bombings and mortar blasts in Baghdad's Shia Sadr City

7 April 2006: 85 killed in triple suicide bombing at Shia mosque in Baghdad