Who are they?

The usual suspects: a Frenchman named Robert Faurisson, a Saudi called Abdullah Mohamed Sindi and an American named Arthur Butz.

For decades they flourished in the Arab/Muslim intellectual world attracting little attention. In 1983, when Mahmoud Abbas published his version entitled The Other Side: The Secret Relationship between Nazism and the Zionist Movement, no one paid attention. By the 1990s, holocaust denial became routine. Indeed, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's April 2001 Ahmadinejad-like remark went unnoticed:

There is evidence which shows that Zionists had close relations with German Nazis and exaggerated statistics on Jewish killings. There is even evidence on hand that a large number of non-Jewish hooligans and thugs of Eastern Europe were forced to migrate to Palestine as Jews. The purpose was to install in the heart of the Islamic world an anti-Islamic state under the guise of supporting the victims of racism and to create a rift between the East and the West of the Islamic world.

Then came the Second Intifada and opened the Pandora Box the West has refused to see. The MSM has never been anxious to explore the underside of those it considers hapless victims but the Internet helped by translation sites as MEMRI joined with the reenergized Jewish organizations and begun forcing its hand. Its first success came when Rafik Harriri, then still Lebanon's Prime Minister, ordered the cancellation of the planned April 2001 Holocaust denial conference in Beirut. 9/11 intensified the light focused on the horror contained in that box and eventually convinced the Arab/Muslim intellectual elite that outright Holocaust denial is a self defeating strategy.

It is a small wonder that these holocaust denying professors, annoyed with their growing isolation, are thrilled to find a new sponsor. The more important question is what will be the price we ( not the Europeans ) will have to pay to make sure that the Iranian does not have the opportunity denied to Hitler, that of getting his finger on the nuclear button.

Similarly, the Israeli paper also emphasizes that DNA findings"provide evidence of shared maternal ancestry between Ashkenazi and non-Ashkenazi (Sephardi and Oriental) Jews."

Yes, we are family and, personally, I will be delighted if geneticists prove that ultimately we are all descended from Adam and Eve. Hence, as the rabbis have taught,"no one can say my parent is better than your parent."

While the al-Qaeda claim is unconfirmed, it is indeed possible that Zarqawi has operatives in Lebanon that executed the attacks. From a strategic perspective, whether they did or not pales in comparison to the clear statement of intent of al-Qaeda going forward to directly engage Israel. This intent should not be lost or discounted.

Of course, that is not news to Debka readers.

Four questions interest me:

1. Is Zarqawi's claim of responsibility a sign that he wants to distract attention from his strategic defeat in Iraq?

2. Does Hizbulah's unusual denial of responsibility mean that it fears that turning South Lebanon into a battlefield would cost it votes during the next elections? Is Lebanon really fed up with demagogic speeches?

3. Is the unleashing of the missiles an act of desperation by the Syrian regime? Does the attack on Bashar Assad delivered by the ex-vice president, Khalim Haddam, over al Arabia TV Friday mean that the regime is beginning to crack?

4. Can another round of Arab-Israeli war be avoided?

It is difficult to overestimate the importance of the interview Abd al-Halim Khaddam, the former Syrian vice president, gave to Al Arabia for the simple reason that he is a member of the Sunni majority in an minority dominate Alwaite (a Shia sect) regime. In the interview, Khaddam accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of threatening Mr Hariri just months before his murder in February 2005. The delighted Saad Hariri called it"historic testimony." It should be noted that like the murdered Hariri with whom he had a complicated relationship, Khaddam and his family enjoy the added protection of a dual Syrian - Saudi citizenship.

But while the world focuses on the Lebanese angel, the Syrian regime was much more concerned with his attack on its performance. Umeima Faddoul, a Syrian legislator, said:

"I ask the Syrian leadership to try him ... for humiliating 10 million Syrians when he said half of the Syrian people are eating from the garbage."

Indeed, Khaddam, who resigned the vice presidency in June, said he did so because"he was 'convinced that the process of development and reforms, be they political, economic or administrative, will not succeed' and preferred to choose 'the motherland' over 'the regime.'"

Syrian Sunnis may be just as interested in holding on to Lebanon as the Alwaites are and they may care little about Hariri but they care plenty about their standard of living and may heed the call to overthrow the autocratic minority rule. Let us not forget, if democracy in Iraq means Shia rule, democracy in Syria means Sunni rule as Sunnis make up 80% of the population.

Khaddam also implied that he may reveal more (in a book?):"I have many things to say, serious things, when the time is right."

On the other hand, he"also said that his relationship with al-Assad remained 'amicable'." Perhaps he tried to separate Bashir from his father's cronies. A Syrian website reports that Khaddam said that, while he plans to stay in Paris, his family will return to Damascus. A person writing under the pseudonym, The Foxes Of Syria, correctly doubted that possibility:

Khaddam sons are finished in Syria. All what they own was for sale at any price. They have Saudi Passports since the 80's so I suspect they might be safe. They could intemidate Bashar by returning as a prelude for the Saudis breaking hell loose over Bashar in case he touches them.

By ousting Khaddam from the Baath Party and suggesting that he be tried for treason, the regime must have ended any ideas members of his family may have had of returning to Damascus but they must have good internal connections helpful for a velvet revolution.

So, the real question is: how many more blows can the Syrian regime absorb? Dr. Eyal Zisser believes at least a few more. I believe the Sunnis are anxious to make up for the loss of Iraq and no one knows that better than the Iranians.

Of course, India's progress isn't simple. The best engineers get snapped up by industry, so it's hard to find decent teachers to staff Vellore and other engineering schools. As a result, many of the new colleges teach kids little of value, and some science graduates end up unemployed. But the story of Vellore points to an important lesson. Apparently unconnected development policies -- cuts in tariffs and oppressive business regulation, or projects to build roads and power grids -- can sometimes stimulate new educational enrollment at least as much as direct investments in colleges or schools.