Senior Fatah cadre rejects call to revoke Hamas pact

[bemildred]

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories — A senior Palestinian official from president Mahmud Abbas's Fatah movement on Thursday rejected Israeli calls to revoke a recent unity deal with Gaza's Hamas rulers.

Speaking on a rare visit to the Gaza Strip, Nabil Shaath told reporters that Fatah, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, was completely committed to its reconciliation with its Islamist former rivals.

"I am here to confirm that despite what you have heard from Washington, we are adamant about unity and the scrupulous implementation of the terms that will allow complete unity, the reconstruction of Gaza and the establishment of a Palestinian state," said Shaath, a member of Fatah's central committee.

His remarks came just days after Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu publicly urged Abbas to abandon his agreement with Hamas, during an address to the US Congress.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5jlD_0eJhc3wbyV1XIUf-19TEE2_w?docId=CNG.80b23b06b8797cf929365dd8d249e49a.931

[tootrueleft]

1. Peace has broken out. No more divide and conquer. Bibis worst nightmare.....

[azurnoir]

2. Cadre? my the rhetoric is getting 'rich' isn't it? n/t

[bemildred]

3. I hardly notice anymore, but you are right, why not "official" or "leader"? nt

[oberliner]

9. Because they are French?

Just a theory.

[bemildred]

10. It's perfectly good English, and the meaning is wrong.

English has a lot of words that came from French, Normans and all that.

[oberliner]

11. The meaning is perfectly correct

The word was used properly in the headline.

[bemildred]

13. Whatever you say. nt

[oberliner]

14. It's not what I say

Choose your favorite dictionary or online equivalent and look up the word.

Edit to add: "A member of a group leading a political faction" is the definition I found to be most apt.

[bemildred]

15. LOL.

:hi:

[oberliner]

17. I don't get the joke

Seriously, if you could explain to me what your issue with the use of the word "cadre" was, I would genuinely appreciate it.

[bemildred]

18. I was just agreeing with Azurnoir, that the usage was not appropriate.

You disagree, you think it's perfect. I don't really see what you expect me to do about that. I'm not really in a position to make you think anything you don't want to. English usage is not like math, people disagree, things change. I'll tell you what, check out the OED entry for the word, there are 3 usages there, that's where I'm coming from.

[oberliner]

19. OK

I haven't got an OED subscription (or a hard copy) so I am not able to check out what you are saying.

I can only go by the free online dictionary sites all of which list the definition that I provided.

In any case, I agree that it is not a word you see every day in that context, but I don't think that it ought to be taken as a pejorative.

Is there a negative connotation that you believe was intended by the author?

[bemildred]

20. It's not a pejorative, and I don't know what the author meant.

The real issue is the headline, which may not be the authors, often isn't these days.

"Cadre" generally appears in two contexts: military organization and training structure, and communist/marxist party organization and structure, and by generalization to military-like or revolutionary hierarchical and dogmatic proselytizing organizations. It seem inappropriate to me for a member of the central committee of Fatah, but the problem lies in the connotations of the usage, the literal meaning is arguable. Even there it is not pejorative as such, it just suggests he is a revolutionary or a commie or that Fatah is a military organization, it leads to inappropriate associations.

[shaayecanaan]

4. He was being romantic I suppose...

'"I bring a message from Fatah and from Abu Mazen that we are going to apply measures to achieve unity, and neither Netanyahu nor anyone else will prevent it," he said, using Abbas's nom de guerre.'

Nom de guerre...sounds like someone has been reading Homage to Catalonia and wanted to inject a bit of literary flair into his mundane AFP copy.

[bemildred]

5. What, you mock the feisty rebel leader?

Still, you gotta admit, the situation has become more interesting, having Fatah and Hamas make up was not something I expected to happen this soon.

[King_David]

6. Arab Spring nt

[bemildred]

7. Did we give them a color yet?

Ukraine was Orange I remember. But that's confusing, people could get it mixed up with the threat level colors that the Bushites invented to spook the herd. So maybe "Spring" is better, less scary. Bunnies and flowers and birds twittering.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_revolution

[sabbat hunter]

12. I think that it has been called

the green revolution.

[bemildred]

16. That was Iran wasn't it? Didn't pan out, so far. nt

[oberliner]

8. Agence France-Presse is a French news outlet

It is hardly surprising that they would use a French expression.