World Terrorism: News, History and Research Of A Changing World.

First in Europe and now in the United States, Muslim groups have petitioned to establish enclaves in which they can uphold and enforce greater compliance to Islamic law. While the U.S. Constitution enshrines the right to religious freedom and the prohibition against a state religion, when it comes to the rights of religious enclaves to impose communal rules, the dividing line is more nebulous. Can U.S. enclaves, homeowner associations, and other groups enforce Islamic law?

Such questions are no longer theoretical. While Muslim organizations first established enclaves in Europe,[1] the trend is now crossing the Atlantic. Some Islamist community leaders in the United States are challenging the principles of assimilation and equality once central to the civil rights movement, seeking instead to live according to a separate but equal philosophy. The Gwynnoaks Muslim Residential Development group, for example, has established an informal enclave in Baltimore because, according to John Yahya Cason, director of the Islamic Education and Community Development Initiative, a Baltimore-based Muslim advocacy group, "there was no community in the U.S. that showed the totality of the essential components of Muslim social, economic, and political structure."[2]

Baltimore is not alone. In August 2004, a local planning commission in Little Rock, Arkansas, granted The Islamic Center for Human Excellence authorization to build an internal Islamic enclave to include a mosque, a school, and twenty-two homes.[3] While the imam, Aquil Hamidullah, says his goal is to create "a clean community, free of alcohol, drugs, and free of gangs,"[4] the implications for U.S. jurisprudence of this and other internal enclaves are greater: while the Little Rock enclave might prevent the sale of alcohol, can it punish possession and in what manner? Can it force all women, be they residents or visitors, to don Islamic hijab (headscarf)? Such enclaves raise the fundamental questions of when, how, and to what extent religious practice may supersede the U.S. Constitution.

The Internal Muslim Enclave The internal Muslim enclave proposed by the Islamic Center for Human Excellence in Arkansas represents a new direction for Islam in the United States. The group seeks to transform a loosely organized Muslim population into a tangible community presence. The group has foreign financial support: it falls under the umbrella of a much larger Islamic group, "Islam 4 the World," an organization sponsored by Sharjah, one of the constituent emirates of the United Arab Emirates.[5] While the Islamic Center for Human Excellence has yet to articulate detailed plans for its Little Rock enclave, the group's reliance on foreign funding is troublesome. Past investments by the United Arab Emirates' rulers and institutions have promoted radical interpretations of Islam. [6]

The Islamic Center for Human Excellence may seek to segregate schools and offices by gender. The enclave might also exercise broad control upon commerce within its boundaries—provided the economic restrictions did not discriminate against out-of-state interests or create an undue burden upon interstate commerce. But most critically, the enclave could promulgate every internal law—from enforcing strict religious dress codes to banning alcohol possession and music; it could even enforce limits upon religious and political tolerance. Although such concepts are antithetical to a free society, U.S. democracy allows the internal enclave to function beyond the established boundaries of our constitutional framework. At the very least, the permissible parameters of an Islamist enclave are ill defined.

The greater American Muslim community's unapologetic and public manifestation of belief in a separate but equal ideology does not bode well. In September 2004, the New Jersey branch of the Islamic Circle of North America rented Six Flags Adventure Park in New Jersey for "The Great Muslim Adventure Day." The advertisement announcing the event stated: "The entire park for Muslims only." While legal—and perhaps analogous to corporate or other non-religious groups renting facilities, the advertisement expressly implied a mindset that a proof of faith was required for admission to the park. In his weblog, commentator Daniel Pipes raises a relevant and troubling question about the event: because it is designated for Muslims only, "Need one recite the shahada to enter the fairgrounds?"[7]

While U.S. law might give such Muslims-only events the benefit of the doubt, flexibility may not go both ways. There is precedent of Islamists taking advantage of liberal flexibility to more extreme ends. Canada provides a useful example into how Islamist groups can exploit liberal legal tolerance. In 1991, Ontario, Canada, passed a seemingly innocuous law called the "Arbitration Act."[8] This act permitted commercial, religious, or such other designated arbitrators to settle civil disputes outside the Canadian justice system so long as the result did not contradict Canadian law. Like U.S. authorities are beginning to do now, Canadian legislators decided to give religious groups the benefit of the doubt, assuming that they would still hold national law to be paramount.

In October 2003, under the auspices of the Ontario legislation, the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice created Muslim arbitration boards and stated its intent to arbitrate on the basis of Islamic law.[9] A national furor erupted, particularly among Canadian Muslim women's groups that opposed the application of traditional Islamic (Shari‘a) laws that would supersede their far more liberal and egalitarian democratic rights. After nearly two years of legal wrangling, the premier of Ontario, Dalton McGuinty, held that religious-based arbitrations "threaten our common ground," and announced, "There will be no Shari‘a law in Ontario. There will be no religious arbitration in Ontario. There will be one law for all Ontarians."[10] On November 15, 2005, McGuinty's provincial government submitted legislation to amend the arbitration act to abrogate, in effect, all religious arbitration.[11] Requests for Muslim enclaves within larger U.S. communities may signal that U.S. jurisprudence will soon be faced with a similar conundrum. Islamist exceptionalism can abuse the tolerance liberal societies have traditionally extended to interface between religious and secular law.

Prior to the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice demands to impose Shari‘a, the Arbitration Act worked well. Unfortunately for Canadian Jews, the repeal ended state-enforcement of agreements reached by the use of a millennia-old rabbinical court system called beit din (house of law) that had for decades quietly settled marriage, custody, and business disputes. Joel Richler, Ontario region chairman of the Canadian Jewish Congress, expressed his lament: "If there have been any problems flowing from any rabbinical court decisions, I'm not aware of them."[12] Canadian Catholics likewise were stopped from being able to annul marriages according to Canon Law and avoid undue entanglement in civil courts. Abuse of the spirit of the law, though, ended up curtailing local liberty. Rather than soften the edge between religion and state, the Islamic Institute of Civil Justice threatened to eliminate it with the imposition of Shari‘a. The Canadian experience demonstrates how flexibility can backfire when all parties do not seek to uphold basic precepts of tolerance. The Little Rock application raises the specter of a parallel situation. While The Islamic Center for Human Excellence may state it wants to create a clean-living community, might the community's extreme interpretation of Shari‘a force a reconsideration of just how much leeway the U.S. government gives religious communities?

As the Muslim community in the United States grows, an increasingly active Islamist lobby has submitted numerous white papers and amicus briefs to legislators and courts arguing for the religious right of Muslims to apply Shari‘a law, particularly in relation to family law disputes.[13] This looming jurisprudential conflict is significant for it raises issues about the rights of community members to marry outside the community, forced marriages, and the minimum age of brides, and whether wives and daughters may enjoy equal inheritance. In cases of non-family law, it raises the question about whether the testimony of women will be considered on par with that of men.

No previous enclave in U.S. history has ever been so vigorously protected by agents of group identity politics or so adamantly defended by legal watchdogs; nor has any previous religious enclave possessed the potency of more than one billion believers around the world. Islamic-only communities may also benefit from the largess provided by billions of petrol dollars to finance growth. The track record of Saudi and other wealthy Persian Gulf donations and charitable efforts are worrisome. There is a direct correlation between Saudi money received and the spread of intolerant practices. In 2004, for example, the U.S. Treasury Department froze the assets of Al-Haramein Foundation, one of Saudi Arabia's largest nongovernmental organizations, because of its financial links to Al-Qaeda.[14] Additionally, American graduates of Saudi academies advance Wahhabist interpretations of Islam inside the U.S. prison system,[15] and Saudi-subsidized publications promote intolerance inside U.S. mosques.[16]

A Muslim enclave is uniquely perilous because there are few if any internal enclaves that adhere to a polity dedicated to the active abrogation of secular law and the imposition of a supreme religious law. The concept of Shari‘a is so fundamental to Islam, that even today, prominent Muslim jurists argue over whether a Muslim can fully discharge Shari‘a obligations while residing in a non-Muslim territory.[17] Yet, in spite of this apparent conundrum, Muslims have resided peacefully in non-Muslim lands since the seventh century. In the greater context, there may be a breach in the dike for Islamist groups residing in the United States because the Baltimore and Little Rock enclaves must acknowledge the U.S. Constitution as the paramount basis of civil law.

A dissident Islamic sub-community is filled with dichotomous propositions: from the presumed supremacy of Shari‘a-based law over secular law; the melding of religion and polity versus the constitutionally mandated separation of same; to the politics of group and factionalism, versus assimilation and pluralism. To deny the settlement of a Muslim-only community based solely upon prejudices formed after September 11 would be illiberal. But the alternative, opening the door to Islamic enclaves without scrutiny, is as dubious.

The Enclave under U.S. Law Existing U.S. legal precedent, though, may provide some grounds for handling expansive demands for Islamic enclaves. U.S. legal views of internal enclaves derive from the famous 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision, in which the Supreme Court ruled the concept of separate but equal to be unconstitutional.[18] While the case revolved around the right of black children to attend white schools, it promulgated a concept that is anathema in today's world of multiculturalism: neither the state nor any constituent group could claim equality through separation.

Enclaves can exist, though. As courts have ruled on issues relating to equality under the law and upon the autonomy of religious practice, two distinctive features of internal U.S. enclaves have taken shape: first, the boundaries of the enclave should be recognized by local inhabitants. Second, the enclave cannot supersede the constitutionally protected rights of the citizens of a state.

Because most rights secured by the constitution are protected only against infringement by government action, the Supreme Court has avoided establishing a bright-line test as to the limits of religious liberty. Any religious group or individual seeking to establish an internal enclave has the right to limit residency, promulgate local rules, and perhaps even collect fees or taxes to support nominal community services.

Such enclaves do not hold final sway over the rights of non-residents, however. In Jackson v. Metropolitan Edison Company[19] and Flagg Brothers v. Brooks,[20] the court outlined constitutional protections for private citizens in which any entity, religious or otherwise, exercising governmental authority over private citizens remains subject to the provisions of the First and Fourteenth amendments. In both cases, the court affirmed that citizens of a state retain their right to "due process of law" under the Fourteenth Amendment, even when inside an enclave. These holdings, however, do not prevent enclaves from restricting the individual freedoms of their inhabitants.

The Supreme Court has ruled upon the limits of religious liberty. In Cantwell v. Connecticut, the court outlined the circumstances in which the government could act to restrict religious independence. The court held that the free exercise clause "embraces two concepts—freedom to believe and freedom to act. The first is absolute, but in the nature of things, the second cannot be. Conduct remains subject to regulation for the protection of society."[21]

Christopher L. Eisgruber, professor of law at New York University, explained. He argued that, "the Constitution permits government to nurture ideological sub-communities founded upon premises inconsistent with the constitution's own commitments."[22] He maintained that such dissident sub-communities can provide important "sources of dissent"[23] and asserted that even if an enclave embraced ideals contrary to constitutional ideals, it should still be granted the right to pursue its own vision of good. For example, he wrote:

[Though] it is regrettable that young women in Kiryas Joel [a Satmar Hasidic enclave] will grow up in a starkly sexist culture, and it is regrettable that the Amish children of Yoder will find it very hard to become astronomers or lawyers … it would also be regrettable if the United States were not home to any sub-communities which, like the Satmars or the Amish, rejected principles of justice fundamental to the American regime.[24]

According to Eisgruber, tolerance of the intolerant is fundamental to the freedoms espoused by Western liberal democracy. While Islamists might use such logic to argue for the permissibility of Shari‘a communities, such tolerance has limits. Enclaves do not have carte blanche to act. Both the state and national legislatures must retain control over the extent of accommodation, and there should be no subsidization of the enclave by the government.[25] Such limits ensure that the government can constrain those sub-communities that might espouse more radical, violent, or racist views.[26]

It is usually when the U.S. government moves to uphold the rule of law that most Americans first learn of an internal enclave. Few Americans knew of the philosophy espoused by anti-government activist Randy Weaver until 1992 when the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol and Firearms raided his compound at Ruby Ridge, Idaho, killing Vicki Weaver, their infant son, Sam, and the family dog.[27] Nor did many Americans know about David Koresh and his religious views until a raid the following year on the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, in which a resulting fire killed fifty adults and twenty-five children under the age of fifteen.[28] While tragic, such events involved cults or political splinter groups. The growth of Muslim enclaves raises the specter of such conflicts occurring on a much larger scale.

While the court has interpreted the establishment clause to empower the government to constrain dissident sub-communities when necessary to protect public safety, it has been wary of addressing legal issues requiring intrusion upon the religious polity. Because the First Amendment provides for religious freedom, the court has confined itself to ruling upon three basic issues: property disputes between national religious hierarchical organizations with affiliated breakaway entities; accommodations under the free exercise clause; and the prohibition against the establishment of a state religion. New challenges, though, may lead to new interpretations.

The Antithesis to Democracy Is concern over internal Muslim enclaves justified? On their face, the fundamental principles of the internal Muslim enclave are no more invidious than any other religious enclave. But ideology matters. Many proponents of an Islamic polity promote an ideology at odds with U.S. constitutional jurisprudence and the prohibition against the establishment of a state-sponsored religion. The refusal to recognize federal law makes Islamist enclaves more akin to Ruby Ridge than to the Hasidic and Amish cases cited by Eisgruber.

Muslim theologians describe Islam not only as a religion but also as a system of state. The Qur'an—viewed by Muslims as the word of God—is replete with instructions about governance. An enclave promoting Islamic mores does not necessarily restrict itself to a social atmosphere but also one of governance. Traditional Islamic law controls the most basic aspects of everyday life and may make any Islamic enclave irreconcilable with the basic presumptions of Western liberal democracy and secular law.

While many American Muslims practice Islam and embrace the fundamental principles of the U.S. Constitution, others do not. There are consistent attempts by Islamist elements overseas to strengthen their own radical interpretation of Islam at the expense of moderation and tolerance. Saudi donors, for example, have propagated the ideology of Islamism, which seeks to interweave a narrow and often intolerant interpretation of religion into an all-encompassing political ideology. The number of imams and jihadists who have been outspoken in identifying the supremacy of Shari‘a to democracy underlines the incompatibility of Islamism and democracy. The late Saudi theologian, Sheikh Muhammad bin Ibrahim al-Jubair, for example, stated,

Only one ambition is worthy of Islam, to save the world from the curse of democracy: to teach men that they cannot rule themselves on the basis of man-made laws. Mankind has strayed from the path of God, we must return to that path or face certain annihilation.[29]

Prior to Iraq's January 30, 2005 elections, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al-Qaeda in Iraq, released an audiotape in which he declared war upon democracy and denounced its tenets as "the very essence of heresy, polytheism, and error."[30] Nor is Islamist antipathy for democracy limited to popular elections. According to a Saudi publication distributed at a San Diego mosque, "[Democracy is] responsible for all the horrible wars … more than 130 wars with more than 120 million people dead [in the twentieth century alone]; not counting victims of poverty, hunger and disease."[31] Such sentiments reflect a common theme among Islamists: democracy is the antithesis to everything pious and pure in Islam; and, in truth, democracy is the direct and substantial causal effect of Muslim suffering and injustice in the world today.

This does not mean that Islamists are unwilling to use democracy for their ends. But while they accept the trappings of democracy, they continue to reject its principles because the Shari‘a, to them the perfect rule of law, cannot be abrogated or altered by the shifting moods of a secular electorate. Mohamed Elhachmi Hamdi, editor-in-chief of the pan-Arab weekly Al-Mustakillah, explained,

The heart of the matter is that no Islamic state can be legitimate in the eyes of its subjects without obeying the main teachings of the Shari‘a. A secular government might coerce obedience, but Muslims will not abandon their belief that state affairs should be supervised by the just teachings of the holy law.[32]

He could draw from plenty of examples. In 1992, for example, Ali Balhadj, a leader of the Islamic Salvation Front in Algeria, declared, "When we are in power, there will be no more elections because God will be ruling."[33] While mayor of Istanbul, Islamist Turkish politician Recep Tayyip Erdoðan quipped, "For us, democracy is a streetcar. We would go as far as we could, and then get off."[34] As he eviscerates the judiciary, many Turks wonder about his sincerity.[35]

Experience abroad is relevant, as it goes to the heart of the sincerity of proponents of the Little Rock and Baltimore enclaves, an issue compounded by the willingness to accept donations from Persian Gulf financiers.

Conclusion How Muslims reconcile Islamic polity within the confines of Western liberal democracy is an unresolved issue. This process will take years to evolve and is likely to convulse in further violent episodes. Presently, many Muslims reject wholesale the notion of a dominant secular law and instead seek the imposition of a pan-Islamist state under the guidance of Shari‘a. These Islamists view secular modernity and the democratic practices of radical egalitarianism, individual rights, and free exercise of religion as a direct and substantial threat to their belief system, and they are intent on employing violence against the West for the foreseeable future. The remainder and majority of the Muslim world must reject nihilism and engage in widespread debate regarding Islam's role within the world community.

The local planning commission in Little Rock, Arkansas, might proceed with the proposed Muslim enclave, but the Arkansas courts and its legislature should not abdicate its responsibilities to ensure that Western liberal rights and protections remain supreme. The government should monitor both the rhetoric and behavior of these communities. As the Supreme Court stated in Cantwell: the freedom to believe is absolute, but the freedom to act, in the nature of things, cannot be, especially as to the safety and preservation of the American democracy.[36]

David Kennedy Houck is an attorney at Houck O'Brien LLC, in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Surgeons Fought For Hours To Save Castro's Life
The Telegraph (UK) ^ | 8-6-2006 | Phil Hart

Posted on 08/05/2006 9:13:40 PM EDT by blam

Surgeons fought for hours to save Castro's life

By Phil Hart in Havana

(Filed: 06/08/2006)

Doctors at the exclusive Cimeq hospital in western Havana are accustomed to handling the delicate health problems of Cuba's communist elite.

It was here last weekend, The Sunday Telegraph has learnt, that they battled for several hours to save the life of the regime's most important patient, Fidel Castro. Unable to stem intestinal bleeding with drugs, the country's top surgeons performed an emergency operation on the veteran leader.

To all but a handful of trusted doctors and his closest lieutenants, President Castro's medical condition has been shrouded in mystery, described as a "state secret" in words attributed to the dictator until, on Friday, the health minister, José Ramón Balaguer, said he was recovering and "will be back with us soon".

The 79-year-old president is understood to have undergone surgery on Saturday at Cimeq before being wheeled back from the operating theatre to the floor reserved for him and his 75-year-old brother, Raúl. The facility is in the district of Siboney, home to Cuba's most prestigious scientific research complex and near Gen Castro's official residence in a tightly guarded military zone.

The Cuban leader received treatment on a par with the best in the world. But most Cubans, reliant on the supposedly universal health system, have to pay for even basic drugs such as aspirin and the equivalent of £30 for "extras" such as X-rays.

Gen Castro's handover of power to Raúl, albeit temporary, was disclosed to a stunned nation two nights later as they gathered around flickering television sets. In Washington and Miami, Gen Castro's long-time foes urged the Cuban people to push for democratic change. Condoleezza Rice, the US Secretary of State, said in a broadcast beamed to the island: "Much is changing there… We will stand with you to secure your rights."

Yet if the regime's "Berlin Wall moment" was approaching, it was hard to discern as the cowed populace instead focused on the daily struggle to survive. Indeed, two leading dissidents, Miriam Leiva and Oscar Espinosa Chepe, urged calm rather than street protests in an interview.

Outside their apartment in Havana's Playa district, the eyes of an old woman who was brushing the path bore into the visitors knocking at her neighbours' door.

"Don't worry about her," said Mrs Leiva, in a room piled high with books and letters. "Sometimes we catch her with her ear almost to the window. You learn to ignore it."

Mrs Leiva, an independent journalist, and her husband, Mr Espinosa, the leading anti-regime economist and a former political prisoner, are accustomed to having their lives monitored by informers. There is even a secret police listening post on the floor above their one-bedroom flat.

Last week, they said, surveillance by plainclothes agents was intensified as the island underwent its greatest political upheaval in 47 years. Despite the jubilant scenes among exiles in Miami's Little Havana, dissidents in Cuba, a small and loose-knit bunch, remained cautious.

"The opposition has no fear as we have been jailed and threatened and bullied already. But the Cuban people are too scared and intimidated to take to the streets," said Mr Espinosa, 65. "People are scared that there may be bloodshed. Castro has successfully built up their fears for the future."

His 59-year-old wife added: "The repression here is just too strong. They can party in Miami but there's nothing for us here to celebrate. All we can do is speak out."

The couple are disillusioned former Castro supporters who once served as diplomats in eastern Europe. Mr Espinosa was jailed for 25 years in 2003: his counter-revolutionary crime was to highlight the regime's economically disastrous policies. He was temporarily freed in late 2004 as his health failed but his release papers state that he will be put back behind bars if his health improves.

"The revolution died long ago. Fidel was a national hero and we dreamed of a new Cuba but the state just took over the land and the factories and destroyed the economy," he said. Quoting official figures, he said the average monthly salary was just £11 and most pensioners receive just £4.40 a month.

Last week it became clear that Cuba was facing a vacuum not of power - the country remained under tight communist control and reservists were called up - but of leadership, as the new ruling clique made no statement. Raúl Castro's silence created tension, even as the media insisted he was "firmly at the helm".

Across Havana, banners fluttering from crumbling buildings bear the message, "Viva Fidel - 80 More". It is Gen Castro's 80th birthday next Sunday but, for now, Cubans are united in waiting to see what happens next.

"We can't change things," said a young man clutching a bottle of rum at a festival in Old Havana, "so we might as well drink. We've been waiting for decades: we can wait a little longer."

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1678510/posts

http://metimes.com/print.php?StoryID=20060731-093615-8769r

Regional Roundups
Published August 4, 2006

A regularly updated column of news briefs from around the region

Iranian gives himself up after immolation threat inside UN Athens office

ATHENS - An unidentified Iranian asylum-seeker who August 4 threatened to immolate himself inside a United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees' (UNHCR) office in Athens gave himself up to police after a three-hour standoff, a local UN staffer said.
"He was persuaded to give himself up," UN employee Keti Kehayoglou said from inside the building, in the northern suburb of Psychiko. The young Iranian of around 30 years of age had arrived at the UNHCR offices at 12:30 local time (0930 GMT), and subsequently drenched himself in gasoline. The UNHCR's local management spent the next two-and-a-half hours trying to dissuade him from immolating himself, the staffer said.

"[He] had requested asylum in Athens in 2005, subsequently traveled to London and was sent back here in January 2006," Kehayoglou said. "Under Greek law, an asylum request is automatically terminated if the petitioner leaves Greece," she added. "So this man is now out of options, since he cannot return to his home country ... We have repeatedly asked the Greek government to modify the legislation, because we have a large number of similar cases," she said. Keyahoglou said that police took the man to a hospital. It was not immediately clear whether he would be arrested or deported.

Angry demonstrators pelt British embassy in Tehran

TEHRAN - The British embassy in Tehran was pelted with petrol bombs and rocks August 4 as more than 50 Iranian militiamen protested against London's support of the Israeli offensive in Lebanon against the Shia movement Hizbullah. The demonstrators, mainly from the official Basij militia, jostled with scores of anti-riot police after lobbing Molotov cocktails, rocks, and pails of paint at the gate of the downtown compound, an AFP correspondent said.

The protestors pulled down the British embassy sign at the gate before police forced them away from the building. They chanted slogans included "Death to Britain" and "Death to America," and "Death to Israel," and they burned a British flag. Some demonstrators also carried pictures of Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah and the Shia militant group's flag.

Turkish army expels 17 personnel for pro-Islamist acts, indiscipline

ANKARA - The Turkish army announced August 4 that it had expelled 17 personnel for pro-Islamist activities and indiscipline. The sackings were decided in the annual three-day meeting of the Higher Military Council, which convenes under the chairmanship of the prime minister and decides on military promotions, retirements, and expulsions, an army statement said. The statement said that those expelled were found to be "involved in reactionary activities" or to "have acted immorally in a manner that weakened the prestige of the army, and ignored warnings to improve their behavior."

The army, which sees itself as the self-appointed guardians of the country's secular system, has in the past fired hundreds of personnel, including officers, for what it saw as reactionary activities.

Jordan prosecutor seeks death penalty in US warship attack

AMMAN - Jordan's military prosecutor August 3 demanded the death penalty for six Syrian nationals and an Iraqi accused of involvement in a rocket attack a year ago on US warships in the Gulf of Aqaba. The prosecutor also urged the state security court to sentence to jail six other suspects, including two Jordanians and three Iraqis, for involvement in the attack that killed a Jordanian soldier, judicial sources said. But as the court heard final arguments before adjourning to consider its verdict, defense lawyers appealed for clemency while the six suspects who appeared in court pleaded their innocence. The six others are on the run. No date has been set for the verdict in the trial that opened in April.

Rights group urges probe into death of jailed Iranian student

NEW YORK, NY, USA - Human Rights Watch (HRW) August 2 called for an independent investigation into the death in prison of student activist Akbar Mohammadi, following a long hunger strike. Mohammadi died July 30 in Tehran's Evin prison, where he had been held for his role in pro-democracy student demonstrations in July 1999. HRW said that "if responsibility for Mohammadi's death in Tehran's Evin prison on July 30 lies with the prison or other state authorities, the relevant individuals should be identified and prosecuted."

Mohammadi, 38, is "the second inmate to die in the notorious Evin prison in the past three years," HRW said. "In June 2003, Zahra Kazemi, a Canadian-Iranian photojournalist, died while in custody there. Iranian authorities arrested her as she was photographing Evin prison. A few days later, Kazemi fell into a coma and died. According to lawyers for Kazemi's family, her body showed signs of torture. The Iranian authorities have not charged anyone in connection with her death," the rights group said.

Turkish PM sues magazine, cartoonist for depicting him as tick

ANKARA - Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has sued a satirical magazine and one of its cartoonists for depicting him as a tick, his lawyer said August 2. Lawyer Fatih Sahin said that he had filed a complaint with an Ankara court against the weekly Leman magazine and cartoonist Mehmet Cagcag for offending the prime minister with a cartoon published on the front page of the magazine's July 6 issue.

In reference to a tick-borne disease that has claimed some 20 lives in Turkey this year, Cagcag caricatured Erdogan as a tick sitting on the back of a man with its teeth sunk into his head, with a title that said he was "making Turkey suffer."

Jordan aims to reduce crimes carrying death penalty

AMMAN - The Jordanian government has approved draft legislation that would scrap the death penalty for some crimes and replace it with life sentences, spokesman Nasser Jawdeh said August 2. "The cabinet approved draft amendments to certain laws that include articles which stipulate the death penalty and amended them, reduced the sentence," Jawdeh said. "A draft law will be presented to parliament" later this year, he said, adding that capital punishment had been retained for the "most dangerous crimes," but he did not elaborate.

At least three people were executed by hanging in Jordan this year for murder, including a Libyan and a Jordanian convicted of assassinating a US diplomat in 2002. International human rights organizations have repeatedly urged Jordan to abolish the death penalty and insisted that in some cases it is being handed down to suspects after testimony obtained through torture. The death penalty is usually applied for murder, conspiracy, terrorist activity, and espionage.

Blair calls for new anti-terror strategy

LOS ANGELES, CA, USA - British Prime Minister Tony Blair said in Los Angeles that a new strategy is needed to defeat militant Islam. Blair warned that an "arc of extremism" now stretches across the Middle East and beyond. Speaking before the World Affairs Council in California, Blair called for a "complete renaissance of our strategy" to achieve the goal, reports The Times of London. He said that an "alliance of moderation" using values as much as military might would combat terrorism, the report said.

The report also said that it had learned that Britain's foreign office had failed to convince Blair to call for an immediate ceasefire in Lebanon during his meeting with US President Bush last week. The report quoted Blair aides as describing his speech as a challenge to the United States and not a change of attitude.

Rainfall brings little relief to Ethiopia

ADDIS ABABA - The United Nations says that erratic rainfall means that drought-related food shortages in areas of southern Ethiopia will continue for much of this year. The UN World Food Program said that livestock herds in the Somali region and parts of the Oromiya region were weakened or decimated by the lack of pasture and water, IRIN reported August 1.

"There has been a mixed rainfall pattern in the region, but what also prolongs the need for emergency food assistance is the fact that those predominantly affected are pastoralists, who depend on livestock for their livelihoods," said WFP spokeswoman Paulette Jones. A separate WFP food emergency report for July said that the Borena zone would receive virtually no harvest after the poor main "genna" rainy season, IRIN said.

Israel court allows Jewish hardliners into mosque compound

JERUSALEM - The Israeli high court August 1 upheld a request by far-right Jewish activists to enter Islam's third holiest shrine, the Al Aqsa mosque compound, which is also revered by Jews as the Temple Mount. The decision to allow the controversial visit to the East Jerusalem mosque compound on August 3 was taken despite police warnings that it could spark riots in Israel and the occupied territories. "The petitioners ... will be allowed to enter Temple Mount during visiting hours," the court decision read.

The small Temple Mount Faithful group requested to visit the compound, where according to Jewish tradition Herod's Temple stood, to mark the Jewish day of mourning for its destruction in 70 BC. But despite its controversial decision, the court ordered the group's leader, Gershon Salomon, to stay clear from the area of the Temple Mount or the adjacent Western Wall. The court also ruled that the far-right group, which counts only a few dozen members, should "not be allowed to carry placards or act in a provocative manner."

Jordan MPs plead not guilty over Zarqawi condolences

AMMAN - Three Jordanian Islamist MPs pleaded not guilty August 1 to charges of incitement pressed after they offered condolences to the family of slain Al Qaeda frontman Abu Mussab Al Zarqawi, judicial sources said. "We did not back the terrorist actions of Zarqawi," lawmaker Mohammed Abu Fares told the court as it wrapped up the case and prepared to consider its verdict. The military prosecutor urged the military tribunal to hand down the "maximum penalty" - three years in prison - for fueling national discord and inciting sectarianism.

Abu Fares and fellow Islamic Action Front MPs Jaafar Horani and Ali Abu Sukkar were arrested June 12, days after visiting Zarqawi's hometown north of Amman to pay condolences to his family. They were charged after complaints by the families of some of the 60 civilians killed in hotel bombings in Amman in November, for which Zarqawi claimed responsibility.

Expelled Jews mark first anniversary

JERUSALEM - Thousands of Jews who had to leave their settlements in the Gaza Strip last year under Israel's disengagement plan marked the event's first anniversary August 1. The Israeli national news service Arutz Sheva reported that the former residents of Gush Katif and Samaria settlements have planned a series of memorial events this week culminating in the capital, Jerusalem.

The first of the events was near Kibbutz Kisufim, along the route leading into the Gush Katif area of Gaza. It featured a Gush Katif Torah Scroll, which will be brought to Jerusalem and deposited at the Western Wall until it is restored at Gush Katif. An exhibit planned in Jerusalem will show 35 years of Gush Katif and the various achievements of the 21 uprooted communities.

Israeli prisoner may be given to Egypt

GAZA - Hamas could hand abducted Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit over to Egypt or Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas until the group's demands are met, an official said.
The Palestinian official said "we are looking into the possibility of handing him over to Egypt until Israel fulfills the Palestinians and the abductors' demand to free Palestinian prisoners," Ynetnews.com reported August 1.

He said that the basic principles of an agreement to transfer the prisoner have been agreed to by Abbas and Shin Beth head Yuval Diskin. The deal would transfer Shalit to Egypt or into Abbas' custody until Israel halts military operations in the Gaza Strip, ceases targeted killings, and releases Palestinian prisoners.

Tourists help migrants in Canary Islands

MADRID - Tourists have come to the rescue of African migrants who landed on the shores of the Canary Islands, El Pais newspaper reported July 31. Nearly 90 of the more than 200 Africans who arrived by boat were in need of some kind of attention due to exhaustion and dehydration. Tourists provided water and other essentials for them until relief officials could attend them, the report said.

Thousands of Africans have arrived in the Canary Islands in recent months, putting a major strain on relief workers, police, and coast guard.

Western Sahara settlement remote

ALGIERS - A settlement for the long-protracted conflict over the Western Sahara appears to be still remote in light of Morocco's refusal to grant it independence. The representative of Polisario, or the armed Front for the Liberation of the Western Sahara, in Algeria lashed out August 1 at Moroccan King Mohammed VI for declaring in a speech to the nation on the seventh anniversary of his coronation that the world approves granting the former Spanish colony self-autonomy but not independence.

"The Moroccan king is still dreaming while we assure him that dreams and reality are different and that there is no room but to independence of the Western Sahara from this occupier," Mohammed Yaslam said. Yaslam stressed that "no international organization, including the Organization of Islamic Conference, or the Arab League, or the Non-Aligned Movement or the United Nations, agreed on self-autonomy for the Western Sahara as the king pretends." Morocco, which moved in and occupied the largest part of the Western Sahara after Spain pulled out in the mid 1970s, claims that the area is part of its national territory and has been fighting Polisario for more than three decades.

China, Syria mark 50 years of ties

BEIJING - Chinese President Hu Jintao exchanged congratulatory messages August 1 with his Syrian counterpart Bashar Al Assad on the 50th anniversary of diplomatic relations, state press reported. "Strengthening traditional friendship and cooperation between the two countries is in conformity with the fundamental interests of the two peoples, and conducive to regional and global peace," Xinhua news agency quoted Hu as saying. China is willing to work with Syria to create a better future for Sino-Syrian cooperation, Hu said. The Syrian president said that he was confident that the friendly cooperation between the two countries would be further developed and consolidated.

UAE population tops 4mn, 80% foreigners

ABU DHABI - The population of the United Arab Emirates has grown in a decade from 2.4 million to 4.1 million, four-fifths of them foreigners, according to official data quoted by newspapers July 31. At the end of last year the population stood at 4,104,695, compared with 2,411,041 10 years previously, economy minister Sheikha Lubna Al Qassimi told the daily Al Bayan. The later figure included 824,921 citizens of the UAE, a federation of seven emirates including the booming city of Dubai.

13 dead, fears for 19 more after flash floods in Afghanistan

JALALABAD, Afghanistan - Flash floods caused by heavy unseasonal rains have killed at least 13 people with another 19 feared dead in eastern and southeastern provinces of Afghanistan, officials said July 31. Thirteen bodies were recovered after floods July 30 caused by torrential rains in eastern Nangarhar province on the border with Pakistan, the provincial administration director said. Five people had been injured and seven were still missing.

Heavy rains July 30 had also damaged villages in adjoining Paktia and nearby Khost provinces and authorities on July 31 dispatched teams to investigate reports that many people were dead. "We have reports that seven people have died. We've sent our teams to the areas to collect more information," Khost director of rural development Mohammad Omar said. In Paktia, villagers had reported five people, including children, were dead.

Jordanian students torch Israeli flag in campus demo

AMMAN - Jordanian students July 31 torched the Israeli flag and scuffled with university guards during a protest to denounce the deadly Israeli strike in the south Lebanon town of Qana. Around 1,000 students took part in the demonstration at the University of Jordan, organized by the Islamist students' union. The students clashed with university guards when they tried to unlock campus gates to take their protest to the streets but were pushed back.

"Victory is on its way," the protestors chanted. Many of them held up pictures of the victims of Qana, a town in south Lebanon where more than 50 people, many of them children, were killed in an Israeli airstrike July 30. The demonstrators also carried portraits of Hizbullah chief Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah and chanted words of praise and encouragement in Hibzullah's fight against Israel that they described as the "nation of black hatred."

Iranian student activist dies in prison

TEHRAN - Iranian student activist Akbar Mohammadi has died in a Tehran prison following a five-day hunger strike, the ISNA news agency reported July 31. Mohammadi, 36, died late July 30 but "the coroners should determine the cause of his death," said Sohrab Soleimani, the head of prisons in Tehran province.

Mohammadi was arrested during a student protest in 1999 and had initially been sentenced to death. His sentence was subsequently changed to 15 years behind bars. Held in Tehran's Evin prison, he had reportedly been on a hunger strike since July 25. But Soleimani said "he would drink tea and water and he was monitored by a doctor." He said that Mohammadi had fallen ill while he was taking a shower with the inmates and died while he was being transferred to the infirmary.

Israeli conscientious objector jailed for 28 days

JERUSALEM - An Israeli captain in the army reserves was sentenced to 28 days in prison July 30 for refusing to serve in Lebanon for "reasons of conscience," public radio said. Captian Namir Paster said that serving in Lebanon went against his values. A leftwing group known as Yesh Gvul ("There is a Limit" in Hebrew) said that 10 conscientious objectors had also refused their commission orders in recent days.

Israel's security cabinet July 27 authorized an additional mobilization of three divisions, or around 30,000 reserve troops, "to reinforce the military potential and capacity in the face of Hizbullah in Lebanon."

Kuwait emir in hospital for 'routine medical tests'

KUWAIT CITY - Kuwaiti Emir Sheikh Sabah Al Ahmed Al Sabah was hospitalized July 30 for "routine medical tests," the emiri court said. The 76-year-old ruler of the oil-rich Gulf state "was hospitalized Sunday morning for routine medical tests," which showed that he is "well," the statement said, adding that the emir would undergo more checkups.

Sheikh Sabah became emir last January after parliament deposed his ailing predecessor, Sheikh Saad Al Abdullah Al Sabah, on health grounds amid one of the gravest crises in Kuwait's history. Sheikh Sabah, who had been de facto ruler for several years, underwent surgery to remove his appendix in August 2002. He also had a heart pacemaker operation in February 2000.

Landmines kill two in southeast Turkey

DIYARBAKIR, Turkey - Two people, including a teenager, were killed in the restive southeast of Turkey in two landmine explosions blamed on armed Kurdish rebels, security sources said July 30. One of the explosions hit a group of children collecting firewood near Genc, Bingol, July 30 killing one teenager and injuring three others, the sources said.

In the neighboring province of Diyarbakir, a government-paid militia member was killed in a roadside explosion late July 29 as a group of village guards were traveling to their watch posts. In the eastern province of Agri, a group of rebels attacked police lodgings with guns and hand grenades July 30, injuring six police officers and a civilian, the Anatolia news agency reported.

Protestors call for closure of US embassy in Kuwait

KUWAIT CITY - Hundreds of people rallied outside the US embassy in Kuwait July 30 calling for its closure in protest against Washington's support for Israel, hours after an Israeli strike killed dozens of civilians in Lebanon. The protestors, mostly Kuwaitis who were joined by Lebanese residents of close US ally Kuwait, burned the US flag and demanded the expulsion of the US ambassador.

They raised placards denouncing the Israeli raid on the south Lebanese village of Qana, which killed more than 50 civilians, as a "massacre equating Nazi acts." The protestors raised flags of the Lebanese Shia movement Hizbullah and portraits of its leader Hassan Nasrallah. "Death to Israel, death to America," chanted the demonstrators, who were joined by a number of MPs.

Libya closes consulate in northeastern Mali

TIMBUKTU, Mali - Libya has decided to close its consulate in the Kidal region of northeastern Mali where former Tuareg rebels have launched attacks in recent months, a Libyan diplomat said July 29. "We have received the order from Tripoli to close the consulate permanently," the diplomat said. He did not explain the reasons for the closure.

Libya opened a consulate in Kidal in February, prompting suspicions about Tripoli's motives given the scarcity of Libyan nationals in the desert region. Some observers said that it was a bid by Libyan leader Muammar Qadhafi to assert influence over the Sahara desert region in Mali as well as Libya's southern neighbors Chad and Niger. The consulate closed provisionally in May after attacks on military camps in the region by rebel former Mali army soldiers from the Tuareg community, one of the main traditional nomad peoples of the vast Sahara Desert.

Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

http://metimes.com/articles/normal.php?StoryID=20060802-044313-9603r

By UPI
Published August 3, 2006

A regularly updated roundup of commentary from Arab newspapers

Where are the Arabs?

Lebanon's Al Safir August 2 described the Israeli war on Lebanon as an "Israeli war, with an American decision to give birth to a new Middle East."

The independent mass-circulation daily said that such a declared objective is supposed to affect all the Arab countries, complaining that while Western and Iranian officials have visited Beirut, not a single Arab envoy has been dispatched to Lebanon for solidarity or sympathy, "although Israel 'allowed' [safe] passage for foreign envoys."

It said that while the Egyptian foreign minister's visit August 2 is the first visit, it hoped that it will not be the last by an Arab official, especially with Israel's threats to prolong its offensive and "open the doors of hell."

The mass-circulation paper added in a commentary that Lebanon appreciates all the humanitarian help delivered by the Arabs and Western groups, saying that these countries have become relief organizations, but without dispatching a minister or a prince with the relief supplies.

It stressed that the Lebanese people had hoped that these countries would be politically present. Addressing the Arabs, it said sarcastically: "Our Arab brothers, we are well, how are you? We are fine, our Arabism is fine, and with our blood we will protect your own Arabism."

Arab officials must act or resign

The United Arab Emirates' Al Khaleej August 2 said that the murder of 800 Lebanese, half of them children, and the second Qana massacre in 10 years by the Israeli forces have failed to awaken the Arab conscience.

Nevertheless, the pro-government daily added in a commentary that, amid Arab silence, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa has submitted his resignation to protest against Arab inaction. It said that although the resignation is not yet confirmed, it still shows that an Arab official is unhappy with this Arab inaction.

If Moussa indeed resigns, it should set an example for other Arabs, it insisted, adding that the Lebanese now need Arab action and firm decisions after the international community has failed to protect them from the Israeli onslaught.

The second Qana massacre, it opined, should awaken the world's conscience, which has until now only "listened to its old hag Condoleezza Rice as she assures the people that Israel will stop the airstrikes for 48 hours ... as if she is giving Israel a chance to take a breath before it commits another massacre."

The truth, the paper said, is that what Washington says is nothing more than a political warning to the Arabs. The massacres committed against the Palestinians and Lebanese to change the region are proof of that, it added.

The least that Arab officials can do, it insisted, is to resign in protest.

Israeli terrorism blessed

Yemen's Al Thawra commented August 2 that the blood and corpses of Lebanese children failed to awaken the conscience of the international community to issue a resolution condemning the Israeli war.

But even if the United Nations issued a resolution condemning "the Zionist war machine and its hysterical aggression against the Lebanese," the paper complained, it would have made no difference on the ground since Israel has virtually ignored all Security Council resolutions.

The semi-official daily said that this failure may be good, since it reveals the "criminal nature enjoyed by the leaders of these countries that play the symphony of human rights while massacres and crimes are being committed against humanity" in Qana in southern Lebanon.

The commentary angrily asked what kind of insolence is now ruling the world, where all values have been turned upside down. "The world has condemned the children of Lebanon and martyrs of the resistance; it has blessed the aggression of Zionist terrorism with open support," it blasted.

Hizbullah triumphs, Israel struggles

Oman's Al Watan August 2 commented that Israel and the United States obviously will not seek a ceasefire in Lebanon before achieving their objectives.

But the biggest victims in this war, it said, are the Lebanese people. The pro-government daily added that the Islamic resistance, in reference to the Shia Hizbullah organization, is the victor so far, having foiled Israeli military attempts to weaken the group in the battlefields and failing to force the guerrillas to pull back from the border areas.

In addition, the Lebanese have united in support of Hizbullah, it argued, saying that the war will not stop until Tel Aviv and Washington achieve their objectives.

"That is why Rice is pushing Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to speed up the operations: Because they are losing as each day passes," said the paper.

The daily argued that Hizbullah's strength, manifested in foiling Israel's military objectives so far, indicates that the Jewish state will either be unable to reach its goals, "or at least, will pay dearly for this war."

Blair compromising safety of Brits

The London-based Al Quds Al Arabi August 2 blasted the British government for foiling European action to end the Israeli war on Lebanon during a meeting of European Union foreign ministers in Brussels August 1.

The independent Palestinian-owned daily said that Britain opted to go against the majority of European countries to side with the American and Israeli positions, and disregarded the view of the majority of the British people who oppose Israel's "illegal and immoral war that is destroying a peaceful, democratic country."

It warned that such policies by Prime Minister Tony Blair's government harm British interests and threaten the lives of its soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan without receiving anything tangible in return.

"That's why it came as no surprise when three British soldiers were killed in Afghanistan and a fourth in Iraq yesterday," the daily argued.

The paper, distributed in many Arab capitals, said that London does not seem to realize that supporting aggressors who commit massacres against innocent people could directly affect the safety of British citizens inside and outside their country.

More massacres to come

Lebanon's Al Balad said in a commentary August 1 that it was difficult to say that the second Qana massacre in southern Lebanon will be a turning point for the Israel-Hizbullah war because there have been other similar massacres in other towns and villages.

The only result for the Qana massacre, it said, was Israel's "lie" regarding a 48-hour cessation of airstrikes. The daily, which describes itself as an independent political paper, argued that the entire war is the turning point.

"Israel's only official objective, it said, is to try to break the Shia Hizbullah movement by destroying and paralyzing the entire country." The paper warned that the coming days will be more dangerous as Israel prepares to commit more massacres in Lebanon.

Qana beginning of massacres

The Lebanese daily, Al Nahar, said August 1 that Israel's decision to halt its airstrikes for 48 hours was just a station in a long war to try to minimize the results of the Qana massacre and to speed up the vacating of southern Lebanon before resuming a more fierce and destructive military offensive.

The anti-Syrian daily argued in a commentary that Israel's inability to achieve significant military gains is preventing it from agreeing to a ceasefire. The paper added that this inability was exposed in Qana.

Israel's failures, it said, put the Lebanese before a new round in this war that might be more relentless because Israel is running out of time despite the "American green light."

The mass-circulation paper feared that Qana will not be the last massacre, and insisted that Hizbullah is fighting for survival as the international community is working toward disarming it.

Protect Lebanese unity

The London-based Al Hayat said that the Qana massacre has united the Lebanese on a human and political level, saying that it was important to protect this consensus.

The Saudi-owned daily argued that confrontations along the Lebanese-Israeli borders gives the Israelis a pretext to do what they please, to avoid responsibility for what they did in Qana and to avoid a political solution.

"This is very dangerous" because it can split up the Lebanese again and embarrasses Lebanon's friends in the Arab world and international community if the parties do not achieve a ceasefire.

It insisted that Lebanon can take no more, adding that the message from Qana is that "if a sovereign country cannot protect [its people], then it cannot find protection from anywhere else."

Wars breed extremism

A commentary in the London-based daily, Asharq Al Awsat, said August 1 that stopping a war is more difficult than starting it, and that is what is happening in Lebanon.

The Saudi-owned paper said that wars do not always go according to plan, and this one will not be the last in the Middle East.

Both sides are exhausted and neither wants a ceasefire, it argued, yet the United States has a bigger responsibility than to keep the fighting going.

The daily, distributed in many Arab capitals, said that had Israel stopped its operations before the end of the week and agreed to exchange prisoners, it would have spared civilian lives and stopped more hatred and outrage.

It would have also been able to pass any political plan without hurting the egos of the parties involved, it said.

The commentary added that it was clear that repeatedly bombing the same places shows that Israel has more ammunition than Hizbullah and that the Jewish state will only stop once it has destroyed everything.

That is why, the paper stressed, prolonging wars has always ruined reconciliation plans and supported the rise of extremism.

"The American, not Israeli, politicians should have known that prolonging wars in the region is bound to bring defeat," it said, adding that is why the Lebanese government, the United Nations, and moderate countries have lost today.

Israel's countless massacres

Lebanon's Al Safir commented July 31 that Israel's massacres can no longer be counted, saying "the massacres are the basis of the Jewish state's foundations, its ideology, and army."

Israel, it asserted, established its state through massacres in Palestine and its war machine is always accompanied with slaughtering civilians. The independent daily, with pan-Arab nationalist trends, insisted that Israel seeks to kill children "because it wants to kill the future, not just the present, and wants to wipe out the memories of three Lebanese generations."

It said that whenever Israel gets stuck in a crisis, "it becomes more barbaric and does not dare to look into the eyes of the innocent children, but looks at them with missiles." Israel is turning them into terrorists to justify its own terrorism, the paper said.

It said that the Qana massacre embarrassed even the US administration and its Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, to whom, it added, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert "audaciously [said] he needs 10 more days to end his operations, in other words, more massacres and destruction."

Qana justifies resistance operations

Lebanon's Daily Star said in its July 31 editorial that Israel's attack on Qana opened up old wounds as it brought back memories of a similar Israeli massacre in the same town 10 years ago when the Lebanese vowed never to forget it.

"Now that the fresh images of the broken bodies of the women and children of Qana are being shown on our television screens, the idea of forgetting has become all the more unthinkable," the independent paper said.

It added that the images have stirred anger of "even the most moderate Lebanese, proving that Israeli brutality - not Hizbullah - has become Israel's own worst enemy." The raid has proved that there is a legitimate need for resistance, according to the paper.

The English-language daily insisted that it was unrealistic to expect the Lebanese to be forced to accept being killed off by the hundreds with "utter impunity."

It said that the tragedies in Qana suggest to the Lebanese that the Israelis, "who are waging a campaign of ethnic cleansing in south Lebanon, have forgotten their own suffering during the Holocaust," and asked how Israeli mothers and fathers "sleep at night knowing their government is conducting massacres in Lebanon."

It urged the Jewish state to "abandon the logic of death and destruction that they have been showering on the people around them," and to pursue meaningful negotiations according to all UN resolutions.

"What is needed is a sense of humanity and an intelligent resolution of this conflict, not America's laser-guided 'smart' weapons," it said.

'No place for Israel in our midst'

Jordan's Ad Dustour, partially owned by the government, July 31 called for shutting down the "embassy of crime."

The "filthy flag that flies in our countries [must] go to hell, for [Israelis] have no place in our [country]," said the paper.

The commentary in the mass-circulation daily urged every Jordanian who passes in the district of Rabiyeh, where the Israeli embassy is located, to spit and call for the expulsion of the ambassador and embassy.

It insisted that the Jordan-Israel peace treaty, signed in 1994, has "only brought us embarrassment," saying that the Qana massacre should prompt Jordan to take a firm position.

"All of Jordan regards Israel as an enemy, and it has been as such since this strange, hateful, and sick entity emerged," it insisted, adding that it regrets seeing the Israeli embassy and ambassador "remaining a thorn in our throat."

Lebanese children victim of world's 'impotence'

The Jordanian daily, Al Ghad, said in a July 31 commentary that Lebanese children paid the price for the American support for Israeli crimes as well as the impotence of the Arab regimes and the United Nations.

The independent mainstream paper said "we are enraged when Israeli flags are raised in Amman and Cairo as the voices of the victims of Israel's terrorism rise in the skies of Lebanon and Palestine."

It argued that it has now become clearer than ever that the Jewish state is responsible for all the wars, massacres, and destruction in the region.

The mass-circulation daily added that the features of the future have been drawn: more wars, more killing, and more hatred; "and whoever wants otherwise will face the Israeli crimes."

In light of all this, it insisted, the Israeli ambassadors must not remain in Amman and Cairo, and neither should the Jordanian and Egyptian envoys remain in Tel Aviv.

Copyright © 2006 News World Communications, Inc. All rights reserved.

Suez: End of empire

By Paul Reynolds
World Affairs Correspondent, BBC News website

Fifty years ago the Suez Crisis erupted over the Egyptian president's decision to nationalise the Suez Canal. The first of a series of articles marking the anniversary looks at how the conflict spelled the end of the British Empire.

The Times pronounced not only on Anthony Eden's life when he died in 1977 but on the life of Britain when it wrote of him: "He was the last prime minister to believe Britain was a great power and the first to confront a crisis which proved she was not."

The conventional verdict on the Suez operation is given by historian Corelli Barnett, who wrote about Suez in his book, The Collapse of British Power.

"It was the last thrash of empire," he told me. "A last attempt by a British government to do the old imperial thing in defence of far-off interests. It was a complete folly."

It is not easy these days to cast back 50 years to 1956. Britain still had an empire. Memories of World War II were fresh and English schoolboys were taught that Britain (England more like) had won the war.

There was some understanding that the Americans had come in, but at a late stage and almost no mention of the Soviet Union at all. We were told: "British is best."

Underneath, though, all was not well. Although Britain kept naval ships east of Suez, the end of Empire was at hand.

Some places it knew would go - Ghana (the Gold Coast), Nigeria. Some had already gone, India mainly. Elsewhere (in Kenya, Cyprus, Malaya) it was battling to put down revolts and uprisings.

In Cyprus, a British minister announced that the island could "never" be independent. And at home, while prosperity was growing, Britain was still much weakened after the war.

The impact on the British psyche was enormous
Joe Foley, London
Yet it still had pretensions to sit at the top international table. It had just taken part in the Korean War, though its reduced role should have rung alarm bells about its real power.

Eden himself rejected the idea that it should join the then young and continental "Common Market". He declared grandly: "Our horizons are wider."

He was looking back to an age that had been and not to the age to come.

Influence of the Thirties

Eden had been brought up politically in the 1930s. He was against appeasement and was particularly hostile to Mussolini. In 1938, he resigned as Neville Chamberlain's foreign secretary when Chamberlain wanted to open negotiations with Italy.

Herein lay the origin of the Suez crisis.

When in 1954 a new type of political leader, Gamal Abdel Nasser, a strong Arab nationalist, emerged as leader of Egypt, Eden did not understand that the world had changed. Instead he looked and saw another dictator, another Mussolini.

Eden could not accept that Egypt should run the Suez Canal, even though he had previously accepted that British troops should leave the Canal Zone. The canal had lost some of its strategic importance for Britain, but not all. And it had acquired a new importance, as a passageway for oil to get to Europe.

When, therefore, Nasser announced that he was nationalising the Suez Canal Company (partly, he said, to pay for the Aswan dam that the West refused to finance) in which Britain and France had controlling interests, Eden was alarmed.

He told his government colleagues that he would not allow Nasser to "have his thumb on our windpipe".

The secret plot

And so Eden concocted a secret tripartite plot with France and Israel.

SUEZ CANAL
Suez Canal opened to traffic in November 1869
It was built by Frenchman Ferdinand de Lesseps using Egyptian forced labour; an estimated 120,000 workers died during construction
It stretches 192km (120 miles) between the Mediterranean and the Red Sea
It is 300m (984ft) wide at its narrowest point
By 1955 approximately two-thirds of Europe's oil passed through the canal
The waterway closed 1967 due to the Six Day War, reopened 1975
About 7.5% of world sea trade is carried via the canal today
Receipts from the canal July 2005 to May 2006 totalled $3,246m
In 2005, 18,193 vessels passed through the canal

France was hostile to Nasser because Egypt was helping the Algerian rebels, and attached to the canal for historical reasons. After all, a Frenchman built it.

Israel was longing to have a go at Nasser anyway because of Palestinian fedayeen attacks and the Egyptian blockade of the Straits of Tiran.

The ruse was that Israel would invade Egypt across the Sinai peninsula.

Britain and France would then give an ultimatum to the parties to stop fighting or they would intervene to 'protect' the canal.

And so it played out. The Israelis even had to moderate their attack in case they won before the 'intervention' forces could arrive. But the British and French went in to 'save' the canal.

There was only one thing wrong. Eden had not told the Americans.

And President Dwight Eisenhower, concerned about wider relations with the Arab world and horrified at such an adventure anyway, was not amused.

"Our closest ally pulled the plug," says Corelli Barnett. "We acted on the back of a struggling economy and there was a run on the pound.

"Macmillan, who was Chancellor of the Exchequer, told the cabinet that the only way to save the situation was for an IMF loan backed by the United States.

"The Americans refused to back it. We were told by them to go no further and to evacuate promptly. So we did. It was a complete fiasco."

British and French troops left Egypt by December 1956. Eden left office early the next year.

The aftermath

The fallout was huge.

For a start, it got the Soviet Union off the hook, as it was brutally crushing the Hungarian uprising at the same time.

But it also meant that no longer could Britain - or France - act alone on the world stage.

They did however draw different conclusions.

Harold Macmillan, who succeeded Eden, decided that in future Britain had to side with America. He made good friends with President John F Kennedy and even persuaded Kennedy to let Britain have the Polaris nuclear missile.

Since then, Britain has been reluctant to oppose any US policy. Even during Vietnam, the Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson forbade criticism of the US while shrewdly refusing Lyndon Johnson's request to send a token force.

French disconnection

France on the other hand went its own way, led in due course by de Gaulle. It left the military command structure of Nato and turned to leading Europe alongside a newly prosperous Germany.

Just as Britain always thereafter tended to side with the US, so France tended to oppose it.

Modern revisionist theories hold that the mistake was really made by President Eisenhower, in that he showed a weakness that the Soviet Union exploited.

Whatever one's views of that, there is no doubt that Suez represented the end of a long phase of British imperial history.

Paul.Reynolds-INTERNET@bbc.co.uk
Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/middle_east/5199392.stm

Published: 2006/07/24 03:24:23 GMT

© BBC MMVI

Q&A: Somali Islamist advance
A militia run by Islamic courts is in control of 99% of the Somali capital, Mogadishu, raising fears in the west that they could provide a safe haven for Islamic radicals from al-Qaeda.

But many Mogadishu residents are glad that the city has been reunited, after being fought over by various warlords for the past 15 years. Almost all Somalis are Muslim and have no problem with the idea of being governed according to Islamic law.

What is the Union of Islamic Courts?

A network of 11 Islamic courts has been set in recent years in Mogadishu, funded by businessmen who preferred any semblance of law and order to complete anarchy.

The courts' stated goal is to restore a system of Sharia law in the city and put an end to impunity and fighting on the streets.

Whilst they are widely credited by some residents in Mogadishu as having clamped down on criminal activity in the city before the recent upsurge in violence, there are elements within the Islamist militia pushing for an Islamic state.

The militias became increasingly powerful as a military force after Mogadishu's main warlords formed the Alliance for the Restoration of Peace and Counter-Terrorism this year.

The alliance - widely believed to have been backed by the US - said it wished to root out al-Qaeda members being sheltered by the courts.

Who supports them?

As a grassroots movement they have become increasingly popular among city residents and the business community desperate to see an end to the rule of the gun.

Where the Islamic courts militia has obtained its substantial weaponry and financing is unclear though.

A United Nations report, which called for a tighter arms embargo on Somalia, said that Ethiopia was supplying weapons to the interim government while Eritrea was arming the Islamic courts.

Some fingers have been pointed towards Saudi Arabia and others to wealthy foreign supporters of Islamic militancy.

They are not reported to be seeking money from Somalis at their checkpoints in the city, as militias loyal to warlords did.

What about the al-Qaeda links?

The main source of concern for the United States is al-Qaeda involvement.

The Islamic courts deny any links, or that there are terror training camps in Somalia.

But diplomats believe that small groups of al-Qaeda militants, including foreigners, are operating in the country.

There have been at least four attacks on US and Israeli targets in east Africa - all linked in some way to Somalia.

Has life changed in Mogadishu?

Not much - for the moment.

The Islamic courts have stressed that they will not set up a Taleban-style government and the courts themselves have not changed much.

There are fewer check-points where gunmen working for the warlords used to stop vehicles and demand money.

And life is obviously much better now than for much of this year when the Islamists were battling the warlords, leading to hundreds of deaths - mostly civilians.

But life for most Mogadishu residents remains extremely tough.

There are very few jobs - many depend on money sent home by relatives abroad.

The city is home to many people who have fled fighting in other parts of the country over the past 15 years.

Many live in abandoned buildings or shelters cobbled together from whatever they can find - branches, pieces of material or cardboard.

However, it remains far too dangerous for all but the very bravest aid workers to operate in Mogadishu - as well as the interim government which is based some 250km (158 miles) away in Baidoa.

What has happened to the alliance of warlords?

Most of them have fled Mogadishu.

WHERE ARE THE WARLORDS?
Ex-Jowhar
Mohamed Dhere : exiled in Ethiopia, believed to be very ill
Ex-Mogadishu
Abdirashid Shire Ilgayte : exiled in Dubai after Kenya deported him
Mohamed Afrah Qanyare : In Baidoa
Muse Sudi Yalahow : believed to be in DR Congo
Bashir Ragge : believed to be in DR Congo
Omar Finish : changed allegiance to the courts, believed to be in the capital
Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid : defeated by Islamists, probably fled

Only Abdi Hassan Awale Qeybdid, one-time commander of troops loyal to the late warlord Mohamed Farah Aideed who fought US peacekeepers in Mogadishu in the early 1990s, was the last warlord to remain in the capital, but went missing after his forces were defeated in a two day clash in July.

Omar Finish is believed to be still in Mogadishu and says he will now support the Islamic courts.

Abdirashid Shire Ilgayte, owner of Mogadishu's Salafi Hotel, was deported from Nairobi after the Kenyan authorities said they would no longer host those responsible for destabilising Somalia.

He is now in exile in Dubai.

Mohamed Afrah Qanyare returned to his home-town of El Bur in central Somalia, before surfacing in Baidoa - the home of the weak transitional government.

He was joined in El Bur by Muse Sudi Yalahow and Bashir Ragge, who were reported to be seeking US help to find refuge outside Somalia. It is thought they may now be in Democratic Republic of Congo.

Jowhar's former warlord Mohamed Dhere has fled to Ethiopia, where he is believed to be very ill.

So will peace now prevail?

The key issue now, with the power of the Mogadishu warlords eroded, will how the Union of Islamic Courts gets on with President Yusuf's interim government.

Mr Yusuf was elected by MPs in 2004 as part of a peace process based in neighbouring Kenya.

He controls only a very small part of the country.

Some had argued that the unification of Mogadishu for the first time in 15 years could make peace easier to achieve - as the government would only have one group to talk to.

His government at first welcomed the Islamists and talks were started but they have since fallen out over the role of Ethiopia and the question of whether foreign peacekeepers are needed in Somalia. It is unclear if they will resume.

The Islamic courts say they can guarantee security but the government does not seem convinced and has asked for African peacekeepers.

Mr Yusuf also insists that the courts recognise his authority before any more talks.

Reports of Ethiopian troops crossing the border and heading into Baidoa to protect the governemnt have raised tensions.

Ethiopia denies it is in Somalia, but it has supported Mr Yusuf against Islamic groups in the past and it raises the real possibility of a sustained and regional conflict.

If Baidoa were attacked by the Courts, the Ethiopians have made it clear they will not stand by. The courts are insistent that the Ethiopians must leave.

Securing a lasting peace is not easy in Somalia.

Story from BBC NEWS:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/africa/4760775.stm

Published: 2006/07/11 10:50:16 GMT

© BBC MMVI

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