News From the Long War (V)

‘tis the season, it would appear.....

Breaking News-Blast hits tourist site in Yemen; several people wounded, officials say
MSNBC Banner Breaking news ^ | 7/2/07 | MSNBC

Posted on 07/02/2007 10:04:39 AM CDT by No2much3

Breaking News-Blast hits tourist site in Yemen; several people wounded, officials say. Banner heading. All I have so far.

(Excerpt) Read more at msnbc.msn.com ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859628/posts

17:17 Holon wife stabs, lightly hurts woman suspected of affair with husband (Israel Radio)

17:04 Qassam rocket lands in western Negev; no injuries reported (Israel Radio)

16:59 EU urges more joint anti-terror action following bomb plots in Britain (Reuters)

16:49 Iran, Venezuela presidents break ground on joint petrochemical complex (AP)

16:13 PA security forces arrest four Hamas leaders, including lawmaker, in Nablus (AP)

15:34 U.S. plays down earlier report of imminent Al-Qaida attack (Reuters)

15:03 U.S. Senate: Israel can`t buy cluster bombs with American money (Haaretz)

14:44 PM: Bush determined to accede to Israeli aid requests for next 10 years (Haaretz)

14:15 Police find automatic guns, ammunition in orchard near Arab village Iblin (Haaretz)

14:12 Glasgow police: Two men arrested in the airport bomb attack investigation (AP)

13:40 Atomic spy Mordechai Vanunu sentenced to six months for violating parole (Haaretz)

13:27 Haifa teen arrested on suspicion he molested his 4-year-old cousin (Army Radio)

13:25 Sneh: Hundreds of millions of shekels needed to counter Iran threat (Army Radio)

13:01 Egyptian president denies allegations Nasser`s son-in-law was a Mossad spy (AP)

12:54 Ex-Defense Min. Peretz to attend Lebanon war memorial though not invited (Haaretz)

U.S. Senate bill would forbid Israel from using U.S. aid to buy cluster bombs

By Shmuel Rosner, Haaretz Correspondent

WASHINGTON - The U.S. Senate version of the Foreign Aid legislation for 2008 includes an amendment that would prevent Israel from purchasing cluster bombs with American military aid.

Israel’s use of cluster bombs during last year’s Second Lebanon War was highly criticized by human rights organizations.

The U.S. investigated the use of cluster bombs, looking to find whether Israel had breached its agreement with the U.S. over the circumstances under which it is permitted to use such deadly ammunition.

The Senate appropriations committee voted in favor of the bill late last week.

Haaretz has also learned that Senator Leahy, the head of the State-Foreign Operations Appropriations subcommittee, was trying last week to downgrade American aid to Israel by changing the language of the bill.

Leahy ultimately failed when other members of the committee told him the changes he introduced were unacceptable to them.

Link: http://haaretz.com/hasen/spages/877377.html

“I think it is a 10 year endeavor, minimum.”

IMHO, you can at least double that estimate for every political/media group in this country or any of our “allies” that calculates that their opposition will further their own agenda.

(Much as I admire Eisenhower, his oft-quoted remarks about the Military-Industrial Complex being a threat to this country was a pretty badly shanked shot when considering the stuff the DBM and libs have “accomplished”.)

Cabinet okays repatriation of 4 Jordanian killers

By Barak Ravid

The cabinet yesterday approved a deal to allow four Jordanians imprisoned in Israel for killing an Israeli officer and a soldier in the Jordan Valley in 1990 to serve out their sentences in Jordan.

The cabinet, however, did not discuss the release of 250 Palestinian prisoners affiliated with Fatah, announced by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at the summit meeting in Sharm el-Sheikh last week. A source in the Prime Minister’s Bureau said that “the process of formulating the lists has not ended and the matter is still being worked on.”

The deal to transfer the four prisoners followed a Jordanian request and lengthy negotiations between the two countries.

While the inmates were given life sentences in Israel, under the agreement between Israel and Jordan, King Abdullah will be able to pardon the prisoners at the end of 2008 if he chooses.

Ministers from Kadima, Labor and the Pensioners voted in favor of the deal, while ministers from Yisrael Beiteinu and Shas voted against it.

At the meeting, Olmert described the decision as a gesture of good will toward Jordan. Noting that Israel and Jordan have a strategic relationship, he said this matter was discussed for several years by the two sides and that now is an appropriate time to grant the Jordanian request.

Salameh Abu Jelloun, Hamed Abdel Razek Abu Jelloun, and Amin al-Sane infiltrated Israel on November 7, 1990, encountered Israeli troops in the Jordan Valley, and killed Captain Yehuda Lifshitz.

A fourth Jordanian, Sultan Taha Mohammed Ajlouni, infiltrated Israel on November 13, 1990, and killed Staff Sergeant Pinhas Levy.

Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages//877065.html

Note that Israel is not getting their kidnapped soldiers returned. I could weep.

I also am quite a clutz on the computer and inadvertently disappeared it. I haven’t restored it because it gives me so much pain. I am afraid that my own country could be equally heartless (and gutless) for “diplomatic” reasons.

And speaking of those boys, who are as much in my prayers as ever...

UN’s Ban: Threat to the lives of abducted IDF soldiers is increasing

By Yoav Stern and Shlomo Shamir

NEW YORK - United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed concern for the lives of the two Israeli soldiers abducted in Lebanon last summer.

Unfortunately, the situation is aggravated by Hezbollah’s persistent refusal to provide a proof of life. Worries about the fate of the two soldiers are therefore increasing. “I share deeply the anxiety of the families and call again on Hezbollah to reconsider this posture, which contradicts basic humanitarian values,” Ban wrote in a report the Security Council on Friday.

Ban also warned of expected difficulties in the continued practical implementation of Resolution 1701. The report is a periodic assessment of the implementation of the resolution passed on August 11, 2006, which ended the war between Israel and Hezbollah.

Talks between Israel and Hezbollah are proceeding through a German intelligence agent appointed by the previous UN secretary-general Kofi Annan.

The report implies that Iran and Syria continue to send the latest weaponry to Hezbollah, including anti-tank missiles and aircraft.

“The secretary-general is using harsh words with regard to Iran and Syria,” a senior diplomatic source in New York said Friday. “It can be concluded that the report is in part an indictment of the two countries that have been exposed as being involved in activity whose goal is the destabilization of Lebanon. If Iran and Syria continue their subversive activities, they will be the downfall of Resolution 1701,” the official added

More at the link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/876675.html

Israel hands $118m in frozen tax funds to PA

By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent and Reuters

Israel transferred $118 million in tax revenues to the Palestinian government yesterday, as part of a series of steps intended to bolster Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

The remainder of the tax revenues, collected by Israel on behalf of the Palestinians, will be transferred to Abbas’ government within six months, as was agreed in meetings last week between Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s aides and Abbas.

Palestinian officials estimate that Israel is withholding a total of some $600 million in tax revenues. Israel halted the transfer of the funds on February 1, 2006 after Hamas won the Palestinian legislative elections.

The tax revenues were transferred to the emergency government established by Abbas in the West Bank, following Hamas’ violent takeover of the Gaza Strip in June.

Palestinian officials said the money was essential because Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayad, who also is the finance minister, has pledged to pay workers’ salaries this week.

Officials said Fayad intends to pay government employees in the Gaza Strip as well, thus underscoring Abbas’ claim to represent all Palestinians.

In Gaza, Hamas spokesman Ghazi Hamad said the money is not a gift or a favor from Israel.

“I think it should be paid without any conditions and without conferences,” he said.

“Everything that needed to be agreed upon has been agreed,” a senior Israeli official said, after a meeting during which the payment schedule was decided upon. “From July 1, there will be automatic transfers of the tax money,” he added

Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/877067.html

Group: Qassams, IDF violate rules of conflict

By The Associated Press

Palestinian rocket attacks on Israeli towns and Israel Defense Force artillery strikes near populated areas in northern Gaza constitute serious violations of the laws of war, a leading human rights group said in a report released yesterday.

The Human Rights Watch report spanned the period between September 2005 and May 2007, during which four Israelis and at least 61 Palestinians were killed and some 370 people - most of them Palestinians - were wounded. Palestinian armed groups and IDF soldiers both have shown insufficient regard for civilian lives, the rights group said in its 146-page report.

Palestinian claims that the attacks on civilians are reprisals for Israeli actions are not justified because reprisals against civilians are always illegal, the report said.

Casualties also jumped after Israel reportedly narrowed the buffer zone it places between artillery targets and civilian areas and stepped up shelling in April 2006 following the Hamas political takeover of the Palestinian Authority, the report said.

“Tit-for-tat abuses can’t be justified by arguing that the other side violated the law first,” said Joe Stork, deputy director of Human Rights Watch’s Middle East division.

Link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/877063.html

More details —

Car bomb kills at least 8 at ancient temple site in northeast Yemen
international herald tribune ^ | July 2, 2007

Posted on 07/02/2007 10:25:08 AM CDT by nuconvert

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859644/posts
Car bomb kills at least 8 at ancient temple site in northeast Yemen

SAN’A, Yemen: A car bomb exploded at the site of an ancient temple in Yemen’s northeast province of Mareb on Monday, killing eight people and wounding at least seven, police said.

Police in Mareb said six of the people killed were tourists, believed to be mostly from Spain. The other two were Yemenis, they said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media.

Authorities in the province said the blast was caused by a car bomb,

(Excerpt) Read more at iht.com ...

Israel set to deport Sudanese refugees

By Shahar Ilan, Ruth Sinai, Barak Ravid and Mijal Grinberg

Interior Ministry officials said yesterday they are ready to start deporting refugees, mostly from Africa, who have been crossing into Israel from the Sinai Peninsula. The officials were speaking at inter-ministerial talks on the issue.

The refugees are most likely to be deported to Egypt, which Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said was willing to accept the refugees following an understanding he reached with President Hosni Mubarak.

The proposal to deport the refugees has human rights and foreign workers’ support groups up in arms. The Hotline for Migrant Workers threatened to petition the High Court of Justice “if the state tries to deport those seeking asylum without evaluating their request.”

The Hotline issued a statement warning that “the deportation of asylum seekers to Egypt without receiving assurances that they will not be deported to their countries constitutes a blatant violation of international law.”

The organization points to United Nations conventions on refugees, to which Israel is a signatory, forbidding the deportation of people seeking asylum to a country where they could be exposed to conditions that could threaten their lives.

“Egypt has a proven record of returning refugees to their country of origin, where they died,” the organization’s statement charges.

In the past, the UN High Commission for Refugees had made it clear to Israel that it opposed the deporting of refugees if no guarantees were secured that they would not be sent back to Sudan.

In Sudan, people who have been to Israel may face threats to their lives.

More at the link: http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/877073.html

"‘tis the season, it would appear.....
Breaking News-Blast hits tourist site in Yemen; several people wounded, officials say"

Islamic preacher Amr Khaled arrives in Sana'a

SANA'A, July 01 (Saba)- The Egyptian Islamic preacher Amr Khaled arrived in Sana'a on Sunday to participate in the first International Meeting for Life Makers Union to be held on Monday for four days.

The meeting would be attended by 130 Islamic activists from eight Arab countries and representatives of Life Makers Programs in European countries.

Speaking to Saba, Khaled said the meeting aims to activating Islamic and Arab youths to produce and implement developmental projects to serve the Islamic nation.

Khaled pointed that he would deliver a number of Islamic lectures.

"The agenda of the meeting includes training workshops and showing models of successful social projects", said Khaled.

link

Hmmmmmmmmmmm - I wonder if this has anything to do with it? Nawwww

Refugee flees Sudan for Israel, despite rumors
Jerusalem Post ^ | 7-2-07 | SHEERA CLAIRE FRENKEL

Anthony Peter, 36, fled his home in southern Sudan after losing his parents to the violence there. Carrying a single suitcase, he sought asylum in Egypt, where he hoped to create a new life for his family. Several weeks ago he snuck into Israel with his family.

“I would rather that the Israeli government shoot me here, in a clean, humane way, than send me back to Egypt. To send me, and my children, and my wife back there is to sentence us to a cruel and violent death,” Peter said.

“I soon realized this was not possible. My life in Egypt was even more dangerous than my life in Sudan had been. Our lives were even more at risk and we were outsiders who everyone could identify and threaten.” Peter said he had seen other Sudanese refugees beaten, raped, and killed by Nubian gangs operating in the refugee camps.

“I had to bribe them with a quarter of my wages each week to keep my family safe. I had to tell my wife and children to never leave the house, to always be afraid,” he said.

Peter even tried to return to Sudan, but was turned away at the border.

“I quickly realized that this new place was even more dangerous than Sudan had been. But they would not let me return. They said that I had given up that option and was now a refugee in Egypt,” he said.

More at the link: http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859627/posts

Is this a different guy from the one that was reported earlier as a “Jordanian Doctor”??

Terror Suspect Was Iraqi Doctor
Sky News ^

Posted on 07/02/2007 10:30:14 AM CDT by Sub-Driver

Terror Suspect Was Iraqi Doctor

Updated: 16:26, Monday July 02, 2007 The second man involved in the failed attack on Glasgow airport was an Iraqi doctor who trained in Baghdad, sources have told Sky News.

Sources named the man as Bilal Abdulla - he was left relatively unscathed in the incident.

It comes as police blew up a suspect car outside the Royal Alexandra Hospital near Glasgow - another car was also detonated on Sunday.

Abdulla’s co-conspirator, Dr Mohammed Asha, 26, is being treated in the Royal Alexandra.

He was pictured, badly burned, being held by police on the ground outside the airport shortly after the attack.

Abdulla was pictured being led away by police.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1859646/posts
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Ya need a program to tell the players apart......

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