Report: Hamas will recognize Israel within 1967 borders:
Hamas officials close to Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh expect Haniyeh to announce the change in the organization's platform in the next few days, Army Radio reported.
http://tinyurl.com/jz2to
===
Israel To Ask U.S. For $10 Billion:
"The State of Israel will change the face of the region," Olmert told the newspaper of his plan. "I will not miss this opportunity.
http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3239420,00.html
===
Annan: Israel has to take meaningful steps to alleviate Palestinian suffering
http://www.arabicnews.com/ansub/Daily/Day/...2006041312.html
===
Young Jews Support Palestinian Rights,
Challenge AIPAC and JCRC by Holding Seder Outside Their Offices
http://boston.indymedia.org/feature/display/61239/index.php
Full Version: What's Up in the Middle East
Common Ground Common Sense > Issues that Affect Our Lives > Foreign Policy and National Defense > Foreign Policy & National Defense Issues Archive
http://upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=...13-110735-3065r
Report: Hamas would recognize 1967 borders
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 13 (UPI) -- Hamas is willing to recognize Israel's right to exist within the 1967 borders, the Arab-language network al-Jazeera reports.
The information came from sources close to Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, al-Jazeera said.
"What it means is that the Palestinian government is willing to recognize Israel if Israel met certain conditions, including a complete withdrawal from the territories Israel occupied in 1967," a source said.
While al-Jazeera's sources described the position as "a significant change in policy," it is questionable whether Israel will accept it, since it would mean giving up all the territory won in the 1967 war -- including the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as Gaza.
If the position becomes official, it will become Hamas' first acceptance of a two-state solution. The United States, European Union and Israel have demanded that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist, abandon terrorism and resume the peace process.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Want to email or reprint this story? Click here for options.
Report: Hamas would recognize 1967 borders
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 13 (UPI) -- Hamas is willing to recognize Israel's right to exist within the 1967 borders, the Arab-language network al-Jazeera reports.
The information came from sources close to Ismail Haniya, the prime minister of the Palestinian Authority, al-Jazeera said.
"What it means is that the Palestinian government is willing to recognize Israel if Israel met certain conditions, including a complete withdrawal from the territories Israel occupied in 1967," a source said.
While al-Jazeera's sources described the position as "a significant change in policy," it is questionable whether Israel will accept it, since it would mean giving up all the territory won in the 1967 war -- including the entire West Bank and East Jerusalem as well as Gaza.
If the position becomes official, it will become Hamas' first acceptance of a two-state solution. The United States, European Union and Israel have demanded that Hamas recognize Israel's right to exist, abandon terrorism and resume the peace process.
© Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All Rights Reserved
Want to email or reprint this story? Click here for options.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/705516.html
Al-Qaida No. 2: Eliminating Israel is the duty of every believer
By The Associated Press
Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said that the elimination of Israel is the duty of every believer in a video posted Thursday on the Internet.
Al-Zawahri denounced U.S. President George Bush as the "caesar of Washington" and accused him of lying about progress in the war on terror.
"Bush, son of Bush, eliminating Israel is the duty of every believer," al-Zawahri said. "Beggarly clerics ... and every bankrupt propaganda machine is trying to convince the people to bring change by peaceful means, but the Islamic nation knows that its path is jihad (holy war) and the bearing of arms."
The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 - and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video was not released soon after the date it was allegedly filmed.
"By God, we're supposed to stick to peaceful means while the enemies of Islam engage in every violent, barbaric and base action and Israel is armed to the teeth with every sort of conventional and non-conventional weapon?" he said.
"If we commit to peaceful action, they will demand we adhere to international laws and treaties that mean nothing to them. If we adhere to that, they will ask us to impose constraint on what they call terrorism and war on Israel. Then if we adhere to that, they will demand we recognize Israel and establish normal relations with it," he said.
He pointed to Israeli opposition to the Islamic militant group Hamas' entering Palestinian elections. He did not mention Hamas' victory in the voting, a possible indication the video was made before the January elections.
In the last al-Zawahri video to be aired - on March 4 - he congratulated Hamas in its victory and offered support.
In the footage, al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a grey robe with a microphone pinned to it. An automatic weapon is leaning against a brown backdrop behind him.
al-Zawahri calls on Muslims to support Iraqi insurgents
"The Islamic nation must support the heroic mujahedeen (holy warriors) in Iraq, who are fighting on the very front line for the dignity of Islam," al-Zawahri said, waving his right hand toward the camera.
"And to my brother mujahedeen in Iraq, I say, Stay firm. Stay together. Your enemy has begun to falter, so don't stop pursuing him until he flees defeated," he said.
He called on Muslims to support his "beloved brother" Al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaida in Iraq. "I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him," al-Zawahri said. "I warn all Muslims in Iraq: Anyone who
impedes the jihad against the Crusader occupiers is a traitor to God and his prophet ... and a traitor to the rest of the Muslims."
Al-Zawahri - an Egyptian who is Osama bin Laden's deputy in al-Qaida and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan - said he was making the video to mark the fourth anniversary of the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora,
in which U.S. forces besieged bin Laden and al-Qaida fighters in mountainous caves of Afghanistan.
The video, first found on the Web by the Alexandria, Va.-based firm IntelCenter, which monitors Islamic sites, was titled "Four Years since Tora Bora, from Tora Bora to Iraq, a lecture by Ayman al-Zawahri."
Al-Qaida No. 2: Eliminating Israel is the duty of every believer
By The Associated Press
Al-Qaida's deputy leader Ayman al-Zawahri said that the elimination of Israel is the duty of every believer in a video posted Thursday on the Internet.
Al-Zawahri denounced U.S. President George Bush as the "caesar of Washington" and accused him of lying about progress in the war on terror.
"Bush, son of Bush, eliminating Israel is the duty of every believer," al-Zawahri said. "Beggarly clerics ... and every bankrupt propaganda machine is trying to convince the people to bring change by peaceful means, but the Islamic nation knows that its path is jihad (holy war) and the bearing of arms."
The video was dated with an Islamic month corresponding to November 2005 - and al-Zawahri mentions an Oct. 23 earthquake that hit Pakistan and Afghanistan. But it appeared to be the first time the 28-minute video has been made public. It was not clear why the video was not released soon after the date it was allegedly filmed.
"By God, we're supposed to stick to peaceful means while the enemies of Islam engage in every violent, barbaric and base action and Israel is armed to the teeth with every sort of conventional and non-conventional weapon?" he said.
"If we commit to peaceful action, they will demand we adhere to international laws and treaties that mean nothing to them. If we adhere to that, they will ask us to impose constraint on what they call terrorism and war on Israel. Then if we adhere to that, they will demand we recognize Israel and establish normal relations with it," he said.
He pointed to Israeli opposition to the Islamic militant group Hamas' entering Palestinian elections. He did not mention Hamas' victory in the voting, a possible indication the video was made before the January elections.
In the last al-Zawahri video to be aired - on March 4 - he congratulated Hamas in its victory and offered support.
In the footage, al-Zawahri appears sitting, wearing a white turban and a grey robe with a microphone pinned to it. An automatic weapon is leaning against a brown backdrop behind him.
al-Zawahri calls on Muslims to support Iraqi insurgents
"The Islamic nation must support the heroic mujahedeen (holy warriors) in Iraq, who are fighting on the very front line for the dignity of Islam," al-Zawahri said, waving his right hand toward the camera.
"And to my brother mujahedeen in Iraq, I say, Stay firm. Stay together. Your enemy has begun to falter, so don't stop pursuing him until he flees defeated," he said.
He called on Muslims to support his "beloved brother" Al-Zarqawi, who heads al-Qaida in Iraq. "I have lived with him up close, and have seen nothing but good from him," al-Zawahri said. "I warn all Muslims in Iraq: Anyone who
impedes the jihad against the Crusader occupiers is a traitor to God and his prophet ... and a traitor to the rest of the Muslims."
Al-Zawahri - an Egyptian who is Osama bin Laden's deputy in al-Qaida and is believed to be hiding in Afghanistan or Pakistan - said he was making the video to mark the fourth anniversary of the December 2001 battle of Tora Bora,
in which U.S. forces besieged bin Laden and al-Qaida fighters in mountainous caves of Afghanistan.
The video, first found on the Web by the Alexandria, Va.-based firm IntelCenter, which monitors Islamic sites, was titled "Four Years since Tora Bora, from Tora Bora to Iraq, a lecture by Ayman al-Zawahri."
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/1...ult_on_gaza.php
Ignoring The Assault On Gaza
When human rights activists claim that the U.S. is sabotaging any potential peace process, they don’t mean just the stuff that reaches the headlines, like stopping crucial aid to the new Palestinian Authority government.This morning, Ha’aretz reports that the U.S. has blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s recent, continuous, indiscriminate shelling of the Gaza Strip.
Since last Friday, Israel has been pouring more than 300 artillery shells a day into Gaza, the most densely-populated region on the planet. That’s 2,100 shells. At least 18 Gazans, including Khadeel Ghabeen, an 8-year-old girl, have been killed. Scores have been wounded, including 11 other members of Ghabeen’s family.
The entire month of April so far has been marked by shellings and missile attacks by Israeli airships and naval vessels, including the destruction of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ helicopter pad in Gaza as he came to visit the strip.
Typical American coverage of Israel-Palestine conflicts tends to bend over backwards to appear “balanced,” thus reinforcing the common myth that the conflict is a “tit-for-tat” cycle of violence. Thus The New York Times covers the shelling (under the ambiguous headline “Gaza Attacks Are On The Rise As Factions Vie For Power”) as “an artillery duel,” quoting Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz saying, “As long as it’s not quiet here, it won’t be quiet there.”
In placing increased Qassam rocket attacks on Israel alongside Israel’s pounding of Gaza, the Times never mentions that of the 360 Qassam rockets that have fallen on Israel this year—many fired fall on Palestinian territory— not one has killed an Israeli. Only 8 Israelis have been killed by the rockets since the first Qassam landed in Israel in 2002. To use them, or the new Hamas government—which has maintained a cease-fire with Israel for the past year—as an excuse to ramp up attacks on Palestinians is grossly cynical on the part of Israel.
As Ha’aretz notes, the shellings are “ineffective” at deterring rocket attacks, which come from small, light launchers that can be easily moved. One can almost detect a certain sarcasm in Israeli suggestions that Palestinians “have to ask themselves why terrorists are exploiting them . . . The terrorists have no respect or care for Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians." Palestinians report being shot at by militants after begging them to move elsewhere. On the other hand, Israel admitted that last week, before Ghabeen was killed, it reduced the “margin of safety” of known civillian locations from 1,000 to 300 feet.
At a Passover seder Wednesday night, an aquaintance working on American intelligence matters told me that Israelis invented “reconaissance by artillery”—instead of trying to determine the location of a target through costly or dangerous traditional methods, just pound an area and assume that whoever fires back is a target and civillians will run away as best they can.
At the same time, it looks like Ehud Olmert has learned the lessons of his old boss, Ariel Sharon. Before preparing to strategically withdraw from Gaza, Sharon spent weeks bloodying the Palestinians, just to make sure that he still looked “tough.” It doesn’t matter what the Palestinians do, Olmert needs to show his constitutuents that he’s no wuss for planning a pull out from the West Bank.
That’s not a cycle of violence. That’s Israeli disregard for human life.
Ignoring The Assault On Gaza
When human rights activists claim that the U.S. is sabotaging any potential peace process, they don’t mean just the stuff that reaches the headlines, like stopping crucial aid to the new Palestinian Authority government.This morning, Ha’aretz reports that the U.S. has blocked a U.N. Security Council resolution condemning Israel’s recent, continuous, indiscriminate shelling of the Gaza Strip.
Since last Friday, Israel has been pouring more than 300 artillery shells a day into Gaza, the most densely-populated region on the planet. That’s 2,100 shells. At least 18 Gazans, including Khadeel Ghabeen, an 8-year-old girl, have been killed. Scores have been wounded, including 11 other members of Ghabeen’s family.
The entire month of April so far has been marked by shellings and missile attacks by Israeli airships and naval vessels, including the destruction of PA President Mahmoud Abbas’ helicopter pad in Gaza as he came to visit the strip.
Typical American coverage of Israel-Palestine conflicts tends to bend over backwards to appear “balanced,” thus reinforcing the common myth that the conflict is a “tit-for-tat” cycle of violence. Thus The New York Times covers the shelling (under the ambiguous headline “Gaza Attacks Are On The Rise As Factions Vie For Power”) as “an artillery duel,” quoting Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz saying, “As long as it’s not quiet here, it won’t be quiet there.”
In placing increased Qassam rocket attacks on Israel alongside Israel’s pounding of Gaza, the Times never mentions that of the 360 Qassam rockets that have fallen on Israel this year—many fired fall on Palestinian territory— not one has killed an Israeli. Only 8 Israelis have been killed by the rockets since the first Qassam landed in Israel in 2002. To use them, or the new Hamas government—which has maintained a cease-fire with Israel for the past year—as an excuse to ramp up attacks on Palestinians is grossly cynical on the part of Israel.
As Ha’aretz notes, the shellings are “ineffective” at deterring rocket attacks, which come from small, light launchers that can be easily moved. One can almost detect a certain sarcasm in Israeli suggestions that Palestinians “have to ask themselves why terrorists are exploiting them . . . The terrorists have no respect or care for Israeli civilians or Palestinian civilians." Palestinians report being shot at by militants after begging them to move elsewhere. On the other hand, Israel admitted that last week, before Ghabeen was killed, it reduced the “margin of safety” of known civillian locations from 1,000 to 300 feet.
At a Passover seder Wednesday night, an aquaintance working on American intelligence matters told me that Israelis invented “reconaissance by artillery”—instead of trying to determine the location of a target through costly or dangerous traditional methods, just pound an area and assume that whoever fires back is a target and civillians will run away as best they can.
At the same time, it looks like Ehud Olmert has learned the lessons of his old boss, Ariel Sharon. Before preparing to strategically withdraw from Gaza, Sharon spent weeks bloodying the Palestinians, just to make sure that he still looked “tough.” It doesn’t matter what the Palestinians do, Olmert needs to show his constitutuents that he’s no wuss for planning a pull out from the West Bank.
That’s not a cycle of violence. That’s Israeli disregard for human life.
MEPI MEDIA REFORM PROBLEMS ? MARC LYNCH (ABU AARDVARK, APRIL 12): The Middle East Partnership Initiative (MEPI) has recently gotten involved in the media sector. Anything that MEPI does will be evaluated at least in part in light of the incredibly stupid and counter-productive efforts of the Defense Department. The Lincoln Group's Iraqi payola scheme -- which the DOD continues to defend and to execute even after its exposure -- was almost tailor made to guarantee that real Arab journalists would be extra sensitive to anything which looks like an association with America, and to destroy the credibility of anyone who might be otherwise tempted to say positive things about the US.
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)
http://abuaardvark.typepad.com/abuaardvark/ (SCROLL DOWN LINK FOR ITEM)
Peace can only be the fruit of justice:
Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Ismail Haniyeh outlines the basis for comprehensive peace
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12733.htm
===
Abbas calls aid cut-off illegal:
Palestinian Pres-ident Mahmoud Abbas conferred yesterday with Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and labelled the Israeli boycott of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the cut-off of financial aid to the Palestinians as “illogical and illegal.”
http://tinyurl.com/l2sx9
===
Palestinian analyst warns Government will collapse:
Palestinian analyst Ali al-Jerbawi has warned that the Hamas-led Palestinian government will collapse in three months unless it pays the salaries of 140,000 government employees.
http://tinyurl.com/l6gc5
===
'Democracy' at work:
International aid freezes threaten to strangle the democratically elected Hamas-led government
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/790/re61.htm
===
Video: The Women of Hamas :
Dateline's Chris Hammer took off to the troubled Gaza Strip to find out why so many Palestinian women voted for the militants.
http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=
Prime Minister of the Palestinian Authority Ismail Haniyeh outlines the basis for comprehensive peace
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12733.htm
===
Abbas calls aid cut-off illegal:
Palestinian Pres-ident Mahmoud Abbas conferred yesterday with Jordanian Prime Minister Marouf Bakhit and labelled the Israeli boycott of the Palestinian Authority (PA) and the cut-off of financial aid to the Palestinians as “illogical and illegal.”
http://tinyurl.com/l2sx9
===
Palestinian analyst warns Government will collapse:
Palestinian analyst Ali al-Jerbawi has warned that the Hamas-led Palestinian government will collapse in three months unless it pays the salaries of 140,000 government employees.
http://tinyurl.com/l6gc5
===
'Democracy' at work:
International aid freezes threaten to strangle the democratically elected Hamas-led government
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/790/re61.htm
===
Video: The Women of Hamas :
Dateline's Chris Hammer took off to the troubled Gaza Strip to find out why so many Palestinian women voted for the militants.
http://news.sbs.com.au/dateline/index.php?page=
6 Killed in Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv ABC News
6 People Dead, 35 Wounded in Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv; Same Restaurant Attacked in Jan. A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a fast-food restaurant in a bustling commercial area of Tel Aviv during the Jewish holiday of Passover on Monday, killing six people and wounding at least 35 others, police and medics said.
An Israeli soldier detains a blindfolded Palestinian, during a military operation in the West Bank village of Yabed, near the town of Jenin, Sunday, April 16, 2006. Several people were wounded during the clashes that erupted during the operation.
Israel's Army Radio, citing police, said six people including the suicide bomber were killed. Israel TV's Channel 2 said at least 15 of the wounded were in serious condition. The bomber struck the same falafel restaurant that was hit by an attacker on Jan. 19, medics said. In that attack, 20 people were wounded. The restaurant is in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighborhood near Tel Aviv's central bus station, which was crowded with holiday travelers. The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood. The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But on Sunday, the leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, said the militant group was making "nonstop efforts" to infiltrate suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israel. "The nonstop crackdown against our resistance might limit this effort, but it's not going to stop it," he said in a statement posted on the group's Web site.
Bombing in Tel Aviv kills 5 Reuters.uk
Floyd's Waters to sing in Israeli-Arab peace town Scotsman
Times Online - BBC News - InTheNews.co.uk - Al-Bawaba - all 112 related »
6 People Dead, 35 Wounded in Suicide Bombing in Tel Aviv; Same Restaurant Attacked in Jan. A Palestinian suicide bomber blew himself up near a fast-food restaurant in a bustling commercial area of Tel Aviv during the Jewish holiday of Passover on Monday, killing six people and wounding at least 35 others, police and medics said.
An Israeli soldier detains a blindfolded Palestinian, during a military operation in the West Bank village of Yabed, near the town of Jenin, Sunday, April 16, 2006. Several people were wounded during the clashes that erupted during the operation.
Israel's Army Radio, citing police, said six people including the suicide bomber were killed. Israel TV's Channel 2 said at least 15 of the wounded were in serious condition. The bomber struck the same falafel restaurant that was hit by an attacker on Jan. 19, medics said. In that attack, 20 people were wounded. The restaurant is in the bustling Neve Shaanan neighborhood near Tel Aviv's central bus station, which was crowded with holiday travelers. The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. A dazed-looking man walked near the site, his white T-shirt splattered with blood. The blast shattered the windshields of cars, and blew out the windows of nearby buildings. Glass shards and blood splattered the ground. There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But on Sunday, the leader of Islamic Jihad, Ramadan Shallah, said the militant group was making "nonstop efforts" to infiltrate suicide bombers from the West Bank into Israel. "The nonstop crackdown against our resistance might limit this effort, but it's not going to stop it," he said in a statement posted on the group's Web site.
Bombing in Tel Aviv kills 5 Reuters.uk
Floyd's Waters to sing in Israeli-Arab peace town Scotsman
Times Online - BBC News - InTheNews.co.uk - Al-Bawaba - all 112 related »
Jerusalem's Old City Welcomes Celebrants Yahoo! News
Franciscan monks, German tourists and Philippine foreign workers crowded the Old City of Jerusalem's cobblestone streets and its ancient churches Sunday to celebrate Easter. Thousands of pilgrims packed the narrow alleyways of the Old City to mark Jesus' resurrection — more visitors than in recent years, reflecting a downturn in the Palestinian-Israeli violence that had kept tourists away. The Easter celebration capped a week of holidays, including Palm Sunday the week before, when according to tradition Jesus returned to Jerusalem and Good Friday, which marks his crucifixion. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, celebrated Mass in the dark, incense-filled interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the spot where many Christians believe Jesus was nailed to the cross, buried and rose again. As the leading Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Sabbah led black-robed priests into the church singing the Lord's Prayer. Then the Palestinian-born patriarch lit worshippers' candles, which gradually illuminated the painted dome ceiling. "This is like a dream come true for us to be here in the Holy Land," said Rona Arida, 29, a Philippine worker in Israel, after praying with her friends at the church built in the 11th century on the ruins of a fourth century sanctuary. "I prayed for all of my family back home." Roman Catholics believe Jesus was buried on the site of the Holy Sepulcher, while many Protestant denominations believe he was buried in the nearby Garden Tomb just outside the wall of the Old City. In the walkways of the Old City's Christian Quarter, Palestinian vendors sold painted Armenian pottery, fresh-squeezed orange juice and Jesus figurines carved out of olive wood. Nuns clad in black brushed shoulders with Orthodox Jewish women in long skirts pushing children in strollers toward the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, part of the compound of the biblical Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. About 90,000 tourists were visiting the country for Easter and Passover this year, up 20 percent from last year, Israel's Tourism Ministry said. For security concerns, Israel clamped a closure on the West Bank and Gaza, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel. Christian Palestinian clergy with special permits were allowed to enter to celebrate Easter. This year, Easter falls during the seven-day Jewish holiday of Passover, when Jews celebrate their biblical flight from bondage in Egypt. "It's special to be here now, where the Jews are celebrating Passover and the Christians are celebrating Easter," said Maria Andreucci, 72, of Rome. Later this week, Orthodox Christians, who follow a different calendar than the Western Church, will flood the Old City's streets to celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday according to their own tradition.
By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer
Franciscan monks, German tourists and Philippine foreign workers crowded the Old City of Jerusalem's cobblestone streets and its ancient churches Sunday to celebrate Easter. Thousands of pilgrims packed the narrow alleyways of the Old City to mark Jesus' resurrection — more visitors than in recent years, reflecting a downturn in the Palestinian-Israeli violence that had kept tourists away. The Easter celebration capped a week of holidays, including Palm Sunday the week before, when according to tradition Jesus returned to Jerusalem and Good Friday, which marks his crucifixion. The Latin Patriarch of Jerusalem, Michel Sabbah, celebrated Mass in the dark, incense-filled interior of the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, built on the spot where many Christians believe Jesus was nailed to the cross, buried and rose again. As the leading Roman Catholic official in the Holy Land, Sabbah led black-robed priests into the church singing the Lord's Prayer. Then the Palestinian-born patriarch lit worshippers' candles, which gradually illuminated the painted dome ceiling. "This is like a dream come true for us to be here in the Holy Land," said Rona Arida, 29, a Philippine worker in Israel, after praying with her friends at the church built in the 11th century on the ruins of a fourth century sanctuary. "I prayed for all of my family back home." Roman Catholics believe Jesus was buried on the site of the Holy Sepulcher, while many Protestant denominations believe he was buried in the nearby Garden Tomb just outside the wall of the Old City. In the walkways of the Old City's Christian Quarter, Palestinian vendors sold painted Armenian pottery, fresh-squeezed orange juice and Jesus figurines carved out of olive wood. Nuns clad in black brushed shoulders with Orthodox Jewish women in long skirts pushing children in strollers toward the Jewish Quarter and the Western Wall, part of the compound of the biblical Second Temple destroyed by the Romans in the year 70. About 90,000 tourists were visiting the country for Easter and Passover this year, up 20 percent from last year, Israel's Tourism Ministry said. For security concerns, Israel clamped a closure on the West Bank and Gaza, preventing Palestinians from entering Israel. Christian Palestinian clergy with special permits were allowed to enter to celebrate Easter. This year, Easter falls during the seven-day Jewish holiday of Passover, when Jews celebrate their biblical flight from bondage in Egypt. "It's special to be here now, where the Jews are celebrating Passover and the Christians are celebrating Easter," said Maria Andreucci, 72, of Rome. Later this week, Orthodox Christians, who follow a different calendar than the Western Church, will flood the Old City's streets to celebrate Good Friday and Easter Sunday according to their own tradition.
By LAURIE COPANS, Associated Press Writer
Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror' news.ask - AP
After Hamas defended a deadly suicide bombing Monday, Israel's U.N. ambassador warned that recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran and Syria "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value." Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" - Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government - was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. "A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," he said. A Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant during Passover, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest bombing in more than a year. In a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian government's condemnations of bombings, the Hamas-led administration defended the attack as a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." The Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, condemned Monday's suicide bombing and the loss of innocent civilians on both sides. But he attacked Israel for its latest military escalation - which killed 21 Palestinians from April 7-9. The bloodshed and Hamas' hard-line stance could set the stage for harsh Israeli reprisals and endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance. Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the attack in Tel Aviv even though a separate group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility. Islamic Jihad has close ties to Israel's archenemy, Iran. "Hamas' constant preaching for the destruction of Israel serves as a catalyst for these attacks," said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman. In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by the Popular Resistance Committee's militant group to manufacture homemade rockets to launch at Israel. The Palestinian suicide attack took place just two hours before Israel's newly elected parliament was sworn into office, and Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert said Israel would react with appropriate means. The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, condemned the suicide bombing and said he had ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent future attacks. "These kinds of attacks harm the Palestinian interest, and we as an authority and government must move to stop it," Abbas said. "We will not stop pursuing anyone who carries out such attacks." But Abbas is currently in a power struggle with Hamas, and it remains unclear who is ultimately in charge of the Palestinians' security forces. The European Union condemned the bombing, and Russia called on the Palestinian Authority to stop future attacks. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Palestinian government "to take a clear public stand" against such acts. And the United States warned of grave consequences for the Hamas-led government. Despite the suicide bombing, Annan announced later Monday that the four key players promoting Mideast peace efforts - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - would meet in New York on May 9 to discuss prospects for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The bombing was the first inside Israel since the Hamas Cabinet took office 2 1/2 weeks ago. Militants from Islamic Jihad celebrated by handing out pastries on the streets of Gaza. The attack came amid a sharp increase in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border. Militants have fired barrages of homemade rockets at Israel, and Israel has responded with artillery fire. The suicide bombing took place about 1:40 p.m. when the attacker, carrying a bag stuffed with 10 pounds of explosives, approached "The Mayor's Falafel" near Tel Aviv's central bus station. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the weeklong Passover holiday. A guard outside was checking the bomber's bag when the device exploded, police and witnesses said. "Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi Otmazgo, 35, who was wounded on his hands, foot and head. The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields, smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard's body was torn in half. The explosion killed a woman standing near her husband and children, said Israel Yaakov, another witness. "The father was traumatized, he went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up, and the children were screaming, 'Mom! Mom!' and she wasn't answering, she was dead already," he said. The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. Police said nine civilians and the bomber were killed and dozens were wounded. The attack was the deadliest since a double suicide bombing on two buses in the southern city of Beersheba killed 16 people on Aug. 31, 2004. It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. A 2002 attack at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya killed 29 people and triggered a major Israeli military offensive. Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a 16-month truce with Israel, but Hamas leaders defended Monday's bombing. "We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry. Israeli President Moshe Katsav appealed to the Palestinians to reject violence. "We want to believe that the political path of the Hamas government is not the path of the Palestinians," he said. Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Samer Hammad, 21, from a village outside the West Bank town of Jenin. In a video released by the group, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he said, wearing an Islamic Jihad headband. Islamic Jihad was behind eight of the nine suicide bombings since the truce declaration. The attack complicated the Hamas effort to raise money for the bankrupt Palestinian treasury. Hamas is two weeks late paying March salaries for the government's 140,000 workers. The U.S. and European Union cut off aid to the government because Hamas refused their demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel also stopped transferring tens of millions of tax dollars it collects on the Palestinians' behalf every month. Hamas said it would turn to Muslim countries to make up the shortfall. Iran and Qatar each pledged $50 million to the Palestinian Authority.
By LAURIE COPANS
After Hamas defended a deadly suicide bombing Monday, Israel's U.N. ambassador warned that recent statements by the Palestinian government, Iran and Syria "are clear declarations of war, and I urge each and every one of you to listen carefully and take them at face value." Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" - Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government - was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century. "A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," he said. A Palestinian suicide bomber struck a packed fast-food restaurant during Passover, killing nine people and wounding dozens in the deadliest bombing in more than a year. In a sharp departure from the previous Palestinian government's condemnations of bombings, the Hamas-led administration defended the attack as a legitimate response to Israeli "aggression." The Palestinian U.N. observer, Riyad Mansour, condemned Monday's suicide bombing and the loss of innocent civilians on both sides. But he attacked Israel for its latest military escalation - which killed 21 Palestinians from April 7-9. The bloodshed and Hamas' hard-line stance could set the stage for harsh Israeli reprisals and endanger Hamas' efforts to secure desperately needed international aid and acceptance. Israel said it held Hamas responsible for the attack in Tel Aviv even though a separate group, Islamic Jihad, claimed responsibility. Islamic Jihad has close ties to Israel's archenemy, Iran. "Hamas' constant preaching for the destruction of Israel serves as a catalyst for these attacks," said David Baker, an Israeli government spokesman. In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by the Popular Resistance Committee's militant group to manufacture homemade rockets to launch at Israel. The Palestinian suicide attack took place just two hours before Israel's newly elected parliament was sworn into office, and Prime Minister-designate Ehud Olmert said Israel would react with appropriate means. The moderate Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas of the rival Fatah party, condemned the suicide bombing and said he had ordered Palestinian security forces to prevent future attacks. "These kinds of attacks harm the Palestinian interest, and we as an authority and government must move to stop it," Abbas said. "We will not stop pursuing anyone who carries out such attacks." But Abbas is currently in a power struggle with Hamas, and it remains unclear who is ultimately in charge of the Palestinians' security forces. The European Union condemned the bombing, and Russia called on the Palestinian Authority to stop future attacks. U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told the Palestinian government "to take a clear public stand" against such acts. And the United States warned of grave consequences for the Hamas-led government. Despite the suicide bombing, Annan announced later Monday that the four key players promoting Mideast peace efforts - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - would meet in New York on May 9 to discuss prospects for settling the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The bombing was the first inside Israel since the Hamas Cabinet took office 2 1/2 weeks ago. Militants from Islamic Jihad celebrated by handing out pastries on the streets of Gaza. The attack came amid a sharp increase in fighting between Israel and the Palestinians across the Gaza border. Militants have fired barrages of homemade rockets at Israel, and Israel has responded with artillery fire. The suicide bombing took place about 1:40 p.m. when the attacker, carrying a bag stuffed with 10 pounds of explosives, approached "The Mayor's Falafel" near Tel Aviv's central bus station. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the weeklong Passover holiday. A guard outside was checking the bomber's bag when the device exploded, police and witnesses said. "Suddenly there was a boom. The whole restaurant flew in the air," said Azi Otmazgo, 35, who was wounded on his hands, foot and head. The bomb, laced with nails and other projectiles, shattered car windshields, smashed windows of nearby buildings and blew away the restaurant's sign. Blood splattered the ground. Police said the guard's body was torn in half. The explosion killed a woman standing near her husband and children, said Israel Yaakov, another witness. "The father was traumatized, he went into shock. He ran to the children to gather them up, and the children were screaming, 'Mom! Mom!' and she wasn't answering, she was dead already," he said. The wounded were treated on sidewalks. One man was lying on his side, his shirt pushed up and his back covered by bandages. A bleeding woman was wheeled away on a stretcher. Police said nine civilians and the bomber were killed and dozens were wounded. The attack was the deadliest since a double suicide bombing on two buses in the southern city of Beersheba killed 16 people on Aug. 31, 2004. It was the second major Passover bombing in four years. A 2002 attack at a hotel in the coastal town of Netanya killed 29 people and triggered a major Israeli military offensive. Hamas, responsible for dozens of suicide bombings in recent years, has largely observed a 16-month truce with Israel, but Hamas leaders defended Monday's bombing. "We think that this operation ... is a direct result of the policy of the occupation and the brutal aggression and siege committed against our people," said Khaled Abu Helal, spokesman for the Hamas-led Interior Ministry. Israeli President Moshe Katsav appealed to the Palestinians to reject violence. "We want to believe that the political path of the Hamas government is not the path of the Palestinians," he said. Islamic Jihad identified the bomber as Samer Hammad, 21, from a village outside the West Bank town of Jenin. In a video released by the group, Hammad said the bombing was dedicated to the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. "There are many other bombers on the way," he said, wearing an Islamic Jihad headband. Islamic Jihad was behind eight of the nine suicide bombings since the truce declaration. The attack complicated the Hamas effort to raise money for the bankrupt Palestinian treasury. Hamas is two weeks late paying March salaries for the government's 140,000 workers. The U.S. and European Union cut off aid to the government because Hamas refused their demands to renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Israel also stopped transferring tens of millions of tax dollars it collects on the Palestinians' behalf every month. Hamas said it would turn to Muslim countries to make up the shortfall. Iran and Qatar each pledged $50 million to the Palestinian Authority.
By LAURIE COPANS
THE HORROR OF HAMAS EDITORIAL (LOS ANGELES TIMES, APRIL 18): The Palestinian leadership is morally repellent.
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials
THE TEL AVIV ATROCITY EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, APRIL 18, 2006): The only way to prevent a descent into the inferno of a vendetta is to pursue a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._aviv_atrocity/
HAMMERING HAMAS OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, APRIL 17): International pressure -- financial or otherwise -- so far hasn't led Hamas-affiliated leaders to change their core principles.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
US LAUNCHES INT'L ANTI-HAMAS CAMPAIGN - ASSOCIATED PRESS (JERUSALEM POST, APRIL 18): The Bush administration launched on Monday a campaign to reverse creeping assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian government while endorsing help to the Palestinian people themselves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
ISLAM FACES ITS FUTURE EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, APRIL 15): Ultimately, the world's great religions cannot coexist peacefully unless Muslims accept that the right of others to believe freely does not diminish the worth of Islam.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ces_its_future/
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editor...ment-editorials
THE TEL AVIV ATROCITY EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, APRIL 18, 2006): The only way to prevent a descent into the inferno of a vendetta is to pursue a negotiated peace agreement between Israel and the Palestinians.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial..._aviv_atrocity/
HAMMERING HAMAS OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, APRIL 17): International pressure -- financial or otherwise -- so far hasn't led Hamas-affiliated leaders to change their core principles.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
US LAUNCHES INT'L ANTI-HAMAS CAMPAIGN - ASSOCIATED PRESS (JERUSALEM POST, APRIL 18): The Bush administration launched on Monday a campaign to reverse creeping assistance to the Hamas-led Palestinian government while endorsing help to the Palestinian people themselves.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
ISLAM FACES ITS FUTURE EDITORIAL (BOSTON GLOBE, APRIL 15): Ultimately, the world's great religions cannot coexist peacefully unless Muslims accept that the right of others to believe freely does not diminish the worth of Islam.
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/editorial...ces_its_future/
Manufacturing consent for war:
Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror':
Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1853302
Israel Warns of New 'Axis of Terror':
Ambassador Dan Gillerman cautioned that a new "axis of terror" Iran, Syria and the Hamas-run Palestinian government was sowing the seeds of the first world war of the 21st century.
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=1853302
Israeli Bomb Kills 16 Year Old Palestinian :
The youths were standing in an open field in the northern part of Beit Lahiya when they were hit by the shell. Ovayed was critically wounded and died of his wounds two hours later.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706729.html
===
Israeli Forces Storm Several West Bank Towns, Make Dozens of Arrests:
Security sources said that Israeli forces raided the house of Sameeh Hamad, father of Sami Hamad who carried out the Tel Aviv bombing attack on Monday. The soldiers arrested Hamad and forcibly evicted the house, prior to demolishing it. The father, in his fifties, was then led to an undisclosed location.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=15406
===
Hamas blames Israel for bombing:
Hamas member in Jerusalem tells Ynet Israel, occupation are to blame for bombing; Says decision to revoke his citizenship is arrogant decision because Israel stole his land and is seeking to evict him
http://tinyurl.com/hn2db
===
Gush Shalom on the Tel Aviv bombing:
"Any comment on the latest terror attack assholes?"
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/200...iv-bombing.html
===
Least we forget:
In the last two and a half weeks (since the previous suicide bombing) Israeli forces have killed at least 26 Palestinians -- at least 5 of them children -- and injured 161 Palestinian men, women and children. A college student lost her right eye today after being shot by an Israeli sniper last week.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12774.htm
===
Dispatch from Gaza: The Earth is Closing in on Us:
The shells keep falling. They’ve gotten inside my head, so that it’s not just my house shaking but but my brain throbbing.
http://www.counterpunch.org/haddad04172006.html
===
Israel's Policy: Starve the Palestinians:
Israel exists as a major military force in the world and a silent member of the nuclear club. Yet it cries wolf that Hamas threatens its existence.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/policy-starve.html
===
Muslims, Arabs Raise Funds for Palestinians: –
With millions of Palestinians hardly able to make ends meet, several Arab and Muslim countries offered aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority while local fund-raising campaigns have been launched across the Muslim world to counter international aid freeze.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/20...article06.shtml
===
Israel refuses to give the government a chance to achieve a state of calm:
In a Tuesday declaration, Hamad said that Israel will not cease its attacks long enough for Palestinian parties and resistance factions to have a chance to even speak about another ‘period of calm.’
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/apr/...406/report3.htm
===
Israel, real threat to world - Zarif :
Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Javad Zarif Tuesday called for respect and support of the international community for the rights of the Palestinian people.
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=211485
===
Gwynne Dyer: US support for moving borders is just a charade:
”WE have a very tight timetable for drawing Israel’s final borders, because we seek the support of the US administration and President Bush. It has to be done by November, 2008,” Yoram Turbowicz said last week.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/columns/183389.html
===
'Iran' calls on every Muslim to donate one euro to Palestine :
"All Islamic nations should know that their prestige and dignity lies in their strong objection to the bullying of big powers.
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0...78909185628.htm
The youths were standing in an open field in the northern part of Beit Lahiya when they were hit by the shell. Ovayed was critically wounded and died of his wounds two hours later.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706729.html
===
Israeli Forces Storm Several West Bank Towns, Make Dozens of Arrests:
Security sources said that Israeli forces raided the house of Sameeh Hamad, father of Sami Hamad who carried out the Tel Aviv bombing attack on Monday. The soldiers arrested Hamad and forcibly evicted the house, prior to demolishing it. The father, in his fifties, was then led to an undisclosed location.
http://www.ipc.gov.ps/ipc_new/english/details.asp?name=15406
===
Hamas blames Israel for bombing:
Hamas member in Jerusalem tells Ynet Israel, occupation are to blame for bombing; Says decision to revoke his citizenship is arrogant decision because Israel stole his land and is seeking to evict him
http://tinyurl.com/hn2db
===
Gush Shalom on the Tel Aviv bombing:
"Any comment on the latest terror attack assholes?"
http://jewssansfrontieres.blogspot.com/200...iv-bombing.html
===
Least we forget:
In the last two and a half weeks (since the previous suicide bombing) Israeli forces have killed at least 26 Palestinians -- at least 5 of them children -- and injured 161 Palestinian men, women and children. A college student lost her right eye today after being shot by an Israeli sniper last week.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12774.htm
===
Dispatch from Gaza: The Earth is Closing in on Us:
The shells keep falling. They’ve gotten inside my head, so that it’s not just my house shaking but but my brain throbbing.
http://www.counterpunch.org/haddad04172006.html
===
Israel's Policy: Starve the Palestinians:
Israel exists as a major military force in the world and a silent member of the nuclear club. Yet it cries wolf that Hamas threatens its existence.
http://www.ifamericansknew.org/cur_sit/policy-starve.html
===
Muslims, Arabs Raise Funds for Palestinians: –
With millions of Palestinians hardly able to make ends meet, several Arab and Muslim countries offered aid to the cash-strapped Palestinian Authority while local fund-raising campaigns have been launched across the Muslim world to counter international aid freeze.
http://www.islamonline.net/English/News/20...article06.shtml
===
Israel refuses to give the government a chance to achieve a state of calm:
In a Tuesday declaration, Hamad said that Israel will not cease its attacks long enough for Palestinian parties and resistance factions to have a chance to even speak about another ‘period of calm.’
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/apr/...406/report3.htm
===
Israel, real threat to world - Zarif :
Iran's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Mohammad Javad Zarif Tuesday called for respect and support of the international community for the rights of the Palestinian people.
http://www.iribnews.ir/Full_en.asp?news_id=211485
===
Gwynne Dyer: US support for moving borders is just a charade:
”WE have a very tight timetable for drawing Israel’s final borders, because we seek the support of the US administration and President Bush. It has to be done by November, 2008,” Yoram Turbowicz said last week.
http://www.bordermail.com.au/news/bm/columns/183389.html
===
'Iran' calls on every Muslim to donate one euro to Palestine :
"All Islamic nations should know that their prestige and dignity lies in their strong objection to the bullying of big powers.
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/menu-234/0...78909185628.htm
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HD20Ak02.html
The face of Saudi opposition
Interview by Mahan Abedin
Saad al-Faqih was a professor of surgery at King Saud University until March 1994. He was jailed for his heavy involvement in the country's reform movement. On his release from prison, he became director of the London office of the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), then the leading Saudi opposition group. He left CDLR to form the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA) in 1996. MIRA is centered in London and is widely recognized as the only serious opposition to the House of Saud. Aside from his role as head of MIRA, Saad al-Faqih is widely recognized as a leading expert on al-Qaeda and Salafi-jihadism. Saad al-Faqih spoke to Mahan Abedin in London on April 6.
Mahan Abedin: How would you describe the eight months since
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud's official ascension to the throne? Has the transition been smooth?
Saad al-Faqih: There has been no tangible change in the country because Abdullah was the de facto ruler anyway. All the talk about reforms under Abdullah is for media consumption only. Moreover, Abdullah has real difficulty in reducing the power of Princes Sultan and Nayif. However, there is one development that has been detrimental to the regime, and that is the extreme volatility of the stock market, which has affected between 3 million and 4 million Saudi investors. The stock market has gone from a high of 21,000 points to almost 14,000 points during the first two weeks of March this year.
MA: How would you explain this collapse?
SF: Saudi investors have long had a preference for investing in real estate (as opposed to stocks and shares). But then the big companies specializing in real-estate investments were taken over by the regime, so the people had no option but to invest in the stock market. This sudden enthusiasm boosted the stock market as share prices rose. Many people even abandoned their jobs to devote themselves fully to investing in stocks and shares. But as the liquidity of the market reached record highs, the stock market collapsed, ruining the lives of many people. To give you a better picture of the situation, the investment market mirrored a very tall building with a weak base. There was bound to be a collapse.
MA: Like the dot-com collapse in the West a few years ago?
SF: Exactly. The regime enjoyed this stock market mania. It wanted to keep people busy and distract them away from politics, but this has now backfired. The investors now believe the regime tricked them into losing their money. The collapse of the stock market has been the most important event in the past eight months, but to my surprise many people in the Western media are not even aware of it.
MA: Have there been any other developments of import?
SF: The arrest of Mohsen al-Awaji one month ago was controversial. He was arrested for publishing a critical article on Ghazi al-Ghossaibi [former Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and currently minister of labor], claiming that Ghossaibi was abusing the authority given to him by the Saudis, and Abdullah in particular. For this he was kept in jail for 11 days. Awaji is a high-profile character who supports the idea that the regime can accommodate reform. Ironically, his arrest further discredits this regime-friendly position.
MA: You had previously warned that a "succession struggle" would ensue after King Fahd's demise. Do you now accept this is not likely to happen?
SF: No, I don't accept this. The main problem for the royals is that [Second Deputy Prime Minister] Prince Sultan wants to become king and does not want to wait for Abdullah to die naturally. So somehow Abdullah has to be removed. Moreover, [Interior Minister] Prince Nayif fears that people close to Abdullah want to get rid of him, mainly because of American pressure. Nayif is keen to exploit Abdullah's so-called "liberal" credentials, by turning the traditional religious establishment against him.
MA: When can we see some concrete manifestations of these divisions? Or are the royals going to keep it hidden from public view?
SF: If Abdullah decided to move against Nayif, then clearly the divisions will come to the fore. However, the real questions revolve around Sultan, since he is desperate to become king. And because Sultan has cancer and will probably die before Abdullah, he will want to make sure that Abdullah dies before him.
MA: Let us talk about your organization. MIRA is now 10 years old; what have been its greatest achievements to date?
SF: Although MIRA is officially 10 years old, our roots go back to the Gulf War and the emergence of the reform movement in Arabia. Most positive political changes can be traced back to MIRA and its predecessors. To be specific, we have achieved the following:
Raised public awareness about the shortcomings of the regime.
Alerted people to the need for comprehensive and strategic reforms.
Succeeded in presenting ourselves as an alternative voice by using cutting-edge technology and innovating new ways of expressing dissent
Introduced organizational concepts into Saudi politics and alerted people to the critical need for organized resistance against the House of Saud.
Created the conditions which enable people both inside and outside the country to see beyond the House of Saud - in short, we have impressed upon people that the Sauds' rule is not permanent.
Finally, we have generally made life very hard for the regime, and made it much more difficult for them to promote themselves as they had done prior to the emergence of the reform movement.
MA: MIRA is widely recognized as the only serious and effective opposition to the House of Saud. The key question is, why have you failed to organize a popular revolt against the regime?
SF: You can create a mass movement either through an underground organization or through intense media activities against the regime. It takes a long time to develop an underground movement in Saudi Arabia; therefore we opted for the media strategy, even though our mass-media project has oft-times been undermined by jamming and other forms of interference. On the ground we have invented new tricks to guarantee the success of large gatherings without the need for a well-organized underground movement, which would provoke a strong response by the security forces. We have tried to provoke mass resistance against the regime by asking people to gather in mosques on Friday prayers and have instructed them to openly defy the regime only when their numbers are large enough to deter the security forces. These activities are slowly eroding the foundations of the regime.
MA: What constitute your core activities?
SF: The main activity revolves around our media arm, which enables us to communicate directly with our people inside the country. Our TV broadcasts usually last for one to three hours per day. Now that we have acquired a popular satellite, we are hoping to have a minimum of three hours' broadcasting every day. Also very soon we are hoping to broadcast live pictures. We also plan to make documentaries based on smuggled footage from inside the country.
MA: Explain the contents of MIRA's broadcasts.
SF: They are simply talk shows. People ring in from the country and express their frustrations and grievances.
MA: What other activities do you engage in?
SF: We try to organize people inside the country, in particular the tribes, people in the army, industry and the universities. We have penetrated these institutions and are hoping to bank on their support when the regime nears its end.
MA: Aside from character-assassinating you, how is the Saudi regime fighting MIRA?
SF: They arrest people who make contact with us. They detain whomever they can identify. They use their media, or the media under their influence, to attack our movement in general. They have even pressured the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera to not talk to us. Consequently, I am the only person who is not welcome by Al-Jazeera. Even [Osama] bin Laden speaks to Al-Jazeera! This gives you an indication into how much the regime fears us, and understands that MIRA is a more potent threat than al-Qaeda. One of the senior producers at Al-Jazeera recently told me that they are allowed to talk to bin Laden and his people to anger the Americans but they are not allowed to talk to me for fear of angering the Saudis. The Saudis recognize that bin Laden is preoccupied with America, and in any case the regime has successfully mobilized public opinion against al-Qaeda inside the country. But they can never hope to turn the people against us, simply because we express people's grievances and aspirations.
MA: Aside from MIRA, is there any other credible opposition to the Sauds?
SF: I am not aware of it. The reformers are either in prison or have been bought by the regime. Outside the country, Mohammad al-Massari [former head of CDLR and currently the head of the Party for Islamic Renewal] has long gone down the pan-Islamic track and is not exclusively focused on Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Ali al-Ahmad, the Shi'ite opposition leader based in Washington, DC, also seems more concerned with developments in Iraq and the Gulf than in Saudi Arabia itself. The important point here is that MIRA is the only organization which is professionally committed to the overthrow of the Sauds. We work around the clock for this aim and are recognized by everyone as the only serious opposition to the Saudi regime.
MA: This may be the case, but you are at the mercy of the British state and its laws. Do you think there is a risk that the British may eventually cut a deal with the Saudis and expel you from the United Kingdom?
SF: The important point here is that we work within the law and have never abused our position. We have been advised by our lawyers that the British government has no legal grounds to initiate any action against MIRA, let alone expelling me from the country. In any case, there is no precedent for the British government to deal with a high-profile organization in such a manner. Furthermore, the British are shrewd enough to know that the Saudi regime is doomed and they want to be in a position to deal with alternative leaders. In the absence of an effective opposition, the only alternatives are either al-Qaeda or chaos. Liberals inside the country lack the capability and resources to provide leadership in the event of the regime's collapse. The British also know that MIRA is an important factor in reducing violence inside Saudi Arabia, because we channel people's anger away from violence and toward politics.
MA: So you think these reports about a possible deal between the UK government and the Saudis is just idle speculation?
SF: There are a few in the British government who are ready to cut a deal with the Saudis. However, they are not strong enough to form a consensus in favor of the Saudis. The Saudis have been working with the Americans to pressure the British government to move against me and MIRA. Protecting the al-Sauds is a primary US policy in the Middle East. The Americans recognize that I am a threat to the al-Sauds and went so far as pressuring the UN to put me on a terrorism list in December 2004. The Americans are very shortsighted and lack the maturity and farsightedness of the British foreign-policy establishment. Fortunately, no matter how much pressure the Americans apply, the British are too wise to make rash decisions.
MA: Let us talk about terrorism. How significant is the failed bombing of the oil facilities at Abqaiq (Buqayq)?
SF: According to our information, the operation was discovered by the Saudis one week prior to the incident. The Ministry of Interior decided to keep silent to discover the real capabilities of the cell, which they had penetrated. Despite knowing the place and timing of the operation, they failed to foil it. They even failed to stop the car from entering the complex, and were just fortunate that the car did not explode next to the right tank. Had it done so, there would have been considerable damage to exports and Saudi prestige in general. Also, the car exploded because the bomber pressed the detonation button and not because the guards shot at it, as the Saudis have claimed.
MA: What was the Saudis' plan, to gather information right to the end?
SF: Yes, and they probably thought they could foil it at the right time. However, there is a conspiracy theory going around that [Interior Minister] Mohammad bin Nayif deliberately failed to foil the plot to embarrass Abdullah.
MA: What is your analysis of the situation?
SF: This is al-Qaeda's new strategy of attacking the oil infrastructure and members of the royal family. They have decided to cease their attacks on the security forces.
MA: Is this directly tied to [bin Laden's No 2] Ayman al-Zawahiri's recent directive to this effect?
SF: I believe so.
MA: Saudi security forces allegedly disarmed two explosive-laden vehicles near the Abqaiq oil facilities on March 28. Do you think the militants were planning a reprise of the February 24 attack?
SF: No, this is a false story planted by Saudi agents.
MA: The Saudis claim to have arrested 40 members of al-Qaeda during raids on March 29. How significant are these arrests?
SF: This is another false story. These 40 people had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. They were activists of some sort, and some may have had some sympathies to al-Qaeda, but they had no concrete ties to the network. The Saudis make announcements like this all the time to boost the morale of their agents and convince the West that their regime is stable.
MA: In January, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal claimed that the kingdom had killed 120 militants since the start of the terrorist campaign in May 2003. He also claimed that only two individuals remain on the June 2005 wanted list. Do these figures reflect reality on the ground?
SF: They have killed many people; some were militants and some were not. But they have arrested thousands more, very few of whom can be described as militants.
MA: What about the claim that only two militants remain on the wanted list?
SF: This is rubbish. That list has never reflected the situation on the ground. The Saudis do not know how extensive the jihadi networks are. They have a particular problem with the returnees from the Iraq conflict. They don't know who they are, how many have come back to the country and what they should do with them.
MA: How many Saudis are fighting in Iraq today?
SF: Until late 2004 there were no fewer than 3,000 Saudis fighting in Iraq. I don't know if the figure has increased or decreased since that time. But the really interesting point is that many of these people are either members of the National Guard, the army or the Interior Ministry.
MA: How influential are the Saudi fighters in Iraq?
SF: The Iraqi insurgents do not lack leadership skills, military prowess or courage, as many of them are drawn from the ranks of the former Iraqi army. But the Saudi fighters are very brave and they have gone to Iraq to die. Consequently they are mujahideen of the highest caliber, and no doubt the Iraqi resistance welcomes their presence.
MA: Roughly how many Saudi fighters with experience in the Iraqi insurgency have returned to the kingdom?
SF: This is very difficult to say. But many have returned; some are in hiding and some have been arrested.
MA: Who ultimately controls the Iraq returnees, the jihadi leadership in Iraq or the local al-Qaeda leadership in the kingdom?
SF: Most likely the jihadi leadership in Iraq.
MA: What type of operations can we expect the Iraq returnees to execute?
SF: The same targets as the local al-Qaeda network, namely the oil infrastructure and the royal family.
MA: Overall, how well has the Saudi security establishment dealt with the terrorism threat?
SF: The regime succeeded in rooting out the older generation of jihadis. However, the new generation which has been radicalized by the Iraq conflict is a different story altogether. This generation may cause the Saudis big headaches. I would expect one or two major incidents within the next six months.
MA: What is the objective of the jihadis?
SF: By attacking the oil infrastructure, the jihadis aim to raise oil prices and damage the American economy. Secondly the jihadis want to create rifts between the Americans and the al-Sauds. As far as the Americans are concerned, the al-Sauds' primary function is to guarantee the flow of oil. If they fail in this mission, America's confidence in them will diminish accordingly. Once this happens, the Americans will be forced to look at alternatives, maybe even Islamist alternatives. More broadly, the jihadis do not want to topple the regime at this point in time, because they are not yet ready to take over the country. Therefore they will most likely assassinate a minor prince first to send a message to the regime, to the effect that if you do not behave yourselves, we will go for the next royal.
MA: How would you assess the core al-Qaeda organization today?
SF: Much of the old cadre have either been killed or arrested. But the base of the new generation is much wider and deeper. The new generation is also much more sophisticated, and no intelligence service really understands the complexity of this network.
MA: What about bin Laden's warnings to the United States?
SF: Given bin Laden's track record in following through with his threats, I believe there will be a second major attack in America. Whether these attacks are on par with the [September 11, 2001] attacks, or even exceed them in terms of sophistication and damage, remains to be seen.
MA: What targets are they likely to attack?
SF: The only real clue we have is that al-Qaeda will attack American states that voted for George Bush in the last US presidential elections. Bin Laden referred to this is his speech in late October 2004.
MA: What is your assessment of the situation in Iraq?
SF: I think al-Qaeda has succeeded in driving the country toward sectarian civil war.
MA: You think Iraq is moving toward civil war?
SF: They are already there. You don't need to have fighting on the streets to have civil war. Because of Shi'ite domination of the security forces, every Sunni feels threatened and wants to carry arms. Moreover, because of American mismanagement, every Sunni in Iraq is a potential jihadi. Somebody in Iraq called me recently and said the situation has got so bad that even the Americans are telling Sunnis to defend themselves against Shi'ite militias. More broadly, the Americans are in a real dilemma, because if they increase Sunni participation in the Iraqi government they will be strengthening the resistance, and if they support the Shi'ites, they will be strengthening Iran's role in Iraq. So it is a lose-lose situation for them, and this is exactly what al-Qaeda wanted.
MA: What do you think would happen if the coalition forces departed Iraq?
SF: The Sunnis would sweep the Shi'ites away. Even though Shi'ites outnumber Sunnis, Iraqi Sunnis have a reputation for fierceness and are more competent in governmental and military affairs than their Shi'ite compatriots.
MA: Do you think the Americans have been definitively defeated in Iraq?
SF: Yes, they have lost strategically. They are stuck in the mud, and no serious observer can deny this. Every available option is bad for them.
MA: Talking about the region more broadly, how important is the Hamas election victory in Palestine to the global Islamic movement?
SF: I don't think it is very important. Hamas has seriously constrained itself with this victory because they are now in a very difficult situation. They are being pressured by all sides and will not be able to function as a government without some contact with the Israelis.
MA: Do you think Hamas can reach accommodation with the West?
SF: Hamas has already achieved this. For instance, they have been in contact with the British government for a while. Hamas accepts the current international order, and in this respect it is worlds apart from the jihadis of al-Qaeda.
MA: How seriously is new Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad taken by Arab Islamists?
SF: The problem with Arab Islamists is that they do not go into the details of personalities and issues. They just analyze events from a superficial political perspective. Some Islamists respect him for his hardline stance and defiant defense of Iranian national pride.
MA: What about Ahmadinejad's unprecedented verbal assault on Israel?
SF: They really liked that. But some Islamists in the Arabian Peninsula fear Ahmadinejad's nationalism, even though they admire his Islamism. And as for the Salafis, they cannot see beyond their hatred for Shi'ites. Some of the more extreme Salafis in Saudi Arabia even think it would be acceptable for America to attack Iran.
Mahan Abedin is the editor of Terrorism Monitor, which is published by the Jamestown Foundation, a non-profit organization specializing in research and analysis on conflict and instability in Eurasia. The views expressed here are his own.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
The face of Saudi opposition
Interview by Mahan Abedin
Saad al-Faqih was a professor of surgery at King Saud University until March 1994. He was jailed for his heavy involvement in the country's reform movement. On his release from prison, he became director of the London office of the Committee for the Defense of Legitimate Rights (CDLR), then the leading Saudi opposition group. He left CDLR to form the Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia (MIRA) in 1996. MIRA is centered in London and is widely recognized as the only serious opposition to the House of Saud. Aside from his role as head of MIRA, Saad al-Faqih is widely recognized as a leading expert on al-Qaeda and Salafi-jihadism. Saad al-Faqih spoke to Mahan Abedin in London on April 6.
Mahan Abedin: How would you describe the eight months since
Abdullah bin Abdulaziz al-Saud's official ascension to the throne? Has the transition been smooth?
Saad al-Faqih: There has been no tangible change in the country because Abdullah was the de facto ruler anyway. All the talk about reforms under Abdullah is for media consumption only. Moreover, Abdullah has real difficulty in reducing the power of Princes Sultan and Nayif. However, there is one development that has been detrimental to the regime, and that is the extreme volatility of the stock market, which has affected between 3 million and 4 million Saudi investors. The stock market has gone from a high of 21,000 points to almost 14,000 points during the first two weeks of March this year.
MA: How would you explain this collapse?
SF: Saudi investors have long had a preference for investing in real estate (as opposed to stocks and shares). But then the big companies specializing in real-estate investments were taken over by the regime, so the people had no option but to invest in the stock market. This sudden enthusiasm boosted the stock market as share prices rose. Many people even abandoned their jobs to devote themselves fully to investing in stocks and shares. But as the liquidity of the market reached record highs, the stock market collapsed, ruining the lives of many people. To give you a better picture of the situation, the investment market mirrored a very tall building with a weak base. There was bound to be a collapse.
MA: Like the dot-com collapse in the West a few years ago?
SF: Exactly. The regime enjoyed this stock market mania. It wanted to keep people busy and distract them away from politics, but this has now backfired. The investors now believe the regime tricked them into losing their money. The collapse of the stock market has been the most important event in the past eight months, but to my surprise many people in the Western media are not even aware of it.
MA: Have there been any other developments of import?
SF: The arrest of Mohsen al-Awaji one month ago was controversial. He was arrested for publishing a critical article on Ghazi al-Ghossaibi [former Saudi ambassador to the United Kingdom and currently minister of labor], claiming that Ghossaibi was abusing the authority given to him by the Saudis, and Abdullah in particular. For this he was kept in jail for 11 days. Awaji is a high-profile character who supports the idea that the regime can accommodate reform. Ironically, his arrest further discredits this regime-friendly position.
MA: You had previously warned that a "succession struggle" would ensue after King Fahd's demise. Do you now accept this is not likely to happen?
SF: No, I don't accept this. The main problem for the royals is that [Second Deputy Prime Minister] Prince Sultan wants to become king and does not want to wait for Abdullah to die naturally. So somehow Abdullah has to be removed. Moreover, [Interior Minister] Prince Nayif fears that people close to Abdullah want to get rid of him, mainly because of American pressure. Nayif is keen to exploit Abdullah's so-called "liberal" credentials, by turning the traditional religious establishment against him.
MA: When can we see some concrete manifestations of these divisions? Or are the royals going to keep it hidden from public view?
SF: If Abdullah decided to move against Nayif, then clearly the divisions will come to the fore. However, the real questions revolve around Sultan, since he is desperate to become king. And because Sultan has cancer and will probably die before Abdullah, he will want to make sure that Abdullah dies before him.
MA: Let us talk about your organization. MIRA is now 10 years old; what have been its greatest achievements to date?
SF: Although MIRA is officially 10 years old, our roots go back to the Gulf War and the emergence of the reform movement in Arabia. Most positive political changes can be traced back to MIRA and its predecessors. To be specific, we have achieved the following:
Raised public awareness about the shortcomings of the regime.
Alerted people to the need for comprehensive and strategic reforms.
Succeeded in presenting ourselves as an alternative voice by using cutting-edge technology and innovating new ways of expressing dissent
Introduced organizational concepts into Saudi politics and alerted people to the critical need for organized resistance against the House of Saud.
Created the conditions which enable people both inside and outside the country to see beyond the House of Saud - in short, we have impressed upon people that the Sauds' rule is not permanent.
Finally, we have generally made life very hard for the regime, and made it much more difficult for them to promote themselves as they had done prior to the emergence of the reform movement.
MA: MIRA is widely recognized as the only serious and effective opposition to the House of Saud. The key question is, why have you failed to organize a popular revolt against the regime?
SF: You can create a mass movement either through an underground organization or through intense media activities against the regime. It takes a long time to develop an underground movement in Saudi Arabia; therefore we opted for the media strategy, even though our mass-media project has oft-times been undermined by jamming and other forms of interference. On the ground we have invented new tricks to guarantee the success of large gatherings without the need for a well-organized underground movement, which would provoke a strong response by the security forces. We have tried to provoke mass resistance against the regime by asking people to gather in mosques on Friday prayers and have instructed them to openly defy the regime only when their numbers are large enough to deter the security forces. These activities are slowly eroding the foundations of the regime.
MA: What constitute your core activities?
SF: The main activity revolves around our media arm, which enables us to communicate directly with our people inside the country. Our TV broadcasts usually last for one to three hours per day. Now that we have acquired a popular satellite, we are hoping to have a minimum of three hours' broadcasting every day. Also very soon we are hoping to broadcast live pictures. We also plan to make documentaries based on smuggled footage from inside the country.
MA: Explain the contents of MIRA's broadcasts.
SF: They are simply talk shows. People ring in from the country and express their frustrations and grievances.
MA: What other activities do you engage in?
SF: We try to organize people inside the country, in particular the tribes, people in the army, industry and the universities. We have penetrated these institutions and are hoping to bank on their support when the regime nears its end.
MA: Aside from character-assassinating you, how is the Saudi regime fighting MIRA?
SF: They arrest people who make contact with us. They detain whomever they can identify. They use their media, or the media under their influence, to attack our movement in general. They have even pressured the Qatar-based Al-Jazeera to not talk to us. Consequently, I am the only person who is not welcome by Al-Jazeera. Even [Osama] bin Laden speaks to Al-Jazeera! This gives you an indication into how much the regime fears us, and understands that MIRA is a more potent threat than al-Qaeda. One of the senior producers at Al-Jazeera recently told me that they are allowed to talk to bin Laden and his people to anger the Americans but they are not allowed to talk to me for fear of angering the Saudis. The Saudis recognize that bin Laden is preoccupied with America, and in any case the regime has successfully mobilized public opinion against al-Qaeda inside the country. But they can never hope to turn the people against us, simply because we express people's grievances and aspirations.
MA: Aside from MIRA, is there any other credible opposition to the Sauds?
SF: I am not aware of it. The reformers are either in prison or have been bought by the regime. Outside the country, Mohammad al-Massari [former head of CDLR and currently the head of the Party for Islamic Renewal] has long gone down the pan-Islamic track and is not exclusively focused on Saudi Arabia. Moreover, Ali al-Ahmad, the Shi'ite opposition leader based in Washington, DC, also seems more concerned with developments in Iraq and the Gulf than in Saudi Arabia itself. The important point here is that MIRA is the only organization which is professionally committed to the overthrow of the Sauds. We work around the clock for this aim and are recognized by everyone as the only serious opposition to the Saudi regime.
MA: This may be the case, but you are at the mercy of the British state and its laws. Do you think there is a risk that the British may eventually cut a deal with the Saudis and expel you from the United Kingdom?
SF: The important point here is that we work within the law and have never abused our position. We have been advised by our lawyers that the British government has no legal grounds to initiate any action against MIRA, let alone expelling me from the country. In any case, there is no precedent for the British government to deal with a high-profile organization in such a manner. Furthermore, the British are shrewd enough to know that the Saudi regime is doomed and they want to be in a position to deal with alternative leaders. In the absence of an effective opposition, the only alternatives are either al-Qaeda or chaos. Liberals inside the country lack the capability and resources to provide leadership in the event of the regime's collapse. The British also know that MIRA is an important factor in reducing violence inside Saudi Arabia, because we channel people's anger away from violence and toward politics.
MA: So you think these reports about a possible deal between the UK government and the Saudis is just idle speculation?
SF: There are a few in the British government who are ready to cut a deal with the Saudis. However, they are not strong enough to form a consensus in favor of the Saudis. The Saudis have been working with the Americans to pressure the British government to move against me and MIRA. Protecting the al-Sauds is a primary US policy in the Middle East. The Americans recognize that I am a threat to the al-Sauds and went so far as pressuring the UN to put me on a terrorism list in December 2004. The Americans are very shortsighted and lack the maturity and farsightedness of the British foreign-policy establishment. Fortunately, no matter how much pressure the Americans apply, the British are too wise to make rash decisions.
MA: Let us talk about terrorism. How significant is the failed bombing of the oil facilities at Abqaiq (Buqayq)?
SF: According to our information, the operation was discovered by the Saudis one week prior to the incident. The Ministry of Interior decided to keep silent to discover the real capabilities of the cell, which they had penetrated. Despite knowing the place and timing of the operation, they failed to foil it. They even failed to stop the car from entering the complex, and were just fortunate that the car did not explode next to the right tank. Had it done so, there would have been considerable damage to exports and Saudi prestige in general. Also, the car exploded because the bomber pressed the detonation button and not because the guards shot at it, as the Saudis have claimed.
MA: What was the Saudis' plan, to gather information right to the end?
SF: Yes, and they probably thought they could foil it at the right time. However, there is a conspiracy theory going around that [Interior Minister] Mohammad bin Nayif deliberately failed to foil the plot to embarrass Abdullah.
MA: What is your analysis of the situation?
SF: This is al-Qaeda's new strategy of attacking the oil infrastructure and members of the royal family. They have decided to cease their attacks on the security forces.
MA: Is this directly tied to [bin Laden's No 2] Ayman al-Zawahiri's recent directive to this effect?
SF: I believe so.
MA: Saudi security forces allegedly disarmed two explosive-laden vehicles near the Abqaiq oil facilities on March 28. Do you think the militants were planning a reprise of the February 24 attack?
SF: No, this is a false story planted by Saudi agents.
MA: The Saudis claim to have arrested 40 members of al-Qaeda during raids on March 29. How significant are these arrests?
SF: This is another false story. These 40 people had nothing to do with al-Qaeda. They were activists of some sort, and some may have had some sympathies to al-Qaeda, but they had no concrete ties to the network. The Saudis make announcements like this all the time to boost the morale of their agents and convince the West that their regime is stable.
MA: In January, Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saud al-Faisal claimed that the kingdom had killed 120 militants since the start of the terrorist campaign in May 2003. He also claimed that only two individuals remain on the June 2005 wanted list. Do these figures reflect reality on the ground?
SF: They have killed many people; some were militants and some were not. But they have arrested thousands more, very few of whom can be described as militants.
MA: What about the claim that only two militants remain on the wanted list?
SF: This is rubbish. That list has never reflected the situation on the ground. The Saudis do not know how extensive the jihadi networks are. They have a particular problem with the returnees from the Iraq conflict. They don't know who they are, how many have come back to the country and what they should do with them.
MA: How many Saudis are fighting in Iraq today?
SF: Until late 2004 there were no fewer than 3,000 Saudis fighting in Iraq. I don't know if the figure has increased or decreased since that time. But the really interesting point is that many of these people are either members of the National Guard, the army or the Interior Ministry.
MA: How influential are the Saudi fighters in Iraq?
SF: The Iraqi insurgents do not lack leadership skills, military prowess or courage, as many of them are drawn from the ranks of the former Iraqi army. But the Saudi fighters are very brave and they have gone to Iraq to die. Consequently they are mujahideen of the highest caliber, and no doubt the Iraqi resistance welcomes their presence.
MA: Roughly how many Saudi fighters with experience in the Iraqi insurgency have returned to the kingdom?
SF: This is very difficult to say. But many have returned; some are in hiding and some have been arrested.
MA: Who ultimately controls the Iraq returnees, the jihadi leadership in Iraq or the local al-Qaeda leadership in the kingdom?
SF: Most likely the jihadi leadership in Iraq.
MA: What type of operations can we expect the Iraq returnees to execute?
SF: The same targets as the local al-Qaeda network, namely the oil infrastructure and the royal family.
MA: Overall, how well has the Saudi security establishment dealt with the terrorism threat?
SF: The regime succeeded in rooting out the older generation of jihadis. However, the new generation which has been radicalized by the Iraq conflict is a different story altogether. This generation may cause the Saudis big headaches. I would expect one or two major incidents within the next six months.
MA: What is the objective of the jihadis?
SF: By attacking the oil infrastructure, the jihadis aim to raise oil prices and damage the American economy. Secondly the jihadis want to create rifts between the Americans and the al-Sauds. As far as the Americans are concerned, the al-Sauds' primary function is to guarantee the flow of oil. If they fail in this mission, America's confidence in them will diminish accordingly. Once this happens, the Americans will be forced to look at alternatives, maybe even Islamist alternatives. More broadly, the jihadis do not want to topple the regime at this point in time, because they are not yet ready to take over the country. Therefore they will most likely assassinate a minor prince first to send a message to the regime, to the effect that if you do not behave yourselves, we will go for the next royal.
MA: How would you assess the core al-Qaeda organization today?
SF: Much of the old cadre have either been killed or arrested. But the base of the new generation is much wider and deeper. The new generation is also much more sophisticated, and no intelligence service really understands the complexity of this network.
MA: What about bin Laden's warnings to the United States?
SF: Given bin Laden's track record in following through with his threats, I believe there will be a second major attack in America. Whether these attacks are on par with the [September 11, 2001] attacks, or even exceed them in terms of sophistication and damage, remains to be seen.
MA: What targets are they likely to attack?
SF: The only real clue we have is that al-Qaeda will attack American states that voted for George Bush in the last US presidential elections. Bin Laden referred to this is his speech in late October 2004.
MA: What is your assessment of the situation in Iraq?
SF: I think al-Qaeda has succeeded in driving the country toward sectarian civil war.
MA: You think Iraq is moving toward civil war?
SF: They are already there. You don't need to have fighting on the streets to have civil war. Because of Shi'ite domination of the security forces, every Sunni feels threatened and wants to carry arms. Moreover, because of American mismanagement, every Sunni in Iraq is a potential jihadi. Somebody in Iraq called me recently and said the situation has got so bad that even the Americans are telling Sunnis to defend themselves against Shi'ite militias. More broadly, the Americans are in a real dilemma, because if they increase Sunni participation in the Iraqi government they will be strengthening the resistance, and if they support the Shi'ites, they will be strengthening Iran's role in Iraq. So it is a lose-lose situation for them, and this is exactly what al-Qaeda wanted.
MA: What do you think would happen if the coalition forces departed Iraq?
SF: The Sunnis would sweep the Shi'ites away. Even though Shi'ites outnumber Sunnis, Iraqi Sunnis have a reputation for fierceness and are more competent in governmental and military affairs than their Shi'ite compatriots.
MA: Do you think the Americans have been definitively defeated in Iraq?
SF: Yes, they have lost strategically. They are stuck in the mud, and no serious observer can deny this. Every available option is bad for them.
MA: Talking about the region more broadly, how important is the Hamas election victory in Palestine to the global Islamic movement?
SF: I don't think it is very important. Hamas has seriously constrained itself with this victory because they are now in a very difficult situation. They are being pressured by all sides and will not be able to function as a government without some contact with the Israelis.
MA: Do you think Hamas can reach accommodation with the West?
SF: Hamas has already achieved this. For instance, they have been in contact with the British government for a while. Hamas accepts the current international order, and in this respect it is worlds apart from the jihadis of al-Qaeda.
MA: How seriously is new Iranian President Mahmud Ahmadinejad taken by Arab Islamists?
SF: The problem with Arab Islamists is that they do not go into the details of personalities and issues. They just analyze events from a superficial political perspective. Some Islamists respect him for his hardline stance and defiant defense of Iranian national pride.
MA: What about Ahmadinejad's unprecedented verbal assault on Israel?
SF: They really liked that. But some Islamists in the Arabian Peninsula fear Ahmadinejad's nationalism, even though they admire his Islamism. And as for the Salafis, they cannot see beyond their hatred for Shi'ites. Some of the more extreme Salafis in Saudi Arabia even think it would be acceptable for America to attack Iran.
Mahan Abedin is the editor of Terrorism Monitor, which is published by the Jamestown Foundation, a non-profit organization specializing in research and analysis on conflict and instability in Eurasia. The views expressed here are his own.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing.)
Parents, Do You Know What Your Kids Are Doing?
BUS STATION TERRORIST MAY BE YOUNGEST BOMBER YET
Haaretz (Israel)
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, in which nine Israelis were killed. The perpetrator has been identified as Samer Salim Hammed, 16, from the village of Al-Araqa, near the West Bank city of Jenin. Hammed is thought to be the youngest suicide bomber, although teens as young as 14 and 15 have been found with explosive devices in their possession.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706894.html
Who Just Plead Guilty in a U.S. Islamic Jihad Terror Case?
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/alarian...guiltyplea.html
BUS STATION TERRORIST MAY BE YOUNGEST BOMBER YET
Haaretz (Israel)
Islamic Jihad claimed responsibility for yesterday's suicide bombing in Tel Aviv, in which nine Israelis were killed. The perpetrator has been identified as Samer Salim Hammed, 16, from the village of Al-Araqa, near the West Bank city of Jenin. Hammed is thought to be the youngest suicide bomber, although teens as young as 14 and 15 have been found with explosive devices in their possession.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706894.html
Who Just Plead Guilty in a U.S. Islamic Jihad Terror Case?
http://news.findlaw.com/hdocs/docs/alarian...guiltyplea.html
THE FACE OF HAMAS EDITORIAL (NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 19): Hamas cannot just sit on the sidelines and cheer terrorist attacks that were renounced by the same Palestinian Authority that Hamas now controls.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/opinion/19weds1.html
THEIR TRUE COLORS OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, APRIL 19): The new Palestinian government's characterization of the bombing in Tel Aviv as "a form of self-defense" demands only one response: condemnation.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
HAMAS AND THE AXIS OF TERROR EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, APRIL 19): If present trends continue, it is only a matter of time before Israel launches a large-scale ground operation into Gaza to deal with the Taliban-style terrorist threat next door.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060418-091036-4696r.htm
SUICIDE RHETORIC: HAMAS IS TRYING TO GOVERN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA WHILE CHEERING TERRORIST ATTACKS. IT WON'T WORK FOR LONG EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, APRIL 19)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6041801773.html
WHAT TO DO WITH HAMAS? JANIKI CONGOLI (HAARETZ.COM, APRIL 18): Europe should promote a comprehensive evolution of a regional track on the way toward peace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706860.html
HAMAS AND ISRAEL: HARD CHOICES - RAMI G. KHOURI (TOMPAINE.COM, APRIL 19): Bringing down the Hamas-led Palestinian government will not bring quiet and more Palestinian and Arab acquiescence. It will result in further radicalization, resistance and terrorism across the region.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/1...ard_choices.php
33. FOES OF SYRIAN LEADERS NO FRIENDS OF THE U.S.: ACTIVISTS REGARD BOTH GOVERNMENTS AS ENEMIES OF FREEDOM - PHIL SANDS (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, APRIL 19)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNG4OIB9LD1.DTL
A LOBBY, NOT A CONSPIRACY - TONY JUDT (NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 19): It will not be self-evident to future generations of Americans why the imperial might and international reputation of the United States are so closely aligned with one small, controversial Mediterranean client state, Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/opinion/19judt.html
HARVARD DEAN ACCUSED OF ANTI-SEMITISM - MATT RAND (JERUSALEM POST, APRIL 17): A recent paper co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government was "explicitly targeting American Jews," according to Alan Dershowitz. The paper, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" by Harvard's Stephen Walt and University of Chicago's John Mearsheimer, wrote Dershowitz, took up themes found in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/opinion/19weds1.html
THEIR TRUE COLORS OPINION (BALTIMORE SUN, APRIL 19): The new Palestinian government's characterization of the bombing in Tel Aviv as "a form of self-defense" demands only one response: condemnation.
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opinion/b...inion-headlines
HAMAS AND THE AXIS OF TERROR EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON TIMES, APRIL 19): If present trends continue, it is only a matter of time before Israel launches a large-scale ground operation into Gaza to deal with the Taliban-style terrorist threat next door.
http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060418-091036-4696r.htm
SUICIDE RHETORIC: HAMAS IS TRYING TO GOVERN THE WEST BANK AND GAZA WHILE CHEERING TERRORIST ATTACKS. IT WON'T WORK FOR LONG EDITORIAL (WASHINGTON POST, APRIL 19)
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/conte...6041801773.html
WHAT TO DO WITH HAMAS? JANIKI CONGOLI (HAARETZ.COM, APRIL 18): Europe should promote a comprehensive evolution of a regional track on the way toward peace.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/706860.html
HAMAS AND ISRAEL: HARD CHOICES - RAMI G. KHOURI (TOMPAINE.COM, APRIL 19): Bringing down the Hamas-led Palestinian government will not bring quiet and more Palestinian and Arab acquiescence. It will result in further radicalization, resistance and terrorism across the region.
http://www.tompaine.com/articles/2006/04/1...ard_choices.php
33. FOES OF SYRIAN LEADERS NO FRIENDS OF THE U.S.: ACTIVISTS REGARD BOTH GOVERNMENTS AS ENEMIES OF FREEDOM - PHIL SANDS (SAN FRANCISCO CHRONICLE, APRIL 19)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?...MNG4OIB9LD1.DTL
A LOBBY, NOT A CONSPIRACY - TONY JUDT (NEW YORK TIMES, APRIL 19): It will not be self-evident to future generations of Americans why the imperial might and international reputation of the United States are so closely aligned with one small, controversial Mediterranean client state, Israel.
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/04/19/opinion/19judt.html
HARVARD DEAN ACCUSED OF ANTI-SEMITISM - MATT RAND (JERUSALEM POST, APRIL 17): A recent paper co-authored by the academic dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government was "explicitly targeting American Jews," according to Alan Dershowitz. The paper, "The Israel Lobby and US Foreign Policy" by Harvard's Stephen Walt and University of Chicago's John Mearsheimer, wrote Dershowitz, took up themes found in The Protocols of the Elders of Zion.
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid...icle%2FShowFull
Israel to forego military response to bombing. Meanwhile, Arab media blame Israel for Tel Aviv attack, but debate attack's value.
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0419/dailyUpdate.html
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0419/dailyUpdate.html
British Euro-MP condemns Israel's apartheid policies:
"We should be honest. These are the racist policies of apartheid, yet Israel continues to pose as a victim," Liberal Democrat MEP for northwest England Chris Davies said.
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-20/0604190398165151.htm
===
Israeli forces arresting wives and mothers of “wanted” Palestinian men to force them to “surrender”:
Throughout the morning dozens of Nablus women have disappeared. Several elderly and young women are included in the list of the arrested.
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/apr/...06/report3.html
===
The little king runs scared:
Hamas: ordan fabricated arms story:
Hamas says Amman has wrongly accused the group of arms smuggling because it is being influenced by the US to boycott the new Palestinian government.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8F8...9421BAAE4FD.htm
===
Saudi Arabia Pledges Palestinian Aid:
Saudi Arabia announced plans Tuesday to donate $92 million to the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breaking..._21215133.shtml
===
France rules out cutting off Palestinian relief aid:
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French radio that while the European Union had cut funding to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority it had no plans to end relief aid.
http://tinyurl.com/rbzzo
===
'Even though I am suffering, my suicide bomber son was a hero':
THE ISRAELI soldiers arrived before dawn but the suicide bomber’s father and furniture had already gone.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2140887,00.html
===
Exclusive: Ismail Haniyeh interview:
In his first interview with British TV the Palestinian Prime Minister tells us why he thinks it is legitimate to attack Israel .
http://www.channel4.com/more4/news/news-op...ture.jsp?id=225
"We should be honest. These are the racist policies of apartheid, yet Israel continues to pose as a victim," Liberal Democrat MEP for northwest England Chris Davies said.
http://www.irna.ir/en/news/view/line-20/0604190398165151.htm
===
Israeli forces arresting wives and mothers of “wanted” Palestinian men to force them to “surrender”:
Throughout the morning dozens of Nablus women have disappeared. Several elderly and young women are included in the list of the arrested.
http://www.pnn.ps/english/archive2006/apr/...06/report3.html
===
The little king runs scared:
Hamas: ordan fabricated arms story:
Hamas says Amman has wrongly accused the group of arms smuggling because it is being influenced by the US to boycott the new Palestinian government.
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8F8...9421BAAE4FD.htm
===
Saudi Arabia Pledges Palestinian Aid:
Saudi Arabia announced plans Tuesday to donate $92 million to the Palestinian Authority.
http://www.postchronicle.com/news/breaking..._21215133.shtml
===
France rules out cutting off Palestinian relief aid:
Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told French radio that while the European Union had cut funding to the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority it had no plans to end relief aid.
http://tinyurl.com/rbzzo
===
'Even though I am suffering, my suicide bomber son was a hero':
THE ISRAELI soldiers arrived before dawn but the suicide bomber’s father and furniture had already gone.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,3-2140887,00.html
===
Exclusive: Ismail Haniyeh interview:
In his first interview with British TV the Palestinian Prime Minister tells us why he thinks it is legitimate to attack Israel .
http://www.channel4.com/more4/news/news-op...ture.jsp?id=225
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0420/p01s03-wome.html
World > Middle East
from the April 20, 2006 edition
Mideast 'axis' forms against West
Iran is forging closer ties with countries and groups in the Middle East that share its hostility toward the US and Israel.
By Nicholas Blanford | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIRUT, LEBANON – Rising tension between the West and Iran is coinciding with the emergence of a loose anti-Western alliance - Israel now dubs it an "axis of terror" - spanning the Middle East, presenting a new challenge to the US's regional ambitions.
Centered on Iran, this alignment has hardened in recent months, analysts say, with Tehran shoring up old alliances and strengthening ties with countries (Syria and Iraq) and with groups (Hizbullah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad) that share its hostility toward Israel and the US.
"The alliance that is emerging in this part of the world is a creation of Iran," says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst. "It wants to bolster its position by allying itself with countries or groups that can temporarily enhance its regional role and influence."
On Tuesday, Israel's UN envoy Dan Gillerman dubbed this alliance the "new axis of terror" following a suicide bombing claimed by the Iranian-funded Islamic Jihad in Tel Aviv the previous day that killed nine Israelis.
"A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," Mr. Gillerman said.
The alliance, which is ad hoc and tactical rather than a formalized strategic pact, includes Syria and groups such as Lebanon's Hizbullah, the Iran-backed militant Shiite organization, radical Palestinian organizations such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command as well as some Iraqi allies.
So far the strategy appears to be working in their favor. Hizbullah has become one of the most influential players in Lebanon and looks set to retain its military wing for the foreseeable future.
Iran has rarely appeared more resolute, boasting of its success in uranium enrichment and expressing near daily defiance toward the US. Damascus is gaining confidence with a slackening of international pressure lately amid concerns that a collapse of Syria's Baathist regime could trigger Iraq-style instability.
"The Syrians are very supportive of Iran and very supportive of Hamas and Hizbullah," says Mr. Moubayed. "Almost everybody in Syria is praising [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's alliance with Iran as a very smart move. Many are saying that the alliance with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was not political suicide after all."
Iran is the driving force behind the alliance, its strategic position in the region enhanced by the US-led effort to oust Tehran's Taliban enemy in Afghanistan to the east and its Baathist foe in Iraq to the west.
Over the weekend, Iran hosted a three-day conference in support of the Palestinians, pledging $50 million to the newly elected Hamas government and reaffirming its ties to other rejectionist Palestinian groups.
"This is an anti-America alliance," says Joshua Landis, professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and author of Syriacomment.com, who spent 2005 living in Damascus. "My guess is that the US will end up in a weaker position than it started. The war on terror has alienated the Muslim countries who now believe that America is the big bad ogre and specter of imperialism."
A year ago, Syria's strategic position looked grim, having been forced to disengage from neighboring Lebanon, ending 15 years of domination. Hizbullah also was feeling the squeeze amid the departure of its Syrian protector and a growing clamor for its disarmament from the party's Lebanese opponents.
But the election in August of the confrontational Mr. Ahmadinejad as president of Iran reinvigorated the long-standing relationship between Tehran and Damascus. Syria is the geostrategic linchpin connecting Tehran to its Lebanese protégé, Hizbullah, and was also regarded by Iran as the weak link in the chain, one that required buttressing.
A newly emboldened Syria began to display greater defiance against international pressure. In November, Mr. Assad asserted in a speech that "the region [faces] two choices: either resistance and steadfastness or chaos. There is no third choice.
"If they believe that they [the West] can blackmail Syria, we tell them they got the wrong address," he said.
A series of Middle East elections also bolstered the emerging alliance. In late December, Shiite factions close to Tehran dominated the Iraqi elections. The following month, Hamas triumphed in the Palestinian elections, granting Iran greater leverage in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.
In mid-January, Assad hosted a summit in Damascus with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president's first state visit. Also attending were the leaders of Hizbullah and several anti-Israel Palestinian groups in what analysts regarded as an affirmation of the anti-Western axis.
"The meeting between Ahmadinejad and Assad," commented Sateh Noureddine of Lebanon's As Safir newspaper at the time, "did not come as a sign of defeat, but rather as a joint warning to the world. A warning that the alliance between the two neighbors is on its way to becoming stronger."
The alliance includes the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr, who in visits to Tehran and Damascus in January and February vowed to come to the defense "by all possible means" of Iran and Syria if attacked by the US.
There is a commercial dimension, too. In February, Iran and Syria inked sweeping economic and trade agreements including one establishing gas, oil, railroad, and electrical links between Syria and Iran via Iraq. Both countries are looking to the emerging economic powerhouses of Asia to build new trade ties as an alternative to Europe and the West.
"Syria has been signing oil and gas contracts with India, China, and Russia," says Mr. Landis, the Syria expert. "Syria and Iran are thinking they can build Iraq into their northern tier, building gas and oil pipelines across the region."
World > Middle East
from the April 20, 2006 edition
Mideast 'axis' forms against West
Iran is forging closer ties with countries and groups in the Middle East that share its hostility toward the US and Israel.
By Nicholas Blanford | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor
BEIRUT, LEBANON – Rising tension between the West and Iran is coinciding with the emergence of a loose anti-Western alliance - Israel now dubs it an "axis of terror" - spanning the Middle East, presenting a new challenge to the US's regional ambitions.
Centered on Iran, this alignment has hardened in recent months, analysts say, with Tehran shoring up old alliances and strengthening ties with countries (Syria and Iraq) and with groups (Hizbullah, Hamas, and Islamic Jihad) that share its hostility toward Israel and the US.
"The alliance that is emerging in this part of the world is a creation of Iran," says Sami Moubayed, a Syrian political analyst. "It wants to bolster its position by allying itself with countries or groups that can temporarily enhance its regional role and influence."
On Tuesday, Israel's UN envoy Dan Gillerman dubbed this alliance the "new axis of terror" following a suicide bombing claimed by the Iranian-funded Islamic Jihad in Tel Aviv the previous day that killed nine Israelis.
"A dark cloud is looming above our region, and it is metastasizing as a result of the statements and actions by leaders of Iran, Syria, and the newly elected government of the Palestinian Authority," Mr. Gillerman said.
The alliance, which is ad hoc and tactical rather than a formalized strategic pact, includes Syria and groups such as Lebanon's Hizbullah, the Iran-backed militant Shiite organization, radical Palestinian organizations such as Islamic Jihad and the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command as well as some Iraqi allies.
So far the strategy appears to be working in their favor. Hizbullah has become one of the most influential players in Lebanon and looks set to retain its military wing for the foreseeable future.
Iran has rarely appeared more resolute, boasting of its success in uranium enrichment and expressing near daily defiance toward the US. Damascus is gaining confidence with a slackening of international pressure lately amid concerns that a collapse of Syria's Baathist regime could trigger Iraq-style instability.
"The Syrians are very supportive of Iran and very supportive of Hamas and Hizbullah," says Mr. Moubayed. "Almost everybody in Syria is praising [Syrian President Bashar] al-Assad's alliance with Iran as a very smart move. Many are saying that the alliance with [Iranian President Mahmoud] Ahmadinejad was not political suicide after all."
Iran is the driving force behind the alliance, its strategic position in the region enhanced by the US-led effort to oust Tehran's Taliban enemy in Afghanistan to the east and its Baathist foe in Iraq to the west.
Over the weekend, Iran hosted a three-day conference in support of the Palestinians, pledging $50 million to the newly elected Hamas government and reaffirming its ties to other rejectionist Palestinian groups.
"This is an anti-America alliance," says Joshua Landis, professor of history at the University of Oklahoma and author of Syriacomment.com, who spent 2005 living in Damascus. "My guess is that the US will end up in a weaker position than it started. The war on terror has alienated the Muslim countries who now believe that America is the big bad ogre and specter of imperialism."
A year ago, Syria's strategic position looked grim, having been forced to disengage from neighboring Lebanon, ending 15 years of domination. Hizbullah also was feeling the squeeze amid the departure of its Syrian protector and a growing clamor for its disarmament from the party's Lebanese opponents.
But the election in August of the confrontational Mr. Ahmadinejad as president of Iran reinvigorated the long-standing relationship between Tehran and Damascus. Syria is the geostrategic linchpin connecting Tehran to its Lebanese protégé, Hizbullah, and was also regarded by Iran as the weak link in the chain, one that required buttressing.
A newly emboldened Syria began to display greater defiance against international pressure. In November, Mr. Assad asserted in a speech that "the region [faces] two choices: either resistance and steadfastness or chaos. There is no third choice.
"If they believe that they [the West] can blackmail Syria, we tell them they got the wrong address," he said.
A series of Middle East elections also bolstered the emerging alliance. In late December, Shiite factions close to Tehran dominated the Iraqi elections. The following month, Hamas triumphed in the Palestinian elections, granting Iran greater leverage in the Israeli-Palestinian arena.
In mid-January, Assad hosted a summit in Damascus with Ahmadinejad, the Iranian president's first state visit. Also attending were the leaders of Hizbullah and several anti-Israel Palestinian groups in what analysts regarded as an affirmation of the anti-Western axis.
"The meeting between Ahmadinejad and Assad," commented Sateh Noureddine of Lebanon's As Safir newspaper at the time, "did not come as a sign of defeat, but rather as a joint warning to the world. A warning that the alliance between the two neighbors is on its way to becoming stronger."
The alliance includes the Mahdi Army of Moqtada al-Sadr, who in visits to Tehran and Damascus in January and February vowed to come to the defense "by all possible means" of Iran and Syria if attacked by the US.
There is a commercial dimension, too. In February, Iran and Syria inked sweeping economic and trade agreements including one establishing gas, oil, railroad, and electrical links between Syria and Iran via Iraq. Both countries are looking to the emerging economic powerhouses of Asia to build new trade ties as an alternative to Europe and the West.
"Syria has been signing oil and gas contracts with India, China, and Russia," says Mr. Landis, the Syria expert. "Syria and Iran are thinking they can build Iraq into their northern tier, building gas and oil pipelines across the region."
Israel's Leaders Blame Hamas for Bombing Yahoo! News
Israel's leaders held the Hamas-led Palestinian government responsible Tuesday for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but decided against a large-scale military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence. Officials said the measured response will help preserve a strong international front against Hamas and that Israel will take all steps it deems necessary, including assassinating militants, to prevent attacks. The Islamic Jihad militant group carried out Monday's blast outside a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 10 people including the bomber and wounding dozens. Although Hamas was not directly involved, its leaders defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against Palestinian militants. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top officials and security chiefs Tuesday to weigh a response. The group decided to hold Hamas accountable because it did not denounce the bombing. "Israel sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for what happened yesterday," said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official. But Olmert decided against a large-scale military operation and blocked a proposal to declare the Palestinian Authority an "enemy entity," participants said. Such a declaration would have paved the way for direct strikes against the Palestinian Authority. Until now, economic and political boycotts have been Israel's main tools against the Hamas government. Western donors have also cut off tens of millions of dollars in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, demanding that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas has rejected the calls, despite a financial crisis that has left the government broke and unable to pay 140,000 employees. Instead, it has appealed to the Muslim world to make up the shortfall, winning $50 million commitments from Iran and Qatar this week. On Tuesday, the Russian daily Izvesty said Russia will send an additional $10 million. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment. Meanwhile, Jordan canceled a planned visit by Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, saying Hamas activists have been smuggling missiles and other weapons into the kingdom. Zahar was to arrive on Wednesday. One senior Israeli official said it is unrealistic to expect Israel to carry out immediate large-scale airstrikes in response to Palestinian violence. "This doesn't mean you won't see more targeted killings and other operational things," he said. "It has to be done in an effective way that the whole international community will understand." The official asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to discuss government policy with the media. Officials said responses would likely include assassinations of bombing masterminds, arrests of Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank, where Monday's bomber lived, and tighter travel restrictions. Such actions would be in line with the recent policies of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister who was incapacitated by a stroke in January. Officials said they believe the policies, combined with Israel's West Bank separation barrier, have been effective in preventing attacks. In Washington, President Bush was asked by a reporter whether he had encouraged Israel to show restraint. "I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take and mindful of the consequences," Bush said. Aides to Olmert said he is well aware of the need to maintain international support, especially as he prepares to carry out a unilateral withdrawal from much of the West Bank. Olmert says he will carry out the pullout if he concludes there is no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side — a likely scenario with Hamas in power. The pullout, which Olmert says will help Israeli security, falls short of Palestinian claims to all of the West Bank. Olmert also is showing restraint because he is forming a new coalition government, said Efraim Inbar, an analyst at Bar Ilan University. Olmert's Kadima Party, which won elections last month, is courting the dovish Labor Party as it seeks to build a parliamentary majority. "He wants a coalition with the Labor Party, and it won't help him" to escalate the situation, Inbar said. In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by militants to build homemade rockets. Olmert and key Cabinet ministers also decided to revoke the Israeli residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem, participants in the meeting said. Monday's bombing was the first inside Israel since Hamas' government was sworn into office late last month. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide bombings since the early 1990s but has largely observed a truce since last year. Hamas officials have said they would not try to stop attacks by other groups. Atef Adwan, a Hamas Cabinet minister, dismissed Israel's claim that the Palestinian Authority is ultimately responsible for the attack. "Israel is trying to find a pretext to act against the Palestinian institutions and act against the Palestinian people," he said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah Party, condemned the bombing and said it harmed the Palestinians' national interest. Abbas hopes to restart peace talks. In Gaza, a small group of masked gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group linked to Fatah, demanded an apology from Abbas for criticizing the attack. In response, Abbas' office issued a statement calling on Palestinians "to show responsibility and to think about the destructive consequences for such acts, which give a harmful image ... and make us lose our friends in the international community." The bomber struck during lunch hour. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the Passover holiday. The attack was the deadliest in Israel since a bombing killed 16 people in Beersheba on Aug. 31, 2004.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Israel's leaders held the Hamas-led Palestinian government responsible Tuesday for the deadliest suicide bombing in 20 months, but decided against a large-scale military operation in an attempt to avoid escalating violence. Officials said the measured response will help preserve a strong international front against Hamas and that Israel will take all steps it deems necessary, including assassinating militants, to prevent attacks. The Islamic Jihad militant group carried out Monday's blast outside a Tel Aviv restaurant, killing 10 people including the bomber and wounding dozens. Although Hamas was not directly involved, its leaders defended the attack as a justified response to Israeli military strikes against Palestinian militants. Interim Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert met with top officials and security chiefs Tuesday to weigh a response. The group decided to hold Hamas accountable because it did not denounce the bombing. "Israel sees the Palestinian Authority as responsible for what happened yesterday," said Gideon Meir, a senior Israeli Foreign Ministry official. But Olmert decided against a large-scale military operation and blocked a proposal to declare the Palestinian Authority an "enemy entity," participants said. Such a declaration would have paved the way for direct strikes against the Palestinian Authority. Until now, economic and political boycotts have been Israel's main tools against the Hamas government. Western donors have also cut off tens of millions of dollars in direct aid to the Palestinian Authority, demanding that Hamas renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist. Hamas has rejected the calls, despite a financial crisis that has left the government broke and unable to pay 140,000 employees. Instead, it has appealed to the Muslim world to make up the shortfall, winning $50 million commitments from Iran and Qatar this week. On Tuesday, the Russian daily Izvesty said Russia will send an additional $10 million. The Russian Foreign Ministry did not answer calls seeking comment. Meanwhile, Jordan canceled a planned visit by Palestinian Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar, saying Hamas activists have been smuggling missiles and other weapons into the kingdom. Zahar was to arrive on Wednesday. One senior Israeli official said it is unrealistic to expect Israel to carry out immediate large-scale airstrikes in response to Palestinian violence. "This doesn't mean you won't see more targeted killings and other operational things," he said. "It has to be done in an effective way that the whole international community will understand." The official asked that his name be withheld because he was not authorized to discuss government policy with the media. Officials said responses would likely include assassinations of bombing masterminds, arrests of Islamic Jihad members in the northern West Bank, where Monday's bomber lived, and tighter travel restrictions. Such actions would be in line with the recent policies of Ariel Sharon, the prime minister who was incapacitated by a stroke in January. Officials said they believe the policies, combined with Israel's West Bank separation barrier, have been effective in preventing attacks. In Washington, President Bush was asked by a reporter whether he had encouraged Israel to show restraint. "I have consistently reminded all parties that they must be mindful of whatever actions they take and mindful of the consequences," Bush said. Aides to Olmert said he is well aware of the need to maintain international support, especially as he prepares to carry out a unilateral withdrawal from much of the West Bank. Olmert says he will carry out the pullout if he concludes there is no negotiating partner on the Palestinian side — a likely scenario with Hamas in power. The pullout, which Olmert says will help Israeli security, falls short of Palestinian claims to all of the West Bank. Olmert also is showing restraint because he is forming a new coalition government, said Efraim Inbar, an analyst at Bar Ilan University. Olmert's Kadima Party, which won elections last month, is courting the dovish Labor Party as it seeks to build a parliamentary majority. "He wants a coalition with the Labor Party, and it won't help him" to escalate the situation, Inbar said. In an initial response, Israeli aircraft attacked an empty metal workshop in Gaza City early Tuesday, causing no injuries. The army said the workshop was used by militants to build homemade rockets. Olmert and key Cabinet ministers also decided to revoke the Israeli residency rights of three Hamas lawmakers who live in Jerusalem, participants in the meeting said. Monday's bombing was the first inside Israel since Hamas' government was sworn into office late last month. Hamas has carried out scores of suicide bombings since the early 1990s but has largely observed a truce since last year. Hamas officials have said they would not try to stop attacks by other groups. Atef Adwan, a Hamas Cabinet minister, dismissed Israel's claim that the Palestinian Authority is ultimately responsible for the attack. "Israel is trying to find a pretext to act against the Palestinian institutions and act against the Palestinian people," he said. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, a moderate from the rival Fatah Party, condemned the bombing and said it harmed the Palestinians' national interest. Abbas hopes to restart peace talks. In Gaza, a small group of masked gunmen from the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, a violent group linked to Fatah, demanded an apology from Abbas for criticizing the attack. In response, Abbas' office issued a statement calling on Palestinians "to show responsibility and to think about the destructive consequences for such acts, which give a harmful image ... and make us lose our friends in the international community." The bomber struck during lunch hour. The restaurant, which had been the target of a January bombing, was packed with Israelis on vacation during the Passover holiday. The attack was the deadliest in Israel since a bombing killed 16 people in Beersheba on Aug. 31, 2004.
By JOSEF FEDERMAN, Associated Press Writer
Palestinian interior minister names militant as his top aide :
The new Palestinian interior minister named a renowned militant as his top aide on Thursday and announced the formation of a new security branch to be comprised of militants as part of an ongoing power struggle between the new Hamas-led Cabinet and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://tinyurl.com/mafjx
===
Pushing Palestinians to the edge:
Suicide bombing returns to the Israeli-Palestinian scene as the Palestinians continue to be deprived by Israel of the basic necessities of life
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/791/re1.htm
The new Palestinian interior minister named a renowned militant as his top aide on Thursday and announced the formation of a new security branch to be comprised of militants as part of an ongoing power struggle between the new Hamas-led Cabinet and moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.
http://tinyurl.com/mafjx
===
Pushing Palestinians to the edge:
Suicide bombing returns to the Israeli-Palestinian scene as the Palestinians continue to be deprived by Israel of the basic necessities of life
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2006/791/re1.htm
http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/30A...86AE6175640.htm
Hamas rejects bin Laden message
Monday 24 April 2006, 8:46 Makka Time, 5:46 GMT
The Hamas government has faced boycotts from the West
Hamas and a Sudanese rebel group have distanced themselves from a statement from Osama bin Laden condemning the West for its actions in both countries.
In an audiotape message broadcast by Aljazeera on Sunday, the al-Qaeda leader said the decision by Western governments to halt aid to the Hamas-led government and impose other sanctions proved the West was in a "crusader war" with Islam.
Commenting on bin Laden's message shortly afterwards, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said the group's ideology was "totally different" from that of bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
"What Osama bin Laden said is his opinion, but Hamas has its own positions which are different to the ones expressed by bin Laden," he said.
However, he said that what he called the "international siege on the Palestinian people" would inevitably lead to tensions in the Arab and Islamic world.
"It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians"
Sami Abu Zuhri,
Hamas spokesman
"It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians," Abu Zuhri said.
He added that Hamas was "very keen to have good relations with the West" but said that Western policies were inflaming tensions.
In the past, Hamas leaders have distanced themselves from al-Qaeda, saying their struggle is only against the Israeli occupation and does not fit into the group's worldwide radical Islamist effort.
Bin Laden also called "upon the mujahidin and their supporters in Sudan and its surroundings - including the Arabian Peninsula - to prepare to lead a prolonged war against the "crusader robbers in western Sudan".
Ahmed Hussein, from the Justice and Equality Movement, a Sudanese rebel group, said: "We categorically reject these declarations.
"His words are completely disconnected from the reality in Darfur. Bin Laden is still preaching the theory of an American-Zionist conspiracy when the real problem comes from Khartoum, which is a Muslim government killing other Muslims."
He warned that such comments risked "encouraging the Khartoum regime to perpetuate injustice and its strategy against Darfur".
Agencies
Hamas rejects bin Laden message
Monday 24 April 2006, 8:46 Makka Time, 5:46 GMT
The Hamas government has faced boycotts from the West
Hamas and a Sudanese rebel group have distanced themselves from a statement from Osama bin Laden condemning the West for its actions in both countries.
In an audiotape message broadcast by Aljazeera on Sunday, the al-Qaeda leader said the decision by Western governments to halt aid to the Hamas-led government and impose other sanctions proved the West was in a "crusader war" with Islam.
Commenting on bin Laden's message shortly afterwards, Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for Hamas, said the group's ideology was "totally different" from that of bin Laden and al-Qaeda.
"What Osama bin Laden said is his opinion, but Hamas has its own positions which are different to the ones expressed by bin Laden," he said.
However, he said that what he called the "international siege on the Palestinian people" would inevitably lead to tensions in the Arab and Islamic world.
"It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians"
Sami Abu Zuhri,
Hamas spokesman
"It's natural that this tension is going to create an impression that there is a Western-Israeli alliance working against the Palestinians," Abu Zuhri said.
He added that Hamas was "very keen to have good relations with the West" but said that Western policies were inflaming tensions.
In the past, Hamas leaders have distanced themselves from al-Qaeda, saying their struggle is only against the Israeli occupation and does not fit into the group's worldwide radical Islamist effort.
Bin Laden also called "upon the mujahidin and their supporters in Sudan and its surroundings - including the Arabian Peninsula - to prepare to lead a prolonged war against the "crusader robbers in western Sudan".
Ahmed Hussein, from the Justice and Equality Movement, a Sudanese rebel group, said: "We categorically reject these declarations.
"His words are completely disconnected from the reality in Darfur. Bin Laden is still preaching the theory of an American-Zionist conspiracy when the real problem comes from Khartoum, which is a Muslim government killing other Muslims."
He warned that such comments risked "encouraging the Khartoum regime to perpetuate injustice and its strategy against Darfur".
Agencies
Oil business dominates Chinese president Hu Jintao’s three-day visit to Saudi Arabia starting Saturday
April 23, 2006, 11:49 PM (GMT+02:00)
Flying in from the US, Hu is due to approve a joint venture to build a $5.3 bn naptha plant in China, one of five economic deals King Abdullah signed during his February trip to Beijing. China’s Sinopec is drilling for gas in the Saudi desert and building a refinery with Aramco in the Chinese province of Fuijan.
The kingdom exported more than 22 m tons of oil to China last year, its biggest crude supplier. Their volume of trade rose to $16bn last year, $2.7 bn in the first two months of 2006.
The Chinese president is due to address the Shura Council before flying off to Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.
Copyright 2000-2006 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
April 23, 2006, 11:49 PM (GMT+02:00)
Flying in from the US, Hu is due to approve a joint venture to build a $5.3 bn naptha plant in China, one of five economic deals King Abdullah signed during his February trip to Beijing. China’s Sinopec is drilling for gas in the Saudi desert and building a refinery with Aramco in the Chinese province of Fuijan.
The kingdom exported more than 22 m tons of oil to China last year, its biggest crude supplier. Their volume of trade rose to $16bn last year, $2.7 bn in the first two months of 2006.
The Chinese president is due to address the Shura Council before flying off to Morocco, Nigeria and Kenya.
Copyright 2000-2006 DEBKAfile. All Rights Reserved.
Wave of bombs hits Baghdad as Saddam on trial Yahoo! News
A wave of car bombs hit Baghdad on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 80 as the trial of Saddam Hussein heard his signature was on documents linking him to the killings of 148 people. The bloodshed comes while Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki works on choosing a cabinet, which will share power among Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end the sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into a civil war. Two car bombs near Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, killed at least five people and wounded 25 others. Another bomb near the health ministry in the city center killed three and wounded 25, police said. Four more bombs across the city wounded at least another 27 people. Maliki has four weeks to choose a new cabinet and form a government of national unity, widely seen as the only way to halt sectarian violence. The cabinet and Maliki's own appointment, made by President Jalal Talabani on Saturday, must be ratified by parliament. A key test of his ability to lead and to unite will be his choice of interior minister, perhaps the most sensitive post given the brutal past many Iraqis endured under Saddam's rule and a present wracked by relentless instability and violence. "We want nothing but security and a safe community in which we can live and raise our children safely," said Wael Khamis, a 44-year-old businessman.
RIDE WITHOUT FEAR
"Despite all that happened, I think we can still make a new beginning and forget the past if the new government makes a genuine good beginning by forming a cabinet away from sectarian interests and the militias. "All we have now is a hope and a dream of a better life. The coming government is our last chance. My wish is to take my family on a car ride without fear." The court trying Saddam and six others heard signatures on documents linking them to the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s were genuine. "The signatures and margins stipulated in the documents match the signature of Saddam Hussein on presidential decrees," said the report read out by a judge. The prosecution had demanded the court commission a team of criminal experts to authenticate signatures and handwriting of the defendants facing charges of crimes against humanity. Saddam and his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give samples of their writing but both have said there was no crime in prosecuting the 148 from the village of Dujail because they were accused of trying to kill the former leader. The defendants could face death by hanging if found guilty. Defense lawyers demanded 45 days to study new evidence before commenting. The trial was adjourned until May 15 to give the defense time to present their witnesses in next session. Saddam sat in his dark suit and white shirt in his metal pen, unusually quiet for a man who has dominated the court with tirades calling for Iraqis to revolt against U.S. occupation. He could soon face a new trial on charges of genocide against the Kurds in the late 1980s in the Anfal campaign which killed about 100,000 people and destroyed many villages. Prosecutors had hoped for a quick sentence in the Dujail case because it is far simpler than others such as genocide against the Kurds and charges of crimes against humanity in the suppression of Shi'ite uprisings. But it has been tarnished by the killings of two defense lawyers, boycotts and the resignation of the first chief judge to protest what he called government interference in the case.
By Terry Friel
A wave of car bombs hit Baghdad on Monday, killing at least eight people and wounding nearly 80 as the trial of Saddam Hussein heard his signature was on documents linking him to the killings of 148 people. The bloodshed comes while Prime Minister-designate Jawad al-Maliki works on choosing a cabinet, which will share power among Shi'ites, Sunni Arabs and Kurds in a bid to end the sectarian violence that threatens to drag Iraq into a civil war. Two car bombs near Baghdad's Mustansiriya University, killed at least five people and wounded 25 others. Another bomb near the health ministry in the city center killed three and wounded 25, police said. Four more bombs across the city wounded at least another 27 people. Maliki has four weeks to choose a new cabinet and form a government of national unity, widely seen as the only way to halt sectarian violence. The cabinet and Maliki's own appointment, made by President Jalal Talabani on Saturday, must be ratified by parliament. A key test of his ability to lead and to unite will be his choice of interior minister, perhaps the most sensitive post given the brutal past many Iraqis endured under Saddam's rule and a present wracked by relentless instability and violence. "We want nothing but security and a safe community in which we can live and raise our children safely," said Wael Khamis, a 44-year-old businessman.
RIDE WITHOUT FEAR
"Despite all that happened, I think we can still make a new beginning and forget the past if the new government makes a genuine good beginning by forming a cabinet away from sectarian interests and the militias. "All we have now is a hope and a dream of a better life. The coming government is our last chance. My wish is to take my family on a car ride without fear." The court trying Saddam and six others heard signatures on documents linking them to the killing of 148 Shi'ites in the 1980s were genuine. "The signatures and margins stipulated in the documents match the signature of Saddam Hussein on presidential decrees," said the report read out by a judge. The prosecution had demanded the court commission a team of criminal experts to authenticate signatures and handwriting of the defendants facing charges of crimes against humanity. Saddam and his half brother Barzan al-Tikriti have refused to give samples of their writing but both have said there was no crime in prosecuting the 148 from the village of Dujail because they were accused of trying to kill the former leader. The defendants could face death by hanging if found guilty. Defense lawyers demanded 45 days to study new evidence before commenting. The trial was adjourned until May 15 to give the defense time to present their witnesses in next session. Saddam sat in his dark suit and white shirt in his metal pen, unusually quiet for a man who has dominated the court with tirades calling for Iraqis to revolt against U.S. occupation. He could soon face a new trial on charges of genocide against the Kurds in the late 1980s in the Anfal campaign which killed about 100,000 people and destroyed many villages. Prosecutors had hoped for a quick sentence in the Dujail case because it is far simpler than others such as genocide against the Kurds and charges of crimes against humanity in the suppression of Shi'ite uprisings. But it has been tarnished by the killings of two defense lawyers, boycotts and the resignation of the first chief judge to protest what he called government interference in the case.
By Terry Friel
Blasts at Egyptian resort kill 30 Yahoo! News
Three apparent bomb blasts ripped through Egypt's Red Sea resort of Dahab on Monday, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100, rescue officials said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the blasts a terrorist act, the state news MENA reported. "The president stressed the need to ... track down those responsible for this wicked terrorist act so that they pay the penalty by force of law," MENA said. Residents said they saw body parts and debris in the street outside a restaurant and witnesses said smoke billowed up from the tourist bazaar in Dahab, a Sinai peninsula beach and diving center popular with foreign holidaymakers including Israelis. Officials in neighboring Israel said they were unaware of any Israeli casualties in the explosions. "There were body parts and debris in the street ... There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital," said one Dahab resident, who like other witnesses requested anonymity. A cafe worker near the scene of one explosion said: "We saw many dead people. People were screaming. People were being taken to hospital. There's police everywhere."
RESTAURANT, CAFE AND SUPERMARKET
Several attacks have occurred in Egypt's Sinai peninsula in the last two years. Dahab lies between Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh where dozens of people were killed in bombings in 2004 and 2005. Last July, more than 60 people, including foreigners, were killed when two car bombs and a suitcase bomb ripped through hotels and shopping areas in Sharm el-Sheikh, another popular tourist spot. Egyptian authorities attributed the Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh attacks to a small Sinai-based group originally led by a man of Palestinian origin and with militant Islamist views. The Dahab blasts occurred at about 7:15 p.m. (1715 GMT) on Monday, part of a five-day spring holiday in Egypt, and hit the Nelson Restaurant, Aladdin cafe and Ghazala supermarket. One visitor to the town said cars and buses leaving the resort were being stopped by police. A Muslim militant movement dedicated to overthrowing Mubarak and setting up a strict Islamic state emerged two decades ago. In October 1990, militants shot and killed parliament speaker Rifaat Mahgoub in central Cairo. They later tried to kill Prime Minister Atef Sedki, Interior Minister Hassan el-Alfi and Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif. In June 1995, militants attacked Mubarak's motorcade in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa but the president escaped unhurt. The militant movement, dominated by al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (The Islamic Group), operated mainly in southern Egypt. At least 1,200 people, mostly militants and police, were killed between 1992 and 1997. The violence subsided after Gama'a militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor in November 1997.
By Mohammed Abbas
Three apparent bomb blasts ripped through Egypt's Red Sea resort of Dahab on Monday, killing 30 people and wounding more than 100, rescue officials said. Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak called the blasts a terrorist act, the state news MENA reported. "The president stressed the need to ... track down those responsible for this wicked terrorist act so that they pay the penalty by force of law," MENA said. Residents said they saw body parts and debris in the street outside a restaurant and witnesses said smoke billowed up from the tourist bazaar in Dahab, a Sinai peninsula beach and diving center popular with foreign holidaymakers including Israelis. Officials in neighboring Israel said they were unaware of any Israeli casualties in the explosions. "There were body parts and debris in the street ... There are ambulances and cars taking people to hospital," said one Dahab resident, who like other witnesses requested anonymity. A cafe worker near the scene of one explosion said: "We saw many dead people. People were screaming. People were being taken to hospital. There's police everywhere."
RESTAURANT, CAFE AND SUPERMARKET
Several attacks have occurred in Egypt's Sinai peninsula in the last two years. Dahab lies between Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh where dozens of people were killed in bombings in 2004 and 2005. Last July, more than 60 people, including foreigners, were killed when two car bombs and a suitcase bomb ripped through hotels and shopping areas in Sharm el-Sheikh, another popular tourist spot. Egyptian authorities attributed the Taba and Sharm el-Sheikh attacks to a small Sinai-based group originally led by a man of Palestinian origin and with militant Islamist views. The Dahab blasts occurred at about 7:15 p.m. (1715 GMT) on Monday, part of a five-day spring holiday in Egypt, and hit the Nelson Restaurant, Aladdin cafe and Ghazala supermarket. One visitor to the town said cars and buses leaving the resort were being stopped by police. A Muslim militant movement dedicated to overthrowing Mubarak and setting up a strict Islamic state emerged two decades ago. In October 1990, militants shot and killed parliament speaker Rifaat Mahgoub in central Cairo. They later tried to kill Prime Minister Atef Sedki, Interior Minister Hassan el-Alfi and Information Minister Safwat el-Sherif. In June 1995, militants attacked Mubarak's motorcade in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa but the president escaped unhurt. The militant movement, dominated by al-Gama'a al-Islamiya (The Islamic Group), operated mainly in southern Egypt. At least 1,200 people, mostly militants and police, were killed between 1992 and 1997. The violence subsided after Gama'a militants killed 58 foreign tourists and four Egyptians in Luxor in November 1997.
By Mohammed Abbas
Thirty killed as blasts shake Egyptian resort :
Three explosions shook the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab early today, killing at least 30 people and wounding 150, a security official said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cf...jectID=10378862
Three explosions shook the Egyptian Sinai resort of Dahab early today, killing at least 30 people and wounding 150, a security official said.
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cf...jectID=10378862
Jordanian King to Israel: Give Up Your Nukes
Jordan’s King Abdullah said Monday that Israel should disarm its nuclear weapons in the wake of international pressure on Iran to end its uranium enrichment program.
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=102446
Jordan’s King Abdullah said Monday that Israel should disarm its nuclear weapons in the wake of international pressure on Iran to end its uranium enrichment program.
http://www.israelnn.com/news.php3?id=102446
UN official warns prospects for Mideast two-state solution have receded:
"Both parties are on quite different trajectories from those they were on when the Road Map was drawn up, and much has happened on the ground in the meantime. It is no exaggeration to say that prospects for achieving a two-state solution along the lines envisaged in the Road Map have receded through a combination of factors,"
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=855873
"Both parties are on quite different trajectories from those they were on when the Road Map was drawn up, and much has happened on the ground in the meantime. It is no exaggeration to say that prospects for achieving a two-state solution along the lines envisaged in the Road Map have receded through a combination of factors,"
http://www.kuna.net.kw/Home/Story.aspx?Lan...=en&DSNO=855873
Israel’s state-sponsored terrorism :
Haaretz stated that the final decision on the assassination of Ahmadinejad and Haniya would be taken upon the approval of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=315508
Haaretz stated that the final decision on the assassination of Ahmadinejad and Haniya would be taken upon the approval of Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
http://www.mehrnews.ir/en/NewsDetail.aspx?NewsID=315508
Hamas rejects bin Laden message:
Hamas and a Sudanese rebel group have distanced themselves from a statement from Osama bin Laden condemning the West for its actions in both countries.
http://tinyurl.com/e6hb2
Hamas and a Sudanese rebel group have distanced themselves from a statement from Osama bin Laden condemning the West for its actions in both countries.
http://tinyurl.com/e6hb2
Transcript: Bin Laden accuses West :
The following is an edited translation of an audiotape attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, parts of which were aired by Aljazeera on April 23, 2006.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12830.htm
The following is an edited translation of an audiotape attributed to al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden, parts of which were aired by Aljazeera on April 23, 2006.
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12830.htm
Saudi might set up strategic oil reserve in China :
The plan was raised during Hu's talks with King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. The reserve would be on top of the oil supplies Saudi Arabia exports to China for its daily needs, and which reached some 22.18 million tons last year.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=648592
The plan was raised during Hu's talks with King Abdullah Bin Abdul Aziz. The reserve would be on top of the oil supplies Saudi Arabia exports to China for its daily needs, and which reached some 22.18 million tons last year.
http://www.almanar.com.lb/story.aspx?Language=en&DSNO=648592
Arab media divided on bomb coverage BBC News
Coverage of the bombings in the Egyptian resort of Dahab and their aftermath has differed greatly between the Arab world's satellite news stations and its press. On the television stations, coverage has been virtually non-stop. In contrast, the coverage in much of the Arab press - including Egyptian papers - has been more low-key. Even the paper generally considered the most influential in Egypt, Al-Ahram, did not run the attacks as its top story. The headline in Al-Ahram is a quote from President Hosni Mubarak saying: "Terrorism combines religion and politics to destabilise the nation." Despite appearances, though, the president's words are not a direct reaction to the Dahab attack. Instead, they were part of a speech he made before the bombings on Monday to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the return of the Sinai peninsula from Israel to Egypt. In his speech, Mr Mubarak spoke of a better future for Egypt, highlighting the moves towards greater democracy in the past year.
Lack of intensity
Another leading Egyptian paper, Al-Goumhouriya, does lead with Mr Mubarak's direct reaction to the attack in which he vows that the "criminals will not escape". But compared to the vivid and bloody images from Dahab shown on Egyptian TV and Arab satellite channels, the press reaction in Egypt seems muted and uncertain. There has been a similar lack of intensity in the coverage in much of the rest of the Arab world's press. The strongest report is in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Its front page is dominated by a picture of one of the victims. The paper draws attention to the fact that the bombing came a day after the release of the latest tape from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. In Israel, the papers have devoted much more space to the attack. A commentator in the right-of-centre Ma'ariv warns, "al-Qaeda terrorism is getting closer to us. Sooner or later it will cross the border between Egypt and Israel".
By Sebastian Usher.
10 Arrests Made in Egypt Resort Attack ABC News
Bombings rock Egypt; 30 killed Boston Globe
Ynetnews - EiTB - Expatica - Forbes - all 1,525 related »
Coverage of the bombings in the Egyptian resort of Dahab and their aftermath has differed greatly between the Arab world's satellite news stations and its press. On the television stations, coverage has been virtually non-stop. In contrast, the coverage in much of the Arab press - including Egyptian papers - has been more low-key. Even the paper generally considered the most influential in Egypt, Al-Ahram, did not run the attacks as its top story. The headline in Al-Ahram is a quote from President Hosni Mubarak saying: "Terrorism combines religion and politics to destabilise the nation." Despite appearances, though, the president's words are not a direct reaction to the Dahab attack. Instead, they were part of a speech he made before the bombings on Monday to commemorate the 24th anniversary of the return of the Sinai peninsula from Israel to Egypt. In his speech, Mr Mubarak spoke of a better future for Egypt, highlighting the moves towards greater democracy in the past year.
Lack of intensity
Another leading Egyptian paper, Al-Goumhouriya, does lead with Mr Mubarak's direct reaction to the attack in which he vows that the "criminals will not escape". But compared to the vivid and bloody images from Dahab shown on Egyptian TV and Arab satellite channels, the press reaction in Egypt seems muted and uncertain. There has been a similar lack of intensity in the coverage in much of the rest of the Arab world's press. The strongest report is in the London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi. Its front page is dominated by a picture of one of the victims. The paper draws attention to the fact that the bombing came a day after the release of the latest tape from al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden. In Israel, the papers have devoted much more space to the attack. A commentator in the right-of-centre Ma'ariv warns, "al-Qaeda terrorism is getting closer to us. Sooner or later it will cross the border between Egypt and Israel".
By Sebastian Usher.
10 Arrests Made in Egypt Resort Attack ABC News
Bombings rock Egypt; 30 killed Boston Globe
Ynetnews - EiTB - Expatica - Forbes - all 1,525 related »
http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/0426/p06s01-wome.html
World > Middle East
from the April 26, 2006 edition
In Egypt, resurgence of militant Islamists
Third Sinai blast in 18 months shows new strength of domestic terror groups.
By Sarah Gauch and Dan Murphy
CAIRO AND BAGHDAD – Three bombs spaced just minutes apart ripped through the crowded Egyptian beach resort of Dahab on Monday, killing at least 18 people and confirming the extent to which domestic terror groups have reestablished themselves after years of relative peace.
It's the third time since October 2004 that Egypt's popular Sinai Peninsula beaches have been targeted. Prior to that first attack - three suicide bombs that killed 31 at Taba - Egypt had not experienced any terror attacks since 1997.
After each previous strike, Egyptian authorities sought to paint the bombings as isolated incidents that could be prevented in the future by stepped-up security measures. But while analysts say that the government was successful in dismantling domestic terror networks of groups like Jemaah Islamiyah and Islamic Jihad in the 1990s, the intellectual roots of modern Islamist militancy run deep in Egypt and appear to be bearing new fruit.
Egyptian police said they weren't sure if Monday's bombs at two cafes and the Ghazali supermarket were suicide attacks or not. The government said Tuesday that it had made 10 arrests. Four of the dead were foreign tourists, the rest Egyptians.
Egypt has moved hundreds of officers into the area, shut most of the roads out of the city, and established a network of checkpoints.
Dahab, once the playground of backpackers and hippies, saw $500 million in new investments last year. Like the rest of the peninsula's beaches, it has shifted toward higher-spending tourists.
Since the tourism industry rebounded well after each of the past two attacks, the mood in Dahab in the wake of the latest attack was grim, but hopeful. Tourism is Egypt's second-largest foreign-currency earner.
"The workers and business owners here are very angry," says Emad Nawar, a Cairo real-estate agent on vacation in Dahab. "I've talked to some who just finished a small business project that they were about to sell. Still, they hope that business will bounce back quickly like it did after the Taba bombings."
In addition to attacks on the Sinai, there have been at least three smaller terrorist incidents involving tourists in Cairo since 2004. In the 1990s, domestic terror groups targeted tourism in an effort to undermine the country's finances, to devastating effect. The 1997 attack on foreign tourists in Luxor sent Egypt into a deep recession.
Memories of that past are still fresh for some. "It's a disaster," says Mohamed Kabany, owner of Dahab's Inmo Hotel. "It could mean that we won't have business for the next year or two."
Still, many average Egyptians were furious at the attackers, which offers hope, since anger at the Islamic Jihad in the 1990s helped undermine support for that group. "No religion, not Islam or Christianity, accepts killing," says Lamia Farouk, a young mother in Cairo. "The people who did this are deranged."
It was business as usual in Dahab Tuesday despite the bombings, according to sources there. Shops opened, as did restaurants. Hotels reported few early checkouts. Tourists were out enjoying the sun, residents said.
"We are continuing," says Hany Aly, manager of the Neptune Hotel. "Our hotel, diving center, and coffee shop are full.... Life is going back to normal. This is to show those who set off these bombs that we are strong."
Located next to one of the bombing sites, the Neptune Hotel had its windows shattered. New glass has already been ordered, Aly said.
There were also several small antiterror protests in Dahab Tuesday. About 100 people marched through Dahab in remembrance of the blasts' victims on Tuesday.
Many Dahab residents and visitors seemed shocked by the horror of the bombings. "I was sitting on a high balcony and could see everything," says Mr. Nawar. "There was a big fire and the land was shaking like an earthquake. I heard people crying and an Egyptian boy, maybe eight to nine years old, looking for his father. It was terrible."
Nawar, a Christian, says he may take his faith more seriously now: He would have been at the Ghazali market when the blast occurred if a friend hadn't delayed him.
The attack came during the Egyptian spring holiday of Shem al-Nessim and a day before what Egypt calls Sinai Liberation Day, marking the return of the peninsula by Israel after the two countries agreed to a peace deal in 1979. That peace deal, and the repressive approach of President Hosni Mubarak's government to all Islamist movements, has long made the country a target of militants. Much of Al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, are exiled Egyptians.
While there is no evidence that Mr. Zawahiri's last videotape from March, or Mr. bin Laden's long screed on Sunday urging attacks against dozens of nations, helped trigger the strike, experts say Al Qaeda continues to serve as a potent guiding light for militants.
Bin Laden's audiotape, released by Al Jazeera, came too close to attacks that would have taken at least weeks of planning to be directly involved. But Al Qaeda, with its senior leaders cut off from directly contacting global followers, has evolved into a source of inspiration for a host of smaller Islamist groups who may share its goals but plan and execute attacks on their own.
That's been the pattern worldwide. Global terror attacks have soared since 2003, with anger at the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan inspiring new operatives.
"Virtually every single attack since 9/11 can be laid at the doors of other terrorist groups, even though they may have been inspired by bin Laden's ideology of global jihad,'' says M.J. Gohel, president of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, which focuses on security issues. "After 9/11, Al Qaeda effectively became decentralized ... and it continues as a deadly source of ideological inspiration for mass murder but there isn't any kind of central organization."
Increasingly, that's the view of other experts. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dia Rashwan, one of Egypt's leading scholars on Islamist groups, says small, cellular groups are emerging without direct ties to Al Qaeda or each other.
He says these new structures make it much harder for intelligence services to penetrate them than the old, more highly coordinated groups.
World > Middle East
from the April 26, 2006 edition
In Egypt, resurgence of militant Islamists
Third Sinai blast in 18 months shows new strength of domestic terror groups.
By Sarah Gauch and Dan Murphy
CAIRO AND BAGHDAD – Three bombs spaced just minutes apart ripped through the crowded Egyptian beach resort of Dahab on Monday, killing at least 18 people and confirming the extent to which domestic terror groups have reestablished themselves after years of relative peace.
It's the third time since October 2004 that Egypt's popular Sinai Peninsula beaches have been targeted. Prior to that first attack - three suicide bombs that killed 31 at Taba - Egypt had not experienced any terror attacks since 1997.
After each previous strike, Egyptian authorities sought to paint the bombings as isolated incidents that could be prevented in the future by stepped-up security measures. But while analysts say that the government was successful in dismantling domestic terror networks of groups like Jemaah Islamiyah and Islamic Jihad in the 1990s, the intellectual roots of modern Islamist militancy run deep in Egypt and appear to be bearing new fruit.
Egyptian police said they weren't sure if Monday's bombs at two cafes and the Ghazali supermarket were suicide attacks or not. The government said Tuesday that it had made 10 arrests. Four of the dead were foreign tourists, the rest Egyptians.
Egypt has moved hundreds of officers into the area, shut most of the roads out of the city, and established a network of checkpoints.
Dahab, once the playground of backpackers and hippies, saw $500 million in new investments last year. Like the rest of the peninsula's beaches, it has shifted toward higher-spending tourists.
Since the tourism industry rebounded well after each of the past two attacks, the mood in Dahab in the wake of the latest attack was grim, but hopeful. Tourism is Egypt's second-largest foreign-currency earner.
"The workers and business owners here are very angry," says Emad Nawar, a Cairo real-estate agent on vacation in Dahab. "I've talked to some who just finished a small business project that they were about to sell. Still, they hope that business will bounce back quickly like it did after the Taba bombings."
In addition to attacks on the Sinai, there have been at least three smaller terrorist incidents involving tourists in Cairo since 2004. In the 1990s, domestic terror groups targeted tourism in an effort to undermine the country's finances, to devastating effect. The 1997 attack on foreign tourists in Luxor sent Egypt into a deep recession.
Memories of that past are still fresh for some. "It's a disaster," says Mohamed Kabany, owner of Dahab's Inmo Hotel. "It could mean that we won't have business for the next year or two."
Still, many average Egyptians were furious at the attackers, which offers hope, since anger at the Islamic Jihad in the 1990s helped undermine support for that group. "No religion, not Islam or Christianity, accepts killing," says Lamia Farouk, a young mother in Cairo. "The people who did this are deranged."
It was business as usual in Dahab Tuesday despite the bombings, according to sources there. Shops opened, as did restaurants. Hotels reported few early checkouts. Tourists were out enjoying the sun, residents said.
"We are continuing," says Hany Aly, manager of the Neptune Hotel. "Our hotel, diving center, and coffee shop are full.... Life is going back to normal. This is to show those who set off these bombs that we are strong."
Located next to one of the bombing sites, the Neptune Hotel had its windows shattered. New glass has already been ordered, Aly said.
There were also several small antiterror protests in Dahab Tuesday. About 100 people marched through Dahab in remembrance of the blasts' victims on Tuesday.
Many Dahab residents and visitors seemed shocked by the horror of the bombings. "I was sitting on a high balcony and could see everything," says Mr. Nawar. "There was a big fire and the land was shaking like an earthquake. I heard people crying and an Egyptian boy, maybe eight to nine years old, looking for his father. It was terrible."
Nawar, a Christian, says he may take his faith more seriously now: He would have been at the Ghazali market when the blast occurred if a friend hadn't delayed him.
The attack came during the Egyptian spring holiday of Shem al-Nessim and a day before what Egypt calls Sinai Liberation Day, marking the return of the peninsula by Israel after the two countries agreed to a peace deal in 1979. That peace deal, and the repressive approach of President Hosni Mubarak's government to all Islamist movements, has long made the country a target of militants. Much of Al Qaeda's senior leadership, including Ayman al-Zawahiri, Osama bin Laden's chief deputy, are exiled Egyptians.
While there is no evidence that Mr. Zawahiri's last videotape from March, or Mr. bin Laden's long screed on Sunday urging attacks against dozens of nations, helped trigger the strike, experts say Al Qaeda continues to serve as a potent guiding light for militants.
Bin Laden's audiotape, released by Al Jazeera, came too close to attacks that would have taken at least weeks of planning to be directly involved. But Al Qaeda, with its senior leaders cut off from directly contacting global followers, has evolved into a source of inspiration for a host of smaller Islamist groups who may share its goals but plan and execute attacks on their own.
That's been the pattern worldwide. Global terror attacks have soared since 2003, with anger at the US wars in Iraq and Afghanistan inspiring new operatives.
"Virtually every single attack since 9/11 can be laid at the doors of other terrorist groups, even though they may have been inspired by bin Laden's ideology of global jihad,'' says M.J. Gohel, president of the Asia-Pacific Foundation, which focuses on security issues. "After 9/11, Al Qaeda effectively became decentralized ... and it continues as a deadly source of ideological inspiration for mass murder but there isn't any kind of central organization."
Increasingly, that's the view of other experts. In an interview with Al Jazeera, Dia Rashwan, one of Egypt's leading scholars on Islamist groups, says small, cellular groups are emerging without direct ties to Al Qaeda or each other.
He says these new structures make it much harder for intelligence services to penetrate them than the old, more highly coordinated groups.
Israel's nuclear ambitions:
It's a pity that the Israeli experts, instead of proposing to "invest more heavily" in reponses to nuclear threats, appear to not have considered the much simpler and cheaper option of making the whole of the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_..._ambitions.html
===
Gaza: severe food shortage :
Nothing is entering or leaving Gaza, and now the funds to purchase what is available there are also drying up, bringing the dire situation of its people to a new and febrile crisis.
http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/17/stories...41701931500.htm
===
Phased Ethnic Cleansing:
The international community has an imperative moral obligation to pressure countries that are currently aiding Israel.
http://palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=042306230812
===
Touching the third rail:
Israel was born at midnight (local time) May 14, 1948. US recognition followed 11 minutes later. A geopolitical honeymoon lasted until 1956 when Israel, France and Britain secretly joined forces, without informing president Eisenhower, to invade Egypt to wrest back control of the Suez Canal nationalized by president Nasser
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12841.htm
===
In case you missed it:
Truman Adviser Recalls May 14,1948 US Decision to Recognize Israel :
With US President George Bush increasingly frustrated by the Israeli-Palestinian problem, a new generation of Americans is asking an old question: Why must the US deal with this seemingly intractable dispute?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4077.htm
===
In case you missed it:
U.S. Intervention in the Middle East:
This partial chronology of U.S. intervention in the Middle East illustrates the lengths to which the U.S. power structure has gone to gain and maintain U.S. domination of the Middle East--a region considered key to the U.S.'s standing as an imperialist world power.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6308.htm
It's a pity that the Israeli experts, instead of proposing to "invest more heavily" in reponses to nuclear threats, appear to not have considered the much simpler and cheaper option of making the whole of the Middle East a nuclear-free zone.
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/brian_..._ambitions.html
===
Gaza: severe food shortage :
Nothing is entering or leaving Gaza, and now the funds to purchase what is available there are also drying up, bringing the dire situation of its people to a new and febrile crisis.
http://www.thehindu.com/2006/04/17/stories...41701931500.htm
===
Phased Ethnic Cleansing:
The international community has an imperative moral obligation to pressure countries that are currently aiding Israel.
http://palestinechronicle.com/story.php?sid=042306230812
===
Touching the third rail:
Israel was born at midnight (local time) May 14, 1948. US recognition followed 11 minutes later. A geopolitical honeymoon lasted until 1956 when Israel, France and Britain secretly joined forces, without informing president Eisenhower, to invade Egypt to wrest back control of the Suez Canal nationalized by president Nasser
http://informationclearinghouse.info/article12841.htm
===
In case you missed it:
Truman Adviser Recalls May 14,1948 US Decision to Recognize Israel :
With US President George Bush increasingly frustrated by the Israeli-Palestinian problem, a new generation of Americans is asking an old question: Why must the US deal with this seemingly intractable dispute?
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article4077.htm
===
In case you missed it:
U.S. Intervention in the Middle East:
This partial chronology of U.S. intervention in the Middle East illustrates the lengths to which the U.S. power structure has gone to gain and maintain U.S. domination of the Middle East--a region considered key to the U.S.'s standing as an imperialist world power.
http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article6308.htm
Iran, US in tug of war over Middle East
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Recently, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated that the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan were necessary to contain the threat "emanating from Iran". Whatever else, this pretty much seals the fate of the so-called "exit strategy" and the occasional public relations statements by the White House that US forces will leave the region in the near future.
In turn, this raises an important question: Is the US strategy of containing Iran a convenient facade for superpower hegemony bent on dominating the oil-rich region? In probing for an answer, history is rather instructive, reminding one of the Kuwait crisis and then-president George H W Bush's promise that "our purpose is purely temporary" and that US forces would depart.
Well, that was in 1990, and 16 years later there is absolutely no sign that the United States has any intention of vacating its formidable military presence, which includes "over the horizon" forces on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Instead, in addition to building several large military bases in Iraq, the US military has beefed up its presence in various southern Persian Gulf states that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In her recent trip to the GCC countries, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once again warned the oil sheikhdoms about Iran's "threat".
The GCC is a regional organization involving the six Persian Gulf Arab states. Created on May 25, 1981, the council comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are in turn all members of the 22-member Arab League, of which Iran is not a member.
Responding to the US moves, the Iranian leadership has been busy, dispatching such high-level officials as former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and the speaker of the majlis (parliament) to the GCC region, assuring them of Iran's good-neighborly intentions. Thus, during his trip to Kuwait, Rafsanjani sold the idea of a nuclear Iran as a common good for all Muslim states.
This author recalls that at a 1991 conference on Persian Gulf security held at the Institute for Political and International Studies, a Tehran think tank, then-president Rafsanjani unveiled for the first time Iran's idea of "collective security" in the Persian Gulf.
Since then, pursuant to this rather lofty objective, which flies in the face of the United States' military bilateralism in the Gulf region, Iran has signed low-security agreements with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, and is about to sign a similar one with Bahrain.
These agreements call for cooperation against smuggling, and implicitly envisage some future cooperation on broader security issues. Recently, Iran's military leaders announced Iran's readiness to cooperate with the GCC states on the issue of regional security. So far, pressured by the United States, the GCC states have not taken up Iran's offer, and the prospect for full-scale Iran-GCC security cooperation looks dim as long as GCC politics are dominated by the US.
In a sense, the GCC states are caught between the rock of US hegemony and the hard place of Iranian power, and that means a constant juggling act that simultaneously has to satisfy the antagonistic powers of the US and Iran, in light of the fact that with the vacuum of Iraqi power, the pendulum in terms of regional balance of power has shifted in Iran's favor.
According to some GCC policy analysts, the United States is exploiting the nuclear crisis over Iran to scare the GCC states away from Tehran's influence and more and more into the protective power of the US. This is why there has been no great alarm on the part of the GCC states about Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons drive.
Of course, these states and their conservative leaderships remain jittery about the nuclear standoff and the potential for another war in the war-weary region, but we have yet to see them, or the Saudi leadership, echoing the United States' alarmist attitude with regard to Iran's so-called "nuclear ambitions".
Interestingly, in light of Iran's recent announcement of having mastered the nuclear-fuel cycle and thus joined the "nuclear club", the US has revised its estimate of how long before Iran could have its own bombs, now stating that it is a decade or longer away.
One clear implication of the United States' new estimate is the effect it may have on the power perception of Iran in the Persian Gulf region, which has become the theater of ongoing US-Iran games of strategy: the GCC states are less inclined to get near Iran if they are convinced that Iran is either bluffing or more years away from having nuclear-weapons potential than they had been led to believe by Tehran.
In the ebb and flow of this dialectical game of strategy, where both sides jockey for influence and allies, Iran has a set of advantages, including an increasingly muscular naval force, as well as disadvantages, such as the inferiority of its air force compared with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which has a fleet of F-16s, much to the envy of Tehran (see Jets and politics in the Persian Gulf, Asia Times Online, August 27, 2004).
Inserted in the regional military balance, then, is the Iranian nuclear-weapon potential, which simultaneously operates for and against Iran, in terms of the willingness of the GCC states to cooperate with Iran. In a word, the nuclear question has a contradictory effect, causing a distancing of GCC states from Iran, which is why the Iranian government has been so keen on sending warm signals to the GCC.
Crisis and Iran-GCC relations
In view of possible US-inspired financial sanctions on Iran as punishment for its nuclear program, prompting Iran's diversion of its capital from Europe to certain GCC states, the latter's position with regard to the escalating nuclear crisis is becoming key to how this crisis will be played out in the short and medium terms.
Last month, the United Nations Security Council passed a statement asking International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei to report simultaneously to the council and the IAEA board by April 28 on whether Iran had halted enriching uranium, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear warheads. To date, Tehran has refused to do so. The next step would be consideration of imposing sanctions.
But without the Security Council's backing - which is quite unlikely given Russia's and China's reluctance - a sanctions regime by the US and its "coalition of willing" will be a tough sell in the GCC states, as this would jeopardize their relations with Iran and thus harm them financially, economically and security-wise.
Hence we should not expect anything more than token gestures by the GCC states that would not fundamentally alter their burgeoning economic relations with Iran. In other words, the current attempts by the US to enroll the GCC states as future members of a "coalition of willing" against Iran are doomed, for the most part.
The GCC states are keenly aware of the protean value of Iran's new political militancy geared against Israel, which appeals to the "Arab street", and they would be risking their political legitimacy if they bandwagoned with the US against their Islamic brethren in Iran.
For the moment, Iran has refrained from any overt criticism of the GCC states, confining itself to the carrot policy of cooperation and enhanced ties, such as by reaching a new understanding with Qatar on shared gas deposits in the Persian Gulf, yet at any moment Iran may switch to the stick of threats should it feel a more overt pro-US drift on the part of certain GCC leaders.
At the same time, given the prospect of greater international pressure on Iran in the coming months over the nuclear issue, Iran's dependency on the GCC "outlet" will increase, thereby allowing a greater maneuverability on the GCC's part to make demands on Iran, such as with respect to the contested issue of Iran's possession of the three islands of Amu Mussa, Little Tunb and Big Tunb. A quid pro quo, whereby Iran would consent to a more flexible "sharing" of Abu Mussa in return for the GCC's reluctance to join the United States' global strategy against Iran, is possible.
But that is future thinking, and right now no one in the region is taking the US threat of military strikes against Iran too seriously, since they know well that the risks to the global oil market are simply too high to allow it to happen. Already, with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries prices above US$70 a barrel, caused in part by concerns over the Iran nuclear crisis, there has been a sufficient wake-up call to the Western public, particularly in the US, that this may well reach $100 a barrel the moment bombs are dropped on Iran.
This, in turn, has allowed Iran to continue its "nuclear poker", considered brinkmanship by certain analysts and media pundits, even though on the face of it Iran's exercise of its right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to acquire full nuclear technology under the IAEA's inspection regime can hardly be called "aggression" or "defiance".
It remains to be seen how far the present crisis will degenerate, and whether or not political economy standards will outweigh the purely security considerations on the part of the US and Europe. We may not need to wait for posterity for answers, as the next few months will be highly revealing of the stark alternatives posed by this dangerous crisis.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He is also author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
By Kaveh L Afrasiabi
Recently, US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld stated that the US missions in Iraq and Afghanistan were necessary to contain the threat "emanating from Iran". Whatever else, this pretty much seals the fate of the so-called "exit strategy" and the occasional public relations statements by the White House that US forces will leave the region in the near future.
In turn, this raises an important question: Is the US strategy of containing Iran a convenient facade for superpower hegemony bent on dominating the oil-rich region? In probing for an answer, history is rather instructive, reminding one of the Kuwait crisis and then-president George H W Bush's promise that "our purpose is purely temporary" and that US forces would depart.
Well, that was in 1990, and 16 years later there is absolutely no sign that the United States has any intention of vacating its formidable military presence, which includes "over the horizon" forces on the island of Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean. Instead, in addition to building several large military bases in Iraq, the US military has beefed up its presence in various southern Persian Gulf states that are members of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). In her recent trip to the GCC countries, US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice once again warned the oil sheikhdoms about Iran's "threat".
The GCC is a regional organization involving the six Persian Gulf Arab states. Created on May 25, 1981, the council comprises Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. These countries are in turn all members of the 22-member Arab League, of which Iran is not a member.
Responding to the US moves, the Iranian leadership has been busy, dispatching such high-level officials as former president Hashemi Rafsanjani and the speaker of the majlis (parliament) to the GCC region, assuring them of Iran's good-neighborly intentions. Thus, during his trip to Kuwait, Rafsanjani sold the idea of a nuclear Iran as a common good for all Muslim states.
This author recalls that at a 1991 conference on Persian Gulf security held at the Institute for Political and International Studies, a Tehran think tank, then-president Rafsanjani unveiled for the first time Iran's idea of "collective security" in the Persian Gulf.
Since then, pursuant to this rather lofty objective, which flies in the face of the United States' military bilateralism in the Gulf region, Iran has signed low-security agreements with Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Qatar, and is about to sign a similar one with Bahrain.
These agreements call for cooperation against smuggling, and implicitly envisage some future cooperation on broader security issues. Recently, Iran's military leaders announced Iran's readiness to cooperate with the GCC states on the issue of regional security. So far, pressured by the United States, the GCC states have not taken up Iran's offer, and the prospect for full-scale Iran-GCC security cooperation looks dim as long as GCC politics are dominated by the US.
In a sense, the GCC states are caught between the rock of US hegemony and the hard place of Iranian power, and that means a constant juggling act that simultaneously has to satisfy the antagonistic powers of the US and Iran, in light of the fact that with the vacuum of Iraqi power, the pendulum in terms of regional balance of power has shifted in Iran's favor.
According to some GCC policy analysts, the United States is exploiting the nuclear crisis over Iran to scare the GCC states away from Tehran's influence and more and more into the protective power of the US. This is why there has been no great alarm on the part of the GCC states about Iran's alleged nuclear-weapons drive.
Of course, these states and their conservative leaderships remain jittery about the nuclear standoff and the potential for another war in the war-weary region, but we have yet to see them, or the Saudi leadership, echoing the United States' alarmist attitude with regard to Iran's so-called "nuclear ambitions".
Interestingly, in light of Iran's recent announcement of having mastered the nuclear-fuel cycle and thus joined the "nuclear club", the US has revised its estimate of how long before Iran could have its own bombs, now stating that it is a decade or longer away.
One clear implication of the United States' new estimate is the effect it may have on the power perception of Iran in the Persian Gulf region, which has become the theater of ongoing US-Iran games of strategy: the GCC states are less inclined to get near Iran if they are convinced that Iran is either bluffing or more years away from having nuclear-weapons potential than they had been led to believe by Tehran.
In the ebb and flow of this dialectical game of strategy, where both sides jockey for influence and allies, Iran has a set of advantages, including an increasingly muscular naval force, as well as disadvantages, such as the inferiority of its air force compared with both Saudi Arabia and the UAE, which has a fleet of F-16s, much to the envy of Tehran (see Jets and politics in the Persian Gulf, Asia Times Online, August 27, 2004).
Inserted in the regional military balance, then, is the Iranian nuclear-weapon potential, which simultaneously operates for and against Iran, in terms of the willingness of the GCC states to cooperate with Iran. In a word, the nuclear question has a contradictory effect, causing a distancing of GCC states from Iran, which is why the Iranian government has been so keen on sending warm signals to the GCC.
Crisis and Iran-GCC relations
In view of possible US-inspired financial sanctions on Iran as punishment for its nuclear program, prompting Iran's diversion of its capital from Europe to certain GCC states, the latter's position with regard to the escalating nuclear crisis is becoming key to how this crisis will be played out in the short and medium terms.
Last month, the United Nations Security Council passed a statement asking International Atomic Energy Agency head Mohamed ElBaradei to report simultaneously to the council and the IAEA board by April 28 on whether Iran had halted enriching uranium, a process that can produce fuel for nuclear warheads. To date, Tehran has refused to do so. The next step would be consideration of imposing sanctions.
But without the Security Council's backing - which is quite unlikely given Russia's and China's reluctance - a sanctions regime by the US and its "coalition of willing" will be a tough sell in the GCC states, as this would jeopardize their relations with Iran and thus harm them financially, economically and security-wise.
Hence we should not expect anything more than token gestures by the GCC states that would not fundamentally alter their burgeoning economic relations with Iran. In other words, the current attempts by the US to enroll the GCC states as future members of a "coalition of willing" against Iran are doomed, for the most part.
The GCC states are keenly aware of the protean value of Iran's new political militancy geared against Israel, which appeals to the "Arab street", and they would be risking their political legitimacy if they bandwagoned with the US against their Islamic brethren in Iran.
For the moment, Iran has refrained from any overt criticism of the GCC states, confining itself to the carrot policy of cooperation and enhanced ties, such as by reaching a new understanding with Qatar on shared gas deposits in the Persian Gulf, yet at any moment Iran may switch to the stick of threats should it feel a more overt pro-US drift on the part of certain GCC leaders.
At the same time, given the prospect of greater international pressure on Iran in the coming months over the nuclear issue, Iran's dependency on the GCC "outlet" will increase, thereby allowing a greater maneuverability on the GCC's part to make demands on Iran, such as with respect to the contested issue of Iran's possession of the three islands of Amu Mussa, Little Tunb and Big Tunb. A quid pro quo, whereby Iran would consent to a more flexible "sharing" of Abu Mussa in return for the GCC's reluctance to join the United States' global strategy against Iran, is possible.
But that is future thinking, and right now no one in the region is taking the US threat of military strikes against Iran too seriously, since they know well that the risks to the global oil market are simply too high to allow it to happen. Already, with Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries prices above US$70 a barrel, caused in part by concerns over the Iran nuclear crisis, there has been a sufficient wake-up call to the Western public, particularly in the US, that this may well reach $100 a barrel the moment bombs are dropped on Iran.
This, in turn, has allowed Iran to continue its "nuclear poker", considered brinkmanship by certain analysts and media pundits, even though on the face of it Iran's exercise of its right under the Non-Proliferation Treaty to acquire full nuclear technology under the IAEA's inspection regime can hardly be called "aggression" or "defiance".
It remains to be seen how far the present crisis will degenerate, and whether or not political economy standards will outweigh the purely security considerations on the part of the US and Europe. We may not need to wait for posterity for answers, as the next few months will be highly revealing of the stark alternatives posed by this dangerous crisis.
Kaveh L Afrasiabi, PhD, is the author of After Khomeini: New Directions in Iran's Foreign Policy (Westview Press) and co-author of "Negotiating Iran's Nuclear Populism", Brown Journal of World Affairs, Volume XII, Issue 2, Summer 2005, with Mustafa Kibaroglu. He is also author of Iran's Nuclear Program: Debating Facts Versus Fiction.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Middle_East/HD26Ak03.html
Egyptian bombs shake Muslim world
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Bomb explosions on Monday in the Sinai seaside town of Dahab in Egypt in which 23 people died are yet another warning for pro-US Muslim countries of the price they have to pay for being allies of the United States.
And security experts tell Asia Times Online that "war on terror" outpost Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prime targets.
Within 24 hours of a message carried by al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden on Al-Jazeera television in which he warned of a divide between the West and Islam, Egypt was rocked by the triple blasts, in which a number of the victims were foreign tourists.
However, it is highly unlikely that the attacks were carried out by mainstream al-Qaeda; the more likely perpetrators are from a branch comprising takfiris - those who brand non-practicing Muslims as infidels.
Bin Laden is personally opposed to attacks on Muslim countries that support the US, but al-Qaeda leaders such as Egyptian Abu Amro Abdul Hakeem, also known as Sheikh Essa, and Mustafa Seerat al-Suri (now arrested) believe otherwise.
Most takfiris come from families who were badly oppressed by various Egyptian regimes, ranging from those of Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Sadat to Hosni Mubarak's.
They were initially associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and because of that they were victimized. As a result, a group of dissidents emerged from the Brotherhood, rejecting its practice of politicking. They branded Egypt an infidel society and migrated to the Sinai Desert.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, this group went to Afghanistan to fight alongside the mujahideen. Now they have small pockets in Egypt, Syria and Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal agency of Bajaur.
After many arrests in Pakistan and Afghanistan, their numbers are now small, and al-Qaeda has engaged them in its offensive in Afghanistan, so their activities have been significantly reduced.
However, Pakistan's security circles remain on high alert over possible attacks in the country, with top decision-makers, both civilian and military, believed to be in the firing line.
There have been similar attacks, including several on President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and two corps commanders. Plots to blow up the offices of the Inter-Services Intelligence and the general headquarters in Rawalpindi were also foiled after the arrest of a number of jihadis associated with the Jundullah group.
However, the situation has changed. According to a top Pakistani security official, in the past the government could contain the jihadis. This was because most of them had been under the control of the establishment, so tracking them was easy and their leaders were caught or went into hiding.
At the same time, the high number of arrests made the jihadi groups skeptical as they suspected each other of being proxies for the intelligence agencies.
Now, though, irrespective of their organizational boundaries, the jihadis have regrouped in the North and South Waziristan tribal agencies on the border with Afghanistan under the spiritual command of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, just waiting for orders to strike.
A similar situation exists in the Middle East, where al-Qaeda now has a base in Iraq and can conveniently shuttle between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Unlike in the past when some al-Qaeda-linked groups carried out random attacks, al-Qaeda now has ample time and space to draw up concerted plans to infiltrate Saudi Arabia in its struggle against the Saudi monarchy.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)
Egyptian bombs shake Muslim world
By Syed Saleem Shahzad
KARACHI - Bomb explosions on Monday in the Sinai seaside town of Dahab in Egypt in which 23 people died are yet another warning for pro-US Muslim countries of the price they have to pay for being allies of the United States.
And security experts tell Asia Times Online that "war on terror" outpost Pakistan and the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia are prime targets.
Within 24 hours of a message carried by al-Qaeda head Osama bin Laden on Al-Jazeera television in which he warned of a divide between the West and Islam, Egypt was rocked by the triple blasts, in which a number of the victims were foreign tourists.
However, it is highly unlikely that the attacks were carried out by mainstream al-Qaeda; the more likely perpetrators are from a branch comprising takfiris - those who brand non-practicing Muslims as infidels.
Bin Laden is personally opposed to attacks on Muslim countries that support the US, but al-Qaeda leaders such as Egyptian Abu Amro Abdul Hakeem, also known as Sheikh Essa, and Mustafa Seerat al-Suri (now arrested) believe otherwise.
Most takfiris come from families who were badly oppressed by various Egyptian regimes, ranging from those of Gamal Abdul Nasser and Anwar Sadat to Hosni Mubarak's.
They were initially associated with the Muslim Brotherhood and because of that they were victimized. As a result, a group of dissidents emerged from the Brotherhood, rejecting its practice of politicking. They branded Egypt an infidel society and migrated to the Sinai Desert.
When the Soviet Union invaded Afghanistan in 1979, this group went to Afghanistan to fight alongside the mujahideen. Now they have small pockets in Egypt, Syria and Afghanistan and in Pakistan's tribal agency of Bajaur.
After many arrests in Pakistan and Afghanistan, their numbers are now small, and al-Qaeda has engaged them in its offensive in Afghanistan, so their activities have been significantly reduced.
However, Pakistan's security circles remain on high alert over possible attacks in the country, with top decision-makers, both civilian and military, believed to be in the firing line.
There have been similar attacks, including several on President General Pervez Musharraf, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz and two corps commanders. Plots to blow up the offices of the Inter-Services Intelligence and the general headquarters in Rawalpindi were also foiled after the arrest of a number of jihadis associated with the Jundullah group.
However, the situation has changed. According to a top Pakistani security official, in the past the government could contain the jihadis. This was because most of them had been under the control of the establishment, so tracking them was easy and their leaders were caught or went into hiding.
At the same time, the high number of arrests made the jihadi groups skeptical as they suspected each other of being proxies for the intelligence agencies.
Now, though, irrespective of their organizational boundaries, the jihadis have regrouped in the North and South Waziristan tribal agencies on the border with Afghanistan under the spiritual command of Taliban leader Mullah Omar, just waiting for orders to strike.
A similar situation exists in the Middle East, where al-Qaeda now has a base in Iraq and can conveniently shuttle between Iraq and Saudi Arabia. Unlike in the past when some al-Qaeda-linked groups carried out random attacks, al-Qaeda now has ample time and space to draw up concerted plans to infiltrate Saudi Arabia in its struggle against the Saudi monarchy.
Syed Saleem Shahzad is Bureau Chief, Pakistan, Asia Times Online. He can be reached at saleem_shahzad2002@yahoo.com.
(Copyright 2006 Asia Times Online Ltd. All rights reserved. Please contact us about sales, syndication and republishing .)