AL Shark Al Awsat

Ron Paul ~ Floor Speech, Syria June 19 2012

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 8 Aug 2012 11:12:00 -0700

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Rough players in IRAN.

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 8 Aug 2012 11:00:00 -0700

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Thousands of Israelis and Palestinians march for peace

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 6 Sep 2011 23:25:00 -0700

For the first time in over 20 years, thousands of Israeli and Palestinian peace activists marched peacefully together on Friday to support the Palestinian drive for statehood expected to be endorsed at the UN General Assembly in September.

“Only a declaration of Palestinian statehood can prevent bloodshed,” said Hillel Ben-Sasson, a spokesman for the Sheikh Jarrah Solidarity movement, part of an alliance of left-wing civil society organizations that called for “marching toward independence.”

“Negotiations have been manipulated by [Israel's Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu, who’s doing everything in his power to bury any peace hope, not to advance peace,” the activist added.

Many demonstrators carried a poster that read “only free people can negotiate,” a paraphrase of Nelson Mandela’s words when the former South African president was the imprisoned leader of the anti-apartheid struggle. “If the UN recognizes an independent Palestine, then negotiations could restart from a completely different standpoint,” Ben-Sasson noted.

“You’d have peace negotiations between equals, not between occupied and occupier. That’s been the case till now, and it never succeeded.”

The half-mile-long procession snaked along the walls of the Old City, on the old no-man’s-land that used to divide Jewish West and Arab East Jerusalem before Israel occupied the oriental part of the city during the 1967 war.

The route taken by the demonstrators nowadays constitutes the symbolic, yet barely visible, seam that demarcates the Israeli-occupied part of the city which, since 1967, has been engulfed by a ring of Jewish suburban settlements, home to over 180,000 Israelis.

And for the past five years, an 8-meter-high security wall of concrete slabs, which both Palestinians and the Israeli radical left call the “apartheid wall,” separates East Jerusalem from its occupied West Bank heartland.

“Two cities for two people, independence for Palestine, one peace” read another placard carried by an international activist who’d managed to sneak through the police blockade at Israel’s international airport against last week’s “flytilla” attempt to break the Gaza blockade. The message itself carried the forlorn dream of a two-state solution. “It might already be too late,” acknowledged Galit Hasan-Rokem, an Israeli veteran activist.

The choice of Jerusalem as venue to celebrate Palestinian independence was no accident. “Jerusalem is not only the heart of the conflict, but also the core of a solution to the conflict,” said Ben-Sasson.

Indeed, beyond the declaratory display of good intentions, it was clear to all here that the celebration of Palestinian independence without sovereignty will remain in the realm of unfulfilled aspirations for now, and even after September.

After all, the demonstrators may aspire to declare Al Quds, the predominantly Palestinian neighborhood of East Jerusalem, as the capital of a sovereign state, but that state is also an aspiration at least as difficult to achieve in absence of negotiations and with the persistence of the occupation. Not to mention the assurance of a U.S. veto on Palestine at the Security Council.

But the march was also unique because, for the second time in 44 years and two generations of peace activism trying to correct the wrongs of the occupation, it brought together Israelis and Palestinians, even though most participants were Israelis.

Since the second Palestinian Intifadah uprising (2000-2005), Palestinian civil society organizations have been reluctant to participate in joint events. Fakhry Abu-Diab, a community activist from the embattled Palestinian neighborhood of Silwan, which is home to a stronghold of ultra-nationalist settlers, explained that “co-existence of this kind condones and legitimizes Israel’s policies as it shows the ‘pretty face’ of the occupation.” Yet he was there, marching.

For Muhammad Abu-Ayyash, an activist from the joint Bereaved Families organization, if East Jerusalem Palestinians didn’t show up in big numbers, “it’s because we live under Israeli control. We fear we’ll suffer if we demonstrate our support for our state and against the occupation of our capital. Besides, West Bankers cannot come to Jerusalem without an Israeli permit. And permits are hard to get.”

The last time such peaceful and festive event took place in Jerusalem was in December 1989, in the midst of the first Palestinian Intifadah uprising (1987-1993). Then, over 20,000 Israelis and Palestinians had formed a 2.5-mile-long human chain for peace around the walls of the Old City.

Violence had burst briefly when a group of Palestinian youths had waved Palestinian flags, then an outlawed action, and hurled rocks. The police responded with water cannons, tear gas, and rubber bullets at the crowd, injuring scores of Palestinians and a few Israelis. Tens of demonstrators were arrested. Yet the jolly human chain had gone unperturbed. You could see Palestinians handing flowers and olive branches, symbols of conviviality and peace, to Israelis.

During Friday’s demonstration, Palestinian flags were plentiful. Holding the red, black, white, and green banner is now tolerated.

So, times are changing, but the conditions on the ground are not — so long as the ingrained reality is one of exclusive national dreams, and mutual suppressions of such dreams, by spoilers on both sides.

The atmosphere was both lively and anachronistic, a carnival for statehood and independence… on paper and banners — with drummers rapping out their samba beat, accentuating the “free, free Palestine” chanted at full throat, in one voice.

“Sure, it’s not peace yet, but we carry the seeds of peace,” admitted Abu-Ayyash while the march stopped at the final station, the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood, another of the city’s flashpoints. In 2009, four Palestinian refugee families were forcibly evicted from their homes while settlers moved in their stead.

“But we want them to hear that that there are Israelis who recognize our rights to a state,” Abu-Ayyash said as young Sheikh Jarrah settlers waving the blue and white Israeli flag chanted “Israel, Israel.” “Inshallah, God willing, it’d be great if Israel accepted Palestine before any other state in the world.”

http://www.stopwar.org.uk/index.php/palestine-and-israel/646-thousands-of-israelis-and-palestinians-march-together-for-peace

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Indian print media widely cover Iran’s military exercises

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 09:14:00 -0700

New Delhi, June 29, IRNA -- Leading Indian newspapers on Tuesday massively cover Iran’s military exercises.

Indian print media widely cover Iran’s military exercises
“Iran on Monday unveiled underground silos that can carry missiles capable of hitting Israel and US bases in the Persian Gulf as it kicked off 10 days of war games, the country’s latest show of military force amid a standoff with the West over its nuclear program,” India’s leading English daily said.

“The Times of India” wrote under the title 'Our missiles can reach US bases: Iran'.

The daily further wrote that State TV broadcast footage of deep underground silos claiming that medium and long-range missiles stored in them are ready to launch in case of an attack on Iran. Silos are viewed as a strategic asset for Iran in the event of a US or Israeli attack on its nuclear facilities.

“The silos “function as a swift-reaction unit”. Missiles, which are permanently in the vertical position, are ready to hit the pre-determined targets,” English daily wrote quoting Col. Asghar Qelichkhani, a spokesman for the military.

Another leading English daily “The Asia Age” quoting IRNA wrote: “Iran’s Revolutionary Guards tested 14 missiles on Tuesday, the second day of war games intended as a show of strength towards the Islamic Republic’s enemies Israel and the United States. The Iranian made surface-to-surface missiles, with a maximum range of 2000 km, were fired simultaneously at a single target, it said.

The daily further wrote that Commander Amir Ali Hajizadeh, head of the Revolutionary Guards’ aerospace unit, emphasized Iran’s preparedness to strike Israel and US interests in the event of any attack on the Islamic Republic.

The range of Iran’s missiles has been designed based on American bases in the region as well as the Zionist regime,” Asian Age wrote quoting Hajizadeh.

Iran’s Revolutionary Guards on Tuesday fired nine Zelzal missiles, two Shahab-1, two Shahab 2s and one upgraded Shahab-2 missile, outside the city of Qom, a city of Iran.

http://www.irna.ir/ENNewsShow.aspx?NID=30454674&SRCH=1

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Netanyahu: Israeli Army Ready For Anything!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 25 May 2011 11:35:00 -0700

“To you, Sovereign Grand Inspectors General (of the 33rd degree), we say this, that you may repeat it to the brethren of the 32nd , 31st and 30th degrees – The Masonic Religion should be, by all of us initiates of the high degrees, maintained in the purity of the Luciferian doctrine. … Yes, Lucifer is God … “ Albert Pike, Morals and Dogma of the Ancient and Accepted Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in 1871 (blasphemy)

Who does Freemason Netanyahu serve? The God of the Bible? I don’t think so! FreeMasonry has its roots in the Jewish Cabala, Jewish mysticism. Of course, calling it Jewish is an insult to Jacob. Modern Judaism is not the religion of the Bible. It is mainly Babylonian Talmud and the Cabala. These form the basis of modern Satanism. Higher order FreeMasons ie. 30th and above are all willing/knowing Luciferians.

Freemason Israel Prime Ministers, 1948-2008
… A total of thirteen different people have served as Prime Minister of Israel. [including "acting" PM's] Four of those people have served on two non-consecutive occasions. Of these 13 people, documentation and/or references found thus far indicate at least eight (8) of these people are (were) Masons:

David Ben-Gurion – Freemason
Moshe Sharett
Levi Eshkol
Yigal Allon
Golda Meir – Co-Mason
Yitzhak Rabin – Freemason
Shimon Peres* – Freemason and Jesuit (Roman Catholic) trained
Menachem Begin
Yitzhak Shamir
Benjamin Netanyahu – Freemason
Ehud Barak – Freemason
Ariel Sharon – Freemason
Ehud Olmert** – Freemason

Illuminati (Freemasons) in control of Israel
Masons: Masters of Israel and the World
“The rise of Masons to political power in Israel dates back to 1948 and to Israel’s founding as a modern-day nation. David Ben-Gurion, its first Prime Minister, was both a Mason and an avowed Marxist-Leninist and Communist. Since that time, every single Prime Minister has been a high-level Mason, including Golda Meier, who was a member of the women’s organization, the Co-Masons.”
….
“Former Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has publicly stated (see the Israeli publication Shishi, Spring 1994) that he was initiated into the Masonic Lodge while in the United States. The La Republica newspaper stated that Prime Minister Yitzak Rabin was active in Masonry and estimated there are 4,000 Israeli Freemasons, divided into 76 lodges. Most Israeli judges and religious figures are Masons. Rothschild-supported Hebrew University in Israel has erected an Egyptian obelisk, symbol of Freemasonry, in its courtyard, and inside the new Israeli Supreme Court building is a law library architecturally designed in the shape of an Egyptian pyramid.”

Netanyahu is an Illuminati FreeMason. He is simply playing his ‘ordained’ role to foment fear and hate in Zionist Israel. To gear Zionist Israel for the coming great blood sacrifice in Palestine. Zionist Israel will be destroyed in this coming Satanic Greater Middle East War: Zionist Israel vs Muslim World. But before it is destroyed, it will be used (as useful idiots) to destroy the Muslim world.

“The Third World War must be fomented by taking advantage of the differences caused by the “agentur” of the “Illuminati” between the political Zionists and the leaders of Islamic World. The war must be conducted in such a way that Islam (the Moslem Arabic World) and political Zionism (the State of Israel) mutually destroy each other. …. Albert Pike, Satanic World War 3 Plan.

Here is my advice again to all Israelis: renounce your citizenship, burn all Satanic Hexagram(Star of David), denounce genocide and ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people and leave Palestine!

Netanyahu: Israeli army ready for anything
February 14, 2011
JERUSALEM (AFP) — The Israeli military is “ready for all eventualities” as the Arab and Muslim world undergoes “an earthquake,” Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Monday just days after Egypt’s regime collapsed.

“An earthquake is shaking the whole Arab world and a large part of the Muslim world and we don’t yet know how these things will turn out,” the premier said at a swearing-in ceremony for new army chief Major General Benny Gantz. “We are ready for all eventualities because we know that the foundation of our existence, and our capacity to convince our neighbours to live in peace with us, is based on the Israeli army,” he said during a ceremony at his Jerusalem office.

Gantz takes over the post as Israel’s strategic stance in the Middle East undergoes a shakeup in the wake of a popular revolt in Egypt which ousted president Hosni Mubarak after three decades in power. Israel has reacted cautiously to the overthrow of Mubarak, an ally who was involved in years of Middle East peace negotiations.

But it welcomed a statement by Egypt’s new military ruling council that Cairo remains committed to all its treaties, including its landmark 1979 peace deal with Israel.

http://socioecohistory.wordpress.com/2011/02/16/freemason-netanyahu-israeli-army-ready-for-anything/
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Barenboim to conduct 'peace concert' in Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 10 May 2011 14:47:00 -0700

JERUSALEM (AFP) – Israeli conductor Daniel Barenboim will on Tuesday lead an orchestra of European musicians in a peace concert in Gaza, in the first-ever performance there by such a prestigious international ensemble.

The rare concert, which will take place at lunchtime at the Al-Mathaf Cultural House, was announced on Monday by the UN Special Coordinator for the Middle East peace process (UNSCO).

It will be the first time that Barenboim, an outspoken proponent of peace between Israel and the Palestinians, has visited the coastal territory, a spokeswoman for the chamber orchestra told AFP.

"It is the first time," Judith Neuhoff confirmed, saying that the ensemble, which is made up of 25 musicians and known as the "Orchestra for Gaza," had been put together especially for the visit.

In a statement released by UNSCO, Barenboim said he was "very happy" to be coming to Gaza. "We are playing this concert as a sign of our solidarity and friendship with the civil society of Gaza," he said.

The musicians, who belong to five prestigious European orchestras, were expected to enter Gaza from Egypt on Tuesday, via the southern Rafah border crossing, a UNSCO spokesman said.

They will travel directly to the venue where they will play a programme of pieces by Mozart including Eine Kleine Nachtmusik and the G minor symphony to an audience of between 300 to 400 people, which will include music students and other members of Gaza's civil society.

"The concert is to try and bring something to the people of Gaza," he said. "It is not a political event in any sense."

Ibrahim al-Najjar, director of Al-Qattan Music School, the only such establishment in Gaza, told AFP that he and a group of his students would greet the 68-year-old maestro and his delegation, which numbers around 50 people, at the Rafah border.

"This visit is very important to us for many reasons, both cultural and civil," he told AFP.

Although a handful of musicians had visited Gaza in recent months to support the school and to teach classes, it was the first time such a large group of so many prestigious players was coming, he said.

The ensemble includes players from the Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, the Vienna Philharmonic, Orchestre de Paris and the Orchestra of La Scala di Milano.

"We love culture, and music is a way of expressing peace and showing that we Palestinians are civilised," Najjar said, adding that it was important that people had a chance to meet the orchestra and get to know different musical instruments.

"And from a political perspective, it is important to show that Gaza is a safe place," he said.

Israelis are forbidden by law to venture into Palestinian territory. Barenboim has previously been refused entry to Gaza by the Israeli army -- most recently in April 2010 -- meaning the only way for him to enter the Hamas-run territory is via Rafah.

The legendary conductor, who lives in Berlin and holds Argentine, Israeli and Spanish citizenship, also accepted honorary Palestinian citizenship in 2008, saying he hoped the move would be an example of the "everlasting bond" between Israelis and Palestinians.

He has long used his fame as a conductor and pianist to promote the cause of peace between Israel and its neighbours, and in 1999 co-founded a "peace orchestra" with his friend Edward W. Said, a Palestinian-American scholar who died in 2003.

Known as the East-West Divan orchestra, it brings together Israeli, Arab and international musicians, and in 2005 it performed in the West Bank city of Ramallah.

Barenboim performs regularly in the West Bank, but has never performed in Gaza, which has been subjected to a crippling Israeli blockade since 2006, which was eased somewhat last year following international pressure.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20110502/wl_mideast_afp/israelpalestiniansgazamusicbarenboim

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Russia sentences Israeli to 18 years for sex trafficking

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 7 May 2011 05:44:00 -0700

An Israeli citizen was sentenced yesterday to 18 years in prison by the Moscow military court, for organizing a vast network of sex trafficking. According to the court, from 1999 to 2007, when most of the network's agents were arrested, Avi Yanai and his accomplices sold hundreds of women for prostitution to Israel, Italy, Spain, Germany, Greece, the Netherlands, the United Arab Emirates and other countries. The minimal official estimate stands at 129 women, but some of the states still investigating the network put the number at several hundred. The women were lured from Moldova, Ukraine, Russia, Belarus and Uzbekistan.
Aside from Yanai, 83 people were arrested across Europe, 14 of them in Russia. The network is suspected to have produced tens of millions of dollars in profits for its operators, and some of the women trafficked may have been murdered by the Albanian mafia.

"Some people, using false documents, registered fictitious companies in Russia promising people legal work abroad, mostly in Western Europe," a senior Russian Federal Security Service investigator, Vitaliy Danilov, told the Izvestia newspaper. "They put out advertisements and people came in, bringing documents and pictures. By the time they came back to pick up their documents, work permits and Schengen-zone visas, the companies would be gone. Nobody, including the police, had any clue about why these documents were stolen." Some 2,500 passports were stolen in all. The man in charge of the passports and visas for the network was an officer, Lieutenant Colonel Dmitri Strikanov, who was sentenced by the same military court to 12 years in prison, after prosecution did not manage to prove he knew the forged documents would be used for women trafficking.
The network then recruited women with promises of legitimate work as dancers or waitresses. The women paid 3 to 5 thousand Euros, and received the passports stolen earlier with their pictures. In some cases, fake stamps were used.
"Once they got abroad, the women would end up in real slavery," Danilov said. "Sexual slavery. They didn't get any money, their passports were usually taken and there was no way home. The Albanian pimps were particularly cruel, beating them bloody for any attempted escape. From what we've heard they may have killed at least one woman."
Russian media reported Yanai was the brains behind most of the operation. Yanai, who moved to Russia in 2001, was arrested in May 2007, over a month after the rest of the group. His attorney, Karen Nersisyan, insists that his client was completely engrossed in running a legitimate business - a small filters factory - and had not broken any law.
The court refused Yanai's request to be released on a million dollar bail. The Russian media coverage was not without anti-Semitic undertones: "The Israeli Avi Yanai marched down the hall, concealing the face of a Jewish patriarch and clutching a Torah," website vesti.ru reported at one stage. The Israeli has previously been arrested in Israel on suspicions of trafficking in women. He was released under bail and had his passport confiscated, but in May 2001 managed to get the passport back under a bail of 30,000 shekels. In the six months since his arrest the Israeli prosecutors did not produce an indictment or even an indictment deadline.
His lawyer and family, however, protest his innocence. Nersisyan said that if Yanay was an organized crime boss he would have vanished in the month and a half that elapsed between the arrests of the other operatives and his own. Yanai's daughter, Limor Yanai, alleged "absurd" behavior on the part of the prosecution and accused the court of censorship. The Russian prosecutors said that Yanay would frequently accompany the women he sold to Israel, to personally present them to local mobsters. They said he would use a foreign passport on these trips.

http://www.haaretz.com/print-edition/news/russia-sentences-israeli-to-18-years-for-sex-trafficking-1.358278
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Extremist Israelis Disrupt Talks for Palestinian Nonviolent Leader In Paris

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 7 May 2011 05:00:00 -0700

Abu Rahma, coordinator of the Popular Committee Against the Wall and Settlements in Bil’in village near Ramallah, was the guest speaker at the forum.

A group of extremist Israeli youths, members of the outlawed Kach Movement, tried to prevent Palestinian nonviolent resistance leader, Abdullah Abu Rahma, from speaking at a forum in Paris, by creating chaos, acting in a violent way and trying to physically attack him.

Fundamentalists interrupted his talk by breaking chairs while raising Israeli flags and by shouting and cursing at him while trying to physically attack him.

The extremists managed to disrupt the talk for approximately 30 minutes. Organizers of the Forum denounced the attack, especially since it is meant to suppress freedom of speech.

During his talk, Abu Rahma spoke of the ongoing suffering of the Palestinian people, living under Israeli occupation, losing their lands for Israeli settlements and the Annexation Wall, and subject to constant attacks by Israeli soldiers and settlers.
He called for isolating Israel and imposing sanctions on it until it recognizes the legitimate Palestinian tights of liberation and independence.

Abu Rahma is conducting a tour in Europe to talk about Palestinian nonviolent resistance against the Wall and settlements, and the suffering of Palestinian detainees in Israeli prisons.

He started his three-week tour two days ago in France, and will also be touring in the Czech Republic, Britain and Germany.

On March 14, Abu Rahma was released from an Israeli detention facility after being imprisoned for 15 months. He was kidnapped by the army in December 2009. Nine months later, an Israeli court “convicted” him of “incitement” and organizing and participating in the nonviolent protests in his village, Bil’in. He was acquitted of stone-throwing and weapons possession charges.

The army tried to accuse him of having weapons for exhibiting spent tear-gas canisters and rubber-coated metal bullets fired by the army at the local, Israeli and international peace activists conducting nonviolent protests in Bil’in.

Abu Rahma is a well-known Palestinian figure of the ongoing nonviolent resistance against the illegal Israeli Annexation Wall and illegal settlements built on Palestinian lands in the occupied territories.

Several Palestinians were killed while dozens of Palestinian, Israeli and International peace activists were wounded after being violently attacked Israeli soldiers who also fired live rounds at them.

http://www.imemc.org/article/61191
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Bin Laden’s theology a radical break with traditional Islam

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 6 May 2011 19:49:00 -0700

Osama bin Laden wore the mantle of a religious leader. He looked the part and talked a good game, but his theology was a radical departure from traditional orthodox Islam.

The pitch to join al Qaeda did not start with an invitation to put on a suicide vest but, like other religious splinter groups and cults, took advantage of disenfranchisement and poverty.

Bin Laden had no official religious training but developed his own theology of Islam.

“We don’t know that (bin Laden) was ever exposed to orthodox Islamic teachings,” said Ebrahim Moosa, a professor of religion and Islamic studies at Duke University.

The writing of ideologues in the Muslim Brotherhood influenced bin Laden heavily, Moosa said.

“He takes scriptural imperatives at their face value and believes this is the only instruction and command God has given him – unmediated by history, unmediated by understanding, unmediated by human experience. Now that’s a difference between Muslim orthodoxy and what I would call uber- or hyperscripturalists,” Moosa said.

The vast majority of Islamic scholars and imams say the teaching of the Prophet Mohammed happened in historical context that needs to be understood when reading and interpreting the Quran.

“If the likes of bin Laden, if they had spent one day or maybe one month possibly, in a madrassa (Muslim religious school) and understood how the canonical tradition is interpreted, they would not go onto this kind of destructive path they go on,” Moosa said.

In the entire leadership structure of al Qaeda, “no one has had any sort of formal religious training from any seminary,” said Aftab Malik, a global expert on Muslim affairs at the United Nations Alliance of Civilization. He is researching a Ph.D. on al Qaeda.

“What you had was an engineer and a doctor leading a global jihad against the whole world,” Malik said. “That would never happen in normative Islam. It’s just such an aberration.”

John Esposito, a professor of religion and international affairs at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service, said bin Laden “appropriates Islam … to legitimate and mobilize people.”

“If you look at bin Laden’s early statements and arguments, his interview with Peter Bergen on CNN … lots of people would see it as something that would go down very well not just with many Muslims but among many analysts when he talks about longstanding political grievances,” Esposito said.

“What bin Laden ends up doing is saying anyone who disagrees with him, any Muslim, is in fact an apostate,” he said. That includes Muslims who would not join his fight, he said. “It’s a distortion of the traditional teaching, and it just extends the parameters and the consequences in order to legitimate how when you’re fighting on the ground you’re fighting against your own people.”

Malik said, “The key issue is of apostasy,” referring to when a person leaves a faith. “One of the things Osama bin Laden deviates from is calling those people who do not implement Sharia, or God’s law, on the planet as apostates. If they did not implement Sharia, they deserved death. This is a major departure from normative Islam.”

“The second major deviation is the targeting of noncombatants. Even when you read in the Quran there are injunctions for fighting. But before and after the injunctions for fighting are calls for restraint. ‘Do not attack monks, do not attack women, do not attack children.’ And these are numerated heavily in the Hadith, which are uncontested,” Malik said, referring to the sayings of the prophet and his close companions.

“What bin Laden has done is ignored those injunctions,” he said. “The reason he has ignored them, in Osama bin Laden’s theology it’s basically a theology of anarchy.

“Once you let the genie out of the bottle you can’t put it back in, and that’s the big difference between al Qaeda theology and normative Islam. Normative Islam has heavy constraints – very, very heavy.”

Bin Laden’s theology is waning greatly in influence, Esposito said, in part because of the rise of the Arab Spring, the revolts of people on the street across the Middle East that have overthrown regimes in Tunisia and Egypt.

“(Al Qaeda’s) whole notion was to develop a mass movement,” Esposito said. “Well, they never did.”

Source

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Body of kidnapped Italian peace activist Vittorio Arrigoni found in Gaza

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 14 Apr 2011 21:44:00 -0700

Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza in 2008. The pro-Palestinian activist has reportedly been killed by Islamic militants. Photograph: Suhaib Salem/Reuters

An Italian pro-Palestinian activist has reportedly been kidnapped and killed by Islamic militants in Gaza.
The body of Vittorio Arrigoni was found in an abandoned house in the Gaza Strip on Friday following his abduction by militants, a Hamas official said.
Two men were arrested and others were being sought in the killing, the official added.
A Jihadist Salafi group in the Gaza Strip aligned with al-Qaida had threatened to execute Arrigoni by 5pm local time on Thursday unless their leader, whom Hamas arrested last month, was freed.
"A security force entered a house and they found the Italian's man body, he is dead," the source told Reuters from the scene.
Arrigoni, a pacifist and blogger, had lived in the Gaza Strip for some time.
In a YouTube clip posted by his abductors, he was shown blindfolded with blood around his right eye and a hand can be seen pulling his head up by his hair to face the camera.
The accompanying Arabic text said: "The Italian hostage entered our land only to spread corruption." It described Italy as "the infidel state".
The body was found dressed in black clothes as he appeared in the video clip, a witness said. No blood was seen, which suggested he may have been strangled or hanged.
Arrigoni was the first foreign national to be abducted in the Gaza Strip since BBC journalist Alan Johnston, who was held for 114 days by an al Qaeda-inspired clan group named the Army of Islam. He was released in 2007.
Arrigoni arrived in the Gaza Strip on a boat bringing humanitarian supplies in 2008 that Israel, which enforces a blockade on the tiny coastal territory, allowed into Gaza port.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/apr/15/gaza-threaten-execute-vittorio-arrigoni

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A TRIBUTE FROM A FRIEND

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 23:00:00 -0700

Humanity mourns. We are shocked. Juliano Mer-Khamis, a friend and fellow peace activist, was murdered in Jenin. The masked killer/s whoever they were were cowards whose madness will not deter those of us who continue to work for justice and peace for all. If they thought they could kill coexistence and love in the holy land by killing a symbol and a great activist, they are mistaken. Juliano symbolizes what many of us have worked for: a transformation of our homeland into a pluralistic democratic state where every human being regardless of his religion (Jewish, Christian, Muslim) would be treated with dignity and respect. Fundamentalist notions of superiority were at odds with this message. His killers will not get their way and justice will prevail. But Juliano’s loss is a shock to all of us.

Juliano was a superb human being who embodied the best qualities of activism and dedicated leadership for human rights, justice and peace. He was my age and I first met him a few years ago when we brought him for the Connecticut screening of the film Arna’s children, the story of his mother and the Children of Jenin Refugee camp. On numerous occasions over the past few years I visited Jenin Freedom Theater that Juliano cofounded and that injected so much beauty and hope into the lives of the people at Jenin Refugee Camp. See: http://www.thefreedomtheatre.org/

Juliano took the characters of compassion and caring of his Israeli Jewish mother (she herself worked to challenge Zionist supremacy and fundamentalist idiocies for decades) and gentile love of land and people and pacifist characters of his Palestinian father. He exemplified everything that I and millions of others aspired to: coexistence, tolerance, nonviolence, peace, love, passion for life, richness in diversity and so much more. He had a two year old child and his wife as I knew was pregnant or may have just delivered their second child. His absence will be felt but I for one will work to ensure that his work continues and accelerates. The best answer to violence is to intensify our work and build on the vision thus never allowing these forces of hate to destroy the future. As to who killed Juliano: all humans are guilty.. our inability to rise as a species beyond violence is largely due to our apathy and indifference to the suffering of fellow human beings. It is telling that many political leaders (from Hamas, Fatah, Israeli leaders) remain silent on the murder of Juliano when they so readily spoke at other convenient political junctures. Those who are apathetic are just as guilty as those fundamentalist racists who ordered this killing or pulled the trigger to shoot fellow human beings. I for one will have a lot of pain in my heart for Juliano, for Bassem, for Jawaher, for Rachel and all the other friends we lost along the way. We must make sure that their murders do not go in vain and the best thing we can do is increase our efforts to continue the path and bring others to this path. Killers must know that 10 will rise in place for every peace activist they kill. Those of us active in the same cause of coexistence and peace must intensify our work.

http://www.uruknet.info/?p=m76569&hd=&size=1&l=e

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Israel Demolishes homes in Palestinian Village

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 5 Apr 2011 01:13:00 -0700

The front area of a house belonging to Hani al-Hayek in al-Zawayda village in the middle of the Gaza Strip bombarded by Israeli warplanes on 05 March 2011.

1. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to fulfill their legal and moral obligations under Article 1 of the Convention to ensure Israel's respect for the Convention in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. PCHR believes that the conspiracy of silence practiced by the international community has encouraged Israel to act as if it is above the law and encourages Israel continue to violate international human rights and humanitarian law.

2. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to convene a conference to take effective steps to ensure Israel's respect of the Convention in the OPT and to provide immediate protection for Palestinian civilians.

3. PCHR calls upon the High Contracting Parties to the Fourth Geneva Convention to comply with their legal obligations detailed in Article 146 of the Convention to search for and prosecute those responsible for grave breaches, namely war crimes.

4. PCHR calls for the immediate implementation of the Advisory Opinion issued by the International Court of Justice, which considers the construction of the Annexation Wall inside the West Bank illegal.

5. PCHR recommends that international civil society organizations, including human rights organizations, bar associations and NGOs, participate in the process of exposing those accused of grave breaches of international law and urge their governments to bring the perpetrators to justice.

6. PCHR calls upon the European Union to activate Article 2 of the Euro-Israel Association Agreement, which provides that Israel must respect human rights as a precondition for economic cooperation between the EU states and Israel. PCHR further calls upon the EU states to prohibit import of goods produced in illegal Israeli settlements in the OPT.

7. PCHR calls on the international community to recognize the Gaza disengagement plan, which was implemented in September 2005, for what it is - not an end to occupation but a compounding of the occupation and the humanitarian crisis in the Gaza Strip.

8. In recognition of ICRC as the guardian of the Fourth Geneva Convention, PCHR calls upon the ICRC to increase its staff and activities in the OPT, including the facilitation of family visitations to Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

9. PCHR appreciates the efforts of international civil society, including human rights organizations, bar associations, unions and NGOs, and urges them to continue their role in pressuring their governments to secure Israel's respect for human rights in the OPT and to demand Israel end its attacks on Palestinian civilians.

10. PCHR calls upon the international community to pressure Israel to lift the severe restrictions imposed by the Israeli government and its occupation forces on access for international organizations to the OPT.

11. PCHR reiterates that any political settlement not based on international human rights law and humanitarian law cannot lead to a peaceful and just solution of the Palestinian question. Rather, such an arrangement can only lead to further suffering and instability in the region. Any peace process or agreement must be based on respect for international law, including international human rights and humanitarian law.

http://www.pchrgaza.org/portal/en/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=7278%3Aweekly-report-on-israeli-human-rights-violations-in-the-occupied-palestinian-territory-03-09-mar-2011&catid=84%3Aweekly-2009&Itemid=183

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Benazir murder: Pak seeks Interpol's help for Musharraf's arrest

noreply@blogger.com (Unknown) — Mon, 28 Mar 2011 23:18:00 -0700

The law is fast catching up with former Pakistan president General Pervez Musharraf, who is accused of being involved in the murder of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.

The Pakistan government has contacted the Interpol to execute the arrest warrant against him after an anti-terrorism court directed prosecutors to seek its help.

Musharraf, who lives in exile in London, has already been declared an absconder. While the court had previously issued a warrant against him, no progress has been made towards executing it. The court has now asked the Federal Investigation Agency to present Musharraf in the court at the next hearing on April 2.

Musharraf's party says that accusations against the former president are 'politically motivated', adding that he could appear in the court once formal orders from the court are served on him.

http://indiatoday.intoday.in/site/Story/133632/world/benazir-murder-pakistan-seeks-interpol-help-for-arresting-musharraf.html

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US soldier admits killing unarmed Afghans for sport

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 24 Mar 2011 01:42:00 -0700

An American soldier has pleaded guilty to being part of a "kill team" who deliberately murdered Afghan civilians for sport last year.

Army Specialist Jeremy Morlock, 23, told a military court he had helped to kill three unarmed Afghans. "The plan was to kill people, sir," he told an army judge in Fort Lea, near Seattle, after his plea.

The case has caused outraged headlines around the world. In a series of videotaped confessions to investigators, some of which have been broadcast on American television, Morlock detailed how he and other members of his Stryker brigade set up and faked combat situations so that they could kill civilians who posed no threat to them. Four other soldiers are still to come to trial over the incidents.

The case is a PR disaster for America's military and has been compared to the notorious incidents of torture that emerged from the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq. This week the German magazine Der Spiegel published three pictures that showed American soldiers, including Morlock, posing with the corpse of a young Afghan boy as if it were a hunting trophy.

Some soldiers apparently kept body parts of their victims, including a skull, as souvenirs. In a statement issued in response to the publication of the photos the US army apologised to the families of the dead. "[The photos are] repugnant to us as human beings and contrary to the standards and values of the United States army," the statement said.

Morlock has told investigators that the murders took place between January and May last year and were instigated by an officer in his unit, Staff Sergeant Calvin Gibbs. He described how elaborate plans were made to pick out civilian targets, kill them and then make their deaths look like they were insurgents. In his confession Morlock described shooting a victim as Gibbs tossed a grenade at him. "We identify a guy. Gibbs makes a comment, like, you know, you guys wanna wax this guy or not," Morlock said in the confession.

Morlock now stands to be sentenced to at least 24 years in jail but with eligibility for parole after seven years. That has come about because Morlock struck a plea bargain that will see a lighter sentence in return for testifying against his fellow soldiers.

http://uruknet.info/?p=m76142&fb=1

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'US-made gas used against Yemenis'

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 13 Mar 2011 03:00:00 -0700

The US has provided Yemeni police with gas canisters which have been used against anti-government protesters in capital Sana'a, local sources say.

Police have reportedly used nerve gas to quell peaceful protests in Sana'a's University Square. The empty canisters obtained by the locals bear the “Made in U.S.A.” stamp.

Sources say the canisters were a “gift” to the Yemeni police from the United States.

The protesters, who demand an end to President Ali Abdullah Saleh's 32-year rule, have been camping out in the square since February 21.

At least 10 anti-government protesters, including a school boy, were killed and hundreds more injured during clashes with the police on Saturday.

Saleh has promised a new constitution which would shift power from the presidency to an elected parliament. Protesters say that the offer is not enough, vowing to continue to demonstrate until he resigns.

AKM/HGH/MMN

http://www.presstv.ir/detail/169592.html

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Israeli navy shells Palestinian fishing boat

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 4 Mar 2011 12:14:00 -0800

Gaza Strip, (Pal Telegraph)-As occupation military offensive continues, Israeli gunboats near the shore of Rafah city in the south part of Gaza Strip targeted Tuesday evening a Palestinian fishing boat causing damage with one boat.

Local sources reported that Israeli navy opened massive fire at Palestinian fishermen, while they were practicing their job.

Israeli gunboats regularly attack Palestinian fishing boats leaving many families without support since more than 3500 residents of Gaza Strip depend on fishing as a source of their income.

On 17th February, three Palestinian fishermen were killed by Israeli shells fired from the northern coast .

http://againstapartheidstates.blogspot.com/2011/03/israeli-navy-shells-palestinian-fishing.html

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Where were the calls for a no-fly zone when Israel attacked Gaza, asks George Galloway

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Fri, 4 Mar 2011 12:09:00 -0800

As Western powers look for an excuse to intervene in Libya, George Galloway, interviewed by the BBC, asks where were the calls for a no-fly zone when Israel attacked Gaza. Would the West call for a no-fly zone to support the rebels if there was a revolution in Saudi Arabia?

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If Americans Knew What Israel Is Doing! VIDEO WAS CENSORED!

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 2 Feb 2011 20:50:00 -0800

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Slain U.S. Woman Had Deep Ties to Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 16:16:00 -0800

An American woman killed in a forest outside Jerusalem had deep spiritual ties to Israel through her involvement with an evangelical ministry that promotes Christianity among Jews.

Kristine Luken, who was in her mid-40s, was stabbed to death Saturday while hiking with a friend. Israeli police had originally identified her as Christine Logan.

Luken was involved with the "Church's Ministry among Jewish people," first in the U.S., then in England, where she became a ministry staffer. The church is active in Israel.

On the CMJ USA web site, Luken quoted inspirational poet Minnie Louise Haskins' words, "Go into the darkness and put your hand into the Hand of God. That shall be to you better than light and safer than a known way."

A 2007 study tour in Israel, "Walking with Jesus in his Jewish world," brought Luken to the church, she wrote on the site, after having worked for 16 years in the federal government.

She and Kaye Susan Wilson, a naturalized Israeli from the U.K., became friends on a study tour to Poland earlier this year, the Rev. David Pileggi of CMJ's Christ Church in Jerusalem said Monday. Luken, an avid hiker, and Wilson, a professional tour guide, decided to go hiking together in Israel during Luken's Christmas holiday, he said.

On Saturday, the two headed for the wooded hills. Wilson told Israeli reporters from her hospital bed Sunday that she and Luken were attacked by two Arab men with what looked like a bread knife.

She said she escaped to a nearby road after pretending to be dead. Luken's body, hands bound and bearing multiple stab wounds, was discovered Sunday in the forest.

Police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said authorities were treating the attack as politically motivated, while not ruling out that it could have been criminal.

The forest is inside Israel but close to the border with the West Bank and the Palestinian villages of Husan and Wadi Fukin.

Source - http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/12/20/national/main7168295.shtml

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No such thing as justice in the Holy Land, Palestinian Church leaders tell the Iris

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:15:00 -0800

Archbishop Theodosius Hanna (Greek Orthodox Church), Monsignor Manuel Musallam (Latin Catholic) and Mr Constantine Dabbagh (Executive Director of the Middle East Council of Churches) are courageous human rights defenders and spiritual leaders from Palestine. They have just completed a tour of Ireland to raise awareness of the situation in their homeland under Israeli military occupation and the plight of the dwindling Christian community there.

"We need only one thing, to be protected by the world against the crimes of Israel," was their central message.

The week-long visit was arranged by SADAKA, the Ireland Palestine Alliance, and part funded by Trócaire, the overseas development agency of the Catholic Church in Ireland, and Christian Aid.

After delivering a special Christmas greeting from the Holy Land to the president and the people of Ireland, the Palestinian church leaders were able to establish a mutual understanding with President Mary McAleese that peace is more than an absence of violence – “the only lasting peace is a just peace”.

During their visit the churchmen described the Israeli occupation as the “crucifixion of the nation of Palestine”, and made a plea to all of Ireland’s leaders to “act and intervene, or nothing will change”.

They met with other Irish government ministers and the Joint Oireachtas Committee on Foreign Affairs, whom they briefed on the reality of life in the Holy Land, where the Israeli occupation denies even freedom of religion. A transcript of the meeting can be found at here.

Archbishop Hanna began by reminding the committee:

Palestine is the place from where Christianity comes. Jerusalem, Bethlehem and the Holy Land in general are very important for Christians… Everything that has happened to the Palestinians between 1948 and today has happened to all Palestinians, including Christian Palestinians.

What we are after is freedom and dignity just as freedom and dignity have been bestowed on so many nations in the world. We want that too. When we speak about peace, we also speak about justice because it is impossible to have peace without justice. Peace is part of justice. Unfortunately, in the Holy Land there is no such thing as justice.

He explained that in Gaza 1.5 million live in an open air prison. "Christian or Muslim, we all are Palestinians and we all experience the same."

He said Jerusalem also was under siege. A Canadian could visit the city but Monsignor Musallam, who lives 20 minutes away in Birzeit, cannot. "What happens to him happens to all Palestinians in the West Bank. I was very happy to see Mr Dabbagh [who lives in Gaza] over here because I cannot see him in Palestine. I had to come to Ireland to see him."

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Shameful traits of the USA and Israel

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 14 Dec 2010 21:11:00 -0800

Shameful traits of the USA and Israel

By Paul J. Balles

15 December 2010

Paul J. Balles views two shameful traits shared by the US and Israel and represented in the views of Joseph A. Klein: abhorring criticism and diverting attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.

"Arrogance diminishes wisdom” – Arabic proverb

Last month, Joseph A. Klein wrote an article for the Canada Free Press criticizing the Obama administration for joining the UN Human Rights Council.

The council had met and found fault with a number of human rights violations by America. For this, Klein verbally bashed the council. Klein is author of the book Global Deception: The UN’s Stealth Assault on America’s Freedom.

Having "studied the United Nations for many years" Klein says he "watched it degenerate into an anti-Western echo chamber that does more harm than good."

...we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."

Glenn Greenwald, attorney, commentator and author

The point of Klein's writing is that the UN is wrong because of its criticism of the US and Israel.

The US and Israel share two shameful traits: both abhor criticism, and both divert attention from their own faults when criticized by levelling the same criticism at others.

"In my new book, Lethal Engagement," says Klein, "I focus on the perfect storm revolving around the increasing Islamicization of key UN bodies – particularly the ones that produce influential international norms."

In short, criticize Israel for any of its misdeeds –destruction of Lebanon's infrastructure, imprisoning thousands of Palestinians, starving and slaughtering Gazans – and Klein will shift to an unrelated issue.

Klein complains that "Obama wants to engage with our enemies like Iran and Syria while coming down hard on one of our closest allies, Israel".

Thus, Klein (and others) will criticize Obama, but to find fault with America or Israelis is to be dubbed unpatriotic, Islamic extremist or anti-Semitic.

While most people's ire is aroused by criticism from outsiders (aliens, expatriates, foreigners) there are often good reasons for outsiders to be critical.

Attorney, commentator and author of How would a Patriot Act, Glenn Greenwald pointed to several understandable reasons for external criticism in his books and articles.

"We systematically torture Muslims and then cover it up and protect our torturers while preaching accountability and the rule of law; we condemn deprivations of due process while maintaining and expanding lawless prison systems for Muslims..."

That being factually accurate, it's understandable why those who have suffered under our double standards denigrate their abusers.

Greenwald notes how our critics react predictably to our hypocrisy: "We demand adherence to UN dictates and international law while blocking investigations into UN reports of war crimes and possible 'crimes against humanity' by our allies..."

If that weren't enough, Greenwald reminds us that "we righteously oppose aggression while invading and simultaneously occupying numerous countries, while threatening to attack still more, and arming countries like Israel to the teeth to wage still other attacks..."

Source-http://www.redress.cc/americas/pjballes20101215

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Car bomb kills 6 NATO troops in Afghanistan

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 01:11:00 -0800

KABUL, Afghanistan: A suicide attacker detonated a minibus packed with explosives near the gates of a military base in southern Afghanistan on Sunday, killing six NATO troops and two Afghan soldiers, officials said.

Afghan officials said the attack took place in the Zhari district of Kandahar province, where the US poured in troops this summer as part of a surge of forces to try to oust the Taleban from its southern strongholds.

Gen. Abdul Hamid, the Afghan army chief for the province, said the attacker drove a minibus into the entrance of the base Sunday morning just as vehicles were preparing to move out on a patrol.

“They were leaving the compound and at that moment, the minibus attacked and they hit right at the entrance of the base,” Hamid said.

Taleban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the insurgent group was retaliating for all the attacks launched on them in the area in recent months.

NATO said only that the service members had been killed in an insurgent attack and declined to identify their nationalities. Most NATO troops in the south are American.

More than 670 international troops have been killed so far this year, well above the 502 killed in the whole of 2009.

Sunday’s attack was the second incident in two weeks to kill so many service members. On Nov. 29, an Afghan policeman turned his gun on his American trainers in the east, killing six of them before he was gunned down. The Taleban claimed that they had sent him to join the police as a sleeper agent. Before that, five US soldiers were killed in a Nov. 14 insurgent attack on their unit in eastern Afghanistan.

Also Sunday, NATO said a joint NATO-Afghan force killed a Taleban leader and captured a key member of another militant group in the east.

The Taleban leader was involved in weapons smuggling and attacks in eastern Wardak province, according to a statement. NATO identified him only by his first name, Fedahi.

NATO said two men threatened coalition troops as they entered a compound Saturday night where they had heard Fedahi was staying. They shot and killed both men, one of whom was later identified as Fedahi, the statement said. It said no civilians were harmed in the operation.

Source : http://arabnews.com/world/article213975.ece

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Kuwaiti MPs accuse PM over violence

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Thu, 9 Dec 2010 17:21:00 -0800

Twenty Kuwaiti opposition MPs have resolved to press ahead with plans to question the prime minister in parliament following a police crackdown at a public rally, which left several parliamentarians injured.

Medics and witnesses said at least five people were injured at the rally west of Kuwait City on Wednesday, while local media put the number of those hurt at 14, including four politicians.

Opposition MPs said they held Sheikh Nasser Mohammad al-Ahmad al-Sabah, the prime minister and a senior member of the Al-Sabah ruling family, responsible for the actions of the police.

Following a meeting of opposition politicians on Thursday, Jamaan al-Harbash, an MP, said: "We have decided to quiz the prime minister and the motion will be filed on Sunday."

The rally, which the government said was unauthorised, was the second in a series of opposition protests against an alleged "government plot" to amend the 1962 constitution, which made Kuwait the first Arab state in the Gulf to embrace parliamentary democracy.

The opposition MPs accuse the government and its supporters of trying to undermine the status of the constitution in a bid to suppress freedom and democracy.

Several opposition blocs in parliament have formed a loose group to defend the constitution.

Khaled al-Tahus, another MP, said the attack on the rally was "premeditated" and warned it will have "serious consequences on the government".

"The situation is too grave ... This only takes place in repressive countries ... The country is passing through a serious turning point," Tahus, a member of the nationalist Popular Action Bloc, said.

Independent MP Mubarak Al-Waalan called for the government to step down. "It's time for this government to go," he said.

Kuwait, OPEC's fifth-largest oil producer, has a 50-member parliament. The 16 cabinet ministers, of whom 15 are unelected, automatically become members of parliament and have similar voting rights as elected MPs.

The emirate has been rocked by a series of political crises over the past five years that led the ruler to dissolve parliament three times, while the cabinet has resigned five times.

Source - http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/2010/12/2010129756368534.html

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Fastest Growing City in the World! Middle East 2.0 - Dubai in 2006

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 14:57:00 -0700

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US denies Olmert influenced UN vote

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 13:30:00 -0700

The US has denied that a telephone call made by Ehud Olmert, the Israeli prime minister, to George Bush, the US president, led to the US abstaining in a UN vote on the Gaza war last week.

In a speech late on Monday, Olmert said Condoleezza Rice, the US secretary of state, was left 'pretty shamed' at the vote and had to abstain on a resolution she had helped arrange.

Sean McCormack, a US state department spokesmen, who was with Rice at the UN last week during debate on the security council resolution, said the remarks were 'just 100 per cent, totally, completely untrue'."

US denies Olmert influenced UN vote