Anti-Christian Drumbeat Loud before Egypt Attack

05/01/2011

CAIRO, (AP) – In the weeks before the New Year's Day suicide bombing of an Egyptian church, al-Qaeda-linked websites carried a how-to manual on "destroying the cross," complete with videos on how to build a bomb and the locations of churches to target — including the one that was attacked.

They may have found a receptive audience in Alexandria, where increasingly radicalized Islamic hard-liners have been holding weekly anti-Christian demonstrations, filled with venomous slogans against the minority community.

The blast, which struck Saturday as worshippers were leaving midnight Mass at the Mediterranean city's Saints Church, killed 21 people.

President Hosni Mubarak has accused foreign groups of being behind the attack, which has sparked a wave of angry protests by Christians in Egypt.

But on the ground, investigators are searching in a different direction — scrutinizing homegrown hard-liners, known as Salafis, and the possibility they were inspired by al-Qaeda.

Only two or three days before Saturday's bombing, police arrested several Salafis spreading fliers in Alexandria calling for violence against Christians, a security official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media.

According to authorities, the strong belief among investigators is that local extremists who knew the area and the nature of their target were behind the blast. The Egyptian weekly Al-Youm Al-Saba said police were examining photos of the Salafis' weekly protests for suspects.

In the weeks before the attack, al-Qaeda militants on the Web spewing calls for "jihad," or holy war, on Egypt's Christians laid out everything anyone would need to carry out a bombing.

One widely circulated posting includes a so-called "Jihadi Encyclopedia for the Destruction of the Cross," with a series of 10 videos describing how to build a bomb.

In the videos, an unidentified militant in a white lab coat and a black mask is shown listing the ingredients to make TNT and mixing up the chemicals in beakers.

The site lists Coptic Christian churches in Egypt, along with phone numbers and addresses — including Alexandria's Saints Church. "Blow up the churches while they are celebrating Christmas or any other time when the churches are packed," it says.

Security officials say they were aware of the online "how-to manual" before the church bombing and are examining any links between it and the material posted on Islamic websites.

One main Salafi group, the Salafi Movement in Alexandria, issued a statement condemning the bombing, saying its preachings "reject such practices."

The ultra-conservative Salafi ideology has been gaining followers throughout Egypt in recent years, preaching a return to the ways of early Muslims. It calls for strict segregation of the sexes and rejection of any religious "innovations," such as permitting boys and girls to attend school together or collecting interest on bank loans.

The movement has spread across class lines, among wealthy businessmen, the middle class and urban poor. Men grow long beards and shave off mustaches, to imitate the Prophet Muhammad. Women wear the black niqab robes and veil, which envelop the entire body and face, showing only the eyes.

In many ways, it resembles the doctrine of al-Qaeda, with one major difference — while it advocates jihad against "foreign occupiers" in Iraq or Afghanistan, it rejects holy war inside Egypt, at least for now.

But many observers warn that some members are growing more radicalized and have begun to advocate jihad within the country, providing fertile ground for al-Qaida influence.

They cite the group's unprecedentedly fierce campaign against Egypt's Coptic Christian Church.

It was sparked by the case of two Christian women who reportedly converted to Islam to get divorces from their husbands, since the church bans divorce. The Salafis accuse church officials of forcing the women to renounce Islam and return to Christianity, a claim the church denies.

At weekly protests attended by hundreds outside mosques in Alexandria and Cairo, Salafis have accused the church of holding the women against their will. Vowing vengeance and denouncing Coptic Pope Shenouda III as an "infidel," the protesters accused Copts of trying to "Christianize" Egypt's Muslims and stockpiling weapons in churches and monasteries.

In September, one Salafi cleric, Ahmed Farid, wept as he told worshippers at an Alexandria mosque that Muslims were being "humiliated" by Christians, chiding them for "giving up jihad."

At a Salafi protest in Cairo in October, some raised the flag of al-Qaeda in Iraq — a black banner emblazoned with the phrase "there is no god but God and Muhammad is God's prophet."

Two days later, al-Qaeda in Iraq attacked a church in Baghdad in a siege that left 68 Christians dead, the worst attack ever against Iraq's Christian minority. The group issued a statement vowing a campaign against Christians unless the two women in Egypt were freed, and several other attacks on the community in Baghdad have followed.

Since then, calls on al-Qaeda-linked websites for attacks on Egypt's Christians have grown to a fever pitch.

A statement posted with the videos decries the failure of Muslims to act to free the two women.

"Will we keep on dreaming and dreaming, or is it time to wake up to the echoing boom and the flying torn limbs that will please the faithful and scare the infidels?" the statement reads. "Of course, it is better to act as a group, but that must not be an impediment between you and action. ... Move forward on your own."

The threats raise the question of why security officials did not do more to protect churches. On New Year's, Saints Church had only three or four policemen outside and cars had easy access to the street.

Copts, who make up about 10 percent of Egypt's nearly 80 million people, accuse the government of ignoring threats against them and doing nothing about growing anti-Christian sentiment.

Experts say the government has tacitly allowed the growth of Salafism because it is not anti-government and does not get involved in Egypt's politics, as opposed to the fundamentalist Muslim Brotherhood, which is the regime's main political rival.

"The Egyptian regime is harvesting the sour fruits for letting this extremist thought to grow and recruit thousands of young Egyptians," said Rifaat Sayyed Ahmed, an expert on Islamic groups

Son of Iran Shah Commits Suicide in US: Family

05/01/2011

BOSTON, Massachusetts (AFP) – The youngest son of the late shah of Iran has committed suicide in Boston, weighed down by sorrow at the loss of his father and the upheaval in his homeland, his family said Tuesday.

"It is with immense grief that we would like to inform our compatriots of the passing away of Prince Ali Reza Pahlavi," Reza Pahlavi, the shah's oldest son, said on his website.

He said his brother, 44, who was studying at Harvard University, had struggled to come to terms with the political troubles in his native Iran.

"Like millions of young Iranians, he too was deeply disturbed by all the ills fallen upon his beloved homeland, as well as carrying the burden of losing a father and a sister in his young life," Reza Pahlavi wrote.

"Although he had struggled for years to overcome his sorrow, he finally succumbed, and during the night of the 4th of January 2011, in his Boston residence, took his own life, plunging his family and friends into great sorrow."

Police could not officially confirm the prince's death. But a law enforcement source told AFP: "I can confirm that an adult male in his mid-40s was found at 141 West Newton Street in Boston.

"He died from a fatal gunshot wound. While the manner of death is being investigated is is not believed to be a homicide."

Ali Reza Pahlavi, the youngest of the shah's five children, moved to the United States as a teenager during the turbulence of the 1979 Islamic Revolution.

He obtained his first degree from Princeton University in 1984, and a Masters Degree from Columbia University in 1992.

He never married, and was undertaking a postgraduate degree at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in philology and ancient Iranian studies.

Unlike his older brother, Ali Reza had shunned the spotlight amid the mass protests which erupted after disputed 2009 elections won by President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad despite allegations of widespread fraud.

A statement released by the crown prince's office said: "Prince Ali Reza was intelligent, sensitive, loyal, and dedicated to Iranian civilization, as well as to his family and friends. His counsel, wisdom and sense of humor will be profoundly missed and always cherished."

It was yet a further tragedy to befall the former Iranian royal family.

His father, the former shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, was ousted in the 1979 Islamic revolution, and his family moved to live in exile in the United States. The deposed shah died in July 1980 and is buried in Cairo.

The shah's youngest daughter, princess Leila Pahlavi, died in 2001 at the age of 31 when her body was found in a London hotel. An inquest heard that she had taken a fatal cocktail of prescription drugs and cocaine.

According to widespread press reports in Britain, the princess had struggled for years against an eating disorder, had never accepted her exile from Iran and suffered periodic bouts of depression.

"For the past few years, Leila was very depressed. Time had not healed her wounds," the princess's mother, Farah Pahlavi, wrote on a remembrance website in 2001.

"Exiled at the age of 9, she never surmounted the death of her father, His Majesty Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi, to whom she was particularly close.

"She was never able to forget the injustice and the dramatic conditions of our departure and the erring which was to follow. She could not stand living far from Iran and shared wholeheartedly the suffering of her countrymen."

Former crown prince Reza Pahlavi, who has lived in the United States since 1984, has traveled around the world to raise awareness of what he calls the plight of Iranians living under the Islamic regime in Iran.

"Once again, we are joined with mothers, father and relatives of so many victims of these dark times for our country," he wrote on his website, mourning the death of his brother Tuesday.

Pahlavi is survived by his oldest brother, his mother, his sister Farahnaz, and his half-sister Shahnaz.

Fall of Palestinian Leader Shows President's Power

05/01/2011

RAMALLAH, West Bank, (AP) – Not long ago, Mohammed Dahlan was a rising political star, a Gaza security chief and darling of the West. He advised the Palestinian president and was even considered a possible successor.

But after a falling out with President Mahmoud Abbas, Dahlan has been essentially banished from the political scene. The campaign against him casts an unflattering light on the Palestinian president's low tolerance for dissent as peace talks with Israel falter.

Dahlan's rapid downfall, like attacks on other critics of the president, also reveals the extent to which the West — despite its preaching of democracy — seems inclined to look the other way as Abbas uses largely unchecked powers to dress down political rivals.

That bargain is a result of the belief by some that Abbas is indispensable to pursuing peace with Israel and maintaining the current calm, though the U.S.-backed peace effort has stalled.

Palestinian analyst Hani al-Masri said Abbas' moves against Dahlan are in a way the result of frustration with the lack of progress toward a Palestinian state, which leaves leaders like Abbas feeling vulnerable.

"There is a trend in the Palestinian Authority of being less tolerant due to the failure of the peace process," he said.

Dahlan began losing standing in 2007, when the Islamic militant group Hamas, with amazing speed, routed forces under his command to take over the Gaza Strip. Persistent corruption allegations have also sapped his support among ordinary Palestinians. Still, he was allowed to relocate to the West Bank where he remained a close adviser to Abbas.

But two months ago, Abbas heard his former protege had criticized him in meetings with party activists, officials close to Abbas said. According to the officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue, Dahlan also called Abbas "weak" in meetings with Palestinian diplomats abroad.

Things fell apart quickly for Dahlan after that.

In November, Fatah set up a committee to investigate charges he was trying to form an anti-Abbas bloc inside the party. It also stripped Dahlan of his personal security guards — a huge slap for the man who once commanded thousands of Abbas' security forces in Gaza.

Last month, Fatah replaced Dahlan as the party's spokesman and barred him from participating in meetings of its highest body until the committee finishes its investigation. The interior minister also banned a TV station that Dahlan co-owned — "Palestine Tomorrow" — which was to begin broadcasting this month.

Speaking to The Associated Press in his Ramallah office Monday, Dahlan denied all accusations, calling them "fictional accounts and fairy tales" stirred up by "hateful people" seeking to damage the ruling Fatah movement. He said he fully supports Abbas and said he expects the issue to be over soon.

"This entire show is bogus and its goal is to stab the movement in the back," he said, calling the moves against him "shameful, illegal and immoral."

Abbas himself has not addressed the issue in public.

But the case appears personal, brought on by the Palestinian leader's intolerance for criticism, said political analyst Mouin Rabbani.

"Abbas is extremely sensitive, exceptionally thin-skinned and has an exceptionally high opinion of himself, so the mere act of making personal criticism of him puts you beyond the pale," said Rabbani, who is a senior fellow at the Institute for Palestine Studies.

Dahlan, known as a shrewd political operator, has made other enemies in the past, making it easier for Abbas to target him, Rabbani said.

Fatah, which has dominated Palestinian politics for nearly half a century, has long been characterized by political intrigue and shifting alliances.

And while Abbas is not nearly as popular or authoritative as his predecessor Yasser Arafat, he has considerable support worldwide because he is seen as running a much cleaner government and is more convincingly committed to nonviolence.

His government has won praise for its campaign to bolster its case for independence by strengthening domestic institutions, focusing on issues like internal security and legal reform.

In this context — especially after the West's widespread frustration with efforts to promote democracy in the Middle East — true political reform is scarcely discussed.

After Hamas took over Gaza, Abbas' term was extended under an emergency order, but it ended last year. He unapologetically stayed on, his government later canceled local elections, and there is no talk of when new elections will be held for any office.

In a reflection of the complex wider considerations at play, Abbas has cracked down most publicly on those who — unlike Dahlan — criticize his decision to negotiate with Israel.

In August, dozens of men believed to be plainclothes security officers broke up a gathering of activists who opposed his decision to enter peace talks, which began the following month and have since stalled. Uniformed officers also waited outside to question the activists as they left.

Later, a when a smaller Palestinian faction stopped attending meetings of the Palestine Liberation Organization to protest Abbas' decision to enter talks, he cut off the group's monthly stipend.

Independent human rights groups have also accused his forces of arbitrarily arresting Hamas members, some of whom complain of sporadic torture.

Now it is Dahlan's supporters being targeted.

In November, Palestinian security detained about a dozen former militants loyal to Dahlan in the northern West Bank, a Palestinian security official said. They were released 10 days later, the official said.

On Friday, Palestinian security detained Dahlan's office manager, Moataz Khedeir, and have held him incommunicado since, family members said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.

Khedeir's job was to send news releases and text messages to journalists about Dahlan's activities.

WikiLeaks: UAE Considered Keeping Hamas Hit Quiet

28/12/2010

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates, (AP) – Diplomatic cables recently released by WikiLeaks indicate authorities in the United Arab Emirates debated whether to keep quiet about the high-profile killing of a Hamas operative in Dubai in January.

The documents also show the UAE sought U.S. help in tracking down details of credit cards Dubai police believe were used by a foreign hit squad involved in the killing. The spy novel-like slaying, complete with faked passports and assassins in disguise, is widely believed to be the work of Israeli secret agents.

Dubai officials didn't discuss Mahmoud al-Mabhouh's death publicly until Jan. 29 — nine days after his body was discovered in a locked airport hotel room and only after Hamas itself announced the killing.

The delayed acknowledgment followed talks at the highest levels of the UAE government, where officials discussed whether "to say nothing at all, or to reveal more or less the full extent of the UAE's investigations," according to one of the cables.

Police initially referred to the killers as an "experienced criminal gang" traveling on European passports, and only later blamed Israel's Mossad spy agency directly. Hamas also accuses Israel of the slaying.

Israel has never acknowledged that it carried out the hit.

The cables, which were released Saturday, don't shed new light on the killers' identities. But in one, the American ambassador to the Emirati capital Abu Dhabi points to a possible motive behind the UAE's decision to eventually reveal details of the murder.

"Saying nothing would have been perceived as protecting the Israelis and in the end, the UAE chose to tell all," Ambassador Richard Olson wrote. "The statement was carefully drafted not to point any fingers, but the reference ... to a gang with western passports will be read locally as referring to the Mossad."

Another cable outlines a request the Emirates made on Feb. 24 for U.S. help in tracking down cardholder details and other information relating to credit cards linked to the suspected killers.

Dubai police say many of the alleged members of the hit squad used prepaid credit cards issued by a bank in Iowa that were distributed through another U.S. company known as Payoneer.

U.S. embassy officials passed on details of the request to the FBI and urged Washington to handle it urgently, according to the cable.

Dubai's government media office said it was looking into the disclosures and had no immediate comment on Tuesday.

ICRC Confirms Staffer Met US Diplomat after Kashmir Leak

17/12/2010
GENEVA, (AFP) – The International Committee of the Red Cross Friday confirmed that one of its staff met a US official in 2005 after leaked US diplomatic cables showed it had given evidence of torture by Indian forces in Kashmir.

ICRC spokesman Christian Cardon did not directly confirm the subject of the meeting and discussion, or its location.

"A delegate met a US official on April 1, 2005," he told AFP after whistleblower website Wikileaks published the correspondence between US officials.

"Publicly the International Committee of the Red Cross does not wish to comment on communication that took place between a US diplomat and his superior in Washington," Cardon said.

In a confidential briefing, the ICRC told the diplomats of 177 visits it had made to detention centres in Indian Kashmir that detailed "stable trend lines" of prisoner abuse, according to the cables.

The cables written by a US diplomat said the ICRC had been "forced to conclude that the (Indian government) condones torture."

Techniques included electric shock treatment, sexual and water torture and nearly 300 cases of "roller" abuse in which a round metal object is placed on the thighs of a sitting detainee and then sat on by guards to crush the muscles.

The ICRC said it had been "forced to conclude that the (Indian government) condones torture," the cables said.

Human rights groups have repeatedly accused India of abuses in Muslim-majority Indian Kashmir, where it has been fighting an armed separatist insurgency for more than 20 years.

The ICRC, which specialises in relief and protection work in conflict areas, carries out visits to detainees in 74 countries to check on their conditions under an international mandate.

It often gains access on the basis of its reputation for neutrality and standing pledge of confidentiality in raising problems with the detaining authority or government.

Cardon admitted after the Wikileaks publication that "this kind of information does not ease our work."

Cardon underlined that the ICRC maintained confidential and bilateral dialogue on the issue with the detaining authority," in this case Indian authorities.

"In some instances, and that's maybe the less known side of our practice, we may call on a third party who could play a certain role in addressing these humanitarian problems," he explained, "typically in this case."

The ICRC spokesman indicated that dialogue was more difficult with Indian authorities at the time, but that it had "clearly improved" since then.

Hamas Leader Zahar Says Time is on our Side

17/12/2010
GAZA CITY, (AFP) — The Palestinians have time in their fight for a state, and Hamas believes victory will come through nation-building rather than military confrontation with Israel, a senior Hamas leader said.

"We are not in a hurry to buy or to sell our national interest because this is not the proper market," Mahmud Zahar told AFP during a wide-ranging interview conducted in the expansive living room of his Gaza City home.

Zahar derided peace talks as a waste of time, heaping scorn on Palestinian leader Mahmud Abbas for engaging in negotiations, and ruled out recognition of Israel.

But he also stressed Hamas has no plans to launch new attacks on the Jewish state and was instead focusing its efforts on state-building and providing an example of honest Palestinian governance.

"We are not saying 'wait,' because we are not just sitting here," he said. "We are reconstructing everything... For the first time, we are really administrating real progress in different ways, on all kinds of things.

"We are giving a good example of purified administration."

Zahar is a Hamas veteran and often considered a co-founder of the group. He was appointed its foreign minister after the group won 2006 parliamentary elections, but is now a top ideologue and frequent spokesman for Hamas.

The 2006 vote stoked long-standing tensions between Hamas and Abbas's party Fatah. Violent clashes erupted a year later which saw the Islamist group routing Fatah and taking control of the Gaza Strip.

Hamas has been isolated ever since, with Israel placing restrictions on the passage of goods into and out of the Gaza Strip, and most of the Western world refusing to talk to the group.

It is a designated terror organisation in the United States and Europe, and reviled in many capitals for carrying out bloody suicide bombings in Israel.

Since 2006 it has focused on governing, but it has refused to amend its charter, which calls for the destruction of Israel.

"They told me... you cannot stay isolated and you are not going to survive more than two months, now we finished five years and we survived, and we stayed, and we faced two wars," Zahar said.

"So we can stay, and we can withstand, and we can win."

Zahar said Hamas drew strength from the examples of Algeria and Egypt, which were occupied for decades but eventually gained independence.

"Time is not important if you are not wasting this time," he said, adding Israel was losing international support as the Palestinians gained legitimacy.

He spoke in front of a picture of his son, who was killed in a 2008 Israeli attack, one of the few adornments in a room that doubles as a garage, complete with a parked car ready to whisk him away in case of an attack.

Many top Hamas leaders, including the group's spiritual guide Ahmed Yassin, were killed by Israel in a string of assassinations that decimated the group's senior ranks.

Zahar laid out a platform with similarities to that of Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad, who is implementing a two-year plan to build infrastructure in the West Bank.

Both men describe the need for schools and roads, but Zahar rejected the comparison and accused Fayyad of begging for a nation.

"He says we are going to make the infrastructure for a state and then the international community will give us a state as a gift," he said.

"We are not beggars here... that's my right," he added. "We are the owners of this land."

Hamas rejects peace talks because negotiations have failed, he said.

"We are ready to talk to everybody, but about what? About eating falafel?"

He derided Abbas, who began direct talks with Israel in September after a hiatus of nearly two years, then pulled out shortly afterwards, when an Israeli moratorium on settlement construction expired.

Abbas refused to return to the talks unless the freeze was extended, but the United States acknowledged last week that direct negotiations were no longer possible and proposed indirect talks instead.

Zahar joked about the years of failed negotiations.

"They left no city without negotiations - they started in Madrid, Sharm el-Sheikh many times, Wye River - many talks," he said.

Hamas's opposition to talks is pragmatic, with the group only negotiating where there was a clear agenda, such as in the case of the ceasefire it agreed with Israel through Egypt, Zahar explained.

"But speaking just for speaking, that's not our style."

Hamas says it has adhered to the ceasefire it negotiated after Israel's 22-day war on Gaza which ended in January 2009, and Zahar said the group had no intention of violating it.

"We are here, and really we have to reconstruct what was destroyed by Israel - houses, hospitals, schools."

He pledged Hamas would continue to "resist the occupation" but insisted resistance was more than military confrontation.

"One of the methods of resistance is to reject the occupation as an idea, one is to educate yourself and your people in their culture, one is to prepare yourself for the war if it happens.

"This," he said, "is resistance."

Leaked US Cables Show Doubts over Egypt Succession

16/12/2010

CAIRO, (Reuters) - Gamal Mubarak's chances of becoming Egypt's next president could suffer a blow if his father dies in office because he may lack the support of the powerful military, according to leaked U.S. diplomatic cables.

Egypt, a U.S. ally, is heading for a 2011 presidential election with no clear successor to the 82-year-old Hosni Mubarak, who has been in power for nearly three decades and has not said if he will seek another term.

Officials have said it is likely he will, but many Egyptians believe the 46-year-old Gamal, a former investment banker, is being groomed to take the reins of the Arab world's most populous country.

However, that prospect is uncertain given that the military has had a central role in choosing Egypt's last four presidents, who were all military officers, the cable said.

"Gamal did not serve as a military officer, and we believe he did not complete his compulsory service," said the cable by former U.S. ambassador Francis Ricciardone dated May 2007 and posted by WikiLeaks.

"Many observers opine that timing is the crucial factor for a potential Gamal presidency -- his power base is his father," the cable said.

"While he could conceivably be installed prior to Mubarak's death, the task would become far more difficult, although not insurmountable, once the pharaoh has departed the scene, and personal loyalties to him are in the past."

MILITARY DISTASTE FOR GAMAL

Cairo University political science professor quoted in a September 2008 diplomatic cable said military officers told him the armed forces do not support Gamal and the military would rather seize power than allow Gamal to succeed his father if Mubarak died in office.

Intelligence Chief Omar Suleiman would have to figure in any move to a Gamal Mubarak presidency, possibly as a transitional figure, Ricciardone's 2007 cable said, although it was unclear how Suleiman would respond to such a move if Mubarak died.

"An alleged personal friend of (Suleiman) tells us that (Suleiman) 'detests' the idea of Gamal as president, and that he also was 'deeply personally hurt' by Mubarak, who promised to name him vice president several years ago, but then reneged."

Gamal's pro-business cabinet allies are behind liberalisation measures that secured rapid economic growth over the past six years - but failed to win broad support among Egypt's poor, who say the benefits have not trickled down.

Most analysts see little chance of social upheaval in a transition of power but Mubarak has not picked a deputy, creating uncertainty over how a transfer will proceed.

IHS Global Insight analyst Sara Hassan said Suleiman's security background could make him an appealing choice for the military, but that it was unlikely the spy chief would challenge Gamal if there was broad support for the president's son.

"If the consensus was that Gamal Mubarak was the way forward, I think Omar Suleiman would toe the line and back him," she said.

Mubarak's successor is likely to be politically weaker and might strike an "anti-American tone" at the start of his term to shore up nationalist credentials and distance himself from his predecessor's policies, the 2007 cable said.

The successor might also "extend an olive branch" to the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood as previous Egyptian presidents such as Anwar Sadat did, it said.

In a cable released last week by WikiLeaks, the U.S. ambassador to Cairo, Margaret Scobey, wrote in May 2009 that Mubarak would probably run for a sixth term in 2011, "inevitably" win and remain in office until he dies.

Hezbollah Tells Lebanon Govt to Leave UN Hariri Court to it

16/12/2010

BEIRUT, (AFP) – Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah on Wednesday called on Lebanon's government to step aside and allow his armed movement to singlehandedly deal with a UN court on the murder of ex-premier Rafiq Hariri.

The day is coming when this tribunal and all those who conspired with it will face a scandal bigger than that those that WikiLeaks has unveiled," Nasrallah told thousands of his supporters via closed-circuit video.

His comments came as tensions rise over the the UN-backed Special Tribunal for Lebanon, which is reportedly ready to indict high-ranking Hezbollah operatives in the 2005 Beirut bombing that killed Hariri and 22 others.

The Shiite leader, who commands the most powerful military force in the country, urged the deeply divided government to stay out of his rising offensive against the STL, which he has claimed is a US-Israeli plot.

"Leave this problem to us and the tribunal, for we are able to face up to it alone and defend ourselves," Nasrallah said one night before a mass procession was scheduled in the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburb of Beirut to mark the commemoration of Ashura.

The Iranian- and Syrian-backed group has warned any accusation in the Hariri murder would have grave repercussions in Lebanon and called for an inquiry by the nation's highest court into what it claims was bogus testimony given to UN investigators.

But Saudi-backed Prime Minister Saad Hariri, son of the slain ex-premier, has vowed to see the investigation through.

Nasrallah accused the government, in which Hezbollah and its allies have veto power over major decisions, of protecting the alleged bogus witnesses.

"The Lebanese government is protecting these false witnesses," he said, hours after a cabinet session on the issue was adjourned without feuding ministers coming to an agreement on the issue.

"The government this very night was protecting these false witnesses who for four years have been dragging the country into strife."

Nasrallah also called on his followers to march en masse on Thursday for Ashura, when Shiite worshippers gather to mourn the death of Hussein, a grandson of the Muslim Prophet Mohammed.

"Tomorrow is different, exceptional. What we are asking of you is attendance that is different, exceptional, in all areas," Nasrallah said.

"The world is waiting tomorrow to see your faces ... your resolve," he added. "Tomorrow we meet to tell the world that all Israel's threats of war cannot underscore our resolve."

Nasrallah is expected to speak after Thursday's procession.

Arabs Want "Serious Offer" on Israel Peace, UN Resolution

16/12/2010

CAIRO, (AFP) – Arab foreign ministers on Wednesday rejected more Palestinian-Israeli peace talks without a "serious offer" and said they will seek a UN Security Council resolution against Israeli settlement building.

They announced their decision after meeting Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas in Cairo and US Middle East envoy George Mitchell vowing "substantive" talks with Israel and the Palestinians to rescue the battered peace process.

"Resuming the negotiations will be conditioned on receiving a serious offer that guarantees an end to the Arab-Israeli conflict," the ministers said in a statement read by Arab League chief Amr Mussa.

The Arab League ministerial follow-up committee on the peace process "sees that the direction of talks has become ineffective and it has decided against the resumption of negotiations," Mussa said.

The ministers also decided "to bring up the issue of Israeli settlements again to the Security Council," wanting the UN body to adopt a resolution "that confirms ... the illegal nature of this activity and that would oblige Israel to stop it."

They also called on the United States, which has vetoed resolutions against Israel in the past, not to obstruct such a move.

Mussa said Arab ambassadors at the United Nations were told "to demand an emergency meeting of the Security Council."

Earlier on Wednesday, Mitchell said in Cairo that, "in the days ahead, our discussions with both sides will be substantive, two-way conversations with an eye towards making real progress in the next few months on the key questions of an eventual framework agreement."

The two sides need to "to rebuild confidence, demonstrate their seriousness and hopefully find enough common ground on which to eventually relaunch direct negotiations," he said after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

Mitchell had returned to the region on Monday following acknowledgment by Washington that it had failed to secure a new Israeli settlement freeze, which signalled the end of direct peace negotiations and a return to indirect talks.

He met Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and later with Abbas.

Mussa said after meeting Mitchell that he hoped Washington would succeed but that Israel stood in its way.

"We must reach results. We should not wait for an Israeli change in policy. We should not continue just hoping or running after a carrot," Mussa told a news conference with Mitchell.

"President (Barack) Obama - we want him to succeed," he said, blaming Israel for the stalemate.

Qatari Foreign Minister Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim bin Jaber al-Thani, who chaired the Arab League meeting, accused the United States of adopting the Israeli view point.

"There is a real problem facing the peace process especially given that the American mediator has abandoned its pledges and adopted the Israeli point of view," he said after the meeting.

"We know there will be an American veto if we go to the Security Council but this veto will not stop us from going," said Sheikh Hamad, who is also Qatar's prime minister.

In the West Bank, an official said Mitchell had suggested during a Tuesday meeting with Abbas that the US administration hold "parallel talks with the Palestinian and Israeli sides separately, and not negotiations."

"What is discussed with each side will not be divulged to the other, but the aim is for the US administration to form an idea of what the two parties want with a view to drawing up a strategy to relaunch direct negotiations at the time it deems appropriate," the official said.

The Palestinians insist on a freeze as a precondition to resuming the US-brokered direct peace talks launched September 2 and suspended three weeks later with the end of an Israeli moratorium on settlement building.

Abbas was to brief the committee on US "ideas" to salvage the peace process that Mitchell had brought, said spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeina after Tuesday's talks.

The Palestinians demand US guarantees ensuring "a complete halt to settlement in the West Bank and east Jerusalem," he said.

They also call for US recognition of a Palestinian state based on Israel's borders of before the 1967 Six-Day War in which the Jewish state seized the West Bank, the Gaza Strip and east Jerusalem.

Meanwhile, senior Hamas strategist Mahmud Zahar dismissed the Arab League meeting as nothing more than "a cover for the failure" of Abbas's Palestinian Authority, warning it will "be used for more expansion of settlements."

Iranians Mark Ashura a Day after Suicide Bombing

16/12/2010 An Afghan Shi'ite Muslim boy holds a flag during a Muharram procession to mark Ashura in Kabul December 16, 2010. (Reuters) Ashura mourners light candles in north Tehran December 15, 2010. (Reuters) A Shi'ite Muslim walks on fire at a ceremony during the Ashura festival at a mosque in central Yangon December 16, 2010. (Reuters) TEHRAN, (AFP) – Millions of Iranians, beating themselves with fists and chains, marked the climax of Ashura on Thursday, a day after a suicide bomber killed 33 people taking part in a procession for Shiite Islam's most revered mourning ritual. Men, women and children dressed in black gathered in cities across Iran as the 10 days of rituals to mourn the death of Imam Hussein, the faith's third imam, reached their peak. A grandson of the Prophet Mohammed, Imam Hussein, was killed by armies of the caliph Yazid in 680 AD. Tradition holds that he was decapitated and his body mutilated in the battle at Karbala, now in Iraq. Iranian state television carried live footage of the Ashura processions in the capital Tehran, the second city of Mashhad, the Shiite clerical centre of Qom and the smaller cities of Yazd, Bam and Ardebil. President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad attended a gathering in south Tehran. The commemorations came a day after a suicide bomber from Sunni militant group Jundallah killed 33 faithful taking part in an Ashura procession in the southeastern city of Chabahar. The group says it is fighting for the rights of the region's Sunni ethnic Baluchi community against the Shiite regime. Last year's Ashura processions were overshadowed by the killing in Tehran of eight opposition demonstrators trying to keep alive street protests against disputed official election results which gave Ahmadinejad a new term that June. Shiites make up around 15 percent of Muslims worldwide. They represent the majority populations in Iran, Iraq and Bahrain and form significant communities in Afghanistan, Lebanon, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia.

Iran Claims Victory in Nuclear Talks

08/12/2010

TEHRAN, (AFP) – Iran claimed victory Wednesday in renewed talks with world powers over its controversial nuclear programme and vowed to make no concessions in the face of international pressure.

Chief nuclear negotiator Saeed Jalili said the six world powers have accepted Tehran's conditions for the talks as Iran's conservative media praised Jalili for his "solid" stance.

"They joined the talks maintaining their own view, but Iran said the talks should continue based on Iran's conditions. So they have shown serious change," Jalili said of the talks that resumed this week.

"We frankly asked that talks should be for the sake of cooperation, and they accepted. If they remain committed to this agreement, then the talks have been successful," he said in an interview carried on state television's website.

After a 14-month break, the talks on the Islamic republic's nuclear programme resumed in Geneva this week, with an agreement to meet again in Istanbul at the end of January despite clear differences.

EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said after the two days of talks ended on Tuesday that it was agreed to hold the Istanbul talks to "discuss practical ideas and ways of cooperating towards the resolution of our core concerns about the nuclear issue."

Barely an hour later, however, Jalili said both sides agreed only to further "talks based on cooperation" and that everything else was "not true."

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad repeated Wednesday that the country would not back down on uranium enrichment, which is the key issue of international concern over Tehran's atomic programme.

The hardliner however said "Iran is ready for nuclear cooperation and nuclear material production with the group of P5+1," the official IRNA news agency reported, referring to the United States, Russia, China, Britain, France and Germany.

"Under no circumstances Iran will back down on its rights in nuclear fuel cycle, the 20-percent enrichment of uranium and building (nuclear) plants," he told university students in the central city of Arak.

"The West had better cooperate with Iran in the nuclear field," he said, calling on global powers to lift sanctions against Tehran.

Iran is under four sets of UN sanctions over its refusal to suspend uranium enrichment, the sensitive process which can be used to make nuclear fuel or, in highly extended form, the fissile core of an atom bomb.

Tehran rejects suspicions by the West and Israel that its uranium enrichment programme masks a covert bid to acquire nuclear weapons, maintaining it is developing nuclear technology for solely peaceful purposes.

Analysts said the Geneva talks have failed to dissipate deep distrust between world powers and Tehran, but that they marked the beginning of a new phase of dialogue.

Iran's conservative media Wednesday praised Jalili over his "solid" stance and hailed the talks as a good start.

"Jalili returned from Geneva with full hands," said a headline in Khabar, which is close to parliament speaker Ali Larijani.

Hardline newspaper Siasat Rouz, which is close to the Revolutionary Guards described the talks as a "first positive step."

"The 5+1 has to reach a great agreement with Iran," the pro-Ahmadinejad hardline newspaper Vatan Emrouz wrote in an editorial.

"They know well if there is another gap lasting a few months in talks with Iran there will be no issues left for an agreement as Iran might enrich 1,200 kilos of uranium to 20 percent and be self-sufficient in" nuclear fuel production, it said.

Egypt Arrests 82 Migrants Trying to Reach Israel

08/12/2010

CAIRO, (Reuters) – Egypt arrested 82 African migrants heading for the Sinai Peninsula where they hoped to slip across the border to Israel, security sources said on Wednesday.

The migrants, who included Ethiopians and Eritreans, were hiding in a cave near Suez city early on Wednesday, one of the sources said.

"They said they were waiting for a bus to take them to Sinai from where they would go to Israel to search for jobs," the source added.

It was the biggest such round-up reported in the area since 2009 and comes as Israel builds a 140 km (88 mile) barrier and surveillance system along part of its border with Egypt's Sinai desert, where many migrants enter the Jewish state.

Many of the migrants are fleeing conflict or poverty.

Groups detained in the area tended to number around 10 until this year, when numbers increased – some 50 were arrested in one group last month. Egypt has come under pressure from Israel to allow fewer to cross the border.

Rights groups have criticised Egyptian border police for shooting dead many of the migrants, who are mostly unarmed. Police have shot dead at least 30 this year, up from 19 in 2009.

Egyptian security forces say they fire at migrants only after repeated orders to stop are ignored

Abu Dhabi Summit Urges Iran to be "Good Neighbor"

08/12/2010

Abu Dhabi / Asharq Al-Awsat, (AGENCIES) – The GCC Summit in Abu Dhabi which wrapped up yesterday sent a unified message to Iran, calling on Tehran not to interfere in the internal affairs of the six GCC member states and stressing the importance of Iran committing to "the basic principles of promoting good neighbourly ties [and] mutual respect." The Abu Dhabi Summit's final statement also called on Tehran to "settle disputes through peaceful means and refrain form using or threatening to use force in this regard."

The Arab Gulf States also urged Iran "to respond positively" to talks with international powers on the country's contentions nuclear program. The Abu Dhabi Summit final statement said that GCC States "welcome international efforts, including those made by the P5+1, to peacefully resolve Iran's nuclear crisis and hope it will respond positively to these efforts."

Bahrain and Saudi Arabia signed cooperation accords on civil nuclear technology with the United States in 2008, while other Gulf States including as Kuwait and the United Arab Emirates have similar deals with atomic powers.

The GCC statement also "stressed the importance of working toward drying up sources of funding for terrorist groups" and urged the prevention of "media from publishing anything that would encourage these criminal acts."

The GCC also threw its support behind the Palestinians' refusal to negotiate with Israel without a settlement moratorium, stressing any construction freeze should include east Jerusalem as well as the West Bank.

On Iraq, it said restoration of security and stability required "the completion of total national reconciliation."

Teenage Suicide Bomber Kills 17 in Pakistan

08/12/2010

PESHAWAR, (AFP) — A teenage suicide bomber killed 17 people at a busy Pakistani bus terminal on Wednesday, the third attack in three days as the country stepped up security for the holy month of Muharram.

The bomber blew himself up in Kohat, home to at least half a million people and one of the main garrisons for the Pakistan military, in the northwestern province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa.

Around 4,000 people have died in suicide and bomb attacks across Pakistan since government forces raided an extremist mosque in Islamabad in 2007. The attacks have been blamed on networks linked to the Taliban and Al-Qaeda.

The northwest has been particularly hard hit. Pakistan last year fought to wrest back control of the northwestern district of Swat from the Taliban and are fighting against homegrown insurgents along the Afghan border.

"It was a suicide blast. The death toll has risen to 17," Kohat police chief Dilawar Bangash told AFP, adding that 25 others were wounded, seven of them seriously.

Police said the bomber blew himself up at the door of a bus carrying passengers to the nearby tribal district of Orakzai, where Pakistan has encouraged displaced civilians to return after an anti-Taliban offensive.

"We have found the head and legs of the suicide bomber," said Bangash. The bus terminal is in Tirah bazaar, the main market in the town.

The attack coincided with the start of Muharram, which traditionally sees tensions rise between Pakistan's majority Sunni Muslim and minority Shiite Muslim community, and attacks on Shiite religious parades.

But police said the target was not immediately clear.

"It is true there were more Shiites killed in the attack but there were a number of Sunnis also who died in the blast. So we cannot say who was the target," said Bangash, adding the suicide bomber was aged 15 to 16.

On Monday, a pair of suicide bombers killed 43 people, attacking anti-Taliban militiamen and pro-government elders in Mohmand, part of the tribal belt that Washington considers the global hub of Al-Qaeda.

The Pakistani Taliban purportedly claimed responsibility for that attack, threatening death to anyone who forms militias against the Islamists.

On Tuesday, a suicide bomber tried to assassinate the chief minister of Pakistan's southwestern province of Baluchistan, damaging his motorcade and wounding nine people but leaving the minister unhurt.

A purported spokesman for the banned extremist group Lashkar-e-Jhangvi claimed responsibility, saying the official had been targeted for efforts to provide security to Shiite Muslims, who are frequently attacked in Baluchistan.

Direct Mideast Talks Collapse as US Freeze Bid Fails

08/12/2010

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas attends a news conference after his meeting with Greek Prime Minister George Papandreou premier's office in Athens, Wednesday, Dec. 8 , 2010. (AP)

US President Barack Obama (C) walks with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel (L) and President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority on September 1, 2010 at the White House in Washington, DC. (AFP)

A picture dated September 1, 2010 shows Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel (R) sitting next to President Mahmoud Abbas of the Palestinian Authority (L) during an event at the White House in Washington, DC. (AFP)

JERUSALEM, (AFP) – Direct peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians appeared to have collapsed on Wednesday after Washington admitted its attempts to secure a fresh ban on Jewish settlement building had failed.

In a long-awaited announcement late on Tuesday, US officials admitted top-level efforts to coax Israel into imposing new curbs on West Bank settlement construction had gone nowhere.

Without a new freeze, the Palestinians have refused to negotiate, effectively deadlocking direct peace talks that started on September 2 but ran into difficulties just weeks later.

"We have been pursuing a moratorium as a means to create conditions for a return to meaningful and sustained negotiations," US State Department spokesman Philip Crowley said in New York City.

"After a considerable effort, we have concluded that this does not create a firm basis to work towards our shared goal of a framework agreement," Crowley said.

Israeli and Palestinian officials were now expected to visit Washington next week for talks with the US administration on ways to keep the process alive, he added.

Last Thursday, Palestinian officials told AFP they had been informed by US officials their efforts had failed, which US and Israeli officials refused to confirm at the time.

The United States has for weeks been trying to convince Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to impose a new moratorium on settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

A previous 10-month freeze expired on September 26, shortly after the launch of new peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians -- the first direct negotiations in nearly two years.

It now appears the two sides are likely to return to some form of indirect negotiations, Crowley suggested.

"We will have further conversations on the substance with the parties, and we will continue to try to find ways to create the kind of confidence that will eventually, we hope, allow them to engage directly," he said.

Crowley's remarks suggested the talks were likely to return to the indirect format they took earlier this year, when US envoy George Mitchell spent four months shuttling between Jerusalem and Ramallah.

In Ramallah, the Palestinians placed the blame squarely on Israel.

"By refusing to give a clear answer to the United States, Israel has refused to freeze settlement building and to give a chance to peace in the region," an official told AFP, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Direct talks were launched at a high-profile ceremony on September 2 after a 20-month hiatus, with Netanyahu and Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas vowing to seek an agreement within a year.

They were supposed to meet every two weeks, but that arrangement collapsed after September 26, which marked the official end of a 10-month Israeli ban on settlement building in the West Bank.

In an attempt to break the deadlock, Washington offered Israel a package of diplomatic and security incentives in exchange for a new three-month ban.

But Israel demanded the terms be spelled out in a letter, which would include a US commitment to let it continue building in occupied east Jerusalem. The letter never materialised.

When the Koreans Reproached Us

06/12/2010

By Mshari Al-Zaydi

Mshari Al-Zaydi
A Saudi journalist and expert on Islamic movements and Islamic fundamentalism as well as Saudi affairs. Mshari is Asharq Al-Awsat’s opinion page Editor, where he also contributes a weekly column. Has worked for the local Saudi press occupying several posts at Al -Madina newspaper amongst others. He has been a guest on numerous news and current affairs programs as an expert on Islamic extremism.

In Cairo, I attended a packed symposium on South Korea hosted by the Al-Ahram Center for Political and Strategic Studies. This symposium also hosted a distinguished panel of speakers from South Korea from all walks of life, including the media, business, nuclear energy, education, politics, and technology sectors as well as the diplomatic corp.

The goal of the symposium was to increase interaction and communication between the Arab World and the South Korean Asian Tiger. The symposium aimed to promote the South Korean model across the Arab World, as well as review this model which stunned the world, transforming South Korea into an industrial and economic powerhouse on the international level in just a few short decades.

The South Koreans spoke well and made recommendations as did the Arabs. It was fantastic to listen to the words of Dr. Jaber Awad, an Egyptian researcher in Asian Studies with a special interest in South Korea. Professor Awad is the head of the Asian Studies Department at Cairo University, and he is responsible for a number of books and studies both written and translated by Egyptian researchers on South Korea.

A group of enthusiastic Egyptian students studying Korean at Egypt's Ain Shams University also attended the symposium, and were warmly received by the Korean delegation as being part of the new generation of Egyptians studying and specializing in the language and culture of South Korea.

One of the best speeches was given by Professor John J. Su or – as he told the Arab audience to address him – Professor Amir. He is a head of the Department of Middle Eastern Studies at the University of Seoul, and he speaks Arabic fluently to the point that he even told a few Egyptian jokes to the audience. In his speech he said "I am bewildered by the Arabs, for whenever I ask any Arab why they can't make any real economic progress or development despite the ready availability of the tools needed to achieve this, many of them say – and this is an answer that I have continually heard – that our enemies do not want us to progress, and that the Arabs have many enemies."

Dr. Amir's speech was honest and straight-forward and tinged with gentle reproof and sincere advice.

By the end of the day I was truly hoping that any of the attendees or researchers would answer the question put forward by the Korean Orientalist. This question caused me to do some hard thinking. For example, the dangerous war between North Korea and South Korea is nearly as old as the Arab-Israeli conflict. The State of Israel was established in 1948, whilst the Korean peninsula was divided in the immediate aftermath of World War II, just 2 years earlier in 1945. This resulted in the formation of the North Korean government and the South Korean government, with North Korea becoming part of the Communist camp, and South Korea allying itself with the Capitalists. The Korean War broke out in 1950, and new chapters of this war are still taking place intermittently. The last such action was North Korea firing rockets into South Korea last week, threatening to create "a sea of fire" against South Korea.

Despite the presence of this complex conflict, this didn't affect the grand course of South Korea's development and success. How did they manage to separate this conflict from the country's development, and why have we failed in this task?

I know that every case has its own special circumstances, but this question must be answered!

The success of South Korea's economic growth was also not contingent upon political development (i.e. democratic development) as was the case with regards to many other Asian models. This raises the following question: Which comes first? Does economic development and success bring about political development or does political development and public participation [in politics] give rise to economic growth?

The last thing about the Korean model is that it shows us that we are capable of achieving success and making significant development even whilst having enemies and protecting and preserving our cultural idiosyncrasies.

Achieving such development requires us to have nothing more than a vision, and the will and power to execute this…and this is something that is by no means impossible [to achieve].

WikiLeaks: Bribery, Graft Rampant in Afghanistan

03/12/2010

KABUL, Afghanistan, (AP) – Leaked U.S. diplomatic cables portray Afghanistan as rife with corruption to the highest levels of government.

The cables are part of a vast tranche of communiques released by the WikiLeaks website.

The documents also detail Iran's support of Afghan insurgents.

An October 2009 cable from the American embassy in Kabul says a money transfer business called New Ansari is "facilitating bribes and other wide-scale illicit cash transfers for corrupt Afghan officials."

And Mohammad Omar Daudzai, President Hamid Karzai's chief of staff, told embassy officials in February that Iran no longer bothers to deny its support for the Taliban. Daudzai says that on occasion, Afghan men are crossing into Iran where they are recruited and trained to return and fight.

UN Seeks 575 Million Dollars for Palestinians

03/12/2010

GENEVA (AFP) – Millions of Palestinians are living in precarious conditions and need help to survive, the United Nations said Thursday, as it sought 575 million dollars for them in 2011.

Despite recent improvements in the situation in the Gaza Strip, things are "not improving" for the 4.5 million people who live in the Palestinian Territories, said Maxwell Gaylard, UN deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process.

This is because of the "continued blockade of Gaza, the occupation itself and the settlements," he said.

Gaylard noted that the easing of the Israeli blockade in June has led to a slight improvement of the situation in the Gaza Strip.

However, three-quarters of Gaza residents are still depending on relief agencies, noted the UN official.

While unemployment has declined somewhat, it remains at "disastrous levels," he said.

In the West Bank, the situation is not much better, while in east Jerusalem there is a growing problem of over population.

The UN's appeal for aid financing for the Palestinian Territories was 50 percent funded, but this year Gaylard hopes donors would be more generous.

If the appeal is not financed, it would have "irreversible" consequences for the process of reconstruction and the quality of life of Palestinians, said Ramesh Rajasingham, an official from the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said.

28/11/2010

By Hussein Shabokshi

Hussein Shobokshi
A Businessman and prominent columnist. Mr. Shobokshi hosts the weekly current affairs program Al Takreer on Al Arabiya, and in 1995, he was chosen as one of the "Global Leaders for Tomorrow" by the World Economic Forum. He received his B.A. in Political Science and Management from the University of Tulsa.

Ever since the establishment of the State of Israel in 1948, its media has been trying to sell the idea that Israel is a secular state that brought together its children from the Diaspora, returning them to the Promised Land, as was promised in their scriptures and religious teachings where they can live their lives according to socialist principles in collective communities called Kibbutzim [or a Kibbutz]. This is a Yiddish language word which was spoken predominately by Jews in Eastern Europe. This is an idea that is further reinforced by images of the founder of Israel and the countries first prime minister, David Ben-Gurion, walking around wearing modest clothing whilst performing manual labour on a farm.

This was the view in the early beginnings of the state of Israel, however with the arrival of the extremist religious Likud party in power under the leadership of former terrorist Menachem Begin, who lead the Zionist underground movement Irgun which was accused of carrying out numerous crimes, different forms of extremism started to surface in Israel without embarrassment or shame. Begin's successor, Yitzhak Shamir also had ties to the Irgun movement. And who can forget Ariel Sharon, his successor and current Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, and his Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who all follow racist ideas and reject the idea of peace?

Today Israel is undergoing a transformation that is seen by some of the countries left-wing as a huge problem, whilst being perceived by others as a reassuring sign. The number of extremist religious Jews joining the Israeli army is currently on the rise. A large portion of these religious extremists have taken leadership positions in the Israeli army in a manner that substantially exceeds the proportion they make up of Israeli society. The question that is now being raised by the Israelis, particularly the countries political left-wing is; can the country rely upon Israel – with its wide range of cadres – to observe the strictest of conditions in any future agreement with the Palestinians given that this could call for Israeli withdrawal from some territories, and the forced evacuation of settlers from their homes?

A number of Israeli Defense experts believe that the increasingly hard-line attitude among Israeli troops could result in a military uprising in the near future, especially as a large number of these hard-liners serving in the Israeli army come from settlements occupied following the 1967 war, and these settlements are in possession of unlicensed arms.

Despite the lack of sufficient data on the religious inclinations and beliefs of Israeli military conscripts, 30 percent of recruits who graduate from the preliminary course required for joining the army describe themselves as "Religious Zionists". This represents a huge increase from 20 years ago when the rate was closer to 2.5 percent. It must also be noted that today, only 12 percent of the general population of Israel describe themselves as "Religious Zionists" which means that the percentage within the Israeli army is more than double that of the general population.

During the Nineties, following the Israeli war on Lebanon, many leftist Israelis took the decision not to extend their 3-year compulsory military service due to their lack of belief in Israel's military adventures. At the same time, Israeli hardliners regretted their absence from the scene in general, their inability to shape the Israeli identity, as well as their leaving the mission to those not committed to it. State institutes became more secular, therefore these hardliners took the decision to enlist in the army in numbers as the only way to make up for lost time.

There are several [military] academies for pre-army service where hard-line Rabbis lecture on the Torah, the Talmud and extremist Jewish philosophy for a period of two years. They impart all of this knowledge to cadets, stressing that they are solely on a religious mission and not a patriotic duty (This is a source of worry for the Israeli left-wing because they believe this is the final nail in the coffin of the concept of a secular Israel). These military academies have contributed to changing many objectives, values and patterns of behaviour in the Israeli army. There is growing apprehension within Israel about this forthcoming moment of truth. Who will the religious extremists in the Israeli army listen to? Will they take their orders from their commanding officers, or will they instead follow the commands of their rabbis? The answer to such questions are close at hand as a number of extremist Rabbis have begun warning Israeli troops against the consequences of evacuating Jewish settlers from their homes. These Rabbis caution against performing such an act because it is in violation of the Ten Commandments revealed to Prophet Moses from Almighty God (according to their beliefs).

A comparison is being drawn between the situation in Gaza which had housed less than 10,000 settlers and the West Bank which now accommodates more than 300,000 settlers. In short, these hard-line religious troops will be in a state of turmoil, trapped between either following military orders or following their religion convictions. Just for the record, the West Bank today is far more important to religious extremist Zionists than Gaza Strip. Today security orders against settlers are constantly being leaked [to the media] who obtain this information via soldiers who sympathize with the settlers revealing this, enabling the settlers to prepare themselves and fortify their position against any possible confrontation.

The end of Secularism in Israel and the intensification of extremism will complicate the internal Israeli crisis and make it even more difficult for any peace to be achieved!

Mubarak's Party Poised for Egypt Poll Triumph

30/11/2010

A mosaic depicting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak is erected on a highway outside Cairo. (AFP)

A protester stands next to a poster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak with a red "no"cross drawn on it, as she attends a small demonstration of about 100 opposition activists in downtown Cairo. (AP)

An Egyptian woman walks past candidate election posters on a street in downtown Cairo, Egypt. (AP)

CAIRO (AFP) – Egypt on Tuesday awaited the final results of a parliamentary election expected to deliver sweeping gains for President Hosni Mubarak's ruling party and a rout for the Islamist opposition.

The United States, meanwhile, voiced concern over "intimidation by security forces" on voting day.

According to government daily Al-Ahram, the National Democratic Party (NDP) won more than 170 of 508 parliamentary seats while the Muslim Brotherhood, Egypt's main opposition party, failed to win a single seat outright.

Al-Ahram and Al-Masri Al-Yom newspapers said the secular opposition only won six seats, three of which went to the liberal Wafd party.

"An assembly without opposition," ran the headline of independent daily Al-Shuruk, adding that in the second-round run-off next Sunday, "the NDP will essentially be competing against itself."

Egyptians voted last Sunday for the 508 elected seats in the lower house, or People's Assembly, in a poll that human rights groups and Washington said was marred by fraud and violence but which the government insists was fair.

Many of the seats were contested by rival NDP candidates.

Official results are expected later on Tuesday.

The United States said late on Monday that it was disappointed and dismayed over reports of interference, intimidation and other problems in Egypt's parliamentary election.

"We are disappointed by reports in the pre-election period of disruption of campaign activities of opposition candidates and arrests of their supporters," said State Department spokesman Philip Crowley.

"We are also dismayed by reports of election-day interference and intimidation by security forces," Crowley added.

The Muslim Brotherhood denounced the vote as "rigged and invalid".

The Islamist group said it failed to win any seats outright in the first round of voting and that just 21 of its candidates were sure of making it into next Sunday's run-offs.