It seems obvious to me the USA has no intentions of backing any peace process. The Bush White House longs for a confrontation with Russia and China. The USA Senate and House need to act to limit the President's ability to 'create' war.
The Middle East has to solve it's own problems. I believe they are capable of it.
Iraq needs to find stability in which ever methodology that applies. If forming decentralized governments in the provinces provides for a more trusted central authority, then it should be accomplished as soon as possible.
The region needs to be stabilized outside the potential for further destabilization by exploitation. A diligent agenda from every member country should be pursued, anything short will derail any potential, leading to greater war and any possibly of peace will be lost.
The lies by the Bush/Cheney White House can be measured easily by the lies they tell their own people. One of these articles are propaganda, perhaps it is easy to tell. Homeland Security has never proved a greater security to the USA and while the Middle East newspaper likes to embellish the 'greatness' of the USA, under this administration it can't even protect those once the focus of attack.
Defense Department role seen differently
Published: November 30, 2007
WASHINGTON, Nov. 30 (UPI) -- A top U.S. Defense Department official says the homeland defense office has learned valuable lessons and increased its mission since its inception in 2002.
Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense and America's security affairs, says the Defense Department central role is in achieving security for the U.S. homeland, but he sees an evolving and increasingly important capability in providing assistance during natural or man-made disasters, the American Forces Press Service reported.
As the first person to hold the assistant secretary for homeland defense position, McHale says he has looked at the traditional role of the military and says part of his office's mission is to encourage the expansion of its support role for civil authorities.
McHale says as part of his office's continued emphasis on homeland defense missions, more than 60 members of his staff are embedded with various agencies at the Department of Homeland Security in an effort to better understand challenges.
"The American people cannot allow the capabilities inherent in civilian agencies to deteriorate. We fall into a trap if we allow our civilian capabilities to atrophy due to excessive reliance on military competencies," McHale said. "We need a partnership, and that partnership should be built on shared professionalism within and between the civilian and military organization of our government.
"Our founders realized that excessive reliance upon the military may achieve an operational success but ultimately will damage the civilian character of our country and our government. We hold as one of our bedrock principles the concept of civilian supremacy, and that concept is very much respected and adhered to in the Department of Defense."
© 2007 United Press International. All Rights Reserved.
This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
http://www.metimes.com/Security/2007/11/30/defense_department_role_seen_differently/0735/
Plan to Cut Antiterror Spending Is Criticized by State’s Leaders
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Published: December 2, 2007
A White House plan to slash antiterror grant programs by more than half would threaten the safety of American cities, New York politicians charged yesterday.
The latest news and reader discussions from around the five boroughs and the region.
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Senator Charles E. Schumer blasted the Bush administration’s plan to eliminate some port and rail security programs and cut security grants for states and cities to $1.4 billion in 2009 from $3.4 billion in the 2007 fiscal year.
“To say, no port security, no transit security, when we know that our ports and transit lines are targets for terrorists makes no sense if you want to protect America,” Mr. Schumer said.
Other officials said the cuts would penalize a city attacked by terrorists on Sept. 11, 2001, and in 1993.
“It’s stunning that the federal government would consider cutting New York City’s homeland security funds from the already inadequate level that currently exists,” said John Gallagher, a spokesman for Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg.
The federal government has given $23 billion in antiterror grants to states and municipalities since the Sept. 11 attacks, but some have criticized the programs as pork-barrel spending.
According to budget documents obtained by The Associated Press, the Bush administration is not convinced that the money has been well spent and thinks the nation’s highest-risk cities have largely satisfied their emergency need to improve security.
Officials with the White House Office of Management and Budget said the president’s budget proposals had yet to be completed. Russ Knocke, a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security, said Friday that the White House would strongly support any needed antiterror programs.
Still, Gov. Eliot Spitzer’s spokeswoman, Christine Anderson, likened the White House proposal to a “‘bean counter’ approach to protecting our homeland when sound policy is what’s required.”
Mr. Schumer estimated that if the cuts were accepted by Congress, New York City’s share of the aid might drop to $70 million or $80 million from $134 million.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/12/02/nyregion/02security.html?ref=nyregion
Good Night
Sunday, December 02, 2007
And will the process after Annapolis end with faux promise and actual hatred?
EDITORIAL: EU out of Mideast peace deal?
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: One important but little-noticed feature of the Annapolis talks was that the Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations no longer seems to have much of a role. The Americans have taken over.
"The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the road map," says the joint Israeli-Palestinian document committing them to pursue a peace deal by the end of next year. Note that potent word, "judge."”And note also that while excluding the Russians may be difficult, and excluding the U.N. may be foolish, excluding the EU could carry serious financial consequences.
The EU has long been the main financial supporter for the Palestinians. In 2007, the EU and its 27 member nations gave almost $1.5 billion in mostly humanitarian aid. To help make the Annapolis process work, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the EU should be prepared to raise another $500 million for job-creation projects. But will it?
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner and Javier Solana, the EU security affairs chief suggest that future EU aid could also be made available for the Palestinian police force and to reform the Palestinians' health, education, and judicial systems. But there are no guarantees.
The EU'’s money is essential. Former British premier Tony Blair, who represented the Quartet at Annapolis, stressed at a press briefing in Jerusalem: "Without hope of prosperity, rising living standards, and an economic stake in the future for ordinary Palestinians, the politics will never succeed."
The effective sidelining of the Europeans has been noticed. Leila Shahid, the Palestinians' representative in Europe, expressed regret Wednesday that the EU had "dropped out" of the Middle East process "at a time when the Americans are coming back."
There are ominous signs that a kind of compassion fatigue is developing in the EU, after paying so much for so long for so little, and seeing Israeli bombs or Israeli border delays undermine the development it has tried to fund.
"The only role the EU seems to be able to play is that of a milking cow and a builder of projects,"” notes Barah Mikail of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. "When the EU builds these projects and Israel destroys them, the EU never takes a firm stance condemning the destruction, so it does not win any respect," he said.
Moreover, the EU has other concerns beyond the Middle East. Between now and Christmas, EU troops could be facing violence in Kosovo (where it has 15,000 soldiers) and in Lebanon (where 8,000 EU troops are the core of the U.N. peace force). It is also poised to send another 4,000 troops to Chad to support the U.N. mission in the neighboring Darfur province of Sudan. Will it have the cash and political will to keep paying the bills in the Middle East, when it has no role in the policy?
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_eu_out_of_mideast_peace_deal/1599/
Abbas says Annapolis conference achieved its goal
Published: December 01, 2007
CAIRO (AFP) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Saturday that this week's Middle East peace conference in the United States met its goal of jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
"The main goal of the Annapolis conference was to launch negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis and this is in fact what happened," Abbas told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Some had been under the illusion that the negotiations would actually start in (Annapolis) or that a deal would be struck," he said.
At the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally restarted negotiations after a seven-year freeze in the peace process, aiming to conclude a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008.
Abbas said a steering committee would be set up that would begin negotiations on December 12 including on the core issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei will head the Palestinian negotiating team, Abbas said.
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/abbas_says_annapolis_conference_achieved_its_goal/afp/
Mideast peace conference follow-up meetings in Moscow and Paris: Abbas
The Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that there will be meetings in Moscow and Paris to follow up on the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis.
Abbas gave his comments after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. He also said that a special negotiating team led by former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, will handle negotiations with Israelis, which is due to launch Dec. 12.
"There was this myth that there were talks or a deal," in the U.S.-brokered Mideast summit in Annapolis, Abbas said. "The purpose of Annapolis meeting was to launch talks without going into details."
"There will be two stations after Annapolis: one in Paris and the second in Moscow where there will be another conference to review what the negotiations have achieved," he added, without elaborating.
Abbas did not say whether the Moscow meeting would focus on the Syrian-Israeli track as has been widely speculated.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/01/africa/ME-GEN-Mideast-Palestinians.php
US anger as Russia pulls out of arms treaty
By Stephen Fidler and James Blitz in London
Published: December 1 2007 02:00 Last updated: December 1 2007 02:00
President Vladimir Putin signed a law yesterday suspending Russia's participation in a key post-cold war arms treaty, triggering an angry reaction from the US, which declared the move a "mistake".
In a significant new indication of the worsening diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Washington, Mr Putin personally ratified a law that means Moscow will suspend the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE) in a little under two weeks.
Western military experts believe the CFE, first signed in 1990, is a significant treaty that limits the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia's Ural mountains.
It also contains a significant array of confidence-building measures, requiring all signatories to give other states advance notice of troop movements and missile launches.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3eb8ce68-9fb3-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac.html
Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Riaz Khan
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10479756>
EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: One important but little-noticed feature of the Annapolis talks was that the Quartet of the United States, Russia, the European Union, and the United Nations no longer seems to have much of a role. The Americans have taken over.
"The United States will monitor and judge the fulfillment of the commitment of both sides of the road map," says the joint Israeli-Palestinian document committing them to pursue a peace deal by the end of next year. Note that potent word, "judge."”And note also that while excluding the Russians may be difficult, and excluding the U.N. may be foolish, excluding the EU could carry serious financial consequences.
The EU has long been the main financial supporter for the Palestinians. In 2007, the EU and its 27 member nations gave almost $1.5 billion in mostly humanitarian aid. To help make the Annapolis process work, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the EU should be prepared to raise another $500 million for job-creation projects. But will it?
Benita Ferrero-Waldner, the EU's external relations commissioner and Javier Solana, the EU security affairs chief suggest that future EU aid could also be made available for the Palestinian police force and to reform the Palestinians' health, education, and judicial systems. But there are no guarantees.
The EU'’s money is essential. Former British premier Tony Blair, who represented the Quartet at Annapolis, stressed at a press briefing in Jerusalem: "Without hope of prosperity, rising living standards, and an economic stake in the future for ordinary Palestinians, the politics will never succeed."
The effective sidelining of the Europeans has been noticed. Leila Shahid, the Palestinians' representative in Europe, expressed regret Wednesday that the EU had "dropped out" of the Middle East process "at a time when the Americans are coming back."
There are ominous signs that a kind of compassion fatigue is developing in the EU, after paying so much for so long for so little, and seeing Israeli bombs or Israeli border delays undermine the development it has tried to fund.
"The only role the EU seems to be able to play is that of a milking cow and a builder of projects,"” notes Barah Mikail of the Institute for International and Strategic Relations in Paris. "When the EU builds these projects and Israel destroys them, the EU never takes a firm stance condemning the destruction, so it does not win any respect," he said.
Moreover, the EU has other concerns beyond the Middle East. Between now and Christmas, EU troops could be facing violence in Kosovo (where it has 15,000 soldiers) and in Lebanon (where 8,000 EU troops are the core of the U.N. peace force). It is also poised to send another 4,000 troops to Chad to support the U.N. mission in the neighboring Darfur province of Sudan. Will it have the cash and political will to keep paying the bills in the Middle East, when it has no role in the policy?
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_eu_out_of_mideast_peace_deal/1599/
Abbas says Annapolis conference achieved its goal
Published: December 01, 2007
CAIRO (AFP) Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas said on Saturday that this week's Middle East peace conference in the United States met its goal of jumpstarting Israeli-Palestinian negotiations.
"The main goal of the Annapolis conference was to launch negotiations between Palestinians and Israelis and this is in fact what happened," Abbas told reporters in Cairo after meeting Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.
"Some had been under the illusion that the negotiations would actually start in (Annapolis) or that a deal would be struck," he said.
At the meeting in Annapolis, Maryland, Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert formally restarted negotiations after a seven-year freeze in the peace process, aiming to conclude a comprehensive agreement by the end of 2008.
Abbas said a steering committee would be set up that would begin negotiations on December 12 including on the core issues such as the status of Jerusalem, the borders of a future Palestinian state and the fate of Palestinian refugees.
Former Palestinian prime minister Ahmed Qorei will head the Palestinian negotiating team, Abbas said.
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/abbas_says_annapolis_conference_achieved_its_goal/afp/
Mideast peace conference follow-up meetings in Moscow and Paris: Abbas
The Associated Press
Published: December 1, 2007
CAIRO, Egypt: Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday that there will be meetings in Moscow and Paris to follow up on the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis.
Abbas gave his comments after meeting with President Hosni Mubarak in Cairo. He also said that a special negotiating team led by former Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia, will handle negotiations with Israelis, which is due to launch Dec. 12.
"There was this myth that there were talks or a deal," in the U.S.-brokered Mideast summit in Annapolis, Abbas said. "The purpose of Annapolis meeting was to launch talks without going into details."
"There will be two stations after Annapolis: one in Paris and the second in Moscow where there will be another conference to review what the negotiations have achieved," he added, without elaborating.
Abbas did not say whether the Moscow meeting would focus on the Syrian-Israeli track as has been widely speculated.
http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2007/12/01/africa/ME-GEN-Mideast-Palestinians.php
US anger as Russia pulls out of arms treaty
By Stephen Fidler and James Blitz in London
Published: December 1 2007 02:00 Last updated: December 1 2007 02:00
President Vladimir Putin signed a law yesterday suspending Russia's participation in a key post-cold war arms treaty, triggering an angry reaction from the US, which declared the move a "mistake".
In a significant new indication of the worsening diplomatic relationship between Moscow and Washington, Mr Putin personally ratified a law that means Moscow will suspend the Conventional Forces in Europe treaty (CFE) in a little under two weeks.
Western military experts believe the CFE, first signed in 1990, is a significant treaty that limits the number of battle tanks, heavy artillery, combat aircraft and attack helicopters deployed and stored between the Atlantic and Russia's Ural mountains.
It also contains a significant array of confidence-building measures, requiring all signatories to give other states advance notice of troop movements and missile launches.
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3eb8ce68-9fb3-11dc-8031-0000779fd2ac.html
Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
Page 1 of 2 View as a single page 9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Riaz Khan
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
Pasted from <http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/2/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10479756>
EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/
And who could contribute more to the peace talks than Turkey?
Erdogan: ‘considering new ways and means’
Turkey warns Iraq over Kurd rebels
Turkish PM says Ankara’s patience with government in Baghdad ran out as Turkish soldier killed.
ANKARA - Turkey on Tuesday told Iraq to crack down on Kurdish rebels based in northern Iraq or face the consequences, as Baghdad called for urgent talks over Ankara's threat of a military incursion.
With Iraqi Vice President Tareq al-Hashemi in Turkey for a visit and the Turkish parliament preparing to vote on a motion allowing for cross-border raids, Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan made it clear that Ankara's patience with Baghdad had run out.
"The central government in Iraq and the regional government in northern Iraq must put a thick wall between themselves and the terrorist organization," said Erdogan, referring to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK).
http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=22688
The reason they Turks are 'warning' Iraq about any inkling of relations with PKK, is the Turks will then feel vindicated in attacking within Iraq without restraint. It must be wonderful to be an Iraqi these days. No sovereignty. No peace. No military.
Turkey has right to act inside Iraq: Gul
PKK leader acknowledges Turkey strike
PKK leader acknowledges Turkey strike
ANKARA: Turkish President Abdullah Gul reaffirmed on Sunday Turkey’s readiness and right to intervene in northern Iraq one day after the Turkish army carried out an operation inside Iraq against Kurdish rebels. “The army was granted a mandate. This mandate is being used when the army deems it necessary,” Gul told reporters before flying to Pakistan for an official visit. A military official said around 100 special forces were sent into northern Iraq to hit PKK rebels on Saturday. The army also sent between four and six helicopters to bomb a camp used by the PKK.
EDITORIAL: Pakistan's autocracy challenged
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 30, 2007
EDITORIAL: As Pakistan President Pervez Musharraf abandons his military façade yet maintains military rule, international critics accuse him of strategically stalling the Pakistani democratic process. With a tumultuous history that encompasses six generations of military misrule, repeated suspension of constitutional rights and internal instability, Pakistan seems an unlikely candidate for a flourishing civil society.
But recent events have proven otherwise. As Musharraf struggles to retain control over a fragmented state, the increasing number of Pakistanis protesting unconstitutional rule is a hopeful indication of the sort of political participation central to democracy.
Instead of accepting cooperation with the largely illegitimate military regime, prominent members of the judicial system, including chief justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry, have been dismissed, arrested or imprisoned by Musharraf. By doing so, the president demonstrated not only a continued disregard for the Pakistani constitution, but also a growing fear of a multitude of opposition groups.
Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto's second return to the country – in defiance of exile imposed once again by Musharraf – indicate the tenacity of the opposition to military rule and contributes to a veritable foundation of grassroots democracy in Pakistan.
Although martial law has been imposed before, tolerance of such flagrant disregard for public opinion is now at its nadir.
Chaudhry's repeated dismissal and Bhutto's return highlight not only the inconsistencies of Musharraf's policies but also that the fear so necessary to run an illegitimate state is no longer present among the people or his political rivals.
Now that Musharraf has become a general without an army, both literally and figuratively, the state is set for opposition groups to re-rout power to the people in an attempt to establish the representative government that Pakistan has long deserved.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/30/editorial_pakistans_autocracy_challenged/5565/
Bhutto warns of foreign intervention if militancy not curbed
9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
9:13AM Monday December 03, 2007
By Riaz Khan
Benazir Bhutto at yesterday's press conference in northwest Pakistan. Photo / AP
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
Benazir Bhutto at yesterday's press conference in northwest Pakistan. Photo / AP
PESHAWAR - Former Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto said on Sunday she would use economic as well as military means to defuse Pakistan's pro-Taleban insurgency, and warned that "foreign forces" could invade unless the government curbs spreading militancy.
Bhutto was speaking to journalists in Pakistan's troubled northwest, where she launched her campaign this weekend for January 8 parliamentary elections. She planned key talks Monday with another opposition leader, Nawaz Sharif, who is urging a boycott of the vote.
Bhutto also raised the spectre of militants moving on the capital, Islamabad, and gaining control of a crucial nuclear installation - widely seen as an unlikely scenario.
Let's see what the Pope thinks. According to the Bishop of Canterbury; that American foreign policy had created the 'worst of all worlds'
New cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Iraq greets Pope Benedict in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican (click here)
New cardinal Patriarch Emmanuel III Delly of Iraq greets Pope Benedict XVI after he received the red biretta during the Consistory ceremony in Saint Peter's Basilica at the Vatican November 24, 2007. The 23 prelates elevated to the College of Cardinals by Pope Benedict on Saturday join the most exclusive group in the Roman Catholic Church, a kind of hand-picked Senate that elects the next pontiff. REUTERS/Tony Gentile (ITALY)
‘Out of love’
By Mahmoud Al Abed
AMMAN - Pope Benedict XVI has invited an array of Muslim scholars, led by HRH Prince Ghazi, to discuss a letter they sent to Christian leaders last month urging a search for common moral ground, according to a Thursday statement by the Vatican.
Replying to Prince Ghazi, who chairs the board of trustees at the Royal Aal al Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone said the pontiff felt deep appreciation for the initiative, "for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace".
The meeting is expected to add a new achievement to Jordan's track record in interfaith promotion, together with successes the Kingdom has recorded in the intrafaith arena: bringing Muslim groups together.
Efforts in both directions witnessed a high level of involvement by His Majesty King Abdullah. The first landmark achievement was the Amman Message, which defined basic principles of the way Islam should be introduced to others and the faith's outlook on the universe and its engagement with other partners in human society.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4030
Building on a tradition of bedouin hospitality
A view of a campsite in Wadi Rum ( Photo courtesy UASAID/Siyaha)
By Dalya Dajani
AMMAN - A warm welcome, a cup of Arabic coffee, or glass of sweet tea and a plasce to sleep - these are the hallmarks of the time-honoured traditions of bedouin hospitality.
In the vast expanse of the Kingdom’s southern desert, where scenic landscapes and sunsets draw thousands each year, these simple traits are a magnet for travellers.
Bedouins, who for decades relied on raising livestock for their livelihoods, have now expanded on fulfilling visitors’ search for the “desert experience”.
It is a mission they take seriously, despite limited means and financial returns.
“It is an ingrained value in bedouin tradition that no visitor leaves unhappy,” said Nasser Zawaydeh, a camp owner who heads the tourism unit at Aqaba Special Economic Zone, which oversees the Wadi Rum Protected Area (WRPA).
But “it is something that may not be easily attained under the current conditions”, according to Zawaydeh, one of 37 campsite operators in the WRPA.
Although a potentially lucrative source of living for local residents, many camps in the area fall short of tourist expectations.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4031
...and what of Iraq. Stable? Not hardly. Close to peace within it's own borders. No. How can any peace be achieved if it's participants are unable.
So. let's see. The timeline is running on the Benchmarks. The Surge has killed more people than anyone knows yet, resulting in refugees of over two million, widespread poverty and victimization of Iraqis, so now the people of Iraq need to 'take advantage of 'the space' (a temporal element I guess) to move their political stability to the point where no sectarian violence ever erupts again. According to Negropointe.
Yeah.
Right.
Good thinking John Boy.
Sunni leader and parliamentarian Adnan al-Dulaimi speaks during a press conference in Baghdad, May 2007. Iraq's faltering political process was thrown into fresh turmoil on Saturday when the main Sunni bloc walked out of parliament in protest at a security crackdown on its leader Dulaimi. (AFP Wisam Sami)
Iraq parliament hit by walkout over raid on Sunni leader
by Ammar Karim
Published: December 01, 2007
BAGHDAD (AFP) Iraq's faltering political process was thrown into fresh turmoil on Saturday when the main Sunni bloc walked out of parliament in protest at a security crackdown on its leader Adnan al-Dulaimi.
The latest political upheaval came as suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 14 people in a raid on a Shiite village.
The National Concord Front, the main Sunni bloc with 44 MPs in the 275-member parliament, walked out of the assembly, saying it would return after Dulaimi himself comes back to the legislature.
"We announce our boycott of the parliament until Adnan al-Dulaimi returns to the assembly today or tomorrow," the bloc's Abdul Karim al-Samarraie told the assembly.
"When I went to meet him I was stopped and told that he is under house arrest. This is a violation of the rights of an MP who wants to come to the parliament," Samarraie said.
After his statement the bloc's MPs walked out of the assembly hall. Mahmud al-Mashhadani, the Sunni parliament speaker, joined them.
Shiite MP Haider al-Ibadi said the Dulaimi issue should not be discussed in the assembly.
"There is an investigation and parliament should not interfere in it," he said before the Sunnis walked out.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied that Dulaimi was under house arrest.
"What is being said about house arrest is not true. It is only protection given to Dulaimi until the situation is clear," Dabbagh told state television Al-Iraqiya.
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/iraq_parliament_hit_by_walkout_over_raid_on_sunni_leader/afp/
No relief for Iraqi camp kids
By IWPR
Published: December 01, 2007
Seven-year-old Ali Hussein's toy is an old tire, which he pushes back and forth in a pond of dirty water.
Ali, a mud-caked, pale-faced little boy, is a Shiite from Baqouba, 50 kilometers north of Baghdad, who together with his family left the town after his father was killed by Sunni insurgents. The family was told they would also be killed if they stayed there.
"He was a very nice person and no one can replace him," said Ali.
Ali and his family now live in a camp in the al-Habibya area east of Baghdad. The conditions in the camp are poor, its residents are impoverished and the services are limited. Ali, a first grader, no longer attends school.
Recent reports of refugee and internally displaced families trickling back to their Baghdad neighborhoods have brought some semblance of hope that the security situation is improving in the capital.
But "the number being displaced still far exceeds the number of returnees," according to a November report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a Swiss-based intergovernmental organization focusing on refugees and displaced persons. And aid for internally displaced Iraqis is not meeting needs, aid organizations report.
Hundreds of thousands of families remain in camps throughout the country, where young Iraqis do not have access to education and are vulnerable to disease, according to aid agencies.
According to the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, 15 percent of Iraq's population - about 4 million people - has fled their homes since 2003. Fifty percent are children.
The IOM in Iraq reports that 2.25 million Iraqis are internally displaced. In September 2007, Amnesty International said that Iraq had the "the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world."
"Inside Iraq, conditions for displaced children and the communities hosting them are grave," UNICEF maintained in a report earlier this year. "The need to act is urgent."
The camps lack basic services such as clean water, sewage, and electricity. In one camp in the capital's al-Madaen neighborhood, 65 families are living in mud houses and children are suffering from diarrhea, skin diseases, and malnutrition, according to the IOM. Children are working to support their families and are not attending school.
Efforts to raise money for children have achieved little.
UNICEF launched an appeal in late May for nearly $42 million to support displaced Iraqi children and women in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. But the agency has yet to receive any funds, according to a Nov. 23 report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/12/01/no_relief_for_iraqi_camp_kids/2976/
EDITORIAL: Annapolis – why now?
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 23, 2007
There is never a good time to hold a conference to try and settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only lesser bad times. Or, as Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group put it recently, "It depends whether you see the glass as one-third full or two-thirds empty."
There have been plenty of skeptical assessments of the prospects for success at Annapolis. In fact, the expectations have dropped so low that the Annapolis meeting itself is probably immune to failure. Instead it will be judged later on whether it launches a productive peace process.
There are plenty of obstacles to that happening but there is also a real set of interests in achieving a settlement at this time that go beyond the desire to secure a legacy for U.S. President George W. Bush. The interests involved are those of the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. It is worth taking stock of them.
When U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney toured Arab capitals in 2002 trying to drum up support for the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the refrain he heard in response to his "Iraq, Iraq," was "Palestine, Palestine." Cheney was a little hard of hearing at the time and the neocon foreign policy gurus responded that the road to Jerusalem went through Baghdad.
It has taken a while but the administration seems to have learned that the opposite is the case. The road to cleaning up some of the negative consequences of Iraq runs through Jerusalem. In particular, success in this initiative would improve the abysmal public perception of the U.S. in the region and the dangerous idea that the U.S. is the enemy of Islam.
In Israel, the broad center of Israeli society now accepts that the occupation of the Palestinian territories has been a drain on resources and morale and become unsustainable. The creation of the Kadima party and, in a way, the building of the separation barrier reflects that consensus. The challenge is to find a way to end the occupation that does not increase, but hopefully diminishes, the security threat to Israel.
With Hamas controlling Gaza and acting as the wolf at the door in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has a strong interest in achieving a settlement acceptable to a majority of Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas understands that failure in this regard will undermine his credibility with the Palestinian people. Equally important, Israel and the U.S. understand this too.
Hamas, and beyond it, the specter of Iran is focusing the minds of the Arab states too. Islamist movements like Hamas threaten the hold on power of the regions' authoritarian regimes. Iran's regional aspirations, with or without nuclear weapons, make Saudi Arabia, with a large Shiite minority in its eastern oil-producing region, or Bahrain with a majority Shiite population, extremely nervous. A peace settlement in Palestine would remove one area where Iran can make trouble.
None of this means that the parties will actually find ground on which they can agree. The domestic political pressures are great. And agreement is not the same as implementation. Hamas may exercise a veto through action on any agreement. Nevertheless, if agreement were achieved it would change the context in which implementation and the role of Hamas were addressed by the international community.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/23/editorial_annapolis_why_now/6305/
Iraq Sunni Arab leader 'under house arrest'
Agencies
Published: December 01, 2007, 14:22
Baghdad: Iraq's top Sunni Arab leader said on Saturday he has been placed under house arrest, a day after his son and bodyguards were arrested in government raids.
The Iraqi government said they asked Adnan Al Dulaimi to stay at home for his own safety after Iraqi troops arrested dozens of his bodyguards under suspicion of terrorism.
A government spokesman said the measures were temporary and did not amount to house arrest.
At least 35 of Dulaimi's bodyguards and his son were arrested on Thursday and Friday after police found a car bomb near his office. Dulaimi denied the car was near his office.
Dulaimi said troops prevented him from leaving his compound on Saturday.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171602.html
Sunnis walk out over leader 'house arrest'
Reuters
Published: December 02, 2007, 01:07
Baghdad: Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc walked out of parliament on Saturday and its leader said he had been placed under house arrest after his son and dozens of members of his entourage were detained.
Saleem Al Jubouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front, said the group would not return to parliament until its leader, Adnan Al Dulaimi, was allowed to leave his home.
"We walked out [yesterday] and announced we will not attend the session [yesterday] or [today] unless the pressure is lifted off Dr Al Dulaimi and he is allowed to move wherever he likes," Al Jubouri told Reuters at parliament.
The standoff could worsen sectarian tension between the minority Sunni community and the Shiite-led government at a time when violence in Iraq has been falling.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171740.html
Roadside bomb kills two policemen in Baghdad
Agencies
Published: December 02, 2007, 13:19
Baghdad: Two police officers were killed in a Sunni-dominated neighbourhood of Baghdad on Sunday after a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol exploded.
A third officer in the neighbourhood was shot to death on his way to work, police said, while a further roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad, killing three soldiers.
Also in Baghdad, an Iraqi civilian was killed when a roadside bomb planted beneath a parked car exploded near the heavily fortified Buratha Shiite mosque, a frequent target of Sunni extremists.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171860.html
Son of Iraqi official held over bomb find
Agencies
Published: December 01, 2007, 11:48
Baghdad: Security forces have arrested the son of a top Iraqi politician along with at least 35 other people after police found a car bomb in the MP’s compound.
MP Adnan Al Dulaimi denied any links to terrorism and said that the car was not in the compound. He said he is a victim of an assassination plot.
Al Dulaimi said that up to 50 of his bodyguards and his son Mekki had been detained since Thursday evening.
However, Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Al Moussawi said that the car bomb was found when security forces chased a suspected fugitive into the compound.
Al Moussawi said that weapons and army and police uniforms had also been found at the MP's home.
"Dulaimi's bodyguards are suspected of having links to car bombs and killings," he said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171590.html
Yeah.
Right.
Good thinking John Boy.
Sunni leader and parliamentarian Adnan al-Dulaimi speaks during a press conference in Baghdad, May 2007. Iraq's faltering political process was thrown into fresh turmoil on Saturday when the main Sunni bloc walked out of parliament in protest at a security crackdown on its leader Dulaimi. (AFP Wisam Sami)
Iraq parliament hit by walkout over raid on Sunni leader
by Ammar Karim
Published: December 01, 2007
BAGHDAD (AFP) Iraq's faltering political process was thrown into fresh turmoil on Saturday when the main Sunni bloc walked out of parliament in protest at a security crackdown on its leader Adnan al-Dulaimi.
The latest political upheaval came as suspected Al-Qaeda militants killed 14 people in a raid on a Shiite village.
The National Concord Front, the main Sunni bloc with 44 MPs in the 275-member parliament, walked out of the assembly, saying it would return after Dulaimi himself comes back to the legislature.
"We announce our boycott of the parliament until Adnan al-Dulaimi returns to the assembly today or tomorrow," the bloc's Abdul Karim al-Samarraie told the assembly.
"When I went to meet him I was stopped and told that he is under house arrest. This is a violation of the rights of an MP who wants to come to the parliament," Samarraie said.
After his statement the bloc's MPs walked out of the assembly hall. Mahmud al-Mashhadani, the Sunni parliament speaker, joined them.
Shiite MP Haider al-Ibadi said the Dulaimi issue should not be discussed in the assembly.
"There is an investigation and parliament should not interfere in it," he said before the Sunnis walked out.
Iraqi government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh denied that Dulaimi was under house arrest.
"What is being said about house arrest is not true. It is only protection given to Dulaimi until the situation is clear," Dabbagh told state television Al-Iraqiya.
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/iraq_parliament_hit_by_walkout_over_raid_on_sunni_leader/afp/
No relief for Iraqi camp kids
By IWPR
Published: December 01, 2007
Seven-year-old Ali Hussein's toy is an old tire, which he pushes back and forth in a pond of dirty water.
Ali, a mud-caked, pale-faced little boy, is a Shiite from Baqouba, 50 kilometers north of Baghdad, who together with his family left the town after his father was killed by Sunni insurgents. The family was told they would also be killed if they stayed there.
"He was a very nice person and no one can replace him," said Ali.
Ali and his family now live in a camp in the al-Habibya area east of Baghdad. The conditions in the camp are poor, its residents are impoverished and the services are limited. Ali, a first grader, no longer attends school.
Recent reports of refugee and internally displaced families trickling back to their Baghdad neighborhoods have brought some semblance of hope that the security situation is improving in the capital.
But "the number being displaced still far exceeds the number of returnees," according to a November report by the International Organization for Migration (IOM) a Swiss-based intergovernmental organization focusing on refugees and displaced persons. And aid for internally displaced Iraqis is not meeting needs, aid organizations report.
Hundreds of thousands of families remain in camps throughout the country, where young Iraqis do not have access to education and are vulnerable to disease, according to aid agencies.
According to the U.N. children's agency, UNICEF, 15 percent of Iraq's population - about 4 million people - has fled their homes since 2003. Fifty percent are children.
The IOM in Iraq reports that 2.25 million Iraqis are internally displaced. In September 2007, Amnesty International said that Iraq had the "the fastest growing displacement crisis in the world."
"Inside Iraq, conditions for displaced children and the communities hosting them are grave," UNICEF maintained in a report earlier this year. "The need to act is urgent."
The camps lack basic services such as clean water, sewage, and electricity. In one camp in the capital's al-Madaen neighborhood, 65 families are living in mud houses and children are suffering from diarrhea, skin diseases, and malnutrition, according to the IOM. Children are working to support their families and are not attending school.
Efforts to raise money for children have achieved little.
UNICEF launched an appeal in late May for nearly $42 million to support displaced Iraqi children and women in Iraq, Syria, and Jordan. But the agency has yet to receive any funds, according to a Nov. 23 report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
http://www.metimes.com/International/2007/12/01/no_relief_for_iraqi_camp_kids/2976/
EDITORIAL: Annapolis – why now?
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 23, 2007
There is never a good time to hold a conference to try and settle the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, only lesser bad times. Or, as Robert Malley of the International Crisis Group put it recently, "It depends whether you see the glass as one-third full or two-thirds empty."
There have been plenty of skeptical assessments of the prospects for success at Annapolis. In fact, the expectations have dropped so low that the Annapolis meeting itself is probably immune to failure. Instead it will be judged later on whether it launches a productive peace process.
There are plenty of obstacles to that happening but there is also a real set of interests in achieving a settlement at this time that go beyond the desire to secure a legacy for U.S. President George W. Bush. The interests involved are those of the United States, Israel, the Palestinian Authority, and the Arab states, especially Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states. It is worth taking stock of them.
When U.S. Vice President Dick Cheney toured Arab capitals in 2002 trying to drum up support for the overthrow of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, the refrain he heard in response to his "Iraq, Iraq," was "Palestine, Palestine." Cheney was a little hard of hearing at the time and the neocon foreign policy gurus responded that the road to Jerusalem went through Baghdad.
It has taken a while but the administration seems to have learned that the opposite is the case. The road to cleaning up some of the negative consequences of Iraq runs through Jerusalem. In particular, success in this initiative would improve the abysmal public perception of the U.S. in the region and the dangerous idea that the U.S. is the enemy of Islam.
In Israel, the broad center of Israeli society now accepts that the occupation of the Palestinian territories has been a drain on resources and morale and become unsustainable. The creation of the Kadima party and, in a way, the building of the separation barrier reflects that consensus. The challenge is to find a way to end the occupation that does not increase, but hopefully diminishes, the security threat to Israel.
With Hamas controlling Gaza and acting as the wolf at the door in the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority has a strong interest in achieving a settlement acceptable to a majority of Palestinians. President Mahmoud Abbas understands that failure in this regard will undermine his credibility with the Palestinian people. Equally important, Israel and the U.S. understand this too.
Hamas, and beyond it, the specter of Iran is focusing the minds of the Arab states too. Islamist movements like Hamas threaten the hold on power of the regions' authoritarian regimes. Iran's regional aspirations, with or without nuclear weapons, make Saudi Arabia, with a large Shiite minority in its eastern oil-producing region, or Bahrain with a majority Shiite population, extremely nervous. A peace settlement in Palestine would remove one area where Iran can make trouble.
None of this means that the parties will actually find ground on which they can agree. The domestic political pressures are great. And agreement is not the same as implementation. Hamas may exercise a veto through action on any agreement. Nevertheless, if agreement were achieved it would change the context in which implementation and the role of Hamas were addressed by the international community.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/23/editorial_annapolis_why_now/6305/
Iraq Sunni Arab leader 'under house arrest'
Agencies
Published: December 01, 2007, 14:22
Baghdad: Iraq's top Sunni Arab leader said on Saturday he has been placed under house arrest, a day after his son and bodyguards were arrested in government raids.
The Iraqi government said they asked Adnan Al Dulaimi to stay at home for his own safety after Iraqi troops arrested dozens of his bodyguards under suspicion of terrorism.
A government spokesman said the measures were temporary and did not amount to house arrest.
At least 35 of Dulaimi's bodyguards and his son were arrested on Thursday and Friday after police found a car bomb near his office. Dulaimi denied the car was near his office.
Dulaimi said troops prevented him from leaving his compound on Saturday.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171602.html
Sunnis walk out over leader 'house arrest'
Reuters
Published: December 02, 2007, 01:07
Baghdad: Iraq's largest Sunni political bloc walked out of parliament on Saturday and its leader said he had been placed under house arrest after his son and dozens of members of his entourage were detained.
Saleem Al Jubouri, spokesman for the Accordance Front, said the group would not return to parliament until its leader, Adnan Al Dulaimi, was allowed to leave his home.
"We walked out [yesterday] and announced we will not attend the session [yesterday] or [today] unless the pressure is lifted off Dr Al Dulaimi and he is allowed to move wherever he likes," Al Jubouri told Reuters at parliament.
The standoff could worsen sectarian tension between the minority Sunni community and the Shiite-led government at a time when violence in Iraq has been falling.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171740.html
Roadside bomb kills two policemen in Baghdad
Agencies
Published: December 02, 2007, 13:19
Baghdad: Two police officers were killed in a Sunni-dominated neighbourhood of Baghdad on Sunday after a roadside bomb targeting a police patrol exploded.
A third officer in the neighbourhood was shot to death on his way to work, police said, while a further roadside bomb struck an Iraqi army patrol north of Baghdad, killing three soldiers.
Also in Baghdad, an Iraqi civilian was killed when a roadside bomb planted beneath a parked car exploded near the heavily fortified Buratha Shiite mosque, a frequent target of Sunni extremists.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171860.html
Son of Iraqi official held over bomb find
Agencies
Published: December 01, 2007, 11:48
Baghdad: Security forces have arrested the son of a top Iraqi politician along with at least 35 other people after police found a car bomb in the MP’s compound.
MP Adnan Al Dulaimi denied any links to terrorism and said that the car was not in the compound. He said he is a victim of an assassination plot.
Al Dulaimi said that up to 50 of his bodyguards and his son Mekki had been detained since Thursday evening.
However, Baghdad security spokesman Qassim Al Moussawi said that the car bomb was found when security forces chased a suspected fugitive into the compound.
Al Moussawi said that weapons and army and police uniforms had also been found at the MP's home.
"Dulaimi's bodyguards are suspected of having links to car bombs and killings," he said.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10171590.html
Today, Lebanon is among the best ready for peace and stability.
Army commander, Gen. Michel Suleiman salutes during a ceremony in the Christian town of Jounieh, Lebanon in this Saturday, Oct. 6, 2007 file photo. The largest bloc in Lebanon's deadlocked parliament has dropped its opposition to the army chief becoming the next president, bringing Gen. Michel Suleiman one step closer to being the new head of state and ending Lebanon's year-long political crisis, a lawmaker said Wednesday Nov. 28, 2007. Associated Press © 2007
Lebanon Lawmakers Back Army Chief
from The Associated Press
BEIRUT, Lebanon November 28, 2007, 9:05 a.m. ET · The largest bloc in Lebanon's deadlocked parliament has dropped its opposition to the army chief becoming president, bringing Gen. Michel Suleiman a step closer to being the new head of state and ending a yearlong political crisis, a lawmaker said Wednesday.
The apparent breakthrough, announced by legislator Ammar Houry after weeks of political deadlock, came just one day after the Mideast peace conference in Annapolis, Md., a meeting that Lebanon's powerful neighbor, Syria, had chosen to attend.
It had been widely expected that tension between the United States and Syria would ease after Syria's participation at Annapolis. That was expected to affect the Lebanon political crisis, because the Syrian-U.S. tension has, in part, played itself out through Lebanon's complex politics.
Suleiman is seen as a uniting figure, whom both the U.S.-backed majority in Lebanon and the pro-Syrian opposition — as well as outside players — can back. All sides appear to view him, at least for now, as a relatively neutral player who can guarantee that no side in Lebanon's fractured politics dominates the other....
Lebanon opposition sit-in enters second year
by Ines Bel Aiba
Published: December 01, 2007
BEIRUT (AFP) Hundreds of supporters of Lebanon's Hezbollah-led opposition marked in Beirut on Saturday, the anniversary of their open-ended sit-in to bring down the government.
They gathered in Riad Solh Square in the city centre where the opposition, supported by Syria and Iran, has a protest camp outside the offices of Western-backed Prime Minister Fuad Siniora.
They waved Lebanese flags as well as the banners of Hezbollah and ally Amal, both Shiite groups, the Free Patriotic Movement of Christian leader Michel Aoun and a number of pro-Syrian parties.
"One year on the sit-in for national unity," said one placard. "One year on, against monopoly," read another.
The protest continues as Lebanon grapples with a dangerous political vacuum that has left the presidency vacant because of a standoff between pro- and anti-Syrian factions.
"The Lebanese nationalist opposition is ready for a settlement through a consensual president and a government of partnership," Hezbollah MP Hussein Hajj Hassan told the rally.
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/lebanon_opposition_sitin_enters_second_year/afp/
EDITORIAL: Ramallah-Annapolis via Beirut
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 25, 2007
Syria announced it will participate in the Annapolis Middle East peace summit called at the behest of the United States to try and revive the all but dead Palestinian-Israeli peace initiative.
However, Damascus said it would be sending its deputy foreign minister rather than the country's top diplomat, an indication that Damascus is not entirely satisfied with the agenda. Syria had pegged its participation on condition that the question of the Golan Heights occupied by Israel in June 1967 would figure on the agenda. This is probably one of the reasons that no official agenda has been established yet, with about 24 hours to go before the conference convenes.
And it's probably no coincidence either that the election of the Lebanese president, who's deadline expired midnight Friday, Nov. 23, has been postponed for the fifth time. This latest postponement gives the Syrians an extra card to play at Annapolis.
Upon leaving the presidential palace just before midnight – and with no consensus reached by the country's parliamentarians on who they could elect to be the next president –- Lahoud handed the task of maintaining Lebanon's security to the army.
The delay in Beirut serves the interests of Syria more so than anyone else in the region. It gives Damascus an additional bargaining point at Annapolis, something Syria's President Bashar Assad badly needs.
The Syrians realize they hold no aces other than the Lebanon card.
The danger is that plans can go astray and that Washington may not see the situation through the same lens as Damascus. The "temporary measure," decreed in Lebanon may end up lasting longer than originally anticipated. This sort of thing tends to happen in Lebanon. As was so adequately pointed out by Paul Khalife, a correspondent for Radio France International, the morning after President Emile Lahoud left the presidential palace in his dispatch: In 1948 the Lebanese were told that the thousands of Palestinian refugees flooding into Lebanon was "temporary." Sixty years later their numbers swelled to 400,000 and they make up 12 percent of Lebanon's population.
In 1990, at the end of the 15-year Lebanese civil war, tens of thousands of refugees were told they could return within a short while to their villages in southern Lebanon; it took 18 years to make that a reality.
The Saudi-sponsored Taif Accords in 1990, which put an end to the civil war, included a clause calling for the immediate withdrawal of Syrian troops from Lebanon. That took 13 years to materialize. The Lebanese presidential election which has been postponed five consecutive times was to take place at the latest Saturday, Nov. 24. This date, too, has been postponed by another week.
As the French radio correspondent pointed out, "the Lebanese have come to realize that in Lebanon only the temporary is permanent."
The one hope for a quick resolution of the Lebanese crisis is the inclusion of the Golan question on the agenda at Annapolis. The road to peace in Ramallah, Jerusalem, and Beirut needs to detour via the Golan.
http://www.metimes.com/Editorial/2007/11/25/editorial_ramallah-annapolis_via_beirut/3266/
Lebanon's majority names candidate (click here)
Mon, 03 Dec 2007 04:55:38
Former Lebanese President Amin GemayelLebanon's parliamentary majority has formally declared the nomination of the army commander, Gen. Michel Suleiman, for the presidency. The announcement was made on Sunday by former President Amin Gemayel after a meeting with top leaders of US-backed Prime Minister Fouad Siniora's coalition. "The decision was to put an end to the collapse of the state and in order to fill the vacuum in the presidency. For this the 14th March forces declare the nomination of Gen. Michel Suleiman and launch the required constitutional mechanism for that,'' said Gemayel. On Saturday Hezbollah's second ranking official, Naim Qassem, said that the Islamic movement holds Suleiman in high regard, hinting at his candidacy. Though the majority nomination of Gen. Michel Suleiman does not guarantee him the position, his emergence as a compromise candidate proposes a potential resolution to the conflict between the ruling party and the opposition party....
...and what of Hamas in all this?
There can't be a sustainable peace in the Middle East so long as extremist populous continues to feel ostracized, including, Hamas, Hezbollah, Islamic Jihad and the Brotherhood. A signed peace 'pact' means nothing if the violence continues.
Israel awaiting High Court ruling before cutting power to Gaza Strip
By Yuval Yoaz, Haaretz Correspondent
The defense establishment does not intend to begin reducing electricity from Israel to the Gaza Strip until it receives a green light from the High Court of Justice, legal officials said over the weekend.
The statement came after the High Court ruling on Friday that the state must provide clarifications and additional information before the court considers approving power cuts.
Although the High Court stopped short of issuing an injunction forcing the state to wait before implementing a power cut, the justices said they "assumed that until the required additional information and necessary clarifications are received, the plan to limit electricity to the Gaza Strip will not begin to be implemented."
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The High Court ruling means a delay of at least three weeks before Israel reduces electricity to Gaza, because the state has 12 days to provide the information. Those who oppose the move then have a week to file their briefs with the court before justices Dorit Beinisch, Esther Hayut and Joseph Elon make their final ruling.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930046.html
One PA - with Hamas
By Zvi Bar'el
As much as the Annapolis conference sought to be "in favor" of the peace process, it measured its success in its ability to be "against" - against Iran, against Hezbollah, against Syria and against Hamas. This is an ostensibly simple and convincing method of measurement. The more Arab leaders at the conference's gala dinner, the greater the victory of the "against" forces: Iran became more isolated, Hamas was pushed into a corner and Hezbollah remained alone. This is one way to assess the conference, but it will turn out to be meaningless when the time comes soon to pay the Annapolis IOUs.
Take, for example, the question of isolating Hamas. This chapter should particularly interest Israel because Hamas is the key to Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' ability to demonstrate his "partnerability." According to the "Bush test," which requires "destroying the infrastructures of terror," there is no gray area: Hamas must be dismantled. Abbas not only needs to disarm the Hamas army, crush the Qassam cells and jail the wanted men. He must also take apart Hamas' organizational framework, its civic infrastructure, schools and health clinics. He will be judged by these steps, which Israel will require as initial proof of implementing the road map.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930033.html
IDF kills 5 Hamas members, another armed man in Gaza
By Avi Issacharoff, Yuval Azoulay and Jonathan Lis
Tags: Security, Hamas, Gaza, IDF
Six armed Palestinians were killed by the Israel Defense Forces in two incidents in the Gaza Strip yesterday. Five of the dead were Hamas members.
In the first incident, which occured east of Khan Yunis in the southern Gaza Strip, the five Hamas members were hit by IDF missiles. The five belonged to Murabitun, the Hamas border guard. The five were located at a number of positions near the border, and according to the IDF were "involved in terror action" when they were attacked from the air.
The sixth Palestinian, apparently a member of a terror organization, was killed close to the Jabaliya refugee camp near Gaza City when an IDF unit was attacked by armed men and returned fire.
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The IDF has killed more than 25 Palestinians clashes since Thursday. The IDF said all were armed and intended to carry out attacks on soldiers or other Israeli targets.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930021.html
Hamas slams security forces' detention of its members in West Bank
www.chinaview.cn
RAMALLAH, Dec. 1 (Xinhua) -- Islamic Hamas movement on Saturday slammed the detention of nine of its members by security forces loyal to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in West Bank cities.
In a statement sent to the press, Hamas said that among the arrested, three each from Hebron, Nablus and Jenin.
Meanwhile, five Hamas militants were killed in predawn Israeli airstrikes in southern Gaza Strip, which has been under the rule of Hamas since it routed the pro-Abbas security forces in June.
Commenting on the two incidents, Hamas said West Bank detentions by pro-Fatah security services and the Israeli air attacks in Gaza showed part of the collaboration between the moderate Fatah movement and Israel after the U.S.-sponsored Annapolis conference on Mideast.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-12/01/content_7180492.htm
Hamas boycotts Palestinian census
Published: December 01, 2007
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AFP) The Islamist movement Hamas, which controls the Gaza Strip, blocked the launch there on Saturday of a census by the Palestinian Authority, the head of the Palestinian statistics office said.
"We have not been able to begin census-taking in the Gaza Strip because Hamas has prevented us from doing so," said Loai Shabana, in the West Bank city of Ramallah.
In contrast, the census did begin in the West Bank, and is expected to last 16 days.
"It is a shame that we cannot carry out our work, which is purely professional and has nothing to do with politics," Shabana added.
Hamas seized control of Gaza in June after bloody battles with supporters of Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas, who subsequently sacked Hamas premier Ismail Haniya and appointed a new government.
Since then, the rule of the Abbas-headed Palestinian Authority been restricted to the West Bank, with Hamas having set up a parallel a de facto government of its own in Gaza.
The most recent Palestinian census numbers, published two years ago, put the total population of the West Bank and Gaza at 3,762,000 people. Of that, 2,372,000 people lived in the West Bank and 1,390,000 in Gaza.
Nearly half of the population -- 46 percent -- was less than 15 years old, and 42 percent lived below the poverty line.
© 2007 Agence France-Presse
http://www.metimes.com/Politics/2007/12/01/hamas_boycotts_palestinian_census/afp/
NO HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS. That in no way indicates a willingness to peace.
The "Middle Man' of the Middle East. Jordan is always amenable and always left 'just vulnerable' enough to cooperate. No pandering to false agendas.
Former NATO head expected to join Rice's Mideast team
By Haaretz Correspondent and Agencies , By Amir Oren
Tags: Jim Jones
Former NATO commander, retired General James Jones is expected to accept a role as adviser to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice on security issues related to peace negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians, according to official sources.
The retired Marine Corps general will go by the official title of "Special Envoy for Middle East Security."
According to State Department spokesman Sean McCormack, the job involves monitoring the development of the Palestinian security services, and how they interact with their Israeli counterparts.
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Without referring to Jones specifically, McCormack said that the person who takes up the position would "take a look internally at not only the efforts of the Palestinians to build up their security forces, but how those efforts relate to the Israeli government and Israeli security efforts and how those efforts also relate throughout the region."
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/929221.html
Jordan-US ties remain strategic - US envoy
By Khalid Neimat
AMMAN - Jordan-US relations would not be affected by any change in administrations in Washington as these decades-old ties are “strategic”, US Ambassador David Hale has said.
Hale added that these “strong” relations were cemented by successive US administrations, noting that the Kingdom enjoys support from many US politicians.
In an interview with The Jordan Times and Al Rai, the ambassador stressed his country’s keenness to help Jordan overcome economic challenges facing it.
He also paid tribute to Jordan’s efforts to revive the dormant Mideast peace process.
Throughout the past few years, the Kingdom has been making great diplomatic efforts, led by His Majesty King Abdullah, to restore the Israeli-Palestinian peace process in an attempt to generate a just and comprehensive peace in the region, with the solution of two states living side by side in peace and security, Hale said.
Jordan is an example of a state that is working to accomplish peace and stability in the area, the envoy added.
The US and all parties to the peace process realise Jordan’s interests in issues related to Palestinian refugees, but they know have focus on moving the process forward to discuss all relevant matters, Hale said.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4029
Longing for Deri
By Gideon Levy
In a tailored suit, his beard well groomed, and no longer bespectacled, Deputy Prime Minister Eli Yishai shuttled from interview to interview: "Nothing will emerge from Annapolis." This minister of nothing now constitutes the government's right-wing benchmark, competing with Avigdor Lieberman over who is more extreme and who will be first to quit the government.
These two ministers represent ethnicity, and both paint their ethnic focus in strong nationalist colors. But while Lieberman represents a party that was founded on racism, Yishai received a relatively moderate party and took it to the extreme right. Seeing him makes one long for the party's founder, Aryeh Deri. Deri's Shas was not a left-wing party, but it expressed relatively moderate political positions and even refrained from undermining the first Oslo agreement (although it opposed Oslo II).
The new Shas, on the other hand, acts and talks as if it is seeking war, and is doing its utmost to undermine the prime minister's efforts - which seem sincere - to end the conflict. This is not just a matter of ideological oscillation. The problem is that Yishai is leading a broad public - some of whom are moderate - to racism, extreme nationalism and hatred of Arabs. He has restored the old status quo to its glory: Mizrahim, versus the Arabs and peace. His views, therefore, are disastrous.
Completely lacking the charisma and personal charm of his predecessor, Yishai has benighted views: He recently spoke about "medication" for homosexuality. He has said he finds the sale of pork, civil marriages and workshops for Jewish and Arab teenagers equally disgusting, which brings him in line with his uncivil spiritual mentor, Rabbi Ovadia Yosef.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930032.html
World should ensure parties honour commitments - King
AMMAN (Agencies) - His Majesty King Abdullah on Saturday said that intensified international efforts are required in the coming stage to ensure that all parties to the Middle East conflict honour their commitments to a peaceful solution.
In a phone call, the King discussed with US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice means to proceed with the peace process after last week’s Annapolis meeting.
King Abdullah said it was also important to build on the meeting's outcome. Rice said she appreciated King Abdullah's endeavours to bring about a just and comprehensive peace in the Middle East.
Meanwhile, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday in Amman that he "did not receive any guarantees from the American administration regarding the upcoming negotiations with Israel".
"All I can say is that we felt seriousness from President [George W.] Bush and Secretary [of State Condoleezza] Rice and the whole American administration towards resolving the Palestinian problem," he said.
"But we can't claim that we have any guarantees on the negotiations and their outcome."
"We're depending on the righteousness of our cause and on the international community, including the United States, which is sympathetic towards the Palestinian issue," added Abbas during a brief stopover at Amman’s Marka Airport. He later flew out to Saudi Arabia.
Former Palestinian premier Ahmed Qureia, speaking separately with reporters at the airport, said the Palestinians were determined to "achieve statehood" by the end of next year.
http://www.jordantimes.com/?news=4032
Belying assurances
While much fanfare has surrounded the relaunching of a peace process between Israelis and Palestinians, Israel has quietly continued to do what it always does to undermine the possible success of such a process, namely killing Palestinians.
Yesterday, five Palestinians, all members of Hamas’ armed wing, were killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza. There was no suggestion that the five were posing any threat to Israel. Indeed, the Israeli army simply said it struck once it had identified armed men near its border.
Hamas said its men were on patrol. Neither side suggested anything about any rocket attack.
This, in Israeli parlance, constitutes self-defence. Indeed, the demolition of houses, the building of settlements and the taking of Palestinian lives all constitute self-defence in Israeli terminology.
And this in spite of the stated “urgent efforts” by the Israeli government to sue for peace during the next year.
Is it any wonder that no one takes the Israeli government seriously? It is true that many want to take Israel seriously, among them the Arab countries that attended last week’s Annapolis conference. But that has time and again proved to be wishful thinking. Hence, among ordinary Palestinians, the call by Hamas for no negotiations until there is a full ceasefire from the Israeli side and a complete freeze on settlement building is convincing.
How, say critics of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, can Palestinians negotiate when they are being killed and imprisoned daily and their land is being expropriated?
What kind of “partner for peace” is this?
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4040
Bush’s ‘diplomatic achievement’ at Annapolis
Musa Keilani
US President George W. Bush stood tall at Annapolis and declared that he was committing himself to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. But there was a sense of superficiality to the US pledge that Israelis and Palestinians will work out a peace agreement in one year.
One could only celebrate an Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement if that were fair and just to all and comprehensively addressed the roots of the conflict.
The ability of the Palestinian leaders to deliver on the Annapolis pledge is also under question because of domestic reasons. And one is aware that the US stand is, of course, based on the fact that Bush will definitely want to leave something as legacy to the American people when he steps out of the White House in January 2009.
Will that mean that Bush will be consistently following up on the planned Israeli-Palestinian negotiations and, more importantly, be willing to twist arms when the circumstances warrant such action? It could, but not the Israelis’. The heat would remain on the Palestinians to make compromise after compromise.
It is not to be negative and sceptic about everything the US does, but the Annapolis pledge will be more convincing in real terms if we could see some sign of a realistic approach to the issues that need to be addressed.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4041
More than meets the eye
Walid M. Sadi
I am one of those who still cannot make heads or tails of the Annapolis peace conference.
The conference was more or less hastily convened and hurriedly ended. All that the world knows now is that US President George W. Bush is committed to brokering peace between Israel and the Palestinians before his term in office at the White House ends next year and that he will put his weight behind the negotiated settlement of the Palestinian question before the year 2008 ends.
We also know that Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas have committed themselves to seeking a negotiated settlement of their differences on final status issues within the span of one year. What we don’t know is how these commitments will indeed be translated into deeds, especially in the wake of similar assurances in the past that all ended not only in utter failure but also in violence.
Perhaps there is something different in the air this time that outsiders know little about. Perhaps there is a true change of heart in Israel’s case on the Palestinian case; maybe it has reconciled itself to accepting the fair and just case of the Palestinian side.
The Palestinians have gone a long way to meet Israel’s concerns and anxieties, and cannot be expected to yield any more concessions in order to attain a lasting peace accord.
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=4042
Weekly Poll
Do you think the new government is capable of tackling socio-economic challenges?
Yes (19 %)
No (66 %)
I don't know (15 %)
Total Votes : 128
http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php
The Middle East has to solve it's own problems. That is not going to come unless all parties seek peace with diligence.
EDITORIAL: Listen to the king
By MIDDLE EAST TIMES
Published: November 22, 2007
The U.S. government invitation to Saudi Arabia to attend the Annapolis peace conference on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is a welcome development, but Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice still has far to go to dispel the all too unjustifiable suspicion around the region that this invitation is just pro forma. Washington cannot make any substantive progress on the peace process unless Saudi Arabia actively supports it. And that will only happen if Riyadh's real interest and concerns are truly recognized and accommodated.
Over the past decade successive U.S. administrations, both Democratic and Republican, have been disastrously short-sighted and self-defeating in their dealings with the Saudis. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright's failure to assuage Saudi concerns about the then-collapsing global oil price in 1998-9 drove Riyadh into Iran's arms for a highly successful production-limiting agreement that restored the global clout of OPEC.
So far, current Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has echoed Albright's incompetence in dealing with the desert kingdom. But Annapolis will be doomed unless she wakes up fast.
Saudi King Abdullah has made very clear over the past month of his willingness to play a far larger and more positive role in the peace process. The king's unprecedented meeting with Pope Benedict XVI declared to the world his determination to try and avert the suicidal nightmare of a war of civilizations between the Christian and Muslim worlds, and of his readiness to run major risks with Arab public opinion in order to do so.
The king's leadership at the latest OPEC summit in Riyadh was also a model of courageous and constructive statesmanship. He stood up to the Iranians and the Venezuelans in asserting that the revived economic power of the global oil cartel should be used moderately and wisely. All this signals Saudi willingness as well as capability to play a major constructive role at Annapolis.
The Saudi position on the greatest danger facing the Middle East today - the continuing stand-off between the United States and Iran over Tehran's nuclear program - is also clear-cut, practical and constructive. It is that Washington should take an active lead in containing Iran and discouraging it from any reckless actions, but that the U.S. should also take pains to defuse tensions, enter into a constructive dialog, and make clear it is moving away from the risk of stumbling into a catastrophic war with the Islamic republic.
The stated goal of the U.S. and Israel is to revive the credibility of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas to make the West Bank a successful and attractive society for Palestinians in contrast to what Hamas, the Islamic Resistance Movement, is doing in Gaza. After years of ignoring Abbas' warnings and seeking to undermine him at every turn, such a policy should be welcomed as better late than never. But it cannot hope to succeed without very substantial Saudi financial support.
Bush and Rice therefore can only gain from embracing King Abdullah as a major partner and player in the peace process: They should be under no illusion that they can advance it without him.
CIA Used Jordan to Detain Suspects
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 2 December 2007 — Terror suspects were reportedly held in custody by a Jordanian spy agency working covertly with the US CIA that used its ties with its Jordanian counterparts to detain and interrogate at least 12 terrorism suspects in Jordan.
Citing unnamed documents, The Washington Post reported yesterday that former prisoners and human rights advocates said that for the past seven years a secret detention center located on the outskirts of Amman was mostly used as a covert transit point for CIA prisoners captured elsewhere.
The building is the headquarters of the General Intelligence Department, or GID, Jordan’s powerful spy and security agency, The Post said.
“The GID has received money, training and equipment from the CIA for decades and even has a public English-language website.
“The relationship has deepened in recent years, with US officials praising their Jordanian counterparts for the depth of their knowledge regarding Al-Qaeda and other radical networks,” the paper said.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104211&d=2&m=12&y=2007&pix=world.jpg&category=World
Programs to Boost Intelligence Gathering Skills Set, Says Muqrin
Raid Qusti, Arab News
RIYADH, 2 December 2007 — The Saudi Intelligence Presidency has provided computer training to all of its administrative employees as part of a government strategy to prepare the organization to cope with rapidly evolving technology, Chief of Intelligence Prince Muqrin said yesterday.
“In response to the directives of our leaders to make government bodies more computer savvy, the presidency has begun implementing several programs to improve intelligence gathering techniques,” said Prince Muqrin during his keynote speech at the inauguration of a three-day international conference entitled “Information Technology & National Security.”
“Special attention has been given to the presidency’s employees. All administrative employees have been given training in computers,” he added.
Prince Muqrin mentioned that the presidency had established a “new vision” for the government agency.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=104210&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Thoughts on Annapolis
Daniel Levy, Arab News
WASHINGTON, 2 December 2007 — Theories abound as to why an Annapolis conference and why now. Jerry Seinfeld would be excused for thinking that this is all a personal conspiracy against him — his visit to Israel was dominating the headlines until Annapolis came along. In fact, some in the Israeli media have been drawing a rather unflattering analogy: the Annapolis conference resembles a Seinfeld episode — it’s about nothing. Yada, yada, yada.
It’s easy to be cynical, but Annapolis does matter. Israelis and Palestinians formally re launched permanent status negotiations after seven long, violent and destructive years. The Bush administration is finally engaged and expending some capital on this issue. The Arab world, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, attended. At the very least, it is the kind of gathering that cannot be convened every fortnight. The uninvited naysayers back home — Hamas, Iran, you know the list — may look like meanie spoilsports today, but if a month from now negotiations are stalled and the situation on the ground is just as dreadful (place your bets), then it is they who will be wearing the Cheshire cat grins.
Annapolis could signify the rebirth of hope, but for this to be the case the credibility gaps that have the skeptics buzzing will need to be addressed.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=104221&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Middle East Still Lives Under War’s Dark Shadow
Sir Cyril Townsend, Arab News
On Nov. 15 the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) produced a report that claimed Iran had been cooperating to a limited extent with its inspectors, but might be able to produce an atom bomb within a year. This has raised fears in both London and Washington of an attack by Israel on Iran’s nuclear facilities.
The IAEA report stated: “Iran has provided sufficient access to individuals and has responded in a timely manner to questions and provided clarifications and amplifications on issues raised.”
It went on to say that the IAEA: “was not in a position to provide credible assurances about the absence of undeclared nuclear material and activities in Iran.”
It concluded that Iran has expanded uranium enrichment to about 3,000 centrifuge machines, and that is enough to start industrial production of nuclear fuel and could provide the material for an atom bomb within a year.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=104222&d=2&m=12&y=2007
Ahmadinejad to attend Gulf Arab summit
By Mohammed Almezel, Deputy Managing Editor
Last updated: December 02, 2007, 14:17
Doha: A senior Gulf official on Sunday welcomed the participation of Iranian president in Monday's Gulf Cooperation Council summit.
Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad will take part in the GCC leaders' meeting here for the first time. He was invited by the summit host, Emir of Qatar Shaikh Hamad Bin Khalifa Al Thani, amid increasing tension between Tehran and Washington over Iran's controversial nuclear programme.
"We welcome the presence of the Iranian guest in the summit," GCC Secretary General Abdul Rahman Al Atiyyah told reporters in Doha today, ahead of a meeting of the six GCC states finance ministers.
He declined to state the reasons behind the invitation but said, "It is not the first time we invite leaders on this level to the summit."
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/gcc/10171861.html
Meeting to review unified currency deadline
Gulf News Report
Published: December 02, 2007, 09:23
Doha: Gulf officials are set to announce a final decision on the long anticipated unified currency in the run up to the meeting of the GCC leaders.
The finance ministers of the six GCC states will meet on Sunday in Doha to finalise “the economic agenda” of the 28th summit, to be held in Doha on Monday and Tuesday, a GCC official said.
They are expected to declare the group’s plan to go ahead with the original deadline of 2010 to issue a unified GCC currency or to defer the issue to the widely expected 2015 new timeframe.
The new deadline seems more likely since Oman announced earlier this year that it was unable to meet the 2010 deadline.
http://www.gulfnews.com/news/gulf/gcc/10171852.html
In the same instance, Israel has a responsibility to come forward with measures that would bring about a concensus of peace.
It isn't enough for Israel to just object. There has to be alternative plans and offers to engage a sincere effort toward peace. I don't see an obstuctionist agenda for any authority involved.
Olmert: No firm timetable for peace talks with PA
By Reuters
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert on Sunday played down expectations for a peace deal with the Palestinians before the end of 2008 as laid out at a U.S.-sponsored peace conference last week.
"We will make an effort to hold speedy negotiations in the hope we may conclude by the end of 2008, but certainly there is no commitment for a firm timetable for their completion," Olmert said at the start of Sunday's cabinet meeting.
U.S. President George W. Bush assured Israeli and Palestinian leaders at the conference in Annapolis, Maryland, that Washington would actively engage in peacemaking, despite deep skepticism over chances for a deal before he leaves office.
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Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas met Bush to launch the first formal peace talks in seven years at the conference and agreed to try and reach a deal on Palestinian statehood by the end of next year. But, speaking at Israel's first cabinet meeting since Annapolis, Olmert urged caution.
Study: U.S., Israel should begin planning strike on Iran nuclear sites
By Aluf Benn, Haaretz Correspondent
Israel and the United States should begin an intense dialogue on ways to deal with Iran's nuclear plans and should examine ways to attack Iran's nuclear facilities, according to a new study published by an influential Washington think tank.
The report, by a former deputy head of the National Security Council, Chuck Freilich, says Israel and the U.S. should discuss nuclear-crisis scenarios between Israel and Iran. The report, entitled "Speaking About the Unspeakable," was released over the weekend by the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
reilich assumes that detailed talks between the U.S. and Israel on Iran do not extend beyond exchanges of intelligence, coordination of diplomatic moves and the supply of sophisticated weapons to Israel.
According to Freilich, a lack of symmetry exists between the U.S. and Israel on the Iranian threat, although both use similar rhetoric toward it. From Israel's perspective, Iran presents a potential existential threat, so its nuclear plans must be stopped at almost any price. In contrast, the U.S. is disturbed by the implications of nuclear weapons in Iran but does not see it as an existential threat.
http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/930162.html
Israeli Airstrike in Gaza Kills 6 Palestinians
Hisham Abu Taha & Mohammed Mar’i
GAZA CITY/RAMALLAH, 2 December 2007 — A sixth Palestinian was killed and three were wounded by Israeli troops yesterday, just hours after five fighters from Hamas’ military wing died in an overnight airstrike in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian medics said. An Israeli unit operating east of Gaza City killed the Palestinian whose identity was not immediately known, the medics said.
Those killed in the earlier attack all belonged to the Ezzeddine Al-Qassam Brigades, the armed wing of the Islamist movement, a statement from the group said. Four were killed in the attack near the southern Gaza town of Khan Younis and a fifth died later of his wounds, the medics said.
An Israeli military spokesman confirmed to reporters that warplanes had launched an overnight raid in the Khan Younis area, targeting what he called “a group of terrorists.”
Another two fighters were wounded in the strike, said the Brigades statement, which called the attack “the direct result of Annapolis... we will respond very toughly to this aggression.”
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=104196&d=2&m=12&y=2007
This is the softer face of Syria. It's First Lady.
Asma Akhras Al-Assad
This webpage is a little dated, but, portrays a very different understanding of a country engaged in making a civil footprint for it's people. If peace is the agenda, truly the agenda, all countries will have to come to terms with their history of aggression against each other, including the continued disparity with Lebanon of a palpable peace.
...Mrs. Assad is committed to highlighting the key role of women in the development process and to facilitating their participation. She recently hosted the “Women and Education” forum which gathered First Ladies from six various Arab countries and delegations from all 22 Arab countries. The three-day event gathered viewpoints and opinions on new trends and methodologies in education. She actively supports the Syrian Business Women’s Committee in the Chamber of Commerce. In April 2002, she hosted the Women in Business Conference, the largest gathering of businesswomen in the Middle East....
Report: Syrian envoy to visit Iran, explain attendance at Annapolis (click here)
By DPA
Syria will dispatch its deputy foreign minister to Iran on Sunday, in an attempt to explain its participation in last week's U.S.-sponsored Middle East peace conference, the Iranian news network Khabar reported.
Syrian Deputy Foreign Minister Faysal Mekdad, who was also Syria's envoy to the Annapolis, Maryland summit, is expected to deliver a special message from Syrian President Bashar Assad to his Iranian counterpart Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, the report said.
Ahmadinejad and his government were angry with several Arab states, including Saudi Arabia and Syria, for having ignored Tehran's call to boycott the Annapolis conference, which the Iranian president had branded as a "venue of another Zionist plot against Palestine."
Tehran denounced the conference as "unimportant and just US propaganda for Zionists" and called its joint declaration a "piece of useless torn paper."
Syria, which agreed to attend the conference only after receiving assurances that the issue of the Golan Heights was added to the agenda, left Annapolis without a specific promise to restart stalled talks with Israel....
By Agence France Presse (AFP)
Monday, December 03, 2007
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the United States will not sell out Lebanon to Syria. In an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Olmert also revealed that he was the one who insisted on Syria's invitation to the Annapolis peace conference, despite Washington's objection.
Olmert stressed that the US was not willing to deceive Lebanon in return for normalization of relations with Syria.
"We are aware that the Syrians will not get involved in peace talks unless the Americans changed their stance toward them," Olmert told the daily.
"And for establishing normal ties with Syria, the Americans will have to betray Lebanon, and George Bush's administration is not willing to do so," he said....
Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said the United States will not sell out Lebanon to Syria. In an interview with Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot, Olmert also revealed that he was the one who insisted on Syria's invitation to the Annapolis peace conference, despite Washington's objection.
Olmert stressed that the US was not willing to deceive Lebanon in return for normalization of relations with Syria.
"We are aware that the Syrians will not get involved in peace talks unless the Americans changed their stance toward them," Olmert told the daily.
"And for establishing normal ties with Syria, the Americans will have to betray Lebanon, and George Bush's administration is not willing to do so," he said....
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