GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Afghanistans Taleban expressed impatience Saturday over talks to free 22 South Koreans it captured 10 days ago but government negotiators ruled out their demand for the release of prisoners. Seventeen of the hostages are sick. If anything happens to them, the Afghan government and the South Korean government will be responsible, spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi said. They have to speed up the process of releasing our suggested prisoners.
Funny, we thought the hostage-takers were responsible for the welfare of the hostages. Must be a western construct.
17 hostages sick, one murdered. Someday there may be a Nuremburg trial. I hope somebody's taking this all down. Oh. Wait. It's us.
The Islamist group has threatened to kill all 22 hostages if its demand for the release of eight Taleban prisoners was not met. It shot dead the leader of the mission this week and dumped his body in the desert.
And it has nothing against murdering women, after abusing them, of course.
The group has not set a deadline after a series of others lapsed without incident. We have given them (the government) our list and we are waiting for our prisoners to be released, Ahmadi said. A Taleban commander involved in negotiations, Abdullah Jan, told AFP, We will accept no other solution but the release our eight prisoners.
Likely not to happen given the criticism they took on the last prisoner exchange.
Betcha it does happen.
But a member of the government negotiating team said the release of prisoners was out of discussion.
Still betcha it happens.
Okay, okay, it just might.
The government policy is very clear not to release any prisoners, said parliamentarian Mahmood Gailani. We have not been given the mandate to exchange prisoners, he told AFP.
This article starring:
ABDULLAH JAN
Taliban
parliamentarian Mahmood Gailani
spokesman Yousuf Ahmadi
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:38 ||
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#1
Maybe the eight guys that they want should start getting "sick". Contagious lead poisoning, or something like that...
Posted by: Frank G ||
07/29/2007 11:10 Comments ||
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#3
No.
No.......No....No..NoNoNoNo.
Fast enough?
Posted by: Gary and the Samoyeds ||
07/29/2007 12:17 Comments ||
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#4
Frank has it right. From now on, whenever there is a hostage taking incident, whomever the captors demand the release of should be executed on an hourly or daily basis in order to expedite the hostages' release. I dare say that in very short order the terrorists' imprisoned comrades would fairly be begging them not to take any more hostages
#5
Were I SKor I would threaten to send in 50 soldiers for every injured Korean and 200 for every dead. And I would think sending in 22 soldiers for every day they have to wait to get them back after two days grace period. If countries would start doing this kind of thing it would be over pretty quick.
Two lawmakers - one of them a former Taliban member - and several influential elders have joined negotiations with the hardline militia to step up pressure for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, an official said Saturday. A South Korean presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, was scheduled to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, an official from the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy.
The Taliban has demanded the release of insurgent prisoners in exchange for the South Koreans, who were captured on July 19. One of the original 23 captives was shot to death on Wednesday. A former Taliban commander - Abdul Salaam Rocketi, now a member of parliament - has joined the talks, said Shirin Mangal, spokesman of the Ghazni provincial governor. A second lawmaker and several respected leaders from around Qarabagh, the area in Ghazni province where the hostages were taken, have also joined, he said. "Today we are hopeful to get a good result because more and more elders have gathered from Ghazni," said Qarabagh police chief Khwaja Mohammad. "I hope the Taliban will listen to these negotiations now because they are neutral people - elders from around Qarabagh district."
After the meeting on Saturday, the elders and clerics returned to their respective villages to ask other community leaders to join them in talks with the Taliban living in those areas, said Ghazni lawmaker Habib Rahman, who also attended the gathering. "When the elders and clerics go to talk with the Taliban, they will explain once again that taking hostages is not acceptable in Islam and Afghan culture," Rahman said.
He hoped the Taliban from other villages would be able to persuade the hostage-takers to release their captives. "My message to the Koreans, in particular to the families of these men and women being held by the Taliban, is this: We are optimistic. Don't worry. We are doing our best ... Please be patient. A lot of people are involved today. Inshallah (if God wills it), they will not kill them," he said.
Afghan officials have said they are optimistic the hostages could be freed without further bloodshed, although the Taliban said the captives would be killed if their demands were not met. Negotiators were struggling with conflicting demands made by the kidnappers, including the release of Taliban prisoners and ransom money.
Purported Taliban spokesman Qari Yousef Ahmadi said the militants hoped the South Korean envoy would be able to "persuade the Afghan government" to swap imprisoned militants for the captives. "If they don't release the Taliban prisoners, then the Taliban does not have any option other than to kill the Korean hostages," he said, reiterating an earlier threat.
Local tribal elders and clerics from Qarabagh have been conducting negotiations by telephone with the captors for several days. The South Koreans, including 18 women, were kidnapped while traveling by bus on the Kabul-Kandahar highway, Afghanistan's main thoroughfare. Ahmadi said the hostages were being held in small groups in different locations and that some of them were in poor health.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Authorities have arrested 18 members of Egypt's banned Muslim Brotherhood for holding an unauthorized meeting, police and the group said Saturday.
The arrests rose the number of Muslim Brotherhood members detained in recent months to at least 553. The Brotherhood posted a statement on its official Web site saying the 18 group members were arrested late Friday in the working class Matariyah neighborhood of Cairo. Police on Saturday confirmed the arrest, saying the detained men were practicing banned activities by holding a secret meeting in a small apartment of the Egyptian capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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The wife of Abu Hamza, the jailed Muslim cleric, has complained about her husband's treatment in a high-security London prison. Hamza, 49, dubbed the "preacher of hate", is serving seven years for inciting the murder of non-Muslims.
In a letter to a London-based Islamic organisation, Nagat Mostafa, 46, said her husband claimed to be the victim of racist bullying and Islamophobia in Belmarsh jail.
Boy howdy that's a shame. One day it might even bother me, but not today ...
Her letter to al-Maqreze Centre for Historical Studies was sent shortly after Hamza - who is fitted with hooks on both hands - underwent surgery in May to remove an inch of bone from his left arm stump, which had become infected.
Oooooo, osteomyelitis. That's generally pretty painful ...
She wrote: "I would like to bring to your attention the current plight of my husband
"The reason that his arm needed further amputation was because of the removal of his prostheses, resulting in him constantly putting pressure on the remainder of his fore limbs. As there is no soft furnishing in his cell, he has been suffering considerable pain After surgery, before he had even recovered from the anaesthetic, he was returned to Belmarsh, only to be told he had to move from his cell to another one. He was so weak and unable to stand that he refused, resulting in him being put in solitary confinement
"My husband says the racist bullying and Islamophobia against him have intensified."
The contents of the letter were disclosed by the Maqreze Centre, which called the cleric's treatment "unjust" and said it feared he could die behind bars.
Oh, oh, stop, you're really beginning to make me chuckle, I don't think I can take it much longer ...
Ms Mostafa married Hamza in an Islamic ceremony in 1985, a year after he divorced his first wife. The couple have seven children. Hamza, who preached at Finsbury Park mosque, north London, was jailed in 2006 after being convicted of 11 charges of inciting murder and race hate.
An estimated one in six of Belmarsh's 920 prisoners is Muslim. Prison officers gave warning last week of the threat of extremists "radicalising" inmates. Steve Gough, the vice-chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, said: "If you go to Belmarsh you'd see 20 going to Friday prayers a few years ago. Now you'll see 150. "Put it this way, we're a power station and you don't want us to explode. The radical Muslims make the IRA look like kittens." "The other prisoners cannot make him their 'bride', because I am his bride. What they mean?
This article starring:
Abu Hamza
Posted by: Anonymoose ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
her husband claimed to be the victim of racist bullying and Islamophobia in Belmarsh jail
Ya mean the other inmates have taken exception over Hamza's plots to kill their loved ones in mass quantites? Who knew? I guess hook-boy ain't so formidable without his hooks.
He was so weak and unable to stand that he refused, resulting in him being put in solitary confinement
Which is where I hope he remains to this very day. Hamza represents a prime mover in radicalization.
The radical Muslims make the IRA look like kittens
In late breaking news, vice-chairman of the Prison Officers' Association, Steve Gough, purchases a major clue. Tape at eleven.
#8
I think there should be a daily report from all the terrorist prisoners complaining about their horrible treatment. It could be required reading at all the massadras.
How did Hook-Boy lose his hands, again?
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2007 8:39 Comments ||
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#9
I file this under the same category of the gitmo babies crying about their treatment. Until we start lopping off heads consider yourself way WAY ahead (pun intended) of the game. Oh and cry me a river.
#10
Sounds depressing. Maybe Hookboy might like some extra sheets or shoelaces to make him feel better?
Maybe a nice new, belt...
Damn, Tu, you've got to think about it beforehand: how is he gonna do knots with his stumps? It's not like he can even wipe his butt all by himself, and all this because he mishandled a live grenade in training camp (IIUC, the glorious "wounded while fighting in afghanistan is a face-saving/ego waxing fiction).
Poor, poor, poor depressed Lion Of Islam. All he ever wanted was to lay waste to the kufrs and conquer them and Humiliate them, and now, he can't even hang himself. Bummer.
#13
Originally an Egyptian, he received British citizenship after marrying a British woman he later divorced. He lost both hands and one eye in a landmine explosion in Afghanistan during Soviet occupation. Unfortunately he survived.
A 23-year-old man was arrested Friday on hate-crime charges after he threw a Quran in a toilet at Pace University on two separate occasions, police said.
What part of "freedom of speech" are they having trouble with? Perhaps a competent lawyer can explain it to the local authorities whilst relieving Pace University of somewhere between most and all of its worldly possessions.
Stanislav Shmulevich of Brooklyn was arrested on charges of criminal mischief and aggravated harassment, both hate crimes, police said. It was unclear if he was a student at the school. A message left at the Shmulevich home was not immediately returned.
If you can burn a flag you can drown a holy book.
The Islamic holy book was found in a toilet at Pace's lower Manhattan campus by a teacher on Oct. 13. A student discovered another book in a toilet on Nov. 21, police said.
If you can dunk a crucifix in whizz you can flush a Koran.
You'd like to think so but dunking the crucifix is 'art'; it's supposed to make us 'think'.
Muslim activists had called on Pace University to crack down on hate crimes after the incidents.
If you can model a Madonna out of elephant turds you can wipe your bum with a Koran.
As a result, the university said it would offer sensitivity training to its students.
"Sensitivity training" appears to be another word for "indoctrination."
The school was accused by Muslim students of not taking the incident seriously enough at first.
It's difficult to take it seriously at all in a secular state. As a matter of fact, it's against the law to take it seriously.
Pace classified the first desecration of the holy book as an act of vandalism, but university officials later reversed themselves and referred the incident to the New York Police Department's hate crimes unit.
... which should have tossed it after scanning the subject line.
The incidents came amid a spate of vandalism cases with religious or racial overtones at the school. In an earlier incident on Sept. 21, the school reported another copy of the Quran was found in a library toilet, and in October someone scrawled racial slurs on a student's car at the Westchester County satellite campus and on a bathroom wall at the campus in lower Manhattan. Police did not connect Shmulevich to those incidents.
Racial slurs on the guy's car are vandalism. On the bathroom wall they're grafitti.
Treatment of the Quran is a sensitive issue for Muslims, who view the book as a sacred object and mistreating it as an offense against God. The religion teaches that the Quran is the direct word of God.
But the rest of the world is not Muslim. Catholics regard the Madonna and all Christians regard the cross as sacred objects. No one has been prosecuted for disrespect to either in at least 100, maybe 300, years that I've heard of.
In 2005, Newsweek magazine published and later retracted a story claiming U.S. interrogators at a prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, flushed a copy of the holy book down a toilet. The report sparked deadly demonstrations in Afghanistan and protests throughout the Middle East.
This is a function known as "disinformation and hysteria."
Pace University has 14,000 students on its campuses in New York City and Westchester County. Messages left for school administrators and for officials with the New York and national chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations were not immediately returned Friday evening. Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the national CAIR office in Washington, D.C., has said the organization receives frequent reports of Quran desecrations in the United States, especially postings on Internet sites, but seldom makes them public. He said CAIR decided to speak out about the Pace incidents because Muslim students are impacted by the creation of what could be viewed as a hostile campus environment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
The school was accused by Muslim students of not taking the incident seriously enough at first.
Which shows that Pace originally had a few synapses firing.
You'd like to think so but dunking the crucifix is 'art'; it's supposed to make us 'think'.
Oh, it does. It most definitely does. It makes me think that many modern artists are entirely uncontaminated by any sense of esthetics.
On the bathroom wall they're grafitti.
Come to Silicon Valley sometime and I'll happily show you scads of "grafitti" that are plain and simple vandalism. By definition the vast majority of grafitti is vandalism. Some of it exhibits incredible artistic talent but that in no way changes how most taggers view a blank wall the same way any well-fed dog regards a freshly mowed lawn. The only charges that carry any water would relate to the books being university property or introducing a foreign object into the school's toilets.
More than anything, isn't it about time that the Koran becomes recognized as a form of hate speech? If these stupid legally exclusive laws are going to exist, hadn't we better begin making them apply to the most intolerant and hateful cult of all?
Shari'a law is one massive violation of human rights. The time has come not only to enact a legal prohibition of it on those grounds, but to also find that the Koran contains hate speech. While I generally detest any banning of books on sheer principle, in the Koran's case I'm more than willing to make a special exception.
#2
I understand the "mischief" charge but "aggravated harassment" means nothing more than enforcement of Islamic Sharia prohibitions on blasphemy. The fact that Muslims are angry about legitimate protest, manifests their threat to our institutions. Don't forget that their founder said Jews were born of "apes and pigs." And that Muslims shouldn't take Christians as friends. We shouldn't be taking Muslims as immigrants or be permitting the Saud terrorist entity to fund mosques and Islamic centers.
#3
Since it was a library book the criminal mischief charge and a small fine would clearly be justified.
Even though I do not condone such intentionally disrespectful and inflammatory actions I believe as a free speech issue this would otherwise have to be legally permissible.
#5
Rest asured people that if Achmed had tossed abible into the toilet the ACLU, DNC, PFAW, EIEIO, etc. wouls be climbing over each other to defend him. I am not for tossing Korans, Bibles, or Torrahs into the toilet but really they are simply words on a page and if that gets you all worked up then you don't have enough going on.
ISLAMABAD: After months of a bumpy ride due to the judicial and Lal Masjid crises, when Musharraf's plane lands back at Chaklala he will heave a sigh of relief.
Returning from a two-day dash to UAE and Saudi Arabia, he will arrive holding a 'done deal' with Benazir Bhutto who, finally, has agreed to play ball with him.
The News has learnt through reliable sources that the deal has been sealed between the two and the meeting in Abu Dhabi was actually a 'kind of signing ceremony' which is conducted at the end of a long, tedious talks process.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: John Frum ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#2
I got lost in the readin --- who is who? Suddenly this guy, Nawaz Sharif appears down in the article. Who is he? They all seem to think he is the second coming, or they seem totally intimidated by him... he just kinda wanders around in this article.... I missed something. And my reading comprehension scores are pretty high.
#4
Suddenly this guy, Nawaz Sharif appears down in the article. Who is he? They all seem to think he is the second coming, or they seem totally intimidated by him..
Two time Prime Minister, leader of the Pakistan Muslim League who Musharaff overthrew in his coup in '99. Has friends in high places in the Gulf.
#5
If it means polarization against the clerics - as exists in Sindh - then it could be a good thing. Of course, the deal doesn't make Benazir's husband less than the swindler he is.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Saturday said that the Fridays reported meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi might temporarily benefit the latter but it would be disastrous for her party. The reported meeting between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto might bring some personal favors to Miss Buhtto, but it would ruin her party and disappoint her party leaders, who have been waiting for her in London, said MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch while addressing a press conference here. Mian Muhammad Aslam MNA and Syed Bilal, Jamaat-i-Islami, Islamabad, Amir, were also present on the occasion.
Baloch accused Ms Buhtto of trying to bail out Musharraf when what he said the Supreme Courts decision in the CJP case had already weakened him. Referring to the meeting, he said it would be politically beneficial to Musharraf. He said there were widespread rumors of an expected meeting between PML-N President Shahbaz Sharif and General Musharraf; however, when they contacted Sharif brothers in London they denied any such move. Answering a question about collective resignations by MMA after the resignation of Qazi Hussain Ahmad, he said, MMA was part of the All Parties Democratic Alliance (APDM) and the option to collectively submit resignations if Musharraf tried to get himself elected from the present assemblies was safe with them.
Liaquat also criticized the military operation against Lal Masjid and demolition of Jamia Hafsa and demanded immediate release of the arrested students. He also demanded release of Maulana Abdul Aziz, the chief cleric of Lal Masjid, and his family. Baloch said MMA chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad would address a rally at Karachi Company on Sunday (today) to protest the desecration of Holy Quran during the Lal Masjid operation. He said the MMAs parliamentary meeting would also meet on Monday, July 31st, before the National Assembly session.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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Political authorities in Mohmand Agency have started approaching tribal elders to form peace committees, as separate jirgas were held here on Saturday. Addressing a jirga from Banazai subdivisions Khozai Banazai and Mus Khel tribes, Banazai subdivision Assistant Political Agent (APA) Mushtaq Ahmed stressed the need for peace in the area. The tribal elders offered their support to maintain peace, and for the development of the area. They said they would not allow anyone to create lawlessness in the area. Another jirga from the Safi tribe was held at Ghalanai and was attended by elders and ulema.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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A joint team of intelligence agencies, the Federal Investigation Agency and the Islamabad police investigating the suicide attack at Aabpara Market on Friday have come to the conclusion that a single group is behind the two suicide attacks that took place in the capital in the last 10 days, sources privy to the investigation told Daily Times on Saturday.
The sources said that the investigation team had found extraordinary similarities in the material used in the two suicide attacks the first on July 17 at F-8 Markaz and then on Friday at Aabara Market. They said that the investigation team had found out that the bomber used five to six kilogrammes of explosive material in Fridays suicide attack. They added that the bombers face found from the blast site was identifiable and the police would issue its pictures in a few days. The sources said that the bombers group was likely to carry out more attacks in the city.
Agencies add: Meanwhile, another victim of the Aabpara Market blast died on Saturday, raising the death toll to 15, hospital sources at the Pakistan Institute of Medical Sciences told APP. Punjab police constable Rizwan Abid died at Federal Government Services Hospital early on Saturday morning, said Dr Farrukh of PIMS.
The government has decided to deploy Rangers in the federal capital permanently due to the deteriorating security situation, Online reported. The government has also decided to keep Punjab police personnel in Islamabad for an indefinite period. Senior Islamabad police officer Shahid Nadeem Baloch told AFP that the police had set up extra pickets at all entry and exit points of the capital. Scanners and video cameras were also being installed at markets and other public places, Baloch said. He said no arrest had been made so far in the ongoing investigation. He added that there was a likelihood of more suicide attacks to come.
A senior militant source said the attack showed that Islamic militants had ready-made suicide bombers who can be launched at short notice.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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The Interior Ministry has warned soldiers and officers of the Pakistan Army, Frontier Constabulary, Elite Force, Anti-Riots Force, Punjab Rangers and Punjab Constabulary against moving in public places and driving private cars while in uniform. It has also warned the Islamabad administration to restrict unnecessary movement of Punjab Constabulary personnel in Islamabad, Daily Times learnt on Saturday. The warning has been issued after a suicide blast at Aabpara Market on Friday in which 15 people including seven policemen were killed and several others injured. The blast, which targeted the police, was the latest in a wave of terror attacks in the country. The ministrys warning said that suicide bombers could target the civil armed forces and Punjab Constabulary to avenge the Lal Masjid operation that left more than 102 dead, mostly madrassa students. The ministry has directed the Islamabad administration to improve its coordination with the intelligence agencies to counter terrorism in the federal capital.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Criminy. The automatic weapons and turban set has managed to make the officers of the State hide themselves when in public.
#2
Obvious solution is to put madrassa prisoners in State uniforms, handcuff them into a vehicle & drive them around town until they're assassinated by their own kind. Talk about plausible deniability...
Washington - Despite the blustery talk from the White House about "all options being on the table" for dealing with Al Qaeda in Pakistan, the thrust of US plans is more about winning "hearts and minds" and less about unilateral military intervention.
On State Department and Pentagon drawing boards are plans to spend more than $1 billion over five years on a campaign in the remote tribal areas, where the latest National Intelligence Estimate says Al Qaeda has rebuilt its organization. The US effort is in part an economic development program and in part a military plan, similar to that in Iraq's Anbar Province, which is aimed at winning over local tribesmen in the battle with Al Qaeda. To work, the US effort would rely heavily on cooperation with the government of President Pervez Musharraf.
Despite support for the broad goal of denying Al Qaeda and Islamist extremism a sanctuary in these areas of Pakistan, questions remain in Congress and among experts over specifics such as who would receive the sums of money, who would be accountable for them, and how to ensure they wouldn't fall into the wrong hands. As one example, Congress has held up approving the millions of dollars the administration seeks for training and equipping the Frontier Corps, a paramilitary force in Pakistan's Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA).
Continued on Page 49
#2
"The first order of business ... is to find a friend and then try to drive a wedge between these new friends and the groups you are really aiming at," says Daniel Markey, a Pakistan specialist and former State Department Policy Planning Staff member.
"Wedge driving" .... so US State Dept like. So effective in the past. Why hasn't someone thought of this option previously?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
07/29/2007 13:05 Comments ||
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#5
Mahmoud, who was named best player of the tournament, said one of the tragedies of the war was that the team would not even be able to return to Iraq with the trophy.
"I wish we could go, but you just don't know who will kill you," he said.
That says a lot about what sort of a "country" Iraq is. Ground zero for man's inhumanity to man. And wearing dueling Islamic crescents.
#6
I also do not give a rat's patootie about 99% of sports but this is a HUGE WIN for Iraq and America's liberation of it. While I may not care personally, I do realize how many other populations tie their own prestige to the performance of local sports teams.
Due to how soccer receives almost total global coverage, news of Iraq's win is going to reach a lot of different quarters; Not a few of them Islamic. Try as they might, most people won't be able to disassociate America's role in facilitating Iraq's win. Likewise, I'm even willing to go out on a limb and posit that, with this victory, even Iraq's citizens might adopt a more favorable view of their American liberators.
AL-ARISH, Egypt - Egypt and Israel have agreed to allow some 600 Palestinians stranded in Egypt for weeks to cross into the Palestinian territories through Israel beginning on Sunday, an Egyptian official said. Egypt and Israel have come to an agreement which will allow some 600 Palestinians stranded in Egypt to cross into Israel on Sunday and Monday, a security coordinator at the Rafah border town told AFP on Saturday.
The Palestinians would pass through the Al-Oja cargo crossing on the Egypt-Israel border, south of the divided town of Rafah, the official said. About 100 Palestinians will be driven from Al-Arish, 50 kilometres (31 miles) west of Rafah, into Israel and from there to the Gaza Strip on Sunday, the official said, adding that about 500 Palestinians will take the same routethe next day.
Brilliant, Olmert, let's just add to your problems ...
On Thursday Palestinian information minister Riyad al-Malki said a deal should be reached early next week. In principle at the beginning of next week, the problem of the travellers blocked at Rafah will be resolved thanks to an arrangement allowing them to go to Gaza, Malki told a news conference in Ramallah.
Some 6,000 Palestinians are estimated to be living in and around Egypts border town of Rafah in increasingly dire conditions since the local border terminal closed 45 days ago. More than 10 travellers have died.
The Rafah terminal -- Gazas only door to the outside world that bypasses Israel -- has been shut since deadly Palestinian infighting saw Hamas seize the Gaza Strip on June 15.
#4
This is infuriating to Hamas which is demanding the opening of the Rafah crossing. A new crossing built by Israel is about a mile from the Egyptian border and far more easily controllable (by Israel with Egyptian cooperation).
The government of Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Salaam Fayad came under heavy criticism over the weekend from Hamas and other radical groups for failing to mention the "armed resistance" in its platform. One group threatened to kill the "traitor" Fayad and his colleagues in Ramallah, while another said it would step up its efforts to bring down his government.
The threats against Fayad are the worst since he was appointed as prime minister last month. PA security officials here told The Jerusalem Post that they were taking the threats very seriously and that measures had already been implemented to protect Fayad and other top figures.
Hamas, in another act of defiance against Fayad's West Bank government, on Saturday started paying salaries to some 10,000 PA civil servants in the Gaza Strip who did not receive their payments because of their affiliation with Hamas. On Friday, Fayad's government published its platform, which does not include any reference to the mukawama (a term generally associated with armed struggle) against Israel. Instead, the government reiterated its commitment to PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's call for a "popular resistance against the Israeli occupation."
The new manifesto stated that any peace agreement with Israel must be designed along the pre-1967 borders and that Jerusalem should be the capital of both Israel and any future Palestinian state. "We were not surprised by the Fayad government's decision to drop the armed resistance from its platform, because this is a government that works according to an American and Israeli agenda," said Sami Abu Zuhri, a Hamas spokesman in the Gaza Strip. "If Fayad thinks that he can erase the word mukawama with ink he's mistaken. This word was written with the blood of our martyrs."
Abu Zuhri expressed "astonishment" that Fatah had agreed to the platform. "We urge Fatah to take a clear and brave stance toward the policy of the Fayad government, which is acting against the national aspirations of our people."
Abu Mujahed, spokesman for the Popular Resistance Committees, an alliance of various armed groups in the Gaza Strip, accused Fayad of "legitimizing the occupation and of surrendering Jerusalem and the rest of the territories to the enemy."
Dubbing Fayad a "traitor," Abu Mujahed said the armed resistance had succeeded in "blocking the Zionist project for many years." Fayad, he added, may drop anything he wants from his platform, "but the Palestinians and their resistance movements and thousands of prisoners will always have their own platform. No one will be able to spoil our real platform. The Israeli enemy has failed over the past decades to end the armed struggle, and Fayad won't succeed in doing so."
Abu Abir, a notorious warlord in the Gaza Strip, threatened that his men would target Fayad and "his treacherous gang" in the West Bank. "We will target them in the field the same way we attack Israel," he said in response to the government's failure to endorse the armed struggle. "We promise to put an end to all the American-backed Palestinian personalities in the near future because of their decision to side with the Israeli enemy."
The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and the Islamic Jihad also condemned the Fayad government, vowing to continue terror attacks on Israel. "Who does this government represent," asked Khaled al-Batsh, a senior Islamic Jihad leader in the Gaza Strip. "If Salaam Fayad continues to ignore the desire of the Palestinians and insists on dropping the armed struggle from his platform, then he should search for another people to govern."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip will begin paying thousands of civil servants cut from the payroll of Fatah, officials said, further entrenching the divisions between the two PA-controlled territories.
Hamas' takeover of Gaza, and PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas' subsequent decision to dismiss the Hamas government, effectively set up two Palestinian administrations. Abbas has installed a Cabinet headed by US-backed Prime Minister Salam Fayyad that has control of the West Bank. Hamas' payment of the salaries would further cement its rule over impoverished Gaza, where unemployment is about 40 percent and most of the 1.4 million people receive foreign food handouts. The money will go to thousands of members of Hamas' Executive Force, a Hamas militia that polices Gaza, and those civil servants who refused an order from Fayyad not to cooperate with the Islamic group.
During a year of Hamas rule, following the group's election victory in January 2006, civil servants were only paid sporadically because of an international aid boycott, prompting a further downturn in the battered Palestinian economy. Hamas has relied largely on aid from sympathetic governments, such as Iran, and on donations sent to its charities in Gaza. In all, Abbas' Palestinian Authority employs about 165,000 people, half of them members of the Fatah-allied security forces. The salaries of civil servants provide for about one-third of the Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza.
Ala al-Batta, head of a Hamas-run civil servants' union in Gaza, told a local news radio Saturday that more than 10,000 government workers will receive their salaries from Hamas. Hamas officials said payments will begin Sunday, and that it had enough money to pay salaries in the near future. However, it's unclear how long it could keep up payments since it has difficulties bringing money into Gaza.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#3
"most of the 1.4 million people receive foreign food handouts." You mean to tell me that after the BILLIONS that have been spent on this rats nest they still can't feed themselves? There comes a time when you really just have to admit defeat and give up on a project. What a proud people they must be.
BEIRUTP - Lebanon decided on Saturday to create a mobile force backed by German experts to combat an influx of weapons trafficked into the country from Syria, the government said.
The government approved the formation of a force composed of soldiers, security agents and customs officers ... charged with controlling the northern border with Syria, said Information Minister Ghazi Aridi. The force will be assisted by German experts, Aridi told reporters at the end of a government meeting.
Leb army is getting feisty, eh? Wonder if they think they can take on the Syrians? That'd be a bad bet right now.
Germany will supply Lebanons customs authorities with equipment that will help it to detect weapons under an agreement reached this week. The assistance falls within the scope of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1701.
A report made earlier this year by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon found serious breaches of the arms embargo imposed under the UN resolution, which the United States says Syria or Iran breach to supply arms to Hezbollah.
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07/29/2007 00:31 ||
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#1
Syrian army's designed for oppressing the populace, not for fighting wars. Leb army's practicing fighting a war at the moment.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 14:17 Comments ||
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One of the two Israeli reservists held by Hizbullah for more than a year has died and the other is still alive, the Lebanese daily newspaper an-Nahar reported Saturday.
An-Nahar quoted unnamed German diplomatic sources as saying officials in Berlin tried to obtain from Free Patriotic Movement leader Michael Aoun "some information" about Ehud Goldwasser, 31, and Eldad Regev, 26. "Aoun refused to get involved in this issue. However, security agencies there understood that one of the two prisoners is still alive and the second had passed away," the report said without further elaboration.
Speaking to The Jerusalem Post an Israeli government spokesman said, "the Israeli government doesn't respond to reports made in the Lebanese media." Aoun is allied with Hizbullah, which leads a campaign backed by Syria and Iran against Premier Fouad Saniora's majority government.
Meanwhile, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner is expected to discuss the plight of the Israeli soldiers with Hizbullah leader Hassan Nasrallah on Saturday, according to a report by the Lebanese paper Al Diyar, although no other source has confirmed that a meeting between the two will take place. Hizbullah had said it was prepared to swap the soldiers for Lebanese and Arab prisoners held by Israel.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
If confirmed, my condolences to the Soldier's family. Rest well.
#3
The frecnh hostages in lebanon during the 80's were held up in dire conditions (interestingly, often in mosque's basements or cellars IIRC), one of them dying painfully of cancer without any medication, including painkillers. The world pays attention to the Club Gitmo, the "gulag of our time", but I shudder to think how Gilad Shalit (who's a french bi-national, by the way) or those two soldiers are held by those savages. If that man is dead, I'm sorry for him, but SteveS is right, he didn't "die", he was murdered, and killed by ill conditions and mistreatment.
The outcome of last summer's war between Israel and Hizbullah has left the American vision of a "new Middle East" in shambles, Hizbullah's leader told a south Lebanon rally late Saturday. Sheik Hassan Nasrallah said the United States and Israel had failed to achieve their declared goal of crushing Hizbullah because of the group's steadfastness during the 34-day war. "There is no new Middle East after the August 14" cease-fire that ended the war, Nasrallah told a mass rally in the southern town of Bint Jbeil. "It's gone with the wind."
He also dismissed unspecified pressures to release IDF soldiers Eldad Regev and Ehud Goldwasser, who were captured by Hizbullah in a cross border raid that triggered last year's war. Without explicitly confirming that the detained soldiers were still alive, Nasrallah hinted they would only be freed in a swap with Lebanese prisoners held by Israel. Speaking in a televised speech aired by the group's Al-Manar television, he called on Lebanese political parties to seek unity.
Nasrallah did not personally attend the rally, but his speech was relayed to the crowd in Bint Jbeil through a giant screen set up on the town's main square. Located near Lebanon's southern border with Israel, Bint Jbeil was among the towns worst hit during last year's conflict.
The Hizbullah chief's repeated references to "a new Middle East" was an allusion to comments by US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, who called during last year's war for such a concept, describing it as a new era of democracy and peace for the region. Hizbullah and other US detractors say the US vision aimed at reinforcing Israel. "The objectives of the July 2006 war have all collapsed, in only 33 days," Nasrallah said. "Magic has turned against the magician," he said.
Saturday's rally was organized by Hizbullah to mark the first anniversary of the war with Israel. Hizbullah had claimed victory against Israel in the fighting that ended with a UN-brokered cease-fire, calling it "a divine victory."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Why are Nasrallah and the other hate preachers still alive?
#3
Good. Now that they have been victorious againat the Great Satan, they can go about the business of fixing up their Islamic Paradise. Starting with Gaza.
Posted by: Bobby ||
07/29/2007 8:41 Comments ||
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#4
Why are Nasrallah and the other hate preachers still alive?
When this question is on the lips of every Western citizen we might see a turnaround. Only the towering cognitive dissonance of Muslims could permit Nasrallah to boast of derailing America's efforts to bring peace to the Middle East. Unfortunately, far too many Western leaders have significant political capital invested in the Road Map. We must come to understand that a peaceful resolution with Israel is the very last outcome that Muslims desire. Discarding the Road Map would be the first step in that realization.
In the absence of Nasrallah taking a .50 caliber headshot, we can nonetheless console ourselves that Iraq winning the Asian Cup will not go unnoticed by hordes of Lebanese and Syrians thirsting for a similar victory. Wetwork teams still represent one of the only effective and cost efficient ways to combat Islamic terrorism. Any delay in implementing such a campaign merely increases the final butcher's bill.
#5
Western Civilization started losing its ability to kill after Hiroshima/Nagasaki. In that haze our laughable leadership bought the snakeoil that Muslims want negotiated final settlements with their mortal enemies.
Leader of the Islamic Revolution says world powers commit their inhumane acts in the guise of democracy, freedom and human rights. Speaking on the occasion of Imam Ali's (AS) birthday, celebrated as Fathers Day in Iran, Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei added that the Islamic republic of Iran is following Imam Ali's footsteps in seeking justice and fighting inhumanity, constraint, and discrimination, Fars news agency reported. "This is why arrogant powers are propagating hostility toward the Islamic government, as the only one state uncovering the true colors of their acts of injustice and violence, justified in the name of democracy."
Ayatollah Khamenei referred to the Zionist Regime and the US government as "the archenemies of the Iranian nation" and noted that the Islamic government is putting Imam Ali's teachings into practice by fighting against the Zionists and other arrogant powers that are lying at the root of inhumanity all over the world.
Ayatollah Khamenei pointed to the nose-diving international popularity of the US government and said "Despite the futile attempts of its adversaries, the Islamic government and the Iranian nation are cherished among Muslim countries and are triumphantly walking their path."
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice has said the U.N. Security Council should consider implementing measures to punish those responsible for arms smuggling from Syria to Lebanon. "I think the United Nations Security Council owes it to Lebanon and it owes it to its own resolution to look very seriously at how this is happening and to propose ways that the perpetrators could be deterred from doing it or punished if they continue to do it," Rice said in an interview on Al-Hurra television channel Thursday.
While agreeing that the smuggling of arms is a violation of Security Council resolution 1701 and a serious problem for its implementation, Rice confirmed that the Europeans are working with the Lebanese government "to try to enhance the capability of the Lebanese army to deal with this." "The Lebanese army has intercepted several shipments the Lebanese have made available information about some of this smuggling," she said.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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#1
Far more likely that UNSC will issue a statement condemning Israel for making the Lebs do it. Unfortunately, IMHO, Condi is far too steeped in "Diplocracy" to demonstrate any realism in dealing with the U.N. I had such hopes for her....
German officials have tried in talks with Free Patriotic Movement leader Michael Aoun to promote calm and entente between the various Lebanese factions, the daily an-Nahar reported Saturday. Quoting unnamed German diplomatic sources, the report said Berlin officials "pointed to the dangers facing Lebanon" during their talks with Aoun earlier this week. But they concluded that FPM leader remains motivated only by "personal ambition," the report added without further elaboration.
Not sure what that "personal ambition" is, unless it's the ambition not to be boomed by Syria. Aoun could have waltzed into the presidency on Lahoud's departure by making nice with both sides. Instead, he's acting like Syria owns him.
Posted by: Fred ||
07/29/2007 00:00 ||
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A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
GHAZNI, Afghanistan - Afghanistans Taleban expressed impatience Saturday over talks to free 22 South Koreans it captured 10 days ago but government negotiators ruled out their demand for the release of prisoners. Seventeen of the hostages are sick. If anything happens to them, the Afghan government and the South Korean government will be responsible, 
Two lawmakers - one of them a former Taliban member - and several influential elders have joined negotiations with the hardline militia to step up pressure for the release of 22 South Korean hostages, an official said Saturday. A South Korean presidential envoy, Baek Jong-chun, was scheduled to hold talks with Afghan President Hamid Karzai on Saturday, an official from the South Korean Embassy in Kabul said. She spoke on condition of anonymity because of embassy policy.
The wife of 
ISLAMABAD: After months of a bumpy ride due to the judicial and Lal Masjid crises, when Musharraf's plane lands back at Chaklala he will heave a sigh of relief.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) on Saturday said that the Fridays reported meeting between President Pervez Musharraf and PPP Chairperson Benazir Bhutto in Abu Dhabi might temporarily benefit the latter but it would be disastrous for her party. The reported meeting between President Musharraf and Benazir Bhutto might bring some personal favors to Miss Buhtto, but it would ruin her party and disappoint her party leaders, who have been waiting for her in London, said MMA Deputy Secretary General Liaquat Baloch while addressing a press conference here. Mian Muhammad Aslam MNA and Syed Bilal, Jamaat-i-Islami, Islamabad, Amir, were also present on the occasion. 
Political authorities in Mohmand Agency have started approaching tribal elders to form peace committees, as separate jirgas were held here on Saturday. Addressing a jirga from Banazai subdivisions Khozai Banazai and Mus Khel tribes, Banazai subdivision Assistant Political Agent (APA) Mushtaq Ahmed stressed the need for peace in the area. The tribal elders offered their support to maintain peace, and for the development of the area. They said they would not allow anyone to create lawlessness in the area. Another jirga from the Safi tribe was held at Ghalanai and was attended by elders and ulema.
On State Department and Pentagon drawing boards are plans to spend more than $1 billion over five years on a campaign in the remote tribal areas, where the latest National Intelligence Estimate says Al Qaeda has rebuilt its organization. The US effort is in part an economic development program and in part a military plan, similar to that in Iraq's Anbar Province, which is aimed at winning over local tribesmen in the battle with Al Qaeda. To work, the US effort would rely heavily on cooperation with the government of President Pervez Musharraf. 
AL-ARISH, Egypt - Egypt and Israel have agreed to allow some 600 Palestinians stranded in Egypt for weeks to cross into the Palestinian territories through Israel beginning on Sunday, an Egyptian official said. Egypt and Israel have come to an agreement which will allow some 600 Palestinians stranded in Egypt to cross into Israel on Sunday and Monday, a security coordinator at the Rafah border town told AFP on Saturday.
The Hamas government in the Gaza Strip will begin paying thousands of civil servants cut from the payroll of Fatah, officials said, further entrenching the divisions between the two PA-controlled territories. 
