(AKI) - A Yemeni citizen, Abu Basir, has been appointed head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, after members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia decided to increase coordination between terrorist cells in the region, according to a message posted to Islamist websites.
"We are preparing mujahadeen in training camps and they want to go to Gaza," said Basir in the message, which comes days after Israel's recent military offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A former Saudi detainee held at the US military prison at Guantanamo Bay, Abu Sufiyan al-Shahri, has been named as Basir's deputy, the message said.
"Our objective is to free Palestine and the attack on Gaza is part of the Zionist crusader campaign against Islam that has been supported against crusaders' bases on the Arabian Peninsula."
More information about the new organisation of the group will be announced soon and a video will be released featuring an interview with its 'emir', Abu Basir, produced by the 'al-Fajr' production house, the message stated.
Yemeni police have found a cache of arms allegedly used by Al-Qaeda in the capital, Sanaa.
According to the site of the Yemeni ministry of the interior, police on Thursday found the arms in an apartment in the Dars district of the capital. In a police blitz conducted earlier this week, police killed two terror suspects and arrested a third suspect while a fourth escaped.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
"We are preparing mujahadeen in training camps and they want to go to Gaza,"
That's nice. Iran is preparing 10,000. But how will they get there if the border remains closed?
Turkey, the United States and Iraq will set up a joint center in northern Iraq to curb Turkish Kurd rebels taking refuge in the region, Iraqi Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said on Friday.
"The plan is to set up a joint command of representatives from the three parties in Arbil," Zebari, on a three-day visit to Turkey, told reporters after talks with Turkish counterpart Ali Babacan.
It would be "a key center to work together to... ensure border security and prevent cross-border attacks on Turkey," he said.
The separatist Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) has long taken refuge in mountainous bases in northern Iraq, using the region as a springboard for attacks on Turkish targets across the border.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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President Obama traveled to the State Department yesterday afternoon for a visit that was as rich in symbolism as in substance, underscoring his pledge to give top priority to diplomacy as he outlined an activist policy in the Middle East and warned that "difficult days lie ahead" in Afghanistan.
Clinton Addresses State Department Employees
Obama and Vice President Biden stood to one side as Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced new special emissaries on the most intractable national security problems -- Richard C. Holbrooke for Afghanistan-Pakistan and George J. Mitchell for the Middle East -- to an invited gathering of several hundred, including State Department officials. Just hours earlier, about 1,000 cheering civil service and Foreign Service employees had packed the building's lobby to welcome her on her first day at work.
Clinton called the appointments of Holbrooke and Mitchell "a loud and clear signal . . . that our nation is once again capable of demonstrating global leadership in pursuit of progress and peace." Obama said the two statesmen would "convey our seriousness of purpose" in dealing with challenges he described as complex and urgent.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
recycling losers
Posted by: Frank G ||
01/24/2009 7:35 Comments ||
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#2
Clinton called the appointments of Holbrooke and Mitchell "a loud and clear signal"
Mission accomplished. More "Change" we can believe in.
#5
Boy howdy, it's a good thing we're putting fresh eyeballs on these problems ...
Posted by: Steve White ||
01/24/2009 10:54 Comments ||
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#6
Mitchell - horrible Senate majority leader, typically ineffective MidEast envoy - yep, a recycled loser.
Holbrooke - actually one of the few real people in the Dem stable, shoulda been SecState, in the right environment I've always thought he'd be decent. Let's just say that given some leeway he'd probably be 1,000 times better than Powell. He's arrogant and over-bearing, but that hubris comes from within, not from a dependent relationship with the idiot Beltway media and elite. In this role, he's obviously constrained by his mostly clueless and weak bosses.
But what really makes me ill is the ceaseless and unopposed repetition of the "diplomacy" fantasy. You should see the hilarious responses when I walk a friend's undergraduate foreign policy class through my "what is diplomacy?" exercise. At the end most seem to understand that talk is just talk, but behold the death-grip the media has on this fantasy concept.
And for gobsmacking orwellian inversion of the facts, nothing beats this line of theirs that the US will "once again" demonstrate leadership. US leadership has been more pronounced and forceful since 9/11 than it had been since the 1950s "hot" period of the Cold War (GHW Bush's Kuwait-related period of August 1990 to March 1991 was on the same scale).
One hopes that for our own longer term good these twinks get b-slapped by some adversary, and soon.
The Islamists lost their grip on Pakistan's largest college campus for the first time in decades last year. Then the violence started.
Their decline had been obvious. Shops at the University of the Punjab began selling Coca-Cola, which had been banned by the Islamist students because it was an American product. Cable television, seen as immoral by the fundamentalist group, was installed inside college dormitories. Girls and boys sat together, after years of forced segregation. For the university administration and many students, the push back against the youth wing of fundamentalist party Jamaat-e-Islami was essential for the future of the school and the country's fight against extremism. But the resulting clashes here last month show how serious the fight over Islam is in this volatile nation.
In many ways, the battle at Punjab's university is a microcosm of the larger battle in the country, especially with the government facing pressure to rein in Islamist militant groups after one of them was implicated by India and its Western allies in the deadly terrorist attacks in Mumbai in November. For years, the militant groups have been supported directly or indirectly by the country's powerful intelligence agencies and army command, and it's unclear how much the civilian government can door has the will to do.
"We are sitting here in a campus which is going to define the future of Pakistan," said Muhammad Naeem Khan, the registrar of the school of 30,000 students, in a recent interview. "Here is where we will win the war on terror. Here is where we will win the war for democracy."
The rise of the Islamist youth group, called Islami Jamiat Talaba, over the last 30 years illustrates how forces once supported by the Pakistani establishment can be difficult to stop. In 1984, President Mohammad Zia-ul-Haq, a right-wing military ruler known for spreading Islamic fervor, banned student political groups. In University of the Punjab, the only major group left was IJT, which defined itself as a religious party. Zia's government, busy helping the U.S. fight the Soviet occupation in Afghanistan, allowed IJT to spread. Afghan jihad leaders such as Gulbuddin Hekmatyar now listed as a terrorist by the U.S. spoke at University of the Punjab. Some students left to fight in Afghanistan.
Although the ban on student groups was briefly lifted in the 1990s, President Pervez Musharraf, the military ruler who seized power in 1999, reinstated it. In the years that followed, IJT played a similar role to that of its parent group, Jamaat-e-Islami, supporting Musharraf even while pretending not to, analysts say. But Jamaat-e-Islami, the country's oldest religious political party, also had links to militants. In 1989, it helped form a militant group to fight in Indian-controlled Kashmir at the prodding of Pakistan's most powerful spy agency, analysts say. In 2003, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, the alleged mastermind of the Sept. 11 attacks in the U.S., was arrested in the house of a Jamaat-e-Islami member.
Here in Lahore, leaders of the Islamic youth group say they are not violent. They say that they have no problem with Coke and no problem with male and female students talking to each other. "We have an ideology, and everybody [at the university] is with us," said Qaisar Sharif, 27, who is in charge of the group on campus. "The ideology is of Islam, and to help the students be together, without any division."
Over the decades, with no organized opposition, the Islamist group became so entrenched in the university that former members became teachers and now run the teacher's association on campus. They forced the university to hire supporters as drivers, gardeners and guards. Member students took over university offices and used them to preach, teachers and administrators said. University administrators did little against the group at times because they were afraid.
The group even made money from the university, setting up a book fair and banning American sodas in favor of Pakistani-made Shandy cola, which paid the group a commission, university administrators said. The group's leaders denied this. "This university for a long time has been the goose that laid golden eggs for these people," said Mujahid Kamran, named university vice chancellor a year ago.
In his new job, Kamran wanted the Islamist group to obey the rules. So he paved the way for Coca-Cola's return. He closed the school rather than allow the book fair and then he held a university-sponsored book fair. He cleared out university offices that the group had taken over. The new civilian government, elected last February, again lifted the ban on student unions. A loose group of liberal students, the United Students Federation, started recruiting and eventually took control of Dorms 15 and 16.
But there were ominous signs. In September, a suitcase of rusted Kalashnikovs, grenades and bullets was unearthed near the Islamist youth group's headquarters, Kamran said. The next day, another gun was found. A leader of the liberal student group was then beaten up in the middle of the night. And in the early hours of Dec. 3, after hours of protests by both student groups and a fist fight, Islamist youths broke into Dorm 16 and shot two liberal students, wounding both, police said. Mazhar Qayyum, 24, a law student, was in the hospital for more than two weeks after being shot in the left thigh and hit over the head with a metal rod. He has left the university and is now recovering at home. "I am very much fearful about my life," Qayyum said. "Not only my life, but my family, my friends."
Although police initially held one Islamist youth group member in the shooting, no one has been charged. The liberal youth group's leaders say they have been threatened to withdraw their cases against the Islamists. The leaders also blame the university for encouraging them to recruit and rally against the Islamists but doing nothing to protect them.
Some moderate teachers, weary of a long fight against the Islamist group, worried that the recent changes were only cosmetic. "It's like dispersing little mosquitoes when you put a mosquito coil in the room," said Shaista Sirajuddin, head of the English department. "When the coil is gone, they come right back. ... It's not a question of could they come back. They will come back."
Jamaat-e-Islami (JI) chief Qazi Hussain Ahmad on Friday claimed local jirgas in the Tribal Areas could ensure peace if the ongoing military operation was halted.
"I guarantee if the government withdraws the army from the Tribal Areas and leaves the restoration of peace to the local jirgas, normalcy will return to the region," Qazi told participants of a protest rally at Aabpara Chowk.
The JI chief said former president Gen (r) Pervez Musharraf's policies, especially the one in the Tribal Areas, were intact, despite the people rejecting them in last year's election.
Dialogue: He warned the United States and NATO forces would march on to Islamabad after they conquered the Tribal Areas, adding dialogue, not force, was the solution to the FATA problem.
Qazi said Kashmir was the core issue between Pakistan and India, and the world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, should step in for its peaceful settlement for good.
Obama: He urged Obama to withdraw troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
The JI chief condemned the recent Israeli attack on Palestine, saying the assault added to the misery of the Palestinians, who were already suffering from food and medicine shortage.
JI leaders Liaquat Baloch, Prof Khursheed Ahmed and Main Aslam also addressed the rally. They said the government should adopt a 'realistic approach' for the improvement of law and order in the Tribal Areas.
Later, the protestors marched towards the parliament building, chanting slogans against the military operation in the Tribal Areas.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Iraq will close within two months a camp where opposition Iranian rebels have been living in exile for two decades, a senior Iraqi security official said on Friday.
"Over 3,000 inhabitants of Camp Ashraf have to leave Iraq and the camp will be part of history within two months," Iraqi National Security Adviser Muwaffaq Al Rubaie told a news conference with Saeed Jalili, secretary-general of Iran's National Security Council.
"Iran's security cannot be threatened by any factor inside Iraq. Iran's security is our own security."
Iraq has said in the past it plans to close the camp eventually, but the two month deadline appears to be new and would leave little time to find a place for its inhabitants.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
This is gonna be interesting. Strangest little group on the planet - anti-mullah outfit with Marxist tinge, on the US terrorist list, sheltering in an Arab country. Rubaie probably is as much of a loose-cannon jackass as he was when I was there, so there may be some salt needed here, but I wonder what they will do with these folks. Think of Chinese jihadis at Gitmo, or the like, times 500.
President Barack Obama urged Israel on Thursday to open its borders with Gaza. I guess he can do that. It's not like he's responsible for the results.
The plea came in a speech that signalled the new US administrations shift from Bush-era policy on the Middle East and the world as a whole. In a high-profile address on his second day in office, just hours after he signed an executive order to close the centre at Guantánamo Bay, Mr Obama proclaimed that the US would actively and aggressively seek a lasting peace between Israel and the Palestinians in the wake of this months Gaza war.
The outline for a durable ceasefire is clear: Hamas must end its rocket fire: Israel will complete the withdrawal of its forces from Gaza: the US and our partners will support a credible anti-smuggling and interdiction regime, so that Hamas cannot re-arm, the US president said.
As part of a lasting ceasefire, Gazas border crossings should be open to allow the flow of aid and commerce, with an appropriate monitoring regime, with the international and Palestinian Authority participating. Monitoring? Like not letting anything leave Gaza? And not letting anything that is weapons-related or dual-use or fungible enter Gaza? Like it is now?
Mr Obama and Hillary Clinton, secretary of state, also announced the appointment of George Mitchell, as the US special envoy for the Arab-Israeli conflict and Richard Holbrooke, former US ambassador to the United Nations, as representative for Afghanistan-Pakistan. Suckers!
The moves signalled another shift from the foreign policy of the Bush administration, which had resisted appointing a high-profile envoy for Middle East peace. He'll be back. Too bad we have to relearn this hard lesson every four or eight years.
Although Condoleezza Rice, who finished her tenure as secretary of state this week, brokered a 2005 deal to allow open border crossings to Gaza, access was often shut down, with Israel citing security concerns and Hamas launching rocket attacks. The issue is set to test the authority of the new administration as it begins to grapple with the Middle East conflict.
Before Mr Obama gave his speech, an Israeli official said there would be tough conditions for any lifting of the blockade, which he linked with the release of Gilad Shalit, a soldier held captive by Hamas since 2006. Yeah. Real tough. Like not killing Israelis. Me no get it.
If the opening of the passages strengthens Hamas we will not do it, the official said.
We will make sure that all the [humanitarian] needs of the population will be met. But we will not be able to deal with Hamas on the other side. We will not do things that give legitimacy to Hamas. You can't win there. They have the guns.
Under its ceasefire, Hamas has given Israel until Sunday to open the borders. Much of Gazas civilian infrastructure has been destroyed during the three-week Israeli offensive and, without building materials and other supplies, there is little hope of rebuilding the water, sewage and power networks as well as private homes and key government buildings. But many foreign donors share Israels concerns that the reconstruction efforts should not be led by Hamas, or enhance the groups legitimacy. Too late. They're already handing out money. They know they'll get it back.
Let me be clear: America is committed to Israels security and we will always support Israels right to defend itself against legitimate threats, Mr Obama said. I wonder what that's going to translate into over the coming months.
But in comments referring to the Gaza conflict he added: I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza. Our hearts go out to Palestinian civilians who are in need of immediate food, clean water, and basic medical care, and whove faced suffocating poverty for far too long. I guess all of Zero's advisors have been dipping into the cool-aid, too.
He called on Arab governments to act on the promise of a Saudi-led 2002 Arab peace initiative by supporting the Palestinian Authority headed by President Mahmoud Abbas taking steps towards normalising relations with Israel, and by standing up to extremism that threatens us all. They got a pretty sweet situation set up here. What are the chances that the Arabs are going to give it up? Hint: Look at the first letter of Obama's name.
#3
"I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza."
Back then I was in my 'one President at a time' phase and besides, the teleprompter was broken.
#4
"I was deeply concerned by the loss of Palestinian and Israeli life in recent days and by the substantial suffering and humanitarian needs in Gaza."
But not concerned over years of rocketing of civilians on the Israeli side to make a point of it during the election, except behind close doors with Jewish donors [sorta like talking down all those bible thumping, gun totting, rednecks, while sharing a Cabernet with those fine wealthy donors in SanFran].
#7
I just don't get this sh*t about Israel being obligated to open the border with Gaza and supply them with food, electricity and attractive goats. Wasn't Gaza part of Egypt? Israel is no longer occupying it. Shouldn't Gaza now be an internal Egyptian problem? Let them open their border with them.
#9
Israel would be wise to ignore Zero. It would be wise to throw its own "O" down the stairs as well.
Posted by: regular joe ||
01/24/2009 12:45 Comments ||
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#10
It's almost certain that this will be an early failure for the twink. Predictable rookie mistake to make an impossible goal a high-profile one as well. The status quo ante was bad enough - couldn't be dressed up as anything good - and even that could be out of reach.
"Appropriate monitoring regime". An excellent example of how these people, whatever their SAT scores or pedigrees, are just real-world-dummies. (and in O's case there's ample reason to doubt even the scores and grades were anything special)
#11
I live 50 miles north of the Mexican border (Tucson,Az.). With all the tunnels, mules, and contraband packed SUV's coming in - I never realized the border was closed...
#12
Predictable rookie mistake to make an impossible goal a high-profile one as well.
Since Obama can't deliver on his socioeconomic and Iraq agenda, he'll need to distract his public (most of whom, incidentally, are not Americans---the One is a Savior for the whole World). That is better than kike-bashing helping the poor Palestinians?
The government is set to approve a bill Sunday to grant aid and support to Israel Defense Forces officers in cases where they face suits for alleged war crimes from Operation Cast Lead.
The bill, titled "strengthening the IDF's hand after Operation Cast Lead", was put forward by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, and coordinated by the Ministry or Defense, Ministry of Justice and State Prosecutor. There is growing concern at the Defense Ministry and the Ministry of Justice that Israeli officers will be singled out in a wave of suits for alleged human rights violations.
Barak said Friday that the government carries the responsibility for sending IDF soldiers on military operations and as a result is obligated to grant them complete support against any possible harm to them stemming from those operations.
"I do not know of any army that operates at the high standards that the IDF operates," Barak said. "There is no place for an automatic backlash following every operation."
Barak wrote in the bill that the IDF behaved according to its high moral values during Cast Lead, in spite of the fact that Hamas gunmen fired on IDF troops from areas heavily populated with civilians, in clear violation of international law.
"As an army which is unsurpassed in its moral traditions, the IDF has done all that it can in order to adhere to international law, in order to avoid harming civilians who are not involved in fighting," Barak said, adding that such moral principles "have not always been enough to prevent tragedies from happening."
"Nonetheless, Hamas cynically uses its civilians in a manner that places responsibility for the results upon their shoulders," Barak added.
On Thursday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert appointed Justice Minister Daniel Friedman to head a team that will examine methods to avoid war crimes charges for those involved in IDF operations in Gaza. The decision comes as a result of civilian casualties that happened as a result of Operation Cast Lead.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
What is this war crimes stuff? Suits if they travel outside Israel or are they going to allow suits in Israel?
#2
I do not know why the Jews deserve so much hatred from Europeans and from our own government. I know a lot why it is so but what to tell you when our own populations do not give a damn to our foreign policies. Remember, the nuclear booms in Japan restored peace, and the same is needed to win over the Islamic terrorism. Just blow a few mountains to inhalation and then Pakistan and Iran will talk straight. Every rouge nation facing inhalation will very quickly learn to behave immediately.
#3
i agree with 3dc. this keeps getting brought up, why not go after Hamas militant6s who used schools and private homes too lure the IDF in, with war crimes. Instead of offering aid too their officers they need too do like most nations would do and tell the international courts too f... off. no one else goes by their word why should israel have too?
#4
Maybe instead of taking out Iran's nuclear infrastructure, Israel should bomb the Hague, instead. Both are enemies, but it's hard to decide which is worse.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/24/2009 15:08 Comments ||
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(AKI) - Thousands of people have been left homeless and about 300,000 have no access to piped water or sewerage in the Gaza Strip after Israel's three week military offensive, the International Committee of the Red Cross said on Friday. The president of the ICRC, Jakob Kellenberger, released a statement appealing to Israel, the Palestinian Authority and the ruling Hamas movement to take immediate action to end Gaza's humanitarian crisis.
"We once again call on all sides to take the political steps needed to resolve the humanitarian crisis in Gaza once and for all," said Kellenberger, who was the first leader of a major international humanitarian organisation to visit Gaza after the armed conflict began on 27 December.
"Emergency aid is vital for Gaza short-term, but what is needed are the right conditions for economic development."
According to Palestinian health officials, more than 1,300 people were killed and 5,000 others were wounded during the three-week conflict.
The ICRC said the latest conflict came as the population of Gaza was suffering worsening poverty, shortages of basic goods and basic services as proper medical care and water because of the restrictions imposed by Israel, particularly since since 2007, when Hamas seized control of the territory.
It said insufficient cooperation between the Palestinian Authority in Ramallah and the Hamas administration in Gaza had also impacted the provision of essential services.
"It would not be acceptable to go back to the situation prior to this latest conflict," said Kellenberger.
"Political preconditions must not be allowed to affect recovery efforts. Israel's right to address its legitimate security concerns must be balanced against the Gazans' right to lead a normal and dignified life."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Israel's right to address its legitimate security concerns must be balanced against the Gazans' right to lead a normal and dignified life."
Killing Jews in the only dignity and normalcy they know---but then, you probably know that you swiss ponce.
#2
Questions never asked:
1. How many Gazans were without running water, sewer, and electricity BEFORE Israel invaded Gaza?
2. What kinds of products are Gazans building and exporting, other than Qassam missiles?
3. Israel left Gaza with several dozen operational greenhouses that were producing vegetables and fruit. What has happened to those greenhouses under Hamass/Gaza rule?
4. How many people in Gaza receive international aid? How much is siphoned off by Hamass to fund its missile purchases and terrorist attacks? How many of those Gazans receiving assistance do you REALLY think you can get off the dole (honest answer, 0)?
5. How many of the Gazans that died during the Israeli invasion were killed by Hamass and the other armed groups in Gaza? And don't give me this bullsh$$ that they were ALL killed by Israeli troops - I won't buy it.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
01/24/2009 15:35 Comments ||
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Israel has all but ruled out fully reopening border crossings with the Gaza Strip as long as Hamas rules the enclave or stands to benefit from easing of the restrictions, a top adviser to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said.
Speaking a day after Olmert spoke by telephone to US President Barack Obama, the adviser expressed confidence the new administration in Washington would maintain George W Bush's policy of refusing to deal with or talk to Hamas. The adviser spoke to a small group of reporters at Israel's military headquarters in Tel Aviv, on condition of anonymity.
Flow of supplies: The adviser said Israel would allow the "maximum" flow of food, medicine, oil and gas to the Gaza Strip to help its 1.5 million residents recover from the offensive, which killed more than 1,300 Palestinians, but a wider range of goods, including steel and cement needed for rebuilding, would have to wait. Israel believes the restrictions will give it leverage to pressure Hamas to free Gilad Shalit, a captured Israeli soldier. Diplomats and aid agencies say the restrictions will doom Gaza's reconstruction, estimated to cost at least $2 billion.
Olmert's adviser said Israel's underlying goal was to deny Hamas control over border crossings that could help it cement its hold on power. "If opening the passages will strengthen Hamas, we won't do it," he said. European powers have called on Israel to reopen the border crossings fully. The adviser said he doubted Hamas would agree to let Abbas's security forces, backed by international observers, return to the border crossings, as Israel and Egypt have proposed.
He said Abbas's forces did "something remarkable" in the West Bank by "containing riots and demonstrations" during the war on Gaza but added that they were not ready for Gaza. "It's a limited force. And in order to take it to Gaza, I think they need first more training, more forces, and this is something that takes time." Even if Hamas agreed to let Abbas's Palestinian Authority run the crossings, Israel believes Hamas would maintain control behind the scenes and take over "within days", he said.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
I supposed they could build a tunnel to bring in the rebar.
Israel has taken a favorable view of an Egyptian request to increase the force of its border guards along the Philadelphi Route by at least 750 - and possibly as much as 1,500 - according to a senior Israeli political source.
Meanwhile, the head of the political-security bureau at the Defense Ministry, Amos Gilad, discussed the matter of expanding the Egyptian border force with Omar Suleiman, head of the Egypt's intelligence, in Cairo last night.
In Rafah, residents told Haaretz that the Egyptians had deployed 1,200 regulars whose mission is to secure the border and prevent smuggling.
The senior Israeli political source said that Gilad had also updated Prime Minister Ehud Olmert as well as Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni and Defense Minister Ehud Barak on his talks with Suleiman. The source added that even though it is not clear what the precise number of additional soldiers to be deployed will be, Israel will agree to a larger force.
It is also unclear whether the broadening of the Egyptian border force will become part of the Israeli-Egyptian peace accords, or whether it will be a tacit agreement between the two. If the agreement is to be anchored in a written deal, the cabinet and the Knesset will need to approve it because it will alter the peace agreement of 1979.
"Increasing the Egyptian force will not constitute an obstacle to the understandings between the two countries on the issue of smuggling," a political source said yesterday in Jerusalem. "This is not what will make this deal fail."
Regarding possible numbers of Egyptian troops, the senior political source said that currently there are 750 troops along the border and Egypt had asked to double that number in the past. However, now tripling the force is being considered, raising the number to 2,250, and enabling 750 soldiers to patrol in three shifts 24 hours a day.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
the force is being considered, raising the number to 2,250
Hurting Hamas by raising the amount of bribes they've to pay?
(AKI) - Israel and Egypt have taken steps to increase security and stop arms smuggling into the Gaza Strip from Egypt. The move came amid unconfirmed claims that Israelis are also smuggling arms into the Palestinian territories from Israel.
Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert, defence minister Ehud Barak and foreign minister Tzipi Livni approved new security arrangements at a cabinet meeting late Thursday, following recent talks with officials in Cairo to address the issue. The Israeli cabinet measures include the creation of possible checkpoints in Egypt's Sinai Peninsula, as well as moves to prevent smuggling boats from docking at Port Said.
Livni and former US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice recently signed a memorandum of understanding intended to stop the ruling Hamas movement from rearming in Gaza and to stop arms smuggling. The memorandum outlines the appropriate measures to be taken by the US, Egypt and other countries. The technical details of the proposed arrangements were endorsed during recent discussions between Amos Gilad, a top Israeli defence official, and officials in Cairo, including intelligence chief Omar Suleiman.
Meanwhile, the secretary-general of Egypt's National Council for Human Rights, Mukhlis Qutub, said that Egypt has proof of weapons smuggling from Israel to Gaza and said there was evidence that Israeli soldiers sold weapons from army depots.
"Egypt has documented proof of the existence of arms smuggling from Israel to the Palestinian territories ," said Qutub in an interview with the pro-government Egyptian daily al-Ahram. "We also know of weapons that come from the Israeli army depots sold to the Palestinians by Israeli soldiers."
One of the requests in the memorandum of understanding between Israel and the US is a ground penetrating radar or GPR, to detect tunnels, as well as supervision to stop the alleged smuggling of arms from Iran.
Israel has also allowed Egypt to increase the number of border guards along the Gaza-Egypt frontier by up to 1,500, said a senior Israeli political source quoted by Israeli daily, Haaretz.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
Egypt could find all the tunnel entraces on the Rafah side of the border in an afternoon. The fact they don't is because they don't want to.
Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip were already suffering under a crippling blockade, which saw the poverty-stricken people turn to secret tunnels for support, but after Israel's deadly assault that left more than 1, 330 people dead; it seems most people just want to get out.
Widowed mothers, orphaned children and anyone with relatives out of Gaza are all desperate to get away from the rampant death and destruction, worsened by Israel's 22-day assault.
For 20-year-old Gazans Ahmed and Mohammed--stranded on the devastated coastal strip sandwiched between Egypt and Israel--they have just one dream-- get out of Gaza as fast as they can.
And across the border an Israeli widow said she was desperately trying to bring three of her children out of Gaza after her Palestinian husband was killed in the blitz on the coastal enclave.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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#1
And across the border an Israeli widow said she was desperately trying to bring three of her children out of Gaza after her Palestinian husband was killed in the blitz on the coastal enclave.
Long distance relationships are always difficult.
Seriously tho... WTF?
#2
Nothing in the article suggests that the Israeli widow is Jewish, .5MT. One does wonder why she left the children with her Gazan husband, when the education and opportunities are so much better outside the security fence.
France will deploy a frigate carrying helicopters to international waters off the coast of Gaza to participate in a mission against arms trafficking in the territory, the presidency said Friday.
A statement from President Nicolas Sarkozy's office said the surveillance, aimed at preventing arms trafficking by sea to Hamas-ruled Gaza, would be carried out in full cooperation with Egypt and Israel. "What is urgent now is to consolidate the ceasefire, and that requires humanitarian action, a total halt on arms trafficking to Gaza, the durable reopening of the border crossings, reconstruction and inter-Palestinian reconciliation," the statement said.
Sarkozy went on two diplomatic tours of the Middle East during the Israeli offensive in Gaza to try and obtain a ceasefire. He said that France was ready to help bring back peace in whatever way it could.
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: Hamas
#1
Make sure Zionist pirates do not intercept legitimate weapon humanitarian supplies to beleaguered Palestinian People?
(AKI) - The Egyptian arm of militant Islamist group, Jamaa al-Islamiya, which in recent years has rejected violence, has asked the Al-Qaeda terror network for a 120-day truce to evaluate the policies of the new US president Barack Obama.
The Islamist movement, considered a terror organisation by the European Union, the United States and Egypt, was one of the largest jihadist organisations in the Arab world and conducted several terror attacks until it called a ceasefire after the massacre of 62 foreign tourists at Luxor in 1997.
The armed group has now launched an appeal to Al-Qaeda leaders to mark Obama's inauguration in a bid to build a new relationship with the US.
"We were not the ones who initiated war, and we have only fought for our own self-defence," says the militant group on the Islamic website, Isam Darbala.
"In the next four months, we expect Obama to adopt a fair position. We welcome peace if it is based on respect for Islamic identity and on the rights of our people to live independently under our doctrine and Sharia (law) in the common interest of the Americans and the whole world to avoid the clash of civilisations."
The appeal is directed to Al-Qaeda leader Osama Bin Laden and his top lieutenant Ayman al-Zarwahiri.
"This is an important occasion and for this we direct all the Al-Qaeda leaders who are linked to them ideologically or to internal members of the group and in particular, Bin Laden and Zawahiri," the group says in its internet message.
"That is something new and (the fact) that Obama spoke about the Islamic world in his first speech indicates that he is admitting it is necessary to follow a different course."
Posted by: Fred ||
01/24/2009 00:00 ||
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Top|| File under: al-Qaeda
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.
(AKI) - A Yemeni citizen, Abu Basir, has been appointed head of Al-Qaeda in the Arabian peninsula, after members of Al-Qaeda in Yemen and Saudi Arabia decided to increase coordination between terrorist cells in the region, according to a message posted to Islamist websites.
France will deploy a frigate carrying helicopters to international waters off the coast of Gaza to participate in a mission against arms trafficking in the territory, the presidency said Friday. 
