Maravot world news

08.16.05 Jordan's king vows to reject settling more Palestinians

(AP) August 16 – Jordan's King Abdullah II vowed Tuesday to oppose settling more Palestinian refugees in his country amid Arab fears that Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip may not extend to the West Bank. Abdullah is concerned that if Israel fails to leave the West Bank, which Palestinians want as part of a future state, Jordan may be pressed to settle tens of thousands of Palestinian refugees living in camps scattered across the region, including Syria and Lebanon.

"I know and do appreciate the fears of some of you that plans may exist to redraw the map of the region and to settle some historic issues at the expense of Jordan," Abdullah told an impromptu meeting with members of parliament, Cabinet and former prime ministers before he left for Russia. "We are talking about the issue of resettlement and an alternative (Jordanian) homeland," he said. Jordan already hosts 1.8 million Palestinian refugees and their descendants displaced in two wars with Israel since 1948. [More>>haaretzdaily.com]

08.16.05 Saudi businessman tackles task of polishing Islam's image

BEIRUT, August 15 – Polishing the image of Islam in general and Islamic banking in particular has become the obsession of Saudi businessman Sheikh Saleh Abdullah Kamel. The September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks in the United States and the unabated acts of terrorism in many capitals of the world have all smeared the image of Islam - especially among Western countries.

"Regrettably, many Western and even Arab media have done further damage to Islam by labeling groups that perpetrated terrorist acts as Muslim fundamentalists or Muslim extremists while in reality these groups are nothing more than khawarej (deviants)," Sheikh Kamel explained. He added that those who committed these "heinous" crimes against innocent people in the West and the Middle East have nothing to do with Islamic teaching because this religion calls for tolerance and respect of all human beings.

"Egypt and Saudi Arabia have been fighting terrorism since long before September 11 and the Egyptian government warned the US that some Arab political groups that operated in the West were nothing but terrorist groups."

...Sheikh Kamel decided to organize two important meetings this month in Sharm al-Sheikh, the scene of the latest terrorist bombing that killed dozens of people, to try to dissipate the stereotypes about Islam and show its true image.

The first meeting, which is scheduled for August 20, will gather the 57 member states of Islamic Chamber of Commerce and will be fully devoted to the subject of terrorism...The second meeting will be held on August 21 and will group more than 50 Muslim scholars and respected religious figures. Both meetings will issue strong condemnation of all terrorist acts in the world and will clearly point out that those who carry out suicide acts against innocent people will not go to heaven. [Full story>>dailystar.com.lb]

08.16.05 Syrian police arrest Kurds after riot

August 16 – Syrian police have arrested about 35 Syrian Kurds in a northern town near Aleppo after they assaulted policemen dispersing members of a banned separatist faction. Ammar Qurabi of the Arab Organisation of Human Rights in Syria (AOHRS) said a crowd rioted on Monday after police prevented them from holding a celebration to mark the 25th anniversary of the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK). "About 35 people were arrested after hurling stones at the police and damaging property and vehicles in Ain al-Arab," Qurabi told reporters on Tuesday. "The police did not use firearms, but they used tear gas after the violence started."

Qurabi said the violence subsided after the arrests. "AOHRS condemns the use of violence by any entity ... emphasises the importance of national unity and urges self restraint," his rights group said in a statement.

In June, Syria sentenced three members of the PKK to jail after convicting them of seeking secession. Damascus banned the PKK after a stand-off with Turkey over the group's activities in 1998. Syria and Turkey came to the brink of military confrontation before Damascus met a Turkish request to expel PKK leader Abdullah Ocalan. Ankara had repeatedly complained that Syria was backing PKK rebels fighting in southeast Turkey. [More>>aljazeera.net]

Eitorial note: There are about 2 million Kurds in Syria. The Kurds have traditionally occupied an area encompassing a circle from southern Turkey to the northern parts of Syria, Iraq and Iran. The Kurds have been striving for a united Kurdistan encompassing the area they occupy – a problem to the nations indicated. They speak a Persian language and are an old Indo-European group that some archeologists believe to have origins in the Ukraine. They represent the Western Branch of an Indo-Persian group; the Eastern Branch moved into Afghanistan, eastern Iran and India. India's ancient language, Sanskrit, and the Persian ancient language, Avestan, are quite similar. Some comparisons among the ancient languages are available at maravot.com/Indo-European_Table.html.
Mel Copeland

08.15.05 Police arrest three far-rightists trying to enter Temple Mount

August 15 – Police on Monday afternoon arrested three far-right extremists who attempted to force their way onto the Temple Mount in Jerusalem's Old City. Two mosques are located on the site, known to Muslims as the Haram al-Sharif.

Police said that Itamar Ben-Gvir, Avigdor Askin and a third activist arrived together with a group of teenagers to a police barrier at the entrance to the site, and tried to enter the compound where the second Temple is believed to have stood once. After police officers prevented them from crossing, the group stretched out on the ground crying "The Temple Mount is ours." They were then arrested.This latest attempt is seen as a further step by far-rightists to spark a conflict between Jews and Arabs in a bid to stop the disengagement. Police in Jerusalem's Old City have been on their highest state of alert in recent days.

Askin has been convicted of placing a pig's head on the grave of Izzadin al-Qassam, an Arab leader who headed a series of attacks against Jewish targets in the 1930s. Askin was acquitted from charges of intending to catapult a pig's head into the Temple Mount compound during prayers in the holy Muslim month of Ramadan. In 1995, Askin took part in the Pulsa Denura ceremony when a Halakhic death wish was placed on former prime minister Yitzhak Rabin. Ben Gvir has recently stated that he wished to enter the Temple Mount to pray for the cancellation of the disengagement. [haaretzdaily.com; for background see, "Police gird for riots as scores arrive for Western Wall prayers."]; See related story, "Abbas welcomes pullout, eyes East Jerusalem and West Bank" : Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday welcomed Israel's evacuation from the Gaza Strip as an "historical moment," but said that Israel must also hand over the West Bank and East Jerusalem in the future. "If they want peace, they must allow Palestinians to achieve their rights," Abbas told the BBC World Service. "The Israeli withdrawal that has begun today is an important and historic step that shouldn't only happen in Gaza but also the West Bank and the rest of the land reaching to the 1949 borders," he told the Palestinian government-controlled Wafa News Agency. [More>>haaretzdaily.com]

Editorial note: Jerusalem is considered the capitol of Israel. Separating the Old City (East Jerusalem) from Israel would not be well received by those who believe that the Jews have an inheritance right in the Old City. However, there is an alternative, taking into consideration Abbas' desire to restore the 1949 borders. In the original UN Resolution of November 29, 1947 that created Israel, Jerusalem was set aside as the UN Corpus Separatum, to be governed by the United Nations. The UN still is the legal owner of the land marked out by the Corpus Separatum of Jerusalem, that extends from the Old City to the Mediterranean Sea (See Maravot map, "UN map of Israel.gif," also linked in the Maravot News sidebar. Returning Jerusalem to UN authority may be a way of allowing the desire of Jerusalem's "Declaration of Independence" to occur.

08.15.05 Pakistan backs Iran's right to peaceful nuclear energy use

ISLAMABAD (DPA) August 15 – Hours after Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad appointed ultraconservative Ali Larijani as the country�s new chief nuclear negotiator, Pakistan backed on Monday Iran�s right to use nuclear energy for peaceful purposes. �Teheran has the legitimate right as signatory to the Non- Proliferation Treaty (NPT), to use the nuclear energy for peaceful purposes,� Foreign Ministry spokesman Naeem Khan told reporters in Islamabad. [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

08.15.05 Investigators face mystery of Cypriot plane crash in Greece

(AFP) August 15 – Accident investigators faced a mystery as rescuers continued their search for bodies after a Cypriot airliner slammed into a wooded hillside near Athens with the loss of more than 120 lives amid harrowing accounts of an apparent crisis in the plane's cockpit. Two Greek air force F16 fighters scrambled Sunday to investigate after communications were suddenly lost with the Helios Airways twin-engine aircraft, Greek and Cypriot officials said. The fighter pilots "saw two people in the cockpit, we don't know if they were crew members or passengers, appearing to want to take over the controls," said Greek government spokesman Theodore Roussopoulos. They saw "the co-pilot slumped over and perhaps unconscious and the pilot not in his seat," he said, adding that the oxygen masks were "activated" in the cockpit. Most or all of the 121 passengers and crew on the doomed Cypriot airliner were probably dead before the plane hit the ground, Greek Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said Monday. [More>>turkishpress.com; See more details, reuters.com, "Cyprus plane crash victims 'frozen solid.'"]

08.15.05 Israel begins Gaza pullout despite settler fury

NEVE DEKALIM, Gaza Strip (AP) August 15 – Defiant and tearful Jewish settlers locked the gates to their communities, formed human chains and burned tires to block troops from delivering eviction notices on Monday, as Israel began its historic pullout from the Gaza Strip after 38 years of occupation. Police and soldiers waited patiently in the sweltering sun and avoided confrontation at the behest of their commanders. In one scene, a sobbing settler pleaded with a brigadier general not to evict him before the two men embraced. �It�s a painful and difficult day, but it�s a historic day,� said Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz.

Over the next three weeks, Israel plans to remove all 21 Jewish settlements from Gaza and four from the West Bank. The withdrawal marks the first time Israel will dismantle settlements in areas captured in the 1967 Mideast War and claimed by the Palestinians for their future state. While Prime Minister Ariel Sharon says the pullout will improve Israel�s security, Jewish settlers fiercely oppose the plan and have promised stiff, but nonviolent resistance. [More>>khaleejtimes.com; See related story, aljazeera.net, "France slams Gaza Kidnapping" : France has condemned the kidnapping in Gaza City of a French television sound technician and on Monday called for his release. "French authorities condemn the kidnapping last night in Gaza of Mohamed Ouathi, a sound engineer for France 3 television, and call for his immediate release," a Foreign Ministry spokesman said in a statement. "Our consulate in Jerusalem is fully mobilized to this end, in liaison with the relevant Palestinian authorities," it said. Ouathi was snatched at gunpoint outside his hotel in Gaza City late on Sunday and bundled into a waiting car before being driven off, the Palestinian security sources said...]

08.15.05 (Update) Anti-Iraq war protest at Bush ranch in Texas now "The peaceful occupation of Crawford"

CRAWFORD, Texas, August 15 – Since August 6 anti-war activists, led by Cindy Sheehan, of Gold Star Families for Peace, have been chanting "Bush, liar" and "How do you ask a soldier to be the last person to die for a lie?" outside the gates of the sprawling Prairie Chapel ranch near Crawford where the president is spending a month's vacation. The highly restricted space the group occupies is called Camp Casey. In answer to Bush's violent, ongoing occupation of Iraq Sheehan is claiming "the peaceful occupation of Crawford."

Sheehan statement, afterdowningstreet.org. :
August 15, "Hope – The peaceful occupation of Crawford": The ninth day ended in the most awesome way. We were out at Camp Casey and it was sprinkling a little bit and it really looked like the rain was going to start pouring down anytime. We looked over into the next cow pasture and there was a full rainbow. If that wasn't a sign from the universe then I don't know what is.

I was being interviewed by Alex Jones and he asked me what I thought the rainbow signified. I told Alex that I was positive that it means we are going to be victorious. Rainbows are supposedley God's sign of hope. When Casey was killed on 04/04/04, I thought that all of my hope was killed, too. Being involved in the peaceful occupation of Crawford and meeting hundreds of people from all over the world who are willing to put their money where their mouths are has given me so much hope for the future. We won't let George Bush and his evil neocon cabal ruin our world anymore. John Lennon sang: "Power to the people." We are the people and we have the power.

Cindy Sheehan et al. protest in Crawford, Texas against the War in Iraq. Collage created by Maravot – photos from whiterosesociety.org, vickracing.us (available courtesy of afterdowningstreet.org), a blog photo of Bush's Reelection and a poster from Maravot News11.04.04. The protest's goal is to confront Bush : 'War based on horrendous lies.'

AfterDowningStreet.org contains links to ongoing reports and photos from Camp Casey.

Sheehan is waiting for Bush to explain "the noble cause" that led to the invasion of Iraq, in light of Bush's original claim of invasion to rid Iraq of "weapons of mass destruction."

Associated with the "weapons of mass destruction" was the finding that Saddam Hussein was not attempting to buy material from Africa for manufacture of nuclear bombs. This finding – by former Ambassador Joseph Wilson – led to an alleged release of Classified information, connected to the president's office via White House Deputy Chief of Staff Karl Rove.

The issue opined via several media and cnn.com 7.12.05, article, "White House clams up on CIA leak" : " .... Newsweek reported this week that a July 2003 e-mail from Time magazine reporter Matthew Cooper states Rove told him about an agent who was the wife of former Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who had just leveled accusations that the Bush administration had overstated a key piece of intelligence in its arguments for war with Iraq.

Cooper's e-mail does not say that Rove explicitly named Plame. But it states that Rove told him Wilson was not authorized by the CIA to investigate whether Iraq had sought uranium from the African country of Niger, as Wilson had stated in a July 2003 piece in The New York Times. The CIA "leak" is under continuing investigation."

There have been many comments in the news media since the invasion of Iraq that Americans don't really feel the affects of the invasion and occupation of Iraq. Flag-draped coffins returning from Iraq have been hidden by the Bush administration, we occasionally hear the grief of towns that lose a high proportion of their sons. There is no draft, however, to assure a more democratic recruitment of American soldiers, and there is the continuing story of the soldier sent back to Iraq because of low military recruitments, and the cost of the war is funded through the sales of US government bonds (a hidden tax, adding to the public debt). But we are reminded of the war in Iraq a little bit more when the people who lost their loved one(s) speak out. The peaceful occupation of Crawford, Texas is a new twist from a mother speaking out against the loss of her son – "due to a lie." It may give the people of Crawford, at least, some idea of what it is like to be (peacefully) "occupied."
Mel Copeland

08.15.05 KT Corp. seeks US approval for installing telecom devices in North Korea

August 15 – KT Corp., Korea's largest fixed-line telephone operator, has reportedly sought US approval on transporting telecommunication equipment to a pilot industrial park in North Korea, as the act could violate a US export ban. If the US Department of Commerce affirms the act, KT will be able to proceed with its landmark project to enable North-South telephone calls for South Korean firms operating in the North's border city of Gaeseong. KT had agreed with its North Korean counterpart in March to hook up Gaeseong to South Korea at 40 cents per minute. The US Export Administration Regulations prohibit shipment of "strategic products," such as precision machinery and high-tech computers, to countries considered to support terrorism like the North, if those goods are American-made or more than 10 percent of their components are sourced from the US. More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

08.15.05 Russia reports bird flu in sixth region

MOSCOW (Reuters) August 15 – A bird flu outbreak in Russia appeared to be spreading westward on Monday after officials confirmed the virus had broken out in a sixth region since the epidemic struck the country in mid-July. It was unclear whether the virus found in the Urals region of Chelyabinsk was the deadly H5N1 strain that has killed more than 50 people in Asia since 2003. It has been confirmed in a number of Siberian regions and neighboring Kazakhstan. Interfax news agency quoted Andrei Gasilov, vice-governor of Chelyabinsk, as saying the virus had killed 60 birds in the village of Oktyabrskoye on the Kazakh border since Saturday. Other Russian regions hit by the flu include Novosibirsk, Tyumen, Omsk, Kurgan and Altai. Chelyabinsk, which borders Kurgan on the east side of the Ural mountains dividing Europe and Asia, is the west most region to have been struck so far. [More>>thestar.com.my; See 8.14.05 article, "Bird flu spreading in Kazakhstan" and rian.ru article, "Bird flu may spread to southern Russia – physician" : Bird flu may spread to the Astrakhan, Rostov and Volgograd regions, Stavropol and Krasnodar territories in southern Russia this fall, the country's chief sanitary doctor said Monday. "An analysis of bird migration routes has shown that the contagious A (H5N1) virus may spread from Western Siberia to the Caspian and Black Sea areas this fall," Gennady Onishchenko said in a letter to the heads of regional departments of the Federal Service for the Oversight of Consumer Protection and Welfare. "Some birds nesting in the affected regions (the Novosibirsk region and Altai territory) migrate to the above-mentioned areas for winter or stop there on their way to Africa or Europe."

Bird migration routes run through Azerbaijan, Iran, Iraq, Georgia, Ukraine and Mediterranean countries, where bird flu outbreaks are also possible, he added. "The 2006 spring migration may result in a spread of the A (H5N1) contagious virus across European Russia because birds migrating from European Russia and Siberia have common winter nesting areas," Onishchenko said. According to the World Health Organization, 112 people contracted bird flu between December 2003 and August 2005 and 57 of them died. He also said that the A (H5N1) virus had mutated and could infect people with fatal results.]

08.14.05 Al-Qa'ida planning fuel truck attacks on London, warns US

August 14 – The US has warned that al-Qa'ida is planning to cause mass casualties with a series of attacks on petrol stations in London and American cities in the next few weeks. The leaked intelligence report from the Department of Homeland Security is highly specific. It says suicide drivers "will employ various types of fuel trucks as vehicle-borne improvised explosive devices in an effort to cause mass casualties ... before September 19."

The memo names New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and London as target cities and adds: "The stated goal is the collapse of the US economy." The Department of Transport has also recently ordered a tightening of security around the UK's road tanker fleet.

The intelligence briefing says the terrorists' aim may be to mark the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 attacks. However, in the US, the FBI questioned the reliability of the information. But as UK authorities hunt down cells that may be planning such operations, a senior Muslim cleric has said that radical preachers such as Omar Bakri Mohammed should have been expelled from Britain "years ago" for advocating violence. Abu Khadeejah, a prominent Muslim scholar in Birmingham, accused militants in Britain of trying to "shroud" the murder of innocent people by wrongly using verses from the Koran. Speaking at a two-day conference in Birmingham, called Orthodox Islam's War on Terror, he said it was vital to educate young Muslims that suicide bombing was not a glorious death but a theological perversion. [More>>independent.co.uk]

08.14.05 Salman Rushdie: Islam must open its windows

(The Times) August 15 – When Iqbal Sacranie, head of the Muslim Council of Britain, admitted that "our own children" had perpetrated the July 7 London bombings, it was the first time in my memory that a British Muslim had accepted his community's responsibility for outrages committed by its members. Instead of blaming US foreign policy or "Islamophobia", Sir Iqbal described the bombings as a "profound challenge" for the Muslim community. However, this is the same man who, in 1989, said that "Death is perhaps too easy" for the author of The Satanic Verses.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair's decision to knight him and treat him as the acceptable face of "moderate," "traditional" Islam is either a sign of his Government's penchant for religious appeasement or a demonstration of how limited Mr. Blair's options really are...Sir Iqbal's case illustrates the weakness of the Government's strategy of relying on traditional, but essentially orthodox, Muslims to help eradicate Islamist radicalism. Traditional Islam is a broad church that includes millions of tolerant, civilized people, but also many whose views on women's rights are antediluvian, who think of homosexuality as ungodly, who have little time for real freedom of expression, who routinely express anti-Semitic views, and who, in the case of the Muslim diaspora, are – it has to be said – in many ways at odds with the (Christian, Hindu, non-believing or Jewish) cultures among which they live.

In Leeds, from which several of the London bombers came, many traditional Muslims lead lives apart, inward-turned lives of near-segregation from the wider population. From such defensive worlds some youngsters have stepped across a moral line and taken up their lethal rucksacks.

The deeper alienations that lead to terrorism may have their roots in these young men's objections to events in Iraq or elsewhere, but the closed communities of some traditional Western Muslims are places in which alienations can easily deepen. What is needed is a move beyond tradition – nothing less than a reform movement to bring the core concepts of Islam into the modern age, a Muslim Reformation to combat not only the jihadi ideologues but also the dusty, stifling seminaries of the traditionalists, throwing open the windows of closed communities to let in much-needed fresh air. [Full story>>theaustralian.news.com.au; See articles recorded in Maravot News08.13.05, "Pakistan to send foreign madrasa students home," and "U.K. Muslims send $800 million to Pakistan madrasas." and "Understanding terrorists' use of the Koran – what constitutes extremist activity."

08.14.05 Saudi exile runs urban warfare website in UK

August 14 – A prominent London-based Saudi dissident, Muhammed al-Massari, is running a website that features a guide to urban warfare for potential terrorists. In a series of video and audio clips, the Beginner�s Guide for Mujahed gives detailed advice on physical training, the surveillance of enemy targets and operational tactics. It features footage of an Arab instructor who recommends would-be holy warriors to invest in a knife for self-defence, saying: �Of course, this knife is mainly for stabbing and is not suitable or good for beheadings.�

Referring to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, Al-Qaeda�s leader in Iraq whose followers murdered the British hostage Ken Bigley by slitting his throat, the instructor adds: �As far as beheadings are concerned, we ask our brothers to seek Abu Musab�s advice on this issue as he has more experience in this.� Another section focuses on the use of binoculars and night vision equipment for the surveillance of �human enemy or enemy targets or vehicles�. The instructor implores Allah to �grant his mujaheddin victory over . . . the Jews, the Americans and the apostates�.

An audio segment of the course posted on the website�s discussion forum advises that urban warfare is best conducted by several terrorist cells that may share a leader but should remain unknown to each other in case members are captured. One cell should stake out a target, another should acquire military equipment or explosives, and a third should actually mount the attack. [More>>timesonline.co.uk; See Maravot News, 8.10.05 (washingtonpost.com article), "The web as a weapon." and jang.com.pk article, "Bombers 'radicalized' in UK: Musharraf."

08.14.05 Police gird for riots as scores arrive for Western Wall prayers

August 14 – Thousands of police officers on Sunday deployed around the Temple Mount in Jerusalem to prevent possible clashes as thousands of religious Jews arrived at the Western Wall to pray on the fast day of Tisha B'Av. By 2 P.M. prayers in the Temple Mount mosques ended quietly. Police banned the entrance of Muslim men under the age of 45 to the site. The restriction will remain in place until Sunday evening, police said. Checkpoints were set up on the way to the Old City in order to check visitors coming in, after Jerusalem police received warnings of thousands of Muslims intending to reach Temple Mount in order to fend off supposed attempts by Jews to seize control over it.

Police feared that Jewish extremists would attempt to spark riots between Jews and Muslims at the holy site in a last-minute bid to thwart the impending disengagement from the Gaza Strip. Thousands of Jewish worshippers came Saturday to the Western Wall to participate in the traditional Tisha B'av rituals. Representatives of the conservative movement prayed for a peaceful and bloodless disengagement.

At Rabin Square in Tel Aviv, attendees took part Saturday evening in the sixth annual "Tonight We do not Study Torah" event, according to the Tisha B'av custom of discussing mourning and the baseless hatred that brought about the destruction of the temple. [More>>haaretzdaily.com; See related story on Gaza pull-out, Jerusalem Post, Roadblocks set up throughout W. Negev," khaleejtimes.com, "Palestinian forces deploy around settlements" and Maravot News editorial, "New security system for Temple Mount – Why the Dome of the Rock is threatened." and hindustantimes.com August 13 article, "Indian immigrants not to leave Gaza Strip voluntarily" : Indians, the single largest immigrant community in the Gaza Strip slated for evacuation, are to stay put in the area and resist the pullout plan till the end, community members have said. "We are not leaving on our own. Let them come and throw us out," Avin Gangte from the Bnei Menashe community hailing from Northeast of India said. Calling the move dictatorial, Gangte said, "Our's is a just fight. We have sacrificed a lot here and the Government doesn't have the mandate for what it is doing arbitrarily. We will fight together."

...The Government recently announced that those staying in the Strip after August 15 would be doing so illegally and it won't be responsible for the loss of their property. It also threatened them with reduced compensation. [Full story>>hindustantimes.com]

08.14.05 US church rebukes Israel for barrier

August 14 – A five-million-strong US church has rebuked Israel for building a separation barrier along the West Bank, becoming the second major US Protestant denomination to reject policies implemented by the Jewish state. The resolution titled "Peace Not Wall" was adopted on Saturday on a 668-269 vote by members of the Evangelical Lutheran Church in America at their convention in Orlando, Florida, despite pleas from Jews to refrain from the move. The document that eschews overt condemnation of either side in the conflict urges both Israel and the Palestinians to renew their commitments "to self-determination and security." It reaffirms the church's support for UN Security Council resolutions that call for Israeli withdrawal from territories occupied as a result of the 1967 war while upholding the right of every state in the Middle East "to live in peace within secure and recognized boundaries."

...The document endorses findings by Munib Younan, the church's bishop in Jordan and Israel, who lamented that the barrier was splitting his Jerusalem congregation into three sectors. He said the wall had made it almost impossible for the congregation to meet, for children to get to their schools and for adults to reach their places of work. [Full story>>aljazeera.net; click on the photo of the barrier in Maravot News sidebar for background on the barrier. Included in the plan of the barrier was a report that it will continue into the sea to block shipping into the Gaza Strip.

08.14.05 Eighteen of Iran's 21 new ministers hail from Revolutionary Guards, secret police

TEHRAN August 14 – The following is the final list of ministerial nominations presented by Iran�s new President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad to the Majlis (parliament) on Sunday. The list includes 13 ministers-designate who have been officers and officials in the Revolutionary Guards and its affiliated paramilitary agencies.

At least five of the nominees have a background in the notorious secret police, the Ministry of Intelligence and Security (MOIS), and revolutionary prosecutor�s offices, including the new cabinet�s two Shiite clerics, Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ezhei and Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi. The latter was Deputy Minister in charge of MOIS for a decade, while the former was the chief representative of the judiciary in the MOIS for years. The Majlis is scheduled to have a 40-hour debate on the nominations, beginning next Sunday. It will then proceed to vote on each nominee and is widely expected to approve all of them...Last week, Ahmadinejad appointed hard-liner Ali Larijani as Secretary of Supreme National Security Council and put him in charge of nuclear policy. Larijani, an IRGC brigadier general and former Deputy Minister of the now-defunct Ministry of Revolutionary Guards, will attend cabinet meetings and is expected to play a key role in the new government. He is a former director of state-run radio and television. [Full story with profiles of ministers>>iranfocus.com]; See also turkishpress.com, "Iran unveils hardline cabinet, warns US over nuclear threat."

08.14.05 Germany's Schroeder on Iran: "Leave military options aside"

HANOVER, Germany, August 13 – German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder pushed aside the option of using force to contain Iran and its uranium enrichment activities, saying that military options were worthless. "Let's leave military options aside, we have already seen that they don't amount to anything," Schroeder said during an electoral meeting in the northern city of Hanover. The chancellor's statement followed an interview aired Friday on Israeli public television in which US President George W. Bush said that "all options are on the table" when asked if the use of force was an alternative to faltering diplomacy with Iran.

In an interview to be published Sunday in the German weekly Bild am Sonntag, Schroeder said he considered any military option "extremely dangerous". "This is why I can with certainty exclude any participation by the German government under my direction," he said. [More>>turkishpress.com; See also Maravot News 8.13.05 editorial, "Using force the George W. Bush way" : When George Bush refers to the use of force to get his way, we can see, as it relates to Iraq, that "the use of force" in Iraq is not force at all in the conventional sense of the term. Bush's use of force to date has been without planning or purpose with regard to exercising sovereignty over another nation. After all, when one nation invades another nation, one must have support in order to implement "changes" promised through the invasion. Whilst all members of the United Nations are recognized as sovereign nations it is apparent that the Bush administration's respect for the sovereignty of nations or even the United Nations itself is lacking. At most Bush is like a school ground bully whose success is dependent upon the use of American forces as his own private army in an expanding war which he called World War III, as described in the June 29, 2005 issue of washingtonpost.com...; timesonline.co.uk article, "Britain keeps distance from talk of strike on Iran " : "The foreign secretary Jack Straw sought to distance Britain yesterday from comments by President George W Bush that he would not rule out a military strike against Iran. It came as diplomats gave warning that British attempts to solve the crisis prompted by Tehran�s resumption of its nuclear programme last week were doomed to failure. Bush raised the temperature by giving an interview to Israeli television from his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Asked if he would consider force, he replied: �All options are on the table.� He added: �The use of force is the last option for any president and you know we�ve used force in the recent past to secure our country.�

The Foreign Office reacted swiftly. �Our position is clear and has been made very, very clear by the foreign secretary,� a spokesman said. �We do not think there are any circumstances where military action would be justified against Iran. It does not form part of British foreign policy.� ]

08.14.05 UN nuclear watchdog rebuts claims that Iran is trying to make A-bomb

August 14 – The UN nuclear watchdog is preparing to publish evidence that Iran is not engaged in a nuclear weapons programme, undermining a warning of possible military action from President George Bush. The US President told Israeli television that "all options are on the table" if Iran fails to comply with international calls to halt its nuclear programme. Both the US and Israel - the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power - were "united in our objective to make sure Iran does not have a weapon", he said.

However, Iran is about to receive a major boost from the results of a scientific analysis that will prove that the country's authorities were telling the truth when they said they were not developing a nuclear weapon. The discovery of traces of weapons-grade uranium in Iran by UN inspectors in August 2003 set off alarm bells in Western capitals where it was feared that Iran was developing a nuclear weapon under cover of a civil programme. The inspectors took the samples from Iran's uranium enrichment plant at Natanz, which had been concealed from the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) for 18 years. But Iran maintained that its nuclear programme is for peaceful purposes, and that the traces must have been contamination from the Pakistani-based black market network of scientist AQ Khan. He is the father of Pakistan's nuclear bomb.

The analysis of components from Pakistan, obtained last May by the IAEA, is now almost complete and is set to conclude that the traces of weapons-grade uranium match those found in Iran. "The investigation is likely to show that they came from Pakistan," a Vienna-based diplomat told The Independent on Sunday. [More>>independent.co.uk]

08.14.05 North Korean delegation pays homage to South's war dead

August 14 – A North Korean delegation paid an unprecedented visit yesterday to South Korean war dead from the Korean War at Seoul's state cemetery, bowing in front of a 31-meter tower just behind the main gate. The visit by 27 North Korean civic and government officials, part of 165-member team here for join Liberation Day celebrations with South Korea, was interpreted by some as an indication the North was virtually admitting to starting the war. The cemetery has until now been a taboo area to the North.

The visit was also seen as signal reinforcing the North's recent statements seeking replacement of the current armistice with a permanent treaty amid international pressure to abandon its nuclear weapons program. The cemetery in southern Seoul honors more than 50,000 who died during the 1950-53 Korean War and former presidents including Park Chung-hee, as well as martyrs who fought for liberating the nation from Japan's colonial rule. [More>>koreaherald.co.kr]

08.14.05 North Korea hints at compromise

PYONGYANG, North Korea (CNN) August 14 – North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator says Pyongyang may be willing to offer proof that it does not have a uranium-based weapons program, which the United States claims it does. The apparently conciliatory gesture from Vice Foreign Minister Kim Gye Kwan comes ahead of a planned resumption of six-party talks at the end of the month aimed at getting North Korea to dismantle its nuclear program. North and South Korea, China, Japan, Russia and the United States have been taking part in those talks.

One of the most contentious issues at the negotiations has been Washington's claim that North Korea has a secret uranium weapons program in addition to its declared plutonium one. In an exclusive interview with CNN in the North Korean capital, Kim repeated Pyongyang's denial that it has a uranium-based program. But in a hint to the United States that North Korea is willing to compromise, he said the issue was open to negotiation. [More>>cnn.com; See also chinadaily.com.cn, "DPRK hints at compromise on nuke talks."]

08.14.05 Iraqi leaders gear up to finalize charter despite Sunni disapproval

BAGHDAD (AFP) August 14 – As Iraqi leaders held last-ditch meetings to draft a constitution ahead of Monday�s deadline, members of the panel suggested a compromise charter could be ready on time even without Sunni approval. With consensus needed to avoid a delay of the political process, Iraq�s Kurdish and Shia power brokers under heavy US pressure seemed ready to strike a compromise deal without the Sunnis on board.

"We can still prepare the draft without the Sunnis," Kurdish constitution panelist Mahmud Othman told AFP on Sunday. "All the groups elected in the national assembly can come together and prepare the draft by Monday evening." Othman spoke of "tremendous pressure and intervention from the US," with US officials in Washington and Baghdad demanding constant updates of developments. Another panelist said the "strict restrictions" of the constitution schedule laid out in the present interim law meant that "all-out attempts" will be made to meet the Monday deadline. "I am sure the draft will be ready by Monday and forwarded to the parliament on Tuesday," the panelist said on condition of anonymity, adding �certain Sunnis are rejecting federalism... I don�t think they will give approval to the compromise charter." But, he added: "I don�t think this will create a political crisis."

Sunni Arab negotiators vowed to stand strong. "We will not accept federal system in the constitution," Saleh al-Motlag, a Sunni panel member, told AFP. "This is a red line for us as it concerns the unity of Iraq and we will not bargain on this." [More>>khaleejtimes.com]

08.14.05 Iraq bombs, shooting kill six US troops

August 14 – Six US soldiers died in roadside bombings and a shooting, the US military said, as lawmakers tried to persuade Sunni Arabs to accept federalism provisions in the draft constitution that is due on Monday. Three of the soldiers were killed in a roadside bombing late on Friday near Tuz, 150km north of Baghdad, the military said on Sunday. Another soldier was wounded in the blast and evacuated. One soldier on patrol was killed on Sunday and three others were wounded in a blast east of Rutbah, 400km west of Baghdad, the military said. In another roadside bombing, one soldier was killed on Saturday and another wounded in western Baghdad.

On Friday, a US commander said the number of roadside bomb attacks against American convoys in Iraq had doubled in the past year to about 30 a week. Dozens of bombings, usually detonated by remote control, target US and Iraqi patrols each day. The military said in a brief statement from Baghdad that one soldier was found dead on Friday of a gunshot wound. The military said an investigation was under way and did not say where the soldier was found or if an attack was suspected in the soldier's death.

The bodies of 30 people, including two women, were discovered in a mass grave south of Baghdad on Sunday, and police have made several arrests in connection with the finding, security sources said. "A grave containing 30 mutilated bodies, of which two were women, was discovered at Awerij," about 20km south of the Iraqi capital, said police lieutenant Muthanna al-Shumari. [More>>aljazeera.net]

08.14.05 Airbus considers building plant in China

BEIJING (AFP) August 14 – European aircraft maker Airbus is considering setting up a manufacturing plant in China, building on its relationship with one of the world's leading aviation markets, state media reported on Sunday. The plan was being mulled to commemorate the 20th anniversary of Airbus's entry into China this year, Xinhua news agency said on its website.

Airbus has sold more than 200 planes in China since 1985 and so far this year has received orders for 59 aircraft from five Chinese airlines, accounting for 20 percent of its total orders, Xinhua said. In addition, over half of the world's 3,700 Airbus aircraft in operation have parts made in China. [More>>chinadaily.com.cn]

08.14.05 Police arrest 12 Tamil suspects for Sri Lankan FM slaying

COLOMBO, August 14 – Sri Lankan police have arrested 12 Tamils in overnight raids over the assassination of Foreign Minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, the Defense Ministry said Sunday.The army, navy and police were involved in the raids in and around the capital, Colombo, said a ministry spokesman. Eleven men and one woman were arrested and being interrogated, he said. A state of emergency went into effect within hours of the killing of the heavily protected Kadirgamar, shot by suspected Tamil Tiger snipers Friday evening at his home. The rebels have denied any responsibility for the shooting, a claim discounted by the government. [Jang.com.pk; See related story, dailynews.lk, "SLRC presenter shot dead."

08.14.05 Bird flu spreading in Kazakhstan

(Maravot News) August 14 – Several incidents of mass hen loss have been registered since the beginning of August in East Kazakhstan. Over 400 hens died in Krasnyi Yar village, but Albert Mursalimov, Ministry of agriculture of RK, believes that another rare disease was responsible for their deaths. Cases of death of over 350 hens were registered in 7 villages of East Kazakhstani oblast. Earlier bird flu was registered in Pavlodar oblast. About 30 wild ducks are believed to have died from bird flu in Akmola oblast; 364 hens died in 7 farms of the Borodulikhinskiy region, with the preliminary diagnosis being bird flu. In Golubovka village of Pavlodar oblast about 800 geese and ducks died from bird flu. Vetinarians note that a mass migration of birds from Russia to South-Eastern Asia across East Kazakhstan will soon begin. "Specialists hope only for good weather. If it gets cold, the birds, among which there will definitely be infected birds, will not stay in the region." [Source>>khabar.kz/eng/]

(2) The name, Allah, in Arabic is an expression of surprise. It is not unusual for the God of the Bible to be known by many names. Jewish Midrash quotes passages in the Old Testament (Torah) that cite as many as seventy names of God (and more). But they can all be reduced down to one name.
(5) The Law of the Locrians: "In the legislation of the Locrians, the proposer of a new law, with a halter round his neck, to be instantly tightened if the public assembly did not, on hearing his reasons, then and there adopt his proposition." [Mill, On Liberty, 2.475].

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