What Really Happened In The Middle East

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Labels: Israel, Middle East, Palestine, terrorists

Egypt, Jordan and two other key US allies, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, have been trying to convince the United States and Israel to accept an Arab peace initiative as a starting ground for relaunching peace negotiations. The deal offers full peace with all Arab nations if Israel withdraws from territories captured in the 1967 Six Day War and the creation of a Palestinian state.

Israel and the U.S. should tell the Arab world that they'll take 'full peace' at the current borders. Everyone with half a brain knows what happens when Israel withdraws from ANY land, there is no indication that this would be different. Full peace from the Arab world means little if the terrorists are simply going to keep firing on Israel. (link)

Labels: Fatah, Hamas, Israel, Palestine, terrorists

Earlier, sources in President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah said tensions stoked by the renewed violence with Hamas, after the ceasefire was announced late on Sunday, could lead to the collapse of the unity government within days.

Despite an Egyptian-brokered truce, two Palestinian gunmen and two civilians caught in crossfire were killed in Gaza in clashes between the Hamas and Fatah groups. Eight people have been shot dead since a new round of violence erupted on Friday.

"I told all parties I cannot accept being a minister without authority," Interior Minister Hani al-Qawasmi said at a news conference after Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a Hamas leader, accepted his resignation.

As Hamas's choice as interior minister, Qawasmi was to have overseen security services, but officials said the former academic was frustrated by competition from powerful Fatah rivals for control of the armed contingents.

Qawasmi's move cast new doubt on whether power-sharing between Islamist Hamas and secular Fatah could continue. Filling the interior ministry post had been one of the main obstacles to forming the current coalition government.

Labels: Fatah, Hamas, Palestine, terrorists

Sheik Ahmad Bahr, acting Speaker of the Palestinian Legislative Council, declared during a Friday sermon at a Sudan mosque that America and Israel will be annihilated and called upon Allah to kill Jews and Americans "to the very Last One." Following are excerpts from the sermon that took place last month, courtesy of MEMRI.

Labels: Israel, Palestine, terrorists

Technology

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MySpace Users Big Targets for ID Theives

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By GARY GENTILE, The Associated Press
Dec 25, 2006 1:55 PM (1 hr 13 mins ago)
Current rank: # 32 of 10,727 articles

LOS ANGELES - MySpace devotee Kary Rogers was expecting to see a gut-busting video when a friend from the popular online hangout messaged him a link.

First, though, he was directed to a page where he was supposed to re-enter his password. Rogers realized that someone was trying to steal his information, and he didn't take the bait. At best, he would be spammed with junk e-mails; worse, the Web thief might steal his real-life identity.

"I immediately went back and changed my password," said Rogers, 29, a network analyst for Mississippi State University in Starkville, Miss. (link)

Israeli PM Orders Checkpoints Dismantled

By MARK LAVIE
Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM (AP) -- Israel agreed Monday to remove some of the military roadblocks that have hindered Palestinian travel in the West Bank, one of several gestures aimed at boosting moderate President Mahmoud Abbas in his bitter struggle with the militant Islamic Hamas. Prime Minister Ehud Olmert approved streamlining checkpoints and removing roadblocks "to strengthen moderate (Palestinian) elements," according to a statement from his office. Olmert has already offered $100 million in frozen tax income to Abbas and indicated he might release some Palestinian prisoners. Deputy Defense Minister Ephraim Sneh said inspections would be eased at 16 checkpoints, and 27 unmanned roadblocks would be removed. Also, crossings for people and cargo between Gaza and Israel would be upgraded "in order to accelerate the economy in Gaza to lessen the poverty and despair." Olmert singled out Abbas as a Palestinian leader who is interested in peace with Israel - a clear contrast to Hamas, which rejects the existence of a Jewish state in an Islamic Middle East and has rebuffed international demands to renounce violence. Hamas controls the Palestinian government. (link)

AP Photo/MOHAMMED BALLAS

Labels: identity theft, Israel, Palestine, terrorists

Asia

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U.S. Airstrike Kills Taliban Commander

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By JASON STRAZIUSO, The Associated Press
Dec 23, 2006 7:14 AM (2 hrs 14 mins ago)
Current rank: # 22 of 16,810 articles

KABUL, Afghanistan - A top Taliban military commander described as a close associate of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar was killed in an airstrike this week close to the border with Pakistan, the U.S. military said Saturday. A purported Taliban spokesman denied the claim.

Mullah Akhtar Mohammad Osmani was killed Tuesday by a U.S. airstrike while traveling by vehicle in a deserted area in the southern province of Helmand, the U.S. military said. Two associates also were killed, it said.

Osmani, regarded as one of three top associates of Omar, is the highest-ranking Taliban leader that the coalition has claimed to have killed or captured since U.S. forces deployed in Afghanistan to oust the Taliban regime in late 2001 for hosting bin Laden. (link)

Saudi Lawyer Takes On Religious Court System

Rights Cases Used To Press for Change

By Faiza Saleh Ambah

Washington Post Foreign Service
Saturday, December 23, 2006; Page A01

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia -- Saudi human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem said he had been waiting years for a case like this: A woman and her daughter, both accused of promiscuity, were followed by the morals police as they left a private residence on the outskirts of the capital.

The police, who enforce adherence to Saudi Arabia's strict religious laws, beat up the women's driver and drove off with them locked in the back of the car. When the car broke down half an hour later, the officers abandoned them in the stranded vehicle.

In his Riyadh office, human rights lawyer Abdul-Rahman al-Lahem, right, talks to a man whose mother and sister are suing the country's religious police. "If we win this case," he said, "it will prove that nobody is above the rule of law." (By Faiza Saleh Ambah -- The Washington Post)

The police assumed that the women had been visiting male friends. But the two had been at the home of female relatives. And unlike the thousands who had previously been intimidated into dropping their grievances, they insisted on taking their kidnappers to court. The case, which goes to trial next week, will give Lahem a chance to finally confront the powerful morals police, whom he considers the country's worst human rights offenders.

Lahem, a 35-year-old father of two, contends that the police oppress people in the name of religion and act as if the law doesn't apply to them. He wants to prove them wrong.

"If we win this case, it will have more of an impact than a dozen lectures or newspaper articles," he said. "It will send a powerful message to them, and to the public, who view men of the cloth as untouchable. It will prove that nobody is above the rule of law." (link)

Middle East

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Senior Palestinian Official Shot in Gaza

(AP Photo/Majdi Mohammed) Palestinians run for cover as gunmen from Hamas take position during a gunbattle Fatah militants in the West Bank city of Nablus , Friday, Dec. 22, 2006.

Printer Friendly | PDF | Email | digg By IBRAHIM BARZAK, The Associated Press Dec 23, 2006 7:22 AM (2 hrs 7 mins ago) Current rank: # 520 of 16,810 articles GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Assailants fired on the car of a senior Palestinian security official Saturday, wounding him, a bodyguard and a girl in intensifying factional fighting in the Gaza Strip.

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Saturday he hopes to meet with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert in the coming week, but said no date has been set. The meeting would be the first between Israeli and Palestinian leaders in a year and a half. (link)

Labels: cease-fire, Middle East, Palestine, religion, terrorists

Factional Violence in Gaza Escalates

By Scott Wilson

Washington Post Foreign Service
Sunday, December 17, 2006; 11:20 AM

JERUSALEM, Dec. 17--Gunmen opened fire on the convoy of the Palestinian foreign minister from the governing Hamas movement Sunday in the tense aftermath of President Mahmoud Abbas's call for early elections. Hours later a mortar attack on the presidential compound in the Gaza Strip wounded five people and a Palestinian civilian was killed in running gun battles.

Hamas officials condemned the attack on Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahar's motorcade, which came as it passed through Gaza City, as an assassination attempt. There were no reports of injuries in the attack on the motorcade. (link)

Labels: Israel, Middle East, Palestine, terrorists

Dec. 16, 2006 6:27 | Updated Dec. 16, 2006 10:15 Carter explains his use of 'apartheid' By ASSOCIATED PRESS ATLANTA Talkbacks for this article: 102 Facing controversy over his new book on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, former President Jimmy Carter issued a letter to American Jews explaining his use of the term "apartheid" and sympathizing with Israelis who fear terrorism.

Former US President Jimmy Carter holds a copy of his book "Palestine: Peace, Not Apartheid." Photo: AP

Carter wrote the letter following his meeting Tuesday with a group of rabbis in Arizona. The rabbis said they would not call for a boycott of Carter's book, "Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid," but they also would not suggest that anyone read it.

Carter defends 'Peace Not Apartheid'

Opinion: Carter's compromised statesmanship

Opinion: Jimmy Carter, go back to your peanut farm

Carter's book follows the peace negotiations between the Israelis and Palestinians during his presidency in 1977-1980. He is critical of all players in not reaching a better accord, but he is especially critical of the Israelis. He previously told The Associated Press that Americans are rarely exposed to anything other than pro-Israeli views in the news media.(link)

Labels: Christian, Jewish, Middle East, Palestine

Miss USA Dethroned?

Posted Dec 14th 2006 7:30AM by TMZ Staff
Filed under: Gossip/Rumors

TMZ has learned that officials from the Miss USA pageant will make a "major announcement" today and may strip reigning Miss USA Tara Conner of her title due to inappropriate behavior.

Sources tell TMZ that executives from the Miss USA organization and NBC (which broadcasts the pageant) met Tuesday to discuss Conner and alleged incidents of her inappropriate behavior, including her conduct at New York City bars. While no one from the pageant would comment on the rumored troubles, several sources tell TMZ that a big announcement is expected some time Thursday. According to these sources, officials are extremely unhappy with the current Miss USA's conduct in public. (link)

Dec. 14, 2006 16:19 | Updated Dec. 14, 2006 22:41 18 wounded as Hamas, Fatah, Egyptians clash at Rafah By YAAKOV KATZ AND AP Talkbacks for this article: 32 Eighteen people were wounded on Thursday night in renewed clashes at the Rafah border crossing, hours after Hamas gunmen tried to seize control of the terminal, on the Egypt-Gaza border. Witnesses said Hamas gunmen were firing at the Egyptian side of the border, drawing return fire from the Egyptians and presidential guards from Fatah. During the battle, masked gunmen in three cars and a bulldozer stormed the terminal, witnesses said. The gunmen went on a rampage inside the building, destroying computers and furniture inside and plunging the area into darkness, the witnesses said. Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh was still being held back from returning to the Gaza Strip just a couple of hours after Israel had given him permission to embark. (link)

Palestinians try to throw their luggage over a barrier as they wait to cross the border into Egypt at the Rafah crossing in the southern Gaza Strip on Wednesday. Photo: AP

New U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon vows to restore trust

Thu Dec 14, 2006 3:17pm ET

By Irwin Arieff UNITED NATIONS (Reuters) - South Korea's Ban Ki-moon was sworn in as the eighth U.N. secretary-general on Thursday and vowed to restore trust in an institution tainted by scandal and a growing divide between rich and poor nations. The former South Korean foreign minister, 62, takes over on January 1, succeeding Ghanaian Kofi Annan, 68, who steps down at the end of the month after 10 years as U.N. leader. "You could say that I am a man on a mission. And my mission could be dubbed 'Operation Restore Trust': Trust in the organization and trust between member-states and the secretariat," Ban said. (link)

Let's all hope he is much better than Kofi was at EVERYTHING. The U.N. is at the point where the easiest way to save it would be to dismantle the apparatus and start over. It couldn't be any worse than the things that go on there now. While the U.N. spent years condemning Israel in the M.E. and the U.S. for not saving the world, they let the tragedy in Dafur rage, they stole money from various countries/people (oil-for-food) and they continue to allow their 'peace' workers to rape young women all over the world.

There is not much that can be said that is good about the U.N. so I won't even try.
__________
Reason amongst the wild

Labels: Middle East, Miss America, Palestine, politics, senate, U.N.

JPost.com » Israel » Article

Dec. 11, 2006 18:42 | Updated Dec. 11, 2006 19:55
IDF soldier shot in head near Jenin
By YAAKOV KATZ AND JPOST STAFF

An IDF soldier from the Lavi Battalion was moderately wounded Monday during

IDF soldiers during a raid in Jenin.
Photo: AP [file]

clashes with Palestinian gunmen in the West Bank town of Kabatiya, south of Jenin. The soldier was evacuated by helicopter to Rambam Medical Center in Haifa and was treated for a gunshot wound to the forehead.

The soldier was wounded during a routine arrest raid in the West Bank town. An armed Palestinian opened fire at the military force and hit the soldier. Another soldier was lightly wounded during the gun clashes. (link)

Labels: ambush, Israel, Palestine, West Bank

	3 Palestinian kids dead in Gaza drive-by
AP Photo: Palestinian police officers are reflected in the bullet-riddled window of a car where three children...	By IBRAHIM BARZAK, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 4 minutes ago GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip - Palestinian gunmen killed three young sons of a senior Palestinian intelligence officer Monday, pumping dozens of bullets into their car as it passed through a street crowded with schoolchildren in an apparent botched assassination attempt that could ignite widespread factional fighting.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility for the drive-by attack, which left the schoolbags and a small plastic bag with a sandwich covered in blood. "I have no words. Words stop at the extent of this crime," the boys' father, Baha Balousheh, told The Associated Press. "I am a father who has lost his children."

Labels: children, death, Palestine, terrorists