Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, September 09, 2004

The Middle East's lost resources (Arab expat conference at Oxford)

Arab blues at Oxford

LONDON Last Saturday, 100 of the best contemporary minds in the Arab world sat down to lament the state of the region's political leadership - united by the devastating reality that not a single one is able to return to work in his or her native country. Worse, whether legally or from fear, a majority cannot go home at all.
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So much for the protestations about reform in the area - and the effect of Washington's pressure on Arab governments.
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This was no collection of fatwa-thumping Islamists, dedicated to the downfall of the current regimes. Instead they came together as liberal academics and businesspeople, men and women exiled by nothing more revolutionary than their belief in a fairer and more democratic world. Most now live in Europe, but they brought an array of painful baggage from Tunisia, Sudan, Syria and Saudi Arabia: Some have been shot at, others jailed, harassed or intimidated.
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Together they represent the lost resources of an Arab world that is fast becoming isolated by illiteracy, ignorance and repression.
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For the last 14 years, members of the group, the Project for Democracy Studies in Arab Countries, have assembled quietly at Oxford University to discuss what is not available for public discussion in their native region, even in countries that cultivate a more liberal face, like Jordan and Lebanon. As one participant murmured sadly, "Nowhere in the Arab world would such a gathering be possible.”
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While news reports are dominated by Iraq, Al Qaeda and the Palestinians, speakers focused on the structural weaknesses in Arab regimes: despotism, corruption and excessive government interference in the lives of ordinary people. “We were on about this long before the Americans started talking about reform," a physician living in Germany said. “And we'll be on about it long after they've lost interest.”
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That sense of managing alone contrasts sharply with the attitude of most Arab commentators, who delight in blaming the rest of the world for every misfortune, real or imagined, and look to it to right all wrongs. The Oxford delegates believe that it is only Arabs themselves who can create the institutions in their societies that can lead them to a better future.
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What is especially lacking, they point out, is a range of civil organizations to safeguard and monitor the rule of law, human rights and education, as well as sectarian and ethnic diversity. Honest, publicly accessible information about the shortcomings in Arab societies is almost nonexistent. No longer is ignorance bliss - it now translates into paralysis and stagnation.
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More worryingly, a new generation, denied the opportunity to participate in a range of democratic institutions or other vehicles for public self-expression, is finding more dangerous outlets for its passions.
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“It's easier for a young Arab to blow himself up, rather than sweep the area outside his house," said a Saudi researcher from an English university. “He doesn't feel he belongs to anything.”
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Of all the obstacles to reform, none is trickier than the interpretation of Islam itself. Religious dogma is variously used in the Arab world as a cover and an excuse for coercion. With no central Islamic authority, each regime feels free to manipulate the scriptures as it sees fit and to claim justification for the most ludicrous excesses. How else could Saudi Arabia get away with banning the gift of flowers on Valentine's Day or forbidding women to drive?
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The only solution, the Oxford group says, is to redefine the relationship between politics and religion - in effect, a house-cleaning operation, to be carried out by civil institutions as yet unborn.
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Oxford is a good place to dream, but this group didn't come for that. They came to exercise the fundamental right of free speech, in an atmosphere devoid of intimidation and surveillance.
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They remain unknown in the West, because neither are they terrorists nor do they have oil. But the Arab world cannot ultimately move forward without them. It's time the international community recognized that and helped them get a ticket back home.

Tanzim fugitive planned attack at Jerusalem cafe

A combined Shin Bet and IDF operation in Bethlehem on August 5 resulted in the arrest of Tanzim fugitive Murad Ala'an, thus thwarting a suicide bomb attack on the Cafe Filter in Jerusalem where he was employed as a cook.

Details released for publication on Wednesday revealed that Ala'an, 20, who lived in the Al Aida refugee camp next to Bethlehem, was an Israeli identity card holder. He was granted the Israeli ID during a period of time when he lived with his mother in east Jerusalem.

Six months prior to his arrest, Ala'an was recruited by Fadi Tsalahat, a member of the Palestinian security forces, to join the Fatah Tanzim. Tsalahat told Ala'an that he, together with Nabil Ahmed Abayat, a senior Tanzim member, were searching for a suicide bomber to launch an attack in Jerusalem.

Ala'an told investigators that at first he did not acquiesce to Tsalahat's request, but a week later, distressed by rumors that he was collaborating with Israeli intelligence, he decided to go ahead.

Ala'an told Tsalahat that he would launch the attack in his work place at the Cafe Filter. He confessed to investigators that upon seeing the explosives belt that had been prepared for the attack he regretted having consented to carry out the attack.

Tsalahat was arrested by security forces a day after Ala'an's arrest on August 6."

Five Sentenced in Jordan for Trying to Attack Israel

Jordan's state security court sentenced five Palestinians to prison terms of up to four years for trying to infiltrate Israel to attack Jewish settlements, judicial sources said. The five men were arrested in November.

Security sources said the Palestinians belonged to an unnamed Muslim fundamentalist group sympathetic to Osama bin Laden's Al Qaeda network.

VDH - Answering an Arab-American

I am an Arab-American born in the U.S. I cannot understand why anyone would be hostile toward the Palestinian right to freedom when these are the very ideals on which this country was built. I regret the targeting of civilians on both sides, yet many pro-Israeli individuals regret only the targeting of Israeli civilians. What is your opinion on the solution? Do the Palestinians have a right to freedom from the illegal Israeli occupation? Are the Israelis to blame for anything, or is it just the Arabs?

Hanson: I don’t want to get into 50 years of acrimonious history in this short (?) answer, and feel most Americans like myself support some sort of autonomous Palestinian state with perhaps 95% of the territory of the West Bank. But remember any outstanding difference between the two sides might be adjudicated—if there were two roughly equal parties at the table.

There are not. On the one side, you have a free press, open society, gender equality, and democratic government with a vocal opposition; on the other, you have one rigged election/one time, lawlessness, Arafat’s censorship, and thuggery in lieu of politics—not unlike Saddam’s Iraq, Khadafy’s Libya, or Assad’s Syria.

Don’t tell me this is “radicalization” because of this or that gripe; rather, ask why is there not a single Arab democracy in the Middle East? Colonialism or Cold War realpolitik was the excuse for 40 years, but its shelf life is over, and we need to hear some new reason that forbids 300 million from voting.

No, when we look around the world and see terrorists killing in Russia, Israel, Madrid, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, Spain, and on and on, we see a generic pattern that transcends the politics of the day. Of course not every Muslim is a terrorist, but we are getting to the point that every fascist terrorist is nearly always a Muslim it seems. Why so?

The answer is that instead of blaming Israel, the United States, or the man in the moon for Arab problems—sit down, take a deep breadth and ask yourself, ‘Why is there no democracy, no equality of the sexes, no religious tolerance, no free press, no loyal opposition in a Syria, Yemen, Libya, etc.’—or why do Arabs not vote freely except in the United States, France, or in the case of those one million Arabs who live in Israel of all places?

Look at China or South America who have very little oil or natural resources, and yet are restructuring their societies to meet new challenges rather than blaming the British for the Opium Wars or trashing the United States for the United Fruit Company. I am very worried about the Islamic world’s obliviousness about the radical shift in world opinion. The globe no longer has any patience at all with suicide bombers, car explosives, beheadings, and all the other nonsense that is now offered daily on our screens for the various causes of Chechnyan independence, Arafat’s autonomy, a return to Baathism, a theocratic state in Afghanistan, or a return of Spain to the Moors, and on and on.

We are simply tired of it. If the Palestinians had open and fair elections, a free press, nonviolent politics, and peaceful civil protests, then a great deal of their grievances would be addressed. But until then I am afraid that the average citizen of the world turns on the TV set, looks at some teen-ager burning some flag and shooting off a machine gun, or watches one of those barbaric last farewells of suicide bombers, and then simply flips the channel, and sighs, “enough of that nonsense.”

The Arab leadership should ask itself, why are 4 billion Anglo-Americans, Chinese, Indians, Japanese, Russians, black Africans, and Latin Americans coming to the consensus that something is very very wrong in the Islamic world and it has nothing to do with outside parties—but everything to do with a failure to address self-induced misery that involved everything from patriarchy and tribalism to religious intolerance and autocracy. I’m again sorry, but after the last two weeks of daily killing, I have no patience with the same old, same old “Israel is to blame.”

In the time you wrote that question, more poor unarmed Black Africans were butchered by Arabs in the Sudan than all the Palestinian militants killed in the last month by the Israelis—but the Arab-American community is absolutely silent to the tens of thousand murdered in Darfur by Arab Muslims who identify themselves as such as a reason for their pursuit of genocide.

UN urges Israel to accept Syrian overtures

The U.N. special coordinator for Middle East peace, Terje Roed-Larsen, said Tuesday he believed there is a genuine interest in Syria to resume peace talks with Israel. However, the Israeli response was cool.

In an interview broadcast on Israel's Channel 1 TV, Larsen said: 'I do believe that there is a genuine interest in Syria to go back to the table in order to find a solution to the conflict with Israel. ... 'I would urge both parties ... to start exploring (whether) there is a possibility ... (of going) back to the table....

'It's vital, necessary, crucial at this point of time where the region is in such turmoil ... to try to resume peace talks because that will also calm other conflicts in the region,' he said.

'Summer camps' for terrorists

Ya gotta love the ability of Hamas members to lie about everything.

Israel kills Hamas fanatics on parade: Staff at Shifa hospital in Gaza City said that three of the estimated 30 wounded were clinically dead. Among the survivors was Mohammed Abdel Moiti, who said he could remember nothing of the attack. He maintained that the group were not fighters but were taking part in a 'summer camp' and had been doing sports training.

However, a Hamas spokesman, Mushir al Masri, admitted that they were being trained as 'elite groups to terrorise the enemy' and promised that 'this ugly crime will not go unpunished'.

Suicide-bomb belt discovered near Nablus

Members of the IDF's Haruv Battalion on Tuesday thwarted a suicide bomb attack that was to have taken place in central Israel in the coming days after finding a seven-kg. explosives belt hidden in a barrel in the yard of a house in Silat a-Daher, northwest of Nablus.

Security officials told The Jerusalem Post that a major attack was thwarted after an intelligence tip-off revealed the whereabouts of the bomb. Sappers blew the belt up, and a manhunt for the dispatchers and the plotters is under way, as are efforts to determine which terror group was behind the planned attack. In the early morning, security forces arrested two fugitives in the village, but it is not clear if they are linked to the planned attack or to other terror activities.

On Tuesday the security establishment registered 47 warnings of plans by terrorists to launch attacks against Israelis. In the afternoon Border Police sappers blew up two pipe bombs that had been placed on Route 60 near El-Khader, west of Bethlehem. Officials believe that terrorists planned to detonate the bombs near army forces or Israeli civilian cars on the road, which is the main route linking Jerusalem to Hebron.

In the early morning, 23 Palestinian fugitives were arrested in raids in the West Bank.

Israeli Officials Free Scores of Palestinians

Israel began freeing 161 Palestinian prisoners from its jails on Tuesday in the largest mass release in more than seven months, Israeli security officials said.

The Palestinian Authority called the move meaningless, and Israeli officials said it was meant not as a good will gesture but as a way to ease conditions in prisons overflowing with Palestinians rounded up during nearly four years of conflict.

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The release came less than a week after Palestinian inmates halted an 18-day hunger strike called to protest prison conditions. It was not known whether any of those released had been among the 3,000 who had taken part in the strike at its peak.

Israel's plan called for the release of 137 Palestinians on Tuesday and another 24 on Wednesday, all nearing the end of their jail terms and most convicted of minor offenses like stone-throwing or illegal entry into the country, security officials said.

The officials said none of the freed detainees had been involved in attacks on Israelis. 'These are prisoners without blood on their hands,' a member of the military said."

State Dept sends mixed signals on fighting terror

Powell opposes attack on Hamas training camp: Secretary of State Colin Powell disapproved Tuesday of an Israeli helicopter attack on a Hamas training camp in Gaza. 'Retaliation is not a solution' to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, he said.

State Dept:

At this point, we're still trying to chase down the remarks and see what he actually said and whether he actually said what's been reported. Certainly, if the remarks are reported accurately, if he indeed did say this, then we would certainly find those kinds of comments unacceptable. There's nothing that can justify the kind of terrorism, the kind of bus bombings and other things that are attributed to Hamas recently.
We've made very clear these groups need to be put out of business. We've made very clear the Palestinian leaders need to take hold of this problem, need to get the authority and take immediate and credible steps to end terror and violence. The time for explanations, excuses and discussion is long past. We think it's time to see some action that sends a clear message that terrorists will not be tolerated.

And Colin Powell on the Today show this morning said "You don't negotiate with child-killers." - speaking of course about Beslan. Somehow he seems to have the illusion that the Palestinian Authority does not fit that definition.

Iranian paid $125,000 for Olympic no show

Iran have given judo world champion Arash Miresmaeili a $125,000 reward, saying he sacrificed a gold medal at the Athens Olympics by refusing to fight an Israeli, a sports official says.

State television showed Miresmaeili at an award ceremony receiving the same sum as Iranian Hossein Rezazadeh, who took the super-heavyweight weightlifting gold at the second Olympics in succession.

'He would definitely have won a gold medal if he had taken part,' the sports official, who declined to be named, said on Tuesday.

'By refusing to fight, Miresmaeili followed the policies of the country,' the official added.

Iran has refused to recognise the Jewish state's right to exist since its 1979 Islamic revolution.

The International Judo Federation had considered a sanction against Miresmaeili during the Games but concluded that he had been overweight for the fight and could not have taken part.

The International Olympic Committee also did not take any action.

Qureia:: Hamas killing kids in revenge would be justified

Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia warned Israel that its air strike Tuesday that killed 14 Hamas militants in the Gaza Strip will invite a response from the group, adding that any retaliation for the killings will be justified.

'This crime cannot be accepted ... No crime goes unpunished,' Qureia said at a meeting of the Palestinian Cabinet. 'For sure there will be retaliation, and the retaliation will be justified if it happens.'"

Saudi Women Come Out Against Terrorist Internet Magazine - Arab News

RIYADH, 7September 2004 — A cross-section of Saudi women has come out strongly against the launch of a new Internet magazine targeting Saudi and other Arab women as well as children in the Al-Qaeda-inspired drive against “infidels in the Arabian Peninsula.”

They said that by calling on women to join in the preparations for Jihad, the deviant group was straying away from the path of Islam, which stands for mercy, compassion, tolerance and justice.

“What do they want to achieve?” asked radio journalist and broadcaster Samar Fatany from Jeddah. “They really need to think about the consequences of their actions. What they are preaching is extremism and revenge which are totally un-Islamic.”

She was confident that the website would have no adverse impact on Saudi women who are “God-fearing and in no way influenced by misguided teachings.”

According to Fatany, the situation reflects the weakness of the Arab world and the inaction on the part of the international community to stand up for justice and peace. She said the “unjust US foreign policy on the one hand and Israeli atrocities against Palestinians on the other have also been responsible for breeding such negative tendencies in the region.”

Another Saudi female journalist Hala Al-Nasser said the promoters of the Internet magazine were giving a twist to the concept of Jihad. “To me, Jihad means constant struggle and perseverance with oneself for the cause of peace.” She said Saudi women would not be attracted by the kind of message being put out on their website.

The newly launched online magazine declares that its mission is to “push our children to the battlefield, like Al-Khansaa.”

Umm Raad Al-Tamimi, the promoter of the magazine, further declares that another of their objective is to teach women how to contribute to jihad, or holy war.

The monthly, published by the “Women’s Information Office in the Arabian Peninsula,” advocates the ideology of Osama Bin Laden: “Drive infidels from the Arabian Peninsula,” or Saudi Arabia, which is home to Islam’s holiest sites, Makkah and Madinah.

Named after a female Arab poet belonging to the pre- and early Islamic eras, the magazine appears to be the first of its kind targeting women and their children for jihad.

“Close ranks on the side of our men,” orders the publication, which also allocates space for alleged Al-Qaeda “martyrs” in Saudi Arabia.

Al-Khansaa, a companion of the Prophet (peace be upon him), is remembered for her eulogies, particularly the one written for her brother Sakhr who died in a tribal feud. She later sent her four sons for jihad. All of them were martyred.

“We will stand up, veiled and in abaya (black cloak), arms in hand, our children on our laps and the Book of Allah and Sunnah of the Prophet as our guide. The blood of our husbands and the bodies of our children are an offering to God,” says the editorial in the first edition.

One of the founders of the publication was Al-Qaeda’s former chief in Saudi Arabia, Abdul Aziz Al-Muqrin, killed in an encounter with the police in June. The journal carries a section entitled “Women’s Camp (Muaskar)”, which is reminiscent of Al-Qaeda’s military online magazine “Muaskar Al-Battar.”