Israel allows UNESCO mission into old Jerusalem

Palestinians became a UNESCO member in 2011. (AFP)

Israel has agreed to allow a mission from UNESCO, the U.N.'s cultural arm, to visit sites within the Old City of Jerusalem starting May 19, a small victory that carried big hopes for those hoping to end the deadlock between Israelis and Palestinians.

Israel told UNESCO's executive board on Tuesday that it also has agreed to take part in a Paris meeting of experts next month on the Mughrabi Ascent, an entrance to the disputed holy site in Jerusalem's Old City revered by Jews and Muslims.

In turn, the Palestinians will postpone five resolutions condemning Israel's occupation of the West Bank. The resolutions won't be revived until the next executive board meeting in September.

The agreement represented a mini-breakthrough on cultural issues by two parties whose fierce differences have kept the world on edge.

"It's a door that was opened," Israeli Ambassador to UNESCO Nimrod Barkan said later by telephone. "It's a move toward confidence building and an attempt to see whether there is forward movement."

He also said it was a first step toward depoliticizing UNESCO "and resuming UNESCO's professional work in ... Israel, potentially."

Palestinian Ambassador Elias Sanbar called the agreement "an achievement."

The monitoring mission and meeting aim to safeguard the cultural heritage of the Old City. Bitter politicking has meant that since 2004 there has been no such mission to an area where ancient monuments have grown fragile.

Cultural heritage became a flashpoint between the two sides even before the Palestinians became a member of the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in 2011. Palestinian membership prompted the United States to cut off funds to the agency - $80 million annually in dues, or 22 percent of UNESCO's overall budget - hobbling the organization.

The Palestinians, using UNESCO membership in their bid for statehood, have since achieved observer status at the United Nations.

The deal was brokered by an unlikely pair, the United States and Russia, with the help of UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova.

The deal "represents a critical step forward towards depoliticizing UNESCO and signals a major shift towards a more constructive approach to cultural heritage issues," U.S. Ambassador David Killion said in a statement.

Killion praised Russia's "tremendous leadership" at an executive board session last fall in getting the five resolutions postponed. That led to a joint effort by the U.S. and Russia to get beyond politics on issues of culture, in this case sites dear to Muslims, Jews and Christians.

"The last three years UNESCO was swamped with political denunciation of Israel," the Israeli ambassador said, "and the continued professional work on World Heritage sites became impossible."

Sanbar, the Palestinian ambassador, said the five resolutions condemning Israel in areas from settlements to archeological excavations are "legitimate and fair resolutions" that are simply being postponed.

Under the agreement, the resolutions can be aired at the executive board session to run Sept. 23 to Oct. 10.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Israel-allows-UNESCO-mission-into-old-Jerusalem.html
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Iran offers to be West's 'reliable partner' in Middle East

Iran's International Atomic Energy Agency ambassador Ali Asghar Soltanieh. (Reuters)

Iran said on Tuesday it would be a "reliable partner" in the Middle East if Western countries would take a more cooperative approach in talks on its nuclear program.

Western powers blame tension with Iran in part on its refusal to fully cooperate with United Nations calls for curbs on its nuclear activity to ensure it is for peaceful purposes only, and to open up to investigations by U.N. inspectors.

Ali Asghar Soltanieh, Iran's ambassador to the U.N. nuclear watchdog agency, said U.S. and European policies, including extensive sanctions on the Islamic Republic, were bound to fail.

"Western countries are advised to change gear from confrontation to cooperation, the window of opportunity to enter into negotiation for long-term strategic cooperation with Iran, the most reliable, strong and stable partner in the region, is still open," Soltanieh told a meeting in Geneva on the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT).

Soltanieh offered no specifics on how Iran could move to a cooperative dialogue with the West, which has demanded concrete Iranian action to allay international concern that it is trying to develop the means to produce nuclear weapons.

Thomas Countryman, chief U.S. delegate to the NPT talks, said on Monday that Iran's nuclear program poses the greatest threat to the credibility of the NPT, which aims to halt the spread of nuclear weapons.

Soltanieh said Iran was determined to pursue "all legal areas of nuclear technology, including fuel cycle and enrichment technology, exclusively for peaceful purposes" and this would be carried out under International Atomic Energy Agency supervision.

"Hostile policies of Western countries, including dual track, carrot and stick, sanctions-and-talks policies are doomed to failure," he said.

The IAEA said on Tuesday it will hold a meeting with Iran on May 15 aimed at enabling its inspectors to resume a stalled investigation into suspected nuclear bomb research.

Israel suggested on Monday it would be patient before taking any military action against Iran's nuclear program, saying during a visit by U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel there was still time for other options.

Israel has long hinted at possible military strikes to deny its arch-adversary any means to make a nuclear bomb, while efforts by six world powers to find a negotiated solution with Iran have proved unsuccessful so far.

Nuclear-free zone

Iran and its ally Syria called for a conference aimed at banning nuclear weapons in the Middle East and urged major powers to stop helping Israel to acquire nuclear technology.

The talks, which were supposed to be held last December in Helsinki after being agreed at a 2010 NPT conference, were postponed without a new date being set.

Israel is widely believed to be the Middle East's only nuclear-armed power but neither confirms nor denies having such weapons.

Soltanieh, in an apparent reference to Israel which has not joined the NPT regime, said: "Iran is paying a heavy price for its membership and full commitment to the NPT while others outside the treaty are exempted from any inspection and sanctions, but receiving full nuclear cooperation of western countries, specifically the U.S. and Canada."

Syria's Faysal Khabbaz Hamoui said: "The Israeli nuclear arsenals increase tension in an already explosive situation."

"We call on states, parties, especially nuclear states, to stop their support to Israel in developing its nuclear capabilities and prohibit providing it with nuclear technology. This should help pave the way for a zone free of weapons of mass destruction and nuclear weapons in the Middle East," he said.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Iran-offers-to-be-West-s-reliable-partner-in-Middle-East.html
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Sunni mosque attacks kill 13 in Iraq

Iraqi troops travel in military vehicles towards Hawija, near Kirkuk, 170 km (105 miles) north of the capital Baghdad, April 23, 2013. (Reuters)

Bomb attacks on Sunni mosques in Iraq killed 13 people and wounded dozens of other people on Tuesday, security and medical officials said.

Two rounds of mortar fire hit a mosque in Muqdadiyah, northeast of Baghdad, killing nine people and wounding 25, police and a doctor said, revising an earlier casualty toll.

Earlier, two roadside bombs exploded as Sunni worshipers were leaving dawn prayers in south Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 14, an interior ministry official and medic said.

Violence in Iraq has fallen significantly from its peak during the height of the sectarian conflict in 2006 and 2007, but attacks are still carried out almost every day, killing 271 people in March, according to AFP figures based on security and medical sources.
 

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Sunni-mosque-attacks-kill-13-in-Iraq.html
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Mursi adviser submits resignation in Egypt

Egyptian President Mohamed Mursi's adviser resigns on Tuesday. (AFP)

An adviser to President Mohamed Mursi has submitted his resignation in protest at the running of the state and the "failure" of the government, Egyptian media announced on Tuesday.

"Mohamed Fuad Gadallah, presidential adviser on judicial affairs, is resigning," the public television channel Nile News said.

"The presidency is studying the resignation submitted by Mohamed Fuad Gadallah to the president of the republic on Monday," state news agency MENA said, citing a spokesman for Mursi.

Independent daily Al-Masri al-Yom, which published the resignation letter, said Gadallah was protesting against "the absence of any clear vision for running the state" and over the government's "political, economic and security failure."

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Mursi-adviser-submits-resignation-in-Egypt.html
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Ban strongly condemns Tripoli car bomb

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon condemned the car bomb attack on the French embassy in Tripoli. (AFP)

U.N. leader Ban Ki-moon condemned a car bomb attack on the French embassy in Tripoli on Tuesday and called on the Libyan people to back stronger security in the country, a spokesman said.

"The secretary general condemns, in the strongest terms, the attack on the French embassy in Tripoli," said deputy U.N. spokesman Eduardo del Buey. "The targeting of diplomatic missions and their staff is not acceptable and never justifiable."

The car bomb outside the embassy wounded two French guards and highlighted growing insecurity since the fall of ousted leader Muammar Qaddafi in 2011.

"The secretary general is confident that the Libyan authorities will take every action to ensure that the perpetrators of this attack are brought to justice and that adequate protection for diplomatic premises is provided," added the spokesman.

"The secretary general calls on all Libyans to support their government's efforts to establish strong and effective security institutions," del Buey said.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/africa/2013/04/23/Ban-strongly-condemns-Tripoli-car-bomb-.html
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U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran meeting set for mid-May

U.N. nuclear watchdog says Iran meeting set for mid-May

IAEA is expected to issue its next report in mid-May on Iran's nuclear program, ahead of a June 3-7 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation governing board. (AFP)

The U.N. nuclear watchdog said on Tuesday it will hold a new meeting with Iran on May 15 aimed at enabling its inspectors to resume a stalled investigation into suspected nuclear bomb research by the Islamic state.

The International Atomic Energy Agency has been trying for more than a year to coax Iran into granting IAEA officials the access to sites, documents and officials they want for their inquiry. Tehran says its nuclear program is entirely peaceful.

The May meeting will be the 10th round of talks since early2012 in the search for a framework accord between the two sides that would set the terms for how the IAEA should conduct its inquiry, so far without success.

Western diplomats accuse Iran of stonewalling and some say the IAEA may soon need to get tougher with Tehran, but the Vienna-based U.N. agency has said it is committed to continuing dialogue with Iranian officials.

"The agency and Iran have agreed to hold further talks in Vienna on 15 May," IAEA spokeswoman Gill Tudor said.

The meeting is "aimed at finalizing a structured approach tore solving outstanding issues related to the possible military dimensions of Iran's nuclear program", she said.

It will take place about a week before the IAEA is expected to issue its next report on Iran's nuclear program, and ahead of a June 3-7 meeting of the IAEA's 35-nation governing board, when the Iranian nuclear issue will again be on the agenda.

The IAEA-Iran talks are separate from, but have an important bearing on, diplomatic negotiations between Tehran and six world powers aimed at a broad settlement to the decade-old dispute and reduce the risk of a new Middle East war.

Western powers suspect Iran is trying to develop the capability to produce nuclear weapons under the guise of a declared civilian atomic energy program. Iran denies this, saying it seeks only electricity from uranium enrichment.

But its refusal to curb sensitive nuclear activity with both civilian and military applications and its lack of openness with IAEA inspectors have drawn U.N. and Western sanctions.

Israel, widely believed to be the only nuclear-armed power in the Middle East, has long hinted at possible air strikes to deny Iran any means to make a nuclear bomb.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/U-N-nuclear-watchdog-says-Iran-meeting-set-for-mid-May.html
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Hariri trial expected in late 2013, spokesman

The scene of a car bomb explosion, which killed Lebanon's ex-PM Rafiq Hariri in Beirut in February 2005. (Reuters)

The trial in absentia of four Hezbollah members for the 2005 bombing that killed former Lebanese Premier Rafiq Hariri will likely start in late 2013, a court spokesman said on Tuesday.

"The prosecution has indicated the fourth quarter of 2013 as to when they would be ready for trial," Marten Youssef, spokesman for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, told AFP.

"The defense and victims' representatives have said it's premature to set a date for when trial should start but they also identified fourth quarter 2013 as a potential date," he said.

The trial had been due to start on March 25, but in February a judge granted a defense request for a postponement because prosecutors had not yet given the defense all the relevant information to prepare their cases.

Set up under a UN resolution in 2007 at Lebanon's request to probe Hariri's death, the court is expected to try four members of Hezbollah for the attack that killed Hariri and 22 other people.

The Shiite movement has accused the court of being an "Israel-American" conspiracy intended to destroy the group and has ruled out turning over the suspects.

Youssef also said the court had "taken a number of measures in response to the website that published the identities of alleged witnesses," without giving details.

Earlier this month, a list of 167 alleged witnesses for the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, along with photographs and details of their professions and addresses, was published by a previously unknown group identified as "Journalists for the truth."

They said the publication was intended to "unveil the corruption" of the court.

After the list was published, the tribunal insisted it was incomplete but warned that those behind the publication were "potentially endangering the lives of Lebanese citizens."

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Hariri-trial-expected-in-late-2013-spokesman-.html
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Iraq PM temporarily replaces two Kurd ministers

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has place temporary replacements for the country's foreign and trade ministers. (AFP)

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has named temporary replacements for the country's foreign and trade ministers, both of whom are Kurds, a senior government official said on Tuesday.

Kurdish ministers have been boycotting cabinet meetings since early March over disagreements about the federal budget.

Deputy Prime Minister Hussein al-Shahristani is to temporarily replace Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari, while Justice Minister Hassan al-Shammari is to take charge from Trade Minister Khayrullah Hassan Babaker, the official said on condition of anonymity.

The autonomous Kurdistan region and the federal government in Baghdad are at odds over issues including a swathe of disputed territory in north Iraq, oil contracts the region has signed without Baghdad's approval, and power-sharing.

The federal government regards all oil deals that did not go through the national oil ministry as illegal, while Kurdistan says that Baghdad has failed to pay money owed to foreign oil firms operating in the region.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Iraq-PM-temporarily-replaces-two-Kurd-ministers-.html
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Top Muslim cleric boycotts Qatar meet attended by ‘Jews’

Egyptian Muslim cleric Yusuf al Qaradawi is a controversial religious figure in the West and has millions of supporters – mainly from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood. (AFP)

Influential Muslim cleric Yusuf al-Qaradawi boycotted the 8th Doha International Center for Interfaith Dialogue conference in Doha on Tuesday, rejecting to sit in the meeting also attended by Jewish representatives, a local daily reported.

"I decided not to participate so I wouldn't sit at the same platform alongside Jews who still violate Palestine and destroy mosques and as long as the Palestinian issue has not been resolved," Qaradawi told the Al-Arab daily of Qatar.

"There is no more injustice than what the Jews have caused to our people in Palestine."

The International Union of Muslim Scholars which he heads is, however, represented at the conference which brings together 500 personalities from 75 countries representing the three monotheistic religions.

Egypt-born Qaradawi is a controversial religious figure in the West and has millions of supporters – mainly from the Islamist Muslim Brotherhood.

He hosts a popular show on Al-Jazeera satellite television and has backed the Arab Spring uprisings in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and Syria.

Britain denied entry for Qaradawi in 2008 saying the UK does not tolerate those who support acts of terrorism. During a previous visit to Britain in 2004, he justified attacks on Israelis as "martyrdom in the name of God."

He was also banned from entering France in the wake of the 2012 Toulouse attacks, when French gunman Mohamed Merah killed seven people.

Qaradawi reportedly holds a diplomatic passport and does not require a visa to enter France, but then French president Nicolas Sarkozy reportedly told Qatar's emir that Qaradawi was undesirable in France.

Qaradawi is often viewed by his supporters as representing the moderate voice of Islam. He was born 1926 and educated at Cairo-based al-Azhar University, a world's leading Islamic educational institution.

The Sheikh was imprisoned in the 1950s by nationalist president Gamal Abdel Nasser. In 1961 he left for Qatar. In 2011, he returned to Egypt to speak in Tahrir in the wake of the Egyptian revolution.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Top-Muslim-cleric-boycotts-Qatar-meet-attended-by-Jews-.html
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Protest-related violence kills 53 in Iraq

A man is brought to a hospital on a stretcher after after being wounded in a clash between Iraqi forces and Sunni Muslim protesters in Kirkuk, 250 km (155 miles) north of Baghdad April 23, 2013. (Reuters)

A wave of clashes and attacks involving Iraqi security forces, protesters and their supporters on Tuesday left 53 people dead and prompted two Sunni ministers to quit, sending tensions soaring.

The unrest, which also included the kidnapping of a soldier by armed protesters, was the deadliest so far linked to demonstrations in Sunni areas that erupted more than four months ago.

The protesters have been demanding the resignation of Shiite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and railing against the alleged targeting of their community by the authorities.

Tuesday's violence broke out before dawn when security forces entered an area where demonstrations have been held since January near Hawijah, west of Kirkuk province's eponymous capital, according to army officers, who gave an overall toll of 27 people killed there and around 70 wounded.

But accounts differed as to the spark for the bloodletting in the northern Iraqi province.

One of the officers, a brigadier general from the army division responsible for the area, said the operation was aimed at Sunni militants from a group known as the Naqshbandiya Army, and that security forces only opened fire after they were fired upon.

A second officer said 34 Kalashnikov assault rifles and four PKM machineguns were recovered at the scene.

Two soldiers were killed and seven wounded in the operation, while the remainder of the casualties were a combination of protesters and militants, the officers said.

Protesters, however, insisted the army had provoked the clashes.

Security forces "invaded our sit-in today, burned the tents and opened fire indiscriminately and killed and wounded dozens of protesters," Abdulmalik al-Juburi, a leader of the Hawijah sit-in, told AFP.

"We only have four rifles to protect the sit-in, and there are no wanted people among us," Juburi said.

The dawn violence sparked revenge attacks.

Thirteen gunmen were killed carrying out attacks on army checkpoints in the Al-Rashad and Al-Riyadh areas of Kirkuk province, the army officers said.

"There have been fierce clashes, which led to the killing of 13 revolutionaries against the policy of the government," Juburi said.

"When they heard the news about the killed and wounded in the sit-in, sons of the tribes from all the villages in Kirkuk cut the roads and attacked checkpoints and military headquarters and took control of some of the checkpoints for a short time," he said.

Armed protesters later killed six Iraqi soldiers and kidnapped a seventh near Ramadi, west of Baghdad, burned two armored personnel carriers and held the soldier at the site of their sit-in on the highway, police First Lieutenant Ibrahim Faraj said.

And gunmen attacked checkpoints in the Sulaiman Bek area in Salaheddin province, sparking clashes in which five Iraqi soldiers and one gunman were killed, and six other gunmen wounded, said Ahmed Aziz, a member of the local municipal council.

Two ministers quit in the wake of the initial violence on Tuesday, bringing the number of Sunni cabinet ministers who have resigned since March 1 to four.

"The minister of education, Mohammed Ali Tamim, resigned from his post after the Iraqi army forces broke into the area of the sit-in in Kirkuk" province, an official from Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak's office said.

Tamim is a member of Mutlak's National Dialogue Front, and is from Hawijah.

Parliament speaker Osama al-Nujaifi later said at a news conference that science and technology minister Abdulkarim al-Samarraie told him by telephone that he too was quitting.

Agriculture minister Ezzedine al-Dawleh quit on March 8 after a protester was killed in northern Iraq, and finance minister Rafa al-Essawi, some of whose bodyguards were arrested on terrorism charges in December, announced his resignation at an anti-government demonstration on March 1.

Tuesday was not the first time that anti-government demonstrations in Iraq have turned deadly -- security forces killed a protester in the northern city of Mosul on March 8, and eight demonstrators near Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on January 25.

Also on Tuesday, two roadside bombs exploded as Sunni worshippers were leaving dawn prayers in south Baghdad, killing at least four people and wounding 14 others, officials said.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Protest-related-violence-kills-53-in-Iraq-.html
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U.S.: ‘No conclusion’ that chemical weapons were used in Syria

White House spokesman Jay Carney says U.S. has not yet concluded Assad forces used chemical weapons against rebels. (AFP)

The United States has not yet concluded that Syrian President Bashar al-Assad's regime used chemical weapons against rebel forces, but backs a probe into the matter, the White House said Tuesday.

"We support an investigation, we're monitoring this, and we have not come to the conclusion that there has been that use" of chemical weapons, White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.

Carney recalled that for President Barack Obama, the use of chemical weapons would be "unacceptable."

"There are those in the Syrian government who have expressed a willingness to use chemical weapons to protect their interests and prolong the rule of the Assad regime," the spokesman said.

"We remain skeptical of any claim that the opposition used chemical weapons."

Earlier, the head of research and analysis in the Israeli army's military intelligence division, Brigadier General Itai Brun, said Assad was indeed guilty of using chemical weapons, likely sarin, against rebel fighters.

"One of the characteristics of the recent period is the growing use by the regime of surface-to-surface missiles, rockets and chemical weapons," Brun told a conference.

"To the best of our professional understanding, the regime has made use of deadly chemical weapons against the rebels in a number of incidents in the past few months," he added, in remarks quoted on the army's official Twitter feed.

Earlier Thursday, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had not been able to confirm Syria's use of chemical weapons.

"I think it is fair to say [the prime minister] was not in a position to confirm that in the conversation," Kerry said in Brussels, where he was attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/U-S-No-conclusion-that-chemical-weapons-were-used-in-Syria.html
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Pakistan police say explosives found near Musharraf house

Pakistani rangers stand guard beside a car of former Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf during Musharraf's hearing at an anti-terrorism court (ATC) in Rawalpindi April 23, 2013. (Reuters)

Pakistani police said on Tuesday they found 45 kg of explosives hidden in a car near the residence where former president Pervez Musharraf is under house arrest, television channels reported.

Video footage showed a bomb disposal squad examining a car near the farmhouse on the edge of the capital Islamabad where the former army chief was detained last week over allegations he had overstepped his powers while in office.

There was no immediate word from police on who they suspected might have planted the explosives.

Pakistan's Taliban movement have threatened to kill Musharraf, who returned from almost four years of self-imposed exile last month in the hope of relaunching his political career at general elections on May 11.

Instead, election officials disqualified him from running and judges ordered he be placed under house arrest to face a hearing next month over allegations he unlawfully ordered the detention of judges in 2007 when he was still in office.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/asia/2013/04/23/Pakistan-police-say-explosives-found-near-Musharraf-house.html
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Two Syrian rockets hit Lebanon as tensions rise

Syrian soldiers walk in a field in the Syrian village of Al Arida Al Gharbia as seen from the northern Lebanese village of Wadi Khaled. (Reuters)

Two Syrian rockets struck Lebanon on Tuesday, causing damage and heightening tensions between Lebanese Shiite and Sunni communities over neighboring Syria's civil war, security officials in Beirut said.

Rockets apparently fired by Syrian rebels have hit mostly Shiite areas in Lebanon several times in the past two weeks. One salvo killed at least two people.

Tuesday's rocket attack came hours after two leading Lebanese Sunni Muslim clerics called for holy war, or jihad, in Syria. They appealed to fighters to protect Sunnis in villages under attack by Syrian troops and pro-government Shiite gunmen.

Lebanon and Syria share a complex web of political and sectarian ties and rivalries that are easily enflamed. Lebanon, a country plagued by decades of strife, has been on edge since the uprising against President Bashar Assad erupted in March 2011.

Pro- and anti-Assad groups in Lebanon have engaged in deadly clashes. Many Lebanese Shiites back Assad, whose regime is dominated by members his minority Alawite sect, an offshoot of Shiite Islam. Lebanese Sunnis back the rebels, who are mostly from that country's Sunni majority.

Syrian rebels accuse Hezbollah of fighting alongside Assad's troops and attacking rebels from inside Lebanese territory. Though Hezbollah confirms backing the regime's fighters, it denies taking part in the wider civil war.

The Qusayr region around the Orontes River is strategic because it links the capital Damascus with the Mediterranean coastal enclave that is the heartland of Assad's Alawite sect.

In Lebanon, hard-line Sunni cleric Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, one of the militant group Hezbollah's harshest critics, issued a religious edict urging Sunni Lebanese men "to defend Qusayr." Assir is based in the southern port city of Sidon

Another Sunni cleric, Sheikh Salem al-Rafie, who is based in the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli, issued another edict calling for a "general mobilization among Sunnis to protect Sunni brothers." He said the people of Qusayr appealed for "money and men."

Assir and Rafie said Hezbollah has violated the Lebanese government's neutral stance toward Syria's civil war by taking part in the fighting.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/2-Syrian-rockets-hit-Lebanon-as-tensions-rise.html
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Myanmar leader pardons 93 prisoners

President Thein Sein's government has routinely denied the existence of political prisoners, saying all people sentenced to jail have been convicted legitimately of breaking the nation's laws. (Reuters)

Myanmar's president pardoned 93 prisoners on Tuesday, including at least 59 political detainees, a day after the European Union lifted sanctions against the Southeast Asian nation.

The pardon was announced on state television and came amid renewed calls for the government to release hundreds more political prisoners still believed to be behind bars.

President Thein Sein's government has routinely denied the existence of political prisoners, saying all people sentenced to jail have been convicted legitimately of breaking the nation's laws. Nevertheless, hundreds of prominent political detainees have been freed since the former general took office two years ago after a long-ruling army junta was dissolved.

In February, Thein Sein appointed a 16-member committee to review the cases of inmates identified by opposition groups as prisoners of conscience. Some cases are complicated because they involve bombings or threats to state security or national stability. Rights groups say many other people were wrongfully convicted and given extreme sentences for actions that would not be considered crimes elsewhere.

Ye Aung, a former prisoner and a member of the government committee, said at least 59 political prisoners were released Tuesday and that at least 300 others remain incarcerated, most of them members of ethnic minorities.

Opposition leaders and rights groups have accused the government of using political prisoners as "bargaining chips" - releasing some to prove progress, holding others to push the West to ease more sanctions.

The last major prisoner release coincided with a visit to the country by President Barack Obama. Tuesday's pardon came after the European Union dropped all political and economic sanctions against Myanmar to support the country's "remarkable process" in democratic reforms, while warning that it must control recent ethnic violence.

"Amnesties almost always coincide with international events. Today's amnesty coincides with the lifting of EU sanctions," said Ko Ko Gyi, who was released from jail last year and is one of the country's most prominent former political prisoners.

"The government should acknowledge the existence of political prisoners and release them all," he said.

One of those released Tuesday from Yangon's notorious Insein prison, Zaw Moe, said he was among at least five political prisoners freed there. But he said he could not be content because "many of my friends remain" behind bars. "I'm worried about them."

Zaw Moe had been sentenced to an 18-year jail term in 2008 for alleged links to dissident groups fighting against the former military government.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/23/Myanmar-leader-pardons-93-prisoners.html
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Jordanian PM wins confidence vote amid Syria challenge

The Jordanian parliament grants PM Abdullah Nsur's government its vote of confidence. (AFP)

Jordan's parliament on Tuesday passed a vote of confidence in Prime Minister Abdullah Nsur who faces the challenge of dealing with fallout from the war in neighboring Syria.

The vote was passed 83-65 in the lower house.

Nsur, reappointed by King Abdullah II in March after unprecedented consultations between the palace and parliament, told MPs in a policy statement last week that the Syrian conflict is threatening the kingdom, which is hosting around 500,000 Syrian refugees.

His 19-member government, the smallest in Jordan in more than four decades, has decided to send a letter to U.N. Security Council to outline "the serious implications of hosting the Syrian refugees."

The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees expects the number of Syrian refugees in Jordan to soar to 1.2 million by the end of 2013 -- equivalent to a fifth of the kingdom's population.

In their debate on Nsur's policies, some MPs joined the Muslim Brotherhood, the largest opposition party, in rejecting the presence of U.S. troops in the kingdom because of deteriorating security in Syria.

"We should realize that America is unstable in its positions and that will confuse us and get us into the fire," said Abdel Hadi Majai, head of the largest parliamentary bloc, who did not vote for Nsur.

The Islamists have urged the government to review its decision to accept U.S. troops in Jordan.

U.S. Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has revealed that some 150 U.S. military specialists have been deployed in Jordan since last year and that he had ordered a U.S. Army headquarters team to bolster the mission, bringing the total American presence to more than 200 troops.

Nsur formed a transitional government in October to oversee a January general election that was boycotted by the Islamists and other groups.

24 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Jordan-PM-wins-confidence-vote-amid-Syria-challenge-.html
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EU plan to buy rebel oil is "act of aggression," Assad government says

A man works at a makeshift oil refinery site in Aleppo's countryside. (Reuters)

An EU plan to buy oil from rebel-held areas of Syria is illegal and an "act of aggression," the Syrian Foreign Ministry warned on Tuesday in letters to the United Nations.

"In an unprecedented decision that contradicts international law and the UN Charter... the European Union has decided to allow member states to import petrol... under the pretext of supporting the opposition," state news agency SANA reported, citing the letters.

"It is an illegal decision and an act of aggression."

Syrian rebels fighting President Bashar al-Assad's troops won a fresh boost Monday when the European Union eased its oil embargo to let them exploit the resources they control.

But the decision raised a furious response in Damascus.

The European Union will be trading "with the so-called opposition Coalition, which represents no one in Syria," the letters to U.N. Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and the Security Council said.

The decision is an act of "complicity in the theft of resources that belong to the Syrian people, represented by the current, legitimate government," they added.

"The European Union is following its political and economic campaign that targets the national economy and the daily bread of Syrian citizens," the ministry added, referring to EU sanctions on the Assad regime.

EU ministers' decision to ease the 2011 oil embargo will enable companies on a case-by-case basis not only to import Syrian crude but also to export oil production technology and investment cash to areas in the hands of the opposition.

Under the deal, European firms seeking to import Syrian crude or invest in the energy sector would ask for authorization from their government, which in turn would confer with Syria's opposition National Coalition to secure its agreement.

At the start of the revolt that broke out in March 2011, Syria's oil production was slashed by almost two thirds, falling to 130,000 barrels a day in March, just 0.1 percent of the world's total production, according to the International Energy Agency's latest estimates.

The European Union is nonetheless concerned that most oilfields in Deir Ezzor in the east and Hasake in the northeast are controlled by Al-Nusra Front, whose leadership has pledged allegiance to Al-Qaeda.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Syria-says-EU-plan-to-buy-rebel-oil-act-of-aggression-.html
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Video: Paraded prisoner in Lebanon evokes spillover of Syrian war

Stripped to the waist, his face heavily bruised and a rope around his neck, the grey-haired Syrian man was led by his captors on a humiliating parade through the northern Lebanese city of Tripoli.

"I am an Alawite shabbiha," read slogans daubed on the bare chest of the man, referring to militias from a minority sect fighting for President Bashar al-Assad in neighboring Syria. The vigilantes led the man through Tripoli, a predominantly Sunni Muslim city, on Monday.

No one stepped in to stop the degrading procession until he was handed over to army intelligence, Tripoli residents said, his treatment yet another sign that the Lebanese state is losing its battle to contain street tensions over Syria's bloodshed.

Long-standing sectarian tensions in Lebanon have been further fuelled this week by heavy clashes in the border region. Lebanese Sunni Muslims support the Sunni-led opposition fighting Assad. Most Lebanese Shiite groups support Assad and the Alawite sect to which he belongs, an offshoot of Shiite Islam that has largely supported the Assad family's four-decade rule.

Along the border, pro-Assad forces – including fighters believed to be from Lebanon's powerful Shiite guerrilla movement Hezbollah – have made strategic gains in recent days.

They appear to be creating a crucial corridor between Assad's seat of power, Damascus, and the Alawite stronghold region along Syria's Mediterranean coast.

On the same day the Syrian man was dragged across Tripoli, two prominent Sunni clerics called on Lebanese men to defend therebels in Syria, either by sending weapons or joining in combat.

"It is a duty for any Muslim who is able to reach our Syrian brothers, to enter Syria to defend its people, its mosques and religious sites," Sheikh Ahmed al-Assir told supporters in Lebanon's southern port town of Sidon.

Assir singled out the besieged rebel-held town of Qusayr, near the Lebanese frontier, and central Homs, Syria's thirdlargest city, as strategic priorities. Homs has been roughlydivided between government and insurgent-held areas.

The porous border around Qusayr and Homs is a vital smuggling route for the rebels. But the rebels also want to seal off the border from government forces to sever Damascus from Syria's Alawite coast.

As clashes intensify along the border, rocket fire has been hitting Lebanon with increasing frequency. Suspected rebel rockets hit the Shiite town of Hermel, 10 km (six miles) inside Lebanese territory.

Rebels have threatened to "move the battle into Lebanon" if the Syrian government offensive, which they described as Hezbollah-led, continues.

"Dissociation" policy in tatters

Assir's call to arms and the vigilante action in Tripoli further undermine Lebanon's tattered policy of "dissociation" from Syria's turmoil – a stance which Assad himself mocked in ameeting with sympathetic Lebanese politicians at the weekend.
"No one can distance himself [from the conflict] while being consumed by flames," Assad told his visitors.

His remarks could further fan the fear of many Lebanese that their country is vulnerable to being dragged into Syria's bloodshed. Syria has historically dominated its small neighbor ,where it maintained a military presence for 29 years until 2005.

Since the start of the anti-Assad uprising, which has mushroomed into civil war, Lebanon has been hit by street fighting in Tripoli between Sunni and Alawite gunmen, cross-border shelling, and the assassination in October of a top security official.

Hezbollah denies it has sent guerrillas to fight alongside Assad's forces inside Syria, but has held regular funerals for fighters it said were carrying out "jihadi duties."

It says any Hezbollah fighters involved are local Shiite residents of Lebanese villages inside Syria, defending their territory.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Video-Paraded-prisoner-in-Lebanon-evokes-spillover-of-Syrian-war-.html
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Kerry: NATO must review responses to Syria, chemical weapons

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry speaks during a meet-and-greet session in Brussels April 22, 2013. (Reuters)

NATO must review its ability to fend off threats to the alliance from Syria, including the possible use of chemical weapons, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said Tuesday.

"We should ... carefully and collectively consider how NATO is prepared to respond to protect its members from a Syrian threat, including any potential chemical weapons threat," Kerry told a meeting of NATO foreign ministers.

NATO had "demonstrated its resolve and solidarity" by deploying Patriot anti-missile batteries along member Turkey's border with Syria to prevent any spillover of the fighting, Kerry noted.

"Moving forward, we need to continue to consider NATO's role as it relates to the Syrian crisis.

"Planning regarding Syria ... is an appropriate undertaking for the alliance," he added.

The United States has said the use of chemical weapons by President Bashar al-Assad would cross a red line, completely changing the stakes in the bloody conflict.

Israeli officials said Tuesday they had evidence Assad's forces had used chemical weapons, probably the nerve gas sarin, against the rebels.

But Washington has declined to be drawn on the issue, saying it is still studying evidence.

NATO head Anders Fogh Rasmussen echoed Kerry's remarks.

"I can assure you that we stand ready to defend, protect our allies, in this case Turkey," Rasmussen said.

He said he was "extremely concerned about the use of ballistic missiles in Syria and the possible use of chemical weapons."

While NATO has no direct role in the conflict, apart from protecting member states including Turkey, it "could affect our own security and we will remain very vigilant," he added.

The worsening conflict in Syria and the potential for it to spread to the region was a major talking point at the foreign ministers' meeting.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Kerry-NATO-must-review-responses-to-Syria-chemical-weapons-.html
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Palestinian ends hunger strike in Israeli jail

Palestinian protesters hold placards during a demonstration in support of hunger-striking Palestinian prisoner Samer al-Issawi, outside Kaplan hospital in Rehovot near Tel Aviv April 22, 2013. (Reuters)

A Palestinian prisoner who refused food for eight months ended his hunger strike on Tuesday after a deal was reached with Israeli authorities for his early release, his lawyer and the military said.

Samer Issawi began refusing food in August in protest over his re-arrest last July. His strike became a rallying cry for Palestinians who saw the 33-year-old from Jerusalem as a symbol of their struggle against Israel, and Palestinian rallies over Issawi's case turned violent on occasion.

Israeli officials worried that wider unrest could break out if anything happened to Issawi, whose weight plummeted and who was hospitalized several weeks ago as his health deteriorated.

Attorney Jawad Bulous said Israeli military prosecutors agreed early Tuesday to release Issawi after he serves another eight months, which would mean he would be released by the end of the year.

The lawyer said the deal was signed and that Issawi ended his hunger strike in the presence of his sister and uncle. The Israeli military confirmed the deal but had no further details.

Issawi was sentenced in 2002 to 26 years in prison for his role in a series of shooting attacks targeting police cars and students at Jerusalem's Hebrew University. He was released as part of a 2011 deal that freed hundreds of Palestinians - many of them militants involved in deadly attacks - in exchange for the release of an Israeli soldier held in Gaza.

Under the terms of his release in the prisoner exchange, Issawi was banned from entering the West Bank but travelled there three times. He also tried to convince an eyewitness to lie to Israeli security forces about his location, but later confessed to violating the terms of his release, said another lawyer, who has overseen the case. That attorney spoke on condition of anonymity because he did not want to be seen as contradicting Issawi's supporters.

He said security forces accused him of planning to kidnap Israeli soldiers and trying to amass weapons, but he has not been charged with those offenses. He was arrested again in July and was expected to serve out the rest of his original sentence.

Issawi had been hospitalized in recent weeks as his health deteriorated. To pressure Israeli authorities to come to a deal, Issawi gambled with his life, refusing infusions of vitamins and minerals, his attorney said.

"No doubt, this is a big victory for Samer," Bulous said. The hunger strike "forced the Israeli side to reverse their position."

The prisoner issue is deeply sensitive for Palestinians, many of whom have had a loved one behind bars. There are some 4,500 Palestinians in Israel jails for sentences ranging from throwing stones to killing civilians in deadly attacks, according to figures from Israeli prison authorities in February.

Palestinians widely see the prisoners as heroes in their struggle for statehood; Israelis view them as terrorists.

Over the past years, the prisoners have turned to hunger strikes to pressure Israel for better conditions, to try end indefinite detention without charge and to end sentences they see as unjust.

Ayman Sharawneh, another Palestinian prisoner who was rearrested for violating his release conditions last year, went on a hunger strike until he was released in March in a deal that saw him exiled to Hamas-run Gaza Strip.

Another two Palestinians on hunger strike halted their 92-day fast in February in exchange for an agreement with Israel's military that they would be released from their imprisonment in May.

The two were held under a procedure called "administrative detention," which Israel uses to hold suspects for indefinitely renewable periods of time on the basis of secret evidence that is only seen by the prosecutor and the judge, not the accused or the attorney. Israeli officials say it's necessary when publicizing evidence would threaten the safety of their informants and intelligence gathering networks. Grievances over administrative detention have been at the heart of many Palestinian hunger strikes.

Another Palestinian prisoner, Younis Hroub is in hospital following a 64-day hunger strike to demand an end to his administrative detention, which began in February, said Ehteram Ghazawneh, a researcher from Palestinian prisoner rights group Addameer.

Another Palestinian militant who was initially released together with Issawi in the prisoner exchange but later also re-arrested, Ayman Abu Dawoud, has been refusing food for the past 10 days, demanding he be set free. Ghazawneh has said that Israeli authorities accuse him of violating his release conditions.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Palestinian-ends-hunger-strike-in-Israeli-jail.html
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Egypt sentences ex-finance minister to 25 years

Egypt's former Finance Minister Yousef Boutros-Ghali was found guilty of squandering around $3.6 million during his final years in his post. (Reuters)

An Egyptian court has sentenced a former finance minister to 25 years in prison on charges of squandering public funds.

Egypt's state news agency reported Tuesday that Yousef Boutros-Ghali was found guilty of squandering around $3.6 million during his final years in the post.

He has been convicted on similar charges in past cases.

Boutros-Ghali is a nephew of former U.N. Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and is believed to be in London.

Because he has been tried in absentia, he is allowed a retrial and all verdicts can be overturned upon his return.

A Cairo court is also due to issue a verdict later this month in a case involving Boutros-Ghali and the country's former prime minister, Ahmed Nazif, and former interior minister, Habib el-Adly, who are both imprisoned in Cairo.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Egypt-sentences-ex-finance-minister-to-25-years.html
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Syrian bishops in hands of ‘Chechens,’ church sources say

An armed group in Aleppo province kidnapped two bishops including Bishop Boulos and Bishop Yuhanna Ibrahim, head of the Syriac Orthodox Church in Aleppo, according to state media. (AFP)

The kidnappers of two Orthodox bishops seized in northern Syria are Chechen fighters, sources in the Syriac and Greek Orthodox dioceses in Aleppo said on Tuesday.

"The news which we have received is that an armed group... [of] Chechens stopped the car and kidnapped the two bishops while the driver was killed," an official from the Syriac Orthodox diocese who declined to be named said in a statement posted online.

Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of Aleppo's Syriac Orthodox diocese and Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox diocese in the same city, were kidnapped on Monday near the Turkish border, the statement said.

Syrian state news agency SANA had reported the kidnapping on Monday night, saying an "armed terrorist group" kidnapped the men in the village of Kafr Dael in Aleppo province.

A source in the Greek Orthodox diocese, speaking to AFP on condition of anonymity, said Ibrahim "was on a humanitarian mission to free two priests kidnapped two months ago."

Ibrahim was known for his role in mediating the release of kidnap victims, particularly in cases involving the snatching of Christians, the source said.

He was returning from an area along the Turkish border, where he had picked up Yaziji, when an armed group stopped their car in Kafr Dael, he added.

The kidnappers forced the driver and another person out of the car, he added, saying the driver was subsequently shot in the head.

"According to this person, the kidnappers spoke classical Arabic and appeared to be foreigners. They told them that they were Chechen jihadists," the source said.

In the statement, the Syriac Orthodox official said there had not been any contact with the kidnappers so far.

"We are working and doing our best for the release of the two bishops and [their] return," he said.

Syria's religious affairs ministry (Waqf), meanwhile, issued a statement on Tuesday saying "there is evidence that those who kidnapped the bishops were Chechen mercenaries working under the leadership of Al-Nusra Front."

Al-Nusra, a jihadist group fighting alongside Syrian rebels, has pledged allegiance to al-Qaeda chief Ayman al-Zawahiri.

Christians account for around five percent of Syria's population, and have become increasingly vulnerable to attack and kidnappings in the lawlessness that has engulfed much of the country since March 2011.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Syrian-bishops-in-hands-of-Chechens-church-sources-say.html
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Lebanese Sunni cleric calls for Jihad to aid Syrian rebels against Hezbollah

Lebanese Sunni cleric Ahmed al-Assir urges his followers to join the Syrian rebels in their fight against the Assad regime and Hezbollah. (AFP)

Sheikh Ahmad al-Assir, a controversial Lebanese Salafist sheikh, has urged his followers to join Syrian rebels fighting troops loyal to President Bashar al-Assad and the Lebanese Shiite movement Hezbollah.

The call came as a second Sunni Lebanese sheikh called the fight against Assad's regime a "jihadist duty."

"Today, everyone recognizes the danger posed by the intervention of [Hezbollah chief Hassan] Nasrallah and his shabiha [pro-Assad militia] in Syria," Assir, who is based in the southern Lebanese city of Sidon, told his followers late Monday.

Syria's opposition and monitoring groups have accused Iran-backed Hezbollah of sending elite fighters to battle alongside regime troops in Qusayr, an area of Syria's central Homs province near the Lebanese border.

"Nasrallah and his shabiha have taken the decision to enter into these areas [Qusayr] in order to massacre the oppressed people there," Assir added.

"There is a religious duty on every Muslim who is able to do so... to enter into Syria in order to defend its people, its mosques and religious shrines, especially in Qusayr and Homs."

Assir said joining the fight in Homs is "especially a duty for the Lebanese because Lebanon provides the only gateway" into central Syria.

He said his address mainly targeted "residents of the border areas," but added: "This fatwa [religious decree] affects us all, especially those who have military experience."

Assir has seen his following swell in the last year, in part due to his firebrand speeches and staunch opposition to Hezbollah, the Shiite Lebanese movement allied with Assad's regime.

His popularity has grown amid a crisis in traditional Sunni Lebanese political groups, and a growing sectarian backlash from the conflict in neighboring Syria.

The majority of Syria's rebels, like the population, are Sunni, while Assad comes from the minority Alawite community, an offshoot of Shiite Islam.

In his Monday speech, Assir also announced the establishment of "free resistance battalions" in Sidon, where he is based.

Addressing Sunnis in Lebanon, Assir called on "those who fear attack by Iran's party [Hezbollah] to organize secret groups, and to buy weapons in order to be ready, should Nasrallah decide to attack them."

"Allahu Akbar [God is greatest]! Death or humiliation!" his followers chanted.

Meanwhile, in the north Lebanese city of Tripoli, a second Sunni sheikh, Salem al-Rafii, echoed Assir's call.

"As Hezbollah sends fighters to defend Shiite areas... we will also send money and men to our Sunni brothers in Qusayr," he said.

"We also call on all young Sunnis to be ready, as a first wave of young men and weapons will be sent to carry out their jihadist duty in Qusayr and to defend Sunni regions," he added.

On Monday, Rafii called on those who wished to fight in Syria to sign up to join the fight.

Lebanon has adopted an official stance of neutrality in Syria's raging war, which the U.N. says has left more than 70,000 dead.

Until 2005, Damascus dominated Lebanon politically and militarily for nearly 30 years, though it has since continued to exert significant influence through its allies on the small Mediterranean country.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Lebanese-Sunni-cleric-calls-for-Jihad-to-aid-Syrian-rebels-against-Hezbollah.html
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Iraqi Sunni minister resigns after deadly clashes

Mohammed Ali Tamim is the third Sunni minister to resign since March, and the second to do so after deadly violence at a protest. (AFP)

A Sunni member of the Iraqi cabinet resigned Tuesday after security forces moved in against Sunni protesters in the north of the country, sparking clashes that left dozens dead, an official said.

"The minister of education, Mohammed Ali Tamim, resigned from his post after the Iraqi army forces broke into the area of the sit-in in Kirkuk" province, the official from Deputy Prime Minister Saleh al-Mutlak's office said.

"The resignation is final, and there will be no going back," the official added.

Clashes between security forces and protesters at a demonstration near Hawijah in north Iraq left 27 people dead, while 13 gunmen died carrying out subsequent revenge attacks on army positions, high-ranking army officers said.

Tamim, who is a member of Mutlak's National Dialogue Front and is originally from Hawijah, is the third Sunni minister to resign since March, and the second to do so after deadly violence at a protest.

Agriculture minister Ezzedine al-Dawleh quit on March 8 after a protester was killed in north Iraq, and finance minister Rafa al-Essawi, some of whose bodyguards were arrested on terrorism charges in December, announced his resignation at an anti-government demonstration on March 1.

Protesters have taken to the streets in Sunni-majority areas of Iraq for more than four months, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and decrying the alleged targeting of their minority community by the Shiite-led authorities.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Iraqi-Sunni-minister-resigns-after-deadly-clashes.html
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Turkey’s Erdogan says will go to Gaza despite U.S. call to delay trip

Turkey's Erdogan says will go to Gaza despite U.S. call to delay trip

Erdogan stressed the exact date for his Gaza visit would be set after he visits U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on May 16. (Reuters)

Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Tuesday said he would go ahead with a scheduled trip to the Gaza Strip in May despite U.S. calls to delay the visit.

"There is no question of delaying this trip," Erdogan said on Turkish television.

Washington had urged Erdogan to postpone visiting the impoverished Palestinian territory, saying it would be a "distraction" from U.S. efforts to revive the moribund Middle East peace process.

Erdogan stressed the exact date for his Gaza visit would be set after he visits U.S. President Barack Obama at the White House on May 16.

During a trip to Istanbul over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the trip would be "better delayed", urging Erdogan to wait for the "right circumstances".

"It was our feeling in a constructive way that we thought that the timing of it is really critical with respect to the peace process that we're trying to get off the ground," emphasised Kerry.

Erdogan hit back at Kerry's comments in no uncertain terms, saying: "We wish he had not said that."

On Monday, Ankara expressed its dismay with Kerry's comments.

Kerry's statement "is not correct diplomatically," Deputy Prime Minister Bulent Arinc told reporters.

"It is up to our government to decide where our prime minister or a Turkish official will go and when."
 

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Turkey-s-Erdogan-says-will-go-to-Gaza-despite-U-S-call-to-delay-trip-.html
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No more Muslim students in America, demands Fox News pundit

Beckel claimed that American authorities should stem the influx of Muslim students from around the world. (Image courtesy: Fox News)

A media pundit from Fox News has said "we should keep any more Muslims from studying" in the United States because "so many people hate us [Americans]," in his show aired on Monday evening.

"The Five," a regular segment on the news channel, this week featured show host Robert 'Bob' Beckel branding Muslim communities around the world as anti-American.

"We know now. There has been enough research done. The bottom line: In the Muslim communities around the world, they do not like us. They recruit people from poor areas and they try to turn them into terrorists," he asserted.

Further to the statement, Beckel claimed that American authorities should stem the influx of Muslim students from around the world.

"We're going to have to cut off Muslim students from coming into this country for some period of time, so we can at least absorb what we've got, look at what we've got, and decide whether some of the people here should be gone, sent back home or sent to prison."

The statements came after it was revealed that the two suspects in last week's Boston bombings are Muslim brothers of Chechen origin.

Tamerlan and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev allegedly carried out the attack which killed three people.

Beckel's controversial comments

Beckel has made several comments over the years that have not been well received by international media outlets and commentators.

In December of 2010, with reference to Julian Assange, Beckel stated; "This guy's a traitor, he's treasonous, and he has broken every law of the United States. And I'm not for the death penalty, so… there's only one way to do it- illegally shoot [him]," according to the Huffington Post.

In August of 2012 Beckel referred to Jewish Americans, who had participated in an American fundraiser in Israel, as "a bunch of diamond merchants we don't know the names of," reportedly offending some Jews in the U.S., according to the Algemeiner Journal, a New York-based weekly newspaper.

Anti-Muslim comments

Fox News is no stranger to strongly worded comments regarding the incident in Boston.

Erik Rush, a regular on Fox News, called for all Muslims to be killed in a 'sarcastic' tweet made in response to the Boston  bombings.

The tweet drew a flood of responses from Twitter users, many of them expressing shock and anger. Rush responded to many of his critics with a series of profane responses.

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/world/2013/04/23/No-more-Muslim-students-in-America-says-Fox-News-pundit.html
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Pope prays for Orthodox bishops kidnapped in Syria

The pope wants "efficient answers to the humanitarian emergency and real hope for peace and reconciliation on the horizon." (AFP)

Pope Francis is praying for the liberation of two Orthodox bishops kidnapped by rebels in northern Syria, the Vatican said on Tuesday, a day after Syrian state media reported the abduction.

Francis "is following developments with deep participation and intense prayer for their well-being and liberation," the Vatican's spokesman, Federico Lombardi, told reporters.

The incident is "a dramatic confirmation of the tragic situation of the population of Syria and its Christian communities," Lombardi said.

The pope wants "efficient answers to the humanitarian emergency and real hope for peace and reconciliation on the horizon," he went on.

The Syrian state news agency SANA on Monday reported that two bishops had been kidnapped in a village in Aleppo province in northern Syria.

Bishop Yohanna Ibrahim, head of the Syrian Orthodox Church in Aleppo and Bishop Boulos Yaziji, head of the Greek Orthodox Church in Aleppo, were on a humanitarian mission.

The driver of the car they were driving in was reported killed.

Kidnappings have become increasingly prevalent in Syria as law and order has broken down with the spread of the conflict between rebels and loyalist troops.

Activists and human rights groups say minority groups, including Christians, have been particularly vulnerable.

Christians account for about five percent of Syria's population, and they have remained largely neutral or supportive of the regime since the outbreak of the uprising against the government in early 2011.

But the Syrian opposition also includes prominent Christian members, including George Sabra, a long-time dissident who was named interim head of the opposition Syrian National Coalition on Monday.
 

23 Apr, 2013

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Source: http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2013/04/23/Pope-prays-for-Orthodox-bishops-kidnapped-in-Syria.html
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