LCCC ENGLISH DAILY NEWS BULLETIN
August 31/16
Compiled & Prepared by: Elias Bejjani
The Bulletin's Link on the lccc Site
http://www.eliasbejjaninews.com/newsbulletin16/english.august31.16.htm
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Bible Quotations For Today
It is easier for a camel to go through the
eye of a needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.
Holy Gospel of Jesus Christ according to Saint Luke 18/18-30/:"A
certain ruler asked him, ‘Good Teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal
life?’Jesus said to him, ‘Why do you call me good? No one is good but God alone.
You know the commandments: "You shall not commit adultery; You shall not murder;
You shall not steal; You shall not bear false witness; Honour your father and
mother." ’ He replied, ‘I have kept all these since my youth.’When Jesus heard
this, he said to him, ‘There is still one thing lacking. Sell all that you own
and distribute the money to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; then
come, follow me.’But when he heard this, he became sad; for he was very rich.
Jesus looked at him and said, ‘How hard it is for those who have wealth to enter
the kingdom of God! Indeed, it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a
needle than for someone who is rich to enter the kingdom of God.’Those who heard
it said, ‘Then who can be saved?’He replied, ‘What is impossible for mortals is
possible for God.’Then Peter said, ‘Look, we have left our homes and followed
you.’And he said to them, ‘Truly I tell you, there is no one who has left house
or wife or brothers or parents or children, for the sake of the kingdom of God,
who will not get back very much more in this age, and in the age to come eternal
life.’".
Make every effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with
knowledge, and knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and
endurance with godliness
Second Letter of Peter 01/03-11/:"His divine power has given us
everything needed for life and godliness, through the knowledge of him who
called us by his own glory and goodness.Thus he has given us, through these
things, his precious and very great promises, so that through them you may
escape from the corruption that is in the world because of lust, and may become
participants in the divine nature. For this very reason, you must make every
effort to support your faith with goodness, and goodness with knowledge, and
knowledge with self-control, and self-control with endurance, and endurance with
godliness, and godliness with mutual affection, and mutual affection with love.
For if these things are yours and are increasing among you, they keep you from
being ineffective and unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.For
anyone who lacks these things is short-sighted and blind, and is forgetful of
the cleansing of past sins. Therefore, brothers and sisters, be all the more
eager to confirm your call and election, for if you do this, you will never
stumble. For in this way, entry into the eternal kingdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus Christ will be richly provided for you.
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin analysis & editorials
from miscellaneous sources published on August 30-31/16
Christianity at risk of dying out in
Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, Orthodox Church leader warns/Ruth Gledhill/Christian
Today August 30/16
Did Washington ask Lebanon to negotiate with Israel over oil/Jean
Aziz//Al-Monitor/August 30/16
A Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: July 2016/Dating Sites for
Polygamists, Dog Bans and Pardons, Pardons, Pardons/Soeren Kern/Gatestone
Institute/August 30/16
The New Normal: Today's Arab Debate Over Ties With Israel/David Pollock/Fikra
Forum/The Washington Institute/August 30/16
Saudi deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman's Pakistan Detour/Simon
Henderson/The Washington Institute/August 30/16
Egyptian Coptic MP 'Imad Gad: Separating Religion And State – A Condition For
Democracy/MEMRI/August 30/16
Kashmir: The Islamists are Pressing Ahead/Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone
Institute/August 30/16
The morning after: What happens to Gaza if Hamas is toppled/Shlomi Eldar/Al-Monitor/August
30/16
The hijab, niqab and burkini/Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
Why is Iran trying to assassinate Saudi ambassadors/Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/August
30/16
The Saudi deputy crown prince’s Asia trip: Rebooting China-Saudi economic
ties/Dr. Naser al-Tamimi/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
Who are the real enemies of India and Pakistan/Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/August
30/16
Russia, the bitter medicine Iran must swallow/Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/August
30/16
Titles For Latest Lebanese Related News published on
August 30-31/16
Christianity at risk of dying out
in Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, Orthodox Church leader warns
Salam Refuses Mediation with FPM, Expresses Keeness on Government’s Credibility
Change and Reform to Appeal Decrees Issued by Cabinet, Threatens Dialogue
Boycott
Report: Hariri-Aoun Relations Showing Flexibility
Security Tension Erupts at Dawn in Ain el-Hilweh
Report: Financial Concerns Surface as OECD Characterizes Lebanon as Negative
U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Visits Ain el-Hilweh Camp
Hezbollah denounces International Court's decisions regarding Akhbar newspaper,
Amine
Salam on missing Imam Sadr: He sacrificed his life to defend dialogue
Mustaqbal Says Presidency, Premiership National Issues, Not Sectarian
Alain Aoun: Not necessary to attend dialogue if consensuality not defined
Shehayyeb meets Kanaan over trash crisis
Intellectuals mobilize to call for president election
Kaag pays visit to Ain El Helwe camp
Did Washington ask Lebanon to negotiate with Israel over oil?
Titles For Latest LCCC Bulletin For
Miscellaneous Reports And News published on
August 30-31/16
Three Hurt in Suicide Blast at
China's Kyrgyzstan Embassy
Syrian rebels make gains in northern Hama province
London, Paris Seek U.N. Sanctions on Damascus for Chemical Attacks
IS Says Spokesman Adnani Killed in Syria's Aleppo
IS Buried Thousands in 72 Mass Graves
Turkish, Kurdish forces in Syria agree to ‘stop shooting at each other’
Israel razes home of Palestinian involved in deadly shooting
Israel lashes back after UN envoy’s comments on settlements
Turkish military: US-led coalition planes hit ISIS in north Syria
Egypt opens Gaza border crossing for Muslim pilgrimage
Iraq militias ‘enlisting children’ for Mosul push
Drone strike kills 3 Qaeda suspects in Yemen
Last chemical weapons shipped out of Libya
Obama to meet Turkey’s Erdogan at G20 summit
Egypt’s parliament is to vote on tougher penalties for FGM
Iran: Attorney at law on the 1988 massacre: Khomeini was Imam of law or
lawlessness?
Iran: Mullah Pour-Mohammadi, Rouhani’s Minister of Justice, admits he is proud
of his role in the 1988 massacre of political prisoners
The clerical Assembly of Experts: Khomeini wrote to Montazeri that you will hand
over the county to liberals and through them to the Mojahedin
Links From Jihad Watch Site for
on August 30-31/16
France: Muslim stabs cop in throat because she “represented
France”
French interior minister: “We are at war with an enemy trying to pit Muslims
against non-Muslims”
France burkini backlash panic: convene Muslims to discuss French Islam
George Washington University hires Muslim convicted of soliciting jihad murder
Romania: Pakistani Muslim to be expelled for spreading “global jihad” propaganda
Independent: Muslim killers scream “Allahu akbar” to get publicity, not because
they’re jihadis
Wyoming station reports on Qur’an burning but doesn’t show it “out of respect
for Muslims”
Video: Robert Spencer on the Obama/Clinton war against the reality of the jihad
threat
Singapore: Two Muslims jailed for financing the Islamic State in Bangladesh
Passage of Qur’an to be read at funeral of woman killed by Muslim screaming
“Allahu akbar”
Hugh Fitzgerald: Jean-Louis Harouel On France’s “Marche Vers
Dhimmitude”
Links From Christian Today Site for
on August 30-31/16
Churches must take measures against possible terror attacks,
warns security expert
How one youth pastor is bringing hope to persecuted Christians in Iraq
Iraq: Displaced children taken from camps to fight ISIS
Pakistani Christian girl abducted, forced to convert to Islam and marry faces
death threats
Australia: Six pastors and a nun 'arrested' after protest over Nauru detention
centre
Trump's support among evangelical leaders spikes as he hints at pro-life backing
New US group to lobby for Christian values in politics
Fears of trafficking as police reveal 9000 child refugees are missing in Germany
alone
Argentina: Mother Teresa nuns beaten and robbed
Murdered nuns praised for lives of service to the poor
UN slams France's burkini ban in damning intervention
Quarter of US teens read the Bible at least 4 times a week
Why Indian nationalists object to Mother Teresa being made a saint
Russell Moore warns politics has become a religion for evangelicals
UK and France pledge to 'step up' cooperation over Calais refugee
crisis
on August 30-31/16
Christianity at risk of dying out in
Syria, Lebanon and Iraq, Orthodox Church leader warns
Ruth Gledhill/Christian Today August 30/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/08/30/christian-today-christianity-at-risk-of-dying-out-in-syria-lebanon-and-iraq-orthodox-church-leader-warns/
Christianity is in danger of disappearing across entire countries in the Middle
East, the land of its birth, according to a senior Orthodox Church leader. There
have been repeated warnings about the decline of Christianity in Iraq under the
Islamic State onslaught. Eight in ten Christians have left Iraq since 2003.
But the Patriarch of the Syriac Orthodox Church, Ignatius Aphrem II, has now
warned that Christianity is also at risk of disappearing in Syria and Lebanon.
The massive decline of the Christian population in Turkey from 3.5m to 150,000
in the last 100 years alone could be repeated in Syria and Lebanon, he warned.
"I am worried that Christianity is on the way out both in Syria and Iraq as well
as in Lebanon," he told John Pontifex of Aid to the Church in Need, a Catholic
charity which provides emergency help and spiritual support for Christians
worldwide. Already, in Syria, half of the Christians are either displaced or
have fled abroad. Many are also fleeing Lebanon where there is terrible poverty.
The Patriarch, whose church numbers five million worldwide, also called on
Europe's leaders to be more active in stopping radicalised Muslims entering
their countries, warning against those who reject Western values and want Sharia
law widely implemented. "There should be a way of screening those who come to
Europe so that they do not embrace extremist ideology. I do not know how this
should happen but it is necessary and should be done without infringing the
rights of those who are peace-loving and law-abiding," he said.
"Then there are those from Europe who go to Syria and elsewhere to wage jihad
and who then come back from their countries. Europe has to be prepared for
that."Patriarch Aphrem will be the guest-of-honour at the UK launch of the
charity's Religious Freedom in the World report in London in November.
Salam Refuses Mediation with
FPM, Expresses Keeness on Government’s Credibility
Naharnet/August 30/16/Prime Minister Tammam Salam refused any mediation with the
Free Patriotic Movement as he assured that the he has no conflicts to resolve
with the FPM , An Nahar daily reported on Tuesday. Several contacts were held in
the last 24 hours with Salam in an attempt to carry out a mediation with the
FPM, said the daily. But the PM refused the measure and assured that he has no
disputes with the Movement and that the conflict lies between the FPM and other
political parties, according to the daily.Furthermore, Salam assured that he is
keen on preserving the government and that he is unlikely to wade into political
battles seeing as his mission is a salvaging one.
Change and Reform to Appeal
Decrees Issued by Cabinet, Threatens Dialogue Boycott
Naharnet/August 30/16/The Change and Reform parliamentary bloc led by MP Michel
Aoun on Tuesday announced that it will file an appeal against the decrees that
the cabinet issued during its session on Thursday which was boycotted by the
bloc's two ministers and their Tashnag Party ally. “The bloc has decided to file
an appeal with the State Council against all the decrees that were issued in
this session, which required the signatures of all ministers,” said the bloc in
a statement issued after its weekly meeting, stressing that “any decree cannot
be issued should any component insist not to sign it.”And calling for “agreeing
on a unified interpretation of the National Pact,” Change and Reform lamented
that “there is favoritism in the government's handling of the file of (military)
appointments,” accusing Prime Minister Tammam Salam's cabinet of “discriminating
between sects.”The bloc's boycott of Thursday's cabinet session was linked to
the thorny issue of security and military appointments. Defense Minister Samir
Moqbel has recently postponed the retirement of Higher Defense Council chief
Maj. Gen. Mohammed Kheir after no consensus was reached over three candidates
that he had proposed, angering the FPM which says that it opposes term
extensions for all senior officers. The movement fears that the extension of
Kheir's term could pave the way for a new extension of the tenure of Army
Commander General Jean Qahwaji next month. Qahwaji's retirement had been
postponed in September 2013 and his term was instead extended for two years.
Moreover, Change and Reform threatened on Tuesday to boycott a national dialogue
session scheduled for September 5. “There is a need to unify the principles
related to the National Pact in order to preserve true partnership,” the bloc
said, warning that “dialogue might lose its value and use and its attendance
might become unnecessary.”As for the stalled presidential vote, Change and
Reform called for “respecting the decision of Christians regarding the State's
top post.” Lebanon has been without a president since the term of Michel
Suleiman ended in May 2014 and the MPs of Hizbullah, Aoun's Change and Reform
bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the parliament's electoral
sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Al-Mustaqbal Movement leader
ex-PM Saad Hariri, who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late
2015 to nominate Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency
but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's main Christian
parties as well as Hizbullah. Hariri's move prompted Lebanese Forces leader
Samir Geagea to endorse the nomination of Aoun, his long-time Christian rival.
The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than
Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary bloc and his
bigger influence in the Christian community.
Report: Hariri-Aoun Relations Showing Flexibility
Naharnet/August 30/16/Despite the negative atmospheres that ruled the last
dialogue between al-Mustaqbal Movement chief ex-PM Saad Hariri and founder of
the Free Patriotic Movement MP Michel Aoun and the rumors that it has reached a
dead end, unnamed sources said they sensed some kind of mutual flexibility
between the Center House and Rabieh, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday.
According to the daily, informed sources said that both parties still have hope
that dialogue will work for them in the end, and that the presidential
candidate, Aoun, is still waiting for positive steps from the Center House any
minute now. Al-Mustaqbal movement has the same flexible positions, added the
daily and sources of the movement had stressed the significance of conducting
dialogue with Aoun and acknowledged that some of its officials and March 14
figures reached a conviction that the continuation of vacuum at the top state
post is harmful for Lebanon and its people, hence electing Aoun is more
appropriate. The sources threw the ball in the court of Hizbullah and blamed it
for the failure to help out Aoun to reach the presidential post. “Why has not
the party exerted any effort to elect Aoun as president? Instead of saying that
the problem is in Saudi Arabia, Hizbullah could have helped Aoun to the
presidency with a single phone call with the other candidate Suleiman Franjieh
and the story would end there and Aoun would be elected,” Mustaqbal sources
said.
“We will be the first well-wishers,” they added. It is worthy to point to the
visit of Mustaqbal figure MP Serge Torsarkissian to Rabieh where he held a
meeting with Aoun, they added.
Torsakissian did not elaborate nor comment on his meeting with Aoun but left the
purpose of his visit to speculations. However the sources said that some of the
Mustaqbal officials did not welcome the move and described it as a “personal
initiative,” that was not organized with the Movement. Lebanon has been without
a president since the term of Michel Suleiman ended in May 2014 and Hizbullah,
Aoun's Change and Reform bloc and some of their allies have been boycotting the
parliament's electoral sessions, stripping them of the needed quorum. Hariri,
who is close to Saudi Arabia, launched an initiative in late 2015 to nominate
Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh for the presidency but his proposal
was met with reservations from the country's main Christian parties as well as
Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's presidential bid argue that he is more
eligible than Franjieh to become president due to the size of his parliamentary
bloc and his bigger influence in the Christian community.
Security Tension Erupts at Dawn in Ain el-Hilweh
Naharnet/August 30/16/Minor skirmishes erupted at dawn on Tuesday in the
southern Palestinian refugee camp of Ain el-Hilweh, but no casualties weer
reported, the National News Agency reported. An unknown assailant randomly
opened gunfire inside the vegetable market which led to material damages to cars
and stores, NNA said. Furthermore, gunfire bullets were shot towards the
Saffourieh neighborhood. No further details were reported. Residents of the
neighborhood exchanged fire in return added NNA.
Report: Financial Concerns Surface as OECD Characterizes Lebanon as Negative
Naharnet/August 30/16/Concerns on Lebanon's inability to join the international
financial laws that ensure its survival in the global financial system will
surface again by the beginning of September when the due signing date of the
Global Account Tax Compliance Act GATCA agreement looms in light of an existing
government crisis, al-Joumhouria daily reported on Tuesday. Twenty four hours
separate Lebanon from the beginning of September, and if it fails to sign the
agreement, the country is threatened with being blacklisted, taking into
consideration the political paralysis at several levels and the blocked horizons
for the restoration of the constitutional institutions. Well-informed banking
sources told the daily that Lebanon has not signed the GATCA agreement although
it is committed to signing the act foreseen in September. The sources revealed
that the last report of the Secretary-General of the Organization for Economic
Cooperation and Development (OECD) Angel Gurria, pointed out that Lebanon is
among the countries that will be difficult for them to move to the second phase
of the GATCA system, that is the signing of the Convention within the deadline.
The sources pointed out that the OECD report has characterized Lebanon as
negative and noted that the country suffers from “legal problems, and that there
are bills to be decided in the cabinet and the parliament for the country to be
able to sign the convention. These problems are related to banking secrecy and
other issues,” said the report.
U.N. Special Coordinator for
Lebanon Visits Ain el-Hilweh Camp
Naharnet/August 30/16/U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Sigrid Kaag on
Tuesday visited the Ain el-Hilweh Palestinian refugee camp in the southern city
of Sidon, her press office said. “I have wanted to visit Ain el-Hilweh for quite
some time because it’s one of the important camps. It’s also a camp of course
that has particular needs and requirements. We know that in Lebanon very often
Ain el-Hilweh is negatively in the news and this is not necessarily fair,” said
Kaag during her visit. “The majority of the population of the camp are Palestine
refugees. They want to go to school, they want to have good health services,
they want to live in better conditions, and they want to have the opportunity to
work,” she added. “So it’s both the duty, responsibility but also the signal of
appreciation and respect we have for the efforts by the camp committees to work
closely with the Lebanese authorities, to work of course with UNRWA, to improve
conditions in the camp, and also to make sure that the security conditions in
the camp are improved, that it both benefits the Palestine refugees and of
course benefits Lebanon’s overall stability and security,” Kaag told reporters.
Asked how she views the recent surrender of some of the wanted individuals in
the camp, the U.N. official said she has regular conversations with General
Security chief Maj. Gen. Abbas Ibrahim and Army chief General Jean Qahwaji on
the overall security challenges to Lebanon. “I think the recent surrenders and
the ongoing process is very good, is beneficial for stability,” Kaag added,
calling for differentiating between “what is criminal, what is terrorist and
what is a general Palestine refugee who needs assistance and support.”“I think
all of us, and I hear this very clearly today, there is a shared cause that is
improvement of conditions, better living conditions, hope for the future and a
total rejection of terrorism,” she said. “It is important that the Palestine
refugees not only do not feel forgotten but that they can also get the
assistance that they require in the 21st century,” Kaag went on to say. By
long-standing convention, the Lebanese army does not enter the twelve
Palestinian refugee camps in the country, leaving the Palestinian factions
themselves to handle security. That has created lawless areas in many camps, and
Ain el-Hilweh has gained notoriety as a refuge for extremists and fugitives. But
the camp is also home to more than 54,000 registered Palestinian refugees who
have been joined in recent years by thousands of Palestinians fleeing the
fighting in Syria.More than 450,000 Palestinians are registered in Lebanon with
the U.N. agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA. Most live in squalid conditions
in 12 official refugee camps and face a variety of legal restrictions, including
on their employment.
Hezbollah denounces International Court's decisions regarding Akhbar newspaper,
Amine
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA -
Hezbollah Media Relations department expressed on Tuesday in a statement their
full commitment with Al Akhbar newspaper and editor in chief Ibrahim Al Amine.
The Party denounced the International Tribunal's decisions and deemed them as
political decisions rather than legal.
Salam on missing Imam Sadr: He sacrificed his life to defend dialogue
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA - Prime Minister Tammam Salam remembered on Tuesday missing
Imam Moussa Sadr, as "a grand national leader who believed in Lebanon and
coexistence between Muslims and Christians.""Imam Sadr sacrificed his life to
defend a unique image of Lebanon as a dialogue scene and a value for the entire
humanity, always calling the Lebanese to go beyond personal interests and
prevail national unity and independence," Salam said in a statement issued upon
the 38th commemoration of the disappearance of Imam Sadr and his comrades Sheikh
Mohammad Yaacoub and journalist Abbas Badreddine."Upon this painful memory, we
call the Lebanese to follow the path of dialogue for the sake of Lebanon," he
added. "Upon this occasion, we specially salute the custodian of Sadr's legacy,
House Speaker Nabih Berri, and his comrades in Amal Movement," he concluded.
Mustaqbal Says Presidency,
Premiership National Issues, Not Sectarian
Al-Mustaqbal parliamentary bloc stressed Tuesday that the election of the
president and the designation of the prime minister are national issues and not
“sectarian” issues. “The election of the president is a national issue par
excellence and not a sectarian issue, seeing is the president is the head of the
state, the symbol of the country's unity and the guardian of the Constitution,”
the bloc said in a statement issued after its weekly meeting. “The election of
the parliament speaker and the designation of the prime minister are national
issues that are not confined to the interests of any sect,” Mustaqbal added.
Hizbullah chief Sayyed Hassan Nasrallah had recently announced that his party is
willing the accept the re-designation of al-Mustaqbal Movement leader ex-PM Saad
Hariri as premier in return for the election of Free Patriotic Movement founder
MP Michel Aoun as president and the re-election of Speaker Nabih Berri as head
of parliament. Hariri had nominated Marada Movement chief MP Suleiman Franjieh
for the presidency but his proposal was met with reservations from the country's
main Christian parties as well as Hizbullah. The supporters of Aoun's
presidential bid argue that he is more eligible than Franjieh to become
president due to his bigger parliamentary bloc and larger influence in the
Christian community. In its statement on Tuesday, Mustaqbal slammed Hizbullah's
“systematic stances and fierce deliberate attack against al-Mustaqbal Movement
to demand it to elect General Michel Aoun as president.”“Hizbullah is trying to
impose the appointment of this candidate on the Lebanese, asking them to choose
between General Aoun's election or the continued vacuum and chaos,” the bloc
added.“The real solution to this grueling crisis that Hizbullah and the FPM are
creating and aggravating lies in returning to the correct priority, which is the
priority of electing a president according to the democratic rules stipulated by
the Constitution,” Mustaqbal said.
Alain Aoun: Not necessary to
attend dialogue if consensuality not defined
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA - MP Alain Aoun stressed the necessity to find a unified
explanation for the concept of consensuality in order to preserve the true
partnership, indicating, "We are facing the danger of losing dialogue and its
value, along with the failing necessity to attend its sessions."MP Alain Aoun's
stance came Tuesday in the context of a regular weekly meeting for the Bloc of
Reform and Change in Rabieh. He explained that the presidential issue was
hampered by two contradictory interpretations of consensuality "and there should
be a respect for Christians in the first position." He hoped that the meeting
for the finance committee over the trash issue would reach positive results
tomorrow.
Shehayyeb meets Kanaan over trash crisis
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA - Minister of Agriculture, Akram Shehayyeb, met on Tuesday
with MP Ibrahim Kanaan, to follow up on recent developments relevant to the
trash crisis, in light of a fresh meeting for the Finance and Budget House
committee. A statement by Shehayyeb's press office indicated that during the
meeting, both sides confirmed "that nobody seeks to leave trash on streets."
"Therefore, more positive ideas have been crystallized," the statement
added.Talks mainly focused on solutions based upon decentralization, so that
municipalities should assume their role in that respect.
Intellectuals mobilize to
call for president election
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA - A group of syndical figures and intellectuals belonging to
different parties mobilized in Downtown Beirut today, to call for respecting the
constitutional due dates and electing a new president of the republic, National
News Agency correspondent reported on Tuesday. The gathering held the name of
"Lebanon's Constituent Gathering to Preserve the Constitution."
Kaag pays visit to Ain El Helwe camp
Tue 30 Aug 2016/NNA - United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon, Sigrid
Kaag, visited on Tuesday Ain el Helwe camp in Sidon. She was accompanied by
UNRWA's General Director, Mathias Schmale, UNRWA's Director in Sidon, Ibrahim Al
Khatib. Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) senior official in Lebanon,
Fathi Abu al-Ardat, and a large number of Palestinian officials received them.
"Media gives a negative image of the camp but schools and basic services are
required in order to improve the living conditions of people," said Kaag. "We
welcome the work and efforts of the committee which works in coordination with
the Lebanese authorities and UNRWA to maintain stability and security in
Lebanon." She said that she was holding regular meetings and was in regular
communication with General Security Director, Abbas Ibrahim, and Army commander,
General Jean Kahwaji. Kaag pointed out that the living condition of the camp's
inhabitants, including Palestinian refugees, needed an improvement. "They
[inhabitants] categorically reject terrorism and aspire for a better future."
She added, "We are working with UNRWA to find the necessary funding for all
Palestinian refugees."
Did Washington ask Lebanon to
negotiate with Israel over oil?
Jean Aziz//Al-Monitor/August 30/16
Companies in the oil and gas business in Lebanon have generally been at a
standstill following the resignation of Prime Minister Najib Mikati's government
on March 22, 2013. The oil and gas sector returned to the spotlight in recent
months only to have the curtain soon close again.
Foreign Minister Gebran Bassil told Al-Monitor that when he served as energy
minister in Mikati's government, he had responsibility for every matter related
to gas reserves in the maritime economic areas belonging to Lebanon in the
Mediterranean Sea. When Mikati resigned, his Cabinet had some unfinished
business related to oil and gas, namely passing two crucial decrees to begin the
licensing process, which was scheduled for August 2013, Bassil said. One decree
provided for putting Lebanon’s 10 offshore blocks up for bidding and outlining
technical details for a model contract to be signed between the state and the
winning bidders. The other decree was the draft law on the taxes oil companies
will be required to pay. But the licensing process has never begun.
The government's resignation left a political vacuum that lasted until Feb. 15,
2014, when the current government, headed by Tammam Salam, was formed. During
the vacuum, all business related to oil and gas came to a halt, and the
situation remained unchanged after the formation of the new government.
Nevertheless, on April 6, 2014, Salam announced the formation of a ministerial
committee to look into the matter, considered of paramount importance to
Lebanon’s economy and prosperity. Yet, the ministers on the committee, including
Bassil and Arthur Nazarian, the current energy minister, told Al-Monitor that
the committee has not convened since its formation two years ago because Salam
has not summoned it to do so.
It appeared, however, that a new agreement on oil and gas had been reached in
the late spring of this year, whereby work would shortly be resumed. This
development occurred after Bassil paid a visit to parliament Speaker Nabih Berri
on June 1. Following the meeting, Bassil held a joint press conference with
Finance Minister Ali Hassan Khalil, a member of Berri’s Liberation and
Development bloc in parliament. The two ministers announced that an agreement on
oil and gas had been reached between Amal, led by Berri, and the Free Patriotic
Movement, headed by Bassil. This would accelerate the necessary steps for
relaunching licensing to select companies and subcontractors.
Both parties refused to publicly disclose the agreement's content, saying only
that they had briefed the government on its details. After so much delay, why
was an agreement reached at this point in time? It appears that several factors
finally galvanized the parties to act.
The first was a visit to Beirut on May 26-27 by Amos J. Hochstein, special envoy
and coordinator for International Energy Affairs at the US State Department.
Rumors began circulating in Lebanese political circles and the media that
Hochstein had relayed a clear message from Washington: Start investing in gas
and oil without delay and without heed to the maritime border dispute with
Israel.
Bassil had met with Hochstein during his two-day visit and told Al-Monitor that
Washington has an economic interest in maintaining Lebanon’s stability and
therefore recommended that it begin drilling as soon as possible.
The second factor involved recent developments in oil and gas fields in Egypt
and Cyprus. Experts following the issue told Al-Monitor on condition of
anonymity that a number of oil and gas discoveries had recently been made in
Egypt and Cyprus, close to the Lebanese maritime border. Some of the
international companies involved in those discoveries sent representatives to
Beirut to persuade officials there to launch gas projects.
The third factor might be related to the dispute between Lebanon and Israel over
the maritime border in the Mediterranean. In this regard, Nazarian told
Al-Monitor that this spring, the Energy Ministry had gathered new data that were
relayed to various government officials.
The data included new analysis conducted by the company TGS — which the ministry
had hired to conduct a survey in the Lebanese area of the Mediterranean —
showing gas reservoirs located on the common border between Lebanon and Israel,
especially in the southwestern corner of the Lebanese area. Any delay in
exploring for gas would prompt Israel to rush to take over Lebanon’s share of
the gas reserves.
All these events led up to Berri and Bassil’s announcement of an agreement. Yet,
the most surprising aspect is that nothing has been done in terms of
implementation almost three months after the agreement was reached. The
government has yet to approve the suspended decrees or refer the tax law draft
on oil companies to parliament. It thus seems that efforts to exploit Lebanon's
oil and gas are back to a standstill.
Some Lebanese, including Interior Minister Nouhad Machnouk, believe that such a
significant matter cannot be passed in the absence of a president of the
republic, while others hinted that some Lebanese actors object to Berri and
Bassil being the only officials involved in the announcement of the agreement
and the resolution of the issue. Other parties have alluded to the Gulf states
seeking to disrupt Lebanon’s gas exploration, claiming the issue is linked to
the outcome of regional developments.
A government official who spoke to Al-Monitor on condition of anonymity believes
there is another reason behind the current standstill. That source said that the
United States had relayed a new message to Lebanese officials requesting that
they agree to negotiations with Israel, under American auspices, to solve the
maritime border dispute. This raised the ire of Lebanese authorities who refuse
to negotiate with Israel as they consider it Lebanon’s archenemy.
This is apparently what prompted Lebanese authorities to cease moving forward
and wait, which also appears to serve the interests of several parties abroad —
such as Gulf states that do not want Lebanon to become an oil-producing country
— and those in Lebanon who have reservations about the Bassil/Berri agreement,
among them the Future Movement, led by Saad Hariri. It seems that the oil and
gas issue will remain at a standstill until further notice.
Latest LCCC Bulletin For Miscellaneous Reports And News published on on August 30-31/16
Three Hurt in Suicide Blast at
China's Kyrgyzstan Embassy
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August
30/16/A van driven by a suicide bomber exploded after ramming through a gate at
the Chinese embassy in Kyrgyzstan on Tuesday, wounding three people, authorities
said. "As a result of the explosion, only the suicide bomber terrorist died.
Security guards were injured," Kyrgyzstan's Deputy Prime Minister Jenish Razakov
told journalists at the scene. Razakov said the three wounded were all Kyrgyz
employees of the Chinese embassy and that they had been taken to hospital. Local
medics said their injuries were not serious. Police sources told Agence France
Presse that a Mitsubishi Delica van smashed through a gate at the embassy
Tuesday morning before blowing up in the center of the compound close to the
ambassador's residence. A police source confirmed that the vehicle was driven by
a suicide bomber and described the incident as a "terrorist attack". Body parts
thought to be from the attacker were found several hundred meters from the blast
site, a source said. The security service of the ex-Soviet Central Asian nation
-- which borders China -- said an "explosive device" had been placed inside the
vehicle, an official said. - Houses shook -Local residents told AFP that the
blast had blown in their windows and caused their houses to shake. Pictures
posted on social media purporting to be from the embassy showed a gate smashed
open and debris inside the compound. An AFP journalist close to the scene said
that damage could be seen on the embassy buildings and that police had cordoned
off the area as emergency services worked. Law enforcement officials also
blocked traffic on one of the city's main highways and were checking vehicles.
Employees from the Chinese and nearby American embassy on the edge of the city
were evacuated, the Kyrgyz emergency service said. Impoverished majority-Muslim
Kyrgyzstan has a history of political instability and battling Islamist
extremism. The economically troubled ally of Russia has seen two governments
overthrown and ethnic violence claim hundreds of lives since it gained
independence in 1991. The authorities regularly announce that they have foiled
attacks planned by the Islamic State group in the country. Security forces last
year said they had engaged in several deadly shootouts with suspected
"terrorists" in Bishkek. Officials say that some 500 Kyrgyz are thought to have
joined the ranks of Islamic State fighting in Syria and Iraq. Chinese officials
in the country have previously been targeted, with one shot dead in 2000 in an
attack blamed on radicals from China's Uighur minority. Violence has plagued
China’s northwestern region of Xinjiang, the homeland of the mostly Muslim
Uighur ethnic minority, in recent years, sometimes spreading beyond it. Beijing
blames the violence on separatist Islamist terrorists, with overseas
connections, while rights groups point to what they say is discrimination and
controls over the Uighurs' culture and religion. Kyrgyzstan and the other
ex-Soviet Central Asian nations have come under fire for using a purported
terror threat to silence criticism of their secular regimes. Kyrgyzstan is
gearing up to mark 25 years since independence from the Soviet Union with
celebrations in Bishkek on Wednesday.
Syrian rebels make gains in northern Hama province
Reuters, Amman Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Syrian rebels have captured a strategic
town in northern Hama province in a major offensive that threatens government
loyalist towns populated by minority Christians and Alawites north of the
provincial capital, rebels and a monitor said on Tuesday. The town of Halfaya
was stormed on Monday after the hardline extremist Jund al-Aqsa alongside Free
Syrian Army (FSA) brigades launched a battle overnight that overran several army
and pro-government checkpoints in northern Hama countryside. The town, which is
near a main road that links the coastal areas with the Aleppo-Damascus highway
is only a few kilometers from the historic Christian town of Mahrada to the
west. “We are now cleansing the town after liberating it from the regime and
will have more surprises in store,” said Abu Kinan, a commander in Jaish al Ezza,
a rebel group that fought in the town. A rapid collapse in government defenses
allowed the rebels to also take a string of villages including Buwaydah, Zalin
and Masassnah. They were threatening Taybat al Imam to the east of Halfaya. The
offensive brought them closer to the army stronghold of Soran, the army’s
northern gateway to the city of Hama, the provincial capital. A Syrian military
source said airstrikes conducted by the army killed dozens of rebels and would
neither deny nor confirm Halfaya had fallen to rebels. Pro-government websites
said the army was sending reinforcements to retake these towns. The Syrian
Observatory for Human Rights, which confirmed the fall of the town, said jets
believed to be Syrian struck rebel outposts in the area, killing at least 20
rebels. The militant Jund al-Aqsa group deployed suicide bombers to storm army
checkpoints. Jaish al Ezza threatened in a statement to hit the Mahrada power
plant near the town, one of Syria’s largest, if civilian areas in rebel-held
areas were bombed in retaliation. The rebel offensive comes after weeks of heavy
Russian and Syrian army bombing of rebel controlled Hama and southern Idlib
countryside that rebels say has claimed dozens of civilian lives. Syrian army
offensives backed by heavy Russian air strikes to retake territory from rebels
in the Hama countryside have had limited success. The latest gains will
consolidate rebels who captured at the end of last year the strategic town of
Morek, north of Hama city on a major north-south highway crucial to control of
western Syria.
London, Paris Seek U.N.
Sanctions on Damascus for Chemical Attacks
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 30/16/Britain and France called Tuesday for
United Nations sanctions to be imposed against Syria after a U.N.-led
investigation found the regime had carried out chemical attacks.The U.N.
ambassadors from London and Paris described the use of chemical weapons against
civilians as a war crime as they headed into a meeting to discuss the
investigation's findings.
IS Says Spokesman Adnani Killed in
Syria's Aleppo
Agence France Presse/Naharnet/August 30/16/The Islamic State group on Tuesday
said its spokesman Abu Mohamed al-Adnani was killed while monitoring military
operations in the Syrian province of Aleppo. Quoting a "military source," the IS
news agency Amaq said "Sheikh Abu Mohamed al-Adnani, the spokesman of the
Islamic State, was martyred while surveying operations to repel the military
campaigns against Aleppo."It said he died after a "long voyage crowned by
sacrifice" and vowed "revenge" at the hands of a "new generation born unto the
Islamic State."IS has regularly urged followers to target disbelievers.Adnani
made such request in September 2014, calling on supporters to use stones, knives
or even vehicles in their attacks.
IS Buried Thousands in 72
Mass Graves
Associated PresséNaharnet/August 30/16/Surrounded by smoke and flames, the sound
of gunshots echoing around him, the young man crouched in the creek for hours,
listening to the men in his family die.On the other side of the mountain,
another survivor peered through binoculars as the handcuffed men of neighboring
villages were shot and then buried by a waiting bulldozer. For six days he
watched as the extremists filled one grave after another with his friends and
relatives. Between them, the two scenes of horror on Sinjar mountain contain six
burial sites and the bodies of more than 100 people, just a small fraction of
the mass graves Islamic State extremists have scattered across Iraq and Syria.
In exclusive interviews, photos and research, The Associated Press has
documented and mapped 72 of the mass graves, the most comprehensive survey so
far, with many more expected to be uncovered as the Islamic State group's
territory shrinks. In Syria, AP has obtained locations for 17 mass graves,
including one with the bodies of hundreds of members of a single tribe all but
exterminated when IS extremists took over their region. For at least 16 of the
Iraqi graves, most in territory too dangerous to excavate, officials do not even
guess the number of dead. In others, the estimates are based on memories of
traumatized survivors, Islamic State propaganda and what can be gleaned from a
cursory look at the earth. Still, even the known victims buried are staggering —
from 5,200 to more than 15,000.
Sinjar mountain is dotted with mass graves, some in territory clawed back from
IS after the group's onslaught against the Yazidi minority in August 2014;
others in the deadly no man's land that has yet to be secured.
The bodies of Talal Murat's father, uncles and cousins lie beneath the rubble of
the family farm, awaiting a time when it is safe for surviving relatives to
return to the place where the men were gunned down. On Sinjar's other flank,
Rasho Qassim drives daily past the graves holding the bodies of his two sons.
The road is in territory long since seized back, but the five sites are
untouched, roped off and awaiting the money or the political will for
excavation, as the evidence they contain is scoured away by the wind and baked
by the sun. "We want to take them out of here. There are only bones left. But
they said 'No, they have to stay there, a committee will come and exhume them
later,'" said Qassim, standing at the edge of the flimsy fence surrounding one
site, where his two sons are buried. "It has been two years but nobody has
come." IS made no attempt to hide its atrocities. In fact it boasted of them.
But proving what United Nations officials and others have described as an
ongoing genocide — and prosecuting those behind it — will be complicated as the
graves deteriorate. "We see clear evidence of the intent to destroy the Yazidi
people," said Naomi Kikoler, who recently visited the region for the Holocaust
Museum in Washington, D.C. "There's been virtually no effort to systematically
document the crimes perpetrated, to preserve the evidence, and to ensure that
mass graves are identified and protected." Then there are the graves still out
of reach. The Islamic State group's atrocities extend well outside the Yazidi
region in northern Iraq. Satellites offer the clearest look at massacres such as
the one at Badoush Prison in June 2014 that left 600 male inmates dead. A patch
of scraped earth and tire tracks show the likely killing site, according to
exclusive photos obtained by the imagery intelligence firm AllSource Analysis.
Of the 72 mass graves documented by AP, the smallest contains three bodies; the
largest is believed to hold thousands, but no one knows for sure.
ALL THEY COULD DO WAS WATCH THE SLAUGHTER
On the northern flank of Sinjar mountain, five grave sites ring a desert
crossroads. It is here that the young men of Hardan village are buried, under
thistles and piles of cracked earth. They were killed in the bloody IS offensive
of August 2014. Through his binoculars, Arkan Qassem watched it all. His
village, Gurmiz, is just up the slope from Hardan, giving a clear view over the
plain below. When the jihadis swept over the area, everyone in Gurmiz fled up
the mountaintop for refuge. Then Arkan and nine other men returned to their
village with light weapons to try to defend their homes. Instead, all they could
do was watch the slaughter below. Arkan witnessed the militants set up
checkpoints, preventing residents from leaving. Women and children were taken
away. Then the killings began. The first night, Arkan saw the militants line up
a group of handcuffed men in the headlights of a bulldozer at an intersection,
less than a kilometer (half mile) down the slope from Gurmiz. They gunned the
men down, then the bulldozer plowed the earth over their bodies. Over six days,
Arkan and his comrades watched helplessly as the fighters brought out three more
groups of men — several dozen each, usually with hands bound — to the crossroads
and killed them. He didn't always see what they did with the bodies. One time,
he saw them lighting a bonfire, but he couldn't see why. Finally, the jihadis
brought in artillery and prepared to make an assault on Gurmiz. Arkan and his
comrades fled up the mountain to where their families had taken refuge. Now,
since IS fighters were driven out of the area, the 32-year-old has returned to
his home. But he's haunted by the site. As documented by the aid group Yazda,
which has mapped the Sinjar sites, the graves are in a rough pentagon flanking
the crossroads, largely unprotected. Around one of them is a mesh fence and a
wind-battered sign. As Arkan spoke at the site, a shepherd herded his flock
nearby. "I have lots of people I know there. Mostly friends and neighbors," he
said. "It's very difficult to look at them every day."
"THIS BODY IS WEARING MY FATHER'S CLOTHES"
As IS fighters swarmed into the Sinjar area in early August 2014, Talal fled his
town along with his father, mother, four sisters and younger brother. They and
dozens of other men, women and children from his extended clan converged on an
uncle's farm outside the town of Tel Azer. They prayed it was remote enough to
escape the killings that were already engulfing so many Yazidis. It wasn't. The
jihadis fired at the house from a distance. Then they rolled up in their
vehicles and shot one man in the head as they stood in the yard. They surrounded
the farmhouse, ordered everyone outside and demanded the impossible: Convert.
The Yazidi faith, one of the region's oldest, has elements of Christianity and
Islam but is distinct. Yazidis worship the Peacock Angel, fallen and forgiven by
God under their tradition, and their shrines feature carved images of the birds
and references to the sun. Muslim extremists condemned them as "devil
worshippers" and over the centuries have subjected them to multiple massacres —
72, by the Yazidis' count. In its own propaganda, the Islamic State group made
clear its intention to wipe out the Yazidi community. In an issue of its online
English-language magazine Dabiq, it scolded Muslims for allowing the Yazidis to
continue existing, calling their ancient religion a form of paganism. It quoted
Quranic verses to justify killing the Yazidis unless they become Muslim.
Thwarted in their halfhearted attempt at conversions, the fighters separated
about 35 teenage girls and young women from the rest, crammed them into a few
cars and drove away. The militants herded the older women and young children
into the farmhouse and locked the door. Then they lined the men and teenaged
boys against the wall of the stables — around 40 in all, including Talal. There
were too many of them, too bunched up, to efficiently mow down, so the fighters
then ordered them to lie on the ground in a row, Talal said. That was when his
uncle told him to make a run for it. Talal bolted into his uncle's hayfield, as
did several other men. The militants fired at them, and the bullets ignited the
hay, dry from the summer sun. The fire covered Talal's escape, and he took
shelter in a nearby creek. There he hid, listening as the gunmen shot his family
to death. He eventually fled toward the mountain, joined by three others who had
survived the massacre. Four out of 40. Back at the farm, the gunmen eventually
left and the women and children emerged, looking around with growing horror.
Nouri Murat, Talal's mother, found her husband. His body was untouched, but his
head was shattered. Her daughters, she said, were confused at first. "This is
strange, this body is wearing my father's clothes," one of them said. As Nouri
frantically searched around the property for any surviving menfolk, her
9-year-old daughter Rukhan lay down beside her father's corpse. Finally, other
women persuaded the family to head to the mountain before the Islamic State
fighters returned. As they began the long walk north, Nouri noticed Rukhan's
bloody fist. Fearing her daughter was wounded, she pried open the girl's
clenched fingers. Inside were a handful of her father's teeth.
"THEY DON'T EVEN TRY TO HIDE THEIR CRIMES"
Nearly every area freed from IS control has unmasked new mass graves, like one
found by the sports stadium in the Iraqi city of Ramadi. Many of the graves
themselves are easy enough to find, most covered with just a thin coating of
earth. "They don't even try to hide their crimes," said Sirwan Jalal, the
director of Iraqi Kurdistan's agency in charge of mass graves. "They are
beheading them, shooting them, running them over in cars, all kinds of killing
techniques, and they don't even try to hide it." No one outside IS has seen the
Iraqi ravine where hundreds of Shiite prison inmates were killed point blank and
then torched. Satellite images of scraped dirt along the river point to its
location, according to Steve Wood of AllSource. His analysts triangulated
survivors' accounts and began to systematically search the desert according to
their descriptions of that day, June 10, 2014. The inmates were separated out by
religion, and Shiites were loaded onto trucks, driven for a few kilometers
(miles) and forced to line up and count off, according to accounts by 15
survivors gathered by Human Rights Watch. Then they knelt along the edge of the
crescent-shaped ravine, according to a report cited by AllSource. "I was number
43. I heard them say '615,' and then one ISIS guy said, 'We're going to eat well
tonight.' A man behind us asked, 'Are you ready?' Another person answered 'Yes,'
and began shooting at us with a machine-gun. Then they all started to shoot us
from behind, going down the row," according to the Human Rights Watch account of
a survivor identified only as A.S.The men survived by pretending to be dead.
Using their accounts and others, AllSource examined an image from July 17, 2014,
that appeared to show the location as described, between a main road and the
railway outside Mosul. The bodies are believed to be packed tightly together,
side by side in a space approximately the length of two football fields end to
end, in what the AllSource analysis described as a "sardine trench." Tire tracks
lead to and from the site. "There's actually earth that has been pushed over and
actually moved to cover parts of the ravine. As we look across the entire ravine
we only see that in this one location," said Wood. "Ultimately there are many,
many more sites across Iraq and Syria that have yet to be either forensically
exhumed or be able to be detailed and there's quite a bit more research that
needs to take place."The key, Wood said, is having photos to indicate a grave's
location taken soon after its creation. Justice has been done in at least one IS
mass killing — that of about 1,700 Iraqi soldiers who were forced to lie
face-down in a ditch and then machine-gunned at Camp Speicher. On Aug. 21, 36
men convicted in those killings were hanged at Iraq's Nasiriyah prison.
But justice is likely to be elusive in areas still firmly under IS control, even
though the extremists have filmed themselves committing the atrocities. That's
the case for a deep natural sinkhole outside Mosul that is now a pit of corpses.
In Syria's Raqqa province, thousands of bodies are believed to have been thrown
into the giant al-Houta crevasse. Conditions in much of Syria remain a mystery.
Activists believe there are hundreds of mass graves in IS-controlled areas that
can only be explored when fighting stops. By that time, they fear any effort to
document the massacres, exhume and identify the remains will become infinitely
more complicated. Working behind IS lines, local residents have informally
documented some mass graves, even partially digging some up. Some of the worst
have been found in the eastern province of Deir el-Zour. There, 400 members of
the Shueitat tribe were found in one grave, just some of the up to 1,000 members
of the tribe believed to have been massacred by IS when the militants took over
the area, said Ziad Awad, the editor of an online publication on Deir el-Zour
called The Eye of the City who is trying to document the graves. In Raqqa
province, the bodies of 160 Syrian soldiers, killed when IS overran their base,
were found in seven large pits. So far, at least 17 mass graves are known,
though largely unreachable, in a list put together from AP interviews with
activists from Syrian provinces still under IS rule as well as fighters and
residents in former IS strongholds.
"This is a drop in an ocean of mass graves expected to be discovered in the
future in Syria," said Awad.
Turkish, Kurdish forces in
Syria agree to ‘stop shooting at each other’
AFP, Washington Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Turkish and Kurdish militas in northern
Syria have reached a “loose agreement” to stop fighting each other, a US defense
official told AFP on Tuesday. “In the last several hours, we have received
assurance that all parties involved are going to stop shooting at each other and
focus on the ISIL threat,” said Colonel John Thomas, Central Command spokesman,
using an acronym for the ISIS group. “It’s a loose agreement for at least the
next couple of days and we are hoping that will solidify.”
Israel razes home of
Palestinian involved in deadly shooting
The Associated Press, Jerusalem Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Israel’s military says
its forces demolished the home of a Palestinian involved in the ambush of a
family car in the West Bank that killed an Israeli and wounded his wife and two
of their children. It said the residence in Dura near the West Bank city of
Hebron Bank was razed Tuesday. It said the man “assisted in the planning and
execution” of the July 1 attack that killed Miki Mark, a 48-year-old father of
10 children. The shooting was one of a wave of attacks since September 2015.
Palestinians have killed 34 Israelis and two visiting Americans. Some 208
Palestinians died in that time, most identified as attackers by Israel. Israel
says house demolitions are an effective deterrent against attacks. Critics
counter the tactic amounts to collective punishment.
Israel lashes back after UN envoy’s comments on settlements
The Associated Press, Jerusalem Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Israel on Tuesday lashed
out at the UN Mideast envoy, accusing him of “distorting history” in labelling
Israeli settlement-building as a main hindrance to peace with the Palestinians.
David Keyes, spokesman for Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said that “it is
not the presence of Jews, who have lived in the West Bank and Jerusalem for
thousands of years, that is a barrier to peace.” “Rather, it is the unceasing
efforts to deny that historical connection and a refusal to recognize that Jews
are not foreign to Judea,” Keyes added, using the biblical term for the
territory. The remarks come a day after United Nations’ Mideast envoy Nicolay
Mladenov told the Security Council that illegal settlement expansion by Israelis
is among the biggest obstacles to peace with the Palestinians.
“The claim that it is illegal for Jews to build in Jerusalem is as absurd as
saying Americans can’t build in Washington or the French can’t build in Paris,”
Keyes said. “The Palestinian demand to ethnically cleanse their future state of
Jews is outrageous and should be condemned by the United Nations instead of
being embraced by it.” Israel captured the West Bank and east Jerusalem, home to
holy sites sacred to Jews, Muslims and Christians, from Jordan in the 1967 war.
Palestinians demand the territory for their future state, with east Jerusalem as
their capital. Israel says settlements and other core issues at the heart of the
conflict, like security arrangements, should be resolved in negotiations.
US-negotiated peace talks collapsed over two years ago, in part over the issue
of settlements. Most of the world views the Israeli settlements in the West Bank
as illegal or illegitimate.
Turkish military: US-led
coalition planes hit ISIS in north Syria
Reuters, Istanbul Tuesday, 30 August 2016/US-led coalition warplanes hit ISIS
targets near the Syrian frontier town of Jarablus overnight, the Turkish
military said on Tuesday, as forces backed by Ankara pushed deeper into north
Syria. Two A-10 planes hit and destroyed two ISIS targets, the military said in
a statement, without elaborating. Turkey-backed forces seized Jarablus from ISIS
militants last week. They have since pushed into areas held by Kurdish-aligned
militias.
Egypt opens Gaza border
crossing for Muslim pilgrimage
The Associated Press, Gaza City, Gaza Strip Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Hamas says
Egypt has opened its border crossing with the Gaza Strip for three days,
allowing hundreds of Muslim faithful to travel for a yearly pilgrimage. Hesham
Edwan, the director of the Rafah crossing, said Tuesday that nearly 2,500 people
were expected to leave in the coming days. Rafah is Gaza’s main gateway to the
outside world. Egypt has kept Rafah largely sealed since 2013, when ties with
Hamas worsened after the ouster of Egypt’s elected Islamist President Mohammed
Mursi. Cairo accuses the Islamic militant group, which rules Gaza, of supporting
militants in the Sinai Peninsula, allegations denied by Hamas. The pilgrimage to
the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia is one of the five pillars of Islam and
is made by around 3 million Muslims worldwide each year.
Iraq militias ‘enlisting
children’ for Mosul push
The Associated Press, Irbil Tuesday, 30 August 2016/An International human
rights group says Iraqi militias are recruiting children from camps for
civilians displaced by conflict ahead of the long-awaited operation to retake
militant-held Mosul. Human Rights Watch said Tuesday, citing testimony from
witnesses and relatives, that two tribal militias in the Kurdish region of Iraq
recruited children from a camp south of Irbil and drove them away to a town near
Mosul. The group said the recruits are intended to reinforce frontline positions
in Nineveh province, where Mosul is located. Iraq’s prime minister has pledged
that Mosul will be retaken from ISIS this year. After a string of territorial
defeats over the past year, Mosul, Iraq’s second largest city, is the last major
urban territory ISIS holds in the country. “The recruitment of children as
fighters for the Mosul operation should be a warning sign for the Iraqi
government,” said Bill Van Esveld, senior children’s rights researcher at Human
Rights Watch. “The government and its foreign allies need to take action now, or
children are going to be fighting on both sides in Mosul.”Human Rights Watch has
documented that ISIS has extensively recruited and deployed children in its
forces.
Drone strike kills 3 Qaeda
suspects in Yemen
AFP, Aden Tuesday, 30 August 2016/A presumed US drone strike in southern Yemen
killed three Al-Qaeda suspects on Tuesday, a security official and a tribal
source said. The strike hit a vehicle carrying the three alleged militants in
the eastern suburbs of Ataq, the capital of Shabwa province, the official said.
Two of the suspects who were injured in the attack later succumbed to their
wounds, a tribal source said, raising an earlier toll of one killed. The United
States has carried out numerous drone strikes against Al-Qaeda in the Arabian
Peninsula (AQAP) operatives in Yemen. American officials said this month that
the US military had killed three AQAP fighters in a strike, also in Shabwa. On
Wednesday, drone strikes killed seven Al-Qaeda suspects in south and east Yemen.
AQAP and ISIS have exploited a power vacuum created by the conflict between the
government and Iran-backed rebels to expand their presence in the Arabian
Peninsula country. The US has vowed to continue its campaign against AQAP, which
it considers to be the Al-Qaeda network’s deadliest franchise. A Saudi-led Arab
military coalition that backs the Yemeni government has also turned its sights
on AQAP, targeting it with air strikes. The coalition is supporting
pro-government forces which launched an offensive this year to retake several
towns from AQAP.
Last chemical weapons shipped out of Libya
AFP, Tripoli Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Libya has shipped the last of its chemical
weapons stocks out of the country on a Danish vessel, under a UN-backed plan to
eliminate the arsenal, officials said Tuesday.A senior security official told
AFP the stocks were shipped to Germany on Saturday from the port of Misrata
under the supervision of the United Nations. The deputy prime minister of
Libya’s Government of National Accord, Mussa el-Koni, confirmed the operation,
saying: “All of Libya’s chemical arsenal has been shipped out of the country.”
The Danish government had earlier this month offered to send a container vessel,
support ship and 200 staff to handle the operation, coordinated by the UN-backed
Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW). The UN Security
Council on July 22 endorsed plans to remove Libya’s chemical weapons from the
country and prevent them from falling into the hands of extremists like ISIS.
The security official said 23 tanks of chemicals were shipped out under the
operation. The weapons had been stored in the central Jafa area, about 200
kilometers south of Sirte, where pro-GNA forces are battling ISIS militants, he
said. “We as Libyans did not want these weapons, especially during the current
security situation and with the presence of IS in the region,” the security
official said. Libya joined the UN convention on eliminating chemical weapons in
2004. At the time it declared 24.7 tons of mustard gas, 1,390 tons of precursor
chemicals and more than 3,500 aerial bombs containing chemical weapons. It had
eliminated all the aerial bombs, 51 percent of the mustard gas and 40 percent of
the precursor chemicals by 2011, when operations to destroy the arsenal were
interrupted by the uprising against Muammar Qaddafi, according to the OPCW.
Obama to meet Turkey’s
Erdogan at G20 summit
Reuters Tuesday, 30 August 2016/US President Barack Obama will have a bilateral
meeting with Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan during the G20 summit in China
next month and is likely to have at least an informal talk with Russia’s
Vladimir Putin, the White House said on Monday.
Obama wants to talk with Erdogan about events in Turkey’s military campaign
against ISIS, and how to promote stability in Syria, Deputy National Security
Advisor Ben Rhodes told reporters. The Obama-Erdogan meeting is scheduled for
Sunday, September 4. It was not certain whether Obama would hold a formal
meeting with the Russian president during the G20 summit of the world’s biggest
economies, which runs Sept 4-5. But the two leaders often speak on the margins
of such summits, Rhodes said. “We usually try to find an opportunity for the two
leaders to try to spend some time together, usually to focus on Syria and
Ukraine,” Rhodes said. The United States is at odds with Russia over the eastern
Ukraine conflict and Washington and Moscow have struggled to stop fighting in
Syria’s civil war. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said a meeting between Putin
and Obama has not yet been coordinated, Russian RIA news agency reported. “We
are ready,” RIA cited Peskov as saying. “But there is no final agreement yet.”
Egypt’s parliament is to vote
on tougher penalties for FGM
AP, Cairo Tuesday, 30 August 2016/Egypt’s parliament is to vote on tougher
penalties for female genital mutilation, after the Cabinet approved a bill to
redefine it as a felony. In a report carried on state news agency MENA on
Sunday, the Health Ministry says that if passed, the new law would increase
prison sentences for carrying out the procedure to between five and seven years,
and up to 15 years if a child dies. Female genital mutilation was criminalized
in 2008 but remains widespread in Egypt. In May, a 17-year-old girl died of a
suspected stroke while under anesthesia during while undergoing female
circumcision in the city of Suez. The UN estimates at least 200 million girls
and women in 30 countries have undergone the procedure, with half of them in
Egypt, Ethiopia and Indonesia.
Iran: Attorney at law on the
1988 massacre: Khomeini was Imam of law or lawlessness?
Tuesday, 30 August 201/NCRI - According to a video file which has been released
on the Internet, during a birthday party held at the home of Sattar Beheshti (a
dissident blogger who was killed under torture by the mullahs’ regime on
November 2013) in Robat Karim on 5 September, Mohammad Najafi, an attorney at
law, pointed out and revealed a corner of the lawlessness and crimes taking
place by the mullahs’ regime in Iran. The following is the text of the video
clip:
Attorney at law Mohammad Najafi: “…Dear friends, I want to briefly point out
what has happened in 1988 massacre of political prisoners. The massacre that
took place in the summer of 1988 was the foundation of lawlessness. Today, I as
a lawyer and as someone who knows the constitution of this country, claim that
if Mojahedin (PMOI or MEK) or anybody else such as leftists, anybody who were a
member of the groups that should be put on trial in court or were in prison, if
they were to be tried for a new crime, we had law at that time, we had
constitution. All the forward-throwing of the officials in recent days is
because they know better than us and are aware that they acted illegally. And
who laid this foundation stone? I ask whether Khomeini was Imam of law or Imam
of lawlessness.
“We are responsible. Several decades after the revolution, several thousands
have been killed. Today, we should speak bluntly. Can’t we question the law of
the Islamic Republic?
Respect your own law, respect your own constitution and covenant with people
that is what we are asking.
“The same bad foundation that we laid occurred in the "chain murders" (in the
1990s, at least 120 dissidents, writers and intellectuals were abducted and
brutally murdered) No one was held accountable, because since the beginning of
the chain murder cases, officials explicitly said that they deserved it. I mean
that fatwas were issued by religious leaders that these men deserve death and
should be killed. Exactly the same method were used in 1988 massacre and in
University alley (killing of the students in the Campus)… and in murders of 2009
uprising and in recent killings when our Kurdish brothers were executed and some
people said that legal procedures were not followed.
“We have a simple question. Do you not adhere to your own law, the law that you
have approved? And whether I as a lawyer can ask you to act upon your own law?
“I can only wish that one day we get out this atmosphere of terror and bloodshed
and this negative mentality with the rule of law.
“I finish my words with two bites of a short poem:
You who answer any question by the iron fist of oppression,
Be tuned and aware that the bloody lips of silence are pregnant with hundred
screams.”
Iran: Mullah Pour-Mohammadi,
Rouhani’s Minister of Justice, admits he is proud of his role in the 1988
massacre of political prisoners
Tuesday, 30 August 2016 /NCRI
- According to Tasnim news agency affiliated to the IRGC terrorist Qods Force,
on August 28 Mostafa Pour-Mohammadi, a member of Khomeini’s “Death Commission”
during the massacre of 30,000 political prisoners and members of the MEK in the
summer of 1988 and current Minister of Justice in Rouhani’s government,
explicitly admitted to his role in the massacre and said he was proud of it.
Pour Mohammadi, who was speaking in the administrative council meeting in the
city of Khorram-Abad in Lorestan province, on August 28 said: “We are proud we
have implemented God’s order about Mojahedin (PMOI or MEK). We have stood
against the enemy of God and people and confronted them with power. God have
said that do not have mercy on the infidels because they do not have mercy on
you and we should not have mercy on Mojahedin.”
Mrs. Maryam Rajavi, President-elect of the Iranian Resistance, last week in a
message to an exhibition in Paris' Mairie du 2e commemorating the 28th
anniversary of the 1988 massacre of 30,000 political prisoners in Iran. Stated:
“The time has come for the UN to adopt a resolution, condemning this crime. The
international community must prosecute Iran's ruling mullahs,” She also
emphasized: “Western governments have so far remained silent on this great crime
against humanity. The time has come for the UN to issue a resolution censuring
this crime. The international community must prosecute the mullahs ruling Iran,”
The clerical Assembly of
Experts: Khomeini wrote to Montazeri that you will hand over the county to
liberals and through them to the Mojahedin
Monday, 29 August 2016/Regime's leaders confess to their participation and
agreement with the 1988 massacre and their fear of distortion of Khomeini's
image and added credibility for the Mojahedin in Iran and abroad
The Iranian Resistance's President-elect Maryam Rajavi described the statement
issued by the Assembly of Experts on the massacre of political prisoners in
1988, as an explicit, decisive and official document indicating the agreement
and complicity of the regime's present leaders in the massacre of 30,000
political prisoners and committing this crime against humanity.
The Assembly of Experts is the highest institution in the mullahs' Velayat-e
Faqih regime.
The Assembly of Experts described the 1988 massacre of political prisoners as "a
historic and revolutionary decision by his highness Imam Khomeini", and "a
prompt decision" to "deal seriously and decisively with the Hypocrites (the
Mojahedin)", indicating Khomeini's "deep and insightful understanding."
The decree for the massacre of PMOI prisoners is so anti-Islamic and so inhuman,
that the Assembly of Experts --which is comprised of the most criminal ruling
mullahs and a number of those directly responsible for the massacre-- does not
dare to repeat the decree. Instead, in a deceitful and scandalous maneuver, they
describe the decree as Khomeini's decision to have "fair trial for leaders and
some members" of the PMOI.
The regime's leaders are extremely concerned that the principle of Velayat-e
Faqih would be undermined and Khomeini's image distorted, while the Mojahedin
would be "whitewashed" and "an atmosphere for (their) innocence created."
It is not without reason, that in recent days, Khamenei praised "the blessed and
radiant image of Imam (Khomeini)" and Rafsanjani defended "Imam's unprecedented
role and status in contemporary history" with regards to this massacre.
Rouhani's Minister of Interior, Mostafa Pour Mohammadi, also said, "We are proud
to have carried out God's verdict on the Hypocrites."
Mrs. Rajavi challenged the regime's officials to publish the text of Khomeini's
verdict, questions by Mousavi Ardebili, and Khomeini's response to him in the
media without censoring them. She said the decree is anti-Islamic and
contradicts even the foundations of the mullahs' own fundamentalist
jurisprudence.
Maryam Rajavi urged the clergy and religious authorities in the world of Islam
to condemn this criminal decree and the spilling of 30,000 political prisoners'
blood, and do not allow this great crime which is unprecedented in contemporary
history be registered in the name of Islam and Muslims.
Maryam Rajavi added: The documents published recently, as well as the admissions
made publicly by the regime's highest officials and institutes in recent days,
have doubled the need for international prosecution of those responsible for
this great crime. Based on its duties, the United Nations must set up a
committee to examine these confessions and register them as decisive documents
of crime and thus prepare the legal grounds for legal prosecution of the
criminals ruling Iran.
She added: Now that the regime's leaders confess to having committed the
massacre, they have to announce the names of those massacred, publish their last
wills, and the addresses of their graves, as well as the names of all members of
the death commissions in various provinces.
The statement by the Assembly of Experts describes Khomeini's decision as "fair
trial of leaders and some members" of the Mojahedin, while Khomeini wrote in his
evil decree: "Those who insist on their position of hypocrisy in prisons across
the country, are enemies of God and condemned to death… It is naïve to have
mercy on enemies of God… Those gentlemen who are responsible for making the
decisions, must not allow themselves to have any speck of doubt." Then in reply
to questions by Mousavi Ardebili, Khomeini wrote: "Anyone at any stage, if
persists on hypocrisy, he/she is punishable with death. Swiftly, annihilate the
enemies of Islam. As for the examination of the cases, those measure are
preferable that would expedite execution of the verdicts."
The statement of the Assembly of Experts includes a quotation from Khomeini's
letter to Montazeri on March 26, 1989, which uncovers the main reason for the
massacre, stating, "Since it has been made clear that after me (Khomeini), you (Montazeri)
will hand over Iran to liberals and through them to the Hypocrites, you have
lost the competence and legitimacy for future leadership of the regime."
Recently, Mehdi Khaz-Ali, one of the officials of the presidential office under
Ali Khamenei and Rafsanjani, also revealed parts of the regime's shocking crimes
in the course of the 1988 massacre. As for the reason for the massacre, he said:
The largest and most populous group that opposed the state was the People's
Mojahedin Organization which held four hours of parade in Enqelab Avenue. This
group could be annihilated only with authorization from Imam (Khomeini)… The
officials wanted to uproot this group while the Imam was still alive. They said
that they would possibly join (the organization) once they were released. Then
we would be confronted by a large number of people. While if we execute them,
now, these executions will terrify their families and no one would dare to join
(the PMOI).
Before the Assembly of Experts' statement, Ali Khamenei expressed concern in a
meeting with the regime's officials on August 24, 2016, that the audio recording
of Mr. Montazeri's meeting would "attempt to whitewash" and create "an
atmosphere of innocence" for the Mojahedin and distort "Khomeini's image."
On August 27, 2016, Rafsanjani also expressed regret over "a new wave of attacks
directed against Khomeini" and said: "The wave has embraced virtually all
foreign opposition media, to the extent that the mayor of Paris recently held an
exhibition which recreated the scenes of executions in those days… The extent of
support for the Mojahedin Organization at this time deserves to be pondered." He
added, "The main objective of our international and domestic enemies is to take
revenge from the unprecedented role and status of Imam (Khomeini)."
Majid Ansari, Rouhani's legal deputy, also said that in addition to distortion
of Khomeini's image, "a complicated conspiracy is being concocted on the
international level to present the People's Mojahedin Organization as a
legitimate and civilian organization."
Secretariat of the National Council of Resistance of Iran/August 29, 2016
August 30-31/16
A
Month of Islam and Multiculturalism in Britain: July 2016
Dating Sites for Polygamists, Dog Bans and Pardons, Pardons, Pardons
Soeren Kern/Gatestone Institute/August 30/16
http://eliasbejjaninews.com/2016/08/30/soeren-kern-a-month-of-islam-and-multiculturalism-in-britain-july-2016dating-sites-for-polygamists-dog-bans-and-pardons-pardons-pardons/
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8792/britain-islam-july
"The law
and not religion should be the basis of justice for citizens. We are calling for
an impartial judge-led inquiry that places human rights, not theology, at the
heart of the investigation." — Maryam Namazie, head of One Law For All.
"This area is home to a large Muslim community. Please have respect for us and
for our children and limit the presence of dogs in the public sphere. ... those
who live in the UK must learn to understand and respect the legacy and lifestyle
of Muslims who live alongside them." — Leaflets distributed by the Muslim group,
"Public Purity."
"It's not gonna be long now before Islam will come to the shores of this
country...and if they reject it we'll fight them. We want to live under sharia
not democracy." — Muslim convert Gavin Rae, 36, a former British soldier who was
sentenced to 18 years in prison for trying to buy weapons for the Islamic State.
Equality Now, a group that campaigns for women's human rights, estimates that
137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales have been affected by female
genital mutilation (FGM).
July 1. A Muslim taxi driver in Leicester refused to pick up a blind couple
because they had a guide dog. Charles Bloch and Jessica Graham had booked a taxi
with ADT Taxis for them and their guide dog, Carlo. But when the taxi arrived,
the driver said, "Me, I not take the dog. For me, it's about my religion." Many
Muslims believe dogs are impure and haram (strictly forbidden).
July 1. A judge in London ordered the deportation of Saliman Barci, a
41-year-old Albanian man who posed as a refugee from Kosovo and collected the
full range of welfare payments in Britain for 14 years. Barci, it turned out,
was a citizen of Albania who had murdered two men there in 1997. Shortly after
carrying out the killings, Barci fled Albania and eventually reached Britain,
where he claimed asylum as a refugee. In 2009, a court in Albania sentenced
Barci in absentia to 25 years in prison for the double murder. British
authorities only became aware of Barci's real identity after an altercation at
his London home, when the police arrived and took his fingerprints.
July 2. A Somali man was sentenced to ten years in prison for raping two women
in Birmingham. Dahir Ibrahim, 31, had previously been sentenced to ten years in
2005 for raping a woman in Edgbaston. A judge had ordered his deportation after
he had served his first sentence, but he appealed and was allowed to remain in
Britain. Ibrahim's attorney, Jabeen Akhtar, successfully argued that he had a
lack of understanding of what is acceptable in the United Kingdom.
July 3. Azad Chaiwala, a Muslim entrepreneur in Manchester, launched a campaign
to "remove the taboo" behind polygamy by starting two polygamy matchmaking
sites: secondwife.com, exclusive to Muslims, and polygamy.com, open to "Muslims,
Christians, Hindus, Buddhists, atheists, agnostics — whoever you are." Chaiwala
said:
"I was 12 when I came out of the polygamy closet... Changing people's perception
of polygamy. If I can do that, and bring more family stability, happiness and a
large support system infrastructure, I'll be happy. And in the end, I'm a Muslim
and I'm rewarded for doing good. So I hope that when I die, my creator will
reward me with something better than what I had in this world in return. It's
almost like I get my religious kick out of it, I get my business kick out of it
and I also get a lot of thank-you letters."
Polygamy is illegal in Britain.
July 4. A Muslim man was ordered to bring his nine-year-old daughter back to
Britain after taking her to Algeria and leaving her there with his relatives.
The man said he did not approve of his estranged wife's new Christian partner.
In his ruling, Mr Justice Hayden said the woman had converted to Islam to marry
the man, who was now unhappy about the lifestyle she was leading after their
separation:
"The father has been extremely critical of the mother and of what he now regards
as her un-Islamic lifestyle, which he has described as 'debauched.' He has been
dismissive of her care of their daughter and of her choice of partner. He
plainly does not consider it appropriate for their daughter to be brought up
where her mother lives with a Christian man."
July 5. ITV News reported that an alleged British member of the infamous Islamic
State execution squad made a dating profile before he left Britain; he was
advertising for a wife to join him in Syria. Alexander Kotey, a convert to Islam
who also uses the name Abu Salih, was identified in February as one of the
so-called "Beatles" who detained and killed a string of Western hostages.
According to ITV, a profile he made for himself before leaving London for Syria,
shows a "more sensitive side" to the killer:
"I am a practicing revert brother of mixed race origin. I enjoy outdoor
activities and like getting away from the city. I hope to eventually leave (hijrah
from) London and settle elsewhere. I am seeking a sister who is, or at least
striving to be serious about her religion, sincere towards Allah (SWT),
affectionate, caring and understanding, who understands the importance of always
referring matters back to Allah and his messenger. And she should be willing and
prepared to migrate to a Muslim land."
After posting it, Kotey is believed to have used an aid convoy as cover to
travel to the Middle East before slipping across the border into Syria. His
whereabouts are unknown. According to ITV, it is believed he is still an Islamic
State fighter.
July 5. The Labour Party reinstated Naz Shah, a Muslim MP from Bradford who was
suspended over anti-Semitic Facebook posts that called on Israelis be deported
to the United States. "Antisemitism is racism, full stop," she said. "As an MP,
I will do everything in my power to build relations between Muslims, Jews and
people of different faiths and none."
July 6. A Muslim man appeared at Chelmsford Magistrates' Court on charges of
forcing his wife to wear a headscarf outside of her bedroom, banning her from
speaking to other men and beating her. Abdelhadi Ahmed, 39, denied one count of
engaging in controlling or coercive behavior in an intimate relationship, one
count of criminal damage and two counts of assault by beating.
July 7. A woman who plotted a jihadist attack on a shopping center in Westfield
had her sentence reduced for "good behavior." Sana Khan, 24, was sentenced to 25
years in prison for preparing terrorist acts on the anniversary of the London
7/7 bombings with her husband at the time, Mohammed Rehman. She had her sentence
reduced by two years.
July 8. Mohammed Habibullah, a 69-year-old imam who leads prayers at a mosque in
Dudley, was given a suspended sentence after he was convicted of sexually
assaulting a woman. In determining the sentence, Judge Amjad Nawaz, a fellow
Muslim, said that although Habibullah's victim had been left "psychologically
damaged," he was a man of "positive good character" who had given more than 25
years of service to the Muslim community as an imam.
July 8. Sir Michael Wilshaw, the head of the school inspection service Ofsted,
warned that the "Trojan Horse" campaign to impose radical Islamic ideas on
Birmingham schools has "gone underground" but has not gone away. He warned that
Birmingham was failing to ensure that "children are not being exposed to harm,
exploitation or the risk of falling under the influence of extremist views."
July 9. More than 200 individuals and human rights groups signed an open letter
to Prime Minister Theresa May urging her to dismantle a panel chosen to oversee
an official inquiry into Sharia courts in Britain. They said that by appointing
an Islamic scholar as chair and placing two imams in advisory roles, the panel's
ability to make an impartial assessment of how religious arbitration is used to
the detriment of women's rights will be compromised. "It is patronizing if not
racist to fob off minority women with so-called religious experts who wish to
legitimate Sharia laws as a form of governance in family and private matters,"
the letter said.
The review, announced in May as part of the government's counter-extremism
strategy and due to be completed by 2017, is to be chaired by Mona Siddiqui, a
professor of Islamic studies at the University of Edinburgh. Siddiqui said those
who signed the letter demonstrated a "profound misunderstanding of Sharia."
The Iranian-born human rights activist, Maryam Namazie, who leads the campaign
One Law For All, countered:
"The law and not religion should be the basis of justice for citizens. We are
calling for an impartial judge-led inquiry that places human rights, not
theology, at the heart of the investigation.
"Far from examining the connections between religious fundamentalism and women's
rights, the narrow remit of the inquiry will render it a whitewash. It seems
more geared to rubberstamping the courts than defending women's rights."
July 10. More than 1,500 children — including 257 under the age of 10 — have
been referred to the Channel program, the government's anti-terrorism
deradicalization scheme, in the past six months, according to figures released
by the National Police Chief's Council under the Freedom of Information Act.
Since July 2015, teachers have been legally obliged to report any suspected
extremist behavior to police as part of the government's anti-radicalization
strategy.
July 11. A Pew Research Center survey found that more than half (52%) of Britons
surveyed said they believe that incoming refugees and migrants will increase the
threat of terrorism in the UK. More than half (54%) of Britons also said that
Muslims in the UK "want to be distinct from the larger society." Nearly half
(46%) said that migrants are an economic burden on the UK.
July 12. Residents in Manchester received leaflets in their mail boxes calling
for a public ban on dogs. The leaflets, distributed by a group called "Public
Purity," stated:
"This area is home to a large Muslim community. Please have respect for us and
for our children and limit the presence of dogs in the public sphere.
"As citizens of a multicultural nation, those who live in the UK must learn to
understand and respect the legacy and lifestyle of Muslims who live alongside
them.
"Help us make this a reality. Let your local MP know how you feel about this.
Make Muslims feel like they live in a safe and accepting space, welcoming them
and respecting their beliefs."
A snapshot of Islamic multiculturalism in Manchester: A local Muslim
entrepreneur recently launched two polygamy matchmaking sites (pictured left, an
image from secondwife.com), while a local Islamic group distributed leaflets
requested that residents "limit the presence of dogs in the public sphere." Many
Muslims believe dogs are impure and haram (strictly forbidden).
July 12. Muslim convert Gavin Rae, 36, was sentenced to 18 years in prison for
trying to buy weapons for the Islamic State. Rae, a former soldier with the
British Army, was arrested in a sting operation. He told an undercover officer:
"It's not gonna be long now before Islam will come to the shores of this
country...and if they reject it we'll fight them. But we want to live under
sharia not democracy." He also said that once his family was in a Muslim
country, he would "go then and sacrifice my life for Allah."
July 13. Ian Acheson, the head of a review into extremism in British prisons,
warned that there is a hardcore group of jihadi prisoners whose "proselytizing
behavior" among the 12,500 Muslim inmates in England and Wales was so dangerous
that they should be separated from the rest of the prison population. Addressing
the select committee on justice in the House of Commons, Acheson said:
"There is intelligence that there are a small number of people whose behavior is
so egregious in relation to proselytizing this pernicious ideology... they need
to be completely incapacitated from being able to proselytize to the rest of the
prison population."
July 15. A Muslim teacher visiting a pub in Hertfordshire was asked to remove
his school sweatshirt because it had the word "Islam" on the back and it was
upsetting customers. Nurul Islam, 32, said he was wearing his school sweatshirt,
which has his surname on the back, when a waiter at the pub asked him to remove
it because "it was making some customers feel uncomfortable" after the jihadist
attack in Nice. Islam added:
"I didn't know quite what to say, and at first I didn't link what he'd said with
the lorry attack in France, but when it sank in I was shocked. I was being
discriminated against because of my surname so I was left really upset after the
incident. We all have surnames on the backs of our hoodies, which is the
responsible thing to do.
"I'm not a practicing Muslim but I am a Muslim. It makes me feel terrible that
my name is the cause of such contention when all it means is peace. If I had the
word 'peace' on there, would he still have asked me to leave?" [Islam, in fact,
means "submission," not "peace."]
Hertfordshire Police said: "A specialist hate crime officer is investigating to
establish whether offenses have been committed."
July 18. Kelvin Mackenzie, a columnist for The Sun, wrote that Fatima Manji, a
presenter for Channel 4 television, should not have been allowed to anchor new
reports on the jihadist attack in Nice, France, because she is a Muslim and
wears the hijab. Mackenzie wrote:
"I could hardly believe my eyes. The presenter was not one of the regulars...
but a young lady wearing a hijab. Her name is Fatima Manji and she has been with
the station for four years. Was it appropriate for her to be on camera when
there had been yet another shocking slaughter by a Muslim?
"Would the C4 editor have used a Hindu to report on the carnage at the Golden
Temple of Amritsar? Of course not. Would the station have used an Orthodox Jew
to cover the Israeli-Palestine conflict? Of course not.
"With all the major terrorist outrages in the world currently being carried out
by Muslims, I think the rest of us are reasonably entitled to have concerns
about what is beating in their religious hearts. Who was in the studio
representing our fears? Nobody."
The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso), the press regulator, said
it had received more than 300 complaints about Mackenzie's column.
July 18. The Independent Press Standards Organisation, the press regulator,
ruled that the Mail Online was wrong to use the words "Islamic honor killing" in
a headline because it wrongly suggested that the crime had been motivated by
Islam. The article concerned the killing of Saima Khan in Luton in May, while
most of her family were attending a funeral at a nearby mosque. Khan's sister
was subsequently charged with the murder.
Miqdaad Versi, the assistant general secretary of the Muslim Council of Britain,
lodged a complaint. He said "honor killings" are rooted in culture not religion:
"It is vital that news outlets do not encourage Islamophobia through the usage
of clearly inaccurate and inflammatory headlines, especially in today's climate.
"Honor killings are barbaric acts based in culture and not in faith. The Ipso
ruling demonstrates unequivocally that the usage of 'Islamic honor killing'
constituted a significant breach in the editors' code."
The Mail Online amended its headline to "Mother of four stabbed to death while
her family were at a funeral 'may have been murdered in honor killing.'" It also
added a footnote stating: "An earlier version of this article said that police
were investigating whether Ms. Khan may have been murdered in an 'Islamic honor
killing'. We are happy to make clear that Islam as a religion does not support
so-called 'honor killings.'"
July 20. Abdi Waise, 28, an illegal immigrant from Somalia, was sentenced to 12
years in prison for kidnapping a schoolgirl and attempting to abduct four others
aged between 11 and 14 in North London over the space of two-and-half hours. The
crimes occurred just three weeks after Waise was released early from an
eight-year prison sentence for rape. He was served a deportation order but was
later freed: the British government decided that war-torn Somalia was too
dangerous for foreign criminals.
July 20. Two men were jailed and two women were given suspended sentences for
throwing bacon sandwiches at a mosque in Bristol. The group was also served with
a restraining order preventing them from going within 100 meters of a mosque
anywhere in England or Wales for the next 10 years.
July 20. Police in Norfolk called for increased vigilance against forced
marriage and female genital mutilation (FGM). The number of cases soar during
the summer months, when schools are closed and young girls are taken abroad.
Equality Now, a group that campaigns for women's human rights, estimates that
137,000 women and girls living in England and Wales have been affected by FGM.
July 21. NHS Digital, the national provider of information about healthcare,
reported 5,700 new cases of female genital mutilation in England during April
2015 to March 2016. The statistics, the first to be published since the
government introduced compulsory reporting for public hospitals, show that in 18
cases the FGM had been performed in the UK. The most frequent age at which FGM
was carried out was between five and nine. More than half of all cases relate to
women and girls from London.
July 21. The Cabinet Office released files about Margaret Thatcher's immigration
policy from 1982 to 1986, which show that she was strongly opposed to admitting
women to the UK who were the second wives of men in polygamous marriages. A
document showed that then Home Secretary Douglas Hurd suggested making future
polygamous marriages invalid but recognizing existing ones. Thatcher wrote in
the margin: "We do not recognize polygamy at all."
July 23. The Home Office confirmed that 550,000 teachers, nurses, child care
providers and other public sector workers have been trained in the Prevent
strategy, a counter-terrorism training program, to help them spot and report
potential extremists in their workplaces. Under Prevent, extremism is defined as
"vocal or active opposition to fundamental British values, including democracy,
the rule of law, individual liberty and mutual respect and tolerance of
different faiths and beliefs."
July 26. The makers of Fireman Sam, an animated television series for children,
apologized after an episode which aired on June 28 allegedly showed a character
stepping on a page of the Koran. Muslim viewers claimed the episode "Troubled
Waters" is Islamophobic because it showed a bumbling character named "Elvis"
failing to respect the Muslim holy book. A scene shows Elvis holding a tray of
tea and taking a fall when he slides on a piece of paper on the floor. Pages
then fly up into the air as they, and the character, come crashing to the floor.
Social media users said one of the pages briefly showed verses of the Koran.
Miqdaad Versi, the assistant secretary general of the Muslim Council of Britain,
wrote on Twitter: "Have no idea what went through the producers' minds when they
thought this was a good idea #baffled."
The series was produced by an animation studio in China. A spokeswoman for
Mattel, the multinational company that owns the show, said: "The page was
intended to show illegible text and we deeply regret this error. We sincerely
apologise for any distress or offense it may have caused. We will no longer be
working with the animation studio responsible for this mistake."
July 26. The Home Office announced a £2.4 million ($3.2 million) "Hate Crime
Action Fund" to "provide security measures and equipment for vulnerable places
of worship that need increased protection." The plan promises extra data
collection and training to identify "anti-Muslim, anti-Semitic, homophobic,
racist and other bullying in schools."
July 26. Two men of "Middle Eastern appearance" attempted to abduct a serviceman
at knifepoint at RAF Marham in Norfolk. The serviceman managed to fight off his
attackers. Marham is home to four squadrons of Tornado bombers which have been
flying raids against Islamic State in Syria from Cyprus. Air Force personnel
have now been warned to "keep a low profile" and told not wear their uniforms in
public.
July 28. The BBC reported that five books regarded as "extremist" by the Prison
Service remained in jails in England and Wales for seven months after a review
called for their removal. The banned titles were The Way of Jihad by Hassan Al-Banna;
Milestones by Sayyid Qutb; The Lawful and Prohibited in Islam by Sheikh Yusuf
al-Qaradawi; Towards Understanding Islam by Syed Abul Ala Maududi; and
Fundamentals of Tauheed by Bilal Philips.
July 29. A Muslim street preacher in Birmingham was charged with public order
offenses after trying to enforce Sharia law on female passersby. Krissoni
Henderson, 31, was arrested for allegedly shouting verbal abuse at a 38-year-old
woman "for wearing tight jeans."
July 29. The Olympic swimming pool in Luton began hosting gender-segregated
swimming sessions for "cultural reasons." Users of the pool — built with
taxpayer money — were given sudden notice that there would be men-only sessions
on Friday evenings. An outraged female swimmer told Luton News: "I have asked a
team leader about it... he said it was a 'cultural thing.'"
**Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at the New York-based Gatestone Institute. He
is also Senior Fellow for European Politics at the Madrid-based Grupo de
Estudios Estratégicos / Strategic Studies Group. Follow him on Facebook and on
Twitter.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The
New Normal: Today's Arab Debate Over Ties With Israel
David Pollock/Fikra Forum/The Washington Institute/August 30/16
Normalization remains controversial in Arab circles but is no longer taboo, as
more Arabs come to view Israel as a potential partner against enemies like Iran.
A recent spate of reports in major Arab media about official and other contacts
with Israelis -- including very widely publicized Saudi and Egyptian visits to
Israel in the past month -- is generating renewed regional debate over the pros
and cons of this phenomenon. Much of this debate, however, obscures one key
point: Arab contacts with Israel, far from being brand new, actually have a very
long history, with many ups and downs along the way.
In fact, official Arab-Israeli meetings and signed agreements date almost all
the way back to Israel's creation, with the Rhodes Armistice accords of 1949.
For nearly two decades thereafter, there were periodic if generally low-level
official meetings about security incidents, water, refugees, and other issues --
along with many private, higher-level meetings. The 1967 war produced the famous
"three no's" of the Arab summit conference in Khartoum: no peace, no
recognition, and no negotiations with Israel. But just a few years later, after
the 1973 war, contacts resumed, culminating in the Egyptian-Israeli peace treaty
of 1979. Ever since, through all the turbulent decades until today, Egypt and
Israel have maintained diplomatic, security, and economic relations.
It is true that most Arab governments, spearheaded by Saddam Hussein's Iraq,
attempted to isolate Egypt in response. Yet within about a decade, after the
liberation of Kuwait from Saddam's occupation, the Madrid peace conference of
1991 brought many Israeli and Arab officials -- including Syrians, Saudis,
Palestinians, and others -- publicly together again.
Exactly two years later, in September 1993, one of the most historic moments of
dialogue came via the first Oslo Accord, with the Rabin-Arafat handshake and
formal mutual recognition between Israel and the PLO. This was followed in short
order by a whole series of Arab-Israeli meetings, from the regional economic
conferences in Casablanca, Amman, and Doha, to the Jordanian-Israeli peace
treaty of 1994, to the Sharm al-Sheikh foreign ministers meeting of 1996. At the
latter event, Arafat, Shimon Peres, Saud al-Faisal, Amr Mousa, and other leaders
all appeared publicly with each other, and pledged to fight terrorism and work
for peace together.
Ever since that time, despite some interruptions during the second intifada or
other crises, many other high-level Israeli-Palestinian and Israeli-Arab
summits, meetings, handshakes, and other contacts have occurred. The Annapolis
peace conference of 2007, the Netanyahu-Abbas meeting of 2010, and the various
bilateral and multilateral meetings during Secretary Kerry's peacemaking effort
in 2013-2014 all come to mind. Meanwhile, at the security and intelligence
levels, direct contacts between Israeli and Palestinian, Egyptian, Jordanian,
and other Arab officials have become so frequent and mutually useful as to be
routine.
So some degree of practical dialogue with Israel is nothing new, notwithstanding
continual controversy about it. What is noteworthy today is that the issue is
being actively and openly debated in major Arab media, with both proponents and
opponents each having their say. And that not just Egypt, Jordan, and the
Palestinians, but other major Arab outlets including Saudi ones are
participating in this discussion.
Particularly noteworthy in this respect is a long article in the current issue
of the popular and influential pan-Arab weekly al-Majalla, based in London but
widely circulated and read in both print and online editions in the region. This
article not only reviews the long history of Arab-Israeli relations, but also
cites statements about that by Israeli ambassador to the United States Ron
Dermer at great length.
Responses by Saudi writers are mixed, but some are very vocally in favor of
dealing with Israel. For example, Ahmed Adnan, writing for the Alarab.co.uk
website, even argues that Arabs should follow Turkey's model: "Ankara has ties
with Israel, but no one can accuse Turkey of being biased against the
Palestinians." His article was reprinted in the leading al-Arabiya website on
August 8.
Among Egyptian writers, the idea of regular dealings with Israel still excites
fierce debate, even after nearly four decades of official peace. The owner of
the prominent independent daily al-Masry al-Youm outspokenly advocates pragmatic
close bilateral ties, in Egypt's own interest. But leading al-Ahram columnist
Hassan Nafaa, in sharp contrast, argues strenuously against "free gifts" to
Israel.
It is intriguing, however, that today even some Egyptian writers and academics
most critical of ties to Israel acknowledge that the younger generation, turned
against Iran, Hamas, and the Muslim Brotherhood both by their own experience and
by their government's changing positions, is losing some of its animosity toward
their Israeli neighbors. Examples of this discourse can be found in articles
penned this year by Egyptian authors Muhammad Laithi in al-Watan and by Ahmed
Hidji in Al-Monitor, who cites three different Cairo professors lamenting their
students' growing openness to Israel.
All of this raises a delicate question: Is this revived movement toward some
kind of dialogue leading toward peace with Israel just a policy of certain Arab
governments, or perhaps of an elite fringe? In other words, does it enjoy any
grassroots support? Here the evidence is surprisingly clear, and also
surprisingly positive. While Arab publics overwhelmingly dislike Israel (and
Jews), solid majorities in most recent surveys, on the order of 60 percent,
nevertheless voice support for a "two-state solution," which implies peace with
the Jewish state. And they do so even when the question is worded to call
explicitly for peace with Israel, or for abandoning the struggle to liberate all
of Palestine. The exception that proves this rule, ironically, is the
Palestinian public in the West Bank and Gaza, where support for a two-state
solution has lately fallen to just below the halfway mark.
The combination of data points suggests that the majority support for eventual
peace with Israel reflects not affinity but the converse: common enemies, and
therefore common interests. Those include common concerns -- as measured in the
same surveys -- about jihadi terrorism; about Iranian aggression, subversion,
and nuclear weapons; and about perceived flaws in American policies toward all
those issues.
As far back as 2010, even before the Saudi-Iran proxy wars in Syria, Yemen, and
elsewhere, a reliable private poll showed that one-fourth of the Saudi urban
public supported quiet military cooperation with Israel against the Iranian
nuclear threat. And in the past two years, polls not only in Saudi Arabia but
also in Egypt, Jordan, Kuwait, and the United Arab Emirates show that "the Arab
street" is much more concerned about the conflicts with Iran, with Bashar
al-Assad, and with Daesh than about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.
The conclusion is clear: today a broader regional approach to Arab-Israeli
peacemaking, rather than a strictly bilateral Israeli-Palestinian one, offers
somewhat better prospects of success -- whether at the official, elite, media,
or even popular levels. Normalization with Israel remains controversial in Arab
circles, but it is no longer taboo. For an increasing number of Arabs, the
Israeli "enemy of my enemy" may not be a friend, but could become a partner. The
next U.S. administration would do well to ponder this unaccustomed situation,
and to adjust its policies accordingly.
**David Pollock is the Kaufman Fellow at The Washington Institute and director
of Fikra Forum. This article was originally published on the Fikra website.
Saudi
deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman's Pakistan Detour
Simon Henderson/The Washington Institute/August 30/16
The surprise visit may have been intended to shore up various aspects of the
Saudi-Pakistani defense relationship, perhaps including their suspected
arrangement regarding access to nuclear weapons.
On August 28, Saudi deputy crown prince Muhammad bin Salman (aka MbS) made an
unexpected three-hour stopover in Islamabad on his way to China and Japan. The
Asia trip by King Salman's favorite son has been heralded as an effort to boost
economic ties with two major importers of Saudi oil. MbS, the architect of the
"Vision 2030" plan to develop the Saudi economy, will also be representing his
country at the G-20 economic summit in Hangzhou, China, on September 4-5.
Pakistan is not an obvious fit in this itinerary; India would have been a more
logical stop if the discussions were business oriented. So it is legitimate to
speculate on other reasons for the visit, and defense issues -- some of them
potentially worrisome for Washington -- are the most likely candidate.
According to the official Saudi Press Agency, the talks between MbS and Prime
Minister Nawaz Sharif also included Pakistan's defense minister and army chief,
with an agenda focusing on "bilateral relations" and "the ways to further
develop them in various fields." Although these "fields" were not specified, MbS
-- who is also the kingdom's defense minister -- was quoted as saying the visit
"underlined the depth of the strategic relationship between the two peoples."
One aspect of the strategic relationship on which Riyadh has sought greater
Pakistani buy-in is the ongoing Gulf intervention in Yemen, and the matter may
have come up again given the ongoing stalemate in the kingdom's proxy conflict
with Iran. Islamabad has so far refused to send ground troops there. Pakistani
officials were similarly reluctant when Riyadh sought to draft them into a
so-called regional "antiterrorism coalition" in recent months.
At the same time, Pakistan has vocally supported the latter initiative, in
addition to signing an as-yet-undetailed bilateral military cooperation
agreement in January and pledging to take action if the kingdom's territorial
integrity were threatened. In this context, the oft-mentioned but never publicly
confirmed nuclear arrangement between the two countries -- under which Saudi
Arabia might be able to borrow Pakistani nuclear weapons in a time of crisis --
may once again have come to the fore during the latest visit.
Along with Libya, Saudi Arabia is judged to have been an early financial backer
of Pakistan's nuclear weapons development beginning in the 1970s. And in 1999,
the late defense minister Prince Sultan visited the Pakistani uranium enrichment
plant at Kahuta as a guest of Sharif, who was prime minister then as well. If
Pakistan did in fact agree to position nuclear-tipped missiles in Saudi Arabia
in the event of an emergency or otherwise provide a nuclear deterrent against
Iran, this would likely be a nebulous verbal arrangement rather than a formal
written pact -- hence the need for periodic high-level visits to reconfirm the
understanding. MbS visited Pakistan this January, while Sharif has traveled to
the kingdom several times this year, in some cases with his army chief in tow,
providing ample opportunity to discuss the issue.
It also bears mentioning that Sharif's recent health and family issues --
namely, his major heart surgery in May and revelations that some of his
relatives held suspect bank accounts in the "Panama Papers" scandal -- could
cause him to resign. Pakistan's nuclear arsenal is notionally under civilian
control, though the military has actual custody of the weapons and a crucial say
in policy.
More broadly, Riyadh's pursuit of enhanced defense cooperation and perhaps even
nuclear options with Pakistan should be viewed in the context of Saudi Arabia's
continued role as the leader of the Islamic world, a leading Arab state, and a
crucial player in global energy markets. The kingdom is the only Arab member of
the G-20 forum, and the fact that MbS, who is just turning thirty-one, is
leading the delegation to the Hangzhou summit reflects his position as Riyadh's
new international face, rather than older, ailing royals such as King Salman or
Crown Prince Muhammad bin Nayef. MbS is believed to be especially concerned
about the threat posed by Iran, so having a nuclear-armed defense partner in his
corner -- and possible access to nuclear weapons themselves -- makes sense from
his perspective, even if Washington disagrees.
*Simon Henderson is the Baker Fellow and director of the Gulf and Energy Policy
Program at The Washington Institute.
Egyptian Coptic MP 'Imad Gad:
Separating Religion And State – A Condition For Democracy
MEMRI/August 30/16
August 30, 2016Special Dispatch No.6592
In a series
of articles in the official Egyptian daily Al-Watan, Dr. 'Imad Gad, a Coptic MP
from the Free Egyptians Party and deputy director of the Al-Ahram Center for
Political and Strategic Studies, called for the separation of religion and
state, as a condition for democracy and progress in the country. According to
Gad, the historical religion-state connection has led to nothing but oppression,
and has always stemmed from the narrow interests of regimes seeking clerics'
blessing for establishing their rule. Pointing at the Middle Ages in Europe, he
noted that this connection had hobbled thought, science, and creativity, leading
to book-burning and the murder of scientists and writers. Europe, he said,
emerged from this dark era only when its peoples rose up to separate religion
from politics, leading to the Renaissance, democratic progress, and the advance
of human rights. He stressed that no people could ever revive itself and attain
democratic development until it separated religion from politics.
Addressing the situation in Egypt, Gad said that instead of advancing towards
such a separation and a civil state, Egypt was moving in the opposite direction,
establishing itself as a religious state. He argued that Egypt currently has
attributes of a religious state rife with religious zealotry and extremism, and
that Egypt's citizens are now witnessing "ancient sights that belong in the
past." He added that throughout its history, Egyptian rulers such as presidents
Gamal Abdel Nasser, Anwar Sadat, and Gamal Hosni Mubarak had leveraged the
religion to establish their regimes, and allowed political Islam to emerge and
operate in the country. The removal of the Muslim Brotherhood (MB) regime headed
by president Muhammad Morsi gave the Egyptian people hope that its new
president, 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi, would work to establish a modern civil state,
but these hopes, he said, remain false, as religious extremism continues to
prevail in state institutions.[1]
The following are excerpts from Gad's articles:
Egypt Has Characteristics Of A Religious State – Which Belong In The Past
In a June 20, 2016 article, Gad wrote: "In the few days since the start of the
month of Ramadan, Egypt has witnessed several phenomena that belong to past
times, other peoples, and different cultures, [and that are] based on a rigid
and monolithic understanding of religion, sect, and thought. In those cultures,
extremism and zealotry played a central role. In our country, there were several
raids by [security forces loyal to] the regime on cafes operating during
Ramadan. When the call for morning prayer [began], the police chased Egyptian
citizens through the streets of old Cairo, forcing them to either pray in the
mosques or go home... [Additionally,] the security forces are clearly lax in
their dealings with violent religious and sectarian crime, and with attacks on
churches and their institutions. These are the attributes of a religious state –
ancient sights that belong in the past, when the regime mixed religion and
politics and harmed both in the process...
"Throughout history, the ruler always needed the cleric to bless his regime and
prohibit rebelling against him. This was also true in ancient Egypt with the
pharaohs and priests, [back when] the pharaohs were treated like gods. In the
case of the monotheistic religions, the religion-politics connection was found
in the earliest historical stages of Judaism. In Christianity, kings used the
Catholic popes for [their] interests, and in Islam emirs and rulers used the
religion [as well].
"The religion-politics connection was purely for the sake of interests. Rulers
constantly needed clerics to bless their regime, forbid rebellion against them,
and provide religious justification [for the people] to accept the ruler's
authority. The height of this connection... came in medieval Europe, between the
Catholic Church and kings and rulers. It brought the Dark Ages down on the
European continent, during which thought and science were restricted, creativity
was considered a crime, and scientists and writers were murdered and burned
along with their books, which were seen as heretical or deviating from
tradition...
"Europe emerged from these dark times only after its peoples rose up against
this [religion-politics] connection, and decided to separate religion from
politics. Because of the heavy burden imposed [on these peoples] by the use of
religion in politics of all forms, the popular response against religion was
generally harsh: atheist movements [emerged], the religion was attacked, and
people abandoned it – all because it was used for the benefit of rulers in all
areas...
"The peoples of Europe rose up, separated religion from politics, and pushed the
clerics into the churches. Then the Renaissance began, democracy began to
develop, and human rights prospered.
"No country or people can revive or actualize its democratic development until
it separates religion from politics – [until it separates] the absolute sanctity
of religion from the relative manmade [laws] of politics. In general, separating
religion from politics aims to preserve the sanctity and honor of the religion
and the status of the clerics, and prevents the ruler from using religion to
justify oppression and aggression against human rights. The separation is meant
to restore the status of the religion in the souls of the people and the
faithful, while paving political regimes' path to democracy – which is in
essence a regime of the people, by the people, and for the people.
"[But] there are some among us today who have not learned this lesson, and who
want to use the same approach [of linking religion and politics], while
expecting different results..."[2]
Religious Zealotry Played A Central Role In Egypt's Political History, And Is
Still Very Prominent Today
In another article, published June 25, 2016, Gad wrote: "One of the attributes
of a democratic country is secularism – that is, a country that separates
religion from politics, treats all religions, faiths, and opinions equally, and
does not distinguish among its citizens based on their religion, faith, or sect.
The central role [of a democratic country] is to defend the citizen and meet his
needs as best it can... A country has no rights, and it is not its role to set
out a selection of religions and faiths from which the citizen can choose, and
it is not its role to favor one religion over another or elevate one sect at the
expense of another.
"Following bitter experience and grinding wars... Europe decided to separate
religion from politics, and began experimenting with democracy and progress.
"The situation here in Egypt is completely different. After the semi-liberal
period that ended with the 1952 coup, religion was mixed with politics when [Gamal
Abdel Nasser's] July regime[3] used religion in the service of politics. The
Egypt situation began to deteriorate with the arrival of president Anwar Sadat,
whose fate was to replace a charismatic leader. He searched for backing or a
base [of support] for his regime, but found none – while nationalist
organizations and left-wing [groups] in Egyptian universities worked against
him. Therefore, Sadat decided to don a religious hat and establish armed Islamic
organizations in Egyptian universities to strike against the Nasserist and
left-wing streams...
"Sadat managed to Islamize Egypt's public spaces, and within a few years, he
also succeeded in dividing the ranks in Egypt. He described himself as a pious
president, and Egypt as a country of faith and religious law. He dubbed himself
a Muslim president and Egypt an Islamic country. [As a result,] the violent
groups sprang into action and continued killing Copts, especially in Upper
Egypt. In the late 1970s, Egypt was on the verge of religious conflagration, and
Sadat's assassination by the organizations he himself established [effectively]
prevented a [religious] conflagration, civil war, or widespread blood feuds in
Egypt.
"[Then came president Hosni] Mubarak, who maintained Sadat's formula – while not
cultivating religious extremism, he also did not fight it, except [with regards]
to keeping elements of political Islam away from regime circles... [Mubarak] let
them use the social [arena] as their playground, and handed them effective
control of educational activity and large sections of civil activity as well...
He did not act against them unless they came close to the regime in an attempt
to topple it. He played a division-of-labor game with the [Muslim] Brotherhood
movement. He ensured that it would be present in the political arena, ratified
agreements with it, and promoted it – and at the same time presented it as a
tyrannical force that was the only alternative to him and his regime, and [thus
argued that], since it was an extremist force that hated Israel and the West,
then [Mubarak's] regime, as authoritarian and tyrannical as it was, was still
better for the West...
"[Religious] zealotry is common in our societies, which are rife with extremism
and whose hearts are too narrow to contain the other who is different. [This
extremism], whose peak we witnessed during the year of MB rule, abated slightly
after the June 30 [Revolution, i.e. the toppling of the Morsi regime], but today
is once again noticeably active through bureaucratic institutions and state
security apparatuses. There are many examples of this – from the crime against
the lady in [the village of] Al-Karam in Al-Minia...[4] to the conspiracy
between security elements and Salafis in the village of Al-Bayda in Al-'Amariya
[in the Alexandria governorate] meant to prevent Copts from holding prayers.[5]
The question is: Is there a way out of this situation of religious madness and
moral depravity?"[6]
We Must Choose Between Establishing A Civil State And Preserving A Religious
State That Will Eliminate Egypt
In a third article, published June 27, 2016, Gad wrote: "Our country is at an
extraordinary stage in its history – it escaped a grand plot during which the
[MB] General Guide and his movement caused the country distress by trying to
change its identity and turn it into a religious state. The people took [to the
streets] on June 30, [2013,] toppled the [General] Guide and his movement, and
thwarted a huge plot against the entire region. [The people] expected its
national military, which embodied what it [the people] wanted, to assist it in
this...
"[The Egyptian people] had high hopes that after the [General] Guide and his
movement were removed, a modern civil state could be built. These hopes
increased following ongoing [MB] movement crimes against the homeland and
citizenry, and also after President 'Abd Al-Fattah Al-Sisi received the keys to
the kingdom. The people were impressed by him after he brought about civil
national discourse that focused on citizenship and equality. There were high
hopes that the president would lay the cornerstone for a civil state, and that
its first stage would involve halting the activity of Sadat's rotten fruit by
ending the policy of sectarian discrimination and social oppression; acting
diligently to establish a commission to prevent discrimination and legislate a
church construction law; combating sectarian crimes by a large segment of the
bureaucracy and state security apparatuses; and investing serious work in the
failing education system... To this moment, we expected some steps towards
establishing a modern state, and we have seen nothing but a regression to the
way of the despicable Sadat state. No efforts [were devoted] to establishing a
lawful state and institutions, and there is nothing new regarding the role of
parliament.
"[On the contrary,] we are heading towards establishing the foundation of a
religious state; proof of this is the increasing incidents during [Ramadan] this
year – [from] police chasing people they said were violating the Ramadan fast
during the day, [to] allowing Salafis to operate freely in mosques controlled by
the Ministry of Religious Endowments, [to] the trial balloons floated by some
[regime] members regarding reconciliation with terrorist movements [meaning the
MB][7] and greater acceptance of the Saudi Wahhabi [stream].
"[We are at] a fork in the road and have two options –either turning towards a
religious state, which is a path of no return that would eliminate Egypt as we
know it, or working to lay the foundations for a modern civil state based on
science, law, and [state] institutions. Which way will our country turn?"[8]
Endnotes:
[1] For more on the disappointment with the Al-Sisi regime, see MEMRI Special
Dispatch No. 6549, Three Years Later: Egyptian President Al-Sisi's Supporters
Express Disappointment, Call His Regime Tyrannical, July 29, 2016.
[2] Al-Watan (Egypt), June 20, 2016.
[3] Nasser came to power via a military coup in July 1952.
[4] Referring to a May 2016 incident in which an elderly Coptic woman was
assaulted and dragged naked through the streets after her son was suspected of
having an affair with a Muslim woman.
[5] Referring to the June 2016 arrest and subsequent release of six Copts after
they were accused of the unauthorized construction of a building and the
performance of religious rituals.
[6] Al-Watan (Egypt), June 25, 2016.
[7] Referring to a June 11, 2016 interview conducted by the daily Al-Yawm Al-Sabi'
with Parliamentary Affairs Minister Magdi Al-Agadi regarding the possibility of
reconciling with the MB. Al-Agadi responded that there was nothing wrong with
reconciling with those "who do not have blood on their hands" and who did not
participate in violent incidents.
[8] Al-Watan (Egypt), June 27, 2016.
Kashmir: The Islamists are
Pressing Ahead
Jagdish N. Singh/Gatestone Institute/August 30/16
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/8794/kashmir-islamists
The designs of Islamist forces have to be foiled in the region. Their agenda is
to carve out a separate Islamic country in the Kashmir Valley.
The members of Hizbul Mujahideen, a group designated as a terrorist organisation
by the EU and the US, have been at the forefront of killing, raping and
pillaging Hindus since the nineties. Their campaign has led to the "ethnic
cleansing" of the indigenous minority Pandits. An estimated 95% are said to have
fled from the Valley to other parts of India.
Amnesty International's approach is fallacious. It only takes into account
alleged rights violations by security forces and not by Islamist forces in
Kashmir. Amnesty also seems to gloss over the violations of the rights of
non-Muslim minorities in the Valley.
India's Home Minister Rajnath Singh has certainly tried to restore peace and
normalcy to Kashmir. Since the July 8 killing of the Hizbul Mujahideen
terrorist, Burhan Wani, in an encounter with India's security forces, the region
has been the scene of daily violence. The current turmoil in the Kashmir Valley
is estimated to have resulted in the deaths of 66 civilians, with more than
4,600 security personnel injured.
During his second visit to the Valley on August 24-25, Singh reportedly welcomed
talking with anyone in the Indian constitutional framework and emphasised the
various governmental development projects and employment schemes in the Valley.
Regrettably, such efforts do not seem to be producing the desired atmosphere of
peace. Militants, reportedly linked with the group Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen, based
the in part of Kashmir occupied by Pakistan, apparently hid themselves among
stone-throwing protesters and lobbed grenades. Some have been seen supporting
the Islamic State.
Since Singh's return from the Valley, violent protests have continued.
Kashmir has recently been the scene of much rioting, which became extremely
violent since Indian security forces killed the terrorist, Burhan Wani (left),
on July 8.
Security action against the masterminds in the region needs to be taken. India's
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently observed: "Those advocating the cause of
stone-throwers are playing petty politics. Militancy and stone-pelting need to
be dealt with firmly and no laxity should be shown in dealing with such
situations."
Prime Minister Narendra Modi, in a recent meeting with a delegation of
opposition parties from Kashmir, defined as his objective: a "permanent and
lasting solution." What did he mean and what is he prepared to do to achieve it?
India has waited too long for international cooperation to curb terrorism and
protect the lives and liberty of its own citizens in Kashmir.
New Delhi might do well to upgrade its intelligence and security forces, and
find out who the protestors in the present crisis in the Valley are, and who the
elements behind them are that make them "addicted to violence of an ugly
Islamist nature." The designs of Islamist forces have to be foiled in the
region. Their agenda is to carve out a separate Islamic country in Kashmir.
The members of Hizbul Mujahideen, a group designated as a terrorist organisation
by the European Union and the United States, have been at the forefront of
killing, raping and pillaging Hindus since the nineties. Their campaign has led
to the "ethnic cleansing" of the indigenous minority Pandits. An estimated 95%
are said to have fled from the Valley to other parts of India.
New Delhi could also use an effective media strategy to counter the anti-India
propaganda of a number of foreign non-governmental organizations. On August 13,
for instance, Amnesty International India organized an event in Bengaluru,
entitled, "Broken Families," with the stated objective of seeking justice for
the victims of human rights violations at the hands of the Indian security
forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
Amnesty International's approach is fallacious. It only takes into account
alleged rights violations by security forces and not by Islamist forces in
Kashmir. Amnesty overlooks the fact that Indian security forces have been
"exercising maximum restraint" in the Valley. India has a relatively effective
system in place to take care of any rights violations. The government of India
has given strict instructions to its security forces "to respect rights of the
civilians" and "act to remove any deficiency" in its implementation.
Amnesty also seems to gloss over the violations of the rights of non-Muslim
minorities in the Valley.[1] In its recent the "Broken Families" event, Amnesty
ignored the plight of the Hindu minorities that have been compelled by Islamist
forces to leave the Valley.
Jagdish N. Singh is a journalist based in New Delhi, India.
[1] This has long been Amnesty's pattern. During its visit to Kashmir in May
2010 as well, Amnesty had discussions on the rights situation in the state with
many officials, such as then-state Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, Leader of the
Opposition Mehbooba Mufti, separatist leaders Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar
Farooq, Yasin Malik, Javed Mir, Maulana Abdullah Tari, Abdul Ahad Parra, family
members of detained leaders Shabir Ahmad Shah and Nayeem Ahmad Khan, former
detainees and families of those then in detention, and others. But Amnesty did
not care to pay attention to the plight of the Pandits in the Valley.
© 2016 Gatestone Institute. All rights reserved. The articles printed here do
not necessarily reflect the views of the Editors or of Gatestone Institute. No
part of the Gatestone website or any of its contents may be reproduced, copied
or modified, without the prior written consent of Gatestone Institute.
The morning after: What happens to
Gaza if Hamas is toppled?
Shlomi Eldar/Al-Monitor/August 30/16
Defense Minister Avigdor Liberman does not hide his ambition to end Hamas' rule
over Gaza. As an opposition figure, he declared that if he were defense
minister, he would give Hamas senior official Ismail Haniyeh 48 hours to return
the bodies of two Israel Defense Forces (IDF) officers and two civilians being
held in the Gaza Strip. If Haniyeh refused, Liberman would ensure Haniyeh's
death. When Liberman became defense minister at the end of May, he discovered
that what looked like an effective, magic solution from a position of opposition
appears otherwise from the Office of the Minister of Defense. His dream to bring
down Hamas in Gaza has not, however, faded.Ben Caspit wrote in Al-Monitor on
July 13 that Liberman had instructed the defense establishment to prepare plans
for Hamas’ overthrow. How the Hamas government will be brought down is not yet
known, but it seems that Liberman is looking for the perfect excuse to bring
along Netanyahu’s government in supporting the big move he plans against Hamas.
On Aug. 22, the Gaza Strip absorbed the heaviest Israeli air attacks since
Operation Protective Edge (2014) in response to the firing of a Qassam rocket,
for which a small Salafi organization calling itself Ahfad al-Sahaba claimed
responsibility. Liberman ignored the indirect messages Hamas leaders sent to
Israel declaring that they were not interested in an escalation and had already
acted to halt further rocket fire.
Hamas did not respond to the Israeli air attack, which appeared to be a trap set
by the defense minister. The organization refused to be dragged into a larger
conflict, which could have helped Liberman realize his dream. In a conversation
with Al-Monitor, Ghazi Hamad, a senior Hamas leader in Gaza, said that his
organization is not interested in another violent confrontation with Israel, yet
hinted that the movement could not stand idly by if the IDF continues to attack
indiscriminately in Gaza.
Meanwhile, human rights activists claimed in a conversation with Al-Monitor that
the defense minister is now trying to overthrow Hamas through a method more
elegant than a military operation — putting obstacles in the way of aid
organizations working in Gaza. According to them, Liberman is taking advantage
of the arrest of two aid workers, from World Vision and the United Nations
Development Programme, who are accused of embezzling funds provided by
international organizations for the welfare of Gaza residents and redirecting
them to Hamas' military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Brigades, for building
tunnels and military infrastructure.
In an Aug. 22 joint press release, Israeli human rights organizations warned
that impeding their activity would cause a humanitarian disaster in Gaza. They
claim to serve some 70% of Gaza's population, which suffers from poverty,
destroyed infrastructure and contaminated water. The unusual announcement
followed the assessment of organization workers in Gaza and human rights
activists in Israel that Liberman hopes that by obstructing their work, the
Hamas government will fall by itself.
The activists argue that Liberman believes that the aid organizations enable
Hamas to shirk all responsibility toward the population and to focus solely on
building its military capacity and military infrastructure, like tunnels, for
another armed conflict with Israel. Liberman himself provided justification for
this assessment the day after the recent massive attack on Gaza.
“My approach is rehabilitation for demilitarization,” Liberman told journalists.
“That’s the equation. They [Hamas] levy taxes, but instead of building
buildings, they build tunnels. Because they know that if there’s a
[humanitarian] crisis, the State of Israel will solve the problem, the UN would
solve the problem, the European Union. Someone will take care of them.”
It seems that Liberman’s working assumption is that without the aid
organizations, which provide tens of millions of dollars a year to care for and
help Gaza's impoverished local population, Hamas would have to take care of them
itself and not be able to direct its resources and the tax revenues it collects
toward building its military power.
There is no disputing that Hamas invests tens of millions of dollars in building
tunnels and in establishing and maintaining a large military force. Its
priorities in Gaza are clear. Security first and after that caring for the
civilian population. In conversations with Al-Monitor, Gaza residents criticized
these priorities, but also said that they fear openly condemning Hamas.
When I brought these statements to the attention of one of the movement's
leaders who requested anonymity, he did not deny that the organization's funds
are used to maintain a military infrastructure. Instead, he argued, it is to
ensure the security of Gaza residents, who are subject to military attacks by
Israel. Experience teaches, he said, that Hamas has no choice but to create
deterrence through military balance in light of Liberman’s threats to overthrow
it. “Imagine what would happen if the Israeli army wasn’t afraid to enter Gaza,”
he said in a mocking tone and also noting that Israel’s security budget could
solve many of its domestic economic problems.
Could additional economic pressure actually bring down the Hamas government?
After the military revolution Hamas led in Gaza in 2007, it was thought in
Israel that a tight blockade would bring an end to its rule over the territory.
Nine years later, Hamas remains confidently in control.
Reality has proven that in terms of options, Hamas is actually the default.
Israel could have probably overthrown Hamas over the course of the years, but
the diplomatic and security establishments feared that toppling its government
would create chaos in Gaza and worsen the security situation. Liberman often
publicly expresses his strong desire to bring down Hamas in Gaza, but he has
never explained what the alternative would be or how he envisions the situation
after he realizes his ambition.
The
hijab, niqab and burkini
Abdulrahman al-Rashed/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
What distinguishes the West from the rest of the world is the principle of
respecting freedoms. It is believed in as a culture, and is protected by
constitutions that obligate governments and citizens to respect it. This is why
France’s state council, the country’s highest administrative court, intervened
and said municipalities’ ban on full-body ‘burkini’ swimsuits is illegal. The
burkini is a new outfit designed to allow Muslim women to spend time on the
beach and swim in public places. It confronts three stances: municipality heads
reject it because it is Islamic, extremist Muslims reject it because it is
un-Islamic, and a few conservative Muslims approve of it. We understand the
problem related to this difference in cultures, and we take into account the
increasing fear and hatred that are fuelling local residents. For example, Nice
is one of the beach cities that banned the burkini. We must recall that it
witnessed a terrorist operation last month when a member of the Islamic State of
Iraq and Syria (ISIS) ran over more than 80 people deliberately. This was one of
the most brutal, hideous and terrifying operations. Amid this tension, it is
normal that a recent survey showed that most French are against the burkini.
There may be no more than 100 Muslim women who want to wear it, and they would
be part of a Muslim liberal minority. However, the burkini reflects a culture
clash, and shows the challenges that Muslims in the West confront at work or
school, or in terms of clothing.
Europe’s Jews suffered before them. They coexisted and integrated in Christian
culture, and maintained a part of their traditions without excessively
distinguishing themselves. Even this centrist approach did not prevent the rise
of hostile groups fueled by religious hatred. However, such groups remained
limited in countries that are governed by laws and punish those who violate
them.
Freedoms
Freedom of religion is protected by constitutions. This is what attracted
millions of Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists to Europe. It is also what attracted
Christians from different sects who suffered from sectarian discrimination. The
West is the land of freedom, but freedom is protected as long as it does not
violate the freedoms of others, like extremists do. For example, Omar
Abdelrahman was an extremist preacher who preoccupied the British media by
insulting society and the system that took him in when he arrived in the UK as a
refugee who was wanted and sentenced to death in Egypt. We must notice the
social changes that have occurred in Muslim communities in Europe. Until
recently, most used to eat, drink, dress and study like other citizens, but
extremism found its way to them, having spread from Muslim countries. For years,
British police guarded him and his house from attacks by racists and angry
people. He was later extradited to the US on charges of involvement with an
Islamic group that was behind explosions in New York in the 1990s. Due to
clothing, food, and freedom of expression against religious symbols, the limits
of freedom in Britain, France, Belgium and other countries have become a topic
of heated debate inflamed by the increasing number of Muslim refugees. Terrorist
operations are adding fuel to the fire of hatred against the peaceful majority
of Muslims. Municipal authorities that manage the beaches of Nice, La Brigue and
other cities are trying to disobey the state council’s decision and ban the
burkini. Meanwhile, many French media outlets consider the judicial decision a
victory for freedoms and for the rules of the republic. However, the burkini is
one piece of clothing among others. A previous judicial decision banned the
niqab. We must understand why. The law did not ban the hijab, which only covers
the hair, but it banned the niqab because it covers the entire face, and as such
is believed to represent a security threat. We must notice the social changes
that have occurred in Muslim communities in Europe. Until recently, most used to
eat, drink, dress and study like other citizens, but extremism found its way to
them, having spread from Muslim countries. Muslims in Europe want to distinguish
themselves with halal meat, Islamic banking, private Islamic schools, and with
the hijab and burkini. This does not contradict laws that protect individual
freedoms. It will be difficult for most Muslims to adopt extremism and live in
isolation from societies when Islam facilitates their lives depending on their
circumstances, and holds many interpretations. *This article was first published
in Asharq al-Awsat on Aug. 30, 2016.
Why is Iran trying to
assassinate Saudi ambassadors?
Turki Aldakhil/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
On Oct. 11, 2011, American officials said there was an Iranian plot to
assassinate then-Saudi ambassador to the US Adel al-Jubeir. The plan was to blow
up the restaurant he went to, then the Saudi embassy. The perpetrators confessed
to the plot, which the FBI called Operation Red Coalition. Manssor Arbabsiar and
Gholam Shakuri were arrested and charged by the federal court in New York with
plotting to assassinate Jubeir. A few days ago, plots to assassinate Saudi
ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Assiri and Saudi ambassador to Iraq Thamer al-Sabhan
were revealed. Iraq’s government went as far as being alert when it asked Sabhan
to leave the country. Such behavior reflects the extent of Iranian incursion in
the Iraqi system.
History of terror
Let us briefly look at the history of Iran’s targeting of embassies. In Nov.
1979, the US embassy was attacked and occupied in Tehran, and 52 Americans were
held hostage for 444 days. In June 1980, the first secretary at Kuwait’s embassy
in India, Mustafa al-Marzouq, was assassinated. In Sept. 1982, Kuwaiti diplomat
in Madrid Najib al-Refai was assassinated. In April 1983, the US embassy in
Beirut was blown up. Iran does not recognize international conventions regarding
embassies and consulates, does not hesitate to assassinate any political figure,
and intervenes everywhere at any time. In Dec. 1983, a bomb was detonated
targeting the French embassy in Kuwait. In Dec. 1983, a truck was blown up
targeting the US embassy in Kuwait, killing 17 people. In Aug. 1987, the Saudi
embassy in Tehran was attacked and 275 diplomats were detained. In Feb. 1990,
Saudi diplomats were killed in Thailand. In Feb. 2011, Saudi diplomat Hassan al-Qahtani
was killed in Pakistan. These are the most significant events that can be easily
listed. There are many others. Iran has tried to intimidate diplomats who are
making rare efforts to communicate with the different spectra of societies where
they work.
Diplomacy
Saudi embassies in Lebanon and Iraq are trying to communicate with social
categories from different affiliations and movements. This pains Iran, which got
used to communicating with only one party. Sabhan managed to enter Shiite, Sunni
and Kurdish homes, and break the political monotony in Iraq that depends on
supporting one faction with pure Iranian characteristics. Responding to Iranian
verbal attacks made through Iraqi officials, Sabhan said: “Saudi Arabia’s policy
is steady and isn’t linked to people. Saudi Arabia won’t give up on the Arabism
of Iraq.” The main reason behind Saudi Arabia’s disagreement with Lebanon’s
government was the country’s departure from Arabism. Some politicians in Iraq
are doing the same. Iran does not like Sabhan’s emphasis on Iraq’s Arabism.
Meanwhile, Shiite politicians, including Moqtada al-Sadr, demand a return to
Arab visions, and to the Arab - not Persian - sphere of interests.
Saudi diplomacy has found its way into areas of influence that Tehran could not
compete with. Ambassadors’ success put them in Iran’s firing line. Until today,
Jubeir, Sabhan and Assiri are practicing political and not military work. They
are men serving their country’s interests. There is no point choosing force
against diplomacy as this would be a militant and terrorist approach. Iran
proves daily that it acts outside the context of an institutional state, and is
closer to having a bloody revolutionary status as it does not recognize
international conventions regarding embassies and consulates, does not hesitate
to assassinate any political figure, and intervenes everywhere at any time. Iran
is more a militant organization than a state - how can a state plan to
assassinate an ambassador by blowing up a restaurant? A state’s power is in its
diplomats, who turn the impossible into reality. This is what these Saudi
ambassadors have done.
*This article was first published in Asharq al-Awsat on Aug. 30, 2016.
The Saudi deputy crown prince’s Asia trip: Rebooting China-Saudi economic ties
Dr. Naser al-Tamimi/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
Since the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and Saudi Arabia
on July 21 1990, their economic ties have made rapid progress. The two sides
maintain frequent political exchanges and expand areas of cooperation
continuously. The logic behind this steady growth is simple: China needs to
import large quantities of energy, while Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest oil
exporter and the biggest petrochemical producer in the Middle East. Saudi Arabia
became the centre of gravity for Chinese economic activities in the Middle East
largely as a result of its regional and global status or as Chinese President Xi
Jinping summarized it as “Good Partners for Common Development.” “An oil kingdom
with huge oil and gas reserves, a country with time-honored history which is the
birthplace of Islam, and the magnificent setting sun against the vast expanse of
the desert: these are the images that Saudi Arabia brings to our mind,” he said.
Saudi Arabia has been China’s largest global supplier of crude oil and its
biggest trading partner in the Arab world, Middle East and North Africa (MENA)
since 2002. In 2013, China became Saudi Arabia’s number one trade partner for
the first time. Two-way trade reached $69.1 billion in 2014, growing by 230
times since the establishment of diplomatic relations in 1990. Today, nearly one
in seven barrels of crude oil China imports comes from Saudi Arabia and one out
of every seven dollars the Kingdom earns from its exports comes from China. Last
year, China imported 6.7 million barrels per day (b/d) of crude oil, with Middle
Eastern countries accounted for almost 51 percent. Saudi Arabia serves as
China’s single largest oil-trading partner, supplying over 15 percent of the
country’s total annual crude imports. The logic behind this steady growth is
simple: China needs to import large quantities of energy, while Saudi Arabia is
the world’s largest oil exporter and the biggest petrochemical producer in the
Middle East. Yet China-Saudi relations have been restricted mainly to energy
exports, Chinese manufacturing goods, and limited cross-investment. Certainly
the decline in global oil prices has hit the trade between Saudi Arabia and
China very hard. The volume between the two countries dropped significantly to
$51.6 billion in 2015, a decline of over 25 percent from the previous year.
Further engagement
Saudi Arabia Deputy Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s visit to China, beginning
Tuesday, is set to include the kingdom’s participation at the G20. The visit
represents a significant opportunity for him to advance relations with China
while marketing his reform agenda or Vision 2030 during the 11th G-20 summit,
scheduled to be held on September 4-5 in China’s eastern city of Hangzhou.
Energy is set to top the agenda during his trip. Saudi Aramco is aggressively
looking to expand its activities in China, especially in the refining sector.
The company in its latest annual review 2015 says that it envisages “a modern
‘silk road’ business alliance with companies in China.” In the words of Clyde
Russell, Asia Commodities Columnist at Thomson Reuters, Saudi Aramco may be
trying to pursue a strategy in China similar to what has worked well for it in
the United States.” Interestingly, the Daily Telegraph recently reported that
Aramco hopes to entice China’s state-owned, Sinopec Group, the world’s largest
refiner, to become a strategic shareholder of Aramco via its planned initial
public offering in return refinery deals.Banking and financial opportunities are
other promising areas for both the countries. Chinese banks are looking at
global markets for growth, while Saudi government is set to borrow billions to
fund the budget deficit. In addition to this many of the Saudi and Gulf
companies need new sources of financing in light of the scarcity of financial
liquidity as a result of falling oil prices. In June 2015, the Industrial and
Commercial Bank of China Ltd (ICBC) set up a branch in Riyadh, becoming the
first Chinese bank in Saudi Arabia. Then in mid-August 2016 Mobile
Telecommunications Company Saudi Arabia (Zain KSA) secured a $600 million loan
ICBC. In June this year, ICBC lent $1.5 billion to state-controlled utility
Saudi Electricity Co.
Challenges ahead
Despite this optimistic view, in the short and medium term there are still
challenges for the development of relations between China and Saudi Arabia. The
most serious one is China’s sever economic slowdown, or as the Financial Times
warned recently that; US-style credit crunch or Japan-style grinding malaise is
not a far-fetched scenario. Another potential problem is protectionist policies.
As long as there is no free trade agreement between Beijing and the Gulf states,
China could resort to protectionist measures in the future, especially toward
the petrochemical producers. Competition is the third challenge; Saudi Arabia is
now facing competition from Russia, Iraq, and even Oman for the Chinese market
share. The market shares of the three countries in China have grown more than
that of the Kingdom. In 2010-2015, Saudi Arabia’s crude oil exports to China
increased by about 118,000 barrels/day. During the same period, Russia’s crude
oil exports to China had a growth rate of up to 546,000 barrels/day, while Iraq
had a growth rate of up to 418,000 barrels/day, and Oman 326,000 barrels/day.
Above all, China’s relations with Iran will remain a source of concern for the
leadership of Saudi Arabia.
Who are the real enemies of
India and Pakistan?
Khaled Almaeena/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
The state of affairs in the subcontinent is alarming. The high-pitched frenzy of
hatred and toxic words by established and wannabe public figures has affected a
large segment of the population, especially in India where the Defense Minister
in an irresponsible and totally undiplomatic manner said that going to Pakistan
was “akin to a visit to Hell.”A rebuttal by Divya Spandana a young Indian
actress who went to attend the first SAARC Youth Parliamentarians Conference
caused a lot of fiery statements and hordes of demonstrators egged on by right
wing parties and extremist organization went on the rampage. A complaint of
sedition was also filed. What is truly disturbing is that official blessings are
indirectly being given to the rabble-rousers. It is really sad to see waves of
extremist ideology wash away Gandhian principles and Nehruvian ideals of
secularism. It’s also detrimental to India’s pursuit of entrance to the Big Boys
Club. It could hamper its push for a seat on the UN Security Council. I call it
silly politics. By creating a psychosis of fear and distrust, these politicians
and their subservient media are damaging India. It is, therefore, important for
PM Modi to rein in those who howl and bay for blood!
Catastrophe in Pakistan
India should also note seriously that the Islamization of politics in Pakistan
has resulted in a catastrophe for the country and increased violence. Any
similar move toward Hindutva in a secular, multi-cultural ethnically diverse
country with tens of castes and creeds could, God forbid, spell doom. Civil
society in both countries should revolt against the harbingers of death and
destruction and snuff out sections of the media who are hell-bent on stoking the
fires of hatred and intolerance. On the other side, too, a much-loved cricketer
Shahid Afridi was maligned for a positive comment on India. Here, too, an
apology was demanded. The ordinary people of India and Pakistan, barring RSS and
other extremist organizations, Pakistan’s Lashkar-e-Muhammad and other violent
extremists, only want peace. They have to identify their real enemies! On a
visit to Rajasthan a few years ago while sitting in a village, I asked the
headman point blank. “Is Pakistan your enemy? This ex-Indian army serviceman
pointed to his stomach and said: “Hunger is our enemy.” He was right.Check
newspapers across the subcontinent. The problems are the same. Hunger,
malnutrition, corruption, nepotism, disease, over 60 percent having no access to
clean water and millions living in abject poverty. Go to a slum in Mumbai or
Karachi and you will see the same expressions of despair and hopelessness. The
real enemy of both states is that after almost 70 years of independence,
stagnation is prevalent. And to make matters worse, this war of words continues
unabated and could trigger a bloody conclusion that could prove fatal to both
countries. I think civil society in both countries should revolt against the
harbingers of death and destruction and snuff out sections of the media who are
hell-bent on stoking the fires of hatred and intolerance. It is very easy to
answer the question “who are the real enemies of India and Pakistan?”*This
article was first published in the Saudi Gazette on Aug. 28, 2016.
Russia, the bitter medicine
Iran must swallow
Camelia Entekhabi-Fard/Al Arabiya/August 30/16
The relationship between Iran and Russia can be characterized by Mary Poppins’
famous line “a spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down.”Historically and
ideologically, the two nations do not have anything in common besides the
isolation imposed upon them by the West. For Iranians, accepting a relationship
with Russia is difficult as public opinion does not view the European state
favorably. The relationship would not be needed so desperately if Iran was not
so keen to keep Syria’s Bashar al-Assad in power. After the Iranian nuclear deal
was reached in 2015, there was hope that the Islamic Republic could improve its
relationship with the West. However, this hope has all but faded. Thus far, the
Iranian public has not seen any tangible changes in the economy or local
politics. The conflict in Syria and Iran’s involvement in the crisis is still a
major issue for Western countries who wish to cement business ties with Iran.
Iran’s limited choices
Cold relations with Arab neighbors to the south and tense relations with Turkey
to the West, as well as troubled eastern borders with Pakistan and Afghanistan,
mean that Iran’s choices are limited. And so, Russia stepped in. Iranians are
better off working with Americans, but what can they do when all their pebbles
are aimed at closed windows? Russia reportedly mediated between Iran and Turkey
but in a classic case of nothing comes for free, Russia soon started using an
Iranian airbase to launch sorties in to Syria. Constitutionally, Iran cannot
allow any foreign country to use its military bases in times of peace or war.
However, exceptions are made dependent on the circumstances and the internal and
external threats to national security. In such cases, permission has to be given
by parliament, with the approval of the national security council. When the news
broke that Russian fighter jets had been using an Iranian military airbase to
attack ISIS and Jabhat al-Nusra in Syria, eyebrows were raised. The news was not
supposed to be publicized, perhaps due to Iran’s desire to encourage Western
investment.
Splitting attention
Keeping one eye on the West and the nuclear agreement and one eye on Russia’s
actions in Syria, Iran is splitting its focus and facing complications therein.
For their part, Iran’s Arab neighbors are angered by its support for Russian
actions in Syria, especially the bombing of civilians. This disappointment seems
to have been reflected in a live TV interview by Iran’s Defense Minister, aired
on Aug. 21. Commander Hossein Dehghan criticized Russia’s very public use of the
Hamedan airbase in Iran, labelling Russia’s bluster as “inconsiderate.”
“Naturally, the Russians are keen to show that they are a superpower and an
influential country and that they are active in security issues in the region
and the world,” he said. Less than 24 hours after the defense minister’s
interview, Russians announced that they had suspended all operations from Iran’s
airbase in Hamadan. It must be noted, however, that the US State Department
announced on Aug. 23 that they were not sure if the operation had indeed been
suspended. Whatever was behind the Russian suspension, it is clear that Iran and
Russia need each other. Iranians are better off working with Americans, but what
can they do when all their pebbles are aimed at closed windows? The Russians
have come in handy and it is probable that animosity toward the West will
continue to be the foundation of the Islamic Republic. Russia is the bitter
medicine that Iranians must swallow, with or without sugar.