See previous story here.

Rescuers found the wreckage of a missing plane used by the U.S. Air Force and recovered the bodies of several Americans who were aboard when it crashed in snow-covered mountains over the weekend, Afghan police said Tuesday.

The transport plane, which was carrying three U.S. soldiers and three American crew members, was located southeast of Bamiyan in the heart of the Hindu Kush mountains, said Ghulam Mohammed, a senior police official in Bamiyan.

“They found pieces of the engine and the wheels scattered on top of Baba Mountain,” which rises to 16,600 feet and was covered in fresh snow, Mohammed said

.

Read more…

JERUSALEM POST: Bomb-maker Abdallah Barghouti gets 67 life terms

The Judea Military Court sentenced Hamas member Abdallah Barghouti to 67 life sentences for his involvement in a number of deadly terror attacks perpetrated against Israel.

Barghouti was charged with preparing the bombs that were used in three suicide bomb attacks in Jerusalem and Rishon Letzion in 2001 and 2002, which together caused the massive death toll: 66 Israelis were killed and hundreds more wounded.

The bombs Barghouti prepared were used in the attacks at the Sbarro restaurant in Jerusalem in august 2001, in which 15 Israelis were killed and 130 wounded; the Sheffield Club in Rishon Letzion on May 7 2002, in which 15 Israelis were killed and 59 wounded; and the bomb attack in Jerusalem’s Ben Yehuda pedestrian mall on December 1 2001, in which 10 were killed and 191 wounded.

HAARETZ: Qassam rocket lands near Sderot

A Qassam rocket landed near the entrance to the southern town of Sderot on Tuesday. There were no injuries or damage caused. This was the first time in some three weeks that Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired a Qassam at the southern town.

(Just in case you believed the Hamas statement about a 10-year ceasefire and no attacks during palestinian presidential campaigns/elections.)

UPDATE:
HAARETZ Ticker: Second Qassam rocket lands near Sderot.

JERUSALEM POST: Arab states launch terror financing watchdog

Arab states agreed Tuesday to work together to try to keep money out of the hands of terrorists.

Tuesday’s creation of the 14-member Middle East-North Africa Financial Action Task Force was hailed by the US Treasury Department official responsible for fighting terrorist financing, Juan Carlos Zarate. Zarate said at the inaugural session in Bahrain that the step showed the region “has taken this threat seriously.”

The task force is the first of its kind in the region, which has come under increased scrutiny following the September 11, 2001, terror attacks in the United States. The United Arab Emirates, which joined the new task force and is known for its freewheeling financial sector, has been identified by US investigators as a major money transfer center for al-Qaida, the terror network responsible for Sept. 11.

The watchdog bringing together Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lebanon, Qatar, Kuwait, Tunisia, Jordan, Algeria, Morocco, Egypt, Oman, the United Arab Emirates and Yemen will be a regional version of the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force. The 33-member FATF was set up in 1987 to monitor and fight money laundering, and in 2001 expanded its role to combatting the financing of terror.

Iraqi officials attended the Bahrain meeting as observers, as did officials from the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, United States, Britain and France.

The U.S. military said Tuesday that it was searching for six Americans who were aboard an aircraft that went missing over Afghanistan (search).

It said troops and planes were scouring an area of the Hindu Kush mountains (search), from where it had received a signal from an emergency locator transmitter.

It was unclear if the missing aircraft crashed, and a spokesman for the military said officials had not given up hope of finding the three soldiers and three crew members alive.

Read more….

Top Usama bin Laden lieutenant Ayman Al-Zawahiri vowed in a videotape excerpt shown Monday to continue fighting the United States until its policies change.

Al-Zawahiri, bin Laden’s right-hand man, referred to the recent U.S. presidential election on the tape, shown on Al-Jazeera television. CIA officials told FOX News they believed with a “high degree of confidence” that the figure speaking was bin Laden’s No. 2, and that the video was probably recorded before the Nov. 2 vote, when President Bush was re-elected, defeating Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass.

“The results of the elections do not matter for us,” al-Zawahiri said in the three-minute excerpt. “Vote [for] whoever you want, Bush, Kerry or the devil himself. This does not concern us. What concerns us is to purge our land from the aggressors.”

Read more…

JERUSALEM POST: Gaza: Father and son to die for aiding Israel

A Palestinian court on Monday sentenced a father and son to death for helping Israel carry out a failed assassination attempt against a Hamas leader, Palestinian officials said.

The Gaza criminal court earlier convicted Mohammed Abu Ganas, 53, and his son Rami, 22, of providing information to a foreign country and harming Palestinian interests.

The father and son were arrested last December. In April, the court said, the two were heard confessing to a journalist that they aided Israeli intelligence in setting up an attempt on the life of Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi on June 10, 2003. That attempt failed, but Rantisi was killed in another Israeli air strike on April 17.

The sentence must be confirmed by the president of the Palestinian Authority before it could be carried out.

(Just a reminder… today is the United Nations Day Of Solidarity With The Palestinian People.)

JERUSALEM POST: Abu Warade sentenced to 48 life sentences

The military court in Yehuda sentenced Muhammad Abu Warade from Hamas to 48 life sentences on Monday. He was responsible for the deaths of 45 Israelis over the last decade, Army Radio reported.

Abu Warade was behind the two terror bombings on the number 18 bus line in Jerusalem and also sent a suicide bomber to the hitchhiking station in Ashkelon in 1996.

According to the ticker at Haaretz:

The Netherlands agrees to outlaw Hezbollah, says it hopes its European Union partners will follow suit.

Backlash from the murder of Theo van Gogh?

EU will likely not outlaw Hezbollah outright, considering that France has agreed to allow Hezbollah-mouthpiece station Al-Manar to use French satellite resources to broadcast.

HAARETZ: IDF rescues two soldiers from collapsed Gaza tunnel

An Israel Defense Forces rescue team extricated two IDF soldiers Monday from a weapons-smuggling tunnel that collapsed along the Gaza-Egypt border, trapping the soldiers inside.

Both of the soldiers were hurt in the collapse, one moderately. They were transferred to Soroka Hospital in Be’er Sheva for treatment.

IDF rescuers were at first unable to contact the trapped soldiers but then managed to make contact and locate them, Israel Radio reported. The tunnel is situated near the IDF’s Hardon outpost.

The reason for the collapse were not immediately clear, but Israel Radio said it was not caused by an explosion.

JERUSALEM POST: Sheikh Yusef: Hamas ready for ‘hudna’

Sheikh Hassan Yusef, head of the Hamas political bureau in Ramallah said Monday that Hamas is willing to declare a 10 year hudna, or ceasefire.

In an interview with Israel Radio, the senior Hamas leader said that the Islamic movement would consider committing to a ceasefire in order to ultimately join a national unity government with the Palestinian leadership, as Hamas is interested in playing an active role in the new Palestinian government and participating in national decisions.

He did not reject the possibility that Hamas would stop terror attacks against Israel during negotiations. However, a truce with Israel, Yusef said, would be dependant on an end of the Israeli occupation of the territories, release of security prisoners and “elimination of Israeli violence.” When asked which borders “occupation” was referring to, he said the borders of 1967, not 1948.

Yusef also called on the United States and the international community to reconsider their definition of Hamas a “terror organization.”

Fox News reports that Pakistan is withdrawing troops from the area where bin Laden is believed to be hiding:

The withdrawals from the region near the Afghanistan border follow intense military operations by thousands of troops against remnants of bin Laden’s Al Qaeda organization and its allies.

The top Pakistan general in the region says the army is removing checkpoints in return for local tribesmen’s support against foreign militants. He adds that some Pakistani soldiers will remain nearby.

From California Yankee.

Reuters reports that the FBI has established the clearest link yet between the March 11 Madrid train bombings and the September 11, 2001, attacks on the United States:

The FBI has told Spanish investigators that one of three men believed to have planned the Sept. 11 attacks from Spain in the summer of 2001 also gave the order to carry out the Madrid blasts, the newspaper ABC reported.

[. . .]

Investigators have long concluded that the Sept. 11 attacks were partially planned in Spain in July 2001.

Hijacker Mohammed Atta, believed to have piloted one of the airliners that crashed into New York’s World Trade Center, visited Spain two months before the attacks and met two men.

One was Ramzi bin al-Shaibah, who is being held by U.S. authorities, while the other was unidentified.

ABC said investigators now believe that third man was the one who in December 2003 activated the Qaeda cell that carried out the March 11 attacks, which Spaniards call “our Sept. 11.”

JERUSALEM POST: Iran group canvasses for suicide attacks on Israel

The 300 men filling out forms in the offices of an Iranian aid group were offered three choices: Train for suicide attacks against US troops in Iraq, train for suicide attacks against Israelis, or train to assassinate British author Salman Rushdie.

It looked at first glance like a gathering on the fringes of a society divided between moderates who want better relations with the world and hard-line Muslim terrorists hostile toward the United States and Israel.

But the presence of two key figures - a prominent Iranian lawmaker and a member of the country’s elite Revolutionary Guards - lent the meeting more legitimacy, and a clear indication of at least tacit support from some within Iran’s government.

Since that inaugural June meeting in a room decorated with photos of Israeli soldiers’ funerals, the registration forms for volunteer suicide commandos have appeared on Tehran’s streets and university campuses, with no sign Iran’s government is trying to stop the shadowy movement.

On November 12, the day Iranians traditionally hold pro-Palestinian protests, a spokesman for the Headquarters for Commemorating Martyrs of the Global Islamic Movement said the movement signed up at least 4,000 new volunteers.

Mohammad Ali Samadi, the spokesman, told The Associated Press the group has no ties to the government.

And Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Hamid Reza Asefi told reporters recently that the group’s campaign to sign up volunteers for suicide attacks had “nothing to do with the ruling Islamic establishment.”

“That some people do such a thing is the result of their sentiments. It has nothing to do with the government and the system,” Asefi said.

HAARETZ: PA said planning to disband Gaza ‘Death Squad’

Rashid Abu Shbak, the head of the Palestinian Authority Preventive Security forces in Gaza, announced on Saturday that its special unit in the Strip, also called the ‘Death Squad’ will be disbanded, Israel Radio reported.

Its members will all be dispersed in different Palestinian security services units, Abu Shbak said.

The Death Squad was created during the first months of the second intifada in response to attacks by opposition factions against the Palestinian Authority. The unit is infamous for its brutal methods of operation.

“The security and protection department has become a source of accusation and doubts. As a preventive security service we are keen to defend the rights of the citizen,” Abu Shbak said.

The decision on the unit’s decommissioning was made after Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip protested that the Death Squad was used primarily against the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad.

The head of the unit, Nabil Tanus, told Israel Radio he would respect the decision and will continue to serve in a different unit of the Palestinian security services.

The first step on the Roadmap clearly obligates the Palestinian side to end incitement and stop armed terrorist groups.

Forget the name for a moment… this was a unit used primarily against the Hamas and the Islamic Jihad. Those are terrorist groups, or at least even more terrorist that Fateh, Tanzim, and Al-Aqsa.

This isn’t just the Palestinian Authority doing nothing about that step. This is the disbanding of an anti-terrorist unit, and this is a step backward from reigning in Hamas and Islamic Jihad as per the Roadmap obligations.

HAARETZ: IDF troops arrest Hamas man involved in murder of two Israelis

Israel Defense Forces troops operating in the West Bank on Saturday arrested Hamas militant Amin Shakirat, who masterminded the murder of two Israeli security guards near Abu Dis in November 2003.

The troops conducted searches in the vicinity of Sawahara, in the West Bank, based on intelligence information received, and found the Hamas man hiding in the kitchen in his home.

The gambit to release Barghouti as some sort of palestinian Nelson Mandela (instead of a palestinian Terry Nichols) continues…

HAARETZ: Arab MK visits jailed Barghouti to discuss PA leadership run

Israeli Arab Knesset member Jamal Zahalka (Balad) met Friday afternoon with the prominent Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti in his Israeli prison to find out whether he intends to run for chairman of the Palestinian Authority as an independent candidate or to support former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas, named this week as Fatah’s official candidate for the post.

Elections to the PA chairmanship will be held on January 9 and were called following the death of Yasser Arafat two weeks ago.

Before the meeting Zahalka said that “the Palestinian leadership needs Marwan Barghouti as a key figure who could stabilize the situation after Arafat in any serious negotiations with Israel.”

Barghouti “has to be immediately released,” he added.

An aide to the convicted multiple-murderer will be giving a press conference within an hour to announce whether Barghouti will toss his bloody hat into the ring or not.

Stay tuned.

UPDATE:
Fateh tries to talk him out of running. (Nader?)

UPDATE 2:
First announcement: He’s not running for President.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on South Asia, courtesy of Robi Sen and Nitin Pai of The Acorn

TOP TOPICS: THE KASHMIR POTBOILER

• Contending that solving Kashmir is easy, and can even be achieved in a day’s sitting General Musharraf proposed a simple solution to the problem of Kashmir. These generally involve India ceding some (Muslim-majority) territory to Pakistan in return for peace. India’s Prime Minister Manmohan Singh took his time, but then ruled out any solution that would involve another Partition along religious lines. Recently India’s foreign minister suggested that maybe economic trade between India and Pakistan could help spur the peace process.

• General Musharraf, who will keep his epaulettes after all is not accustomed to being rejected, promptly declared that he might need to review what he put on the table since the vibes from India were just not right. The good news is that India and Pakistan are firmly engaged in bilateral talks and confidence-building measures; the bad news is that any eventual solution of Kashmir involves one of the two countries having to swallow an unacceptable bitter pill.

• India began withdrawing troops from the state of Jammu & Kashmir, as part of its internal rapprochement process. The separatist elements remained churlish and refused to meet the visiting Indian Prime Minister, in spite of the state getting an unparalleled $5.3 billion economic development package.

• Rather strangely enough the Hizbulla has a seemingly reasonable solution but you can be assured that when they say Kashmiris they actually mean Jihadis. Despite the continued talks between the two countries the insurgency continues and the death toll mounts.

Other Sub-Headings Today Include: What Condoleezza Rice means to South Asia; India adopts Bush strategies in tackling terror; Pakistan makes some important decisions; Bangladesh and refugees; Shifting Alliances; Looking for good South Asian blogs?

Read the Rest…
 

JERUSALEM POST: Weapons tunnel destroyed; mortars fired

Early Friday morning security forces blew up a 150 meter long weapons smuggling tunnel in south Gaza whose opening was found underneath the bed of Hamas activist Hamadan Hasnat in his home in Rafah on Thursday. According to officials, Hasnat used the tunnel to smuggle weapons from Egypt into the Palestinian side of Rafah.

During the operation to blow up the tunnel, a bomb was detonated and shots fired at soldiers. After completing the mission, troops pulled out of the area.

This is the 22nd tunnel to be found by security forces since the beginning of the year.

Elsewhere in the Gaza Strip, 5 mortars were fired at Israeli settlements and an IDF base in northern and southern Gaza. No one was wounded in any of the attacks.

In the West Bank Friday, security forces demolished the Hebron home of Malek Abed Aldin a member of the Hamas who planned to blow himself up in the Jerusalem Caffit Coffee Shop in July this year. At the last minute, after reaching the site wearing an explosives belt, Aldin reneged on the plan and returned to his Hebron home where he was shot and killed by security forces several days later during an attempt to arrest him. He ditched the explosives belt he was to use in the attack on his return to Hebron.

From The Australian :

A Terrorism expert has warned Australia of a new, global generation of Islamist terrorists “armed, trained financed and ideologicised” to use chemical and biological weapons.

In declaring that part of this new global terror wave would come out of Southeast Asia, Singapore-based Rohan Gunaratna said he found the Jemaah Islamiah group had come extremely close to developing “chem-bio” weapons last year, recounting his alarming analysis of a Jemaah Islamiah bio-terror training manual that was taken from a Philippines safe house in late 2003.

The manual gave incorrect manufacturing instructions and lacked safeguards, Dr Gunaratna told an emergency medicine conference in Adelaide yesterday.

Any JI members who had used the methods in the manual would have died or become sick, he said.

“But it is only a question of time that a group that has these intentions will have the capability to develop them,” he said.

Dr Gunaratna, who heads the terror unit at Singapore’s Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies, said terror groups showed “repeated expressions of interest” in moving in the “biochem” direction.

“We are seeing a new generation of terrorists being trained in the use of chem-bio weapons,” he said.

“We rarely saw this in the 1990s but today we are seeing increasingly this kind of training.

“Groups are being trained to use these agents,” he added, but the “probability of attack is still low”.

Terrorists had attemped in 2002, last year and this year to use “chem-bio” weapons and “this is the best indication of the next attacks”.

“I believe they will try again next year,” Dr Gunaratna said.

He has also analysed videotapes showing al-Qa’ida testing of cyanide gas to kill dogs in the Afghanistan desert, using crudely manufactured gas chambers.

And he found al-Qa’ida cells uncovered in Jordan this year and London last year were “quite close” to targeting sites using chemical or biological weapons.

JERUSALEM POST: Arab world: 73.72% want Hamas to replace Arafat

A survey of the Arab world organized by the Al-Arabia network website after the death of Yasser Arafat, showed 73.72% want a Hamas representative to replace Arafat, ITIM reported. In contrast only 0.7% expect that one of the PLO leaders will take over.

25.58% were in favor of an independent candidate.

113,107 participants from across the Arab world took part in the survey.

The organizers of the survey explained that the Hamas movement and the Islamic Jihad organization stand for the establishment of a Palestinian state on the land of historic Palestine, a concept that the PLO gave up on when the Oslo discussions began.

Reuters reports that the military chief of northwest Pakistan, who is also in charge of clearing out al-Qaeda militants, says Osama bin Laden can not be hiding in Pakistan’s tribal lands on the Afghan border:

Bin Laden and his bodyguards could not go undetected in the rugged tribal lands, although pockets of al Qaeda-backed fighters are battling Pakistani forces there, said Lieutenant-General Safdar Hussain.

“He requires his own protection and the kind of security apparatus he is supposed to have around would give us a very big signature,” Hussain told Reuters in an interview in his well-fortified headquarters in the northwest city of Peshawar.

“There is not an inch of South Waziristan agency or the tribal area which we have not swept time and again and if he was here, I assure you he could not have escaped my ears and eyes.”

From California Yankee.

HAARETZ: Fatah sources: Barghouti to announce candidacy for PA leader

Sources in the ruling Fatah movement said Thursday that Marwan Barghouti - the Fatah military leader currently serving five life sentences in an Israeli jail - intends to announce his candidacy for the chairmanship of the Palestinian Authority, to replace Yasser Arafat who died two weeks ago.

The Fatah Central Committee is expected to name former Palestinian prime minister and PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as the movement’s official candidate.

There has been no official confirmation from Barghouti or his lawyers.

But Amin Maqboul, the secretary general of the Fatah Higher Committee said that Barghouti has informed Fatah leaders through his lawyers that he will compete in the election.

On Wednesday evening, 55 of 66 Fatah legislators met with an Abbas confidant, Tayeb Abdel Rahim, and a majority endorsed Abbas, said Dalal Salama, one of the lawmakers.

UPDATE:
Fateh is still backing Abbas. Barghouti is being told to run as an independent.

HAARETZ: EU’s Solana retracts talk of Hamas ‘contacts’

European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana denied on Thursday having had direct contact with the Palestinian militant group Hamas, hours after he said just that in a BBC interview.

Solana’s office issued a statement saying “at no time Dr. Solana wished to imply that direct contacts between himself and Hamas had taken place” since the Islamic movement was put on the EU’s list of banned terrorist organizations.

The EU foreign policy chief earlier told BBC Radio: “I have had direct contact with Hamas but not in the last few days. Those meetings were not long. They were just to pass a clear message of where the international community was.”

Asked how long ago the contact occurred, he said: “Months.”

That prompted Israel to accuse the EU of double standards and drew veiled criticism from Britain, triggering a statement from Solana’s office it said was meant to clarify his remarks.

“Any mention of contacts or meetings with Hamas referred to soundings and impressions conveyed to him but gathered by governments and other parties on the ground,” his spokeswoman, Cristina Gallach, said in the statement. “At no time did the High Representative nor his office hold direct contacts with Hamas or any other organization appearing on the EU terrorist list.”

(Sounds like the same kind of “retraction” that Peter Hansen did when he said that UNRWA had Hamas members on its payroll.)

HAARETZ: IDF troops kill two Hamas men during Hebron arrest operation

Israeli Defense Forces troops on Thursday shot dead two wanted Hamas militants during an arrest operation in the West Bank town of Hebron.

The two militants were identified as Murad ak-Kazasma, 28, and Omri al-Hamoni, 21.

A third wanted militant, Iyad Abu Shahada,28, was critically wounded in the incident and arrested. The man is said to be a senior member of the Hamas cell in Hebron and the prime target of Thursday ‘s operation.

The troops surrounded a building in the center of Hebron where the three were hiding. They then demolished the building after the militants refused to come out.

The three were then believed to have found refuge in a pit between the rubble, out of which they opened fire on the IDF troops who were searching the area. The troops returned fire and killed the two.

Agence France-Presse reports that Major General Eric Olson, second in command of U.S. forces in Afghanistan, says that al-Qaeda is believed to have called its followers to action in response to the Afghan election:

“I think there now is a call out to do something to reverse the momentum that right now is going in the direction of freely elected governments,” Olson said in an interview here.

According to AFP, U.S. intelligence has found evidence of Taliban anger and disarray because of the success of the elections, which drew millions of Afghans to the polls despite the threat of insurgent attacks.

From California Yankee.

Could refusing to halt the progress of a locust swarm be considered a biological weapon meant to commit the war crime of destroying civilian agricultural fields?

HAARETZ: Officials: Egypt responsible for locust attack on Israel

Egypt does not take proper action against locusts in its territories and as a result they continue to invade Israel, the head of the Plant Protection and Inspection Services, Dr. Eldad Landes said on Wednesday.

Landes cannot predict when the locusts will stop coming to Israel but he says the rain and cold weather which are expected in the next few days will stop the pests, at least temporarily.

A large swarm of locusts landed in the Ein Gedi reservation near the Dead Sea and began to feed on the vegetation in the fields of nearby kibbutz Ein Gedi, but no significant damage was caused.

The swarm had advanced north from the Sinai peninsula, through the Arava desert and Be’er Sheva. Two new swarms of locusts also arrived in Eilat and the western Negev near kibbutz Urim.

Plant Protection and Inspection Services officials are working to find the locusts, because they intend to dust nearby fields with insecticides in the early morning.

The locusts originated in Libya and migrated through Egypt. They can now be found along the entire Egyptian coastline.

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinian-Canadian convicted of planning attacks

A Gaza-born Canadian citizen pleaded guilty Wednesday to planning attacks on Israelis in North America and was sentenced by a military court to four years in prison, the Israeli army said.

Jamal Akkal, 24, was arrested in Gaza on Nov. 1, 2003, and charged with conspiracy to commit murder. Prosecutors said Akkal planned to carry out attacks against Israeli officials traveling in the United States, as well as bombings against Jewish targets in North America.
Akkal had denied the charges, claiming a confession he gave was made under duress.

Under Wednesday’s plea bargain, Akkal was found guilty of conspiracy to commit manslaughter and receiving paramilitary training, the army said. He was credited with time served since his arrest, and five lesser charges were dropped.

Akkal, who was also fined 2,000 shekels (US$450), had faced up to 10 years in prison.

HAARETZ: High Court allows construction of fence near Jerusalem to begin

Security forces can now begin constructing the separation fence in the area east of Jerusalem after the High Court of Justice on Wednesday rejected a petition against the fence’s route.

The petition was made by residents of the Palestinian village Tzur Baher on the edge of Jerusalem where the fence is planned to cross through the center.

The petitioners asked that the fence be rerouted further to the east since it would obstruct their daily life.

But another group of the village’s residents opposed the alternative route proposed by the petitioners, and claimed before the High Court that rerouting the fence would hurt them.

Consequently, the justices decided in their ruling to reject the petition and leave the fence’s planned route unchanged.

After the authorization of this section of the “Jerusalem bypass,” the construction of four other sections of the route remains pending on the High Court’s approval.

In the meanwhile the new route of the fence is still awaiting the approval of the government.

HAARETZ: Jordan’s military judge urges terror suspects to surrender

A military judge called on Jordanian terrorist Abu-Musab al-Zarqawi and three other fugitives to surrender Tuesday, a step toward opening a terror conspiracy trial involving a foiled chemical attack that could have killed thousands.

Al-Zarqawi, believed to be on the run in Iraq with a $25 million price on his head, and the three fugitives will be tried in absentia along with eight men in police custody since April on charges including conspiring to commit terrorism, possessing and manufacturing explosives and affiliation with a banned group.

A ninth man, also detained in April, was charged only with helping two fugitives.

If convicted in the military court, the 12 other men - including al-Zarqawi - face the death penalty.

No date has yet been set for the trial. But it is expected to start in early December, shortly after the expiry of a 10-day grace period issued Tuesday by Col. Fawaz Buqour, the presiding military judge in the case.

Why didn’t we think of doing that?

Well here's some good news out of Afghanistan. The three UN hostages have been released.

AP

Three U.N. workers kidnapped in Afghanistan have been released unharmed after more than three weeks in captivity, officials said Tuesday. "They are out," U.N. spokesman Manoel de Almeida e Silva said.

Officials said the three were freed overnight and were in the Afghan capital. One Western official said doctors were examining the three at a NATO field hospital in Kabul.

...

Armed men seized Philippine diplomat Angelito Nayan, British-Irish citizen Annetta Flanigan and Shqipe Hebibi of Kosovo in Kabul on Oct. 28, the first such abduction in the Afghan capital since the Taliban fell three years ago.

...

News of the release came hours after U.S. and Afghan forces raided two houses in downtown Kabul on Monday and detained 10 people in connection with the abductions.

Tipped by: In The Bullpen

Other Commentary:

The Jawa Report, which has much more backstory on the terrorists, the workers and their ordeal.

Originally posted at Diggers Realm

JERUSALEM POST: Qurei hopes to join militia to PA

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei said on Sunday that he is working to merge members of the Aksa Martyrs Brigades into the Palestinian security forces.

Qurei met in Ramallah with US Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern Affairs William Burns and told him that “the Aksa Martyrs Brigades are an integral part of Fatah. We need to solve their case by protecting them and merging them into security forces.”

The group’s gunmen have over the past few days been waging a campaign against Qurei and other PA leaders, accusing them of abandoning them while they are being hunted and killed by Israel.

Leaflets distributed by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank have also challenged PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) as Fatah’s sole candidate to run in the election for the chairmanship of the PA.

Both Qurei and Abbas are concerned that the group would try to disrupt the elections either by calling for a boycott or by launching attacks on Israel and PA installations.

At the meeting with Burns, Qurei called on Israel to redeploy the IDF in the West Bank and Gaza Strip to enable the PA to hold the elections on time.

JERUSALEM POST: Fatah fugitive killed after leaving Mukata hideout

A top Palestinian fugitive and two other Palestinians were killed Sunday evening in a gun battle with an elite Israel Police anti-terror unit (Yamam) near Beituniya north of Jerusalem.

One of the policemen was lightly wounded in the battle and taken to Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem.

Police had entered Beituniya, which is south of Ramallah, to arrest Mohammed Ghassan Sheikh, a member of the Fatah armed wing, the Al Aksa Martyrs’ Brigades (AKA the Yasser Arafat Martyrs’ Brigades), who had been hiding out in Yasser Arafat’s Mukata headquarters in Ramallah over a long period.

Ghassan was killed just hours after he left the Mukata on Sunday.

The anti-terror Police unit reached Beituniya and spotted Sheikh in a car with two others.

According to Israeli security officials, the fugitives opened fire on the Police unit and the gun battle ensued.

Mohammed Ghassan Sheikh and two others traveling in the car with him were killed in the ensuing gun battle.

Sheikh was recently trying to rejuvenate Fatah’s infrastructure in Ramallah.

Not any more.

JERUSALEM POST: Atwan: Arafat signed Oslo Accords hoping Jews would flee

Abdel Bari Atwan, editor of the London-based daily al-Quds al-Arabi, said Arafat made his remarks when they met in Tunis, a few days before the PLO returned to the Gaza Strip.

“I met with him in his office at around 3.00 a.m.,” Atwan recalled.

“The man told me, ‘Listen, Abdel Bari, I know that you are opposed to the Oslo Accords, but you must always remember what I’m going to tell you. The day will come when you will see thousands of Jews fleeing Palestine. I will not live to see this, but you will definitely see it in your lifetime. The Oslo Accords will help bring this about.’”

…

Atwan also disclosed that Arafat decided to form the Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, in response to US and Israeli attempts to sideline him after the failed Camp David summit in 2000.

“President Arafat was the one who established the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in response to the attempt to marginalize him after the failure of the Camp David summit,” he added.

Expatica reports:

Re-branded as the AIVD, or General Intelligence and Security Service in English, the organisation seemed bereft of enemies of the state. September 11 in the US and more recently the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh in Amsterdam on 2 November has changed all that. The focus is now firmly on “Islamic terror”. Armed with the promise of “several tens of millions of euros” in increased funding, the AIVD has been given new orders in direct response to the brutal assassination of Van Gogh. The organisation has been tasked with tightening surveillance on suspected “extremists” and preventing future attacks.

AL -JAZEERA: Hamas may back independent candidate

In an exclusive interview with Aljazeera.net, Hasan Yusuf said it would be futile and inexpedient for the movement to adopt a passive role in the elections.

“This is a crucial phase of our national struggle, and taking a passive or indifferent stance toward the elections undermines the interests of both the Palestinian people and the Islamic movement,” he told Aljazeera.net on Saturday.

Yusuf said it was only logical that Hamas would chose the best possible, or least disagreeable, candidate.

“If a candidate declares that he is committed to true democracy, and if he pledges to defend the paramount issues such as Jerusalem, the refugees, then it would be foolish not to support him.

“Not supporting him would only help other candidates who might compromise the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people.”

From The Australian :

For the past two years, reports have been filtering in from prisons around the world. They started as tantalising glimpses into a world still far removed.

But as more accused terrorists were captured, and started talking, two things became clear: Australia is now not only a pivotal part of al-Qa’ida’s global diaspora, it has also been the subject of sustained attempts by the group’s ruling guard to directly target Australians.

Much of what Australian authorities have learned about the interest of Islamic militants in local targets and the alleged crimes of their acolytes stems from information provided by detainees who have entered the prison system of allied partners in the war against terror.

Earlier this year, Singaporean national Muhamed Arif bin Naharudin agreed to give evidence against the third man charged in Australia with preparing a terror attack, Faheem Khalid Lodhi.

Also lining up against Mr Lodhi, when his committal hearing starts on December 14, will be three US-based prisoners, who will provide evidence by video-link claiming they had met him in training camps run by the outlawed terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba.

And the interest of Australian Federal Police in American prisoners does not stop there. Around the same time the trio of witnesses against Mr Lodhi were coming forward, AFP agents were receiving information from at least one other detainee about another Australian — Jihad Jack Thomas.

The Melbourne-based convert to Islam on Thursday became the fifth man charged under Australian laws with terrorism offences.

The case against him will depend heavily on what people who claim to have met him, amid the al-Qa’ida milieu in Pakistan and Afghanistan, have told investigators.

Police believe Mr Thomas had spent time with al-Qa’ida operatives throughout 2002 and had received money from them in order to re-establish himself in Australia.

If convicted on the charges — receiving funds from al-Qa’ida and providing assistance of his own to operatives — Mr Thomas will likely become the closest Australian link to the group.

His two rivals for the title are fellow convert David Hicks and Egyptian-born Australian Mamdouh Habib — both being held in US detention in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Hicks is alleged to have spent his time in Afghanistan in late-2001 with the Taliban — the Islamic ideologues who sanctioned and supported al-Qa’ida in Afghanistan until the US-led invasion that year.

According to the US military, Habib is alleged to have forged closer links with al-Qa’ida, and the key splinter group, LET.

Although yet to be formally charged, the case against Habib centres on claims he helped train at least one of the September 11 hijackers, had prior knowledge of the attacks and had helped move chemicals around Afghanistan.

The linchpin of the terror captives is a man allegedly known to all three — al-Qa’ida’s former chief of military operations and the man behind 9/11, Khalid Shaikh Mohammed.

He too has been talking, providing the CIA and America’s allies with a bounty of insights into what he plotted and who he ran as agents until his capture in March last year. As revealed by The Australian in September, Khalid had planned to travel to Australia one month before the 9/11 attacks, when he was granted a multiple-entry Australian visa.

He has confirmed meeting several of the Australian men charged, including the only man so far convicted of terrorism in Australia, Jack Roche, who is now serving a nine-year sentence for plotting to bomb the Israeli embassy in Canberra and assassinate Jewish businessman Joe Gutnick.

There is a strong element of scepticism among some investigators about why those captured so far have been so willing to divulge their secrets.

However, their co-operation does not surprise all experts.

“These men are jihadis,” said Singapore-based terrorism analyst Rohan Gunaratna. “When they are captured, their mission is over. They are proud of what they have done and not scared to share it.”

AP: Hezbollah-linked TV station allowed to broadcast in EU

The French public broadcasting regulator authorized an Arabic-language television station close to the Lebanese Shiite Muslim Hezbollah group to transmit programs within the European Union.

The Al-Manar station, well known within the Arabic world, had committed itself in an agreement “not to incite hatred, violence or discrimination based on race, sex, religion or nationality,” said the French Audiovisual Council.

Jewish groups had earlier urged French authorities not to grant a licence to the channel to transmit programmes in France after it had put out material criticized for perceived anti-Semitic content.

Following complaints, the audiovisual authority asked Al-Manar to submit a reasoned application to register as a broadcasting organisation.

A top French court in August warned Lebanese-based Al-Manar channel it would curtail its satellite transmissions to France if it did not commit itself to a code of professional conduct.

(Italics added for emphasis)

Feds conduct raids; 13 suspects charged

Federal counter-terrorism agents swept down on homes and businesses in Seattle yesterday, conducting searches and charging 13 men with gun, immigration and bank-fraud violations.

The FBI said it searched 19 Seattle-area homes, businesses and vehicles. Federal agents detained five other people on immigration charges, said FBI Special Agent Robbie Burroughs.

None of the men targeted in the raids is accused under terrorism statutes. However, the federal charges unsealed yesterday allege the ringleader of the bank-fraud case told a paid FBI informant that his “whole Muslim crew” was involved in stealing money because “you can’t go to war broke.”

According to the complaint, the purported ringleader, a drug felon named Karim Abdullah Assalaam, told an acquaintance that the money obtained through the fraud “goes to help our Muslim brothers and sisters. … It goes to the cause, not like it goes to me and you.”

However, the complaint alleges that his half-brother, Attawwaab Muhammad Fard, who is also charged, used some of the money to buy a used Lexus. “There was a lot of jihad talk,” said one highly placed federal law-enforcement official familiar with the case. “But most of the money went into their pockets.”

(Sounds like Yasser Arafat and his stolen billions.)

JERUSALEM POST: Tunnel collapses near Rafah; at least 3 killed

Between three to five Palestinians were killed on Thursday when a tunnel collapsed near Rafah, on the border between Israel and Egypt, not far from the IDF’s Tarmit outpost.

According to IDF officials, Palestinians informed the local District Coordination Office of a land collapse in which up to five Palestinians were buried.

Officials said it appears that the Palestinians were in the midst of digging a tunnel when the collapse occurred.

UPDATE:
Death toll is now up to 5.

UPDATE 2:
Three survivors arrested.

We Do Not Regret the Death of Arafat, who Expressed his Joy at Sadat’s Assassination

While PA Chairman Yasser Arafat was dying, some columnists in the Egyptian government press avoided expressing hope for his recovery. They explained their position as stemming from Arafat’s joyful behavior following the assassination of Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat. The following are excerpts from two articles on the subject:

‘I Do Not Care at All Whether He Remains Unconscious’

Anwar Wagdi, a c olumnist for the Egyptian government weekly Akhbar Al-Youm, wrote on November 6, 2004:

“I do not know what will become of the Palestinian president Yasser Arafat, and I do not care at all whether he remains unconscious in the recovery room of a hospital in Paris or whether he suddenly awakens, dons his military uniform, and boards the plane to return to Ramallah, with a broad grin on his face and his two famous fingers reaching the skies in [his] traditional sign of victory, a victory that never was throughout the long decades that have gone by…

“My lack of interest in Arafat’s fate does not stem from a lack of humanity toward a poor, sick person, who is suffering the agony of dying, but [stems from the fact] that I have not forgotten, and will not forget, as long as I live, how Arafat jumped for joy, dancing, singing, and praising [the killers] as soon as he learned of the death of the late Egyptian President Anwar Al-Sadat on October 6, 1981.

“The picture of Yasser Arafat exchanging congratulations with those surrounding him on the occasion of the death of the ‘traitor’ and the ‘agent’ – as they had the audacity to describe the Egyptian president … prevents me from expressing solidarity with Abu Ammar [i.e. Yasser Arafat], whatever his fate may be.” [1]

‘We in Egypt will Never Forget how Yasser Arafat Broadcast the Song ‘Rejoice My Heart’ in the [West] Bank and the [Gaza] Strip when President Al-Sadat was Assassinated’

In a similar vein, columnist and former editor Anis Mansour wrote on November 10, 2004 in the Egyptian government daily Al-Ahram:

“Life is in the hands of Allah, O Abu Ammar. and one must not gloat over a death. [However,] we in Egypt will never forget how Yasser Arafat broadcast the song ‘Rejoice My Heart’ in the [West] Bank and the [Gaza] Strip when President Al-Sadat was assassinated, [nor will we forget] the exclamations of joy regarding ‘the fall of the Zionist traitor, agent, criminal, and exterminator Anwar Al-Sadat!’

“What has passed is dead. And the dead has already paid his debt and must not be beaten. Yasser Arafat has left the Palestinian people facing a difficult choice and a test. This opportunity must not be missed. The Palestinian people must prove to the world that it can have one stand and one leadership in order to renew the struggle in a different form…

“In the event that the Palestinians are divided in their opinions regarding who should be their leader and in the event that they direct their guns toward themselves and there is a civil war – they will give Israel, the U.S., and the entire world a strong justification to cease all negotiations, because there is no one [Palestinian leader] with whom an understanding can be reached, but [instead there are] many.

“If the absence of such a person continues for a long time, Israel will shelve the road map plan and there will be no map and no road, but anarchy

in Palestine, and that will constitute a danger to Israel’s security. [In such an event,] there will be no escape, and the U.N., the U.S., the European Community, and the Arab League will publish a resolution concerning Palestine, and in the future there will be those who [talk] about the need to occupy Palestine or make it a protectorate.

“In order to avoid such a thing, the Palestinian people must quickly choose a wise leadership – otherwise, there will be thousands of bad scenarios that will take us back for another century.”

AP: Saudi Forces Arrest 5 Suspected Militants

Saudi police have arrested five suspected militants following a shootout that killed a policeman, the state-run Saudi Press Agency reported Wednesday.

The agency, quoting an unidentified Interior Ministry official, said the clash took place Tuesday in al-Qassim, 220 miles northwest of Riyadh, the capital.

The official said two of those arrested were suspected terrorists, adding that one was severely wounded in the shootout that also killed one policeman and wounded eight others.

Police seized automatic rifles, pistols, pipe bombs and ammunition from the militants, plus computers, communication equipment and more than $10,000.

HAARETZ: Palestinian who gave Iraqi money to bombers’ families jailed

A military court last week sentenced the Palestinian leader of the Arab Liberation Front to eight years in prison for receiving funds from Iraq and distributing them to the families of suicide bombers in the West Bank.

Rakhad Salaam, a resident of the West Bank, received money and directives from Iraq while Saddam Hussein was in power.

In addition to an eight year prison sentence, the Judea Military Court also fined Salaam NIS five million.

JERUSALEM POST: Abbas demands ceasefire from factions

In his first major political gambit since being appointed PLO executive committee chairman, Mahmoud Abbas is coaxing leaders of the major Palestinian armed groups, including Hamas, to suspend terrorist attacks against Israel in the lead-up to the January 9 elections for Palestinian Authority chairman, sources in Gaza said Tuesday.

The Palestinian leadership believes a major terrorist attack could derail its hopes for smooth elections.

While none of the militant groups wants to play the role of elections spoiler, the more extremist of the Fatah elements and the Islamic groups consider Abbas something of a traitor for his concessions to Israel during his stint as prime minister in 2003.

Both Hamas and Fatah sources said that while open talk of a cease-fire has so far not reached the agenda “it is implicit that there is a need to create the right environment for elections, and that there are certain arrangements to be made before that can happen,” Palestinian Legislative Council member Ziad Abu Amr told The Jerusalem Post Tuesday night.

(Is he going to claim that this satisfies his Roadmap obligation to “fight terrorism and disarm terror groups?”)

UPDATE:
Final word is that Hamas and Islamic Jihad are saying no, and they will not participate in the elections because both groups reject the Oslo Accords under which the PA was founded. The key disagreement with the Oslo Accords by these groups is the recognition of the State of Israel’s right to exist. However, Hamas and Islamic Jihad have expressed a willingness to share power with/within the PLO because the PLO never officially removed the provisions calling for the destruction of Israel.

UPDATE 2:
From Reuters:

Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas on Wednesday vowed a crackdown on armed groups operating in Palestinian areas in order to smooth the way to a Jan. 9 election for a successor to Yasser Arafat.

Abbas urged Israel to halt “aggressive” military action in the West Bank and Gaza to help him restore order before the vote in his first media interview since taking over as head of the Palestine Liberation Organization after the death of Arafat.

“Steps will be taken to end the public display or show of arms,” Abbas told Reuters, saying action would be taken before the election. “We have to move on to a new era.

“We will act firmly against anyone who violates the law so that we can make the citizens feel secure.”

But in promising to tackle factional lawlessness, Abbas left unclear whether security forces might also act to curb militants preparing to carry out attacks on Israelis — a key demand of a U.S.-backed peace plan envisaging a Palestinian state.

The story was written by Wafa Amr, so it may be necessary to take it with a grain of salt.

HAARETZ: Militants threaten to hang PA men suspected of corruption

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades groups in the northern West Bank threatened Tuesday to establish “revolutionary courts” in order to try Palestinian Authority figures and Fatah officials who served under Yasser Arafat and are suspected of corruption.

They threatened to take the law into their own hands and alluded to the public hanging of officials found guilty in their courts.

The announcement by the group, Fatah’s military wing, included the names of senior PA figures and those who had held senior positions in the past who were allegedly involved in corrupted dealings while the late Palestinian leader was in power.

“We are presenting you with our demands and hope that you will take them seriously. We are expecting substantive and quick results within one month. If this does not happen, the Brigades will use their rifles to put an end to all expressions of corruption. They will take the law into their own hands and will establish revolutionary public courts and hanging scaffolds in city squares,” the open letter read.

The announcement, headed by a demand to reveal the causes of Arafat’s death, was written as an open letter to PLO Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, to Chairman of the Palestinian National Council Salim Al-Za’anun and interim PA Chairman Rouhi Fattouh.

HAARETZ: Lebanon says Katyusha fire terror, sets roadblocks in south

(Knock me over with a feather… the same people called this kind of thing “legitimate resistance in response to the occupation of Cheba Farms” not a few weeks ago.)

Lebanese Information Minister Eli Firzli on Wednesday termed Katyusha fire terrorism, and said that the army has erected roadblocks in the southern part of the country in order to deter militants from firing the rockets across the border with Israel.
In an interview to the London-based A-Shark al Awsat newspaper, Firzli said the Katyusha fire was terrorism and that whoever was behind it was responsible for the anticipated Israeli offensive in Lebanon.

Two Katyusha rockets were fired at Israel on Monday night, by a previously unknown Lebanese group. One of the rockets fell in the sea off the Lebanese coast, and the second landed close to the northern town of Shlomi. There were no injuries or damage caused. Hezbollah denied any connection to the strike.

There has been no Israel Defense Forces response to the rocket attack.

JERUSALEM POST: Terrorist involved in Pearl kidnapping killed

An Islamic militant wanted in connection with the abduction and beheading of American journalist Daniel Pearl was killed Wednesday in a police raid in Karachi, an officer said.

Asim Ghafoor died after a shootout with police and intelligence agents as they tried to arrest him at a hideout in the west of the city, said Javed Shah Bokhari, deputy inspector general of city police.

Ghafoor, who is a Pakistani, opened fire as he tried to flee but was wounded when police returned fire, and later died in a hospital, Bokhari said. Police seized a pistol that Ghafoor used in the shooting.

It was not clear what role Ghafoor might have played in the kidnapping and murder of Pearl, a Wall Street Journal correspondent who disappeared on January 23, 2002, in Karachi while researching a story on Islamic militancy in Pakistan.

The Ugandan government is one of many that have joined the US-led global war on terror, keen to be seen on the right side of Washington.

But the aid dollars it has been rewarded with have gone hand in hand with escalating conflict between government forces and rebels - as well as soaring poverty. Critics say Uganda is an example of Western donors increasingly viewing aid as a means of fighting terrorism, rather than addressing the day-to-day needs of poor people.

Uganda, one of a number of countries jostling to sign up for the US-led ‘war on terror’, has been rewarded by Washington with a golden hello. Now critics are accusing the US and other donor countries of linking development aid with the war on terror and making matters worse for ordinary Ugandans.

Critics say the increase in aid dollars have gone hand-in-hand with rising conflict in the north and soaring poverty. And in October the United Nations called the situation in northern Uganda the most neglected humanitarian crisis in the world.

Keep Reading

AL-JAZEERA: Al-Aqsa Brigades endorse al-Barghuthi

The Palestinian resistance group Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades says it is opposed to Mahmud Abbas as Yasir Arafat’s successor and would instead back jailed West Bank Fatah leader Marwan al-Barghuthi.

A spokesman said: “We do not support Abu Mazin [Abbas] for the election and we have decided to vote for Marwan Barghuthi to be our candidate for president.”

Abbas, the new Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO) leader, is expected to be formally named as the candidate for the 9 January election for the mainstream Fatah party that he co-founded with Arafat, of which the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades is an armed offshoot.

A poll conducted last month said al-Barghuthi was the second most popular choice for Palestinian Authority president trailing Arafat, who died on 11 November in a Paris hospital.

Fadwa al-Barghuthi said her husband - widely regarded as the inspiration behind the second Palestinian intifada - was the strongest candidate for the presidency, but that his bid would depend on Fatah.

CNN: Madrid bombing suspect pleads guilty

A 16-year-old boy pleaded guilty Tuesday to carrying explosives used in the Madrid terror bombings that killed 191 people.

He was sentenced to six years in a juvenile detention center and five years probation.

The brief court session marked the first trial in connection with the March 11 attacks. The boy, whose identity was not disclosed, was shielded by a screen in the high-security courtroom.

HAARETZ: Al-Aqsa head: Support for Abbas if he keeps to key demands

The head of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the West Bank city of Jenin told Britain’s Financial Times newspaper Tuesday that he would support PLO leader Mahmoud Abbas as the candidate for the Palestinian Authority chairmanship as long as he abided by the Palestinians’ “unalterable demands.”

In an interview published Tuesday, Zacharia Zubeidi told the FT that he would accept Abbas as the Fatah candidate if he were freely elected, but said that his loyalty would only last for as long as he kept to the enduring Palestinian stance in negotiations.

“But if he subsequently goes back on our unalterable demands - a state on pre-1967 lines, its capital in Jerusalem, the right of return of refugees and the release of prisoners - we will not recognize him,” he said.

Also, Hamas is rejecting the call by Mahmoud Abbas to halt attacks.

HAARETZ: Lebanese sources confirm two Katyushas fired at Israel

Lebanese security sources on Monday confirmed that two Katyusha rockets were fired at Israel from inside Lebanese territory, saying that one landed in the sea and the other hit near to the northern Israeli town of Shlomi, just across the border.

Earlier, residents of the Western Galilee reported hearing an explosion in the region, and Israeli security forces were dispatched to search the area.

The Lebanese sources said the Katyushas were fired at around 7 P.M. and that police were trying to find out who had fired them.

Initial indications were that the Lebanese-based militant group Hezbollah was not involved.

UPDATE:
HAARETZ: UN calls on Lebanon to prevent rocket fire at Israel

If you say UN with a long slur, it sounds like “Yawn.”

JERUSALEM POST: Source: Fatah members angered at Abbas candidacy

Many members of the Fatah are angered at the news that the Fatah Central Committee is likely to nominate Mahmoud Abbas as its candidate for the planned January 9 general elections in the Palestinian Authority, according to a PA source close to Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei.

“In Fatah, they know that Arafat never forgave Abbas now Abbas wants to take Arafat’s place, and many don’t like it”, one PA source said.

HAARETZ: Hamas, Jihad tell Abbas they won’t participate in elections

The leaders of militant groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad told PLO executive committee chairman Mahmoud Abbas on Monday that they would not participate in the upcoming elections for Palestinian Authority chairman, Israel Radio reported.

The radio quoted a Hamas spokesman who attended the talks as saying that the group would not participate in the election set for January, as the election had been announced without consulting Hamas.

The Hamas official also called for a unified Palestinian leadership and said that in the event of parliamentary elections, the group’s political wing would discuss whether to participate.

A spokesman for Islamic Jihad, Khalid el-Batch, also said Monday that his group would not participate in the elections for a new chairman, but added that the organization would also boycott future parliamentary elections on the grounds that an independent Palestinian state had not yet been created, the radio said.

JERUSALEM POST: Islamic Jihad, Aksa Brigades call truce

Both the Islamic Jihad and the Fatah Al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades declared on Monday that they are prepared to call a 60-day cessation of any activity within Israeli territory until the upcoming Palestinian Authority presidential elections.

Leaders of the two groups said that their organizations would commit to a virtual hudna, or truce, halting activity within the Green Line until the elections, which are slated for January 9.

Abu Khaled, a leading figure in the political branch of the Islamic Jihad told The Jerusalem Post that his group would not want to be seen as responsible for sabotaging the elections.

“For that reason,” Khaled said, “we intend to withhold any attacks on Israelis within the Green Line for the next 60 days.”

JERUSALEM POST: Gunfire at Gaza mourning tent for Yasser Arafat
HAARETZ: 2 dead in militant fire as Abbas visits Gaza mourning tent

At least two people were killed Sunday when the entourage of former Palestinian prime minister Mahmoud Abbas (Abu Mazen) came under militant gunfire during a visit to a mourning tent for Yasser Arafat in Gaza City, witnesses said.

Abbas, named earlier Sunday as Fatah’s candidate for the Palestinian Authority chairmanship, was unhurt. Witnesses said that at least one of the dead was one of Abbas’ security guard. Several other people were reportedly wounded in the shooting.

According to Channel 2 television, Abbas was accompanied by Mohammed Dahlan, the former Palestinian security chief in the Gaza Strip.

No word yet on whether the “high velocity lead poisoning” was a secret Zionist plot.

JERUSALEM POST: Al-Aksa: New ‘Yasser 1’ rocket can reach Ashkelon

The Al-Aksa Martyr’s Brigades in the Gaza Strip announced that it has developed a new rocket called ‘Yasser 1’ capable of reaching the Israeli city of Ashkelon, Army Radio reported Sunday.

The group, which is affiliated with Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, made the announcement during a rally organized by Fatah members in Gaza city in memory of the late Palestinian Authority chairman who died early Thursday.

The group described the new rocket as an improved version of the Kassam with a record firing range of 15 km.

The TSA website has this page with photos of prohibited items found during TSA screening … including the teddy bear concealing a handgun that a 10 year old boy carried into Orlando International (it was given to him by a stranger).

Following up on the post prior, AV Web has a post on the crop duster aircraft stolen from Ejido Queretaro, near Mexicali, Mexico, on Nov. 1. The stolen aircraft, a Piper PA 25 Pawnee, is registered in Mexico and bears the tail number XBCYP. If you see the aircraft, the TSA says you should immediately contact the TSA General Aviation Hotline at (866) 427-3287.

You may read the TSA Advisory, which includes a photo of a similar aircraft, here.

I’m a bit surprised (maybe I shouldn’t be?) at the total lack of reporting on this item, even among the SoCal press. A Google News search turns up the AV Web and TIME items, and nothing else.

This from a TIME email:

An al-Qaeda operative has told interrogators of a plan to smuggle nuclear materials to Mexico, and then into the U.S., TIME reports in Monday’s edition. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge met publicly with top Mexican officials last week to discuss border security and smuggling rings that could be used to slip al-Qaeda terrorists into the country. TIME also reports that senior U.S. officials are worried a crop-duster aircraft stolen at night two weeks ago south of San Diego has not been recovered.

Here’s the story online.

Now, about that crop duster … off to find some news; if you have any, post it in the comments.

Haaretz reports:

Dutch authorities say 13 young Muslims arrested on terrorism charges in the Netherlands following the murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh are members of a radical Islamic group with international links and a Syrian-born spiritual leader. Dutch intelligence calls the group the “Hofstad Netwerk,” and a Justice Ministry official says 43-year-old Syrian Redouan al-Issar, the alleged spiritual leader, has disappeared without a trace.

TurkishPress reports

Dutch police detained 38 members of the terrorist organization PKK in their country on Friday. The Dutch Prosecutor’s Office said that Dutch police found a training camp of the terrorist organization near Eindhoven in their operation, and detained 38 terrorists in their operations against the training camp and several houses in Eindhoven, The Hague, Rotterdam and Capellaan den IJssel. The Office stated that police seized many documents, weapons and equipment in their operation. Twenty of the detainees were preparing to stage terrorist attacks in Turkey, the Office noted.

JERUSALEM POST: Ayalon: If PA reforms, the sky is the limit

Yasser Arafat’s legacy was terrorism, and Israel is looking forward to see a new Palestinian leadership committed to fight terrorism, Israel’s ambassador to the United States Daniel Ayalon said Friday.

“If this is the case then the sky is the limit,” Ayalon said in an interview with CNN.

“We proved this in the past when we made peace with Egypt and Jordan. If the Palestinians use this opportunity and make democratic and security reforms, with one rule and one authority, without all these terror organizations, then we can move forward,” Ayalon said.

The ambassador added that the anti-Israeli incitement in Palestinian media and schools needs to be stopped. He added that Palestinian school textbooks do not recognize Israel.

“The new Palestinian leadership will be measured not by their words but by the results of their actions. If the Palestinian put an end to the terror and dismantle the terrorist groups then we can move forward,” Ayalon said.

JERUSALEM POST: Palestinians vow to step up fight

As Yasser Arafat’s successors took pains to stress their commitment to the peace process and a new era, representatives of various factions published a statement vowing to step up the fight against Israel.

Fatah, Hamas, Islamic Jihad and other groups issued separate leaflets calling on the Palestinians to escalate the “struggle” against Israel in the post-Arafat era. “We must continue the fight in order to fulfill President Arafat’s dream,” read one of the leaflets.

Calls for continuing the intifada were heard in rallies across the West Bank and Gaza Strip, as hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets, mourning their leader and torching tires.

Security forces were instructed to exercise restraint, but in a number of cases were forced to use rubber bullets and tear gas to disperse the mobs, which threw stones, rocks, cement blocks, and in some cases bombs at troops.

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon urged the new Palestinian leadership to fight terrorism, and added that Israel will continue in its efforts to reach a settlement with the Palestinians without delay.

JERUSALEM POST: Hizbullah: We can bomb Israel from the air

Hizbullah’s leader on Friday said guerrillas who earlier in the week sent an unmanned reconnaissance drone into northern Israel are capable of bombing Israeli targets from the air with the aircraft.

The drone Hizbullah flew over Israel on Sunday “can be laden with a quantity of explosives, 40 to 50 kilograms (88 to 110 pounds) and can hit any target, be it water or power plant, a military base or airport,” Sheik Hassan Nasrallah told a mass rally in eastern Lebanon.

Europeans have not yet realised the seriousness of the threat of global terrorism, NATO’s secretary general has warned.

There is a critical “perception gap” between Europe and the US, said Jaap de Hoop Scheffer in New York on Thursday (11 November).

Differences between European allies and the US are one of the reasons for the strained relations within NATO, stressed the head of the alliance.

“If the gap is to be bridged, it has to be done from the European side and not from the United States”, he said according to IHT.

EUobserver

Israel Police prepared to hit the highest level of alert– essentially signifying a state of war - Thursday night, as preparations for Palestinian
Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat’s funeral continued in Cairo and Ramallah.

Police said that at 6 a.m. Friday the force will go on Operation Alert Level D – the last time used two years ago prior to America’s invasion of Iraq and following threats made by Saddam Hussein that he will launch missiles against Israel.

Under the new alert level, all members of the Israel Police will be called up for active duty, including cadets and policemen currently on vacation.

Read more…

HAARETZ: Israel plans posthumous anti-Arafat campaign

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said yesterday that after the funeral of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat, Israel will launch a propaganda campaign against him. The political-security cabinet yesterday approved the proposed plans to bury Arafat in Ramallah.

“It is feared that after his funeral Arafat will become a national hero and freedom-fighter,” Sharon said. “We will launch a tough struggle to portray his murderous character and the fact that he is a strategist of world terror who hurt innocent people, both Israelis and American diplomats,” he said.

JERUSALEM POST: Al Aksa now Arafat Martyrs Brigades

The armed wing of Fatah on Thursday announced its decision to change its name from the Aksa Martyrs Brigades to the Brigades of Martyr Yasser Arafat.

The decision came as many young guard Fatah activists in the West Bank expressed dissatisfaction with the new division of powers in the Palestinian Authority and the PLO, saying they were once again being shunned by the old guard.

Most of the criticism is directed against Mahmoud Abbas, who has replaced Arafat as chairman of the PLO executive committee, and Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei, who took over as head of the National Security Council, a body that oversees the work of the Palestinian security forces.

Both Abbas and Qurei, along with Rouhi Fattouh, who on Thursday was sworn in as acting chairman of the PA, belong to the old guard in the ruling Fatah faction.

“The Palestinian leadership is committing the same mistake it made in 1994, when it ignored the young generation,” complained Jawad Swaiti, a 28-year-old Fatah operative who spent five years in Israeli prison. “Unfortunately, the new leadership does not include new faces from the grassroots leaders. They are all Tunisians who came back with President Arafat in 1994.”

JERUSALEM POST: Barghouti: Intifada must go on

The Palestinian people should carry on with the intifada and the death of Yasser Arafat should not signal the end of the “resistance” against Israel, Marwan Barghouti, the jailed Fatah leader, said Thursday.

“It is important that we hold on to our national principles and values that were made sacred by the shahid (martyr) leader [Arafat] who sacrificed his life for our cause, for national unity, and for the intifada and resistance,” Barghouti said in a statement issued by his lawyer.

HAARETZ: New Fatah leader open to peace talks, ready to fight

The new leader of the Palestinian nationalist Fatah movement, chosen to replace Yasser Arafat, said on Thursday he was open to peace negotiations with Israel but also ready to pursue armed struggle if they failed.

“Resistance is the path to arriving at a political settlement,” Farouk Kaddoumi told Hezbollah’s al-Manar TV station by telephone from Cairo.

“We are not saying we are capable of defeating the Israeli army. But this policy was set out by the PLO when the martyr, our brother Abu Ammar (Arafat), stood before the United Nations in 1974 and said ‘I hold a rifle in one hand and an olive branch in the other. Don’t knock the olive branch from my hand’…

“He meant: ‘I’m ready for there to be political talks, but if they go astray then we will continue carrying the rifle’, and that’s been clear since 1974.”

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Monday & Thursday. Thursday’s Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Yasser Arafat is dead. His rotting corpse will be put in a crate, shoved in the back of a cargo plane and sent to be buried in the most famous rubble heap in the Middle East: the al-Muqata compound in Ramallah. Before then, there will be a memorial in Cairo. Europe will not send heads of state, but foreign ministers, to attend. The reactions have varied. Kofi says he was ‘deeply moved’ upon learning that the career terrorist had died in his bed. Tony Blair sent his condolences to Arafat’s family. Jacques Chirac called him a “man of courage”. Hamas, the al-Aksa Martyrs Brigades and Islamic Jihad all hold Israel responsible for Arafat dying of something Zionist like being old and unhealthy.

• In the Netherlands, the Dutch are moving against known terrorist cells. Politically, they’ve called for Hezbollah to be listed as a terrorist organisation in the European Union. Several suspects have been arrested in raids across the Netherlands. In Amsterdam, two police officers were wounded by grenades. Dan Darling has an analysis of the likely perpetrators.

• It’s on in Fallujah. So far, so good. Joe Katzman has a continuously updated page of news from the city. Another good resource is The Adventures of Chester, the blog of a former Marine who served in Iraq.

Other Topics Today Include: Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigade is back!; Russians nail assassin; U.S. warns of Uzbekistan attacks; Singapore guards facilities; PFLP wanted to hit French; al-Qaeda may disintegrate; GSPC murders innocents; caucasian suicide bomber in Iraq; IAEA: nucelar terrorism a threat (you read it here first); Bahrain Ansar al-Islam threatens U.S. and U.K.

Read the Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Shalom: Barghouti will not be released from prison

Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom reacted Thursday to speculation that Israel would release jailed Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti as a goodwill gesture to the new Palestinian leadership.

“Baghouti was sentenced to life and he will be in prison for the rest of his life. He is a murderer who is responsible for murdering many Israelis,” Shalom said.

Baghouti was tried and found quilty by a Tel Avviv District Court in June for the murder of five civilians and of involvement in terrorist attacks, and is imprisoned on 5 consecutive life sentences and an additional 40 years in prison.

Baghouti is the most senior Palestinian leader to be caught by Israel to date.

JERUSALEM POST: Three terrorists killed near Netzarim

Security forces shot two terrorist cells Thursday afternoon south of Netzarim in the Gaza Strip.

Three terrorists were killed and it appears that four more were wounded.

The IDF said that soldiers spotted armed Palestinians approaching the security fence and opened fire, and confirmed hitting several.

They’re not sure exactly what killed him, or why he died, but they’re sure the Joos did it.

From the AFP via The Australian :

The militant Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades urged militants to attack Israel to avenge the “Zionist assassination” of Yasser Arafat, who died hours earlier in a Paris hospital, said a statement received by AFP today.

”Zionist Israel and the government of (Israeli Prime Minister Ariel) Sharon are responsible for the assassination of our leader by putting him under siege,” the armed offshoot of Arafat’s mainstream Fatah party said.

Announcing a state of high-alert across the Palestinian territories, it called on people to “hit out and strike the occupation everywhere. This crime will not go without punishment.”

Also from The Australian :

A top leader of a Palestinian militant group today publicly accused Israel of killing Yasser Arafat.

Neither doctors nor Palestinian leaders would say what caused Arafat’s death today after days in a coma at a Paris hospital. Rumours he had been poisoned by Israel had swirled for weeks.

“I hold Israel responsible for the crime of killing Abu Ammar,” Hamas’ top political leader, Khaled Mashaal, told Al-Jazeera television by telephone, using the late Palestinian leader’s nom de guerre. He offered no evidence.

Mashaal referred to his own poisoning by Israeli agents in 1997 in Jordan. Mashaal survived only after Israel sent the antidote under pressure from the late Jordanian King Hussein.

“French, Arab or Palestinian doctors may not be able to find evidence” Arafat had been poisoned, Mashaal said.

“Yes, death is an act of God and a man the age of brother Abu Ammar may die a natural death, but all the circumstances which we have seen in the past two weeks and medical reports indicate that brother Abu Ammar had been poisoned,” Mashaal said.

Rohan Jayasekera, Associate Editor of the free speech advocacy magazine Index on Censorship, has called Theo Van Gogh’s work “An abuse of his right to free speech” and urged readers to “applaud Theo van Gogh’s death as the marvellous piece of theatre it was”.

In Mr. Jayasekera’s editorial (hat tip), he blames Van Gogh’s death on the nature of Van Gogh’s criticisms of Muslims.

Van Gogh’s juvenile shock-horror art finally led him to build an exploitative working relationship with Somalia-born Dutch MP Ayann Hirsi Ali, whose terrible personal experience of abuse has driven her to a traumatizing loss of her Muslim faith.

[snip]

A sensational climax to a lifetime’s public performance, stabbed and shot by a bearded fundamentalist, a message from the killer pinned by a dagger to his chest, Theo van Gogh became a martyr to free expression. His passing was marked by a magnificent barrage of noise as Amsterdam hit the streets to celebrate him in the way the man himself would have truly appreciated.

And what timing! Just as his long-awaited biographical film of Pim Fortuyn’s life is ready to screen. Bravo, Theo! Bravo!

The federal government will lower the terror alert status for financial institutions in New York, New Jersey and Washington, The Associated Press learned Wednesday.

The reduction from orange to yellow, the midpoint on the government’s five-level terror warning system, comes three months after the alert was raised amid concerns the institutions could be Al Qaeda (search) targets. Yellow is “elevated,” while orange is considered a “high” threat of attack.

Read more…

JERUSALEM POST: Judge: Islamic charities liable for shooting death

A federal judge Wednesday found two US-based Islamic charities and an alleged fund-raiser for Hamas liable for damages in the 1996 shooting death of an American teenager in Israel.

A jury trial is set to start December 1 to determine the amount of damages in the $300 million lawsuit filed by the parents of David Boim, 17, who was gunned down while waiting for a bus in the West Bank.

In a 107-page opinion, Magistrate Judge Arlander Keys held Texas-based Holy Land Foundation and another charity, the Islamic Association for Palestine, liable for damages in the shooting.

Keys also held Mohammed Salah, a Chicago man currently under indictment in an alleged Hamas fund-raising conspiracy, liable for damages in the May 13, 1996, shooting.

“This is a huge win for victims of terrorism,” said Stephen J. Landes, an attorney for Stanley and Joyce Boim, former New Yorkers now living in Jerusalem, who brought the suit on behalf of their son and his estate.

Reuters reports:

Dutch police stormed an apartment and arrested two people on Wednesday, ending a 14-hour stand-off that began when suspects sought in anti-terrorism probe wounded three officers in a hand grenade blast. A police spokesman said a special police unit entered the apartment in The Hague to end the drama that began when officers launched a pre-dawn raid on the building. Police said the suspects resisted arrested and threw a grenade at them. Heavily armed police had circled the building all day, which is located in a poor neighborhood of The Hague where almost half the population is immigrant. The area was cordoned off and the airspace over the city closed. One bystander estimated there were almost 200 police on the scene, including officers wearing balaclava masks and carrying machineguns.

The BBC reports:

A police anti-terror operation in The Hague has ended with the arrest of two suspects after a violent 14-hour siege, Dutch officials say. Three police officers were wounded in a grenade explosion earlier during the raid. Two of them remain in hospital. One of the suspects held was injured in the shoulder, officials said. Earlier, a Muslim school in Uden was burned down - part of a spate of attacks after the murder of film-maker Theo van Gogh, a critic of Islam.

More info at:
Expatica.com/Netherlands
NewsNow/Netherlands

JERUSALEM POST: Amr Moussa: Arafat was never obstacle to peace

The future of the Middle East depends on the commitment of the United States and Israel to a Palestinian state, not on the life or death of Yasser Arafat, Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa said Wednesday.

“It depends on the attitude of the Israeli government whether there will be a real moving ahead and offering to reach peace or not,” Moussa said on being asked how Arafat’s death would affect the Mideast peace process.

“President Arafat was never an obstacle to peace,” Moussa told a conference at the Hotel Ritz in Madrid. “He was sometimes a pretext (for others) not to move toward peace.

“People can go, leaders can go, human beings live and die but the cause, the rights, the people never do,” Moussa said.

From the AFP via the ABC :

Dutch police have mounted a major anti-terror raid in The Hague, the city’s Attorney-General has said.

The raid on an apartment came as part of an operation launched by the public prosecutor’s office, Hans Moraal said, without giving details.

Three policemen were injured, two seriously, when one of the suspects threw a handgrenade at them, police spokesman Frans Rijnswou said.

Mr Rijnswou said airspace over The Hague had been closed and residents in five streets close to the targeted apartment evacuated before the operation commenced.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too.

This Regional Briefing focuses on the enigma that is Russia, via Joel Gaines of No Pundit Intended. Joel is a veteran of the Gulf War with the 3rd Armor Division, where he worked in an intelligence capacity. He speaks Russian, and has worked in several of the former soviet satellites.

TOP TOPICS

• A white cloud rose into the air above the Balakovskaya nuclear power plant near Saratov, causing some panic and a great deal of suspicion. Authorities say number 2 reactor was shut down after it malfunctioned, but that there has been no radiation leaked into the atmosphere and no health risk was posed to the public. The reactor has since been returned to an operational status

• Russia signed the Kyoto Protocol in 1999, but has just this month ratified it in a deal which will likely allow Russia entrance to the World Trade Organization. Putin has already secured several important endorsements for Russia and will probably use an upcoming meeting with the new EU Commission to secure the EU’s agreement to a WTO seat.

• The “on again - off again” discussions of an Iran/Russia nuclear fuel deal are - on again. Reports now indicate Russia and Iran may ink a deal in December 2004 in which Russia will provide nuclear fuel to Iran for use in their power generating reactors and Iran will return the spent fuel rods to Russia. Some see this as a means to ensure Iran is not enriching plutonium. However, there is nothing stopping Iran from weaponizing plutonium they may have secured from another source - perhaps in the form of unguarded material from an former soviet satellite.

Other Topics Today Include: computer market planned, selling dollars, energy is up, Yermolin criticizes Putin, public beer banned, YUKOS debt rises, Putin approval down 5%, Mashkhadov wants to surrender, Kadyrov Jr. worried about Wahhabism, Basayev justifies Beslan, Georgia and Russia duke it out at PACE, Russia and S. Korea building launch pad, Orthodox and Catholic cooperating, Vietnam and Russia celebrate 50 years, Russia mulls toll roads, Scientist un-acquited, Navy tests SU-27KUB

• Russia’s Economy
• Internal Politics
• Chechnya
• International Relations & Security
• Paging Mr. Bond…

JERUSALEM POST: Far-right hand out candy marking Arafat’s ‘death’

About a dozen Israeli far-right activists affiliated with the outlawed Kahane movement distributed candy flowers and wine to Jerusalem motorists at the entrance to the capital late Tuesday night in celebration over the impending death of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.

“Such should be the fate of all the enemies of Israel,” said self-declared Kahane spokesman Itamar Ben-Gvir.

The Los Angeles Times reports that Chechen security forces killed 22 separatist rebels, including Suleiman Khairulla, the self-proclaimed organizer of the assassination of Chechnya’s Akhmad Kadyrov.

President Kadyrov was killed in a May 9 bomb attack.

JERUSALEM POST: TA bombing dispatcher used forged press card

The Shin Bet revealed Tuesday that two Palestinian members of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine from Nablus have been arrested for involvement in the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv a week ago, in which three people were killed.

One of the suspects Bassam Khundaji smuggled the suicide bomber into Israel using a forged press card that was given to him at the Najah University, where he studied.

The Shin Bet noted that during interrogation the two suspects admitted that they initially planned to dispatch the 16-year-old bomber to the French Embassy in Tel Aviv and not the Carmel Market.

Winds of Change.NET Regional Briefings run on Tuesdays & Wednesdays, and sometimes Fridays too. This Regional Briefing focuses on Central Asia & the Caucasus, courtesy of Nathan Hamm of The Argus. Nathan served in Peace Corps Uzbekistan from 2000-2001.

TOP TOPIC

• A new government decree in Uzbekistan requires that all merchants must obtain new government licenses, open bank accounts, use cash registers, and sell their goods themselves. The new law would effectively eliminate much of the bazaar trading that is the lifeblood of Uzbek commerce and essential for most families to make ends meet. In response, a crowd of 10,000 rioted in Kokand, a city in the Ferghana Valley. Protesters raided a warehouse, set fire to police cars, and surrounded the mayor’s office. A smaller protest outside Ferghana city took place as women blocked a road and threatened to set themselves on fire (a very common form of suicide in Central Asia) unless officials reopened markets.

Other Topics Include: More on Uzbekistan Riots; Bush & Central Asia; Corruption High in the Region; India Follows China’s Lead; The Emptying of Tashkent; Terrorism Warning in Uzbekistan; Monitoring the Carolina Vote With Kazakhs; Saakashvili’s Honeymoon Over in Georgia; Armenia Pushes Back Iraq Deployment; Georgia Boosts Iraq Commitment and Receives Renewed US Military Assistance; Iran Tells Afghans to Go Home; Afghanistan’s Oldest Voter; Red Sox Nation’s Imperial Overstretch

Read The Rest…

While the cat’s away…

MAARIV: Would-be suicide bomber nabbed near Jenin

The wanted terrorist who was detained overnight west of Jenin, planned to carry out a suicide bombing attack in Israel, details released for publication this evening revealed.

… the mice still want to blow themselves up.

Very good review of the “Barcelona Process” can be found here. For those who do not know, the Barcelona Process is the European Union’s initiative to foster Democracy in the Middle East. Reading this is invaluable to understanding how Europe sees the situation of the Middle East, and why our approach is upsetting them so much.

Here is the bulls-eye quote form the document…

The United States and the European Union may find themselves clashing fairly often on whether or to what degree to engage these nations, creating opportunities for such states to play the United States and the European Union off one another.

A related key difference concerns the issue of enforced regime change. The United States argues that the only option for dealing with certain recalcitrant regimes (e.g., Saddam Hussein’s regime) is to remove them from power. Immediately after the invasion of Iraq, some U.S. officials warned of the potential for a similar fate for the government of Bashar Assad in Syria. In contrast, most Europeans favor a gradual, long-term approach to reform. They regard political reform in the Middle East as a generation-long challenge that will require patience and a need to work with entrenched regimes. Many Europeans have voiced fears that the United States has a far shorter attention span and is unwilling to commit to a decades-long endeavor. Strong differences over Iraq between the Americans and the Europeans starkly illustrate the damage to transatlantic relations that the issue of regime change can inflict

U.S. policymakers tend to seek out individuals who can serve as “champions” of reform, looking for an Arab Gorbachev who might spearhead regional reform. The Europeans are leery of identifying individual reformers as recipients for EU support, concerned that such choices will inevitably politicize aid.

This post was cross-posted here.

Stay Free.

HAARETZ: Four Palestinian militants killed by Israeli troops in Jenin

Israeli undercover forces shot and killed four Palestinians on Sunday in the West Bank town of Jenin, Palestinians said.

Palestinians sources said Israeli troops disguised as Arabs opened fire on a Palestinian vehicle, killing the four, all members of the Al Aqsa Martyrs’ Brigades, a violent offshoot of Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement.

Two of the men killed, Mahmoud Mashraqa and Fadi Agba’ria, were senior members of the organization. The third militant killed was identified as Mahmoud Fahmi. The identity of the fourth militant remains unknown.

Sources in Israel said the Palestinians had opened fire first on the IDF force, and were killed in the gun battle that followed.

HAARETZ: Hezbollah says it launched unmanned drone over northern Israel

Hezbollah announced on Sunday that an unmanned reconnaissance drone it launched flew sorties over northern Israel on Sunday morning.

Hezbollah made the announcement on a newscast aired on Al-Manar, its television network. The report said that the drone, known as the Mirsad-1, conducted its first sortie Sunday morning, reaching as far as Nahariya, before returning safely to its base in southern Lebanon.

“The new qualitative achievement comes as part of the natural response to Israel’s violation of Lebanon’s air space,” the organization said, adding that it would continue dispatching drones.

“Starting today, we will send our planes as we please,” the organization said.

UPDATE:
The IDF says it crashed inside Lebanese territory, never penetrating Israeli airspace.

HAARETZ: Mofaz: In Arafat’s absence, PA trying to halt terror

“Israel is preparing for a possible escalation in violence following the death of Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat,” Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz told ministers at a cabinet meeting on Sunday, adding that the Palestinian leadership that is taking shape in Ramallah is working to put an end to terror attacks.

Mofaz said “it seems the old guard has taken matters to hand, and it appears they are controlling the situation and have a desire to reach internal agreement on the day after Arafat dies? it appears they are calling for a united stance and an end to Hamas terror, however, there is no guarantee they will be successful.”

During his security review, Mofaz said the security establishment is also preparing for the possibility that Arafat will be buried in Gaza. “The moment there is an official request by the Palestinian Authority we will take all necessary actions.” With regard to the ‘new Palestinian leadership’, Mofaz said “we expect a legitimate leadership that will materialize reforms which will lead to one authority, one weapon and one law? we do not interfere with what happens in the PA? we will not interfere in the basing of the new leadership.”

(ed- Italics and single quotes mine)

JERUSASLEM POST: ‘Hamas won’t control Gaza after pullout’

The Palestinian Authority is not prepared to control of the Gaza Strip and take charge of the security there following an Israeli withdrawal as long as Hamas and the Islamic Jihad do not agree to a seize fire, former Palestinian prime minister Mahmous Abbas (Abu Mazen) said Saturday.

In an interview published Saturday in the Saudi daily al-Okaz, Abu Mazen said that Hamas will not be allowed to interfere in Palestinian affairs as long as it has not joined the Palestinian political arena as a political party.

“We need to unify the security forces and instruct them to control the situation on the ground as a first and key step towards a serious dialogue with Hamas and Jihad,” Abu Mazen said.

“If there is a withdrawal from Gaza or the West Bank, it is the PA which will take control there. After the withdrawal, if Hamas wants to be part of the PA or the PLO and play a role in the political life, we will welcome such move,” Abbas added.

The AP reports that the State Department believes a terrorist attack against US targets may be imminent in Uzbekistan:

The State Department said Thursday it has information that terrorist groups may be planning attacks against U.S. interests in the country, in Central Asia north of Afghanistan. The public announcement updates one issued in August.

Americans in Uzbekistan should exercise extreme caution, avoiding large crowds, celebrations and places where Westerners generally gather, the department said.

Three suicide bombings took place in July in Tashkent, the capital, and other attacks occurred in Tashkent and Bukhara in March and April. The bombers focused on police and private and commercial facilities.

The government got information early last year indicating that terrorists were planning attacks against Uzbekistan hotels frequented by Westerners and against foreign embassies and other organizations, facilities and institutions of foreign interest.

The department said supporters of extremist groups such as the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan, al-Qaida, the Islamic Jihad Group and the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement remain active in the region. These groups have expressed anti-U.S. sentiments and may target U.S. government or private interests in Uzbekistan.

U.S. citizens should report any unusual activity to local authorities and then inform the U.S. embassy in Tashkent, the department said.

Cross-posted from The Argus.

From The Australian :

A group linked to Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaeda network threatened the United States with reprisals after the re-election of President George W. Bush, warning of “unbearable hell,” in a website statement today.

”The coming days will show you that the one you preferred will lead you to an unbearable hell,” said the group calling itself the Abu Hafs al-Masri Brigades after the Al-Qaeda military chief killed in Afghanistan in October 2001.

No, it’s not Michael Moore or Kos saying it this time.

It was not possible to immediately verify the statement. The same group claimed responsibility for the train bombings in Madrid in March this year that killed 191 people in Spain’s worst attack and injured another 1,900.

Welcome! This briefing will be looking hard at the dark places most mainstream media seem determined to look away from, to better understand our declared enemies on their own terms and without illusions. Our goal is to bring you some of the top jihadi rants, idiotarian seething, and old-school Jew-hatred from around the world, leaving you more informed, more aware, and pretty disgusted every month. This Winds of Change.NET HateWatch briefing is brought to you by Lewy14. (Email me at my handle “hatewatch” here at windsofchange.net). Past briefings and posts on related topics can be found here. Entil’zha veni!

HIGHLIGHTED TOPICS

• Religious Hate: Al Qaida organ advises fighting during Ramadan; Dutch filmmaker butchered for his art; Official curriculum of Jihad in Pakistan; Muslim Students Association pays tribute to Yassin; Cleric reprises tired rant in Vancouver; Jihad in Thailand; Darfur: sharia as a root cause; Tajik boy kidnapped to fight jihad.

• Idiotarian Seethings: Iranian parliament tells us how they really feel; Duke University plays host to hatefest; Anti-Semitism on the Left in Australia; Canadian Muslim leader denies Israel has civilians; Bin Laden hates red states.

• Race and Culture: Palestinian Authority’s version of Big Bird; Hamas glorifies a shaheed; swastikas painted in a Jewish cemetery in France; Ethnic riots in China kill 148; Paleocon == hater?

• A Hopeful Note: The future (of Islam) and it’s (Islamist) enemies; Israeli Arab advocates for empowering women; Sistani: vote or be d*mned.

Welcome! Our goal at Winds of Change.NET is to give you one power-packed briefing of insights, news and trends from the global War on Terror that leaves you stimulated, informed, and occasionally amused every Thursday. Winds of War briefings are given by me, Colt, of Eurabian Times.

TOP TOPICS

• Osama Bin Laden is alive and talking. Who cares, you say? Where is he so we can kill his ass, you ask? U.S. forces believe he is still in the Afghan-Pakistan borderlands. The FBI has warned of the possibility that he might slip in to India. Al-Jazeera say they got the tape in Pakistan, but it could have been moved there easily enough.

• Bill Gertz says that U.S. intelligence have recieved satellite photos showing truck convoys at weapons sites in Iraq, just weeks before the U.S. invasion. According to one official, the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, known as NGA, “documented the movement of long convoys of trucks from various areas around Baghdad to the Syrian border.”

• The U.S. is warning of terrorist attacks in the Nordic and Baltic states.

Other Topics Today Include: Iran Reports; Domestic Brief; hostages in Afghanistan; al-Qaeda didn’t bomb Sinai; Kashmir jihad goes on; Bangladesh - new terror hub?; assassinations in Russia; Iraq jihadis threaten chemical attacks; Arafat in a coma; EU to send force to Gaza; Saudi al-Qaeda news.

Read The Rest…

JERUSALEM POST: Gunmen fire at Gaza prison guards

Palestinian militants engaged in a gunfight Thursday with Palestinian security forces at Gaza’s central prison in a display of rage at the killing of a clan member.

Gunmen attacked the prison compound where the suspects in the October killing of their relative, Mohammed Issa, were being held.

The gunmen fired at the guards, who responded with warning shots in the air.

Saying that the safety of United Nations workers “has to be my first priority,” Secretary-General Kofi Annan has presented his $97 million plan for new unified security measures to the General Assembly’s main budget committee.

UN News

Secretary-General’s remarks to the Fifth Committee on Staff Security

(cross posted at www.inbb.org/international)

HAARETZ: Security services arrest 16 members of Bethlehem terror cell

The Shin Bet security services and the Israel Defense Forces said Tuesday they have in recent weeks arrested 16 residents of Bethlehem who are suspected have having planned a series of large scale terror attack in Jerusalem.

The cell is said to have planned to launch two pairs of suicide bombers to the Mea She’arim neighborhood in the capital, and to carry out a terror attack using an explosive-laden ambulance.

Based on details released on Tuesday by security forces, Hamas was meant to provide the suicide bombers for the missions, and Islamic Jihad was supposed to provide the explosive devices. Some of those arrested, including the would-be suicide bombers, served in the Palestinian national security services. Among those arrested is Hamed Dar’awi, an active member of the PA’s national security services, who is said to have been the planner of the ambulance attack.

The cell is said to have received instructions from Palestinian militant leaders in the Gaza Strip.

ITV: Bomber’s mother condemns militants

No, she doesn’t.

The mother of a 16-year-old Palestinian suicide bomber who blew himself up in an Israeli market has condemned the militants that sent her son on his deadly mission.

Eli Amer Alfar, from the Askar refugee camp near the West Bank city of Nablus, blew himself up in Tel Aviv’s busy Carmel market, killing himself and three Israelis and injuring at least 32 others.

His mother, 45-year-old Samira Abdullah, has described the last time she saw him.

She said: “At night, he kissed me on my head and cheeks. I asked him what was wrong with him.

“He begged me to be happy for him. I said ‘why are you saying this? I am always happy for you and your brothers’.”

Mrs Abdullah had harsh words for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, a radical PLO faction which has claimed responsibility for the suicide bombing.

“It’s immoral to send someone so young,” she said.

So she’s against the violence and brutal murder of innocent civilians?

“They should have sent an adult who understands the meaning of his deeds.”

Apparently not.

UPDATE:
Her house has been demolished.

HAARETZ: IDF kills two militants in Nablus

Israel Defense Forces soldiers shot dead two militants affiliated with PA Chairman Yasser Arafat’s Fatah movement, who were wanted by security forces.

Among those killed is senior member of the militant group, Majdi Murei, 25. Murei was allegedly responsible for several attempts to launch suicide bombers, including children.

The shootout began as IDF troops came to arrest Murei.

According to Palestinian medical officials, three men were killed in the incident. The three were identified as Jihad Abu Salha and Majdi Murei, both 25, and 20-year-old Fadhi Farawan.

Saudi Forces Arrest 3 Suspected Militants

Saudi police arrested three suspected militants in possession of weapons and ammunition as part of the ongoing crackdown on Islamic extremists in the kingdom, an Interior Ministry statement said.

The three were captured Sunday in the capital, Riyadh, the ministry said in a statement carried on the official Saudi Press Agency.

In the home of one of the men, police found 20 detonators, 23 hand grenades, a Kalashnikov rifle, handgun with 300 bullets, 33 explosive devices and computers and cameras, it said.

At a second detainee’s home, police seized an automatic weapon with ammunition, communication equipment, documents and foreign currency. The third was also arrested at his home.

JERUSALEM POST: Qurei condemns TA suicide bombing

Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ahmed Qurei on Monday condemned the suicide bombing in Tel Aviv’s Karmel marketplace, saying it did not serve the interests of the Palestinians.

Meanwhile, sources in Ramallah told The Jerusalem Post that Qurei and former Prime Minister Mahmoud Abbas turned down a request from Hamas to establish a united national leadership that would replace the PA.

The sources said Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal phoned the two to ask them to agree to the formation of the new body, which will consist of representatives of all the Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

“The proposal is completely unacceptable because there a legitimate leadership already exists,” one source said. “If Hamas wants to join the PA, it is welcome.”

In response to the suicide attack, Qurei told reporters: “We condemn all operations that target civilians whether Palestinians or Israelis. We strongly condemn this act which targets civilians. We don’t think it serves our cause, especially under the current circumstances. We ask everyone to stop targeting civilians completely because this does not serve our cause.”

Osama bin Laden’s recent videotape, combined with the recent message from Adam Gadahn/Azzam al-Ameriki, have left more than a few Americans and intelligence and law enforcement analysts puzzled as to what his apparent purpose is and why he would break cover this late in the game. This analysis will attempt to puzzle out the meaning of bin Laden’s statement on a point-by-point analysis, and what I think his objectives are in making it.

I’m going to be using the MEMRI, BBC, and al-Jazeera transcripts of the excerpts that were broadcast on al-Jazeera on Friday, shifting between the three as differences arise. I should note that because we’re dealing with a non-Roman language (Arabic), there are going to be differences in how to properly translate some portions of the tape. If you’re familiar with all of the differences inherent in various translations of the Old Testament from Hebrew or Aramaic into English, we’re kind of dealing with the same thing here. Al-Jazeera is using the English subtitles provided by the al-Sahab propaganda company that produced the video in their translation.

Continue Reading “Special Analysis: Osama’s Message”

BBC

The US has warned its citizens in Nordic and Baltic states of the threat of imminent attacks.
In a statement posted on the Finnish embassy website, the state department warns citizens to be vigilant, especially when using public transport.

A statement on the Latvian embassy website warns citizens to avoid crowded areas and transport hubs from Monday.

They do not provide further details or say whether the threat is linked to Tuesday’s US presidential elections.

JERUSALEM POST: IDF assault on Mukata fugitives under consideration

Security officials have not ruled out the possibility of an operation to capture wanted fugitives holed up in the Mukata compound in Ramallah, even as Palestinian Authority officials prepare to take control while awaiting news on the fate of ailing PA Chairman Yasser Arafat.

The officials would not say whether such an operation is in the making. It is not clear how many fugitives, described as responsible for killing or wounding scores of Israelis, remain inside the building, but the officials agreed that they continue to plot and orchestrate attacks.

Ever since Arafat was confined to his Ramallah headquarters some two years ago, fugitives, including members of the PA security forces, sought refuge in the building with his blessing, successfully evading attempts to capture them. They took advantage of the fact that, due to the sensitivity of the situation, the army refrained from taking action.

At the time, the security establishment estimated that up to 50 fugitives were inside the compound, but estimates today are of a far smaller number.

Over the weekend, both IDF and Shin Bet officials denied reports that orders to freeze initiated operations until Arafat’s situation or his successor’s identity become clear had been issued.

“Targeted killings against terrorist leaders and the ongoing arrests of wanted fugitives will continue,” one said.

HAARETZ: Egypt: Sinai bombings not linked to Al-Qaida

An inquiry into the Red Sea resort attacks targeting Israeli tourists did not indicate the bombers were linked to Al-Qaida or part of a wider organized militant network, Egypt said on Monday.

The authorities said the blasts, in which 33 people were killed, were part of the wider cycle of violence in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

Israeli and American officials had said Osama bin Laden’s Al-Qaida was probably to blame for the Oct 7. bombs, which struck the Taba Hilton and two beach camps further south in the Sinai peninsula.

But Egypt’s Interior Minister Habib el-Adli told reporters on Monday the inquiry “did not indicate the linking of the group which carried out the attacks with [wider] organizational activity at home or abroad or with cells of the Al-Qaida organization”.

HAARETZ: At least 3 dead in suicide blast at Carmel Market in Tel Aviv

A suicide bombing rocked the crowded Carmel Market in central Tel Aviv on Monday, killing at least three people and wounding dozens, at least four seriously, fire and rescue officials said.

Witnesses said the ground shook when the blast went off at 11:15 A.M. near a dairy shop close to the intersection of Rambam and Hacarmel streets. The remains of the bomber were found nearby.

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine claimed responsibility for the attack. The suicide bomber was identified as Amar Alfar, 18, from Askar refugee camp in the West Bank city of Nablus.

Military sources said the bomber was likely to have traveled from Nablus to Jerusalem, and then on to Tel Aviv. The bomb he carried had been relatively small in size, a fire brigade commander said.

Security forces arrested two suspects a short time after the attack, Israel Radio reported.

The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that at least 32 people were wounded, and were evacuated to Ichilov Hospital in Tel Aviv, Wolfson Medical Center in Holon and Sheba Medical Center, Tel Hashomer. The dead were identified as two women and a man, apparently in their 20s.