By PAKINAM AMER
Associated Press Writer
The Associated Press
updated 9:51 a.m. ET May 28, 2008
CAIRO, Egypt - A spiritual adviser to Iraqi Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr has issued a statement blasting a U.S.-Iraqi security deal under negotiation.
Ayatollah Kazim al-Haeri, a reclusive Iraqi cleric close to Iranian hard-liners and mentor to al-Sadr, said the proposed pact "spells out endless humiliation and disgrace" for Iraqis.
He calls on Iraqi leaders to avoid "defiling themselves by associating with this agreement" that could lead to a long-term American troop presence in Iraq.
Al-Haeri is believed to be in Qom, Iran, and his message was posted on his personal Web site.
The U.S.-Iraqi agreement is supposed to be finished by July, to replace the current U.N. mandate overseeing U.S.-led troops in Iraq.
Al-Haeri warns that the pact is "not binding...except for those who sign it."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24856229/
Thursday, May 29, 2008
Wednesday, May 28, 2008
In new al-Qaida tape, spokesman slams at Muslim moderates who appease the West - AP
By PAKINAM AMER,
Associated Press Writer
Posted: 2008-05-22 16:17:31
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An al-Qaida spokesman lashed out at moderate Muslims in a video sermon posted online Thursday, accusing them of promoting Western ideas that lure other Muslims away from holy war.
In a 45-minute video posted on a militant Web site, Abu Yahya Al-Libi said clerics who support unity among followers of different religions aim only to "court favor and flatter" the West."
The duty of the Islamic nation is not to emulate the infidel nations, nor to lick their boots nor satisfy them...nor even look for ways to coexist," Al-Libi said.
The footage shows the bearded al-Qaida figure speaking directly into the camera, in front of a mud wall that could be the side of a house or mosque. He wears a black turban and traditional white Muslim gown.
Al-Libi said Western powers have succeeded in winning over some Muslims to help "propagate their theories," and admonished some moderate clerics for using words like `non-Muslim' to describe what he called "infidels."
"A day will come when the ringing of church bells will resound in the heart of Arabia, as they do in Qatar," he said.
Qatar, a tiny Muslim sheikdom and U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, opened its first-ever Catholic church two months ago. Last week, it inaugurated an interfaith center where Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, including two from Israel, were invited to hold talks.
Al-Libi gained fame for escaping from Afghanistan's notorious Bagram prison in 2005, and since then his prominence in al-Qaida has risen. He is one of the most visible faces of al-Qaida on the Internet, and has released four statements so far this year.
"Tell all those who call for moderation...that Islam is a religion of the sword," he said on Thursday's video. "We say it and we're not ashamed of it."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
05/22/08 16:16 EDT
Link: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/in-new-al-qaida-tape-spokesman-slams-at/n20080522161709990020
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=13925
Associated Press Writer
Posted: 2008-05-22 16:17:31
CAIRO, Egypt (AP) - An al-Qaida spokesman lashed out at moderate Muslims in a video sermon posted online Thursday, accusing them of promoting Western ideas that lure other Muslims away from holy war.
In a 45-minute video posted on a militant Web site, Abu Yahya Al-Libi said clerics who support unity among followers of different religions aim only to "court favor and flatter" the West."
The duty of the Islamic nation is not to emulate the infidel nations, nor to lick their boots nor satisfy them...nor even look for ways to coexist," Al-Libi said.
The footage shows the bearded al-Qaida figure speaking directly into the camera, in front of a mud wall that could be the side of a house or mosque. He wears a black turban and traditional white Muslim gown.
Al-Libi said Western powers have succeeded in winning over some Muslims to help "propagate their theories," and admonished some moderate clerics for using words like `non-Muslim' to describe what he called "infidels."
"A day will come when the ringing of church bells will resound in the heart of Arabia, as they do in Qatar," he said.
Qatar, a tiny Muslim sheikdom and U.S. ally in the Persian Gulf, opened its first-ever Catholic church two months ago. Last week, it inaugurated an interfaith center where Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars, including two from Israel, were invited to hold talks.
Al-Libi gained fame for escaping from Afghanistan's notorious Bagram prison in 2005, and since then his prominence in al-Qaida has risen. He is one of the most visible faces of al-Qaida on the Internet, and has released four statements so far this year.
"Tell all those who call for moderation...that Islam is a religion of the sword," he said on Thursday's video. "We say it and we're not ashamed of it."
Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. The information contained in the AP news report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or otherwise distributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. Active hyperlinks have been inserted by AOL.
05/22/08 16:16 EDT
Link: http://news.aol.com/story/_a/in-new-al-qaida-tape-spokesman-slams-at/n20080522161709990020
http://www.dailystaregypt.com/article.aspx?ArticleID=13925
Thursday, May 15, 2008
Contributions to regional AP stories
1. Qatar leads an interfaith dialog with rabbis from Israel in attendance
The Associated Press
Published: May 15, 2008
DOHA, Qatar: More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.
The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in the heartland of conservative Islam is another sign of Qatar's efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 summer Olympic Games. It's also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfatith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel.
The talks were not entirely smooth, and politics and disputes over the Palestinian issue did inevitably intrude, said Rabbi David James Lazar, leader of a synagogue in Tel Aviv.
Yet, the benefits for him were huge, he said - especially the ability to make personal connections with Arabs and Muslims "who otherwise I would have no contact with."
"For some it's their first chance ever to hear, not only an Israeli but to hear a Jewish rabbi speak ... And so one of my responses is trying to tell them the story of the Jewish people, which often they have not heard. The Holocaust," he said.
"I hear their story as well," he said. "It's an exchange of stories."
Another attendee, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chairman of the Muslim Jewish Forum in Britain, commended Qatar for "being brave" by holding the conference.
"We know that hosting rabbis and an interreligious forum can be controversial in the region," said Gluck, whose group is based in a part of London where Jewish and Muslim communities sit side by side.
Some Qataris did criticize the gathering.
"This openness to other faiths creates confusion among our people and jeopardizes our identity," said one preacher at the local Fanar Islamic center, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
But other Qataris consider this and other changes made by Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani as progressive and credit him for social and economic reforms since 1995.
Two months ago, the country also allowed the opening of its first-ever Catholic church. It has had low-level ties with Israel through a trade office for 12 years although it does not recognize Israel, and recently also invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak at a conference on democracy.
Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the director of the interfaith center sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to "promote joint studies of academics from three faiths to foster understanding and peace."
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who heads Vatican's council for inter-religious dialogue and attended the conference, praised Qatar's efforts to include Jews.
"As religious leaders, let us promote a sound pedagogy of peace, which is taught in the family, mosques, synagogues and churches," Tauran said.
Efforts at interfaith dialogue got one of their biggest boosts when Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah met with Pope Benedict XVI last November at the Vatican.
In March, the Saudi king then made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews - the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.
The moves, however, come amid rising tensions in the region and with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled. Many also believe there is a growing gap of understanding between the Muslim Arab world and the West.
Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the pope's baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.
The specifics of the Saudi king's initiative -and who would participate- still remain unclear, in particular whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue.
It also is unclear if the Saudi efforts would have any political component, or any eventual impact on stalled Arab-Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.
Lazar, the Tel Aviv rabbi, said he is no politician but will carry his warm impressions from the conference back to his students and synagogue - as he hopes Muslim clerics will, too.
Lazar said one Palestinian researcher at the conference confronted him about Israeli textbooks that were, in his words, promoting hatred of Palestinians among Israeli Jewish children.
"My challenge to him was, let us meet together ... and together we'll look at our textbooks, the Jewish textbooks, the Muslim textbooks and the Christian textbooks in Palestine and Israel - and together we'll find if they're educating children toward hate," he said.
____
Associated Press writer Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/15/africa/ME-GEN-Qatar-Jewish-Outreach.php
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Fuel and tax increases hit Egyptians on top of food costs
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 6:57 PM
CAIRO, Egypt -- Egyptians awoke Tuesday to steep fuel and cigarette price hikes aimed at funding new raises for government workers, prompting fears that people already weighed down by skyrocketing food prices will be struggling to buy basic goods.
People raced to gas stations to fill up Tuesday morning, only to find the average price of gasoline and diesel had shot up 46 percent, to 34 cents a liter, which is about a quart.
Many service stations had signs scribbled with fresh prices plastered over the gas pumps. At one station, a customer accused the attendant of trying to con him. Eventually, he was convinced the new prices were real and paid up.
Another attendant, Masoud Abdel-Hamid, grumbled as he tried to calm customers.
"They think the fuel increase will affect only the rich," Abdel-Hamid said of the government. "Oh, no. Everyone uses transportation."
For the full story, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602427.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Reports: Bahrain's Jewish female lawmaker to become country's ambassador to US
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
MANAMA, Bahrain: The only Jewish woman lawmaker in Bahrain is set to become the tiny Gulf kingdom's next ambassador to Washington, according to recent media reports here.
But Huda Nono, legislator in the all-appointed 40-seat Shura Council, would only confirm she is among those considered for the post and referred further queries to the foreign ministry in Manama.
"I am one of the contenders," Nono, a mother of two and the second Jewish member in the legislature's upper chamber, told The Associated Press. "Nothing is official yet."
Yasmina Britel, press officer for the Bahraini embassy in Washington, said Nono is "one of the nominees," and that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would make the official appointment at an unknown date. Britel says this "could be tomorrow" or "in six months."
If Nono's is appointed, Bahrain will be the first Arab country to send a high-level Jewish diplomat to Washington. A pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shiite majority, Bahrain is a close Washington ally and hosts the base of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
Since last week, media here have speculated on Nono's appointment.
The daily Gulf News quoted Faisal Fouladh, a Shura Council representative, as saying Nono's appointment would be "very good news" for the country's "deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness." Pro-government Akhbar Alkhaleej daily also reported that Nono would be appointed as envoy to the United States.
Foreign ministry officials in Manama could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Nono is the first Jewish woman in the Shura Council, which includes a Christian woman among its 11 female legislators. All its members are appointed by the king. The elected 40-member lower house has only one woman lawmaker.
She replaced her cousin Ibrahim Nono, who held the seat in parliament for four years. A businesswoman who lives both in Bahrain and London, Nono also is the first Jewish woman to head a local rights organization, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch.
Nono's name stands out among the nominees because of her gender, Britel told The AP on the phone from Washington, but would not say how many nominees there were. "It's different when all the previous ambassadors have been male," Britel said.
There are only about seven Jewish families in Bahrain, with some 50 persons in all, and Nono's family is prominent. The country's population barely reaches half a million people.
Jews migrated here in the 19th century, mostly from Iran and Iraq. Their numbers increased early in the 20th century but decreased after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when many left for Israel, the U.S. and Europe.
Today's Jews keep a low profile in Bahrain, working mostly in banks, commercial and trade companies and retail. They live in upscale parts of the country, being part of the wealthy business community.
There is also a synagogue and a private Jewish cemetery here. At the height of the Arab-Israeli war, the synagogue was attacked and torched by angry Muslims. The structure was later refurbished.
Bahrain has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1969, an official Israeli delegation visited Bahrain but protesters burned the Israeli flag in a large street demonstration at the time. In 2006, after Bahrain signed the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Manama closed down a government office that endorsed a boycott of Israeli goods.
Media reports have speculated that with appointments such as Nono's, Bahrain may be seeking to pave the way to forming ties with Israel.
____
Associated Press Writers Pakinam Amer and Jessica Desvarieux contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt.
Link: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12467348
The Associated Press
Published: May 15, 2008
DOHA, Qatar: More than a dozen Jewish rabbis, including two from Israel, were in attendance this week as this conservative Muslim sheikdom opened one of the Gulf's first scholarly centers dedicated to interfaith dialogue.
The rare meeting of Muslim, Christian and Jewish scholars in the heartland of conservative Islam is another sign of Qatar's efforts to present a moderate image as it bids for the 2016 summer Olympic Games. It's also part of a broader push by Arab governments for interfatith dialogue, even though most still do not recognize Israel.
The talks were not entirely smooth, and politics and disputes over the Palestinian issue did inevitably intrude, said Rabbi David James Lazar, leader of a synagogue in Tel Aviv.
Yet, the benefits for him were huge, he said - especially the ability to make personal connections with Arabs and Muslims "who otherwise I would have no contact with."
"For some it's their first chance ever to hear, not only an Israeli but to hear a Jewish rabbi speak ... And so one of my responses is trying to tell them the story of the Jewish people, which often they have not heard. The Holocaust," he said.
"I hear their story as well," he said. "It's an exchange of stories."
Another attendee, Rabbi Herschel Gluck, chairman of the Muslim Jewish Forum in Britain, commended Qatar for "being brave" by holding the conference.
"We know that hosting rabbis and an interreligious forum can be controversial in the region," said Gluck, whose group is based in a part of London where Jewish and Muslim communities sit side by side.
Some Qataris did criticize the gathering.
"This openness to other faiths creates confusion among our people and jeopardizes our identity," said one preacher at the local Fanar Islamic center, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the subject.
But other Qataris consider this and other changes made by Sheik Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al Thani as progressive and credit him for social and economic reforms since 1995.
Two months ago, the country also allowed the opening of its first-ever Catholic church. It has had low-level ties with Israel through a trade office for 12 years although it does not recognize Israel, and recently also invited Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni to speak at a conference on democracy.
Ibrahim al-Nuaimi, the director of the interfaith center sponsored by the ruling family, said the goal is to "promote joint studies of academics from three faiths to foster understanding and peace."
Cardinal Jean-Louis Tauran, who heads Vatican's council for inter-religious dialogue and attended the conference, praised Qatar's efforts to include Jews.
"As religious leaders, let us promote a sound pedagogy of peace, which is taught in the family, mosques, synagogues and churches," Tauran said.
Efforts at interfaith dialogue got one of their biggest boosts when Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah met with Pope Benedict XVI last November at the Vatican.
In March, the Saudi king then made an impassioned plea for dialogue among Muslims, Christians and Jews - the first such proposal from a nation with no diplomatic ties to Israel and a ban on non-Muslim religious services and symbols.
The moves, however, come amid rising tensions in the region and with peace talks between Israel and the Palestinians stalled. Many also believe there is a growing gap of understanding between the Muslim Arab world and the West.
Muslims have been angered by cartoons published in European papers seen as insulting the Prophet Muhammad and by the pope's baptizing on Easter of a Muslim journalist who had converted to Catholicism.
The specifics of the Saudi king's initiative -and who would participate- still remain unclear, in particular whether Israeli religious leaders would be invited to a Saudi-brokered dialogue.
It also is unclear if the Saudi efforts would have any political component, or any eventual impact on stalled Arab-Israeli and Palestinian peace talks.
Lazar, the Tel Aviv rabbi, said he is no politician but will carry his warm impressions from the conference back to his students and synagogue - as he hopes Muslim clerics will, too.
Lazar said one Palestinian researcher at the conference confronted him about Israeli textbooks that were, in his words, promoting hatred of Palestinians among Israeli Jewish children.
"My challenge to him was, let us meet together ... and together we'll look at our textbooks, the Jewish textbooks, the Muslim textbooks and the Christian textbooks in Palestine and Israel - and together we'll find if they're educating children toward hate," he said.
____
Associated Press writer Pakinam Amer in Cairo, Egypt, and Aron Heller in Jerusalem contributed to this report.
Link: http://www.iht.com/articles/ap/2008/05/15/africa/ME-GEN-Qatar-Jewish-Outreach.php
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
2. Fuel and tax increases hit Egyptians on top of food costs
The Associated Press
Tuesday, May 6, 2008; 6:57 PM
CAIRO, Egypt -- Egyptians awoke Tuesday to steep fuel and cigarette price hikes aimed at funding new raises for government workers, prompting fears that people already weighed down by skyrocketing food prices will be struggling to buy basic goods.
People raced to gas stations to fill up Tuesday morning, only to find the average price of gasoline and diesel had shot up 46 percent, to 34 cents a liter, which is about a quart.
Many service stations had signs scribbled with fresh prices plastered over the gas pumps. At one station, a customer accused the attendant of trying to con him. Eventually, he was convinced the new prices were real and paid up.
Another attendant, Masoud Abdel-Hamid, grumbled as he tried to calm customers.
"They think the fuel increase will affect only the rich," Abdel-Hamid said of the government. "Oh, no. Everyone uses transportation."
For the full story, go to http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/06/AR2008050602427.html
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3. Reports: Bahrain's Jewish female lawmaker to become country's ambassador to US
The Associated Press
Wednesday, April 30, 2008
MANAMA, Bahrain: The only Jewish woman lawmaker in Bahrain is set to become the tiny Gulf kingdom's next ambassador to Washington, according to recent media reports here.
But Huda Nono, legislator in the all-appointed 40-seat Shura Council, would only confirm she is among those considered for the post and referred further queries to the foreign ministry in Manama.
"I am one of the contenders," Nono, a mother of two and the second Jewish member in the legislature's upper chamber, told The Associated Press. "Nothing is official yet."
Yasmina Britel, press officer for the Bahraini embassy in Washington, said Nono is "one of the nominees," and that King Hamad bin Isa al-Khalifa would make the official appointment at an unknown date. Britel says this "could be tomorrow" or "in six months."
If Nono's is appointed, Bahrain will be the first Arab country to send a high-level Jewish diplomat to Washington. A pro-Western island nation with Sunni rulers and a Shiite majority, Bahrain is a close Washington ally and hosts the base of the U.S. Navy's 5th Fleet.
Since last week, media here have speculated on Nono's appointment.
The daily Gulf News quoted Faisal Fouladh, a Shura Council representative, as saying Nono's appointment would be "very good news" for the country's "deep-rooted values of tolerance and openness." Pro-government Akhbar Alkhaleej daily also reported that Nono would be appointed as envoy to the United States.
Foreign ministry officials in Manama could not be reached for comment Thursday.
Nono is the first Jewish woman in the Shura Council, which includes a Christian woman among its 11 female legislators. All its members are appointed by the king. The elected 40-member lower house has only one woman lawmaker.
She replaced her cousin Ibrahim Nono, who held the seat in parliament for four years. A businesswoman who lives both in Bahrain and London, Nono also is the first Jewish woman to head a local rights organization, the Bahrain Human Rights Watch.
Nono's name stands out among the nominees because of her gender, Britel told The AP on the phone from Washington, but would not say how many nominees there were. "It's different when all the previous ambassadors have been male," Britel said.
There are only about seven Jewish families in Bahrain, with some 50 persons in all, and Nono's family is prominent. The country's population barely reaches half a million people.
Jews migrated here in the 19th century, mostly from Iran and Iraq. Their numbers increased early in the 20th century but decreased after the 1948 Arab-Israeli war, when many left for Israel, the U.S. and Europe.
Today's Jews keep a low profile in Bahrain, working mostly in banks, commercial and trade companies and retail. They live in upscale parts of the country, being part of the wealthy business community.
There is also a synagogue and a private Jewish cemetery here. At the height of the Arab-Israeli war, the synagogue was attacked and torched by angry Muslims. The structure was later refurbished.
Bahrain has no diplomatic relations with Israel. In 1969, an official Israeli delegation visited Bahrain but protesters burned the Israeli flag in a large street demonstration at the time. In 2006, after Bahrain signed the Free Trade Agreement with the U.S., Manama closed down a government office that endorsed a boycott of Israeli goods.
Media reports have speculated that with appointments such as Nono's, Bahrain may be seeking to pave the way to forming ties with Israel.
____
Associated Press Writers Pakinam Amer and Jessica Desvarieux contributed to this report from Cairo, Egypt.
Link: http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=12467348
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