Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas could herald big Middle East breakthrough
Deal for captive soldier Gilad Shalit may include return of the one man able to rebuild Fatah and unite the Palestinians: Marwan Barghouti
Captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit could be swapped for hundreds of Palestinians jailed in Israel. Photograph: Reuters
Prisoner exchanges have been part of the terms of trade of the Middle East conflict for the past 60 years. If the reports, rumours and speculation of the last few days turn out to be correct, the deal swapping Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit for hundreds of jailed Palestinians could turn out to be one of the most significant ever.
Hard facts about the negotiations are few and far between. But Hamas delegations from Gaza, including military men, have been in Cairo talking to Egyptian intelligence and are said to be heading for Damascus to consult the Islamist movement's exiled political leadership; the presence of discreet German intermediaries and rare public comments by Israel all suggest an agreement may be imminent.
Israel has always gone to great lengths to bring its servicemen home from captivity – dead or alive. Past swaps have involved releasing hundreds of Palestinian or Lebanese prisoners for the bodies or even body parts of Israelis killed in action.
Video Report from Afghanistan: How the U.S. Counterinsurgency Campaign Is Failing
At a conference in Portugal over the weekend, NATO countries agreed to hand over responsibility for Afghanistan’s security to Afghan forces by the end of 2014. In his speech, President Obama claimed there has been significant progress in the fight against the Taliban. But reports from the ground in Afghanistan question these upbeat claims about the ongoing NATO operation. Last spring, NATO launched a major operation in the Taliban-held town of Marjah. The offensive was supposed to showcase America’s new counterinsurgency campaign and demonstrate that victory is still possible. Independent filmmaker Rick Rowley of Big Noise Films recently traveled to Marjah and discovered the counterinsurgency campaign in crisis. [includes rush transcript]
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Saturday, November 28, 2009
Israeli prisoner swap with Hamas could herald big Middle East breakthrough | World news | guardian.co.uk
Wednesday, November 4, 2009
VOA News - Iranian Opposition Protesters Hijack Government Rally
VOA News - Iranian Opposition Protesters Hijack Government Rally
Iranian Opposition Protesters Hijack Government Rally
By Edward Yeranian
Cairo
04 November 2009
Photo obtained by AP outside Iran shows a man running from police in anti-government protest in Tehran, 04 Nov 2009
Iranian police have clashed with opposition demonstrators who tried to take over a government sanctioned protest organized to mark the 30th anniversary of the seizure of the U.S. embassy in Tehran. A government crackdown on the anti-government demonstrators turned violent in some places.
An officially sponsored government rally devolved into rival protests Wednesday as tens of thousands of demonstrators poured into the streets of the Iranian capital, some of them renewing opposition protests against the conduct of the recent election campaign.
Anti-government protesters were dealt with by force, as a government crackdown turned violent.
Government backed demonstrators at the initial rally outside the old U.S. Embassy in Tehran shouted "Death to America" and "Death to Israel." A pro-government speaker also addressed the crowd, praising the Islamic Republic, the 1979 Islamic Revolution, and it's founder Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
Meanwhile, in Tehran's nearby Hafte-Tir Square, thousands of opposition demonstrators shouting anti-government slogans, including "Death to the dictator", and "Down with (Supreme Leader) Ayatollah Khamenei" were met by anti-riot police and Basij militiamen waving batons and firing tear gas. Eyewitnesses report numerous injuries and dozens of arrests.
Scores of volunteer Basij militiamen also drove their motorbikes into crowds, to disperse them.
Scores of opposition demonstrators, many of them young people, also chanted "Death to Russia" and "Death to China", because of their support for Iran's government, instead of the usual pro-government slogan of "Death to America."
Photo obtained by AP outside Iran shows anti-government protestors in Tehran, 04 Nov 2009
The demonstrations came 30 years after Iranian students stormed the U.S. embassy and took 52 Americans hostage, holding them for 444 days.
On the eve of the anniversary of the U.S. embassy takeover, Tuesday, President Barack Obama said, "We have heard for 30 years what the Iranian government is against; the question, now, is what kind of future is it for."
Opposition demonstrators, meanwhile, chanted "Obama, Obama, are you with us, or against us?" Many opposition activists have been critical of Mr. Obama for negotiating with the government of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whom they say was re-elected in June as a result of fraud and vote-rigging.
Mr. Obama also told Iranians in his Tuesday message that the United States wants to move beyond a past of "sustained suspicion, mistrust and confrontation" and seeks a relationship based upon mutual interests and respect.
VOA News - Iranian Opposition Protesters Hijack Government Rally
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
BBC NEWS | Europe | German on trial for Muslim murder
BBC NEWS | Europe | German on trial for Muslim murderGerman on trial for Muslim murder
Alex W is led into court - his full name has not been released for fear of vigilante attacks
The husband of a pregnant Egyptian woman killed in a German courtroom has described how her alleged attacker stabbed her to death in front of him.
He testified as the trial of Alex W, a 29-year-old Russian-born German, opened in Dresden, in the same courtroom where Marwa Sherbini was killed in July.
The defendant had been there to appeal against a fine for calling Ms Sherbini a "terrorist" and an "Islamist".
Husband Elwy Ali Okaz said he had tried to shield his wife as the attack began.
Her alleged attacker had "continued to stab her when she was already lying on the floor", Mr Okaz said.
Elwy Ali Okaz tried to protect his pregnant wife from her attacker
Mr Okaz, who identified Alex W to the court as the killer, was himself stabbed as he tried to protect his wife and also accidentally shot in the leg by a security guard who initially believed him to be the attacker.
He arrived at court on crutches, wearing a badge showing his wife's face.
The attack caused outrage in the Muslim world, with many Muslim leaders accusing Germany of Islamophobia following the killing.
They said the country, which has the second-biggest Muslim population in Western Europe, had been too slow to condemn it.
Protection
BBC Berlin correspondent Steve Rosenberg says 200 police officers were deployed at the Dresden courthouse as the trial opened, to protect the defendant.
Alex W, who is charged with murder, attempted murder and dangerous bodily harm, has been the subject of death threats.
Anyone attending the hearing had to pass through airport-style scanners, and a bullet-proof glass screen was installed in the dock, our correspondent says.
Photographers crowded round as the alleged attacker was led into the courtroom in handcuffs - his face covered by a hood, a hat, sunglasses and a scarf, our correspondent adds.
He was then fined 50 euros ($75; £46) by the judge, Birgit Wiegand, for refusing to remove his sunglasses, although he did uncover the rest of his head.
Judge Wiegand told the court that the trial would try to get "to the bottom of the circumstances" surrounding Ms Sherbini's death.
Prosecutors say the defendant - an unemployed Russian-born German national - was motivated by a "hatred of non-Europeans and Muslims".
He reportedly suffers from depression. However, court-appointed psychiatric experts said they had not found any evidence of diminished responsibility.
'Hatred'
The case began with an argument in a playground in 2008.
Ms Sherbini, a pharmacist, is said to have asked the defendant to let her child use a playground swing he was sitting on. He allegedly refused and instead called her abusive names.
Egyptians want the maximum possible sentence for the alleged killer
She later took the defendant to court and he was fined 780 euros ($1,170; £718) for defamation.
But when he returned to the courtroom for the appeal on 1 July this year, prosecutors say he smuggled in an 18cm (7in) kitchen knife and stabbed Ms Sherbini at least 16 times with it.
The 31-year-old, who was three-months pregnant with her second child, bled to death in full view of her husband and their three-year-old son.
The trial is expected to conclude by 11 November.
Axel Koehler, president of the German Central Council of Muslims, said his community expected a "strong conviction".
"We're following the trial with great interest, in particular because our women and girls are afraid and already feel discriminated against," he said.
Ms Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, was dubbed "the martyr of the Hijab". Thousands attended her funeral in Egypt, some chanting "Death to Germany", and there were also mass protests in Iran.
Egypt's ambassador to Germany, Ramzi Izz al-Din Ramzi, who was at the opening of the trial, called for a "speedy sentence, a just sentence commensurate with this heinous crime".
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel mulls Gaza probes review
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Israel mulls Gaza probes reviewIsrael mulls Gaza probes review
Mr Netanyahu is said to hope the review will divert pressure on Israel
Israel is considering a review of its internal military inquiries which cleared troops of alleged war crimes in last winter's offensive in Gaza.
Deputy Foreign Minister Danny Ayalon told the BBC another investigation could be conducted if "it was necessary to prove... there were no wrongdoings".
A recent UN report said Israel and Hamas should probe alleged war crimes or face international prosecutions.
Israel refused to co-operate with the UN team and has rejected its findings.
Mr Ayalon insisted Israeli army probes by military investigators were already "completely independent... but we are looking into further reviews as we will see fit".
Israel has been under pressure to set up an independent investigation into war-crimes allegations raised by the fact-finding mission led by South African judge Richard Goldstone for the UN Human Rights Council.
Critics have accused the military inquiries of attempting to whitewash the army's conduct.
Insufficient
Numerous human rights investigations, in addition to Goldstone, have accused Israel of breaking the laws of war in Gaza, principally by failing to distinguish between military and civilian targets.
UN condemns 'war crimes' in Gaza
Israel condemns UN's Gaza report
Full UN report on Gaza war
The Goldstone report accuses Hamas militants in Gaza of firing indiscriminately at Israeli civilian centres, which is also a war crime.
On Sunday, an Israeli government source was quoted saying Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Defence Minister Ehud Barak "hope" that holding a review of the military investigations "will put this issue to rest".
Israel has lobbied hard against the Goldstone report saying it impairs its right to self-defence and harms prospects of reviving peace negotiations with the Palestinians.
The military has opened about 100 investigations into wrongdoing in Gaza, of which about 20 are criminal.
Mr Goldstone has said he will be satisfied if Israel sets up an independent commission of inquiry, but it is insufficient for the military to investigate itself.
Last week, Israel's Intelligence Minister and deputy Prime Minister Dan Meridor joined a growing list of politicians calling for such an inquiry. Correspondents say pressure is also coming from the justice and foreign ministries.
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran 'to accept UN nuclear deal'
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Iran 'to accept UN nuclear deal'Iran 'to accept UN nuclear deal'
Russia and France would process uranium for Iran under the deal
Iran will accept a UN deal on its nuclear programme, but only if "very important changes" are made, Iranian state media have reported.
Al Alam TV quoted "informed" sources as saying Tehran would respond to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) deal within 48 hours.
Under the draft proposal, Iran would send its enriched uranium to Russia and France to be turned into fuel.
Iran missed a Friday deadline for responding to the IAEA's proposal.
All the other parties have confirmed their support for the deal, which is seen as a way for Tehran to get the fuel it needs for an existing reactor, while giving guarantees to the West that its enriched uranium will not be used for nuclear weapons.
We will wait until we decide that enough is enough and that the process is exhausted
Bernard Kouchner
French foreign minister
Al Alam said Iran would "accept the broad framework of the deal, but wants very important changes in it".
The station gave no further details on the changes Iran was reported to have requested be made to the draft.
On Monday, Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said Iran was considering whether to send some of its uranium stock to other countries for enriching or to buy already enriched uranium.
Mr Mottaki said the decision would be announced within days.
ANALYSIS
Jon Leyne, BBC News Tehran correspondent
The latest hint from Al Alam TV suggests that Iran will accept a deal to supply fuel for its Tehran research reactor. But those countries dealing with Iran will wonder what "important changes" Tehran wants in response.
In particular, is Iran willing to ship its own enriched uranium out of the country? On Monday the Iranian foreign minister said maybe Iran would agree, maybe it would not.
The other question observers are asking is how much this is a case of genuine indecision by Iran, and to what extent is it just playing for time?
The answer could be that those in power are quite content to let a genuine debate rumble on, knowing that it also buys time, staving off new sanctions, while Iran presses ahead with its nuclear programme.
French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner said that all the other parties in the talks had shown "a great deal of patience", and he accused Tehran of wasting time.
The AFP news agency quoted Mr Kouchner as saying that Mr Mottaki "makes declarations and more declarations" which "rarely provoke enthusiasm" and are "rarely very positive".
"We have been waiting for light at the end of the tunnel for almost three years. We will wait until we decide that enough is enough and that the process is exhausted," said Mr Kouchner.
"One day it will be too late."
EU foreign ministers had hoped to have a reply from Iran by Tuesday, in time for high-level meetings in Luxembourg.
The EU's Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said the UN had offered "a good deal" and did not require "fundamental changes", Reuters reports.
Inspection
Opposition inside Iran to the agreement is said to be growing. The BBC's Tehran correspondent, Jon Leyne, says that if it is approves, it would offer some evidence that negotiations with Iran can bear fruit.
But if Tehran rejects it, the wider talks process would face a bleak future and new sanctions would once again be on the agenda, he adds.
NUCLEAR FUEL CYCLE
Mined uranium ore is purified and reconstituted into solid form known as yellowcake
Yellowcake is converted into a gas by heating it to about 64C (147F)
Gas is fed through centrifuges, where its isotopes separate and the process is repeated until uranium is enriched
Low-level enriched uranium is used for nuclear fuel
Highly enriched uranium can be used in nuclear weapons
On Sunday, a team from the UN watchdog, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) began an inspection of an Iranian uranium plant.
The Fordo plant, built into a mountainside near the city of Qom, was previously secret.
Its existence was announced by the Iranian authorities last month, apparently because Western intelligence agencies had already discovered it, says our correspondent.
Iran agreed to open the site to monitoring at talks with the five permanent members of the UN Security Council plus Germany in Geneva on 1 October.
The inspectors are not expected to report until they leave Iran, but some Iranian officials have already said the inspection shows their country's nuclear activities are both transparent and peaceful.
Iran says its nuclear programme is for purely peaceful purposes, but the revelation of the existence of the new plant increased fears in the West about Tehran's intentions.
