Israel Election: Politics of Paralysis

Israelis headed to the polls today, but the outcome of the vote doesn't offer much encouragement for peace in the Middle East.

Of the leaders of the four major parties, the two who have been most in the forefront of serious peace negotiations with Palestinians seem the least likely to win or make gains. Tzipi Livni of the centrist Kadima party and Ehud Barak of Labour negotiated with Palestinian leaders in 2000 and in 2008, respectively, on the basis of establishing a Palestinian state in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. (See pictures of heartbreak in the Middle East.)

Benjamin Netanyahu, leader of the right wing Likud, seems poised to do the best. He has strongly opposed a Palestinian state, emphasizes economic cooperation over a political deal with Palestinians, opposed Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 and argued that the recent Israeli military offensive there did not go far enough in crippling Hamas. (See pictures of Israel's deadly assault on Gaza.)

Avigdor Lieberman, former Likudnik and leader of the up-and-coming Yisrael Beitenu party, is a settler in the West Bank who emigrated to Israel from the Soviet Union in the late '70s. He seems likely to win a strong bargaining position in a new coalition government. He favors a two-state solution but is running what many regard as an anti-Arab campaign; he advocates requiring Israel's Arab population, about 20% of the whole, to sign loyalty oaths or lose their citizen rights.

Such a political lineup is a sign of how Israel is adrift. In the past, Israel had leaders with vision and the fortitude to implement it. Ben-Gurion succeeded in establishing the Jewish state in 1948. Golda Meir scored an incalculable strategic victory by defeating Arab armies and occupying Arab territories in the 1967 war. Menachem Begin made peace with Egypt in 1979. Yitzhak Rabin signed a deal with the PLO before his assassination in 1995.

Today's Israeli leaders have fuzzy vision and lack the means to implement much of anything. Kadima founder Ariel Sharon, and his successors as party leader Ehud Olmert and Tzipi Livni, realized that political realities and Palestinian demographics meant Israel could no longer occupy the West Bank and Gaza forever. Yet, none of them has put forth a sensible plan for peace with the Palestinians or shown the will to reach a final comprehensive settlement. Although Olmert-Livni resumed Israel's peace negotiations with the Palestinians, their three-year terms in office as PM and foreign minister will be remembered for two senseless wars - massive assaults on Lebanon and Gaza that seem to have only strengthened the militant Islamist factions that were targeted in the attacks. Israel's international standing, meanwhile, has been significantly eroded by those wars as well as its halting commitment to peace. Meanwhile, Barak, erstwhile peacemaker but defense minister during the latest war, prefers to campaign as a military man. In evident references to Lieberman and Livni, respectively, he reportedly questions whether they've killed anybody or carried a gun.

Israel's drift has been partly caused by the failure of any of its leaders to offer new vision and take meaningful steps to implement it. One of the results is a further fragmentation of Israeli politics, which is likely to paralyze the country's future course, at least for the time being. If Netanyahu, Livni, Barak and Liberman slice up the vote, there could be weeks if not months of haggling before a prime minister can form a new government. That government in turn will be deeply divided on many of the issues related to the peace process, led by a prime minister who himself or herself lacks a strong vision or the clout to implement one.

Certainly the Palestinian groups, Hamas in particular, have done their share to push Israel's political fragmentation along. Israeli voters are understandably wary of politicians who negotiate with Palestinians and get suicide bombings and rocket attacks in return. Hamas's pathetic failure to run Gaza as a model state following Israel's pullout four years ago did nothing to bolster Israel's sagging peace camp. (See pictures of Gaza digs out.)

But part of the problem is that politics have badly fragmented on the Palestinian side, too. Israel's failure to seriously negotiate on the creation of a viable independent Palestinian state has severely undermined the authority of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and boosted the rise of the militants of Hamas.

President Obama's arrival in office comes in the nick of time. He has signaled his strong interest in not just keeping the guns quiet, but in negotiating an end-of-conflict settlement of the long Arab-Israeli dispute. His leadership in the Middle East may be the only way to halt the spiral, strengthen the moderates and create a dynamic whereby the Israeli and Palestinian people can eventually be offered the chance to vote in separate referenda on a final peace agreement negotiated by their leaders. If it gets to that point, I have no doubt Israelis - and Palestinians, too - will vote for peace.

Unfortunately, that remains a big if.

Algeria: Al-Qaeda message calls president a traitor

Algiers, 9 Feb. (AKI) - A new message purportedly from Al-Qaeda accuses Algeria's president Abdelaziz Bouteflika of betraying his country by allowing a CIA agent accused of raping two women while he was stationed there to return home.

"O beloved nation, what more do you want these rulers to do to make you to speak with one voice and say 'enough'!" said the message posted to Islamist websites.

"Doesn't this scandal prove to you that Bouteflika and his government are no different from that of Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan or Nouri al-Maliki's in Iraq?" the message said.

The CIA has said one of its agents has returned to the United States after being accused last September of committing the two rapes in Algeria.

The scandal could take its toll on Bouteflika's prospects in polls taking place on 9 April. He is running for election to a third presidential term.

Benjamin Netanyahu -Promising a ‘new way’

TEL AVIV - Benjamin Netanyahu went into Israel’s parliamentary election Tuesday with a slight lead in the polls, after promising “a new way” to Israelis.

He has long been a voluble and hardline critic of Israeli peace moves, resigning from the government in 2005 to protest the initiative of former premier Ariel Sharon to unilaterally withdraw Israeli troops and settlers from the Gaza Strip.

He warned that relinquishing Israeli control of the Gaza Strip would turn it into a springboard for attacks on Israel. Many Israeli think the spate of rocket attacks from the salient on southern Israel, which increased following the Israeli departure in August and September 2005, proved him right.

Netanyahu has been particularly vocal on the subject of the Islamist Hamas movement, which administers the Gaza Strip. He advocates the removal of the Islamist party and promises to bring about an end to the continued rocket fire from the salient on southern Israel.

At the same time, while campaigning for premier, Netanyahu has moderated somewhat his formerly maximalist approach to the peace process, saying he will continue searching for a political solution to the conflict.

However, he has added the rider that that any such solution has to be accompanied by the economic development of the Palestinian territories and the strengthening of the moderates in the Palestinian Authority.

He has also sworn not to relinquish Israeli control over East Jerusalem, which Palestinians want as the capital of their future state.

Netanyahu is hoping his platform will see him re-elected for his second term as premier.

His first term, from 1996 to 1999, ended with his decisive defeat by Labour Party leader Ehud Barak.

Netanyahu was born on October 21, 1949 in an affluent suburb of Jerusalem. He was educated in the United States and graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with a masters in business management.

Rihanna delays Malaysia show after alleged attack

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia – Pop superstar Rihanna has postponed a concert in Malaysia this week, organizers said Tuesday, following reports that she accused her longtime boyfriend Chris Brown of assault.

Rihanna's Los Angeles-based representatives informed Malaysia's Pineapple Concerts that the Feb. 13 show would have to be rescheduled to an unspecified date "in light of recent events involving Rihanna," Pineapple Concerts said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Rihanna had been slated to visit Indonesia and Malaysia on her "Good Girl Gone Bad" tour.

Her planned stop in Kuala Lumpur drew publicity after organizers said she would shun skimpy outfits to conform with Muslim-majority Malaysia's strict rules on performers' dress.

The Los Angeles Times, citing law enforcement officials familiar with the case and other sources it did not name, reported that Rihanna told police that Brown had hurt her the night before the Grammy Awards.

A police statement released Sunday said Brown and an unidentified woman began arguing while riding in a car following a pre-Grammy party where they were spotted together Saturday night. The fight escalated when they got out of the car, the report said.

The report indicated the woman was injured, but Brown was booked only on suspicion of making a criminal threat after walking into a police station Sunday night. Authorities said the district attorney could choose to expand the charges.

Sudan in first peace talks with Darfur rebels since 2007

By Faisal Baatout

DOHA, Feb 10, 2009 (AFP) - A Sudanese government delegation met Darfur rebels from the Justice and Equality Movement in the Qatari capital on Tuesday for their first peace contacts since 2007.

The most heavily armed of the Darfur rebel groups, the JEM boycotted a largely abortive peace deal signed by one other faction in 2006 and in May last year launched an unprecedented assault on the Sudanese capital.

JEM representative Jibril Ibrahim said the new contacts could only pave the way for substantive peace negotiations if the government was prepared to accept the winding up of allied Arab militias in Darfur and allow high-level rebel representation in the central government.

"The appropriate order for our negotiations must be the following -- start by adopting confidence-building measures and making a declaration of good intentions and then address the key bones of contention," Ibrahim said.

He said confidence-building measures should include the release of JEM prisoners and the expansion of aid deliveries to rebel-held areas.

He said the rebel group expected to "retain its fighters during a transition period ahead of a final peace deal which would provide for their integration in the regular army."

The JEM also wanted to secure "a reduction in government troop numbers, the dismantlement of the militias and high-level participation in the central government in Khartoum."

The head of the government delegation, presidential aide Nafie Ali Nafie, limited his comments to renewing "Sudan's determination to continue down the path of peace."

Mediators have stressed that Doha talks are preliminary and intended to pave the way for a broader peace conference on Darfur.

Darfur rebels have been critical of Arab-led peace efforts in the past, saying they were designed to save Sudanese President Omar al-Beshir from international court proceedings for alleged war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The United Nations says about 300,000 people have been killed in Darfur since ethnic minority rebels took up arms against the Arab-dominated Khartoum government in 2003, complaining of discrimination.

Sudan says 10,000 people have died, and denies charges that its soldiers and allied Janjaweed militiamen have committed war crimes and genocide in Darfur.

Israelis vote with Livni, Netanyahu in close race

By STEVE WEIZMAN, Associated Press Writer

JERUSALEM – The two front-runners in the race to rule Israel made last-minute appeals to voters as polls opened Tuesday in a close general election whose outcome could determine the course of Mideast peace negotiations.

Opinion polls for months have predicted a decisive victory for the hard-line Likud Party, headed by former prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu. But new polls released over the weekend showed the Kadima Party, led by moderate Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, closing the gap.

After casting her vote at a Tel Aviv polling station, Livni called on Israelis to do the same, despite rainy weather that could keep turnout low.

"I have just done what I want every citizen in Israel to do — first of all to get out of the house, rain or no rain, cold or hot, go out, go to the polling station, go into the booth, close your eyes, and vote," Livni said.

Livni was one of the architects of Israel's offensive against Hamas in the Gaza Strip last month and has been striving to present an image of herself as tough but sensible.

Despite the narrow gap between Livni and Netanyahu, polls have predicted that voters will take a sharp turn to the right and elect a parliament dominated by hard-line parties opposed to territorial concessions. That would make it difficult for Livni to form a government even if she wins.

The national mood is at least partially linked to the rocket fire from Gaza that sparked Israel's recent offensive there, and to a sense among Israelis that territorial withdrawals like the country's 2005 Gaza pullout have only brought more violence.

Rami Golan, 60, a chef in Jerusalem, said Israel needed a "strong government."

"We need a strong man who knows what he wants to do. We need someone who will keep us safe," Golan said. He had yet to decide who to vote for, he said. With 33 parties running in the election, polls over the weekend showed more than 15 percent of Israelis still undecided.

Netanyahu opposes ceding land to the Palestinians and favors allowing Israeli settlements in the West Bank to expand, two points that are likely to put him on a collision course with the new U.S. administration. Livni, who hopes to become the first woman to lead Israel in 35 years, has served as chief negotiator with the Palestinians and says a West Bank withdrawal is necessary for Israel's own security.

Neither is seen getting more than 30 seats in the 120-seat parliament, however, meaning the winner will have to form a coalition with smaller parties. A fractious alliance unable to make difficult decisions could further complicate efforts to create a Palestinian state and pose a challenge to President Barack Obama, who has said he will become "aggressively" involved in pursuing Mideast peace.

In one indication of current anti-Arab sentiment in Israel, the ultranationalist Yisrael Beiteinu party has seen its support surge in the lead-up to the election with a campaign demanding that Israeli Arabs, one-fifth of Israel's population, sign a loyalty pledge or lose their citizenship. The polls suggest the party could become the third-largest faction in parliament and play the role of kingmaker in the post-election coalition bargaining.

Netanyahu has been seeking to halt the defection of his voters to Yisrael Beiteinu, and told the Maariv newspaper that the next prime minister must be from a party that has broad public support.

"Israel cannot afford superfluous domestic crises and a leadership that is like a wagon with different horses pulling it in different directions," he said.

Five Israeli Arabs were arrested after throwing stones and scuffling with police when a hard-line Jewish candidate provocatively arrived in the Arab town of Umm el-Fahm to serve as an election observer, police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said. The candidate was escorted out of the town and there were no injuries, he said.

The Israeli military announced a closure of the West Bank, barring Palestinians from entering Israel except for urgent medical treatment. Such closures are routine during elections and religious festivals, when Israelis gather in public places and present a potential target for militant attacks.

Security officials are particularly wary of the possibility of an attack seeking to avenge Israel's Gaza campaign, which ended Jan. 18. About 1,300 Palestinians were killed, according to Gaza health officials, and 13 Israelis also died in the offensive, meant to halt militant rocket fire aimed at southern Israel.

Most polling stations were scheduled to close at 10 p.m. (2000 GMT, 3 p.m. EST). Exit polls were expected soon after the polls close, with the first official results to be announced before dawn Wednesday.

If the hawkish Netanyahu garners the most votes, he will have to choose whether to form a coalition with hard-line parties or reach out to centrists like Livni. A partnership with moderate parties like Livni's Kadima and Labor, headed by Defense Minister Ehud Barak, might push Netanyahu toward the middle, but it is unlikely he would agree to uproot Jewish settlements or cede partial control of Jerusalem — both of which would be necessary for peace with the Palestinians.

What Israelis want most from this election is quiet, said Yossi Klein Halevi, a fellow at the Adelson Institute for Strategic Studies in Jerusalem.

"Israelis are overwhelmed by security pressures, by fear of the future, by a sense of unworthy leadership. Israelis look at the Middle East and feel the walls coming in, there are terrorist enclaves on our borders and we don't seem to have answers," he said.

"We just fought a war that we won and even that war has not stopped the missiles from falling. So Israelis look around and say, 'No one can deliver peace, no one can deliver security, who can we depend on?'"

Rebel Zakayev May Return Home - Chechen Leader

MOSCOW (AFP)--Leading Chechen separatist Akhmed Zakayev, who has been granted asylum by U.K., can return to Chechnya, the Caucasian republic's pro-Russian leader Ramzan Kadyrov said in an interview published Tuesday.

"Zakayev himself once offered to return, he telephoned me and I talked to him... He must overcome himself and his fear, but if we want to end this war, we must be able to forgive and so must bring back people," Kadyrov told the state Rossiyskaya Gazeta daily.

"I have already brought back from Europe two (rebel) agents, and they came and saw that no one will stop them here from praying, building mosques and having a peaceful life," Kadyrov said, adding that he had a job in mind for Zakayev.

"Zakayev is nothing as a warrior, but he is a good actor and a well-educated man. We have a theater in Grozny, and he could act there again or be chief of Grozny's concert hall. So there is a job for him in the culture ministry, I confirm that," he explained.

Moscow claims Zakayev has been involved in mass terrorist acts during Chechnya's violent independence struggle, which broke out after the Soviet Union's 1991 collapse and still continues in a sporadic, low-level way.

Zakayev currently lives in the U.K., where he has political refugee status. U.K. authorities refuse to extradite him, citing lack of evidence and worries about the integrity of the Russian judicial system.

Jordan's king calls for stronger Arab solidarity

Jordan's King Abdullah II called Sunday for stronger Arab unity in face of regional challenges after Israeli intensive offensive on the Hamas-ruled Gaza Strip, according to the Royal Hashemite Court.

King Abdullah made the call in a meeting with visiting Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa, the court said in a statement.

During the meeting, the king called on Arab states to put an end to internal differences, saying that the rifts pose an obstacle to reaching an effective Arab stand in face of political, security and economic challenges, said the court statement.

According to the statement, Abdullah also stressed that it is important for Arab states to push for more progress on the basis of the favorable atmosphere, which prevailed at the Kuwait Arab economic summit last month.

It is also crucial to exert every possible effort to achieve Palestinian reconciliation and unite Palestinian stance, especially at this time that should see intensive Arab and international efforts to resolve the Palestinian-Israeli conflict on the basis of the two-state solution, the king added.

Moussa, for his part, briefed the king on his current tour of several Arab states, which aims at healing the splits among Arabs exposed after the 22-day Israeli offensive on Gaza.

Moussa has visited Yemen as the first leg of the tour, which is expected to take him later to Qatar and Saudi Arabia after a stop in Jordan.

Hezbollah vows to confront Israel through resistance

Lebanese Hezbollah movement's second in command Shiekh Naim Qassem has vowed that Arabs can not confront Israel except through resistance, local Naharnet website reported Saturday.

Any call for Arab rights cannot be obtained through diplomacy but through resistance, Qassem was quoted as saying in an interview to the Syrian official daily al-Thawra.

He stressed that his party was ready to confront Israel in case of any new Israeli aggression against Lebanon, which he seems to be expecting, saying "we built our state of readiness on the bases of the worst scenario."

Qassem, meanwhile, saw a difference between the Israeli war on Lebanon in 2006 and the recent Israeli offensive on Gaza, saying that "the first was because of an American request while the latter was a result of an Israeli need."

Israel and Hezbollah fought a devastating 34-day war in 2006, during which Israel did not achieve the goal of eliminating the Lebanese Shiite armed group nor was able to disarm it.

Hezbollah vowed to keep its arms as long as Israel posses a threat in the region.

Hamas returns seized Gaza aid: UN

JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Islamist Hamas rulers of the Gaza Strip have returned aid supplies they seized last week, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees UNRWA said in a statement on Monday.

"The Hamas authorities in Gaza have returned to the UNRWA warehouses in Gaza City and Rafah all of the aid supplies confiscated on 03 and 05 February," it said.

"UNRWA will now lift the suspension on the import of its humanitarian supplies into Gaza, which went into effect on 05 February."

It said earlier that Hamas last week seized 200 tonnes of rice and flour brought into Gaza by UNWRA, and in a separate incident grabbed 3,500 blankets and more than 400 food parcels at gunpoint from a distribution store at a Gaza City refugee camp.

Hamas said over the weekend the supplies had been seized "by mistake."

UNRWA plays a key role in distributing aid in Gaza and says it currently hands out food assistance to some 900,000 people out of a population of 1.5 million.

Humanitarian workers say the aid is crucial as the population struggles with the aftermath of Israel's crushing military assault on the impoverished Palestinian enclave which left more than 1,300 dead and razed over 14,000 homes.

UK Muslim tells court he fabricated Islamist past

LONDON (Reuters) - A British-born Pakistani man who said he had links to al Qaeda and had sent young men for terrorism training in Pakistan has told a court that he was lying about his past.

Hassan Butt, 28, told Manchester Crown Court he had fed stories to the media and that his portrayal of himself as a terrorist planner who later renounced violence in order to fight Islamist extremism was a fabrication.

He made the confession in December during the trial of a former friend, Habib Ahmed, who was subsequently convicted of belonging to al Qaeda. Restrictions on the reporting of the case have only now been lifted following the conclusion of another trial involving Butt's wife.

"At no point have I ever been training, have I ever been a jihadi," Butt told the court, according to a transcript of the proceedings.

Questioning Butt about his past, prosecutor Andrew Edis asked: "So, you were a professional liar then?"

Butt replied: "I would make money, yes." He had, he said, told stories that "the media wanted to hear."

The confession will come as a surprise to many as Butt was for years regarded as a leading Islamist who had subsequently turned himself into a proponent for "de-radicalizing" young men in order to combat extremism.

He has been widely profiled in newspapers, magazines and in television documentaries, and even met members of the government to discuss his plans for combating radicalism.

In a Reuters interview in April last year, Butt said he had spent a decade inside Islamist factions, during which time he said he had sent recruits to Pakistan. He said he began questioning his beliefs after the July 2005 attacks by suicide bombers on London in which 52 people were killed.

"I financed terrorism, I recruited people to go to terrorist training camps, I myself have been to terrorist training camps," he said in the interview. "I was involved in the whole world of radical Islam from the age of 16 onwards."

Reuters does not pay for interviews.

Butt has been arrested five times by counter-terrorism officers, but was released each time without charge.

A spokeswoman for Greater Manchester police said Monday there were no charges against Butt and he was a free man. He did not respond to phone calls seeking comment.

It is not clear why Butt would have fabricated so much of his past, and even gone to the lengths of stabbing himself in the arm to make it look like he had been attacked by Islamists for speaking out against extremism.

Shiv Malik, a journalist who has profiled Butt and who wrote a book called "Leaving Al Qaeda: Inside The Life And Mind of A British Jihadist" based on interviews with him, said he planned to carry on his research.

Malik is now writing a book about Butt's life and trying to piece together what was true and what was false.

"All this had to come from somewhere, so there's definitely a story there," he told Reuters. "I particularly want to look at Butt's involvement with Britain's security services."

Asked if he would be interviewing Butt, he replied: "I think I've had all the interviews with him that I want to have."

Britons hail successes in Basra

BASRA, Iraq, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- British defense officials praised the success of the Iraqi provincial elections and general security improvements during a tour of Basra.

British Armed Forces Minister Bob Ainsworth paid a visit to members of an artillery regiment and military transition teams operating in Basra, the British Ministry of Defense said in a statement.

Ainsworth hailed the work of his troops, saying they helped pave the way to a peaceful election in January that went by with few reports of violence.

"Democracy is flourishing, and people can now go about their daily business," he said.

He added the ability of Iraqi security forces to coordinate operations in the bustling port city, as well as the opportunity for provincial council candidates to campaign openly, was a triumph for British forces.

"I came here a year ago, and Basra was still a troubled place," he said. "It is now a testament to the success of (England's) transition strategy that Iraqis are solving Iraqi problems and Basra is now a secure city."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Emerging_Threats/2009/02/09/Britons_hail_successes_in_Basra/UPI-27331234205534/.

Analysis: Erdogan is Arab world's new hero

By CLAUDE SALHANI, UPI Contributing Editor

WASHINGTON, Feb. 9 (UPI) -- Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been in the limelight of the international media recently, portrayed as both a hero and a villain.

Erdogan's star has never shined brighter, though, strangely enough, not in his native Turkey as much as in the Arab world. That in itself is an anomaly, given that memories of the Ottoman rule -- which lasted from 1299 to 1923 -- still lingers, and often some in the Arab world will recall atrocities committed by the Ottoman Turks as though they happened only yesterday. Indeed, the concept of time in the Middle East can be very different from the Western perception.

On a recent visit to Syria, which only a few years ago had seriously strained relations with Turkey, the Turkish prime minister was told by none other than President Bashar Assad that he was even more popular in Syria than Syria's own president (an amazing feat, given that the Syrian president traditionally scores above 99 percent of the votes in any election).

The reason for the Turkish prime minister's sudden rise to stardom in parts of the Arab world? His ardent defense of Hamas during the recent conflict between the militant Palestinian Islamic Resistance Movement and Israel. To be sure, while most of the Western world labeled Hamas as a "terrorist organization," Erdogan was practically alone in championing its cause.

The pivotal moment came last month during a heated debate with Israeli President Shimon Peres at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, when, angered by the moderator allowing more time to Peres, Erdogan stormed off the stage, but not before he had a chance to accuse the Israeli president of purposely killing civilians in Gaza.

Erdogan's reception upon his return to Turkey was that of a conquering hero. Some Turks, however, found their prime minister's involvement in the Middle East conflict regrettable and contrary to Kemalist philosophy of not getting involved in the Arab world.

But in the Arab world Erdogan's popularity skyrocketed, particularly given the lack of support extended to Hamas from traditional Arab leaders over the bombing of Gaza -- a silence that was almost as deafening as the bombing itself.

Erdogan's popularity rose even further in the Arab world when he stated that the definition of terrorism should be revisited -- obviously making such a statement with Hamas in mind.

"Terrorism, of course, may well be the most contested word in the contemporary political vocabulary," writes Peter R. Neumann, director of the International Center for the Study of Radicalization and Political Violence and senior lecturer in the department of War Studies at King's College, London.

"There is no agreed definition of terrorism in international law, nor is there any agreement amongst scholars," says Neumann in the latest issue of the Adelphi Papers (No. 399) issued by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies.

As Neumann points out, the proposal for the definition of terrorism as put forward in 2004 by the U.N. High Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change defined terrorism as any action "that is intended to cause death or serious bodily harm to civilians or non-combatants, when the purpose of such an act is to intimidate a population, or to compel a government or an international organization to do or to abstain from doing any act."

Of course, using that definition of terrorism, the word may be applied just as easily to both sides in the most recent Middle East dispute -- all the more reason why a consensus on the designation of the word "terrorism" is unlikely to be agreed upon anytime soon.

Turkey's support of the militant Palestinian organization was seen as highly controversial in many of the Western world's capitals. And while the prime minister was given a hero's welcome at home, many in Turkey saw him as a villain. Not to mention the impact the prime minister's discourse had in Israel, with whom Turkey has diplomatic relations. Indeed, Erdogan's popularity went right through the roof -- with crowds hailing him from Cairo to Casablanca and beyond.

The Arab street's reaction to Erdogan's rush to the defense of the Palestinians should put to rest the misgivings still harbored by some that the Palestinian question is not a major issue in the Arab world and does not act as a rallying cry nor serve as a perfect recruitment poster for the more radical fringe of militant Salafis and Takfiris, such as al-Qaida and its affiliates.

And while Erdogan's position was not viewed favorably by many, it is important to note that now more so than ever, as Turkey's star continues to climb -- and with it the prestige of Erdogan -- Turkey can play a vital role in helping settle the Middle East conflict.

Until recently Turkey tended to avoid getting pulled into the region's political squabbling. Now that Ankara seems to be concerned by developments in the Middle East, the Europeans and the Americans have criticized the Turkish prime minister's stance. The intelligent approach, however, would be to encourage Ankara's participation in the peace process.

Cuneyt Yuksel, a Turkish parliamentarian and vice president of the political and legal affairs department of Turkey's ruling AK Party, told this reporter that "Turkey only wants to ensure that there will be peace and prosperity in the Middle East."

Yuksel said that at every meeting with Hamas, his party emphasizes to the Palestinians the "urgency of giving up the gun in exchange for a peaceful dialogue."

"We keep telling Hamas that they must forget the gun" and devote all their energies toward achieving what they wish for -- a state they can call their own. "But," stresses Yuksel, "Hamas must abandon the gun."

Every rocket Hamas fires at Israel only serves to further delay the peace process. Every delay in the peace process allows further developments of Israeli settlements. Every development of new Israeli settlements further complicates the peace process. In essence, Erdogan's entry onto the Middle East stage should be hailed as that of a hero, not booed as that of a villain.

Lawsuit seeks control of wild horses

PORTLAND, Okla., Feb. 9 (UPI) -- An Oregon couple alleges in a U.S. District Court lawsuit that federal authorities should properly control the rising wild horse population in the state.

Loren and Piper Stout allege in their federal lawsuit that appropriate steps have not been taken to date to contain the wild mustang and burro population on Oregon's 62,000-acre Murderers Creek allotment, The (Portland) Oregonian said Sunday.

"They have let it get out of hand, and we are getting blamed for it," Loren Stout alleged in the lawsuit against the U.S. Forest Service. "Horses are real tough on resources, and they are out there 12 months of the year."

The couple's lawsuit, which was filed last week in Portland, comes after the Stouts' cattle were accused of damaging the Murderers Creek federal holding facility.

As a result of that allegation, the couple is no longer allowed to graze their cattle on the federal lands.

The Oregonian said a U.S. General Accounting Office report released last October found that the unwanted animal population on federal holding facilities nationwide has tripled since 2000.

Somalia: President Ready to Practice Sharia Law

Mogadishu — Somalia's newly elected president Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed told Monday Islamist leaders and commanders of government forces that he was ready to practice the Sharia law.

Somali's president Sharif Sheik Ahmed was attending a large meeting in former Police Traffic Center in Mogadishu on Monday, and encouraged peace and forgiveness to the Somalis.

Sheik Abdulqadir Ali Omar, the leader of the Islamic Courts Union and Gen. Abdi Hassan Awale (Qeibdid), the commander of the Somali police forces shook hands and said they made up and reconciled.

Said Dhere, the commander of the Somali military forces and some caretaker government ministers attended the meeting.

"We consider the role of every Somali citizen who can help bring peace to the nation," said President Sheikh Sharif Sheikh Ahmed.

Mr. Ahmed called for international aid and urged civilians uprooted by two years of fighting to return home.

The president said he would build the national security forces and called for the opposition to join his government to safe the country.

The newly-elected leader had said he would form an inclusive government and extend a hand to armed groups still opposed to the UN-sponsored reconciliation effort.

Sheikh Sharif Ahmed, the young cleric and former opposition leader, was elected as Somali's president in Djibouti, but he faces a daunting task of bringing change to the war- torn nation of Somalia, which has not had a central government for eighteen years.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200902091418.html.

Australia declares bushfire disaster a crime scene

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Australian police treated the country's entire bushfire disaster zone as a crime scene on Tuesday as investigators combed through a blackened wasteland to find clues to the culprits behind the country's deadliest fires.

Arson investigators began their work even as about 25 fires still raged across southern Victoria, including some of the hardest-hit areas north of Melbourne where so far 173 people have been confirmed dead, many burned in cars and their own homes.

"All of the fires have been treated as a crime scene," a police spokesman said, adding that arson investigators from up and down the country were descending on the disaster zone. "We do believe they may have been lit deliberately, but we can't confirm it," the spokeswoman said.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has already branded the unknown culprits as "mass murderers" and Victoria state has ordered an official inquiry into the causes of the wild fires, which sent four-storeys-high sheets of flame racing through towns and farms.

Arson is often involved in Australian bushfires which break out every summer but rarely kill anywhere near half as many as the number of people killed in Victoria state's weekend infernos.

Australia's previously worst bushfire was the Ash Wednesday fires of 1983 which killed 75 people and destroyed more than 2,000 homes. The toll from the weekend's fires, which are still burning in some parts of Victoria, is expected to climb further.

Police said convicted arsonists could face a murder charge and appealed to survivors of the bushfires to come forward with any evidence of suspicious activity.

"We have got arson investigators on the scene but the problem at the moment is that the fires are still burning and the sites are still so hot, so it's difficult for the investigators," the police spokesman said.

Prime Minister Rudd was momentarily speechless on Monday when asked on national TV for his thoughts on the suspicions of arson.

"What do you say about anyone like that? I don't know, just, there's no words to describe it, other than it's mass murder."

Wildfires are a natural annual event in Australia, but this year a combination of scorching weather, drought and tinder-dry bush has created prime conditions.

So far, about 3,500 square km (1,350 sq miles) have been burned in the Victoria fires, with about 3,400 firefighters still battling the blazes, the state's Country Fire Authority said.

The fires, and major floods in the Queensland in the north, will put pressure on Rudd who is due to deliver a new climate policy in May. Green politicians are citing the extreme weather to back a tougher climate policy.

Scientists say Australia, with its harsh environment, is set to be one of the nations most affected nations by climate change.

Victoria state has ordered a Royal commission of inquiry, which has sweeping powers, to probe all aspects of the bushfires, including causes and also a review of bushfire safety guidelines.

Officials say the golden rule of surviving forest fires is to evacuate early or fight to the bitter end, but experts say that it appears many victims panicked and fled at the worst time. Some were incinerated in cars as they tried to outrun the flames.