Social media creating social awareness in the Arab world

by Hani Naim
17 May 2011

Beirut - Social media has brought various religious and ethnic groups across the world closer together. Nowhere is this more apparent than in the Arab world, as demonstrated by the recent protests. Activists in this part of the world maintain that their motives are not sectarian. Indeed, the protests themselves show people of different backgrounds coming together for a common cause: change.

In Manama, a campaign for political change launched on blogs and on Facebook proclaimed: "No Sunni, No Shi'ite. Only Bahraini." In Syria, protesters are rejecting sectarian strife and focusing on oneness, shouting: "Not Kurdish, Not Arab. We Want National Unity." This is in addition to an online campaign started by activists with the slogan: "Are you Muslim or Christian? I am Syrian", which grew to nearly 9,000 members. And then there is the Facebook launch of a Syrian code of honor, condemning all forms of discrimination against fellow citizens, with around 5,000 members.

Many Arab regimes banned the creation of political parties, and limited the right to associate or create civil rights groups. This meant that there was little space where religious, ethnic and cultural groups could meet and interact. Some of the ruling regimes also marginalized and oppressed religious and ethnic minorities – from the oppression of the Amazigh in North African countries by prohibiting them from speaking their native language or giving traditional Amazigh names to their children, to banning Christians from rebuilding their churches, or depriving Kurds of their nationality, as well as other measures.

But social media has helped such groups discover one another, and break the psychological barrier of fear between them, which some regimes had constructed. Social media is a “first step” toward engagement with what the regimes qualified as “the other”. After all, it is easier to begin a conversation with someone with a different background sitting behind a computer screen.

It is also a step toward taking this change to broader society.

In Lebanon too, online groups that oppose sectarianism and discrimination in society have appeared, creating a space that has brought people from various sects and regions closer together.

As the protests spread across the Arab world, activists in Lebanon began to unite with the goal of "ousting the sectarian system." These activists managed to reach around 15,000 people through a Facebook group entitled, "In favor of ousting the Lebanese sectarian system – towards a secular system." The group is comprised of youth from different sects, regions and cultural backgrounds. On the group’s Facebook page, activists engage in extensive discussions about the existing system and about the system they long for. The leaders of this group have even organized many public demonstrations, including one that numbered 21,000 people, all demanding the end of the sectarian system in Lebanon.

Social media is fast proving to be a tool that creates awareness of a particular issue amongst large numbers of people. A few clicks, and you can spread the world with your message and galvanize like-minded individuals to interact and engage in a common cause.

In the past five years, many such causes have surfaced, brought on by multi-religious, cultural and political groups. For instance, proponents of gay rights, through their online presence, were able to create more awareness of their plight in Lebanon.

This movement attracted support from many youth across religions, sects and regions, with the aim of removing Article 534 from the Lebanese Penal Code, which identifies homosexuals as criminals, and granting a person the right to choose his or her sexual orientation. The online presence of this movement and the success of its outreach demonstrate how social media can provide youth of different backgrounds a platform to engage in fruitful interaction for a common cause.

Another example of social media’s ability to bring people together is the Lebanese Women's Right to Nationality and Full Citizenship, a cause that brought together over 20,000 members on Facebook to support all Lebanese women’s right to pass on their nationality to their children. People from all religions were able to meet online and discover that those of different faiths can and do think just like they do.

This kind of activity reinforces a sense of social cohesion and helps people focus on what they have in common, despite differences in their backgrounds. It has also proven to be an effective tool in the hands of people relegated to society’s margins, who are now able to voice their concerns and gather support from all segments across the country.

Source: Common Ground.
Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=29759&lan=en&sp=0.

Christians, Muslims and solidarity: the Egyptian challenge

by H.A. Hellyer
17 May 2011

Cairo - The recent burning of two churches in Cairo’s Imbaba district reminded me of New Year’s Eve this year, when I was in Cairo. At the time, I heard about the bombing of the church in Alexandria, and I saw the outrage that took place on the streets of Cairo – and the solidarity it resulted in, with Muslim men and women standing guard outside of churches on 7 January, when Copts celebrated Christmas.

That solidarity between Muslims and Christians in Egypt was not short-lived, but a deeply felt, rooted expression. Anyone who had been in Tahrir Square during the uprising knows that – and anyone who had been outside the attacked churches during the uprising knows that too.

No one was outside attacked churches during the uprising – because no churches were attacked. At a time when there was complete lawlessness on the streets, as the regime pulled off the police forces, churches were safe. Had there been such a violent sentiment against Christians in Egypt, that would have been the time to pounce.

In the weeks after the uprising, the former interior minister was officially the subject of an investigation into that New Year’s Eve bombing. The accusation prompting the inquiry was that his ministry was responsible for the bombing in order to shore up support for the regime. The investigation continues, although in the court of public opinion (if not in the judiciary system), the verdict was fairly clear. There’s a positive aspect to that – the anti-sectarian mood was clearly what Egyptians were feeling.

I sincerely hoped that would be the way things would continue indefinitely. In recent days, however, it’s been clear that will not be Egypt’s future – at least not for the short or medium term. The two churches burned in Imbaba have raised the specter of continued religiously based sectarian violence.

When it comes to religion and the public sphere, the Muslim Brotherhood is probably the most influential group in Egypt in terms of bringing religion into it for political ends. Egyptians know that the Muslim Brotherhood sincerely and publicly denounced the bombing in Imbaba. Yet, Egyptians also know that the Muslim Brotherhood did not descend on Imbaba to work directly on calming sectarian tensions. Perhaps in the future, it might intervene more through the masses it can bring out. It certainly would build trust in wider society for the movement. It’s never had to play this kind of bridge-builder role before – but Egypt now requires that it do so.

Indeed, Egypt requires all Egyptians do so. While the Muslim community needs to take a hard look at what it may or may not do in order to build trust, the Christian community would probably benefit from reconsidering some of the stances that a minority within it has taken, particularly vis-à-vis the indigenous nature of the Muslim community as well as American intervention to solve the sectarian issue. There have been inflammatory statements and acts of violence emanating from both Muslims and Christians, which will also need to be discussed in safe environments in the future – not for the purpose of playing the ”blame game”, but to establish the facts against a backdrop in which an overwhelming majority of Egyptians oppose sectarianism and want a future where all citizens can feel they are of Egypt, and not some sort of foreign or alien element.

At the moment, there are many in Egypt suspecting that this is not the case for some Muslims and some Christians – and that suspicion has to be put to rest, for once and for all. A new Egypt deserves, requires and demands no less.

The unity of Egyptians is far stronger than the forces of division – and the sense of Egyptian patriotism is more mainstream than the sense of Egyptian sectarianism.

Egyptians can drain the swamp – and they can remove the fuel for divisive forces to use. Tahrir Square, Egyptians were reminded time and time again, brought out the best of what it meant to be an Egyptian. Now all Egyptians must find the best within themselves, and together they must confront the worst – and defeat it.

Source: Common Ground.
Link: http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=29755&lan=en&sp=0.

Syrian activists call general strike in new tactic

By ZEINA KARAM | AP
May 18, 2011

BEIRUT: Syrian protesters have called for a one-day nationwide general strike, urging students to skip school and workers to bring commerce to a halt in a new strategy of defiance against government crackdowns that appear to be turning more brutal and bloody.

The strike, planned for Wednesday, marks a shift by opposition forces to strike at President Bashar Assad’s regime from new angles: its economic underpinnings and ability to keep the country running during two months of widening battles.

A sweeping popular acceptance of the strike call would be an embarrassing blow to Assad and show support for the uprising in places, such as central Damascus, where significant protests have yet to take hold and security forces have choked off the few that have taken place.

“It will be a day of punishment for the regime from the free revolutionaries ... Massive protests, no schools, no universities, no stores or restaurants and even no taxis.

Nothing,” said a statement posted on the main Facebook page of the Syrian Revolution 2011.

The strike call came as the United States and European Union planned new sanctions against the Syrian leadership.

In Washington, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton told reporters that the tighter measures could be imposed in the coming days.

Meanwhile, watchdog groups and Syrians fleeing into neighboring Lebanon added to the accounts of violence.

A Syrian rights activist, Mustafa Osso, said government agents chased and beat students taking part in a protest against Assad’s regime at a university in Aleppo, Syria’s second-largest largest city. Security officials in Lebanon said at least 170 people entered the country Tuesday, including a 2-year-old girl with a shrapnel wound in her chest.

Syrians pouring over the Lebanon border in recent days have described horrific scenes of execution-style slayings and bodies in the streets in the western town of Talkalakh, which has been reportedly encircled by security forces.

Osso, head of the Kurdish Organization for the Defense of Human Rights and Public Freedoms in Syria, said there were reports of gunfire in Talkalakh on Tuesday, but it was not clear whether there were injuries.

At least 16 people — eight of them members of the same family — have been killed in recent days in Talkalakh, a town of about 70,000 residents, witnesses and activists said.

Syria’s official news agency said eight soldiers and policemen were killed Tuesday and five others were wounded while pursuing fugitives in Talkalakh and nearby areas. The report said security forces arrested several fugitives and confiscated a large amount of weapons.

Syria’s top rights organization has said that the crackdown by Assad has killed more than 850 people since protests erupted in mid-March in the most serious threat to his family’s 40-year dynasty. Thousands of others have been detained.

A pro-democracy activist in the central city of Homs expressed support for the nationwide strike, calling it “the only way to hurt the regime without putting people’s lives at risk.” But the activist, speaking by phone to The Associated Press, doubted the response would be big.

“The majority of businessmen and merchants are either supportive of the regime or fear for the businesses. They have too much to lose,” he said, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisals.

Anthony Skinner, an analyst at Maplecroft, a British-based risk analysis company, said he expected the current conflict to become even more protracted and bloody.

“Although the crackdown has failed to snuff out dissent, protests have also not gained sufficient momentum to overextend the armed forces,” he said.

On Tuesday, the National Organization for Human Rights said in a statement that at least 41 people were killed in the past five days in the villages of Inkhil and Jassem near the southern city of Daraa, where the rebellion took root.

Ammar Qurabi, the head of the human rights organization, also said a “mass grave” with 24 bodies, and another containing seven bodies including a father and his four sons, were discovered in Daraa on Monday. Calls to Daraa on Tuesday seeking to verify the reports were unsuccessful.

International rights watchdog Amnesty International urged Syrian authorities to carry out a prompt, impartial investigation into reports of the graves.

“If true, these reports of multiple corpses buried in a makeshift grave show an appalling disregard for humanity,” said Malcolm Smart, Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa director.

A Syrian Interior Ministry official dismissed the reports about a mass grave in Daraa as “completely baseless.” The unnamed official, quoted by state-run news agency SANA, said Tuesday that the “allegations came in the context of the campaign of provocation, slander and fabrication” against Syria.

The official said an “armed terrorist group” opened fire on a police vehicle near Homs, killing two policemen and wounding four others, including an army officer.

Assad has blamed the unrest on armed thugs and foreign agitators. He also has played on fears of sectarian strife to persuade people not to demonstrate, saying chaos would result.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article411728.ece.

Turkish government officials snub Israeli Independence Day reception

16 May 2011, Monday

The Israeli Embassy celebrated the 63rd anniversary of the Jewish state's independence on Monday in Ankara, but not a single Turkish government official showed up for the event.

Former Foreign Trade Minister Kürşad Tüzmen, former Energy and Natural Resources Minister Hilmi Güler, Higher Education Board (YÖK) President Yusuf Ziya Özcan, former Judges and Prosecutors Association (YARSAV) President Ömer Faruk Eminağaoğlu and US Ambassador to Turkey Francis J. Ricciardone participated in the reception, hosted by Israeli Ambassador to Turkey Gaby Levy on Monday.

Asked by reporters about participation from the Turkish government, Levy said the embassy had extended invitations to government officials but that it is up to them to accept or decline.

The Israeli diplomat said this is a reflection of the relations between the two countries. “But there is a good saying in Turkish: God willing it will be better,” Levy said.

Source: Today's Zaman.
Link: http://www.todayszaman.com/news-244176-turkish-government-officials-snub-israeli-independence-day-reception.html.

Jordan opposition skeptical over Jordan's admission to GCC

By ABDUL JALIL MUSTAFA | ARAB NEWS
May 18, 2011

AMMAN: A coalition of Jordanian opposition parties on Tuesday warned against the "political and security implications” of the decision by the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) leaders to admit Jordan into the oil-rich Arab bloc.

The Higher Coordination Committee of the Opposition Parties held an emergency meeting to discuss the offer in detail on Tuesday and cautioned that the move could lead to the normalization of ties between the GCC countries and Israel.

"The committee welcomes any step that boosts the joint Arab action in general, but the ongoing political developments in the region and the reported proposals for resolving the Arab-Zionist conflict stir concerns over the objectives” of Jordan’s admission to the GCC,” the panel said in a statement.

"Therefore, we warn against the political and security backgrounds of this step which sparks suspicion that it could facilitate the process of normalization with the Zionist enemy, which has been an objective the United States sought to achieve for a long time through putting pressure on Arab countries, particularly the GCC states,” it added.

The committee, which comprises the Islamic Action Front (IAF) and six other Pan-Arab and left-leaning political parties, also cast doubt on the possibility of improving the living standard of the Jordanian people as a result of Jordan’s accession to the 30-year-old alliance.

GCC leaders, who met in Riyadh last week, welcomed the admission of the two pro-West Arab monarchies of Jordan and Morocco to the bloc and invited their foreign ministers to open talks with their counterparts in the GCC with a view to working out the details of the process.

If Jordan joins the GCC, it will be the only Arab state in the expanded entity that maintains official diplomatic ties with Israel.

Jordanian press and analysts have also warned that such a step could jeopardize the country’s fledgling political reform and involve security risks and possible enmity with Iran.

Jordan’s joining of the GCC is expected have figured largely in King Abdallah’s talks with US President Barack Obama at the White House Tuesday.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article410658.ece.

Iranian Jews stand by Palestinians

Tue May 17, 2011

Iranian Jews have declared their support for Palestinians and condemned the Israeli military for killing Palestinian demonstrators on Nakba Day.

In a statement issued on Monday, the representative of the Jewish community in the Iranian Parliament (Majlis), MP Siamak Mare Sedq, condemned the killings and expressed sympathy with the oppressed people of Palestine, saying more efforts should be made to help the Palestinians regain their rights, the Mehr news agency reported.

On Sunday, Israeli troops launched attacks on rallies and marches held in Palestine and bordering countries to protest against the establishment of Israel 63 years ago, killing dozens of people.

Demonstrators gathered in cities across the Middle East to remember the May 15, 1948 occupation of Palestine, known as Nakba Day, which means Day of the Catastrophe in Arabic.

In the Gaza Strip, the Israeli military killed two protesters, including a Palestinian teenager, and injured at least 65 others, a Press TV correspondent reported.

A journalist suffered a critical injury from Israeli fire in the northern city of Beit Hanoun.

One person was killed and at least 150 hurt in the village of Qalandiya near the city of Ramallah in the central West Bank.

Two other Palestinians were killed and scores were injured by Israeli troops in other parts of the West Bank.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh urged Palestinians to continue the resistance against Israel and expressed hope that the Palestinians would one day return to their homeland.

In Syria's Golan Heights, at least 12 protesters were killed and 30 wounded by Israeli military fire.

Israeli forces also fired into Lebanon, killing six protesters and injuring 71 others, 13 of them seriously.

Source: PressTV.
Link: http://www.presstv.ir/detail/180287.html.

Iranian lawmakers file lawsuit against president: report

TEHRAN, May 17 (Xinhua) -- A senior member of the Iranian Majlis (Parliament) said a number of lawmakers have filed a lawsuit against President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad's administration for violating the constitution, the English language satellite Press TV reported Tuesday.

On February 28, a number of legislators filed suit against the government with the Majlis Presiding Board for the government's refraining from implementing the Iranian Constitution, lawmaker Fazel Moussavi was quoted as saying.

Majlis Presiding Board referred the lawsuit to the Article 90 Commission of the Majlis which was assigned with probing into the case and determine whether the lawsuit is valid or not. It should next send a letter to the Majlis Presiding Board to announce the result. The Presiding Board will then present a report to the Majlis, said the report.

The Article 90 Commission which is established in the Iranian parliament to pursue issues around the Article 90 of Iranian Constitution, deals with the complaints against Iran's government, parliament or judiciary performance. The Article 90 Commission studies the written complaints presented to them and announces the findings.

If the Majlis validates the report about the president or each of the cabinet ministers in three separate times, the impeachment motion will be put on the Majlis agenda based on the Article 89 of the Constitution, added Press TV.

Moussavi said that 12 lawmakers have signed the lawsuit against the government for some 50 cases of Constitution violation, according to the report.

Source: Xinhua.
Link: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2011-05/17/c_13879598.htm.

Former Iranian leader wants reconciliation

TEHRAN, May 17 (UPI) -- There is a toxic atmosphere in Iran that must be overcome through the spirit of reconciliation, former Iranian President Mohammad Khatami said.

Iranian opposition leaders Mir Hossein Mousavi and Mehdi Karroubi are under house arrest. Both were detained shortly after making requests early this year to have public demonstrations. Mousavi was the top challenger to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, whose re-election in 2009 sparked violent protests in Iran.

Some Iranian lawmakers accused Karroubi and Mousavi of treason and called for their execution.

Khatami in a speech to veterans of the Iran-Iraq War in the 1980s advocated a spirit of reconciliation in the country, reports Radio Zamaneh, a Persian broadcaster in the Netherlands.

"If there has been any wrongdoing, let us all forgive each other and look toward the future," he was quoted as saying.

Meanwhile, Ahmadinejad is facing internal backlash over apparent disagreements with the country's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.

An Iranian newspaper last week said Khamenei called on the president to step aside over a series of spats over presidential allies, Bloomberg News reports. The president's office issued a statement saying "this news is wrong."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/05/17/Former-Iranian-leader-wants-reconciliation/UPI-20771305655443/.

The Jordanian street and the pro-democracy protests

WARNING: Article contains propaganda!

* * * * *

By RAY HANANIA
05/17/2011

Yalla Peace: True democracy will not come to the Hashemite Kingdom before a Palestinian state is created.

As citizens across the Arab world have risen in protest against decades of dictatorship in Libya, Egypt, Tunisia and Syria, one might ask why the same hasn’t happened in Jordan?

In all the other countries, the protests seem to share a major characteristic. The governments reflect an element of the population’s religious or tribal minorities, while the protesters have been left out of power. Libya’s troubles are more tribal, Syria’s are more tribal and religious, and Egypt’s troubles are a combination of religious and secular rivalries.

In Libya, dictator Col. Muammar Gaddafi comes from one of the country’s 140 tribes. The war in Libya is a civil war, fueled in large part by the interference of Western powers, including NATO and the US.

The NATO-American alliance was not hesitant to arm and protect the protesters in Libya, while the same Western powers sat back and watched as Egypt’s dictator Hosni Mubarak was slowly pushed from power.

Egypt’s future remains uncertain. It’s a nation made up of several power bases, the largest including secular Muslims, Orthodox Coptic Christians and religious Muslims under the leadership of the Muslim Brotherhood. The Brotherhood was not behind the protests there, and neither were the Coptic Christians. But once Mubarak was removed from office and a military junta took control, the divisions were quickly highlighted by friction. Today, the Coptic Christians are under siege, and their future in Egypt remains uncertain.

In Syria, the ruling regime is controlled by the Alawis or Alawites, a mystical minority branch of Islam that is closer to the Shi’ites than to the Sunnis. Sunni Muslims are the more dominant in the Arab world. The Shi’ites in the region are predominantly Persian, and closer to Iran.

The majority of the Syrian population are Sunnis, although there is a substantial Christian community there too.

But the religious sects are more tribal in Syria, making Bashar Assad and his Alawite minority which control the government an easier target. Bashar’s father, Hafez Assad took control of Syria in a coup in 1970, following rising protests from the Alawite community against the Sunni Muslim and Christian governments.

Jordan is unlike any of the others. The Jordanian people are mainly Beduin Arabs. Jordan was created from the Fertile Crescent lands of Syria and Palestine, occupied by the Allies after World War I. Palestine was divided into two areas, Trans-Jordan to the East of the river and Palestine to the West. This was based on the British decision to limit Jewish migration to Palestine.

The 1948 war pushed more than 750,000 Palestinian refugees into Lebanon, Syria, the Gaza Strip and the West Bank. Gaza came under Egyptian control, and the West Bank came under Jordanian control.

The 1967 war pushed more Palestinians, including 1948 refugees, into Jordan. Today, it has about two million Palestinians. Most have become Jordanian citizens, with only 167,000 remaining in refugee camps. That explains Jordan’s dilemma.

The relationship between the Jordanian and Palestinian Arabs has always been tenuous.

While the rest of the Arab world opposed the partition of Palestine, Jordan’s King Abdullah I favored it. In fact, King Abdullah had grand visions of a Greater Arabia to include Iraq, Palestine and Syria (where his brother Faisal had once served as king, but was ousted by the French). Faisal later became king of Iraq.

King Abdullah I was assassinated by a Palestinian when he visited the al-Aqsa Mosque in East Jerusalem in 1951.

The Jordanian-Palestinian populations live in a forced political detente in Jordan. Jordanian Arabs are deathly loyal to the monarchy. The vast majority will not rebel against King Abdullah II, fearing that the country will come under Palestinian control.

Jordan’s monarchs have also been more Western, and have allowed a greater sense of democracy to exist, even though the government is controlled by the king himself and ruled by a parliament subject to the king’s whims.

There have been some protests, but they are inhibited by this population balance. And Jordan’s king has the strongest Western backing of any Arab regime. True democracy will not come to a significant part of Jordan’s population, at least not before a Palestinian state is created, and with those Palestinians in Jordan given the choice to live there.

That’s why there are no pro-democracy protests in Jordan.

Source: The Jerusalem Post.
Link: http://www.jpost.com/Opinion/Columnists/Article.aspx?id=221026.

Libya: Algeria provided Gaddafi with 500 military grade vehicles

- Rabih Serrai
Tuesday, 17 May 2011

Global Arab Network - Algeria has delivered 500 pickups to Colonel Maamar Gaddafi's regime, Africa News Agency (ANA) reported, citing diplomatic sources and Libyan opposition members.

"The Algerian military has already been supporting Gaddafi's regime by sending Polisario guerrillas to join Gaddafi’s mercenary forces,” ANA said on its website.

This information was confirmed by NATO and a former Libyan minister and Libyan opposition leaders in Benghazi who captured some mercenaries among them elements of the separatist group, the same source added.

Morocco Board News reported that the Libyan embassy in Algiers has purchased 500 military grade vehicles from several dealers and shipped them to the pro-Gaddafi loyalist forces. Such large purchase of military grade vehicles by an embassy, of a neighboring country at war, can not go forward unless it has a tacit support from Algeria's government..

The Algerian opposition had accused Algeria's government of supporting Gaddafi by, among others, facilitating the supply of military hardware to the Gaddafi regime through the Algerian-Libyan border. "We have information about the entry to Libya of military hardware through the Algerian border" announced an official of the Libyan Rebels Group CNT.

The Libyan ambassador in Algiers is one of the few to remain loyal to the Gaddafi regime .

The Algerian newspaper (Ashorouk) said that a central committee member of the FLN, Algeria's ruling party, attended a pro-Gaddafi conference in Tripoli; where he made a speech attacking the rebels' National Transitional Council and accusing it of being "a pawn of the West."

Abdelaziz Belkhadem, Algeria's President representative, has harshly criticized the Libyan rebel group, the National Transitional Council, for their accusations that Algeria is helping to send mercenaries to Colonel Gaddafi.

Algeria’s officials always denied all these accusations and considered it as a false information.

Source: Global Arab Network.
Link: http://www.english.globalarabnetwork.com/2011051710937/Algeria-Politics/libya-algeria-provided-gaddafi-with-500-military-grade-vehicles.html.

'Disi water uncontaminated'

By Abeer Numan

AMMAN - The water of the Disi basin is not polluted and is potable, Jordanian Geologists Association President Bahjat Al Adwan said on Tuesday, dismissing a report on a news website claiming otherwise.

Adwan, speaking to The Jordan Times over the phone, denied claims that the basin water is radioactively contaminated.

Adwan said the water does have radon, but the gas disappears as soon as the water is pumped from the underground and reaches the surface.

“As soon as the water is pumped out, a chemical reaction occurs between the air and the gas, causing it to fade away,” said Adwan, adding that water is safe for human consumption and that such reports are damaging.

Any deep-seated underground water has some sort of radioactivity, said Elias Salameh, a University of Jordan professor of hydrogeology and hydrochemistry.

Once the water is pumped out, it is checked for radioactivity, he said, noting that if any high concentration is found, the water is treated.

University of Jordan mineralogy Professor Hani Khouri confirmed that the water is uncontaminated and that radioactivity is a natural occurrence.

“In the case of any remaining radiation, it is easily removed through aeration and filtration processes,” Khouri said.

The Disi water conveyance project, slated for completion in 2013, entails the construction of a pipeline to convey water from the ancient Disi aquifer in southern Jordan to Amman.

The project is expected to provide the capital with 110 million cubic meters of water through the pipeline that will pass through several water stations in Maan, Tafileh, Karak and Madaba.

Ten per cent of the Disi basin is in the south of Jordan and 90 per cent in Saudi Arabia, which uses it for agricultural and drinking purposes.

18 May 2011

Source: The Jordan Times.
Link: http://www.jordantimes.com/index.php?news=37584.

SETI search to look at 'likely' worlds

BERKELEY, Calif., May 16 (UPI) -- U.S. astronomers searching for alien life say they'll aim radio telescopes at some likely candidates among 1,235 planets discovered by a NASA space telescope.

Astronomers at the University of California, Berkeley say once they acquire 24 hours of data on a total of 86 Earth-like planets among those found by the Kepler space telescope, they'll initiate a coarse analysis and then, in about two months, ask an estimated 1 million SETI@home users to conduct a more detailed analysis on their home computers, a CU Berkeley release reported last week.

"It's not absolutely certain that all of these stars have habitable planetary systems, but they're very good places to look for ET," CU Berkeley graduate student Andrew Simeon said.

Astronomers will concentrate on planets in a star's habitable zone, where liquid water could exist.

"We've picked out the planets with nice temperatures -- between zero and 100 degrees Celsius (32 degrees to 212 degrees F.) -- because they are a lot more likely to harbor life," said physicist Dan Worthier, chief scientist for SETI@home .

"It's really exciting to be able to look at this first batch of Earth-like planets."

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Science_News/2011/05/16/SETI-search-to-look-at-likely-worlds/UPI-93271305582867/.

Bahrain parliament now down to 22 members

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 17, 2011

MANAMA: Bahrain’s parliament has accepted the resignations of seven more lawmakers from the Shiite opposition, leaving the 40-member parliament with only 22 lawmakers.

The resignations were submitted in February over the deadly crackdown on anti-government protesters. The lawmakers acted alongside 11 other Shiite opposition members of parliament whose resignations were previously accepted.

Elections to replace the 18 empty seats are scheduled for September.

Shiites make up about 70 percent of the population in a kingdom ruled by a 200-year-old Sunni dynasty but parliament is dominated by Sunnis. The Shiite lawmakers were the driving force behind protests calling for political reforms that began in February.

Bahraini authorities have been seeking to prosecute opposition leaders and other protesters perceived to be linked to clashes and protests in the Gulf Arab nation.

A special security court set up under martial law sentenced four people to death last month for killing two policemen during the unrest. It is also trying 21 mostly Shiite opposition leaders and political activists accused of plotting against the state.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article409632.ece.

Thousands of Kurds attend funeral of Kurdish rebel

By ASSOCIATED PRESS
May 17, 2011

ANKARA, Turkey: Thousands of Kurds have turned out for the funeral of one of 12 Kurdish rebels killed by Turkish troops as they attempted to sneak into Turkey from their bases in northern Iraq.

Turkish media say mourners, waving the red-yellow-green banners of the outlawed rebel group, chanted anti-government slogans as they marched toward the cemetery in the southeastern city of Hakkari on Tuesday.

The weekend’s rebel losses have fueled tensions in the run-up to June 12 national elections. Rebel supporters have attacked police with stones and firebombs in the southeast and in Istanbul.

The rebels have been fighting for autonomy in the Kurdish-dominated southeast since 1984 and have threatened to intensify their attacks if Turkey does not agree to negotiations by June 15.

Source: Arab News.
Link: http://arabnews.com/middleeast/article409937.ece.

Saudis seek night vision systems

WASHINGTON, May 17 (UPI) -- The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is seeking $330 million worth of night vision and thermal vision equipment from the United States.

The Foreign Military Sale would comprise 200 High-performance In-Line Sniper Sight Thermal Weapon Sights -- 1,500 meter; 200 MilCAM Recon III LocatIR Long Range, Light Weight Thermal Binoculars with Geo Location; 7,000 Dual Beam Aiming Lasers; and 6,000 AN/PVS-21 Low Profile Night Vision Goggles.

The U.S. Defense Security Cooperation Agency, in its notification to Congress, said the possible sale also would include spare and repair parts, support equipment, technical documentation and publications, translation services, training, U. S. government and contractor technical and logistics support services and other related elements of logistical and program support.

The proposed sale would bolster Saudi Arabia's capability to meet current and future threats from potential adversaries during operations conducted at night and during low-visibility conditions, it said.

The Saudi military is responsible for regional, perimeter and border security operations and the proposed sale meets their defense and counter-terrorism requirements to deter current insurgent activity along their southern border and contributes to their overall military posture, the agency added.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/05/17/Saudis-seek-night-vision-systems/UPI-59891305632070/.

IAI plans display of missiles

TEL AVIV, Israel, May 17 (UPI) -- Israel Aerospace Industries reports it will present a new maritime application for its Jumper autonomous artillery system in Singapore this week.

Other systems by IAI, its division and subsidiaries on display at the Singapore International Maritime Defense Exhibition and Conference include unmanned aerial vehicles, radars and surveillance payloads.

"IAI is always striving to achieve new goals and extract its abilities to the max," said Itzhak Nissan, president and chief executive officer of IAI. "In this maritime exhibition we shall present our advanced technologies and products, which deliver (to) our clients the best solutions in all fronts."

Jumper -- designed and manufactured by the MLM Division MLM Division of Systems, Missiles and Space Group -- is a precision tactical weapon system launched from a Vertical Launcher Hive to strike targets at ranges of up to 31 miles.

The VLH can be deployed on a truck or on the ground or on a vessel deck for sea-to-land fire support.

The VLH is composed of eight or more canistered missiles and one integrated command and control unit. Each Jumper missile is GPS/INS equipped.

IAI is also showing its Naval Barak-8 long-range missile defense and air defense systems; the Naval Lahat advanced Laser Homing Attack Missile; its fixed-wing Maritime Heron unmanned aerial system and naval rotary UAV; and Multi-function Surveillance Track and Guidance Radar and Advanced Lightweight Phased Array Naval Radar Vertical Takeoff/Landing System.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/Security-Industry/2011/05/17/IAI-plans-display-of-missiles/UPI-69631305626143/.

Israel detains Islamic Jihad leader without charge or trial

Monday 16/05/2011

JENIN (Ma'an) -- Israeli military authorities on Monday sentenced an Islamic Jihad leader to six months in prison without charge or trial, a detainees' center said.

Sheikh Bassam Al-Sadi will be held at Ofer military prison near Ramallah under administrative detention, the center said.

Al-Sadi was detained immediately after Hamas and Fatah signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo, the center noted, adding that he was detained only two months after finishing an 8-year sentence in Israeli prisons.

The Israeli human rights organization B'Tselem has recorded thousands of cases of administrative detention in which Palestinians have been detained "for prolonged periods of time, without prosecuting them, without informing them of the charges against them, and without allowing them or their attorneys to study the evidence."

Israeli military officials can hold detainees in administrative detention for up to six months, but the term is indefinitely renewable.

Detainees can spend years in Israeli prisons without ever knowing what they are accused of. Their lawyers are not told what the charges are, undermining their ability to defend their clients.

"In practice, Israel breaches international law, while misusing the powers given to military commanders in the Administrative Detention Order," B'Tselem says.

Source: Ma'an News Agency.
Link: http://www.maannews.net/eng/ViewDetails.aspx?ID=388301.

New solar product captures up to 95 percent of light energy

Columbia MO (SPX) May 17, 2011

Efficiency is a problem with today's solar panels; they only collect about 20 percent of available light. Now, a University of Missouri engineer has developed a flexible solar sheet that captures more than 90 percent of available light, and he plans to make prototypes available to consumers within the next five years.

Patrick Pinhero, an associate professor in the MU Chemical Engineering Department, says energy generated using traditional photovoltaic (PV) methods of solar collection is inefficient and neglects much of the available solar electromagnetic (sunlight) spectrum.

The device his team has developed - essentially a thin, moldable sheet of small antennas called nantenna - can harvest the heat from industrial processes and convert it into usable electricity.

Their ambition is to extend this concept to a direct solar facing nantenna device capable of collecting solar irradiation in the near infrared and optical regions of the solar spectrum.

Working with his former team at the Idaho National Laboratory and Garrett Moddel, an electrical engineering professor at the University of Colorado, Pinhero and his team have now developed a way to extract electricity from the collected heat and sunlight using special high-speed electrical circuitry.

This team also partners with Dennis Slafer of MicroContinuum, Inc., of Cambridge, Mass., to immediately port laboratory bench-scale technologies into manufacturable devices that can be inexpensively mass-produced.

"Our overall goal is to collect and utilize as much solar energy as is theoretically possible and bring it to the commercial market in an inexpensive package that is accessible to everyone," Pinhero said.

"If successful, this product will put us orders of magnitudes ahead of the current solar energy technologies we have available to us today."

As part of a rollout plan, the team is securing funding from the U.S. Department of Energy and private investors. The second phase features an energy-harvesting device for existing industrial infrastructure, including heat-process factories and solar farms.

Within five years, the research team believes they will have a product that complements conventional PV solar panels. Because it's a flexible film, Pinhero believes it could be incorporated into roof shingle products, or be custom-made to power vehicles.

Once the funding is secure, Pinhero envisions several commercial product spin-offs, including infrared (IR) detection. These include improved contraband-identifying products for airports and the military, optical computing, and infrared line-of-sight telecommunications.

Source: Solar Daily.
Link: http://www.solardaily.com/reports/New_solar_product_captures_up_to_95_percent_of_light_energy_999.html.

Al-Nakba in Jordan – Shame has a new name

Tuesday, 17 May 2011

By Julie Webb for Scoop

Following Friday's peaceful event, over a thousand people on Sunday commemorated Al-Nakba by traveling from Amman to the Square of the Unknown Soldier, outside the town of Karameh, in the Jordan valley, several kilometers from the border with Israel.

Al-Nakba, or ‘catastrophe’, is the term describing the mass deportation of a million Palestinians from their cities and villages in 1948, including massacres of civilians, and the razing to the ground of hundreds of Palestinian villages, to establish the State of
Israel.

Not much has changed in the intervening years – except, perhaps, for the identity of the persecutors.

Sunday’s event at the Square of the Unknown Soldier, some eight kilometers from the King Hussein Bridge border crossing, was attended by hundreds of women and children, as well as young Palestinians who have never set foot in their own country.

But on Sunday it was not Israeli forces shooting them, beating them, throwing rocks at them, and trying to drive them away, it was Jordanians.

Jordanian police, Jordanian security forces, Jordanian gendarme, Jordanian hired thugs viciously attacking unarmed and peaceful Palestinians gathering to mark this significant day, in this significant location.

Karameh, where in 1968 Jordanian forces successfully fought alongside the Palestine Liberation Organization to repel the invading Israeli army. Karameh, whose name means "Dignity."

To what will surely be their eternal shame, Jordanian forces brutalized Palestinians for their dignified reminder to the world of their continued oppression by Israel.

The actions of the Jordanian security forces are incomprehensible - there was no attempt to cross the border - the crossing is some 8km away.

The accompanying photos show the Palestinian gathering, calm and peaceful, with young Palestinians joining hands in front of the police line to keep the families at a respectful distance. This video shows what I saw happening shortly afterwards, when three men walked down the road to leave, shortly after those photos were taken.

I had to hide the camera when we were surrounded by police and goons pursuing them, who ripped stakes out of the ground to use as weapons. Minutes later, more men armed with sticks and rocks attacked the crowd, aided and abetted by the uniformed thugs. This was but the first of several unprovoked, and completely unjustifiable, attacks with rocks, pieces of wood, teargas, and live fire over the next few hours on the unarmed Palestinians, the media, and a few foreigners there in support.

Scores were injured, with at least 19 requiring hospital treatment - one person shot in the stomach is now in a satisfactory condition.

The insult of Jordan’s unprovoked attacks on Palestinian dignity – and in the town of that name - and its apparent protecting of Israeli interests, will, like Al-Nakba itself, undoubtedly resonate throughout Jordan and beyond.

Shame, Jordan, SHAME.

Source: Scoop.
Link: http://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/HL1105/S00153/al-nakba-in-jordan-shame-has-a-new-name.htm.

Libya's Benghazi laments city's decay under Gaddafi

By Mohammed Abbas
BENGHAZI | Mon May 16, 2011

(Reuters) - Down narrow rubbish-strewn alleys or wedged between concrete buildings, an occasional Italian or Ottoman architectural gem hints at drab and dilapidated Benghazi's cosmopolitan past.

The decaying structures in the east Libyan city are a symbol of the neglect the people of the region say they suffered under Muammar Gaddafi, whose control of Libya's east was ended by mass protests and an armed uprising in February.

Now that his writ has ended, Benghazi can openly lament the damage and isolation that 41 years of his rule has wrought.

"There was once a beautiful Turkish souk here. I remember in the 1980s when the shopkeepers were forcibly evicted, some under gunfire, before it was demolished," said Abdullah Hassy, 43, who lives in what could be a stunning Benghazi square.

On one side of the square is a local government building in use before Gaddafi overthrew King Idris in a 1969 coup.

An ornate mixture of Italian and Turkish styles and comprising a clock tower, the building seems set to collapse, its interior full of rubbish, graffiti and reeking of urine.

Once a pretty city of souks, Italian colonial buildings and Ottoman villas, Benghazi suffered heavy bombing by the allies in World War 2. Four decades of Gaddafi's quasi-socialist rule have been equally unkind.

Modern Benghazi is mostly made up of utilitarian concrete blocks and patches of waste ground. The few relatively glitzy structures, such as hotels, are business interests of Gaddafi or those close to him.

"This Ottoman mosque was restored by the worshipers, not Gaddafi. The only buildings Gaddafi cared about were the ones related to him," said Hassan Joudah, 20, pointing to a yellow mosque on the other side of the square.

Gaddafi took better care of the capital Tripoli in Libya's west, and his home town Sirte, which state largesse has transformed from a nondescript village into a mini-city, home to government institutions and a showcase for his power.

Leading away from the square are Italian-style shopping colonnades topped by shuttered windows and curved iron Juliet balconies. At the end of the northern colonnade lies perhaps the most potent symbol of the city's neglect.

BELATED RESTORATION

A cavernous double-domed Catholic cathedral dominates the city's waterfront, and in an adjoining wing statues lie in open crates like coffins, while stone friezes depicting Christ lie in open boxes on the floor.

The wing's windows are long gone and its door has no lock, leaving the artwork open to the elements and passers-by.

Built in the 1930s under Italian occupation, the cathedral has not been used for decades, its interior damaged by fire.

Shafts of sunlight from cracked stained glass windows pierce the charred gloomy interior, highlighting floating motes of dust. The floor is a sea of feathers and bird droppings.

Wali Saleh, head of Benghazi's council for the preservation and restoration of old buildings, said the friezes and statues were removed and packed away after the fire.

He said his appointment in April last year under Gaddafi's rule was part of his administration's belated attempts to stop the architectural rot in Benghazi.

"There was some younger blood coming up in Gaddafi's administration, and they started to pay attention to the old buildings, from a historical and tourism perspective," he said.

On taking his post, he blocked the destruction of old buildings and commissioned a survey, finding 173 old structures in Benghazi in need of protection.

There are signs of some rudimentary restoration work, with scaffolding propping up the Benghazi local government building and parts of the cathedral, but Saleh said work stalled due to bureaucratic problems with Tripoli and a lack of funds.

With Benghazi's new rebel leadership struggling for finance, it is unlikely that further restoration will take place any time soon, but Saleh is hopeful.

"There's been a change of mentality. When I speak to the new executive, they all seem to love this city and are sad about what's happened to it," he said.

"They seem really keen to preserve Benghazi, and tie its new future to its past."

Source: Reuters.
Link: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/05/16/us-libya-benghazi-idUSTRE74F3ZP20110516.