Facebook group demands expelling Syrian ambassador

Wed, 10/08/2011

Facebook users have launched a campaign to gather 1 million signatures in support of expelling the Syrian ambassador to Cairo.

The users, most of whom belong to the Wasat Party, said Egyptians know how Syrians feel because they've also seen injustice.

The campaign's founders accused Syrian President Bashar al-Assad of committing crimes against humanity and called for putting him on trial.

It urged Egyptians to take part in the petition so as to persuade the government to expel the ambassador.

Source: al-Masry al-Youm.
Link: http://www.almasryalyoum.com/en/node/485142.

Israel deploys drones over offshore gas fields: report

Jerusalem (AFP)
Aug 9, 2011

Israel has deployed drones to keep watch on gas fields off its northern coast, fearing attack by the Hezbollah militia from neighboring Lebanon, the Jerusalem Post daily reported on Tuesday.

The fields lie in a part of the Mediterranean that is claimed by Israel for gas exploration and production, but Lebanon says the fields lie within its territorial waters.

"The decision to deploy drones was made in order to maintain a 24-hour presence over the site," the paper said, adding that the air force was equipped with the locally made Heron drone, which has special electro-optics designed for maritime work.

The Israeli military would not confirm or deny the Post report to AFP.

The paper said that the air force started aerial surveillance after a warning last month from Hezbollah, which in 2006 fought a deadly war with the Jewish state in which it used anti-ship missiles.

"The Israeli enemy cannot drill a single meter in these waters to search for gas and oil if the zone is disputed... No company can carry out prospecting work in waters whose sovereignty is contested," the Shiite group said.

The Hezbollah threat came after Israel's cabinet approved a map of the country's proposed maritime borders with Lebanon and submitted it to the United Nations, which has been asked to mediate in the dispute.

The map conflicts with one submitted by Lebanon to the UN last year, which gives Israel less territory.

The two countries are technically at war and will not negotiate face to face.

The disputed zone consists of about 854 square kilometers (330 square miles).

The two biggest known offshore fields, Tamar and Leviathan, lie respectively about 80 kilometers (50 miles) and 130 kilometers (81 miles) off Israel's northern city of Haifa.

Tamar is believed to hold at least 8.4 trillion cubic feet of gas (238 billion cubic meters), while Leviathan is believed to have reserves of 16 trillion cubic feet (450 billion cubic meters).

In June an Israeli company announced the discovery of two new natural gas fields, Sarah and Mira, around 70 kilometers (45 miles) off the city of Hadera further south.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Israel_deploys_drones_over_offshore_gas_fields_report_999.html.

Israel 'seeks 20 more F-35 stealth jets'

Tel Aviv, Israel (UPI)
Aug 9, 2011

The Israeli air force reportedly plans to buy another 20 Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighters under a multiyear procurement plan under review by military chiefs.

Last October, Israel purchased 20 of the stealth jets, considered the most advanced combat aircraft in existence, for $2.75 billion.

If the second tranche is approved, amid competing demands for such big-ticket weapons as more warships and missile defense systems, Israel could have 40 F-35s operational by the end of the decade, depending on when contract for the second batch is signed.

That would allow Israel's air force, the most powerful in the region, to maintain its supremacy at a time when Arab states, particularly Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, are upgrading their air power with massive arms deals with the United States, largely to counter an expansionist Iran.

Even Iraq, striving to rebuild its military forces as U.S. troops withdraw from the country eight years after invading, announced July 30 it plans to buy 36 Lockheed Martin F-16 Block 52 interceptor jets.

That deal, double the number of aircraft that Baghdad had initially planned to order, is worth around $4.3 billion, with deliveries expected to begin 2013.

The Jerusalem Post, reporting the anticipated F-35 order by the Israel air force, observed that the Iraqi F-16 program "raised some eyebrows in Israel."

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki has declared that Baghdad's acquisition of the F-16s is purely for self-defense, although how far that goes to easing the concerns of Iraq's neighbors who were twice invaded by Saddam Hussein's forces between 1980 and 1990 is questionable.

Israel appears determined to acquire as many F-35s as it can, as quickly as it can, amid unremitting hostility with Iran as it allegedly seeks to acquire nuclear weapons while building the ballistic missiles to carry them.

The Israeli air force's strike capability as it is currently constituted consists of 324 F-16s and 87 Boeing F-15s, spearheaded by 25 F-15I Ra'am and 101 F-16I Sufa models custom-built to Israeli specifications.

Apart from the F-35's radar-evading capabilities, the uniqueness of the fifth-generation fighter lies in its integrated sensor suite that gives pilots unprecedented situational awareness and information-sharing between aircraft.

The air force plans to send pilots to the United States for F-35 training in 2016, about the time that the U.S. Air Force will be receiving the stealth fighter.

"This way, when the planes are delivered to Israel later that year or at the beginning of 2017, the (Israeli air force) will be able to use them fairly quickly in operations," Post military correspondent Yaakov Katz reported.

Two Israeli air force officers have been sent to the United States to work with the Pentagon and Lockheed Martin on integrating Israeli technology into the aircraft.

The F-35 program has been plagued by problems and cost overruns and development has been put back by two years, which has dismayed the Israelis as they face off with Iran.

Under the 2010 deal, the Israeli air force expected to start taking delivery of the first 20 aircraft, powered by Pratt and Whitney's F135 engine, by 2015. But that's not now likely to happen until 2017 because of the program setbacks.

If there's further slippage on delivery, the Israelis have said they might consider buying additional Boeing F-15Is as a stopgap to maintain operational air strength.

That prospect appeared to gain credence with reports Saturday that F-35 flight testing has been suspended for the third time in the last year after an integrated power package, which provides power to start the engine and generates cooling for the aircraft, failed during a ground test.

The Israeli daily Haaretz reported that the tribulations of the F-35 is reawakening Israeli memories of the ill-fated Lavi fighter, a delta-wing combat jet designed by state-owned Israel Aircraft Industries, now Israel Aerospace Industries.

The prestigious, cutting-edge project, aimed at producing Israel's first indigenous fighter, crashed after the Americans, who were putting up 40 percent of the funding, decided they weren't prepared to finance a project that would compete with the emergent F-16.

Lavi was canceled by Israel's government Aug. 30, 1987. It was a major blow for the country's defense industry but the technological advances achieved helped catapult IAI and other companies into the high-tech age.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Israel_seeks_20_more_F-35_stealth_jets_999.html.

China's first aircraft carrier makes maiden trip

Beijing (AFP)
Aug 10, 2011

China's first aircraft carrier embarked on its inaugural sea trial Wednesday, Beijing said, prompting the United States to call for an explanation amid concerns about the nation's military expansion.

Beijing only recently confirmed it was revamping an old Soviet ship to be its first carrier and has sought to play down the vessel's capability, saying it will mainly be used for training and "research".

The voyage comes amid heightened tensions over a number of maritime territorial disputes involving China, notably in the South China Sea, which is believed to be rich in oil and gas and is claimed by several countries.

The defense ministry said the carrier's first sailing would be brief, and that the ship would afterwards return to the northeastern port of Dalian for more "refit and test work".

Andrei Chang, head of the Kanwa Information Center, which monitors China's military, told AFP it would probably test whether the engines worked, and that on-off sea trials were likely to continue for another year or two.

"We would welcome any kind of explanation that China would like to give for needing this kind of equipment," US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters when asked if the carrier would raise regional tensions.

"This is part of our larger concern that China is not as transparent as other countries. It's not as transparent as the United States about its military acquisitions, about its military budget," she said.

China's People's Liberation Army -- the largest armed force in the world -- is extremely secretive about its defense programs, which benefit from a huge and expanding military budget boosted by the nation's runaway economic growth.

Earlier this year, China announced military spending would rise 12.7 percent to 601.1 billion yuan ($91.7 billion) in 2011.

In January it revealed it was developing its first stealth fighter jet, and it is also working on an anti-ballistic missile capable of piercing the defenses of even the most sturdy US naval ships.

The rapid expansion has caused concern among China's neighbors. Last week, Japan voiced concern over the country's widening naval reach and what it called the "opaqueness" of Beijing's military budget.

However, Beijing has repeatedly sought to alleviate fears over its pursuit of sophisticated weaponry and the official Xinhua news agency said the new carrier posed no threat to any other country.

"Building a strong navy that is commensurate with China's rising status is a necessary step and an inevitable choice for the country to safeguard its increasingly globalized national interests," it said.

"Even if China developed an aircraft carrier with full combat capacity in the future, it will not pose any threat to other countries."

China only provided the first official acknowledgment of the carrier in June when Chen Bingde, the nation's top military official, gave an interview to a Hong Kong newspaper.

But media reports and military analysts had said for years China was busy refitting an old Soviet aircraft carrier.

China has become increasingly assertive in its claims over the East China Sea and South China Sea, most of which it views as its maritime territory, but where several other Asian nations have competing claims.

The issue has heated up recently with run-ins between China and fellow South China Sea claimants Vietnam and the Philippines, sparking concern among coastal countries and the United States.

China reportedly bought the 300-metre (990-foot) carrier's immense armored hull -- with no engine, electrics or propeller -- from the Ukraine in 1998.

"The Varyag will carry an advanced Chinese... radar system, which will only be featured on the next US carrier that will not join the US fleet until 2015, said Rick Fisher, a Chinese military expert at the US International Assessment and Strategy Center.

According to Chinese state television, the carrier will not be officially named until it carries out its first formal duty.

Source: Space War.
Link: http://www.spacewar.com/reports/Chinas_first_aircraft_carrier_makes_maiden_trip_999.html.

Gulf Nations Call for Syrian Reforms

DOHA, Qatar, Aug 8, 2011 (IPS/Al Jazeera) - Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain have recalled their ambassadors from Damascus amid mounting pressure from the Arab world against Syria's brutal crackdown on anti-government protests.

The Saudi king on Monday condemned the crackdown, and urged the Syrian government to implement political reforms.

"What is happening in Syria is not acceptable for Saudi Arabia," King Abdullah said in a written statement.

"Syria should think wisely before it's too late and issue and enact reforms that are not merely promises but actual reforms," he said. "Either it chooses wisdom on its own or it will be pulled down into the depths of turmoil and loss."

Later in the day, Kuwait and Bahrain followed Saudi Arabia, announcing they too had decided to recall their ambassadors from Damascus for "consultations".

"No one can accept the bloodshed in Syria... The military option must be halted," Sheikh Mohammad al-Sabah, Kuwait's foreign minister told reporters.

His comments came a day after the Gulf Co-operation Council urged Syria to "end the bloodshed". In addition, the Arab League, which had been silent since the uprising began, said it was "alarmed" by the situation and called for the immediate halt of all violence.

Nabil El Araby, the head of the Arab League, urged Syrian authorities to launch "serious dialogue" with protesters.

International condemnation

In Jordan, Foreign Minister Nasser Judeh was quoted by Jordan's official Petra News Agency on Monday describing the escalation in violence as "disturbing." He urged the government to follow through on promised reforms, but added that Amman does not interfere in Damascus' affairs.

Al Jazeera's Nisreen el-Shamayleh, reporting from the Jordan-Syria border, said: "In Jordan for the first time a Jordanian official spoke out since the unrest in Syria began.

"The relations between Syria and Jordan haven't exactly been the best within the last few years.

"There has always been tensions that have marred their relations and Jordan has tried as much as possible to shy away from commenting on what is happening in Syria to avoid any escalation with the regime."

In Lebanon intellectuals and writers are holding a protest for the first time tonight in Beruit's martyrs' square, Al Jazeera's Rula Amin reported from Beirut.

Turkey, which borders Syria and until recently was a close ally and a major trade partner, said it would send its foreign minister to Damascus on Tuesday to deliver a strong message against the crackdown.

Assad has brushed off months of criticism and sanctions, blaming armed gangs for the violence. But on Monday, Syrian state TV reported that he had replaced the country's defense minister, Ali Habib, with Dawoud Rajha, the army's chief of staff. The official reason for Habib's replacement is due to illness, the report said.

"The government feels it is in a race with time as the Arab pressure and international pressure is increasing," Amin said.

Increased violence

The chorus of condemnation came as Syrian activists reported renewed artillery fire in the eastern city of Deir ez-Zor.

The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights reported that security forces had shot dead a mother and her two children fleeing the assault.

"The woman and her two children were trying to flee the Huweika district for somewhere safer when they were targeted by a security patrol," the group said, citing residents.

Al Jazeera's el-Shamayleh said: "We have just been speaking to activists in Deir ez-Zor and right now as we speak several snipers are controlling the top of buildings in the heart of the city.

"We also understand that the crackdown that started at dawn on Monday continued until noon."

In Deraa, at least three people were killed and scores injured in a funeral procession, our correspondent reported on Monday.

Other activists said security forces carried out search operations, arresting a number of people, after using heavy machine guns.

"The army opened up with heavy machine guns on al-Joura district. Security forces then launched a search sweep, terrorizing residents," AFP quoted an activist in the city as saying.

Troops also entered Maarat an-Numan in the northern province of Idlib at dawn on Monday, according to opposition activists.

"Forces entered the city from its eastern side and they are preventing the residents from entering or leaving the city,'' the Local Co-ordination Committees said in a statement.

Bloody week

Some activists say more than 300 people have died in the past week, the bloodiest in the five-month uprising against Assad.

But analysts said Monday's moves from Gulf Arab states to recall their ambassadors could mark a turning point in the crackdown.

Commenting on the recalling of the Saudi ambassador, Ali al-Ahmed, director of the Institute for Gulf Affairs in Washington, told Al Jazeera that the move was "a watershed moment" and "foretaste of things to come".

"The Syrian regime is really scared of losing Saudi Arabia as a friendly nation."

However, Ahmed said Saudi Arabia was "not in a position to give such advice to Syria in terms of reform".

"Saudi Arabia itself lacks these reforms and has invaded Bahrain to stop a revolution and so it does not have that legitimacy. However, Saudi believes this is the right moment to publicly intervene and give the uprising a huge boost because they now see the success of this uprising to be real, especially after the Turkish position, the GCC and Arab League statements, all of which were preludes to the Saudi position," he said.

The government's crackdown on protesters demanding political reforms and an end to the Assad family's 40-year rule has left more than 1,700 dead since March, according to activists and human rights groups.

Assad's government disputes the toll and blames a foreign conspiracy for the unrest, which at times has brought hundreds of thousands of protesters into the streets.

The regime intensified the crackdown a week ago on the eve of Ramadan, the holy month in which many Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, then eat meals and gather in mosques for nightly prayers. The government has been trying to prevent the large mosque gatherings from turning into more anti-government protests.

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56779.

"New" Iraq a Nightmare for Women, Minority Groups

By Denis Foynes

UNITED NATIONS, Aug 9, 2011 (IPS) - A United Nations report on Iraq says the human rights situation there remains fragile, and huge development challenges loom as the country transitions out of a near decade-long conflict.

Torture and poor judicial practices are widespread, says the report, released Monday by the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the U.N. Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI).

The report claims the 2,953 civilian deaths it attributed to violence in 2010 were mostly carried out by insurgent and terrorist groups.

It stressed that minorities, women and children suffered disproportionately from these abuses.

While there have been improvements in some areas of human rights, many challenges remain and some areas were actually worse off in 2010 than previous war-torn years.

"Particularly women's rights levels and standards have gone down. They suffer from widespread violence, especially from domestic violence," Rupert Colville, the spokesperson for the U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights, told IPS.

"There is little legislation to prevent this from occurring and the criminal code in Iraq almost encourages these crimes. There needs to be laws in the region against domestic violence," Colville said.

The treatment of minorities was also heavily covered in the report.

Samer Muscati, a researcher for Human Rights Watch, told IPS, "Minorities have suffered hugely since 2003. We have also released similar two reports explaining this, as have many rights agencies."

"Kurds, Christians, Persians and Yarsans are among some the groups targeted for violence. This rise is caused by general insecurity and a rise in religious extremism," he said. "These groups are also targeted by desperate criminal gangs because they are believed to have huge wealth."

The murder in August 2010 of Luay Barham al-Malik by kidnappers despite the fact that his family had paid a 15,000-dollar ransom is just one example the report gives of this sort of criminal activity in the country.

According to the report, major problems plague law enforcement and the administration of justice in Iraq, especially respect for due process and the right to a fair trial.

While there has been some improvement in the brutal conditions within many detention facilities and prisons, incidents of cruelty and torture remain widely reported in the world's press.

"An over-reliance on confessions to convict encourages an atmosphere where the torture of detainees takes place," the report said.

It also pointed to "widespread poverty, economic stagnation, lack of opportunities, environmental degradation and an absence of basic services constitute 'silent' human rights violations that affect large sectors of the population."

These abuses are often overshadowed by the more heavily publicized issues of terrorism and insurgency.

The report also cited the questionable March 2010 parliamentary elections and the ensuing nine-plus months of stalemate as one source of Iraq's rights problems.

"It is believed that this fueled instability, but it also contributed to a degree of inactivity in relation to implementing reforms and other measures aimed at ensuring the protection and provision of human rights to the Iraqi population," the report stated.

As Colville told IPS, "The report has a mixed scorecard that is slightly better than the 2007-2008 report, but it is still pretty appalling."

Asked how the problem can be effectively tackled, Colville stated that, "A functioning legal framework needs to be set but this is not all that needs to be done. Changing law isn't enough. Society in Iraq must change too and this will take time."

"We hope that the government will also address their other issues such as their rigorous use of the death penalty. This combined with the weakness of their system of law means there is a risk that many innocent civilians are being killed every year," he added.

Muscati of Human Rights Watch said that "the international community needs to assist Iraq to improve its human rights".

"The people also need to freely express themselves and be able to hold guilty persons accountable. A completely free press would also aid this," he said. "This would make injustice more difficult to carry out without being seen by the Iraqi people and the international community."

Asked by IPS if there was any realistic expectation that the situation would improve, Muscati responded, "I hope so, but it is hard to say with any sort of hope for accuracy. The situation is currently getting worse in many ways."

"The question is unanswerable - especially with the effects of the American forces' withdrawal. One would hope but the future of Iraq is truly anyone's guess," he said.

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56796.

Palestinians Prisoners Languish in Administrative Detention

By Mel Frykberg

RAMALLAH, Aug 10, 2011 (IPS) - "I’m sick with worry about my daughter. I’m afraid of what they are doing to her. She has done nothing to deserve this. If they have anything against her why don’t they bring her to trial?" Yehiya Al Shalabi asked IPS rhetorically.

Hana Al Shalabi, 27, Yehiya’s daughter, has been languishing in Israeli administrative detention for over two years - she is the longest serving Palestinian female political prisoner in administrative detention.

According to her lawyer, the young woman from Jenin in the northern West Bank does not know why Israeli soldiers arrested her several years ago, nor does she know how long they will keep her in jail, or what they will charge her with.

Shalabi, like nearly 200 other Palestinian prisoners, is being held in Hasharon prison. A senior Israeli military officer has just renewed the administrative detention order against her for the fourth time.

The Israel Defense Forces’ (IDF) administrative detention policy allows Palestinian political prisoners to be held for six months without trial or charges being brought against them. The detention order can be renewed every six months.

The policy of administrative detention is used by the IDF when they have ‘classified and secret’ information against Palestinian prisoners. Both the prisoner and their lawyer are forbidden from seeing the classified information, and therefore are unable to challenge accusations or to question those who made the accusations.

The administrative detention policy is used when Israeli authorities have ‘secret witnesses’, such as Palestinian collaborators, or has obtained intelligence in a clandestine manner which would not stand up in an Israeli civilian court - but are par for the course in Israeli military courts.

"It’s a primitive and racist way to hold a trial and no civilized country in the world uses such methods. Needless to say Israel’s legal system could never do this to an Israeli Jew. Even the Israeli settlers who carry out acts of terror against Palestinians in the West Bank are not treated in this manner," Qadura Fares, the president of the Palestinian Society Prisoners’ Club in Ramallah, told IPS.

"Administrative detainees are not given a fair trial. Basically the Israeli military prosecutor and the military judge are in agreement. It is very rare for a judge to disagree with the military prosecutor," Fares says.

In the 1970s Ali Jamal, also from Jenin, spent seven years in administrative detention - to date has served the longest administrative detention.

"At that time the Israeli military courts relied on confessions from Palestinian prisoners for convictions," Fares explained to IPS. "But Jamal wouldn’t confess so the laws were changed to allow the ‘secret witnesses and secret files’ to be used by the IDF to convict political prisoners."

The soldiers came for Hana Al Shalabi in the middle of the night over two years ago. "They ransacked the house and assaulted me when I tried to stop them from taking my daughter away," Yehiya told IPS. "My daughter had finished her studies and was engaged to get married. She was very diligent and stayed home most of the time except for when she helped tend our agricultural crops. She had no social life outside and wasn’t political in any way."

However, Israeli special forces assassinated Hana’s 24-year-old brother several years ago after they accused him of being a member of Islamic Jihad, Yehiya said. "They had shot and wounded him. He phoned us, as he lay badly injured on the ground. But before he could finish the call the death squad moved in and shot him at close range, several times in the head and in the eye."

The conditions in administrative detention are harsh, just as they are for all Palestinian prisoners.

"Confessions are coerced through physical and verbal humiliation, torture, emotional blackmail such as bringing in elderly or sick relatives who are held as hostages until the prisoner confesses," Fares told IPS.

Imani Nafa, 47, spent 10 years in an Israeli jail as a young woman, from 1987-1997 during the first Palestinian uprising. Nafa had everything going for her. She had finished university and was working as a nurse. But, she became politically involved and had planned to carry out a shooting and bombing attack against Israeli soldiers.

Nafa was caught and kept in a filthy, cramped cell with no window. Fluorescent lights were kept on permanently, causing sensory deprivation and the inability to distinguish between day and night.

"I was beaten and held in stress positions while handcuffed for several days, unable to move. I was deprived of sleep and when the interrogation finished I was forced to drink from the drain in my cell and eat moldy food," Nafa told IPS. "I was told that if I worked with them to spy on other prisoners I would be freed, but if I refused to do so I would be imprisoned for a very long time and harshly treated."

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56799.

Arab Spring Brings Little for Women

By Abderrahim El Ouali

CASABLANCA, Aug 10, 2011 (IPS) - Since the beginning of protests in Morocco on Feb. 20 women have been at the vanguard. Many of the spokespersons of the protest movement have been women - observers and activists see this as a new phase of feminine emancipation in this North African country.

"We have waited enough. Women now are out to say it is time for justice to be made," Safaa Ferradi, a local activist, told IPS.

"The great majority of women present in our movement are of a high cultural and academic level," Rabah Nouami, a local leader of the 20th February movement in Casablanca, told IPS. "It is so honorable to see that most of the spokespersons on behalf of the movement are women. But women are not still influential at the level of decisions within the movement."

In spite of the efforts made by the State and by civil society, women remain victims of violence and discrimination.

An official study by the government High Planning Commission showed that four forms of violence are still inflicted on Moroccan women - "physical, sexual, psychological, and economic."

The new family code in this country of 32 million people came into effect in 2004. It gave women the right to divorce, to marry without paternal permission, as well a right to alimony in the case of divorce. The new code did not give women equal inheritance rights.

The problem, it seems, is not the legal texts "but the implementation of these texts," Fatima Bouhraka, a writer on women issues, told IPS. The strongest resistance to women’s rights is cultural, according to Bouhraka. Moroccan culture considers "the man as the one who commands and who must be always obeyed."

This culture is strengthened by other factors "like poverty and the ignorance of everyone’s rights and duties," Taoufiki Belaid, a member of Amnesty International (AI), told IPS. Women who are victims of violence, as well as their attackers, "ignore their rights and duties," Belaid said.

This does not mean that there are no actions being taken to increase awareness about women and their rights. Abderrahim Messoudi, who has been organizing workshops about the issue in universities with a group belonging to the Moroccan Human Rights Association (AMDH), told IPS that the problem is the minimal participation of women themselves in such activities.

Women’s indifference towards the actions of civil society is due, according to independent feminine activists, to the perception that these actions are biased. "There is no real civil society. Everybody tries to manipulate the feminine cause according to his own interests," Ferradi said.

But many disagree with this view. "Civil society has achieved in a few years what political parties were unable to do for decades," Bouhraka said. But it is necessary, according to her, to completely separate civil society associations from political parties. "The more an association is independent, the more it is trusted."

In Morocco, unhappiness with political parties is not a new thing. Only 37 percent of the electorate participated in the last general election in September 2007.

New electoral measures in Morocco call for women to occupy at least 30 of the 326 seats in parliament. But this does not satisfy Moroccan activists. "The parliament and the government will both stay mainly masculine," Bouhraka said.

According to a study by the High Planning Commission carried out in 2010, women represent only 25 percent of the working population. Women are also disproportionately illiterate - more than 50.8 percent of Moroccan women cannot read and write.

Violence, economic and social discrimination have led women to the streets to protest under the colors of the Arab Spring. "Our demands are freedom, equality, and human dignity," Ferradi said. "In our movement demands are equal for both women and men," Nouami explained.

The new Moroccan constitution, approved Jul. 1, calls for a project to create equal sharing between men and women. But, "in Morocco, the brandished slogans are a one thing, reality is another," Bouhraka stressed. "There are discreet hands which hinder any law favorable to the country and to the people."

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56800.

Where Resistance to Gaddafi Runs High

By Karlos Zurutuza

NALUT, Libya, Aug 10, 2011 (IPS) - Recent victories in Libya’s western mountains have led to a brief reprieve from violence and local fighters and civilians are slowly trying to piece their lives back together.

"We achieved a dramatic success last week after taking over Kut. Gaddafi’s GRAD rockets cannot reach us now," Tarik Saleh, a Nalut resident, told IPS.

Nalut is a village in the Nafusa mountain range east of the Tunisian border. Control over the strategic border crossing and the region’s geology have played key roles in the rebels resistance against Muammar Gaddafi. Nalut has been shelled almost on a daily basis since the uprising against Gaddafi’s regime began on Feb. 17.

Rebels also overran Gaddafi’s position in the neighboring village of Ghezaia last week. But victory in the village of Wazzin came too late - today Wazzin is a ghost town where there are hardly any buildings which have not been damaged.

Wazzin’s former inhabitants were Berbers - as are the majority of people in the Nafusa mountains. Berbers have lived together with the Arabs for centuries here but, surprisingly enough, they have hardly mixed together. Over the twenty villages that dot this mountain range, only one hosts families from both communities.

"Rehibat is the only mixed village in Nafusa. We have had to live apart for centuries in order to keep our language - Tamazight - alive," Abdul Hamid, a local Berber told IPS.

But Arabs in Nafusa share a different viewpoint. "Berbers look down on us and often say that we are "newcomers" in Libya. Nonetheless, we do have closer ties with other local Berber families than with certain Arab clans," Mohammed Aith Geryani, also a Rehibat resident, explained to IPS.

The tiny mountain village of Rehibat is well known for some infrastructure recently set up nearby. Today, Rehibat serves as the Nafusa mountains only ‘airport’ thanks to a mile-long stretch of road which acts as a landing strip for supply planes allegedly coming in from Benghazi. There is much controversy over whether supplies are coming from French air drops or Libya’s rebel capital further east. So far, IPS has come across poorly armed fighters and local civilians who say that a few planes land regularly on Rehibat’s runway.

Street Cleaning Gangs

Following the road east from Rehibat we arrive at Zintan, the Nafusa region’s main Arab town which proudly claims to be "the first Libyan town to rise up against Gaddafi". Zintan’s rebel chief commander, Osama Jweli, is very happy about the improved security situation in his hometown recently. "Gaddafi’s troops never set foot on Zintan, and ever since we pushed the soldiers further east than Walish no rockets have hit us here," Jweli told IPS.

After three months spent at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR)-run Remada refugee camp in Tunisia, Saleh has just arrived back in Libya to spend Ramadan in his native Zintan.

"I had been told that security had improved dramatically in Zintan so I came to check it by myself two weeks ago," Saleh said. "Debris is still all over the place but, luckily enough, our house has not been touched by rockets or by looters."

Zintan definitely looked better than expected, partly thanks to the many volunteers that have taken to the streets in the last few weeks. Most of them are children, determined to get rid of every nasty reminder of the ongoing war - including the blackened walls, which are disappearing under coats of white paint.

The cleaning of the city is probably the best way to keep the children busy until they go back to school in September. But whether they will attend classes at their former school in Zintan, or inside a refugee camp tent, is still a mystery that plagues everybody here.

Mokhtar Ihmad Ali taught at the local school until he picked up a Kalashnikov last February and joined the rebels. This 35-year-old Arab can’t wait to resume his classes but his spirits are not as high as a few months back. "After Ben Ali and Mubarak left we all thought Gaddafi would follow suit. Then the war started and Ramadan was our next ‘deadline’ to oust the tyrant. Now we are all assuming that the war might actually take much longer than expected," Ali told IPS.

Fear and Hope

In the easternmost part of the mountain range, the village of Yefren paid a much heavier toll than many others for openly defying the regime last February. Not even the local hospital was spared looting by Gaddafi’s soldiers and volleys of GRAD rockets fired from further down the valley. The streets still look deserted but power has been restored recently and life seems to be slowly getting back on track.

Not far from Yefren, a group of women offers the few remaining kids in the area a sense of normality amid the disaster. They gather three times a week at a makeshift school where the children are instructed in their mother tongue - a language strictly forbidden during Gaddafi’s 41-year rule.

"We are 11 teachers and we cater for 46 kids between 4-16 years old. Four of us teach them the Berber language and the other seven gather the kids around handicraft work or games," 20-year-old Amil told IPS.

But needs other than learning their forefathers’ language seem to be mounting in Yefren.

"We need toys for the kids to help them forget about the war but we also need food and water," Mahaba Najib, the head of the school told IPS.

The young volunteer has taught her class two new words today: ‘tilele’ and ‘tagraula’ (freedom and revolution). The kids sing Libya’s national anthem boasting both Berber and pre-Gaddafi Libyan flags painted on their cheeks. Immediately afterwards, a recently introduced tune echoes through the corridors of the school: "One, two, three, ‘sukran’ (thank you) Sarkozy!" French President Nicolas Sarkozy has been leading the charge against Gaddafi.

The war may be fought down the desert right now but the key to victory may lie up in these hills.'

Source: Inter-Press Service.
Link: http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=56801.

Jordan's $1.5 Billion Star Trek Theme Park to be Powered by Alternative Energy

by Timon Singh, 08/13/11

There are a lot of famous Star Trek fans out there — Olivia Wilde, Mila Kunis and yours truly — but none of us are as rich as King Abdullah of Jordan. The Middle Eastern monarch, who was once an extra in an episode of Star Trek: Voyager, has given the green light to a $1.5 billion Star Trek-inspired theme park that will boldly take Jordan where no Gulf state has gone before. While the theme park will not be powered by dilithium crystals, it will utilize green technology in order to lower its carbon footprint.

All electricity at Jordan’s Star Trek theme park will be provided by renewable energy, while a center will be constructed to educate visitors about the importance and benefits of renewable energy sources and eco-friendly practices like graywater harvesting.

The Star Trek theme park (which I’m hoping will be called The Starfleet Green Academy) will be situated in the Jordanian coastal city of Aqaba and will be spread over a 74 hectare area. It will consist of 17 entertainment zones and a four-star hotel among many other things.

Paramount Reaction and the Rubicon Group are partnering with architectural firm Callison to create the futuristic theme park. According to initial reports, the park will “wow visitors with a 23rd century multi-sensory experience that will incorporate highly advanced visual and sound effects to give the people coming in the park a real-time feel of things. The technology which will go into building the Red Sea Astrarium Park will be unlike any other and they will be truly state of the art.”

We are guessing holodecks, transporters and shuttlecrafts will not become available.

Source: Inhabitat.
Link: http://inhabitat.com/jordans-1-5-billion-star-trek-theme-park-to-be-powered-by-alternative-energy/.

Bahraini detainees allege torture

MANAMA, Bahrain, Aug. 8 (UPI) -- Many of the prisoners held in Bahrain were tortured by state security forces as a matter of principle, a former detainee and opposition leader said.

Two members of a former opposition party were among the more than 140 people released from prison by Bahraini authorities. Former lawmakers Matar Matar and Jawad Fairuz, members of the former al-Wefaq opposition party were tortured while in custody, Matar was quoted by CNN as saying.

His party took 20 percent of the seats in Parliament in 2009 elections. Bahrain in April outlawed the party, the country's largest Shiite political party, and the opposition Islamic Action Society for breaking the law during mass protests and for inciting violence.

He said security forces didn't torture detainees so much as to get information as to "send a message" that they have a "green light" to do whatever they want.

Bahrain Center for Human Rights President Nabeel Rajab was quoted as saying as many as 98 percent of those held by state security forces were abused in some fashion.

"No one was immune," said Rajab. "Very rarely will you find someone who was not abused."

Bahrain in early July started a dialogue process meant to examine possible improvements in the political structure. The government earlier received praise for transferring some trials from a military tribunal to civilian courts.

The Sunni-led kingdom was condemned for its violent response to a Shiite uprising early this year.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/08/Bahraini-detainees-allege-torture/UPI-37351312826172/.

Iran helps Assad fight for survival

ISTANBUL, Turkey, Aug. 9 (UPI) -- The Turkish government says it has intercepted an arms shipment from Iran headed for Tehran's key ally Syria, where the regime is battling to crush a 5-month-old uprising in which an estimated 1,700 protesters have been killed.

Tehran is widely reported to be providing military aid and counterinsurgency specialists, as well as economic support, to the minority Alawite regime of Syrian President Bashar Assad.

Iran has a lot at stake in Syria as the Tehran leadership drives to become the region's paramount power and give Islam's breakaway Shiite sect ascendancy over the traditionally dominant mainstream Sunnis.

Syria is Iran's strategic gateway to the Levant and Israel's borders and Tehran can be expected to do everything it can to ensure that Assad's regime survives.

Western and Arab intelligence officers say Iran's Revolutionary Guards, headed by its elite and covert al-Quds Force, has taken over supervision of the campaign to suppress Syria's opposition forces.

Tehran denies involvement in the Syrian bloodletting but the European Union as well as the U.S. administration have imposed sanctions against the Revolutionary Guard leadership and some Syrian commanders because of the crackdown.

Indeed, Syria, with its Sunni majority, has become a proxy battleground for Iran and its main Arab rival, Saudi Arabia. They're vying for supremacy in the region and what transpires in Syria could have a deep and far-reaching impact on the geopolitics of the Middle East.

"Were a Sunni Arab regime with closer ties to Riyadh to take the place of the Alawite minority government in Damascus, the loss to Tehran's regional influence would be profound," observed the U.S. security consultancy Stratfor in an analysis last week.

"While Saudi Arabia has not actively sought the topple the Syrian regime, Syria's present crisis presents an opportunity for Saudi Arabia to turn back the gains Iran has made since 2003 -- though Tehran can be expected to put considerable resources toward ensuring the Syrian regime's survival."

Sunni-majority Turkey is also increasingly critical of the Assad regime's escalating suppression campaign, spearheaded by trusted Alawite units of the army and the intelligence services.

Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu confirmed Friday that a truck carrying weapons from Iran to Syria had been intercepted and was being held by security authorities. He gave no other details.

The weapons could be intended for Hezbollah, the Lebanese Shiite militia supported by Iran and Syria as have other shipments sent by Tehran in recent years.

Hezbollah, too, has been reported to be aiding its Syrian allies to put down the uprising. Hezbollah denies that but both stand to lose heavily if the Assad dynasty, which with Tehran has nurtured Hezbollah since it was founded after Israel's invasion of Lebanon in 1982, should fall.

Turkish media reported in mid-April that several alleged Iranian arms shipments bound for Syria had been seized in trucks on several routes in southern Turkey. In the preceding months other arms shipments had been seized aboard aircraft and trains by Turkish authorities.

Western intelligence services suspect that other shipments have been moved through Iraq, which lies between Iran and Syria, and via transshipment points as distant as Venezuela, where Iran has been building links.

Diplomats say recent seizures by the Turks, and heightened surveillance at border crossings, underline Ankara's growing unease with the violent suppression of protests in Syria and the machinations of Iranian agents in Turkey.

This may complicate Iran's operations to save Assad from being overthrown but it isn't likely to stop Tehran fighting tooth and nail to prevent the collapse of its 30-year strategic alliance with Syria, forged by Assad's late father and predecessor, Hafez Assad.

The Americans have sought for years to break the Tehran-Damascus partnership since it emerged in 1980, primarily to weaken Iran.

But in the Middle East, where alliances between Arab states since World War II have invariably collapsed because of traditional dynastic rivalries, the bonds between Iran and Syria have endured.

These relations, based on deep hostility toward the United States and Israel, show no sign of unraveling.

Tehran's overriding priority is domestic stability and if the Damascus regime collapses, the fear is that clerical rule in Iran would be seriously threatened as well, as it was after the disputed 2009 elections.

Source: United Press International (UPI).
Link: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2011/08/09/Iran-helps-Assad-fight-for-survival/UPI-85041312903947/.

Tunisia seeks security reform

Relations between Tunisian citizens and policemen are still tense almost seven months after the Tunisian revolution and the cancellation of political police.

By Mona Yahia for Magharebia in Tunis – 09/08/11

Tunisia's interim government is beginning to take steps to reform the security services, transforming a tool of repression into one that safeguards citizens.

The topic of police reform was the subject of a recent Tunis forum, where attendees called for amending laws and respecting people's basic liberties. Abd Hamid Jarraiya, secretary-general of the Internal Security Forces Union, told participants that the role of security personnel needs to change from protecting the presidency to protecting the citizens.

"A new chapter must be added in the Tunisian constitution whereby the security forces would be described as personnel working for the protection of Tunisian people and the revolution," Jarraiya said at the July 29th seminar.

The interim administration will focus on reform in five areas, according to Interior Minister Habib Essid. The media, municipal security, decentralization, newspaper and association permits and relations between the interior ministry and political parties will be among the first areas examined.

Reforming the security sector will take time, according to Taoufik Dimassi, Director of Public Security in Tunisia. In an interview with Tunisian television, he denied that torture was still practiced at security centers.

"Now a security agent wouldn't move if something was illegal, even in the simplest of things, let alone torturing some people," Dimassi said. "This is impossible."

In his turn, Lazher Akrmi, minister delegate in charge of reforms at the interior ministry, said: "Why don't we reach a level in which we see Tunisian citizens taking photos next to policemen, like the case in Britain?"

However, a recent human rights report on post-revolution security alleged that bad actors remain in the security services and that the situation has not changed since the revolution. The International Federation for Human Rights prepared the July 20th report in conjunction with the Tunisian Human Rights League and the National Council of Freedoms.

According to some reports, there were once more than 100,000 security agents in Tunisia. But former Interior Minister Farhat Rajhi said the number was no more than 50,000.

Meanwhile, rights activist Radia Nasraoui, head of the Association for Combating Torture, claimed that torture is still ongoing in Tunisia, an allegation denied by Dimassi, who called on anyone who was tortured after January 14th to produce the evidence so that the ministry could take action.

"The way they receive us at the security centers has not changed and the way security agents talk is still the same," commented Sania, a housewife.

Security officers lack a set of guidelines and there needs to be foreign instructors to reform the sector, according to Abdallah Abid of the Constitutional Reform Party.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/features/2011/08/09/feature-01.

Algeria creates one million new jobs

2011-08-09

Algeria created more than one million jobs in the first half of 2011, according to an economic report released by the prime minister's office on Monday (August 8th). The government analysis cited job growth in the administrative, agricultural, industrial, handicraft and service sectors.

Source: Magharebia.
Link: http://www.magharebia.com/cocoon/awi/xhtml1/en_GB/features/awi/newsbriefs/general/2011/08/09/newsbrief-04.

Hamas-Fatah deal in sight after prisoner release agreed

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

MATTHEW KALMAN in Jerusalem

PALESTINIAN FACTIONS Fatah and Hamas have moved towards healing a deadly rift by agreeing a mutual release of prisoners and the appointment of joint committees to address outstanding grievances.

The breakthrough after months of stalemate came ahead of a push for UN recognition in September.

After lengthy talks in Cairo, Fatah representative Azzam Al-Ahmad said: “Today’s meeting was very successful and it revived the reconciliation agreement, hindering all attempts to fold it. Our adherence to this agreement was also confirmed in this meeting.”

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zahri said the agreement was “important, because it is a reassuring message to the Palestinian people and it reflects the seriousness of both parties in implementing it”.

Fatah, the ruling party of Palestinian Authority president Mahmoud Abbas, has been locked in a bitter dispute with the Hamas Islamic Resistance Movement since 2007 when Hamas fighters staged a bloody coup and ejected Fatah from the Gaza Strip.

Hundreds of loyalists were killed in the fighting, most of them from Fatah.

Since then, Hamas has governed the Gaza Strip while Fatah has ruled the West Bank, although it has continued to pay the salaries of thousands of civil servants and prisoners’ and martyrs’ families in Gaza. Each side has arrested the other’s supporters in the territory they control and traded accusations over collaborating with or provoking Israel.

Last May, the two sides agreed to establish an interim government made up of independent political figures that would prepare for long overdue elections.

Mr Abbas met Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal publicly in Cairo to seal the deal. However a follow- up meeting planned for June collapsed amid mutual recrimination.

So far, no interim government has been formed and the promised co-operation on security issues has not materialized.

There is disagreement over the future of prime minister Salam Fayyad. Mr Fayyad is seen by many as the architect of an economic boom in the West Bank and one of the few Palestinian leaders trusted by western donors, but Hamas wants him replaced.

To further complicate matters, the unity deal has been attacked by Israel and the United States which say the deal will legitimize Hamas terror tactics. The Islamic resistance movement refuses to negotiate peace or to recognize Israel’s right to exist.

The committees set up during talks in Cairo at the weekend will address remaining grievances over the granting of passports, social reconciliation, institutions affiliated to each side shut down in Gaza and the West Bank and prisoners.

Ma’an News agency reported that there are 70 Hamas prisoners in the West Bank and 37 Fatah prisoners in Gaza.

Khaled Amayreh, a prominent critic of the Palestinian Authority based in Hebron, said that while the renewed commitment was welcome, Palestinians were waiting to see concrete results after years of on-off talks between Fatah and Hamas.

“We hope and pray that . . . we reach the moment when the rift and all its scars, ramifications and repercussions will be a thing of the past,” Mr Amayreh said.

“The release of political prisoners, which is supposed to take place before the end of Ramadan, will be a real breakthrough,” he added.

But Omar Shaban, head of the Gaza think tank Palthink, was more skeptical.

“Political unity is an illusion,” he said.

Source: Irish Times.
Link: http://www.irishtimes.com/newspaper/world/2011/0810/1224302181523.html.