Hamas' Haneya meets anti-Zionism Jews rabbis in Gaza

Deposed Hamas Premier Ismail Haneya on Thursday met anti-Zionism Jews in the Gaza Strip.

The meeting between the Islamic movement's leader and the four rabbis, members of Neturei Karta movement, lasted for nearly two hours at his office in Gaza city.

The rabbis, whose small movement calls for dismantling the state of Israel, arrived in Gaza last night as part of a Viva Palestine convoy, which included some 200 American and international pro-Palestinian activists, led by British MP George Galloway.

"Hamas has no problem with the Jews, the problem is only with the Israeli occupation which is based on the Zionism," Haneya told reporters after the meeting.

Haneya praised the Jews who "expressed their rejection to the occupation" by joining the aid convoy. "You reject the existence of people on the land of other people, so we have nothing but to respect these positions and appreciate your ideology," Haneya addressed the rabbis.

The convoy is the second in four months Galloway brings into the Israeli-blockaded Gaza Strip. "This convoy is of a special interest because most of its members have come from the United States," Haneya added.

The U.S. government deems Hamas a foreign terrorist organization since its charter calls for the destruction of the Jewish state. But Haneya said the American presence in the convoy "proves that not all the American people are supporting the Israeli occupation and the siege."

Israel has been imposing a blockade on the Gaza Strip for two years in response to Hamas' violent seizing of power in the coastal enclave. In January, Israel completed a fierce three-week offensive here, killing more than 1,400 Palestinians and destroying thousands of houses.

Pentagon eyes plan to increase Army by 30,000

By LOLITA C. BALDOR, Associated Press Writer

WASHINGTON – The Pentagon is considering a plan to add 30,000 soldiers to the Army to bolster a force depleted by a growing number of troops who are wounded, stressed or for other reasons cannot deploy with their units.

Struggling to wage wars on two fronts, the Army says it needs a temporary increase in order to fill vacancies in units heading to the battlefront.

The 547,000 member active duty force was beefed up by 65,000 in recent years, but military leaders say it hasn't been enough to make up for the roughly 30,000 soldiers who — at any one time — are injured, pregnant, suffering from post-traumatic stress or health problems, or have been assigned to other jobs.

Military leaders have been warning Congress that the problem has been getting worse, as the number of soldiers unable to return to the battlefield has increased by as much as 3,000 in the last several years, according to Gen. Pete Chiarelli, the Army's vice chief of staff.

"It is a stretched and sometimes tired force that is meeting all the requirements, but at the same time it is difficult to get our units up to the operating strength they need to before deployment," Chiarelli said.

According to the Army, 13 percent of the personnel in a typical unit heading to war are not available, compared to 11 percent previously.

Roughly 9,400 soldiers are in so-called "warrior transition units," with either physical or stress-related injuries. Another 10,000 are unavailable because of other less serious injuries, medical screening problems and pregnancy.

In addition, about 10,000 have been tapped for other duties, or have just returned from the battlefront, guaranteed one year at home before they redeploy.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates said Thursday that he plans to decide as early as next week whether to approve the temporary boost — which would be filled largely from intensified Army recruiting. Senators, however, have already introduced legislation calling for the increase.

If officials are given the go-ahead to increase its ranks, the Army expects to be able to do it rapidly.

One senior defense official said that a substantial number of Army recruits have signed up but are in the delayed entry program awaiting a training slot and enlistment into the active duty Army. The plan would be to tap that pool of recruits quickly to begin closing the deficit, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because discussions are still preliminary.

The buildup in Afghanistan and the shift in Iraq from a combat to a training and assistance force have fueled the problem, by pulling individual soldiers out of their units to fill specialized positions.

Those include the recent Obama administration decisions to create special advisory brigades with extra trainers and other specialists for Iraq, and a new three-star command in Afghanistan headed by Lt. Gen. David Rodriguez.

Also contributing to the problem is the Pentagon's ongoing effort to do away with the unpopular practice of requiring troops to continue to serve beyond their enlistment dates.

Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said the funding question underscores the need for Congress to go along with the administration's push to slash additional funding, citing the legislative fight over more F-22 fighters.

"We cannot afford things we do not need," said Morrell, "because it forces us to take money from something else that we do need."

Muslim women to enjoy greater rights in marital law

Muslim women married under shariah law edged closer to full enjoyment of the rights provided under South African marital law. On Wednesday the Constitutional Court ruled that Muslim women involved in polygamous marriages can now inherit a share of their deceased husband’s estate.

The Intestate Succession Act recognizes widows married in civil ceremonies, widows in monogamous Muslim marriages and widows in polygamous cultural marriages, but not women in polygamous Muslim marriages.

Fatima Gabie Hassam was one of two wives. When her husband died without a will, the executor of his estate refused her claim to a share of her husband’s estate. In 2004, she took her case to the Western Cape High Court, asking to be recognized as an heir to her husband’s estate.

The Western Cape High Court ruled in Hassam’s favor, and referred the case to the Constitutional Court for confirmation of constitutional invalidity. In her judgment, Concourt Judge Bess Nkabinde confirmed the high court’s ruling, saying the Act violated Hassam’s right to equality and that she had been discriminated against on grounds of religion, marital status and gender.

Nkabinde’s order means that the Intestate Succession Act will now refer to “spouse or spouses” as inheritors to include widows from polygamous Muslim marriages. The judgment did not “foreshadow any answer” on whether polygamous marriages are “consistent with the Constitution”, Nkabinde said.

She added that, while the question was still open, this should not preclude women in polygamous marriages from appropriate protection.

Jennifer Williams, director of the Women’s Legal Centre, which entered the case as a friend of the court, said that courts have previously argued in favor of Muslim women in polygamous marriages on specific issues regarding pensions, medical aid and the Road Accident Fund. But such a “piecemeal” approach is inadequate, she said.

Professor Pierre de Vos, a constitutional law expert from the University of Cape Town, said Muslim marriages are analogous to same sex unions before these were recognized in law. Courts “used to deal with them piecemeal, as in the case [with Muslim marriages] today. But in the end, they realized that those marriages had to be recognized in some way.

“One could argue that Muslim marriages might follow the same route here, though I think this issue is a bit more complicated because of the question of what would serve women best.”

The Women’s Legal Centre is currently awaiting judgment from the Constitutional Court in a case that aims to secure recognition of Muslim marriages. “What concerns us is that in the case of divorce, they [Muslim marriages] are not recognized,’ Williams said. “Obviously, the state is aware that this is unconstitutional. Hopefully [this case] will provide the impetus for them to speed up the process and finally legislate in terms of these marriages.”

Ahmed Mayet, senior impact ligitation attorney of Legal Aid South Africa, for the Muslim Youth Movement who were friends of the court, said there are instances where men take on a second wife, "sometimes without even the knowledge of the second wife, and then the second wife usually is younger and she gets all the benefits and the first wife is ignored, even though she has children".

# Meanwhile, the Constitutional Court ruled on Wednesday that minimum sentencing legislation could not be applied to 16- and 17-year olds as it infringes on their rights as children. Minimum sentencing for these ages had been made compulsory for certain serious crimes by a 2007 amendment to the Criminal Law (Sentencing) Act, and the University of Pretoria’s Centre for Child Law challenged the statute. A majority of the court found that the minimum sentencing regime directed judicial officers away from options other than incarceration and therefore limited children’s rights under the Constitution.

UNIFIL conducts maritime exercise

BEIRUT, Lebanon, July 15 (UPI) -- Peacekeepers with the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon conducted maritime exercises off the coast of Lebanon to facilitate cooperation with the Lebanese navy.

The maritime task force of UNIFIL deployed off the coast of Lebanon in 2006 following the 34-day conflict between Hezbollah fighters and the Israeli military.

The task force seeks to curtail arms smuggling in the region and has referred roughly 300 suspect vessels to Lebanese authorities since their operation began.

Maj. Gen. Claudio Graziano, the force commander for UNIFIL, said Lebanese participation in the recent exercise was vital to national security.

"The Lebanese navy's participation in this exercise is of paramount importance in light of the future hand-over of the full responsibility of their territorial water," he said.

Italian naval forces assumed responsibility over the U.N. maritime task force in June. It is the first naval force deployed as part of a U.N. peacekeeping mission.

UNIFIL is among the longest-standing U.N. peacekeeping missions, deployed in Lebanon since 1978. Its mandate was revamped in the wake of the 2006 conflict to expand operations along the southern Lebanese border with Israel.

Tribes 'losing steam' against Taliban

PESHAWAR, Pakistan, July 15 (UPI) -- Tribal militias on the Pakistani border with Afghanistan took on Taliban fighters with modest success, but their ability to endure is in doubt, officials say.

Islamabad had encouraged tribal leaders in the region to form militias to help control the growing influence of the Taliban along the border.

In recent clashes, around 150 members of a tribal militia in the North-West Frontier province took on Taliban insurgents, killing as many as 23, the online Long War Journal reports.

The tribal militias, however, are reluctant to accept government or military support, leaving themselves vulnerable to sustained Taliban attacks. Meanwhile, a lack of regional coordination and challenges from the local geography make any tribal effort to drive out the Taliban difficult at best.

While the tribes have claimed modest success in fights against the Taliban, the militias are "losing steam," officials told the Journal.

Furthermore, the Journal notes, the recent fighting between tribal militias and members of the Pakistani Taliban undermine claims by the Pakistani government that the region is "under the control of law enforcement agencies."

Meanwhile, al-Qaida leader Ayman al-Zawahiri in an audio message released Wednesday called on Pakistanis to support Islamic militants in their fight against the United States or face punishment from God.

Somalia: Rebels Advance Towards State House

Abdulkadir Khalif

Mogadishu — Nowadays, mortar shells regularly land inside the presidential palace in Mogadishu, killing, this week alone, three African Union peacekeepers from Uganda and injuring others. Even gunfire and stray bullets hit the walls of the fortified compound.

The nearest post held by anti-government fighters is Florenza, just about 1,000 meters away from Villa Somalia, the state house in Mogadishu.

Even without a telescope, the presidential guards can see masked men along Wardhigley alleys, trying to shoot pro-government forces in the frontline. To further tighten the noose around the State House, more Islamist fighters have been deployed to the northeastern road junctions including Sinai, Afarta Jardino and Sana'a.

This made Wadnaha Avenue technically unusable because strategic road intersections like Hararyale, Adan Adde and Howl-wadag have all fallen in to the hands of Al-Shabaab and Hizbu Islam, the Islamist groups vehemently opposing the Transitional Federal Government.

The eastern portion of Mogadishu has always been considered as safe, Karaan, Abdulaziz and Shibs districts being the first to see the sun rising from the Indian Ocean. Until recently, no major fighting had taken place even during the 15 years of rule by the infamous secular warlords in the Somali capital.

The fortune of the inhabitants of these districts changed in early June. In one of the most unexpected ways, opposition fighters loyal to Al-shabaab movement and Hizbu Islam waged an offensive at Galgalato suburb, cutting off supply route between Mogadishu and the boroughs to the north of the city.

No one believed that those Islamists could advance to areas mainly inhabited by government supporters and by people displaced from other areas of the city affected by previous confrontations. Contrary to all imaginable guesses, the masked Islamists chased the pro-government forces from their positions through nocturnal operations.

Many people woke up to see the Jihadists at their doorsteps and around Karaan market.

Since clan militias in informal dresses and paratroopers mainly in green uniforms were in strategic positions, the Islamists would never find the pro-TFG a pushover. By June 18, however, the strongest government barriers were broken and gunfire could easily be heard in downtown Mogadishu.

The newly affected

The greatest exodus from the newly affected areas was triggered.

Given that the residents of those northern districts had not experienced major changes, the rapid advances by the Islamists caused shockwaves. The only thing many people could do was to grab children, water containers and few other possessions.

Suddenly, other parts of Mogadishu still within the government 'green zone' like Shangani, Hamarweyne, Hamar Jabjab and Waberi districts were overcrowded by the displaced peoples. Thousands of families have been forced out of their homes in less than a week. "All I could think doing was to get hold of my three children, a couple of mattresses and 5-litre plastic container," remarked Dr Ali Mohammed Mohamud, a chemist running a private laboratory in Karaan district. "I asked other family members to follow me," said the chemist.

"I was very lucky to find relatives at Waberi district," he added. Dr Mohamud's extended family of nine members was cramped into a relatively spacious room. The facility, however, did not offer a normal life compared to the abandoned 4 bedroom house, TV sets with satellite decoder and receptive dishes.

For Dr Mohamud it was like moving from 21st century back to the 19th. "I did not have even time to pick my laptop," lamented the analyst. The Speaker of Somalia's Transitional Federal Parliament, Sheikh Aden Mohamed Nur Madobe, held a hasty press conference in Mogadishu on 20th of June. He cried for the international community's help to salvage the TFG from Islamist takeover.

Source: allAfrica.
Link: http://allafrica.com/stories/200907160864.html.

Did Abbas, Dahlan conspire to murder Arafat?

By Khalid Amayreh in the West Bank

July 16, 2009

In an impromptu news conference in the Jordanian capital, Amman , on 12 July, Fatah Secretary-General Farouk Kaddumi revealed that Palestinian Authority (PA) leader Mahmoud Abbas and former Gaza strong man Muhammed Dahlan conspired to murder Yasser Arafat in connivance with Israel and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA).

Kaddumi disclosed that Arafat had confided to him the transcript of a secret meeting involving Abbas, Dahlan , US intelligence officials as well as former Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The meeting allegedly took place in March 22, 2004.

According to the document, whose authenticity couldn’t be verified independently, Sharon told Abbas and Dahlan during the meeting that Arafat should be killed by way of poisoning.

The transcript showed that Abbas protested, saying that murdering Arafat could complicate things and cause serious difficulties.

The Arabic version of the transcript showed Sharon saying the following to Abbas and Dahlan: 'To start with, we should kill all the military and political leaders of Hamas, Jihad, al-Aqsa Brigades and the Popular Front in order to create chaos within their ranks which would make it easier for you to finish them off.’

Sharon then allegedly responded to a suggestion by Dahlan to first abide by a 'period of calm’ by saying:

'As long as Arafat is still sitting in the Muqata’a in Ramallah, you will definitely fail, because this cunning fox will surprise you all, as he has done in the past, because he knows exactly what you want to do and he will work to make it fail.’

Sharon then added the following: 'The first step therefore should be to poison Arafat and to kill him. I don’t want to send him into exile unless there are guarantees from the country that will take him to place him under house arrest…’

Later on in the transcript, Sharon allegedly mentions the names of senior Hamas and Islamic Jihad leaders to be assassinated, including Abdel Aziz Rantisi, who was murdered by Israel on April 17, 2004.

The document presented by Kaddumi doesn’t spell out the ultimate Israeli-American goal behind the liquidation of Arafat and the top leaders of the resistance. However, it is probably safe to deduce that endgame envisaged behind the alleged conspiracy was the creation of a collaborationist Palestinian regime whose central mission and raison d’etre would be to bully the Palestinian masses into accepting a "peace deal" with Israel that would allow the latter to impose its will and conditions on the Palestinians.

Kaddumi is an important figure in Fatah, and it is difficult to dismiss his revelations as hallucinations as his opponents have done.

Non the less, it is hard to indict Abbas based on these revelations. However, it is also difficult to grant him a certificate of innocence, because Abbas is not beyond suspicion and is certainly not an impeccable figure.

I remember I spoke with Sakhr Habash, a close confidante of Yasser Arafat, two days before the latter’s death, who told me that he was 100% sure that "they killed him."

I pressed him to identify the killers, the people he was referring to. He said "you know them, these people around him, the agents of Israel ."

Dahlan

While one is prompted to speak cautiously about Abbas’s alleged role in poisoning Arafat, that is if indeed the late Palestinian leader died of poisoning, one feels freer and more confident to speak about Dahlan’s not-so-secret treacherous dealings with the Israelis and the Americans.

A few years ago, I remember I listened to a secret audio-taped briefing by Dahlan to some of his supporters at the al-Hurriya Radio in Gaza .

In the briefing, Dahlan was heard swearing to make Hamas regret the day it decided to take part in the elections of 2006.

"I will make them eat..expletive.., and if any Fatah guy dares participate in the Hamas government, I will know how to deal with him."

Dahlan made more horrifying remarks which one would prefer not mentioning because of their poor taste.

In 2008, the American magazine "Vanity Fair" published an extensive investigative report titled "How the Bush Administration Lied to Congress and Armed Fatah to Provoke Palestinian Civil War Aiming to overthrow Hamas."

The report pointed out that the White House tried to organize the armed overthrow of the Hamas-led government after the Islamic liberation group swept Palestinian elections in 2006.

Obviously, Dahlan was the would-be coup leader whose job was to destroy Hamas, arrest or kill its leaders in collaboration with Israel .

According to the report, the Bush administration lied to Congress and boosted military support for Fatah in the aim of provoking a Palestinian civil war they thought Hamas would lose.

Vanity Fair dubbed the episode "Iran Contra 2"-a reference to the Reagan administration’s funding of the Nicaraguan Contras by covertly selling arms to Iran .

David Wurmser, a Bush administration official, was quoted in the report as saying hat he believed that "Hamas’s seizure of power in Gaza last year might have likely been a preemptive measure against the anticipated US-backed coup."

In light, there is overwhelming evidence that Dahlan brazenly collaborated with the Israeli and American intelligence services against his own people just as it is amply clear that the current regime in Ramallah is collaborating, coordinating and conspiring with Israel to liquidate the resistance in the West Bank .

True, Abbas might argue that he played no part in plotting to murder Yasser Arafat. However, he and his regime in Ramallah can’t deny the fact that their security agencies, now trained and armed under the supervision of the American intelligence officer Keith Dayton, have been closely collaborating with Israel for the purpose of eradicating all resistance activists in the West Bank .

Indeed, the recent killings in Qalqilya recently was a damning proof, if a proof were needed, that the PA regime is just another layer of the Israeli occupation.

This, coupled with the unmitigated inquisition of hounding, repression, arrest, dismissal from jobs, seizure and closure of institutions as well as the rampancy of torture which in many instances lead to cruel death demonstrates that the PA is working in concert with Israel to harm and undermine national Palestinian interests.

This alone, and irrespective of who poisoned Arafat, is sufficient to indict the present leadership in Ramallah for collaboration with Israel and treason.