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Summary of DEBKAfile Exclusives in Weeks Ending Dec. 25, 2008
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| Kidnap, glider attacks in Jerusalem foiled. Two Palestinians arrested 14 Dec.: DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report that two residents of the Jerusalem village of Isawiya, Iyad Abid, 20, and Abdullah Abid, 21, were indicted before Jerusalem district court Sunday, Dec. 14, on charges of plotting a series of terrorist attacks on Israeli Border Guard and army officers on duty in the neighborhood of their village. One plan was to ram a border patrol jeep, use electric shockers to stun the officers and take them hostage against the release of jailed Palestinians, including members of their family.
Isawiya is strategically located close to the Hebrew University, Hadassah hospital which serves the neighborhood, Mount Scopus, French Hill and the Jerusalem-Maaleh Adummim highway. The two accused Palestinians, brothers and Hamas members, also conspired to crash a glider loaded with explosives on the IDF electronic early warning station on Mount Scopus. Russia considers first Israeli military purchase – spy drones 16 Dec.: A $10-12 million transaction for Moscow to purchase Israeli spy drones for the Russian army is in negotiation with Israel’s Aerospace Industries’. DEBKAfile’s military sources report that the sale, if finally approved by the defense ministry in Tel Aviv, would be Israel’s first advanced hardware sale to Russia. It would also mark a reversal of Israeli policy, since the Russian army would almost certainly use the drones in another future round of hostilities with Georgia over the breakaway regions of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. A drone transaction with Moscow would give the Russian army a technological-intelligence edge over Caucasian and Caspian nations, like Georgia and Azerbaijan, and therefore place in doubt their future arms purchases from Israel. Crowded Sderot shopping center takes direct Qassam hit from Gaza, 12 injured 17 Dec.: The 15th missile of Wednesday, Dec. 17, from Gaza, which injured 12 people – three from shrapnel, the rest in shock – exploded in the Sderot supermarket parking area, destroying shops and cars and scattering crowds of panicky Hanukah shoppers. The attack capped two days of a massive Palestinian missile and mortar barrage against several Israeli towns and villages without an Israeli military response. Only after the Sderot shopping center was ravaged did the Air force go into action against the Palestinians launching missiles from Beit Hanun in the northern Gaza Strip. Even then, the Palestinians kept on firing raising the day’s number of missiles to 21. Olmert’s bid to revive Syrian track runs into blank walls 19 Dec.: Israeli caretaker prime minister Ehud Olmert has been warned that the trip he booked to Ankara for next Monday will be an exercise in futility. Damascus let it be known Friday. Dec. 19, that acceptance in advance of its “borders document” was the pre-condition for direct peace talk. This six-point document covers Israel’s withdrawal – not only from the Golan but also from another slice of territory, the northeastern bank of the Sea of Galilee and Hamat Gader region, which is part of pre-1967 Israel. This maximalist approach, say DEBKAfile’s sources, aims at notifying US president-elect Barack Obama and designated secretary of state Hillary Clinton that Damascus’ “borders document” is a take-it-or-leave it proposition. Syrian leaders appear to believe that after he takes office, Obama will assign American partners to the negotiations, who will tilt the talks in Syria’s favor. Opposition Likud leader Binyamin Netanyahu said the post-election government he expects to lead next year would not be bound by any “Olmert-Livni concessions to Syria” or abandon the Golan. US-Russian in race to arm Lebanon with heavy weapons 20 Dec.: In their race to arm the Lebanese army with heavy weapons, which Israeli diplomacy has failed to deter, the United States and Russia have no way of keeping them out of Hizballah hands; Shiite soldiers make up nearly half the force and Hizballah’s hands are on the levers of the Beirut government. Israel’s tardy diplomatic efforts to forestall the flow fell on deaf ears in Moscow and Washington. David Hale of the state department announced the US package for Lebanon Friday, Dec. 19, while denying Washington was competing with Moscow. He said that in addition to M-50 Supersherman tanks, the US package for Lebanon included “air support capabilities (helicopters) with precision weapons and urban combat gear.” The US was helping the Lebanese army “to maintain internal security and fighting terrorism in Lebanon,” he said. DEBKAfile also reveals that a group of Hizballah operatives recently paid a secret visit to Moscow and asked for Russian hardware. Jerusalem is too busy spinning fairy tales about the feasibility of peace with Syria to pay enough attention to the hectic, hostile activity on Israel’s northern border. Israeli government again backs down as Gaza missile war boils over 21 Dec.: No military action to stamp out the Palestinian missile blitz against southwestern Israel will be undertaken before “international support” is organized and an attempt to renew the “ceasefire” with Hamas is undertaken. This was the gist of the Israeli cabinet decision Sunday morning as Palestinian missile fire continued. Schoolchildren were told to stay in their classrooms and forbidden the playground. Magen David Adom’s first aid services are on high alert. Hamas leaders have gone into hiding in the smuggling tunnels honeycombing the southern Gaza Strip in case Israel goes back to targeted assassinations. Iraq orders Iranian exiles to leave ahead of PM Maliki’s Tehran visit 22 Dec.: Days before Iraqi Prime minister Nouri al-Maliki visits Tehran, his government has told the opposition People’s Mujahideen Organization of Iran (PMOI) it is no longer welcome in Iraq and the 3,500 Iranian exiles would be deported. Cont. Next Column |
DEBKAfile reports they have nowhere to go. No government has offered the group asylum although Jordan has supported the PMOI’s claim to remove its terrorist listing by the European Union, based on its having laid down arms and renounced violent action in 2001.
From 2003, Ashraf Camp came under US protection after the US military destroyed more than 2,000 tanks, armored personnel carries and other weapons. But the handover of security to the Iraqi government has left the organization in the lurch. First Palestinian anti-air gun fire against Israel helicopters. Military option still on ice 22 Dec.: For the first time in 9 years of Palestinian warfare, anti-air gun fire was directed from the ground against Israeli aircraft, DEBKAfile’s military sources report. The guns opened up Sunday night, Dec. 21, against Apache helicopters before they crossed into Gaza air space from Nahal Oz to strike missile crews. The helicopters returned the fire which came from hideouts in the orchards of northern Gaza. Notwithstanding the severe escalation of Gaza attacks, a senior military source told DEBKAfile that a substantive military raid is not on the IDF’s immediate agenda. The government led by Ehud Olmert and defense minister Ehud Barak would prefer its postponement to mid-2009 or later. Kings Abdullah of Jordan and Saudi Arabia showered $316,000-worth of precious jewelry on Condoleezza Rice 23 Dec.: They included an emerald and diamond necklace, ring, bracelet and earrings set from Abdullah II and Queen Rania and a ruby and diamond necklace with matching earrings, bracelet and ring from Abdullah of Saudi Arabia. US: Russia’s S-300 missile sale to Iran is Israel’s decision point 23 Dec.: An American military intelligence official says Russia’s sale of S-300 long-range missiles to Iran presents a “decision point for Israel, since once the anti-aircraft system is in place it could deter any strike” against Iran’s nuclear sites. State department spokesman Robert Wood said Monday, Dec. 22: “We have repeatedly made clear… that we would strongly oppose the sale of S-300.” From Iran, they could reach American troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and shift the Middle East military balance of power. Amid the confusion contrived by Moscow about the state of the consignment, an American source said Tuesday: “The US believes it is taking place.” In Moscow, a “military-diplomatic source in Moscow” said Monday the S-300 systems are being packed up… and expected to be delivered from the defense ministry’s warehouses.” The latter statement indicates the missiles going to Iran straight from Russia’s own emergency stores and not waiting to come off production lines. Large-scale missile defense exercise 23 Dec.: A big missile defense exercise was conducted Tuesday in the southern Israeli towns of Ashdod, Ashkelon, Kiryat Malachi, Kiryat Gat, Gedera, Yavne. Gaza clash impending – Israel air strikes versus Palestinian long-range missiles They can reach a distance of 42 km – an area far broader than the strip taking hits from Gaza Wednesday which was delimited by Ashkelon to the north and Netivot to the east. Therefore an outer rim of 30 locations 30 km distant from the Palestinian enclave has now been connected to the Homeland Command’s early warning system, including Kiryat Gath, Kiryat Malachi, the Lachish Region and Ashdod. The Israeli security cabinet meeting Wednesday approved military action to extinguish the escalating Palestinian offensive which Wednesday left a trail of 57 shock victims – half of them children – and wrecked homes, vehicles, shops, workshops and roads. The ministers took into account that Hamas might counter effective Israeli air strikes in Gaza with its long-range missiles. Former national security adviser Giora Eiland urged the government in a radio interview to start treating the Gaza Strip like a neighboring hostile state and hold its Hamas regime responsible for the insupportable missile aggression. Israel must fight back – not just against the missile teams, but go for the belligerent Palestinian government’s infrastructure, even if 100 civilians are killed every day, because this would finally give Hamas a strong incentive to live in peace instead of making war. Tehran deflects Hamas SOS for intervention against an Israeli attack in Gaza 25 Dec.: Hamas asked Tehran Dec. 25, for its support by a threat to intervene if Israeli launched an attack on Gaza, DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report. Tehran gave Hamas no promises, saying it was watching to see how Israel’s military operation evolved. Israeli prime minister Ehud Olmert meanwhile strongly urged Gazan Palestinians to stand up to Hamas and stop them shooting missiles to ward off Israel’s military operation. He addressed them over al Arabiya television. In Cairo, foreign minister Tzipi Livni said after talks with Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak that she did not ask Egypt for permission to embark on military action in the Gaza Strip. This decision was solely Israel’s, she said. Our sources note that the Iranian regime is thinking twice before making any military commitments for deterring Israel. For one thing, they believe it would have the opposite effect and offer Israel vindication for a major campaign. In southern Lebanon, close to the Israeli border, Lebanese army sappers defused seven Katyusha rockets fitting with timing devices a short time before they were set for launching against Galilee. There is no word who rigged them, but they apparently came out of Hizballah’s arsenal. |
Category: Saudi Arabia
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THE DEBKA REVIEW – A WEEK AT GLANCE
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Luminious Movement of the Dialog Universe
The dark Islam image on Occident infuriates and infuriates Eastern-Muslims. When I went to Mecca . I said to the Muslims who were angry about that image that they were the guilty of the things like that. Because, as they haven’t explained Islam enough, unfortunately the ones who listens to these made up things can think that they are true. The looseness , even quietness, of Eastern Muslims about explaining the real Islam has created such a blank of knowledge that in Occident a religion explaiter can come out and lead our people to a wrong way.
Fourty years before that Malcolm X who had reflected the dark Islam image to us had explained the deterioration of reputation which Islam was going to experience and he had warned us at that time and adviced us, Muslims, to show the real Islam to the Occident by creating a close dialoge with them.
Malcolm X was the asistant of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of Nation of Islam, who told that the real religion of black race was Islam and he was the most renowned one to explain Islam in United Nations. But the Islam which Elijah presented to Americans was wholly untrue and it was presented to people as a religion interpereted by himself. As there han’t been any religious leader, any Muslim country or any Muslim communty to explain Islam to America until that time, Elijah, who told that he could adjust an imported religion , was consedering himself a savior who was sent by Allah to Occident and was stating this as a condition to be accepted by people who are converting to Islam.
Working hard in the way of his religion by aiming Allah, even without being in the right way, Malcolm X had learned that only truth from Elijah: “Black race is superior to the other races, white people are the Devil, and Islam is peculiar to them, the African black people.”
After years, Malcolm X goes to Mecca for the duty of piligramage and when he sees that people white,blonde,reddish and black from every color, from every race come together and perform the namaz in the same order and have meal on the same dinner table, he experiences a great shock. From then on, his opinions,his beliefs and point of view on the world nations had exactly changed. In such a conditin he realizes the Islam spreading in America is in a wrong style and in interviews he reproaches not to the ones spreading Islam in a wrong style in America but to the Islam community:
The dark Islam image on Occident infuriates and infuriates Eastern-Muslims. When I went to Mecca . I said to the Muslims who were angry about that image that they were the guilty of the things like that. Because, as they haven’t explained Islam enough, unfortunately the ones who listens to these made up things can think that they are true. The looseness , even quietness, of Eastern Muslims about explaining the real Islam has created such a blank of knowledge that in Occident a religion explaiter can come out and lead our people to a wrong way.
Due to the people trying to impose their own ideologies by using Islam in first half of 20th century the spreading of Islam had become harder, a wall of prejudice had been erected and that important happening had got late until years later. Constitutions with wrong mentality have a share of guilt but biggest share of guilt is the Islam community’s in this situation.
When we look at the world thoroughly the religion dominating the Continent of America is christianity. In these territories the proclamation of Islam hasn’t been achieved, contrary to that the ideology of “the dislike of Islam” has spread out from here. As to the Far-East, by Europeans a hundred years ago priests were sent by ships to the Far-Easterns who were already in an emptiness and to fill that empitiness with critianity was aimed. As a matter of fact official numbers show that cleary: In Japon and South Korea %25 of people are christian. But there is such a strange situation that, when we look at the history books, in this direction, last century we will come across an opportunity which shouldn’t have been missed. In short, in the times we priests were sent to the Far-East… In the reign of Sultan Abdulhamid IInd Japan wants hodjas from us to learn Islam. Japan’s prince says that “You send seven persons for us to learn Islam and we shall send officers to you to be assigned in your defence.” Sultan Abdulhamid who was extremely sorry for not being able to response positively to this dialoge says this: “I would send not seven persons but seven hundred persons if it wasn’t for the matters of Anatolia which is full of disorder like a den of gossip.”
The ideal of ancestors was “to enter to the entered place for human” As a matter of fact at the moment when we look at the territories where our ancestors conquered centuries ago and ruled for centuries; it can be seen that the inhabitants of these places weren’t harmed and important protection acts were made and cities have been kept alive until that time, saving their name exactly the same.
Allah has created human in such a beatiful way that, He tells us in every case of univers(sas) regards human as such an important being that he goes to Ebu Cehil for hundred times, of whose disbeliefs we are sure in order that he would not be in the ones who suffre the sage of Allah. He says that when entering Mecca the ones who enter Kaaba and the hause of Ebu Sufyan will be saved. That means, then, he gives such a value to a person who orders who doesn’t believe, ith the hope that his last would be saluation. We are the community of a Prophet who orders a companion of him, not to perform a behiviour which will offend his mother who tries to stop his unbelieving mothers hinderings. How meaningful those lines of Ahmet Yesevi are:
“It is Sunna; don’t offend anyone even if he is an infidel
Allah is complaining about the heartless and offender ones.”
In this century, in which the humanity is being polorized, in which the anarchy and terrorism has become daily happenings and the value of humanity is being tried to be lost; the acts of tolerance on the way of which Muslims, already realizing some beauties tries hard, has started to blossom and the groud for acting collectively has been completed. Having attended the symposium named “Recontruction of Islam ideology in 20th century and Bediüzzaman” in 1992, Assit. Prof. Visula Spuler states the scene which she sees and wants to see about that subject like this: “Turks in Koln sent a worthy greeting message, the influence of the Pope who is originally Polish, on the liberation of East Black from communism was stated. And as a collective strugle against communism, Muslims getting Russians out of Afghanistan was stated. The massage was continuing like that: “At the same time, we know that our duty hasn’t come to on and after all these happenings. As you have stated humanity needs faith and the new world order.” That Easter greeting was written with the thinking system of Said Nursi sent a very beatiful handwriting work of himself to the Pope of that time in 1951. Spuler, who was grateful for Muslims’ beatiful impessions, continued her speech like that: “Again Bedüizzaman, in his work Munazarat, states that friendships can be achieved with the Jews or Christians by remaining Muslim. He saw christians and Germany, who was shaped with a good christian tradition, as a great friend in, against the all religion enemies troughout the world.
The explanation of Safa Mursel, who was in the same syposium, will enlighten us about what to do: “if uniting of religions will be thought, Christianity can be firstly expected to need that. These statements are enough to give required opinions:
The Christianity will either fade out or give up his weapon against the Islam. The Christianity broke up several times, transformed to the Protestantism. Protestantism broke up too. It approached to unification. It prepares to break up again. It will either profit and fade out or see the truth of Islam who is connective for the principal of the Christianity opposite of his himself and surrender. And the real religion of Christians, who converted to Islam and who will give up his superstitions, agree and help to Islam.
Timely, we are in a very important position. We are in a more important position from the point of view of the happenings which humanity experienced. We have all opportunities, to say shortly by thinking all the world history in the “Golden Period of Time” with the all opportunities we have, we can conduct to the integration of all of the subjects that is signed by from our Master to the last savant in a unique way. In the “Golden Period of Time”, Allah removes all obstacles against the people, what they intend to do. As long as our intention is pure. “The intention of Muslim is better than his act.”
Mehmet Fatih ÖZTARSU
Qafqaz University – Interes Club
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DEBKA:Russia lines up with Syria, Iran against America and the West
Summary of DEBKAfile Exclusives in Week Ending Sept. 18, 2008Russia lines up with Syria, Iran against America and the West Sept 12.: Moscow announced renovation had begun on the Syrian port of Tartus to provide Russia with its first long-term naval base on the Mediterranean.As the two naval chiefs talked in Moscow, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov met Iranian foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki in the Russian capital for talks on the completion of the Bushehr nuclear power plant by the end of the year.
DEBKAfile’s military sources report Russia’s leaders have determined not to declare a Cold War in Europe but to open a second anti-Western front in the Middle East.
In the second half of August, DEBKA file and DEBKA-Net-Weekly’s analysts focused on this re-orientation (Russia’s Second Front: Iran-Syria), whereby Moscow had decided to use its ties with Tehran and Damascus to challenge the United State and the West in the Middle East as well as the Caucasian, the Black Sea and the Caspian region.
In aligning with Tehran and Damascus, Moscow stands not only against America but also Israel. This volatile world region is undergoing cataclysmic changes at a time when Israel is without a fully competent prime minister.
Missile alert is revived on Israel-Gaza border
12 Sept.: DEBKAfile’s Palestinian sources report that the leaders of the Iranian-backed Jihad Islami terrorist group in Gaza have warned they will go back to firing missiles at neighboring Israeli towns and villages unless the ruling Hamas stops persecuting them.
Our military sources report that Israeli forces securing the Gaza border went on missile alert Thursday, Sept 11, when Hamas heavies continued their crackdown.Hamas gunmen are systematically bulldozing the Jihad bases, built over the ruins of the former Israeli Gush Katif villages, and flattening the sites. They have seized control of Jihad mosques in the southern part of the Gaza Strip and are making arrests.
Syrian commandos invade 7 Greater Tripoli villages of N. Lebanon
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report13 Sept.: Two Syrian commando battalions accompanied by reconnaissance and engineering corps units have crossed into Lebanon in the last 48 hours and taken up positions in seven villages, most of them Allawite Muslim, outside Tripoli, DEBKAfile’s military sources reported Saturday, Sept. 13. They are the vanguard of a large armored force poised on the border.Damascus has signaled to Washington and Paris: Don’t interfere.
The Syrian incursion coincided with the expected arrival of Russian naval and engineering experts for renovating Tartus, the Syrian port 40 kilometers north of Tripoli, to serve as the Russian fleet’s first permanent Mediterranean base.
Seen from Israel, once Assad’s army completes its advance on Tripoli, he will control the full length of the military supply route for Hizballah from the Syrian ports of Latakia and Tartus. The Russian presence will add a new and troubling dimension to this development.
Russia, US pull further apart over Iranian nuclear activities
13 Sept.: Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said Friday a military solution to the standoff over Iran’s nuclear ambitions is unacceptable and there is no need for new sanctions. At the same time, Washington has imposed new sanctions on Iran, blacklisting a main shipping line and 18 subsidiaries. The US government accuses the maritime carrier of ferrying contraband nuclear material, which Tehran denies.Washington sources predict this may be the prelude to more serious actions, such as a naval blockade to choke off Iran’s imports of fuel products.
Moscow continues to support the European Union’s diplomatic drive to trade incentives for Iran’s consent to curb “some of its nuclear activities.”
The nuclear watchdog has asked Tehran to account for 50-60 tons of missing uranium from its main enrichment site at Isfahan. It is enough to produce five or six nuclear bombs and is suspected of having been diverted to secret sites to boost the covert production of weapons-grade uranium.
Terror suspected in Aeroflot crash which killed all 88 people aboard
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report14 Sept.: DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources report from Moscow that three Jewish families, two Habad students and a Russian general were among the 88 passengers and crew killed in the Aeroflot Boeing 737 crash at Perm, Siberia, Saturday, Sept. 13. The plane was in flight from Moscow.Russian authorities reported the plane’s sudden disappearance off the radar at the moment cockpit communications shut off. This indicated the craft may have exploded in mid-air. They suspect terrorism as the cause of the crash because –
1. At least five passengers bought tickets but did not turn up for the flight. Security officials are trying to locate their addresses and sifting through the wreckage for unaccompanied luggage.2. One of the passengers has been identified as Gen. Gennadiy Troshev, a Russian hero for quelling the Chechen rebellion.
3. Our sources name one of the Jewish – or possibly Israeli – families aboard the doomed flight. They have been named as Ephraim Nakhumov, 35, his wife Golda, 24, and their two children, Ilya, aged 7, and Eva, aged four.
Thirty-four people die in Iraq Monday
15 Sept.: At least 22 people were killed and 32 wounded by a female suicide bomber who blew herself at a police gathering in Iraq’s Diyala province.The guests were attending an Iftar banquet, when Muslims break their fast during the month of Ramadan, in Balad Ruz, 70km (45 miles) north of Baghdad.
Earlier, two car bombs exploded in central Baghdad, killing 12 people
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In show of bravado, Iran launches “air defense exercises”
Iranian official sources report that the air force drill began Monday, Sept. 15, in half of the country’s 30 provinces. They gave out no details of which provinces or how long the exercise would last. The commander of Iran’s aerial defense, Brig. Gen. Ahmed Mighani said that any enemies attacking the Islamic Republic would regret it.The exercise was launched on the day the UN nuclear watchdog reported that non-cooperation from Tehran had stalled its efforts to establish whether or not Iran was developing nuclear warheads, enriching uranium for military purposes, testing nuclear explosives or building nuclear-capable missiles.
Tehran is not deterred by sanctions or tempted by international diplomacy to give up its nuclear aspirations, especially since the Georgia conflict with the United States has presented Iran with Russian backing for its nuclear program and opposition to sanctions.
Iran’s defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar said scornfully Monday: “Threats by the Zionist regime and America against our country are empty” – showing that Tehran feels free to go forward with its nuclear plans.
Gates arrives in Baghdad unannounced
15 Sept.: Gates arrived in Baghdad to supervise the handover of the Iraq command from Gen. David Petraeus to Lt. Gen. Ray Odierno. Petraeus moves on to lead the Central Command overseeing Middle East, Afghanistan, Horn of Africa.
France wants more sanctions on Iran for stonewalling UN nuclear probe 16 Sept.: The International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) report that for lack of Tehran’s cooperation, it has made no progress in establishing whether or not Iran is developing nuclear warheads, enriching uranium for military purposes, testing nuclear explosives or building nuclear-capable missiles..Furthermore, despite three rounds of UN Security Council sanctions, Iran has not stopped nuclear enrichment. At present, 4,800 centrifuges are operating and another 2,000 are getting read to start work in the near future.
DEBKAfile’s Iranian sources report that the Tehran administration shows more contempt than ever before toward the UN, international diplomacy and potential sanctions, certain that the prospect of a US and Israeli military strike on its nuclear facilities recedes further day by day.
“Threats by the Zionist regime and America against our country are empty,” said defense minister Mostafa Mohammad Najjar,”
Ex-PMs Barak and Netanyahu in secret power-sharing talks
DEBKAfile Exclusive Report16 Sept.: Defense minister Ehud Barak of Labor and opposition leader Binyamin Netanyahu of Likud are in advanced negotiations to rotate the premiership between them in order to cut the ground from under Kadima’s winner as leader. The ultra-religious Shas is in on the plan.This is reported by DEBKAfile’s political circles.
Barak’s Labor and Netanyahu’s Likud combined with Eli Yishai’s Shas hold more Knesset seats – 43, than Kadima’s 27. They are in a position to prevent the winner of the Kadima primary from automatically taking over from Olmert as head of the incumbent government coalition. Without Labor, Kadima lacks the numbers to form a viable coalition government.
DEBKAfile’s sources report that Netanyahu and Barak are close to accord on the general principles of their partnership but are still working on details. Netanyahu would go first up until a general election because Barak, who is not a member of Knesset, cannot become prime minister. Barak believes he can use his pact with Netanyahu to push Kadima’s buttons and at the right moment, take the party over and form a left-of-center Labor-Kadima bloc to fight his current partner, head of the right-of-center Likud.
North Korea conducts long-range missile engine ignition test
17 Sept.: The test at the new Tongchang-ri site was detected by the U.S. KH-12 spy satellite. The base is located 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the North Korean border with China,
At least 11 killed in bloody Hamas crackdown on Doghmush clan militia in Gaza
16 Sept.: The dead included Momtaz Doghmush, head of Army of Islam and co-kidnapper with Hamas of Gilead Shalit, and in infant. Hamas battled the militia for five hours with mortar fire on its base at the Sabra district of Gaza City, losing one of its gunmen.
Sixteen killed in al Qaeda attack on US embassy in Yemen
17 Sept.: Eight Yemeni soldiers, six assailants and 2 civilians were killed in an al Qaeda suicide car bombing, RPG rocket and shooting attack on the US embassy in Sanaa, Wednesday, Sept. 17. No embassy staff members were harmed in the five explosions reported by a US official.DEBKAfile’s counter-terror sources disclose that Yemeni president Abdullah Salah, formerly a US partner in the war on terror, recently began working with al Qaeda to win their help for quelling plots by army dissidents to overthrow his regime and for beating back an Iran-backed Shiite rebellion.
In March, al Qaeda mounted a mortar attack which missed the US embassy but injured 13 girls at a nearby school; other attacks targeted the Italian mission and Western tourists. Non-essential US staff were ordered to leave Yemen in April.
CIA chief: Al Qaeda greatest security threat to US
17 Sept.: Speaking in Los Angeles, CIA director Michael Hayden said Osama bin Laden has said repeatedly that he considers acquisition of nuclear weapons a religious duty and he intends to attack America “in ways that inflict maximum death and destruction.”North Korea and Iran were also threats. Hayden confirmed that the nuclear reactor Israel destroyed in Syria last year was similar to one in North Korea. Iran, he, has the scientific, technical and industrial capacity to produce nuclear weapons.
DEBKAfile notes: This comment contradicts the US intelligence assessment last year that Iran had discontinued its military nuclear program in 2003.
Tuesday, diplomats said that the UN watchdog had intelligence showing Iran had tried to refit a long-distance Shehab missile to carry a nuclear payload.
Israeli banks hammered on Tel Aviv stock exchange
17 Sept.: In Tel Aviv, prices plunged across the board, with the major banks taking an extra beating. The public voted no-confidence in the leading banks (Bank Hapoalim plunged 12.5 percent) and disregarded the finance minister, Ronnie Bar-On’s assurances that the Israeli economy is insulated from the global crisis.After meeting bank heads Wednesday, Bank of Israel governor Stanley Fischer issued a statement that Israel banks are “relatively well run.”
Economic experts foresee an Israeli recession around the corner. Lehman Brothers is a major player in Israel’s structured-products market and options market. Personal savings schemes, exports to the United States and Europe and foreign investment are also susceptible.
As foreigners employed on Wall Street, Israelis are second only to Canadians.
Thousands have been thrown on the job market. Aside from those recalled by Lehman Brothers after the Barclays buyout, many will return home adding to the pressures on the job market. Israel’s hi-tech industry, second only to the US in annual start-ups, was already facing difficulties before the current crisis, as export orders began drying up.
After her narrow win, Livni’s ability to form government in doubt
DEBKAfile Exclusive Analysis18 Sept.: Foreign minister Tzipi Livni scraped through to victory in the Kadima party’s first leadership primary Wednesday, Sept. 17.although her win was challenged by transport Shaul Mofaz, one percent behind her (43 to his 42 percent). Early Thursday, Mofaz finally called Livni to congratulate her. Later, he announced he was quitting politics, including the party and government.The real results differed dramatically from the three TV exit polls which wrongly awarded Livni a landslide victory and were up to 10 percent wide of the mark. Throughout the campaign the foreign minister was a media favorite and inaccurately described as unchallenged successor to Ehud Olmert both as party chair and prime minister.
Kadima comes out of the primary bitterly divided.. Livni faces the daunting dual challenges of uniting the party and persuading all the government coalition parties to accept her as prime minister.
Kadima’s two senior partners, Labor and Shas, are already looking at alternatives.The low Kadima turnout, according to DEBKAfile’s political analysts, was a public vote of non-confidence in the party. At the Tel Aviv stock exchange Wednesday, another popular vote of no confidence took place – this one against the economic system ruled by Kadima ministers and the banks
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Bahraini King suggests rail link between GCC, Turkey
His Majesty the King, Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa’s suggestion to establish a railway link between the GCC states and Turkey has been welcomed by observers as a strategic vision for a bright economic and political future for the region.
Half of the ambitious project would be carried out by Saudi Arabia while the rest would be taken care of by the other GCC states which will enact laws and put in place mechanisms to implement the suggestion.
During his recent visit to Turkey, King Hamad laid the moral cornerstone for the economic integration with Turkey through the project connecting Turkey with the Arabian Gulf.
Observers did not expect such a suggestion and said it was the perfect time to start working on it thanks to the economic and political options offered by Turkey and the GCC states.
There is a proposal to set up a link from Oman, the uae, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi, Kuwait, Iraq and then to Turkey. Another proposal suggests the network to start from Oman, the uae, Bahrain, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria to Turkey.
The King Fahad Causeway will be the integral part in either project to reach Turkey.
The gcc states set up a financial plan for the project by signing an agreement to establish a free trade zone with Turkey in May, 2005 in Bahrain. Negotiations are expected to start to implement the agreement.
Bahrain has signed agreements with Turkey on avoidance of dual taxation and tax evasion to provide suitable atmosphere to attract investment.
During the dinner banquet hosted in King Hamad’s honour, Turkish President Abdullah Gul said HM the King’s visit was a turning point in friendly ties between both countries.
Gul said Istanbul paid great attention to the agreement on promoting strategic dialogue between Turkey and the gcc states.
Turkish people believe that their economic potential meets the region’s demands and their country is a secure place for investment.
King Hamad highlighted Turkey’s importance in the region and said the country links Asia and Europe and seeks peace, freedom and development for all which is the goal of every body in the Gulf.
© Bahrain Tribune 2008
Source: www.zawya.com, 1 Septewmber 2008
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Middle East poised to invest in Turkey
Posted: 17-08-2008 , 19:38 GMT
Premier international forum to examine prospects for Islamic finance as Turkey recovers from legal stand-off over religion and secularism
Renewed interest in Turkey by Islamic investors from the Middle East is expected with the ending of a legal stand-off between the country’s ruling party and secular fundamentalists.
“Turkey was plunged into political and economic uncertainty by the court case over an attempt to ban the AK Party over allegations that it had been trying to create an Islamic state by stealth,” said Swati Taneja, conference director of the Islamic finance industry’s leading global event, the twice-yearly International Islamic Finance Forum that next takes place in Istanbul from 13 -17 October 2008.”Turkey, at the crossroads of east and west, is an overwhelmingly Muslim but avowedly secular state,” she added. “The 1.5 billion strong Islamic world has been watching closely to see if Turkey has been able to balance accommodating religion and secularism.
“The AK Party narrowly escaped being dissolved by the constitutional court but, had the court accepted the request for a ban, it would have been difficult to have seen a substantial increase in investor confidence from Islamic and Middle East countries, with potentially disastrous effects for the economy.”
Levels of Middle East investment in Turkey have been significantly increasing in recent years. The Islamic banking sector in particular has been on the receiving end of large sums but other sectors are starting to attract heavy Middle East interest including insurance, energy and real estate.
“Internationally Sukuk – referred to in Turkey as participation certificates – is one of the fastest growing asset classes in the financial industry,” Taneja added. “The Turkish market is in need of such instruments and investor groups from the Arabian Gulf are ready to inject more into the Turkish economy provided the right regulatory regime is put in place.”
Banks operating on Islamic principles in Turkey are known as participation banks. They are a small but rapidly expanding segment of the Turkish financial sector.
The participation banks – Albaraka Türk, Bank Asya, Kuveyt Türk and Türkiye Finans – administer about $21.5 billion in assets, representing 5% of the Turkish banking system and the sector aims to double its share within the next 10 years. Public offerings and mergers and acquisitions are already part of the landscape in the sector
Participation bank Albaraka Türk, with Bahrain’s Albaraka Banking Group as major shareholder, successfully went public recently and valuations of Turkish participation banks are relatively attractive compared with the valuations of similar banks in the Gulf region.
Earlier this year, Saudi Arabia’s National Commercial Bank completed its acquisition of a 60% equity stake in Turkish Islamic bank Türkiye Finans for approximately $1.08 billion. Türkiye Finans has 124 branches and had assets at the end of last year of $2.9 billion.
Meanwhile, Kuwait Finance House aims to become one of the top bankers in Turkey. It wants to boost branches of Kuveyt Turk, in which it holds a majority stake, to 113 from about 100 now by year-end and become one of the top ten lenders by organic growth. Kuveyt Turk, which had assets worth $3.18 billion at the end of 2007, is the third-largest Islamic bank in Turkey by assets, according to the Turkish Participation Banks Association.
The underlying Turkish economy remains strong, Taneja added. “According to government figures, the economy grew by 6.6% in the first quarter of 2008 and performed better than expected despite the uncertainties both global and local and could reach a 4.5% target by the end of the year,” she said.
A special session on Turkey at the crossroads will take place at the Istanbul forum which will also examine the status of Turkey’s attempts to become a member of the European Union. The session will be moderated by Dr Adnan Büyükdeniz, General Manager of Albaraka Türk Participation Bank, with panelists including Piraye Antika, Chief Executive Officer and Group General Manager of HSBC Bank, Turkey, and Michael Baldwin, Managing Director of D’Arblay Ltd., Turkey.
The results of a study on the impact of politics on the underdevelopment of Islamic finance in Turkey will also be presented by Dr Mehmet Asutay, Lecturer in Political Economy at the School of Government and International Affairs, Durham University, UK.
The forum will also identify new markets for Islamic finance as well as examine Sukuk structures and capital markets; emerging Takaful development; Islamic jurisprudence; alternative asset classes including private equity and real estate; and sustainability with the greening of Islamic finance.
For more details about the 2008 International Islamic Finance Forum in Istanbul, please visit: www.iiff.com
About the International Islamic Finance Forum
Established in Dubai eight years ago by the IIR Middle East, the International Islamic Finance Forum is considered the premier event in the Islamic finance event calendar with many imitators but no equals. The International Islamic Finance Forum taking place from 13-17 October 2008 at the Çirağan Palace Kempinski Hotel, Istanbul, will be the forum’s 15th edition.
The International Islamic Finance Forum is a truly global event attended by companies, organisations and individuals from across the world.
Pioneering international Islamic finance practitioners and the world’s leading Islamic finance scholars will meet at the Istanbul forum for the most important networking event in the Islamic finance industry calendar.
© 2008 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
Source: www.albawaba.com, 17-08-2008
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The Israeli-Saudi common interest
By Moshe Maoz
The interfaith conference King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia convened in Madrid on July 17 is the first such conference held by this religiously strict kingdom. Jews were among the participants, including a rabbi from Israel. In 2002, when Abdullah was still crown prince, he made a significant move toward Israel that was adopted by the Arab League’s 22 members: recognizing Israel, including diplomatic relations, if Israel withdraws to the 1967 borders and a Palestinian state is established with East Jerusalem as its capital.
Make no mistake, Saudi Arabia, a Wahhabi Islamic kingdom that controls Islam’s holiest places – Mecca and Medina – has not fundamentally changed its ideologically negative attitude toward Jews and the Jewish state. But like other Islamic and Arab regimes, the Saudi regime has changed and improved its attitude out of strategic, political and security considerations and out of a long-term realistic approach.
Indeed, the Saudis’ realistic attitude toward Israel’s existence is not new. Back in May 1975, King Khaled told The Washington Post that his country was prepared to recognize Israel’s right to exist within the 1967 borders on condition that a Palestinian state was established between Israel and Jordan (Haaretz, May 26, 1975).
This move was apparently influenced by Israel’s victory in the Yom Kippur War in 1973, after which Egypt and Syria accepted UN Security Council Resolution 338 (which also included Security Council Resolution 242 from November 1967 that was accepted at the time by Egypt and Jordan). Resolution 338 meant indirect recognition of Israel
In 1981, at the Arab summit that convened in Fez, Morocco, Saudi Prince Fahd (who became king in 1982) proposed recognition of Israel in exchange for a return to the 1967 (1949) lines, the establishment of an independent Palestinian state in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip, and compensation payments to the Palestinian refugees or repatriating them. The Arab summit rejected the proposal, but accepted it in 1982 after amending it to include the recognition of the Palestine Liberation Organization’s leadership.
Twenty years later, in 2002, Saudi Arabia once again proposed peace and recognition of Israel in exchange for a return to the 1967 borders and the establishment of a Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem and an agreed-on solution to the refugee problem (based on UN Resolution 194 from December 1948). This proposal, approved again in 2007 by the Arab League, was apparently influenced by the Saudi need to please the United States after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks, and particularly out of the fear the Saudis and other Sunni Arab countries had of Shi’ite Iran, which threatened them more than Israel did. However, successive Israeli governments rejected or ignored these initiatives. They may have missed chances to advance comprehensive peace with Arab countries.
Moreover, it may be assumed that the solution to the Palestinian problem and the issue of Jerusalem could have also motivated quite a few Muslim countries to recognize Israel and improve their relationship to Jews. Evidence of such trends has been voiced by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf, former Indonesian president Abdurrahman Wahid and other Muslim leaders. The invitation of Jewish delegates to the Madrid interfaith meeting also attests to an important Muslim trend to advance peaceful coexistence and religious dialogue with Judiasm. This trend has also been evident recently in Jordan and Qatar at the government levels, and in the United States and Europe in public and academic bodies.
It is important to encourage these pragmatic Muslim trends, which represent a centrist stream in Islam. This is a way to combat new extremist Islamic streams represented by the Shi’ite Iranian regime and Hezbollah on the one hand, and Al-Qaida and other radical Sunni groups on the other. These seek to destroy Israel and strike at Jews; in their actions and writings they embody anti-Semitic Muslim tendencies drawn from old Christian anti-Semitism and from tendentious interpretations of the Koran and the Hadith.
These fanatic Islamic elements endanger not only Israel and Jews, but also pragmatic Arab and Muslim regimes like Saudi Arabia. Accordingly, Israel and Saudi Arabia (and other Arab and Muslim countries) have a common interest in neutralizing and limiting the extremist Islamic influence and its deadly attacks.
One of the main ways of doing so is Israeli-Saudi cooperation toward a fair and agreed-on solution to the Palestinian problem and the question of Jerusalem.
The writer is professor emeritus in Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem.
Source: Haaretz, 03/08/2008