Excerpts: Suicide bomber varieties.Sinai Bedouin hardships.Flawed
judiciary.Jordan haggles 17 February 2005
+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 10-16 Feb.'05:"Shadowy Samsons"
HEADING: "Salah Montasser contrasts suicide bombings in Palestine and Iraq"
QUOTE FROM TEXT:
Suicide attacks have abated in Palestine just as they picked up in Iraq. ...
Iraqi bombers are a different species from their Palestinian counterparts.
In Palestine, the young men and women who carry out suicide attacks are
known to the entire public. Their pictures adorn homes, their stories are
told, and their families get financial help. In Iraq, no one knows who the
suicide bombers are. Like ghosts, they come from nowhere and disappear into
the unknown.
Whenever a suicide attack is mounted in Palestine, the group that carries it
out hastens to release the name of the person involved. The Israeli
intelligence takes it up from there, collecting more information about the
bomber's family, then demolishing his/her home, and perhaps the entire
street
[IMRA:Never "entire streets.]
At times, Israeli intelligence, who infiltrate Palestinian groups, are
tipped off and manage to abort the attack.
In Iraq, the only group known to mount such attacks is that of Al-Zarqawi,
himself a shadowy figure. Never has that group released the names of the
bombers or told the world anything about their background and countries of
origin. No wonder, the US intelligence has no clue about the bombers, who
seem to come from nowhere to strike and die.
In Palestine, a smaller land with no weapons to mention, except in the hands
of the Israelis,
[IMRA: Palestinians have significanr weaponry.]
the bombers are easy to track down. In Iraq, the land is huge and abundant
in weapons and explosives, courtesy of a war that never was. What does the
"martyr" in Iraq get? In Palestine, we know what it is all about. A young
man or woman undergoes a process of psychological preparation, a process
captured on film which later released to the public. The bomber is promised
paradise in the afterlife and glory in this one. Only God knows what goes on
in paradise, but in this life the bomber's achievement is recorded and
glorified. This is exactly what Iraqi martyrs never get.
[IMRA: If bomber identity were known in Iraq neighbours would attack, not
honor, the bomber's factory. Some of the klillers are not Iraqis. Their
families in Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Egypt don't want to reveal them. By
contrast, the threat to and actual killing of hostages are fully publicized
in Iraq.]
No one knows who they are. Not a picture, not a name is released. And yet,
they are many. They even outnumber their Palestinian counterparts.This is
the biggest mystery ... of the Iraq bomber.
+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 17 Feb.'05:"Desert blues"
HEADING:"Since the Taba bombings in October, Amira Ibrahim reports, the
security clampdown on Sinai's Bedouins has
stirred up decades of discontent"
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"With security forces raiding Beouin homes and property and arresting
over 3,000 suspects, most of whom remain inexplicably
in custody three months after the event -- giving rise to frequent
clashes between the Bedouins and security forces."
"Bedouin sheikhs went so far in demonstrating 'loyalty and compliance'
as to agree to report ciminal suspects among their
own numbers to the police ... against the grain of their culture"
"visit any Bedouin tribe ... you will be witness to appalling living
conditions -- shanty towns constructed out of rubbish and
sheets of tin right in the middle of the desert. -- the traditional
camel hair tents having become beyond the means of most"
"Pressure from the police, limited resources and policies that do not
take their well being to heart (they are seldom regarded as
more than a security hazard) the Bedouins of Sinai are forced to walk a
tightrope to survive."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------EXCERPTS:
"... When we were finally allowed to go home, after the 1973 victory, ...
we thought our dreams would finally come true -- but look what we have now.
No drinking water, no electricity, no jobs. We don't even own our homes or
the land we inherited from our forebears," laments Saleh Rashed, chief of
the North Sinai tribe of Awlad Said. And his complaints are but a brief
wrap-up of a whole saga of grievances expressed since the early 1980s.
Discontent has come to a head with the recent government clampdown on Sinai
Bedouins following the terrorist attacks on Taba and Nuweiba last October,
however, with security forces raiding Bedouin homes and property, and
arresting over 3,000 suspects, most of whom remain inexplicably in custody
three months after the event -- giving rise to frequent clashes between the
Bedouins and security forces.
To Rashed this is but an escalation of decades of abuse -- security measures
"that do not take into account the fact that Bedouins have suffered for
many, many years from negligence and faulty economic and social policy".
...they are deprived of potable water and electricity, not to mention health
care and education; this despite official declarations of the intention to
settle half a million in Sinai by 2017 ... .
"Such plans are ultimately at our expense," ... an Al- Mezeina tribe elder,
insisted. "They [government officials] are encouraging people from the Nile
Valley to come and work here at a time when we have difficulty earning the
bread we survive on -- with our homes and palm groves not even recognised as
ours."
At a meeting between North and South Sinai tribe elders and local security
forces last month, negotiations led to signing Wathiqat Al-'Ahd, a Pledge
Document in which Bedouin sheikhs went so far in demonstrating "loyalty and
compliance" as to agree to report criminal suspects among their own numbers
to the police ... against the grain of their culture ... . According to
traditional tribal law, all disputes are resolved within ... the tribe,
but -- so security forces argue -- this system has presented an
insurmountable obstacle to their own work in preventing illegal activities
like marijuana cultivation and smuggling, rarely anything more serious. ...
Whether or not the Bedouins will allow the Wathiqah to supplant their age-
old ways is as yet unclear. Sallam Gharib, another Mezeina elder ...rgues
that the Wathiqah contains nothing new in essence. "We've always reported
criminals and dangerous characters who refuse to comply with Bedouin laws to
the security forces. ... ." Such comments reflect a widespread reservation
on the part of the Bedouin community regarding the necessity of such a
Wathiqah; in fact the North Sinai Al- Tayaha, for one tribe, refused to sign
it.
The principal concern ... is that the Wathiqah would act to "undermine the
status of tribe sheikhs and elders in the eyes of the younger generation";
it seems to render redundant a universally accepted system of governance
that has proved effective for centuries, preventing the eruption of violence
among Bedouins themselves. "... implementation of the agreement will
generate an atmosphere in which vendettas can proliferate ... ," Gharib
said.
... in the past candidates for the position of sheikh of the tribe were
selected by tribal elders and the wise men of neighbouring tribes... now
sheikhs are recommended by the police ... on the basis of whether or not
they have clean criminal and security records. "The old system made for
strong, healthy relations among sheikhs and between sheikhs and people. Now
the criteria are hardly convincing, especially when you compare them with
the criteria of the past: that the man should be educated and knowledgeable,
have a vision for his people and a spotless reputation. Relations are thus
unlikely to be as strong or healthy."
...the agreement was signed by a majority of tribes, especially in the
north, whence terrorists are suspected to originate: ... The division of
the Sinai peninsula into north and south did not occur until 1979 ... until
the mid-1980s, northern tribes were by far the richer, dominating the
tourism industry on the Mediterranean's famous palm-studded beaches. When
tourism moved south, with the government paying attention to such areas as
Sharm El-Sheikh, the north was neglected. "Perhaps it was instability on the
borders that drove tourism south," Rashed opines. " ... the government's
attempts to help us in response were at best half-hearted, forcing us to ...
'illegal channels' for a living."
Not that conditions are much better in the south: aside from individuals who
made a break speculating on property, visit any Bedouin tribe ... you will
be witness to appalling living conditions -- shanty towns constructed out of
rubbish and sheets of tin right in the middle of the desert -- the
traditional camel hair tents having become beyond the means of most. . . .
... a cursory tour of the area reveals that electricity is only available
through generators or illegal cable connections, however; rubbish collection
is nonexistent, and many basic services are lacking. And while the
government spent LE204 million on housing in which to settle the population
of South Sinai, Bedouins have been declined the right to own the houses in
which they live, or the land they cultivate. "The government wants us to pay
for what is already ours," Sheikh Hussein Etewi ...asserts, "in return for
legal papers to establish that we own it. But the Bedouins are not rich
enough to afford the prices they ask for. Yet we are not allowed to build,
demolish or renovate until we have the 'legal' property papers."
The communities in which the government plans on settling Bedouins, he went
on, are unsuited to Bedouin nature and tradition: "We cannot live in flats
like Valley people. Tribe members live in the same area, but never so close
to each other."
. . .
Having had little access to education, Bedouins tend to land in one of two
vocations, as drivers or excursion guides. Yet even within the confines of
these two fields, moves are underway to deprive them of a necessary source
of income. Bedouin drivers went on strike three times over the last year
alone, protesting government plans to allow wealthy investors to monopolise
the private transport business in Sinai. "We haven't been allowed taxi
licences since 1998," complained one driver ... "on the grounds that the
government wants to reduce the number of vehicles working in the area.
They've also prohibited us from taking tourists outside Sharm El- Sheikh."
Swailam Ghanim, a Bedouin taxi driver, agrees: "Last month the authorities
approved one investor's plan, licensing 1,000 new taxis to move between the
main four cities in South Sinai: ... And the company will not hire Bedouin
drivers ... ; they will most certainly replace us... ."
Pressure from the police, limited resources and policies that do not tend to
take their well being to heart (they are seldom regarded as more than a
security hazard): the Bedouins of Sinai are forced to walk a tightrope to
survive.
+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 17 Feb.'05:"Judges Warn Reformists They May Be Tried
Without a Defense"
Rasheed Abou-Alsamh, Arab News
QUOTES FROM TEXT:
"The three academics ...were arrested in March 2004, along with nine
others, and charged with causing instability, collecting signatures for a
petition and exploiting the Kingdom's battle with Al-Qaeda terrorists for
political gain."
"The three reformists have refused to submit a defense to protest their
court sessions being held mostly in private."
"The outspoken lawyer of the reformists ... was also arrested last
November and remains imprisoned"
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
EXCERPTS:
JEDDAH, 17 February 2005 - A panel of three judges in Riyadh warned three
jailed reformists yesterday that they could issue a verdict at the next
court hearing if they continue to refuse to submit a defense, ... .
The three academics ... were arrested in March 2004, along with nine others,
and charged with causing instability, collecting signatures for a petition
and exploiting the Kingdom's battle with Al-Qaeda terrorists for political
gain. The nine were later released after signing undertakings that they
would refrain from publicly criticizing the government.
The three reformists have refused to submit a defense to protest their court
sessions being held mostly in private. Their case was adjourned for a
further three weeks.
. . .The three-judge panel declared in December that they were not the
right court to hear the case, and sent the case to a lower ... court. But
the prosecutors appealed the decision and the case was referred back to the
three-man panel.
. . .
The outspoken lawyer of the reformists, Abdul Rahman Al-Lahem, ...was also
arrested last November and remains imprisoned ... .
. . . - Additional input from agencies
+++JORDAN TIMES 17 Feb.S'05 :Shalom's vitis to Kingdom could be postponed -
Mulki"
By Alia Shukri Hamzeh
QUOTE FROM TEXT:
" Shalom's visit to Jordan was postponed several times over the past two
years."
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------E
EXCERPTS:
AMMAN - Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom's visit to Jordan... ld be
postponed until Tel Aviv "responds to inquiries about issues of concern," a
senior official said Wednesday.
Foreign Minister Hani Mulki said Amman made several inquiries about key
issues, including the Jordanian prisoners in Israeli jails, but Tel Aviv
asked for time to reply. "We want [Shalom's] trip and our talks to be as
successful as possible," Mulki told The Jordan Times, adding that the
meeting might take place by the end of the month.
Shalom's visit to Jordan was postponed several times over the past two
years.
Mulki said the Kingdom will not spare any effort to ensure the release of
...prisoners, who reportedly entered their third day of a hunger strike.
Dr. Joseph Lerner, Co-Director IMRA
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