Excerpts: Arab League meeting.Bolivia/Iran cooperation. Turkey/Armenia
raproachment. Sunni anti-Al Qaeda fighters under threat. 7 September 2008

+++SAUDI GAZETTE 7 Sept.,'08:"Palestine is AL's priority - Qattan"
QUOTE: The Palestinian issue is the most important priority . . .The
meeting will discuss 33 items ...and joint Arab action"
EXCERPTS: The meeting of 130th regular session of the Council of the Arab
League at delegates level began at the Arab League headquarters in Cairo on
Saturday(Sept.6).. . .the Palestinian issue is the most important priority
of joint Arab action, which is currently working to achieve reconciliation
among the Palestinians ... Saudi Arabia... believes that the resolutions of
the Arab League on the dispute between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas,
and the Cairo, Makkah and Yemen agreements signed between them, in addition
to the Palestinian constitution, are references for solving the internal
Palestinian dispute.
. . .The Saudi Ambassador considered the crisis of Iran's nuclear file is
one of the challenges facing our region and a source of concern to all ...
.The meeting will discuss 33 items dealing with various issues and joint
Arab action.

+++JORDAN TIMES 7 Sept.'08:"Bolivia moving Mideast embassy to
Iran",Assocoated
Press
FULL TEXT: - Bolivia's leftist president says he's moving the country's lone
Middle Eastern embassy to Iran as he builds increasingly warm ties with one
of Washington's least-favourite countries. Until now, Bolivia had its
embassy in Egypt. President Evo Morales announced the change at a news
conference on Friday following his return from Iran and Libya. Morales and
fellow socialist Hugo Chavez of Venezuela have irked US officials by signing
a series of deals with Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Many involve
petrochemicals, but Morales says Iran will help Bolivia in cement and
agriculture as well. Iran is building tractors and automobiles in Venezuela.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 7 Sept.'08:"Gul pays historic visit to Armenia"Mariam
Harutunian, AFP
FULL TEXT:: The presidents of Turkey and Armenia said yesterday(6 Sept.)
there now is a "political will" to resolve decades of animosity, following
landmark talks here.
"I hope that this visit will create the possibility to improve bilateral
relations," Turkey's President Abdullah Gul said at a joint press statement
here alongside Armenian counterpart Serzh Sarkisian.
Sarkisian declared there is a "political will to decide the questions
between our countries, so that these problems are not passed on to the next
generation." Gul was paying a landmark visit to Armenia , the first by a
Turkish president since Armenia's independence in 1991, for the first of two
World Cup qualifiers between the two national teams.
Sarkisian said he had been invited by Gul to attend the return fixture in
Turkey next month. "Today the president of Turkey invited me for a
reciprocal visit to Turkey to watch the next match. I think this is a good
start," Sarkisian said, without specifying if he would attend.
Gul said the two "shared opinions on how to bring stability and cooperation
to the Caucasus region" and thanked Sarkisian for welcoming a Turkish
proposal for a new regional forum in the volatile zone. NATO member Turkey
has called for the establishment of a forum to boost cooperation in the
Caucasus, involving regional countries and Moscow, after tensions between
Georgia and Russia erupted in a military conflict last month.
Sarkisian, for his part, said he was "very pleased" to see from Turkey "a
readiness to create stability and cooperation in the region." The two
countries , which have no diplomatic relations. have waged an international
diplomatic battle over Yerevan's efforts to have the 1915-1917 massacre of
Armenians recognized as genocide.
In 1993 Turkey also shut its border with Armenia in a show of solidarity
with its close ally Azerbaijan, then at war with Armenia over Nagorny
Karabakh, an Armenian-majority region in Azerbaijan that declared
independence.

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 7 Sept.'08:"Anti-Qaeda fighters fear for their future",
Ali Al-Tuwaijri , AFP
QUOTE: Sunni Arab fighters battling Al-Qaeda . . .set to be taken over by
by Baghdad's Shiite-led government. . .leaving them both disarmed and
jobless"
EXCERPTSBAQUBA, Iraq: Sunni Arab fighters battling Al-Qaeda in Iraq say
their future is bleak as the government prepares to take over responsibility
for them from the Americans and they also face Al-Qaeda fury. . . ."I've
made dozens of applications for a job in the security forces but with no
luck," said Samarraie, one of around 100,000 mostly Sunni Arabs who have to
date been backed by the US military in the fight against Al-Qaeda.
In September 2006, the American military began supporting the formation of
neighborhood groups of Sunni Arabs to band together and fight Sunni
extremists, paying them an average monthly salary of around $300.
Most were themselves former insurgents who had fought against the US-led
coalition forces in the aftermath of the March 2003 invasion of Iraq but
later turned against their Al-Qaeda allies, disgusted with the group's
extremism.
From next month, however, the responsibility for paying these Sunni groups
known as Sahwa (Awakening) councils or, by the US military, "Sons of Iraq"
is set to be taken over by Baghdad's Shiite-led government.
Many Sahwa members have been hoping to be rewarded with jobs in the security
forces or other state establishments in return for battling Al-Qaeda. They
are credited with helping to reduce violence levels across Iraq to a
four-year low.
But now they fear their Sahwa councils will be disbanded instead, leaving
them both disarmed and jobless at a time when Al-Qaeda is likely to be
seeking them out for revenge."I'm being chased by Al-Qaeda, and if the
situation does not change I will have to leave Diyala," said Samarraie.
His group leader, Ala Hamud Sultan Al-Nidawi, said Iraqi forces have already
begun closing Sahwa offices in Baquba and its surrounding province of Diyala
where a massive military operation targeting Al-Qaeda began in July.
"The Iraqi forces surprised us with the decision to disarm us and close our
offices," Nidawi said. "We expected the Iraqi forces to chase the terrorists
and outlaws. If Al-Qaeda and other terrorists return then we are not
responsible for that."
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA