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Sunday, February 8, 2009
Excerpts: Hamas undermines PLO.Saudi participation in extremist networks. Hamas. Abu Dhabi to pay circumcision for converts. Germany & France warn Iran February 08, 2009

Excerpts: Hamas undermines PLO.Saudi participation in extremist networks.
Hamas. Abu Dhabi to pay circumcision for converts. Germany & France warn
Iran February 08, 2009

+++AL-AHRAM WEEKLY 5-11 Feb.'09:"Don't undermine the PLO" by Galal Nassar
Hamas's suggestion of replacing the PLO would take the Palestinian struggle
back to square one.
The first Intifada, launched on 9 October 1987, was a concerted effort
carried out by all resistance groups acting under guidance from their
umbrella organisation, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO). . . .
top, eventually replacing the PLO. . . ..
In a nutshell, Hamas wants to create a new umbrella organisation, one based
on the Muslim Brotherhood programme. This is not something Hamas says in
public, but it is nevertheless true. Unfortunately, the PLO failed to grasp
this threat, hoping that Hamas would moderate its stand in time.
Hamas resented the Palestinian Authority (PA) since its creation in 1994.
Hamas leaders have consistently maligned the Oslo Accords, the agreement
that paved the way to the establishment of the PA. Not a group that shies
from using force to make a point, Hamas engaged in military operations
against Israel simply to confuse and embarrass both the PLO and the PA.. .
. .
What Hamas wanted was more than just controlling the PA, or even creating a
mini-caliphate in Gaza. Hamas wanted a new Islamic authority to emerge, not
only in Gaza and the West Bank, but wherever Palestinians live, at home or
in exile.
Recently, the chief of Hamas's Political Bureau, Khaled Meshaal, lashed out
at the PLO, calling for the creation of an alternative umbrella organisation
for the Palestinians. The announcement came as a shock to many, but it was
in keeping with what Hamas had in mind all along.
. . . One wonders if there is still a point in Cairo hosting another
dialogue between Hamas and the PLO.. . . . But any hopes were dashed
when Meshaal declared in Doha his desire to form an umbrella organisation
for all Palestinians at home and abroad. Although he didn't say the words,
many interpreted his remarks as a call to discard the PLO, the
internationally recognised representative of the Palestinian people.
If implemented in any form, Meshaal's ideas would destroy the remaining
achievements of the Palestinian struggle. For all its shortcomings, the PLO
is the moral backbone of the Palestinian people. And with the Palestinians
so divided, the PLO's voice is needed more than at anytime before. The PLO
is the official face of the Palestinians, a face familiar to and recognised
by 120 countries around the world -- no mean achievement by any account.
Formed by an Arab summit decision in Cairo in 1965, the PLO lacked full Arab
support until 1973, when it was declared the sole legitimate representative
of the Palestinian people. This was an achievement for which battles were
fought and blood was shed. This was an issue on which the Arabs remained
divided for long, until it was finally settled. To undermine the PLO now is
to start again from scratch.
This is the time for confidence building, not division.. . . If the PLO
were challenged by another organisation, the Israelis would immediately
claim that they cannot find anyone to talk to, as both the PLO and the new

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 8 Feb.'09:"Men who plotted to bring back terror"
QUOTE:"Saudi participation in the shadowy extremist networks"
EXCERPTS: JEDDAH: One of the men on the Kingdom's new most-wanted list is
married to Osama Bin Laden's daughter while another was involved in a plot
to kill the US ambassador in Yemen. A third smuggled militants into Iraq
from Syria.
Documents profiling the 85 men, 83 Saudis and two Yemenis , on the new most-
wanted list reveal that many of them either took part in planning for
possible attacks targeting oil, security and other installations in the
Kingdom or provided Al-Qaeda members with weapons, safe haven, false
documents and money.
The documents shed light on the extent of Saudi participation in the shadowy
extremist networks struggling to rebuild themselves in the Arabian Peninsula
after a series of anti-terror crackdowns in past years. All the men on the
list are hiding abroad, many in neighboring Yemen.. . .

The official said the men are active members of Al-Qaeda or local offshoots
of the group and planned to re-establish the terror network in Saudi Arabia
following the Kingdom's aggressive campaign, which had netted hundreds of
members and sympathizers.. . .

+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 8 Feb.'09: "Top Hamas leader[Mahmoud Al-Zahar] comes
out
of hiding"
QUOTE:" 'Hamas used ...a large number of hospitals... for summons,
interrogation, torture and detention' "
EXCERPTS:GAZA CITY: A top Hamas leader emerged yesterday(7 Feb.) from six
weeks in hiding, leading a delegation to Egypt for cease-fire talks and
saying the group is "flexible" over who should lead reconstruction in the
devastated territory..... Hamas wants Israel and Egypt to lift their
20-month border blockade of Gaza.
...Hamas' Al-Zahar told reporters Hamas would be flexible about who will
take charge of reconstruction.. . .
Zahar who, apparently fearing assassination, had been in hiding during the
three-week offensive and even after a tentative cease-fire took hold in
mid-January.Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh still has not appeared in
public.
In the West Bank, the Palestinian Authority's Health Ministry accused Hamas
of turning some of its medical facilities in the Gaza Strip into detention
centers.
After Israel stopped the aerial and ground attacks, "Hamas unfortunately
used several facilities, mainly a large number of hospitals, as stations for
summons, interrogation, torture and detention," the Ramallah(PLO)-based
ministry said in a statement.. . . .

+++JORDAN TIMES 8 Feb.'09:"Abu Dhabi to pay circumcision for converts"
DUBAI (AFP) - Social security in the wealthy emirate of Abu Dhabi will cover
the cost of circumcising men who convert to Islam, Al Bayan daily reported
Saturday. The health authority in the capital of the United Arab Emirates
said the government-backed insurance firm, Daman, has included circumcision
operations in existing insurance policies for new Muslims, the paper said.
Converts will have to present a certificate, issued by an Abu Dhabi court,
attesting to their conversion. Authorities in the UAE, where expatriates
represent more than 80 per cent of an estimated population of 6.4 million,
announce every year that hundreds of people convert to Islam, especially
among South Asian labourers.

+++JORDAN TIMES 8 Feb.'09:"Germany, France threaten new Iran
sanctions",Reuters
Sarkozy:"no alternative to tightening sanctions against Iran if it does not
meet Western demands""
MUNICH (Reuters) - Iran will face tougher sanctions if it does not meet the
demands of major powers to rein in its nuclear programme, the leaders of
Germany and France said on Saturday(7 Feb). Chancellor Angela Merkel said
Berlin hoped for a diplomatic solution to the dispute.... "I think the new
US administration will make its approach towards Iran clear to us in coming
months," Merkel told the annual Munich Security Conference in a speech. "We
are ready to walk this path together. But we are also ready for tougher
sanctions if there is no progress." French President Sarkozy told the same
conference there was no alternative to tightening sanctions against Iran if
it does not meet western demands and called on Russia to cooperate with
other powers on such a move.
==========
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

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