Excerpts: Abbas/Assad meeting Feb.27.Taliban seeks US base info in
S.Korea.ElBaredei potential challenger to Mubarak.Egypt says no to
Egypt/Israel joint electricity projects.U.S.: Now O.K. to travel to Syria
February 20, 2010

+++SOURCE: XINHUA NEWS 20 Feb.'10:"Abbas to visit Syria this month: report"
QUOTE:"Abbas will visit Libya, Francce and Belgium befoore he goes to Syria"

FULL TEXT:RAMALLAH, Feb. 20 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas
will meet Syrian President Bashar al-Assad before the end of February, a
Palestinian newspaper reported Saturday(20 Feb).
"The meeting would be on Feb. 27 and it was arranged by a senior Palestinian
official who visited Damascus recently," the Ramallah-based al-Ayyam daily
quoted well-informed sources.
Abbas and Assad, whose country incubates Islamic Hamas movement, Abbas'
bitter rival, have not met since June 2009.
In addition to regional issues, the two leaders would discuss relations
between Damascus and the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), the report
says.
However, Abbas will not see Hamas' chief Khaled Meshaal who is based in
Syria. "When Hamas signs the reconciliation paper that Egypt proposed, then
talks and meetings with Hamas would be possible," the sources told the
newspaper.
Hamas wants Egypt to modify its offer and reflect several reservations it
has on the Egyptian-proposed reconciliation deal.
Meanwhile, Fatah official Azzam al-Ahmad said that Abbas will visit Libya,
France and Belgium before he goes to Syria.

+++SOURCE: SAUDI GAZETTE 20 Feb.'10:"Seoul detains alleged Taliban", Agence
France Presse
SUBJECT: Taliban contact in South Korea for information on US bases.

FULL TEXT: SEOUL - South Korean police said Friday(19 Feb) they had arrested
a Pakistani man who claimed to be member of the Taliban on charges of using
a fake passport.
The 31-year-old, who said he was a Muslim cleric, was detained Thursday at
his home in the southeastern city of Daegu, where he lives with his family,
they said.
"He allegedly told friends that he was a Taliban member but his claims have
yet to be verified," an investigator told AFP on condition of anonymity.
The man had used the passport of another Pakistani to come into or leave
South Korea 17 times since August 2003, the investigator said.
Yonhap news agency said the man told police he was asked by Taliban leaders
to collect information about US military bases in South Korea. Some 28,500
US troops are stationed in the country.
South Korea plans to send 350 troops and 140 reconstruction workers to
Afghanistan later this year.
A purported Taliban spokesman has warned that South Koreans "should be
prepared for the consequence of their action which they will certainly face",
accusing Seoul of breaking a promise not to send troops back to Afghanistan.
South Korea, a close US ally, sent 210 engineering and medical troops to
Afghanistan in 2002. It withdrew them in late 2007 after Taliban insurgents
took 23 South Korean church volunteers hostage and murdered two of them.
Seoul said the withdrawal was already planned and not part of any deal. -
AFP

+++SOURCE: EGYPT DAILY NEWS 20 Feb.'10:"Heavy security in Egypt as Mohamed
ElBaradei returns a hero"
QUOTE "Former UN nuclear weapons chief Mohamed ElBaredei is seen as a
potential challenger to...Mubarak"

FULL TEXT:A heavy security operation was under way at Cairo's airport today
as crowds gathered to welcome home the former UN nuclear weapons chief,
Mohamed ElBaradei. ElBaradei, who stood down as head of the International
Atomic Energy Agency last year, is seen as a potential challenger to the
three-decade rule of President Hosni Mubarak in next year's elections.
Crowds carrying welcome signs and singing the national anthem gathered at
the airport shortly before ElBaradei's plane was due to touch down. There
was a heavy police and state security service presence at the airport but no
evidence that 6,000 troops had been deployed, as was being reported by some
local news organizations. It was thought that the reports of troops might
have been a tactic to dissuade protesters from taking to the streets.
ElBaradei supporters were being searched as they arrived at the airport.
Some were singing "There's no turning back now, Mr ElBaradei", in an attempt
to encourage him to declare his candidacy

+++SOURCE: EGYPT DAILY NEWS 20 Feb.:"Energy minister: No dealings with
Israel,
now or in future",Khalifa Gab Allah

SUBJECT: Egypt says no Egypt/Israel joint electricity projects
QUOTE: "Jordan, Israel and the US had plans to build joint powere stations
with the aim of producing energy from organic waste"

FULL TEXT:The Ministry of Electricity and Energy on Thursday(18 Feb)
rejected recent reports in the international media about planned Egyptian
electricity projects to be undertaken in cooperation with Israel.
According to ministry spokesman Aktham Abul Ela, Israel is not one of the
eight countries involved in the ongoing regional electricity grid project.
"Our agreements with other countries in the region are all public
knowledge," he said.
On Thursday, Israeli Trade and Industry Minister Binyamin Ben-Eliezer had
announced that Israel was participating in a joint project with Egypt to
produce electricity on Egyptian territory. The scheme, he said, aimed to
supply both countries with electricity and export surplus energy to third
parties.
Israeli Radio quoted Ben-Eliezier, during a recent conference on renewable
energy in Eilat, as saying that the project would be built "with Israeli
technology."
In a related development, the Jordanian Research Institute announced at the
conference that Jordan, Israel and the US had plans to build joint power
stations with the aim of producing energy from organic waste.

+++SOURCE:WASHINGTON POST 20 Feb.'10:"U.S .State Dept. lifts warning on
travel to Syria" By ALBERT AJI, The Associated Press
SUBJECT: U.S. :Now O.K. to travel to Syria
EXCERPTS:DAMASCUS, Syria -- The U.S. has lifted an advisory warning American
travelers of security concerns in Syria, officials said Saturday, (20 Feb)
as Washington tries to boost ties with a country seen as key to peace in the
region.
However, Syria remains on a U.S. list of countries supporting terrorism, a
designation made in 1979 because of suspicions that Syria collaborates with
Iran in supplying munitions to radical Islamist groups for use against
Israel.
The country also remains under U.S. sanctions, which President Barack Obama
renewed in May. First imposed by former President George W. Bush, the
sanctions cite Syrian support for terrorism, its pursuit of weapons of mass
destruction and other activities including efforts to undermine U.S.
operations in Iraq.
Earlier this week, the International Atomic Energy Agency said that uranium
particles found at a Syrian desert facility bombed three years ago by Israel
suggest possible covert nuclear activity at the site.
That view added weight to Western concerns that the site was a nearly
finished reactor with the ability to produce weapons-grade plutonium.
The IAEA also called on Damascus to give inspectors unrestrained access to
sites beyond those covered by the nonproliferation agreement.
On Saturday(20 Feb), Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem dismissed the
new IAEA report, and reiterated Damascus' refusal to allow inspectors
unfettered access to check out possible covert sites.
"We are committed to the nonproliferation agreement, and we let inspectors
in within this agreement," al-Moallem told reporters. "But regarding other
requests that don't fall with this agreement, we will not go beyond it."
State Department spokesman P.J. Crowley said the U.S. remained concerned
about Syria's nuclear activity but stood by a decision to nominate a career
diplomat to become the first U.S. ambassador to Damascus since 2005.
"We are going to have an ambassador there who will engage Syria on the full
range of issues, those areas where we think there's opportunity for
cooperation and those areas where we have concerns about Syria's ongoing
activity," he told reporters Friday(19 Feb) in Washington.
Washington's recent overtures to Syria coincide with rising administration
disagreement with Iran and a U.S. effort to unite the Arab world in
opposition to the regime in Tehran.
Obama has made changing America's image in the Middle East a priority of his
first year and announced this week plans to name a new ambassador.
Washington withdrew its last ambassador following the assassination of
Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, which many blamed on Syria. Syria has
denied involvement.
A spokeswoman at the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, Tracy Roberts Pounds, also
said the U.S. has lifted the travel warning for Syria.
"After carefully assessing the current situation in Syria, we determined
that circumstances didn't merit extending the travel warning," she said.
Syria's foreign minister welcomed the U.S. decision and said "both sides
will start taking practical steps" to improve bilateral relations.
"We are willing to see a real development in these relations and from our
side we will do what we have to," al-Moallem said. He did not specify what
kind of steps Syria would take.
The travel warning, in place since September 2006 when armed assailants
attacked the U.S. Embassy in Damascus, cited possible threats to safety and
security and warned U.S. travelers to be vigilant when visiting Syria.
===========================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA