Excerpts: Saudi continues fighting terrorism. U.N.chief Ban says onus is on
Iran. Turkish state TV airs Holocaust film Shoah.Jordan's Islamists to go
back to the streets January 27, 2012

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 27 Jan.’12:”Kingdom successfully blocked 220
terrorism plots”: Interior MinistryBy Mansour Al-Shehri

SUBJECT: Saudi continues fighting terrorism

FULL TEXT:RIYADH – Security forces have foiled 220 terrorist operations
which were about to be carried out by Al-Qaeda and other terrorist groups
since 2003, a Ministry of Interior spokesman said Wednesday[25 Jan.].

A large number of Al-Qaeda members therefore fled to nearby countries such
as Yemen.

“The success against terrorism is largely due to the issuing of list of six
wanted by the Ministry of Interior. The first was issued in 2003 with 19
wanted persons on the list. Seventeen were killed and two turned themselves
in,” the spokesman said.

A second list was issued later in the year and had 26 wanted terrorists.
Seventeen of these were killed, one turned himself in and all but two are
eluding arrest.

In May 2005, a third list was issued with 36 wanted persons. Fifteen of
these were in the Kingdom and 21 abroad. Fourteen were killed, two arrested,
two surrendered, while 18 are still at large, the spokesman said.

A fourth list in 2009 had 85 wanted terrorists outside the Kingdom. Six of
these were killed, one arrested, seven surrendered while 71 are still
wanted.

A fifth list was posted by the Ministry in 2011. This listed 47 fugitives
outside the Kingdom, five surrendered, one killed, while 41 are still
wanted. A 2012 list comprised 23 persons wanted for the Al-Awamiya City
riots. Three turned themselves in, two were arrested, while 18 are still
wanted.

“The total number of wanted persons in the ministry’s lists is 232. Fifty
five have been killed, 20 surrendered, seven were arrested, while 150 are
still wanted. Most of them are abroad,” the spokesman said.

Qatif rioters targeted security men and damaged security vehicles and used
tactics similar to those of Al-Qaeda. Al-Qaeda also targeted security men
and tried very hard to assassinate them by any means necessary, either
through shooting or plotting against them.

“The nine citizens who were arrested in a raid adopted tactics similar to
Al-Qaeda and they used different arms – political, media, and religious
arms,” he said.

The rioters also posted videos and articles online refusing to turn
themselves in to security forces. This tactic is also reminiscent of
Al-Qaeda who have a media arm that posts online announcements, the spokesman
said

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 27 Jan.’12:”U.N. Chief Says 'Onus on Iran' to
Prove Nuclear Intentions “, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: U.N. chief Ban says onus is on Iran

QUOTE:” U.N.Chief Ban Ki-moon …saying the onus is on Iran to prove its good
intentions”

FULL TEXT:U.N. chief Ban Ki-moon on Friday[27 Jan.] urged Tehran to halt its
nuclear program and to resume talks with Western powers, saying that the
onus is on Iran to prove its good intentions.

"There is no other alternative to addressing this crisis than peaceful
resolution through dialogue," said Ban the sidelines of the World Economic
Forum's annual meeting at the Swiss ski resort of Davos.

Ban's comments came after Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad insisted Tehran
was not dodging negotiations and was ready to sit down with world powers --
Britain China, France, Russia, the United States, and Germany for talks.

The six world powers are waiting for Tehran to reply to an October letter
sent by EU foreign policy Chief Catherine Ashton that stresses that
discussions should focus on the "key question" of the Iranian nuclear issue.

Previous talks held a year ago in Istanbul ended without progress.

"Iran should comply with the relevant Security Council resolutions. They
have to prove themselves, that their nuclear development program is
genuinely for peaceful purposes which they have not done yet," Ban said.

"The onus is on the Iranian side," added the U.N. secretary general.

The U.N. chief said he was "deeply concerned" by a recent IAEA report which
found that Tehran's program may include a military dimension. The U.N.
atomic watchdog will try to check this during a January 29-31 visit to Iran.

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 27 Jan.’12:”Turkish State TV Airs Holocaust
Film”,Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Turkish state TV airs Holocaust film Shoah

QUOTE: “Last year a Los Angeles based Farai satellite chanel broadcast the
9-plus-hour documentary (Shoah) film in Iran where Presiden Mahmoud has
questioned historical accounts of the Holocaust and called for Israel’s
destruction”

FULL TEXT:An epic French documentary about the mass murder of Jews under the
German Nazi regime has appeared on Turkish television to mark international
Holocaust Remembrance Day — the first time the film has been aired on public
television in a majority-Muslim country.

State television TRT's documentary channel showed the first episode of
filmmaker Claude Lanzmann's "Shoah" late Thursday[27 Jan.] — the eve of the
day of remembrance of the victims of the Holocaust.

The film has been subtitled into Arabic, Farsi and Turkish by the
Paris-based Aladdin project as part of its campaign to promote understanding
between Jews and Muslims and to fight Holocaust denial.

Last year, a Los Angeles-based Farsi satellite channel broadcast the
9-plus-hour documentary in Iran, where President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has
questioned historical accounts of the Holocaust and called for Israel's
destruction.

The film is not the first Holocaust film to be shown on television in
Turkey, a secular country that is seeking membership in the European Union.
Turkey also has its own Holocaust film: "The Turkish Passport," which was
released last year and tells the true story of Turkish diplomats who saved
thousands of Jews by issuing them Turkish passports.

"Shoah" has also been shown to a limited audience at a Turkish film
festival.

Nevertheless, it was the first showing of "Shoah" on a public television
channel in a Muslim country. The director said he hoped more Muslim
countries would follow suit.

"It is a historical event," Lanzmann, 87, said in a telephone interview with
The Associated Press from his home in Paris. "It is extremely important that
it is being shown in a Muslim country."

"The Turks are engaged in a pioneering work and I am sure it (the showing)
will be followed by other Muslim countries," he said.

The documentary's airing comes at a time when some Jewish groups have warned
of growing anti-Semitism in Turkey, following the country's frayed relations
with Israel.

Turkey was outraged by the killing of hundreds of Palestinian civilians
during Israel's war in the Gaza Strip three years ago. Ties worsened in 2010
after Israeli naval commandos killed nine Turks in a botched raid on a
flotilla that was trying to breach Israel's Gaza blockade. Israel's refusal
to apologize for the flotilla killings sent relations deteriorating even
further.

The documentary was also aired amid an escalating dispute between Turkey and
France over French legislation that would make it a crime to deny that the
mass killings of Armenians by Ottoman Turks amounted to genocide.

Most historians contend that the 1915 killings of 1.5 million Armenians as
the Ottoman Empire broke up was the 20th century's first genocide, and
several European countries recognize the massacres as such.

But Turkey rejects the term genocide, saying there was no systematic
campaign to kill Armenians and that many Turks also died during the chaotic
disintegration of the empire. It also says that death toll is inflated.

"Shoah" includes testimony from concentration camp survivors and employees
about the slaughter of millions of Jews in Europe during World War II.
Lanzmann worked for 11 years on the film, which was released in 1985.

SourceAgence France PresseAssociated Press.

+++SOURCE:Jordan Times 27 Jan.’12:”Islamists to return to the streets”,by
Taylor Luck

SUBJECT:Jordan’s Islamists to go back to the streets

QUOTE: “ ‘Friday of Affirmation’ . . .to dispel rumours that the movement
is scaling back its participation in weekly demos”

FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Pro-reformists are to hit the streets across the country
in Friday protests that are set to feature the return of the Islamist
movement.

In a so-called “Friday of Affirmation”, supporters of the Islamist movement
plan to march in downtown Amman in a move, observers say, to dispel rumours
that the movement is scaling back its participation in weekly demos.

Islamist leaders said the march, which marks the movement’s first rally in
nearly a month, aims to stress the Muslim Brotherhood’s commitment to the
pro-reform drive.

The Islamists’ return to the streets comes amidst signals that the Kingdom’s
largest opposition movement is preparing to take part in political life,
sparking speculation among observers that the Muslim Brotherhood is set to
abandon the protest movement.

Islamist leaders attributed the movement’s absence from the streets in the
past three weeks to “inclement weather” rather than its political ambitions.

Meanwhile, the governorates-based popular movements are looking to sustain
their protest drive, with demonstrations slated for several cities across
the Kingdom.

Under the title “Rejection of Subordination” leftist and youth activists
plan to hit the streets to demand an end to the Kingdom’s “dependence” on
America, which they claim has tied the government to “Zionist policies” in
support of the so-called alternative homeland project.

“We aim to show the Jordanian people’s rejection of attempts within and
outside Jordan to support the Zionist entity’s interests at the expense of
both Jordanians and Palestinians,” said Muath Btoush, spokesman of the Karak
Popular Youth Movement.

Activists point to the recent round of Jordan-facilitated peace talks
between Israelis and Palestinians and rumours of Washington pressure on
Amman to grant citizenship to thousands of Palestinians residing in the West
Bank and Gaza as signs that decision makers in Amman are out of touch with
the “interests of the people”.

“The only way to secure our demands and defend Jordan against these attempts
is to have free elections leading to a nationally elected government,”
Btoush stressed.

Also in Karak, the so-called “Jordan is our home” movement — a coalition of
pro-establishment activists — is set to hold a march in the southern city in
support of dialogue and political participation.

The march, to be held under the title “reform begins with the elections
law,” also aims to express Karak residents’ rejection of the potential
return of Hamas to the Kingdom, the movement said in a statement issued
yesterday[26 Jan.].

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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA