Excerpts: Hamas in Jordan. IAEA:much work needed with Iran. Deaths and
injuries in Egypt soccer melee February 02, 2012

+++SOURCE: Jordan Times 2 Feb.’12:”Jordanian Islamists, Hamas avoided
contacts in Amman ‘to signal separate ways’ “by Taylor Luck

SUBJECT:Hamas in Jordan

QUOTE:” a meeting with (Jordan’s) Islamist movement was left off the
itinerary of Mishaal’s historic visit … a sign of two political movements on
the rise”

FULL TEXT:AMMAN — Amidst the publicity surrounding His Majesty King Abdullah’s
reception of Khaled Mishaal this week, the meetings which have garnered the
most scrutiny during the Hamas leader’s first official visit to the country
in over a decade were the ones that had never been arranged.

Excuses ranging from travel itineraries to state pressure, observers view
the fact that a meeting with Islamist movement was left off the itinerary of
Mishaal’s historic visit as a sign of two political movements on the rise.

Mishaal and an accompanying delegation representing the movement’s political
office declined to meet a single official from the Muslim Brotherhood in
Jordan, Hamas’ ideological and longtime sister organisation.

The Jordanian Islamist movement offered conflicting reasons behind the lack
of meetings between the two sides, citing obstacles ranging from inclement
weather to the late Monday evening[30 Jan .] return of Hamzah Mansour and
Hammam Saeed to the Kingdom from a visit to Cairo.

But according to a source within Hamas, the movement avoided any meetings
with its sister organisation in compliance with an “understanding” with
authorities barring the delegation from any political activities during the
three-day visit — a theory supported by Zaki Bani Rsheid, head of the
Islamic Action Front (IAF) politburo.

The absence of encounters with peers in Amman has less to do with
conflicting travel arrangements and state-sponsored pressures than with the
possibility that the two groups are disengaging in a sense.

With Hamas moving towards reconciliation with Fateh and preparing for
potential legislative elections, analysts said the Amman visit offered the
movement a rare opportunity to demonstrate its independence as a political
organisation to Jordanian decision makers and public.

“The visit was an important recognition by Jordanian decision makers that
Hamas is a legitimate representative of the Palestinian people. The movement
did not want to obscure this message by appearing to interfering in
Jordanian affairs,” said Ibrahim Darrawi of the Cairo-based Centre for
Palestinian Studies.

“The Muslim Brotherhood is coming to an understanding with the Jordanian
government on different levels. It doesn’t want to send mixed messages by
having two separate branches meeting on the side.”

Some suspect that the Muslim Brotherhood’s Cairo-based mother organisation
wanted the Jordanian “brothers” to remove any doubt that the IAF, the group’s
political arm, is truly an independent “Jordanian” movement.

“This was a conscious decision to send a clear message that Hamas represents
the Palestinian Muslim Brotherhood and the Islamic Action Front represents
the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan and there is a clear borderline between the
two,” said Omar Kullab, Ad Dustour columnist and political observer.

Amidst indicators that the Kingdom’s largest opposition movement is gearing
up for potential participation in political life and upcoming parliamentary
elections, observers say leaders were wary that a high-profile photo-op with
Hamas’ political chief would send the wrong message to potential voters
sceptical of the movement’s nationalist credentials.

“The last thing Jordanian Islamists want in this political climate is to
appear that it has connections to a foreign entity,” Kullab noted.

Observers say the “snub” came due to fears that ties with Hamas will drive
yet another wedge between the Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood movement and
governorates-based popular movements, whose relations have been frayed over
recent weeks due to rumours that Islamist movement allegedly supports the
so-called alternative homeland for Palestinians in Jordan and the
naturalisation of Palestinians in Jordan after dropping their right to
return to their lands in Palestine.

“There have been clear attempts by certain individuals to depict the
Islamist movement as a non-Jordanian movement, and there are some who
believe that a meeting with Hamas would have played into this narrative,”
said Maher Abu Teir, Ad Dustour columnist and political observer.

“This was a conscious political manoeuvre, not a sign of friction between
the two sides.”

Divisions

Observers view the lack of contacts between Hamas and Jordanian Islamists
during Mishaal’s visit as a sign of complex and emerging changes within the
ranks of the Islamist movements’ leaderships.

With the Jordanian Islamist group facing internal elections at the end of
February and set to embark on a series of internal reforms designed to make
the organisation more politically competitive, observers say Jordanian
Islamists and Hamas leadership avoided any official or private meetings out
of fear of dragging up “age-old divisions”.

“Hamas is still a potent political ally and a polarising presence within the
Jordanian Muslim Brotherhood, and it is going to play a large role in
deciding who will become the next leaders of the movement,” said Ibrahim
Gharaibeh, Al Ghad columnist and expert in the Islamist movement.

As Jordanian Islamists begin jockeying for positions ranging from membership
in the movement’s executive office to the overall leader of the Muslim
Brotherhood in the Kingdom, observers say being seen with Mishaal or other
members of the movement’s executive office could make or break a candidate’s
political fortunes.

“As Hamas did not want to be seen as favouring any certain candidates, there
was a well-thought out decision on both sides to avoid any meetings
altogether,” Gharaibeh said.

Others attributed the lack of meetings to internal divisions within Hamas,
namely a split between the movement’s Gaza leadership and Mishaal’s
Damascus-based politburo over central issues including participation in
legislative elections, armed resistance and the acceptance of a Palestinian
state on 1967 borders.

With Hamas still forming its positions on a series of issues and the
implementation of reconciliation with Fateh, Jordanian Islamists agreed
unanimously to forego any meetings out of respect that Mishaal is not the
sole representative of the Palestinian resistance movement, according to a
source close to the Islamist movement.

“There is still an ongoing debate within Hamas over its future course and
Jordanian Islamists did not want to be seen as supporting one side or one
voice in this debate,” said the source.

While differing over the core reasons, analysts agree that the lack of
contacts during the high-profile visit came out of the hope that the next
time Hamas leadership and Jordanian Islamists come face-to-face, the
meetings will be in an entirely different setting.

“There is a belief within the Muslim Brotherhood that if the movements focus
on their separate paths now, they will find themselves leading separate
governments along the Jordan River in the future,” Gharaibeh said.

+++SOURCE: Egyptian Gazette 2 Feb.’12:”Still ‘work to do’ with Iran: IAEA “,
Agence France Presse

SUBJECT:IAEA: much work needed with Iran

QUOTE: “chief UN nuclear inspector: ’still a lot of work to do’ with Iran
over its contested atomic program’ “

FULL TEXT:VIENNA - The chief UN nuclear inspector said Wednesday[1 Feb.]
that there was ‘still a lot of work to do’ with Iran over its contested
atomic programme, after returning from a three-day trip to Teheran.

‘We had three days of intensive discussions about all our priorities. We are
committed to resolving all the outstanding issues and the Iranians said they
are committed too,’ Herman Nackaerts told reporters at Vienna airport.

‘But of course there is still a lot of work to be done, and so we have
planned another trip in the very near future,’ he said.

‘We had a good trip ... I will now go back to headquarters and inform the DG
(International Atomic Energy Agency chief Yukiya Amano) about the mission.’

Iranian state media agencies Fars and ISNA had reported on Tuesday[31 Jan.]
that the talks ‘were held in a positive and constructive atmosphere’ but
that the team did not inspect any nuclear sites.

Both sides ‘agreed on continuing the talks’ but no date was set, and the
six-person team ‘did not visit any of the nuclear centres and facilities in
our country during their trip,’ INSA said.

The delegation also included IAEA number two Rafael Grossi, an Argentine,
and the IAEA’s senior legal official Peri Lynne Johnson, a US citizen,
according to diplomats.

The visit, the IAEA had said, was aimed at clearing ‘outstanding substantive
issues’ on Teheran’s nuclear programme following a damning report from the
agency in November.

That report, which has led to a substantial increase in pressure on Iran
from the United States, the European Union and others, detailed a string of
areas in which it said Iranian activities were highly suspicious.

Iran has called that report baseless and maintains its nuclear programme is
peaceful. Its response to recent, severe Western economic sanctions against
its finance and all-important oil sectors has been to defiantly ramp up its
nuclear activities.

It has started uranium enrichment at a new fortified bunker in Fordo, near
its holy city of Qom, and announced that a 20-percent enriched uranium fuel
plate would be inserted into its Teheran research reactor within weeks. At
the same time, though, it has vowed to keep up cooperation with the IAEA.

+++SOURCE: San Francisco Cronicle via Egypt Daily News 2 Feb.’12:”74 dead,
1,000 hurt in Egypt soccer-fan melee”.

Sarah El Deeb, Associated Press

SUBJECT: Deaths & inuries in Egypt soccer melee

QUOTE: “Egypt’s state prosecutor ordered an immediate investigation”

FULL TEXT:Cairo --Soccer fans rushed the field after the home team won an
unexpected victory over Egypt's top club Wednesday[1 Feb.], setting off
clashes and a stampede that left at least 74 people dead and 1,000 injured
in a Mediterranean port city, officials said.

It was the worst incident of soccer violence in Egypt and the deadliest
worldwide since 1996. One player said it was "like a war."

State TV reported that fans also set fire to the main stadium in Cairo after
a soccer game between Al-Ismaili and Zamalek teams was called off because of
the violence in Port Said, but nobody was injured. Stadium employees at the
Cairo stadium said some of the bleachers were set ablaze, but firefighters
put out the fire before it caused much damage.

The melee broke out when fans of Al-Masry, the home team in Port Said,
stormed the field after a rare 3-1 win against Al-Ahly, Egypt's top team.
Al-Masry supporters hurled sticks and stones as they chased players and fans
from the rival team, who ran toward the exits to escape, according to
witnesses.

Hesham Sheiha, a health ministry official, said most of the deaths were
caused by concussions, deep cuts on the head and suffocation from the
stampede.

Mohammed Abu Trika, a player with Al-Ahly, criticized the police for
standing by and not intervening in the violence.

"People here are dying and no one is doing a thing. It's like a war," he
said. "Is life this cheap?"

TV footage showed Al-Ahly players rushing for their locker room as
fistfights broke out among the hundreds of fans swarming onto the field.
Some men had to rescue a manager from the losing team as he was being
beaten. Black-clothed police officers stood by, appearing overwhelmed.

Egypt's state prosecutor ordered an immediate investigation into the
violence. The parliament said it would convene an emergency session.

It was the deadliest incident of soccer violence since Oct. 16, 1996, when
at least 78 people died and 180 others were injured in a stampede at a
stadium in Guatemala City before a World Cup qualifying match between
Guatemala and Costa Rica.