About Us

IMRA
IMRA
IMRA

 

Subscribe

Search


...................................................................................................................................................


Friday, November 21, 2014
Excerpts: Shiite opposition in Bahrain. Jordan arrests deputy head Muslim Brotherhood. U.S. troops to Iraq.UAE targets Islamist accounts. Saudi: 'a life or death journey.Shin Bet foils Hamas threat to FM Lieberman November 21, 2014

Excerpts: Shiite opposition in Bahrain. Jordan arrests deputy head Muslim
Brotherhood. U.S. troops to Iraq.UAE targets Islamist accounts. Saudi: 'a
life or death journey.Shin Bet foils Hamas threat to FM Lieberman November
21, 2014

+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon) 20 Nov.’14:” Bahrain Says Open to Dialogue
with Shiite Opposition”,Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Shiite opposition in Bahrain

QUOTE:”authorities in the Gulf monarchy rejected ‘chaos’ and ‘foreign’
interference, particularly from Shiite Iran”

FULL TEXT:Bahrain's Sunni rulers are open to dialogue with the Shiite-led
opposition despite its boycott of elections this weekend, a cabinet minister
said Friday[20 Nov.].

But Information Minister Samira Rajab said that authorities in the Gulf
monarchy rejected "chaos" and "foreign" interference, particularly from
Shiite Iran.

"The door to dialogue will never be shut, including with Al-Wefaq," she said
in an interview with Agence France Presse, referring to the main Shiite
opposition movement.

Al-Wefaq and four other opposition groups are boycotting Saturday's[21 Nov.]
legislative and municipal polls in Bahrain, a key ally of Washington and
home to the U.S. Navy's Fifth Fleet.

The opposition wants a "real" constitutional monarchy with an elected prime
minister independent from the ruling Al-Khalifa royal family.

But the Saudi-backed Sunni dynasty which rules over the majority Shiite
kingdom has rejected the demand.

Nearly four years ago the Shiite opposition led a month-long uprising
calling for democratic reforms, but the protest movement was crushed by the
authorities in March 2011.

Shiite demonstrators still frequently clash with security forces in villages
outside the capital Manama, although hundreds have been arrested and faced
trial after the uprising.

Al-Wefaq was in October banned by a Bahraini court from carrying out any
activities for three months for violating the law on associations.

The movement had earlier engaged in several rounds of talks with the
authorities but refused to resume discussions in September despite a new
proposal announced by Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa.

The proposal had five core elements, including the redefinition of electoral
districts and permission for parliament to question the premier and his
ministers.

The security forces, blamed for the deaths of dozens of protesters, would
also be bound by new codes of conduct.

Al-Wefaq head Sheikh Ali Salman said at the time that the proposal "ignores
the legitimate demands of the people".

Rajab insisted Friday[20 Nov.] that the authorities would not tolerate
"chaos".

"Violence is not allowed. It is tantamount to terrorism."

She also denounced "foreign interference", saying it fanned tensions and
stood in the way of an agreement between the Bahraini opposition and the
government.

Rajab pointed to Tehran and said "Iran is a neighbor which whom we wish to
have good relations".

Bahrain has repeatedly accused Iran, which lies just across the Gulf, of
backing the Shiite opposition.

SourceAgence France Presse



+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 20 Nov.’14:”Jordan arrests deputy head of Muslim
Brotherhood for criticizing UAE”,by Suleiman Al-Khalidi, Reuters

SUBJECT: Jordan arrests deputy head Muslim Brotherhood



QUOTE:”Zaki Bani Rushaid was detained shortly after a late night meeting at
the party’s headquarters in Amman”

Jordan arrested the deputy head of the country’s Muslim Brotherhood on
Thursday[20 Nov.] for criticizing the UAE’s move to designate the Islamist
political movement and its local affiliates a terrorist group, official
sources said.

Zaki Bani Rushaid was detained shortly after a late night meeting at the
party’s headquarters in Amman, these people said, marking the first arrest
of a major political opposition figure in Jordan in recent years.

The state security prosecutor general ordered his arrest on charges of
“souring relations with a friendly country” after he wrote an opinion column
attacking the Gulf state’s role in a regional crackdown on political Islam,
the sources said.

Jordan has long clamped down on dissent against Gulf monarchies that are
political allies and the kingdom's main financial backers.

In the column that appeared on various websites and in social media, Bani
Rusheid said UAE rulers were “the first sponsor of terrorism and had no
legitimacy.” It was published shortly after the UAE on Saturday formally
designated the Muslim Brotherhood a terrorist group.

“The leadership of the UAE is playing the role of American policeman in the
area and performs the dirtiest roles to help the Zionist project and is
behind all destructive acts against the Muslim and Arab nations'
aspirations,” Bani Rushaid said.

The UAE move underscores concern in most of the U.S.-allied Gulf monarchies
about political Islam and the influence of the Brotherhood, whose Sunni
Islamist doctrines challenge the principle of dynastic rule.

Jordan’s Muslim Brotherhood is the country’s biggest political opposition
party. It has operated legally for decades and has substantial grass-roots
support in major urban centers.

The party demanded the immediate release of Bani Rushaid.

“We reject this unjustified arrest in this heavy handed manner of a
prominent national figure,” the Brotherhood statement said.

In contrast to a tough crackdown facing their ideological counterparts in
Egypt and in the Gulf oil producing countries, Jordanian authorities have
tolerated the Brotherhood's presence.

Jordan has, however, arrested several members of the group in recent months
for publicly criticizing the Jordanian government for not taking stronger
measures to censure Israel after its war against Gaza.

The Brotherhood are Jordan’s most vocal opponents within the mainstream
opposition of peace with Israel and pro-Western policies by the kingdom. It
demands sweeping political reforms without calling for the overthrow of the
country’s monarchy



+++SOURCE: Al Arabiya News 20 Nov.’14:”U.S.troops will go to Iraq before
funds approved”

By David Alexander and Phil Stewart | Reuters, Washington
Friday, 21 November 2014



SUBJECT: U.S. troops to Iraq

FULL TEXT:Some of the 1,500 new U.S. troops authorized to advise and train
Iraqi forces in their fight against Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)
militants will deploy to the country in the next few weeks without waiting
for Congress to fund the mission, the Pentagon said on Thursday.

Rear Admiral John Kirby, the Pentagon press secretary, said leading elements
of the U.S. force would begin moving to Iraq in the coming weeks, even if
Congress has not yet acted on a $5.6 billion supplemental request to fund
the expanded fight against the militants who overran northwestern Iraq
earlier this year.

Officials initially indicated they needed to lawmakers to approve the
funding before the Pentagon could start the mission, but General Lloyd
Austin, the head of U.S. troops in the Middle East, recommended starting the
effort using resources already available to him.

“The commander ... can reallocate resources inside his theater as he deems
fit. So he is going to .. try to get a jump start on this program,” Kirby
told reporters, adding that congressional approval of the $5.6 billion was
still needed to carry out the "more robust program."

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 221 Nov.’14:”UAE targets Islamist accounts”, by
Reuters

SUBJECT: UAE targets Islamist accounts

QUOTE:”The government said it was stepping up efforts to cut off financing
to groups it classifies as terrorist”

FULL TEXT:DUBAI — United Arab Emirates banks have been banned from doing
business with some Islamist groups including the Muslim Brotherhood, their
representative said, as the country’s central bank won powers to freeze
suspect accounts for up to seven days. The government said it was stepping
up efforts to cut off financing to groups it classifies as terrorist. The
move was announced in a decree published on the prime minister’s website,
which did not mention specific groups. Asked about the new rules, the head
of the UAE Banks Federation said lenders had been told not to do business
with the UAE branch of the Egypt-based Brotherhood and with Al-Islah, a
local Islamist group banned in the UAE for alleged links to the Brotherhood.
“This is enforcing anti-money laundering. Banks have to look to this
legislation and comply. They’re considered terrorist groups,” Abdul Aziz
Al-Ghurair told reporters on Monday[15 Nov.] on the sidelines of a banking
conference in Dubai. — Reuters

+++SOURCE: Saudi Gazette 21 Nov. ’14:”I l legal crossings spike across
Kingdom’s southern border”, byMuhammad Al-Hattar & Muhammad Al-Malki



SUBJECT: Saudi:’a life or death journey’

EXCERPTS:DESPERATE to escape instability back home, an increasing number of
Yemenis are attempting to illegally cross into the Kingdom across its porous
southern border.

Saudi Border Guards have reported a spike in the number of people attempting
to sneak into the country.

While the majority of people caught are usually men who are seeking work in
the Kingdom, an increasing number are women, children and the elderly trying
to escape difficult living conditions back home. Smugglers do not care about
their suffering and the risks of trying to cross international borders. Many
are unable to survive the journey that cuts through rugged mountain terrain
and treacherous valleys.

Okaz/Saudi Gazette traveled to the Kingdom’s border detention facility where
dozens of Yemenis await deportation. Among them was Ibrahim Muhammad, a
Yemeni man who had illegally crossed into the Kingdom over 36 times. He
cited a lack of stability and safety back home as the main reason for his
persistence to return to the Kingdom.

“I was arrested every time and deported but I always managed to find a way
to come back. I will continue trying to enter the Kingdom as long as there
is no stability or safety in my country. We are escaping to survive,” he
said.
..........................................................................................
Hasna, the mother of a baby girl, said: “I’ve come to this place with my
husband, daughter and my younger cousin. We escaped from hardships and
tempted death in order to reach this place. Now we will have to go back home
without achieving our goal,” she said.



+++SOURCE: Naharnet (Lebanon)21 Nov. ’14:”Israel’s Shin Bet : Hamas Plan to
Kill Israel’s Foreign Minister Lieberman Foiled”, Agence France Presse

SUBJECT: Shin Bet foils Hamas threat to FM Lieberman

FULL TEXT:Israel's Shin Bet domestic security service said Thursday [20
Nov.] that security forces had caught a Hamas group in the West Bank
planning to assassinate hawkish Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman.

It said three suspects in custody "collected advance intelligence on the
minister's convoy," on its journeys to and from his home in the West Bank
settlement of Nokdim and sought to procure an RPG launcher with which to
target his vehicle.

A Shin Bet statement said Ibrahim el-Zir, Ziad el-Zir and Adnas Tzabih, all
from the West Bank village of Harmala, near Nokdim, were arrested in
operations by the agency, the army and the police. The statement did not
specify when the arrests happened.

It said that during Israel's July-August war in Gaza Ibrahim el-Zir "began
to formulate a plan to carry out an attack on the motorcade of Foreign
Minister Avigdor Lieberman, with the intention that the attack would send a
message to Israel and bring a stop to the war in Gaza."

It said that "in recent days" the suspects were charged in a West Bank
military court with conspiracy to commit murder and conspiracy to traffic in
weapons.

SourceAgence France Presse


==============
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

Search For An Article

....................................................................................................

Contact Us

POB 982 Kfar Sava
Tel 972-9-7604719
Fax 972-3-7255730
email:imra@netvision.net.il IMRA is now also on Twitter
http://twitter.com/IMRA_UPDATES

image004.jpg (8687 bytes)