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Babylon & Beyond

Observations from Iraq, Iran,
Israel, the Arab world and beyond

Category: Arab League

WEST BANK: More document leaks show U.S. pressure, Palestinian frustrations

January 27, 2011 | 10:08 am

Al Jazeera's latest leak of hundreds of secret Palestinian negotiating papers is providing the kind of fly-on-the-wall insights to Mideast peace talks that usually only emerge many years later in the autobiographies of politicians and diplomats.

Though some of the initial coverage and spin by Al Jazeera and other organizations has been inaccurate or out of context, the documents themselves offer a treasure trove of detailed information about Palestinians' internal strategy and tactics. Most of the documents were produced by the Palestinian Authority's own attorneys, advisors and negotiators and include transcripts of private strategy sessions and internal talking points. It's a bonanza for Israel, which can get a peek into the Palestinian thought process as recently as last year.

One December 2009 document discusses "Palestinian Messaging and Implementation." Another lays out the legal risks of a premature declaration of statehood. An internal summary of where peace talks last broke down reveals that Palestinians were prepared in 2008 to limit the number of returning refugees to 15,000 a year for 10 years, or 150,000.

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EGYPT: Trouble in Tunisia dominates Arab Economic Summit

January 19, 2011 |  1:18 pm

Arab Economic SummitThe uprising in Tunisia and the toppling of President Zine al Abidine ben Ali dominated the annual Arab Economic Summit, which opened Wednesday in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el Sheikh amid fears that unrest could ripple across the Middle East.

Arab League chief Amr Moussa said the economic, poverty and development problems in Tunisia echo throughout the region: "The recent events in Tunisia are an example of big social shocks that many Arab societies are exposed to," Moussa said. "It is on everyone's mind that the Arab soul is broken by poverty, unemployment and a general slide in indicators."

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IRAQ: Baghdad preparing to host Arab League summit in March

January 9, 2011 |  1:25 pm

Iraq-arableague-afp

A visit to Baghdad by Arab League Secretary-General Amr Moussa was a boost for Iraq ahead of its scheduled hosting in March of the next Arab League Summit.

The summit, if it is pulled off, would be a triumph for the Iraqi government, which has often been cold-shouldered by its Arab neighbors in the years after 2003, and has not hosted such a meeting in over 20 years. The relationship between Iraq and Saudi Arabia is notoriously cold. Nonetheless, Baghdad secured the right to host the summit and has moved forward with an intense campaign to accommodate the 22-member Arab states. Hotels are being refurbished and the government will have to prepare for any number of possible security threats, from mortars to suicide bombers.

Now, with less than three months to go before the March 23 event, Moussa cheered the Iraqi government on.

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WEST BANK: Mitchell searching for 'common ground' to salvage negotiations

September 30, 2010 |  9:56 am

U.S. special envoy George Mitchell, who arrived Tuesday on a Mideast trip to try to salvage the Palestinian-Israeli peace talks, seemed determined to continue his efforts to bridge the fast-growing gap between Israel and the Palestinians on the issue of settlement construction in the occupied West Bank.

Mitchell held one round of separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian leaders in the last couple of days. He will now hold a second round in the next couple of days with both Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in Jerusalem, looking for what he called “common ground between the parties” to salvage the month-old direct negotiations.

It is not yet clear whether he will succeed in bringing Abbas and Netanyahu together again at the same table, as was the case before the settlement freeze expired Sept. 26.

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ARAB WORLD: Media take aim at Palestinian Authority over renewed settlement expansion

September 27, 2010 |  9:49 am

Israel-settlers

Images of Israeli settlers cheering as the first cement for a new foundation was poured dominated much of the Arabic news cycle on Monday, the day after a 10-month partial moratorium on settlement building in the West Bank expired.

The tone of the coverage was subdued but also pointed. Pan-Arab satellite channels such as Al Jazeera, Al Arabiya and Al Hurra reported that construction began "within hours" of the settlement freeze "despite" pleas from the United Nations for Israel to extend the ban.

Al Hurra, which is funded by the U.S. government, appeared to make a half-hearted attempt to highlight some Israeli opposition to the government's decision to allow the ban to expire, while the Doha, Qatar-based Al Jazeera focused on the current government's dependence on its right-wing base.

In the eyes of regional media, the resumption of settlement construction threatens to seriously undermine the Palestinian Authority, which recently entered into peace talks with the Jewish state despite widespread skepticism among Arabs. The authority has not pulled out of talks so far, but has already lost considerable face.

The London-based Al-Quds Al-Arabi published a scathing editorial on Sunday that basically accused the leadership of selling out the Palestinian cause.

"The settlers wasted no time beginning construction yesterday throughout the settlements, while [Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin] Netanyahu's government committed itself to silence and the Palestinian Authority, its leadership and spokesmen disappeared from view, and there was a hushed agreement with their Israeli counterparts not to make statements to the press," the editorial said.

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SUDAN: Opposition journalists sentenced to prison

July 15, 2010 | 11:05 am

Bashir photo A Sudanese court on Thursday sentenced three journalists from an opposition newspaper to prison on charges of spreading hatred against the country, spying, terrorism and false reporting.

The journalists work for Rai Alshab, the newspaper of the Popular Congress Party, headed by Hassan Turabi, the country’s leading Islamic opposition figure. Columnist Abuzar Alamin was sentenced five years in prison for criticizing President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir and describing the national elections in April as rigged. Ashraf Abdul-Aziz and Tahir Abujawhara were each sentenced to two years in jail on similar charges.

The newspaper had investigated allegations of electoral fraud -- a charge widely alleged by international human rights groups -- and printed photographs of juveniles voting in different parts of the country. The three journalists were arrested in May by security forces in Khartoum. They were reportedly tortured before they stood trial. 

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SUDAN: Print more news, please

May 19, 2010 |  6:38 am

Newspapers Khartoum AP While newspapers in the U.S. and other countries are facing dwindling pages and Internet pressures, Sudan is taking a different approach: The government has ordered the nation’s dailies to print more pages.

The strategy seems odd in a country where about half the population can’t read, but the government of President Omar Hassan Ahmed Bashir says it wants to promote the print media. Naturally, journalists are suspicious, and it appears that the intentions by the Sudanese Press and Publication Council are less about press freedom than making money.

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SYRIA: Assad warns of 'ethnic cleansing' of Palestinians in meeting with Moussa

April 12, 2010 | 10:29 am
Moussa and assad

Syrian President Bashar Assad told Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa on Monday that Arab governments need to take "urgent" action to reverse Israel's policy of "ethnic cleansing" in the occupied Palestinian territories, the Syrian Arab News Agency reported.

During a meeting in Damascus, Assad and Moussa reportedly discussed resolutions recently passed by the Arab League in response to continued Israeli settlement building in East Jerusalem as well as a recent Israeli military court rulings that critics say could lead to the expulsion of tens of thousands of Palestinians from the West Bank.

The new orders allow for the expulsion of any individual in the West Bank without the proper permit, but according to the Abu Dhabi-based English Language paper the National, the wording is so vague it could be used against anyone, prompting 10 Israeli human rights groups to write an open letter of protest to Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak.

The meeting in Damascus did not appear to have produced any concrete measures, but rather focused on strengthening existing resolutions.

-- Meris Lutz in Beirut

Photo: Syrian President Bashar Assad meets with the Arab League's Amr Moussa. Credit: SANA


LIBYA: Arabs pledge $500 million to Palestinians in East Jerusalem

March 26, 2010 | 12:10 pm

Libya-amr-moussa

Arab foreign ministers gathered in the Libyan city of Surt in preparation for Saturday's Arab League summit announced their plan to more than triple aid to Palestinians living in East Jerusalem from $150 million to $500 million in response to the construction of new Israeli settlements, Secretary General Amr Moussa told reporters Friday.

The request for more aid was made by the Palestinian Authority, which would presumably be responsible for distributing the money.

Other proposals included urging the United Nations to condemn Jerusalem settlement construction, a travel ban on Israeli politicians, stronger protections for the Al Aqsa Mosque and other holy sites and official documentation of Palestinian land confiscated by Israel, Al Jazeera reported. Some delegates even suggested taking the "land for peace" proposal endorsed by Arab states in 2002 off the table.

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SUDAN: Tensions and riot police surround independence referendum

December 16, 2009 |  8:42 am

SUDAN Riot police are stationed across Khartoum and parents are worried about their protesting sons and daughters as political parties prepare for next year’s election, which may bring southern Sudan closer to winning a referendum on secession.

“I don’t know if my son will return home or not. He is always out protesting,” said Shadia Fadulallah. “We are disappointed by the current situation in the country because we don’t know what will happen tomorrow. Things are getting worse.”

Tensions alternately calm and flare between the ruling National Congress Party of President Omar Bashir and the opposition Sudan People’s Liberation Movement. The two sides recently agreed on a formula that would grant the south independence if it won a majority in a 2011 referendum. But protests have erupted. About 50 people were arrested on Monday.

The demonstrations underscore the suspicions harbored by the two parties. The 2005 Comprehensive Peace Agreement, which ended Sudan’s civil war -- a conflict that killed more than 2 million people -- laid the groundwork for a referendum vote. But the predominately Arab north is not keen on allowing the majority animist and Christian south to break away with the bulk of the nation’s oil reserves.

In southern Sudan, at least 2,000 people have died in tribal clashes since January. Southern officials blame the government in the north for backing certain tribes. The government has denied the accusations. With tribes having plenty of arms and years of animosity, security officials worry about more violence.

“The National Congress Party and SPLM are leading us toward anarchy,” said Khamis Lokamba, a university teacher. “They always disagree, and repeated violations of Comprehensive Peace Agreement have occurred on both sides.” 

-- Alsanosi Ahmed Ibrahim in Khartoum and Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Photo: President Omar Bashir. Credit: Associated Press


MIDDLE EAST: Swine flu to limit hajj pilgrimage for elderly and young

July 23, 2009 |  7:23 am

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To curtail the spread of swine flu, Arab health ministers from across the Middle East have agreed that elderly, young and chronically ill Muslims should be forbidden from traveling to Saudi Arabia for the upcoming hajj and umrah pilgrimages.

The decision came after a meeting of health ministers from Egypt, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Jordan in Cairo late Wednesday, which was part of a special session of the Regional Committee for World Health Organization on the H1N1 flu virus. Those banned from making the pilgrimage include anyone over 65 and under 12, as well as pregnant women and the chronically ill. 

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MIDDLE EAST: Daily headlines from Gaza, Israel, Iran in your mailbox

May 27, 2009 | 12:18 am

Newsletter_3The Los Angeles Times issues a free daily e-mail newsletter with the latest headlines from the Middle East and the Muslim world.

It includes stories from the conflicts in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as links to articles about the frictions and encounters between Islam and the West in the United States and Europe.

The newsletter also includes links to the latest Times editorials and opinion pieces about the Middle East, Islam and national security.

You can subscribe by logging in or registering at the website here, clicking on the box for "L.A. Times updates," and then clicking on the "World: Mideast" box.

— Los Angeles Times staff




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