December 24, 2004

PRINCE SULTAN IBN ABDUL AZIZ UNDERLINES THE DISTINGUISHED RELATIONS BETWEEN SAUDI ARABIA AND BAHRAIN. ABU MAZEN STRESSES THAT THE REFUGEES ISSUES IS THE CORE OF THE PALESTINIAN CAUSE. AL YAWER EXPRESSES HIS SORROW FOR THE EXPLOSIONS IN KARBALA AND NAJAF. BLAIR: IF IRAQ IS A STABLE AND DEMOCRATIC COUNTRY, THAT IS GOOD FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, AND WHAT IS GOOD FOR THE MIDDLE EAST, IS ACTUALLY GOOD FOR THE WORLD. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, expressed hope that the outcome of the summit which wrapped up in Manama would be crowned by benefiting the peoples of the Arab Gulf region. In response to a question on exaggerating what was called unilateral signing of agreements, he said the summit's communiqué will suffice. Everything is okay, he added. Prince Sultan left Manama for Riyadh. He was seen off at Bahrain International Airport by Sheikh Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa, Prime Minister of Bahrain; other sheikhs, ministers and senior officials. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Second Deputy Prime Minister, Minister of Defence and Aviation and Inspector General, has sent a cable to Bahrain's King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa after Prince Sultan left Bahrain following participation in the Gulf Cooperation Council. In the cable, Prince Sultan expressed thanks for the hospitality according to him and his delegation in Bahrain and underlined the distinguished relations between the two countries. Prince Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, returned to Riyadh from Manama after having representing the Custodian of Two Holy Mosques King Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz in leading the Saudi delegation to the 25th session of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)'s Supreme Council. Prince Sultan was received at Riyadh air base by Prince Abdul Rahman Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General, Prince Mit'eb Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Minister of Municipal and Rural Affairs; Prince Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Governor of Riyadh Region; Prince Mohammed Ibn Saad Ibn Abdul Aziz; Prince Khalid Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Defense and Aviation and Inspector General for Military Affairs; Prince Saud Ibn Fahd Ibn Abdul Aziz, Deputy Chief of General Intelligence; Prince Sultan Ibn Salman Ibn Abdul Aziz, the Secretary General of the Higher Commission for Tourism; Prince Mohammed Ibn Naif Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Interior for Security Affairs; Prince Turki Ibn Sultan Ibn Abdul Aziz, Assistant Minister of Culture and Information; a number of princes; ministers; and senior armed forces officers. Prince Sultan was accompanied by his official delegation. On the Palestinian arena and in Amman Foreign Minister Hani Mulki briefed Palestinian Liberation Organization Chief Mahmoud Abbas on King Abdullah's recent tour, which included the US, Europe, Japan, Singapore, Qatar, and Libya. In a joint press conference with Abbas, Mulki said that King Abdullah's tour carried the national and Arab concern towards the Palestinian and Iraqi issues. '' King Abdullah stressed ,during the tour, the necessity of a quick return to the negotiating table with a view to establish a viable independent Palestinian state as soon as possible,'' Mulki added. On his part, Abbas, who briefed Mulki on the results of his tour to a number of Arab countries, expressed appreciation for King Abdullah's efforts regarding the Palestinian issue, stressing the strong Jordanian- Palestinian ties. Abbas also added that his visit to a number of Arab countries formed a good start for relations with Syrian, Lebanon, and Kuwait. '' Coordination with Jordan and Egypt will continue, particularly after holding the Palestinian elections, scheduled on Jan. 9th.'' Abbas noted. Replying to a question on Jordan's role in re-habilitating Palestinian institutions, Mulki said that Jordan will start in the near future to train cadres of Palestinian institutions. '' Jordan, under directives by His Majesty King Abdullah II, places all its capabilities at the service of the Palestinian brethren,'' Mulki noted. On the British initiative to hold an international conference on peace, Mulki pointed that the Jordanian and Palestinian sides discussed that initiative and that Jordan supports any meeting that serves the Palestinian issue. Regarding the Jordanian efforts to free the Jordanian prisoners in Israeli, Mulki said that this issue tops the Jordanian interests, noting that dialogue is underway between the two sides. On Jordan's readiness to host Syrian- Israeli talks, Mulki affirmed that Jordan is working on pushing all tracks. ''Jordan will not hesitate to do any thing that can serve Arabs' interest,'' said Mulki, who also added that he will visit Egypt for talks with Egyptian President, Hosni Mubarak. One day ahead of a meeting with visiting British Prime Minister Tony Blair, PLO Chairman Mahmud Abbas (Abu Mazen) last Tuesday recommitted the new Palestinian Leadership to peace as the strategic option and to late Palestinian leader Yaser Arafat's legacy as the "Palestinian guide" for the next stage of national struggle. Blair, who arrived in Israel from Iraq late Tuesday, was scheduled to meet with Mahmud Abbas and other top officials of the Palestinian Leadership in the West Bank city of Ramallah Wednesday. At the end of an official 40-day mourning period, Abbas has reconfirmed loyalty to Yaser Arafat's legacy and described the late founder of Palestinian nationalism as the "founder, the mentor and symbol of our Palestinian people." "No words of homage are sufficient to commemorate his memory," Abbas said. "Arafat led our people to the doorstep of liberty and independence. Abu Ammar (Arafat) remains eternal in the minds and collective memory of our people and the Arab and Islamic people," he added. Palestinians paid tribute to the founder of Palestinian nationalism Arafat, at the end of the mourning period, with a major event in the late leader's headquarters (the Muqataa) in Ramallah. About 250 people, including dignitaries from Jordan and Egypt, the latter represented by Egyptian intelligence chief Omar Sulaiman, local Christian and Muslim leaders, and diplomats attended the memorial service in a hall inside the compound. Crowds of people paid their respects outside. A large picture of Arafat was displayed in the hall, with a picture of Jerusalem's Dome of the Rock mosque in the background under the slogan: "Following in your footsteps, we will realize the Palestinian dream." A poster of Abbas with Arafat in the background had the same slogan. Following the ceremony, a longtime Arafat bodyguard raised the Palestinian flag over the compound, where it had flown at half-mast for the last 40 days. Addressing the gathering at the compound where Arafat was besieged by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) for nearly three years before his death in Paris on November 11, Abbas said: "We will continue the struggle to make your dream and our dream come true and to have a Palestinian child raise the Palestinian flag on the walls of Jerusalem, the capital of our independent Palestinian state," he said. "We speak near your temporary grave until the soil of liberated Jerusalem embraces you," he said. Israel refused to bury Arafat in occupied Jerusalem and Palestinians insist that sooner or later his body will be transferred to Jerusalem. Abbas announced commitment to the implementation of Arafat's last speech to the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) as "the guide" for the next stage of Palestinian national struggle. In that speech, Arafat acknowledged he had made mistakes in running the Palestine National Authority (PNA) and promised government reform. Arafat gave the PLC four months not only a speech, Abbas announced, adding, "it was the last will of President Arafat to his people before he passed away." "We promise you Abu Ammar that your speech is the will and the document that we will follow from now on." Abbas said Arafat's speech "accurately evaluated the last 10 years of the peace process and all the political issues and the issues of the struggle." Pledging that "nobody will be above the law," Abbas said the Palestinians are moving toward democracy. Abbas is the front-runner in January 9 presidential elections to replace Arafat as the president of the PNA. Last Thursday the first stage of local elections kicks off in more than 35 Palestinian municipalities. Legislative polls are scheduled to be held by mid-2005. Abbas also reiterated Palestinian commitment "to the just and strategic peace option" in accordance with the United Nations resolutions. "We are standing here today to reiterate to the world that we are committed to the option of just and strategic peace, to achieve the rights of our people," Abbas said. He described the Problem of Refugees as "the core and essence of the Question of Palestine" that should be solved on the basis of UN Resolution 194. A day earlier in the Jordanian capital Amman, Abbas insisted at the end of a GCC tour there would be no civil war among Palestinians resulting from implementation of his vision for the demilitarization of the Intifadah (uprising) against the 37-year old Israeli occupation. However he warned that "appeasement is inevitable" for resuming peace negotiations with Israel but Israel must also make parallel moves. "We reject a Palestinian civil war taking place, and rule out any Palestinian inter-fighting," Abbas said at a joint press conference with Jordanian Foreign Minister Hani Mulqi. "The dialogue which we are conducting with Palestinian factions aims at putting the Palestinian house in order and working out a single path for the Palestinian people without any contradictions," he added. "We see that appeasement is inevitable for enabling our people to live in peace and for paving the ground for the resumption of negotiations, but such a step should be coupled with a parallel move on the part of Israel," he said. Abbas said the Palestinians were ready to assume their responsibilities after any Israeli pullout from the Gaza Strip but stressed final status talks must be part of the "roadmap" peace plan, which the UN Security Council endorsed in Resolution 1515 in November 2003. "We will assume responsibility for every parcel of land the Israelis will evacuate ... but the withdrawal must be part of the roadmap," Abbas said. Israeli Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom said he was "discouraged" by new PLO chief Mahmud Abbas, accusing him of being reluctant to confront armed groups and wanting to preserve Yaser Arafat's legacy. "Abu Mazen's first declaration was divided into two parts. The first part was that he will preserve Arafat's legacy. For us that legacy is terrorism. We can't live with that, but we can understand (such comments) during this period of elections," Shalom said. "The second part was that they would never give up on the right of return. That is unacceptable. These types of pronouncements are not encouraging, because they create illusions," Shalom told the Jerusalem Post. Abbas did not appear to be prepared for a confrontation with armed groups such as Hamas, he added. "We want them to have their elections. But the day after, on January 10, we would like to see them take the strategic decision to fight terrorism. But unfortunately Abu Mazen made a statement a few days ago that he will not do it by force, that 'We will have to talk to our people and our brothers,' and convince them not to carry out their attacks," Shalom quoted Abbas as saying. On the other hand at least 62 people were killed and more than 120 wounded as car bombs rocked Iraq's two Shiite cities while in downtown Baghdad dozens of gunmen carried out a brazen ambush on a car, executing in broad daylight three employees of the organization running next month's elections. The bombings came just over an hour apart first a suicide blast that ripped through minibuses at the entrance of the main bus station in the city of Kerbala, then a car bomb in a central square of Najaf crowded with people watching a funeral procession attended by the city police chief and provincial governor. The violence was the latest in an insurgent campaign to disrupt the crucial Jan. 30 elections, the first national polls since the fall of Saddam Hussein and they were the latest attacks to target Shiites, the majority community in Iraq and the most likely to dominate the vote. The car bomb in Najaf detonated in central Maidan Square where a large crowd of people had gathered for the funeral procession of a tribal sheikh about 100 meters from where Gov. Adnan Al-Zurufi and police chief Ghalib Al-Jazaari were standing. Youssef Munim, head of the statistics department at Najaf's Al-Hakim Hospital, said 47 people were killed by the explosion and 69 were wounded. The nearby Al-Zahraa Hospital received another two people killed by the bombing, plus 21 suffering from various injuries, according to nurse Mohanad Abdul Redha. "A car bomb exploded near us," Al-Zurufi said. "I saw about 10 people killed." Al-Jazaari believed he and Al-Zurufi were the targets of the attack, in which he said three explosives went off at about 2:45 p.m. Both men were unhurt. "As I and the governor were waiting for the funeral processions three explosions occurred," Al-Jazaari said. "We were targeted." It was not immediately clear what the other explosions were from. Residents were pulling bodies of the dead from damaged shops at the square, which is about 400 meters from the Imam Ali Mosque. The blast brought down part of a two-floor building on a main thoroughfare. Dozens of local men clambered over the rubble, digging for survivors as a cloud of dust and white smoke rose. Parts of the facades of surrounding buildings were sheered off by the force of the blast, exposing the rooms inside. The bombing in Kerbala, about 70 kilometers northwest of Najaf, destroyed about 10 passenger minibuses and set fire to five cars outside the crowded bus station. Firefighters tried to put out the blazes as ambulances ferried burned and bleeding casualties to the nearby Al-Hussein Hospital. Ali Al-Ardawi, assistant for the hospital's director, said 13 people were killed in the attack and 33 injured. It was the second bombing in Kerbala in a week. On Wednesday, a bomb went off at the city's gold-domed Imam Hussein Mosque, killing eight people and wounding 40 in an apparent attempt to kill a top aide to Iraq's most powerful Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Ali Al-Sistani. The mosque, located near the bus station, was hit by a March 2 suicide bombing that killed 85 people and wounded 100. Insurgents also carried out a new attack on election officials, with a daylight assault on Baghdad's central Haifa Street, the scene of repeated clashes between security forces and insurgents. About 30 militants hurling hand grenades and firing machine guns attacked a car carrying five employees of the non-governmental Independent Electoral Commission of Iraq as they were driving to work. Three employees, identified by the commission as Hatem Ali Hadi Al-Moussawi, a lawyer deputy director for the commission's Karkh office, and two of his office employees Mahdi Sbeih and Samy Moussa were dragged from their cars and shot dead, while two escaped unhurt. Several pistol-wielding gunmen forced their three victims to kneel in the middle of the road before shooting them from point-blank range. The commission condemned the killings as a "terrorist ambush" and said one gunman was killed in the confrontation. "The IECI urges the Iraqi people and all its political, religious and social leaders, and the authorities to condemn this inhumane crime, which has brought shame on our people and country," the commission said in a statement. A police official said the ferocity of the clashes prevented police from nearing the area. Witnesses said the attackers, most of whom were seen brazenly roaming Haifa Street without anything covering their faces, later set fire to at least one vehicle before fleeing the area. US and Iraqi National Guard forces cordoned off the area after the attacks. A US military spokesman had no immediate details. Also, insurgents claiming to represent three Iraqi militant groups issued a videotape showing what they said were 10 abducted Iraqis who had been working for an American security and reconstruction company. Masked insurgents in the video said they represent the Mujahedeen Army, the Black Banner Brigade and the Mutassim Bellah Brigade, all previously unknown groups. Nine blindfolded hostages could be seen lined up against a stone wall and a 10th was lying in a bed, apparently wounded. The militants said they would kill the hostages if the company, Sandi Group, does not leave the country. The Iraqi President Ghazi Al Yawar issued a statement in which he condemned the attacks An explosion ripped through a tent at a military base in Mosul where hundreds of US soldiers had just sat down to lunch, and officials said 24 people were killed and more than 60 wounded. A radical group, the Ansar Al-Sunnah Army, claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on a US base in Iraq. The dead included US military personnel, US contractors, foreign national contractors and Iraqi Army soldiers, said Brig. Gen. Carter Ham, commander of Task Force Olympia in Mosul. The attack came the same day that British Prime Minister Tony Blair made a surprise visit to Baghdad and described the ongoing violence in Iraq as a "battle between democracy and terror." Lt. Col. Paul Hastings, a spokesman for Task Force Olympia, told CNN that the toll was 24 dead. He added that more than 60 were wounded. Officials could not break down the toll of dead or wounded among the groups. Reports also differed as to the cause of the blast at the camp, which is based outside the predominantly Sunni city about 355 kilometers (220 miles) north of Baghdad. The base, also known as the Al-Ghizlani military camp, is used by both US troops and the interim Iraqi government's security forces. Although military officials initially said rockets or mortar rounds struck the camp, Hastings said it was still under investigation. "We do not know if it was a mortar or a place explosive," he said, describing it as a "single explosion." The force knocked soldiers off their feet and out of their seats as a fireball enveloped the top of the tent and shrapnel sprayed into the area. Amid the screaming and thick smoke in the tent, soldiers turned their tables upside down, placed the wounded on them and gently carried them into the parking lot. Scores of troops crammed into concrete bomb shelters, while others wandered around in a daze and collapsed. A huge hole was blown in the roof of the tent, and puddles of blood, lunch trays and overturned tables and chairs covered the floor. Earlier in the day, hundreds of students demonstrated in the center of the city, demanding that US troops cease breaking into homes and mosques there. Also Iraqi security forces repelled another attack by insurgents trying to seize a police station in the center of the city, the US military said. Last Sunday, insurgents detonated two roadside bombs and a car bomb targeting US forces in Mosul in three separate attacks. Other car bombs Sunday killed 67 people in the Shiite cities of Najaf and Kerbala. Iraq's interim prime minister, Ayad Allawi, warned that insurgents are trying to foment sectarian civil war as well as derail the Jan. 30 elections. During his visit, Blair held talks with Allawi and Iraqi election officials, whom he called heroes for carrying out their work despite attacks. Three members of Iraq's election commission were dragged from the car and killed this week in Baghdad. "I said to them that I thought they were the heroes of the new Iraq that's being created, because here are people who are risking their lives every day to make sure that the people of Iraq get a chance to decide their own destiny," Blair said at a joint news conference with Allawi. Blair, who has paid a political price for going to war in Iraq, defended the role of Britain's 8,000 troops by referring to terrorism. "If we defeat it here, we deal it a blow worldwide," he said. "If Iraq is a stable and democratic country, that is good for the Middle East, and what is good for the Middle East, is actually good for the world, including Britain." Blair, whose trip to Iraq hadn't been disclosed for security reasons, urged Iraqis to back next month's elections. "Whatever people's feelings and beliefs about the removal of Saddam Hussein, and the wisdom of that, there surely is only one side to be on in what is now very clearly a battle between democracy and terror," he said. Allawi said his government was committed to holding the elections as scheduled, despite calls for their postponement owing to the violence. "We have always expected that the violence would increase as we approach the elections," Allawi said. "We now are on the verge, for the first time in history, of having democracy in action in this country." On the other hand Syria denied any links to guerrillas in Iraq and says it is doing its best to tighten security along its hundreds of miles (km) of desert border. U.S. President George W. Bush has warned Syria not to meddle in Iraq and has threatened to use economic and diplomatic measures against Damascus. US President George Bush has threatened to use new economic and diplomatic measures to pressure Syria over its suspected interference in Iraq before January elections. "We have sent messages to the Syrians in the past and we will continue to do so. We have tools at our disposal - a variety of tools, ranging from diplomatic tools to economic pressure. Nothing's taken off the table," Bush told a news conference. The president is reviewing a wide range of options, including freezing the assets of high-ranking Syrian government officials, US officials said. Bush said he had discussed with American generals "whether or not there are former Saddam loyalists in Syria ... funnelling money to the insurgents". "We ought to be working with the Syrian government to prevent them from either sending money and/or support of any kind," he added. Washington accused Syria of sending military equipment to Iraq during the US-led invasion last year. Since then it has claimed that Damascus lets fighters cross its border into Iraq and harbours former officials directing the fighters. Damascus denies those charges and says it is doing its best to tighten control of the hundreds of miles of mostly desert terrain that define its border with Iraq. U.S. Treasury Department list of terrorists or terrorist supporters has added Two individuals of Saudi origin. In a December 21 news release, Treasury identified Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee and Saad Rashed Mohammad al-Faqih as having provided material support to international fugitive Osama bin Laden and his terrorist group al Qaida. Batterjee and al-Faqih are not linked to one another, Treasury said. The Treasury action freezes the U.S. assets of both individuals. The United States will submit both names to the United Nations 1267 Committee, which will consider them for inclusion of its list of terrorists linked to al Qaida, bin Laden, and the former Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Inclusion on the U.N. list triggers international obligations on all member countries, requiring them to freeze the assets and prevent the travel of listed individuals and to block the sale of arms and military equipment, Treasury said. Batterjee is "one of the world's foremost terrorist financiers" Treasury Under Secretary Stuart Levey said in the release. "A worldwide asset freeze, including in [Batterjee's] home country of Saudi Arabia, will deal a serious blow to this key terrorist facilitator." Groups funded by Batterjee have provided support to fighters worldwide, including members of al Qaida in Afghanistan, the Sudan, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Chechnya, Treasury said. The news release also outlined evidence linking al-Faqih to the al Qaida network since the mid-1990s, including to an individual associated with the 1998 East Africa embassy bombings. Meanwhile the UN Security Council members Thursday agreed to impose sanctions on British-based Saudi dissident Saad Al-Faqih and Saudi businessman Adel Abdul Jalil Batterjee as requested by Saudi Arabia, the United States and Britain. None of the 15 council members raised objections to the submission by the three countries before a noon (1700 GMT) deadline on Thursday, said Maria Isabel Seguel, spokeswoman for Chilean Ambassador Heraldo Munoz, who heads the panel supervising the bans. The council committee maintains a list on those allegedly associated with the Al-Qaeda terror network and remnants of Afghanistan s ousted Taleban rulers. It was established in 1999 under resolution 1267 and strengthened after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks against the United States. Under the resolution, all 191 UN member nations are obliged to freeze assets of those on the list, block their travel and prevent the sale of arms and military equipment to them. Saudi officials accuse Faqih of exploiting social and economic discontent to further a radical cause, hiding his agenda behind calls for rights and greater accountability. Faqih is a leading Saudi dissident who heads the London-based Movement for Islamic Reform in Arabia. The second name submitted is that of Batterjee, who allegedly was instrumental in founding the Benevolence International Foundation, an Islamic charity that the United States has deemed a global terrorist group. In Washington, the US Treasury last Tuesday accused Faqih of associations with Al-Qaeda since the mid-1990s, including an individual linked to the bombings of US embassies in Kenya and Tanzania in 1998.