ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD NEWS

NEWS FROM THE ARAB AND MUSLIM WORLD. OCTOBER 2005. PART 1. EN ROUTE

* SAUDI ARABIA: "KAREN HUGHES MISSION UNNECESSARY" * 345 Syrian Students of Golan cross into Syria * A New Cairo's Round of Intra- Palestinian Talks in the Horizon *Abbas: Israeli Frequent Provocations are against PNA Endeavor to Keep Calm Down * Abbas Warns of Gaza-Only State During Visit to Egypt
*Turkey Rejects US Pressures on it Regarding Syria, Gul Says *Al-Qaida and other Sunni-led insurgents have waged a stepped-up campaign of violence, killing at least 205 people this week *Hamas militants and Palestinian police forces trade gunfire in Gaza *PM Qurei Calls for International Intervention to Stop Israeli Aggression *UK Leading EU Effort to Contain Gaza Violence Britain, US 'Understand' Israel's Right to Self-defense, But Urge Restraint *Police Officer, Woman and Elderly Killed in Gaza Infighting PNA, Hamas Trade Accusations amid Ongoing Israeli Incitement

Police Officer, Woman and Elderly Killed in Gaza Infighting PNA, Hamas Trade Accusations amid Ongoing Israeli Incitement

Palestine Media Center - PMC. The Palestinian National Authority (PNA) held Hamas responsible for armed clashes in Gaza City on Sunday that claimed the lives of a police officer and two bystanders, including a woman, and wounded 50 others, five of them seriously, amid mutual accusations of incitement between the PNA and the Islamic Resistance Movement, and on the backdrop of an Israeli military and political campaign to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian armed anti-occupation groups. The Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) was scheduled to convene in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Monday to discuss the internal security situation. There were conflicting reports over how the clashes began. The PNA accused Hamas of sparking Sunday's confrontation, but Hamas accused some PNA "elements" of fomenting the tension. Palestinian officials said gunfire erupted after police officers interceded in a dispute between two men, one a member of Hamas. But Hamas said its members acted when Palestinian officers tried to arrest Muhammad Rantisi, a Hamas official who is the son of late Hamas leader Abdel Aziz Rantisi. As word of the confrontation spread, so did the shooting, first in the Sheikh Radwan neighborhood, where the initial incident took place, then the nearby Beach refugee camp. Numerous gunmen fired at a number of police stations. The casualties filled the emergency room at Shifa Hospital, the city's main hospital. The wounded included ten policemen and Hamas members, the hospital said. Violence later broke out at Shifa hospital, the main medical facility in Gaza City. Police said Hamas gunmen threw grenades and fired guns at a police patrol, then tried to storm two police stations in Gaza City and in Shati refugee camp, killing police Major Ali Al-Makkawi. 32-year old woman, Hiyam Nassar, and an elderly civilian in his fifties were killed also in the clashes.

PNA Interior Ministry Blames Hamas. "Hamas bears full responsibility for the result of these acts and the serious violation of law and order and playing with the blood of our people," the Palestinian Interior Ministry said in a statement. The ministry said that a police vehicle was near an Automatic Teller Machine (ATM) when two Palestinians fought over their turns to use the machine. One of the two fighting Palestinians was later identified as a Hamas member, said the statement. The police tried to stop the fight and the Hamas member called on a group of gunmen who targeted the police vehicle with a grenade, said the statement. Policemen, who arrived to back up their colleagues in the scene, pursued the gunmen's car and captured the gunman who threw the grenade, the statement said, adding that Hamas, in response, mobilized a big number of its gunmen and opened up with RPG and machineguns in Al-Naser Street and Al-Shatie camp. Two policemen and 20 Palestinian citizens were wounded and a power generator was damaged, said the statement, condemning the "criminal deeds" against the Palestinian policemen. Hamas Denies PNA Statement Hamas denied it started the melee. A spokesperson said police provoked the fighting by stopping a car with two of its members apparently to arrest them, and that angry Palestinians had attacked police stations in response. The Islamic movement accused Palestinian police of attempting to arrest or kill Rantissi's son in Gaza City and said supporters had rushed to his defense. It also charged that Palestinian security men shot at the home of Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar, and that his sons returned fire but he was unharmed. Palestinian security forces had begun to ban weapons displays last Thursday, patrolling the streets and inspecting cars for arms, after securing the consent of 13 anti-occupation factions to the policy.

PNA: Nazzal Statements Untrue, Unjustified. A Hamas leader in exile had earlier on Sunday accused a "trend" in the PNA of inciting against his movement. Some elements in the PNA were misleading the Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas with negative reports about Hamas, Mohammad Nazzal told an audience in Beirut, Lebanon, that was marking the fifth anniversary of the Palestinian Intifada (uprising) against the 38-year old Israeli occupation of the West Bankand the Gaza Strip. A Palestinian official presidential spokesman lashed at Nazzal's statements as "untrue," "unjustified" and an "attempt to sow infighting." President Abbas is careful to maintain national unity and the Cairo Declaration, which 13 Palestinian factions unanimously endorsed in the Egyptian capital in March, the spokesman said. Egyptian intelligence chief Gen. Omar Suleiman has reportedly invited leaders of various Palestinian factions to another round of dialogue in Cairo next month to "discuss a Palestinian working plan for 2006," according to top official of the ruling Fatah movement in the Gaza Strip, Samir Mashharwai. The spokesman demanded that Hamas reconsider its media statements towards reinforcing "partnership and plurality" as the basis for national unity. Separately Mashharwai said that Nazzal's statements were "incitement" and contributed to the tension in Gaza Sunday. The steering committee of the 13 Palestinian factions convened late Sunday, immediately after the clashes erupted to contain further deterioration of the security situation. The Higher Follow-up Committee of National and Islamic factions (steering committee), representing the 13 groups, called on Palestinians to demonstrate against Palestinian infighting. The Gaza Sunday's clashes "is a big crime and a shame on all of us," which will make us 'loose our unity as well as the respect of the world," it said in a statement. The fresh Palestinian infighting came on the backdrop of an Israeli military and political campaign to disarm Hamas and other Palestinian armed anti-occupation groups. An Israeli week-long military offensive claimed the lives of a 13-year old Palestinian child and ten anti-occupation activists in the West Bank and Gaza strip. More than 415 other activists were also detained by the Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) in the West Bank. Israeli Incitement Continues. However the IOF on Sunday announced the "suspension" of, but not an end to the military operations in Gaza that began on September 24. "We have suspended certain operations pending the actions of Palestinian security forces, specifically to dismantle terrorist infrastructures and disarm Hamas as a first step," said Raanan Gissin, Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's spokesman. "We'd like to see if the Palestinian Authority is willing and capable of taking advantage of the new situation. Now is the opportunity for them to take control," Gissin added. Meanwhile Ariel Sharon told his cabinet Sunday that he told world leaders that the resumption of the peace process between Israel and the PNA hinges on the Palestinians' success in Gaza. "The responsibility for what happens in Gaza has been passed on from Israel to the Palestinians. They have to prove themselves capable to succeed in Gaza," Sharon said during the weekly cabinet meeting. Speaking of Hamas, Sharon said that Israel views the participation of the Islamic group in the January 25 Palestinian elections as "a threat," so long it has not disarmed and has not ditched its pledge to destroy the Jewish State. "We warned that Israel views the participation of Hamas in the elections under the current conditions as a threat. This reality contradicts the Road Map (plan for peace) and our understandings with the Palestinians. We said that Hamas can participate in the elections only if it renounces violence, disarms and retracts its pledge to destroy the State of Israel," the Israeli prime minister said. Reiterating his threat to disrupt Palestinian legislative elections early next year, Sharon said: "We made it clear that, although the elections are an internal Palestinian affair in which Israel cannot interfere, the participation of Hamas will determine the nature of Israel's cooperation with the PA during these elections, and will not allow us to extend our hand as we did during the elections for the PA chairmanship."

Hamas militants and Palestinian police forces trade gunfire in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip- Palestinian police and Hamas militants waged gunbattles across Gaza City on Sunday night that killed a police officer and wounded 30 other people, including 10 police officers, Palestinian security officials said. The gunfights came just three days after Palestinian armed groups agreed to stop carrying weapons in public to help bring order to Gaza's chaotic streets. Hamas blamed the Palestinian Authority for the fighting, saying it started after police attempted to arrest the son of Abdel Aziz Rantisi, a former Hamas leader who was slain in an Israeli air strike last year. Hamas said the police stopped Mohammed Rantisi's car, but he refused to hand himself over. The police began shooting after an angry crowd gathered around them, sparking a gunbattle, Hamas said. Rantisi was not injured, said Mushir al-Masri, a Hamas spokesman. The police did not immediately comment on the incident. Angry Hamas militants armed with rifles, rocket propelled grenades and hand grenades later stormed the police stations in the Shati refugee camp and in two other Gaza City neighbourhoods, according to Palestinian officials. Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas has been working to end the chaos in Gaza's streets following Israel's pullout from the coastal territory last month. Palestinian militants and other gunmen brazenly carry arms in the streets in an indirect challenge to the power of the police. On Thursday, Palestinian police fanned out across Gaza and officials said they would begin enforcing a ban on carrying weapons in public in an effort to bring order to Gaza. Hamas said it would honour the ban. After the outbreak of violence Sunday, Gaza residents called into a local radio station pleading with Hamas to stop fighting with the police and to show self restraint. Earlier, in Shati, Hamas militants charged a small police station and set it on fire. A nearby electricity transformer that supplied power to the western half of Gaza City was destroyed by a rocket propelled grenade launched during the fighting. Gunfire and the explosion of stun grenades could be heard in the streets of the camp. Palestinian security officials said one police officer was killed during the fighting in Shati. At least 30 people were wounded in the fighting, including 10 police officers, officials said.

Turkey Rejects US Pressures on it Regarding Syria, Gul Says

ANKARA, Turkey, (SANA-Syrian News Agency). Turkish Foreign Minister Abdullah Gul on Thursday underlined his country's rejection of US pressures on turkey regarding Syria. "Turkey will continue boosting relations with Syria and other neighbouring countries.. Turkey is not concerned with the US stances towards these countries," Gul said in a press conference. Turkish NTV station, for its part, quoted diplomatic sources as saying that Turkish Premier Recep Tayyeb Erdogan and Gul consider Syria as a main part in regional equations and in boosting security and stability in the Middle East .

SAUDI ARABIA: "KAREN HUGHES MISSION UNNECESSARY"

ARAB NEWS (Saudi) "Arab Anti-Americanism a Myth". Amir Taheri - QUOTES FROM TEXT: "Bush's 'image queen', Karen Hughes is back in the US after embarking on a tour of Arab countries where conventional wisdom claims that anti-Americanism is second nature. No Arab anti-American has produced anything like the conspiracy theories that American intellectuals such as Noam Chomsy, Michael Moore, Scott Ritter, Seymour Hirsh, and Edward Said to name a few, have put on the markets everywhere, including the Arab world. This month a group of 30 American professors turned up in Tehran and Damascus to describe the US as 'a rogue state on the rampage. The best thing Ms Hughes could do is to make available to the Arabs the other side of the American debate; to show that not al Americans share Chomsky's belief that the US planned to kill six million Afghans solely to build a pipeline from Central Asia".

EXCERPTS: Dubbed ... Bush's "image queen", Karen Hughes is back in the US after embarking on a tour of Arab countries where conventional wisdom claims that anti-Americanism is second nature. The fact that Ms. Hughes, now in charge of something called public diplomacy at the State Department, chose the Arab region for her maiden voyage shows that she shares that analysis. But how true is that claim? ... .Let us start with the tangibles. The United States is by far the largest pole of attraction for Arab foreign investment at all levels, from public sector funds to small private savings accounts. The most conservative estimates put the value of Arab assets in the US at over $4.5 trillion, which means that the Arab countries are just behind Britain, Japan and Holland as the biggest investors in the US economy. The US is also one of the top three trading partners of virtually all Arab states. In fact, many US-made goods, cars for example, that do not sell anywhere else, still enjoy robust markets in Arab countries...The US has been the No. 1 foreign tourist destination for Arabs since the 1980s and, has remained so despite restrictions imposed on Arab visitors after 9/11. Arabs ...love to send their children to study in the US. And when it comes to seeking medical treatment, no country competes with the US . If she took time to stroll in Arab capitals, Ms. Hughes would have been struck by the ubiquitous presence of things American. ... . 80 per cent of films shown in Arab countries are made in Hollywood. ...more than 70 percent of what Arab TV, including those regarded as "obsessively anti-American", broadcast is US-made footage. There are more than two dozen English dailies in the Arab world, all using the American version of the language. ... much of the material comes from American agencies and syndication services.... More than half of all major articles in the two main pan-Arab daily newspapers come from the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, The Los Angeles Times, Newsweek and Time magazines, among other American publications. ...A visitor is also bound to be struck by the number of Arab decision-makers with American educational or business backgrounds and/or connections...Sixteen of the 21 member states of the Arab League host some American military presence.

The FBI maintains offices in at least 12 Arab capitals. So, where did the impression that the Arabs are seething with anti-Americanism come from? Isn't it possible that the Arabs may be sharing the anti-American craze produced in the West, including the United States? Aren't the Arabs, as is the case with other products, importing anti-Americanism? Go through Arab newspapers and you will see that the bulk of the material that could be classified as anti-Bush and/or anti-American is translated from American sources. Stroll in the streets where books and video and audio tapes are on sale at the curbsides and you will see that 90 percent of the items vilifying America come from American, French, and British authors. No Arab anti-American has produced anything like the conspiracy theories that American intellectuals such as Noam Chomsky, Michael Moore, Scott Ritter, Seymour Hersh, and Edward Said, to name a few, have put on the markets everywhere, including the Arab world. At any given time one can find a horde of American activists visiting the region to urge the natives to hate America. Before the liberation of Iraq scores of Americans came to Baghdad to offer themselves as "human shields" for Saddam Hussein. No Arab was foolish enough to do that. This month a group of 30 American professors turned up in Tehran and Damascus to describe the US as "a rogue state on the rampage. A lady named Bianca Jagger, presented as ambassador for UNICEF and "a leading thinker", has been in the region telling astonished audiences that the US was the source of all evil in the world. (Incidentally, I thought the UNICEF was not supposed to be political.). One American professor recently published an op-ed in the New York Times relating his trip to Iran where he was "disappointed" to see that students not only did not hate George W. Bush but, horror of horrors, also craved for an American-style democracy instead of an Islamist utopia. The anti-Bush demonstrations the Arabs watch on TV take place in Washington DC, San Francisco, and Seattle, not in any Arab city. A friend, who happens to be a minister in an Arab state, was saddened this summer when, spending holidays with his family in the US as he had always done since student days, he had to quarrel with an old American schoolmate. The point of the dispute was that the American insisted that the US was an "evil empire" while the Arab believed that it could be a force for reform in the Middle East. A Kuwaiti friend withdrew his son from an American university to "protect him from (being) brainwashed into hating the United States." (... the US is the only country where the late Khomeini who could hardly write a paragraph without making some grammatical error, is treated as a philosopher with a whole university course devoted to his "philosophy"? Not even in Iran where Khomeinism is in power anyone would dare make such a ridiculous offer to students.) Many polls have been conducted to show that the Arabs are anti-American. A more interesting poll would aim at finding out how many Americans are so afflicted by self-loathing as to devote their energies to a systematic vilification of their nation. The best that Ms. Hughes could do is to help make available to the Arabs the other side of the American debate; to show that not all Americans share Chomsky's belief that the US planned to kill six million Afghans solely to build a pipeline from Central Asia. Her aim should be to help Arabs understand America in all its contradictions, not necessarily to adore it. There are many issues on which the Arabs disagree with the United States. But most Arabs don't see that as a sign of anti-Arabism on the part of the US. Ms. Hughes should not regard it as a sign of anti-Americanism on the part of Arabs. By Dr. Aaron Lerner

345 Syrian Students of Golan cross into Syria

DAMASCUS, Syria, (SANA-Syrian News Agency)-The number of the Syrian students from villages of occupied Golan who have crossed into Syria through al-Qunietra crossing point under the supervision of the International Red Cross Organization has reached 345 students. The last group of the Students passed into Syria to continue their academic study at Damascus University reached 43students, in addition to more than 50 students who continued their summer training and supplementary exams. In a statement to al-Thawra daily on Sunday, the Media official at the International Red Cross Committee in Damascus Branch Ernie Herbiette pointed out that the committee works as human mediator ,adding that there was visits by the families but it stopped in 1992 and we work to reactivate these visits. For their part, the students expressed appreciation over their homeland Syria's big support to the Syrian people in occupied Syrian Golan. The students have come from Majdal Shams, Mas'ada , Aen Qenya , Beqa'atha and al-Ghjar

A New Cairo's Round of Intra- Palestinian Talks in the Horizon

GAZA, (IPC+Agencies)--[Official PA website]. The Palestinian factions has received today a plea from the chief intelligence of Egypt Omar Suleiman to hold a new round of intra Palestinian dialogue in Cairo by the date of such round of talks up the wish of the Palestinian factions. The online edition of Al Quds al Arabi newspaper quoted today Sameer Al Mshahrwe, key leader of Fateh and in charge of monitoring talks with the factions as saying "most of the factions are wiling to launch a new round before the end of the year which is the deadline of the de-facto Cease fire." Al Mashharwe said the due talks in Cairo focuses on the Palestinian 2006 working agenda mainly the issue of the Palestinian liberation organization (PLO) , bring life back to it role as a ruling party, besides the joining of the Islamic factions to PLO. Most importantly, Al Mashharawe disclosed the talks will discuss the continuation of the de-facto cease fire the fruits it brings since its announcement in late March in addition to debate over the political partnership formula between the Palestinian factions in the decision-making process. The anticipated Cairo's talks will deal with the preparations for the upcoming Parliamentary voting and the participation of the national and Islamic streams. On his part, Dr. Mohammed Al Hindi, key leader of Islamic Jihad made clear that the representatives of the Palestinian factions "will hold a new round of dialogue by the end of November or early December to come." Following a meeting yesterday before with the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza includes General Mohammed Ibraheem and the advisor Ahmed Abed Al Khal, Al Hindi noted that preparations are being underway to carry out a new round of talks between the Palestinian national and Islamic factions under the Egyptian patronage. He headed that a delegate of the Islamic Jihad movement is likely to part in the new talks round if the movement was allowed. Describing the meeting with the Egyptian delegation cordial , Al Hindi said the meeting concentrated on the internal Palestinian situation , the calming down issue in the light of the Israeli escalation in the west bank and Gaza Strip. "The Islamic Jihad movement contributes in making the situation more stable and seeks to boost the national unitary and give no nod to the proposal of establishing a Palestinian state in Gaza Strip only, " the key leader of the Islamic jihad movement opined. It's worthy to note that the Egyptian delegation headed by the General Mutafa Al Buheiri, General Mohammed Ibraheem and the advisor Ahmad Abed Al Khaleq from the Egyptian representative at Gaza had held two separate meetings with the prominent leaders of Hamas movement Mahmoud Al Zahar and the politburo of the Popular Front For Liberation of Palestine (PFLP).

President Abbas: Israeli Frequent Provocations are against PNA Endeavor to Keep Calm Down

GAZA, (IPC+Agencies)[Official PA website]--President Mahmoud Abbas asserted Friday that the repeated Israeli provocative acts against the Palestinian people don't serve endeavors exerted by the PNA to keep the calmness. In a press briefing before the presidency headquarter in Gaza, Concerning the rise of killed people number in the West Bank up to 5 by 24 hours; the president stated "such provocative acts have a dangerous and gross effect on the de-facto cease fire, which needs the utmost efforts to be in hand. "We are working to bring a halt to the military parade chaos and the all abided by. There aren't any military parades neither in Gaza Strip nor are West Bank and the Israeli acts unjustifiable," Abbas added. He deplored the "incidents carried out regularly by the Israeli army against our youths with no requisite for. In spite of this, we must keep self-restrain and the Israeli should know that we are no longer keep patient with these acts; today 2 killed, yesterday 3 and 3 before and etc. I couldn't understand what the Israeli politics agenda is." Regarding to the third phase of the local elections in the WB, the president considered the process of ballot within these situations is laudable and honorable; he noticed that there is no transgressions influence its process and demanded all to commit to the same steps and procedures in the upcoming legislative elections. He also congratulated the winners in these elections; saying "We don't know the exactly the final results because it may be announced today or tomorrow, but whoever win the elections, we congratulate everyone who succeed, and urge all to abide by the same behaviors in the fourth stage of the legislative and municipality elections". About his prospective visit to the USA, exactly in the 20th of the next month, he said "I will demand the American administration to implement and abide by its promises to us in the last visit".

President Abbas Warns of Gaza-Only State During Visit to Egypt

GAZA, (IPC + Agencies) [Official PA website]- - President Mahmoud Abbas declared that the visit he was making to Egypt was necessary to coordinate with the Egyptian leadership on a solution for the volatile situations in the occupied Palestinian territories. Following his meeting with the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Amre Mousa, President Abbas also criticized the United States' silent position towards the ongoing Israeli aggression against Palestinians. "This is not the first time the United States stands silent, and there are many cases in which we hear nothing, and this is one of these cases," the President said. He called on the US government to assume its responsibilities as part of the Quartet Committee and as a super power, by exerting pressure on Israel to cease its military escalation. Abbas also warned of an Israeli plot to limit the future Palestinian state to Gaza Strip, adding that "they [the Israelis] are speaking about international crossing points, and they might say that 'this is enough and we will speak about the West Bank later', and they might never speak about the West Bank." Dr. Saeb Erekat, the chief negotiator, on the other hand, called for an intervention to stop the Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people. Erekat told reporters, following a meeting between President Abbas and the Egyptian president, Hosni Mubarak, "we believe that a third party, maybe President [George W.] Bush or other parties in the Quartet Committee, could play a role in this stage to stop the Israeli escalation." On the internal level, President Abbas also criticized the Palestinian militant groups, mainly Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, for their unilateralism in taking decisions to retaliate to the Israeli aggressions by firing makeshift rockets at Israel. Israel has been launching intensive air raids and carrying out extrajudicial executions in Gaza Strip, along with large-scale arrest campaigns in the West Bank, following a five-day rocketing campaign by Palestinian resistance activists on Israeli towns. "The meetings between the Palestinian National Authority and the factions that took place on Tuesday in Gaza, ended with the factions declaring their commitment to the declared ceasefire, especially by Hamas and the Islamic Jihad, who also declared a halt of military attacks," President Abbas said. Abbas added that the agreement reached on Tuesday also ended with an agreement on adhering to the ceasefire and ending the armed displays in the streets. In a statement to the local Al Ayyam newspaper, Dr. Erekat said President Abbas has discussed five topics with the Egyptian president, and that President Mubarak promised to do his best to help the PNA. Concerning the Rafah border terminal, Erekat asserted that there wasn't yet any agreement about it, pointing out that the PNA wanted it to be operated jointly by Egyptians and Palestinians, with a preparation to accept a third party. Upon his return to Gaza, President Abbas described his talks with the Egyptian president as encouraging and very positive, hoping that Mubarak would use his weight and influence in the region to fend off the Israeli offensive and push the peace process forward.

Al-Qaida and other Sunni-led insurgents have waged a stepped-up campaign of violence, killing at least 205 people this week

Photo: Iraqi youngsters shout holding the remains of an US military vehicle destroyed by a road side bomb in Ramadi, Iraq.

QAIM, Iraq -- About 1,000 U.S. troops, backed by attack helicopters and tanks, swept into a village near the Syrian border Saturday in a new offensive aimed at rooting out al-Qaida militants and stemming violence that has shaken Iraq ahead of a crucial vote on a new constitution. Missiles fired by helicopters struck cars, sending plumes of smoke into the sky as the force moved into Sadah, residents said. In the evening, marines clashed in the streets with insurgents, and a Humvee was seen burning, they said. Eight militants were killed in the day's fighting, the military said in a statement. In one clash, insurgents pulled up in vehicles, got out and opened fire on U.S. troops; the subsequent battle left four gunmen dead. The military said there were no U.S. casualties in the assault's first day. The U.S. military said "al-Qaida in Iraq", the country's most prominent militant group behind a wave of suicide bombings, had taken control of Sadah. Foreign fighters were using it as a way station as they enter from Syria to join the insurgency, the military said. The assault was the fourth large U.S. offensive in the border area since May. But militants who run rampant in large parts of western Iraq have proven difficult to drive out, moving back in to towns after the assaults are over and the bulk of troops withdraw. Al-Qaida and other Sunni-led insurgents have waged a stepped-up campaign of violence, killing at least 205 people this week in an attempt to wreck the upcoming Oct. 15 referendum on the constitution, a vital step in Iraq's political process. Iraq's Sunni Arab minority opposes the draft charter, fearing it will split Iraq and consecrate Shiite and Kurdish domination. Al-Qaida's group in Iraq has declared "all-out war" on Shiites. Since a Shiite-majority government took power in Iraq on April 28, suicide bombers have killed at least 1,345 people, according to an Associated Press count. Two US soldiers were killed by explosions while on patrols Saturday. One was in Baghdad and another in Beiji, 250 kilometres north of the capital, the military said. Fifteen U.S. service members have been killed this week and at least 1,935 have died since the beginning of the Iraq war in March 2003. In Baghdad, insurgents kidnapped the brother of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr Solagh, the Shiite official who heads police forces, and the son of another top ministry official was kidnapped north of the capital, ministry spokesman Maj. Felah al-Mohammedawi said. Meanwhile, the alliance at the centre of Iraq's government was showing strains, with Kurdish leaders accusing Shiite parties who dominate the cabinet of monopolizing power and ignoring past promises, particularly to start resettlement of Kurds in the northern city of Kirkuk. Kurds warned they would consider withdrawing from the government, causing it to collapse, if their demands weren't met, a step that would deepen political turmoil ahead of the referendum.

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Troops went house to house, blasting open doors in a hunt for insurgents, but so far no weapons caches or significant militant figures had been found, a correspondent for CNN embedded with the troops said. Helicopters fired on three vehicles as the force moved in. Two turned out to be carrying suicide bombers and the third was being loaded with weapons, CNN reported. Sadah is an isolated village of about 2,000 people on the banks of the Euphrates River, with one main road and about 200 houses scattered in a rural area about 12 kilometres from the Syrian border, near the town of Qaim in Iraq's western province of Anbar. The offensive, named Operation Iron Fist, was launched by a force of marines, soldiers and sailors aiming to root out al-Qaida militants who have turned Sadah into a "terrorist sanctuary" and stop infiltration by foreign fighters, the military said in a statement. Marines carried out two major operations around Qaim in May, killing 125 insurgents in the first campaign, Operation Matador, and about 50 in the second, Operation Spear in mid-June in the town of Karabilah. Nine Marines were killed in those actions. Building Iraqi forces in Anbar province, the heartland of the insurgency, has been slow, and U.S. troops are spread thinly, concentrating around towns closer to Baghdad and relying on such massive offensives into the more far-flung border regions to knock insurgents there off balance. In other violence Saturday, a roadside bomb hit a patrol by Danish troops as they passed over a bridge in the southern city of Basra, killing one Dane and wounding at least two others. It was the first Danish fatality from hostile fire in Iraq since Denmark deployed troops to Iraq two years ago. The U.S. military released about 500 Iraqi detainees from the notorious Abu Ghraib prison out the outskirts of Baghdad on Saturday, the second and final part of a release of 1,000 this week in honour of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan. The move appeared to be part of U.S. and Iraqi efforts to persuade Iraq's Sunni minority to vote in the upcoming referendum. Many Sunni Arabs oppose the constitution, saying it would give Kurds living in the north and majority Shiites in the south too much independence and control over Iraq's oil wealth, and leave Sunnis isolated in central and western Iraq. By Mouhamad Barrkat.

U.S. new offensive against al-Qaida insurgents. At least 1,935 service members have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.

Photo: Iraqi Interior ministry special forces search motorists for weapons and explosives in Baghdad, Iraq.

QAIM, Iraq- Hundreds of U.S. troops combed through a village near the Syrian border Sunday, breaking into houses and fighting sporadic gun battles with gunmen on the second day of a new offensive against al-Qaida insurgents. At least eight militants were killed, the military said. Many residents fled Sadah village into Syria before the offensive began, witnesses said, and the 1,000 U.S. soldiers involved appeared to be widening the sweep into two nearby towns. In Karabila, troops with loudspeakers warned residents to stay inside their homes for their own safety Sunday, witnesses said. In Rumana, a town on the other side of the Euphrates River, helicopters fired on several houses, sending plumes of black smoke up into the air, the witnesses said, speaking on condition of anonymity out of concern for their security. A U.S. military spokeswoman in Baghdad said she could not immediately confirm that the offensive had expanded from Sadah to Karabila and Rumana. No American casualties were reported in the offensive. However, al-Qaida in Iraq claimed to have captured two U.S. marines participating in the offensive and threatened in a Web statement issued Sunday to kill them within 24 hours. A U.S. military spokesman said he believed the claim was false. Also, a senior military commander said Sunday he was not backing off his assessment that U.S. forces in Iraq could be reduced early next year, even though an army general has said the number of battle-ready battalions of Iraqi soldiers has fallen by two-thirds. Appearing on NBC's Meet the Press, Gen. John Abizaid did not offer a reason for the decrease in top-level Iraqi troops from three battalions to one. But he said more Iraqis are in the field at various levels of training and are participating in security operations than before. Elsewhere, insurgents kidnapped the brother of Interior Minister Bayan Jabr, the Shiite official who heads police forces, in Baghdad on Saturday, and the son of another top ministry official was kidnapped north of the capital, police said. Sunni insurgents have vowed to derail the constitutional referendum and have launched a wave of violence that has killed at least 202 people - including 15 U.S. service members - in Iraq in the past seven days. Two U.S. soldiers were killed by explosions while on patrols Saturday - one in Baghdad and another in Beiji, 250 kilometres north of the capital, the military said. At least 1,935 service members have died since the Iraq war started in March 2003.In new violence, two Iraqis were killed Sunday in drive-by shootings - a businessman in Baghdad and an Iraqi soldier in Karbala, 80 kilometres to the south, police said. Police also found the bodies of four Iraqis in three different areas of Baghdad on Sunday, with their hands tied behind their backs. Suspected insurgents often kidnap and kill Iraqis, dumping their bodies in isolated areas - and Sunni Arab leaders accuse Shiite death squads of doing the same to Sunnis. The assault on Sadah, called Operation Iron Fist, was the fourth large U.S. offensive near the Syrian border since May. But the militants running rampant in large parts of western Iraq have proven difficult to put down, fleeing in the face of the assaults, then moving back in after the assaults end and the bulk of troops withdraw. On Sunday, insurgents hiding in houses fired sporadically on U.S. troops in the street from time to time but Sadah largely was calm, said residents in the village 13 kilometres east of the Syrian border. On the offensive's first day, troops destroyed several car bombs and at least one roadside bomb, and there were two clashes with gunmen, the military said Sunday in its first detailed report on the operation. Insurgents drove two vehicles toward a U.S. marine position, dismounted and began to attack with small-arms fire, the military said Sunday. One vehicle was found to be rigged with explosives. Five insurgents were killed, the military said, and a fifth surrendered. North of Sadah, U.S. forces killed three members of the Al-Qaida in Iraq insurgent group after they attacked a U.S. checkpoint with small-arms fire, the military said. Another militant was killed when a U.S. Cobra helicopter destroyed a vehicle after its driver fired on a marine position with a rocket-propelled grenade, the military said. Sadah, 290 kilometres northwest of Baghdad, is an isolated village of about 2,000 people, with one main road and about 200 houses scattered in a rural area near Qaim in Iraq's western province of Anbar. The U.S. military said al-Qaida in Iraq, the country's most fearsome militant group that has launched a wave of suicide bombings, had taken control of Sadah, and foreign fighters were using it as a way station as they enter from Syria to join the insurgency.

Al-Qaida and other Sunni-led insurgents have stepped up their campaign of violence, killing at least 205 people this week in an attempt to wreck the upcoming constitutional referendum, a vital step in Iraq's political process. Iraq's Sunni Arab minority - which ruled under Saddam Hussein but lost power after his ouster - opposes the draft charter, fearing it will split Iraq and consecrate Shiite and Kurdish domination. Al-Qaida in Iraq has declared "all-out war" on Shiites, and since a Shiite-majority government took power in Iraq on April 28, suicide bombers have killed at least 1,345 people, according to an Associated Press count.

PM Qurei Calls for International Intervention to Stop Israeli Aggression

RAMALLAH, (IPC + WAFA) -[Official PA website] - Prime Minister Ahmad Qurei received today the EU's envoy for the peace process in the Middle East, Mark Otte, along with a delegation from the EU Coordinating Office for Palestinian Police Support, during which he asserted that the international community should intervene to stop the ongoing Israeli aggression against the Palestinian people. PM Qurei called for an international pressure to stop the Israeli violations, both in Gaza Strip and the West Bank, which would eliminate any possible chance of a peaceful solution to the conflict in the region. The Prime Minister also stressed the grave situation on the political and field levels, in light of the Israeli intransigence and the absence of a clear and firm international stance towards the Israeli aggressions, pointing out that the Quartet Committee's role must exceed press statements to actions on the ground. He referred to the efforts of the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to contain the current volatile situation in the occupied Palestinian territories, warning that the Israeli practices would turn Gaza Strip into a big prison. PM Qurei called to holding an international peace conference to re-launch the peace process and get the region out of the current crisis before it is too late. The premiere thanked the European Union for its political and economic support of the PNA. On his part, Otte briefed Qurei on the progress of the Coordination Office for Palestinian Police Support, explaining that the EU has offered 500 million Euros a year to support the reform of the Palestinian security services, in coordination with the Quartet Committee's statement of September 20, 2005. Otte also noted that the EU would send a team to monitor the coordinating office's performance, starting next December. The Coordinating office would also provide immediate support for restructuring and reconstructing the Palestinian police. On the political level, the EU peace envoy asserted the Union's position concerning the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza Strip and the dismantling of four Israeli settlements in northern West Bank, saying that this was a step towards reviving the peace process and the establishment of a future independent and viable Palestinian state. He stressed the necessity of immediate implementation of the Road Map and returning to the negotiations table.

UK Leading EU Effort to Contain Gaza Violence Britain, US 'Understand' Israel's Right to Self-defense, But Urge Restraint

Palestine Media Center - PMC [Official PA website]. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas -- who had cancelled a meeting with the Israeli premier Ariel Sharon on October 2 -- is expected in Egypt Tuesday for talks with President Hosni Mubarak as the European Union and Britain are leading an effort to contain the Israeli military escalation, which the UK and the United States said they "understand" as "self-defense," amid the ongoing roaring of US-made Apaches and F-16s over the Gaza Strip. Abbas is expected in Egypt Tuesday for talks with Mubarak, scheduled for Wednesday, Palestinian chief negotiator Saeb Erakat said. Abbas said on Sunday he did not plan to meet with Sharon on October 2, that the latest Israeli military escalation has "no justification" and had "shot down the efforts to advance the peace process" after Israel's pullout from the Gaza Strip. "There won't be a meeting on October 2," Abbas told reporters. "We said no. Why? Because if we want a successful meeting, then we should prepare for it," he said. Abbas, during a meeting of the PLO Executive Committee in the West Bank town of Ramallah on Saturday, held the Israeli government responsible for the military escalation in the Gaza Strip. Israel's military escalation and the Israeli resumption of extra-judicial killing of Palestinian anti-occupation activists and the air strikes have also led to postponing a visit to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) and Israel by Jordan's King Abdullah II, which was expected this week. US President George W. Bush on Thursday asked the visiting Jordanian monarch to visit Ariel Sharon and Mahmoud Abbas to help advance the peace process, adding the monarch "graciously agreed" to meet with both leaders. Solana: Stakes Are High Meanwhile the EU's foreign policy chief Javier Solana appealed to the Israelis and Palestinians on Monday not to squander the chance to revive peace moves offered by Israel's withdrawal from the Gaza Strip as the British minister for Middle East affairs, Kim Howells, was traveling to the region for talks with Israelis and Palestinians on sustaining the peace process. Britain currently holds the rotating presidency of the EU. Solana said a surge of violence showed the road ahead would not be easy. "The stakes are high. The leadership on both sides is under serious pressure. Both sides need Gaza disengagement to work, with important elections looming next year, and so do we," Solana told a conference in Paris. "For the Palestinians this is a chance to win over the skeptics, in Israel and elsewhere, that they can actually run their own affairs in a responsible manner," he told the Institute for Security Studies of the European Union. "For Israel, the logical priority is to ensure that Gaza will not become hostile territory from which terrorists launch attacks on neighboring communities and the rest of Israel. Events in the last few days and hours have reminded us that this will not be easy," Solana said, adding that the European 25-nation bloc was prepared to step up its involvement in the region, Reuters reported.
Britain Explores How to Maintain Peace Momentum. In London the UK Foreign Office said Monday that the British minister for Middle East affairs, Kim Howells, was traveling to the region for talks with Israelis and Palestinians on sustaining the peace process. "I will be visiting the region in the coming days to listen to Israelis and Palestinians and others working hard on the ground to clarify how we can maintain momentum in the peace process and to look specifically at how the international community can help the Palestinians make Gaza economically viable and secure," Howells said according to a press release by the British embassy in Tel Aviv. Before leaving London Howells expressed his great concern about the recent increase in violence in Gaza. The escalation in violence in Gaza in recent days serves no purpose but to endanger the opportunities for a better future that disengagement has offered the area," he said. He justified the Israeli military escalation as self-defense. "Israel has the right to self-defense when attacked, but it is important that their response is appropriate and proportionate," the press release quoted him as saying. Howells cast doubt on Hamas' announcement Monday that the Islamic Resistance Movement decided to halt its attacks on the Israeli occupation targets from the Gaza Strip and urged the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) to "do more. There can be no excuse for any sort of terrorist violence - and I condemn entirely the recent rocket attacks by Hamas," he said, adding: "Hamas have made such statements. The whole of the international community will hope that this announcement is genuine and that deeds follow words. Peace and security will not happen until terrorists renounce violence and crucial progress is made on Palestinian delivery of their security commitments," he said. Turning to the PNA he said: "The Palestinian Authority must do more." Elaborating, he added: 'The UK is working closely with the Palestinian Authority to help them improve their security measures. We have helped the PA develop better counter-terrorism capacity, supported the security mission of US General Ward and, with the EU, worked to build the capacity of the PA civil police. This crucial work must and will continue." Howells added that he would also be looking "specifically at how the international community can help the Palestinians make Gaza economically viable and secure." Earlier on Monday, British Chancellor of the Exchequer Gordon Brown told the Guardian newspaper in an interview that he would travel to the Middle East next month on a similar mission. Brown revealed Monday that he plans to lead an initiative with the support of the European Union and G-8 industrialized countries designed to rebuild the infrastructure of the areas controlled by the Palestinians. "I have talked to the Israeli Finance Ministry and I hope we can make a contribution that will recognize that a strong and fair economy can lower the amount of violence and underpin development," he said. "In the Palestinian authority area unemployment is 30 percent and maybe more...the area needs to grow by 10 percent a year for many years if we are going to tackle unemployment and poverty," the Guardian quoted the 54-year-old British chancellor -- who is expected to succeed Tony Blair as Prime Minister - as saying.

US Also 'Understands' Israel's Right to Defend Itself: Separately the US Administration on Monday similarly said that the United States understood the Jewish state's right to defend itself. "But, in taking actions to defend itself, we ask Israel to consider the effect that its actions may have on reaching the overall goal that all share of achieving two states living side-by-side in peace and security," US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack told reporters. McCormack, like Britain's Howells, also cast doubt on Hamas' announcement. Referring to Hamas' pledge on Sunday that it would halt rocket attacks from Gaza, McCormack said: 'Our views about Hamas as a terrorist organization are well known and unchanged." However, he urged both Israelis and Palestinians to stay calm and be free from violence. "We have, over the weekend, been in touch with both sides, with Israeli officials, with Palestinian officials," McCormack said. "We have urged all to help maintain an atmosphere of calm, free from violence." The PNA has repeatedly called on the United States to intervene with Israel to halt its military escalation. Presidential spokesman Nabil Abu Rudeineh told reporters that the PNA called upon Washington to interfere and prevent further escalation of violence. He said that US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice contacted President Abbas on Saturday evening and Rice stressed the importance of self-restraint to prevent deterioration of the situation in the region. Rice urged Abbas to continue contacts with Israel and the United States, Abu Rudeineh said.

However, BBC quoted the new US ambassador in Israel as saying: "We all know that the terrorists are trying to provoke Israel at a very sensitive time and we understand exactly what the government's position is and the response it has taken." The Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) have extra-judicially executed seven Palestinian activists in less than a week and detained more than 300 suspects more in the past 48 hours in the West Bank cities of Hebron, Bethlehem, Jenin, Qalqilyah, Ramallah, Tul Karm and Nablus. The IOF air force launched more than 17 air strikes against civilian Palestinian targets since Saturday, including a school that was hit by missles fired by an F-16, claiming the targets were hideouts for armed activists or workshops for manufacturing homemade rockets.