The anti-war movement and the Left is just as capable as other politicians of playing the politics of fear. There is very little hard evidence of foreign fighters in Iraq, the majority of the insurgents are Iraqis and despite claims in Washington, the Commander in Chief in Iraq, General Casey, recently said that as far as he could discover foreigners were playing a minimal role in the insurgency. "It starts with conclusions and makes up the evidence to support it. The neo-Conservatives didn't come to power in the US as a result of 9/11. Rumsfeld and Wolfowitz were already in the Defence Department before 9/1."The neo-Conservatives were part of the administration but if you talk to the neo-Cons, which I did, they will tell you candidly that they had very little influence during the early part of the Bush administration, particularly in foreign affairs.

"Are you saying it's a conspiracy?

 It was the events of 11 September that showed the president, they say, that what they had been warning of since the early 1990s was correct - that America faced dangerous threats in a new unipolar world, and the need for America to fight pre-emptive wars. This, as the programme said, brought them back to power in America. They would agree with this. "Are you saying it's a conspiracy?" No. The use of fear in contemporary politics is not the result of a conspiracy, the politicians have stumbled on it. I have simply discovered in the "war on terror" a way of restoring their authority by promising to protect us from something that only they can see. I don't think it will last. Already senior parts of the Establishment are beginning to question the very basis of the politicians' argument - that "al-Qaeda" is a threat like no other which "threatens the life of the nation". In the recent House of Lords ruling which said that the indefinite detention of foreign nationals without trial was illegal, one of the Law Lords - Lord Hoffman - publicly challenged the government's justification. He said: "This is a nation which has been tested in adversity, which has survived physical destruction and catastrophic loss of life. "

I do not underestimate the ability of fanatical groups of terrorists to kill and destroy, but they do not threaten the life of the nation. "Whether we would survive Hitler hung in the balance, but there is no doubt that we shall survive al-Qaeda. "The Spanish people have not said that what happened in Madrid, hideous crime as it was, threatened the life of their nation. Their legendary pride would not allow it. "Terrorist violence, serious as it is, does not threaten our institutions of government or our existence as a civil community." " Was the programme trying to change anything?" Yes. "Can the programme be compared to the red pill offered by Morpheus in The Matrix?" Thank you very much. But remember always to read the label before taking the medication. The Power of Nightmares will be broadcast over three nights from 18 to 20 January at 2320GMT on BBC Two. The final part has been updated in the wake of the Law Lords ruling in December that detaining foreign terrorist suspects without trial was illegal.-A. Curtiss.

PCRI ISSUES REPORT ON RECOMMENDATIONS FOR REFORMS IN PALESTINIAN TEXT BOOKS

By Dr. Gershon Baskin

[IMRA: "Palestinian text books have confused messages and it is not difficult to come to the understanding that the main political theme  imparted to the students is that Israel should not exist and that is essentially the Palestinian goal."
Gershon Baskin, Ph.D. Co-Director, IPCRI

PNA: Incitement in Palestinian Textbooks 'a Myth' Israeli Children Are Taught to Hate Arabs, Trained to Kill Them'

In a report titled "The Myth of Incitement in Palestinian Textbooks," the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education has refuted as "unfounded" the Israeli and US allegations that Palestinian textbooks incite hatred and violence, ahead of attempts by some US Congressmen to attach conditions to direct US aid to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), including changes to the Palestinian syllabus. US Congress in taking the unprecedented step of establishing an in-house oversight apparatus to monitor daily how American aid money to the Palestinian National Authority (PNA) is being spent. Following is the text of the ministry's report that was distributed to the foreign diplomatic corps in PNA as well as to the US institutions, Senators, congressmen and women:


The Myth of Incitement in Palestinian Textbooks: Allegations Unfounded

There has been a flood of accusations for several years over the content of Palestinian textbooks; that the textbooks incite children to hatred and violence towards Israeli Jews, and fail to promote the values of peace, tolerance and coexistence. This claim has been widely accepted as a fact mostly in the United States and Israeli official circles. Such claims are largely based on reports by the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace (CMIP), a Jewish organization with links to extremist and racist Israeli groups that advocate settlement activities in the Palestinian territories, expulsion (transfer) of Palestinians from their homeland, and claims that Palestinians are all "terrorists" that peace with them is not possible.  Israel's supporters now are intensifying their orchestrated crusade against Palestinian education, in preparation for the House International Relations Committee's planned consideration of the Foreign Relations Authorization bill, FY 2006-2007. The issue of Palestinian incitement "is going to be a very big issue for Congress as we move ahead to the next few years," said Ester Kurz, legislative strategy and policy director of the influential pro-Israel lobby, the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to Jewish American paper The Forward, 27 May 2005. Senator Hillary Clinton has continued to criticize Palestinian textbooks since her first Senate campaign. "All future aid to the Palestinian Authority must be contingent on strict compliance with their obligation to change all the textbooks in all grades-not just two at a time," she insisted five years ago. Unfortunately, she fails to realize that leading the campaign against what she calls "new generation of terrorists" is in itself  an act of incitement to hate and racism. ("Hillary Clinton: Link PA Aid to End to Antisemitism," Jerusalem Post 26 September 2000). A member of the United States Congress wrote to The New York Times: "According to the Center for Monitoring the Impact of Peace, today's sixth-grade Palestinian students are required to read the textbook 'Our Country Palestine,' which has a banner on the title page of Volume I that reads, 'There is no alternative to destroying Israel.'" (Steve Israel, letter to The New York Times, 10 June 2001, Section 4, p. 14). Had Congressman Steve Israel checked his sources before making his declaration,  he would have found that there is no such banner in the textbook. However, in their rush to judgment, some American politicians repeated the allegations without bothering to verify such claims. Thus, and consequently, victimizing the Palestinian people and children further. In the words of Alice Rothchild, co-chair of Visions of Peace with Justice, in a speech  given at World Fellowship Center August, 2001: "The campaign of the CMIP has created a self-fulfilling prophecy that is devastating to the peace movement." And she asked: "What does this tell us about our own stereotypes, racism, power relationships and knee jerk responses?"

Criticism of Palestinian textbooks has been largely based on claims by Israeli government sources and CMIP, who's work has been criticized as  "tendentious and highly misleading" by Nathan Brown, Professor of Political Science at George Washington University, and Senior Associate at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, who has also published his own studies on this subject. According to Prof. Brown, CMIP's "method was to follow harsh criticisms with quotation after quotation purporting to prove a point.In short, the CMIP reports read as if they were written by a ruthless prosecuting attorney anxious for a conviction at any cost. Exaggerated rhetoric, charges of anti-Semitism and racism, and denial of the significance of existing changes in the curriculum will hardly convince anyone further improvements are worth the effort." (Nathan J. Brown, Getting Beyond the Rhetoric about the Palestinian Curriculum, 1 January 2002). CMIP's claim that the European Union was funding Palestinian textbooks with anti-Semitic content infuriated Chris Patten, on the Foreign Affairs Committee of the European Parliament, and External Relations Commissioner. He declared: "It is a total fabrication that the European Union has funded textbooks with anti-Semitic arguments within them in Palestinian schools. It is a complete lie." The European Union, responding to the false allegations, issued a statement  on 15 May 2002 which asserted that: "Quotations attributed by earlier CMIP reports to the Palestinian textbooks are not found in the new Palestinian Authority schoolbooks funded by some EU Member States; some were traced to the old Egyptian and Jordanian text books that they are replacing, some to other books outside the school curriculum, and others not traced at all. While many of the quotations attributed to the new textbooks by the most recent CMIP report of November 2001 could be confirmed, these have been found to be often badly translated or quoted out of context, thus suggesting an anti-Jewish incitement that the books do not contain. Therefore, allegations against the new textbooks funded by EU members have proven unfounded."

In "A Study of the Impact of the Palestinian Curriculum", commissioned by the Belgian Technical Co-operation at the end of 2004, and conducted by education experts, Dr. Roger Avenstrup and Dr Patti Swarts, they found that: "In the light of the debate stirred by accusations of incitement to hatred and other criticisms of the Palestinian textbooks, there is no evidence at all of that happening as a result of the curriculum. What is of great concern to students, teachers and parents alike is that although they wish it, students find it difficult to accept peace and conflict resolution as a solution to the conflict, and teachers find it difficult to teach, while soldiers and settlers are shooting in the streets and in schools and checkpoints have to be braved every day. It would seem that the occupation is the biggest constraint to the realisation of these values in the Palestinian curriculum." In his evaluation of Palestinian Civic Education, Dr. Wolfram Reiss, University of Rostock, Germany, at the Conference on "Teaching for Tolerance, Respect and Recognition in Relation with Religion or Belief," Oslo, 2-5 September 2004, Wrote: "[I]t must be said first that, in general, the Palestinian textbooks cannot be considered a "war curriculum". At least these textbooks of Civics Education convey visions of society, in which tolerance to other religions, human rights, peace, pluralism, democracy and other values are encouraged and fostered much. There is no hatred or incitement against Israel, the Israeli people or Judaism. The textbooks do not contain anti-Semitic language." Dr. Reiss added that "civics education textbooks do not only avoid hatred and incitement against the West, but foster very much Western values: democracy, human rights, the individual rights, the education for peace and tolerance of all religions, the rights of women and children, the civil society and the protection of nature. From a Western perspective the civics education textbooks therefore have to be highly praised indeed." Finally, the Israel/Palestine Center for Research and Information (IPCRI), in their June 2004 report, "Analysis and Evaluation of the New Palestinian Curriculum" (30 books for Grades 4 and 9), commissioned by the US Congress and submitted to the Public Affairs Office of the US Consulate General in Jerusalem, concluded that: "There is, moreover, no indication of hatred of the Western Judeo-Christian tradition or the values associated with it," and that "the textbooks promote an environment of open-mindedness, rational thinking, modernization, critical reflection and dialogue." The report also confirmed that the textbooks "promote civil activity, commitment, responsibility, solidarity, respecting others' feelings, respecting and helping people with disabilities, and... reinforce students' understanding of the values of civil society such as respecting human dignity; religious, social, cultural, racial, ethnic, and political pluralism; personal, social and moral responsibility; transparency and accountability."
Palestinians welcome having their own textbooks examined and scrutinized from an academic, not prosecutorial stand point, but it is also fair and legitimate to ask those rushing to prosecute to look at Israeli curricula and compare how each side views the "other". Incidentally, the United States Congress has an ongoing program to fund research on Palestinian school books, but is on record as refusing to pay a dime for research on Israeli school books. Concern about Palestinian education and curricula, however, can gain credibility if it is not seen as blatantly one-sided and totally political.

Israeli Incitement

Those who are critical of what Palestinian children are learning should try to find out how Israeli children are taught to hate Arabs, and trained to kill them? Israeli daily newspaper Yedioth Ahronot, May 7th 2002, published a letter titled "Dear Soldiers, Please Kill a Lot of Arabs," that came from Israeli children who sent such letters to Israeli soldiers serving in the Tulkarm area during the so-called "Operation Defensive Shield". The letters sent by Israeli school students encouraged soldiers to disregard rules and regulations and to kill as many Arabs as possible. According to "Yedioth Ahronoth", dozens of the letters were sent to soldiers, mostly from children in the 7th through 10th grades, attending religious schools. Egyptian researcher Safa Abdel-Aal studied the Israeli curriculum and media, and published her findings in a new book entitled Racist Education in the Israeli Curricula in which she found that Israel's educational curricula incite the new generation for war, and racism against the Arabs. Abdel-Aal's book analyses eleven history and five geography books for elementary school from grades three to six. She thought that these books deliberately paint distorted pictures of the Arabs, giving them such derogatory descriptions as "Arab thieves" or "embezzlers", and saying they are "bastards, thirsty for Jewish blood" or that they are "underdeveloped Bedouins" and "vagrant highway robbers," and "house of Arab reptiles". Abdel-Aal said that Arabs are maliciously described as murderers and thieves. In one example she quoted the following from one Israeli textbook, "despite a harsh climate and strange environment full of attacks by Arab embezzlers, thieves and terrorists". And in another citation that refers to the city of Tiberias where "a feeling of insecurity and fear of the Arab murderers spread among the residents of the city." Ruth Firer and Sami Adwan, an Israeli and a Palestinian scholar, who conducted research comparing Palestinian and Israeli textbooks, March 2002, wrote that the Israeli books "strongly emphasizing the collective values connected to the history of the Jewish nation in 'their land' and God's promises to the Jews that give them an absolute right on the land. The land of Eretz Israel described in the books includes the territories of the PNA from 1967."

A study by Daniel Bar-Tal of Tel-Aviv University reviewed 124 Hebrew language books approved for use in 1994 by the Ministry of Education. The study concludes that "the majority of [Israeli school] books stereotype Arabs negatively." In one children's book, Bar-Tal offers this sampling, "We were lonely. pioneers surrounded by a sea of enemies and murderers." In elementary school books, according to Bar-Tal, Arabs are often stereotyped negatively and portrayed as "uneducated people and enemies." In a report titled "Israeli Textbooks and Children's Literature Promote Racism and Hatred toward Palestinians and Arabs," journalist Maureen Meehan concluded that "Israeli school textbooks as well as children's storybooks, portray Palestinians and Arabs as 'murderers,' 'rioters,' 'suspicious', and generally backward and unproductive. Direct delegitimization and negative stereotyping of Palestinians and Arabs are the rule rather than the exception in Israeli schoolbooks." (Washington Report for Middle East Affairs September 1999) In a study presented at the hearing of the political committee of the European Parliament, 24 October 2003, titled "The attitude towards Palestinians in Israeli textbooks," Dr. Nurit Elhanan, of the Hebrew University, revealed that "the Palestinians are absent from all textbooks, The Occupation is never mentioned, and the area where Palestinians live is  presented in the maps either as an empty space referred to as 'an area  without data' (Man and Space maps) or it is incorporated into the state of Israel (The Geography of the land of Israel maps). In both cases use of the term 'occupation' is out of the question, since you cannot occupy illegally what is yours anyway and you cannot occupy illegally an empty space." Dr. Elhanan added: "When reference is made to date in the West Bank it is only to Jewish colonies or to main cities like Nablus, Hebron or Beth Lehem as Israeli tourist sites.In Israel today there is already a second generation of children who don't know there are occupation, illegal domination and illegal settlements." A report by an Israeli research institution, The New Profile, entitled Child Recruitment in Israel, 29 July 2004, by: Amir Givol, Neta Rotem, Sergeiy Sandler, reveals the extent of the militarization of the Israeli education system. It states: "To begin with, militarised education naturally feeds on the militarism prevalent in society at large. In a country where various kinds of weaponry are permanently displayed in public places and the status of the military is used to promote anything from cheese to political candidates, militarised education comes natural. One absorbs militarism at home and on the street. The military is physically present in schools and school activities. Soldiers in uniform are stationed in schools, many of them are actually teaching classes. Other teachers, and especially principals, are recently retired career officers, without proper teacher training. High schools normally have a display on one of the walls in the school building with the names and photographs of "the fallen" among their graduates. School field trips, at all ages, are often made to military memorials set up on former battle grounds." Official curricula and textbooks also reflect the militaristic attitudes inherent in the Israeli educational system, all the way from kindergarten to the last years of high school, where there is a mandatory programme for all Jewish state-run schools called "preparation for the IDF," that in most cases includes actual military training. Whole curricular subjects are often described to the pupils, and in official documents, as having the aim of preparing pupils, or some of them, to military service. Glorifications of the military and military conquest, and negative or skewed representation of Palestinians, are to be found in many Israeli textbooks."

Education Under Occupation

Roger Avenstrup, who is an international education consultant and has worked in various countries in conflict and post-conflict situations, wrote in the International Herald Tribune, December 18, 2004, that the "biggest constraint, in the words of a Palestinian parent, is that Israeli tanks and soldiers are shooting in the streets outside while teachers are trying to promote peace in the classroom." Since September 2000, according to the Palestinian State Information Service (SIS), Israel has killed over 4,032 Palestinians, including 750 children; and wounded over 45,000 as of April 30, 2005. Denial of access to medical facilities at checkpoints caused the death of 131 civilians. Of a population of 3.5 million, the Israeli occupation still imprisons 8,500 Palestinians, including 350 minors; 69,843 homes were damaged, 7,438 of those were completely destroyed. Haim Yavin, Israeli Popular TV Anchor since 1968, commenting in the first segment of a five-part documentary he produced, after listening to settlers insisting that God gave them the lands, admitted: "Since 1967, we have been brutal conquerors, occupiers, suppressing another people. We simply don't view the Palestinians as human beings." And "At one point, according to AP report "Yavin shifted the camera toward the Israeli soldiers to ask why they weren't letting people through. 'I look for danger in these people and I can't find it,' Yavin said in the film." (Associated Press, May 31, 2005) Fouad Moughrabi, director of the Qattan Center for Educational Research andDevelopment, Ramallah, Palestine, wrote, "I find no evidence of brain washing or anti-Jewish incitement in the new texts produced by the PA." He noted that "Israel's occupation of Palestinian lands breeds more hatred and mistrust than any schoolbooks can." The Convention on the Rights of Child of November 1991, Article 2, obliges State Parties to "respect and ensure the rights set forth in the present Convention to each child within their jurisdiction." Israel has repeatedly violated these rights and ignored it obligations. In its 20 November 2004 press release, Defense for Children International (DCI), appealed "to the international community and world leaders to abide by their declared commitment to protect the rights of all children, including the children of Palestine. We urge them to bring pressure on the Israeli government, to abide by international law and end the occupation which is incompatible with any declared commitment to promoting and protecting the basic human rights of all." In the same press release (20 November 2004) DCI reported that: "Since the start of the second Intifada on 29 September 2000, Palestinian children have borne the brunt of the upsurge in Israeli violence. Over the course of the past four years, more than 660 Palestinian children have been killed and almost 9,000 injured - hundreds of whom have been left with permanent physical disabilities. Many thousands more are suffering psychological  trauma from the daily horrors they witness. An estimated 3,000 children have been arrested during this Intifada, while currently there are still 335 children being held in Israeli prisons and detention centers."

Conclusion

The First Palestinian Curriculum Plan of 1998 stated that the principles of the Palestinian curriculum are that Palestine is a democratic state, ruled by a democratic parliamentary system; Palestine is a peace-loving state, working towards international understanding and cooperation based on  equality, liberty, dignity, peace and human rights; Palestinian national and cultural identity must be fostered and developed; social justice, equality  and the provision of equal learning opportunities for all Palestinians, to the limits of their individual capacity must be ensured without discrimination on grounds of race, religion, color, or gender; opportunities must be provided to develop all Palestinians intellectually, socially,  physically, spiritually and emotionally, to become responsible citizens, able to participate in solving problems of their community, their country and the world. Palestinian opposition to Israel must be understood in the context of their opposition to Israeli occupation and oppression, their quest for freedom and self-determination, self preservation, and national liberation. Ruth Firer, of the Hebrew University, who carried out research on Palestinian textbooks was quoted in Americans for Peace Now published interview as saying "we were surprised to find how moderate the anger directed toward Israelis in the Palestinian textbooks is, compared to the Palestinian predicament and suffering." Experience has shown that changes in school textbooks and syllabi are not at all the necessary ingredients for the fulfillment of a meaningful peace agreement between states in conflict, but rather the sincere will and commitment of both parties for achieving such an agreement. For over fifty years Palestinians have tried reconciliation and compromise. They declared a state on 22 percent of their original country for the sake of peace and security, through the Palestine National Council Conference of 1988 in Algiers, and accepted all U.N. resolutions regarding the Palestinian issue.

In 1993 the PLO signed the Oslo Agreement which called for ending the Israeli occupation and implementing the two-state solution. The Israelis responded by expanding settlement activities, in violation of international law and the Oslo Agreements at a frantic rate, with more violence, more land expropriation and house demolitions, incitement, demonization, and eventually the canonization of the Palestinian population in apartheid-like ghettos. More recently, the (apartheid) Wall, which was condemned by the International Court of Justice at The Hague and by the international community, has added to the inciting nature of measure taken by the Israeli government against the Palestinian population under occupation. As long as Israel continues to look for excuses attacking Palestinian institutions to smoke screen it brutal military occupation, and to deny the Palestinians' self-determination, freedom, and human rights, in violation of international law, and all U.N. resolutions, the conflict will continue. Palestinians need peace more than any other nation on earth, but peace must be based on mutual respect and justice for all.  IMRA - Independent Media Review and Analysis

 

New al-Qaida Video Headlines on al-Arabiya "As you bomb, you will be bombed!"

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates- A purported al-Qaida video shows militants in Afghanistan - including Europeans, Arabs and others - preparing to attack U.S. troops and showing off what they said was a U.S. military laptop. The video, parts of which have been shown by Al-Arabiya television, including a segment aired Tuesday, features interviews with a masked man yelling "As you bomb, you will be bombed" and shows a group of men packing explosives into bombs. The authenticity of the videotape could not be confirmed. U.S. air force Capt. Lennea Montandon, a spokeswoman for the U.S. Central Command in Qatar, said the military would not comment because it had not seen the broadcast. If authentic, the program would be the latest attempt by the al-Qaida network to use the broadcast media and Internet to promote its cause. The three-part video, titled The War of the Oppressed People, depicts what appears to be a few months in the lives of a group of fighters in wilderness camps in the Afghan mountains. The men cook tea over campfires and kneel in prayer under the open skies, then duck into a makeshift classroom where an instructor outlines the coming "operation to defeat the crucifix" against U.S. and allied forces. In one scene, the tape claims al-Qaida was responsible for shooting down a U.S. Chinook helicopter, killing all 16 American troops on board. The tape features an appearance by top-ranking al-Qaida member Abd al-Hadi al-Iraqi, as well as shots of a U.S. air force A-10 jet making bombing runs on a mountainside, and a closeup of a U.S. soldier quivering face down on the ground. Al-Iraqi, speaking with a scarf hiding his face, says the U.S.-led wars in Afghanistan and Iraq have created "two fronts" for recruiting fighters to the cause of Osama bin Laden and Taliban leader Mullah Omar. "Now all the world is united behind Mullah Omar and Sheik Osama," he says. The program includes interviews with fighters claiming they are avenging the killing of Muslims by the U.S., Britain, Israel and India. "If this is terrorism and fundamentalism, then OK, we are terrorists and fundamentalists," a Pakistani man who identifies himself as Bilal says in Urdu. The tapes feature a diatribe by a British-or Australian-accented man wearing a black robe, AK-47 and military-style vest, who warns westerners of "the lies of (British Prime Minister Tony) Blair and (U.S. President George W.) Bush." "The Muslim world is not your backyard," he yells. "The honorable sons of Islam will not let you kill our sons. It is time for us to be equals. As you kill, you will be killed. As you bomb, you will be bombed." One grisly segment shows a dead soldier lying face up, his bearded face caked in blood. The soldier, perhaps an Afghan, is dressed in green camouflage fatigues with a red shoulder patch. The insurgents display his rifle, an American M-16. In another scene, a group of bombmakers slices white bricks of plastic explosive, packing them into cooking oil cans along with heavy steel bolts and gobs of glue. Green-hued night footage shows the men digging holes at the roadside and planting the bombs. Later, shaky footage follows a blue sport utility vehicle as it travels along a remote dirt road. Text on the bottom of the screen says the car is carrying the head of security for Afghanistan's Kunar province. Without warning the vehicle is ripped apart in a giant fireball. The attack appears to depict the June 28 roadside bombing that killed a district police chief and two other officers. Yet another scene pans across a cache of captured U.S. gear, including a laptop, an M-16, military radios, a global positioning satellite display and the ID card of slain navy SEAL Danny Dietz. Dietz, 25, of Littleton, Colo., was killed June 28 after his four-man reconnaissance team came under attack in Kunar province. The Chinook helicopter was downed and the 16 troops killed as the craft was on its way to aid Dietz, killing all aboard. An insurgent is shown going through the laptop's hard drive, zooming in on a U.S. military document marked "For Official Use Only" and a map of Kabul marked with the locations of the U.S. and British embassies. The film is subtitled in Arabic, but carries interviews in English, French, Pashto and Urdu, as well as Arabic spoken with Yemeni, Saudi and Iraqi accents. Baker Atyani, Al-Arabiya's Asia bureau chief, said the network received the tape last week, but would not say how or where it was delivered. By Jim Krayne.

Al-Zahar:  London bombings, which occurred during the interview, are to be expected in countries that support the United States.

"It's no wonder today they have found terror attacks in their home," he said. "I am opposed to attacks against civilians, whoever they are, but why not tell it like it is - if the British soldiers were not in Baghdad and Bazra - there would be mercy for London today." However, al-Zahar stopped short of supporting the attack on the London Underground, but tried to "explain" the acts of suicide bombers. "There is a broad popular people's movement against American arrogant hegemony. World leaders, headed by the Bush and Blair governments, should have been more attentive to the voice of poorer countries."

Foreign Ministry protests: In Israel, Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom provided a translation of part of the interview and parts of the Hamas constitution Foreign Minister Silvan Shalom for European Union envoy Javier Solana, in an attempt to explain Israel's rejection for negotiations with Hamas. The Ministry has also embarked on a campaign to discourage Europeans from dealing with Hamas, including an English translation of Hamas's convention, to be distributed to diplomats in a bid to illustrate the movement's radical and dangerous character to the attention of decision makers throughout the world. "Now, when Europe has offered to recognize Hamas on a political level, al-Zahar provides clear statements of what to expect from the organization," Ministry officials told Ynet. "He does not even attempt to speak ambiguously in an attempt to please Europe and finds it difficult to hide the group's happiness at the London bombings."

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. 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.

Iran recruits suicide bombers against Israel, the Jews and the USA. An advertisement in the  Iranian press has called for people to come forward for "martyrdom operations" against the enemies of Islam.: Israel, the Jews and the United States. The message focused on the  necessity of eliminating Israel and fighting the Jews worldwide. A large segment of the advertisement preached the urgent need of establishing Islam as "the only religion" in the world. It is published by an institute managed by one of Iran's most conservative and radical clerics, Ayatollah Masbah Yazdi, who has declared his support for Iran's new President, Mahmoud Ahmedinejad. The advertisement calls for men and women to enlist with the "Martyrdom Lovers' Headquarters". It says the idea is to achieve "all-out readiness" against the enemies of Islam - and the Islamic Republic of Iran. Those who are picked will be specially trained for their missions in different divisions in every province. To apply, all that is needed are photographs, a form and a copy of a birth certificate. Symbolic: This is not the first time Iranians have registered for suicide missions - though in Islam a clear distinction is made between ordinary suicide and martyrdom for a religious cause. Several people have signed up with different organizations to defend the holy shrines in Iraq and the rights of Palestinians. But in practice, their pledges are merely symbolic and it is highly unlikely that they would actually go on suicide missions. One function was held earlier this year to honor dead Palestinian women suicide bombers, and a huge mural in central Tehran still depicts one Palestinian woman who had two children, yet chose to die.

Iran: Campaign to Recruit Suicide Bombers Spreading

Photo: "It is a short distance to Karbala" ... "registration for martyrdom operations", as written on this Iranian poster appearing at Shiraz University campus.

Iranian domestic media and opposition websites have provided new details about Iran's ongoing campaign to recruit suicide bombers and have suggested the campaign is spreading throughout the country. Media have also reported statements by Iran's leaders encouraging the suicide bomber campaign.  This week,  the weekly Ya Lesarat , the organ of the Iranian Ansar-e Hizballah [supporters of Hizballah], published an extensive report on the 2 June meeting organized by the General Staff for Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign to recruit "martyrdom seekers."  According to the weekly, a Majlis deputy from Tehran, Mehdi Kuchekzadeh, spoke on the martyrdom culture and "declared his readiness to become a martyr seeker."  The paper said General Salami, deputy commander of operations at the Islamic Revolution Guard Corps (IRGC) Joint Chiefs of Staff Headquarters, appeared in full military uniform. He declared that the "Global Arrogance [the US and its allies] would come to its knees in the face of martyrdom operations, despite its technological superiority."  Ya Lesarat also reported that "charismatic" speaker Hasan 'Abbasi, the director of the Centre for Doctrinal Studies of Security Across Frontiers, an IRGC Imam Hussein University institution, gave the "most effective" presentation. According to the weekly, 'Abbasi said: "The West needs to know that we cannot stop our youth, and there will remain no security for the Jewish and Christian worlds . . . We will not and cannot stop the disruption of the present order." Before his departure, Dr. 'Abbasi "filled out the form to become a martyr."  Ya Lesarat also reported that IRGC General Sa'id Qasemi and Hojjat ol-Eslam Hamid Sabzevari addressed the gathering. Sabzevari spoke on the "religious basis and justification for seeking martyrdom." In addition, the weekly interviewed Mohammad 'Ali Samadi, an organizer of the campaign, who characterized the campaign as "global" in nature, embracing "all Islamic movements and both Shia and Sunni Muslims," and identified the "US, Israel, and their lackeys" as the targets of the "martyrs."

 Ya Lesarat also carried an interview with Mrs. Foruz Raja'eifar, the director of the recruitment campaign. A former US Embassy hostage taker, Raja'eifar stressed that "through this event, we are sending a message both to the Islamic world and its enemies." Raja'eifar is the editor of the hardline publication Sobhe-e Dukoheh , directed by the prominent Iranian Hizballah figure Masoud Dehnamaki. Raja'eifar had also expounded on the campaign in a 2 June interview with Hamshahri, the daily of Tehran Municipality. In that interview, she stressed the need to "adopt martyrdom-seeking as a strategic struggle, educate the Iranian youth until it becomes a fundamental cultural movement, and defend its religious and legal basis." She added that martyrs "don't lose anything but gain God's Paradise and eternal joy."  ILNA also carried a report on the 2 June meeting, pointing out that IRGC deputy commander Salami spoke on "martyrdom and military and security strategies," while Hasan 'Abbasi addressed "martyrdom as the last weapon." It also reported the presence of IRGC General Sa'id Qasemi (4 June).

Media Report Campaign Spreading

Since the 2 June meeting, Iranian media and opposition websites have offered further insights into the campaign to recruit suicide bombers. According to the opposition website R ouydad , located at www.rouydad.info , the General Staff for Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign issued a statement on 18 June declaring that they are ready to move like "burning arrows targeting the heart of Americans." The statement added that "Iranian Muslim youth have their own special method to respond to the enemy."  The opposition website Peiknet suggested that posters for the campaign, which it said "involves the Basij and Hizballah elements," have been appearing at Shiraz University campus. The posters announce a campaign to recruit bombers by the Basij forces, headed by an individual named Puryazdanparast ( www.peiknet.com, 23 June). The poster reads: "It is a short distance to Karbala" and "registration for martyrdom operations." Pictures of President Bush and Israeli Prime Minister Sharon are featured on the poster.  Opposition websites are carrying the application to register to become a suicide bomber. The application provides options for attacking Coalition forces in Iraq, Israel, and author Salman Rushdi, condemned to death by Imam Khomeyni in 1989 for writing Satanic Verses. The first reference to the General Staff for Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign was observed in February when, according to the daily Jomhuri-ye Eslami , the group offered a ,000 reward for the "killing of British novelist Salman Rushdi" (16 February).

Leaders Support Suicide Bomber Campaign

Opposition websites have also reported Iranian leadership support for the campaign. -- The Gooya news website reported that Hashemi-Rafsanjani spoke about "the capacity and preparation of mosques for organizing Kafanpushan [literally shroud wearers, those ready to be martyred]" at the same meeting where a member of the General Staff for Glorification of Martyrs of the Global Islamic Campaign "referred to the Japanese kamikaze during WWII and stressed that they should have targeted the civilians" ( www.gooya.com, 22 June).  -- The opposition website Peiknet reported on 8 June that Mayor of Tehran Ahmadinejad is one of the principal forces behind the campaign. [In recent weeks, a number of conservative dailies, including Resalat , have been widely promoting Ahmadinejad as the next President of Iran.]  -- Reporting on the suicide bomber recruitment campaign, the Rouydad website wrote that "Mohammad Mohammadi Golpaygani, the chief of staff of Leader Khamene'i, declared at a mosque in the western Province of Ilam that the Leader has soldiers in the four corners of the Earth who are ready to sacrifice their lives for him, and some of them live in the United States" ( www.rouydad.info , 14 June).  In an unusual move, the 13 June Keyhan , the hardline semi-official daily directed by Hussein Shariatmadari, representative of Leader Khamene'i, carried an unsigned editorial which called for a decisive stance against the West, similar to "Imam Khomeyni's handling of the Salman Rushdi affair." It added, "It is not right to think of defense and ignore operating deep in their land . . . and waging Islamic resistance." The editorial stressed that "we need to make them understand that we can disrupt their security, not necessarily with military action but with Basij [mobilization but also a reference to the Islamic militia in Iran] and concentrated effort . . . we can challenge them deep in their homeland." Encouraging action on the part of the "lovers of Velayat [Leader Khamene'i]," Keyhan urged them to get their cue from "his hints" [eshareh: love-glance] and not wait for his orders and "assignment of duties to the detriment of the religion, nation, and country." [Editorials in Kehyan are usually signed by Hussein Shariatmadari or his deputies.]