Assad not hopeful of Israel talks

Author:
Source: Arab News
Date: 2009-04-27

Syrian President Bashar Assad insisted on the return of the Golan Heights but said he could not foresee peace talks with Israel anytime soon, in an interview with an Austrian daily published yesterday.

“What counts in the end, is that there is occupied territory that must be returned to Syria, and then we can talk about peace,” Assad told the newspaper Die Presse, ahead of a visit to Austria yesterday. “We do not make a peaceful solution dependent on the Israeli government. Governments in Israel come and go, whereas peace is a fixed goal that one must work toward consistently, even when there is no partner,” he said.

Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman yesterday toned down his previous statements regarding peace prospects with Syria, telling Israel Radio he would be willing to immediately hold peace talks with Syria, but only without preconditions.

Over the weekend, Lieberman was quoted in the Austrian daily Kleine Zeitung saying Syria is not a partner for peace as it “hosts the headquarters of terror organizations” and “supports Iran’s nuclear program.” The Foreign Minister also recently told Israeli daily Jerusalem Post that Israel doesn’t “see any good will from the Syrian side, only the threats.”

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Abu Dhabi air traffic rises in spite of downturn

Author:
Source: Saudi Gazette
Date: 2009-04-26

Abu Dhabi International Airport overall passenger traffic last March increased 7.9 percent compared to the same month in the previous year, with a daily average of 24,833 passengers, Abu Dhabi Airports Company (ADAC) said on Saturday. Aircraft movements also increased by 4.5 percent.

For the first time, London has taken the top position as Abu Dhabi’s busiest route, with Doha coming a close second. Bangkok ranked third in spite of the recent political unrest, whilst Cairo came in fourth place. Bahrain was the airport’s fifth busiest destination for the month, boosted by the arrival of Bahrain Air on March 30 at Abu Dhabi International Airport.

The Indian subcontinent saw the strongest growth, driven by Etihad’s growing capacity to South India and increased weekly frequencies. Traffic to and from India increased by 32 percent whilst Pakistan traffic grew 12.7 percent, making it the largest and second largest markets respectively. The UK remains Abu Dhabi’s third largest market with The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia a close fourth. Strong traffic growth was also registered for Lebanon, up 20.7 percent.
Mohammed Al Bulooki, vice president of Airline Marketing and Aeronautical Revenue, said: “We are happy to say our passenger figures are still growing.

Naturally, attracting new airlines contributes to this growth, however we believe the excitement and interest in Abu Dhabi that exists within international markets drives a large part of the growth. With many exciting new developments to look forward to and with the Abu Dhabi Tourism Authority (ADTA) predicting an increase in capacity for tourism, with 4,000 new hotel rooms coming online in 2009, we expect Abu Dhabi’s popularity as a destination for commerce and tourism to continue to increase. All of this contributes to our expansion plan to increase capacity and improve our facilities at Abu Dhabi International Airport.”

Mail volumes increased by a massive 39.9 percent, led by the increase in mail volume to the US and Australia, and cargo movements made a modest increase of 2 percent in March.
ADAC is a public joint-stock company wholly owned by the Abu Dhabi Government. It was incorporated by Amiri Decree number 5, issued on 4 March 2006, to spearhead the development of the Emirate’s aviation infrastructure.

In September 2006, ADAC took over responsibility for the operation and management of Abu Dhabi and Al Ain international Airports. In 2008, ADAC added Al Bateen private jet airport.

Links:
Abu Dhabi International Airport

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Stem cell association shut down in Jeddah

Author:
Source: Saudi Gazette
Date: 2009-04-26

Health authorities on Saturday shut down an association here collecting stem cells.
The association used to take stem cells from the umbilical cord linking the mother and the fetus, after convincing the family that the cells could be kept for up to twenty years and used if the child or anyone in the family suffered from any dangerous disease.

The association used to save the stem cells in special labs and charged the family an annual fee.
The stem cells can be used to treat falciparum anemia, Mediterranean anemia, hemophilia, endocrine tumors, tumors of blood, as well as diseases of the immune system, diabetes, and heart disease.

“After we made an inspection tour of the association, we discovered that the institution was functioning without a proper license from the Ministry of Health,” said Mohammed Abduljawad, assistant director of Jeddah Health Affairs Management.

The Ministry of Health, he said, is still studying the possibility of using stem cells from all angles – religious, moral, and scientific.

“Many local and international scientists have studied the advantages and disadvantages of using stem cells, but until now there have been no clear cut results,” added Abduljawad.

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Police crack mystery of crime wave in Riyadh

Author:
Source: Saudi Gazette
Date: 2009-04-26

Riyadh Police busted a gang that allegedly carried out a string of armed robberies and thefts in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts in the capital over the past four months.

The arrests were made after methodical investigation led undercover policemen to one of the suspects, a Saudi man in his twenties, a police statement said. The arrested suspect led the police to several alleged accomplices, at least two of them Saudis, who were all arrested.

The investigators worked on the basis of several similar crimes reported, starting with a complaint made to Al-Malaz Police Station by an Asian expatriate in his thirties who said three dark-skinned men, one of them toting a pistol, attacked him in the shop where he was working. They robbed prepaid telephone cards from him and fled in a sea-blue Hyundai Accent.
Three months later, Al-Malaz Police Station received a similar report of three dark-skinned men attacking an Asian worker in a shop and getting away with SR4,000 in cash, several prepaid phone cards and his mobile telephone. This time, the escape car was a green Honda Civic.
On the same day, Al-Malaz Police Station received another similar report, and more followed in the days afterwards.

The Director of Riyadh Police got the the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) to investigate and soon enough a link was made to a green Honda Civic that was reported stolen by a Saudi national who had parked it in front of his home.

Since the crimes were all in Al-Malaz and Al-Manar districts, the investigators undercover policemen into these areas, which resulted in the breakthrough.
The suspects would be referred to the court, the police statement said.

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Who is Responsible for the Safety of Iraq?

Author: Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed
Source: Asharq Al-Awsat
Date: 2009-04-26

There is serious concern regarding the return of violence in Iraq. Last Thursday, two explosions shook Iraq and 180 people were killed and injured. One of the bombings targeted civilians whilst the other was carried out by a female suicide bomber who killed ten policemen who were distributing aid to displaced families in south-east Baghdad. It is as if the incidents of the past are repeating themselves only less frequently.

It is assumed that the years of bloodshed since 2004 have taught the Iraqis some basic facts, enough to counter the renewal of the plot to set Iraq alight once more. The Iraqis have realised that the majority of bombings are carried out against civilians rather than military bodies, whether American or Iraqi; this contradicts the claim that it is resistance. Many of these explosions sought to cause sectarian violence by targeting Sunni mosques and Shia Husseiniyas. They would be followed by statements and recordings that openly call for sectarian war. Moreover, a number of those who were arrested gave a clear picture of the nature of terrorism, arguing that it not like how the Arab media portrays it - as insurgence and national resistance - and evidence of this is the fact that the most violent insurgents were [non-Iraqi] Arabs and non-Arabs. Furthermore, weapons and explosives were brought into Iraq from abroad in an organized manner, which indicated that regional governments had a hand in this procedure.

At a later stage, through political interaction and commitment of these governments to cooperate regarding security, the violence came to an abrupt stop. Moreover, information revealed that most of the activists abroad - Iraqis in opposition who were involved in terror acts - were actually linked to foreign parties. In short, many of the incidents that occurred in Iraq were not acts of innocent resistance. The fact of the matter is that most of the bombings have targeted Iraqi civilians, which means that the purpose of all this was to stipulate conditions upon the Americans and the new Iraqi regime in the interests of foreign powers and not for the liberation of the country.

Despite that stability in Iraq is still young and cannot be regarded as a permanent feature, a slight taste of it has served as enough to convince the Iraqis that the experience of the past four years was more of a conspiracy against the Iraqi citizen than a war against the existing regime. The Iraqi government is right to launch this ongoing campaign to convince Iraqi citizens that they will be the first to benefit from stability, and that they are primarily responsible for protecting this stability by rejecting acts of terror regardless of their opinions on other matters. The opposition in Iraq enjoy a wider margin of expression than many other Arab countries to bring about change through the media and the elections.

Iraqis, including those who live in relatively safe areas such as the Kurdish north, have learnt that stability is a necessity that must be upheld by everybody regardless of their differences regarding government, resources and territories. Chaos would only lead to prolonging the presence of foreign troops on their land and would offer regional powers the opportunity to contribute to the sabotage and disintegration of the country. The Iraqis have realized that the proposals of division, such as dividing the country based on sectarian differences, fail to unite even the people of the same sect. On the contrary, such proposals sow seeds of conflict amongst people of the same doctrine. Evidence of this is the fighting that has erupted amongst members of the Shia sect and also amongst the Sunnis.

If the years of violence fail to convince Iraqi citizens to denounce bloodshed and terrorism in all its forms then no power, no matter how great it might be, will be able to protect them.

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Self-appointed preachers jump on the bandwagon

Author:
Source: The Egyptian Gazette
Date: 2009-04-25

Female self-appointed preachers have invaded the women-only cars of the Cairo underground metro advising the Muslim passengers to wear the hijab (a headscarf), or the niqab (a full face veil).Sometimes these preachers, who introduce themselves as "sisters who are interested in the well-being of their Muslim sisters", give female passengers free CDs of a lecture by a Sheikh, who stresses the virtues of donning the veil, or the niqab.Moreover, they give themselves the right to lecture the women on how to be a good Muslim, or how to pray, and the importance of cutting short any talk or friendship with non-Muslims, according to bothered commuters."

These self-appointed metro preachers take the liberty to lecture us about all aspects of Islam - prayer, fasting, 'zakat' (charity), pilgrimage and the 'shehada' (declaration of faith)," said Fathia, a commerce student.These women, who offer religious advice to strangers but have no formal training, always focus their attention on unveiled passengers, or university students wearing tight clothes.One of these CDs is about an actress, who tells her own story of adopting the veil as a means of rejecting secular public life while she was at the peak of her fame. In this CD, she regretted her previous works and the time she spent without wearing the veil. A university student from Cairo called Raniya, who wears the niqab, said that she and her friends had made copies of these CDs at their home to distribute them freely among the metro passengers."It is a sort of charity that I want to give to women so that they know the basic principles of their religion," she explained.

Moreover, the self-appointed preachers hang stickers on the metro doors and windows to remind the female passengers of manners Muslim women should have, such as honesty, kindness and patience.The stickers read: "The Path to God begins with the Hijab". During the times of regional crises, like the recent Israeli onslaught on the the Gaza Strip, the stickers called on the Muslim women to support the Palestinians and collect donations for Gazans.

But, it is feared that these self-appointed preachers would replace moderate Islam, which the majority of Egyptians adhere to, with an extreme version fuelled by an economic crisis that has hit the country.These women preach extreme Islamic values in terms that relate to life in the 21st century in fire-and-brimstone sermons, say critics.Preaching, activities need training and professionals who know the religion, they add.

Egypt, a predominantly Muslim country, has recently experienced an upsurge of Islamism reflecting in having the vast majority of Muslim women appearing in public donning the hijab or the niqab."But, it is not acceptable for anyone to appoint herself as a preacher on the metro and order women to follow her."

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Brotherhood won't risk confronting State

Author:
Source: The Egyptian Gazette
Date: 2009-04-25

EGYPT's Muslim Brotherhood, increasingly excluded from mainstream politics, says it will not risk open confrontation with the State by taking to the streets in large-scale protests. Mohamed Habib, deputy leader of Egypt's banned group, said the Brotherhood would not risk that path without more substantial popular support and clear objectives.Smaller opposition groups have often decried the apparent unwillingness of the Brotherhood, which seeks an Islamic state through democratic means, to use its resources to agitatemore aggressively for change in the most populous Arab country."

For the Brotherhood to go out alone, no," Habib told Reuters in an interview ."You're talking about anarchy and that is something no one accepts, in addition to the fact that it can be exploited by the mob to damage public and private property," Habib added. Habib said he saw promise in a bur- geoning social protest movement working on issues of poverty and social justice.The Brotherhood won roughly a fifth of the seats in the lower house of Parliament in 2005, but authorities have since obstructed its efforts to further its electoral gains in more recent votes for municipal councils or the upper and lower houses of Parliament."

The conviction must be born among the people that the issue of reform and change is dependent on them, more thanit is dependent on political and national forces," Habib said.He added that emerging social protest movements had the potential to snowball, fuelled by tensions caused by the massive rift between wealthy businessmen allied with the State and the vast majority of Egyptians who live in poverty."Social protest movements are strong and growing, and are full of simmering anger," he said of the movements, which focus on specific issues like rising prices or poor health services rather than on supporting openly political organisations."

If we can achieve some sort of coor- dination among the social protest move- ments... we will have laid our feet on the beginning of the path."The Brotherhood has said it prefers to focus on its extensive social service net- works and spreading their values rather than holding demonstrations of limited value.

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