Bloody clashes engulf Syria

April 23, 2011 12:12 AM (Last updated: April 23, 2011 12:12 AM)By Daily Star StaffAgencies

AMMAN/BEIRUT: Syrian security forces shot dead dozens of protesters Friday, rights activists said, after tens of thousands of pro-democracy protesters took to the streets across Syria.

The Syrian human rights organization Sawasiah said at least 70 pro-democracy protesters were killed in the unrest which swept the country.

An official in Sawasiah, an independent organization founded by jailed human rights lawyer Mohannad al-Hassani, told Reuters the killings of civilians occurred in the Damascus district of Barzeh, its suburbs Zamalka, Harasta, Douma, Muadamiya, Qaboun and Hajar al-Asswad, as well as in the cities of Hama, Latakia and Homs, and Izraa in the southern province of Daraa.

Activist Ammar Qurabi told Reuters earlier that many more were wounded and around 20 were still missing. It was not possible to independently confirm the figures.

SANA said security forces “intervened” using tear gas and water cannon “to prevent clashes between protesters and citizens and protect public property.” SANA also reported confrontations in Hajar Asswad near Damascus.

Protests also took place in Banias on the coast, the northern cities of Raqqa and Idlib, the eastern towns of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli and Herak in Daraa. Protesters chanted for the “overthrow of the regime,” reflecting the hardening of demands which initially focused on reforms and more freedoms.The protests went ahead despite Assad’s lifting of the state of emergency the day before. Ending the hated emergency rule, in place since the Baath Party seized power 48 years ago, was a central demand of protesters, who also seek the release of political prisoners and dismantling of the security services.

“This was the first test of the seriousness of authorities [toward reform] and they have failed,” Qurabi said.

Many protesters said the concessions have come too late – and that Assad does not deserve the credit.

“The state of emergency was brought down, not lifted,” prominent Syrian activist Suhair Atassi, who was arrested several times in the past, wrote on her Twitter page. “It is a victory as a result of demonstrations, protests and the blood of martyrs who called for Syria’s freedom.”

Before Friday’s violence rights groups had said more than 220 people had been killed in the unrest which broke out on March 18 Daraa.

White House spokesman Jay Carney, speaking to reporters as President Barack Obama flew back to Washington from California, said, “We deplore violence” against the demonstrators.

He called on the Syrian government to “cease and desist in the use of violence against protesters” and to follow through on promised reforms.British Foreign Secretary William Hague condemned the “unacceptable” killing of demonstrators in Syria Friday and called for the country’s emergency law to be lifted in practice.

“I am extremely concerned by the reports of deaths and casualties across Syria,” Hague said in a statement.

“I condemn the unacceptable killing of demonstrators by the Syrian security forces. “I call on the Syrian security forces to exercise restraint instead of repression, and on the Syrian authorities to respect the Syrian people’s right to peaceful protest.”

In the first joint statement since the protests broke out, activists coordinating the demonstrations Friday demanded the abolition of the Baath Party monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic political system.

“All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law,” they said in the statement, which was sent to Reuters.

The group also urged “the completion of the constitutional amendments that will allow for a democratic transition of Syria to become a respected, multi-national, multi-ethnic and religiously tolerant society.”

“This includes the repeal of Constitutional Article 8, which would limit the number of presidential terms to two sessions,” a statement read.

In Izraa, witnesses said an 11-year-old boy was among at least 10 people killed when protesters marched in front of the mayor’s office.

“Among the dead was Anwar Moussa, who was shot in the head. He was 11,” said the witness.

A video posted on the protest movement’s main Facebook page showed a man carrying a bloodied boy near a building as another child could be heard weeping and shouting “My brother!”

“Bullets started flying over our heads like heavy rain,” said another witness.

In Damascus, security forces fired tear gas to disperse 2,000 protesters in the district of Midan.

In the city of Hama, a witness said security forces opened fire to prevent protesters reaching the Baath Party headquarters.

“We saw two snipers on the building. None of us had weapons. There are casualties, possibly two dead,” said the witness.

Witnesses said security forces also shot at demonstrators in the Damascus district of Barzeh, the central city of Homs, the Damascus suburb of Douma, and on protesters heading for the city of Daraa, where Syria’s uprising first broke out five weeks ago.

Al-Jazeera showed footage of three corpses, wrapped in white burial shrouds, which it said were from the eastern Damascus suburb of Zamalka.

Protesters in Zabadani, northwest of Damascus, called for Assad’s regime to stand down, witnesses said.

About 200 people chanting “freedom, freedom” marched in central Damascus but were quickly dispersed by police, said an activist.

Ahead of the main weekly prayers Friday, which have often turned out to be launch pads for major demonstrations, the army deployed in Homs and police put up checkpoints across Damascus, apparently trying to prevent protests sweeping in from suburbs.

After prayers finished in Daraa, several thousand protesters gathered chanting anti-Assad slogans. “The Syrian people will not be subjugated. Go away doctor [Assad],” they shouted.

A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Daily Star on April 23, 2011, on page 1.

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Corruption Ran in the Family

SATURDAY, 23 APRIL 2011 18:44

IPS

Ousted president Hosni Mubarak ran Egypt as his own private estate, carving up its resources and siphoning off its capital into offshore accounts. But he didn’t do it alone: he had help from his family and a few trusted friends.

"The Mubaraks treated this country like it was their own fiefdom," says Amir Marghany, a corporate lawyer investigating the Mubarak regime’s corruption trail. "The family was crazy about luxury and prime real estate… and used the top financial brains in the country to create rules to make them richer."

Mubarak was forced to step down on Feb. 11 after nearly three weeks of nationwide demonstrations calling for his removal. The 82-year-old former dictator is reported to be under guard in an Egyptian military hospital after complaining of heart problems that began as anti-corruption investigators began to interrogate him.
Prosecutors have accused Mubarak of amassing billions of dollars during his 30 years in power through kickback schemes and corrupt business dealings. His vast wealth is believed to be tied up in secret bank accounts, gold bullion, and ritzy villas and hotels in the United States and Europe.

"Mubarak’s wealth is in the billions in a country where over 40 percent of the population live in poverty," says Ahmed Sakr Ashour, a professor of business administration at Alexandria University. "The huge contrast shows that the president abused the authority of his position to enrich himself."

Egypt’s interim government has launched the largest corruption probe in the nation’s history to identify, sequester and – it is hoped – recover Mubarak’s illicit fortune. Investigators are working with local corruption watchdogs to follow the money trail, while foreign governments have been asked to freeze the former ruling family’s overseas assets.

"You can’t imagine the number of people stepping forward with information," says Marghany, who recently joined the Egyptian Legal Group for Redemption of the People’s Wealth (ELGRPW), an ad hoc group of lawyers and jurists seeking restitution of Mubarak’s ill-gotten gains.

ELGRPW is appealing to whistleblowers and using its worldwide network of professional associates to help investigators untangle the complex web of shell companies, anonymous trusts and offshore bank accounts. The group claims to have renowned corruption investigators and "the high priests of corporate law" on its ticket.

Investigations have revealed that Mubarak, a former air force commander, sat at the top of a pyramid of corruption that extended all the way down to the lowest civil servant. But it was the privileged few – family and friends in the top tiers – who benefitted most from their proximity to the "Pharaoh," as he was often called.

"To operate any successful business in Egypt required taking on the Mubaraks or one of their proxies as a partner," a Cairo-based financial expert told IPS. "If you cooperated, you were given a virtual monopoly over your domain; if you refused you were run out of business, or worse."

While relatively little is known about how Mubarak accumulated his personal fortune, a clearer picture has emerged about the illicit dealings of his family.

"The real shock is not the wealth of Mubarak himself, but what his two sons have been able to accumulate over the last 25 years," says Ashour. "From the time they graduated they entered into shady business dealings and exceeded their father in terms of corruption."

Alaa Mubarak, 49, and his younger brother Gamal, 47, are currently being held for investigation in a high-security prison south of Cairo.

According to Ashour, Alaa was the first to wade into business, taking shares and kickbacks in high- profile transport, construction and real estate projects. But his "mafia-style" dealings were soon overshadowed by those of his more financially savvy brother, Gamal, who after working as an investment banker in London, returned to Egypt in the late 1990s to begin a meteoric rise up the political ranks.

In Feb. 2000, Mubarak appointed Gamal and a number of his business associates to the general secretariat of his ruling National Democratic Party (NDP). Gamal was later promoted to head the NDP’s powerful Policies Secretariat, fuelling assumptions that Mubarak was grooming his son as his successor – a charge the family has long denied.

Prosecutors have accused Gamal of leveraging his growing political power to introduce new economic policies and financial regulations that allowed him and his associates to plunder Egypt’s public assets. Vast sums made through stock market manipulation and kickbacks from the sale of undervalued state assets were funneled into offshore bank accounts.

"It was a marriage of politics and money," says Marghany. "The schemes and the way they covered their tracks became more sophisticated over time."

The Mubarak family made a fortune on Egypt’s stock market through Bullion, a Cyprus-registered securities fund with nearly 1 billion dollars under its management. Gamal holds a 50-percent stake in the fund, while Alaa owns an undisclosed stake and sits on its board.

Records show that Bullion’s subsidiaries invested heavily in companies managed by Mubarak’s closest allies. Those firms then recorded stunning profits, benefitting from favourable government rulings and contracts.

Investigators are also keying in on dozens of controversial land deals in which coveted state properties were awarded to Mubarak’s cronies without competitive tenders and at prices far below valuation. One of the most controversial deals involves the sale of prime residential land to Sixth of October Development and Investment Company (SODIC), a developer owned by Alaa’s father-in-law, Magdi Rasekh.

Meanwhile, a loophole in Egyptian company law may have helped the Mubarak family launder their kickbacks.

In order to establish a joint stock or limited liability company all shareholders are required to deposit their share of the capital into a bank account. Yet there is no mechanism to confirm who is providing the money.

"Some guy can just show up with a suitcase full of cash, or wire transfer it from anywhere in the world," Marghany explains. "This way you get your kickback in the form of free shares in the company, and on paper you’ve paid for your shares and are a legitimate business."

Over the last decade, hundreds of conglomerates were formed and divvied up by a small group of Mubarak associates, and in which Gamal and Alaa were assumed to be silent partners. The original shareholders would usually wait a year or two to collect dividends, then exit with a put option on their shares – making enormous sums in the process.

Egyptian prosecutors are also putting together a case against Mubarak’s wife, 69-year-old Suzanne – whose reputation for extravagance and haute fashion have earned her tabloid comparisons to Marie Antoinette.

Anti-corruption investigators recently discovered that the former first lady maintained a secret account at the National Bank of Egypt with over 147 million dollars in donations from European countries intended for the Bibliotheca Alexandrina. The library’s administrators claim they were unaware of the existence of the account, for which Suzanne had sole signatory power.

The discovery appeared to confirm long-held suspicions that the former first lady’s involvement in various NGOs and charities was merely a front for capturing foreign donations. Investigators are now examining her other pet projects, including literacy campaigns, a peace movement, and a children’s cancer hospital.

Mubarak vehemently denied the corruption allegations leveled against him and his family in a pre- recorded television speech broadcast on Apr. 10. The deposed president’s defiant tone and threats angered many Egyptians and appear to have precipitated the legal action against him.

Now, as government agencies and groups like ELGRPW attempt to trace and recover the Mubarak family’s illicit wealth, they are also drawing up plans on how it should be used to develop the country. Marghany says it is important to demonstrate to countries whose economies could be impacted by the restitution of these assets that Egyptians are worthy of receiving them.

wo-Faced Arab League Losing Ground

SATURDAY, 23 APRIL 2011 18:41

IPS

As the Cairo-based Arab League continues to back western military intervention in support of the popular rebellion in Libya, the League's failure to back similar uprisings in other Arab countries - most notably Bahrain - has led to charges of double standards.

"From the very beginning, the League has adopted conflicting positions vis-à-vis the popular revolts now rocking the Arab world," Walid Hassan, international law professor at Alexandria's Pharos University told IPS. "While it supports the Libyan people against the Gaddafi regime, it is overtly backing oppressive regimes elsewhere, especially in the Gulf."
In early March, shortly after Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi began violently cracking down on anti- government protesters, the Arab League suspended Libya's league membership. The only other time an Arab state has had its membership revoked was when Egypt was expelled from the 22-state organisation in the late 1970s after signing the Camp David peace agreement with Israel (Egypt was later readmitted to the League in 1989.)

On Mar. 12, with the Gaddafi regime using increasingly violent methods to quell the burgeoning uprising, the League requested that the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) impose a no-fly zone over Libya to protect civilians from air attack. Five days later, the UNSC adopted Resolution 1973, authorising the international community to establish a no-fly zone and use "all means necessary short of foreign occupation" to protect the civilian populace.

Since Mar. 19, the western-led NATO alliance has launched a series of air-strikes against forces loyal to Gaddafi. Nevertheless, fierce fighting continues to rage - accompanied by a steadily rising death-toll - between pro- and anti-regime forces.

The Arab League, however, has adopted entirely different positions on uprisings elsewhere in the region. It failed to intervene, for example, in the twin revolutions earlier this year that led to the toppling of Tunisian president Zein Al-Abidine bin Ali and Egyptian president Hosni Mubarak.

Nor has the organisation intervened on the side of anti-regime protesters in Bahrain and Yemen, both of which have seen several weeks of popular unrest. Far from backing Bahraini protesters against the regime of King Hamad bin Eissa Al-Khalifa, the League endorsed the entry of Saudi and Emirati troops into the kingdom on Mar. 15 - within the context of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC)-backed "Gulf Shield" initiative - to support Al-Khalifa.

On Mar. 22, the League issued a statement confirming "the legitimacy of the entry of Gulf Shield forces into Bahrain based on the joint security agreement between GCC members."

Dozens of protesters have been killed and scores injured in Bahrain since anti-government demonstrations, demanding an end to the rule of the Al-Khalifa dynasty, first began on Feb. 14.

According to Egyptian political observers, the Arab League's conflicting positions are largely explained by Saudi Arabia's longstanding influence over the pan-Arab organisation.

"States of the Saudi-led GCC finance most of the Arab League's activities," Abdelhalim Kandil, political analyst and editor-in-chief of independent weekly Al-Sout Al-Umma told IPS. "Therefore, the league is subject to disproportionate Saudi influence.

"The Saudi regime, fearing for its own stability, has consistently opposed the Arab uprisings," he added. "Riyadh hosted Tunisia's Ben Ali after his ouster; pressured Egypt's transitional government not to prosecute Mubarak; continues to support President Ali Abdullah Sallah in Yemen; and, most flagrantly, sent troops to support the Bahraini monarchy."

Hassan agreed, saying that the League's position on Libya versus those on other rebellion-racked Arab states has served to confirm the "overriding Saudi influence" over League decisions.

"Saudi Arabia, fearing the spread of the revolution to the rest of the Gulf, has been staunchly against the uprisings from the outset," he said. But Libya proved the exception, Hassan believes, due to the "longstanding rift" between Gaddafi and Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz.

"Acrimony between the two leaders even led to accusations by Saudi Arabia in 2004 that Gaddafi had plotted Abdullah's assassination," said Hassan. "This, along with Gaddafi's murderous assaults on his own people, allowed Saudi Arabia to mobilise the Arab League against the Libyan regime."

According to Kandil, Saudi Arabia has played a chief role in turning the Arab League in recent years into a "bastion of U.S. influence" lacking any "effective or constructive" role in the region.

"Washington's Arab allies, especially Saudi Arabia and Egypt, had long used the League to legitimise U.S. policy in the Middle East," he said. "As was the case with the 2003 U.S.-led war on Iraq, the west used Saudi's leading role in the League to obtain a resolution allowing it to use military force against Libya."

On Wednesday, the League announced the postponement of an Arab Summit scheduled to convene in Baghdad in mid-May. The move came as a response to the Iraqi government's sharp criticism of the recent deployment of Saudi troops to Bahrain.

"The decision to delay the summit suggests that Saudi, along with other GCC states, is still trying to maintain its influence over the direction of the League," said Kandil.

But in light of rapidly unfolding political realities, Kandil believes this influence to be waning.

"In the past, regional policies were largely determined by an axis consisting of the U.S. and Israel on one hand, and Egypt and Saudi Arabia on the other, with the former two using the latter two to implement their policies," he said. "But in the revolutionary atmosphere now pervading the Arab world, this era appears to be coming to a close."

Imran Khan in Taliban peace spotlight

SATURDAY, 23 APRIL 2011 18:03

Asia Times

Imran Khan, the former Pakistan cricket captain turned politician, is in the spotlight as Pakistan develops a roadmap for reconciliation with the Taliban that aims to close down the war theater inside its borders.

Khan, who leads the opposition Tehrik-e-Insaaf party, has emerged as a potential prime minister after the country's military oligarchs built a consensus that peace is unlikely in the absence of out-of-the-box thinking and that an internationally credible person is needed to lead the process. Serving and retired military officers and academics, businessmen and politicians sense that neither the current Pakistan military and political leadership, nor Afghan President Hamid Karzai, has the ability to deliver a result. They believe the best hope lies in a person who can be trusted in all quarters - by the Taliban, political Islamists, liberal secularists, Western capitals, India and other regional players.

Pakistan Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gillani led an unprecedented entourage, including Army Chief General Ashfaq Parvez Kiani and Lieutenant-General Ahmad Shuja Pasha, the director general of the Inter-Service Intelligence, to Kabul last week to officially inaugurate the peace reconciliation process with the Taliban under the auspices of Washington and London. The decision had already been made that the Afghanistan and Pakistan governments will occupy a central role in a reconciliation process that could bring the Taliban into the mainstream Afghan political process.

Khan, 58, is leading a two-day sit-in outside Peshawar, capital of northwestern Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province, planned for Saturday and Sunday to block supply convoys ferrying goods to North Atlantic Treaty Organization troops in Afghanistan. People displaced by the war have vowed to join the protest, which is against United States drone attacks. Khan has been a fervent critic of the Pakistan government, claiming it is subservient to the United States in the region.

Several months before the leaders of the two countries met in Kabul, the Pakistan military establishment began preparations for reconciliation and it was agreed that Khan would be suitable for leading the peace process.

A prominent Urdu media commentator of right-wing leanings, who is close to both Khan and army chief Kiani, arranged a series of meetings between the two which eventually led to a consensus around Khan becoming the next leader of the country.

While no formula was finalized, according to sources, general elections scheduled for February 2013 could be brought forward and a political alliance engineered that would result in a simple majority under which Khan would be installed as prime minister. Another scenario would be for Khan to take the lead in an interim government.

Khan's leadership role has found favor across Pakistan's political spectrum, including the Muttehada Quami Movement (MQM), the second-largest party in the ruling coalition and largest urban party in Sindh province. The Awami National Party (ANP), the largest Pashtun nationalist party, which governs Khyber Pakhtoonkhwa, and Jamaat-e-Islami Pakistan and Jamiat-e-Ulema Islam, the two main Islamic parties, also back the role.

ANP president Asfandyar Wali Khan, a strong critic of the US drone attacks, has backed the process started in Kabul and said his party had always supported dialogue with ''saner elements'' among the Taliban.

Imran Khan's position has been lauded by the militants and his popularity in Pakistani tribal areas is unparalleled. In 2007 in Afghanistan, Naseeruddin Haqqani, the son of legendary Afghan commander Jalaluddin Haqqani, whose Haqqani network is regarded the most lethal network against the Western coalition in Afghanistan, met with Imran Khan and in that way Khan indirectly entered into a dialogue process with the Taliban.

In the second week of March, Khan held a long meeting with the US ambassador in Islamabad, Cameron Munter. A few days later a major shift in his politics surprised many. Khan produced a statement supportive of MQM policies despite formerly filing a money laundering case against MQM leader Altaf Hussain in a British court.

Troublesome turf

There is a long-held understanding within Pakistan's military that any reconciliation process with the Taliban would require a whole package dealing with the Taliban, al-Qaeda and the affiliated group on one side and another with the the Western coalition, India and other regional players. The job requires credible leadership.

Pakistan supported the Taliban movement when it emerged in the mid 1990s. When the student militia formed its government in Kabul, Pakistan stood behind it in the face of global opposition. After al-Qaeda attacked the United States on 9/11, Pakistan tried to explain to the world the difference between al-Qaeda and the Taliban and emphasized the need to engage with the Taliban.

However, the Pervez Musharraf administration's arguments were dismissed by George W Bush and Pakistan's logistical support helped American-led international forces toppled Taliban's ragtag militia government by the end of 2001.

In 2006, the Taliban re-emerged as a powerful armed opposition group and stunned the world with organized attacks throughout southern Afghanistan. Within a few years, according to influential Western think-tanks, they had expanded their influence to over 80% of the country and in several parts even established local rule.

Western experts are still at a loss to explain what exactly happened between 2002 to 2006 to bring the defeated Taliban back as a major player in Afghanistan, with some claiming Pakistan's ISI backing amid a resurgence in Pashtun nationalism which supported the Taliban. However, it is likely a due to a dialectic of al-Qaeda-affiliated groups. Al-Qaeda migrated into Pakistani tribal areas in 2002 and worked with different tribes, gradually succeeding in replacing Pakistan’s tribal system with the al-Qaeda affiliated structures in Pakistani tribal areas as well as in southeast Afghanistan.

Al-Qaeda’s strategy from 2002 was to regroup pro-Taliban factions and pitch them in Afghanistan's southwest in 2006 to support the Afghan Taliban. In early 2007, under a meticulous strategy, al-Qaeda retreated into the tribal areas and in mid-year moved into Pakistani cities to pressurize Pakistan to stop supporting the American war in Afghanistan. It countered American moves in Pakistan for establishing a broadbased anti-Taliban alliance and assassinated Pakistan's former premier Benazir Bhutto, thwarted a peace reconciliation process which was inaugurated in Kabul in 2007 through opening a war theatre in Malakand-Swat and carried out so many attacks in Pakistani cities and tribal areas by the beginning of 2008 that they outnumbered insurgent attacks against occupation forces in Iraq and Afghanistan

By the middle of of 2008, al-Qaeda's leadership receded into Pakistani tribal areas and then expanded operations across the world including Yemen, India, Somalia and Europe.

On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, it is clear to the world community that dealing with the Taliban is not an open and shut case that ends in simply signing an agreement.

Why Imran Khan?

Imran Khan captained the winning Pakistani cricket team in the 1992 World Cup in Australia and returned to Pakistan a national hero. He then pursued the cause of establishing a free cancer hospitals in memory of his deceased mother Shaukat Khanum, who died of cancer.

At the same time, Lieutenant-General Hamid Gul retired from the Pakistan Army and began working on a new plan for the future leadership of the country. He chose three prominent Pakistanis; namely, former governor, renowned social worker and reformer Hakim Mohammad Saeed, the social worker and philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi, and Imran Khan. Saeed refused to take part in politics, and was gunned down in front of his clinic in 1998. Edhi left Pakistan in the mid 1990s, alleging that Pakistani intelligence was trying to force him into politics. Imran Khan agreed to take a political role.

The transformation of an Oxford University political sciences graduate seen as a sex symbol in the West into a politician who penned articles in leading Urdu newspapers against the Western lifestyle and Westernized thinking in Pakistan stunned many.

After the October 12, 1999 military coup, Khan jumped on Musharraf’s bandwagon but by 2003 he had distanced himself from the president. The military establishment continued to engage him. However, Khan has remained a major campaigner against the Pakistan military's oppression of Islamic forces. Even in 2009, as all Pakistani politicians including Pakistan Muslim League Nawaz Group supported military operations in Swat, he insisted that they could only breed militancy.

This weekend's protests in Peshawar are likely to be seen as the curtain-raiser for Khan's entry into the AfPak arena.

The Revolution’s Missing Peace

SATURDAY, 23 APRIL 2011 18:00

NyTimes

Abdullah Gul - President of Turkey

THE wave of uprisings in the Middle East and North Africa is of historic significance equal to that of the revolutions of 1848 and 1989 in Europe. The peoples of the region, without exception, revolted not only in the name of universal values but also to regain their long-suppressed national pride and dignity. But whether these uprisings lead to democracy and peace or to tyranny and conflict will depend on forging a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace agreement and a broader Israeli-Arab peace.

The plight of the Palestinians has been a root cause of unrest and conflict in the region and is being used as a pretext for extremism in other corners of the world. Israel, more than any other country, will need to adapt to the new political climate in the region. But it need not fear; the emergence of a democratic neighborhood around Israel is the ultimate assurance of the country’s security.

In these times of turmoil, two forces will shape the future: the people’s yearning for democracy and the region’s changing demographics. Sooner or later, the Middle East will become democratic, and by definition a democratic government should reflect the true wishes of its people. Such a government cannot afford to pursue foreign policies that are perceived as unjust, undignified and humiliating by the public. For years, most governments in the region did not consider the wishes of their people when conducting foreign policy. History has repeatedly shown that a true, fair and lasting peace can only be made between peoples, not ruling elites.

I call upon the leaders of Israel to approach the peace process with a strategic mindset, rather than resorting to short-sighted tactical maneuvers. This will require seriously considering the Arab League’s 2002 peace initiative, which proposed a return to Israel’s pre-1967 borders and fully normalized diplomatic relations with Arab states.

Sticking to the unsustainable status quo will only place Israel in greater danger. History has taught us that demographics is the most decisive factor in determining the fate of nations. In the coming 50 years, Arabs will constitute the overwhelming majority of people between the Mediterranean Sea and the Dead Sea. The new generation of Arabs is much more conscious of democracy, freedom and national dignity.

In such a context, Israel cannot afford to be perceived as an apartheid island surrounded by an Arab sea of anger and hostility. Many Israeli leaders are aware of this challenge and therefore believe that creating an independent Palestinian state is imperative. A dignified and viable Palestine, living side by side with Israel, will not diminish the security of Israel, but fortify it.

Turkey thinks strategically about the Israeli-Palestinian peace process, not only because it knows that a peaceful Middle East would be to its benefit, but also because it believes that Israeli-Palestinian peace would benefit the rest of the world.

We are therefore ready to use our full capacity to facilitate constructive negotiations. Turkey’s track record in the years before Israel’s Gaza operation in December 2008 bears testimony to our dedication to achieving peace. Turkey is ready to play the role it played in the past, once Israel is ready to pursue peace with its neighbors.

Moreover, it is my firm conviction that the United States has a long-overdue responsibility to side with international law and fairness when it comes to the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. The international community wants the United States to act as an impartial and effective mediator between Israel and the Palestinians, just as it did a decade ago. Securing a lasting peace in the Middle East is the greatest favor Washington can do for Israel.

It will be almost impossible for Israel to deal with the emerging democratic and demographic currents in the absence of a peace agreement with the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab world. Turkey, conscious of its own responsibility, stands ready to help.

Abdullah Gul is the president of Turkey.

Syria: Assad troops 'kill protesters' at rallies

FRIDAY, 22 APRIL 2011 14:51

NyTimes

Security forces in Syria fired tear gas and live ammunition Friday to disperse thousands of demonstrators who took to the streets of Damascus and at least 10 other towns and cities after noon payers, according to protesters, witnesses and accounts posted on social networking sites. Twenty-four people were killed, they said, though it was not possible to immediately verify that toll.

The breadth of the protests — and people’s willingness to defy security forces who deployed in mass — painted a tableau of turmoil in one of the Arab world’s most repressive countries. In scenes unprecedented only weeks ago, protesters tore down pictures of President Bashar al-Assad and toppled statues of his father, Hafez, in two towns on the capital’s outskirts, according to witnesses and video footage.

In the capital, a city that underlines the very prestige of the Assad family’s four decades of rule, hundreds gathered after prayers at the al-Hassan Mosque. Some of them chanted, “The people want the fall of the government,” a slogan made famous in Egypt and Tunisia.

Security forces quickly dispersed the protests with tear gas, witnesses said.But larger protests gathered on the capital’s outskirts, drawing thousands. In at least one of the protests, police fired tear gas, witnesses said. Other demonstrations occurred across Syria, from Qamishli in the east to Baniyas on the coast.

“Freedom! Freedom!” went another chant. In Baniyas, a banner denounced Mr. Assad and his ruling Baath Party: “No Baath, No Assad, we want to free the country.”

Razan Zeitouneh, an activist with the Syrian Human Rights Information Link in Damascus, basing her account on witnesses, said 10 people were killed in Azra, in southern Syria; two near Homs, Syria’s third-largest city; and 12 in the suburbs of Damascus.

In Homs itself, where major protests erupted this week, activists said large numbers of security forces and police in plain clothes flooded the city, putting up checkpoints and preventing all but a few dozen from gathering. One resident said streets were deserted by afternoon, the silence punctuated every 15 minutes or so by gunfire.

Abu Kamel al-Dimashki, an activist in Homs reached by Skype, said that 16 of those who were protesting went missing. His account could not be confirmed.

“I tried to go there, but I couldn’t,” he said. “The secret police are all over Homs.”

One of the bloodiest episodes occurred in Azra, about 20 miles from Dara’a, a poor town in southwestern Syria that helped unleash the uprising. A protester who gave his name as Abu Ahmad said about 3,000 people had marched toward the town square when they came under fire. He said he brought three of those killed to the mosque — one shot in the head, one in the chest and one in the back — the oldest of whom was 20.

“There is no more fear. No more fear,” Abu Ahmad said by telephone. “We either want to die or to remove him. Death has become something ordinary.”

The aim of both sides is the same: to prove they have the upper hand in the biggest challenge yet to the 40-year rule of the Assad family. While organizers were reluctant to call Friday a decisive moment, they acknowledged that it would signal their degree of support in a country that remained divided, with the government still claiming bastions of support among minorities, loyalists of the Baath Party and wealthier segments of the population.

Residents of Damascus said police officers were seen heading Thursday from a headquarters on the outskirts in Zabadani toward the capital, where military security officers had reportedly turned out in greater numbers. In the restive city of Dara’a, security forces set up checkpoints on Friday, and other deployments were reported in suburbs of the capital like Douma, Maidamiah and Dariah.

The security presence seemed most pronounced in Homs, residents said, as scores of military vehicles loaded with soldiers and equipment were seen on the highway from Damascus. By morning, thousands of police officers and soldiers had taken up positions around mosques in the city and at the New Clock Square, where protesters had tried to stage an Egyptian-style sit-in on Monday night. Some of the police were in plain clothes and others were armed with Kalashnikov assault rifles, residents said.

Cellphones were hard to reach in Homs, and some land lines had been cut.

On Friday, instructions were delivered to protesters from the main Facebook page, urging them to paint revolutionary graffiti, document the protests with pictures and videos, stay peaceful and chant slogans.

The government has maintained that the uprising is led by militant Islamists, and organizers acknowledge that religious forces like the banned Muslim Brotherhood have taken part. The government has also accused foreign countries of supporting the protests. And, indeed, some of the largest have occurred in cities near Syria’s borders: Dara’a, a poor town in southwestern Syria near Jordan, and Homs, an industrial center near conservative northern Lebanon.

But so far, the government has sought to hew to a policy of crackdown and compromise. On Thursday, Mr. Assad signed decrees that repealed harsh emergency rule, in place since 1963, abolished draconian security courts and granted citizens the right to protest peacefully, though they still need government permission to gather. The orders had already been handed down to his government on Tuesday, making his endorsement a formality; its timing seemed aimed in part at blunting Friday’s protests.

He also appointed a new governor in Homs. Two weeks ago, the previous governor, Mohammed Iyad Ghazzal, was dismissed. He had been in power since 2004 and was widely despised.

“Homs wasn’t happy with the old governor, but a new one isn’t the urgent issue,” said a government employee who gave his name as Khalid. “We want to change the mentality of how the country is run, not change a governor or his administration.”

Sporadic protests erupted again Thursday, though their numbers were not as large as in past demonstrations, and they seemed confined to Kurdish areas.

Organizers said about 300 people protested at a university in Hasakah, a city near the Turkish and Iraqi borders, and a larger demonstration occurred in Ayn al-Arab, east of Aleppo. Between 5,000 and 8,000 people marched there, though Mr. Tarif said it seemed more spontaneous than organized. He said the Kurdish leadership in the region had yet to endorse bigger turnouts, debating whether they could instead extract more concessions from a government that has already granted citizenship to as many as 300,000 stateless Kurds.

The debate is a microcosm of a larger one taking place in Syria, where many fear the prospect of chaos or score-settling in the event of the government’s collapse. Many activists said the reforms so far were too little and too late; in the words of Haitham Maleh, an oft-imprisoned activist and former judge, “The mentality of the regime has to change.”

But some worry about the combustibility of a society that is shadowed by sectarian resentments fostered by the government. And many identify that government almost entirely with the Alawite minority, a heterodox Muslim sect that accounts for 10 percent of Syria’s population.

“Let’s be realistic, let’s not destroy the country,” said Camille Otrakji, a Damascus-born political blogger in Montreal. “Why do you think there aren’t millions in the street demonstrating against Bashar? It’s not because they’re afraid of the security forces. It’s because they’re afraid of what would replace Assad.”

US accuses Pakistan of keeping terrorist links.....again

THURSDAY, 21 APRIL 2011 23:31

World Wires

The American military's top officer used an interview on Pakistani television Wednesday night to accuse the country's spy agency of supporting an Afghan insurgent group that's blamed for killing U.S. and Afghan forces, as well as civilians, in some of the bloodiest attacks in Afghanistan.

The remarks by Adm. Mike Mullen, the chairman of the Joint Chefs of Staff, were the first time a senior U.S. official has issued in such blunt terms in public what U.S. officials privately have long charged is Pakistani double-dealing on the war against Islamic militants in Afghanistan.

Coming from Mullen, who's known as the "good cop" on the U.S. side of the rocky relationship, the comments also seemed to acknowledge the failure of an Obama administration policy to persuade Pakistan's military to cut ties with Afghan insurgents and close their bases on its side of the border in return for billions of dollars in U.S. aid, training and weaponry.

The development potentially holds serious implications for the U.S.-led military campaign to crush the Taliban-led insurgency in Afghanistan. The administration's strategy there has in part counted on improved cooperation from the Pakistani military in routing militants from its tribal region.

Pakistan's premier spy agency, the Inter-Services Intelligence Directorate, or ISI, has a "relationship" with the Haqqani network, a group close to the Afghan Taliban and al-Qaida, that ends up costing the lives of American soldiers in Afghanistan, Mullen said.

"The ISI has a long-standing relationship with the Haqqani network. That doesn't mean everybody in the ISI. But it's there," Mullen said in an interview broadcast Wednesday on Geo News, Pakistan's leading news channel. "I believe over time that's got to change."

He made similar remarks in separate interviews with two Pakistani newspapers.

Mullen's comments come amid the iciest ties between Islamabad and Washington since 2001, when the Pakistani military ended its patronage of the Afghan Taliban, backed the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan and joined the U.S.-led drive to crush al-Qaida, whose leaders fled into Pakistan's tribal area.

Moeen Yusuf, an expert with the U.S. Institute of Peace in Washington, said the two sides were about as close to a "rupture" in relations as they've ever been. A rupture would be costly for both sides: the U.S. relies on the ISI for intelligence on al-Qaida, and Islamabad depends on the U.S. for crucial economic and military assistance.

Mullen's remarks, he said, show "just how bad the relationship is all around," Yusuf said.

An administration official in Washington said both sides are trying to find a way to reach common ground.

"What is important in this case is that both sides remember that we face a common threat from extremists," said the official, who requested anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue. "It is in both our best interests to keep the channels of communication open and to continue to work together to deal with that threat."

But Pakistan and the U.S. have different objectives in Afghanistan: The former wants a pro-Pakistan government in Kabul that resists influence from India, while the latter seeks a quasi stable country to which al-Qaida can't return to plot new attacks.

The testy relationship has been frayed by a series of events during the past 11 months, culminating in the arrest in January of Raymond Davis, an American contractor working for the CIA, after he shot dead two Pakistani men in Lahore he said were trying to rob him at gunpoint.

Davis' arrest exposed secret CIA operations against Islamic extremist groups considered close to the ISI, which has historically nurtured such groups to fight as its proxies in India and Afghanistan.

The downturn coincided with a near-cessation of CIA-operated drone strikes on suspected al-Qaida and other extremists in the tribal area, although U.S. officials insist that there's no connection between the Davis incident and the reduction in drone attacks.

Mullen's remarks seemed carefully calculated and weren't prompted by a direct question.

Usually, Mullen, who's made 22 visits to Pakistan, has used his public pronouncements to trumpet the strength of his personal relationship with Pakistan's army chief, Gen. Ashfaq Kayani. He diligently avoided making any incendiary remarks even when other U.S. officials were critical. The ISI works directly under the Pakistani military.

But on Wednesday Mullen pulled no punches.

"Haqqani is supporting, funding, training fighters that are killing Americans and killing coalition partners. And I have a sacred obligation to do all I can to make sure that doesn't happen," he said. "So that's at the core - it's not the only thing - but that's at the core that I think is the most difficult part of the (U.S.-Pakistan) relationship," Mullen said in an interview with Dawn, Pakistan's biggest English-language daily.

Washington considers the drone strikes, the only weapon available to the U.S. against al-Qaida and other extremists holed up in Pakistan's tribal area, to be highly effective. However, the attacks have often targeted the Haqqani group and an allied Pakistani militant outfit, led by Gul Bahadur, in the North Waziristan part of the tribal area.

Pakistan denies supporting Haqqani or other militant groups but admits keeping open channels of communication with them, as spy agencies often do. The Pakistani military says it's too stretched elsewhere to mount an operation against the Haqqani network, which is based in North Waziristan.

The leader of the network, Jalaluddin Haqqani, was a leading U.S.-backed guerrilla commander during the 1979-89 Soviet occupation, but aligned himself with the Taliban after the militia seized power in 1996, becoming a minister and then a military commander. His son, Sirajuddin, now oversees the group's day-to-day operations in the tribal area and eastern Afghanistan.

The group is blamed for some of the most spectacular attacks and bombings staged in eastern Afghanistan. They include a July 2008 suicide bombing against the Indian Embassy in Kabul, which killed 58 people and which U.S. officials charged involved ISI participation, an allegation Islamabad denied.

Washington also is deeply concerned about the ISI's relationship with Lashkar-e-Taiba, a jihadist group that was focused on attacking India, but that Washington now thinks has global ambitions and is becoming a surrogate for al-Qaida.

It's thought that Davis was involved in a CIA operation to spy on Lashkar-e-Taiba. Mullen said in the interviews that he was concerned about the group and a "syndication of terrorist organizations."

Syrian troops shoot dead protesters in day of turmoil

Friday, April 22nd, 2011 | Posted by Noor

Dozens reportedly killed as live bullets and teargas used against rallies after Friday prayers

Syrian anti-government protesters march in Homs. Photograph: AP

Syria endured its bloodiest day yet of the Arab Spring as protests against President Bashar al-Assad brought turmoil to dozens of towns and cities across the country and security forces reportedly gunned down dozens of people.

Despite a string of government concessions earlier in the week, including the lifting of the hated 48-year-old emergency law, tens of thousands of demonstrators demanding greater political freedom and an end to Ba’ath party rule took to the streets after Friday prayers.

Security forces around Damascus and other key cities ignored appeals to eschew violence, opening fire with live rounds and using teargas against several pro-democracy protests, activists and witnesses reported.

Although information was difficult to obtain, at least 88 people were reported killed, including two in Douma, one in Homs, and at least six in the southern town of Izraa, and others in Moudamiya, outside Damascus, the activists said.

With more casualties being reported by the hour, there were fears the final toll would be significantly higher. The White House urged Damascus to follow through on promised reforms. Barack Obama called on the Syrian government to stop using violence against demonstrators and accused Assad of seeking help from Iran.

“This outrageous use of violence to quell protests must come to an end now,” Obama said.

“Instead of listening to their own people, President Assad is blaming outsiders while seeking Iranian assistance in repressing Syria’s citizens through the same brutal tactics that have been used by his Iranian allies.”

Foreign secretary William Hague condemned the “unacceptable killing of demonstrators” and called on Syrian security forces “to exercise restraint instead of repression”. He said the authorities should respect the “people’s right to peaceful protest”.

More than 280 people are believed to have been killed since the unrest began six weeks ago. Twenty-one protesters were killed this week in Homs. Activists and observersin Damascus who described today’s events as a watershed moment, said their impression was that protests had been bigger than on the past seven Fridays and more bloody.

The protesters’ demands varied from place to place. In Kisweh, near Damascus, people called for freedom. In the Mediterranean city of Banias, they chanted: “The people want to topple the regime.” Other protesters directed their anger directly at members of the ruling family. “God, freedom and Syria only. God is greatest!” was another rallying cry. In some Damascus neighbourhoods, statues and posters of Assad and his late father, the former president Hafez al-Assad, were torn down, and there was chanting against Maher al-Assad, Bashar’s younger brother, who commands the army’s elite 4th division. Its soldiers, regarded by many Syrians as a private militia, have been reportedly responsible for shootings in Deraa and elsewhere.

In the Damascus district of Midan, 2,000 people chanted: “Zanga zanga, dar dar, Maher is a bigger moron than Bashar!” Another Assad family member, Rami Makhlouf, a business tycoon who is the president’s cousin, was also a target of the protesters’ wrath.

Fulfilling an earlier vow to step up the protests on what they called “Great Friday”, demonstrators also rallied in the eastern towns of Deir al-Zor and Qamishli.

In the city of Hama, where Hafez al-Assad ruthlessly crushed an armed Islamist uprising nearly 30 years ago, a witness told Reuters that security forces opened fire to prevent protesters from reaching the Ba’ath party headquarters. “We saw two snipers on the building. None of us had weapons. There are casualties, possibly two dead,” the witness said.

After prayers finished in Deraa, where the protests first began on 15 March, several thousand protesters gathered, chanting anti-Assad slogans. “The Syrian people will not be subjugated. Go away doctor [Assad]. We will trample on you and your slaughterous regime,” they shouted.

Unrest was also reported in Raqqa, close to Damascus, Sayda Zeinab, Harasta and Barzeh in Damascus, Tartous, a coastal town, the western port city of Latakia, and the north-eastern towns of Ras al-Ayn, Amouda and al-Hassakeh.

The scale and nationwide reach of Friday’s protests suggested Assad’s concessions, far from defusing popular discontent, may have been seen as a sign of weakness by demonstratorsnow doubly determined to achieve their aim. But there is as yet no clear agreement on what their aims are: accelerated democratic reform, greater economic opportunity, an end to corruption among Syria’s wealthy elite, or all-out regime change.

In a sign of improving opposition organisation, activists co-ordinating the protests demanded the abolition of the Ba’ath party monopoly on power and the establishment of a democratic system.

They did not call for Assad to stand down.

In their first joint statement, seen by the Guardian, the self-styled “local co-ordination committees”, representing provinces across Syria, said that “freedom and dignity slogans cannot be achieved except through peaceful democratic change”.

“All prisoners of conscience must be freed. The existing security apparatus has to be dismantled and replaced by one with specific jurisdiction and which operates according to law.”

On Thursday, Assad signed a decree lifting the emergency law, imposed by his Ba’ath party when it took power in a coup 48 years ago. He also replaced the cabinet and approved new rights of peaceful protest. But other laws still give security forces sweeping powers.

But the first application to protest under the new law ended in the temporary detention of the applicant. Fadel al-Faisal from Hassakeh was held for several hours after filing a request to hold a demonstration.

Joe Stork of Human Rights Watch said the reforms “will only be meaningful if Syria’s security services stop shooting, detaining, and torturing protesters”. Syria officials have blamed armed groups, infiltrators and Sunni Muslim militants for provoking violence at demonstrations by firing on civilians and security forces.

Earlier, Reem Haddad, spokeswoman for the ministry of information told al Jazeera: “I think if the people protest peacefully, if they cause no harm, if they don’t burn or destroy, I think [security forces] will allow them to do so [protest], and I think after a certain time they will actually disperse them, tell them to go home.”

Asked at what point forces would open fire on protesters, she said: “If they are shot at, which has been the case previously.”

While calling for an end to the violence and democratic reform, western and other Arab countries have mostly muted their criticism of the killings and repression in Syria for fear of destabilising the country, which plays a strategic role across the Middle East.

Katherine Marsh is a pseudonym for a journalist living in Damascus

source : guardian