| MB Sheikh Qaradawi calls for all Muslims to defend Al Aqsa from Jews Posted: 21 Feb 2012 07:25 PM PST From the (pro-Hamas) Palestine Info site: Head of the international union for Muslim scholars Sheikh Yousuf Al-Qaradawi called for Arab popular moves to protect the Aqsa Mosque and confront the Jewish attempts to defile it.
In a press release issued on Monday by Al-Quds international foundation, Sheikh Qaradawi stressed that the Aqsa Mosque is a red line and the Muslims would not stand idly if the Jews repeated their attacks on the Mosque.
He urged the Palestinians in their occupied land and the Arab peoples in neighboring countries, Egypt, Jordan and Syria, to rise up in defense of the Aqsa Mosque and liberate it from the Jewish occupation. Here are the rules so you can understand the particular logic of Qaradawi and a billion of his coreligionists: When Jews peacefully visit something considered a Muslim holy place, it is incitement, defilement and desecration and a reason to call for millions of people to violently protest. But when Muslims destroy and co-opt Jewish holy places, it is the exercise of basic Muslim human rights. See how neatly symmetric and fair that is? 
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| The power crisis was created by Hamas (Times of Israel) Posted: 21 Feb 2012 02:55 PM PST I wrote a blogpost at The Times of Israel about the Gaza power crisis. This is mostly an experiment to see if I want to write for them, for another HuffPo-style blog/news aggregator, or stick with doing things here. Or a combination. 
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| Tunisia heading towards a constitution based on Sharia Posted: 21 Feb 2012 01:00 PM PST From Egypt Independent: The third-largest party in Tunisia's constituent assembly, charged with writing a new constitution, proposed on Monday a draft document based on Islamic law which will likely alarm the country's secularists.
The moderate Islamist Ennahda party won a 40 percent share in the assembly, or 89 seats, in Tunisia's first election since the ouster of Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali a year ago sparked the Arab Spring uprisings across the region.
The non-religious Conference for the Republic won 29 seats in the 217-seat assembly and Aridha Chaabia, or Popular List, came in third. Should the proposal win the support of more than 60 percent of parliamentarians, it would pass without a referendum.
Popular List said in a statement that its draft document "stipulates in its first article that Tunisia is a free, independent and sovereign country, Islam is its religion and the principal source of its legislation, Arabic is its language and its system is a republic."
"Using Islamic Sharia as a principal source of legislation will guarantee freedom, justice, social equality, consultation, human rights and the dignity of all its people, men and women."
The proposal is certain to inflame political tensions in Tunisia, where secularists already fear that the Ennahda-led government will slowly Islamize Tunisian law and society.
Ennahda has sought to assure secularists that it has no intention of enforcing Islamic rules, but it has struggled to control more conservative Islamists who have been outspoken in their demands that religion play a greater role in public life. The Arab Spring is catapulting the Arab world into the seventh century. 
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| Jordan looking to replace Egyptian gas with Iraq Posted: 21 Feb 2012 11:54 AM PST From Egypt Independent: Jordanian Prime Minister Awn al-Khasawneh said on Tuesday he plans to visit Iraq very soon to seek alternatives for Egyptian natural gas supplies, which have halted after several pipeline explosions.
Khasawneh told Jordan's independent Al-Ghad newspaper in an interview that Iraqi supplies are the only available alternative for Egyptian gas.
Jordan currently imports nearly 10,000 barrels of Iraqi oil on a daily basis, fulfilling 10 percent of its needs, while the other 90 percent is imported from Saudi Arabia. But the kingdom hopes to increase its imports to 30,000 barrels to make up for the halted Egyptian supplies.
Egyptian natural gas supplies to Jordan have halted since 5 February after a pipeline transferring gas to both Israel and Jordan was bombed for the 12th time since the breakout of Egypt's January 2011 revolution against Hosni Mubarak's regime.
The prime minister told Al-Ghad that Jordan needs to ration its gas consumption given the lack of alternatives available. He noted that the government is trying to boost its storage capacity and create space in its market for more than one primary supplier.
Jordan had relied on Egyptian gas to fulfill 80 percent of its electricity needs (6.8 million cubic meters a day), but now is forced to use diesel and fuel oil to meet power demands. Between losing revenue from gas exports and from the drop in tourism, things aren't looking very good for Egypt. 
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| Iranian TV reporter among supected terrorists arrested in Azerbaijan Posted: 21 Feb 2012 10:40 AM PST From APA: Azerbaijani Ministry of National Security disarmed the terrorist group of Iranian intelligence agency "Sepah" and "Hezbollah" in Azerbaijan.
APA reports quoting AZTV that the terrorist group was established for the purpose of committing a terror act against the foreign citizens by using weapons, explosives and explosive devices.
The group members gathered material reconnaissance materials. They illegally acquired many weapons, ammunitions, explosives and explosive devices and began preparations to commit a terror act.
A group of persons were detained in Azerbaijan over the last several days. Member of Nardaran Sanhedrin Karbalai Natig Karimov told APA that the majority of detained as a result of operative measures taken by the National Security Ministry and law-enforcement bodes were the residents of Baku villages, especially Nardaran. They are accused of establishing armed unit, illegal keeping of weapon, betrayal of motherland and drug trafficking.
Karimov said that they knew the names of 20 detainees.
Karimov said that his brother Niyazi Karimov, Chairman of Public Union "National and Moral Values" Mehdi Mammadov, Abulfaz Bunyadov, Anar Bayramli, who is presented as a correspondent of "Fars" news agency and Iran's "Sahar" TV channel in Azerbaijan, "Sahar" TV channel's driver Ramil Dadashov, nephew of Balagardash Dadashov, who was accused of preparing terror act in Azerbaijan and declared wanted, Ali Mammadov. It is unclear if these arrests are related to the bombings and attempted bombings last week in New Delhi, Georgia and Thailand. More from JPost. (h/t Yoel) 
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| Video of the famous baker, Khader Adnan Posted: 21 Feb 2012 09:48 AM PST Khader Adnan is just a baker and a poster child for human rights. Why would anyone think he has anything to do with terrorism? By the way, he was referred to as a "mujahid" (jihadist) on the Islamic Jihad Al Quds Brigades website as well as one of the leaders of Islamic Jihad in the West Bank - this year. 
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| No word about Kashgari, Saudi tweeter who faces death Posted: 21 Feb 2012 08:42 AM PST A couple of columnists are trying to keep the Hamza Kashgari story alive, but it is hard - because he has effectively disappeared in Saudi prison. Peter Worthington in the Toronto Sun: The world's media isn't paying a lot of attention to a Saudi Arabian journalist facing death for blasphemy for his inconsequential musings on Twitter.
When Kashgiri's tweets appeared in the Saudi daily al-Bilad, reportedly King Abdullah was furious and ordered that Kashgiri be arrested "for crossing red lines and denigrating religious beliefs in God and His Prophet."
The newspaper announced he'd been fired a month earlier — whew, get out of the line of fire, eh!
Most Islamic scholars (and certainly those in Saudi Arabia) are said to agree that apostates must be executed, and that the law cannot be overturned since Muhammad himself had ordered the penalty.
Now that he's back in Saudi Arabia, Kashgiri has vanished from view. An unperson, with brave individuals like Farzana Hassan willing to risk extremist retribution for defending him. Richard Cohen in WaPo: The Kashgari affair shows a Saudi underbelly that is just plain revolting. There is nothing romantic about beheadings, and there is nothing romantic about religious zealotry. The kingdom, in fact, was founded by marrying the House of Saud with the zealous and intemperate Ikhwan, a fierce Bedouin tribal army. The alliance enabled Ibn Saud to conquer much of the Arabian Peninsula. It has been an absolute and extremely conservative monarchy ever since. Its state religion is the severe Wahhabi strand of Islam.
I am aware of the king's role as custodian of the holy places, and I am aware of his political need to mollify the country's powerful and totally medieval religious establishment. But Saudi Arabia cannot remain under the thumb of an extremely reactionary religious establishment that in some sense is as powerful as the royal family. It's hard to attract — or keep — first-class talent in what, after all, is a very weird place. Women are not permitted to drive, and the chance remark, if it is deemed heretical, can result in draconian punishment.
A life is on the line. I asked the Saudi embassy in Washington the status and the whereabouts of Kashgari and was told to put my request in writing — an e-mail. That was late last week, and I have heard nothing. So keep your eye on Hamza Kashgari — in some ways the future of Saudi Arabia, in all ways merely a terrified human being. There are no updates in Saudi media about him, and they mostly ignored him to begin with so as not to expose their countrymen to the terrible things he tweeted (and also not to accidentally be considered as if they are spreading his apostasy.) If any person whose life is in danger should be the talk of Twitter, it should be a symbol of free speech like Hamza Kashgari, not a leader of a terror group like Khader Adnan. 
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| Latest dangerous Arab rumor: Al Aqsa to be replaced with Temple by 2020 Posted: 21 Feb 2012 07:19 AM PST Ambassador Mohamed Sabih, Assistant Secretary-General to the League of Arab States for Palestinian affairs, today warned of yet another supposed Israeli plan to demolish the Al Aqsa mosque and replace it with the Third Temple. To make it sound legitimate, he gave a date: by 2020. Hey, if he has a date, it must be true! Sabih also revealed another secret Israeli plan, so secret that the Israelis are unaware of it: that by 2022, Israel plans to reduce the Arab population of Jerusalem from 35% to 12%, presumably through lots of expulsions and house demolitions. As usual, these completely fictional "plans" are pushed in the Arab media for a single purpose: to incite Muslims to rise up against Israel. A secondary result is that they often get picked up by anti-Israel English language media and websites where they are reported as "news." These rumors are pretty much a daily event, although having an Arab League official join the bandwagon of lies is a little unusual. 
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| The Egyptian siege of Gaza continues Posted: 21 Feb 2012 05:50 AM PST  Today, without warning or explanation, Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing for passenger traffic from Gaza. Yesterday, four buses were stopped from going to Egypt because of alleged "computer problems" on the Egyptian side. I'm certain that we will be seeing condemnations issued by major human rights NGOs about how Egypt is holding 1.6 million innocent Gazans in the world's largest prison, with charts and statistics and heart-rending personal stories. The UN will issue anguished statements any minute now. The EU will implore Egypt to consider how their decisions impact on the lives of people under Egyptian occupation (remember, controlling a border is considered "occupation" under the creative definitions of many human rights organizations.) Conferences will be held on college campuses deploring and denouncing the capricious actions of the heartless Egyptians. Because all of those groups care so much about Palestinians in Gaza. 
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| A great counter-protest at LSE - fake Molotovs for a fake checkpoint Posted: 21 Feb 2012 02:50 AM PST From The Beaver, the student newspaper at the London School of Economics: Houghton Street was the scene of a violent altercation Monday, as a protest by the London School of Economics Students' Union Palestine Society came to blows after water balloons were hurled at the protesters.
After the attack on the protesters, a fight broke out with one participant being punched in the face. Protesters claim that those who threw the balloons were members and/or supporters of the Students' Union Jewish Society, although leaders of that organisation have condemned the attack.
It started as members of the Palestine Society formed a mock checkpoint outside of the St. Clements Building. Students were stopped before entering the building and asked by protesters for "I.D." or "papers." As the protest continued, certain Jewish students complained of "harassment and intimidation" as access to St. Clements was "blocked."
Palestine Society members taking part in the protest claimed that while students were asked for their "papers," only protesters were physically stopped from entering the building.
Niamh Hayes, a member of Palestine Society, said that "we are only trying to recreate the conditions Palestinians have to face on a day-to-day basis."
Soon after making those comments, a group of counter-protesters ran down Houghton Street screaming "death to Israel" launching water-filled balloons at the protest. After soaking the protesters, they retreated with the Palestine Society members following.
Quickly a brawl broke out with a member of the Palestine Society protest punching a counter-protester in the face and various skirmishes began taking over Houghton Street.
Soon after the initial violence, members of both sides tried to settle the violence, with LSE Security cordoning off the enraged protesters and counter-protesters.
LSE Security had previously requested that the Palestine Society refrain from preventing students from passing through the mock wall, but the checks were continued.
Students' Union General Secretary, Alex Peters-Day, said in a statement "The safety and welfare of all our students is, and will maintain to be, our utmost priority as a Students' Union." Peters-Day continued, "Whilst I welcome a diversity of opinion; actions such as these undo a lot of the good work that has been done in creating and maintaining a dialogue between students and groups on campus"
Aimee Riese, President of the LSE Students' Union Israel Society said "LSESU Israel Society condemns all violence that was seen today. We do not however, condemn the anger that caused this. Palestine Society are mocking and simplifying the complexities of life in the region." Riese continued, "LSE students on this campus are victims on both side of this conflict. Jewish and Israeli students should not have feel targeted and intimidated on campus." Here's a short video of the counter-protesters throwing the water balloons: The full hypocrisy of the Palestine Society can be appreciated at their statement on the YouTube page, where they condemn harmless water balloons as being super-dangerous but are silent about how their people punched someone in the face: Monday the 20th of February, students from LSESU Palestine Society re-enacted an Israeli checkpoint on Houghton Street, as the start of Israeli Apartheid Week. The re-enactment was to show the suffering Palestinians face on a daily basis, trying to live their lives. All students which took part, had pre-agreed to take part in the re-enactment and students who did not wish to be involved were not forced to take part. The re-enactment passed peacefully for two hours, with students responding incredibly positively to the action.
An hour and forty minutes into the stall, four students threw numerous water bombs at the wall which was being held up by several students who were members of the LSESU Palestine Society members. The balloons hit our members, with several of these missiles hitting these students directly in the face, who were as a result incredibly upset by the incident. The missiles which were thrown knocked down one of the walls being held up by members of the society falling on these students. This could have potentially seriously injured society members and passers by, as they were heavy wooden panels which required holding up by students.
The LSESU Palestine Society fully condemns the actions of the four students who threw the missiles. The re-enactment and stall by the Palestine Society was completely peaceful, and the reaction of these students is unjustifiable. The actions of the four students presents a threat to the wellbeing of our societies members who were peacefully re-enacting the daily struggles of Palestinian people. As soon as the incident was over Palestine Society members returned to re-enacting the checkpoint. This incident shows the victimization of peaceful protesters who were simply trying to draw attention to the cause of the Palestinian people. For students taking part in a peaceful protest to have missiles thrown at them for no reason is completely unacceptable. Many members of our society who were taking part in the re-enactment felt incredibly threatened as a result of the incident. We as a society call on management to continue to protect our right to peaceful protest on LSE's campus. The idea of throwing mock Molotov cocktails and fake bombs at a fake checkpoint is a fantastic idea, and it is almost a shame that the Israel Society implied that it is not. After all, the counter-protesters were merely "peacefully re-enacting the daily struggles" of the Israeli people. Isn't that what the checkpoint terrorist supporters claim to be doing? Five seconds of harmless water balloons explain exactly why there is a security barrier to begin with, something that the pro-terrorist Palestine Society is unwilling to mention. Note how these protesters claim to feel "incredibly threatened" by water balloons, but the idea that Israelis are threatened by real bombs does not cross their minds. (h/t Alexander, Anne) 
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Today, without warning or explanation, Egypt closed the Rafah border crossing for passenger traffic from Gaza.
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