Newspapers across Europe have reprinted caricatures of the Prophet Muhammad to show support for a Danish paper whose cartoons have sparked Muslim outrage.

Seven publications in France, Germany, the Netherlands, Italy and Spain all carried some of the drawings.

Their publication in Denmark led Arab nations to protest. Islamic tradition bans depictions of the Prophet.

The owner of one of the papers to reprint – France Soir – has now sacked its managing editor over the matter.

The cartoons have sparked diplomatic sanctions and death threats in some Arab nations, while media watchdogs have defended publication of the images in the name of press freedom.

Reporters Without Borders said the reaction in the Arab world “betrays a lack of understanding” of press freedom as “an essential accomplishment of democracy.”

‘Spiting Muslims’

France Soir and Germany’s Die Welt were among the leading papers to reprint the cartoons, which first appeared in Denmark last September.

The caricatures include drawings of Muhammad wearing a headdress shaped like a bomb, while another shows him saying that paradise was running short of virgins for suicide bombers.

France Soir originally said it had published the images in full to show “religious dogma” had no place in a secular society.
bbc.co.uk

‘Religious dogma’ has been replaced by secular ‘humanist’ dogma: reduce the world to cinders while you talk about civilization and moral virtues and political freedom.

…A recent study by the United Nations Development Program and International Monetary Fund shows that 20 percent of the population has fallen below the international poverty line of $1 per day per person.

The numbers of families registering for assistance with the labor and social affairs ministry has more than tripled since the war to 171,000 and even that, according to Leila Kazem, a director general at the ministry, is a “drop in the ocean”.

“After the war, a new dangerous issue arose in Iraqi society – poverty, which is clear to everyone,” she said, blaming unemployment and violence that has been killing off the main breadwinners, something “which is happening every hour of every day”.

The families, however, do not receive any special treatment at the ministry. “We don’t have a separate category for victims of terrorism, we just talk about needy families,” she said.
metimes.com

…Bush has no intention of occupying Iran. Rather, the goal is to destroy major weapons-sites, destabilize the regime, and occupy a sliver of land on the Iraqi border that contains 90% of Iran’s oil wealth. Ultimately, Washington will aim to replace the Mullahs with American-friendly clients who can police their own people and fabricate the appearance of representative government. But, that will have to wait. For now, the administration must prevent the incipient Iran bourse (oil-exchange) from opening in March and precipitating a global sell-off of the debt-ridden dollar. There have many fine articles written about the proposed “euro-based” bourse and the devastating effects it will have on the greenback. The best of these are “Petrodollar Warfare: Oil, Iraq and the Future of the Dollar” by William R. Clark, and “The Proposed Oil Bourse” by Krassimir Petrov, Ph.D.
informationclearinghouse.info

Iran building secret nuke tunnel: claim
WASHINGTON, Jan. 31 (UPI) — Iran is building a secret tunnel in Tehran for nuclear weapons research and development, an Iranian dissident has claimed.

The tunnel was being constructed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guards Corps, Alireza Jafarzadeh, president of Strategic Policy Consulting, Inc. told a meeting at the National Press Club in Washington Tuesday.
Jafarzadeh has made similar allegations before. It has not been possible to independently verify all of them.

Iran Incapable of Building Nuclear Bomb — Russian Expert
02/01/06 “Baku Today” — — Iran is not capable of building its own nuclear weapons, the former head of a nuclear power plant and current regional leader in southern Russia said Wednesday.

“In reality, the U.S. is provoking Iran, accusing it of aiming, along with the implementation of its peaceful nuclear programs, to create its own nuclear weapons,” Governor of the Saratov Region Pavel Ipatov was quoted by RIA Novosti as saying.

Iran’s Ahmadinejad says Bush should face ‘people’s tribunal’
“You who support the Zionist puppet regime, you who support the destruction of Palestinian homes, you have no right to talk about liberty or human rights,” Ahmadinejad said in comments directed at the US president.

The Defense Ministry a few days ago gave NIS 2.4 million to 28 Palestinians who were tortured by the Israel Defense Forces and the Shin Bet security service. The payment was made after an out-of-court settlement was reached with the plaintiffs, who agreed that suits brought to the Tel Aviv Magistrate and District courts would be turned down.

One of the plaintiffs, Benan Oudeh, 31, of Qalqilya, arrested a few years ago for throwing stones, told Haaretz yesterday that his testicles were beaten so badly in the interrogation room that they had to be amputated.
haaretz.com

U.S. State Department to investigate failure to foresee Hamas victory
…U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice acknowledged earlier this week that she was surprised by Hamas’s defeat of the Fatah party, which had dominated Palestinian politics for years.

“She’s asked her staff to look into that. Why is it that we didn’t see this coming?” US State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said.
The news was full of it for weeks, where was she?

U.S. Evangelists to boost Israel support in wake of Hamas win
The victory of Hamas in last week’s Palestinian election will likely strengthen the relationship between Israel and evangelicals, Knesset members and Christian leaders said Monday.

‘75% of Hamas voters oppose destruction of Israel’
Three-quarters of Palestinians that voted for the Hamas say they are opposed to calls for the destruction of Israel, according to a poll published on Tuesday.

The Palestinian Authority’s Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda daily survey stated that 84% of Palestinians support a peace deal with Israel.

More than 75% of the peace-deal supporters voted for Hamas.

U.S. Congress moves to legislate against Hamas-led PA
…The legislation introduced by Ross-Lehtinen and Lantos is broad in reach and scope, and includes measures aimed at strengthening travel restrictions to the U.S. on members or associates of Hamas, integrated into the Palestinian Authority, the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), municipalities, and other constituent elements.

Furthermore, the legislation wants the U.S. to withhold contributions to the UN proportional to the amounts the UN provides to such entities or to UN programs with the PA; call for the Palestinian territories to be designated a “terrorist sanctuary,” and eliminating the PLO offices in Washington.

Polls: Peretz’s Moroccan roots deter Ashkenazi voters
Two months ago, after he won the Labor Party chairmanship, Amir Peretz declared enthusiastically in his victory speech that the demon of ethnic discrimination had been “disconnected from life support” and “buried.” But the demon, as demons are wont, has refused to die. Polls commissioned by Labor show a “drain” of traditional Ashkenazi voters from the party due to an aversion to Peretz’s Moroccan origin.

by Robert Robideau
…United States history attests to the genocide of North American Indians and most educated Euro Americans and Europeans would agree that a genocide has been committed on this continent in the name of God and riches, but when it comes to the Muslim world the racism is disgusting.

The “Gods” must be crazy to think that their programs of racism and genocide will stop freedom fighters around the world from carrying on with their struggles for liberation and self defense.
counterpunch.org

…While commenting on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict Wiesel, who has written fairly extensively on the conflict despite claiming “neutrality” and always, in his words, desiring peace while feeling “sadness” for it being out of reach, has consistently blamed the Palestinians completely for the conflict and, despite any notions of peace, has indirectly endorsed the worst of Zionist politics.

In a 2001 essay for the New York Times titled Jerusalem in My Heart, Wiesel began with the following:

“As a Jew living in the United States, I have long denied myself the right to intervene in Israel’s internal debates. I consider Israel’s destiny as mine as well, since my memory is bound up with its history. But the politics of Israel concern me only indirectly.”

Those who know of Wiesel may question this alleged neutrality given his membership in Begin’s Irgun in the 1940s (or his 1982 statement “I support Israel-period. I identify with Israel-period”) but he goes on in the same essay to renounce any such neutrality on the question of Jerusalem:

“Now, though the topic is Jerusalem. Its fate affects not only Israelis, but also Diaspora Jews like myself. The fact that I do not live in Jerusalem is secondary; Jerusalem lives in meThat Muslims might wish to maintain close ties with this city unlike any other is understandableBut for Jews it remains the first. Not just the first; the only.”
counterpunch.org

WASHINGTON – Capitol Police dropped a charge of unlawful conduct against anti-war activist Cindy Sheehan on Wednesday and apologized for ejecting her and a congressman’s wife from President Bush’s State of the Union address for wearing T-shirts with war messages.

“The officers made a good faith, but mistaken effort to enforce an old unwritten interpretation of the prohibitions about demonstrating in the Capitol,” Capitol Police Chief Terrance Gainer said in a statement late Wednesday.

“The policy and procedures were too vague,” he added. “The failure to adequately prepare the officers is mine.”

The extraordinary statement came a day after police removed Sheehan and Beverly Young, wife of Rep. C.W. “Bill” Young, R-Fla., from the visitors gallery Tuesday night. Sheehan was taken away in handcuffs before Bush’s arrival at the Capitol and charged with a misdemeanor, while Young left the gallery and therefore was not arrested, Gainer said.
yahoo.com

Thousands of troops in riot gear clashed today with hundreds of stone-throwing Jewish settlers holed up behind barbed wire and on rooftops in this illegal West Bank settlement outpost of Amona.

It was the first forced evacuation of Jewish settlers since last summer’s pullout from the Gaza Strip and part of the West Bank, and came after the Supreme Court cleared the way for the demolition of nine homes at the site.

The violence on par with the most dramatic scenes of the Gaza pullout. Dozens of people were evacuated with injuries. Both settlers and policeman were among the wounded, with police saying 31 of their officers had been hurt.

…”They are treating people here like Arabs,” said legislator Arieh Eldad in a telephone interview from the scene with Israel Radio. Eldad said he suffered a broken arm.
independent.co.uk

Khalid Mish’al
It is widely recognised that the Palestinians are among the most politicised and educated peoples in the world. When they went to the polls last Wednesday they were well aware of what was on offer and those who voted for Hamas knew what it stood for. They chose Hamas because of its pledge never to give up the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and its promise to embark on a programme of reform. There were voices warning them, locally and internationally, not to vote for an organisation branded by the US and EU as terrorist because such a democratically exercised right would cost them the financial aid provided by foreign donors.

The day Hamas won the Palestinian democratic elections the world’s leading democracies failed the test of democracy. Rather than recognise the legitimacy of Hamas as a freely elected representative of the Palestinian people, seize the opportunity created by the result to support the development of good governance in Palestine and search for a means of ending the bloodshed, the US and EU threatened the Palestinian people with collective punishment for exercising their right to choose their parliamentary representatives.

We are being punished simply for resisting oppression and striving for justice. Those who threaten to impose sanctions on our people are the same powers that initiated our suffering and continue to support our oppressors almost unconditionally. We, the victims, are being penalised while our oppressors are pampered. The US and EU could have used the success of Hamas to open a new chapter in their relations with the Palestinians, the Arabs and the Muslims and to understand better a movement that has so far been seen largely through the eyes of the Zionist occupiers of our land.

Our message to the US and EU governments is this: your attempt to force us to give up our principles or our struggle is in vain. Our people who gave thousands of martyrs, the millions of refugees who have waited for nearly 60 years to return home and our 9,000 political and war prisoners in Israeli jails have not made those sacrifices in order to settle for close to nothing.

Hamas has been elected mainly because of its immovable faith in the inevitability of victory; and Hamas is immune to bribery, intimidation and blackmail. While we are keen on having friendly relations with all nations we shall not seek friendships at the expense of our legitimate rights. We have seen how other nations, including the peoples of Vietnam and South Africa, persisted in their struggle until their quest for freedom and justice was accomplished. We are no different, our cause is no less worthy, our determination is no less profound and our patience is no less abundant.

Our message to the Muslim and Arab nations is this: you have a responsibility to stand by your Palestinian brothers and sisters whose sacrifices are made on behalf of all of you. Our people in Palestine should not need to wait for any aid from countries that attach humiliating conditions to every dollar or euro they pay despite their historical and moral responsibility for our plight. We expect you to step in and compensate the Palestinian people for any loss of aid and we demand you lift all restrictions on civil society institutions that wish to fundraise for the Palestinian cause.

Our message to the Palestinians is this: our people are not only those who live under siege in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip but also the millions languishing in refugee camps in Lebanon, Jordan and Syria and the millions spread around the world unable to return home. We promise you that nothing in the world will deter us from pursuing our goal of liberation and return. We shall spare no effort to work with all factions and institutions in order to put our Palestinian house in order. Having won the parliamentary elections, our medium-term objective is to reform the PLO in order to revive its role as a true representative of all the Palestinian people, without exception or discrimination.

Our message to the Israelis is this: we do not fight you because you belong to a certain faith or culture. Jews have lived in the Muslim world for 13 centuries in peace and harmony; they are in our religion “the people of the book” who have a covenant from God and His Messenger Muhammad (peace be upon him) to be respected and protected. Our conflict with you is not religious but political. We have no problem with Jews who have not attacked us – our problem is with those who came to our land, imposed themselves on us by force, destroyed our society and banished our people.

We shall never recognise the right of any power to rob us of our land and deny us our national rights. We shall never recognise the legitimacy of a Zionist state created on our soil in order to atone for somebody else’s sins or solve somebody else’s problem. But if you are willing to accept the principle of a long-term truce, we are prepared to negotiate the terms. Hamas is extending a hand of peace to those who are truly interested in a peace based on justice.
· Khalid Mish’al is head of the political bureau of Hamas.
guardian.co.uk

VIENNA, Austria – The U.N. nuclear watchdog agency said in a report Tuesday that Iran obtained documents and drawings on the black market that serve no other purpose than to make an atomic warhead. Tehran warned of an “end of diplomacy” if plans to refer it to the U.N. Security Council are carried out.
news.yahoo.com

Iran ‘has bomb and trying to make more’
01/29/06 “Gulf News” — — Dubai: A well-known US nuclear proliferation and terrorism expert told Gulf News yesterday that Tehran not only has the nuclear bomb, it is seeking to “duplicate them in large numbers before revealing their existence to the world”.

Mansoor Ijaz said, “Iran has a functional nuclear device stored, like the Pakistanis did for nearly a decade, in component parts at multiple locations to justify its publicly declared stance of ‘nuclear ambiguity’ until Tehran can replicate the nuclear fuel cycle and duplicate components reliably needed to manufacture a diverse array of nuclear devices.”

This, he says, requires patience and time, and underscores the delay tactics seen with increasing frequency by Tehran regarding their nuclear agenda.

Speaking exclusively to Gulf News while on a brief visit to the region, Ijaz, an American financier of Pakistani ancestry whose partners include former CIA Director James Woolsey and retired US Air Force Generals James Abrahamson and Tom McInerney, warned: “Iran is committed to expanding and supplying its global ‘jihadist’ network with tactical nuclear capabilities, ranging from dirty radiological devices to electromagnetic pulse devices or ‘electron bombs’, in order to redress what Tehran sees as a growing geostrategic imbalance aligned against its interests.”