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7,500 students demonstrate in Egypt against Iraq war Jordan Times, 2/24/03 CAIRO (AFP) — Some 7,500 students demonstrated Sunday against US plans to wage a war on Iraq in Cairo and Alexandria, in the largest anti-war rallies here over the current crisis so far, organisers and police said. Around 5,000 students demonstrated at their university campus in the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria, shouting Islamist-style slogans such as “America is the enemy of God.” Another 2,500 students gathered at Ain Shams University in eastern Cairo, shouting “America, we shall defy you,” “Iraq we shall sacrifice ourselves for you,” and “Iraqi: resist, resist.” Earlier in the day, police prevented 3,000 Egyptian and Arab lawyers from venting their anger at the United States in the streets of the capital. The lawyers, who were holding a conference, had decided to demonstrate in front of Arab League headquarters in central Cairo, but police did not let them leave the conference hall for several hours. Several of them were pushed back into the conference hall in the eastern suburb of Nasr City, participants said, amid a heavy police presence. Nearly 5,000 students demonstrated Tuesday at Al Azhar Islamic University in Cairo and another university in the northeastern city of Ismailiya, and 3,500 students and lecturers demonstrated on four Cairo college campuses on Saturday. Public demonstrations are prohibited in Egypt under the emergency laws in force since 1981, but are generally tolerated on university campuses and inside mosques. The Egyptian government asked parliament on Sunday to extend by another three years the country's emergency laws, which have been denounced by rights groups as undermining individual freedoms. Egypt has been living under the measures almost without a break since 1967. The Arab states are expected to hold their annual summit meeting in Egypt on March 1 to discuss the showdown over Iraq. 5,000 protest in Lebanon Also Sunday, some 5,000 people were led by Muslim and Christian dignitaries in a protest in the southern Lebanese city of Tyre to show support for Iraq and the Palestinians. The demonstration, organised by the Cultural Forum, which groups left-wing intellectuals and officials, denounced the Arab states for not doing more to prevent war in Iraq. Nasser Hamdan, a representative of the group, told demonstrators “Arab regimes are responsible for what is happening in the region because they are not helping the Palestinian and Iraqi people.” The demonstrators took a similar line: “Where are the Arab armies, where are the Arab leaders?” they shouted, amid a sea of Iraqi, Lebanese and Palestinian flags and portraits of Yasser Arafat and Saddam Hussein. One banner called for the “formation of an Arab front to defend Iraq and Palestine,” while another warned “Iraq will be a cemetery for the invaders.” An anti-war rally gathering some 10,000 Palestinians and Lebanese was held in Sidon, another coastal city further north, on Feb. 18.
At
least 13 Egyptian activists against the war on Iraq have been arrested.
Ten of those 13 remain in custody, including a journalist and a film
maker, and we know that eleven of the 13 arrested have been tortured. We
have received a plea for solidarity from a broad range of anti-war and
human rights groups in Egypt, asking us to protest to the Egyptian embassy
in each of our countries, and to the Egyptian government. As signatories
to the Cairo Declaration of December 2001 against war and globalisation,
we ask you to support their appeal. For
further information, or to register support, contact Jonathan Neale of the
International Campaign against
Agression against Iraq at The
phone number of the Egyptian embassy in London is The
appeal from Egypt reads in part: "On
the 18th of January State Security Police arrested 11 activists
participating in an anti-war demonstration in Cairo. In the dawn of the
8th of February they arrested and issued an order of detention for Ibrahim
El Sahari, Journalist at El Alam El Yom, founding member of Center for
Socialist Studies and prominent activist in the Egyptian antiwar movement.
On 9 Feb, at 2 p.m., they arrested another antiwar activist, Sabri El
Sammak, director of production at Aflam Misr El Alameya, the production
company of Egyptian filmmaker Youssef Chahine. "A
vicious war is about to hit the region causing a damage whose proportions
no one can fully predict. It is the people of the region who are going to
pay for this war. In those black moments of history the least the peoples
of the world can do, and the Egyptian people are no exception, is to raise
their voices against that war and the interests it serves. "We
demand the immediate release of our detained colleagues and to stop the
harassment of the Egyptian solidarity movements, which are exercising
their legitimate right in collective peaceful expression, a fact supported
by the recent court order which rejected the government's decision to ban
the organization of peaceful demonstrations against the war on Iraq." The
names of those still in custody are Sabri Al Sammak, Ibrahim Al Sahari,
Tamer Hindawi, Abdel Gawad Ahmed, Mohammed Khalil, Samir Al Foli, Magdi Al
Kordi, Mahmoud Hassan, Mohammed Dakhli, and Mohammed Hosni. The activists
in Egypt are worried that many more will be arrested in the next few days
if there is not sufficient international pressure for their release. Please
protest to: President
Hosni Mubarak, President of the Arab Republic of Egypt And
to General Habib al-'Adeli, Ministry of the Interior
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British and American Exodus
from Saudi Arabia Under Way
RIYADH, 24 February 2003 — With a US-led war on Iraq becoming a clear possibility, and in the wake of the shooting of Briton Robert Dent last Thursday, the exodus of British and American nationals and their dependents in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has begun, a reliable source at British Airways told Arab News last night. He added that BA’s biweekly London-bound flight is leaving almost full. From today, the airline will bring departure forward from 2 a.m. to 23.55 p.m. for the convenience of the extra passengers. BA has canceled the arrangements with Riyadh Marriott for the accommodation of its 13-member crew. An airline executive, who spoke on condition of anonymity, described the situation as confusing. The BA source said: “We have been receiving lots of inquiries concerning the current situation in the region. They want to know whether the flights will operate when war breaks out. “However, some people started leaving before the Eid Al-Adha vacation, while others have been on extended leave since Christmas.” According to a Delta Airlines official in the Central Province, all Delta connecting flights to the European sector and onward to the US are fully booked from the first week of March. The airline charges 50 percent of the price of the round-trip ticket for one-way tickets, and is expecting the return segment for the round-trip tickets to be canceled. The situation in Riyadh, where Dent was gunned down by a Yemen-born Saudi, seems to be more tense than in the rest of the country — at least in the hot-house climate of compound life. “There is almost a panic here,” one British resident told Arab News yesterday. “People are planning to get out,” he said. Compound staff in Jeddah refused to comment on the record. But one, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that numerous families were now planning to go. “There is no mass exodus, and the men aren’t going to go, but other members of the families are already talking about leaving. I know of two families who have booked flights to get the kids out. It’s all happened so suddenly. Some people are waiting to see what happens, and they will talk it through over the coming weeks. “I think that, between now and next week, we will see a lot of people deciding to leave. The murder was the last straw,” the compound staff member added. In a related development, Musarrat Hussain, general manager of Minhal Travels in Riyadh, told Arab News that while the passenger traffic has nose-dived by more than 80 percent on the European and North American sectors, it has shot up by over 100 percent on nearby destinations in the Gulf and the Middle East. “Saudis are no longer going to those destinations, except for official or essential duties,” he added. “Saudi students returning from the US are seeking admission in universities closer to home. Domestic tourism has picked up significantly, giving a big boost to the recreation industry.”
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Arab Banks Likely to Suffer
SR225 Billion War Loss
JEDDAH — Arab banks are likely to suffer losses of SR225 billion ($60 billion) in the event of a US-led war on Iraq, according to the Arab Bank Federation. The potential losses to the Arab countries would be much higher than those suffered during the 1991 Gulf War, said Dr. Fouad Shakir, secretary-general of the federation. Dr. Yaseen Al-Jefry, an independent economist, said the losses were estimated in light of the those likely to be suffered by Arab economies in general during the war as a result of diminished economic activity. However, Saudi banker Mishter Al-Murshid discounted the fallout of a possible war as banks in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries are in an “excellent” state. “Even if the whole Gulf economy is affected, the banking situation will remain stable as Gulf banks enjoy high liquidity,” he explained. Al-Jefry said the banks would suffer losses due to economic depression, but “the solvency of Arab banks and their capital strength will enable them to withstand the shock.” Banker Talaat Hafiz said the figure was exaggerated as he does not estimate losses will exceed SR112.5 billion ($30 billion). The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) said earlier that it did not expect any major flight of capital from Saudi banks in the event of a war. Muhammad Al-Jasir, of SAMA, said the central bank is ready to meet any extraordinary demand for cash if war breaks out.
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Israeli Onslaught Continues;
11 More Palestinians Dead BEIT HANOON, Gaza Strip, 24 February 2003 — Israeli forces occupied
a northern Gaza Strip town and started building camps in commandeered
houses yesterday, killing seven Palestinians in a major operation. Four other Palestinians and an Israeli soldier died as a result of
violence elsewhere in the Gaza Strip and West Bank. Meanwhile the head of Israel’s Labour Party, Amram Mitzna, called
off coalition talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after the
right-winger inked a deal with a party representing Jewish settlers in
the occupied territories. As the army dug in, Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz warned
troops would stay in Beit Hanun, north of Gaza City, until it had
eliminated the risk of Hamas fighters firing crude home-made rockets
across the border. But hours later defiant Hamas members fired another two rockets into
southern Israel, one of them hitting the town of Sderot without causing
damage or injuries. Israel has reoccupied the West Bank since June last year but has so
far confined itself to large raids into the Gaza Strip. The Israel reoccupation of Beit Hanun began when a column of tanks
and armored vehicles, supported by helicopters, rumbled into the town. Fifteen-year-old Ahmed Eid Assala was gunned down as the
expeditionary force stormed in, the security officials said. Another
man, aged around 20, was also shot and fatally wounded at the start of
the raid. Also killed was policeman Mahmud Mohammed Hweili, 27, who was manning
his security post as the Israeli force entered the town, Palestinian
security officials said. Another was Mahmud Al-Kahlut, 18, shot dead as crowds of youths
turned out to pelt the Israelis with stones. Later in the day, policeman Ayman Abu Shara, 32, and laborer Wael Al-Garbawi,
31, were shot dead by machine-gun fire from a tank in the town’s
industrial zone as they were fleeing the fighting. The director of Al Shifa hospital in Gaza City, Moawea Abu Hassanein,
said the bodies of Abu Shara and Garbawi had been mutilated by the
Israeli soldiers, and said it was possible the men had been still alive
when their throats were stabbed. He said both men had been shot but also had “deep stab wounds on
the neck.” He said Abu Sharar had also had his eyes “cut out” and
that his skull was smashed. The army declined any immediate comment. The army also dynamited six houses belonging to slain or wanted
fighters, including several belonging to Hamas members and one belonging
to the father of an Islamic Jihad gunman killed trying to infiltrate
Israel on Friday. The Palestinian Authority, fearing the attacks could weaken its
infrastructure while boosting support for Hamas, had cracked down on the
Kassam rocket-launchers, but officials said three of the 11 people
killed in a raid last week were security officers on patrol to prevent
the attacks. The army also said it had arrested a Palestinian cameraman working
for Reuters in Beit Hanun “on suspicion of involvement in terrorist
activities.” The army also said it killed a Palestinian armed with an
assault rifle and four grenades shortly before dawn as he approached the
Jewish settlement and army base of Netzarim, located on the southern
flank of Gaza City. The man was identified as Yusef Abu Sharia, 19. A Palestinian sniper shot dead an Israeli soldier in the Gush Katif
settlement bloc in southern Gaza. The attack in the morning was claimed
in a statement by the Abu Ali Mustafa Brigades, the armed wing of the
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine. Later in the day, army fire on the nearby town of Khan Yunis killed a
16-year-old Palestinian boy and injured two others. In the reoccupied West Bank town of Tulkarm an unarmed Palestinian
worker was shot dead by an army patrol after failing to heed an order to
stop his car. And a 14-year-old Palestinian boy died of his wounds the day after
being shot in the head in Nablus in the northern West Bank when Israeli
forces fired on stone-throwing youths. 11 killed as Israel invades Gaza town Jordan Times, 2/24/03 GAZA CITY (AFP) — Ten Palestinians and an Israeli soldier died in a new explosion of violence Sunday as Israeli forces staged a deadly raid into the Gaza Strip, taking over the northern town of Beit Hanoun and turning houses into military posts with the declared aim of stamping out rocket attacks by resistance fighters. Meanwhile, the head of Israel's Labour Party, Amram Mitzna, called off coalition talks with Prime Minister Ariel Sharon after the right-winger inked a deal with a party representing Jewish settlers in the occupied territories. Six Palestinians were killed and 10 injured as columns of tanks, backed by helicopter gunships, rolled into Beit Hanoun from two directions and troops quickly imposed a curfew and fired warning shots, triggering intensive clashes with Palestinian resistance fighters defending their town and mobs of stone-throwing youths. Two of the dead were policemen and another two teenagers, medics said. Six family homes of slain or wanted activists from the Islamic resistance groups Hamas and Islamic Jihad were dynamited by the occupation army, which also commandeered three civilian buildings and started turning them into military bases. As a further sign that the army, which has reoccupied the West Bank for eight months, was planning a longer stay in the Gaza town, Israeli Defence Minister Shaul Mofaz said his troops would remain in place until the missile threat was eliminated. Despite the massive operation, resistance fighters in Gaza fired two homemade rockets on the southern Israeli town of Sderot on Sunday afternoon, spreading panic but causing no casualties or damage. Hamas has fired dozens of missiles into Israel from Beit Hanoun, which is just across the border, provoking bloody raids and sparking fears Israel could launch a full-scale reoccupation of the densely populated Gaza Strip at the same time that its ally Washington attacks Iraq. The occupation army also said it killed a Palestinian armed with an assault rifle and grenades shortly before dawn as he approached the Jewish settlement and army base of Netzarim, located south of Gaza City. Also a Palestinian sniper shot dead an Israeli occupation soldier in the Gush Katif settlement bloc in southern Gaza. Later army fire on the nearby town of Khan Younis killed a 16-year-old Palestinian boy and injured two others. In the reoccupied West Bank town of Tulkarem an unarmed Palestinian worker was shot dead by an army patrol after allegedly failing to heed an order to stop his car. And a 14-year-old Palestinian boy died of his wounds the day after being shot in the head in Nablus in the northern West Bank when Israeli forces fired on stone-throwing youths. Two other Palestinians were killed in the riots on Saturday. Witnesses said the army pulled out of the Casbah, or old city of Nablus, where it had been conducting five days of house searches looking for activists as part of a tough crackdown aimed at Hamas. Hamas was the target of a major raid last week in Gaza City, which left 11 Palestinians dead, several of them members of the resistance group and the others civilians. Hamas has rejected calls for an end to attacks after 29 months of conflict, including an appeal last Friday by the second-in-command of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Mahmoud Abbas, who announced a one-year demilitarisation of the Intifada, or uprising. The group says it cannot halt attacks while Israel continues to kill Palestinians. Other resistacne groups have also dismissed the calls, while Palestinian officials said the move was a bid to ward off possible Israeli moves against Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat during the anticipated US-led war on Iraq. Arafat has also announced he would share some of his sweeping executive power with a prime minister, amid fears that Israel could expel him during the Iraq war if he fails to meet strict reform demands. Meanwhile in Israel, the head of the centre-left Labour Party called off coalition talks with Sharon after the reelected right-wing premier signed a deal with the National Religious Party (NRP), a hardline group representing Jewish settlers who have been a main focus of the Palestinian uprising for freedom. Labour leader Mitzna, who led his party to a historic low in Jan. 28 parliamentary elections on a pledge to scale back settlements built on Palestinian lands, cancelled the talks saying they “had become useless” after Sharon's deal with the NRP. NRP leader Effi Eitam said the premier agreed that Jewish settlements “will be enlarged to accommodate the natural growth of their population.” Labour deputy Avraham Burg said that in signing a deal with the NRP, “it is the real Sharon who has emerged, the one who wants to continue expanding the settlements.” Such an agreement is likely to inflame Palestinian anger, as Palestinian homes in Israeli-controlled areas of the West Bank are routinely demolished for being built without Israeli permits. The Palestinians say Israel refuses to issue such permits and is strangling many communities while the settlements expand.
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Iraq Contemplates Missile
Destruction
BAGHDAD, 24 February 2003 — Iraq said yesterday it was considering UN demands to destroy banned missiles to avert war, as Washington launched a diplomatic drive to ensure backing for a new resolution paving the way for military action. “We are serious in investigating this issue,” General Hossam Mohammad Amin told a press conference, after UN chief weapons inspector Hans Blix demanded Iraq start destroying the Al-Samoud 2 missiles from March 1. “We hope this will be solved without American or British intervention ... those who have evil intentions,” Amin added. The United States was meanwhile rallying support for a new UN resolution on Iraq, which Washington could unveil as early as today as it tightens the screws on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. US Secretary of State Colin Powell arrived in China on his second stop of a diplomatic tour to Japan, China and South Korea to get backing from Asian powers for a US-led war to disarm Saddam. “It is time to take action... We are reaching that point where serious consequences must flow,” he said in Tokyo after winning Japanese support from Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi. But he faces a tougher sell in China, a veto-wielding member of the UN Security Council which has repeatedly voiced its opposition to US President George W. Bush’s calls for war. Bush insisted that Washington would give the United Nations a last chance and less than two months to pass a fresh resolution, after talks with Spanish Prime Minister Jose Maria Aznar in Texas on Saturday. “Time is short. And this is the chance for the Security Council to show its relevance, and I believe the Security Council will show its relevance because Saddam Hussein has not disarmed,” he said. United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan also urged Iraq to fold to international pressure and abide by the UN demands to disarm. “They have to destroy these weapons... I urge the Iraqis to do it and I’m confident they will destroy the weapons. If they refuse to destroy (them), the Council will have to take a decision on that,” he told reporters in Ankara. A spokesman for Britain’s Tony Blair told AFP: “The prime minister will expect that there could be a period of a few weeks that will pass before that resolution will be voted on in the UN,” adding the draft would emerge “early next week,” a timeframe echoed by Annan. The efforts by Blair would be a “last push for peace,” he added. The British prime minister, Washington’s closest ally in preparations for war, held telephone talks with President Vladimir Putin, with the Russian leader explaining Moscow’s efforts to avert an attack on Baghdad. Russia, which along with China and France holds veto power on the Council, has opposed Washington’s hawkish stance, but it was unclear whether the three would veto a US-backed resolution. Syria, the sole Arab state on the Security Council, said it saw no need for a new Iraq resolution despite a request for its support from Powell. Officials in Cairo said that 16 of the 22 members of the Arab League agreed to hold their annual summit on March 1 to discuss the Iraq crisis, although Baghdad has requested the meeting be delayed.
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NAM 114 nations reject ‘Axis
of Evil’ rhetoric
KUALA LUMPUR, 24 February 2003 — The Non-Aligned Movement (NAM) is to deliver a sharp rebuke to US President George W. Bush by rejecting his “axis of evil” description of three of its members, according to a draft statement finalized yesterday. The 114-nation body will also accuse the United States of using the war on terror as an excuse for threatening to attack Iraq, said the statement to be tabled for adoption at the NAM summit starting today. “The heads of state or government rejected the use, or the threat of use, of armed forces against any NAM country under the pretext of combating terrorism,” the statement added, in an apparent reference to the United States’ policy toward Iraq. The draft also said Israelis suspected of war crimes against Palestinians should be tried in the International Criminal Court. Also yesterday, Malaysian President Mahathir Mohamad said Western nations were targeting Muslims rather than weapons of mass destruction. Mahathir cited the West’s “mild” reaction to North Korea’s nuclear drive as proof that the looming Iraqi conflict was aimed at Islam rather than disarming Saddam Hussein. “The fact that North Korea’s open admission that it has weapons of mass destruction has met only with mild admonishment by the West seems to prove that indeed it is against Muslims and not against the fear of possession of weapons of mass destruction by the so-called rogue states,” he told a NAM business forum.
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Haram Imam Blasts
‘Intellectual Terrorism’
MAKKAH, 24 February 2003 — The imam of the Grand Mosque here has lambasted what he called the intellectual terrorism of certain organizations against Muslims. He also stated that the Muslim nation will not accept any attack on their beloved Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Addressing more than a million faithful who thronged the large mosque complex for the Juma prayer on Friday, Dr. Saleh ibn Humaid, who is also chairman of the Shoura Council, said Muslims wanted a public apology for the false accusations leveled against their religion and the Prophet. “These allegations and falsifications came from influential persons, including those who have links with politicians and decision makers, and have got wide publicity through the international media,” he said and warned against the serious consequences of such campaigns. “This is not the first time the Prophet has come under false attacks. It started during the early Islamic period but it affected neither his life nor the growth and popularity of Islam,” he said, and urged Muslims not to respond to these provocative campaigns. Humaid called for joint efforts by Muslims to confront these campaigns and urged them to use all their potentials to refute the falsifications. “Pro-Israeli Zionist and extremist Christian organizations were spearheading this unjust smear campaign,” he pointed out. The imam also advised Islamic scholars to spread the exemplary life and teachings of the Prophet including his magnanimity, benevolence, tolerance and justice. The imam denounced the strident smear campaign against Islam and Muslims. “From the podium of this Grand Mosque, I call upon the world’s intellectuals to shun these biased attacks and intellectual terrorism,” he said. Such campaigns would trigger vengeance, hatred and provocation and lead to tragedies detrimental to all. He urged seekers of truth and advocates of justice to learn about Islam from its original sources and study the life of its Prophet dispassionately. “Muslims are proud that their religion prohibits ignoring or denying other prophets. It also prevents them from attacking other religions,” he pointed out. Muslims respect all previous prophets including Abraham, Moses and Jesus. God has sent the Prophet Muhammad as a blessing to the whole world. “The Prophet Muhammad was a role model for humanitarianism, the pinnacle of morality,” he said. The number of Muslims in the world exceeds 1.25 billion. They constitute one fourth of the world population and live in 54 countries. “The Muslim nation with its massive strength condemns these attacks and allegations against their religion and the Prophet,” he said.
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Haunted by Gulf War memories, Turkey
dithers over US-led Iraq war Jordan Times, 2/24/03
- ANKARA (AFP) — As Turkey dithers over the final conditions of an emerging deal to let US forces invade Iraq from its territory, Washington has made it clear that its patience is wearing thin. But the pressure tactics have revived bad memories of the last war in the Gulf, and could prove counterproductive. “The United States kept none of the promises they made in 1991,” said Recep Tayyip Erdogan, leader of Turkey's ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP), in an interview with NTV television on Friday night. Erdogan's comments were a succinct summary of Ankara's official view of the Gulf War, when former President Turgut Ozal gave comprehensive support to the US-led attack on Iraq and its forces occupying Kuwait. Ozal had calculated — wrongly, as it rapidly became clear — that his wholehearted backing for the US-led war effort would pay handsome dividends for Turkey. “We're going to gamble one and win three,” he told a sceptical public, in words that have since been the subject of satire. In fact, Turkey was promptly crippled by United Nations sanctions against its oil-rich neighbour that virtually ended bilateral trade. Its economic development plans were reduced to `colateral damage' in the economic war to disarm Iraq — now in its 13th year. Hours after the sanctions were formally adopted, Ankara ordered the closure of the two major oil pipelines that transported almost half of Iraq's whopping preembargo crude production to the Turkish Mediterranean port of Yumurtalik. Weeks before the Gulf war began, armed forces chief Necip Torumtay and Foreign Minister Ali Bozer had both resigned in protest at their president's unbridled support for the US-led war. Ozal was subsequently forced to withdraw plans to send Turkish troops into Iraq and Kuwait alongside US forces, amid unrelenting criticism from the military and opposition groups. Nonetheless, Turkey played a vital role in the allied assault, its southern Incirlik air base serving as a major staging post both for supply logistics and bombing operations. Former US president George Bush — George W's father — received Ozal at the White House, hailing the “courage” of his stand against Iraq and promising big increases in military aid. Ozal died in 1993. But Turkish authorities today estimate they are still owed more than $40 billion (37 billion euros) in economic aid promised to their former president by Washington — part of it in compensation for the UN sanctions against Iraq. Turkey's cabinet will meet Monday to ask parliament to permit US forces to use Turkish soil in an event of another war on Iraq, Prime Minister Abdullah Gul said Saturday.
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UN starts vaccinating four million Iraqi
children Jordan Times, 2/24/03
- BAGHDAD (R) — The UN Children's Fund launched a measles and polio vaccination campaign for four million Iraqi children on Sunday and said malnutrition levels showed Iraq was suffering a humanitarian crisis even before any US-led war. “There are four million children being vaccinated throughout the whole of Iraq during a five-day period which started today,” Carel de Rooy, Iraq representative of UNICEF, told reporters. “Twenty three per cent of (Iraqi) children under five are malnourished, that in itself is an indicator which shows there is a humanitarian crisis in the country today,” he said. De Rooy said UNICEF, while still hoping for a diplomatic solution, has been preparing contingency plans for war. UNICEF has pre-positioned hundreds of tonnes of relief supplies in the Iraq region, including medicines, nutritional supplements for children and water equipment as part of a broader UN effort to be ready for a humanitarian crisis. He said war could disrupt government food handouts on which many Iraqis, impoverished by 12 years of UN sanctions, rely. “It is a food distribution system which works very well and obviously if this system is interrupted that will be another major risk,” he said, adding that 24.5 million Iraqis receive monthly rations equivalent to 2,200 calories per person a day. “That is the real drama. People are dependent on the public service for everything,” De Rooy said. More than 14,000 health workers and volunteers backed by 7,000 mobile UNICEF teams fanned out across Iraq and went from door to door in poor areas to ensure every child is immunised. De Rooy was supervising the campaign in Iraq, whose 25 million people still live under UN sanctions imposed after Iraq's 1990 invasion of Kuwait and who face the threat of a US-led war if Baghdad fails to disarm under UN resolutions. De Rooy said the mortality rate of children under five in Iraq was 56 per 1,000 in 1989. Ten years later it had risen 160 per cent to 131 per 1,000, a rise even bigger than that seen in HIV-infected countries in eastern and southern Africa. At a clinic in Saddam City, a poor and densely-populated Baghdad district of some two million people, parents lined up to lay their children on a small table to be vaccinated. UNICEF is also leading an accelerated campaign against measles, which spreads rapidly within displaced populations and kills more children than any other disease, De Rooy said. “There is a quarter of a million children who are highly under-nourished who are at risk of measles.... These children are at risk of dying, particularly if you have malnutrition combined with measles,” De Rooy said. To fight malnutrition, UNICEF is distributing highprotein biscuits to healthcare centres and some 2,800 community childcare units which were established over the past decade to screen children and identify those who require extra feeding.
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Lebanese FM to brief EU counterparts on
anti-war stance Jordan Times, 2/24/03
- BEIRUT (AFP) — Lebanese Foreign Minister Mahmoud Hammoud said Sunday he will inform his EU counterparts that Arab states have rejected any plans for a war against Iraq. “It is an opportunity to tell the Europeans about the Arab position, which rejects war and aggression against any Arab country,” Hammoud told journalists before departing for the meeting in Brussels on Monday which will also be attended by Arab League Secretary General Amr Musa. “Europe has a central role to play,” Hammoud said, singling out the “French, German, and Russian (statement) on the need for a peaceful solution” to the Iraq crisis. The three countries agreed on Feb. 10 that force could only be used as a last resort in Iraq and united behind a French proposal to further strengthen the UN arms inspections regime. Greek Foreign Minister George Papandreou, whose country holds the rotating EU presidency, took part in an special gathering of Arab foreign ministers in Cairo on Feb. 16 which focussed on the Iraq crisis. The meeting highlighted Arab divisions after Kuwait and Qatar accused Lebanon of exploiting its chairmanship to steamroller through a statement critical of states hosting US forces. The Arab world has been deeply divided over the readiness of the pro-Western Gulf states to host a massive US troop buildup in the runup to the threatened war with Iraq. Greece invited Hammoud and Mussa to the Brussels meeting as part of increased coordination between the European Union and Arab states to have a say regarding Iraq, which is accused by the United States and Britain of concealing weapons of mass destruction. Papandreou visited Lebanon, Syria and Jordan in early February stressing the EU's desire to work with Arab states to find a peaceful solution in Iraq, and pressing Baghdad to comply with its disarmament obligations.
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Sharon turns sharp right in search for
government Jordan Times, 2/24/03
- TEL AVIV (R) — Israel's government-in-the-making turned sharply to the right on Sunday after a party that champions Jewish settlement on occupied Palestinian land and rejects a Palestinian state agreed to an alliance with Ariel Sharon. The National Religious Party (NRP) signed a draft coalition accord with Sharon's right-wing Likud, leading the chairman of the main opposition Labour Party to end its own talks on joining a “unity” government the prime minister hoped to form. Partnership with Labour, which advocates immediate renewal of peace-making with the Palestinians, would have put a more moderate face on Sharon's government ahead of widely anticipated US pressure for Israeli concessions after any war in Iraq. He turned to the NRP after holding three inconclusive meetings with Labour Chairman Amram Mitzna, who campaigned in the January 29 election on a pledge not to join up with Sharon. Together with the NRP's six parliamentary seats, the 15 held by likely coalition partner Shinui, a centrist party, and Likud's 40 lawmakers, Sharon could form a shaky government of 61 legislators in the 120-member Knesset. The NRP, along with Sharon, have long-supported expansion of Jewish settlements on land in the West Bank and Gaza Strip that Israel occupied in the 1967 Middle East war and which Palestinians want for a state of their own. Sharon has said he is willing to make unspecified “painful compromises” towards the Palestinians, a position that has won him praise from US President George W. Bush as a “man of peace.” But announcing the end of coalition contacts, Labour said Sharon had failed to commit to “a continuation of the peace process, establishment of a Palestinian state and evacuation of settlements within the framework of a permanent peace deal.” Sharon says anti-Israeli attacks in a 29-month-old Palestinian uprising for freedom must cease before peace negotiations with the Palestinian can resume. Both Sharon and Mitzna have staked out common ground in voicing support for the establishment of a Palestinian state, but its shape and conditions and timetable for its creation remain matters of contention between them. Labour bolted Sharon's government four months ago in a dispute over state funding for settlements that also involved a power struggle within the party, which had spearheaded interim peace deals with the Palestinians in the 1990s. Voters rocked by a now 29-month-old Palestinian uprising for statehood punished Labour at the ballot box in January, cutting its parliamentary representation from 26 to 19 legislators. Shalom Yahalom, an NRP legislator, said the coalition agreement allowed the NRP to oppose and lobby for the rejection in cabinet of a US roadmap to peace which includes a call for the establishment of a Palestinian state by 2005. But Tommy Lapid, Shinui's leader, said that with only six votes in parliament and two prospective cabinet ministers, the NRP would not be able to block adoption of the peace outline that Bush drew in a Middle East policy speech in June. In the address, Bush said once the Palestinians have new leaders “not compromised by terror,” the United States would support a provisional Palestinian state. He also said “Israeli settlement activity in the occupied territories must stop.” The NRP, in its platform, says no Jewish settlement will be uprooted and no “independent national Arab entity” established between the Mediterranean and Jordan River, meaning the whole of Paletine.
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Washington is losing the battle of global
public opinion Jordan Times, 2/24/03
- WASHINGTON (AFP) — The battle plan is set for Iraq, but the United States is behind in a public relations campaign to soothe world ire over President George W. Bush's unilateralist tendencies. The massive anti-war demonstrations last weekend, polls abroad showing a growing unhappiness with US policy and Washington's woes at the United Nations, all add up to a growing distrust of the United States. Despite the outpouring of international sympathy following the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks, Washington is now paying the price for such unpopular moves as withdrawing from the Kyoto Protocol on climate change and its campaign against the new International Criminal Court. Bush's “axis of evil” rhetoric and US Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's gripes about France and Germany's stance as “old Europe,” have not helped polish the US image abroad. According to recent polls, Bush is pushing record unpopularity in Germany and in France eight out of ten people said they opposed a US-led war against Iraq. “A little more than one year ago, America was basking in international solidarity generated by the crime of Sept. 11, 2001, and in worldwide admiration for its spectacularly effective military termination of the Taleban regime in Afghanistan,” said Zbigniew Brzezinski, who was national security adviser to former US President Jimmy Carter. Today, he said, “the cross Atlantic vitriol is unprecedented. There is disarray even among close allies (and) worldwide public opposition to the war,” Brzezinski wrote in an op-ed in the Washington Post Wednesday. In another editorial, this one in Wednesday's New York Times, Thomas Friedman wrote: “It's legitimate for the Bush folks to focus the world on (Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein), but two years of their gratuitous bullying has made many people deaf to America's arguments.” Certain points pushed by the Bush administration, such as the alleged link between Baghdad and the terrorist network Al Qaeda, believed responsible for the Sept. 11 attacks, have not gone down well abroad, said Lee Feinstein, of the Council on Foreign Relations. “Most people are not buying it,” he said. US Secretary of State Colin Powell, criticised for staying home a little too much in recent months, has stepped-up interviews with the foreign press to help fight the growing communication deficit. Rumsfeld said he did not take offence at the massive peace demonstrations, saying they were simply the by product of good democracy. “There are an awful lot more people who didn't demonstrate than who demonstrated. And demonstrations occur in democracies. That's what we do. We have free speech. And that's fine and that's fair. And these are tough issues,” Rumsfeld said, adding that the Iraqis themselves had no freedom to demonstrate. The White House said it would not be swayed, and compared the demonstrations to the massive peace protests in the 1980s against the deployment of US missiles in Europe. “The United States stood on principle, the American president did what he thought was right to preserve the peace. As a result, the Berlin Wall came down, and the message of the protesters, better neutral than dead, turned out to be a false message,” Fleischer said Tuesday. Earlier that day, Bush said, “size of protest, it's like deciding, well, I'm going to decide policy based upon a focus group. The role of a leader is to decide policy based upon the security.”
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Non-aligned nations
line up against war with Iraq -
KUALA LUMPUR - Leaders of the
developing world lined up in Malaysia on Monday to oppose war in Iraq and
urge Baghdad to disarm.
Host Prime Minister
Mahathir Mohamad, opening a summit of the Non-Aligned Movement, set the
tone with a fierce condemnation of war and an attack on what he called the
West’s hypocrisy and warmongering of richer nations. Iraq,
one of the movement’s 116 members, expressed delight at a succession of
speeches from leaders of a bloc that accounts for almost two-thirds of the
United Nations. War
solved nothing, Mahathir said, urging reform of the United Nations to
ensure world disarmament. “No
single nation should be allowed to police the world, least of all to
decide what action to take, when.” But
he joined the global chorus for Iraq to comply with U.N. resolutions,
saying: “Everyone must disarm.” “War
must be outlawed... War is primitive,” Mahathir told the opening of the
two-day summit that saw two more nations admitted to NAM, taking its
membership to 116. South
African President Thabo Mbeki took up the theme, and it was echoed in
speech after speech by leaders who condemned war but demanded Iraq comply
with U.N. resolutions and get rid of any weapons of mass destruction. “I...
plead with President Saddam Hussein to urgently negotiate a win-win
settlement that will spare the heroic Iraqi people the agonies of the
devastating war,” Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said. The
group was set to issue a statement that Baghdad comply with U.N. demands
and scrap weapons of mass destruction, but it would also take a swipe at
the United States by stressing the need for multilateral, not unilateral,
action. The
United States, backed by Britain, is massing troops on Iraq’s border and
threatening war unless President Saddam Hussein surrenders the alleged
weapons. U.N.
Secretary General Kofi Annan underscored the need for Iraq to disarm and
to cooperate, in remarks read to the summit. Many
leaders stressed NAM’s desire that the United Nations -- and not the
United States -- should be the top world arbiter of international crises
such as Iraq. “AGAINST
WARMONGERING” With
many Muslim nations among NAM, leaders pleaded for a peaceful resolution
of the confrontation with Iraq and stressed the importance of respect for
U.N. processes, as NAM struggles to ensure it remains relevant. Iraqi
Foreign Minister Naji Sabri said he was delighted at the stand of the
developing world. “This
is excellent, more than excellent. It shows the conscience of the people
of the non-aligned countries.” Sabri
backed Mahathir’s appeal for peace and hit out at the United States. “Warlike
policies and warlike plans are against all humanity and all international
community,” he said. Iranian
President Mohammad Khatami, in turn, accused the United States of
“fanatic fundamentalism” in giving itself the right to resort to
force. NAM’s
views matter because six of its members are currently on the U.N. Security
Council: Angola, Guinea, Syria, Pakistan, Chile and Cameroon. Seven votes
against can defeat a resolution. Most
developing nations want weapons inspectors in Iraq to get more time. NAM
nations have seized on a March 1 deadline for Iraq to start destroying
longer-range missiles and avert war. A
WORLD IN FEAR Security
concerns dominated the opening speeches, and Mahathir came up with a
radical proposal that only the United Nations should have responsibility
for the weapons of the world. “A
truly international agency beholden only to the United Nations General
Assembly should oversee the military budget of all countries, big and
small,” he said. A
day earlier, he had said that, after taking on Iraq, the Western powers
might turn to Iran and North Korea -- the two other countries that U.S.
President George W. Bush has described as forming an “axis of evil”. Agreement
on Iraq has contrasted with divisions over the issue of NAM member North
Korea and its nuclear arms programme, which runs counter to the principles
of the movement. Communist
North Korea has convinced fellow members to compromise further by not
criticising it for quitting a treaty preventing the spread of nuclear
arms.
KUALA LUMPUR: Delegates to a summit of 114
mostly developing nations on Sunday endorsed a declaration condemning
Israel for committing “systematic human rights violations and reported
war crimes” in Palestinian areas.
-
Former Israeli ambassador to
UK dies of 1982 wounds -
-
5,000 march in Tyre to back
Iraq, Palestinians -
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