AMERICA CLAIMS THEY WONN'T AID THE PALESTINIANS IF THEY GROUP UP.BUT AL-QUIDA IS A CIA AGENT AMERICA USES WHEN IT WANTS TO STEAL CITIZENS RIGHTS.THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT CLAIM THE BOOGY MAN BIN-LADIN IS OUT TO GET US,MEANWHILLE OTHER AL-QUIDA MEMBERS ARE EATING-DRINKING IN THE PENTEGON WITH THE GOVERNMENT FAT CATS.THIS MAKES A LOT OF SENSE.DREAM UP A BOOGY MAN CIA AGENTS CALL THEM AL-QUIDA.CLAIM THEIR ENEMIES OF THE GOVERNMENT WITH FALSE FLAG INCIDENTS.STEAL CITIZENS RIGHTS AND CONTROL THERE EVERY MOVE.THEN HELP THE CIA AGENTS(SO CALLED AL-QUIDA BOOGYMEN)SKIP TO SAUDI-ARABIA OR WHEREVER A MUSLIM COUNTRY THEY CHOOSE.UNTILL THE NEXT FALSE FLAG BY THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT COMES UP AND THEIR CIA AGENTS ARE NEEDED TO STEAL MORE CITIZENS RIGHTS AND CONTROL THEIR EVERY MOVE.WHAT A WONDER LIFE IN THE MERRY GO ROUND CONTROL FREAKS NEIGHBOURHOOD.
AMERICA WOULD WELCOME HAMAS-FATAH TEAMING UP.THEN THEY COULD HAVE MORE POWER AGAINST ISRAEL AND WOULD FUND THIS NEW SEX FOR MURDER CULT GROUP WITH 3 TIMES AS MUCH AID.BUT CLAIM THEY WILL LOOK AT LOOKING OVER THE AID SITUATION.THIS IS ANOTHER BOOGY MAN.WE KNOW THE AMERICAN GOVERNMENT HATES ISRAEL AND WILL GIVE HAMAS AND FATAH ALL THE SECRET TRILLIONS THEY NEED TO KEEP SHOOTING ROCKETS AT INNOCENT ISRAELI BOYS AND GIRLS AND SCHOOLS AND INNOCENT ISRAELI WOMEN ALSO.THESE GOVERNMENT FRAUDS HAVE TO BE REVEALED FOR THE ISRAEL HATERS THEY ARE.
BUT THEN WE KNOW WERE THIS WILL ALL LEAD.AMERICA WILL BE NUKED BY RUSSIA FOR COMING AGAINST ISRAEL.JUST READ THE BIBLE.THESE GOVERNMENT FRAUDS WILL NOT GET AWAY WITH THEIR SCHEMES AND GAMES AND FALSE FLAG ATTACKS FOR VERY MUCH LONGER.
AND YES THERE ARE REAL TERROR ATTACKS BY IRAN,SYRIA,RUSSIA ARMING AND FUNDING THESE REAL TERRORISTS AGAINST ISRAEL ESPECIALLY AND THE WORLD.BUT AMERICA USES FALSE ATTACKS TO STEAL WORLDS CITIZENS RIGHTS.BUT WHAT CAN YOU EXPECT FROM AN ILLEGEL FRAUD MUSLIM IN OFFICE IN AMERICA.
US to assess aid if new Palestinian government formed
– Fri Apr 29, 7:14 pm ET
WASHINGTON (AFP) – The United States is waiting to see if a new Palestinian government is formed after Hamas inks a deal with its rival Fatah before deciding on any changes to its aid policy, officials said Friday. The current Palestinian government remains in place and so our assistance programs continue, State Department Policy Planning Director Jacob Sullivan told reporters.Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal will meet next week in Cairo with Palestinian Authority president and Fatah leader Mahmud Abbas to sign a unity deal, a Fatah official said on Friday.
It will be the first time the two men have met since the Islamist movement Hamas -- designed a terrorist organization by the United States -- seized control of the Gaza Strip in June 2007, ousting Fatah from the coastal territory after a week of bloody street battles.If a new Palestinian government is formed, we're going to have to assess it based on its policies at the time and determine, then, the implications for our assistance given US law,Sullivan said.Sullivan stressed any new Palestinian government would have accept the principles set down by the Diplomatic Quartet of the United States, United Nations, European Union and Russia, in a so-called roadmap to peace.Those three principles are: renouncing violence, accepting past agreements, and recognizing Israel's right to exist, he said.The deal, announced in Cairo on Wednesday, saw the secular Fatah party which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority and Gaza's Islamist rulers agree to form a transitional government ahead of polls within a year.We support Palestinian reconciliation on terms that promote the cause of peace, Sullivan stressed.In terms of this particular deal, the specifics of it, and how it will be implemented that's something that we're continuing to study.Kay Granger, the Republican chair of the House of Representatives subcommittee that controls US foreign aid, has warned the United States will reexamine its aid to the Palestinians in the event of a deal.If a power-sharing agreement with a terrorist organization becomes a reality in the Palestinian territories, the US will be forced to reexamine our aid to the Palestinian Authority,Granger said.
Egypt's plan to open Gaza border reveals shifts
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press – Fri Apr 29, 4:41 pm ET
JERUSALEM – Egypt's announcement that it will open a key border crossing with the Palestinian Gaza Strip within days sparked concern in Israel on Friday and revealed how the upheaval in the Arab world is shifting the Mideast conflict.Under former President Hosni Mubarak, Egypt restricted the movement of people and goods through the Rafah crossing in keeping with a blockade it imposed on Gaza along with Israel. The restrictions were aimed at weakening the Hamas militants who rule the Gaza Strip, and whom both Egypt and Israel saw, until recently, as a common enemy.After Mubarak's ouster in February by a popular uprising, Egypt's new transitional Cabinet and ruling military council are taking a cooler line toward Israel and the U.S. Egypt has also been warming its ties with Israel's enemies, chiefly Hamas and its main backer, Iran.Egypt's new foreign minister, Nabil al-Araby, said Thursday that the closure was about to end, calling the decision to close the crossing a disgusting matter in an interview with the Arab satellite channel Al-Jazeera.Al-Araby said the crossing would be opened in the coming days.Israeli officials would not comment publicly Friday, but Israel is troubled by recent developments in Egypt, an Israeli government official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because there had been no official comment.
Israel views the Gaza blockade as essential to minimizing the flow of weaponry and militants into the territory, where Palestinian squads regularly launch rockets at Israeli towns, and to pressuring Hamas.In the past, despite efforts by the Egyptian government, Hamas succeeded in building a formidable military machine. If those efforts were to cease, how much easier would it be for Hamas to build a terrorist military machine, the official said.The decision appeared linked to the surprise announcement one day earlier that the two rival Palestinian factions, Hamas and Fatah, had signed a reconciliation agreement brokered by Egypt. The deal is scheduled to be signed on Wednesday in Cairo, Palestinian Authority spokesman Nabil Abu Rdeneh said Friday. It is to lead the way to a transitional unity government and elections.That announcement was also greeted with dismay in Israel, which said it ruled out any chance of peace talks with a Palestinian government that includes the Hamas militants. Hamas, which rejects peace talks and is committed to Israel's destruction, is considered a terrorist organization by Israel, the U.S., the European Union and others.The announcement on the border crossing also appeared to reflect a responsiveness by Egypt's new military rulers to street sentiment hostile to Israel and to the U.S. A recent poll showed more than half of Egyptians favor an annulment of the 1979 peace treaty with Israel.The number of travelers currently crossing through Rafah is limited to approximately 300 a day and is subject to Egyptian security clearance that is often withdrawn. The other crossings available to Gaza's 1.5 million people are with Israel and are closed with few exceptions, such as emergency medical cases. Israel allows goods into Gaza with restrictions on construction materials it says could be used by militants.
In Washington, Jake Sullivan, the State Department's director of policy planning, said the U.S. would continue to work with Egyptian authorities on ensuring that weaponry and other material cannot cross the Gaza border. He said he could not comment on the changes in Egyptian policy.The Israeli official said Friday that Israel was concerned about calls in Egypt for the abrogation of the three-decade-old peace agreement between the countries, by the rapprochement between Egypt and Iran, and by the upgrading of the relations between Egypt and Hamas.Hamas hailed the move. Taher Nunu, a Hamas spokesman, said Hamas has received positive signals from Egypt about the mechanism that Egypt is going to adopt in the terminal, and has been informed by the Egyptians that all future progress on Egypt's part is going to serve the interests of the people of Gaza.Before the blockade was imposed, the crossing was supervised by a detachment of European observers known as EUBAM that was meant to block the movement of weapons and other contraband through the terminal. The new details of the crossing's functioning, including the role of the European observers, remains unclear.Benoit Cusin, a EUBAM spokesman, said Friday that he was aware that discussions were ongoing among Egypt and other parties but that there had been no decision on redeployment of EUBAM monitors.The decision by Egypt marks a further cooling of ties with Israel. The peace agreement between the two countries, in return for which Egypt received the captured Sinai peninsula back from Israel and significant military and economic assistance from the U.S., has anchored regional stability for more than three decades. This week's unity deal between Hamas and Fatah drew praise from Iran. The official IRNA news agency quoted Ali Akbar Salehi, the foreign minister, expressing hope the deal could accelerate achieving great victories in confrontation with occupiers,meaning Israel.Associated Press writers Ibrahim Barzak in Gaza City, Gaza Strip; Nasser Karimi in Tehran, Iran; and Bradley Klapper in Washington contributed to this report.
AP Exclusive: Syria's referral to UNSC likely
By GEORGE JAHN, Associated Press – Fri Apr 29, 1:16 pm ET
VIENNA – The International Atomic Energy Agency is setting the stage for potential U.N. Security Council action against Syria as the organization prepares a report assessing that a Syrian target bombed by Israeli warplanes was likely a secretly built nuclear reactor meant to produce plutonium, diplomats say.Such a conclusion would back intelligence produced by Israel and the United States. Syria says the nearly finished building had no nuclear uses. It has repeatedly turned down IAEA requests to revisit the site after allowing an initial 2008 inspection that found evidence of possible nuclear activities.In interviews over the past week, three diplomats and a senior U.N. official said such an assessment — drawn up by IAEA chief Yukiya Amano — would be the basis of a Western-sponsored resolution at a meeting of the 35-nation IAEA board that condemns Syria's refusal to cooperate with the agency and sends the issue to the U.N. Security Council. They said reporting Syria to the council would likely come as early as a June board meeting and no later than in November.All spoke on condition of anonymity in exchange for discussing confidential information.In an apparent slip of the tongue that may have disclosed his plans, Amano said for the first time Thursday that the bombed site was a nearly finished nuclear reactor. He spoke in taped comments at a news conference and later to The Associated Press.Suggesting that Amano had erred in making such comments publicly, the IAEA later put out a statement that he did not say that the IAEA had reached the conclusion that the site was definitely a nuclear reactor.The rollback reflected previous, more circumspect, IAEA language. In a February report, Amano said only that features of the bombed structure were similar to what may be found at nuclear reactor sites.
Once formally involved, the council has options ranging from doing nothing to passing its own resolutions demanding compliance with the IAEA, followed by sanctions to enforce such demands. This has been the scenario for Iran, under four sets of U.N. sanctions for ignoring council demands to stop activities that could be used to build nuclear arms and to cooperate with an IAEA probe of experiments that could be used to develop such weapons.The greatest uncertainty, said one of the diplomats, is Syria's current unrest, which could delay or change Western plans to force a resolution and referral to the U.N. Security Council. Since the public uprising in Syria began in mid-March, inspired by revolts across the Arab world, hundreds of people have been killed nationwide, activists say.Syria sanctions are unlikely. While Tehran continues with its nuclear program, intelligence services believe that the Israeli bombing of the Al Kibar site in Syria effectively ended its covert activities. Also, the diplomats said, forcing the issue with Syria would detract council attention from Iran, the main focus of nuclear concern, and could muddy efforts to focus on an end of Syria's bloody crackdown on its grass-roots pro-democracy movement.Still, Security Council involvement carries both symbolic weight and opens the path for concrete action later, should new evidence be found.A U.S. official called any referral to the council significant, while the diplomats — all from IAEA board member nations — said that beyond sending a signal to Syria that defying the IAEA carries a price tag, reporting it to the council also would be a rehearsal for more action against Iran.They said that after more than four years of gridlock in IAEA attempts to investigate Iran's alleged experiments geared toward developing nuclear arms, Amano also was planning to draw up an assessment saying that such experiments were likely conducted, perhaps by the end of the year.
That, in turn, would open the path for renewed IAEA referral of Iran to the Security Council and lead to potential tightening of existing sanctions or a new set of U.N. penalties, the diplomats said.One said assessments such as ones for Syria and Iran were rare, if not unprecedented, in the IAEA's history and reflected the agency's frustration with both nation's refusal to cooperate.Beyond Iran, only five other nations — Saddam Hussein's Iraq, North Korea, Israel, Libya and Romania — have been reported to the U.N. Security Council by the IAEA in its 54-year history.Like Syria, neither Libya nor Romania had a live secret nuclear program at the time they were referred. Libya had voluntarily disclosed its attempts to develop nuclear arms and agreed to dismantle its program.Romania was reported after the IAEA — the U.N. nuclear watchdog on proliferation — found a small amount of plutonium in a lab set up under the nation's previous communist regime. Israel was reported for its 1981 attack on an Iraqi nuclear reactor that it suspected was being used to develop weapons — a claim the IAEA said was false.Along with Iran, Syria denies allegations of any interest in developing nuclear arms. But its refusal to allow IAEA inspectors new access to the bombed desert site has heightened suspicions that it had something to hide along with its decision to level the structure that was destroyed by Israel and later to build over it.Drawing on the 2008 visit to Syria by its inspectors, the IAEA determined that the destroyed building's size and structure fit specifications that a reactor would have had. It also found graphite and natural uranium particles that could be linked to nuclear use of the structure.
U.S. affirms aid to Palestinians -- for now
By Andrew Quinn – Thu Apr 28, 5:23 pm ET
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The United States will keep aid flowing to the Palestinian Authority, but future help depends on the new Palestinian government, the State Department said on Thursday.One day after a unity deal between rival Palestinian factions, the State Department said roughly $400 million in annual U.S. funding would be reassessed as the policies of the new leadership emerge.The current Palestinian government remains in place and our assistance programs continue,State Department spokeswoman Heide Bronke-Fulton said in an email.If a new Palestinian government is formed, we will assess it based on its policies at that time and will determine the implications for our assistance based on U.S. law.U.S. lawmakers from both parties have warned that the reconciliation deal between the western-backed Fatah party and the Islamist Hamas could imperil U.S. aid if Hamas continues to spurn demands that it renounce violence and recognize Israel's right to exist.
The top Republican and Democrat lawmakers on a House of Representatives appropriations subcommittee wrote a letter to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on Thursday urging him to reconsider the Hamas deal and to stop moves to seek U.N. recognition of a Palestinian state.Our ability to support current and future aid would be severely threatened if you abandon direct negotiations with Israel and continue with your current efforts, Republican chairwoman Kay Granger and senior Democrat Nita Lowey said.Your current courses of action undermine the purposes and threaten the provision of United States assistance and support.The Palestinian deal comes as Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu prepares to visit Washington next month and U.S. officials weigh the chances of restarting direct peace talks which collapsed shortly after their launch last year.U.S. taxpayer funds should not and must not be used to support those who threaten U.S. security, our interests and our vital ally, Israel, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen, the Republican chair of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and a staunch defender of Israel, said in a statement.The Obama administration has reacted coolly to the Hamas-Fatah announcement. It insists that any future Palestinian government must renounce violence, respect past peace agreements and recognize Israel's right to exist.Hamas, founded on a charter that calls for Israel's destruction, appeared unlikely to comply with these demands. Hamas has been in control of the Gaza Strip since 2007 and it remains unclear exactly what role it might play in a unity arrangement with President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah that governs the West Bank.
BUILDING INSTITUTIONS
Since 1994, the United States has given more than $3.5 billion to the Palestinian Authority now headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad, much of it aimed at strengthening governance and security in preparation for eventual statehood.Our current support for the Palestinian Authority, as led by President Abbas and Prime Minister Fayyad, serves as an important contribution to U.S. efforts to support the building of Palestinian institutions, Bronke-Fulton said.But with many details of the Palestinian agreement not known, it was unclear if this would continue.A Congressional Research Service report last year said a potential unity government could drop the development and reform objectives set by the Fayyad administration, which are used as major justifications for current U.S. aid levels.It also said that as long as Hamas refuses to agree to the basic benchmarks on renouncing violence and accepting Israel, the United States could not legally continue assistance to any government of which it is a part. Palestinian suggestions that the new interim government would be made up of technocrats without party affiliation may allow some legal room to maneuver, but Israel's vocal allies in the U.S. Congress were unlikely to be appeased.The Palestinian Authority has chosen an alliance with violence and extremism over the democratic values that Israel represents,a bipartisan group of U.S. lawmakers said on Thursday after a meeting in Tel Aviv with Netanyahu.The questions over Palestinian aid come amid a broader debate over U.S. foreign aid levels, which many Republicans have vowed to cut to help rein in the U.S. budget deficit. (Additional reporting by Susan Cornwell; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
PLO will run peace talks: Abbas
– Thu Apr 28, 11:59 am ET
RAMALLAH, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – The PLO will remain in charge of peace talks with Israel and will not hand that responsibility to a new interim government, Mahmud Abbas said on Thursday.Speaking to reporters in Ramallah, the Palestinian president insisted he would continue to set policy vis-a-vis Israel, regardless of a unity deal between his Fatah party and the rival Hamas movement.This government (will be) authorised to do two things -- fix a date for the elections and rebuild Gaza, he said in reference to a new transition government which is to be jointly put together by both factions with the aim of setting a date for presidential and parliamentary elections within a year.Politics is for the PLO and we will continue to follow my policies,he said, referring to the Palestine Liberation Organisation.
Wednesday's deal, which came after 18 months of fruitless talks, will see the two parties form an interim government of independent politicians chosen by both sides, in a process expected to begin next week, officials said.Abbas said it was too early to talk about who will be the prime minister,as several media reports suggested current prime minister Salam Fayyad would be shunted aside due to objections from Hamas.His comments were made during a visit by Israeli peace activists to his West Bank headquarters in Ramallah.The agreement, announced in Cairo on Wednesday, saw Abbas's Fatah party, which dominates the West Bank-based Palestinian Authority, and Gaza's Islamist rulers agree to form a transitional government ahead of polls within a year.
Israel FM says Palestinian deal crosses red line
– Thu Apr 28, 3:14 am ET
JERUSALEM (AFP) – The Palestinian unity deal agreed in Cairo crossed a red line, Israel's Avigdor Lieberman said on Thursday, warning that an array of measures could be taken against the Palestinian Authority.With this accord, a red line has been crossed, the ultra-nationalist foreign minister told Israel's military radio a day after the Palestinian parties announced a surprise reconciliation agreement.We have at our disposal a vast arsenal of measures including the lifting of VIP status for Abu Mazen and Salam Fayyad, which will not allow them to move freely, he said referring to president Mahmud Abbas and his prime minister.We could also freeze the transfer of taxes collected by Israel for the Palestinian Authority, added Lieberman, who leads the Israel Beitenu party in the coalition of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.After 18 months of largely fruitless reconciliation talks, delegations from Hamas and Fatah meeting in Cairo on Wednesday announced a deal to form an interim unity government with a view to holding presidential and legislative elections within a year.The deal raises the prospect of an end to the devastating political divide that has seen the Fatah-led Palestinian Authority govern the West Bank while the Islamist Hamas movement controls the Gaza Strip.
But the agreement was criticised by Israel, with Netanyahu warning on Wednesday, shortly after the deal was announced, that Abbas must choose between peace with Israel or peace with Hamas.Lieberman said the reconciliation deal would mean the freeing of hundreds of Hamas terrorists detained by the Palestinian Authority in Judaea and Samaria -- the biblical name for the West Bank.He said the elections envisaged under the agreement would allow Hamas to take control of Judaea and Samaria.Lieberman said he wanted to see the international community insist that any unity government comply with conditions announced by the Middle East peacemaking Quartet, which includes the United Nations, United States, European Union and Russia.
We hope that the whole international community will maintain the conditions imposed by the Quartet on the Palestinians, which means an end to violence, recognition of Israel and past agreements, and Hamas does not accept any of these conditions, he said.Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the latest events do nothing but reinforce the necessity of relying only on ourselves.The army and the security services will use an iron fist to deal with any threat and challenge,he warned.
Abbas must choose between Israel, Hamas: Netanyahu
– Wed Apr 27, 4:17 pm ET
JERUSALEM (Reuters) – Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said on Wednesday Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas could not hope to forge a peace deal with Israel if he pursued a reconciliation accord with the Islamist group Hamas.The Palestinian Authority must choose either peace with Israel or peace with Hamas. There is no possibility for peace with both, Netanyahu said after the two Palestinian groups announced they had overcome past differences.Netanyahu is expected to address a joint meeting of the U.S. Congress during a visit to Washington next month where he plans to outline his plan to re-start frozen peace talks with Abbas's Palestinian Authority that controls the occupied West Bank.Talks opened last September with the aim of an accord in one year, but quickly broke down after Netanyahu refused to extend a partial freeze on Jewish settlement building in the West Bank.But top Abbas aide Nabil Abu Rdaineh said the reconciliation did not concern Israel.The agreement between Fatah and Hamas movements is an internal affair and has nothing to do with Israel. Netanyahu must choose between a just peace with the united Palestinian people ... and settlements, Abu Rdaineh said.In his televised statement, Netanyahu said Israel could not accept Hamas as a negotiating partner because it aspires to destroy Israel, it says so publicly, it fires rockets on our cities, it fires anti-tank rockets on our children.
He said the surprise announcement of a reconciliation deal exposes the Palestinian Authority's weakness and raises questions whether Hamas will take hold of Judea and Samaria (the West Bank) as it took hold of the Gaza Strip.Hamas wrested control of the Gaza Strip in a brief, bloody civil war in 2007 when it ousted Abbas's administration. Abbas's more secular Fatah faction controls the West Bank.Netanyahu added in his Hebrew statement that it was up to Abbas's administration to decide its upcoming steps.I hope that the Palestinian Authority will make the correct decision, that it will choose peace with Israel. The choice is in its hands,he said.(Additional reporting by Mohammed Assadi in Ramallah, Writing by Ori Lewis; Editing by Crispian Balmer)
Israeli leader wants Gaza flotilla stopped
– Wed Apr 27, 11:32 am ET
JERUSALEM – Israel's prime minister is stepping up efforts to prevent an international flotilla from reaching the blockaded Gaza Strip in the coming months.
Israel wants to prevent a repeat of last year's showdown with a Gaza-bound flotilla that tried to break through the Israeli blockade. Nine Turkish activists were killed in clashes with naval commandos.Pro-Palestinian activists hope to send a new flotilla in late May or early June.Benjamin Netanyahu's office said Wednesday that he ordered the Foreign Ministry to press foreign countries to prevent the flotilla from sailing.It says he also ordered the military to make necessary preparations to enforce the naval blockade, which Israel says is needed to prevent Hamas militants from arming.
Arab uprisings may boost economies: IMF
by Ali Khalil – Wed Apr 27, 8:25 am ET
DUBAI (AFP) – Political changes in the Arab world could boost the region's economies in the long term through inclusive reforms that would render them more dynamic, the International Monetary Fund said Wednesday.But oil-importing economies face pressure due to increased crude prices and disruption to economic activities, the IMF said in its Regional Economic Outlook report.The changes taking place in the region could provide a boost for its economies over time, the report said.A more inclusive reform agenda that meets the population?s demands by providing greater access to opportunity and more competition would make the economies more dynamic and leverage the region?s inherent strengths, it said.The strengths include a young labour force and a privileged geographic position at the crossroads between major markets in Europe and fast-growing emerging and developing economies in Asia and sub-Saharan Africa.In the near term, however, a wave of pro-democracy uprisings spreading across several Arab countries pose risks to the oil-importing economies, including the possibility of spreading unrest, sharply higher oil prices, and rising fiscal deficits.
The IMF also warned that further deterioration of investor confidence and associated capital outflows could leave governments short of needed financing.Street protests have already swept away the two traditionally strong presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, while demonstrators in Yemen are keeping up determined protests to oust the long-serving President Ali Abdullah Saleh.Almost all other Arab countries have seen uprisings and demands for political reforms.The unrest has ranged from small demonstrations in ultra-conservative Saudi Arabia to a full-blown armed struggle in Libya where the West intervened militarily to protect civilians, backed by a UN Security Council resolution.The IMF earlier this month revised its economic growth projection for the Middle East and North Africa region to 4.1 percent this year, down from a forecast of 4.6 percent made in January.It said that spreading unrest was putting pressure on economic growth in several countries, mainly Egypt where economic growth is now projected to drop from 5.1 percent last year to just 1.0 percent this year.With this change comes the challenge of putting economies back on track, but also the opportunity to turn to a path of more inclusive growth, said the IMF in its latest report.In addition to economic costs resulting from unrest, the economies of Egypt and Tunisia will also suffer from the effects of trouble in neighbouring Libya and the resultant return of more than 100,000 migrant workers, it said.Both countries face a virtual standstill in tourism and foreign direct investment with fiscal deficits widening to a projected 9.7 percent of the gross domestic product in Egypt and 4.3 of GDP in Tunisia, it said.
It said expenditure in the two countries increased in response to growing needs and higher borrowing costs, while revenues suffered from lower economic growth and collection rates.Meanwhile, countries of the oil-rich Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) will continue to perform well, thanks to a surge in crude prices, except unrest-hit Bahrain.The performance of the GCC countries will remain strong in 2011, with the exception of Bahrain, where uncertainties prevail, it said. Qatar's gas-rich economy is projected to expand by a massive 20 percent this year, compared with 16.3 percent in 2010. Growth in Qatar has been revised upwards from 18.6 percent in October.
Growth in Saudi Arabia -- the largest Arab economy, has also been revised up to 7.5 percent this year, compared with 4.5 percent projected in October.
Israel anticipates change in Syria
By MATTI FRIEDMAN, Associated Press – Wed Apr 27, 5:42 am ET
JERUSALEM – With upheaval in Syria spreading and the crackdown by President Bashar Assad growing more violent, Israel has begun bracing for change in an authoritarian regime that has been a potent yet familiar enemy for four decades.A shake-up in Syria would have implications beyond the border the two countries share. While Syria has not fought a direct war with Israel since 1973, it has cultivated relations with Israel's most bitter foes. A staunch Iranian ally, it backs Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in the Gaza Strip.These ties are suddenly in question as Assad faces the biggest challenge yet to his rule. Israeli officials now appear to believe that whether Assad survives, some sort of change in Syria is inevitable. For Israel, that will mean facing another wild card in a regional mix that has seen outwardly stable dictatorships quickly become volatile states in varying degrees of flux.Any potential outcome in the power struggle holds risks and opportunities for Israel, said an Israeli official, speaking on condition of anonymity because of an order not to discuss the issue with the media.
Some in Israel believe changes in Syria's regime, or its disappearance altogether, could potentially weaken enemies such as Hamas and Hezbollah, which would work in Israel's favor. Others warn that the result could be anarchy or the strengthening of Islamic extremists.All seem to agree that peace with Syria, which several Israeli governments have pursued without success, is off the table indefinitely.Israeli officials are under strict instructions to remain silent on the events in Syria. This has made it difficult to gauge the official assessment.But the Israeli official, who is privy to senior policy debates, said the government is closely following the developments in Syria and believes Assad is in a battle for survival.
The official said it is impossible to predict whether Assad will succeed in outwitting or overpowering his opponents. Israeli leaders are divided over whether his downfall would serve the country's interest, he said.But he said officials believe irreversible change is under way. Even if Assad survives the challenge to his rule, the official said: The Assad of the past is not the same Assad we will see in the future.Israeli officials say that concerns that Assad may try to heat up hostilities with Israel to divert public outrage are unfounded, as he is currently too focused on his own domestic troubles.Nonetheless, Israeli army officials said military commanders are holding briefings every few hours to monitor developments in Syria. Israel's military believes that Assad's deployment of the Syrian army to confront protesters shows just how serious the threat is. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were discussing sensitive and confidential assessments.The unrest sweeping the region has forced Israeli leaders to carefully calibrate their public statements. Israelis do not want to be seen as opposing the forces of freedom, but Israel has come to view moves toward democracy with suspicion, having watched Hamas and Hezbollah rise to power through internationally recognized elections.In an appearance earlier this month on YouTube's World View Project, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu offered support for democratic change in the Middle East but expressed concern that democracy will be hijacked by radical regimes or militant Islamic regimes.We'd like to see everywhere, including in Syria, genuine reforms for democracy, genuine emergence of democracy, Netanyahu said. That's no threat to any of us.A widening crackdown by Assad's forces has killed more than 400 people across Syria since mid-March, according to Syrian rights groups.
Guy Bechor, a Mideast expert at the Herzliya Interdisciplinary Center, said months of unrest in Syria can be expected as Assad's ruling Alawite minority battles protesters in what he called a zero-sum game for both sides.The assessment is that stability for Israel will continue in any case, as Syria will be busy with internal affairs for months or possibly years, Bechor said.The Assad family has ruled Syria for four decades, constituting an unfriendly but stable presence along Israel's northeastern border.Syria arms Hezbollah, the Lebanese guerrilla group that battled Israel in a monthlong war five summers ago, and also hosts the headquarters of the Palestinian Hamas, which has killed hundreds of Israelis in suicide bombings and rocket attacks. Last month, Israel's navy seized a ship carrying weapons that it said were sent by Iran and Syria to Hamas.Regime change in Syria could be a blow to Israel's enemies, but could also usher in a successor that could be more extreme, Islamist and belligerent.Syria has enforced decades of quiet along a shared frontier, and expressed willingness to make peace in return for the Golan Heights, which it lost to Israel in the 1967 Mideast war. Several rounds of talks have failed.There is always a tendency to stick with the status quo: quiet on the security front, quiet on the diplomatic front, said Eyal Zisser, a Syria expert at Tel Aviv University. But there are those who say that with all due respect to quiet, Assad is causing more damage through Lebanon and Gaza.
The upheaval in Syria makes it unlikely that Israel will pursue a peace deal, but talks were not being discussed even before the recent protests, said Alon Liel, a former director general of Israel's Foreign Ministry and proponent of an Israeli-Syrian peace. Renewal of talks was never on the agenda, and isn't on the agenda now, he said.Some in Israel have seen the experience of Egypt, where Israeli ally Hosni Mubarak was ousted after 30 years in power, as a warning. Contenders for Egypt's presidency have taken a cooler line toward Israel and have suggested the peace treaty between the two countries would be reviewed and could be canceled.Ties with Jordan, the only other Arab regime to have a peace agreement with Israel, could also be in jeopardy as regional unrest touches on the ruling monarchy. Ties with Turkey, another one-time ally, have soured in recent years as Turkey has tilted away from the West and toward the Islamic world.Syria cannot be seen alone. It's a part of everything else that is happening around us, Liel said.Israel's isolation in the region is almost unprecedented.Associated Press writers Aron Heller and Josef Federman contributed from Jerusalem.
