The Humanitarian Forum to host Doha meeting Feb. 1 to ensure donations to Gaza relief effort reach those in need

In Brief: International meeting on Gaza aid to be held in Qatar on 1 February

Source: United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs – Integrated Regional Information Networks (IRIN)

Date: 28 Jan 2009

DUBAI, 28 January 2009 (IRIN) - The Humanitarian Forum – a network of key humanitarian and charitable organisations from Muslim donor and recipient countries; the West; and the multilateral system – is organising a meeting on 1 February in Doha, Qatar, to ensure that aid earmarked for Gaza is effective and reaches the most vulnerable population.

Participants will include Qatar Charity, which will host the event, Qatar Red Crescent, Humanitarian Forum Kuwait, Islamic Relief, Oxfam, Mercy Corps, Imam Khomeini Relief Foundation, International Committee of the Red Cross and Turkey’s Foundation for Human Rights, Freedoms and Humanitarian Relief, and the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

For more information see: www.humanitarianforum.org

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Iran breaks-up Dubai based CIA network

Iran busts another CIA network
Tehran Times Political Desk

TEHRAN – Iran has broken up a CIA-backed network that sought to carry out a “soft revolution” in Iran through people-to-people contacts.

The “soft revolution” plan is based in Dubai and is similar to a U.S. plan that targeted the Soviet Union in 1959, the director of the counterespionage department of the Intelligence Ministry told reporters at a press conference here on Monday.

He said the CIA was seeking to implement the plan under the cover of scientific and cultural contacts between Iranian and U.S. nationals.

Unfortunately, some Iranian nationals, especially cultural and scientific figures, were deceived through such activities, he added.

“The U.S. intelligence agency was seeking to (repeat) its experiences of color revolutions through such public contacts with influential persons and elites.”

The CIA tried to attain its goals by taking advantage of people-to-people contacts, joint studies, efforts to share scientific experiences, and other similar projects, he added.

The soft revolution plan was carried out through “NGOs, union protests, non-violent demonstrations, civil disobedience… and (efforts to) foment ethnic strife” all across Iran, the official stated.

Four of the people who led the network inside Iran were actively and intentionally cooperating with CIA agents, he noted.

These four persons were put on trial, some others were pardoned, and some others were acquitted due to lack of sufficient evidence, he explained.

These four persons confessed and videotapes of parts of their confessions will be released soon, he noted.

He only named two of the persons, the brothers Dr. Arash Alaei and Dr. Kamyar Alaei.

The Intelligence Ministry official said that $32 million of the $75 million allocated by the U.S. Congress to destabilize Iran was spent on this project.

The CIA used institutions such as the Woodrow Wilson Foundation, the Soros Foundation, AIPAC, and charity organizations and sought the help of William Burns and other people in the United States and agents in the Azerbaijan Republic, Turkey, the United Arab Emirates, and Kuwait.

He stated that the CIA enlisted scientists, physicians, university professors, clergymen, artists, athletes, and dress designers for its plot.

He went on to say that these people were invited to the United States in groups of 10-15 people, with visas issued for them in Dubai in the shortest possible time, and according to their professions, they participated in scientific seminars and toured various states, and when they returned home they were asked to write “analyses” of the situation inside Iran.

The CIA was actively seeking to recruit more people for the network, who also would have been invited to visit the United States, he added.

These persons were ordered to put pressure on the government to change its policy and to sow discord between the government and the people, he explained.

The Intelligence Ministry found out about the secret plan from the very beginning and “even allowed the operation to be conducted to a (certain level) so that we could inform talented people with full confidence that they should not be deceived by such scientific centers,” he stated.

The Iranian Intelligence Ministry countered the plot by “infiltrating” the network and even derailed it from its path by providing false information, but the CIA eventually discovered the ruse, he explained.

—— Advice for Obama

The official advised the incoming U.S. administration to avoid repeating the previous “failed” policies toward Iran.

He made the remarks one day before Barack Obama is officially inaugurated as the next U.S. president.

The Intelligence Ministry official said the U.S. is discrediting its scientific and charity organizations by allowing the CIA to use them as cover for its activities.

“It is not in the interests of scientific and political institutions (to allow themselves) to be used by the CIA for its hidden agenda.”

Employing such organizations to conduct spy activities will create skepticism about them that will be very difficult to eliminate, he noted.Iran

5 nations sever ties with Israel over Gaza atrocities: Qatar and Mauritania join Venezuela, Bolivia, and Jordan, Arab leaders meet in Doha

5_nations_sever_ties_with_israel_16_jan_09.pdf
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The Agencies

Qatar and Mauritania reported that they severed political and economic ties with Israel in protest of the three-week-old assault on the Gaza Strip, the Palestinian Ma’an News Agency reported on Friday.

According to the Qatar-based network Al-Jazeera, the move was announced on Friday at an emergency meeting of Arab leaders in Doha.

Those among the VIPs at the summit were, inter aliios, Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad and Syrian Foreign Minister Walid al-Moualem, senior Hamas leader Khaled Mesha’al, PFLP-GC Secretary General Ahmed Jibril, and Islamic Jihad’s Ramadan Shallah, Iran’s President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir, Lebanon’s President Michel Suleiman, Qatar’s Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Prime Minister Hamad bin Jassem bin Jabr al-Thani, Algeria’s President Abdelaziz Bouteflika, Djibouti President Ismail Omar Guelleh.

Conspicuously absent from the talks were the representatives of the Palestinian Authority, Egypt, and Kuwait.

The Syrian Arab News Agency (SANA) reported that Chairman of the Hamas Politburo Khaled Mesha’al stressed on Friday the need for stopping the Israeli aggression on Gaza Strip, withdrawing occupation forces, lifting the siege and opening all crossing points, primarily the Rafah crossing point.

DOHA, Qatar, Jan. 16 (SANA)—President Bashar al-Assad said Friday that during these crucial moments, and as Arab leaders, it seems that our responsibilities are serious in presenting a decisive and active response to the puzzled inquires in the mind of each Arab citizen of how to rescue the Palestinian people from the talons of this brutality.

In a speech at the emergency Arab Summit on Gaza, the President added “as an Arab nation… how could we give a suitable response to the occupation crimes as we watch the bodies of the children and their remnants disperse in each place.”

President al-Assad affirmed that Israel, which has been existed on massacres, consecrated its continuity on violation and destruction and built its future on genocide, is an enemy that knows only the language of blood… and thus knows only the language of Arab blood that has been flowing since Israel was established.

“These massacres and acts of violations and destruction are fuel for the Israeli war machine in the process of building a pure Judaic state, which cannot be achieved without the forced displacement or extermination of the remaining non-Jews in Palestine.” President al-Assad said.

“We have talked in previous summits about plans that were being put, but today we are talking about plans that are being carried out… we warned against approaching the danger zone, but today the holocaust didn’t just start, but it is on its way to move to the next level which will include all Arabs if we don’t extinguish it immediately.”

The President added that the message sent by the Arab people through their unprecedented reactions require us to respond to it seriously, pointing out that it differs from previous messages as it says “walk with us… don’t go along with us,” which indicates that Gaza’s fate isn’t only the fate of its people, but is the fate of all Arabs, and Gaza’s battle is the battle of every Arab citizen.

President al-Assad stressed that the emergency summit aims to support Gaza, not to seek settlements at the expense of Gaza to appease Israel or those who support it, and that the people who set the standards to differentiate between these two are the people and resistance of Gaza as they are decision makers, and the Arabs’ role is to support them without hesitation in any way that bolsters their resilience, alleviates their suffering and leads to the solution that guarantees their safety and dignity.

“If the basis of our decision today is our support to the people of Gaza in the face of the new Israeli Nazi holocaust, and in addition to our convictions of the righteousness of the Palestinian cause and the Palestinian people’s rights, then this cannot be complete without understanding the essence of the problem, which isn’t only about the occupation itself but also the nature of the enemy which we are confronting, based on decades of various experiences with it that vary from wars to failed peace attempts.”

“For our part as Arab countries, and in line with initiatives and in addition to verbal support, we must take a number of active steps, primarily the closing of Israeli embassies immediately, severing all direct and indirect relations with Israel, and brining the boycott into effect,” President al-Assad said, pointing out that at the beginning of the aggression, Syria decided to cease the indirect peace talks indefinitely after consulting with Turkey.

Regarding the Arab peace Initiative, President al-Assad said “we consider the Arab Initiative dead, as the circumstances of approving it and the following events show that the more we present evidence of our serious desire to achieve peace, and the more concessions we make, the more Israel goes too far in its arrogance and disregard for our just rights.”

“The Arab Initiative is based on peace, and peace wasn’t achieved, so the initiative doesn’t really exist… Sharon killed it on the first day after announcing the initiative at the Arab Summit in Beirut in 2002… on the very next day Sharon invaded Jenin and murdered hundreds of Palestinians. That response was a direct answer and a declaration of the Initiative’s death… but we insisted that it’s alive… the Initiative was withdrawn by Israel, and what is left for us as Arabs is to transfer it from the record of the living to the record of the dead.”

The President said “we have to stand by Gaza and its resistance materially and morally with all possible means and without any exception, and to do our best to support the Palestinian struggle in the face of the aggression, particularly opening crossing-points for individuals, aid and relief as soon as possible.”

President al-Assad underlined support of establishing a fund to rebuild Gaza, calling for an international conference on this purpose…

“Legal procedures have to be taken to try Israel and its leaders in spite of our non-confidence in the justice of international relevant sides, and in order to let the history record them that they are not only racists but they are the most dangerous form of Nazis in the modern age,” the President said.

“The difference between resistance and terrorism is that the first is Arab and the second is Israeli… the first wants peace and the second wants war… the first is forced to fight to defend its rights and the second is based on murder and aggression.”

President al-Assad stressed that resistance has become a basic element of peace, and that those who want to achieve peace must support the resistance, adding “this is the difference between peace and surrender… peace without resistance in the face of a brutal, criminal enemy will definitely lead to surrender.”

President al-Assad stressed that what is going on in Gaza isn’t merely a response to rockets, and that if there were no rockets they would have created them and launched them to create a justification, adding “this is one link in a long chain that aims to reach Palestine, which they imagined or claimed to be a land without people after other countries settle these people or find an alternative homeland for them.”

“If we don’t read causes carefully then we can only produce incomplete, temporary solutions that will collapse quickly… this is why the peace process was a mere attempt that never developed into real peace, since Israelis have a true phobia of peace… those who make crimes cannot be good at making peace, and thieves usually don’t return what they stole voluntarily… they return rights only if they are forced to do that… this is the essence of resistance which is understood by resistance fighters, making resistance their path to peace through reclaiming rights from an enemy that only understands the language of power.”

“What is clear is that Israel hasn’t learned from history’s lesson… this is obvious since who doesn’t own the land doesn’t own history… and who has no history has no memory… Israel has based most of its schemes and plots on the thought that time, Zionist media and its supporters, and the constant frustrations will change the viewpoint of the coming Arab generations towards Israel,” President al-Assad said.

The President noted that a quick look to the events since the occupation of Palestine shows a gradual awakening and a growing awareness in the Arab people towards its causes and a stronger determination in younger generations to avoid making the same mistakes as their predecessors.

“There can be no neglect, leniency, relinquishment or weakness… the peace of the strong isn’t given to the weak… the peace of the brave isn’t given to the cowardly… peace that isn’t given will be taken… rights that are seized are liberated… this means that time, which they counted on, has failed them just as their massive military machine failed them in Lebanon, which is also failing them today in Gaza regardless of the scale of destruction and the amount of their crimes.” President al-Assad said.

He pointed out that willpower changed the concept of Israel expansion into retraction, beginning in Lebanon, then continuing in Gaza, and later in the West Bank and the occupied Syrian Golan, adding “this willpower changed the concept of immigration in Palestinians to deep-rooted adherence to their land… this leaves Israel with no option other than submitting to peace and its requirements, which cannot be achieved as long as Israelis pride themselves on who can stain their hands with more Arab blood.”

President al-Assad stressed that peace cannot be achieved unless Arabs change it with their willpower, and that this peace will begin in Gaza, which is “small in size, grand in resistance, great in resilience,” adding that this peace begins by stopping the aggression, achieving ceasefire, withdrawing invading forces, and lifting the unjust siege which constitutes a non-military was and leads to a slow death to the Palestinians, noting that “people who are confronted with death cannot be blamed for anything.”

“We are a nation of peace, and our human, Arab and national morals have been based on peace… and because of this fact, we tried to forget the Israeli massacres of Dir Yassin, Kafr Qassem, Jenin, Qana and other massacres carried out against the Arabs… but Israel insists on reminding us with those realities,” the President added.

President al-Assad underlined that what is being committed by Israel of war crimes will give birth to nothing but new Arab generations with more hostility to Israel… and this means by reality that with each Arab killed children, scores of resistant children are born and the Israelis are digging by their own hands tombs for their sons and grandsons.

Al-Masakin News Agency
http://almasakinnewsagency.wordpress.com