Um novo ‘Africanistão‘ na fronteira Sul da Europa?

After years spent waging war on terror in Afghanistan and Iraq, almost $1.5 trillion in direct costs and hundreds of thousands of lives lost, the Western public feels it has learned a hard lesson. It is more convinced than ever that even the best-intentioned foreign intervention is bound to bog its armies down in endless wars fighting invisible enemies to help ungrateful locals.
Echoes of Afghanistan rang loud earlier this month when French forces swooped on advancing columns of Islamists threatening the Saharan state of Mali. And they were heard again, a few days later, when a unit of bearded, gun-toting jihadists from the “Signed-in-Blood Battalion” seized a gas plant and slaughtered dozens of foreigners in next-door Algeria—more than in any single Islamist terror attack since the bombing of a Bali nightclub in 2002. Here, it seemed, was the next front of the global war on terror and also a desert quagmire to entrap vainglorious Western leaders. [...]

Ver artigo da revista Economist

Terrorismo islamista: o fim da excepção francesa de ausência de atentados domésticos (cartoon de Laora Paoli na Slate.fr)

La tuerie perpétrée par Mohammed Merah porte un coup sévère à une institution sécuritaire qui se targuait d'avoir tenu la France à l'écart du terrorisme le plus violent. Si les tensions raciales et confessionnelles ont pu déboucher sur de violentes émeutes, Paris n'avait en effet pas connu d'attentats de l'ampleur de ceux de Londres, Madrid ou New York.

Après une série d'attentats dans les années 1980 et 1990, principalement revendiqués par le GIA (Groupe islamiste armé, algérien), les autorités françaises avaient été les premières en Europe à s'intéresser aux violences des extrémistes musulmans, à une époque où les Britanniques se préoccupaient des paramilitaires irlandais et les Espagnols des indépendantistes basques. Cela avait conduit nombre d'organisations islamistes à quitter Paris pour Londres, où les forces de police et de sécurité les laissaient à peu près tranquilles. On estimait alors que cela faciliterait l'infiltration de ces mouvements, et qu'ainsi, les djihadistes locaux ne s'en prendraient pas à leur pays de résidence. Les attentats dans les transports londoniens en juillet 2007 ont prouvé le contraire. Paris et d'autres capitales alliées, dont Washington, avaient d'ailleurs mis en garde contre cette éventualité.

Parallèlement, la France s'était probablement mise temporairement à l'abri en refusant, contrairement au Royaume-Uni et à l'Espagne, de participer à la coalition américaine qui a envahi l'Irak - participation qui, à l'époque, fut le principal argument de radicalisation des jeunes musulmans britanniques, selon Eliza Manningham-Buller, qui dirigeait alors le MI-5 [le service de renseignement intérieur britannique].

Mais le répit français a été de courte durée et la France, en particulier sous la présidence de Nicolas Sarkozy, a adopté une position de plus en plus agressive en matière de lutte antiterroriste. Selon des chiffres publiés l'année dernière par Europol, la police européenne, la France a réalisé 94 des 179 arrestations d'"individus liés au terrorisme islamiste", soit plus de la moitié. Ce qui, selon les termes du gouvernement français, faisait du pays "le premier rempart contre cette menace en Europe". "La méthode préventive à la française paie", insistait le criminologue Alain Bauer, qui conseillait les autorités sur la question de la menace terroriste. [...].

Ver artigo original do The Independent e a tradução francesa do Courrier International

A Al-Qaida manifesta o seu contentamento com as revoluções no Médio Oriente

Al-Qaïda dans la péninsule arabique (Aqpa) se réjouit de la vague de révolutions que connaissent le Proche-Orient et l'Afrique du Nord depuis plusieurs semaines et salue "un tsunami de changements", a indiqué mercredi le centre américain de surveillance de sites islamistes (SITE).
Plusieurs articles dans le dernier numéro de sa cyber-revue "Inspire", rédigée en anglais, évoquent les révolutions de ces derniers mois -causées par un vif mécontentement de la population à propos du chômage ou de la corruption des dirigeants, et pas par un militantisme islamiste.
Mais ces révolutions, en Egypte ou en Tunisie par exemple, sont des bonnes nouvelles pour les mouvements extrémistes musulmans, estime l'islamiste américano-yéménite Anwar al-Awlaki, qui écrit dans cette revue sur internet destinée à encourager les musulmans anglophones à rejoindre le mouvement jihadiste international.
"La révolution détruit les barrières de la peur dans les coeurs et les esprits qui pensaient que les tyrans ne pouvaient pas être délogés", écrit-il dans ce numéro, accessible sur le site du SITE.
"Nous ne savons pas encore ce sur quoi cela débouchera (...) mais le résultat n'a pas besoin d'être un gouvernement islamiste pour que nous pensions qu'il s'agit d'un pas dans la bonne direction", ajoute l'islamiste.

Ver notícia no jornal La Libre Belgique

Ataque suicida no principal aeroporto de Moscovo

 President Dmitry Medvedev blamed lax security for a suicide bombing at Russia’s busiest airport that killed 35 people as investigators raced to find the organizers of the “terrorist attack.”

Medvedev told prosecutors to probe security personnel at Moscow’s Domodedovo Airport for possible negligence in allowing yesterday’s bombing and ordered increased vigilance at airports and train stations.

“There were obvious violations of security provisions,” Medvedev said on state television today, after delaying his departure to the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. Elena Galanova, a spokeswoman for Domodedovo, declined to comment on Medvedev’s remarks.

At least seven of the people killed were foreigners, including U.K. and German citizens, according to the Emergency Ministry’s website. Nine of the 35 bodies had yet to be identified as of 10 a.m. local time today, with another 110 people still in hospital, the ministry said.

The blast in the arrival hall of the largest air hub in eastern Europe was the second attack on the Russian capital in less than a year. Forty people died in twin subway bombings during morning rush hour last March. Doku Umarov, a militant from the southern Russian region of Chechnya, where government forces fought two wars against separatists between 1994 and 2000, claimed responsibility for those blasts. [...]

Ver notícia no Bloomberg

Atentado contra Igreja cristã copta em Alexandria agita o espectro de violência confessional

L'Egypte redoutait dimanche une aggravation des tensions confessionnelles après l'attentat qui a fait 21 morts devant une église copte d'Alexandrie, pour lequel les autorités privilégient la piste du terrorisme international et la mouvance d'Al-Qaïda.
Des traces de sang étaient toujours visibles dimanche matin sur la façade de l'église des Saints à Alexandrie, mais le calme semblait revenu après les affrontements de la veille entre jeunes chrétiens et policiers.
L'émotion restait toutefois vive parmi les fidèles, qui ont assisté à la messe dominicale en scandant "Ô croix, nous sommes prêts à nous sacrifier pour toi". Samedi soir, les funérailles des victimes coptes avaient rassemblé plus de 5.000 personnes dans le cimetière chrétien de la deuxième ville du pays.
La presse égyptienne de tous bords exhortait chrétiens et musulmans à faire bloc, craignant que ce massacre commis dans la nuit du Nouvel An ne provoque une escalade des tensions.

Ver notícia na France 24

Ataque suicidida em Estocolmo

At a Sunday morning press conference, Säpo said it had taken over the investigation into the nearly simultaneous bombings from the Stockholm police. The investigation will be overseen by chief prosecutor Tomas Linstrand.

"We are opening an investigation into a terrorist crime under Swedish laws," Anders Thornberg, head of Säpo's security department, told a press conference, a day after the explosions targeted shoppers in the Swedish capital.

Thornberg called the incident “very serious”, although he reiterated that Säpo had no plans to raise the threat level in Sweden as a result of the attack.

“We’re now working to assess whether similar events might take place. We can’t rule it out,” he said.

He added there is “no connection” to between Saturday's attack and a bomb threat investigation Gothenburg from early November, a probe which was subsequently dropped without any charges being filed.

Saturday's attack consisted of two explosions which occurred just minutes apart shortly before 5pm local time.

In the first blast, a car exploded, injuring two passers-by who were sent to hospital with minor injuries. Police say the vehicle was filled with cannisters of liquefied petroleum gas.

A second blast occurred just minutes later about 200 metres away, killing one man. An eye witness who arrived on the scene before police told the Dagens Nyheter (DN) newspaper it appeared something had exploded on the man's abdomen.

Ver notícia no The Local 

Al-Qaeda lança a sua primeira revista de propaganda

"Inspire", le premier magazine de propagande d'Al-Qaida diffusé en anglais, devrait sortir dans les jours ou les semaines qui viennent. Mais l'organisation terroriste, rompue aux techniques modernes de communication, a déjà réussi à en faire le buzz du moment. Un premier aperçu du magazine au format PDF circule sur le Net depuis la semaine dernière. En dehors de la couverture et de la table des matières, l'essentiel des 67 pages est crypté.

Pour l'heure, seuls des djihadistes confirmés et quelques chercheurs ont eu accès au document en version intégrale sur des forums islamistes sécurisés. L'universitaire Mathieu Guidère fait partie de ceux-là. Selon lui, cette revue entièrement en anglais marque un véritable "tournant" dans la communication et la stratégie de recrutement d'Al-Qaida. [...]

Ver notícia no Le Monde

‘Duplo atentado suicida no metro de Moscovo‘ in The Moscow Times

Two female suicide attackers hit Moscow's metro in coordinated rush-hour attacks Monday morning that left at least 38 people dead and more than 70 injured.

Federal Security Service director Alexander Bortnikov said the bombs were filled with bolts and iron rods. Many of the injured were reported to be in grave condition, making it likely that the death toll would rise.

The attack was the deadliest in the city in six years and the first to involve a double attack on the metro, resembling tactics commonly used by al-Qaida Muslim extremists.

Officials were quick to blame insurgents from the predominantly Muslim North Caucasus. "Preliminary evidence suggests that the attacks were carried out by terrorist groups linked to the North Caucasus," Bortnikov said at an emergency Kremlin meeting chaired by President Dmitry Medvedev.

He said the remains of two women found at the sites of the attacks pointed to suicide bombers.

No one had claimed responsibility for the attacks by Monday evening.

An emotional Medvedev promised mourners at the Lubyanka metro station, the site of the first explosion, on Monday evening that those responsible for the attacks would be killed.
"We'll find them, and we'll eliminate them all, the same way we eliminated everyone who organized the Nevsky Express explosion," he said.

Past Metro Bombings
Aug. 31, 2004: A female suicide bomber blows herself up outside the Rizhskaya station, killing 10 people. A little-known Islamic group supporting Chechen rebels claims responsibility. The woman's identity was never confirmed.

Feb. 6, 2004: A suicide bomber from the North Caucasus sets off explosives during morning rush hour on a train traveling between the Avtozavodskaya and Paveletskaya stations, killing more than 40 people
and wounding more than 100.

Feb. 5, 2001: Explosives placed under a bench on the platform of the Belorusskaya station go off, wounding 15 people.

Jan. 1, 1998: A homemade bomb explodes in a vestibule of the Tretyakovskaya station, wounding three people.

June 11, 1996: A homemade bomb explodes on a train in a tunnel between the Tulskaya and Nagatinskaya stations, killing four people. [...]

Ver notícia no The Moscow Times

‘Kabul atingida em pleno coração‘ in Courrier International

Un groupe d’extrémistes a lancé, le 18 janvier, une attaque spectaculaire contre le gouvernement afghan. Deux kamikazes ont fait exploser des bombes tandis que des affrontements se déroulaient à 50 mètres seulement des portes du palais présidentiel. Selon les autorités afghanes, 3 soldats, 2 civils et 7 assaillants ont trouvé la mort, et au moins 71 personnes ont été blessées.

Cette attaque était avant tout destinée à ébranler le calme de la capitale afghane. Les talibans sont un phénomène essentiellement rural dans un pays essentiellement rural. La grande majorité des troupes américaines est déployée dans les zones rurales, à l’extérieur des grandes villes. La plupart du temps, la guerre ne touche pas les centres urbains. Les talibans portent cependant de plus en plus la guerre au cœur des villes, ce qui démoralise les Afghans et donne l’impression qu’aucune partie du pays n’est épargnée. Les incidents du 18 janvier semblent destinés à semer la peur dans les quartiers habituellement tranquilles du centre de Kaboul et à montrer que les insurgés peuvent aisément frapper le gouvernement afghan soutenu par les Etats-Unis. A cet égard, l’attaque a été une réussite totale. Le marché Faroshga est en ruine, complètement dévasté. Les rues de Kaboul se sont vidées. Les commerçants ont fermé boutique et les Afghans ont quitté leur bureau. Même les gardes du président afghan ont participé aux combats. Selon Zabihullah Mujahid, porte-parole taliban, l’attaque était une réaction aux propositions américaine et afghane de “réconciliation” et de “réintégration” des combattants talibans dans la société, un projet qui est au cœur de la campagne américaine pour renverser le cours de la guerre et qui sera exposé par Hamid Karzai, le 28 janvier, lors d’une conférence internationale à Londres. “Nous sommes prêts à nous battre, nous avons la force de nous battre et personne chez les talibans ne veut d’un quelconque accord”, affirme-t-il.

Le raid du 18 janvier s’est déroulé selon un processus de plus en plus familier qui rappelle l’assaut contre le ministère de la Justice en février 2009 [qui avait fait 26 morts]. Un homme portant une ceinture d’explosifs s’est approché des portes de la banque centrale et a essayé de franchir le barrage des gardes. Ceux-ci l’ont abattu, mais l’homme a réussi à faire exploser sa charge dans la rue. En quelques minutes, des centaines de commandos, de soldats et de policiers afghans ont encerclé la place du Pachtounistan. Aucun soldat américain n’était sur place. Les seuls militaires occidentaux présents sur les lieux étaient un petit commando néo-zélandais. Un groupe de commandos afghans a déclaré être venu directement de l’entraînement. “On était en plein exercice quand on a eu le message”, explique Bawahudin, un jeune membre d’une unité antiterroriste. Au signal, les hommes se sont mis à courir. Les yeux de Bawahudin reflétaient la peur. Tandis que la bataille faisait rage, une onde de choc s’est répandue dans une autre partie de la ville. Un autre terroriste venait de faire exploser une camionnette arborant le nom de l’hôpital Maiwan. Les policiers ont tiré de la carcasse les restes d’un homme – trapu et à la peau foncée. Un Arabe, ont-ils affirmé. Mais personne ne semblait en être très sûr.

http://www.courrierinternational.com/article/2010/01/19/kaboul-frappe-en-plein-coeur

‘Escritórios do Jyllands-Posten iam ser alvo de atentado terrorista com camião‘ in Politiken

U.S. prosecutors have released an extended indictment in the case against two men charged with conspiracy against the Danish newspaper Jyllands-Posten, suggesting that the newspaper’s offices in Denmark were to have been the target of a truck bomb attack.

Jyllands-Posten was the Danish newspaper that originally commissioned and printed cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed which angered many Muslims. One of the cartoonists, Kurt Westegaard, has recently been the target of an attack on his life. A 28-year-old Somali is currently on remand in Denmark on attempted murder charges.

Two detained in U.S.
In the U.S. case involving the newspaper, two men are currently in custody in Chicago charged with having planned the attack – a Pakistani-American David Headley and a Pakistani-Canadian Rana Tahawwur. Headley, whose name was Daood Gilani before changing his name, is said to be helping U.S. agencies.

The extended case now also includes in absentia charges against the head of the al-Qaeda affiliated Pakistani terrorist group Harakat ul-Jihad-I-Islami, Ilyas Kashmiri. Kashmiri is currently believed to be in Waziristan, and is said to have been the bankroller and mastermind of the planned attack.

Central to the charges are scouting trips made by Headley to the newspaper’s offices in Copenhagen and Århus, as well as Headley’s alleged involvement in extended scouting trips to Mumbai in India to determine targets and locations for the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks in which more than 160 people died.

Video spying
The indictment describes how Kashmiri had closely studied video footage taken by Headley in January 2009, including sequences from the Jyllands-Posten offices in Copenhagen and Århus. At a meeting in February 2009 in Pakistan, Headley is alleged to have been told by Kashmiri that he had contacts in Europe who could provide funding, weapons and men in order to carry out the attacks.

At the same time, Kashmiri is reported to have suggested that the group should consider carrying out the attack using a lorry filled with explosives.

Europe
Armed with contact details to Kashmiri’s contacts, Headley is then said to have travelled from Chicago to various European destinations to meet contacts, and for a further visit to Denmark to scout the Jyllands-Posten locations.

The U.S. charges also include suggestions that Kashmiri had been urged to arrange an attack on Denmark by a senior al-Qaeda leader Sheikh Saeed al-Masri, aka Mustafa Abu al-Yazid and who is said to have been the financial head of al-Qaeda.

Following the Danish embassy bombing in Islamabad in June 2008, al-Masri appeared in a video in which he claimed the attack had been carried out by a Saudi al-Qaeda operative, and urged further attacks on Denmark in connection with the cartoon issue and Denmark's involvement in the international force in Afghanistan.

Kashmiri is said to have passed the task of scouting Denmark on to Headley, who was to carry out the same type of intelligence gathering as he is alleged to have done for the Mumbai attacks.

Not guilty
Tahawwur Rana, who is said to be a close friend of Headley from their time at a Pakistani academy, has denied all charges against him.

On his arrest, the FBI says that Headley initially admitted that he and Pakistani terrorist groups had been planning an attack on the Jyllands-Posten newspaper.

Recently, however, he denied all charges during his court appearance in Chicago.

http://politiken.dk/newsinenglish/article880501.ece

‘Iémen: um imam estará ligado aos ataques de Fort Hood et do voo 253‘ in Le Monde

L´imam Anwar al-Aulaqi serait lié à la fusillade de la base militaire américaine de Fort Hood en novembre ainsi qu'à l'attentat raté contre le vol Amsterdam-Detroit du 25 décembre, a indiqué dimanche 3 janvier le conseiller anti-terroriste du président Barack Obama.

Anwar al-Aulaqi, un prédicateur musulman né aux Etats-Unis mais qui vit aujourd'hui au Yémen, "nous pose problème. Il essaie de fomenter des actes terroristes" a déclaré à la chaîne de télévision CNN ce conseiller, John Brennan. "Selon certains éléments, Aulaqi a été en contact direct avec [Abdul Farouk] Abdulmutallab", le Nigérian poursuivi pour avoir voulu faire sauter le vol 253 de la compagnie américaine Northwest Airlines, a-t-il ajouté.

Le nom de l'imam Anwar al-Aulaqi a déjà été cité dans la fusillade qui a fait 13 morts et 42 blessés le 5 novembre à Fort Hood (Texas, sud), la plus grande base de l'armée américaine. Le tireur, le psychiatre militaire Nidal Hasan, avait évoqué en 2008 le meurtre d'Américains avec l'imam, a raconté récemment ce dernier à la presse, soulignant qu'ils se connaissaient depuis neuf ans.

"Mon avis est que le major Hasan a réalisé tout seul cet attentat" mais qu'"il a été inspiré par le genre de discours de personnes comme Aulaqi", a ajouté le conseiller présidentiel. M. Brennan a toutefois refusé de qualifier la fusillade de Fort Hood d'attentat terroriste. "Nous continuons à enquêter là-dessus", a-t-il précisé.

http://www.lemonde.fr/ameriques/article/2010/01/03/yemen-un-imam-serait-lie-aux-attentats-de-fort-hood-et-du-vol-253_1287015_3222.html#ens_id=1262453

‘Ataque terrorista de Detroit: uma ideologia criminosa tolerada por demasiado tempo‘ in Telegraph

Friday's attempt to blow up a transatlantic airliner by a British-educated Islamist was foiled by the bravery of its passengers and crew. We cannot assume that we will be lucky next time. And the indications are that there will be a next time. According to police sources, 25 British-born Muslims are currently in Yemen being trained in the art of bombing planes. But most of these terrorists did not acquire their crazed beliefs in the Islamic world: they were indoctrinated in Britain. Indeed, thousands of young British Muslims support the use of violence to further the Islamist cause – and this despite millions of pounds poured by the Government into projects designed to prevent Islamic extremism.

Is it time for a fundamental rethink of Britain's attitude towards domestic Islamism? Consider this analogy. Suppose that, in several London universities, Right‑wing student societies were allowed to invite neo-Nazi speakers to address teenagers. Meanwhile, churches in poor white neighbourhoods handed over their pulpits to Jew-hating admirers of Adolf Hitler, called for the execution of homosexuals, preached the intellectual inferiority of women, and blessed the murder of civilians. What would the Government do? It would bring the full might of the criminal law against activists indoctrinating young Britons with an inhuman Nazi ideology – and the authorities that let them. Any public servants complicit in this evil would be hounded from their jobs.

Jihadist Islamism is also a murderous ideology, comparable to Nazism in many respects. The British public realises this; so do the intelligence services. Yet because it arises out of a worldwide religion – most of whose followers are peaceful – politicians and the public sector shrink from treating its ideologues as criminal supporters of violence. Instead, the Government throws vast sums of money at the Muslim community in order to ensure that what is effectively a civil war between extremists and moderates is won by the latter. This policy – supported by all the main political parties – does not seem to be working. The authorities, lacking specialist knowledge, sometimes turn for advice to "moderate" Muslims who have extreme sympathies; supporters of al-Qaeda are paid to disseminate their ideology to young people.

Radical Islamist leaders are not stupid: they know how to play this system. The indoctrination of students carries on under the noses of public servants who are terrified of being labelled Islamophobic or racist. Therefore they fail to do their duty, which is to protect Muslims and non-Muslims alike from a terrorist ideology. If providing that protection requires fewer "consultations" with "community leaders" and more arrests, then so be it.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/terrorism-in-the-uk/6903728/Detroit-terror-attack-A-murderous-ideology-tolerated-for-too-long.html

‘Medo e heroísmo a bordo do voo 253 da Northwest Airlines‘ in Washington Post

First came an alarming popping sound, followed by silence, and then the unmistakable smell of smoke. Passengers began to shout and scream on Northwest Airlines Flight 253 from Amsterdam.

"People were just running, and they were scared," said Veena Saigal, who turned from her seat on the Christmas Day flight and saw the fire's glow six rows back. "They were running toward the center of the plane, running to get away from the flames."

Jasper Schuringa, an Amsterdam resident, lunged toward the fire in Row 19, jumping from one side of the plane to the other and over several other passengers. He burned his fingers as he grabbed a piece of melting plastic held by Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the Nigerian man accused Saturday of trying to bring down the passenger jet with a homemade explosive device.

Schuringa, a video producer, restrained Abdulmutallab as others used blankets and fire extinguishers to douse the flames.

"When I saw the suspect, that he was getting on fire, I freaked, of course, and without any hesitation I just jumped over all the seats," Schuringa told CNN on Saturday. "And I jumped to the suspect. I was thinking like, he's trying to blow up the plane."

The stretch of time from bafflement to abject fear to a calamity averted lasted just a few minutes on the flight, yet as they replayed those moments from their homes on Saturday, passengers described a drama that left many shaken long after the jetliner safely touched down.

"We heard a pop, then the smell and the reality kicked in for all of us. The reality was the fear in the flight attendants' eyes," said Charles Keepman, a Wisconsin businessman returning from Ethiopia, where he and his wife had adopted two children. "We're just thankful to the Lord that we were spared."

Janet Napolitano, the secretary of homeland security, praised the quick reactions of those on the plane, which recalled the heroism of passengers who had subdued so-called shoe-bomber Richard C. Reid as he tried to ignite chemicals on a flight in December 2001 and the actions of people on United Airlines Flight 93 on Sept. 11, 2001.

"I am grateful to the passengers and crew aboard Northwest Flight 253 who reacted quickly and heroically to an incident that could have had tragic results," Napolitano said in a statement Saturday.

The flight from Amsterdam to Detroit seemed long and uneventful until the final minutes, passengers said. Witnesses told the FBI that Abdulmutallab, 23, spent about 20 minutes in the bathroom before returning to Seat 19A and complaining of an upset stomach. He pulled a blanket over his head.

Then came the loud and sudden popping sound.

"What I heard was a firecracker, like a champagne bottle opening. I thought maybe something happened to a window or something hit the plane," said Saigal, who was returning to Ann Arbor from India in Row 13. "Then I smelled the smoke. When I turned around, I could see the fire glow."

Schuringa, on his way to Miami for vacation, leaped from the other side of the plane toward the fire as it spread from Abdulmutallab's pants to pillows on the floor. He said he reacted without thinking, fearful that the fire would cause an explosion that would bring down the plane and nearly 300 passengers and crew members.

As other passengers shouted for water, Schuringa pulled the melted plastic syringe from Abdulmutallab, shook it and threw it to the floor, the FBI said in an affidavit. Flight attendant Dionne Ransom-Monroe asked the suspect what was in his pocket, the FBI said, and he replied, "Explosive device."

The fire out, Schuringa marched Abdulmutallab to the front of the plane, helped by a flight attendant. They stripped off some of his clothes, searched him for weapons and handcuffed him, Schuringa said on CNN, explaining that the suspect seemed almost in a trance. Abdulmutallab said nothing and did not resist, he said.

"He looked like a normal guy," Schuringa said. "It's just hard to believe he was actually trying to blow up this plane."

Saigal, 63, said Schuringa "was holding him from the back, with a strong grip."

"When he went back to his seat, we all clapped," Saigal said of Schuringa.

Passengers and crew members worked to restore calm as the jet sped toward Detroit. Syed Jafry, an engineering consultant from Ohio who watched from Row 16, said the captain told passengers over the intercom: "There was an incident, and everything is under control. It is over. Fasten your seat belts. We are about to land."

As investigators explore how Abdulmutallab allegedly smuggled power and chemicals aboard the flight, Saigal and Keepman voiced distinctly different views of security in Amsterdam, the airliner's last stop before reaching Detroit.

"They're very thorough," Saigal said. "Always in Amsterdam, you go through people questioning you . . . and they put your hand baggage, your purse -- not your shoes -- through security again."

Keepman, however, said security procedures in Amsterdam seemed less rigorous than the measures he had faced at the Detroit airport on his outbound flight.

"I have to be honest, it was lax compared to here," said Keepman, who co-owns a transportation logistics company. "They push you through quite quickly, especially on international flights, because there are so many people to get through."

Keepman was not impressed with the questioning session.

"They ask the questions," Keepman said. "But the person's going to look you right in the eye and lie to you: 'Are you carrying something that could explode on the plane?' 'Certainly not, sir.' "

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/12/26/AR2009122601150_2.html?nav=hcmodule&sid=ST2009122601151

‘A Indonésia acorda para o terror‘ in Asia Times

por Gary LaMoshi

Experts have written the obituary of extremist violence in Indonesia, but the violent extremists keep refusing to read the script. Friday morning's deadly twin bombings of Western-branded hotels in Jakarta are proof that complacency in the fight against terrorism in Indonesia remains misplaced.

Restaurant areas at the JW Marriott, site of a car bombing in 2003, and Ritz Carlton were hit by suicide bombers at breakfast time, according to Indonesian police, with the death toll climbing to nine in the first hours after the attacks. Dozens were injured, and hundreds of guests evacuated.

The bombings spoil a seemingly triumphant moment for Indonesia. After veering toward chaos a decade ago, the country with the world's largest Muslim population had become the world's third largest democracy. "This is a blow to us," presidential spokesperson Dino Patti Djalal said in a broadcast interview.

Spare drill, spoil fill
The attacks also highlight shortcomings in President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono's nuanced approach to fighting radicalism and violence.

The Friday morning explosions shattered a lull in terror attacks in Indonesia that lasted nearly four years. They came a week after a successful, peaceful election that appears to have given Yudhoyono, a moderate former general with a "speak softly but carry a big stick" reputation, a second term by a landslide margin. The attacks hit after many Western governments lifted their travel restrictions on Indonesia, boosting the tourism trade to record levels.

Things were considered so safe that English Premier League football champions Manchester United were due to stay at the Ritz Carlton from Saturday during a four-day visit to Jakarta, including a scheduled match on Monday against an Indonesian all-star team. A few hours after the bombing, Manchester United announced it would cancel that leg of its Asian tour.

Indonesia has been the target of terrorism dating back to Christmas Eve 2000, when churches were bombed across the archipelago. The attacks were part of widespread Christian-Muslim clashes with shadowy military backing, aimed at undermining reformist president Abdurrahman Wahid. He was ousted in July 2001, but the military's Frankenstein monster took on a life of its own, gaining strength from anti-Western sentiment in the wake of the US-led wars in Afghanistan and then in Iraq.

In October 2002, bombs destroyed a pair of popular nightclubs in Bali, accompanied by a calling card blast at the US Consular Agency on the popular resort island. The Marriott attack in August 2003 killed 12. In September 2004, a car bomb targeted the Australian Embassy in Jakarta, leaving nine dead. In October 2005, suicide bombers hit a pair of popular restaurants in Bali.

Back to the future
The attacks on Bali and beyond were attributed to Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), a Muslim extremist group that seeks to create a caliphate linking Muslim areas across Southeast Asia. JI has alleged links to al-Qaeda, but operates independently.

Experts say Friday's attacks bear the hallmarks of JI, including coordinated attacks on multiple targets frequented by Westerners. But, after many arrests of its top leadership, the group has reportedly splintered into factions, not all retaining the JI name. So far no one has claimed responsibility for the attacks.

After the second Bali bombings, the first confirmed suicide bombings in Indonesia, Yudhoyono rallied Muslim clerics and other religious leaders to denounce sectarian violence and extremism, declaring unequivocally that Indonesia should not be a battleground for jihad. That high-profile declaration, and revulsion at suicide bomber videos, helped turn the tide of public opinion against extremist violence. The momentum held seemingly until Friday morning.

But Yudhoyono's administration has walked a fine line in fighting homegrown terrorism, balancing ties with the West against radical elements at home. It has accepted support from the Australian and US governments, helping Indonesian police crack down on terrorists. Much of the JI leadership has been arrested, and its top bombing mastermind Azahari Husin, a Malaysian with a PhD from Britain, was killed in a 2006 raid. "We've had a number of preventive successes in Sumatra, in Java, and other places," presidential spokesman Djalal said. "We always knew there are terrorist cells out there. You can never fully eradicate them."

Yudhoyono even welcomed George W Bush for a very unpopular visit in 2006 that avoided Jakarta and entailed a virtual lockdown (and cell phone blackout) around the suburban presidential palace in Bogor. The inauguration of US President Barack Obama, who spent part of his childhood living in Jakarta and opposed the war in Iraq, promises even closer ties between the US and Indonesian governments and has already created a great deal of grassroots warmth toward the US.

Embracing extremists
On the other hand, Yudhoyono's political coalition includes extremist Islamic parties that provide a home for sentiments that feed radicalism. He's largely ignored local governments that enact radical-inspired laws, such as dress codes and bans on females traveling alone after dark, that contradict national laws.

Yudhoyono has stoked radical fires by embracing the Palestinian cause as Indonesia's own, in the name of Muslim solidarity. By linking his good name to these fringe elements, Yudhoyono gives legitimacy to parties that advocate imposing sharia law across the archipelago, whose members preach and publish violent anti-Western Islamist screeds.

Indonesia's violence isn't all attributable to Islamic radicals. Despite democratic trappings, there's widespread feeling of powerlessness since government remains largely unresponsive while the elite and connected act with impunity. Many feel Yudhoyono's regime hasn't changed things enough in that regard. For example, it has still failed to convict the masterminds of the murder of human rights activist Munir Said Thalib, poisoned aboard a flight on national flag carrier Garuda in September 2004.

Yudhoyono's current cabinet includes Aburizal Bakrie as Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare, whose family business has failed to stop the mudflow it caused in Sidoarjo, East Java, in 2006 and adequately compensate the thousands of displaced victims. The company was allowed to sell the affiliate to an offshore company to avoid responsibility for the damage.

Yudhoyono's two faces embody a national personality that prefers accommodation to confrontation. His approach had seemed to lower the political and social temperature in Indonesia, but Friday's bombings show it's failed to extinguish the embers of radical violence.

With his popularity proven by his win at the polls, Yudhoyono must summon the courage to root out elements that aid and abet terrorism. It's a quality called leadership and Indonesia needs it at this dark moment.

http://www.atimes.com/atimes/Southeast_Asia/KG18Ae01.html
JPTF 2009/07/19

Abu Qatada: O islamista radical que se ‘converteu‘ aos direitos humanos para não ser deportado in Daily Mail, 19 de Fevereiro de 2009

Radical preacher Abu Qatada was today awarded compensation of £2,500 by judges, who ruled that his detention without trial breached his human rights.

Qatada, often described as Osama Bin Laden's ambassador in Europe, had demanded tens of thousands for being unlawfully held in Belmarsh prison.

Ten other terror suspects today received similar levels of compensation from the European Court of Human Rights - which were lower than feared.

This was 'in view of the fact that the detention scheme (the Anti-Terrorism, Crime and Security Act 2001) was devised in the face of a public emergency, and as an attempt to reconcile the need to protect the UK public against terrorism with the obligation not to send the applicants back to countries where they faced a real risk of ill-treatment'.

Today's victory came after Qatada claimed that his detention under anti-terror laws introduced by the Government after the 2001 attacks on America violated the Human Rights Convention.

Today's ruling acknowledged that at the time of the detentions, 'there had been a public emergency threatening the life of the nation'.

But it said the issue was whether the legal measures adopted by the Government in response were 'strictly required by the exigencies of the situation'.

The judges said when someone is detained on the basis of 'an allegedly reasonable suspicion of unlawful behaviour', that person must be given an opportunity effectively to challenge the allegations.

At the time the Government considered there was an urgent need to protect the UK population from terrorist attack and a strong public interest in obtaining information about al-Qaida and its associates, and keeping the sources of such information secret.

But balanced against that, went on the judges, was the detainees' rights to 'procedural fairness'.

Yesterday the preacher lost the latest round of his UK legal battle to stay in Britain.

Critics had branded the human rights case yet another example of human rights and European law madness.

They pointed out that the men could have walked free at any time if they had simply agreed to leave Britain.

News of the case, which by-passed British courts altogether, overshadowed a victory by the Home Office in the long-running saga over whether Qatada can be deported to Jordan.

Law Lords ruled that booting out the preacher of hate would not breach his human rights. But Qatada, 48, - who has already cost the taxpayer £1.5million in legal fees, prison costs and benefit payments - lodged an immediate appeal to the European court. The case could drag on for years, at enormous further cost.

Terror suspects get anonymity protection

Eight of the 11 terror suspects claiming compensation are protected by anonymity orders.

The Special Immigration Appeals Commission - which hears all deportation cases involving terror suspects - grants automatic and immediate anonymity to anyone who appears before it.

This can be lifted only if the suspect decides to place his or her name in the public domain, as Abu Qatada did.

It gives terror suspects a protection not afforded to people in the regular court system, where all defendants over 18 are routinely named.

But SIAC's stance reflects the fact that the men have not been charged with any criminal offence and some of the evidence against them is heard in secret.

Qatada, who has been linked to senior Al Qaeda figures, will be allowed to remain in the UK - where his wife and five children live in an £800,000 West London house - while the appeal is heard.
The 11 men awarded compensation today include six Algerians and Abu Rideh, a Palestinian refugee with Al Qaeda connections.

There was no limit to how much the Strasbourg court could order the Government to pay them, which sparked fears that the payouts could be huge.

A family of Congolese asylum seekers was recently awarded £150,000 for being unlawfully detained for only two months. Some of the men in the Qatada case had claimed for three years in prison.

Tory MP Patrick Mercer, a security adviser to the Prime Minister, said last night: 'This is crazy. Qatada and the others were free to leave this country, and consumed our taxes while living here. The whole thing is a nonsense.'

The compensation claim was based on the time the men spent in Belmarsh under a crackdown in the direct aftermath of September 11.

Ministers passed an emergency law which allowed the detention without charge or trial of international terror suspects, who could not be forcibly removed because of human rights law.

It was made clear to the detainees that they would be released immediately if they agreed to leave the UK. In December 2004, the Law Lords ruled their detention was unlawful under the Human Rights Act and quashed the legislation which allowed it.

In March 2005 it was replaced with the controversial control orders.

The 11 men claimed for inhuman and degrading treatment', and unlawful detention, based on the Law Lords ruling.

Their lawyers went direct to Europe because no compensation is available in the British courts.
Matthew Elliott, chief executive of the TaxPayers' Alliance, said: 'It's ridiculous that this hateful man is continuing to cost British taxpayers so much money.

'If we weren't tied down with all this EU human rights legislation then we could have slung him out years ago and saved a huge amount of money.

'It's wrong that law-abiding people are landed with massive bills for extremists just because we have sacrificed our national right to deport undesirables.'

Qatada is wanted in his native Jordan, where he was sentenced to life in 1999 for terror offences.
Jordan is one of a number of countries with which the UK has signed a 'memorandum of understanding' which the Home Office insists will ensure deported suspects do not face torture.

Qatada was released on bail last summer but returned to prison in November over fears he would try to abscond. His detention costs an estimated £50,000 a year.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1148622/Preacher-hate-awarded-2-500-judges-rule-jailing-breached-human-rights.html#
JPTF 2009/02/19

‘Saudita libertado de Guantánamo torna-se líder da Al-Qaeda no Iémen‘ in International Herald Tribune, 23 de Janeiro de 2009

The emergence of a former Guantánamo Bay detainee as the deputy leader of Al Qaeda's Yemeni branch has underscored the potential complications in carrying out the executive order President Barack Obama signed Thursday that the detention center be shut down within a year.

The militant, Said Ali al-Shihri, is suspected of involvement in a deadly bombing of the United States Embassy in Yemen's capital, Sana, in September. He was released to Saudi Arabia in 2007 and passed through a Saudi rehabilitation program for former jihadists before resurfacing with Al Qaeda in Yemen.

His status was announced in an Internet statement by the militant group and was confirmed by an American counterterrorism official.

"They're one and the same guy," said the official, who insisted on anonymity because he was discussing an intelligence analysis. "He returned to Saudi Arabia in 2007, but his movements to Yemen remain unclear."

The development came as Republican legislators criticized the plan to close the Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, detention camp in the absence of any measures for dealing with current detainees. But it also helps explain why the new administration wants to move cautiously, taking time to work out a plan to cope with the complications.

Almost half the camp's remaining detainees are Yemenis, and efforts to repatriate them depend in part on the creation of a Yemeni rehabilitation program — partly financed by the United States — similar to the Saudi one. Saudi Arabia has claimed that no graduate of its program has returned to terrorism.

"The lesson here is, whoever receives former Guantánamo detainees needs to keep a close eye on them," the American official said.

Although the Pentagon has said that dozens of released Guantánamo detainees have "returned to the fight," its claim is difficult to document, and has been met with skepticism. In any case, few of the former detainees, if any, are thought to have become leaders of a major terrorist organization like Al Qaeda in Yemen, a mostly homegrown group that experts say has been reinforced by foreign fighters.

Long considered a haven for jihadists, Yemen, a desperately poor country in the southern corner of the Arabian Peninsula, has witnessed a rising number of attacks over the past year. American officials say they suspect that Shihri may have been involved in the car bombings outside the American Embassy in Sana last September that killed 16 people, including six attackers.

In the Internet statement, Al Qaeda in Yemen identified its new deputy leader as Abu Sayyaf al-Shihri, saying he returned from Guantánamo to his native Saudi Arabia and then traveled to Yemen "more than 10 months ago." That corresponds roughly to the return of Shihri, a Saudi who was released from Guantánamo in November 2007. Abu Sayyaf is a nom de guerre, commonly used by jihadists in place of their real name or first name.

A Saudi security official, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Shihri had disappeared from his home in Saudi Arabia last year after finishing the rehabilitation program.

A Yemeni journalist who interviewed Al Qaeda's leaders in Yemen last year, Abdulela Shaya, confirmed Thursday that the deputy leader was indeed Shihri, the former Guantánamo detainee. Shaya, in a phone interview, said Shihri had described to him his journey from Cuba to Yemen and supplied his Guantánamo detention number, 372. That is the correct number, Pentagon documents show.

"It seems certain from all the sources we have that this is the same individual who was released from Guantánamo in 2007," said Gregory Johnsen, a terrorism analyst and the editor of a forthcoming book, "Islam and Insurgency in Yemen."

Shihri, 35, trained in urban warfare tactics at a camp north of Kabul, Afghanistan, according to documents released by the Pentagon as part of his Guantánamo dossier. Two weeks after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, he traveled to Afghanistan via Bahrain and Pakistan, and he later told American investigators that his intention was to do relief work, the documents say. He was wounded in an airstrike and spent a month and a half recovering in a hospital in Pakistan.

The documents state that Shihri met with a group of "extremists" in Iran and helped them get into Afghanistan. They also say he was accused of trying to arrange the assassination of a writer, in accordance with a fatwa, or religious order, issued by an extremist cleric.

However, under a heading describing reasons for Shihri's possible release from Guantánamo, the documents say he claimed that he traveled to Iran "to purchase carpets for his store" in Saudi Arabia. They also say that he denied knowledge of any terrorists or terrorist activities, and that he "related that if released, he would like to return to Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, wherein he would reunite with his family."

"The detainee stated he would attempt to work at his family's furniture store if it is still in business," the documents say.

The Yemeni branch of Al Qaeda has carried out a number of terrorist attacks over the past year, culminating in the assault on the American Embassy in Sana on Sept. 16. In that assault, the attackers disguised themselves as Yemeni policemen and detonated two car bombs. The group has also begun releasing sophisticated Internet material, in what appears to be a bid to gain more recruits.

Yemen began cooperating with the United States on counterterrorism activities in late 2001. But the partnership has been a troubled one, with American officials accusing Yemen of paroling dangerous terrorists, including some who were wanted in the United States. Some high-level terrorism suspects have also mysteriously escaped from Yemeni jails. The disagreements and security lapses have complicated efforts to repatriate the 100 or so Yemenis remaining in Guantánamo.

Despite some notable Yemeni successes in fighting terrorist groups, Al Qaeda in Yemen appears to be gaining strength.

"They are bringing Saudi fighters in, and they want to start to use Yemen as a base for attacks throughout region, including Saudi Arabia and the Horn of Africa," said Johnsen, an expert on Al Qaeda in Yemen.

http://www.iht.com/bin/printfriendly.php?id=19618615
JPTF 2009/01/23

‘Os mísseis do Hamas são de chocolate‘ por Inês Pedrosa in Expresso, 10 de Janeiro de 2009

O Hamas tomou a iniciativa de bombardear Israel, a 19 de Dezembro, ninguém disse nada. Ou melhor: as vozes do costume começaram a vituperar Israel como origem de todos os males. A cultura judaica faz mal, mediaticamente falando, em esconder os seus feridos e mortos. O dever da coragem e a recusa da vitimização tem sido a chave da sobrevivência histórica do povo judeu, que vive, desde há muitos séculos consecutivos, em perseguição e diáspora. Mas no mundo de hoje, feito da injustiça do instantâneo global, a exibição do sofrimento é rainha absoluta. Toda a gente sabe que, para o fundamentalismo islâmico, a vida humana é desprezível - em particular a das mulheres e a das crianças. Toda a gente sabe porque os fundamentalistas não o escondem; consideram, aliás, que o martírio é a grande redenção e promoção da espécie humana. Assim sendo, as sedes do Hamas são difíceis de detectar e estão, estarão sempre, cheias de civis inocentes prontos (voluntária ou involuntariamente, como é o caso das crianças) a marchar em glória para um céu, de facto menos infernal do que a vida terrena tal como eles a permitem. E não têm qualquer pudor em exibir corpos esfacelados, crianças aterrorizadas ou mortas - usam-nos como cartaz. Funciona - como não havia de funcionar? Como não nos comoveremos com essa inominável dor?

Dos estragos causados em Israel pelos bombistas suicidas ou, agora de novo, pelos mísseis do Hamas, não temos imagens. E a comunidade internacional comporta-se como se os mísseis do Hamas fossem, de facto, de chocolate - inocentes, inócuos. Israel esconde a morte, para que a população não desmoralize. Israel é, desde a sua nascença, em 1948, um país debaixo de ataque - e essa é a grande questão. Na resposta à guerra que, desde o primeiro dia, lhe foi movida pelo conjunto dos países árabes, Israel cometeu erros calamitosos. Mas hoje, agora, em 2009, não é por causa de Israel que a paz se afigura impossível. O Hamas, que controla a faixa de Gaza, não reconhece o direito à existência de Israel. E por isso ataca. Ataca porque sabe que Israel terá de responder a esses ataques - e que, ao responder, será automaticamente criticado por todo o mundo, porque o poderio militar e económico de Israel é infinitamente superior ao do governo (e governo eleito, note-se) do Hamas. Um monstro rico atacando um menino pobre, pronto. Que seja sempre o menino pobre a atirar a matar, não interessa nada - a violência justifica-se com a pobreza. Mas esta justificação também já está, há demasiado tempo, sem pés para andar: porque será que tantos povos que vivem na miséria (designadamente em África) não recorrem à violência, e porque serão alguns países tão ricos (veja-se a Arábia Saudita, por exemplo) tão violentos para com metade da sua própria população (a que tem o azar de nascer do sexo errado, ou de gostar do sexo errado)?

O escritor israelita Amos Oz escreveu uma crónica intitulada "Israel deve defender os seus cidadãos" ("Público", 31/12/2008) cuja primeira linha dizia isto: "O bombardeamento sistemático dos cidadãos das povoações israelitas é um crime de guerra e um crime contra a humanidade". Amos Oz é insuspeito de sionismo ou de ser um "falcão" belicista. Mas também não é, como ele próprio já escreveu (em "Contra o Fanatismo", edição Ediouro, Brasil) "um pacifista no sentido sentimental da palavra", e explica porquê: "No meu vocabulário, a guerra é terrível, mas o mal supremo não é a guerra, e sim a agressão. Se em 1939 o mundo todo, excepto a Alemanha, defendesse que a guerra era o fenómeno mais terrível do mundo, Hitler seria, então, senhor do universo, agora."

O problema é precisamente este: o mundo de hoje divide-se entre pacifistas sentimentais e senhores da guerra. As democracias são canjas de gente pacífica que, fundamentalmente, não toma partido - bradam pela "paz" e deixam passar os massacres, debaixo do seu nariz. Os exércitos de "manutenção de paz" da ONU são, na melhor das hipóteses, uma espécie de guarda de honra das organizações de socorro humanitário.

Israel está a tentar (escrevo na terça-feira) desmembrar o Hamas - a incursão terrestre serve para isso, para minimizar as vítimas civis. Mas, perante um Hamas que proclama "Nós acreditamos na morte", haverá sempre muitas vítimas civis. Se o Governo de Israel não contra-atacasse, em defesa dos seus cidadãos, a extrema-direita israelita cresceria, e muito, nas próximas eleições - o que seria óptimo para a estratégia do Hamas, que é a de criar ódio contra a própria existência de Israel. Por outro lado, contra-atacando, como está a fazer, faz crescer o anti-semitismo internacional - sim, é sempre disso que se trata. Tzipi Livni, a ministra dos Negócios Estrangeiros israelita, repete incessantemente que estão apenas a agir em legítima defesa, apenas e só até que acabem os ataques do Hamas. Mas a dor de Israel nunca se vê. "Israel é um país; o Hamas é um gangue", escreve Amos Oz. Antes de percebermos isto não perceberemos nem resolveremos nada.

http://clix.expresso.pt/os_misseis_do_hamas_sao_de_chocolate=f490458
JPTF 2009/01/10

‘A Falsa Equidistância e a Irrelevância da Política Europeia no Médio Oriente‘ por Pacheco Pereira in Público, 3 de Janeiro de 2009

O Público publicou (2/1/2009) uma dessas periódicas missivas de senadores internacionais sobre o conflito do Médio Oriente, neste caso com o título ameaçador de “a humanidade está em jogo em Gaza”. Assinam esse texto um conjunto de personalidades heteróclitas, como de costume ecleticamente representando “civilizações” distintas, para dar um ar de universalidade. Bastava esta composição dos abaixo-assinados para nos fazer desconfiar de tanto politicamente correcto: o checo Vaclav Havel, o príncipe Hassan bin Tala, tio do actual rei jordano, o teólogo progressista Hans Küng, o neo-zelandês Mike Moore, antigo director da Organização Mundial do Comércio, Yohei Sasakawa um filantropo japonês , Desmond Tutu, Prémio Nobel da Paz , e um nobre Karel Schwarzenberg, actual ministro dos Negócios Estrangeiros da República Checa. Esta última assinatura, de um ministro que está neste momento em exercício na Presidência da UE, dá ao documento o ar oficioso de uma declaração da célebre (e na verdade inexistente) “política externa europeia”.

Temos pois, como deve ser, dois europeus do Leste, um plebeu e um nobre, um alemão, um principe árabe, um bispo anglicano africano, um japonês, um representante dos antípodas, ou visto de outra maneira, um bispo, um benemérito, um escritor, um árabe moderado, e um político no activo, ou visto de outro modo, um branco, um árabe, um negro, um amarelo, ou visto ainda de outro modo, um cristão católico, um cristão anglicano, um muçulmano, um xintoista, um agnóstico, etc, etc. O mundo como os multiculturalistas pensam que ele é.

O texto permite entender as razões pelas quais a política europeia para o Médio Oriente é o fracasso conhecido, e comporta um visão que, pretendendo-se equidistante, legitima a violência palestiniana radical, e acaba por ser mais condenatório de Israel do que da beligerância do Hamas, cujo objectivo de destruir o estado de Israel nunca entra em conta nestas equidistâncias. Nada que não seja habitual neste tipo de “equidistância”, muito comum na Europa “comunitária”, e uma das razões pelas quais a União Europeia, sendo o principal apoiante humanitário da Autoridade Palestiniana, não tem qualquer papel de relevo no conflito palestiniano e que não é reconhecida por nenhuma das partes como protagonista sério em qualquer esforço de negociação. Pelo contrário, os pouco equidistantes EUA e, do outro lado, o Irão, são peças fundamentais de qualquer entendimento e o que dizem e fazem é tido em total conta pelos países e grupos em conflito. Se houver tréguas, paz, estado palestiniano, é com eles e por eles também. A Europa, que por razões de todo o tipo, históricas, políticas e geopolíticas, devia ser uma chave para a resolução do conflito, é um inexistência real e limita-se a proferir declarações de boas intenções como a carta a que nos referimos.

A nova “linguagem de pau” dos tempos modernos passa por cartas como esta em que, ou por omissão da verdade, sugestão de falsidade ou por pura falsidade, se toma posição jurando estar-se acima das partes. Veja-se esta frase que Orwell instantaneamente reconheria como doublespeak:

"O impasse ao nível da segurança que existe entre Israel e a liderança palestiniana em Gaza também conduziu aos bloqueios de ajuda alimentar por Israel, que obrigaram os 1,5 milhões de habitantes de Gaza a enfrentar uma situação de fome real. Israel, ao que parece, continua a enfatizar a primazia da segurança "dura" nas suas negociações com os palestinianos de Gaza, mas essa ênfase serve apenas para bloquear oportunidades para soluções criativas e não-violentas da disputa entre Israel e a Palestina."
A “liderança palestiniana em Gaza”, que os signatários recusam nomear, é o Hamas que se separou do governo e do presidente palestiniano Abbas, para ilegalmente tornar o território numa ditadura civil e militar fundamentalista, patrocinada pelo Irão, que usa a população civil como escudo para as suas actividades de agressão a Israel, mas também para atacar todos os sectores palestinianos mais moderados. O seu objectivo é explicito: impedir qualquer acordo de paz com Israel e, em consequência, militarizou todo o território, usando todas as oportunidades de abertura de fronteira para se rearmar e receber apoios externos, sacrificando o bem estar de milhares de palestinianos civis aos seus objectivos de guerra. No interior do território controla todas as ajudas humanitárias para, em primeiro lugar, privilegiar os quadros do Hamas e as suas famílias e, depois, para o enquadramento e doutrinação fundamentalista.

Tudo isto está mais que documentado. Não tenho a mais pequena dúvida que os signatários da carta sabem que é assim. Sabem até mais do que isso: sabem que o Hamas usa as ambulâncias para mover homens e armas, utiliza escudos humanos, armazena armas em mesquitas, escolas e hospitais. Sabem que o Hamas prepara crianças e jovens adolescentes nas suas escolas numa ideologia fundamentalista do martírio, organizando atentados indiscriminados contra a população civil. Os signatários da carta sabem muito bem que Israel não toma a população civil como alvo militar e que o Hamas não distingue entre um militar e um civil judeus, assassinando todos os que pode. Sabem ainda mais: que o Hamas viola todo o tipo de direitos humanos, fuzila opositores suspeitos de simpatizarem com a Fatah de Abbas e presumiveis ou reais informadores israelitas, impede qualquer liberdade de expressão, prende indiscriminadamente e tortura, introduziu a sharia, e outras práticas religiosas fundamentalistas.

Neste contexto, que segurança pode ter Israel que não seja “dura”? Alguns destes senadores conhecem alguma política “mole” que possa merecer o nome de segurança? Que política de segurança “mole” seria possível com grupos como o Hamas no contexto do Médio Oriente? E que solução de “protectorado” internacional funcionaria no Médio Oriente que pudesse garantir a segurança de Israel, sem tropas que estivessem prontas para desarmar o Hamas, e os grupos radicais palestinianos, para bloquear a inflitração iraniana para o Hamas e para o Hezbollah, para impedir os esquadrões da morte? Com que exército europeu?

Basta olhar para o Líbano onde as tropas internacionais continuam passivas face ao Hezbollah, violando o mandato internacional que receberam no âmbito de mais uma das “soluções criativas e não-violentas da disputa entre Israel e a Palestina” que tanto agradam aos signatários do documento. Se estes fossem israelitas aceitariam diminuir a sua própria segurança face a este tipo de intervenção “equidistante” que depois cede às relações de força no terreno e que permite que a Síria e o Irão continuem a controlar parte do território libanês e a transformá-lo numa base de guerra civil no Libano e internacional contra Israel?

As conclusões desta carta são de uma enorme hipocrisia. Sim, é verdade que “em Gaza, está em jogo o sentido básico de decência da humanidade”, só que para se ser completamente verdadeiro dever-se-ia ter ido mais longe: exigir da comunidade internacional a reposição da legalidade no território, desarmando o Hamas, entregando o controlo de Gaza ao governo legítimo da Autoridade Palestiniana, apoiando os esforços dos moderados palestinianos para um entendimento com Israel, mas sendo intransigente com a situação de segurança de Israel. Só neste quadro é que existe autoridade para criticar os excessos israelitas, se os houver. Isso é que permitiria “a coragem moral e a visão política para que a Palestina dê um salto quântico.” Embora esta do “salto quântico” se não for erro de tradução, é um lapso freudiano dos autores da carta, porque tal “salto” só se dá num espaço infinitamente pequeno.

http://abrupto.blogspot.com/2009/01/falsa-equidistncia-e-irrelevncia-da.html
JPTF 2009/01/04

‘Hamas: vinguem o sangue dos mártires do nosso povo‘ in CNN, 2 de Janeiro de 2009

The Israeli air force bombed the homes Thursday of two top Hamas military figures, killing at least one of them.

The Israel Defense Forces also struck a mosque that it said was a hub for Hamas fighters and used to store missiles, rockets and other weapons, it said Thursday.

The attacks came on the sixth day of Israeli air strikes against Gaza, which is tucked between Israel and Egypt and has been used as a staging ground for sporadic rocket attacks by Hamas into Israel.

Palestinian medical sources said at least 400 people have been killed in Gaza since the Israeli raids began Saturday, and 2,000 have been wounded.

Officials in Israel said four people, three of them civilians, have died from Palestinian rocket fire. Another 56 have been wounded, emergency medical services reported.

The Hamas television station Al-Aqsa showed the body of Nizar Rayan, one of the main founders of Hamas and a commander in northern Gaza, being pulled from the rubble of his house in Jabaliya, north of Gaza City. Watch aftermath of rocket attack on Rayan's house »

The Islamist University lecturer "ranked among Hamas' top five decision-makers as the liaison between the group's military and political wing," the paper said. Learn who's who in Gaza »

The newspaper also described him as an "outspoken advocate of renewing suicide bombings against Israel."

Nine other people also died in the attack, Hamas and Palestinian medical sources said, some believed to be members of Rayan's family. Watch how civilians are caught in the crossfire »

Rayan had urged Gazans not to abandon their homes during the Israeli air attacks, even if they received threats to evacuate, Arab media reported.

"We call on our people and the resistance groups -- along with al-Qassam Brigades -- to revenge for the blood of the imam, leader and martyr Nizar Rayan, as well the blood of our people's martyrs," Hamas leader Ismail Redwan said in a eulogy broadcast on Al-Aqsa.

The al-Qassam Brigades are the military arm of Hamas.

Video showed crowds of men outside the remains of Rayan's house, shouting as they climbed mounds of debris, pulling bodies from the rubble and searching for other victims. Nearby buildings were heavily damaged.

Elsewhere in Jabaliya, Israeli aircraft also hit a mosque described as a "terror hub" used as a center of operations for Hamas, "a meeting place for its operatives and a staging ground for terror attacks."

The IDF said weapons stored in the mosque triggered a large fire and secondary explosions.

"The IDF will continue to attack any target used for terrorist activity, and will not hesitate to strike those involved in terrorism against the citizens of the State of Israel, even if they deliberately choose to operate from locations of religious or cultural significance," a statement said. Watch people run in the aftermath of an Israeli airstrike »

An airstrike also hit the Gaza City home of senior Hamas military operative Nabil Amrin, causing weaponry stored inside to explode, the IDF said.

There was no word on possible casualties, and the IDF said they didn't know whether Amrin was home at the time.

The attacks were among dozens Thursday in northern Gaza in what Israel says is a response to ongoing Hamas rocket fire into southern Israel. The IDF said in a statement that more than 40 rockets fell in Israel, and it carried out over 50 airstrikes on Gaza.

The military has said it is targeting only Hamas militants, and Hamas has vowed to defend Gaza in the face of what it calls continued Israeli aggression. Watch CNN's Rick Sanchez talk to a Palestinian man about the conflict »

In Paris, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni met with French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner, whose truce proposal was turned down Wednesday by Israel. It would have stopped the fighting temporarily so more humanitarian aid could reach Gaza.

The six days of Israeli airstrikes on Gaza have "achieved changes," Livni said.

"We want to weaken Gaza," Livni said. "At the end of the day, Hamas is a problem, not only to Israel but to the entire Palestinian people," Livni said.

Palestinian militants continued to fire rockets into southern Israel. The Israeli military said four struck Beer Sheva on Wednesday, and at least two medium-range rockets struck the community Thursday. Beer Sheva is about 19 miles outside Gaza. Watch how emergency responders have dealt with the crisis »

Israel targeted the Palestinian parliament building in Gaza City overnight, gutting the structure. The ministries of justice and education and civil defense headquarters, to the city's west, also were bombed.

Also Thursday, Israel announced that it had closed its borders with the West Bank until midnight Saturday. The closures to the Palestinian territory coincides with the Muslim holy day Friday and the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday.

Earlier, Hamas had called for demonstrations Friday at mosques in the West Bank and at the Al Aqsa mosque in Jerusalem's Old City.

http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/01/01/israel.gaza/index.html
JPTF 2009/01/02

‘A estratégia de escalada do conflito do Hamas‘ in Der Spiegel, 29 de Dezembro de 2008

The Israeli attack on the Gaza Strip entered its third day on Monday with over 300 Palestinians now dead. The Arab world is up in arms, and with Palestinians as fragmented as ever, the dream of an independent country seems no closer today than it did decades ago.

The anger quickly came to a boil on Saturday. Thousands of Israelis, both Jews and Arabs, were in Jaffa for an annual street festival. "The Arab peddlers were so busy that it took awhile for the news from Gaza to spread," Sami Abu Shadeh, a member of the center-left, Arab-Israeli Balad party, recalled on Sunday. It was noon before he found a television. "By then," he says, "there were already 120 dead."

In the ensuing hours, Shadeh said, everything seemed to move in fast-forward. Quickly, a meeting was called bringing together representatives from Jaffa's 20,000-strong Arab minority. Shutting down the street festival was the first priority. "The further the news from Gaza spread, the more the tension could be felt in the air," Shadeh said. "We were afraid that there would be violence between our youth and the Jewish festival-goers."

In the end, the community leaders managed to channel the growing rage into an orderly protest. For two hours, Koran verses streamed out of the loudspeakers of the minarets in Jaffa, a largely Arab-Israeli quarter of Tel Aviv, as 2,000 people silently commemorated the dead.

The anger, though, remains. Across the Middle East -- in Beirut, Damascus, Cairo, the West Bank and within Israel itself where 20 percent of the population is made up of Palestinians -- people have taken to the streets in rage and grief. Anti-Israeli marches have likewise been held as far away as Karachi and Jakarta. A group of Iranian clerics is signing up volunteers to fight in the Gaza Strip.

'Ready to Die'

An Indonesian militant group told Reuters on Monday that it planned to recruit up to 1,000 volunteers to fight in the Gaza Strip. "Fighters should be in good physical condition, have a strong faith and be ready to die," said Ahmad Soebri Lubis, head of the Islamic Defenders' Front.

Israeli fighter planes continued dropping bombs at targets within the Gaza Strip on Monday, with the Interior Ministry being hit early in the morning. Over 300 Palestinians have been killed in the three-day-old offensive and more than 600 wounded. The attack began not long after Hamas, the radical Palestinian group which holds power in Gaza, allowed a cease-fire to lapse and resumed firing rockets into Israel. Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said that a ground invasion has not been ruled out.

The air raids have already been among the most intense since the Six-Day War in 1967 -- and Abu Shadeh fears that harmony between Israel's Arabs and the rest of the country could soon be a thing of the past. Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal has even gone so far as to call for a third Intifada -- an uprising of all Palestinians against Israel.

But as bloody as the Israeli offensive has been, it comes largely as the result of a deeply cynical calculation on the part of Hamas. The Islamist group must have known that Israel would not tolerate the incessant cross-border rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip indefinitely. Since the six-month cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 19, dozens of rockets once again began landing well inside Israel, killing one civilian last week and another, an Arab-Israeli, on Monday.

For weeks, the threats voiced by Israel had been clear and unmistakeable. Only last Wednesday, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert issued a stark warning to the Palestinians in an interview with an Arab TV channel: "Stop it" -- or Israel would respond with violence to the rocket launchers and their backers, was his message.

Hamas' Need for Violence

That, though, is exactly what Hamas seems to have been banking on. For Hamas, the gruesome television pictures that were beamed around the world following the Israeli air raids appear to have been part of the plan. They appear to have deliberately factored in the suffering of innocent victims when they refused to prolong their cease-fire with Israel. Ultimately, Hamas hopes the current escalation of violence will make the West take it seriously as a negotiating partner.

Otherwise it wouldn't have provoked Israel and its mighty army. The Hamas leadership accepted the possibility that Palestinian civilians would be hurt in the Israeli counter-attack. The Hamas infrastructure is deliberately located in city districts where civilians live.

It seems unlikely that Hamas will ultimately be successful. The Palestinians are simply too divided to provide a unified response to Israel -- too split for a third Intifada. On a political level, that became abundantly clear on Sunday. Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, whose Fatah Party has the upper hand in the West Bank, condemned the attacks, but seemed to partially blame Hamas for the ongoing bloodbath in the Gaza Strip.

"We talked to them (Hamas) and we told them 'please, we ask you, do not end the truce. Let the truce continue and not stop' so that we could have avoided what happened," Abbas said on Sunday in Cairo, where he had traveled for talks with Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak.

'We Don't Do Politics'

Even among the moderate Palestinians living in Israel, the comment did not play well. "Imagine: hundreds of his fellow Palestinians have been killed and he uses the opportunity to blame the opposing party," Abu Shadeh said in Jaffa. "I really don't know what to expect anymore."

Shadeh's confusion is understandable. The entire Arab world is united in its condemnation of Israel. Many in Europe have likewise criticized the Israelis for overreacting and using disproportionate violence. But among the Palestinians themselves, the situation could hardly be more complicated. They are scattered across the Middle East -- from Beirut to Cairo -- and their politics fall across the political spectrum. Some are ready to fight and die to achieve their goal of a Middle East free of Israelis. Others seek to make peace with their Jewish neighbors. And the two dominant Palestinian parties, Hamas and Fatah, are united only in their hate for one another.

Israel, in its regional dominance, has made it even more difficult for the Palestinians to work together, meaning the dream of an independent country seems no closer today than it did decades ago. The Palestinians quite simply have little political leverage because they have no political unity.

In Jaffa on Sunday, Arab-Israelis seemed intent on keeping a low profile. A restaurant owner there was one of many who was unwilling to comment on the ongoing violence. He ran his finger across his mouth, as if closing a zipper. "We make kebabs here," he said. "We don't do politics."

http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,598656,00.html
JPTF 2008/12/30