September 24, 2012

JERUSALEM, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Israeli police arrested Sunday four Jewish men accused of cooperating in the kidnapping of an Eritrean migrant in an extortion ring which leads to Hamas and Sinai-based militants.

PNA forces discover secretive West Bank detention facility for Hamas

RAMALLAH, Sept. 23 (Xinhua) -- Palestinian security forces discovered Sunday a detention facility in the West Bank and said it was prepared by elements affiliated with Islamic Hamas movement.

The "prison" was found under a restaurant in Nablus, said the governor of the city, Gabreen Al-Bakri.

Hamas leader in exile Khaled Meshal says intends to step down

Hamas' leader in exile, Khaled Meshal, is tired of policy challenges from the Islamist group's Gaza-based leadership and is not seeking re-election in a vote now underway, political and diplomatic sources said on Sunday.

Press group condemns PA arrest of journalist

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- A Palestinian press freedom group on Sunday condemned the arrest of a journalist last week by Palestinian Authority security forces.Walid Khalid, office director of the "Felesteen" newspaper, was arrested by PA security forces on Sept.

Senior PA minister suspected of sexually harassing employee

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has ordered an investigation into a senior minister suspected of sexually harassing an employee in his office, Haaretz has learned. The minister is considered an Abbas appointee.

Iran’s Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Israeli threats, nuclear program and Syria

Iran may be on the firing line, but President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad was as calmly combative as ever Sunday, dismissing Israel’s military threats [21] and predicting that nothing will happen in the nuclear talks until after the U.S. presidential elections.

Female candidate tops list to become mayor of Bethlehem

BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- Having a woman compete for the municipal council of a city as famous and spiritually important as Bethlehem would have been seen as a pointless adventure a number of years ago. In 2012, however, fellow candidates of Vera Baboun are proud that she is leading a list of hopefuls to become the first female mayor of the city of Bethlehem.

Speaking to Ma'an's reporter, Baboun says she belongs to the history and geography of Bethlehem and is keen to serve the city with a scientific and practical vision developed during her professional life.

The settlers' army

Two weeks ago, I happened to be at a large settlement where I used a camera to document a property offense committed by one of the residents against land belonging to another person, a Palestinian. An argument broke out between me and the settlement resident. He tried to prevent me from taking the pictures, saying this was his private property, while I claimed there was no legal barrier to my continuing.

Listen to Morsi

Since being elected president of Egypt, Mohammed Morsi has said several times that his administration is committed to the peace treaty with Israel. Despite the fears raised by the regime change in Cairo, Egyptian security officials continue to cooperate with their Israeli counterparts against terrorists operating in Sinai. And despite their ideological and political affinity with Hamas, the heads of the ruling Freedom and Justice Party express support for the Israel-Palestinian peace talks, the two-state solution and the Arab Peace Initiative.

Asharq Al-Awsat talks to Hamas Deputy Leader Musa Abu-Marzuq

Asharq Al-Awsat, Dr. Musa Abu-Marzuq, Deputy Chairman of the Hamas Political Bureau spoke about the situation in the Gaza Strip, the prospects of inter-Palestinian reconciliation and elections. Musa Abu Marzuq also touched upon numerous other topics including Muslim Brotherhood President Mohamed Mursi in Egypt, the worldwide Muslim protests against the US film that insulted the prophet and the killing of the US ambassador to Libya.

The following is the full text of the interview:

Protesters Signal Political Crisis For the Palestinian Authority

RAMALLAH – A World Bank report released Wednesday [27] urged international donors to react quickly to a deep fiscal crisis in the Palestinian territories. The Palestinian Authorities have been under significant pressure this month due to a sudden eruption of continuous protests as thousands took to the streets in a cry of despair over increasing living expenses.

'We want the PA to have stability and prosperity, even if we have to fund it'

s the director-general of Strategic Affairs Ministry, Brig.-Gen. (res.) Yossi Kuperwasser has spent a lot of time researching Palestinian incitement against Israel and Jews.

Under his tutelage, the ministry earlier this year published an Incitement Index, which listed numerous examples of statements made by senior Palestinian Authority officials who ostensibly demonized Israel, insulted Jews, marginalized the Holocaust and radiated a general unwillingness for peace and reconciliation.

Two pipes for two peoples: The politics of water in the West Bank

The IDF's Civil Administration is preventing the Palestinian Authority from laying a water pipe that would alleviate the acute water shortage for more than 600,000 Palestinians in the West Bank.

The reason given for preventing the pipe's construction is that a section of less than two kilometers of it, laid on the margins of Route 50, would disrupt Jewish passenger traffic on the road.

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