al-mashreq issue 44 en

Almashreq-Exclusive: The Muslim community in Arizona has been actively involved in the general election. Members of the community held fundrais-ings event at their house for the benefit of Candidates running in the State and Federal level.Mr. Hassan Elsaad & community leader Mr. Moham-med Elsharkaway held a summer party event which included raising funds for the benefit of election can-didate for the U.S Congress Kyrsten Sinema at the house of Mr. Elsaad in Tempe, two weeks later Dr. Mohammad Riyad held a similar event for the benefit of Candidates for State House of Representatives Co-rey Harris and Darin Fisher; State senator Jerry Lewis also attended part of the event.

AZ Muslim community active involvement in the 2012 election

16 Pages Issue No. 44

6

35

8 October 26 - November 22 , 2012

www.almashreqonline.com

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من جميع املوانئ واملدن الأمريكية اإىل كافة اأنحاء العامل ROROسحن �سيارات على ظهر الباخرة�

FM SHIPPING COMPANY

رائد م�شاقي

English Section

Associated Press Bi-Weekly

Arizona • California • Illinois

Community LargestNewspaper

An arson attack on an Ohio mosque

Arab American Festival Photos

The Meaning of QE3

Jordanians hold protestagainst King Abdullah

�شحن بحري و جوي

Almashreq-Exclusive: A group of community intellectuals and profes-sionals decided to take a stance to promote transparency within our community by creating an institu-tion to evaluate the financial trans-parency of the founded community based organizations and charitable entities. The institution is founded to work relentlessly to stop cor-ruption and promote transparency, accountability and integrity at all levels and across all sectors of our society. The institution will be publishing a comprehensive semi-annual evaluation report. Relevant government agencies and private fi-nancial institutions will be provided with copies of it.

Almashreq-Exclusive: U.S Muslims have been protesting against the anti-Islam film made in California and re-leased on YouTube, owned by Google Inc., across the U.S.A, and tens of Muslims in Tempe Arizona joined the national movement by holding a protest which started in front of the Tempe Islamic Community Center (ICC) on Friday October 5th after the completion of Friday prayer.

Muslim Community intellectualsestablish a research institute toevaluate the transparency of their nonprofit entities Al Mashreq endorses the following candidates

Muslims in Arizona held a protest against anti-Islam film and the rising Islamophopia

باأدارة : حممد م�سامح(602)687-3813

ت�سليح جميع انواع اجهزة التربيد واملكيفات املنزلية واأنظمة التدفئة

AIR CONTROL SYSTEMS LLCHEATING & COOLING

Kyrsten Sinema(US Congress)

Paul Penzone(Maricopa County Sheriff)

Richard Carmona(US Senate)

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Corey Harris(AZ House of Representative)

Darin Fisher(AZ House of Representative)

خطة اخل�سم اخلا�سة بعيادتناانها اف�سل من التاأمني

لك وت�سمح الأ�سنان. عالج يف خ�سم على للح�سول �سنوي ا�سرتاك بزيارة طبيب الأ�سنان مرتني بال�سنة لعمل تنظيف الأ�سنان وكذلك واجل�سور والتيجان احل�سوات يف خمف�سة ا�سعار على احل�سول

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اخلدمات التي نقدمهابالليزر • العالج

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اجلذر • ح�سوات • القلع

واجلزئية الكاملة • الطقم الأ�سنان • زرع

الأ�سنان • تقومي الأ�سنان • تبي�ض

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ل تنتظر الأبت�سامةالتي حتلم بها دائما

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October 26 - November 22 , 2012


2 Advertisement- Arizona

Almashreq Bi-Weekly News PaperPublished by Almashreq media LLC (480) 427-00129014 W Indian School Ste 6Phoenix, AZ 85015www.almashreqonline.com

Editor-IN-ChiefMohammad Riyad

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3

Cooking & RecipesMiddle Eastern Kibbeh“Kibbeh is a wonderful dish from the Middle East traditionally made with lamb meat but beef is acceptable, too. I prefer it made into patties and fried in olive oil. However, it is most often found in restaurants in baked form. Serve kibbeh with tahini, a sesame seed paste.”

ingredients• 1pounddryzitipasta• 1onion,chopped• 1poundleangroundbeef• 2(26ounce)jarsspaghettisauce• 6ouncesprovolonecheese,sliced• 11/2cupssourcream• 6ouncesmozzarellacheese,shredded• 2tablespoonsgratedParmesancheese

Harisseh (Middle Eastern Sweets)“My Auntie shared this recipe with me. When I first had a look at the ingredi-ents I wondered how such a strange combination of ingredients would taste. It turned out beautifully sweet!”

ingredients• 1cupsemolinaflour• 11/2teaspoonsbakingpowder• 1/2cupwhitesugar• 1/2cupchoppedalmonds• 1/2cupplainyogurt• 1/2cupvegetableoil• 1tablespoonrosewater• 25blanchedalmondhalvesforgarnish• 1cupwater• 2cupswhitesugar• 1teaspoonrosewater• 1teaspoonlemonjuice

Festival Photos & Entertainment

Preparation :1. Bring a large pot of lightly salted wa-ter to a boil. Add ziti pasta, and cook until al dente, about 8 minutes; drain.2. In a large skillet, brown onion and ground beef over medium heat. Add spaghetti sauce, and simmer 15 min-utes.3. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Butter a 9x13 inch baking dish. Layer as follows: 1/2 of the ziti, Provolone cheese, sour cream, 1/2 sauce mixture, remaining ziti, moz-zarella cheese and remaining sauce mixture. Top with grated Parmesan cheese.4. Bake for 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until cheeses are melted.

Cooking Method :1. Stir together semolina, baking powder, 2 cups of sugar, and

chopped almonds until evenly blended. Stir in yogurt, veg-etable oil, and rose water until a soft dough forms. Cover bowl with plastic wrap, and allow to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.

2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Press the dough into a 9x9 inch square baking dish, and smooth the top. Score the top of the dough to create 25 squares, then top each square with an almond half.

3. Bake in preheated oven until the top has puffed and turned golden brown, about 20 minutes. The harisseh is done when the top is golden, and the center has firmed. When done, re-move from the oven, and allow to cool in the pan for 20 min-utes.

4. While the harisseh is cooling, pour water and 2 cups of sugar into a saucepan. Bring to a simmer, and cook for 5 minutes. Stir in 1 teaspoon of rose water, and lemon juice, then remove from the heat.

5. To serve, cut the warm harisseh into 25 squares, and place onto a large serving platter; pour the rose water syrup over, making sure all of the pieces are moist.

Arab American Festival Photos

Eid Mela Photos by AMWA



4 Classified- Arizona

Muslim Community MosqueAddress: 1818 N 32nd Street,

Phoenix, AZ 85008, USAPhone:602 306 4959

MASJID AL-RAHMA Address: 2426 E McDowell Rd ,

Phoenix, AZ 85008, USAPhone:602-463-2569

Islamic Center Of North Phoenix Address: 13246 N. 23rd Ave, Phoenix, AZ 85029, USA Phone: 602-371-3440

Islamic Community Center of Phoenix Address: 7516 N. Black Canyon Hwy,

Phoenix, AZ 85051, USAPhone:602-249-0496

Islamic community of anthemAddress: Islamic community of anthem

Phoenix, AZ 85086, USAEmail: [email protected]

Islamic Community Center of Tempe

Address:131 East 6th Street,Tempe, AZ 85281, USA

Phone: 480-894-6070

Community Mosque Address: 1797 W University Dr#167,

Tempe, AZ 85281, USAPhone:480-829-9465

The AL-Mahdi Benevolent FoundationAddress:1016 S. River Dr Tempe, AZ 85281, USA

Masjid Omar Bin Al-Khattab Address: 6225 S Mcclintock Dr,

Tempe, AZ 85283, USAPhone:480-775 6627

Islamic Center of North East Valley Address:12125 E Via Linda,

Scottsdale, AZ 85260, USAPhone:480-612--4044

Albanian-American Islamic Center of Arizona

Address:6724 West Greenway Rd.,Peoria, AZ 85381, USA

URL:www.greenwaymasjid.com

Masjid-e-Noor Address:55 North Matlock Street,

Mesa, AZ 85203, USAPhone:480-644-0074

Islamic Center of the East Valley (ICEV) Address:425 N Alma School Rd.,

Chandler, AZ 85224, USAPhone:(480) 264-1330

Masjid Es Salaam Address:1071 North Alma School Road,

Chandler, AZ 85224, USAPhone: 480-784-4627

Embassy Of Algeria 2118 Kalorama RD NWWashington DC 20008Phone:202-265-2800

Embassy Of Egypt3521 International Ct. NW

Washington DC 20008Phone:202-895-5400

Embassy Of Iraq1801 P St NW


Embassy Of Jordan3504 International Dr NW


Embassy Of Kuwait3500 International Dr NW

Washington DC 20008

Embassy Of Lebanon2560 28th St NW


Embassy Of Oman Sultanate1776 Massachusetts Ave NW

Washingion DC 20036Phone:202-387-1758

Embassy Of Qatar4200 Wisconsin Ave NWWashingion DC 20016

Phone:202-274-1600

Embassy Of Morocco1601 21st St NW


Ebassy Of Saudi Arabia2600 Virginia Ave NW #500


Embassy Of The Republic Of Bosnia2109 E St NW


Embassy Of Tunisia1515 Massachussets Ave NW

Washingion DC 20005

Embassy Of U.A.E1225 22nd St NW #700Washingion DC 20037

Phone:202-243-2400

Embassy Of Yemen2600 Virginia Ave NW #705

Washingion DC 20037Phone: 202-965-4760

Banner Good Samaritan Medical Center 1111 E.McDowell RD

Phoenix AZ 85006” (602) 839-2000

Mayo Clinic 5777 East Mayo Boulevard Phoenix, AZ 85054-4502

“(480) 515–6296

Mercy Gilbert Medical Center 3555 South Val Vista Dr

Gilbert AZ 85297”(480) 728-8000

Chandler Regional Hospital 475 S.Dobson Rd

Chandler AZ 85224 “(480) 963-4561

FastMed Urgent Care of Chandler 2875 W. Ray Rd

Chandler AZ 85224” (480) 899-3070

Tempe St. Luke’s Hospital 1500 S.Mill Ave

Tempe AZ 85281”(602) 968-9411

Mayo Clinic 13400 Mayo Clinic

Scottsdale AZ 85259 “(800) 446-2279

Scottsdale Health Care 7400 E Osborn Rd

Scottsdale AZ 85251”(480) 882-4000

Scottsdale Health Care 9003 E Shea Blvd

Scottsdale AZ 85260”(480) 323-3000

St Joseph’s Hospital and Medical Center 350 W Thomas RD

Phoenix AZ 85013”(602) 406-3000

Phoenix Children’s Hospital 1919 E Thomas Rd

Phoenix AZ 85016” (602) 933-1000

Arrowhead Hospital 18701 N 67th Ave

Glendale AZ 85308”(623) 561-1000

Banner Thunderbird Medical Center 5555 W Thunderbird RD Glendale AZ 85306”

(602) 865-5555

Maronite Catholic Church Address: 5406 E Virginia Ave Phoenix, AZ 85008 Phone: 602-667-3280 Mar Abraham Chaldean Catholic Churc Address: 6816 E Cactus Rd Scottsdale, AZ 85254 Phone: 480-905-1545 Assyrian Church Of The East Address: 8712 N 35th Ave Phoenix, AZ 85051 Phone:602-841-3227 St. George Church Address:6107 W Greenbriar Dr Glendale, AZ 85308 St.Michael Orthodox Church Of Jerusalem Address: 4724 N 35th Ave Phoenix, AZ 85019 Phone: 480-466-2648 St.John of The Desert Melkite Catholic Church Address:3718 E Greenway Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85032 Phone: 602-787-4787 St.Goerge Antiochian Orthodox ChurchAddress: 4530 E Gold Dust Ave Phoenix, AZ 85028 Phone: 602-953-1921St.Mark Coptic Orthodox ChurchAddress: 525 N 74th StScottsdale, AZ 85257Phone: 480-990-2399 First Arabic Baptist Mission 2232 W Campbell Ave Phoenix, AZ 85015 Phone: 602-249-1033 St.Joseph Church 11001 N 40th Street Phoenix, AZ 85028 Phone: 602-966-5120 Persian Christian Church 2012 N Scottsdale Rd Scottsdale, AZ 85257 Phone: 480-231-6542

Churches

MosquesPhoenix

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Income Tax ServicesThe Biggest community based Tax preparation office in Arizona Professional service- 24 HOURS CHECKS-ELECTORIONIC

FILING More than 15 tax preparers at your service in one location Stop by today no appointment is necessary

حل مشاكل الديون IRS مع الـ

Assistance with IRS owed

balances602-952-2920 • 602-952-2921

2311 E. Indian School Rd.Phoenix, AZ 85016

Book keeping, Monthly State/ Fed Tax FilingCity TaxRental Property Taxes Financial StatementsP/L & Balance Sheets باأ�صراف الدكتور حممد ريا�ض

خدماتنا األفضل وأسعارنا األرخصالأحرتاف والأمانة

Embassies

Hospitals

Inna Lillahi Wa Inna Ilayhi Rajioon.To Allah we belong and to Him we return.

Our condolences to Dr. Fawzia Tung for the sudden and sad death of her husbandMr Mubarak Tung

May he be granted a high station in Jannah and forgiven for any sins. May Allah SWT shower His great mercy on him and may He give strength and patience to his dear family.

Please remember him and his family in your duas and prayers. Almashreq editorial Team



5

The presidency of Barack Obama is coming to a close and the United States is now on the brink of another presiden-tial election cycle. Barack Obama will be probably seeking a second term, which in terms of policies may be good news for Muslims. This is because the right in the United States has taken an increas-ingly Islamophobic stance which has bordered on the ridiculous in the last de-cade. What may not be such good news for Muslims in the United States is that it is quite likely that Barack Obama›s political opponents will resort to Islam-bashing and hateful speech in an effort to discredit Barack Obama before an in-creasingly xenophobic population.In the 2008 election, the right wing latched on to the notion that Barack Obama is a Muslim due to his Arab mid-dle name, Hussein. When it became

clear that Barack Obama is a christian, they went on to denounce him as a “se-cret Muslim.” As the campaign went on it was clear that the smearing of Islam had gone too far. At one point the Mc-Cain campaign tried to step back a little from all the disparaging remarks, but the damage had already been done; Muslim is an insult in the United States, little more than a racial slur for many people. A typical example of this happened one time involving senator McCain himself. On one occasion a woman approached senator McCain claiming that Barack Obama was a Muslim. Senator McCain responded by saying that Barack Obama was not a Muslim, but rather a decent family man. The implications of this, that somehow Muslims are indecent and against families is staggering in what it means to the status of Muslims in mod-ern American society.

While traditionally calling someone a “Jew” or “Gay” implying the negative stereotypes associated with these terms is extremely frowned upon in American society, this standard does not exist for Islam. Calling someone a “Muslim” as an insult, referencing negative stereo-types about Arabs, is perfectly accept-able and done every day in the media and in public discourse. This goes even further than it does in Western Europe.While in Western Europe the recent widespread Islam-bashing has its basis in fear of immigrants coming into their countries, in the United States this sen-timent against Muslims carries a darker and more violent connotation. The senti-ment in Europe against Muslims is quite similar to the typical attitude of Ameri-cans in regards to Mexican and Central American immigrants. The American

attitude against Muslims, however, must be placed into a context that makes it much more worrying. After all, the Unit-ed States has been carrying out military actions simultaneously in three coun-tries that are predominantly Muslim: Iraq, Afghanistan, and most recently Libya. While these wars can be justified as being fought to topple totalitarian re-gimes and actual threats to the American people, the view of the American pub-lic is somewhat different. In the eyes of mainstream America, the wars are be-ing fought against the Muslims in those foreign places. In that sense, the use of “Muslim” as an insult is more similar to the use of “Jap” or “Kraut” during the Second World War, both completely un-acceptable terms in today›s society. It›s worrying to consider that today Muslims are considered the enemy.

Articles

Obama or Romney: The Banker Frater-nity’s Choice for Se-rial Warrior?We wrote on Septem-ber 3, 2012, one week before Bernanke an-nounce his QE-3: “The Banker Fraternity wants another «Quan-titative Easing» (meaning elec-tronic printing of dollars) may-be even a thousand billion new dollars, which would enter our economy, not at the food stamp or public works level, but at the bankers’ level.” *1)We choose not to predict who the FED would select for our President, but we stated that its actions would give us a clear picture of which candidate the bankers want or do not want. You should read the entire sto-ry, it is not obsolete. We wrote, “On September 11, or soon thereafter, Ben Bernanke will announce when and how much new “stimulus” will be injected into the economy, like crystals of Meth under the tongue. If the amount is huge and the date is imminent, such as “we start-ed yesterday,” this will signal the fix is on for Obama to return to the White House. A positive stock market is the President’s hope for reelection…his “see, we have done it” moment.”And that is that exactly what happened! In spit of sluggish economic news, the stock mar-ket is near record high ground, just in time for the election, and Mr. Obama is gaining at the polls. This should not be con-strued to mean Mitt Romney

is not also a good fit for the bankers’ Presi-dent, only that they are clearly satisfied with President Obama; therefore we consum-ers can not trust him. That should be all we need to know to cast our vote for none of

the above!Most of us do not have an ink-ing of how QE-3 is supposed to shore up the economy, except that we have heard it is to en-courage real estate loans, and the FED will spend $40 billion per month. No one asks where Mr. Bernanke will get all this money. Every Banker knows the FED will print $40 billion a month, maybe for years, to buy up millions of bad mortgages that bankers have left over from the last real estate boom and bust. It took only two weeks after Bernanke’s speech for a Bloomberg News’ reporter to come clean with what we had said in advance. . . the prime beneficiaries of QE-3 are not consumers longing for homes of their own, but the bankers who are stuck with bad mort-gages.Bloomberg’s story puts it this way: “Fed Helps Lenders’ Prof-it More Than Homebuyers” and “The Fed is targeting the $5.2 trillion market for mort-gage bonds guaranteed by gov-ernment-backed Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Ginnie Mae, which helps determine the rates that lenders can offer. Lenders bundle about 90 percent of new loans into the securities to sell to investors, giving them funds

to make new mortgages.” (The FED is to be a super investor in this big pool) *2)I also want you to know this scam could be fixed in a heart-beat to funnel most benefit to home buyers and builders with just six words from the FED… “WE WILL BUY ONLY NEW PAPER.” If Bernanke an-nounced this simple policy, the banks would hurry to make new loans to anyone who could sign, and it would indeed trig-ger a real estate boom that would boost the building and real estate business and lots of related businesses. “For Sale” signs would soon come down in your neighborhood. The bankers would still make their origination fees, but this would not be nearly so juicy as the scheme that allows them to un-load old, bad paper for newly printed dollars. We must never forget, the FED is not owned by the taxpayers, but by the big-gest and most powerful banks, so the bank’s interest always comes first. The FED could do the same thing at will with

commercial loans to small busi-nesses… if they wanted to, but should they?Of course not, this can only lead to more chaos in a year or two. The FED should not print mon-ey for the benefit of either bank-ers or individuals. We all know instinctively that someone has to pay for every bad loan and every crafty, self-serving deci-sion made at Bernanke’s level. It is we the consumer (not nec-essarily the taxpayer) who pays in higher prices for everything we buy with our depleted and debased dollars. The FED can never go broke because it can print an endless supply of dol-lars for any scheme. We con-sumers have a limited supply of dollars, and will eventually be unable to pay for the inflated food and basic needs.If we informed consumers could ignore the short-sighted benefits of this “crystals of Meth under the tongue” and if we had power to do something, what should be our course be? We should support the audit

law Ron Paul finally got passed through the House — the Fed-eral Reserve Transparency Act, which Harry Reid, the Senate Majority Leader and Nevada Democrat, has vowed will not be put to a vote in the Senate. We should insist the FED be physically occupied and nation-alized, not just audited… it is a private business, which is an-other way of saying “eliminate the FED.” We will never be free of war and inflation until this is done. *3)Most important, we should explain to our children and friends, anyone who will listen, what we have learned about the FED and other control factions. Politics and Faith are not proper and polite subjects of conversa-tion in the 21st century where our standards are increasing guided by the media, bankers, and politicians. We need to set our own social standards of what issues are important, and tell those most dear to us the painful truths we have learned. Our children will not thank us for keeping them in ignorance.

I quit my full-time job to raise my first child. I read books and magazines on education, parenting, you name it. I made my own Montessori didactic materials, I produced hundreds of flash cards, bought educational toys. In short, I was the typical helicopter new parent. In two years, I thought I knew everything about parenting. That’s when I had my second child. Wham! Back to Square One.By now, I have raised seven children and taught hundreds more. I think maybe I can state with a little bit more confidence that every child is different.Well, we all know that, but do we ap-ply that fact in our daily parenting? Do teachers apply that fact in their daily classroom routines? Let’s take one simple example. After moving to Phoenix, we promptly en-

rolled our children in the City of Phoe-nix Park and Recreation’s summer swimming programs. Level 1 is for be-ginner swimmers, generally, toddlers. My first daughter cried and screamed her heart out on the first day. I tried to sit as far away as possible, so as not to interfere with the coach’s work. I po-sitioned myself across the pool on the opposite side, so I could see her. But then, she could see me too. She cried even harder, “Maaaa… maaa!!!” What an embarrassment. Everyone was both-ered. Finally, I walked over to her, bent down and whispered in her ear, “Stop it, or I’ll put you in time out!” She stopped immediately.Now, that worked only with her. Be-cause she was obedient and hated be-ing put in time out, the threat worked. But my next daughter was very differ-ent. She was a happy little thing, and almost never did naughty things. She never needed time out. Her first day in swimming, she also bawled and howled and embarrassed me in front of the en-

tire pool of parents. I finally pulled out a can of Pepsi from my bag, shook it in front of my face, then put a finger on my lips: “shhhhh!” She stopped imme-diately. You see, she loved food! She loved pastries and candies, and abso-lutely adored sodas. I usually had to ration her sugar intake. So promising a whole can of cold Pepsi did the trick. For the sake of her soda fix, she would overcome her fear.Third daughter was a totally different matter. She had quite a personality of her own. If she put her mind to some-thing and decided to do it, no punish-ment would stop her from doing so. But she had a heart of gold and was a Drama Queen: often crying buck-ets and sobbing while watching some sad story on TV. When her turn came and she was put in the water for her first swimming lesson, oh my good-ness. She kicked and hollered, push-ing the coach away. What a disgrace! So I walked over, took her out of the water and whispered in her ear, “Baby,

look here. The coach is very angry be-cause you kicked him. He is staring at me now because he thinks I’m a bad mother. The rule is that if a mother is bad, they are going to call the police and take the mother to jail. If you want me to go to jail, just keep screaming and crying and kicking. That’s OK. I’ll understand.” Then I put her back into the water. The poor girl bit her lip and stifled her sobs, and kept looking at me now and then, to make sure I was still there. But she was quiet and coop-erative. Fear of water and an unknown group of people was nothing compared to Mom being taken away by the po-lice.OK. There is something to be said about not lying to children. But after all, in this country, the police do take away bad mothers, right? So this was not really a lie. All children are good children. You just have to get to know them, their loves and their fears. Then, and only then, you can start teaching them effectively.

The Meaning of QE3 Charles E. Carlson

When “Muslim” Became an Insult

Recognizing different personalities

By Islamonline Team

Dr. Fawzia Tung



6 National

Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis arrested in

N.Y in a terror sting operation

Green Party Candidates Arrested at Presidential

Debate

Hate crimes charges were filed in U.S. District Court

against Randolph Linnfor the September arsonattack on of the Islamic

Center

Feds win round in CIA leak case

University of Texasminority students hit with ‘bleach bombs

Almashreq/News Agencies: Mohammad Rezwanul Ahsan Nafis, is a Bangladeshi national who came to the U.S. on a stu-dent visa, was arrested in a ter-ror sting operation, authorities said. The suspected terrorist parked a van packed with what he thought was a 1,000-pound bomb next to the Federal Re-

serve building in Lower Man-hattan and tried to detonate it Wednesday morning before he was arrested.Authorities said... An undercov-er FBI agent posed as an al-Qa-eda facilitator, supplying him with 20 50-pound bags of what he thought were explosives to use in building his bomb.

Almashreq/News Agencies: In addition to being entirely shut out of this year’s presi-dential debates, Green Party candidate Jill Stein and her vice presidential running mate Cheri Honkala were arrested at the Hofstra University de-bate site as they protested their exclusion.Stein and Honkala have been shut out, despite the fact that the Green Party ticket will be on an estimated 85 percent of ballots this election. The Commission on Presidential

Debates stipulates that a can-didate must garner at least 15 percent in national polls in or-der to participateStein and Honkala were jailed for disorderly conduct around 3 p.m. when they were blocked by police offi-cers as they attempted to en-ter the debate hall, according to Stein’s campaign manager, Ben Manski. Manski said that it was unclear when they would be released, but they could remain jailed until mid-night.

Almashreq/News Agencies: Hate crimes charges were filed in U.S. District Court in To-ledo, Ohio, against Randolph Linn, 52, of St. Joe, Ind., for the September 30 arson at-tack on of the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. Linn was charged with intentionally defacing, damaging and de-stroying religious real prop-

erty because of the religious character of that property and with using fire and explosives to commit a felony.The woman who identified Linn in surveillance photo-graphs said he recently made anti-Muslim remarks, in-cluding comments about the worldwide reaction to an anti-Muslim video on the Internet.

Almashreq/News Agencies: 17 Oct 2012 Prosecutors pur-suing former CIA officer John Kiriakou for allegedly leaking the identities of two other CIA officers involved in interro-gating terror suspects need not prove that Kiriakou intended to harm the United States or help a foreign nation, a fed-eral judge ruled in an opin-ion made public Wednesday. The ruling from U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema

is a defeat for Kiriakou’s de-fense, which asked the judge to insist on the stronger level of proof—which likely would have been very difficult for the government to muster. In 2006, another federal judge in the same Northern Virginia courthouse, T.S. Ellis, im-posed the higher requirement in a criminal case against two former lobbyists for the American Israel Public Af-fairs Committee.

Almashreq/News Agencies: University of Texas at Austin students and staff are protest-ing after four students were reportedly hit with “bleach bombs”—balloons filled with bleach—while off campus.The attacks on minority stu-dents occurred between June and September, but they’d gone unreported until the campus police chief began investigating. “We had heard at UT rumors of incidents that had happened, but no one had ever filed a report,” a campus rep tells ABC News.“Our chief of police did his own research, found some

things on Facebook, and heard about a couple of people who were hit by balloons.” The chief ultimately approached the students about the inci-dents, and this week, “four people came forward and filed reports.”An African-American student said he’d been hit twice by the balloons, which reportedly fell from tall buildings. Cam-pus police haven’t yet con-firmed the balloons contained bleach, but, “It’s very frustrat-ing to know that it’s 2012 and that stuff like this still hap-pens,” says another student. Examiner

Almashreq/News sources:(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/2/12) - Perrysburg Town-ship Police released sur-veillance photographs of a “person of interest” in an in-tentionally-set fire Sunday at the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. The man seen in the photographs is a white male wearing a camouflage hat and sweatshirt. Authorities also released a photograph of a red vehicle driving onto the property. The fire was set when the mosque was empty and

caused smoke and water damage on the second floor. In 2008, a Toledo man plead-ed guilty to making threaten-ing phone calls to the same mosque.The Washington-based Council on American-Islam-ic Relations (CAIR) today offered a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the perpetrator of an arson at-tack on an Ohio mosque. CAIR also urged national leaders to address the grow-ing number of anti-Muslim hate incidents.

Almashreq-AZ: A coalition of several Muslim organizations organized a rally in Downtown Tempe on Friday October 5, 2012 to protest the rising Is-lamophopic sentiments in the USA. The rally started from the Islamic Community Center of Tempe (ICC) and continued to the corner of Mill Ave and Uni-versity Dr.Tens of protestors chanted anti-Islamophopia slogans for about 2 hours. The rally was mainly organized by Almahdi Islamic Center, CARAMA-the coalition of Arabs and Muslims in Amer-ica, The Sudanese American House and other organizations and community based groups.

An arson attack on an Ohio mosque on Sunday night

Anti-Islam’ Movie Producer Was Federal

Informant

Samir Suljovic a US citizen by born

stranded in Germany by No-Fly List

Obama Executive Order allows seizure of Americans’ bank accounts

Anti Islamophopia rally in Tempe, Arizona

Almashreq/News Agencies:Before he was involved in the making of the Anti-Islam film that provoked the anti-American riots in the Arab/Muslim world, and before he was convicted of federal bank fraud, Nakoula Basseley Nakoula was arrested on charges relating to the mak-ing of phencyclidine (PCP). Ac-

cording to several news sources we’ve learned that Nakoula was sentenced to 21 months in fed-eral custody for the affair. Ac-cording to The Smoking Gun and other news sources, because Nakoula had decided to become a federal informant he was re-leased after several months, even though it wasn’t Nakoula’s first time.

Almashreq/News Agen-cies: Samir Suljovic, a 26-year-old New York resident and American citizen, who tried to re-turn fly back home to New York on October 1 from Germany after he traveled to Monte-negro this summer to visit family and friends, was informed by airline agents in Austria that the DHS and CBP had asked foreign authorities to prevent him from board-ing his flight. Suljovic has been stranded for 17 days and has repeatedly been denied the right to

fly home to New York. He has contacted the DHS and CBP liaison at JFK International Air-port, but has received no response.Despite being advised to seek help from the U.S. embassy in Germany, embassy personnel have reportedly provided no assistance, and in-stead have interrogated Suljovic and allegedly searched his cell phone without his permission.Suljovic was born and raised in Oakland Gar-dens, Queens.

Almashreq/News Agencies: The lat-est executive order (EO) emanating from the White House October 9 now claims the power to freeze all bank accounts and stop any related financial transactions that a “sanc-tioned person” may own or try to perform - all in the name of “Iran Sanctions.”Titled an “Executive Order from the President regarding Authoriz-ing the Implementation of Certain Sanctions…” the order says that if an individual is declared by the president, the secretary of state, or the secretary of the treasury to be a “sanctioned person,” he (or she) will be unable to obtain access to his ac-counts, will be unable to process any loans (or make them), or move them to any other financial institution in-side or outside the United States. In other words, his financial resources will have successfully been com-pletely frozen.The EO expands its authority by making him unable to use any third party such as “a partnership, asso-ciation, trust, joint venture, corpo-ration, subgroup or other organiza-tion” that might wish to help him or allow him to obtain access to his funds.And if the individual so “sanc-tioned” decides that the ruling is un-fair, he isn’t allowed to sue. In two

words, the individual has success-fully been robbed blind. The New AmericanHIGHLIGHTSCongressman Ron Paul (R-Texas) called EOs patently unconstitution-al. When asked about them by Fox News’ Megan Kelly, Paul said:“The Constitution says that only Congress passes laws. The execu-tive branch is not allowed to pass laws, nor should the judicial system pass laws. So it is clearly unconsti-tutional to issue these executive or-ders,” Paul said.“They’ve been done for a long time, both parties have done it, but the Congress is careless. They allow and encourage and do these deals … to get the president to circumvent the Congress. If something’s unpopular and he can’t get it passed, well, let’s just sign an executive order. So I think that is blatantly wrong. I think this defies everything the founders intended. I think it’s a shame that Congress does it, and I think it’s a shame that the American people put up with it,” he added.The most outrageous executive or-der of all time was that issued by President Roosevelt that allowed the enforced internment of 120,000 Japanese-Americans. Prison PlanetFACTS & FIGURES

The United States has long barred U.S. firms from doing business with Iran, but last December adopted measures that forced international buyers of Iranian oil to cut their pur-chases. Economic TimesIn August, a second package of sanctions added further restrictions for international banks, insurance companies and oil traders.The U.S., Israel and their allies say Tehran may intend to use its nuclear capability to produce nuclear weap-ons, a claim Iran rejects. Tehran insists its program is completely peaceful.



7National

Almashreq/News Agencies: Morgan Stanley discriminated against black homeowners and violated federal civil rights laws by providing strong in-centives to a subprime lender to originate mortgages that were likely to be foreclosed on, according to a groundbreaking lawsuit filed today.The lawsuit, filed in U.S. Dis-trict Court in New York, is the first that connects racial discrimination to the securi-tization of mortgage-backed securities, which were sold to institutional investors and pen-sion funds.It is also the first case where a prospective class of victim-ized homeowners is suing an investment bank directly rath-er than the subprime lender whose loans the bank bought.The lawsuit was filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the ACLU of Michigan, the National Con-sumer Law Center, and Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bern-stein, a San Francisco-based law firm, on behalf of five De-troit residents and Michigan Legal Services. The complaint asks the court to certify the case as a class action. As many as 6,000 black homeowners in the Detroit area may have suf-fered similar discrimination.While the case concerns lend-ing abuses in Detroit, these practices were common throughout the financial ser-

vices industry and victimized black and Latino neighbor-hoods nationwide, according to Anthony D. Romero, ACLU executive director.«With this lawsuit, real vic-tims of the subprime lending scandal are stepping forward to hold investment banks like Morgan Stanley accountable for the devastation the banks wrought in their lives and in our economy,” Romero said. “Illegal practices surrounding mortgage-backed securities robbed people of their homes, violated our civil rights laws and left all Americans holding the bag as our economy tee-tered on the brink of another Great Depression.”The five homeowners in the suit received their loans from now-defunct New Century Mort-gage Corp., a one-time major player in subprime lending. As Morgan Stanley ramped up its mortgage-backed securities business starting in 2004, it became New Century’s largest buyer of subprime loans.Morgan Stanley provided funds to New Century to origi-nate the loans, and dictated the terms of the loans it wanted and ultimately purchased for its se-curitized pools. It pushed New Century to issue certain types of loans with no concern about risk, because it made its profit at the outset, when the secu-rities were created and sold. Because minority residents of the Detroit region have been

subjected to decades of hous-ing and lending discrimina-tion, and had fewer alternative sources of credit, they were natural targets for these preda-tory loans.“Morgan Stanley actively en-couraged the proliferation of irresponsible subprime mort-gage loans, the complaint charges, in order to feed its hunger for purchasing, pool-ing, and securitizing mortgage debt for sale to investors,” said Elizabeth J. Cabraser, a partner at Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, and co-counsel for the plaintiffs. “The targeting of communities of color for loans that unfairly raises the risk of default and foreclosure is the quintessential ‘reverse-redlin-ing’ outlawed by the Federal Fair Housing Act.”First enacted in 1968, the Fair Housing Act prohibits discrim-ination in housing transactions, including unfair lending prac-tices. The lawsuit also alleges violations of the Equal Credit Opportunity Act, which bans discrimination for credit trans-actions, including consumer loans such as mortgages.“Congress enacted these civil rights statutes to require that banks like Morgan Stanley are responsible for ensuring that their policies and practices do not perpetuate historical pat-terns of discrimination and banks have the duty to pro-vide a level playing field for all consumers,”noted Stuart

Rossman, director of litigation at the National Consumer Law Center.“Ultimately, economic justice is a civil right in our country. This landmark case brought on behalf of African-Ameri-can homeowners asserts their rights under those laws and seeks to protect the greater Detroit community from con-tinuing to be burdened because of past acts and patterns of dis-crimination.”Among those affected is Rub-bie McCoy, who said her mort-gage broker falsified informa-tion on her loan application even though she objected. The broker also omitted critical details, including the fact that after two years, New Century would no longer pay the taxes or insurance on her loan. Those added costs have prevented her from making a payment since 2011.“I’ve seen firsthand the devas-tation banks like Morgan Stan-ley have caused in communi-ties like mine. When I first moved into my home, I knew every neighbor and most of the homes were occupied. Today, the majority of homes stand abandoned and stripped,” Mc-Coy said. “I don’t like to say that I am losing my home, in-stead I tell my family that I’m fighting for my home. The truth is I’m afraid that today will be the day a sheriff kicks us out. No one should live with this fear”. ACLU.org

Morgan Stanley sued for racial discrimination

Choose Love’:Pro-Muslim Ads to Go

Up in NYC Subways

US Declares Assangeand WikiLeaks ‘Enemies

of the State

Obama Admits Failure to ‘Change’ Washington

US Soldier Charged with 17 Counts of Murder

After anti-Muslim ads hit NYC subways last month, Jewish and Christian groups responded with a message of love – hanging pro-Muslim posters to condemn intoler-ance and celebrate the city’s diversity.Rabbis for Human Rights – North America and the So-journers Christian group will place their adverts right next to the anti-Islam messages that were released by pro-Zionism group; the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI).The organization covered 10 Man-hattan stations, despite strong objection by the city’s Metro-politan Transportation Author-ity.The original text by the AFDI declared «In any war between the civilized man and the sav-age, support the civilized man.

Support Israel. Defeat Jihad.»The ad by Rabbis for Human Rights- North America, which will go up on Monday, will say “In the choice between love and hate, choose love. Help stop bigotry against our Mus-lim neighbors.”“Love your Muslim neigh-bors,” is the message on the promised ad.“Our subway platforms and buses should not be the plat-form for messages of hate that divide friends, neighbors, and colleagues,” read a message on the Rabbis for Human Rights – North America’s website.Last week the United Method-ist Women Church unveiled its response to the AFDI post-ers with an ad saying “Hate speech is not civilized. Sup-port peace in word and deed.”

Julian Assange and WikiLeaks have been declared enemies of the United States. Declassified US Air Force counter-intelligence documents reveal that military personnel contacting WikiLeaks may face execution for “commu-nicating with the enemy.”The documents, which have been released under American Free-dom of Information laws and published by WikiLeaks, were originally classified as secret and not releasable to non-US nation-als.Julian Assange said that the docu-ments have been released just re-cently because of their sensitivity for some of the people involved in the investigation.“The US military should desig-nate me and all of WikiLeaks as the enemy in its formal investi-gation, an investigation that car-ries a death-penalty offense into a person who was alleged to have come to my extradition hearing,” he added.The files covered a counter-intel-ligence investigation into a UK-based cyber systems analyst who allegedly supported WikiLeaks.The probe was trying to determine whether the analyst had disclosed

any classified data to an “anti-US and/or anti-military group. She was suspected of breaching ar-ticle 104-D of the US Uniform Code of Military Justice, which outlaws military personnel hold-ing intercourse with the enemy.The fact that WikiLeaks was treated as an enemy of state would have serious implications in case Assange is extradited to the US, as he is likely to face military detention.“It appears that Julian Assange and WikiLeaks are the ‘enemy,’” Michael Ratner, Assange’s US at-torney, said. “An enemy is dealt with under the laws of war, which could include killing, capturing, detaining without trial, etc.”Assange was once labeled a “high-tech terrorist” by Ameri-can Vice President Joe Biden in December 2010, and a number of top US officials have openly called on the authorities to hunt the whistleblower down.The diplomatic cables released over the past months reveal the true scale of the US Justice De-partment investigation targeting both Assange and WikiLeaks. Assange himself called the inves-tigation “unprecedented.”

US President Barack Obama has admitted that he failed to change the bitter political atmosphere in Washington, which, he said, “feels as broken as it did four years ago.”“If you asked me what is the one thing that has frustrated me most over the last four years, it’s not the hard work, it’s not the enor-mity of the decisions, it’s not the pace, it is that I haven’t been able to change the atmosphere here in Washington to reflect the decency and common sense of ordinary people - Democrats, Republi-cans, and independents - who I think just want to see their lead-

ership solve problems,” Obama said in a taped interview with the CBS television, which was aired on Sunday.He, however, promised that he will continue to focus on repair-ing the country’s ailing economy and strengthening the middle class if he is elected for another term in office.“The most important issue we face as a country is how do we build an economy where the middle-class is strong and grow-ing, and those who are willing to work hard can fight their way into the middle-class,” he said.

US soldier, Robert Bales, ac-cused of gunning down civil-ians in Afghanistan also faces six counts of attempted mur-der and assault.A US soldier accused of gunning down civilians in southern Afghanistan is to be charged with 17 counts of murder.Robert Bales, an army staff sergeant, also faces six counts of attempted murder and six counts of aggravated assault, an official told AP on condi-tion of anonymity.Bales, 38, is suspected of leav-ing a US base in southern Af-

ghanistan, entering homes and shooting villagers, including nine children, in their sleep on 11 March.He is currently being held in an isolated cell at the maximum-security US military prison in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas.The shootings in Kandahar province have placed further pressure on already strained ties between the US and Af-ghan governments. Hamid Karzai, the Afghan president has accused the US military of failing to co-operate with an investigation he has ordered into the killings.

Almashreq-Gilbert: AZ State Senator Jerry Lewis and candidates for the State House of Representatives Darn Fisher and Corey Harris meet with members of AZ Muslim and Arab Communities at the house of Dr. Mohammad Riyad on October 13, 2012Lewis, Darn and Fisher provided spoke to the at-tendants and answered questions about a variety of issues.

Almashreq/News Agencies: The impact of rich people on the American political process is huge, says Sam Pizzigati, associate fellow at the Institute for Policy Stud-ies in Washington, D.C.He said he believes all U.S. presidential candidates “have a message that ap-peals with at least some rich people to be competitive. And because of that they all ignore certain issues and play up others.” “What we have in effect is a stunted

political discourse in the United States,” Pizzigati added in a phone interview.An international commis-sion led by former UN chief Kofi Annan warned in Sep-tember that the world›s de-mocracies and the United States specifically, are being corrupted by the increas-ingly strong role of «uncon-trolled, undisclosed, illegal and opaque» financing of political campaigns.The report by the commis-

sion, staffed with former world leaders and Nobel prize laureates, stipulated that powerful financial insti-tutions and the surging in-fluence of money in politics was harmful to both emerg-ing and more developed de-mocracies across the globe. «The rise of uncontrolled political finance,» warned the report, «threatens to hol-low out democracy every-where and rob democracy of its unique strengths».Regarding elections in the

U.S., the commission›s re-port, Deepening Democra-cy: a Strategy for Improving the Integrity of Elections Worldwide, took special issue with the Supreme Court›s ruling in the Citi-zens United case.Citizens United has «un-dermined political equality, weakened transparency of the electoral process and shaken citizen confidence in America›s political insti-tutions and elections», the report said.

Almashreq/News Agencies: “There is a need for deterrent legal measures against those individuals or groups that want to damage relations between peo-ple, spread hate and incite violence,” said organizer Osama Siblani.“We firmly reject the actions by those who abuse the universal right of free speech to sow the seeds of hate and discord against the religious beliefs of others,” he added.The event comes just days after Presi-dent Barack Obama told the United Nations General Assembly that the “future must not belong to those who slander the prophet of Islam.”The Detroit Free Press reported that Friday’s rally was “the third protest in metro Detroit over the movie, the big-gest one yet.”“Say No to Hate-Mongering, Say No to Islamophobia,’’ said a banner at the

Ford Performing Arts & Community Center.Among those speaking at the event were Rep. John Conyers (D-MI), Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Richard Halloran, and civil rights leaders like Donnell White, execu-tive director of the Detroit branch of the NAACP.“United we stand, divided we fall,” White said. “We stand with you as our brothers and sisters.”“We need to speak out against discrimination against Islam,” Judge Hal-loran said. Similar protests took place in Los Angeles, Washing-ton and Tempe Arizona

AZ State Senator & Candidates for the State House of Representatives meet with members

of AZ Muslim and Arab Communities

Rich people have huge impacton US political process

Over 1,000 activists gathered in Dearborn, Michigan, to rally against protesting an

online anti-Islamic video



8 International & Business

Al-Qaeda has advanced beyond isolated pockets of activity in Syria and now is building a network of well-organized cells, according to US intelligence offi-cials, who fear the terror-ists could be on the verge of establishing an Iraq-like foothold that would be hard to defeat if rebels eventually oust President Bashar Assad.At least a couple of hun-dred al-Qaeda-linked mili-tants are already operating in Syria, and their ranks are growing as foreign fighters stream into the Arab country daily, current and former US intelligence officials say according to

media reports.The units are spreading from city to city, with veterans of the Iraq insur-gency employing their ex-pertise in bomb-building to carry out more than two dozen attacks so far, the re-ports added.Others are using their ex-perience in coordinating small units of fighters in Afghanistan to win new followers.In Syria on Friday, in-surgent commanders ap-pealed anew for new and better weapons from abroad, complaining that Assad›s forces have them badly outgunned from the air and on the ground.

“In fact, rebel leaders say that with so little aid com-ing to them from the US and other nations, they are slowly losing the battle for influence against hardline militants. They say their fighters are sometimes siding with extremists who are better funded and armed so they can fight the far stronger Syrian army,” News 24 Website said.It all could point to a wid-ening danger posed by ex-tremists who have joined rebels fighting the Assad government, it added.Rand analyst Seth Jones said the presence of ex-tremists was small but growing. He said the US

should consider using its forces or getting the rebels or a regional proxy to at-tack the al-Qaeda units.«There has been talk that some operatives in Paki-stan are saying, ‹Why don›t we see if we can make it to Syria,›» he said. «That›s where the fight is.»If they win local loyalty by fighting alongside Syrian rebels, they will be hard to eliminate no matter how Syria›s future pans out, said former CIA analyst Riedel.«Look at Iraq, where we decimated them time and again,» Riedel said. «They›re still there.»

Tens of thousands of people have held a protest in the heart of the Jordanian capital of Amman for a pro-reform ral-ly, despite King Abdullah’s decision to dissolve parliament.Witnesses and journalists estimated at-tendance at between 10,000 and 15,000 people, with the crowd expected to grow as protesters travelled to Amman from elsewhere around the country.Attendance was still well below the 50,000 predicted by the Islamic Action Front, the Jordanian wing of the Mus-lim Brotherhood and the country’s main opposition group.At least 2,000 police had been deployed for the demonstration, which followed the main weekly Muslim prayers.Al Jazeera’s Jane Arraf, reporting from Amman, said thousands of protesters gathered in what is the biggest protest since the Arab Spring.“People hear weren’t calling for the overthrow of the monarchy. Their de-mands are much more modest,” she said.King Abdullah had hoped that dissolv-ing the parliament and calling for early elections would weaken enthusiasm for the protest. The king did not announce a date for early elections, but said he hoped to hold polls by the end of 2012.“They want new electoral rules that will give them a better chance of electing people to power who could implement reform. They want an end to corruption. They want jobs,” Arraf said.A demonstration in support of the king was called off over fears of unrest as it

would have coincided with the opposi-tion rally, organisers said. “We have postponed indefinitely our demonstration scheduled at the same time as the Muslim Brotherhood’s to avoid any problems,” said Jihad al-Sheik, head of an internet-based youth group that organised the event.The cancellation came “after a request to that effect from the director of gener-al security, Hussein al-Majali, MPs and tribal leaders” to prevent unrest.‘A tremendous miscalculation’The Brotherhood and a coalition of tribal and other groups have been press-ing the monarch to speed up what they consider to be the slow pace of political reform.They are also angry with an electoral law passed last July, which preserves

a system that marginalises the repre-sentation of Jordanians of Palestinian origin, on whom Islamists rely for their support, in favour of native Jordanians, who tend to support the king.The opposition says it will boycott upcoming elections, as it did with the 2010 poll, unless its demands for wider representation are met.Numerous other demonstrations have taken place in Jordan since January 2011 to call for political and economic reforms and demand an end to corrup-tion.In an exclusive interview with AFP news agency last month, the king said a decision by the Islamists to boycott the vote was “a tremendous miscalcula-tion.”“As constitutional monarch, my man-date is to be the umbrella for all politi-cal groupings and all segments of our society, and as part of that responsibili-ty, I am telling the Muslim Brotherhood that they are making a tremendous mis-calculation,” he said.“The countdown to the elections has already started. Registration is under way. We have already crossed the one-million person mark. Parliament will be dissolved. The elections date will be an-nounced. And we will have a new par-liament by the new year.”King Abdullah has ordered parliament to increase seats reserved for party can-didates, urging the Islamists to take part in the polls. MPs raised the number from 17 to 27, but failed to satisfy op-position groups.

Crowds rally against Islamists in EgyptHundreds gather in Cairo square to protest

against influence of Muslim Brotherhood and others on constitution draftingRenowned American academ-

ic, Noam Chomsky has called on Thursday for an end to the Zionist entity’s siege imposed on the Gaza Strip during his first-ever visit to the besieged coastal enclave.Jewish-American linguist Chomsky arrived in the terri-tory where he was scheduled to attend a conference, called, “To End the Israeli Siege on Gaza,” at Gaza Islamic Uni-versity later in the day, The Jerusalem Post reported.“The Palestinian people have a right to live peacefully and in freedom,” said the Mas-sachusetts Institute of Tech-nology (MIT) professor, ac-cording to Jamal al-Khudari, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the head of the university’s ad-ministrative board.Chomsky, a prominent critic

of the American foreign pol-icy, entered the Gaza Strip from the Egyptian side of the Rafah Crossing as a member of an academic delegation that is scheduled to partake in the conference.In an interview with Press TV in June, Chomsky said the Zionist entity gets away with numerous violations of inter-national law since it is a cli-ent of the US and therefore enjoys “total impunity.”“…the United States has total impunity and that is inher-ited by its allies and clients,” Chomsky added.In May 2010, the Zionist en-tity barred Chomsky from entering occupied West Bank where he was to deliver a lec-ture. He finally had to broad-cast his speech via video link from neighboring Jordan.

Suspected Al-Qaeda gunmen have shot dead a Yemeni in-telligence officer in the south of the country, in the latest attack on security agents, the defense ministry said on Fri-day.Ghazi Saeed Beidaha was killed when two “Al-Qaeda terrorists” driving a motor-bike shot him dead in the southern province of Bayda on Thursday night, the minis-try said in a statement posted on its website 26sep.net.On Thursday the head of the police in the southern city of Aden, Colonel Abdullah al-Mouzai, was also killed when a bomb placed in his car ex-ploded as he was heading to work, police said at the time.

His killing was also blamed on Al-Qaeda.Al-Qaeda militants had strengthened their presence over the past year across the south, taking advantage of a central government weakened by an Arab Spring-inspired uprising.But on May 12, the military launched an all-out offensive against them, making signifi-cant advances.Aden is also a stronghold of the Southern Movement that groups activists pushing for greater autonomy for the south and those who want full independence for the region, which was a separate state until 1990.

For the second time in days, Zionist settlers attacked Pal-estinian olive grove which is considered a vital source of revenue for Palestinian farm-ers.Extremist settlers torched dozens of olive trees were set ablaze in a Palestinian village early on Saturday.Residents of Qaryut village, 15 kilometers south of the West Bank city of Nablus, said that the fires had been set at several different spots simultaneously and security officials said the

evidence pointed to an arson attack by residents of the set-tlement of Eli.Seventy of the village’s olive trees were cut down in the ear-ly hours of Wednesday, the first day of the olive harvest, a pe-riod when Zionist settlers have in the past raided Palestinian farmers and their crops.Figures released last year by the international aid group Ox-fam indicated there are approx-imately 9.5 million olive trees in the West Bank.

Comments made by Mitt Rom-ney, that the Palestinians do not want peace are “absolutely un-acceptable,” said chief Pales-tinian negotiator Saeb Erekat, who added that “only those who want to maintain occupa-tion” would make such a claim.The reaction follows the release of a secretly-recorded video in which Romney asserted that the Palestinians have “no inter-est whatsoever in establishing peace, and that the pathway to peace is almost unthinkable to accomplish.”“We consider these state-ments absolutely unaccept-able,” Erekat told Agence France Presse.“No one has an interest in peace more than the Palestin-ian people, because peace for the Palestinian people and the Palestinian leadership means freedom and independence from the Israeli occupation.”“Only those who want to main-tain the Israeli occupation will

claim the Palestinians are not interested in peace,” Erekat told Reuters.The U.S. Republican presiden-tial candidate made the remarks at a private fundraiser where he candidly spoke about his po-litical strategy with a crowd of affluent donors in May.Speaking to wealthy donors at an event in Florida, held at the home of controversial private equity manager, Marc Leder, Romney indicated that he does not believe in the peace pro-cess in the Middle East.Not making distinction be-tween different factions inside Palestinian society, Romney said: “I look at the Palestin-ians not wanting to see peace anyway, for political purposes, committed to the destruction and elimination of Israel, and these thorny issues, and I say there’s just no way.”The video was released by US magazine Mother Jones.

Chomsky Calls for Ending Blockade in First-ever

Gaza Visit

Yemeni IntelligenceOfficer Shot Dead

Zionist Settlers Set Ablaze Palestinian Olive Grove

Erekat Slams Romney’s Secret Remarks as

“Absolutely Unacceptable”

A large crowd estimated to range between a few hundred to a few thou-sand people rallied in Cairo on Friday to protest against Islamist influence in the drafting of Egypt›s new constitution.Shouting slogans against the Muslim Brother-hood, which controls the country›s presidency and the constituent assembly, the crowd marched from several points and assem-bled in Tahrir Square, the scene of violent clashes during a similar protest last week.Referencing the name of the Brotherhood›s Free-dom and Justice Party, pro-testers chanted «freedom, justice, down with the con-stituent assembly».The assembly, which has been drafting the consti-tution for several months, was chosen by a now-

defunct parliament that was also dominated by Brotherhood politicians. The second-most power-ful group in parliament had been the Nour Party, the political wing of the country›s ultraconserva-tive Salafi movement.Clashes a week ago be-tween Brotherhood sup-porters and their opponents left more than 100 people injured. Some Brother-hood officials voiced re-gret over the violence, and the movement did not call for a counter-protest this time.On Friday, protesters shouted against Mohamed Badie, the Brotherhood›s ideological leader, and President Mohamed Morsi, himself a former high-ranking Brotherhood leader, whom they com-pared to ousted ruler Hosni Mubarak.

The assembly released a draft this month that was met suspicion by rights groups and liberals seek-ing to protect personal freedoms.Morsi has pledged to de-fend the cause of Egypt›s January 2011 uprising, but some opponents say he is repeating history by mo-nopolising power.«Down, down Morsi-Mubarak,» a few hundred protesters yelled as they marched towards Tah-rir Square, cradle of the

2011 uprising. «Hold on, country. Freedom is being born.»At least 20 organisations ranging from human rights groups to revolutionary socialists, opponents of military trials,nationalists and liberals joined the protest.Some opposition parties are trying to unite to avoid another poor showing in a parliamentary election, due to take place once the long-delayed constitution is ratified in a referendum.

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