Excerpts: Mid-East bloc.Lebanese defense of heroin smuggler.

HBendor — Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:57 pm

Author: HBendor

Posted: Thu Oct 02, 2008 3:57 pm

Excerpts: Mid-East bloc.Lebanese defense of heroin smuggler. Sweeping media responsibility by Royal decree October 02, 2008

+++ARAB NEWS 2 Oct.'08:"Manama seeks regional bloc with Tel Aviv", Agence
France Presse
QUOTE:" The Foreign Minister of Bahrain...'Israel, Iran, Turkey and Arab
states should sit together in one organization' "
FULL TEXT:DUBAI: The foreign minister of Bahrain has called for the creation
of a regional grouping of Arab states with historic foe Israel, as well as
Iran and Turkey, a newspaper reported yesterday(1 Oct.).
"Israel, Iran, Turkey and Arab states should sit together in one
organization," Sheikh Khaled bin Ahmad Al-Khalifa was quoted in the pan-Arab
daily Al-Hayat as saying.
"Aren't we all members of a global organization called the United Nations?
Why not (come together) on a regional basis? This is the only way to solve
our problems. There's no other way to solve them, now or in 200 years."
The paper, which interviewed the Bahraini chief diplomat in New York, said
he had proposed the establishment of a regional bloc in a speech to the UN
General Assembly.
The Gulf state is a major ally of the United States and has a free trade
agreement with Washington. It also hosts the US Navy's Fifth Fleet.
Bahrain's Crown Prince Sheikh Salman bin Hamad Al-Khalifa, met Israeli
officials during World Economic Forum summits in 2000 and 2003, while Sheikh
Khaled met Israeli counterpart Tzipi Livni at the UN last year.
But political groupings in Bahrain resist any attempt at normalization of
ties with Israel. Only two Arab countries , Egypt and Jordan , have
full-fledged peace treaties with Israel. Qatar is one of a handful of Arab
countries to maintain political contacts with the Jewish state.
Forging ties with Israel without a solution to the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict is generally unpopular among ordinary Arabs. "Why don't we sit
together even if we disagree, even if we don't recognize each other? Let's
be in a single organization in order to overcome the difficult stage through
which the Middle East is passing , a stage that remains hostage to the
past," Sheikh Khaled said, referring to the decades-old Arab-Israeli
conflict.
Told that his proposal might be perceived by some as a "dream" since it was
hard to see hard-line Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad sitting
alongside Israel, Sheikh Khaled said: "If this is perceived as a dream,
well, many dreams have become reality."

+++THE DAILY STAR (Lebanon) 29 Sept.'08:"Lebanese caught up in Israeli drug
bust"
Israeli prosecutors in the northern city of Haifa filed an indictment
Sunday(28 Sept) charging three Israeli bedouin and a resident of South
Lebanon with the attempted smuggling of 50 kilograms of heroin into the
Jewish state through the northern border, Israeli newspaper Yediot Ahronot
said.
According to Yediot, the four were caught red-handed by detectives near the
border fence earlier this month, but the Lebanese citizen's attorney is
claiming that the indictment against his client constitutes his kidnapping
from Lebanese soil.. . .

+++JORDAN TIMES 2 Oct.'08:"Safadi appointed as King's adviser"
AMMAN (Petra) - A Royal Decree was issued on Monday (29 Sept.) appointing
Ayman Safadi as an adviser to His Majesty King Abdullah, with the rank and
salary of a minister,... . Safadi assumed several media posts, including
chief editor of The Jordan Times and Al Ghad. He also served as a
spokesperson of the UN mission in Iraq, director general of the Jordan Radio
and Television Corporation, director of the Royal Court press department and
as press adviser to HRH Prince Hassan.... .
====================================
Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA

MEPE

Excerpts: Mid-East bloc.Lebanese defense of heroin smuggler.