Excerpts: PA security forces in Hebron. King Soloman's mine.Religious ruling
on equal rights in Islam.NATO responds to Somalia piracy. Reconciliation in
Lebanon? October 28, 2008
+++JORDAN TIMES 28 Oct.'08:"Palestinian forces conduct first raid in
Hebron"Agence France Presse
HEBRON (AP) - Newly deployed Palestinian security forces smashed down doors,
raided homes and rounded up wanted fugitives early Monday(27 Oct.), carrying
out their first crackdown since taking up positions around this volatile
city over the weekend.
Hundreds of men belonging to different Palestinian security forces divided
into groups throughout the nearby village of Samoua, holding lists of
suspected criminals and loyalists of Hamas.
Dressed in civilian clothing or clad in blue, black, green and khaki
uniforms, they barged through the doors of the wanted Palestinians and
searched their homes.
The security forces said they rounded up around 50 men during the overnight
raid, including about a dozen Hamas loyalists. Hebron police chief Ramadan
Awad said the detained men were all "fugitives", but gave no further
details.
Monday's raid was the latest step in cautious security cooperation between
Israel and the Palestinian Authority in the West Bank.
Both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, led by President Mahmoud Abbas,
want to crush Hamas. The Islamic group seized power of the Gaza Strip last
year, leaving Abbas in charge only in the West Bank.. . .
+++JORDAN TIMES 28 Oct.28 '08:"Mine from time of King Solomon
found",Associated
Press
QUOTE: "this research represents a confluence between archaeological and
scientific data and the Bible"
FULL TEXT:The fictional King Solomon's Mines held a treasure of gold and
diamonds, but archaeologists say the real mines may have supplied the
ancient king with copper.
Researchers led by Thomas Levy of the University of California, San Diego,
and Mohammad Najjar of Jordan's Friends of Archaeology, discovered a
copper-production centre in southern Jordan that dates to the 10th century
BC, the time of Solomon's reign.
The discovery occurred at Khirbat en-Nahas, which means "ruins of copper" in
Arabic. Located south of the Dead Sea, the region was known in the Old
Testament as Edom.
Research at the site in the 1970s and 1980s indicated that metalworking
began there in the 7th century BC, long after Solomon.
But Levy and Najjar dug deeper and were able to date materials such as seeds
and sticks to the 10th century BC.
"We can't believe everything ancient writings tell us," Levy said in a
statement. "But this research represents a confluence between the
archaeological and scientific data and the Bible." Their findings are
reported in Tuesday's issue of Proceedings of the National Academy of
Sciences.
+++JORDAN TIMES 28 Oct.'o8:"Wife has right to beat husband -fatwa",Agence
France Press
CAIRO (AFP) - Sunni Islam's highest authority has approved a woman's right
to fight back if her husband uses violence against her, Egypt's Al Masry Al
Youm newspaper reported on Monday. The declaration by Sheikh Abdul Hamid Al
Atrash, who heads Al Azhar University's committee for fatwas or religious
rulings, comes after similar rulings by religious leaders in Saudi Arabia
and Turkey. "A wife has the legitimate right to hit her husband in order to
defend herself," Atrash was quoted as saying. "Everyone has the right to
defend themselves, whether they are a man or a woman... because all human
beings are equal before God," he said. Over the last few days, Saudi Sheikh
Abdul Mohsen Al Abyakan stressed the fact that a wife should resort to "the
same kind of violence" as her husband used against her, whether it be with a
leather strap or a wire cable, the paper said. Turkish Sheikh Fathallah
Julun went one step further and ruled that a woman should return the
violence with interest. "She should give back two blows for each one
received," the paper quoted him as saying.
+++JORDAN TIMES 28 Oct.'08:"NATO launches anti-piracy operations off
Somalia",AFP
EXCERPTS: NATO has launched its first anti-piracy mission off Somalia after
one of its warships successfully escorted a cargo ship to the port of
Mogadishu, the alliance's chief said Monday.
"One NATO ship just finished escorting a ship which was bringing in
supplies" for the Burundi section of the UN-mandated African Union
peacekeeping mission in Somalia, NATO Secretary-General Jaap de Hoop
Scheffer said. The escorted ship was expected to dock on Tuesday(28 Oct),
with similar escort missions to follow swiftly, he added.
"The operation is moving well," Scheffer told reporters at a joint news
conference with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana.
Three NATO ships have been given the go-ahead to use force under their rules
of engagement and in line with international law.
They are an Italian destroyer, the lead ship that carried out the first
operation, and British and Greek frigates that form NATO's operation Allied
Provider.
They will mainly help escort UN World Food Programme (WFP) food shipments,
tempting targets for pirates, until the European Union can launch its own
operation, probably in December.
The WFP ships 30,000 to 35,000 tonnes of aid into Somalia each month.
Last week a maritime watchdog said Somali pirates were now responsible for
nearly a third of all reported attacks on ships, often using violence and
taking hostages.
The International Maritime Bureau said 63 of the 199 piracy incidents
recorded worldwide in the first nine months of this year occurred in the
waters off war-ravaged Somalia and in the Gulf of Aden.
That comes to almost double that of the same period last year.. . .
+++ARAB NEWS (Saudi) 28 Oct.'08:"Nasrallah and Hariri stage rare meeting
"AFP
FULL TEXT:BEIRUT: Hezbollah chief Hassan Nasrallah held a rare meeting on
Sunday(26 Oct) with his key rival, Lebanese parliamentary majority leader
Saad Hariri, in a bid to mend fences, a close aide to Hariri said yesterday.
Sunday's meeting, the first between Hariri and Nasrallah in more than two
years , came ahead of a national dialogue session next week set to address
issues dividing the two factions.
Statements from Hariri's office and Hezbollah said the meeting stressed the
importance of "national unity and civil peace to prevent tensions and
reinforce dialogue." They said both sides underlined the importance of
maintaining cooperation and described the tone of the meeting as "open and
frank." The Hariri aide said the meeting was held at a secret location for
security reasons.
Hezbollah MP Hassan Hoballah, whose party is backed by Syria and Iran, said
that the meeting was "very positive," which helps strengthen national unity
and lay the foundations for agreement.
"It promotes a positive climate for legislative elections in (spring) 2009,"
he added.
Rival political leaders are due to meet again on Nov. 5 for a so-called
national dialogue.
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Sue Lerner - Associate, IMRA
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