[Transcript]  Mosaic News - 08/05/08: World News From The Middle East

PRESENTER, MALE #1
As the two week deadline, which was given to Iran by the six major powers to answer an international offer to suspend its uranium enrichment program, has run out, Washington, London, and Paris renewed their threats of imposing new economic sanctions on Tehran, if the latter fails to give a positive answer by the end of the day. This warning comes after all diplomatic efforts between Iran and the West have failed; the latest round of talks took place over the phone between the Iranian nuclear negotiator, Saaid Jalili, and European Union Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana; such talks were described as unconstructive. Fayza Alak reports.

REPORTER, FEMALE #1
The two rivals went back to square one, where the language of threats and counter threats is intensifying. The Iranian nuclear file, which is described by Tehran as civilian, may bring a barrage of new sanctions to the country; this is at least what the six superpowers leading the negotiations with Iran are saying.

GUEST, MALE #2
We, in the 5 +1 countries, are expressing disappointment because we haven’t yet received any answer from Iran, which was supposed to respond on July 29, as agreed upon in Geneva. The Iranian nuclear chief negotiator Jalili told Solana that Iran will not give a written response tomorrow. If we don’t receive a clear positive answer from Iran, we don’t have any choice but to take additional measures against it.

REPORTER, FEMALE #1
In Iran, the famous phrase of the Iranian President, who said that his country will not move back an inch on its right of uranium enrichment, seems to dominate the Iranian counteroffer; as leaked from a letter received today by the EU Foreign Policy Chief, Javier Solana, who said that there was no mention in the letter about Iran’s intention to suspend uranium activities. The next move by the West seems to be heading toward imposing further economic sanctions against Iran. Meanwhile, on the Iranian front, the Iranian military continues testing a new anti-ship missile, with a range exceeding 300 kilometers; however, such tests were downplayed by military experts in the West.

PRESENTER, MALE #1
From Amman, we are joined by Sultan Hattam, the Director General of the Arouba Institute for Political Studies. Mr. Sultan, Iran was given a new deadline; parallel to that, Iran reiterated its right of possessing civilian nuclear technology. What is the next step to be expected from the six leading powers?

GUEST, MALE #3
No one knows for sure the types of economic measures that will be taken by the West in general or the European Union and the US in particular. However, the main question is whether Iran will turn these types of measures into a showdown, which may lead to a cooling off period that may ultimately be followed by yet another showdown. I think both sides, the West and the Iranians, are buying time; but the question is: when will they run into a new deadlock?

Presenter, Man # 1
The Algerian Interior Minister Nur Al Dean Yazed Zarhuni called on the citizens and security agencies to take more precautionary measures following the recent suicide attack that targeted one of the inelegance centers in the state of Tiziwizu East of the capital of Algiers. The attack has injured twenty-five people including four police officers. According to the latest estimates, there have been more than sixty attacks with explosives in the states of Bumerdas and Tiziwizo during the first half of 2008.

Reporter, Man # 2
The latest suicide operation in Tiziwizo east of the Algerian capital of Algiers, was considered unsuccessful by the intelligence agencies. However, this is the fourth suicide operation this year and the first one in Tiziwizo. According to the Algerian intelligence, the terrorist groups who organized this operation had failed to achieve the intended objectives of killing a large number of people which they usually do to get media attention. Nevertheless, the target of this operation was the headquarters of the security forces in the middle of a crowded residential complex. This explains why twenty-five people were injured including four police officers. The nearby buildings including the homes of seventeen families were severely damaged. The suicide attacker drove a car carrying 1,000 kilograms of explosives towards a police station, only few meters away from an army installation, but Political observers still believe that this operation had failed to achieve the intended objectives. They believe that the perpetrators were in a state of panic because the security forces have intensified their activities. They also explained that this means that the Algerian security forces and terrorist groups are racing against time. While the terrorist groups are willing to use their human and material resources despite the decrease in the numbers of people willing to join them and the decrease in the supply of explosives, weapons and vehicles, the security forces are betting on their recent plans which have proven to be effective on the ground. In addition the Algerian people stand behind the government in confronting terrorism. This explains why the Algerian Interior Minister Nur Al Dean Yazed Zarhuni called on citizens and security agencies to take more precautions. However, this is not the first time in which Algerian officials call on the people to take more precaution; such calls have been made since terrorist operations started taking place in Algeria, but acts of violence have continued despite these calls. According to the security forces, that the number of armed groups have launched more than sixty attacks using explosives in Bumerdas and Tiziwizo in eastern the capital of Algiers during the fist half of 2008, killing dozens of people and injuring many others. Most of those who were killed were from security forces; in addition, dozens of others were kidnapped. This does not mean that the number of armed groups is not decreasing. In fact many of them have repented,taking advantage of the national amnesty program. This also does not mean that the army and the security forces have won the battle against the armed groups. It is clear that the operation of Tiziwizo is like the rest of terrorist operations, it has the thumb prints of Al Qaeda, and this makes one wonder about the wisdom of the statements that tend to be made by Algerian officials after every operation. They have always maintained that the armed Islamist groups especially the Salafi Group of the Islamic Call and Combat have failed. In reality, the attacks have continued in different forms. The attacks are now focused on the security forces, police officers and the army. In the past, most of the armed operations caused severe casualties and injuries among the civilians. The civilians were not necessarily the intended target, but they still fell victims to reckless planning by the perpetrators.

Presenter, MALE, #1
In Iraq, two US occupation soldiers were killed and a third was injured. They fell into an armed ambush in the area of new Baghdad in the Iraqi capital. According to a statement by the US occupation forces, the two soldiers were killed while on patrol, due to an explosion of a roadside bomb. The occupation army immediately imposed a security zone around the area of the incident. This raised the death toll of US soldiers in Iraq to 4,131 since its invasion in 2003. Meanwhile, Iraqi politicians said that progress in Iraq’s security system support the Iraqi negotiators to determine a time table for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from the country. This falls within the planned security agreement between Iraq and the US. At the same time, the commander of the British troops in Southern Iraq attested to the Iraqi forces’ readiness to take control of the security file. But he tied his troops’ withdrawal to a decision by the governments of Iraq and Britain.

Reporter, MALE, #2
The abilities of the Iraqi security system are growing, giving the US and British occupation forces less excuses to extend their stay in Iraq. The commander of the British troops in Southern Iraq attested to the readiness of the Iraqi security forces to run the security file in the country. However, he said that the withdrawal of his troops from Iraq can only be decided by the governments of Britain and Iraq.

Guest, MALE, #3
I think that the governments will decide the future of the military troops. It is not my responsibility as amilitary commander to determine the country’s external policy. I can say however, that the security situation in Southern Iraq is much better.

Reporter, MALE, #2
During a parade of the Iraqi Border patrol, Iraqi politicians said that the progress in the capabilities of the Iraqi military will support the position of the Iraqi negotiator in drafting the security agreement with the US government. This will play a role in defining a time table for the withdrawal of the occupation forces from Iraq.

Guest, MALE, #4
This gives a large amount of power to the Iraqi negotiator to demand the withdrawal of the multinational coalition troops in the near future.

Reporter, MALE, #2
The British troops have kept about 4,000 soldiers stationed at Bassra international airport. And even though the security file in the city of Bassra was turned over to the Iraqi forces, the British troops have continued to carry out raids and arrests in various neighborhoods. The development in the capabilities of the Iraqi security forces is an additional push for the Iraqi negotiator to re-shape and re-draft the security agreement, which the US insists on signing with Iraq. Ne’ma abdel Razzak, al Alam, Al-Bassra.

Presenter, MALE, #1
Hundreds of Muslim protestors took to the streets of Kashmir in India. They protested a series of breaches and infringements committed by Hindus against Muslims in the nearby area of Jamo. Police clashed with the protestors, who blocked off the only street between the Kashmir valley and the other parts of India. Rocks were thrown, leading to the injury of about fifty people, including twenty police officers. The protestors in Jamo went out to condemn the Kashmir government’s decision to transfer a piece of their land to a Hindu temple.

[Summary]

Three new ministers join Iranian cabinet. Tehran condemns treatment of Iran Hajj travelers in Saudi Arabia. Tehran hopes to see positive measures on the part of Riyadh. Iran criticizes the west’s dual policy when it comes to the issue of human rights.

PRESENTER, FEMALE #1
Mauritania’s President, Sa’id Weld Shiekh Abdullah, has lost his vote of confidence in the parliament, after forty-eight members resigned from the ruling party and said they will form a new party. The details are with Mohammad Hayder.
REPORTER, MALE #1
A political shakeup has rocked the National Pact for Democracy and Development ruling party in Mauritania. Forty eight members from the national assembly, in both houses, have withdrawn from the ruling party following a long feud with the party’s leader and Prime Minister, Yeheya Weld Waqf. The outgoing cabinet members said that their resignations were due to the deteriorating political and the economic situations in the country.

GUEST, MALE #2
The government principles and the principles of society as a whole are becoming somewhat shaky, and they are heading towards the eye of the storm. In addition, the democratic path in the country started to deviate from its goals of development and construction.

REPORTER, MALE #1
The withdrawal by the forty-eight parliament members comes after the Weld Waqf-led government has refused to hold an emergency cabinet session to discuss outstanding issues. The creation of a high court of justice and the opening of an investigation into the urgent aid program launched by the Mauritanian President to counter inflation are among the issues topping the agenda. While some observers described the latest move by the cabinet members as “new efforts toward political escalation,” some leaders inside the ruling party doubted that the refusal by the government to hold an emergency session was the reason for the withdrawal.

GUEST, MALE #3
In don’t believe the refusal by the government to hold an emergency session was the reason for the withdrawal by the cabinet members. This has nothing to do with the President of the Republic, but there appears to be a type of formality problems which led to this parliamentary sanction.

REPORTER, MALE
The ability of the ruling party to keep functioning after losing the majority of its parliamentary representatives will be the center of controversy among political knowledgeable sources in Mauritania. In addition, it is highly expected that these developments may lead to the drawing of a new political map occupied by future coalitions. The National Pact for democracy and Development was formed after the toppling of the former ruling Republican party in Mauritania; ironically, the current ruling party may end in the same fate; with observers fearing that its end may come at the hands of its founders. This comes as talks are intensifying over a deep division between the Mauritanian President and the Generals of the Eight Division of the military institution. Mohammed Hayder, Alarbiya, Nouakchott.

Presenter, Man # 1
The Israeli Supreme Court postponed looking into a petition to stop the excavation operations by the Israeli authorities in the symmetry of the abandoned Al Berwe village in east Acre. The petition to stop the excavations of the cemetery and the creation of cow farms on it was made by the Aqsa Institution, an Islamic Trust Foundation in charge of renovating the holy sites.

Presenter, Woman # 1
Dozens of former village residents held a demonstration outside the Israeli Supreme Court in West Jerusalem protesting the destruction of the cemetery and the attacks on holy Islamic and Christian sites.

Reporter, Man # 2
The village of Al Berwe whose residents were forced to abandon in 1948 during the Palestinian catastrophe was not spared. On the rubble of this Palestinian village, the communal Jewish town of Akhi Hood was built, but several months ago, the new residents of this town started excavations in order to expand their cow farms and build additional ones. These excavations have reached the cemetery of Al Berwe village thus provoking negative feelings among the remaining Palestinian residents who now live in close proximity.

Guest, Man # 3
They do not even let me pick the cactus pear from the trees that were planted by my father. Can you imagine this? God is the greatest. They excavated the graves and destroyed what was in them. What religion permits such actions?

Reporter, Man # 2
The former residents of Al Berwe village and the Aqsa institution went to the Israeli Supreme Court in an attempt to stop the desecration of the gravesites. Outside the Israeli Court, dozens of Muslim and Christian residents of the village demonstrated holding signs condemning these actions.

Guest, Man # 4
Regrettably what is happing here is a crime and a big violation to basic human rights and values. This is also a violation to basic religious and civic principles.

Guest, Man # 5
Even if the Israeli court would approve the construction of cow farms on the village cemetery, we will prevent the construction with our bodies. We will not let them build these farms no matter what happens.

Reporter, Man # 2
Al Aqsa institution has been working for years to survey all Muslim and Christian holy sites in the approximately 530 villages whose residents were forced to leave them in 1948. According to historical maps and documents, thousands of religious sites were fenced in, in order to protect them, but hundreds of other sites were closed of and demolished by the Israeli authorities to prevent Palestinians from Praying in them. The others were transformed into bars, night clubs, museums and Jewish temples. Even the dead have not been spared for the Palestinian catastrophe of 1948. Israel has not only destroyed Palestinian villages and expelled its people; it has also tried to erase what remained of these villages during the past sixty years. The remaining residents of these villages have been confronting these Israeli policies with all available means. Elias Karram Al Jazeera, Outside the Israeli supreme court, West Jerusalem.

[Summary]

The Battle for the Prime Minister’s seat begins. The transport minister is set to declare his candidacy as head of the Kadima party. The move comes amidst allegations that he has used his position as transport minister to recruit thousands of supporters that are employees of public transport companies.

[Summary]

In Jericho, Israeli soldiers process Fatah supporters from Gaza. After two days of humiliation and interrogation by the Israeli army, these men are handed over to the Palestinian authority in Jericho. It was a long journey for them, on Saturday they fled Gaza after being pursued by Hamas forces, which was the most violent campaign against Fatah that Gaza has seen in fourteen months.