[Transcript]  Mosaic News - 10/26/12: World News From The Middle East [VIDEO]

Myanmar's Rakhine State reports that at least 112 people have been killed in violent clashes in recent days. The latest wave of violence comes after Buddhist extremists stepped up their attacks against Rohingya Muslims. Witnesses say over 100 Muslims, including women, are among the dead.

The Palestinian group Hamas has accused Israel of sending the four planes that attacked a military factory in Sudan's capital Khartoum, killing two people. Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh has condemned what he called a "crime" committed by Israel, saying that the attack once again proves that Israel is an outlaw regime that sponsors terrorism in the region.

Canada is urging the UN rights investigator Richard Falks to step down over his call for boycotting companies involved in Israeli settlement projects. Canadian Foreign Minister John Baird claims that the appeal by Falks could "poison the environment for peace," and described Falks's remarks as both offensive and unhelpful. Press TV speaks with human rights activists Adie Mormech about Falks's boycott calls.

Presenter, Male #1
The Eid al-Adha ceasefire in Syria collapsed before it began. There were clashes and demonstrations in several areas, and the Syrian president made an appearance to pray in one of the capital's mosques.

Reporter, Female #2
Syria, its opposition, and its loyalists failed the first test of the military ceasefire that did not last more than several hours. With that, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's predictions were correct, as he had expressed his lack of confidence in the ceasefire. The two sides of the conflict traded accusations for violating the Adha ceasefire.

Reporter, Female #2
As the general leadership of the military and the armed forces issued a statement accusing armed groups of attacking some military sites, and reported the number of targeted areas every hour and second, Local Coordination Committees documented more than 100 violations by the regime, and reported a number of casualties and injuries, among them children, in a number of areas.

Guest, Male #1 (Syria TV Presenter)
According to the statement issued by the general leadership of the military and the armed forces, our courageous armed forces are dealing with these violations by responding to the sources of the gunfire, combating terrorist armed groups, and tracking down their remnants.

Reporter, Female #2
On the morning of Eid, Syria woke up to mass violations, especially in Deir az-Zour, Daraa, Homs, the countryside of Damascus, and on the outskirts of Wadi al-Daif camp in the governorate of Idlib. The chairman of the Syrian Observatory for Human Rights, Rami Abdelrahman, noted the presence of al-Nusra Front elements among the opposition fighters. The group had previously announced that it would not abide by the ceasefire. On the other hand, SANA news agency announced a terrorist bombing was carried out with a booby trapped car in the neighborhood of al-Zohour in the southern part of the capital, and reported a number of casualties and injuries.

Reporter, Female #2
In a remarkable appearance, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad was seen on the official Syrian TV channel performing Eid prayers at the al-Afram mosque in Damascus. He was surrounded by a number of officials, most notably Foreign Minister Walid al-Moallem. Al-Assad seemed comfortable and was smiling as he was speaking to those sitting next to him after shaking hands with the worshipers. Meanwhile, Sheikh Walid Abdul-Haq called for national unity and asked Syrians to stop attacking each other during the Eid Khutba, or speech.

Reporter, Female #2
Anti-regime Syrians used the fragile ceasefire to take to the streets after Eid prayers. They held demonstrations calling for the downfall of the regime, especially in Daraa, Aleppo and its countryside, and the neighborhoods al-Hajar al-Aswad, al-Qaboun, and Jobar in Damascus, and several villages and towns in the countryside of Damascus, Idlib, the countryside of Hama, Deir az-Zour, and al-Raqqah.

Presenter, Male #1
The British government has refused to comment on a report in the Guardian newspaper, indicating London rebuffed an American request to use their military bases in Cyprus and in the Gulf in the case the US decides to carry out an attack on Iran over its nuclear program.

Presenter, Male #1
According to the paper, London relied on legal advice stating that any preemptive attack on Iran could be considered a breach of international law. The report indicated that the Americans asked the British to allow their planes to take off from Diego Garcia in the Indian Ocean and Ascension Island in the Atlantic Ocean, which are under British control, to hit nuclear facilities in Iran.

Presenter, Male #1
Forty-one people were killed and at least another 50 were injured when a man blew himself up inside a mosque in northern Afghanistan. The explosion occurred during the early morning prayer for Eid al-Adha. The executor of the attack was donning a police uniform.

Reporter, Male #2
It was a bloody start for the Eid al-Adha holiday in Afghanistan. A person wearing a police uniform blew himself inside up in a mosque in the city of Maimana, the capital of Faryab region in the country's north. These people came for Eid prayers, but dozens of them were killed and injured. Many of the victims were government soldiers.

Reporter, Male #2
Sources said that prominent local authorities were inside the mosque at the time of the explosion. Among them were the governor and police chief, but no officials were among the victims. It's the most violent attack in Afghanistan in months. It took place in an area that isn't among the more turbulent in the country. In Kabul, the Afghan president called on the Taliban Movement to renounce violence. He did not directly hold the movement accountable for the incident in Maimana.

Guest, Male #3 (Hamid Karzai, Afghan President)
I call on the Taliban and government opponents to halt the destruction of their country, the killing of their people and destruction of their mosques, hospitals and schools, and to stop accomplishing foreign goals. Come live in honor according to the constitution. In any location you choose, there is a population, and there are elections. Promote yourselves and win with votes.

Reporter, Male #2
The United Nations places the responsibility for most of the civilian killings in the Afghan conflict on the Taliban. The charge is denied by the movement. However, its leader, al-Mullah Omar, has finally called on his fighters to avoid killing civilians. He stated that those he called the enemy are trying to pin this accusation onto the movement.

Presenter, Female #1
Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, the head of the Likud party, and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, the head of Yisrael Beitenu, announced they will run on a joint list in the upcoming election under the name Likud Beitenu.

Reporter, Female #2
A new surprise was revealed by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as he announced he will run in the next election with his foreign minister Avigdor Lieberman on one list. The Likud party, and the right-wing extremist Yisrael Beitenu party will unite on the ballot under the name Likud Beitenu.

Guest, Male #1 (Benjamin Netanyahu, Israeli Prime Minister)
We are facing major challenges, and this is the time to unite the lines for the state of Israel. So we decided that Likud and Yisrael Beitenu will compete under one list in the upcoming elections.

Reporter, Female #2
The coalition comes as a result of secret negotiations between the two sides that would enable Lieberman to choose the cabinet as he wishes if Netanyahu heads the new government. The coalition that requires the approval of Likud primarily, comes after polls showed the power of Likud recently declined, and suggested that the Likud and Yisrael Beitenu parties would receive about 47 seats in the next Knesset.

Guest, Male #2 (Shalom Yerushalmi, Israeli Journalist)
Netanyahu was concerned and worried about the possibility that his party may not hold the majority in the upcoming election, which would not allow him to form the new government. Polls showed that the Labor party was able to minimize the gap between it and the Likud.

Reporter, Female #2
This is how Netanyahu was able to promote the right-wing forces in Israel, and to capture the attention of the Israeli political circle, as some are predicting this merger could unite poles such as Tzipi Livni and Ehud Olmert. On the other hand, the new coalition pointed to some of the policies the new government will implement if Netanyahu leads it.

Guest, Female #3 (Haneen Zoabi, Palestinian Member of the Knesset)
He doesn't only want control after the upcoming elections, he wants a government that is not subject to blackmail from outside the Likud bloc. He doesn't not want an unstable coalition, because Netanyahu wants to continue his right-wing policies without any threats from the coalition.

Reporter, Female #2
The coalition's most notable priority is to prevent Iran from developing nuclear weapons, and its agenda lacks any mention of negotiations with the Palestinians. Lieberman is the biggest winner of this coalition, and Netanyahu has a good chance of remaining in the post of prime minister as he promotes the image of Israel as a state that is controlled by a government of war, not peace. Shirin Abu-Aqla, Al Jazeera, West Jerusalem.

Much of Israel is abuzz with the announcement last night that Prime Minister Netanyahu's Likud party and Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman's Yisrael Beitenu party will be running on a joint ticket in the upcoming elections. Other factions are now scrambling to deal with the new political alliance. Joining IBA in the studio to discuss the new developments is former editor-in-chief of the Jerusalem Post, Jeff Barak, who says that Lieberman may be the biggest winner of the alliance.

Presenter, Male #1
The Al-Aqsa Foundation for endowment and heritage warned of calls made by Jewish organizations to perform mass Jewish prayers in the al-Aqsa Mosque starting on the next Hebrew month. This reveals the excessive amount of Judaization inside the holy city.

Reporter, Male #2
Scenes like this one are now familiar and ever-present in the courtyards of the al-Aqsa Mosque. It does not move the consciousness of the international community, or the Arab consciousness that is preoccupied by its internal worries. The scene in the surroundings of Jerusalem is now very distorted. Extremist groups violate all sanctuaries, and call for dividing al-Aqsa Mosque, the first Qibla, forecasting a demonstration of thousands in the next few days.

Guest, Male #3 (Omar al-Ghul, Adviser to the Palestinian Prime Minister)
The excavation under the mosque is part of several steps that were followed and implemented by extremist Zionist settler organizations, and Benjamin Netanuyahu's government and the governments that preceded it.

Reporter, Male #2
On the other hand, the ground under al-Aqsa is in a race against time, as the excavations are continuing in search of a temple that does not exist except in the minds of extremist groups. What these pictures reveal is the scale of these excavations that were described as the largest in 150 years. Here, a city underground is shown being excavated by Jewish extremist groups that purposely distort historic facts by linking the site to Jewish history that has no trace on our land.

Guest, Male #4 (Hanna Issa, Secretary-General of the Islamic-Christian Committee)
There are excavations that are happening now from the Damascus Gate to al-Buraq wall, and the purpose is to steal the ruins and stones from these areas and to plant them in distant areas for the Jews to claim as part of their heritage. Israel also wants to prove to the world that these ruins date back to the era of King David, and not to the Arab-Islamic era.

Reporter, Male #2
In light of the internal concerns of Arab capitals, Jewish groups are openly talking about a historic chance to fulfill their ominous dream of establishing the so-called temple on the rubble of the al-Aqsa Mosque.

Presenter, Female #1
In Lebanon, Member of Parliament Walid Jumblatt said he will not withdraw his ministers from the cabinet despite a request by the leader of the Future Movement, Saad al-Hariri, to do so after the assassination of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan. These statements come as opposition forces calling for the downfall of the government of Najib Mikati began a campaign to clarify their stance through diplomatic meetings, following international warnings that Lebanon could slip into a political vacuum if the government resigns.

Reporter, Female #2
In white clothes, they walked in the streets of Beirut to express their rejection of the clash between the March 14 and March 8 forces. They are civil society activists who say they represent the silent Lebanese majority that can no longer bear the results of severe political alliances.

Guest, Male #1
There must be a third option, aside from the propositions of the March 8 and March 14 coalitions.

Guest, Female #3
We only witnessed political bickering, nonsensical speeches, and an ongoing escalation of violence, sectarianism, and destruction.

Reporter, Female #2
However, the first days of Eid al-Adha fell a week after the assassination of Brigadier General Wissam al-Hassan in an explosion that impacted the delicate political balance in the country. This reality was present during the Eid sermons.

Guest, Male #2 (Mohammed Rashid Qabbani, Grand Mufti of Lebanon)
We can never allow a government to be overthrown into the street. We didn't allow it yesterday, we haven't allowed it for years, and we will never allow such an overthrow.

Reporter, Female #2
Member of Parliament Walid Jumblatt, who holds the balance of power between opposition and loyalist forces, clung to this position by announcing that he won't withdraw his ministers from the cabinet in fear of a vacuum during what he described as a regional storm.

Guest, Male #3 (Amine Kammourieh, Political Analyst)
International and regional parties that disagree on the events in Syria seem to agree that there could be no change in the region before the kind of change that will take place in Syria is made clear.

Reporter, Female #2
But the opposition didn't succumb to international concerns about the dangers of a political vacuum. It started a campaign of diplomatic meetings to clarify its position.

Guest, Male #4 (Fouad Siniora, President of Future Parliamentary Bloc in Lebanon)
We demand the resignation of this government and quick planning, in accordance with the constitution, so that the caretaker government can conduct its functions, in order to avoid a vacuum.

Reporter, Female #2
Meanwhile, the March 14 forces are pushing for the activation of their sit-in in front of the government building to bring down the cabinet. Between one crisis and another, the country reaches the edge of this abyss, and doesn't fall. The Lebanese are quite familiar with this reality since all days of the year seem similar, with or without the Eid. Elsie Abi Assi, Al Jazeera, Beirut.

Presenter, Male #1
Muslims all over the world, whether in the world's Islamic countries or Muslim communities residing in non-Islamic countries, celebrated the first day of the blessed Eid al-Adha today. The Eid prayer was held in occupied Jerusalem amid a gathering by thousands of Muslims in the Aqsa Mosque and the surrounding squares. Eid prayer was also held in the West Bank, with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas sitting in the front row.

Presenter, Male #1
Worshippers in the Gaza Strip prayed behind deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh. In Cairo and other Egyptian cities, Eid prayer was held as Muslims flocked to squares and mosques to perform Eid prayers this morning. Preachers asked the almighty God for peace and unity to reign among the people of the two nations, the Arab and Islamic. In Indonesia, the country celebrated the holy Eid al-Adha, while Muslims celebrated in the Philippines, Bangladesh, Yemen, Afghanistan, Russia, and many other nations.

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