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[مستر محمد سلام]

Nobel science winners meet in Lindau

By Mohamed Kassem - The Egyptian Gazette
Monday, July 2, 2012 09:56:11 PM

LINDAU, Germany - Up-and-coming scientists from 69 countries started their meetings on Monday with 27 Nobel Prize laureates on the shores of Lake Constance in the southern German city of Lindau, to debate the future of science and inspire scientific research.

Prof. Dr Margret Wintermantel President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD).
Former physics Nobel Prize winners are to meet until Friday with the young researchers, including two Egyptians, to exchange knowledge, ideas and experience.
Welcoming a group of young researchers and journalists, Prof. Dr Margret Wintermantel, President of the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), said exchange does not merely imply the exchange between different scientific disciplines, countries, researchers or viewpoints.
"Science and innovation are areas which society as a whole must support, for they have an impact on all of our lives," she stressed.
Germany has decided to gradually phase out nuclear energy by 2022 and intends to increasingly draw on renewable energy sources to meet its energy needs, she explained.
"But there are still many unresolved questions for example, how to store the energy and expand the power grid. Will we, as a nation, be able to completely convert to renewable energies? Will we have to fall back on fossil or nuclear-based energy from abroad? To find answers to all of these questions, we need science and scientists.
"I am also pleased that we, supported by our DAAD branch office in Cairo, have enabled young Egyptian researchers to participate at the meeting in Lindau this year," Dr Wintermantel concluded.
In her speech marking the official opening of the event on Sunday, Countess Bettina Bernadotte, President of the Council for the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, urged the participants to experience what she called “the spirit of Lindau”, “a shared enthusiasm for science and a shared desire to address challenges facing the world".
"While staying true to their roots, the dynamics of the Lindau dialogue are ongoing,” the Countess pointed out, referring to the continuous progress in the scientific programme of the meetings and the various activities and projects implemented beyond the annual meetings, to connect science with society.
Projects like the exhibition ‘Sketches of Sciences’, the ‘Nobel Labs 360°’ and the new Lindau Mediatheque all form part of the ‘Mission Education’ of the council and the foundation.
The scientific programme of the 62nd Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting comprises 26 lectures and discussions, as well as four science master classes.
Every year since 1951, the Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings have been bringing together the best scientists of their times and outstanding young scientists from all over the world.
The meetings focus alternately on medicine and physiology, physics, chemistry, and economic sciences.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Al-Azhar stands up to Salafis

The wording of 1971 constitution's Article 2 on Islamic Sharia will be retained, reports Gamal Essam El-Din


Click to view captionThe Constituent Assembly's Basic Components Committee meeting on Tuesday
Al-Azhar intervened this week to ensure the text of Article 2 of the 1971 constitution be retained.
"People should feel confident that the wording of the article on Islamic Sharia will not be changed," said the Sheikh of Al-Azhar Ahmed El-Tayeb.
El-Tayeb's statement came in response to attempts by Nour Party members on the Constituent Assembly to change the existing reference to Sharia as "the principle" source of legislation in Egypt. The ultraconservative Salafis wanted "principle" replaced by "major" together with the coda "legislators must draw on Islam's four sources of jurisprudence when drafting laws".
Al-Azhar's intervention led the Nour Party to accuse El-Tayeb of undermining their attempts to "apply God's laws" which, in any fundamentalist reading, include practices as stoning and the amputation of limbs.
After much discussion the Assembly's Basic Components Committee decided on Tuesday to retain the 1971 wording: "Islam is the religion of the state, Arabic is the official religion of the state and principles of Islamic Sharia are the major source of legislation". It also adds that "Al-Azhar is the major reference in interpreting the principles of Islamic Sharia and non-Muslims should refer to their religious precepts on personal matters..."
The Basic Components Committee's first article of the new constitution states that the Arab Republic of Egypt "is democratic, consultative, constitutionalÒê¦ based on the separation of powers and the principle of citizenship" and "Egypt is part of the Arab and Islamic nation with strong links to the African Continent." This differs only slightly from the text of 1971 constitution which states that "Egypt is a democratic state based on the principles of citizenship and that the Egyptian people are part of the Arab nation and seek to achieve comprehensive unity".
The addition of the word "consultative" was proposed by the Nour Party. The Constituent Assembly's Rights and Freedoms Committee has refused to allow any mention of censorship in the new constitution, including instead a guarantee of "unlimited freedom of speech".
Constituent Assembly spokesperson Wahid Abdel-Meguid said on Tuesday that Egypt's new constitution will be ready in three months.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Clinton in Cairo

Hillary Clinton will visit Egypt against a backdrop of ambiguity over the US role in President Mohamed Mursi's decision to reinstate the dissolved People Assembly, reports Ezzat Ibrahim from Washington

Click to view captionHillary Clinton
Next Saturday US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrives in Cairo to meet Egypt's new President Mohamed Mursi and to express US support for Egypt's democratic transition and economic development.
Clinton will meet with senior government officials, civil society and business leaders, and inaugurate the US Consulate General in Alexandria. Earlier this week US Deputy Secretary of State William Burns concluded what the State Department described as "a successful visit".
The State Department said Burns "had a very constructive meeting with President Mursi, during which he underscored the US commitment to building a new partnership with a new, democratic Egypt". Burns also stressed Washington's commitment to tangible initiatives to help Egypt meet pressing economic concerns, including creating jobs and encouraging investment.
According to State Department sources, Burns "stressed the importance of President Mursi and the new government taking an inclusive approach going forward, upholding respect for the rights of women and Egyptians of all faiths. He also touched on other topics of mutual interest, including regional security issues."
It was the first meeting between a senior American official and the newly inaugurated president of Egypt. In public Washington has refrained from expressing any position on the political crisis that erupted following Mursi's decision to recall the dissolved parliament.
"These issues are for Egyptians to decide in a manner that respects democratic principles and the transition process, and is transparent and protects the rights of all Egyptians," said a State Department spokesperson.
Clinton's visit to Cairo offers the possibility of a change in US policy towards Egypt for the first time in more than 30 years. The administration is engaged in heated discussions with the Department of Defence and Congress over the possibility of building a new partnership with Egypt under a president from the Muslim Brotherhood. Sources close to the discussions say there is strong opposition from senior Congress members to developing a new partnership with Cairo without clear bipartisan guidelines that take into consideration an array of US national interests. "What we see in Washington is not a division, but a degree of uncertainty about what President Mursi's agenda and priorities are." Tamara Wittes, director of the Saban Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, told Al-Ahram Weekly.
In the short-term the US administration might build a pragmatic relationship with Egypt's new president through assistance packages, include support for reform programmes formulated by any new government and pushing Congress to approve a debt swap agreement which would allow Egypt to create a special investment fund. In the meantime, the Republican-majority House of Representatives has expressed unease at the Brotherhood's ascendancy, with many arguing that it is premature to build a close partnership with Egypt in the absence of any "clarity" from the Brotherhood on regional issues, especially guarantees to preserve the Camp David Accords. For some prominent Middle East experts in Washington, the US could not afford to avoid dialogue with the MB.
Clinton will visit Israel in her way to Cairo, while Burns is slated to lead the US delegation at the US-Israel Strategic Dialogue.
"Now it gets complicated," Jackson Diehl of the Washington Post wrote earlier this week. "For the foreseeable future, US officials will have to navigate between Mursi and the Brotherhood, with their nominally democratic but fundamentally anti-Western agenda; the military, which is doing its best to block the creation of democratic institutions while preserving its lifelines with the Pentagon and Israel; and the secular democratic forces that led last year's revolution, which are broadly pro-Western but are squeezed by both the generals and the clerics."
Some experts are suggesting US officials reaffirm a commitment to support only real democratic transformation and continuous advances in human rights and minority rights in Egypt. It is widely believed that Clinton will raise these issues in her meetings with Egypt's new political elite. Inevitably, relations with Israel and building channels for future contacts between Cairo and Tel Aviv will be high on her agenda.
Washington's pro-Israel lobby is arguing that Congress oppose immediate support for Egypt's new government until it displays its good intentions to Israel. For many Middle East ****ysts in Washington it is too early to judge the Brotherhood's intentions and how they might translate into policies.
"The Brotherhood has struggled to deal with its own ascendance, as it suffers internal fissures and unprecedented public scrutiny. Not even the Brotherhood's leadership seems quite certain how their new opportunities will ultimately affect their behavior, their ideology, or their internal organization," writes Marc Lynch of George Washington University.
In an election year Barack Obama will be wary of the way his relationship with Egypt's new Islamist president is perceived by the electorate. On Monday, the White House downplayed reports of possible meeting between Obama and Mursi in September.
"[The] president looks forward to meeting the new president of Egypt at the UN General Assembly," said White House spokesman Jay Carney.
Mursi's own spokesman, Yasser Ali, told reporters on Sunday that Obama, through Burns, had invited Mursi to visit Washington. Carney subsequently said reports of the possible visit were "overstated".
"The president," he said, "will have a chance to meet with or see President Mursi at the UN General Assembly."

[مستر محمد سلام]

Patience in the ranks

When Mursi decided to reinstate the parliament which SCAF dissolved, the generals remained calm. Was a deal struck
beforehand, asks Amirah Ibrahim



Click to view captionEl-Ganzouri, Mursi, Tantawi, Anan and El-Tayeb attend a graduation ceremony of military cadets on Monday
Against the backdrop of President Mohamed Mursi's call to reinstate the dissolved parliament, and the probability that the decision would evoke a clash between the president, the Muslim Brotherhood and the 19 generals who have been in control of the country since last year, a showdown did not happen.
On Sunday, Mursi issued a presidential decree cancelling an earlier decree issued by the Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to dissolve parliament based on a judicial ruling by the Supreme Constitutional Court.
On Monday, SCAF replied with a measured response disappointing those who bet that the army would confront the president. SCAF defended its stance, saying it had only acted on behalf of the court ruling.
"SCAF did not order the parliament to be dissolved. It only acted as an administrative committee to put the court ruling into effect," explained a military source who preferred to remain anonymous. "SCAF's Decree 350 filled a legislative vacuum in the country. A new president was about to be elected and SCAF wanted to ensure a legal president.
"This is not our battle. It is the judiciary's, and those after a state of law must be respected not insulted," the source added.
"We are confident that all state institutions will be respected as what was issued in all constitutional declarations," SCAF said in a statement, also dismissing rumours about a deal over power sharing.
Mursi's decision on Sunday stipulated cancelling SCAF Decree 350 which considered the parliament dissolved starting from 15 June.
"There is nothing wrong as long as the president used his executive powers to cancel a decree by the former executive power," commented a military source. "The first item [Decree 350] comes within the president's power. But the items which followed are not. It called the dissolved parliament to take back its validities as a legal council which is not correct as per the Supreme Constitutional Court's ruling."
Dominated by the Islamists, the parliament launched its first session on 23 January. After four months, it was halted by a court ruling, just as the nation was busy electing its first president after the revolution. SCAF assumed legislative power, taking over from parliament its two main concerns: legislation and budget monitoring.
Mursi's decree supposedly should have taken legislation and budget monitoring from SCAF and given it back to parliament.
SCAF generals did not wait for long. On Tuesday, the Supreme Constitutional Court halted Mursi's decision and affirmed its ruling to dissolve parliament and considered any motion to revive it invalid. Last month, the same court said parliamentary elections were unconstitutional, saying parliament was invalid starting from day one.
The day after Mursi's shock move, the president joined SCAF generals at two military academy graduation ceremonies. Last week, Mursi attended the graduation ceremonies of the Navy Academy and Air Defence Academy, both in Alexandria. He appeared chatting and trying to close ranks with young officers. Head of SCAF Hussein Tantawi was there.
In Cairo on Monday, Tantawi and other generals joined the president 24 hours after his controversial decree at two other graduation ceremonies. Mursi showed no obvious signs of strain as he moved from one military academy to another, accompanied by Tantawi, SCAF members and top state officials. On Tuesday, however, as Mursi and Tantawi were attending another graduation ceremony at the Air Force Academy, the Supreme Constitutional Court issued its ruling that put a halt to Mursi's decision.
Yet the confrontation is far from over. There is speculation over similar intentions by the president to cancel SCAF's recent constitutional declaration to write the new constitution. There was even talk about Mursi going as far as dissolving SCAF.

[مستر محمد سلام]

The Syrian cauldron

While the Western powers have their own reasons for wanting to bring down the Syrian regime, Turkey's agenda is far less clear, writes Jeremy Salt in Ankara
Tensions between Turkey and Syria along their border are edging closer to a flashpoint. Some weeks ago, a Turkish air force jet was shot down after violating Syrian air space. The Syrian government said the plane was hit while inside Syrian air space. Turkey says it had already left Syrian air space and was hit in international air space.
What the plane was doing inside Syrian air space is another matter. Turkey's president, Abdullah Gul, said it had "strayed" off course. Other accounts suggest that it was there to "light up" Syria's radar system or test its missile defences. Turkey immediately sent troops and armour to the border and invoked Article 4 of the NATO Charter, calling for consultation with its partners in the alliance. They immediately endorsed the Turkish version. US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the shooting down of the plane "brazen" while UK Foreign Secretary William Hague thought it was "outrageous", words, one cannot help noting, that have never been used to describe the missile attacks by US and UK armed forces that have killed civilians in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Somalia and Libya.
Another "incident" might lead to Turkey's invoking Article 5, the common defence article of the NATO Charter, which regards an attack on one member as an attack on all. War between Syria and Turkey would then become war between Syria and all NATO members, leading in turn to confrontation between the NATO/Gulf state bloc on the one hand and Russia, China, Iran and their allies on the other.
There is nothing accidental or unwilled about what is happening in Syria. The government in Damascus has been deliberately locked into a cycle of violence fed from the outside by the self-styled "Friends of Syria". Both sides are implicated in the killing of civilians, yet the mainstream media has created a narrative in which virtually all the killing is the work of the army or the "regime loyalists" known as the shabiha.
"Activists" routinely blame every murder, bombing and act of sabotage on the government even when the victims have been Baath loyalists (as was the case of the professor murdered by armed men in her home on the outskirts of Homs in late June, along with her three children and parents). The suffering of families whose menfolk have been killed after taking up arms against the government is reported in the media but not the suffering of families who have lost members to the armed groups.
The jury remains out on the Hawla massacre. While the UN Human Rights Council says in its latest report that "many" of the killings "may" have been the work of regime loyalists, other evidence points to the massacre having been the handiwork of jihadis, reportedly including the Farouq Brigade of the so-called Free Syrian Army. As the Human Rights Council admits that it has no conclusive evidence as to who was behind this massacre, it might have been more responsible if it had said nothing unless and until it did have such evidence.
This unbalanced narrative feeds into the war strategies being framed by the "Friends of Syria". These "friends" insist that the armed campaign they are sponsoring is directed against the government and not the people. What "the people" -- by any measure the majority of Syrians -- want is hard to gauge amidst such chaos, but the evidence suggests they see these "friends" as their enemies. The referendum in February and the elections in May were hardly perfect, but they remain the clearest indications yet of general support amongst Syrians for a political solution to the crisis gripping their country. Outside the enclaves dominated by the armed groups, the people are strongly opposed to these groups and their external backers, knowing that but for the obstruction of Russia and China, NATO warplanes would have already been bombing their country long ago.
Outside governments have fastened on Syria's problems with the tenacity of leeches. The "Arab Spring" created the opportunity to reshape the Middle East at its political and geographical centre, and they have seized it. Although paying lip service to Kofi Annan's ceasefire plan, they are prolonging the violence in the hope that the Syrian army will eventually disintegrate and the government implode.
While the destruction of the government in Damascus is an end in itself, Syria must also be seen as a way station on the road to Iran. If the Baath government can be brought down in Syria, the strategic alliance between Iran, Syria and Hizbullah will collapse at the centre. Even if the government is not dislodged, Syria will be in such chaos that it will be unable to respond if Iran is attacked. Hizbullah would be similarly immobilised. Israel would be able to attack without having to worry about a second front opening up across its northern armistice lines. President Vladimir Putin's assurance while on an apparently unscheduled visit to Israel that Iran will not develop a nuclear weapon may have been a last-ditch attempt to ward off an attack on Iran. Perhaps Russian intelligence has found out that a decision has been taken and the date and time set.
Turkey's initial response to the "Arab Spring" was sluggish. The Tunisian president was gone before the Turkish government had time to react. It waited almost until the end before calling on Mubarak to step down. Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan spoke strongly against military intervention anywhere in the region before coming in behind the armed attack on Libya. On Syria, he and his foreign minister claimed to have given President Bashar Al-Assad good advice that he refused to take before deciding that he had to go. In late summer, they threw their government's weight behind the establishment both of the "Syrian National Council" (SNC) and the "Free Syrian Army" (FSA), giving the first a home in Istanbul and the second sanctuary in southeastern Turkey.
For the first time in Turkey's republican history, a government had committed itself to "regime change" in a neighbouring country; for the first time a government had sponsored an armed group operating across its border to kill the citizens of a neighbouring country. Even now the moral and legal implications of this policy have scarcely been touched upon in the Turkish media.
For a country which has a long history of other governments meddling in its affairs, the Turkish position is almost surreal. This is not just because of the parallel between the Kurdistan Workers Party (PKK) and the FSA, both crossing the borders of neighbouring countries to kill the citizens of their own countries; both claiming to be fighting in the name of human rights and freedom; and both regarded as terrorist organisations by the governments of the countries in which they are operating. The history of external meddling and support for rebels by outside governments goes deep into the history of Turkey and before that of the former Ottoman Empire, from support for the Greek rebels in the 1820s, to support for Bulgarian rebels in the 1870s and Macedonian and Armenian rebels in the 1890s.
Intervention in the name of bringing civilisation was replaced in the 20th century by intervention in the name of democracy and freedom, and now we have intervention in the name of humanitarian concern -- a continuing theme throughout these two centuries -- and the "responsibility to protect". In a paradoxical play on history, Turkey is now intervening in Syria as the imperial powers once intervened in the Ottoman Empire and as they are still intervening in the affairs of other countries.
Other agendas are easy to see. Saudi Arabia wanted the US to attack Iran during the George W Bush presidency and "cut the head off the snake". Its interests are partly ideological, directed against Shiism in general as well as Iran in particular, while also arising from the traditional Saudi fear of its large northern neighbour. The US put the Syrian government on its list of states that support terrorism in 1979, and since the introduction of SALSA (Syrian Accountability and Lebanese Sovereignty Act, 2003) it has gradually tightened economic sanctions on the country in an effort to bring the government to its knees.
For Israel, Syria has always been the visceral Arab enemy, and, of course, what Israel wants, any US administration will do its best to deliver. Turmoil in the Arab world suits Israel down to the ground, literally. It is tightening its hold on all the territories occupied in 1967 all the time without the world paying any attention because of the drama of the "Arab Spring". Not that the world has ever paid much attention, but for the moment Israel is having a dream run.
The one agenda that is difficult to determine is Turkey's. It has the approval of its partners inside NATO and of the collective known as the "Friends of Syria", but this has come at a heavy price. Cross-border trade in the southeast of the country has all but collapsed. Relations with Iran, Iraq and Russia have been undermined. Perceptions of government sympathy for a Muslim Brotherhood-type government in Syria have aroused the suspicions of Turkish Alevis, especially in the border province of Hatay, where the population is about 50 per cent Alevi. This region was severed from Syria by the French in 1938 and handed to Turkey. Both Alevis and Christians still have family ties across the border, and both see the Al-Assad government as the effective guarantor of minority rights. They certainly do not share their own government's perspective.
What is currently being played out in the region is one of the greatest power games since the end of the First World War. Behind the cover of the "Arab Spring", the obstacles to renewed Western domination of the region are being removed one by one. The destabilisation of Syria is bringing the region close to a war with potentially catastrophic global repercussions, but the rewards are so great that the Western coalition cannot help itself from pressing against all the red lines.
Turkey's involvement is central to Western strategic planning, and if war does come, either through accident or design, Turkey will be right on the front line. A recent poll carried out by the Centre for Economic and Foreign Policy Research shows strong opposition to any deeper involvement in the Syrian crisis among Turks. The majority of those polled (56 per cent) do not support military intervention in Syria, and only a small number (less than eight per cent) support the arming of the Syrian opposition. The question now is whether the Turkish people realise how deeply their government is already involved. The ruling party dominates parliament, but Syria might yet prove to be its Achilles heel.
The writer is an associate professor of Middle Eastern history and politics at Bilkent University, Ankara, Turkey.

[مستر محمد سلام]

The Arafat forensic file reopened

While the Palestinian Authority has dodged many bullets on its dubious relation with Israel, it may not be able to dodge the charge that Israel assassinated Yasser Arafat, writes Saleh Al-Naami

Click to view captionPalestinian Mahmoud Sarsak, a former player with the national football team, is carried by his supporters in Rafah after his release from Israeli prison where he was held for three years without charges or trial, Tuesday. Sarsak had staged a hunger strike for more than 90 days to press for his release
Palestinian Authority (PA) spokespersons were clearly at a loss for words in response to the results of an investigation into the death of former Palestinian president Yasser Arafat carried out by Al-Jazeera and broadcast last week. The seemingly incontrovertible revelation that the commission formed by the PA leadership eight years ago to probe the circumstances surrounding Arafat's death was not serious in its intent to unearth the truth has been deeply embarrassing for PA officials. The Al-Jazeera report revealed quite a few details that the commission should have been able to learn and that were previously unknown to the Palestinian public.
Under the onslaught of public pressure, the Palestinian leadership announced that it was ready to cooperate with the research teams that took part in the Al-Jazeera investigation. PA spokesmen took the occasion to state that they had no shadow of a doubt that Israel was behind the poisoning of "Abu Ammar" (Arafat's nom de guerre) and that they were determined to get to the truth. At the same time, they tried to give the impression that the commission that was formed in the aftermath of Arafat's death continued to function and that Tawfiq Al-Tirawi, the Palestinian intelligence chief during Arafat's last days, was still its head.
Al-Tirawi stated that the commission would soon submit a report to PA President Mahmoud Abbas, adding that the commission had learned that there had been breaches in the security systems and services that were protecting Arafat when he was under blockade in his headquarters in Ramallah shortly before his death in 2004. The former intelligence chief said that Arafat had increasingly come to feel that his life was in jeopardy because of statements coming out of Israel signalling that he was targeted for assassination.
Statements by PA officials may do little to defuse the heat of criticism. It was not the fact that the commission headed by Al-Tirawi did very little that angered many Palestinians, but that no one had ever heard of this commission before. Nevertheless, the PA leadership has vowed to cooperate with various international agencies and to offer all possible assistance and facilities in the interest of uncovering the circumstances behind Arafat's death, which is now strongly suspected to have been the result of poisoning. Communications are currently in progress with the Institute of Radiophysics in Lausanne to discuss arrangements for a team from that institute to travel to Ramallah in order to determine whether it will be necessary to exhume Arafat's remains in order to perform the necessary tests to ascertain whether the cause of death was indeed polonium poisoning. Some questioned the necessity of this, since all experts interviewed by Al-Jazeera agree that exhumation will be necessary in order to determine the levels of this radioactive substance in the body.
In order to lend greater credibility to their pledges, PA officials have called for a UN Security Council resolution to form an international inquiry commission on the assassination of Arafat. Member of the Palestine Liberation Organisation Executive Committee Saeb Ereikat told reporters that President Abbas asked French President Fran³ýois Hollande to pursue the necessary measures in the Security Council to create a trustworthy international inquiry commission to investigate the circumstances behind the death of Arafat, similar to the UN commission that was tasked with investigating the assassination of former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafiq Al-Hariri. Ereikat said that in the event that such a UN commission was not created, the Arab League would call for an international Arab investigation and that the Arab League secretary-general was currently studying the matter closely. He added: "We must learn the truth behind the assassination of Arafat and the means by which it was accomplished."
Talal Okal, a member of the board of trustees of the Yasser Arafat Foundation and a member of the committee that this foundation created in 2009 to discover the causes of the late Palestinian president's death, said that the PA's task was complicated by international pressures to prevent Palestine from obtaining a seat in the United Nations. "The situation is difficult and complex, but the PA now has no other choice but to press for an international investigation in light of the extreme sensitivity of this matter among the Palestinian people who attach great importance to the need to discover the circumstances surrounding the death of their leader, Arafat."
But Palestinians are not alone in demanding an inquiry since learning the information that came to light in the Al-Jazeera investigative report. The Tunisian foreign minister, Rafiq Abdel-Salam, has called for an emergency meeting of the Arab League to discuss the subject. Nevertheless, Okal believes that the Palestinians will encounter stiff international resistance to their pursuit of an international inquiry into Arafat's death. "The US administration and Israel will exert enormous pressure on the PA to keep it from turning to the UN," he said. "It is not just a question of technology or material capacities. There is also the refusal on the part of countries concerned to supply answers that will help the course of the investigations. Foremost among these are France and the medical team in Percy Hospital (to which Arafat was moved in November 2004 after a grave deterioration in his health in Ramallah). In addition there will be mounting Israeli pressures to prevent a full investigation."
Okal held that the Al-Jazeera report confirmed Palestinian suspicions that Israel was responsible for Arafat's death, but "the investigation remains incomplete both in terms of conclusions and in terms of their ramifications." He went on to argue that US administration will do its utmost to prevent an international investigation because of the great embarrassment that would cause to Washington. "In fact, the international community, and the members of the International Quartet in particular, collaborated with the perpetrator and even remained a step ahead so as not to find itself in the position of having to take a public position against Israel which these partners know with certainty was the perpetrator. Once again, the great powers -- the manufactures of international policies --should be ashamed of themselves for their flagrant exercise of double standards in view of how they acted in similar cases."
Okal added: "The decision to assassinate an international figure of the stature of the martyr Yasser Arafat is not one that could have been taken by a few. Most likely some former Arab leaders had advanced knowledge of the plan to eliminate Arafat."
Many Palestinians remain unconvinced that the PA leadership is serious in its intent to unearth the truth about the death of Arafat. There reason for this is quite simple: many members of this leadership were instrumental in the drive to eliminate Arafat politically. Ghassan Abu Samha, a teacher in Gaza, asks: "Why did Mahmoud Abbas agree to cooperate with Israel and the West after plans were put into effect to annihilate Arafat politically at the height of Al-Aqsa Intifada?" He goes on to observe: "Unfortunately, Abu Mazen [Abbas] displayed no resistance whatsoever to the Israeli-US project, which subsequently furnished the conditions for Arafat's physical annihilation."
Some Palestinians are of the opinion that the PA leadership's cooperation in putting into effect the US-Israeli devised "roadmap" unveiled by former US secretary of state Condoleezza Rice in March 2003 helped pave the way for the elimination of Arafat. As one source explained, Arafat "stood in the way of designs to eliminate the Palestinian resistance in the West Bank and Gaza, which Israel realised could not be accomplished unless there was close cooperation between the PA security agencies and Israeli intelligence, especially in the West Bank."
In fact, as we look back, perhaps the first step toward sidelining Arafat was the restructuring of the PA hierarchy so as to create the position of prime minister. Even then, it was no secret that the Bush administration and the Sharon government had eyed current PA president, Mahmoud Abbas, for the job. Abbas was firmly and publicly opposed to the use of armed force as an instrument of resistance against the occupation, which, from the perspective of Tel Aviv and Washington, made him the ideal successor to Arafat.
Curiously, Al-Jazeera's revelations pointing to Arafat's assassination by poisoning coincide with the success of Palestinian protest movements to prevent a meeting between Abbas and Israeli Deputy Prime Minister Shaul Mofaz in Ramallah. This coincidence is not without considerable symbolic significance to many Palestinians. Mofaz was the Israeli minister of defence at the time of Arafat's death and of all the members of Sharon's government at the time he was the most ardent advocate of eliminating Arafat, a view that he expressed on numerous occasions. According to some Palestinians the very willingness of PA officials to meet with Mofaz, in particular, is proof of their disregard for the Palestinian blood that was shed in the Intifada.
As the foregoing suggests, the Al-Jazeera documentary has reignited controversy in Palestine on a number of interrelated issues that have profound significance to the Palestinian people. Naturally, all eyes are on the PA leadership to see whether it will take the steps necessary to confirm the sincerity of its desire to investigate the circumstances surrounding Arafat's death. The PA leadership, for its part, is caught in a vice. On the one hand, it cannot circumvent the overwhelming popular demand to learn the truth. On the other, it fears that it will lose all justification for sustaining its relationship with Israel in the event that the investigation establishes what Palestinians already believe to be true, that Tel Aviv is guilty of the crime.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Effective efections?

A number of important defections are taking place from the Syrian military, indicating that the regime could be crumbling, writes Bassel Oudat in Damascus
A key defection from the circle of Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad took place on 6 July when brigadier Manaf Tlass, the commander of Brigade 105 in the presidential guard and a close personal friend of Al-Assad, left Syria for Paris with his family.
Tlass is the son of former Syrian defence minister Mustafa Tlass, who served in the post for 30 years and was a confidante of the late president Hafez Al-Assad, as well as his collaborator in tightening the security grip of the Syrian regime.
Manaf Tlass is a member of the military and political elite close to the president. Observers view his defection as a clear sign that figures close to Al-Assad's personal circle have now started to switch allegiances and turn their backs on the president as the popular uprising in the country enters its 16th month, draining the resources of the regime and the Syrian military.
Some opposition figures said that Tlass had "bailed out of a sinking ship" by his action and was "trying to save his family's immense wealth." Regime sources have downplayed the defection, saying that Tlass had been under house arrest for months and his defection would not influence the military situation on the ground.
Nonetheless, Al-Assad's opponents in Syria and in the West have rejoiced over Tlass's defection because it could signal the beginning of the collapse of the regime.
Senior Western officials took particular interest in the defection because of Tlass's close connections to Al-Assad. French Foreign Minister Laurent Fabius said the move was "very critical because the inner circle has started to realise that the regime will not survive".
Turkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu said the "defections prove that the Syrian government is unraveling," and US secretary of state Hillary Clinton said that "the situation is changing in Syria."
Tlass is not the most senior officer to defect since the beginning of the uprising in Syria that has thus far killed an estimated 16,000 civilians and more than 4,000 military personnel. According to the Free Syrian Army (FSA), the military wing of the Syrian opposition, more than 250 senior officers have deserted from the regular army, including ones ranked higher than Tlass.
A few days before Tlass defected, former Syrian MP and cleric Mohamed Habash, close to the regime for two decades, distanced himself from it and blamed it for the killings in Syria.
Speaking from Dubai, Habash justified his support for the regime in the past as a way of defending the country against US interference. Now, however, the regime should undertake comprehensive change, he said, starting with the removal of the president.
At the beginning of July, five senior Syrian army officers fled to Turkey, among them a major-general in the signal corps and 33 soldiers and their families.
One day later, another report said that 85 soldiers had fled to Turkey, this time including a major-general in the artillery division along with seven senior officers. In mid-June, some 455 senior officers, officers and soldiers were reported to have defected from the army.
A few weeks earlier, an air force colonel absconded to Jordan aboard his MiG-21, where he was given political asylum. Meanwhile, three other fighter pilots joined their colleague and entered Jordan across the shared border with Syria but left their jets behind.
FSA leaders estimate the number of defections to have reached 100,000 so far, and that Turkey alone has been giving refuge to nearly 250 FSA officers in the Hatai district in the south of the country near the border with Syria.
Three of these officers are major-generals, and there are also 50 brigadiers and more than 15 officers from the Ministry of Interior as well as military and civilian officials.
FSA commander colonel Riad Al-Asaad has said that morale is high in the FSA after the rise in defections from the regular army, now estimated at 100-200 defections every day.
Al-Asaad said in a recent interview that the regular army had started to lose control over large swathes of Syrian territory and that its control was now limited to military sites and barricades. The FSA controls some 60 per cent of the territory at night, he said.
"It is the beginning of the end" for the regime, Al-Asaad said.
The opposition has also revealed that key defections have occurred from Syria's air force and that entire airbases have been abandoned, such as the Dar Ezza airbase in Aleppo and the missile battalion in Al-Rastan in Homs.
Meanwhile, some 869 officers from the 1,100 posted in the city of Al-Rastan in central Syria have defected, and some 80 per cent of soldiers from the southern governorate of Deraa have also defected. Half of these have fled to Jordan and the others have joined the FSA.
Although the opposition fighters are no match in terms of weapons to the much larger regular army, which comprises 325,000 soldiers and a similar number of reserves, they are counting on the erosion of loyalty within the regular army to cause it to lose control.
One of the reasons why the regime is taking so long to collapse despite the defections may be because senior security and military officials have not abandoned it, given the regime's reliance on sectarian affiliations to run the state apparatus, the security services and the army.
The opposition believes that since a political solution for the Syrian crisis may now be unattainable, the defectors should be embraced despite their past support for the regime.
It has described them as a valuable catch because they may have information about senior officials in Syria and may know the weak points of the army. They may also be able to encourage others to defect from the regime.
For the moment, the West has been reluctant to supply opposition forces with advanced weaponry out of concerns that this could end up in the hands of anti-Western Islamists. Saudi Arabia, Qatar and some wealthy Syrians want to fund and arm the armed opposition, however, though fears that a sectarian war could break out in Syria have thus far been discouraging them.
The Arab peace initiative proposed by the Arab League (AL) at the end of last year was unsuccessful, and the UN and AL envoy Kofi Annan declared earlier this week that plans to end the military *****down and transition to a political solution had also ended in failure.
Last month, UN monitors abandoned their mission in Syria after two months spent in the country without achieving any progress on the ground. As skirmishes continue using heavy artillery on the outskirts of the Syrian capital Damascus, it now appears that developments on the ground are beyond the reach of diplomatic initiatives.
As a result, the military wing of the Syrian opposition has been growing in strength, and it is no longer restricted to the FSA, established in July 2011 with the aim of protecting the protesters.
Other armed opposition forces today include the Supreme Revolutionary Military Council (SRMC), led by Brigadier-General Mustafa El-Sheikh and established in February, the Local Military Council, which receives funds and military assistance from revolutionaries abroad, and other independent armed groups loyal to various financial and military donors.
Meanwhile, security reports say that senior military officers in the regime have been planning their exit strategies and opening channels of communications with the opposition in order to discuss their fates if they decide to defect from the army.
These senior officers apparently include members of Al-Assad's inner circle.
Recent leaks in the US and European press have also stated that some European and Arab states, along with the US, have drawn up a roadmap to support the FSA financially and militarily.
Under the plan, a minimum salary of $200 would be paid to each defecting soldier, helping them to unite and form a single army across Syria.
The plan would also speed up the rate of defections from the regular army by giving refuge to deserters, together with an income and arms, and it would launch a military confrontation against the regular army with the implicit promise that after the ouster of the regime power would be handed to the FSA.
If the plan were to be applied, it could result in more defections from the regular army and could better equip the FSA for battle. However, it would also cause further widespread destruction in Syria.
For the moment, the Syrian protesters do not fear for the future, since their priority is to overthrow the regime and halt its military machine, terminating the tight grip of the intelligence agencies that have ruled their lives for decades.
The defectors are not viewed negatively because of their formerly close ties to the regime, but there are growing fears that they may drag Syria into an unknown future.

[مستر محمد سلام]

Warning signs of skin cancer

Skin cancer can be a deadly battle to fight. With most symptoms left undiagnosed, it can become quite a threat to one’s health. The following guide will help you detect those early signs and seek treatment before it gets too late.

1. Actinic Keratosis

Also known as Solar Keratosis, this condition implies natural and scaly *****es of skin found most commonly on the head, around the neck or hands, and these are a result of overexposure to the sun. Although these can deemed as the early signs of skin cancer, the chances of these *****es becoming cancerous, is entirely subjective. However, most dermatologists recommend patients should attend to these *****es to facilitate early treatment.

2. Farmer’s Lip

Clinically termed as Actinic Cheilitis, Farmer’s Lip condition is similar to Solar Keratosis in its manifestation. This is fairly common in older men and light skinned people. Characterised by swelling of lips, disappearance of the lip-skin border, general scaly texture and *****es of unexplained redness, this type of affliction may become a malignant carcinoma if left untreated.

3. Cutaneous Horns

The appearance of funnel shaped growths with a red base is usually the most telling symptom of its appearance. The scaly texture is characterised by the presence of keratin, which is the same protein that constitutes nails. They start out with only a few millimeters in length and diameter, but can grow up to considerable amounts. The bases of these horns contain the carcinogenous cells that, later on, give way to skin cancer.

4. Atypical Moles

Clinically known as Dysplastic Nevi, these are larger, irregular shaped moles, occurring all over the body, with a fading border of mixed colour, which tend to grow with time. Although the appearance of these notch-like moles might not signify cancer straight away, if left untreated, it might soon become cancerous.

5. Melanoma

Although not as common as the other symptoms, it, nevertheless, is the deadliest type. A melanoma can be spotted in an unexplained formation of a mole, or a sudden pigmentation of the skin. Changes in the size, shape or colour of the mole are some of the earlier symptoms. However, if the mole develops irregular edges, causes itch, oozes pus or bleeds intermittently, one is advised to seek immediate medical attention.

6. Squamous Cell Carcinoma

This type rears its head as a red but firm nodal growth on the skin, which eventually gets crusty and bleeds, or becomes an unsealing sore. Occurring mostly in the areas of the body that are exposed to sun, they tend to form over the neck, arms, head, forehead, nose, cheeks and lips. This carcinoma is completely treatable and if detected early, the affliction can suitably be done away with.

7. Basal Cell Carcinoma

This is the most common occurrence and by far the most easily treated carcinoma in the category. Due to its slow expansion, it can take varied forms to manifest itself. Unsightly bumps with visible blood vessels, mostly occurring on the neck or on the face, this type can manifest itself as a scar like ***** and grow on to be cancerous.

Skin cancer is a growing ailment among people with constant exposure to the sun. Based on the above mentioned symptoms, if one finds any such occurrence on their skin, they are advised to get in touch with their dermatologists as soon as possible.

[ehab wahdan]

شكرا بس عندى سؤال
الترجمة هتنزل إمتى ؟

[مستر محمد سلام]

Weight and height: what is the relation?

Picture by sylvar

Many studies have revealed the connection between weight and height and several diseases. Health issues such as diabetes, high blood pressure and obesity have been found to have a direct relationship to the BMI (Body, Mass Index) and the relationship between weight and height especially in children One of the largest epidemics in our society today is the startling number of obese children in our countries. Never before has a generation of children been destined to die at a younger age than their parents or the generations before them. Children and young adults who exceed the healthy ration of weight to height are more susceptible to malnutrition, high blood pressure and the incidence of diabetes has been recorded in children as young as four years old. This would have been unheard of a generation ago. The body, mass index in a way of calculating a healthy ratio of body fat in relation to weight and height. A person is considered obese if he is more than 20 pounds over his body, mass index ratio. Knowing your BMI can help you find out if you need to diet and exercise to prevent the diseases


inherent in an unhealthy weight to height ratio

http://www.hforcare.com/?p=301.

[مستر محمد سلام]

What are the symptoms of diabetes?

Picture by cogdogblog

Many of us have heard of diabetes and know that it can cause complications. However, knowing the symptoms of diabetes can help save you a lot of trouble later on in life. However, many times diabetes goes undiagnosed because the symptoms of it tend to appear harmless. You also should be aware that there are two main types of diabetes, Type 1 and Type 2. Symptoms of Type 1 diabetes include unusual thirst, extreme hunger, frequent urination, extreme irritability and fatigue, and unusual weight loss. Type 2 diabetes also has the same symptoms as Type 1, but there are others as well. These can include blurred vision, frequent infections, recurring gum, skin, or bladder infections, tingling or numbness of the feet and hands, slow healing cuts or bruises, and blurred vision. Many times, Type 2 diabetes symptoms do not show up. Diabetes causes excess sugar to build up in the blood, causing your kidneys to work overtime in order to filter and absorb this excess sugar. When the kidneys struggle with this, this sugar is excreted into the urine, along with any fluids drawn from the tissue. This means that you urinate more, meaning you become dehydrated. This cycle repeats itself, and this constant urination and drinking is a classic symptom of diabetes. The earlier that you catch hold of these symptoms and get your diabetes under control, the less your chances of complication become

http://www.hforcare.com/?p=383

[مستر محمد سلام]

Could air conditioning be a cause of your neck pain?

Picture by lululemon athletica

Many of us have suffered from neck pain from sleeping wrong. But did you also know that this pain can be caused by the one thing that keeps us cool during the summer: our air conditioners? This is because of the quick changes in temperature, the chilling of the muscles, which causes our muscles to contract painfully. There are other causes of this pain as well, such a whiplash, which is caused by a violent movement of your spinal column. Emotional tension and working or driving in the same position for many hours can also cause neck pain. Most of the time, your nerve endings become compressed or inflamed. However, there is hope. There are many ways to help you relieve your sore neck so that it does not have to ruin your day completely. Some of these include an anti-inflammatory medication, acetaminophen, application of heat or ice, or simply movement exercises. Sometimes a local injection is required, or in severe cases, surgery is needed. It is a bummer to know that your air conditioning can cause some of the pain that you are experiencing. But knowing what can cause your neck pain is half the battle. The other half is knowing how to fix the issues, and make yourself

feel better

http://www.hforcare.com/?p=393

[مستر محمد سلام]

How to Offer Ramadan Greetings

Ramadan is a month-long fast for Muslims around the world. From dawn to sunset, observant Muslims abstain from eating and drinking. This period is marked by joyful greetings and a desire to be faithful to Allah.

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/video/offer-ramadan-greetings-132112892.html

[مستر محمد سلام]

How To Fast For Ramadan

Fasting from sunrise to sunset every day is a crucial part of Ramadan, the annual, month-long Muslim celebration that marks Allah's revelation of the Koran to the Prophet Muhammad. These tips will help you stay strong throughout

http://en-maktoob.news.yahoo.com/video/fast-ramadan-132112855.html

[مستر محمد سلام]

What Causes Cancer?
Cancer is a complex group of diseases with many possible causes. In this section you can learn more about the known causes of cancer, including genetic factors; lifestyle factors such as tobacco use, diet, and physical activity; certain types of infections; and environmental exposures to different types of chemicals and radiation.

http://www.cancer.org/Cancer/CancerCauses/index