Monday, June 7, 2010

Saleh, Qaddafi talk on joint Arab action


SANA’A, June 07 (Saba)- President Ali Abdullah Saleh received on Sunday evening a phone call from Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi.

During the conversation, the two Arab leaders talked on the areas of cooperation relations between the two countries and two brotherly peoples.

They also discussed issues and developments of common interest of the two countries and the Arab nation, particularly the follow-up to the outcomes of the 21st Arab summit which held in Libya, focusing on means of activating the joint Arab action, developing its mechanisms and serving the objectives and interests of the Arab nation.

NEWS MIDDLE EAST 'US missile' used in Yemen strike

The US is facing fresh questions over its role in a deadly attack in late 2009 on an alleged al-Qaeda camp in Yemen, after a rights group published what it said was new evidence of US involvement in the strike.

Photographs released by Amnesty International on Monday apparently show parts of a US cruise missile and cluster munitions gathered from the site of the strike last December in the village of al Ma'jalah in southern Yemen.

55 people, including 14 women and 21 children, died in the attack, which also killed 14 alleged al-Qaeda members.

After the attack, the Yemeni government said that it carried out the strike alone, but reports soon began to emerge that the US military had played a role in the attack on the orders of the White House.

At the time, unidentified US officials told the media that the Pentagon had provided firepower and intelligence to government of Yemen, but US involvement in the strike was never officially confirmed.

The Amnesty photographs appear to show parts of a BGM-109D Tomahawk cruise missile used to deliver a payload of deadly cluster sub-munitions.

"Amnesty International is gravely concerned by evidence that cluster munitions appear to have been used in Yemen," said Mike Lewis, the group's arms control researcher.

"Cluster munitions have indiscriminate effects and unexploded bomblets threaten lives and livelihoods for years afterwards," he said.

Legal breach

Philip Luther, deputy director of the group's Middle East and North Africa Programme, said that if proven, Washington's involvement would represent a breach of international law.

"A military strike of this kind against alleged militants without an attempt to detain them is at the very least unlawful," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme.

"The fact that so many of the victims were actually women and children indicates that the attack was in fact grossly irresponsible, particularly given the likely use of cluster munitions."

The Pentagon declined to comment on the allegations when contacted by Al Jazeera.

Amnesty's allegations are also likely to cause a headache for the government of Yemen, which is reluctant to be seen to be working too closely with the US on counter-terrorism operations within its borders.

Ginny Hill, director of the Yemen Forum at Chatham House in London, said that Sanaa has tried to distance itself from US foreign policy.

"Yemeni officials tend to publicly downplay the extent of US collaboration because joint counter-terrorism operations raise uncomfortable questions about the government’s credibility, in a country where public opinion is widely hostile to US foreign policy."

Meanwhile, authorities in Yemen said on Sunday they had arrested more than 30 foreigners during a two month crackdown on alleged al-Qaeda operatives.

Those arrested included an American, a Briton and three people from France, Yemeni security sources told Al Jazeera, adding that the majority of the suspects had been studying Arabic in Sana'a.

The source said that the arrests came after "co-operation" with foreign governments, including the US.

Israel defends aid ship raid

Israel has attempted to justify its deadly raid on a Gaza-bound aid ship last week by accusing five of its passengers of being "active terror operatives linked to al-Qaeda, Hamas and other armed groups.

In a statement, Israeli authorities named five passengers it said were "known to be involved in terrorist activity".

But at least one of those named told Al Jazeera that Israel's claim was baseless.

Rejecting Israeli allegations that he was a "radical anti-Israel activist" who was travelling to Gaza to "train a [Hamas] commando unit", Ken O'Keefe, a British-American citizen, said he had never carried arms for the group.

"The only weapons I ever carried were while I was a US marine serving in the Gulf War," he said speaking from Turkey following his deportation from Israel.

"If they had a supposed terrorist in their possession, why the hell did they let me go?" O'Keefe said.

Fatima Mohammadi, another activist on board the Mavi Marmara that Israeli soldiers stormed last Monday in an attempt to stop a flotilla of aid ships from reaching Gaza, was accused of attempting to smuggle banned electronic componants into Gaza.

She told Al Jazeera through a spokesperson that she refused to dignify the accusation with a response.

The allegations come as part of an Israeli PR offensive seeking to counter a wave of condemnation over the raid, which left nine pro-Palestinian activists dead and dozens wounded.

'Lack of evidence'

Israel has continued to reject calls for an international inquiry into the attack, instead insisting that it should investigate the events surrounding the deaths of the activists itself.

Binyamin Netanyahu, the Israeli prime minister, said earlier on Sunday that "dozens of thugs" from what he called "an extremist, terrorism-supporting" organisation had boarded the flotilla and readied themselves for the arrival of the naval commandos.

"This group boarded separately in a different city, organised separately, equipped itself separately and went on deck under different procedures," he said.

"The clear intent of this hostile group was to initiate a violent clash with (Israeli) soldiers," he said.

Ayman Mohyeldin, Al Jazeera's correspondent reporting from Jerusalem, however, said all cargo and passengers on board last week's convoy were required to pass through customs and port security whether they boarded in Greece, Ireland or Turkey.

"Israel has yet to provide evidence that any attack on its soldiers was in fact pre-planned - something denied by all those travelling on board the ship," he said.

Jamal el-Shayyal, Al Jazeera's correspondent who was on board the Mavi Marmara from the beginning of its voyage, said no such group joined the ship after it had left port.

"Not less than 24 hours before Israel attacked I was granted access to all areas of the ship to see whether there were any unwanted people or weapons on board," he said.

"There was nothing of this sort on the boat… The only way for someone to get on board without being screened would be if an aircraft dropped them on board, and the only one that did this was an Israeli military one, and it ended up killing people."

EU proposal

Farouq Burney, who represented Qatar on board the Mavi Marmara, also cast doubt on Netanyahu's claims.

"Most of the people who boarded the ship in international waters were renowned figures, like European MPs, a former US ambassador and a few people from the Free Gaza Movement," he said, referring to one of the flotilla's principal organisers.

"There is no way these people could be branded as terrorists."

Meanwhile, France's foreign minister said on Sunday that the European Union is willing to check cargo on board ships heading to the Gaza Strip if Israel ends its blockade of the territory.

"We can check the cargo of ships heading toward Gaza- we can do it, we
want to do it, we would gladly do it,'' Bernard Kouchner said, after a meeting with British foreign minister William Hague.

He said that the EU has had monitors deployed at Gaza's Rafah crossing with Egypt in the past and could do so again. France and Britain have both called for an immediate end to the blockade of Gaza and an international investigation into the raid on the Mavi Mamara.

Two men with links to terror group arrested at New York airport

NEW YORK, June 6 (Saba) -- Two men in New Jersey of the United States reportedly with ties to an al-Qaida-linked terror group were arrested late Saturday night as they prepared to leave at New York's JFK International Airport, according to Xinhua.

New York TV channel NY1 said Sunday that the two men, who were under the surveillance of New York Police Department (NYPD), were taken into custody when they prepared to board separate flights to Egypt.

"I can only confirm that two arrests were made Saturday night at JFK airport as part of an ongoing investigation," NYPD Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne was quoted as saying.

The two men were reportedly linked to a Somalia-based terror group called al-Shabaad, which has ties with al-Qaida and operates in the southern region of the African country.