OOTDnews

Thursday, October 6, 2011

Response to Muslim suit riles Ohio pork industry

By ANDREW WELSH-HUGGINS
AP Legal Affairs Writer

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) - A decision by Ohio officials to remove all pork products from prison menus in response to a lawsuit by Muslim inmates is not sitting well with the state's pork producers and processors.

Both promise action of their own, including a possible counter lawsuit, to address what they consider an unfair and illogical decision.

"We really think it's not in the best interest, frankly, of the whole prison system," said Dick Isler, executive director of the Ohio Pork Producers Council. "It seems like we're letting a small group make the rules when it really isn't in the best interest of the rest of prisoners."

Pork is inexpensive and nutritious and compares well to other lean meats, he said.

Ironically, the inmates' lawsuit doesn't involve pork at all; it demands that non-pork meats like beef come from animals slaughtered according to Islamic law. But the prisons system responded by simply removing pork as an option altogether.

If Ohio would provide Muslim inmates with pre-packaged meals similar to those given to Jewish inmates, as the lawsuit requests, it wouldn't be necessary to remove pork from menus, said David Singleton, executive director of the Ohio Justice and Policy Center, which is suing on behalf of the two inmates.

Assistant prisons director Steven Huffman has spoken with Isler, but the system isn't changing its mind, spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said Wednesday.

She said she couldn't comment on the lawsuit specifically, but said removing pork assures that inmates' religious practices aren't jeopardized by pork coming into contact with other food during preparation.

Ohio joins California, Florida, Maryland and Massachusetts among states that don't serve pork in prisons. Massachusetts stopped serving pork more than a decade ago to satisfy religious preferences, said prisons spokeswoman Diane Wiffin.

Ohio first took pork off the menu in 2009 after, in a money-saving attempt, it closed the pig farm and processing facility it operated to provide meat for inmates.

Last year, after lobbying by pork producers, the system added pork rib patties back to the menu once a week, at a cost of about $27,000 a week. The pork was provided by a Michigan company, and so Ohio producers aren't affected, Smith said.

"This issue seems to be blown out of proportion based on a misunderstanding," she said.

Pork is big business in Ohio, the country's eighth-largest producer, with 3,700 farms raising 4 million pigs a year.

Kristin Mullins, who lobbies for Ohio pork processors, said the move last year actually saved Ohio money because pork was less expensive at the time than other meats.

"Let's service the entire prison population and not let one portion dictate what's being served," said Mullins, who also represents processors in Kentucky and Tennessee.

In a federal lawsuit, death row inmate Abdul Awkal complains that the state is restraining his religious freedoms by not providing meals prepared according to Islamic law, known as halal, while at the same time supplying Jewish prisoners with kosher meals. The Quran, the holy book of Islam, prohibits Muslims from eating pork.

Awkal, joined by a second inmate not on death row, says the vegetarian and non-pork options aren't good enough. The inmates say food must be prepared in specific fashion, such as ensuring that an animal is butchered by slitting its throat and draining its blood, to conform to Islamic beliefs.

Prison guidelines for Muslim inmates already provided that meals will be "free of all pork and products containing or derived from pork."

A judge has given lawyers and inmates for the state until next month to finish filing documents bolstering their arguments, ahead of an expected January trial.

Ohio says requiring halal meals could mean new dietary plans for as many as 2,000 inmates, while Awkal's lawyers believe the figure is lower because not all Muslims eat halal meals.

Awkal, 52, is scheduled to die in June for killing his estranged wife, Latife Awkal, and brother-in-law Mahmoud Abdul-Aziz in 1992, in a room in Cuyahoga County Domestic Relations Court. Joining Awkal in the lawsuit is Cornelius Causey, 35, serving 15 years to life for murder and aggravated robbery convictions out of Hamilton County.

In court documents, Ohio has argued that it provides both non-pork and vegetarian meals to Muslims and says the courts have sided with this practice. The state also says that providing halal meals could hurt Ohio financially, given the current budget situation.

California provides packaged kosher meals to Jewish inmates and halal meals prepared at prisons for Muslim prisoners.

Texas, which does serve pork to prisoners, offers Muslim inmates regular, meat-free or pork-free meals but not halal meals.

Rep. Frank Wolf calls out Grover Norquist for jihad ties; Norquist cries "racism"

From: jihadwatch.org

Many anti-jihadists' concern about Grover Norquist and his jihad ties ended abruptly when it turned out he was close friends with Rick Perry. People who had been criticizing Norquist for years for being in bed with Islamic supremacists suddenly discovered that, hey, everyone does it (ignoring the fact that Norquist is closer to Perry than he is to other candidates), and what's a few Hamas ties among friends, anyway?

Nonetheless, those concerns remain. Norquist's influence on the Republican Party is extraordinarily damaging, as it keeps on leading so many to turn a blind eye to the stealth jihad that Norquist continues so energetically to advance. Kudos to Rep. Frank Wolf (R-VA) for having the courage that so many lack and calling out Norquist on the floor of Congress.

For more on Norquist's unsavory ties, see Pamela Geller's expose here. Note also how well Norquist has mastered the tried-and-true tactic of his Islamic supremacist partners: crying "racism," smearing his opponent, and claiming victim status whenever his wrongdoing is pointed out, instead of responding with anything substantive.

"Norquist calls attacks from GOP congressman ‘disgusting,’" by Chris Moody for The Ticket, October 4:

Grover Norquist responded to attacks from Virginia Republican Rep. Frank Wolf Tuesday, calling Wolf's accusations that Norquist was connected to terrorists "disgusting" and saying they were copied from "racist websites." [...]

Gee, which websites do you have in mind, Grover?

On the House floor Tuesday, Wolf accused Norquist of being associated with terrorist financiers, discussed his connection in 2006 to disgraced lobbyist Jack Abramoff and said that Norquist has used his organization's pledge "to advance many other issues that many Americans would find inappropriate, and when taken as a whole should give people pause." "Some staffer of his went onto the racist websites, you know, dug up stuff from ten years ago," Norquist said in response to Wolf's floor speech. "I'm married to a woman who's Muslim, and it's sad and it's disgusting. It reflects poorly on him. I think given his district, he's going to spend a lot of time apologizing for getting into the gutter and anti-Arab and anti-Muslim bigotry. I suppose this staffer who got this stuff off websites did as much chucking [sic] as the idiots who put it forward."

Wolf submitted a detailed report to the official record that outlined his grievances with Norquist.

"Documentation shows that he has deep ties to supporters of Hamas and other terrorist organizations that are sworn enemies of the United States and our ally Israel," Wolf's submitted statement read.

Norquist fired back, calling Wolf's comments "just a series of rants."

"It's just silly," Norquist said. "It's just a series of rants that mean nothing and have no effect on anything, and are neither honorable or honest."

A spokesman for Wolf said the congressman stands by his remarks and intended to send a message to the members of his caucus who have associated themselves with Norquist.
"There's a clear pattern there," Wolf spokesman Dan Scandling told The Ticket. "You need to look at who he's associated with."

Indeed. Unless, of course, you're so in thrall to the prospect of a Rick Perry presidency that suddenly a guy who's in bed with Hamas and the Muslim Brotherhood doesn't seem so bad after all.

Here is what Wolf actually said about Norquist's jihad ties. If this looks like a racist rant lacking in substance to you, report immediately to the nearest Hamas-linked CAIR office, offer your sincere apologies of U.S. mistreatment of Muslims, and ask how you can be of service.

TERRORIST CONNECTIONS

Not only was Mr. Norquist entangled with the criminal dealings of Jack Abramoff, but documentation shows that he has deep ties to supporters of Hamas and other terrorist organizations that are sworn enemies of the United States and our ally Israel.

According to Senate lobbying disclosure records of his now defunct lobbying firm, Janus-Merritt Strategies, around the years 2000 and 2001 Mr. Norquist’s firm represented Abdurahman Alamoudi, who was convicted two years later for his role in a terrorist plot and who is presently serving a 23-year sentence in federal prison.

Court documents and a October 15, 2004, Department of Justice press release reveal that Alamoudi, the president of the American Muslim Council, was arrested at Dulles Airport in September 2003 upon returning to the U.S after participating in a Libyan plot to assassinate the Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. “Alamoudi participated in recruiting participants for this plot by introducing the Libyans to two Saudi dissidents in London and facilitating the transfer of hundreds of thousands of dollars of cash from the Libyans to those dissidents to finance the plot,” the release said.

According to the DOJ press release, Alamoudi, a naturalized citizen, pled guilty to three federal offenses:

· One count of violating the International Emergency Powers Act;

· One count of false statements made in his application for naturalization;

· A tax offense involving a long-term scheme to conceal from the IRS his financial transactions with Libya and his foreign bank accounts and to omit material information from the tax returns filed by his charities.

It is important to point out that Alamoudi’s ties to terrorist groups were no secret prior to his arrest.

Alamoudi spoke at an October 2000 rally in front of the White House in support of Hamas and Hezbollah during the period he was represented by Norquist’s firm, according to Senate lobbying disclosure records.. The “Rally Against Israeli Aggression” was sponsored by Norquist’s Islamic Free Market Institute, according to a September 2000 “Islamic Institute Friday Brief.” The Islamic Free Market Institute was created by Grover Norquist and operated out of his Americans for Tax Reform office in Washington, thanks to sizable start-up contributions from Alamoudi, according to a March 11, 2003, article in the St. Petersburg Times by Mary Jacoby.

I have seen video from the rally, where Alamoudi roared from the stage:
“I have been labeled by the media in New York to be a supporter of Hamas, anybody supports Hamas here?”

[Crowd cheers, "Yes!"]

“…Hear that, Bill Clinton, we are all supporters of Hamas, Allahu Akbar.”
“I wish they added that I am also a supporter of Hezbollah. Anybody supports Hezbollah here?”

[Crowd cheers, "Yes!"]

A few months after the Lafayette Park rally, Alamoudi was photographed in Beirut at a conference attended by representatives of the terror groups Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Hezbollah and al-Qaida, also according to the March 2003 St. Petersburg Times article.

In addition to Alamoudi’s outspoken support for Hamas and Hezbollah, he expressed private support for the 1994 terrorist attack against a synagogue in Buenos Aires, Argentina, which killed 85 people and injured hundreds, according to a December 17, 2003, article in The American Spectator by Shawn Macomber, who reported: “In a wiretapped conversation made public in the recent criminal complaint, he (Alamoudi) praises a 1994 bombing in Buenos Aires. ‘The Jewish Community Center. It is a worthy operation,’ Alamoudi tells an unidentified man, in Arabic. ‘I think that the attacks that are being executed by bin Laden and other Islamic groups are wrong, especially hitting the civilian targets. Many African Muslims have died and not a single American has died. I prefer to hit a Zionist target in America or Europe…I prefer honestly like what happened in Argentina.”

According to a June 11, 2003, Wall Street Journal article by reporters Tom Hamburger and Glenn Simpson, around 1999 Alamoudi sent his deputy at the American Muslim Council, Khaled Saffuri, to work directly for Mr. Norquist to establish the Islamic Free Market Institute – one of the groups that sponsored the October 2000 rally in Lafayette Park. The institute, chaired by Norquist and led by Saffuri, operated out of the Americans for Tax Reform offices here in Washington, according to the March 2003 article in the St. Petersburg Times.
The Senate Indian Affairs Committee report revealed that Saffuri was closely tied to Mr. Norquist and the Abramoff scandal and received money from Abramoff and a front group, the American International Center (AIC), to partner with Abramoff’s firm Greenberg Traurig on his “Malaysian-related interests and issues.”

Mr. Norquist also associated with terror financier Sami Al-Arian, according to Mary Jacoby’s reporting in March 2003, in the St. Petersburg Times. Al-Arian pled guilty in 2006 “to a charge of conspiring to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ), a specially designated terrorist organization, in violation of U.S. law,” and is under house arrests, according to a Department of Justice press release. The Palestinian Islamic Jihad’s “paramilitary wing – the al-Quds Brigades – has conducted numerous attacks, including large-scale suicide bombings,” according to the National Counterterrorism Center,
Who is Sami al-Arian? An October 2003 federal affidavit noted that Al-Arian had longstanding connections to associates of al Qaeda. According to the affidavit, “Sheik Rahman (the “Blind Sheik”) visited Al-Arian at his residence in Tampa and spoke at his mosque.” Rahman is currently serving a life sentence in U.S. prison for his role in the 1993 World Trade Center attack and additional terror plots. The federal affidavit also disclosed Al-Arian’s ties with Alamoudi.

Al-Arian’s relationship with Mr. Norquist appears to have spanned several years. Prior to his arrest in February 2003, Sami Al-Arian visited Norquist’s office in Washington for a meeting, also reported in the June 11, 2003, article in the Wall Street Journal. According to Continetti, Mr. Al-Arian also “cc’d Norquist on an e-mail he sent to the Wall Street Journal protesting an editorial that had pointed out his terrorist connections.”

Mr. Norquist himself served as a key facilitator between Al-Arian, Alamoudi and the White House, according to Mary Jacoby’s reporting in March 2003 in The St. Petersburg Times. She reported that “In June 2001, Al-Arian was among the members of the American Muslim Council invited to the White House complex . . . The next month, the National Coalition to Protect Political Freedom – a civil liberties group headed by Al-Arian – gave Norquist an award for his work to abolish the use of secret intelligence evidence in terrorism cases.”

OPPOSING THE PATRIOT ACT

Mr. Norquist also has been an outspoken supporter of Al-Arian’s effort to end the use of classified evidence in terror trials. In fact, Norquist was scheduled to lead a delegation to the White House on September 11, 2001, that included a convicted felon and some who would later be identified by federal law enforcement as suspected terrorist financiers.

According to a Arab American Institute 2002 report, “Healing the Nation,” “[o]n the day of the terrorist attacks, Arab American and Muslim American leaders were already in Washington, D.C. for a previously scheduled meeting with President Bush to discuss the use of ‘secret evidence’ in certain immigration proceedings and racial profiling of Arab Americans at the nation’s airports and security checkpoints.”

I have seen the list of attendees for the scheduled meeting. Among those listed:
Madhi Bray, a convicted felon who was found guilty of drug and fraud charges in the 1980s. Bray appeared cheering on stage with Alamoudi at the October 2000 rally in Lafayette Park as Alamoudi declared his support for Hamas and Hezbollah.

Omar Ahmed, co-founder of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). According to an April 18, 2011,Politico article by Josh Gerstein, “Federal prosecutors… have introduced evidence in court of Ahmad's attendance at a 1993 meeting in Philadelphia that the FBI contends was a gathering of Hamas supporters seeking to undermine the Middle East peace process. Prosecutors [in the Holy Land Foundation case] have also presented documents that appear to show CAIR as part of a network of Muslim Brotherhood organizations in the U.S.”

The list provided to the White House by Norquist’s Islamic Institute included representatives from each of Norquist’s organizations, including a Janus-Merrit lobbyist. At the top of the list: Grover Norquist, representing Americans for Tax Reform.

According to a June 11, 2003, Wall Street Journal article by reporters Tom Hamburger and Glenn Simpson, “Mr. Norquist helped secure a promise from presidential candidate Bush to moderate federal policy on investigating suspected illegal immigrants. In a nationally televised debate on Oct. 11, 2000, Mr. Bush said: ‘Arab-Americans are racially profiled in what's called secret evidence ... We've got to do something about that.’ Since the Sept. 11 attacks, the White House has abandoned that promise, as the Justice Department has aggressively pursued prosecutions of Muslims allegedly supporting terrorism.”

Mr. Norquist has also led efforts over the last decade to weaken and repeal the PATRIOT Act, working closely with liberal groups such as the American Civil Liberties Union, according to a February 20, 2008, profile on Norquist in the Washington Examiner, “A former lobbyist with the American Civil Liberties Union said privately that Norquist won her over when they joined forces to oppose the Bush administration’s Patriot Act and warrantless wiretapping. ‘I was initially skeptical,’ she said, ‘but I knew there was common ground on this issue and that we would be most powerful if we united.’”

GUANTANAMO BAY DETAINEES

More recently, Mr. Norquist has become an outspoken advocate for moving Guantanamo Bay detainees to the United States. According to a November 16, 2009, Huffington Post article by Sam Stein, Norquist led a public campaign to undermine Republican-led efforts to block the Obama Administration’s transfer of 9/11 mastermind Khaled Sheik Mohammed to New York City and other terrorist detainees to Thompson Prison in Illinois, the first time terrorists would be held indefinitely inside the United States.

The article reported that Mr. Norquist wrote that, “moving suspected terrorists to the Thomson, Illinois prison facility, ‘makes good sense.’ Taxpayers, [Norquist wrote], have already invested $145 million in the facility, which has been ‘little used.’ ‘The scaremongering about these issues should stop,’ [Norquist wrote], noting that there is ‘absolutely no reason to fear that prisoners will escape or be released into their communities.’”

Why is Mr. Norquist, head of Americans for Tax Reform, advocating for one of President Obama’s top campaign promises? His efforts fly in the face of near-unanimous congressional opposition to providing al Qaeda terrorists with civilian trials in U.S. courts.

GROUND ZERO MOSQUE

Mr. Norquist also interjected himself into the debate about the proposed “Ground Zero Mosque” last summer, calling legitimate concerns about the location a “Monica Lewinsky ploy” by Republicans, according to an August 18, 2010, report by Michael Scherer on Time magazine’s Web site. Mr. Norquist further trivialized the concerns saying that Republicans were, “distracted by shiny things.”

Mr. Norquist even used Americans for Tax Reform to circulate a petition in support of the “Ground Zero Mosque.” Patrick Gleason, director of state affairs for Americans for Tax Reform, wrote an August 17, 2010, letter to state affiliates urging them to share the petition with their coalition.

Why would Americans for Tax Reform circulate a petition in support of the “Ground Zero Mosque?” For the families of those who lost loved ones on 9/11 or during operations in the War on Terror, concerns about the “Ground Zero Mosque” were neither a ploy nor a distraction, as Norquist described it.

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Pakistan and China: Strengthening Ties

by Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi
The American Spectator

As U.S. military operations in Afghanistan drag on, a strengthening relationship between Pakistan and China has emerged as tensions between the former and the United States continue to grow.

Of particular interest are the trilateral meeting just held between Chinese, Saudi and Pakistani intelligence officials in Islamabad and a two-day visit to Pakistan by the Chinese Deputy Prime Minister Meng Jianzhou. Both of these developments come in the midst of growing concern among U.S. officials about the problem of ISI (Pakistani intelligence) support for a militant group known as the Haqqani Network, which has bases in Pakistan and conducts operations against American and Indian targets in Afghanistan.

For example, the Haqqani Network is widely suspected of being behind the bombing of the Indian embassy in Kabul in 2008, and more recently cell phone trails have established that members of the organization were in contact with Pakistani intelligence before and during the assault on the U.S. embassy in the Afghan capital this month.

Pakistan's response, however, has been to deny any links between the ISI and Haqqani Network, while accusing the United States of creating the group in the first place. In fact, Jalaluddin Haqqani, the godfather of the organization, was already a devotee to jihadist ideology by the mid-1970s, aiming back then to overthrow the government of Mohammed Daoud Khan, who had seized power from King Zahir in 1973 and established an Afghan republic.

Thus, the militants behind the Haqqani Network (including some Chechen, Palestinian and Yemeni fellow fighters) were already active well before the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan and the subsequent joint CIA-ISI enterprise of providing support to various mujahideen warriors in their jihad against the Soviet occupation forces in the 1980s.

Although the leadership of the Pakistan Army is now firmly refusing to take any action against the Haqqani Network in the form of a military offensive in North Waziristan, Pakistan's Interior Minister Rehman Malik has vowed to attack and pursue Muslim Uighur militants who operate in China's western province of Xinjiang but take refuge and undergo training in Pakistan's border areas with Afghanistan (often in cooperation with al-Qa'ida and other Islamist militant groups that have firm footholds in Pakistan). As Malik himself put it, "We will strike very hard against them [the Uighur militants]. Anybody who is the enemy of China is the enemy of Pakistan."

Strengthening ties extend to the realm of arms deals, and now even entail the deployment of Chinese troops in Pakistani territory. For example, in May, China agreed to provide 50 new JF-17 Thunder multi-role fighter planes to the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) "immediately" (a deal had been signed earlier, but during the Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Gilani's visit to China discussion was also raised over the possibility of further Chinese supplies to the PAF of J-20 Stealth and Xiaolong multi-purpose light fighter aircraft). It would appear that as Pakistan increases its military cooperation with China, the country is distancing itself from American military support and aid. Indeed, it is expected that the presence of U.S. military personnel in Pakistan will be halved.

As for the stationing of Chinese troops in Pakistan, it is estimated that there are currently around 11,000 soldiers of the People's Liberation Army in Pakistan's northern province of Gilgit-Baltistan and in Pakistani Kashmir, facilitating the opening of branches of Chinese banks and construction of concrete residential houses for these troops. This development should primarily be understood in light of the fact that engineers are working on a railroad that is intended to extend from the port of Gwadar in the southwestern province of Balochistan (a port that will be very important for future Chinese proximity to the Persian Gulf) all the way into western China.

Once Pakistan's strengthening alliance with China in opposition to what is perceived as a U.S.-India axis is taken into account, the policies of the Pakistani military and intelligence towards the various Islamist militants based or operating in Pakistan become very easy to explain. The inconsistency of refusing to launch an offensive against the Haqqani Network while vowing to hunt down Uighur militants has already been noted.

Beijing certainly has no problem with ISI backing of the Haqqani Network: so long as the group harms Indian influence and interests in Afghanistan, so much the better for China. China, after all, feels the need as an ever growing economic power to compete with India for Afghanistan's vast mineral reserves, having already invested $3 billion in the vast Aynak copper mine.

Now we can also see why the ISI and Pakistan Army safeguard and protect the Taliban Shura and other Islamist militants based or operating in Balochistan (especially in and around the provincial capital of Quetta), for they serve as good proxies against the Baloch nationalist insurgency. The Baloch insurgency not only regards Pakistani rule and the presence of Punjabi settlers as an occupation but also is justifiably outraged at the fact that the indigenous population is largely deprived of income from Balochistan's massive copper reserves, which are being developed and exploited by China and the Pakistani central government.

Pakistan's desire to counter India applies to Punjab province as well, where a host of Islamist militant organizations (e.g. Lashkar-e-Taiba) enjoy the patronage of the ISI and the provincial government headed by Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif.

These groups have often provided safe havens for militants returning from Afghanistan (as well as those in the border regions who have been given escape routes and early warnings by the Pakistani security forces during operations as part of a double game to win American financial support), allowing many Islamist militants to set up their own seminaries in south Punjab. The predictable result of all this has of course been the increasing destabilization of Punjab itself, giving rise to a phenomenon known as the "Punjabi Taliban" that has bombed Sufi shrines, inter alia.

The emerging picture is clearly one of a Sino-Pakistani partnership aligned against what is seen as a U.S.-India axis designed to limit Pakistan's assertion of its interests in Afghanistan, Kashmir and parts of India on account of an expansionist policy known as "strategic depth," which has always been espoused by the Pakistani military and intelligence and is rooted in Pakistan's perception of its identity as an Islamic state.

These developments could well lead to what some analysts have termed a "looming superpower clash" between the United States and China over Afghanistan and the wider region, triggered by Pakistan.

Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and an intern at the Middle East Forum.

Palestinian Protesters Confront U.S. Delegation in West Bank

From: foxnews.com

RAMALLAH, West Bank – A small crowd of Palestinian protesters accosted an American diplomatic delegation visiting the West Bank Tuesday, blocking a convoy of vehicles, chanting "shame on you" and hurling a shoe -- a deeply insulting gesture in Arab culture.

The Americans, including employees of the consulate in Jerusalem, were on their way to a U.S. reception in town of Ramallah meant to reaffirm cultural and educational ties with the Palestinians.

But relations have grown strained recently, with Palestinians disappointed over President Barack Obama's handling of Mideast peace efforts. They say he is not tough enough on Israel and are also upset over U.S. vows to block their attempt to receive full membership at the United Nations.

Members of Congress have already put a hold on $200 million in economic assistance to the Palestinians to dissuade them from pushing forward with the U.N. request. Officials have also hinted that aid could be cut altogether if the Palestinians proceed with their plans. The U.S. provides some $500 million a year to the Palestinians.

The activists involved in the demonstration, which was organized on Facebook, called for a boycott of the U.S. reception. They held banners reading, "No for the American funds," "Veto America" and "Obama, your vision is shortsighted."

One man, dressed in a tie and sunglasses, spewed an English-language expletive at the convoy.

A State Department official said employees of the American consulate in Jerusalem were among those caught up in the protest.

After a short delay, Palestinian police cleared a path for the American convoy to enter the resort where the reception took place. But several Palestinian invitees said they were intimidated by the protesters and backed out of the event at the last moment.

Tami Rafedi, a 35-year-old Palestinian activist pursuing a Ph.D in Florida on a U.S. scholarship, said the action was meant to "send a message to America."

"You cannot stand against our national aspirations and you cannot blackmail us with your money," she said.

The U.S. is committed to Palestinian independence, but like Israel, it says the United Nations is not the proper place to achieve statehood, and that peace can only come about through negotiations.

With peace talks stalled for most of the past three years, the Palestinians have said they have little choice but to turn to the U.N.

They refuse to negotiate with Israel while it continues to build in Jewish settlements in the West Bank and east Jerusalem, saying the construction is a sign of bad faith. The Palestinians have expressed disappointment over Obama's failure to halt settlement construction, after harshly condemning the practice upon taking office.

Russia, China Veto U.N. Resolution to Condemn Syria for Crackdown

From: foxnews

UNITED NATIONS – Russia and China vetoed a U.N. Security Council resolution Tuesday that threatened sanctions against Syria if it didn't immediately halt its military crackdown against civilians.

European members of the Security Council tried to avoid a veto by watering down the language on sanctions three times, but they failed.

The vote was 9-2 with four abstentions -- India, South Africa, Brazil and Lebanon.

Russia's U.N. Ambassador Vitaly Churkin told the council after the vote that his country did not support Syrian President Bashar Assad's regime or the violence but opposed the resolution because it was "based on a philosophy of confrontation," contained "an ultimatum of sanctions," and was against a peaceful settlement of a crisis.

China's Ambassador Li Bandong said his country is concerned about the ongoing violence and wants to see speedy reforms but opposed the resolution because "sanctions, or threat of sanctions, do not help the sitiuation in Syria but rather complicates the situation."

France's U.N. Ambassador Gerard Araud denounced the veto, saying it "goes against the sense of history that is under way in the region."

"I would like to commend all of those who fight against the bloodthirsty crackdown in Syria," he said.

The Security Council has been divided over a response to the violence, with Western nations and some supporters in Africa and Latin America pressing for tough action against Syria while Russia, China and other members opposed even mentioning the threat of sanctions.

If the resolution had been approved, it would have been the first by the Security Council against Syria since Assad's military began its crackdown against protesters in mid-March.

Violence injures 14; Saudis promise 'iron fist' against 'instigators'

From Mohammed Jamjoom, CNN

(CNN) -- Security forces in eastern Saudi Arabia clashed with armed people provoked by a "foreign country," the Saudi Press Agency said Tuesday, citing an official source at the Interior Ministry.

The incident occurred Monday night in Awamiyya, in the Qatif region of Eastern province, where many Shiites in the predominantly Sunni country live. At least 14 people were wounded.

"A group of instigators" congregated in the town's roundabout and "used motorcycles and Molotov cocktails to undermine security and interfere in national sovereignty," according to the report.

"As security forces managed to disperse them, the group fired with automatic weapons at the security forces from a nearby neighborhood which resulted in the injury of 11 security forces, nine of them from gunshots and two from Molotov cocktails. In addition, a civilian and two women were wounded from gunshots in a nearby building. All were taken to a hospital," the report said.

The ministry said that it "will not tolerate any threat to the security and stability of the homeland and its citizens, and will respond with an iron fist."

The Interior Ministry source was quoted as saying the "group was incited by a foreign country that seeks to extend its influence outside its circle and to undermine the security of the homeland." It didn't name the country.

There have been street disturbances in the predominantly Shiite country of Bahrain nearby, ruled by a Sunni monarchy. And there has been tension between Iran, a predominantly Shiite nation, and the Sunni world.

This year, Shiite protesters in Qatif city and Awamiyya urged the government to release Shiite prisoners and grant more rights. Those protests, which were peaceful, also urged the withdrawal of regional forces from neighboring Bahrain.

U.N.: 'Scores' dead in Somalia bombing

From David McKenzie, CNN

(CNN) -- A truck filled with explosives barreled into a government complex in the heart of Somalia's restive capital Tuesday, a brazen strike killing dozens of people, including students registering for an education program.

The U.N. Political Office for Somalia labeled the strike as a "vehicle-borne suicide bomb attack" that left "scores" of people dead and many others wounded.

"This is a carnage," said Col. Abdullahi Barise, a Somali police spokesman.

Al-Shabaab, an Islamist movement that has links to al Qaeda, claimed responsibility, said Somali President Sharif Ahmed, who deplored the strike and said more than 70 people were killed and 150 people were injured -- most of whom were young students.

He said "Al-Shabaab/al Qaeda" is an "enemy of the Somali people" intent "on destroying the country and any hope for its people's future." A claim of responsibility was spotted on a militant website as well.

One local journalist, Hasan Osman Abdi, who visited the scene, said he believes he saw about 100 dead. He spoke with wounded victims and other eyewitnesses who also said they believed around 100 died. Seriously injured people were being taken out of Mogadishu for treatment, a hospital official told Abdi.

Lt. Col. Paddy Nkunda, an African Union forces spokesman, initially said more than 30 people were killed. Along with the students and parents, casualties included several federal government soldiers, the African Union forces said.

Nkunda said the truck slammed into the gate of a complex containing several government ministries, including the Education Ministry, and a number of the buildings collapsed.

He said that most of those killed were students and their parents who were registering for a Turkish education program. The Somali government, which condemned the attack, said the people were waiting "for results of scholarships." It said no senior government official was hurt.

The International Committee of the Red Cross said more than 90 people injured in the blast were admitted to the city's Medina Hospital.

U.N. officials condemned the attack. "These actions are unacceptable. The murder of ordinary Somalis can not be justified for any reason," said Augustine P. Mahiga, U.N. special representative for Somalia.

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he was "appalled by the vicious suicide bomb attack targeting government offices and ministries, including students at the education ministry."

"It is incomprehensible that innocents are being senselessly targeted," he said. "The attack is all the more abhorrent coming at a time when Somali political leaders, through efforts such as the recent Mogadishu conference, have been working together to chart a peaceful political future for Somalia."

Al-Shabaab is a group in Somalia that was designated as a foreign terrorist organization by the United States government in March 2008. It is waging a war against Somalia's government to implement a stricter form of Islamic law, or Sharia.

Federal and African Union forces in the impoverished and chaotic nation have battled the group for years. Many analysts believe that Al-Shabaab has been severely weakened by the African Union Mission in Somalia, targeted strikes against foreign members and the weakening of al Qaeda.

Al-Shabaab said in August that it was withdrawing from Mogadishu, and the Transitional Federal Government, backed by African Union peacekeepers, now control most districts of the capital city, the United Nations office said.

Nkunda said forces have pushed Al-Shabaab outside most of Mogadishu, but the group is still a major threat.

"They left the city, but they are now moving into asymmetrical attacks -- suicide bombings, snipers, and kidnapping and other nonconventional means," he said. "We are here to stop Al-Shabaab, so we are very concerned and we condemn this barbaric attack on innocent students and their parents."

Suicide attacks were unheard of in Somalia before 2007, but security analysts believe the attacks emerged because of the influence of foreign fighters.

Militants targeted students in December 2009, when a male suicide bomber dressed in women's clothing attacked a medical school graduation ceremony in Mogadishu.

The troubled Horn of Africa nation has been beset by human rights abuses, drought and famine, as well as fighting across the country. More than 300,000 people have been forced to flee Somalia, with many headed to refugee camps in Kenya, the office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees said Tuesday.
The refugee agency said it is "very concerned" about fighting on the Somalia-Kenya border, where there have been reports of clashes between Al-Shabaab and federal forces.

Violence has occurred around the Somalia town of Dobley, a main transit point for Somalis heading to the Dadaab refugee complex in Kenya.

Mahiga also condemned Al-Shabaab's raid on Dhusamareb in central Somalia on Monday night, as well as its attack on Dobley in Lower Juba near Somalia's border with Kenya.

"Although the extremists have left the capital, it is very difficult to prevent these types of terrorist attacks, which we have consistently warned are likely to be on the increase," Mahiga said.