Region

BEITUNIYA, Palestinian Territories — Israel released a prominent leader from Islamist movement Hamas on Sunday after he spent more than two years in prison, Palestinian officials said.

Hassan Yousef, who is also a member of the Ramallah-based Palestinian Legislative Council, told reporters after his release he would work with Hamas rivals “Fateh and other Palestinian factions to achieve reconciliation”.

Dozens of Hamas supporters received Yousef at Beituniya, near Ofer prison. Yousef had been arrested in November 2011 for belonging to an illegal organisation.

Longtime tensions between Hamas and Fateh boiled over in a week of fighting in 2007 that left the Islamist movement in control of Gaza and effectively divided the Palestinian territories in two.

The two sides have made repeated attempts to heal the rift, including an Egyptian-brokered deal in 2011 in which they agreed to make way for an interim government of independents to organise fresh elections throughout the territories.

The agreement has never been implemented.

Yousef, one of the founders of the Islamist movement, made headlines after his son Mossab said he had spied for Israel between 1997 and 2007.

Mossab relocated to the US, changed his name to Joseph and converted to Christianity.

Yousef disowned his son in a letter sent during a previous term in an Israeli prison. 

RAMALLAH — Israel on Sunday began transferring bodies of Palestinian fighters killed by Israeli forces to the West Bank for reburial, sources on both sides said.

According to Fatma Abdallah, media coordinator for the “Palestinian national committee to return the bodies of martyrs”, Israel handed over the body of Majdi Khanfar, originally from Silat Al Zaher near Jenin, via a crossing in the north of the West Bank.

Israeli public radio said Khanfar was killed 10 years ago.

Abdallah told AFP another two bodies out of the 36 Israel had committed to returning would be handed over on Tuesday, as part of a court ruling.

The Israeli army said “in accordance with a supreme court decision and following the instruction of the government of Israel, the IDF [Israel Defence Forces] has begun the return of bodies of terrorists to their respective families in the Palestinian Authority”.

“The IDF is attending this assignment with the utmost professionalism and the required sensitivity,” it said in a statement.

The transfer of the bodies comes shortly after the third batch of Palestinian prisoners were released by Israel, as part of ongoing peace talks between the sides.

But Abdallah said the move was unrelated to the talks and came after petitions by the families.

CAIRO — Ousted Egyptian president Mohamed Morsi and 24 others, including top activists who opposed him and his predecessor, will stand trial for insulting the judiciary, state media and judicial sources said Sunday.

The defendants have been charged for allegedly making comments in the media and online that showed “disrespect and hatred for the courts and the judiciary,” state news agency MENA said.

It was unclear whether the defendants would be tried together, and the latest charges will be the fourth set of proceedings against Morsi since his ouster.

Under the latest round of charges, Morsi has been accused for giving a speech days before his ouster by the army in July, when he allegedly accused a judge of overseeing electoral fraud in a 2005 vote, MENA said.

Morsi, Egypt’s first freely elected civilian president, is already on trial for inciting the killings of opposition protesters in December 2012 outside the presidential palace.

His second trial over a prison break during the 2011 uprising is to start on January 28, while no date has yet been set for his third trial on charges related to espionage.

Other defendants in the trial for insulting the judiciary include several Islamists and Alaa Abdel Fattah, one of the activists who led the revolt against dictator Hosni Mubarak in 2011.

He is already in detention for participating in an illegal protest in November.

Abdel Fattah has been charged over comments on Twitter several months ago about legal proceedings concerning 2011 raids on the offices of foreign civil society groups, said his father and lawyer Ahmed Seif Al Islam.

Amr Hamzawy, a well known political science professor, and human rights lawyer Amir Salem will also stand trial. The pair had backed the ouster of Morsi in July along with Abdel Fattah.

Salem, who represented families of slain protesters in Mubarak’s murder trial, told AFP he has been charged over comments he made related to this case.

“I am very surprised to find myself among [leaders] of the Brotherhood and the [Islamist] Gamaa Islamiya after I opposed them,” he said, adding he had consistently fought “for the independence of the judiciary”.

The other Brotherhood leaders to stand trial include former parliament speaker Saad Al Katatni, and Mohamed Al Beltagi, the secretary general of the Brotherhood’s political Freedom and Justice Party.

DUBAI — The United Arab Emirates (UAE) will introduce compulsory military service for young Emirati men, it said on Sunday, a move highlighting the Gulf state’s concern over turmoil in its neighbourhood.

The UAE, a federation of seven emirates with mostly an expatriate population, faces no immediate threats from neighbours and has been spared militant attacks that have afflicted other countries such as Saudi Arabia.

Like other Gulf Arab states, the US ally has strong military ties with Western powers which say they are committed to helping the OPEC member country deter or repel any threat.

But the UAE, a big buyer of Western military hardware, has a territorial dispute with its much bigger neighbour, Iran, over three Gulf islands controlled by the Islamic republic.

It is also wary of a neighbourhood fraught with conflicts, including in Syria, Iraq and Israel and the Palestinian territories.

The state WAM news agency said the Cabinet had endorsed a draft law which requires all men over the age of 18 or those who have finished high school and are under 30, to complete military training. It is optional for women.

It was not immediately clear when the system would start being implemented.

The UAE has a population of around 8.2 million, about 90 per cent of whom are foreigners.

“Protecting the nation and preserving its independence and sovereignty is a sacred national duty and the new law will be implemented on all,” UAE Prime Minister and Dubai ruler Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum said on his Twitter account.

“Our gains are a red line that must be protected.”

Men who have finished high school will serve nine months, while those who do not have a high school diploma will serve for two years, according to Sheikh Mohammed’s tweets.

The move follows a similar decision by Qatar’s Cabinet in November which approved a law to make brief military service compulsory on male Qataris between the age of 18 and 35.

‘Red zone’

Emirati political scientist Abdulkhaleq Abdulla said the decision showed that for the UAE to preserve its stability and prosperity “they really need to be on guard 24/7”.

“With this kind of decision today, I think the country is saying ‘We want to continue with the stability and prosperity but we are also well-equipped for any eventuality’,” Abdulla told Reuters.

“We are living in a red zone... it’s a very difficult zone with a lot of difficult neighbours. You need to be on guard all the time.”

Riad Kahwaji, chief executive of the INEGMA Middle East think tank that focuses on security and defence issues, said the move would help “boost national solidarity”.

The reserve army borne out of the conscription could make up more than twice the number of troops in the regular army, said Kahwaji.

“We have to remember the UAE has been procuring a lot of military systems, and they’ve been relying on foreign recruits to help man a lot of these,” he said.

“Now with the conscription the UAE will start having more... self-sufficiency in manning a lot of the systems.”

The London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies estimates the size of the UAE armed forces at 51,000, with an army of 44,000, navy of 2,500 and air force of 4,500.

Hamad Al Rahma, a 26-year-old Emirati lawyer, said he was in favour of the move. “National service teaches a person important qualities,” he told Reuters.

Western leaders have hailed a decision by Syria’s opposition to attend an international peace conference on Wednesday alongside representatives of a regime they despise and remain determined to overthrow, Agence France-Presse reported.

After weeks of hesitation and threats to boycott the talks, the deeply divided National Coalition said it will go to Switzerland, with the sole aim of toppling President Bashar Assad.

The so-called Geneva II meeting aims to set up a transitional government to end a brutal war estimated to have killed more than 130,000 people and forced millions from their homes in nearly three years.

US Secretary of State John Kerry hailed the opposition’s “courageous” decision to attend the talks, describing it as a “path that will ultimately lead to a better future for all Syrians”.

“We all know that the process ahead will be difficult, but I say directly to the Syrian people: We will stand by you every mile of the journey as you seek to achieve the freedom and dignity that all Syrians deserve,” he said in remarks echoed by Britain, France and Germany.

Russia, too, hailed the announcement.

“That is the right decision, we have always said that one has to go to the forum and enter into dialogue with the government,” Deputy Foreign Minister Mikhail Bogdanov told the state ITAR-TASS news agency.

“The work of the conference will be based on this, the main thing is the launch of inter-Syrian talks,” said Bogdanov.

The coalition voted Saturday by 58 to 14 to attend the peace conference in the Swiss town of Montreux, with only 75 of the around 120 delegates taking part in the secret ballot — a sign that strong disagreement persists.

Coalition leader Ahmad Jarba said the group was going to Switzerland to remove the “butcher” Assad from power.

“The Geneva II negotiation table is a one-way road aimed at achieving all the demands of the revolution... and first and foremost stripping the butcher [Assad] of all his powers,” he said.

The head of the rebel Free Syrian Army, General Salim Idriss, called for a “peaceful resolution” to the conflict, and urged the opposition to uphold the “goals of the revolution” and remove Assad and his allies from power.

The FSA, the armed wing of the Coalition has been greatly marginalised by the emergence of Al Qaeda-linked jihadists and Islamist rebel brigades.

Coalition member Munzer Aqbiq said the opposition would form within 24 hours a delegation made up of diplomats, politicians, FSA representatives and legal experts.

The coalition has been under intense pressure from its Western and Arab backers to attend the talks.

UN chief Ban Ki-moon on Sunday hailed the opposition’s decision as a boost to efforts to halt the Syrian war.

“I look forward to the opposition’s expedited formation of a delegation that broadly represents the diversity of the Syrian opposition, including women,” added the UN Secretary General, who is the convenor of the conference.

The regime has said it will send a high-level delegation, and has offered concessions ahead of the talks, including a prisoner swap and a security plan for the battered northern city of Aleppo.

Foreign Minister Walid Muallem said Damascus was determined to ensure the talks were a success, and sent a letter to the United Nations saying the conference is about tackling extremists.

Kerry dismissed the concessions, saying “nobody is going to be fooled”.

“They can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions, the bottom line is we are going to Geneva to implement Geneva I, and if Assad doesn’t do that he will invite greater response,” he said.

More than 35 countries will gather in the Swiss cities of Montreux and Geneva from Wednesday for the peace talks, as reports from Syria spoke of more bloodletting and infighting among rebels.

Also Sunday, dozens of critically ill residents of a besieged Palestinian refugee camp south of Damascus were evacuated, a Palestinian official told AFP.

The Yarmouk camp has been largely under the control of Syrian opposition forces for months and government forces have imposed a siege and choked off the entry of supplies into the camp since September.

Palestine Liberation Organisation official Anwar Abdul Hadi said the evacuations would continue daily until 600 residents in a critical condition had left Yarmouk.

‘Giving up power’

Syrian state media dismissed as “not accurate” a report by news agency Interfax that Assad told visiting Russian parliamentarians he has no intention of giving up power and the issue is not up for discussion, according to Reuters.

Assad was quoted as telling the visitors days ahead of an internationally sponsored peace conference on Syria that “if we wanted to give up, we would have done so at the very beginning. We are on guard for our country. This issue is not up for discussion.”

Syrian state television said that the Assad quotes on Interfax “are not accurate”. It also said Assad “did not conduct an interview with the agency”, although Interfax had not said that it had.

The comments attributed to Assad underscore differences between participants ahead of the January 22 talks in Montreux, Switzerland, seen as the most serious global effort yet to end Syria’s three-year conflict, during which Assad has enjoyed Russia’s protection.

Syria’s main political opposition group in exile agreed on Saturday to attend the talks, dubbed “Geneva 2”, and said that three rebel groups supported the move.

But the fractured National Coalition itself has little influence on the ground in Syria and other major opposition fighter units have rejected its authority and peace talks.

The United Nations hopes the talks will bring about a political transition in the country, and US Secretary of State John Kerry said last week that Syria’s future had no place for Assad.

Syria, however, said in a letter to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon last week that its focus at the peace conference would be on fighting “terrorism”.

Alexander Yushchenko, parliamentarian and member of the delegation to Syria, was quoted in Itar-Tass, another Russian news agency, as saying Assad “suggested that his opponents announce their candidacy and run against him for the votes of the people... but so far however, no one has done it.”

WASHINGTON — The US military is planning to train Iraqi troops in a third country to help counter a resurgence of Al Qaeda-linked militants, a defence official told AFP on Friday.

Pending an agreement with Jordan or another nation to host the effort, the training was “likely” to go ahead as both Baghdad and Washington supported the idea, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

However, Pentagon officials are not contemplating sending an American team of military instructors into Iraq, partly because it would require negotiating a legal agreement with Baghdad that proved elusive in the past.

Such a move also could spark political rancor in Washington that would revive old wounds over the controversial US-led war in Iraq.

“We’re in discussions with the Iraqis on how we can improve the Iraqi security forces,” Colonel Steven Warren, a Pentagon spokesman, told reporters.

He said a possible counter-terrorism training effort was under consideration and that the Pentagon planned to send weapons and ammunition at the request of the Iraqi government.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Al Maliki “is looking for essentially small arms and ammunition, stuff that can help him right now” in the fight against Islamist extremists, Warren said.

The United States was preparing to ship “several thousand” M-16 and M-4 assault rifles as well as ammunition, the defence official said.

Iraqi security forces are battling to roll back anti-government militants who have gained ground in Anbar province, west of Baghdad, in recent weeks.

The United States led an invasion of Iraq in 2003, toppling president Saddam Hussein. American troops withdrew from the country in 2011 after failing to reach a deal with Baghdad providing legal safeguards for US forces.

Less than 300 US troops are now stationed in Iraq, with a contingent of marines guarding the American embassy and more than 100 service members overseeing military assistance.

In an interview published Thursday, Maliki said his government was benefiting from intelligence provided by Washington and had asked for weapons and counter-terrorism training.

“We are going to ask for training, in some areas we need training, especially for our counter-terrorism units,” Maliki told The Washington Post.

Asked if US trainers would come to Iraq, the prime minister said: “Yes, bringing Americans to Iraq, or Iraqi soldiers could go to Jordan and train.”

He said intelligence collaboration with the United States “is very important for us” and that the Americans were “tapping Al Qaeda communications, finding their camps and places on the ground, observing their routes over the borders”.

He added: “We work together on that field but we need more cooperation.”

The United States already has provided Hellfire missiles after a request from Maliki’s government.

ISTANBUL — Syria’s deeply divided opposition finally agreed Saturday to join an international peace conference, a day after Damascus offered concessions including a ceasefire plan for the battered city of Aleppo.

The exiled umbrella group the National Coalition voted at a meeting in Istanbul in favour of attending next week’s talks in the face of intense pressure from the West and Arab states.

The so-called Geneva II conference opening on Wednesday is aimed at setting up a transitional government to find a way out of the brutal conflict that has killed 130,000 people and made millions homeless since March 2011.

Damascus had already said it would attend, although the US Secretary of State John Kerry has accused the regime of diversionary tactics, saying “nobody is going to be fooled”.

The coalition — a grouping of myriad organisations — had been locked in procedural disputes which delayed the decision by a day.

But in a secret ballot, it agreed by 58 votes to 14 with two abstentions and one blank vote to take part, according to an official tally.

The opposition has long struggled to put forward a united front during the civil war, rocked by infighting over its leadership and efforts to form a government in exile.

And many members had been appalled at the idea of sitting down at the same table with representatives of the hated regime they have been trying to unseat for almost three years.

In a surprise move in Moscow on Friday, Syria’s Foreign Minister Walid Mouallem presented his Russian counterpart Sergei Lavrov with a security plan aimed at halting “all military actions” in the devastated northern city of Aleppo.

Mouallem also said the regime was willing to swap prisoners with the rebels in the first such mass exchange since the conflict erupted, while Lavrov said Damascus was ready to take “a series of humanitarian steps” to improve the delivery of aid.

And on Saturday, food aid entered the besieged Yarmuk Palestinian refugee camp in Damascus — where dozens of people are reported to have died of hunger and lack of medical care — for the first time in four months.

Syria, Mouallem said, would “make every effort to ensure Geneva II is a success and meets the aspirations of the Syrian people and the direct orders of President Bashar Assad”.

But Kerry warned the regime it could not divert the peace talks away from the aim of installing a new government, after a letter from Mouallem to the UN said Geneva was about getting rid of extremists in Syria.

‘Important opportunity will be missed’

“They can bluster, they can protest, they can put out distortions, the bottom line is we are going to Geneva to implement Geneva I, and if Assad doesn’t do that he will invite greater response,” he said.

Kerry also sought to allay opposition fears that the negotiations would somehow legitimise Assad’s regime and leave him in power, saying: “It’s not going to happen.”

Media reports have suggested that the United States and Britain are threatening to withdraw support from the opposition if it fails to send a delegation.

But factions within the Coalition — set up in its current form in November 2012 — have been wary of being drawn into a process they fear could result in Assad clinging to power.

“The goal of any political solution must be to install a government of transition that Assad will play no part in,” said coalition spokesman Khaled Saleh.

The coalition is beset by rivalries between groups backed by either Qatar or Saudi Arabia, while on the ground, more mainstream Islamist factions are battling Al Qaeda-linked jihadists.

“If the Syrian opposition refuses to take part in Geneva II, an important opportunity will be missed,” a Turkish diplomat had said before the vote.

UN refugee chief Antonio Guterres, meanwhile, pleaded for the world to ease the massive burden on countries sheltering the millions of refugees and to open their borders to those fleeing the war.

He was speaking at a meeting in Turkey on Friday of regional countries on the refugee crisis after the United Nations launched a massive $6.5-billion appeal for aid.

“For me it is unacceptable to see Syrian refugees drowning, dying in the Mediterranean or pushed back at some borders,” he said.

CAIRO — Egypt’s new constitution was approved by 98.1 per cent, with turnout higher than in a 2012 vote under now ousted Islamist president Mohamed Morsi, a senior government official said Saturday.

The turnout and landslide “yes” vote proved that Morsi’s overthrow was a “popular revolution”, another official told a press conference formally announcing the results.

The new charter replaces an Islamist-inspired one adopted in a December 2012 referendum under Morsi with about two-thirds of the vote and a 33 per cent turnout.

Authorities say it protects women’s rights and freedom of speech.

Electoral committee head Nabil Salib said the turnout in the referendum on Tuesday and Wednesday, which was boycotted by Morsi’s Muslim Brotherhood and its Islamist allies, “reached 38.6 per cent”.

Of them, 98.1 per cent of voters approved the new constitution.

Army chief Abdel Fattah Al Sisi, the general who ousted Morsi in July after massive protests, was monitoring the outcome for an indication of support for a possible presidential bid, military officials said.

He is expected to make up his mind now that the results have been announced, with his backers already calling for a rally on January 25 to emphasise their support.

Presidential and parliamentary elections have been promised for later this year.

Sisi is wildly popular among the millions who took to the streets against Morsi, but the Islamist’s followers revile him for what they say was a “coup” against Egypt’s first freely elected and civilian president.

The Brotherhood, harried by a deadly crackdown since Morsi’s removal, dismissed the referendum as “farce” and called for further protests.

It has also called rallies for January 25, the third anniversary of the 2011 uprising that overthrew veteran strongman Hosni Mubarak.

Interior Minister Mohamed Ibrahim also called for demonstrations on the same day to counter an Islamist “plot to spark chaos”, an unusual appeal from the top police official tasked with enforcing a law that restricts protests.

More than 1,000 people, mostly Islamists, have been killed and thousands imprisoned in a police crackdown on pro-Morsi protests.

On Friday, three men were killed in Cairo and another in clashes in Fayoum, southwest of the capital, the health ministry said, as police clamped down on the Islamist rallies.

The government hoped a large turnout in the referendum would bolster its democratic credentials and further marginalise the Islamists.

‘Sisi for presidency’

Many who took part in the referendum said their vote was also an endorsement of Sisi, seen as a strong man capable of restoring security after the three years of turmoil following Mubarak’s overthrow.

Morsi’s supporters wish to have Sisi tried internationally for crimes against humanity for the deadly crackdown, but the general is adored by his supporters and will face no serious competition if he stands for election.

“If general Sisi nominates himself for president his chances will be great,” Ahmed Al Muslimani, a presidential aide told the London-based Al-Sharq Al Awsat newspaper in an interview.

Muslimani said he spoke with the general a few days before and he had not yet made up his mind, but other officials say his candidacy appears to be a foregone conclusion.

State-run Al Akhbar newspaper, meanwhile, trumpeted its support for Sisi, declaring in a Saturday front-page banner that: “All roads lead Sisi to the presidency of the republic.”

In the first test of democracy after Morsi’s overthrow, the run-up to the referendum was marred by arrests of activists who campaigned against the constitution.

“There was no real opportunity for those opposed to the government’s roadmap or the proposed constitution to dissent,” said monitoring group Democracy International, which observed the referendum.

The group said its monitors witnessed security forces and campaigning material inside polling stations, but there was “no evidence that such problems substantially affected the outcome of this referendum”.

The US administration is closely watching the results of Egypt’s referendum, but has not yet decided whether to unfreeze some $1.5 billion (1.1 billion euros) in aid, the State Department said Thursday.

The vote has put the Brotherhood, which the government designated last month as a terrorist group, on the back foot.

Morsi himself has been in custody since his ouster and is currently standing trial in the first of three separate cases against him.