 Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country suffered after invasions during World War II and he will "stand to the end" to get full compensation, the Jerusalem Post reported. Ahmadinejad said he'd write to U.N. secretary General Ban Ki-moon to ask for compensation for damages caused to Iran during the war, and for use of its territory and resources by allied powers, the Post reported. "You inflicted lots of damages to the Iranian nation, put your weight on the shoulders [of the Iranian people] and became victors in World War II. You didn't even share the war profits with Iran," Ahmadinejad said. Britain and the Soviet Union invaded Iran on August 26, 1941, to secure oil fields and supply lines for the Soviets. The Post notes the Iranians suffered when food, fuel, and other essentials were given to the invading powers. Ahmadinejad reportedly also warned that Iran may demand similar compensation for the first World War. Click here to read the full report at JPost.com FoxNews
 The son of the deposed Shah of Iran has urged nations worldwide to withdraw their ambassadors from Tehran to protest violence against opposition demonstrators. Reza Pahlavi, who has lived in exile since his father was toppled in the 1979 revolution, has appealed for a UN investigation into human rights violations during recent unrest. In a letter, Pahlavi urges UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon to press Iran to release those arrested and act to "halt the intolerable and increasingly dangerous march of events". At least eight people died during protests on Sunday, while hundreds were arrested in the worst unrest in the aftermath of June's disputed presidential election. SMH H/T: The Jawa Report
 Afghanistan's election commission has canceled Saturday's presidential runoff and proclaimed President Hamid Karzai victor of the war-ravaged nation's tumultuous ballot. Independent Election Commission chairman Azizullah Lodin announced Karzai as the victor during a news conference in Kabul on Monday. President Hamid Karzai had already effectively secured a second term when his only challenger, former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah, dropped out of the race Sunday because he said the vote would not be free or fair. The first round was marred by massive fraud. Meanwhile, the U.N. chief made a surprise visit to Afghanistan on Monday as international pressure mounted for a quick resolution to the country's electoral turmoil following the withdrawal of President Hamid Karzai's only challenger. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was to meet with the two men "to assure them and the Afghan people of the continuing support of the United Nations toward the development of the country," the statement said. Read more here,,,, Source: FoxNews
 UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon warned that the presence of armed Hizbullah and Palestinian terrorists in Lebanon is contributing to tensions and insecurity and could eventually lead to a resumption of hostilities. In his six-month report to the UN Security Council on Lebanon, obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press, the UN chief focused on implementation of a 2004 resolution that calls for the disbanding of all militias and urged that Hizbullah and the Palestinian groups be disarmed quickly. "The existence and activities of Lebanese and non-Lebanese militias ... continue to pose a threat to the stability of the country," Ban said. "The presence of weapons in the country outside government control and the continued existence of militias contribute to tensions and insecurity in Lebanon and beyond, and could eventually lead to the resumption of hostilities unless immediately addressed," he warned. The secretary-general said he took seriously recent reports "of a proliferation of extremist groups activities and of arms in Lebanon," but said the UN does not have the means to independently verify them. He said Hizbullah's independent paramilitary force "poses first and foremost a key challenge to the safety of Lebanese civilians, and to the government's monopoly on the legitimate use of force. "I call on the leaders of Hizbullah to complete the transformation of the group into a solely Lebanese political party," Ban said. "Regional parties that maintain close ties with Hizbullah must encourage it in the same direction," he added. Ban also expressed great concern at the continued presence of Palestinian paramilitary groups - the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command and Fatah al-Intifadah - outside refugee camps near Lebanon's border with Syria. He said he has called on the government to dismantle four Palestinian military bases along the Lebanese-Syrian border and a fifth base south of Beirut. Ban said the disarming and disbanding of all militias should "take place through an inclusive political dialogue that addresses the political interests of all Lebanese, and ultimately confirms the sole political and military authority of the government of Lebanon." The secretary-general urged all countries to abide by the UN arms embargo against militias, saying "this is a key factor for stability in Lebanon and the region." Ban called the June 2009 parliamentary elections "another milestone" in Lebanon's commitment to democracy and urged the country's leaders - who have not been able to form a government - to "transcend sectarian and individual interests and promote the future and the interests of the nation." He also praised the establishment of diplomatic relations between Lebanon and Syria and urged both countries to mark their border. Source: JPost 
 Yitzhak Benhorin Israeli ambassador to the UN Gabriella Shalev on Tuesday filed an official complaint with Secretary-General Ban-Ki-moon over what she said was Hezbollah's violation of Security Council resolution 1701, which ended the war between Israel and the Shiite group in 2006. The compliant referred to Monday evening's explosion at the home of a Hezbollah operative in south Lebanon, which according to Israel proved the Shiite group was illegally storing weapons south of the Litani River in violation of the UN resolution.
Shalev mentioned another explosion which took place at a Hezbollah arms cache three months ago. "In the aftermath of the explosion, Hizbullah operatives sealed off the area and, according to reliable information, used two trucks to remove evidence from the scene to a nearby village three kilometers from Tyre Filsi," Shalev wrote in the complaint letter. The ambassador said Hezbollah was using residents of villages in south Lebanon as human shields. "The aforementioned incidents leave no doubt regarding Hizbullah’s modus operandi to place its military weapons and facilities in civilian villages and houses. Such use of civilians as human shields endangers their safety," Shalev wrote. Earlier Tuesday the IDF released footage showing weapons being loaded onto trucks near the home of Hezbollah operative Abdel Nasser Issa in the southern Lebanon village of Tayr Filsi, on the outskirts of Tyre. Issa and his son were reportedly killed Monday evening during an explosion that took place inside their home, which the IDF claims was used to store weapons. Shalev said in the complaint that elements in the Lebanese army were purposely ignoring the rebuilding of Hezbollah's infrastructure, adding that Israel considers the Lebanese government responsible for any incident that occurs in its territory and therefore expects it to take necessary measures to prevent Hezbollah's rearmament in south Lebanon. The ambassador demanded that UNIFIL forces stationed in south Lebanon launch an investigation into Monday's blast and called on the Security Council to address Hezbollah's rearmament when it convenes at the end of the month to discuss the implementation of Resolution 1701. Shalev urged the Security Council to disarm Hezbollah and enforce the weapons embargo on Lebanon.
Source: INN
 TEHRAN: President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad lashed out at world leaders last night for demanding access to Iran's newly disclosed uranium enrichment plant near the central holy city of Qom. "The leaders of these countries made a historic mistake with their comments about the new plant.
After this they also said Iran must give access to the facility as quickly as possible," state television quoted him as saying. "Who are you to tell the (International Atomic Energy Agency) and Iran what to do?" Mr Ahmadinejad said Iran would not be "harmed", whatever happened at today's talks with the major powers in Geneva aimed at resolving the crisis over its atomic program. "The negotiators can definitely adopt any policy that they want, but we will not be harmed," he said. "Iran has prepared itself for any condition and our nation has learnt over the past 30 years to stand on its feet and change any circumstance to its benefit." Mr Ahmadinejad said the talks were an "exceptional opportunity for US and a few European countries to correct the way they interact with other world nations". IAEA chief Mohamed ElBaradei said Iran had flouted the law by concealing the plant. "Iran has been on the wrong side of the law in so far as the IAEA regulation to inform the agency at an earlier date," he told India's CNN-IBN last night. "Iran was supposed to inform us on the day it was decided to construct the facility. They have not done that." Iran's atomic energy chief Ali Akbar Salehi had said he was ready to discuss world concerns about the plant, but ruled out bargaining about Iran's right to master the nuclear fuel cycle. Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki has told UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon Tehran would not give up its "right" to nuclear technology. The UN Security Council has imposed three sets of sanctions against Iran over its failure to heed repeated ultimatums to suspend enrichment. Source: The Australian
 JERUSALEM: The United Nations has condemned Friday's rocket attack on Israel from southern Lebanon, and urged both sides "to exercise maximum restraint."
Israel's military fired between 12 and 18 artillery shells into southern Lebanon Friday shortly after the rocket attack on northern Israel, according to the Israeli military and a Lebanese army official. There were no casualties in either incident. Rockets fired from Lebanon struck open spaces in the western Galilee region of northern Israel, an Israel Defense Forces spokesman said. There were no reports of damage. Israel retaliated by firing toward the source of the rocket fire, the IDF spokesman said. The shells landed near the southern Lebanese village of Qlayleh around 3 p.m. (8 a.m. ET), a Lebanese army official said. The IDF spokesman said the Israeli military considers the rocket-fire incident to be serious and holds Lebanon's government and military responsible. Israel Radio reported one rocket struck near the northern town of Nahariya and another landed near Gesher Haziv, a kibbutz, or collective community. Israeli police spokesman Micky Rosenfeld said residents near Nahariya heard several explosions, and the remnants of at least one rocket were found. There has been no immediate claim of responsibility for the attack. U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon released a statement through his spokeswoman, condemning the attack. He said the United Nations mission in Lebanon, UNIFIL, "is investigating the circumstances of the incident in close cooperation with the Lebanese Armed Forces." There are an estimated 30,000 rockets in southern Lebanon, all under the control of Hezbollah militants. Israel fought a war against Hezbollah militants in Lebanon three years ago that is widely regarded as having empowered the Shiite militia. Source: CNN
 The Iranian people are calling for help and much of the world either turns a deaf ear or feels it has its own priorities to worry about. Then, the horrors keep playing out, unabated, in the streets, prisons and dungeons of the Islamic Republic of Iran. A reality check. A 19-year old beautiful Taraneh was not shot with a single bullet to her chest as was the case with Neda Soltani. There were no bystanders in the dungeon with a cell phone to capture the prolonged torture, rape, and sodomy of this teen-ager. According to reports, as well as testimony on the House floor from the honorable U.S. Congressman McCotter, on June 28, 2009, Taraneh Mousavi, a young Iranian woman, was literally scooped off the streets without any provocation on her part and with no arrest warrant. This young woman was taken to one of the Islamists torture chambers where she was repeatedly brutalized, raped, and sodomized by Ahmadinejad’s agents and with the consent of the “supreme leader” Ali Khamenei.
Near death from repeated beating, raping and sodomizing, the fragile young woman, bleeding profusely from her rectum and womb, was transferred to a hospital in Karaj near Tehran. Eventually, an anonymous person notified Taraneh’s family that she had had an “accident” and had to be taken to the hospital.
The devastated family rushed to the hospital only to find no trace of their beloved daughter because, the gang of Islamic thugs, the foot-soldiers of Allah’s “divine representative” Ali Khamenei, decided to eliminate all traces of their savagery. These beasts of Allah removed the dying woman from the hospital before the family’s arrival, burned it beyond recognition and dumped her charred remains on the side of the road. Read more here ... Source: Amil Imani
 "The letter went out yesterday," United Nations deputy spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. She stressed that this was a "customary letter" sent to leaders after they are elected or re-elected and that it did not represent an endorsement of Mr Ahmadinejad. The Iranian president was declared the winner of the June 12 election, despite claims of vote rigging from supporters of his defeated rivals that generated massive street demonstrations against the Islamic regime. Ms Okabe said Mr Ban's letter seized on Mr Ahmadinejad's inauguration, which took place last week, to "express the hope that Iran and the United Nations will continue to cooperate closely in addressing regional and global issues". Mir Hossein Mousavi, who was Mr Ahmadinejad's closest rival in the vote but lost heavily according to surprise official results, has dismissed the incoming government as "illegitimate".
Iranian Nobel peace prize winner Shirin Ebadi yesterday called for intensified world pressure to help her country democratise and denounced the crackdown on opposition protesters. "I oppose military and economic sanctions against Iran, as they will aggravate the situation," Ms Ebadi was quoted as saying in an interview with South Korea's Chosun Ilbo newspaper.
"However, intensified international public opinion will contribute to Iran's democratisation." Ms Ebadi, a lawyer and human rights defender who won the Nobel prize in 2003, arrived in Seoul on Sunday for a six-day trip to receive this year's Manhae Peace Prize, named after a 20th century Korean Buddhist reformer. Source: The Australian
 A top provincial official said the massive blast at the Pearl Continental Hotel late Tuesday was likely the latest in a string of revenge attacks by Islamist militants over a six-week offensive against them in the northwest. Hunting for the dead, police moved from room-to-room in the five-star hotel, large parts of which were reduced to rubble when at least two attackers shot security guards and then slammed an explosives-laden truck into the building. Four more bodies were pulled from the dust and rubble early Wednesday, bringing the death toll to 15, police said, with more victims feared trapped under the debris. "The blast is a reaction to the army offensive in Swat and Malakand. The possibility of this type of terrorist attack cannot be ruled out in future,'' North West Frontier Province information minister Mian Iftikhar Hussain said. Peshawar police chief Sefwat Ghayur released the new death toll, while senior police official Abdul Ghafoor Afridi told AFP that 57 people were injured, including some foreigners. "The number of casualties could rise as we fear that some people are still trapped under the debris,'' Afridi said. "One portion of the hotel was totally destroyed. Three people including a manager of the hotel are missing and we fear they are under the debris.'' Two foreign United Nations employees - Serbian national Aleksandar Vorkapic who worked for the refugee agency (UNHCR), and Perseveranda So of the Philippines who worked for UNICEF - were killed, the UN announced. Dozens of aid workers were staying at the upmarket hotel before heading out to refugee camps in North West Frontier Province, where Pakistan launched military action in three districts on April 26 to try to crush Taliban rebels. The air and ground assault in Swat, Lower Dir and Buner has sent up to two million people fleeing their homes, cramming into relatives' houses or hastily-set up camps. UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon called the bombing - the seventh deadly bombing in Peshawar in a month - a "heinous terrorist attack which no cause can justify.'' Early reports suggest at least two men dressed as security guards shot their way through a security barrier and into the hotel compound, where they managed to detonate about 500 kilogrammes of explosives packed in a pick-up truck. Pakistan has been hit by a string of deadly bomb blasts in recent weeks in Peshawar, Islamabad and the cultural capital Lahore, with the Taliban claiming responsibility for some of them and warning of more "massive attacks''. No group has yet claimed responsibility for Tuesday's hotel blast, and Hussain said a committee had been set up to investigate. "Police experts are collecting evidence from the spot and debris of the hotel. They have also recorded statements from the hotel employees and those present at the scene,'' he told AFP. "We have already alerted all the security and law enforcement agencies and we have declared a high alert in Peshawar and other cities.'' The current US-backed campaign centred on Swat was launched when Taliban fighters advanced to within 100 kilometres of Islamabad, flouting a deal to put three million people under sharia law in exchange for peace. Source: The Australian
ISRAELI officials lashed out yesterday at a UN report accusing the Jewish state of "negligence or recklessness" in attacks on UN facilities in the Gaza Strip during its war with Hamas in January. "The spirit of the report and its language are tendentious and entirely unbalanced," the Israeli Foreign Ministry said. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who reportedly accused Israel of lying about the damage it caused to UN facilities in the three-week conflict, nevertheless rejected the report's call for a full and impartial investigation into the war. He tempered the report's findings by telling a press conference that Israeli communities near the Gaza Strip "faced and continue to face indiscriminate rocket attacks by Hamas and other militant groups". The five-man inquiry commission was led by Ian Martin, a Briton who is a former head of Amnesty International. Its brief was to investigate casualties or damage involving UN facilities in Gaza but its conclusions touch on broader humanitarian issues regarding Israel's use of massive firepower in the densely populated strip. Mr Ban refused to publish the complete 184-page report but released his own summary of it. The report accused Israel of "varying degrees of negligence or recklessness" towards UN facilities in its Gaza operation and said the deaths of civilians should be investigated under international humanitarian law. At his press conference, Mr Ban said there would be no further investigations. The report's demand for financial compensation for damage to UN facilities could amount to $11million, Israeli officials said. The Palestinians place their death toll in the war at 1400 and say the bulk were civilians. Israel says about 1200 Palestinians were killed and that more than 700 were fighters. Ten Israeli soldiers were killed in the operation. Israeli Defence Minister Ehud Barak said the report ignored the fact that Hamas and other militants had fired about 4000 rockets and mortar shells at Israel. "After eight years, we said 'enough'. We have the most moral army in the world. Responsibility lies solely with Hamas." A central issue in the UN inquiry was a much-publicised incident at the Jabaliya refugee camp, where more than 40 civilians were reported killed inside a UN school compound by Israeli mortar fire, according to the Palestinians. UN officials in the area initially lent credence to the report. In response, Israeli officials said the army was responding to Hamas mortar fire from the compound. It eventually emerged that no Hamas fire had come from the compound and that no Israeli shells had hit the compound. Instead, Palestinian mortarmen several hundred metres from the compound had fired at Israeli positions and Israeli counter-fire had hit the Palestinian position. An Israeli investigation determined that three civilians and nine militants had been killed in the exchange. The first of the commission's 11 recommendations was that the UN seek "formal acknowledgment by the Government of Israel that its public statements alleging Palestinians fired" from within the UN school compound "were untrue and regretted". The report, however, apparently made no mention of the initial claims that Israeli shells had hit the school, causing more than 40 civilian casualties - a claim supported at the time by a UN agency - which were also untrue. The UN report cited an air attack that hit the compound of the Asma elementary school in Gaza City, where hundreds of Palestinians were sheltering. Three young men were killed in the compound. The report said they were going to the toilet and not engaging in military activity. Also cited were the killing of two children by shell fragments inside the UN school at Bait Lahiya and damage caused to the UN's main headquarters by Israeli shells. Israeli officials termed Mr Ban's summary "objective", but expressed fears that other UN officials would use the report to smear Israel. "When we saw the summary of the report, we were appalled," said an Israeli official to the news agency YNet. "It was written as if they didn't listen, didn't understand, maybe didn't want to understand."
 IRANIAN leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad has unleashed international condemnation of his speech to the UN anti-racism conference, with Israeli President Shimon Peres likening him to Adolf Hitler and Josef Stalin. And despite a walkout during the speech by 23 EU delegates, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said "the world sounds a weak voice against those who advocate erasing Israel". Mr Ahmadinejad defied UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, who had urged the Iranian President before he took to the podium not to use his address on the opening day of the conference to attack Israel. Mr Ban said the speech had been a manipulation of the forum and "I deplore the use of this platform by the Iranian President to accuse, divide and even incite". "It is deeply regrettable that my plea to look to the future of unity was not heeded by the Iranian President." Mr Ahmadinejad told the conference in Geneva, dubbed "Durban II", that Israel was "the most cruel and repressive racist regime". In a reference to the Holocaust, which he has described as a "myth", Mr Ahmadinejad spoke of "the pretext of Jewish suffering". While some delegates walked out, others shouted interjections and some applauded him. Mr Ahmadinejad was taken aback when one demonstrator, a French Jewish student dressed as a clown, threw an object towards him, but he continued after calling the man "ignorant". "Following World War II, they resorted to military aggression to make an entire nation homeless under the pretext of Jewish suffering," he said. "They sent migrants from Europe, the US and other parts of the world in order to establish a totally racist government in the occupied Palestine. "The word Zionism personifies racism that falsely resorts to religion and abuses religious sentiments to hide their hatred." The speech coincided with Holocaust Remembrance Day. In Israel, Mr Netanyahu told those who gathered at Jerusalem's Yad Vashem Holocaust Memorial for a service broadcast nationally: "We will not allow the Holocaust deniers to carry out another Holocaust against the Jewish people. This is the supreme duty of the state of Israel. This is my supreme duty as Prime Minister of Israel." Mr Peres, a Nobel Peace Prize-winner, said earlier that "among those who collaborated with the Nazis, and those who stood by and let the Holocaust happen, there are those who criticise the one state that rose to grant refuge to Holocaust survivors, the one state that will prevent another Holocaust. "It is hard to fathom why despots such as Hitler the Nazi, Stalin the Bolshevik and Ahmadinejad the Persian chose the Jews as the main target for their hatred, their madness and their violence. "Perhaps they targeted the Jewish people because of its spiritual power - a nation poor in material possessions, but rich in values - for he who is infected with megalomania fears the power of the spirit." British Foreign Secretary David Milliband condemned the Ahmadinejad speech as "inflammatory and utterly unacceptable", but defended Britain's decision to participate in the conference. Source: The Australian
 OMAR al-Bashir, the Sudanese President, made a pilgrimage to Mecca yesterday, threatening the credibility of the International Criminal Court, which has issued a warrant for his arrest. Mr al-Bashir's journey to Saudi Arabia was his most daring act of defiance since he became the first sitting head of state to be named a fugitive from international justice last month and the court's highest-profile target. The court, designed to dispense justice based on the premise that there are universal moral standards that apply to all human behaviour, wants Mr al-Bashir to face trial for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Sudanese region of Darfur. While the 108 member nations that signed up to support the International Criminal Court (ICC) have a duty to arrest him, Mr al-Bashir has visited five countries since the warrant was issued - all non-ICC members - as he tries to polarise views against the court by portraying it as a vehicle for Western interference in Arab and African nations. The ICC's four current cases are all against Africans, which some believe presents it with an image problem that Mr al-Bashir is doing his best to exploit. The court's supporters are now prepared for at least one African nation to withdraw its support from the world's first permanent court for international justice after Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, the Libyan leader and President of the African Union (AU), called it "a new world terrorism" this week. Mr al-Bashir was given a boost by the Arab League at the conclusion of its summit, which he attended in Qatar on Monday. "We reiterate our solidarity with Sudan and our rejection of the measure of the ... International Criminal Court against his Excellency," it said in its final statement. Embarrassingly Ban Ki Moon, the United Nations Secretary-General, was also at the summit and in the same room as Mr al-Bashir, though he was careful to avoid any contact. The UN set up the process that led to the creation of the court under the Rome statute of 1998. Mr al-Bashir's visit to Mecca, a short distance from Qatar, was said by the Saudi press agency to be a minor pilgrimage known as omra, in which he met officials from the Grand Mosque. The trip may help Mr al-Bashir cement support throughout the wider Islamic world, further eroding the court's authority. Saud al-Faisal, the Saudi Foreign Minister, has said that issuing the warrant was a politicised decision that would not lead to the stability of Sudan or "solve the Darfur issue". The International Coalition for the ICC, which represents the court's supporters, criticised those nations which welcomed Mr al-Bashir and scorned his attempts to drive a wedge between the Arab world and the court. "He probably has a great deal to ask forgiveness for, if that is one of the purposes of going to Mecca," said Bill Pace, chairman of the coalition. "It is too early to say if the recognition by the Arab governments of Mr al-Bashir will hurt the ICC more than it will hurt the reputation of the Arab League and governments. "It was expected that an arrest warrant for a sitting head of state would create tremendous controversy, and not only in the Arab world, but wherever leaders have fear of justice." It is in Africa, where Mr al-Bashir has visited his neighbours Egypt, Eritrea and Libya, where fears are most acute that one of the continent's 33 signatories to the ICC will withdraw. The AU, representing 53 countries on the continent, pressured the ICC to delay issuing its arrest warrant against Mr al-Bashir for at least a year to avoid jeopardising the Sudanese peace process. Jean Ping, the AU commissioner, is close to the Government of his native Gabon, an ICC signatory that some believe could be the first to walk away. Critics of the court are urging it to find non-African cases but that process will take time. Mr al-Bashir has closed down 16 aid groups in Sudan since the arrest warrant was issued on March 4 and appears to have strengthened his grip. "If there was an election now he would win it. The people admire a strong man and he has also managed to show himself as a victim of the West," said Faizal Silaik, deputy editor of the daily newspaper Ajras al-Huriya. Source: The Australian
 March 02, 2009
INTERNATIONAL donors are expected to pledge billions of dollars for rebuilding war-battered Gaza at a top-level meeting in Egypt today, six weeks after the guns fell silent.
But the donors are demanding that the enclave's Islamist rulers Hamas agree to play no role in spending the cash, which they insist be handled by the Western-backed Palestinian Authority of president Mahmud Abbas.
"We expect rapid international aid from all parties to completely rebuild Gaza,'' Abbas told reporters on Saturday ahead of the meeting in the Red Sea resort of Sharm El-Sheikh.
"We also expect that as in the past there will be one mechanism, the Palestinian Authority.''
Israel's 22-day onslaught on the impoverished territory in December and January destroyed homes, hospitals, schools and other infrastructure as well as killing more than 1,300 Palestinians.
Tensions around Gaza were running high on the eve of the conference, as Israel warned again it would respond "severely" to militant attacks after a fresh volley of rocket fire.
Palestinian prime minister Salam Fayyad has said the authority is seeking $2.8 billion to rebuild Gaza and shore up the Palestinian economy.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, in Egypt on her first visit to the Middle East since President Barack Obama took office in January, is reportedly carrying a cheque for $900 million.
But she said on Friday the aid would depend on how well the Palestinians meet the conditions of the diplomatic Quartet grouping the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia.
"I will be announcing a commitment to a significant aid package, but it will only be spent if we determine that our goals can be furthered rather than undermined or subverted," she told Voice of America radio.
Alongside Clinton will be UN chief Ban Ki-moon, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and EU foreign policy envoy Javier Solana, with about 75 delegations attending the conference in all.
Western countries, which blacklist Hamas as a terrorist outfit, have said they will work only with Abbas and Israel has also demanded that any aid is kept well away from the Islamists.
However, the Palestinian leader's control extends only to the West Bank since Hamas seized Gaza in June 2007, ousting Abbas loyalists after days of vicious factional fighting in a takeover he branded a coup.
The Gaza economy was brought to its knees by the punishing blockade imposed by Israel after Hamas seized the enclave, whose borders, air space and territorial waters remain under Israeli control.
The Palestinians say the war destroyed 5,000 homes and caused extensive damage to infrastructure in Gaza, where many of the 1.4 million residents depend on outside aid.
Former British prime minister Tony Blair made his first visit to Gaza as Quartet envoy on Sunday, saying: "I wanted to come to hear for myself first-hand from people in Gaza, whose lives have been so badly impacted by the recent conflict.''
Neither Israel nor Hamas will be represented in Sharm, but donors are expected to call on Israel to ease its sanctions and for Hamas to be reconciled with the secular Fatah, backbone of the Palestinian Authority.
The rival factions last week agreed a plan to work together towards the formation of a unity government.
But Israel's outgoing Prime Minister Ehud Olmert has said that for there to be a lifting of the blockade and a lasting Gaza truce, Palestinian militants must release a soldier captured in June 2006.
The IMF said in a report last month that the Palestinians needed to secure additional donor aid "immediately'' to cover external recurrent financing needs for 2009 of $1.15 billion, 500 million for development projects, and at least 600 million dollars for Gaza reconstruction.
Saudi Arabia is expected to reaffirm a commitment to provide one billion dollars for reconstruction, and the European Union has said it will grant $554 dollars to the Palestinian people in 2009.
Donor countries from the January 2008 Paris conference will reiterate a pledge of $7.4 billion in aid to the Palestinians in the three years 2008-2010, of which three billion has so far been distributed. Source: The Australian
To: President Hosni Mubarak and UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon
WHEREAS perpetual crisis in the Gaza Strip is the problem that neither Palestinian nor Israeli governments are able to resolve, and
WHEREAS two decades of Egyptian control was arguably the most peaceful period in recent Gaza history;
We call on the government of Egypt to annex the Gaza Strip and declare Egyptian rule over the area.
Furthermore, we call on the United Nations to pass a resolution accepting and allowing for the occurrence of this takeover by Egypt.
Up until this point, little has worked in regard to a peaceful settlement between Israel and Gaza. This problem, if not resolved, could only escalate tensions for the future. We feel that this is the best solution for what seems to be a never-ending bad situation.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Poll: Should Egypt Control Gaza?Poll: Which group would be the main obstacle to Egyptian annexation of Gaza?
 February 03, 2009
LIBYAN leader Moamer Kadhafi took the reins of the 53-nation African Union at a summit amid concerns over deadly unrest in Madagascar and a bid to indict Sudan's president for war crimes.
Kadhafi, elected in a closed-door vote at the summit in the Ethiopian capital, vowed to press ahead with plans to create a "United States of Africa'' despite other leaders' reluctance to back his objective.
The summit, which ends today, has been overshadowed by political unrest in Madagascar, torn apart in a power struggle that has killed 68 people so far.
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the summit he was "particularly concerned'' about the crisis, and urged that all parties "address their differences peacefully and through existing constitutional mechanisms.''
Ban also called on Sudan's President Omar al-Beshir to comply with any action by the International Criminal Court, which is considering whether to indict him for alleged war crimes in Darfur, despite objections from other African leaders.
"He should fully cooperate with the decision of the ICC,'' Ban told a press conference on the sidelines of the summit.
AU Commission President Jean Ping told leaders earlier that the bloc was trying to lobby international support for a 12-month stay in judges' consideration of the request, "to give a greater chance to the peace process''.
Ban hailed moves toward forming a new government in Somalia, and said he would meet later in the day with new president elected last week.
He earlier met with Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe, who agreed to allow a high-level UN team to visit the country to assess a worsening humanitarian crisis, with food shortages crippling the nation as a cholera epidemic spreads unchecked.
"The cholera epidemic has reached a very very dangerous and serious point,'' Ban said, adding that he also pushed Mugabe to release political prisoners and guarantee human rights in Zimbabwe.
Ban also noted that the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo had taken "a dramatic turn for the better'' following a joint offensive by government and Rwandan forces which led to the arrest of a key rebel leader last month.
But he warned that Africa would face tougher times ahead as nations try to cope with the fallout from the global economic downturn.
"In Africa, its negative effects will not only be on growth, trade and financial flows, but also the fight against poverty and the likelihood of reduced official development assistance,'' Ban said.
Kadhafi's elevation to AU chief stirred debate at the summit, with some nations unhappy about the choice. Under AU rules, the post rotates among Africa's regions, and this year was set to go to a North African leader. Kadhafi was the only one present.
But southern African leaders had lobbied for a leader from their region, as the next summit moves to crisis-hit Madagascar, according to delegates to the summit.
"I hope my term will be a time of serious work and not just words," Kadhafi said in his inaugural speech. Source: The Australian
 Mr Ban Ki-Moon
United Nations
Office of the Spokesperson for the Secretary-General
United Nations, S-378
New York, NY 10017
Tel. 212-963-7162, Fax. 212-963-7055
The Honorable Secretary-General, Mr Ban Ki-moon!
Subject: Hamas leadership to be brought to trial for War Crimes
Your Excellency! We, the Take-A-Pen international public advocacy organization, request decisive action regarding a severe case of war crimes.
In the recent years and in the present ongoing military conflict the Hamas terrorist organization ruling in Gaza has committed a large number of diverse war crimes, as defined by International Law.
The form of warfare the Hamas movement inflicted both on the Gaza population and on Israel has caused much suffering and heavy losses and damage both to Israel's civilian population and to the entire Gaza Strip. The Hamas regime has fired 6,300 rockets targeting Israeli civilians. In Gaza the Hamas stored rockets and other weaponry and ammunition primarily in residential areas; in houses, mosques, and schools. Thousands of rocket and mortar grenade attacks were launched from within these areas, obliging Israeli military response which inevitably led to great suffering of the population and damage to property.
According to International Law any source of fire on civilian targets is a legitimate target itself. If that source of fire was located among civilians it still remains a legitimate target; and if that vicinity invites fire in return, causing casualties among the local population, these casualties are the full and sole responsibility of the party placing them deliberately in harm's way. In this case Hamas is fully responsible both for the deliberately targeted Israeli civilian casualties and for the civilian casualties of its own population used by Hamas as a human shield.
Your Excellency, Mister Secretary General! We demand that the Hamas leadership be brought to international justice without delay, and tried for the following war crimes:
- Shooting rockets and grenades purposely on civilian targets in Israel.
- Shooting these rockets from within Palestinian civilian compounds such as schools or in close proximity of hospitals or residential buildings.
- Storing weapons and ammunition in schools, mosques, public offices and buildings and the sort.
- Regularly using their own civilians as human shield; particularly children, often forced to be in the most dangerous spots.
- During fighting with the Israeli forces the Hamas fighters, who wore uniforms at the beginning, changed to civilian clothing or IDF uniforms and continued to fight.
- Hamas fighters have routinely hid among civilians in hospitals
- To the kidnapped Israeli soldier, Gilad Schalit, Hamas did not provide the most elementary rights of war prisoners, such as information given to the other side and Red Cross visits, rights Israel grants even to convicted Hamas terrorists.
- Children and minors were routinely used by Hamas for military tasks, both battle and auxiliary. The Hamas regime has also educated, indoctrinated and trained children and minors to murderous hatred, to will and techniques to kill.
- The Hamas leadership embezzled aid money received for the peaceful needs of Gaza's population and used these extensive funds for war efforts; weaponry, military equipment and constructions, and an enormous military build-up.
A failure to prosecute the Hamas leadership in International Court would, no doubt, lead to their war crimes growingly become normative behavior, and to more of the same humanitarian catastrophes, to millions of victims of oppression and killings undefended by the UN.
Mr Secretary General, we would appreciate your considered reply, which, with your permission, we would publish, along with this letter. We shall follow your relevant activities with great honor, high expectations, and deep moral support.
Sincerely,
The Undersigned
Source: Petition Online
Muslims Against Sharia praise Israeli decision to reduce fuel supplies to Hamas-ruled Gaza strip. Muslims Against Sharia condemn U.N. criticism of Israeli decision and remind Ban Ki-moon that neither hi nor his predecessor has done absolutely anything to combat Hamas violence. We pray for the people of Gaza to swiftly rid Gaza of Hamas and other terrorist groups and to live in peace with their Israeli neighbors. EU rights groups, Ban Ki-moon, criticize Israel for utility cuts to Gaza
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Copyright Muslims Against Sharia 2008. All rights reserved.
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Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said his country suffered after invasions during World War II and he will "stand to the end" to get full compensation, the Jerusalem Post reported. 
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