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Rice Sets New Mideast Trip Amid Gaza Turmoil,
About this event: El Rabie (Spring) festival
Related to country: Palestine

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Rice Sets New Mideast Trip Amid Gaza Turmoil, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice visits the Middle East again next week amid tensions over Palestinian rocket attacks from Gaza and Israeli strikes against Gaza militants. Rice, on tour this week in Asia, is meeting Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert Thursday in Tokyo. VOA's David Gollust reports from the State Department.


Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert (L) shakes hands with Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas (R) prior to a meeting in Jerusalem, 19 Feb 2008
Mr. Olmert and Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas committed, at the U.S.-organized Annapolis conference last November, to work for a settlement of the Mideast conflict by the end of this year.

But prospects for an agreement in 2008 have receded amid slow-moving talks between the sides, and chronic Gaza-related violence.

On Wednesday, Israeli air strikes in Gaza aimed at quelling rocket fire from the territory killed at least 10 Palestinians including several Hamas militants, while one of at least 20 rockets fired at the Israel town of Sderot from Gaza killed one person on a college campus.

State Department Deputy Spokesman Tom Casey, who confirmed Rice's Middle East travel plans, condemned what he termed unprovoked attacks on innocent Israeli civilians but also counseled Israel to be measured in its response.

"Our long-standing view is that Israel has a right to defend itself," he said. "However, we always ask that, in doing so, they consider the consequences of those actions and the potential effect it might have. And we remain concerned about the civilian population in Gaza that continues to suffer as a result of Hamas's misrule and of Hamas's not only toleration but active support and promotion of these kinds of attacks on Israel."


Condoleezza Rice
Rice, now in Japan on the last stop of an Asian trip, will fly to the Middle East for meetings with Israeli and Palestinian officials in Jerusalem and the West Bank town of Ramallah next Tuesday and Wednesday.

By coincidence, Israeli Prime Minister Olmert is visiting Tokyo and is to confer with Rice there Thursday in preparation for the Secretary's Jerusalem visit, her second this year.

Mr. Olmert, whose government is under heavy domestic pressure for stronger action to stop the Gaza rocket fire, said in Tokyo the problem will not halt peace negotiations with Mr. Abbas.

The Israeli leader said he is not sure an agreement in 2008 is achievable but said the sides are determined to make what he termed a "giant step forward" to end the dispute once and for all.

After her Middle East talks, Rice goes on to Brussels for a NATO foreign ministers' meeting next Thursday expected to be dominated by discussion of Kosovo and Afghanistan.

February 27, 2008 | 5:43 PM Comments  0 comments

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Tourists warned of UAE drug laws .
About this event: El Rabie (Spring) festival
Related to country: United States

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Tourists warned of UAE drug laws,Travellers to the United Arab Emirates are being warned about its severe drug laws which have seen dozens detained for apparently minor offences.
Fair Trials International said arrests were being made over tiny quantities of drugs and over-the-counter medicines.

British tourist Keith Brown was sentenced to four years in prison after Dubai customs officers found a 0.003g trace of cannabis stuck to his shoe.

Fair Trials, a legal charity, said it has seen a steep rise in such cases.

Golden beaches

Possession of painkillers like codeine and some cold and flu medication could result in a mandatory four-year prison sentence, Fair Trials International said.

In one of the most extreme cases, it reported a man being held after poppy seeds from a bread roll were found on his clothes.

In recent years, chic hotels, skyscrapers and golden beaches have turned Dubai and Abu Dhabi into popular tourist destinations.


Many have no idea what risks they're taking or their vulnerability to this very strict approach
Catherine Wolthuizen, Fair Trials International chief executive
Businesses too have flocked to the UAE, which promises a high standard of living because of its oil wealth.

However, while it is considered one of the most liberal countries in the Gulf, the Muslim country's drugs laws are severe.

Last year, 59 Britons were arrested in the UAE on drugs-related charges, according to the Foreign Office.


HELD IN THE UAE
Keith Brown, 43, Middlesex: Four-year jail term for possession of 0.003g of cannabis
Robert Dalton, 25, Kent: On trial for alleged possession of 0.03g of cannabis
20-year-old, West Yorkshire: On trial for alleged possession of 0.02g of cannabis
Tracy Wilkinson, 45, West Sussex: Held in custody for eight weeks for possession of codeine before release
Swiss national: Four-year jail term after poppy seeds found on his clothes
Source: Fair Trials International
Catherine Wolthuizen, chief executive of Fair Trials International, said customs authorities were using highly sensitive new equipment to conduct thorough searches on travellers.

"So many people now travel to Dubai and, as we're seeing, many have no idea what risks they're taking or their vulnerability to this very strict approach," she said.

"If they find any amount - no matter how minute - it will be enough to attract a mandatory four-year prison sentence.

"What many travellers may not realise is that they can be deemed to be in possession of such banned substances if they can be detected in their urine or bloodstream, or even in tiny, trace amounts on their person."

Jet-lag tablets

Keith Brown and his wife had been on their way from London to Ethiopia when they were stopped and searched at Dubai airport.

At first customs officers found nothing, but then a roll-up cigarette was spotted caught in the tread of his shoe.

The 43-year-old, from Middlesex, was charged with possession of 0.003g of cannabis and was sentenced to four years in prison.


I suppose there's a sense of disbelief more than anything else
Cat Le-Huy, held in Dubai
British resident Cat Le-Huy was arrested in Dubai for carrying Melatonin jet-lag tablets, which are sold over the counter in the US and Dubai.

Mr Le-Huy told BBC News he was forced to sign a document in Arabic and was refused a translator.

He said once the tablets were proved to be Melatonin, police took what he described as dirt from his bag and said they were now testing it to see if it was cannabis.

Speaking from inside the prison, he said he knew nothing of any drugs in his bag.

"I suppose there's a sense of disbelief more than anything else. I miss my friends and family back in London and I'm also aware of the other stress this is causing to friends and family.

"As far as my welfare, I'm being treated relatively well and I have to go through the system and whatever path that takes, I'll just have to deal with it."

Bread roll

Aside from illegal substances, travellers have also been held for possession of prescription drugs.

Tracy Wilkinson was held in custody for eight weeks before customs officers accepted the codeine she was carrying had been prescribed by her doctor for back pains.

Meanwhile, a Swiss national is serving a four-year jail term after three poppy seeds from a bread roll he ate at Heathrow airport were found on his clothes.

Fair Trials International has published a full list of banned substances on its website.

The Foreign Office is advising all travellers carrying any prescription drugs to take a doctor's letter detailing exactly why they need the medicine and the exact dose.

The UAE Embassy in London said it would not comment at this stage.






February 9, 2008 | 10:47 PM Comments  0 comments

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Contradicts reality .
Related to country: United States

Translations available in: English (original) | French | Spanish | Italian | German | Portuguese | Swedish | Russian | Dutch | Arabic

Egypt arrests militants from Gaza,Egypt has arrested 15 Palestinians armed with weapons and explosives who are believed to have crossed the Gaza border since it was breached last week.
The men, who were detained in the Sinai peninsula, also had detonators, flak jackets and grenades.

The arrests came as Egyptian government officials held talks with the Palestinian militant group, Hamas, on how to re-establish border controls.

A Hamas official said progress had been made, but no agreement was reached.

The group, which seized control of the Gaza Strip in June, is pressing for a role in how the border crossing is operated in the future.

Hamas has indicated that it could prevent Egypt from sealing the frontier if it is not officially recognised. A previous Egyptian attempt last Friday ended with militants bulldozing a second hole in the border.


Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians had been crossing freely into Egypt near the town of Rafah since 23 January to buy essential supplies made scarce by a recent tightened Israeli blockade.

The Israeli government imposed the restrictions a week earlier after a sharp rise in rocket attacks by militants based in Gaza.

Weapons smuggling

Egyptian officials said suspected militants from Hamas and Islamic Jihad were among the 15 Palestinians arrested near the border town of al-Arish and in remote parts of Sinai in recent days.


We will not give up our legitimacy to anybody
Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahhar
All of those detained had entered Egypt via Rafah, apart from two who had travelled from Gulf Arab states, they added.

Police are reportedly looking for four other armed Palestinians who are believed to have crossed the border.

Israel has said it is concerned that militants are taking advantage of the freedom of movement to bolster their stores of weapons and explosives.

It has also warned that foreign militants might use the opportunity to infiltrate the coastal territory and launch attacks on Israel.


GAZA BLOCKADE
17 January: Israel seals border following rise in rocket attacks
20 January: Gaza's only power plant shuts down
22 January: Israel eases restrictions
22 January: Egyptian border guards disperse Palestinian protest against closure
23 January: Border wall breached

In order to limit such activity, Egyptian security forces have maintained a tight security cordon in place around the border area to keep Palestinians from travelling further into Egypt.

Barbed wire and cement has also been used to close sections of the border and Egyptian troops have been deployed along the breaches.

On Friday, the forces began preventing Palestinian vehicles crossing into Egypt, but are still allowing people to enter on foot. Heavily-laden Egyptian trucks are also being allowed to continue transporting supplies into Gaza.

A senior Egyptian security official told Reuters news agency on Thursday that there had still not been official word on when the borders would be closed completely.

He said any closure would be incremental to avoid friction with Palestinians.

'Contradicts reality'

The Egyptian government has held talks in Cairo with both Hamas, which controls Gaza, and the President of the Pale