Abbas election call raises civil war fear

Abbas election call raises civil war fear: "THE Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas threw down a challenge to the government of the militant group Hamas yesterday by calling fresh elections, raising tensions that have already prompted warnings of civil war.

...

Last night gunmen armed with rocket-propelled grenades and automatic weapons exchanged fire at Khan Yunis in southern Gaza. In Gaza City, thousands of Hamas supporters marched and 18 people were wounded in clashes between the political camps."

(Via Google News.)

"These people should be court-martialed"

"These people should be court-martialed": "When a Christian group shot a video inside the Pentagon that featured uniformed senior military officers talking about their evangelical faith, Mikey Weinstein went on the attack. Himself a former Air Force lawyer and Air Force Academy grad, Weinstein, who is Jewish, is the founder and president of the Military Religious Freedom Foundation. He founded the MRFF earlier this year to oppose the spread of religious intimidation in a military increasingly dominated by evangelical Christians."

(Via Salon.)

Morocco under the assault of Islamists

Morocco under the assault of Islamists: "In fact not a week goes by without a story of arrests of alleged terrorists, radical imams and cells preparing youngsters for the Jihad in Iraq.

Back at the end of November, authorities dismantled a cell in the same Casablanca slum where the fourteen bombers of the May 2003 originated. This cell composed of 13 men was headed by Abu Zubair Al Maghribi who had been watched by police for a few months because of his contacts with the Algerian terror group GSPC.He had recruited very rapidly 12 men, martyr candidates for the Jihad in Morocco and Iraq. In fact, they had planned to build a training camp in the Atlas mountains and had picked targets they could attack in Morocco. Including the British and US embassies and consulates alike.

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Considering these facts, it is not surprising that CIA agents have come to Morocco to investigate the extent of the recruiting for Iraq's suicide missions. Indeed the number of Moroccans fighting in Iraq has skyrocketed in the past few years. According to the Spanish El Pais, over 500 suicide attacks have occurred in Iraq since the start of the war, 90% of them have been perpetrated by foreigners and a majority of them have been Moroccans."

(Via The Counterterrorism Blog.)

Outrage over killing of Gaza boys

Outrage over killing of Gaza boys: "The killing of three sons of a top intelligence officer in Gaza has caused widespread outrage among Palestinians.

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas said the attack by gunmen in Gaza City was 'an ugly and inhuman crime'.

'Words stop at the extent of this crime,' said the children's father, Baha Balusheh, who is linked to Mr Abbas's Fatah party.

The gunmen fired dozens of bullets at the car in which the children, aged six to 10, were travelling to school.

An adult was also killed in the attack which took place in a street crowded with children."

Emphasis Mine

(Via BBC News.)