In an editorial published in the Wall Street Journal on Friday, Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak has saidthat, due to a "reassertion of leadership" in the middle east on the part of the United States under President Barack Obama, there is now a real chance for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Praising President Obama's recent Cairo speech, referring to it as a turning point in relations between the US and the Muslim world, Mubarak said that Egypt, along with the rest of the Arab world, would seize the opportunity if it presented itself.
The toD verdict: Just as many hawks within the US and Israel were sharply critical of his Cairo speech, Obama was always going to receive a diplomatic windfall in the Arab world. Mubarak's comments appear to suggest that this rhetoric has already resulted in a subtle change in power relations in the region, with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu under real pressure to cease all settlement activity and endorse, with fewer caveats than during his own recent speech, a Palestinian state. He also had admonitions for the Palestinian side; his calls for unity among the different factions rooted in Cairo's so far fruitless efforts to broker a power-sharing agreement between Hamas and Fatah.
But when he speaks for the Arab world, it must be remembered that the Arab Peace Initiative, first announced in 2002 and endorsed by all 22 members of the Arab League, is still in play. Subsequently supported by the 55 member states of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC), the proposal offers full recognition of the State of Israel, bilateral relations and security guarantees. This would be in exchange for Israel's withdrawal from all lands seized during the 1967 Six Day War, including the return of the Golan plateau to Syria and Shebaa Farms to Lebanon, a settlement of the Palestinian refugee issue to be agreed upon in accordance with UN General Assemble Resolution 194 and the establishment of an independent Palestinian state with its capital in East Jerusalem.
The apparent lack of interest in this historic consensus among the Arab and Islamic States has led a waning of support for the initiative. However, if actions can indeed match rhetoric, this may be the framework that leads to a final resolution of sixty years of bloodshed between Arabs and Israelis.
Land laws overturned in Peru
After a five hour debate, Peru's legislature votedoverwhelmingly to revoke two controversial land laws after bloody clashes between police and indigenous people over their implementation led to 34 deaths. Thirty native Indians from the Ashanika community attended the vote, which passed 82-12. The laws were originally passed in 2007 by the decree of President Alan Garcia, in order to allow him to implement a free trade pact and to regulate investment in the Peruvian Amazon. Indigenous groups complained that they were excluded from the consultation process, and that the laws would affect their ancestral lands.
Insurgents kill 19 in Algeria
The Algerian Government announcedon Thursday that, in what was the deadliest terrorist attack for over a year, gunmen killed 18 paramilitary police and a civilian. Six other police and two civilians were injured in the assault, which took place on Wednesday. The gunmen ambushed the police, who were travelling in convoy about 110 miles from the capital, with roadside bombs and firearms. The convoy was reportedly there to safeguard Chinese construction workers. The perpetrators are believed to be remnants of the Islamic insurgency that fought against the government throughout the 1990s, now reorganised under the banner of al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM).
Supreme Leader backs Iranian election result
After Friday prayers, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, announcedthat political protests must end. Speaking to thousands gathered at Tehran University, the Supreme Leader said that political leaders would be held responsible for any further violence, indicating a looming crackdown on opposition groups. These were his first comments after days of street protests in the wake of the Iranian presidential election, which saw incumbent President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad win out convincingly against former Prime Minister Mir Hossain Mousavi, regarded as the "moderate" candidate, by 63% to 34% of the vote. Addressing allegations of electoral fraud, the Ayatollah retorted that the margin of victory was 11 million votes, asking rhetorically "how can one rig 11 million votes?"
The UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay has expressed concern over both the high number of arrests of opposition activists and the activities of militias on the streets.
US increases missile defences against North Korea threat
On Thursday, US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates toldreporters at the Pentagon that missile defences around the state of Hawaii had been bolstered, together with a new radar installation to counter potential missile threats from the DPRK. Both American and Japanese sources have claimed that North Korea may be in a position to fire its most advanced missile against Hawaii on or around July 4 (Independence Day) celebrations in the United States. On Thursday, the Japanese newspaper Daily Yomuiri quotedthe Japanese Defence Minister as saying that a Taepodong-2 or upgraded variant had been delivered to the Tongchang-ri launch site in the DPRK's Northeast on 30 May.
In addition, US officials announced that they had begun tracking a ship based out of North Korea as a "subject of interest". The ship, called the Kang Nam, is suspected of carrying illicit weapons. The US monitoring is taking place in support of UN sanctions imposed in May, which ban all weapons exports from the country and most weapons imports into the country.
Nigerian militants claim successful attack on pipeline
In an email sent to the media on Friday, the Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND) claimedthat it has successfully attacked and blown up a pipeline operated by the Italian oil company Agip. Neither Agip, nor military authorities in Nigeria has yet confirmed the group's claims. If true, the attack is the latest in a catalogue of violence against vulnerable pipelines operated by foreign energy companies by the militant organisation. On 24 May, Chevron shut down its operations in Delta state after MEND's attack, halting the export of 100,000 barrels a day. In theory, Nigeria's installed production capacity is 3 million barrels per day (bpd) but, due to continuing insecurity, it currently produces just over half this amount, with Junior Finance Minister Remi Babalola saying last week that Nigeria was producing around 1.7 million bpd.