Masa Depan Palestin: Antara HAMAS Dan Fatah

Oleh MASZLEE MALIK

Ketika lawatan Javier Solanar, Setiausaha Hubungan Luar Kesatuan Eropah (EU) ke Gaza dan juga Refah yang kini dikuasai oleh pihak berkuasa Palestin (PA), beliau telah membuat satu kejutan. Kejutan beliau bukan hanya kepada rakyat Palestin, malah kepada masyarakat dunia.

Bagaimana tidak, buat pertama kali, Kesatuan Eropah yang kononnya memperjuangkan semangat demokrasi berdasarkan kebebasan, keadilan dan juga persaudaraan telah mencabuli prinsip asas demokrasi sendiri melalui kenyataan yang telah dibuat oleh Solanar. Ia, sepertimana yang telah dinyatakan oleh Presiden PA, Mahmoud Abbas sebagai kenyataan yang mencampuri urusan dalaman rakyat Palestin dan juga menghalang rakyat Palestin daripada membuat pilihan mereka. Apakah kenyataan tersebut?

Kenyataan tersebut adalah ugutan beliau terhadap rakyat Palestin menjelang pilihanraya legaslatif mereka yang dijadualkan berlangsung pada 25 Januari 2006. Beliau menggugut, jika HAMAS yang merupakan pilihan utama rakyat Palestin di waktu ini memenangi pilihanraya tersebut, EU akan menghentikan semua bantuan kewangan mereka kepada PA. Apa yang berlaku sebenarnya adalah di luar jangkaan, kerana EU, pada awalnya telah berhasrat mengadakan dialog dengan HAMAS hasil dari usaha tidak kenal henti Alistair Crook, mantan ketua ejen perisikan British di Timur Tengah. Khabar-khabar tersebut semakin hampir menjadi kenyataan, terutamanya apabila wakil-wakil EU melalui Crook telah bertemu dengan para pimpinan HAMAS secara rahsia pada awal tahun 2005 dan menyatakan kesediaan mereka untuk menerima HAMAS sebagai rakan runding jika mereka berjaya di dalam pilihanraya legaslatif yang bakal menjelang.

Walau bagaimanapun, kenyataan yang tidak demokratik Solanar ini bukanlah sesuatu yang terlalu pelik lantas menggambarkan pendirian sebenar EU, tetapi lebih merupakan hasil dari tekanan yang diterima oleh EU dari rejim Zionis Israel dan juga Amerika Syarikat (AS). Seperti yang telah dimaklumi, sebelum Solanar, Condoleeza Rise, yang mewakili Rumah Putih telah memberikan amaran bahawa AS akan menghentikan semua bantuan kewangan kepada PA dan rakyat Palestin jika HAMAS memenangi pilihanraya tersebut.

Sebelum itu, AS bertindak lebih kejam dan juga anti-Demokratik apabila mereka cuba untuk menghalang HAMAS daripada terlibat di dalam pilihanraya berkenaan. Apabila tekanan mereka gagal, kerana dikecam oleh rakyat Palestin dan juga Mahmoud Abbas sendiri, mereka beralih pula kepada pilihan kedua yang juga bersifat anti-Demokrasi.

HAMAS masa depan Palestin?
Pada 26 Disember 2005, Universiti Najah, di Nablus telah menjalankan kaji selidik terhadap pandangan umum ( public opinion) berhubung pilihanraya yang bakal berlangsung nanti. Sebanyak 31.4% mengatakan mereka akan memilih calon-calon HAMAS sewaktu pilihanraya tersebut. 26.8% pula memilih calon-calon di dalam senarai Marwan al-Barghouti, manakala 17.7% sahaja yang akan memilih calon-calon dari senarai Mahmoud Abbas mewakili gerakan Fatah.

Kajian yang dilakukan di Tebing Barat ini memberikan impaknya yang tersendiri. Pertamanya, ia dilakukan di dalsebulan menjelang berlakunya pilihanraya, dan yang keduanya, ianya dilakukan ke atas responden yang mana 40% daripada mereka adalah simpatisan kepada Fatah, dan hanya 25% daripada simpatisan HAMAS, dan selebihnya daripada pelbagai fraksi yang lain. Hasil kajian ini seakan mengiyakan tanggapan kebanyakan media barat, peluang HAMAS untuk meraih lebih daripada 40% kerusi di dalam majlis legaslatif PA dan seterusnya menerajui PA adalah cerah.

Pilihanraya perbandaran pusingan keempat yang dijalankan di bandar-bandar utama Tebing Barat sebulan sudah juga telah menunjukkan bagaimana HAMAS telah mencatatkan kemenangan-kemenangan besar di bandar-bandar tersebut. Manakala Fatah sebagai parti pemerintah pula hanya memenangi kerusi-kerusi yang dipertandingkan di kampung-kampung yang kebanyakan calon HAMAS tidak diturunkan.

Apa yang lebih memerajatkan lagi ialah kemenangan HAMAS di bandar-bandar yang dikenali sebagai kubu Fatah buat sekian lama seperti Jenin, Nablus, malah di Ramallah yang merupakan tempat asal Arafat. Kemenangan ini juga telah menafikan pungutan suara pra-pilihanraya pusingan keempat yang dijalankan oleh "Markaz Dirasaat al-Bahthiyyah wal Mahsiyyah" di Ramallah dan juga kajian yang dijalankan oleh Universiti Beir Zeit. Kedua-dua institusi tersebut meramalkan Fatah akan memenangi lebih 50% daripada undi popular, manakala HAMAS hanya akan meraih 30% sahaja. Apabila keputusan diumumkan tenyata undi popular HAMAS mencatatkan 49.8%, manakala Fatah hanya berjaya meraih 20% sahaja.

Mengapa HAMAS ?: Analisis Barat
Menurut para penganalisis politik barat, populariti HAMAS melonjak kerana dua perkara. Faktor pertama ialah kehilangan Yaser Arafat yang merupakan ikon perjuangan Palestin. Kehilangannya merupakan satu kehilangan besar bagi Fatah. Rakyat Palestin yang kehilangan Arafat bagaikan tercari-carikan pengganti beliau.

Mahmoud Abbas yang berusia 70 tahun itu dilihat tidak dapat menandingi populariti Arafat yang di awal penglibatannya di dalam Fatah dilihat sebagai seorang tokoh perjuangan bersenjata yang amat lantang dan berani. Abbas juga bukan sahaja dilihat lemah oleh rakyat Palestin secara keseluruhannya, malah oleh para pendokong Fatah sendiri. Tidak hairanlah para pemuda Fatah ramai yang beralih mendokong inspirasi perjuangan tokoh muda mereka, Marwan al-Bargouthi yang kini sedang menjalani hukuman penjara seumur hidup di dalam penjara Zionis.

Di kala Fatah ketandusan kepimpinan, HAMAS yang telah mengorbankan ramai di antara pemimpin-pemimpin mereka untuk perjuangan kemerdekaan Palestin dilihat sebagai potensi yang amat bersinar. Mana tidaknya, walaupun dua tokoh utama mereka, Syeikh Ahmad Yassin dan Dr Abdul Aziz al-Rantisi dibunuh, dan puluhan pimpinan yang lain mendahului mereka seperti Dr Salah Syahadah, Dr Ibrahim Maqadmah, Ismail Abu Haniyeh dan lain-lain, mereka tetap mempunyai pelapis dan tokoh-tokoh yang jauh lebih berkarismatik berbanding para pimpinan Fatah.

Tokoh seperti Khaled Mesh'al, Sami al-Zuhri, Mahmoud Zahar, Sami Khatir, Ibrahim Ghousyah, Hassan Yousef dan lain-lain masih lagi menjadi pilihan rakyat Palestin. Mungkin kerana perjuangan HAMAS yang tidak bercirikan "paksi individu" ( individual centric) telah berjaya menjadikan mereka begitu dinamik.

Faktor kedua yang sering dibawa oleh media barat juga adalah faktor serangan bom berani mati (baca: Berani Syahid) yang sering dilakukan HAMAS telah berjaya meraih sokongan majoriti rakyat Palestin. Analisis ini agak keterlaluan dan tidak berdasarkan fakta yang betul. Jika dilihat, HAMAS semenjak 2004 lagi sudah tidak giat melancarkan serangan seumpamanya. Kebanyakan serangan-serangan seumpama itu hanya dilakukan oleh kumpulan Jihad Islamiy dan juga sayap ketenteraan Fatah, "Briged al-Aqsa".

HAMAS lebih banyak menumpukan kepada serangan ke atas pos-pos kawalan tentera, dan yang paling berjaya adalah serangan " Amaliyyat al-nafaq" pada awal 2005 yang telah berjaya mengorbankan ramai tentera Zionis apabila mereka berjaya menggali terowong dan kemudiannya muncul di bawah salah sebuah pusat kawalan tentera Zionis di Gaza. HAMAS juga semenjak tahun 2004 lebih banyak menumpukan kepada serangan roket-roket al-Qassam buatan mereka yang banyak menyebabkan kemusnahan di pihak Zionis.

Walau bagaimanapun, isunya bukanlah serangan berani mati ataupun serangan roket, isunya di sini ialah metod penentangan ( Intifadah) yang dipelopori oleh HAMAS telah dilihat sebagai satu-satunya cara untuk melawan penjajahan Zionis di atas muka bumi mereka. Kegagalan Arafat bersama Oslo 1993 beliau dan juga pengunduran Zionis (Indihaar ) dari bumi Gaza telah membuktikannya. Maka, rakyat Palestin yang mahukan kemerdekaan bumi mereka dan bukannya janji-janji palsu Zionis, mahukan pihak yang lebih berwibawa untuk membawakan kemerdekaan kepada mereka.

Realiti Sebenar

HAMAS yang diramalkan menjadi pemenang utama di dalam pilihanraya legaslatif Palestin sememangnya mempunyai kekuatan mereka yang tersendiri. Antaranya, sepertimana yang sering disebutkan hatta oleh media barat sekalipun, usaha kebajikan yang dilakukan oleh gerakan tersebut. Tiada sesiapa pun yang dapat menafikan usaha kebajikan yang dilakukan oleh HAMAS untuk rakyat Palestin.

Ketelusan mereka di dalam menyalurkan bantuan kepada rakyat Palestin, samada yang hidup di dalam kem-kem pelarian mahupun yang tinggal di kawasan-kawasan selain kem pelarian tidak diragui oleh mana-mana pihak. Keadaan ini telah memberikan kredit yang tidak terhingga kepada HAMAS, di waktu tokoh-tokoh Fatah dan juga para aktivis mereka dikenali dan diketahui oleh rakyat Palestin dan juga dunia sebagai golongan yang korup dan pecah amanah.

HAMAS juga dilihat sebagai potensi untuk memerintah rakyat Palestin kerana rakyat Palestin inginkan perubahan pada pentadbiran PA yang sepertimana dimaklumi dunia, dan sepertimana yang disifatkan oleh mendiang Edward Said sebagai lebih korupsi daripada parti ANC pimpinan Mandela. Kematian Arafat telah mendedahkan segala-galanya apabila sejumlah harta berjuta Dolar milik rakyat Palestin telah disimpan di dalam akaun-akaun luar negara di atas nama Arafat.

Perbalahan dan juga permainan tarik tali di antara para pemimpin Fatah di dalam PA dengan isterinya telah menjadi perbualan dunia. Hasilnya perundingan di antara kedua belah pihak tersebut membawa kepada kelewatan pengisytiharan kematian Arafat sendiri. Hal ini bukanlah rahsia di kalangan rakyat Palestin yang diibaratkan seumpama "sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga". Para pemimpin yang diharapkan dapat memperjuangkan nasib mereka, bukan hanya meletakkan senjata semenjak Oslo 1993, malah telah menyalah gunakan wang rakyat dan menjadikan isu kemerdekaan Palestin sebagai alat untuk mereka membuat kekayaan.

Satu tindakan bijak oleh HAMAS ialah apabila mereka mendaftarkan diri di dalam pilihanraya perbandaran dan juga di dalam pilihanraya yang akan datang sebagai kumpulan " al-Islah wa al-Taghyir" (Refomasi dan Perubahan). Mereka juga menjadikan usaha "menghapuskan penyelewengan di dalam PA" sebagai motto utama di dalam kempen-kempen pilihanraya tempatan yang telah melalui pusingan keempatnya dan hanya menantikan siri terakhir pusingan keempat di bandar al-Khalil (Hebron).

Kenyataan media HAMAS yang mengatakan mereka tidak mahu menguasai PA, tetapi hanya mahukan pos-pos yang selalu berlaku penyelewengan untuk mereka perbaiki, bagaikan satu bonus kepada mereka dan menjadi kredit untuk dipilih oleh rakyat Palestin yang melihat mereka sebagai golongan yang tidak gilakan kuasa.

Dari sudut kelayakan mereka yang bertanding juga, ianya memberikan impak kepada sokongan yang bakal diberikan rakyat kepada HAMAS. Di dalam satu kajian yang dilakukan oleh Markaz al-Quds li al-I'laam (Institut Kajian al-Quds), yang berpusat di Ramallah ke atas 1199 responden dari seluruh Tebing Barat dan Gaza, lebih 91% daripada para pengundi yang layak mengundi akan memilih wakil mereka berdasarkan kelayakan akademik mereka. 89% responden pula memilih faktor populariti calon, manakala 83% pula memilih wakil yang beragama dan mempunyai akhlak yang baik.

Ternyata ketiga-ketiga faktor pilihan pengundi tersebut lebih berpihak kepada wakil-wakil HAMAS yang kebanyakkannya terdiri daripada para ahli akademik, lulusan universiti, profesional dan juga mereka yang mempunyai nama di kalangan rakyat kerana kerja-kerja kebajikan yang dilakukan. Manakala persoalan beragama, ianya bukan persoalannya di sini apabila nama HAMAS diperbincangkan. Maka di atas kriteria-kriteria inilah, ramai di antara penganalisis politik Palestin meletakkan anggaran bahawa calon HAMAS akan meraih kemenangan yang agak besar.

Perpecahan Fatah

Di satu sudut yang lain pula, Perpecahan dalaman gerakan Fatah yang semakin parah juga mempunyai impaknya yang tersendiri. Marwan al-Bargouthi telah mengemukakan senarai calon-calon pilihannya beliau sendiri untuk bertanding di dalam pilihanraya tersebut sejam sebelum tempoh pencalonan ditutup oleh suruhanjaya pilihanraya PA. Senarai yang dikemukan oleh Bargouthi ini adalah senarai yang berlainan daripada senarai yang dikemukakan oleh Mahmoud Abbas. Kebanyakan daripada calon-calon beliau adalah pemuda-pemuda Fatah yang berumur di dalam lingkungan 40'an yang dikenali sebagai " The New Guards". Ianya dianggap sebagai protes golongan pemuda Fatah terhadap golongan "Old Guards" yang dilihat oleh mereka sebagai golongan yang menguasai Fatah untuk kepentingan sendiri. Malangnya, di dalam senarai al-Bargouthi sendiri, terdapat juga nama-nama mereka yang terkenal sebagai koruptor di kalangan pimpinan PA, di antara mereka adalah Muhammad Dahlan, mantan menteri dalam negeri PA.

Hal ini benar-benar telah menggerunkan Mahmoud Abbas yang melihat fenomena itu sebagai bonus untuk kemenangan HAMAS secara mudah. Andaian beliau, jika undi Fatah terbahagi dua, maka pihak HAMAS yang merupakan pilihan utama rakyat Palestin tidak akan mempunyai pencabar yang terdekat. Tidak hairanlah sejurus setelah keputusan kajian yang dijalankan oleh Universiti al-Najah diumumkan, Mahkamah Palestin telah mengumumkan kebenaran untuk Fatah mengemukakan senarai calon mereka yang baru di Tebing Barat di dalam tempoh enam jam dan juga membatalkan senarai calon-calon mereka yang lama. Suasana ini telah digunakan oleh Mahmoud Abbas untuk menyatukan senarai di antara calon-calon beliau dengan calon-calon Marwan agar mereka bertanding di bawah lambang yang sama, iaitu Fatah.

Respon Zionis
Di dalam perkembangan yang lain pula, Al-Jazeera telah melaporkan di dalam satu kajian ringkas yang dilakukan oleh pihak media tempatan rejim Zionis pada 23 Disember 2005, 50% dari kalangan rakyat entiti haram tersebut bersetuju untuk kerajaan mereka melakukan rundingan damai dengan HAMAS sekiranya HAMAS memenangi pilihanraya legaslatif pada 25 Januari nanti. 47% pula menolak sebarang rundingan dengan pihak HAMAS, manakala yang selebihnya bersikap berkecuali. Hasil kajian ini amat bertentangan dengan pendirian kerajaan rejim yang menolak sebarang rundingan dengan pihak HAMAS yang didakwa mereka sebagai pengganas.

Hal ini juga menandakan bahawa pilihan Silvan Shalom, Menteri Hubungan Luar Zionis tidak begitu menjadi pilihan rakyatnya sendiri. Shalom, yang sekarang ini di dalam perjuangannya untuk menerajui kepimpinan Parti Likud setelah ditinggalkan vakumnya oleh Sharon, pada 17 Disember telah membuat kenyataan bahawa: "kemenangan HAMAS di dalam pilihanraya akan datang akan meletakkan Israel di dalam keadaan 50 tahun yang lepas". Beliau juga menyokong tindakan AS yang menggugut rakyat Palestin agar tidak memberikan undi mereka kepada HAMAS di dalam pilihanraya berkenaan. Persoalannya kini, apakah benar HAMAS akan menjadi kuasa baru rakyat Palestin di pentas antarabangsa?, sama-samalah kita nantikan...

Penulis adalah seorang pensyarah di sebuah universiti tempatan.

www.harakahdaily.net

Because of Attacks, Israel Declares Part of Gaza Off Limits

By GREG MYRE

JERUSALEM, Dec. 28 - Israel on Wednesday declared the northernmost part of the Gaza Strip a "no go" zone for Palestinians and pounded the area with artillery shells in an attempt to halt the persistent Palestinian rocket fire from the area.

Israel, which pulled out of Gaza barely 100 days ago, says it has no plans to send ground troops back into the territory. But the military has positioned heavy artillery guns just outside Gaza's northern frontier and is expected to maintain a round-the-clock air patrol with helicopters, drones and possibly other aircraft.

The Palestinian leader, Mahmoud Abbas, who was in Gaza on Wednesday, condemned the Israeli move, saying, "Israel left the Gaza Strip and has no right to return under any pretext, such as the firing of rockets, which I also condemn."

Israel said it was acting because the Palestinian Authority had failed to prevent the rocket fire. Palestinian militants launch most of the rockets from open areas near the border and have fired more than 200 since Israel completed its Gaza withdrawal on Sept. 12, according to the military. No Israelis have been killed, but the rockets have caused damage and injuries.

"These steps are being taken to stop the firing of rockets on Israeli towns, which we have every right to do," said David Baker, an official in the office of Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Military planes dropped leaflets in northern Gaza that said any Palestinians in the "no go" zone after 6 p.m. on Wednesday risked being shot.

"Anyone who does not heed this warning is placing his or her life in immediate danger," the leaflet says.

The Palestinians fired a rocket from northern Gaza shortly before 6 p.m., and over the next few hours, the Israeli forces responded with more than a dozen artillery rounds, the military said. Palestinians said a militant and a teenage boy were wounded.

Israel's self-declared "buffer zone" consists largely of three former Jewish settlements on the northern edge of Gaza. The military said the zone was currently uninhabited, though there are Palestinian towns just outside the zone.

Israel's military destroyed the homes after the settlers were evacuated, and the Palestinians have not yet begun removing the rubble or rebuilding the area.

However, militants have entered the former settlements to fire rockets toward the Israeli coastal town of Ashkelon, which was previously out of range. The rockets have not yet hit the town but are landing increasingly closer.

With the Israelis and Palestinians trading fire across Gaza's borders almost daily, an agreement on Palestinian movement in and out of Gaza has stalled. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice brokered the deal last month, and shortly afterward, the Palestinians gained control of the border crossing in Rafah, on Gaza's southern border with Egypt.

The agreement also called for bus convoys to shuttle Palestinians between Gaza and the West Bank beginning Dec. 15. But Israel has delayed this and other measures.

In Palestinian politics, the two rival factions in the Fatah Party of Mr. Abbas resolved enough of their differences on Wednesday to submit a single list of candidates for parliamentary elections on Jan. 25.

However, the friction within Fatah was again on display as gunmen from Al Aksa Martyrs Brigades, a militant faction linked to Fatah, seized election offices in five towns in the Gaza Strip and waged shootouts with the Palestinian police. Dozens of gunmen battled the security forces at the election offices in Gaza City, and a policeman was shot in the leg.

Fatah has dominated Palestinian politics for decades, but it is increasingly split along generational lines. Mr. Abbas, 70, represents the old guard, while younger leaders have been demanding more prominent positions.

"What is important is that we go through the election process united," Mr. Abbas said at a news conference in Gaza City. He said it was also essential that the election was carried out "with sportsmanship and a spirit of transparency and fairness so that we can achieve the true democracy that we all want."

Marwan Barghouti, the most prominent figure among the younger Fatah leaders, was placed at the top of the Fatah candidate list. Mr. Barghouti, 46, is serving five life sentences in an Israeli prison after being convicted last year of orchestrating five killings. He remains hugely popular among young Palestinians.

Other young leaders were also given places high enough on the Fatah list that they should be assured of seats in the Palestinian legislature, while a number of veteran Fatah figures are now unlikely to make the cut. The seats will be filled from the top of the list down, depending on the percentage of the vote and resulting number of seats Fatah wins in the election.

On Dec. 14, the final day to register for the elections, the young leaders announced a breakaway faction called the Future and submitted their own list of candidates. However, a Palestinian court ruled that the candidate lists could be revised and resubmitted on Wednesday.

Fatah remains the favorite in the elections, but it is facing an increasingly strong challenge from the Islamic faction Hamas, which is competing for the first time.

Also in Gaza, Palestinian gunmen kidnapped three Britons in the southern border town of Rafah, Palestinian security officials said.

Details were sketchy, but the security officials said it appeared that the three were a British couple, who had crossed from Egypt into Gaza, and their daughter.

Gunmen in Gaza have kidnapped Westerners on several occasions in the past year. The gunmen have issued various demands that include jobs in the Palestinian security forces or the release of a jailed relative. All those kidnapped have been freed unharmed, usually after just a few hours.

www.nytimes.com

Dozens Killed In Iraq Violence Upsurge

Two US pilots were killed when their helicopter crashed in west Baghdad on Monday night, the US military said on Tuesday.

"There was no hostile fire involved," it said in a statement, without giving details.

A US soldier with Task Force Baghdad was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle while on patrol in the capital, the military said.

The name of the soldier was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Officials blamed the rise in violence on Monday on anti-government fighters' efforts to deepen the political turmoil surrounding the contested 15 December parliamentary vote.

Preliminary figures, including some returns released on Monday from ballots cast early by expatriate Iraqis and some voters inside Iraq, have given a big lead to the religious Shia bloc that controls the current interim government.

Iraq's Electoral Commission said final results for the 275-seat parliament could be released in about a week.

Bombings
On Monday, a car bomber slammed into a police patrol in the capital, leaving three dead, officials said.

In a second incident, a motorcycle bomber rammed into a Shia funeral ceremony, killing at least two, said Major Falah Muhamadawi of the Interior Ministry. A mortar killed two people in a predominantly Shia neighbourhood.

Four other car bombs killed at least two people, and armed men killed five officers at a police checkpoint north of Baghdad, officials said.

A US soldier with Task Force Baghdad was killed when a rocket-propelled grenade hit his vehicle while on patrol in the capital, the military said.

The name of the soldier was withheld pending notification of next of kin.

Saddam's half-brother
In Jordan, a lawyer for Saddam Hussein and a Jordanian newspaper claimed on Monday that the former ruler's half-brother rejected a US offer of a ranking Iraqi government position in exchange for testimony against the deposed leader.

The half-brother, Barzan Ibrahim, reportedly made the claim on Thursday before the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Court, which is hearing the cases against him, Saddam and six other co-defendants for the death of more than 140 Shia after a 1982 attempt on Saddam's life in the town of Dujail.

The lawyer spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorised to give details of the closed session.

Saddam's chief Iraqi lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, made the same allegations in Monday's editions of the independent Jordanian daily Al Arab Al Yawm. Dulaimi and US officials were not immediately available for comment on Monday, which was a US holiday.

But chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Musawi denied that there were attempts to cut a deal with Ibrahim during the closed session. "The defense team should respect the profession and should not make false statements," al-Musawi said. He refused to reveal what happened during the closed session.

In other developments:
Armed men raided a house in southern Baghdad, killing three people, police Captain Qasim Husayn said. Armed men attacked the house again when police arrived to remove the bodies, wounding two officers, police said.

A Shia cleric in the southern city of Najaf and a man in the northern city of Mosul were shot and killed. In Baghdad, a civilian driving his children to school and a professor were killed.

A car bomb targeted the governor of Diyala province, killing a bodyguard, and armed men killed a member of Diyala city council.

In a separate development, Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko paid an unannounced visit to his country's troops. His country is pulling out its remaining 867 soldiers this week. - The Associated Press

Rakyat Palestin Dilarang Mengundi

BAITULMAQDIS 21 Dis. - Israel akan menghalang rakyat Palestin di Baitulmaqdis daripada mengundi dalam pilihan raya Parlimen Palestin pada 25 Januari ini, kata seorang pegawai kanan Israel.

Dalam pilihan raya Palestin yang pernah diadakan sebelum ini, rakyat Palestin yang tinggal di Baitulmaqdis mengundi melalui pos.

Kertas undi itu kemudiannya dihantar ke pejabat pos Baitulmaqdis atau memandu ke pusat-pusat pengundian di kawasan-kawasan pinggir Tebing Barat yang berhampiran.

Kali ini, kata pegawai kanan Israel itu, pengundian tidak akan diadakan di negara ini walaupun melalui pejabat pos.

Menurut seorang pegawai Israel yang enggan memberitahu namanya berkata, Israel tidak mahu memberi peluang kepada puak militan Hamas untuk mengambil alih kuasa.

Hamas merupakan pencabar utama terhadap pemimpin Palestin, Mahmoud Abbas. - AP

Askar Amerika Mengaku Salah

BAGHDAD: Lima anggota renjer tentera Amerika Syarikat yang menghadapi mahkamah tentera berhubung tuduhan menyeksa banduan di Iraq, mengaku salah dan dikenakan hukuman penjara antara 30 hari dan enam bulan.

Tentera AS semalam menyatakan, dua anggota tentera dipecat kerana berkelakuan buruk berhubung hasil siasatan yang dijalankan berhubung tuduhan penyeksaan banduan pada 7 September lalu.

Ia menyatakan, keputusan perbicaraan mahkamah tentera itu tamat antara 8 dan 13 Disember lalu.

Pada November lalu, tentera menyatakan lima tentera itu didakwa menumbuk dan menyepak banduan Iraq serta membelasah mereka menggunakan batang penyapu di Baghdad pada 7 September ketika menahan serta mengangkut tahanan itu ke penjara. ?Reuters

Bush Admits Giving Spying Orders

The US president has said he has no intention of stopping his personal authorisations of a post-September 11 secret eavesdropping programme in the United States, defending it as crucial in preventing future attacks.

"This is a highly classified programme that is crucial to our national security," President Bush said in a radio address delivered live from the White House on Saturday.

"This authorisation is a vital tool in our war against the terrorists. It is critical to saving American lives. The American people expect me to do everything in my power, under our laws and Constitution, to protect them and their civil liberties, and that is exactly what I will continue to do."

Members of Congress have demanded an explanation of the programme, revealed in Friday's New York Times, and want to know whether the monitoring by the National Security Agency without obtaining warrants from a court violates civil liberties.

Bush said the programme was narrowly designed and used "consistent with US law and the constitution". He said it was used only to intercept the international communications of people inside the United States who had been determined to have "a clear link" to al-Qaida or related terrorist organisations.

Review
The programme is reviewed every 45 days, using current threat assessments, legal reviews by the Justice Department, White House counsel and others, and information from previous activities under the programme, the president said.

Without identifying specific politicians, Bush said congressional leaders had been briefed more than a dozen times on the programme's activities.

The president also said the intelligence officials involved in the monitoring received extensive training to make sure that civil liberties were not violated.

Appearing angry at points during his eight-minute address, Bush said he had re-authorised the programme more than 30 times since the 11 September attacks and planned to continue doing so.

"I intend to do so for as long as our nation faces a continuing threat from al-Qaida and related groups," he said.

Bush's remarks echoed those issued on Friday night by a senior intelligence official who spoke on condition of anonymity. His unusual discussion of classified activities showed the sensitive nature of the programme, whose existence was revealed as Congress was trying to renew the Patriot Act.

'Breathtaking'
Reacting to Bush's defence of the NSA programme, Russell Feingold, a Democrat senator, said the president's remarks were "breathtaking in how extreme they were".

Feingold said it was "absurd" that Bush said he relied on his inherent power as president to authorise the wiretaps.

"If that's true, he doesn't need the Patriot Act because he can just make it up as he goes along," he said.

"I tell you, he's President George Bush, not King George Bush. This is not the system of government we have and that we fought for." - The Associated Press

Israel serang kediaman pemimpin Palestin

Bandar Gaza 15 Dis. - Pesawat udara tentera Israel menyerang kediaman seorang pemimpin Palestin dan juga pejabat sebuah pertubuhan kebajikan Islam di Genting Gaza hari ini, mengakibatkan seorang terbunuh.

Serangan yang dilancarkan di Beit Lahiya dan Rafah itu adalah sama seperti serangan semalam yang membunuh empat anggota militan Palestin dekat sini.

Israel melancarkan serangan itu selepas pengebom berani mati Jihad Islam melakukan serangan hingga meragut lima nyawa rakyatnya minggu lalu.

Menurut saksi, bangunan tiga tingkat yang diserang di kampung Beit Lahiya itu adalah milik pemimpin Jawatankuasa Penentangan Popular (PRC), sebuah badan campuran puak militan Palestin yang sering melancarkan serangan roket ke atas Israel.

Bangunan tersebut mengalami kerosakan akibat kebakaran. Pemimpin militan Palestin itu terselamat daripada serangan tersebut tetapi seorang lagi penduduk Palestin cedera, kata anggota-anggota perubatan.

Sumber-sumber tentera Israel berkata, serangan udara itu disasarkan ke atas tempat simpanan senjata PRC.

Di Rafah, sebuah pesawat Israel melancarkan serangan peluru berpandu ke atas pejabat sebuah pertubuhan kebajikan yang ada hubungan dengan Jihad Islam tetapi tiada sebarang kemalangan jiwa berlaku.

Sumber-sumber tentera berkata, pejabat itu didakwa telah digunakan untuk menyerang wilayah Israel.

Terdahulu, pesawat-pesawat Israel turut melancarkan roket ke kawasan-kawasan terbuka di utara Gaza yang digunakan oleh puak militan Palestin untuk melancarkan serangan roket ke atas Israel.

Sumber-sumber tentera Israel mendakwa, tiada kecederaan dilaporkan dalam serangan itu. - Reuters

Egypt: A test of democratic rhetoric

By Soumaya Ghannoushi

In the recent Egyptian elections, the Muslim Brotherhood, the oldest and largest Islamic movement in the Arab world, has succeeded in winning approximately one third of the votes, even though the organisation, which continues to be banned in Egypt, had confined itself to contesting 144 out of the 454 parliamentary seats to avoid aggravating the government.

This result came in spite of the widespread violations that have marred the elections, ranging from the arrests of hundreds of Brotherhood activists, to the police blocking polling stations and shooting tear gas, and thugs wielding machetes, knives and guns to terrorise voters, while the police stood by.

The Egyptian case is the rule not the exception. Wherever relatively free and credible elections have been held in the region, mainstream Islamism has emerged as the principal player.

This has been the case in Jordan, Kuwait, Morocco, and Turkey. Even in Algeria, where the army staged a coup d'etat against the Islamic Salvation Front in 1992, soon after, other Islamic parties came to occupy the seats the ousted FIS had held in parliament.

From Egypt to Syria, Iraq to Turkey, Algeria to Tunisia, the lesson has been the same: Deeply entrenched socio-political phenomena cannot be uprooted by force and coercion.

Mainstream Islamism is a fundamental and firmly-rooted factor in Arab and Islamic political life. It can be neither ignored nor cancelled.

Whether we like it or not, mainstream Islamism is an integral component of any equation of democratic transition in the region.

The claim that political Islam is in its last throes, which has gained currency in academic, political and media circles since it was first put forward by Olivier Roy in the 1990s, looks today more implausible than ever.

The problem with the failure of political Islam thesis is that it reduces the Islamic scene to its radical expressions, with no heed of the diversity of its modes of interpretation, political agendas, and order of priorities.

The trouble with Roy is that he turns his attention to the narrow violent fringes and turns a blind eye to the mainstream and its internal dynamism.

The tendency to lump the great Islamist mosaic under the vague and obscure heading of Islamic fundamentalism leaves us in a conceptual vacuum, unable to decipher its complexity and make sense of its many variations.
Islamism, just like Socialism is not a uniform entity. It characterises an intensely colourful socio-political phenomenon with different strategies and discourses.

This enormously diverse movement ranges from the liberal to the conservative, from the modern to the traditional, from the moderate to the radical, from the democratic to the theocratic and from the peaceful to the violent.

What is common to these different trends is that they all derive their source of legitimacy from Islam, just as the Latin American anarchist guerrillas, the Social Democrats, Marxists, and Third way Blairites base theirs on Socialism. To view this broad canvass through the lens of Bin Laden or al-Zarqawi is nothing short of absurd.

It is equally immature to assume that the different manifestations of Islamism are all engaged in an open battle with modernity.

Mainstream Islamism may in fact be described as a complex response to the challenges and deficiencies of modernity. It represents a synthesis between Islam's historical and symbolic resources and the expressions of modernity.

It is as Islamic in its language and origins, as it is modern in its methods and instruments. Its social bases are largely drawn from the urban educated sectors of society, with a strong presence in the unions of students, teachers, lawyers, doctors and engineers.

The seeds of this phenomenon may be traced back to the dawn of the nineteenth century with the Islamic reform movement of Jamal al-Din al-Afghani and his disciples Muhammad Abdu and Rashid Rida.

These reformers may be credited with transmitting Islam's symbolic capital from the traditional sectors of Muslim society to its modern institutions and adapting it the requirements of modern times.

This is not to say that the discourse of Islamists is entirely coherent, or that their historical experience is without its pitfalls. It is to recognise Islamism as a dynamic complex phenomenon, expressive of, and responsive to, the dilemmas and crises of a modern Islamic world struggling to regain its equilibrium after the painful bolts of colonialism and political fragmentation.

Whatever we may think of Islamism, whether we like it or not, we cannot change the reality on the ground. Islamists are the dominant force in much of the Muslim world.

The campaigns of repression waged against them by the region’s dictatorships with the backing of their American and European allies have proved quite unable to halt their growth or stop the pace of Islamisation in Muslim society.

The broad trend in the Islamic political map today is one of incorporating the mechanisms of democracy, such as peaceful power alternation, power checks and balances and the separation of powers, within an Islamic framework.

Democracy is, indeed, neither a dogma, nor a doctrine. It denotes a collection of procedures and institutions which have the potential to function within different cultural contexts and various value- systems.

To break the Islamic political terrain into opposite trenches of enlightened secular democrats and fundamentalist remnants of medieval times is both simplistic and misleading.

The so-called fundamentalist threat has been, and continues to be, used as a means of obstructing real democratic transition in the region. Only if it generates the desired result is the ballot box to be accepted, only as a seal of a pre-determined outcome.

Those who fill the air with hymns to freedom and democracy are strangely silent today, unstirred by the scenes of police barrages encircling polling stations and machete wielding government thugs chasing voters away.

In a letter addressed to the American State Secretary in response to the Department spokesman's denial of any knowledge of violence or irregularities in the Egyptian election.

Human Rights Watch said, such statements "make a mockery of the policies you and President Bush have articulated on numerous occasions this year regarding the importance of respect for democratic freedoms in the Middle East generally and in Egypt in particular" (2 Dec 2005).

The grand slogans of democracy and good governance in the Middle East are being tested today on the Egyptian soil.

What continues to be missing in the region, it seems, are not the forces of democracy, or the culture of democracy, but the international will to allow democratic change to take place. What we need is to bridge the gap between a sweet rhetoric and a gruesome, bitter reality.

[Soumaya Ghannoushi is a researcher in the history of ideas at the School of Oriental & African Studies, University of London.]

The opinions expressed here are the author's and do not necessarily reflect the editorial position or have the endorsement of Aljazeera.

www.aljazeera.net

Afghan Mujahideen preparing for the long winter ahead

Taliban spokesman, Hanif, has reported the death of three US occupation soldiers in southeastern part of Afghanistan.

Hanif in an interview with IRIB's Pashto Radio on Thursday said a tank belonging to the US Army was blown up Wednesday night by a remote control landmine, killing three US soldiers on the spot. The landmine was planted by Taliban militia in the city of Kheir-Kout in Afghanistan's Paktia province.

Meanwhile Afghanistan Mujahideen kill 6 US occupation solders, wounded 3, In Shah Wali Kot district of province Kandahar on Wednesday, Theunjustmedia.com reported. Mujahideen shot down another US helicopter, the helicopter was shot down during the US aggressors operation against Mujahideen.

The helicopter was shot down by a rocket, killing 6 US kuffars on board while wounding threeё Theunjustmedia.com reported. This is the third helicopter that has been shot down by Mujahideen is last few days, the Afghanistan Mujahideen have increases there attacks after Ramadan.

In Ramadan most Afghanistan Mujahideen were giving time to spend with their families, so it has taking a bit of time to reorganize but things are getting back to normal as Mujahideen preparing for the long winter ahead.

Earlier, a local United Nations worker was shot and badly wounded Thursday by unidentified gunmen riding motorcycles in Afghanistan’s southern city of Kandahar.

The attackers opened fire as Asasadullah, an employee of the UN political mission in Afghanistan, was going to work in the city, a former stronghold of the ousted Taliban regime.

That who might have been behind the attack is not known and government officials were not immediately available for comment.

Meanwhile, NATO ministers including US Secretary of State, Condoleezza Rice are set to approve Thursday plans to send more occupation force to Afghanistan, at talks clouded by a row over CIA prison flights.

Rice will join her NATO counterparts on the last leg of a four-country European tour dogged by the controversy, despite repeated attempts to defuse it by public declarations renouncing torture and abuse.

The main focus of Thursday’s talks is expected to be a deal to expand the occupation force into Afghanistan’s more volatile south, where the US is keen for NATO to ease pressure on its stretched forces. - Agencies

CIA Scandal Highlights Split Between Europeans/Americans On War On Terror

WASHINGTON (AFP) - Outrage in Europe over alleged CIA torture camps and covert flights across the continent exposes a wide gap between Americans and Europeans on how they view the war on terror, analysts say.

While many Americans came to believe in the wake of the September 11 attacks that terrorists were at their doorstep, ready to strike anytime, Europeans have a different perception, they say.

"On the US side there is a sense of imminent threat, that we cannot waste time by going through courts, finding evidence," Simon Serfaty, an expert on European affairs at the Center for Strategic and International Studies in Washington, told AFP.

"On the European side there is a sense that the threat is not so very imminent so that you can take your time thinking through the issue and not make compromises between ends and means."

Dieter Dettke, an expert on German politics at the Washington office of the Friedrich Ebert Foundation, said the uproar in Europe over the prison camps reflected the differing approaches to terrorism.

"We do have a more legalistic perspective on the war on terror and America is far less concerned about legalities," he said. Allegations that the CIA set up secret prisons, or "black sites", in several eastern European countries to interrogate terrorist suspects and that it had used airports across the continent to transport these suspects in the wake of the September 11 attacks first surfaced last month.

The existence of the prisons would be in violation of the European Convention of Human Rights and the European Union's justice commissioner has warned that any EU country found to have hosted a secret CIA jail would have its voting rights suspended.

Washington initially refused to address the issue, but faced with mounting fury in Europe and a formal EU request for an explanation it has vowed to provide a forthright response. US Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will be flying smack into the storm when she visits Europe this week and the row is likely to dog her at every public appearance she makes in Germany, Romania, Ukraine and Belgium.

Rice said Friday she planned to speak about the controversy before leaving on Monday on her five-day trip to Europe. "What you are likely to hear from the secretary is that the US is entitled to take whatever measures it feels are necessary in order to protect itself from terrorism," Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy at the Cato Institute, a libertarian think tank, told AFP.

"And the simple truth is that many Americans, not all, agree with that and the sentiment in Europe is very different."

Michael Calingaert, an expert on Europe with the Washington-based Brookings Institution, lamented the fact that the scandal comes at a time as countries on both sides of the Atlantic try to mend relations that were strained by the US-led war in Iraq.

"I think unfortunately this does not help the US image and it certainly adds fuel, ammunition to those who have been critical of the US for having carried out the war in Iraq," he said.

He added that it was in the interest of both the United States and Europe to contain the row and not let it get in the way of broader issues on their agenda.

Preble noted that while Rice may be put on the spot about the CIA torture prisons during her public appearances in Europe, it may not figure high on the agenda during her private meetings with leaders. "I would not be surprised if the conversation in private does not dwell on this issue," he said. - AFP

Maklumat Risikan Perang Vietnam Juga Dimanipulasi

WASHINGTON 2 Dis. - Ketika dunia masih segar dengan pendedahan White House memesongkan maklumat untuk menceroboh Iraq, perkembangan terbaru menunjukkan tindakan yang sama pernah diambil empat dekad lalu di Vietnam Utara.

Agensi perisikan utama Amerika Syarikat (AS) mengubah status data-data yang menunjukkan ejen-ejennya telah memutarbelitkan maklumat risikan bagi hujahnya berhubung serangan komunis ke atas kapal AS pada tahun 1964, insiden yang membawa kepada kemuncak Perang Vietnam.

Ia terbongkar ekoran pengakuan Agensi Keselamatan Kebangsaan (NSA) bahawa kegagalan dalam usaha untuk mempertahankan kerahsiaan rencana `hangat', yang diterbitkan pada tahun 2001 dalam jurnal dalaman.

Pegawai-pegawai NSA bimbang penemuaan itu boleh mencetuskan perbandingan dengan pendirian pentadbiran Presiden George W. Bush yang didakwa telah memesongkan maklumat risikan untuk menceroboh Iraq pada tahun 2003.

Bush kini berhadapan dengan tekanan daripada pelbagai pihak di AS termasuk parti Demokrat berhubung dakwaan memesongan maklumat risikan untuk menyerang Iraq.

Rencana yang ditulis oleh ahli sejarah NSA, Robert Hanyok itu adalah berdasarkan isyarat-isyarat risikan atau dikenali sebagai SIGINT, merumuskan apa yang ahli-ahli sejarah telah lama merumuskan bahawa tiada serangan kedua daripada bot-bot torpedo ke atas kapal-kapal perang pemusnah AS pada 4 Ogos 1964.

Presiden Lyndon B. Johnson menggunakan alasan serangan kedua itu, yang berlaku dua hari selepas serangan awal yang memang telah disahkan, untuk menghujah keperluan membalas serangan ke atas Vietnam Utara.

Kongre AS telah diminta kebenaran untuk bertindak dengan bebas di Vietnam.

Keputusan itu telah membawa peperangan buruk di antara AS dan Vietnam Utara yang menyebabkan kematian 58,000 askar AS, tiga juta rakyat Vietnam dan menyebabkan keadaan yang amat menakutkan bagi kedua-dua negara selepas beberapa dekad.

Rencana Hanyok merumuskan sama ada Johnson ataupun Setiausaha Pertahanannya, Robert McNamara secara peribadi terlibat dalam memanipulasikan maklumat risikan berkaitan kejadian itu dan mempercayai ia tulen.

Rencana bertajuk Skunks, Bogies, Silent Hounds, and the Flying Fish, the Gulf of Tonkin Mystery juga merumuskan, pegawai-pegawai NSA di peringkat pertengahan telah membekalkan maklumat kepada pemimpin ketenteraan dan politik dengan maklumat-maklumat yang terpesong berhubung serangan itu.

"Dua penemuan mengejutkan muncul daripada penyelidikan baru. Pertama, tidak terdapat cerita yang berbeza dengan apa yang telah berlaku. Kedua, tiada serangan berlaku pada malam tersebut," jelas rencana tersebut. - AFP