Yemen’s three terror fronts

Al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula took credit in an internet statement Friday for a pair of suicide attacks that targeted South Koreans in Yemen.

A teen-aged suicide bomber killed four South Korean tourists in Shibam, Hadramout on March 15. A second terror attack three days later in Sana’a targeted a convoy of family members and South Korean investigators. The motorcade had left a military camp and was traveling along a highway when a suicide bomber detonated his device between two of the cars. There were no injuries to the passengers.

Filed under: Analysis, Aid, Civil war, Foreign affairs, International, Islam, Islamic law, Jihad, Korea, Militants, Muslim, Sharia, South Korea, Terror, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, United Nations, World, Yemen

Palestinians who helped create Israel

Palestinians have so loudly and for so long (nearly a century) rejected Zionism that Mufti Haj Amin al-Husseini, Yasir Arafat, and Hamas may appear to command unanimous Palestinian support.

But no: polling research finds that a substantial minority of Palestinians, about 20 percent, is ready to live side-by-side with a sovereign Jewish state. Although this minority has never been in charge and its voice has always been buried under rejectionist bluster, Hillel Cohen of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem has uncovered its surprisingly crucial role in history.

He explores this subject in the pre-state period in Army of Shadows: Palestinian Collaboration with Zionism, 1917–1948 (translated by Haim Watzman, University of California Press); then, the same author, translator, and press are currently preparing a sequel, Good Arabs: The Israeli Security Agencies and the Israeli Arabs, 1948–1967, for publication in 2010.

Filed under: Report, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, E.U, Egypt, European Union, Gaza, Hamas, Iraq, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Israel, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Muslim, Muslims, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, Sudan, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E, U.S.A, UK, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, War, World, Yemen

Deeper Islamic radicalism among muslim youths

In yet another fissure within radical Islamist networks, one of the world’s most influential jihadi theologians is coming under fire from some former followers for allegedly moderating his views – a claim he denies.

The attacks on Jordanian cleric Abu Muhammad al-Maqdisi, who was spiritual adviser for the late Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, leader of Al Qaeda in Iraq, are significant because of Mr. Maqdisi’s longtime stature as a revered spiritual mentor who legitimizes violence with his religious interpretations of Islamic sacred texts.

Filed under: Analysis, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, E.U, Egypt, European Union, Gaza, Hamas, Iraq, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Muslim, Muslims, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, Sudan, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E, U.S.A, UK, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, War, World, Yemen

Hello America, I’m a British Muslim

When British businessman Imran Ahmad was made redundant in January, instead of hitting the Job Centre he decided to arrange a one-man speaking tour of the United States to spread his message of peace and Muslim moderateness.

“Do you think the American drone raids in Afghanistan, in which women and children are killed, are actually obstructing the movement for an Islamic reformation?”

“What can be done about the alienation of young Muslim men in the UK?”

“Did you learn English in England?”

Filed under: Voice, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, E.U, Egypt, European Union, Gaza, Hamas, Iraq, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Muslim, Muslims, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, Sudan, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E, U.S.A, UK, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, War, World, Yemen

Obama to increase Afghan force

US President Barack Obama plans to send an extra 4,000 US troops to Afghanistan to help train the Afghan security forces, US officials say.

They will reportedly be deployed later this year and come in addition to 17,000 troops already due to reinforce the 38,000 on the ground.

US Senator Carl Levin said the latest extra troops could be deployed in June.

Mr Obama is expected to announce the extra commitment on Friday when he outlines his new Afghanistan strategy.

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FBI and American Muslims at odds

Law enforcement efforts to root out home-grown terrorists are jeopardized by deteriorating relations between the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Muslim and Arab-American communities.

The situation began last fall when the FBI quietly withdrew formal relations with all local chapters of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the largest Muslim American civil rights organizations. The FBI cited “a number of distinct narrow issues” that it has refused to make public.

The situation worsened in February, when it became public that the FBI had planted an informant at a California mosque who, a coalition of more than a dozen Muslim American groups charges, actively tried to recruit terrorists.

Filed under: America, Algeria, Bahrain, Djibouti, E.U, Egypt, European Union, Gaza, Hamas, Iraq, Islam, Islamic law, Islamist, Islamists, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Libya, Mauritania, Morocco, Muslim, Muslims, Oman, Palestine, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Sharia, Sudan, Syria, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, Tunisia, Turkey, U.A.E, U.S.A, UK, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom, United States, War, World, Yemen

What is Sharia?

Sharia, or Islamic law, influences the legal code in most Muslim countries. A movement to allow sharia to govern personal status law, a set of regulations that pertain to marriage, divorce, inheritance, and custody, is even expanding into the West. “There are so many varying interpretations of what sharia actually means that in some places it can be incorporated into political systems relatively easily,” says Steven A. Cook, CFR senior fellow for Middle Eastern studies. Sharia’s influence on both personal status law and criminal law is highly controversial, though. Some interpretations are used to justify cruel punishments such as amputation and stoning as well as unequal treatment of women in inheritance, dress, and independence. The debate is growing as to whether sharia can coexist with secularism, democracy, or even modernity.

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Iran sees no change in U.S. stance

Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has said he sees no change in America’s attitude towards Iran.

But he also said Iran was willing to change if President Barack Obama altered the US position on Iran.

President Obama on Thursday offered “a new beginning” in relations with Iran, in a video message to Iran’s leaders and people.

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Fresh attack on Koreans in Yemen

A suicide bomber has attacked a South Korean delegation visiting Yemen after a deadly attack on tourists on Sunday.

Officials said no one apart from the bomber was harmed in this attack.

Reports say he walked between two cars in the Korean convoy as it was driving back to the airport in Sanaa and detonated an explosives belt.

Filed under: MidEast, Aid, Civil war, Foreign affairs, International, Islam, Islamic law, Jihad, Korea, Militants, Muslim, Sharia, South Korea, Terror, Terrorism, Terrorists, The Terror Journal, U.N, U.S.A, United Nations, World, Yemen

Swedish citizen leader of Somali terror alliance

A Swedish citizen released by the government last year is currently a senior leader of a Somali Islamist terror alliance currently fighting against the newly formed government.

Swedish police arrested three Swedish citizens in February 2008 on charges of funneling money to Al Shabaab, the Somali terrorist group with close links to al Qaeda. One of the men was released shortly afterward, and the remaining two men were released in June 2008 because “the evidence was insufficient” to prove the men had made the transfer, SvD Online reported. The suspects were put on parole, banned from travel, and ordered not to hamper the investigation or destroy evidence. In September 2008 the investigation against the three men was dropped.

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