I'm sure if you just glanced at the paper this week, you're aware of the agreements between Hamas and Fatah, the massacre at Camp Ashraf in Iraq, and all of the casualties in Syria. As the title of this blog may be a little misleading, I'd just like to remind you that the purpose of this weekly update is to provide information and stories you might have missed, correct falsehoods that may be promulgated by the mass media, include links to the full stories, and include how events there impact the rest of the world. 

Human Smuggling Case Evokes South America's Terror-Linked History  (IPT News)

5 Myths of Palestinian Unity - Pesach Benson (HonestReporting)
Hamas: "No recognition - no negotiations" - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (PMW)
UNRWA workers "adamantly opposed" to Holocaust education that will "confuse the thinking" of children - Itamar Marcus (PMW)

Unbalanced NPR Panel Obfuscates Middle East on Rehm Show (CAMERA)

Newsweek Starstruck by Abbas - Alex Margolin (HonestReporting)

Turkey, Iran, Iraq, Syria to create common visa system? - Dina Al-Shibeeb (Al Arabiya)

Gitmo docs link Pakistani, Iranian, and Yemeni intelligence agencies to al Qaeda - Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal)

U.S.: Assad No Longer Potential Peace Partner for Israel - Hilary Leila Krieger (Jerusalem Post)
After two years of pushing Israel to reach a peace agreement with Syria, a top U.S. State Department official indicated Tuesday the Obama administration is no longer looking at the current regime as a partner for such a deal. "It's hard for us to stand by and see [President Bashar] Assad and his government engage in the kind of things they're doing against their own people and to then think easily about how to pursue other diplomatic missions," said Jacob Sullivan, director of policy planning at the State Department.

335 African refugees are murdered out at sea (EveryOne Group)
Refugees escaping Libya found in sea and washed ashore with gunshot wounds.

"Nation of Islam" Leader Louis Farrakhan Doubts 9/11: America Was Looking for a New Pearl Harbor (MEMRI) - video

Fund the Truth About Islam or Lose the War of Ideas - Phyllis Chesler (NewsRealBlog)
Hans Erling Jensen and Kurt Westergaard, the Danish Mohammed cartoonist, have just established The Westergaard Foundation to “support free speech” and to fundraise for truth-tellers whose reputations and incomes have suffered because they have dared to tell the truth about Islam.

Just click on the links below to see the full story.

Two US drones vs Russian arms, Chinese intel for Qaddafi - DEBKAfile
Building up in Libya is a confrontation that recalls the 1999 war in Yugoslavia (Serbia today) when NATO's four-month Operation Noble Anvil hammered Yugoslav forces to force their retreat from Kosovo. The Serbs too were backed then by clandestine Chinese-Russian support in tactical advice, intelligence, fighting men and arms.

Concerns Raised Over Practice of Sharia Law in Britain (IPT)

France's burqa ban: A brave step that we Muslims should welcome - Qanta A. Ahmed (Christian Science Monitor)
France’s ban on wearing the niqab in public defends secular society – and the rights of Muslim women like me. Liberals bemoan the ban's infringement on personal freedoms. But Islamists who mandate that women wear the veil are incorrectly interpreting the true message of the Quran.

 

PA defines “Palestine”- Tel Aviv, Haifa, Galilee, Negev, and all of Israel - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW)

Video: PA Official Justifies Itamar Murderers and Demands Their Release - Aaron Lerner (IMRA-YouTube)

Panic in Egypt over Muslim Brotherhood's Call for Islamic Rule - Mohammed Hassan Shabaan (Asharq Al-Awsat-UK)

Leadership Vacuum in Suez Illustrates Egypt's Instability - Hannah Allam (McClatchy)

Reconsidering the Brotherhood's Inevitability (IPT)

Syria Seeks Seat on UN Human Rights Council - (Lebanon Now)As anti-regime protestors are gunned down and arrested daily on the streets of its main towns and cities, Syria has applied to join the UN Human Rights Council. Elections will be held in May 2011.

Jordan Arrests Islamists after Bloody Clashes - Kamal Taha (AFP)

What the Saudis Understand - and We Don't (JINSA)

Iran, Yemen, Libya and al Qaeda are where the action is; Saudi Arabia is buying military equipment from China as well as the United States. Notice what did not appear to be on the agenda - Israel, Israeli occupation, Palestinians or Palestinian independence.

Sounding a Warning on Afghanistan - Dan Washburn (Asia Society)
Speaking at Asia Society in Washington, former Afghan presidential candidate Abdullah Abdullah gave an unsparing look at the situation in his country. Watch now to hear what he sees as the biggest challenge facing the US 10 years into its mission. Watch: Abdullah Abdullah

Russian forces kill al Qaeda's envoy to the Islamic Causasus Emirate -  Bill Roggio (The Long War Journal)

Guardian Newspeak: Intentionally vague headline of the day (CiF Watch)

Just click on the blue links below to see the full story.

Saudi Arabia: Second Fukushima if Iranian Bushehr activated in May - DEBKAfile
Kuwait officials have warned the US that if Iran activates its first nuclear reactor at Bushehr in May as planned, there is a good chance it will blow up and the entire Gulf region suffer a nuclear disaster on  the scale of the misfortune at Japan's Fukushima and expose millions to radiation contamination....The king (Saudi King Abdullah) declared angrily that the lax American attitude toward Islamic Republic's nuclear aspirations places the very existence of Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf nations in peril.

All about Hamas
Fayyad’s advisor dismisses missile attack on school bus - Itamar Marcus and Nan Jacques Zilberdik (PMW) "The bus wasn't that badly damaged...Israel uses the attack on the bus as an excuse for war crime."....by sheer luck only one child was critically injured. Israel responded to the deliberate targeting of the bus by bombing Hamas targets.
Arab League Calls for No-Fly Zone over Gaza - Ayman Samir and Sarah Mikhail (Reuters)Condemning what it called Israel's "brutal" aggression in Gaza...
Hamas Strategists Paying Heavy Price for Miscalculations - Yigal Walt (Ynet News)Gaza terrorists were counting on the "Goldstone effect" to tamper any punishing Israeli strikes on Gaza. Worse for Hamas, the current round of fighting coincided with the West's campaign against Gaddafi. NATO forces have been bombing a foreign country, Libya, in order to prevent murderous attacks on civilians - the same logic behind Israel's strikes against Gaza terrorists. If the West wishes to adopt the Libya logic in Gaza as well, it will be bombing Hamas. Indeed, Israel's incessant strikes on Gaza targets were met with a rather deafening global silence.     If all that wasn't enough, Israel deployed the Iron Dome anti-rocket system earlier than expected, shooting down virtually every Gaza missile threatening Israeli population centers. Hamas' missiles have largely hit nothing, landing in empty fields or being blown to pieces in midair. During the same time, some 20 terrorists were killed in Gaza, dozens of others were wounded, and assorted targets across the Strip were destroyed.
HR Comment: How Moral Equivalence Erodes Accurate Reporting - Alex Margolin (Honestreporting)

Salafi-Jihadists to Jordanian Authorities: We Have Masses of People Willing to Martyr Themselves in Jordan (MEMRI)

video

Israel Working To Stop Second IHH Flotilla To Gaza -Gavriel Queenann (UCI)

All about Syria
Muslim Brotherhood Supports Anti-Assad Protests - Khaled Yacoub Oweis (Reuters)Syrian revolt spreads to ruling Alawite tribes. Cities sealed. Executions in army - (DEBKAfile)

Jews Demonized, Martyrdom Praised in PA Textbooks - Joshua Hamerman (Jerusalem Post)

Taxpayers in Australian Town Won't Foot $3M Israel Boycott Bill - Stephanie Gardiner (Sydney Morning Herald-Australia)
U.S. Black Student Leaders Slam "Apartheid" Characterization - Jordana Horn (Jerusalem Post)

 The Third Jihad' – Christian Persecution (RadicalIslam.org) see also http://www.thethirdjihad.com/christian/index4.html

Just click on the blue links below to see the full story.

Turning the Revolution Islamist (IPT News) 
The Muslim Brotherhood Flexes Its Muscles - Judith Levy (Ricochet)

Report: Al-Qaeda Members in Brazil Planning Attacks (Reuters)
Iran Makes Latin American Inroads beyond Venezuela - Donna Cassata (AP)

A third of Palestinians support murder of five Israelis in their home - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (PMW)
A Palestinian 'gift' for Passover - Official Palestinian promotion of terrorism (IMFA)
Hamas Is Moving Toward War With Israel - Barry Rubin (PajamasMedia)
Israel Conducting Global War on Hamas - Eli Lake (Washington Times)
Special operations team hit top Iranian-Hamas arms smugglers in Sudan (DEBKAfile)

BBC Ethics Unveiled: Lies About Jerusalem, Lies About Guidelines - Ricki Hollander, Gilead Ini (CAMERA)

Yemen: major southern town falls to al-Qaeda - Richard Spencer (The Telegraph)

Journalists Accepting Bribes from Arab Dictators - Khaled Abu Toameh (Hudson Institute-New York)

Just click on the links below to see the full story. 

Redrawing Borders in the Middle East - Mordechai Kedar (Bar-Ilan University-IMRA)
The fundamental problem characterizing Middle Eastern states is that they have no legitimacy in the eyes of their citizenry because their borders were marked by European colonial interests. Included within these borders were ethnic, religious, denominational and tribal groups who, throughout history, were often unable to live together in peace. Every one of the Arab states, except the Gulf Emirates, is a conglomeration of these traditional groups.

Durbin's Flawed Hearing (IPT News)U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., in an attempt to address what he claims is an increase in anti-Muslim bigotry, is relying on questionable statistics and a witness with a record of opposing virtually all law enforcement attempts to deal with Islamist-inspired terrorism.

Report: Iran, Hizbullah Assisting in Syria Protest Suppression (Jerusalem Post)

Gunmen Target Egypt-Israel Gas Pipeline - Ashraf Sweilam (AP)
Egyptian Foreign Minister Proposes New Ties with Iran - Mariam Fam (Bloomberg)
Foreign Minister Nabil el-Arabi said, "The Egyptian government doesn't consider Iran to be an enemy state," the state-run Middle East News Agency reported. "We're opening a new page with all countries, including Iran." Egypt hasn't had full diplomatic relations with Iran since 1979, and has accused Iran in the past of using proxy groups such as Hizbullah to increase its influence in the Middle East.

Winning Ugly in Libya: What the United States Should Learn From Its War in Kosovo - Michael O'Hanlon (Foreign Affairs)
Although the Libya mission has been effective in averting a humanitarian debacle so far, it has been ugly in some ways. But as Ivo Daalder and I argued about the Kosovo war a dozen years ago, an ugly operation is not the same as a failed operation.
Libyan rebels sold Hizballah and Hamas chemical shells (DEBKAfile)
Libyan rebel commander admits his fighters have al-Qaeda links - Praveen Swami, Nick Squires and Duncan (The Telegraph)

PA honors terrorist serving 30 life sentences for murders - Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook (PMW) 
Abbas Would Give Up U.S. Aid for Reconciliation with Hamas - Mohammed Daraghmeh (AP)
Why Is Abbas Running After Hamas? - Khaled Abu Toameh (Hudson Institute-New York)

AQAP and the Vacuum of Authority in Yemen is republished with permission of STRATFOR.
FYI: al Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula (AQAP)
AQAP: "O' You Will be Victorious People of Sunnah" (Flashpoint Partners)

IDF map details more than 950 Hezbollah sites in southern Lebanon - Bill Roggio (Long War Journal) Hezbollah militant activities are based in southern Lebanon, funded and maintained by Syria and Iran.