
A kinder, gentler Hamas?
The Media Line Staff
Palestinian Territory Mohammed Najib (The Media – Is there a new Hamas in the making, one ready to put down its arms and live in peace with Israel? Or is it the same old Islamist movement putting on the airs of moderation as it abandons its old friends Syria and Iran and makes new ones in Egypt, Turkey and Qatar?
Anyone following the movement’s latest steps has a lot of evidence on which to base their pick.
On the one hand, Hamas has resumed talks about ending its four-year split with the more moderate Fatah movement and joining the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO). On the other hand, Hamas took the opportunity of its 24th anniversary to emphasize its intention of staying the course of violence and the denial of Israel’s right to exist.
“Resistance is the way and it is the strategic choice to liberate Palestine from the [Jordan] river to the [Mediterranean] sea and to remove the invaders from the blessed land of Palestine,” the Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh told the crowd, which chanted: “We will never recognize Israel.”
The two Palestinian movements have been vowing to re-form their old national unity government since last spring, with little progress to show for it. But Palestinian sources told The Media Line that a significant rapprochement over the last four weeks has finally been made between Hamas leader Khalid Mashaal and Mahmoud Abbas, president of the Palestinian Authority, which is controlled by the Fatah movement.
The two held a Nov. 24 summit meeting in Cairo where they reportedly agreed on main three points: a Palestinian state will be established in the West Bank and Gaza Strip; non-violent resistance will be the tool for achieving this goal; and legislative and presidential elections will take place on May 4, 2012. The first point tacitly acknowledges Israel’s right to exist and the second would align Hamas’ strategy with that of Abbas, who is committed to seeking a negotiated peace with Israel.
Jane’s Defence & Security Intelligence & Analysis was the first to report Hamas’ acceptance to give up armed resistance.
At their latest summit Dec. 21, the two paved the way for Hamas to join the PLO, the Palestinian umbrella organization that to date has been dominated by the Fatah movement. Many observers took that as yet another signs that Hamas is moving to come closer to the Fatah position.
Hamas has good reasons to change its tune because the Arab Spring has shaken up the bold political order in the Middle East.
Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, who has served as junior partner to Iran in an axis that includes Hamas and Lebanon’s Hizbullah, has failed to quash a 9-month old rebellion and his prospects of staying in power are growing dimmer. Unlike Hizbullah and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, Hamas has refused to support Al-Assad publicly, which has reportedly angered Iran.
Meanwhile, in Egypt, Islamists led by the Muslim Brotherhood – Hamas’ progenitor – seem all but assured to be coming to power through ongoing elections. That means a government that will be friendlier to Hamas and more hostile to Israel than Egypt was under ousted President Husni Mubarak. Qatar and Turkey, two rising regional powers, are also trying to make their influence felt.
Mashaal, the chief of Hamas’ Damascus-based political bureau, has already packed his bags and is looking for a new office in Cairo or the Qatari capital of Doha. But the change of headquarters and allies for Hamas comes at a price, namely that the movement adopt a more moderate stance
Hamas officials told The Media Line that the Muslim Brotherhood has urged them to cut their remaining ties with Iran because they threaten to alienate voters angry that Tehran has backed Al-Assad even as more than 5,000 Syrians have died. “Iran can’t be pro-Bahrain Shiite revolution and anti the Syrian revolution,” said a senior PA security source in Ramallah who spoke to TML on conditions of anonymity.
Hamas’ military wing, the Izeddin Al-Qassam Brigades, counts 22,000 well-trained fighters armed with various kinds of small arms, and short- and medium-range surface-to-surface and surface-to-air missiles. A PA military official in the West Bank told The Media Line that Hamas is going to keep its military wing and paramilitary groups to control security in Gaza–not necessary to fight Israel.
But publicly Hamas is not owning up to any change. Its foreign minister, Osama Hamdan, for instance told the Quds Press news agency that the decision to join the PLO leadership did not signal Hamas’ acceptance of the peace process with Israel.
“Anyone who thinks Hamas has changed its stance and now accepts the PLO’s defeatist political program is living in an illusion,” Hamdan was quoted as saying. “Hamas cannot make the mistake of joining a process that has proved to be a failure over the past 20 years.”
That is why some observers say Hamas leadership is adopting a Janus-faced strategy–one side directed to the West, Abbas and its new allies, which portrays the movement as renouncing armed resistance against Israel, and another directed toward its rank-and-file, asserting that it will stick to armed resistance.
Hani Al-Masri, a Palestinian political analyst, said Hamas’ current strategy is simply a continuation of a line it adopted as early as 2003, namely to effectively suspend violence against Israel but never admit to it in order to keep the fires burning-both among its followers and in Israel.
“Hamas learned from Abbas’ mistake when he abandoned armed resistance and adopted negotiations as the sole method to overcome the conflict with Israel. It didn’t work,” said Al-Masri told The Media Line, a reference to the fact that talks between the two sides have stalled for close to three years.
With Islamists winning elections in Egypt and Tunisia, Hamas has its eyes set on an election win next May against Fatah, he said. But a victory at the polls will do it little good if its leadership isn’t accepted by the U.S. and other Western powers.
“Hamas’ adoption of the non-violent resistance … is a message for the West that it hopes its rule in Palestine will be accepted if it wins in the coming May legislative and presidential elections,” said Al-Masri. “Hamas’ growing moderation is scaring Fatah. [because of] the growing power of the Islamists in the region confirmed.”
In fact, Hamas itself may not know yet which way it will go. Senior Hamas sources told The Media Line that tough internal deliberations inside the movements, coalescing around Mashaal and his rival hardliner Mahmoud Zahar, have yet to lead to a final policy decision.
Zahar is unhappy with Mashaal’s rapprochement with Abbas and with the idea of renouncing military resistance. The sources said that Mashaal is powerful enough to dictate policy but that he may face a bruising battle in internal Shura Council elections expected to take place in late February.
PGA Tour Q-school: Will Claxton stays in front at halfway mark
Tom Edrington – AHN Sports Reporter
LaQuinta, CA, United States (AHN Sports) – Will Claxton is well on his way to earning his playing privileges on the PGA Tour.
The native of Swainsboro, Ga., who played at Auburn University, is 13-under par at the halfway point of the six-round competition. He shot 69 at the Stadium course and is two shots clear of a trio of players.
Among those at 11-under par is South Korea’s Seung-yul Noh, who tied for the low round of the tournament with a 64 at the Stadium course. Joining Noh at 11-under were Bobby Gates and Matt Jones.
Vaughn Taylor was at 10-under along with Nationwide tour grad Billy Hurley III.
Scores were better in the third round as winds died down after blowing hard the first two days.
The low 25 players and ties will earn PGA Tour cards. At the halfway point, seven-under par is within that number.
Veteran David Duval shot 73 on the Stadium course and is tied for 115th.
High Risk Loans- Swift Approval Without Too Many Formalty
People who are suffering from critical financial crises and felling embrace in asking for a help due to their really bad history. To solve such people problem lender has introduce High Risk Loans. This loan provides a way to come out of your fiscal problem. In this aid people suffering from several of defective tag such as CCJ, arrears, insolvent, bankrupt, late payment maker and so fort are still welcome.
In high risk personal loans application with poor credit score is acceptable. In this no lender will waste his time in checking your credit score. In fact they will approve you application on the basis of your regular source of income. In this you don’t have to pledge ay of you’re properly against amount with lender. It means that in this you will avail the amount on your demand. In this lender will offer you amount that will be vary from 100 to 1500 and you have to payback amount from 14 to 31 days. If you will utilize the amount in a proper way, definitely you will able to solve your problem. You can utilize the amount for meeting several of expenses on time such as home renovation, debt consolidation, credit card dues, traveling, wedding, car repair, grocery bills, medical expenses, electricity bills, etc. there is no restriction in utilizing amount.
To avail high risk personal loans you need to fill online application of loan. In the application you are not required to tell the reason for availing amount. In that application you have to fill some of your personal detail such as name, address, phone number and employee detail. Lender will use that detail for doing verification and after getting satisfaction lender will approve. Soon you will get the amount into your account. In this aid you are not required to fill dozen of form which is time consuming. In this less paper work is involve.
Eligibility criteria
- Borrower should dweller of UK
- Must have regular source of income
- Minimum age should be 18year
- Necessary to have valid account in bank
Tenant Loans Collateral Free Loans For Your Needs
Mostly when we go for any loan, we find secured loans. These are very easily available loans. Lenders grant such loans without any delay. But what about those people who do not have any asset to pledge? Such people find themselves in great trouble whenever they face any financial problem. To help such people we have introduced tenant loans.
As the name suggests, tenant loans are unsecured loans which are meant for the people who do not have any asset to keep with the lender. These are very useful for a person in coming out of the financial emergencies. Generally these loans are meant for a very short span of time. It may vary from few days to few weeks. Similarly, the amount of such loans is also not fixed. It mainly varies from 100 pounds to 1500 pounds.
Currently such loans are meant only for the people living in UK. An applicant should have attained an age of 18 years before applying for such loans. He or she must be having a valid bank account in any bank of UK. If you want to go for such loans, you may go for an online method of loan. This is the easiest and the quickest way to get the money approved. Here you have to just fill in an application form available on the website of the lender. Once this application form is filled and submitted the rest of the procedure does not take much time to finish.
You may also go for a market research before applying for any such loan. It will help you in comparing the rates and other charges of different lenders available in the market and selecting the best lender for the loan. This way you may get the most suitable loan approved for your need.
Guaranteed Payday Loans Make The Most of Prompt Service
Though loan borrowers are provided the monetary help by the loan lending companies yet loan companies take long time to do all the necessary process. But with the help of guaranteed personal loans you do not need to wander to and fro whiling your precious time in the hunt of the loan because these loans are very sought after among the loan applicants as it gets the loan amount into the pocket of the loan borrowers within the time. In this way, having terms with suitable loan lender somehow or other can solve your entire unwanted financial problems within span of moment. So, study all terms and conditions and get the loan.
The availability of these loans are very easy and handy as you do not have to do a lot of efforts in order to get the loan amount as these loans can be made possible by the help of internet connectivity. You just require being online and making your fast reach to the a mixture of loan lenders who are ready to help you in season and out season without making you do any sort of commitment in the connection of keeping any type of valuable asset as collateral so that they could have the solid surety of their loan repayment. In this way, these loans are free from headache of putting collateral in the face of loan lender. So, make your instant access to the guaranteed payday loans without doing any sort of further delays.
Having an assortment of sources can never put you into any sort of unforeseen fiscal crises as you can arrange all the things and manage all the things with a great comfort. Therefore, it is very must to keep in touch with guaranteed payday loans which can assist the time you are surrounded by the uninvited pecuniary catastrophes. In this way, you can solve your entire unwelcome financial devastation by having a loan application form and fill up it with all required details in it. As fast as the process of submission and approval is done, the transaction of the loan amount is made electronically into your six months old valid bank account. Hence, wait for it and do away with your entire fiscal tensions and traumas within round the clock.
Guaranteed Payday Loans Make The Most of Prompt Service
Though loan borrowers are provided the monetary help by the loan lending companies yet loan companies take long time to do all the necessary process. But with the help of guaranteed personal loans you do not need to wander to and fro whiling your precious time in the hunt of the loan because these loans are very sought after among the loan applicants as it gets the loan amount into the pocket of the loan borrowers within the time. In this way, having terms with suitable loan lender somehow or other can solve your entire unwanted financial problems within span of moment. So, study all terms and conditions and get the loan.
The availability of these loans are very easy and handy as you do not have to do a lot of efforts in order to get the loan amount as these loans can be made possible by the help of internet connectivity. You just require being online and making your fast reach to the a mixture of loan lenders who are ready to help you in season and out season without making you do any sort of commitment in the connection of keeping any type of valuable asset as collateral so that they could have the solid surety of their loan repayment. In this way, these loans are free from headache of putting collateral in the face of loan lender. So, make your instant access to the guaranteed payday loans without doing any sort of further delays.
Having an assortment of sources can never put you into any sort of unforeseen fiscal crises as you can arrange all the things and manage all the things with a great comfort. Therefore, it is very must to keep in touch with guaranteed payday loans which can assist the time you are surrounded by the uninvited pecuniary catastrophes. In this way, you can solve your entire unwelcome financial devastation by having a loan application form and fill up it with all required details in it. As fast as the process of submission and approval is done, the transaction of the loan amount is made electronically into your six months old valid bank account. Hence, wait for it and do away with your entire fiscal tensions and traumas within round the clock.
Information On Debt Consolidation Loans
If you are in a serious amount of debt then you may be struggling to find a way out or a solution, and you may be worrying what you can do. Many people think that there is no way out for them, and often just leave the debt to mount up because they don’t actually know what to do. Fortunately, there is a solution in the form of a debt consolidation loan. Many people haven’t heard of debt consolidation, or are unaware of how it actually works, but it is actually fairly simple.
Because many people struggle with high interest rates on their debts, a debt consolidation loan is a loan with a much lower interest rate. The debt consolidation loan is used to pay off all existing debts, which then leaves you with one loan to pay off, the debt consolidation loan which as mentioned above, has a much lower interest rate. This allows you to get out of debt in a much shorter amount of time and it can also stop you from getting even further into debt than you already are.
Finding the best debt consolidation loan for you could be a little more difficult. The main thing to remember is that you are going to have to do a lot of research to ensure that you are getting the best deal on your loan possible in terms of interest rates. The best way to do this is to take a look at some price comparison search engines. You can type in the term debt consolidation loan and you will be presented with the best debt consolidation loans at that current point in time. This is possibly one of the easiest ways to get a good deal on a debt consolidation loan.
If you cannot do this then the next thing that you can do is call as many debt consolidation loan providers as you possibly can. This will allow you to contact many companies and ask them for a quote on a debt consolidation loan. If you are going to do this then it is important to make sure that you ask them about what interest rates they offer on all of their loans. It is also a good idea to ask how much you would actually be able to borrow. By doing this you can then compare all of the quotes that you have been given and you will be able to get the best deal.
Bridging Loans: – For The Dealing of Lucrative Property
The need of money can emerge any time. Getting loans for the fulfillment of financial emergencies have become the best option. Loans have become very famous and popular in the UK loan market. Today, loans related with personal and private property, education, holidaying, cosmetic surgery etc. are available. In the same way, one more loan for buying and selling properties is present in the market. This kind of loan is called bridging loan. Everyone has a dream of buying new home but sometimes due to lack of finance they have to sale their old property. Without selling of old property, the borrowers can buy a new property with the help of bridging loan.
Bridging loans are secured by nature. It clears the fact that to acquire bridging loans you have to keep your old home as a guarantee against the loan amount. In this way, your old property plays the role of collateral. Lenders offer low rate of interest on these loans.
Bridging loan acts as a bridge between your desire of buying a new home and sale of old property. This loan is secured in nature. The borrower can avail loan amount ranging from £10000-£75000. He or she can avail 65% amount on the basis of property which is placed as a security. You have to return the entire loan amount within a short period of time say from 2months to 12 months. According to your needs and demands, you can acquire higher amount of bridging loan also. For this, lenders will charge higher rate of interest.
Bridging loans can also be availed by those people who are suffering from bad credit history like CCJ, IVA, arrears, defaults, late loan payer etc. They have to pay higher rate of interest on these loans. They can reduce the rate of interest by paying installments of loan on time.
With the help of internet, you can acquire bridging loan also. With one click of the button, it will open a list of numerous lenders, who are ready to offer their services at very genuine rates. These lenders have their own terms and conditions. You should read all the terms and conditions offered by the lenders before applying for loan. You can compare the services like rate of interest, repayment duration etc. with the other listed lenders.
UK saw Obama Kenya roots as threats to tie
Britain feared that the election of Mr Barrack Obama as US president could hurt London’s relations with America because of the way Mr Obama’s grandfather was treated by the British, according to leaked secret diplomatic documents.
View full post on All Stories
Unemployed Cash Loans: The Wonderful Assistance For People With No Job!
It is really a very difficult to deal with the expenses of daily needs, if you are an unemployed candidate. The unemployed cash loans will prove quite helpful to you because of their easy and simple features and you can meet your needs with it. The good thing about the unemployed cash loans is that they are approved even for those who are suffering from bad credit problems. They can still have access to funds when they are having arrears, bankruptcy, defaults and even CCJs.
Unemployed cash loans are available in both the secured and unsecured forms and in this way; they allow people to opt for any loan option as per their needs. If you are able to place any collateral, you can avail the secured unemployed cash loans that carry a slighter interest rate. On the other hand, the unsecured unemployed cash loans can be availed without any need of collateral. The only drawback of these loans is that they carry a high interest rate rather than the secured loan.
Apart from this, unemployed cash loans are good fiscal resources for those who are unable to gain cash through any other way. With the help of these loans, the borrowers can avail a total sum ranging from $1000 to $15000 with a repayment time period of 1 to 10 years. In fact, these loans also allow you to start your own business without borrowing money from any other source. It also allows the bad creditors to improve their fiscal conditions with ease and afterwards, they can avail the loans on behalf of good credit rating.
The easy and fast way of availing the loans for unemployed is to apply for them through online way. The online way can arrange money to the needy persons within a couple of hours and thus, you don’t need to wait for any other moment.
