Amid Impasse in Peace Negotiations, America’s Chief Middle East Envoy Resigns

 

On his second day in office in January 2009, President Obama appointed Mr. Mitchell, signaling the administration’s desire to forge an Israeli-Palestinian peace. But despite more than two years of shuttle diplomacy, the two sides appear further apart today than at any time in years.

“His deep commitment to resolving conflict and advancing democracy has contributed immeasurably to the goal of two states living side by side in peace and security,” Mr. Obama said in a written statement announcing the resignation and referring to American support for a two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

The news of Mr. Mitchell’s departure, while not a surprise, broke at an awkward time. His resignation is effective next Friday, the same day Mr. Obama is to meet at the White House with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel, with whom the president has had an icy, if polite, relationship. Yet the date on Mr. Mitchell’s brief resignation letter, which the White House released late Friday afternoon, is April 6, five weeks ago.

In the letter, Mr. Mitchell, 77, said he had initially agreed to do what the president called “the toughest job imaginable” for only two years. He largely abandoned his diplomatic efforts after a failed push last year to persuade Israel to freeze the construction of settlements in territories claimed by the Palestinians.

Mr. Mitchell last visited the region in December, even as divisions between the Israelis and Palestinians hardened and hostilities deepened. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton appointed his deputy, David Hale, to take over as acting envoy.

Mr. Mitchell’s resignation comes at a time when the Middle East has been transformed by popular uprisings that have toppled aging autocrats in Tunisia and Egypt, prompted a NATO-led air war against Libya and led to harsh crackdowns in Syria and Bahrain.

The White House has announced that Mr. Obama plans to address the region in the wake of the upheaval — and the death of Osama bin Laden — in a speech on Thursday at the State Department. Coming a day before Mr. Netanyahu’s visit, it could set the stage for further disagreements. Mr. Obama was also scheduled to meet Tuesday with King Abdullah II of Jordan.

“We remain committed to peace in the Middle East and to building on George’s hard work and progress toward achieving this goal,” Mr. Obama said, though officials have said it is unlikely that the president will outline new American proposals to break the impasse, either in his speech or in his meeting with Mr. Netanyahu.

For his part, the Israeli prime minister is to visit Washington in search of support for heading off Palestinian plans to seek a vote in September at the United Nations General Assembly. The Palestinians hope for recognition of an independent Palestine with territory that includes all of the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem. Mr. Netanyahu has made it clear that the turmoil in the region has heightened his country’s security concerns, making a negotiated peace an unacceptably risky gamble for now.

Last week, the two rival Palestinian factions, Fatah on the West Bank and Hamas in Gaza, signed a reconciliation agreement in Cairo, prompting a fierce denunciation from Israel, which says it cannot negotiate with Hamas, a group designated by the United States and the European Union as a terrorist organization.

American and European diplomats have insisted that any Palestinian government that included Hamas had to accept basic principles laid out by negotiators over the years, including renouncing violence and recognizing Israel. Mrs. Clinton, in Rome last week, did not slam the door on negotiations with the Palestinians that would include Hamas, but there seemed to be no intention by either side to resume substantive talks.

In Israel, the reaction to Mr. Mitchell’s departure mirrored the current state of the conflict, with Palestinian and Israeli officials blaming each other for his failure to broker a deal, though they joined in praising his work.

Zalman Shoval, a special envoy for Mr. Netanyahu who focuses on relations with the United States, said Mr. Mitchell had “made a major effort to try to move peace between Israel and the Palestinians” and deserved gratitude. “But at the end of the day, his efforts were undermined by the Palestinians’ refusal to engage in meaningful negotiations.”

Nabil Shaath, who heads Fatah’s foreign affairs department in the West Bank, said that it was Israeli behavior that needed to change. “The man was not given any support and he failed,” Mr. Shaath said of Mr. Mitchell in a telephone interview. “I don’t really blame him. He found himself without any initiative or ability to move ahead. He found himself doing a futile job. I liked the man. He is honest and hard-working, with lots of experience.”

Jackie Calmes contributed reporting from Washington, and Ethan Bronner from Jerusalem.

 

Middle East: Metal in the Middle East? A Music Scene Emerges

In front of the band a dozen or more young men in black T-shirts and blue jeans are jumping, bumping and generally moshing the night away.

“Many new expatriates are surprised to find any kind of metal scene in Dubai, or they’re surprised that Arabs listen to metal at all,” said Baraa (Barry) Kassab, a sound engineer who works with bands in the United Arab Emirates. “The Middle East has metal bands and they’re growing in popularity.”

One such band is Nervecell, a death metal band born in the Emirates that has released its second album, “Psychogenocide.” “Metal in the Middle East is a little different,” said Rami Mustafa, Nervecell’s 27-year-old guitarist. “The fans rarely sport the stereotypical complete metal look — tattoos, long hair, spiked bands, jewelry and leather. The focus is on the music and lyrics, and of course, the band T-shirts.”

The music is a little different, too. Psychogenocide broke new ground with a track that its lead vocalist Rajeh (James) Khazaal said contained the “first-ever Arabic growl.” It’s difficult to imagine any menacing sound from the affable Mr. Khazaal until, in an interview, he plays the track “Shunq,” featuring a duet of deep and powerful gutturals between Mr. Khazaal and Karl Sanders, lead singer of the American death metal band Nile.

“Shunq means choked or to be hanged to death,” Mr. Khazaal said. His band’s “stuff is generally in English, but we wanted to experiment our genre in Arabic.”

He added: “The track is basically about the struggle of humanity versus evil and the conclusion is the judgment of Lucifer.”

There is a widespread but mistaken assumption that metal and its various subgenres primarily appeal to young white males, said Sam Dunn, a Canadian anthropologist who has directed two documentaries about the music scene — “Metal: A Headbanger’s Journey” in 2005 and “Global Metal” in 2008.

While researching for “Global Metal,” Mr. Dunn travelled to the Gulf to attend the Dubai Desert Rock Festival, not expecting to find much of interest. The experience challenged his preconceptions. “I did not expect to find fans in the Middle East,” he said. “The fan base in the region was much bigger than I thought.”

Mr. Khazaal said metal music was first brought into the Middle East by returning students who had attended Western universities.

“Most fans and friends I know were introduced to the music in the late 1980s and early 1990s through older siblings, cousins or peers, who had a foreign connection,” he said. “In those days, we had tapes and magazines that were passed around.”

The Internet, however, opened a whole new world, allowing metal fans to enjoy unlimited and uninterrupted access the music — albeit through illegal downloads — even while it remained unavailable in mainstream music stores. The Internet, and social networking in particular, today provides the key link between the region’s bands and their potential fans.

Gene, a Syrian rock and metal band that performs in Arabic, addressing the angst and aspirations of Arab youth, is a case in point. The band benefited hugely from an easing of Syrian restrictions on Facebook and Twitter, said Maen Rajab, its guitarist. “Our fans are mostly from Syria, but the base is expanding due to our concerts abroad, our Web site, Facebook and YouTube,” Mr. Rajab said.

Performing in Syria and the rest of the Middle East remains a tough proposition, if only because production companies and event organizers are more interested in staging pop music concerts, with their mass appeal and easy marketability.

 

Middle East: Mideast Developers Put Building Projects on Hold

Emaar Properties, one of the largest developers in the United Arab Emirates, has four projects stalled in Algeria, according to data from the research firm Zawya, based in Dubai.

Zawya’s data show that a $500 million plan to expand the Sabha Airport in southern Libya has also been put on ice. The contractors on the project are Consolidated Contractors, based in Athens, and the Turkish company TAV.

Meanwhile, Damac Properties, based in Dubai, has halted a $16.3 billion luxury residential and tourism development, Gamsha Bay, on Egypt’s Red Sea coast.

Sheikh Khalifa Bin Zayed City, a $100 million project near Cairo planned by the Abu Dhabi Municipality in conjunction with Egypt’s Ministry of Housing and Emaar’s wholly owned Egyptian unit, Emaar Misr, is also on hold.

Other building programs, however, are still going ahead. In Egypt, Emaar has several projects under way or in the final stages of planning.

“Egypt is one of the key markets of Emaar,” the company said in a statement. “Emaar Misr is currently developing three projects — Uptown Cairo, Marassi and Mivida. A fourth project, Cairo Gate, is in the final stages of master-planning.”

“We strongly believe in the Egypt real estate market and the economic prospects of the country,” it added.

Independent analysts agree that prospects in North Africa are bright in the long term.

“There will be delays, but ultimately the projects will get done,” said Chet Riley, a real estate analyst at Nomura Investment Bank in Dubai. “The fundamentals of these places haven’t changed and neither can demand for real estate in the long run.”

Martin Kohlhase, assistant vice president at Moody’s in Dubai, said North Africa remained an opportunity for developers, compared with the overbuilt Gulf states. “If you strip out the noise created by the unrest, it is clear that the fundamental economic factors bode well,” he said.

Still, whatever the longer-term prospects, the wave of unrest has set back the recovery that started late last year in the region’s real estate markets after the slump brought on by the 2008-2009 global financial crisis.

Out of $150 billion worth of projects, more than $23 billion are now on hold in North Africa, according to Zawya’s data for the first quarter of 2011.

“Going forward, we expect more projects to be put on hold,” said Talal Malik, a Zawya analyst in Beirut. “At the moment, it is particularly difficult to get information from developers on progress.”

Egypt is the main country in which Gulf developers operate outside their local markets, according to Ahmed Badr, real estate analyst for the Middle East and North Africa region for Credit Suisse. The medium and long-term potential for the Egyptian property market is supported by a growing population’s strong appetite for housing.

But for now, investors are waiting to see what will happen next.

“Due to the unrest, there is a complete standstill in the Egyptian real estate market,” Mr. Badr said. “There is no buying or selling taking place. People are postponing transactions until the unrest stabilizes and land disputes have been resolved.”

Sweetheart deals allegedly done by members of the government of former President Hosni Mubarak, in which state land was sold at below-market prices to developers without a public bidding process, are now being challenged in the courts. Developers involved in these cases risk seeing the deals declared invalid or having to pay more than they initially agreed — a prospect that analysts say is keeping investors sidelined for now.

 

Middle East: Turkey Cultivates Sites of Its Christian Heritage

“It makes you see the Bible in 3-D and color,” the guide, Dan Fennell, said of his tour of historical Christian sites around western Turkey.

Mr. Fennell, who is based in Jakarta, has been leading pilgrimages to Anatolia for close to a decade. But these visits have become richer and more rewarding, he said, because Turkey has been cultivating the historical sites of Christianity.

“In Laodicea, for example, where we are headed next, you can now see things you could not see five years ago,” Mr. Fennell said of the ruins of the seventh city addressed by the Apostle John.

A Muslim nation long ill at ease with its pre-Ottoman history, Turkey has discovered Anatolia’s Christian heritage as a way of drawing visitors and of cultivating an image as a meeting-point and arbiter of civilizations.

“We have recognized this as a special field of tourism and as a special cultural wealth,” the Turkish culture minister, Ertugrul Gunay, said in an interview in Ankara. By next year, his ministry aims to increase the number of religious tourists to Turkey to more than three million, from 1.3 million last year.

“Until now, our concept of faith tourism was limited” to Muslim shrines “like the Mevlana tomb in Konya or the Halil-Ur Rahman mosque in Urfa,” Mr. Gunay said, “even though Anatolia is the home of important shrines of Christianity and Judaism as well.”

“Now,” he added, “we are working to care for all of these sites, Muslim, Christian and Jewish, without discrimination, to restore them and maintain them and to open them up to the public to visit.”

A case in point is the ancient metropolis of Laodicea, in southwestern Turkey, where Turkish archaeologists unearthed a spectacular church dating to the early fourth century.

“This is one of the oldest churches in the world to survive in its original state,” said Celal Simsek, the archaeologist who is leading the excavation team that has worked through the winter to reveal the huge church that was first spotted underground last year on a radar scan. “When the 10 most important archaeological discoveries of the 21st century are totted up one day, this church will definitely be on the list.”

Mr. Simsek dates the construction of the church to between 313 and 320 A.D., immediately after the Edict of Milan, by which Emperor Constantine I of Rome legalized Christianity in the year 313.

Scrambling around the church, which has 10 towering pillars on a floor area of 2,000 square meters, or 21,500 square feet, flawlessly preserved mosaic floors and a walk-in baptismal fountain for mass christenings, Mr. Simsek said he was hoping to invite the pope to the official unveiling of the restored church, tentatively planned for next year.

“I expect an onslaught of visitors in the coming years,” Mr. Simsek said.

Pilgrims have already begun pouring in, on the last leg of a tour through the sites of the seven biblical churches, all of which are in western Turkey. Tourism to the site increased tenfold in the first months of this year, to 1,000 visitors a day, Mr. Simsek said, adding that “90 percent of visitors are pilgrims.”

Mindful of the revenue that tourists provide, the nearby town of Denizli, in a first for Turkey, is now supporting the Laodicea digs financially, adding a million dollars year to financing from the local university and the Culture Ministry.

 

Middle East: Women Still an Untapped Labor Force in Turkey

 

ISTANBUL — Until she gave birth to her first child three months ago, 29-year-old Gulsen Cigdem worked at TransOrient International Forwarding, handling sales and logistics for moving goods by air, truck and sea.

Now, her days are spent caring for her son, Doruk, while she and her husband, Tarik, who works in the technology sector, try to find an affordable baby sitter so she can return to work when her maternity leave expires. She wants to avoid becoming one of the hundreds of thousands of Turkish women who, armed with a university degree, find a well-paying and interesting job but do not return to the work force once they marry or start a family.

“I got an education,” Mrs. Cigdem said during a recent interview. “I worked hard for that, and to just drop it because I became a mother is not my style.”

Creating more economic opportunities for women like Mrs. Cigdem is among the goals of the 2011 Global Summit of Women meeting through Saturday in Istanbul as a sort of Davos for women, mirroring the annual gathering of world economic leaders at the Swiss resort. Held for the first time in Turkey, the conference is taking place in a country where women, once they find jobs, often struggle to stay in them.

Researchers say that nearly half of all Turkish women enter the labor market at some point in their lives, but most end up quitting because of family obligations or poor working conditions. Raising rates of employment by women is “instrumental in building capacity for economic growth and poverty reduction,” a report by the Turkish State Planning Organization and the World Bank said.

While 64 percent of adult women in the European Union were employed in 2007, the figure was 23.5 percent in Turkey as of 2009, according to the Turkish and World Bank report. Of the women employed in Turkey in 2008, 35 percent worked in the service sector, 13 percent in industry and 49 percent in agriculture, according to the International Labor Organization.

Part of the problem is that most of the Turkish women who migrate to larger cities like Istanbul from rural areas in the south and east lack sufficient education to find anything but marginal, low-paying jobs. They are also likely to have several children and to find work that is outside the bounds of legal employment and therefore also outside the national social security system, making them more dependent on their spouses.

But it is marriage itself, some studies say, that appears to be the main factor in whether a Turkish woman stays on the job, regardless of her level of education.

“A common explanation suggested for Turkey’s low level of female participation in the labor force is that cultural attitudes that do not approve of women’s presence in the public sphere,” Ipek Ilkkaracan, a professor of economics at Istanbul Technical University, said during an interview by e-mail this week. “But a close look at data does not confirm that. Prior to marriage, women’s participation in the labor market in Turkey is at very high levels.”

Among never-married women age 25 to 45, the rate of participation in the labor force for university graduates is about 90 percent, the same as their male counterparts, Ms. Ilkkaracan said. For never-married women who graduated from high school, the figures are about 55 percent and for primary school graduates, 40 percent.

“By contrast, the figures for married women in Turkey are substantially lower,” she said. “Seventy percent for university graduates, about 25 percent for high school graduates and only 15 percent for married women of prime working age with primary school education.”

“In other words,” she added, “Turkish women participate in large numbers — no matter what their level of education — prior to marriage, but end up leaving their jobs upon marriage and having children.”

Ms. Ilkkaracan, a founding member of the nonprofit Women for Women’s Human Rights and the author of “Toward Gender Equality in the Labor Market: Work and Family Life Reconciliation Policies,” said one reason for the flight was the lack of childcare solutions for working women.

“There are hardly any subsidized childcare centers, crèches or preschools,” she said. “The few that existed have been closed down under the current administration. Given the low wages for women with high school or primary school education, it is hard for them to afford paid childcare.”

The problem is not lost on many of the high-ranking women executives in Turkey, where 12 percent of chief executive positions are held by women, about the same as in Germany according to the World Economic Forum.

Umit Boyner, president of the Turkish Industry and Business Association, or Tusiad, told a conference on working women earlier this year, “We must focus on altering the status of women in education and labor force statistics.”

“I regard the lack of educated women able to take their place in working life of their own free will as a serious loss,” she said. “Let us not squander our resources.”

Guler Sabanci, chairwoman of Sabanci Holding, who ranked third last year in a Financial Times list of the 50 most prominent businesswomen in the world, spoke at the same conference. (She became the first female member of Tusiad in 1984 and for many years was its only female member.)

After hailing the advances made by Turkish women in the era of Mustafa Kemal Ataturk, Ms. Sabanci said “the present situation is unfortunately not very bright” in terms of women in the work place. “There is still a lot to be done for women in employment, social and political issues.”

“There is an election process ahead of us,” she said, referring to elections set for June. “Our political parties need to show sensitivity in this matter.”

Of the 550 members in the Turkish Parliament, 48 are women.

But for those like Mrs. Cigdem, the new mother, such lofty goals are a distant concern. She is more focused on finding a way to return to work by the end of this year.

“I am entitled to four months of paid leave,” she said by telephone. “Then I can take another six months unpaid. After that I have to go back to my job, or lose it.”

“Some of my friends are even saying that it’s the husband who has to work and that I should just stay home with the baby,” Mrs. Cigdem said. “But I used to live in England where I worked as an au pair. I saw that all the women went back to work after having children, but in Turkey we don’t have an au pair system.”

“I want to work because one income is not enough: Istanbul is very expensive,” she said, “but it’s also important for me socially, because these days I’m just home, home, home, looking after the child. I want to work, first for myself and second to earn enough money to provide a good education for Doruk.”

 

Pope's Easter Message Urges Peace in Africa, Middle East

 Sabina Castelfranco | Rome ?April 24, 2011

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his blessing during the 'Urbi et Orbi' (Latin for to the City and to the World) message from the balcony of St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican, April 24, 2011

Tens of thousands of worshippers attended Easter Mass in Saint Peter’s Square Sunday. In his message to the world, Pope Benedict prayed for victims of conflicts in Ivory Coast and other African countries and called for an end to the fighting in Libya.

Easter Sunday brings to an end a very busy Holy Week for the 84-year-old Pope Benedict. Worshippers of all ages and nationalities attended Easter mass Sunday.? For those in the square it is a very special time.

"To be here at Easter time is renewal, it’s refreshing and its looking ahead no matter what is happening in the world," says this worshipper. "It’s very, very crowded but what I think is really, really neat about it is there are people from all over the world. I like it because it is kind of an international conglomeration of people coming together."

At the end of the mass, the pope delivered his papal address to the city of Rome and to the world, known as the "Urbi et Orbi,"? from the central balcony of Saint Peter’s Basilica.

The pope asked for help for those fleeing conflict and for refugees from various African countries, particularly Libya and Ivory Coast, who have been forced to leave their homes. The pope urged people of good will to open their hearts to welcome them.

The pope also turned his thoughts to Japan and other countries that in recent months have been tested by natural disasters, which have sown pain and anguish.

Pope Benedict then gave his Easter greetings and blessings to the faithful around the world in more that 60 different languages.?

Thousands March Across the Middle East, Most Peacefully

Thousands in Oman marched through the southern town of Salalah, Reuters reported, after gathering for prayers in the parking lot of a mosque near a government office. It was the largest demonstration since late February, when protests in the northeastern port city of Sohar and the capital, Muscat, rattled the normally sleepy sultanate on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

“The Omani people are not afraid of protesting for as long as it takes for reform,” the cleric, Amer Hargan, told the crowd, Reuters reported.

Protests in Oman have focused their energy on official corruption and economic issues, such as better pay and relief from rising prices, rather than opposition to the four-decade rule of Sultan Qaboos bin Said. The Omani leader has responded in recent weeks with promises to increase government spending and create jobs.

In Yemen, more than a hundred thousand gathered in giant, dueling demonstrations in the capital, Sana, for the third Friday in a row as President Ali Abdullah Saleh continued to resist calls for his departure. Television images and photos posted to social media Web sites showed waves of antigovernment marchers surging through the streets of the capital and throngs rallying in support of the embattled president.

In the face of eroding international support for his 32-year rule, Mr. Saleh rallied supporters, telling them that he welcomed a regional plan to have him step down from power, but would agree to leave only “within the framework of the Yemen constitution,” the official Saba news agency reported, a stipulation that appeared calculated to put off any immediate departure.

The plan, finalized this week in meetings between Yemeni officials and representatives of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, with new presidential elections 60 days later. It also calls for an immediate end to protests and allows immunity from prosecution for Mr. Saleh and his family. The opposition, reluctant to call off demonstrations, has yet to offer an official response.

Demonstrators also filled streets in the city of Taiz. Reuters reported security forces firing into the air to keep rival protests from clashing.

Friday, the Muslim holy day, has become a focal point for protests against autocratic governments across the Middle East since a wave of uprisings began this winter.

But the streets were empty in Jordan for the first Friday since Jan. 7, when demonstrators began gathering to demand changes in the kingdom. Organizers had called for demonstrations, but changed their plans after Islamic fundamentalists, the Salafis, echoed those calls.

“We did not want to give the government and the regime a chance to accuse the opposition of being in cahoots with the Salafis,” said Zaki Saad, the head of the political bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a protest organizer. During demonstrations last Friday, Salafis armed with knives and rocks clashed with the police, wounding more than 80 police officers. “As a result of what took place last week, the political parties and the national parties who are calling for reform decided to cancel all their demonstrations until May,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, the country’s public prosecutor on Friday extended the detention of former president Hosni Mubarak another 15 days, to allow time for more interrogations, according to a spokesman in the public prosecutor’s office. Mr. Mubarak, 82, was first detained on April 13, a day after he was hospitalized in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm El Sheikh, where he has been staying since the three-week uprising that forced him to resign.

The former Egyptian autocrat, who ruled unchallenged for 30 years, faces accusations of financial corruption and ordering the killing of protesters. On Friday, a team of prosecutors was sent to question him, according to a statement issued by the public prosecutor’s office. Both his sons, Gamal and Alaa, were also arrested and are being held in a Cairo prison.

Reporting contributed by Mona el-Naggar from Cairo and Ranya Kadri from Amman, Jordan.

 

Thousands March Across the Middle East, Most Peacefully

 

Thousands in Oman marched through the southern town of Salalah, Reuters reported, after gathering for prayers in the parking lot of a mosque near a government office. It was the largest demonstration since late February, when protests in the northeastern port city of Sohar and the capital, Muscat, rattled the normally sleepy sultanate on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula.

“The Omani people are not afraid of protesting for as long as it takes for reform,” the cleric, Amer Hargan, told the crowd, Reuters reported.

Protests in Oman have focused their energy on official corruption and economic issues, such as better pay and relief from rising prices, rather than opposition to the four-decade rule of Sultan Qaboos bin Said. The Omani leader has responded in recent weeks with promises to increase government spending and create jobs.

In Yemen, more than a hundred thousand gathered in giant, dueling demonstrations in the capital, Sana, for the third Friday in a row as President Ali Abdullah Saleh continued to resist calls for his departure. Television images and photos posted to social media Web sites showed waves of antigovernment marchers surging through the streets of the capital and throngs rallying in support of the embattled president.

In the face of eroding international support for his 32-year rule, Mr. Saleh rallied supporters, telling them that he welcomed a regional plan to have him step down from power, but would agree to leave only “within the framework of the Yemen constitution,” the official Saba news agency reported, a stipulation that appeared calculated to put off any immediate departure.

The plan, finalized this week in meetings between Yemeni officials and representatives of the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council, calls for the president to hand over power immediately and step down in 30 days, with new presidential elections 60 days later. It also calls for an immediate end to protests and allows immunity from prosecution for Mr. Saleh and his family. The opposition, reluctant to call off demonstrations, has yet to offer an official response.

Demonstrators also filled streets in the city of Taiz. Reuters reported security forces firing into the air to keep rival protests from clashing.

Friday, the Muslim holy day, has become a focal point for protests against autocratic governments across the Middle East since a wave of uprisings began this winter.

But the streets were empty in Jordan for the first Friday since Jan. 7, when demonstrators began gathering to demand changes in the kingdom. Organizers had called for demonstrations, but changed their plans after Islamic fundamentalists, the Salafis, echoed those calls.

“We did not want to give the government and the regime a chance to accuse the opposition of being in cahoots with the Salafis,” said Zaki Saad, the head of the political bureau of the Muslim Brotherhood, and a protest organizer. During demonstrations last Friday, Salafis armed with knives and rocks clashed with the police, wounding more than 80 police officers. “As a result of what took place last week, the political parties and the national parties who are calling for reform decided to cancel all their demonstrations until May,” he said.

Meanwhile, in Egypt, the country’s public prosecutor on Friday extended the detention of former president Hosni Mubarak another 15 days, to allow time for more interrogations, according to a spokesman in the public prosecutor’s office. Mr. Mubarak, 82, was first detained on April 13, a day after he was hospitalized in the Egyptian seaside resort of Sharm El Sheikh, where he has been staying since the three-week uprising that forced him to resign.

The former Egyptian autocrat, who ruled unchallenged for 30 years, faces accusations of financial corruption and ordering the killing of protesters. On Friday, a team of prosecutors was sent to question him, according to a statement issued by the public prosecutor’s office. Both his sons, Gamal and Alaa, were also arrested and are being held in a Cairo prison.

Reporting contributed by Mona el-Naggar from Cairo and Ranya Kadri from Amman, Jordan.

 

Unrest Engulfs Parts of Middle East After Friday Prayers

 Unrest Engulfs Parts of Middle East After Friday Prayers | Middle East | English/* Voice of America ?

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Photo: APA Syrian pro-government protester shouts slogans during a protest following Friday prayers outside the Omayyad Mosque in Damascus, Syria, April 15, 2011

Share ThisFacebookYahoo! BuzzRelated ArticlesSyria Opposition Groups Rally Despite ConcessionsYemen Tribal Leaders Back ProtestersLibya Conflict Spotlights Qatar's Growing InfluenceSyrian President Frees Detainees, Announces New CabinetSupporters of Yemen's President Rally; Protests Continue

Large demonstrations were reported in over half a dozen Syrian cities Friday, as opponents of the government demanded more freedom and called on the government to release political prisoners.? Large protests also swept at least a dozen cities in Yemen, as President Ali Abdullah Saleh addressed supporters in the capital Sana'a.

Syrian protesters march in Damascus

Thousands of Syrian protesters marched in the streets of a Damascus suburb Friday, shouting and chanting against the government. Witnesses say security forces used tear gas against the protesters who were marching towards the capital after Friday prayers.

A Facebook website supporting change in Syria showed videos of protesters marching in the streets of nearly a dozen Syrian cities.

In the mostly Sunni Muslim city of Homs, witnesses say protesters dispersed as security forces fired automatic rifles.

In the flashpoint port city of Banias, scores of protesters marched towards the city center to demonstrate against the government, despite the presence of army troops. In a move to appease protesters, the government announced the release Friday of some prisoners arrested during recent sectarian strife.

A video released by the opposition Sham TV showed dozens of protesters in Banias being beaten by what appeared to be Syrian secret police.

Media figures and academics sympathetic to the government tried to downplay the violence and alleged government brutality in interviews with two pan-Arab television networks.

Yemeni protesters march in Sana'a

Hundreds of thousands of pro and anti-government demonstrators also rallied in dozens of cities across Yemen Friday. The largest demonstrations engulfed the capital Sana'a and the flashpoint city of Taiz.

Friday, a group of influential religious and tribal leaders abandoned embattled Yemeni President Saleh, calling on him to step down. President Saleh, however, remained defiant.

In Sana'a, he told a crowd that millions of Yemenis support the country’s constitutional order and that they continue to support him as president.

In Bahrain, the country’s foreign minister said Friday that the government was not trying to dissolve the Shi’ite opposition Wefaq Party, despite moves towards that effect a day earlier. U.S. State Department spokesman Mark Toner had expressed concern Thursday about the possible attempt towards silencing opposition.

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