Habib Toumi

General David Petraeus

US General David Petraeus has charged that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was fomenting anti-American sentiment and limiting America’s strategic partnerships with Arab governments due to the perception of US favoritism towards Israel, US and Israeli media have said.

“The enduring hostilities between Israel and some of its neighbours present distinct challenges to our ability to advance our interests,” he said in a written testimony for the Senate Armed Services Committee. “Arab anger over the Palestinian question limits the strength and depth of US partnerships with governments and peoples in the [Middle East] and weakens the legitimacy of moderate regimes in the Arab world,” said Petraeus, commander of the US military’s Central Command, a zone that ranges from Egypt to Pakistan, but excludes Israel and the Palestinian Authority. continue reading…

Kuwait City

Kuwait has approved the nomination of Mohammad Husain Mohammad Bahr Al Uloom as Iraq’s ambassador, diplomats said on Wednesday.

“We have endorsed his appointment and he is welcome here any time he wants to come,” the unnamed sources were quoted as telling Al Anba daily.

Initial news of his appointment last month were warmly greeted by Kuwait and

Shaikh Mohammad Sabah Al Salem, the foreign minister, said that the nomination after a 20-year hiatus was a good move, while a foreign ministry official denied pressure from either Baghdad or Tehran on Kuwait City to approve it.

The Iraqi post has been vacant since 1990 when Iraqi troops invaded the northern Arabian Gulf emirate and set off the 1991 Gulf War.

The Iraqi nominee is the son of Shiite scholar and politician Mohammad Bahr Al Uloom and the brother of the former oil minister, Ibrahim Bahr Al Uloom. continue reading…

MP Mohammad Al Hayef

Kuwait’s parliament is heading towards more divisions after a conservative lawmaker has pledged to bring up in the parliament the issue of making the veil mandatory for elected and appointed officials.

“It is obvious that according to the constitution that states that Islam is the country’s religion, and to the rules, women elected to parliament or appointed as ministers should wear the veil,” MP Mohammad Al Hayef said. “The government is not able to apply the law or to impose the veil on its minister, Moodhi Al Humood. The government seems not able to choose a veiled ministry. Therefore, we will take up the issue to the parliament and allow the nation to see how the law is being broken,” he said at the weekly parliamentary session.

However, MPs Abdul Rahman Al Anjari and Aseel Al Awadhi rejected Al Hayef’s claims while Justice and Endowments Minister Rashed Al Hamdan refused the pressure on the government and insisted that there were other parties concerned.

“From the religious point of view, the Endowments’ fatwa says that the veil is mandatory. However, the Constitutional Court is in charge of explaining the regulations in the electoral law,” he said. “In all cases, the government cannot on its own decide on the issue. We have one minister, but you have four women MPs. It is a common responsibility that we should shoulder together,” he said. continue reading…

Shaikh Khalid Bin Ahmad Al Khalifa

A society dedicated to resisting the normalization of ties with Israel has urged the upper chamber of the bicameral parliament to endorse a draft law to criminalize contacts with Israelis.

“With the end of the current parliamentary term weeks away, we urge the Shura Council to take up the draft law submitted by the lower chamber on criminalizing cooperation with the Zionist entity,” Abdullah Abdulmalik, the spokesman of the Bahrain Society for Resisting Relations with the Zionist Enemy, said. “Failure to address the issue now means that the draft law will be dropped since it cannot be transferred to the next parliament term,” he said in a statement.

The lower chamber in October approved legislation penalizing contacts with Israel.

According to the bill, “whoever holds any communication or official talks with Israeli officials or travels to Israel will face a fine and/or a jail sentence of up to five years.”

The MPs said that the move aimed at blocking possible steps to hold talks with Israeli officials or delegates who take part in events in Arab countries.

In an unprecedented and far reaching op-ed in the Washington Post in July, Crown Prince Shaikh Salman Bin Hamad Al Khalifa wrote that Arabs should convey their points of view and explain their peace initiatives by communicating directly with the Israeli media, the main source of information for Israelis. continue reading…