(NEWS) Yemen Will Not Bow To "Zionist Pressure"

"Information Minister Hassan al-Lawzi has said that the war with the Houthis in the north of the country and the protests demanding separation in the south were a result of foreign interference.

In an interview with Syrian newspaper al-Watan, al-Lawzi confirmed that the Yemeni government has strong ties with the United States.

'These ties protect Yemen from Zionist pressures', said Al-Lawzi, adding the relation between Yemen and the Unites states is developed to combat a joint threat, 'which is the crimes of al-Qaeda'.



'Pressures were put on Yemen to compromise the Arab unanimously and to establish relations with Israel', al-Lawzi said.

'Yemen's relations with the United States are strong, but not on the expense of the Palestinian people and national interests. Yemen went through bitter experiences of which the most dangerous was the export of revolutions', he stressed. 'However, it overcame that', he added.

What is happening in Iraq, Sudan, and Somalia shows that there were conspiracies to stress the 'Zionist entity' and others against Arab countries, including Yemen.

On the crisis between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, the minister said that the Qatari initiative was revived and that things were positive especially after the agreement with the Houthis on 22 detailed points of the six points that were agreed on earlier.

'The situations in Saada and Harf Sufyam, where clashes occurred, are not positive and stable', he stressed.

'The calls for separation in the south were a huge media act that was not yet represented by a leader with which the authority could hold dialogue', he noted.

He emphasized that the government, all ministers, and constitutional bodies complied with the clear instructions of the leadership regarding the importance of holding a successful dialogue and stressing peace in the different areas of Yemen. He refused the statements of British Minister of State for International Development Alan Duncan in which he said that great dangers would occur if the state collapsed in Yemen.

Yemen is safe and solid, the minister highlighted. Foreign interference in the internal affairs of Yemen was not acceptable, he said.

He admitted that his country had great economic problems, saying that its main source was oil in the 1980s, which is decreasing. Major challenges facing the country were the large budget deficit, water shortage, poverty, and unemployment, he said." (source)

(BLOG) ‘We Were Not Fleeing Yemen’

"60 years ago, the two-year-old state conducted Operation Magic Carpet to bring tens of thousands of Yemenite Jews to Israel. Sara Eden was there.

Sara Eden remembers most of her childhood in Yemen fondly.

Born sometime in 1927 or 1928 to Yosef and Sa’ida Eden, Sara Eden spent the first five years of her life in a beautiful valley beside Jabal Bani Hajaj, south Yemen.

'It was a happy childhood,' she remembers. 'Economically it was hard but there was a happiness to life there, even if you had nothing you were happy... My dad loved to sing and dance and I remember we would hold each other’s hands and spin around.'"

(NEWS) Israel Charges Yemen Forfeited Chess Matchup For Political Reasons

"A Yemeni chess team backed out of a match with Israel at an international competition because of political reasons, officials said Wednesday.

Aviv Bushinsky, chairman of the Israel Chess Federation, says the Yemen delegation didn't arrive for the first-round matchup with Israel Tuesday at the Chess Olympiad in Khanty-Mansiysk, Russia. He said Israel was awarded an automatic 4-0 victory as a result of the forfeit.

In the Yemeni capital of San'a, the deputy youth and sports minister, Moamar al-Ariani, dismissed the automatic win awarded Israel as a 'Jewish trick that aims to ruin the reputation of Yemen and Yemeni sport.'"

(BLOG) Focus On Yemen, Not Israel-Palestine

"By Aymenn Jawad: As summer draws to a close, much speculation has arisen in the media on the upcoming direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, which the Obama administration hopes will bring about a lasting agreement and a viable Palestinian state within a year. Meanwhile, news has just come out concerning the start of Qatari-mediated talks between the central government of Yemen led by Ali Abdullah Saleh and Shi'a Houthi rebels based in the north of Yemen.

Although these talks are unlikely to receive anywhere near the same level of attention as the direct Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, the U.S. should, in fact, act as a mediator in the Yemeni peace talks, and concentrate on urging the Houthi rebels and the central Yemeni government to reach a worthwhile peace agreement, while leaving the Israeli-Palestinian negotiations alone. The reasons for such a shift in policy is necessary are many.



First, although an eventual resolution of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is something to be desired, it has little bearing on the present Middle Eastern Cold War. People in the Arab world are largely indifferent to the current round of negotiations. A recent survey conducted by the Al-Arabiya television network, for example, discovered that 71% of respondents had no interest in the upcoming Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

Such an attitude of apathy is not at all surprising: Al-Arabiya conducted a similar large-scale survey in May 2005 and found that only 8% of respondents saw 'the ongoing Arab-Israeli conflict' as the main obstacle to 'development in the Arab world;' and only 10% regarded resolving the conflict as 'the fastest way to achieve development in the Arab world.'

These data should put to rest the notion of 'linkage,' the idea that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the key to dealing with the problem of Iran's goal of becoming the dominant power in the region.

Proponents of 'linkage' argue that Iran is increasing its influence because it is playing on resentment about the ongoing conflict, but how can this be so when surveys from Al-Arabiya consistently illustrate a lack of interest amongst Arabs in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the peace process?

Second, as far as U.S. security interests are concerned, the situation in Yemen is far more worrisome and urgent. At present, Yemen is the scene of a proxy war between Saudi Arabia and Iran, as Saudi Arabia backs the central government in its campaign to suppress a Shi'a Houthi revolt in the north – a rebellion, which began in 2004, now being supported by Iran. In the meantime, Saudi Arabia has conducted several indiscriminate airstrikes on Yemeni territory; these have killed scores of innocent civilians and have only stirred up more animosity among Houthis towards Ali Abdullah Saleh's central government, thereby creating a seemingly intractable cycle of warfare.

The situation is further aggravated in the south by an active separatist movement that has the declared support of 'Al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula' (AQAP). The AQAP has taken advantage of the destabilization of Yemen to gain a foothold from which to wage an insurgency campaign to overthrow the central government as part of Al-Qaeda's international jihad. Given that AQAP was likely behind the attempted Christmas Day bombing, the threat emanating from Yemen-based Islamist militants must be taken seriously.



Although the Houthis are Shi'a and the central government mostly Sunni, the northern revolt is actually rooted in a rightfully perceived lack of sharing-of-power and oil wealth for the inhabitants of the north of Yemen, rather than as a religious dispute (several key figures in the Yemeni government, including Ali Abdullah Saleh himself, are Shi'a). The Houthis thus have legitimate grievances that can be easily addressed; hence, they need not serve as proxies for Iran in the Arabian Peninsula.

It follows that the U.S., as one of the Yemeni government's chief backers, can play a key role in reconciliation by assuaging fears that the Houthis are attempting to take over all of Yemen.

It is likely, therefore, that the goal of a lasting peace settlement will allow the Yemeni government to focus its efforts on the Al-Qaeda and the separatist movements in the south. In contrast, the Israeli-Palestinian talks will probably not progress very far, owing to a range of issues, including settlement construction as a precondition for negotiations; recognition of Israel's right to exist as a Jewish state, and the influence of hardliners in Fatah -- despite the moderation of the likes of Salam Fayyad.

The required alteration of policy towards Yemen entails a number of recommendations. Above all, the U.S. should persuade Saudi Arabia to stop conducting airstrikes in Yemeni territory: these only fuel the Houthi insurgency and tilt it further toward Iran.

In addition, the Obama administration would do well to put pressure on Ali Abdullah Saleh's government to stamp out corruption and thereby allow for a greater allocation of oil revenues to the north of Yemen. This might involve, for example, financial incentives for greater transparency, which could also alleviate to a certain extent the country's water crisis that is particularly affecting the south, and thereby garnering popular support for the southern separatist movement led by former officials from the defunct Republic of South Yemen. Since 2005, Yemen has dropped farther down Transparency International's "Corruption Perception Index" to a low, in 2009, of 154th out of 180 countries.

Finally, the U.S. might wish to consider urging the central government to grant semi-autonomy to the country's north, but should in any case halt drone attacks. As in Somalia, the U.S. faces a situation where overt military intervention undermines its allies.

These changes in policy will not only contain Iran's influence, but also the threat of Al-Qaeda in Yemen.

Concentrating on Israeli-Palestinian peace talks, however, which will at best be protracted over a much longer time, at the expense of neglecting the conflict in Yemen, only amounts to allowing potential destabilization across the south of the Arabian Peninsula." (source)

(NEWS) Israeli Intel Confirms Iran Backing Shi'ite Rebels In Northern Yemen

"Israel has determined that Iran is acting to destabilize Yemen.

The Israeli intelligence community was said to have confirmed reports that Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps was helping Shi'ite rebels in their war against the regime of Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh. Officials said IRGC was relaying weapons and training to the Believing Youth, which operates in northern Yemen near the border with Saudi Arabia.



'Even now it [Iran] controls bodies that function as a state within a state, in Lebanon, Yemen, the Palestinian Authority, and other places,' Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister Ayalon said.

In a broadcast on the state-owned Israel Radio's Persian service, Ayalon said the Iranian regime has sought to dominate the Middle East and other areas. Ayalon also answered questions from Farsi-speaking callers during the Aug. 23 broadcast.

'The Iranian regime spreads instability, supports terror, and oppresses its own people,' Ayalon said. 'It is impossible to accept atomic weapons in the hands of such a regime.'

Officials said Ayalon was reflecting the assessment of the Israeli intelligence community that IRGC has established a presence in Yemen as well as in neighboring Eritrea. They said IRGC was using the Believing Youth to infiltrate neighboring Saudi Arabia, 10 percent of whose population is Shi'ite.

'There's also a possibility that Iran will make a military move against the Arab Gulf states and harm the flow of oil to the world, in which case the entire situation will degrade into widespread confrontations,' Ayalon said.

Officials said Ayalon's address was meant to assure Iranians that Israel was a friend and that the Teheran regime marked a regional threat. They said Ayalon's broadcast was widely heard in Iran and the rest of the Gulf region.

'Israel bears no animosity towards the Iranian people,' Ayalon said. 'We have deep respect and aspire to cooperate with them to bring about a better reality in the region. The problem is intrinsic to the Iranian regime and its conduct, particularly regarding the nuclear issue.'" (source)