Vital Perspective

Abbas Gives Up Adopted 'Daughter' from Beach Incident to Deputy PM of UAE

After first being adopted by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, the 10-year-old girl whose family was killed by a Palestinian ordinance on a Gaza beach has arrived in Abu Dhabi after a member of the oil-rich emirate's ruling family said he wanted to adopt her.

Sheikh Hamdan bin Zayed al-Nahayan, deputy prime minister of the UAE, proposed in a telephone conversation with Abbas after the attack to adopt the girl. What? Was Abbas so busy running the Palestinian Authority that he didn't have time to be a good father? Not likely. He's sitting in his office with nobody around him and nobody to talk to except the occassional television camera.

Qatar Dismisses Saudi Threat to Kill $3.5 Billion Natural Gas Pipeline to UAE

Qatar is shrugging off Saudi Arabia's reported plans to block the completion of a $3.5 billion natural gas pipeline that's eight years in the making. Saudi Arabia reportedly said last week that the pipeline - due to bring gas from Qatar to the UAE - crossed its underwater territory and that it would object to it. A senior Qatar energy official dismissed these reports.

The undersea pipeline "cannot be constructed without the agreement of the kingdom,'' according to a July 8 memo faxed by the Saudi government to the National Bank of Abu Dhabi, which is involved in financing the link. The UAE controlled venture in a statement today said the pipeline is almost complete and runs "exclusively'' in Qatar and emirati waters.

"We don't think it is very serious. We have been working for a long time on this, and too much expenditure has been made," the official was quoted as saying by the regional Zawya Dow Jones news service on Tuesday.

The sub-sea pipeline is being laid by Dolphin Energy and is 51 percent owned by Abu Dhabi, along with U.S.-based Occidental Petroleum and France-based Total. It is due to provide 2 billion cubic feet of gas a day from Qatar to the UAE and Oman by 2007.

This isn't the first time Saudi Arabia has intervened in regional energy projects. The kingdom's objection to Qatari exports of natural gas to Kuwait through a pipeline that would have gone through its waters helped derail the project.

Saudi Arabia has criticized Qatar over its al-Jazeera television channel for hosting critics of the Saudi government. The kingdom and the UAE also have a disagreement over border demarcations, which were drawn up in 1974, giving the kingdom a greater share of the 17 billion-barrel Shaybah oil field that straddles the two neighboring countries.

Concern Mounts Among Gulf Arab States On Iranian Nuclear Program

Kuwaiti FM Sheikh Mohammad al-Salem al-Sabah announed on Sunday that Iran's Gulf Arab neighbors -- Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Bahrain, Oman, Qatar and Kuwait -- plan to send a delegation to Iran to voice concern about its nuclear program.

"The team will reiterate the need for Iran to completely cooperate with the international community and the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)," the Foreign Minister told a joint news conference with visiting German FM Frank-Walter Steinmeier.  "The Gulf's concerns are authentic, well-known and were clearly expressed at the Abu Dhabi summit last year and the consultative meeting in Riyadh," he added.

A meeting of U.S.-allied Gulf Arab leaders in Riyadh earlier this month called on Iran to do more to show it was not trying to obtain an atom bomb.

U.S. Participating in Massive Military Exercise with Middle East, Gulf States

The largest military exercise this year in the Gulf region is underway to improve skills and confront conventional and insurgency threats. Until May 18, the U.S., Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Pakistan, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain and the UAE will all be participating in the exercise "Eagle Resolve".

Arab Freedom Deficit Puts Denmark's Arla Foods Back on Track in ME

Cheese, butter and medicine from Arla Foods, the Danish company that suffered an intense boycott in the Middle East since the cartoon controversy erupted, is finding its way back onto store shelves in Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Lebanon, the UAE, and most recently Qatar... but at what price?

"The retailers in the region were forced to pull out the Danish products, including medicines, from their shelves following a call from a section of clerics over the region. Arla Foods, was the main target of the boycott. But now, with Arla coming out openly against the Danish Government the ban has become a non-issue and we have resumed distributing the products," said Muhammed Unni Olakara of Transind Food Suppliers in Doha, Qatar.

We took a look at what Arla had done, and found out that it had put out a full-page advertisement in 25 Arab newspapers that among other things, said that "Arla Foods has distanced itself from the Danish newspaper, Jyllands-Posten's actions in publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed. We do not agree with the newspaper’s reasons for publication."

Arab customers still don't get it. Arla's statement distanced the company from the newspaper, not the government. Therein lies something very telling... as the above quotes show, there is no separation between the Danish government and the press in the mind of the Arab consumer.

As the violence raged two months ago, the Danish government tried to get that message across to no avail. Now it appears as if the same mentality that led to riots, deaths and torched embassies is what's going to get Arla back on track in the region.

Hamas Leader on Gulf Tour, Pledges Continued 'Resistance' Strategy

Speaking from Yemen on Monday, Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal said on al-Jazeera TV that "Hamas won't give up the option of armed resistance against the occupation," and that "[resistance, i.e. terrorism] is a strategic option that will not be retreated from until the liberation of all the occupied Palestinian territories from the river to the sea."

Yemeni President Ali Abdullah Saleh, after a meeting with Mashaal, reaffirmed his country's support to the Palestinians' "struggle for regaining their legitimate rights and establishing an independent state with Jerusalem as capital." Mashaal was in Yemen to drum up political and financial support; three bank accounts were opened to collect donations for Palestinians.

"Those who believe that negotiations and accepting the proposed conditions would lead us to get our rights are deluded," Mashaal told an Islamist gathering on the next leg of his trip to Bahrain. He left Bahrain Tuesday heading to the oil-rich UAE for talks with officials there. He is also expected to visit Kuwait and Libya.

Hamas, with no background outside terrorism, has been unable to bring other Palestinian factions into the fold for their government. This is of course the fault of the U.S. government. Arabic News reports that "Hamas accused the U.S. of pressuring other Palestinian groups in order not to take part in a new government under its chairmanship and to justify its plans to attack the Palestinian people."

White House: Iran Needs to Suspend All Enrichment Activity

White House spokesman Scott McClellan faced a barrage of questions about Russia, Iran and uranium enrichment activities on Tuesday. The White House stood by comments made earlier in the day by Vice President Cheney and stressed that even though there is not a modified Russian proposal that we are aware of, if there was one, we would be opposed to it based upon Iran's history, which has fostered a feeling of distrust. The breakdown of the press briefing plus the full text is available in PDF by clicking here.

Other topics discussed included Rep. Peter King's proposal for the UAE / Dubai Ports World contract and Lebanese President Emile Lahud.

UAE Boycott to be Discussed in Upcoming Free Trade Agreement Talks

A few relevant topics discussed in Wednesday's press briefing at the State Department... The latest on Iran, Palestinian terrorism including the death of an Islamic Jihad terrorist in Gaza, plus the U.S. take on the UAE's participation in the Arab boycott of Israel were all discussed. Breakdown plus the full text below the fold.

Dubai Ports World Participates in Arab Boycott of Israel

Dubai Ports World, the company involved in the UAE port deal, participates in the Arab boycott against Israel.

"Yes, of course the boycott is still in place and is still enforced," Muhammad Rashid a-Din, a staff member of the Dubai Customs Department's Office for the Boycott of Israel, told the The Jerusalem Post in a telephone interview. U.S. law bars firms from complying with such requests or cooperating with attempts by Arab governments to boycott Israel. The U.S. Department of Commerce lists the UAE anti-Israel boycott requirement as a "prohibited boycott condition in an invitation to bid" under examples of boycott requests from the UAE that have been reported to the Office of Antiboycott Compliance. The "prohibited boycott condition" reads:

"Documents to accompany tenders [include] the declaration and Israel boycott certificate. It states the tenderer must accompany his offer with the following, written signed declaration. "We declare that we are a company which is not owned by any companies that have violated the approved rules of the boycott and that we do not own or participate in companies that are in violation of the approved rules of the boycott. Further, we do not have, nor does any of the companies that are considered to be a parent company or a branch of ours, any dealings with any Israeli party, whether directly or indirectly." Furthermore, a certificate issued by the Israel boycott office in UAE confirming that neither the supplier nor the manufacturer are blacklisted, should also be accompanied."

In one instance, according to a Department of Commerce press release, a New York-based exporter paid a $13,500 fine for violating the antiboycott provisions of the Export Administration Regulations (EAR). The antiboycott provisions of the EAR prohibit U.S. persons from complying with certain requirements of unsanctioned foreign boycotts, including furnishing information about business relationships with or in Israel. In addition, the EAR requires that U.S. persons report their receipt of certain boycott requests to the Department of Commerce.

Importers to the UAE, however, need to comply with the terms of the boycott. In the Frequently Asked Questions area of the Jebel Ali Free Zone Area website, six documents are listed that are required in order to clear an item through the Dubai Customs Department. One of them, called a Certificate of Origin, "is used by customs to confirm the country of origin and needs to be seen by the office which ensures any trade boycotts are enforced."

Mubarak Traveling Across Gulf States to Discuss Regional Issues

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak started a Gulf tour on Sudany in the UAE and Bahrain. He will later travel to Qatar, Kuwait and Saudi Arabia during which he will discuss several issues, including the Syrian-Lebanese crisis, Hamas, and the Iranian nuclear crisis.

According to Arabic News, "both the King of Bahrain and Mubarak called for 'halting the unjustified Israeli escalation against the Palestinian people.' The two leaders urged the Palestinian and Israeli sides to return back to the table of negotiations in order to find a final solution for the Arab-Israeli conflict so as to ensure the national legitimate rights of the Palestinian people, especially the establishment of the Palestinian state on their own native soil with Jerusalem as capital."