Word: jidda
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...closest thing the kingdom has ever had to an election was when businessmen got together in Riyadh and Jidda and elected boards for local chambers of commerce. By those standards, the elections for 178 municipal councils being held in three stages that began on Feb. 10 are a big deal. The regime hopes the election of Shi'ites and tribal leaders in parts of the country where they dominate will help loosen the grip the conservative Wahhabis hold on cultural and religious affairs. But the danger in acceding to Western demands for free elections is that they could result...
...latest audiotape pronouncement to the world, released Dec. 16 on an extremist Islamic website, Osama bin Laden largely shifted his attention from the U.S. to the Saudi royal family. He called its members "agents of infidels," praised the Dec. 6 attack on the U.S. consulate in Jidda and urged Muslims to support the insurgency in Iraq. According to one leading expert, the new tape was part of a change in emphasis in recent communications by the al-Qaeda leader and his deputy, Ayman al-Zawahiri--an effort to speak as much to the Muslim world...
After five saudi extremists launched a brazen commando attack last week on the U.S. consulate in Jidda - the Red Sea port city that was Osama bin Laden's hometown - it came as something of a relief that they failed to penetrate the building and claimed only five innocent lives. But the latest terrorist operation by al-Qaeda loyalists raises serious new concerns. It was the first time al-Qaeda managed to strike an American diplomatic mission in Saudi Arabia. Riding in a car emblazoned with a banner reading there is no god but god, ringleader Fayez bin Awad al Juhaini...
...resembles a fortress, with government buildings, hotels and expat compounds protected by heavily armed Saudi forces and concrete barricades. Travellers endure long queues at police checkpoints. "I get nervous when I see a group of Western-looking foreigners," says Khalid Yousef, a 22-year-old university student in Jidda. "You don't want to get caught in the cross-fire." Nowhere is anxiety running higher than in the fortified palaces that house the country's royal rulers. Though the al-Saud dynasty has controlled the country for 72 years, the public is losing faith in its ineffectual governance and doubts...
Since the campaign began, worshippers in Riyadh and Jidda have reported hearing sermons promoting tolerance, denouncing terrorism and warning against radical interpretations of the doctrine of jihad. On a recent Friday, the sermon was mundane at Jidda's Juffali Mosque, which is next to Chop-Chop Square, so called for the work of the executioners who practice there. On the agenda were the importance of good deeds, kind words and the rejection of pagan customs...