Word: mecca
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...Saudi-U.S. differences are highlighted by the summit's endorsement of the Mecca Agreement under which Hamas and President Mahmoud Abbas agreed to establish a national unity government to end Palestinian infighting. In contrast to the continued U.S. insistence that Hamas be boycotted, the Saudis believe that peace negotiations can only succeed if Hamas can be drawn into the process. The Islamist movement is, after all, the democratically elected ruling party in the Palestinian Authority. "The U.S. is a prisoner of contradictions of its own making," the Arab diplomats adds. "They shouted 'democracy, democracy, democracy,' and then ended...
...kept texting, a shortening of the prayer canted before circling the black rock, or “Allah! Let this be an accepted Hajj, with sins forgiven, and a well appreciated effort.” I wished him the best on his spiritual journey to Mecca. Last month, Ali came up on Google for the first time, providing a new flood of information. His surname comes from Azerbaijan and he uses an uncommon transliteration into English. He lives in Aleppo, Syria, and runs an ophthalmology practice with three other men. His wife is a professor of engineering and architecture...
...feels much more like Las Vegas than Mecca, but Dubai is an unworldly mix of both. The city's music venues and nightclubs host the best of Arab and international entertainers, while bikini-clad Europeans and local women wearing traditional head coverings can be spotted on the beaches. Dubai hosts major international sporting events, including the world's richest horse race...
...internal strife is often cast as a battle between Hamas and Fatah, but the reality is more complex, involving also clan battles, crime syndicates and old feuds. In the wake of the Mecca agreement that led to the unity talks, those old fissures are widening and new ones forming. Abbas' Sunday meeting with Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert rubbed a number of senior Fatah people the wrong way. Afterwards, at a meeting of Fatah's Central Committee, according to a Committee member who was in attendance, Abbas was fiercely criticized for "engaging in a public relations stunt" and accused...
...Mecca deal stipulates that Hamas gets to choose the Minister of the Interior. The leading contender, Hamas spokesman Ismail Radwan told a Palestinian radio station, is a retired Brigadier and security force veteran named Hammoudeh Jerwan. If he gets the job, Jerwan will have to force all of these groups to fall into line (except for the Presidential Guard and the Intelligence force, which stay under the President's office). That means taking on the heads of the various organizations, several of whom have grown rich off their posts. These are men who can buy loyalty and manpower...