United Kingdom

Turkey says spy suspected of helping British school girls is Syrian

March 13, 2015 by Nasheman

British teenage girls Shamima Begun, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana (L-R) walk through security at Gatwick airport before they boarded a flight to Turkey on February 17, 2015, in this combination picture made from handout still images taken from CCTV and released by the Metropolitan Police on February 22, 2015.

British teenage girls Shamima Begum, Amira Abase and Kadiza Sultana (L-R) walk through security at Gatwick airport before they boarded a flight to Turkey on February 17, 2015, in this combination picture made from handout still images taken from CCTV and released by the Metropolitan Police on February 22, 2015.

Ankara/Reuters: An alleged spy detained in Turkey for helping three British girls cross into Syria is a Syrian national working for a country in the U.S.-led coalition against Islamic State, the Turkish foreign minister said on Friday.

Mevlut Cavusoglu announced on Thursday that a spy who had assisted the three London school girls, now believed to be on territory controlled by Islamic State, had been caught, but did not give the suspect’s nationality.

Islamic State seized swathes of land last June, cementing their rule with a militant interpretation of Islamic law, and is drawing sympathisers from many countries to support their fight. The U.S.-led coalition is using mostly air power in an attempt to push the Sunni militant group back.

“The person who helped the three British girls into Syria is a Syrian national working for another country within the coalition. The situation is so complicated,” Cavusoglu told reporters in Ankara.

He did not say which country the spy was working for, although on Thursday he had said it was not the European Union or the United States. The coalition also includes countries such as Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Jordan, Bahrain, Australia and Canada.

The three girls, two aged 15 and one 16, flew to Istanbul from London on Feb. 17 and then onwards to Syria, where more than 200,000 have been killed in a civil war. Their families have appealed to them to return.

(Reporting by Tulay Karadeniz; Writing by Ece Toksabay; editing by Ralph Boulton)

Breakthrough? Swedish prosecutor drops refusal to interview Assange in UK

March 13, 2015 by Nasheman

‘This is something we’ve demanded for over four years,’ says lawyer; ‘Ridiculous’ that it took over four years, says Wikileaks spokesperson

Julian Assange has been in Ecuador’s embassy in London for nearly three years to avoid extradition from Sweden.

by Jon Queally, Common Dreams

Both a lawyer and spokesperson for Wikileaks expressed relief on Friday that Swedish prosecutors are now willing travel to London to interview founder and editor-in-chief Julian Assange, even as they characterized as ridiculous that fact that it took well over four years to accept such an arrangement.

Assange has been living in the Ecuadorian embassy in London for more than three years under asylum protection after allegations over sexual misconduct in Sweden sparked a legal battle over extradition. Assange has denied wrongdoing in the case but repeatedly said he would be willing to answer all questions regarding the accusations and details of the case. However, he refused to return to Sweden stating fears of being extradited to the United States over a sealed indictment in that country related to his work with Wikileaks exposing government and military secrets containde in leaked documents provided by U.S. Army whistleblower Chelsea Manning.

Swedish prosecutors of the case consistently refused Assange’s offer to meet at the embassy in London to conduct the interview, but have now reversed that decision citing the approaching statute of limitations on the alleged offenses in the case.

“My view has always been that to perform an interview with him at the Ecuadorean embassy in London would lower the quality of the interview, and that he would need to be present in Sweden in any case should there be a trial in the future,” said lead prosecutor Marianne Ny in a statement. “Now that time is of the essence, I have viewed it therefore necessary to accept such deficiencies in the investigation and likewise take the risk that the interview does not move the case forward,” Ny said.

Ny said a request by her office was made to Assange’s legal team on Friday for an in-person interview inside the Ecuador Embassy in London. In addition, the prosecutions have requested to take a DNA swab of Assange.

Speaking with the Associated Press, WikiLeaks spokesman Kristinn Hrafnsson said the Swedish decision was “a victory for Julian,” even as he criticized the delay.

“I think it’s absolutely outrageous that it took the Swedish prosecutor 41/2 years to come to this conclusion after maintaining that she couldn’t come to London because it would be illegal to do so,” he said. “Obviously that was a bogus argument.”

One of Assange’s lawyers, Per Samuelson, said he had spoken with his client and that they certainly were likely to accept the offer.

“This is something we’ve demanded for over four years,” Samuelson told AP. “Julian Assange wants to be interviewed so he can be exonerated.”

According to the Guardian:

Assange has been wanted in Sweden since the accusations were made against him in August 2010. The British Foreign Office said in November it would welcome a request by the Swedish prosecutor to question Assange inside the Ecuadorian embassy. Ecuador’s government has also repeatedly stated that it approves of such a step.

Assange’s lawyers, who are appealing against his arrest warrant in Sweden’s highest court, have complained bitterly about the prosecutor’s refusal to travel to London to speak to him – an essential step under Swedish jurisprudence to establish whether Assange can be formally charged.

Ny’s refusal, they say, has condemned Assange to severe limitations on his freedom that are disproportionate to the accusations against him.

Ny has argued that interrogating Assange abroad would be complicated and have little point because he would still have to travel to Sweden for trial, should sufficient grounds emerge. However, she is obliged to drop the case against him unless she believes there are “reasonable grounds” for suspicion of his guilt.

Tony Blair accused of seeking $45m UAE contract while working as peace envoy

March 9, 2015 by Nasheman

Tony Blair is accused of ‘relentlessly cashing in on contacts,’ earning up to $90m from consultancy while working on Israel-Palestine talks

Blair is highest-earning former UK leader in history thanks to consulting work with Gulf states, new book alleges (Photo: Marc Müller/cc)

by Middle East Eye

Multi-million dollar deals with various states in the Middle East have helped Tony Blair amass a fortune thought to be worth an estimated $90m, claims a book published this month.

Blair accepted the job of Middle East peace envoy with the Quartet (the United Nations, the US, the EU and Russia) on the same day as he stepped down from office in 2007.

The Quartet was established with the aim of finding a solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and as Special Envoy Blair has travelled extensively in the region, most recently to Gaza last month.

His trips to the region have also seen him strike lucrative deals with the region’s governments for consultancy work.

One of the biggest of these, revealed by the Sunday Times, was a proposed contract with the UAE worth up to $45m.

Tony Blair Associates, an umbrella organisation founded to coordinate the diplomat’s various consultancy groups, offered its services to the UAE’s Foreign Affairs Ministry in a five-year commercial partnership.

A 25-document about the September 2014 deal obtained by the Sunday Times states that “there is nowhere in the world right now where we could not work or provide the necessary contacts either politically or commercially, should we want to”.

Blair has worked in partnership with various governments whose human rights records have been criticised by international monitors. In 2013, he offered public relations advice to the president of Guinea after security forces shot protesters during anti-government clashes, killing nine people.

The contract with the UAE was proposed while Blair was working as Middle East peace envoy. He is now facing calls to step down from the position of envoy over allegations of a conflict of interest.

Andrew Bridgen, a Conservative MP who has called for former prime ministers to be bound by tighter regulations, accused Blair of “relentlessly cashing in his contacts” while the Middle East is “on fire”.

“This is damaging to Britain’s reputation, and he should now stand down as the Middle East peace envoy.”

Blair’s office responded to the allegations by saying that the document was “out of date” and insisting that he would never engage in paid work that caused a conflict of interest with his work as peace envoy.

“The UAE is not a member of the Quartet. Tony Blair has undertaken other paid work in the Gulf, but not in respect of anything that is linked to what he does unpaid for the Quartet.”

The UAE does not recognise the state of Israel, one of the parties in the Quartet’s peace efforts, and the countries have no official diplomatic or economic ties.

However, a recent investigation by Middle East Eye revealed that an Israeli-owned company has become responsible for a huge surveillance system that protects critical infrastructure in the Gulf kingdom.

Blair’s other work with Gulf States includes a $40m four-year contract for consultancy work with the Emir of Kuwait and a deal to provide the government of Abu Dhabi, the largest emirate in the UAE, with “global strategic advice” at a cost of up to $1.5m a year.

According to Blair Inc, a book by Francis Beckett and David Hencke, to be released this month, he also arranged a covert contract in 2010 with Saudi oil company PetroSaudi.

The deal, according to the book, saw Blair arrange introductions to contacts in China, and was reportedly worth $60,000 a month. He also supposedly earned 2 percent commission on any deal resulting from the introductions.

Blair has also said he is “happy to help” Egypt’s President Abdel Fattah al-Sisi, though he denies working as a formal advisor to Sisi’s government, which launched a military takeover of the country in 2013.

An alleged leak that emerged last week claimed to feature Egyptian officials arranging for a visit by an Emirati delegation, who were “bringing along Tony Blair”.

The purported leak, said to have been recorded in early 2014, appears to indicate that Blair and the Emirati officials spoke with high-level Egyptian politicians, including the president, the head of intelligence and the foreign minister, in “unofficial meetings”.

‘Tell us who pays you’: Tony Blair pressured over alleged paymasters

January 20, 2015 by Nasheman

Tony Blair pictured at the Munich Security Conference 2014. (Photo: Marc Müller/cc)

by RT

Conservative MPs will launch a campaign on Monday to force Tony Blair to reveal how much he earns and who pays him.

Tory MP Andrew Bridgen is tabling an Early Day Motion (EDM) in the House of Commons, demanding that former prime ministers be bound by the same rules of transparency and oversight as serving politicians.

While the EDM is unlikely to be passed by parliament, it follows growing concern over Blair’s work for authoritarian governments and controversial corporations.

Blair’s business transactions have been linked to the governments of Saudi Arabia, Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan – all three of which are widely known for their human rights abuses.

“Tony Blair has embarked on a career of personal enrichment and has blurred the lines between his public and private interests,” Bridgen told The Sunday Times.

“No other former prime minister has gone to work for other sovereign states. Mr Blair is still in public life, but is not bound by its principles, and that needs to be changed,” he added.

Blair, who was last year awarded GQ’s Philanthropy Award, has come under intense scrutiny as he has been linked to a string of authoritarian regimes and less-than-ethical companies.

A consortium of energy companies, including BP, hired him last year to work on a new gas pipeline which will go from Azerbaijan to Italy via Turkey.

The project has come under fierce criticism for the environment destruction it may cause and for the wealth it will give Azerjaijan’s controversial leader, Ilham Aliyev.

Aliyev, whose government has imprisoned bloggers and journalists, was compared to a mafia don from The Godfather by US diplomats in a Wikileaks cable published in 2010.

The former prime minister’s consultancy, Tony Blair Associates, reportedly earns £7 million a year for advising Kazakhstan’s strongman president, Nursultan Nazarbayev.

Nazarbayev’s government has been accused of human rights abuses after its courts forcibly closed much of the country’s independent media and his troops massacred dozens of striking oil workers at a peaceful protest in Zhanaozen, in western Kazakhstan, in December 2011.

As if the list of unscrupulous customers wasn’t long enough already, Tony Blair Associates has also been linked to a Saudi Arabian oil company founded by the son of Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah.

A leaked contract, which emerged last November, showed that Blair had been hired by PetroSaudi to help facilitate a deal between the oil firm and Chinese state officials.

Blair, who also serves as a Special Envoy for the Middle East Quartet, was reportedly paid £41,000 a month to carry out these duties, and took a 2 percent cut from each successfully orchestrated deal.

Since leaving office in 2007, Blair has amassed millions of pounds in fees collected through his consultancy firm.

Some have speculated that the former prime minister’s personal fortune could amount to £100 million, but he has implied it is closer to £20 million.

This figure will raise eyebrows, however, as it is reported his personal expenses run into the millions.

Blair’s private jet alone is worth £30 million and reportedly costs £7,000 for every hour it is in the air.

Since leaving government Blair has also claimed a taxpayer-funded allowance for ex-prime ministers, in addition to other state subsidies.

A Freedom of Information request in 2012 revealed Blair was costing the taxpayer £400,000 a year in pensions, public duties allowances and security costs.

UK govt wants nurseries to report potential "terrorist toddlers"

January 6, 2015 by Nasheman

AFP Photo/Johnny Green

by RT

It may become a “duty” of nurseries and elementary schools in the UK to track and report any child that shows signs of sympathy with terrorists or is a risk of potential radicalization, according to the government’s plans aimed at preventing extremism.

A consultation document by the Home Office on ways to enhance the UK’s anti-terrorism system, the so-called “Prevent” strategy, calls for senior management and governors to “assess the risk of pupils being drawn into terrorism,” manifested through youths’ extremist ideas that may breed terrorist ideology.

The nurseries should insure proper training of their staff to give them the “knowledge and confidence to identify” and “challenge extremist ideas which can be used to legitimize terrorism and are shared by terrorist groups,” the document stated according to British media. “They should know where and how to refer children and young people for further help.”

The new approach of identifying potentially dangerous toddlers should be implemented on non-discriminating basis according to the 39-page consultation document. The document is part of the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill bundle currently being debated in the parliament. If the strategy is approved it will become a “duty” not only for nurseries but also for other learning institutions.

“Schools, including nurseries, have a duty of care to their pupils and staff. The new duty in the Counter-Terrorism and Security Bill, to have due regard to the need to prevent people from being drawn into terrorism will be seen in a similar way to their existing safeguarding responsibilities,” a government spokesperson told The Independent.

Questions remain as to how the new measures will be implemented, with politicians and NGO’s speaking out against the heavy-handed tactics.

“It is unworkable. I have to say I cannot understand what they [nursery staff] are expected to do,” David Davis, the Conservative MP and former shadow home secretary, told the Telegraph.

“Are they supposed to report some toddler who comes in praising a preacher deemed to be extreme? I don’t think so. It is heavy-handed,” he added.

“Turning our teachers and childminders into an army of involuntary spies will not stop the terrorist threat,”Isabella Sankey, the policy director at human rights body Liberty, told the Telegraph. “It will sow seeds of mistrust, division and alienation from an early age.”

The government defended itself from the avalanche of criticism saying that privacy of individuals will be protected.

“We are not expecting teachers and nursery workers to carry out unnecessary intrusion into family life but we do expect them to take action when they observe behaviour of concern. It is important that children are taught fundamental British values in an age-appropriate way,” a government spokesperson told the Daily Mail.

The controversial Prevent strategy is the main effort by UK government to stop radicalization or people supporting terrorism, in all its forms. Prevent works at the pre-criminal stage by using early intervention to encourage individuals and communities to challenge extremist and terrorist ideology and behavior. Opponent of contemporary counter-terrorist policies say the strategy produces counter-productive effects and often discriminates directly or indirectly against Muslims.

UK and Israel supported Kenyan program of extrajudicial killings

December 10, 2014 by Nasheman

Kenyan officers suggest program in which terrorism suspects were killed without trial on basis of Western intelligence

by Al Jazeera

Kenyan police have assassinated nearly 500 terrorism suspects as part of an extrajudicial killing program supported by intelligence provided by Israel and the United Kingdom, an Al Jazeera investigation has revealed.

Officers from four units of Kenya’s Anti-Terrorism Police Unit (ATPU) said that police assassinated terrorist suspects on government orders.

The police killings, according to an ATPU officer, were ordered by Kenya’s National Security Council and run into the hundreds every year. “Day in, day out, you hear of eliminating suspects,” the officer said.

“Since I was employed, I’ve killed over 50. Definitely, I do become proud because I’ve eliminated some problems,” said another officer.

The ATPU officers contend that Kenya’s weak judicial system forced them to resort to assassinations, as police have failed to produce strong enough evidence to prosecute terrorism suspects.

“If the law cannot work, there’s another option … eliminate him,” an officer explained.

Kenyan President Uhuru Kenyatta and National Security Council members — including the deputy president, defense secretary and policy chief — denied the allegations.

In April, Abubaker Shariff Ahmed, an armed fighter known as Makaburi, was gunned down outside a Mombasa court after being charged under Kenya’s terrorism laws. Human rights groups allege police killed him.

ATPU officers confirmed the allegations. “Makaburi was killed by the police,” said one officer. “That execution was planned in Nairobi by very top, high-ranking police officers and government officials.”

Confidential police reports obtained by Al Jazeera allegedly show Makaburi had extensive links to Somali armed group Al-Shabab and planned and financed bombings in Kenya.

According to the ATPU officers, the intelligence that drives Nairobi’s “elimination program,” is supplied by Western intelligence agencies.

“Once they give us the information, they know what they have told us. It is ABCD — ‘Mr. Jack’ is involved in such and such a kind of activity. Tomorrow he’s no longer there. We have worked. Definitely the report that you gave us has been worked on,” the officer said.

A Kenyan National Police spokesman refused to comment on the allegations.

According to the officers, Israel and the U.K. provide training, equipment and intelligence to Kenyan officers on how to “eliminate” suspects targeted by Kenyan security forces.

Israel and the U.K. denied involvement. The U.K. Foreign Office added that it had “raised concerns” with Kenya over the “serious allegations.”

Mark Ellis, head of the International Bar Association, a leading organization of legal practitioners, said the alleged complicity of these countries could violate international law.

“It’s clear, based on these interviews, that there’s at least prima facie evidence to suggest that these third-party countries are involved, and therefore they all have responsibility to investigate,” Ellis said. “We should stop providing any type of assistance or training to police units in Kenya until there is a clear change … in how the Kenyan authorities deal with suspects.”

UK signs deal to expand naval presence in Bahrain

December 6, 2014 by Nasheman

“This new base is a permanent expansion of the Royal Navy’s footprint and will enable Britain to send more and larger ships to reinforce stability in the Gulf,” said British Defence Secretary Michael Fallon.

by World Bulletin

Britain said on Friday it had sealed a deal to expand and reinforce its naval presence in Bahrain that would allow it to operate more and bigger ships in the Gulf on a long-term basis.

Under the agreement, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) said onshore facilities at the Mina Salman Port in Bahrain, where Britain bases four mine-hunter warships on a permanent basis, would be improved.

The base, which will now be expanded to include a new forward operating base and a place to plan, store equipment for naval operations and accommodate Royal Navy personnel, is used to support British Destroyers and Frigates in the Gulf.

“We will now be based again in the Gulf for the long term.”

The U.S. Navy’s Fifth Fleet is also based in Bahrain.

Noam Chomsky visits Julian Assange

November 27, 2014 by Nasheman

by teleSUR

Wikileaks founder Julian Assange has received a visit from one of his most prominent supporters.

U.S. academic and political dissident Noam Chomsky visited Wikileaks founder Julian Assange Tuesday, despite an ongoing police presence outside the Ecuadorian embassy in London.

Today, Noam Chomsky is due to make his way past UK police to talk with Julian Assange at the embassy. Background: http://t.co/VtLbf88gfK

— WikiLeaks (@wikileaks) November 25, 2014

The two made a brief appearance on the embassy balcony. According to Wikileaks, Assange and Chomsky went on the balcony to “take in the view of the police operation against the Ecuadorian embassy.”

Noam #Chomsky on #Assange, Sweden & the “hypocrisy” of receiving asylum from Ecuador (archive) http://t.co/exXML4zm4L pic.twitter.com/VLkxftacJK

— M (@m_cetera) November 25, 2014

The embassy has been encircled by a 24-hour police presence for two years. Assange has been trapped in the embassy since 2012, when he applied for asylum.

Ecuador subsequently granted him asylum. However, the U.K. government has refused to allow him safe passage to Ecuador, arguing British authorities are obliged to extradite him to Sweden, where he is wanted for questioning in relation to allegations of sexual misconduct.

Assange claims if he is sent to Sweden, he would face a serious risk of extradition to the United States, where he fears he would face charges in relation to the disclosure of classified government documents.

Chomsky, a world reknowned linguist and analyst of global affairs, has previously expressed support for Assange.

“Someone who courageously carries out actions in defense of democratic rights deserves applause, not hysterical denunciation and punishment,” Chomsky once stated regarding Assange.

For more on Assange, check out teleSUR English’s interview with the Wikileaks founder.

(Reuters, AFP, Wikileaks)

Uproar as Tony Blair given 'Global Legacy' award from renowned charity

November 26, 2014 by Nasheman

‘We consider this award inappropriate and a betrayal to Save the Children’s founding principles and values,’ charge Save the Children staff.

Tony Blair pictured at the Munich Security Conference 2014. (Photo: Marc Müller/cc)

by Sarah Lazare, Common Dreams

International charity Save the Children is facing uproar, including from internal staff, for granting the “global legacy award” to former UK Prime Minister and Iraq War architect Tony Blair.

The award was given to Blair by the U.S. arm of the organization at a gala in New York City last week. Save the Children, which claims “protecting children from harm” as a key mission, lauded Blair for his alleged role heading anti-poverty initiatives at the 2005 Group of Eight summit in Scotland and for his “continued commitment to Africa.”

The move unleashed a torrent of criticism, including a petition, with over 90,000 signatures so far, calling on Save the Children to revoke the award on the basis that Blair is seen by many as “the cause of the deaths of countless children in the Middle East with damning allegations relating to his role as Middle East envoy and businesses dealings with autocratic rulers and others in the region.”

Critiques erupted across social media platforms, including Twitter:

Tweets about #warcriminal #Blair

Within Save the Children, an internal letter denouncing the award as “morally reprehensible” gathered nearly 200 signatures, including from some senior staff members, the Guardian reports.

“We consider this award inappropriate and a betrayal to Save the Children’s founding principles and values,” the letter states. “Management staff in the region were not communicated with nor consulted about the award and were caught by surprise with this decision.”

Staff warned that the award threatens the credibility of Save the Children, given that figures at the head of the charity have close ties with Blair, including John Forsyth, UK chief executive for Save the Children, who was a special adviser to Blair for three years.

Krista Armstrong, global media manager for the charity, reportedly told theGuardian last week that Save the Children has received a “high volume of complaints and negative reactions to rewarding the award.”

Blair was also awarded as “philanthropist of the year” by GQ in September—a decision that was also met with widespread criticism and shock.

There’s no reason to celebrate the UK Palestine vote

October 15, 2014 by Nasheman

I hate to rain on a parade but I don’t quite understand why everyone is getting so excited over the UK parliament’s recognition of Palestine as a state, writes Roshan Muhammed Salih.

Certainly it was gratifying to hear so many MPs criticise Israel yesterday during the six-hour House of Commons debate, especially for its settlement policies on stolen land.

And it was also wonderful to see so many Israeli apologists up-in-arms over the motion which was passed by a resounding 274 votes to 12.

But ultimately the issue is not about the “state of Palestine,” it’s about what kind of state that state will be.

And anyone who followed the debate closely would realise that nearly all of the MPs were supporting the discredited “two-state solution” which effectively means that Israel gets to keep over 80 per cent of the land forever, while the Palestinians have to make do with a de-militarised open prison that will be dependent on Israeli largesse.

Palestinian opinion

Most Palestinians I spoke to yesterday before the vote wanted it to pass.

The Palestinian ambassador to the UK, Manuel Hassassian, told me that Britain was at last taking some responsibility for the historic wrongs it had committed against his people.

It was Britain, after all, who held a mandate over Palestine before the Zionists stole the land and ethnically cleansed it. And Britain has been one of the biggest international supporters of the Zionist state since.

Hassassian argued that the international community should continue to pressure Israel as there will never be a military solution to the conflict. He said he hoped the vote would spark other such motions across the EU until Palestinians achieve their goal of a viable state.

Meanwhile, British Muslim groups also welcomed the Yes vote.

Ismail Patel of The Friends of Al Aqsa, said: “The Labour Party asked MPs to vote in favour of the motion, while the Lib Dem and Conservative parties allowed members to vote freely.

FOA believes this is an indication of each party’s commitment to Palestinian freedom, although the vote was symbolic.

“This vote is not about one state or two states, it is not about borders, and it is not about refugees; this vote is a simple recognition of the Palestinian right to self-determination, which has been denied to them by a military invasion and occupation since 1948 and 1967 respectively.”

Perspective

But despite the temptation to celebrate the vote as some sort of Palestinian victory, I think we need to put things into perspective.

This wasn’t a vote about how the UK arms Israel. And it wasn’t a vote about how Britain does roaring business with Tel Aviv while it commits its atrocities. Those would have been great subjects for a debate but they simply weren’t on the agenda.

Rather, this was simply a symbolic motion that the government can completely ignore if it chooses to do.

It is also quite possible that the government was happy for the motion to pass because that way they can:

1) placate public opinion which is infuriated with Israel after its Gaza massacre

2) put some mild pressure on an Israeli regime which is completely out of control.

The fact remains that the vast majority of those who voted for the motion are supportive of Israel to one extent or another, and that support won’t end anytime soon even though some mild criticism may be directed Tel Aviv’s way every now and again.

As for the two-state solution, it’s difficult to find anyone in Palestine who really believes in it anymore, apart from those who materially benefit from the “two-state solution industry.”

More generally, the notion that the international community – which is at least partially responsible for the Palestinians’ plight – will be their saviour is frankly ridiculous.

Only Palestinians can save themselves along with a regional alliance which will support them – politically, financially and militarily.

Roshan Muhammed Salih is the Editor of British Muslim news website 5Pillarz.com. He can be reached at @RMSalih