Middle East expert and head of the South Asia Group Rowan Laxton was arrested after several witnesses alleged he had used offensive language against Israel and Jewish people after watching a report about the Gaza war on TV in a gym on January 27, the Daily Mail reported.

LONDON — Britain has detained a Foreign Office diplomat over insulting Israel in protest at the Israeli Army’s recent offensive in the Gaza Strip.
A Middle East expert and head of the South Asia Group, Rowan Laxton, was arrested after several witnesses alleged that he had used offensive language against Israel and Jewish people after watching a report about the Gaza war on TV in a gym on January 27, the Daily Mail reported on Monday.

Laxton also said that all Israeli soldiers “should be wiped off the map.” The report added the diplomat was arrested on charges of “inciting religious hatred” and released on bail until next month.

If convicted, Laxton might face up to seven years of imprisonment and a fine.

“We are aware that a complaint has been made to the police about an alleged incident involving a member of our staff. The alleged incident was not in the course of his official duties,” the Israeli daily Yediot Ahronot quoted The Foreign and Commonwealth Office as commenting on the incident.

Israel’s ambassador to Britain, Ron Prosor, also confirmed the incident saying that “If finally it turns out that the diplomat has transgressed, the proper steps will be taken against him.” Daily Mail

Reversing Bush policy, U.S. seeks seat on U.N. Human Rights Council

WASHINGTON — President Obama is taking another step down the road of engaging America’s adversaries with the decision to seek a seat on the United Nations Human Rights Council, a group President Bush had shunned.

Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton announced in a statement Tuesday the reversal of Bush’s policy of remaining outside the council as a way of protesting its makeup and work. “With others, we will engage in the work of improving the U.N. human rights system,” Secretary Clinton said, with the goal of “advancing the vision of the U.N. declaration on Human Rights.”

The administration’s decision set off the latest installment of a debate in foreign-policy circles over whether the world’s most egregious rights abusers are best confronted from within or outside the international human rights tent embodied by the council.

The 47-country council is tasked with defending international rights, but even some of its members concede the Geneva-based body spends too much time criticizing Israel and focusing on issues such as Islamophobia in Western countries. The council’s predecessor, the U.N. Human Rights Commission, was branded as a club for dictators and scuttled in 2006. The current council is dominated by countries from Africa and Asia that have shielded human rights violators such as Sudan and Zimbabwe from scrutiny.

Joining the council is part of Obama’s “new era of diplomatic engagement,” said the U.S. ambassador to the U.N., Susan Rice, adding that the aim was to make the council “a more effective body and to protect and promote human rights.”

Preempting potential protests from conservatives who preferred the Bush administration’s express condemnation of the council, Ambassador Rice added, “As a fully engaged member of the council, we’ll be working from within rather than sitting on the sidelines – and thus can do more.”

“Getting in now would put the U.S. in the “best position to influence the 2011 council review,” Rice added in a conference call with reporters.

Surveillance towers planned for Detroit, Buffalo

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Border Patrol is erecting 16 more video surveillance towers in Michigan and New York as part of its plans to use technology to help secure parts of the United States’ 4,000-mile northern border with Canada.

The government awarded the $20 million project to Boeing Co., the same company responsible for the so-called virtual fence along the U.S.-Mexico border that has come under criticism for faulty technology.

Eleven of the towers are being installed in Detroit and five in Buffalo, N.Y., to help monitor water traffic between Canada and the United States along Lake St. Clair and the Niagara River.

At present, Border Patrol agents are posted along the river to keep an eye on water traffic. AP

Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, R, meets Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah in Doha March 30, 2009. The appearance of Sudan’s President Omar Hassan al-Bashir, flouting an international arrest warrant, is set to overshadow efforts to heal a deep Arab rift over how to handle rising power Iran. REUTERS/Saudi News agency/Handout

Arab summit concludes in Doha
DOHA — Announcing the end of the Doha summit a day early, Arab League Secretary General Amr Moussa read the text of the final communique, saying the Arab leaders attending the summit reached an agreement on rejecting the arrest warrant of the International Criminal Court (ICC) for Bashir for his alleged war crimes in Darfur.

Moussa said the Arab leaders also support continuation of talks between the Sudanese government and anti-government groups on Darfur under the mediation of Qatar.

The communiqué says the Arab leaders expressed support to the Palestinian people in face of Israeli aggression and calls on the Palestinians to realize national unity. It urges Israel to stop unilateral policies, end the siege of Gaza and stop settlement activities.

The Arab leaders said there is a need to identify a specific timetable for Israel to fulfill its obligation towards the peace process, according to the communiqué.

“We call for an end to Israeli aggression, ending the siege, reopening the crossings and emphasize that we hold Israel accountable and legally liable for all the crimes perpetrated,” Moussa said.

According to the communiqué, the Arab leaders have agreed to establish a legal committee to seek the prosecution of Israeli leaders over Israel’s 22-day bombardment of the Gaza Strike in December 2008, in which more than 1,300 Palestinians were killed.

The Arab leaders also called for the international community to help prevent the spread of nuclear weapons in the Middle East region and work towards a “weapons-free zone.”

The final communiqué calls on the Arab world to realize reconciliation as soon as possible.

The Doha summit was attended by Bashir, Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, United Arab Emirates President Shaikh Khalifa bin Zayed al-Nahyan, Libyan leader Colonel Muammar Gaddafi, Saudi King Abdullah bin Abdul-Aziz and Lebanese President Michel Suleiman, among other regional leaders.

Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak, along with leaders of five other Arab League member states, stayed away from the summit. The United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon, AL Secretary General Moussa, Qatari Emir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al-Thani and Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir addressed the meeting.

Chaired by Tim Sebastian (above), the award-winning BBC correspondent and interviewer, the debate features four experts who will argue for and against the U.S.’s treatment of Israel, at a time when President Obama’s administration is seeking to implement fresh initiatives in the Middle East.

BBC World News broadcasts special version of The Doha Debates from Washington
LONDON— BBC World News broadcasts a special version of The Doha Debates from Washington DC, with the motion “This house believes that it’s time for the U.S. administration to get tough on Israel.” The unique forum for free speech travels from its regular base in Qatar in the Gulf, to Georgetown University, one of America’s most prestigious universities.

Chaired by Tim Sebastian, the award-winning BBC correspondent and interviewer, the debate features four experts who will argue for and against the U.S.’s treatment of Israel, at a time when President Obama’s administration is seeking to implement fresh initiatives in the Middle East.

The guest panel includes former speaker of the Israeli Knesset, Avraham Burg, founder of the CIA’s Bin Laden unit, Michael Scheuer, Harvard Law Professor, Alan Dershowitz, and President of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs, Dr. Dore Gold. The program will air on BBC World News on 4 April 2009 at 3:10 a.m EDT and will be repeated at 11:10 a.m., 3:10 p.m. and 8:10 p.m. and on Sunday 5 April at 3:10 a.m., 11.10 a.m. and 3:10 p.m.

The Doha Debates are a unique venture in the Arab world, providing a verbal battleground for conflicting opinions and arguments about the major political topics of the region. Past speakers have included ex-U.S. President, Bill Clinton, President of Israel, Shimon Peres, Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Amre Moussa, Iraqi politician, Ayad Allawi, senior Hamas leader Mahmoud Al-Zahar and British Conservative politician, Sir Malcolm Rifkind.