For some Israeli Bedouin, border smuggling is a way of life (Haaretz)

The smuggling business is a way of survival in the borders between IS, Palestine & Egypt.
The issue is the items being smuggled are not the basic survival needs but illegal stuff like drugs & cigarettes.
Although, I am not saying it is alright if you are smuggling food but at least from moral standpoint, it is still forgive-able rather than risking your life in the bullet’s trail…

For some Israeli Bedouin, border smuggling is a way of life (Haaretz)
By Yoav Stern

Early one morning A., a resident of one of the unrecognized Bedouin villages in the south realized that his older son was not in his bed.

He was upset because this was the first time his son was not at home at that hour. His cell phone was off, and this added to his worry. It was 5 A.M. by the time he went to the home of relatives to look for the boy. There he was told that he had gone out with the "guys."

It was obvious to him where his son had gone: to take part in smuggling activities along the border.

"What does a young man want? He needs money to buy a cell phone, to buy a car. And what are his alternatives here? There is no work for the young here, there is no road here, there is barely a school. The most readily available job, the most lucrative, is in smuggling. But I did not allow him to do this," A. told Haaretz this week.

A., who asked to remain anonymous, says that at some point his son answered his telephone. "He told me: 'Don't worry, we are on our way back,' but I told him to get out of the car immediately, no matter where, that I would come pick him up from any place, just so that he won't be caught because then his life would be ruined," he said.

His son may have stopped working in smuggling but the entire area lives off of it. A relative who is unemployed most of the year recently bought an expensive new car; no one asks where the money came from because the answer is obvious.

There are communities, like Bir Hadaj, where smuggling is central to their livelihood. Some 60 percent of the men in the village - between 300-500 people - are part of the smuggling industry.

Outsiders who enter the community find it strange. There is always a sense that someone is following the guests to evaluate whether they are peaceful or whether they are the law. There are no roads here, not even an access road. The homes are not permanent structures.

Nonetheless, there is big money here. In this and other communities in the area there is trade in drugs, and low priced cigarettes - all part of an economy that is based on the border.

Many of the cars here do not have license plates. This is one of the security measures adopted by the smugglers.

In the language of the local smugglers, the car is a shamud, a word based on the Hebrew word for destruction. "People here work clean and are organized. They know they need to use a shamud vehicle for these [smuggling] purposes," one of the locals told Haaretz.

The types of vehicles normally used are 4x4 pickup trucks or jeeps, with space in the back for loading cargo. There are two areas where the activity takes place.

One is in the area between the border of the Gaza Strip and Sinai, and back through the Strip and the sand dunes of Nitzana. The other is from the same Gaza-Sinai border area, and back through the sands between Nitzana and Eilat.

Army sources say that in recent months there has been an increase in the amount of activity along the southern border, which stems primarily from the difficulty in crossing at the northern edge of the border where security is higher.

In addition to the smuggling the army is concerned about the abduction of soldiers along the border, as well as attacks against patrols or the smuggling of arms and explosives into Israel.

Nonetheless, the various security organizations are finding it difficult to curtail the smuggling, and rarely do so. The estimate is that only 5 percent of the smugglers are caught.

In most of the cases where there is a chase, the smugglers escape. But for the most part no one ever knows anything is going down.

However, even though the IDF does not release data on the number of smugglers caught or the number of pursuits that it has carried out, all indications suggest that there has been a massive drop in recent months in smuggling activity.

All seem to agree that this is the result of intensified activity on the part of Egyptian security forces operating in Sinai, along the border with Israel but also in the wilderness.

Much of the activity stems from the Egyptian concern that Hezbollah and Al-Qaida elements are active in the area, and their sense that they must act or risk losing control.

If in the past the border had been nearly without security patrols on the Egyptian side, now there seems to be a soldier every 100 meters, with orders to open fire against any one trying to cross the border - irrespective of who the intruders might be.

In recent months there have been reports of confrontations between Bedouin residents of Sinai and Egyptian security forces, both along the border but also inside the peninsula. The clashes sometimes resulted in exchanges of gunfire and casualties among the Egyptian forces.

For this story, Haaretz interviewed defense, political and Bedouin sources in Israel. No one agreed to go on record, and the information had to be cross-checked by different sources. The IDF say that the issue is too sensitive to go on record; the police refused to offer any information on the smuggling.

To date there has been an unwritten agreement between the various security agencies and the smugglers, which restricted the smuggling to mostly cigarettes, drugs and African refugees. A few years ago, there had also been the phenomenon of trafficking in women, but this has in great part been curtailed, mostly because of the strong opposition that Muslim religious figures posed.

The statistics, which are in great part estimates, suggest that only three percent of the smuggling activities involves "security" related cargo.

The areas along both sides of the border are divided among various tribes, whose members live on both sides of the border and are involved in the smuggling. Other clans are also involved in the activity. All are familiar with the security weak spots along the border, and methods for bypassing the IDF and Egyptian patrols - whose modus operandi they are familiar with.

The smuggling operation involves a great deal of cooperation and coordination: On the Egyptian side one can find the person who is funding the deal; he needs to make available large sums of cash, often several hundred thousand shekels per deal. Smugglers regularly make NIS 30-50,000 for moving hashish and cigarettes.

When the money is paid and a decision is made on what cargo will be smuggled, the operational stage takes shape: a rear "command center" organizes the crew for the smuggling operation, including "mules" (people to carry the cargo ).

The timing is set by groups from both sides. The communications are based on Israeli cellular telephones. The Bedouin are very familiar with the areas in which certain companies have better reception than others.

A day before the operation, spotters are placed on both sides of the border. At times the spotters are equipped with advanced night vision equipment.

While on the Israeli sides there is usually a single spotter, on the Egyptian side there are more because there is greater danger of running into Egyptian security forces whose orders are to shoot first and ask questions later.

As the cargo approaches the border, the Bedouin on the Israeli side are given a 15 minute warning to get to the spot - approximately 500 meters from the point where Israeli sensors would be tripped, suggesting that the border had been crossed.

The short distance is covered at top speed, and there are vehicles ready with their back ends open to receive the goods. The exchange takes less than two minutes. Goods are in the hands of the Israeli Bedouin - and money in the hands of their Egyptian partners.
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Barak, Mitchell remain disputed on settlements (Ynetnews)

No go from IS side to freeze settlement also…
Again, the “talk” has again reaching the end of the tunnel but yet to see any light.
Looks like the whole thing will be further dragged again…

Barak, Mitchell remain disputed on settlements (Ynetnews)
After long meeting in Washington between defense minister, US Mideast envoy, two fail to agree on settlement freeze. Issue to be debated again when Mitchell meets PM Netanyahu in two weeks' time

Yitzhak Benhorin Published: 07.01.09, 01:01 / Israel News
WASHINGTON - Defense Minister Ehud Barak and US special envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell failed to reach an agreement regarding the Israeli construction in the settlements during their meeting in Washington Monday.

Mitchell is scheduled to meet Prime Minister Benjamin Netnayahu in about two weeks.

A joint statement published following the meeting said that Barak and Mitchell "discussed the full range of issues related to Middle East peace and security and the contributions Israelis, Palestinians, their neighbors and the international community should make to this effort.

"Specifically, their discussions covered a wide range of measures needed to create a climate conducive to peace. These included measures on security and incitement by the Palestinians, steps by Arab states toward normalization with Israel; and, from Israel, actions on access and movement in the West Bank and on settlement activity. The discussions were constructive and will continue soon."

The two discussed ways to jumpstart the peace talks between Israel and the Palestinains. Barak made it clear that Israel is willing to pay a price for renewing the talks, but that the Arab world needs to contribute to the efforts as well. "We are weighing any positive contribution we can make to promote the peace efforts, while taking into consideration our security interests," he said.

No agreement was reached on freezing settlement construction. The US is demanding that Israel put an immediate moratorium on all building in the settlement blocs. However, the Obama administration is interested in decreasing the conflict that has flared between the US and Israel over the issue out of an understanding that such a state of affairs does not serve their interests in the Middle East.

Mitchell will arrive for another round of meetings in about two weeks. Until then, the Americans are expecting a number of goodwill gestures from Israel, such as easing restrictions on West Bank Palestinians.

Barak's entourage received the impression that the Americans understand that any demand for freezing settlement building must not be separate from an inclusive, regional peace process. Therefore, the US will also be looking for goodwill gestures from the Arab states.
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Malaysia PM sets big reforms to boost investment (Reuters)

Fundamentally, Government should not have direct intervention to either Local or Foreign investment company including work-force quotation according to ethnic or race.
In this competitive age, race or color of your skin No Longer can be used to measure the level of capability/qualification to the offered job & it will be foolish for any Employer to assume this way.

Recently, I had a conversation with my friends who is working in the MNC and they are forced to promote certain ethnic group as not to violate country/HR regulations set by Government for the higher management quota.

I am not sure whether this is true but from the post below, it seems it is quite true.
Just imagine if you are rich enough to own a company & while worrying about the profit/lost margin for your product/services, yet you still have think about other not so related item such as meeting quotation for certain ethnic group hiring?

To me, this is redundant as the bottomline of a good company is to hire the most capable/qualified candidate as possible…it is the TALLENT that matters not the color…

Malaysia PM sets big reforms to boost investment (Reuters)
By David Chance and Soo Ai Peng

KUALA LUMPUR (Reuters) - Malaysia's prime minister unveiled a raft of measures on Tuesday to boost investment in the slumping economy, coming close to ending an affirmative action program for ethnic Malays that critics say has stymied growth.

Najib Razak told a conference in Kuala Lumpur that his government would end rules on foreign investment in most sectors of the economy and would open up the investment management and brokerage industry, as well as property, ending requirements for 30 percent ownership by ethnic Malays.

He also promised reforms of Malaysia's huge government companies such as plantations and property giant Sime Darby, and said they would be forced to sell non-core assets to boost domestic competition in the Southeast Asian nation.

"We have become a successful middle income economy, but we cannot and will not be caught in the middle income country trap," Najib told the conference.

"We need to make the shift to a high income economy or we risk losing growth momentum in our economies and vibrancy in our markets."

The reforms gave the ringgit a small boost and it traded at 3.521 to the dollar at 0500 GMT (1 a.m. EDT), up from 3.54 at the open, although data released later showed foreign investors had continued to pull money out of Malaysia this year.

Malaysia is Asia's third most export-dependent nation, seeing shipment slump 26 percent from a year ago as demand for electronics and commodities has been hit by the global downturn. The economy has shrunk 5 percent this year.

Investment flows have dried up and the country has been overtaken by neighbouring Thailand in terms of direct investment since 2001 and portfolio flows turned negative to the tune of 92.3 billion Malaysian ringgit ($26.10 billion) in 2008.

In the first quarter of 2009 they remained negative to the tune of 12.2 billion ringgit, even as investment in other emerging Asian economies has recovered. Malaysia's stock market has risen 20 percent this year, underperforming a 30 percent rise in Asian markets excluding Japan.

"This move will definitely encourage investors to rethink or reconsider Malaysia amid the many choices (in the region) such as Thailand, Vietnam and Indonesia," said Wan Suhaimie Wan Saidie, economist at Malaysia's Kenanga investment bank.

BALANCING INVESTMENT AND POLITICS
Najib who heads an unpopular government and himself has an approval rating of just 45 percent, according to a June poll, had to balance the need for reform to attract diminishing global investment flows against the risk of a political backlash.

That means that he could not formally end New Economic Policy (NEP), the system of economic and social privileges for ethnic Malays who are 55 percent of the population and which has been cornerstone of the country's policies since 1971.

Instead Najib chose to emphasize that he would keep an overall aim of boosting Malays' ownership of the economy to 30 percent from 19.4 percent at present but he placed a new stress on helping competitive Malays, rather than a blanket guarantee.

"Pragmatism requires a focus on substance, not form. The government of Malaysia remains committed to pursue the spirit and substance of growth with equity," Najib said.

Najib leads the United Malays National Organization (UMNO), the dominant party in the multi-ethnic 13-strong National Front coalition that has ruled Malaysia for 51 years since independence from Britain.

The Front's grip on power was hit in elections in March 2008 when the opposition won over a third of parliament seats, blocking the coalition's ability to change the constitution, and five of Malaysia's 13 state governments, a record haul.

The government ousted lackluster premier Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and replaced him with Najib who took office in April and has launched a series of liberalization measures in the services sector and finance that his predecessor had shied away from.

"This is a fundamental shift in the government mindset, rather than going for quantity we go for quality," said James Chin, professor of politics at Monash University in Kuala Lumpur.

"This is also an acknowledgement by the government that we are a trading nation and we live in a globalized world."

($1=3.536 Malaysian Ringgit)

(Additional reporting by Niluski Koswanage, Razak Ahmad, Loh Li Lian; Editing by David Fox)

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First round in Internet war goes to Iranian intelligence (Debka)

It was the internet social networking website that bring them together but it is also the same tool that bring them down.
I don’t think the protest or any further bloodshed can do Iran any good except for a fresh election govern by the Neutral party.
But then again, do you believe there is any “Neutral” Human component that don’t sway?
Think again…

First round in Internet war goes to Iranian intelligence (Debka)
Millions of sympathizers around the world looked forward to seeing Iran's protest movement using the Internet for the first online coup in history. Instead, the Iranian Islamic regime turned the tables: Its Internet police, arguably the largest in the world, pushed "control," "halt," "delete" and "send" buttons to activate a deadly weapon for suppressing the movement, as soon as it took to the streets to protest the June 12 election which was believed to have given Mahmoud Ahmadinejad a false victory.

By Sunday, June 28, when the Guardian Council was to hand down its final verdict on their complaints, the street rallies had petered out.

Part of the reason, DEBKAfile's intelligence sources report, was their organizers' heavy reliance on YouTube, Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and other social sites to orchestrate their protest movement. They did not at first appreciate that Iranian intelligence Internet experts, operating from secret headquarters established months ago, were using their communications to shoot them down.

According to our sources, that headquarters is located at the telecom center on Sepah (Khomenei) Square in Tehran. It was built for the Shah in the 1970s by the Israel construction contractors Solel Boneh and designed by Israeli intelligence and telecommunications experts.

The high-end apparatus, installed in late 2008 by the German Siemens AG and Finnish Nokia Corp. cell phone giant, gave Iranian intelligence the most advanced tools anywhere for controlling, inspecting, censoring and altering Internet and cell phone messaging. Those tools were being used weeks before the poll to identify penetrations by alien spy services, their local agents and dissident activists.

This system is capable of conducting "deep packet inspection" of every type of text and video communication in all parts of Iran on three tracks:

1. Like other advanced electronic spy systems in the world, this one uses such keywords as attack, weapons, cash, data, explosives, meeting, demonstration, resistance, protest, etc. to alert Iran within milliseconds to feeds of interest by computer or phone - mail, signals or visuals.

In a flash, intelligence analysts get a fix on the sender and the electronic addressee which are then placed on a surveillance list for further monitoring. Once identified, the sender or receiver and their connections are closely shadowed by field agents.

2. By "deep packet inspection," the secret controllers can cause delays in online data transfers, which surfers may attribute to glitches connected with their providers. The more targets under surveillance, the more online transfers are slowed down.

DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report that the day after the presidential poll and resulting street outbreaks, Iran's Internet control and tracking supervisors took over the 10 leading service providers in the country. Their first action was to slow down incoming and outgoing cyber traffic from 1,500 to 54 kilobytes to make sure that not a single byte by Internet or cell phone to or from protest leaders escaped their notice.

Tehran has vented its ire on Britain because it is accused of providing the organizers of the dissident movement with London telephone numbers to circumvent the deliberate slowdown of online traffic from inside the country. These numbers gave anti-government activists instant, direct links through Western Internet providers for getting their messages out to the world. Iran suspects they were laid on by British intelligence.

Eventually, the British lines became jammed by overload.

3. Iranian intelligence made cynical use of the large amount of electronic and personal data accumulated on anti-regime elements. Instead of detaining their prey at once, Iranian intelligence invaded their computers and cell phones to plant false leads for smoking unsuspecting activists out in the open and keeping them under inspection.

Within a few days of their protest, Mir Hossein Mousavi and the bulk of his supporters, realizing their electronic campaign had been taken over by the regime to hunt them down, disappeared from the streets of Tehran.

Wednesday, June 24, when the extent of the damage the Iranian Internet invasion had inflicted on American interests was brought home to him, US secretary of defense Robert Gates ordered a special cyber defense system set up to protect the US armed forces' 15,000 Web sites, which encompass seven million computers. Lt. Gen. Keith Alexander, head of the National Security Agency, was put in charge of getting the new system up and running by the end of 2010.

Tuesday, June 23, a group of US senators led by the Republic presidential candidate John McCain and independent Joe Lieberman initiated legislation to fund a cyber defense system capable of combating Internet assaults like the one mounted by the Iranian government.

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