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Batoul Wehbe Readers Number : 346
08/08/2009 While the American media coverage and international news agencies are content to indicate that three Americans detained by Iran after crossing the Iranian Iraqi border are tourists, lost hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan, "Israel National News" website has ensured that all three are Jews and journalists as well.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were detained on the Iranian side of the border on July 31 for entering Iran illegally after allegedly hiking through the mountains from Iraq's Kurdistan region. A fourth American, Shon Meckfessel, did not go on the hike and stayed behind at the hotel after feeling ill. Meckfessel has said his detained companions made "a simple and very regrettable mistake." The US State Department has said it has still not been able to officially confirm the arrest of the three Americans by Iran.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Tehran to return them as quickly as possible but the Iranian authorities are questioning whether they are tourists as claimed or not.
Josh Fattal is a researcher in the American Jewish center and works for the Jewish magazine "The Jewish Week". Sarah Shourd a writer and a contributor to New America Media, and one of Matador Pulse’s contributing writers.
Shane Bauer is the connoisseur of the region. He is a freelance journalist in several online news organizations, fluent in Arabic, and being installed in the Arab world, he covered news in Iraq and knows that country very well.
Having concealed their Judaism is doubtful and suggests they were on a mission of spying for the Israeli Mossad in particular.
As a journalist, Meckfessel claims that he and his comrades had come from Syria, through Turkey to the region of Kurdistan in Iraq known as "Ahmad Awwa" to "visit stunning natural beauty and the waterfalls" without being aware that it lies on the border with Iran: "There is no (tour guide), Lonely Planet in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we had planned to," he wrote in a communique broadcast on several Internet news sites, including The Nation, New American Media and Mother Jones, where he worked as a freelancer.
Moreover, the assertions of this journalist contradict the statements of the tourism police in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan. It shall have met the three Americans and have warned of their proximity to the Iranian border, BBC reported. "The tourism police in the region had asked them not to climb mountains because the Iranian border was very close," said Bechro Ahmad, the spokesman of the security of Iraqi Kurdistan, and concludes that "they crossed the border, despite warnings."
IRAQI FM ASKS IRAN FOR INFORMATION
Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign minister has asked Iran for information on the fate of three US “hikers”, he said on Saturday. Hoshyar Zebari said he met Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi on Wednesday to ask about the fate of the detained. "I met with the Iranian ambassador and asked for information on the missing Americans and we are waiting for a response," Zebari said. He did not elaborate on the content of the meeting.
Leila Mazboudi contributed to this report
Batoul Wehbe Readers Number : 346
08/08/2009 While the American media coverage and international news agencies are content to indicate that three Americans detained by Iran after crossing the Iranian Iraqi border are tourists, lost hiking in Iraqi Kurdistan, "Israel National News" website has ensured that all three are Jews and journalists as well.
Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd and Josh Fattal were detained on the Iranian side of the border on July 31 for entering Iran illegally after allegedly hiking through the mountains from Iraq's Kurdistan region. A fourth American, Shon Meckfessel, did not go on the hike and stayed behind at the hotel after feeling ill. Meckfessel has said his detained companions made "a simple and very regrettable mistake." The US State Department has said it has still not been able to officially confirm the arrest of the three Americans by Iran.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has called on Tehran to return them as quickly as possible but the Iranian authorities are questioning whether they are tourists as claimed or not.
Josh Fattal is a researcher in the American Jewish center and works for the Jewish magazine "The Jewish Week". Sarah Shourd a writer and a contributor to New America Media, and one of Matador Pulse’s contributing writers.
Shane Bauer is the connoisseur of the region. He is a freelance journalist in several online news organizations, fluent in Arabic, and being installed in the Arab world, he covered news in Iraq and knows that country very well.
Having concealed their Judaism is doubtful and suggests they were on a mission of spying for the Israeli Mossad in particular.
As a journalist, Meckfessel claims that he and his comrades had come from Syria, through Turkey to the region of Kurdistan in Iraq known as "Ahmad Awwa" to "visit stunning natural beauty and the waterfalls" without being aware that it lies on the border with Iran: "There is no (tour guide), Lonely Planet in Iraqi Kurdistan, and Ahmed Awa was not on the map we had planned to," he wrote in a communique broadcast on several Internet news sites, including The Nation, New American Media and Mother Jones, where he worked as a freelancer.
Moreover, the assertions of this journalist contradict the statements of the tourism police in the region of Iraqi Kurdistan. It shall have met the three Americans and have warned of their proximity to the Iranian border, BBC reported. "The tourism police in the region had asked them not to climb mountains because the Iranian border was very close," said Bechro Ahmad, the spokesman of the security of Iraqi Kurdistan, and concludes that "they crossed the border, despite warnings."
IRAQI FM ASKS IRAN FOR INFORMATION
Meanwhile, Iraq's foreign minister has asked Iran for information on the fate of three US “hikers”, he said on Saturday. Hoshyar Zebari said he met Iranian Ambassador Hassan Kazemi Qomi on Wednesday to ask about the fate of the detained. "I met with the Iranian ambassador and asked for information on the missing Americans and we are waiting for a response," Zebari said. He did not elaborate on the content of the meeting.
Leila Mazboudi contributed to this report
8 comments:
Sarah Shourd has been a friend since she was little, and I know both her parents. Neither are of Jewish descent, nor is she nor her parents converts. She has been living in Syria teaching English for the past year, and you may find it interesting to read her post about Palestinian refugees uprootedpalestinians.blogspot.com
and Iraqi refugees: http://www.bravenewtraveler.com/2008/11/07/escape-from-iraq-a-muslim-family-finds-solace-in-ramadan/
Sarah Shourd is one of the three hikers now held in Iran. Sorry if my link wasn't accurate, I thought it was her post about riding with Palestinians on a bus to a place they could shout messages to their relatives. I'll try to find the blog reference and repost it. I think this is it: unfetteredeyes.wordpress.com/ If you search for her name on either Matador Abroad or New America Media, you find her blogs.
Well according to the Israel National News all 3 are Jewish. Are you suggesting Jews lie?
Three Americans Arrested in Iran are Jewish
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/Flash.aspx/169011
Reported: 22:56 PM - Aug/04/09
Follow Israel news briefs on and .
(IsraelNN.com) The three Americans who were arrested in Iran last week are Jewish. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said Monday that the U.S. is concerned about the current status of the three. Their whereabouts are not currently known.
Kurdish authorities identified the three Americans as Shane Bauer, Sarah Shourd, and Joshua Fattal. All three are journalists, and were arrested after crossing the border from Iraq to Iran.
Well now I'm not so sure. Sarah Shourd does seem to be a decent person, i.e. Not Jewish
Incorrect, at least. Are you really that anti-Jewish? There is a difference between Jewish and Zionist.
That's a little like saying in 1945 that there's a difference between a German and a Nazi.
When enough Jews, instead of a tiny minority, speak out against Jewish racism and a mistaken belief in Jewish "racial" superiority then perhaps I will see things differently. But Jews are great believers in collective punishment, just look at what happening in Gaza in January, I'm just taken a feather out of their cap, because until Jews in general feel the heat things are not going to change.
Actually, there WAS a difference (Nazi/German), and many Germans stood up and were killed along with the the Jews and Catholics and others killed by the Nazis. Attitudes like yours don't help build coalitions to solve the Middle East empasse. For example, even the one hiker who IS Jewish has spoken out and written supporting the Palestinian cause. You would condemn him in spite of that, because of his ancestry. I happen to know a lot of Jewish people who support the Palestinian cause. It's a shame you don't.
On the contrary, it's attitudes like yours which have resulted in zero progress for the last 61 years. I get tired of the attempt to claim the Jews are not at fault by the claim that the real problem is Zionism or Khazars, or whatever other adjective they adopt. The problem is Judaism period as it was before even the first Zionist crawled out of the swamp.
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