MIDDLE EAST

IRAN’S LEADER CALLS ON MUSLIM NATIONS TO FUND PALESTINIANS

JERUSALEM – Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei called on Muslim countries yesterday to fund the Palestinian government after Hamas takes control of the Cabinet, praising the radical Islamic movement for ignoring international pressure to recognize Israel, according to Iranian state television.

“The only way to succeed is to continue resistance against the occupier regime,” Ayatollah Khamenei told the leader of Hamas’s political wing, Khaled Mashal, during his visit to Tehran, Iran. “Palestinian people knew that their vote for Hamas meant the fight against the Zionist occupier regime.”

– The Washington Post

AUSTRALIA

HOWARD’S JIHAD REMARKS ANGER ISLAMISTS

SYDNEY – The Australian prime minister, John Howard, has criticized the minority of Muslims in the country who “rave on about jihad” and hold “extreme attitudes” toward women, saying they do not fit into Australian society.

Mr. Howard told the authors of a book celebrating his 10 years in power that Muslims who support a jihad, or holy war, against the West could not easily be absorbed into mainstream Australia. Sections of the book, titled “The Howard Factor,” were leaked by the Australian newspaper.

Muslim leaders accused him of “pandering to Islamophobia” but Mr. Howard said he stood by his remarks and reiterated them at length in numerous radio and television interviews.

– The Daily Telegraph

CARTOON PROTESTS

IRAN FOREIGN MINISTER CALLS FOR END TO VIOLENCE OVER DRAWINGS

BRUSSELS, Belgium – Iran’s foreign minister called yesterday for an end to violent protests over the Prophet Muhammad caricatures that have left at least 45 people dead in the Muslim world during the past month.

Pope Benedict XVI also tried to soothe the tensions, saying religious symbols must be respected but violence can never be justified. Malaysia’s prime minister warned that mistrust and fear of Islam is growing every day in the West.

In Afghanistan, about 2,000 students protested yesterday, shouting “Long live Osama!” burning Danish and American flags and photos of President Bush. In Indonesia, about 100 protesters shouting “God is Great!” burned a Danish flag in Java province.

“We should try to cool down the situation. We do not support any violence,” Iranian Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki said during a visit to Brussels. But he also cautioned that freedom of expression must be exercised with sensitivity and full respect of other people’s values and beliefs.

In Pakistan, radical Islamic leaders called for more prophet drawings protests after the upcoming Friday Muslim prayers and lawmakers disrupted a session of Parliament, protesting sweeping arrests before a banned demonstration over the weekend.

– Associated Press