Bahrain police disperse protest after the dialogue start (AFP)

DUBAI (AFP)-the Bahrain police dispersed a demonstration in the capital Manama shortly after the launch of a "national dialogue" intended to turn a deadly crackdown on Shiite-led protests, since State-run media said.

The demonstrators gathered in Sanabis neighborhood in the North of Manama after the funeral of one of those killed during February-March protests, the official BNA news agency quoted a police spokesman as saying late Saturday.

It did not elaborate on why the funeral had been so delayed.

The police spokesman said that officers scattered "unauthorized" demonstrations not far from Pearl Square, the focus of anti-Government protests earlier this year, after giving the standard warnings.

The main Shiite opposition bloc, the Islamic National Accord Association (Al-Wefaq), decided only on the 11th hour to accept the Sunni authorities invitation to join the dialogue after it withdrew its MPs from the Parliament in March in protest against the sentence.

His decision to attend was welcomed by Washington, which bases its fifth fleet in Bahrain.

"Al-Wefags participation will add an important voice of Bahrain political opposition to a process that has the potential to serve as a vehicle for reform and reconciliation ... and produce reforms which will answer the legitimate desire of the people of Bahrain," said State Department spokesman Mark Toner.

The small but strategic Gulf archipelago, joined by a Causeway to Saudi Arabia, have experienced repeated bouts of unrest among its Shiite majority population and a Sunni ruling family.

View the original article here

Activists restart work after murdering Member Gaza (AFP)

GAZA city, Palestinian territories (AFP)-members of the pro-Palestinians International solidarity movement resumed their activities in Gaza Wednesday, days after the murder of an activist from the group.

Five members of the Organization gathered on a dock in Gaza City to restart work monitoring isrælske the treatment of Palestinian fishermen are seeking to exercise their craft a small strip of ocean off the coast of Gaza.

The checks were carried out often by Vittorio Arrigoni, an Italian member of ISM, who was found hanged last Friday, hours after his kidnapping by a radical Islamist Salafist Group.

Activists from Belgium, Italy and the United States, was joined by around 200 Palestinians to ceremony and observed a minute's silence in memory Arrigonis.

Flowers were also sprayed over five ships preparing to take part in the monitoring activity, as people waved Palestinian flags.

Inge Neefs, a member of ISM, said activity had been Arrigonis preferred way to show solidarity with the Palestinians.

"The idea is to have a human rights monitoring boat out in Palestinian water to document potential violations of human rights on the sea," she told AFP.

In the West Bank mourned Palestinian Prime minister Salam Fayyad, in the meantime Arrigonis death at a Conference honouring non-violent protest against Isræls security wall in the village of Bilin.

"Kitten Arrigoni was a wounding blow for us and all international volunteers, but this great participation today assures us that the International solidarity movement is still strong," he said.

"Despite what happened, international solidarity with the us to continue," he added, noting the presence of dozens of foreign representatives at the Conference.

Arrigoni, 36, was a long time member of the International solidarity movement, and had been living and working in the Gaza Strip for much of the last three years.

A previously unknown radical group claimed responsibility for his kidnapping in a video that was posted online and showed Arrigoni, his face bloodied and removal and hands bound behind his back.

The Group demanded Salafist prisoners, including a senior leader of Salafi, and threatened to kill Arrigoni within 30 hours if their demands were not met.

Hamas security forces found his body shortly afterwards, prior to the specified time limit, in an abandoned house in northern Gaza.

Security forces in Gaza have so far arrested three suspects in the case. Another two were killed during a Tuesday raid in central Gaza.

View the original article here

UN warns Bahrain after protests penalty (AFP)

MANAMA (AFP)-UN chief Ban Ki-moon has warned Bahrain, his sentence on anti-government protesters violating international law after his human rights chief spoke of the "shocking and illegal" abuse.

Ban called King Hamad on Thursday to express his "deep concern" about the use of force, which allegedly includes security forces preventing doctors from treating wounded demonstrators in the small Gulf State.

The Secretary general "expressed its deepest concern at reports of excessive and indiscriminate use of force by security forces and police in Bahrain against unarmed civilians, including allegedly against medical personnel," said a UN statement.

He also noted "that such actions could be in conflict with international humanitarian and human rights law."

UN Chief spoke out after a bloody penalty on the Shiite-led demonstrators from the U.S.-backed Sunni Muslim rulers. Bahrain is home to the US fifth fleet.

Violence in the strategic Kingdom has alarmed Washington and triggered fierce condemnation from Iran, Shiite leaders in Iraq and Hezbollah militia in Lebanon.

Valerie Amos, the UN Deputy Secretary general for Humanitarian Affairs, earlier called on the security forces "to refrain from the excessive use of force, and to respect medical facilities and to ensure the treatment of wounded people."

UN Rights Chief Navi Pillay earlier Thursday said the possible adoption of the security forces of hospitals and medical facilities was a "flagrant violation of international law."

"There are reports of arbitrary arrests, killings, beatings of demonstrators and medical personnel and the acquisition of hospitals and medical centres of various security forces," she said.

"This is shocking and illegal behaviour."

Dissidents had been rounded up at gunpoint in midnight raids and armed police stood outside the Manamas main hospital on Thursday, the text wrapping feature reports authorities were marketing plan doctors and refuse treatment to the wounded.

Unbowed, pledged to press on with "peaceful" demonstrations in the Shiite-led opposition undaunted by the deadly military force against them.

"We will not give to the army," said the Shiite cleric Sheikh Ali Salman, the leader of Al-Wefaq association. "We insist on the peaceful aspect of our activities, and we should not be dragged into ... confrontations.

The opposition called for fresh protests "in the areas of praying" rather than out on the streets after Muslim weekly prayers Friday and occupations on Saturday.

Fresh clashes broke out in at least one Shiite village outside the capital after five people were killed on Wednesday when security forces crushed a month-old pro-democracy its-in on Manama's Pearl Square.

Five hardline Shiite activists and one Sunni dissident was arrested after the army imposed a curfew on parts of Manama by using its powers in accordance with the newly introduced a State of emergency, opposition sources said.

Bahrain military confirmed it had arrested a number of people for crimes including rebellion, murder, and contact with foreign States, but gave no details.

Opposition MP Khalil al-Marzouk said that doctor Ali al-Ekri, who had been accused on State TELEVISION of spreading "fabrications" about the conditions at the Salmaniya hospital, who were arrested on Thursday.

Security forces shooting teargas and shotguns cleared out a pro-democracy tent city on Pearl Square Wednesday in the worst day of violence since activists took to the streets last month.

The opposition said three demonstrators were killed in the attack, while the Government said two police died in hit-and-run attacks from the opposition drivers.

U.S. President Barack Obama, whose country is a close ally of Bahrain, called King Hamad to express "deep concern," while British Prime minister David Cameron urged the monarch to pursue "reform, not oppression."

The main opposition calls for a constitutional monarchy, the resignation of the Government and an end to repression in Bahrain.

King Hamad declared a three-month State of emergency on Tuesday, a day after more than 1,000 armored troops from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates entered Bahrain to restore security.

The sectarian tension have given rise to fears among the Bahrain's the Sunni-led Arab neighbors, Iran, Shiite power, a short boat ride away across the Gulf of Aden, is trying to create unrest in the Kingdom.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton called the situation in Bahrain "worrying" and criticised Washington's Gulf State allies of heading down "the wrong track" military intervention.