Really, the Palestinians do not matter as much as they used to. What a shame.

Muslim on Muslim violence. That's always a good thing.


Iran scorns Hamas leader's mediation bid in Yemen conflict

DEBKAfile Exclusive Report

December 14, 2009, 11:02 PM (GMT+02:00)

Palestinian issue sinks on regional priority scale

Iranian president Mahmoud Ahmadinejad brushed off Palestinian Hamas leader Khaled Meshaal's offer to mediate an end to the bloody Yemen civil war between Saudi-backed government forces and rebels supported by Iran, DEBKAfile's Iranian sources report. Meshaal, who arrived in Tehran Sunday, Dec.13, was told by the key backer of his extremist terror organization to keep his nose out of major issues and stick to the Palestinian question.

The Hamas leader carried a Saudi proposal to Iran for the benefit of the Persian Gulf regional summit taking place in Manama which focuses on the Iranian nuclear issue and the Yemen war, whereby Tehran would state it does not support the Yemeni Houthi rebels and will not furnish them with arms.

Since Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, the Manama summit was the first to take place when one of its participants, Saudi Arabia, was at war.

On the nuclear question, foreign minister Manouchehr Mottaki's offer to swap Iran's 3.5 percent grade enriched uranium for 20 percent-enriched nuclear fuel was promptly rejected by Washington for failing to address the key problem of Iran's enriched uranium stock.

Our Gulf sources report that the Palestinian issue has dropped to fourth or fifth place in Arab Gulf concerns.

To mollify Iran's Palestinian protégée, Ahmadinejad's bureau issued a statement confirming that "the government and people of Iran will always stand by the Palestinian resistance and the Palestinian people."

According to the latest information reaching DEBKAfile, the embattled Yemen front saw a further escalation Dec. 13 when Saudi bombers targeted the village of al-Jabiri in the northern Yemeni province of Razeh. Seventy civilians were killed and scores injured - most of them women and children.

Yemeni rebel leaders accuse the Saudis of dropping phosphorus bombs. Riyadh confirmed the bombardment but said the village was a rebel stronghold.

http://www.debka.com/headline.php?hid=6416