Saudi report: Women driving spurs premarital sex

AP – 12/3/2011

RIYADH, Saudi Arabia (AP) — A report given to a high-level advisory group in Saudi Arabia claims that allowing women in the kingdom to drive could encourage premarital sex, a rights activist said Saturday.

The ultraconservative stance suggests increasing pressure on King Abdullah to retain the kingdom's male-only driving rules despite international criticism.

Rights activist Waleed Abu Alkhair said the document by a well-known academic was sent to the all-male Shura Council, which advises the monarchy. The report by Kamal Subhi claims that allowing women to drive will threaten the country's traditions of virgin brides, he said. The suggestion is that driving will allow greater mixing of genders and could promote sex.

Saudi women have staged several protests defying the driving ban. The king has already promised some reforms, including allowing women to vote in municipal elections in 2015.

There was no official criticism or commentary on the scholar's views, and it was unclear whether they were solicited by the Shura Council or submitted independently. But social media sites were flooded with speculation that Saudi's traditional-minded clerics and others will fight hard against social changes suggested by the 87-year-old Abdullah.

Saudi's ruling family, which oversees Islam's holiest sites, draws its legitimacy from the backing of the kingdom's religious establishment, which follows a strict brand of Islam known as Wahhabism. While Abdullah has pushed for some changes on women's rights, he is cautious not to push too hard against the clerics.

In October, Saudi Arabia named a new heir to the throne, Prince Nayef, who is a former interior minister and considered to hold traditionalist views, although he had led crackdowns against suspected Islamic extremists. His selection appeared to embolden the ultraconservative clerics to challenge any sweeping social reforms.

Prince Nayef was picked following the death of Crown Prince Sultan.

Panetta chides Israel over stalled peace process

By Joby Warrick, Published: December 2 2011
The Washington Post

Defense Secretary Leon E. Panetta prodded Israel on Friday to do more to reverse its deepening isolation in the Middle East, and suggested that Israeli leaders bear significant blame for a stalled peace process that he said “has been effectively put on hold.”

Panetta’s admonishment came in a speech in which he also pledged an “unshakable” commitment to the security of the Jewish state and reiterated a promise to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons — including by military force, if needed. He said the Defense Department had contingency plans for a “wide range of military options, should they become necessary.”

“When it comes to the threat posed by Iran, the president has made clear that we have not taken any options off the table,” Panetta said.

Panetta’s remarks on Israel were the latest in a series of statements by Obama administration officials chiding Israeli leaders over the nearly moribund state of the peace process. Former defense secretary Robert M. Gates was quoted in September as complaining about Israeli inaction on peace talks despite substantial U.S. assistance on weapon systems and intelligence.

In his speech at a meeting of the Brookings Institution’s Saban Center for Middle East Policy, Panetta said Israel could count on “three enduring pillars of U.S. policy” to preserve its safety and prosperity during a period of extraordinary turmoil in the Middle East. The pillars included the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security, a broader commitment to stability in the region, and a determination to prevent Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons, he said.

“These are not merely rhetorical reassurances,” Panetta said. “These are firm principles that are backed up by tangible action, the commitment of resources and demonstrable resolve.”

But he also said Israel must do more to ensure its own security by seeking to repair strained relations with Egypt, Turkey and Jordan, and by seizing the opportunity to negotiate a permanent peace settlement with the Palestinians.

“Unfortunately, over the past year, we’ve seen Israel’s isolation from its traditional security partners in the region grow, and the pursuit of a comprehensive Middle East peace has effectively been put on hold,” Panetta said.

Panetta acknowledged that Israel is not solely responsible for its isolation, but he said it needed to make a greater effort to mend fences, particularly with Turkey. “If the gestures are rebuked, the world will see those rebukes for what they are,” he said.