(TML Photos)

The new Palestinian prime minister is Isma’il Haniyya. He was the head of Hamas’ Change and Reform list which ran in the legislative elections in January 2006.

Haniyya was born in a refugee camp near Gaza City. His parents are originally from what is today the Israeli city Ashqelon.

He became involved in the Islamist movement during his studies at the Islamic University in Gaza and was actively involved in the uprising against Israel in the late 1980s, also known as the first initifada. In 1992 Haniyya was part of a group of 400 members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad whom Israel deported to southern Lebanon.

After returning to Gaza in 1993, Haniyya was appointed dean of the Islamic University.

He later became the assistant of Ahmad Yasin and was the organization’s representative vis-à-vis the Palestinian Authority.

Israeli Defense Minister Shaul Mofaz has said that Haniyya is a possible target of Israel’s targeted assassinations.

Haniyya represents the more pragmatic stream of Hamas, as opposed to those identified with its more radical wing, such as Mahmoud A-Zahhar.

(IAEA)

Nuclear energy first emerged in the early twentieth century and is the newest form of energy to be used on a large scale. Today the dominant source of energy in the industrialized world and in developing countries is fossil fuels (coal, oil, natural gas) but nuclear energy may become more widespread in the future.

Matter consists of tiny particles called atoms. Each atom has a center, or nucleus, which consists of particles called protons and neutrons. In certain types of atoms the nucleus is unstable and it breaks up, releasing various particles such as protons, neutrons and also energy. This is known as fission and it can happen naturally or can be artificially induced.

Sometimes the products of a fission reaction cause similar reactions in other atoms resulting in a chain reaction.

When the atoms split, the fission produces energy which is released in the form of heat. This is nuclear energy.

Nuclear power plants use this heat to create electricity.

(Ariel Barazani/TML photos)

As Yemen celebrates its Unification Day, The Media Line has been looking at the countries recent efforts to combat terrorism.

On October 12, 2000 an explosive-laden boat rammed into the side of the USS Cole while it was refueling in the port of Aden in Yemen, killing 17 United States sailors and almost sinking the ship. Initially, there were different opinions on what caused by the explosion. While the Americans argued that it was caused by a terrorist attack, some Yemenite officials mentioned the possibility of an internal malfunction.

The next major terror attack in Yemen took place on October 6, 2002 when an attempt was made to blow up the French supertanker Limburg off the coast of Yemen, resulting in the death of a Bulgarian sailor and the leakage of 90,000 barrels of oil into the Gulf of Aden. However, by this time Yemen had joined the U.S. in the global war against terror and the incident was labeled as a terror attack. These two strikes, coupled with 9/11, exposed the Yemenite government to heavy international pressure to crack down on terrorism and the government realized that it needed to shed the image of Yemen as a haven for extremists.

This process of cooperation started after a November 2002 government report indicated that all terrorist attacks are not the product of a small single group such as the ‘Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, whose activities have included kidnapping and killing foreign tourists. In 1999 the leader of ‘Aden-Abyan Islamic Army, Abu Al-Hasan Al-Mih’dar, was killed, leading the government to claim that the organization had collapsed. Some voices have been raised suggesting the group was connected to the attack on USS Cole.