NYC man charged with getting al-Qaida training

By TOM HAYS
TOWNHALL.COM

A New York City man under investigation for his links to a terror suspect pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges that he flew to Pakistan to get military training from al-Qaida.

Adis Medunjanin entered the plea during a swift arraignment at a federal court in Brooklyn. He faces counts of receiving military training from a foreign terrorist organization and conspiracy to commit murder in a foreign country.

The 25-year-old was one of two Queens men arrested early Friday in connection with the investigation of Najibullah Zazi, a Colorado airport driver who pleaded not guilty last year to supporting terrorism.

The indictment made public by prosecutors on Saturday provided scant details on the accusations against Medunjanin, who was born in Bosnia but is a U.S. citizen.

It said the charges were related to a trip he made to Pakistan in August of 2008. Prosecutors have said that Zazi, Medunjanin and a third man, Zarein Ahmedzay, traveled there together that summer. All three attended high school together and lived for years in the same Queens neighborhood.

Zazi has been under arrest since September, charged with getting explosives training from al-Qaida and later hatching a foiled scheme to attack targets in New York with homemade bombs. The new indictment did not directly tie Medunjanin to the New York plot _ what Attorney General Eric Holder has called one of the most serious terrorism cases since the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks.

Outside court, defense attorney Robert C. Gottlieb told reporters that his client's not guilty plea was "emphatic." He accused authorities of holding and interrogating Medunjanin for two days without letting him see his family or a lawyer.

"The questioning was illegal," Gottlieb said. Prosecutors declined to comment.

Ahmedzay pleaded not guilty Friday to charges that he lied to the FBI during the probe about places he visited during the 2008 trip. He was taken into custody early Friday morning while working a late-night shift driving a cab in Manhattan.

Ahmedzay, 24, and Medunjanin were first publicly linked to the investigation in September, when the FBI raided their homes shortly before Zazi's arrest.

FBI agents had Medunjanin under surveillance, but apparently did not intend to arrest him when they went to his Queens apartment Thursday afternoon to seize his passport. Once that happened, authorities say he became upset and took off in his car.

A law enforcement official confirmed reports that Medunjanin then phoned 911 and ranted in Arabic, "We love death more than you love life," before purposely ramming his car into another vehicle and fleeing on foot.

The official was not authorized to discuss the arrest and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

After being captured and treated for minor injuries, federal investigators took him into custody. There were no signs of injury Saturday when he appeared in court wearing a black hooded winter jacket and entered his plea in a firm voice.

Gottlieb suggested that the car incident had been overblown, saying, "Let's see what the evidence is."

Medunjanin was ordered held without bail until a hearing Thursday.

U.S. security adviser to meet with officials on peace talks

By Aluf Benn, Barak Ravid, Avi Issacharoff and Jack Khoury

United States National Security Adviser James Jones is due in Israel on Tuesday for meetings on resuming the Israeli-Palestinian peace talks.

"We are getting closer to the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinian Authority," senior Israeli and U.S. officials told Haaretz over the weekend. Jones will be visiting Israel as a guest of his counterpart, Uzi Arad, and will also hold meetings with Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, Defense Minister Ehud Barak, Chief of Staff Gabi Ashkenazi, Mossad chief Meir Dagan and opposition leader Tzipi Livni.

Among the subjects that will be discussed, in addition to the peace process, are the efforts to stop Iran's nuclear program and impose further sanctions against Tehran by the UN Security Council. Security cooperation between Israel and the United States, as well as the situation on the northern border with Syria and Lebanon, are other issues on the agenda.

Over the weekend, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and a team of senior U.S. officials held talks with visiting foreign ministers of Egypt and Jordan, as well as Egypt's Intelligence chief, Omar Suleiman. The talks revolved mostly over the resumption of negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians.

Later in the week, Special Envoy to the Middle East George Mitchell will travel first to Paris for talks and then attend a meeting of the Quartet in Brussels. The following week, Mitchell is expected in Israel.

Senior U.S. officials told Haaretz over the weekend that they are more optimistic about the possibility of resuming peace talks in the near future, especially because of a change in the attitude of Arab states. According to the same officials, Egypt, Jordan and other Arab countries are pressuring the Palestinians to agree to resume negotiations.

"We are still trying to formulate a way for resuming negotiations," they said. "There is a new approach on the part of the Arab states which is causing us to believe we are closer to renewing the process. Undoubtedly the atmosphere is changing and the Arabs tell us they want to begin the negotiations soon."

However the head of the PLO negotiating team, Saeb Erakat, said yesterday that the negotiations will not resume unless Israel completely ceases construction in settlements.

Erakat spoke in response to Clinton's call to resume talks without preconditions. The Palestinian official said the negotiations should resume from the point where they left off in December 2008.

So far, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has been steadfast in his refusal to succumb to American and Arab pressure to agree to restart negotiations with the government of Israel.

Palestinian media noted yesterday that in her statements Clinton had ignored the Palestinian demand for a full freeze in settlement construction. Palestinian criticism of the attitude of the Obama administration is therefore expected to intensify in the coming days.

Meanwhile, Syrian President Bashar Assad met yesterday with Hamas politburo chief Khaled Meshal in Damascus. According to the Syrian News Agency, Assad said he would like to see rivals Fatah and Hamas close ranks behind the Palestinian cause.