MUSLIM FOR ISLAM

Once again, goodbye Obaidah!

2010-09-26T21:03:00.000+08:00

By: Muslim

The dawn of a new year has killed the dark night of a sad year, yes; it’s been a year since September 2009. It has been a year since the coward murder of Obaidah. Time has lapsed without feeling it! One year ago, we promised Obaidah many things; we promised to continue his struggle, we promised to spread awareness of his cause, we promised to tell his story to everyone around us, and we promised many other things. Have we fulfilled our promise? It’s an open question to everyone.

It’s about his cause then, not about his person. Though it is true Obaidah was very dear to many of us, the cause he sacrificed his life for is also dear, it’s dearer than lives and properties; it’s about the Holy Land. Dozens of martyrs followed on his footsteps, they did not hesitate to sacrifice their souls for Palestine and the Aqsa Mosque, and they were brave as usual. Let’s look at ourselves again. How about us? Were we brave enough to sacrifice our time for that holy cause? Were we generous enough to sacrifice our money for it? Or we were just good at talks?

The tears we shed for Obaidah should not dry that easy without proving they were sincere. Our deeds should reflect our sincerity. And although it’s been a year since his martyrdom, a lot still can be done to serve the cause he died for.

Once again, goodbye Obaidah!

Fighting talk: The new propaganda

2010-06-24T01:19:00.000+08:00

Fighting talk: The new propaganda
By: Robert Fisk

Journalism has become a linguistic battleground – and when reporters use terms such ‘spike in violence’ or ‘surge’ or ‘settler’, they are playing along with a pernicious game, argues Robert Fisk

Monday, 21 June 2010

Following the latest in semantics on the news? Journalism and the Israeli government are in love again. It's Islamic terror, Turkish terror, Hamas terror, Islamic Jihad terror, Hezbollah terror, activist terror, war on terror, Palestinian terror, Muslim terror, Iranian terror, Syrian terror, anti-Semitic terror...

But I am doing the Israelis an injustice. Their lexicon, and that of the White House – most of the time – and our reporters' lexicon, is the same. Yes, let's be fair to the Israelis. Their lexicon goes like this: Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror.

How many times did I just use the word "terror"? Twenty. But it might as well be 60, or 100, or 1,000, or a million. We are in love with the word, seduced by it, fixated by it, attacked by it, assaulted by it, raped by it, committed to it. It is love and sadism and death in one double syllable, the prime time-theme song, the opening of every television symphony, the headline of every page, a punctuation mark in our journalism, a semicolon, a comma, our most powerful full stop. "Terror, terror, terror, terror". Each repetition justifies its predecessor.
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Most of all, it's about the terror of power and the power of terror. Power and terror have become interchangeable. We journalists have let this happen. Our language has become not just a debased ally, but a full verbal partner in the language of governments and armies and generals and weapons. Remember the "bunker buster" and the "Scud buster" and the "target-rich environment" in the Gulf War (Part One)? Forget about "weapons of mass destruction". Too obviously silly. But "WMD" in the Gulf War (Part Two) had a power of its own, a secret code – genetic, perhaps, like DNA – for something that would reap terror, terror, terror, terror, terror. "45 Minutes to Terror".

Power and the media are not just about cosy relationships between journalists and political leaders, between editors and presidents. They are not just about the parasitic-osmotic relationship between supposedly honourable reporters and the nexus of power that runs between White House and State Department and Pentagon, between Downing Street and the Foreign Office and the Ministry of Defence, between America and Israel.

In the Western context, power and the media is about words – and the use of words. It is about semantics. It is about the employment of phrases and their origins. And it is about the misuse of history, and about our ignorance of history. More and more today, we journalists have become prisoners of the language of power. Is this because we no longer care about linguistics or semantics? Is this because laptops "correct" our spelling, "trim" our grammar so that our sentences so often turn out to be identical to those of our rulers? Is this why newspaper editorials today often sound like political speeches?

For two decades now, the US and British – and Israeli and Palestinian – leaderships have used the words "peace process" to define the hopeless, inadequate, dishonourable agreement that allowed the US and Israel to dominate whatever slivers of land would be given to an occupied people. I first queried this expression, and its provenance, at the time of Oslo – although how easily we forget that the secret surrenders at Oslo were themselves a conspiracy without any legal basis.

Poor old Oslo, I always think. What did Oslo ever do to deserve this? It was the White House agreement that sealed this preposterous and dubious treaty – in which refugees, borders, Israeli colonies, even timetables – were to be delayed until they could no longer be negotiated.

And how easily we forget the White House lawn – though, yes, we remember the images – upon which it was Clinton who quoted from the Koran, and Arafat who chose to say: "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Mr President." And what did we call this nonsense afterwards? Yes, it was "a moment of history"! Was it? Was it so?

Do you remember what Arafat called it? "The peace of the brave". But I don't remember any of us pointing out that "the peace of the brave" was used by General de Gaulle about the end of the Algerian war. The French lost the war in Algeria. We did not spot this extraordinary irony.

Same again today. We Western journalists – used yet again by our masters – have been reporting our jolly generals in Afghanistan, as saying their war can only be won with a "hearts and minds" campaign. No one asked them the obvious question: Wasn't this the very same phrase used about Vietnamese civilians in the Vietnam War? And didn't we – didn't the West – lose the war in Vietnam? Yet now we Western journalists are using – about Afghanistan – the phrase "hearts and minds" in our reports as if it is a new dictionary definition, rather than a symbol of defeat for the second time in four decades.

Just look at the individual words we have recently co-opted from the US military. When we Westerners find that "our" enemies – al-Qa'ida, for example, or the Taliban – have set off more bombs and staged more attacks than usual, we call it "a spike in violence".

Ah yes, a "spike"! A "spike" is a word first used in this context, according to my files, by a brigadier general in the Baghdad Green Zone in 2004. Yet now we use that phrase, we extemporise on it, we relay it on the air as our phrase, our journalistic invention. We are using, quite literally, an expression created for us by the Pentagon. A spike, of course, goes sharply up then sharply downwards. A "spike in violence" therefore avoids the ominous use of the words "increase in violence" – for an increase, of course, might not go down again afterwards.

Now again, when US generals refer to a sudden increase in their forces for an assault on Fallujah or central Baghdad or Kandahar – a mass movement of soldiers brought into Muslim countries by the tens of thousands – they call this a "surge". And a surge, like a tsunami, or any other natural phenomena, can be devastating in its effects. What these "surges" really are – to use the real words of serious journalism – are reinforcements. And reinforcements are sent to conflicts when armies are losing those wars. But our television and newspaper boys and girls are still talking about "surges" without any attribution at all. The Pentagon wins again.

Meanwhile the "peace process" collapsed. Therefore our leaders – or "key players" as we like to call them – tried to make it work again. The process had to be put "back on track". It was a train, you see. The carriages had come off the line. The Clinton administration first used this phrase, then the Israelis, then the BBC. But there was a problem when the "peace process" had repeatedly been put "back on track" – but still came off the line. So we produced a "road map" – run by a Quartet and led by our old Friend of God, Tony Blair, who – in an obscenity of history – we now refer to as a "peace envoy". But the "road map" isn't working. And now, I notice, the old "peace process" is back in our newspapers and on our television screens. And earlier this month, on CNN, one of those boring old fogies whom the TV boys and girls call "experts" told us again that the "peace process" was being put "back on track" because of the opening of "indirect talks" between Israelis and Palestinians. This isn't just about clichés – this is preposterous journalism. There is no battle between the media and power; through language, we, the media, have become them.

Here's another piece of media cowardice that makes my 63-year-old teeth grind together after 34 years of eating humus and tahina in the Middle East. We are told, in many analysis features, that what we have to deal with in the Middle East are "competing narratives". How very cosy. There's no justice, no injustice, just a couple of people who tell different history stories. "Competing narratives" now regularly pop up in the British press.

The phrase, from the false language of anthropology, deletes the possibility that one group of people – in the Middle East, for example – is occupied, while another is doing the occupying. Again, no justice, no injustice, no oppression or oppressing, just some friendly "competing narratives", a football match, if you like, a level playing field because the two sides are – are they not? – "in competition". And two sides have to be given equal time in every story.

So an "occupation" becomes a "dispute". Thus a "wall" becomes a "fence" or "security barrier". Thus Israeli acts of colonisation of Arab land, contrary to all international law, become "settlements" or "outposts" or "Jewish neighbourhoods". It was Colin Powell, in his starring, powerless appearance as Secretary of State to George W Bush, who told US diplomats to refer to occupied Palestinian land as "disputed land" – and that was good enough for most of the US media. There are no "competing narratives", of course, between the US military and the Taliban. When there are, you'll know the West has lost.

But I'll give you an example of how "competing narratives" come undone. In April, I gave a lecture in Toronto to mark the 95th anniversary of the 1915 Armenian genocide, the deliberate mass murder of 1.5 million Armenian Christians by the Ottoman Turkish army and militia. Before my talk, I was interviewed on Canadian Television, CTV, which also owns Toronto's Globe and Mail newspaper. And from the start, I could see that the interviewer had a problem. Canada has a large Armenian community. But Toronto also has a large Turkish community. And the Turks, as the Globe and Mail always tell us, "hotly dispute" that this was a genocide.

So the interviewer called the genocide "deadly massacres". Of course, I spotted her specific problem straight away. She couldn't call the massacres a "genocide", because the Turkish community would be outraged. But she sensed that "massacres" on its own – especially with the gruesome studio background photographs of dead Armenians – was not quite up to defining a million and a half murdered human beings. Hence the "deadly massacres". How odd! If there are "deadly" massacres, are there some massacres which are not "deadly", from which the victims walk away alive? It was a ludicrous tautology.

Yet the use of the language of power – of its beacon words and its beacon phrases – goes on among us still. How many times have I heard Western reporters talking about "foreign fighters" in Afghanistan? They are referring, of course, to the various Arab groups supposedly helping the Taliban. We heard the same story from Iraq. Saudis, Jordanians, Palestinian, Chechen fighters, of course. The generals called them "foreign fighters". Immediately, we Western reporters did the same. Calling them "foreign fighters" meant they were an invading force. But not once – ever – have I heard a mainstream Western television station refer to the fact that there are at least 150,000 "foreign fighters" in Afghanistan, and that all of them happen to be wearing American, British and other NATO uniforms. It is "we" who are the real "foreign fighters".

Similarly, the pernicious phrase "Af-Pak" – as racist as it is politically dishonest – is now used by reporters, although it was originally a creation of the US State Department on the day Richard Holbrooke was appointed special US representative to Afghanistan and Pakistan. But the phrase avoids the use of the word "India" – whose influence in Afghanistan and whose presence in Afghanistan, is a vital part of the story. Furthermore, "Af-Pak" – by deleting India – effectively deleted the whole Kashmir crisis from the conflict in south-east Asia. It thus deprived Pakistan of any say in US local policy on Kashmir – after all, Holbrooke was made the "Af-Pak" envoy, specifically forbidden from discussing Kashmir. Thus the phrase "Af-Pak", which completely avoids the tragedy of Kashmir – too many "competing narratives", perhaps? – means that when we journalists use the same phrase, "Af-Pak", which was surely created for us journalists, we are doing the State Department's work.

Now let's look at history. Our leaders love history. Most of all, they love the Second World War. In 2003, George W Bush thought he was Churchill. True, Bush had spent the Vietnam War protecting the skies of Texas from the Vietcong. But now, in 2003, he was standing up to the "appeasers" who did not want a war with Saddam who was, of course, "the Hitler of the Tigris". The appeasers were the British who didn't want to fight Nazi Germany in 1938. Blair, of course, also tried on Churchill's waistcoat and jacket for size. No "appeaser" he. America was Britain's oldest ally, he proclaimed – and both Bush and Blair reminded journalists that the US had stood shoulder-to-shoulder with Britain in her hour of need in 1940.

But none of this was true. Britain's oldest ally was not the United States. It was Portugal, a neutral fascist state during the Second World War, which flew its national flags at half-mast when Hitler died (even the Irish didn't do that).

Nor did America fight alongside Britain in her hour of need in 1940, when Hitler threatened invasion and the Luftwaffe blitzed London. No, in 1940 America was enjoying a very profitable period of neutrality, and did not join Britain in the war until Japan attacked the US naval base at Pearl Harbour in December 1941. Similarly, back in 1956, Eden called Nasser the "Mussolini of the Nile". A bad mistake. Nasser was loved by the Arabs, not hated as Mussolini was by the majority of Africans, especially the Arab Libyans. The Mussolini parallel was not challenged or questioned by the British press. And we all know what happened at Suez in 1956. When it comes to history, we journalists let the presidents and prime ministers take us for a ride.

Yet the most dangerous side of our new semantic war, our use of the words of power – though it is not a war, since we have largely surrendered – is that it isolates us from our viewers and readers. They are not stupid. They understand words in many cases – I fear – better than we do. History, too. They know that we are drawing our vocabulary from the language of generals and presidents, from the so-called elites, from the arrogance of the Brookings Institute experts, or those of those of the Rand Corporation. Thus we have become part of this language.

Over the past two weeks, as foreigners – humanitarians or "activist terrorists" – tried to take food and medicines by sea to the hungry Palestinians of Gaza, we journalists should have been reminding our viewers and listeners of a long-ago day when America and Britain went to the aid of a surrounded people, bringing food and fuel – our own servicemen dying as they did so – to help a starving population. That population had been surrounded by a fence erected by a brutal army which wished to starve the people into submission. The army was Russian. The city was Berlin. The wall was to come later. The people had been our enemies only three years earlier. Yet we flew the Berlin airlift to save them. Now look at Gaza today: which Western journalist – since we love historical parallels – has even mentioned 1948 Berlin in the context of Gaza?

Instead, what did we get? "Activists" who turned into "armed activists" the moment they opposed the Israeli army's boarding parties. How dare these men upset the lexicon? Their punishment was obvious. They became "terrorists". And the Israeli raids – in which "activists" were killed (another proof of their "terrorism") – then became "deadly" raids. In this case, "deadly" was more excusable than it had been on CTV – nine dead men of Turkish origin being slightly fewer than a million and a half murdered Armenians in 1915. But it was interesting that the Israelis – who for their own political reasons had hitherto shamefully gone along with the Turkish denial – now suddenly wanted to inform the world of the 1915 Armenian genocide. This provoked an understandable frisson among many of our colleagues. Journalists who have regularly ducked all mention of the 20th century's first Holocaust – unless they could also refer to the way in which the Turks "hotly dispute" the genocide label (ergo the Toronto Globe and Mail) – could suddenly refer to it. Israel's new-found historical interest made the subject legitimate, though almost all reports managed to avoid any explanation of what actually happened in 1915.

And what did the Israeli seaborne raid become? It became a "botched" raid. Botched is a lovely word. It began as a German-origin Middle English word, "bocchen", which meant to "repair badly". And we more or less kept to that definition until our journalistic lexicon advisors changed its meaning. Schoolchildren "botch" an exam. We could "botch" a piece of sewing, an attempt to repair a piece of material. We could even botch an attempt to persuade our boss to give us a raise. But now we "botch" a military operation. It wasn't a disaster. It wasn't a catastrophe. It just killed some Turks.

So, given the bad publicity, the Israelis just "botched" the raid. Weirdly, the last time reporters and governments utilised this particular word followed Israel's attempt to kill the Hamas leader, Khaled Meshaal, in the streets of Amman. In this case, Israel's professional assassins were caught after trying to poison Meshaal, and King Hussain forced the then Israeli prime minister (a certain B Netanyahu) to provide the antidote (and to let a lot of Hamas "terrorists" out of jail). Meshaal's life was saved.

But for Israel and its obedient Western journalists this became a "botched attempt" on Meshaal's life. Not because he wasn't meant to die, but because Israel failed to kill him. You can thus "botch" an operation by killing Turks – or you can "botch" an operation by not killing a Palestinian.

How do we break with the language of power? It is certainly killing us. That, I suspect, is one reason why readers have turned away from the "mainstream" press to the internet. Not because the net is free, but because readers know they have been lied to and conned; they know that what they watch and what they read in newspapers is an extension of what they hear from the Pentagon or the Israeli government, that our words have become synonymous with the language of a government-approved, careful middle ground, which obscures the truth as surely as it makes us political – and military – allies of all major Western governments.

Many of my colleagues on various Western newspapers would ultimately risk their jobs if they were constantly to challenge the false reality of news journalism, the nexus of media-government power. How many news organisations thought to run footage, at the time of the Gaza disaster, of the airlift to break the blockade of Berlin? Did the BBC?

The hell they did! We prefer "competing narratives". Politicians didn't want – I told the Doha meeting on 11 May – the Gaza voyage to reach its destination, "be its end successful, farcical or tragic". We believe in the "peace process", the "road map". Keep the "fence" around the Palestinians. Let the "key players" sort it out. And remember what this is all about: "Terror, terror, terror, terror, terror, terror."

The NST EDITORIAL: Betraying Gaza

2010-01-08T15:59:00.001+08:00

2010/01/08

IN stark contrast to the bullets, tear gas, water cannons and rocks that assaulted the Viva Palestina convoy at the port of El-Arish, the first fleet of eight lorries of the humanitarian mission that rolled into Gaza through the Rafah crossing on Wednesday evening was greeted by flowers and flag-waving crowds. The Viva Palestina Malaysia chairman was right to castigate this brutish treatment of the aid activists as "simply unacceptable". When the Egyptian authorities have been uncooperative, placed unreasonable obstacles and imposed onerous conditions not only on the 450-member international convoy but also on the 1,200 activists from 40 countries in the Gaza Freedom Movement, which had also hoped to bring assistance to Gaza on Dec 27 to mark the first anniversary of the "Cast Lead" offensive, like him, we should question their motives because their actions make their "claims of standing in solidarity with the Palestinians" sound "very hollow". All the more so when Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was welcomed with open arms at the presidential palace in Cairo last week, praised for his contributions to "peace" and applauded for the "freeze" on settlements, and hundreds of Israelis were allowed to come to Egypt to pray at the grave of a rabbi.

When the blockade of Gaza applies to everything except essential medicine, basic foodstuff and limited fuel and to everyone except the most extreme medical cases, and when the isolation of Gaza could not be complete without concomitant constrictions on the sole entry and exit point which Israel does not control, it is difficult to buy the argument that Egypt is only protecting its borders when it opens the Rafah crossing only sporadically, like it did for three days from Sunday. When the borders have been sealed so tight that underground tunnels have been the sole reason that a catastrophic humanitarian crisis has been held at bay, it is hard to accept the argument that the underground wall of iron and steel being built is there only to stop the smuggling.

Like the Viva Palestina Malaysia chairman, we must reluctantly and regretfully conclude that Egypt has become a "major accomplice" in the crippling siege of Gaza which has reduced the strip to the biggest prison in the world and its 1.5 million inhabitants to the most wretched on earth. With the completion of the underground wall, the ordeal of an already tormented people can only get worse. That is why we must stand in solidarity with those trying to break the siege and end the crimes against humanity taking place in Gaza.

The promise and perils of Palestine

2009-11-24T15:41:00.003+08:00

By:

KAMRUL IDRIS

New Straits Times - Malaysia

Richard Falk says Hamas is becoming a genuine political actor and must be allowed to participate politically

(I find this interview useful for those interested to learn about the Palestinians issue.. muslim)

2009/11/24

United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Occupied Territories Richard Falk tells
KAMRUL IDRIS why Palestine is the central human rights issue of the 21st century

Q: Why is the Gaza War (Dec 27, 2008 to Jan 18) so important for the world; why does it, as you say, transcend the Middle East?

A: It is a very clear case where the international community is aware and involved in the policies that have produced this ordeal for the civilian population of one-and-a-half million trapped inside this crowded, impoverished area.

You rarely have a situation that is so defined by a government's explicit policy of not allowing basic necessities to reach the people -- the blockade aspect of it -- with the clear sense that a modern military state was attacking a defenceless population that was supposed to be under its protection.

And all this was under the eye of journalistic coverage. The UN witnessed what was happening on the ground and yet nothing was done.

It really showed that legal rights and moral principles are subordinate to geopolitics. It is hypocritical to rely on international law only when you're dealing with weaker countries. The integrity of a legal order is based on treating equals equally.

So what Gaza crystallises is that you can do terrible things if you have geopolitics on your side. If it's not on your side, then you are subject to legal and moral standards.

Q: If, globally, the Palestinian cause is successor to the anti-apartheid movement, why has it not gained ground?

A: The Israeli attacks on Lebanon in 2006 and on Gaza have shifted the perception of many people worldwide from Israel as victim to Israel as perpetrator. This has made people feel that solidarity with the Palestinians is in the interest of justice, that governments and the UN will not act effectively, and it is up to civil society to promote the policies that seemed to be unexpectedly effective in relation to South Africa -- boycotts, divestments, sanctions.

You do have a lot of examples in the last 10 months of companies breaking contracts with Israel, of labour unions refusing to unload or load cargo bound for Israel. You also have cultural events, sporting events, that have been cancelled. The cumulative effect of this activity is hard to calculate; you never know when you reach the tipping point.

Of course, the dominant groups will hide the impact of such tactics until they're ready to give in. Whether it will gain enough ground to change the climate of political opinion, that we can never be sure.

The challenge will be for the Palestinians to find a way to translate their victories in the legitimacy war into a political outcome. And that will depend largely on what happens in Israel and the United States.

Q: How do you see Hamas' role in the conflict? Will there be a resumption of the armed struggle and a marginalisation of the moderates now that the peace process is stuck?

A: It is hard to predict how Hamas will react. If they make a correct political analysis, they will realise that armed struggle plays into Israeli hands. It weakens the Palestinian success in the legitimacy war and provides Israel with a pretext for using its own violence. There is some evidence that Hamas has learnt the lesson of other similar organisations like the IRA in Northern Ireland that you get more by a political struggle than a violent one.

Hamas were encouraged to enter into the electoral process in Gaza; they succeeded in a fair election. They proposed a unilateral ceasefire and maintained it for a year even when Israel engaged in provocative activity, such as assassinating their leaders. They agreed to a ceasefire in the middle of last year even though Israel was blockading the Gaza Strip.

They proposed extending it to 10 years, which Israel ignored because I don't think Israel wanted a diplomatic alternative -- it had other reasons to attack, having to do with Israeli internal politics with the Israeli Defence Forces seeking to overcome the defeat in Lebanon and wanting to do something while George W. Bush was still US president.

Hamas is becoming a genuine political actor. It should be allowed to participate politically. An increasing number of Israelis agree to this. Israel has never really been interested in Gaza. They are interested in the West Bank and East Jerusalem. They want to get as much of that part of the original Palestine mandate as possible. In a way, Gaza is a sideshow.

Q: The roadblock to negotiations is Israel's refusal to stop settlement building in the Occupied Territories. Can this be overcome?

A: It is very difficult. It was difficult even before the defiant response of the Netanyahu government to President Barack Obama's putting forth this idea of a temporary freeze in settlement growth as a precondition to peace negotiations.

I don't perceive any willingness of the Israeli government to compromise on the crucial issues for the Palestinians. Israel insists on having Jerusalem as its capital. It is not willing to give in at all on the rights of refugees. Jews have the right to come to Israel no matter where they live, whatever their connection to Israel might have been, while Palestinians, who had homes in the former Palestine mandate, are not allowed to come back.

It is instructive to realise that even if Israel were to give up the occupation, the West Bank and East Jerusalem is only 22 per cent of historic Palestine. The Palestinians have given up a lot, before negotiations even begin. If these settlements are allowed to remain, the Palestinian state will be confined to 14 to 11 per cent of the original area. That does not appear to be a viable state or a recognition of the Palestinian right of self-determination.

More and more people feel that the only solution is a unified state that incorporates both peoples. That would be the end of the Zionist project but is more appropriate in the 21st century. Can you really have a Jewish state with a minority of 1.3 million Palestinians living in it as second-class citizens? How do you reconcile human rights with this kind of ethno-religious state that is being claimed as Zionist aspiration?

In my view, you have to have a one-state solution. If you allow two states to emerge at this point, you will have two illegitimate states -- a Jewish state that is illegitimate because of its ethnic character, and a Palestinian state that is not given full sovereignty and independence, that is not given a viable basis for sustaining its economic and political life.

Q: The Palestinians are moving to apply to the UN Security Council for recognition of a Palestinian state. Will it get anywhere?

A: It is a questionable tactic because it runs the risk of saying, well, yes OK, you have a Palestinian state, stay where you are, there is nothing more to negotiate. It would be a Bantustan that would mean no progress towards compromise on refugees, Jerusalem, water, boundaries, removing the separation wall. There are a lot of other issues that need to be considered.

Q: You describe the blockade of Gaza as a crime against humanity. Why has there not been more protest in countries, such as the US, that purport to champion human rights?

A: There is more support now for the Palestinian struggle even in the US, even among the Jewish community. You have the formation of organisations like the J-Street group of prominent Jews who oppose this unconditional support for Israel.

Governments and the UN are very deferential of geopolitical realities. The circumstances are such that they don't regard it as plausible to challenge the US and to some extent the European Community because they cannot do anything effective.

The only country that tried to break the blockade was Libya, which sent a ship with medical and humanitarian supplies. It was stopped by the Israeli navy and the effort was abandoned. Civil society activists have started the Free Gaza Movement and sent boats from Cyprus to Gaza, and that is the only thing that broke the blockade, at least symbolically.

It made two statements. Firstly, that civil society is the most hopeful battlefield for the Palestinian struggle. Secondly, governments are unwilling to do what civil society is at least attempting to do. It shows the impotence of the UN, the inter-governmental system and the Arab world.

Q: What is the geopolitical status quo that the Western powers are so anxious to protect?

A: The Middle East combines a number of concerns for the US, particularly in the post-9/11 world. One of them is Israeli security. Another is the containment of political Islam, which is seen as a threat to Western interests in the region. Third is the interest in oil. Fourth is the avoidance of nuclear proliferation, especially in Iran, which would inhibit the uses of Israeli and American military power in the region.

There is a confluence of interests that helps explain why the Middle East has become the main contested arena of world politics in the way Europe had been in the 20th century. Oil is fundamental in the sense that if the West lost preferred access to the reserves in the Persian Gulf, its status in the world would be jeopardised and its economies would be undermined.

Q: It has been said that resentment and rage in the Occupied Territories are reaching levels similar to 1987 at the start of the intifada. Would a third intifada be able to jolt the peace process forward?

A: The second intifada was different from the first. It turned into a much more violent confrontation. The probable impact of a third intifada would be to remobilise Palestinian commitment to the struggle and to convey it in the legitimacy war that is going on globally.

It may be that the Israelis will do their best to convert it into a violent encounter because the second intifada started off non-violently until Israeli snipers killed a group of Palestinians demonstrating against Ariel Sharon's visit to Temple Mount (in September 2000). At that point, some Palestinians began to shoot back.

Israel would try not to allow a third intifada to look like the first but rather make it seem like the second. So it is tricky in many ways.

Q: The Palestinians are divided, at least between Hamas and Fatah, and the Palestinian Authority has not made a difference to living standards in the Territories, though it may not be entirely to blame for this. Will international support tire of this lack of progress?

A: Certainly, one of the weaknesses of the Palestinian movement is its inability to produce effective leadership. Israel, of course, has contributed to this failure. They did their best to undermine Yasser Arafat in the late years of his life.

The psychological effects of prolonged occupation are also part of the story. You put people in this pressure cooker for decades and it is hard to expect rational, coherent politics to emerge.

It is a lot to ask of the Palestinians that after 42 years of occupation they will somehow be able to present a rational and humane face for the world to see. It is a weakness of their movement that their representation at international level is not really reflective of the interests of the Palestinian people. They are divided. This also serves Israeli interests.

Q: You do not sound optimistic about Obama. Why?

A: He inherited a difficult situation generally but in relation to this conflict particularly. For one thing, you have an extreme right-wing coalition of forces in Israel. I don't think they are prepared to reach any viable solution, nor do they feel any real pressure to do so.

He does not have an Israeli partner for peace and he has to juggle the effort to change the policy towards Israel with all the other priorities he has set for his administration. It may seem from a political point of view futile to try to do too much.

At the same time, he appointed a group of advisers, important foreign policy decision-makers, who seem content with the earlier relationship with Israel. He himself kept affirming the unconditional nature of the American commitment to Israel.

Even though the Cairo speech of June 4 seemed to say that he felt that the Palestinian situation was intolerable and should be changed, there was no real indication that he would do much to make that happen.

It is true that (Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu has been so defiant that it could trigger a backlash in Washington, even from those supportive of Israel who are angry that Obama has been made to look bad. Maybe that will lead to a renewed effort.

If it were my decision to make, I would shift from the settlements to the blockade and say that if Israel wants to be regarded as a government interested in peace, it must end the blockade of this civilian population whose mental and physical health has been constantly deteriorating for over two years now.

I would recognise the importance of dealing with Hamas. If Obama were willing to do these two things, it could at least temporarily alter the tone and atmosphere of American engagement in the region.

*Richard Falk is professor emeritus of international law at Princeton University and visiting distinguished professor in global and international studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He was expelled from Israel on Dec 14 last year.

Obaidah in Brief

2009-10-06T12:55:00.002+08:00

By:

Muslim

Obaidah Maher Abdul Mu’ti Alqudsi Dwaik.

He was born in the year 1984, in the occupied city of Hebron, Palestine. Obaidah’s father is a well known ustaz who graduated from Adina University. He is also a successful businessman.

Just like other Palestinian kids, Obaidah witnessed the outbreak of the first Palestinian Intifadah in 1987.

Obaidah started his education as early as 5 years in the kindergarten of the Islamic Youth Society. He later joined the Al-Shar’iyah School of the Islamic Charitable Organization. He completed his school education in 2002 with an excellent score of 84 %.

During his school days, Obaidah joined Al-Firdaus Islamic Nasheed Group where his Nasheed talents were discovered.

He later joined the International Islamic University Malaysia and earned a bachelor degree in Communications and Journalism.

During his presence at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Obaidah was one of the active students in co-curricular activities and was always a forerunner in working for any Ummatic issue.

Obaidah was elected into the main board of Al-Aqsa friends’ Society in 2003 to serve for one year as one of its most active members. Throughout this year, he contributed heavily to make Al-Aqsa a well-known and successful society in the IIUM community.

Eversince he joined Alaqsa, Obaidah demonstrated his talent through Alaqsa Nasheed group and performed on the IIUM stages from the year 2002 till 20008. In the year 2005 he led the Nasheed Group and managed to have successful appearances inside and outside IIUM.

Among the successful performances of Obaidah were the NAsheed performance in Aman Palestin Night 2006, the Palestinian Traditional Wedding Performance 2006, and the production of a new video clip for Meshari’s “Annal ‘Abdul” Nasheed in 2007.

In 2008 Obaidah returned to his hometown in Palestine to live with his family and run his father’s business. He got engaged few months later and arranged for his wedding to be held right after eid alfitri 1430H.

Unfortunately, the criminal Zionist soldiers didn’t let his family celebrate this eid happily with him! But, Alhamdulillah, his parents exhibited a great patience and thanked Allah for the great reward of martyrdom.

Obaidah was planning to come back to IIUM for masters. But, Allah granted him a much better certificate, which is Shahadah fi Sabeel-i-Allah.

Palestinians injured in Aqsa clash

2009-09-28T22:27:00.002+08:00

By:
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/middleeast/

Twenty six Palestinians have been injured and another seven detained after Israeli police stormed the al-Aqsa mosque compound in occupied East Jerusalem.

Israeli security forces on Sunday fired rubber bullets and stun grenades at Palestinians who attempted to prevent a Zionist rally from entering the al-Haram al-Sharif courtyard within the compound on the Jewish holy day of Yom Kippur.

Jivara al-Budairi, Al Jazeera's correspondent in Jerusalem, said that a large number of Israeli security units have been seen by residents entering East Jerusalem, where the mosque is located.

"Special forces are still deployed inside the Haram compound yard, but are no longer clashing with the worshippers [Palestinians] inside", estimated to be around a thousand, our correspondent said.

Micky Rosenfeld, an Israeli police spokesman, said two Israeli policemen were also injured in the confrontation.

Also called Day of Atonement, Jews mark Yom Kippur by fasting and holding prayers.

Military closure

The police entered after Israeli settlers and Zionist groups attempted to force entry to a part of the complex they call Temple Mount.

Other Israeli settler-activist groups also gathered at the Hetta and Majlis gates, Al Jazeera's correspondent said.

Last year, a similar incident on the Yom Kippur holiday resulted in damage to dozens of cars and shops.

Meanwhile, Israeli forces have imposed military closure on Palestinian territories starting from Saturday midnight until Monday midnight in view of the religious holiday.

Israel captured the Old City of Jerusalem during the 1967 Six-Day War and later annexed it along with the rest of mostly Arab East Jerusalem in a move not recognised by the international community.

Obaidah Alqudsi

2009-09-22T16:14:00.003+08:00

By:
Muslim

Obaidah Maher Abdul Mu’ti Alqudsi Dwaik.

Born in 1984 in Hebron city-Palestine for a respected family, his father is a well known ustaz and businessman.

He later joined the International Islamic University Malaysia where he earned a bachelor degree in Communications and Journalism.

During his presence at the International Islamic University Malaysia, Obaidah was one of the active students in cocurricular activities and was always a forerunner in working for any Ummatic issue. Obaidah was elected into the main board of Al-Aqsa friends’ Society in 2003 to serve for one year as one of its most active members. And from the year 2004 till 2007 he led the famous Al-Aqsa Nasheed Group in IIUM.

In 2008 he returned to his hometown in Palestine to live with his family and run his father’s business. He got engaged few months later and arranged for his wedding to be held right after eid alfitri. Unfortunately, the crinminal Zionist soldiers didn’t let his family celebrate this eid happily nor let Obaidah’s fiancée enjoy her future with him!

Goodbye Obaidah

2009-09-20T01:18:00.003+08:00

By:
Muslim

Goodbye Obaidah

Obaidah Alqudsi, a Palestinain Nasheed artist, known among his friends for his beautiful voice and lovely character. 2 days ago, Obaidah passed away in an Israeli hospital, after being held as an injured prisoner. On 26th August, Obaidah was heading to the Abraham Mosque in the Old City of Hebron. While walking to the mosque, Israeli soldiers shot him 4 explosive bullets; two in the abdomen and two in his legs.

Obaidah, the peaceful soul was murdered in the street with cold blood. Ambulance vehicles were banned from attending to his bleeding body for 30 minutes. Seeing him bleeding didn’t satisfy their evil lust for blood, hence, they beat his body mercilessly. After a while, he was arrested and sent to an Israeli hospital in occupied Jerusalem. Ever since Obaidah was under their custody, he was in a comma. Obaidah spent about 3 weeks in the Israeli hospital; and his family was not allowed to visit him till the last day of his life!

On the morning of the 13th of September, Obaidah’s soul departed to its creator seeking his ultimate justice. Hasbunallahu wa ne’mal wakeel.

Obaidah will always be remembered among his family and friends for his sweet voice and lovely smile. His poetry and Nasheed will always be celebrated by Palestinians, Muslims and all free people of the world as true words of wisdom and honor.

Difficult Ramadan in Gaza

2009-09-06T03:54:00.003+08:00

By:
Aljazeera.net

Many of the traditions that are observed during Ramadan are barely visible in Gaza this year.

Israel's stifling blockade has made it impossible for people here to bring in all of the customary items they buy during this busy shopping month. Lanterns and lights that decorate Gaza's streets are intermittently on because of electricity cuts.

The prices of children's toys and clothes, most of which are smuggled from Egypt, are beyond the reach of most families. Personal income continues to drop in Gaza as the local economy has all but collapsed.

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports about the dire conditions one homeless family in Gaza has had to face this year.

Swedish newspaper reveals Israeli army murders Palestinians for their organs

2009-08-21T01:04:00.001+08:00

From Khalid Amayreh

OCCUPIED EAST JERUSALEM -- Israeli officials and spokespersons have been railing against a leading Swedish newspaper for publishing a report claiming that the Israeli occupation army murders Palestinians in order to use their organs for transplants for Jewish patients.

The Tabloid Aftonbladet, one of Sweden’s most popular newspapers, on Tuesday, 18 August, reported that Israeli occupation soldiers had been murdering Palestinian youngsters in the West Bank in order to extricate their organs and sell them. The report carried a photograph showing the body of a victim of such an execution, with a large scar running from his chin to abdomen.

The report quotes the family of one of the victims as saying that “our sons were plundered from their organs.” The report also makes a connection with the recent corruption scandal in New Jersey involving elected officials, rabbis, and illegal organ trading.

The author of the report, Donald Bostrom, spoke of a strong suspicion among Palestinians that young men’s organs were harvested by the Israeli army. He suggests that the International Court of Justice in the Hague should open an investigation into the matter.

Witness

Bostrom quotes a Palestinian witness as describing one case in which the Israeli occupation army shot dead a young Palestinian from a West Bank village and then extricated his organs. The Palestinian victim is identified as Bilal Ahmed Ghniyan.

“He was taken away by a military helicopter and brought back by the army five days later, dead. As his family members buried him, they saw a large scar running from his stomach to his chin.”

Bostrom also quotes other eye-witnesses testifying that their sons were used as “forced organ donors.”

“Blood libel”

Israeli spokesperson and Foreign Ministry officials were raving and ranting against Aftonbladet accusing the mass circulation newspaper of indulging in “blood libel” and making “canards” against Israel .

Israeli spokesman Yigal Palmor said the Swedish newspaper had “turned the demonization of Israel into a sacred cause.”

Other Israeli officials threatened to sue the Swedish newspaper for libel, claiming that the report was an expression of anti-Semitism.

Israel has been reacting with exaggerated sensitivity toward international criticisms of its manifestly harsh treatment of Palestinians and the brazen racism associated with this treatment.

Earlier this year, the Israeli army, using internationally-banned weapons launched a massive and deadly blitzkrieg on the virtually unprotected population of the Gaza Strip, killing, maiming and incinerating thousands of innocent civilians, including hundreds of children.

Human rights organizations described the huge rampage of terror and death, which lasted for more than 20 days, as “clear war crimes” and “crimes against humanity.”

Similarly, Israel had killed thousands of innocent civilians in the West Bank , and many of the victims were sent to the Abu Kabir forensic institute for autopsy operations.

However, it is unclear if the vital organs of these young victims were always disposed of or taken out for transplant in Jewish patients.

The Israeli army, which exerts huge political and legal influence in Israel, nearly always resisted scrutiny of its operations in the West Bank which are carried out in utter violation of international law, especially the international humanitarian law.

Precedent

In January, 2002, an Israeli cabinet minister tacitly admitted that organs taken from the bodies of Palestinian victims might have been used for transplants in Jewish patients without the knowledge of the Palestinian victims’ families.

The minister, Nessim Dahan, said in response to a question by an Arab Knesset member that he couldn’t deny or confirm that organs of Palestinian youths and children killed by the Israeli army were taken out for transplants or scientific research.

“I couldn’t say for sure that something like that didn’t happen.”

The Arab Knesset member who posed the question to Dahan is believed to be Ahmed Teibi. Teibi pointed out that he had received “credible evidence” proving that Israeli doctors at the forensic institute of Abu Kabir extracted such vital organs as the heart, kidneys, and liver from the bodies of Palestinian youth and children killed by the Israeli army in Gaza and the West Bank .

During an interview with al-Jazeera TV in 2002, the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat accused the Israeli apartheid regime of murdering Palestinian infants, children, and youths and harvesting their vital organs for transplants.

"They murder our kids and use their organs as spare parts` Why is the whole world silent? Israel takes advantage of this silence to escalate it's oppression and terror against our people," said an angry President Arafat.

During the interview, which took place on 14 January, 2002, Arafat held up photos of the mutilated bodies of the children.

"I'm not worried about myself", as the President is under house arrest, "I'm worried about the Palestinian people who have been under siege for the past 15 months."

Israel had admitted that doctors at the L. Greenberg Institute of Forensic Medicine at Abu Kabir had harvested the organs of 3 Palestinian youth killed by the Israeli army near Khan Younis.

After 10 days the bodies of the three victims were returned to their families for burial but with their organs and even their eyes removed.

Israel never carried out a serious investigation into this and other incidents involving the extrication of vital organs from the body of Palestinian victims killed by the Israeli occupation forces.

According to reporter Saira Soufan, the illegal harvesting of the organs of Palestinian soldiers and freedom fighters has been documented since before the 1990's.

“Upon return of the soldiers' bodies to their mourning families, the pillage of body parts is discovered during the burial process.

“ The empty cavities have been filled with garbage such as cotton wool, garden hoses, and broomsticks, then sewn up as a result of a so-called ‘autopsy.’”

Occasionally, Israeli authorities steal body organs from the bodies of tourists who die in Israel .

An unpublicized instance occurred in 1998, when a Scotsman, Alistair Sinclair, died under mysterious circumstances in the Ben-Gurion Airport lockup.

Mr. Sinclair's parents sued the Israeli authorities upon finding that their son's heart and other organs missing. A replacement heart and organs were sent to his mother, who didn’t believe that these were those of her son's.

Poetry Night

2009-08-10T02:31:00.002+08:00

By:
Muslim

Alaqsa Friends' Society, Iraqi Students Union, and Yemeni Student's Union would like to invite you to a poetry night entitled:

"The Pains and Hopes of the Ummah in the dreams of Poets"

in conjunction with the celebration of :

Jerusalem; Capital of Arab Culture 2009

the program will be in Arabic... many interesting sessions..

see you there..

Blogging again!

2009-08-08T17:48:00.002+08:00

Before any introduction, I have to admit that I was not that committed in updating my blog in the past few months. This is due to many silly reasons, the strongest of which is my addiction to Facebook!
In fact, no intellectual activity steals my time more than Facebooking! Even reading, my favorite hobby comes second after Facebook!

Anyway, facebooking doesn't seem to be a valid excuse, hence, I'm back to blogging!
Starting from today, I will post articles every now and then, buyt with some sort of regularity.. well, one post a week isn't that bad, right?

Let's just wait and see, how much I can post in the upcoming days...

It's End of Semester....

2009-04-03T00:14:00.002+08:00

Since It's my final year, and this is my final long semester.. I have to take a short break... will continue to post articles next May inshallah...
Thanks.
yours,
Muslim4Islam

1300 innocents murdered in Gaza and Israelis still care about their image..heh!

2009-02-14T10:24:00.003+08:00

By:

Muslim

While surfing the "Israeli" newspaper Haaretz, I came across this article "Go to Durban II " written by Claude Kandiyoti, who is a Brussels-based entrepreneur and the publisher of Contact J, a monthly of the Belgian Jewish community.

The article reads:

“On January 11, in the very heart of Brussels, the capital of Belgium and of united Europe, some 50,000 people demonstrated "for peace in the Middle East." In actuality, as the flags, posters, speeches and slogans showed, this was a demonstration for Hamas, Hezbollah and even Al-Qaida. At the front marched a bunch of prominent left-wing Belgian politicians, including Isabelle Durant, the president of the Ecolo (green) party; Francoise Dupuis, the Socialist housing minister for the Brussels region; and other luminaries of Belgian and local politics. In the background, a huge poster sporting a Star of David equated with a swastika made a nice accompaniment to the whole procession.

Elio Di Rupo, the president of the Socialist Party, perhaps more politically astute than the others, left the scene after a short stint in the company of Leila Shahid, the Palestinian Authority's representative to the European Union. Nonetheless, in an interview televised nationally, he called on the international community to try the Israeli leadership - including, I suppose, his Socialist International colleagues from Israel's Labor Party - for war crimes.

At the demonstration, I approached Dupuis and asked her whether she was not slightly embarrassed by the prominent display of Hezbollah and Hamas flags. After all, I noted, the European Union has classified both organizations as "terrorist."

"Not at all," she responded. "We are all here to support the resistance against occupation..."

Belgium might be extreme when it comes to the lack of sophistication of its political elite, but the feelings behind this kind of behavior are by no means exceptional in contemporary Europe. Although the daily political discourse across the continent is replete with mentions of how important it is not to "import" the Middle East conflict to European shores, the truth is: The conflict is already here. It rages in Brussels, Paris, London and elsewhere, ignited by brainwashed Muslim youths and encouraged by irresponsible politicians and journalists. Some of these, especially on the extremes of the ideological spectrum, are genuinely anti-Israeli and/or anti-Semitic, while others are guided by petty political calculations. The result is the same. And this is only the beginning.

On the grim journey on which we have embarked, the Geneva World Conference against Racism, known as Durban II (April 20-24), threatens to be a climactic station. Some 100,000 to 200,000 people are expected to convene on the shores of Lake Geneva, officially, in an effort to advance the fight against all forms of racism, xenophobia and related intolerance. However, from all accounts, this gathering will probably turn out to be a renewed attempt to single out Israel as the paragon of evil and to deem it unfit to dwell among the nations. Suffice it to say that the preparatory commission for the conference is chaired by the Libyan representative to the UN, who is aided by, among others, the representatives of Pakistan, Iran and Cuba. The initial draft declaration they submitted to the participants, last October, offered a glimpse at what promises to be an even worse version of Durban I. And in the meantime, the recent events in Gaza only added fuel to the flames.

The good news is that Israel and the Jews are no longer alone in the dock. This time, the assault seems to be directed at the entire West and its values. What is needed is a common front of enlightened nations to respond to this assault. The question is, how to do it.

My suggestion is not to boycott Geneva, at least not initially - for at least three reasons. If Israel and mainstream Jewish organizations refrain from going to Geneva, the only Jews who will be there will be the Netorei Karta, the extremist anti-Zionist Orthodox group that has made common cause with Hamas and Iran. If Israel stays at home and leaves the Jewish organizations to go it alone, they will feel obliged to "represent" it and to defend Israeli policy, which is clearly not their role. And above all, it now looks as though, apart from Israel and Canada, the rest of the world is likely to be there, including the United States. The Europeans will be there, armed with clearly defined "red lines": against singling out a country, against drawing up a hierarchy of victims, and against any attempt to infringe on the basic right to free speech by way of a prohibition of criticizing religion. It is better to be there, to help build the lines of defense. There will always be time to leave, if and when it becomes clear that they have collapsed.

Let us not forget the lofty ideals that motivate genuine guardians and advocates of human rights. We Jews have always been at the forefront of the battle against racism and racial discrimination. If the conference gets hijacked, as it may well be, we can depart with our integrity intact, knowing that we have reaffirmed our own values. If we boycott the conference before it even starts, we cede the debate to the hijackers. In Israel, in each of our countries, and at Durban II, we need to stand our ground.”

After all the innocents they killed they want to wash their hands from our blood and propagate their lies and pretexts again! Let's prevent them from spreading their lies!!

It's the task of our Free brothers and sisters around the world to stand up for truth and address Zionists with their true title "RACIST".

Save Gaza Demo - Episode 3

2009-01-26T23:22:00.002+08:00

Many people were surprised when the so-called Palestinian ambassador misbehaved on that day, they never expected anyone to ask for pictures of resistance leaders and martyrs be put down! However, I was not surprised at all! What do you expect from someone who believes freedom can be achieved through humiliating peace talks and silly negotiations! It's the Oslo way of thinking that pushed him to do what he did!
I like the way how one of my friends explained what happened. He said, "some people are very sensitive to pictures of Leaders of Dignity and models of Glory, they get frustrated to see the face of heroes like sheikh Yassin and Dr. Rantisi, this is simply because these sensetive people have forgotton the meaning of dignity and lost the sense of honor!".
Whether what he said makes sense or not, it is very unacceptable for some one with dignity to disrespect his national heros! at the end both Hamas and Fatah believe sheikh Yassin and Dr. Rantisi are national heros!

for now, lets just watch these two clips and try to find a reason for us to pardon "his excellency"!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwWbxxQWMnw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=da1FWOQpxXo&feature=related

Save Gaza Demo - Episode 2

2009-01-05T19:05:00.001+08:00

A comment I wrote on YB Khairy Jamaluddin's blog and I'd like to share with you all:

Salam,
First of all, I would like to tank you YB Khairy Jamaluddin for your support and sympathy with Palestine, and Palestinians particularly Gaza.. I also would like to agree with what you said about the disunity of our Islamic Ummah, allow me to quote your words;
"Even the Palestinian political leadership show little semblance of unity to fight the common enemy. This is truly the greatest tragedy of our time."

Actually, this is very true, It applies to the -illegitimate- government in Ramallah!
While Gaza is being attacked nowadays, President Abbas is blaming Hamas for the tragedy! his stance was very disappointing!

For your information, there are more than 600 Palestinian political prisoners in West Bank prisons! Just because Abbas doesn't like Hamas and anyone sharing its ideology he strikes them so badly in the West Bank!

My father has been jailed for about 70 days in isolation in a "Palestinian" prison! my father is a 50 years old school teacher who happened to be a religious man! No political inclination, but for Abbas government anyone who is religious is Hamas!! what a philosophy!!

Anyway, the Palestinian High Court ruled that my dad should be released as he didn't commit any crime, felony or mistake!! yet my dad is still in prison!

To cut it short, as a Palestinian abroad, I stress that there is no sole and legitimate Palestinian representative in the world but the Palestinian Legislative Council PLC that was elected in 2006! Hamas won a sweeping victory then! The U.S. couldn't respect democracy, as was expected, but Muslims should be cleverer than that!

Anyway, my Malaysian brothers from Pemuda UMNO happened to see the discrimination and irresponsibility of the "Palestinian ambassador" last Friday when he ordered all pictures of Hamas leaders and martyrs (all of whom were Gaza leaders) be put down! His orders were respected of course, but his discrimination was very clear! Pictures of Fatah leaders were everywhere there!!

Finally, I thank you again and pray to Allah that Malaysia prospers and enjoys a great future, insyallah..

n by the way, GoodLuck in upcoming elections for Youth leader :)

Save Gaza Demo - Episode 1

2009-01-04T06:03:00.004+08:00

A pro-Palestine solidarity demo at the Palestinian Embassy in Kuala Lumpur became unpleasant as the Ambassador objected to the placards carrying pictures of Hamas leaders.
This is the comment malaysiakini.com chose to post on its video report of what i would rather call "A shameful attitude by the ambassador of the Palestinian Liberation Organization in Malaysia!"..
When the Malaysian brothers from UMNO Youth and the Malaysian Youth Conference entered the grounds of the embassy, they were expecting a warm welcome from the "Palestinian Ambassador", yet he welcomed them with a loud tone calling them to put down the pictures of some national Palestinian leaders and martyrs like Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, Dr. Abdel Aziz Rantisi and Acting Prime Minister Ismael Hanneyah ...
More and more cries and shouts from the Diplomat ignited a war of words between him and some protesters! The demo that was supposed to show Palestinian unity showed instead, the extent to which some Palestinian diplomats dislike the elected Hamas government which is now under siege in Gaza!
For God's Sake, how could anyone claim he supports Gaza and its people when, in the same time, he disrespects their national figures!
I remember also, that while this mess was happening, an ignorant "Palestinian" brother started putting down the picture of sheikh Ismael Hanneyah, our elected PM. I told him then, why would you bring down the placard of PM Hanneyah while the banners of Mahmud Abbas pictures were everywhere?! His answer was simple, yet showed a very disgusting way of thinking! He said; Abbas is an elected President, while Hanneyah is the sacked PM!
well, let's ask this brother few questions;

WHO IS DEFENDING GAZA NOW?? HANNEYAH OR ABBAS??
and
WHO IS MEETING ISRAELI LEADERS AND KISSING THEIR HANDS AND CHEEKS?? IS IT ABBAS OR HANNEYAH??

If he just had a rational mind to think of the answers!
many more stories to tell... For now, let's pray that Allah save Gaza from its enemies!

They Don't Care!!

2008-12-28T00:51:00.000+08:00

While Arabs and Muslims around the globe are enjoying their days and nights in their safe homes,
Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians were bombarded and slaughtered in their homes today!!!
Gaza is bleeding, but no one can help!!
Why???
It’s simply because our lives are not worth concern!! Martyrs are falling in dozens!! But Muslims don't care!!

Last night, I was surfing the net digging for news about the Israeli terrorist air strike on Gaza,
While doing so, I was also chatting in the Vypress social chatting room which connects the residents of my hostel at the International Islamic University Malaysia..
I was chatting with a Muslim brother; he introduced himself with a weird nick name that I can't even pronounce!
Anyway, we were talking about so many things when I told him that more than 150 - now exceeded 200- innocents were killed in an Israeli raid on Gaza. I told him this, guess what his response was??!!
He said: "I don't care!”. As simple as that he replied. The chat lasted longer when I tried 2 persuade him that he should -at least- care, because it’s human life involved!!

His reply was clear! It defined the feelings of so many Muslims nowadays! They don't care!!
I asked myself after that sad chat, will Muslims ever revive their glory again??!!
I heard a weak sound coming from my heart saying: YES they will!!
While I was enjoying the sweetness of that reply, my mind started questioning my heart. My heart explained: "When we start to care, we will revive our glory!” Inshallah!

A whoring, lying state

2008-12-02T07:23:00.004+08:00

By:
Khalid Amayreh

IOF troops paint over graffiti daubed on the walls of a mosque by Jewish settlers

Israel routinely claims to be “civilized, and democratic.” However, in truth, Israel is neither civilized nor democratic. In fact, one can safely claim that Israel is actually a criminal, barbarian and utterly uncivilized state that lives and thrives on murder, theft and mendacity.

The following observations are an irrefutable proof showing that Israel differs very little from criminal states throughout history, past and present.

Take, for example, the ongoing daily rampages by Jewish thugs, otherwise known as settlers, against Palestinians and their property in the southern West Bank town of Hebron.

On Wednesday, 26 November, dozens of Jewish hoodlums attacked a Palestinian neighborhood in the heart of the southern West Bank town, causing much damage to residents, their homes and cars.

The gravity of this criminal behavior doesn’t stem only from the damage wreaked on innocent people, but rather from the stunning passivity displayed by the Israeli occupation army and the Israeli state in general toward organized Jewish terror.

The latest rampage is only the latest spate of violence by the thugs of Gush Emunim (Bloc of Faithful) against the Palestinians of the city of al-Khalil, or Hebron.

Last week, dozens of settlers attacked, shortly after midnight, the homes, cars and property of Palestinians in the vicinity of the colony of Kiryat Arba. The attackers smashed window glass, car windshields and vandalized property. The thugs also scrawled offensive graffiti on the wall of a local mosque, including the blasphemous graffiti “Muhammed is Pig.”

Unfortunately, very few Jewish religious leaders in Israel or abroad probably with the exception of the anti-Zionist group Naturi Karta, have condemned the sacrilegious acts. Well, Jews shouldn’t think that such virulent behavior is not going to be noticed by Muslims around the world.

The next time Jews complain about anti-Semitism in the Muslim or Arab world, they should be reminded of their despicable silence and indifference toward the anti-Islam behavior of their people in Hebron.

What is even more shocking is the refusal of the Israeli occupation army, which according to international law should protect local Palestinians from settler barbarianism and savagery.

This writer on many occasions witnessed settler thugs beat, stone and even shoot Palestinians while Israeli occupation soldiers were standing passively as if nothing wrong or abnormal was happening.

There is only one explanation and one interpretation of army passivity in this regard. It means coordination, connivance, acquiescence, collusion and coordination.

It means that the Israeli army doesn’t really object to settlers attacking Palestinians and vandalizing their property as long as this behavior doesn’t provoke an international outcry.

In short, Israel is simply sanctioning the organized terror and violence against innocent Palestinians in Hebron.

Doesn’t this remind us of how the Nazi authorities treated anti-Jewish thugs who attacked Jewish property and places of worship in November, 1938?

Yes, it is true, the scope of Jewish violence and terror in Hebron has not yet assumed genocidal proportions.

However, it is also true that even genocides start with relatively minor incidents, very much like what the settlers are doing to innocent Palestinians in Hebron these days.

Furthermore, it is imperative to remember that the thugs of Gush Emunim don’t really differ in substance from the Hitler Youth and other Nazi groups in terms of ideology and racism.

These thugs say openly and unhesitatingly that their goal is to exterminate non-Jews in Palestine or at least expel them, in order to establish a Talmudic Jewish kingdom that would rule according to Halacha or Jewish religious law. Well, a law, religious or otherwise, that advocates extermination, enslavement or collective deportation of an entire people from their homeland must not be hallowed or respected.

Hence, the ideology of Jewish messianic fundamentalism must be isolated and fought relentlessly.

Just imagine if these thugs, who are supported by powerful political parties and nearly 50% of Israeli lawmakers, were to control Israel’s vast nuclear arsenal.

Another stark example of Israeli barbarianism is the recent revelation by the Israeli media that the Israeli occupation army has been carrying out extra-judicial executions of innocent Palestinians.

According to reports published in the Israeli press this week, the Israeli army issued orders allowing soldiers to murder innocent Palestinians in the process of murdering so-called “wanted persons.”

One Israeli soldier was quoted as saying that “we killed innocent Palestinians knowingly and deliberately.”

Of course, none of the murderers has been prosecuted.

This is the state that keeps telling the world that it is the only true democracy in the Middle East and that its conduct is determined by the rule of law.

Well, Nazi Germany, too, followed the rule of law, that is the Nazi rule of law.

Some Zionists, who prefer argumentative prevarication and linguistic sophistry over honesty would claim that Israeli troops, unlike Palestinian guerillas, don’t deliberately target civilians.

But this argument is a big lie, because Israel has murdered thousands of innocent Palestinian civilians, and it is unlikely that all of them were killed by mistake.

Indeed, when mistakes are made every hour, every day, it means deliberate killing of innocent people is official policy.

Besides, when the number of victims is so large, as is the case in Gaza, for example, even intent becomes irrelevant.

Finally, Israeli military courts have lately been passing hefty prison sentences, ranging from 30-55 months, on Palestinian lawmakers affiliated with the Hamas movement.

We are talking about people who committed no misdemeanor or felony or violated any law. Their only “crime” is their decision to participate in the Palestinian general elections which took place in January 2006.

Needless to say, these elections had been okayed by both the United States and Israel, in the hope pro-American groups, such as Fatah, would win, which would allow for the liquidation of the Palestinian cause, especially the paramount right of return.

However, when Hamas won the elections, Israel, in collusion with the US and the PA, arrested nearly all Hamas’s lawmakers, charging them with affiliation with an illegal organization.

So, this is the behavior of the only democracy in the Middle East, a whoring democracy by every shred of imagination.

Bloggers Buff 2008

2008-11-20T00:29:00.005+08:00

By:
Muslim

Months ago, I happened to have my internship somewhere in KL, nearby KLCC. This opportunity not only helped me learn more about my field of study, Communications Engineering, but also pushed me to become a very loyal fan to the Sun newspaper, a brief Malaysian daily paper that tackles Malaysian politics neutrally. The Sun was available in the building I worked at.

Anyway, developing a new habit of reading the Sun almost everyday, even though it’s not easy to find it in my campus, rewarded me the chance to read about Bloggers Buff 2008 – I’m good at reading small-size ads!- The program won my attention and I further checked it's ads online. After viewing the ad on the net I emailed the organizers and I'm going to join it insha'allah.

Bloggers Buff 2008 is going to be held in Putra World Trade Center (PWTC) next SATURDAY 22^nd November 2008… It’s going to be my first experience to meet people as a blogger, the idea sounds interesting.. the program tentative seems interesting as well… It’s good enough to know that Tun Mahathir himself is officiating the program :-P

What makes this program very appealing to me is that Bloggers Buff 2008 is open for experienced as well as new bloggers. the ad said malaysian bloggers –only-, this is what I thought at first. But, after contacting the organizers I was informed that foreigners can join too, at least me, hehe..

the program tentative is shown below...

Thank You “the Sun”!

Muslim4islam: If you don’t stand up for something, you’ll fall for anything… MalcomX.

Sami Yusuf - Hijab Song

2008-11-18T01:27:00.002+08:00

From:
Aah-hanim, youtube & google images.

check out this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dYQutw5L5sw

SAMI YUSUF- FREE lyrics

What goes through your mind?
As you sit there looking at me
Well I can tell from your looks
That you think I’m so oppressed
But I don’t need for you to liberate me

My head is not bare
And you can’t see my covered hair
So you sit there and you stare
And you judge me with your glare
You’re sure I’m in despair
But are you not aware
Under this scarf that I wear
I have feelings, and I do care

CHORUS:
So don’t you see?
That I’m truly free
This piece of scarf on me
I wear so proudly
To preserve my dignity...

My modesty
My integrity
So don’t judge me
Open your eyes and see...
“Why can’t you just accept me?” she says
“Why can’t I just be me?” she says
Time and time again
You speak of democracy
Yet you rob me of my liberty
All I want is equality
Why can’t you just let me be free?

For you I sing this song
My sister, may you always be strong
From you I’ve learnt so much
How you suffer so much
Yet you forgive those who laugh at you
You walk with no fear
Through the insults you hear
Your wish so sincere
That they’d understand you
But before you walk away
This time you turn and say:

But don’t you see?
That I’m truly free
This piece of scarf on me
I wear so proudly
To preserve my dignity
My modesty
My integrity
So let me be
She says with a smile
I’m the one who’s free

Save Palestinian Women!

2008-11-13T04:18:00.000+08:00

By:
MUSLIM

Woman rights have been jeopardized in the past. A sad, but real, example is the debate that has taken place in middle-ages Europe, a debate in which women were not seen by many western philosophers, then, as humans!

As time passes on, women still suffer some massive discrimination! Almost everywhere in the world! BUT, NOT in Israel!! Because, for an Israeli soldier, a Palestinian woman is equally targeted as Palestinian men. They both should be murdered – some Zionist Rabbis believe- no discrimination exists!

Tracing the modern history of occupied Palestine, one can clearly see that the Palestinian woman not only has been a mother or a wife of a martyr or an internee, but also a martyr or an internee herself.

Probably, the first thing that comes to our minds when talking about the agony of Palestinian women are the dozens of martyrs and injured innocents. For instance, hundreds of innocent women were murdered by the Zionist war machine in the late years of the Palestinian uprising (Intifada). Thousands of them were wounded in the same period.

Although our women have been suffering, their struggle can never reach an end soon! this is true because, International Woman Rights Movements throughout the world do not seem to play their role in this struggle.

In fact, it's as simple as this; in order for this struggle to stay alive, substantial International and Islamic Support should see light and reach Palestinian women!

Hopefully one day soon, Western Human and Women Rights Organizations will walk their talk!

August Message

2008-08-02T21:17:00.002+08:00

First of all, I apologize for not posting regularly in this blog lately. We are back to school and assignments never seem to finish. Anyway, I hope this short message will mean something to the respected visitors of this blog.

Our Ummah needs to unite, we all agree on this. So, let’s ask ourselves; how can we contribute to unity of our Muslim Ummah?

Basically, fulfilling this mission starts by uniting Muslims in our surrounding environment. This can be done if we achieve three important elements.

First of all, we should have the fundamental Islamic attributes required to uphold our integrity as Muslims.

Secondly, we must have the courage and motivation to work with others for the goodness of the Ummah.

Thirdly, we should feel the sufferings of our Muslim brothers and sisters around the world. It’s only when we feel their sufferings that we can help.

Last but not least, we must remember that Allah will not change a person until he changes himself. Therefore, let’s start working for unity within our very close surrounding environments.

May Allah shower all of you with His Mercy, wassalam.

Time To Change

2008-07-19T15:08:00.002+08:00

By:

Muslim

we all agree that we belong to a great Ummah that has a glorious heritage and civilization. Let’s ask ourselves asimple questions then. What is the state of our Ummah today? Do we, Muslims, have any value in any international organization? Can Muslims, today, stand for their rights? Can Muslims, today, protect their lands and dignity? What is happening in Iraq, Palestine, Kashmir, Chechnya and other Muslim Lands? Why is all that happening?

These are just a few questions of the many questions we need to ask ourselves in order to picture the current state of our Ummah. A dark sad picture is what we will see. Change is needed, and we are the ones who should play the main role in the process of change.

It is the time when we, Muslims, should be the leaders of change, because the power of change lies in each single one of us. And in order to change, we have to know the roots of the problem, or you can say the problems, we face today.

In fact, the main factors behind our weakness and dependency today can be summarized in the following:

First of all, Lack of Iman. Muslims today are infected by ‘wahn’. This fatal disease was defined by Prophet Muhammad S.A.W. as loving this life and hating the Hereafter! We can easily see this in our daily life. The bonds of Ukhuwah are getting weaker, while, Asabiah and fanaticism are filling our hearts!

The second factor is, certainly, ‘Jahl’ or ignorance, not only ignorance, but complex ignorance. This is where people don’t know and unfortunately, don’t realize that they don’t know! Alas, the Ummah of {Read, in the name of thy Lord and Cherisher}, rarely reads!. This state of ignorance encouraged our enemies to attack us. Shimon Perez, President of the Zionist Entity, said once, “we, Zionists, should never fear Muslims! Because, they simply don’t read, and if they read they don’t understand, and even if they understand, then they don’t act”!
It is so embarrassing to say that his words are, to some extent, very true! It applies to many Muslims nowadays!

Finally, corruption appears to be one of the main causes of our weakness. Corruption at all levels has penetrated almost all aspects of our life. From ethics to politics, everything is affected.

Knowing all this, we should realize how critical our state is, and start thinking how to reform and develop the Ummah. To succeed in our reform, Qur’an and Sunnah should guide all our actions.

We should always bear in mind that we are the leaders of change and we can do a lot for our Ummah. Looking at the bright stars of the past century, we see that Islamic Reformers were able to make a significant difference. Names like Sayyed Qutub, Ahmad Yasin, Al-Maududi, Al-Nadawi, Al-Qaradawi and others, will be recorded on the golden pages of our Ummah’s history. Today, most of these great people are not around, but their heritage will certainly remain to be a guiding beacon for generations to come.

It is time to see new young reformers, who dedicate their whole lives for the sake of Allah and for the Ummah’s best interests.

British Government Apology to the Palestinians

2008-07-08T21:22:00.001+08:00

by:
The Undersigned

To: The Rt Hon Gordon Brown MP, Prime Minister

We, the undersigned, have been shocked with your recent statement where you said that "the creation of the state of Israel was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century" on 8 May 2008. How is Israel one of the greatest achievements of the 20th Century when it is considered by so many people worse than South Africa’s Apartheid. As you know, being a historian and politician, the establishment of Israel led for example to the catastrophe Nakhbah of the Palestinians! 6 wars! 6 million refugees! 3 million under occupation! 1,5 million abducted-hostages! 254 km of an Apartheid-Wall! 562 humiliating-check-points! 20,000 political-prisoners! 468,831 new settlers on occupied land!

It is time the British Government apologies to the Palestinians for the role it played in the 20th century which led to the disappearance of Palestine! Denial of any human-rights; any national-rights; any historical-rights; any political-rights; any religious rights to the Palestinians! and for 60 years of their constant suffering, misery, deprivation, massacres, and ethnic-cleansing!

Sincerely,
The Undersigned
click on the following link to sign:
http://www.PetitionOnline.com/GBrown/

Stress Management

2008-06-29T17:51:00.002+08:00

By:
Gina Kutty

A lecturer, when explaining stress management to an audience, raised a glass of water and asked, 'How heavy is this glass of water?' Answers called out ranged from four ounces up to twelve. The lecturer replied, 'The absolute weight doesn't matter. It depends on how long you try to hold it.

"'If I hold it for a minute, it's not a problem. If I hold it for an hour, I'll have an ache in my right arm. If I hold it for a day, you'll have to call an ambulance. In each case, it's the same weight, but the longer I hold it, the heavier it becomes.'

He continued, "And that's the way it is with stress management. If we carry our burdens all the time, sooner or later, as the burden becomes increasingly heavy, we won't be able to carry on. As with the glass of water, you have to put it down for a while and rest before holding it again. When we're refreshed, we can carry on with the burden, if we feel we must.

"'So, before you return home tonight, put the burden of work down. Don't carry it home. You can pick it up tomorrow. Whatever burdens you're carrying now, let them down for a moment. Relax. Pick them up later after you've rested.'"

Life was never meant to be a burden to be carried, but a current of grace designed to carry us. Unfortunately, it cannot lift us up if we insist on taking the weight of the world with us everywhere we go. So you see, in many ways, putting the burden down is not only an essential key to stress management, it is also a major key to mental weight control.

The Motivating counter

2008-06-25T22:59:00.001+08:00

By:

Muslim

Few weeks ago, I had some doubts about the efficiency of having this blog. I told myself, I was just wasting my time writing those articles for myself! I thought only me and my brother were the only visitors. Fortunately, a good idea crossed my mind. I said to myself, why not count the visitors and decide on whether to continue posting new threads or not. Therefore, I added what they call a COUNTER!

In fact, I had to search the web and try learning about some computer stuff, with which I’m not a good friend, in order to add the counter. Alhamdulillah, after some trials I managed to add it!

Apparently, I realized that I’m having visitors. It really motivated me to know that people do visit this blog. Even if that visit was by coincidence!

Hence, from now on, I promise to give some more effort to develop this page as much as possible insha’llah.

Finally, I really appreciate your support and enthusiasm my dear visitors.

THANKS FOR YOUR VISIT

What Does The Muslim World Need Most These Days?

2008-06-10T11:35:00.003+08:00

By:
MUSLIM

Few weeks ago, I posted a poll on the main need of the Muslim world nowadays. The votes I saw were very interesting, yet expected. Most voters acknowledged our need for religious awareness, as could be seen in the attached figure. I myself had another say, I voted for the economic development.

Certainly, I don't underestimate the role of Islamic awareness in reviving this Ummah and supporting the Muslim World. But, don't you all think that when a Muslim man has no bread to eat, nor water to drink, he won't even be alive to worship his God !

Muslims have always been patient. In fact, we teach patience to our children. Arabs have a proverb that says: "Bravery is one hour of patience". However, patience is not the only cure!

When we saw Egyptian soldiers being used by the new Pharaoh to bake bread for the public, while, their Pharaoh is enjoying their welfare in his palace, what would we vote then?! No one will argue the importance of religious awareness. Yet, many would still hesitate to point to the real reason of our backwardness and weakness. It's political tyranny!

Few days back, some Tunisian citizens were shot to death, by their security forces. Why did this happen? It's just because those innocent citizens thought they live in the 21st century! They forgot that their tyrant was allegedly voted 94.94% in last general elections! Those Tunisians were demonstrating for bread and rice, they got fire and bullets instead!

Tyranny is why we will never rise in the meantime! Imam Ibnu Taymeya, may Allah be pleased with him, said:"Allah will grant victory to the just infidel state over the unjust Muslim state".
So this is what we really need, JUSTICE!

.

Mahathir's Resignation: Peoples' Say!

2008-05-29T22:12:00.003+08:00

By:

MuslimUsually, a blogger writes then visitors comment. This time, we'll changes positions. People write and I will comment later Insha'allah.

How Do You See Mahathir's Decision To Quit UMNO?

all are welcome to contribute.

Israel 'committing memorycide'

2008-05-26T15:00:00.002+08:00

By: Aljazeera

As part of Al Jazeera's coverage of the anniversary of the creation of Israel and the Palestinian 'Nakba', Israeli historian Ilan Pappe reflects upon the events of 1948 and how they led to 60 years of division between the Israelis and Palestinians.
Between February, 1948 and December,1948 the Israeli army systematically occupied the Palestinian villages and towns, expelled by force the population and in most cases also destroyed the houses, looted their belongings and took over their material and cultural possessions. This was the ethnic cleansing of Palestine.
During the ethnic cleansing, wherever there was resistance by the population the result was a massacre. We have more than 30 cases of such massacres where a few thousand Palestinians were massacred by the Israeli forces throughout the operation of the ethnic cleansing.
Pappe says the Israeli army systematicallyforced Palestinians from their homesThe Israeli army became a bit tired toward the end of the operation and the Palestinian villages became more aware of what was awaiting them and therefore in the Upper Galilee the Israeli army did not succeed in expelling all of the villages. This is why today we have what we call the Arab-Israelis or Israeli-Arabs.
This is a group of 50 to 60 villages that remained within the state of Israel and its population was steadfast and was not expelled over to the other side of the border - to Lebanon or Syria.
The international community was aware of the ethnic cleansing but the international community, especially in the West, decided not to confront head on the Jewish community in Palestine after the Holocaust.
And, therefore, there was a kind of conspiracy of silence and again the international community did not react and was complacent and this was very important for the Israelis because it showed them that they can adopt as a state ideology ethnic cleansing and ethnic purity.
Erasing history
Part of any ethnic cleansing operation is not just wiping out the population and expelling it from the earth. A very typical part of ethnic cleansing is wiping people out of history.
For ethnic cleansing to be an effective and successful operation you also have to wipe people out of memory and the Israelis are very good at it. They did it in two ways.
They built Jewish settlements over the Palestinian villages they expelled and quite often gave them names that reflected the Palestinian name as a kind of testimony to the Palestinians that this is totally now in the hands of Israel and there is no chance in the world of bringing the clock backwards.
Pappe says many former Palestinian villageswere turned into recreational spacesThe other way they did it is planting trees - usually European pine trees - over the ruins of the village and turning the village into recreational spaces where you do exactly the opposite of commemoration - you live the day, you enjoy life, it is all about leisure and pleasure.
That is a very powerful tool for 'memorycide'. In fact, much of the Palestinian effort should have been but was never unfortunately - or only recently began - was to fight against that 'memorycide' by at least bringing back the memory of what happened.
I think that there should be no reason in the world that two people - the Palestinians and the Jews - despite everything that happened in the past should not be able live together effective and in one state.
You need three things for that to happen. You need closure for the 1948 story - namely you need an Israeli acknowledgment of the crime it committed against the Palestinian people.
The second thing that you need is you need to make Israel accountable for this and the only way of making Israel accountable is by, at least in principle, accepting the Palestinian refugees right of return.
And thirdly you need a change in the Palestinian and Arab position towards the idea of a Jewish presence in Palestine as something legitimate and natural and not as an alien colonialist force.
I think these principles have to emerge and so far the political elites on both sides are unwilling to accept them.

The views expressed by the author are not necessarily those of Al Jazeera nor muslim4islam.

Will Obama Make It To The White House?

2008-05-21T16:05:00.002+08:00

It seems people just like this man. Non-Americans of course.
With few more weeks left for the Democratic Party final decision on who to nominate, Americans seem to be confused on whom to choose. Hillary, the lady who, most probably, will carry on with her husbands' policies. Or, Obama, the man with the new strategies and foreign policies.

Well, to us, non-Americans both sides are not so different. I might be a bit optimistic and say Obama is different. I believe this man has something to say regarding America's crimes worldwide. Since the first day he came into politics, he has been talking about a new America. A superpower that does not suck the third world oil like what is happening now. He has been talking about a superpower that does not hate the world! a superpower that will negotiate with others, not attack their lands!

Well, whether I agree with him that U.S. must be a superpower or not, I think he is offering something different.

In fact, if the U.S. treats other nations with respect, no one on earth will think about attacking the U.S. But, so far, Bush and the past American leaders have not given others a chance to think.
America has always been committing crimes. Not only in Iraq and Afghanistan which they still occupy. But also in Vietnam, Hiroshima & Nagasaki and many other parts of the world.
In fact, Guantanamo Evil Prison is a clear evidence that the U.S. still continues to commit international crimes, crimes of a very high scale!

I believe, time has come for all Americans to think wisely before choosing their president. The world is sick of America's arrogance. So, please my dear American brothers and sisters, choose the right one. Choose a leader who will respect others. Who will treat other nations with diplomacy, not weapons of mass destruction!

With respect to this topic, the blog administration has conducted a one week poll that explored the views of the blog's visitors, whom are mostly non-Americans. The results are shown above.

Finally, we ask the same question again. Will Obama make it to the White House?

The Palestinian NAKBAH: 60 Years of Agony!

2008-05-14T09:57:00.003+08:00

By:
MusliM

Today, Palestinians remember their grief over the loss of Palestine. On this day, sixty years ago, the satanic state of Israel was declared. a million Palestinian were expelled out of their homeland to become refugees.

It should be known that the establishment of Israel could never happen without the murder of thousands of Palestinian innocents.

Today, the number of Palestinian refugees accounts up to 7 millions, or more.

When will the day come for theses million to go back home?!

This thread is open for your contribution in remembrance of our stolen dream, our homeland, Palestine.

Thanks

2008-05-10T23:15:00.004+08:00

By:
muslim

Dear all,

I would like to extend my thanks to all of you, visitors of this blog, for your continuous support. I thank you also for participating in the latest poll on the blog's contents. Alhamdulillah, thanks to Allah, most of you seem comfortable with the contents and its coverage.

I hope, I will be able to update it from time to time. The results of the poll were as seen in the figure above.

Thanks again :)

Myanmar Hurricane!

2008-05-07T10:50:00.002+08:00

By:
muslim

On behalf of the administration of this blog, I would like to extend our heart-felt sympathy with our brothers and sisters in Myanmar, who were affected by the disastrous hurricane this week.
I pray that this be the last casualty that hits the innocents around the globe.

In fact, this is a bold lesson for those evil oppressors around the world, to stop their crimes and think wisely.
It's a lesson for Bush and people like him!
It's a lesson for everybody!

Haneyya: Muslims and Christians are one people sharing the same pain

2008-05-04T23:04:00.001+08:00

By:
PIC&Ikhwanweb - Gaza, Palestine

Friday, May 2, 2008

Ismail Haneyya, the premier of the PA caretaker government, stated during his meeting Wednesday with patriach Michel Sabbah and a high-level church delegation that Muslims and Christians in Palestine are one people with the same hopes, suffer the same pain and share the same aspirations and common destiny.

Haneyya also highlighted that his government would not allow anyone to come between or disturb the brotherhood of Christian and Muslim Palestinians.

In a press statement received by the PIC, Haneyya"s office reported that extensive discussions on a number of important issues in the Palestinian arena took place during the meeting especially the efforts made to end the state of internal division and the issues that concern the Palestinian Christians.

Patriarch Sabbah expressed his hope that the internal discord in the Palestinian arena would come to an end, calling on Hamas and Fatah factions to focus on the elements of unity and not on points of discord.

For his part, the premier renewed his affirmation that the Yemeni initiative is viable as a framework for dialog to end the crisis, asking the patriarch to urge PA chief Mahmoud Abbas to come to Gaza to discuss all issues on one table.

CORRECTION!

2008-05-03T18:45:00.002+08:00

By:
muslim

Out of courage and enthusiasm in supporting the Egyptian public strike on 4/5/2008, I mistook the day. Therefore I apologize to the visitors and friends of my blog. I also promise to continue writing with justice and courteousness at all times. Thanks to my Egyptian brother for pointing out this typing mistake.

GOD BLESS EGYPT and the whole Muslim World.

.

Rats are treated with more humanity!

2008-05-02T15:13:00.003+08:00

By:
muslim

“Rats are treated with more humanity!” These were the words of Sami al-hajj, aljazeera cameraman, moments after being freed from the American-made hell in Guantanamo Bay!
The man, who spent more than 6 years in that evil prison, did not hesitate to speak up for his fellow friends in that prison. He could just celebrate his freedom with family and friends, and continue his life peacefully!
Sami spoke up! With the dignity of an Arab, he couldn’t forget those years of insult!
Was it because he is a Muslim, he had to face years of humiliation. Or it could be because he is an Arab? Or maybe because he is an African! All reasons show America’s real face! A regime filled with racism and arrogance, that’s the real face of Bush’s administration.
Sami was finally released. But, about 275 of his mates are still behind the bars! Sami had people to back his freedom. But, many others don’t have!

When the freedom of one man is very difficult to achieve, this means something is wrong! Unfortunately, many things are wrong these days!

America, world’s number one democracy is demonstrating the true face of its democracy! Just like Aristotle’s democracy; value the voice of your people only. Never others!

I ask myself now, is the west falling in the same mistake again? Thinking they are worth respect while others are not! When Plato spoke on his Ideal Republic, he spoke as if Greeks were the only living humans on earth! And now, when Americans practice democracy, the practice it on their people only!

I don’t hate the West. And I’m not into such sick ideas like the Conflict of Civilizations or the Conspiracy Theory. I’m just reading their history. And every time I try to see the good face of the Western Civilization. I see an unjust and racist one!

For God’s sake, why?!

Habib: Muslim Brotherhood Stance on May 4 Strike Has no Relation to Military Verdicts

2008-05-02T12:46:00.003+08:00

By:
IkhwanWeb - Cairo, Egypt

In a statement to Ikhwanweb, Mohamed Habib (first deputy-chairman of the Muslim Brotherhood) denied any relation between the harsh military tribunal verdicts against MB leaderships and the movement’s decision to join the call for May 4 strike.
He stated that the decision is based on careful examination of the situation on the ground, which necessitates training people on peaceful protests in an organized way, and enhancing the culture of protest among them which is no longer a taboo.
The MB endorsed May 4 strike because of the deepening economic and political crises in Egypt and because the regime turns a blind eye to all reform calls, Habib said.
“We reacted positively to this call in an attempt to exert pressure on the government to address people’s demands concerning low incomes, bread crises, and price hikes,” he added.

Anwar is Back!

2008-04-30T14:49:00.003+08:00

By:
muslim

About a month ago, politicians and journalists reported that a political Tsunami struck Malaysian politics, for the first time ever. The outcome of the Malaysian 12th general election was never expected. BN was denied the two-third majority for the first time in history. To many, this was not just a Tsunami, because a Tsunami will always have an end.

Yesterday, Anwar Ibrahim, the man behind the opposition’s stunning performance in the last elections, made history again! Anwar was back in parliament after 10 years of being away. This time he was there as the spouse of the opposition leader, Datin Dr. Wan Azizah, not as a lawmaker himself. This doesn’t deny the fact that he is back!

Today, Malaysian newspapers highlighted Anwar’s return. Some with Anwar’s face on the front page, like the Sun, and others with so many articles related. The common thing is that Anwar’s presence in parliament sent a message to all Malaysian politicians. The difference lies in interpreting this message!

The man, who was once celebrated as Asia’s most influential man ten years ago, is back to lead!

I remember discussing Anwar’s political future with some friends about four years ago. All agreed his career as a politician was over. Our conclusion proved wrong though. One day after another, Anwar is gaining more power.

The moral of this story is that, nothing can stop a man from achieving his goals. Except death of course! Truly, if there is a will, there is a way! Ways, indeed.

So, will Anwar achieve his goals?

CNN: Cheating News Narration

2008-04-29T15:57:00.002+08:00

By:

muslim

One would be surprised to see or hear devils talk. Many don’t even believe devils exist. Today, one devil spoke. Certainly, many watched that devil justifying other devils' crimes!

When media speaks on behalf of the devil, CNN takes the lead. This morning, while I was surfing the internet, reading about the innocent Palestinian family that was murdered yesterday in a satanic Israeli tank attack, I stopped by the CNN website.

CNN, the same TV channel that made history and broke all records during the last war on Iraq. They broke records in the number of lies and fabricated stories one media could ever tell!
Today the very same channel, CNN, posted a shy headline about the latest Israeli crime in Gaza. The title was:

Mideast violence kills mother, 4 children.
The violence killed those innocents! Isn’t this a joke?!

Although the headline is so misleading, it feels so neutral when compared to the contents of the article. The article is no more than an official statement released by the Israeli Army. What a silly joke!
Israeli so-called Defense Forces bombarded a small house in a purely housing area in Gaza causing the death of one whole family! The family was murdered while they were having their breakfast.

Honestly, I have never trusted the CNN. Not because it’s an American channel. But, because of the extremely bulk amount of misleading news it broadcasts.

Luckily, we have Aljazeera nowadays. Otherwise, we would be condemning Arabs for their uselessness!

Arabic Language: Kill or Cure?!

2008-04-28T12:52:00.000+08:00

By:
Muslim

Hundreds of years ago, thousands of European and Asian students pilgrimaged Baghdad, Damascus and other Muslim mega cities of the Islamic Golden Era. Basically, they had to learn Arabic language to gain from the main sources of knowledge those days i.e. Arabic Libraries. What brought this fascinating scenery to my mind today was an email I received from the editor of the Arabic version of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Few weeks back, I was practicing my best hobby, surfing Wikipedia.com pages. I happened to read that the Arabic version of Wikipedia contains about 57,000+ articles only! This was a big shock to me!

The English version celebrated lately, a collection of more than 2,000,000 articles. However, this was not the reason of my shock! What shocked me most was the note that the Hebrew version of Wikipedia.com contained more than 75,000+ articles. This prompted me to email the Arabic version editors to ask about the issue. Well, to me, it’s an issue. A big one actually!

Another shock came in when I knew that Wikipedia Arabic has more editors than the Hebrew one! Thank God all these shocks haven’t come all at a time! else I won't be typing these words now!

What on earth is wrong with us? What’s wrong with Arabs? We are more than 22 states, with over 300,000,000 in population, and yet, we can’t beat others even in this one! Writing articles!

I happened to hear once that the amount of annual book publication in the Arab World is about the same amount of publications in Spain alone!

Honestly, I pray this info is wrong!

Is Muslim Brotherhood Mubarak’s Real Fear

2008-04-28T10:17:00.000+08:00

By:
Fred Stopsky , Theimpudentobserver.com - United States

The recent elections in Egypt were marked by pressure exerted upon candidates who ran as members of the Muslim Brotherhood. In 2005, Brotherhood candidates who ran as independents were able to secure about 20% of the votes. The organization is barred and more than 800 of its members were arrested prior to the April 8 election. According to the Brotherhood’s Deputy Chairman, Momhammed Habib, “it looks like the ruling National Democratic Party is not able to compete fairly with the Muslim Brotherhood” and they panicked when they saw the results of the 2005 election. Originally, the MB hoped to field 10,000 candidates in the elections that were held two weeks ago, but only 21 made it onto the ballot papers.

Mubarak is making the same mistakes that were made by the Shah of Iran before he was overthown by Islamic clerics. Mubarak is relying on force, intimidation, and terror rather than focucing on creating a vibrant economy that offers jobs and security to the population. Thousands of well educated Egyptians leave their nation each year in search of decent jobs, this results in robbing the economy of the talents of those who might be able to stimulate economic develoment.

Where does the United States stand in regard to the disastrous policies of President Mubarak? America supplies him with money, but the money rarely results in economic development or the creation of first class education that could allow Egyptians opportunities to rise from poverty. The end result is always the same– a revolution that brings forth radical elements into power.