Mayhem in Gaza

Israel, United States united with Fatah terrorizing the Palestinian populace?


'Kind of interesting that Abbas received recently 20 million American dollars or that the United States military has been training Fatah in Egypt, then Israel letting them over the boarder to create havoc towards their fellow countryman.'

When will it end?

US evangelist Falwell dies

Falwell was a leading member of the Christian right in the US [AFP]

May 16, 2007

Jerry Falwell, a controversial US evangelist and leading member of the country's Christian right, has died, his assistant said.

The 73-year-old founder of the Moral Majority group was found unconscious in his Lynchburg, Virginia office on Tuesday and was taken to a nearby hospital.

He had a history of congestive heart problems.

"That is true, it's over," said Duke Westover, Falwell's assistant, when asked about his death.

A familiar face on the 'televangelist' circuit, Falwell's views on a range of social issues placed him on the far right of the American political spectrum.

Under the banner of his Moral Majority group, Falwell campaigned against abortion, homosexuality and feminism, as well as other issues that conflicted with fundamentalist Christian beliefs.

He became infamous for making inflammatory statements against blacks, Muslims, Jews, and civil and women's rights activists.

His alliance with Republican conservatives was instrumental in helping elect Ronald Reagan to the US presidency twice in the 1980s.

He stepped down as president of the Moral Majority in 1987.

Source

Death toll continues to rise in Gaza: 37 since Sunday

May 16, 2007

Gaza - (Ma'an) The death toll on Wednesday continues to rise. Palestinian medical sources have confirmed seven more deaths in the Tel Hawa district of west Gaza City as a result of the ongoing Fatah-Hamas clashes.

This brings the death toll as a result of inter-Palestinian fighting to 37 since Sunday morning.

The 12th truce brokered between the feuding factions of Hamas and Fatah since December collapsed at dawn on Wednesday when gunmen besieged the house of the Palestinian domestic security chief, Rashid Abu Shbak, in the west of Gaza City, killing four of his guards.

Over 100 Palestinians have been injured as a result of these most recent factional clashes in Gaza.

Five Executive Force members killed

The director of the Palestinian Preventive Security force, Yousef Issa, reported that five Executive Force members opened fire at the residential neighbourhood where he lives on Wednesday afternoon. Issa added that the Preventive Security forces arrested the five EF members but while they were being transferred to a car belonging to the Preventive Security, Hamas gunmen opened fire at the car, killing their own men in addition to two members of the Preventive Security service.

Meanwhile, an EF spokesman denied the report and accused the Preventive Security of executing the five EF members.

The bodies of the five EF members were taken to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City while those of the Preventive Security forces were sent to Al-Quds Hospital also in Gaza City.

Later, the residential building was set ablaze and several apartments were burnt. Residents of the building reported that house to house search is conducted in the building where several Fatah leaders live.

Dawn attack on domestic security chief's house

At dawn on Wednesday, armed men surrounded Abu Shbak's house in the Tel Hawa district of the city and fired grenades. Palestinian medical sources confirmed that four guards were killed by the gunmen's bullets, naming Hamada Abd Rabbo and Ahmad Hameida as two of the dead. In addition, eight other Palestinians were injured.

The medical sources added that Abu Shbak's guards managed to evacuate Abu Shbak's wife and children and transfer them to a safe location before the attack.

Fatah spokesman, Abdul-Hakim Awad, accused members of the Hamas loyalist Executive Force of "slaughtering" Abu Shbak's guards.

Clashes prevent medical assistance

Armed clashes are continuing on Wednesday morning in more than one location across the strip. Particularly fierce clashes have been reported in the Tuffah and Tel Hawa districts of Gaza City. Shots have also been fired at the Egyptian delegation which brokered this most recent, short-lived ceasefire; nobody was injured.

Violent clashes, in which shots were being fired from all directions, have also prevented ambulances from reaching the injured.

Gunmen also opened fire on Wednesday at a car belonging to the Palestinian medical relief services, resulting in the serious injury of a female nurse, Zahr Shubat who received a bullet to the head.

The Palestinian ministry of health announced on Tuesday it was on alert in all hospitals and medical centres in the Gaza Strip. The minister of health, Radwan Al-Akhras, who is currently in Geneva, Switzerland, called for an emergency meeting in order to discuss the latest developments resulting from the current chaos, and the large number of victims of the inter-factional fighting.

The meeting was held by video conference in the ministry's headquarters in Gaza and the West Bank. The minister participated from Geneva. The central emergency room demanded that all security services and armed men cooperate and facilitate the passage of ambulances and medical staff throughout the Gaza Strip in order that they may carry out their jobs without jeopardizing any lives.

Meanwhile, the residents of An-Noor tower, a residential building near the old Palestinian interior ministry in the Tel Hawa district of Gaza City, have appealed to the clashing gunmen to cease fire so that residents who have been injured during the ongoing clashes in the area can be evacuated.

A resident of the building said that all the residents gathered in the ground floor after shells hit several apartments causing injuries. He called for the fighting to cease until women and children can be transferred to a safe shelter.

Palestinian medical sources announced on Wednesday morning that Hassan Sweidan, a member of the Palestinian preventive security service, had been shot dead by a sniper near the An-Noor tower in Gaza City.

Palestinian medical sources also announced the death of another member of the preventive security service, Mahir Radi, 37, near the An-Noor towers in Gaza City, on Wednesday morning.

Other Fatah leaders targeted

A member of Palestinian President Abbas' presidential guards, known as Force 17, was also killed on Tuesday night near the headquarters of the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, UNRWA, in Gaza City.

There was another attack on the house of Samir Mashrawi, another Fatah leader, but it was stopped before any injuries or casualties resulted. Eyewitnesses reported that Hamas members besieged Mashrawi's house for several hours and demanded the residents of the neighbouring houses to evacuate.

Ceasefire

The new ceasefire agreement, reached on Tuesday night through mediation by the Egyptian security delegation in Gaza City, had called for hostilities to cease at 12 o'clock midnight. All checkpoints in the streets of Gaza were to be removed, all armed men were to withdraw from the streets and all abductees, taken from both sides, were to be exchanged.

At the time, the chief of the Egyptian delegation, Maj. Gen. Burhan Hamad, expressed optimism for the agreement between Fatah and Hamas. Maj. Gen. Hamad also assured he had formed a committee to ensure the implementation of the agreement including representatives from the presidency, the government and the Egyptian delegation.

By Tuesday at midnight, 16 Palestinians had been killed; the latest was a member of Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam Brigades, called Isam Al-Juju, and an 18-year-old Palestinian youth. Some sixty Palestinians were reported to be injured.

'Dangerous escalation'

The Fatah movement condemned the attack on Abu Shbak's home on Wednesday morning. A statement issued by Fatah in the northern Gaza Strip said, "Hamas has burned all the vessels and amputated all the hands extended to get the Palestinian people through this bloody cycle of violence."

The statement called on Fatah members at all levels to prepare for all possible options "to respond to these atrocities in accordance with this dangerous escalation."

The statement added, "No sooner has the ink of the last of many written agreements with Hamas dried than the mob members of the Executive Force and the [Hamas military wing] Al-Qassam wrote another document, but with the blood of six martyrs who were assassinated in an ambush.

"They broke into the home of the resistance struggler, Major General Rashid Abu Shbak, the director of domestic security. This was a dangerous escalation, which came simultaneously with the targeting of the home of Samir Mashharawi and Mahir Miqdad. This has confirmed that this group who went astray has reached an unprecedented level."

Iraq's Security Plan

Another sinking like the Titanic, wonder, how many more?

A Disgrace to a Beloved Mouse

Since Farfour is being equated with the American Mickey Mouse, I thought I would show the American icon by Walt Disney, a man that that even a generation or so after his passing; is still loved by children to adults all over the world.

Myself, I could not see an exact comparison with Farfour to Mickey Mouse, I am still wondering what Walt would say to all of this; contradictory to all the hateful responses, of those who intend to keep attacking the Palestinian people and the Islamic world?

Their will only be one Mickey Mouse and Farfour is not him.

Furthermore, at one time I was an honorary member of the Mickey Mouse club and to slander Mickey Mouse in any manner with this so called "War on Islam," is a disgrace to this very beloved mouse.

After all these years, I still thank Walt Disney for the creation of this very beloved mouse named, Mickey.

Original Mickey Mouse Club

Here's the Theme to Mickey Mouse Clubhouse on Disney Channel

Mickey Mouse - The One and Only

A Mickey Mouse Tribute Music Video, "The One and Only" by Chesney Hawks

"The Pioneer’s of Tomorrow," No Refugee's Allowed for Off the Air

Now dubbed the Islamic Mickey Mouse, returned to the air ways on Friday, May 11.

A spokesman from Al Aqsa TV stated that they will not remove this child program from the air.

The vicious attack through the Zionist and American's, will not detour freedom of speech for the Palestinian people.

The program has been accused of Islamic supremacy, to hatred and any other old cliché’s that is typical of any hateful attacks against the Palestinian people. These attacker’s did not wish to take into account that the importance of love, freedom and peace and knowledge is the core teaching’s of this program.

Nor that children in this region is living in one of the most horrific situation’s and so far has not seen any relief of normality that is being faced by those who are attacking them, even towards a simple children’s program.

What makes this program unique on like the Israeli/Palestinian (Fatah) program that so recently returned to the air after it was pulled earlier for lack of fund’s, there is no ties to Israel or the American’s with this program.

The program can be seen every friday at 4 p.m. occupied Jerusalem time.

"Welcome to Israel" Read the Sign Outside the Airport

Laila El-Haddad and her son Yusuf (From her Web Site,)

The Easiest Targets: The Israeli Policy of Strip Searching Women and Children

13-minute video: Five women – Palestinian, American, Muslim, Christian, and Jewish – tell stories of humiliation and harassment by Israeli border guards and airport security officials.

Video

Humiliation and Child Abuse at Israeli Checkpoints
Strip-Searching Children

March 15, 2007

By ALISON WEIR

Israeli officials have been regularly strip-searching children for decades, some of them American citizens.

While organizations that focus on Israel-Palestine have long been aware that Israeli border officials regularly strip search men and women, If Americans Knew appears to be the first organization that has specifically investigated the policy of strip searching women. In the course of its investigation, If Americans Knew was astonished to learn that Israeli officials have also been strip searching young girls as young as seven and below.

According to interviews with women in the United States, Israel, the West Bank and Gaza, Israeli border officials periodically force Christian and Muslim females of all ages to remove their clothing and submit to searches. In some cases the children are then "felt" by Israeli officials.

Sometimes mothers and children are strip-searched together, at other times little girls are taken from their parents and strip-searched alone. Women are required to remove sanitary napkins, sometimes with small daughters at their side. Sometimes women are strip searched in the presence of their young sons.

All report deep feelings of humiliation. Many describe weeping at the degradation they felt.

"I remember crying and pleading with my mother," Gaza journalist Laila El-Haddad recalls of an experience when she was 12-years-old, hoping that her mother could convince the Israeli official to allow her to keep her undershirt on. But parents are unable to shield their children, El-Haddad and others report.

"They had machine guns," El-Haddad explains. "We just had to submit." El-Haddad, who holds a Masters degree in Public Policy from Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, believes that the intention of the strip searches is to humiliate Palestinians so that they won't return to Palestine.

Oregon attorney Hala Gores remembers being strip-searched at the age of 10. Her family, Palestinian Christians from Nazareth, were leaving Israel because of Israeli discrimination against Christians. Gores has never returned to her family's ancestral home in Nazareth, she says, in part because she does not want to repeat the experience of having no control over what is done to her.

The Israeli policy appears to target only Christian and Muslim children, and is equally applied to those with Israeli citizenship and citizenship in other countries, including native-born Americans. There are no reports of Jewish children being strip-searched.

New Jersey stand-up comedian Maysoon Zayid describes being strip-searched at Ben Gurion Airport when she was "seven, eight, nine years old" on family trips to visit her parents' original home in Palestine. On her most recent trip in July 2006, Maysoon, an American citizen, had her sanitary pad taken by officials in Ben Gurion Airport. When the search was completed, she says, the Israeli official in charge, Inbal Sharon, then refused to return her pad or allow her to get another.

Zayid, who has cerebral palsy and was sitting in a wheelchair, was then forced to bleed publicly for hours while she waited for her flight.

Zayid, a former class president and yearbook editor at New Jersey's Cliffside Park High School known for her irreverent comedy routines and strong personality, describes sobbing uncontrollably. "No one spoke up," she remembers. "There were several women, including the woman who was pushing my wheelchair, none of whom said a word."

When she boarded her flight, Zayid recalls, "The flight attendants looked at me in disgust." She told them what had happened, and the attendants then gave her some of their own clothing to use.

In addition to taking her sanitary napkin, Israeli officials also confiscated medication that Zayid is required to take when flying. As a result, she vomited repeatedly throughout the 12-hour flight.

Zayid, who founded a program for newly disabled Palestinian youths ­ many of them permanently disabled from attacks by Israeli forces ­ was so depressed by her treatment that she determined never to return. "But that's what they want," she says, "They want us to get to the point where we don't go back." She says that she is already planning to return to her volunteer work in the West Bank.

Israeli practices vary and seem to be applied randomly, from elderly women to small children. In some instances women are taken into a room alone and are left sitting naked for hours. At other times they are strip-searched in groups, their clothes thrown in a pile. When they are finally allowed to get dressed, they describe having to rummage through the heap of clothing, naked and barefoot, to find their own garments.

Jewish Holocaust Survivor

While these policies largely target Palestinian and Palestinian-American women and children, some non-Palestinian Americans also report being subjected to strip searches by Israeli officials.

St. Louis resident Hedy Epstein, whose parents and extended family perished in Nazi camps, and whose story is featured in the Academy Award winning documentary "Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport," reports being strip searched three years ago following her participation in nonviolent protests in the West Bank. Epstein, who was 79 at the time, describes being forced to bend over for an Israeli official to search her internally.

The strip searches appear to be illegal under numerous statutes. The Geneva Conventions, to which Israel is a signatory, prohibit: "Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment" and specifically emphasize: "Women shall be especially protected against any attack on their honour"

Article 2 of the Convention on the Rights of the Child states: "No child shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his or her privacy"

In the US, such policies would appear to violate child abuse statutes. The state of Utah, for example, defines Child Abuse as: "Any form of cruelty to a child's physical, moral or mental well-being." The Encarta Encyclopedia defines child abuse as "Intentional acts that result in physical or emotional harm to children."

While the If Americans Knew investigation focused on practices concerning women, many interviewees reported frequent random strip-searching of males as well; including American citizens, children, and the elderly.

While the practice is widely applied, many people find it too humiliating to speak of. One 68-year-old Christian businessman, who had been stripped naked at Ben Gurion airport in 2006 before being allowed to board his flight to return home, had never revealed his experience to his family until he learned of the If Americans Knew investigation. He then explained to his daughter why he had previously told her that he might never return to his original home, now in the state of Israel.

Christians, a thriving community that made up approximately 15 percent of Palestine's population before Zionist immigration and the creation of Israel (Muslims were 80 percent and Jews 5 percent), have now dwindled under Israeli occupation to approximately two percent of the total population.

Israeli spokespeople and sympathizers have bristled in recent months at the title of a book by former President Jimmy Carter, "Palestine Peace Not Apartheid." In reply, Carter has emphasized that the Israeli "apartheid" he is describing is limited to the West Bank and Gaza. Many analysts have disagreed with Carter, providing evidence of pervasive discrimination within Israel itself. The If Americans Knew finding that Israel has been routinely strip-searching non-Jewish citizens of Israel would also indicate a wider policy of Israeli discrimination.

Since American taxpayers give Israel over $8 million per day, the Council for the National Interest, a Washington DC-based lobbying organization, is organizing a campaign to call on Congress to demand that Israel end these policies.

"We are extremely upset to learn that Israel is using American tax money in ways that degrade and humiliate women and children," says CNI President Eugene Bird. "We call on all Americans to help us on this campaign."

The organization urges people to begin contacting their Congressional representatives immediately, and to disseminate the video report by If Americans Knew as widely as possible.

Alison Weir is executive director of If Americans Knew.

U. S. and Russia with Strained Ties Attempting to Ease Rhetoric

U.S., Russians, agree to ease rhetoric

May 15, 2007

Russian President Vladimir Putin chairs a Cabinet meeting in the Kremlin in Moscow, Monday, May 14, 2007. (AP Photo/RIA Novosti, Presidential Press Service, Vladimir Rodionov)

By MATTHEW LEE, Associated Press Writer

MOSCOW -Russia and the United States have agreed to moderate their rhetoric in a bid to improve strained ties, Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov and Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said Tuesday after Rice met with President Vladimir Putin.

Rice said recent comments by Putin and other Russians had not been "helpful" to relations and had obscured positive developments and cooperation on a wide range of issues.

"We did talk about the need to keep the temperature down," she said after seeing Putin in an effort to calm rising tensions between the former Cold War enemies.

She described some remarks as "overheated rhetoric," while accepting a Russian explanation that Putin's recent reference in a speech to Nazi Germany, widely perceived as criticism of the United States, was not intended to slight the Bush administration.

"I have said while I am here that the rhetoric is not helpful," Rice told reporters. "It is disturbing to Americans who are trying to do our best to maintain an even relationship."

"We are going to have our differences, there is no doubt about that. There are going to be old scars to overcome, there is no doubt about that ... But the relationship needs to be free of exaggerated rhetoric," she said.

Speaking separately, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said that Putin agreed.

"The president supported the American side's understanding that it's necessary to tone down the rhetoric in public statements and concentrate on concrete business," Lavrov, who participated in the meeting, told reporters.

Lavrov also suggested Rice had not dispelled Russia's opposition to U.S. plans to station a defense missile system in Europe, saying that "our stance on missile defense was reaffirmed."

Rice said missile defense continued to be an area that the two countries needed "to work through" but that no country, including Russia, would have a "veto" on issues related to U.S. national security.

In another key area, Lavrov said that the two countries agreed to search for a mutually acceptable solution on Kosovo, but failed to achieve a breakthrough.

"It was agreed to search for a solution on Kosovo that would be acceptable for all, but there is no such solution immediately in sight," he said after taking part in the meeting at Putin's residence outside Moscow.

There has been growing transoceanic tension about the U.S. missile defense plan, concern in Washington about Moscow's treatment of its neighbors and steps Putin has taken to consolidate power in the Kremlin — seen as democratic backsliding — as Russia prepares for presidential and parliamentary elections next year.

Rice headed into the talks in Moscow acknowledging that ties were tense, but rejecting suggestions that a "new Cold War" had erupted.

"I don't throw around terms like 'new Cold War,'" Rice said. "It is a big, complicated relationship, but it is not one that is anything like the implacable hostility" between the United States and the Soviet Union for a half-century after World War II.

"It is not an easy time in the relationship," Rice added, "but it is also not, I think, a time in which cataclysmic things are affecting the relationship or catastrophic things are happening in the relationship."

She noted that the United States and Russia are working together in numerous areas: on Iran and North Korea's nuclear programs, the global spread of weapons of mass destruction and efforts to achieve Middle East peace.

Despite the agreement to cool down the rhetoric, a planned event at which Rice and Putin were to be photographed together and make brief remarks was canceled by the Kremlin and a senior Russian diplomat on Monday warned the U.S. not to try to go it alone in world affairs.

In April, simmering Russian anger over U.S. plans to place missile defense components in Poland and the Czech Republic, both former Warsaw Pact members, boiled over despite Washington's pledges to cooperate with Moscow on the system.

Russia views the plan as an attempt to alter the strategic balance. Rice has dismissed such concerns as "ludicrous," but top Russian military officials have hinted the system might be targeted.

Last month, hours before the United States and its NATO allies met in Norway to discuss the matter, Putin threatened to suspend Russia's participation in a key treaty limiting military deployments in Europe.

Rice says that NATO and the United States want to keep the Conventional Forces in Europe pact alive but cannot unless Russia abides with its treaty commitments.

Russia views U.S. activity in its former sphere of influence with growing suspicion. Just last week, Putin denounced "disrespect for human life, claims to global exclusiveness and dictate, just as it was in the time of the Third Reich."

___

Associated Press Writer Vladimir Isachenkov contributed to this report from Novo-Ogaryovo, Russia.

Nakba: Age and Hardships

A Little Taste of Philosophy

May 15, 2007

by Housewife4Palestine

Thinking back towards another anniversary of the Nakba and the time’s mostly in the kitchen when my mother use to get sad thinking about where she really came from. I still remember, the little tears she use to get in her eye’s wishing that the day would come; when she could go home.

She couldn’t understand living in a foreign country, why people had troubles understanding her even when she could speak the same language as the country she was living in. I must admit, of anyone in the family even that her and I became extremely close; I think partly because of this.

Over the years and even since her passing, I wondered this very idea. Until a few time’s here and there certain remarks of more compliment I think then anything, why people in the world may have troubles understanding us even though we may speak the same language as you and I Creteil this in the direction that many have expressed to me.

Even as a refugee, living in exile that most of us, not withstanding some who have became causalities of the war, are still deep rooted in our heritage and our religion. On this level, it has been considered that we think and speak on a more philosophical sphere. While this maybe unhandy at time’s, like I have even said a few times myself, I may speak the same language as you; but we are world’s apart in so many different directions.

While I know this probably will never change, I have always felt and still do, that people should appreciate these differences, instead of trying to destroy that which you do not understand.

Israeli-French man confesses to murdering Palestinian taxi driver

May 15, 2007

Israeli police during a chemical attackdrill (MaanImages)

Bethlehem - Ma'an - A new Israeli immigrant from France confessed on Monday to the murder of a 35-year-old Palestinian taxi driver, whose body was found on Monday afternoon.

According to the Israeli daily Haaretz, the East Jerusalem man's throat had been cut, and his body showed signs of a severe attack.

Haaretz says that a preliminary police investigation revealed that the 25-year-old Israeli, who also holds French citizenship, had invited the Palestinian to his Tel Aviv apartment.

The reason for the murder is unclear, but police suspect a nationalistic motive as the suspect said that he had killed the taxi driver over his Arab nationality, Haaretz reports.

Palestinian injured by Israeli soldiers using him as a human shield

May 15, 2007

Jenin – Ma'an – A Palestinian citizen was injured on Tuesday morning at the hands of the Israeli soldiers in the northern West Bank city of Jenin.

The man was injured after the Israeli soldiers broke into his home, transformed it into a military station and then attempted to use him as a human shield.

Eyewitnesses said that the Israeli soldiers took control of the home belonging to Mufeid Al-Ghanim, in the Damj neighbourhood of Jenin refugee camp. The witnesses added that the soldiers turned the home into a military station, before Palestinian resistance fighters besieged the home and clashed with the Israeli soldiers.

Shot in the back

The eyewitnesses affirmed that the soldiers forcibly evacuated the residents of the home in order to use them as human shields. The homeowner's son, Majd Al-Ghanim, aged 26, was injured during the operation. He received a bullet to his back, from the direction of the Israeli soldiers who stood behind him. Medical sources said the injury was moderate.

The spokesperson of a joint group of the Islamic Jihad-affiliated Al-Quds and Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades in Jenin, said that the group besieged the Israeli soldiers in the home and clashed with them. He affirmed that the owner's son was shot by the Israeli soldiers, not the resistance fighters, who halted fire to avoid harming the residents of the home, after they were used as human shields.

Human shields

There has been widespread condemnation of the Israeli army's use of human shields during military operations in the West Bank. Video footage has been captured by local and international activists showing Israeli soldiers in Nablus, during 'Operation Hot Winter', forcing Palestinians to stand in front of them during operations, to prevent the soldiers from being fired at by the so-called 'wanted' Palestinians.

In April, an American volunteer at An Najah University, captured two youths being forced to stand in front of an Israeli jeep in Nablus, to protect it from young stone-throwers.

Returning to the Nakba Fifty-Nine Years Later

A Photo Essay Two refugees, an old man and his wife,sit reminiscing about the old days. "Nakba in Pictures"

Midi

An Old Refugee. UNRWA Photo

1948 UNRWA photo

Palestinian refugees separated from their home by the "green line". 1948 UNRWA photo

Israeli soldiers looting an Unidentified Jerusalem area Palestinian village in 1948. GPO/AIC photo.

Israeli Soldiers in abandoned Palestinian home in Qatamoun, West Jerusalem, in 1948. GPO/AIC Photo.

Unidentified Palestinian village being blown up in 1948 after the deportation of its population by Israel. GPO/AIC Photo.

Refugees being forced out of their villages (near Lod and Ramla).

Scenes of devastation in the Palestinian residential quarters of East Jerusalem. "Before Their Diaspora"

A typical Palestinian refugee camp at Nahr al-Barid in northern Lebanon, winter 1948.UNRWA Photo

News Links:

Remembering 'Al-Nakba', the great Palestinian catastrophe of 1948

New Israeli Arab declaration: Israel must own up to Nakba

New round of factional violence leaves 8 dead and 50 injured

May 14, 2007

Palestinian security forces deployed in the streets in response to the crisis (MaanImages)

Gaza - Ma'an - The death toll of the inter-Palestinian clashes, which erupted anew on Sunday between Fatah and Hamas in the Gaza Strip, rose to eight on Monday, in addition to fifty injuries, after two people were killed in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip.

Palestinian medical sources reported that Anwar Salahiddin Ash-Sha'er, 25, was killed and two others were injured in Khan Younis. According to the medical sources, Ash-Sha'er was already dead when his body arrived at the hospital riddled with bullets.

Our Gaza correspondent quoted eyewitnesses as saying that Ash-Sh'aer was passing by when clashes erupted.

In a separate incident, medical sources at Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City stated that the body of another Palestinian citizen, who had been shot dead, had arrived at the hospital. The body remains unidentified.

The Hamas movement also announced on Monday afternoon that two field leaders of Hamas' armed wing, the Al-Qassam brigades, were injured in Gaza City.

Hamas accused Fatah of being behind the shooting of Mahmoud Abu Khatir, who was seriously injured, and Salah Ahmad, who suffered moderate wounds.

Earlier, Palestinian security and medical sources reported that a Fatah member, Ala' Shber, an aide to the Fatah movement's spokesman in Gaza, Maher Miqdad, had been killed along with another Fatah member, Mohammad al-'Abasi.

Miqdad told Ma'an that his companion was killed and other 10 were injured in an attack by Hamas fighters near his house in Gaza City on Monday morning.

Eyewitnesses reported that the clashes took place in the area of the general intelligence building and the Al-Maqusi area, north-west of Gaza City.

The new round of fighting has occurred despite the agreement reached between the two movements on Sunday night under the auspices of an Egyptian security delegation.

'Armed and deployed on the streets'

Hamas has blamed Fatah for the renewal of violence.

Hamas spokesman Fawzi Barhoum said Hamas is implementing the agreement signed last night with the Fatah movement.

He said, "Armed Fatah members and the security services are still deployed in the streets."

Barhoum also accused Fatah of aggravating the incidents.

Two journalists murdered

Two journalists were killed in a shooting attack on Sunday night, during clashes between Fatah and Hamas in Gaza.

Barhoum expressed his sadness "for the death of another employee at 'Falastine' [Palestine] newspaper Mohammad 'Abdo, who was shot at by member of the president's guards. He was with the journalist, Suleiman Al-Ashi, who was killed instantly, 'Abdo was critically injured in the shooting and died on Monday morning when he succumbed to his wounds."

Barhoum gave his condolences to the Falastine newspaper and the families of Al-Ashi and Abdo, calling on President Abbas "to give instructions to arrest the murderers and transfer them to a court of justice."

Barhoum called on Hamas to commit to the new agreement and implement it immediately.

New 'Falastine' newspaper on strike

Falastine newspaper called all journalists and media institutions to participate in the funeral of the journalist Suleiman Al-'Ashi. Following the funeral the organization urged everyone employed in the media to strike outside the Palestinian Legislative Council buildings in Gaza City to condemn the assassinations.

The newspaper appealed to President Abbas, Prime Minister Haniyeh and the minister of the interior to "investigate in the accident attack."

Falastine newspaper was established less than ten days ago and is considered to be loyal to Hamas.

Update:

Palestinian Hamas security officers patrol next to the house of the Palestinian Interior Minister Hani Kawasmeh during a press conference at his house in Gaza City, Monday, May 14, 2007. The Palestinian interior minister stepped down Monday, accusing leaders of thwarting his efforts to halt a new wave of violence that is threatening the survival of the new Palestinian coalition government. The departure of Kawasmeh was a major setback for the government, which was formed in March by rival Fatah and Hamas parties to end months of factional violence. (AP Photo/Adel Hana)

"Our determination cannot be broken." "We have said that we are going to give the politics a chance, but we are not going to drop our weapons until the occupation evacuates our land and justice and security and peace prevail."

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh

Note:

Something that must not be forgotten in this latest outbreak, that Fatah is being backed by the American/Israeli Coalition to destroy the Palestinian people right’s for a real just peace; in the region.

Secularism in Turkey

Demonstrators wave Turkish flags during a Sunday pro-secular rally in Izmir, Turkey. An estimated 1.5 million Turks demonstrated on the seafront of Turkey's third-largest city, fearful that the Islamic-rooted government is conspiring to impose religious values on society. The rally follows similar demonstrations in Ankara and Istanbul last month.

May 14, 2007

Editorial

by Housewife4Palestine

I am concerned about the recent protest in Turkey towards keeping a secular republic, for the simple reason that being a secular country destroys the foundation of rules, that we as humanity should live by.

Turkey has shown their secularism with the hijab ban that has been going on for a number of years, that any country that is living in this manner is no better then saying they are an atheist country and yes I am, sure I am spitting hair’s on terminology; but I am sure it will get my point across.

I am for a Pro-Islamic countries in all facet's of the region and ear marking Turkey, for the simple fact before 1923, some of the problems Turkey has now would not be occurring.

In our modern times, it is being proven more everyday that secularistic countries are having a number of problem’s to the extent that the countries are beginning to die, which in a better term as I have mentioned other time’s; creates imploding. Which that last time this occur to this extent, was the implosion of the Roman empire into the Dark Ages.

Instead of moving forward with the advancement in knowledge to medicine for example, anyone in a secular country will eventually be put back to the beginning; with nothing better then the invention of fire or live on Sushi.

Turkey is a very beautiful country with a rich history, almost akin to the other Middle Eastern counties, but we need to remember their greatest came before Secularism.

Furthermore, less we forget the most famous of secular countries in the world today, is the so call “State of Israel.” While they may hide behind the precepts of Judaism, the majority of the population is secular.

A Donkey for President Bush

May 12, 2007

by Jane Wells

In his most recent op-ed piece in the New York Times, Nicholas Kristof argues that what is needed to galvanize President Bush and the public to do something about the genocide in Darfur is a suffering puppy.

Kristof referenced a number of scientific studies that explore how and why decent people (fail to) respond to genocide, famine and poverty. A single child or animal is more effective than actual facts and statistics about suffering or even a group of starving children. With bewilderment Kristof reminds us that when he first started writing about the genocide in Darfur "A single homeless hawk (Pale Male of New York City) aroused more indignation than two million homeless Sudanese".

Yet indifference and donor fatigue can dissipate with the right prompt. So, what would be the pivotal prompt that could get America to stand up and respond now? Some wags have suggested that if only Anna Nicole Smith had died in a camp in Chad, or perhaps if Paris Hilton had been arrested drunk in Darfur, the media attention would have wrought some change.

There aren't many cute puppies roaming Darfur these days, but I'd like to present a Darfurian donkey to President Bush and the American public:


His scars are the result of burns. He was burned while his owner's home was ransacked in the village of Alliet. A witness untied him from a tree so he could escape the flames, but Government of Sudan soldiers tied him up again so he could not run away. He was left to slowly die from festering burn wounds, tethered, helpless and without food or water.

Welcome to his world America. His name is Eeyore.

Taliban commander Dadullah killed in Afghan clash

A handout received by Reuters through email on April 24, 2007 shows an undated image of Taliban military commander Mullah Dadullah who is said to be surrounded in Uruzgan province of Afghanistan. Dadullah, has been killed in a clash in Afghanistan, security officials said on Sunday.REUTERS/Handout

May 13, 2007

By Ismail Sameen

KANDAHAR, Afghanistan (Reuters) - Mullah Dadullah, the Taliban's top operational commander in southern Afghanistan, was killed during a clash with Western and Afghan forces in Helmand province, officials said on Sunday.

The death of Dadullah represents the biggest setback to the Taliban command since the insurgency began, after its Islamic militia government was toppled by U.S. backed forces in 2001.

"He was killed last night and right now I have his body before me," Assadullah Khalid, governor of neighboring Kandahar province, told Reuters.

An Interior Ministry statement said Dadullah was killed in fighting with security forces in Helmand's Girishk district on Saturday night. NATO issued a statement confirming the feared Taliban commander had been eliminated in a U.S.-led operation.

"Mullah Dadullah Lang left his sanctuary into Southern Afghanistan where he was killed in a US-led coalition operation supported by ISAF," the statement issued by NATO, which leads the International Security Assistance Force, said.

The one-legged Dadullah has been reported to have been captured or killed several times in the past, but this time the authorities appeared sure he was dead.

A Reuters reporter who had seen Dadullah in the past recognized the body brought to Kandahar.

The bearded face was pale and splattered with blood, and he appeared to have suffered a head wound.

Placed on a stretcher, the corpse was partially covered with a purple cloth. The left leg was missing.

A senior Pakistani security official, who requested anonymity, gave a different version, saying Dadullah was killed on Friday night in an airstrike. But an Afghan intelligence official said that was incorrect, and Dadullah died from wounds rather than being blown to pieces by a bomb or missile strike.

"His body is intact," the Afghan official said.

SAVAGE REPUTATION

Dadullah was a member of Taliban's 10 member leadership council and close to the movement's fugitive leader, Mullah Mohammad Omar.

"It's the biggest setback to the Taliban since they started resistance in 2001," said Rahimullah Yusufzai, a Peshawar based journalist and expert on tribal affairs in the Pashtun lands straddling the Pakistan-Afghan border where the Taliban operate.

"They can take revenge for the killing. They can become more brutal. There may be more reprisal attacks. But it is clear that for now, at least, that there is no one who can replace him," Yusufzai said.

"He was an inspirational and daring commander. I don't see any person of his standing in the Taliban heirachy."

Apart from leading most Taliban attacks in the south, Dadullah's savagery earned him the sobriquet of Afghanistan's Al Zarqawi, after the al Qaeda leader in Iraq who was killed last year

Dadullah was believed to be behind a campaign of suicide bombings and a series of kidnappings of foreigners and Afghans and beheadings of hostages or collaborators.

"His claim to fame was suicide bombings," a senior Pakistani security official said, adding that Dadullah had been a frequent visitor to Waziristan, a Pakistan tribal region regarded as a hotbed of support for the Taliban.

In December, U.S.-led forces killed another top Taliban official, Mullah Mohammad Akhtar Osmani, in an air attack in the south of the country after a tip-off by Pakistan.

"They have now knocked out two senior military commanders. This is a very serious blow to the Taliban," the Pakistani officer said.

Families of prisoners face the road of humiliation

May 12, 2007

Nablus – Ma'an – Foad Al-Khafash, a researcher in prisoners' affairs writes - The families of Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails leave their homes at 3:00am and return at midnight when they go to visit their sons in jail. They only see the prisoner through a thick plastic barrier which distorts the vision, and they talk through a monitored, recorded telephone.

The journey does not take more than two hours in normal circumstances, yet the families will not sleep the night before they visit their sons. They have to prepare for a long and exhausting journey, as they are forced to pass from one bus to another; from one checkpoint to another. They carry some of their son's needs, such as pictures of his child who the prisoner may not yet have seen. They might also take a picture of the grandson of the prisoner, whose son has matured and got married since the incarceration began. They could bring a picture of the prisoner's son in law, because the prisoner's daughter could have got married while her father was in detention, and so on….

The families often call that journey, "the road of humiliation", since they are subjected to different sorts of humiliation, which nobody else can imagine. That is, in the fortunate case the family has the opportunity to visit their sons.

The family has to get a special visit permit from the Israeli intelligence services who feel free to give it or deny it. The Red Cross is informed in advance of those who are permitted to visit, and according to that, family members can pass through Israeli checkpoints along the green line.

These permits are given only to the first-degree relatives; father, mother, son, and spouse. At one period during the Al-Aqsa intifada, the brother was not considered a first class relative, and so would be denied the visit. During the first four years of the intifada, visits were completely forbidden under security pretexts.

The World Says No to Israeli Occupation!

On the 40th anniversary of Israel's illegal military occupation of the Palestinian West Bank, Gaza Strip, and East Jerusalem, join the US Campaign to End the Israeli Occupation and United for Peace and Justice in Washington, DC, June 10-11, 2007 for a protest, teach-in, and lobby day.




US Campaign staff display in front of the White House a copy of the ad campaign set to go up in the Washington, DC metro system on May 13.

More Information



Update:

The Zionist started their anti-Palestine Poster rally, still fighting not to relinquish the brutal occupation; but instead a smear campaign on U.S. soil.

U.S., EU ambassadors said set to skip Jerusalem Day ceremonies

(Ben Heine Cartoons)

May 13, 2007

By Barak Ravid, Haaretz Correspondent and Haaretz Service

The ambassadors from the United States and the European Union countries will not attend the celebrations Wednesday to mark the 40th anniversary of the reunification of Jerusalem, the Israeli media reported Sunday.

According to Army Radio, the envoy from Germany declined the invitation in the name of all EU states due to a dispute over the status of East Jerusalem as part of the Israeli capital.

A short time later, Israel Radio reported that American Ambassador Richard Jones will also not attend.

The Foreign Ministery explained it had invited diplomats to attend a ceremoney commemorating 40 years since the unification of East and West Jerusalem at the Knesset.

"We regret the EU's announcement by which its representatives will not take part in this event, and expect the participation of many other diplomats," it added.

All of the embassies in Israel are based in Tel Aviv, and not Jerusalem, due to the disputed status of the capital.

The entire city fell under Israeli control during the 1967 Six-Day War, an event marked annually by Jerusalem Day.

The Palestinians, however, want East Jerusalem to be the capital of a future state. On Friday, the Peace Now movement held an alternative event in Jerusalem to "protest against the continuation of the occupation and to create hope for a Jerusalem of peace."

The War Against Islam: What is Islamophobia?

An Islamophobic, like those prejudice’s in some facet's of society, live in sorrow, blindness and despair; with an overwhelming amount of internal rage expanded into hatred.

What is Islamophobia?

Islamophobia is the fear and/or hatred of Islam, Muslims or Islamic culture. Islamophobia can be characterised by the belief that all or most Muslims are religious fanatics, have violent tendencies towards non-Muslims, and reject as directly opposed to Islam such concepts as equality, tolerance, and democracy.

It is viewed as a new form of racism whereby Muslims, an ethno-religious group, not a race, are nevertheless constructed as a race.

A set of negative assumptions are made of the entire group to the detriment of members of that group.

During the 1990's many sociologists and cultural analysts observed a shift in forms of prejudice from ones based on skin colour to ones based on notions of cultural superiority and otherness.

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Runnymede Trust:

The Runnymede Trust has identified eight components that they say define Islamophobia.

This definition, from the 1997 document 'Islamophobia: A Challenge For Us All' is widely accepted, including by the European Monitoring Centre on Racism and Xenophobia.

The eight components are:

1) Islam is seen as a monolithic bloc, static and unresponsive to change.

2) Islam is seen as separate and 'other'. It does not have values in common with other cultures, is not affected by them and does not influence them.

3) Islam is seen as inferior to the West. It is seen as barbaric, irrational, primitive and sexist.

4) Islam is seen as violent, aggressive, threatening, supportive of terrorism and engaged in a 'clash of civilisations'.

5) Islam is seen as a political ideology and is used for political or military advantage.

6) Criticisms made of the West by Islam are rejected out of hand.

7) Hostility towards Islam is used to justify discriminatory practices towards Muslims and exclusion of Muslims from mainstream society.

8) Anti-Muslim hostility is seen as natural or normal.

For a summary of the 1997 report, see here

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Islamophobia is a neologism used to refer to an irrational fear or prejudice towards Muslims and the religion of Islam.

Some believe that prejudice against Muslims has increased since the September 11, 2001 attacks. Dr Abduljalil Sajid, an adviser to the Commission on British Muslims, an anti-racism group, has said he believes many organizations are "institutionally Islamophobic". He has said that "since the 11 September attacks the single most important concern has been police harassment of Muslims. Even one of (Britain's) Muslim peers... has been stopped twice by police." [1]

Many human rights organizations have documented this recent increase in Islamophobic events and hate crimes against Muslims [2] and Islamic organizations have done the same [3].

Secretary-General Kofi Annan told a December 7, 2004 UN conference on the emergence of Islamophobia that "(when) the world is compelled to coin a new term to take account of increasingly widespread bigotry — that is a sad and troubling development. Such is the case with 'Islamophobia'." [4]

American journalist Stephen Schwartz has defined Islamophobia as the condemnation of the entirety of Islam and its history as extremist, denying the existence of a moderate Muslim majority, regarding Islam as a problem for the world, treating conflicts involving Muslims as necessarily their own fault, insisting that Muslims make changes to their religion, and inciting war against Islam as a whole.

Further Reading:

Islamophobia Watch

Islamophobia

The Apple

The following is an ancient children’s story about charity:

Their once was a traveler who had came to a village after having crossed the desert.

He had not eaten in two days.

Of all thing’s he found and apple.

He began walking along thinking how good this food was going to taste and relished the juice, which would come down from his lips.

He happened to look up and on a corner of a street saw a young boy. The boy was ragged and his eyes where black and hollow.

The traveler went and set down by the boy, he looked to be about eight years or so.

The man took out his knife and cut the apple in half. Cleaning is knife he returned it to its place.

He handed half of the apple to the boy and began eating the other half himself.

He looked at the boy and smiled and the child returned the smile in gratitude.

So both where happy to have the apple.

Say Hello, Maz Jobrani

“Hello, I am Muhammad and I am just baking a cookie…”

Arabic Cardamom Shortbread (Gorayba)

with Maz Jobrani, the Iranian comedian.

Songs of Innocence

by Talib al-Habib

Introduction

In the wake of the misunderstanding of how we as Muslim’s feel and teach our children, not with violence; but with the purity of love and the bonds of family.

I felt this video, would give a better understanding towards this feeling.

Myself, even when I can not be with my children, I would always hope that they know they are dear to my heart and that I love them very much.

About the Video:

Filmed on location in the picturesque mountains and valleys of Wales, the 'Songs of Innocence' video tells the short but meaningful tale of a father's long journey home to his family.

It attempts to highlight some of the themes that underlie Songs of Innocence: love, innocence, contemplation, spiritual journeying and eventual return. We hope you will enjoy the result.

The Dysfunctional Family

A dysfunctional family is a family in which conflict, misbehaviour and even abuse on the part of individual members of the family occur continually, leading other members to accommodate such actions. Children sometimes grow up in such families with the understanding that such an arrangement is normal. Dysfunctional families are most often a result of the alcoholism, substance abuse like drugs, or other addictions of parents, parents' untreated mental illnesses/defects or personality disorders, or the parents emulating their own dysfunctional parents and dysfunctional family experiences.

Dysfunctional family members have common symptoms and behavior patterns as a result of their common experiences within the family structure. This tends to reinforce the dysfunctional behavior, either through enabling or perpetuation. The family unit can be affected by a variety of factors.

According to Steven Farmer, the author of Adult Children of Abusive Parents, there are several symptoms of family dysfunction:

Denial (i.e. a refusal to acknowledge the alcoholism of a parent; ignoring complaints of sexual abuse)

Inconsistency and Unpredictability

Lack of empathy toward family members

Lack of clear boundaries (i.e. throwing away personal possessions that belong to others, inappropriate touching, etc.)

Role reversals ("parentifying" children)

"Closed family system" (a socially isolated family that discourages relationships with outsiders)

Mixed Messages

Extremes in Conflict (either too much or too little fighting between family members)

Dr. Dan Neuharth, author of If You Had Controlling Parents also expounds on dysfunctional families. (He uses the terms "controlling parents", "unhealthy control" and "over control" throughout his book.) He cites eight signs of unhealthy parenting:

Conditional love

Disrespect

Stifled speech (children not allowed to dissent or question authority)

Emotional intolerance (family members not allowed to express the "wrong" emotions)

Ridicule

"Dogmatic or chaotic parenting" (harsh and inflexible discipline)

"Denial of an Inner Life" (children are not allowed to develop their own value system)

Social dysfunction or isolation

Neuharth also lists eight different parenting styles which cause family dysfunction:

Smothering (parents do not allow their children to maintain a separate identity)

Using (destructively narcissistic parents)

Abusing (parents who use physical, verbal, or sexual violence to dominate their children)

Chaotic (unstable parents who behave in a wildly inconsistent manner with their kids)

Perfectionistic( parents who "fixate on order, prestige, power, and/or perfect appearances".)

Cultlike (parents who feel uncertain and "raise their children according to rigid rules and roles".)

Depriving (parents who control by withholding love, money, praise, attention, or anything else their child needs or wants.)

Childlike (parents who parentify their children. They tend to be needy and incompetent. Usually allow the other parent to abuse children.)

Effects on children

Children growing up in a dysfunctional family have been known to adopt one or more of five basic roles:

"The Good Child" – often the family hero who assumes the parental role.

"The Problem Child" – the family scapegoat, who is blamed for most problems in spite of being the only emotionally honest one in the family.

"The Caretaker" – the one who takes responsibility for the emotional well-being of the family.

"The Lost Child" – the inconspicuous, quiet one, whose needs are often ignored or hidden.

"The Mascot" – uses comedy to divert attention away from the increasingly dysfunctional family system.

They may also:

Think only of themselves to make up the difference of their childhoods. They're still learning the balance of self-love

distrust others

have difficulty expressing emotions

have low self-esteem or have a poor self image

have difficulty forming healthy relationships with others

feel angry, anxious, depressed, isolated from others, or unlovable

perpetuate dysfunctional behaviors in their other relationships (especially their children)

lack the ability to be playful...

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Family Portrait

Director Chris Harris' award winning* animated exploration of love and abuse in a dysfunctional family.

*Cinequest, USA film festival