FISA Rowing World Cup

Mary Kogan and Igor Kogan (R) win the Trunk and Arms Double Sculls competition during day 3 of the FISA Rowing World Cup at the Ruderregattastrecke on 10 May 2008 in Oberschleissheim, Germany.

Rafah Border Crossing Temporarily Open

Palestinians carry their belongings to the gate as the main border crossing between the Gaza Strip and Egypt is opened 10 May 2008 in Rafah, Gaza.

Egypt agreed to temporarily open the border under a deal between the Palestine legal government and Cairo officials.

Palestinians who needed more extensive medical assistance were also let into Egypt for care, this included wounded from Mahmoud Abbas's terrorist organization.

A patient from Mahmoud Abbas’s terrorist organization.

A Palestinian woman carries her belongings to the gate.

Bush Pleading Behind Mothers Skirts?

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
May 10, 2008

Audio
THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. Today is my daughter Jenna's wedding day. This is a joyous occasion for our family, as we celebrate the happy life ahead of her and her husband Henry. It's also a special time for Laura, who this Mother's Day weekend will watch a young woman we raised together walk down the aisle.

Mother's Day is a special time for mothers all across America. On this holiday, we pause to celebrate the love and compassion of the women who have raised us, and to thank them for the many years of patience and selflessness. Throughout our lives, mothers are there with an encouraging word, a sympathetic ear, and a tender heart. They set our direction in life, and from time to time they have been known to correct our course.

Like many of you, my life has been blessed by a mother who is a source of unconditional love. Those of us who have been so fortunate are forever in debt to these caring women. So on this holiday weekend, we celebrate all those mothers who help make our country a better place.

On this Mother's Day weekend, we think of the mothers who are celebrating this holiday for the very first time. Few blessings can compare to starting a new family. And few bonds are stronger than those between a mother and her newborn baby. This is also a special time for new adoptive mothers, who have welcomed their children into their homes with open arms and an open heart. We wish all these new parents many happy Mother's Days to come.

On this Mother's Day weekend, we think of the many mothers who raised the brave men and women serving our country in uniform. And to those mothers, I offer the thanks of a grateful Nation. Your sons and daughters are defending our freedom with dignity and honor. And America appreciates the sacrifices that your families make in the name of duty.

On this Mother's Day weekend, we remember the mothers grieving a son or daughter lost in the service to their country, as well as the children who have lost a mother in uniform. We share their pride in these wonderful Americans who have given everything to protect our people from harm. Nothing we say can ever make up for their loss. But on this special day, we hold them in our hearts and we lift them in our prayers.

I wish every mother listening this morning a blessed Mother's Day, including my own. And I have a message for every son and daughter listening this morning: Remember to tell mom the first thing tomorrow how much you love her.

Thank you for listening.

Note:

Jenna Bush’s wedding was originally announced to be 5 June.

Rabbi testifies in support of Hamas-linked imam facing U.S. ban

9 May 2008

By The Associated Press

Qatanani claims he was not aware of the conviction and says he was subjected to physical and mental abuse while in detention. The trial is in its second day.

According to Israeli military authorities, Qatanani admitted being a member of the militant Hamas organization during interrogation in 1993 in Israel.

"Imam Mohammed Katanani was convicted based on his own admission on charges of belonging to an unauthorized association and providing services to an unauthorized association, for being a member of Hamas and acting on its behalf," the Israel Defense Forces said in a statement faxed to The Associated Press.

The U.S. State Department includes Hamas on its list of "designated foreign terrorist organizations." Anyone identified as a member or a supporter of an organization on the list can be refused entry to the U.S., according to Lucille Cirillo, spokeswoman for U.S. Customs and Border Patrol.

According to the army statement, an Israeli military court sentenced Qatanani to three months in prison and a 12-month suspended sentence, and also fined him.

Qatanani, who heads the Islamic Center of Passaic County in Paterson, faces possible deportation for not disclosing the conviction when he applied for citizenship in 1999. He is scheduled to appear before immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl in Newark on May 8.

Qatanani has said he was not notified of the conviction until last year when he appealed a 2006 ruling denying his citizenship application. He also has denied being a member of Hamas.

Qatanani referred questions about the alleged confession to his attorney, Claudia Slovinsky, who said her client was the victim of physical abuse by Israeli authorities while in detention.

"It is beyond reputation that in the Israeli detention system in 1993, interrogations included abusive methods that most people would consider torture," she said.

According to Slovinsky, these included sleep deprivation, hoods, loud music and a technique in which detainees were kept shackled in uncomfortable positions for hours at a time.

Slovinsky said she has not seen the confession and that lawyers representing U.S. Immigrations and Customs Enforcement had not produced it by a court-ordered deadline last Friday.

"We don't do guilt by association here," Slovinsky said. "We have due process. If they have something on Mr. Qatanani, then they should bring it out."

ICE attorneys involved in the case declined to comment, and a spokesman for ICE did not comment other than to confirm Qatanani's trial date.

Qatanani is married and has six children, three of whom were born in the U.S. and three in Jordan. The three foreign-born children would be subject to deportation along with Qatanani and his wife, Sumaia.

After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks -- and after it was revealed that several of the hijackers lived for some time in Paterson -- Qatanani gained notoriety for his efforts to reach out to other religious leaders and law enforcement authorities.

His mosque offered classes explaining Islam to those of other faiths, and he was praised by the FBI for providing Arabic speakers to help translate interviews with community members.

Political leaders, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine, have expressed support for Qatanani, and the imam's followers have raised about $135,000 for his defense in recent weeks. They are planning a rally in Newark on the day his trial begins, according to Aref Assaf, president of the Paterson-based American Arab Forum.

All Charges Against Olmert Dropped

10 May 2008

by HRM Deborah

All charges against Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert have not only been dropped, but he has been cleared of all charges in this bribery case.

He was never guilty of these allegations nor is he guilty of any criminal activities.

Furthermore, PM Olmert will continue as Jewish Prime Minister, with his dignity intact.

Palestine’s Housing Projects

Palestinian wood carver Nasser Flefel, 37, decorates wooden keys symbolizing the houses that Palestinians had to flee in 1948, at his shop in Gaza City on 10 May 2008. About 760,000 Arabs lost their homes in May 1948 during the war. Reading (bottom) of the wooden keys in Arabic reads 'In order not to forget.'

While Palestine has a change of demographics because of not just the last 60 years, but the whole extent of the time Palestine was under a war situation.

The housing projects being built at this time so graciously by the Jewish people and was deemed by the Bush Administration as illegal settlement activity, in actuality is housing to relieve the refugee and homeless situation of the Arab Palestinian problem.

My understanding is, the Jewish people are during different things to make the home situation as correct as they can in what they are capable of doing.

Furthermore, everything that can be done to relieve any kind of hardships in Palestine, is being dealt with.

No U.S. Candidates Endorsed

9 May 2008

by HRM Deborah

There is another rumor or propaganda and it came in an inappropriate manner, nevertheless, it has to do with me allegedly endorsing Sen. Barack Obama.

Obama or any of his people have not contacted me and I have not endorsed this candidate.

Furthermore, to make it clear, I have not endorsed any of the U.S. candidates running for president or have been contacted by them.

Abbas Terrorists Attacking Citizens

Terrorists from Mahmoud Abbas’s organization shatters the windows of a minibus during their continuous crimes of vandalism and attacks on all Palestinian citizens, this minibus unlike other vehicles are destroyed after they are vandalized; this incident was in Jenin.
After being vandalized, this vehicle was torched by Abbas’s terrorists.

A Jewish technician secures the remains of a mortar as the covered body of a killed man lies on the grass in front of a house showing damage from the attack in the southern Kibbutz of Kfar Aza on 9 May 2008.

A Jewish man was killed today by a mortar bomb fired from the Gaza Strip by Mahmoud Abbas’s terrorist organization. The victim hit on a street in the kibbutz.

Harming the Ummah

When one Muslim is harmed, it is as though the whole Ummah (Shia and Sunni) has been harmed.

In the Middle East as other places in the world, too many Islamic countries as well as Muslims are being harmed and murdered. This is an offence not only to Allah, but also towards all Islam.

In addition, the Jewish people are now under our protection, so this is to be taken into consideration for the same is happening to them, by the same perpetrator.

Abbas’s Voice

9 May 2008

Mahmoud Abbas’s terrorist organization is nothing but a criminal element and has no status or rights in Palestine.

They have only one recourse and that is to surrender to the authorities and nothing else.

As for the current situation by Abbas organization, it will always be dealt with in the appropriate manner for their criminal charges.

As far as all Palestine is concerned any voice by Abbas’s terrorist organization has went with the Dodo bird.

Allegations towards PM Olmert

9 May 2008

As for the criminal allegations towards Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, especially at the time this situation occurred, that they appear to be nothing but trump up charges and hold no merit.

All charges should be dropped and respect returned to Jewish PM Olmert.

Furthermore, the one behind these falsified charges are by the same agitator that has the intent to harm all the Jewish people.

Jewish PM Olmert is not guilty of said charges.

The intent is to not only destabilize the Jewish government, but to harm everyone in Palestine.

The Democracy Rumor

9 May 2008

by HRM Deborah

There is a rumor or propaganda that Palestine is to be a democratic government. To make it very easy, this is not true.

Palestine has the same government system that it has had for thousands of years and this is with all due respect to Islam and Judaism, as well as Christianity.

The original system as it is even today, is that Judaism has there own internal government system for the respect of the Jewish people because of their religion, as the Arab Palestinian people has an Islamic system for the same reason.

The Leader between a Jewish Prime Minster and an Arab Prime Minster is the Royal family, in this case myself.

The one that had final say on any issue is the Queen of Palestine and the equality, welfare, as well as harmony of all citizens in Palestine has always been the up most concern.

As for what type of governmental system Palestine actually is, it is an Islamic country.

One Mustard Seed

I am but a mustard seed, in an orchard full of olive trees.-Deborah

He Who Walks in Faith

وليس هناك إله إلا الله

He who walks in the faith of Allah, particularly the righteous of them and is harmed by another, Allah will become unhappy towards the one, who has done the harm.

Children Eating

Palestinian children eating a packet of crisps on a waterfront road in Gaza City at sunset on 6 May 2008.

Chldren at Play

Palestinian children playing on a waterfront road in Gaza City at sunset on 6 May 2008.

Chilean volcano erupts for first time since 7420 B.C.

2 May 2008

Video

A volcano erupted in southern Chile on Friday, triggering earth tremors and spewing a cloud of ash 2 miles (3 km) into the air that prompted the evacuation of hundreds of people from the remote area, officials said.

Residents said ash fell over the picturesque Patagonian town of Chaiten, 760 miles (1,220 km) south of the capital Santiago and just 6 miles (10 km) from the volcano.

Trucks with drinking water were dispatched to the area after ash tainted water supplies, authorities said. Some schools were closed and hospitals treated people for irritated eyes and breathing difficulties.

A boat was sent to the region to evacuate hundreds of people, many of whom live scattered on small islands that make up southernmost Chile.

"We felt the movements and can see the ash falling in town," Sara Ruiz, a receptionist at municipal offices in Chaiten told Reuters by telephone.

The national emergency office initially identified the source of the ash as the volcano Michimahuida, but later said it was Chaiten, which has the same name as the town. The office called the event an eruption.

Local television broadcast aerial footage showing ash cloaking mountain ridges. Visibility was poor, and in some areas thick ash settled on the ground and caked vehicles.

"We haven't been able to sleep. There have been many tremors," one woman told local television. "We are very afraid."

In Santiago, President Michelle Bachelet appealed for calm.

"Chile is a volcanic country, and I want to say that we are working and coordinating with all our might at a local and national level and call for calm," she said.

Across the nearby border in Argentina, authorities in Chubut province asked residents to avoid rubbing their eyes and to wear glasses and long sleeves to avoid ash making contact with skin.

Of Chile 2,000 volcanoes, some 500 are potentially active, according to scientists. About 60 have erupted over the centuries, and 40 could do so, they say.

Chile is home to two of Latin America's most active volcanoes -- Villarica and Llaima.

Llaima, about 435 miles (700 km) south of Santiago, erupted on New Year's Day, spewing ash and molten lava and forcing the evacuation of dozens of tourists and staff from a wilderness park.

It also belched ash in February and lava crept down its slopes.

Hebron University Campaign for Student Council

Palestinian students campaign for the student council elections at the Hebron University.
Palestinian students and supporters of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) party campaign for student council elections at the Hebron University in the West Bank city of Hebron on 6 May 2008.

It should be noted, that the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) party, is at peace with all Palestine.

Olmert Honors the Fallen Martyrs

Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert takes the podium to speak at a ceremony on Ammunition Hill honoring Jewish fallen soldiers as Memorial Day begins on 6 May 2008 in Jerusalem.

Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert lays a wreath in honor of Jewish fallen soldiers.

Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert waves as he leaves a ceremony.

Seeking the Horizon

Sometimes one has days when they feel like a person, who has walked out of the ashes and smoke, all ragged and torn, to find a sunny day.

As one sits upon the first available rock, they see, only to look upon the horizon and think about what tomorrow may bring.

Palestinian Refugee 112 Years old Shares Key for Al-Nakba

Palestinian refugee Mahmud Obied, 112, from the Dheisheh refugee camp holds the key of his former house near a huge 10-metre long iron key displayed at a workshop in the Aida refugee camp in the West Bank city of Bethlehem on May 6, 2008, which was ordered by Palestinian refugee institutions to mark the Nakba (the catastrophe).

The key will join a giant 12-metre lock which together will stand as a symbol of the Palestinian refugee's Right of Return following the displacement of populations that occurred during the previous war on 15 May 1948, an event which the Palestinians term as Al-Nakba.

The main issue of what the Al-Nakba is and this occurred in 1948, was a large population of Palestinians became refugees, uprooted many times from the only homes and area of Palestine they ever knew. The reason for this is because families tended to live in the same homes and areas for not just generations, but also thousands of years.

The significance of the keys, is they tended to be what was left of the homes they had to leave behind and with the hope they would be able to return one day.

Furthermore, at the time the Al-Nakba occurred, Palestine became a huge population of homeless or displaced people.

From my understanding, what was hard for many Palestinians for a long time, was the why, this would happen to them.

Myanmar state radio says cyclone death toll soars above 22,000

6 May 2008

YANGON, Myanmar -The toll from the cyclone that battered Myanmar last weekend rose above 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing Tuesday as the international community prepared to rush in aid, state radio reported.

A news broadcast on government-run radio said that 22,464 people have now been confirmed dead from Cyclone Nargis, which tore through the country's rice bowl and biggest city of Yangon early Saturday.

The broadcast added that 41,000 were still missing, raising fears the death toll would soar.

Relief efforts for the stricken area, mostly in the low-lying Irrawaddy River delta, have been difficult, in large part because of the destruction of roads and communications outlets by the storm.

In the cyclone's aftermath, state radio reported that the government was delaying a constitutional referendum in areas hit hardest.

Saturday's vote on a military-backed draft constitution would be delayed until May 24 in 40 of 45 townships in the Yangon area and seven in the Irrawaddy delta, which took the brunt of the weekend storm, the radio said.

It indicated that the balloting would proceed in other areas as scheduled.

The U.N. World Food Program, which was preparing to fly in food supplies, offered a grim assessment of the destruction: up to a million people possibly homeless, some villages almost totally destroyed and vast rice-growing areas wiped out.

"We hope to fly in more assistance within the next 48 hours," WFP spokesman Paul Risley said in Bangkok. "The challenge will be getting to the affected areas with road blockages everywhere."

Based on a satellite map made available by the United Nations, the storm's damage was concentrated over about a 11,600-square-mile (30,000-square-kilometer) area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines — less than 5 percent of the country.

But the affected region is home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people.

Images from state television showed large trees and electricity poles sprawled across roads as well as roofless houses ringed by water in the delta, regarded as Myanmar's rice bowl.

Aid agencies reported their assessment teams had reached some areas of the largely isolated region but said getting in supplies and large numbers of aid workers would be difficult.

Richard Horsey, Bangkok-based spokesman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Aid, said the airport closest to the delta region was located in Yangon.

"For those places accessible by land, there will be cars and trucks from those areas to meet at the halfway point with vehicles from Yangon," he said. "For remote areas, assessment teams and assistance teams will need to go by helicopters and boats."

The delta is riddled with waterways but Horsey said they are not easily accessible, even during normal times.

"More or less all the land lines are down and it's extremely difficult to get information from cyclone-affected areas. But from the reports we are getting, entire villages have been flattened and the final death toll may be huge," said Mac Pieczowski, who heads the International Organization for Migration office in Yangon, in a statement.

The country's ruling military junta, which has spurned the international community for decades, urgently appealed for foreign aid at a meeting Monday among Nyan Win and diplomats in Yangon.

"Instead of waiting for figures on casualties and damage, it will be practical to send humanitarian aid to victims as soon as possible," Relief and Resettlement Minister Maj. Gen. Maung Maung Swe told a press conference Tuesday.

The appeal came less than a week ahead of the referendum on a military-backed constitution that the junta hoped would go smoothly in its favor, despite opposition from the country's feisty pro-democracy movement. However, the disaster could stir the already tense political situation.

A military transport plane flew from Bangkok to Yangon on Tuesday with emergency aid from Thailand while a number of other countries and organizations said they were prepared to follow.

The United States, which has slapped economic sanctions on the country, said it likewise stood ready, but that a U.S. disaster team must be invited into the country.

"Our biggest fear is that the aftermath could be more lethal than the storm itself," said Caryl Stern, who heads the U.N. Children's Fund in the United States. UNICEF said it had dispatched five assessment teams to three of the affected areas and lifesaving supplies were being moved into position.

Other countries, from Canada to the Czech Republic and Singapore, reacted quickly to the crisis with pledges of aid.

The European Commission was providing US$3.1 million (euro2 million) in humanitarian aid while the president of neighboring China, Hu Jintao, promised assistance without offering details.

The diplomats said they were told Myanmar welcomed international aid including urgently needed roofing materials, medicine, water purifying tablets and mosquito nets. The Thais were sending a shipment of supplies.

The appeal for assistance was unusual for Myanmar's ruling generals, who have long been suspicious of international organizations and have closely controlled their activities.

The wife of the U.S. president said her country was ready to pump aid into Myanmar for recovery efforts, but that the ruling junta must accept a U.S. disaster response team.

First lady Laura Bush, who has been the administration's chief voice on human rights and political conditions in Myanmar, faulted the junta for proceeding with the constitutional referendum, and criticized government leaders for not sufficiently warning citizens about the storm.

"We know already that they are very inept," she said.

There was little sign of official efforts to repair the damage in Yangon, but the worst-hit areas were in the countryside, now largely inaccessible by road because of the storm damage.

"The combination of the cyclone and the referendum within a few days of each other makes an angry population angrier and vulnerable and makes the political situation more volatile" than it has been since last year's massive pro-democracy demonstrations, said Monique Skidmore, a Myanmar expert at Australian National University.

At least 31 people were killed and thousands more were detained when the military cracked down on peaceful protests in September led by Buddhist monks and democracy advocates.

The government had apparently taken few efforts to prepare for the storm, which came bearing down on the country from the Bay of Bengal late Friday.

"The government misled people," said Thin Thin, a grocery story owner in Yangon. "They could have warned us about the severity of the coming cyclone so we could be better prepared."

Yangon was without electricity except where gas-fed generators were available and residents lined up to buy candles at double the usual price. Most homes were without water, forcing families to stand in long lines for drinking water and bathe in the city's lakes.

Respecting Islam

Air force jets fly past the crescent of a mosque (Masjid) in the coastal town of Jaffa, near Tel Aviv on 6 May 2008 as part as celebrations of the Jewish peoples 60th anniversary.

Air force jets fly past the minaret of a mosque (Masjid) in the coastal town of Jaffa.

Citizens Attacked in Qabatiya

Members of Mahmoud Abbas’s security forces attack and take hostage a Palestinian man inside the village of Qabatiya, near the West Bank near Jenin city on 6 May 2008.

In Abraham's (Ibrahim) Memory

Ultra-Orthodox Jewish men walk in front of the Tomb of the Patriarch or Abraham's Mosque(Masjid), a holy site for both Jews and Muslims, in the West Bank town of Hebron on 5 May 2008.

Welcome to Palestine

French immigrants are welcomed by well-wishers holding roses and Israeli flags as they arrive at Ben Gurion airport on 5 May 2008.

Four hundred immigrants from 23 countries arrived today as part of 60th anniversary celebrations.

A Russian immigrant is embraced by well-wishers holding roses and Israeli flags.

Second Meeting with Rice and Olmert

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice meets with Jewish Prime Minister Ehud Olmert at his office on 5 May 2008 in Jerusalem.

A Portrait of Jerusalem

Allah (G-d) has returned to Jerusalem.

A Palestinian couple sits outside the Dome of the Rock mosque on 4 May 2008 in Jerusalem’s old city.

Palestinian women walk down a street.

A woman listens to Jewish soldiers as they play the guitar at the Western Wall.

Palestinian youth walk past the Dome of the Rock mosque (Masjid).

Ultra Orthodox Jewish men congregate at the Western Wall.

A tourist takes a picture of a camel in Jerusalem.

For the love of Esther

5 May 2008

by HRM Deborah

In this blog, several times, I have either written about or made reference to a very dear friend named Esther that I have kept in my heart all these years.

I may have mentioned before that I was only about 8-10 years old when I knew her and she just happened to have been one of Oskar Schindler’s Jews.

She seems to come more to mind these days, I am thinking because of the recent holidays for the Jewish people, but also the approaching holiday of the Al-Nakba.

To me in a very short period of time, I feel I had gotten to know her quite well, even if my knowledge at that time of the Jewish Holocaust may have been small, even to this day I must admit I do not know everything.

Several times I had seen a book by Thomas Keneally, called "Schindler’s List" and because of wishing to know more of what happened to my friend and I happen to have seen a movie by the same title doesn’t always tell a person everything they may wish to know; so I got the book today.

For me because my friend did not go in depth to what happened to her, other then she lost all of her family in the Holocaust and she was the only survivor and I was later to get to know someone that could explain more to me about my friend, I did wish to understand what really happened to her. Mainly, because of my love for her even to this day.

One thing at the time that I knew her, has always stayed in my mind and it came the last day I was to ever see her and she said these things to me within her tears. She was crying that day because she was to leave me and she would never see me again.

This has been a puzzle to me every since that day, that she thought the only reason she survived the horrors of what the holocaust did to her and even loosing her family, that she would meet someone like me one day. She said these things to me out of respect and love, while I do not know if it was because of who I would become in my future because of my family or something she saw within me that made her feel at peace.

I hope one day, to know the answer.