Arab Affairs: The revolt at Yarmuk refugee camp

Posted on June 18, 2011 by

By ZVI MAZEL – for Jpost.com
06/17/2011 16:47

“Ya Bashar, ya Bashar, where, where are you? They massacred us under your eyes, where, where is the Syrian army, where are you?”

While the eyes of the world were focused on the thousands of Palestinians trying to storm the Golan Heights on Friday, June 3 – “Naksa Day,” the day commemorating the defeat of the Arab armies in the Six Day War – scant attention was given to the developing drama inside the Yarmuk refugee camp on the outskirts of Damascus.

Several youngsters from the camp were taking part in the attempt, and soon news started trickling in about the number of dead and wounded. People in the camp suddenly understood that they had been duped by Syrian leader Bashar Assad, who had chosen to buy with Palestinian blood an operation intended to draw attention away from his brutal handling of the country’s crisis.

Identifying bodies and returning them to their families took time, and it was not until Monday that the nine victims from the camp could be laid to rest. By that time, anger was boiling over at what was perceived as the result of Assad’s cynical use of the Palestinian cause.

An estimated 100,000 Palestinians – some two-thirds of the Yarmuk camp population – took part in the mass funerals, chanting slogans against the Syrian president: “Ya Bashar, ya Bashar, where, where are you? They massacred us under your eyes, where, where is the Syrian army, where are you?” Syria is home to some of the more extremist Palestinian organizations – from Hamas, which has its headquarters in Damascus, to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC), led by Ahmed Jibril.

Jibril himself came to the funeral with a number of assistants and the leaders of several other extremist Palestinian organizations; however, when he tried to make a speech praising Assad and blaming Israel for the deaths, his voice was drowned by protests; he was asked to leave and let the dead be buried in peace. He refused to move, so the crowd started pelting his group with stones.

Soon the protest turned more violent, and protesters vented their anger on the PFLP-GC’s headquarters.

They burst into the offices and broke furniture before setting the place on fire. Two guards were killed in the onslaught; Jibril’s security officers opened fire, killing 14 protesters and wounding hundreds. Throughout the rioting, the masses yelled, “The people want an end to the factions” – that is, the many Palestinian groups active in Syria, meddling in their lives and fighting among themselves for influence – mimicking the call of the protesters in Cairo’s Tahrir Square, “The people want an end to the regime.”

What the refugees were saying was that they’d had enough of being manipulated by the Syrian regime through the 10 extremist Palestinian factions it supports and which do its bidding. Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal rushed to the camp in an attempt to appease protesters, but he was greeted by loud jeers and curses and was driven away.

Jibril is considered the most important of the leaders of the pro-Syrian factions; it is a well known fact that he has been acting for the Syrian government for the past 40 years. It transpired that he had been the principal mover in the planning of the mass demonstrations on the Golan on behalf of Assad, while, according to Arab media, it had been clear from the first that they were doomed to failure since Israel would not let its border be overrun. On Tuesday, the victims of the previous day were laid to rest; the heads of the factions stayed prudently away.

Some Arab media are saying there are many in the camps who feel solidarity with the Syrian protesters being massacred by the regime. In any case, the violent protests in this camp probably explain why Assad did not send more people to the Golan the following day and why his army restored the roadblocks on the road leading to it, which had been dismantled in advance of the Friday march to the border.

There are today 13 Palestinian refugee camps in Syria administered by UNRWA; an estimated half a million people live there. Over the years, infrastructures have been built or modernized. The inhabitants of the camps enjoy full civil rights, including the right to work in academic professions and governments offices, though they have not been granted Syrian citizenship so as to perpetuate their refugee status vis à vis Israel.

In view of his present predicament, Assad has no desire to open a second front with the Palestinians; they represent a political force that there would be no point in turning against him. Should they decide to join the protesters, it could be catastrophic. Even before the recent Golan events, there was a feeling that the relations were turning sour.

A few weeks ago, Syrian authorities complained that Palestinians from Al-Ramel camp in Lattakia had rioted, burning and otherwise destroying public buildings. Palestinian factions immediately denied it, stressing that Palestinians in Syria remained neutral and were not taking part in the country’s internal affairs. It should also be remembered that there is widespread speculation that Hamas is considering transferring its headquarters to Qatar and opening offices in Cairo because of the deterioration of the situation in Syria.

Assad will probably not try again this transparent ploy of using the Palestinians to deflect attention from his sorry state – a ploy that was roundly condemned by the United States and left a bitter taste in the Arab world’s mouth.

At the same time, the leaders of the Palestinian factions are also in trouble.

They are afraid not only of clashes between the refugees and Assad’s security forces, but also of the possible emergence of a new regime that could curtail their privileges. According to press reports, these leaders intend to meet soon and discuss the best ways not to further the rift with the Syrian government.

The Palestinian leadership in Ramallah issued a measured condemnation through its news agency, Wafa. The communiqué spoke of “a group of armed men” from the PFLP-GC as being responsible for the crimes, and promised an investigation; there was no reference to the situation in Syria, Assad or Jibril.

So far, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has not seen fit to face the camera and express clearly his support for the Palestinians protesting Assad’s duplicity. Apparently because of the current Palestinian confrontation with Israel and the looming showdown at the UN General Assembly in September, the PA is unwilling to cross swords with the Palestinian factions – let alone Hamas, with which it recently signed a peace agreement. However, there has been strong condemnation in the Palestinian press, as well as from some more junior members of Fatah, who went as far as to ask that Jibril be expelled from the PLO.

Tarek al-Hamid, editor of the Londonbased Arab daily Asharq Alawsat, summed up on June 8, under the headline “The common currency for crises,” his take on the way Arab countries and Iran have exploited the Palestinian problem.

According to Hamid, Arab regimes “pay their debts” for internal or external problems either by sacrificing Palestinians or by “writing checks” – meaning exploiting the Palestinian problem while doing nothing about it. He wondered why Assad had not sent Syrian citizens to the Golan (the Golan being a Syrian problem), why Hezbollah had not taken part in the demonstrations on Naksa Day, and why Hamas had not let the people of Gaza demonstrate. He did not forget Iran, a country that issues bombastic declarations in favor of the Palestinians and against Israel – without doing anything – simply to meddle in the internal affairs of Arab states.

The Palestinians, he wrote, have become the common currency used to pay for the turmoil in the Arab world, and this state of affairs will go on until a Palestinian leader stands up and proclaims, “Enough, stop trafficking in Palestine and Palestinians!” – a not-toosubtle dig at Arab countries and at Abbas, reminding them that it is high time to solve the Palestinian issue pragmatically and stop using it to ensure their own survival.

The writer is a former ambassador to Romania, Egypt and Sweden, and a fellow of the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs.

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Yalla Peace: The challenges of Arab-Jewish matrimony

Posted on June 14, 2011 by
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مهرجان الأضواء في أورشليم القدس Festival of Lights in Jerusalem

Posted on June 13, 2011 by
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حوار مع صديقي “اليهودي العربي” A dialogue with my Arab Jewish friend.

Posted on May 23, 2011 by

We often forget that 65% of Israelis are Jews who have been kicked out from neighboring Arab countries, where they lived and contributed for centuries. They lucky ones-who weren’t murdered-were robbed of all their positions, businesses confiscated by the local Arab governments where they lived. They became refugees with no where to go. The only place they could think of at this time of despair was Jerusalem; their spiritual homeland. Some walked to the land promised by the Bible and Quarn, and some road animals, and some died on the way grasping to only a dream of seeing the city where every Jew turns his/her head for prayer three times a day.

I hope this video would shed some light on the connection the Jewish people had, and still have, for the countries were they grew up, spoke the language of, and still celebrate its’ local customs. I hope that all of us can understand that the Middle East conflict is by propaganda machines formed by those very governments that exiled the Jewish people once, not too far ago, and caused this whole mess we’re in today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/emp/external/player.swf

Salam

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Israel Apartheid? إسرائيل عنصرية ؟

Posted on March 13, 2011 by

Saudi Arabia bans protests, Turkey locks up journalists, Iran and Libya kill their opponents.

السعودية تحرم التظاهرات، تركيا تسجن الصحفيين، إيران و ليبيا يقتلون معارضيها.

Meanwhile, college campuses around the world prepare for… Israel Apartheid Week.

في نفس الوقت، كليات جامعية حول العالم تحضر ل…. أسبوع ألفصل العنصري في إسرائيل

Haneen Zoabi, a 41-year old Arab woman is an elected member of the Israeli Knesset

حنان زعبي، إمرأة عربية عمرها 41 سنة تم انتخابها عضوة في البرلمان الاسرائلي (الكنسيت)

and has led anti-Israel protests.

و قادت، فالماضي، مظاهرات ضد إسرائيل.

Israeli apartheid?

تفرقة عنصرية في إسرائيل؟

Her actions would never be tolerated in any of the surrounding countries,

أفعال هذه المرأة لا يمكن السماح بها في أي من دول الجوار،

but Zoabi’s anti-government pieces are routinely published in main stream Jerusalem newspapers.

و لكن مقالات ‘زعبي’ تنشر بشكل روتيني في كبرى جرائد القدس.

in Jerusalem, many Arab women take driving lessons

في القدس، العديد من النساء يتعلمون السواقة

and sit on Egged buses in traffic jams on Agrippas Street like everyone else.

و يركبون الباصات العامة في شارع اغريباس الشهير، مثل أي أحد آخر.

School girls are not afraid to share the same streets,

بنات المدارس لا يخافون من المشي في نفس الشوارع مع اليهود

no matter what uniforms they wear,  and go on to attend Israeli universities

بغض النظر عن أي زي يختارون أن يلبسوا، يمكنهم الدراسة في الجامعات الاسرائلية

and find work in the medical professions in Israeli hospitals.

و العمل في المهن الطبية في المستشفيات الاسرائلية

Arab women walk alone

النساء العرب يمشون لوحدهم

through the streets of the Old City

في شوارع البلدة القديمة

and in all the neighborhoods

و في كل الأحياء

in Jerusalem

في القدس

and all over Israel,

و في كل ارجاء إسرائيل،

dressed in clothing

يلبسن ثياباً ..

of all types

من كل الأنواع،

and colors.

و الألوان.

Often Arab women shop

النساء العرب عادةً ما يتسوقن

in Mamilla Mall,

في مول ‘ما من الله’ في القدس

in the Machane Yehuda Market, The Shuq

في سوق الخضار و اللحوم، مخنا يهودا.

on Jaffa Street,

في شارع يافا

King George Street,

شارع الملك جورج،

and in Talpiot.

و في شارع تالبيوت.

They can eat in a street cafe or restaurant

يمكنهم تناول الطعام في كوفي شوب على الشارع، أو في مطعم

or walk with a male companion.

أو المشي مع صديق من الجنس الآخر.

With young children, steps away from the Western wall, the holiest place for Jewish people

مع الأطفال الصغار في باحة حائط المبكى، أكثر الأماكن قدسية عند اليهود

or anywhere else they wish,

في أي مكانٍ يشاؤون،

Arab women are not afraid or forbidden to move around freely.

النساء العرب لا يتجنبوا أو يمنعوا من الحركة، في أي مكان، بحرية.

Israeli apartheid?

و يقولون تفرقة عنصرية في إسرائيل؟

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Iran’s Gender Apartheid – women without rights

Posted on March 1, 2011 by
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الفلسطينيون في مخيمات لبنان.. أجيال من دون هويات ولا حتى حق الترميم

Posted on January 19, 2011 by
صيدا – نسرين حاطوم
ينقسم اللاجئون الفلسطينيون في لبنان وفق درجات وطبقات، منهم من يحيا في مخيمات اللاجئين، ومنهم من يقطن في تجمعات عشوائية داخل تلك المخيمات لا تعترف بها سلطة، وعلى رأسها الأمم المتحدة ممثلة في منظمتها “الأونروا”.

 

“العربية.نت” ترصد حكايات لاجئين فلسطينيين داخل “تجمع الوادي” في مدينة صيدا اللبنانية.

تعيش في التجمع السيدة سعاد عبدالدايم، وهي فلسطينية تزوجت منذ سبعة وعشرين عاماً من سامي مليحة، ولها منه ثلاثة أولاد، لكنها ما زالت عزباء في دوائر النفوس حتى اليوم، والزواج شرعي مئة بالمئة، فقد دوّن في المحكمة الشرعية السنية، لكنه لم يدوّن في سجلات دائرة شؤون اللاجئين في لبنان، كما لم يدوّن في سجلات الأونروا، أي هو زواج شرعي، لكنه غيرُ قانوني، وكلُ ما نتج عن هذا الزواج غير قانوني!

وتقول سعاد عبدالدايم لاجئة فلسطينية: “أتمنى رؤية كلمة متزوجة على الهوية، الذي يميزني عن بقية الناس أنني متزوجة من رجل من غزة، لذا أنا ما زلت عزباء على رغم أني متزوجة ولدي أولاد”.

ويتحدث سامي مليحة، لاجىء فلسطيني من الفئة الثالثة، عن تجربته: “نحن أولاد الـ1967، قادمون من غزة والضفة الغربية، وأنا قادم من مخيمات اللجوء في غزة، الطريقة التي أخرجت منها من فلسطين يمكنك القول إنه تم الخلاص مني في لبنان من خلال وثيقة ذهاب بلا عودة وغير صالحة للسفر، هذه الوثيقة فقدت في لبنان عام 1982 خلال الاجتياح الإسرائيلي للبنان، فلا أوراق ثبوتية لدي سوى شهادة الثانوية العامة وبعض الأوراق التي تثبت أني فلسطيني”.

والمشكلة بنظر سامي لا تقف عند حدّ الاعتراف بزواجه أو بأولاده، بل أيضاً بمستقبل أولاده الثلاثة حسام، محمد وعبدالكريم.

سامي اعترف لـ”العربية.نت” بلجوئه إلى التوسّط لدى فاعلين فلسطينيين في لبنان لتعليم أولاده في مدارس الأونروا، على الرغم من أن هذا الأمر محصور فقط في الفلسطينيين المسجلين لديها.

لكن ابنه البكر حسام، خمسة وعشرون عاماً، لم يستطع دخول الجامعة بسبب فقدانه للأوراق الثبوتية، ولم يتمكن من الاستفادة من المنح الجامعية التي توزّع سنوياً على الفلسطينيين للدراسة في الخارج، لأنه لا يحق له إصدار وثيقة سفر، ما اضطره إلى دخول أحد المعاهد الخاصة لدراسة إدارة الأعمال، لكنه انتهى بوضع الشهادة جانباً وعمل في مجال البناء.

وينتمي سامي إلى الفئة الثالثة أو إلى فاقدي الهوية، وهم ليسوا مسجلين لدى الأنروا أو في سجلات وزارة الداخلية اللبنانية، ويقدر عددهم بين ثلاثة آلاف وخمسة آلاف فلسطيني.

وترتبط ظروف لجوئهم إلى لبنان بأحداث أيلول الأسود العام1970، وبعضهم إلى العام 1967، كما هو حال سامي.

وأخيراً ، ومع افتتاح مكتب منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية في بيروت العام 2006، أصدر المكتب بطاقات تعريف تسهّل تنقلهم فقط لا غير.

لا يمكن فصل وضع عائلة سامي الاجتماعي عن وضعه المعيشي، فهو يعيش في تجمع الوادي في مخيم المية ومية في مدينة صيدا جنوب لبنان، وهو تجمّع مهدد بالانزلاق بسبب تربته التي تسببت في انشقاقات بالمنازل التي بنيت غالبيتها من دون أي أساسات، بسبب الوضع المادي لسكانها، ولا يمكن مساعدتهم من قبل الأونروا، فهذا التجمع غير معترف به من قبلها، لأنه خارج نطاق مخيم المية ومية للاجئين، لذا لا تقدم لهم الهيئة أي خدمات إنمائية كحال 26 تجمعاً آخر في لبنان.

أمل الحاج وهي لاجئة فلسطينية تعيش بالقرب من منزل سامي، وسقف منزلها عبارة عن ألواح عشوائية تتسرب منها مياه الأمطار تقول إن الشقوق داخل تلك المنازل تأوي الحشرات والقوارض والثعابين.

ويشرح غالب الدنان، أمين سر اللجان الشعبية في مخيم المية ومية، تاريخ بناء تجمّع الوادي قائلاً: “هذا المخيم لجأت إليه عائلات فلسطينية مهجرة من مخيمات عدة مثل، تل الزعتر 1976، والنبطية ما قبل 1976، ومن داخل مخيم المية ومية نفسه أثناء الاجتياح الإسرائيلي”.

وتحظر الأنظمة السارية على سكان المخيمات الفلسطينيية في لبنان إدخال مواد البناء، إلا بإذن مسبق من مخابرات الجيش اللبناني، إذ تعلن الحكومة خشيتها من التوسّع الجغرافي للاجئين الفلسطينيين.

وقد تأسس تجمع الوادي على مساحة لا تتجاوز 400 متر مربع، وفي فصل الشتاء، حين يتعذر دخول حافلات المدارس، يضطر التلاميذ إلى السير في طريق موحلة ووعرة، فكيف هو الحال أثناء الطقس الماطر، إنها مأساة بلا نهاية.

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Iran is bullying its neighbors again!

Posted on May 11, 2010 by

Iran is bullying its neighbors again!

The mullah regime occupies the United Arab Emirates’ three islands (Greater Tunb, Lesser Tunb and Abu Musa) and when asked about it, their typical answer is: the real issue is the Zionist occupation of Palestine.  Iran’s way of avoiding any tough question on its shady nuclear program, meddling with Iraqi politics, supporting Shiite extremists, suppression of the Arab Sunni sizable minority in Ahwaz, weekly hanging bonanza, or the topic of the tree islands it occupies from the UAE,  has always been to consistently divert the attention from the topic at hand, and blaming Israel.

At first, the Arab masses bought Iran’s various attempts at shifting focus from its many deliberate wrong mishaps.  But Arabs enjoy seeing a country leader officially attacking Israel, even though they hated his guts. But Iran perfected its dirty game by financially supporting their proxy on the ground, Hamas. They were the main reason behind Operation CastLead which left many dead and injured on both sides.  Does Iran care about the loss of life? Absolutely not. On one hand, it’s Sunni Arabs that are dying, for the mullah regime that never been a problem; they directly and indirectly support the killing of thousands of Sunni Arabs Iraq everyday, and every hour. Some we hear about on the news, and many we don’t.  On the other hand, Jews are being killed and terrorized, and that has never been a problem for Iran since their official stance has been announced years ago, to wipe Israel off them map.

Since matters are getting a bit out of their control, what is Iran going to do next?

For the past few weeks, the Iranian National Guard–listed as a terror organization world wide– has been aggressively conducting military maneuvers in the Arabian gulf and heavily publicizing the fact. Some sources say, they’re trying to provoke a conflict with one of its neighbors or with the united states by harassing its navy forces patrolling the gulf.

This gives us conflicting messages, yet that leads us to one golden question: Could Iran be losing its grip on internal security and collapsing economically? Or maybe Tehran is desperately trying to push oil prices up to make some quick cash since the mullah regime is bankrupt and to avoid civil unrest some opposition groups are promising this summer? All the above sounds feasible to me, and it sure looks like Iran is scrambling to make some cash.

So, from the looks of it, this summer is going to be filled with some unnecessary action caused by Iran or one of its desperate proxies surrounding Israel.

I do sincerely hope that wouldn’t come to be the case.

Mark Halawa is an independent Middle East affairs analyst, community activist, Educator, and consultant

www.markhalawa.com

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Losing My Jihadism

Posted on May 21, 2010 by

A CRY FOR CHANGE

Losing My Jihadism

By Mansour al-Nogaidan

Sunday, July 22, 2007

BURAIDAH, Saudi Arabia Islam needs a Reformation. It needs someone with the courage of Martin Luther.

This is the belief I’ve arrived at after a long and painful spiritual journey. It’s not a popular conviction — it has attracted angry criticism, including death threats, from many sides. But it was reinforced by Sept. 11, 2001, and in the years since, I’ve only become more convinced that it is critical to Islam’s future.

Muslims are too rigid in our adherence to old, literal interpretations of the Koran. It’s time for many verses — especially those having to do with relations between Islam and other religions — to be reinterpreted in favor of a more modern Islam. It’s time to accept that God loves the faithful of all religions. It’s time for Muslims to question our leaders and their strict teachings, to reach our own understanding of the prophet’s words and to call for a bold renewal of our faith as a faith of goodwill, of peace and of light.

I didn’t always think this way. Once, I was one of the extremists who clung to literal interpretations of Islam and tried to force them on others. I was a jihadist.

I grew up in Saudi Arabia. When I was 16, I found myself assailed by doubts about the existence of God. I prayed to God to give me the strength to overcome them. I made a deal with Him: I would give up everything, devote myself to Him and live the way the prophet Muhammad and his companions had lived 1,400 years ago if He would rid me of my doubts.

I joined a hard-line Salafi group. I abandoned modern life and lived in a mud hut, apart from my family. Viewing modern education as corrupt and immoral, I joined a circle of scholars who taught the Islamic sciences in the classical way, just as they had been taught 1,200 years ago. My involvement with this group led me to violence, and landed me in prison. In 1991, I took part in firebombing video stores in Riyadh and a women’s center in my home town of Buraidah, seeing them as symbols of sin in a society that was marching rapidly toward modernization.

Yet all the while, my doubts remained. Was the Koran really the word of God? Had it really been revealed to Muhammad, or did he create it himself? But I never shared these doubts with anyone, because doubting Islam or the prophet is not tolerated in the Muslim society of my country.

By the time I turned 26, much of the turmoil in me had abated, and I made my peace with God. At the same time, my eyes were opened to the hypocrisy of so many who held themselves out as Muslim role models. I saw Islamic judges ignoring the marks of torture borne by my prison comrades. I learned of Islamic teachers who molested their students. I heard devout Muslims who never missed the five daily prayers lying with ease to people who did not share their extremist beliefs.

In 1999, when I was working as an imam at a Riyadh mosque, I happened upon two books that had a profound influence on me. One, written by a Palestinian scholar, was about the struggle between those who deal pragmatically with the Koran and those who take it and the hadith literally. The other was a book by a Moroccan philosopher about the formation of the Arab Muslim way of thinking.

The books inspired me to write an article for a Saudi newspaper arguing that Muslims have the right to question and criticize our religious leaders and not to take everything they tell us for granted. We owe it to ourselves, I wrote, to think pragmatically if our religion is to survive and thrive.

That article landed me in the center of a storm. Some men in my mosque refused to greet me. Others would no longer pray behind me. Under this pressure, I left the mosque.

I moved to the southern city of Abha, where I took a job as a writer and editor with a newly established newspaper. I went back to leading prayers at the paper’s small mosque and to writing about my evolving philosophy. After I wrote articles stressing our right as Muslims to question our Saudi clerics and their interpretations and to come up with our own, officials from the kingdom’s powerful religious establishment complained, and I was banned from writing.

The attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, gave new life to what I had been saying. I went back to criticizing the rote manner in which we Muslims are fed our religion. I criticized al-Qaeda’s school of thought, which considers everyone who isn’t a Salafi Muslim the enemy. I pointed to examples from Islamic history that stressed the need to get along with other religions. I tried to give a new interpretation to the verses that call for enmity between Muslims and Christians and Jews. I wrote that they do not apply to us today and that Islam calls for friendship among all faiths.

I lost a lot of friends after that. My old companions from the jihad felt obliged to declare themselves either with me or against me. Some preferred to cut their links to me silently, but others fought me publicly, issuing statements filled with curses and lies. Once again, the paper came under great pressure to ban my writing. And I became a favorite target on the Internet, where my writings were lambasted and labeled blasphemous.

Eventually I was fired. But by then, I had started to develop a different relationship with God. I felt that He was moving me toward another kind of belief, where all that matters is that we pray to God from the heart. I continued to pray, but I started to avoid the verses that contain violence or enmity and only used the ones that speak of God’s mercy and grace and greatness. I remembered an incident in the Koran when the prophet told a Bedouin who did not know how to pray to let go of the verses and get closer to God by repeating, “God is good, God is great.” Don’t sweat the details, the prophet said.

I felt at peace, and no longer doubted His existence.

In December 2002, in a Web site interview, I criticized al-Qaeda and declared that some of the Friday sermons were loathsome because of their attacks against non-Muslims. Within days, a fatwa was posted online, calling me an infidel and saying that I should be killed. Once again, I felt despair at the ways of the Muslim world. Two years later, I told al-Arabiya television that I thought God loves all faithful people of different religions. That earned me a fatwa from the mufti of Saudi Arabia declaring my infidelity.

But one evening not long after that, I heard a radio broadcast of the verse of light. Even though I had memorized the Koran at 15, I felt as though I was hearing this verse for the first time. God is light, it says, the universe is illuminated by His light. I felt the verse was speaking directly to me, sending me a message. This God of light, I thought, how could He be against any human? The God of light would not be happy to see people suffer, even if they had sinned and made mistakes along the way.

I had found my Islam. And I believe that others can find it, too. But first we need a Reformation similar to the Protestant Reformation that Martin Luther led against the Roman Catholic Church.

In the late 14th century, Islam had its own sort of Martin Luther. Ibn Taymiyya was an Islamic scholar from a hard-line Salafi sect who went through a spiritual crisis and came to believe that in time, God would close the gates of hell and grant all humans, regardless of their religion, entry to his everlasting paradise. Unlike Luther, however, Ibn Taymiyya never openly declared this revolutionary belief; he shared it only with a small, trusted circle of students.

Nevertheless, I find myself inspired by Luther’s courageous uprising. I see what Islam needs — a strong, charismatic personality who will lead us toward reform, and scholars who can convince Islamic communities of the need for a bold new interpretation of Islamic texts, to reconcile us with the wider world.

Mansour al-Nogaidan writes

for the Bahraini newspaper Al-Waqt.

Original article shown on www.washingtonpost.com

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Saudi Adult Breastfeeding fatwa

Posted on May 23, 2010 by

• Sheikh Abdul Mohsin Al-Obaikan, said his fatwa is not limited to a time period of place.

Legal counsel at Saudi ministry of Justice reaffirms the permissibility of breastfeeding a foreign adult “in suitable ways”

Saudi Arabia’s legal counsel at the ministry of justice, Sheikh Abdul Mohsen Al-Obaikan, reaffirmed what some media and internet outlets in Arabia have been reporting; a fatwa on permissibility to “breastfeed an adult” in certain situations.

On Friday, May 21, 2010, Sheikh Al-Obaikan stressed that “what was reported through the media relating to the topic at hand did not include the conditions and restrictions specified, stating not to breastfeed directly through the breast, but the the milk must be extracted in a suitable way, and then has to be consumed by the person concerned with the process”.

In addition, he pointed out in a recent interview with one of Saudi Arabia’s TV channels, and said: “If a household needed a foreign man to enter their home repeatedly, and he too did not have anyone but that household, his entering might be difficult for them [the family] and could cause them discomfiture, especially if the house had girls or a wife, then the wife has the right to breastfeed him.”

He used examples from early Islamic practices, and other by Aisha –the mother of all believers — (pbuh) the wife of Prophet Mohammad (pbuh). Also, he used excerpts from the works of Ibn Tamima, citing that the fatwa of breastfeeding the adult, as he described, is a situation that is not restricted by a certain time, but for the general public for all times”.

Article translated by Mark Halawa

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Girl raped for 11 days by police, in Pakistan

Posted on May 25, 2010 by

Pakistani girl raped for 11 days by local police

The Pakistani girl, Natasha


“Her case shocked the Pakistani street”

The story of 17 year old Pakistani teenager, Natasha, still tops headlines in the Middle East, after the gang rape she suffered on the hands of the local police in her village. She was illegally arrested and held in detention for 11 days while she got raped by the four officers.

This incident occurred in the village of “Lab Thato” in the northern part of Pakistan. She was arrested at 17 years of age to put pressure on her mother to confess to a murder she was accused of.

Natasha said –to AlArabiya—she was forced to consume pain-killers, then the policemen would rape her, one after the other. She was also forced to dance naked for them, she explained.

Her father found himself speechless, couldn’t even talk to himself about what is happening to his family. He is poor and weak cannot stand up to the chief of police, who’s the first suspect in his daughter’s rape.

Even those who volunteered to defend Natasha, receive their share of advice to stay away from the case. Attorney, Jameel Asgar said: “We volunteered our services because it’s a humanitarian case. Natasha was detained illegally, she was raped, and this is proven in medical reports at court”.

Police immediately arrested the officers involved, after the news leaked to the media, but the forth policeman is still on the run.

Natasha’s file has been assigned to the highest ranking policeman in the district, his name is Mohammad Iqbal—he’s the general detective for the district of Rwalbandi—who said: They send me a messaging saying they will pay me 600,000 Rupees to change my accounts, but I will not let this case go even if I died for it”.

Translated by: Mark Halawa

Original article: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/05/26/109615.html
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Let us play pretend خلينا نلعب تخيل

Posted on May 27, 2010 by

Many Arabs think Israel started bombing Gaza for no reason, forgetting that Hamas started this aggression by shelling Israeli cities and towns in the area for 8 years nonstop, with aimless homemade bombs, and other smuggled through the tunnels, targeting innocent civilians. Hamas did so following orders from Iran and knowing very well that Israel will retaliate, and there will be human casualties.

الكثير من العرب يعتقدون أن إسرائيل بدأت بقصف غزة بلا سبب، ناسين أن حركة حماس هي التي بدأت هذا العداء من خلال قصفها المتواصل للمدن و القرى الاسرائلية المجاورة بصواريخ عشوائية محلية الصنع، و أخرى مهربة عن طريق الأنفاق، تستهدف المدنيين الأبرياء. زعماء حماس فعلوا ذلك بامر من أسيادهم في إيران، و هم يعرفون جيداً أن إسرائيل سوف ترد، و ستكون الضحية مدنيين ابرياء أيضاً، و لكن هذه المرة من غزة.

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Saudi Arabia supports Universal Interfaith Forum

Posted on May 30, 2010 by

Saudi King: We seek to establish a Universal Centre for Multi-Faith Dialogue

Independent, functioning away from any political interference.

Saudi Arabia’s King Abdullah Bin Abdul-Aziz told media sources that there are efforts to establish a Universal Centre for dialogue including representatives of all major religions [Christianity, Islam, Judaism] working independently and in isolation from any political interference.

He also stressed that Saudi Arabia continues to promote the idea of cultural dialogue, and took upon itself the responsibility of bridging gaps between cultures and civilizations “To increase coexistence, understanding, and promote human values to replace conflict with harmony. This helps by taking the edge off of tensions and removes the spark of quarrel which in turn helps us actualize an eagerly wanted security and peace.”

The King also noted, in a speech on his behalf by Saudi Foreign Minister Prince Saudi Al-Faisal — who led the Kingdom’s delegation to the third Interfaith Dialogue Forum which started last Friday in the Brazilian capital– “This forum which comes under the title ‘Cultural communication to implement peace’ is gaining special importance in the shadow of what the world faces today, from challenges and conflicts that deserves our urgent cooperation, and from our Islamic teachings, the religion of modesty, middle grounds, forgiveness in the face of terror and extremism.”

The revolution of Saudi international scholarships

Saudi has created a national centre for dialogue encompassing all factors of Saudi society. Showing special attention to programs that encourages education, counters illiteracy, and the rehabilitation of employees to improve work skills.  The speech used as an example the 90,000 students (Male and Female) who are studying abroad on scholarships to 14 countries in the five continents, as a non before witnessed drive for openness and modernization.  “This, in addition to the launching of the University of Sciences and Technology to attract students from all around the world, to cooperate annually on the implementation of science and technology to better humanity.”

Translated by Mark Halawa

Paragraphs from: http://www.alarabiya.net/articles/2010/05/29/109920.html#

Posted in Arabia World, Islam, Judaism, Mark Halawa, Miscellaneous, Modern Arabia, Muslim World, News Reports | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Turkey’s Flotilla Stunt

Posted on June 2, 2010 by

By Mark Halawa

Having lived in the Middle East for over twenty years of my life, I have a perspective on this week’s Gaza Flotilla incident that I think may be enlightening to Western readers.

Turkey has successfully ascended to the driver seat of the Pro-Palestinian propaganda machine. A seat in which Iran, with all its blatant rhetoric against Israel, creative anti-Semitic contests, and a runaway nuclear program, couldn’t successfully hold onto due to the threat the Iranian Shiites pose to “moderate” Arab Sunnis.

The Idea: A fleet of boats carrying activists, reporters, religious and political leaders, and aid to Gaza.

How To: Create as much negative publicity toward Israel as possible by inviting participants from all over the world (Pakistanis could round up thousands for a “Death to Facebook” riot in a matter of hours) and brand the fleet the “Gaza Freedom Flotilla” to keep things under an innocent peace disguise. Of course, these “innocent peaceful” activists will be armed with metal pipes, slingshots and knives, for stage two of the peaceful plan: to instigate violence with the Israeli Defense Forces.

The Goal: Turkey will push Iran out of the spotlight as the number one hero to Arab youth, gaining instant sympathy and approval from Arab regimes and their puppet media outlets. Part of Turkey’s motivation is undoubtedly to close an ugly page of long brutal Ottoman rule over the Arabian Peninsula.

After all, Turkey has been building up prerequisites for such a move for some time. Like Iran, they have created fictitious anti-Israel and anti-Jewish TV shows, publicly supported Hamas, and even went on further when Turkish PM Ardogan verbally attacked President Shimon Peres last year at the World Economic Forum in Davos.

Since all previous attempts at sending similar fleets to Gaza have failed, it was essential for Turkey to give it an all-out push this time by including reporters from Al Jazeera, women and children, and sympathetic semi-public figures from all over the world.

As the activists had intended, the largest outcome from this whole PR stunt was the further smearing of Israel’s good name worldwide. What came as a particular shock was how those countries that in the past had shied away from bashing Israel, suddenly joined the chorus of world leaders pressuring Israel to lift the embargo on Hamas-dominated Gaza.

It may be interesting to note that while Israel yet again gets top headlines, more local issues of legitimate humanitarian outcry continue to be ignored in the Arab world – for example, the killing of Bahraini fishermen by Qatar’s coastguard last week. The harmless boat had the audacity to stray close to Qatar’s international waters; however, the issue was largely ignored.

While the Gaza-bound flotillas have since been docked in the Israeli port of Ashdod, and the aid on board (but not the weapons) is being transferred to those Gazans in need, the humanitarian aspect of the flotilla’s cause was clearly secondary to the goal of demonizing the Jewish state.

Whatever the fate of this “peace flotilla,” the Arab street would jubilantly call it a success either way, and Turkey would score a huge PR victory in the Arab world’s blurry eyes.

Mark Halawa  – www.markhalawa.com
Posted in Arabia World, Iran, Islam, Israel, Judaism, Mark Halawa, Miscellaneous, Modern Arabia, Muslim World, News Reports, Pakistan, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

York University; standing on guard for thee…?

Posted on November 23, 2010 by

York University; standing on guard for thee…?

By Mark Halawa

York University’s general counsel, Harriet Lewis is threatening to sue a local Toronto Rabbi for speaking out against increased anti-Semitic activities on the school’s campus. What’s wrong with this picture! York is trying to silence a Rabbi for speaking against the unopposed infestation of hate at a local Canadian campus! Shouldn’t we, Canadians, stand up for the very value of tolerance and equality Canada was founded on?

Every proud Canadian who sings the words of our National Anthem is obligated to condemn all racist activities against fellow Canadians— to prevent it from flourishing in, or outside, our educational institutions. No matter under what disguise.

The Rabbi found himself in a position where he had no choice but to stand up and defend his community against York University administration’s recent lax sense of morality.

George Galloway raises funds for Hamas and other extremist organizations, like AlQaeda which only last week, promised to bomb Christian churches in Cairo, Egypt, and effectively bombed two Christian churches the week before, killing dozens of innocent worshipers.

The line between free speech and hate speech has been greatly blurred at York University. Perhaps the York administration should learn something from this Rabbi and start doing its job in shielding Canadian students from hate speech.

Perhaps you would like to sue me too, Mr. Shoukri, using the same coffers that paid Galloway for his anti-semitic rants? Everyone knows that a few organizations are fuelling extremism and Salafism amongst Toronto’s Muslim Youth today. It’s a new phenomenon in Toronto, they’re targeting our kids!

Not only is Galloway a liar and an anti-semite, he also supports terror groups. He visited Hamas and Hizbullah in the past few months, and now Mr. Shoukri allows him to speak at York University.

The Jewish community is well aware that President Shoukri is a friend of the Jewish people, as he understands the enormous role the Jewish community played in the establishment of York.

The well founded criticism against Mr. Shoukri is clearly founded on his lack of action when it comes to preventing this notorious terrorist fundraiser to speak on York U campus.

Canadians expect you, Mr. Shoukri, to step up to the leadership position you hold and ban such a terrorist fundraiser from coming to York University, to make an example of such anti-Semitic character, enabling other universities to follow suit.

Mr. Shoukri, the speaker you allowed to spew hate on OUR campus is also banned from entering your mother country, Egypt.

History must record the grave error York University has made by their lack of action, which through passivity has shown favour for the terrorist fundraiser, George Galloway.

Just like Mr. Shoukri, I speak fluent Arabic. I witnessed with my own eyes a swastika drawn on a washroom in Vari Hall at York University, as well as anti-Jewish slurs written in Arabic. Where was the general counsel’s statement to condemn that HATE CRIME? It seems that Mrs. Lewis only considers it defamatory when a leader of the Jewish community finally speaks up, forgetting years of proven anti-semitism and intimidation of Jewish students on campus, and the misuse of university facilities on the student’s dime.

I became accustomed to hearing anti-semitic insults by Arab students as a Jewish student walk by, during anti Israel fests at Vari Hall each year. Saying these derogatory anti-Jewish things in another language than English (Arabic) doesn’t make them null. A sizable chunk of York University’s student population understands the curse words.

The translated word-list is available upon your request, Mr. Shoukri.

Just this past year a female student got slapped, another was pushed, and another followed all the way to her car, hearing the worst insults and anti-Jewish slurs out there, by Arab and non Arab York students. The next day, the latter’s car tires were slashed.

A Turkish teaching assistant “hijacked” a political science class he was giving and turned it to an anti-Zionist/anti-Israel bash. Where was York’s administration then?

Dear Mr. Shoukri and Mrs. Lewis: where is York’s morality when it came to such crimes? York University has once again failed under your leadership.

Despite the fact that there are a couple of internationally-funded outreach organizations brainwashing students and systematically teaching them how to fight Jewish students on Canadian and American campuses to rid the institutions of Jewish students. Yet, the red carpet was rolled out for the terrorist fundraiser, George Galloway, while a courageous Rabbi who stood up for his community was threatened with a lawsuit…Obscene.

I call on every Canadian to stand on guard and protect the values in which Canada was founded on. The same values that allow every Canadian, no matter what background he or she is from, to walk tall at any university campus in the country.

On behalf of many honest Canadian Arabs; I will stand by the Jewish community amid these dark times, and will continue to speak out against the blind hate which is evidently condoned by the Arab/Muslim community at York University.

Despite our political differences, the very rights and freedoms we enjoy today, lie within Canada’s constitution. Every student deserves to learn in an environment free of hate and intolerance. Stand up for Canadian values Mr. Shoukri, and don’t try to hush us— those who uphold those very values.

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Arabs in Israel … العرب في إسرائيل

Posted on December 4, 2010 by
Posted in Arabia World, Islam, Israel, Mark Halawa, Modern Arabia, Muslim World, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Israel, The Good Enemy

Posted on January 10, 2011 by

Israel’s relationship to the Palestinians has always been globally approached with standardized heavy criticism made to Israel.  The main charges waved in Israel’s face have always been “the Disapropriate use of force” and “discrimination”.

Israel’s critics, either willingly or out of ignorance, choose to overlook the way many Arab countries mistreat Palestinians. Some Arab countries are almost never blamed for what they have been doing to the Palestinians for decades.  Such selective recognition of facts by Israel’s critics is bizarre when weighed by truth instead of myths.

In December of 2008, Israel launched operation “cast lead” against Hamas which was launching rockets on Southern Israel on a daily basis.  This operation has resulted in the death of more than 1,400 Palestinians, many said to be civilians; an absolute tragedy, nonetheless, those criticizing Israel fail to recognize that the number of causalities is small comparing to Gaza’s population of 1.5 million, considering the high density of Gaza’s population per square kilometre, the number suggests the Israeli forces were very cautious in carrying out their attacks, despite the fact that they were chasing a moving target, Hamas militants.  If Israeli forces were targeting Palestinian civilians, the number of the dead would have reached tens of thousands.

On comparison; in 1976, Lebanese militiamen butchered 2,000 Palestinians; almost wiping out the entire population of Tell al-Zaatar refugee camp within days.  This was revisited again in 1982 in Sabra and Shatelah massacre; where, in less than four days, Lebanese militiamen killed thousands of women and children who posed no threat as most Palestinian fighters had left then to Tunisia. Two years ago, al-Jazeera satellite network aired rare footage of Palestinians running to Israeli soldiers for refuge from the massacre.

Furthermore, most Arab atrocities against Palestinians have included documented rape cases, even of children, while not a single rape case has been reported against Israeli forces in more than sixty years of operations.

Arab governments’ oppression of the Palestinians does not stop at bloodshed and wholesale  slaughters, in fact the more troubling aspects of the way they treat Palestinians is in the systematic long-range exclusion and discrimination.   In Arab countries where Palestinians make up a good percentage of the population; they are depraved of all basic necessities, starting with education, down to basic healthcare.  Even at countries that have granted the Palestinians citizenships; the Palestinians stand helpless and banned from every potential to improve their livelihoods.

Israel, on the other hand, has always allowed Palestinians to work there and to get paid in Western standards, and even had allowed them generous access to healthcare.  In fact, Israel has also welcomed Palestinians as visitors, patients and even as investors, this generosity was only limited when Hamas started bombing Israeli civilians with no signs of an end in sight.

The complexity Israel has with Palestinians revolves around security rather than ideological issues; Israel does not have an aim to enslave the Palestinians for life or purposely degrade their humanity. While many Arab countries have designed their systems to discriminate and humiliate the Palestinians, squeezing them into illiteracy and poverty while milking them for tax money.

This has become most visible recently with calls in some Arab countries to revoke citizenships of all Palestinians there and actually to force them to seek local guarantors to obtain residency, thus enslaving them for life.

This comes as a deeper shock for Palestinians when they see Israeli Arabs, with many of them describing themselves as “Palestinians in Israel”; those are full citizens of Israel with access to all privileges.  Israeli Arabs are fully represented inside the Knesset while Palestinians, in their Arab homeland, are allowed only symbolic presence in parliaments, even at countries where they are the majority.  And while some Arab countries selectively withdraw citizenships from Palestinians, many Arab Knesset members do not hesitate to speak against Israel with no fear of losing their citizenships or entitlements.

Still, while the world is most vocal about Israeli military operations, it fails to recognize that Israel has been dealing with non-stop unrest on its soil since the breakout of the Intifada in 1987.  Has that Intifada taken place in any Arab country; it would have ended within the first couple of weeks with an Arab army killing more than ten thousands Palestinians, most being civilians.  Examples of this are countless and in all Arab countries hosting Palestinians; yet the world seems to think this reality is too overrated to recognize.

Today, with peace negotiations up and running, some Arab governments seem to want to butcher the Palestinians again on the altar of dictatorship by worsening their living conditions and making their lives more miserable, just to secure a better negotiating position or merely a seat at the negotiations table.  Not to mention that many of those actually would rather see the negotiations fail in order to keep more international aid money flowing to them for “hosting” the Palestinians.

Quoting a commentator on one of my articles; “the Palestinians, do obviously need a break from their sworn Arab friends”, and perhaps they can reconnect to them when they have learned a lesson or two from their Israeli “enemies”.

Meanwhile, the world will remain silent about the Palestinians’ suffering at the hands of some of their “brothers”, as it’s too occupied with Israel.

 

Mudar Zahran, Jordanian of a Palestinian heritage, is an academic who resides in the UK. Read his full bio.

Posted in Arabia World, Israel, Mark Halawa, Miscellaneous, Modern Arabia, Muslim World, News Reports, Politics | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment