Palestinian leadership says another Trump term would be a disaster. Palestinians have an enemy that is definitely going to destroy them, that enemy is not Trump, it is not “The Joos”, it is the Palestinian leadership…Hamas and Fatah.. Those two factions are so focused in being the sole leaders of a now-fantasy Palestine, that they have lost the skill of calculating their advantages when they have them.
Peace, Justice & Equal Rights for all
I am not talking about refusing the many “wonderful opportunities” that Israel offered Palestinians because those were the most mean-spirited choices anyone could get, but packaged as gifts from Heaven. I am talking about the FACT that nothing can give them a Palestine that has any hope of survival, that can ever expect to be more than an Israeli Bantustan. Palestinian leadership should publicly give up the idea of a Palestine for Palestinians and agree to merge with Israel as a single country with equal rights, protections and opportunities for ALL, regardless of whether they may be Jews, Christians or Muslims. The new Israel CAN be called Israel and it can also be called Palestine, that is immaterial. After all, Switzerland remains an internationally-respected, neutral country in spite of the fact that it has FOUR ethnicities and Four official languages…French, German, Italian and Romansh. Those languages are being used in the whole country. Switzerland also has names in each language, for the same city and geographic areas such as lakes and mountains. Quite importantly in contrast with Israel, the different ethnic groups are often not accepting of one another but in expression only. Perhaps the one thing they have in common with Israeli Jews is that they too, hate Muslims but to a much lesser extent.
Jews and Palestinians are being forced apart largely because of Western support against Palestinians. There is NOTHING keeping a united Israel-Palestine from happening except for the egotistic, bigoted, leaders in Israel and in Palestine. In this tragedy, only the Palestinians will continue to suffer deprivation, deaths, genocide, and humiliations. It is time for the Jews of Israel and their supporters to forget the idea of a “Jewish character” of Israel, because thus far, the only “Jewish character” in evidence, is that of a genocidal organization against Palestinians. It is also time for Palestinian leaders to help Palestinians lose the idea of a “Free Palestine” for what would appear to be a single-faith (Islamic) nation. Get used to the idea of a multi-faith nation working together with Peace and Justice for all. The current Palestinian leaderships (Hamas and Fatah) offer neither Peace, nor Justice, nor any semblance of a democracy; one is totalitarian and the other corrupt.
Iranian government is planning to investigate Iranian Jews for their loyalty to the Islamic Republic of Iran.
“Iranian Jews are not really Persian, they are foreigners who settled here many years ago” said Parliamentarian Farhad Bewaquf. “The Shah catered to them because of America and Israel and he placed them in high positions. But now that we have an Islamic government, we know that the loyalty of Jews in this country is doubtful, I cannot believe that they would consider themselves as Iranians__ they are all Zionists!“.
Hostile Iranian leaders are calling for the expulsion of all Jews and the imprisonment of those suspected of spying for Israel. The Ahmedinejad government is trying to pacify the leaders by suggesting less extreme measures such as limiting Jewish access to government jobs and contracts and keeping Jews from areas and cities deemed to be “sensitive”.
Iranian Minister for Minority Matters, Chengez Jungistani agrees, suggesting that the one Jewish reserved seat in the Iranian Parliament, be taken away. “Our civilization is incompatible with Jews. These days, when Israel keeps threatening Iran, we do not know if the Jews are providing intelligence to Israel, that would hurt us.” He said.
The above “news” is of course, a concoction of mine, it is absolutely untrue…Bogus!
First published Dec 21, 2009. It grieves me to acknowledge that Obama is more of a flex-politician and less of a statesman that I had hoped he would be, his speech this evening was certainly the gung-ho type of speech that pushed the audience forward, but no one knew where, for how long or why. I was reminded of the recreation of facts that the Republicans used to do through King George the Worst and his three Knights of Darkness, Cheney, Rumsfeld and Ashcroft/Gonsales. Continue reading →
The man who blew himself up and took 7 CIA men with him should help teach us in the US, the same lesson…yet again! But if the lesson learnt is that we should not trust Arabs and Muslims, then all seven CIA lives, all American lives before them and all lives that will be taken in the future, will have been totally wasted.
What should the US have learnt, this time, as they should have, a long time ago? There is no substitute for good intelligence-gathering and good intelligence-gathering does not come through the eye of a satellite, the cross-hairs of a drone or, from a rented stranger, it comes from good friends. But first, let us see how the US deliberately alienates Muslims across the world. Continue reading →
I recently received a link to a YouTube video of Rachel Corrie in 5th grade, giving a speech in which she shared her vision to help the world be a better place. I was very impressed because while we all desire world peace in our childhood, it is seldom that we manage to retain the vision and act on it in our adulthood. This remarkable girl spoke with clarity and confidence and with the sincerity of one whose soul speaks out. Continue reading →
(First published April 7, 2005) Peace in the Holy Land is very much a possibility but it is by no means easy. In fact, it can be argued that the most successful solution includes one country with Jews, Christians and Muslims living together in peace and harmony as they had for centuries before now.
One of the problems of current peace negotiations is that with blind support from the West, Israel has everything to lose and almost nothing to gain by giving up any of its territories. Continue reading →
Today’s (8.14.2007) news featured an attack by Israel, on Gaza, killing ten Palestinians including “gunmen”, “Hamas terrorists” and an elderly mother “being used as a human shield”.
“Well done IDF!” was the most-voiced comment in Israel…great glory and righteousness on the part of IDF; Israel may survive yet another day.
In strategy and tactics of war, the most important weapon is the language of war. Continue reading →
Most people of good will should be able to condemn not only suicide bombing but ANY act of wanton killing whether it is done by our side (“good guys”) or the their side (“bad guys”). Unfortunately the Israel/Palestine dispute has so polarized people that they have no hesitation in condemning the other side without ever seeking to understand. All too often, seeking to understand the other is seen as taking sides by people blinded by partisanship. Continue reading →
Brutality against Palestinians has become such commonplace in Israel, that killing, injuring or otherwise brutalizing a Palestinian barely evokes a bored yawn. Continue reading →
Thank you for taking the time to send me your reason (letter below) why you chose to endorse a condemnation of the Goldstone Report; I am afraid I cannot accept your response as a considered one.
While I realize you might never see this, I feel you need to understand why we are feeling such agony over your signing of that infamous resolution.
I wonder if you have ever visited Gaza?
It is about 360 sq Km (137 sq. mi, see detailed maps below) in total with about 1,500,000 people imprisoned inside…that is almost 11,000 people per square mile (17 per acre) if everybody was neatly spread around all of Gaza, desert and all.If you were told to “run” with your children, where exactly would you have been able to escape Israeli bombs when Israel was even bombing the beaches of Gaza? Israeli forces deliberately even killed entire families who were surrendering with white flags.
Yet you surprise me by saying, “Israel’s implementation of warning efforts that appear to have saved lives“.
Are you aware of DIME weapons that we have provided Israel? Ha’aretz reports that “The problem is that when you are killed – you are ripped to shreds and there is nothing left“. Continue reading →
Blogger Jafar “Jeff” Siddiqui is an American Muslim living in WA.. USA.
He grew up in the Khyber Pukhtunkhwa (North-West Frontier) Province and has maintained close contacts in Pakistan.
He is a member of American Muslims of Puget Sound and is a human rights activist. He is involved with movements for inter-faith understanding. He has contributed articles for a textbook on terrorism, used by US law-enforcement agencies. He has also presented discussions and written article, on the Indo-Pakistan hostilities and their impact on Afghanistan.; he writes articles and gives lectures on Civil Rights, American Foreign Policy, on Islam, on current affairs including events in the Middle East, South and Central Asia. His works have been published in various print media. He also gives commentaries on radio and TV on these subjects.
Occasionally, I use the term “Jihad” in my articles, as the action needed to help make changes to better the ills of society. I often get feedback in which people worry more about my use of the word “Jihad”, than they do about the injustice about which I wrote; some wonder why I would use such a charged word among non-Muslims.
I intentionally use “Jihad”, because I want to jolt Muslims AND non-Muslims; “Jihad” cannot and must not become de-legitimized just because some people do not care to understand the true meaning of a sacred term and decide to associate it with terrible things.
“Jihad” springs from the Arabic “Jhd” which means “struggle”; “Jihad” means the act of struggle, “Mujahid” (Plural, Mujahideen) is someone who is doing “Jihad”.
At the core (the highest level), it is the duty of every Muslim to struggle against the basic negative predispositions we all have as humans…greed, envy, jealousy, rage, deceit, theft, murder etc.
At the next level, it is the duty of every Muslim to fight against the ills that beset Mankind…hunger, disease, homelessness, illiteracy, injustice, lack of water, pollution etc.,
At the least important level, Muslims are required to fight those who attack us AFTER we have exhausted all other efforts towards peaceful resolution. Even then, if peace is at hand, even at mid-battle, one has to stop and accept terms that are just and preserve the dignity of all parties.
I would imagine these are things that every person needs to subscribe to, not just Muslims.
Yet, there is a growing body of opinion in the non-Muslim West, that “Jihad” can ONLY be equated with murder and mayhem and thus, anyone using the word, can be presumed to be associated with supporting murder and mayhem.
I would suggest that supporters of the body of opinion that would like to taint “Jihad”, are people who consider themselves at “War!” with Islam, Muslims and Arabs. They may be a growing number of people, but they are wrong and it would be wrong for Muslims to lend credence to this opinion by shying away from “Jihad” in word, or in action.
Not so long ago, the Jewish organization ADL, launched an attack on some Muslim groups because the Muslims were wearing the Muslim Affirmation… “Shehada” (“There is no God but one God, and Mohammed is His prophet”) on their headbands and the ADL said that the Shehada stood for terrorism.
There are a growing number of bigots who state that Islam’s holy book, the Quran, is a symbol of evil and violence.
What should Muslims do? Abandon the Shehada and the Quran?
Some may say that we should just not use the Shehada on headbands, why not? Either the Affirmation (Shahada) is sacred or it is not; if it is sacred, then wherever it is used, as long as the use is not profane, is also sacred. If the Shehada is used in a profane manner, then the reflection is not upon the Shehada, but on the abuser.
Hitler took the Swastika as his symbol and today, it strikes fear and revulsion in the hearts of many, especially Jews. However, the Swastika is thousands of years old and among Hindus, the “Savas Tika” (“Peace sign”) is a holy symbol, it is used to adorn temples and used by Hindus at almost every occasion…it can be clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Should the Hindus be asked to abandon the Savas tika as a symbol?
If we dared to make such an absurd demand, we would be laughed off the stage.
The Star of David strikes fear and revulsion among millions of Palestinian men, women and children; should the Jews be asked to abandon the Star of David as their symbol?
I am betting millions of Bosnian Muslims shudder a little when they see a Crucifix, or the Christian Orthodox cross, because of the genocide of Bosnian Muslims by the Serbs and the Croats in the name of Christianity in the 1990s; should those symbols be cast aside?
The principle of “use it or lose it” is quite valid here. If we retreat for any reason, we are acknowledging that our sacred and holy terms or symbols are sometimes themselves, evil. Once we give that ground, then we can no longer use our Savas Tikas, our Crucifixes or our terms…THEN, the bad guys have truly won.
I believe that as reasoned and rational people, we cannot allow ourselves to fall victim to populist bigotries. We must look at what the symbol actually stands for, rather than associate it with the negative events that were tied to it by evil people; we must be able to differentiate between Nazi Swastikas on one hand, and symbols and words that are sacred, on the other.
Jihad; it is a sacred duty for every Muslim, Christian, Jew, Hindu…for every human being of good will.
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