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Gaza Massacre - An Analysis of Israeli Assault on Gaza

Adnan Khan | December 28th, 2008

 

There are people (Muslims) who control spacious territories teeming with manifest and hidden resources. They dominate the intersections of world routes. Their lands were the cradles of human civilizations and religions. These people have one faith, one language, one history and the same aspirations. No natural barriers can isolate these people from one another … if, per chance, this nation were to be unified into one state, it would then take the fate of the world into its hands and would separate Europe from the rest of the world. Taking these considerations seriously, a foreign body should be planted in the heart of this nation to prevent the convergence of its wings in such a way that it could exhaust its powers in never-ending wars. It could also serve as a springboard for the West to gain its coveted objects.” [Prime Minister Henry Bannerman, Campbell-Bannerman Report, 1907]

 

The terrorist state of Israel has launched what can only be described as a massacre against the Muslims of Gaza. Israeli officials have been leaking information for nearly two weeks about an impending invasion where nobody would be spared. In one leak to the media an Israeli official mentioned Israel was waiting for the right weather conditions to begin the massacre.

Israel launched the war in the early hours of Saturday 27^th December during the morning rush hour.

The first strikes came in a coordinated three-minute blitz with 60 F-16 fighter jets pounding over 50 targets, aimed primarily at taking out what remains of Gaza’s crumbling infrastructure. The second wave of strikes targeted HAMAS compounds (it should be remembered such compounds due to the size of Gaza are amidst the normal populace.) In the first hour of strikes over 155 people were confirmed dead as bodies continued to be dumped at hospitals.

As the sun set on Gaza it is likely Israel will continue with strikes throughout the night by its drones. At the current rate Israel will run out of targets and bring Gaza to its knees. Israeli tanks are on standby surrounding Gaza for what looks like a possible ground invasion. Israeli officials continued to reiterate that this is only the beginning, Israeli’s defence Minster confirmed, “the time to fight in Gaza has come and the operation won’t be short, the operation will widen as necessary.”

Israel justified its current slaughter as a response to an apparent escalation in rocket attacks from Gaza. Israel’s Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni defended the air raids, saying Israel had “no choice”. “We’re doing what we need to do to defend our citizens,” she said in a television broadcast. Israel has accused HAMAS since it won the election over 18 months ago of being backed by Iran and regularly launching Qassam rockets into Israel.

Israel however conveniently accuses HAMAS of being a radical Islamist group that works to wipe Israel of the planet whilst it blockades Gaza. Israel has regularly closed the border crossings into the Gaza strip, which has led to mass starvation. Over the past month, the border crossings have been open for just five days. John Ging, head of the UN’s Gaza relief operations, confirmed that more than a million people in Gaza depended on the United Nations for their next meal. He described the dire situation as:

“Daily life is a struggle to survive. People were hungry, literally. There was a shortage of everything here, including food, and we actually ran out for a couple of days, the fact that it continues to get worse and worse adds to the despair… so we’re searching desperately for reasons to have realistic hope.”

 

POLITICS

The response from the world has been predictable. Israel continues to be the spoilt child of the West. Britain’s Gordon Brown in an interview for the BBC said he was “deeply concerned,” but then called on Palestinian militants to halt all rocket attacks on Israel, even though Palestine was being invaded and Muslims slaughtered.

The response from the Muslim rulers who have historically done little when Muslims are being slaughtered was predictability muted. Egypt which shares a border with the Gaza strip had been holding talks with Tzipi Livni to broker a ceasefire over the past few weeks. HAMAS withdrew from the ceasefire, as it viewed a truce was irrelevant when Israel was blockading Gaza. Relations between Egypt and Gaza strained due to this. It is also widely understood that the Egyptians are furious with Hamas for boycotting peace talks with Fatah last month, which were due to be held in Cairo. Hosni Mubarak was reported in the Arab media of accusing HAMAS of making a big mistake in abandoning the ceasefire. The London-based newspaper Al-Quds al-Arabi reported that Egypt would not object to a limited Israeli operation in the Gaza Strip, aimed at toppling Hamas. Tzipi Livni traveled to the Egyptian capital at the personal invitation of the government. This is rare given that Hosni Mubarak usually only meets Israeli officials in the Sinai resort of Sharm el-Sheikh.

In an Al-Jazeera interview Azzam Tamimi, director of the Institute of Islamic Political Thought and expert on the Palestinian issue described what he saw as:

“I suspect that the operation is not only intended to be limited, but aimed at toppling the regime in Gaza altogether, otherwise why would Israel target the police force? “They are not the ones firing missiles in Israel - the police force keeps the order in Gaza. This is an operation that will create disorder and I suspect that Egypt and Ramallah are colluding in this. “Israel would never have carried out such a massive attack had it not been for a green light from people that matter - for instance the United States, some of the European powers and also from Egypt and Ramallah.

 

ISRAEL USES MUSLIMS AS PAWNS

Israel’s domestic political scene has been anything but stable for over a year and is at the heart of Israel’s opportunistic assault on Gaza. Since the 2006 Israel-Lebanon conflict, which Israel is regarded to have lost by Israelis, Ehud Olmert the Israeli prime minister along with a number of other officials were disgraced by such an event and a number of other scandals, where public pressure forced him to stand down as head of the ruling Kadima party. His replacement Tzipi Livni, has been unable to keep together the fragile coalition that makes up the government and due to this she has been forced to call an election which will take place in February 2009. She is in no position to win against the popular Benjamin Netanyahu of the right wing Likud party. Netanyahu has made very clear in his election manifesto that he would topple HAMAS.

Polls on the eve of Israel’s assault confirmed the centre right Kadima was gaining ground against Likud and the timing of the assault shows this grotesque act is nothing but an attempt by Tzipi Livni to salvage electoral points for the upcoming election. With the US occupied with the transfer of power from the Bush administration to Obama’s, Israel can freely carry out its murder of innocent Muslims for gains at the electoral polls safe in the knowledge that the US has other preoccupations.

 

CONCLUSION

Israel has shown once again that it has no regard for Muslim life as it butchers Muslims in Gaza, after blockading and starving them for months for some gains at the electorate. The Muslim rulers have shown once again that they are spineless in defending the honour and blood of the Ummah. They forget when the Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم was standing in the vicinity of the ka’ba, admiring its grandeur, he صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said: “The blood of a Muslim is worth more than the Ka’ba and all its surroundings.”

Saudi Arabia that for years was the world’s largest purchaser of military equipment sits idle when Muslims are being massacred just a stones throw away. It should be remembered that the Israeli superiority bubble burst in 2006 when Hizbollah effectively defeated Israel. In the report by the Israeli government-appointed commission into the conflict, it listed a series of severe failings and shortcomings, it fundamentally concluded that the Israeli armed forces were not designed for guerrilla type warfare and ground assaults. A paramilitary group of Muslims with Iman in Allah سبحانه وتعالى, held an army backed by a government at bay. Israel’s first large scale ground assault after nearly three decades exposed their weakness and burst its superiority bubble.

Any army from the Muslim world can end the massacre in Palestine. The armies in the Arab world must stand up, unite and complete their duty to Allah سبحانه وتعالى in saving the lives of the Muslims of Palestine.

This is not the time for meetings, summits and ceasefires. Israel has once again spilt Muslim blood and Allah سبحانه وتعالى has designated Jihad as the solution to such cowardly acts. Only by establishing the Khilafah can the Muslim armies be liberated and the obstacles in the path of conducting Jihad in Palestine and making Allah’s word the highest in the land be realized.

The armies should take heed from Allah سبحانه وتعالى when He سبحانه وتعالى says:

لاَّ يَسْتَوِي الْقَاعِدُونَ مِنَ الْمُؤْمِنِينَ غَيْرُ أُوْلِي الضَّرَرِ وَالْمُجَاهِدُونَ فِي سَبِيلِ اللّهِ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ فَضَّلَ اللّهُ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ بِأَمْوَالِهِمْ وَأَنفُسِهِمْ عَلَى الْقَاعِدِينَ دَرَجَةً وَكُـلاًّ وَعَدَ اللّهُ الْحُسْنَى وَفَضَّلَ اللّهُ الْمُجَاهِدِينَ عَلَى الْقَاعِدِينَ أَجْرًا عَظِيمًا

“They are not equal from amongst the believers who sit (at home) and receive no harm, compared to those who strive and fight in the cause of Allah with their goods and their persons. Allah has granted a grade higher to those who strive and fight with their goods and persons than to those who do not fight.” [An-Nisaa:95]

 

Source: Adnan Khan

Avoiding War is Wisdom | Jang se Bachna hi Bahadri Hoti Hai - by Rauf Klasra

Avoiding War is Wisdom | Jang sé Bachna hi Bahadri Hoti Hai

By Rauf Klasra

on December 21, 2008

This is a beautiful piece of writing I felt like sharing with masses, especially youth.

Corrupt Musharraf - Another 6700 Kanals Military Land Doled out to Civilian Officials

Sunday, December 28, 2008 | By Ansar Abbasi

 

ISLAMABAD: A total of 6700 kanals of military land in Punjab, earmarked for war veterans and families of martyrs, were allotted to 47 civilian officials of the provincial government during the Gen. (R) Pervez Musharraf regime.

Documents made available to The News reveal that all but one of the beneficiaries posted in Punjab have been made OSDs while the provincial government has also approached the military authorities to get the controversial allocation of military land to civilian officials cancelled.

The then dictator also allotted military land in Dera Ismail Khan, NWFP, where the violation was even graver because six people closely associated with JUI-F head Maulana Fazlur Rehman and ex-chief minister Akram Khan Durrani were allotted 12,000 kanals. The beneficiaries were not even in government service.

The land is reportedly in use of Fazlur Rehman and Durrani. In addition to this dole-out of the military land in DI Khan on purely political grounds, certain officials of the revenue department were also given hundreds of kanals of land.

But unlike the Punjab administration, the NWFP government remains unmoved and has taken no action to get the allotments reversed, at least in the case of the JUI-F leaders who, an army spokesman recently confirmed, were given the land in violation of the law.

Although the controversial allotments both in Punjab and Frontier were made during Musharraf’s rule, as president and army chief, the present military command has yet to decide on whether to undo this wrongdoing and get back the land meant for war veterans and families of martyrs.

For its part, the Punjab government has directed the authorities concerned to ensure the military land doled out to civilian officers is not further sold. The relevant officers may be asked to return the land allotted to them in compliance with orders from the GHQ during the Musharraf dictatorship to the provincial government to avoid further disciplinary proceedings.

A military spokesman recently told The News there was a legal provision for allotting a small part of the military land to certain authorised civilian officials from government departments such as revenue. However, the Punjab government’s document said all those civilian beneficiaries were directly linked to the land record/allotment process or facilitation and provision of irrigation water and other facilities for the portions allotted to them.

“It is quite apparent that all of them have been rewarded for going beyond the call of duty in facilitating the entire process,” said the document. The provincial government is of the view that if at all some part of the military land is required to be allotted to civilian officials by the GHQ it should be done through it.

Last month, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif ordered that: (i) A panel be put up for conducting an in-depth inquiry into the issue of allotment of state land to the civil officers out of land reserved for military personnel. (ii) All the officers involved be made OSDs and not given any assignment till completion of the inquiry. (iii) In order to ensure that no one is discriminated against, the officers already suspended be reinstated and made OSDs. (iii) All concerned revenue/registration authorities (should) ensure that no further alienation of the allotted land in question is made.”

A total of 6700 kanals of military land was allotted in seven districts of Punjab to 47 civilian officials during the Musharraf dictatorship, the documents show. In Pakpattan, Revenue Patwari of Tehsil Arifwala Khawar Javaid Anjum was allotted 66 kanals of military land.

In Khanewal, then Secretary and now Principal Secretary to Punjab Governor Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera was allotted 200 kanals; ex-senior clerk and now litigation assistant DO (R) Rana Muhammad Hanif 200 kanals; Director Land at Board of Revenue Mushtaq Ahmad Anjum 200 kanals; District Officer (R) Lodhran Mir Muhammad Azam Khan 200 kanals; Assistant Director BoR Lahore Qamar Abbas Sultan 200 kanals; HVC to DO (R) Khanewal Malik Muhammad Qasim 100 kanals; Project Director ABAD Rawalpindi Syed Imtiaz Hussain Shah 200 kanals; Tehsildar Khanewal now Tehsildar Mianchannu Muhammad Zafar Ali 100 kanals; senior clerk Sadar Office Khanewal Liaqat Ali Javed 100 kanals; DDO(R) Khanewal Muhammad Zahid Ikram 200 kanals; DDO(G) Sikandar Ali Bokhari 200 kanals; Patwari Mauza Zakhira Muhammad Waseem Akhtar 100 kanals; and Kanongoo circle Kacha Huh Muhammad Iqbal 100 kanals.

In Sahiwal, Patwari of district Pakpattan Khawar Javaid Anjum was allotted 34 kanals of military land while in Rahim Yar Khan EDO (R) Lodhran Syed Najaf Abbas Bokhari was given 200 kanals and Halqa Patwari Mahka Tehsil Sadiqabad Ashraf Ali Shah got 100 kanals.

In Muzaffargarh those allotted military land include DDO (R) Kot Addu Malik Muhammad Ramazan 200 kanals; Head Clerk Colony Muzafargarh Riaz Ahmad 100 kanals; Superintendent Colony Branch BOR Punjab Amjad Babar 100 kanals; PS to Member Colonies BOR Attaur Rehman 100 kanals; Assistant Colony Branch BOR Rashid Habib 100 kanals; Patwari Halqa Mauza Azizabad 100 Kanals; EDO Muzaffargarh Muhammad Ashraf Yousfi 100 kanals; Colony Clerk DDO (R) Office Muzaffargarh Ameer Hussain; and Colony Clerk DDO (R) Muhammad Shahid 100 kanals.

In Bahawalnagar, the beneficiaries include DDO (R) Ch Abdul Ghafoor Virk 200 kanals; DDO (R) Fortabbas Dur Muhammad Khan 200 kanals; DDO (R) Fortabbas Irshad Mohyuddin 200 kanals; Tehsildar Fortabbas Mian Muhammad Akram 100 kanals; Patwari Halqa 295/A/HR Syed Munawar Hussain Shah 100 kanals; Head Draftsman Irrigation Department Syed Aqib Hussain Shah 100 kanals; Qasid Aiwan-e-Sadar/Army House Noor Hussain 100 kanals; Naib Qasid Aiwan-e-Sadar/Army House Mahmood Hussain 100 kanals; Mali Aiwan-e-Sadar/Army House Ghulam Rasool 100 kanals; civil cook Aiwan-e-Sadar/Army House Muhammad Sikandar 100 kanal; Sub-Inspector Rangers Muhammad Irshad 100 kanals; and Qasid Aiwan-e-Sadar/Army House Abdul Ahsan 100 kanals.

In Bahawalpur, the military land was allotted to Ex-EDO (R) Bahawalpur Syed Zahid Hussain Jillani 200 kanals; Ex-DO (R) Bahawalpur Dr Faisal Zahoor 200 kanals; Ex-DDO (R) Yazman Muhammad Ashfaq 200 kanals; Ex-DDO (R) Muhammad Akram Bhatti 200 kanals; Ex-DDO (R) Hasilpur Amir Karim Khan 200 kanals; Project Director OFWM Bahawalpur Mushtaq Gill 200 kanals; ex-Colony Clerk Bahawalpur Muhammad Amjad 100 kanals; and Patwari Tehsil Yazman Muzaffar Alam 100 kanals.

 

Source: Ansar Abbasi, Daily News, Daily Jang

Gaza Families eat Grass as Israel locks Border

December 14, 2008 | Marie Colvin | The Times

 

AS a convoy of blue-and-white United Nations trucks loaded with food waited last night for Israeli permission to enter Gaza, Jindiya Abu Amra and her 12-year-old daughter went scrounging for the wild grass their family now lives on.

“We had one meal today - khobbeizeh,” said Abu Amra, 43, showing the leaves of a plant that grows along the streets of Gaza. “Every day, I wake up and start looking for wood and plastic to burn for fuel and I beg. When I find nothing, we eat this grass.”

Abu Amra and her unemployed husband have seven daughters and a son. Their tiny breeze-block house has had no furniture since they burnt the last cupboard for heat.

“I can’t remember seeing a fruit,” said Rabab, 12, who goes with her mother most mornings to scavenge. She is dressed in a tracksuit top and holed jeans, and her feet are bare.

Conditions for most of the 1.5m Gazans have deteriorated dramatically in the past month, since a truce between Israel and Hamas, the ruling Islamist party, broke down.

Israel says it will open the borders again when Hamas stops launching rockets at southern Israel. Hamas says it will crack down on the rocket launchers when Israel opens the borders.

The fragile truce technically ends this Thursday, and there have been few signs it will be renewed. Nobody knows how to resolve the stalemate. Secret talks are under way through Egyptian intermediaries, although both sides deny any contact.

Israel controls the borders and allows in humanitarian supplies only sporadically. Families had electricity for six hours a day last week. Cooking gas was available only through the illegal tunnels that run into Egypt, and by last week had jumped in price from 80 shekels per canister (£14) to 380 shekels (£66).

The UN, which has responsibility for 1m refugees in Gaza, is in despair. “The economy has been crushed and there are no imports or exports,” said John Ging, director of its relief and works agency.

“Two weeks ago, for the first time in 60 years, we ran out of food,” he said. “We used to get 70 to 80 trucks per day, now we are getting 15 trucks a day, and only when the border opens. We’re living hand to mouth.”

He has four days of food in stock for distribution to the most desperate - and no idea whether Israel will reopen the border. The Abu Amra family may have to eat wild grass for the foreseeable future.

 

Source: The Times

 

Are you sure you’re gonna enjoy your meals today??? Well… I don’t know either…

Israel Missile Strike on Gaza leaves 230 Dead 400 Wounded

Israel Missile Strike on Gaza leaves 230 Dead 400 Wounded

U.S. Defends Israel’s Offensive As Retaliation For Recent Missile Strikes; Other World Leaders Condemn The Fighting

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip, December 27, 2008

 

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Israeli warplanes rained more than 100 tons of bombs on security sites in Hamas-ruled Gaza Saturday and early Sunday, killing at least 230 people in one of the Mideast conflict’s bloodiest assaults in decades. The government said the open-ended campaign was aimed at stopping rocket attacks that have traumatized southern Israel.

Most of the casualties were security forces, but Palestinian officials said at least 15 civilians were among the dead. More than 400 people were also wounded.

The unprecedented assault sparked protests and condemnations throughout the Arab world, and many of Israel’s Western allies urged restraint, though the U.S. blamed Hamas for the fighting.

President Bush was briefed on the situation in Israel and Gaza during his daily intelligence briefing, reports CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller. Mr. Bush also spoke by phone to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to discuss the Middle East.

President-elect Barack Obama, vacationing in Hawaii, was also briefed and is monitoring the situation closely, CBS News correspondent Jaime Farnsworth reports.

An Obama transition aide said that Mr. Obama also spoke with Rice and was in touch with the White House.

 

• | Israeli Leaders On Air Strikes (2:20)
• | Gaza Missile Strike Uproar (1:33)
• | U.S. Defends Israeli Strikes (1:42)

 

There was no end in sight to the fighting. The first round of strikes began around noon Saturday followed by successive waves of attacks that continued into the early hours Sunday.

Israel warned it might go after Hamas’ leaders, and militants kept pelting Israel with rockets — killing at least one Israeli and wounding six.

Hundreds of Israeli infantry and armored corps troops headed for the Gaza border in preparation for a possible ground invasion, military officials said, speaking on condition of anonymity under army guidelines.

Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said in an interview with the CBS Evening News that “if the goals of the operation will not be achieved by airstrike, we will have to consider boots on the ground.”

He said those goals were “To change totally the behavior of Hamas. It’s a terrorist regime that keeps shelling Israel with thousands of rockets and mortar shells over our civilian population indiscriminately.”

Asked if Israel’s response to Hamas’ rocket fire might be considered disproportionate, Barak told the Evening News, “We are trying to avoid damage, but we have to achieve our goals.”

Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said late Saturday that the goal was “to bring about a fundamental improvement in the security situation.” He added, “It could take some time.”

The Israeli airstrikes caused widespread panic and confusion, and black plumes of smoke billowed above the territory, ruled by the Islamic militant Hamas for the past 18 months. Some of the Israeli missiles struck in densely populated areas as students were leaving school, and women rushed into the streets frantically looking for their children.

“My son is gone, my son is gone,” wailed Said Masri, a 57-year-old shopkeeper, as he sat in the middle of a Gaza City street, slapping his face and covering his head with dust from a bombed-out security compound nearby.

He said he had sent his 9-year-old son out to purchase cigarettes minutes before the airstrikes began and could not find him. “May I burn like the cigarettes, may Israel burn,” Masri moaned.

Militants often operate against Israel from civilian areas. Late Saturday, thousands of Gazans received Arabic-language cell-phone messages from the Israeli military, urging them to leave homes where militants might have stashed weapons.

The offensive began eight days after a six-month truce between Israel and the militants expired. The Israeli army says Palestinian militants have fired some 300 rockets and mortars at Israeli targets over the past week, and 10 times that number over the past year.

“There is a time for calm and there is a time for fighting, and now is the time for fighting,” said Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak, vowing to expand the operation if necessary.

In Gaza City’s main security compound, bodies of more than a dozen uniformed Hamas police lay on the ground. Civilians rushed wounded people in cars and vans to hospitals because there weren’t enough ambulances to transport all the dead and wounded.

“There are heads without bodies …. There’s blood in the corridors. People are weeping, women are crying, doctors are shouting, ” said nurse Ahmed Abdel Salaam from Shifa Hospital, Gaza’s main treatment center.

Military officials said aircraft released more than 100 tons of bombs in the first nine hours of fighting, focusing initially on militant training camps, rocket-manufacturing facilities and weapons warehouses that had been identified in advance.

A second wave was directed at squads who fired about 180 rockets and mortars at Israeli border communities. Palestinians said Israeli bombs destroyed a mosque early Sunday. The military called it a “base for terrorist activities.” Another target early Sunday was the Al Aqsa TV station used by Hamas. Its studio building was destroyed, but the station remained on the air with a mobile unit. Palestinians counted about 20 airstrikes in the first hours of Sunday.

Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni said Hamas’ political leaders could soon be targeted. “”Hamas is a terrorist organization and nobody is immune,” she declared.

The campaign was launched six weeks before national elections. Livni and Barak hope to succeed Ehud Olmert as prime minister, and the outgoing government has faced pressure to take tough action.
Gaza’s political leaders, who have been targeted in the past, went into hiding earlier this week. In a speech broadcast on local Gaza television, Hamas’ prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, declared his movement would not be cowed.

“We are stronger, and more determined, and have more will, and we will hold onto our rights even more than before,” Haniyeh said. It was not clear where he spoke.

In Damascus, Syria, Hamas’ top leader, Khaled Mashaal, called on Palestinians to rekindle their fight against Israel. “This is the time for a third uprising,” he said.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 after crushing the second Palestinian uprising, but it has maintained control over the territory’s border crossings.

Despite the overwhelming show of force, it was not clear the offensive would halt the rocket fire. Past operations have never achieved that goal.

Late Saturday, Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said 230 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 were wounded.

The lone fatality in Israel was in the town of Netivot, where a rocket killed an Israeli man. Six other people were wounded, rescue services said.

Netivot only recently become a target, and dozens of stunned residents, some weeping, gathered at the house that took the deadly rocket hit. A hole gaped in one of the walls, which was pocked with shrapnel marks.

“We need to finish this once and for all and strike back hard,” said next-door neighbor Avraham Chen-Chatam, 57.

Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town pummeled hardest by rockets. But dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks.

The TV images of dead and wounded Gazans inflamed Arab public opinion, and protests erupted in Arab Israeli villages, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Arab world.

The campaign embarrassed moderate Arab regimes that have encouraged Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and weakened Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has ruled only the West Bank since Hamas violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007.

Abbas condemned the attacks, but fearing violence could spiral out of control, his forces also broke up protests in the West Bank.

The offensive also risked opening new fronts, including unrest that could destabilize the West Bank and ignite possible rocket attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on northern Israel.

Britain, the EU, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair all called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the situation.

But the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, blamed Hamas. “These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Brooke Anderson, chief national security spokesperson for Mr. Obama said that Obama is monitoring the situation closely but stressed that “there is one president at a time,” Farnsworth reported.

Still, Obama has previously given some indications of his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Asked by the New York Times whether Israel should negotiate with Hamas in Gaza, he replied, “I don’t think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens.”

“In terms of negotiations with Hamas, it is very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, has consistently used terror as a weapon,” he said. “I think that Hamas leadership will have to make a decision at some point as to whether it is a serious political party seeking to represent the aspirations of the Palestinian people. And, as a consequence, willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence as a tool to achieve its aims.”

Gaza’s political leaders, who have been targeted in the past, went into hiding earlier this week. In a speech broadcast on local Gaza television, Hamas’ prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, declared his movement would not be cowed.

“We are stronger, and more determined, and have more will, and we will hold onto our rights even more than before,” Haniyeh said. It was not clear where he spoke.

In Damascus, Syria, Hamas’ top leader, Khaled Mashaal, called on Palestinians to rekindle their fight against Israel. “This is the time for a third uprising,” he said.

Israel withdrew its troops and settlers in 2005 after crushing the second Palestinian uprising, but it has maintained control over the territory’s border crossings.

Despite the overwhelming show of force, it was not clear the offensive would halt the rocket fire. Past operations have never achieved that goal.

Late Saturday, Gaza health official Dr. Moaiya Hassanain said 230 Palestinians were killed and more than 400 were wounded.

The lone fatality in Israel was in the town of Netivot, where a rocket killed an Israeli man. Six other people were wounded, rescue services said.

Netivot only recently become a target, and dozens of stunned residents, some weeping, gathered at the house that took the deadly rocket hit. A hole gaped in one of the walls, which was pocked with shrapnel marks.

“We need to finish this once and for all and strike back hard,” said next-door neighbor Avraham Chen-Chatam, 57.

Streets were nearly empty in Sderot, the Israeli border town pummeled hardest by rockets. But dozens of people congregated on a hilltop to watch the Israeli aerial attacks.

The TV images of dead and wounded Gazans inflamed Arab public opinion, and protests erupted in Arab Israeli villages, the West Bank and elsewhere in the Arab world.

The campaign embarrassed moderate Arab regimes that have encouraged Israeli-Palestinian peacemaking and weakened Hamas’ rival, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, who has ruled only the West Bank since Hamas violently seized control of Gaza in June 2007.

Abbas condemned the attacks, but fearing violence could spiral out of control, his forces also broke up protests in the West Bank.

The offensive also risked opening new fronts, including unrest that could destabilize the West Bank and ignite possible rocket attacks by Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas on northern Israel.

Britain, the EU, the Vatican, the U.N. secretary-general and special Mideast envoy Tony Blair all called for an immediate restoration of calm. The Arab League scheduled an emergency meeting Wednesday to discuss the situation.

But the U.S., Israel’s closest ally, blamed Hamas. “These people are nothing but thugs, so Israel is going to defend its people against terrorists like Hamas that indiscriminately kill their own people,” White House spokesman Gordon Johndroe said.

Brooke Anderson, chief national security spokesperson for Mr. Obama said that Obama is monitoring the situation closely but stressed that “there is one president at a time,” Farnsworth reported.

Still, Obama has previously given some indications of his views on the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Asked by the New York Times whether Israel should negotiate with Hamas in Gaza, he replied, “I don’t think any country would find it acceptable to have missiles raining down on the heads of their citizens.”

“In terms of negotiations with Hamas, it is very hard to negotiate with a group that is not representative of a nation state, does not recognize your right to exist, has consistently used terror as a weapon,” he said. “I think that Hamas leadership will have to make a decision at some point as to whether it is a serious political party seeking to represent the aspirations of the Palestinian people. And, as a consequence, willing to recognize Israel’s right to exist and renounce violence as a tool to achieve its aims.”

 

Source: CBS

Russia Threatened by US Plans for Central Asia it Near Abroad

On 16/12/2008 Russia’s top military officer warned that Moscow felt threatened by U.S. policy in ex-Soviet Central Asia and claimed that Washington was attempting to establish new military bases there. Gen. Nikolai Makarov, the chief of the Russian military’s general staff, said Washington planned to establish a foothold in Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan. Makarov also said U.S. support for bids by Georgia and Ukraine to join NATO made Russia feel threatened. He cast doubt that relations between the countries would improve under Barack Obama. American officials have vigorously denied such claims. “That’s news to me. I don’t think that’s true,” said U.S. Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Matthew Bryza. Given Brzezinski’s presence amongst Obama’s foreign policy team, Russian concerns should not be taken lightly.

Redrawing the Borders of Pakistan

Abdul Kareem

Monday, December 22nd, 2008 22:05

 

In 1916 Britain and France hatched a secret agreement to divide the lands of the Khilafah between them. This plan became known as the Sykes-Picot agreement, named after French diplomat François Georges-Picot and British diplomatic advisor Mark Sykes. Under the agreement Britain was allocated control of Jordan, Iraq and a small area around Haifa. France was allocated control of South-eastern Turkey, Northern Iraq, Syria and Lebanon. The controlling powers were left free to decide on state boundaries within these areas. The Middle Eastern map today is the legacy of Sykes-Picot with the borders matching Mr Sykes and Mr Picot’s lines drawn using a ruler over the former lands of the Khilafah. The Middle East turned from a once united area under one state into a multitude of small and weak states unable to challenge the western powers till this day.

 

In June 2006 a retired US army colonel Ralph Peters proposed a new ‘Sykes-Picot’ plan for the Middle East and Pakistan in order to divide the Muslim world further still along ethnic lines. The full article ‘Blood Borders’ published in the Armed Forces Journal can be viewed here. Recently his map of a divided Pakistan has been making the rounds among Parliamentarians in Pakistan.

Focussing on the proposed plan for Pakistan Ralph Peters states:

What Afghanistan would lose to Persia in the west, it would gain in the east, as Pakistan’s Northwest Frontier tribes would be reunited with their Afghan brethren (the point of this exercise is not to draw maps as we would like them but as local populations would prefer them). Pakistan, another unnatural state, would also lose its Baluch territory to Free Baluchistan. The remaining “natural” Pakistan would lie entirely east of the Indus, except for a westward spur near Karachi.

Maps of his before and after plan for Pakistan can be seen below:

 

The Muslims of Pakistan, those in the army, government and judiciary need to make a stand and start taking steps to remove all western interference in the region, and unite the country under the banner of La ilaha illAllah on which Pakistan was supposed to have been established.

As described in Khilafah.com’s special report on ‘America’s Undeclared War on Pakistan,’ America has made it clear that Pakistan is squarely in its sights. President Bush has already signed an executive order allowing attacks inside Pakistan and President-elect Obama has openly stated that, “the most important thing we’re going to have to do with respect to Afghanistan, is actually deal with Pakistan.”

If action is not undertaken soon then further division and infighting between Muslims is to be expected as we have witnessed in Iraq. It’s no coincidence that General Petraeus, the former commander of US-forces in Iraq is now in command of CENTCOM (US Central Command) whose forces are currently deployed in Afghanistan. Forces from CENTCOM would be deployed in any military action against the FATA tribal areas.

Instead of waiting for the Balkanisation of Pakistan we should create our own plans and redraw the map of the entire region based upon Islam.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in Surah al-Anfal, ayah 30:

وَيَمْكُرُونَ وَيَمْكُرُ اللّهُ وَاللّهُ خَيْرُ الْمَاكِرِينَ

 ”They plot and plan, and Allah too plans; but the best of planners is Allah.”

One possible scenario for redrawing the maps of the region is shown below:

 

 

The natural situation of Muslims in South-East Asia is not to be divided along ethnic lines. Rather they must be united on the one thing they all believe in and love - Islam. This is their heritage and as history as shown, the power of Islam as a unifying force is unparalleled in history.

Before Islam, the Arab tribes Aws and Khazraj were enemies and fought countless bloody battles. However, once they embraced Islam they became brothers who united together to become the Ansar (supporters) of Islam, who stood with the Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم to unite the entire Arabian Peninsula under Islam. The next generations then spread Islam further afield to the land of Hind under the great general Muhammad bin Qasim.

Today, all the armies and mujahideen groups in the region would be united together into one army under the leadership of a Khaleefah who is the Commander in-Chief. Instead of fighting to secure American interests in the region this army would be used to secure Islamic interests. The fixed nation-state borders would be removed and in their place expanding frontier lines established.

Allah سبحانه وتعالى says in Surah al-Imran, ayah 103:

وَاعْتَصِمُواْ بِحَبْلِ اللّهِ جَمِيعًا وَلاَ تَفَرَّقُواْ وَاذْكُرُواْ نِعْمَتَ اللّهِ عَلَيْكُمْ إِذْ كُنتُمْ أَعْدَاء فَأَلَّفَ بَيْنَ قُلُوبِكُمْ فَأَصْبَحْتُم بِنِعْمَتِهِ إِخْوَانًا وَكُنتُمْ عَلَىَ شَفَا حُفْرَةٍ مِّنَ النَّارِ فَأَنقَذَكُم مِّنْهَا كَذَلِكَ يُبَيِّنُ اللّهُ لَكُمْ آيَاتِهِ لَعَلَّكُمْ تَهْتَدُونَ

“Hold fast to Allah’s rope altogether; do not split into factions. Remember Allah’s favour to you: you were enemies and then He brought your hearts together and you became brothers by His grace; you were about to fall into a pit of Fire and He saved you from it - in this way Allah makes His revelations clear to you so that you may be rightly guided.”

This new Khilafah would become a launching point for unifying the rest of the Muslim lands. Northwards into Central Asia; Eastwards into South East Asia; South into India; and West into the Middle East.

Ibn Qutaybah (renowned scholar from Iraq 213 - 276 AH) said: “The people of Khurasan are the people of Da’wah and helpers of the state of Islam.”

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه و سلم said:

عِصَابَتَانِ مِنْ أُمَّتِي أَحْرَزَهُمَا اللَّهُ مِنْ النَّارِ عِصَابَةٌ تَغْزُو الْهِنْدَ وَعِصَابَةٌ تَكُونُ مَعَ عِيسَى ابْنِ مَرْيَمَ عَلَيْهِمَا السَّلَام

“Allah will protect two groups of my Ummah from the Fire: a group that will Open Hind, and a group that will be with Esa ibn Maryam عليه السلام.” [An-Nisa'i, Ahmad]

Al-Hakim in his book al-Mustadrak reported from Thawban رضي الله عنه who said that Allah’s Messenger صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:

“There will be a war between three persons about your treasure, all of them are sons of rulers; none of them will hold authority. Then, the bearers of black flags will come out from the east, who will fight you fiercely. He added saying: If you see him, you have to pay homage to him even if you creep on snow since he is the Khalifah of Allah, al-Mahdi.”

The Messenger of Allah صلى الله عليه وآله وسلم said:

“Indeed Allah gathered up the earth for me so that I saw its eastern and western parts, and indeed the dominion of my Ummah will reach what was gathered up for me from it.” [Saheeh Muslim narrated by Thawbaan رضي الله عنه]

 

Source: Khilafah

Another Mosque Burnt in France

ANNECY, France (AP) — Fire damaged a mosque and destroyed a Muslim prayer hall before dawn Friday in Lyon; southeastern France, and police and interior ministry of France said arson (intentional setup of property on fire) in both.

The fire broke out at the entrance to the mosque in the suburb of Saint Priest but did not spread and the only damage to the interior was caused by smoke, police said. Fire crews extinguished the fire at the mosque in Annecy before it engulfed the entire building. The prayer hall in the Annecy suburb of Seynod was destroyed in the other fire.

 

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Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie had written to the president of the French council of Muslims, Mohammed Moussaoui, to convey her concern at the arson attack on the mosque, the ministry in Paris said. The ministry added that police forensics experts were working to “find who was responsible for this intolerable and cowardly attack as soon as possible.”

The fires were condemned as “racist aggression” by the French Council of the Muslim Faith, a body set up at the Government’s urging to represent France’s estimated 5 million Muslims.

The mosque rector, Kamal Kabtane, condemned “the rise in racism and Islamophobia” and called for a demonstration on Sunday outside the mosque when he visited the scene with the local mayor.

He referred to recent anti-Islamic incidents in France, including an attack on another mosque in the Lyon area in August and the desecration of 500 Muslim soldiers’ tombs in a war cemetery in the north of the country earlier this month.

Police said they had found a number of clues which were expected to aid them in their inquiries.

French President Nicolas Sarkozy joined Muslim groups Sunday in condemning attackers who set fire to a mosque in a Lyon suburb, and hundreds gathered outside the building to protest against racism and Islamophobia. Sarkozy denounced the “shameful and racist” incident and called for the perpetrators to be found quickly and punished.

Azzedine Gacci, president of the Muslim regional council, said there had been some 10 “Islamophobic acts” in the last two years and called for a national demonstration by all religions and for Islamophobia to be condemned alongside anti-Semitism and racism.

Police were investigating the fire but had not yet found who was responsible, Interior Minister Michele Alliot-Marie said.

Hundreds of tombstones in the Muslim part of a military cemetery near the northern French town of Arras were damaged earlier this month in the third such attack on the site in less than two years.

 

Reporting by Catherine Lagrange

ATLANTA Judge jails Muslim Woman over Head-Scarf

ATLANTA – A Muslim woman arrested for refusing to take off her head scarf at a courthouse security checkpoint said Wednesday that she felt her human and civil rights were violated. A judge ordered Lisa Valentine, 40, to serve 10 days in jail for contempt of court, said police in Douglasville, a city of about 20,000 people on Atlanta’s west suburban outskirts.

Valentine violated a court policy that prohibits people from wearing any headgear in court, police said after they arrested her Tuesday.

Kelley Jackson, a spokeswoman for Georgia Attorney General Thurbert Baker, said state law doesn’t permit or prohibit head scarfs.

“It’s at the discretion of the judge and the sheriffs and is up to the security officers in the court house to enforce their decision,” she said.

Valentine, who recently moved to Georgia from New Haven, Conn., said the incident reminded her of stories she’d heard of the civil rights-era South.

“I just felt stripped of my civil, my human rights,” she said Wednesday from her home. She said she was unexpectedly released after the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations urged federal authorities to investigate the incident as well as others in Georgia.

The group cited a report that the same judge removed a woman and her 14-year-old daughter from the courtroom last week because they were wearing Muslim head scarves.

Jail officials declined to say why she was freed and municipal Court Judge Keith Rollins said that “it would not be appropriate” for him to comment on the case.

Last year, a judge in Valdosta in southern Georgia barred a Muslim woman from entering a courtroom because she would not remove her head scarf. There have been similar cases in other states, including Michigan, where a Muslim woman in Detroit filed a federal lawsuit in February 2007 after a judge dismissed her small-claims court case when she refused to remove a head and face veil.

Valentine’s husband, Omar Hall, said his wife was accompanying her nephew to a traffic citation hearing when officials stopped her at the metal detector and told her she would not be allowed in the courtroom with the head scarf, known as a hijab.

Hall said Valentine, an insurance underwriter, told the bailiff that she had been in courtrooms before with the scarf on and that removing it would be a religious violation. When she turned to leave and uttered an expletive, Hall said a bailiff handcuffed her and took her before the judge.

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Source: Yahoo!, Kate Brumback

Source: Daily Express, December 19, 2008

Bush Shoe-Thrower Tortured into Writing Letter of Apology

 

by David Batty  |  Monday 22 December 2008
 

The Iraqi journalist who threw his shoes at George Bush was tortured into writing a letter of apology, his brother said today.

Muntazer al-Zaidi (Muntazar al-Zaidi / Muntadar al-Zaidi) was wrestled to the ground after throwing his shoes during a news conference held by the US president and the Iraqi prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, on 14 December.

The investigating judge in the case said last week that Zaidi, who will stand trial on 31 December, was beaten around the face and eyes. Zaidi’s brother, Uday, said the journalist suffered worse injuries, including a missing tooth and cigarette burns to his ears, and would sue.

Zaidi is in custody and faces up to two years in jail for insulting a foreign leader. Maliki’s office said last week that Zaidi had written a letter of apology and asked him to recommend a pardon.

Uday al-Zaidi said his brother told him the letter was written against his will because he was subjected to torture, including being doused with cold water while naked.

“He told me that he has no regret because of what he did and that he would do it again,” Uday said. “The thing that makes you cry and laugh at the same time is that when the prime minister said that my brother was not tortured and will not be tortured, he was under severe torture by security authorities.”

Maliki said Zaidi admitted in the letter that a terrorist had induced him to throw the shoes. “He revealed … that a person provoked him to commit this act and that person is known to us for slitting throats,” Maliki said, according to the prime minister’s website. The alleged instigator was not named.

Maliki said his government remained “committed to protecting the journalist in performing his professional duty,” and guaranteed him the right to practise his profession “on condition that he does not violate the dignity of others”.

Neither Bush nor Maliki have sought charges, but investigating judge Dhia al-Kinani said last week he did not have the legal option to drop the case.

Footage of Zaidi attacking Bush was repeatedly broadcast worldwide and he has become a symbol for opponents of the US-led invasion and occupation of Iraq. Thousands of Iraqis have rallied to demand his release.

 

Source: Guardian

Mumbai Massacre - Reaction of Pakistani Government

Instead of exposing the baseless Indian allegations Pakistani government is cracking down on Islamic groups to strengthen these claims

During the past few weeks, Pakistani media exposed the Indian baseless allegations and shred it to pieces before the Pakistani audience. But on the international scene the Pakistani government and Foreign Office did not find it appropriate even discuss it on the international forums let alone expose its weakness. On the contrary the government initially repeated its rhetoric of “non state elements” and later sealed the offices of Islamic groups to certifying the Indian position in the international arena. It seems from the weak, cowardly and treacherous acts of the Pakistani rulers that they are working alongside India and America to ban the Islamic groups. On the other hand UN, from which Muslims never got any benefit, in a blink of any eye, put the Islamic groups on the terrorist list. For our rulers the order of a taghoot (evil force) like the UN is far more worthy of obeying rather than the Hukam (command) of Allah (SWT) and His Messenger (SAwW). Pakistan should immediately get out of this imperialist organization which binds the hands of the Muslims politically and provide justification to these treacherous rulers to continue to act against the Muslims. The biggest misfortune that could ever happen to a nation is that its own rulers conspire with the enemy; in this case the people they have no other option except to remove them. The time has come for the people of Pakistan and people of power to mobilize for the establishment of the Khilafah so that the masses may be protected from the evil of India and America.

Saudi’s Favours Non-Muslims to Redevelop Mecca (Makkah)

This week British architect Lord Foster was embroiled in religious and political controversy about a multimillion-pound project to redevelop Mecca (Makkah). Leaked reports suggest that the Saudi government has favoured infidels to partake in the project. A report by the Saudi British Bank, estimated this year that £15 billion would be invested by foreign and Saudi companies in construction and infrastructure in Mecca (Makkah) by 2012. Homes and hills are to be replaced by about 130 skyscrapers, including the Abraj al-Bait Towers, which is to be one of the biggest buildings in the world. The seven towers will include a 2,000-room hotel, a convention centre big enough for 1,500 people, heliports and a four-storey shopping mall. According to The Architects’ Journal the first part of the project will increase the capacity of the Al haram from 900,000 to 1.5 million. Once the scheme is completed capacity for the district should be 3 million. The proposals have been split into two. Foster & Partners, which is headed by Lord Foster, is one of ten practices that will look at alternatives for the northern expansion of the Haram mosque. In the past Western companies have redeveloped parts of Mecca (Makkah). Ten years ago United Automation, a Los Angeles company, won a bid to rewire the sound system in the masjids of Mecca (Makkah). After all, if the Saudi’s can invite the Americans to station their troops in the Arabian peninsula and wage war against Iraq, actively provide money and intelligence to spill Muslim blood then the matter of Mecca (Makkah)’s reconstruction by infidels is a small matter for them.

 

Source: News on December 12, 2008