News You May Have Missed

Kenyataan YB Dr. Lo’lo’ isu hukuman sebat ke atas pesalah minum arak untuk membetulkan kenyataan media.

2009-07-23T22:53:00.001+08:00

Dari YB Titiwangsa, Doctor Lo'Lo',

Artikel Themalaysianinsider.com bertarikh 23/07/2009 dengan tajuk-tajuk berikut “Outrage Over Caning For Model” dan “Syariah Lawyers Association Regrets Shahrizat’s Statement On Whipping Of Model” adalah dirujuk. Di dalam kedua-dua artikel tersebut ada menyiarkan seperti berikut :

a) Titiwangsa MP Lo'lo Mohd Ghazali, who is also head of the women's wing of the opposition PAS, said that punishment should educate and not cause hurt.
b) Shahrizat said she was shocked by the Syariah Court decision and called for a fair and just punishment.

Meanwhile, Dr Lo'lo was surprised that whipping of women was sanctioned by the Malaysian syariah law adding punishment should be educational, and not to cause hurt.

Petang semalam saya telah dihubungi oleh wartawan meminta saya memberi sedikit komen berkaitan hukuman oleh Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan yang menjatuhkan hukuman sebat terhadap seorang model sambilan atas kesalahn meminum arak. Saya telah memberikan komen saya dengan sucihati megikut pengetahuan saya berkaitan hukuman dan realiti masyarakat Malaysia. Malangnya terdapat pihak-pihak yang melihat kenyataan di akhbar dari konteks yang lain.

Pertama, saya terkejut dengan hukuman yang dijatuhkan oleh Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan ke atas model tersebut. Memang saya terkejut kerana ada juga Mahkamah Syariah di Malaysia yang berupaya menghukum pesalah dengan hukuman sebegitu walaupun peruntukkan tersebut telah lama ada. Tetapi baru sekarang hukuman sebegitu dijatuhkan bagi pesalah kesalahan tersebut. Saya amat bersetuju dengan hukuman tersebut kerana sekurang-kurangnya hukuman tersebut begitu hampir dengan hukuman Hudud.

Di dalam Hudud, hukuman bagi pesalah minum arak adalah 40 kali sebatan malah ada ulamak yang mengatakan sehingga 80 kali sebatan. Sebelum ini tiada Mahkamah yang menjatuhkan hukuman sebegitu walau pun Mahkamah Syariah sepatutnya menghukum mengikut hukuman Allah tetapi di Malaysia ini hukuman yang dikenakan tidak seperti yang ditetapkan Allah dalam Al-Quran dan Sunnah Rasulullah S.A.W.

Apabila Mahkamah Syariah Kuantan menjatuhkan hukuman sebat ke atas model tersebut, ini membuatkan saya terkejut. Bukan terkejut kerana hukuman tetapi terkejut kerana keberanian Hakim Mahkamah Syariah tersebut. Syabas kepada beliau.

Kedua, saya mengatakan sebarang bentuk hukuman yang dikenakan samada denda, sebatan atau penjara, semuanya hendaklah dalam bentuk untuk memberi pengajaran kepada pesalah, bukannya untuk mendera atau menyebabkan kecederaan kepada pesalah. Hukuman di dalam Islam adalah untuk memberikan pengajaran kepada pesalah dan khalayak supaya menginsafi perbuatan itu.

Di dalam kes ini, saya berpendapat masyarakat umumnya masih tidak memahami kaedah bagaimana sebatan ke atas pesalah dilakukan. Adakah ianya dilakukan sama seperti pesalah-pesalah jenayah lain di dalam undang-undang jenayah sivil. Masyarakat umum mengetahui bagaimana hukuman sebat dilakukan ke atas pesalah jenayah sivil seperti di dalam kes pengedaran dadah, merogol, meliwat dan sebagainya.

Adakah hukuman sebat di Mahkamah Syariah dilakukan dengan kaedah yang sama? Inilah kebimbangan yang saya sebutkan kepada wartawan tersebut bimbang hukuman sebat ini dianggap sebagai hukuman Mahkamah Sivil sehingga memberi tanggapan buruk kepada Mahkamah Syariah, lebih-lebih lagi yang dihukum seorang wanita. Ini yang perlu diperjelaskan. Inilah maksud saya bila saya mengatakan hukuman sepatutnya untuk tujuan pengajaran, bukan untuk mendatangkan kecederaan. Saya merujuk kepada "Titiwangsa MP Lo'lo Mohd Ghazali, who is also head of the women's wing of the opposition PAS, said that punishment should educate and not cause hurt."

Artikel ini dengan jelas tidak tepat kerana saya bukan Ketua Muslimat PAS seperti yang didakwa. Justeru saya mengharapkan agar tiada pihak yang sewenang-wenangnya mempercayai sebarang tulisan di akhbar sebelum mendapat maklumat secukupnya. Saya kira sudah sampai masanya pihak berkuasa di Malaysia iaitu UMNO/BN “merotan” Pengurus MAS yang menyebabkan semua mereka yang berada dalam satu-satu penerbangan terlibat secara langsung dengan arak, iaitu dari pramugara/i yang hidang arak sehinggalah pilot yang mengemudi kapal terbang tersebut. Begitu juga perlu “disebat” pihak yang terbabit berpuluh-puluh tahun membiarkan orang-orang Islam terlibat secara langsung dengan arak di hotel-hotel, 7- Eleven, pasaraya-pasaraya dan pekerja-pekerja Islam di kilang Carlberg.

Akhir sekali, SYABAS KEPADA MAHKAMAH SYARIAH KUANTAN dan Syukur Alhamdulillah kepada Puan Kartika Sari Dewi Shukarnor yang telah menginsafi perbuatan tersebut. Moga Allah menerima taubat hambaNya yang menyesali kesalahan. DI SINI SAYA LONTARKAN PERSOALAN INI KEPADA SEMUA ORANG ISLAM DI MALAYSIA, SIAPAKAH YANG SEPATUTNYA DISEBAT DALAM ISU ARAK DI MALAYSIA??...

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

A sad day for Malaysians

2009-07-21T16:11:00.000+08:00

From:

"RPK"

This has been going on for far too long. The MACC acts like God. They kidnap families and torture those they arrest. They threaten those they interrogate with death if they refuse to talk.

THE CORRIDORS OF POWER

by Raja Petra Kamarudin

READ ARTICLE ONLINE

The writing was already on the wall very much earlier. Alarm bells were wailing like banshees. But this was largely ignored. It was ignored because it was Malaysia Today that had triggered the alarm bells. Malaysia Today is not the most reliable source. It does not offer the best of information. What Malaysia Today dabbles in are rumours and innuendoes.

When the Anti-Corruption Agency, now called the MACC, kidnapped the family of a police inspector, Malaysia Today raised the alarm. They had kidnapped the wife and child of a police inspector who had investigated a Chinese underworld boss on the instructions of a higher-up with the rank of ASP.

The inspector was just doing what his boss had ordered him to do, and that was to open a file and launch an investigation into the activities of the Chinese prostitution, loan shark, drugs and gambling syndicate. And this resulted in the detention of three syndicate bosses.

What the MACC wanted the police inspector to do was quite simple. They wanted him to change his report so that the three underworld bosses can be freed from detention.

And he would have to do that if he wants to secure the release of his family.

The police inspector refused to do that. Instead, he made a police report. And so did his wife. But nothing was done about the matter. The MACC officers were not arrested and dragged to court on kidnapping charges.

The MACC then leaked information to the media that they are investigating a very senior police officer, the Director of the CCD, for the crime of not declaring RM27 million worth of assets. The fact that MACC investigations come under the Official Secrets Act was not a hindrance. After all, the OSA is only used against opposition supporters and not against those who serve those who walk in the corridors of power.

Nevertheless, the Director of the CCD was finally not charged for not declaring RM27 million in assets. He was charged for using police property for his personal reasons, something that all government officers, ministers and politicians do blatantly every day of the week. But his real crime is that he detained several Chinese underworld bosses who control the prostitution, loan shark, drugs and gambling business all over Malaysia.

Then they arrested the lawyer who acted for the CCD Director. The MACC officers came to his office on the eve of Hari Raya and handcuffed him after roughing him up like one would do to an armed bank robber. To ensure that the lawyer suffered the greatest embarrassment this Hollywood-style arrest was done in full view of the entire office.

Malaysia Today wrote about all this. Malaysia Today not only wrote about all this but Malaysia Today repeated the stories again and again to make sure no one would say they somehow missed the story. But still nothing was done. No one denied the story. More importantly, no one did anything about what Malaysia Today revealed.

The MACC has been a tool of those who walk in the corridors of power for a long, long time. Officially, Barisan Nasional has 14 component members with Umno as the lead partner. Unofficially, Barisan Nasional has seventeen component members. The Election Commission is the fifteenth component member of Barisan Nasional, the Malaysian police the sixteenth, and the MACC the seventeenth. They all serve the interests of Umno and the Prime Minister.

“Where is the smoking gun?” they ask. “Show me the body!” they demand. No gun, no body, then no crime has been committed.

Well, today, there is a body. It is the body of a most unfortunate Chinese opposition member who was arrested and tortured by the MACC officers. Yes, he was tortured. And he was tortured because the MACC wanted him to talk.

But he could not talk. He could not talk because there was nothing to talk about. The MACC wanted him to finger his comrades in the opposition. They wanted him to implicate his friends in the opposition for various crimes that the MACC alleges had been committed by those in the opposition.

He tried to explain that he is not being stubborn. He tried to explain that no crime had been committed. He tried to explain that he could not possibly implicate his comrades in the opposition for various crimes if these crimes are merely a figment of the MACC’s imagination.

So they continued to torture him. And he could no longer stand the torture. After all, he is not the macho type of man. He is but a gentle man who only wanted to get married this weekend. That was all that he wanted.

They threatened to kill him if he refuses to talk. With tears running down his cheeks he begged for mercy and pleaded with them not to harm him. They threatened to throw him off the top floor if he refuses to talk. Sobbing like a baby he went down on his knees and begged for his life.

They dragged him across the room and opened the window. Then something went terribly wrong. It was supposed to be just a threat. They just wanted to put fear in him. They did not really want to throw him off the top floor. They just wanted him to see what the ground floor looks like from the top floor.

The unfortunate young man panicked. He went ballistic when he saw the distance he would have to travel before hitting the ground floor. He struggled. They could not hold onto him. Gravity took over and the life of this young man was prematurely snuffed out.

The MACC then announced that they had released him the night before. They failed to announce that they had not released him from custody but released him from this world. Then they suddenly found his body the day after. He jumped. He committed suicide. He took his own life. He was never tortured. He was not dragged to the window with the threat that they would teach him how to fly.

This has been going on for far too long. The MACC acts like God. They kidnap families and torture those they arrest. They threaten those they interrogate with death if they refuse to talk.

And now one young man has really died. But no one will be punished. No one will be punished because they will say the young man took his own life. Why he took his own life no one knows. He was never tortured. He was never threatened with death. He was not made to look how far down the ground floor is. He was not accidentally dropped when he panicked and struggled and they could not get a good grip on him.

That is what they will be telling you and me later today.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

An Appeal For Peace by Obama

2009-06-05T23:46:00.002+08:00

Full speech can be read here.

Obama: "Stop the Settlements"

President Obama's speech in Egypt today was a stunning step toward achieving Middle East peace. His first new move: to press Israel's right-wing government to stop their self-destructive policy of building settlements on Palestinian land.

But Obama needs help from around the world to face down the powerful opposition already mobilising against him.

Let's raise a massive global chorus immediately to support Obama’s statement that the settlements in occupied territory must stop, by joining our voices to a petition based on his very own words.

We’ll advertise the number of signatures in key papers in Israel and Washington DC – support Obama’s message now, sign the petition below and spread the word today:

Petition to the Government of Israel and the
United States Congress:
In the words of President Obama, just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. We do not accept the legitimacy of continued settlements in the West Bank. They violate previous agreements and undermine efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop.

To help Obama achieve his brave words, click here.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Obama's Cairo Speech

2009-06-05T23:40:00.000+08:00

Window Into Palestine.

Obama's Cairo Speech [FULL TRANSCRIPT]

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you very much. Good afternoon. I am honored to be in the timeless city of Cairo, and to be hosted by two remarkable institutions. For over a thousand years, Al-Azhar has stood as a beacon of Islamic learning; and for over a century, Cairo University has been a source of Egypt's advancement. And together, you represent the harmony between tradition and progress. I'm grateful for your hospitality, and the hospitality of the people of Egypt. And I'm also proud to carry with me the goodwill of the American people, and a greeting of peace from Muslim communities in my country: Assalaamu alaykum. (Applause.) We meet at a time of great tension between the United States and Muslims around the world -- tension rooted in historical forces that go beyond any current policy debate. The relationship between Islam and the West includes centuries of coexistence and cooperation, but also conflict and religious wars. More recently, tension has been fed by colonialism that denied rights and opportunities to many Muslims, and a Cold War in which Muslim-majority countries were too often treated as proxies without regard to their own aspirations. Moreover, the sweeping change brought by modernity and globalization led many Muslims to view the West as hostile to the traditions of Islam.

Violent extremists have exploited these tensions in a small but potent minority of Muslims. The attacks of September 11, 2001 and the continued efforts of these extremists to engage in violence against civilians has led some in my country to view Islam as inevitably hostile not only to America and Western countries, but also to human rights. All this has bred more fear and more mistrust.

So long as our relationship is defined by our differences, we will empower those who sow hatred rather than peace, those who promote conflict rather than the cooperation that can help all of our people achieve justice and prosperity. And this cycle of suspicion and discord must end.

I've come here to Cairo to seek a new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world, one based on mutual interest and mutual respect, and one based upon the truth that America and Islam are not exclusive and need not be in competition. Instead, they overlap, and share common principles -- principles of justice and progress; tolerance and the dignity of all human beings.

I do so recognizing that change cannot happen overnight. I know there's been a lot of publicity about this speech, but no single speech can eradicate years of mistrust, nor can I answer in the time that I have this afternoon all the complex questions that brought us to this point. But I am convinced that in order to move forward, we must say openly to each other the things we hold in our hearts and that too often are said only behind closed doors. There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground. As the Holy Koran tells us, "Be conscious of God and speak always the truth." (Applause.) That is what I will try to do today -- to speak the truth as best I can, humbled by the task before us, and firm in my belief that the interests we share as human beings are far more powerful than the forces that drive us apart.

Now part of this conviction is rooted in my own experience. I'm a Christian, but my father came from a Kenyan family that includes generations of Muslims. As a boy, I spent several years in Indonesia and heard the call of the azaan at the break of dawn and at the fall of dusk. As a young man, I worked in Chicago communities where many found dignity and peace in their Muslim faith.

As a student of history, I also know civilization's debt to Islam. It was Islam -- at places like Al-Azhar -- that carried the light of learning through so many centuries, paving the way for Europe's Renaissance and Enlightenment. It was innovation in Muslim communities -- (applause) -- it was innovation in Muslim communities that developed the order of algebra; our magnetic compass and tools of navigation; our mastery of pens and printing; our understanding of how disease spreads and how it can be healed. Islamic culture has given us majestic arches and soaring spires; timeless poetry and cherished music; elegant calligraphy and places of peaceful contemplation. And throughout history, Islam has demonstrated through words and deeds the possibilities of religious tolerance and racial equality. (Applause.)

I also know that Islam has always been a part of America's story. The first nation to recognize my country was Morocco. In signing the Treaty of Tripoli in 1796, our second President, John Adams, wrote, "The United States has in itself no character of enmity against the laws, religion or tranquility of Muslims." And since our founding, American Muslims have enriched the United States. They have fought in our wars, they have served in our government, they have stood for civil rights, they have started businesses, they have taught at our universities, they've excelled in our sports arenas, they've won Nobel Prizes, built our tallest building, and lit the Olympic Torch. And when the first Muslim American was recently elected to Congress, he took the oath to defend our Constitution using the same Holy Koran that one of our Founding Fathers -- Thomas Jefferson -- kept in his personal library. (Applause.)

So I have known Islam on three continents before coming to the region where it was first revealed. That experience guides my conviction that partnership between America and Islam must be based on what Islam is, not what it isn't. And I consider it part of my responsibility as President of the United States to fight against negative stereotypes of Islam wherever they appear. (Applause.)

But that same principle must apply to Muslim perceptions of America. (Applause.) Just as Muslims do not fit a crude stereotype, America is not the crude stereotype of a self-interested empire. The United States has been one of the greatest sources of progress that the world has ever known. We were born out of revolution against an empire. We were founded upon the ideal that all are created equal, and we have shed blood and struggled for centuries to give meaning to those words -- within our borders, and around the world. We are shaped by every culture, drawn from every end of the Earth, and dedicated to a simple concept: E pluribus unum -- "Out of many, one."

Now, much has been made of the fact that an African American with the name Barack Hussein Obama could be elected President. (Applause.) But my personal story is not so unique. The dream of opportunity for all people has not come true for everyone in America, but its promise exists for all who come to our shores -- and that includes nearly 7 million American Muslims in our country today who, by the way, enjoy incomes and educational levels that are higher than the American average. (Applause.)

Moreover, freedom in America is indivisible from the freedom to practice one's religion. That is why there is a mosque in every state in our union, and over 1,200 mosques within our borders. That's why the United States government has gone to court to protect the right of women and girls to wear the hijab and to punish those who would deny it. (Applause.)

So let there be no doubt: Islam is a part of America. And I believe that America holds within her the truth that regardless of race, religion, or station in life, all of us share common aspirations -- to live in peace and security; to get an education and to work with dignity; to love our families, our communities, and our God. These things we share. This is the hope of all humanity.

Of course, recognizing our common humanity is only the beginning of our task. Words alone cannot meet the needs of our people. These needs will be met only if we act boldly in the years ahead; and if we understand that the challenges we face are shared, and our failure to meet them will hurt us all.

For we have learned from recent experience that when a financial system weakens in one country, prosperity is hurt everywhere. When a new flu infects one human being, all are at risk. When one nation pursues a nuclear weapon, the risk of nuclear attack rises for all nations. When violent extremists operate in one stretch of mountains, people are endangered across an ocean. When innocents in Bosnia and Darfur are slaughtered, that is a stain on our collective conscience. (Applause.) That is what it means to share this world in the 21st century. That is the responsibility we have to one another as human beings.

And this is a difficult responsibility to embrace. For human history has often been a record of nations and tribes -- and, yes, religions -- subjugating one another in pursuit of their own interests. Yet in this new age, such attitudes are self-defeating. Given our interdependence, any world order that elevates one nation or group of people over another will inevitably fail. So whatever we think of the past, we must not be prisoners to it. Our problems must be dealt with through partnership; our progress must be shared. (Applause.)

Now, that does not mean we should ignore sources of tension. Indeed, it suggests the opposite: We must face these tensions squarely. And so in that spirit, let me speak as clearly and as plainly as I can about some specific issues that I believe we must finally confront together.

The first issue that we have to confront is violent extremism in all of its forms.

In Ankara, I made clear that America is not -- and never will be -- at war with Islam. (Applause.) We will, however, relentlessly confront violent extremists who pose a grave threat to our security -- because we reject the same thing that people of all faiths reject: the killing of innocent men, women, and children. And it is my first duty as President to protect the American people.

The situation in Afghanistan demonstrates America's goals, and our need to work together. Over seven years ago, the United States pursued al Qaeda and the Taliban with broad international support. We did not go by choice; we went because of necessity. I'm aware that there's still some who would question or even justify the events of 9/11. But let us be clear: Al Qaeda killed nearly 3,000 people on that day. The victims were innocent men, women and children from America and many other nations who had done nothing to harm anybody. And yet al Qaeda chose to ruthlessly murder these people, claimed credit for the attack, and even now states their determination to kill on a massive scale. They have affiliates in many countries and are trying to expand their reach. These are not opinions to be debated; these are facts to be dealt with.

Now, make no mistake: We do not want to keep our troops in Afghanistan. We see no military -- we seek no military bases there. It is agonizing for America to lose our young men and women. It is costly and politically difficult to continue this conflict. We would gladly bring every single one of our troops home if we could be confident that there were not violent extremists in Afghanistan and now Pakistan determined to kill as many Americans as they possibly can. But that is not yet the case.

And that's why we're partnering with a coalition of 46 countries. And despite the costs involved, America's commitment will not weaken. Indeed, none of us should tolerate these extremists. They have killed in many countries. They have killed people of different faiths -- but more than any other, they have killed Muslims. Their actions are irreconcilable with the rights of human beings, the progress of nations, and with Islam. The Holy Koran teaches that whoever kills an innocent is as -- it is as if he has killed all mankind. (Applause.) And the Holy Koran also says whoever saves a person, it is as if he has saved all mankind. (Applause.) The enduring faith of over a billion people is so much bigger than the narrow hatred of a few. Islam is not part of the problem in combating violent extremism -- it is an important part of promoting peace.

Now, we also know that military power alone is not going to solve the problems in Afghanistan and Pakistan. That's why we plan to invest $1.5 billion each year over the next five years to partner with Pakistanis to build schools and hospitals, roads and businesses, and hundreds of millions to help those who've been displaced. That's why we are providing more than $2.8 billion to help Afghans develop their economy and deliver services that people depend on.

Let me also address the issue of Iraq. Unlike Afghanistan, Iraq was a war of choice that provoked strong differences in my country and around the world. Although I believe that the Iraqi people are ultimately better off without the tyranny of Saddam Hussein, I also believe that events in Iraq have reminded America of the need to use diplomacy and build international consensus to resolve our problems whenever possible. (Applause.) Indeed, we can recall the words of Thomas Jefferson, who said: "I hope that our wisdom will grow with our power, and teach us that the less we use our power the greater it will be."

Today, America has a dual responsibility: to help Iraq forge a better future -- and to leave Iraq to Iraqis. And I have made it clear to the Iraqi people -- (applause) -- I have made it clear to the Iraqi people that wepursue no bases, and no claim on their territory or resources. Iraq's sovereignty is its own. And that's why I ordered the removal of our combat brigades by next August. That is why we will honor our agreement with Iraq's democratically elected government to remove combat troops from Iraqi cities by July, and to remove all of our troops from Iraq by 2012. (Applause.) We will help Iraq train its security forces and develop its economy. But we will support a secure and united Iraq as a partner, and never as a patron.

And finally, just as America can never tolerate violence by extremists, we must never alter or forget our principles. Nine-eleven was an enormous trauma to our country. The fear and anger that it provoked was understandable, but in some cases, it led us to act contrary to our traditions and our ideals. We are taking concrete actions to change course. I have unequivocally prohibited the use of torture by the United States, and I have ordered the prison at Guantanamo Bay closed by early next year. (Applause.)

So America will defend itself, respectful of the sovereignty of nations and the rule of law. And we will do so in partnership with Muslim communities which are also threatened. The sooner the extremists are isolated and unwelcome in Muslim communities, the sooner we will all be safer.

The second major source of tension that we need to discuss is the situation between Israelis, Palestinians and the Arab world.

America's strong bonds with Israel are well known. This bond is unbreakable. It is based upon cultural and historical ties, and the recognition that the aspiration for a Jewish homeland is rooted in a tragic history that cannot be denied.

Around the world, the Jewish people were persecuted for centuries, and anti-Semitism in Europe culminated in an unprecedented Holocaust. Tomorrow, I will visit Buchenwald, which was part of a network of camps where Jews were enslaved, tortured, shot and gassed to death by the Third Reich. Six million Jews were killed -- more than the entire Jewish population of Israel today. Denying that fact is baseless, it is ignorant, and it is hateful. Threatening Israel with destruction -- or repeating vile stereotypes about Jews -- is deeply wrong, and only serves to evoke in the minds of Israelis this most painful of memories while preventing the peace that the people of this region deserve.

On the other hand, it is also undeniable that the Palestinian people -- Muslims and Christians -- have suffered in pursuit of a homeland. For more than 60 years they've endured the pain of dislocation. Many wait in refugee camps in the West Bank, Gaza, and neighboring lands for a life of peace and security that they have never been able to lead. They endure the daily humiliations -- large and small -- that come with occupation. So let there be no doubt: The situation for the Palestinian people is intolerable. And America will not turn our backs on the legitimate Palestinian aspiration for dignity, opportunity, and a state of their own. (Applause.)

For decades then, there has been a stalemate: two peoples with legitimate aspirations, each with a painful history that makes compromise elusive. It's easy to point fingers -- for Palestinians to point to the displacement brought about by Israel's founding, and for Israelis to point to the constant hostility and attacks throughout its history from within its borders as well as beyond. But if we see this conflict only from one side or the other, then we will be blind to the truth: The only resolution is for the aspirations of both sides to be met through two states, where Israelis and Palestinians each live in peace and security. (Applause.)

That is in Israel's interest, Palestine's interest, America's interest, and the world's interest. And that is why I intend to personally pursue this outcome with all the patience and dedication that the task requires. (Applause.) The obligations -- the obligations that the parties have agreed to under the road map are clear. For peace to come, it is time for them -- and all of us -- to live up to our responsibilities.

Palestinians must abandon violence. Resistance through violence and killing is wrong and it does not succeed. For centuries, black people in America suffered the lash of the whip as slaves and the humiliation of segregation. But it was not violence that won full and equal rights. It was a peaceful and determined insistence upon the ideals at the center of America's founding. This same story can be told by people from South Africa to South Asia; from Eastern Europe to Indonesia. It's a story with a simple truth: that violence is a dead end. It is a sign neither of courage nor power to shoot rockets at sleeping children, or to blow up old women on a bus. That's not how moral authority is claimed; that's how it is surrendered.

Now is the time for Palestinians to focus on what they can build. The Palestinian Authority must develop its capacity to govern, with institutions that serve the needs of its people. Hamas does have support among some Palestinians, but they also have to recognize they have responsibilities. To play a role in fulfilling Palestinian aspirations, to unify the Palestinian people, Hamas must put an end to violence, recognize past agreements, recognize Israel's right to exist.

At the same time, Israelis must acknowledge that just as Israel's right to exist cannot be denied, neither can Palestine's. The United States does not accept the legitimacy of continued Israeli settlements. (Applause.) This construction violates previous agreements and undermines efforts to achieve peace. It is time for these settlements to stop. (Applause.)

And Israel must also live up to its obligation to ensure that Palestinians can live and work and develop their society. Just as it devastates Palestinian families, the continuing humanitarian crisis in Gaza does not serveIsrael's security; neither does the continuing lack of opportunity in the West Bank. Progress in the daily lives of the Palestinian people must be a critical part of a road to peace, and Israel must take concrete steps to enable such progress.

And finally, the Arab states must recognize that the Arab Peace Initiative was an important beginning, but not the end of their responsibilities. The Arab-Israeli conflict should no longer be used to distract the people of Arab nations from other problems. Instead, it must be a cause for action to help the Palestinian people develop the institutions that will sustain their state, to recognize Israel's legitimacy, and to choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past.

America will align our policies with those who pursue peace, and we will say in public what we say in private to Israelis and Palestinians and Arabs. (Applause.) We cannot impose peace. But privately, many Muslims recognize that Israel will not go away. Likewise, many Israelis recognize the need for a Palestinian state. It is time for us to act on what everyone knows to be true.

Too many tears have been shed. Too much blood has been shed. All of us have a responsibility to work for the day when the mothers of Israelis and Palestinians can see their children grow up without fear; when the Holy Land of the three great faiths is the place of peace that God intended it to be; when Jerusalem is a secure and lasting home for Jews and Christians and Muslims, and a place for all of the children of Abraham to mingle peacefully together as in the story of Isra -- (applause) -- as in the story of Isra, when Moses, Jesus, and Mohammed, peace be upon them, joined in prayer. (Applause.)

The third source of tension is our shared interest in the rights and responsibilities of nations on nuclear weapons.

This issue has been a source of tension between the United States and the Islamic Republic of Iran. For many years, Iran has defined itself in part by its opposition to my country, and there is in fact a tumultuous history between us. In the middle of the Cold War, the United States played a role in the overthrow of a democratically elected Iranian government. Since the Islamic Revolution, Iran has played a role in acts of hostage-taking and violence against U.S. troops and civilians. This history is well known. Rather than remain trapped in the past, I've made it clear to Iran's leaders and people that my country is prepared to move forward. The question now is not what Iran is against, but rather what future it wants to build.

I recognize it will be hard to overcome decades of mistrust, but we will proceed with courage, rectitude, and resolve. There will be many issues to discuss between our two countries, and we are willing to move forward without preconditions on the basis of mutual respect. But it is clear to all concerned that when it comes to nuclear weapons, we have reached a decisive point. This is not simply about America's interests. It's about preventing a nuclear arms race in the Middle East that could lead this region and the world down a hugely dangerous path.

I understand those who protest that some countries have weapons that others do not. No single nation should pick and choose which nation holds nuclear weapons. And that's why I strongly reaffirmed America's commitment to seek a world in which no nations hold nuclear weapons. (Applause.) And any nation -- including Iran -- should have the right to access peaceful nuclear power if it complies with its responsibilities under the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty. That commitment is at the core of the treaty, and it must be kept for all who fully abide by it. And I'm hopeful that all countries in the region can share in this goal.

The fourth issue that I will address is democracy. (Applause.)

I know -- I know there has been controversy about the promotion of democracy in recent years, and much of this controversy is connected to the war in Iraq. So let me be clear: No system of government can or should be imposed by one nation by any other.

That does not lessen my commitment, however, to governments that reflect the will of the people. Each nation gives life to this principle in its own way, grounded in the traditions of its own people. America does not presume to know what is best for everyone, just as we would not presume to pick the outcome of a peaceful election. But I do have an unyielding belief that all people yearn for certain things: the ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed; confidence in the rule of law and the equal administration of justice; government that is transparent and doesn't steal from the people; the freedom to live as you choose. These are not just American ideas; they are human rights. And that is why we will support them everywhere. (Applause.)

Now, there is no straight line to realize this promise. But this much is clear: Governments that protect these rights are ultimately more stable, successful and secure. Suppressing ideas never succeeds in making them go away. America respects the right of all peaceful and law-abiding voices to be heard around the world, even if we disagree with them. And we will welcome all elected, peaceful governments -- provided they govern with respect for all their people.

This last point is important because there are some who advocate for democracy only when they're out of power; once in power, they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others. (Applause.) So no matter where it takes hold, government of the people and by the people sets a single standard for all who would hold power: You must maintain your power through consent, not coercion; you must respect the rights of minorities, and participate with a spirit of tolerance and compromise; you must place the interests of your people and the legitimate workings of the political process above your party. Without these ingredients, elections alone do not make true democracy.

AUDIENCE MEMBER: Barack Obama, we love you!

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Thank you. (Applause.) The fifth issue that we must address together is religious freedom.

Islam has a proud tradition of tolerance. We see it in the history of Andalusia and Cordoba during the Inquisition. I saw it firsthand as a child in Indonesia, where devout Christians worshiped freely in an overwhelmingly Muslim country. That is the spirit we need today. People in every country should be free to choose and live their faith based upon the persuasion of the mind and the heart and the soul. This tolerance is essential for religion to thrive, but it's being challenged in many different ways.

Among some Muslims, there's a disturbing tendency to measure one's own faith by the rejection of somebody else's faith. The richness of religious diversity must be upheld -- whether it is for Maronites in Lebanon or the Copts in Egypt. (Applause.) And if we are being honest, fault lines must be closed among Muslims, as well, as the divisions between Sunni and Shia have led to tragic violence, particularly in Iraq.

Freedom of religion is central to the ability of peoples to live together. We must always examine the ways in which we protect it. For instance, in the United States, rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims to fulfill their religious obligation. That's why I'm committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.

Likewise, it is important for Western countries to avoid impeding Muslim citizens from practicing religion as they see fit -- for instance, by dictating what clothes a Muslim woman should wear. We can't disguise hostility towards any religion behind the pretence of liberalism.

In fact, faith should bring us together. And that's why we're forging service projects in America to bring together Christians, Muslims, and Jews. That's why we welcome efforts like Saudi Arabian King Abdullah's interfaith dialogue and Turkey's leadership in the Alliance of Civilizations. Around the world, we can turn dialogue into interfaith service, so bridges between peoples lead to action -- whether it is combating malaria in Africa, or providing relief after a natural disaster.

The sixth issue -- the sixth issue that I want to address is women's rights. (Applause.) I know –- I know -- and you can tell from this audience, that there is a healthy debate about this issue. I reject the view of some in the West that a woman who chooses to cover her hair is somehow less equal, but I do believe that a woman who is denied an education is denied equality. (Applause.) And it is no coincidence that countries where women are well educated are far more likely to be prosperous.

Now, let me be clear: Issues of women's equality are by no means simply an issue for Islam. In Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Indonesia, we've seen Muslim-majority countries elect a woman to lead. Meanwhile, the struggle for women's equality continues in many aspects of American life, and in countries around the world.

I am convinced that our daughters can contribute just as much to society as our sons. (Applause.) Our common prosperity will be advanced by allowing all humanity -- men and women -- to reach their full potential. I do not believe that women must make the same choices as men in order to be equal, and I respect those women who choose to live their lives in traditional roles. But it should be their choice. And that is why the United States will partner with any Muslim-majority country to support expanded literacy for girls, and to help young women pursue employment through micro-financing that helps people live their dreams. (Applause.)

Finally, I want to discuss economic development and opportunity.

I know that for many, the face of globalization is contradictory. The Internet and television can bring knowledge and information, but also offensive sexuality and mindless violence into the home. Trade can bring new wealth and opportunities, but also huge disruptions and change in communities. In all nations -- including America -- this change can bring fear. Fear that because of modernity we lose control over our economic choices, our politics, and most importantly our identities -- those things we most cherish about our communities, our families, our traditions, and our faith.

But I also know that human progress cannot be denied. There need not be contradictions between development and tradition. Countries like Japan and South Korea grew their economies enormously while maintaining distinct cultures. The same is true for the astonishing progress within Muslim-majority countries from Kuala Lumpur to Dubai. In ancient times and in our times, Muslim communities have been at the forefront of innovation and education.

And this is important because no development strategy can be based only upon what comes out of the ground, nor can it be sustained while young people are out of work. Many Gulf states have enjoyed great wealth as a consequence of oil, and some are beginning to focus it on broader development. But all of us must recognize that education and innovation will be the currency of the 21st century -- (applause) -- and in too many Muslim communities, there remains underinvestment in these areas. I'm emphasizing such investment within my own country. And while America in the past has focused on oil and gas when it comes to this part of the world, we now seek a broader engagement.

On education, we will expand exchange programs, and increase scholarships, like the one that brought my father to America. (Applause.) At the same time, we will encourage more Americans to study in Muslim communities. And we will match promising Muslim students with internships in America; invest in online learning for teachers and children around the world; and create a new online network, so a young person in Kansascan communicate instantly with a young person in Cairo.

On economic development, we will create a new corps of business volunteers to partner with counterparts in Muslim-majority countries. And I will host a Summit on Entrepreneurship this year to identify how we can deepen ties between business leaders, foundations and social entrepreneurs in the United States and Muslim communities around the world.

On science and technology, we will launch a new fund to support technological development in Muslim-majority countries, and to help transfer ideas to the marketplace so they can create more jobs. We'll open centers of scientific excellence in Africa, the Middle East and Southeast Asia, and appoint new science envoys to collaborate on programs that develop new sources of energy, create green jobs, digitize records, clean water, grow new crops. Today I'm announcing a new global effort with the Organization of the Islamic Conference to eradicate polio. And we will also expand partnerships with Muslim communities to promote child and maternal health.

All these things must be done in partnership. Americans are ready to join with citizens and governments; community organizations, religious leaders, and businesses in Muslim communities around the world to help our people pursue a better life.

The issues that I have described will not be easy to address. But we have a responsibility to join together on behalf of the world that we seek -- a world where extremists no longer threaten our people, and American troops have come home; a world where Israelis and Palestinians are each secure in a state of their own, and nuclear energy is used for peaceful purposes; a world where governments serve their citizens, and the rights of all God's children are respected. Those are mutual interests. That is the world we seek. But we can only achieve it together.

I know there are many -- Muslim and non-Muslim -- who question whether we can forge this new beginning. Some are eager to stoke the flames of division, and to stand in the way of progress. Some suggest that it isn't worth the effort -- that we are fated to disagree, and civilizations are doomed to clash. Many more are simply skeptical that real change can occur. There's so much fear, so much mistrust that has built up over the years. But if we choose to be bound by the past, we will never move forward. And I want to particularly say this to young people of every faith, in every country -- you, more than anyone, have the ability to reimagine the world, to remake this world.

All of us share this world for but a brief moment in time. The question is whether we spend that time focused on what pushes us apart, or whether we commit ourselves to an effort -- a sustained effort -- to find common ground, to focus on the future we seek for our children, and to respect the dignity of all human beings.

It's easier to start wars than to end them. It's easier to blame others than to look inward. It's easier to see what is different about someone than to find the things we share. But we should choose the right path, not just the easy path. There's one rule that lies at the heart of every religion -- that we do unto others as we would have them do unto us. (Applause.) This truth transcends nations and peoples -- a belief that isn't new; that isn't black or white or brown; that isn't Christian or Muslim or Jew. It's a belief that pulsed in the cradle of civilization, and that still beats in the hearts of billions around the world. It's a faith in other people, and it's what brought me here today.

We have the power to make the world we seek, but only if we have the courage to make a new beginning, keeping in mind what has been written.

The Holy Koran tells us: "O mankind! We have created you male and a female; and we have made you into nations and tribes so that you may know one another."

The Talmud tells us: "The whole of the Torah is for the purpose of promoting peace."

The Holy Bible tells us: "Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called sons of God." (Applause.)

The people of the world can live together in peace. We know that is God's vision. Now that must be our work here on Earth.

Thank you. And may God's peace be upon you. Thank you very much. Thank you. (Applause.)

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

KEPUTUSAN YANG MEMBIMBANGKAN SEMUA PIHAK

2009-05-04T21:08:00.001+08:00

From: "Sumayyah Khayyat" linhood73@yahoo.co.uk

KEPUTUSAN YANG MEMBIMBANGKAN SEMUA PIHAK

Masyarakat Islam arus perdana amat terkejut dengan kenyataan yang dikeluarkan oleh Menteri Di Jabatan Perdana Menteri Datuk Seri Nazri Aziz bahawa Jemaah Menteri telah bersetuju memutuskan kanak-kanak mesti kekal menganut agama asal ketika ibubapanya berkahwin walaupun salah seorang pasangan itu menukar agama.
Keputusan yang dibuat oleh jemaah menteri dikatakan sebagai langkah penyelesaian jangka panjang berhubung isu pertikaian status agama kanak-kanak berkenaan apabila ibu atau bapa mereka menukar agama.

Keputusan Jemaah Menteri ini sangatlah dikesali malah menimbulkan lebih banyak persoalan atau lebih tepat mengundang kontroversi!
Manifestasi kekesalan ini dizahirkan apabila lebih seratus NGO Islam dari seluruh negara berkumpul menyatakan bantahan mereka semalam (Jumaat).
Persatuan Peguam Syarie Malaysia (PGSM) juga melalui Timbalan Presidennya Musa Awang telah mengeluarkan kenyataan membantah keputusan tersebut. PGSM adalah NGO pertama yang menyuarakan kekesalan mereka.

Bagi memahami implikasi keputusan jemaah menteri ini beberapa perkara perlu diperincikan terlebih dahulu terutamanya kedudukan perlembagaan, undang-undang dan hukum syarak. Sebenarnya terdapat tiga perkara utama yang terkesan daripada keputusan ini iaitu berkaitan dengan pembubaran perkahwinan, agama anak dan pemeliharaan Anak.

Pembubaran Perkahwinan
Di dalam perkahwinan sivil yang didaftarkan melalui Akta Membaharui Undang-Undang (Perkahwinan dan Perceraian) 1976 pembubaran perkahwinan hanya boleh berlaku jika perkahwinan itu telah pecahbelah dan tidak dapat diselamatkan lagi.

Perkara ini termaktub di dalam seksyen 52 Akta tersebut. Seksyen 51 Akta yang sama pula menjelaskan jika salah seorang pasangan itu memeluk Islam, pasangan yang tidak memeluk Islam itu boleh memfailkan petisyen pembubaran perkahwinan menurut seksyen berkenaan selepas tiga bulan pasangannya memeluk Islam.

Ini bermakna petisyen perceraian atas alasan pemelukan agama Islam hanya boleh difailkan oleh pasangan yang tidak memeluk agama Islam sahaja.

Selagi dia tidak memfailkan petisyen perceraian tersebut perkahwinan sivilnya bersama pasangan yang telah memeluk Islam tetap dianggap sah di bawah akta tersebut.

Jelaslah di sini ketidakadilan begitu ketara berlaku kepada pasangan yang memeluk Islam itu memandangkan beliau langsung tidak mempunyai locus standi (hak untuk mengambil tindakan atau mencabar keputusan) untuk memfailkan petisyen perceraian berdasarkan seksyen tersebut.

Namun Mahkamah Syariah menurut Jadual Kesembilan Senarai 2 Butiran I Perlembagaan Persekutuan, boleh membuat penentuan sesuatu perkara mengenai hukum dan doktrin syarak. Seksyen 46(2) Akta Undang-Undang Keluarga Islam (Wilayah-Wilayah Persekutuan) 1984 menepati semangat Perlembagaan Persekutuan ini dengan memberi kuasa kepada Mahkamah Syariah membuat penentuan mengikut hukum syarak apakah kedudukan perkahwinan tersebut.

Seksyen 46(2) tersebut memperuntukkan jika salah satu pihak kepada sesuatu perkahwinan bukan Islam memeluk Islam, maka perbuatan yang demikian tidak boleh dengan sendirinya berkuatkuasa membubarkan perkahwinan itu melainkan dan sehingga disahkan oleh Mahkamah. (Mahkamah di sini bermaksud mahkamah syariah).
Seolah-olah terdapat polemik di sini di mana kedua-dua mahkamah mempunyai bidangkuasa. Oleh yang demikian terdapatlah cadangan seksyen di atas ditiadakan bagi menyelesaikan kemelut ini. Tetapi sebenarnya bukan hanya seksyen tersebut sahaja perlu dipinda malah seksyen yang sama di negeri-negeri lain juga perlu dipinda dan mendapat perkenan Raja-Raja Melayu. Namun lazimnya ia mungkin satu jalan yang tidak mudah untuk digapai.

Sebenarnya tatkala seseorang itu telah memeluk Islam sudah pasti Perlembagaan Persekutuan memberi jaminan kepada mualaf itu mengamalkan agamanya termasuklah undang-undang diri seperti munakahat (perkahwinan). Tindakan mengheret mualaf ini ke Mahkamah Sivil merupakan pelanggaran hak kebebasan beragama bagi mualaf ini.

Seorang yang sudah mendapat hidayah daripada Allah s.w.t sudah tentu tidak mahu balik ke zaman jahiliyahnya kembali. Inilah hak yang perlu dipertahan oleh kerajaan dan bukan merobek hak ini atas alasan yang picisan yang tidak selaras dengan Perlembagaan.

Membawa orang bukan Islam ke Mahkamah Syariah pula bukanlah suatu perkara yang mudah kerana kebiasaannya orang bukan Islam enggan hadir ke Mahkamah Syariah atas alasan tidak mahu tertakluk kepada undang-undang Islam. Sedangkan apa yang diputuskan oleh Mahkamah Syariah hanyalah membuat perisytiharan di sisi hukum syarak, mengenai apakah kedudukan perkahwinan tersebut sahaja.

Lalu amatlah tidak wajar mualaf ini dinafikan hak ini. Hakikatnya ialah sebahagian orang bukan Islam tidak mengiktiraf langsung kewujudan Mahkamah Syariah ini. Mereka tidak mahu membantu Mahkamah Syariah memberi keputusan yang adil. Mereka sanggup memberi keterangan di medan media tetapi tidak di Mahkamah Syariah. Mahkamah Syariah adalah sebahagian dari system perundangan negara yang sah. Tidak ada seorangpun terutama atas nama “1 Malaysia” boleh memperlekehkan mahkamah Syariah.

Agama Anak
Perkara 12(3) Perlembagaan Persekutuan menyatakan tiada seorangpun boleh dikehendaki menerima ajaran sesuatu agama atau mengambil bahagian dalam apa-apa upacara atau upacara sembahyang sesuatu agama, selain agamanya sendiri.
Perkara 12(4) pula menegaskan bagi maksud Perkara 12(3) di atas, agama bagi seseorang yang di bawah umur lapan belas tahun hendaklah ditetapkan oleh ibu atau bapanya atau penjaganya.

Perkara 12(4) ini telah ditafsirkan oleh penghakiman mahkamah tertinggi negara iaitu Mahkamah Persekutuan di dalam kes Subahsini mlwn Saravanan.
Di mana mahkamah tersebut telah memutuskan bahawa salah seorang (bukan kedua) ibu bapa boleh menentukan keIslaman anak tersebut.

Peruntukan Perkara 12(4) dan juga tafsiran yang dibuat oleh Mahkamah Persekutuan tersebut sebenarnya selaras dengan Hukum Syarak. Sebenarnya telah disepakati di kalangan ulamak bahawa apabila salah seorang ibubapa bukan Islam memeluk Islam, anak di bawah umur mereka itu disifatkan sebagai Islam.
Ini adalah kerana anak yang dilahirkan itu adalah fitrah, dan fitrah di sini bermaksud Islam.

Undang-Undang Syariah ditegakkan berasaskan kepada Al Maqasid Al Syariah. Terdapat lima al maqasid al syariah (objektif syariah) iaitu menjaga agama (hifz al din), nyawa (hifz al nafs), keturunan (hifz an nasab), akal (hifz al aql) dan harta (hifz al mal).
Bagi mencapai maqasid ini umat Islam dipertanggungjawabkan memelihara kelima-lima perkara ini termasuklah menjaga agama dan keturunan. Oleh yang demikian agama anak itu hendaklah mengikut mana-mana ibubapa yang Islam. Umat Islam tidak dapat menerima sekiranya al maqasid al syariah ini tidak dapat dicapai.

Alasan Nazri agar mengikut 'common sense' (logik akal) adalah terlalu dangkal. Dalam undang-undang kita tidak boleh berdasarkan logik akal semata kerana dikhuatiri akan lebih menjerumus kepada kepentingan yang berpihak. Ada asas dan falsafah yang perlu ditafsirkan dan dihayati. Sebagai perbandingannya jika kita menggunakan ‘common sense’ tersebut, adakah kita boleh dianggap tidak melakukan kesalahan trafik apabila melanggar lampu isyarat merah atas alasan tiada kenderaan yang melintasi di hadapan kita? Walaupun pada “common sense” pemandu itu tidak bersalah tetapi undang-undang mempunyai falsafahnya tersendiri bagi mengawal kemaslahatan (kebaikan) sejagat. Apatah lagi 'common sense' yang dicetuskan oleh keputusan tersebut itu melanggar hukum syarak.

Keputusan jemaah menteri ini, tidak boleh mengatasi peruntukan Perkara 12(4) dan tafsiran yang dibuat dalam kes Subahsini.

Jemaah menteri juga sebagai badan eksekutif tidak boleh mencampuri urusan kehakiman (sama ada sivil ataupun syariah) apatah lagi mengganggu keputusan mahkamah dengan mengeluarkan kenyataan bertentangan dengan keputusan mahkamah.

Seharusnya segala ruang yang dibenarkan oleh undang-undang diambil bagi menangani permasalahan ini dan bukan melalui campur tangan eksekutif yang secara langsung merujuk kepada kes Muhammad Ridzuan tersebut.

Pemeliharaan Anak
Mengenai pemeliharaan anak pula. Sudah menjadi amalan di Mahkamah Syariah dan Mahkamah Sivil bahawa kebajikan anak mengatasi hak ibu atau bapa. Di dalam memutuskan hak jagaan anak sudah tentulah faktor mengenai kebajikan anak ini di titikberatkan. Kebajikan anak ini termasuklah permasalahan akidah, tumbesaran dan pembelajaran anak tersebut. Perkara sebegini boleh diputuskan oleh Mahkamah. Hak memelihara anak ini biasanya diputuskan setelah mengambil kira keperluan dan kebajikan anak.

Namun apa yang berlaku ialah masyarakat bukan Islam atas sebab-sebab tertentu terlalu takutkan Mahkamah Syariah dan menganggap Mahkamah Syariah hanya mempertahankan hak orang Islam sahaja. Sudah dibuktikan di dalam beberapa kes di Mahkamah Syariah, keputusan yang dikeluarkan oleh Hakim Syarie tidak memihak kepada orang Islam semata-mata tetapi memihak kepada keadilan.

Berbalik kepada keputusan jemaah menteri seperti yang dilaporkan oleh kebanyakan media hari ini, amat jelas keputusan tersebut gagal mempertahankan kelebihan agama Islam sebagai agama Persekutuan. Keputusan tersebut menyamatarafkan Islam dengan agama-agama lain dan perkara ini tidak dapat diterima oleh masyarakat Islam arus perdana.

NGO-NGO Islam juga mempersoalkan keputusan Jemaah Menteri yang dibuat itu langsung tidak mengambil kira pandangan NGO-NGO Islam. Dalam masa yang sama pula pihak kerajaan termasuk Timbalan Perdana Menteri telah berjumpa dengan NGO bukan Islam mengenai kes yang tersebut di atas.

Tiada usaha untuk mendapatkan pandangan NGO Islam (yang berjumlah hampir 100 pertubuhan) dilakukan bagi mendapat pandangan mereka sebelum keputusan dibuat.

Malah ada beberapa NGO Islam cuba untuk bertemu dengan kepimpinan kerajaan tetapi tidak dapat direalisasikan. Seharusnya pihak kerajaan lebih peka dengan sensitiviti umat Islam khususnya masyarakat saudara baru. Suara mereka harus didengar terlebih dahulu sebelum sebarang keputusan yang membabitkan mereka dibuat. Hak mereka untuk didengar (audi alteram partem) oleh pimpinan kerajaan sudah tiada lagi. Dimanakah audi alteram partem itu?

Justeru untuk memberikan kebaikan kepada semua pihak adalah lebih baik kepada kerajaan supaya menarik keputusan berhubung kes Mohd. Ridzuan ini. Lebih-lebih lagi bagi memelihara keharmonian dan perpaduan dalam masyarakat berbilang bangsa, kaum dan agama ini.

Ini kerana jika dilaksanakan juga, diyakini ia akan berlarutan dan tidak menemukan jalan penyelesaian secara tuntas apabila secara terang keputusan itu begitu bertentangan dengan Perlembagaan dan tidak selaras dengan keputusan kes Subahsini sebelum ini.

Malah jika bercakap soal kemanusiaan, pastinya si ibu yang masih beragama Hindu itu akan lebih menikmati keadilan dan haknya sebagai seorang ibu tidak akan dinafikan. Ini kerana sesuai dengan Firman Allah dalam Surah Al Baqarah ayat 256 yang bermaksud;

"Tidak ada paksaan dalam agama (Islam), kerana sesungguhnya telah nyata kebenaran (Islam) daripada kesesatan (kufur). Oleh itu, sesiapa yang tidak percayakan Taghut, dan ia pula beriman kepada Allah, maka sesungguhnya ia telah berpegang kepada simpulan (tali agama) yang teguh, yang tidak akan putus. Dan (ingatlah), Allah Maha Mendengar lagi Maha Mengetahui."

Malah jika kerajaan mengambil pendekatan untuk berbincang dan berkerjasama dengan para ulama, pakar perundangan Islam sehinggalah termasuk NGO-NGO berkaitan pasti kerajaan tidak perlu bersusah payah sehingga perlu melakukan sebarang pindaan terhadap undang-undang apa tah lagi membabitkan Undang-undang Syarie.

Ditulis oleh Zainul Rijal Abu Bakar, penulis adalah Setiausaha Agong Peguam Pembela Islam.

***.***.***

* Bekas Mufti Perak, Dr Asri Zainul Abidin, turut memberi pandangnya di sini.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Tafsiran Apa Ini??

2009-01-28T16:30:00.005+08:00

Berita di bawah merupakan satu berita yang telah tersebar meluas semenjak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini. Walau demikian, masih terdapat ramai yang belum mengetahui perihalnya, lalu ianya disiarkan di sini dari petikan blog Cap'n Calico Jack's Blog.

Tafsiran Apa Ini??

Posted in Maklumat with tags penipuan_besar on January 26, 2009 by Cap'n Calico Jack

Den telah menerima beberapa gambar melalui e-mel tentang suatu diayah yang amat berbahaya kepada orang Islam.

Cuba lihat gambar-gambar ini [klik untuk imej besar]

Tafsir Palsu 1

Tafsir Palsu 2

Imej pertama kononnya memaparkan Suratul Fatihah dalam bahasa Inggeris. Imej kedua pun mempunyai ‘tafsiran.’ Tafsiran bahasa Inggeris den kira diambil dari penterjemahan Abdullah Yusuf Ali. Den dah semak.

Adakah tafsirannya betul?.

Muka Depan

Penipu yang mengeluarkan risalah ini telah meletak ‘ayat-ayat tafsiran’ secara ‘cut-and-paste’ untuk mengelirukan umat Islam.

Adakah dakyah yang sama di belakang usaha keras untuk menggunakan perkataan ‘Allah’ untuk buku mereka?

Dengar syarahan Allahyarham Ahmad Deedat mengenai diayah ini

URL alternatif: http://purl.oclc.org/BLOG/public1

A Malaysian Voice for Gaza

2009-01-20T23:11:00.004+08:00

On her own initiative, Tehsin, has launched her own petition on Gaza here. Please spare a few minutes of your time to read the petition below and sign it here, in the name of all just and humane. For Muslims, in the name of Allah s.w.t. It is, the very least we can do. And do read her posting here as well when you have the time and tell others about this petition as well. Thank you.

To: of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court

Appeal for Intenational Criminal Court Chief Prosecutor to Investigate War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in Gaza.

ATTN: Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court
Mr. Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor
Information and Evidence Unit
Office of the Prosecutor
Post Office Box 19519
2500 CM The Hague
The Netherlands
Email: otp.informationdesk@icc-cpi.int
i.int
Phone: Tel. + 31 (0)70 515 851

We the undersigned citizens of Malaysia/International Community hereby formally petition you to investigate and prosecute any and all government officials named for heinous war crimes, crimes against humanity and other criminal acts of commission and omission by Shimon Peres, Ehud Olmert, Tzipi Livni, George W. Bush, Hosni Mubarak, Dick Cheney and Condoleeza Rice who have participated directly or indirectly in War Crimes in Gaza.

The Israeli military, aided indirectly and directly through munitions supply by the United States of America are accused of:

• Using powerful shells in civilian areas sending blast and shrapnel over a wide area which the army knew would cause large numbers of innocent casualties;

• Using banned weapons such as phosphorus bombs which inflict horrific burns; and testing powerful new explosives such as DIME which cause the massive injuries and amputations as described by Gaza doctors and by a previous Al-Jazeera report;

• Holding Palestinian families as human shields;

• Attacking medical facilities, including the killing of 12 ambulance men in marked vehicles;

* Shooting civilian men, women and children in cold blood after asking them to leave their homes or as they seek refuge in shelters. One case out of many was that of Haneen al-Batran, a nine year old girl who was shot in the face and abdomen by Israeli snipers as her family ran to the Al-Quds hospital in Tel al-Hawa. She died later.

* Prohibiting rescue services to attend to the dead, injured and trapped for days, as in the case of the Al-Samouni family in Zeitoun which is only one uncovered so far in many of such incidents and the sad case of Shad, a four year old Palestinian girl killed in her backyard in Jabalya and her body left for the dogs to eat by Israeli soldiers who shot at her family attempting to retrieve it for 5 days, resulting in another two family members being shot dead (more eyewitness accounts of other cases have been reported in Free Gaza, Window on Palestine and Al Jazeera sources);

• Killing large numbers of policemen who had no military role;

* Shelling designated UN facilities which served as safe havens for the displaced fleeing from indiscriminate bombings;

* Targeting UN aid convoys and destroying badly needed food, water medical and fuel supplies;

* Bombing mosques, universities, schools and hospitals, cemeteries and infrastructure with lame excuses of "militant" activity;

* Imprisoning terrorised, starved and injured civilians in a small open air "prison" with no safe haven to flee by blockading and sealing off borders and shelling them indiscriminately. In the latest UNHCR newsletter, a high ranking official stated that; Gaza (is): "The only conflict in the world in which people are not even allowed to flee" - High Commissioner Guterres

* Total disregard and impudence towards a democratically elected government of the people of Gaza;

* The continued harassment and instilment of fear by low-flying drones, fighter jets, helicopters, and movement of tanks in civilian areas despite a unilateral ceasefire;

* A hugely disproportionate "retaliatory" campaign against rocket threats; threats which were falsely used as a pretext for the latest invasion when it has been clear that Israel violated the previous existing ceasefire agreement.

* The continued unjust imprisonment and deprivation of the Palestinian population by a continued siege and economic and physical blockade of Gaza and the destruction of tunnels used to funnel necessities to enable decent living conditions.

In short, as an occupying power, Israel has totally and willfully violated its obligations, with the full support of the United States of America, as to protect the occupied citizens of Gaza and violated the Geneva conventions and the Statutes laid out in Article 8 of the International Criminal Court by the deliberate and sustained targeting of civilians and humanitarian aid workers, halting the full delivery of much needed aid to Gaza, and totally destroying the infrastructure in Gaza which will cost billions to rebuild and which is almost impossible to do so, due to the blockade, thus rendering the population homeless and open to the risks of the natural elements of extreme weather, abscence sanitation, healthcare, education, food, water and any economic activity.

These and numerous other war crimes must be investigated and the perpetrators brought to justice to ensure that all international laws are respected and there exist no avenue and space for any nation to act with such total impunity and disregard for other nations and peoples and that regard for the sanctity of human lives and property and the environment be preserved. We cannot allow the law of the jungle and barbarism to continue to prevail in this day and age.

What has occurred in Gaza, and is still continuing, is a crime against humanity and a test of our own.

We the undersigned citizens demand a full and thorough investigation immediately This investigation should be pursued no matter where it may lead and no matter what the political implications may be. To this end, we remind you that you work not on behalf of the United States of America of for Israel but for Justice itself.

Thank you.

Sincerely,

George Galloway On Gaza

2009-01-14T12:14:00.001+08:00

From Information Clearing House

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

We will not go down (Song for Gaza)

2009-01-14T11:51:00.001+08:00

Are We Not Human?

2009-01-14T11:47:00.001+08:00

Gaza : A Scene Of Devastation

2009-01-14T11:39:00.001+08:00

Al Jazeera's Ayman Mohyeldin reports on the public who are struggling to cope under the bombardment in Gaza

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Israel admits: "No Hamas rockets were fired during ceasefire"

2009-01-14T11:36:00.001+08:00

The Israeli Spokesman (Australian born!) Merk Regev, accepts that Hamas did NOT violate the Ceasefire UNTIL AFTER Israel attacked the Gaza Strip on the 4th November! This proves that it was ISRAEL that broke the ceasefire!

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

A Message from a Gazan to the World

2009-01-14T11:33:00.001+08:00

By Mohammed Fares Al Majdalawi

I want to write about the suffering of my people and my family in these days of siege against the people of Gaza. 888 people have been killed and more than 3700 injured. The Red Cross has accused the Israeli military of repeatedly refusing to allow ambulances to go to Zeitoun area, so those who are injured become those who die; a premeditated and purposeful violation of human rights.In my house we can't get basic needs. No food. No bread. No fuel. No future. Yesterday, my father went to the bakery at 5 AM. He waited 5 hours to get one loaf of bread, which is not enough for my family because there are 11 of us. So today it was my turn. I went to all the bakeries -- all were closed.

There is no safe place we can go. We cannot communicate with our relatives and friends -- networks are down as missiles rain on our homes, mosques and even hospitals.

Our life is centered around the burials of those who have died, our martyrs, At night our camp, Jabalya Refugee Camp, is a ghost town, with no sounds other than those of Israeli military aircraft.

There is a horror in every minute and it is clear especially in the lives of children. For example, there were five sisters in one family killed from the Israeli occupation while they stayed in their home. But there are 800,000 other children in Gaza, all afraid, all waiting for someone or something to help them. They are caught in a prison that is becoming a concentration camp. Every day we sleep and open our eyes to the Israeli crimes of killing children and women and destroying civilians' homes. My words are unable to convey my feelings about this life in Gaza.

I have two messages to the world, to those who claim they love peace and seek freedom.

Imagine your life consisting of no electricity, destroyed homes, the sounds and strikes of missiles, day and night, and the only hunger as great as that for food is the hunger for an end to this occupation and siege. Imagine it is not just you but your children and your family who tell you through their eyes and cries: "We are afraid of the missiles." "We cannot sleep." "We may never sleep again." Imagine you are the dam and the river of blood has turned into a flash flood. How long could you stand it?

We wouldn't have to stand it any longer if the world stood with us. If they demanded an end to the siege and the killings and demolition of houses for our children. If they demanded assistance reach the people through rallies and sit-ins.

Finally, I invite you to come to Gaza and see the Holocaust. Because despite the siege, the barriers, the killing of my people and homes, and the total destruction of our lives by the Israeli occupation, they can not and will not kill the will of our people for equality and justice.

Mohammed Al Majdawali is a university student, member of Al-Assria Children's Library, and volunteer with Middle East Children's Alliance. He lives in Jabalya Refugee Camp with his family and aspires to be a professional filmmaker.

To help MECA send more medical aid to Gaza for thousands of sick and injured people living under siege, www.mecaforpeace.org

*Note: The link to www.mecaforpeace.org does not seem to work. The owners have been informed and insyAllah, will rectify it.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

The Gaza Holocaust Continues Day 17th

2009-01-14T11:29:00.000+08:00

Saed Bannoura

On the 17th day of the ongoing Israeli military offensive on the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army carried further strikes on Monday morning, killing seven Palestinians, including two children and two women, in different parts of the Gaza Strip.

Medical sources reported that two residents, including a child, were killed in the northern part of the Gaza Strip. Their bodies were moved to Kamal Adwan Hospital.The sources added that a child of Dalloul family died of his wounds in al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City. The child was wounded in overnight Israeli military shelling that targeted al-Zeitoun neighborhood in Gaza City; one woman was also killed in the shelling.

Also, Amal Mohammad Al Madhoun and another resident, who remained unidentified until the time of this report, were killed in another Israeli strike.

Resident, Shaiboub Shambaly died at a hospital in Beit Hanoun after he was seriously wounded in Beit Hanoun, in the northern part of the Gaza Strip.

Heavy clashes were reported in a number of areas in in the north and the south of Gaza City. The Israeli Air Force first shelled dozens of homes in the area before ground troops advanced inside the city.

Several neighborhoods were also shelled in the northern part of the Gaza Strip, including a home which belongs to Fady Al Amoudy, who was killed in the first days of the offensive. Al Amoudy is a member of Ayman Jouda Brigades, one of the resistance groups affiliated with the al-Aqsa brigades of the Fatah movement.

The shelling also targeted a home in Beit Lahia, and an organization that provides rehabilitation services to the wounded and handicapped residents.

The Israeli Army also shelled the al-Tuffah neighborhood, east of Gaza city and at least one shell struck al-Dorra Children's Hospital.

In Rafah, in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Israelis shelled areas close to the Philadelphi Route, causing excessive damage.

In Khan Younis, also in the southern part of the Gaza Strip, the Israeli Army shelled a number of homes, especially in Khuza'a area; several homes caught on fire.

Getting away with murder

2009-01-13T07:45:00.000+08:00

Julia Irwin

YOU'VE got to hand it to the Israeli public relations flacks: only they could convince you that killing children was an act of self-defence.

As the recent bombing of Gaza began, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni gave instructions for the Foreign Ministry to take "emergency measures to adapt Israel's public relations to the ongoing escalation in the Gaza Strip". Livni went on to call for foreign language speakers to put Israel's case to the world.

In Australia, the ABC relies for "independent" comment on the smooth Mark Regev, an official spokesman for the Israeli Government, and Martin Indyk, a former official of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee.

It's the oldest trick in the book: if they look and sound like us, we are more likely to be sympathetic towards them. Anyone putting an alternative view is immediately cast as anti-Semitic. Our media glibly accept the excuses of the Israeli public relations machine and ignore the horrific realities of Israel's barbaric behaviour in Gaza.

It's the same in most Western countries - the groundwork has been laid and the responses of world leaders are predictable. When the Israeli attacks began, right on cue Western leaders regretted the killing of children but in the same breath condemned Palestinians for firing rockets from their walled ghetto into Israel.

While French President Nicolas Sarkozy called for an immediate ceasefire by both sides, US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called only for Hamas to halt rockets fired from Gaza. They did not call for Israel to halt its bombing.

There was a lot of handwringing by world leaders but no tough talk when it came to the bombing of the Islamic University of Gaza or the killing of 40 civilians in a United Nations school. We saw the same during the 2006 Israeli war against Lebanon.

It all reminds me of an old story from the days of the Roman Empire. The Emperor Nero was upset that his prized lions were being distressed by Christians who ran away from them in the Colosseum. Nero ordered that at the next circus a Christian was to be buried up to his neck in the sand to make things easier for the lions. When the lions entered the ring, the biggest and meanest saw the hapless condemned, swaggered over and stood astride the Christian's head, roaring for approval from the crowd. At that moment, the Christian craned his neck and bit off the lion's testicles. The crowd was shocked. "Fight fair! Fight fair!" they yelled.

It seems that no matter what injustice Palestinians have suffered in the past 60 years, they should be grateful for the privilege of being able to live under the jackboot of Israeli occupation.

For three years since daring to democratically elect a government not favoured by Israel or the US, the people of Gaza have been subjected to a starvation blockade. Yet the civilised world has barely raised a note of concern. Is this the standard by which we judge the behaviour of nations? We talk about Darfur and Zimbabwe but say little of the gross abuse of human rights that occurs daily in the illegally occupied territories of the West Bank and Gaza. Our double standards have made a mockery of the doctrine of humanitarian intervention.

Our failure to condemn the totally disproportionate, not to say illegal, attacks by the Israeli Defence Force has changed the way conflict is regarded around the world. Last August, Russia employed the same tactics in its attack on Georgia as Israel did against Lebanon.

Neither Russia nor China sought UN Security Council emergency meetings in response to the Israeli attacks on Gaza. What happens in the Middle East today sets the standard for the world. And that applies to weapons as well as tactics.

Using cluster bombs or phosphorus bombs against civilian targets is perfectly legal if you can believe the Israeli Defence Force.

Assassinating Hamas leaders during a ceasefire does not constitute a breach. Collective punishments against communities, obstructing medical and humanitarian relief - all part of Israel's tactics - could now be considered acceptable behaviour in national and international conflict.

How can we criticise brutal regimes elsewhere in the world when we condone worse atrocities when they are committed by Israel? The Security Council has become a laughing stock. The Secretary-General is a pathetic figure reduced to faint pleas for a ceasefire while UN personnel are murdered on the ground in Gaza. And who will pick up the pieces when the bloodshed has finally stopped? The rest of the world will, of course. Through the world's contributions to the UN, its largest budget item is the UN Relief and Works Agency. With an annual $700 million budget going to support Palestinian refugees, the biggest component is being spent on Gaza.

Even before the Israeli bombing and invasion of Gaza, the UN Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur responsible for reporting on conditions in the occupied territories, Richard Falk, was denied entry to Gaza.

Last month, Falk called for an International Criminal Court investigation to determine whether the Israeli civilian leaders and military commanders responsible for the Gaza siege should be indicted and prosecuted for violations of international criminal law.

To that long list of war crimes and crimes against humanity we can now add the atrocities committed in this recent invasion. But, with its superior public relations forces, Israel can easily deflect concern about its barbaric assault.

And will the world call Israel's leaders to account for their crimes? Not likely. Western leaders - including Australia's - will merely call on Palestinians to fight fair.

Julia Irwin is Federal MP for the NSW seat of Fowler and a member of the Parliament's Palestinian Friendship Group.

Why does Israel have a right to exist, but Palestine doesn’t?

2009-01-13T07:43:00.000+08:00

Paul Craig Roberts

This is the question of our time.

For sixty years Israelis have been stealing Palestine from Palestinians. There are maps available on the Internet and in Israeli publications showing the shrinkage over time of what was once Palestine into what Palestine is today--a small number of unconnected ghettos or bantustans. Palestine became “the occupied territory” from which Palestinians were ejected and Israeli settlements built for “settlers.” Jordan, Syria and Lebanon are full of refugee camps in which Palestinians driven off their lands by Israeli force have been living for decades.

Driving people off their land is strictly illegal under international law, but Israel has been getting away with it for decades.

Gaza is a concentration camp of 1.5 million Palestinians who were driven from their homes and villages and collected in the Gaza Ghetto.

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency was created 60 years ago in
1949 to administer refugee camps for Palestinians driven from their lands by Israel. As of 2002, the registered Palestinian refugee population was 3.9 million.

Caterpillar Tractor makes a special bulldozer for Israel that is designed to knock down Palestinian homes and to uproot their orchards. In 2003 an American protester, Rachel Corrie, stood in front of one of these Caterpillars and was run over and crushed.

Nothing happened. The Israelis can kill whomever they want whenever they want.

They have been doing so for 60 years, and they show no sign of stopping.

Currently they are murdering women and children in the ghetto that they have created for Palestinians in Gaza. The entire world knows this. The Red Cross protests it. But the Israelis brazenly claim that they are killing “Hamas terrorists who are a threat to Israel’s existence.”

The American media knows that this is a lie, but does not say so.

Israel has been able to slowly exterminate a people for sixty years without provoking sufficient outrage to stop it.

The United States, “Christian America,” has been Israel’s greatest enabler in its long-term murder of the Palestinian people. Millions of “evangelical Christians” endorse Israel’s ethnic cleansing of Palestine.

The rest of the world condemns the Israeli military attack on the Gaza Ghetto. Last week the United Nations Security Council passed a resolution requiring a ceasefire and the withdrawal of the Israeli SS from Gaza.

The United States abstained.

While the rest of the world condemns Israel’s inhumanity, the US Congress--I should say the US Knesset--rushed to endorse the Israeli slaughter of the Palestinians in Gaza.

The US Senate endorsed Israel’s massacre of Palestinians with a vote of 100-0.

The US House of Representatives voted 430-5 to endorse Israel’s massacre of Palestinians.

The resolutions endorsed by 100% of the US Senate and 99% of the House were written by AIPAC, as were the speeches praising Israel for its inhumanity.

The US Congress was proud to show that it is Israel’s puppet even when it comes to murdering women and children.

The President of the United States was proud to block effective action by the UN Security Council by ordering the Secretary of State to abstain.

Be a Proud American. Swagger and strut. Pretend that you are not besmirched by the shame that your government has heaped upon you. Take refuge in your ignorance, fostered by 60 years of Israeli lies, that the murder of Palestinians and the theft of their lands is “Israel’s right of self-defense.”

Why Should I Be Angry?

2009-01-12T11:50:00.002+08:00

Why should I be angry?
Just because some fellow humans
find it cumbersome to stand for their fellow human
find it a futile effort to speak out against the tyranny and cruelty of another
feel tired to make it to a gathering within Klang Valley
Why should I be angry?

I am not angry
I, am sad
I am sad that
there are those who feel
that any misfortune befalling their fellow human
wrongs committed, life massacred
of a child that barely know what happiness or justice
of the tender soul of a pious woman
of the father to the child,
or the husband to the woman
these are all of little or no bearing to them
and all that concern them is of their immediate sphere
and nothing else

No, I am not angry
but look at the pictures below
and do try to arouse the compassion within
or at least,
pretend to
even that is better than not feeling anything at all

(For images, please refer talkonly; click here).

From: Abdul Razak Abu Bakar

Plzzzzz Keep forwarding this e-mail. Let people know what happens there. .
أرجوك استمر في تمرير هذه الرسالة، اجعل العالم يعرف ماذا يحدث هناك في فلسطين&nbs! p;

If you are not satisfied with the truth, the following pictures are war crimes as defined by the UN, The Hague and the Geneva Convention.

Using images of your enemy dead or alive (violation)

Human shields (violation)

Live Burial Torture (violation)

And as a last resort, Execution (violation)

(click on image to enlarge)
These IDF soldiers have faces... I can clearly see them...Cant you? Why are they not being prosecuted? Because it is systematic process that is driven by the government designed to force the people of Palestine into exile so Is! rael can claim all the land and resources.

Note* The picture above is of an incident several years old. This, and many more incidences, are how life is for the Palestinians. Do we have the right to complain when we missed watching Akademi Fantasia or its like - cakapaje.

This where my American tax dollars are going, do you know where your tax dollars are at? TAKE THE TIME TO FIND THE TRUTH. So many lives depend on it. I, like so many Americans, am Caucasian, non-Arab, and religious. I can no longer sit back with good conscience and do nothing while my government is supporting the types of terrorist actions that we have condemned Muslim Fundamentalist for. Call your Congressman and Senator, send an email to the White House and demand that our government negotiate FAIRLY with both sides and bring a fair and just solution to Palestine and Israel .

(CRUELTY OF ISRAEL

PLS SEND IT TO YOUR FRIENDS

He Aint Heavy, Hes My Brother - Hollies

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Resistance is strong in Gaza City

2009-01-12T00:29:00.000+08:00

Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships have attacked eastern Gaza, facing a strong resistance from Palestinian fighters. Hamas which has described the Israeli offensive as a failure says Palestinian fighters are strongly resisting the invaders.

Over 80 Israeli soldiers have been wounded since the start of Gaza incursion.

Israeli troops backed by tanks and helicopter gunships have attacked eastern Gaza, facing a strong resistance from Palestinian fighters.

Hamas which has described the Israeli offensive as a failure says Palestinian fighters are strongly resisting the invaders.

As Gaza fighters were exchanging fire with Israeli troops in eastern parts of the city and in the Shejaiya district Gaza has been under heavy bombardment by Israeli gunboats from the west.

The Israeli media quoted witnesses as saying that Hamas fighters kept firing anti-tank missiles and mortar bombs at invading Israeli forces.

The development on Sunday comes as the Israeli radio announced yesterday that thousands of Israeli reserve soldiers have been waiting to receive a green light from Israeli security cabinet to invade the Gaza City.

Washington-backed Israeli massive bombing campaign of the besieged Gaza Strip which started on December 27, and its later ground offensive has so far killed at least 857 Palestinians and wounded 3,500 others, most of them women and children. Many other people are believed to be under rubble.

According to the UN figures, at least one thirds of those killed are children.

The Israeli security cabinet will meet on Sunday to discuss expanding of operations in the Gaza Strip as Operation Cast Lead entered its third week, it said.
The report added that Barak would decide on a defining stage on the Sunday meeting.

Israeli security cabinet meeting about the expansion of the conflict comes as the UN Security Council almost unanimously approved on Thursday a resolution for an "immediate" and "durable" ceasefire followed by the "full withdrawal" of Israeli forces from the sliver of Palestinian land.

The resolution also demands "the unimpeded provision and distribution throughout Gaza of humanitarian assistance, including of food, fuel and medical treatment".

Fourteen out of the council's 15 members voted for the resolution, but Israel's main ally, the United States, abstained from voting.

Israel has rejected UN Resolution 1860 and has escalated its air and ground strikes against the besieged territory. All the Gaza crossings are still closed.

The Palestinian coastal silver has been under a tight blockade a short time after the Hamas movement -- which does not recognize Israel as a legitimate state-- won an overwhelming victory in 2006 parliamentary elections.

Israel launched the military campaign against the impoverished coastal strip after a recent Israeli National Security Council assessment urged Tel Aviv to hinder "elections in the Palestinian Authority” because the upcoming elections in the Palestinian Authority might lead to Hamas victory.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Israeli's - Have they no blood ???

2009-01-12T00:28:00.000+08:00

As you can imaging on days like this I
watch the TV news on several multinational
channels especially due to the fact that I
speak 5 languages and politics runs in my blood....

Taking of blood , I noticed
(and not for the first time) that all
the Israeli-victims shown on all channels,
never do have blood running..... Which leaves me with two possibilities
(or two explanations) :

1- The Israelis have no blood
2- Israeli-victims are no victims , but rather actors .

So please , if anyone in the near future sees any
Israeli-victim of the Hamas rockets , wounded with blood.....
then please let us have a copy of that picture .

Thank you !! Sherlock Hommos sceptic-photo-analyst

Eye Witnesses in The War on Gaza

2009-01-12T00:27:00.000+08:00

Eileen Fleming
I have only been as far as the Erez checkpoint, but I have four eyes in Gaza.

On December 9, 2008, I introduced Sam Habeeb, a twenty-something photo journalist and humanitarian worker in Gaza: www.wearewideawake.org

Yesterday, Sam received three death threats against him and his family because of his reports from Gaza: http://gazatoday.blogspot.com

I spoke with Sam today. His life is in danger from death threats and also the bombs that are very close to his home.Sam wrote:

I have got more calls from anonymous persons stop blogging or I would be killed. Yet, I would keep on this track. Some of you do wonder how I send news in such conditions. I really suffer a lot to send you this update due to lack of power. I go around 4 kilo meters a day in this cruel war where I charge my laptop battery to be able to send this work! This is very risky since shells rain down and drones hover over me! I will keep this up...[There is] No water, No beans, No fruits, No chicken, No rice, No bread, No Markets, No shops, No Medicines, No medical Machines, No enough Doctors, No enough ambulances, No fuel, No gas, no beans, no candlelight, No power...

Have a look at my photos of Gaza Children! http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/The-Innocent-Child-Victims-of-The-Gaza-War/Media-Gallery/200901215199483?lpos=Home_News_in_Picture_Home_Region_0&lid=GALLERY_15199483_The_Innocent_Child_Victims_of_The_Gaza_War

Vittorio Arrigoni in Gaza reported on January 9, 2009:

Take some kittens, some tender little moggies in a box", said Jamal, a surgeon at the Al Shifa, Gaza's main hospital, while a nurse actually placed a couple of blood-stained cardboard boxes in front of us. "Seal up the box, then jump on it with all your weight and might, until you feel their little bones crunching, and you hear the last muffled little mew." I stared at the boxes in astonishment, and the doctor continued: "Try to imagine what would happen after such images were circulated. The righteous outrage of public opinion, the complaints of the animal rights organisations…" The doctors went on in this vein, and I was unable to take my eyes off those boxes, sitting at our feet. "Israel trapped hundreds of civilians inside a school as if in a box, including many children, and then crushed them with all the might of its bombs.

What were the world's reactions? Almost nothing. We would have been better off as animals rather than Palestinians, we would have been more protected."

At this point the doctor leans towards one of the boxes, and takes its lid off in front of me. Inside it are the amputated limbs, legs and arms, some from the knee down, others with the entire femur attached, amputated from the injured at the Al Fakhura United Nations school in Jabalia, which resulted in more than fifity casualties. Pretending to be taking an urgent call, I took my leave of Jamal, actually rushing to the bathroom to bend over and throw up.

A little earlier I'd been involved in a conversation with Dr. Abdel, an ophtalmologist, regarding the rumours that the Israeli Army had been showering us with non-conventional weapons, forbidden by the Geneva Convention, such as cluster bombs and white phosphorous. The very same that the Tsahal Army used in the last Lebanese war, as well as the US air force in Falluja, still violating international norms. In front of Al Auda hospital we witnessed and filmed white phosphorous bombs being used about five hundred metres from where we were, too far to be absolutely certain there were any civilians underneath the Israeli Apaches, but so terribly close to us all the same.The Geneva Treaty of 1980 forbids white phosphorous being used directly as a war weapon in civilian areas, allowing it only as a smoke screen or for lighting.

There's no doubt that using this weapon in Gaza, a strip of land concentrating the highest population rate in the world, is a crime all on its own. Doctor Abdel told me that at Al Shifa hospital they don't have the medical and military competence to say for sure whether the wounds they examined on certain corpses were indeed provoked by white phosphorous bullets.But on his word, in twenty years on the job he had never seen casualties like those now being carried into the ward.

He told me about the traumas to the skull, with the fractures to the vomer bone, the jaw, the cheekbones, tear duct, nasal and palatine bones showed signs of the collision of an immense force against the victim's face.

What he finds inexplicable is the total lack of eyeballs, which ought to leave a trace somewhere within the skull even in case of such a violent impact. Instead, we see Palestinian corpses coming into the hospitals without eyes at all, as if someone had removed them surgically before handing them over to the coroner.Israel has let us know that we've been granted a daily 3-hour truce, from 1:00 to 4:00 PM.

These statements from the Israeli military summit are considered by the people of Gaza as having the same reliability as the Hamas leaders' declarations that they've just provoked a massacre of enemy soldiers. Just to be clear on this point, the soldiers of Tel Aviv's worse enemy are the very same who fight under the Star of David. Yesterday a war ship off the coast of Gaza's port picked out a large group of alleged guerrilla fighters from the Palestinian Resistance, moving as a united front around Jabalia. They shot their cannons at them. But as it turned out, they were their own fellow soldiers, with the shooting resulting in three being killed and about twenty injured. No one here believes in the truces that Israel declares, and as it happens, today at 2:00 PM Rafah was under attack by the Israeli helicopters.

There was also yet another massacre of children in Jabalia: three little sisters aged 2, 4 and 6 from the Abed Rabbu family were slaughtered. Just half an hour earlier in Jabalia, once again the Red Crescent hospital's ambulances were under attack. Eva and Alberto, my ISM colleagues were on board that ambulance and managed to film everything, passing those videos and photos on to all the major media.Hassan was kneecapped, fresh from mourning the death of his friend Araf, a paramedic who was killed two days ago as he came in aid of the injured in Gaza City. They had stopped to pick up the body of a man languishing in agony in the middle of the road, when they were under fire by about ten shots from an Israeli sniper. One bullet hit Hassan in the knee and the ambulance was filled with holes.

We're now at a death toll of 688, in addition to 3,070 injured, 158 dead children and countless missing. Only yesterday, we counted 83 dead, 80 of which were civilians. Thankfully, the death toll on the Israeli side is still only at 4.Travelling towards Al Quds hospital, where I'll be working all night on the ambulances, as I raced along on board one of the very few fearless taxis left, zig-zagging to avoid the bombs, on the corner of one street I saw a group of dirty street urchins with tattered clothes, looking exactly like the "sciuscià" kids of the Italian afterwar period. They threw stones towards the sky with slingshots, at far away and unapproachable enemy who was toying with their lives.

This is a crazy metaphor, which could serve as a snapshot of the absurdity of this time and place.

Stay human
Vittorio Arrigoni

Israel leaflets Gaza, promises fighting will intensify

2009-01-12T00:26:00.000+08:00

Navi Pillay, the United Nations High Commissioner on Human Rights, wants an investigation into what she believes to be war crimes committed by Israeli forces.

She specifically highlighted a recent incident in which Israel attacked a civilian safe house in Gaza, killing more than 30 people.

Her stinging words arrived just one evening before Israel began dropping leaflets on Gaza Saturday, each warning of a coming escalation.
The UN Office for the Coordinator of Humanitarian Affairs reported that 110 Palestinians, all in a single extended family, were "herded" into the house and told not to leave by Israeli soldiers. Less than 24 hours later, the house was attacked.

“Those who survived and were able walked two kilometers to Salah Ed Din road before being transported to the hospital in civilian vehicles," reads the UN report. "Three children, the youngest of whom was five months old, died upon arrival at the hospital.”

Pillay said the attack bore "all the elements of war crimes," according to a published report.

According to the International Committee of the Red Cross, four infants, clinging to the corpses of what was believed to be their parents, were discovered after the attack. The children went undiscovered for over 48 hours, despite Israeli solders being mere yards away.

Pillay, from S. Africa, is a former judge with the International Criminal Court.

Israel denies the incident altogether. The UN report cites specific testimony, though does not identify the origin.

The announcement by the UN commissioner comes on the heels of Red Cross criticism. The aid agency said Israel has failed at helping injured civilians, a key rule of war.

Israel said its military "works in close cooperation with international aid organizations during the fighting so that civilians can be provided with assistance."

"I am concerned with violations of international law," Pillay told Reuters. "Incidents such as this must be investigated because they display elements of what could constitute war crimes."

During the first week of January, the Red Cross criticized Israel for hampering ambulance services to embattled Palestinian civilians.

"The situation is extremely dangerous and the coordination of ambulance services is very complex because of the incessant attacks and military operations," ICRC spokeswoman Dorothea Krimitsas said in Geneva.

"Wounded people have died while waiting for Palestinian Red Crescent ambulances," she added.

Pakistani ambassador Zamir Akram echoed Pillay's sentiment, in a speech delivered on behalf of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

"In their totality these constitute war crimes and crimes against humanity," he declared.

Weapons Killing People In Gaza, Made and Brought To You by USA

2009-01-12T00:25:00.000+08:00

Weapons Killing People In Gaza, Made and Brought To You by USA

United States House of Representatives

Statement on H Res 34, Recognizing Israel's right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, Reaffirming the United States strong support for Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process. January 09, 2009

By Ron Paul

January 10, 2009 -- Madame Speaker, I strongly oppose H. Res. 34, which was rushed to the floor with almost no prior notice and without consideration by the House Foreign Affairs Committee. The resolution clearly takes one side in a conflict that has nothing to do with the United States or US interests. I am concerned that the weapons currently being used by Israel against the Palestinians in Gaza are made in America and paid for by American taxpayers. What will adopting this resolution do to the perception of the United States in the Muslim and Arab world? What kind of blowback might we see from this? What moral responsibility do we have for the violence in Israel and Gaza after having provided so much military support to one side?

As an opponent of all violence, I am appalled by the practice of lobbing homemade rockets into Israel from Gaza. I am only grateful that, because of the primitive nature of these weapons, there have been so few casualties among innocent Israelis. But I am also appalled by the longstanding Israeli blockade of Gaza -- a cruel act of war -- and the tremendous loss of life that has resulted from the latest Israeli attack that started last month.

There are now an estimated 700 dead Palestinians, most of whom are civilians. Many innocent children are among the dead. While the shooting of rockets into Israel is inexcusable, the violent actions of some people in Gaza does not justify killing Palestinians on this scale. Such collective punishment is immoral. At the very least, the US Congress should not be loudly proclaiming its support for the Israeli government’s actions in Gaza.

Madame Speaker, this resolution will do nothing to reduce the fighting and bloodshed in the Middle East. The resolution in fact will lead the US to become further involved in this conflict, promising “vigorous support and unwavering commitment to the welfare, security, and survival of Israel as a Jewish and democratic state.” Is it really in the interest of the United States to guarantee the survival of any foreign country? I believe it would be better to focus on the security and survival of the United States, the Constitution of which my colleagues and I swore to defend just this week at the beginning of the 111th Congress. I urge my colleagues to reject this resolution.

Jewish editor sacked for publishing article

2009-01-08T20:39:00.000+08:00

This article was sent to Debbie Ducro, a American-Jewish journalist with the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle. She published it, and was fired the next day.

Quest for justice

By Judith Stone

I am a Jew. I was a participant in the Rally for the Right of Return to Palestine. It was the right thing to do.

I've heard about the European holocaust against the Jews since I was a small child. I've visited the memorials in Washington, DC and Jerusalem dedicated to Jewish lives lost and I've cried at the recognition to what level of atrocity mankind is capable of sinking. Where are the Jews of conscience? No righteous malice can be held against the survivors of Hitler's holocaust. These fragments of humanity were in no position to make choices beyond that of personal survival. We must not forget that being a survivor or a co-religionist of the victims of the European Holocaust does not grant dispensation from abiding by the rules of humanity.

"Never again" as a motto, rings hollow when it means "never again to us alone." My generation was raised being led to believe that the biblical land was a vast desert inhabited by a handful of impoverished Palestinians living with their camels and eking out a living in the sand. The arrival of the Jews was touted as a tremendous benefit to these desert dwellers. Golda Meir even assured us that there "is no Palestinian problem".

We know now this picture wasn't as it was painted. Palestine was a land filled with people who called it home. There were thriving towns and villages, schools and hospitals. There were Jews, Christians and Muslims.

In fact, prior to the occupation, Jews represented a mere seven per cent of the population and owned three per cent of the land.

Taking the blinders off for a moment, I see a second atrocity perpetuated by the very people who should be exquisitely sensitive to the suffering of others. These people knew what it felt like to be ordered out of your home at gun point and forced to march into the night to unknown destinations or face execution on the spot. The people who displaced the Palestinians knew first hand what it means to watch your home in flames, to surrender everything dear to your heart at a moment's notice. Bulldozers levelled hundreds of villages, along with the remains of the village inhabitants, the old and the young. This was nothing new to the world.

Poland is a vast graveyard of the Jews of Europe. Israel is the final resting place of the massacred Palestinian people. A short distance from the memorial to the Jewish children lost to the holocaust in Europe there is a levelled parking lot. Under this parking lot is what's left of a once flourishing village and the bodies of men, women and children whose only crime was taking up needed space and not leaving graciously. This particular burial marker reads: "Public Parking".

I've talked with Palestinians. I have yet to meet a Palestinian who hasn't lost a member of their family to the Israeli Shoah, nor a Palestinian who cannot name a relative or friend languishing under inhumane conditions in an Israeli prison. Time and time again, Israel is cited for human rights violations to no avail. On a recent trip to Israel, I visited the refugee camps inhabited by a people who have waited 52 years in these 'temporary' camps to go home. Every Palestinian grandparent can tell you the name of their village, their street, and where the olive trees were planted. Their grandchildren may never have been home, but they can tell you where their great-grandfather lies buried and where the village well stood. The press has fostered the portrait of the Palestinian terrorist. But the victims who rose up against human indignity in the Warsaw Ghetto are called heroes. Those who lost their lives are called martyrs. The Palestinian who tosses a rock in desperation is a terrorist.

Two years ago I drove through Palestine and watched intricate sprinkler systems watering lush green lawns of Zionist settlers in their new condominium complexes, surrounded by armed guards and barbed wire in the midst of a Palestinian community where there was not adequate water to drink and the surrounding fields were sandy and dry. University professor Moshe Zimmerman reported in the Jerusalem Post (30 April, 1995), "The [Jewish] children of Hebron are just like Hitler's youth."

We Jews are suing for restitution, lost wages, compensation for homes, land, slave labour and back wages in Europe. Am I a traitor of a Jew for supporting the right of return of the Palestinian refugees to their birthplace and compensation for what was taken that cannot be returned?

The Jewish dead cannot be brought back to life and neither can the Palestinian massacred be resurrected. David Ben Gurion said, "Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves...politically, we are the aggressors and they defend themselves...The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country...".

Palestine is a land that has been occupied and emptied of its people. Its cultural and physical landmarks have been obliterated and replaced by tidy Hebrew signs. The history of a people was the first thing eradicated by the occupiers. The history of the indigenous people has been all but eradicated as though they never existed. And all this has been hailed by the world as a miraculous act of God. We must recognise that Israel's existence is not even a question of legality so much as it is an illegal fait accompli realised through the use of force while supported by the Western powers. The UN missions directed at Israel in attempting to correct its violations of have thus far been futile.

In Hertzl's 'The Jewish State' the father of Zionism said: "We must investigate and take possession of the new Jewish country by means of every modern expedient." I guess I agree with Ehud Barak (3 June 1998) when he said, "If I were a Palestinian, I'd also join a terror group." I'd go a step further perhaps. Rather than throwing little stones in desperation, I'd hurtle a boulder.

Hopefully, somewhere deep inside, every Jew of conscience knows that this was no war; that this was not G-d's restitution of the holy land to it's rightful owners. We know that a human atrocity was and continues to be perpetuated against an innocent people who couldn't come up with the arms and money to defend themselves against the western powers bent upon their demise as a people.

We cannot continue to say, "But what were we to do?" Zionism is not synonymous with Judaism. I wholly support the rally of the right of return of the Palestinian people. here.

New Jewish Australian Committee for Dismantling of Zionism

2009-01-08T20:38:00.001+08:00

 The December 2008 Gaza Massacre

 We are part of an increasing number of people around
the world of Jewish descent who are sickened by the
coldly calculated massacre of the Palestinians of
Gaza and who utterly repudiate Israel's claim that
it acts in the name of Jews the world over.

Like Antony Loewenstein we deplore the 'myth of
Israel' as perpetual victim and rational peace
seeker, and its stranglehold over media reportage of the
Israel-Palestine conflict.

 The massacre in Gaza cries out not only for
immediate condemnation but for historical
explanation. As scholars working in the fields of
genocide studies and research into the long history of
European colonization, it seems clear to us that Israel
as in the history of white Australia since 1788 - is a
genocidal settler colonial society that since its founding
in 1948 continually seeks to destroy the foundations of life
of the indigenous Palestinians, their health, dignity,
livelihood, personal security, access to education, and
political organization, so that the Palestinians can be
replaced by colonizing Zionist settlers.

Recent genocide scholarship has highlighted how
much the original definition of genocide
(by Raphael Lemkin in chapter nine of his 1944
book Axis Rule in Occupied Europe)
linked genocide and colonization as a two
stage process of destruction of the home society
(not necessarily by physical annihilation qua Nazism)
and replacement by the incoming colonizers.

Such has been the continuing historical pattern
of Israel in relation to the indigenous people
of the land. In 1948 the Zionist forces violently
drove out over 700,000 Palestinians by deploying
'admonitory massacres', as the Israeli historian
Ilan Pappé has evoked in horrific detail in his recent
The Ethnic Cleansing of Palestine (2006). Pappé
details the continuous series of massacres
in 1948-49 and sporadically thereafter that
the Zionists perpetrated against the Palestinians
in order to 'Judaize' ethnically-cleansed Palestinian
lands. In 1967 the Israeli state conquered the
West Bank and Gaza and has aggressively continued
a genocidal pattern of replacement and  destruction,
creating and expanding Jewish settlements, stealing
Palestinian land and ghettoizing remaining Palestinian
communities, attempting, through a brutal military
occupation, to make life humiliating and unbearable
for the Palestinians.

What we are now witnessing is a form of settler
colonization reminiscent of nineteenth century
Australia, in which a settler colonial 'logic of
elimination' (to quote historian of settler
colonialism, Patrick Wolfe)
combines massacre and population sequestration
(reserves) to incapacitate the sovereign self
determination of an indigenous people.
Yet  indigenous peoples have always resisted
the genocidal  processes of destruction
and replacement that settler colonialism enacts.

The indigenous peoples of Australia have
magnificently resisted and still do, despite all their
historical sufferings. The indigenous Palestinians as a
people are also resisting the disaster that Zionism and
Israel have brought upon them, thereby providing the
continuing possibility of a future coexistence between
Israeli Jews and Palestinians.

 The Decemb 2008 - 2009
Gaza massacre by Zionist Israel poses an intense
dilemma for Israel's organized Jewish supporters and
much of the Jewish diaspora, who have for
decades cooperated with and been complicit
in the ongoing, incremental Israeli genocide
of the Palestinians. Israel is guilty under article
II, part C of the UN Genocide Convention,
in that it intends to destroy, in whole or in part,
an ethnic group by 'deliberately inflicting on
the group conditions of life calculated to bring
about its physical destruction in whole or in part'.

Will the Jews of the world continue to be so supportive,
or will they historically disavow genocidal settler
colonialism in the Middle East and question their
own previous support? Historically,
Israel is the imposition of a European
nation state, founded on the notion of one
people, one religion, one ethnicity, in an area of the
world, the Levant, which through the centuries
has been a space where Jews, Muslims and
Christians have lived together
in the same societies.

The very idea so precious to Zionism, of Israel as
a Jewish state, is absurd, as the great Jewish jurist
and Australian governor-general Isaac Isaacs pointed
out in the 1940s.

What if Australia called itself a Protestant state,
immediately making all non-Protestants
second class citizens systematically facing abuse,
discrimination, and state violence, as
Palestinian Israelis  do to the present day?

Israel/Palestine should become a democratic state,
a democracy where all who live in that land are
full citizens whatever their religion or ethnicity.


The Australian government not that long ago
in its apology over the Stolen Generations extended
sympathy and understanding to the
indigenous people of Australia.

Why doesn't it extend a similar sympathy to

the indigenous people of Palestine?

 John Docker Ned Curthoys
Committee for the Dismantling of Zionism

ISRAEL ON NOTICE, WE ARE COMING

2009-01-08T20:36:00.001+08:00

FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

There is a time when silence is complicity and inaction is unacceptable. The ongoing Israeli attacks on the Gaza Strip have lead to the death of over 550 Palestinians, including children and women, and the injury of thousands, with the death and injury toll rapidly rising. Massive violations of international humanitarian law are being committed by Israel, both with regard to its obligations as an Occupying Power and in its conduct of hostilities.
The community of states has thusfar failed to comply with their duty to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and protect the Palestinian civilian population from Israel's serious and persistent violations in accordance with the Convention. Consequently, we, concerned citizens from Belgium, Columbia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Ireland, Jordan, Kuwait, Scotland, Spain, and the United States feel that it is our moral duty to do what we can to provide some measure of protection. We are willing to put our bodies on the line to get in the way of Israel's unlawful violence against innocent Palestinian civilians.

In the early hours of Tuesday, December 30, the Israeli Navy violently attacked our motor vessel DIGNITY, which was loaded with medical supplies and carried amongst others, doctors headed to Gaza to assist with the humanitarian crisis there. Neither the ship, nor its passengers and crew constituted any kind of danger to the Israeli Naval Forces. Yet our boat was rammed again and again, in an apparent attempt to disable the vessel, and in a manner that jeopardized the lives of the 16 civilians on board.

We will not be deterred by the violence of the Israeli military. We will set out again for Gaza. We are doctors, journalists, members of parliament, and human rights observers trying to reach the people of Gaza to deliver much needed aid and witness the atrocities being committed again the Palestinians there.

Israel is hereby put on notice that we are coming. We will announce our exact departure date, time and route, traveling from Cypriot waters, into international waters, directly into Gaza territorial waters, never nearing Israeli waters. The Israeli Navy, Ministry of Defense, and Foreign Ministry will all receive a copy of this notice. Any attack on our vessel will be premeditated and any harm inflicted on the 30 civilians on board will be the result of a deliberate attack on unarmed civilians.

Free Gaza Movement
http://www.FreeGaza.org

Israel Kills Children and The United States Protects Them

2009-01-08T20:29:00.001+08:00

Palestinian children are increasingly among the
dead as the Gaza death toll continues to rise.

One man has lost his entire family -
including children, wife, parents and cousins -
after a single attack.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Video of Palestinian Huwaida Arraf confronting Israeli soldiers

2009-01-08T20:27:00.000+08:00

Inspiring - What Courage and Bravery - Video of Huwaida Arraf confronting Israeli soldiers as shown on Korean TV:

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Egyptian security officer shoots himself in show of Solidarity for Palestine?

2009-01-08T20:21:00.000+08:00

I don't have the full story yet but from what I have so far, it seems A Egyptian Secuity Officer

did not want to go with his colleagues and take to the street to arrest youth in demonstrations for speaking out for Palestine and what is happening in Gaza.
The officer took out his gun and shot himself I guess so that he would not have to go and arest people.

How Deep Is Obama's Concern?

2009-01-08T20:17:00.002+08:00

Posted by Arlo Silvers on January 7, 2009 at 1:15am
View My Blog

Bloody typical! He's just proved himself to be finished before he's started again. Too quiet for too long & when he does chirp up he squirms the same old zionist, Israeli Firster's usual guff, 'oh I'm so, deeply concerned.' Can't help thinking we should all send him this cartoon with the question, 'How deep is your concern? This deep.....

More from Carlos Latuff

A slideshow of recent carnage

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Venezuela expels Israeli ambassador over Gaza

2009-01-08T20:16:00.001+08:00

Venezuela ordered Israel's ambassador expelled from the country on Tuesday in protest over the Israeli military offensive in the Gaza Strip.

The decision by President Hugo Chavez to kick out the diplomat appeared to be the strongest reaction yet to the Gaza offensive by any country with ties to Israel.The Venezuelan Foreign Ministry announced the move in a statement, saying it "has decided to expel the Israeli ambassador and part of the Israeli Embassy's personnel."

The Israeli offensive in Gaza has killed nearly 600 Palestinians in ground and air strikes. Israel launched the attacks Dec. 27 to stop Palestinian militants from firing rockets into southern Israel.

"How far will this barbarism go?" Chavez asked on state television before the ambassador's expulsion was announced. "The president of Israel should be taken before an international court together with the president of the United States, if the world had any conscience."

Venezuela's Foreign Ministry said its U.N. mission is joining with other countries in demanding the Security Council "apply urgent and necessary measures to stop this invasion."

Israeli diplomats could not immediately be reached for comment. The embassy in Caracas was closed, and it was unclear how the Israeli government would respond.

Jewish community leader Abraham Levy, president of the Venezuelan Confederation of Israelite Associations, called the government's decision "taking the side of a terrorist group" by backing Gaza's Hamas leaders while ignoring Israel's perspective.

"I deeply lament that decision made by the government, which cuts off an enormous and long tradition of friendship between the people of Israel and the people of Venezuela," Levy told The Associated Press.

He said the decision leaves Venezuela's Jewish community - which numbers nearly 15,000 - "not only worried but also deeply battered" because it "attempts to demonize the state of Israel."

While many countries have protested Israel's offensive, none besides Venezuela so far have expelled the ambassador.

Mauritania, which established relations with Israel in 1999, called home its ambassador from the Jewish state on Monday.

Jordan and Egypt, the other two Arab nations with relations with Israel, summoned their Israeli ambassadors to protest the Gaza attacks, but they have resisted popular calls to expel them.

Chavez has long been critical of the Israeli government's policies in the Middle East and has supported the Palestinians' stance in the conflict.

During Israel's 2006 conflict in Lebanon, Chavez withdrew his top envoy from Israel, calling the bombings there "a new Holocaust." Relations have remained at a scaled-back level since.

Chavez's condemnations of Israel's offensive in Gaza have grown gradually more severe in recent days. On Monday he called the Jewish state a "genocidal government," and on Tuesday urged Jews in Venezuela to take a stand against the Israeli government.

In spite of harsh criticisms of Israel, Chavez's government has insisted it is friendly toward Jewish people. Chavez met with Jewish leaders in August, pledging to work against anti-Semitism despite strong differences on Mideast politics.

Top Venezuelan officials explained Tuesday's decision speaking to cheering supporters at a Caracas mosque. Some in the crowd chanted "Gaza, hold on. The people are rising up!"

Foreign Minister Nicolas Maduro said Venezuela declared the Israeli ambassador "persona non grata" and decided to "reduce to a minimum the representation of this embassy in Venezuela."

Justice Minister Tarek El Aissami, who is of Arab descent, said "our revolution is also a revolution for a free Palestine!"

Chavez accuses Israel of acting on behalf of the United States in the Mideast, and he has forged close ties with Israel's top enemies - Iran and Syria.

Chavez also has used the tool of expelling an ambassador before. Last September, he kicked out U.S. envoy Patrick Duddy saying it was in solidarity with Bolivia, which also booted its U.S. ambassador, accusing him of aiding violent protests.

Demonstrations against the offensive have been held in various Latin American countries in recent days.

In Argentina, which has the third-largest Jewish population outside Israel, hundreds of people marched to the Israeli Embassy to call for an end to the offensive.

Brazil's government, like Venezuela, has said it is sending food and medical aid to the Gaza Strip. And in Bolivia, about a hundred Palestinians and Arabs marched to protest the violence.

70 Palestinians killed on ninth day of the Gaza holocaust

2009-01-05T21:13:00.000+08:00

70 Palestinians killed on ninth day of the Gaza holocaust

Palestinian Information Center

Jan 4, 2008

GAZA, (PIC)-- IOF troops stepped up its campaign of terror and murder against the civilian population of the Gaza Strip and killed 70 civilians on Sunday, raising the number of Palestinians killed to 520.

After a number of its tanks and soldiers were ambushed by the Palestinian resistance, the Israeli occupation took its revenge on civilians by targeting houses.

Medical sources said on Sunday that since the start of ground offensive, on Saturday night the number of Palestinians killed reached seventy, 23 of them children in addition to a number of women and old people. A hundred others were wounded.

The same sources said that the vast majority of the casualties were civilians, and that ambulance teams could not reach some areas that came under attack because of the continued shelling from air, sea and land.

In the northern Gaza Strip the IOF troops shelled a number of homes killing 12 people, including two children.

According to locals, nine people were killed in an airstrike that targeted a group of people outside the Abu Obeida school in Beit Lahya, in the northern Gaza Strip, the same area was targeted again, killing 3 paramedics attending the wounded.

This is not the first time ambulance crews have been targeted; six Palestinian paramedics were killed previously bring to 9 the number of paramedics killed in the past nine days.

In Photos - The Gaza Massacres Continue at the Hand Of Israel

2009-01-05T21:09:00.001+08:00

"First we lame them, then we blame them for limping"

...An old Inuit saying which aptly applies to how the Zionist and their allies, Arab and otherwise, act towards the Palestinians! The Palestinians have had their lands stolen, uprooted from their ancestral lands, massacred, imprisoned, starved, oppressed, brutalized, and treated as inhumanely as possible by the Zionist, and when they lash out or stand up for their rights, which are guaranteed under International Law, then they are vilified and painted as “terrorists”…

In Photos - The Gaza Massacres Continue at the Hand Of Israel

Sign The Petition

http://www.petitiononline.com/etgs1/petition.html

Gaza rockets put Israel’s nuclear plant in battle zone

2009-01-04T00:38:00.001+08:00

Gaza rockets put Israel’s nuclear plant in battle zone

There were growing fears in Israel last night that Hamas missiles could threaten its top-secret nuclear facility at Dimona.

Rocket attacks from Gaza have forced Israelis to flee in ever greater numbers and military chiefs have been shaken by the size and sophistication of the militant group’s arsenal.

In Beersheba, until a few days ago a sleepy desert town in southern Israel, there is little sign of the 186,000 inhabitants. Schools are closed and the streets of shuttered shops echo with the howl of sirens warning of incoming rockets.Israel has said that its aim is to smash Hamas’s rocket-firing capability but also to topple the elected by the people government (while the world's observers watched) seized power in the Gaza Strip in 2007 after bloody street battles with its secular rivals Fatah. Until that goal is achieved, many in Beersheba are packing their bags and heading for Tel Aviv or Eilat.

“Maybe 30 or 40 per cent of people have left the city,” said Ron Shukron, 26, running one of the few grocery shops still open. As he spoke a siren echoed through the empty streets. With only 15 seconds to take cover, he stepped under a reinforced support beam in the ceiling. Seconds later came the dull thud of a rocket exploding on the edge of town.

Israel History in Quotes

2009-01-04T00:35:00.000+08:00

Israel History in Quotes

Hebrew essayist Achad Ha-Am, after paying a visit to Palestine in 1891:
"Abroad we are accustomed to believe that Israel is almost empty; nothing is grown here and that whoever wishes to buy land could come here and buy what his heart desires. In reality, the situation is not like this. Throughout the country it is difficult to find cultivable land which is not already cultivated."

Theodore Herzl, founder of the World Zionist Organization, speaking of the Arabs of Palestine,Complete Diaries, June 12, 1895 entry:
"Spirit the penniless population across the frontier by denying it employment... Both the process of expropriation and the removal of the poor must be carried out discreetly and circumspectly."

The Balfour Declaration to Baron Rothchild, on the 2nd of November, 1917:
"His Majesty's Government view with favor the establishment in Palestine of a national home for the Jewish people, and will use their best endeavors to facilitate the achievement of this object, it being clearly understood that nothing shall be done which may prejudice the civil and religious rights of existing non-Jewish communities in Palestine, or the rights and political status enjoyed by Jews in any other country."

Lord Sydenham, Hansard, House of Lords, 21 June 1922:
"If we are going to admit claims on conquest thousands of years ago, the whole world will have to be turned upside down."

Vladimir Jabotinsky, The Iron Wall, 1923:
"Zionist colonization must either be terminated or carried out against the wishes of the native population. This colonization can, therefore, be continued and make progress only under the protection of a power independent of the native population - an iron wall, which will be in a position to resist the pressure to the native population. This is our policy towards the Arabs..."

Vladimir Jabotinsky, founder of Revisionist Zionism (precursor of Likud), The Iron Wall, 1923:
"A voluntary reconciliation with the Arabs is out of the question either now or in the future. If you wish to colonize a land in which people are already living, you must provide a garrison for the land, or find some rich man or benefactor who will provide a garrison on your behalf. Or else-or else, give up your colonization, for without an armed force which will render physically impossible any attempt to destroy or prevent this colonization, colonization is impossible, not difficult, not dangerous, but IMPOSSIBLE!... Zionism is a colonization adventure and therefore it stands or falls by the question of armed force. It is important... to speak Hebrew, but, unfortunately, it is even more important to be able to shoot - or else I am through with playing at colonizing."

David Ben Gurion, future Prime Minister of Israel, 1937, Ben Gurion and the Palestine Arabs, Oxford University Press, 1985:
"We must expel Arabs and take their places."

Joseph Weitz, head of the Jewish Agency's Colonization Department in 1940. From "A Solution to the Refugee Problem":
"Between ourselves it must be clear that there is no room for both peoples together in this country. We shall not achieve our goal if the Arabs are in this small country. There is no other way than to transfer the Arabs from here to neighboring countries - all of them. Not one village, not one tribe should be left."

Israeli official Arthur Lourie in a letter to Walter Eytan, director general of the Israeli Foreign Ministry (ISA FM 2564/22). From Benny Morris, "The Birth of the Palestinian Refugee Problem 1947-49", p. 297:
"...if people become accustomed to the large figure and we are actually obliged to accept the return of the refugees, we may find it difficult, when faced with hordes of claimants, to convince the world that not all of these formerly lived in Israeli territory. It would, in any event, seem desirable to minimize the numbers...than otherwise."

David Ben-Gurion, May 1948, to the General Staff. From Ben- Gurion, A Biography, by Michael Ben-Zohar, Delacorte, New York 1978:
"We should prepare to go over to the offensive. Our aim is to smash Lebanon, Trans-Jordan, and Syria. The weak point is Lebanon, for the Moslem regime is artificial and easy for us to undermine. We shall establish a Christian state there, and then we will smash the Arab Legion, eliminate Trans-Jordan; Syria will fall to us. We then bomb and move on and take Port Said, Alexandria and Sinai."

David Ben-Gurion, in his diary, 18 July 1948, quoted in Michael Bar Zohar's Ben-Gurion: the Armed Prophet, Prentice-Hall, 1967, p. 157:
"We must do everything to insure they (the Palestinians) never do return." Assuring his fellow Zionists that Palestinians will never come back to their homes. "The old will die and the young will forget."

David Ben-Gurion, one of the father founders of Israel, described Zionist aims in 1948:
"A Christian state should be established [in Lebanon], with its southern border on the Litani river. We will make an alliance with it. When we smash the Arab Legion's strength and bomb Amman, we will eliminate Transjordan too, and then Syria will fall. If Egypt still dares to fight on, we shall bomb Port Said, Alexandria and Cairo... And in this fashion, we will end the war and settle our forefathers' account with Egypt, Assyria, and Aram"

[Begin, and Yitzhak Shamir who were members of the party became Prime Ministers.] Albert Einstein, Hanna Arendt and other prominent Jewish Americans, writing in The New York Times, protest the visit to America of Menachem Begin, December 1948:
"Among the most disturbing political phenomena of our time is the emergence in the newly created State of Israel of the Freedom Party (Herut), a political party closely akin in its organization, method, political philosophy and social appeal to the Nazi and Fascist parties."

Martin Buber, Jewish Philosopher, addressed Prime Minister Ben Gurion on the moral character of the state of Israel with reference to the Arab refugees in March 1949.
"We will have to face the reality that Israel is neither innocent, nor redemptive. And that in its creation, and expansion; we as Jews, have caused what we historically have suffered; a refugee population in Diaspora."

Moshe Dayan (Israel Defense and Foreign Minister), on February 12 1952. Radio "Israel.":
"It lies upon the people's shoulders to prepare for the war, but it lies upon the Israeli army to carry out the fight with the ultimate object of erecting the Israeli Empire."

Martin Buber, to a New York audience, Jewish Newsletter, June 2, 1958:
"When we [followers of the prophetic Judaism] returned to Palestine...the majority of Jewish people preferred to learn from Hitler rather than from us."

Uri Lubrani, PM Ben-Gurion's special adviser on Arab Affairs, 1960. From "The Arabs in Israel" by Sabri Jiryas:
Rabin's description of the conquest of Lydda, after the completion of Plan Dalet. "We shall reduce the Arab population to a community of woodcutters and waiters"

Aba Eban (the Israeli Foreign Minister) stated arrogantly. New York Times June 19, 1967:
"If the General Assembly were to vote by 121 votes to 1 in favor of "Israel" returning to the armistice lines-- (pre June 1967 borders)

Dr. Israel Shahak, Chairperson of the Israeli League for Human and Civil Rights, and a survivor of the Bergen Belsen concentration camp, Commenting on the Israeli military's Emergency Regulations following the 1967 War. Palestine, vol. 12, December 1983: "Hitler's legal power was based upon the 'Enabling Act', which was passed quite legally by the Reichstag and which allowed the Fuehrer and his representatives, in plain language, to be what they wanted, or in legal language, to issue regulations having the force of law. Exactly the same type of act was passed by the Knesset [Israeli's Parliament] immediately after the 1067 conquest granting the Israeli governor and his representatives the power of Hitler, which they use in Hitlerian manner."

Golda Meir, March 8, 1969:
"How can we return the occupied territories? There is nobody to return them to."

Moshe Dayan, address to the Technion, Haifa, reported in Haaretz, April 4, 1969:
"Jewish villages were built in the place of Arab villages. You do not even know the names of these Arab villages, and I do not blame you because geography books no longer exist. Not only do the books not exist, the Arab villages are not there either. Nahlal arose in the place of Mahlul; Kibbutz Gvat in the place of Jibta; Kibbutz Sarid in the place of Huneifis; and Kefar Yehushua in the place of Tal al- Shuman. There is not a single place built in this country that did not have a former Arab population."

Golda Maier Israeli Prime Minister June 15, 1969:
"There was no such thing as Palestinians, they never existed"

Israeli General Matityahu Peled, Ha'aretz, 19 March 1972:
"The thesis that the danger of genocide was hanging over us in June 1967 and that Israel was fighting for its physical existence is only bluff, which was born and developed after the war."

Yoram Bar Porath, Yediot Aahronot, of 14 July 1972:
"It is the duty of Israeli leaders to explain to public opinion, clearly and courageously, a certain number of facts that are forgotten with time. The first of these is that there is no Zionism, colonialization or Jewish State without the eviction of the Arabs and the expropriation of their lands."

Joseph Weitz, Director of the Jewish National Fund, the Zionist agency charged with acquiring Palestinian land, Circa 194. Machover Israca, January 5, 1973 /p.2:
"The only solution is Eretz Israel [Greater Israel], or at least Western Eretz Israel [all the land west of Jordan River], without Arabs. There is no room for compromise on this point ... We must not leave a single village, not a single tribe."

Yitzhak Rabin, leaked censored version of Rabin memoirs, published in the New York Times, 23 October 1979:
"We walked outside, Ben-Gurion accompanying us. Allon repeated his question, What is to be done with the Palestinian population?' Ben-Gurion waved his hand in a gesture which said 'Drive them out'"

Menahim Begin, speech to the Knesset, quoted in Amnon Kapeliouk, "Begin and the Beasts". New Statesman, 25 June 1982:
"[The Palestinians are] beasts walking on two legs."

Raphael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defence Forces, New York Times, 14 April 1983:
"When we have settled the land, all the Arabs will be able to do about it will be to scurry around like drugged cockroaches in a bottle."

Rafael Eitan, Chief of Staff of the Israeli Defense Forces - Gad Becker, Yediot Ahronot 13 April 1983, New York Times 14 April 1983:
"We declare openly that the Arabs have no right to settle on even one centimeter of Eretz Israel... Force is all they do or ever will understand. We shall use the ultimate force until the Palestinians come crawling to us on all fours."

Chairman Heilbrun of the Committee for the Re-election of General Shlomo Lahat, the mayor of Tel Aviv, October 1983:
"We have to kill all the Palestinians unless they are resigned to live here as slaves."

Isreali Prime Minister, Yitzhak Shamir, in a speech to Jewish settlers New York Times April 1, 1988:
"The Palestinians" would be crushed like grasshoppers ... heads smashed against the boulders and walls."

Israeli Rabbi Yitzhak Ginsburg, Inferring that killing isn't murder if the victim is Gentile. Jerusalem Post, June 19,1989:
"Jewish blood and a goy's [gentile's] blood are not the same."

Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Foreign Minister, former Prime Minister of Israel, tells students at Bar Ilan University, From the Israeli journal Hotam, November 24, 1989:
"Israel should have exploited the repression of the demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions among the Arabs of the territories."

Former Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir declares at a Tel Aviv memorial service for former Likud leaders, November 1990. Jerusalem Domestic Radio Service:
"The past leaders of our movement left us a clear message to keep Eretz Israel from the Sea to the Jordan River for future generations, for the mass aliya [immigration], and for the Jewish people, all of whom will be gathered into this country."

Ariel Sharon, Israeli Foreign Minister, addressing a meeting of militants from the extreme right-wing Tsomet Party, Agence France Presse, November 15,1998:
"Everybody has to move, run and grab as many hilltops as they can to enlarge the settlements because everything we take now will stay ours... Everything we don't grab will go to them."

Ehud Barak, Prime Minister of Israel at the time - August 28, 2000. Reported in the Jerusalem Post August 30, 2000:
"The Palestinians are like crocodiles, the more you give them meat, they want more"...

Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak, quoted in Associated Press, November 16, 2000:
"If we thought that instead of 200 Palestinian fatalities, 2,000 dead would put an end to the fighting at a stroke, we would use much more force...."

Israeli president Moshe Katsav. The Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2001:
"There is a huge gap between us (Jews) and our enemies? Not just in ability but in morality, culture, sanctity of life, and conscience. They are our neighbors here, but it seems as if at a distance of a few hundred meters away, there are people who do not belong to our continent, to our world, but actually belong to a different galaxy."

Israeli Prime Minister, Ariel Sharon, October 3, 2001, to Shimon Peres, as reported on Kol Yisrael radio:
"Every time we do something you tell me America will do this and will do that . . . I want to tell you something very clear: Don't worry about American pressure on Israel. We, the Jewish people, control America, and the Americans know it."

"Israel Koenig, "The Koenig Memorandum":
"We must use terror, assassination, intimidation, land confiscation, and the cutting of all social services to rid the Galilee of its Arab population.

Joseph Weitz, head of the Jewish Agency's Colonization Department. From Israel: an Apartheid State by Uri Davis, p.5:
"There are some who believe that the non-Jewish population, even in a high percentage, within our borders will be more effectively under our surveillance; and there are some who believe the contrary, i.e., that it is easier to carry out surveillance over the activities of a neighbor than over those of a tenant. I tend to support the latter view and have an additional argument:...the need to sustain the character of the state which will henceforth be Jewish...with a non-Jewish minority limited to 15 percent. I had already reached this fundamental position as early as 1940 [and] it is entered in my diary."

Ben Gurion:
In 1899, Davis Triestsch wrote to Herzl: " I would suggest to you to come round in time to the "Greater Palestine" program before it is too late... the Basle program must contain the words "Great Palestine" or "Palestine and its neighboring lands" otherwise it's nonsense. You do not get ten million Jews into a land of 25,000 Km2". " The present map of Palestine was drawn by the British mandate. The Jewish people have another map which our youth and adults should strive to fulfill -- From the Nile to the Euphrates."

Vladimir Jabotinsky (the founder and advocate of the Zionist terrorist organizations), Quoted by Maxime Rodinson in Peuple Juif ou Problem Juif. (Jewish People or Jewish Problem):
"Has any People ever been seen to give up their territory of their own free will? In the same way, the Arabs of Palestine will not renounce their sovereignty without violence."

David Ben Gurion (the first Israeli Prime Minister) quoted by Nahum Goldmann in Le Paraddoxe Juif (The Jewish Paradox), pp121:
"If I were an Arab leader, I would never sign an agreement with Israel. It is normal; we have taken their country. It is true God promised it to us, but how could that interest them? Our God is not theirs. There has been Anti - Semitism, the Nazis, Hitler, Auschwitz, but was that their fault? They see but one thing: we have come and we have stolen their country. Why would they accept that?"

Palestine’s long torment

2009-01-04T00:34:00.000+08:00

Palestine’s long torment

by Anindya Bhattacharyya

In 1917 the British foreign secretary Lord Balfour gave official backing to their colonial ambitions. He hoped that a Zionist state in Palestine would serve the interests of British imperialism.

The Gaza Strip is effectively the world’s largest prison camp.

Zionist terror gangs drove its population from their homes during the creation of Israel in 1948.That event – known in Arabic as the Nakba (catastrophe) – saw 750,000 Palestinians ethnically cleansed. They were uprooted and driven out of their homes and homeland to the Gaza Strip, the West Bank and to other countries.

Prior to this Britain controlled Palestine. The British imperialists had promised the land to both the native Palestinian population and to the Zionists, who had settled there over the previous 50 years.

Zionism was a Jewish nationalist movement that arose in Europe in the late 19th century as a response to the growth of anti-Semitism. (Anti-Zionism is wrongly used by Zionist to mean anti Zionist and anti Israeli, noting that the original Jews who form a minority of today’s Jews are a small minority of what are known today as Jews, the rest were converts to Judaism, who are of central Asian Turkic origin and has nothing to do with the Semitic race to which Arabs are the majority today and since thousands of years. They moved to the north of the Caspian sea where a number of them followed their king when he converted to Judaism. Zionism was actually invented by western colonialism, to establish an outpost and a long arm for itself in the Arab homeland to serve its colonialist purposes, then some western Khazari non-Semitic Jews adopted it and started its campaign to colonize Palestine and displace and replace the indigenous Palestinian Arabs in Palestine. A.S.K.)

Zionism’s founder Theodor Herzl argued that anti-Semitism could never be defeated and that Jews should found a new “homeland”. Only a small minority of Jews backed this. Herzl and his supporters looked to the major powers for support.

In 1917 the British foreign secretary Lord Balfour gave official backing to their colonial ambitions. He hoped that a Zionist state in Palestine would serve the interests of British imperialism.

After the horror of the Holocaust, when Nazi Germany exterminated six million Jews(!!!), Zionism became a majority trend amongst Jews (That is not correct today’s Jewish majority are not pro-Zionism even in the U.S. A.S.K.). Tragically, some Jews went from being the oppressed in Europe to becoming the oppressor in the Middle East.

In 1947 the UN proposed to partition Palestine and give the Zionists 55 percent of Palestinian land, even though they comprised just a third of the population.

This was not enough for the Zionists who began to ethnically cleanse Palestine in March 1948. By the end of the year they controlled 80 percent of the territory and had driven the refugees into two enclaves that made up the remaining 20 percent – the Gaza Strip and the West Bank.

Occupied territories

Israel annexed and occupied these in its 1967 Six Day War with Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Israel has controlled these Occupied Territories ever since.

From Israel’s inception, imperialist forces courted the Zionist state as an ally in the oil-rich Middle East. As the US emerged as the world’s superpower after the Second World War it began to arm and fund Israel to act as its “watchdog” in the region. Israel’s attacks on its neighbours almost always take place with US consent.

With US support Israel has ignored hundreds of UN resolutions that have criticised it.

The Palestinians have resisted Israel throughout the past six decades. In 1987 the Intifada (uprising) broke out in the Occupied Territories.

This was one factor forcing Israel to open up negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) – the so-called “peace process”. In 1993 this led to the Oslo Accords, signed by Israel and the PLO. A “two state solution” was promised in which Israel would remain intact but the Palestinians would be allowed their own state.

Many people still argue for a two state solution, but the experience of the “peace process” shows that it cannot work.

Apartheid

It was designed to retain Israeli dominance, with the PLO forced to police its own people. The Palestinians were to be given “Bantustans” – the name given to the supposedly independent states in apartheid South Africa that were, in reality, dominated by the racist state.

There is a massive imbalance of power between the two sides – a highly militarised state funded by the West on one side and an oppressed and isolated people on the other.

Zionists have continued to build settlements in the Occupied Territories. There are now 270,000 Israeli settlers living in the West Bank and a further 200,000 in East Jerusalem. The ongoing construction of an “apartheid wall” isolating the West Bank highlights the cynicism behind the talk of a “peace process”.

The notion of a two state solution also involves giving up a fundamental principle of the Palestinian struggle – the right of refugees to return to their land. This would effectively legitimise the ethnic cleansing of 1948.

And it means accepting the idea that Jews and Arabs cannot live together – despite their long history of peaceful coexistence before the birth of Israel.

In the long run a solution can only take place in the context of a wider political upheaval across the Middle East. The corrupt, pro-Western Arab regimes have done nothing to support the Palestinians. The Arab masses are angry at the treatment of their Palestinian brothers and sisters, and at the repression and poverty they face at home.

The Arab working class has the power to challenge their own rulers and win fundamental change in the region. That would open the possibility of a single, democratic and multi-ethnic state encompassing all of historic Palestine – the only chance of a lasting and just settlement in the Middle East.

IOF Murderers!

2009-01-02T01:07:00.001+08:00

IOF raids kill paramedic, wounds others

A Palestinian paramedic was killed and a number of other citizens were wounded in fresh Israeli aerial raids on the Gaza Strip at dawn Wednesday that claimed the lives of almost 390 citizens and wounded 1800 others since Saturday.Dr. Muawiya Hasanein, the director of ambulance and emergency in the health ministry, told the PIC over the telephone that paramedic Mahmoud Abu Hasira was killed, another paramedic and doctor wounded when the IOF warplanes shelled an ambulance car carrying the international Red Cross flag while on its way to rescue wounded persons east of Gaza.

He said that many other casualties were registered in various areas of the Strip, adding that the IOF warplanes shelled and destroyed nine ambulance cars and three vehicles for civil defense.

Meanwhile, legal centers refuted IOF claims of bombing a truck loaded with missiles on Tuesday after investigating the incident which the IOF filmed and circulated. The legal centers said that the truck was carrying gas cylinders and that the seven martyrs who were killed in the shelling were all civilians.

Meanwhile, Egypt closed the Rafah border terminal with Gaza only few hours after opening it before humanitarian assistance on Tuesday evening following IOF threats of shelling the crossing.

The intensified IOF air raids continued for the fifth day unabated killing and maiming hundreds while spreading destruction in each and every area in the Strip.

For its part, the armed wing of Hamas, the Qassam Brigades, declared firing six Grad missiles at Beer Sheba city at dawn Wednesday the damage of which was not revealed by the IOF.

Osama Hamdan, Hamas's representative in Lebanon, said that the armed wing was defending the people of Gaza in face of the IOF brutal aggression that should come to an immediate end along with the siege.

****.*.****

IOF massacres escalate: Mother and 4 daughters killed & buried under the rubble

The Israeli occupation forces committed more massacres in the Gaza Strip on Sunday night this time openly targeting civilians killing a mother and her four little daughters in Jabalia north of the Strip and three brothers in Rafah south of the Strip.

Local sources said that an IOF F-16 warplane blasted the home of Anwar Balusha killing his wife and four of his little children while the rest were either still under the rubble or hospitalized after the modest house collapsed in the bombing.

Three brothers of the Absi family were killed at a late hour on Sunday in Rafah after the IOF targeted the home of Qassam Brigades field commander Raed Al-Attar but the brutal shelling killed the three children in a nearby house.

Medical sources reported that 4-year-old Ziyad Al-Absi was killed on the spot along with his 13 and 14 years old brothers Ahmed and Mohammed.

IOF warplanes and gunboats have jointly bombarded the western area of Gaza city after midnight Sunday causing immense damage to Gaza harbor and a security post.

The gunboats also shelled the marine police premises in Gaza city and a mosque in Rafah.

At the early morning hours on Monday, IOF gunboats fired a number of shells at the house of Ekilan family, which is adjacent to the home of PA premier Ismail Haneyya.

Big damage was inflicted on the targeted house along with nearby buildings but no casualties were reported.

The IOF barbaric aerial strikes launched since Saturday killed more than 310 Palestinians and wounded 1400 others so far as Israeli military and political leaders declare that the aggression was still in its preliminary stages.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

~Hadis Palestina~

2009-01-02T01:03:00.000+08:00

"Ummu Afeera" afeera_szaza@yahoo.com

Hadis Palestina...

Sepertimana Quran, hadis juga seringkali membuatkan saya berfikir kembali. Membaca hadis mahupun Quran buat kali yang kedua dan seterusnya seringkali memberi tafsiran yang berbeza dengan yang pertama. Semalam saya mendengar hadis berkaitan Palestin yang telah biasa saya ungkapkan di dalam cerpen mahupun tulisan namun semalam hadis tersebut memberikan saya pengertian yang sukar diterjemahkan.

Rasulullah SAW bersabda:

“Sentiasa akan ada sekelompok dari umatku yang sentiasa berjuang bersama-sama kebenaran, mencabar dan menentang musuh-musuh mereka. Musuh-musuh mereka tidak dapat memberi mudarat kepada mereka sehingga Allah mendatangkan keputusannya. Mereka tetap dalam keadaan demikian.” Maka para sahabat bertanya,”Dimanakah mereka?” Jawab Rasulullah, ” Di Baitul Maqdis dan sekitarnya”.
(Riwayat Bukhari)

Hadis ini diungkapkan dalam nasyid yang mengobarkan semangat ini.

Apa yang cuba disampaikan oleh hadis ini?

Apabila Rasulullah SAW menyebut ‘sentiasa’ bermakna perjuangan ini sepanjang masa. Perjuangan di bumi Palestin telah bermula semenjak dahulu sehingga kini, tidak pernah berhenti. Jihad di sana akan berterusan.

Musuh-musuh mereka tidak dapat memberi mudarat pada mereka. Ya, bantailah mereka tapi pejuang-pejuang di sana akan bangkit kembali, tanpa gentar. Mereka akan terus berjuang sehingga kemunculan AlMasih dan Dajjal. Pembunuhan dan pembantaian tidak pernah melemahkan mereka. Malah mereka terus bangkit dengan semangat yang lebih berkobar. Pemimpin-pemimpin besar mereka ramai yang telah syahid namun ribuan lagi yang muncul sesudah itu. Perjuangan di sana tidak akan mati.

Itulah bumi jihad. Cuma persoalannya, adakah anda mahu turut serta dalam perjuangan ini?

Apa yang boleh dilakukan?

1) Faham dan peka isu Palestin
2) Bantuan kewangan
3) Bantuan perubatan dan sukarelawan
4) Bekerjasama dengan semua pertubuhan
5) Kajian dan sebaran
6) Sekatan ekonomi
7) Dakwah dan perjuangan
8) Doa dan munajat
9) Hindari kehidupan bermewah untuk dekat dengan Allah dan merasai keperitan saudara kita di Palestin

Semalam penceramah seakan-akan mahu menangis semasa mengungkapkan berkenaan hadis ini. Sejujurnya hadis ini adalah harapan. Bumi Palestina akan kembali diwarisi oleh Islam.

Hadis yang diriwayatkan oleh Bukhari, Muslim dan Attarmizi ini turut diimani oleh Zionis. Hadis ini berbunyi, “Tidak akan berlaku Kiamat sehinggalah kamu memerangi Yahudi. Dan kamu memerangi mereka sehingga pokok dan batu berkata-kata. Lantas ia menyebut, wahai Muslim, wahai hamba Allah, di belakangku ini ada Yahudi, marilah ke sini dan bunuhlah dia kecuali pokok Gharqad kerana ia adalah pokok Yahudi”. Zionis benar-benar meyakininya sehingga menanam pokok Gharqad di sekelilling bumi Shams. Namun bukankah itu adalah strategi yang telah ditunjukkan oleh Rasulullah kepada kita? Carilah Yahudi di pokok Gharqad kerana di situlah mereka akan bersembunyi!

Hadis ini adalah harapan bahawa bumi Palestina akan kembali kepada kita! Kiamat tidak akan berlaku sehingga Palestina kembali pada kita!

Gaza strike is not against Hamas, it’s against all Palestinians’

2008-12-30T00:44:00.000+08:00

Gaza strike is not against Hamas, it’s against all Palestinians’

Amira Hass

At 3:19 P.M. Sunday, the sound of an incoming missile could be heard over the telephone. And then another, along with the children’s cries of fear. In Gaza City’s Tel al-Hawa neighborhood, high-rise apartment buildings are crowded close together, with dozens of children in every building, hundreds in every block.

Their father, B., informs me that smoke is rising from his neighbor’s house and ends the call. An hour later, he tells me that two apartments were hit. One was empty; he does not know who lives there. The other, which suffered casualties, belongs to a member of a rocket-launching cell, but no one senior or important.

At noon Sunday, the Israel Air Force bombed a compound belonging to Gaza’s National Security Service. It houses Gaza City’s main prison. Three prisoners were killed. Two were apparently Fatah members; the third was convicted of collaborating with Israel. Hamas had evacuated most of the Gaza Strip’s other prisons, but thought this jail would be safe.

At 12 A.M. on Sunday, a phone call roused S. “I wasn’t sleeping anyway,” he said. “I picked up the receiver and heard a recorded announcement in Arabic: ‘This is to warn you that we will bomb the house of anyone who has arms or ammunition at home.’”

Three members of one neighboring family were killed, all young men in their twenties. None of them owned arms or ammunition; they were simply walking down the street when the IAF bombed a passing car. Another neighbor lost a 16-year-old daughter, and her sister was seriously wounded. The IAF had bombed a building that formerly housed the Palestinian Authority’s Preventive Security Service, and their school was located next door.

S. saw the results of some of Saturday’s bombings when he visited a friend whose office is located near Gaza City’s police headquarters. One person killed in that attack was Hassan Abu Shnab, the eldest son of former senior Hamas official Ismail Abu Shnab.

The elder Abu Shnab, whom Israel assassinated five years ago, was one of the first Hamas politicians to speak in favor of a two-state solution. Hassan worked as a clerk at the local university and played in the police band for fun. He was performing at a police graduation ceremony on Saturday when the bomb struck.

“Seventy policemen were killed there, not all Hamas members,” said S., who opposes Hamas. “And even those who supported Hamas were young men looking for a job, a salary. They wanted to live. And therefore, they died. Seventy in one blow. This assault is not against Hamas. It’s against all of us, the entire nation. And no Palestinian will consent to having his people and his homeland destroyed in this way.”

Gaza: The Untold Story

2008-12-30T00:39:00.001+08:00

Gaza: The Untold Story

By Ramzy Baroud

It’s incomprehensible that a region such as the Gaza Strip, so rich with history, so saturated with defiance, can be reduced to a few blurbs, sound bites and reductionist assumptions, convenient but deceptive, vacant of any relevant meaning, or even true analytical value.

The fact is that there is more to the Gaza Strip than 1.5 million hungry Palestinians, who are supposedly paying the price for Hamas’s militancy, or Israel’s ‘collective punishment’ whichever way the media decide to brand the problem. More importantly, Gaza’s existence since time immemorial must not be juxtaposed with its proximity to Israel, failure or success in ‘providing’ a tiny Israeli town - itself built on conquered land that was seen only 60 years ago as part of the Gaza province - with its need for security. It’s this very expectation that made the killing and wounding of thousands of Palestinians in Gaza a price worth paying, in the callous eyes of many.

These unrealistic expectations and disregard of important history will continue to be costly, and will only serve the purpose of those interested in swift generalizations.

Yes, Gaza might be economically dead, but its current struggles and tribulations are consistent with a legacy of conquerors, colonialism and foreign occupations, and more, its people’s collective triumph in rising above the tyranny of those invaders.

In relatively recent history, Gaza became a recurring story following the 1948 influx of refugees, who were driven from their homes by Zionist militias or fled for their families’ sake, hoping to return once Palestine was recovered. They settled in Gaza, subsisting in absolute poverty, a situation that continues, more or less, to this day.

The history of Gaza, and the place itself was largely irrelevant, if not revolting from the point of view of the refugees who poured into the Strip mostly from the south of Palestine, for it represented the pinnacle of their loss, humiliation and, at times, despair. It mattered little to the peasant refugees as they fled to Gaza that that they probably walked on the same ancient road that ran along the Palestinian coast when Gaza was once the last metropolis for travellers to Egypt, just before they embarked on an unforgiving desert journey through Sinai.

So what if Gaza was described as the city, as told in the Book of Judges, where Samson performed his famous deed and perished. Christianity was relevant to the refugees insofar as a few of Gaza’s ancient churches provided shelter to the tired bodies escaping snipers, bullets and massacres. Even the strong belief amongst Muslims that Prophet Muhammad’s - peace be upon him - great-grandfather Hashem died on one of his journeys from Makkah to the Levant and was buried in Gaza, was largely sentimental. His shrine in Gaza City was visited by numerous refugees, who kneeled and prayed to God that they, some day soon, would be sent back to their humble existence, and their ways of life from which they have been forcefully estranged.

But Gaza’s history became more relevant to the refugees when it appeared that their temporary journey to the Strip was likely to be extended. Only then the area’s many stories of conquerors, tragedies, triumphs but also sheer goodness, became of essence. A pilgrim to the Holy Land, who passed through Gaza in 570 AD, wrote in Latin, “Gaza is a splendid city, full of pleasant things; the men in it are most honest, distinguished by every generosity, and warm to friends and visitors.”

Gaza’s history became even more relevant when the refugees realized that their violent encounters with Israel were not yet over, and that they needed the moral tenacity to survive what would eventually be viewed as one of most severe humanitarian catastrophes in recent memory. And indeed, there was much history to marvel upon, and from which to extract strength and substantiation.

Conquerors came and went, and Gaza stood where it still stands today. This was the recurring lesson for generations, even millennia. Ancient Egyptians came and went, as did the Hyksos, the Assyrians, the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Ottomans, the British, and now the Israelis. And through it all, Gaza stood strong and defiant. Neither Alexander the Great’s bloody conquest of 332 BC, nor Alexander Janneus’s brutal attack of 96 BC broke Gaza’s spirit or took away from its eternal grandeur. It always rose again to reach a degree of civilianisation unheard of, as it did in the 5th century AD.

It was in Gaza that the Crusaders surrendered their strategic control of the city to Saladin in 1170, only to open up yet another era of prosperity and growth, occasionally interrupted by conquerors and outsiders with colonial designs, but to no avail.

All the neglected ruins of past civilisations were only reminders that Gaza’s enemies would never prevail, and would, at best, merely register their presence by another neglected structure of concrete and rocks.

Now Gaza is undergoing another phase of hardship and defiance. Its modern conquerors are as unpitying as its ancient ones. True, Gaza is ailing, but standing, it people resourceful and durable as ever, defiant as they have always been, and hell-bent on surviving, for that’s what Gazans do best. And I should know, it’s my hometown

Seeking Justice From Afar

2008-12-28T16:49:00.001+08:00

To all kind visitors of this blog, kindly pass this message from Harakahdaily around. I know many of my friends and visitors do read Harakahdaily, but I just want to repeat it for the sake of justice against oppression and aggression -

JOIN US AT THE US EMBASSY in KL
TO DEMONSTRATE AGAINST
THE LATEST MASS MURDER OF PALESTINIANS!

The report at Harakah can be read here. There are also fresh articles at Windows Into Palestine here, and an analysis on the masacre here.

Do note that this attack was planned, and not a retaliatory strike as suggested by international media (and Malaysia too!). Read the 3 excerpts from Harakahdaily below and digest it. As we enter the new Hijrah year 1430 with joy, think, and weep for our fellow human brothers in Gaza.

1. "diucapkan oleh seorang pegawai pertahanan awam entiti haram Israel bernama Ofer Shmerling: Saya akan bermain muzik hari ini dan merayakan apa yang dilakukan oleh tentera udara Israel".

2. Dalam keganasan terbaru itu, lebih dari 100 tan bom dihunjam oleh pengganas-pengganas Israel ke atas orang-orang awam, kanak-kanak, wanita dan orang-orang tua di Gaza dan angka kematian kini menghampiri 250 manakala lebih 400 cedera.

3. Dakwaan Amerika itu bertentangan dengan pendedahan akhbar Haaretz Israel yang menyatakan, keganasan terbaru Israel di Gaza itu telah dirancang sejak enam bulan lalu dan bukan disebabkan sebarang provokasi.

Then read and weep at this email:

Zionists continued shelling Palestinian houses in Gaza strip
For the second day, the Zionist massive air strikes continued in Gaza strip a lot of martyrs and injuries reached to more 271 martyrs and 900 injuries, between them about 180 man, women and children in serious conditions.

The last Zionist raids were in what was so called "Kfar Darom", the Zionist war jets targeted two police quarters, in previous time, the Zionist targeting hit Palestinian farms, another raid was in the central of Al Shoja'eya neighborhood ten Palestinians were injured, the last raid was at a building in Rafah city.

Early at this morning, the war planes targeted a medicine storage in Al Jenainah neighborhood Rafah city and targeted in the same time a house, Palestinian medical sources reported that three Palestinians were martyred in the raid.

The number of the Palestinian martyrs according to Dr. Muawya Hassanien, the head of the emergency, reach to 271 and 180 of them are in serious conditions.

The war planes targeted a room for security men in Al Shifaa hospital in Gaza city, in addition to a mosque near the hospital, the raid results was martyring Palestinian man and injuring seven. Medical sources in the hospitals reported that the hospitals received some damages.

Dr. Muawya Hassanien added that last night three Palestinians were martyred in when the Zionist war planes targeted Palestinians east of Gaza city in Al Shoja'eya neighborhood. Earlier three Palestinians were killed and four were injured in two air raids, one of them was on Al Zaytoon neighborhood killed a Palestinian, and the second was in Jabaliya, two Palestinians were killed.

Hasanin added that there 15 victims who could not be identified because their bodies were badly mutilated, adding that at 80 of the victims were mutilated.

He said that the rapid rise in the death toll was due to the recovery of new victims from under the rubbles and the continuing Zionist air strikes which have not stopped until the early hours of Sunday.

Hasanin also said that hospitals are lacking medicines and medical materials necessary for treating the wounded calling on Arab countries to provide the essential medical supplies urgently.

Our presence at the US Embassy - you, me, and as many Malaysians possible - may not make a difference, and may not even assist in abating the grieve in Gaza. But, would you rather sit quietly in the comfort of your homes, and go for a stroll with your loved ones, while pretending that this world is all nice and rosy, and the events outside your immediate sphere affect you not? If so - and I have never uttered such remarks in this blog - you are a cold heartless human not deserving of any respect. My apologies to the rest if I sound harsh. But if this is harsh, then think again about the people in Gaza now.

US Embassy KL
11am.

If there is any change, insyAllah I will notify through this blog.

Salam Ma'al Hijrah 1430!

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Plea For ISA Fund

2008-12-26T21:19:00.006+08:00

Click on image to read the news.
Click here for my personal take on the ISA.

Ringankan beban sekolah kanak-kanak mangsa ISA

Harakahdaily
Fri | Dec 26, 08 | 5:08:50 pm MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, 26 Dis (Hrkh) - 'Ayah dikurung di Kamunting, ibu terpaksa mencari nafkah, lebih malang anak-anak tercicir dari sekolah malah ada yang tidak mengenal huruf.'

Begitulah serangkap tema 'Dana Pendidikan Anak-Anak ISA' yang dilancarkan Harakahdaily menggambarkan kezaliman akta zalim, Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) yang merosakkan masa depan kanak-kanak yang tidak berdosa.

Menjelang tahun baru serta pembukaan sesi persekolahan, menjadi '1001 macam' kepayahan kepada kanak-kanak yang menjadi mangsa akta zalim, Akta Keselamatan Dalam Negeri (ISA) untuk meneruskan pembelajaran akibat faktor kewangan yang menghimpit.

Justeru, Ketua Pengarang Harakah dan Harakahdaily Ahmad Lutfi Othman memohon jasa baik dan simpati orang ramai untuk sama-sama membantu, paling tidak sedikit untuk meringankan beban perbelanjaan persekolahan kanak-kanak ini yang perlu diberi perhatian oleh seluruh masayarakt di negara ini yang prihatin terhadap tanggungjawab meneruskan pelajaran demi masa depan mereka.

"Yuran, buku sekolah, pakaian dan bayaran pengangkutan menjadi beban besar kepada keluarga mangsa ISA kerana ketua keluarga, ayah mereka tidak dapat melaksanakan tanggungjawab itu. Ada yang tiada sumber pendapatan malah, terpaksa mencari sesuap nasi dengan pelbagai cara yang menyulitkan.

"Demi masa depan mereka, saya meminta jasa baik orang ramai supaya dapat menghulurkan bantuan dana untuk diagihkan kepada mereka yang tidak bernasib baik," katanya Ahmad Lutfi yang menghubungi Harakahdaily sebentar tadi.

Kepayahan dan kesedihan hidup keluarga mangsa pernah dirakamkan oleh wartawan, Anis Nazri yang pernah mengikuti rombongan menjejaki keluarga mangsa tahan ISA di Sandakan Sabah September lalu:-

"Norhatta Paraji, tidak banyak bercakap ketika menyambut kedatangan kami. Beliau lebih suka tersenyum membalas soalan kami. Hanya kami yang bertanya itu dan ini. Ternyata suaranya bagaikan emas, terkunci untuk berkongsi kepayahan yang dihadapinya.

"Kehidupan bersama tujuh anaknya, yang semuanya tidak bersekolah cukup menggambarkan keperitan dan kesusahan yang dilaluinya sejak tiga tahun lalu apabila suaminya dicekup ISA.

"Kepayahan hidup bersendirian menguruskan anak-anak menyebabkan beliau tidak menghantar anak-anak ke sekolah, lantaran perjalanan ke sekolah yang jauh, anak kecil yang tiada penjaga serta terpaksa menunggu kedai runcit warisan suaminya," begitu catitan Anis yang pernah dimuatkan dalam Harakah dan Harakahdaily.

Ahmad Lutfi berharap dengan sumbangan dana dan apa jua bantuan orang ramai itu dapat mengembalikan dan menyuntik semangat keluarga mangsa ISA untuk meneruskan persekolahan anak-anak mereka sekaligus matlamat untuk melihat kanak-kanak tidak berdosa ini berjaya dalam pelajaran dan mengubah masa depan keluarga tercapai.

Bagi yang ingin menghulurkan bantuan,bolehlah dimajukan dana tersebut ke HARAKAHDAILY DOT COM akaun Maybank 564070000336. Segala simpati dan sumbangan diberi, hanya Allah yang membalasnya. Jazakullah Hukhairon Khatiro'.- azm/mks. _

Hari Ibu Tunggal

2008-12-15T11:45:00.000+08:00

Arak Haram di Pesawat India, Halal di Pesawat Malaysia

2008-10-18T22:37:00.002+08:00

A reader's letter to Harakah print dated 10-12 Syawal / 10-12 October 2008.

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Harakah - Liberation of al-Quds

2008-10-18T22:31:00.001+08:00

Constructing Synagogue Near al-Aqsa Mosque

2008-10-16T21:23:00.000+08:00

"Aqsa Jihad Fisabeelillah*" bakka.makka@gmail.com

Bismillah Hir Rahmaan Nir Raheem

Assalamau alaykum wa rahmatuallahi wa barakatuhu

http://www.islamonl ine.com/news/ newsfull. php?newid= 171022

OIC Denounces Constructing Synagogue near al-Aqsa Mosque by Israel

JEDDAH, October 13, 2008, (WAFA)- Secretary general of the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC), Ekmeliddin Ihsanoglu, denounced Monday the Israeli breach of constructing a Synagogue on Islamic-originated land.

In a press release issued today, Ihsanoglu said that constructing the synagogue adjacent to the Holy Aqsa Mosque is a big assault against the place where prophet Mohammed (PBUH) was blessed.

'Such vicious step is breaching the international law and Geneva accords according to which the occupying country has no right in attacking the holy places in the lands it occupies', he added angrily.

--
Surah Isra 17 verse 80 Say: "O my Lord! let my entry be by the Gate of Truth and Honor and likewise my exit by the Gate of Truth and Honor; and grant me from Thy Presence an authority to aid (me)."

Ameen
Transliteration :Wa qur rabbi adkhilni mudkhala sidqiw wa akhrijni mukhraja sidqiw wa-j'al li mil ladunka sulta_nan nasira_(n).

Al-Tirmidhi HadithHadith 2482 Narrated by AbuHurayrah (May Allah be pleased with him)
Allah's Messenger (peace be upon him) used to say, " O Allah, grant me benefit in what Thou hast taught me, teach me what will benefit me, and increase my knowledge. Praise be to Allah in all circumstances. I seek refuge in Allah from the state of those who go to Hell."
Tirmidhi and Ibn Majah transmitted it, Tirmidhi saying this is a tradition whose isnad is gharib.

Ameen

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran

2008-09-27T11:19:00.000+08:00

Israel asked US for green light to bomb nuclear sites in Iran
US president told Israeli prime minister he would not back attack on Iran, senior European diplomatic sources tell Guardian

* Jonathan Steele
* guardian.co.uk,
* Thursday September 25 2008 19:02 BST
* Article history

nuclear enrichment plant of Natanz in central Iran

A view of the nuclear enrichment plant of Natanz in central Iran. Photograph: EPA

Israel gave serious thought this spring to launching a military strike on Iran's nuclear sites but was told by President George W Bush that he would not support it and did not expect to revise that view for the rest of his presidency, senior European diplomatic sources have told the Guardian.

The then prime minister, Ehud Olmert, used the occasion of Bush's trip to Israel for the 60th anniversary of the state's founding to raise the issue in a one-on-one meeting on May 14, the sources said. "He took it [the refusal of a US green light] as where they were at the moment, and that the US position was unlikely to change as long as Bush was in office", they added.

The sources work for a European head of government who met the Israeli leader some time after the Bush visit. Their talks were so sensitive that no note-takers attended, but the European leader subsequently divulged to his officials the highly sensitive contents of what Olmert had told him of Bush's position.

Bush's decision to refuse to offer any support for a strike on Iran appeared to be based on two factors, the sources said. One was US concern over Iran's likely retaliation, which would probably include a wave of attacks on US military and other personnel in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as on shipping in the Persian Gulf.

The other was US anxiety that Israel would not succeed in disabling Iran's nuclear facilities in a single assault even with the use of dozens of aircraft. It could not mount a series of attacks over several days without risking full-scale war. So the benefits would not outweigh the costs.

Iran has repeatedly said it would react with force to any attack. Some western government analysts believe this could include asking Lebanon's Shia movement Hizbollah to strike at the US.

"It's over ten years since Hizbollah's last terror strike outside Israel, when it hit an Argentine-Israel association building in Buenos Aires [killing 85 people]", said one official. "There is a large Lebanese diaspora in Canada which must include some Hizbollah supporters. They could slip into the United States and take action".

Even if Israel were to launch an attack on Iran without US approval its planes could not reach their targets without the US becoming aware of their flightpath and having time to ask them to abandon their mission.

"The shortest route to Natanz lies across Iraq and the US has total control of Iraqi airspace", the official said. Natanz, about 100 miles north of Isfahan, is the site of an uranium enrichment plant.

In this context Iran would be bound to assume Bush had approved it, even if the White House denied fore-knowledge, raising the prospect of an attack against the US.

Several high-level Israeli officials have hinted over the last two years that Israel might strike Iran's nuclear facilities to prevent them being developed to provide sufficient weapons-grade uranium to make a nuclear bomb. Iran has always denied having such plans.

Olmert himself raised the possibility of an attack at a press conference during a visit to London last November, when he said sanctions were not enough to block Iran's nuclear programme.

"Economic sanctions are effective. They have an important impact already, but they are not sufficient. So there should be more. Up to where? Up until Iran will stop its nuclear programme," he said.

The revelation that Olmert was not merely sabre-rattling to try to frighten Iran but considered the option seriously enough to discuss it with Bush shows how concerned Israeli officials had become.

Bush's refusal to support an attack, and the strong suggestion he would not change his mind, is likely to end speculation that Washington might be preparing an "October surprise" before the US presidential election. Some analysts have argued that Bush would back an Israeli attack in an effort to help John McCain's campaign by creating an eve-of-poll security crisis.

Others have said that in the case of an Obama victory, the vice-president, Dick Cheney, the main White House hawk, would want to cripple Iran's nuclear programme in the dying weeks of Bush's term.

During Saddam Hussein's rule in 1981, Israeli aircraft successfully destroyed Iraq's nuclear reactor at Osirak shortly before it was due to start operating.

Last September they knocked out a buildings complex in northern Syria, which US officials later said had been a partly constructed nuclear reactor based on a North Korean design. Syria said the building was a military complex but had no links to a nuclear programme.

In contrast, Iran's nuclear facilities, which are officially described as intended only for civilian purposes, are dispersed around the country and some are in fortified bunkers underground.

In public, Bush gave no hint of his view that the military option had to be excluded. In a speech to the Knesset the following day he confined himself to telling Israel's parliament: "America stands with you in firmly opposing Iran's nuclear weapons ambitions. Permitting the world's leading sponsor of terror to possess the world's deadliest weapon would be an unforgivable betrayal of future generations. For the sake of peace, the world must not allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon.''

Mark Regev, Olmert's spokesman, tonight reacted to the Guardian's story saying: "The need to prevent Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons is raised at every meeting between the prime minister and foreign leaders. Israel prefers a diplomatic solution to this issue but all options must remain on the table. Your unnamed European source attributed words to the prime minister that were not spoken in any working meeting with foreign guests".

Three weeks after Bush's red light, on June 2, Israel mounted a massive air exercise covering several hundred miles in the eastern Mediterranean. It involved dozens of warplanes, including F-15s, F-16s and aerial refueling tankers.

The size and scope of the exercise ensured that the US and other nations in the region saw it, said a US official, who estimated the distance was about the same as from Israel to Natanz.

A few days later, Israel's deputy prime minister, Shaul Mofaz, told the paper Yediot Ahronot: "If Iran continues its programme to develop nuclear weapons, we will attack it. The window of opportunity has closed. The sanctions are not effective. There will be no alternative but to attack Iran in order to stop the Iranian nuclear programme."

The exercise and Mofaz's comments may have been designed to boost the Israeli government and military's own morale as well, perhaps, to persuade Bush to reconsider his veto. Last week Mofaz narrowly lost a primary within the ruling Kadima party to become Israel's next prime minister. Tzipi Livni, who won the contest, takes a less hawkish position.

The US announced two weeks ago that it would sell Israel 1,000 bunker-busting bombs. The move was interpreted by some analysts as a consolation prize for Israel after Bush told Olmert of his opposition to an attack on Iran. But it could also enhance Israel's attack options in case the next US president revives the military option.

The guided bomb unit-39 (GBU-39) has a penetration capacity equivalent to a one-tonne bomb. Israel already has some bunker-busters.
Iran nuclear map Map showing nuclear activity in Iran
*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Open debate not right forum to discuss religion

2008-09-22T14:48:00.000+08:00

Open debate not right forum to discuss religion

Monday, 22 September 2008 08:41am

©The Star (Used by permission)

IPOH: Islamic matters should not be debated in open discussions like those organised by the Bar Council but in special forums presided over by Islamic authorities.

Malaysian Islamic Organisations Consultative Council (Mapim) coordinator Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid said the council needed to understand that issues concerning Islam were not things that just “come out of the blue.”

“There had been heated discussions on very sensitive issues,” he told reporters after the national launch of Mapim at Perak Mentri Besar Datuk Seri Mohammad Nizar Jamaluddin’s residence yesterday.

“When the (Bar) Council starts organising forums that will encroach and discuss things pertaining to Islamic laws, problems will arise, he said.

Mohd Azmi was responding to questions on whether Mapim, comprising 22 Islamic NGOs, was open to engaging in discussions on sensitive religious matters like conversion.

“We are ready to have dialogues to discuss these issues, but not in the way the (Bar) Council usually does it, through open forums,” he said.

“Any party that wants to discuss or have their views on Islam heard should do this in a special forum.”

The special forum, he said, should be presided over by Islamic authorities so that clarification can be given to those who question Islam’s teachings.”

However, Mohd Azmi stressed that Mapim was determined to work with non-Islamic NGOs on matters pertaining to social economy, governance, and development.He added that Mapim’s main focus was creating better racial stability in the country and helping educate the people on racial tolerance.

Earlier, Nizar called on Islamic NGOs to abandon their racial stance in their objectives through a “rebranding” exercise.

“It is not the Islamic way to be racially slanted in what you do. These NGOs must work for the benefit of the people, or their purpose will not be realised,” he said

HALUAN Aktifkan Misi Kemanusiaan Myanmar

2008-05-14T16:36:00.001+08:00

al@

Di kemaskini pada Sabtu, 10/05/2008 - www.haluan.org. my

Sebagaimana yang kita maklum, Myanmar telah dilanda Taufan Nargis pada 3hb Mei baru lalu. Tiupan taufan yang mencecah sehingga 150 batu sejam tersebut telah meranapkan daerah padat yang terkenal dengan penanaman padi, iaitu Delta Irrawandy. Lima daerah di Myanmar, iaitu Pegu, Irrawandy, Rangoon, Mon dan Karen telah diisytihar sebagai kawasan darurat. Media kerajaan junta Myanmar melaporkan kira-kira 23,000 orang terkorban dan 42,000 orang lagi hilang. Bagaimanapun, terdapat juga laporan-laporan yang tidak dapat disahkan membuat anggaran lebih 120,000 orang telah terkorban atau hilang.

Taufan tersebut memusnahkan 95 peratus dari bangunan dan rumah di 7 bandar di kawasan terbabit. PBB menganggarkan sehingga 1 juta orang kini kehilangan tempat tinggal. Wabak penyakit, terutamanya malaria dan cirit-birit, kini dikatakan bertambah buruk. Manakala kekurangan bekalan makanan merupakan perkara yang mendesak. Mengikut kenyataan U.N. Flash Appeal, lebih 30 peratus kanak-kanak di bawah lima tahun di kawasan terbabit mengalami masalah pemakanan yang kronik akibat kekurangan makanan, bekalan air dan sanitari dan kawalan kesihatan.

Mengikut dakwaan penduduk-penduduk tua, taufan tersebut adalah yang paling teruk pernah mereka alami. Sementara media-media antarabangsa menyifatkan kejadian ini sebagai bencana alam terburuk sejak kejadian tsunami tahun 2004 lalu.

HALUAN menyahut tanggungjawab untuk membantu mangsa-mangsa Taufan Nargis ini dengan mengaktifkan urusetia Misi Kemanusiaan Myanmar.

InsyaAllah relawan-relawan HALUAN, termasuk kumpulan medik daripada Kelab Kesihatan HALUAN (KKH) kini bersedia untuk dihantar ke Myanmar. Pihak urusetia kini sedang menunggu beberapa perkara berkaitan birokrasi sebelum dapat menghantar pasukan relawan.

HALUAN sekali lagi mengajak masyarakat prihatin untuk sama-sama membantu mangsa bencana ini. Berilah apa juga bentuk sumbangan, seperti pakaian, kewangan, makanan mahupun ubat-ubatan. Untuk beberapa pasukan awal, keutamaan akan diberi kepada bantuan perubatan dan bekalan susu bayi dan kanak-kanak. Justeru, tuan puan yang mempunyai sumber ubat-ubatan atau susu, sangat dialu-alukan untuk turut membantu.

Kaedah yang paling efektif untuk membantu Misi Kemanusiaan Myanmar ini adalah melalui sumbangan kewangan. Bantuan kewangan boleh disalurkan ke

Tabung Kemanusiaan HALUAN
Bank Islam Malaysia Berhad
Akaun No 14-023-01-002571- 8

Sila hubungi pejabat HALUAN tempatan untuk maklumat lanjut.

Anda juga boleh berhubung terus dengan Pengarah Operasi Misi Kemanusiaan Myanmar:

Hj Mohd Azhar Idris di talian 012 601 2743

atau

En Fadzil di talian 013 484 1309.

Semoga setiap bantuan, keprihatinan dan doa anda akan dibalasi dengan ganjaran penuh kemuliaan dari Allah Yang Maha Pemurah.

Palestinians' day of catastrophe - KL 16 Mei

2008-05-14T16:30:00.001+08:00

"Suara N9" pasn9@yahoo.com

By : Arman Ahmad

NST 12 May 08. KUALA LUMPUR: Several non-governmental
organisations (NGO) will send a petition comprising
more than 100,000 signatures of Malaysians to the
United Nations representative here on Friday to
denounce the Israeli occupation of Palestinian
territory.

The move is in commemoration of the 60th anniversary
of Nakba Day -- the day the state of Israel was
declared on May 15, 1948.

Citizens International (CI), an NGO formed to foster
awareness, activism and advocacy on issues that are
central to the stability and wellbeing of humanity,
said the petition was meant to be forwarded to the UN
Security Council.

"At the same time, we will also send a petition of
support to the Palestinian Embassy in Malaysia," said
CI spokesman Mohd Azmi Abdul Hamid.

Some 500 to 1,000 people would also demonstrate
peacefully outside the embassy.

"With this petition, we also hope that the Malaysian
government can make an initiative to help the people
of Palestine, especially those living on the Gaza
Strip."

"We also hope that members of parliament, regardless
of their race and religious background, would also
table a special motion to commemorate Nakba Day," he
said.

Nakba Day, literally translated as a "day of
catastrophe" , also set into motion a series of events
which caused untold hardship for millions of people
until today.

The Israelis carried out what some regard as ethnic
cleansing of the Palestinians from the land which is
now under their control.

It was part of a comprehensive plan, designed by the
Zionist high command, to expel Palestinians from the
territory after the British mandate expired, and to
seize as much land as possible for an intended Jewish
state.

Between 1947 and 1948, more than 750,000 Palestinians
were made homeless.

Today, this population has grown to over four million.

http://www.nst. com.my/Current_ News/NST/ Monday/National/ 2238006/Article/ index_html

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Halalkah Restoran tomYan Kita?

2008-05-14T16:27:00.000+08:00

"umar faruqi" faruqi03@yahoo.com

Dilulus terbit pada Tuesday, May 13 @ 11:14:06 MYT oleh SongkokPutih
Oleh nestapa

"

Ahad lepas saya sempat ke MIHAS 2008. Ramai sungguh orang, sebenarnya hari pertama MIHAS saya dah cuba pergi tapi dek orang terlalu ramai, saya postpone ke hari Ahad. Masuk khemah MIHAS kena daftar dan petugas2 kebanyakannya anak2 muda bangsa cina.

Tertanya2 jugak saya, kenapa bukan muslim yang kontrol MIHAS? Oh.. mungkin mereka ni petugas �event organizer�. Maklumlah, mana ada kompeni melayu/muslim yang boleh anjurkan projek besar2 gini. Anjur funfare boleh la kot!

Suasana di kaunter pendaftaran

salah satu pesertaIHAS 2008

Suasana di kaunter pendaftaran

Soal halal ni saya dah �post� kan melalui PAS dah Patut Mula Buat Kerja

Di sini saya nak panjangkan isu halal hasil dari satu email yang diterima berkaitan produk Tomyam.

Dari gambar2 yang dikirimkan ini ternyata bahawa produk MAE PRANOM dari Thailand ini sah tidak halal. Untuk makluman, bagi tukang2 masak tomyam atau lebih sinonim dengan panggilan tukang masak �masakan panas� ini, (yang biasanya merupakan orang2 Thailand yang datang bekerja disini) mereka lebih suka menggunakan produk keluaran Mae Pranom ini.

Kenyataan ini berdasarkan pengalaman penulis sendiri yang pernah mengusahakan restoran masakan panas pada tahun 2002.

Kemungkinan disebabkan mereka belajar memasak menggunakan produk ini lalu mereka tidak berani beralih kepada keluaran tempatan yang lain umpamanya Adabi, Maggi atau Knorr. Manakala bagi kita yang tidak faham bahasa Thai, 100% bergantung kepada logo Halal yang kononnya diperakui oleh badan Islam Negara berkenaan. Namun begitu, apabila isu Chili Paste ini terdedah, secara otomatik ia mendedahkan kedudukan sebenar produk Mae Pranom ini. Katalah, hanya Chili Paste ini saja yang menggunakan bahan dari babi manakala �Tomyam Paste� tidak , ia masih tidak dapat mengesahkan status halal paste tomyam tersebut kerana mungkin ia dibuat di kilang yang sama. Untuk menyelamatkan perut kita dari dimasuki bahan haram ini, lebih baik produk keluaran syarikat ini tidak digunakan walaupun ada halal dicetak padanya.

Persoalan cepu mas di sini ialah adakah pengusaha2 kedai tom yam menyedari hakikat ini? Dan kalau mereka menyedarinya, adakah mereka telah memberhentikan penggunaan produk ini dan menyamak peralatan memasak mereka? Kalau mereka sudah tidak menggunakan produk ini, alhamdulillah, boleh lah makan kat kedai. Gunakanlah produk tempatan, dah sah JAKIM iktiraf.Tapi kalau peralatannya belum disamak, bagaimana? Kalaupun kita order sup tulang yang tak gunakan paste tomyam ini, kualinya tetap yang sama. Fikir2kanlah� Saya sendiri sudah beralih ke nasi mamak dan nasi lemak kalau makan kat kedai. Tak berani nak makan masakan panas dah�

http://takgedebe. blogspot. com/

*****.*****

Daripada Abu Umarah iaitu al-Bara' bin 'Azib radhiallahu anhuma, katanya: "Kita semua diperintah oleh Rasulullah s.a.w. untuk melakukan tujuh perkara, iaitu meninjau orang sakit, mengikuti janazah, menentasymitkan orang yang bersin, menolong orang yang lemah, membantu orang yang teraniaya, meratakan salam dan melaksanakan sumpah."

(Muttafaq 'alaih)

Tajuddin gagal namakan tokoh Umno dipenjara menuntut merdeka

2008-05-14T16:22:00.002+08:00

"Nawawi Mustafa" lot3137@yahoo.com

Abdul Halim Mohd Rashid
Mon | May 12, 08 | 5:14:13 pm MYT

KUALA LUMPUR, 12 Mei (Hrkh) - Datuk Tajuddin Abdul Rahman (BN-Pasir Salak) gagal menjawab soalan Haji Khalid Abdul Samad (PAS-Shah Alam) yang meminta beliau menamakan seorang tokoh Umno yang dipenjarakan kerana memperjuangkan kemerdekaan.

Sebelum itu, tokoh Umno yang tidak senang dengan gelaran "Six Million Dollars Man" itu membangkit-bangkitk an peranan Umno memperjuangkan kemeredekaan negara ini.

Cara beliau menyampaikan hujjahnya seolah-olah menggambarkan bahawa Umnolah yang memulakan perjuangan membebaskan rakyat negara ini dari belenggu penjajahan British.

Khalid lalu bertanya adakah Tajuddin sedar bahawa perjuangan menuntut kemerdekaan dimulakan oleh begitu banyak badan-badan lain yang ditubuhkan oleh rakyat negara ini pada masa itu termasuk Hizbul Muslimin dan sebagainya.

Beliau juga menuntut Tajuddin menamakan hanya seorang tokoh Umno yang dipenjarakan kerana perjuangan menuntut kemerdekaan dari British.

Apabila Tajuddin tidak memberikan jawapan yang menepati soalan yang dikemukakan, sekali lagi Khalid bangun dan bertanya dengan lantang: "Namakan seorang pemimpin yang ditangkap kerana memperjuangkan kemerdekaan" .

Sekali lagi Ahli Parlimen Pasir Salak itu tidak memberikan jawapan yang dikehendaki dan Khalid sekali bertanya sehingga keadaan menjadi agak kecoh. Yang DiPertua dewan kemudiannya meminta Tajuddin meneruskan ucapan dan tidak memberikan laluan.

Mengenai tuduhan "Six Million Dollar" terhadapnya, tokoh Umno itu tidak menafikan dan menjelaskan beliau tidak membelanjakan wang yang dibangkitkan itu untuk merebut jawatan di dalam partinya.

Menurut beliau, beliau mendermakan wang itu kepada masjid di mana ayahnya menjadi siak dari muda hingga ke tua dan sekolah di mana beliau pernah mendapat pendidikan.

Mungkin tidak berpuas hati lagi, Tajuuddin mengakhiri ucapannya dengan mendakwa bahawa Ahli-Ahli Parlimen pembangkang di hadapannya berada di dalam Dewan Rakyat "kerana jasa-jasa Umno".

Khamis 15/5/2008 ini, genap 60 tahun umat Islam belum dapat membebaskan bumi berkat Palestin dari penjajahan Yahudi

2008-05-14T16:11:00.001+08:00

--- On Wed, 14/5/08, Amin <ahmad_amin1838@yahoo.com> wrote:
From: Amin <ahmad_amin1838@yahoo.com>

Terowong Zionis di bawah Baitul Maqdis

http://amanpalestin .com/v1/modules. php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=9

Article posted: 15 Sep, 2006 - 11:43 PM

Penggalian di bawah Baitul Maqdis berlaku semenjak tahun 1967. Ia disedari oleh umat Islam pada 24 September 1996 apabila rejim Zionis Israel merasmikan terowong tersebut sempena perayaan sambutan 3000 Tahun Bandar Daud. Ketika itu, panjang terowong menjangkau 488meter dengan ketinggian melebihi 13 meter dan juga 20 meter di sesetengah tempat.

Tujuan penggalian terowong tersebut ialah untuk merobohkan Masjid Aqsa secara semulajadi. Sebarang gegaran berpunca dari gempa bumi dan letupan yang kuat sudah cukup untuk meruntuhkan Masjid al-Aqsa.

Apabila roboh, pihak rejim Zionis akan berlepas tangan dan tidak akan bertanggungjawab serta segera membina Haikal(kuil) dengan alasan masjid roboh dengan sendiri dan tanah tersebut akan menjadi milik mereka kerana tiada lagi masjid di atasnya. Pada Mac 2001, 30 buah pertubuhan ekstrimis Yahudi telah bersepakat meletak batu asas penubuhan Haikal di kawasan Kubah al-Sakhra.

Tembok Pemisah:

Di bina daripada simen, kawat berduri, pagar elektrik, parit, pasir jerlus, pengesan-pengesan pergerakan elektronik, menara kawalan dan jalan keselamatan. Kos pembinaan tembok tersebut ialah USD satu juta per kilometer dan dijangka menjangkah melebehi 700 kilometer panjang setelah siap. Kebanyakan daripada kos tersebut ditanggung oleh Amerika Syarikat dengan alasan untuk menjaga kemanan dan kestabilan di rantau tersebut. Ribuan ekar tanah milik rakyat Palestin telah dirampas dan ratusan ribu pokok dan tanaman ladang dimusnahkan. Tembok tersebut bertujuan menghalang para pejuang Palestin dan langkah menguburkan rakyat Palestin secara tersusun apabila mereka kehilangan sumber pendapatan, kesihatan, pendidikan, perniagaan, makanan, minuman, warisan dan juga keluarga. Tembok tersebut sebenarnya adalah penjara terbesar di dunia yang dibina bagi menempatkan rakyat Palestin.

Posted on 12 Mei 2008 oleh inijalanku

http://inijalanku. wordpress. com/2008/ 05/12/60- tahun-penjajahan -israel-1551948- 2008/

Pelarian Palestin 1948. Hari ini kanak-kanak tersebut berumur 70an di kem pelarian luar Palestin atau telah meninggal dunia tanpa sempat pulang ke kampung halaman mereka yang asal. Bagi kebanyakan mereka tiada harapan melainkan kepada Allah dan Gerakan HAMAS (Ikhwan Palestin) untuk mereka pulang. Adapun kebanyakan pemimpin dan umat Islam lain di dunia, mereka sedang dibuai mimpi atau takut hilang kerusi.

Pada hari Khamis 15/5/2008 ini, genap 60 tahun umat Islam belum dapat membebaskan bumi berkat Palestin dari penjajahan Yahudi. Ini sekaligus tanda yang jelas betapa umat Islam hari ini berada di dalam keadaan yang paling lemah dalam sejarah 1400 tahunnya yang panjang.

Penjajah British yang mula menawan Palestin pada tahun 1917, setelah membuat penghijrahan Yahudi secara terancang masuk membanjiri Palestin, akhirnya menyerahkan bumi Islam ini kepada pendatang Yahudi pada tahun 1947 dan tertubuhlah negara haram “Israel”. PBB mengiktiraf “Israel” pada tahun 1948. Peristiwa pedih bersejarah ini dikenali sebagai “An-Nakbah” bermakna malapetaka, berlaku pada 15/5/1948. Selepas itu bagi memastikan bilangan pendatang Yahudi mengatasi bilangan pribumi Palestin, pembunuhan dan pengusiran beramai-ramai dilakukan seperti tragedi Dier Yassin, Shabra Shatila dan banyak lagi. Hasilnya hari ini, 6 juta pelarian Palestin merempat di negara-negara jiran seperti Jordan, Lubnan, Syria dan di merata dunia termasuk negara-negara Barat.

Sudah jatuh ditimpa tangga, setelah menguatkan kedudukannya 20 tahun di Palestin sejak 1948, pada tahun 1967 Israel menyerang dan menawan Bukit Golan milik Syria, Tebing Barat milik Jordan dan Gaza milik Mesir dan masih mencengkamnya sehingga ke hari ini. Berbagai sidang damai diadakan dari dulu hingga kini, namun isu Pelarian Palestin untuk kembali ke tanahair mereka, isu Golan, Tebing Barat dan Gaza sedikitpun tidak dihiraukan oleh Israel.

Selepas 30 tahun penubuhannya untuk membebaskan Palestin, PLO akhirnya telah berdamai dan mengiktiraf “Israel” dalam Perjanjian Oslo 1993 tanpa mendapat apa-apa pulangan selain elaun bulanan dari Amerika dan Eropah. Umat Palestin beralih kepada HAMAS yang masih utuh dengan prinsip membebaskan Palestin dan tidak mengiktiraf “Israel”. Dalam Pilihanraya Umum Palestin 25/1/2006, HAMAS menang lalu Israel, Amerika, Eropah, banyak Negara-negara Arab dan Islam mengikut arahan Barat mengadakan sekatan minyak, makanan, kewangan dan sebagainya terhadap 1.5 juta penduduk Gaza, Palestin hingga ke hari ini sebagai hukuman kerana memilih HAMAS untuk memimpin mereka dalam proses “Demokrasi” yang kononnya diperjuangkan oleh Barat.

Gaza, 6km x 25km, kem tahanan terbesar Abad 21. Bekalan bahanapi dan makanan tidak dibenarkan masuk melalui sempadan 2 negara jiran, Israel dan Mesir.

Dengan ini setelah 60 tahun merana dibawah kezaliman Yahudi, mereka juga perit disebabkan kebanyakan ketua negara-negara umat Islam tidak membantu kerana takut kepada Amerika dan Negara-negara Barat yang lain. Padah tali gantung yang diterima Saddam Hussein yang pernah cuba mencabar Israel dan Amerika dengan peluru berpandu Scudnya masih menghantui ramai pemimpin negara umat Islam.

Isteri dan 4 anaknya mati dibom ketika sedang bersarapan.

Moga umat Islam akan segera sedar dari lamunan mereka. Dihari umat terjaga dan bangkit, pastinya penderitaan umat Palestin selepas peristiwa An-Nakbah sehingga ke hari ini akan segera berakhir. Ameen.

LAMPIRAN

Sebaik Yahudi mengambilalih Palestin dari British tahu 1948, pembunuhan dan pengusiran mengakibatkan pelarian yang paling ramai di dunia. Kem-kem pelarian di negara-negara jiran pada 1948 adalah seperti di bawah. Setelah 60 tahun, pada hari ini, dengan lahirnya zuriat dan generasi, bilangan mereka adalah lebih ramai. Kem-kem berupa menjadi bangunan konkrit tetapi dalam keadaan yang sangat dhaif. Saya pernah menziarahi hanya 1 kem di Jordan (el-Wehdaat) dan 3 kem di Lubnan (Shabra, Shatila dan Burj el-Barajneh

Tags: Burma Islam taufan kejam zalim

Posted by: asdiqa | April 26, 2008

60 Tahun Nakbah Palestin

http://msmsoton. wordpress. com/

oleh : Dr Zainur Rashid Zainuddin
Perunding
Aman Palestin

(Sempena 60 tahun Nakbah (malapetaka) pembentukan Negara Haram Israel sejak 15hb Mei 1948 )

Istilah Nakbah mungkin adalah satu perkataan yang agak asing bagi sebahagian rakyat Malaysia melainkan buat mereka yang benar-benar prihatin mengenai isu umat Islam antarabangsa terutamanya di Palestin.

NAKBAH bermaksud malapetaka atau bencana besar. Manakala Nakbah Palestin merujuk kepada penubuhan Negara Haram Israel yang telah diistiharkan secara resminya pada 15hb Mei 1948. Peristiwa ini berlaku selepas terlaksananya kependudukan dan penjajahan haram oleh rejim Yahudi Zionis ke atas tanah dan penduduk asal Negara Palestin secara sistematik dengan bantuan British dan PBB. Tarikh penting tersebut adalah detik hitam buat penduduk asal bumi Palestin, orang-orang Arab dan dunia Islam secara keseluruhannya. Negara Palestin yang selama ini telah dinaungi kedamaian dan keadilan untuk ribuan tahun itu semakin merasai keperitan, kepedihan dan derita yang berpanjangan apabila mereka berada di bawah jajahan dan kongkongan Yahudi Zionis sejak enam dekad yang lalu.

Pencetus penubuhan negara Yahudi

Cadangan penubuhan negara khas untuk orang-orang Yahudi telah dibuat oleh seorang wartawan Hungari, Theodore Hertzl yang merupakan pengasas gerakan Zionis di dalam gagasannya yang kemudiannya dibukukan di dalam Die Judem Stat (Negara Israel) pada 1896. Kewujudan Pertubuhan Zionis Antarabangsa (WZO) melalui persidangannya yang pertama di Basle, Switzerland pada 27-29hb Ogos 1897 di bawah pimpinannya telah membuka era aktiviti politik Zionis, mengorak langkah kepada pembentukan Negara Zionis di Palestin.

Pemangkin pendudukan haram Yahudi di bumi Palestin

British yang merupakan sekutu kuat gerakan Zionis telah sentiasa menyebelahi mereka dengan mengisytiharkan Deklarasi Balfour pada 2hb November 1917 apabila kerajaan British telah memberi jaminan untuk mewujudkan sebuah negara khusus untuk bangsa Yahudi di Palestin. Ini merupakan usaha yang paling jahat dalam sejarah peradaban dunia kerana dengan jelas ianya mencabuli perjanjian antarabangsa. Dengan angkuhnya deklarasi ini telah menidakkan hak dan aspirasi penduduk bumi Palestin yang sah yang kemudiannya telah diikuti dengan penjajahan Palestin oleh tentera British.

Selepas itu berlakulah penghijrahan beramai-ramai yang sistematik yang melibatkan ratusan ribu Yahudi Eropah dan Rusia ke Palestin. Sedikit demi sedikit tanah milik penduduk Palestin dirampas samada dengan cara kekerasan mahupun dengan cara penipuan oleh pendatang Yahudi. Read More…

Laporan Badan Penyelidik Antarabangsa Palestin (UNSCOP) milik PBB telah mengakui tentang ketidak-adilan pengambilan tanah serta cadangan pembahagian bumi Palestin kepada dua buah negara yang berasingan iaitu Palestin dan Yahudi.

Kelemahan Liga Negara Arab

Rakyat Palestin adalah antara bangsa yang paling malang di dunia kerana dilupakan oleh PBB, negara-negara Arab dan juga umat Islam sendiri. Ketika Yahudi Zionis erat bekerjasama dengan British dan PBB demi mencapai cita-cita mereka, Liga Negara Arab pula gagal membantu perjuangan rakyat Palestin bagi mempertahankan hak-hak asasi mereka dalam mempertahankan kedaulatan Negara Palestin yang telah mereka diami sejak 4500 tahun lamanya.

Penglibatan tentera dari Liga Negara Arab yang digembar-gemburkan itu hanyalah merupakan tragedi apabila mereka telah ditewaskan dengan mudah oleh angkatan tentera pengganas Yahudi yang juga telah meresap ke dalam pimpinan tentera Liga Negara Arab.

Dengan kekalahan yang mengaibkan tentera Arab di dalam peperangan ini dan diikuti dengan penaklukan 78 % bumi Palestin, Yahudi Zionis telah mengumumkan Negara “Israel” pada petang 14hb Mei 1948. British mengundurkan tentera dan pemerintahannya ke atas Palestin apabila Negara Israel yang merdeka diistiharkan secara resminya pada 15hb Mei 1948.

Tertubuhnya Israel adalah Malapetaka Palestin

Kesan langsung dari nakbah atau malapetaka ini ialah kekejaman pasukan tentera pengganas Yahudi Zionis yang telah bertindak mengusir lebih daripada 60 % rakyat Palestin (lebih kurang 800 000 orang daripada sejumlah 1.39 juta rakyat) ke luar negara manakala 30 ribu yang lain telah diusir ke daerah-daerah yang ditakluki mereka.

Daripada jumlah 580 perkampungan rakyat Palestin yang wujud sebelum perang 1948, rejim Zionis telah menghancurkan 478 buah kampung serta terlibat dalam lebih 34 jenayah pembunuhan beramai-ramai rakyat Palestin.

Antara yang paling kejam ialah tragedi Deir Yassin pada 9hb April 1948 yang melibatkan pembunuhan seramai 254 orang termasuk orang-orang tua, wanita dan 52 orang kanak-kanak. Petugas Palang Merah dan PBB sendiri menyaksikan bagaimana rumah-rumah rakyat Palestin dibakar dan orang yang cuba menyelamatkan diri ditembak. Dalam serangan itu, wanita-wanita yang hamil telah dibelah perutnya dan dikeluarkan janin dan bayi hidup-hidup dari rahim ibunya. 52 orang kanak-kanak pula telah disiksa di depan ibu bapa mereka, lalu mereka dibunuh dan dipenggal kepalanya.

Arafat Hijazi, salah seorang saksi yang masih hidup menceritakan,”Saya melihat seorang tentera Yahudi memegang saudara saya, Saliha al Halabi yang hamil Sembilan bulan. Dia meletakkan senapangnya di leher Saliha lalu memuntahkan peluru sehingga Saliha terbunuh. Tentera tersebut mengambil sebilah pisau lalu membelah perutnya sehingga terburai, kemudian mengeluarkan anak Saliha yang telah mati dengan pisau Nazinya yang mengerikan itu”.

Peperangan 1948 telah memusnahkan kehidupan rakyat Palestin yang telah hidup di bumi bertuah ini sejak ribuan tahun lamanya. Sesungguhnya amat tidak adil apabila Yahudi menjadikan Holocaust atau peristiwa pembunuhan bangsa mereka di Eropah oleh Nazi Jerman sebagai alasan untuk mereka membina rejim mereka di atas lautan, penderitaan dan keperitan rakyat Palestin.

Rejim Zionis tanpa malu dan segan telah membina tembok pemisah gergasi yang terpanjang di dunia iaitu sepanjang 720 km di Tebing Barat yang menyekat penghidupan rakyat Palestin di sana serta menjadikan Tebing Barat sebagai penjara yang terbesar di dunia.

Mereka sengaja melupakan bahawa bangsa Yahudi bukanlah penduduk asal bumi Palestin sehinggakan pemerintah tentera mereka yang kemudiannya dilantik sebagai menteri pertahanan, Moshe Dayan mengakui sendiri bahawa setiap penempatan Yahudi dibina dari keruntuhan perkampungan rakyat Palestin. Ini adalah jenayah yang terancang melalui perencanaan dan pengiktirafan sebelumnya.

Jenayah Ini disahkan lagi apabila PBB yang telah mengeluarkan lebih daripada 110 resolusi mereka (sehingga tahun 2000) supaya mengembalikan hak 4.4 juta pelarian Palestin supaya dibenarkan pulang ke kampung halaman mereka. Namun tidak ada satu pun daripada resolusi-resolusi ini yang dilaksanakan oleh rejim Yahudi Zionis.

Nakbah 1948 yang melanda Palestin juga menimbulkan kenangan pahit dan perasaan terhina yang mendalam di kalangan rakyat Palestin, orang-orang Arab dan umat Islam secara keseluruhannya sehingga ke hari ini.

Enam Dekad Nakbah

Kini 60 tahun telah berlalunya Nakbah Palestin, namun rakyat dan Negara Palestin terus diganyang Yahudi Zionis sehinggakan :

1. Rejim Zionis terus yang melakukan penindasan terhadap rakyat Palestin seperti meruntuhkan rumah-rumah mereka, membakar kebun-kebun mereka dan memperluaskan kawasan penempatan pendatang haram Yahudi. Sehingga kini yahudi telahpun merampas dan menguasai kira-kira 90 % dari keseluruhan bumi Palestin.

2. Peningkatan serangan ke atas Masjid Al Aqsa oleh ekstrimis Zionis yang semakin kerap mencabul kehormatan dan kesucian qiblat pertama umat Islam di dalam rangka mereka MengYahudikan Baitul Maqdis. Mereka bercita-cita untuk meruntuhkan masjid Al Aqsa dan mendirikan Kuil Yahudi di atas tapak masjid sekarang.

3. Melakukan penangkapan dan pemenjaraan orang-orang Palestin yang tidak bersalah sehingga lebih daripada 12 ribu di kalangan mereka kini merengkok di dalam penjara Israel. Di kalangan mereka adalah orang-orang tua, kanak-kanak malahan juga wanita yang hamil lagi sakit.

4. Sekatan ekonomi yang dirancang secara rapi oleh Zionis menyebabkan orang-orang Palestin tersepit dan terpaksa bergantung kepada sumber pekerjaan yang dimiliki oleh Yahudi. Akibatnya ramai di kalangan rakyat Palestin yang menganggur dan dibelenggu kemiskinan serta kebuluran.

5. Ramai di kalangan kanak-kanak palestin yang telah dinafikan hak mereka untuk belajar sehinggakan jumlah mereka yang sempat ke pengajian menengah adalah dari peratusan yang sangat kecil.

6. Rejim Zionis tanpa malu dan segan telah membina tembok pemisah gergasi yang terpanjang di dunia iaitu sepanjang 720 km di Tebing Barat yang menyekat penghidupan rakyat Palestin di sana serta menjadikan Tebing Barat sebagai penjara yang terbesar di dunia.

7. Dijangkakan seramai 6.45 juta di kalangan rakyat Palestin adalah pelarian yang hidup dengan penuh kedaifan sejak 60 tahun yang lalu. Inilah jumlah pelarian yang paling lama dan paling ramai di dalam sejarah peradaban dunia.

8. Rejim Zionis kini berterusan menyiksa dan membunuh rakyat Palestin terutamanya di Gaza yang turut diakui pemimpin kanan mereka sebagai holocaust yang lebih hebat.

Penindasan, penodaan dan kekejaman yang dilakukan oleh rejim Israel ini terhadap rakyat dan negara Palestin telah berlaku dalam tempoh yang amat panjang dan berlarutan. Sudah tentulah ianya tidak harus dibiarkan begitu sahaja.

Peranan masyarakat antarabangsa

Fakta-fakta sejarah, kemanusiaan dan undang-undang antarabangsa amat memihak kepada rakyat Palestin yang berhak memiliki ketuanan dan kedaulatan di bumi mereka sediri.

Rejim Zionis Israel kini mendapati bahawa mereka tidak boleh mengawal keadaan rakyat dan negara Palestin. Malahan mereka terpaksa membuat berbagai pendekatan yang keras mahupun dengan cara berkompromi untuk berhadapan dengan kebangkitan rakyat Palestin. Mereka menggunakan pelbagai strategi terutamanya dengan mempengaruhi sekutu kuat mereka iaitu Amerika Syarikat untuk menangai permasalahan yang terus berpanjangan.

PBB dan masyarakat antarabangsa yang sentiasa memperjuangkan keadilan semestinya teguh dalam membuat pendirian dan tidak dipengaruhi oleh lobi Yahudi Zionis di dalam membuat dan melaksanakan keputusan-keputusan mereka. Kependudukan dan negara Palestin mesti dikembalikan kepada pemilik asal yang sah yang pernah mendiami bumi ini sejak sekian lama.

Peranan umat Islam

Bumi Palestin adalah tanah yang mulia untuk seluruh umat Islam kerana di situlah letaknya Masjid Al Aqsa yang merupakan qiblat pertama umat, tempat berlakunya peristiwa Isra dan Mi’raj, Tanah Suci umat Islam yang ke tiga yang juga merupakan bumi para Nabi. Isu Palestin bukanlah sekadar isu untuk orang-orang Palestin atau orang-orang Arab sahaja. Bahkan isu ini adalah isu penting yang berkaitan dengan keimanan untuk semua umat Islam di seluruh dunia.

Umat Islam di seluruh dunia seharusnya bersatu memperjuangkan isu Palestin yang merupakan isu induk umat Islam di abad ini. Perselisihan dan perbezaan budaya, geografi, bahasa dan bangsa sudah semestinya diketepikan demi menjayakan misi besar dalam menyelesaikan masalah ini. Negara –negara Islam perlu berani dan ikhlas membantu terutamanya dari segi kemanusiaan setelah ratusan ribu nyawa yang tidak berdosa terkorban dalam krisis yang berlarutan sekian lamanya.

Di Malaysia

Kefahaman mengenai isu ini masih perlu diperluaskan lagi di kalangan masyarakat Malaysia yang pelbagai melalui penulisan di akhbar-akhbar dan majalah, ceramah-ceramah dan pameran-pameran serta media elektronik. Sumbangan kemanusiaan pula mesti dipergiatkan bagi membantu rakyat Palestin yang telah sekian lama tertindas. Tidak keterlaluan jika kita mengatakan bahawa Malaysia seharusnya menjuarai isu sejagat ini, bukan sahaja di kalangan kita bahkan di persada antarabangsa.

Persoalannya, adakah kita telah berbuat sesuatu bagi meringankan beban dan kesangsaraan yang mereka alami selama ini?

The disappearing forest of Sungai Buloh

2008-05-14T16:08:00.001+08:00

"vincent chen yew ling" vincent66ling@yahoo.com

Please read the article by the title of "The disappearing forest of Sungai Buloh",
at http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/Streets/Friday/Stories/2202812/Article/

The disappearing forest of Sungai Buloh

Subashini Nair

Jeffrey Phang is concerned that the Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve is shrinking.

FROM a massive 1,600ha some 100 years ago, the Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve has been reduced to just about 140ha by unrelenting development.

Even the swamp at the Kota Damansara Community Forest Park is getting shallower.

At the rate things are going, the Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve, which is the oldest forest reserve in the country (it was gazetted in 1898), won't be a forest any more.

Imagine cruising along the North-South Highway, and as you enter Kota Damansara, you see only concrete jungle with not a single tree in sight. No natural green lungs and no majestic trees playing host to rich flora and fauna.

If tomorrow dawns without trees, the future will be grim.

The simple, universal fact of no trees, no life may not appeal to us until it is too late.

But this might just be the situation if the proposed Kota Damansara Community Forest Park, the last surviving portion of what was once the mighty Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve, is allowed to be developed.

This would rob the Selangor people and their future generations of the only surviving secondary forest reserve.

The status of the remaining forest has been questioned by the Friends of Kota Damansara after it was de-gazetted to house mixed development and a Muslim cemetery as stated in the Petaling Jaya Local Draft Plan 2.

The destruction of the forest reserve will be irreversible and a lost heritage for the communities of Kota Damansara and the surrounding areas.

However, all is not lost. The Selangor State Government will push for the local draft plan to be reviewed with focus on protecting green lungs, especially the Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve.

The newly elected Kota Damansara state assemblyman, Dr Mohd Nasir Hashim, has given his assurance that the green lung and controversial Muslim cemetery at the forest reserve will remain.

The Friends of Kota Damansara, formed to fight for the preservation of the forest, will not rest until the Local Draft plan is revised and the forest gazetted again.

The group, together with the Malaysian Nature Society (MNS) as adviser, has started a campaign to preserve the forest.

They even managed to obtain RM380,000 from the United Nations Development Programme through its Small Grants Programme towards establishing the park with facilities for the community.

Today, the forest is rich in wildlife, hosting 227 species of birds such as black bellied malkohas, crested serpent eagles, kingfishers, broadbills, dollar birds and even the rare Argus pheasant. Eight species of mammals and 25 species of reptiles are also found in the area.

It is now being used by people from all over Selangor. School children and corporate bodies also conduct activities there. The question, however, remains: will the forest be permanently gazetted as a forest reserve?

Co-chairman of the group, Jeffery Phang, said the forest has become an ecological platform for education and awareness. As such, he said preservation of the forest in crucial for the future generations.

"Indiscriminate development is a concern for everyone as it is not due to lack of planning but due to business motivation. This will result in destroying the country's natural resources in order to satisfy the greed of some quarters.

"It is usually the case of clearing the land, building houses and allocating a small portion of area as playground or park for the community.

"This is no longer enough because the amount of damage caused is irreversible. They should start building around the green lungs," he said adding that no one will ever be able to grow back these trees, not to its present state, unless it takes 300 years.

"There is only one conclusion, development breeds greed. I refuse to believe that the people approving the plan do not realise the dangers of an unplanned development.

"We are not against development. We are only against unplanned development, as it would result in massive congestion, flooding and climatic changes.

"After the damage they have created, they will come up with flood mitigation projects that would cost millions.

Jones Gabriel Ponudurai, chairman of Friends of Kota Damansara (FOKD), said: "Don't they realise that the forest provides clean, reliable surface water for streams and lakes and at the same time helps prevent flooding, sedimentation, soil erosion and surface damage? Development is for the people only if it is sustainable."

He added that many residents have migrated as they felt nothing would change and things would only worsen.

FOKD, which was formed in 2002, consists of 15 residents associations and the number is still growing.

"The bigger we are, the louder we will be and we want to be heard.

"We hope that the government listens to the community more, " Jones added.

The group will be the voice for Kota Damansara, addressing issues and problems affecting its community. Their objective is to turn Kota Damansara into a model township by aligning Petaling Jaya City Council policies with community perspectives in accordance with the council's Local Agenda 21 (LA21).

"LA21 has been established for some time and the council has been reasonable in implementing it. However, we now want to pick up the momentum and ensure its effectiveness with the involvement of the community."

Chronology of events stated in The Friends of Kota Damansara website.

How much longer will this last? Even the swamp at the Kota Damansara Community Forest Park is getting shallower.

Jan 14, 1898 - the Selangor government gazetted an area of 6,590ha under Article 6 of the Selangor Land Enactment 1897 as Sungai Buloh Forest Reserve for public purposes of ensuring accessible sources of wood.

1908 - Gazetting of the Selangor Forest Enactment (18/1907) and the forest reserve falls under the State Forestry Department.

1929 - a tree nursery and a Forestry Department training centre was established in the north of the forest reserve.

1954 - Forest Reserve Research Institute (FRIM) set up a number of long-term research plots to study the dynamics of tropical rainforest ecology.

1983 - About half of the original forest reserve had been excised for agriculture.

1988 - Entire eastern edge of the area was cleared for the North-South Highway.

1992 - 1,600ha was given to PKNS for the Kota Damansara township (originally named Bandar Baru Sungai Buloh Jaya).

1993 - Kota Damansara township launched with the theme ‘Living in Harmony with the Environment’.

Dec 21, 1993 - State Government excised 402.6ha from the forest reserve for a botanical garden Feb 3, 1994 - State Government reserved the area under Sect 62 (1) of the National Land Code for the public purpose of a botanical garden to be maintained by the state government.

2000 - Federal Government allocated RM125mil to the Malaysian Agriculture Research and Development Institute (Mardi) for the National Botanical Garden under the Eighth Malaysian Plan (2001-2005).

2002 - Federal Government decided to shift the National Botanical Garden to Bukit Cherakah Forest Reserve in Shah Alam.

May 2002 - Development proposals for the parcel published. Residents protested.

March 2004 - State Government promised that the land would become Taman Botani.

June 17, 2004 - State Government published its intention to revoke 58.83ha of the Taman Botani to the east of the highway for a Muslim cemetery.

2006 - State Government agreed to lease the Bukit Cahaya Sri Alam (Bukit Cherakah) to the Federal Government for 60 years.

March 2006 - Friends of Kota Damansara produced guidebook entitled “A Step Beyond the City”.

Dec 2006 - The state exco said the area to the east of the highway was too rocky and unsuitable for a cemetery and approved 50acre of Taman Botani for the purpose.

March 2007 - Earthworks on the cemetery starts.

Oct 2007 - Federal cabinet approved RM141mil for the site to be developed over a five-year period.

Dec 2007 - the Draft Petaling Jaya Local Plan 2020 was published, zoning more of Taman Botani for residential development with a small area for recreation.

assalamualaikum dari syria

2008-05-14T16:01:00.001+08:00

"Ahmad Norain b. Abdul Talib (CLM-THEFT-OP)" norain@kurnia.com

Salam sahabat semua,

Posting yg diterima menceritakan kepayahan yang saudara kita alami dalam usaha mendekatkan diri kepada yang haq. Mungkin ade antara kita yang dapat menhulurkan bantuan insyalallah.

wasallam.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: azmil musta <dzingus@yahoo. com>
Date: 2008/5/13

Assalamualaikum warahmatullahi wabarakatuh,

Saya memohon kerjasama antum untuk meyebarkan risalah saya (attachment) kepada kenalan yang lain. Ini adalah kali pertama saya melakukan ini dan mengharapkan izin serta keredhaan Allah untuknya. Saya sangat menhargai usaha saudara saudari sekalian dan mendoakan balasan yang berlipat ganda dari pada Allah untuk antum semua. Jazakallah khair.

Wassalam

Mohd Azmil Mustapha

5 Jamadil Awal 1429

Damsyik Syria

Pesta Liar di Port Dickson: PAS serah memo kepada MB

2008-05-14T15:56:00.001+08:00

"Nawawi Mustafa" lot3137@yahoo.com

Wan Nordin Wan Yaacob
Tue | May 13, 08 | 4:16:35 pm MYT

SEREMBAN, 13 Mei (Hrkh) - PAS Negeri Sembilan telah menyerahkan memorandum bantahan dan mendesak kerajaan pimpinan Dato' Seri Mohammad Hassan menyiasat penganjuran pesta liar di Port Dickson pada 10 mei lalu.

Memorandum itu diserahkan rombongan yang dikepalai Pesuruhjaya PAS Negeri Sembilan, Zulkifly Mohamed Omar kepada Menteri Besar Negeri Sembilan, Ketua Polis Negeri serta Yang Dipertua Majlis Perbandaran Port Dickson hari ini.

Zulkifly Mohamed Omar dalam ulasannya menggesa pihak berkuasa menyiasat bagaimana permit kepada penganjur hiburan yang akhirnya bertukar kepada pesta liar.

Zulkifly menyatakan kekesalan beliau atas kelemahan penguatkuasaan oleh pihak berkuasa terutamanya penguat kuasa Majlis Perbandaran Port Dickson serta pihak polis yang menyebabkan program hiburan tersebut akhirnya bertukar menjadi pesta liar.

Zulkefly mendesak pihak berkuasa menyiasat perkara ini daripada setiap sudut undang-undang dan mengenakan tindakan sewajarnya kepada pihak yang terlibat agar perkara ini tidak berulang lagi pada masa akan datang.

"Sekiranya permit hiburan telah diluluskan, pihak berkuasa pula haruslah menyiasat sama ada pihak penganjur telah melanggar syarat-syarat permit dan seterusnya dibuat pendakwaan untuk dihadapkan ke muka pengadilan," tegasnya.

Beliau juga merasa amat kesal akibat daripada peristiwa ini Port Dickson secara khusus dan Negeri Sembilan secara tidak langsung mungkin akan dikenali sebagai Pusat Pelancongan Pesta Liar bukannya Pusat Pelancongan Keluarga.