This is an update on Hamas
I read today in Arabic newspaper that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will cover Hamas financially for the coming months.
Next
This is a very fresh interview with Hamas (Thank you Keld Bach), very interesting to read:
By El Gato
They say that the world is a global village
..in this day and age that statement could not be more true, and yet, whose global village is it?
Who has access to this global technology that instantly transmits news from one end of the world to the other? A better question, who controls this instrument
and does not the one who controls this great power called the media, get to mould and control and filter selected pieces of information to the masses, whose minds and brains do no more than chew and swallow, like cattle, like the Holy Cows of India that has chewed on every piece of greenery, in the name of God, in the name of holiness, in the name of the people
And men worship those cows. Men prostrate to those cows and their destruction
.just as the men in today’s very modern, very sophisticated, highly intelligible world have placed their heads at the feet of that which destroys them, chewing and swallowing, understanding nothing–or perhaps—not wishing to understand anything.
The Israeli Palestinian situation is not brain surgery.
Any thinking child over the age of nine could solve the question of Israel in 1 minute flat.
A South African child would be able to do it in (I’m guessing here) maybe 30 seconds.
Recently, democracy achieved it’s most spectacular finish with Hamas winning the Palestinian election.
Hamas had no money really. They did not campaign in the usual sense of the word
.their campaign was based on their history, their past, their movement, and a smallest glimmer of a real hope… because hope is what Hamas represents to the people of Palestine, Muslim, Christian and Jews
The Bush administration in a desperate attempt to keep Fatah in power gave over $2 million in aid to their campaign, but it was in vain.
Fatah did not win.
Hamas did better than anyone, including themselves, ever expected.
Hamas, the U.S government stated, must not win the elections because they are the aggressors, the terrorists
Yet Hamas is a resistance movement of the people, for the people, by the people
Is this not democracy in the truest sense of the word?
Like the A.N.C in South Africa, Hamas is indeed on the terrorist list of countries like the U.S
but only a few years ago, after the South Africa had become the Rainbow Nation and everyone waxed lyrical about our great democracy, a prominent member of the South African government was rejected a visa into the U.S because his name was STILL on the terrorist list.
Apparently they forgot to remove it. Colin Powell, whom Harry Belafonte rightly called a good slave to his master, was present at one of the functions in which he spewed words of joy about the man he called a hero, the very man whose name was not removed from the list.
So perhaps Hamas does not subscribe to the form of democracy favoured by the West that is for some people only, a democracy that says $1 one vote.
The media has trumpeted on a tangent that the incapacitation of Sharon has placed a big obstacle in the peace process. Sharon, the man of peace.
Sharon, the man that was fined only 14c for the massacres at Sabra and Shatila
and many others massacres that we know of, and many many more that we will never know of.
14c is the value that the international community attached to the lives of 4000 Palestinian refugee’s, unarmed men, women and children, the Media of the Free World did not publicize the women whose pregnant stomach was ripped open by a knife, the fetus which was stabbed to death, the babies that were buried alive, the women that were gang raped until they died.
When it rained soon after the massacres, the camps and the streets were congested with the decaying flesh and blood of the dead.
And with this thought, on this particular note, I would like to begin this interview so that it is fresh in your mind, so that you may understand what is it to be a Palestinian, though we will never really
but perhaps just for this second..you may ask yourself what does it mean to be human? To be just? What does peace truly mean
can it forced, imposed? Can it be a gun held to your head as you vote, as you live, and even as you breathe?
The Palestinians in the occupied West Bank and Gaza territories voted with the gun literally to their head.
Yet the Hamas won. The transfer of power was done peacefully. Fatah knew their time had come to an end
no longer would the Palestinians stand the machinations of government that proclaimed to rule the state of Palestine—what State???? the Palestinians would be right to ask, if all their land is under occupation
Surely, an American friend told me, the Palestinians have done themselves in by voting for a terrorist group.
In what way, I asked him.
Well, he replied, the entire world sees Hamas as a terrorist, now they will freely allow Israel to bomb the Palestinians.
I asked my friend whether he thought they were wrong in voting for Hamas
He was quiet for so long that I thought no answer would ever come forth
until finally he said, They were not wrong..but now they are really in for it.
Indeed, they were not wrong.
But the Palestinians have been wronged for so long that they no longer care what happens to them, only that their children, the future, may be given a chance.
I spoke to Dr Nashat Aqtash, the consultant for Hamas during the election process and asked him a few questions.
GATO: Lets talk about your book, The Ideological Terrorism of Mass Media Propaganda..because it seems to me that this war is very much a war of the media
corporations and governments like the U.S need this ideological war, it’s a fundamental part of their economy, arms and oil..and so from the profit point of view keeping a Pro West military enclave like Israel in the Middle East, in the heart of the Muslim world would be the fuel required to keep this war going
and the language, ie: calling the Hamas freedom fighters terrorists, is it profitable? Is it the key? Does winning the media equal to winning the war, language as misnomers being the bullets?
NA: Yes, definately, the media is being used a medium of war, besides diplomacy and armies, the media of the U.S are able to convince the world they are doing a good job, that they are protecting the world from radical Muslims. The U.S is doing war because of oil and the media is being used.
The International community are unable to name things with any terminology other than that which is defined by the U.S.
Bin Laden is a terrorist now, but he was a good boy according to the U.S media when he was fighting the Russians.
So my book was essentially talking about the terminology – the inaccurate terminology used by the media.
GATO: So what is the success rate of this kind of propaganda—is the truth subject to what the intellectual community—those that have access to public platforms—is the truth subjugated to this–
NA: Yes. As you can see, it is very very successful. The U.S was able to convince the world of things that were not true.
GATO: There is a very visible and blatant hypocrisy within the international community, this is off topic perhaps, but you have many Muslim immigrants that are treated like prisoners in open air prisons, expected to abide by the laws of these countries, to a degree that is militant
.yet their rights are in a constant state—a very vague limbo
N.A: yes yes,
Now the world courts state that building settlements on occupied land is an act of war, it is a crime, and the media has been calling these Israeli settlements villages and towns–
NA: yes
GATO: But is Hamas not within their rights to say that Israel – and by this I mean the ideological core of Zionism, which is inherently racist and colonial, and the physical occupation of Israel, because essentially they exist only by the bullet and the gun and the tanks, and they are supported by a foreign power, those are American F16’s
.so my question is are they not within their rights, as accorded to them by international law, to want the racist state of Israel to come to an end??
NA: The Hamas charter, they are changing part of it, they are saying now that Israel is a reality. The Palestinians want peace—it is the other side, Israel that does not want peace. According to U.N resolution 181, the (geographical land of Palestine) would be divided into 2 states. Israel must pullout (according to the U.N) from the Palestinian land. They have rejected all the resolutions
Hamas is accepting of a Hudna, 10 or 20 or 30 years and during this time we can negotiate in peace. Two State solution is very important, the Hudna must be used for reforms such as education, services like water and electricity.
We Palestinians want a Palestinian state, over 80% of us support two state solution. They (Israel) do not want the solution. Let me tell you, in 2003 an Arab Summit was held in Beirut, the proposal supported by all the Arab States called for a full withdrawal from 1967 borders and then Arab countries agreed to have full normalization with Israel.
Do you know what 1967 borders are?
He asks me, I say I do and he continues.
NA: These people are very arrogant you see, the borders are that 78% of land is for Israel and 22% for the Palestinians.
just shitty..shitty
shitty
.but I am muttering now and I cannot tell whether he can hear me
NA: We want peace, we are prepared to settle for this, we have settled for this. But what did the Israeli and the Americans say—they were not in favour of any solution, they did not want any solution.
This conflict could be ended in 5 minutes if the Israeli and the Palestinians were left alone
5 minutes.
But the U.S has empirical interests in the region and solutions are not in their interests. The international community does not want the conflict to end.
GATO: Again, to the media because you are a media specialist
The American government has always said that the security of Israel is key to the security of America
are they speaking in terms of the economics of Empire? Because they have managed to present the situation as one of Muslims against Jews, instead of Palestinians, the Muslim, Christian and Jewish Palestinians against the Zionist occupation
but the situation has many parallels to the colonization of Africa, particularly South Africa, where it was the people, the majority of which were blacks and they fought against Apartheid not the whites, although it was the whites –the minority that maintained the Apartheid.
NA: You see, even now the American media are describing the Iraqis as terrorists, but they are resisting the occupation, this occupation makes conflicts, it is the problem. This Palestinian situation has nothing to do with religion, Muslims have always been a very kind people—Do you know any Muslim history, he asks me? He carries on, we have always protected the minorities, it was Germany and Russia that was killing the Jews, but in our Muslim lands the minorities, the Jews were always protected. History will state this. But American has convinced the world that the Muslims are out to get them and so this occupation is meant to keep them weak. It was European countries that suffered the Jews, but we are the ones that this occupation is being imposed on.
GATO: Now the Christian population in Palestine—are they in support of Hamas?
NA: Do you know
did you know that the Christians, the Christians voted for Hamas?
GATO: Hosam Al Taweel, a Palestinian Christian, he said that his forefathers were right there alongside Salahuddin fighting the Crusaders and he is a Christian and represents the Christians Palestinians
now we know that the Christian Palestinian population—especially in Bethelehem and places, it has become like a ghost town..and the Church of Nativity has also been savaged
.and that is obviously a very holy place for the Christian peoples.
What is the general feeling of Hamas towards the Christians and importently, of the Palestinian Christians towards Hamas
because the U.S Christians, at least 70 million of them are under the impression that Jerusalem must be under the control of the Jews before Jesus can come
so they have propagated this to be a religious war, a Crusades as Bush called it. And they have falsified the reasons for going to war
.
NA: Palestinian Christians voted for Hamas..because Hamas represents all the Palestinians, the Muslim, the Jews, the Christians
They stand with Hamas..They are against the Zionist movement. What Hamas wants is Hudna between Israel and Palestine, this is the platform of Hamas. Religion is of no matter in this, Palestinian Jews understand this.
In the future, very soon, Hamas wants to provide incentives to the Christian Palestinians and all the Palestinians living abroad to come back to Palestine, their home, we will protect them, they are apart of our nation, our history, our people.
GATO: How fair has the media been really to the Palestinian cause? I mean, you had a man by the name of Bob Elkins who was a Zionist, in the very least a strong Zionist sympathizer, and he was hired by the BBC to report during the crucial 67 and October wars, as well as just the everyday situation, and he was very very misleading
The BBC is labeled as one of the more just TV stations, but always at some point they have had and they do have, Zionists controlling the programmes and the different points of views
there is a massive imbalance. So has any station or country or paper ever presented the true Palestinian situation?
NA: In general, media’s are bias to the U.S and to Israel, so Palestinians are not able to tell the facts, they have failed also in dealing with the media, they were unable too. Israel has been very good in dealing with the media..and so we have been accused of things that are not true. Some of these newspapers were able to present some of the truth, but the majority did not want to present the truth.
I was presenting the Hamas point of view to the ex American President Jimmy Carter in front of 100 observers..So I said, let us define terrorism
They have mentioned several times that Hamas has bombed civilians, but these attacks were 60 in all, and only 300 Israeli died. The Israeli killed over 4000 civilians, and these are unarmed people. Why are they justified in killing us, demolishing our homes, building roads and settlements, and when Palestinians fight the occupation they are terrorists, but the Israeli justify everything
.
GATO: Ehud Olmert has been pressurizing governments and officials, actually, the U.S and Israel alike have been doing this
to not recognize Hamas until Hamas recognizes Israel
but the very existence of Israel signifies the death of the Palestinians
the U.S manages to gun the world down under some distorted and twisted version of democracy, that could easily pass once again for colonization or fascism
and when the Palestinians cornered them by democratically electing Hamas, democracy at its most honest, most real, was rejected
does this display the hypocrisy of the international community not only within countries like Palestine, but also within their own countries
.eg, the U.S election, the illusion of choice??
NA: Here we have a democracy, a peaceful democracy which is against their interests, democracy is only good when it is for their (purpose).
They cheat the world by way of democracy..
GATO: Bad democracy and good democracies
NA: Yes, you see what happened in Algeria when they had their democracy, they were almost destroyed. Hamas got the majority, they are now in the P.L.O and under this umbrella, they recognize Israel. So who is in need of recognition, the occupier or the occupied?
Israel is recognized by the international communities, the U.N. etc
This comes only from double standards on the part of the international communities, and this is increasing the level of hate, anger and frustration inside the Palestinians.
So when you see a suicide bomber, yes it is wrong but does the world not understand where it comes from? How unfair, the hatred comes from this feeling that everything is very unfair
.
GATO: Ok, on the suicide bombing situation, now Hamas has been the only movement in Palestine to consistently fight for, and bring up issues such as education, water and waste sanitation, health care etc
and they have brought about many results even whilst under the occupation.
But yet the media is still calling Hamas the suicide bombing cartel
as if Hamas has the patent on suicide bombing
now correct me if I’m wrong but what is meant by suicide bombing? When they strap on bombs, this is not suicide, they sacrifice their lives to kill the occupation, not themselves..
And by that fact, the greatest number of suicide bombings come from the Tamil Tigers, and they are an a-religious political group
It is also a very very effective move as the civilians themselves choose this death above occupation, so this shows the level of determination and Iman (strength and trust in God) within the community..to not accept the occupation…
Israel is an army, if every kid must join the army..that is certainly what it is..Now this threatens them from the roots, because the people are the roots of any country..
NA: Yes, Israel uses all kinds of forces, all kinds of military equipment, the Palestinians have only their bodies to use. 60 bombings only. Nothing else.
The Palestinians have only this
Hamas when they entered the Hudna one year ago
there is nothing since then. We are very serious about peace.
In war, everything can and does happen, you use all your power
Palestinians have only this, and they use this to kill the Israeli occupation.
Israel uses F16 against totally unarmed civilians, aircrafts on Palestinians homes, and tanks in the streets and the markets. When there is a war, you defend yourself and you fight by all means. This was a war, but we want peace now so we have kept our Hudna. They have not stopped. They want to continue, by hook or by crook, right or wrong, they want to continue to kill us.
They were meant to be out, (by Oslo and other terms) in 2000 from the West Bank and Gaza. By 2003, in the stage of the Road Map, they were meant to be out of the West Bank and Gaza. They have not done any of this. Nothing.
What they want is for us to accept the occupation.
GATO: The U.S has been threatening Hamas with the loss of $400 million dollars of Aid
unless Hamas agrees to
roll over
it doesn’t even make sense to say it
but it sounds like Israel wants Hamas to give in to all Israeli demands with statements like ‘’When the Israeli gets their security, they will withdraw
’’
Muahahahah
..it’s actually funny.
Now this aid is very conditional to the forced military ‘’peace’’ they want to impose on the Palestinians..as you said, the Palestinians must peacefully accept the occupation before Israel peacefully continues the occupation..
Now is this aid not in the worst interests of the Palestinians, being that the U.S is the bankroller of Israel and the occupation and the weapons used to kill the Palestinians, why and how must Palestinians accept this aid?
NA: The issue of money, let me tell you, we don’t care a damn about the money. This money is obligated to us because of what they have done. They are the one’s supporting Israel and implementing Israel, we Palestinians had to vote under the U.S threat
Palestinians are not changing money for dignity, or land for money. This money is an obligation. We are not relating it to Aid at all. I am an expert of the media, I advised Hamas on their campaign in Ramallah, we expected only 45% to vote for Hamas but 60% voted.
They voted because they wanted to vote against Israel, 15% did it only for that.
Now they have come to accept the political point of view of Hamas, all the Christians , Muslims and Jews, and they differentiate this from the ideological point of view. So if any European or American does this, they must be very afraid to walk in Palestine. Very afraid.
GATO: Out of curiosity, how much aid does South Africa give Palestine?
NA: I am not familiar with this..I think some students from Palestine went to South Africa last year?…so this is support.
GATO: The P.L.O linked the Palestinian economy to the Israeli economy, officially I think it was called the Paris agreement, and the Israeli’s over taxed the Palestinians by as much as 7 fold, they caused a shortage of many goods and generally raped the Palestinian economy..now this death sentence was imposed on the people by the P.L.O, that’s like giving the robber the key to your house, and cursing him for then destroying everything and stealing everything that is worth stealing
he comes with bad intent
Why did they do this? What were the effects?
NA: After how many, 40 years of occupation in the West Bank and Gaza, everything in the Palestinian economy is totally related to the Israeli economy. The Palestinians do not have a separate border, this border is controlled by Israel. Everything that passes through these borders is under Israeli control.
GATO: Even air cargo?
NA: Yes, air cargo too. This occupation surrounds the Palestinian economy, it was imposed on us. 40 years of this and our economy is very much related.
Ok, like you say this is not wise, many scholars are now speaking out about this, about the ways to separate the economies, it is a big issue. It is a very big issue.
GATO: One of the conditions of accepting Hamas into the world of em
into the world of officials and planes and conferences and lies
is that Hamas must disarm. Is this not ridiculous considering that every country in the world has an army and many other forms of support Will Hamas, this is a joke even to ask, will Hamas disarm? And will the Hamas fighters be incorporated into the army?
NA: Hamas has no arms to disarm. They have only, I mean they have only hand made weapons, Kalashnikovs, these weapons are not enough to do anything, certainly not fight a war.
What has Hamas to disarm, let me ask? No aircrafts. No tanks. What is the reason for them to disarm? Who is the strong? Who is in control of the power? They are trying to justify their occupation.
I never saw a revolver, you know what a revolver is? Well, I never saw one used as a weapon. 80% of Palestinians do not touch guns, do not know about guns in the first place. The West has succeeded in showing the Palestinians as holding rifles and Kalashnikovs. Why don’t they accept the solution?
GATO: In 1948, a few days before Truman recognized the State of Israel..he wrote a confidential letter to the King of Saudi Arabia asking him one simple question
Would the Saudi’s turn off the oil taps, should the U.S recognize Israel
and the reply of the King, who was deeply mistrustful of Britain but desperately needed an ally, was No. The reasons he gave were the deep friendship and understanding between the Saudi’s and the Americans
we saw that during the OPEC wars, the oil was reduced, the Saudi’s managed to convince the other countries not to act rashly and to continue oil exports..We also know that the hike in the oil prices provided a great deal more of the petrodollars and that simultaneously, this money was poured into the U.S economy when Nixon abolished the Capital Control law which restricted the flow of funds into the U.S
The Saudi’s then could easily bring the U.S and the Israeli’s to a halt by turning off the oil taps
Why don’t they?
NA: Arab regimes took power not through the elections. The Saudi Arabian interest lies more in the U.S than in the Arab countries that neighbour them. These type of governments are dictators, family dominated governments and they have to accept the rule of the U.S if they want to stay in power. This is where the problem comes in.
This is not a democracy where you have a President and the people have a chance to vote. This is family dominant.
GATO: So the power lusting of these few families are destroying millions of lives..
NA: Yes, that is it, you can say that.
GATO: Has the Muslim world, I mean there one billion Muslims, and Palestine does not actually belong to anyone, it is the Waqf, so what have these Muslims done to protect or assist the Palestinians who are defending this Waqf?
NA: In 1948, the Arab countries were all mostly occupied. The people were all trying to hope. Syria was under French occupation, Jordan was independent but the General Commander was a British and so was also under British mandate, Egypt was under British occupation. These Arab people could do nothing, they had nothing of their own.
In 1967, when the war erupted, these countries were newly independent from the 1930, 1940 and 1950’s
but there were many internal problems, the influence of the occupiers was still very strong and the rulers did not come to power through elections.
So there was no power in the Middle East to fight this occupation from Israel.
When Iraq was strong, they used Iraq to fight Iran for ten years, to fight Kuwait, later they destroyed Iraq. We see Iraq is destroyed again and very much isolated. Egypt is controlled with the treaty. The P.L.O took the initiative to be responsible for the liberation of the Palestinians, they took it to the Arab Summits, Oslo, Madrid but the Americans manipulated all of this, they called Sharon the man of peace
.
GATO: Has the Arab world provided a lot of aid for the Palestinians?
NA: Yes, we received a lot of aid from the Gulf countries, and Iraq when Iraq had something to give. Now Iraq is destroyed. We received aid from Saudi Arabia too.
GATO: I am trying to imagine what would have happened if people in South Africa supported or had imposed on them a two state solution, obviously the stronger state, the apartheid state would have in effect, crippled and controlled the weaker state
Two State solutions are a death sentence
.there is no way that this could be a just term for the Palestinians to accept, although that it has been accepted is a major step in the right direction.
Do you see this as permanent?
NA: Many Palestinians want and have called for a One State democratic solution
GATO: So Israel is blatantly opposing democracy in the face of everyone—even though they call themselves the only democracy in the East?
NA: Yes, this is right, Israel does not even want two states, you see, they are opposing even the Two State Solution, they do not want to end the occupation or have the establishment of a Palestinian state come about. I do believe myself in a democratic one state solution, and I do not believe that two states can work in the long run, but in the short run it is very important, and hopefully this Hudna will give us time for people to talk.
The future generation, I hope, will be wiser and do things intelligently to find a solution.
GATO: Now within Israel itself, on the subject of Israeli democracy, the European Jews have discriminated against the Middle Eastern Jews
NA: Yes, there has always been a unity between the Jews, they came to Israel to live here but there is a great deal of
.. the Israeli’s discriminate against the non-white Israeli’s
they relegate them to the role of 2nd and 3rd class citizens..
GATO: So in the end, it is once again white colonizers coming into a country, occupying the country under the guise of religion, supported by a super power for their interests.
NA: Yes, there are many people that believe that Israel is used to protect the empirical interests, especially the oil interests, and this is the only reason why the world is supporting Israel. Left alone, we could have solved the problem long ago
But they don’t want the conflict ended, so that each Arab country can decide what is good for them.
The foreign powers want to interrupt this to take the oil. In Palestine the problem has become complicated, because peacefully Hamas took the elections. This has greatly empowered the Arab peoples and threatened the Arab regimes.
Either they accept all of the U.S related conditions, or there will be an exchange of power.
These are family dominated regimes, and so they must accept the U.S or lose their power.
GATO: Lets talk about the basis for Israel, first they claimed it was a religious right to return, now they base this on the Old Testament, and if we give them for one second the benefit of the doubt, we see that the Old Testament itself is the refutation of Zionism. The people and the land of Canaan are mentioned several times over, so clearly the bible states that there were a people living here before this. It is not their land in any sense other than a religious sense, and Zionism again, is not a religious movement but a political one.
Even the city of Jerusalem was name built in 3000 BC I think by the Canaanites, for their chief, and they called it Ur Salem, house of the chief.
Now the anti semitic black mail which they consistently use on people..this too is a lie, because the U.S has the largest population of Jews in the world, and they have no desire to move to Israel because they are very affluent
they hold I think, some 5% of the 20% most desirable positions, and this is from a very small population.
Again, without the Holocaust, and the Zionists actually encouraged and exploited this by signing treaties with the Nazi’s like Ha’raafah, there would have been no excuse, even though Zionism came about at least 50 years before the Holocaust.
NA: I have never heard of God that discriminates against people. If the Jews say it is their land, they are chosen people– and the Christians say it is our land and the Muslims, we believe it is the Waqf, to protect, if everyone say this
.we will never have peace. But it is the land of everyone, and so I am in support of whoever will rule it fairly and democratically. Let us do it in a way that is more practical, like Hamas right now is being supported for it’s political views, everyone believes in Hamas political views. There will be big trouble if it is done any other way.
It was during the conversation that he mentioned to me this story about a sheep, asking me whether I knew what a sheep was first, and a lion, and a river, and the story of Palestine within it, like the River Jordan, and sheep ends up asking, if you want to eat me, why don’t you just eat me..Why do you keep making all of these excuses
And he smiled while saying it, but I couldn’t because there was too much of a history
each and every word held too much of a meaning
..Like the land itself, and Hamas the defenders of the Land and of it’s heart, Jerusalem, Al-Quds, the Sacredness..
The roots of Hamas are so intimately entwined with the roots of Salahuddin, that is almost seems to be one and the same, those that give instead of taking, those that stand instead of crawling and begging on their knees
It is the fearlessness of Hamas that the U.S government is afraid of, that these people cannot be subjugated or enslaved or oppressed even as the U.S has tried it’s utmost to break them
It is the Islam within them, the Shahadah that proclaims there is no God but One, no Reality but One, no Protector but One..that keeps them with the feet on their ground, and their faces forward, not looking down…They fear only the One
This is true fearlessness.
This is Islam.
This is Hamas.
One step closer to freedom.
AllahuAkbar.
[Gato note: The term U.S does not necessarily represent the American people, just as it does not exclude them. To a certain extent, the complicity of the people serves to create these monsters…when a nation lacks will, thought, independence etc when they are interested and have taught to conform to the interests only of themselves, this selfishness is what destroys worlds within and without humanity.]
I read today in Arabic newspaper that Saudi Arabia and Qatar will cover Hamas financially for the coming months.
I’m sure Iran will appreciate that since they’ve had to carry that burden up until now.
So Hamas will not recognize the state of Israel. But they will abide by the terms of the Oslo Accords “for now”. FOR NOW???
Exactly what fraction of the Israelis frontal lobes would have to be extracted for them to abide by a contract when the other side says:
* The contract is dead.
* We don’t recognize the other contractual party as a legitimate entity.
* We recognize that we will have to _say_ certain things for while, but the obliteration of the other side is an unchanging goal.
* We’ll follow the terms of the contract (and hold the non-existant other party to those terms) until the moment we don’t want to anymore.
There will be no independence for the West Bank. There is now nothing but open war between Israel and the Palestinian Authority. It might be only a Warm War most of the time, but there will never be any approach to peace…and Israel will never lift its hand from the region. They would be crazy to do so.
And rather than spend whatever money it receives on making the West Bank livable, Hamas has declared its intention to field an army. Great!
In case you missed this: International Commission Delivers Verdicts on Bush Administration:
Hey LADY BIRD — Put this up somewhere. Danish (and Western) hypocrisy of the highest order.
Danish Paper Rejected Jesus Cartoons
Danish paper rejected Jesus cartoons
Gwladys Fouché and agencies
Monday February 6, 2006
MediaGuardian.co.uk
Jyllands-Posten, the Danish newspaper that first published the cartoons of the prophet Muhammad that have caused a storm of protest throughout the Islamic world, refused to run drawings lampooning Jesus Christ, it has emerged today.
The Danish daily turned down the cartoons of Christ three years ago, on the grounds that they could be offensive to readers and were not funny.
In April 2003, Danish illustrator Christoffer Zieler submitted a series of unsolicited cartoons dealing with the resurrection of Christ to Jyllands-Posten.
Zieler received an email back from the paper’s Sunday editor, Jens Kaiser, which said: “I don’t think Jyllands-Posten’s readers will enjoy the drawings. As a matter of fact, I think that they will provoke an outcry. Therefore, I will not use them.”
The illustrator told the Norwegian daily Dagbladet, which saw the email: “I see the cartoons as an innocent joke, of the type that my Christian grandfather would enjoy.”
“I showed them to a few pastors and they thought they were funny.”
He said that he felt Jyllands-Posten rated the feelings of its Christian readers higher than that of its Muslim readers.
But the Jyllands-Posten editor in question, Mr Kaiser, told MediaGuardian.co.uk that the case was “ridiculous to bring forward now. It has nothing to do with the Muhammad cartoons.
“In the Muhammad drawings case, we asked the illustrators to do it. I did not ask for these cartoons. That’s the difference,” he said.
“The illustrator thought his cartoons were funny. I did not think so. It would offend some readers, not much but some.”
The decision smacks of “double-standards”, said Ahmed Akkari, spokesman for the Danish-based European Committee for Prophet Honouring, the umbrella group that represents 27 Muslim organisations that are campaigning for a full apology from Jyllands-Posten.
“How can Jyllands-Posten distinguish the two cases? Surely they must understand,” Mr Akkari added.
Meanwhile, the editor of a Malaysian newspaper resigned over the weekend after printing one of the Muhammad cartoons that have unleashed a storm of protest across the Islamic world.
Malaysia’s Sunday Tribune, based in the remote state of Sarawak, on Borneo island, ran one of the Danish cartoons on Saturday. It is unclear which one of the 12 drawings was reprinted.
Printed on page 12 of the paper, the cartoon illustrated an article about the lack of impact of the controversy in Malaysia, a country with a majority Muslim population.
The newspaper apologised and expressed “profound regret over the unauthorised publication”, in a front page statement on Sunday.
“Our internal inquiry revealed that the editor on duty, who was responsible for the same publication, had done it all alone by himself without authority in compliance with the prescribed procedures as required for such news,” the statement said.
The editor, who has not been named, regretted his mistake, apologised and tendered his resignation, according to the statement.
· To contact the MediaGuardian newsdesk email editor@mediaguardian.co.uk or phone 020 7239 9857
· If you are writing a comment for publication, please mark clearly “for publication”.
Guardian Unlimited © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2006
TAI,
(Yawn) I suppose re-iterating (again) the events that led to the cartoons being published would be pointless, no?
LB,
I see Iran is following the lead of that Dutch Islamist paper and is publishing a slew of Holocaust cartoons. Once again, this is something new for them? I don’t think so. Boy, I bet Muhammed wishes there were fewer Muslims to uphold his good name!
CMAR yes of course. Let’s reiterate:
Here we go (from a danish commentator on Abu Tamam’s blog):
[I guess Muslims don’t apply in this category]
It seems not to include Islam and Muslims, but it seems to include only Jews on anti-Semitists attacks in Danish society (several cases during last years). There are most certainly more Muslim Danish citizens than Jew citizens.
nn
nn
Well, the Queen Margaret got what she ordered – a real challenge. If you play with fire you get in a hot situation. The Danish government got only interested in the issue when Muslims started their Danish product boycott. The boycott began fast to hurt Danish economy and reputation. Now they are sorry, ashamed and frightened.”
When the Dixie Chicks publicly spoke out against Bush, there was going to be a lynching. If they were left unguarded, they would have likely been killed.
So, yes, am always happy to reiterate.
TAI,
From bottom to top.
When the Dixie Chicks publicly spoke out against Bush, there was going to be a lynching.
That’s crap. People stopped listening to their music. Boo-hoo.
it seems to include only Jews on anti-Semitists attacks in Danish society
Perhaps like the President of Iran you doubt this was such a big deal, but the Nordic regions had this lil’ ol’ problem with Nazis in the 30s and 40s. The Nazi Party actually had a significant following there, especially in Norway, but Denmark too. Perhaps the sensitivity relates to that? I couldn’t really say authoritatively.
The Danish constitution says:
I think this is an overly broad and unworkable constitutional article, but the law is the law. It seems to me that any Muslim had an iron-clad court case. They should have taken the newspaper to court. But that’s not what happened is it?
When I spoke of re-iterating the context in which these cartoons were published, I was talking about reality…not conspiracy theories involving figureheads. I was talking about something like this (hyperlink) from the Lebanese Blogger Forum:
“Let me tell you a story… A Danish author was writing a book about the Prophet and founder of Islam, Mohammed. He complained that no one would illustrate his book. A big Danish newspaper challenged anyone to make those illustrations and promised to publish them. That happened on September 30th.
One young Imam felt insulted. Instead of doing what normal people would do, SUE those involved, he tried to ignite the masses. The Danish muslims weren’t completely infuriated as (they seem to have mastered those two aforementioned tricks)… so the Imam took the caricatures, added a few that were not part of the story, but that would definitely incite anger (the prophet as a pig, the prophet as a dog); very blunt caricatures that would easily light the cummulative fuse of the muslim world… and toured the muslim capitals, showing these photos and building up anger.…
wham… bam… burn the embassies! Acting like terrorists ought to show the world that you’re not.… That makes sense.”
TAI,
The whole rhetorical technique/device of lampooning something is to create a deliberately exaggerated charicature to provoke a response. No one is suggesting they weren’t trying to provoke a response. That’s what cartoons do.
If muslims feel comfortable with the response that we have seen, then people can draw their own conclusions. Many, many people already have. It is not hypocritical to find: 1. the cartoons stupid and even offensive (on the one hand), and 2. the muslim response abhorant. One of the main pillars of western civilization is that you must tolerate people who disagree with you. The conditions for free and open debate must exist.
Not only is there violence and threats of death, but there seem to be ZERO counter demonstrations from muslims supporting free expression. There may be an odd usually anonymous voice here or there out of a billion muslims. One Jordanian editor is now under arrest. I suppose this is a capital offense under islam?
Just because people support the right of someone to express themselves in bad taste, does not mean they necessarily ascribe to those tastes. Tit for tat arguments regarding who draws better cartoons, or more of them, or more often, is not the point.
The point is that a dark ages totalitarian ideology with millions of easily manipulated followers is ready to sow death and destruction upon innocent people because of a few tasteless cartoons. By ‘innocent’ I don’t mean that they are necessarily nice, or that they like you, or that they are ready to submit to you. By innocent I mean they have done nothing to justify the well orchestrated violent response from the Islamic world. Muslim political and religious leaders (if there a difference), as well as the so called moderate muslim in the street, is speaking with one voice and proclaiming that Islam is NOT a tolerant ideology and muslims are not tolerant people.
And muslims wonder why they are looked upon with suspicion?
Islam needs to evolve. Maybe this will get the ball rolling. Probably not. Muslims know that if they raise their voice in protest it may well be lopped off.
Pingback: Sabbah’s Blog » Blog Archive » One Step Closer To Freedom
Pingback: Biased BBC
Pingback: HaloScan.com - Comments
Newsvine: The Newest Israeli-Palestinian Battleground:
Thanks KB for this.
See you 2night, must go to work now.
I could read Newsvine all day. Here’s another great post: The Paper Hamas vs. the People’s Hamas:
Pingback: Sabbah’s Blog » Blog Archive » One Step Closer To Freedom