But right now, it is only a local item in a San Francisco newspaper.
And it happened over a week ago.
In Paris, French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said inclusion of the term "respect" in reference to Israel "is a step in the right direction toward full adherence to the demands of the international community that we hold dear, including in particular the recognition of Israel."This is, of course, from the AP, which deceptively makes it sound like the document says that Hamas "respects" Israel. In fact, the document doesn't mention Israel explicitly or implicitly.
Israeli excavations near Jerusalem's most sensitive shrine have sparked fury among Muslims who fear such works endanger its foundations, but officials involved say they will not damage the holy site.
Excellency,Even this letter does not say that the ramp work is excavating below the compound, but it says that there are other digs doing that (without specifying any details.)
In follow-up to our letter dated 24 January 2007, Israel, the occupying Power, has stepped up its illegal actions, especially in Occupied East Jerusalem, which aim to intensify expansionist policy for the colonization and Judaization of Arab Jerusalem, with the support of fanatic Jewish settler groups.
Israel, the occupying Power, is continuing its campaign to Judaize the city of Jerusalem and create a new demographic composition in the occupied city. Such actions demonstrate clearly the intransigence of the Israeli Government and its persistence in defying the will of the international community and in violating international law and United Nations resolutions. In this context, it is imperative for the international community to take measures in order to confront these Israeli policies and actions, to ensure respect for international law and to prevent further escalation of the situation in the region.
In line with this unchecked intransigence, Israeli occupying authorities have gone ahead with the condemnable plan to step up its aggression against Islamic Waqf sites in Occupied East Jerusalem. Most notably, Israeli occupying authorities have begun demolishing a historic road connecting Bab Al-Maghariba with the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in addition to two rooms adjacent to the Western Wall, thus exposing the Holy Compound and making it more vulnerable yet to future acts of aggression. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities continue to carry out excavation works below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, undermining its foundations and threatening with its collapse.
There are also concerning reports that Israel, the occupying Power, plans to construct a tourist site below the Holy Al-Aqsa Compound, further raising fears about serious threats facing the Holy Compound. Additionally, Israeli occupying authorities have banned Palestinians below the age of 45 from entering the Holy Al-Aqsa Mosque Compound in grave contravention of their basic right to access their holy sites and clear violation of Israel's obligations, as an occupying Power, to ensure and protect that right.
Irshad Manji: Modern Israel is a far cry from old South Africa It's absurd to apply the term apartheid to one of the most progressive states in the world, maintains Irshad Manji
IN the past year, a stream of thinkers across the West - from Australian writer Antony Loewenstein to US academics John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt - has punctured the usual parameters of debate about Israel. I, for one, welcome any effort to prevent ideas from calcifying into ideologies. As a Muslim refusenik, that's what I do by defying the conventional prejudices of my fellow Muslims. Why would I resent refuseniks of a different kind? It's precisely because I embrace intellectual pluralism that I respectfully challenge Jimmy Carter's recent critique of Israel as an apartheid state. To be sure, I've long admired the former US president. In my book The Trouble with Islam Today I cite him as an example of how religion can be invoked to tap the best of humanity. In no small measure, it was Carter's appreciation of spiritual values that brought together Israeli prime minister Menachem Begin and Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, compelling these former foes to clasp hands over a peace deal. Which is why Carter's new book disappoints so many of us who champion co-existence. Entitled Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid, the book argues that Israel's conduct towards Palestinians mimics South Africa's long-time demonisation of blacks. Of course, certain Israeli politicians have spewed venom at Palestinians, as have some Arab leaders towards Jews, but Israel is far more complex - and diverse - than slogans about the occupation would suggest. In a state practising apartheid, would Arab Muslim legislators wield veto power over anything? At only 20per cent of the population, would Arabs even be eligible for election if they squirmed under the thumb of apartheid? Would an apartheid state extend voting rights to women and thepoor in local elections, which Israel didfor the first time in the history of Palestinian Arabs? Would the vast majority of Arab Israeli citizens turn out to vote in national elections, as they've usually done? Would an apartheid state have several Arab political parties, as Israel does? In recent Israeli elections, two Arab parties found themselves disqualified for expressly supporting terrorism against the Jewish state. However, Israel's Supreme Court, exercising its independence, overturned both disqualifications. Under any system of apartheid, would the judiciary be free of political interference? Would an apartheid state award its top literary prize to an Arab? Israel honoured Emile Habibi in 1986, before the intifada might have made such a choice politically shrewd. Would an apartheid state encourage Hebrew-speaking schoolchildren to learn Arabic? Would road signs throughout the land appear in both languages? Even my country, the proudly bilingual Canada, doesn't meet that standard. Would an apartheid state be home to universities where Arabs and Jews mingle at will, or apartment blocks where they live side by side? Would an apartheid state bestow benefits and legal protections on Palestinians who live outside of Israel but work inside its borders? Would human rights organisations operate openly in an apartheid state? They do in Israel. For that matter, military officials go public with their criticisms of government policies. In October 2003, the Israel Defence Forces' chief of staff told the press that road closures in the West Bank and Gaza were feeding Palestinian anger. Two weeks later, four former heads of the Shin Bet security service blasted the occupation and called on Ariel Sharon to withdraw troops unilaterally, which later happened in Gaza. Would an apartheid state stomach so much dissent from those mandated to protect the state? Above all, would media debate the most basic building blocks of the nation? Would a Hebrew newspaper in an apartheid state run an article by an Arab Israeli about why the Zionist adventure has been a total failure? Would it run that article on Israel's independence day? Would an apartheid state ensure conditions for the freest Arabic press in the Middle East, a press so free that it can demonstrably abuse its liberties and keep on rolling? To this day, the East Jerusalem daily Al-Quds hasn't retracted an anti-Israel letter supposedly penned by Nelson Mandela but proven to have been written by an Arab living in The Netherlands. Even the eminence grise of Palestinian nationalism, the late Edward Said, stated flat out that "Israel is not South Africa". How could it be when an Israeli publisher translated Said's seminal work, Orientalism, into Hebrew? I'll cap this point with a question that Said himself asked of Arabs: "Why don't we fight harder for freedom of opinions in our own societies, a freedom, no one needs to be told, that scarcely exists?" I disagree: some people still need to be told that Arab "freedoms" don't compare to those of Israel. The people who need reminding are those who now push the South Africa analogy a step further by equating Israel with Nazi Germany. To them, Zionists are committing hate crimes under the totalitarian nightmare that they dub "Zio-Nazism" (like neo-Nazism). When it comes to granting citizenship, Israel discriminates in the same way as an affirmative action policy, giving the edge to a specific minority that has faced genocidal injustice. Does this amount to Nazism? Spare me. As a Muslim, I could become a citizen of Israel without having to convert. After all, Israel was one of the few countries anywhere to grant shelter, then citizenship, to the Vietnamese boatpeople who sought political asylum in the late 1970s. I don't have to wonder how Syria compares on that score. Now for the ultimate proof of Israel's flimsy credentials as a bunker of Hitlerian hate: It's the only country in the Middle East to which Arab Christians are voluntarily migrating. And they are also thriving there, notching much higher university attendance rates than the Arab Muslim citizens of Israel, and enjoying better overall health than Jews. The Holy Land is gut-wrenching and complicated. As much as I applaud Israel's efforts to foster pluralism, I condemn its illegal Jewish settlements and less visible crimes such as the diversion of water away from Palestinian towns. These contradictions of the Israeli state should be exposed, discussed, even pilloried. And they are: openly as well as often. So there's little point in deciding whose camp is the paragon of vice or virtue. The better question might be: who's willing to hear what they don't want to hear? That's the test of whether a country is more than black or white.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the spiritual leader of Iran, said Monday that the "Zionist regime" is the factor preventing Muslim unity. Khamenei said that Israel was established by “arrogant forces, which sought to create conflict between the Muslim peoples.”This is Iranian comedy at its best. The only thing that unites Shiites and Sunnis, Hamas and Fatah, Jordanian and Syrian and Pakistani and British and Malaysian Muslims is their hatred for everything Zionist. Whenever there is a major rift in the 'ummah, one can count on some Muslim leader or another to denounce Zionism in an attempt to find common ground (or, if they are fighting, to accuse the other side of being a Zionist.)
King Fahad Academy director Dr Sumaya Aluyusuf ...admitted the textbooks - translated for BBC Two's Newsnight programme by two independent scholars - were kept at the school.Since the Koran itself makes the statements comparing Jews to apes and pigs, there is very little room for misinterpretation.
But the translations were "taken out of context" and had "lost some of their meaning", she said.
She said the controversy had arisen from the misinterpretation of the material which was based on the Koran.
"I would like to make it clear that the controversial pages within the books are not taught within the academy," she said.Will anyone follow up to see if they actually went through scores of books and ripped out the offensive passages? Will anyone check in a year or so the "international curriculum?" Would any teacher currently employed there admit if he or she had taught from these sections?
"However, in view of the public interest I have decided to remove those chapters from the books.
"The school is currently moving towards an international curriculum and new books are being developed for that curriculum."
She said pupils and parents had suffered discrimination and intimidation as a result of the controversy.Was any of this corroborated by the British media?
One local shop had put up a sign saying pupils from the school were not welcome and a passer-by had shouted abuse at a parent waiting outside the school gate.
"The local MP called me and said he was very concerned about the safety of the children and asked if we would like him to send extra police around the area.
Gaza - Ma'an - The Al Aqsa Brigades have threatened to target Israeli synagogues if the Israeli authorities continue the Judaization of the holy city of Jerusalem and the demolition of the Al Aqsa Mosque.
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the brigades confirmed that all the synagogues will be targets for the brigades and are not more holy than the mosque of Al Aqsa.
The statement called on Palestinian people in and out Palestine, to go into the streets in protest against Israeli actions in the holy city.
Member of Parliament from Tehran, Mehdi Kouchekzadeh, Sunday criticized authorization of CNN correspondent, Christiane Amanpour, for her activities in Iran.Hmmm...how should they have reacted? Is Amanpour due for an "honor killing"?
"Authorizing those representing the countries which are obviously hostile to the Islamic Republic of Iran to enter Iran has no justification from viewpoint of the Iranian nation," he added.
The MP said that Iran's Ministry of Culture and Islamic Guidance as well as Foreign Ministry should be answerable to the nation about allowing an agent acting under the guise of the sacred profession of journalism to enter the country to release conspiratorial reports aiming to sow seeds of discord.
"We have all witnessed that over the past years, she released the worst reports to the people of the world, which contradicted the facts about Iranian society," he added.
Kouchekzadeh criticized the officials for inviting the Zionist media and their affiliates to the country to prove their support for democracy and freedom of speech.
"In addition to government organizations, people from all walks of life are bound to protect their environment from impurities," said the MP.
He said that reporters in Iran should have reacted to the presence of Amanpour in Iran.
A senior nuclear physicist involved in Iran's nuclear program who died under mysterious circumstances two weeks ago was killed by the Mossad, according to a report released in a U.S. website this weekend.If so....bravo!
The website - Stratfor.com - features intelligence and security analysis by former U.S. intelligence agents.
Professor Ardashir Hosseinpour, a world authority on electromagnetism, was until recently working on uranium enrichment at the facility in Isfahan, one of the central processing sites in Iran's nuclear program.
The physicist died January 18, but news of his death only emerged six days later in two Iranian media outlets.
A report released this weekend in Stratfor.com stated that the Mossad was behind Hosseinpour's death.
The report said the physicist died from "radioactive poisoning" as part of a Mossad effort to halt the Iranian nuclear program through "secret operations."
The site indicates that in the late 1970s and early 1980s, the Mossad was involved in the deaths of scientists involved with the Iraqi nuclear program. At least three scientists were killed in those operations.
A website of expatriate Iranian communists said that several other scientists were killed or injured in the operation to kill Hosseinpour at Isfahan, and given treatment at nearby hospitals.
The site says Iranian physicians are trying to determine the circumstances of the deaths, and believe they may have to deal with similar incidents in the future.
News of Hosseinpour's death appeared in the Al-Quds daily, published in Tehran, and in a release by the Iranian Students' News Agency.
Both news items said Hosseinpour died from "poison gas."
Radio Farda - a Persian-language station operated by the U.S. government - said several days ago that the scientist died of "smoke inhalation."
The Radio Farda report said Hosseinpour, 45, was considered an expert in the field of electromagnetism and formerly taught in the physics department at Shiraz University. He also published widely in international publications.
Hosseinpour was also recently employed by Isfahan's Malik Ashtar University of Technology. Several departments of that institution have been implicated as being involved in Iran's secret nuclear program, believed to be conducted in parallel with its official, disclosed program.
Hafez Barghouti, editor of the PA-funded daily Al-Hayat Al-Jadeeda, said he was concerned that the fighting would tarnish the image of the Palestinians. "Tens of millions of people now look at us as worthless gangsters with no values," he complained.Notice how according to these average, intelligent Palestinian Arabs, the recent infighting is making them all look bad.
Addressing both Hamas and Fatah, he added: "Take Gaza and turn it into a state of the Muslim Brotherhood. Take the West Bank and establish a state of your own there with all the Abu's. Your people no longer want a state. We no longer like our killers and executioners."
Columnist Mahmoud Habbash also acknowledged that the fighting had caused grave damage to the Palestinians on the international arena. The internal fighting, he said, has distorted the image of the Palestinians in the eyes of the world.
"The world is watching how the Palestinians are destroying their institutions and achievements with their own hands. They see how we are mercilessly slaughtering innocent people. We are losing the sympathy of the world. I'm afraid the world will now view us differently."
Buy EoZ's book, PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
If you want real peace, don't insist on a divided Jerusalem, @USAmbIsrael
The Apartheid charge, the Abraham Accords and the "right side of history"
With Palestinians, there is no need to exaggerate: they really support murdering random Jews
Great news for Yom HaShoah! There are no antisemites!