UK wants to be the leader in Sharia banking

From the Gulf Daily News:

MANAMA: The UK's strengths and capabilities as the leading international financial centre for Sharia-compliant financial services will be debated at the World Islamic Banking Conference.

The roundtable discussion is being organised and hosted by UK Trade & Investment and comprises experts from Islamic Bank of Britain, Bank of London and the Middle East, HSBC Amanah, ABC International and the London Stock Exchange.

Topics for discussion will include "Is the UK an obvious choice as a centre of Islamic finance" and "Are the ethical concepts of Islamic finance readily understood by the UK financial market?"

"As a leading centre for financial innovation where new Islamic structures are constantly being developed, the UK recognises the tremendous opportunities that Islamic Financial Services - worth over £250 billion has to offer," said British Trade Minister Digby Jones.

"Our goal is to position the UK as the international partner of choice for the provision of Islamic financial services, including developing strong partnerships with other centres of Islamic finance.

"We have a proven record of developing and delivering retail domestic and wholesale international investment Islamic financial services and products, and the necessary legal and financial skills and expertise to take full advantage of this."

"The debate will provide these leading companies with the perfect platform to showcase the skills and expertise the UK has to offer to those looking for a global partner in Islamic finance," said British Ambassador Jamie Bowden.

I have no problem with companies going after the Islamic market - it is just another market segment, after all. Adding Islamic credit cards or mutual funds as another option for customers seems reasonable. But things start to get sticky if the growing Islamic financial demands start to affect the mainstream practices of Western firms - if, in order to get a Sharia seal of approval, banks are requested to drop all investments in companies that sell alcohol or pork.

Far more worrying is when a Western government is willing to bend over backwards to accommodate the demands of a religion. This isn't about Arab banking, it is about Islamic, Sharia-compliant banking, and the quotes above indicate that Great Britain is willing to do whatever it takes to get a piece of the action, no matter what ethical issues are involved. The dangers of such a policy are obvious and extreme.

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BBC bias comes through again

Here's a classic example of how the BBC pretends to be objective but proves its bias, mostly by what it doesn't bother to mention:

Israel has protested to Egypt over the opening of a border crossing to allow Muslim pilgrims from Gaza to make their way through Egypt to Saudi Arabia.

The Israelis say they are concerned that militants may leave Gaza and go for training in Iran. ...

It is the first time Palestinians in Gaza have been allowed to cross directly into Egypt since June.

Now let's look at what the BBC didn't say:

* Israel is not only "concerned" that terrorists are crossing the border; they identified up to two dozen of them.

* While Egypt might not have allowed Gazans to leave before today, they did allow some 85 terrorists to re-enter Gaza in late September and 30 more in October. This is pretty relevant to the story rather than just saying that Israel is "concerned."

* By Egypt allowing Rafah to be opened, they are breaking existing agreements with Israel.

* Israel and the PA had created a mechanism for pilgrims to go to Hajj through Israel; the BBC implies that the Hajj pilgrims had no choice but to go through Rafah for their religious duties.

* Egypt's opening of Rafah legitimizes Hamas as the leader of Gaza Palestinians; they ignored the wishes of Abbas and the PA, let alone Israel.

* Rafah is only supposed to be opened by the PA in the presence of EU observers who have all but abdicated their responsibilities - and the EU Rafah observers include some from Britain.

All of these facts would have made the BBC piece more objective and accurate. By strange coincidence, they would also have made Israel's "concerns" look much more valid and Egypt's role much more insidious.

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Abbas discards second stage of Roadmap

AP reports:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas said Thursday he has rejected the concept of a provisional Palestinian state out of concern that the temporary borders of such an entity would become permanent.

Abbas told Palestinian lawmakers that during last week's Mideast summit in Annapolis, Md., the idea of a provisional state was brought up, but he turned it down — although it is a key part of the internationally backed "road map" formula for creating a Palestinian state.

The border issue is but one of the many hurdles facing negotiators to the talks, which are set to begin Dec. 12.

The second step of the three-stage road map calls for "creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty." Creating temporary borders would allow the Palestinians to have independence, while giving the sides more time to work out contentious issues like the final status of disputed Jerusalem.

Here is the beginning of the Roadmap's description of Phase II:

In the second phase, efforts are focused on the option of creating an independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty, based on the new constitution, as a way station to a permanent status settlement. As has been noted, this goal can be achieved when the Palestinian people have a leadership acting decisively against terror, willing and able to build a practicing democracy based on tolerance and liberty. With such a leadership, reformed civil institutions and security structures, the Palestinians will have the active support of the Quartet and the broader international community in establishing an independent, viable, state.

Progress into Phase II will be based upon the consensus judgment of the Quartet of whether conditions are appropriate to proceed, taking into account performance of both parties.

Notice a pattern here? Abbas pretends to embrace the roadmap, but he utterly rejects any part of it where the PalArabs are asked to take any responsibility whatsoever. He knows that if the Palestinian Arabs need to pass any test whatsoever before reaching the next stage they will inevitably, invariably fail using any objective criteria. So this is why he insisted on skipping past Phase I and now phase II - he wants a state to be handed to his utterly incompetent, infantilized people on a silver platter.

They "deserve" it.

The funny thing that Annapolis advocates like to ignore is that there already is a "independent Palestinian state with provisional borders and attributes of sovereignty," namely, the Hamas government of Gaza. Look how successful that has been! Gaza is the most accurate indicator of what a "Palestine" in the West Bank would look like - perhaps not run by Hamas, but equally cynically dismissive of human rights and peaceful coexistence.

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Red lines

Palestine Press Agency (Arabic, autotranslated) has a headline:

[ Tayeb Abdel-Rahim, Palestinian presidential secretary-general]said Jerusalem is a red line that can not be compromised and will be a top priority in the battle of the coming negotiations

It is not surprising to see statements like this from the PA leadership.

What is maddening is that there are no comparable statements coming from the leaders of the current Israeli government.

This is the major problem. All the rest is commentary.

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Hamas priorities

From Ma'an:

The Palestinian health ministry of the Ramallah-based caretaker government said on Thursday that "Hamas militias" have looted the fuel stores destined for hospital vehicles in the Gaza Strip.

A statement released by the health ministry said that fuel from the European hospital in the Gaza Strip had been stolen by the director of the hospital drivers to supply the Hamas-affiliated Executive Force.

The statement explained that the fuel reserve had been supplied by the ministry to enable the hospital to continue working for as long as possible.

While it is possible that the PA is lying, this seems to have a certain air of authenticity. Hamas loves seeing dead PalArabs that they can blame on Israel, so taking away hospital fuel is quite consistent with how they have acted in the past.

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Vilifying Israel by counter-example

From AP:

The caption states:

Palestinian construction workers build a new housing development in an east Jerusalem neighborhood, Wednesday, Dec. 5, 2007.

In a move that could hamper the U.S. peace push, Israel on Tuesday announced plans to build more than 300 new homes in a disputed east Jerusalem neighborhood. Palestinians warned that the move will undermine the newly revived peace talks. The new housing would expand Har Homa, a Jewish neighborhood of about 4,000 residents in an area Palestinians claim as capital of a future state. Palestinian officials appealed to the U.S. to block the project.

So the only way that AP could illustrate the horror of Jews wanting to live in their holy city is by showing that they allow Arabs to build large housing complexes - in the Jewish holy city.

Similarly, from Reuters:

Malek, a two-and-a-half year old Palestinian girl from the West Bank village of Bidiya, undergoes heart surgery at an Israeli hospital in Holon, near Tel Aviv, October 21, 2007. Palestinians suffering serious illnesses have long traveled from Gaza to nearby Israeli hospitals for treatments unavailable at facilities in the territory, which is home to 1.5 million people and was occupied by Israel for 38 years until 2005. However Israel has tightened border restrictions since Hamas Islamists seized control of the coastal enclave in June.

This time the wire service cannot say with certainly that Israel doesn't allow people from Gaza to be treated in Israel - but it can imply it, playing the Hamas playbook.

The wire services try so hard to illustrate Israeli cruelty to the point that they will caption Israeli benevolence - that one would never see on the Arab side - as if it is cruelty.

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Israel wakes up to the Rafah problem

From JPost:

Amid concerns that terrorists were allowed to leave Gaza and travel abroad for training in Iran, Israel has filed a complaint with Cairo after Egypt allowed 1,700 Palestinians to pass through the Rafah Crossing to make the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.

On Monday, for the first time since Hamas's violent takeover of Gaza in June, Egypt unilaterally opened the Rafah border terminal and allowed 700 Palestinians, who claimed to be religious pilgrims on their way to Mecca, to pass through. On Tuesday, another 1,000 crossed through the terminal.

"This is a clear breach of agreements we have made with the Egyptians," a senior diplomatic official said Wednesday, in reference to the November 2005 agreement under which the Rafah Crossing was opened. The official said the unilateral opening of the border had been preceded by another breach of agreements in October, when Egypt allowed 85 Hamas operatives to cross back into Gaza after cutting a hole in the border fence.

IDF intelligence estimates released Wednesday indicated that up to a couple of dozen Hamas terrorists were among the so-called pilgrims Egypt allowed out of the Gaza Strip. In recent years, hundreds of Hamas terrorists have traveled abroad to Iran and Lebanon for military training, and officials said it was possible that these terrorists would do the same.

In response to the increasing number of violations, the Foreign Ministry filed a harsh complaint with Cairo, and senior defense officials are scheduled to travel to Egypt in the coming week for talks about the recent events.

Too bad that Israel's Foreign Ministry doesn't read my blog, as I wrote that Hamas intended to illegally send the "pilgrims" through Rafah a week ago. That would have been the time to warn Egypt, not after the fact.

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Work accident!

A Hamas terrorist blew himself up and two others were injured when an explosive they were planting detonated a bit earlier than they had expected.

I don't know whether incompetence gets rewarded with the 72 virgins, but I cannot claim to be an expert on the finer points of Islamic doctrine.

Our 2007 PalArab death count has now reached 587.

UPDATE: More details on an earlier death - the police found a note saying "we are from several families, and have executed Hassouna for violating honor."

How honorable!

UPDATE 2: Hard to figure out the details, but PalPress is reporting on a horrific death of a 14-year old boy, apparently decapitated after being abducted in Rafah. 588.

UPDATE 3: 22 year old shot and killed Friday night. 589.

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Nice shooting

Ma'an (Arabic) quotes Hamas' al-Qassam Brigades as saying that of the 27 people killed by Israel in the past eight days in Gaza, 24 of them were members of al-Qassam.

I don't know whether the other three were civilians or members of other terrorist groups, but it is an astonishing statistic that cannot be matched by any other army in the world when fighting against a group that makes the strategic choice to hide among civilians.

Might be a good time to send the IDF soldiers some pizza - and sufganiot, and send them a message of support at the same time.

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Why Jews eat sufganiot on Chanukah (video)

Finally it gets explained in a clear and concise manner!

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Sharia news: British nurses asked to turn beds to Mecca

From the Daily Mail (UK):

The job of the nurse used to one of caring for the sick and needy.

But not - it would seem - in today's politically-correct Britain.

Now, nurses are being encouraged to spend valuable time turning around the beds of Muslim patients up to five times a day - so they can face Mecca.

In a bid to promote cultural understanding, they are also expected to provide patients with running water so they can wash before prayer.

And then, of course, they are required to turn the beds back around to return the wards to normality. The measures are being pursued by Mid Yorkshire NHS Trust to ensure Muslim patients have a "more comfortable stay in hospital".

Hundreds of staff have attended tax-payer-funded workshops with Muslim GPs and ethnic-minority support groups on how best to help patients.

During these meetings, nurses have been told that if a patient asks for water to bathe in, or for their bed to be turned to face Mecca, then this should be considered.

If the measure is deemed "practically possible" and does not impinge on other patients, then it should be carried out.

And if it is not practical, nurses are encouraged to find them a bed that faces Mecca permanently.

But an experienced nurse at Dewsbury and District Hospital in Yorkshire where the ideas are being tested, has blasted the scheme.

She said: "It would be easier to create Muslim-only wards with every bed facing Mecca than deal with this.

"We have a huge Muslim population in Dewsbury and if we are having to turn dozens of beds to face Mecca five times a day, plus provide running water before and after prayers, it is bound to impact on the essential medical service we are supposed to be providing.

Conservative MP David Davies also criticised the idea, saying: "Hospitals should be concentrating on stopping the spread of infections than kowtowing to the politically-correct brigade."

Isn't it amazing that "promoting cultural understanding" always seems to non-Muslims understanding Muslims, rather than the other way around?

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UNRWA announces donors - how do the rich Arabs stack up?

The UNRWA yesterday announced the amounts of money pledged by different countries for its work in 2008.

Country	Amount Pledged
Turkey	$500,000
Germany	$11,000,000
Bahrain	$50,000
Austria	$2,770,000
Luxemburg	$3,000,000
European Community	€66,000,000
Netherlands	$15,900,000
United Arab Emirates	$1,000,000
Switzerland	11,000,000 SwF
Italy	$15,000,000
China	$80,000
Kuwait	$1,500,000
Norway	150,000,000 NKr
Holy See	$20,000
United States	$90,000,000
Denmark	$18,000,000
Oman	$25,000
Spain	€2,600,000
Finland	€3,000,000
Egypt	$10,000
Ireland	$5,500,000
Iceland	$300,000

These numbers are probably not complete yet.

As in the past, the amounts that Arab nations give to UNRWA are a pittance. Egypt, Oman and Bahrain only give token amounts, and the combined Arab contribution announced is smaller than those of Ireland or Austria. It appears that Arab concern towards their Palestinian brethren shows itself in paying for terrorist weapons and the families of "martyrs" and not so much in providing things like food and jobs.

Keep in mind also that the Gulf is now awash with cash because of inflated oil prices, taking in net profits of some $5 billion every week, going on world shopping sprees of real-estate, banks and other blue-chip stocks. Not only could they bankroll all of UNRWA easily; they could build an Arab Palestine-in-exile in the underpopulated Gulf and provide free permanent housing to every PalArab who desires to move there.

But keeping them in miserable camps fits in with their strategy. Happy, contented Palestinian Arabs do not.

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The most boring Chanukah event in history

From the Brooklyn Daily Eagle (which spells Chanukah at least 5 different ways from 1880-1900), December 8, 1890 (click to enlarge):
It's painful just to read it.

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Another "mysterious death" in Gaza

There had been a lull, but Maher Mohamed Hassouna was shot dead in Khan Younis on Sunday by the ever mysterious "unknown persons."

Our 2007 PalArab self-death count is now at 586.

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Minnesotans who want an 8-day weekend

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