Middle East Monitor - The Latest from the Middle East

By Dr. Bouthaina Shaaban

Those who try to make the word 'terrorism' a synonym of the word 'Islam' try to brainwash us these days by the phrase "I am a Muslim, I am against terrorism", which many Arabic-language TV stations have started to use during the month of Ramadan, when TV viewing becomes a dominant pastime in the Arab world.  This phrase is coined neither by Muslims nor by the real enemies of terrorism; and the objective of funding the intensive broadcasting of this phrase in Ramadan is not exonerating Islam of an accusation levelled against it by Zionists and their allies among the neo-cons in the wake of 9/11.  This is clear from the political connotations of this phrase which suggest that "although I am a Muslim; yet, I am against terrorism".  In this sense, our enemies accuse a billion Muslims of terrorism; while Christians, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus and others are exonerated of any link with terrorism.   

One is entitled to ask: how many terrorist crimes the Zionists commit against Muslim and Christian Arabs in and outside Palestine, including murder, assassination, home demolition, setting mosques on fire, etc.  Yet, have we ever seen a phrase saying "I am a Jew, I am against terrorism"?

Read more...

The increasingly cosy relationship between the extremist, racist EDL movement and the ultra-racist Zionist movement in the UK is becoming more and more visible with each passing demonstration that they attend. It is now a common sight to see a mass of Israeli flags at an EDL rally and a mob of EDL members at a pro-Israel rally. This is an association which is at once revealing as to the true nature of the Zionist movement whilst also a source, one would assume, of much distress and embarrassment to right minded Jews who would blanch at such a self-defeating and counter-productive association.

For their part, the EDL clearly scrape the bottom of the barrel for members. It is hardly a thinking man's organisation. Typically comprised of thugs and louts it is scarcely a group that any sane individual would be proud to be a member of; and yet hundreds of Zionists have signed up to be a part of the new EDL "Jewish Division". This includes individuals such as Roberta Moore, who makes a habit of inciting hatred against Muslims while running around with an Israeli flag tied around her neck like a cape. Exposing her ignorance with statements such as "Islam is not a religion but a cult" she does seem to fit the EDL's low criteria for membership. The foul vitriol she spewed at one recent EDL rally not only betrayed her ignorance of Islam but her desire to incite hatred against more than 1.5 billion Muslims worldwide.

EXCLUSIVE PICTURES

Yesterday evening (31.08.2010), International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) held a Ramadan soiree in the gardens of the Nablus library where it hosted a gathering of personalities from religious, political and community leaders to institution heads and the media.

Following a visit yesterday to some young prisoners being held at the Megiddo Prison, lawyers for the Ministry of Detainees have stated that the young prisoners testified under oath that they had been interrogated and systematically electrocuted and tortured by Israeli intelligence officers in settlements near to Palestinian cities.

According to Salim Redouane who was arrested near Qalqilya on 08.05.2010, he was kept in a camp near Tzofin for 3 hours before being transferred to the settlement of Ariel where he was questioned by Shin Bet interrogators. His head was repeatedly hit against the prison room wall in an effort to get him to confess and he was beaten severely. The investigators threatened to burn his skin if he did not confess to the accusations against him.

By Omar Radwan

Rabbi Ovadia Yosef, the Spiritual Leader of Shas, an Israeli Sephardic ultra-Orthodox party, delivered a sermon at the weekend in which he prayed for the death of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas and for the suffering of the Palestinian people, saying, "Abu Mazen [Abbas] and all these evil people should perish from this earth. God should strike them and these Palestinians, evil haters of Israel, with a plague."  This is not the first time that Rabbi Yosef has made remarks of this nature.  He has previously referred to Arabs generally as "vipers" and called for genocide against them, "It is forbidden to be merciful to them.  You must send missiles to them and annihilate them. They are evil and damnable."  While one could easily dismiss Rabbi Yosef as an unhinged extremist, he is far from a marginal figure in Israel.  Shas is a major political party in Israel, holding 11 out of 120 seats in the Knesset. It is a member of Israel's governing coalition and its official leader, Eli Yishai, who has defended Yosef's racist statements in the past, is the current Interior Minister and also a Deputy Prime Minister.

Read more...

In an article for today's Daily Telegraph, British Foreign Secretary, William Hague, sought to flesh out an ethical framework for a new approach British Foreign Policy. Reminiscent of the controversial 1997 Blairite drive for a so called "ethical foreign policy" that was swiftly and unequivocally abandoned, Hague's vision contrasts somewhat with that of David Cameron, for whom trade and commerce appear to be at the core of any agenda. For Hague, the core emphasis is on the promotion of human rights as a value which helps define and drive British Foreign policy asserting that "We cannot have a foreign policy without a conscience. Foreign policy is domestic policy written in large", and while human rights are not the only issue that inform policy, they are indivisible from it.

Hague points out that there is no single country that has the power to transform the human rights situation worldwide; the poverty and innumerable abuses being suffered from Somalia, Burma and North Korea to Congo, Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. Nevertheless, he makes a highly commendable and noble public commitment to "the persistent and painstaking mobilisation of our resources and diplomacy to make progress on this core value of UK foreign policy. For the right foreign policy for Britain is one that includes ambition for what we can achieve for others as well as ourselves, that seeks to inspire others with our values and that is resolute in its support for those around the world who are striving to free themselves from poverty or political repression." A British initiative to bring the ideals of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights to the fore and help establish an international system based on true fairness, equality and justice would enhance global security and well-being and is to be welcomed, applauded and should of course be widely supported.

Read more...

Mohammad Baraka, an Arab member of the Israeli Knesset, has described Prime Minister Netanyahu's demand for the "recognition of Israel as a Jewish state" as tragic and crude and reflects the absurdity of negotiations that are devoid of any reference of legitimacy at all.
 
In an exclusive statement to "Quds Press" commenting on the near start of the Israeli-Palestinian direct negotiations, Baraka said that the problem does not lie in the negotiations, as the Palestinian leadership have embarked on them for a long time, but the question is on what basis is this particular negotiation being founded and on what points of reference?

Baraka added that the negotiations which are being initiated and conducted under international pressure, specifically American pressure, as well as the unfortunate and shameful decision of the Higher Arab Monitoring Committee, which includes 13 Arab countries, has no foundation, and are therefore futile amounting to no more than playing in Obama and Netanyahu's playground.

Read more...