27.02.2006 – 19:50 CET | By Mark Beunderman
EUOBSERVER / BRUSSELS – EU foreign ministers on Monday (27 February) changed the wording of a statement on the Danish cartoon row at the insistence of Dutch foreign minister Bernard Bot, who wanted to avoid the suggestion of an EU apology towards the Muslim world.
Meeting in Brussels, the ministers issued a fresh statement on the violence that recently erupted in some muslim countries following the publication by Danish paper Jyllands-Posten of cartoons depicting the prophet Muhamed.
The statement in its first paragraph says that “The [EU] council acknowledges and regrets that these cartoons were considered offensive and distressing by Muslims across the world.”
An earlier version of the paragraph, contested by the Dutch, said that the EU regretted “that these cartoons caused offence.”
The Dutch foreign minister also recently lodged a protest with EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana objecting to allegedly apologetic remarks Mr Solana made towards muslim countries over the affair.
“Regret” – “excuse”?
The Netherlands’ stance was echoed by the Czech delegation, which was unhappy about any use of the word “regret”.
Meanwhile, diplomats said that Spain took the other extreme, pushing for a conciliatory tone in the council conclusions.
Spanish prime minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero initiated the “Alliance of Civilisations” project last summer, co-sponsored by prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan of Turkey.
Poland was also in favour of a more conciliatory tone, with a Polish diplomat saying Warsaw is “pleased” the word “regret” made it to the final conclusions. The diplomat pointed out that the Polish government itself had used stronger language to chastise Polish media which reproduced the images in recent weeks.
Denmark happy
Per Stig Moller, the Danish foreign minister, said he was “pleased” with the declaration and the “unanimity” that EU member states had demonstrated in supporting Denmark.
Copenhagen is said to have been unhappy with the strong words coming from The Hague over the cartoon issue.
Instead, Mr Moller indicated support for the “Alliance of Civilisations” idea, pledging €200,000 for the scheme under a UN-managed fund.
Denmark will also be hosting a conference on “stereotypes” in, amongst others, schoolbooks and media, the Danish minister added, naming the portrayal of muslims as terrorists as one example.
http://euobserver.com/9/21003
Stereotyper:
Power of Sword
When you meet the unbelievers in the battlefield,
strike off their heads, and,
when you have laid them low, bind your captives firmly.
Then grant them their freedom or take ransom from them,
until War shall lay down her armor.
Thus shall you do.
Had God willed, He could Himself have punished them;
but He has ordained it thus that He might test you, the one by the other.
As for those who are slain in the cause of God,
He will not allow their works to perish.
He will vouchsafe them guidance and ennoble their state;
He will admit them to the Paradise He has made known to them.
Believers, if you help God, God will help you and make you strong.
But the unbelievers shall be consigned to perdition
623 – Battle of Waddan
623 – Battle of Safwan
623 – Battle of Dul-Ashir
624 – Muhammad and converts begin raids on caravans to fund the movement.
624 – Zakat becomes mandatory
624 – Battle of Badr
624 – Battle of Bani Salim
624 – Battle of Eid-ul-Fitr and Zakat-ul-Fitr
624 – Battle of Bani Qainuqa
624 – Battle of Sawiq
624 – Battle of Ghatfan
624 – Battle of Bahran
625 – Battle of Uhud. 70 Muslims are killed.
625 – Battle of Humra-ul-Asad
625 – Battle of Banu Nudair
625 – Battle of Dhatur-Riqa
626 – Battle of Badru-Ukhra
626 – Battle of Dumatul-Jandal
626 – Battle of Banu Mustalaq Nikah
627 – Battle of the Trench
627 – Battle of Ahzab
627 – Battle of Bani Quraiza
627 – Battle of Bani Lahyan
627 – Battle of Ghaiba
627 – Battle of Khaibar
628 – Muhammad signs treaty with Quraish.
630 – Muhammad conquers Mecca.
630 – Battle of Hunsin.
630 – Battle of Tabuk
632 – Muhammad dies.
632 – Abu-Bakr, Muhammads father-in-law, along with Umar, begin a military move to enforce Islam in Arabia.
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633 – Battle at Oman
633 – Battle at Hadramaut.
633 – Battle of Kazima
633 – Battle of Walaja
633 – Battle of Ulleis
633 – Battle of Anbar
634 – Battle of Basra,
634 – Battle of Damascus
634 – Battle of Ajnadin.
634 – Death of Hadrat Abu Bakr. Hadrat Umar Farooq becomes the Caliph.
634 – Battle of Namaraq
634 – Battle of Saqatia.
635 – Battle of Bridge.
635 – Battle of Buwaib.
635 – Conquest of Damascus.
635 – Battle of Fahl.
636 – Battle of Yermuk.
636 – Battle of Qadsiyia.
636 – Conquest of Madain.
637 – Battle of Jalula.
638 – Battle of Yarmouk.
638 – The Muslims defeat the Romans and enter Jerusalem.
638 – Conquest of Jazirah.
639 – Conquest of Khuizistan and movement into Egypt.
641 – Battle of Nihawand
642 – Battle of Ray in Persia
643 – Conquest of Azarbaijan
644 – Conquest of Fars
644 – Conquest of Kharan.
644 – Umar is murdered. Othman becomes the Caliph.
647 – Conquest of the island of Cypress
644 – Uman dies and is succeeded by Caliph Uthman.
648 – Campaign against the Byzantines.
651 – Naval battle against the Byzantines.
654 – Islam spreads into North Africa
656 – Uthman is murdered. Ali become Caliph.
658 – Battle of Nahrawan.
659 – Conquest of Egypt
661 – Ali is murdered.
662 – Egypt falls to Islam rule.
666 – Sicily is attacked by Muslims
677 – Siege of Constantinople
687 – Battle of Kufa
691 – Battle of Deir ul Jaliq
700 – Sufism takes root as a sect of Islam
700 – Military campaigns in North Africa
702 – Battle of Deir ul Jamira
711 – Muslims invade Gibraltar
711 – Conquest of Spain
713 – Conquest of Multan
716 – Invasion of Constantinople
732 – Battle of Tours in France.
740 – Battle of the Nobles.
741 – Battle of Bagdoura in North Africa
744 – Battle of Ain al Jurr.
746 – Battle of Rupar Thutha
748 – Battle of Rayy.
749 – Battle of lsfahan
749 – Battle of Nihawand
750 – Battle of Zab
772 – Battle of Janbi in North Africa
777 – Battle of Saragossa in Spain
And they call it, ” ‘Islam’, Religion of Peace “.
Stereotyper:
Fra Memri:
Al-Qaradhawi: “Islam will Return to Europe as a Conqueror”
In a fatwa posted on the website www.islamonline.net,[1] in response to a reader’s question, Sheikh Al-Qaradhawi wrote of the “signs of the victory of Islam,” citing a well-known Hadith: “… The Prophet Muhammad was asked: ‘What city will be conquered first, Constantinople or Romiyya?’ He answered: ‘The city of Hirqil [i.e. the Byzantine emperor Heraclius] will be conquered first’ – that is, Constantinople… Romiyya is the city called today ‘Rome,’ the capital of Italy. The city of Hirqil [that is, Constantinople] was conquered by the young 23-year-old Ottoman Muhammad bin Morad, known in history as Muhammad the Conqueror, in 1453. The other city, Romiyya, remains, and we hope and believe [that it too will be conquered].”
“This means that Islam will return to Europe as a conqueror and victor, after being expelled from it twice – once from the South, from Andalusia, and a second time from the East, when it knocked several times on the door of Athens.”
http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Area=sd&ID=SP44702