Prop Jihate in GazaHamas: Better all die than ever recognize Israel (in any border)

Tens of thousands of Hamas supporters held a peaceful rally in Gaza on
Friday to denounce the state of Israel and declare that they would never
recognize its right to exist.

“We ask God to punish the so-called Israel and the allies of Israel and to
punish those who recognize Israel and those who called on us to recognize
Israel,” Hamas lawmaker Mushir al-Masri told the crowd that thronged the
Jabalya refugee camp.

“We vow to God that we will never recognise Israel even if we would be all
killed,” Masri told the cheering audience of men, women and children, many
of whom were wearing green Hamas baseball caps and held aloft Hamas banners.

Masri, a popular young lawmaker, also aimed criticism at Fatah, a rival
movement headed by Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas, saying it
was trying to pressure Hamas, which now runs the Palestinian government,
into recognizing Israel.

“Those people are demanding us openly to recognize the occupation and that
will never happen,” Masri said.

Hamas and Fatah have held talks in recent weeks over the possibility of
forming a unity government, but those negotiations now appear to have almost
completely broken down.

“The protest aims to stress our rejection to recognize the legitimacy of the
occupation,” Masri said, referring to what Hamas views as Israel’s
occupation of all historic Palestine.

Hamas, which is regarded as a terrorist organization by the United States,
European Union and Israel, has struggled to run the government since it came
to power in March because of financial sanctions imposed by the West against
it.

Hamas came to power after winning elections in January.

Most of the Palestinian government’s 170,000 employees, including tens of
thousands of security staff, have largely gone unpaid for the past seven
months.

It was hoped that the formation of a unity government with the more moderate
Fatah movement might have led to the lifting of at least some of the
restrictions.

In recent weeks, protests have been held against Hamas’s government
throughout the West Bank and Gaza, with teachers, doctors and other
essential workers going on strike to demand the payment of their salaries.

“The protest is against the siege and against the attempts by some to carry
out a coup against the government,” Masri said, again apparently referring
to pressure from Fatah.

Loud speakers played songs supporting Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, a
senior Hamas figure, during the rally and Masri vowed that Hamas’s
administration would go on governing no matter how much pressure was applied
to it.

“This government and the leadership of Hamas of the Palestinian people will
continue throughout its legal term, for four years,” Masri said.

Haaretz

Pope Benedict and the Meaning of Words

 In these accelerating times, the passage of a fortnight offers sufficient distance from an event to make it amenable to even-handed scrutiny. And so, fortified with the calm aloofness of a detached historian, two weeks after Pope Benedict XVI gave his now famous lecture at the University of Regensburg we can aver that the ensuing controversy was based on three errors: his statements were taken out of context, they were misunderstood, and they were judged on their form rather than substance. On balance, his unduly conciliatory tone on the subject of dialogue with Islam notwithstanding, the Pope has said and done nothing that a reasonable person could or should find objectionable.

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http://www.chroniclesmagazine.org/cgi-bin/newsviews.cgi/Islam/Pope_Benedict_and_t.html?seemore=y

VD Hanson on Terror

http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | From the recent Israel-Hezbollah war in southern Lebanon to the jihadists in Iraq’s Sunni Triangle to the repeated efforts by Islamists across the globe to trump Sept. 11, what old lessons about terrorism are we in the West finding ourselves having to relearn?
First, death is the mantra of terrorists. In urban landscapes, they hide among apartment buildings, use human shields and welcome all fatalities — friendly or hostile, combatant or civilian. Death of any kind, they think, makes the liberal West recoil, but allows them to pose as oppressed victims.
Their nihilistic hatred intimidates, rather than repels, third parties — whether “moderate” Arabs, Europeans who back off from peacekeeping in Lebanon, or the Western public at large. Our enemies call Jews “pigs” and “apes” and employ racist caricatures of the U.S.’s African-American secretary of state. Meanwhile, we worry about incurring charges of “Islamophobia,” when we should be stressing our liberal values and unabashedly contrasting Western civilization with the 7th-century barbarism of the jihadists.
Second, windfall petrol-dollar profits (now around $500 billion annually) financially fuel radical Islam. Iranian cash allowed Hezbollah to acquire the sophisticated weaponry needed to achieve parity in ambushes with the Israeli Defense Forces. Unless the U.S. can find a way to force oil prices back down below $40 a barrel, Islamists may eventually be better equipped with weapons they buy than we are with munitions we make.
Third, as Israel’s experience in Lebanon demonstrated, air power alone can never defeat terrorists. Precision bombing is a tempting option for Westerners since it ensures few if any of our own casualties. But jihadists, through the use of human shields and biased photographers, are able to portray guided weapons as being as indiscriminate as carpet-bombing.
Fourth, the use of old shoot-and-scoot missiles — Katyushas, Qassams and worse to come — is altering the strategic calculus, as they now number in the many thousands. The fear of Hezbollah’s near limitless mobile launchers enabled terrorists to put whole Israeli cities in bomb shelters and almost shut down the country’s economy.
In the Middle East, neither the new Israeli border wall nor the Golan Heights guarantees security from a sky full of rockets. Israel needs a breakthrough in missile defense and may have to target the conventional assets of terrorist sponsors — the power grid, for example, of Syria — to restore deterrence.
Fifth, intelligence remains lousy. The lapses are not just an American problem but stymie the Israeli Mossad as well. The latter had little idea of the anti-tank weapons and impenetrable bunkers of Hezbollah, located a few miles from the border. Western reliance on drones and satellites yields little on-the-ground information. Meanwhile, free societies broadcast on television much of their own debates and plans.
Under the jihadists’ code of vigilante justice, local informants suspected of supplying tips to Westerners are almost instantly and publicly executed. We, on the other hand, flay ourselves over targeted wiretaps.
Sixth, there is little evidence of either the efficacy or morality of the vaunted “multilateral” diplomacy. The French have steadily downsized their proposed contribution to the U.N. peacekeeping force in southern Lebanon. Cash-hungry Russia sold its best weapons to terrorists. And oil-hungry China supplies Iran with missiles.
And seventh, the reputation of the international media in the Middle East for both accuracy and fairness has been lost. In the recent war in Lebanon, news agencies were accused by bloggers of publishing staged photos, and one agency, Reuters, was embarrassed when it found out — thanks again to the work of bloggers — that one of its freelancers had doctored war-zone photos.
Journalists rarely interviewed or filmed Hezbollah soldiers; we still have no idea how many so-called “civilians” reported killed were, in fact, Hezbollah terrorists. In the Middle East, reporters are scared stiff of Islamic fundamentalists, but not the Israeli or American military.

Despite the enormous advantages of Western militaries, there is no guarantee we can keep ahead of terrorists — especially since they are becoming more adept while we seem tired and unsure about whom, why and how we should fight.
So far, the U.S. has been able to dodge the latest terrorist bullets. So far, Afghanistan and Iraq are clinging to their newfound democracies. So far, Israel has been able to survive Hamas and Hezbollah, and these groups’ state sponsors in Iran and Syria.
But unless we in the West adapt more quickly than do canny Islamic terrorists in this constantly evolving war, cease our internecine fighting and stop forgetting what we’ve learned about our enemies — there will be disasters to come far worse than Sept. 11.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/0806/hanson082406.php3?printer_friendly

Book Jihate in Malaysia

KUALA LUMPUR, June 15 (Bernama) — Eighteen books published locally and overseas have been banned by the Internal Security Ministry under the Printing Presses and Publications Act 1984 as they have been deemed to be able to disrupt peace and harmony.

A copy of the prohibition citation dated June 8 by the ministry was made available to Bernama, here Thursday.

The act prohibits any form of reproduction or distribution of these books, six of which are in Malay and the rest in English.

The following are the books that have been banned:

1. The Bargaining for Israel: In the Shadow of Armageddon authored by Mona Johulan and published by Bridge-Logos Publishers, United States (USA).

2. Islam (Mathew S Gordon, Oxford University Press (OUP))

3. Lifting the Veil (Trudie Crawford, Apple of Gold, United States)

4. A Fundamental Fear of Eurocentrism and the Emergence of Islamism (Bobby S Sayyid, Zed Books Ltd, United Kingdom (UK))

5. Islam Revealed – A Christian Arab's View of Islam (Dr Anis A Shorrosh, Thomas Nelson Publishers, USA)

6. What Everyone Needs to Know About Islam (John L Esposito, OUP)

7. Mini Skirts Mothers & Muslims (Christine Mallouhi, publisher not available)

8. The Battle for God Fundamentalism in Judaism, Christianity and Islam (Karen Armstrong, Harper Collins, UK)

9. Kundalini For Beginners (Ravindra Kumar, Health Harmony, B Jain Publishers (P) Ltd, India)

10. Sacred Books of the East (Epiphanius Wilson, J-Jeiley Asian Educational Services, India)

11. Sharing Your Faith with A Muslim (Akbidayah Akbar Abdul-Haqq, Bethany House Publishers, USA)

12. Cults, World Religions and The Occult (Kenneth Bon, Chariot Victor Publishings, UK)

13. Petua dan Doa Pendinding, Penawar, Penyembuh Penyakit (Awang Mohd Yahya, Unsie Publisher, Kuala Lumpur)

14. Hakikat & Hikmah 7 Hari Dalam Seminggu (Abu Nashr Al-Hamdanly, Pustaka Ilmi, Batu Caves, Selangor)

15. Pemuda Bani Tamim Perintis Jalan Imam Mahdi (Abu Muhammad, Penerbit Giliran Timor)

16. Kontroversi Hukum Hudud (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

17. Risalah No.2 Dilema Umat Islam-Antara Hadis dan Quran (Kassim Ahmad, Forum Iqra Berhad, Penang)

18. Siri 7 Amalan-Amalan Bid'ah Pada Bulan Syaban (Ustaz Rasul bin Dahri, Percetakan Putrajaya Sdn Bhd)

— BERNAMA

Education Islamic Style

 "Teaching English as a method of control" By Ebitisam Al-Kibti, reprinted from Arab Reform Bulletin, Carnegie Endowment

Via IMRA:
In recent years the Arab Gulf states …have undertaken wide-ranging changes …. the most prominent areas of change has been education, which lays the foundation for cultural, social and political consciousness.
 

…A quick look at educational initiatives already under way and those under consideration can shed light on how new curricula will shape the minds of coming generations in the region.

… increasing reliance on the English language at the university level …

The decision to change the language of instruction in the social sciences and humanities to English, although many students lack the required proficiency, has profound implications for education.
…. When students discover that their failure to follow along ….caused by their deficiency in a foreign language, many …will abandon educational pursuits. This would be an unfortunate societal loss.
With the exception of a small group of outstanding students who master English, many others …. will have to be content with unremarkable scholastic achievement.  

Naturally, this is not the type of student that the public policies in the Gulf countries aim to produce, nor is it the type of student that is required by the demands of development efforts.
 

The increasing reliance on English is an example of the sort of proposed changes in educational systems that serve foreign interests more than they serve the societies of the Gulf. …comes within the context of the control and suppression of university youth, so that their worldview in the future will be compatible with and serve the interests of those powers….

Strategic reform of educational systems aiming, in the long run, to bring about an increase in national achievements would require greater cohesion between the coming generations and the issues relevant to the general population. It would also entail opening up space for popular participation in the political sphere and in socio-cultural action.

The more the educational system is in step with society and complements public policies, the more the results will serve actual needs in the Gulf states.

Ebtisam al-Kitbi is assistant professor of political science at the United Arab Emirates University.

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Limewoody:

One of the reasons for the rise of critisicm of religion in the western world was the translation of the bible  – before the bible only existed in the language of the elite and the cleresy namely: Latin. Efter the translation into English people could and did their own reading and thinking and understanding and eventually critisicm of the texts of the Bible and began posing questions to their religious leaders – about the meaning of the texts and not less the behaviour of these religious leaders.

Especially after the Black Death – the plague.

Another reason was the ability to print the sacred texts so people could read for themselves and argue with the priests and others.

A third reason was the ability of the common reading abilities and the rise of the public shools which liberated the mind of a lot of brigth young men and eventually women. ( And brought a couple of clowns, too – but shit happens).

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In Islamic countries you have a widespread analphebetism, undereducation which means that you are extremely vunerable to leaders claims of the wildest and most superstitious kind.   

But you have along with that a fanatic faith that rather say live and let die than live and let live. And a faith that tries to regulate everything in life.  

This together – along with the structure of clanmentality ( and strong social control ) leaves little space for the individual.

One could wonder which means parents use – and I don´t physical violence – but more psycological means. I once read a girl who was threatend by a parent a long this fashion – "If you don´t or if you do that your hair will go on fire / fall of ". This is interesting.