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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Jamada al-Thani 19,1427/July 15, 2006 #45


TRAGEDY in PAKISTAN: July 14: The murder of Allama Hasan Turabi. Inna lillahe wa inna alaii rajeun. In a senseless sectarian attack, a leader of the Islamic coalition MMA, Allama Turabi, was killed in Karachi, outside his home.
Sectarianism is senseless because the forces of imperialism are the enemies of ALL Muslims, be they Shia or Sunni. Behavior, not sect, should be the standard for Muslims. Imperialists are supported by agents from both sects. Ali Sistani, Jaafari, Allawi, Shahristani, Nuri, all Shias, are supporting the U.S. in Iraq. But other agents, like Abdullah of Jordan, Hosni of Egypt, Karzai of Kabul, Musharraf of Pakistan are all Sunnis.
Our sincere condolences go out to Allama Turabi's family. He was indeed a great scholar, teacher and standard bearer of Shia Sunni unity. May Allah help us to remember that we are ONE UMMAH and we are all under attack. [The Editor.]


Jamaat al-Muslimeen News
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

We urge Muslims in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and "Great" Britain to use peaceful means to break the influence and power of international Jewish-Zionism. Remember that we are in our millions in these countries. Faced with the blatant aggression of Jewish terror groups known as Israel, we have the high moral ground. There is absolutely no reason why we should have any positive relationship with the terror groups [IDF and the Israeli air force] wreaking havoc in Gaza and Lebanon, or with their supporters in these countries.
Remember that the future of the Middle East will be decided by ISLAM [inshallah], not by the U.S. or by the Zionist terror groups. So, stop begging the U.S. to restrain the terror entity known as Israel. The U.S. won't do it. Bush and Blair are the servants of the terrorist entity.

Mobilize, as the followers of Allah and His last messenger, Muhammad, peace be on him, to undermine the power of the Jewish terror groups known as Israeli.
Do you have Jewish friends, doctors, attorneys, businessmen, who support Israel? This is the time to break that relationship.
DO NOT BUY FROM JEWISH BUSINESSES which support Israel.
DO NOT BUY FROM any businesses which support Israel, such as Nestle, Starbucks, Coca Cola, Home Depot, McDonald's, Arm and Hammer and Disney. [There is an IsraDisney!]


Three items from our efforts to awaken the American people to the danger from Israeli terrorism:

1. "Making it Plain" is an exim radio program which broadcasts across America. Dr. Wilmer Leon was the host on July 12, 13 and 14 and interviewed Dr. Kaukab Siddique. Dr. Leon spoke to him for half an hour and asked him about Lebanon-Gaza, Taliban and India's missile launch. Here are the main points Dr. Siddique:

* Israel is an occupation force which has usurped Palestine and inflicted serious harm on Lebanon and Syria. Thousands of Palestinians, including 1,000 women and 350+ children are in Israeli prisons. Israel has no justification under any law to claim that its soldiers should not have been captured by Hamas or Hizbullah. These are occupation forces and have no right to complain that they are facing resistance.
* Israel's bombardment of Lebanon indicates that the Jewish entity is terrorist. It is willing to bring down an entire nation to re-take its captured occupation troops. Racism is latent in the assertion that 3 Jews are more important than all of Lebanon and Palestine.
* [Dr. Leon asked about the latest New York Times report on the Taliban.]
Taliban have been totally misunderstood in America owing to a decade long demonization campaign.
Taliban are rising up from among the Pashtuns who are more than 60% of Afghanistan. It's absurd to claim that Taliban are opposed by the people [as the NY Times says]. NOT ONE TALIB has been handed over to the U.S. by the people during this offensive.
* U.S. troops entering Afghan homes and questioning elders and examining the BODIES of Afghans to see if they are fighters is a major disaster for the U.S. The Afghans do not forget such insults. Entering an Afghan home with armed force is against Afghan sense of honor and will result in more support for the Taliban.
* It's silly to dole out money and gifts to the Pushtuns to induce them to sell out the Taliban fighters. If that were workable, Mullah Umar, with a $10 million U.S. bounty on his head, would have been caught over the last 5 years, as would have been al-Zawahiri [$25 million] and Osama [with $50 million]. Remember, here we are dealing with Islamic people, hard core.
* About the INDIAN MISSILE: The U.S. was so riled up about the North Korean missile but said nothing about India's blatant exercise. Both the Indian and Pakistani governments shoot off missiles every now and then to spruce up nationalistic feelings and create the impression of "India vs Pakistan." In fact, both governments are in the U.S. camp and their problems are internal.
* India has spent its energies in occupying and suppressing KASHMIRIS, terrorizing and killing SIKHS, and repressing and shootiing down ASSAMESE students. Pakistan's regime has been battling Islamic frontier tribes to help the U.S. bottle up the Taliban and is facing simmering discontent and rebellion in Baluchistan.
* Most media did not report that the INDIAN MISSILE FAILED while the North Korean missile did not fail but was deliberately brought down because it was not meant to hit a target.


2. Ms. Nadrat Siddique writes to National Public Radio [NPR]
The Unasked Question: Israel Using our Six BILLION + Dollars to Attack Democratically Elected Hamas Government and Democratically Elected Hizbullah Leadership

To: All Things Considered
Date: July 15, 2006

I am writing in response to Michele Norris' July 14 interview with Edward Djerejian. When Norris asked the former U.S. ambassador to Israel (and Syria) what steps the U.S. should take to address the current situation, the ambassador blithely came up with a mouthful of diplomatic-sounding niceties, like a U.S. call for cessation of hostilities by all parties, getting the opposing sides to talk, and possible prisoner exchange.

He did not mention--and Norris did not dare ask about--the most obvious leverage the U.S. has in the conflict--the six billion dollars plus, which the U.S. doles out to Israel every year. Does that mountain of U.S. tax payers' money come with no accountability whatsoever?

It would seem that attempting to unseat a duly elected government (Hamas), bombing the Beirut Airport, and destroying vast civilian infrastructure in Gaza are violations of international law, whatever excuses Israel makes for these actions. If an Arab state engaged in such violations--for any reason--it would be under international sanctions or other forms of economic strangulation, like yesterday. A perfect example is the U.S. rush to block previously promised aid to Hamas, in the absence of any provocative acts by the latter, subsequent to the PA election.

It is high time to hold Israel to basic standards of International Law, or stop sending them our tax dollars.


3. Perfect Timing
REACHING out to U.S. Muslims in Virginia: BOYCOTT BUSINESSES WHICH SUPPORT ISRAEL

On July 14, 2006 Jamaat al-Muslimeen distributed its "BOYCOTT of Israeli Apartheid supporters" CARD after Juma' at the Islamic Center in Old Dominion University, Norfolk, Virginia. Unfortunately, the crowd was large and we did not have enough cards to give everyone. Still, alhamdullillah, the impact was very positive owing to Israel's rampage in Lebanon.


Jewish-Zionist Baby Killers
Gruesome scenes after Israeli air raids on south Lebanon

By Jihad Siqlawi
Agence France-Presse
TYRE — A baby was sliced into three and body parts hung from olive trees as the full force of Israeli military might hit rural southern Lebanon Thursday. In the deadliest Israeli strikes in a decade, at least 47 people were killed. As the south came under a relentless air assault that destroyed vital bridges linking one area to another, ordinary life came to a standstill as terror-stricken residents hid indoors and businesses remained closed. The silence that reigned over southern Lebanon was broken only by the sounds of violence and its aftermath — bomb blasts and the wail of ambulance sirens. Israel's offensive, prompted by the capture of two of its soldiers by the group Hizbollah in a bid to secure a swap of prisoners, was the most serious since it ended 22 years of occupation in southern Lebanon in 2000. On a charred mattress rest the remains of a burned baby girl, her arm to one side. Her upper body is at one end of the bed and her lower body at the other. Police said the 10-month-old and six other family members were killed when an Israeli missile hit their home in the usually quiet village of Baflay, near the coastal city of Tyre. The baby, whose name has not yet been released, was taken to a hospital morgue in Tyre. Her body has not yet been claimed by relatives. As dawn broke over the sleepy village of Dweir, near the main central market town of Nabatiyeh, tragedy hit the household of Adel Akkash, a Shiite Muslim cleric. An Israeli missile destroyed his home, and neighbours who rushed to help met with a gruesome scene. Akkash, his wife and their seven young children were all dead. Relief workers were called in to recover the remains of Akkash's seven children from the family olive grove, an AFP correspondent said. Small severed body parts were recovered from the branches of olive trees, and placed in plastic bags. Eleven members of another family — including five children — met a similar fate in Zibqine, a small village southeast of Tyre. A missile destroyed the home of a former mayor of the village who died a few years ago, burying his entire family under the rubble. Hours after the attack, the dusty bodies of his wife, children and nephews were retrieved from the debris by relief workers who took them to a hospital morgue. Three other relatives were found wounded, and taken to hospital. "We were all hiding in the shelter when the house was destroyed by the Israeli jets," one of them told AFP. "What did we do to deserve this barbaric attack on civilians? There are no resistance [fighters] here," he said. Police said Israeli air strikes also killed two civilians in Baraashit, five in Shour and three in Srifa, three villages near Tyre. Six civilians were wounded and taken to hospital after air strikes destroyed three houses in the village of Maarub, east of Tyre, police said. "The Israelis are suffocating us. They destroyed our roads and bridges. We cannot even flee," said southern resident Ahmad Kamel. "They are killing civilians because they cannot kill Hizbollah fighters. They want to bring us back to the occupation era. We cannot take this injustice any more. Will the world continue to watch them kill children without doing anything?" asked Jamil Hassan.

Friday-Saturday, July 14-15, 2006


Courtesy New Trend reader "Malangbaba"
PALESTINIAN PRISONERS INCLUDE Nearly 400 Children
Read this account and think of the Jewish Terror Group IDF's Complaint about one of its terrorists, Shalit, Captured from his Tank!


Apuntes Palestine are the notes of a Boricua
from New York in The Occupied Palestinian Territory.
Apuntes is my way of taking notes, taking aim,
indicating, pointing out, and promoting
views from the ground in Palestine.
Thursday, July 13, 2006

Free Musa!
Back in Beit Ummar we were getting into work mode. The popular committee of resistance to the wall and israeli occupation met with the ISM delegates in town to discuss our plan of action. There are popular committees in most villages of the West Bank and there are ISM folks in various regions supporting non-violent direct action.
It is difficult at times to negotiate the role of allies, privilege, organizing experience, language, and whole truckload of issues that may come up but mish mushkulah -not a problem. One way or another we come up with ways to support local popular resistance. One tension that is real is the fact that as internationals we tend to be men and women engaging male committees. Palestinian women are the backbone of the home and the community but they are not present at the meetings we have attended, nor at the actions. International women are strategizing to at least meet with more local women.
While some of us were back in the Beit others were in court engaging in courtroom solidarity with Musa Abumariya, popular committee member and local ISM contact. He was beaten pretty badly and arrested my first day in town. A progressive Israeli lawyer took on his case and ISM paid his bail, now we have to develop his defense, but this doesn't hold back a fiery Musa. Prison does not scare him, he has been imprisoned before, and he will continue to organize.
All of the men we have been working with and getting to know have spent time in prison. Although I teach in jail back home, I am astonished at how pervasive incarceration is here; it reminds me of working-class communities in New York. Everyone knows someone currently in or who has been in. Maybe we can draw some connections... the South Bronx and Southside Jamaica Queens, in some ways, are occupied, Palestine is occupied. We need to free our sisters and brothers. We need to free the land!
So Tuesday night we decided that on Wednesday we would meet families of prisoners and others directly affected by the settler occupation, Thursday would be a meeting with the village council and Friday & Saturday we would support actions here and in other villages. We managed to drink tea with the family of Yusef Abumariya, a popular committee member from Beit Ummar who has been in prison for a short while.
His mother and his nieces and nephews miss him so much. So does the popular committee in Beit Ummar. Imprisonment is an effective tool in disrupting the organizing necessary to change the conditions here. That is why alliances between local organizers, progressive Israelis, and internationals are crucial. Together we can outsmart the Zionists.
Many of you are aware of the incredible bombing campaign Israel has launched on Gaza. Some may know it has something to do with an Israeli soldier being captured, but less may understand the roots of this particular conflict. There are around 9000 Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails. Over 1000 prisoners have not been charged but are in detention nonetheless. Numerous women and around 400 children under the age of 18 are a part of this lot. This is why an Israeli soldier was captured; Palestinians are demanding the release of women and children from Israeli prisons and are willing to release this soldier in exchange. As a man, a teacher, an anti-imperialist, and a witness to the silent terror of incareceration, I can understand the families' outrage and the nations demand. Can you?

2006-07-15 Sat 19:35:12 cdt
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