Bangalore: A prominent member of the “India Shining” Brigade is sent to jail for 3 years RI on a serious corruption charge. The culprit is the notorious Pandit (Brahmin) in the Cabinet headed by the much more corrupt Telugu Brahmin, P.V. Narasimha Rao (PVN).
The trial of Sukhram, the then Union Minister of State for Communication, went on for 13 years. He formed part of the Govt. of India and was close to PVN who knew everything about the fraud.
The country’s ruling class being Brahminical it is always soft on its jatwalas. Hence Sukhram had a mere 3 years RI that, too after delaying so long.
But the same judiciary and the country’s upper caste rulers become merciless when it comes to Dalits and Muslims.
Did we not say that “India has two sets of law” (DV March 1, 2009 p.8) when it comes to Bhoodevatas?
Saturday, March 21, 2009
Dead Gaza Babies..Israeli Army Fashion
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
CAIRO — Sporting T-shirts with Palestinian babies, Gazan mothers mourning their slain children, razed mosques, Israeli soldiers are bragging their atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
"You take whoever [in the unit] knows how to draw and then you give it to the commanders before printing," an Israeli soldier who identified himself as Y., told Haaretz on Saturday, March 21.
Y. designed a T-shirt depicting a soldier in a Palestinian city with the slogan "If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!".
Since the end of the Gaza war, Israeli soldiers, marking the end of training of field duty, wear T-shirts depicting images of atrocities in overcrowded strip.
A T-shirt was designed by infantry snipers with an inscription reading "Better use Durex (trademark for condoms)," next to an image of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him.
A T-shirt designed by the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, "1 shot, 2 kills."
A graduation shirt for soldiers who completed a snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."
Israeli troops killed more than 1,350 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450 others in 22 days of attacks in Gaza, home to 1.6 million Palestinians.
The onslaught wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated enclave, leaving tens of thousands of homes and other buildings in ruins.
Israeli soldiers admitted Thursday killing innocent Palestinians in cold blood and ransacked their properties during the Gaza war.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk has accused Israel of committing war crimes of the greatest magnitude in Gaza.
Racist
One of the shirts sported by infantry unit soldiers is reading "Let every Arab mother know that her son's fate is in my hands!".
"It has a drawing depicting a soldier as the Angel of Death, next to a gun and an Arab town," a Givati Brigade soldier said.
Another sniper's shirt features a Palestinian kid in the crosshairs with the slogan "Smaller - harder!"?
"It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally, and also the target is smaller," G., a soldier in an elite unit who has done a snipers course, said.
Many T-shirts are also printed with blatant sexual messages.
"No virgins, no terror attacks," reads a slogan written below an image of an Israeli solider raping a girl.
Another T-shirt depicting a vulture sexually penetrating Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied by a particularly graphic slogan.
The content of the T-shirts is approved by the unit's commanders.
"Usually the shirts undergo a selection process by some officer, but in this case, they were approved at the level of platoon sergeant," the Givati soldier said.
Sociologist Orna Sasson-Levy, of Bar-Ilan University said the trend shows the growing radicalization process inside Israeli society.
"(The phenomenon is) part of a radicalization process the entire country is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront.
Sasson-Levy said the paintings and slogans show how Israeli soldier see Palestinians.
"There is a perception that the Palestinian is not a person, a human being entitled to basic rights, and therefore anything may be done to him."
CAIRO — Sporting T-shirts with Palestinian babies, Gazan mothers mourning their slain children, razed mosques, Israeli soldiers are bragging their atrocities in the Gaza Strip.
"You take whoever [in the unit] knows how to draw and then you give it to the commanders before printing," an Israeli soldier who identified himself as Y., told Haaretz on Saturday, March 21.
Y. designed a T-shirt depicting a soldier in a Palestinian city with the slogan "If you believe it can be fixed, then believe it can be destroyed!".
Since the end of the Gaza war, Israeli soldiers, marking the end of training of field duty, wear T-shirts depicting images of atrocities in overcrowded strip.
A T-shirt was designed by infantry snipers with an inscription reading "Better use Durex (trademark for condoms)," next to an image of a dead Palestinian baby, with his weeping mother and a teddy bear beside him.
A T-shirt designed by the Givati Brigade's Shaked battalion shows a pregnant Palestinian woman with a bull's-eye superimposed on her belly, with the slogan, "1 shot, 2 kills."
A graduation shirt for soldiers who completed a snipers course depicts a Palestinian baby, who grows into a combative boy and then an armed adult, with the inscription, "No matter how it begins, we'll put an end to it."
Israeli troops killed more than 1,350 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450 others in 22 days of attacks in Gaza, home to 1.6 million Palestinians.
The onslaught wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated enclave, leaving tens of thousands of homes and other buildings in ruins.
Israeli soldiers admitted Thursday killing innocent Palestinians in cold blood and ransacked their properties during the Gaza war.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk has accused Israel of committing war crimes of the greatest magnitude in Gaza.
Racist
One of the shirts sported by infantry unit soldiers is reading "Let every Arab mother know that her son's fate is in my hands!".
"It has a drawing depicting a soldier as the Angel of Death, next to a gun and an Arab town," a Givati Brigade soldier said.
Another sniper's shirt features a Palestinian kid in the crosshairs with the slogan "Smaller - harder!"?
"It's a kid, so you've got a little more of a problem, morally, and also the target is smaller," G., a soldier in an elite unit who has done a snipers course, said.
Many T-shirts are also printed with blatant sexual messages.
"No virgins, no terror attacks," reads a slogan written below an image of an Israeli solider raping a girl.
Another T-shirt depicting a vulture sexually penetrating Hamas' prime minister, Ismail Haniyeh, accompanied by a particularly graphic slogan.
The content of the T-shirts is approved by the unit's commanders.
"Usually the shirts undergo a selection process by some officer, but in this case, they were approved at the level of platoon sergeant," the Givati soldier said.
Sociologist Orna Sasson-Levy, of Bar-Ilan University said the trend shows the growing radicalization process inside Israeli society.
"(The phenomenon is) part of a radicalization process the entire country is undergoing, and the soldiers are at its forefront.
Sasson-Levy said the paintings and slogans show how Israeli soldier see Palestinians.
"There is a perception that the Palestinian is not a person, a human being entitled to basic rights, and therefore anything may be done to him."
Six Years on, Iraqis See Glimmer of Hope
By Afif Sarhan, IOL Correspondent
BAGHDAD – Despite insecurity, displacement and lack of many basic services, Iraqis see a glimmer of hope six years after the US-led invasion of their country.
"Since 2003, I never took my children to parks or any other public place for enjoinment," Muminah Salam, a 37-year-old teacher and mother of three, told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, March 21.
"I was too afraid that someone would attack us."
Six years on, Salam took her kids and those of her relatives to the Jadriyah Park in Baghdad.
"It is true that life isn’t like before. We are still without basic services, however, at least today we can go out and show our children that there are much more than the market close to our home or their grandparents' home, which is the only place they visited in the past years."
Iraqis are marking the sixth anniversary of the US-led invasion of their oil-rich Arab country.
The US invaded Iraq in 2003 on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda, claims later proved ungrounded.
Iraqis have seen their lives sliding from bad to worse since the invasion, as the country remains gripped by violence and lacks many life essentials.
Some two million Iraqis are believed to have fled the country to escape the violence.
Though violence has fallen in the past year, the anniversary was also marked by several deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing near Fallujah.
There are currently nearly 140,000 American troops deployed in Iraq.
US President Barack Obama has called for American combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by August 2010, with 35,000 to 50,000 remaining until the end of 2011 for support and training.
Security First
Mustafa Abdel-Fadel, 32, a pharmacist in the capital, is also enjoying the new relative peace and security.
"Day after day we see that security is improving and people are now going out to the streets, walking without fear," he told IOL.
Still, he recognizes that the country has a long way before returning to normalcy.
"Lack of essential services is a reality to all of us," explains Abdel-Fadel.
"We keep complaining and pressuring the government to take actions but we aren’t being heard so the best thing to do is live our lives and try at least to give our children some restful time in places that one day was sign of family union."
Zahira Mohammad Abdin, a professor at Mustansiriyah University and political analyst, agrees.
"If you had asked me a year ago if Iraq would improve living conditions, I would have said no but today it is comforting to see that people are returning to their normal lives, having some rest outside their homes and letting their children play with friends outdoor, an image that for long time we weren’t able to see," she told IOL.
"Basic services are overdue and might take time to improve, however, we cannot keep waiting and delay the course of our lives," she admits.
"But we should move on and keep pressuring the government but recognizing the security improvements and the ability that we have now to go to most places without the fear that a bomb might kill our loved ones as it was common in the past years.
Real Needs
Many Iraqis still lament the lack of basic services (Reuters)
Yet, some experts see security improvements as a very small step toward a better Iraq, accusing the government of using that as an excuse when money isn’t available to be invested in basic services.
"Being able to go to fancy and funny places won't feed or dress Iraqis," insists Kadar Malak, an aid worker with a local NGO.
"They might say that they are happy for being outside but when they return home and find no power, food, clean water or a warm place in the cold nights, than they will go back to reality and discover that such happy days in public places are just a way to cover their suffering for a few hours."
Less than 30 percent of all reconstruction projects have been started or completed since the invasion.
The funds have been re-allocated to security or the pockets of corrupt officials.
Safe drinking water has become a scarce commodity in Iraq despite the famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run the length of the country.
In Baghdad alone, half of the nearly six million residents have no access to clean water, and some families use bottled or boiled water.
According to UN figures, only one in three Iraqis has access to clean water.
Many Iraqis now regret the support they gave to the invasion.
"I was one of the Iraqis who went out to commemorate the end of Saddam’s regime and today cry for what I did," said Abu Hussein, 54, unemployed and displaced.
"Saddam was a dictator but he was also a man who gave us security, basic services despite sanctions and chances to work and earn our living," he explained.
"I lost my son and wife during sectarian violence, lost my job and my house. I have a sick daughter waiting for her cancer treatment and a heavy conscience that I had gone to celebrate the disgrace of someone," laments Abu Hussein.
"May be we were happy like we were before the invasion because today the only thing I have in life is suffering and pain."
BAGHDAD – Despite insecurity, displacement and lack of many basic services, Iraqis see a glimmer of hope six years after the US-led invasion of their country.
"Since 2003, I never took my children to parks or any other public place for enjoinment," Muminah Salam, a 37-year-old teacher and mother of three, told IslamOnline.net on Saturday, March 21.
"I was too afraid that someone would attack us."
Six years on, Salam took her kids and those of her relatives to the Jadriyah Park in Baghdad.
"It is true that life isn’t like before. We are still without basic services, however, at least today we can go out and show our children that there are much more than the market close to our home or their grandparents' home, which is the only place they visited in the past years."
Iraqis are marking the sixth anniversary of the US-led invasion of their oil-rich Arab country.
The US invaded Iraq in 2003 on claims of stockpiling weapons of mass destruction and links to Al-Qaeda, claims later proved ungrounded.
Iraqis have seen their lives sliding from bad to worse since the invasion, as the country remains gripped by violence and lacks many life essentials.
Some two million Iraqis are believed to have fled the country to escape the violence.
Though violence has fallen in the past year, the anniversary was also marked by several deadly attacks, including a suicide bombing near Fallujah.
There are currently nearly 140,000 American troops deployed in Iraq.
US President Barack Obama has called for American combat troops to withdraw from Iraq by August 2010, with 35,000 to 50,000 remaining until the end of 2011 for support and training.
Security First
Mustafa Abdel-Fadel, 32, a pharmacist in the capital, is also enjoying the new relative peace and security.
"Day after day we see that security is improving and people are now going out to the streets, walking without fear," he told IOL.
Still, he recognizes that the country has a long way before returning to normalcy.
"Lack of essential services is a reality to all of us," explains Abdel-Fadel.
"We keep complaining and pressuring the government to take actions but we aren’t being heard so the best thing to do is live our lives and try at least to give our children some restful time in places that one day was sign of family union."
Zahira Mohammad Abdin, a professor at Mustansiriyah University and political analyst, agrees.
"If you had asked me a year ago if Iraq would improve living conditions, I would have said no but today it is comforting to see that people are returning to their normal lives, having some rest outside their homes and letting their children play with friends outdoor, an image that for long time we weren’t able to see," she told IOL.
"Basic services are overdue and might take time to improve, however, we cannot keep waiting and delay the course of our lives," she admits.
"But we should move on and keep pressuring the government but recognizing the security improvements and the ability that we have now to go to most places without the fear that a bomb might kill our loved ones as it was common in the past years.
Real Needs
Many Iraqis still lament the lack of basic services (Reuters)
Yet, some experts see security improvements as a very small step toward a better Iraq, accusing the government of using that as an excuse when money isn’t available to be invested in basic services.
"Being able to go to fancy and funny places won't feed or dress Iraqis," insists Kadar Malak, an aid worker with a local NGO.
"They might say that they are happy for being outside but when they return home and find no power, food, clean water or a warm place in the cold nights, than they will go back to reality and discover that such happy days in public places are just a way to cover their suffering for a few hours."
Less than 30 percent of all reconstruction projects have been started or completed since the invasion.
The funds have been re-allocated to security or the pockets of corrupt officials.
Safe drinking water has become a scarce commodity in Iraq despite the famous Tigris and Euphrates rivers that run the length of the country.
In Baghdad alone, half of the nearly six million residents have no access to clean water, and some families use bottled or boiled water.
According to UN figures, only one in three Iraqis has access to clean water.
Many Iraqis now regret the support they gave to the invasion.
"I was one of the Iraqis who went out to commemorate the end of Saddam’s regime and today cry for what I did," said Abu Hussein, 54, unemployed and displaced.
"Saddam was a dictator but he was also a man who gave us security, basic services despite sanctions and chances to work and earn our living," he explained.
"I lost my son and wife during sectarian violence, lost my job and my house. I have a sick daughter waiting for her cancer treatment and a heavy conscience that I had gone to celebrate the disgrace of someone," laments Abu Hussein.
"May be we were happy like we were before the invasion because today the only thing I have in life is suffering and pain."
Rabbis' Religious War on Gaza
IslamOnline.net & Newspapers
CAIRO — Terming all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as "terrorists", Israeli army rabbis have told troopers in the recent Gaza war that they were fighting a religious war to expel gentiles from the holy land.
"Their message was very clear: we are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land," Ram, an army commander, said in testimonies cited by the Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday, March 20.
"This was the main message, and the whole sense many soldiers had in this operation was of a religious war."
The accounts of Ram, a pseudonym to shield the officer's identity, was published in the second day of troops' revelations about Gaza war atrocities.
Israeli soldiers admitted Thursday killing innocent Palestinians in cold blood and ransacked their properties during the war.
Ram said his impression of the war was "the feeling of an almost religious mission".
"A brigade rabbi was there, who afterward came into Gaza and went around patting us on the shoulder and encouraging us, and praying with people," he said.
"I Will Never Walk Again"
"Dad, I'm Dying"
Palestinian Holocaust Museum
"And also when we were inside they sent in those booklets, full of Psalms, a ton of Psalms. I think that at least in the house I was in for a week, we could have filled a room with the Psalms they sent us, and other booklets like that.
The army Cops distributed pamphlets about the history of Israel's fighting in Gaza from 1948 to the present, he said.
"The rabbinate brought in a lot of booklets and articles."
"Terrorists"
A squad commander from Ram's Givat Brigade, named as Aviv, recounted how they were told to open fire on any Palestinian who has not left his home during the war.
"From above they said it was permissible, because anyone who remained in the sector and inside Gaza City was in effect condemned, a terrorist, because they hadn't fled," he said.
"I didn't really understand: On the one hand they don't really have anywhere to flee to, but on the other hand they're telling us they hadn't fled so it's their fault ... This also scared me a bit."
During the event, the order was amended to include "operating megaphones" so advancing troops could tell people they had five minutes to get out or be killed.
"And then there was a very annoying moment. One of my soldiers came to me and asked, 'Why?' I said, 'What isn't clear? We don't want to kill innocent civilians.' He goes, 'Yeah? Anyone who's in there is a terrorist, that's a known fact.' I said, 'Do you think the people there will really run away? No one will run away," Aviv said.
The solider went on saying "'That's clear,' and then his buddies join in: 'We need to murder any person who's in there. Yeah, any person who's in Gaza is a terrorist,' and all the other things that they stuff our heads with, in the media.
Israeli troops killed more than 1,434 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450 others in 22 days of air, land and sea attacks.
The offensive wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated enclave, leaving tens of thousands of homes and other buildings in ruins.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk has accused Israel of committing war crimes of the greatest magnitude during the Gaza war.
CAIRO — Terming all Palestinians in the Gaza Strip as "terrorists", Israeli army rabbis have told troopers in the recent Gaza war that they were fighting a religious war to expel gentiles from the holy land.
"Their message was very clear: we are the Jewish people, we came to this land by a miracle, God brought us back to this land and now we need to fight to expel the gentiles who are interfering with our conquest of this holy land," Ram, an army commander, said in testimonies cited by the Israeli daily Haaretz on Friday, March 20.
"This was the main message, and the whole sense many soldiers had in this operation was of a religious war."
The accounts of Ram, a pseudonym to shield the officer's identity, was published in the second day of troops' revelations about Gaza war atrocities.
Israeli soldiers admitted Thursday killing innocent Palestinians in cold blood and ransacked their properties during the war.
Ram said his impression of the war was "the feeling of an almost religious mission".
"A brigade rabbi was there, who afterward came into Gaza and went around patting us on the shoulder and encouraging us, and praying with people," he said.
"I Will Never Walk Again"
"Dad, I'm Dying"
Palestinian Holocaust Museum
"And also when we were inside they sent in those booklets, full of Psalms, a ton of Psalms. I think that at least in the house I was in for a week, we could have filled a room with the Psalms they sent us, and other booklets like that.
The army Cops distributed pamphlets about the history of Israel's fighting in Gaza from 1948 to the present, he said.
"The rabbinate brought in a lot of booklets and articles."
"Terrorists"
A squad commander from Ram's Givat Brigade, named as Aviv, recounted how they were told to open fire on any Palestinian who has not left his home during the war.
"From above they said it was permissible, because anyone who remained in the sector and inside Gaza City was in effect condemned, a terrorist, because they hadn't fled," he said.
"I didn't really understand: On the one hand they don't really have anywhere to flee to, but on the other hand they're telling us they hadn't fled so it's their fault ... This also scared me a bit."
During the event, the order was amended to include "operating megaphones" so advancing troops could tell people they had five minutes to get out or be killed.
"And then there was a very annoying moment. One of my soldiers came to me and asked, 'Why?' I said, 'What isn't clear? We don't want to kill innocent civilians.' He goes, 'Yeah? Anyone who's in there is a terrorist, that's a known fact.' I said, 'Do you think the people there will really run away? No one will run away," Aviv said.
The solider went on saying "'That's clear,' and then his buddies join in: 'We need to murder any person who's in there. Yeah, any person who's in Gaza is a terrorist,' and all the other things that they stuff our heads with, in the media.
Israeli troops killed more than 1,434 Palestinians, mostly civilians, and wounded 5,450 others in 22 days of air, land and sea attacks.
The offensive wrecked havoc on the infrastructure of the densely-populated enclave, leaving tens of thousands of homes and other buildings in ruins.
UN special rapporteur on human rights in the Palestinian territories Richard Falk has accused Israel of committing war crimes of the greatest magnitude during the Gaza war.
Intifada: A third chapter
By Ramzy Baroud
Though the dust has settled in Gaza, the rubble from the untold number of demolished buildings, homes and mosques is far from being cleared away. Graves continue to receive victims, young and old alike, from Israel's most recent offensive. And in the midst of this, with the hopes of some respite and recovery on the horizon, rumors of a third Intifada swell among politicians, scholars and everyday people alike.
While the first and second Palestinian uprisings were spontaneous and natural responses to institutionalized injustice, and while they fostered a great sense of community and brotherhood among Palestinians everywhere, the many years of uprisings mark some of the most painful years in Palestinian history.
It's not easy to isolate specific dates and events that spark popular revolutions. Genuine collective rebellion cannot be rationalized through a coherent line of logic that elapses time and space; it's rather a culmination of experiences that unite the individual to the collective, their conscious and subconscious, their relationships with their immediate surroundings and with that which is not so immediate, all colliding and exploding into a fury that cannot be suppressed.
The eruption of both the first and the second Intifadas cannot be faultlessly explained by one individual, for it meant different things to different people. It was a popular and spontaneous retort to the injustice and the humiliation felt on a daily basis by Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories. But also, it was a bold declaration made collectively that Palestinians will struggle until freedom is finally achieved.
There are several factors that have led many to believe that a resumption of the uprising, or a third Intifada, is simply the natural response to the current situation on the ground. Mass arrests, unjust imprisonment of people denied the right to a trial and extrajudicial executions are some of the many cruelties imposed on Palestinians that have pressed them to revolt or reignited their ongoing rebellion.
But some of the most contentious issues throughout the years have been the crimes of house demolitions, settlement construction in the Occupied Territories and the increasing number of settlers moving into those ever-growing settlements.
In a recent interview with Ma'an news agency, the Palestinian Authority's governor to Jerusalem warned that the planned demolition of 100 Palestinian homes and the displacement of nearly 1,000 people in the occupied Jerusalem area would certainly increase the growing possibility of a third Intifada. "It is now clear to the international community, and our position within the Palestinian Authority is very clear - no negotiations, no peace process with settlements," he stressed.
There is a great fear that the Israeli plan, which some have described as "slow-motion ethnic cleansing", is now augmenting into a fast-paced settlement project. These worries have been confirmed by the Israeli "Peace Now" movement, in a press release, issued on March 2.
"The Ministry of Construction and Housing is planning to construct at least 73,300 housing units in the West Bank," Peace Now reported. It further stated that the plans outlined in the Israeli Ministry of Housing report "represent only a small part of the total number of the plans existing in the settlements".
"At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved," said the group, which also concluded that of the units already approved by the Israeli government, nearly 9,000 have been built. "If all the plans are realized, the number of settlers in the territories will be doubled."
It follows that the construction of thousands of units will lead to permanent demographic realities in the West Bank that would strongly impede any possibility of Palestinian statehood, according to the standard "vision" of a two-state solution.
The new illegal units are built on stolen land, illegally confiscated from their rightful Palestinian owners. With such a move, Israel purposely renders the so-called two-state solution permanently incapacitated, while insisting that a one-state solution is the equivalent to the "annihilation" of the Jewish state. Israel is once again molding the very desperate environment that led to the revolts of 1987 and 2000, at the cost of thousands of lives.
So, what is a nation to do under such circumstances? Can stone throwing, general strikes and boycotting Israeli products deter such a scheme? More, what is the responsibility of the free world in this conflict? Will they sit by, as they did in the recent and tragic attacks on Gaza, and view the crimes from afar? Will they again expect Palestinians to bear down and endure such harsh and cruel realities, or will the onset of yet another popular revolution come as no surprise?
As for two generations of Palestinians who lived through the first and second Intifadas, scribing rebellious graffiti, hurling stones at occupying soldiers and refusing to buy the Israeli products that were imposed on them (while impeding the growth of Palestinian local industry) may not have unshackled a hostage nation.
Indeed, it may not in the future, but a third Intifada, in the eyes of many, could accomplish one vital task. It could provide the platform for the Palestinians to reclaim their unity (despite the prevailing factionalism of today) and declare that they will struggle until the day when they finally embrace freedom. If this is all that a third Intifada accomplishes, in the eyes of many Palestinians, then it is certainly a necessary and worthy endeavor.
-- Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in numerous newspapers and journals worldwide, including the Washington Post, Japan Times, Al Ahram Weekly and Lemonde Diplomatique. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). Read more about him on his website: RamzyBaroud.net.
Source: AJP
Though the dust has settled in Gaza, the rubble from the untold number of demolished buildings, homes and mosques is far from being cleared away. Graves continue to receive victims, young and old alike, from Israel's most recent offensive. And in the midst of this, with the hopes of some respite and recovery on the horizon, rumors of a third Intifada swell among politicians, scholars and everyday people alike.
While the first and second Palestinian uprisings were spontaneous and natural responses to institutionalized injustice, and while they fostered a great sense of community and brotherhood among Palestinians everywhere, the many years of uprisings mark some of the most painful years in Palestinian history.
It's not easy to isolate specific dates and events that spark popular revolutions. Genuine collective rebellion cannot be rationalized through a coherent line of logic that elapses time and space; it's rather a culmination of experiences that unite the individual to the collective, their conscious and subconscious, their relationships with their immediate surroundings and with that which is not so immediate, all colliding and exploding into a fury that cannot be suppressed.
The eruption of both the first and the second Intifadas cannot be faultlessly explained by one individual, for it meant different things to different people. It was a popular and spontaneous retort to the injustice and the humiliation felt on a daily basis by Palestinians living in the Occupied Territories. But also, it was a bold declaration made collectively that Palestinians will struggle until freedom is finally achieved.
There are several factors that have led many to believe that a resumption of the uprising, or a third Intifada, is simply the natural response to the current situation on the ground. Mass arrests, unjust imprisonment of people denied the right to a trial and extrajudicial executions are some of the many cruelties imposed on Palestinians that have pressed them to revolt or reignited their ongoing rebellion.
But some of the most contentious issues throughout the years have been the crimes of house demolitions, settlement construction in the Occupied Territories and the increasing number of settlers moving into those ever-growing settlements.
In a recent interview with Ma'an news agency, the Palestinian Authority's governor to Jerusalem warned that the planned demolition of 100 Palestinian homes and the displacement of nearly 1,000 people in the occupied Jerusalem area would certainly increase the growing possibility of a third Intifada. "It is now clear to the international community, and our position within the Palestinian Authority is very clear - no negotiations, no peace process with settlements," he stressed.
There is a great fear that the Israeli plan, which some have described as "slow-motion ethnic cleansing", is now augmenting into a fast-paced settlement project. These worries have been confirmed by the Israeli "Peace Now" movement, in a press release, issued on March 2.
"The Ministry of Construction and Housing is planning to construct at least 73,300 housing units in the West Bank," Peace Now reported. It further stated that the plans outlined in the Israeli Ministry of Housing report "represent only a small part of the total number of the plans existing in the settlements".
"At least 15,000 housing units have already been approved and plans for an additional 58,000 housing units are yet to be approved," said the group, which also concluded that of the units already approved by the Israeli government, nearly 9,000 have been built. "If all the plans are realized, the number of settlers in the territories will be doubled."
It follows that the construction of thousands of units will lead to permanent demographic realities in the West Bank that would strongly impede any possibility of Palestinian statehood, according to the standard "vision" of a two-state solution.
The new illegal units are built on stolen land, illegally confiscated from their rightful Palestinian owners. With such a move, Israel purposely renders the so-called two-state solution permanently incapacitated, while insisting that a one-state solution is the equivalent to the "annihilation" of the Jewish state. Israel is once again molding the very desperate environment that led to the revolts of 1987 and 2000, at the cost of thousands of lives.
So, what is a nation to do under such circumstances? Can stone throwing, general strikes and boycotting Israeli products deter such a scheme? More, what is the responsibility of the free world in this conflict? Will they sit by, as they did in the recent and tragic attacks on Gaza, and view the crimes from afar? Will they again expect Palestinians to bear down and endure such harsh and cruel realities, or will the onset of yet another popular revolution come as no surprise?
As for two generations of Palestinians who lived through the first and second Intifadas, scribing rebellious graffiti, hurling stones at occupying soldiers and refusing to buy the Israeli products that were imposed on them (while impeding the growth of Palestinian local industry) may not have unshackled a hostage nation.
Indeed, it may not in the future, but a third Intifada, in the eyes of many, could accomplish one vital task. It could provide the platform for the Palestinians to reclaim their unity (despite the prevailing factionalism of today) and declare that they will struggle until the day when they finally embrace freedom. If this is all that a third Intifada accomplishes, in the eyes of many Palestinians, then it is certainly a necessary and worthy endeavor.
-- Ramzy Baroud is a Palestinian-American author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in numerous newspapers and journals worldwide, including the Washington Post, Japan Times, Al Ahram Weekly and Lemonde Diplomatique. His latest book is The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle (Pluto Press, London). Read more about him on his website: RamzyBaroud.net.
Source: AJP
Friday, March 20, 2009
Milli Organizations Still Groping For General Elections Strategy
By RINA,
New Delhi: Maulana Mahmood Madani has returned from a hectic visit to Assam but kept mum on impending general elections. Muslim leaders from about a dozen Muslim political parties also concede that country’s political scenario is changing fast but nothing is visible. Naturally, Muslim voters are perplexed.
New Muslim faces such as Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, Dr. Ayyub and Amir Rashadi are being relied in a circle of Delhi intelligentsia but their impact is either limited or tied with some particular issues. Amir Rashadi has devoted himself to Batla House encounter case and Dr. Ayyub has not transcended the boundaries of Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal seemed a promising name but his recent dabbling in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand and some other states could not evolve any consensus. At one time, he even tried to break some graceful compromise with Congress Party but his equations with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi failed him.
Mas’ood Madani, Maulana Mahmood Madani’s brother, who joined Samajwadi Party with big fanfare in Delhi a couple of weeks ago, has only confounded Muslim voters by announcing that he will work for his brother Maudood Madani. Maudood Madani has already disheartened Muslims by his submissive activities on that party’s platform.
It is believed in political circles here that Maulana Mahmood Madani may fall in Samajwadi Party’s net any time but Muslims are angry with the party leader Mulayam Singh who has admitted Kalyan Singh in his fold.
It is to be noted that Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when Babri Masjid was demolished. Therefore, he is an unforgivable guilty in the sight of Muslims.
Recently, Syed Ahmad Bukhari, the Imam of Shahi Jame Masjid, Delhi expressed his anguish on friendship between Mulayam Singh and Kalyan Singh saying, “Mulayam Singh will have to decide whether Muslims are dearer to him or the demolisher of Babri masjid, Kalyan Singh” he said adding “The breach of faith with Muslims makes him unpardonable.”
Maulana Bukhari vehemently objected to Mulayam Singh’s acceptance of Kalyan Singh as a ‘national’ leader and referred to the objectionable words expressed by kalyan Singh before Librahan Commission. “It is this Kalyan Singh who admitted before Librahan Commission that he had no repentance for demolition of Babri masjid because it was a symbol of serfdom”, Maulana Bukhari argues.
New Delhi: Maulana Mahmood Madani has returned from a hectic visit to Assam but kept mum on impending general elections. Muslim leaders from about a dozen Muslim political parties also concede that country’s political scenario is changing fast but nothing is visible. Naturally, Muslim voters are perplexed.
New Muslim faces such as Maulana Badruddin Ajmal, Dr. Ayyub and Amir Rashadi are being relied in a circle of Delhi intelligentsia but their impact is either limited or tied with some particular issues. Amir Rashadi has devoted himself to Batla House encounter case and Dr. Ayyub has not transcended the boundaries of Uttar Pradesh.
Earlier, Maulana Badruddin Ajmal seemed a promising name but his recent dabbling in Uttar Pradesh, Maharashtra, Delhi, Bihar, Jharkhand and some other states could not evolve any consensus. At one time, he even tried to break some graceful compromise with Congress Party but his equations with Assam chief minister Tarun Gogoi failed him.
Mas’ood Madani, Maulana Mahmood Madani’s brother, who joined Samajwadi Party with big fanfare in Delhi a couple of weeks ago, has only confounded Muslim voters by announcing that he will work for his brother Maudood Madani. Maudood Madani has already disheartened Muslims by his submissive activities on that party’s platform.
It is believed in political circles here that Maulana Mahmood Madani may fall in Samajwadi Party’s net any time but Muslims are angry with the party leader Mulayam Singh who has admitted Kalyan Singh in his fold.
It is to be noted that Kalyan Singh was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh when Babri Masjid was demolished. Therefore, he is an unforgivable guilty in the sight of Muslims.
Recently, Syed Ahmad Bukhari, the Imam of Shahi Jame Masjid, Delhi expressed his anguish on friendship between Mulayam Singh and Kalyan Singh saying, “Mulayam Singh will have to decide whether Muslims are dearer to him or the demolisher of Babri masjid, Kalyan Singh” he said adding “The breach of faith with Muslims makes him unpardonable.”
Maulana Bukhari vehemently objected to Mulayam Singh’s acceptance of Kalyan Singh as a ‘national’ leader and referred to the objectionable words expressed by kalyan Singh before Librahan Commission. “It is this Kalyan Singh who admitted before Librahan Commission that he had no repentance for demolition of Babri masjid because it was a symbol of serfdom”, Maulana Bukhari argues.
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