By Syed Zarir Hussain, IANS,
Guwahati : Middle-aged Khudija Khatun lost her husband, Mohammad Arab Ali, to militants' bullets in 1998. Eleven years later, Khudija is yet to receive a single penny from the government - not even the ex-gratia amount given to families of victims of insurgency.
Separatists of the outlawed United Liberation Front of Asom (ULFA) kidnapped Ali and later gunned him down near his hometown of Jagiroad in eastern Assam's Morigaon district.
Anamika Nath is another homemaker without a man - her husband, a primary school teacher in Bongaigaon district of western Assam, was killed by ULFA militants in the run up to the assembly elections in 2001.
Government ministers then assured Anamika of a job, but eight years down the line, she is still running from pillar to post without any success.
Like Khudija and Anamika, there are hundreds of widows of insurgency in Assam who have not got the promised ex-gratia payments or government jobs promised by the government.
"I have not received any money from the government. I have four children and without any financial support from the government, life is simply like hell," Khudija told IANS.
It has become a ritual of sorts - hours after a violent rebel strike or explosions where there are casualties, the first thing the government does is to announce an ex-gratia (since 2008 the amount has been raised to Rs.300,000 from Rs.100,000) and at times to appease sentiments, jobs were also promised to the next-of-kin of those who died in such attacks.
"I was assured of a job after my husband died. I ran from pillar to post, but then luck betrayed me," Anamika said with tears welling in her sunken eyes.
Anamika was lucky to get the ex-gratia amount of Rs.100,000 in 2002, a year after her husband was killed by militants.
"I had to spend half the amount I received shunting between Bongaigaon and Guwahati to get my ex-gratia amount released. I had to make numerous visits to Guwahati and ultimately I was left with just about Rs.50,000," she said.
Three decades since insurgency took roots in Assam, the state government still does not have a mechanism or a special cell for the survivors of insurgency to get their dues or their grievances heard.
"It is high time the Assam government set up a special grievance cell for the widows of insurgency. It is a shame to find the government so insensitive despite hundreds of widows of insurgency struggling for survival," said Wasbir Hussain, director of the Centre for Development and Peace Studies, a Guwahati-based think-tank.
Hussain has written an award-winning book titled "Homemakers without the Men", a real life story of widows of insurgency in Assam.
There could be an estimated 5,000 widows of insurgency in Assam.
But amid the gloom, there is a ray of hope for the child victims of insurgency through Project Aashwas, an initiative by the Assam Police supported by Unicef and the National Foundation for Communal Harmony.
"So far we have provided financial incentives to 752 children by paying a monthly stipend of Rs.750 towards their education," said Debojit Hazarika, coordinator of Project Aashwas.
Apart from financial incentives, the project counsels children and their mothers.
"The trauma and stress of mothers and children is something that cannot be quantified. We do frequent counselling so that they feel they have someone to fall back upon, something like social security," said Jayanta Das, a well known psychiatrist and counsellor for the project.
(Syed Zarir Hussain can be contacted at zarir.h@ians.in)
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Monday, March 02, 2009
Assam's AUDF eyes national stage via Muslim vote
By Khalid Akhter, IANS,
New Delhi : A seller of perfumes by profession, he has been emboldened by his surprise electoral wins in Assam in 2006. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is now hoping to translate the millions of Muslim votes in the country into a significant victory for his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Ajmal's Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), which won 10 assembly seats within six months of its birth, is eyeing the key high Muslim population states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand besides Assam.
"Since independence, political parties have not delivered what people, especially Muslims, had expected from them," said Ajmal, 50, who is the AUDF president,.
"The condition of Muslims is deplorable, they have voted and tried every party but nothing has changed. I am trying my best for the political empowerment of the community," Ajmal told IANS.
He said contesting from these states would facilitate the AUDF to acquire the status of a national party. According to the 2001 census, Uttar Pradesh has an 18.5 percent Muslim population, Bihar 16.5, Maharashtra 10.6 and Jharkhand 13.8.
Ajmal, who has made a fortune by exporting 'ittar', or traditional Indian perfume, primarily to the Middle East, said: "Like the way we worked hard in Assam, we will do here."
He said his party would also work for other marginalised sections. "Along with Muslims, we will work for the sections that have remained on the periphery after independence. The head of the party in a state can be a Hindu as well depending on the local conditions," he added.
Currently, two of the 10 legislators of AUDF in Assam are Hindus.
Zafarul Islam Khan, editor of Milli Gazette, said: "From what I gather through discussions with the party leadership, I can say though the core group and top leadership is Muslim, they would be working for other communities as well."
The party is, however, banking mainly on Muslims, who form 13.4 percent of India's
total population as per the 2001 Census. Muslims comprise half the population in 18 of the 593 districts in the country and have decisive votes in 80 of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Their population is 30.9 percent in Assam, where the AUDF put up a stunning show three years ago.
Ajmal, who studied at the Dar-ul-Uloom seminary in Deoband town of Uttar Pradesh, said since the outfit was not a registered national party it would field candidates under the banner of the Uttar Pradesh-UDF, Bihar-UDF in Bihar and so on.
Ajmal said his party would not have any pre-poll alliances but could tie up with secular parties after the elections expected in April-May.
Political analysts are, however, sceptical and see it only as a pressure group. And then two such parties, All-India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimmen in Andhra Pradesh and Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala, have not been able to cross the territorial boundaries of their regions.
Amir Ali, associate professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said: "Such parties mainly try to play on rhetoric, but the voter has become intelligent and does tactical voting. The Muslim voter's primary concern is to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power."
Ali also said that such parties were likely to be branded communal and would end up helping the BJP to consolidate its vote bank.
Political scientist Sudha Pai said: "It is too early to say, but if they do sustained work among the community then they might develop their vote base. Also, another factor that would matter would be the alliances that the party forms in different states."
She said the party had done well in Assam and might have some impact in regions like eastern Uttar Pradesh if they take up issues like terrorism.
Pai said: "If they develop a mass following, they will definitely impact parties like the Samajwadi Party and Congress, for whom Muslims have traditionally voted but have apprehensions about now."
(Khalid Akhter can be contacted at khalid.a@ians.in)
New Delhi : A seller of perfumes by profession, he has been emboldened by his surprise electoral wins in Assam in 2006. Maulana Badruddin Ajmal is now hoping to translate the millions of Muslim votes in the country into a significant victory for his party in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls.
Ajmal's Asom United Democratic Front (AUDF), which won 10 assembly seats within six months of its birth, is eyeing the key high Muslim population states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Maharashtra and Jharkhand besides Assam.
"Since independence, political parties have not delivered what people, especially Muslims, had expected from them," said Ajmal, 50, who is the AUDF president,.
"The condition of Muslims is deplorable, they have voted and tried every party but nothing has changed. I am trying my best for the political empowerment of the community," Ajmal told IANS.
He said contesting from these states would facilitate the AUDF to acquire the status of a national party. According to the 2001 census, Uttar Pradesh has an 18.5 percent Muslim population, Bihar 16.5, Maharashtra 10.6 and Jharkhand 13.8.
Ajmal, who has made a fortune by exporting 'ittar', or traditional Indian perfume, primarily to the Middle East, said: "Like the way we worked hard in Assam, we will do here."
He said his party would also work for other marginalised sections. "Along with Muslims, we will work for the sections that have remained on the periphery after independence. The head of the party in a state can be a Hindu as well depending on the local conditions," he added.
Currently, two of the 10 legislators of AUDF in Assam are Hindus.
Zafarul Islam Khan, editor of Milli Gazette, said: "From what I gather through discussions with the party leadership, I can say though the core group and top leadership is Muslim, they would be working for other communities as well."
The party is, however, banking mainly on Muslims, who form 13.4 percent of India's
total population as per the 2001 Census. Muslims comprise half the population in 18 of the 593 districts in the country and have decisive votes in 80 of 543 Lok Sabha seats. Their population is 30.9 percent in Assam, where the AUDF put up a stunning show three years ago.
Ajmal, who studied at the Dar-ul-Uloom seminary in Deoband town of Uttar Pradesh, said since the outfit was not a registered national party it would field candidates under the banner of the Uttar Pradesh-UDF, Bihar-UDF in Bihar and so on.
Ajmal said his party would not have any pre-poll alliances but could tie up with secular parties after the elections expected in April-May.
Political analysts are, however, sceptical and see it only as a pressure group. And then two such parties, All-India Majlis-E-Ittehadul Muslimmen in Andhra Pradesh and Indian Union Muslim League in Kerala, have not been able to cross the territorial boundaries of their regions.
Amir Ali, associate professor of political science at Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU), said: "Such parties mainly try to play on rhetoric, but the voter has become intelligent and does tactical voting. The Muslim voter's primary concern is to keep the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) out of power."
Ali also said that such parties were likely to be branded communal and would end up helping the BJP to consolidate its vote bank.
Political scientist Sudha Pai said: "It is too early to say, but if they do sustained work among the community then they might develop their vote base. Also, another factor that would matter would be the alliances that the party forms in different states."
She said the party had done well in Assam and might have some impact in regions like eastern Uttar Pradesh if they take up issues like terrorism.
Pai said: "If they develop a mass following, they will definitely impact parties like the Samajwadi Party and Congress, for whom Muslims have traditionally voted but have apprehensions about now."
(Khalid Akhter can be contacted at khalid.a@ians.in)
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Obama & the “Jews of India”
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Bangalore: Though Brahmins form less than 3% of India’s population, nobody, not even the Prime Minister, has the courage to criticise them because they hold the very neck of India. Imagine, they killed M.K. Gandhi like a street dog and none had the guts to question it.
If this is the power of this micro-minority “Jews of India” in this poverty-stricken country, we can imagine the power of their cousins, the Jews — who control the whole of West — in the world’s most powerful country America.
That is how Obama, who came to power giving so many promises and raising so much of hopes, is hesitating to touch the Jews who are just 2% in America and yet control its finance, media, industry and the very White House.
VICE-PRESIDENT A JEW ?
Did Obama betray the Blacks, the Left, Muslims? Those who held high hopes in him — America’s first Black and Muslim President — say he is a disappointment. When the zionist Israel was recklessly bombing Gaza, was he not silent?
He has appointed Jews to key positions. His Vice-President Joe Biden is “a proud war-maker and Zionist”, according to John Pilger, an Australian journalist. His economic advisers are all pro-capitalists.
Obama made all sorts of promises to please the proletariat but without pleasing the zionist lobby he could neither get the money nor the power.
This is the problem facing both India and America. It needs a super-human brain to tackle the twin problem. World peace can come only when this octopus grip is broken. Such a possibility is within our reach. Yes, we can.
CHINA DOESN’T TRUST OBAMA
When in a pauperised country like India, the Brahmins could be so powerful, is it difficult to imagine the power of Jews in the world’s most powerful country?
That is how China, all Muslim countries and above all Iran and Palestinians do not trust Obama.
DIAMOND TO CUT DIAMOND
It is true that DV was the first in India, if not the word, to predict Obama victory and whole-heartedly support him. But in politics 2+2 does not make four.
India’s Brahminical rulers are not happy with Obama but being great worshipers of the rising sun they have already jumped into his bandwagon.
Every person has a conscience which will certainly prick Obama. He will act. That is how he has selected the pro-zionist Hillary to tackle the zionist Israel. Diamond to cut diamond.
Once the zionists (Israel) are cut to size and Middle East becomes peaceful, even as financial crisis further deepens in America, the “Jews of India” will naturally sever connections with their cousins.
By then China would have overtaken America.
Already Pakistan has embraced China which America dare not touch because it is living under the financial mercy of China. That means the Brahminical rulers dare not touch Pakistan.
The American Jews will soon realise that the “Jews of India” are untrustworthy and also unreliable.
They will then remember DV’s two-decade old warning that Hitler created the “Holocaust” instigated and inspired by the “Jews of India”: Aryan race theory of “chosen people”. (DV Oct.16, 2003 p. 8: “Aryans sold swastika to Hitler & fooled German nazis to kill Jews”).
BAHUJANS ASSURE PROTECTION
Kicked from both sides — China from the East, Jews from the West and the angry Bahujans from inside India — where will the “Jews of India” go?
But the Bahujans are a kind- hearted people. Unlike the Bhoodevatas they don’t believe in stabbing in the back. Bahujans know that unlike the Jews who can migrate to Israel, none is ready take the “Jews of India”.
We have already reserved one large district of Gorakhpur, on the foothills of the Himalayas, to house all the “Jews of India” in distress offering them full protection — on the condition that the Bhoodevatas do not persecute their own women.
Obama’s eight-year-old rule is expected to bring about such cataclysmic changes. Please wait and watch.
http://dalitvoice.org/Templates/feb_a2009/reports.htm
Bangalore: Though Brahmins form less than 3% of India’s population, nobody, not even the Prime Minister, has the courage to criticise them because they hold the very neck of India. Imagine, they killed M.K. Gandhi like a street dog and none had the guts to question it.
If this is the power of this micro-minority “Jews of India” in this poverty-stricken country, we can imagine the power of their cousins, the Jews — who control the whole of West — in the world’s most powerful country America.
That is how Obama, who came to power giving so many promises and raising so much of hopes, is hesitating to touch the Jews who are just 2% in America and yet control its finance, media, industry and the very White House.
VICE-PRESIDENT A JEW ?
Did Obama betray the Blacks, the Left, Muslims? Those who held high hopes in him — America’s first Black and Muslim President — say he is a disappointment. When the zionist Israel was recklessly bombing Gaza, was he not silent?
He has appointed Jews to key positions. His Vice-President Joe Biden is “a proud war-maker and Zionist”, according to John Pilger, an Australian journalist. His economic advisers are all pro-capitalists.
Obama made all sorts of promises to please the proletariat but without pleasing the zionist lobby he could neither get the money nor the power.
This is the problem facing both India and America. It needs a super-human brain to tackle the twin problem. World peace can come only when this octopus grip is broken. Such a possibility is within our reach. Yes, we can.
CHINA DOESN’T TRUST OBAMA
When in a pauperised country like India, the Brahmins could be so powerful, is it difficult to imagine the power of Jews in the world’s most powerful country?
That is how China, all Muslim countries and above all Iran and Palestinians do not trust Obama.
DIAMOND TO CUT DIAMOND
It is true that DV was the first in India, if not the word, to predict Obama victory and whole-heartedly support him. But in politics 2+2 does not make four.
India’s Brahminical rulers are not happy with Obama but being great worshipers of the rising sun they have already jumped into his bandwagon.
Every person has a conscience which will certainly prick Obama. He will act. That is how he has selected the pro-zionist Hillary to tackle the zionist Israel. Diamond to cut diamond.
Once the zionists (Israel) are cut to size and Middle East becomes peaceful, even as financial crisis further deepens in America, the “Jews of India” will naturally sever connections with their cousins.
By then China would have overtaken America.
Already Pakistan has embraced China which America dare not touch because it is living under the financial mercy of China. That means the Brahminical rulers dare not touch Pakistan.
The American Jews will soon realise that the “Jews of India” are untrustworthy and also unreliable.
They will then remember DV’s two-decade old warning that Hitler created the “Holocaust” instigated and inspired by the “Jews of India”: Aryan race theory of “chosen people”. (DV Oct.16, 2003 p. 8: “Aryans sold swastika to Hitler & fooled German nazis to kill Jews”).
BAHUJANS ASSURE PROTECTION
Kicked from both sides — China from the East, Jews from the West and the angry Bahujans from inside India — where will the “Jews of India” go?
But the Bahujans are a kind- hearted people. Unlike the Bhoodevatas they don’t believe in stabbing in the back. Bahujans know that unlike the Jews who can migrate to Israel, none is ready take the “Jews of India”.
We have already reserved one large district of Gorakhpur, on the foothills of the Himalayas, to house all the “Jews of India” in distress offering them full protection — on the condition that the Bhoodevatas do not persecute their own women.
Obama’s eight-year-old rule is expected to bring about such cataclysmic changes. Please wait and watch.
http://dalitvoice.org/Templates/feb_a2009/reports.htm
Engaging Hamas: Will history repeat itself?
By Ramzy Baroud
The political outcomes of the Gaza war are yet to be entirely decided with any degree of certainty. However, the obvious political repositioning which was reported as soon as Israel declared its unilateral ceasefire promised that Israel’s deadly bombs would shape a new political reality in the region.
In the aftermath, Hamas can confidently claim that its once indisputably ‘radical’ political position is no longer viewed as too extreme. “Hamas” is no longer menacing a word, even amongst Western public, and tireless Israeli attempts to correlate Hamas and Islamic Jihadists’s agendas no longer suffice.
The Israel war against Gaza has indeed proven that Hamas cannot be obliterated by bombs and decimated by missiles. This is the same conclusion that the U.S. and other countries reached in regards to the PLO in the mid 1970’s. Of course, that realization didn’t prevent Israel from trying on many occasions to destroy the PLO, in Jordan (throughout the late 1960’s), getting involved in the Lebanese civil war (1976), and then occupying south Lebanon (1978), and then the entire country (1982). Even upon the departure of PLO factions from Lebanon, Israel followed its leadership to Tunisia and other countries, assassinating the least accommodating members, thus setting the stage for political ‘dialogue’ with the ‘more acceptable peace partners’.
The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict has taught us that political ‘engagement’ often follows wars; the military outcome of these wars often determines the course of political action that ensues afterward. For example, a war, like that of 1967 (the astounding defeat of the Arabs), strengthened the notion that a military solution is the primary option to achieve ‘peace’ and ‘security.’ Of course, this logic is erroneous when it is applied to popular struggles. Conventional armies can be isolated and defeated. Popular struggles cannot, and attempts to do so often yield unintended and contradictory results. Israel’s victory (thanks in part to U.S. and European military, financial and logistical support) drove Israel into the abyss of complete arrogance. Arabs responded in kind in 1973, and were close to a decisive victory when the U.S., once again came to the rescue, providing Israel with the largest transport of arms recorded since WWII.
Still, the 1973 war created new realities that even Israel could not deny.
Then, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat earned prestige (as a statesman) following the war, as U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Israel’s most dedicated friend of all time) conditioned any American engagement of Egypt on the latter’s departure from the Soviet’s camp. To win American acceptance, Sadat’s language and perception on the conflict began to shift, while a ‘peace process’ fragmented the conflict, from its previous totality, into a localized version, which eventually saw the exit of Egypt from the Arab-Israeli conflict altogether.
The PLO, dominated by its largest faction, Fatah, found itself in a precarious position. Its political stocks were rising, true, but its liberation rhetoric was expected to shift in favor of a more ‘pragmatic’ and ‘moderate’ approach. Kissinger was keen on ensuring that the ‘maximalist’ Arab agenda, including that of the PLO would be transferred into a minimalist one. That was the price of recognition and political legitimacy. Not only Sadat, but the PLO, like Hamas today, was asked to moderate its expectations, but the real buzzword then was accepting UN resolution 242. The price of legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle remains unchanged, but the new era yielded new demands and conditions. Neither then, nor today, was Israel ever asked to reciprocate.
The more the PLO of the 1970’s met conditions, the more Yasser Arafat rose to prominence. In June 1974, Fatah-led PLO revised and approved a political program that adopted a ‘phased’ political strategy which agreed to establishing a Palestinian state “over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated,” as opposed to Fatah’s own previous commitment to a “democratic state on all (of) Palestine.” The phased strategy split the somewhat unified PLO between ‘moderate’ and ‘rejectionist’ fronts, but allowed for political gains, such as the Arab designation of the PLO, in Rabat as “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. More, Arafat was invited to speak at the UN General Assembly, where the PLO received the status of an “observer”. In his speech on November 13, 1974, Arafat uttered his most famous statement: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
Let historians contend on whether Arafat was tricked by a peace ploy, which saw the softening of the PLO’s position, while the Israeli position continued to harden unchecked. The fact is, however, the seeds of Palestinian division were planted during these years and Palestinians were compartmentalized – between moderates, extremists, maximalists, minimalists, pragmatists, rejectionists and so on. However, the political gains of the PLO of those years were made irrelevant, and were later used exclusively for personal gains, starting in 1974, passing through Oslo, the subsequent ‘peace process’, and finally reaching today’s dead-end.
World Media are now reporting that European countries are in direct contact with Hamas leaders, although officials are insisting that this contact is independent and not linked to larger government initiatives. More, several US congressmen visited Gaza, again with similar disclaimers. US Senator John Kerry, who led the US delegation, claimed that the US position regarding Hamas has not changed, and repeated the conditions that Hamas must meet before any engagement is possible.
One has to be wary of the history that rendered the once influential PLO, the trivial organization that it is today. History often repeats itself, true, but it doesn’t have to if one remembers such historical lessons. Peace is not a ‘process’ – at least not in the Kissinger sense – and true dialogue and positive engagement require no stipulations and conditions. Hamas is now in the same precarious position that the PLO was in earlier years. Its future decisions shall influence the coming stage of this conflict, thus the fate of the Palestinian people in inconceivable ways.
-- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is, "The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle" (Pluto Press, London).
The political outcomes of the Gaza war are yet to be entirely decided with any degree of certainty. However, the obvious political repositioning which was reported as soon as Israel declared its unilateral ceasefire promised that Israel’s deadly bombs would shape a new political reality in the region.
In the aftermath, Hamas can confidently claim that its once indisputably ‘radical’ political position is no longer viewed as too extreme. “Hamas” is no longer menacing a word, even amongst Western public, and tireless Israeli attempts to correlate Hamas and Islamic Jihadists’s agendas no longer suffice.
The Israel war against Gaza has indeed proven that Hamas cannot be obliterated by bombs and decimated by missiles. This is the same conclusion that the U.S. and other countries reached in regards to the PLO in the mid 1970’s. Of course, that realization didn’t prevent Israel from trying on many occasions to destroy the PLO, in Jordan (throughout the late 1960’s), getting involved in the Lebanese civil war (1976), and then occupying south Lebanon (1978), and then the entire country (1982). Even upon the departure of PLO factions from Lebanon, Israel followed its leadership to Tunisia and other countries, assassinating the least accommodating members, thus setting the stage for political ‘dialogue’ with the ‘more acceptable peace partners’.
The history of the Arab-Israeli conflict has taught us that political ‘engagement’ often follows wars; the military outcome of these wars often determines the course of political action that ensues afterward. For example, a war, like that of 1967 (the astounding defeat of the Arabs), strengthened the notion that a military solution is the primary option to achieve ‘peace’ and ‘security.’ Of course, this logic is erroneous when it is applied to popular struggles. Conventional armies can be isolated and defeated. Popular struggles cannot, and attempts to do so often yield unintended and contradictory results. Israel’s victory (thanks in part to U.S. and European military, financial and logistical support) drove Israel into the abyss of complete arrogance. Arabs responded in kind in 1973, and were close to a decisive victory when the U.S., once again came to the rescue, providing Israel with the largest transport of arms recorded since WWII.
Still, the 1973 war created new realities that even Israel could not deny.
Then, Egyptian president Anwar Sadat earned prestige (as a statesman) following the war, as U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger (Israel’s most dedicated friend of all time) conditioned any American engagement of Egypt on the latter’s departure from the Soviet’s camp. To win American acceptance, Sadat’s language and perception on the conflict began to shift, while a ‘peace process’ fragmented the conflict, from its previous totality, into a localized version, which eventually saw the exit of Egypt from the Arab-Israeli conflict altogether.
The PLO, dominated by its largest faction, Fatah, found itself in a precarious position. Its political stocks were rising, true, but its liberation rhetoric was expected to shift in favor of a more ‘pragmatic’ and ‘moderate’ approach. Kissinger was keen on ensuring that the ‘maximalist’ Arab agenda, including that of the PLO would be transferred into a minimalist one. That was the price of recognition and political legitimacy. Not only Sadat, but the PLO, like Hamas today, was asked to moderate its expectations, but the real buzzword then was accepting UN resolution 242. The price of legitimacy of the Palestinian struggle remains unchanged, but the new era yielded new demands and conditions. Neither then, nor today, was Israel ever asked to reciprocate.
The more the PLO of the 1970’s met conditions, the more Yasser Arafat rose to prominence. In June 1974, Fatah-led PLO revised and approved a political program that adopted a ‘phased’ political strategy which agreed to establishing a Palestinian state “over every part of Palestinian territory that is liberated,” as opposed to Fatah’s own previous commitment to a “democratic state on all (of) Palestine.” The phased strategy split the somewhat unified PLO between ‘moderate’ and ‘rejectionist’ fronts, but allowed for political gains, such as the Arab designation of the PLO, in Rabat as “the sole legitimate representative of the Palestinian people”. More, Arafat was invited to speak at the UN General Assembly, where the PLO received the status of an “observer”. In his speech on November 13, 1974, Arafat uttered his most famous statement: “Today I have come bearing an olive branch and a freedom-fighter's gun. Do not let the olive branch fall from my hand.”
Let historians contend on whether Arafat was tricked by a peace ploy, which saw the softening of the PLO’s position, while the Israeli position continued to harden unchecked. The fact is, however, the seeds of Palestinian division were planted during these years and Palestinians were compartmentalized – between moderates, extremists, maximalists, minimalists, pragmatists, rejectionists and so on. However, the political gains of the PLO of those years were made irrelevant, and were later used exclusively for personal gains, starting in 1974, passing through Oslo, the subsequent ‘peace process’, and finally reaching today’s dead-end.
World Media are now reporting that European countries are in direct contact with Hamas leaders, although officials are insisting that this contact is independent and not linked to larger government initiatives. More, several US congressmen visited Gaza, again with similar disclaimers. US Senator John Kerry, who led the US delegation, claimed that the US position regarding Hamas has not changed, and repeated the conditions that Hamas must meet before any engagement is possible.
One has to be wary of the history that rendered the once influential PLO, the trivial organization that it is today. History often repeats itself, true, but it doesn’t have to if one remembers such historical lessons. Peace is not a ‘process’ – at least not in the Kissinger sense – and true dialogue and positive engagement require no stipulations and conditions. Hamas is now in the same precarious position that the PLO was in earlier years. Its future decisions shall influence the coming stage of this conflict, thus the fate of the Palestinian people in inconceivable ways.
-- Ramzy Baroud (www.ramzybaroud.net) is an author and editor of PalestineChronicle.com. His work has been published in many newspapers, journals and anthologies around the world. His latest book is, "The Second Palestinian Intifada: A Chronicle of a People's Struggle" (Pluto Press, London).
Nigeria’s Witch Children
EKET, Nigeria — Jeremiah, 10, can’t stop tears from rolling down his face as he recalls how he was tortured, burned and nearly killed by his own parents for being branded by their local church as a wicked witch.
"We were having a revival at church one night when from nowhere, the pastor's wife stood up to say I was a witch," the Nigerian child told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, March 1.
It has been more than a year since Jeremiah fled from his home and took refuge at an emergency shelter in the town of Eket in Nigeria’s south-east state of Akwa Ibom.
But his escape came after he suffered months of abuse at the hands of his parents after he was accused of sorcery.
After the church incident, Jeremiah was immediately locked up at the pastor's house, starved and assaulted with clubs as part of the exorcism exercise.
When he moved back home, he suffered another episode of torture by his parents, who over several weeks, locked him up in a room, starved and flogged him and then set him ablaze.
"One day my father came in with a jerrycan and poured petrol on my face and my clothes and lit matches.
“I was burnt and for several days I could not open my eyes and my mouth," he recalled, before slipping into a long silence, and then sudden gush of tears.
Despite the seriousness of the burns which left him permanently scarred, he was not allowed to seek medical care. Days later, he sighted another jerrycan of fuel in the house and knew it was time to flee.
Aid workers affirm that despite all his sufferings, Jeremiah is counted of the lucky children haunted by witchcraft.
At a centre sheltering Jeremiah, there are over 170 other children -- aged between 18 months and 16 years – who have sought or been brought to emergency shelter.
Many bear scars of torture -- machete cuts, burns or a nail drilled into the head.
"Some die, they are thrown into the sea,” Sam Ikpe-Itauma, head of the local charity organization Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), says.
“Many are forced to eat a poisonous wild berry, in the belief that if you eat and don't die, you are not a witch, if you die then you are a witch. But there are hardly any survivors.”
Pastors Business
Aid workers and experts affirm that as in many other parts of Africa, the belief in witchcraft is not new in Nigeria, but it’s all new that children now become victims.
Experts blame this trend for the self-proclaimed pastors who make fortune from children exorcising rites.
"There is an explosion of fake evangelists," Herbert Batta, a university lecturer in the state capital Uyo, told AFP.
He added that the self-made pastors know very well there is nothing wrong with the children they brand.
Ikpe-Itauma, of the Eket local charity CRARN, agrees.
"You have to be seen to spiritually powerful to draw the crowds and in the process collect lots of money in offerings."
Around a dozen phony pastors have been arrested recently.
One of them is facing murder charges after he confessed in a documentary film to having killed 110 child witches.
He now says he killed only the witches inside the children, not the children themselves.
The phony pastors also get paid in cash or kind for deliverance and counseling sessions.
Chigbo Ekwealo, a university of Lagos philosopher and witchcraft specialist believe that people ignorance and poverty have made them an easy prey for those phony pastors.
"Some people are making brisk business out of defenseless children," Akwa Ibom State spokesman Aniekan Umanah, concurrs.
"It's greed, targeting gullible and susceptible rural people."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1235628753121&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
"We were having a revival at church one night when from nowhere, the pastor's wife stood up to say I was a witch," the Nigerian child told Agence France Presse (AFP) on Sunday, March 1.
It has been more than a year since Jeremiah fled from his home and took refuge at an emergency shelter in the town of Eket in Nigeria’s south-east state of Akwa Ibom.
But his escape came after he suffered months of abuse at the hands of his parents after he was accused of sorcery.
After the church incident, Jeremiah was immediately locked up at the pastor's house, starved and assaulted with clubs as part of the exorcism exercise.
When he moved back home, he suffered another episode of torture by his parents, who over several weeks, locked him up in a room, starved and flogged him and then set him ablaze.
"One day my father came in with a jerrycan and poured petrol on my face and my clothes and lit matches.
“I was burnt and for several days I could not open my eyes and my mouth," he recalled, before slipping into a long silence, and then sudden gush of tears.
Despite the seriousness of the burns which left him permanently scarred, he was not allowed to seek medical care. Days later, he sighted another jerrycan of fuel in the house and knew it was time to flee.
Aid workers affirm that despite all his sufferings, Jeremiah is counted of the lucky children haunted by witchcraft.
At a centre sheltering Jeremiah, there are over 170 other children -- aged between 18 months and 16 years – who have sought or been brought to emergency shelter.
Many bear scars of torture -- machete cuts, burns or a nail drilled into the head.
"Some die, they are thrown into the sea,” Sam Ikpe-Itauma, head of the local charity organization Children's Rights and Rehabilitation Network (CRARN), says.
“Many are forced to eat a poisonous wild berry, in the belief that if you eat and don't die, you are not a witch, if you die then you are a witch. But there are hardly any survivors.”
Pastors Business
Aid workers and experts affirm that as in many other parts of Africa, the belief in witchcraft is not new in Nigeria, but it’s all new that children now become victims.
Experts blame this trend for the self-proclaimed pastors who make fortune from children exorcising rites.
"There is an explosion of fake evangelists," Herbert Batta, a university lecturer in the state capital Uyo, told AFP.
He added that the self-made pastors know very well there is nothing wrong with the children they brand.
Ikpe-Itauma, of the Eket local charity CRARN, agrees.
"You have to be seen to spiritually powerful to draw the crowds and in the process collect lots of money in offerings."
Around a dozen phony pastors have been arrested recently.
One of them is facing murder charges after he confessed in a documentary film to having killed 110 child witches.
He now says he killed only the witches inside the children, not the children themselves.
The phony pastors also get paid in cash or kind for deliverance and counseling sessions.
Chigbo Ekwealo, a university of Lagos philosopher and witchcraft specialist believe that people ignorance and poverty have made them an easy prey for those phony pastors.
"Some people are making brisk business out of defenseless children," Akwa Ibom State spokesman Aniekan Umanah, concurrs.
"It's greed, targeting gullible and susceptible rural people."
http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1235628753121&pagename=Zone-English-News/NWELayout
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