Arab media report: Israel ready to comply with Hamas demands

According to the Saudi Arabian newspaper Ukaz, the top Israeli negotiator, Amos Gilad, informed an unnamed Palestinian source that Israel is ready to free all of the prisoners demanded by the Hamas party in exchange for captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit. Gilad’s office denied the report.  >>>>>

Israeli Bestseller Breaks National Taboo

Dr Shlomo Sand argues that the idea of a Jewish nation – whose need for a safe haven was originally used to justify the founding of the state of Israel – is a myth invented little more than a century ago…

In addition, he argues that the Jews were never exiled from the Holy Land, that most of today’s Jews have no historical connection to the land called Israel and that the only political solution to the country’s conflict with the Palestinians is to abolish the Jewish state…

Dr Sand’s main argument is that until little more than a century ago, Jews thought of themselves as Jews only because they shared a common religion. At the turn of the 20th century, he said, Zionist Jews challenged this idea and started creating a national history by inventing the idea that Jews existed as a people separate from their religion.  Equally, the modern Zionist idea of Jews being obligated to return from exile to the Promised Land was entirely alien to Judaism, he added. >>>>>

Father, forgive me, I will not fight for your Israel

And when you told your father? “Dad was astonished and angry that I had been there and endangered my life. After that we had conversations. He supported me as his daughter and we have a good relationship, but he is decidedly opposed to what I do and even more to my refusal to serve in the army.

“At first he thought this was a passing phase of adolescence and later he understood that this is coming from a place deep inside me. He and I have very similar characters. I, too, fight to the end for what I believe in. But we are opposites ideologically.” >>>>>

It’s worth repeating…She is a perfect example of why Muslims should not be hating any one group of people. She has made a decision of conscience. It is a brave one that places her morals above her nation’s call of duty. May she receive the blessings and protection for her decision.

Prudent economics – “Replace capitalism with Islamic financial system,” says cleric

In response to: Replace capitalism with Islamic financial system: cleric

“The collapse of the capitalist system based on usury and paper and not on goods traded on the market is proof that it is in crisis and shows that Islamic economic philosophy is holding up,” said the Egyptian-born, Qatar-based cleric.

“The Western system has collapsed and we have a complete economic philosophy as well as spiritual strength,” he said at Sunday’s opening of a conference on Jerusalem. >>>>>

In an economic “system based on usury and paper and not on goods traded on the market” the borrower, (the average Westerner), is in a state of crisis from the signing of the contract.  The primary reason why many Western experts oppose this, is not because of the name Islam, but because Muslims are amongst the primary whistle-blowers about the inevitability of unjust economic enslavement of the average person.

Those who stand to benefit in a system that practices usury/interest are amongst the primary public-relations representative and co-conspirators of establishing a state of Islamophobia.

Take away the label of Islam, and deal with pure mathematics, logic, social conscience and justice — and the Islamic economic system is no doubt superior to capitalism and communism – put together.

Like the term ‘democracy,’ ‘capitalism’ is purported as great, but in practice is not even applied by the people who champion the cause.

Extremists attack several Arab homes in Akka; more Israeli right wingers are flocking into the city

Extremist Jewish rioters continued their attacks against Arab homes and property in Akka, especially in the Eastern neighborhood. Eyewitnesses reported that the attack was more violent than yesterday and that the mobs are surrounding an Arab home.

Dozens of Arab residents of Akka warned that hundreds of Jewish residents from Akka and different parts of the country could carry crimes that could lead to losses in lives, and slammed the police for practically begging the attackers to leave.

Khudari deplores Israel for barring doctors from entering Gaza

GAZA, (PIC)– MP Jamal Al-Khudari, the head of the popular committee against the siege, strongly denounced Wednesday the IOA for barring a medical delegation from the 1948 occupied lands from entering the Gaza Strip, saying that Israel wants to prevent any efforts to help the Gaza people.

In a press release received by the PIC, MP Khudari stated that the delegation is from the organization of physicians for human rights and was intending to perform surgeries and provide medical consultations for patients. >>>>>

Playing Palestinians off Against Each Other

Now, however, and judging by its behavior, Israel seems comfortable with Hamas’ control over Gaza. In addition to undermining Palestinian aspirations for independence and statehood, the split between Hamas in Gaza and Fateh in the West Bank is causing each to compete with the other over who can better prevent Palestinian violence against Israel. The split, moreover, and Hamas’ control over Gaza are reducing international pressure on Israel. Israel is thus free to continue its violations of international law, avoiding its responsibility to implement United Nations Security Council Resolutions 242 and 338, expanding and building more illegal Jewish settlements in occupied territory and maintaining its draconian and inhuman closure policies in both the West Bank and on Gaza.  >>>>>

Tunnels feed besieged Gaza

Hundreds of tunnels under the border between the Gaza Strip and Egypt are keeping many of the Palestinian territory’s 1.5 million impoverished residents supplied with food and fuel.

On Saturday, Egyptian authorities found the entrances of three tunnels and confiscated a large amount of fuel about to be smuggled into the territory.  >>>>>

Israel arrests 9 Palestinians in West Bank

The Israeli army raids West Bank cities and villages almost every night, chasing down Palestinians said to be wanted by the Israeli intelligence services.

But Human rights groups say the Israeli arrests were arbitrary. The Nablus-based International Solidarity Organization for Human Rights reported that 200 Palestinians were arrested in the West Bank last month, including 25 youngsters and three women. >>>>>

Source: Lebanese army likely to strike N Palestinian camp

BEIRUT, Oct. 4 (Xinhua) — A Lebanese security source said the Lebanese army would likely launch a “massive operation” against the Palestinian refugee camp Baddawi located in northern Lebanon if security concerns were justified, local Naharnet reported Saturday.

“The Lebanese army would likely carry out a massive operation against Baddawi, if investigations prove that those responsible for the recent bombing attack against the Lebanese army had took refuge in the camp,” the security source was quoted as saying on condition of anonymity. >>>>>

US appeals NJ Muslim cleric immigration case

Qatanani, 44, won his fight to gain permanent U.S. residency in September, when a federal immigration judge determined the government’s case against the Palestinian was too weak to prove he had any ties to extremist groups.  The ruling would allow Qatanani and his family to remain in the country and eventually be eligible to apply for citizenship.

Immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl questioned the reliability of the records submitted by the Department of Homeland Security purporting to show Qatanani’s arrest and conviction in Israel.  >>>>>

‘Hundreds join’ settler violence

“These hundreds are engaged in conspiratorial actions against Palestinians and the security forces. It’s a very grave phenomenon…”

“The margins [in the settler community] are expanding, because they are enjoying a tailwind and the backing of part of the leadership, both rabbinical and public, whether in explicit statements or tacitly.”  >>>>>

Olmert: We Must Leave Most of West Bank

Israel will have to give up virtually all of the West Bank and east Jerusalem if it wants peace with the Palestinians, Prime Minister Ehud Olmert said in a farewell interview published Monday, saying Israel faced a stark choice and needed to make a decision soon.

Olmert also said Israel would have to leave the Golan Heights in order to obtain peace with Syria. >>>>>

Ahmadinejad accepts Israel’s right to exist

Ahmadinejad was asked: “If the Palestinian leaders agree to a two-state solution, could Iran live with an Israeli state?”

This was his astonishing reply:

If they [the Palestinians] want to keep the Zionists, they can stay … Whatever the people decide, we will respect it. I mean, it’s very much in correspondence with our proposal to allow Palestinian people to decide through free referendums.

Since most Palestinians are willing to accept a two-state solution, the Iranian president is, in effect, agreeing to Israel’s right to exist and opening the door to a peace deal that Iran will endorse.  >>>>>

“The Iranian president has said he would accept a two-state solution if the Palestinians agree. So where are the headlines?”  Peter Tatchell

The settler and the shepherd: an unfair tale

The body of the young shepherd was found with gunshot wounds late Saturday night, in the fields between the neighbouring settlement of Itamar and the villages of Aqraba and Awarta.

According to eyewitnesses, the teenager has been attacked by a group of settlers from Itamar and Jettit, the illegal Israeli settlements that surround Al Aqbraba village. To the witnesses, the boy was pursued by a settler’s car before they heard gunshots but did not see him being shot. From a first forensic report, the settlers shot at him at least 20 times, from close range. >>>>>

Israel will have to give up land to make peace: Olmert

In an interview to the largest circulated Hebrew dailyYedioth Aharonoth, Olmert said the Jewish state will have to withdraw from most of West Bank and East Jerusalem, and the Golan Heights if it was serious about making peace with the Palestinians and Syria. Olmert, who was forced to quit in the wake of a public uproar on a series of corruption charges against him, said that as a hardlinerfor decades he had not been prepared to look at reality in all of its depth. >>>>>

Islamic Jihad says in preparation for post-ceasefire phase

The armed wing of Islamic Jihad movement on Saturday said it was in preparation for the post-ceasefire era since a Hamas-Israel truce is near collapse. “The military training and maneuvers are part of preparations for post-ceasefire phase,” a spokesman for al-Quds Brigades, the movement’s military wing, said in Gaza city. >>>>>

Over 190,000 Muslims pray at Jerusalem’s Al-Aqsa mosque

Al-Aqsa mosque — on Islam’s third holiest site — has been a major flashpoint in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and was the site of the outbreak of the latest Palestinian uprising in 2000.

Jews believe the compound including the mosque was the site of the Second Temple — Judaism’s holiest site — which was destroyed by the Romans in 70 AD.    >>>>>

Ex-Mossad agent’s daughter protests occupation

The daughter of an ex-Mossad deputy has refused to do military service because of Israel’s killing of Palestinian civilians.

Omer Goldman, daughter of Natalin Granot, former deputy to the head of Mossad, was imprisoned on Tuesday after she, along with two other Israeli women, Miya Tamarin and Tamar Katz, refused to enter the army. >>>>>

She is a perfect example of why Muslims should not be hating any one group of people. She has made a decision of conscience. It is a brave one that places her morals above her nation’s call of duty. May she receive the blessings and protection for her decision.

Palestine: From bad to wretched

Nonetheless, even if the Palestinian Authority had no history of corruption and genuinely intended to invest in a sustainable economy, no truly free and independent economy can flourish under occupation, whose very intention is the disempowerment of Palestinian workers, farmers and the middle class. It’s these strata of Palestinian society that have led the struggle to end the occupation on one hand and to resist local corruption on the other.  >>>>>

“…intention is the disempowerment of Palestinian workers, farmers and the middle class.” Americans of all races and religions are at the beginning stages of what the Palestinians are going through.  The common denominator has to be discovered, accepted and eradicated.