veiled4allah

while you weren't looking

Juan Cole looks at what Muslims are saying about what is happening in Jerusalem. What's that, you say?

The far-right Israeli extremists who demonstrated in Jerusalem were not just protesting the plan to remove Israeli colonists from Gaza, as was reported in the Western press. Rather, they were threatening to invade the al-Aqsa Mosque. The Muslim world understood this threat as an intention to destroy the third-holiest shrine in the Islamic world... ...So an issue that stirred Muslim fundamentalists to fury and might be a recruitment tool for al-Qaeda was surely intensively covered by the Western press, right? Wrong... ...Now, maybe Revava never threatened to destroy the mosque. I don't know. They don't appear to be humane, level-headed people, so maybe they did make the threat. But it is a gross dereliction of duty for the US press to neglect to even report that this threat is what had alarmed the Muslims around the world. How can we possibly fight al-Qaeda and understand the Muslim world if our press does not even report what Muslims think is at issue in incidents like this? And note that no Western press article appears even to have rounded up the reaction in the Muslim world. They are invisible to our public, even when they are outraged.

Read his full post to learn more.

Sabra and Shatila

Lawrence of Cyberia remembers Sabra and Shatila. He provides a detailed timeline of the massacre, pictures, and references. He concludes:

Hopefully, anyone who has read this far, through the whole sordid episode of Sabra and Shatila, will have a better appreciation now of why most of the world rolls its eyes when our President lauds the Israeli PM as a "man of peace", but labels the Palestinian leader a "terrorist". Because the other 95% of the world understands that terrorism is not terrorism only when it is committed by Muslims or Arabs, and that the politically-motivated murder of about 3,000 U.S. civilians in New York and Washington DC on September 11, 2001 is a despicable act, but no more despicable than the conveniently-forgotten politically-motivated murder of about 3,000 Palestinian civilians in Sabra and Shatila on 16-18 September 1982.

remembering Rachel Corrie

A year ago today, Rachel Corrie, a non-violent activist from Olympia, Washington, was killed by an Israeli bulldozer while protesting the demolition of a Palestinian home. "Rachel's life and her memory should remind us of the vast potential of the human heart to seek peace - no matter what the challenges, no matter what the cost. On this day, when we remember her sacrifice, we should also celebrate her courage, her strength, and her commitment to the principles that we cherish. Her family and friends are in our hearts and in our prayers." - Dennis Kucinich

speaking of brutality...

Tuesday, November 5: At around 1:00pm, heavy machinery belonging to Israeli troops dug inside the borderline opposite Block O in Rafah refugee camp and planted explosives and detonated them from a distance causing damage to two houses. At around 2:30pm, the troops made incursion into Block L in Rafah refugee camp and demolished three houses there during which heavy gunfire and shelling were aimed at the houses killing two children: Adham Hamdan, 16, gunshot in the back of the head and Iyad Abu Taha, 17, gunshot in the head. 12 others were injured, including five children and an old man: 'Abd al-Qader Barhum, 31, shrapnel in the left leg; Muhammad 'Abd al-Wahhab, 8, shrapnel in the face; Ihab Yusef, 18, gunshot in the head; Khaled Abu 'Aweeleh, 38, shrapnel in the abdomen and left leg; Mariam al-Agha, 42, gunshot in the left thigh; Naim Barhum, 38, gunshot in the right arm; Rami 'Abed, 19, gunshot in the left arm; Muhammad Abu Jazar, 15, shrapnel in the back; Muhammad Abu Hilal, 14, shrapnel in the head and back; Muhammad Subuh, 17, shrapnel in the head; Hussein Au 'Oun, 72, shrapnel in the left shoulder; Musa Abu Jazar, 18, critically hit by gunshot in the head.

This is just one incident on one day of Israel's occupation of Gaza and the West Bank. Read the whole report to get a weekly overview. Brutal and horrific as they are, the suicide bomb attacks do not come out of nowhere. When you brutalize a people long enough, they will fight you back the same way and meet your savagery with savagery. Note: Some clarifications. I happened to come across this article at a political site on the day that I posted it and I felt that it gave a good snapshot of the brutality committed by the IDF. I did not intend to argue that the events mentioned in it had any direct connection to the recent suicide bombings. The report was in effect taken at random. My intended argument was of a general nature only: The Palestinian people suffer brutality at the hands of Israel and this is one of the factors in their own brutal tactics. Please see my clarification for more.

this makes me so angry!

Combat helicopters killed five people, including two children, by blasting missiles into a Palestinian car on the West Bank in one of Israel's largest assassination operations for weeks, said witnesses.

Palestinian officials and bystanders said that a boy and a girl, both thought to be nine, who had been standing near the vehicle were among the dead, adding yet more infant names to the long list of uninvolved juveniles killed in Israeli military operations. (taken from Independent News)

Why do we hear no condemnations in the media or from commentators about Israeli barbarism after incidents like this? Why? Is it OK to kill little children as long as they're Palestinians? That anybody could call Israel's actions "just" makes me sick. Why are the Palestinians alone condemned while Israel gets off scot-free for doing the same and worse?