Palestine: Israeli army kidnaps dozens of Palestinians in West Bank

[Photo: Israeli soldiers Invading Hebron:  Hebron Daily News]

By Saed Bannoura

IMEMC & Agencies: Tuesday, Israeli soldiers continued their large-scale military invasion into different Palestinian communities in the occupied West Bank, broke into dozens of homes and searched them, and kidnapped dozens of Palestinians.

Local sources in the southern West Bank district of Hebron have reported that the soldiers kidnapped at least fifteen Palestinians after breaking into their homes, and interrogated dozens of residents.
The WAFA News Agency said that soldiers invaded various towns, villages and refugee camps in the district, and kidnapped; Rami Rafe’ Markhiyya, 13, Jihad Monther Fannoun, Awni Sa’id Sabarna, Samir Saleh al-Qady, Fadi Abdullah Ghneimat, Ahmad Khalaf, Marwan Abbdul-Qader Abu Fara, Ahmad al-Hour and his son Husam, Jadallah Abdullah Rajoub, Mohammad Fawzi al-Khatib, Anas Sobhy al-Jo’ba, Jalal Jamal Yaghmour, Eid Mousa Ebrewish and Ali Hmeidat.

WAFA added that the soldiers also invaded dozens of homes, violently searched them, and used many homes as military posts and monitoring towers.

Soldiers also installed roadblocks blocking any contiguity between towns and villages in the southern and western parts of Hebron.

They further confiscated surveillance cameras belonging to residents in Sinjer area, east of Doura town.

Local sources said the sounds of explosions were heard in various areas in Hebron, and that the soldiers were deliberately throwing sounds bombs and concussion grenades into Palestinian homes before invading them.

At least 80 Palestinians have been kidnapped in the Hebron district since the three Israeli settlers went missing last Thursday night.

In Ethna town, west of Hebron, the soldiers demolished an under-construction 130 square/meter home, belonging to a resident identified as Mohammad Hussein Farahallah.

In the Bethlehem District, soldiers invaded the Aida refugee camp, east of the city, and searched a number of homes before kidnapping one resident identified as Shadi Mohammad Badawna, 24, while resident Khalid Abu Shaqra, 16, from Um Salmouna village, west of Bethlehem was also taken prisoner.

Medical sources in Aida refugee camp stated that several residents received treatment for the effects of teargas inhalation, especially at the eastern entrance of the camp.

The soldiers also invaded Nahhalin, west of Bethlehem, and invaded car tries workshops, acellphone store, a supermarket and a nearby store, confiscating surveillance cameras, and also invading and violently searching several homes while interrogating the families.

In addition, soldiers invaded the villages of Jouret ash-Sham’a, Wadi an-Neess and Um Salmouna, near Bethlehem, and searched dozens of homes and shops.

Late on Monday at night, a number of Israeli settlers hurled Molotov cocktails and rocks at Palestinian cars in Nahhalin village, near Bethlehem, causing damage but no injuries.

Earlier on Tuesday, at dawn, dozens of soldiers invaded Azzoun town, east of the northern West Bank city of Qalqilia, kidnapping a father and his two sons after violently searching their home.

They have been identified as Sa’id Salama Salim, and his sons Waleed and Odai.

The soldiers also besieged Azzoun after blocking all roads leading to it by concrete blocks, and sand hills.

Dozens of soldiers also invaded the Ramallah and al-Biereh District, attacked and searched several homes in different neighborhoods, before kidnapping at least three Palestinians.

Local sources said that the soldiers kidnapped Aziz Kayed, Ahmad Najid Mafarja, and Mohammad Ammar. Many residents were detained, and some might have been kidnapped later on.

In Salfit, in the central West Bank, medical sources said one Palestinian was shot and injured by Israeli army fire, and was moved to a local hospital.

The young man, in his twenties, was shot by several rounds of live ammunition and was moved by the army to an Israeli hospital. His identity, and the severity of his injuries, remained unknown until the time of this report.

The Tuesday dawn invasion into northern West Bank districts resulted in at least 41 arrests, while Israeli online daily, Haaretz, has reported that more than a thousand Israeli soldiers participated in the night invasions across the occupied West Bank.

Five reasons why Hawking is right to boycott Israel

As announced by the British Committee for the Universities of Palestine (BRICUP) and subsequently covered by The Guardian, Reuters and others, world-renowned theoretical physicist and cosmologist Professor Stephen Hawking has decided to heed the Palestinian call for boycott, and pull out of an Israeli conference hosted by President Shimon Peres in June. After initial confusion, this was confirmed - Hawking is staying away on political grounds.

Here are five reasons why Professor Hawking is right to boycott:

5. Whitewashing apartheid 

The Israeli government and various lobby groups use events such as the “Presidential Conference” to whitewash Israel’s crimes past and present, a tactic sometimes referred to as “rebranding”. As a Ministry of Foreign Affairs official put it after the 2009 Gaza massacre, it is the kind of approach that means sending “well-known novelists and writers overseas, theatre companies, [and] exhibits” in order to “show Israel’s prettier face, so we are not thought of purely in the context of war”. “Brand Israel” is all about creating a positive image for a country that is the target of human rights campaigners the world over – as if technological innovations or high-profile conferences can hide the reality of occupation and ethnic cleansing.

4. Shimon Peres 

Despite his reputation in the West as a “dove”, Peres’ career to date includes war crimes in Lebanon,support for collective punishment of Palestinians in Gaza, and, in private discussions, incitement against non-Jewish citizens. Anyone would do well to avoid a conference hosted by such a hypocrite. Simply not being Ariel Sharon does not really cut it; Peres should be scheduled for a trip to The Hague, not welcoming foreign dignitaries and celebrities.

3. Boycott is not incompatible with ‘dialogue’ 

Contrary to the rhetoric of Israeli officials and sympathisers, boycott is not contrary to dialogue. Hawking’s decision, for example, will mean people are discussing Israeli policies and strategies for ending occupation. That is not atypical – BDS initiatives often encourage a meaningful exchange of views and perspectives. However, some people abuse the concept of dialogue to defend an asymmetrical status quo, leaving intact a colonial power dynamic where, in the words of South African poet James Matthews, “the oppressor sits seared with his spoils/with no desire to share equality/leaving the oppressed seeking warmth/at the cold fire of/Dialogue”. Boycott has nothing to do with having, or not having, conversations – it is about accountability for, and opposing, basic violations of a people’s rights. Confronting and resisting the reality of Israeli apartheid begets a dialogue that is fully realised in the context of equality and decolonisation.

2. Impunity and accountability 

The boycott is grounded firmly in the well documented facts of Israeli policies. The US State Department speaks of “institutional discrimination” faced by Palestinian citizens, while Human Rights Watch says Israel maintains a “two-tier system” in the West Bank. From the “discriminatory” control and distribution of water resources (Amnesty International) to the “forced transfer of the native population” (European Union), it is no wonder that the UN’s Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination has reported Israel as violating prohibitions against “racial segregation and apartheid”.

Illegal settlements are used to colonise the West Bank, Palestinians in Gaza are blockaded and bombed, Palestinians in East Jerusalem have their homes demolished – and all the while, of course, expelled Palestinian refugees just a few miles from their properties are still prevented from returning home on the basis they are not Jews. And note that the “But what about China/Myanmar/Syria etc” line misses the point (as well as placing Israel in some rather interesting company). A boycott is a tactic, advisable in some contexts, and not in others. It is not about a scale of injustice or wrongdoing. It is about a strategy targeting systematic human rights abuses and breaches of international law, called for by the colonised. Which brings us to…

1. The Palestinian call for solidarity 

Palestinians suffering under Israeli apartheid are calling for Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) as a strategy in the realisation of their basic rights, a fact that many Zionists choose to ignore when attacking boycott campaigns. The Palestinian civil society call for BDS was officially launched on July 9 2005, a year after the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion on the illegality of Israel’s Separation Wall. Signatories to the BDS call come from representatives of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Palestinian citizens of Israel, and Palestinian refugees. Since then, growing numbers of people in the likes of academia, the arts world, trade unions and faith communities have answered the BDS call with initiatives that put the focus firmly on Israel’s routine violations of international law and ending complicity in these crimes. Professor Hawking is to be commended for seeking the advice of Palestinian academics, and heeding their request for international solidarity in a decades-long struggle for freedom and justice.

Israeli airstrike hits National Islamic Bank in Gaza

 Four people were injured in the Israeli airstrike that hit the National Islamic Bank in Gaza, Al Jazeera reports.

The latest round of airstrikes and shelling was preceded by a lull of about an hour and a half, before Israeli naval ships off the Gazan coast began to fire their shells and Israeli F-16 fighter jets began attacking sites once more.

Meanwhile, according to The Jerusalem Post, the IDF struck some 100 targets in the Gaza Strip overnight and rockets fired from the coastal territory continued to set of red alert sirens in communities across the South as Israel’s security cabinet met to discuss the latest cease-fire initiatives.

According to the IDF Spokesman’s Office, underground rocket launching sites, weapons-smuggling tunnels and munitions warehouses were targeted in the strikes.

Israeli airstrike kills Palestinian policeman in Gaza

JERUSALEM — An Israeli air strike has killed a Palestinian man in the Gaza Strip, the first deadly air strike in the Palestinian territory since a truce five months ago ended eight days of fighting that killed more than 100 people.

Israeli Defense Forces say the airstrike Tuesday targeted Haitham Mishal, a Gaza resident who they said was a member of the Islamist militant group Mujahideen Shura Council of Jerusalem.

A spokesman for the Gaza Health Ministry said he was a policeman.

The Israeli announcement said Mishal played a role in the rockets fired two weeks ago from Egypt’s Sinai Desert that hit the southern Israeli city of Eilat. There were no casualties.

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Israel would respond to any attacks.

He said the strike is a continuation of Israeli policy of refusing to accept the sporadic firing of rockets either from Gaza or the Sinai.

A dozen rockets fired by militants in Gaza have landed in southern Israel in recent weeks without causing any casualties.

Islamic militants have become active in the Sinai since security deteriorated there following the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak.

Israel says many of the militants in Sinai have infiltrated from Gaza.

Israel accuses the Hamas movement that controls Gaza of responsibility for the activities of all these groups.

A Hamas spokesman called the attack a dangerous and unjustified escalation.

The airstrike in Gaza came amid rising tensions in the West Bank.

Israeli settler Eviatar Borovsky was stabbed to death Tuesday by a Palestinian man near the Palestinian city of Nablus.

Israeli Police Commander Yaakov Shabtai said the Palestinian, Salam Assad al-Zaghal, subsequently grabbed a gun and began firing.

Shabtai said two policemen positioned nearby opened fire and wounded the attacker who was taken to a nearby Israeli hospital.

He said Israeli security forces were investigating, but initial indications were that the suspect acted alone.

It was the first killing of an Israeli by a Palestinian in the West Bank in a year-and-a-half. Nine Palestinians have been killed in clashes with Israeli security forces in the West Bank since the beginning of the year.

Israel Air raids kill 10, destroy Hamas HQ in Gaza

GAZA CITY, Palestinian Territories (AFP) – Israeli strikes on Gaza killed 10 Palestinians and destroyed the Hamas government headquarters on Saturday as Israel called up thousands more reservists for a possible ground war.

After Palestinian militants fired rockets at the heart of Israel on Friday, Israeli warplanes carried out 180 air strikes overnight, Israel TV reported, with the strikes levelling the headquarters of the Hamas government.

“It’s like a real-life horror movie, what I saw today … It’s a miracle we’re still alive,” said 18-year-old Suha, standing in front of her house.

Medics said 40 Gazans have been killed and more than 350 wounded since Israel launched an aerial campaign on the enclave on Wednesday afternoon, with at least five militants among the 10 people killed in Saturday’s raids.

As the toll rose, sirens went off in Tel Aviv for a third day running, sending people scuttling for cover, a day after a rocket crashed into the sea near the city centre, AFP correspondents said. The fire was claimed by Hamas’s armed wing.

While Cairo was at the centre of efforts to halt the violence, Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti appealed for a truce in a telephone conversation with his Israeli counterpart Benjamin Netanyahu, Monti’s office said.

He called for “a truce between the parties as soon as possible, to bring to an end the fighting and allow dialogue and peace negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians to begin again.”

Since the start of Operation Pillar of Defence, the Israeli army says militants have fired more than 600 rockets over the border, of which 404 hit and 230 were intercepted by the Iron Dome defence system.

Over the same period, three Israelis have been killed and 18 injured, including 10 soldiers, with the army saying the air force had hit more than 830 targets in Gaza.

On Saturday, four Israeli soldiers and five civilians were hurt in separate rocket attacks on the south which hit a building and a car, police and the army said. Another militant group in Gaza, Islamic Jihad, claimed those attacks.

The military said it had sealed off all main roads around Gaza and declared a closed military zone, in the latest sign it was poised to launch its first ground offensive on the territory since the 22-day campaign over New Year 2009.

Overnight, the air force hit Gaza City, targeting Hamas prime minister Ismail Haniya’s headquarters, other government buildings, including the interior ministry and police compound, militant training facilities and “dozens of terror sites,” it said.

Correspondents at the scene said the headquarters, which had been emptied over attack fears, was reduced to a pile of rubble but there were no reports of casualties.

Air strikes in southern Gaza, notably Rafah, killed six people while three more died in an Israeli raid on a refugee camp in central Gaza, medics said. Another man died of injuries sustained in a morning strike on Gaza City.

Saturday’s violence came as Tunisian Foreign Minister Rafik Abdessalem paid a brief solidarity visit to Gaza, a day after a similar mission by Egyptian Prime Minister Hisham Qandil.

The world must stop Israel’s “blatant aggression,” Abdessalem told AFP on his arrival in Gaza City, where he visited the ruins of the cabinet building where a day earlier Haniya had received Qandil.

The Tunisian minister called on the Arab League to act to halt the aggression as it gathered for talks in Cairo.

Egypt and Turkey, meanwhile, put the onus on Israel to end the fighting, as Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan visited Cairo a day after Washington urged the two Muslim countries to pressure the Palestinians.

After a meeting with his counterpart Ahmet Davutoglu, Egyptian Foreign Minister Mohammed Kamel Amr said they both agreed on “denouncing Israel’s aggression and on the need to swiftly stop this aggression.”

President Barack Obama reiterated US support for Israel’s right to defend itself during a telephone call with Netanyahu.

Late on Friday, Israeli ministers approved the call-up of as many as 75,000 reservists several hours after Hamas militants said they fired a rocket at Jerusalem, and another crashed into the sea off Tel Aviv.

The two rockets were the farthest Gaza militants have ever fired into Israel.

Neither caused any casualties or damage, but they sowed panic in both of the Jewish state’s main population centres, setting off warning sirens and sending people scurrying to shelters

Israel: racist protests against Muslim football players

Knesset Speaker Reuven Rivlin (Likud) castigated fans of the soccer club he supports, Beitar Jerusalem, after three were arrested at the capital’s Teddy Stadium Saturday night for calling out racist chants and holding up signs reading “Beitar forever pure” during a match against Tel Aviv club Bnei Yehuda.

The chants — which included repeated calls of “No entry to Arabs” — were aimed at two Chechen players who are slated to become the first Muslim players to join the team: Dzhabrail Kadiyev and Zaur Sadaev.

“Today is International Holocaust Remembrance Day. Imagine the outcry if groups in England or Germany said that Jews could not play for them,” said Rivlin. He said he would work to put an end to the club’s anti-Muslim discrimination.

Club coach Eli Cohen, also condemning the fans’ behavior, initially said Saturday night that these were friendly European Muslims not Arab Muslims; he later clarified that he opposed all racist sentiments. “There are millions of Muslims in the world, and we have to live with them,” he had said initially, and “there’s a difference” between those in Europe and those in the Middle East.

Jerusalem Mayor Nir Barkat also condemned the incident. He said Beitar had made a “quantum leap in dealing with racism and violence,” and added that “the Jewish religion requires that we treat minority groups equally and fairly.”

“As we do not want Jews to be abused around the world simply because they are Jews… we must value Muslims and Christians playing on our sports teams. This is not just a soccer matter, but an international Jewish issue,” Barkat stressed.

Also noting the Holocaust Day coincidence, Barkat said the whole world watched Jerusalem’s behavior, and that racism among Beitar fans hurt the whole city. He urged the club’s management not to cave to fans’ pressure on the issue.

The club’s owner Arkady Gaydamak said the two players would indeed be signed. A very small group of “so-called supporters” — no more than a few hundred — were not representative of the greater Israeli public, he said, interviewed by Army Radio from Moscow, and would not be allowed to influence what happens at the club.

Gaydamak was denounced as “a whore” by sections of the chanting Beitar crowd on Saturday.

The deal to bring the two aboard has not yet been signed, according to team officials.

The team, which boasts a nationalist fan base, has famously and staunchly opposed bringing aboard Arab or Muslim players, bowing to pressure from fans.

Last season, several dozen fans rampaged through the neighboring Malcha Mall after a match, chanting anti-Arab slogans and reportedly beating up Arab workers.

“We are against racism and against violence and we pay a price for our fans,”Assaf Shaked, a team spokesman, told the Associated Press last year. “But we aren’t going to bring an Arab player just to annoy the fans.”

The two Chechen players were expected to arrive in the country this week, but according to Israel Radio one of them said he didn’t want to play in front of fans that judged him based on his religion.

Two of the three men arrested were released on Sunday and banned from attending games for the next two seasons. The third fan was scheduled to face a remand hearing on Sunday afternoon.

Israel demolishing talks

Occupied East Jerusalem, Dec 20, 2010 (IPS) – More and more Palestinians are paying the price for deadlocked talks over Israel’s continued settlement building in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Muhammad Robin Alyyan, 27, from the volatile Issaweya suburb of East Jerusalem, stands next to piles of rubble and twisted metal. This is all that remains of his, and his two brothers’ printing business. It was a business that took ten years of hard work and their combined life savings to build into a profitable enterprise.

The Alyyans’ printing premises together with a number of other Palestinian homes and properties in occupied East Jerusalem were bulldozed and demolished by Israeli security forces last month because they allegedly did not have a building permit.

Human rights organisations have documented how notoriously difficult it is for Palestinians to obtain the documents. They argue that Israel does this deliberately while encouraging illegal Jewish settlements to tip demographics in favour of a Jewish majority.

“We lost over 200,000 dollars in a few hours. My wife is seven months pregnant. I don’t know how I will support her or the baby. Where am I going to get another job? There is high unemployment amongst Palestinians in the city. My brothers have six children and their wives to support as well,” Alyyan told IPS.

During the demolition Alyyan says he was handcuffed, beaten up and pepper- sprayed in the face by Israeli border police. A week’s subsequent rioting in Issaweya saw 15 people injured with several hospitalised. One young man lost an eye after he was hit with a rubber-coated metal bullet.

The Israeli authorities have carried out a wave of Palestinian home demolitions and evictions across the West Bank and East Jerusalem over the last few weeks, leaving dozens more Palestinians homeless. Tenders for construction of hundreds more illegal settler units in East Jerusalem have been published.

Groups of Israeli settlers entered two East Jerusalem apartments recently, evicting the family from one of the apartments, under police escort. Further clashes between Palestinian youths and security forces broke out shortly thereafter. An Israeli court later criticised the Israeli police for facilitating the entry of the settlers while the legal ownership of one of the properties was still disputed.

Both the apartments were purchased by Lowell Investments, a company set up by right-wing settler group Elad which specialises in taking over Palestinian land and assets in East Jerusalem.

While Palestinians in East Jerusalem were being evicted, Israeli bulldozers and security forces demolished Palestinian homes and property in the Jordan Valley, the south Hebron Hills and the northern and central West Bank.

White house officials recently offered the Jewish state a large incentives package to extend for three months a settlement moratorium which ended in September.

The package included 20 F-35 fighter jets, a security package which includes emergency stores for the Israel Defence Forces (IDF), a 205 million dollar grant to purchase Iron Dome Systems, and a significant stepping up of joint missile defence training programmes.

Also thrown into the bargain was a U.S. pledge to veto any UN Security Council resolution critical of Israel and to ward off attempts by the PA to take the case for Palestinian statehood to the UN. The Israeli government turned the offer down.

This led former U.S. ambassador to Israel and a veteran of Mideast politics, Dan Kurtzer, to comment in an article in the Washington Post that the U.S. was “rewarding Israel for bad behaviour” and that the whole deal was “a bad idea”.

These developments have exacerbated the PA’s already tenuous position. It is only by the slimmest of margins that the PA continues to cling to power, backed by massive foreign aid and a ubiquitous security presence which monitors all criticism and political opposition.

One option is that “the PA is considering is to take the case for Palestinian statehood directly to the UN bypassing both Israel and the U.S.,” Dr Samir Awad from Birzeit Universitiy, near Ramallah, tells IPS. “PA Prime Minister Salaam Fayyad has been working on establishing a state by August 2011.”

“The plan has been two years in the making and has involved the building of statehood institutions with growing support from members of the international community. Negotiations are going nowhere. The PA has to find alternative routes to statehood, including but not limited to the UN option.”

Israel passes law requiring Palestinians to pay for their own home demolitions

A Committee of the Israeli Knesset (Parliament) passed a first draft of a law that will require that Palestinians whose homes are destroyed by Israeli forces pay the Israeli government for the demolition costs.

The law will now be passed to the full Knesset for a final reading, where it is expected to pass due to the current makeup of the Knesset.

Since 1967, Israeli forces have demolished 24,813 Palestinian homes. 90% of these homes were destroyed for ‘administrative’ reasons – because they either lacked a permit or were in an area designated for expansion by the Israeli military. No permits have been issued by Israeli authorities for Palestinian construction in the Occupied Territories since 1967. The remaining 10% of the demolitions have been ‘punitive’ demolitions of the homes of Palestinians accused of attacking Israel, or of their families’ homes.

In the first five months of 2011, Israeli forces demolished more Palestinian homes than in the entire year of 2010, rendering homeless 706 Palestinians, including 341 minors. This is according to the most recent numbers released by the Israeli Civil Administration.

If the law passes the full Knesset, any Palestinian whose home is destroyed by the Israeli military will have to pay thousands of dollars to cover the cost of the demolition. Already, many Palestinian homeowners, mainly in Jerusalem, have been forced to pay for the forced demolition of their homes.

Israeli forces use US-made armored D9 bulldozers, manufactured by the Caterpillar Corporation, to carry out the demolition of Palestinian homes. This has led US and international activists to call for a boycott of the Caterpillar corporation, saying that the use of the bulldozers to demolish Palestinian homes is a violation of international law and the Fourth Geneva Convention.

Israel appoints new Defense Minister Amid Iran tensions

JERUSALEM — Israel has made a crucial Cabinet addition as tension grows with Iran over its nuclear program.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu appointed a new civil defense minister amid a heated national debate over a possible Israeli pre-emptive strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities.

Netanyahu announced that former security chief Avi Dichter would be responsible for the home front.

It is a crucial appointment because Israel could be bombarded by thousands of missiles and rockets in the event of war. Iran has promised fierce retaliation for any Israeli attack, and it could be backed by its well-armed Islamist allies, Hezbollah in Lebanon and Hamas in Gaza.

Israel has warned that Iran is moving quickly toward nuclear weapons capability, something it sees as a threat to its existence.

Iran says its nuclear program is for peaceful purposes, and it has played down Israeli threats of an attack as “hollow and baseless.” In Tehran, a Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday that Israel realizes an attack would be “stupid” and would “provoke very severe consequences.”

Israel, however, is not taking any chances. Netanyahu said his government has invested more than any other in strengthening the home front. A series of Israeli TV reports, though, have shown that many bomb shelters are inaccessible and in a state of disrepair.

Tel Aviv resident Eliezer Shimoni said the bomb shelter in his neighborhood is locked and no one knows who has the key.

The reports suggest that Israel is woefully unprepared for war, but the saber rattling continues.

In newspaper interviews, senior Israeli officials have expressed doubt that the United States would be willing to take military action to stop Iran, especially in an election year. Their message is clear: Time is running out to stop Iran’s alleged quest for the atom bomb, and if the U.S. fails to act, Israel will.

The Muslim Jesus

The Christian world celebrates the resurrection of Jesus in the festival of Easter. For almost all Christians, Jesus is the Son of God who died to save mankind. Islam rejects this belief and views Jesus, also known as Isa, as a Prophet and the Messiah of the Israelites. So who was this Muslim Jesus?

The Bible and the Quran both agree that Jesus was born by miraculous birth to the Virgin Mary. There is a chapter in the Quran named Mary and she is mentioned 34 times in the Quran, which is much more than the entire New Testament. She is honored greatly in Islam and is celebrated as a role model for Muslim women worldwide. For Muslims, Jesus was the seal of the Hebrew Prophets and a man of perfect purity. Unlike all other human beings, except his mother Mary, he was not touched by Satan at his birth. In the Quran, when Satan attempted to approach the child, he was only able to touch the covering caul. The Quran has great regard for Jesus where he is mentioned 25 times in contrast to the Prophet Muhammad who is only mentioned four times.

There are many miracles attributed to the Quranic Jesus. One of these was his ability to speak from the cradle. His mother Mary was mocked for giving birth to a child out of wedlock. To protect his mother from the taunts of society, Jesus spoke and said; “Lo, I am God’s servant [and] a Prophet. [...] Peace be upon me, the day I was born, and the day I die, and the day I am raised up alive!” (Quran 19:30-34) In addition, other well-known miracles recorded in both the Quran (with God’s permission) and the Bible include healing the sick, giving sight to the blind and bringing the dead to life.

The Quran makes clear that Jesus was sent to earth to preach a new gospel (Injil in Arabic), which reaffirmed the message of ‘One True God’, given to the earlier prophets. However, his teachings had become distorted over time. In the Quran, Jesus foretells the coming of a messenger after him named Ahmad, which is another name for Mohammad. Many Islamic scholars since the 8th century have argued that this is also evident in the Bible, originally written in Koine Greek.

The Greek word paraklytos or paraclete refers to the Holy Spirit in Christianity and is sometimes translated as Comforter. The word paraklytos is translated into Arabic as ahmad which means praiseworthy and commendable. The words of the Apostle John, “And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you forever” (14:16) are taken by many Muslim scholars to predict the coming of Muhammad, the new Comforter, who will renew some of the lost teachings of the earlier Abrahamic Holy Scriptures.

In the Bible, Jesus never calls himself the Son of God, as was confirmed to me by Professor Chris Queen of Harvard in a lecture which I attended. He refers to himself as The Son of Man, words which are found 81 times in the Greek canonical Gospels. In the Quran, Jesus is similarly humble, for example, when he calls himself the servant of God. This humility is unmistakable in the words of Jesus, “Never could [I] say what I had no right [to say]” (Quran: 5:116). In both religions, the Second Coming of Jesus is associated with the Day of Judgement and the end times.

Traditional Christian belief is that Jesus had died on the cross. Among early Christian sects were the followers of the Docetic view, whereby the crucified Jesus was an image, a phantom or perhaps even a replacement. Their justification came from the Acts of John 97-102, “And my lord stood in the middle of the cave [and] said, ‘John for the people below in Jerusalem I am being crucified and pierced with lances and reeds and given vinegar and gall to drink. But to you I am speaking [...] nor am I the man who is on the cross” (New Testament Apocrypha).

Similarly, in the Quran, Jesus was not crucified but instead “they did not slay him, neither crucified him, only a likeness of that was shown to them” (Quran 4:157). Allah had raised Jesus to himself saving his Prophet the suffering of a terrible death. Professor Lawson argues that “such belief frankly serves to diminish Islam in the eyes of Christianity and so-called ‘Westerners’ whose cultural identity is bound up, whether they are believers or not, with the axiomatic and unquestionable ‘myth’ of the death and resurrection of Jesus”.

The Islamic mystics have a deep love for Jesus and his ascetic lifestyle. In his book, “The Revival of the Religious Sciences,” the Sufi mystic and brilliant philosopher, Al Ghazali, quotes Jesus as saying, “You shall not attain what you desire except by suffering what you do not desire.” Furthermore, on a gate to the city of Fatehpur-Sikri, the Muslim Mughal Emperor Akbar inscribed the words of the Muslim Jesus, “This world is a bridge. Pass over it, but build not your dwelling there.”

Islam is a deeply monotheistic religion and thus forbids any partners or associations with God. Although all prophets including Jesus were mortal and gifted in their own way, they could not be part of the divine. The life of Jesus has always been an inspiration although many of its aspects remain obscure factually; yet we cannot doubt the significance of this remarkable man even 2000 years after his death.

Whilst recognising the validity of Professor Lawson’s argument, I sincerely believe the shared love Muslims and Christians feel for Jesus can be the basis for mutual understanding and inter-faith dialogue. The three Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are undoubtedly linked. However, even though the Judaic tradition rejects Jesus, Islam has always accepted him. Given that belief in Jesus is central to the Muslim faith, why does the West persist in remaining so hostile to Islam?

Obama blesses Israel’s government of settlers

March 20, 2013 “Information Clearing House“ - Those who hoped that Barack Obama would be arriving in Israel to bang Israeli and Palestinian heads together, after four years of impasse in the peace process, will be sorely disappointed.

The US president’s trip beginning today may be historic – the first of his presidency to Israel and the Palestinian territories – but he has been doing everything possible beforehand to lower expectations.

At the weekend, National columnist James Zogby and other Arab-American leaders revealed that Mr Obama had made it clear that he will not present a peace plan, because Israel has indicated it is not interested in an agreement with the Palestinians.

Any lingering doubts about Israel’s intentions were removed by the announcement of a new cabinet, hurriedly sworn in before the president’s visit. This government makes Benjamin Netanyahu’s last one, itself widely considered the most hardline in Israel’s history, look almost moderate.

Ynet, Israel’s popular news website, reported that settler leaders hailed this as their dream cabinet.

Zahava Gal-On, leader of the opposition Meretz party, concurred, observing that it would “do a lot for the settlers and not much at all for the rest of Israeli society”.

The settlers’ dedicated party, Jewish Home, has been awarded three key ministries – trade and industry, Jerusalem, and housing – as well as control of the parliamentary finance committee, that can ensure that the settlements flourish during this government’s term.

There is no chance Jewish Home will agree to a settlement freeze similar to the one Mr Obama insisted on in his first term. Rather, the party will accelerate both house-building and industrial development over the Green Line, to make the settlements even more attractive places to live.

Uzi Landau, of Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right Yisraeli Beiteinu party, has the tourism portfolio and can be relied on to direct funds to the West Bank’s many Biblical sites, to encourage Israelis to visit.

The new defence minister, who oversees the occupation and is the only official in a practical position to obstruct this settler free-for-all, is Likud’s Moshe Yaalon, a former military chief of staff known for his ardent support of the settlements.

True, Yair Lapid’s large centrist party Yesh Atid is represented too. But its influence on diplomacy will be muted, because its five ministers will handle chiefly domestic issues such as welfare, health and science.

The one exception, Shai Piron, the new education minister, is a settler rabbi who can be expected to expand the existing programme of school trips to the settlements, continuing the settlers’ successful efforts to integrate themselves into the mainstream.

Far from preparing to make concessions to the US president, Mr Netanyahu has all but declared his backing for Jewish Home’s plan to annex large parts of the West Bank.

The only minister with any professed interest in diplomatic talks, Tzipi Livni, is well aware that opportunities for progress are extremely limited: the peace process received just one perfunctory mention in the coalition agreement.

Mr Obama, apparently only too aware he is facing an Israeli government even more intransigent than the last one, has chosen to avoid addressing the Knesset. Instead he will direct his speech to a more receptive audience of Israeli students, in what US officials have termed a “charm offensive”.

In a sign of quite how loath the White House is to tackle the settlements issue again, its representatives at the United Nations refused on Monday to take part in a Human Rights Council debate that described the settlements as a form of “creeping annexation” of the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

Mr Obama’s hands-off approach will satisfy his constituency at home. A poll for ABC-TV showed this week that most Americans support Israel over the Palestinians – 55 per cent to 9 per cent. An even larger majority, 70 per cent, think the US should leave the two sides to settle their future for themselves.

Ordinary Israelis, the US president’s target audience, are none too keen on his getting involved either. Recent survey data show that 53 per cent thought Mr Obama would fail to protect Israel’s interests, and 80 per cent believed he would not bring progress with the Palestinians over the next four years. The mood is one of indifference rather than anticipation.

These are all good reasons why neither Mr Obama nor Mr Netanyahu will be much focused on the Palestinian issue over the three-day visit. As analyst Daniel Levy observed: “Obama is coming first and foremost to make a statement about the US-Israel bond, not the illegal occupation.”

That is also how it looks to most Palestinians, who have grown increasingly exasperated by US complacency. US officials who went to Bethlehem in preparation for Mr Obama’s visit on Friday found themselves caught up in anti-Obama protests.

The unspoken message of this visit, then, is that the Netanyahu government is free to pursue its hardline agenda with little danger of anything more than symbolic protest from Washington.

The new Israeli cabinet lost no time setting out its legislative priorities. The first bill announced is a “basic law” to change the state’s official definition, so that its “Jewish” aspects trump the “democratic” elements, a move Haaretz newspaper termed “insane”.

Among the main provisions is one to restrict state funding to new Jewish communities only. This points to a cynical solution Mr Netanyahu may adopt to placate the simmering social protest movement in Tel Aviv, which has been demanding above all more affordable housing.

By freeing up even more cheap land in the West Bank and East Jerusalem, he can expand the settlements, further eat away at the chances of a Palestinian state, silence protests, and wrong-foot the opposition. It could be a winning formula.

Israeli court legitimizes murder

Cindy and Craig Corrie hoped for better. So did sister Sarah. The world knows Israel murdered their daughter, Rachel, in cold blood. On August 28, Israeli justice ruled otherwise.

It’s unsurprising in a nation contemptuous of rule of law principles, democratic values, and life itself.

Israel is a rogue terror state. It’s an out-of-control blight on humanity. It’s a regional menace. Racism and persecution are institutionalized. It’s unfit to live in for most Jews. For Arabs and supporters of equal rights and justice, it’s dangerous.

On March 16, 2003, an Israeli bulldozer soldier/driver murdered Rachel Corrie in cold blood.

Courageously she tried to stop a lawless Rafah refugee camp home demolition. Eye witnesses said she climbed atop a giant militarized Caterpillar tractor, spoke to the driver, climbed down, knelt 10 – 20 meters in front in clear view, and blocked its path with her body.

Activists screamed for it to stop. The operator ignored them. He deliberately crushed Rachel to death. To be sure, he ran over her twice.

He murdered her in cold blood. Israel’s government and military supported him. They still do.

They believe Arab lives and well-being don’t matter. They target activists who support them. They’re considered enemies of the state.

Opposition isn’t tolerated. Murder is official policy to eliminate it. Rachel’s death bears stark witness to institutionalized lawlessness.

Legitimizing it reveals corrupt Israeli justice. Punishment follows Jewish killings. Arab ones or supporters are whitewashed. Orders from the top mandate it. Investigations when they’re held are shams. Israel’s said:

“The state believes that it was proved that the activity of the IDF force is within the framework of ‘war activity.”

“In addition, the state proved that the deceased willfully endangered herself and, sadly, her contributory fault stood at 100%.”

In 2005, Rachel’s family sued: “The estate of Rachel Aliene Corrie v. State of Israel, Ministry of Defense.”

They waited over nine years for justice. The Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice (RCFPJ) supports it. Its mission and guiding principles state:

The Foundation continues what Rachel began. It reflects “her vision, spirit, and creative energy….” It supports “build(ing) understanding, respect, and appreciation for differences, and that promote cooperation within and between local and global communities.”

The New York Times, America’s newspaper of record, at first reported nothing. Belated coverage appeared. Online AM editions excluded it. The Washington Post ran an AP piece. Front page headlines omitted it.

AP said “(a)n Israeli court on Monday rejected a lawsuit brought against the military by the parents of a U.S. activist crushed to death by an army bulldozer during a 2003 demonstration, ruling the army was not at fault for her death.”

Rachel was in plain sight. Her bright orange vest and bullhorn made her easy to spot. The soldier-operator lied. He knew she protected a Palestinian home with her body. He claimed he didn’t see her.

Israel called Rachel’s death accidental. A sham investigation report said:

“Rachael Corrie was not run over by an engineering vehicle but rather was struck by a hard object, most probably a slab or concrete which was moved or slid down while the mound of earth which she was standing behind was moved.”

She and others with her were accused of “illegal, irresponsible and dangerous” behavior.

Cindy and Craig sued for justice. Israeli district court judge Oded Gershon contemptuously justified murder. “I reject the suit,” he said. “There is no justification to demand the state pay any damages.”

He claimed Rachel “put herself in a dangerous situation.” He called her death “an accident she brought upon herself.” Blame the victim is Israeli policy.

He said the IDF conducted a proper investigation. It whitewashed Rachel’s death. It absolved cold blooded murder. So did judge Gershon. He rejected her family’s symbolic suit for $1 in damages plus legal expenses.

Family lawyer Hussein Abu Hussein called the verdict “blam(ing) the victim.” His full statement was as follows:

“While not surprising, this verdict is yet another example of where impunity has prevailed over accountability and fairness. Rachel Corrie was killed while non-violently protesting home demolitions and injustice in Gaza, and today, this court has given its stamp of approval to flawed and illegal practices that failed to protect civilian life.”

“In this regard, the verdict blames the victim based on distorted facts and it could have been written directly by the state attorneys.”

“We knew from the beginning that we had an uphill battle to get truthful answers and justice, but we are convinced that this verdict distorts the strong evidence presented in court, and contradicts fundamental principles of international law with regard to protection of human rights defenders.”

“In denying justice in Rachel Corrie’s killing, this verdict speaks to the systemic failure to hold the Israeli military accountable for continuing violations of basic human rights.”

“We would like to thank everyone who supported the family and the legal team; including activists, NGOs, legal observers, US embassy officials, interpreters, reporters who covered the trial, and we look forward to talking to you at the press conference.”

Addressing reporters, Hussein called the ruling “a black day for activists of human rights and people who believe in values of dignity.”

Cindy and Craig will appeal to Israel’s Supreme Court. They’ll continue speaking publicly about Rachel, they said. They won’t let her death be in vain. They criticized Israel’s failure to properly investigate.

“A civil lawsuit is not a substitute for a legal investigation, which we never had,” said Cindy. “The diplomatic process between the United States and Israel failed us. Rachel’s killing could have been and should have been avoided.”

“We’re deeply troubled by what we heard today,” she added. “From the beginning, it was clear to us that there was….a well-heeled system to protect the Israeli military, the soldiers who conduct actions….to provide them with impunity at the cost of all the civilians who are impacted by what they do.”

Israel “worked extremely hard so that the truth behind what happened to my daughter is not exposed.”

“I believe this is a bad day not only for our family, but….for human rights, for humanity, for the rule of law, and also for the country of Israel.”

According to Human Rights Watch representative Bill Van Esveld:

“The idea that there can be no fault for killing civilians in a combat operation contradicts Israel’s international legal obligations to spare civilians from harm during armed conflict and to credibly investigate and punish violations by its force.”

“Military investigators repeatedly failed to take statements from witnesses, to follow up with the witness’s lawyer and to re-interview witnesses to clarify discrepancies.”

In March 2010, multiple oral testimony sessions began. In July 2011, they concluded. They produced over 2,000 pages of court transcripts. Witnesses were flown in. Israeli ones appeared behind screens to conceal their identities. Criminals and supporters sought anonymity.

Cindy and Craig drained their savings. They spent about $200,000 on travel, legal costs, translation services, and other expenses. Their struggle for justice continues.

Sarah Corrie Simpson met with representatives in over 200 congressional offices. She said:

“I hope someday (the bulldozer operator) will have the courage to sit down in front of me and tell me what he saw and what he feels.”

Before the verdict, Craig said:

“You don’t really close a wound like this, but it certainly is a big milestone.”

For days ahead of the ruling, he carried a photo of the then six-year old Palestinian girl whose home Rachel tried to protect. “I think this (picture) in some ways is more hopeful,” he said. “She deserves a future that we all want for our children.”

AP said their case was “the first civil lawsuit of a foreigner harmed by Israel’s military to conclude in a full civilian trial.” Others were settled out of court.

Rachel was an International Solidarity Movement (ISM) volunteer. It’s a nonviolent, direct-action Palestinian movement against occupation and injustice.

Its members used their bodies as human shields to stop home demolitions. During the second Intifada (2000 – 2004), over 1,700 Rafah homes were bulldozed. Around 17,000 Palestinians were left homeless.

Many others throughout Gaza, the West Bank and East Jerusalem lost their homes. Doing so violates Fourth Geneva’s Article 147. It prohibits targeting civilian property.

Rachel justifiably tried to prevent it. Fourth Geneva’s Article 10 supports humanitarian workers. Occupying powers are obligated to protect them. Moreover, Article 54 prohibits targeting civilians.

Rachel was a committed anti-war activist before coming to Gaza in 2002. She arranged peace events in Washington state.

She died in Rafah in southern Gaza. She and other ISM protesters used their bodies to stop other home demolitions. Extremist members of Netanyahu’s coalition government called judge Gershon’s ruling “vindication after vilification.”

PLO Executive Committee member Hanan Ashrawi denounced the decision, saying:

“Despite the testimonies of eyewitnesses, the audio-visual evidence and the overwhelming proof that Rachel was deliberately murdered, the Israeli court insists on victimizing her again in her tragic death.”

“This proves that once again the occupation has distorted the legal and judicial systems in Israel and that the lack of accountability for its violence and violations has generated a culture of hate and impunity.”

“We must make sure that Rachel Corrie’s death is not a senseless incident. It must be stressed that Israel’s habit of blaming the victim and exonerating the criminal is not applied to Palestinian victims, but has also it has extended its reach to international solidarity activists and victims of Israeli violence.”

“The U.S. government has been noticeably absent and its silence is deafening. In their lack of engagement and human empathy, both the legislative and executive branches are complicit in compounding the crime.”

“The Palestinians as a whole will continue to love Rachel and cherish her memory. Her sacrifice will always be a source of hope and a tribute to genuine humanity.”

Ahead of judge Gershon’s ruling, ISM announced it’s scheduled August 28 date, at 9:00AM, in Haifa District Court. Rachel died at age 23. A glorious human being was lost. A militarized Caterpillar D9-R bulldozer crushed her to death.

In its summer newsletter, the Rachel Corrie Foundation for Peace & Justice highlighted the scheduled ruling date. Proceedings began seven and a half years earlier. August 28 was painfully long in coming.

On arrival it left nothing resolved. Rachel’s family members called on others “to show support for this lengthy effort and to seize this moment to challenge the home demolitions (she) opposed….”

In Israel, impunity triumphs over accountability, fairness and justice. Institutionalized lawlessness assures it.

The issue remains as urgent as when Rachel died. On August 29, a live 9:30PM EDT conference call with family members discussed the court ruling. Visits the Foundation site for details and perhaps an audio transcript.