Clerics urge new jihad over Gaza
February 19, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
At a weekend meeting in Istanbul, 200 religious scholars and clerics met senior Hamas officials to plot a new jihad centred on Gaza.
The BBC’s Bill Law was the only Western journalist at the meeting.
In a hall crowded with conservative Sunni Muslim sheikhs and scholars, in a hotel close to Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport speaker after speaker called for jihad against Israel in support of Hamas.
The choice of Turkey was significant. Arab hardliners were keen to put aside historic differences with the Turks.
As one organiser put it: “During the past 100 years relations have been strained but Palestine has brought us together.”
Many delegates spoke appreciatively of the protest by Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, who stormed out of a Davos debate on Gaza two weeks ago. Â
 Gaza gives us power, it solves our differences… Palestine is a legitimate theatre of operations for jihad
Mohsen al-Awajy, Saudi religious scholar
The conference, dubbed the Global Anti-Aggression Campaign, also gave impetus to Sunni clerics concerned about the growing power of Hezbollah, the Shia movement backed by Iran, which rose to international prominence in its own war with Israel in 2006.
“Gaza is a gift,” the Saudi religious scholar Mohsen al-Awajy told me. He and other delegates repeatedly referred to the Gaza war as “a victory”.
“Gaza,” he continued, “gives us power, it solves our differences. We are all now in a unified front against Zionism.”
Netanyahu: Palestinians should have sovereignty, but not at our expense
February 18, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
In his address before a delegation of visiting American Jewish leaders on Monday, Likud Chairman Benjamin Netanyahu indicated that his offer to the Palestinians should he be appointed prime minister would be considerably less than a sovereign state.
Netanyahu told about 100 leaders from the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations that while he would not want to govern the Palestinians, Israel must maintain control of all borders, airspace and electronic traffic.
“Regardless how the solution is achieved, the Palestinians should run their lives,” he said. “They should govern themselves, but they shouldn’t have certain powers that would threaten the state of Israel.”Â
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Netanyahu also ruled out unilateral territorial pullbacks, charging that Israel’s withdrawal from Gaza in 2005 has allowed the Islamic militant Hamas to take over the coastal territory.
Prior to Netanyahu’s speech, the American Jewish delegation heard an address from Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni, the leader of Kadima and Netanyahu’s rival to the premiership.
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Israel: Two-thirds of Palestinians killed in Gaza fighting were terrorists
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
Israel says that about two-thirds of the Palestinians who were killed in the Gaza fighting were members of terror organizations who took part in the fighting, Channel 2 News reported Thursday.
These include the Hamas police cadets who were killed in an Israeli air strike at the beginning of the operation.
Channel 2 cited a report issued by Military Intelligence and the Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, listing 1,134 Palestinian fatalities, 673 of which belonged to Hamas and other groups.
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Only 288 were innocent civilians, the report says. The Palestinians reported 1,330 fatalities but did not submit their names.
The intense three weeks of fighting, which erupted on December 27, has killed more than 1,300 people and injured thousands in Gaza. A shaky cease-fire was being implemented by both sides and a formal deal for a long-term truce between Israel and Hamas could be signed by next week, according to Hamas officials.
Gaza victory was a miracle: Ayatollah Ali Khamenei
February 14, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
TEHRAN – Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution, likened the victory of the Palestinian resistance movement against Israel in the 22-day war to a “miracleâ€.
“What really happened in Gaza was truly like a miracle,†the Leader noted in a meeting with visiting Palestinian Islamic Jihad chief Ramadan Abdallah.
“The Gaza events were in fact at the hands of God which came true through the faith and firm determination and the jihad of resistance forces and the Gaza people,†the Leader noted.
The Supreme Leader again congratulated Palestinians on their victory over the Zionist regime’s army and praised the resistance movement’s leaders for their “decisive and united†position.
“Truly, the people of Gaza took a good test and the officials and managers also emerged successful in this test for their good performance and decisive and united position.â€
Ayatollah Khamenei also said the effect of the world public opinion was very influential in the Gaza event.
No holocaust in Gaza
February 12, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
MUSLIM leader Sheik Taj Din al-Hilali says the Israeli incursion into Gaza last month was “another Holocaust”. No it wasn’t. The Holocaust was an act of German state policy, a systematic attempt to murder every Jew in Nazi-controlled Europe. It was not a mass execution of political prisoners or the killing of enemy combatants. It was an attempt to slaughter an entire people. When they were not murdering Jews, the Nazis and their allies were happy to kill as many gypsies and Slavs and homosexuals as they could. But the death camps existed primarily to kill Jews.
In contrast, the Israelis went into Gaza to stop Hamas terrorists firing rockets into Israel. Certainly, 1200 people, at least half of them civilians, died. There is no denying the Hamas regime in Gaza and the Government of Israel both have innocent blood on their conscience. However, for Hamas to incite Israeli attacks in urban areas was to invite casualties. Given Israeli firepower, it is astonishing there were not more. But civilians were not — not — the targets. If Sheik Hilali does not know this, he has no interest in the facts of the Middle East conflict. But if he is aware of the evidence but uses “holocaust” to save him the trouble of calmly debating the continuing crisis in the Middle East, he can play no useful role in helping the people of Gaza. There are different dictionary definitions of “hyperbole” and “hysterics”. In the case of this claim by Sheik Hilali, the words are synonyms.
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Arab Liberals: The Arab and Muslim World Condemns Human Rights Violations Only When Perpetrated by Non-Muslims
February 12, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
In response to the sweeping condemnation in the Arab and Muslim world of Israel’s actions in Gaza, and the calls to prosecute Israeli leaders for war crimes, liberal Arab writers have accused the Arabs and Muslims of hypocrisy. The liberal website www.elaph.com has published two articles in this vein, by Egyptian liberal Kamal Ghobrial and by Kuwaiti liberal Fahker Al-Sultan. Both writers point out that the Arab and Muslim world is quick to express outrage over atrocities and human rights violations when Arabs or Muslims are victimized by non-Muslims, but turns a blind eye – or even condones the violations – when the victims are non-Muslims, or when Muslims prosecute their own brothers, as happened in Saddam’s Iraq and is happening today in Darfur. The writers argue that this double standard stems from the problem of hatred for the other, and especially towards Jews. Al-Sultan emphasizes the role of the traditional Islamic mentality – and of political Islam, which exploits this mentality – in promoting inflexible xenophobic and antisemitic attitudes.
Following are excerpts from the two articles:
“According To These Courageous Jihadists, Only [Muslim] Blood Is Valuable, While the Blood Of Others Is Basically Worthless And Can Be Spilled Without A Qualm; More Than That, Spilling It Is A Kind Of Sacrifice Through Which One Can Attain Paradise”
Kamal Ghobrial wrote: “…[There are] courageous [heroes] who zealously [defend] human [values], especially when it comes to Muslim blood – for, according to these courageous jihadists, only [Muslim] blood is valuable, while the blood of others is basically worthless and can be spilled without a qualm. More than that, spilling it is a kind of sacrifice through which one can attain paradise.
“[I would like to remind] all these people… that [Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir] is accused of spilling the blood of his own Sunni Muslim people. The arm of justice has reached him in order to hold him to account for crimes perpetrated during his presidency against thousands of innocent people. [These crimes] outraged everyone – except, of course, the Arabs, who are outraged only in specific circumstances and in response to deliberate incitement.
“Will we witness demonstrations in the Muslim and Arab capitals and cities calling for international justice to be carried out and demanding that the accused [i.e. Bashir] be immediately turned over to the [international] court to receive the punishment he deserves…? Or will we see the opposite?
“[I believe that,] once we calm down from our emotional reaction [to the plight of] our children and brothers in Gaza, whose blood is being spilled… we will see the avenging angels of the [Arab] television networks, who support terrorism, make an [ideological] U-turn for the second time this year. They will drop the refrains about defending human rights, and rally to the defense of the accused [i.e. Bashir]. More than that… they will claim that the allegations against him are part of the global conspiracy against the Arabs and the Muslims.
“Why Is It That Offenses Against the Dignity Of Arabs And Muslims Are ‘Blatant And Obvious’ Only When the ‘Perpetrator’ Is Israel? Why This Racial Discrimination In Defending Human Rights?”
In his article, Fakher Al-Sultan accused traditional and political Islam, as well as its leaders, of encouraging hatred towards the other, and especially towards Jews. He too argued that it is the identity of the perpetrator that determines whether the Arab and Muslim world will condemn human rights violations or ignore (or even encourage) them.
He wrote: “The Summer 2006 Israel-Hizbullah war in Lebanon is a striking example that shows the need to [examine] the essence of a popular religious outlook [prevalent] among Arabs and Muslims – namely the tendency which was legitimized [by the religious principle] of rejecting all non-Muslims. [This tendency is part of] the traditional religious outlook of [various] branches [of Islam]. It is manifested in [the ideology of] political Islam, and is taken to extremes in the actions and policy of Hizbullah…
“The sweeping popular support enjoyed by Hizbullah [in 2006] – was it sincere and natural, or did it stem from the fact that the enemy was the state of Israel, ‘the racist religious Jewish [state]?’ Perhaps it had to do with the traditional religious outlook of political Islam – [that is,] with the way [in which political Islam] views other religions, especially the Israeli Jew?
“In fact… why are the Muslims and Arabs categorically interested in the fate of the Lebanese and Palestinians, but are not so intensely interested in the fate of other Arab and Muslim peoples, such as the Iraqis, Sudanese, Afghanis, Somalis and others, who have faced much more severe persecution, terrorism and military [violence]?…
“The traditional religious outlook, which is being manipulated by political [forces], has covertly granted categorical religious legitimacy to any struggle against the Jews or Israel. It has also infected the Arabs and Muslims with egomania, so that all backwardness and all killings are [automatically] blamed on the other – on the foreigner or the non-Muslim, and especially on the Jew.
“The [Arab] nations, other than the Lebanese and Palestinians, are not confronting the Israeli ‘enemy,’ but are fighting a domestic enemy. Consequently, the Arab and Muslim interest in their fate… is shamefully [negligible], and in most cases, [the reaction is complete] indifference…
“When Saddam Hussein invaded and devoured Kuwait in 1990, he deliberately evoked the Palestinian-Israeli conflict, claiming that the way to the liberation of Jerusalem passes through Kuwait… [He did] this because it was clear to him that the popular Muslim view, which is rooted in [the Muslims'] traditional historic-religious outlook, rests on a basic principle which intensifies the hostility towards the Jews and the state of Israel.
Kashmir Solidarity Day: Banned Jihadist Groups Re-Emerge Publicly In Pakistan; Lashkar-e-Taiba Re-Brands Itself With a New Name; Pakistani Leaders Link Kashmir and Palestinian Issues
February 12, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
On February 5, 2009, religious and jihadist organizations, political parties and the Pakistani government marked Kashmir Solidarity Day, in support of the Kashmiri movement for independence from India. A human chain was formed to mark the occasion, at the Kohala Bridge over the Jhelum river, linking Pakistani Kashmir with Pakistan. [1] Protest rallies and seminars were held across Pakistan; government offices, businesses and educational institutions were closed due to public holiday; and human chains were formed in many cities, including Islamabad and Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. In Islamabad, Qazi Hussain Ahmad, the Emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, told the protesters: “We will never accept Indian occupation of Kashmir.” [2]
On the eve of Kashmir Solidarity Day, senior Pakistani leaders issued messages, committing to the cause of the Kashmiri movement. In their messages, Raja Zulqarnain and Sardar Yaqub Khan, respectively president and prime minister of Pakistani Kashmir, pledged: “The people of Kashmir will continue their struggle for freedom until the entire state [of Jammu and Kashmir] is liberated [from India] and aligned with Pakistan.” [3] The two leaders reminded the people that Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto, the former leader of Pakistan, had pledged to fight a thousand-year war to liberate Kashmir.
Former Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif noted in his message that resolving the Kashmir issues is essential to lasting peace in the region. [4] In their messages, President Asif Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani also pledged to work for a just and peaceful resolution of the Kashmir issue. [5] On this occasion, Prime Minister Gilani told a meeting of legislators from Pakistani Kashmir in Islamabad: “India continues with violating basic human rights in Occupied Kashmir… The over-700,000-strong Indian army has unleashed a reign of terror on the Kashmiris…” [6] Yasin Malik, a secessionist leader who came from India, was present in the meeting and urged the Pakistani political parties to maintain a unified stand on the Kashmir issue. [7]
The legislative assembly in the Punjab province adopted a resolution calling for a plebiscite to be held in Indian Kashmir. [8] An editorial in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Khabrain accused India of creating 100 terrorist camps in Afghanistan along the border with Pakistan. [9] In Pakistani Kashmir, the legislative assembly adopted a resolution, urging the United Nations to play its part in resolving the long-standing Kashmir issue. [10] Pakistan’s Parliamentary Special Committee on Kashmir has decided to mark Kashmir Solidarity Week by holding various events. The Committee, chaired by Maulana Fazlur Rahman of Jamiat Ulema-e-Islam (F) party, has also decided to send a memorandum to U.S. President Barack Obama to remind him of his pledge to resolve the long-standing Kashmir issue. [11
On February 4, 2009 - a day before the Kashmir Solidarity Day - Pakistan-based jihadist groups held a conference in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistani Kashmir. The conference was addressed by militant commander Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the Muttahida Jihad Council (United Jihad Council), which is a network of over a dozen Pakistan-based Islamic militant organizations active in Indian Kashmir.
The Muttahida Jihad Council, which was formed in the mid-1990s under the patronage of Pakistan's military-led Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), comprises a number of militant organizations such as Harkat-ul-Ansar, Al-Badr, Hizbul Mujahideen, Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen, Al-Jihad, Al-Barq, Ikhwan-ul-Muslimin and Tehrik-ul-Mujahideen. By early 2000, as many as 21 organizations were affiliated with the Muttahida Jihad Council, though only five of these were considered influential.
According to a report in the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, the conference was attended by "thousands of people, including the representatives and leaders of Pakistan's banned organizations Jaish-e-Muhammad, Harkat-ul- Mujahideen, and Jamaatud Dawa, in addition to the leaders of the Muttahida Jihad Council." [13]
The importance of the jihadist groups’ February 4 conference lies in the fact that for the first time since the November 2008 Mumbai terrorist attacks, a number of militant organizations publicly came together to hold a conference. Following the crackdown on militant groups after the Mumbai attacks, the Muttahida Jihad Council had gone underground, temporarily dissolving itself, closing down its offices, and removing all signs and nameplates. In fact, a militant commander of the Council told the Pakistani daily The News: “Following the Mumbai attacks and the subsequent tension between Pakistan and India, the United Jihad Council has decided to remain silent.”
There have been efforts by Islamist organizations in Pakistan and internationally to link the issue of Kashmir to the Palestinian issue.
In late January 2009, the Jamaat-e-Islami, which is seen as the mother of all jihadist organizations in Pakistan, issued a statement urging its members to mark February 5 as “Kashmir Palestine Day.” While announcing a series of programs for February 5, Syed Munawwar Hasan, secretary-general of Jamaat-e-Islami, accused the U.S., India and Israel of working to sabotage “the Kashmir freedom movement, disarm Pakistan of its nuclear assets and put the Kashmir issue on the backburner like the Palestine issue.” [30]
On Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Jasarat, a Pakistani daily aligned with Jamaat-e-Islami, wrote an editorial in which it questioned Pakistani President Asif Zardari’s statement that Kashmiri fighters are terrorists. It added: “Terrorists are those who have occupied the big parts of Afghanistan, Iraq, and Palestine, as well as Kashmir.” [31]
On February 4, the women’s wing of the Jamaat-e-Islami organized a big rally in Karachi which was addressed by senior leaders of the organization. Professor Ghafoor Ahmed, deputy emir of Jamaat-e-Islami, told the rally while lauding the Kashmiri militants: “The time will come soon when the occupied Kashmir will become India’s graveyard.”
In the same breath, Ahmed went on to talk about the Palestinian issue, stating: “Israel has massacred unarmed Palestinians with the assistance of the U.S. Despite the [UN] Security Council resolutions; attacks on Gaza continue even today. The oppressors will lose.” [32] Another Jamaat-e-Islami leader Hafiz Naeemur Rahman told the participants why they were there: “The women of Karachi have come out in the streets today to express solidarity with the people of Kashmir and Palestine.” [33]
Liaqat Baloch, another key leader of Jamaat-e-Islami, told a rally in Karachi on February 5: “The connecting of freedom movements with terrorism is a conspiracy to deprive the Kashmiri and Palestinian people of their basic rights.” [34] He described Kashmir as the jugular vein of Pakistan. The rallyists carried placards that read: “Earth’s three Satans – India, U.S. and Israel”; “Yours, my desire – martyrdom, martyrdom”; “Kashmir is Pakistan’s jugular vein”; “We support Kashmiris and Palestinians.” [35]
In an editorial marking Kashmir Solidarity Day, the Urdu-language newspaper Roznama Express, which circulates in 11 Pakistani cities, said that the United Nations was losing its credibility because of its inability to resolve the Kashmir and Palestinian issues. It added: “Because of not fully paying attention to Kashmir and Palestine, and [because of] showing haste in protecting the interests of the U.S. and Britain, questions are being raised about this institution [UN].” [36
They will burn their fingers
February 9, 2009 by Amitabh Tripathi
Filed under Amitabh Tripathi, SAF blog
They will burn their fingers this was first spontaneous reaction I found from an analyst having some academic stake in Middle Eastern affairs about the possibility of success for the mission of George Mitchell special envoy appointed for Middle East from newly elected American president. This reaction was very much in consonance with me as I don’t see much difference in situation after much hyped Mitchell mission is started.
Here I have picked the issue of Mitchell because new administration in America has promised some new initiatives and breakthrough in troubled regions Middle East along with South Asia has prominent place in them. Decision of appointment of George Mitchell as an envoy for Middle East was very much anticipated and the same thing was true with envoy of South Asian region Richard Holbrook. But million dollar question is still unanswered how much success they would have in their mission and above all what new they have in stock. Since oath of office of new administration in America Obamamania is gradually evaporated with some new ground realities and a wonderful orator has to deliver from his action rather than his glorious words. Read more
New Poll: Palestinians Support Suicide Bombings By 55% To 37%
February 7, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
A new poll has shown that Palestinians support continued suicide bombings against Israel by 55.4 percent as compared to 37.6 percent who oppose it. The poll, conducted by Jerusalem Media and Communications Center, also found:
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·       That 50.8 percent of Palestinian believe that rocket attacks upon Israel from Gaza help Palestinians achieve their goals, as against 20.8 percent who believe such attacks harm the attainment of Palestinian goals;
·       If elections were held today, 28.6 percent of Palestinians would vote for Hamas and 27.9 percent of Palestinians would vote for Fateh;
·       Similarly, 27.7 percent of Palestinians most trust Hamas while 26 percent most trust Fateh. (Jerusalem Media & Communications Center, Poll No. 67, January 2009).
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ZOA National President Morton A. Klein said, “It is often said that Palestinians no longer embrace a program for eliminating Israel, but merely wish to live in their own independent state within the territories Israel captured in 1967. As a result, many conclude that Israel has an obligation to negotiate a peaceful outcome with Palestinians. However, this poll and others show that the majority of Palestinians continue to support unreconstructed terror movements that do not accept Israel’s existence as well as further suicide bombings and rocket attacks upon Israel. This demonstrates that that Palestinians do continue to embrace Israel’s elimination.
“One seemingly contradictory finding in the poll showed that 54.8 percent of Palestinians favored setting up a Palestinian state alongside Israel, as opposed to 18.4 percent who openly sought a single, bi-national state. However, there is a November 2007 poll which shows something similar (67.1 percent of Palestinians supported ‘the creation of a Palestinian state on the 1967 occupied territories’) but which also went on to ask the pertinent question – ‘Do you support or reject the creation of two states on the historic land of Palestine (a Palestinian state and Israel)?’ – which most Palestinians (54.3 percent) rejected.
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“In short, as we pointed out at the time, most Palestinians do not accept Israel’s existence as a Jewish state even if they support the idea of establishing a Palestinian state alongside it for now. They simply regard a Palestinian state as a useful step towards one day removing Israel from the region.
UN to probe Hamas for use of children
February 7, 2009 by SAF Desk
Filed under News at a glance
The United Nations is ready to address Hamas’s use of children as human shields during last month’s IDF offensive in Gaza, the UN special representative for children and armed conflict told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday
“We have not yet dealt directly with the human shield issue, but we will now mention it in our reports,” Radhika Coomaraswamy said in an exclusive interview following a four-day visit to the region.
“It is still very difficult for us to say that it was actually happening and we still need to conduct a full investigation into what exactly took place… but we are not denying that it happened; it is absolutely possible that Hamas was using its civilians as human shields,” she said.
However, Coomaraswamy said that the UN’s policy not to meet with leading members of the Hamas government – because it was officially considered a terrorist organization – seriously hampered all types of humanitarian relief work in the Gaza Strip.