By Sayed Dhansay

(source: Electronic Intifada)

Gaza, including the killing of 320 children, lacks credibility. (Wissam Nassar/MaanImages)

After Israel's devastating attack on Gaza last winter, the UN-commissioned Goldstone fact-finding team and subsequent report accused both Israel and Hamas of committing war crimes and possible crimes against humanity. Released in September 2009, the Goldstone report recommended that both parties conduct impartial, independent investigations into these accusations within six months, failing which, the matter would be referred to the International Criminal Court (ICC).

While both parties to the conflict were cited for possible war crimes, the Goldstone report reserved the majority of its condemnation for Israel because of the vast difference in casualties on the two sides -- more than 1,400 Palestinians were killed, and 13 Israelis. Four Israeli civilians were killed by rocket fire from Gaza, while more than 900 unarmed Palestinian civilians, including some 320 children, were massacred in Gaza.

The Al-Quds Foundation SA, The Muslim Judicial Council (MJC) and the Media Review Network (MRN) strongly condemn the decision of the Israeli Government to include the Ibrahimi mosque in Al Khalil (Hebron) as well as the Bilal BIn Rabah mosque in Bait Laham (Bethlehem) on the list of Israeli archeological sites. This decision is an extremely outrageous one and is yet another indication of Israel’s deliberate disregard for religious and heritage sites of the Palestinian people.

Let us be reminded that this decision coincides with the 16th anniversary of the massacre that occurred at the Ibrahimi mosque on the 25th February 1994, where an American, Dr. Baruch Goldstein, an Israeli settler, opened fire at worshippers during prayer, killing 29 and injuring hundreds. Subsequent to this incident an agreement was made in 1995 that granted the waqf (a traditional trust holding land for Islamic religious purposes) control of 81% of the site that holds the Ibrahimi mosque. Therefore it is quite baffling how the Israeli government can suddenly alter this decision by making unilateral decisions regarding these Holy sites.

The silence of the International community and regulatory authorities is deafening in the wake of yet another of Israel’s flagrant crimes against the Palestinian people. It is time for justice to prevail and for those in authority who are responsible for the protection of the rights of all people, to carry out that which they were entrusted with.

Issued by:

For Al-Quds Foundation SA
Moulana Ihsaan Hendricks
Director
+27 83 384 6973

For Muslim Judicial Council
Sheikh Achmat Sedick
First Deputy President
+27 73 428 2072

For Media Review Network
Ibrahim Vawda
Senior Researcher
+ 27 12 374 6987

By Glenn Greenwald

(source: Salon Media Group.com)

On so many levels, this is one of the most stunningly revealing things I've read in quite some time.  As I documented last week, the media's reluctance to describe IRS attacker Joe Stack as a "terrorist" reveals that this term has little to do with the act itself and everything to do with the demographic attributes of the actor:  namely, in the American political lexicon, "Terrorists" are Muslims who dislike the U.S., while Americans -- especially ones who are white and non-Muslim -- cannot, by definition, qualify.  Anyone who has doubts about that or who thought my argument was hyperbole should click on that link, which will direct you to an internal discussion among Newsweek editors and writers over their reluctance to use the term "Terrorist" to describe Stack and who they believe qualifies instead.

Aside from the suffocating denseness of their discussion -- most of them ramble on about who is and is not a "Terrorist" for three straight days without even attempting to define what that term means -- just look at how blatantly tribalistic and propagnadistic they are about its usage.  Many of them all but say outright that it can apply only to Muslims but never non-Muslim Americans.  The whole thing has to be read to be believed -- and what's most amazing is that they published it because they obviously though it was some sort of probing, intelligent discussion which would enlighten the public -- but let's just examine a few of the contributions.

(source: KashmirOnline)

In occupied Kashmir, APHC leader and the patron of Jammu and Kashmir Mahaz-e-Azadi, Muhammad Azam Inqilabi has condemned the stepped up human rights abuses by Indian troops.

In a statement issued in Srinagar, deplored the victimization of innocent Kashmiri youth by the troops. He denounced the killing of two youth, Wamiq Farooq Wani and Zahid Farooq in Srinagar.

By John Pilger

(source: AntiWar.com)

I phoned Rami Elhanan the other day. We had not spoken for six years and much has happened in Israel and Palestine. Rami is an Israeli graphic designer who lives with his family in Jerusalem. His father survived Auschwitz. His grandparents and six aunts and uncles perished in the Holocaust. Whenever I am asked about heroes, I say Rami and his wife Nurit without hesitation.  

Soon after when we met, Rami gave me a home videotape that was difficult to watch. It shows his daughter Smadar, aged 14, throwing her head back, laughing and playing the piano. "She loved to dance," he said. On the afternoon of 4 September, 1997, Smadar and her best friend, Sivane, had auditions for admission to a dance school. She had argued that morning with her mother, who was anxious about her going to the centre of Jerusalem. "I didn’t want to row," said Nurit, "so I let her go."