(source: the guardian)

One of the most shocking stories of the anti-apartheid era may have been uncovered by a British correspondent. It is the disclosure that former prime ministers, Hendrik Verwoed and John Vorster, and the former head of the security police, General Hendrik van den Berg, were co-conspirators in a crime which led to another man being sent to the gallows.

The man who was hanged was John Harris, the so-called “mad bomber” executed for bombing Johannesburg’s Park station in 1964. Harris was the only white man hanged for a political offence during National Party rule.

It now appears that the three most powerful political figures in South Africa at the time – Verwoerd, Vorster and Van den Bergh – knew that the bomb had been planted and had plenty of time to stop it, but chose not do so. The reason was that they anticipated – and were proven right – that the bomb would deliver a hammer blow to the anti-apartheid movement. Harris was the chairman of Sanroc (the South African Non-racial Olympic Committee) which was leading the campaign against apartheid through sports boycotts. The bomb, which went off at 4.33 pm on Friday 24, 1964, also destroyed the Liberal Party.

By Dr Firoz Osman

In this month of Ramadaan, SA is experiencing a major industrial action called for by the Public Servants Association (PSA), severely affecting schools, clinics and hospitals. The lives of the ill and infirm have been endangered, particularly the most vulnerable members of society, the elderly, the women and children.

During this fasting month, Muslims develop a heightened level of Taqwa, of awareness, of consciousness and empathy. There is an improvement in the Muslims behaviour, morality, and spirituality.

Muslims become more conscious of their duty towards their communities and towards mankind generally in this blessed month. There is a sense of responsibility towards each other based on mutual co-operation and trust.

Therefore, Muslims should heed the call of “Lead S.A” and avail themselves to serve the ill and needy in the clinics and hospitals as volunteers. Their dedication and commitment in this cause for the pleasure of Allah, by serving mankind, is an excellent form of Da’wah and will serve to strengthen our Imaan. Muslims should use this opportunity to portray the true spirit of Ramadaan.

The question will be asked:
“Who are these people that dress modestly, who pray, don’t smoke or drink or gamble, don’t oppress others and stay without food and water for the month between dawn and sunset?”

This is the duty of Muslims, and an opportunity to translate Islam into its practical form. We urge all individuals, groups and organisations to present themselves at clinics and hospitals to serve the needy.

Join the MRN group on Facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=8404757740

By Felicity Arbuthnot

(source: UrukNet)

"Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall." (Psalms 16:18.)

I note you will be signing your book, "A Journey", at Waterstone's flagship book shop, on London's Piccadilly, on 8th September. As this will seemingly be a day when democracy is suspended, security near unprecedented, bags, cameras, briefcases, mobile 'phones checked in before being allowed to ask for your signature, I may not be able to get to near to you with these suggestions, so some ideas from afar for your dedications.

For your years as enthusiastic partner in the silent slaughter of Iraq's children under the embargo, a dedication to the seventeen infants in the neo-natal unit of Basra's formerly fine maternity hospital, all who died on the very threshold of life due to your representative at the UN, with his US counterpart, vetoing importation of oxygen. You were jointly responsible for denying even the air that we breathe to Iraq's newborn.

Please sign a volume for the premature baby, born at little over seven months, as my own, now strapping, over six foot son was. Unlike his miraculous medical embrace by the paediatric team, Basra's tiny infant, was, in the looking glass world Iraq had become, placed in an incubator, swaddled in all the staff could find, to keep him warm. Neither the incubator, nor the electricity worked. In your name, incubators too had been vetoed, along with the wherewithal to repair the power grid, in your war against the new born.

This tiny being needed a blood transfusion of a relatively unusual blood group. In desparation the doctor asked me my blood type and from my memory I thought it was the same. I would have course donated, but asked he checked to make sure. There was no laboratory equipment. Giving the wrong blood would be a death sentence. Not giving blood would also be.

(source: Electronic Intifada)

The 2010 summer in the disputed area of Jammu and Kashmir, administered by India, has been marked by popular protests by Kashmiris and crackdowns by India's military. The stream of violence has left more than fifty dead, mostly young protestors. The situation in Kashmir has some parallels with Israel's occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip, even borrowing the term intifada to describe the uprising. But the connection is more than analogy -- Israel's pacification efforts against Palestinians have proven valuable for the Indian police, army and intelligence services in their campaigns to pacify Jammu and Kashmir with numerous Indian military and security imports from Israel leading the way.

India and Israel had a limited relationship prior to 1992. India, as a prominent member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM), had helped to form the NAM political positions on Palestine as part of the "struggle against imperialism, colonialism, neo-colonialism, apartheid, racism, including Zionism and all forms of expansionism, foreign occupation and domination and hegemony" (1979, Havana Declaration). Beyond its anti-colonial and Third World solidarity politics, India also had realpolitik reasons for keeping a distance from Israel. The nation had a developing economy with a huge need for petroleum resources, of which it had no domestic source. Good relations with the Arab League and the Soviet Union helped to secure access to resources necessary for India to become the regional and global economic power it aspires to be.

With the beginning of the Oslo negotiations process between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization in the mid-1990s and the end of the Cold War, India was free to pursue relations with Israel from a NAM standpoint. An end to the Israeli occupation was assumed a formality under Oslo by most international observers, especially early on -- and had, by that time, gained the economic strength to pursue a policy taking it, as described in a US Army War College (USAWC) analysis, "from a position of nonalignment and noncommitment to having specific strategic interests taking it on a path of 'poly-alignment.'" The report states that India has been in a "scramble to establish 'strategic relationships' with most of the major powers and many of the middle powers," including Israel.

(source: Ma'an News Agency)

All major Palestinian factions except Fatah have come out with statements condemning the return to peace talks signaled by a PLO Executive Committee decision to accept a US invitation on Friday.

Factions expected a statement from the Middle East Quartet to lay the foundations of peace talks, but the document -- released in parallel and in support of a US invitation to direct talks -- was not accepted by the US as a basis for negotiations.

"When the Palestinian negotiating team relies on the Quartet’s statement, they are deceiving the Palestinian public opinion ... neither Hamas nor the Palestinian people will abide by the outcome of these meaningless negotiations," a statement issued by Hamas from Gaza City said.

The US parameters for talks were scant, with US Secretary of State Hilary Clinton saying there would be "no preconditions," and US Middle East Envoy George Mitchell later explaining that the Quartet document would have to be approved by the negotiations partners if it were to have any place in the talks.