What was Palestine before Netanyhu’s “62 years”?

What was Palestine before Netanyhu’s “62 years”?
You heard it from the horse's mouth !
Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:25-10-2010
Yemen Times 1210 (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34940)

God only knows how many times sensible historians and observers of the Middle East scene have been telling the world that Israel was a mischievous agenda, which came into being by the most ruthless and scrupulously planned ethnic cleansing campaign of the Twentieth Century. Before the infamous British mandate of Palestine after the First World War, there was hardly a Jewish presence of any significance to speak of.

In fact, even the British, who issued the Balfour Promise for a “national home” for the Jews are ready to tell you that they had not intended to produce the existing outcome of one of the biggest headaches for the world left over from the British Empire. But, distorters of public opinion in the pro Zionist press and media have always tried to project Israel as a long standing entity and project the indigenous population of Palestine (and quite often all Arabs) as nomadic Bedouins, who have not crossed the Middle Ages.

But it is no mystery to anyone who delves deeper into the geography and the history of the region. Surely they will find that Palestine is part of the Levant, meaning Syria, Lebanon and Jordan and Palestine (now the West Bank, Gaza and the bulk of the area taken over by force by the Zionist settlers in the heart of Palestine: Judaea and Galilee and the Negev Desert). The area is known to the Arabs as Al-Sham or Al-Mashraq Al-Arabi (the Arab Orient, which would sometimes encompass the Arabian Peninsula and Mesopotamia, when discussed in relation to the Maghreb Al-Arabi - Arab North Africa).

Up until the British Mandate, there was hardly any Jewish character to the land of Palestine, nor did any one, God being the least one, suggest that there should be one! Not until some European Jewish venture capitalists came up with the Zionist project in the late part of the 19th Century did anyone visualize any Jewish state as an integral part of the Levant. These same venture capitalist went to the last remaining Sultan of the Ottomans Dynasty, which had control of the Levant and most of the Middle East at the time and offered money and to lobby in the Western Alliance (Britain, France, Italy, etc) to not fight the Ottomans before World War I.

Of course, as the Caliph of Islam, the Porte in Istanbul could never entertain such a baseless request. Jews were allowed to visit the Holy Land and many did live under the domain of the Ottomans in several parts of the Arab World, without any obstruction or hindrance, with probably some 2,000 in Palestine, according to some Jewish chroniclers, and the Porte understood that the intentions were beyond a “home for Jews to settle”. The British obliged on the request in return for lobbying the United States to break the stalemate that had characterized the European war theater in WWI. The US did join the Western Alliance in 1917 right after the issuance of the Balfour Declaration.
There may have been a large Jewish community in Palestine in biblical times, but then there were significantly large Jewish communities in the Arab World, such as in Yemen (which before Islam was divided half Christian – half Jewish), but most converted to Islam voluntarily, as did most of the Levantine Christians and Jews. Those few that did not convert were allowed to maintain their religious convictions, without any problems or prejudice, as the existence of so many pockets of Jewish and Christian communities within the Arab World to this epoch is bound to stand as proof of Moslem tolerance. Compare that to what happened in Southern Italy and Sicily and Spain after the Christian takeover of the areas that were under Islamic rule for centuries.

Compare that to the tolerance that was exercised by the Zionist State in Palestine and look at the misery filled faces of the remaining Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. On the other hand the Hebrews were nomads of Ancient Times, whose patriarch Abraham (who is also the ancestral patriarch of the Arabs) came originally from Mesopotamia and the tribe of Israel settled in more than one locale and hardly had any memorable long presence in the Holy Land to speak of except for the Kingdom of David and his son Solomon (who are incidentally highly revered prophets of Islam as well, peace and blessings of Allah be upon them).

But one need not take this observer’s word for the facts of history. The Prime Minister of Israel had admitted to the whole world that the Israelis have been there for 62 years:

“The best response to scorners was given in this auditorium 62 years ago,” he said. “And since then, look at what a nation, what a state, what an army we have. We will continue to build and to create, and we will know how to protect ourselves as best as we can.” This was in answer to Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmedenijad, who suggested that Israel is bound to end, since it illegitimately arose at the expense of Palestine’s indigenous population. Note that Ahmedenijad did not suggest he or Iran was going to eliminate Israel, he said that it is bound to come to an end by the nature of its irregular and cruel “creation and building and protecting themselves, with the most merciless “defense forces” any “state” has established.

The behavior of Israel in the West Bank and Gaza is clear testimony to confirm that Israel’s behavior is neither biblically inspired or humanely acceptable by any genuine moral standards. Ahmedenijad is suggesting that Heavenly justice is bound to avenge the transgression inflicted upon the Palestinians, just so aliens can steal and occupy their land as the Israelis are doing now daily in East Jerusalem and the West Bank, where even cemeteries are being barbarically vandalized by Israeli settlers: (http://www.newkerala.com/news/world/fullnews-68595.html).

There is a way out of all this mess

Do we need all this violence?


Yemen Times 1408
http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34905
Published:18-10-2010

The situation in Yemen is in need of some thorough analysis and contemplation, because as it stands now, it is very difficult to determine in what direction the country is heading. Needless to say, Yemen is beset by an awesome assortment of challenges, none of which seem to have a beginning or an end all to themselves, and moreover none of them can be isolated and resolved without some parallel solutions at work in all the other challenges.

There are obvious political difficulties, some of which have taken on a color of violence that is not at all helpful towards meeting any of the challenges. But even this increasing violence has not awakened the Government and the general population of Yemeni to a harsh reality that Yemen is further sinking into an abysmal scenario of death, injury and destruction. It is not clear if this violence is pursued for want of political leverage, or for simply dragging the country further into a ripe venue for war lords, arms dealers and contractors of death, to harness their bloodsucking energies to find a niche to reap exorbitant profits. With minimal effort and – sadly – minimal risk, these vagrants will allow Yemeni blood to be spilled needlessly and mercilessly, wherever their greedy bloodletting enterprising minds take them. This violence will be cloaked in various facades from the religious to the political to the economic to the tribal and so on and so forth. The players in this seemingly fuzzy, open and undesirable free for all will certainly add misery and destitution to an already overtaxed Yemeni population. Never mind that the latter are broken by unbearable loads of social fragmentation (spiced with large population displacement, obstructed demographic configurations, behavioral and social depravation, and a deterioration of values).

The economic situation does not provide any aura of hope that the problems of high unemployment, inadequate or absent public services, poor access to natural, material and financial resources will be resolved - especially the ones most in need of these fundamental economic basics. It is safe to state that the latter could otherwise be highly productive elements of the society, in all sectors of the economy and more importantly in all the social strata that comprise Yemen’s diversified and colorful social mix. The issue in the economic sphere boils down to giving equitable access to the resources of the land and allowing the fruits of development to spew out to the outlying and remote areas of the country, some of which have never seen an electric light bulb, let alone a school or a health center.

As it stands now the natural and institutional resources of Yemen are clearly and easily working to make the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This is compounded by the unhelpful rigid bureaucracy that has nurtured a corrupt network of unfaithful cadre of civil, military and security personnel (many of whom have actually forgotten that in the end they are public servants), sleazy merchants and exploitative social dignitaries, who cannot seem to come to the maximum marginal propensity to acquire wealth and bleed their constituents of all their belongings. One cannot fail to see that the latter only seek to disassociate the social fabric of the society from the binds, guarantees and obligations of the constitutional, institutional and regulatory framework that sound government must be based on and which would guarantee the equality of all citizens before the law.

The Yemeni people are famous for being industrious, for their loyalty to God, country and government. But then the Yemeni people are entitled to some returns for this loyalty. When talking to most Yemeni people from all the different geographical, social and economic backgrounds, one cannot help but note that now the only real faith they have rests with the Almighty, who they view as the only one who can lift them out of all the misery and despondency easy to observe wherever one finds a significant assembly of Yemenis.

With this kind of an aura hovering above the coasts, mountains and deserts of this great country, it is imperative to suggest that Yemen need not be turned into a country overtaken by chaos and mob rule. There is still a chance that the Yemeni people could find ways out of all the predicaments they are under now, including even this series of acts of increasing violence and lawlessness. There are many good people in Yemen; many are endowed with high intellect, sagacity and good will, not to mention a strong love for their country and people. If these people continue to be left on the sidelines, then Yemen will, day by day. become less capable of overcoming all its current problems, since many of these people are nearing the end of their destiny – while no replacements are forthcoming. Surely we have seen what the existing decision making machine has produced and to where it is driving the nation. The widespread violence being witnessed these days is more than a warning sign that the country better shape up or else fall into the merciless violence that characterizes all societies and countries that have thrown reason and good sense out of the window, just so a few could continue to bleed their society of all their resources, deprive them of all their rights and deny them all their dignity and honor.

Hassan Al-Haifi has been a Yemeni political economist and journalist for more than 20 years. His blog may be read at: http://com-senfromyem.blogspot.com



Published:18-10-2010

The situation in Yemen is in need of some thorough analysis and contemplation, because as it stands now, it is very difficult to determine in what direction the country is heading. Needless to say, Yemen is beset by an awesome assortment of challenges, none of which seem to have a beginning or an end all to themselves, and moreover none of them can be isolated and resolved without some parallel solutions at work in all the other challenges.

There are obvious political difficulties, some of which have taken on a color of violence that is not at all helpful towards meeting any of the challenges. But even this increasing violence has not awakened the Government and the general population of Yemeni to a harsh reality that Yemen is further sinking into an abysmal scenario of death, injury and destruction. It is not clear if this violence is pursued for want of political leverage, or for simply dragging the country further into a ripe venue for war lords, arms dealers and contractors of death, to harness their bloodsucking energies to find a niche to reap exorbitant profits. With minimal effort and – sadly – minimal risk, these vagrants will allow Yemeni blood to be spilled needlessly and mercilessly, wherever their greedy bloodletting enterprising minds take them. This violence will be cloaked in various facades from the religious to the political to the economic to the tribal and so on and so forth. The players in this seemingly fuzzy, open and undesirable free for all will certainly add misery and destitution to an already overtaxed Yemeni population. Never mind that the latter are broken by unbearable loads of social fragmentation (spiced with large population displacement, obstructed demographic configurations, behavioral and social depravation, and a deterioration of values).

The economic situation does not provide any aura of hope that the problems of high unemployment, inadequate or absent public services, poor access to natural, material and financial resources will be resolved - especially the ones most in need of these fundamental economic basics. It is safe to state that the latter could otherwise be highly productive elements of the society, in all sectors of the economy and more importantly in all the social strata that comprise Yemen’s diversified and colorful social mix. The issue in the economic sphere boils down to giving equitable access to the resources of the land and allowing the fruits of development to spew out to the outlying and remote areas of the country, some of which have never seen an electric light bulb, let alone a school or a health center.

As it stands now the natural and institutional resources of Yemen are clearly and easily working to make the rich become richer and the poor become poorer. This is compounded by the unhelpful rigid bureaucracy that has nurtured a corrupt network of unfaithful cadre of civil, military and security personnel (many of whom have actually forgotten that in the end they are public servants), sleazy merchants and exploitative social dignitaries, who cannot seem to come to the maximum marginal propensity to acquire wealth and bleed their constituents of all their belongings. One cannot fail to see that the latter only seek to disassociate the social fabric of the society from the binds, guarantees and obligations of the constitutional, institutional and regulatory framework that sound government must be based on and which would guarantee the equality of all citizens before the law.

The Yemeni people are famous for being industrious, for their loyalty to God, country and government. But then the Yemeni people are entitled to some returns for this loyalty. When talking to most Yemeni people from all the different geographical, social and economic backgrounds, one cannot help but note that now the only real faith they have rests with the Almighty, who they view as the only one who can lift them out of all the misery and despondency easy to observe wherever one finds a significant assembly of Yemenis.

With this kind of an aura hovering above the coasts, mountains and deserts of this great country, it is imperative to suggest that Yemen need not be turned into a country overtaken by chaos and mob rule. There is still a chance that the Yemeni people could find ways out of all the predicaments they are under now, including even this series of acts of increasing violence and lawlessness. There are many good people in Yemen; many are endowed with high intellect, sagacity and good will, not to mention a strong love for their country and people. If these people continue to be left on the sidelines, then Yemen will, day by day. become less capable of overcoming all its current problems, since many of these people are nearing the end of their destiny – while no replacements are forthcoming. Surely we have seen what the existing decision making machine has produced and to where it is driving the nation. The widespread violence being witnessed these days is more than a warning sign that the country better shape up or else fall into the merciless violence that characterizes all societies and countries that have thrown reason and good sense out of the window, just so a few could continue to bleed their society of all their resources, deprive them of all their rights and deny them all their dignity and honor.

An Arab world full of hopelessness

ByL Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:11-10-2010
Yemen Times 1406 (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34862)
Perhaps the situation in the Arab World has never been been as bleak as it is now and for sure never so hopeless. Here are 22 nations sitting atop the world’s largest sea of oil and gas, but apparently this wealth was to not meant in any way to improve the lot of the inhabitants of the region or further thier causes. One cannot help but feel distressed that we are at a loss for leadership in the Arab World just when the interests of the nation are falling out of the control of the inhabitants of the region and literally used to benefit either the enemies of this nation from within or the neocolonialist powers and international cartels that have found an easily exploitable nation, as its leaders find themselves too busy to even forsake their primary duty as leaders of the Arab World to protect the resources of the land and channel them to the overall benefit of the people of the region. We have 22 Arab nations that cannot come up with a strategy to face up to all the challenges that have befallen the nation, which can be summarized as follows:

An enemy that has literally made fools of our leadership as it continues to plunder the Holy Land and prevent its indigenous population from enjoying peace and tranquility in their own territory or hope of ever being able to hold on to what still remains in their hand, as the enemy’s Caterpillar’s continue to unleash their destructive power on the homes and history of the Palestinians. Even as this enemy seeks to convince the world that it is opting for peace, all the Arab leaders can do is hope that America can come to their rescue and convince their Israeli puppet to «talk peace».

A nation that has fallen behind considerably in development, with most of the countries not showing any positive directions in terms of providing a venue of culture and progress, which will uplift the standards of living of the people of the region and create substantial opportunities that show our leaders have a knack for the sagacious use of our abundant resources. This use should go beyond filling up their private coffers and depriving their constituencies of even the most basic of returns as called for under the social contract they have snatched from their peoples.

The inability of the region to keep pace with the onset of globalization, as regional groupings replace the rigid sovereign status of individual states, while in the Arab World we talk of building wire fences and security walls along the boundaries between the different Arab States, whereas one could still remember when the movement of capital and people was so easy and without effort or even legal documents from one end of the Arab World to the other, north or south.

A cultural void that is creeping into the mindset of the nation, as the educational systems under the custodianship of the current impotent Arab leadership fails to produce the desired educational output that efficiently harnesses the nation’s productive capacity and manages its natural and economic resources to ensure their equitable distribution for all the inhabitants of the region.

Needless to say, governance in the Arab World remains our weakest attribute as dictatorships and archaic monarchies continue to limit the ability of their constituents to have a say in the management of their affairs and resources and continue to insist that we must perpetually remain under their corrupt and or inefficient government apparatus until the end of time. This also has created a big social fragmentation, and a large gap that allows a few of the population to harvest all the benefits of the economy to just a few of the privileged, who are either related to the rulers or serve to ensure the latters’ perpetual stranglehold on their constituents’ lives and sometimes on their necks.

The Arab leaders meeting in Libya are not showing that they have indeed grasped the pitiful situation they have put their nation under and the strong distaste that their ‘subjects’ have developed for them.

If the Arab leaders expect President Barack Obama to bail them out of the predicament that Netanyahu and Lieberman have set up for them, then they are still living under an aura of wishful thinking that only emphasizes their impotence and lack of self esteem and dignity.

It is really pathetic that we have tens of leaders but all that they can produce is dead meat leadership. We are falling behind rapidly and it appears that the Zionist enemy will continue to make fools out of the worst slate of leadership the Arab World has ever known, and will eventually gobble up the remains of Palestine, while they put their stakes on the only thing that Barack Obama can deliver, whether for us or his own nation – frustration and hopelessness, as he succumbs to the military industrial complex that shapes policy in the United States and to AIPAC, which ensures that the United States does not veer off its Zionist track.

Who are the real enemies of the nation?

Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:20-09-2010
Yemen Times (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34759)

“Our Arab leaders have really fallen off their rockers!” said Mona, as she helped her son pack his school gear for the first day of school.

“How dare you call them leaders? They can’t lead a pack of mules, let alone a nation of incalculable resources,” quipped Mahmud as he gathered his briefcase off to work.

Mona, broke in again: “That is really giving those leaders more than they are worth! Dad look at the mess they have made of this nation.” She always called her husband by what the kids often call him.

The mother then became more worried about getting the kids to school in due time for the morning line up than about the Arab political scene: “Look at the time, kids, you are getting late for school. How can you expect to take over the leadership of the Arab World without a solid education to bank on?

“Mom!” Mahmud again broke the conversation, calling her what the kids called her: “Do not worry about that becoming an obstacle to political ascent. Most of the Arab leaders have trouble reading and writing, let alone understanding economic geography. Just listen to some of them try to make a speech. They are probably the laughing stock of international political forums as they stutter mixing up the past tense with the present and hardly realizing that the future for their nation simply spells: GLOOM!”

Mahmud tried to speed up having his breakfast, as he heard the sound of his car warming up outside: “Mona, what is making you so raunchy against our great lineup of Arab leaders. I was worried that the kids could pick up on our talk and echo what they heard in public. With our leaders worried more about remaining in power than looking out for the interest of the nation, their security apparatus might pick some unfavorable vibes from our kids. That could make their parents vulnerable to becoming candidates for unhealthy interrogations.”

That in itself is enough to raise the anger of any Arab citizen as all of the Arab people become the victims of political terror that makes the “terror” of Osama Bin Laden seem like child play!” said Mona.

Mahmud began to sense the bells of danger ringing in the horizon: “Be careful about statements like that! You know our leaders are making fortunes on declaring wars on the latter, although half of them haven’t the faintest idea who Osama is working for? For them, Osama is the best news they have heard. With the West being jittery about the name of Osama, all of a sudden our leaders have become anti Osama freaks, just waiting for the next appearance of Aiman Al-Zawhiri, so they can scream that they are partners in the so called ‘War on Terror’. For God’s sake, these leaders have come to personify real terror in all its manifestations. You can’t speak your mind anywhere without having to worry about the guy or gal next to you being an informer of the state security apparatus. Moreover, even our newspapers have been silenced by a labyrinth of laws and a quagmire of security machines that portray a venue of freedom that only applies to the lynch men of the security organs of Government, who have forgotten that their original mandate is to protect the citizens of the country from hostile assaults and other criminal infractions. So tell me Mona, when does one have time to worry about all the hostile criminal acts being inflicted on our fellow Arabs in the West Bank and Gaza. In other words my dear Mona, the Arab leadership is a God send for the Zionist machine of the world, if not its very own creation!”

Mona, said: “Watch out before being accused of making up conspiracy theories, which has become an unfailing attack vehicle for those who seek to prevent anyone from getting to the truth of things happening in this world!”

Mahmud responded to that with ease: “Conspiracy theory or not, these are all inescapable facts we see on the ground. If you try to write up about the facts on the ground the International Zionist Establishment have people like “Mo” ready with slander and libel and all the concoctions to try to intimidate one to get into a useless tic for tat, to silence you from speaking about the horrors of the Zionist machine in the Holy Land and the horrors of the bogus “democracy” we enjoy in the Middle East”.

Mona continued to straighten her husband out: “Well Dad, you can be sure that the IZE has enough money to waste on silly tools like “Mo” and bizarre assassinations that run up into the millions, such as the Mossad hit earlier this year on a Hamas mid level leader in Dubai, who found Iran to be more worthwhile than most of the Arab leaders who have fallen into the traitor category as far as the national Arab interests are concerned, with or without Osama, showing them the way.”.

Israel: Breaking the law is the rule and not the exception


Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:16-08-2010
Yemen Times (http://www.yementimes.com/defaultdet.aspx?SUB_ID=34579)

If there is any country in the world that has enjoyed full immunity from due process and from accountability for crimes committed, it is Israel. Of course, it is needless to say that a state with the dubious and suspicious foundations for its very existence can never hope on enjoying peace and quiet. Israel’s founding came at the cost of the inhumane and criminal removal of the indigenous population of Palestine for millennia and Israel’s continuity can only be guaranteed by a regime that must continue to violate every human right and every international law and convention, just so it can assure its vagrant settlers that it can guarantee for them eternal statehood based on wishy washy mythological contentions that they are only carrying out “God’s” promise.

Never mind that this kind of arrogant view of the justice of the All-Mighty would certainly render the belief in Him subject to many questions by the vast majority of faithful believers. Most worshippers of God know for sure that God is much fairer and equitable in his outlook on all of His Creation and that there is no special favor bestowed on any ethnicity, except by the level of their obedience to his Commandments, of which the Zionist state is the most notorious violator.

There is no reason to believe that there is any Heavenly blessing to all the crimes that the Zionist regime has inflicted in the Holy Land. There is also no reason to believe that Israel should enjoy full immunity from crimes it commits, whether in the Mediterranean (sinking of the USS Liberty in June 8, 1967 by the Israeli Offense Forces, in which Israel has yet to answer to the killing of 34 US crew members), the Turkish humanitarian aid vessel, Mavi Marmara, etc., abducted by the Israelis after killing 9 Turkish crew members and passengers earlier this year), or in Dubai in one of the most bizarre murder acts ever carried out in history.

It is sad that the Federal Republic of Germany had to bow to the pressure of the international Zionist establishment and their supporters in the United States and elsewhere and release criminals, even if its own laws and sovereignty are violated and dubious citizens carry out irresponsible acts that are in collusion with a criminal Zionist security apparatus. Moreover, it is sad that Germany had to waste all that time and effort to get Uri Brodsky, who helped secure at least one German passport for members of the gang that carried out the killing of a former Hamas leader in Dubai, extradited from Poland. They should have at least finished investigating the circumstances surrounding the violation of their own national documentation statutes and perhaps can enlighten the world on some of the demonic workings of the Mossad (The Israeli KGB), whose filthy crimes have trespassed all borders and violated all human rights including those of its own citizens (the nuclear scientist Mordechai Vanunu, who was subsequently lured to Italy by a Mossad spy, where he was drugged and kidnapped by Israeli intelligence agents. He was transported to Israel and ultimately convicted in a trial that was held behind closed doors. Italy has yet to explain how its sovereignty could easily be compromised).

It is also amazing how the Zionist establishment has such arm twisting leverage even against independent minded states like Germany (Belgium, Great Britain etc.) and then succumb to the arm twisting tactics that sovereign even when it comes to enforcing their own laws and civil rights. With this arm twisting and blackmail or bully tactics, Israel can just about get all it wants from great powers like the United Kingdom and even the United States, especially when avoiding any legal actions against Israeli agents or political leaders. Among the examples of such spoiled child’s treatment is the case of the Summons on Ariel Sharon by a Belgian Court to answer to alleged charges of genocide.

Ariel Sharon is the former Israeli Prime Minister, who has been responsible for the killing of thousands of civilian Palestinians and Lebanese and whom and who was even the subject of protest marches by his own citizens when 400,000 Israelis demonstrated against the former Defense Minister after the Sabra and Shatila massacres engineered and supervised by Sharon himself, in which some 2,000 unarmed sleeping Palestinian men, women and children were massacred in Beirut in 1982 (see 'The Legacy of Ariel Sharon', by Robert Fisk, The Independent, 6 Feb, 2001).


But then, even if CNN correspondents like Ben Weiderman of CNN (who was shot in the stomach by the Israeli Offense Forces in July 2006 in Gaza while standing against a lamppost), CNN would still succumb to the arm twisting tactics of the Israeli lobby and fire one of its most distinguished correspondents and reporters for expressing a harmless opinion of respect for a highly revered religious scholar, who passed away recently in Lebanon.

The world in a sense has given Israel the right to kill civilians by the hundreds, imprison, destroy, confiscate, murder, forge, steal, trespass, possess wmd, but watch out if any one dares to bring any Israeli or Israeli agents to justice for any crimes against humanity or even jaywalking.

Israel takes over CNN


Hassan Al-Haifi
Published:31-07-2010
Yemen Times

Perhaps it is difficult for most Moslems to understand why the West looks at our religious leaders with so much contempt and hatred. When someone like Mohammed Hussein Fadhl Allah passes away after giving so much of his life in service to the Lord All-Mighty and his religious convictions, and facing the threat of death on many occasions, the international Zionist establishment is in jubilation. Of course someone like Mohammed Hussein Fadhl Allah is understandably dangerous to them. They realize this when his death gathered over a million people (including many non-Moslems) to come and show their respect for a man with deep convictions on the strength of his faith and his sincerity in the fight against injustice in all its forms. What forms of injustice can be worse than the Zionist injustices we see daily being perpetrated in Palestine and throughout the world in the media and elsewhere?

Coming back to the topic at hand, we have a devoted professional journalist who has devoted all her professional acumen for a news broadcaster who purports to have an objective international view of events in the world. Ms Octavia Nasr has been working with CNN for over two decades and has headed the Middle East bureau of CNN, and now all of a sudden she has been fired for expressing respects for a man, who even the British Ambassador to Beirut insists does deserve the respect and admiration of all open minded observers. Who saw in Mr. Fadhl-Allah an example of religious moderation and progressive outlook on many views that Moslems could look to for guidance amidst the efforts of extremist foreign renditions of Islam have sought to project otherwise. Ironically, we never hear the Zionist media and their friends suggest that these extremist elements are new to Islam and actually work in favor of the Zionist media efforts to blame the religion of Islam for all their troubles.

Mr. Fadhl-Allah never advocated the killing of innocent civilians for any cause let alone the cause of Islam and he himself was the God saved victim of a terrorist attack that was intended for him in 1985, but took the lives of 82 people instead. He was saved because he insisted on devoting a few minutes of his precious time to listen to an old lady who wanted to hear some kind works of prayer for her. This attack was said to have been orchestrated by the Central Intelligence Agency on the contention that Sayid Fadhl-Allah was one of those behind the attack on the US Marines and the US Embassy in Beirut during that explosive period in the seventh and eighth decade of the last century. The truth of the matter is that Hussein Fadhl-Allah was outspoken against elements like Al-Qaida. He often suggested that these evil concoctions that have no religious jurisdictional backing whatsoever to support their horrific renditions of Islam, such as those of the Somali version that even considers brushing your teeth with a nylon brush is 'haram' or not sanctified by Islam, are themselves delving into the worst kind of haram by the sanctifying the loss of innocent human lives.

Mr. Fadhl-Allah also was a voice of moderation on Islamic sectarian differences, in which he often suggested to let bygones be bygones and let Moslems start working towards facing the really dangerous threats that need to be addressed in the Islamic World, including underdevelopment, illiteracy, poverty and of course the constant threat that Israel poses not just to Moslems but to the world at large.

Ms Octavia Nasr has never been known to say that Israel should be thrown into the sea or expressed any 'anti Semitic' viewpoints that would have raised the eyebrows of Wolf Blitzer, a former correspondent with the Jerusalem Post, now a leading anchor at CNN, or any one who lived in Israel. Like the British Ambassador, she expressed a viewpoint that rested purely on the intellectual convictions of a man, who was a unique Moslem scholar, with a powerful eloquent tongue that inspired the clear minded thoughts of many Moslems. A man who sought relief from the sad misrepresentations of Islamic thought being perpetrated by the international Wahhabi establishment and their partners, the international Zionist establishment. In fact, I believe that Ms Nasr, who judging from her name is actually Christian, is therefore was quite impartial in making any statement of admiration for the phenomenon that Mr. Fadhl-Allah proved to have been. So, who should one believe? The British Foreign Office or the management of CNN or the more than million farewell bidders to this awesome and revered scholar that Mohammed Hussein Fadhl-Allah was.

Israel and peace are clearly incompatible

Hassan Al-Haifi
Any person watching the theatrics of the Middle East peace process is bound to wonder: How much is the world closer to seeing a real genuine peace in the Holy Land? In fact, all the signs are showing that for all intents and purposes, peace is simply not anywhere near being “around the corner”.


The problem does not so much lie in the weakness of the efforts or the insincerity of the proponents of a peaceful resolve to one of the most complex and intertwining conflict of modern times. The essence of the problem lies in the approach and the missing understanding of how the problem came into being. Furthermore a genuine and sincere conviction by all the parties concerned is inescapable that there are fundamental issues that underlie the arrival to a durable and just peace. For any objective and long time observer of the Middle East to overlook that peace without redress to the victims of a this Zionist nightmare planted in the midst of a region that taught the world the essences of human rights, tolerance and morality is at best impossible, but certainly unforgivable.


Moreover, one is inclined to believe that continued peace talks are utterly impossible, while one of the wrongs that initially created the problem is allowed to proceed at full pace, energy and resolve. Such presumption really borders on the ridiculous and absurd, on top of awarding the culprit a reward for a continued insistence that might makes right. The total neglect of the internationally recognized legitimate rights of the Palestinians even now when, at the same time, the Palestinians are being almost goaded to an obviously predictable staged effort to achieve “meaningful peace”, cannot be viewed as sound groundwork for Palestinian – Israeli talks. On the contrary, the insistence that Israel could be allowed to proceed with its Zionist agenda in the occupied West Bank cannot be expected to raise any hope amongst even the most optimistic observers that indeed the tracks are paved for a peaceful conclusion of this conflict that is now going into its second century. Never mind that this agenda in all its manifestations is clearly still being unabashedly pursued although there are daily evidence that portrays this phenomenon as of one of the most dreadful cases of man’s inhumanity to man.


The recent behavior of the Israelis in Washington is a clear suggestion that the latter have simply decided to make their Zionist agenda the only acceptable grounds for any “peaceful settlement”. This is not simply attested to by open declarations of the Israeli Foreign Minister at the General Assembly. The ongoing onslaught of Israeli bulldozers knocking down whole Palestinian villages and towns in the West Bank and whole blocks in the Holy City of Jerusalem are mercilessly, rapidly and aggressively being evicted of their indigenous Arab inhabitants and wrecked and erased off the maps. Almost simultaneously, and coming behind an exaggerated and probably almost unnecessary display of military might and mob rule against helpless and unarmed uprooted men, women, children and members of Palestinian families, cement mixers and ready-made raised steelwork work to replace centuries of history and legitimacy, with sumptuous dwellings for heavily subsidized illegitimate trespassers arriving from distant lands. This is the ethnic cleansing that has been the theme of the internationally declared illegitimate occupation of the West Bank and formerly the tiny pocket of densely populated Gaza – which is still unquestionably, the largest prison in the world, despite the Israeli withdrawal. The prisoners in Gaza are not the normal criminal elements one finds in many institutions of penal reforms and penitentiaries. The people of Gaza are already the largest agglomeration of hopelessness, despair, misery and wanton suffering. Comprising hundreds of thousands of evicted Palestinians from as far back as 1948, living in the most humanely unbearable habitat for three generations, the inhabitants of Gaza have multiplied to become 1.5 million cases of systematic and slow extermination. The very same machine responsible for this relentless program of mass agony in Gaza is the very same machine that insists on producing illegitimate demographic “facts on the ground” in the West Bank of Palestine, while making a mockery of a seemingly sincere endeavor at peace – making pursued by the current US Administration headed by President Barack Obama. It is inescapable to note the diplomatic arrogance that has characterized the behavior of the Israelis in Washington and over the well organized pro – Zionist leaning mainstream US media (by choice, crossed interests or by sheer arm – twisting). The Israelis have neither a desire or intent to “compromise” on any issues at stake in any peace talks with their expected cohabitants of the Holy Land, who are now undergoing a process of elimination. Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and his ultra – right wing Administration in Israel are obviously not in a hurry for peace. US President Obama is already on the toughest credibility tightrope, as he has yet to show how genuine and sincere is his Administration’s quest for peace in the Middle East. The US Secretary of State, Mrs. Hillary Clinton’s “understanding” of Netanyahu’s position on the refusal to halt illegitimate settlement construction surely does not help reinforce this genuineness and seriousness, nor does it obviate any sincerity to reach a peaceful and just settlement.


Michael Bloomberg, bona fide Mayor of New York City and deservedly so!
This observer could not help but recognize that Mayor Mike Bloomberg, now on his third term as the sagacious Mayor of the fabulous City of New York, has candidly and unabashedly expressed his deep understanding and respect for religious tolerance. Mayor Bloomberg openly stated without hesitation that he sees no comprehensible reason to oppose the construction of the Islamic Cultural Center on Park Place, Manhattan, or anywhere else in NYC. He recently stated this in an appearance on CBS David Letterman’s, The Late Show. It is this kind of independence that should be displayed by the Mayor of the Greatest City in the World, without competition. New York should be honored with His Honor’s full – time devotion to keeping New York humming, truly sophisticated and cosmopolitan.

Yemen Times
Issue 1404