Friday 7 December 2018
UNGA Adopts Resolution Calling for End to Israel’s Occupation of Palestine
Ali Kazak
Sputnik International
UNGA Adopts Resolution Calling for End to Israel’s Occupation of Palestine© AFP 2018
07.12.2018
UNITED NATIONS (Sputnik) - The UN General Assembly voted in favor of a resolution calling to end the Israeli occupation of Palestinian territories, current President of the UN General Assembly Maria Espinosa said in a statement.
"The result of the vote is as follows: 156 in favor, six against, 12 abstentions," Espinosa said on Thursday. "The draft resolution is adopted."
The Comprehensive, Just and Lasting Peace in the Middle East resolution sponsored by Ireland urges to end the occupation of Palestinian territories by the state of Israel and reaffirms its support for the two-state solution.
The United States and Israel voted against the resolution in addition to Australia, Liberia, Marshall Islands, and Nauru.
The adoption of the resolution came after UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres last week urged Israel and Palestine to peacefully resolve their conflict by supporting the two-state solution plan that envisages an independent State of Palestine alongside the State of Israel, west of the Jordan River.
For decades, Palestine has been in conflict with the Israeli government. In November, at least 40 Palestinians were injured in clashes with Israel troops near the Gaza Strip border. Since 1967, Israel has been occupying Palestinian territories of the West Bank, including East Jerusalem, and the Gaza Strip, and refuses to recognize Palestine as an independent political and diplomatic state
Wednesday 5 December 2018
MY AUNTS INCREDIBLE HIJAB STORY
MY AUNTS INCREDIBLE HIJAB STORY
by Marwa Atik:
In 1979 my grandfather made the decision to leave his home in Syria and start a new life the U.S. The plan was that my grandfather would come to California first and then my grandmother would follow along with their 7 children. Their American Airlines Flight #191 reservations included a stop in New York then a connection in Chicago before finally arriving in California.
They landed in New York first. All immigrants first had to apply for a green card before their next destination. My then 13 year old Aunt Hala had recently put on the hijab. When it came time for her photo, they asked my aunt to remove her hijab(headscarf) and she said NO. They consistently informed her that she would not be able to move to America or go to their next flight until she took this photo but she was steadfast and insisted on her rights.
By now my grandmother became impatient, having flown half-way across the globe and having spent close to their life savings on these tickets, she did not want to miss the next flight out to California. My grandmother pleaded and told her to remove it and to do what the immigration officers told her to do, but my aunt continued to refuse. They called her into the back and she told them It doesn't matter how many people you call in, I will not remove my hijab for this photo. After the officers called their supervisors and three brutal hours later, they finally released my aunt and allowed her to keep her headscarf on for the photo. However, by then it was too late, the entire family had missed their connecting flight and they had to purchase new plane tickets and stay overnight in New York. Furious and upset, my grandmother lectured my aunt the whole flight to California.
By the time they finally arrived to LAX California, my grandfather greeted them with the biggest hug and was in tears. He kept repeating "Hamdulilah you're alive! Hamdulilah you're alive!" And they were like, well yeah why wouldn't we be??
He said, " The original flight you were supposed to get on crashed, and all 271 passengers died."
They were all in shock and overwhelmed; everyone was brought to tears.
This story is an important reminder for us that everything in life is written and one should always be principled and stick to their beliefs no matter the situation you're put in. Allah Subhaanahu wa Ta'ala was testing her belief and if what you believe in is right, then Allah Subhaanahu Wa Ta'ala will never forget about you. ️ Stories like this make me fall in love with the hijab all over again.
With all the islamophobia going around, I just wanted to remind people the importance of staying strong in your deen, no matter what anyone thinks or says.
Her story reminded us of the following verse in the Qur'an:
Qur'an: 3:159:
" Then when you have taken a decision, put your trust in ALLAH, certainly, ALLAH loves those who put their trust (in him)."
The launch of the Quranic Encyclopaedia; A step towards enrichment
The launch of the Quranic Encyclopaedia; A step towards enrichment
By Jaweria Waheed
4 December 2018
In retrospect, events like 9/11 were not a surprise but a painful indication of the underlying crisis that has penetrated deep inside us. Therefore, recovering the Islamic intellectual tradition is an important step to ameliorating the malaise which Muslims and non-Muslims have decried and bemoaned.
In such a gloomy environment, Shaykh ul Islam Dr. Muhammad Tahir ul Qadri has taken a lead in addressing the contemporary challenges that the Muslim world is facing and in such a powerful voice that no one remained unheard on it. He has remarkably authored around 550 books and spoke on more than 12000 topics which are covered in his speeches and lectures.
He has an organizational setup in around 90 countries of the world which are devoted to the promotion of Islam worldwide. He raised the strongest response after 9/11 by writing a 600 pages Fatwa on Terrorism and suicide bombing and has given a Peace Curriculum as a counter-narrative to ISIS propaganda against Islam.
Today on 3rd of December 2018, Dr. Tahir ul Qadri has launched another astonishing and a phenomenal work in the form of Quranic Encyclopaedia. This according to him is a result of his 50 years of study and knowledge. This encyclopaedia which is comprised of 5000 topics has been presented in 8 volumes that will quench the thirst of the real seekers of Divine knowledge. In the age of scientific tools of research and techniques, Dr. Qadri’s Encyclopaedia has given the modern day researchers with the latest tools to extract knowledge from the Holy Quran.
The First five volumes have the compilation of Quranic verses which are categorized under 5000 topics. The first volume is comprised of three parts. First is a detailed introduction of the Encyclopaedia; the next 400 pages cover the list of contents and the third part starts with the topics of belief in Allah Almighty and Tawhid. The second volume covers the core believes of Islam which includes belief in prophethood, holy books, angels and the Day of Judgment.
Volume 3 covers topics related to rights and duties, science and technology. Subjects of peace and tolerance, nonviolence, relations with non-Muslims and lives of prophets are compiled in Volume 4 of this encyclopaedia. Volume 5 covers Quranic verses related to political and government systems, a justice system, economics, wars, and Jihad.
Last part of Volume 5 has a detailed Alphabetic Index of the subjects and topics covered in Encyclopaedia. Volume 6 till 8 are composed of a lengthy Index of Quranic words which has given a direct tool to the researchers to find the relevant subject easily.
The launching ceremony of this encyclopaedia held in Aiwan e Iqbal today was graced by notable scholars, intellectuals, writers, journalists and researchers from across the country. Governor Punjab Ch. Sarwar expressed that Dr. Tahir ul Qadri has addressed the actual needs of this age by writing this Encyclopaedia.
As, Dr. Qadri himself pointed out that the knowledge of the Quran has no limits and it has answers for all the times to come, therefore, it is upon us to derive meanings from it. Quranic Encyclopaedia has been an attempt to redirect our scholars, researchers, and students to directly extract Divine knowledge from it.
To substantiate his argument he said on a lighter note that “I have ended the monopoly of religious scholars from Quran by writing this Encyclopaedia” and Dr. Ghazal Hasan appreciated that now any person can directly seek Divine guidance without relying on any religious scholar because this encyclopaedia has connected Quran with human knowledge. “We have been engulfed in darkness, and this Encyclopaedia is a beacon of light”, she further added.
Dr. Farooq Satar shared his views and declared the Encyclopaedia as a “corridor” which will guide us both in worldly life and the life hereafter. Former Prime Minister Azad Kashmir, Sardar Attique Khan applauded this Encyclopaedia and said that it will help to counter the challenge of the “Clash of civilizations” and will serve as an important milestone in developing a global village.
Amongst all the other literary contributions of Dr. Tahir ul Qadri, this Encyclopaedia is a unique work of its kind which has empowered the scholars, researchers, and students from all fields of education. Dr. Qadri deserves all the appreciation for this splendid miraculous work. He has done a great service to Islam by empowering us with the Divine source of knowledge. May Allah Almighty guide our lives in the light of Quran and help us to act upon it.
Jaweria Waheed is a graduate in International Relations from Kinnaird College. She is a member of the Editorial Board for the magazine ‘Voice of Students’ and has been a blogger with media organizations ARY News & Dunya News, Pakistan. The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Global Village Space’s editorial policy
https://www.
Tuesday 4 December 2018
Sunday 2 December 2018
UN General Assembly Adopts 5 More Resolutions in Favor of Palestine
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Sun, Dec 2, 4:25 AM (1 day ago)
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UN General Assembly Adopts 5 More Resolutions in Favor of Palestine
December 1, 2018
The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) voted, on Friday evening, in favor of five resolutions on Palestine and a sixth resolution on the Golan Heights, WAFA correspondence reported.
One of the most important resolutions adopted today, by the UNGA, called on member states not to recognize any measures taken by Israel in Jerusalem and to maintain the current status quo in the holy city. The resolution also rejected the recent relocation, by the United States, of its Israeli embassy to Jerusalem.
Commenting on the voting, Palestine’s Permanent Observer to the UN, Riyad Mansour, said that “by voting in favor of the five resolutions, the international community affirms its support of our national cause, despite the efforts made by the US administration in international forums to resist this.”
The UNGA also adopted a sixth resolution on the occupied Syrian Golan, demanding the withdrawal of Israel from all of the territory and affirming Syria’s sovereignty over it, in line with the relevant resolutions of the UN Security Council.
This is the second such move by the UN in less than two weeks. On November 17, the UNGA voted in favor of eight resolutions on Palestine and a ninth on the Syrian Golan Heights.
Trump: US Troops will Stay in Middle East to Protect Israel
By MEMO
November 30, 2018 "Information Clearing House" - US President Donald Trump has admitted that the US only keeps its troops in the Middle East to protect Israel.
In an interview with the Washington Post yesterday [27 Nov. 2018], Trump explained that he would not withdraw US troops from the region because of the need to support Israel, despite the fact that other US concerns such as oil were no longer sufficient reason to remain. Trump told the Post:
Now, are we going to stay in that part of the world [the Middle East]? One reason to is Israel. Oil is becoming less and less of a reason because we’re producing more oil now than we’ve ever produced. So, you know, all of a sudden it gets to a point where you don’t have to stay there.
Trump’s comments have been interpreted as referring specifically to Saudi Arabia – one of the US’ main oil providers and increasingly an Israeli ally – with the Times of Israel suggesting the president “appear[s] to envision a world where the US would be less beholden to Saudi Arabia”.
Israel tightens noose around East Jerusalem
The Israeli settlement of Pisgat Zeev in front of the Palestinian Shuafat refugee camp on 27 April 2018. Israel is pressing on with land confiscations and house demolitions
in a bid to bring more Jewish settlers into East Jerusalem and environs.
27 November 2018
Israel took various steps this month to entrench its occupation of East Jerusalem.
From demolishing Palestinian structures to approving further expansion of settlements, Israel continues to threaten Palestinian existence in the heart of the city.
On 21 November, Israel’s high court gave the green light to evict 700 Palestinian residents of the Silwan neighborhood in occupied East Jerusalem from land they’ve lived on for decades.
The court denied an appeal filed by 104 Silwan residents in the Batan al-Hawa area against a 2002 government decision to transfer ownership of the homes of some 70 Palestinian families to three individuals closely associated with Ateret Cohanim, a right-wing Israeli settler organization focused on taking Palestinian land in Jerusalem.
The transfer of ownership is made possible by the 1950 Absentee Property Law, which allows Israel to seize land owned by displaced Palestinian refugees, who fled or were expelled from their homes during and after the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of Palestinians carried out by Zionist forces to make room for an Israeli state.
Government collusion
Israel’s high court judges rejected the appeal despite knowing “that the procedure concerning the Silwan village homes was flawed and raised questions about land transfers to [Ateret Cohanim],” Israel’s i24 News reported.
Israeli human rights group B’Tselem condemned the court’s decision, stating that it “gives its seal of approval to almost any infringement of Palestinians’ rights by the Israeli authorities,” adding that various government ministries have assisted Ateret Cohanim in encroaching on Palestinian land in Batan al-Hawa and handing over their homes to Jewish settlers.
Apart from the blatant theft of Palestinian land, the increased presence of illegal settlers also necessitates a greater “security” presence for them, creating an even more violent atmosphere for Palestinian residents.
“The stronger the hold settlers have in the neighborhood of Batan al-Hawa, the greater the number of Palestinians directly impacted by the settler security apparatus, even without being expelled from their homes,” B’Tselem added.
Demolishing storefronts
On 21 November, Israeli occupation forces demolished some 20 commercial buildings on a busy street in Jerusalem’s Shuafat refugee camp.
The Israeli press called it the “most significant” demolition since the construction of Israel’s apartheid wall in the occupied West Bank during thesecond intifada.
The demolition order came from the Jerusalem municipality, which rarely grants Palestinians building licenses, forcing them to build “illegally” and live in constant fear of demolition.
Local media circulated pictures of the operation on social media, dubbing it the “demolition massacre.”
This video shows Israeli forces conducting the demolition:
Israeli forces also detained Palestinians during the operation, including three children:
Demolition warnings were given 12 hours prior to the act. Israeli forces blocked off entrances into the camp and restricted movement in the area on 21 November, and arrived again the day after to continue the demolition.
EU concern
Maja Kocijancic, spokesperson for EU foreign policy chief Federica Mogherini, condemned Israel’s actions as jeopardizing a two-state solution.
“The European Union is strongly opposed to Israel’s settlement policy, illegal under international law, and actions taken in that context, such as forced transfers, evictions and demolitions,” she said in a statement on 24 November.
“The EU expects the Israeli authorities to reconsider and reverse these decisions.”
She did not spell out clear consequences for Israel if it defies these calls. In the past, the EU has done nothing to hold Israel accountable for demolishing structures, including ones funded from EU coffers.
Twice displaced
Meanwhile, Israel’s high court has denied the appeal of a Palestinian family who is being evicted from their East Jerusalem home.
The court refused to hear the Sabbagh family’s case on the building’s ownership in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood.
The family of 40 – 30 of which are children – will be thrown out within months and has nowhere else to live.
The Sabbagh family is originally from Jaffa and owns two homes there. They fled following the Nakba and settled in Sheikh Jarrah in 1956.
After the Nakba, Israel took over the homes and properties Palestinians fled under its Absentee Property Law, including those of the Sabbagh family.
“Their two former houses in Jaffa still exist, and they keep pictures of them in their living room,” according to Israeli daily Haaretz.
The house that the Sabbagh family lives on in Sheikh Jarrah was owned by Jewish individuals before the Nakba, but was abandoned during it.
The Jordanian government and the United Nations built housing on the land for Palestinian refugees six years after the Nakba, and the Sabbagh family moved into one of those buildings.
“We have two houses in Jaffa, on Hasneh Street and Hagidam Street, and we have 250 dunams [62.5 acres] in Yavneh and also in Ashdod,” Muhammad Sabbagh, 71, told Haaretz.
“Why can’t I ask for my property from before 1948?”
In 2003, a company registered in the United States, called Nahalat Shimon International, bought the land from the Jewish groups that claim to have owned it before 1948, and has been fighting to forcibly displace Palestinians from there since then.
“The ruling will also make it very difficult for dozens of other Palestinian families in Sheikh Jarrah to avoid eviction,” Haaretz reported.
Settlement ring
Meanwhile, Israel’s parliament passed a law last week permitting the building of residential settlements atop public parks, according to Haaretz. This would enable the construction of housing units in the City of David archeological site near the al-Aqsa mosque in occupied Jerusalem.
The law’s bill was backed by Elad, a private organization that settles Jews in occupied East Jerusalem in violation of international law.
The Palestine Liberation Organization’s National Bureau for Defending Land said the new law was part of an Israeli plan to establish a settlement ring around the city of Jerusalem, in order to increase the number of settlers there at the expense of Palestinian residents.
Earlier this month, the Jerusalem District Planning and Building Committee approved the building of 640 new Israeli settlement homes in Ramat Shlomo, a Jewish-only colony in East Jerusalem.
Some of the new homes will be built on privately owned Palestinian land, according to Haaretz.
Some 3,000 Israeli settlers live in Palestinian neighborhoods in Jerusalem’s Old City and the surrounding area, amid some 100,000 Palestinians, according to B’Tselem.
How Palestinians in Jerusalem are being targeted in a campaign of ethnic cleansing
How Palestinians in Jerusalem are being targeted in a campaign of ethnic cleansing
Settlers are coming up with new and increasingly underhand tactics to uproot Palestinians from their homes in and around the Old City
The supreme court has ordered the eviction of 700 Palestinians from Silwan near Al Aqsa mosque. (photo inserted)
2 December 2018
Czech president Milos Zeman offered Benjamin Netanyahu’s ultra-nationalist government a fillip during his visit to Israel last week. He inaugurated a cultural and trade centre, Czech House, just outside Jerusalem’s Old City walls.
At the opening, he expressed hope it would serve as a precursor to his country relocating its embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem. If so, the Czech Republic would become the first European state to follow US President Donald Trump’s lead in moving the US embassy in May.
It is this kind of endorsement that, of late, has emboldened Mr Netanyahu’s government, the Israeli courts, Jerusalem officials and settler organisations to step up their combined assault on Palestinians in the Old City and its surrounding neighbourhoods.
Israel has never hidden its ambition to seize control of East Jerusalem, Palestinian territory it occupied in 1967 and then annexed, as a way of preventing a viable Palestinian state from emerging.
Israel immediately began building an arc of Jewish settlements on Jerusalem’s eastern flank to seal off its Palestinian residents from their political hinterland, the West Bank.
More than a decade ago, it consolidated its domination with a mammoth concrete wall that cut through East Jerusalem. The aim was to seal off densely populated Palestinian neighbourhoods on the far side, ensuring the most prized and vulnerable areas – the Old City and its environs – could be more easily colonised, or “Judaised”, as Israel terms it.
This area, the heart of Jerusalem, is where magnificent holy places such as the Al Aqsa mosque and the Church of the Holy Sepulchre are to be found.
Under cover of the 1967 war, Israel ethnically cleansed many hundreds of Palestinians living near the Western Wall, a retaining wall of the elevated Al Aqsa compound that is venerated in Judaism. Since then, Israeli leaders have grown ever hungrier for control of the compound itself, which they believe is built over two long-lost Jewish temples.
Israel has forced the compound’s Muslim authorities to allow Jews to visit in record numbers, even though most wish to see the mosque replaced with a third Jewish temple. Meanwhile, Israel has severely limited the numbers of Palestinians who can reach the holy site.
Until now, Israel had mostly moved with stealth, making changes gradually so they rarely risked inflaming the Arab world or provoking western reaction. But after Mr Trump’s embassy move, a new Israeli confidence is tangible.
On four fronts, Israel has demonstrated its assertive new mood. First, with the help of ever-more compliant Israeli courts, it has intensified efforts to evict Palestinians from their homes in the Old City and just outside its historic walls.
Last month, the supreme court handed down a ruling that sanctions the eviction of 700 Palestinians from Silwan, a dense neighbourhood on a hillside below Al Aqsa. Ateret Cohanim, a settler organisation backed by government-subsidised armed guards, is now poised to take over the centre of Silwan.
It will mean more Israeli security and police protecting the settler population and more city officials enforcing prejudicial planning rules against Palestinians. The inevitable protests will justify more arrests of Palestinians, including children. This is how bureacratic ethnic cleansing works.
The supreme court also rejected an appeal against a Palestinian family’s eviction from Sheikh Jarrah, another key neighbourhood near the Old City. The decision opens the way to expelling dozens more families.
B’Tselem, an Israeli rights group, characterised these rulings as “sanctioning the broadest move to dispossess Palestinians since 1967”.
At the same time, Israel’s parliament approved a law to accelerate the settler takeover.
Over many years, Israel created a series of national parks around the Old City on the pretext of preserving “green areas”. Some hem in Palestinian neighbourhoods to stop their expansion while others were declared on the land of existing Palestinian homes to justify expelling the occupants.
Now the parliament has reversed course. The new law, drafted by another settler group, Elad, will allow house-building in national parks, but only for Jews.
Elad’s immediate aim is to bolster the settler presence in Silwan, where it has overseen a national park next to Al Aqsa. Archaeology has been co-opted to supposedly prove the area was once ruled by King David while thousands of years of subsequent history, most especially the current Palestinian presence, are erased.
Elad’s activities include excavating under Palestinian homes, weakening their foundations.
A massive new Jewish history-themed visitor centre will dominate Silwan’s entrance. Completing the project is a $55 million cable car, designed to carry thousands of tourists an hour over Silwan and other neighbourhoods, rendering the Palestinian inhabitants invisible as visitors are delivered effortlessly to the Western Wall without ever having to encounter them.
The settlers have their own underhand methods. With the authorities’ connivance, they have forged documents to seize Palestinian homes closest to Al Aqsa. In other cases, the settlers have recruited Arab collaborators to dupe other Palestinians into selling their homes.
Once they gain a foothold, the settlers typically turn the appropriated home into an armed compound. Noise blares out into the early hours, Palestinian neighbours are subjected to regular police raids and excrement is left in their doorways.
After the recent sale to settlers of a home strategically located in the Old City’s Muslim quarter, the Palestinian Authority set up a commission of inquiry to investigate. But the PA is near-powerless to stop this looting after Israel passed a law in 1995 denying it any role in Jerusalem.
The same measure is now being vigorously enforced against the few residents trying to stop the settler banditry.
Adnan Ghaith, Jerusalem’s governor and a Silwan resident, was arrested last week for a second time and banned from entering the West Bank and meeting PA officials. Adnan Husseini, the Palestinian minister for Jerusalem, is under a six-month travel ban by Israel.
Last week dozens of Palestinians were arrested in Jerusalem, accused of working for the PA to stop house sales to the settlers.
It is a quiet campaign of attrition, designed to wear down Jerusalem’s Palestinian residents. The hope is that they will eventually despair and relocate to the city’s distant suburbs outside the wall or into the West Bank.
What Palestinians in Jerusalem urgently need is a reason for hope – and a clear signal that other countries will not join the US in abandoning them.
Jonathan Cook is a freelance journalist based in Nazareth
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