cair-net Digest of: get.201_300
Topics (messages 201 through 300):
CAIR-NET: N.Va. Muslims Gather to Decry Raids
201 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Raids, Detentions and Lists Lead Muslims to Cry Persecution
202 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Condemn AJC Attempt at Political Exclusion
203 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Learn Techniques of Activism at VA Conference
204 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: America Must Act to Stop Israeli Aggression
205 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Pipes Says Enfranchisement of U.S. Muslims Threatens Jews
206 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Jewish Groups Asked to Condemn Israeli Attacks
207 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Betrayed" by Bush/AI Condemns Israeli Rights Violations
208 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Powell Meets with Muslims/Orphans Rumor May be Hoax
209 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Supports President's Demand for End to Israeli Attacks
210 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Detainees/Afghan Orphans/Palestine/Teen Asks to Display Five
Pillars
211 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Advocate of Slaughtering Palestinians to Appear on Fox
212 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Advertisers May Pull Ads From "Nuking Mecca" Journal
213 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims Defend Jewish Woman Fired for Marrying Palestinian
214 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Columnist Says Quran is "Suicide Playbook"
215 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Judge Firm on Open Hearing for Activist
216 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Say "War Crimes" Committed in Jenin
217 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Help a Struggling Muslim Family
218 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Aid Offers for Family Flow In
219 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: JENIN - The Camp that Became a Slaughterhouse
220 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Israel Rally "Spins" Brutal Occupation Say Muslims
221 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Wolfowitz Booed at Pro-Israel Rally
222 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Dept. Store Chain Settles Muslim Discrimination Complaint
223 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: April 20 Rally for Palestine in DC
224 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Largest-Ever Rally for Palestine - April 20
225 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Is the Pro-Israel Media Lobby Losing its Grip?
226 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Emerson Says Islam Needs "Reform," is "Outmoded"
227 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Rep. McKinney Requests Hearing on Palestinian Relief
Restrictions
228 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Rally for Palestine Attracts 100,000 Americans
229 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Congress Seeks $200 Million in Added Aid for Israel
230 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Mother of 11 Freed in Florida
231 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fla. Editorial Cartoon Defames Palestinian Mothers
232 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Dr. Laura Says Muslims Have a "Plan" to Dominate World
233 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Palestinians in Jenin Turn Down U.S. Relief Aid
234 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Report on American Muslim Civil Rights to be Released
235 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CAIR Mourns the Loss of Dr. Hala Maksoud
236 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: More Nebraskans Converting to Islam After Sept. 11
237 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Desmond Tutu: Apartheid in the Holy Land
238 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Anti-Muslim Incidents Up Three-Fold in Past Year
239 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Action Needed on Gujarat Killings/Critical Look at Patriot
Act
240 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Politicians "Pledge Allegiance" to Israel
241 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Congressman Calls for Ethnic Cleansing of Palestinians
242 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Tenn. Muslims Accuse Whirlpool of Religious Discrimination
243 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Thank Those in Congress Who Did Not Vote for Pro-Israel
Resolutions
244 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: A Penchant for Secrecy
245 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Physician Detained by Israelis After Reporting From
Jenin
246 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: At $3,100 an Hour, Solidarity Has Wings
247 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Gov. Must Protect Americans From Illegal Israeli
Detentions
248 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: The Israeli "Art Student" Mystery
249 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Israeli Troops Defecate into Photocopier
250 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: American Detainee in Israel On Hunger Strike
251 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: American Security Sacrificed for Aid to Israel
252 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Few Question Congress' Blind Support for Sharon
253 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: American Relief Worker Released/Congress Encourages Extremism
254 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Israelis Caught Near U.S. Naval Base in Truck with TNT Traces
255 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: First Lady Can't Empathize with Palestinian Mothers
256 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Praying Muslims Lead to Evacuation
257 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CBS Exposes Faked Slave "Redemptions" in Sudan
258 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Repeated Profiling of Muslim Traveler Prompts DOT Meeting
259 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Rep. McKinney Calls for "Unvarnished Truth" on Terror
Warnings
260 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Breaking News - Dr. Riad Abdelkarim Released
261 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Join in Welcoming Dr. Riad Abdelkarim Back Home
262 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Dr. Abdelkarim Thanks Supporters for Release From Israel
263 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Defends Withholding Detainees' Names
264 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Turkish Men Cause Alarm at Mass. Schools
265 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Paul Harvey Says Muslims May "Sell Daughters"
266 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Georgetown Univ. Cop Assaults Muslim Family
267 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Detainees Allege More Retaliation
268 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Georgetown U. Suspends Officer Accused of Assault
269 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Calif. Cops Arrest 11-Year-Old Muslim Girl
270 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Video of 11-Year-Old's Arrest/Inside the Pro-Israel Lobby
271 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Demand Reunification of Muslim Family in Florida
272 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Jihad" - At Harvard, a Word Sparks a Battle
273 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: New FBI Guidelines May Lead to Abuses Say Muslims
274 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Secrecy on Detainees is Debated in D.C. Court
275 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Rapes Go Unpunished in Indian Mob Attacks
276 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Act Now to Prevent War Between Pakistan and India
277 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Expel American Muslims?
278 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslims React to Fingerprinting of Visa Holders
279 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fingerprinting Proposal is Discriminatory Say Muslims
280 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "We'll Show Them Humiliated"
281 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: All-American Osamas
282 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: CNN Host's 'War on Islamists' Sparks Religious Debate
283 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Islamists"/Muslim Voters/Profiling
284 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fallaci - Muslims "Multiply Like Rats"
285 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Baptists Call Prophet Muhammad "Demon-Possessed Pedophile"
286 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: NJ Court Denies Release of Detainee Data
287 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Vandals Attack Calif. Mosque Under Construction
288 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Christians and Jews Condemn Anti-Muslim Smears
289 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: "Who's the Real Demon?"/Starbucks Boycott
290 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Muslims Barred From Israel Hold News Conference
291 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim Police Officer Denied Right to Jumah
292 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Islam Attracts Hispanics/Cover-Up of Anthrax Case?
293 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: U.S. Must Keep Terror Hearings Open, Court Says
294 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Fla. Drops Neglect Charges Against Muslim Family
295 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Oppose Sanctions Bill That Harms Americans and Syrians
296 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Bush Disagrees With Pastor's Remarks
297 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Penn. Muslims Hold News Conference for Guard Denied Prayer
298 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Muslim PAC Urges Support for Rep. Hilliard
299 by: CAIR
CAIR-NET: Were Israelis Detained on 9/11 Spies?
300 by: CAIR
---------------------------------
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----------------------------------------------------------------------
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/26/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: PATIENCE
* CAIR CONFERENCE NEARLY SOLD OUT, REGISTRATION CLOSES 3-28
* N.VA. MUSLIMS GATHER TO DECRY RAIDS (Washington Post)
* EARTHQUAKES HIT AFGHANISTAN, 2,000 FEARED DEAD (Reuters)
* ANOTHER MUSLIM CONFIRMED DEAD AT WTC (Newsday)
* IF THINGS 'DON'T LOOK RIGHT,' THEY'RE READY TO ACT (Atlanta Journal)
* NEW YORKERS BELIEVE 9-11 HAD IMPACT ON DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
* EMPLOYEES PRAY FOR GUIDANCE (Philadelphia Inquirer)
* ABCS AND ARABIC (Salt Lake Tribune)
* OUR HIJACKED FOREIGN POLICY (Antiwar.com)
- Leaked Government report exposes Israeli spy ring
* ISRAELIS USE PEACE PROCESS TO SEIZE ARAB LAND, MANIPULATE U.S. POLICY
(St. Paul Pioneer Press)
* ISLAM ON THE INTERNET (NPR)
* FRENCH TEACHERS END STRIKE AFTER MUSLIM HIGH SCHOOLER CHANGES
HEADSCARF (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: PATIENCE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) passed by a woman who was
weeping
beside a grave. He told her to fear God and be patient. Not recognizing
the
Prophet, she said: "Go away, for you have not been afflicted with a
calamity like mine." When she was later informed who he was, she went
to
the house of the Prophet and said to him, "I did not recognize you." He
said, "Verily, real patience is at the first stroke of a calamity."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 2, Hadith 372
-----
CAIR CONFERENCE NEARLY SOLD OUT, REGISTRATION CLOSES 3-28
CAIR's intensive Training Conference on Saturday, March 30, and Sunday,
March 31, in Vienna, Va., is nearly sold out. Registration will be
closed
on Thursday, March 28. There will be no on-site registration.
To register, go to:
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/leadershipconference.asp
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-Mich.) will offer a luncheon address dealing
with
Muslim civil rights in America as they relate to recent events.
A major legal initiative will be announced at an evening banquet.
At the conference, headlined "Muslims in America: Moving Forward with
Faith," top trainers in their fields will offer workshops and lectures
on
media relations, civil rights advocacy, coalition building, and
political
empowerment.
Workshop presenters include Muslim congressional staffers, professional
leadership trainers, representatives of national grassroots civil
liberties
advocacy organizations, media representatives, and CAIR staffers.
For more information, e-mail: register@cair-net.org
-----
N.VA. MUSLIMS GATHER TO DECRY RAIDS
By Rosalind Helderman, The Washington Post, 3/26/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A17818-2002Mar26.html
Several hundred people met last night in Sterling to hear speakers
denounce
last week's searches of Muslim homes and businesses in Northern
Virginia as
reminiscent of government tactics in the McCarthy era.
The speakers promised to seek congressional hearings into the raids and
called on listeners to support the fundraising efforts of the groups
that
were searched. Speakers also pledged a renewed effort to organize the
American Muslim community.
"You have been law-abiding citizens...I want you to be strong. Hold
your
head up. You have done nothing wrong," Mohamed Magid, the religious
leader
of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, told the audience at the
Sterling
Library.
The crowd filled the room and spilled into a hallway. At that point,
organizers announced that another meeting would be held at the Muslim
group's center, also in Sterling, and they later said 150 people
attended
that meeting...
Among the businesses raided was Leesburg's Graduate School of Islamic
and
Social Sciences, which trains Muslim clerics, including for service in
the
U.S. military. Several of the businesses were centered in Herndon,
including the International Institute for Islamic Thought...
Describing the raided groups as moderate and responsible, people at the
meeting called the searches a turning point. "For American Muslims, a
new
day has been etched into our hearts and minds. That day was March 20,"
said
Manal Omar, a meeting organizer...
-----
EARTHQUAKES HIT AFGHANISTAN, 2,000 FEARED DEAD
By Sayed Salahuddin and Brian Williams
KABUL (Reuters) - Aftershocks were hampering rescue efforts Tuesday
after
some 2,000 people were killed and thousands injured in a series of
earthquakes which struck northern Afghanistan.
The interim government of the war-ravaged country appealed for
international help, saying it could not cope with the disaster.
The quakes devastated the market town of Nahrin, a district capital of
mud-brick buildings with a population of 10,000 near the epicenter in
the
rugged Hindu Kush mountains, and surrounding villages late Monday and
Tuesday morning.
"It was a very heart-rending catastrophe," Interior Minister Yunus
Qanuni
told Reuters.
"The bodies of 1,800 have been pulled out of the rubble, but many more
are
still buried. More than 3,000 have been injured and 30,000 displaced,"
Qanuni said at Kabul airport before flying to the disaster zone...
Earthquakes are relatively frequent in the Hindu Kush mountain range.
In
1998, two earthquakes killed about 8,500 people and destroyed tens of
thousands of houses in Takhar and Badakhshan provinces.
-----
ANOTHER MUSLIM CONFIRMED DEAD AT WTC
MISSING CADET CONFIRMED DEAD
By Merle English, Newsday, 3/26/2002
http://www.newsday.com/
Mohammad Salman Hamdani, 23, the Bayside police cadet and part-time
ambulance driver sought for questioning since his parents reported him
missing Sept. 12, is among the most recent confirmed victims of the
World
Trade Center attack, authorities said yesterday.
Family members had said Hamdani might have rushed to the Twin Towers to
help with the rescue operation and died in their fiery collapse. But
his
mother and father also expressed fear - mingled with hope - that
Hamdani
might have been detained for questioning by authorities, although they
did
not know why he would be.
Hamdani's remains were found at the World Trade Center site recently
and
identified by the medical examiner.
Hamdani was a practicing Muslim whose family emigrated from Karachi,
Pakistan, 22 years ago. A June graduate of Queens College, he
reportedly
had a job as a research assistant at Rockefeller University on
Manhattan's
Upper East Side.
-----
IF THINGS 'DON'T LOOK RIGHT,' THEY'RE READY TO ACT
By MARY LOU PICKEL, The Atlanta Journal, 3/26/2002
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/today/metro_c30a1108e2c420e5001e.html
On Feb. 21, passengers ran up to several Guard troops to report that
three
Muslim men were praying loudly by the T-gates, according to a report.
Two
of the men had constantly walked up and down the aisle of their Delta
flight from Nevada, making other passengers nervous, they said.
The Guard troops observed the prayer ceremony and tried to assess the
situation along with FAA security officials. After the men boarded the
plane, the pilot demanded rescreening for them and their six traveling
companions.
When the party was cleared to go, 17 other passengers got off the plane
in
protest and were booked on another flight, according to a Guard
report...
-----
NEW YORKERS BELIEVE 9-11 HAD IMPACT ON DIVERSITY IN THE WORKPLACE
www.nytco.com
NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 26, 2002--A majority of job seekers
(58%)
and nearly half of hiring managers (44%) say the events of September 11
have had an impact on workplace diversity in the greater New York
metropolitan area, according to recent research findings from The New
York
Times Job Market, the print and online recruitment services offering of
The
New York Times advertising department.
Eighteen percent of job seekers and 12% of hiring managers say they
believe
there is more workplace discrimination since September 11. When
surveyed,
several respondents voiced their beliefs that people are no longer open
to
the concept of workplace diversity and that prospective employees who
are
Muslim or of Arab descent will now be viewed with suspicion by hiring
managers. Some 10% of job seekers and 7% of hiring managers say the
events
of September 11 have made people more tolerant of other's
differences...
This press release can be downloaded from www.nytco.com
-----
EMPLOYEES PRAY FOR GUIDANCE
By Jane M. Von Bergen, The Philadelphia Inquirer, 3/25/2002
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/2002/03/25/business/2930648.htm
Particularly since Sept. 11, Muslims feel vulnerable at work, she said.
Among many religions, they need some of the most obvious accommodations
-
particularly time and space for prayer at several specified times
during
the day.
"Usually it can be worked out," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman with
the
Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic advocacy group.
Hooper said that after Sept. 11 there seemed to be greater
understanding of
religious practices, but that Islamic workers experienced more of other
kinds of harassment on the job.
The Equal Employment Opportunity Commission reported that the number of
religious-discrimination complaints filed by Muslims between Sept. 11
and
March 11 was triple those filed during the same period a year
earlier...
-----
ABCS AND ARABIC
BY PEGGY FLETCHER STACK, THE SALT LAKE TRIBUNE, 3/23/2002
http://www.sltrib.com/2002/mar/03232002/saturday/saturday.htm
Like school kids everywhere, these Sandy students gobble down
macaroni-and-cheese, read about The 500 Hats of Bartholomew Cubbins and
romp on colorful swings and slides. They know their numbers, colors and
shapes and many can read and write in journals.
But this is Iqra Academy, Utah's only full-time Muslim school, so
instead
of "Ee-i-ee-i-oh!" in the chorus of "Old MacDonald," the elementary-age
children sing, "God is only one!"
There are other differences as well. The 31 students -- whose families
came
from Burma, Malaysia, Palestine, Egypt, Indonesia and Somalia -- are
taught
by women who wear head scarves as a sign of obedience to God and learn
the
Arabic alphabet right along with English.
During their morning study of the Qu'ran, the children explore the
notion
of good and evil...
-----
OUR HIJACKED FOREIGN POLICY
Neoconservatives take Washington - Baghdad is next
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 3/25/2002
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Evil is defined, in the neocon sense, as any power that stands in the
way
of Israel and the current right-wing govenment's plans to ethnically
cleanse Palestine of the Palestinians and solve the "Arab problem" once
and
for all. Under cover of a general Middle Eastern conflagration, with US
troops and planes targeting Arafat's possible protectors, Israel hopes
to
use the US as a shield while she puts her enemies to the sword.
It's ugly, even monstrous - and it just may work. What could stop it,
however, is if enough people like Matthews, and others in the media,
catch
on to the neocons' wargame - and decide it's time to pull the plug.
SEE ALSO:
THE TRUTH, AT LAST:
Leaked Government report exposes Israeli spy ring
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 3/22/2002
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j032202.html
In the gray, matter-of-fact bureaucratese so typical of a government
document, the leaked "Israeli Art Student Papers" - posted on
Antiwar.com
yesterday - confirm what we have been saying in this space all along:
that
an underground apparatus of Israeli covert agents, centered in the
southwestern US but extending nationwide, carried out extensive
operations
in the months prior to 9/11. Their targets were US government offices,
including not only the Drug Enforcement Administration (as previously
reported), but the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the Federal
Protective Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms
(BATF),
the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and a host of state and federal
courthouses and other buildings, as well as military bases. There is no
longer any doubt about whether the spy ring existed. Now we are left
with
the nagging question: what was its purpose?
The leaked document - provided to us by the heroic John Sugg, of
Creative
Loafing (Atlanta) and the Weekly Planet (Tampa) -- describes in
excruciating detail the doggedly persistent efforts of Israelis
claiming to
be "art students" to get into the offices and even the homes of federal
law
enforcement agents and government officials. In this 60-odd page
report,
incident is piled on incident until, at a certain point, even the most
mentally challenged reader -- even one who wants to give the Israelis
the
benefit of every doubt -- is forced to conclude that our friends, the
Israelis, were up to no good: and, perhaps, far worse than that....
-----
ISRAELIS USE PEACE PROCESS TO SEIZE ARAB LAND, MANIPULATE U.S. POLICY
By FEDWA WAZWAZ, The St. Paul Pioneer Press, 3/24/2002
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/opinion/2916213.htm
The Middle East peace process was supposed to bring an end to the
hostilities between Palestinians and Israelis, but instead it has led
to a
vicious cycle of violence, hatred and vengeance. So what went wrong? In
answering that question, we must ask ourselves how well we know the
issues
involved in the "peace process?"
To the Palestinians, the peace process was to bring an end to one of
the
longest military occupations, leading to a viable Palestinian state
that
would allow Palestinians to live with dignity and freedom. To Israel, I
believe, the peace process was a needed camouflage to continue seizing
Arab
land, expanding Jewish-only settlements, demolishing Arab-only property
and
engaging in other illegal acts. The Israelis have a scapegoat -
Palestinian
Authority President Yasser Arafat - to blame whenever the Palestinians
resist the occupation and respond to these illegal acts with
violence...
-----
ISLAM ON THE INTERNET
Part II: Muslim Women Breaking Down Barriers on the Web
By Davar Ardalan's report on Muslim women on the Internet
http://www.npr.org/programs/watc/cyberislam/fatima.html
For many Muslim women, the Internet has become a safe portal where
traditional notions of the ideal Muslim woman can be tested, expanded,
and
re-created. As NPR's Davar Ardalan discovered, there is a dynamic
exchange
taking place online, where a Muslim woman can be a traditionalist or an
iconoclast, a homemaker or an entrepreneur.
The "neutral ground" of the Internet allows many Muslim women to learn
about their rights within the religion, without the usual cultural or
traditional barriers -- barriers, for example, that prohibited Afghan
women
under the Taliban to educate themselves or go to work.
Ardalan met one woman who personifies the "cyber Fatima" trend. In many
ways, Noorin Khwaya is a traditional Muslim woman who chooses to wear
the
Islamic veil and stay home with her four children. But she's also the
CEO
of a thriving home-based Internet company, TwoMuslimGirls.com, selling
traditional garb over the Internet.
-----
FRENCH TEACHERS END STRIKE AFTER MUSLIM HIGH SCHOOLER CHANGES HEADSCARF
Associated Press, 3/26/2002
PARIS (AP) - Teachers at a suburban Paris high school ended a strike
Tuesday over a Muslim student's insistence on wearing a head scarf
after
she showed up for class in a modified version that exposed her ears and
forehead.
Striking a deal with school officials, the student changed her
customary
black headscarf, which had tightly framed her face and covered her
shoulders, for a loosely draped scarf in light blue.
"I'm showing my forehead and ears now," the student, identified by her
first name, Mimouna, told LCI Television. "All I want is to study and
be
left alone ... and to live my religion peacefully and tranquilly."
Nearly all of the 90 teachers at Leonard de Vinci high school in the
suburb
of Tremblay-en-France went on strike last Wednesday to protest a
decision
by officials of the Creteil school district to allow the student to
attend
class in a headscarf.
The teachers said the move threatened France's separation of religion
and
state.
The student had been banned from attending class in February after
school
administrators ruled that she had violated a school policy banning
"showy"
clothes, said Jean-Claude Girald, a teacher's union leader in the Paris
area.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/27/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: SPEAK FOR JUSTICE
* RAIDS, DETENTIONS AND LISTS LEAD MUSLIMS TO CRY PERSECUTION (New York
Times)
- CUSTOMS SERVICE DEFENDS ITS AGENTS IN N.VA. RAIDS
(Washington Post)
- OPINION: MODERATE MUSLIMS - THE NEW TARGET? (Daily Star)
* MAN WHO DROVE TRUCK INTO ISLAMIC CENTER SAID HE HATED MUSLIMS
(Tallahassee Democrat)
* EDITORIAL: FREE ANSAR MAHMOOD (Washington Post)
* NEWSPAPERS PUSH FOR ACCESS TO INS CASE (Detroit Free Press)
* MARCH 30 - NATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS TO "END THE OCCUPATION"
* A REPLY TO DANIEL PIPES (New York Post)
- U.S. ARABS' FIREBRAND
* SUPPORT AFGHAN QUAKE VICTIMS
* SUPPORT THE MUSLIMS OF INDIA
* MUSLIMS ASKED TO BECOME FOSTER PARENTS
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: SPEAK FOR JUSTICE
"Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid the ignorant."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 7, Verse 199
-----
RAIDS, DETENTIONS AND LISTS LEAD MUSLIMS TO CRY PERSECUTION
By JOSEPH KAHN, The New York Times, 3/27/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/27/national/27MUSL.html
As the Bush administration investigates what it says may be domestic
ties
to Al Qaeda and other terrorist groups, some Muslim leaders say the
government is persecuting them as it once did suspected supporters of
Japan
or the Soviet Union more than 50 years ago.
An ad hoc group of Muslim civic and religious groups have accused the
administration of racial and religious harassment, citing the Justice
Department's request that 3,000 Muslims living in the United States
submit
to voluntary interviews, as well as a series of federal raids last week
on
homes, businesses and charities in Northern Virginia. Several hundred
Muslims held an open meeting on Monday night in Sterling, Va., near
Washington, to listen to complaints of people whose homes or businesses
were among those raided. Many said they intended to press for
Congressional
hearings into police tactics and to organize rallies to call attention
to
abuses against Muslims since Sept. 11...
"As Muslims we condemned the terrorist acts of Sept. 11," said Akmal M.
Muhammad, an imam who spoke at the meeting. "But we must also insist
that
the Bush administration stop practicing terrorism in reverse against
us."
Though the number of Muslims in the United States has been estimated by
some to be as high as six million, Muslims tend to be more loosely
organized than adherents of some other major religions and do not often
speak with a unified national voice. But groups like the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and the Muslim Public Affairs Council say
they
are trying to change that to protest what they describe as a pattern of
discrimination against Muslims since the terrorist attacks...
Louay M. Safi, director of research at the International Institute of
Islamic Thought in Herndon, Va., which was searched, did not complain
about
tactics. But he said his study center had no ties to terrorists and
that he
believed it was a target only because it supports Islam.
"This has undermined the effect of Bush saying that Muslims are
peaceful,"
Mr. Safi said. "This is really a campaign against Islam."
SEE ALSO:
CUSTOMS SERVICE DEFENDS ITS AGENTS IN N.VA. RAIDS
By Tom Jackman, The Washington Post, 3/27/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22942-2002Mar26.html
The U.S. Customs Service said yesterday that its agents acted
professionally while serving 16 search warrants in a series of raids in
Northern Virginia last week...
The subjects of the searches and Muslim interest groups have protested
the
raids, challenging the reasoning and alleging heavy-handedness. Aysha
N.
Unus, for example, said she and her 19-year-old daughter were
handcuffed
for five hours in their Herndon home and were not allowed to cover
their
heads for several hours, as Islamic tradition dictates...
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
dismissed the agency's response. "First they said she wasn't
handcuffed,
now they're saying she was," he said about Unus. "We can hope this is a
realization that something went wrong with this raid . . . and not just
embarrassment about the negative publicity."
OPINION: MODERATE MUSLIMS - THE NEW TARGET?
The Daily Star (Lebanon), 3/26/2002
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/03_26_02_c.htm
For over 20 years, the Muslim leadership associated with the
International
Institute of Islamic Thought (http://www.iiit.org), one of the targets
of
the raid, has been at the forefront of many progressive, moderate,
intellectual and liberal initiatives taken by American Muslims...
One of the most debilitating effects of raids on moderate Muslim
institutions is the power it gives to those conservative Muslims who
are
critical of the US and see the war on terror as essentially a global
war on
Islam...
-----
MAN WHO DROVE TRUCK INTO ISLAMIC CENTER SAID HE HATED MUSLIMS
By Tony Bridges, The Tallahassee Democrat, 3/27/2002
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/2941390.htm
The man who crashed his truck into a campus mosque late Monday has a
history of bizarre behavior linked to Florida State University.
Charles Franklin, 41, was arrested in 1992 after he used a metal pipe
to
vandalize the disc-jockey booth at V89, an FSU radio station. In 1998,
he
was investigated for allegedly driving his van at a group of students
near
the Student Union, according to FSU police.
Now, he's charged with burglary and felony criminal mischief in
Monday's
attack on the Islamic Center of Tallahassee. Franklin told police he
did it
because he "hated Muslims" and could face additional hate-crime
penalties
if convicted, said Scott Hunt, Tallahassee Police Department spokesman.
Federal prosecutors also reportedly are reviewing the case for possible
civil rights violations.
"All (Franklin's) statements are very alarming for us," said mosque
President Hazim Mohammed. "It's not just a crazy guy saying something,
because he acted on it.
"The idea of terrorism is to terrorize. And that's what happened
exactly..."
In Monday's attack, Franklin, who makes his living as a carpenter,
crashed
his GMC pickup into the West Pensacola Street mosque about 30 minutes
before evening prayers.
The small truck was wedged into the building's front entrance, so he
escaped by smashing out the cab's rear window. He left a Bible and a
bottle
of liquid marked "holy water" in the truck, police said...
According to his arrest report, he shouted curses at Osama bin Laden
and at
Allah as he was led to a patrol car.
Franklin allegedly told investigators that he wanted to kill Muslims
and
had tried unsuccessfully to join the military, adding that he could
have
blown up the mosque by putting propane tanks in the truck...
Meanwhile, Islamic leaders are convinced there was only one motivation
behind the attack: hate.
"(His) statements are a clear indication that he came out of hate,"
Mohammed said. "He's carrying this hatred in his mind and his heart."
And in Washington, the Council on American-Islamic Relations issued a
statement Tuesday blaming Franklin's attack on "the current barrage of
anti-Muslim rhetoric by right-wing commentators who paint Islam as a
violent faith bent on world domination..."
-----
EDITORIAL: FREE ANSAR MAHMOOD
The Washington Post, 3/27/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22838-2002Mar26.html
MOST OF THE 1,200 immigrants picked up and detained by the federal
government after Sept. 11 have been cleared of any connection to the
terrorists, or to any terrorists. But most, according to a Sunday
article
by Post staff writer Hanna Rosin, are being deported anyhow. In the
course
of police inquiries, almost all of the detainees were found to have
violated some law or regulation, sufficient grounds for them to be
kicked
out and never permitted to return.
The first reaction to this news may be: So what? They should have known
better than to break a rule -- to overstay a visa, or help a friend
without
a green card find a job, or commit some other infraction. But the story
of
a Pakistani man, Ansar Mahmood, may have caused some readers, as it did
us,
to think twice about the administration's no-excuses policy. Mr.
Mahmood
seems in many ways to have been the ideal immigrant, the classic
American
story. He was here legally. He worked hard, legally, putting in 13 or
14
hours per day as a pizza delivery man. He lived frugally and sent money
home so his sisters could go to school and his sick father could buy
medicine...
Now he faces deportation, with no possibility of return...The
government
should not tolerate lawbreakers. But by rounding up aliens from
majority-Muslim countries and then finding something, anything, to pin
on
them, the government seems to be saying: Terrorist or not, we're better
off
without you. From what we know about him, it doesn't seem to us that
America is better off without Mr. Mahmood.
-----
NEWSPAPERS PUSH FOR ACCESS TO INS CASE
By David Ashenfelter, Detroit Free Press, 3/27/2002
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad27_20020327.htm
DETROIT _ Government lawyers tried to persuade a federal judge Tuesday
that
the public doesn't have a legal right to attend deportation proceedings
for
Ann Arbor Muslim activist Rabih Haddad.
But U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds didn't seem to agree.
"Historically, the press had an absolute right limited only by
overriding
issues of national security to attend judicial proceedings," Edmunds
said
during the 2 -hour hearing on lawsuits filed by the Detroit Free Press
and
other newspapers to open Haddad's proceedings. At issue is a memo that
Michael Creppy, chief U.S. immigration judge, issued Sept. 21 at the
behest
of Attorney General John Ashcroft. It directs all U.S. immigration
judges
to bar family, the public and the news media from immigration hearings
resulting from the terrorism probe.
Haddad, who was born in Lebanon and lives in Ann Arbor, Mich., was
arrested
at his home Dec. 14, the same day federal agents raided the foundation
he
cofounded in suburban Chicago. The government says the Global Relief
Foundation finances terrorism, which Haddad's supporters deny.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service arrested Haddad for
overstaying
his visa and is trying to deport him. It also is trying to remove his
wife,
Salma al-Rushaid, for overstaying her visa, and three of their four
children. He is being held in Chicago. She and her children are free
pending a deportation hearing April 10...
The newspapers argued Tuesday that the public has a constitutional
right to
attend court hearings, unless someone can show that there is a higher
public interest in closing the proceeding...
"I've rarely heard a judge express her opinions so clearly during
questioning," said Michigan ACLU Executive Director Kary Moss, who
attended
the hearing. "She was very up front when she thought the government was
wrong in its position, which seemed to be most of the time."
-----
MARCH 30 - NATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS TO "END THE OCCUPATION"
Major demonstrations are planned across the nation in support of
Palestinian rights on Palestinian Land Day, Saturday, March 30.
Demonstrations are scheduled to be held in Washington, DC, Los Angeles,
CA,
and Atlanta, GA. Please join us in demanding that the Bush
Administration
be actively engaged in the full implementation of International Law and
UN
Resolutions calling for self-determination for the Palestinian people
and
for an end to the Israeli Occupation.
WASHINGTON, DC
What: Demonstration & Rally
Where: Freedom Plaza (13th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., NW)
When: 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
LOS ANGELES, CA
What: Demonstration & Rally
Where: In front of the Federal Building at Westwood, which is at
Wilshire
Blvd. and Veteran St.
When: 12 p.m.
SEE: http://www.cair-california.org/announce/palestinerally.htm
ATLANTA, GA
What: Demonstration & March
Where: Starting at Piedmont Park- Ending in front of the Israeli
Consulate. Gather at the "Free Nelson Mandela" monument in Piedmont
Park -
right beyond the gate entrance at 10th Street & Charles Allen Dr.
When: 2:00-4:00 p.m.
For more information about the Land Day Demonstrations, please contact
the
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee at:(202) 244-2990 or by
e-mail
to: organizing@adc.org
Cosponsors:
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
American Friends Service Committee (AFSC)
American Committee on Jerusalem (ACJ)
American Muslim Council (AMC)
Al-Hewar Center
Council for the National Interest (CNI)
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
El-Bireh Society
Fellowship of Reconciliation/DC Chapter (FOR-DC)
Partners for Peace
Project South: Institute for the Elimination of Poverty & Genocide
Solidarity USA
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC)
Christian Peacemakers Teams (CPT)
American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ)
Al-Awda-DC
Jews Against Occupation (JAC)
Nonviolence International
The Young Arab Leadership Alliance (YALA) - Georgetown University
Peace Action
Arab Students Association at American University
Washington Peace Center (WPC)
Middle East Peace Committee/Washington Episcopal Diocese
Pax Christi USA
Union of Arab Students Associations (UASA)
American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ)
Black Voices for Peace
Muslim American Society (MAS)
Palestinian-American Women's Association (PAWA)
The International Action Center (IAC)
International Socialist Organization (ISO)
Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP)
Solidarity International for Human Rights (SIHR)
Birzeit Society
Palestine Aid Society (PAS)
Coalition For Peace in the Middle East (CPME)
Unitarian Universalist for Justice in the Middle East (UUJME),
-----
A REPLY TO DANIEL PIPES
By HUSSEIN IBISH, The New York Post, 3/27/2002
http://www.nypost.com/postopinion/opedcolumnists/44527.htm
IN a heated exchange on MSNBC's Alan Keyes show recently, Daniel Pipes
was
so badly beaten on the merits of the argument that he was reduced to
shouting at me to "shut up." Having failed to convince me to silence my
advocacy on behalf of the Arab-American community voluntarily, Pipes
now
seeks to have me banned from the TV shows where I have repeatedly
carried
the day. In the pages of the New York Post he urges the media to "close
their doors" to me ("U.S. Arabs' Firebrand," Opinion, March 25)...
Almost all his "evidence" that I should not be allowed to defeat him in
television debates any more is quotes ripped out of their context and
misrepresented, mainly from articles I wrote as a university student
many
years ago. It is truly touching to think of poor old Dan poring over
musty
issues of the Massachusetts Daily Collegian in a futile search for
means to
discredit me.
This is not the first time that Pipes, who is a veritable geyser of
falsehoods, has resorted to such fabrications. In August 2000, he
labeled
me a "fundamentalist Muslim," whose goal is "the Islamization of
America."
This nonsense fell completely flat, and has occasionally come back to
haunt
him, since I was then and remain an ardent secularist. It has now given
way
to equally absurd claims that I promote "a set of far left-wing views."
So, in Pipes' mind, I've suddenly gone, in the space of less than two
years, from being a far right-wing fundamentalist to an extreme
leftist.
SEE PIPES' ORIGINAL ARTICLE: U.S. ARABS' FIREBRAND
http://www.nypost.com/seven/03252002/postopinion/opedcolumnists/44303.htm
-----
SUPPORT AFGHAN QUAKE VICTIMS
PRESS RELEASE - For Immediate Release
CONTACTS:
Phone: 248-424-7493
Susan Afr: Media Director -Ext. 25
Mariam Ahmad - Ext. 22
LIFE FOR RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT APPEALS FOR AID TO AFGHANISTAN
EARTHQUAKE
VICTIMS
Life for Relief and Development is requesting donations to assist in
the
aftermath of the earthquake on March 25 that killed an estimated 5,000
people and destroyed over 30,000 homes.
Life is opening a field office in Kabul, Afghanistan. Development
Director
Vicki Robb who is at the border of Afghanistan stated, "Internally
displaced persons are living in tent camps. So many more will be
displaced
now because of the earthquake. The needs are great because many people
have
had all their personal belongings destroyed."
Life has recently sent five 40-feet containers to Afghanistan in
cooperation with other agencies. The aid includes requested medical
supplies for the Women's hospital in Kabul as well as coats, blankets,
and
medical books. In October 2001 Life opened an office in Peshawar,
Pakistan
to aid the Afghan Refugees.
Life for Relief and Development is a nonprofit United Nations
affiliated
Organization dedicated to alleviating human suffering regardless of
race,
color, religion, or cultural background.
Donations to assist the Afghan victims are greatly appreciated. Credit
Card
donations can be made online at www.lifeusa.org. Checks should be made
out
to Life for Relief & Development and sent to:
Life for Relief and Development
17300 W. 10 Mile Road
Southfield, MI. 48075
1-800-827-3543
life@lifeusa.org
www.lifeusa.org
-----
SUPPORT THE MUSLIMS OF INDIA
Learn about the thousands who have been killed and injured by hate
mongers
in Gujarat, India.
WHEN: April 7, 2:30 p.m.
WHERE: Momin Lodge, 1918 Artesia Blvd, Torrance, CA
One block West of Western Avenue.
For more information, contact:
Ismail Ghosla (714) 692-0577
Fakhruddin Kadri (213) 388-8790
Dr. Aslam Abdullah (909) 822-2805
-----
MUSLIMS ASKED TO BECOME FOSTER PARENTS
"HOW TO BECOME A FOSTER PARENT" WORKSHOP
First Workshop:
Date: Saturday March 30th, 2002
Time: 10 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
Place: Islamic Society of Orange County, 952 W. 13th Street
(Cross Streets: Off of Brookhurst, Between Hazard and Westminster)
Garden Grove, CA 92844 Tel: (714) 531-1722
Second Workshop:
Date: Sunday March 31, 2002
Time: 10:00 A.M. to 1:00 P.M.
Place: Islamic Center of Grenada Hills, 11439 Encino Ave.
(Cross Streets: Between White Oak & Balboa & Rinaldi)
Grenada Hills, CA 91344 Tel: (818) 772-0906
Over the years Niswa (An Islamic Family Outreach Organization) has made
a
continuous effort to recruit Muslim foster parents by providing them
with
relevant information, encouragement and support to get certified.
Niswa Association
P.O. Box 1403 Lomita, CA 90717
CONTACT: CAIR_SCA@cair-california.org
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/28/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH/VERSE OF THE DAY: ALL PROPHETS ARE BROTHERS
* CAIR'S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IS SOLD OUT
* MUSLIMS CONDEMN AJC ATTEMPT AT POLITICAL EXCLUSION
* CAIR CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS
* AFTER RAIDS, MUSLIMS SPEAK OUT FOR RIGHTS (Washington Post)
- MUSLIMS PROTEST NORTHERN VA. RAIDS (Reston Times)
* FBI ARRESTS MAN WHO DROVE INTO MOSQUE (Tallahassee Democrat)
* COURT RULES DETAINEES' IDS MUST BE RELEASED (Star-Ledger)
* MUSLIMS: INCIDENTS OF BIAS GO UNREPORTED IN FLORIDA (Sun-Sentinel)
* CLARKSTON REJECTED STEREOTYPES, WINNER SAYS (Atlanta Journal)
* A GOLDEN REIGN OF TOLERANCE (New York Times)
* FLAWS IN AL-ARIAN SUIT RAISE DOUBTS (St. Petersburg Times)
-----
HADITH/VERSE OF THE DAY: ALL PROPHETS ARE BROTHERS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Both in this world and
in
the Hereafter, I am the nearest of all people to Jesus, the son of
Mary.
The prophets are paternal brothers; their mothers are different, but
their
religion is one."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Hadith 652
"Say ye: 'We believe in God and that which is revealed to us; and what
was
revealed to Ibrahim (Abraham), Isma'il (Ishmael), Ishaq (Isaac),
Ya'qoob
(Jacob) and their descendants, and that which was given to Musa
(Moses),
Isa (Jesus) and other Prophets from their Lord. We make no distinction
between any of them, and it is unto Him that we surrender ourselves.'"
The Holy Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 136
-----
CAIR'S LEADERSHIP CONFERENCE IS SOLD OUT
Space for CAIR's annual leadership conference on March 30 is now sold
out.
Any questions about conference registration should be directed to:
register@cair-net.org
-----
MUSLIMS CONDEMN AJC ATTEMPT AT POLITICAL EXCLUSION
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/28/2002) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, today condemned the
latest attempt by the American Jewish Committee (AJC) to marginalize
the
American Muslim community.
According to the Washington Post, AJC officials have demanded that
President Bush and Rep. James P. Moran Jr. (D-Va.) return political
contributions from individuals who were targeted by recent raids on
Muslim
businesses and homes in Virginia and Georgia. No arrests were made in
those
raids.
SEE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28721-2002Mar27.html
According to the Post, White House spokeswoman Claire Buchan said the
president has not returned the contribution as demanded by the AJC.
"This
is an ongoing investigation. There have been search warrants that have
been
issued, but there have not been any charges made," said Buchan.
Moran said he would not return the contribution because he knows of no
illegal activity by the donors. "In our system of justice, you're
innocent
until proven guilty -- not the reverse," said Moran.
"This is yet another example of the American Jewish Committee
capitalizing
on anti-Muslim prejudice and legitimate post-September 11 security
concerns
in a transparent attempt to marginalize and disenfranchise the American
Muslim community. Elected officials should not succumb to
politically-motivated and disingenuous strong-arm tactics by special
interest groups like the AJC," said CAIR Governmental Affairs Director
Jason Erb.
Erb added that the AJC has in the past supported the use of secret
evidence
against Muslims and Arabs, withdrew from an amicus brief to the Supreme
Court because of Muslim involvement and demanded that a Muslim speaker
be
excluded from a public forum designed to promote intercultural
understanding.
AJC Executive Director David A. Harris wrote in the May 28, 2001, issue
of
The Jerusalem Report: "We dare not underestimate the Arab and Muslim
lobbies [in America] or delude ourselves as to their ultimate
objectives.
The stakes are too high. The call for action by American Jewry,
together
with Israel, is clear."
In a report, titled "The Jewish Stake in America's Changing
Demography,"
published on the web site of the Center for Immigration Studies, AJC
Senior
Fellow Dr. Stephen Steinlight falsely portrays Islam as a violent,
intolerant and anti-Semitic faith that is a threat to America. He
wrote:
"...undoubtedly the greatest immediate threat to the well being of the
American Jewish community and its interests stems from large-scale
immigration from the Muslim world.
"At the risk of being labeled the fool who rushes in where angels fear
to
tread, it must also be acknowledged that classic Islam itself, the
traditional faith - and not the hideous political ideologies derived
from
it - is itself not unproblematic in its attitudes towards Jews,
Christians,
and other non-Muslims."
SEE: http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back1301.html#author
-----
CAIR CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON CIVILIANS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/28/2002) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, today condemned a
bomb
attack on a Passover celebration in the Middle East that left 20 people
dead and more than 100 wounded.
In a statement, CAIR said:
"We condemn this attack and all other attacks on innocent civilians.
Illegitimate and counterproductive tactics must not be used in the
legitimate struggle to end Israel's brutal occupation.
"This attack is of particular concern coming as it did during a
religious
observance in which the focus is remembrance of God.
"We ask the international community to similarly condemn actions by the
Israeli armed forces that also target civilians and impose daily
humiliation and suffering on an entire population through blockades,
home
demolitions, assassinations, indiscriminate shooting, torture, land
confiscations and a wide variety of Apartheid-like and oppressive
practices.
"To break this cycle of violence and counter-violence, all parties must
focus on a political solution based on justice and equality, not force
of
arms."
-----
AFTER RAIDS, MUSLIMS SPEAK OUT FOR RIGHTS
By Rosalind S. Helderman, The Washington Post, 3/28/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22966-2002Mar26.html
Area Muslims met Monday night at the Sterling library to hear speakers
call
for a new level of organization to respond to 16 government raids on
Muslim
homes and businesses in Northern Virginia last week, including the
Graduate
School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, which trains Muslim
clerics for the military.
About 150 people attended the standing-room-only meeting, while a
spillover
crowd of about 150 reassembled for a simultaneous meeting at the All
Dulles
Area Muslim Society (ADAMS) center in Sterling. "The reason we are here
today is that we will not allow our civil liberties to be
compromised...This hits the core of our American values," said Manal
Omar,
who helped to organize the event on behalf of ADAMS...
Jemel Buck, director of operations for ADAMS, said the event was a way
for
the local Muslim community, deeply shaken by the raids, to try to heal.
"We are typically a quiet community," he said. "For us to gather and
focus
on protecting our civil rights is enormous. We're willing to stand up
and
say there was wrong in what they did."
ADAMS's headquarters, in a Sterling shopping center, was vandalized in
the
days after Sept. 11. The group's leaders broke ground in Herndon in
November for a new Islamic Center to serve 1,700 families in the area.
SEE ALSO: MUSLIMS PROTEST NORTHERN VA. RAIDS
http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3668707&BRD=1898&PAG=461&dept_id=126522&rfi=6
-----
FBI ARRESTS MAN WHO DROVE INTO MOSQUE
By Tony Bridges, Tallahassee Democrat, 3/28/2002
http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/democrat/news/local/2949088.htm
The FBI has arrested the man who drove his truck into a mosque near the
Florida State University campus earlier this week.
Charles Franklin, 41, is being held in the Leon County Jail and is
expected
to appear in federal court this morning. He has not yet been officially
charged but was arrested based on "probable cause," according to an FBI
spokesman.
"There's a federal interest in this matter...a civil rights interest,"
said
Special Agent Bill Hurlburt, with the FBI's Jacksonville office.
Tallahassee police arrested Franklin late Monday at a West Tennessee
Street
bar where he'd walked to after allegedly ramming his GMC pickup into
the
front of the Islamic Center of Tallahassee. He told investigators he
did it
as a statement to all Muslims that they should leave the country,
according
to his arrest report...
After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks on New York and Washington, he
wrote
in a letter published in the Democrat that "the violence must end, but
American flower power will not soften the hearts of militant Muslims.
Until
all of Abraham's descendants learn to live as brothers in the tiny land
that they all cherish, the hawk will continue to circle and the dove
will
be put to flight."
Hazim Mohammed, president of the mosque, planned to attend today's
hearing
in federal court with others from the Islamic Center.
"We're glad that he is still in custody," Mohammed said late Wednesday.
"They did not just totally release him."
-----
COURT RULES DETAINEES' IDS MUST BE RELEASED
Secret arrests violate 104-year-old state law
BY BRIAN DONOHUE, New Jersey Star-Ledger, 3/27/2002
http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1017223820277344.xml
Striking a blow to the U.S. government's policy of keeping secret the
identities of foreigners swept up in its terrorism investigations, a
Superior Court judge ruled yesterday the names of those held on
immigration
charges in New Jersey must be made public.
Hudson County Assignment Judge Arthur D'Italia ruled the government's
refusal to release the names and other basic information on hundreds of
detainees violates a 104-year- old state law requiring jailers to
publish a
public list of all inmates in their facility...
The counties and federal government have 45 days to file an appeal in
the
case.
-----
MUSLIMS: INCIDENTS OF BIAS GO UNREPORTED IN FLORIDA
By Madeline Baró Diaz, The Sun-Sentinel, 3/27/2002
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/miami/sfl-dmuslim27mar27.story?coll=sfla%2Dnews%2Dmiami
MIAMI · Since Sept. 11, discriminatory incidents against Muslims in
Florida
have gone unreported because of fear, activists told a civil rights
panel
Tuesday.
"Our community is a very shy community and a very quiet community,"
said
Sofian Abdelaziz, director of the American Muslim Association of North
America. "We're not going to have demonstrations. We're not going to
have
riots. We're not going to have all that because we don't believe in
that."
Abdelaziz and other community leaders spoke about post-Sept. 11
discrimination during a meeting of the Florida Advisory Committee to
the
U.S. Commission on Civil Rights. The information gathered at the
meeting,
conducted at the Sheraton Biscayne Bay, will feed a national project on
discrimination against Muslims, said Bobby D. Doctor, regional director
of
the commission.
Community leaders on Tuesday spoke about the treatment of Muslims by
law
enforcement and government agencies. They spoke of Muslims held on
suspicion of terrorism who later were cleared, Muslim women who were
forced
to remove their hijab, or head covering, in public although it is
against
their religion, and racial profiling by law enforcement agencies of
Muslims, Arabs and those thought to be Muslim or Arab.
Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, said Muslims have been discriminated
against
simply because of how they look. He described bumper stickers he's seen
that advocated killing Muslims or kicking them out of the United
States.
A message of nondiscrimination toward Muslims would have to come from
the
highest levels of government, he said...
-----
CLARKSTON REJECTED STEREOTYPES, WINNER SAYS
By SHANDRA HILL, The Atlanta Journal, 3/28/2002
Six months after Sept. 11, Clarkston voters ignored ethnic stereotypes
and
elected an American Muslim of African and Middle Eastern ancestry to
fill a
seat on the Clarkston City Council.
Abdul Akbar won 66 percent of the votes cast for an at-large seat on
the
six-member council during a special election last week.
Akbar, who has no political background, originally had run for one of
three
vacant council seats in November. He lost by two votes. "The one thing
I
found with the people of Clarkston is they are very open to see who you
are," Akbar said. "They welcomed me with open arms. They wanted to know
me,
not as Abdul Akbar.
"They wanted to know me as what type of person are you, what can you do
to
improve our community, how can you help with government services, how
can
you address the issues of taxes?
"They wanted to know about the issues that address their everyday life,
and
that's how I spoke to them..."
"I want to be remembered as the regular person who connects with
everyone,
who will make sure that their trash gets picked up, the potholes get
filled," he said. "I want to be one of the regular people who solve
problems."
-----
A GOLDEN REIGN OF TOLERANCE
By Maria Rosa Menocal, The New York Times, 3/28/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/03/28/opinion/28MENO.html
Maria Rosa Menocal is director of the Whitney Humanities Center at Yale
and
author of "The Ornament of the World: How Muslims, Jews and Christians
Created a Culture of Tolerance in Medieval Spain."
The lessons of history, like the lessons of religion, sometimes neglect
examples of tolerance. A thousand years ago on the Iberian Peninsula,
an
enlightened vision of Islam had created the most advanced culture in
Europe. A nun in Saxony learned of this kingdom from a bishop, the
caliph's
ambassador to Germany and one of several prominent members of his
diplomatic corps who were not Muslims; the bishop most likely reported
to
the man who ran the foreign ministry, who was a Jew.
Al Andalus, as the Muslims called their Spanish homeland, prospered in
a
culture of openness and assimilation...
-----
FLAWS IN AL-ARIAN SUIT RAISE DOUBTS
By GRAHAM BRINK, St. Petersburg Times, 3/28/2002
http://www.sptimes.com/2002/03/28/TampaBay/Flaws_in_Al_Arian_sui.shtml
TAMPA - John Loftus made a big splash last week when he filed a lawsuit
against Sami Al-Arian, accusing the suspended University of South
Florida
professor of using charities to solicit and launder money, then funnel
it
to terrorist groups in Syria.
Loftus said he made the accusations public to pressure the government
into
taking action against Al-Arian and the Saudi organizations "that helped
fund terrorism." But he also thinks he will be able to bring enough
evidence and witnesses to win the case. But will the suit hold up in
court?
Does the former federal prosecutor turned Nazi hunter have legal
standing
to file it? Or is it just a "publicity stunt," as Al-Arian called it
while
vehemently denying the allegations?
The lawsuit has flaws, including factual mistakes and misspellings. It
also
relies heavily on confidential sources that Loftus said he developed
during
25 years as an intelligence community insider and observer.
Tampa attorney Bill Jung said he does not envy the judge who has to
sort
through the 23-page suit.
"It starts out strong but then turns into a bad Ludlum novel," Jung
said...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/29/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: PATIENCE IN ADVERSITY
* INFORMATION ON VA RAIDS MAY HAVE BEEN LEAKED
* U.S. MUSLIMS LEARN TECHNIQUES OF ACTIVISM AT VA CONFERENCE
* REMINDER - MARCH 30 RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINE
* 20/20 REPORTS ON SAUDI ARABIA (ABC)
* CHURCH FLEXTIME: SELLING OUT OR SAVING WORLD? (Christian Science
Monitor)
* ISLAMIC GROUPS WILL INVITE THE PUBLIC (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
* IRANIAN-AMERICAN FUND-RAISER AT HEART OF STATE POLITICAL SQUABBLE
(Gannett News Service)
- MUSLIMS CONDEMN ACJ ATTEMPT AT POLITICAL EXCLUSION
* ANTI-IMMIGRANT MOVEMENT IN EUROPE REFLECTS POST-SEPT. 11 VIEWS ON
MUSLIMS
(Washington Post)
* THE PROPHET WOULD BE APPALLED (Globe and Mail)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: PATIENCE IN ADVERSITY
"Do you think that you shall enter the Paradise without such (trials)
as
came to those who passed away before you? They encountered suffering
and
adversity and were so shaken in spirit that even the Apostle and those
of
faith who were with him cried: "When (will come) the help of God?" Ah!
verily the help of God is (always) near!
The Holy Quran, Chapter 2, Verse 214
-----
INFORMATION ON VA RAIDS MAY HAVE BEEN LEAKED
A delegation of Islamic leaders and those targeted by recent raids on
Muslim homes and businesses in Virginia met yesterday with Rep. Frank
Wolf
(R-VA). Meeting participants included Dean Boyd, public affairs
specialist
with the Department of the Treasury and Nicole Nason, assistant
commissioner the U.S. Customs Service. The meeting was organized by the
Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
Following the meeting, MPAC issued a statement that read in part:
"...sealed information that told of the upcoming raid on American
Muslim
businesses and individuals may have been leaked to John J. Loftus,
former
prosecutor in the Justice Department's Nazi War Crimes Unit.
"Mr. Loftus contacted members of the media and told them of the
upcoming
raids before they occurred to assure that they would be covered by the
media...
"Boyd publicly confirmed MPAC's suspicion that John Loftus leaked the
story
of the raids on American Muslim organizations and individuals to the
media..."
Also present at the meeting were representatives from the American
Muslim
Council and the Council for American-Islamic Relations.
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - 3/29/2002
-- MEDIA ADVISORY --
U.S. MUSLIMS LEARN TECHNIQUES OF ACTIVISM AT VA CONFERENCE
Recent events highlight need for grassroots political mobilization
WHAT: On Saturday, March 30, the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR) will hold its annual leadership conference at the Sheraton
Premiere
hotel in Vienna, Virginia. The sold-out conference, Muslims in America:
Moving Forward with Faith, offers intensive workshops and lectures on
media
relations, civil rights advocacy, coalition-building and political
empowerment. Conference attendees include Muslim community leaders and
activists from across the United States.
Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) will offer a luncheon keynote
address focusing on Muslim civil liberties in light of recent
government
actions such as the raids on homes and businesses in northern Virginia.
CAIR will also announce a major legal initiative at the luncheon.
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in America.
SEE: CAIR's "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait" at
http://www.cair-net.org/mosquereport.
WHEN: Saturday, March 30, 9 a.m. - 9 p.m. (Journalists are invited to
attend the luncheon. Conference workshops are limited to paid
attendees.)
Luncheon - 1:30 p.m.
Dinner Banquet - 7 p.m.
WHERE: Sheraton Premiere, 8661 Leesburg Pike, Vienna, VA
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
REMINDER - MARCH 30 RALLIES IN SUPPORT OF PALESTINE
Major demonstrations are planned across the nation in support of
Palestinian rights on Palestinian Land Day, Saturday, March 30.
Demonstrations are scheduled to be held in Washington, DC, Los Angeles,
CA,
and Atlanta, GA. Please join us in demanding that the Bush
Administration
be actively engaged in the full implementation of International Law and
UN
Resolutions calling for self-determination for the Palestinian people
and
for an end to the Israeli Occupation.
WASHINGTON, DC
What: Demonstration & Rally
Where: Freedom Plaza (13th Street and Pennsylvania Ave., NW)
When: 1:00 - 4:00 p.m.
LOS ANGELES, CA
What: Demonstration & Rally
Where: In front of the Federal Building at Westwood, which is at
Wilshire
Blvd. and Veteran St.
When: 12 p.m.
SEE: http://www.cair-california.org/announce/palestinerally.htm
ATLANTA, GA
What: Demonstration & March
Where: Starting at Piedmont Park- Ending in front of the Israeli
Consulate. Gather at the "Free Nelson Mandela" monument in Piedmont
Park -
right beyond the gate entrance at 10th Street & Charles Allen Dr.
When: 2:00-4:00 p.m.
-----
20/20 REPORTS ON SAUDI ARABIA
http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/2020/
Friday, March 29, 10 p.m. (ET)
One-hour special: Barbara Walters reports from Saudi Arabia, the
spiritual
center of Islam and the home country of 15 of the Sept. 11 hijackers,
where
she also interviews Abdullah bin Laden, Osama's brother.
Watch the program and then send comments to:
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/2020/2020/2020friday_email_form.html
-----
CHURCH FLEXTIME: SELLING OUT OR SAVING WORLD?
By G. Jeffrey MacDonald, The Christian Science Monitor, 3/29/2002
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0329/p01s04-ussc.html
Across the country, churches are bending schedules to make encounters
with
the holy more practical, even if the new timing reflects a society's
collective downtime rather than a liturgical calendar. With the shift,
especially evident as Holy Week ushers in Easter, purists lament the
loss
of religious tradition while pragmatists applaud the popularity of
flexible
worship times.
At the core looms a perennial but primal question: Are churches
transforming timetables to fit the world? Or are they transforming the
world by bringing more people into churches through better
timetables?...
In Islam, the dilemma doesn't exist, because sacred time can't be
compromised. Community worship is required once a week between noon and
2
p.m. on Friday, and work is no excuse to miss. "People say [to
employers],
'I'll come in early or stay late, but this is something I have to do,'
"
says Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"Somebody
might be weak and make an argument why they can't, but the religion
wouldn't allow for it."
-----
ISLAMIC GROUPS WILL INVITE THE PUBLIC
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 3/28/2002
The Islamic Foundation of Greater Saint Louis and the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, St. Louis Chapter, are holding a joint open
house Saturday at 517 Weidman Road in Manchester, near Queeny Park.
People
of all faiths are invited, and participants may ask questions about
Islam
and American Muslims.
A 90-minute program of lectures, videos and tours will begin at 9 a.m.,
noon and 3 p.m.
-----
IRANIAN-AMERICAN FUND-RAISER AT HEART OF STATE POLITICAL SQUABBLE
By CARL WEISER, Gannett News Service, 3/27/2002
WASHINGTON -- Sen. Joseph Biden's acceptance of campaign donations
raised
by an Iranian-American dentist has prompted the head of his state's
Republican Party to accuse him of supporting a country identified by
President Bush as part of the "axis of evil."
But Biden says the fund-raiser has no ties to terrorism, and another
Iranian-American group accused the Delaware GOP of Muslim-bashing.
Sadegh
Namazikhah, a Los Angeles dentist, hosted a February event for Biden
that
raised an estimated $ 24,000 to $ 30,000.
State Republican Party Chairman Everett Moore on Tuesday demanded that
Biden return the money. He said Namazikhah was a "lobbyist" for Iran,
which
along with Iraq and North Korea forms Bush's "axis of evil..."
At a Tuesday night Democratic Party fund-raiser in Dover, Biden said
the
Iranian Muslim Association of North America that Namazikhah belongs to
does
not support terrorism or religious extremism...
Namazikhah was, until recently, chairman of the Endodontics Department
at
the University of Southern California...
The Web site for the Iranian Muslim Association of North America says
it is
"dedicated to bring the Iranian Muslim community closer together while
teaching people of all races and religion about Islam and the Iranian
Culture..."
"Dr. Namazikhah is an independent person with no relations to the
Iranian
government or fundamentalist Muslim group," said Hooshang Amirahmadim,
a
Rutgers University professor and founder of the AIC.
"The charge is simply Muslim-bashing and I would add Iran-bashing; it
is
certainly a Biden-bashing attempt as well," he said...
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations,
said such political accusations were increasingly common and "pretty
pathetic."
"You find out if any Muslim has donated to your opponent and then you
say
those Muslims are tied to terrorism," he said. "It's just standard
procedure in any political contest..."
The chairman of the American Iranian Council, Robert Pelletreau -- a
former
ambassador in both the Reagan and first Bush administrations -- said he
knew of no evidence that Namazikhah worked for the Iranian government.
Nor, he said, is there anything sinister about urging exchanges between
Iran's parliament and the U.S. Congress, as Biden did in a March 13
speech
to the AIC...
For background, see: MUSLIMS CONDEMN ACJ ATTEMPT AT POLITICAL EXCLUSION
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=694&articletype=1
-----
ANTI-IMMIGRANT MOVEMENT IN EUROPE REFLECTS POST-SEPT. 11 VIEWS ON
MUSLIMS
Peter Finn, The Washington Post, 3/29/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33967-2002Mar28.html
A wave of anti-Muslim sentiment has bolstered far-right parties in some
European countries since Sept. 11 and left the continent's large
communities of foreigners wondering how long their welcome will last.
The changing mood has found its fullest political expression here in
Denmark, where an anti-immigrant party won 12 percent of the vote in
parliamentary elections in November, nearly doubling its showing from
the
previous election. Its campaign posters featured a picture of a young
blond
girl and the slogan: "When she retires, Denmark will have a Muslim
majority."
-----
THE PROPHET WOULD BE APPALLED
By SHEEMA KHAN, The Globe and Mail, 3/29/2002
http://globeandmail.com/ Search using the term "Sheema Khan."
Sheema Khan is chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations,
Canada.
A memorial service was held for journalist Daniel Pearl this past
Sunday in
Ottawa. It provided an excellent opportunity to pay respect, offer
sympathy
and stand in solidarity against xenophobia. It is clear that hate does
not
strengthen an individual's identity. On the contrary, it destroys the
humanity within.
The brutal manner in which Mr. Pearl was killed is horrific enough. Yet
it
was even more repulsive to know that Mr. Pearl was kidnapped, murdered
and
mutilated simply because he was a Jew. As a Muslim who has been
involved in
fighting discrimination and hate directed at Muslims over the past few
years, I thought I knew how destructive hate could be. But Mr. Pearl's
murder brought home a chilling reality.
That "Muslims," ostensibly "fighting" for the liberation of their
oppressed
brethren, seeking to "embarrass" Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf,
would engage in such a barbaric act, and murder a man simply because he
was
a Jew, is an affront to Muslims everywhere, and is completely rejected
by
the very foundations of Islam. As for this week's bombing in Israel --
the
murder of people who were engaged in worship, be it for Sunday service
or
Passover, is vile, and condemned in Islam. Muslims must denounce it in
the
strongest of terms...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #326
AMERICA MUST ACT TO STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION
The media need to hear from you on the issue of Palestine
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/29/2002) - As Israeli forces rampage throughout
Palestine and American media outlets offer only the Israeli viewpoint
on
the crisis, our elected officials remain silent. CAIR is calling on
members
of the Muslim community to take positive steps in defense of the
Palestinian people and in support of America's real interests in the
region. Take two minutes to make your voice heard on this important
issue.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:
1) CONTACT President Bush to let him know that Palestinian Muslims and
Christians have the right to freedom and justice. Ask that he make a
public
statement calling for an end to Israeli aggression. Also ask that he
meet
with American Muslim leaders to discuss the crisis and America's
inaction.
CONTACT:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
TEL: 202-456-1414, Press 1
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov, secretary@state.gov,
cair@cair-net.org
2) CONTACT your elected representatives to make the same point. To
obtain
contact information for your representative, go to:
http://www.house.gov/writerep/, or call 202-224-3121. Have your Zip
Code
ready. For senators, go to:
http://www.senate.gov/senators/senator_by_state.cfm
3) CONTACT local and national media outlets to express the Muslim
perspective on the conflict. Call radio talk show call-in programs
(numbers
are announced on-air), send e-mails to cable news programs, write
letters
to the editor, and respond to one-sided coverage with a call, fax or
e-mail.
ABC News - 212-456-4040
CBS News - 212-975-3691
NBC News - 212-664-4971
CNN - 404-827-1511
Fox News - 212-301-3300
MSNBC - 201-583-5222
PBS - 703-998-2150
NPR - 202-414-2200
NY Times - 212-556-1234
USA Today - 703-276-3400
WS Journal - 212-416-2000
Wash. Post - 202-334-6000
Time - 212-522-1212
U.S. News - 202-955-2000
AP 212-621-1600
MSNBC - 201-583-5000
CNBC - 201-585-2622
TALKING POINTS:
* America's true interests are served by standing up for freedom and
justice, not by blindly following the dictates of a foreign government
and
its domestic lobby. American officials must stop parroting the Israeli
line
and step in as honest brokers.
* Palestinians will not stop resisting the Israeli occupation until
they
feel there is a just political solution in sight.
* Israel's incessant attacks on civilian areas causes severe trauma in
the
entire civilian population.
* Israeli attacks are a form of collective punishment, not strikes on
perpetrators of crimes. Israel does not just attack forces that are
attacking them, but take revenge against the whole population with home
demolitions, destruction of agricultural land, curfews, and attacks on
civilian infrastructure like media outlets, electrical plants, schools,
and
police stations.
* Israel is using US-supplied weapons of war, with tacit approval,
against
civilian targets in violation of U.S. and international law. American
weapons are supplied on the premise that they will be used only in
self-defense, not in revenge attacks or to enforce an illegal military
occupation.
* This conflict pits one of the world's strongest armies against
unarmed
civilian population.
* Israeli actions could lead to a wider war in the region.
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE AT FRIDAY PRAYERS -
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/31/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: VISITING THE SICK
* PIPES SAYS ENFRANCHISEMENT OF U.S. MUSLIMS THREATENS JEWS
- Muslims condemn ACJ attempt at political exclusion
- Who is Daniel Pipes?
* KILLINGS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT ISRAELI TACTICS (Washington Post)
- Israeli killings: Troops stormed Arafat's men's base - and
Palestinians
believe that what followed was an execution (The Observer)
* THE ISRAEL LOBBY (Prospect)
* INTRACTABLE FOES, WARRING NARRATIVES (MSNBC)
* EDITORIAL: A WAR ON ISLAM? (Washington Post)
* HATE CRIME CHARGED IN MOSQUE ATTACK (Miami Herald/AP)
* EDITORIAL: MUSLIM, BUT AMERICAN TOO (Washington Post)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: VISITING THE SICK
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: “One who visits the sick
dives
headlong into mercy.”
Imam Bukhari’s Book of Muslim Morals and manners, Hadith 522
-----
PIPES SAYS ENFRANCHISEMENT OF U.S. MUSLIMS THREATENS JEWS
“I worry very much from the Jewish point of view that the presence, and
increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American
Muslims…will
present true dangers to American Jews.”
Daniel Pipes speaking before the convention of the American Jewish
Congress,
10/21/2001
FOR BACKGROUND, SEE:
Muslims condemn ACJ attempt at political exclusion
http://cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=694&articletype=1
Who is Daniel Pipes?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
-----
KILLINGS RAISE QUESTIONS ABOUT ISRAELI TACTICS
By Daniel Williams, The Washington Post, 3/31/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A41139-2002Mar30.html
Something nasty happened on the fourth floor of the British Council
building on
a hilltop in downtown Ramallah. The bodies of five Palestinian police
officers
lay on their backs and sides. They had been shot in the head or neck,
yet most
of the blood on the wall near them was splattered no more than two or
three
feet
high, according to a reporter who saw the scene…
Maher Shalabi, Abu Dhabi television's bureau chief in Ramallah, waited
in his
office on the sixth floor until dawn today while the building shook
from the
blasts of stun and anti-personnel grenades and the sharp staccato of
rifle and
machine-gun fire. Shalabi said an Israeli soldier searching the
television
offices told him, "We killed five police." This morning, Shalabi
discovered
the
bodies on the fourth floor.
Shalabi said the five men had been hiding and were executed or shot
when
Israeli
soldiers rounded the corner into the hall. There were no signs that the
Palestinians had fired from their last position…
SEE ALSO:
Israeli killings: Troops stormed Arafat's men's base - and Palestinians
believe
that what followed was an execution
By Peter Beaumont, The Observer, 3/31/2002
http://www.observer.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,676830,00.html
-----
THE ISRAEL LOBBY
By Michael Lind, Prospect, April 2002
America's unconditional support for Israel runs counter to the
interests of
the
US and its allies. We need an open, unprejudiced debate about it
http://www.prospectmagazine.co.uk/ArticleView.asp?accessible=yes&P_Article=10335
It is not in the news stories, but in the opinion pages and the
journals of
opinion-which ought to provide the missing context-that propaganda for
Israel
has free reign. There are several widely-syndicated columnists and
television
pundits who are apologists for the Israeli right, like Safire, Cal
Thomas,
George Will and Charles Krauthammer. Others like Anthony Lewis, Flora
Lewis
and
Thomas Friedman do criticise right-wing Israeli governments, but
anything more
than the mildest criticism of Israel is taboo in the mainstream media.
The taboo against anti-Arab bigotry, however, is weak. One of the
saddest
consequences of Israel's colonialism has been the moral coarsening of
elements
of the Jewish-American community. I grew up admiring Jewish civil
rights
activists for their sometimes heroic role in the fight to dismantle
segregation
in the US. But today I frequently hear Jewish acquaintances discuss
Arabs in
general, and Palestinians in particular, in terms as racist as those
once used
by southerners in public when discussing blacks…
-----
INTRACTABLE FOES, WARRING NARRATIVES
While much of the world sees Mideast conflict through Palestinian eyes,
in
America, Israel’s view prevails
By Eric Alterman, MSNBC.com, 3/28/2002
http://www.msnbc.com/news/730905.asp?cp1=1#BODY
In most of the world, it is the Palestinian narrative of a dispossessed
people
that dominates. In the United States, however, the narrative that
dominates is
Israel’s: a democracy under constant siege. Europeans and other
Palestinian
partisans point to the fact that the Israel lobby in America is one of
the
strongest anywhere, and Jewish individuals and organizations give
millions of
dollars to political candidates in order to reward pro-Israel policies
and
punish those who support the Palestinians. Another reason, however, is
the
near-
complete domination by pro-Israel partisans of the punditocracy
discourse.
Some Jewish groups in America like to harass news organizations like
The
Washington Post or National Public Radio for what they believe to be
coverage
insufficiently sympathetic to Israel’s plight. But even Ariel Sharon
and
Benjamin Netanyahu would not be able to complain about the level of
support
their actions typically receive from the members of the punditocracy.
For reasons of religion, politics, history and genuine conviction the
punditocracy debate of the Middle East in America is dominated by
people who
cannot imagine criticizing Israel. The value of this legion to the
Jewish
state
is, for better or worse, literally incalculable, particularly when push
as it
inevitably does in the Middle East comes to shove. Here’s a list I
made in
trying to measure the immeasurable.
COLUMNISTS AND COMMENTATORS WHO CAN BE COUNTED UPON TO SUPPORT ISRAEL
REFLEXIVELY AND WITHOUT QUALIFICATION:
George Will, The Washington Post, Newsweek and ABC News
William Safire, The New York Times
A.M. Rosenthal, The New York Daily News, formerly Executive Editor of
and
later
columnist for, The New York Times,
Charles Krauthammer, The Washington Post, PBS, Time, and The Weekly
Standard,
formerly of the New Republic.
Michael Kelly, The Washington Post, The Atlantic Monthly, National
Journal,
and
MSNBC.com, formerly of The New Republic and The New Yorker.
Lally Weymouth, The Washington Post and Newsweek
Martin Peretz, The New Republic,
Daniel Pipes, The New York Post
Andrea Peyser, The New York Post
Dick Morris, The New York Post
Lawrence Kaplan, The New Republic
William Bennett, CNN
William Kristol, The Washington Post, the Weekly Standard, Fox News,
formerly of
ABC News
Robert Kagan, The Washington Post and The Weekly Standard,
Mortimer Zuckerman, US News and World Report (Zuckerman is also
Chairman of
Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations).
David Gelertner, The Weekly Standard
John Podhoretz, The New York Post and The Weekly Standard
Mona Charen, The Washington Times
Morton Kondracke, Roll Call, Fox News formerly of The McLaughlin Group,
The
New
Republic and PBS
Fred Barnes, The Weekly Standard, Fox News, formerly of The New
Republic, The
McLaughlin Group, and The Baltimore Sun
Sid Zion, The New York Post, The New York Daily News,
Yossi Klein Halevi The New Republic,
Sidney Zion, The New York Post, formerly of The New York Daily News
Norman Podhoretz, Commentary,
Jonah Goldberg, National Review and CNN
Laura Ingraham, CNN, formerly of MSNBC and CBS News
Jeff Jacoby, The Boston Globe
Rich Lowry, National Review
Andrew Sullivan, The New Republic
Seth Lipsky, The Wall Street Journal and The New York Sun, formerly of
the
Jewish Forward
Irving Kristol, The Public Interest, The National Interest and The Wall
Street
Journal Editorial Page
Chris Matthews, MSNBC
Allan Keyes, MSNBC, WorldNetDaily.com
Brit Hume, Fox News
John Leo, US News and World Report
Robert Bartley, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page
John Fund, The Wall Street Journal OpinionJournal, formerly of The Wall
Street
Journal Editorial Page
Peggy Noonan, The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page,
Ben Wattenberg, The Washington Times, PBS
Tony Snow, Washington Times and Fox News
Lawrence Kudlow, National Review and CNBC
Alan Dershowitz, Boston Herald, Washington Times
David Horowitz, Frontpage.com
Jacob Heilbrun, The Los Angeles Times
Thomas Sowell, Washington Times
Frank Gaffney Jr, Washington Times
Emmett Tyrell, American Spectator and New York Sun
Cal Thomas, Washington Times
Oliver North, Washington Times and Fox News, formerly of MSNBC
Michael Ledeen, Jewish World Review
William F. Buckley, National Review
Bill O’Reilly, Fox News
Paul Greenberg, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette,
L. Brent Bozell, Washington Times
Todd Lindberg, Washington Times
Michael Barone, US News and World Report and The McLaughlin Group
Ann Coulter, Human Events,
Linda Chavez, Creators Syndicate
Cathy Young, Reason Magazine
Uri Dan, New York Post
Dr. Laura Schlessinger, morality maven
Rush Limbaugh, radio host
PUBLICATIONS THAT, FOR REASONS OF OWNER OR EDITORSHIP CAN BE COUNTED
UPON TO
SUPPORT ISRAEL REFLEXIVELY AND WITHOUT QUALIFICATION:
The New Republic (Martin Peretz, Michael Steinhardt, Roger Hertog,
Owners)
Commentary (American Jewish Committee, Owner)
US News and World Report (Mortimer Zuckerman, Owner)
The New York Daily News (Mortimer Zuckerman, Owner)
The New York Post (Rupert Murdoch, Owner)
The Weekly Standard (Rupert Murdoch, Owner)
The Wall Street Journal Editorial Page (Peter Kann, Editor)
The Atlantic Monthly (Michael Kelly, Editor)
COLUMNISTS LIKELY TO CRITICIZE BOTH ISRAEL AND THE PALESTINIANS, BUT
VIEW
THEMSELVES TO BE CRITICALLY SUPPORTERS OF ISRAEL, AND ULTIMATELY, WOULD
SUPPORT
ISRAELI SECURITY OVER PALESTINIAN RIGHTS:
Thomas Friedman, The New York Times,
Richard Cohen, The Washington Post and New York Daily News
Avishai Margolit, The New York Review of Books
David Remnick, The New Yorker
Eric Alterman, The Nation and MSNBC.com
The New York Times Editorial Board
The Washington Post Editorial Board
COLUMNISTS LIKELY TO BE REFLEXIVELY ANTI-ISRAEL AND/OR PRO-PALESTINIAN
REGARDLESS OF CIRCUMSTANCE:
Robert Novak, The Washington Post
Pat Buchanan, WorldNetDaily.com, formerly of The Washington Times and
CNN.
Alexander Cockburn, The Nation and New York Press
Christopher Hitchens, The Nation and Vanity Fair
Edward Said, The Nation
HOW FRIENDS CAN BEST HELP
As can be seen from this list of lists, the entire anti-Israel
contingent
of the
punditocracy does not add up to a single George Will or William Safire,
much
less a Wall Street Journal or US News. It remains to be seen whether
unqualified
support for all of Israel’s actions is really in that tortured nation’s
best
interest in the long run. Sometimes the bravest and most valuable
advice a
trusted friend can give is: “STOP.” Someone is going to have to stop
first if
this unending catastrophe is ever to end.
-----
EDITORIAL: A WAR ON ISLAM?
By AMINA CHAUDARY, The Washington Post, 3/30/3002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38342-2002Mar29.html
The March 20 closing of the International Institute of Islamic Thought
in
Herndon by FBI officials leaves a mark of confusion in the lives of
American
Muslims ["Raids Held in Terror Probe," Metro, March 21]. The institute
serves as
a vehicle for intellectual thought in the lives of Muslims throughout
the
world,
and has been running for more than 20 years.
The most progressive Muslims of the community are among the institute's
founders. Those involved represent the diversity of Muslims. The
accusations
directed at the institute are an accusation against thousands of
Muslims in
the
Washington area. Such actions contradict assurances that this war is
not about
Islam.
Any person can walk into the institute's offices and pick up a book on
the
shelf
and realize that the publications inspire true knowledge and critical
thought.
The institute is a Muslim think tank.
The only way to rid the world of terrorists is through intellectual
discourse
and respect for each other's cultures. It is this that the
International
Institute of Islamic Thought makes explicit.
-----
HATE CRIME CHARGED IN MOSQUE ATTACK
The Miami Herald/AP, 3/30/2002
(AP) -- A man who police say drove his pickup truck into a mosque
earlier this
week and yelled anti-Muslim threats has been charged with a federal
hate crime
that could lead to 20 years in prison.
Charles D. Franklin of Tallahassee was charged in federal court here
Thursday
under a statute that prohibits intentional damage of religious property
and
ordered by a magistrate into federal custody. He was also ordered to
have a
mental health examination.
Federal prosecutor Thomas Kirwin said the complaint alleges that
Franklin
drove
his truck into the door of the mosque near the Florida State University
campus
Monday.
“At the time of his arrest, he reportedly shouted slurs against the
Islamic
religion and threats against Muslims,” Kirwin said in a statement
released by
his office…
During a hearing Thursday, prosecutors played a tape during which
Franklin
said
he “wanted to blow the…Muslims up,” during an interview with
Tallahassee
police...
SEE ALSO:
Florida Mosque attack result of anti-Muslim rhetoric
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=692&articletype=3
-----
EDITORIAL: MUSLIM, BUT AMERICAN TOO
By Afeefa Syeed, The Washington Post, 3/31/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38406-2002Mar29.html
Afeefa Syeed is a co-director of the nonprofit Muslim Education
Resource
Council.
What do Muslim schools teach, and what is their mission? The response
offered on
the front page of the Feb. 25 Post was far from representative. We
speak here
for administrators and teachers working every day in the classrooms of
Muslim
schools in this area and across the country.
The mission of Muslim schools is to raise children who can balance
their
Islamic
values with their American identity. Many of us were born and raised in
the
United States, and the curriculum reflects our identity as American
Muslims.
We study the Pilgrims' migration to America in conjunction with the
Prophet
Muhammad and his followers' migration to Medina. Both were searching
for the
freedom to practice their religious beliefs, and both survived only
with
assistance from local inhabitants -- the Native Americans and the
natives of
Medina. Our children learn to respect Clara Barton, Grandma Moses,
Albert
Einstein and Hakeem Olajuwan as exemplary Americans. They study the
story
of the
founder of the Red Cross side by side with the story of the women who
helped the
wounded in battles alongside the Prophet.
We teach our students to acknowledge and be proud of the values upon
which the
United States was founded. We teach civic duty by reminding them that
the
Prophet Muhammad taught us that even a smile is charity. We teach them
that
the
Koran asks us to love one another and compete in good work and action;
harming
one is like harming us all.
Our texts are constantly updated by American Muslim educators. We do
not teach
our students merely to memorize or recount verses in a language that is
not
their own. Our children learn to read the Koran in its poetic Arabic,
but they
also interact with its teachings and put into practice what they
memorize.
They
brainstorm, discuss and question.
Most American Muslim schools are struggling with bake sales,
read-a-thons and
tedious grant writing in order to survive. We choose to be free of
ideological
politicking so we can be true to our faith. We can thereby teach our
children to
love their land and God, and serve both by being the most upstanding
citizens
they can be. We do not teach hatred of anyone -- this would violate our
mission
to bring humanity together.
Muslim schools cannot afford to be isolationist. We encourage our
students to
engage with other schools where students are not of the Muslim faith.
After
the
tragedies of Sept. 11, Muslim schoolteachers and administrators
organized
interfaith dialogues, open houses and prayer services for those we all
had
lost.
By reaching out to the community we were demonstrating to our children
that we
grieved also. Muslim students organized blood drives, raised money and
consoled
those who had been affected by the tragedies.
American Muslim schools don't deserve to be stereotyped. We are a
dynamic and
positive force for change in our society that affects Muslims and
non-Muslims
alike.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
HADITH OF THE DAY:
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) prayed for pardon for his
people
and received the reply: "I have forgiven them all but acts of
oppression,
for I shall exact recompense for the one who is wronged, from his
oppressor."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 818
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
JEWISH GROUPS ASKED TO CONDEMN ISRAELI ATTACKS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/1/2002) A prominent American Muslim advocacy
group is
calling on leaders of major Jewish organizations to condemn the Israeli
government's ongoing attacks on Palestinian civilians in the Occupied
Territories.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) says Jewish groups
often
demand that Muslims condemn violence against civilians, but are silent
when
those they support carry out such attacks.
In a statement, CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Jason Erb said:
"National American Muslim groups have condemned attacks on civilians,
including last week's Passover bombing, the murder of journalist Daniel
Pearl and the recent killings at a Pakistani church. Where are the
voices
of national Jewish organizations in condemning Israel's brutal military
assaults now being carried out against Muslim and Christian Palestinian
civilians?
"Why have these groups never condemned collective punishment of
civilian
populations? Where is the condemnation of torture, assassinations,
summary
executions, assaults on journalists and medical personnel, land
confiscations, dispossessions, destruction of homes and agricultural
land,
blockades of towns and villages, denial of medical services, and the
uncounted daily humiliations suffered by the Palestinians at the hands
of
Israeli occupation forces?
"Unless these groups take a principled and even-handed stand on all
aspects
of terrorism, including state terrorism, they will be viewed as little
more
than propagandists for a foreign government who are complicit in the
same
kind of violence they ask others to repudiate."
To illustrate his point, Erb cited an article in today's Christian
Science
Monitor indicating that many Jewish groups are backing Israel's
hard-line
policies against Palestinian civilians. SEE: "Many American Jews rally
around Sharon" - http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0401/p02s02-ussc.html
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/2/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: KINDNESS TO ANIMALS
* "BETRAYED" BY BUSH (Salon.com)
* DOJ INITIATES DETAINEE CIVIL RIGHTS REVIEW
* U.S. BEGINS CRACKDOWN ON MUSLIMS WHO DEFY ORDERS TO LEAVE COUNTRY (NY
Times)
* CAIR-CALIF TOWN HALL FORUM WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
* REMINDER: AMERICA MUST ACT TO STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION
* PRIEST SAID SHOT DEAD IN BETHLEHEM CHURCH, MORGUE OVERFLOWS WITH
BODIES (AFP)
* AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
* DANIEL PIPES TELLS CHRIS MATTHEWS HE IS NOT PRO-ISRAEL
* PROSECUTORS CONCEDE LIMITS OF THEIR CASE AGAINST LINDH (Washington
Post)
- PHOTO OF LINDH BOUND, BLINDFOLDED AND NAKED (Reuters)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: KINDNESS TO ANIMALS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "While a man was walking
along a road, he became very thirsty and found a well. He lowered
himself
into the well, drank, and came out. Then [he saw] a dog protruding its
tongue out with thirst.
The man said: 'This dog has become exhausted from thirst in the same
way as
I.' He lowered himself into the well again and filled his shoe with
water…He gave the dog some water to drink. He thanked God, and [his
sins
were] forgiven."
The Prophet was then asked: "Is there a reward for us in our animals?"
He
said: "There is a reward in every living thing."
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 3, Number 104
-----
"BETRAYED" BY BUSH
By Eric Boehlert, Salon.com, 4/2/2002
http://www.salon.com/
HIGHLIGHT:
Rattled by government raids on their homes and American support for
Israel
in the Middle East's escalating violence, American Muslims rethink
their
2000 endorsement of the president.
During the 2000 election, Muslim-American organizations urged
constituents
for the first time to vote as a bloc. Muslim leaders were attracted to
George W. Bush's televised pledge during the second campaign debate to
do
away with secret evidence often used against Muslim immigrants by
prosecutors. They hoped he could bring a fresh perspective to the
troubles
in the Middle East. They found him more willing to meet with Muslims
during
the campaign than Vice President Al Gore.
And so the Muslim community's umbrella groups, aiming to win some
clout,
urged America's estimated 6 million Muslims (the exact number is in
dispute) to vote for Bush. And according to the groups' internal polls,
they did, in overwhelming numbers -- and played a crucial role, for
instance, in Bush's victory in Florida.
Today, some are wondering what their votes accomplished. Many Muslims
have
been watching the unfolding war on terrorism at home with growing
concern
since Sept. 11. They were worried when the government refused to
release
the identities of more than 1,000 foreigners, mostly Arab or Muslim,
detained by law enforcement; disturbed when deportation trials were
held in
secret; upset when federal agents fanned out across the country to
interview thousands of young Muslim foreigners; and troubled when
U.S.-based Islamic charities were raided during Ramadan by government
agents seeking evidence of terrorist ties. But much of the Muslim
criticism
of Bush and his administration was muted in the period after Sept. 11.
Leaders were reluctant to appear unpatriotic. At the same time, they
were
genuinely grateful for law enforcement's aggressive response to
post-Sept.
11 hate crimes and for the explicit comments the president made about
how
the United States' war was targeting terrorists, not Muslims…
That's all changed now, thanks to two recent, defining events. The
first is
"the total assault on civil liberties, targeted at Arabs and Muslims,"
says
Ali Abunimah, vice president of the Arab-American Action Network.
He's referring to a series of March 20 government raids in Northern
Virginia, in which 150 federal agents seized property from 14 homes,
businesses and schools run by Muslim Americans. Designed to identify
organizations that may have contributed to international groups that
sponsor terrorist activities, the actions were part of the Treasury
Department's counter-terrorism task force, Operation Green Quest. No
arrests were made.
Muslims say the raids, which targeted moderate American citizens and
organizations, sent shock waves through their community…
The other galvanizing episode has been the Bush administration's
response
to the runaway violence in the Middle East, and what Muslims see as the
White House's complete capitulation to the Israeli position.
"What did Bush say over the weekend? That Israel is defending itself,"
says
Abunimah. "Bush is unwilling to deal with the basic facts of the
conflict,
which is Israel is not defending itself inside its borders but that
tens of
thousands of troops are occupying land outside Israel." For Muslims,
says
Abunimah, it appears "The United States has openly decided to fight
with
Israel in a colonial war against an occupied people…"
The frustration unleashed by the domestic raids and overseas violence
has
led some Muslims to rethink their 2000 support of Bush…
Adds Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations: "The Muslim community feels let down by the administration.
Most
Muslims stood by it after the election. We stood by the president
during
the crisis and we've got little in return but a broken promise."
Grover Norquist, a conservative political activist and president of
Americans for Tax Reform, helped shepherd the Muslims' endorsement of
Bush,
and he remains an active liaison between the Muslim community and the
White
House. Assessing the state of that political relationship, Norquist
says,
"I don't think it's broke for the Bush people and the Republicans, but
they
need to refocus and speak to the community..."
Simultaneous raids on two highly respected religious institutions that
day
also stunned American Muslims. The first was Leesburg, Va.'s Graduate
School of Islamic and Social Sciences, the only school the U.S.
military
uses to train and endorse chaplains to guide the armed forces' growing
Muslim population…
Also targeted that day was the Fiqh Council of North America, also in
Leesburg, "the highest religious body for Muslims in North America,"
says
Safi at IIIT.
The Fiqh Council issues religious rulings "to help Muslims be good
Americans while living Islamic-ly," says Safi…
"Why target organizations like these?" asks Safi, who says the reaction
among Muslims to the council's being raided would be the same as that
among
Catholics, for instance, if the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops
were
ever targeted by agents. "It's not a shadowy organization you raid with
guns…"
"There's a great deal of disappointment that raids happened the way
they
did," says Norquist. "And I don't think the Muslim community is
overreacting..."
Conceding some regrets, Awad at CAIR stresses the positive from the
2000
election: "We mobilized Muslims nationwide to vote in one direction and
succeeded. That was a strategic achievement." And rather than turn
people
off, he says, the experience will lead to further participation. "There
will be more Muslims voting in the next election than ever before. We
have
learned a lesson: To gain respect you need to be more organized. We
can't
afford to waste votes."
-----
DOJ INITIATES DETAINEE CIVIL RIGHTS REVIEW
(ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE DOJ)
In furtherance of its responsibilities under the USA Patriot Act, the
Department of Justice's Office of Inspector General (OIG) is initiating
a
review of the civil rights and civil liberties protections afforded to
detainees in Department of Justice custody in connection with the
response
to the September 11 terrorist attacks.
This inspection, to be conducted by the OIG's Evaluation and
Inspections
Division, will assess compliance by Department components with laws,
regulations, and policies that protect the civil rights of the
detainees.Among the issues the OIG will review are detainees' access to
counsel, timeliness of presentation or disposition of criminal or other
charges, and physical detention conditions.The OIG plans to review
information about federal detainees at the Passaic County Jail in
Paterson,
New Jersey, and/or the Federal Bureau of Prison's Metropolitan
Detention
Center in Brooklyn, New York.\
-----
U.S. BEGINS CRACKDOWN ON MUSLIMS WHO DEFY ORDERS TO LEAVE COUNTRY
By SUSAN SACHS, The New York Times, 4/2/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/02/nyregion/02DEPO.html
Federal law enforcement agents have started to hunt down and arrest
Muslim
immigrants who failed to comply with pre-Sept. 11 deportation orders, a
crackdown aimed as much at generating antiterrorism leads as enforcing
orders that have piled up over many years.
Justice Department officials said that taking aim at people from
countries
where Al Qaeda has been active will give investigators the opportunity
to
interrogate Muslims as they are detained on immigration violations.
Civil
rights advocates said the approach unfairly singled out one religious
group
in the enforcement of immigration laws.
The Immigration and Naturalization Service, which is part of the
Justice
Department, has categorized at least 320,000 foreigners of all
nationalities as "alien absconders," or people who managed to remain in
the
country after immigration judges ordered them to leave.
The new crackdown concentrates on fewer than 2 percent of those with
outstanding deportation orders, or an estimated 6,000 people on the
list
who come from Arab and other Muslim countries…
-----
CAIR-CALIF TOWN HALL FORUM WITH GOVERNMENT OFFICIALS
AGENCIES REPRESENTED: Department of Justice, INS, FBI and the U.S.
Attorney’s Office.
TOPICS: 1) detainees, 2) the use of secret evidence, 3) the raids on
charities and other institutions, 4) the Patriot Act.
OTHER GROUPS REPRESENTED: ACLU, NAACP, National Lawyers Guild, the Sikh
Association, the Japanese American Council, and La Raza
WHEN: Thursday April 4, 7 p.m.
WHERE: MCA - 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa Clara, Calif.
FREE Baby Sitting services will be provided.
SBIA: 325, N. Third St. San Jose, CA 95112 Ph: 408-947-9389
http://www.sbia.netE-mail: sbia_sj@yahoo.com
-----
REMINDER: AMERICA MUST ACT TO STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION
As Israeli forces rampage throughout Palestine and American media
outlets
offer only the Israeli viewpoint on the crisis, our elected officials
remain silent. CAIR is calling on members of the Muslim community to
take
positive steps in defense of the Palestinian people and in support of
America's real interests in the region. Take two minutes to make your
voice
heard on this important issue.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:
1) CONTACT President Bush to let him know that Palestinian Muslims and
Christians have the right to freedom and justice. Ask that he make a
public
statement calling for an end to Israeli aggression. Also ask that he
meet
with American Muslim leaders to discuss the crisis and America's
inaction.
CONTACT:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
TEL: 202-456-1414, Press 1
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov, cair@cair-net.org
2) CONTACT your elected representatives to make the same point. To
obtain
contact information for your representative, go to:
http://capwiz.com/cair
3) CONTACT local and national media outlets to express the Muslim
perspective on the conflict. Call radio talk show call-in programs
(numbers
are announced on-air), send e-mails to cable news programs, write
letters
to the editor, and respond to one-sided coverage with a call, fax or
e-mail.
ABC News - 212-456-4040
CBS News - 212-975-3691
NBC News - 212-664-4971
CNN - 404-827-1511
Fox News - 212-301-3300
MSNBC - 201-583-5222
PBS - 703-998-2150
NPR - 202-414-2200
NY Times - 212-556-1234
USA Today - 703-276-3400
WS Journal - 212-416-2000
Wash. Post - 202-334-6000
Time - 212-522-1212
U.S. News - 202-955-2000
AP 212-621-1600
MSNBC - 201-583-5000
CNBC - 201-585-2622
-----
PRIEST SAID SHOT DEAD IN BETHLEHEM CHURCH, MORGUE OVERFLOWS WITHBODIES
By MICHEL SAILHAN, Agence France Presse, 4/2/2002
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, - Israeli troops on Tuesday seized control of
this
biblical city in their drive against Palestinian towns, reportedly
shooting
dead a Catholic priest and wounding at least six nuns in a church.
Elsewhere on the West Bank, Ramallah central hospital said it had
started
burying corpses in its parking lot after the town's morgue overflowed
under
the death toll of Israel's four-day-old invasion and ambulances were
unable
to reach the cemetery.
Palestinian medical sources said the priest and nuns were in the Santa
Maria church when they were hit by fire as Israeli tanks and troops
rolled
though the birthplace of Jesus Christ.
But there was confusion about the incident, with the Vatican denying
that
the priest originally named was dead, and the Israelis banned any
independent verification. Also caught up in the turmoil of the
operation
launched two days after Easter was Bethlehem's main Omar mosque which
caught fire late Tuesday for undetermined reasons, an AFP journalist
said.
Around 150 people, 20 of them wounded, were stranded inside the Church
of
the Nativity in central Bethlehem after taking shelter from Israeli
gunfire, Palestinian witnesses said…
-----
AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL CONDEMNS ISRAELI HUMAN RIGHTS VIOLATIONS
Statement to the UN Commission on Human Rights,
Israel and Occupied Territories
Commission on Human Rights, 58th Session, 18 March - 26 April 2002
Agenda item 8: Question of the violation of human rights in the
occupied
Arab territories, including Palestine
ORAL STATEMENT BY AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL
Tuesday 2 April 2002
http://web.amnesty.org/web/news.nsf/WebAll/230741FF93144C3B80256B89003D10D3
Chairperson,
In the recent negotiations for a ceasefire in Israel and the Occupied
Territories there has been much mention of "security", little or none
of
human rights. Yet human rights are at the heart of this conflict and if
human rights are not firmly on the agenda of the ceasefire talks there
can
be no durable ceasefire and no sustainable peace. Palestinians and
Israelis
will continue to be slaughtered in the alleyways of refugee camps and
the
streets of Israeli towns.
Armed Palestinians have breached fundamental principles of
international
humanitarian law on numerous occasions…
These actions are shocking. Yet they can never justify the human rights
violations and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions which, over the
past 18 months, have been committed daily, hourly, even every minute,
by
the Israeli authorities against Palestinians. Israeli forces have
consistently carried out killings when no lives were in danger. The
Israeli
authorities' failure to carry out proper investigations into unlawful
killings sends the message that Palestinian lives are cheap. More than
600
Palestinian homes have been systematically demolished, making thousands
homeless, the vast majority children. More than 100 checkpoints
throughout
the West Bank and Gaza have not stopped suicide bombings. The closures
of
towns and villages deny freedom of movement and appear to be set up to
harass, collectively punish, intimidate and humiliate the Palestinian
people…
In the camps curfews were imposed and electricity, water and telephones
cut
off for up to nine days. In several camps male Palestinians between 15
and
45 were ordered to report to an assembly point and hundreds were
arrested.
For the first 24 hours they were handcuffed, blindfolded, given no
food, no
blanket, and not allowed to go to the toilet.Ten days afterwards about
100
of more than 2,500 arbitrarily arrested remained in detention. Again,
in
treatment apparently intended to hurt and degrade the population,
Israeli
soldiers who occupied apartments had systematically trashed them:
clothes
were torn, cupboards emptied on the floor, TV sets hurled down stairs,
and
a copy of the Qur'an was torn into pieces and scattered on the floor.
An
independent military advisor, one of Amnesty International's delegates,
said: "Either the Israeli army is totally undisciplined or they have
been
ordered to disobey the laws of war…"
During the incursions the IDF unlawfully killed six medical aid
workers,
including two doctors. Ambulances, including those of the ICRC, have
been
consistently shot at. Such attacks on the fundamental principle of
medical
neutrality are flagrant violations of the Geneva Conventions. The
director
of the Red Crescent at Tulkarem told delegates that it was now safer to
transport patients by taxi than by ambulance…
Security can only be achieved through full respect for humanrights, not
at
their expense…
-----
DANIEL PIPES TELLS CHRIS MATTHEWS HE IS NOT PRO-ISRAEL
Interview: Daniel Pipes from Middle East Forum and Michael O'Hanlon
from
Brookings Institution discuss whether or not Bush administration should
endorse Israel's military operation in West Bank
CNBC: Hardball with Chris Matthews, 01/2002
CHRIS MATTHEWS, host: First, the HARDBALL DEBATE. Should the Bush
administration endorse Israel's military operation in the West Bank?
Early
Sunday morning, the US voted in favor of a UN resolution calling for
the
withdrawal of Israeli forces. But within hours, President Bush backed
Sharon and forcefully called on Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to
denounce suicide bombers…
We're joined by Daniel Pipes of the Mideast Forum, a pro-Israeli think
tank. And Michael O'Hanlon is with the Brookings Institution.
Daniel, make the case for this strong, hard-nosed action by the prime
minister of Israel on the West Bank.
Mr. DANIEL PIPES (Middle East Forum): Chris, let me start by resenting
the
fact that you'd label me and not my opponent. Could we try that one
again?
MATTHEWS: Let's try it again. Is--does your--does your--what's the name
of
it again? The Mideast Forum. Are you pro-Israeli or pro-Arab?
Mr. PIPES: We're pro-American.
MATTHEWS: What does that mean in this context?
Mr. PIPES: Well, that means I'm trying to figure out what is best for
American policy.
MATTHEWS: Has the Middle East Forum ever criticized Israeli policy?
Mr. PIPES: The Middle East Forum doesn't take positions, but I do.
MATTHEWS: Well, you're here to take a position.
Mr. PIPES: OK.
MATTHEWS: Have you ever criticized Israeli policy?
Mr. PIPES: Yes, I have.
MATTHEWS: When was that?
Mr. PIPES: Well, for example, when the Israelis bombed the electric
installation in Lebanon, I criticized it.
MATTHEWS: OK. When was that? What year was that?
Mr. PIPES: It was two years ago.
MATTHEWS: OK. So it's fair to say you're generally pro-Israeli.
Mr. PIPES: Yeah.
MATTHEWS: OK. That's all I said.
Mr. PIPES: But I just don't like getting labeled, OK?
MATTHEWS: Well, you were and you are. So if you want to get out of that
and
say you're not pro-Israeli, just make your case…
MATTHEWS: Well, if you would argue that--let's--let's just sharpen
this.
You think the United--and I agree with you--you think the United States
should heartily condemn the use of young people especially as suiciders
to--in order to advance a political cause. But you wouldn't endorse the
United States, for example, supporting the continued occupation of the
Arab
territories by Israel. You wouldn't endorse that, would you?
Mr. PIPES: I don't think that is the issue. The issue is...
MATTHEWS: No, what would you do? Do you endorse the continued
occupation
of--of the--of the Arab territories by Israel?
Mr. PIPES: I would hope that some day there could be a resolution
between
Israel and the Palestinians over this.
MATTHEWS: To what effect?
Mr. PIPES: But I see that...
MATTHEWS: To what effect?
Mr. PIPES: But I see that as a--as--as completely untenable at this
point
when the Arabs in those territories want to destroy Israel.
MATTHEWS: I get your point. So in other words, until this violence ends
of
the suicidal variety, we're not going to get any negotiations.
Mr. PIPES: No. What I'm saying is there can't be negotiations until the
Arabs accept Israel, whether they're engaged in suicide operations or
not.
They first have to accept Israel, and then negotiations over
territory...
MATTHEWS: OK.
-----
PROSECUTORS CONCEDE LIMITS OF THEIR CASE AGAINST LINDH
Government Has No Evidence He Shot at U.S. Citizens
By Brooke A. Masters, The Washington Post, 4/2/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A48877-2002Apr1.html
The U.S. government has no evidence that John Walker Lindh, the
American
captured with Taliban fighters, ever killed or shot at U.S. citizens,
including the CIA officer who was slain in a prison uprising shortly
after
interviewing Lindh, prosecutors acknowledged at a hearing yesterday.
Prosecutors also backed off a claim in the grand jury indictment that
Lindh, 21, trained at "terrorist" camps run by al Qaeda and a Pakistani
group, arguing instead that he received military training that he later
used to serve terrorist organizations…
The new information emerged during a two-part hearing at which defense
lawyers were seeking to flesh out the government's evidence against
Lindh,
asking for more access to documents and witnesses and for a more
specific
description of what prosecutors believe he did.
"What is the conspiracy that my client is alleged to have been in?"
asked
defense attorney James Brosnahan. "We don't know who was supposed to be
murdered…We don't know the names of any co-conspirators…It's not fair…"
To bolster their legal and public relations argument that Lindh had
been
tortured, the defense filed a photograph in court yesterday that the
U.S.
government apparently took of Lindh while he was in captivity. It shows
him
lying on a stretcher, bound, blindfolded and naked…
TO VIEW THAT PHOTO, GO TO:
http://www.reuters.com/news_article.jhtml?type=topnews&StoryID=762546
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/3/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: EVEN THE BIRDS PRAISE GOD
* POWELL MEETS WITH MUSLIMS TO DISCUSS ISRAELI ATTACKS
- Pope Says Israel is “Humiliating” Palestinians (Reuters)
- Media Committee Criticizes Israel (AP)
- ICRC Says Medical Personnel Blocked in Palestine
- Canadian Government Criticized by Jewish, Muslim Groups (AP)
* ORPHANS RUMOR MAY BE A HOAX (San Jose Mercury News)
* EDITORIAL: JUSTICE DIES IN THE DARK (Los Angeles Times)
* FIVE MUSLIMS BURNT TO DEATH IN INDIAN STATE (Reuters)
* THE FIRST HOLY WAR (U.S. News & World Report)
* YOUNG MUSLIMS WEAR THEIR FAITH WITH PRIDE (Montreal Gazette)
* THE MIND OF A RACIST (Time)
* TEXAN CONVICTED OF KILLING INDIAN OVER SEPT. 11 (Reuters)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: EVEN THE BIRDS PRAISE GOD
"Seest thou not that it is God whose praises all beings in the heavens
and
on earth do celebrate, (even) the birds (of the air) with wings
outspread?
Each one knows its own (mode of) prayer and praise."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 24, Verse 41
-----
-- MEDIA ADVISORY --
POWELL MEETS WITH MUSLIMS TO DISCUSS ISRAELI ATTACKS
WHAT: On Wednesday, April 3, leaders of national American Muslim and
Arab-American organizations will meet with Secretary of State Colin L.
Powell to discuss Israeli’s ongoing attacks in the Occupied
Territories.
Following the meeting, Muslim attendees will hold a briefing outside
the
State Department’s C Street entrance. Interviews are also available
prior
to the meeting.
“We appreciate Secretary’s Powell’s decision to call for this meeting
and
once again state the American Muslim community’s willingness to provide
a
bridge of understanding to the Islamic world during this time of crisis
and
conflict,” said Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), one of the group’s invited to
today’s
meeting.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 3, Meeting - 2 p.m., Briefing 3:15 p.m. (or
following the conclusion of the meeting)
WHERE: Briefing - Outside the State Department’s C Street Entrance.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-489-5108
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
SEE ALSO:
Pope Says Israel is “Humiliating” Palestinians
Israel, U.S. under fire in Europe
Reuters, 4/3/2002
LONDON, April 3 (Reuters) - Pope John Paul sharply criticised Israel on
Wednesday for "humiliating" the Palestinians, while European newspapers
attacked the United States for not doing enough to halt Middle East
violence.
In a strongly-worded statement, the Vatican said it had called in the
Israeli and U.S. ambassadors to the Holy See on Tuesday to discuss the
crisis.
Although it condemned acts of terrorism, an apparent reference to a
recent
wave of Palestinian suicide attacks in Israeli towns and cities, the
statement included a list of criticisms of the Jewish state.
It said the Pope "rejects unjust conditions and humiliations imposed on
the
Palestinian people as well as the reprisals and revenge attacks which
do
nothing but feed the sense of frustration and hatred…"
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has sent troops and tanks to
reoccupy a
string of West Bank towns and villages and besiege Palestinian
President
Yasser Arafat in his Ramallah headquarters in response to the suicide
bombings…
---
Media Committee Criticizes Israel
By STEVE WEIZMAN, The Associated Press, 4/3/2002
JERUSALEM (AP) - The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists
has
joined a growing chorus of other groups criticizing Israel's policy of
expelling journalists from occupied cities in the West Bank. The group
also
accused Israeli troops of shooting at reporters.
The organization said in a statement Tuesday that it has sent a letter
to
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon protesting the military's attempts
to
block reporters from working in Bethlehem, Ramallah and Qalqiliya…
The Committee to Protect Journalists also accused Israel of attacking
reporters. The group said that troops on Monday fired on an armored car
used by NBC correspondent Dana Lewis and his two-person crew. The car
was
clearly marked as a media vehicle, the group said. No one was injured.
The organization also said that BBC reporter Orla Guerin and her TV
crew
came under Israeli fire Monday while covering a peaceful protest in
Bethlehem. No one was injured.
---
ICRC Says Medical Personnel Blocked in Palestine
A solemn appeal by the International Committee of the Red Cross and the
International federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
http://www.ifrc.org/Docs/News/pr02/2102.asp
Over the past few days and in response to the worsening situation,
International Red Cross delegates and Palestine Red Crescent Society
volunteers attempted to cater for the most pressing humanitarian needs
in
the West Bank. However, the ICRC and the International Federation have
cause to regret the frequent and often serious instances in which
medical
personnel were prevented from performing their life saving duties. The
most
basic humanitarian precondition in a situation of violence, is that all
medical staff and volunteers be allowed to function unmolested.
Much remains to be done in virtually all humanitarian domains -
medical,
livelihood of the civilian populations, protection of non combatants
and of
arrested persons... - yet ICRC delegates were regrettably prevented
from
working because of a sudden degradation of the usual lines of
communication
between themselves and the Israeli authorities…
---
Canadian Government Criticized by Jewish, Muslim Groups for Middle East
Policy
The Associated Press, 4/2/2002
Foreign Minister Bill Graham drew criticism from both sides of the
Middle
East conflict Tuesday after saying Israel should withdraw from
Palestinian
territory and Yasser Arafat must reject terrorism.
The Canadian-Israel Committee called Graham's position contradictory,
noting that Canada supports the U.S. war on terrorism but tells Israel
to
pull back instead of trying to root out terrorists killing its people.
At the same time, the Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations called on the government to denounce Israel's "war of terror"
against Palestinians. "Silence in the face of these crimes is
approval,"
said a statement issued by the Ottawa-based group.
Graham, in a conference call with journalists from a vacation in
Barbados,
maintained the evenhanded policy toward the Middle East that he has
expressed since being named foreign affairs minister in January…
CONTACT: Canada@cair-net.org
-----
ORPHANS RUMOR MAY BE A HOAX
By Putsata Reang, San Jose Mercury News, 4/3/2002
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/news/local/2989074.htm
The rumor that more than 500 Afghan orphans have been brought to the
United
States and are ready for adoption has angered and frustrated members of
the
Afghan community in Fremont who are eager to help but fear it may be a
hoax.
"We really want to find out what's the real story," said Rona Popal,
executive director of the Afghan Coalition in Fremont. "Everybody's
mad."
A U.S. Department of Defense official denied the claim that the United
States transported Afghan orphans here, and social service agencies
that
work with refugees, including the International Rescue Committee, say
the
rumor is unfounded. "Resettling an orphan is not something someone
takes on
lightly," said Don Climent, director of the committee's San Francisco
office. "It's a good rumor."
Even the Afghan Embassy was unable to confirm the rumor.
"Our investigations from both the embassy side as well as the
investigations done by the U.S. government and FBI have turned up no
verifiable truth that orphans from Afghanistan were brought to the
United
States," said Homerya Mokhtarzada, the embassy's humanitarian aid
officer.
More than two weeks ago, an e-mail that circulated across the country
claimed that 570 orphaned children, from newborns up to age 10, had
been
airlifted out of Afghanistan by the U.S. government and brought to
Southern
California, where church organizations were preparing to find them
adoptive
homes…
Two meetings last weekend in Garden Grove and Northridge for
prospective
adoptive parents drew about 350 Afghans, according to Rohida Kahn,
coordinator for domestic violence for NISWA, a Muslim social service
agency
in Los Angeles.
Although her organization helped sponsor the meetings, even Kahn isn't
sure
whether the rumor has merit.
"We are investigating," Kahn said.
The initial e-mail came from Mohammad Daoud Abedi, an Afghan man in
Calabasas, about 20 miles northwest of Beverly Hills, who said he met
with
a social worker at a church in mid-March who told him about the
orphans.
The woman told Abedi that 45 of the children had arrived in the United
States and more were on their way.
However, since the meeting, Abedi has not been able to confirm any of
the
information and no one has reported seeing the children…
But many Afghans here were quick to believe the orphan story, Popal
said,
because Afghanistan faced a similar situation during its war with the
Soviet Union. Several thousand orphans were taken to the former Soviet
Union starting in 1979 -- a mission which spanned about a decade.
-----
EDITORIAL: JUSTICE DIES IN THE DARK
The Los Angeles Times, 4/3/2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/editorials/la-000023745apr03.story
Openness is a hallmark of this nation's legal system. The founding
fathers
knew that secret court proceedings give cover to corrupt or tyrannical
judges and sloppy prosecutors, that judges who can hide can easily
abuse
power. Yet shortly after the September terrorist attacks, immigration
judges around the country slammed shut the doors of their courtrooms,
barring the public, the press and even relatives of the oh-so-vaguely
accused men and women rounded up by the thousands under blanket orders
from
the attorney general. A federal judge could decide this week whether
this
secrecy should stand. We hope she agrees that it should not.
The case before the Detroit federal court involves proceedings against
Rabih Haddad, a Muslim religious and community leader from Ann Arbor,
Mich.
Haddad is a Lebanese citizen who has lived in the United States on and
off
for the past 20 years. He last entered in 1998 under a tourist visa,
which
has since expired.
Last year, Haddad applied for permanent residency. As part of the mass
arrests of Middle Eastern men after Sept. 11, federal agents picked up
Haddad for overstaying his visa. He has been jailed since and is now
being
held in a Chicago federal prison, in solitary confinement, pending a
final
deportation hearing.
The government has made no allegation that Haddad had any role in the
terrorist attacks, which he loudly condemned. Yet in December, the
court
barred Haddad's family, along with newspaper and television reporters
and
Rep. John Conyers Jr. (D-Mich.), from attending his first immigration
hearing. In closing the doors, the judge in that proceeding was acting
in
accordance with a September memo issued by the chief immigration judge,
on
orders from Atty. Gen. John Ashcroft...
-----
FIVE MUSLIMS BURNT TO DEATH IN INDIAN STATE
Reuters, 4/3/2002
AHMEDABAD, India, April 3 (Reuters) - Five Muslims were burnt to death
and
a sixth person was shot by police as fresh Hindu-Muslim violence flared
in
India's riot-racked Gujarat state, police said on Wednesday.
The grisly bodies were discovered a day before Prime Minister Atal
Behari
Vajpayee makes his first visit to the state since the religious
bloodletting erupted late in February.
Police said the remains of the five were found on the outskirts of
Ahmedabad, the state's main commercial city, adding to more than 800
people, mostly Muslims, who have already been killed in the wave of
violence.
"Five charred bodies were recovered this morning from one of three
houses
burnt by a Hindu mob early on Wednesday," a senior police officer told
Reuters.
Four people suffered burns and were in hospital, he said…
Both the state and federal governments have been heavily criticised by
opposition parties for failing to act swiftly to stop the carnage --
charges they have denied.
The violence erupted on February 27 after a Muslim mob torched a train
carrying hardline Hindus, burning 58 people alive. That sparked a wave
of
reprisal killings in which around 750 people, mostly Muslims, were
killed.
Some 100,000 people, mainly Muslims, are sheltered in relief camps in
the
state. Many have lost their homes in arson attacks or are too terrified
to
return to them for fear of being targeted by their Hindu neighbours,
relief
workers say.
-----
THE FIRST HOLY WAR
By Andrew Curry, U.S. News & World Report, 4/8/2002
http://www.usnews.com/usnews/issue/020408/ideas/8crusades.htm
It was the fall of 1187, and an emissary from the besieged city of
Jerusalem had come to beg Saladin, the sultan of Egypt, for mercy.
After
barely four days of assaults, the Christian defenders saw that Saladin
had
them hopelessly outmatched. Waiting in his tent outside the city's
walls,
the Muslim ruler knew both sides had a lot riding on the outcome of
this
battle.
For the city's defenders, the prospect of Saladin's wrath loomed. The
last
time Jerusalem was sacked by an invading army--a Christian one--its
narrow
streets ran red with blood. For Saladin, his honor depended on
capturing
Jerusalem. All summer his armies had battled their way north through
the
Holy Land, sweeping through the Christian fiefs like an angry desert
wind,
with only one goal: recapturing the holy city that had been occupied by
European invaders for 88 years.
Now the sultan stood on the hills north of Jerusalem. But the Christian
emissary trudging toward him had no prize to offer, only surrender. For
days Saladin's men had bombarded the city from the heights to the
north,
finally breaching St. Stephen's Gate. The few defenders who remained
knew
that prolonging the fight would only worsen the consequences of defeat.
And
so a triumphant Saladin entered Jerusalem on Oct. 2, 1187. For the
sultan's
army, it was a moment of both joy and sadness.
Christians had profaned some of Islam's holiest sites. The al-Aqsa
mosque
had been used as a stable for horses. Pieces of the rock from which
Mohammed was said to have ascended to heaven had been chipped away to
sell
in Constantinople.
But the victorious Saladin forbade acts of vengeance. There were no
more
deaths, no violence. A token ransom was arranged for the thousands of
residents. Saladin and his brother paid for hundreds of the poorest
themselves and arranged guards for the caravans of refugees.
Sound familiar? If not, don't feel bad. Saladin doesn't get much play
in
Western history books…
More than nine centuries after Urban II called the first Crusade, the
legacy of misunderstanding and animosity is still with us today. In the
West, many of the most lasting misperceptions of Islam stem from that
time.
In the Arab and Muslim world, the Crusades have made an unfortunate
rhetorical comeback. "Such analogies are really not very helpful to
understand the Crusades or present-day realities--they obscure rather
than
clarify," says Kedar. "People get so obsessed with . . . the past that
they
don't react to the reality but to the reflection." With that reflection
distorted almost beyond recognition by rhetoric and misunderstanding, a
clearer vision of the past has never been more important.
-----
YOUNG MUSLIMS WEAR THEIR FAITH WITH PRIDE
New clothing line declares 'way of life'
By ALLISON LAMPERT, Montreal Gazette, 4/3/2002
http://www.canada.com/montreal/news/story.asp?id={80A32391-168C-4586-89B8-4054CAB163E6}
Mubashir Jamal was different from the other teens he knew in high
school.
At a time when many of his peers were partying at clubs and losing
their
virginity, Jamal, now 18, refrained from drinking alcohol or smoking
marijuana.
A practicing Muslim, Jamal spoke of prayer, and engaged in lively
debate
over religion and western society during English class.
"Religion became a real taboo in high school," he recalled. "When you
enter
an environment like that it makes it even more difficult when people
don't
understand." Now a student at Dawson College, Jamal continues to stand
out
because of his religious beliefs.
He displays them on the black knit tuque on his head, and on his
sweatshirt. Jamal is wearing Muslim Gear, a clothing line launched to
promote greater understanding of a religion he says is frequently
misunderstood.
Sitting in an empty Muslim prayer room at Concordia University, Jamal
points to a phrase emblazoned in white on the back of a black T-shirt
worn
by a friend, Ali Merali.
Just below the Muslim Gear logo, the shirt refers to Islam as "more
than a
religion."
"The main intention is to raise awareness about Islam," Jamal said.
"When
we have statements like this…it invokes questions in people's minds…"
For additional information, go to: www.muslimgear.com
-----
THE MIND OF A RACIST
He thought I was an Arab and let his spleen vent
BY Aparism Ghosh, TIME Magazine, 4/3/2002
http://www.time.com/time/asia/news/column/0,9754,203473,00.html
I met my first real-life racist at lunchtime in a central London café.
He
was wearing a dark blue suit and a fawn felt overcoat, crisp white
shirt
and a brick-red tie. He was a small, wiry figure, with a wide forehead,
thinning blond hair and grey eyes behind rimless glasses. He was
well-spoken, uttered not a single obscenity and had good teeth. And he
didn't raise a hand towards me in anger…
"Look," he said, now taking on a conciliatory tone, "for all I know,
you're
a perfectly nice fellow. You were probably educated in this country,
and
you are Westernized. But your religion..." He shook his head.
"What about it?" I asked.
"Well, it's savage and medieval and... savage," he said. "It's not
polite
to say these things these days, but they need to be said. And after
what
happened in America, it can't be hidden any longer."
"Why is it savage?"
"It's full of hate, isn't it? It teaches your people to be hostile,
towards
us, towards anybody who disagrees with you. And women, too, your own
women."
He then favored me with his thesis on Islam. Muslims, in his view,
allowed
their clergy ("the Imams," he called them) to run their lives. They -
we -
were brainwashed to be unquestioning and unthinking, to aspire to a
medieval way of life. He liked the word "medieval," and used it
repeatedly.
Islam, he added, had failed to "snap out of its medieval trance and
recognize that the world has moved on…"
Despite his low tone, he was obviously deeply angry, at me, at all
Arabs.
Maybe this rage had come from something that had happened to him
recently,
some specific event, like the loss of a job or a contract (or a wife?)
to
an Arab. Or did he carry his loathing with him all the time, coiled up
in
his gut like a wounded rattlesnake, ready to lash out at anybody. I
wanted
to ask, but didn't know how…
"You seem to have done some reading on Islam," I said…
Throughout our conversation, I had not once challenged this man, not
told
him to his face that he was a racist nut and that his notions about
Arabs
and Muslims were all warped and ugly and wrong. As a journalist, I'm so
used to holding my own opinions while seeking out those of others that
I
sometimes let nonsense go unchallenged. Or - and this was the shameful
part
- perhaps it was because, not being an Arab or a Muslim, I was unable
to
take his bigotry personally. And finally, coming from such an
incongruous
figure, his words had seemed more amusing than offensive - at the time.
But
now I felt like chasing after him on the crowded pavement and
confronting
him in the street, humiliating him in public.
The moment passed. I told myself it would serve no purpose, because
hismind
was closed. Besides, he had given me something valuable, an insight
into
his prejudices. And, probably more precious, a real face to put on my
mental image of a racist. I will never forget it.
-----
TEXAN CONVICTED OF KILLING INDIAN OVER SEPT. 11
Reuters, 4/2/2002
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=564&564&e=10&u=/nm/20020402/ts_nm/attack_murder_dc_2
DALLAS (Reuters) - A suburban Dallas man who went out to shoot
immigrants
in revenge for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United States was convicted
of
capital murder on Tuesday for killing an Indian gas station owner.
A Dallas jury took less than an hour to convict Mark Stroman, 32, who
had
told police and a Dallas TV station he shot naturalized U.S. citizen
Vasudev Patel last October because he thought the Indian man looked
Middle
Eastern and he wanted vengeance for the hijack attacks on New York and
the
Pentagon (news - web sites)…
Stroman is also charged with killing a Dallas-area convenience store
clerk,
Waquar Hassan, on Sept. 15 and is suspected in a third shooting that
injured another store clerk, Rais Uddin. Arguments in the punishment
phase
began on Tuesday before the case goes to the jury one more time for
sentencing.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR SUPPORTS PRESIDENT'S DEMAND FOR END TO ISRAELI ATTACKS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/4/2002) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, is supporting
President
Bush's demand, announced today, that Israel end both its settlement
activity and it ongoing assaults on Palestinian towns and villages.
The president said: "Israeli settlement activity in occupied
territories
must stop...I ask Israel to halt incursions into Palestinian-controlled
areas and begin the withdrawal from those cities it has recently
occupied."
He said Israel must also "show a respect for - and concern about - the
dignity of the Palestinian people" and lift its blockade of Palestinian
civilians by opening border crossings and checkpoints.
For the full text of the president's remarks, go to:
http://www.msnbc.com/news/734039.asp?cp1=1
In a statement issued following the president's speech, CAIR
Governmental
Affairs Director Jason Erb said:
"The operative aspects of today's remarks by President Bush, despite
being
couched in standard pro-Israel rhetoric, are a clear departure from the
administration's one-sided support for that nation's brutal and illegal
policies. The President has accurately identified the real sources of
conflict in the Holy Land; the settlements, the occupation and the
"daily
humiliation" suffered by ordinary Palestinians.
"It is also encouraging that the president decided to send Secretary of
State Colin Powell to the region. Such high-level intervention is
essential
to bring about an end to the cycle of violence and the mutual hatred it
generates. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad proposed just such an
initiative in a meeting yesterday with Secretary Powell.
"These constructive statements must now be followed by concrete and
sustained diplomatic action."
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-489-5108
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787 or 703-861-7294
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/5/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: REPEL EVIL WITH GOOD
* CAIR TRAINING CONFERENCE A SUCCESS
* RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ASSAIL CHECK OF JAIL CONDITIONS
* JUDGE RULES THE HEARING FOR A DETAINEE MUST BE OPEN (New York Times)
* ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHOOT AND KILL A U.S. CITIZEN (Democracy Now)
* ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE GRENADES AT REPORTERS (UPI)
* KAPTUR URGES BUSH TO PUSH FOR U.N. PEACEKEEPERS IN MIDEAST
* U.S. JEW DENOUNCES CRITICS OF HIS PALESTINIAN AID (Reuters)
- Editorial: Death Threats in Brooklyn (New York Times)
- Interviews Available With Americans In Palestinian
Cities Under Attack By The Israeli Army (us Newswire)
* U.S. RADIO PROMOTES AFGHAN CAMPAIGN (AP)
* ‘AFGHAN ORPHAN’ E-MAIL MAY BE HOAX (ABC)
* TEXAN GETS DEATH FOR KILLING INDIAN OVER SEPT. 11 (Reuters)
* COMMENT: THE PRISONER OF SHARON (Worldnetdaily.com)
* THE ANTI-AMERICANS (Antiwar.com)
* PALESTINIANS ARE BLURRY IN THE EDITORIAL FRAME (FAIR)
- In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates
* PALESTINIAN BACKERS URGE U.S. MEDIATION (Columbus Dispatch)
* ISRAELIS WHO WON’T JOIN THE FIGHT(NBC)
* A SPEECH LACED WITH OBSESSIONS AND LITTLE ELSE (The Independent)
* ISRAEL IS NOT AMERICA’S GREATEST ALLY (Newsweek International)
* A RIGHTWING BLUEPRINT FOR THE MIDDLE EAST (AlterNet)
* TEEN ASKS TENNESSEE COUNTY TO DISPLAY ISLAMIC PILLARS (AP)
* EXHIBIT: THE HISTORY OF MUSLIMS IN WASHINGTON, DC
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: REPEL EVIL WITH GOOD
“[Since] good and evil cannot be equal. Repel [evil] with something
that is
better. Then you will see that he with whom you had enmity, will become
your close friend.”
The Holy Quran, Chapter 41, Verse 34
-----
CAIR TRAINING CONFERENCE A SUCCESS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/5/02) On Saturday, March 30 and Sunday March 31,
2002,
the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) held its annual
training
conference at the Sheraton Premiere in Vienna, Va.
The sold-out conference, entitled “Muslims in America: Moving Forward
with
Faith,” offered intensive workshops and lectures on media relations,
civil
rights advocacy, coalition-building and political empowerment, all
presented by top professionals in their fields.
More than 400 Muslim activists took part in the conference. Attendees
included community leaders and activists from 28 states, Canada and
Europe.
Evaluations from participants indicate a high level of appreciation for
the
conference and the content of workshops.
One participated stated, “The conference has given me a lot of ideas
and
motivated me beyond my imagination.” Many attendees pointed to the need
for
greater activism within the Muslim community, particularly in light of
the
government’s increasing use of racial and religious profiling.
Representative John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI) offered the keynote address at
the
luncheon on Saturday. His speech highlighted civil rights and civil
liberties concerns in the aftermath of September 11. “I have not been
able
to find any evidence of why we need to surrender any of our
constitutional
civil rights and liberties to fight terrorism,” said Conyers.
-----
RIGHTS ACTIVISTS ASSAIL CHECK OF JAIL CONDITIONS
By MITCHEL MADDUX, The Record (Bergen County, NJ), 4/4/2002
http://northjersey.com/cgi-bin/page.pl?id=3049876
Civil rights activists criticized the U.S. Justice Department on
Wednesday,
saying that an agency review of immigration detainees¬ treatment in the
Passaic County Jail has come too late.
The Justice Department's Inspector General's Office recently began a
review
of conditions at the Paterson facility, only weeks after an Amnesty
International report said Muslim detainees there had been mistreated.
But several activists said that as many as 75 percent of those held in
Passaic County as part of the Sept. 11 terror probe have already either
been deported or released. "It's closing the barn door after the horses
have gotten out," said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on
American-Islamic Relations in Washington. "A cynical person would say
it's
just public relations spin and damage control.” A spokesman for the
Justice
Department's Inspector General's Office, Paul Martin, declined to
discuss
the review, which also is looking at conditions inside the federal
Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn.
Authorities did confirm that the review would examine issues such as
the
detainees’ access to legal counsel, the civil rights they are afforded,
whether their cases are being handled promptly, and other conditions in
the
jails.
Most of those among the 326 being held -- many of them men of Middle
Eastern and South Asian heritage -- are being detained on immigration
charges. Most are being held in New Jersey, with many in the Passaic
and
Hudson jails, civil liberties groups say.
Sohail Mohammed, a Clifton attorney who has represented more than a
dozen
detainees, said many detainees who could have been affected by the
review's
outcome are no longer in custody. Citing information culled from civil
rights groups and other attorneys, he estimated that 100 immigration
detainees remain of 400 originally held in the Passaic County Jail.
-----
JUDGE RULES THE HEARING FOR A DETAINEE MUST BE OPEN
By Danny Hakim with Susan Sachs, New York Times, 4/03/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/national/04DETA.html
A federal judge here ruled today that an immigration hearing for a
local
suspect in the government's terror sweep could not be closed to
reporters.
The ruling was the first in a federal court on the Justice Department's
effort to keep such cases closed and could have ramifications for
hundreds
of other immigration hearings that are pending for men of Arab descent
since the Sept. 11 attacks. "Openness is necessary for the public to
maintain confidence in the value and soundness of the government's
actions,
as secrecy only breeds suspicion," Judge Nancy G. Edmunds of Federal
District Court ruled in rejecting the argument that the cases should be
closed for national security reasons…
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Democracy Now! at (212) 431-9090
ISRAELI SOLDIERS SHOOT AND KILL A U.S. CITIZEN AS SHE HOLDS HER
9-MONTH-OLD
BABY IN HER LAP; WITH THE MORGUE OVERFLOWING, THE FAMILY IS FORCED TO
BURY
THE 21-YEAR OLD PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN IN THE RAMALLAH HOSPITAL PARKING
LOT;
THE U.S. STATE DEPARTMENT DOES NOTHING
Israeli soldiers on Friday shot and killed Suraida Saleh in Ramallah as
she
was holding her 9-month old baby in her lap.
She and her husband were driving to safety at her father's house after
hearing shooting near their home. Suraida Saleh was a
Palestinian-American
born in George Washington Hospital in Washington, D.C.
Reached on the phone today in Ramallah, her father, Farhan Mohammed
Saleh,
told Democracy Now! that Israeli soldiers asked the husband to stop the
car
and started shooting. He said they shot Suraida in the head and chest,
and
she died immediately. After shooting the husband repeatedly, they let
him
go. He took the baby from his dead wife's lap and stumbled up the road
to
the home of his father-in-law, where he collapsed.
With the Ramallah hospital morgue overflowing and Israeli soldiers
preventing anyone from reaching the cemetery, Saleh said he was forced
to
bury his daughter in the hospital parking lot alongside dozens of other
Palestinians.
Suraida's father, Farhan Mohammed Saleh, wept as he said: "I took her
out
of the hospital refrigerator [morgue] with my own hands, and my wife
and my
older son with me, we took her outside and put her in the ground, just
temporary."
On Tuesday, Democracy Now! spoke to the Office of Consular Affairs at
the
State Department. The office said the State Department was aware that
Suraida Saleh was a U.S. citizen, but did not plan to release a
statement
or take any action. Farhan Mohammed Saleh said that the State
Department
has done nothing. As he spoke, his grandson could be heard crying in
the
background. "[My grandson] is with me now. He is 9 months old, I don't
know
what's going to happen with him without his mother. You know, he's
crying
all the time. That's what makes me suffer."
What follows is a partial transcript of the interview with Farhan
Mohammed
Saleh, the father of Suraida Saleh. He was interviewed by Amy Goodman,
host
of the radio and television show, Democracy Now!.
Farhan Mohammed Saleh [Saleh]: …some of the neighbors, when they hear
the
shooting and saw her in the car, they call the ambulance… she stayed in
the
refrigerator [hospital morgue] from Friday morning up to yesterday
evening
[5 days]. … I took her out of the hospital refrigerator with my own
hands,
and my wife and my older son with me, we took her outside and put her
in
the ground, just temporary, somewhere in the hospital, until they can
take
her to the cemetery.
Amy Goodman [AG]: You buried your daughter in the parking lot?
Saleh: Yes, yes, she was with 2 more women, the men were buried
separately.
It is a temporary cemetery they make ...
AG: How many other people are buried in the parking lot?
Saleh: About 25 or 27 people. Three women were yesterday, and about 23
or
24 men.
AG: Why couldn't you get to the cemetery?
Saleh: Nobody can go to the cemetery, there was shooting going
everywhere.
They just give 1 or 2 hours to the people to see their dead. We passed
from
the side of the tanks and the soldiers, and we was scared… [My
grandson] is
with me now. He is 9 months old, I don't know what's going to happen
with
him without his mother. You know, he's crying all the time. That's what
makes me suffer. [Crying of baby in the background]
AG: Has the US embassy come to see you?
Saleh: Nobody, nobody up to now. My other daughter in Brooklyn, she
called
the Department of State in the U.S. and gave them all the information
and
they called the American Embassy in Jerusalem, and gave them my phone
number. They called me Friday or Saturday, and I told them what's
happening, and they say they are going to come and nobody came. And
they
called me Sunday morning and say they're going to come and nobody
showed
up, up to now. I called 2 or 3 times and I talked with some people
working
and nobody has shown up to now, nobody has seen me up to now. I don't
know
what I'm going to do with the baby now. [He begins to weep.]
It's a bad situation, a bad situation we have really. We just ask God
to
help her. It's killing people everywhere, in the streets, in the
houses.
They broke down the houses, the buildings, they get inside the houses
and
the apartments and they kill people and break down everything. That's
barbarism. That's the situation we have. I don't know where are the
human
rights? The US and all the world, they're calling for human rights -
where
are the human rights? Civilian people, they're killing everywhere, in
the
streets and the houses and the apartments. Some buildings have 10 to 15
apartments, they get inside the apartments and houses and are killing
everywhere.
-----
ISRAELI TROOPS FIRE GRENADES AT REPORTERS
United Press International, 4/5/2002
TEL AVIV, Israel, April 5 (UPI) -- Israeli soldiers fired rubber
bullets
and stun grenades at a journalist convoy near the compound of
Palestinian
leader Yasser Arafat in Ramallah, U.S. TV journalists reported early
Friday.
There was no warning before troops in two vehicles fired five to seven
stun
grenades, TV reporters from CNN and ABC News reported. About 25
reporters
were then ordered to leave.
Journalists had gone to the area to wait for U.S. special envoy Gen.
Anthony Zinni, who is scheduled to meet with Arafat later in the day...
-----
KAPTUR URGES BUSH TO PUSH FOR U.N. PEACEKEEPERS IN MIDEAST
http://www.house.gov/apps/list/press/oh09_kaptur/prBushMideast.html
TOLEDO, OH -U.S. Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9) today called on
President Bush to request an emergency meeting of the United Nations
Security Council for the purpose of approving an enforcement action in
the
Middle East.
“The situation in Israel and the Palestinian territories has spiraled
out
of control,” Congresswoman Kaptur said.“United Nations peacekeepers
could
end the escalation of violence in Israel and the Palestinian Authority.
“The world looks to the United States for leadership.As a permanent
member
of the Security Council, the United States has a responsibility to work
with the nations of the world to urge warring parties to end their
conflicts through dialogue.If they do not, however, we must help forge
an
international alliance to create an atmosphere more conducive to
negotiations.”
Congresswoman Kaptur said a U.N. force, after bringing down the level
of
violence, could help provide the regional stability that is necessary
for
preserving Israel’s right to exist and establishing an independent
Palestinian state. She noted that both objectives are part of the Bush
Administration’s stated policy in the Middle East.
According to the United Nations, there have been 49 peacekeeping
operations
since 1948.Thirty six operations were created by the Security Council
in
the years between 1988 (when the blue-helmeted U.N. peacekeepers were
awarded the Nobel Peace Prize) and June 1999.
“Over the past 18 months we have seen more than 400 Israelis and more
than
1,200 Palestinians killed,” Congresswoman Kaptur said.“The violence on
both
sides has intensified in recent weeks and now threatens to engulf the
entire region in a destabilizing conflict.The violence is taking on a
life
of its own.Further delay will make peace even harder to achieve. This
is
why the United Nations peacekeepers exist.The United States must take
the
lead to bring an end to the bloodshed.”
In the case of enforcement action, the Security Council gives Member
States
the authority to take all necessary measures to achieve a stated
objective.
Consent of the parties is not necessarily required.
SEND NOTES OF APPRECIATION TO:
Rep. Marcy Kaptur
Northwest Ohio Office
One Maritime Plaza
Sixth Floor
Toledo, Ohio 43604-1853
(419) 259-7500
(800) 964-4699
Fax - (419) 255-9623
Washington, D.C. Office
2366 Rayburn House Office Bldg.
Washington, DC 20515
(202) 225-4146
Fax - (202) 225-7711
E-MAIL: REP.KAPTUR@mail.house.gov
COPY TO: ohio@cair-net.org, cair@cair-net.org
-----
U.S. JEW DENOUNCES CRITICS OF HIS PALESTINIAN AID
By Christian Wiessner, Reuters, 4/4/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/news/news-mideast-usa-brooklyn.html
NEW YORK, April 4 (Reuters) - The Jewish American aid worker who
treated
Palestinian wounded in Yasser Arafat's besieged compound denounced his
critics on Thursday and said police and the FBI were investigating
death
threats that have led his parents to temporarily leave their Brooklyn
home.
"So far they are safe and trying to stay that way," Adam Shapiro --
described as "the Jewish Taliban" in some U.S. media reports -- said of
his
parents, Doreen and Stuart Shapiro, in a telephone interview from his
apartment in the West Bank city of Ramallah…
The Shapiros, both teachers, are living out of state after death
threats
sent to their Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, home via telephone and e-mail…
Shapiro is a member of The International Solidarity Movement, a group
which
bills itself as working to raise awareness of the Palestinian struggle
and
to end the Israeli occupation.
He persuaded Israeli authorities to allow him to enter the PLO
presidential
compound last weekend to treat wounded aides of Arafat and became
trapped
inside as Israeli troops pounded the complex with heavy gunfire.
Shapiro caused a storm in some New York Jewish circles when it was
learned
after he emerged from the compound that Arafat ate breakfast with him
as a
gesture of thanks for aiding the wounded.
In New York, Shapiro's brother Noah said the "disgusting" telephone
calls
and emails had left their parents "emotional and distraught..."
SEE ALSO:
Editorial: Death Threats in Brooklyn
The New York Times, 4/4/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/04/opinion/_04THU2.html
As the Mideast death toll soars, so do anxieties about the region's
corrosive hatreds spilling onto our own shores and threatening the
lives
and freedoms of Americans. That fear has now become reality in Brooklyn
in
a way both surprising and repellent. Death threats from irresponsible
local
supporters of Israel have forced an innocent couple, Doreen and Stuart
Shapiro, to flee their home. They became a target after their son Adam
delivered humanitarian medical aid to Yasir Arafat's besieged compound
in
Ramallah, on the West Bank.
Rage at Mr. Arafat for his complicity in murderous suicide bombings
across
Israel is understandable. Yet Mr. Arafat's behavior scarcely turns Adam
Shapiro's peaceful action into treason against America and the Jews or
makes him the equivalent of an American Taliban fighter, as some of the
menacing messages charge…
---
Interviews Available With Americans In Palestinian Cities Under Attack
By
The Israeli Army U.S. Newswire, 4/4/2002
Several U.S. citizens remain inside Palestinian refugee camps and
cities
that are under siege by the Israeli army.
Yesterday the United States government evacuated many of the U.S.
members
of the international delegation that had gone to the occupied
territories
to protest against human rights violations against Palestinians. But
some
Americans decided to stay in Palestine, to protect Palestinians and
report
on the atrocities being carried out there by the Israeli Army. The
following Americans are available to provide eyewitness testimony from
Palestinian cities and refugee camps:
Kate Raphael, cell phone: 011-972-56-621-935
Kate Raphael is a 42-year old Jewish American woman who lives in the
San
Francisco Bay Area where she works at a law firm. Kate has been
involved
with a group called Women in Black, which is an international peace
network
whose members hold silent peace vigils in protest of war and human
rights
abuses. Women in Black vigils were started in Israel in 1988 by women
protesting against the occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip.
Huwaida Arraf, cell phone: 011-972-52-642-709
Huwaida Arraf is a 26-year-old Palestinian American from Detroit, MI.
She
decided not to be evacuated out of the occupied territories by the U.S.
government, and she is now in Ramallah.
Rob Lipton, cell phone: 011-972-51-363-195
Rob Lipton is a 43-year-old Jewish American scientist from Berkeley,
CA. He
is active with a group called Jewish Voice for Peace, a San Francisco
Bay
Area grassroots human rights organization focused on the Middle East.
In an
April 3 interview with the Associated Press from East Jerusalem, after
he
was evacuated from Bethlehem, Lipton said: "The first night in the camp
there was very heavy machine gun fire. The Palestinians did not return
fire. They do not have heavy weapons, although I could hear the
occasional
pop pop of some small guns and then the giant roar of tank fire," he
said.
Adam Shapiro, cell phone: 011-972-52-481-261
Adam Shapiro is a 30-year-old activist from Brooklyn, New York. He
works
with the International Solidarity Movement, the organization that
sponsored
the delegation of internationals to the West Bank and Gaza Strip. He is
currently in Ramallah. Since Adam was interviewed in the U.S. media in
recent days, his parents received so many death threats from
pro-Israeli
zealots that they had to temporarily leave their home in Brooklyn.
For eyewitness reports by Americans, Europeans, Palestinians and others
who
are in the West Bank and Gaza Strip, see www.electronicintifada.net and
www.jerusalem.indymedia.org.
CONTACT: Karen Pomer, 310-463-7025 Andrea Buffa, 510-839-8911 both of
Vanguard Public Foundation Web: http://www.vanguardsf.org/
-----
U.S. RADIO PROMOTES AFGHAN CAMPAIGN
By MICHELLE BOORSTEIN, The Associated Press, 4/5/2002
BAGRAM, Afghanistan (AP) - In a classified area of this sprawling,
dusty
military base, behind rolls of barbed wire, a different sort of battle
is
under way.
Four Humvees and a canvas tent have been transformed into a radio
station
run by the U.S. Army Psychological Operations unit, broadcasting Afghan
folk music, Dari language techno and informational items crafted by
Army
marketing experts.
Luring listeners with a program that is heavy on music - banned under
the
Taliban - Information Radio weaves in announcements that carry a clear
message across Afghanistan: Support the allies and the interim
government
of Hamid Karzai.
A recent item on the station, which broadcasts 24 hours a day and can
be
heard nationwide, told of two Afghan bicyclists training for the 2004
Olympics. They will win, “God willing,” the announcer said. “However,
it
can only happen when peace is truly achieved in Afghanistan and all
Afghans
unite to support the interim government and the new way of life…”
The psychological operations specialists make the music and write the
scripts with the help of civilian and military Afghan-Americans,
linguists
and marketing experts, says Capt. Bob of the Fort Bragg, N.C.-based 8th
Battalion. The Army prohibits identifying members of the unit by their
full
names…
-----
‘AFGHAN ORPHAN’ E-MAIL MAY BE HOAX
Afghan-American Families Offer
Foster Care, But Orphans May Not Exist
By Leela Jacinto, ABC News, 4/03/02
http://abcnews.go.com/sections/world/DailyNews/afghan020403_orphan.html
The e-mails, seeking homes for more than 500 Afghan women and children
coming to the United States, started circulating among the
Afghan-American
community last month, but U.S. and Afghan officials fear they may be
nothing more than a well-circulated hoax.
Hundreds of Afghan-American families across the country have been
signing
up for foster care licenses after a series of e-mails claimed that 529
Afghan women and children, 217 of them orphaned children, were going to
be
brought to the United States.
But the e-mails which appeared to be put out by Niswa, a Los
Angeles-based
Muslim community organization offered no details on how the women and
children had arrived in the United States or who was responsible for
bringing them in…
-----
TEXAN GETS DEATH FOR KILLING INDIAN OVER SEPT. 11
Reuters, 4/4/2002
DALLAS, April 4 (Reuters) - A Dallas-area stone worker who went out to
shoot immigrants in revenge for the Sept. 11 attacks on the United
States
was sentenced to death on Thursday for killing a gas station owner born
in
India.
The same Dallas jury that convicted Mark Stroman, 32, of capital murder
on
Tuesday condemned him to death for the slaying last October of Vasudev
Patel, 49, a naturalized U.S. citizen from India.
Stroman, who maintained his actions were the result of his anger over
the
Sept. 11 attacks, is also charged in the Sept. 15 shooting death of
Waqar
Hassan, a convenience store owner from Karachi, Pakistan, and the
wounding
of Raisuddin Bhuiyan, a Bangladeshi immigrant shot on Sept. 21 at the
gas
station where he worked.
-----
COMMENT: THE PRISONER OF SHARON
By Patrick J. Buchanan, Worldnetdaily.com, 4/5/2002
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27112
The president's problem: If he denounces Sharon and demands he pull
back
from the West Bank, he will dynamite his political coalition at home
and
call down a firestorm within his own party.
Nevertheless, the president must separate America's policy from
Sharon's
policy. For, if he does not, his own and America's standing in an Arab
world of 300 million will come to resemble that of Sharon. The
president
must not let this happen. For, as a global power, the United States has
strategic interests in the Middle East and Islamic world that are far
greater than, and far different than, those of Israel…
But Ariel Sharon does not believe in that peace. When the United States
embraced the Oslo accords and Prime Minister Rabin's offer of
land-for-peace, when we endorsed Ehud Barak's bold offer to the
Palestinians, when President Bush welcomed the Saudi peace plan, Sharon
opposed them all, rejected them all, trashed them all, fought them all.
Sharon's vision is not America's vision. We must make that known to the
world…
The president must erase the perception that Americans are Sharon's
silent
partners in killing Palestinian dreams of a nation of their own on land
on
which their fathers have lived for 1,000 years…
The president must understand that what Sharon and the neoconservative
War
Party are slavering for is what the latter call "World War IV," a war
with
America and Israel on one side, and all the enemies of Israel in the
Arab
and Islamic world on the other a war that could bring down every
pro-American regime in the region and usher in the war of civilizations
the
president has sought since Sept. 11 to avoid…
-----
THE ANTI-AMERICANS
Amen Corner denounces Bush for 'going wobbly'
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 4/5/2002
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j040502.html
First it was the Pope coming out against Israel's "humiliation" of the
Palestinians, then, a day later, the President of the United States
calling
on Ariel Sharon to pull back his tanks. But don't think that Israel's
Amen
Corner didn't see it coming. You gotta give these guys credit: they
know
when someone is about to turn pro-American.
Norman Podhoretz, writing in the Jerusalem Post the day before Bush's
statement, prefaced his condemnation of a President gone "wobbly" as
the
War Party is now glumly putting it with paragraph upon paragraph of
unctuous praise. Yet he got out the knives before getting halfway
through
his screed by noting unhappily that Bush had once or twice used that
suspect phrase "the cycle of violence" and that this rhetorical gaffe
was
really the necessary prelude to his sending Vice President Dick Cheney
on
"a quixotic, unnecessary, and humiliating quest" seeking support for an
effort to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein.
Oh, George W. had been "incandescent" in the days and weeks following
9/11,
and Poddy was particularly thrilled by the "axis of evil" speech; but,
lately there have been worrying signs that the President has "suddenly
lost
his ability to see the obvious" obvious to Norman Podhoretz, and his
fellow neoconservatives, that is…
-----
PALESTINIANS ARE BLURRY IN THE EDITORIAL FRAME
By Norman Solomon, FAIR, 4/4/2002
http://www.fair.org/media-beat/020404.html
Most editorial writers seem determined to detour around obvious
parallels
with apartheid-era South Africa. Evasions and apologetics for basic
elements of Israel's policies dominate so much of the U.S. media
landscape
that insightful comments by Brzezinski were conspicuous: "The Israelis
are
becoming increasingly like the white supremacist South Africans,
viewing
the Palestinians as a lower form of life, not hesitating to kill a
great
many of them."
Parrot-like, highly selective media use of the "terrorism" label is
providing top U.S. and Israeli officials with invaluable propaganda
cover.
Meanwhile, Brzezinski has it right: "You cannot define the loss of
human
life in terms of the number of Israelis killed by brutal, savage,
inexcusable Palestinian terror. And it does take place. The fact of the
matter is that three times as many Palestinians have been killed, and a
relatively small number of them were really militants. Most were
civilians.
Some hundreds of children."
The New York Times ended an April 3 editorial with this sentence: "Only
the
most bankrupt leadership -- spiritually, intellectually and politically
--
allows this macabre, self-delusional act of ruin to pass without
anguished
condemnation." Those words referred to a recent suicide bombing. But
they
also apply to the U.S. government and major media outlets continuing to
wink and nod while the Israeli military slaughters Palestinian people.
SEE ALSO:
FAIRNESS & ACCURACY IN REPORTING ACTION ALERT:
In U.S. Media, Palestinians Attack, Israel Retaliates
April 4, 2002
The numbers will have risen by the time you read this, but more than
300
Israelis and 1,200 Palestinians have been killed since the current
Intifada
began in September 2000 (Boston Globe, 3/31/02). Thousands more people
have
been injured.
U.S. media coverage of the conflict has been intense in recent weeks,
as
the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) mounted a large-scale invasion of the
West
Bank and Palestinian militants carried out several major suicide
bombings.
Amnesty International (4/3/02) has condemned the targeting of civilians
by
both sides, voicing concern over "flagrant human rights abuses" by the
IDF,
including looting, mass detentions, the targeting of medical personnel
and
possible extrajudicial executions. Israel has tried to exclude the
press
from the entire area where the abuses are occurring; the Committee to
Protect Journalists has expressed alarm (4/2/02) over the apparent
targeting of reporters in "ongoing incidents in which IDF forces have
opened fire on, or in the direction of, journalists attempting to cover
events in the West Bank."
With thousands of lives at stake and reporters risking their own lives,
it's increasingly difficult-- but perhaps more urgent than ever-- to
step
back and examine how U.S. media have framed the story. To this end,
FAIR
has surveyed how the language of "retaliation" has been used on the
nightly
news shows on ABC, CBS and NBC.
From the start of the Intifada in September 2000 through March 17,
2002,
the three major networks' nightly news shows used some variation of the
word "retaliation" (retaliated, will retaliate, etc.) 150 times to
describe
attacks in the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. About 79 percent of those
references were to Israeli "retaliation" against Palestinians. Only 9
percent referred to Palestinian "retaliation" against Israelis.
(Approximately 12 percent were ambiguous or referred to both sides
simultaneously.)
Both sides of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict routinely present their
attacks as being retaliation for previous attacks or actions. Both
sides
portray their struggle as essentially defensive. Whether one regards
these
justifications as credible explanations or self-serving rhetoric, the
fact
is that reporters make choices about whether to report them. The
network
news shows have characterized Israeli violence as "retaliation" almost
nine
times more often than Palestinian violence.
This disparity is meaningful. The term "retaliation" suggests a
defensive
stance undertaken in response to someone else's aggression. It also
lays
responsibility for the cycle of violence at the doorstep of the party
being
"retaliated" against, since they presumably initiated the conflict.
Among the three major networks, ABC's World News Tonight was the
closest to
being balanced, with 64 percent of its uses of "retaliation" referring
to
Israeli actions and 21 percent to Palestinian actions-- a three-to-one
ratio. CBS Evening News came next, with 79 percent of its uses of
"retaliation" referring to Israeli actions and 7 percent to Palestinian
actions. NBC Nightly News was the most imbalanced, never once referring
to
Palestinian retaliation.
The devastating human toll of such "retaliations" makes these
imbalances
are all the more striking. According to the latest estimates from the
Israeli human rights group B'Tselem, 897 of the Palestinians killed
from
September 29, 2000 though March 30, 2002 have been civilians. Israeli
security forces killed 823 of those 897 people, including 192 children.
B'Tselem records that 253 Israeli civilians were killed by Palestinians
in
the same period, including 48 children. At least 16 of those 253 people
were killed by Palestinian National Authority security forces or
persons
reportedly linked to them. B'Tselem notes that these figures include
neither suicide bombers nor Palestinians who "died after medical
treatment
was delayed" by Israeli forces. (See www.btselem.org.)
Figures like these, highlighting the targeting of non-combatants and
even
children, make clear that it is simply inaccurate to cast either side
as
acting purely defensively.
The language of retaliation is only one factor in reporting, of course,
but
FAIR's findings-- 79 percent to 9 percent-- are striking and indicate a
tendency to define Israel's role as defensive, and the Palestinian role
as
aggressive. By doing so,ABC, CBS and NBC have oversimplified this
complicated conflict and done a disservice to viewers.
ACTION: Please urge the networks to examine why they apply the word
"retaliation" almost exclusively to one side in the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict.
ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings
Phone: 212-456-4040
Fax: 212-456-2795
mail to: netaudr@abc.com
CBS Evening News with Dan Rather
Phone: 212-975-3691
Fax: 212-975-1893
mail to: audsvcs@cbs.com
NBC Nightly News with Tom Brokaw
Phone: 212-664-4971
Fax: 202-362-2009
mail to: nightly@msnbc.com
As always, please remember that your comments are taken more seriously
if
you maintain a polite tone. Please cc fair@fair.org with your
correspondence.
-----
PALESTINIAN BACKERS URGE U.S. MEDIATION
By Mary Mogan Edwards, The Columbus Dispatch, 4/4/2002
http://libpub.dispatch.com/cgi-bin/documentv1?DBLIST=cd02&DOCNUM=14674&TERMV=20752:3:
The only hope for peace in the Mideast lies with the United States,
local
advocates for Palestinians said yesterday.
At a news conference to decry Israeli military actions in Bethlehem and
elsewhere, the Coalition for Palestine's call to action was directed
toward
the U.S. government.
The United States must demand that Israeli forces withdraw from
Palestinian
cities and cut off aid to Israel until that happens, the group said.
The
government also must demand an international investigation of Israel's
anti-Palestinian actions, it said.
"It's not too late" for peace, said Jad Humeidan, executive director of
the
Ohio Council on American-Islamic Relations. "People have said it can't
get
any worse. It definitely can get worse…"
The Coalition for Palestine plans to demonstrate at 3 p.m. Friday in
front
of the federal office building at 200 N. High St.
The group's statements yesterday were prompted by the Israeli
military's
movements into major Palestinian cities in the West Bank during the
past
week. It said that tanks are blocking movement in and out of cities and
that soldiers are shooting at anyone who defies a curfew…
-----
ISRAELIS WHO WON’T JOIN THE FIGHT
By Martin Fletcher, NBC NEWS, 4/3/2002
http://www.msnbc.com/news/733053.asp
ATLIT, Israel, April 3 Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon has
declared
that Israel is “at war,” but some reservists are refusing to fight when
called up by their government facing the scorn of their countrymen,
and
jail terms.
“WHY SHOULD I go to kill and to be killed for what?” says Ron, one of
about 400 Israeli soldiers refusing to join the fight in the West Bank
and
Gaza.
“This is a war that we have no chance to win,” he says.
Lt. Itai Ryb got the call to serve on Friday. But this week he decided
to
pack not for war, but for jail, joining other refuseniks who have
signed a
letter saying they’d rather go to prison than serve in the military
campaign.
“This war is not acceptable to me,” he says. “I can’t take part in it.”
The Israeli action in the West Bank is wrong, he says, because “it’s
occupation, it’s illegal; mostly it harms the well-being of Israel. The
sooner we end the occupation, the sooner we’re going to have peace in
this
country…”
-----
A SPEECH LACED WITH OBSESSIONS AND LITTLE ELSE
By Robert Fisk, The Independent, 4/5/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=281726
Ariel Sharon could not have done better. The heaping of blame upon an
occupied people, the obsessive use of the word terror by my rough
count
there were 50 references in just 10 minutes and the brief, frightened
remarks about "occupation" and (one mention only) to Jewish settlements
and
the need for Israeli "compassion" at the end were proof enough that
President Bush had totally failed to understand the tragedy he is
supposedly trying to solve.
The mugger became the victim and the victim became the mugger. What, I
wonder, is the exact distance between the Rose Garden and Bethlehem? So
the
US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, is travelling to "the region" next
week. Next week? Why not now?
But of course, the White House, which according to the Israeli press
has
repeatedly been asking Mr Sharon how long he intends to reoccupy the
Palestinian cities of the West Bank, is to give the Israeli Prime
Minister
more time to finish his invasion, destroy the Palestinian
infrastructure
and dismantle the Palestinian Authority…
Far more instructive than the Bush speech was the measured, fair way in
which Terje Larson, the UN's special Middle East envoy, and Nigel
Roberts,
the local director of the World Bank, tried to describe the tragedy. In
a
short press conference they appealed to both sides to end violence and
respect international law and cited Israel as well as the Palestinians
for
breaking it. The so-called Israeli "closed military areas" were, Mr
Larson
said, "illegitimate and in direct violation of the [Oslo] Agreements".
Mr
Roberts talked of the surge in violence as a threat that could "consign
to
history the unique opportunity for reconciliation''.
But "closed military areas" achieved another Israeli victory over the
Western television satellite stations. Yesterday, the BBC, Sky and CNN,
with their own crews largely prevented from filming in the reoccupied
Palestinian cities, all ran footage of the Bethlehem battle taken by
Israeli soldiers. Rather than refuse to use the tape unless their own
crews
were permitted access to the carnage, the three channels all dutifully
used
the film taken by the army of occupation. Another milestone in the
collapse
of journalism in the Middle East. But not so serious as the collapse of
America's peace-making.
-----
SHARON'S SELF -DEFEATING VENDETTA
By H.D.S. Greenway, The Boston Globe, 4/5/2002
http://www.boston.com/dailyglobe2/095/oped/Sharon_s_self_defeating_vendetta+.shtml
IT IS IMPOSSIBLE to make sense out of the Middle East mess without
understanding that Israel's Ariel Sharon, in his year in office, has
been
waging war not just against terrorism, but against the Oslo accords and
a
peace process that promised a two-state solution with Israel living
beside
a Palestinian state.
Sharon, the architect of Israel's land-grabbing Israeli settlements in
the
occupied territories, essentially envisions a one-state solution with
Israel maintaining its occupation and expanding Jewish settlements
with,
perhaps, one day a Palestinian state relegated to little Bantustan
enclaves
modeled on the apartheid South African model...
-----
ISRAEL IS NOT AMERICA’S GREATEST ALLY
By Michael Lind, Newsweek International, 4/8/2002
http://www.msnbc.com/news/731882.asp?cp1=1
Once again, conflict is raging between Israel and the Palestiniansand
once
again, the U.S. government can see fault only on one side. Even as
Israeli
soldiers were demolishing his compound and threatening his life,
Palestinian Authority chairman Yasir Arafat was instructed by U.S.
Secretary of State Colin Powell to end terrorism against Israel,
including
that committed by groups Arafat cannot control.
What passes in the United States as an evenhanded stance is perceived,
not
only in the Middle East but in Europe and throughout the world, as
unquestioning American support of bully tactics by Israel. In fact,
with
his uncritical support of Israel, George W. Bush has managed to create
an
alliance of Arab states supporting Iraq against the United States. The
Arab-Israeli conflict has also fueled divisions between the United
States
and its European allies over the war against Al Qaeda. One can only
hope
that the depth of the international opposition to America’s policies
may
slowly force a reappraisal of U.S.-Israel relationsfor the good of both
countries…
-----
A RIGHTWING BLUEPRINT FOR THE MIDDLE EAST
Jim Lobe, AlterNet, 4/4/2002
http://www.alternet.org/story.html?StoryID=12785
George W. Bush's silence in the face of the destruction of the
Palestine
Authority (PA) -- and with it, the nine-year-old Oslo peace process --
marks a sweeping change in U.S. policy in the Middle East.
The appeals of Arab allies to rein in Sharon have fallen on utterly
deaf
ears. The lack of response to date suggests that the Bush White House
has
now fully embraced the rightwing view that Israel is the U.S.' only
strategic ally in the region. And that the interests of Arab states,
such
as Saudi Arabia and Egypt, will have to take second place to the
broader
"war against terrorism."
This shift in perspective marks a huge and potentially decisive victory
for
a coalition of largely Jewish neo-conservatives and Christian Right
Republicans both inside and outside the administration. They have
argued
with increasing vehemence in recent months that Washington's
traditional
deference -- which they label as "appeasement" -- to Arab rulers is
ultimately counter-productive.
Who is the Pro-Israel Lobby?
Members of the anti-Arab lobby within the administration include: Paul
Wolfowitz and Douglas Feith, the second and third in command at the
Pentagon respectively; Lewis Libby, Vice President Cheney's chief of
staff
and national security adviser; Elliott Abrams, a senior member of the
National Security Council Staff; John Bolton, Undersecretary of State
for
international security; and John Ashcroft, the evangelical Christian
who
heads the Department of Justice. It is also evident that Donald
Rumsfeld
and Dick Cheney generally share the views of their immediate deputies.
Outside the White House, William Bennett-- the influential former
Reagan
and Bush Sr. appointee who often spans the divide between neo-cons and
the
Christian Right -- is one of the prominent advocates of Israel.
"America's
fate and Israel's fate are one and the same," he wrote two weeks ago.
Criticizing the State Department for calling on Sharon to exercise
restraint, Bennett claimed that "Israel is being pressured so that we
can
assuage countries such as Egypt and Saudi Arabia. Yet it just so
happens
that those countries are responsible for the reappearance of the worst
forms of anti-Jewish propaganda since (Nazi Propaganda Minister) Joseph
Goebbels."
Bennett's article was one of dozens that have been churned out by the
pro-Likud Right through publications such as the Wall Street Journal,
the
Weekly Standard, the National Review, and Washington Times, as well as
the
nationally syndicated columns of Charles Krauthammer, William Safire,
and
Michael Kelly…
-----
TEEN ASKS TENNESSEE COUNTY TO DISPLAY ISLAMIC PILLARS
By The Associated Press, 4/04/02
CLEVELAND, Tenn. Bradley County, one of several Tennessee counties to
vote
recently to post the Ten Commandments, has been asked to include the
Five
Pillars of Islam in its displays of religious documents in public
places.
The commission has been asked several times by Rachel Cate, a student
at
Cleveland High School, to post the Islamic document alongside the Old
Testament one.” This is not only a Christian nation, but a nation for
everyone," Cate told the commission at a meeting last month. "I think
it is
discriminatory not to decide on the Five Pillars of Islam ... just as
you
decided on the Ten Commandments."
The commission has so far declined to grant Cate's request.
"At this point, we have our agendas full and there's no point in the
immediate future to address that," Commission Chairman Mike Smith told
Cate. Smith said he respects Cate's beliefs but believes that,
particularly
since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that have been blamed on extreme
factions of Islam, it would be inappropriate to post the Five Pillars.
One of the commissioners, Howard Thompson, debated with Cate during her
last appearance over whether there are five or six pillars, contending
the
sixth pillar is "jihad," or holy war.
There are actually five pillars, not six, according to The Columbia
Encyclopedia. They are Shahadah, or the faith that "there is no god but
God, and Muhammad is the Messenger of God"; Salah, the five daily
ritual
prayers; Zakat, the giving of alms; Sawm, the fast during the month of
Ramadan; and Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca.
-----
PRESS RELEASE
Collections & Stories of American Muslims, Inc.
FOR MORE INFORMATION, CONTACT: Amir Muhammad
Collections & Stories of American Muslims
202-678-6906 E-mail: amirmuhammad@juno.com
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CSAM’s“America’s Islamic Heritage Exhibition”
--Presents Two Exhibits --
“THE HISTORY OF MUSLIMS IN WASHINGTON, DC”
“A Look at Muslim Americans of Yesterday and Today”
The Thurgood Marshall Center for Service and Heritage at 1816 12th
Street
NW, between S and T St. will host two exhibits. From April 5, 2002 to
June
15, 2002. One of the exhibits highlights the history of Muslim
Americans in
the Washington, DC area which dates a Georgetown Muslim resident,
backmore
than 200 years, some turn of the century wills, and a look at the
growth
and development of a Muslim community from the Shaw area. The second
exhibit, on the second floor, examines Muslim Americans of the early
20th
Century and a glance at Muslim Americans of today.
The exhibit is sponsored in part by the Humanities Council of
Washington,
DC, the Shaw Heritage Trust, and Collections & Stories of American
Muslims,
Inc. CSAM’s “America’s Islamic Heritage” exhibits has traveled and been
on
display in many cities and universities across America such as Harvard
University, Rutgers, the University of Pittsburgh, the University of
Indiana, and the University of Illinois at Chicago.
As America begins to understand the various threads of culture, colors,
religions, and lifestyles that make up America’s pluralistic quilt, the
exhibition helps shed light on the depth, diversity, growth, and
history of
Muslim Americans. The exhibit is housed at the historical “12th Street
Y,”
the first YMCA for African Americans in the Washington, D.C. area, and
is
home to the exhibit on “African Americans early life in the Shaw Area.”
The exhibit will open with a reception on Friday, April 12th, 6:00 pm -
8:00pm. The exhibit will run from April 12th - June15th 2002. Times are
Monday - Saturday 10:00 am -5:00 pm. For group tours and further
information contact Amir Muhammad at (202) 678-6906.
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/6/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* ADVOCATE OF SLAUGHTERING PALESTINIANS TO APPEAR ON FOX
* CAIR-LA SPOKESMAN HONORED FOR SEEKING PEACE
* MUSLIM 9/11 HERO FINALLY RECOGNIZED (AP)
- A FITTING HONOR; PAKISTANI-BORN WTC VICTIM REMEMBERED
(Newsday)
* SECRET EVIDENCE PERMITTED (Chicago Tribune)
* HLF FILES MOTION FOR PRELIMINARY INJUNCTION
* THE LOFTUS RECORD (Weekly Planet)
* RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSES ISRAEL OF TORTURING PALESTINIANS (Washington
Post)
* MURDERED PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN REMEMBERED (Washington Post)
* MUSLIM LEADER TO BE HONORED AT MOREHOUSE (Atlanta Journal)
-----
ADVOCATE OF SLAUGHTERING PALESTINIANS TO APPEAR ON FOX
Joseph Farah, a right-wing commentator who has approved of a proposal
to
slaughter 1,000 Palestinians for every Israeli death, will be a guest
today
on "Fox News Live." He will address the question, "Are American Muslims
doing enough to help authorities track down terrorists both in the U.S.
and
abroad?"
SEE: Farah on Fox today
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27115
Farah is CEO and editor of Worldnetdaily.com, an online news site that
many
Muslims say frequently indulges in and promotes Islamophobic rhetoric.
Worldnetdaily.com Washington Bureau Chief Paul Sperry once suggested
that
the United States “air-lift pigs” into Afghan mosques. (9/27/2001) The
site
also actively promotes the views of infamous Islamophobes such as
Daniel
Pipes and Steven Emerson.
The segment is scheduled to air on Fox at approximately 4:20 p.m.
Eastern,
1:20 p.m. Pacific. (Guests and topics are subject to change.)
Farah recently rejected criticism of a Worldnetdaily.com article
advocating
that, “For every civilian, 100 non-combatant Palestinian adults will be
slain, and for every child, 1,000 adults," Farah wrote that he found
the
proposal to be “a very thoughtful and quite responsible contribution to
the
Middle East debate.”
He did not indicate whether those to be slaughtered would include his
fellow Christians, or would be limited to Muslim Palestinians. Farah
also
failed to outline whether these killings would be carried out using
firing
squads, lethal injections, or other means. Neither Farah, nor the
writer
who made the original proposal, indicated how Israel would dispose of
the
mass of bodies resulting from the executions.
In response to the flood of negative e-mails from concerned Muslims,
Worldnetdaily.com Commentary Editor Tom Ambrose replied that “so-called
Palestinians have no legitimate claim to Israel.”
SEE:
A real peace plan
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26995
1,000 eyes for an eye
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26870
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be firm but POLITE. Worldnetdaily.com has
a
history of using hostile comments to further defame Muslims and Islam.)
Contact Fox to express your concerns about their use of a person with
such
offensive views to speak on subjects related to American Muslims.
E-MAIL: live@foxnews.com, comments@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR-LA SPOKESMAN HONORED FOR SEEKING PEACE
ANAHEIM MAN IS DRIVEN TO PROMOTE PEACE BY FAMILY'S SUFFERINGS IN MIDDLE
EAST WAR
Awards: Ra'id Faraj is among 20 who will be honored by the Orange
County
Human Relations Commission for helping bridge gaps.
By DANIEL YI, The Los Angeles Times, 4/6/2002
http://www.latimes.com/editions/orange/la-000024566apr06.story
The irony is not lost on Ra'id Faraj.
Half a world away, in his native town of Bethlehem, his family is
cowering
under the advance of Israeli tanks in a perennial conflict that has
escalated recently in a vicious cycle of suicide bombings and
retaliations.
Here in Orange County, Faraj, a spokesman for the Southern California
chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, will be honored
Sunday for seeking peace.
"This is the very thing I hope we will never see in America," the
33-year-old Anaheim resident said of the tensions roiling his native
land.
"I suffered so much from it. My family continues to suffer. That is why
I
work so hard here." Faraj is among 20 people being recognized by the
Orange
County Human Relations Commission for their work in bridging gaps among
diverse communities.
The annual awards banquet will be at Garden Grove's Community Meeting
Center...
-----
MUSLIM 9/11 HERO FINALLY RECOGNIZED
By Larry McShane, Associated Press/Chicago Tribune, 4/6/2002
http://www.chicagotribune.com
For six months after Sept. 11, the family of Salman Hamdani had to
endure
the rumors that he was a fugitive terrorist or that he was in federal
custody. On Friday, he was remembered for what he truly was: a hero who
died in the rubble of the World Trade Center.
His remains in a flag-draped coffin at a Manhattan mosque, the
23-year-old
Muslim was praised at his long-delayed funeral for a selfless and fatal
choice: heading to ground zero to help his fellow Americans. "We don't
know
how many people he helped, how many lives he saved," Police
Commissioner
Raymond Kelly told several hundred mourners at the Islamic Cultural
Center
of New York.
"But if you look at his life, you know he was determined to make a
difference--and he did. He was indeed a hero…"
On Sept. 11, Hamdani left his Queens home and apparently saw the
disaster
in lower Manhattan unfold from the elevated tracks of the subway train.
He
immediately headed toward the scene.
In the weeks after his disappearance, a newspaper linked him to the
terrorist attacks, and a flier with his picture was circulated among
city
police officers, saying an FBI-Police Department joint terrorist task
force
wanted to speak with him. The fliers were unauthorized, and their
source
was unclear, police later said. But the rumors about his involvement in
the
attack spread.
On Friday, his mother blasted the news reports, saying "If your name
was
David, the story would have been very different..."
Mayor Michael Bloomberg joined the police commissioner in consoling the
family.
"We have an example of how one can make the world better," he said.
"Salman
stood up when most people would have gone in the other direction. He
went
in and helped people."
SEE ALSO:
A FITTING HONOR; PAKISTANI-BORN WTC VICTIM REMEMBERED
By Merle English; Newsday (New York, NY), 4/6/2002
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-fun0405.story
Muhammad Salman Hamdani was born in Pakistan, but he so loved the
United
States he wished his adopted country was his birthplace.
On Sept. 11, Hamdani, who was 23, gave his life at the World Trade
Center,
apparently trying to save others after the terrorist attacks. Rumors
that
proved to be unfounded had circulated among his Bayside neighbors after
fliers were posted saying police wanted to question him in connection
with
the attacks. Police denied any knowledge of the fliers. Friday, Hamdani
was
eulogized as an American hero and martyr at funeral services befitting
a hero.
Mayor Michael Bloomberg and Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly were
among
nearly 1,000 people - including scores from the police cadet corps, of
which Hamdani was a member - who turned out to pay tribute to him...
-----
SECRET EVIDENCE PERMITTED
National security cited in Bridgeview charity probe,
but critics fear rights at risk
By Laurie Cohen and David Mendell, Chicago Tribune, 4/6/2002
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/chi-0204060086apr06.story
A federal judge ruled Friday that the government can use secret
evidence in
justifying its decision to freeze the assets of a Bridgeview-based
Islamic
charity that U.S. prosecutors suspect is linked to terrorism.
U.S. District Judge Wayne R. Andersen cited "extraordinary
circumstances"
and "acute national security concerns" in his five-page ruling against
Global Relief Foundation, which had sued the federal government after
its
assets were frozen and its records were seized. The charity has denied
it
is connected to terrorists and has asked the court to lift the
financial
sanctions. Andersen's ruling, while not precedent-setting, troubles
civil
libertarians and legal experts who worry that the government is
overstepping constitutional boundaries during a period of heightened
nationalism.
Indeed, the charity argued that its constitutional rights would be
breached
by the government's request to present evidence to Andersen without
Global
Relief attorneys present.
But Andersen upheld the government's contention that national security
could be jeopardized if an adversarial hearing were held.
Andersen issued a written opinion and didn't elaborate on his reasoning
at
a public hearing Friday. However, at the hearing, Andersen emphasized
that
despite his decision to view the secret evidence, he might not rely on
the
evidence when deciding the case.
"I don't know whether or not the submissions the government plans to
make
are probative or admissible," the judge said.
Andersen said he doesn't plan to look at the secret evidence for at
least a
week, so he can first examine four binders of public evidence filed
last
week by federal prosecutors.
Global Relief attorneys criticized Friday's decision, pointing out that
a
federal judge in Detroit had ruled Thursday against prosecutors who
were
trying to keep an immigration hearing closed on the basis of protecting
national security.
"The emergency doesn't justify throwing out the Constitution," said
Matthew
Simmons, an attorney for Global Relief…
-----
PRESS RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE - APRIL 5, 2002
Contact: John Cline or John Boyd 505-842-9960
HOLY LAND FOUNDATION FOR RELIEF AND DEVELOPMENT FILES MOTION FOR
PRELIMINARY
INJUNCTION AND DECLARATORY RELIEF AS A RESULT OF THE SEIZURE OF ITS
ASSETS
AND PROPERTY
RICHARDSON, TX (April 5, 2002) - The Holy Land Foundation for Relief
and
Development (Holy Land), a United States non-profit charitable
corporation
that works to foster peace and opposes all forms of terrorism, has
filed a
motion for preliminary injunction and declaratory relief in the United
States District Court for the District of Columbia arguing that the
government's actions in seizing its assets have caused, and will
continue
to cause, irreparable harm to Holy Land, its employees, its donors, and
thousands of Palestinians and other needy persons throughout the world.
The defendants' actions of blocking the donated assets of Holy Land
violate
laws that specifically forbid interference with donations of
humanitarian
aid by American corporations and from American donors. The defendants
have
no credible evidence-and none exists-that Holy Land has any connection
with
terrorist organizations or has provided support to any terrorist
organizations. The seizure has also violated Holy Land's fundamental
constitutional right to protection against illegal searches and
seizures
because the defendants seized the funds, office equipment and all
property
of Holy Land without any warrant or even any probable cause. The
seizure
also violated the right of Holy Land and its donors to practice their
religion, a practice that provides urgently needed relief to families
around the world.
As the documents filed in support of the motion show clearly, the Holy
Land
Foundation rejects terrorism by anyone. It is dedicated to alleviating
the
suffering of people who have been caught and injured in conflicts and
disasters around the world, particularly in Palestine, where the
suffering
by the Palestinians is staggering. The blocked funds are all owned by
Holy
Land. The terrorist group, Hamas, has no interest in the funds that the
Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) has blocked and Holy Land does
not
now act on behalf of Hamas and has never acted on behalf of Hamas.
-----
THE LOFTUS RECORD
BY JOHN F. SUGG, The Weekly Planet, 4/3/2002
http://www.weeklyplanet.com/2002-04-03/news_feature2.html
Has John Loftus embellished his Justice Department credentials? Critics
say
the St. Petersburg man has exaggerated that, and more. What does that
mean
for the Loftus lawsuit against Sami Al-Arian?..
By all accounts, John Loftus has done a bang-up job in his most recent
incarnation promoting St. Petersburg's Holocaust Museum. The museum has
a
sacred and laudable trust to remind the community about the horrors of
Nazi
Germany. Loftus, with much-proclaimed credentials as a prosecutor of
Nazi
monsters, has added spirit to the museum's efforts. But Loftus also has
led
the museum into a divisive political thicket…
For those who want to trust Loftus, there are few caveats to be
considered.
His bosses on a U.S. Department of Justice team that hunted down and
prosecuted Nazi war criminals say Loftus didn't do enough homework to
bring
any cases to trial. And critics of Loftus' books -- including America's
foremost supporter of Israel -- condemn his conspiracy stories and lack
of
evidence…
What's obvious to almost everyone with their feet on Planet Earth is
that
the government has done its damnedest to destroy Al-Arian -- mostly by
insinuation and innuendo since, as Judge McHugh concluded, there were
no
facts. Yet, in the strange world of Loftus, he claims the United States
has
actually been carrying water for Saudi Arabia and Al-Arian in a bizarre
plot to fund terrorism. "There is ample reason to question whether any
criminal prosecution either of Defendant (Al-Arian) or his Saudi
financiers
will ever take place," asserts Loftus in his lawsuit against the USF
professor. Loftus found a perfect ally in Steven Emerson. In the Tampa
Bay
area, it was Emerson who guided the Tribune on its biased crusade
against
Al-Arian and his community. In January, Loftus and the museum hosted
Emerson, who made claims that were later echoed in the Loftus lawsuit.
Just as few media now question Emerson's past, so too has Loftus been
able
to escape much scrutiny. Allan A. Ryan Jr. was Loftus' boss at the
Justice
Department's Office of Special Investigations. From 1979 to 1981,
Loftus
worked there, and that's been the basis of his Nazi-hunter laurels.
"He's
used that badge (the claim of prosecuting Nazis) since he left, and he
doesn't deserve it," Ryan, now an attorney for Harvard University, told
Weekly Planet.
Loftus said that testimony he gave to a Congressional panel in the
1980s,
plus scores of articles, describe him as prosecutor of Nazis. "I was a
trial attorney and that's on the record," said Loftus, who represented
the
government in several appellate cases.
Ryan said all Justice Department lawyers held the title of trial
attorney.
"He never prosecuted a case," Ryan said of Loftus. "He did a lot of
research, but it didn't come close to (resulting in a) prosecution. His
work was insufficient to support prosecution…"
After leaving the OSI, Loftus wrote a book, The Belarus Secret, which
claimed an extraordinary number of Nazis were given shelter in America.
That concerned the government. "We sent historians to check Loftus'
citations for the book," Ryan recalled. "There was nothing to them."
In a scholarly review of the book, University of London professor James
Dingley wrote: "Loftus is obviously a monoglot without any precise
knowledge of the recent history of a people on which he pronounces
judgment. ... His book abounds with illogicalities and unsupported
statements."
That pretty much sums up the general criticism of his writings.
America, a
Catholic magazine, dismissed his second work, The Unholy Trinity, as
"feverish conspiracy-theorizing" and "totally discredited…"
-----
RIGHTS GROUP ACCUSES ISRAEL OF TORTURING PALESTINIANS
By Keith B. Richburg, The Washington Post, 4/6/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4461-2002Apr5.html
JERUSALEM, April 5 -- The Israeli human rights group B'Tselem charged
today
that Israel has tortured Palestinians who have been detained for
interrogation during the current military offensive. The group said in
a
statement that the interrogation methods included breaking the toes of
prisoners. The detainees have also been prohibited from meeting with
lawyers, the group said…
-----
MURDERED PALESTINIAN-AMERICAN REMEMBERED
SEEKING PEACE OF MIND, PEACE IN MIDDLE EAST
At State Dept., Palestinian's Memory Invoked
By Fredrick Kunkle and Manny Fernandez, The Washington Post, 4/6/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A4034-2002Apr5.html
The complexities of Middle East politics, the ancient grudges,
questions
about what steps the Israelis and Palestinians must take to find peace
--
all this means nothing to Farhan Saleh.
He knows only that his daughter Soraida, a Palestinian American born 21
years ago in the District of Columbia, now lies in a hastily dug mass
grave
outside a hospital in the occupied West Bank after the family's car was
fired upon. Her husband, seriously injured by the same gunfire during
the
Israeli thrust into Ramallah on March 29, carries a bullet in his
skull…
-----
MUSLIM LEADER TO BE HONORED AT MOREHOUSE
By JOHN BLAKE, The Atlanta Journal, 4/6/2002
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/saturday/faith_values_c3eac97ad17d10c300e9.html
The improbable journey of Imam Warith Deen Mohammed makes its next stop
at
Morehouse College today.
Mohammed, 68, is the son of Elijah Muhammad, who built up the Nation of
Islam. Mohammed was raised to view whites as "blue-eyed devils" and to
eventually succeed his father. But he broke with his father's teachings
and
embraced orthodox Islam, even after his father exiled him and enraged
Nation members threatened his life.
Today, he is the spiritual leader of one of the largest Sunni Islamic
groups in the United States, the Muslim American Society. Muslim groups
estimate that there are about 6.5 million Sunni Muslims in the country.
Morehouse will honor Mohammed for his spiritual journey at 6 p.m. today
when his portrait is hung in the Martin Luther King Jr. International
Chapel. The painting will hang next to portraits of Nelson Mandela and
Mohandas Gandhi.
"Not only has he stepped outside of the Nation of Islam, but he's
stepped
outside a particular religion," says Plemon El-Amin, resident imam of
the
Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam in Decatur. "He's embraced the universality
of
Islam, which requires us to work for universal peace…"
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/8/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: BELIEVERS ARE LIKE ONE BODY
* ADVERTISERS MAY PULL ADS FROM RIGHT-WING JOURNAL (UPI)
- EDITOR SUGGESTS "NUKING MECCA"
* EDITORIAL: OPEN THE HEARINGS (Washington Post)
* REMINDER: AMERICA MUST ACT TO STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION
* POWELL DEMANDS ISRAELIS WITHDRAW (AP)
- OFFENSIVE WON'T STOP, SHARON SAYS
* THIS WILL BE THE WEEK WHEN WE SEE WHO RUNS THE US-ISRAELI ALLIANCE
(Independent)
- 'JEWS MAY NOT WANT TO LOOK AT THIS'
* ROUNDUPS OF PALESTINIANS CAUSES FEAR (AP)
* RESOURCES: JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS THAT OPPOSE THE OCCUPATION
* ZIONISTS ADOPT TACTICS THEY CLAIM TO ABHOR (Atlanta Journal)
* CAMPUS TENSIONS GROWING WITH SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS (New York
Times)
* CHRISTIAN PALESTINIANS RALLY IN S.F. (San Francisco Chronicle)
* ISRAELI FORCES INFLICT WIDESPREAD DAMAGE IN BETHLEHEM (Washington
Post)
* BULLDOZERS RULE BROKEN BETHLEHEM (The Scotsman)
* AREA MUSLIMS PROTEST INHOFE'S STANCE (Tulsa World)
* CRACKDOWN ON TERROR FUNDING IS QUESTIONED (Los Angeles Times)
- THE AMERICAN DREAM BEGINS TO FADE (Middle East Times)
* THE FACES OF THE FAITHFUL (New York Times)
* SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM MAKING A DIFFERENCE (Sports Illustrated)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: BELIEVERS ARE LIKE ONE BODY
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "The believers, in their
love, mercy and kindness to one another are like a body: if any part of
it
is ill, the whole body shares its sleeplessness and fever."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 40
-----
ADVERTISERS MAY PULL ADS FROM RIGHT-WING JOURNAL
CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION
United Press International, 4/8/2002
Word is traveling through editorial circles in Washington and New York
that
a major opinion journal is under fire because of intemperate remarks
made
by some of its writers about Muslims. The story is that some
Islamic-American organizations have been leaning on major advertisers,
complaining about anti-Islamic statements that have appeared in the
magazine and on the Web site since Sept. 11. Some of the advertisers
are
reportedly considering pulling their ads from the journal in response
to
the complaints.
FOR BACKGROUND, SEE: EDITOR SUGGESTS "NUKING MECCA"
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=687&articletype=2
A RESPONSE TO RICH LOWRY
http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2002/03/lott-j-03-13.html
-----
EDITORIAL: OPEN THE HEARINGS
The Washington Post, 4/8/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11134-2002Apr7.html
IT SHOULD NOT take a federal judge's order to get the Justice
Department to
open the deportation proceedings it has been conducting in secret as
part
of its Sept. 11 investigation.
Ever since the attacks, the government has been seeking to deport large
numbers of Arabs and Muslims whose deficient immigration status has
come to
light during the probe. Yet the government has conducted these "special
interest" cases under a uniquely rigid set of rules: "no visitors, no
family, no press." The cases are kept off the docket. Although they
involve
no classified information, they -- publicly, anyway -- don't officially
exist.
The department has defended this secrecy by insisting that opening the
proceedings would reveal information about the direction of the
investigation and could subject witnesses to intimidation by
terrorists.
Naming detainees also would, the government argues, stigmatize those
among
them who may have no connection to terrorism...
The secrecy policy came before Judge Edmunds because of the case of
Rabih
Haddad, who ran a charity suspected of terrorist links. Mr. Haddad was
detained for overstaying his visa and has both supporters and the press
interested in his case, because none can attend his hearings, he sued,
as
did local media outlets.
Such proceedings, the judge wrote, have historically been
"presumptively
open" to the press and public. And that openness serves a critical
function. "It is important for the public, particularly individuals who
feel that they are being targeted by the government as a result of the
terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, to know that even during these sensitive
times the government is adhering to immigration procedures and
respecting
individuals' rights," she argued.
"Openness is necessary for the public to maintain confidence in the
value
and soundness of the government's actions, as secrecy only breeds
suspicion
as to why the government is proceeding against Haddad and aliens like
him..."
-----
REMINDER: AMERICA MUST ACT TO STOP ISRAELI AGGRESSION
http://www.cair-net.org/asp/article.asp?articleid=695&articletype=2
-----
POWELL DEMANDS ISRAELIS WITHDRAW
By BARRY SCHWEID, The Associated Press, 4/8/2002
CASABLANCA, Morocco (AP) - Secretary of State Colin Powell came under
Arab
pressure Monday to do more to halt Israeli incursions that have
deepened in
the West Bank despite President Bush's fresh call for a swift pullback.
``I
meant what I said,'' the president declared in the United States.
The king of Morocco bluntly told Powell on the first stop of his
peacemaking mission that U.S. officials should focus on a withdrawal,
saying, ``Don't you think it was more important to go to Jerusalem
first?''
In response, Powell demanded "a clear statement from Israel that they
are
beginning to withdraw'' from Palestinian-held territories and "to do it
now..."
SEE ALSO:
OFFENSIVE WON'T STOP, SHARON SAYS
By MOHAMMED DARAGHMEH, The Associated Press, 4/8/2002
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) - Israel's offensive in the West Bank will
continue,
despite U.S. demands for an immediate withdrawal of troops, Prime
Minister
Ariel Sharon told parliament Monday, as helicopter gunships pounded a
Palestinian refugee camp and a fire broke out during fighting near
Bethlehem's Church of the Nativity...
-----
THIS WILL BE THE WEEK WHEN WE SEE WHO RUNS THE US-ISRAELI ALLIANCE
By Robert Fisk, The Independent, 4/8/2002
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=282652
So why should Mr Sharon stop now? If Mr Bush wants to rein in his
reckless
ally, why doesn't he ask Mr Sharon a few questions? Why doesn't he ask
what
has happened to the more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners who have
disappeared into Israel's hands over the past two weeks? What happened,
for
example, to the five men, blindfolded and trussed up like chickens whom
I
discovered in the Jewish settlement of Psagot? What happened to the
masses
of young men I saw being taken in a bus with its windows wired over, a
bus
that made its way around Jerusalem and headed west on the Tel Aviv
highway.
How many of these young men are now being tortured either in
interrogation
centers or in the Russian Compound, the main torture compound in West
Jerusalem?
But since Mr Bush's soldiers are experts in blindfolding and gagging
Muslim
prisoners - and putting them in front of drumhead military courts - why
should Mr Sharon worry? For month after month, as Mr Sharon tore up the
Oslo agreement, put the building of Jewish colonies on Arab land into
overdrive and sent out his death squads to murder Palestinians, the
Bush
administration - fearful of offending the Israelis - allowed him to do
what
he wanted. In response to the wicked Palestinian suicide bombings, Bush
expressed outrage. In response to Israel's aggression, he called for
restraint - and then did nothing.
Again, what's the surprise? For months the American media has refused
to
tell its viewers and readers what is going on in the occupied
territories.
Its newspapers have indulged the insanity of writers who have been
encouraging Mr Sharon into ever-more-savage acts. What are we supposed
to
make - for example, of a recent article in The New York Times by
William
Safire, referring - as usual - to Jewish civilians murdered by
Palestinians
but to Arab civilians "caught in the crossfire'', "crossfire" being the
nearest many journalists will dare to go in saying that the culprits
were
Israeli...
But Safire adds a new threat to journalists who might wish to tell the
truth: "These are disputed territories'' he writes, "to call them
'occupied' reveals a prejudice against Israel's right to what were
supposed
to be 'secure and defensible' borders.'' You can see the way the
argument
is going. If we have a 'prejudice' against Israel's rights, it's only a
short step to call us anti-Semitic. But what is one to make of this
nonsense? Am I supposed to pretend that the soldiers who blocked my car
and
pointed their guns at me in the West Bank last week were Swiss? Am I to
believe that the rabble of soldiers shouting at Palestinian women
desperate
to leave Ramallah were Burmese?
Safire regularly takes phone calls from Mr Sharon (and then insists on
telling us of Mr Sharon's latest fantasies), but my old chum Tom
Friedman
in his ever-more-Messianic column in The New York Times, has almost
gone
one better. "Israel needs to deliver a military blow that clearly shows
terror will not pay," he announced last week. What, in God's name, is
an
American journalist doing when he urges Mr Sharon to go to war?
Friedman
was with me in the Sabra and Chatila camps. Has he forgotten what we
saw?
Last week, however, Friedman was also amiably advising the Palestinians
to
turn to non-violent resistance à la Gandhi...
So this week will be a crucial one in the American-Israeli
relationship, a
real test of the Bush presidency. We shall find out who - the US or
Israel
- runs America's policy in the Middle East. It would be nice to think
that
it was the former. But I'm not sure.
SEE ALSO:
'JEWS MAY NOT WANT TO LOOK AT THIS'
Tuesday is Holocaust Day in Israel: and the anniversary of a 1948
massacre
that triggered the Palestinian refugee crisis at the heart of today's
conflict. Robert Fisk meets an Auschwitz survivor living at the site of
the
atrocity
By Robert Fisk, The Indenpendent, 4/7/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=282456
Givat Shaul is a friendly, bright neighbourhood of retired couples,
small
shops, flats, trees and some elegant old houses of yellow stone. Some
of
these are in a state of dilapidation, a few are homes. But one or two
bear
the scars of bullets fired long ago, on 9 April 1948, when another
people
faced their own catastrophe.
For Givat Shaul used to be called Deir Yassin. And here it was, 54
years
ago, that up to 130 Palestinians were massacred by two Jewish militias,
the
Irgun and the Stern Gang, as the Jews of Palestine fought for the
independence of a state called Israel. The slaughter so terrified tens
of
thousands of Palestinian Arabs that they fled their homes en masse -
750,000 in all - to create the refugee population whose tragedy lies at
the
heart of the Middle East conflict today.
Back in 1948, Palestinian women were torn to pieces by grenades around
the
old houses that still exist in Givat Shaul. Two truckloads of Arab
prisoners were taken from the village and paraded through the streets
of
Jerusalem. Later, many of them would be executed in Deir Yassin. Their
mass
grave is believed to lie beneath a fuel storage depot that now stands
at
one end of the Jerusalem suburb...
-----
ROUNDUPS OF PALESTINIANS CAUSES FEAR
By LAURA KING, The Associated Press, 4/8/2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank (AP) - It's become a common sight in West Bank
cities:
Palestinian men kneeling with hands clasped behind their heads, or
marching
handcuffed and blindfolded under Israeli soldiers' watchful eyes, or
baring
their bellies to show they have no weapons or explosives.
More than 1,400 Palestinian males, from gawky teens to paunchy
middle-aged
men, have been rounded up for questioning during the 10-day Israeli
military offensive in the major towns of the West Bank...
Those caught up in the dragnet include teachers, doctors, students,
laborers, accountants, policemen...
Some of the detainees say they have been beaten, tortured or deprived
of
food and water. Four Israeli human rights groups - citing what they say
are
credible accounts of abuse provided by Israeli soldiers in military
camps
where detainees are being held - went to Israel's highest court to seek
a
guarantee of protection from torture and access to legal counsel for
the
detainees.
The request was rejected Sunday by the Supreme Court, which said it
could
not consider the case unless it was made on behalf of a specific
Palestinian complainant. With all the Israeli-held cities of the West
Bank
under tight military curfew, that was impossible, the human rights
groups
said...
Many of the detainees reported nights spent in cold barracks, or under
flimsy canvas shelters, with little food and water. Some said they were
given only yogurt and matzoh, the unleavened crackers eaten by Jews
during
Passover.
Among those singled out for the roughest treatment, several detainees
said,
were members of the Palestinian security forces. Khaled Hejjah, a
36-year-old policeman, said he and six colleagues were arrested in
Ramallah
on the first day of the incursion, March 29.
"They beat me and kicked me when they asked me questions," he said.
"They
said to me, 'If we found out you shot at us, you injured any of us, you
will be dead.' And they kept us handcuffed all the time, so our hands
swelled up..."
Some detainees said they felt the soldiers set out to humiliate them,
even
if they did not hurt them physically.
Mahmoud Najar, a 42-year-old physician, said soldiers grabbed him when
he
and an ambulance crew tried to treat the wounded at the scene of a
battle
in the center of Ramallah last week between Palestinian gunmen and
Israeli
troops.
"They made me strip to my underwear and stand in the street like that,"
he
said. "They said, 'Now we'll do something you won't forget,' and then
they
made me lie down in the dirt. In my culture, in my mind, this is
extremely
shameful. I don't know how they would feel if someone did the same to
them..."
-----
RESOURCES: JEWISH ORGANIZATIONS THAT OPPOSE THE OCCUPATION
Tikkun Magazine
http://www.tikkun.org
Not in Our Name Coalition
http://www.nimn.org
Jewish Voice for Peace
http://www.jewishvoiceforpeace.org
Gush Shalom
http://www.gush-shalom.org
Jews Against Occupation
http://www.angelcities.com/members/jato
Jewish Peace Fellowship
http://www.jewishpeacefellowship.org
Israeli Committee Against Home Demolitions
http://www.salam.org/activism/home_demolitions.html
B'Tselem (Israeli Human Rights Group)
http://www.btselem.org
Bat Shalom, Israeli Women for Peace
http://www.batshalom.org
Rabbis for Human Rights
http://www.rhr.israel.net
Association for Civil Rights in Israel
http://www.nif.org/acri
Visions for peace with justice in Israel/Palestine
http://www.vopj.org
Search for Justice and Equality in Palestine/Israel
http://www.searchforjustice.org
-----
ZIONISTS ADOPT TACTICS THEY CLAIM TO ABHOR
By Cynthia Tucker, The Atlanta Journal, 4/7/2002
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/opinion/tucker/2002/040702.html
Cynthia Tucker is the editorial page editor.
"Never let any man drag you so low as to make you hate him."
From time to time, that imperative was pulled from the cupboard of
cliches
my mother kept handy for rearing four children.
I think of it now because of the venom -- name-calling, denunciations
and
death threats -- heaped upon a Jewish family in Brooklyn, N.Y., after
their
son's impromptu breakfast last weekend with Yasser Arafat. The spate of
hate-filled messages grew so threatening that Doreen and Stuart Shapiro
have been forced to flee their home and go into hiding.
The campaign of terror against the Shapiros started after news reports
about their son Adam, 30, a Middle East humanitarian worker. A resident
of
Ramallah for three years, Adam has worked for "Seeds of Peace," a
program
for Arab and Jewish youth that teaches tolerance.
In an interview on NBC's "Today" show, Adam said he helped to persuade
Israeli military authorities to allow ambulances into Arafat's compound
to
tend the wounded after the Israeli siege began. Later, Adam found
himself
trapped inside the compound. Last Saturday morning, according to news
accounts, Arafat offered Adam breakfast as a gesture of gratitude for
his
intervention.
Simple enough, you'd think. While many might disagree with Adam's
decision
to live among Palestinians and advocate their nationalist aspirations,
any
people who believe in democratic values would support his right to hold
those views, right?
Apparently not. Noah Shapiro, Adam's brother, told reporters that
e-mail
messages wished a "fiery death" to his family; a Web site, he said,
listed
personal information about his family and urged action against them.
Undoubtedly, those threats came from supporters of Israel, many of them
Jewish, who have long denounced Arafat and the terrorism that he has,
at
the very least, tolerated. They probably consider themselves
law-abiding
and upright folk who would never sink to the tactics of bloodthirsty
savagery and wanton destruction displayed by Palestinian suicide
bombers
who blow up shopkeepers, schoolchildren and families at Seder.
Perhaps Shapiro's critics should take a good look in the mirror...
Israel gambled on Ariel Sharon -- a notorious hard-liner whose military
strategy in Lebanon in the 1980s had left Israel's reputation sullied
--
because he promised to deliver peace and security. He has failed
spectacularly.
Worse, his heavy-handed tactics have started to corrode the decency,
humanity and moral authority of the nation he seeks to defend. This is
what
my mother was trying to help me understand: Sinking to hatred only
leads
you to become that which you most despise.
-----
CAMPUS TENSIONS GROWING WITH SUPPORT FOR PALESTINIANS
By KATE ZERNIKE, The New York Times, 4/8/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/08/education/08CAMP.html
As violence in the West Bank and Gaza has escalated over the last few
weeks, pro-Palestinian groups on campuses across the country have
asserted
themselves with new vigor, organizing demonstrations and national
campaigns
to try to counteract what they see as a better-financed,
better-established
effort by pro-Israel student groups...
"The ideal situation for the pro-Israel groups has been the status quo,
where no one asks any questions," said Fadi Kiblawi, a University of
Michigan student who was born in Kuwait and raised in this country by
Palestinian parents. "This is a group of students who are fed up with
how
we are being portrayed. We've always been characterized as terrorists.
But
we present a logical argument, one based in international law and human
rights..."
"When people see images of tanks rolling into Palestinian cities, of
ambulance drivers being shot at by Israeli defense forces, women giving
birth at the checkpoints, it becomes clear that this is not just a case
of
two equally wrong sides fighting," said Snehal Shingavi, a Berkeley
student
and a member of Students for Justice in Palestine...
-----
CHRISTIAN PALESTINIANS RALLY IN S.F.
By Heather Knight, The San Francisco Chronicle, 4/8/2002
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/08/MN120651.DTL
A protest organized by Arab Christians drew about 500 demonstrators to
San
Francisco streets yesterday to call for the withdrawal of Israeli
troops
from the West Bank.
The heated rally near San Francisco State University was among several
around the nation that saw passionate crowds turn out for both sides in
the
Middle East conflict.
In San Francisco, members of Arab Christian churches stressed that the
divide is not solely between Jews and Muslims, but involves many
Palestinian Christians as well. Marchers waved Palestinian flags and
yelled
chants including, "Sharon, Sharon, you can't hide, we charge you with
genocide!" Many motorists passing through the intersection at Sloat
Boulevard and 19th Avenue honked their support. Some protesters burned
paper Israeli flags, and one grabbed an Israeli flag from a driver who
raised it out her sunroof.
Others carried signs equating Zionism with Nazism and Israeli Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon with Adolph Hitler. Police broke up a minor
scuffle
after an Israel supporter carried that country's flag into the crowd.
Saturday saw pro-Palestine demonstrations in Los Angeles, Boston and
New
York, while pro-Israel groups responded yesterday with their own
rallies in
each of those cities.
In San Francisco, Baha Mogannam, 35, who moved to California 17 years
ago
and attends St. George Orthodox Church, said she called her sister's
family
in Ramallah every day to check on their safety. She said her sister
began
every conversation by saying, "Hold on, hold on. Let me sit on the
floor
because they're shooting around us..."
-----
ISRAELI FORCES INFLICT WIDESPREAD DAMAGE IN BETHLEHEM
Residents Describe Operation As Driven by Hatred, Revenge
By Keith B. Richburg, The Washington Post, 4/8/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10921-2002Apr7.html
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, April 7 -- When Israeli troops banged on the door
of
the Christmas Lutheran Church and International Center compound, the
Rev.
Mitri Raheb, the pastor and noted theologian, was confronted with a
dilemma
many Palestinians face each day: leave his residential quarters to talk
to
the troops and risk being arrested, or worse, stay huddled inside with
his
family and allow the soldiers to ransack his office.
He took what he called the "calculated risk" and went out -- to find
the
soldiers bashing in the door. "I have all the keys!" he shouted at them
in
Hebrew, then English. "You can ask me as gentlemen, and I will open all
the
doors!"
Instead, he said, the soldiers bashed in 31 doors and smashed 57
windows in
the three-story compound as they searched for gunmen and weapons. In
one
office, he said, they ripped out a computer hard drive and demolished a
refrigerator, tearing out its wiring. They broke windows in a ceramics
workshop and a small gift shop. They left bullet holes in sinks.
"They are not searching for people or ammunition," said Raheb, a
German-trained scholar and native of Bethlehem. "They hate to see any
positive sign of life in our town...They want to see us as the
underdog.
They don't want to see us as equal to them."
"It's this evil power of revenge," he said. "I think it's hatred. They
entered, and their aim was to destroy as much as possible."
The extent of the destruction in Bethlehem became apparent today as
reporters were able to wander through the city, which Israel has
declared a
closed military zone, to the edge of Manger Square. About 200
Palestinians,
including armed fighters, and 60 clergy members are hunkered down in
the
adjacent Church of the Nativity, the site where Jesus is believed to
have
been born.
[Palestinians inside the compound said that fighting erupted around the
church early Monday, sparking a fire in the office of the Latin
Patriarch,
which is separated from the church by a wall. The Palestinians said the
fire burned for nearly 30 minutes before Israeli forces allowed
firefighters access to extinguish it. There were also reports that a
Palestinian policeman inside the compound was killed by an Israeli
sniper.]
Bethlehem, which was spruced up with $200 million in foreign donations
for
the millennium celebrations, now has many shops with broken windows and
doors ripped from hinges. Cars have been crushed by tanks, or their
windshields have been shattered...
Along with the destruction, Palestinians here spoke of what they
considered
unnecessary humiliation by the Israeli troops, despite President Bush's
call Thursday for the Israeli army to show "compassion" and "concern
about
the dignity of the Palestinian people."
Raheb, the Lutheran pastor, said some of the Israeli soldiers searching
his
compound heard him speaking in Arabic on his telephone, and shouted
"Dirty
Arab!" and "Why are you speaking Arabic? It's an ugly language."
Maher Abu Aker, 24, said that he was detained for 24 hours by Israeli
troops who blindfolded him and bound his wrists with tight cuffs. He
said
he was not fed for 24 hours, and had to sleep with 35 others in a small
room on a concrete floor.
He said a soldier brought blankets for the group because of the
nighttime
cold but then poured water over the blankets. "After the blankets were
wet,
we could not use them," Abu Aker said. "We just put them aside" and
slept
on the floor.
Abu Aker, who works in his father's mechanics shop, said he was ordered
to
chant vulgar slogans about the Palestinian leader, Yasser Arafat, but
refused. He said he was slapped on the head and kicked in the legs
while
being interrogated. He said he was then released because he has never
been
a gunman and never been in trouble.
"I was really humiliated," he said. "It wouldn't have felt as bad if I
were
a fighter. They arrested me two or three times before. It seems they
don't
learn, they just keep doing this. We had old people, doctors in our
group
-- we all received the same treatment..."
-----
BULLDOZERS RULE BROKEN BETHLEHEM
By Rory MacMillan, The Scotsman (Scotland), 4/8/2002
http://www.thescotsman.co.uk/international.cfm?id=376232002
"I could not believe my eyes.... What I saw yesterday...is beyond
imagination
THE Israeli army drives around Bethlehem, warning over loudspeakers
that
anyone in the streets will be shot.
We remain in the hotel - a planned prayer march to the Church of the
Nativity with Muslims and Christians has been cancelled - and the
University of Bethlehem opposite has become an Israeli army base.
We are hearing reports that the Israeli army is going from home to home
in
Bethlehem's suburbs of Beit, Jala and Beit Sahur arresting hundreds of
young men. Ahmed, the hotel receptionist and now a good friend, has
just
heard his cousin has bled to death from a gunshot wound in Jenin
Refugee
Camp where there has been intense fighting.
On Saturday, for the first time since I arrived here, I could not
believe
my eyes.
Much of what you see in a war zone is as you would expect - not so
different from the television pictures. Of course, the tanks are more
sinister close up and simply terrifying when they point their barrels
in
your direction. You drop to the floor at the sound of gunfire close by.
A
town under foreign occupation after invasion is as smashed up as you
would
imagine.
What I saw yesterday, however, is beyond imagination - Israeli
bulldozers
the size of houses. At the back of them, enormous claws were poised for
ripping up streets and buildings to make way for tanks and to destroy
the
homes of suicide bombers.
Israel's bulldozers have been central to its relationship with the
Palestinians. Olive trees - a Palestinian symbol of life and hope -
have
been wrenched out of the soil in punishment for suicide bombings and
resistance to Israel's 35-year illegal occupation of the Palestinian
West
Bank and Gaza.
Around broken Bethlehem, water gushes down streets from destroyed mains
pipes. Water is also central to this conflict, for the Israeli
settlements
consume by far the majority of its water, sprinkling the green lawns on
the
settlements in this arid, occupied land...
-----
AREA MUSLIMS PROTEST INHOFE'S STANCE
By OMER GILLHAM, Tulsa World, 4/6/2002
http://www.tulsaworld.com
Muslim community members on Friday marched in front of Sen. Jim
Inhofe's
office in Tulsa, protesting the senator's Biblical position on the
Middle
Eastern conflict.
About 200 protesters assembled at Woodward Park, then marched in rows
of
two down 21st Street to Inhofe's office suite at 1924 S. Utica. The
peaceful group carried posters that depicted violent images from the
Jewish
and Muslim conflict. The Oklahoma Republican recently stated that God
gave
Hebron, the West Bank, to Abraham, and that the Jewish people have the
uncontestable rights" to all the occupied territories, according to a
Senate speech posted on Inhofe's Web site.
To Houssam Soueissi, a Palestinian man who has lived in Tulsa about 22
years, that means that the senator opposes the peace process in the
Middle
East."
He doesn't know his Bible or the Quran," said Soueissi, one of the
march
organizers. It doesn't say that. It says the Jew and the Arab are both
sons
of Abraham and that the land is to be used for good use and for
justice.
Muslims and Jews can both inhabit it."
The march was sponsored by the Muslim Students Association of the
University of Tulsa, the Islamic Society of Tulsa and the Council on
American-Islamic Relations.
After their four-block march to Inhofe's office, a group member
delivered a
letter asking the senator to change his stance, said Mujeeb Cheema,
a Muslim raised in Pakistan and a Tulsa resident since 1980.
The senator is making this a religious issue, and he is introducing a
divine proclamation which means there is no hope for Palestinian
(statehood) and there is no reason for peace talks," Cheema said.
Inhofe, who was in Washington, said he believed in his position, which
he
said has been researched by Bible historians...
Russell Bennett, pastor of the Fellowship Congregational Church, joined
a
handful of Westerners marching with the group. (Inhofe's) use of the
Bible
to reach his conclusion about the Jewish right to the land is the same
as
the Taliban using the Quran to justify their actions," Bennett said.
TO VIEW INHOFE'S ORIGINAL STATMENT, GO TO:
http://www.senate.gov/~inhofe/fl030402.html
-----
CRACKDOWN ON TERROR FUNDING IS QUESTIONED
By JOSH MEYER and ERIC LICHTBLAU, The Los Angeles Times, 4/7/2002
http://www.latimes.com/la-040702money.story
WASHINGTON -- The U.S. government's much-touted financial war on
terrorism
has been hamstrung by bitter turf battles among federal agencies,
questionable evidence against targeted Middle Eastern groups and a lack
of
cooperation by foreign allies, senior government officials said.
In recent months, President Bush and his top Cabinet members have
hailed
the U.S. government's effort to "shut down the money pipeline" as an
increasingly important, and successful, component of the broad
counter-terrorism strategy in the United States and abroad.
But privately some administration officials are voicing growing concern
that the strategy isn't working as advertised.
"You read the papers and it seems like everything is going great," said
one
senior law enforcement official. "But this is no way to run an
investigation. And the worst part is that this is the biggest case in
existence. And so much is at stake."
Debate over the problems has occurred at the highest levels, according
to
interviews with more than a dozen law enforcement, intelligence and
counter-terrorism officials familiar with the financial crackdown.
Among
the concerns:...
* At least some of the financial crackdowns on groups with suspected
terrorist ties, resulting in the freezing of tens of millions of
dollars in
assets, were launched prematurely or based on insufficient evidence.
The asset seizures have triggered lawsuits from targeted groups, as
well as
a backlash from Muslims who say they are being unfairly branded as
terrorists. Some prosecutors now say they are concerned about whether
the
seizure cases will hold up in court...
Matthew Piers, an attorney for the Benevolence International Foundation
USA, agreed to the request because, he said, the charity has nothing to
hide. Piers said the episode struck him as bizarre and symptomatic of
what
he described as the flimsy case the Treasury Department has brought
against
the charity in freezing $800,000 in assets and crippling the
organization's
relief efforts in Asia and Europe.
He called the Treasury Department's methods draconian and noted that no
criminal charges have been filed against the charity or its employees.
The Treasury Department alleges that Benevolence's chief executive has
ties
to radical Islamic fundamentalists.
"They're wrong," Piers said. "It's just plain and simple a case of
mistaken
identity."
If authorities think the executive has suspected terrorist ties, Piers
asked, "why have they not even questioned him? Why haven't they picked
him
up?"...
On Friday, a federal judge in Chicago supported the use of such
evidence
when he allowed government attorneys to present their case against
another
charity, Global Relief Foundation, without its lawyers present. The
hearing
was part of Global Relief's lawsuit to recover about $1 million in
frozen
assets.
Dam and Treasury General Counsel David Aufhauser said they are
satisfied
that there is ample evidence underlying all of the Treasury
Department's
searches and its orders freezing assets. Aufhauser also said all of the
orders were issued after thorough investigations and consultation with
the
Justice Department.
But others within the administration dispute that. Sources who asked
not to
be identified said the Justice Department has expressed concerns to
senior
Treasury officials about the strength of the asset-freezing cases, as
well
as the lack of coordination.
Some officials fear that any evidentiary weakness will become an
embarrassment when organizations whose assets are frozen bring cases in
court here and overseas--and the Justice Department has to defend the
government's position.
"There are going to be huge problems," one law enforcement official
said.
In many of the cases, "I don't think there's a lot there...It's pretty
thin."
An official at a separate agency said that, although there may be
legitimate reasons to target many of these groups, he believes the
Treasury
Department's rush to take action last fall may have been "politically
driven" and premature. "They were running and gunning," the official
said...
SEE ALSO:
THE AMERICAN DREAM BEGINS TO FADE
By Younus Mirza, Middle East Times
http://www.metimes.com/2K2/issue2002-14/opin/american_dream_begins.htm
Younus Mirza, a Muslim activist who resides in Herndon, VA, is a
student at
Georgetown University in the School of Foreign Service.
My father repeatedly told me: "Be grateful because you live in
America." He
should know. He grew up in a small Middle Eastern village where school
was
taught in the middle of a field and the chalkboard was hung from the
branch
of a tree.
He came to America in the early 1970s because he desired a better
education, wanted to embrace greater opportunities and take advantage
of
American freedom of thought and religion. In short, he came here to
live
the American dream.
In many ways, my father is the embodiment of the American dream, having
obtained a scholarship to finish his education, climbed the corporate
ladder through hard work, and established a family in his new homeland,
America.
His struggles and successes allowed his children greater opportunities
and
enabled us to pursue higher education so that we, too, could fulfill
our
personal dreams.
Last week, however, those dreams were called into question. My mother
called me, asking me to come home quickly. "Younus, U.S. Customs and
Internal Revenue Service agents came to our house. They looked through
everything and they took many of our belongings away," she told me...
My mother described how she came back home to have agents surround her
car
and approach her at gunpoint.
Family friends told me that the door to their house was broken down,
and
that they were handcuffed for five hours as agents searched their home.
Even more humiliating, the Muslim women involved were denied the basic
right to wear their religiously-mandated headscarves.
My father's business, the one he and others built up from the ground,
was
searched; boxes of documents were seized and it was shut down for the
day.
Sadly, I realize that the experiences of my family and friends are not
isolated incidents. Rather they are part of a larger struggle facing
the
greater American Muslim community in the aftermath of the September 11
terrorist attacks against our nation.
Our charities, which supply vital aid to orphans and widows, have had
their
assets frozen.
Our leaders and community organizations have become the targets of a
vicious smear campaign.
Our elected officials constantly remind us that Islam is a great
religion,
one that preaches peace and tolerance, yet they hesitate to act when
Muslim
rights and civil liberties are taken away...
Regardless, our family loves this country, its values and its people,
and
we love our religion as well.
It is these intangible possessions - American ideals and unwavering
faith -
that have helped make our dreams come true.
And it is our dreams that the U.S. Customs and IRS agents can never
take away.
-----
THE FACES OF THE FAITHFUL
By SETH KUGEL, The New York Times, 4/7/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/07/nyregion/07MOSQ.html
Edward Grazda, a New York photographer, and Jerrilynn Dodds, a
professor at
the School of Architecture of City College, spent nearly a decade
visiting
mosques in the five boroughs built by New York's diverse Muslim
communities, from Albanians to Afghanis to African-Americans.
A result of their work, the book "New York Masjid: The Mosques of New
York
City," will be published next month by Powerhouse Books, and Mr.
Grazda's
photographs will go on view Tuesday at the Open Society Institute, 400
West
59th Street.
The research gave the pair an understanding of the role and importance
of
the New York mosque...
-----
SHAREEF ABDUR-RAHIM MAKING A DIFFERENCE
Sports Illustrated, 4/8/2002
http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/
Shareef Abdur-Rahim is quiet by nature. But last July, when the
Grizzlies
sent him to his hometown team, the Hawks, in a multiplayer deal for the
rights to rookie Pau Gasol, he resolved to become a vocal leader. "I'm
the
kind of person who looks at himself and asks, What could I have done
better?" says Abdur-Rahim, 25, who grew up in suburban Marietta.
His first project in Atlanta was to seek out 21-year-old guard DerMarr
Johnson, who had endured a frustrating rookie season. "We had mutual
friends who asked that I look out for him," says Abdur-Rahim, who had
his
locker moved next to Johnson's. After their first workout last summer,
Johnson was on his way to a fast-food lunch when Abdur-Rahim headed him
off. He brought Johnson home to eat and began to teach him about a
proper
diet. The 6'9" Johnson was averaging 9.4 points in 37 starts at week's
end,
offering hope that he'll develop into the spectacular slasher the Hawks
envisioned when they picked him sixth out of Cincinnati.
Abdur-Rahim attributes his maturity to his upbringing and to his
devotion
to Islam. After Sept. 11 he established a relief agency for families
victimized by the attacks, Rebound America, to which he will contribute
$
100 for each of his boards this season ($ 62,700 through Sunday). To
Abdur-Rahim, the terrorists had nothing in common with Islam. "The
media
puts out a misperception by calling them Muslim terrorists," he says.
"They
weren't Muslim terrorists any more than Timothy McVeigh was a Christian
terrorist. They were misguided people..."
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
MUSLIMS DEFEND JEWISH WOMAN FIRED FOR MARRYING PALESTINIAN
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/9/2002) - A prominent American Muslim group today
called on a Jewish newspaper in Kansas to apologize to a Jewish
employee
who was allegedly fired for marrying a Palestinian Muslim.
The employee told the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) that she was terminated from her position as a staff
writer at the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle one day after telling her
supervisor who she had married. When informed of the marriage, the
supervisor allegedly said: "I am going to have to think about this."
SEE: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?brd=1425
When the employee returned to work following her announcement of the
marriage, she said her supervisor's behavior became increasingly
hostile.
The supervisor allegedly commented to a friend over the phone that,
"There
is no way Muslims can be friends with Jews, no way at all." When the
employee asked why she was fired, newspaper officials claimed she was
an
unreliable worker, despite receiving many positive reviews from readers
and
her supervisor during seven months of employment.
In a letter faxed to the Chronicle in Overland Park, Kansas, CAIR
Executive
Director Nihad Awad wrote:
"The timing of the woman's termination, along with the Islamophobic
comments of her supervisor, indicate that your publication's actions
were
motivated by anti-Muslim and anti-Arab prejudice. If these allegations
are
true, you must take immediate and concrete steps to demonstrate that
bigotry will not be tolerated at the Chronicle or in Kansas."
Awad asked the newspaper to initiate an investigation of the incident
and
provide the fired employee with a formal apology, back pay and monetary
compensation for the emotional distress she suffered as a result of the
incident.
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in American and some 1.2
billion worldwide. SEE: "The Mosque in America: A National Portrait,"
http://cair-net.org/mosquereport/
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/9/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A TREATMENT FOR EVERY DISEASE
* CAIR POLL: SHOULD A PEACE-KEEPING FORCE BE SENT TO THE OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES?
* SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S CALL FOR AN END TO ATTACKS ON PALESTIANIANS
* RIGHT-WING COLUMNIST CLAIMS QURAN IS "SUICIDE PLAYBOOK"
* ELDERLY WERE USED AS HUMAN SHIELDS FOR TANK FORCES (Independent)
* U.S. JEWS CANNOT ACQUIESCE TO SHARON'S MONSTROUS BEHAVIOR (Los
Angeles Times)
- STUCK IN THE MIDDLE (EAST) WITH YOU (Philadelphia Weekly)
* EDITORIAL: ARIEL SHARON'S COSTLY DEFIANCE (New York Times)
* EDITORIAL: STIFFING THE U.S. PRESIDENT IS DANGEROUS (Star-Tribune)
* BLOODSHED BECOMES NABLUS' SCENERY (AP)
* PALESTINIAN BAKER'S FAMILY GO UNFED UNDER SIEGE (Reuters)
* POWELL: STALLING TO LET SHARON 'MOP UP' (Arab News)
* WE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR CARNAGE OF PALESTINIANS (Houston Chronicle)
* DETAINEE RIGHTS (NPR)
* PROBE OF FIRE OPENS IN LOS ALTOS HILLS (San Jose Mercury News)
* US RESISTS AGING DRAFT PLAN WORDING (AP)
* MUSLIM VOTE GAINS POWER IN FRANCE (UPI)
* EUROPE, PREPARE TO GREET ISLAM (Christian Science Monitor)
* CAIR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OFFERS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A TREATMENT FOR EVERY DISEASE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "There is no disease
that
God has created, except that He has also created its treatment."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume, Hadith 582
-----
CAIR POLL: SHOULD A PEACE-KEEPING FORCE BE SENT TO THE OCCUPIED
TERRITORIES?
TO VOTE, GO TO: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
SUPPORT THE PRESIDENT'S CALL FOR AN END TO ATTACKS ON PALESTIANIANS
GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
RIGHT-WING COLUMNIST CLAIMS QURAN IS "SUICIDE PLAYBOOK"
THE KORAN: SUICIDE PLAYBOOK
By Paul Perry, WorldNetDaily.com, 4/9/2002
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27149
Of course, the same media pundits who like to pretend Palestinians are
fighting a political war for freedom and are only using suicide as a
"cheap
defense weapon," argue that the Koran forbids suicide. They claim
clerics
twist the meaning of the salient passages in the Koran to imply
martyrdom
paves the way to Paradise.
But don't be fooled. Typical of Islam's apologists, they are merely
cherry
picking verses to try to make the Koran seem less violent than it is...
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE. Whenever this web site's
anti-Muslim stance is challenged, they take one hostile message out of
hundreds and use it to further defame Islam and Muslims. NOTE: This is
the
same site that recently advocated slaughtering 1,000 Palestinians for
every
Israeli killed.)
1. Let the writer and the site's editors know that they are spreading
bigotry and hatred.
E-MAIL: psperry@worldnetdaily.com, jfarah@worldnetdaily.com,
tambrose@worldnetdaily.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
2. Representatives of this site are making a big push to appear on TV
and
radio talk shows. Whenever you see or hear someone who represents
Worldnetdaily.com, contact that media outlets to express your concerns
about the bigoted background of their guests.
For example, Worldnetdaily.com's Joseph Farah appeared last night on
MSNBC's "Alan Keyes is Making Sense" program.
SEE: http://www.msnbc.com/news/736275.asp
SEND COMMENTS TO: AlanKeyes@msnbc.com
-----
ELDERLY WERE USED AS HUMAN SHIELDS FOR TANK FORCES
By Justin Huggler and Said Ghazali, The Independent, 4/9/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=283026
The sound of four explosions came down the phone line. A woman could be
heard screaming in the background: "Come and save us." This was in the
middle of an interview with a Red Crescent ambulance official. He said
the
woman's house had been hit by rockets fired from an Israeli helicopter.
These were the voices that came out of Jenin refugee camp yesterday
when it
came under the heaviest attack since the Israeli army began its
onslaught
in the West Bank. The accounts are chilling: stories of Israeli forces
using the elderly as human shields in front of their tanks, of women
and
children being rounded up, of homes being demolished, of bodies
littering
the streets...
Abu Hussein, a 55-year-old man inside the camp, said: "They used women
and
old men as human shields. They were walking in front of the tanks and a
bulldozer was destroying the houses on both sides." Apparently the
houses
were bulldozed to clear a path for tanks through the narrow alleys - an
old
tactic of Ariel Sharon when he was commander of the army in the Gaza
Strip
in the Seventies.
Mr Hussein said he was sheltering in two rooms with 40 others. "The
soldiers entered my neighbour's house," he said. "They killed him. His
body
is there for more than five days. Six missiles hit a three-floor
building,
just 200 metres away from my house. The house was full of families. I
do
not know how many people were there..."
The Israeli authorities have been refusing to allow ambulances access
to
the wounded, which is a war crime under the Geneva conventions...
-----
U.S. JEWS CANNOT ACQUIESCE TO SHARON'S MONSTROUS BEHAVIOR
By Robert Scheer, The Los Angles Times, 4/9/2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-000025268apr09.column
Some of us make a deliberate effort to disassociate from the mayhem of
Ariel Sharon's carnage, while others seem to wallow in it, as if
displaying
the awesome firepower of the Israeli army is necessary to the survival
of
the Jewish state. I would like to think that the peacemakers still
outnumber the militarists among U.S. Jews, but my own e-mail and
street-corner conversations no longer bear out that hope.
While Jews are hardly monolithic, even in their views of Israel, their
large presence in the media contrasts sharply with a near total
exclusion
of Palestinian Americans.
Palestinian Americans in particular, and Arabs in general, are the
ghosts
haunting U.S. newsrooms by their embarrassing absence. As journalists,
we
do not know them as a people, we have little connection with their
slights
and sorrows, and we can only, even with the best of intentions,
experience
their suffering as an abstraction...
Sharon himself is a man of barbaric impulse, demonstrated all too
clearly
in his terrorizing of civilians two decades ago in Lebanon and now on
the
West Bank. He has been a consistent provocateur, undermining peace
efforts
no matter their content, and now he is using his tanks to poison the
ground
for future generations...
SEE ALSO:
STUCK IN THE MIDDLE (EAST) WITH YOU
By LIZ SPIKOL, Philadelphia Weekly, 4/3/2002
http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/article.asp?ArtID=1998
In my experience as a Jewish reporter, I've heard a great deal about
"not
airing our dirty laundry." I have often been told--verbally, in Jewish
publications and in synagogues--that even if I have doubts about the
Israeli government and its treatment of Palestinians, I should keep
quiet
about it and be steadfast in my support of a nation that needs to
exist.
And I was happy to oblige, because wasn't it important, above all, that
Israel endure--this vulnerable and a relatively new country penned in
by
nations that would like to make it disappear?
But now Israel has crossed a line, and I--and many, many American Jews
like
me--will not be able to cross it with them...
-----
EDITORIAL: ARIEL SHARON'S COSTLY DEFIANCE
The New York Times, 4/9/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/09/opinion/_09TUE1.html
The announcement last night that the Israeli military was pulling out
of
two Palestinian cities was welcome but it was far from clear that it
signaled the start of the full, immediate withdrawal from the West Bank
towns and refugee camps repeatedly requested by President Bush. Earlier
in
the day, Israel's prime minister, Ariel Sharon, brushed off Mr. Bush's
demand in a defiant speech to the Knesset, insisting that the campaign
would end only when its mission had been accomplished.
Perhaps Mr. Sharon does not understand. The president of the United
States,
speaking out of profound friendship and growing impatience, has asked
him
to withdraw "without delay." This was not a request made lightly. Mr.
Bush
has expressed sympathy with Israel's plight and made clear that its
security and well-being are of the highest concern. He has sent his
secretary of state to the region to try to end the bloodshed. Yet Mr.
Sharon says he will remove the tanks and troops whenever it suits him.
This
is an insult to Mr. Bush and the United States...
-----
EDITORIAL: STIFFING THE U.S. PRESIDENT IS DANGEROUS
Minneapolis Star-Tribune, 4/9/2002
http://www.startribune.com/stories/561/2216058.html
Events in the Middle East are muddling. President Bush Friday called
for
Israel to withdraw from Palestinian areas "without delay," and Israeli
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon indicated he would do that. Bush said
Secretary
of State Colin Powell would leave Sunday for the region, and
Palestinians
worried that Sharon would use the interim to intensify Israeli
attacks...
Only two possibilities present themselves: Bush and Powell are telling
Sharon publicly to withdraw, but privately are offering him more
latitude,
including Powell's delayed arrival; or Bush and Powell mean what they
say
and Sharon is thumbing his nose at them. Between the two, it's
difficult to
decide which would be worse. The latter explanation is the simplest and
therefore the most likely...
-----
BLOODSHED BECOMES NABLUS' SCENERY
Associated Press, 4/9/2002
NABLUS, West Bank (AP) -- Brandishing the bandaged stump that remained
of
his right arm after an emergency amputation in a mosque-turned-field
hospital in the ruined heart of Nablus' Old City, the teen-age
Palestinian
gunman was still defiant.
"I will keep fighting until we are liberated," 19-year-old Abed Taqouk
said
Monday, coolly smoking a cigarette as the groans of dozens of wounded
men
rose around him.
Only yards away, Israeli troops were making their way through the
winding
alleyways of the casbah, kicking down doors and combing blasted-out
buildings in their search for any fighter able to wield a weapon.
Fighting still raged in the casbah's center Monday, with the staccato
of
heavy machine-gun fire and the roar of tank shells echoing against the
surrounding hills. As Israeli troops took control of the outer edges of
the
Old City, a small group of journalists picked their way into the old
quarter and spent two hours walking the casbah's debris-covered
streets.
Civilians, trapped in their homes for days by street battles, called
out
from behind barred windows, still afraid to come outside. "I need my
heart
medicine!" shouted one man. "I don't have any food for my children!" a
woman cried out...
-----
PALESTINIAN BAKER'S FAMILY GO UNFED UNDER SIEGE
By Wael al-Ahmad, Reuters, 4/9/2002
JENIN, West Bank, April 9 (Reuters) - Palestinian baker Abu Hussein not
only has little bread to feed his family -- he has not been outside his
home in the Jenin refugee camp for a week, while his neighbours have
flocked in to seek shelter.
The camp has been under curfew since Israeli tanks rolled in as part of
their incursion into the Palestinian-ruled West Bank. On Tuesday,
house-to-house fighting and Israeli helicopter strikes made the streets
a
death zone.
"We have no electricity, no water. We have hardly any food," Abu
Hussein
said by telephone from his home.
"We have a little bread. We have some tinned food from our neighbours,"
he
said, referring to people who sought refuge in his home after their own
dwelling was destroyed.
The camp of 13,000 inhabitants has been the scene of determined
resistance
to Israeli troops by Palestinian gunmen. Palestinians estimate that at
least 100 people have been killed since fighting started on
Wednesday...
One woman in a nearby Palestinian Red Crescent compound, who asked not
to
be named, wept bitterly as she explained by telephone how she had been
forced out of the camp.
"The soldiers came with a bulldozer to my house. They threatened us.
They
said if we did not leave the house they would demolish it on our
heads."
She said her husband had been rounded up by Israeli forces and taken
away,
like hundreds of other Palestinians. Many have been released after
questioning...
-----
POWELL: STALLING TO LET SHARON 'MOP UP'
By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News, 4/9/2002
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=14156
WASHINGTON, 9 April - The announcement that US Secretary of State Colin
Powell will not arrive in Israel before Thursday or Friday sent many
Mideast observers reeling with disbelief. The announcement seems to
confirm
rumors that Bush is allowing Israel's Prime Minister Ariel Sharon extra
time to 'mop up' in the Occupied Territories.
Bush's spinmeisters were sent out to buffer the shock on the airwaves
on
Sunday, while it was announced that Powell's first stop, Morocco, would
include meetings with the country's King Mohamed and Crown Prince
Abdullah
of Saudi Arabia.
Secretary Colin Powell said Sharon assured him Sunday that he was
"trying
to expedite" withdrawal of his troops in the occupied territories, but
he
gave no time frame.
"He did not give me a specific timetable of the withdrawal, but I know
he
is trying to expedite the operation, to get it over with as soon as
possible. And we'll see what happens in the next couple of days,"
Powell
said on NBC's "Meet the Press..."
-----
WE BOUGHT AND PAID FOR CARNAGE OF PALESTINIANS
By ROBERT JENSEN, The Houston Chronicle, 4/8/2002
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/editorial/outlook/1351792
I helped kill a Palestinian today.
If you pay taxes to the U.S. government, so did you.
And unless the policies of the U.S. government change, tomorrow will be
no
different.
It is easy for Americans to decry the "cycle of violence" in Palestine,
but
until we acknowledge our own part in that violence, there is little
hope
for a just peace in Palestine or the Middle East...
-----
DETAINEE RIGHTS
National Public Radio, 4/8/2002
http://search1.npr.org/opt/collections/torched/me/data_me/seg_141304.htm
NPR's Greg Allen reports on the Muslim community in Patterson, New
Jersey,
and those in the community who are fighting to free the many
Arab-Americans
being detained by the government since the September 11th terrorist
attacks. There's a sense of anxiety, anger, and frustration that Muslim
Americans are being deprived of their constitutionally guaranteed civil
rights, because of their religious faith and countries of origin.
-----
PROBE OF FIRE OPENS IN LOS ALTOS HILLS
By Sean Webby, San Jose Mercury News, 4/9/2002
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/mercurynews/3026199.htm
Rev. Samer Yousef of the Orthodox Church of the Redeemer in Los Altos
listens to an investigator from the Santa Clara County Fire Department
(name unavailable). Investigators from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco
and
Firearms are treating the fire as a possible hate crime.
Held back by police tape, members of the Antiochian Orthodox Church of
the
Redeemer in Los Altos Hills began to rebuild their church from the
sidewalk
Monday. They collected hastily scribbled checks, devotional candles and
pledges of prayer and support.
The church of mostly Arab American parishioners burned to the ground
early
Sunday. As tensions mount at home over the Israeli-Palestinian
conflict,
members were left hoping the fire was just a terrible accident.
In Florida, a man has been charged with a hate crime after barreling
his
truck into a mosque in Tallahassee.
None of the 225 Antiochian Orthodox churches in the United States have
been
a victim of vandalism since Sept. 11, said Deacon Hans Elhayek of the
Antiochian Orthodox Christian Archdiocese in Englewood, N.J.
But Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said Arabic Christians could be targeted. "With emotions
running
so high with the conflict going on, having a remote connection to the
Middle East may have been enough," he said...
-----
US RESISTS AGING DRAFT PLAN WORDING
By JEROME SOCOLOVSKY, Associated Press, 4/9/2002
MADRID, Spain (AP) - In an echo of previous international meetings, the
United States is resisting language that could be construed as critical
of
Israel in a draft plan on problems confronting the elderly around the
world.
Delegates on Tuesday are to agree on final wording of the 50-page
"International Plan of Action on Aging" - which deals with matters such
as
pensions, affordable health care and discrimination and abuse.
However, the United States is resisting proposals by some countries to
include references to older persons affected by "foreign occupation" -
considered a veiled slap at Israel and its treatment of the
Palestinians,
an American official said.
Last year, the United States and Israel walked out of a U.N. racism
conference in South Africa because of disagreements over references to
the
Middle East conflict.
Conference site: http://www.un.org/ageing
-----
MUSLIM VOTE GAINS POWER IN FRANCE
By ELIZABETH BRYANT, United Press International, 4/9/2002
As she attends a campaign rally for her favorite presidential candidate
in
a rundown stadium in southwestern France, Malika Ahmed, represents a
new,
and slowly growing force in French politics. She is a 33-year-old
ethnic
Moroccan woman -- and the deputy mayor of a Paris suburb.
The candidate is former minister Jean-Pierre Chevenement. "I like his
convictions," Ahmed said. "I like his egalitarian approach." More
precisely, Ahmed likes Chevenement's campaign promise, as head of the
small, center-left Citizen's Movement Party, to offer equal
opportunities
for ethnic Moroccans like herself -- to say nothing of the memory of
his
1991 resignation as defense minister over French involvement in the
Gulf
War against Iraq.
"We second-generation immigrants are not looking for quotas," said
Ahmed,
who is deputy mayor of the Paris suburb of Aubervilliers. "We want our
just
place in this society."
Such sentiments help explain the shifting tectonics of France's Muslim
electorate. A new crop of second- and third-generation immigrants is
edging
into the political scene. Old political allegiances, once neatly split
between aging conservatives and their leftist-oriented offspring, are
dissolving.
And as politicians gear up for this spring's presidential and
legislative
elections, few can afford to ignore the country's 5 million ethnic
Arabs,
Africans and Turks, Western Europe's largest Muslim community, who
account
for about 10 percent of the French population...
Only about a third of French Muslims are eligible to vote. But as the
population shops around this election season, an eclectic array of
presidential candidates is scrambling for their support...
-----
EUROPE, PREPARE TO GREET ISLAM
By Juraj Kittler, The Christian Science Monitor, 4/9/2002
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/0409/p09s01-coop.html
Nearly every week brings news of another rusty boat loaded with
refugees in
the territorial waters of Italy, France, or Spain. Three hundred to
five
hundred "boat people" cross at a time - Kurds (from Turkey and Iraq),
Afghans and Pakistanis, Tunisians and Moroccans. Risking it all in this
dangerous game, they have only a miserable life to lose - but stand to
gain
a better life for themselves and their children.
Because of official French policy toward minorities, it is not easy to
find
out how many Algerians, Moroccans, or Tunisians are already living in
the
country. The closest one can get are religious statistics that assess
the
number of French Muslims at 4 million. Roughly 1 million of them live
in
metropolitan Paris and their numbers are growing exponentially due to a
high birthrate.
In Italy, the center of the Arab/Muslim culture is in the country's
financial capital, Milan. But growth of the Islamic population is
accelerating mainly in the poorer south - around Naples and in Sicily.
Germany chronically struggles with the cultural assimilation of second-
and
third-generation Turks and Kurds whose fathers came to the country as
Gastarbeiter to work at jobs nobody else wanted. Benelux and
Scandinavia
became the home of huge Arab communities, too. And hundreds of
thousands of
Bosnian or Albanian Muslims flooded Western Europe as a result of the
Balkan wars.
In the meantime, the wealthy western part of Europe is beginning to
feel
the impact of a low birthrate trend. Countries like Germany, France,
and
Italy need an influx of hundreds of thousands of immigrants every year
in
order to maintain a balanced demographic structure...
But after centuries of fighting each other, the followers of the two
largest religions must start to build on peaceful coexistence. It won't
be
easy, especially for proud Europe. But any other alternative would lead
sooner or later to total self-destruction. Lacking new ideas and new
ideals, the old Continent has already lost the advantage of the first
move
in this high-stakes chess match.
-----
CAIR SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA OFFERS INTERNSHIP OPPORTUNITY
CAIR-LA is now accepting applications for its Summer 2002 internship
program. The program is designed to empower our community by helping
young
Muslims gain skills in public relations, media relations, research and
development, public outreach, government relations, and in defending
civil/legal rights. Interns will receive college credit or financial
compensation.
Internships will be held at CAIR's office in Southern California.
Interns
must provide for their own travel, living expenses (housing & food) and
transportation arrangements.
Candidates must be pursuing a bachelor's degree or an advanced degree.
(Exceptions may be made for highly qualified applicants.)
Summer internships run from June 24 through August 16. Applications
must be
received by May 1.
Contact cair_sca@cair-california.org for an application or further
information. Tel: 714.776.1847
-----
To SUBSCRIBE to or UNSUBSCRIBE from this list, go to:
http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/10/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: MURDER
* JUDGE FIRM ON OPEN HEARING FOR ACTIVIST (Detroit Free Press)
* TOW TRUCK DRIVER SAYS MEN BEAT HIM ON I-495 (Washington Post)
* WOMAN FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULTING MUSLIM NEIGHBOR (AP)
* CAIR-CALIF TALL HALL FORUM A SUCCESS
* CAIR-NY CO-SPONSORS RALLY FOR PALESTINE
* WHEN ISRAEL AND THE U.S. DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE (New York Times)
* ISRAEL'S MYTH MACHINE (Ottawa Citizen)
* WITH A WORD, ISRAELI-TURKISH STRAIN SURFACES (New York Times)
* U.S. STUDENTS RALLY FOR PALESTINIANS (AP)
* ATTORNEY WILL FIGHT TERROR AID CHARGE (AP)
* MUSLIMS' VISAS TO U.S. SLOWED (AP)
* EID STAMP SWAMPS VOTING IN MAGAZINE (AP)
* SEPT. 11 CITED BY BOTH SIDES IN DRIVER'S LICENSE WRANGLE (Houston
Chronicle)
* THE STENCH OF BLOOD AND ROTTING CORPSES (Sydney Morning Herald)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: MURDER
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "A time will come when
the
murderer will not know why he has committed the murder, and the victim
will
not know why he has been killed."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 1356
-----
WANT PALESTINIANS TO SURRENDER? START KILLING THEIR CHILDREN
By Adele Ferguson, The Eastside Journal, 4/7/2002
http://www.eastsidejournal.com/
"The next times a bunch of Arab youths are throwing rocks at the
Israeli
tanks, mow them down. Kill them. Keep doing it until the Arabs decide
whether they really hate the Jews more than they love their
children...I
don't think the Israelis would have to dispose of many Arab children
before
the white flag would go up."
NOTE: The Eastside Journal now says it "regrets publication of the
column."
-----
JUDGE FIRM ON OPEN HEARING FOR ACTIVIST
BY DAVID ASHENFELTER, The Detroit Free Press
http://www.freep.com/news/metro/haddad10_20020410.htm
A judge in Detroit refused to back down Tuesday from her decision
ordering
the federal government to stop holding secret deportation proceedings
for a
Muslim activist from Ann Arbor who was detained after the Sept. 11
terrorist attacks.
But as soon as U.S. District Judge Nancy Edmunds rejected the U.S.
Justice
Department's request to reconsider her decision or delay its
enforcement,
federal lawyers appealed to the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati.
The outcome of the appeal could determine whether federal investigators
will be allowed to continue conducting secret deportation hearings for
hundreds of people swept up in the investigation resulting from the
terrorist attacks.
"I believe that the denial of press and public access to these hearings
is
a denial of the First Amendment," Edmunds said during a hearing...
-----
TOW TRUCK DRIVER SAYS MEN BEAT HIM ON I-495
Iranian Victim Blames Ethnic Hatred
By Tom Jackman, The Washington Post, 4/10/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23297-2002Apr10.html
When two men in a pickup started waving at the tow truck driver on the
Capital Beltway in Fairfax, the tow truck driver willingly pulled over,
thinking the men needed some sort of assistance. It happens all the
time,
the tow truck driver said, and he's happy to help.
But after they pulled to the side of busy Interstate 495, one of the
men in
the pickup truck walked over to the tow truck driver and said, "I have
a
license to kill you." The tow truck driver, who is Iranian, said he was
confused. The assailant then head-butted the tow truck driver in the
forehead, and he and his friend repeatedly punched the man and then
choked
him into unconsciousness as traffic whizzed by...
-----
WOMAN FOUND GUILTY OF ASSAULTING MUSLIM NEIGHBOR
Associated Press, 4/10/2002
MANCHESTER, N.H. (AP) - A woman has received a suspended sentence in an
assault against a Muslim woman allegedly prompted by the terrorist
attacks.
Ecaterina Svet, 43, was found guilty of assaulting her neighbor in a
stairwell and yelling racial slurs at her on Oct. 16. Police said Svet
elbowed Fatima Deek in the ribs, causing her to fall onto the stairs,
and
then taunted her with comments about the Middle East and anthrax.
Prosecutors said Svet assaulted Deek, a native of Jordan, because Deek
is a
Muslim. Svet was given a two- to five-year suspended sentence on a
misdemeanor assault charge in Hillsborough County Superior Court on
Tuesday. The case was reportedly the first incident of a hate-motivated
crime in the state after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks...
-----
CAIR-CALIF TALL HALL FORUM A SUCCESS
CAIR Northern California and the Department of Justice successfully
held a
Town Hall Forum on April 4 with officials from the FBI, INS and US
Attorney's office. The meeting addressed issues and concerns of Muslims
living in the Bay Area.
More than 800 community members packed the Muslim Community Center to
listen to panel guests Larry Mefford, Associate Special Agent in charge
of
San Francisco Department of FBI, David Still, INS Director, Matthew
Jacobs,
Asst US Attorney and Martha Boersch, Lead Attorney on Terrorism from
the US
Attorney's office.
Other organizations in attendance were the ACLU, NAACP, National
Lawyer's
Guild, AMA, ING, Lawyer's Committee on Civil Rights, and many more.
The speakers provided attendees information on the current climate,
laws,
and activities of the operating agencies in the Department of Justice
post
September 11, 2001 and how they are affecting the Muslim community.
"This event is part of CAIR' s mission to empower Muslims and build
coalitions with public officials to improve the quality of life for
all,"
said CAIR California President Fouad Khatib.
-----
CAIR-NY CO-SPONSORS RALLY FOR PALESTINE
WHEN: Friday, April 12, 11 a.m.-6 p.m.
WHERE: Times Square, New York City
NYC mosques are asked to bring their congregations to pray Jum'ah at
Times
Square itself.
TO VIEW A FLYER FOR THE RALLY, GO TO:
http://www.cair-ny.com/
-----
WHEN ISRAEL AND THE U.S. DON'T SEE EYE TO EYE
By ARSALAN TARIQ IFTIKHAR, The New York Times, 4/10/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/opinion/L10MIDE.html
(The writer is Midwest communications director, Council on
American-Islamic
Relations.)
Re "Ariel Sharon's Costly Defiance" (editorial, April 9): It was Ariel
Sharon's march on the Temple Mount in September 2000 that was the spark
of
the current intifada. And in his successful bid for prime minister, he
vowed to negate the Oslo accords.
Mr. Sharon was dismissed as defense minister by a commission of his own
countrymen for his "indirect responsibility" in the refugee camp
massacres
at Sabra and Shatila in 1982. He haughtily asserts that Israel is the
only
democracy in the region. However, how democratic a society can you have
if
you continuously violate more than 60 United Nations resolutions and
militarily rule over three million of your inhabitants?
Granted, Yasir Arafat is also culpable in this conflict. The suicide
bombings have to stop. However, if we cure the disease, only then can
we
truly quell the symptoms. Simply put, Israel must end its occupation of
the
Palestinian people.
-----
ISRAEL'S MYTH MACHINE
White South Africa used conquest and propaganda to keep the black
population down. Israel is using the same logic with the Palestinians.
By Riad Saloojee, Ottawa Citizen, 4/10/2002
Riad Saloojee is executive director of the Ottawa-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations -- Canada.
One ought to be wary of pictures, a social commentator once noted, for
they
cannot convey time or context. But sometimes there is nothing like the
simple clarity of an image -- especially now, besieged as we are by the
relentless discourse of Israel's need to "fight terror" and its need
for
"safety and security." (As if this newspeak is not itself sufficient to
reveal the inner workings of a state obsessed with hiding its abuse of
power. When Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon asserts that he intends
to
make Palestinians "beg for mercy," what other conclusion is deducible?)
The picture: two very young Palestinian children in the foreground and
behind them the looming hulk of a tank. The picture is stark in all its
allusions. It presents the current asymmetry of a conflict that has
been
sanitized in a million and one ways as a "war between equals" and never
for
what it is: a 35-year-long occupation against a civilian population by
the
most powerful military in the Middle East, the fourth-largest army in
the
world, and the largest recipient of U.S. largesse, replete with its
modern
armoury of tanks, Apache helicopters and heavy artillery.
The word occupation has become taboo. Hardly ever mentioned now, it has
been confined to a memory hole. Listening to the pundits and
self-styled
experts, you would think the occupation is irrelevant to Israel's
current
predicament. But is it so unusual, so irrational, that a legacy of
violence
begets more violence -- that a cycle of violence simply eats into
itself?
We don't live in a world of disembodied reason but in a world of real
cause
and effect, a world of social consequences, of history.
Archbishop Desmond Tutu observed during a Christmas visit to Israel on
Dec.
25, 1989: "I am a black South African, and if I were to change the
names, a
description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank
could
describe events in South Africa (under apartheid)."
This was the first intifada. Not much has changed since.
Well, one thing has: Racist South Africa has been dismantled, so Israel
can't be its military and political ally anymore. And from someone who
was
born in South Africa and whose family lived there for three
generations, I
am well aware of the logic of conquest: the targeting of civilians, the
checkpoints, the daily humiliation, the illegal assassinations, the
curfews, the collective punishments, the military abuse, the torture
and
the dismantling of social and economic institutions.
I am also well aware of the steady export of propaganda to attain,
maintain
and retain illegitimate power. In an attempt to hold on to its
illegally
acquired territory and settlements, Israel has generated a steady diet
of
myths -- some so patently racist that they would make Hendrick
Verwoerd,
perhaps the foremost architect of apartheid, wince: that Palestinians
use
their children as "human shields"; that Palestinians, indeed all Arabs,
have a pathological hatred for Israel; that Yasser Arafat, held up in a
broken and battered headquarters without basic amenities, can quell all
violence; and that Palestinians spare no stones in their attempt to
push
"Jews into the sea," and even use ambulances for violence.
This latter argument, the latest attempt to victimize the victim, has
been
thoroughly debunked: one by lack of evidence and, two, by the Israeli
human
rights group B'Tselem. A March 14, 2002, report noted that it is
Israeli
Defence Forces soldiers that have fired at ambulances, killed on-duty
Palestinian medical personnel, wounded several others and prevented
medical
treatment to the sick and wounded -- even leaving people to bleed to
death.
The screw of the occupation still turns. But now, it is a renewed
occupation. Says Zbigniew Brzezinski, former U.S. national security
adviser: "The Israelis are becoming increasingly like the white
supremacist
South Africans, viewing the Palestinians as a lower form of life, not
hesitating to kill a great many of them." And the killing of civilians
is
just one part of the horrific equation. Amnesty International offered a
trenchant critique of Israel's "flagrant human-rights violations" and
cited
the wanton destruction of houses, cars and buildings; the deliberate
denial
of food, water and medicine; the humiliating confinement and curfew of
an
entire population; arbitrary arrests, torture and other degrading
treatment; and the closing of areas under siege to journalists, aid
workers
and humanitarian organizations.
Remembering the picture, I think of my own father, a son of South
Africa's
occupation, and how he left South Africa to give his children a better
future. I fear that Palestinian children might grow into their
adulthood,
the sons and daughters of a renewed and reinvigorated occupation. And
even
if we had the power to end the occupation here and now, it's not
enough.
History will never forgive what was done to the Palestinians. And
history
will never forgive our role in it.
-----
WITH A WORD, ISRAELI-TURKISH STRAIN SURFACES
By DOUGLAS FRANTZ, The New York Times, 4/10/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/10/international/middleeast/10TURK.html
ISTANBUL, April 9 -- Prime Minister Bulent Ecevit of Turkey told a
gathering of his political party last week that Israel's military raids
into the West Bank were genocide.
Israel might have ignored the statement had it come from another Muslim
leader, but Turkey is Israel's best friend in the region. So Mr.
Ecevit's
choice of words set off protests that heightened strains in a
relationship
of strategic importance to both countries and to the United States...
-----
U.S. STUDENTS RALLY FOR PALESTINIANS
The Associated Press, 4/10/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Mideast-Campus-Protests.html
Marching and handing out fliers, students who sympathize with
Palestinians
under siege from Israel rallied on a handful of the nation's campuses.
Most events during Tuesday's loosely organized protests were modest and
peaceful, though some demonstrators were heckled.
A rally for the Palestinian cause drew about 1,000 supporters and
spectators at the University of California, Berkeley, including
pro-Israel
demonstrators who shouted their disapproval while police kept watch.
After the rally, campus police arrested 79 pro-Palestinian protesters
who
stormed into a classroom building. Some students hung a Palestinian
flag
from a third-story window, while others marched in the hallways of the
building, which houses classrooms for Middle Eastern studies.
Students for Justice in Palestine likened the current Mideast violence
to
the Holocaust -- only with the Palestinians as the victims. They also
called for the university to divest any Israel-related investments...
------
ATTORNEY WILL FIGHT TERROR AID CHARGE
By TOM HAYS, The Associated Press, 4/10/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Terror-Indictments.html
NEW YORK - A defense attorney with a reputation as a zealous advocate
has
become a defendant herself, accused of crossing the line by conspiring
to
help an imprisoned client relay messages to his radical Islamic
followers.
U.S. Attorney James B. Comey accused attorney Lynne Stewart and three
men
of aiding terrorism by assisting blind cleric Omar Abdel-Rahman, a
leader
of a terrorist organization linked to al-Qaida...
Stewart pleaded "emphatically not guilty" Tuesday in a courtroom packed
with fellow defense attorneys who labeled the case a political
prosecution
designed to discourage the vigorous defense of terrorist defendants...
Stewart said she hoped the indictment becomes a "touchstone case ...
something that points out the limits the government can go through in
prosecuting people they don't like..."
-----
MUSLIMS' VISAS TO U.S. SLOWED
By GEORGE GEDDA, The Associated Press, 4/10/02
http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/national/AP-Visas-Muslims.html
WASHINGTON - Prolonged security checks since Sept. 11 have caused a
slowdown of almost 14 percent in the number of overseas Muslims granted
permission to live in the United States through a special green card
program, officials say.
Under the program, citizens of countries with low rates of migration to
the
United States can try their luck in obtaining permanent U.S. residence
visas through a lottery conducted annually by the State Department
Visa approvals were granted to 16,308 lottery winners worldwide from
Oct.
1, 2000 to Feb. 28, 2001, according to official figures.
But for the identical period a year later, which occurred after the
Sept.
11 terrorist attacks, the number approved was just 14,074 - a decline
of
2,234 or about 14 percent.
Almost all of that was the result of lower numbers from Muslim
countries,
said a State Department official, who asked not to be identified...
-----
EID STAMP SWAMPS VOTING IN MAGAZINE
By RANDOLPH E. SCHMID, Associated Press, 4/09/02
An onslaught of online voting for the Muslim "Eid" stamp caused the
magazine Linn's Stamp News to separate e-mail from mailed ballots in
its
annual poll of the most popular U.S. stamps.
A colorful 20-stamp sheet of art by American illustrators won the
traditional mail-in voting, collecting 368 votes, and prompting Linn's
to
declare it the overall favorite in its April issue.
In the online balloting the Eid stamp, celebrating Muslim holidays,
collected 13,815 votes. Carnivorous plants were second with 241.
The powerful turnout came after the American Muslim Council e-mailed
its
members asking them to vote for the stamp, which is dark blue with gold
calligraphy.
"Given the stamp's importance to them, we can understand their desire
to
generate votes for it," Linn's editor Michael Laurence wrote in a
column on
the balloting. "But in the end their efforts were just too successful."
Asked about the effort, Faiz Rehman, communications director of the
council, said: "That's what activism is all about..."
-----
SEPT. 11 CITED BY BOTH SIDES IN DRIVER'S LICENSE WRANGLE
By EDWARD HEGSTROM, Houston Chronicle, 4/9/2002
http://www.chron.com/cs/CDA/story.hts/metropolitan/1356309
AUSTIN -- A proposal to make it more difficult for some foreigners to
obtain Texas driver's licenses drew heated debate Tuesday, with both
sides
calling on officials to learn the lesson of Sept. 11.
The proposed regulations would make it impossible for people who have a
foreign passport to get Texas driver's licenses unless they also have
verifiable identification issued by the U.S. government. Refugees, some
foreign students and other immigrants -- except those from Canada --
would
be excluded from getting the state identification.
Illegal immigrants already face difficulty getting licenses in Texas,
and
the proposed rules from the Department of Public Safety appear to make
it
virtually impossible for them.
State officials say the proposed changes come in response to the Sept.
11
terrorist attacks. Some terrorists obtained driver's licenses from
various
states, which they used as acceptable photo identification to board the
planes they crashed in New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia.
But critics -- including representatives of the Austin Police
Department --
said security would be enhanced by offering driver's licenses to
immigrants, establishing written records of immigrants' residences in
the
United States.
Joseph Berra, an attorney with the Mexican American Legal Defense and
Educational Fund, said that after Sept. 11, "there is a greater need to
ensure that people are properly licensed and identified..."
-----
THE STENCH OF BLOOD AND ROTTING CORPSES
By Suzanne Goldenberg, Sydney Morning Herald, 4/10/2002
http://www.smh.com.au/
The stench of blood and rotting corpses carried far beyond the green
mosque
where the bodies were laid out, tightly wedged together like firewood:
young men, perhaps Palestinian fighters, and those with the sagging
paunch
of middle age.
After five days of ferocious fighting in the vaulted stone alleyways of
the
old town, the Israeli Army on Monday allowed Palestinian medical
workers to
take the 62 wounded to hospital and carry away the dead.
Twenty-six corpses awaited them. Five had bled their lives away into
the
stained mattresses strewn beneath the chandeliers of the Jamal Bek
mosque -
now a makeshift hospital and morgue.
"The first dead [man] was here on the first day, Wednesday," said Nisar
Smadi, a doctor. "He was killed by a shortage of medicine. It was an
abdomen wound."
The frenzied evacuation began at sundown. As medics scrambled down a
crater
at the entrance to the old city - the casbah - stretcher bearers
collided
in vaulted alleyways in a feverish effort to collect the dead before
the
army re-imposed its curfew...
The corpses were stacked in a courtyard of the mosque. Some faces were
blackened and pitted, apparently by an explosion. One wore the green
bandana of Hamas. The face of another was masked with a black and white
chequered keffiyeh (headdress), but it was impossible to say in the
chaos
how many of the dead were Palestinian fighters, and how many were
civilians...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
ACTION REQUESTED:
Let elected officials and the media know that you support freedom for
the
Palestinian people. GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. MUSLIMS SAY "WAR CRIMES" COMMITTED IN JENIN
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/10/2002) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR) today condemned what it called "war crimes" by Israeli
occupation
forces in the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin. According to media
reports, the Israelis are preparing to raze the camp using bulldozers.
The
Washington-based Islamic advocacy group asked that President Bush stop
the
destruction of Jenin in order to prevent civilian deaths and to keep
evidence of atrocities from being destroyed.
CNN's Rula Amin reported this morning: "...bulldozers now are knocking
down
houses there. And we have been hearing earlier in the day confirmed by
units of officers in the field that the residents were asked through
the
loudspeakers by the Israeli army to leave their houses and to gather in
locations on the outskirts of the camp. There is a lot of concern among
the
residents that what's happening is that Israeli bulldozers are
bulldozing
the houses. They are flattening the camp."
The French news agency Agence France Presse (AFP) reports that the
Israeli
army expelled some 800 women and children from the Jenin refugee camp
on
Wednesday. AFP quoted UNICEF officials who said, "The women and
children
were forced out on the streets of Jenin, where they have no protection,
food or clothing." The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human
Rights and the Environment cites eyewitness reports that Israeli forces
are
now digging what may be mass graves in the camp. Israel is refusing to
allow aid groups or the media into Jenin.
Even Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres termed the army's actions in
Jenin a "massacre."
SEE:
http://www.jpost.com/Editions/2002/04/09/LatestNews/LatestNews.46578.html
"These war crimes, carried out using American-taxpayer-funded weapons,
are
being driven by blood lust and a thirst for revenge. We call on
President
Bush to stop this state-sponsored terror against innocent Palestinian
civilians," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.
Ahmad added that Israel's actions recall the destruction of more than
400
Palestinian towns and villages since 1948 and the 1982 massacre at the
Sabra and Shatila Palestinian refugee camps in Lebanon. He reiterated
Muslim support for President Bush's demand that Israel withdraw from
the
cities it has invaded, end settlement activity and cease its daily
humiliation of Palestinian Muslims and Christians.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/11/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* TROUBLED FAMILY IS SPLIT AS NEIGHBORS ASK WHY (Times-Union)
* ISRAELI SOLDIERS NAME DOG “GEORGE W. BUSH” (Reuters)
* U.S. SENATORS APPLAUD FOREIGN LEADER WHO CRITICIZES PRESIDENT’S
POLICY
(New York Times)
* DEFIANT SHARON LOSING SUPPORT IN THE WHITE HOUSE (Washington Post)
* THE ISRAEL LOBBY (New York Press)
* THEFT, PILLAGING BY ISRAELI TROOPS (AFP)
* JENIN: 'MY MOTHER RAN FOR HELP. A SOLDIER SHOT HER IN THE HEAD'
(Independent)
* LAW: EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS IN JENIN REFUGEE CAMP
* BLAMING THE VICTIMS: HATING THE PALESTINIANS (Counterpunch)
* COURT WEIGHS OPENING OF AN IMMIGRATION HEARING (New York Times)
* SURVEY IN MUSLIM NATIONS SHOWS HATRED OF POLICIES BUT A LOVE OF THE
CULTURE (Wall Street Journal)
-----
TROUBLED FAMILY IS SPLIT AS NEIGHBORS ASK WHY
By Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Times-Union, 4/11/2002
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041102/met_9110979.html
Jacksonville police know Riccardo Young as a bad father, a man who let
11
children live in squalor and ran when authorities came to his house.
His neighbors say they never met that man. The Young they described was
a
tireless worker and family man who kept his kids fed, healthy and happy
--
even in a tiny, crowded box of a house with no electricity or running
water.
And they don't understand how life turned so bad this week for an East
Arlington family they described as religious, loving and devoted to one
another.
"What happened just wasn't right," said Kevin Stafford, fuming a day
after
social workers put the children in emergency shelters and police locked
up
the children's mother on child-neglect charges.
"The kids looked clean to me, they looked well-fed," said Joian Hopke,
whose home backs up on a yard where the family cooked meals over a fire
in
a metal trash can. "He was really a nice guy, very polite. We never had
any
problem."
Judges and prosecutors may decide whether the family will live together
again. The wife, Antoinette Young, was in jail yesterday with a $25,000
bond, and police indicated they would seek an arrest warrant for
Riccardo
Young.
But to determine the family's future, authorities will have to
understand
how a couple that seemed devoted to children ended up raising them in
an
aging cinder-block home that the city condemned.
That started about five months ago, when the Youngs moved from New
Jersey
to a rented house on Airport Terrace Drive, a stone's throw from Craig
Municipal Airport.
The entire 13-member family moved into an 828-square-foot home, a
building
with one bathroom.
"The only thing we worried about was the kids -- all those kids," Hopke
said. "We were counting the kids and how many there were. Me and my
husband
were like, 'Dude, it's time to stop'."
Antoinette Young, 39, stayed busy at home riding herd over eight boys
and
three girls, ranging from age 3 to 16. She was the quieter of the
couple,
often seen hanging laundry in the backyard, wearing a head covering
that
reflected the family's Islamic beliefs.
Her husband of almost 20 years was a talker with a Yankee accent,
neighbors
said, a courteous man who stopped to visit as he regularly walked the
neighborhood two blocks off St. Johns Bluff Road.
Riccardo Young, 46, who was known to some as Rafik, was a car salesman
who
hopped from job to job in the maze of auto dealerships near Regency
Square.
He sometimes had weeks where he made good commissions, but lately he
was
short of money, the neighbors said. His own car was broken down, and he
could be seen walking home late at night, both arms full of grocery
bags.
The family walked through the neighborhood together, and at times
Riccardo
Young took his sons to the Islamic Center of Northeast Florida, a
couple of
miles away.
"He was a very nice man," said Aatif Barbari, the center's custodian,
who
said he didn't know of the family's problems.
Whatever else was going on at the home, the family's electric bill
wasn't
being paid.
Since the power was turned on in late November, there had been no
payments
at all, and the bill had climbed to $378, said Bruce Dugan, a JEA
spokesman.
Last month, the JEA cut off electricity, which also stopped the
backyard
pump that provided the home's water.
Someone rigged the wiring to get electricity back, but the JEA noticed
and
seven days ago a workman shut off service again and locked the power
box.
There wasn't much choice, Dugan said: "If they had said to us, we're
having
a lot of trouble, can we work out a payment, that would have been
different."
With no water for a week, Stafford said, Young had come to his home
each
day to fill 20-gallon Gatorade vats that he carried back to the tiny,
crowded house. He said Young had asked welfare officials for help, but
was
told he made too much money…
On Tuesday, case workers from the Florida Department of Children and
Families came to the house after someone reported the children were
living
in squalor.
Police were called too, along with building inspectors. The city
condemned
the property that day, and social workers decided to take the children
from
their parents, a police report showed. The report said Young told his
children to run away when he heard they would be taken, and that he ran
off
too. All but one son, described as either 16 or 17, eventually
returned.
ACTION REQUESTED:
Florida's Department of Children and Families has tentatively assigned
the
Young family's case to a non-profit agency called the First Coast
Family
Center. They will help the family get better housing and possibly a new
job
for the father. Donations can be sent to the family can through them.
Send donations to:
First Coast Family Center
For the family of Riccardo Young
Attention: Connie Fussell
2747 Art Museum Drive, Suite 100
Jacksonville, FL 32207
Please let CAIR know if you send a donation so that we may follow-up on
the
case.
-----
ISRAELI SOLDIERS NAME DOG “GEORGE W. BUSH”
ISRAELIS INCREASINGLY RESENTFUL OF U.S. DEMANDS - CAUGHT OFF GUARD
By Matt Spetalnick, Reuters, 4/10/02
http://nationalpost.com/search/story.html?f=/stories/20020410/597395.html
ELON MOREH, West Bank, Occupied Palestine, - Members of an Israeli tank
brigade waging an offensive in the West Bank found a unique way to show
how
they felt about the U.S. President -- they adopted a stray dog and
named it
"George W. Bush."
"He's a cowboy," one soldier said as the brown pit-bull terrier prowled
an
Israeli hilltop encampment overlooking the city of Nablus. "He barks a
lot," said a second. "But he's useless," another chimed in…
-----
U.S. SENATORS APPLAUD FOREIGN LEADER WHO CRITICIZES PRESIDENT’S POLICY
NETANYAHU SAYS POWELL MISSION 'WON'T AMOUNT TO ANYTHING'
By ELAINE SCIOLINO, The New York Times, 4/11/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/international/middleeast/11POLI.html
Benjamin Netanyahu, the former prime minister of Israel, branded the
American peace initiative a failure today and called for the expulsion
of
the Palestinian president, Yasir Arafat, from the occupied West Bank…
Mr. Netanyahu was warmly received by bipartisan groups of senators and
congressmen. He also gave a news conference at the National Press Club
and
spoke before the American Enterprise Institute, a policy study group…
-----
DEFIANT SHARON LOSING SUPPORT IN THE WHITE HOUSE
By Mike Allen and John Lancaster, Washington Post, 4/11/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A28981-2002Apr10.html
Israel's continued defiance of President Bush's demand for an immediate
withdrawal of Israeli forces from Palestinian cities and towns is
eroding
support for Prime Minister Ariel Sharon inside the White House,
administration sources said yesterday.
After months of steadfast backing of Sharon by the Bush administration,
senior White House aides are beginning to express doubts about whether
the
Israeli leader can be a long-term partner in achieving the
administration's
goals in the Middle East.
White House aides also fear that Sharon's intransigence in the face of
Bush's repeated demands over the past week for an end to the Israeli
attacks could make the president appear ineffective and erode his
standing
in the world…
The administration's tougher line on Israel is already facing
resistance in
Congress, with some lawmakers accusing the White House of compromising
the
moral clarity of its anti-terrorism crusade…
Lobbyists for major American Jewish organizations have also been busy
in
Congress, "expressing concern about the kind of pressure that's being
brought to bear" on Sharon's government by the administration,
according to
someone involved in the discussions…
-----
THE ISRAEL LOBBY
By Taki, The New York Press, 4/11/02
http://www.nypress.com/15/15/taki/taki.cfm
On Easter Sunday, during lunch, the richest woman in Israel, Irithe
Landeau, suddenly burst into my house and began to harangue my friends
and
family about Adam Shapiro. Despite the fact she's one of my wife's
oldest
friends and was invited to drop in after lunch, I was extremely
annoyed. I
reminded Irithe that my house was not Israeli occupied territory, that
it
was Easter, and knowing how I feel about the plight of the
Palestinians,
she should change the subject.
Which she did, turning on the press, instead, and how they gave
publicity
to that godawful traitor Adam Shapiro…
-----
THEFT, PILLAGING BY ISRAELI TROOPS
Agence France Presse, 4/11/2002
Palestinian accusations of pillaging by Israeli occupation troops in
Ramallah mounted on Wednesday, but the reports were unverifiable, as
the
army has made the area off-limits to journalists.
Amal Masri, public relations officer for a Peugeot agent, said
Wednesday
that soldiers engaged in acts completely outside the scope of their
mission
of finding weapons and arresting Palestinian activists.
"After blowing up the doors, they destroyed everything without reason.
They
tore apart the ventilation system. Our manager is an art collector.
They
stole some of the objects from her table,” she said.
Masri said the Israelis also urinated and defecated in the new cars
parked
inside the exhibition hall. In the limited movements they are able to
make
around Ramallah during the lifting of curfews journalists are accosted
by
residents wishing to report similar incidents...
Osama Abdoh told AFP that "soldiers came to search the house of one of
my
friends who lives in the refugee camp of Al Mari. When they left, he
was
missing 6,000 shekels that he left in a wardrobe as well as a necklace
and
some rings belonging to his wife".
Majdi AL Malki, sociology professor at Bir Zeit University, whose
apartment
lies near the headquarters of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, left
immediately when the Israeli army invaded Ramallah on March 29. Dozens
of
soldiers took up positions in his apartment for two days.
“They went through everything, ate on the sofas and defecated on the
ground. Despite the fact that I have no Palestinian flag and no
pictures of
the Palestinian leader", he explains. Even worse, Malki laments that
"they
stole everything they could take: My telephone charger, $4,000, the
gold
bracelets of my young daughters and my sun glasses.”
Al Malki, a French national, said he had complained to the French
consulate. He added that the same happened to his neighbour.
"He noticed that they had stolen 450 shekels and he went and complained
to
the commander of the army, who returned the money to him", he
continued. In
the centre of Ramallah, Israeli soldiers painted in blue "leave, leave,
Tsahal (Israeli army) units are arriving" in Hebrew on a massive
portrait
of Yasser Arafat.
Rita Giacaman, researcher in public health, denounced the "systematic
thefts" by soldiers, saying there could be three reasons behind such
acts.
"Either the soldiers received the order to do these things, or the
chief of
staff turns a blind eye and accepts them to compensate for the
dangerous
character of their mission, or the army does not know and has lost
control
over its men", she said…
-----
JENIN: 'MY MOTHER RAN FOR HELP. A SOLDIER SHOT HER IN THE HEAD'
By Justin Huggler, The Independent (UK), 4/11/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=283752
(UK) April 11, 2002 Abdullah Washai had to watch his 17-year-old
brother,
Munir, slowly bleed to death. He took several hours to die. A hole had
been
ripped in his shoulder by a round from an Israeli helicopter.
When the boy's mother, Mariam, ran into the street screaming for help,
Mr
Washai says, Israeli soldiers shot her dead. These are typical of the
claims of those who have managed to escape the carnage of Jenin refugee
camp, the scene of the worst fighting of Israel's onslaught in the West
Bank. The question that was facing Israel yesterday was: what will
happen
when the full story of what Israel has wreaked in the Jenin camp is
revealed?
As the Israeli newspaper Ma'ariv said in an editorial: "We can begin
thinking today about the war after the war: the public relations war in
the
media in which Israel can be expected to be placed in the international
defendant's seat, when the television screens around the world become
filled with the spectacle of bodies lined up, destroyed houses and
crying,
distraught relatives..."
As friends shuffled past to pay their respects, Mr Washai told his
story,
which cannot be confirmed, in the home of a friend who had taken the
family
in. "My brother was shot on Saturday afternoon," he said. "A helicopter
round came through the wall. It went into his chest and out through the
back of his shoulder. We called for an ambulance, but when it came
outside
the Israeli soldiers shot at it. It had to go…"
-----
LAW: EXTRA-JUDICIAL EXECUTIONS IN JENIN REFUGEE CAMP
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
the
Environment, 4/10/02
SEE ALSO: Israel digs mass graves - covering up war crimes
http://www.lawsociety.org/Press/Preleases/2002/April/apr10u.html
Reports from witnesses in Jenin refugee camp to LAW indicate that from
those Palestinian fighters resisting the Israeli military assault on
Jenin
refugee camp, a number of those sought to surrender to Israeli forces
and
were summarily executed. It has been difficult to confirm exact numbers
of
those executed, due to the fact that Israeli forces prevent any of the
residents of the refugee camp or any independent monitors from
returning or
entering the refugee camp.
However, LAW has received the names of two of those fighters, who were
apparently executed after their surrender: Ala' Sabagh and Mahmoud al-
Hilou.
Reports indicate that other fighters remaining within the refugee camp,
who
have stopped their resistance, and seek to surrender, are being
summarily
executed.
Witnesses report that when leaving the refugee camp, they saw bodies of
residents that appeared to be run over by military bulldozers and
bodies
within the rubble of homes and shelters that had been destroyed. They
expressed their fears that they did not know whether all the bodies in
the
rubble were dead or injured persons.
LAW understands that the majority of the residents from the camp, after
being forcibly expelled by Israeli forces, earlier today, have still
not
been allowed to return. These refugees are now currently scattered
throughout the area, surrounding the refugee camp.
Various sources from the refugee camp, estimate that at least 30
percent of
the total area of the camp, including homes and shelters, have been
totally
destroyed…
-----
BLAMING THE VICTIMS: HATING THE PALESTINIANS
By M. Junaid Alam, Counterpunch, 4/10/2002
http://www.counterpunch.org/alam0410.html
With Israeli troops currently ravaging entire Palestinian cities,
urinating
in homes, beating civilians, strapping them to tanks as human shields,
shooting them like dogs in the streets--in a word, defending
civilization--American pundits have come up with a timely answer to the
situation: blame the Palestinians.
Who is responsible for Sharon being put into power, but the wicked
Palestinians who forced the poor Israelis to elect him; who is being
called
to "end terror" as Palestinian civilians starve and bleed to death in
the
streets, but a man literally hiding behind barb wires in a shelled-out
compound, Yassir Arafat.
The gravest offense of the dark-hearted and dark-skinned Palestinians,
however, is suicide bombing. Op-ed writers feign absolute horror,
disbelief, and disgust at this most inhumane act, assuring us that no
people on earth now or ever before were capable of such hatred, save
the
Palestinians.
A week and a half into an Israeli invasion that has left 200
Palestinian
slaughtered, media experts invite representatives of the Palestinian
people
on television, only to interrogate them like Al-Qaeda detainees about
this
heinous crime of suicide bombing. Every assessment of the conflict
begins
and ends with denunciations of the suicide bombings, with nothing in
between but the occasional clearing of the throat to emphasize the
moral
authority of the assertion. But do these moralistic tirades contain a
single ounce of consistency, sincerity, or truth in them?..
-----
COURT WEIGHS OPENING OF AN IMMIGRATION HEARING
By DANNY HAKIM, The New York Times, April 11, 2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/11/national/11DETA.html
A federal appeals court in Cincinnati agreed today to a speedy review
of a
lower court's decision to open to the news media an immigration hearing
for
a man seized in the government's terrorism sweep.
News organizations, including The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit
News,
are seeking access to the hearings of the man, Rabih Haddad, the
co-founder
of a Muslim charity that has come under federal scrutiny as having ties
to
terrorist groups. The organizations, which have been joined in their
efforts by the American Civil Liberties Union, are also seeking
transcripts
and documents from Mr. Haddad's past hearings. The United States Court
of
Appeals for the Sixth Circuit issued a temporary stay of the lower
court's
order, meaning that the government is not required at this time to
release
the transcripts and documents from past hearings. The court will
probably
decide next week whether to issue a lengthier stay to keep the past and
future hearings closed while the appeals process continues…
-----
SURVEY IN MUSLIM NATIONS SHOWS HATRED OF POLICIES BUT A LOVE OF THE
CULTURE
By Jim VandeHei, The Wall Street Journal, 4/11/2002
WASHINGTON -- Muslims in the Arab world largely dislike U.S. foreign
policy, but a significant number of them enjoy American popular
culture, a
new poll has found.
Contrary to perceptions that Arab and non-Arab Muslim nations hate
everything American, the Zogby International poll, to be released
today,
found widespread Muslim approval of this country's consumer products,
movies and television programs. For instance, 75% of Iranians polled
and
54% of Kuwaitis surveyed have a favorable view of American movies and
television shows. But only 1% of Iranians and 6% of Kuwaitis polled
said
they back U.S. policies toward Arab nations and Palestinians.
The results of Zogby's latest "Impressions of America" survey are
derived
from face-to-face interviews with what Zogby describes as "randomly
selected" people, conducted in March and early April in five Arab
nations
and three non-Arab Muslim nations…
While leading a global war against terror, Mr. Bush has worked with
Britain
and other nations to better explain what he sees as U.S. altruism. He
has
highlighted foreign aid and offered more of it, and talked frequently
of
U.S. humanitarian efforts in Afghanistan and elsewhere.
But Zogby's numbers suggest that those efforts have done little to
allay
hostility toward the U.S. "They don't hate us, but the policy does
appear
to be taking its toll," says John Zogby, the Utica, N.Y.-based pollster
who
oversaw the survey.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/12/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* AID OFFERS FOR FAMILY FLOW IN (Times-Union)
* DEADLINE FOR CAIR SUMMER INTERNSHIP FAST APPROACHING
* JENIN: TRAILS OF DESTRUCTION, TALES OF LOSS (Washington Post)
- AMID ISRAELI ATTACK, TALES OF ABUSE (Christian Science
Monitor)
* BILL O'REILLY: "I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE MUSLIM WORLD"
(WorldNetDaily)
* CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKER GIVES TALK ON MIDEAST (Seattle Times)
* CANADIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN VANDALISM AGAINST JEWISH INSTITUTIONS
-----
AID OFFERS FOR FAMILY FLOW IN
Home condemned; 11 children taken
By Steve Patterson, Jacksonville, Times-Union4/12/2002
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/041202/met_9122761.html
A Jacksonville couple separated from their 11 children when their home
was
condemned this week could receive state help finding housing and
resolving
financial problems.
And a national Islamic organization yesterday began asking supporters
to
raise money for Riccardo and Antoinette Young, who were raising eight
sons
and three daughters in a cramped house with no electricity or running
water.
Social workers put the children in state custody Tuesday, although one
son
was reported to have evaded them.
Late yesterday, five supporters of the Washington-based Council on
American-Islamic Relations reported sending $1,700 for the family, who
are
Muslim.
Hitting home:
Additionally, 20 Times-Union readers yesterday called the newspaper
seeking
to contact the family and offer assistance.
Antoinette Young, 39, remained in jail with a $25,000 bail yesterday,
facing a child-neglect charge. Riccardo Young, a 46-year-old car
salesman,
has been missing since he ran from the home Tuesday.
The family's situation -- neighbors generally described them as
industrious, healthy and happy but cash-strapped -- has touched people
from
a variety of backgrounds and financial means.
Neighbors near the Youngs' old home, an area of modest houses and
mobile
homes by Craig Municipal Airport, yesterday discussed ways to support
Antoinette Young when she goes to court.
Newspaper readers responded from affluent Ponte Vedra Beach to
working-class North Jacksonville neighborhoods. And social service
advocates expressed a desire to reunite the family if at all practical.
Barbara Alexander, executive director of the non-profit First Coast
Family
Center, said she lobbied the state Department of Children and Families
this
week for a chance to work with the family.
"It could be the only sin they committed is running out of money," said
Alexander, whose center runs a pilot program to prevent child abuse and
neglect by helping financially struggling families. Unless case workers
find a deeper problem, she said, "this is exactly the kind of case that
this [program] is set up for."
Social workers took the Youngs' children, ages 3 to 16, after the
family's
electricity was cut off and a pump for a backyard well was disabled.
The
family had carried water from a neighbor's home, used hurricane
lanterns
for light and cooked meals over a fire in a trash can before the home
was
condemned Tuesday.
The Family Center will begin by trying to find a larger home, in the
hope
that the children and parents will be reunited. The state-funded pilot
program, the Neighborhood Partnership for the Protection of Children,
can
also help parents find new jobs and pay for utilities or other basic
services...
ACTION REQUESTED:
1) More funds are needed to provide housing so the family may be
re-united.
Donations to help the Young family should be mailed to:
First Coast Family Center
Attention: Connie Fussell
2747 Art Museum Drive, Suite 100
Jacksonville, FL 32207
Tel: 904-348-3251 Fax: 904-348-3256
URL: http://www.firstcoastfamilycenter.org/about.asp
2) NOTE on your check, made payable to "First Coast Family Center,"
that
the funds should go to the Riccardo and Antoinette Young family.
3) INFORM CAIR about your donation so that we may follow up on this
case.
-----
DEADLINE FOR CAIR SUMMER INTERNSHIP FAST APPROACHING
Interested in gaining valuable first-hand experience in the fields of:
Community Outreach and Chapter Development, Public and Media Relations,
Legal and Civil Rights, Research and Leadership Training? Then the CAIR
Internship Program is made for you! The application deadline for the
Summer
2002 Internship Session is April 29th. For more information, please
visit
our website:
http://www.cair-net.org/downloads/internshipapplication.doc
CALL: (202) 488-8787
-----
JENIN: TRAILS OF DESTRUCTION, TALES OF LOSS
By Lee Hockstader, The Washington Post, 4/12/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A34518-2002Apr11.html
JENIN, West Bank, April 11 -- There is the Fashafsheh family. According
to
their relatives, the mother, father and 9-year-old son were killed when
an
Israeli tank fired a shell through their living room in downtown Jenin
and
an Israeli bulldozer plowed into the thick walls of their home,
smashing it
down on top of them.
There is Rina Zayyed, 15, who said she was struck in the chest by a
bullet
as she sat at home with her father and brother. An Israeli helicopter
gunship opened fire on a man in the street below who was recharging a
cell
phone with his car battery, she recounted, and a fragment hit her.
And there is Khadra Samara, 33, who said she shepherded more than a
dozen
children as she fled from house to house to house in the adjacent Jenin
refugee camp, under repeated assault from Israeli bulldozers and
missiles
that, house by house, nearly toppled the walls on top of them.
These are some of the stories people told today in Jenin...
Many refugees who had fled to town to escape the camp's dusty streets
and
cinder-block hovels where the bloodiest fighting unfolded said their
homes
had been pulverized. They described bodies lying in the streets...
Israeli officials have estimated that 150 to 200 Palestinians died in
the
camp. Some Palestinians put the figure closer to 500 but acknowledged
they
had no hard count because the camp has been closed off by Israeli
forces.
Nearly 700 Palestinians were arrested in the camp, including many
fighters...
Palestinians emerged from their houses during the four-hour respite to
gawk
at the razed houses and shattered facades downtown. On Old Castle
Street,
where the Fashafsheh family lived, their corner house, with its walls
three
feet thick, was a wreck, half of it shorn away and turned to rubble. In
the
crater that was once the family's living room, the stench of death hung
in
the air.
About 9 a.m. one day last weekend, an Israeli tank fired a shell into
the
house without warning, according to neighbors. Then an Israeli armored
bulldozer pulverized the wall, possibly to clear a passage for the tank
to
pass. Ahmad Fashafsheh, 50, his wife, Sameera, and their son Hisham
were
killed. Two other sons, 11 and 13, were hurt.
Issam Fashafsheh, a relative who lives across the street, watched the
scene. "I heard the kids screaming, then the bulldozer came and started
destroying the house," he said. "They were entombed under the wall in
their
living room where they sat..."
"A few days ago a woman called from home and said, 'I'm in labor,' "
said
Ziad Ayaseh, the hospital director. "I told her what to do, but she
said
the child was not breathing. I said, 'He's dead. You can put him on the
list of the martyrs like those in the refugee camp.' "
When the curfew was lifted today, the family of a 52-year-old
Palestinian
woman arrived with her corpse. The woman had been shot in the face and
chest by helicopter gunships, her family said; they needed a death
certificate...
Samara tried to get out the front door, but found it was blocked by
rubble.
She handed the children through a side window into a neighbor's house.
"I was so furious I wanted to make a suicide bomb and use it on them,"
she
said. "I picked up a cylinder of cooking gas to carry with me so I
could
blow it up. I was so scared I was screaming. I thought I was going to
die.
"When I picked up the cylinder my daughter said, 'Mom, don't do it! For
God's sake don't do it!'"...
SEE ALSO:
AMID ISRAELI ATTACK, TALES OF ABUSE
As Israel pulled out of some West Bank towns yesterday, Jenin, a center
of
Palestinian militancy, remained closed.
By Cameron W. Barr, The Christian Science Monitor, 4/12/2002
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0412/p01s01-wome.html
BURQIN, WEST BANK - From a rocky olive orchard above this West Bank
village, Jenin and its refugee camp seemed placid yesterday. Almost
nothing
moved. A few Israeli tanks and armored personnel carriers rumbled along
deserted streets. Inside the camp, two burning buildings sent streams
of
smoke into a hazy sky.
But here in Burqin and several other nearby villages, refugees from
Israel's 10-day-old invasion of Jenin and its camp spoke loudly and
incessantly of horrors: a cigarette stubbed out on a man's skin, five
young
men executed in plain sight, mass burials by bulldozer.
Sitting down to relate her story yesterday, Atra Nijmi looked at a
handful
of reporters and burst into tears. Her words came in torrents as well.
"They destroyed the house, they killed children and they killed boys,"
she
said, the "they" being Israeli soldiers...
The young men had hidden in their homes rather than obey the orders of
Israeli soldiers that men and boys come out for questioning. When the
men
were eventually discovered, the punishment for disobedience was death.
She
said the Israeli soldiers dragged the bodies away.
Nijmi also said the Israeli soldiers had buried 13 bodies at a
hospital,
five at a mosque, and 15 to 20 bodies in mass graves dug by bulldozers.
She
said she had heard nothing from her husband and teenage son since they
were
taken away by Israeli soldiers on April 3...
In one house, Khazem said he pulled down his blindfold and saw an
Israeli
soldier stub a cigarette out on the skin of a detainee who had ignored
an
order not to smoke.
-----
BILL O'REILLY: "I COULDN'T CARE LESS ABOUT THE MUSLIM WORLD"
PRAY FOR PEACE, POLISH THE WEAPONS
By Bill O'Reilly, WorldNetDaily.com, 4/12/2002
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27189
If you strip all the side shows away, you are left with the fact that
America will sooner or later have to defeat the Muslims who hate us, or
be
subjected to continuous terror and violence...
Arabs are oppressed and poor, and their leaders blame that condition on
Israel and the United States. That is fallacious, of course, but when
you
can't read or think outside of the Koran, it is easy to swallow hateful
propaganda.
Most Arabs live lives of poverty and hopelessness...Most Arabs have no
money and no freedom. No wonder they are angry. All Americans should
realize that these people are dangerous...
I don't know about you, but I couldn't care less about the Muslim
world...
SEND NOTES OF CONCERN TO: Oreilly@foxnews.com,
boreilly@worldnetdaily.com,
Viewerservices@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CONTROVERSIAL SPEAKER GIVES TALK ON MIDEAST
By Sara Jean Green, The Seattle Times, 4/11/2002
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27189
As Daniel Pipes took the podium inside a packed University of
Washington
lecture hall last night, hundreds of people stood outside in the
university's Red Square, unable to get in.
Some attendees admitted they'd been nervous coming to hear Pipes
because of
the potentially volatile atmosphere surrounding the controversial
Middle
East expert. Pipes' writings on militant Muslims, which date back to
the
early 1980s, have garnered much attention since the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks. But aside from a few cat calls and one man's shouted assertion
that Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is a hero, those who came to hear
Pipes' speech on "The War on Terrorism and Militant Islam" were
attentive
and civil.
The dozen or so members of the UW Muslim Students' Association, who
handed
out information sheets as people filed into the hall, weren't
interested in
holding an angry protest.
"He's a blatant, anti-Muslim bigot who's gone around and accused
Muslims of
doing things in the past," said student-association president Humza
Chaudhry, pointing to Pipes' statements blaming Muslims in the days
after
the Oklahoma City federal building bombing. "Daniel Pipes knows better,
but
to make his money and keep his notoriety, he's willing to say just
about
anything against us.
"I believe in free speech so I'm not all that upset (about Pipes'
visit),"
Chaudhry said, adding that the UW's Jackson School of International
Studies
should also sponsor speakers representing the Muslim viewpoint...
SEE: WHO IS DANIEL PIPES?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
-----
CANADIAN MUSLIMS CONDEMN VANDALISM AGAINST JEWISH INSTITUTIONS
(Ottawa, Canada - 4/12/2002) - The Canadian office of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today condemned recent attacks
against Jewish institutions and places of worship in Toronto, York
Region,
Ottawa and Saskatoon.
In a statement released today, CAIR-CAN Board member Faisal Kutty
wrote:
"Canadian Muslims are very sensitive to the type of racist scapegoating
directed against the Jewish community. Since September 11th, CAIR-CAN
has
documented widespread and unprecedented hate activity against Canadian
Muslims that has included attacks against Muslim institutions and
places of
worship.
"We strongly denounce the attacks against the Jewish community. Such
violence is immoral and unacceptable. In times of heightened tension,
it is
the duty of all Canadians to protect religious tolerance and civic
harmony.
"We call on police services to investigate these hate-crimes against
the
Jewish community and apprehend the perpetrators."
Contact: Riad Saloojee at 613-798-0003; E-mail: canada@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS 4/14/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* SUPPORT CAIR’S IMPORTANT WORK, BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $10
* DEMONSTRATORS SET TO DESCEND ON D.C.
* CAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR APPEARS ON NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
* JENIN ATROCITIES COMING TO LIGHT
- The Camp that Became a Slaughterhouse (Independent)
- Israel Buries the Bodies, but Cannot Hide the Evidence
- Refugee Camp Is a Scene of Vast Devastation (New York Times)
- Jenin Prisoner Executed After Arrest (UPI)
- Is this Proof of an Israeli Massacre? (Mail on Sunday)
- Days of Bloody Fighting Leave Jenin Refugee Camp in Ruins
(Reuters)
- Israeli Army Accused of Atrocities (Los Angeles Times)
- BBC Shows Israelis Preventing Aid for Elderly Woman in Jenin
- Powell Cautions Israelis on West Bank Operations (AFP)
- Tanks Bar Aid Agencies and Journalists from Camp (Guardian)
- Israel’s War of Words Gets Dirty (Independent)
- Despite Court's Decision, Israeli Forces Move Bodies from
Jenin
(LAW)
* ISRAEL REOPENS NOTORIOUS DESERT PRISON CAMP (PCHR)
* 'DIVEST IN ISRAEL' CALL SURFACES ON U.S. CAMPUSES (Reuters)
* 5 MONTHS AFTER SANCTIONS AGAINST SOMALI COMPANY, SCANT PROOF OF QAEDA
TIE
(New York Times)
* U.S. GIVEN 10 DAYS TO RELEASE DETAINEE DATA (Bergen Record)
* JUDGE TO CONSIDER SECRET EVIDENCE (AP)
* MUSLIMS HONOR BRIDGE BUILDER (Harrisburg Patriot)
-----
SUPPORT CAIR’S IMPORTANT WORK, BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $10
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
DEMONSTRATORS SET TO DESCEND ON D.C.
By DAVID HO, The Associated Press, 4/14/2002
The White House protest is planned by International ANSWER, an anti-war
coalition that originally intended to oppose the war on terrorism, but
changed its focus after the increase in Mideast violence. Organizer
Sarah
Sloan said thousands of demonstrators, including many Arab and Muslim
groups, will march in support of the Palestinians and against U.S. aid
to
Israel.
SEE: International ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism):
http://www.internationalanswer.org
-----
CAIR EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR APPEARS ON NBC NIGHTLY NEWS
SHOW: NBC Nightly News (6:30 PM ET), April 12, 2002 Friday
HEADLINE: Fund-raiser airing on Arab TV benefits Palestinian victims of
Mideast violence
ANCHORS: TOM BROKAW
REPORTERS: KELLY O'DONNELL
TOM BROKAW, anchor: Meanwhile, elsewhere in the Arab world the phones
are
ringing off the hook for an unusual around-the-clock fund-raiser airing
on
Saudi television. The Saudi Arabians say this telethon is to help the
Palestinian victims of the violence. But some are asking, is this
really a
way to bankroll terror? More on that from NBC's Kelly O'Donnell
tonight.
KELLY O'DONNELL reporting:
O'DONNELL: The government-sponsored event, a huge money maker, claiming
$100 million and counting. The question, will donations support victims
or
more violence? A Saudi princess donated her Rolls Royce. Schoolchildren
emptied their piggy banks. A billionaire prince gave $27 million, the
same
man whose $10 million gift was accepted, later rejected by then-Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani when the donor criticized US support of Israel. The
charity here, spelled out on that banner: the Palestinian people's
campaign. Help for Palestinians and their families harmed in the
violent
conflict with Israel. Help some call suspicious, criticized as
bankrolling
suicide bombers.
O'DONNELL: Much of the controversy is over the word 'martyr,' a term
Palestinians use to describe all their casualties in the Israeli
fighting,
a term recognized by Saudis. A senior US government official tells NBC
News
Saudis give financial help to the families of all Palestinians killed,
drawing no distinction between suicide bombers and others killed.
Mr. NIWAD AWAD (Council on American-Islamic Relations): It is only
controversial in the United States because people do not see the
magnitude
of the suffering.
-----
JENIN ATROCITIES COMING TO LIGHT
The Camp that Became a Slaughterhouse
By Justin Huggler, The Independent, 4/14/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284823
A woman with her leg all but ripped off by a helicopter rocket, the
mangled
remains hanging on by a thread of skin as she slowly bleeds to death. A
10-year-old boy lying dead in the street, his arm blown off and a great
hole in his side. A mother shot dead when she ran into the street to
scream
for help for her dying son. The wounded left to die slowly, in horrible
agony, because the ambulances were not allowed in to treat them.
A terrible crime has been committed by Israel in Jenin refugee camp,
and
the world is turning a blind eye. Colin Powell, the US Secretary of
State,
visited the scene of a suicide bombing that murdered six Israelis in
Jerusalem, but he did not visit Jenin, where the Israelis admit they
killed
at least 100 Palestinians. The Israel army claims all of the dead were
armed men, that it took special care to avoid civilian casualties. But
we
saw the helicopter rockets rain down on desperately crowded areas:
civilian
casualties could not have been prevented.
The Israeli army sealed off the entire area around Jenin yesterday,
arresting journalists who ventured into it. That is because they have
something to hide in Jenin: the bodies.
The Israeli army has told the Israeli courts that it will not start
burying
the bodies until Sunday. But there are abundant eyewitnesses who say
they
have already seen the soldiers piling the bodies in mass graves. Hiding
the
bodies is what Slobodan Milosevic did in Kosovo.
Either way, the Palestinians are not allowed to bury their own dead,
because Israel does not want the world to see what happened inside
Jenin
refugee camp. The grieving have no way of knowing where to find the
bodies
of those they have lost.
For nine days, Jenin camp became a slaughterhouse…
---
Israel Buries the Bodies, but Cannot Hide the Evidence
By Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves, The Independent, 4/13/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?dir=75&story=284436
Israel was trying to bury the evidence in Jenin refugee camp yesterday,
but
it cannot bury the terrible crime it has committed: a slaughter in
which
Palestinian civilians were cut down alongside the armed defenders of
the camp.
Israeli tanks circled journalists menacingly as foreign reporters tried
to
get into the camp, cutting off their approach. But a man who had just
fled
the camp said he had seen Israeli soldiers burying the bodies of the
dead
in a mass grave.
"I saw it all with my own eyes," said the man. "I saw people bleeding
to
death in the streets. I saw a 10-year-old child lying dead. There was a
big
hole in his side and his arm had been blown away.
"I saw them burying the bodies. They started work on the grave a few
days
ago. I recognised some of the bodies in it. I can give you the names."
And he reeled them off: "Mohammed Hamed, Nidal Nubam and Mustafa
Shnewa".
He said the mass grave he saw was in a neighbourhood called Harat
Al-Hawashiya.
"They dug a big hole in the ground. I saw them filling it in today.
They
had a big bulldozer pushing dirt in on top of it."
And so the grieving of Jenin will not be certain where their relatives
lie.
They will not return to bury their dead, however the Israeli army will
have done that to keep the devastating sight of the carnage away from
the
eyes of the waiting world.
Yesterday, though, they were unable to stifle the evil smell. The reek
of
putrefying bodies wafted out of the narrow, rubble-strewn alleys which
were
barred for a fifth day to international aid agencies trying to send
ambulances and doctors to evacuate the many wounded, and recover the
dead.
One after another, international officials, angered by Israel's rampant
violations of the Fourth Geneva Convention and the human misery that
has
resulted, confided to The Independent yesterday that they had reached
the
inevitable conclusion: a crime has been committed which Israel is
trying to
cover up.
"It is clear they have something to hide that is the bottom line,"
said
one senior diplomatic source. Red Cross and Red Crescent ambulances
waited
on stand-by for yet another day, without getting in to the camp…
---
Refugee Camp Is a Scene of Vast Devastation
By JAMES BENNET, The New York Times, 4/14/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/14/international/middleeast/14JENI.html
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank, April 13 - A three-hour tour here today,
made with local guides who picked paths around Israeli tanks, showed
destruction on a scale far greater than that seen in the other
Palestinian
cities that have fallen before Israel's offensive, its biggest ground
operation in 20 years…
Palestinians described hiding in caves, hearing a neighbor's
handicapped
son crying out as a house was demolished on top of him, piling
mattresses
over children so that Israeli patrols would not hear them wail. They
rushed
up to strangers to tell their stories.
"My father, my brother, my son I have no one!" wailed a woman in a pink
housecoat and pale blue head scarf, standing on the debris in the
midday
sun. "There are many bodies, many bodies, under the stones, under the
sand!"…
The evidence of the fighting was everywhere. Children had collected
spent
cartridges, some, from helicopter machine guns, the size of cans of
frozen
juice concentrate.
A grenade pin lay in the dust, not far from a missile's steel fins.
Palestinians displayed 18-inch rockets, marked in English as Tow
missiles,
that they said were fired into their homes. The slender filaments used
to
guide rockets hung from buildings and power lines…
Beneath one house, its second floor pierced by a missile, was a dark
cave.
It was carved from the rock and it smelled of damp earth. Thirty-five
people hid here for at least two days, according to Fatmeh Ahmed, who
said
she had stayed there with her four children.
"Whenever we wanted to go out of the cave to bring water or food for
the
children, they opened fire on us," she said…
Another resident of the camp, Umm Samir Sabbagh, said that a
neighboring
family escaped to her home when a bulldozer approached their house.
They
left behind a handicapped son, she said. She said she returned with his
mother to retrieve the man, Jamal, but arrived in time only to hear him
crying out as the house collapsed…
---
Jenin Prisoner Executed After Arrest
Palestinian Militant Killed in Jenin
United Press International, 4/14/2002
A leading Palestinian militant was shot dead after he was arrested by
Israeli troops in the West Bank refugee camp of Jenin on Saturday,
Palestinian eyewitnesses said Sunday.
The witnesses said that dozens of Israeli troops found Abu Jandal, the
leader of militants in the camp, hiding in one of the houses. They said
he
was executed by Israeli troops in the center of the camp after being
taken
into custody.
There was no immediate comment by Israeli officials.
"I know Abu Jandal, I saw him being arrested, then the soldiers took
him to
a yard in the center of the camp and shot two bullets at his head after
his
hands were tied and his eyes were blindfolded," said the witness.
Palestinian National Authority officials said that at least 500
Palestinians were killed in Jenin refugee camp since the Israeli army
entered into Jenin area two weeks ago, and thousands were detained…
Several international humanitarian organizations warned Sunday that
disease
would spread in the camp if the bodies left in the narrow streets of
the
camps were not removed immediately.
The officials said that most of the bodies were buried in mass graves
and
their families were not allowed to receive the bodies and bury them.
---
Is this Proof of an Israeli Massacre?
By BOB GRAHAM, Mail On Sunday, 4/14/2002
http://www.mailonsunday.co.uk/
A CHARRED and deformed corpse lies amongst the rubble of what was once
a
family home.
One arm clutching her chest, the other supporting herself in her
terrible
grief, stands an elderly woman…
By yesterday, stories that Israeli soldiers had carried out
indiscriminate
slaughter in Jenin led to a growing international outcry and demands
that
the extent of their operations be revealed.
As dusk fell over the refugee community of Palestinians, the Sharon
government finally allowed journalists to see the devastation.
Survivors interviewed by The Mail on Sunday spoke of cold-blooded
assassinations of unarmed men - at least one carrying a white flag of
surrender - and of systematic destruction of the camp, inhabited by
around
10,000 people.
One blind woman, Sabha Abu Sayidieh, wept openly as she told how her
son
and grandson were missing after leading her to safety when her house
was
attacked. 'Please, tell me you have found my son and his son,' she
said.
One of the original settlers in Jenin Refugee Camp in 1948, she sat in
the
house of a friend in a suburb of Jenin weeping and rocking backwards
and
forwards in prayer. 'I could not see the tanks or the soldiers but I
could
hear them,' she said. 'They were breaking everything with their
explosions.
I could hear them shooting and I could hear people screaming. I could
also
smell death, from bodies that had not been buried, that's how bad it
was.'
Another survivor, carpenter Nidal Abdul Rashid, spoke of watching his
best
friend Jamal al Samagh gunned down in cold blood by Israeli soldiers…
Rashid, 32, who left his wife Rasha and two young children, Abdul,
eight,
and Maram, six, in the house to surrender believed he, too, would die.
Instead, he endured a public humiliation, forced to strip naked and
parade
along the camp street in front of a tank.
'They were using us all as human shields in case the road had been
booby-trapped or it was shot at,' Rashid explained.
For 36 hours he was forced to lie naked on the ground, his hands tied
behind his back, and bound together with four other men. Mousa Hasan
Ali
Ghoul, a 60-year-old grocer, told of soldiers and tanks firing
indiscriminately. 'There was heavy shelling and firing of automatic
weapons, hitting buildings and anyone in its way. They had no certain
targets although there were some Palestinian fighters trying to stop
them.
If I had a gun I would also have fought...
Ali Ghoul said that bodies were piled up and taken away by lorry. 'We
believe they have been taken away to a place in the Jordan Valley where
the
army buries people they call terrorists. It is closed to the outside
world.
'The soldiers are now treating us the way the Germans treated their
ancestors. They should know better than to do this...'
---
Days of Bloody Fighting Leave Jenin Refugee Camp in Ruins
By Mark Heinrich, Reuters, 4/14/2002
http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/nation/3062087.htm
JENIN, West Bank - A Reuters news team slipped past tanks roaring back
and
forth around the walled camp to find the closely packed concrete houses
and
labyrinth of alleyways smashed by tank and helicopter gunship fire and
riddled with bullet holes.
The contorted bodies of four Palestinian men lay in the ruins of a
living
room that had apparently been hit by a missile.
In a room of a house 100 yards away, the bloated body of a middle-age
man
lay next to a bookcase…
Some houses not damaged in the fighting appeared to have been
ransacked…
From the shattered upstairs window of one house, reporters could see
the
camp's central square. It had been pulverized to rubble and dust. It
was
not clear whether it had been destroyed in battle or bulldozed.
But many residents said bulldozers had been busy in the camp for days.
They
could be heard at work overnight by reporters a few hundred yards from
the
camp entrance…
No males from the ages of around 15 to 50 were seen in the camp. Women
said
males of that age had either been killed or taken prisoner.
Women said they were surviving on basic food stores and had some access
to
well water, but there had been no electricity for over a week. Children
were filthy and some looked ill…
---
Israeli Army Accused of Atrocities
Mideast: Residents of Jenin say soldiers targeted civilians and gunmen
alike.
By RICHARD BOUDREAUX, The Los Angeles Times, 4/13/2002
http://www.latimes.com/la-041202jenin.story
JENIN, West Bank -- Khadra Samara, her family and closest neighbors
lived
in three adjacent cinder-block houses on Rwabe Street, a relatively
quiet
corner of the Palestinian refugee camp here.
For 17 terrifying hours this week, she says, the 30 unarmed neighbors
fled
on hands and knees from one three-story home to the next, huddling
together
as Israeli helicopter gunships, tanks and bulldozers reduced the
buildings
to rubble in methodical succession…
According to the accounts, which couldn't be independently verified,
the
Israelis fired on unarmed civilians, used them as human shields and
obstructed medical workers trying to save the wounded. One camp
resident,
Ali Ramile, a 40-year-old truck driver, said he watched Israeli
soldiers
kill seven or eight disarmed Palestinian fighters execution-style and
dump
several loads of bodies in a mass grave within 100 yards of his home…
But interviews with more than a dozen Palestinians from the Jenin camp
indicated a heavy loss of civilian life there. Nearly everyone
interviewed
said they had watched neighbors die from Israeli shelling or sniper
fire,
or at least seen bodies in the street.
And Palestinian human rights organizations, citing reports that they
said
came from camp residents and witnesses, have accused Israeli troops of
executing prisoners and digging graves in the camp…
When Israeli troops entered the camp on foot to search homes for armed
militants, they sent captive Palestinian men ahead of them at gunpoint
to
knock on the doors or break through the walls. The army has
acknowledged
the practice, saying it discourages armed resistance…
---
BBC Shows Israelis Preventing Aid for Elderly Woman in Jenin
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1920000/video/_1924313_mideast_guerin17_vi.ram
---
Powell Cautions Israelis on West Bank Operations
Agence France Presse, 4/13/2002
US Secretary of State Colin Powell on Saturday expressed concern over
the
humanitarian situation in the Jenin refugee camp and other Palestinian
areas and called on Israeli forces to "refrain from the excessive use
of
force" on the West Bank…
"Israeli forces must exercise their utmost restraint and discipline and
refrain from the excessive use of force in the conduct of military
operations in order to ensure that civilians are protected and to avoid
worsening the already grave conditions inside Palestinian areas."
"We are particularly concerned at the humanitarian situation in Jenin,"
he
said, referring to the refugee camp in the northern West Bank where
fierce
fighting left hundreds of Palestinians dead.
Powell called upon Israel "to allow full and unimpeded access to
humanitarian organizations and services to provide basic humanitarian
services, including the evacuation of the wounded and deceased."
---
Tanks Bar Aid Agencies and Journalists from Camp
By Suzanne Goldenberg in Jenin, The Guardian, 4/13/2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,683780,00.html
The stench of death rose from the Fashafshe family home on Old Castle
Street, or what remains of it: a five-foot high mound of rubble topped
by a
television aerial.
A few days ago an Israeli army tank and a bulldozer prowling the narrow
lanes of the town's main square were boxed in by this old stone house.
So
they demolished it, burying a Palestinian family of five beneath its
two-foot thick stone walls.
"They got stuck so the tank fired a shell at the house. I could hear
the
kids screaming," said Issam Fashafshe, a cousin who lives diagonally
across
from the home. "Then the bulldozers came and started bulldozing. The
wall
fell on people, and their blood was here," he said.
The bodies of Ahmed Fashafshe, his wife Samira and their son Bassam
were
interred in the ruins until Thursday when a brief relaxation of the
curfew
allowed for a hurried burial. Two other children survived.
The battle of Jenin is over. But a day after the Israeli army said it
had
crushed the last resistance from the Palestinian gunmen inside the
refugee
camp there was no clear picture yesterday of how many people were
killed
there, or where the bodies were buried...
---
Israel’s War of Words Gets Dirty
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem, The Independent, 4/14/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=284812
Joel is a reserve captain in the Israeli army. He has a warm handshake
and
a line in rapid-fire patter that betrays his New York upbringing.
He introduces himself as a "military source", but it swiftly emerges
that
he is a headline machine, churning out slurs.
Joel is in the front line of a multi-million dollar propaganda drive by
the
Israeli government to try to prevent an international backlash over its
military invasion into Palestinian-run parts of the occupied West Bank.
They face their toughest challenge yet: limiting the damage to Israel
over
the atrocities committed in the Jenin refugee camp, where its army has
killed and injured hundreds of Palestinians…
We cut straight to the question of Jenin. "Believe me, we would love to
let
you guys into Jenin, but unlike the Palestinian terrorists, we respect
the
dignity of the dead," he said. "They want to gather up the bodies and
show
them off to the international media as evidence of a massacre that is
typical of the sort of PR tricks they play."
The press was also not being allowed into Jenin because of the
"abundance
of terrorists" looking for "Western targets". The Israeli army has
frequently shot at journalists, injuring more than 40 and killing one.
Suddenly, it was concerned for our safety…
The propaganda war between the Israelis and Palestinians has always
been a
dirty business, but now it has sunk to new depths. Israel's media
centre
issued a statement boasting of "countless examples" of humanitarian aid
to
the Palestinians. This will be staggering news to the Red Cross and Red
Crescent, who have been barred from entry, shot at and repeatedly
humiliated, all in violation of the Geneva Convention...
---
Despite Court's Decision, Israeli Forces Move Bodies from Jenin
14 April 2002 - LAW
Statements from eyewitnesses, collected by LAW, confirm that despite
Friday's Israeli High Court's interim order, Israeli forces have
continued
moving bodies outside Jenin refugee camp. Eyewitness accounts confirm
reports that an Israeli truck was seen with bodies inside plastic bags.
The
bodies were taken out of the truck and put in holes dug by bulldozers.
Later, eyewitnesses saw bulldozers coming back to the location, which
is
outside Jenin refugee camp, taking out an estimated thirty bodies from
the
holes and loading the bodies back on the truck. Reports indicate that
the
bodies were then taken in the direction of the 'Green Line', the
demarcation line between Israel and the Occupied Palestinian
Territories.
Individuals, including next-door neighbors, have seen bulldozers
demolishing homes and shelters in which there were still people,
including
women and children. Various eyewitnesses have seen bodies, including
bodies
of women and children, in the rubble of demolished homes. Eyewitnesses
have
seen bulldozers driving back and forward over bodies in Jenin refugee
camp.
Eyewitnesses told LAW they saw a family trying to flee from their home,
that was about to be demolished by Israeli bulldozers. When the family,
including a woman carrying her child, stepped outside their home in
Jenin
refugee camp, they were fired upon from an Apache helicopter with heavy
machinegun fire. In this attack a 14-years old boy was killed.
There have been consistent testimonies from residents of Jenin refugee
camp
who have been used by Israeli forces as human shields. These are
similar
testimonies to reports we received from other Palestinian cities, towns
and
refugee camps, describing similar use of human shields by the Israeli
occupation forces…
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
the Environment is a non-governmental organisation dedicated to
preserving
human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the
International
Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the Federation Internationale des Ligues
de
Droits de l'Homme (FIDH) and the World Organization Against Torture
(OMCT).
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and
the
Environment, PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2-
5833317, email: law@lawsociety.org, web: www.lawsociety.org
-----
ISRAEL REOPENS NOTORIOUS DESERT PRISON CAMP
14 April 2002 - Palestine Center For Human Rights
This week, Israeli authorities reopened the Ketziot prison camp in the
Negev desert in southern Israel, popularly known as “Ansar 3.” During
the
1980s and
1990s, thousands of Palestinian prisoners were held in the facility.
PCHR
fears that the reopening of Ansar 3 indicates that mass arbitrary
detentions in the
Occupied Palestinian Territories (OPT) will continue and is deeply
concerned that detainees transferred to Ansar 3 may be subject to
torture
or other forms of ill-treatment.
PCHR has received information that Ansar 3 is due to receive
approximately 70
Palestinians currently being held in administrative detention in
Megiddo
prison in Israel. A further 281 Palestinians placed in administrative
detention during
Israel’s current military offensive in the West Bank will also be
transferred to the facility. This latter group is currently being held
at
the Ofer military base in the West Bank. Administrative detention
orders
are issued by the military and allow Israeli forces to place
Palestinians
in detention for indefinitely renewable periods of six months without
charge or trial. The transfer of Palestinian prisoners from the OPT
into
Israel is a grave breach under the Fourth Convention.
Ansar 3 was opened on 16 March 1988 to absorb increasing numbers of
Palestinians arrested during the first Intifada. At its peak, it was
the
largest prison in Israel, holding approximately 7,000 Palestinians,
including 3,000 in administrative detention. At one time or another
during
its six years of operation, approximately 170,000 Palestinians were
detained at the facility.
The prison camp is administered by the Israeli army rather than the
civil
penal system. It consists of tents surrounded by barbed wire and
watchtowers. Prisoners are confined with little or no protection from
the
harsh weather conditions of the Negev desert, including temperatures
ranging from 54 degrees during the day to 0 degrees at night. Hygiene
and
sanitation conditions at the facility fail to meet minimum
international
standards of conditions of detention, including those specified in
Article
85 of the Fourth Geneva Convention.
According to PCHR’s documentation, guards at the camp regularly abused
detainees when it was in operation. In a number of cases, soldiers in
watchtowers fired at prisoners, including Asad Jaber Shawa from Gaza
city,
shot and killed on 16 August 1988. For years, Israeli authorities
denied
detainees in Ansar 3 the right to receive family visits. Palestinian
lawyers seeking to visit their clients inside were regularly subject to
degrading treatment and even beatings.
PCHR believes that the reopening of Ansar 3 indicates that Israeli
occupying forces will continue mass arbitrary detentions, especially
under
Israeli Military Order 1500, which grants army officers wide latitude
to
detain Palestinians without charge or judicial review. Israeli
occupying
forces are holding an estimated 4,000 Palestinians detained during the
current offensive in the West Bank military bases of Ofer, Etzion (near
Hebron), and Hawara (near Nablus).
-----
'DIVEST IN ISRAEL' CALL SURFACES ON U.S. CAMPUSES
By Andrew Quinn, Reuters, 4/14/2002
BERKELEY, Calif., April 14 (Reuters) - As Middle East violence
intensifies,
a small but growing number of U.S. students are calling on universities
to
divest from companies that do business in Israel -- an echo of the
successful drive to isolate South Africa's former apartheid regime.
Led by activists at the University of California, Berkeley, a famous
hotbed
of student protest, pro-Palestinian and human rights groups are
organizing
demonstrations and staging sit-ins, hoping to force officials to pull
billions of dollars out of investments in Israel.
While their pleas have received a cool reception from university
authorities -- and they themselves admit that the Israeli divestment
would
be a complicated endeavor -- they say the time has come for major U.S.
investors to take what they call a moral stand for Palestinian human
rights.
"Something, no matter how small, must be done to express our utter
opposition to what is being done by Israel," said Sarah Weir, a
Berkeley
senior and member of the group Students for Justice in Palestine
(SJIP).
While loudest at Berkeley, the divestment call has also been made at
Princeton, the University of Illinois and several other large U.S.
schools…
Pro-Palestinian activists say Berkeley should be a leader in the drive
to
exert financial pressure on Israel. The school, the centerpiece of the
vast
University of California system, has long been one of the nation's most
politically active, and played an important role in opposing the
Vietnam War…
Launched with the beginning of the latest Palestinian uprising in
September
2000, Students for Justice in Palestine demanded the university's Board
of
Regents take steps to drop more than $6.4 billion invested in companies
that do big business in Israel, including General Electric (GE.N),
Raytheon
(RTN.N), Hewlett-Packard (HWP.N), Cisco Systems (CSCO.O), AOL Time
Warner
(AOL.N) and Microsoft (MSFT.O).
At Princeton, where a group called Students for Progressive Education
and
Action has mounted a pro-divestment petition, students say the
university
should ditch at least $100 million in investments in companies ranging
from
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ.N) to McDonalds Corp. (MCD.N)…
-----
5 MONTHS AFTER SANCTIONS AGAINST SOMALI COMPANY, SCANT PROOF OF QAEDA
TIE
By Tim Golden, Bill Berkeley, Donald G. McNeil Jr., The New York Times,
4/13/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/13/international/africa/13SOMA.html
The Bush administration's assault on Somalia's biggest money-transfer
company was swift and severe.
In November, American officials announced that they had proof that the
company, Al Barakaat, was providing as much as $25 million a year to
Osama
bin Laden's terrorists in weapons, cash and other support. With the
help of
dozens of countries, the Treasury Department froze nearly all the
company's
assets, paralyzing the biggest employer in one of the poorest
countries.
Five months later, however, some United States officials now
acknowledge
that the evidence of Al Barakaat's backing for terrorism is more
tenuous.
Some European countries that assisted in shutting down Al Barakaat say
proof of a terror link has not materialized…
-----
U.S. GIVEN 10 DAYS TO RELEASE DETAINEE DATA
By MITCHEL MADDUX AND ELIZABETH LLORENTE, The Bergen Record, 4/13/2002
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?level_3_id=45&page=3189229
A state judge on Friday ruled that information about immigration
detainees
being held in the Passaic and Hudson county jails must be released
within
10 days unless an appeals court decides otherwise.
Assignment Judge Arthur N. D'Italia in Superior Court in Hudson County
issued the written ruling that expanded upon his decision two weeks
ago.
That decision already held that federal authorities had no right to
keep
secret the identities and other details about detainees being held as
part
of the Sept. 11 terror probe.
"I'm pleased that the court recognized in expressed terms that the
government cannot hide behind a cloak of secrecy," said Ed Barocas,
legal
director of the American Civil Liberties of New Jersey, which filed the
case.
The case was one of several the ACLU filed to force the federal
government
to grant human-rights activists and the public access to the detainees.
At
a previous court hearing before D'Italia, the organization had
requested
information on the detainees by citing a state law that mandates that
the
names and the dates of entry of all inmates in county jails "shall be
open
to public inspection."
The judge's ruling now narrows the time the federal Justice Department
has
to persuade a higher court that the information should not be released.
Justice attorneys had said they would appeal the earlier ruling; they
would
not say whether Friday's ruling would alter those plans…
-----
JUDGE TO CONSIDER SECRET EVIDENCE
By MIKE ROBINSON, The Associated Press, 4/13/2002
CHICAGO (AP) - A federal appeals panel has refused to stop a judge from
considering secret evidence against an Islamic charity whose assets
were
frozen during the government's terrorism investigation.
The decision came late Thursday in a lawsuit filed by the Global Relief
Foundation, which is trying to regain control of its assets and an
estimated 500,000 pages of records seized in a Dec. 14 government raid.
U.S. District Judge Wayne Andersen is preparing to view secret evidence
offered by the government in an effort to have the suit dismissed. The
government says national security would be jeopardized if the evidence
were
to become public.
A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said
Global
Relief's request was premature and there would be plenty of time to
appeal
after Andersen decides the case.
The classified evidence has been shown only to the judge without Global
Relief's lawyers present…
Global Relief denies it has anything to do with terrorism…
The government is due to file papers Tuesday explaining why it must use
secret evidence against another Islamic charity, Benevolence
International
Foundation. Both charities are based in suburban Chicago.
Benevolence International's assets were also frozen Dec. 14 and the
group
has filed a similar suit.
-----
MUSLIMS HONOR BRIDGE BUILDER
By MARY WARNER, The Harrisburg Patriot, 4/12/2002
http://www.patriot-news.com/
The Rev. Robert Stoudt's first thought after the attacks of Sept. 11
was
for himself, his family, his congregation. But in the days that
followed,
he began to worry about the Muslims in his community and reached out to
them.
"For me, it was easy to recognize the fact that you were not the
enemy," he
told local Muslims last week. "I had been in your midst. I had prayed
with
you on a number of occasions. ... I had been the beneficiary of your
hospitality."
His sympathy, he said, came of an "informed felt kinship."
Stoudt was honored Saturday by leaders of the local Muslim community as
a
bridge builder between their communities. His church, Penbrook United
Church of Christ, was the first to invite local Muslims to speak in the
wake of Sept. 11 -- and he helped to arrange contacts with other
congregations.
Parvez Ahmed, president of the Central Pennsylvania Chapter of the
Council
on American Islamic Relations, gave Stoudt a plaque before a capacity
crowd
of more than 100 at the Aangan restaurant in Susquehanna Twp. The
dinner
honored bridge builders and local residents who have returned from the
recent annual pilgrimage to Mecca…
Stoudt cautioned that the two communities must not stop short at
"polite
comfortableness" and seek instead a greater goal "of being able to
embrace
each other authentically as brothers and sisters…"
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ISRAEL RALLY SEEKS TO "SPIN" BRUTAL OCCUPATION SAY MUSLIMS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/15/2002) - A Washington-based Islamic advocacy
group
said today this afternoon's rally in support of Israel on Capitol Hill
is a
desperate attempt to put positive spin on that state's brutal
occupation of
another people and to distract attention from recent atrocities
committed
by Israeli forces in the Occupied Territories.
A statement by Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), read in part: (Awad and other CAIR
representatives are available for interviews on this issue.)
"Those who offer blind support for Israel's brutal policies do a
disservice
to our nation's interests worldwide and violate the values of freedom
and
justice that all Americans hold dear. No amount of public relations
'spin'
will convince ordinary Americans that complicity in Israel's denial of
Palestinian rights is anything but a strategic liability that serves to
isolate the United States and harm the ongoing war on terrorism. In
fact, a
recent survey indicated that 60 percent of Americans believe the United
States should cut off or reduce aid to Israel if it refuses to heed
President Bush's call for withdrawal of Israeli troops from Palestinian
territories. (Time/CNN Poll, 4/12/2002)
"Rally organizers claim they are standing up for 'democratic values,'
yet
would deny Palestinians the right to choose their leaders. They call
for an
end to incitement and hate-filled rhetoric, while at the same time
demonizing an entire culture and faith in a vain attempt to avoid
discussion of the real source of the conflict, the occupation. They ask
others to condemn attacks on civilians, but ignore or even deny
atrocities
committed by Israeli forces in places like Jenin and Nablus.
SEE: "Residents of the Jenin refugee camp speak of the viciousness of
the
Israeli attack,"
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-000026946apr15.story
"Just today, the United Nations Commission on Human Rights condemned
Israel
for 'mass killings' of Palestinians. There is no moral equivalence
between
the war on terrorism and Israel's unjust and ultimately self-defeating
war
on Palestinian Muslims and Christians."
Awad reiterated Muslim condemnation of terrorism and support for
President
Bush's demand that Israel withdraw from the cities it has invaded, end
settlement activity and cease its "daily humiliation" of Palestinian
Muslims and Christians. He also said that spontaneous rallies in
support of
Palestinian rights drew hundreds of thousands worldwide.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org,
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/15/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: ENDURANCE IN AFFLICTION
* SUPPORT CAIR'S IMPORTANT WORK, BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $10
* CAIR POLL: SHOULD ARIEL SHARON BE TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES?
* WOLFOWITZ BOOED AT PRO-ISRAEL RALLY (AP)
* A PALESTINIAN STATE FROM ASHES OF JENIN (Arab News)
* SHARON'S BRUTAL PHILOSOPHY (Rocky Mountain News)
* TUTU CALLS US SOFT ON ISRAEL (Boston Globe)
* ISRAEL SEEKS TO STEM OUTCRY OVER DESTRUCTION IN JENIN (New York
Times)
* UN RIGHTS BODY CONDEMNS ISRAEL FOR 'MASS KILLINGS' (Reuters)
* PALESTINIAN CAPTIVES 'TORTURED AND HUMILIATED' AT ISRAELI ARMY BASE
(Independent)
* WHY BUSH DANCES TO SHARON'S TUNE (Toronto Sun)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: ENDURANCE IN AFFLICTION
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Happy is the man who
avoids
dissension, but how fine is the man who is afflicted and shows
endurance.
Sunan of Abu Dawood, Hadith 1996
-----
SUPPORT CAIR'S IMPORTANT WORK, BECOME A MEMBER FOR ONLY $10
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
-----
CAIR POLL: SHOULD ARIEL SHARON BE TRIED FOR WAR CRIMES?
To vote, go to: http://www.cair-net.org/
Last week's poll: Should a peace-keeping force be sent to the Occupied
Territories?
Yes: 88%
No: 12%
Total Votes: 1186
-----
WOLFOWITZ BOOED AT PRO-ISRAEL RALLY
By JIM ABRAMS, The Associated Press, 4/15/2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - A top administration official was interrupted and
booed
Monday when he told thousands of people gathered at the Capitol for a
pro-Israel rally that Palestinians as well as Israelis have been
victims of
Mideast violence.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was drowned out by chants of
"no
more Arafat" and booed as he told a packed crowd of thousands that
"innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying as well. It is critical
that
we recognize and acknowledge that fact..."
-----
A PALESTINIAN STATE FROM ASHES OF JENIN
By Uri Avnery, Arab News, 4/15/2002
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=14339
Uri Avnery is an Israeli journalist and former member of Knesset.
Some 105 years ago, the day after the First Zionist Congress in Basel,
Theodor Herzl, wrote in his diary: "In Basel I founded the State of the
Jews." This week, Ariel Sharon should note in his diary: "In Jenin I
founded the State of the Palestinians."
Of course, he did not mean to. Quite the contrary, his intention was to
destroy the Palestinian nation, its institutions and leadership, once
and
for all, leaving only bits and pieces, human wreckage that could be
disposed of anywhere.
In practice, something quite different happened. Faced with the
onslaught
of the biggest military machine in the region and the most modern arms
in
the world, submerged in a sea of suffering, surrounded by bodies, the
Palestinian nation straightened its back as never before.
In the small refugee camp near Jenin a group of Palestinian fighters
from
all the organizations gathered for a battle of defense that will be
enshrined forever in the hearts of all Arabs...
In the end, only one thing will be remembered: Our giant military
machine
assaulted the small Palestinian people, and the small Palestinian
people
and its leader held on. In the eyes of the Palestinians, and not only
theirs, it will look like a tremendous victory, the victory of a modern
David against Goliath.
-----
SHARON'S BRUTAL PHILOSOPHY
By HOLGER JENSEN, Rocky Mountain News, 4/12/2002
http://24hour.startribune.com/24hour/opinions/story/357826p-2907647c.html
Holger Jensen is international editor of the Rocky Mountain News.
Nicknamed "The Bulldozer," Israel's prime minister is a
soldier-politician
whose career has been dogged by persistent accusations of war crimes.
But what kind of man is Secretary of State Colin Powell trying to
persuade
to make peace with the Palestinians?...
During the Lebanese invasion, Sharon gave a revealing interview to Amos
Oz,
a leading Israeli author, in which he bluntly explained his military
doctrine and railed against pacifist Jews who thought he was being too
tough.
It was published in the daily Davar on Dec. 17, 1982. Excerpts:
"You can call me anything you like. Call me a monster or a murderer.
...
Better a live Judeo-Nazi than a dead saint.
"Even if you prove to me that the present war in Lebanon is a dirty
immoral
war, I don't care. Even if Galilee is shelled again by Katyushas in a
year's time, I don't really care. We shall start another war, kill and
destroy more and more, until they will have had enough.
"Let them tremble, let them call us a mad state. Let them understand
that
we are a wild country, dangerous to our surroundings, not normal, that
we
might go crazy if one of our children is murdered, just one! If anyone
even
raises his hand against us we'll take away half his land and burn the
other
half, including the oil. We might use nuclear arms.
"Even today I am willing to volunteer to do the dirty work for Israel,
to
kill as many Arabs as necessary, to deport them, to expel and burn
them, to
have everyone hate us. ... And I don't mind if after the job is done
you
put me in front of a Nuremberg Trial and then jail me for life. Hang me
if
you want, as a war criminal.
"What you don't understand is that the dirty work of Zionism is not
finished yet, far from it."
Twenty years later, Sharon is still applying that brutal philosophy to
a
captive West Bank. And he is so obsessed with destroying Israel's
enemies
he won't listen to friends, including the President of the United
States.
-----
TUTU CALLS US SOFT ON ISRAEL
By Steven Wilmsen, The Boston Globe, 4/14/2002
http://www.boston.com/globe/
Search using the term "Tutu."
Lkening Israel's treatment of Palestinians to the oppression of blacks
by
the white apartheid government in South Africa, Nobel laureate Desmond
Tutu
yesterday chided the Bush administration for being too soft on prime
minister Ariel Sharon...
Tutu said the Bush administration should demand Israel withdraw from
the
Gaza and the West Bank, adding that Israel's isolation of Yasir Arafat
was
"bizarre and humiliating."
-----
ISRAEL SEEKS TO STEM OUTCRY OVER DESTRUCTION IN JENIN
By SERGE SCHMEMANN and JOEL GREENBERG, The New York Times, 4/15/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/15/international/middleeast/15JENI.html
The soldiers acknowledged that they used Palestinian civilians as
shields
as they moved house to house.
"Yes, because of the snipers. If the sniper sees his friend there, he
won't
shoot," a soldier said, adding that the Palestinians were instructed to
open the doors...
-----
UN RIGHTS BODY CONDEMNS ISRAEL FOR 'MASS KILLINGS'
By REUTERS, 4/15/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/reuters/world/mideast-rights-resolution.html
GENEVA (Reuters) - The United Nations top human rights body condemned
Israel on Monday for ``mass killings'' of Palestinians and demanded it
end
its military offensive in the occupied territories.
The annual session of the Geneva-based Commission on Human Rights
approved
a resolution from Arab and Muslim states that blasted Israel for
``gross
violations'' of humanitarian law and affirmed the "legitimate right of
Palestinian people to resist."
The motion, backed by some European Union states including France,
expressed grave concern at ``the killing of men, women and children''
in
West Bank refugee camps, among them Jenin where Palestinians accuse
Israeli
troops of massacring Palestinian women and children as well as
fighters...
-----
PALESTINIAN CAPTIVES 'TORTURED AND HUMILIATED' AT ISRAELI ARMY BASE
By Justin Huggler, The Independent, 4/15/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=285082
Hundreds of Palestinians have disappeared since Israel began its
onslaught
in the West Bank less than two weeks ago. Details are only now emerging
about what has happened to them, and how they say they have been
tortured
and humiliated by Israeli forces...
It appears that many of the disappeared are still alive. But that is
where
the good news ends. Inside Ofer up to 1,000 Palestinians are detained
and
have been regularly beaten with wooden batons. They are forced to spend
nights sitting in the dirt outside in the cold, in their underwear.
They
are refused food for days at a time.
This is according to evidence collected by respected Israeli human
rights
organisations, and interviews The Independent has conducted with
released
prisoners. Those held in Ofer are not allowed to see lawyers or anyone
else
from the outside world. Yesterday, the International Red Cross was
trying
to negotiate access after having an earlier request refused.
The Israelis are opening more centres to hold the huge number of
detainees.
The Israeli authorities have admitted in an Israeli court that many of
the
men being held in Ofer are not suspected Palestinian militants, but
innocent civilians who happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong
time.
Nour Hamed lives in Beit Rur, a small village close to the forbidding
gates
of Ofer. Mr Hamed has just been released after 10 days. His family did
not
know that, while they feared for his safety, he was near by in Ofer. Mr
Hamed is a director of Ajaill, a Palestinian radio station in Ramallah.
He
was detained with 10 of his colleagues, on 31 March, after Israeli
forces
moved into Ramallah.
"Nine soldiers came into the office and arrested us," Mr Hamed said.
"They
searched us and then blindfolded us.
"They made us sit on the ground outside. There were between 300 and 400
of
us sitting there waiting to go in and be questioned. There was heavy
rain
and a cold wind. We spent three days in that situation. We had no food.
Every day the soldiers came and hit us very hard with wooden batons...
Another recently released man, Mohammed, said Israeli soldiers told him
and
16 others that they would be killed "in revenge for the Israelis". He
recalled: "They made us stand in a group and drove an armoured
personnel
carrier at us. It swerved away at the last minute."
It is impossible to verify the claims, not least because the Israeli
authorities are refusing anyone access to Ofer. But many of the details
are
similar to accounts obtained by respected independent Israeli human
rights
organisations.
An Israeli soldier inside Ofer told B'Tselem, the Israeli Information
Centre for Human Rights in the Occupied Territories, that torture was
being
used inside the camp and that he had seen captives whose toes had been
broken.
Captives can be held without charge or evidence under Israeli military
law.
A warrant has been issued allowing the authorities to refuse access to
lawyers for up to 18 days.
-----
WHY BUSH DANCES TO SHARON'S TUNE
By ERIC MARGOLIS, The Toronto Sun, 4/14/2002
http://www.canoe.com/Columnists/margolis_apr14.html
Who really is running America's Mideast policy? Last week, the
astounded
world saw the grotesque spectacle of President George W. Bush pleading
in
vain with Ariel Sharon, leader of a nation of only 6.3 million people
which
receives almost $5 billion in annual U.S. aid, to cease laying waste
the
Occupied West Bank...
President Bush and senior aides Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell were
left
looking weak, indecisive, and inept. Bush clearly is a political
soulmate
of ultra-hawk Sharon; they share a mutual detestation for Yasser Arafat
and, it would seem, for Arabs in general...
In an act of sheer farce, Powell was sent on a slow boat to Israel, via
Madrid and Morocco. Before Powell even arrived, former Israeli PM
Benjamin
Netanyahu summoned fawning U.S. senators and arrogantly informed them
Powell's mission would fail.
While the rest of the world condemned Israel's invasion and destruction
of
the Palestinian ghettos, not a peep was heard from the White House,
Congress or America's media about Israel's violation of U.S. law in
using
U.S.-supplied armour and warplanes against civilians. Nor about
Israel's
violation of the Geneva Conventions and other international laws. There
were no protests when Israel's Shimon Peres described massacres of
Palestinian civilians by Israeli soldiers...
To be sure, there is deep and justified sympathy in the U.S. for the
frightful suffering Israel has endured at the hands of suicide bombers,
and
its need for self-defence.
Still, why was America alone in defending Israel's ruthless punishment
of
the Palestinians?
How could Bush, only a few weeks ago, still bathing in the bogus glory
of a
military "triumph" against a few thousand medieval tribesman in
Afghanistan, be so suddenly made to look foolish and impotent by events
in
the Mideast?
Simply put, Sharon's right-wing Likud party has come to dominate U.S.
Mideast policy through its powerful American lobby, which "guides"
Congress.
Under pressure from the Israel lobby, 89 out of 100 senators and at
least
280 congressmen recently demanded Bush give Sharon carte blanche to
crush
Palestine. As the Israeli writer Uri Avnery wryly noted, if the Israel
lobby gave orders to repeal the Ten Commandments, Congress would vote
in
favour.
America's media is strongly pro-Israel and averse to dissenting views.
A
coterie of hawkish, Israel-first neo-conservatives dominates media
opinion-making and the Pentagon, leading the charge for a war against
Iraq,
Iran, and Syria. One even helped to write Bush's foolish "axis of evil"
speech...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
DEPARTMENT STORE CHAIN SETTLES MUSLIM DISCRIMINATION COMPLAINT
Conn. shoppers say they were falsely accused of shoplifting because of
religious attire
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/16/2002) - A national department store chain has
settled a discrimination complaint by two Muslim shoppers in
Connecticut
who say they were falsely accused of shoplifting because of their
Islamic
attire.
May Department Stores Company, the parent company of the Meriden,
Conn.,
Lord & Taylor store in which the incident took place, reached the
settlement with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a
Washington-based Islamic advocacy group. That settlement includes an
apology and monetary compensation.
In September 2000, the two female shoppers were accused of shoplifting
after exiting a ladies' fitting room. The Muslim women said that even
after
store security realized they had not stolen any merchandise, a security
guard continued to accuse them of theft and attempted to remove the
religiously-mandated headscarf of one of the women.
"Although many companies have clear non-discrimination guidelines, the
real
test for any policy comes when an incident such as this takes place.
May
Department Stores passed that test by demonstrating that they value
Muslim
customers," said CAIR Civil Rights Manager Joshua Salaam.
The May Department Stores Company currently operates 436 department
stores
in 44 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico.
There are an estimated seven million Muslims in America. SEE: CAIR's
"The
Mosque in America: A National Portrait" at:
http://www.cair-net.org/mosquereport
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org,
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/16/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: JUSTICE
* LETTER TO PALESTINIAN CHILDREN FROM AN AMERICAN MUSLIM CHILD
* DOWNLOAD THE FLYER FOR THE APRIL 20 RALLY FOR PALESTINE IN DC
- MUSLIM VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE RALLY
* CAIR-NY OFFICIAL TO APPEAR ON CNN
* O'REILLY: "AMERICANS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DANGER THAT IS BEING POSED
BY
THE MUSLIM WORLD" (Fox)
* WOMAN SAYS TALE OF AFGHAN ORPHANS FALSE (Los Angeles Times)
* THE DEAD AND THE ANGRY AMID JENIN'S RUBBLE (New York Times)
* JENIN: INSIDE THE CAMP OF THE DEAD (The Times)
* AMID THE RUINS OF JENIN, THE GRISLY EVIDENCE OF A WAR CRIME
(Independent)
* BLASTED TO RUBBLE BY THE ISRAELIS (Daily Telegraph)
* THE LUNAR LANDSCAPE THAT WAS THE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP (Guardian)
* CORRECTION: A MEA CULPA (SHNS)
* MUSLIM SCHOOL LINKS LEARNING, FAITH (Deseret News)
* JEWS AND MUSLIMS, LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER (Christian Science
Monitor)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: JUSTICE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "He who has been a ruler
over ten people will be brought shackled on the Day of Resurrection,
until
the justice (by which he ruled) loosens his chains or tyranny brings
him to
destruction."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 1037
-----
LETTER TO PALESTINIAN CHILDREN FROM AN AMERICAN MUSLIM CHILD
The following is a letter sent to CAIR by an American Muslim child:
Dear Palestinian Children,
Here in America, your fellow brothers and sisters are doing everything
we
can to stop the bloodshed. As for me, my family and I are going to try
and
give up some of our favorite things to support you. Inshallah,
Palestine
will be free from Israel, and inshallah, all Muslims in the world will
be
free from all bad things, and I hope you have a better life in the
future.
As-salaamu Alaykum
Your brother
-----
DOWNLOAD THE FLYER FOR THE APRIL 20 RALLY FOR PALESTINE IN DC
http://www.internationalanswer.org/a20.pdf
MUSLIM VOLUNTEERS NEEDED FOR THE RALLY
There will be a meeting Wednesday, April 17 for Muslims who wish to
volunteer for the rally in Washington.
WHEN: Wednesday, April 17, 7 p.m.
WHERE: ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia
DIRECTIONS: Take Route 7 west, cross Sugerland Road, turn into
Community
Plaza Shopping Center, ADAMS is located behind the Burlington Coat
Factory
CONTACT: 202-879-6723
-----
CAIR-NY OFFICIAL TO APPEAR ON CNN
CAIR-NY Executive Director Ghazi Khankan will appear tonight on CNN
between
6 and 7 p.m. (Eastern). Please watch the program and contact Lou Dobbs
to
show your support for having invited a Muslim guest.
Religious roundtable
http://www.cnn.com/CNN/Programs/moneyline/
Secretary of State Colin Powell continues his push to end violence in
the
Middle East. We'll look beyond the politics to the impact on faith
around
the world in a discussion with Jewish, Muslim and Christian religious
leaders.
-----
O'REILLY: "AMERICANS DO NOT UNDERSTAND THE DANGER THAT IS BEING POSED
BY
THE MUSLIM WORLD"
'It's Shaping Up To Be a World War'
The O'Reilly Factor, April 15, 2002
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,50425,00.html
BILL O'REILLY, HOST: Now for the Top Story tonight, a closer look at
the
merging of Islam and violent terrorism. Joining us now from Miami is
Dr.
Walid Phares, a professor of Middle East studies at Florida Atlantic
University.
What say you, professor?
WALID PHARES, PH.D., FLORIDA ATLANTIC UNIVERSITY: Good evening, Bill.
Islam
originally had clerics, which at some point in history have legitimized
the
use of violence as a way of defending the Muslim societies. However,
when
they opened this Pandora box, then more radical clerics legitimized the
use
of violence not just against the perceived enemy but also in order to
achieve political victories....
O'REILLY: That's right. So their religion, Islam, in that context has
lost
all credibility among clear-thinking people who see it as now a threat.
PHARES: Actually Islam itself, if we go to the texts by themselves,
does
not condone suicide bombing or does not...
O'REILLY: But it doesn't matter.
PHARES: ... (UNINTELLIGIBLE) so...
O'REILLY: It doesn't matter. The people who are in charge of it do...
O'REILLY: ... for the entire world, it's dangerous because you have a
holy
war now directed at infidels, non-Muslims. And now we find ourselves in
a
modern crusade, pitting Christians and Jews against Muslims, do we not?
O'REILLY: What do we do? I mean, we're, we're - it's shaping up to be a
world war, and I'm not over-exaggerating here, because there are, what,
300
million Arabs in the world? All right? (UNINTELLIGIBLE) It's shaping it
up
to be a world war between Muslim fanatics and the rest of us, who don't
want to be killed by people who say Allah wants it done...
O'REILLY: That's an excellent point, professor. You just made one of
the
best points that I've heard on The Factor in quite some time. Americans
do
not understand the danger that is being posed by the Muslim world to
our
way of living right now...
SEND NOTES OF CONCERN TO: Oreilly@foxnews.com,
Viewerservices@foxnews.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
-----
WOMAN SAYS TALE OF AFGHAN ORPHANS FALSE
By KIMI YOSHINO, The Los Angeles Times, 4/16/2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000027159apr16.story
A Culver City woman who claimed hundreds of Afghan women and children
are
on their way to the United States now admits they don't exist.
Speaking through her husband, she apologized for "building up the hopes
in
people wanting to adopt Afghan orphans." Julie Fahrer's descriptions of
needy orphans at a meeting last month spawned federal investigations
and
prompted scores of Afghan families across the United States to sign up
for
foster-care licenses, even though officials warned it was likely a
hoax...
The Afghan-orphans story is a web of tales that Julie Fahrer went to
lengths to make seem real. On several occasions, she told officials at
University Christian Church--the church she rented space from--that
children would be arriving and asked them to beef up security on the
nights
the orphans needed temporary housing. She even spent nights away from
home--purportedly because she was greeting the children flown from
Afghanistan by military transport.
Then last month, she gathered a group of local Afghans and interested
colleagues for a meeting in a Van Nuys church. She told them that 529
Afghan women and orphans were in the United States or on their way and
45
of them had already been placed in homes stretching from Fresno to San
Diego.
She passed out handwritten descriptions of several children. They were
realistic, including tragic-sounding psychological and physical
evaluations
of children with "frequent crying episodes" or "severe scars."
The Afghan community immediately began mobilizing. Mohammad Daoud
Abedi, an
Afghan American who lives in Calabasas, sent an e-mail after attending
the
meeting with Julie Fahrer. The e-mail spread rapidly through Afghan and
Muslim Internet message boards.
Hundreds of families responded, prompting calls to federal and local
agencies.
-----
THE DEAD AND THE ANGRY AMID JENIN'S RUBBLE
By David Rohde, The New York Times, 4/16/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/16/international/middleeast/16JENI.html
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - Palestinians returning to this ruined
place
recovered a wounded man today, skeletal and semiconscious, who said he
had
been lying in the rubble beside a body and waiting for help for nine
days.
Cradling the wounded man in a blanket, a dozen men carried him up a
narrow
alley where flies swarmed a corpse and over a mound of rubble that
smelled
of rotting dead. When the group emerged onto the vast field of
destruction
that was once the heart of this refugee camp, a woman began screaming,
"Ambulance! Ambulance! Ambulance!"
"It's a disaster," said Ruba Al Ruzi, a young woman who watched the
scene.
"I hope the Arab countries and the Americans who watched us being
slaughtered will face the same situation..."
United Nations officials said today that Israeli forces blocked a
convoy
carrying 25 tons of aid from entering the camp, where 2,000 of the
camp's
original 13,000 residents remain...
-----
INSIDE THE CAMP OF THE DEAD
By Janine di Giovanni, The Times (UK), 4/16/2002
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/0,,3-268533,00.html
BASHIR died in agony. The hands of the 23-year-old Palestinian are
clenched
into tight fists, his body charred. He lies buried under rubble and
cement,
his head twisted towards the door as if crying out for help. His tomb
is a
wasted house that crashed around him after the Israelis tried to
bulldoze
it to make a road.
Next door, up a blackened stairway and across shards of glass, is the
body
of Ashran Abu Hadel, also 23. Someone tried to pull him out of the
rubble
but gave up. His arm lies straight out, as though he tried to push
himself
away from the cement as he lay dying. Elsewhere in the Jenin refugee
camp I
saw bodies of men who were clearly fighters, replete with ammunition
belts
and other paramilitary trappings. Bashir and Ashran had nothing.
The refugees I had interviewed in recent days while trying to enter the
camp were not lying. If anything, they underestimated the carnage and
the
horror.
Rarely, in more than a decade of war reporting from Bosnia, Chechnya,
Sierra Leone, Kosovo, have I seen such deliberate destruction, such
disrespect for human life....
This was not only a town of fighters, as Israeli soldiers told me. It
was a
town of women, children and old men, who have seen the camp grow into a
warren of ramshackle homes over half a century. Amnesty International
called for an immediate investigation into "the killings of hundreds of
Palestinians," saying crucial evidence may be destroyed as Israel
"continues to impede access...
The dead are everywhere. Kamal Anis, a labourer, leads us to an area
called
Harat al-Hawashim, a mound of rubble the size of four football pitches
where 200 houses once stood.
He says the Israelis levelled the place; he saw them pile bodies into a
mass grave, dump earth on top, then ran over it to flatten it. There
are
still bulldozers and tanks at work, sending us fleeing into destroyed
buildings. There is the sound of children crying. There are people
looking
for survivors under rubble...
-----
AMID THE RUINS OF JENIN, THE GRISLY EVIDENCE OF A WAR CRIME
By Phil Reeves in Jenin, The Independent (UK) 4/16/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=285413
A monstrous war crime that Israel has tried to cover up for a fortnight
has
finally been exposed. Its troops have caused devastation in the centre
of
the Jenin refugee camp, reached yesterday by The Independent, where
thousands of people are still living amid the ruins. A residential area
roughly 160,000 square yards about a third of a mile wide has been
reduced
to dust.
Rubble has been shovelled by bulldozers into 30ft piles. The sweet and
ghastly reek of rotting human bodies is everywhere, evidence that it is
a
human tomb...
We could not see the bodies. But we could smell them. A few days ago,
we
might not have believed Kamal Anis. But the descriptions given by the
many
other refugees who escaped from Jenin camp were understated, not, as
many
feared and Israel encouraged us to believe, exaggerations. Their
stories
had not prepared me for what I saw yesterday. I believe them now....
We were welcomed by people desperate to tell what had occurred. They
spoke
of executions, and bulldozers wrecking homes with people inside. "This
is
mass murder committed by Ariel Sharon," Jamel Saleh, 43, said. "We feel
more hate for Israel now than ever. Look at this boy." He placed his
hand
on the tousled head of a little boy, Mohammed, the eight-year-old son
of a
friend. "He saw all this evil. He will remember it all..."
-----
BLASTED TO RUBBLE BY THE ISRAELIS
By David Blair, The Daily Telegraph (LONDON), 4/16/2002
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml;$sessionid$IWRB3RYAAF115QFIQMGSFF4AVCBQWIV0?xml=/news/2002/04/16/wmid16.xml&sSheet=/portal/2002/04/16/ixport.html
ISRAEL'S onslaught on the Palestinian refugee camp in Jenin has led to
the
systematic devastation of once teeming streets inhabited by 15,000
people.
Inside the camp, a vast open space 400 yards by 400 yards has been
pounded,
blasted and ground to rubble by tanks, helicopters and bulldozers...
When we penetrated into the exclusion zone yesterday, by walking across
a
hilltop and finding an unguarded flank, it became clear why the
Israelis
had done their utmost to shield Jenin camp from prying eyes. The camp,
still a closed zone, lies in the heart of Jenin Town that once
consisted of
tightly packed flat-roofed houses. All but a few streets have been
blown
apart.
As machinegun fire echoed outside, the frightened girls huddled
together
for comfort...
-----
THE LUNAR LANDSCAPE THAT WAS THE JENIN REFUGEE CAMP
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian (UK), 4/16/2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/Story/0,2763,685133,00.html
A fortnight ago, before Israeli forces invaded, this was a crowded,
bustling place. The narrow alleys between the cinderblock homes -
spanning
barely the width of outstretched arms - were packed with children.
Yesterday, the Hart al-Hawashin neighbourhood, the heart of the Jenin
refugee camp, was a silent wasteland, permeated with the stench of
rotting
corpses and cordite.
The evidence of lives interrupted was everywhere. Plates of food sat in
refrigerators in houses sheared in half by Israeli bulldozers. Pages
from
children's exercise books fluttered in the breeze...After the 13
soldiers
were killed, Israel appears to have abandoned foot patrols. Instead,
the
army began knocking houses down indiscriminately, creating a vast plaza
of
rubble in the centre of the camp, a crossroads for the Israeli tanks.
"They just started demolishing with the people inside," said Hania
al-Kabia, a mother of six whose flat is on the edge of the lunar
landscape.
"I used to hear them on the loudspeaker saying come out, come out. Then
they stopped doing that, but they went on bulldozing..."
-----
CORRECTION: A MEA CULPA
By Holger Jensen, Scripps Howard News Service, 4/15/02
This is a mea culpa. I made a grievous error in not verifying the
authenticity of 20-year-old quotes attributed to Ariel Sharon that I
used
in my April 12 column on the Israeli leader. As it turns out, they were
made not by Sharon but another unnamed Israeli soldier who died 11
years
ago. The interview in question was conducted by Amos Oz, one of
Israel's
leading authors and prominent in the Peace Now movement. He had access
to
many Israeli generals and politicians of that era but identified some
of
his interview subjects only by letters of the alphabet, leaving it up
to
his readers to decide who they were...
(Holger Jensen is international editor of the Rocky Mountain News.
E-mail:
hjens@aol.com)
-----
MUSLIM SCHOOL LINKS LEARNING, FAITH
By Elaine Jarvik, Deseret News, 4/15/2002
http://deseretnews.com/dn/view/0,1249,380012344,00.html
Iman El-Shahidi draws a letter on the board: two half circles connected
to
a bigger half circle. See, she says. "It's the happiest letter in the
Arabic language because it has the most smiles. Isn't that a happy
letter?"
To teach Arabic to 4-year-olds means teaching not just a second
language
but a second alphabet, a whole new set of intricate symbols that must
be
decoded and mastered. El-Shahidi has the children try their own hands
at
making a smiling letter; then she cheerfully erases their squiggles and
helps guide their pencils across the page, right to left.
At Iqra Academy of Utah, the state's only Muslim day school,
preschoolers,
kindergartners and first-graders learn Arabic as well as English,
because
Arabic is the language of the Quran, Islam's holy book. Like the nearly
500
other Muslim schools in the United States, the Iqra Academy tries to
create
a bridge between American culture and Islam -- because America is where
the
children live and Islam is their moral compass.
Kergaye, who attended Catholic schools in Jordan and Cypress, then
American
public schools in California, thinks that a Muslim school has more to
offer
-- and less to distract -- a Muslim child.
"Our moral standards are much higher than in public schools," she says.
There is no swearing, no disrespect, no peer pressure to smoke, do
drugs or
wear the kinds of revealing clothes or tattoos or piercings that Islam
prohibits...
-----
JEWS AND MUSLIMS, LEARNING TO LIVE TOGETHER
By Alexandra Marks, The Christian Science Monitor, 4/16/2002
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/0416/p03s01-ussc.html
Mehrba Kahn is dependent on his hands. As a barber, he makes his living
with them. But they're also his tools to help explain why his Brooklyn
neighborhood a bustling 10 square blocks where more Orthodox Jews and
Muslims live closely together than in almost any other place in the
country
- works so well as a community. That, despite the Sept. 11 terrorist
attacks and heightened tensions in the Middle East.
"See these hands?" asks Mr. Kahn at his shop on Coney Island Avenue.
"The
Jews, the Christians, the Muslims here, they're like these fingers:
They
work together because they have to. We're all connected."
Called Midwood, this is a place where Jewish and Muslim women shop side
by
side, wearing slightly different head coverings but often pushing the
same
brand of strollers. Admittedly, the community is sometimes tense. But
through work, dedication, and a tacit agreement to disagree, it has, on
the
whole, remained productive and peaceful.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #327
LARGEST-EVER RALLY FOR PALESTINE - APRIL 20
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/17/2002) - On Saturday, April 20, thousands of
concerned Americans will gather in Washington, D.C., on the White House
Ellipse to protest Israel's brutal attacks on Palestinian civilians and
to
call on our government to adopt a Mideast policy that is based on
justice
and on American, not Israeli interests. It is essential Muslims and
people
other faith turn out to make our voices heard on this important issue
and
to counter the disinformation being put out by the pro-Israel lobby.
Organizers expect this to be the largest-ever rally in support of
Palestine
in the United States.
"It is our duty to show our solidarity with the suffering Muslims and
Christians of Palestine," said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "He who amongst you sees
something abominable should modify it with the help of his hand; and if
he
has not strength enough to do it, then he should do it with his tongue;
and
if he has not strength enough to do it, (even) then he should (abhor
it)
from his heart and that is the least of faith." Sahih Muslim, Hadith 16
WHEN: Saturday, April 20, 11 a.m.
WHERE: The White House Ellipse (South side of the White House, 16th and
Constitution N.W.)
DOWNLOAD A FLYER FOR THE RALLY AT:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/a20.pdf
FOR INFORMATION ON GETTING TO WASHINGTON, GO TO:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/campaigns/april/logistics.html
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:
1) Plan to attend the rally.
2) Inform your friends, neighbors and colleagues about the rally and
encourage them to attend.
3) Distribute this alert to your personal e-mail list and ask that
recipients do the same.
4) Organize bus or car caravans from your community to the rally.
5) Distribute this alert at local mosques and community centers
following
Friday prayers.
6) Make Du'ah for the Palestinian people suffering under Israeli
occupation.
THERE WILL BE A SIMULTANEOUS RALLY FOR PALESTINE IN SAN FRANCISCO, SEE:
http://www.internationalanswer.org/a20sf1.pdf
TO TAKE IMMEDIATE ACTION IN SUPPORT OF THE PALESTINIAN PEOPLE, GO TO:
http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
TO SUPPORT CAIR'S WORK BY BECOMING A MEMBER, GO TO:
https://www.cair-net.org/asp/membership.asp
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE AT FRIDAY PRAYERS -
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/17/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GOOD CHARACTER
* IS THE PRO-ISRAEL MEDIA LOBBY LOSING ITS GRIP? (Salon.com)
* INTERNET USED BY ORGANIZERS OF PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI RALLIES
(Washington Post)
* CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP TO SUE OVER U.S. HANDLING OF MUSLIM MEN (New York
Times)
* 3 IN SEPT. 11 PROBE SAY THEY WERE ABUSED IN TOP SECURITY (Washington
Post)
* TREASURY BOSS MAY LET THROUGH SOME DONATIONS (Detroit Free Press)
* CANADIAN MUSLIM RETURNS TO TORONTO AFTER BEING DETAINED IN NYC AFTER
SEPT. 11 (CP)
* GUNMEN DEFIANT IN BETHLEHEM CHURCH, SAYS ESCAPEE (Reuters)
* U.N.'S ROBINSON PRESSES ISRAEL OVER RIGHTS PROBE (Reuters)
* WITHDRAW SUPPORT AND ASSIST THE PALESTINIANS (St. Paul Pioneer Press)
* EVIDENCE OF ISRAELI CONTEMPT FOR GENEVA CONVENTION (The Guardian)
* AID GROUPS CRITICIZE ISRAEL OVER RESCUE EFFORT IN JENIN (New York
Times)
* SICK PALESTINIANS DIE AT ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS, UNABLE TO GET TO
HOSPITAL (AFP)
* SPIELBERG TARGET OF BOGUS REPORT (Hollywood Reporter)
* PAYMENT, APOLOGY FOR STORE INCIDENT (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GOOD CHARACTER
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "By his good character,
a
believer will attain the degree of one who prays during the night and
fasts
during the day."
Abu Dawood, Hadith 2233
-----
IS THE PRO-ISRAEL MEDIA LOBBY LOSING ITS GRIP?
By Eric Boehlert, Salon.com, 4/17/2002
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/04/17/media/index_np.html
The current chaos in the Middle East has left partisans on both sides
angry
and bitter. Among the most frustrated, though, may be the pro-Israel
pundits who have dominated the debate in the U.S. for decades.
Israel's aggressive incursion into the West Bank, in which 5,000
Palestinians have been arrested and hundreds killed, may mark a turning
point in how the conflict is seen in the United States. Suddenly the
pro-Israel media mantra -- that Israel's fight is America's fight, and
that
the two countries aren't simply allies, but brothers in arms with
inseparable goals -- is being viewed with some new skepticism.
Polls show Americans remain strongly committed to Israel's security.
Yet
there's evidence that the nation's cadre of relentlessly pro-Israeli
commentators, most of them neoconservatives, have quietly lost their
corner
on American public opinion. Instead of shaping it, they're caught
chasing
it. Their media crusade to topple Iraq's Saddam Hussein, for instance,
seems to be foundering, thanks to weeks of Israeli/Palestinian chaos.
A majority of Americans told NBC/Wall Street Journal pollsters that an
Iraqi invasion should be delayed until Middle East violence subsides.
And
other major national polls show that Americans increasingly question
the
premises of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's incursion into the
West
Bank, Israel's most aggressive military operation in two decades, and
how
it will achieve peace...
But it was odd on Monday to hear the mostly Jewish crowd boo longtime
pro-Israel hawk Paul Wolfowitz, now a deputy defense secretary, merely
for
suggesting at a Washington rally that innocent Palestinians hurt in the
current conflict deserve some sympathy too. The crowd clearly opposed
Secretary of State Colin Powell's peace mission, as well as President
Bush's attempts to get Sharon to rein in his military operation.
The boos for Wolfowitz were a measure of how embattled many pro-Israel
American Jewish hawks feel, especially given Bush's call last week for
Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories "without delay" (a
call, it must be noted, that Sharon has ignored with impunity). Clearly
Israel's media lobby is not having the success it once did calling the
shots in Washington and maintaining public support.
The dynamics could soon change, particularly if another wave of suicide
bombers is unleashed. But for now, a Palestinian perspective that was
once
almost completely absent from America's mainstream press is being heard
by
Americans...
It's already clear that an increasingly open debate is underway here
about
the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. It's a debate the conservative press
has
long tried to stifle. As Eric Alterman recently wrote at MSNBC.com,
"For
reasons of religion, politics, history and genuine conviction, the
punditocracy debate of the Middle East in America is dominated by
people
who cannot imagine criticizing Israel."
SEE: Intractable Foes, Warring Narratives
http://www.msnbc.com/news/730905.asp?cp1=1#BODY
You know who they are: William Safire of the New York Times; George
Will,
Charles Krauthammer and Michael Kelly at the Washington Post; Lally
Weymouth of Newsweek; Martin Peretz of the New Republic; Daniel Pipes
and
Andrea Peyser at the New York Post; Peggy Noonan and Robert Bartley at
the
Wall Street Journal; William Kristol of the Weekly Standard; Mortimer
Zuckerman at U.S. News and World Report; Morton Kondracke, Fred Barnes,
Brit Hume and Tony Snow at Fox News; and William Bennett, a paid CNN
contributor, just to name a few.
They still cannot imagine criticizing Israel. But others can.
Conservatives
could not have enjoyed watching pro-Israel advocate Daniel Pipes
getting
grilled recently by Fox News' self-styled blue-collar moderate Bill
O'Reilly. In what until recently would have been considered an
unthinkably
aggressive stance regarding Israel, O'Reilly, who's made no secret of
his
suspicion of American Muslims post-Sept. 11, belittled Pipes' claim
that
the Israeli incursion into the West Bank was analogous to America's
bombing
of Afghanistan, took issue with his suggestion that 90 percent of
Palestinians "want Israel destroyed," and pressed Pipes about what
people
were supposed to think when they saw Page 1 photographs of Israeli
policemen clubbing peace activists in Tel Aviv...
SEE: Who is Daniel Pipes?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
Meanwhile, MSNBC's Chris Matthews, usually a fan of the mainstream's
conventional wisdom, recently derided the claim that Arab leaders would
privately welcome a U.S. action in Iraq, as "neo-con claptrap."
Matthews
has gotten increasingly fed up with uncritical defenders of Israel as
well
as proponents of an immediate Iraq invasion. Both O'Reilly and Matthews
pride themselves on their scrappy, common-sense approach to politics,
so
their change of heart spells trouble for staunch defenders of Ariel
Sharon.
Perhaps more worrisome for the Israeli media lobby is that, at least
for
the moment, it has lost some of its pull inside the White House. And
worse,
lost it to its least favorite Cabinet member, Secretary of State Colin
Powell.
Just as the current crisis was unfolding, the Weekly Standard's
Kristol,
along with more than two dozen other conservatives, sent Bush an open
letter advising him how to proceed. The letter suggested that the U.S.
treat Arafat as a terrorist, that Bush give Israel unconditional
support,
and that he move ahead swiftly on his plans to topple Saddam Hussein.
To date, none of those recommendations have been embraced, which is why
the
Israeli punditocracy in America has been lashing out at the White
House,
washing its hands of Powell's trip and publicly ridiculing the
administration. While there's some suspicion that Powell does not have
full
White House backing for his peace mission, the fact that he's there at
all,
meeting with Arafat, riles pro-Israel hawks in the press...
Perhaps most surprising is the fact that nearly 40 percent of Americans
consider the violence committed by Israel against Palestinians to be
terrorism, according to an ABC News poll. The Israeli lobby's pundits
have
for weeks argued relentlessly that Israel is merely fighting terrorism
alongside Uncle Sam. Yet 4 out of 10 Americans think Israel is
conducting
terrorism in the West Bank...
-----
INTERNET USED BY ORGANIZERS OF PALESTINIAN, ISRAELI RALLIES
By Mary Beth Sheridan, The Washington Post, 4/17/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A63371-2002Apr17.html
The pro-Israeli and pro-Palestinian demonstrations organized in
Washington
this week represent the emotional culmination of weeks of smaller
rallies
across the country, indications of how the violence in the Middle East
has
alarmed many Americans.
The proliferation of demonstrations reflects the strength of Jewish
organizations and efforts by much smaller Muslim and Arab American
groups
to play a bigger role in U.S. politics. Adding to the mix is the power
of
the Internet, both to pull together rallies and to connect Americans
with
those suffering in the Middle East...
Some pro-Palestinian activists said the rallies are a sign of the
political
maturing of Arab Americans and Muslims, who represent a small but
rapidly
growing percentage of the U.S. population.
"I've noticed, compared to previous protests [over Middle East crises],
that these are a lot more. You find them all over the country --
Michigan,
California, Texas, the Northwest," said Hodan Hassan, communications
coordinator for the Council on American-Islamic Relations...
-----
CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP TO SUE OVER U.S. HANDLING OF MUSLIM MEN
By SUSAN SACHS, The New York Times, 4/17/2002
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/national/17MUSL.html
In a new challenge to the Bush administration's prolonged detention of
hundreds of Muslim men after Sept. 11, a civil rights group says it
will
ask a federal court to declare the government's treatment of the men
biased
and unconstitutional.
A class-action lawsuit prepared by the group, the Center for
Constitutional
Rights, accused the government of arbitrarily holding Muslim detainees
in
prison for months on minor immigration violations, with no hearings to
determine whether the government had probable cause to hold them.
They have also been subjected to excessively harsh treatment in jails
in
New Jersey and Brooklyn, the complaint said, and in some cases could
not
practice their religion, contact their families or seek the help of
their
consular officials.
The lawsuit will be filed today in United States District Court in
Brooklyn, said Barbara J. Olshansky, a lawyer for the center.
"We want the world to know that we are treating students, tourists,
people
here for short period of time, as criminals," Ms. Olshansky said.
"We're
putting them into arbitrary detention, just like the worst totalitarian
regimes we cry out all the time about in this country."
About 1,200 Muslim men were arrested in the first weeks after the
terror
attacks, most eventually charged with minor immigration violations such
as
overstaying a visa...
One detainee named in the lawsuit said that guards at the Metropolitan
Detention Center bent his thumbs back, pushed him and kicked him in the
face when he first arrived there. For the first week, he said, he did
not
have a bar of soap or a towel and he did not get his eyeglasses back
from
the guards for three months.
The detainee, Asif-ur-Rehman Saffi, said in the lawsuit that guards
constantly called him a terrorist and insulted his religion. Mr. Saffi,
who
was born in Pakistan, is a French citizen and last month was released
from
prison and deported to France. The only charge against him was working
while in the United States on a tourist visa...
Another detainee named as a plaintiff, Syed Amjad Ali Jaffri, was held
in
the Metropolitan Detention Center for nearly seven months, four months
after an immigration judge ordered him deported. He said a guard at the
federal prison slammed his head against a wall, loosening some of his
teeth...
-----
3 IN SEPT. 11 PROBE SAY THEY WERE ABUSED IN TOP SECURITY
By Steve Fainaru, The Washington Post, 4/17/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A62853-2002Apr16.html
NEW YORK, April 16 -- Inside the Special Housing Unit of the
Metropolitan
Detention Center in Brooklyn, dozens of detainees held for months in
connection with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks have been confined to
their
cells nearly 24 hours a day.
The lights are always on, making it difficult to sleep. The prisoners
are
subject to body cavity searches after each meeting with their
attorneys.
They are transported in shackles, handcuffs and waist chains. In some
cases, the detainees have been subject to harassment by prison guards
and
rough treatment that has left them bloodied.
The conditions were described by three detainees recently released from
the
Metropolitan Detention Center (MDC) who offered a rare glimpse of life
inside the federal prison's maximum security unit, supposedly reserved
for
some of the most important suspects in the government's terrorism
investigation...
Although the Justice Department has conducted its investigation in
total
secrecy, the government has announced no terrorism-related charges
against
any of those held under maximum security conditions at MDC...
-----
TREASURY BOSS MAY LET THROUGH SOME DONATIONS
By NIRAJ WARIKOO, Detroit Free Press, 4/17/02
http://www.freep.com/news/nw/treas17_20020417.htm
Speaking to Arab-American leaders in Dearborn on Tuesday, U.S. Treasury
Secretary Paul O'Neill said he would consider allowing donors to give
money
to certain people through charities that have been frozen by the U.S.
government for alleged links to terrorism. But he didn't say who could
give
and receive the money, and he stopped short of unfreezing all of the
assets.
According to people who attended the meeting, O'Neill said he was
concerned
that donors could not give money to needy people in the Arab and Muslim
worlds. After the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, the U.S. Treasury froze
the
assets of two Muslim charities -- the Global Relief Foundation,
cofounded
by Rabih Haddad of Ann Arbor, and the Holy Land Foundation, based in
Texas.
"I told him we've been looted as a community," said Osama Siblani,
publisher of the Arab-American News. "We can't donate money to our
brothers
and sisters." Siblani was among about a dozen Arab-American and Muslim
leaders who met with O'Neill and Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge
at La
Shish restaurant in Dearborn for 90 minutes. Over plates of humus and
rice,
the meeting started with a prayer in English by Imam Hassan Qazwini,
head
of the Islamic Center of America.
Qazwini told the officials that he was concerned about the profiling of
Arab Americans and Muslims at airports. He also expressed concern about
what he saw as the U.S. government's bias against Palestinians...
Haddad was arrested in December for overstaying a 6-month tourist visa
that
expired in 1999. He was detained the same day that federal officials
raided
Global Relief offices. He is currently in custody in Chicago pending a
deportation hearing.
Speaking briefly outside the restaurant, O'Neill said the meeting went
well, but didn't comment further.
-----
CANADIAN MUSLIM RETURNS TO TORONTO AFTER BEING DETAINED IN NYC AFTER
SEPT. 11
BY ANGELA PACIENZA, The Canadian Press, 4/16/02
TORONTO (CP) _ A Canadian man who was detained for seven months in the
United States in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was
deported
home to Toronto on Tuesday and now plans to sue U.S. authorities.
Surrounded by reporters in the middle of Toronto's busy airport, Shakir
Baloch, a Canadian citizen born in Pakistan, appeared relaxed and calm
as
he said he felt safe for the first time in months.
Clad in an oversized white T-shirt and baggy brown prison-issued track
pants, a frail Baloch said he felt dejected trying to understand why he
was
singled out from the thousands of South Asians living in the United
States.
"I'm depressed. Why did they do it to me?" he said, clutching the only
belonging given to him by American authorities _ a manila envelope
containing his airline ticket and deportation certificate. "I don't
have
any answer for that." The 39-year-old Torontonian was arrested in
Queens,
N.Y., two weeks after the deadly Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade
Center
and the Pentagon.
He was plucked from a classroom in a taxi driver school where he was
trying
to renew his licence.
At that time, American authorities had rounded up about 1,500 men of
Middle
Eastern or South Asian descent in the aftermath of the attacks. Most
were
held on immigration charges. Baloch said American police officers often
shackled him, roughed him up, called him a terrorist and threatened to
keep
him in jail indefinitely. He spent five of his seven months in jail in
solitary confinement.
"I couldn't talk to my family, couldn't talk to my lawyer, nobody," he
said. It was three months after his initial arrest that authorities
allowed
Baloch access to a lawyer and charged him with illegally entering the
United States...
-----
GUNMEN DEFIANT IN BETHLEHEM CHURCH, SAYS ESCAPEE
By Michael Georgy, Reuters, 4/17/2002
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, April 17 (Reuters) - A teenager who escaped from
Bethlehem's besieged Church of the Nativity said on Wednesday that
Palestinian gunmen inside were defiant even after two weeks of
psychological warfare waged by Israeli troops.
Sixteen-year-old Jihad Abu Qamil said an Israeli soldier who detained
him
minutes after he climbed over the church's walls on Monday had been
eager
to know if people inside were cracking.
"First he made me strip off my clothes in the street. Then he asked me
if
we were scared of the shooting over the church at night, if the sound
of
ambulance sirens or the sounds of a screaming girl from the
loudspeakers
scared us," said Abu Qamil.
"I said no, it was not working. The people inside were not scared," he
told
Reuters at his family home at Deheisheh refugee camp, near Bethlehem...
"The soldier asked me who was bringing us food. I told him the monks
inside
the church, and he was very angry," he said.
Abu Qamil, earlier reported as aged 14, said he had tried to bring
bread
and cans of fish to friends in the church on the second day of the
siege,
only to find himself trapped there...
-----
U.N.'S ROBINSON PRESSES ISRAEL OVER RIGHTS PROBE
Reuters, 4/17/2002
GENEVA, Switzerland (Reuters) - United Nations human rights chief Mary
Robinson pressed Israel Wednesday to let a U.N. mission visit the
occupied
territories and the Jewish state amid rising international concern at
recent violence.
Robinson was asked by the U.N. Human Rights Commission to lead the team
of
inquiry and report back before the end of its annual six-week session
in
Geneva on April 26...
"It is important that the visiting mission should be able to leave as
soon
as possible (and) meet with people from both sides of the conflict,"
Robinson said in a statement.
The Commission, which Israel accuses of bias against it, wants the
mission
to probe the humanitarian situation in the Palestinian refugee camps,
where
some aid agencies warn of a catastrophe if help does not get through
soon...
The Palestinians have accused Israeli forces of a massacre of women and
children as well as Palestinian fighters during a military offensive in
the
West Bank that began on March 29. Israel says the offensive is to round
up
those it considers responsible for a wave of suicide bombings in
Israel...
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian Refugees said
Wednesday
Israel security forces were still denying them entry into Jenin refugee
camp, scene of the heaviest fighting in the offensive.
"We have dozens of trucks ready to go and distribute aid, medical
supplies
and shelters. We are ready, but we are not getting the necessary
cooperation (from the Israelis)," Rene Aquarone, a Geneva-based UNRWA
spokesman, said.
-----
WITHDRAW SUPPORT AND ASSIST THE PALESTINIANS
BY TIMOTHY BRENNAN and DOUG ROSSINOW, St. Paul Pioneer Press, 4/16/2002
http://www.twincities.com/mld/pioneerpress/news/opinion/3070397.htm
What we have witnessed in recent days in the Middle East is not a
law-abiding nation defending itself against terror, but rather
"asymmetric
warfare" between a nation, Israel, armed with the most modern weapons
and a
people, the Palestinians, armed with their willingness to die while
taking
others with them.
Although Americans have seen extensive press coverage of the violence,
few
readers grasp its actual character. In the last week, the Israeli
military
dragged people from their homes and indiscriminately shot them in the
streets. Able-bodied men and boys were rounded up, arbitrarily
incarcerated
and physically abused. Snipers stationed in Ramallah killed anyone
attempting to leave their homes to resist the march of Israeli tanks.
There are, in short, deeply disturbing similarities between what Israel
is
doing to the Palestinians at this very moment and what was roundly
condemned only a few years ago as "ethnic cleansing" in Serbia.This
historical lack of context makes it difficult for Americans to
understand
why Israel has so enraged Arabs and Muslims both. Few Americans
appreciate,
for example, that non-Jews within the state of Israel are not accorded
the
same rights under the law as Jews. It is an openly discriminatory
state,
and in this sense shares features with what we used to call "apartheid"
in
South Africa...
-----
EVIDENCE OF ISRAELI CONTEMPT FOR GENEVA CONVENTION
By Suzanne Goldenberg, The Guardian, 4/17/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,685594,00.html
The accusation from British and Palestinian politicians that Israel has
been involved in war crimes raises questions about the extent to which
its
military incursion into the occupied territories may have broken the
terms
of the Geneva convention.
Human rights workers say the definition of a war crime hinges on a
cardinal
principle of a body of international humanitarian law, including the
Geneva
convention. "The spirit and soul is to limit the effect of armed
violence
on those not taking part in the fighting," said Antonella Notari, a
spokeswoman for the International Committee of the Red Cross in Geneva.
"It
is primarily the responsibility of those fighting the war to look after
the
wellbeing of civilians." On that count, Israel has failed on a massive
scale - and not just in Jenin. Nineteen days of curfew and siege on
West
Bank towns have deprived one million Palestinians of access to medical
care, food and drinking water. Israeli tanks trundled over water mains,
and
ploughed through electricity and phone wires, depriving most
neighbourhoods
of basic services.
In Ramallah, Bethlehem, and Nablus, as well as Jenin, there is
indisputable
proof that the Israeli army denied Palestinian civilians the basic
protection of medical care. Bodies rotted in homes and streets for
days;
the wounded bled to death because the Israeli army banned ambulances
from
entering the battle zones.
In Jenin, junior surgeons performed brain surgery from phone
instructions
given by leading practitioners in Jordan. Likewise in Ramallah several
mothers were talked through the delivery of their children over mobile
phones.
There are also widespread accounts from Palestinians in Ramallah,
Nablus
and Jenin that the Israeli army regularly seized male civilians from
their
homes and used them as human shields. They forced the men to walk ahead
of
soldiers as they searched homes in camps and towns, putting them first
in
the line of fire from Palestinian fighters...
-----
AID GROUPS CRITICIZE ISRAEL OVER RESCUE EFFORT IN JENIN
By DAVID ROHDE, The New York Times, 4/17/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/17/international/middleeast/17JENI.html
Aid workers, who were allowed to move back into the bomb- and
rubble-strewn
refugee camp at Jenin two days ago, said today that Israeli officials
have
failed to keep their promises to provide the specialized rescue teams
and
heavy excavation equipment needed to search for survivors, remove
bodies
and feed and reunite families.
The aid groups also said that, even though the fighting here ended
seven
days ago, a strict Israeli military curfew is still in place that
interferes with the movement of food, aid and men separated from their
families during the Israeli operation...
-----
SICK PALESTINIANS DIE AT ISRAELI CHECKPOINTS, UNABLE TO GET TO HOSPITAL
By Imad Saada, Agence France-Presse, 4/17/2002
NABLUS, West Bank, April 16 (AFP) - Mohammad Oudeh watched his 18-
month-old niece die as he waited in vain to get her through an Israeli
army
checkpoint on the outskirts of Nablus for urgent treatment in hospital.
"Leila died at the checkpoint. We went back to the village to bury
her," he
said, her name joining a swelling list of Palestinians paying with
their
lives because Israel's occupation of the West Bank denied them access
to
ambulances and hospitals.
The victims include children unable to receive treatment for bullet
wounds
and kidney patients prevented from receiving access to dialysis, they
said.
The problem has become critical since Israel invaded the West Bank on
March
29, with the army shutting down whole cities and imposing strict
curfews.
Leila underwent open-heart surgery six months ago and needed regular
hospital treatment. "We are suffering a humanitarian disaster. Dozens
of
people are dying each day from the closure of the villages," Mustafa
Barghuti, head of Palestinian medical relief, told AFP...
-----
SPIELBERG TARGET OF BOGUS REPORT
By Gregg Kilday, Hollywood Reporter, 4/16/02
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hollywoodreporter/morenews/brief_display
Steven Spielberg was hit Monday by a false report circulating on the
Internet claiming that he is planning a DreamWorks feature film
sympathetic
to the Palestinian cause. The director's spokesman, Marvin Levy, called
the
report "an obvious, vicious hoax."
The bogus news story was attributed to The Hollywood Reporter and
carried
the bylines of fictitious reporters. It was posted on several news
lists
and also forwarded to several Canadian-based news organizations as well
as
Jewish political-action groups and other activists.
Under a headline that read "Spielberg to direct feature based on
Palestinian Uprising," the false news story purported to quote
Spielberg
speaking out on behalf of the Palestinians and criticizing both Israel
and
Hollywood. The original source of the story, which circulated by
e-mail,
could not be determined.
-----
PAYMENT, APOLOGY FOR STORE INCIDENT
Associated Press, 4/17/2002
MERIDEN, Conn. (AP) - Two Muslim women detained after being accused of
stealing merchandise have received an apology and a payment from a
clothing
store in a Meriden mall.
May Department Stores Co., the parent of the Lord & Taylor outlet in
the
Westfield Shoppingtown mall, agreed to apologize and offer a cash
settlement. "Settlements of $3,700 were reached with two customers who
claimed they were falsely arrested and accused of shoplifting," May Co.
officials said in a prepared statement.
The women filed a discrimination complaint after they were detained,
but
never charged with a crime in the September 2000 incident.
The two shoppers, who were dressed in traditional Islamic garb, were
stopped as they left a fitting room, according to Hodan Hassan, a
spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which
represents
the women.
A store security guard checked their merchandise and sales receipts and
determined they had taken nothing.
However, another guard insisted they were guilty of shoplifting and
tried
to remove the head coverings that the Islamic faith requires of all
women
believers, said Hassan.
"This happened in front of many people and it was very embarrassing for
the
two women," Hassan said.
Meriden police officers arrived a short time later and the women were
allowed to go. No charges were filed, Hassan added.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
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Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
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-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/18/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: MARRIAGE INCREASES LOVE
* STEVEN EMERSON SAYS ISLAM NEEDS "REFORM," IS "OUTMODED"
- TERRORISTS UNDER THE BED (Salon.com)
- WHO IS STEVEN EMERSON?
- STEVEN EMERSON'S CRUSADE (FAIR)
* RIGHT-WING WEB SITE SAYS U.S. MUSLIM IMMIGRATION HARMS ISRAEL
- MUSLIM INVASION? (National Review)
* INS ORDERS STATE, LOCAL AGENCIES TO KEEP DETAINEE INFO SECRET (AP)
* ANTI-TERRORISM BILL FOCUSES ON IMMIGRANTS (Denver Post)
* PALESTINIANS SIFT THROUGH JENIN RUBBLE FOR CORPSES (Reuters)
* ISRAELI ARMY WAS "MORALLY REPUGNANT" IN JENIN, UN ENVOY SAYS (AFP)
* AT STONY BROOK, A CALL FOR PEACE IN MIDEAST (Newsday)
* ISRAEL QUIETLY SETS UP PERMANENT HOMES IN HEBRON (AP)
* ISRAELI SIEGE OF JESUS' BIRTHPLACE UNITES PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS
(AFP)
* ISRAELI ARMY USING CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELD: US RIGHTS REPORT (AFP)
* COMMENTARY: START WITH PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD (Los Angeles Times)
* FRESH EVIDENCE OF JENIN ATROCITIES (Independent)
- Jenin camp 'horrific beyond belief' (BBC)
- Jenin massacre 'evidence growing' (BBC)
* MUSLIM WOMEN BRUTALIZED IN INDIA'S GUJARAT - REPORT (Reuters)
* AFTER 9-11, OFFICIAL TERROR KICKS IN VICTIMS OF THE DRAGNET (Village
Voice)
* FROM TANKS TO TALKS, WILL FUTURE HOLD CONFLICT OR CALM? (Tyler
Morning
Telegraph)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: MARRIAGE INCREASES LOVE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "You have seen nothing
like
marriage for increasing the love between two people."
Al-Tirmidhi, Hadith 921
-----
STEVEN EMERSON SAYS ISLAM NEEDS "REFORM," IS "OUTMODED"
EXPERT ON TERRORISM WARNS ABOUT GENOCIDE
By Emilie Astell, TELEGRAM & GAZETTE, 4/16/2002
http://www.telegram.com/extra/terror/html/10expert.html
WORCESTER - ...During an address yesterday, author Steven Emerson said
the
Islamic religion needs to undergo a reformation just as Christianity
did to
have a center of gravity and a separation of church and state.
"Without reformation, much of the Islamic world is mired in outmoded
philosophy," Mr. Emerson told an audience at Clark University.
He was the featured speaker during a celebration of a new name for the
university's nationally-recognized Center for Holocaust and Genocide
Studies...
His book, "American Jihad: The Terrorists Living Among Us," details his
discoveries of the inner workings of Islamic extremists...
SEE:
TERRORISTS UNDER THE BED
"Terrorism expert" Steven Emerson paints a terrifying picture of lethal
Muslim fundamentalists among us in "American Jihad." But he doesn't
know
the difference between Osama bin Laden and Yasser Arafat.
By Eric Boehlert, Salon.com, 3/5/2002
http://www.salon.com/books/feature/2002/03/05/emerson/index.html
WHO IS STEVEN EMERSON?
http://www.cair-net.org/html/emerson.htm
STEVEN EMERSON'S CRUSADE: "Why is a journalist pushing questionable
stories
from behind the scenes?"
http://www.fair.org/extra/9901/emerson.html
-----
RIGHT-WING WEB SITE SAYS U.S. MUSLIM IMMIGRATION HARMS ISRAEL
MUSLIM INVASION?
By Mark Krikorian, National Review, 4/17/2002
http://www.nationalreview.com/comment/comment-krikorian041702.asp
Mark Krikorian is executive director of the Center for Immigration
Studies
and an NRO contributor.
Support for Israel has been a cornerstone of our foreign policy, backed
by
Republicans and Democrats, for close to four decades, but it is
increasingly being challenged, partially because of Muslim
immigration...Muslim immigration is helping shape a less pro-Israel
policy,
for a few reasons:
The first, and most important, is that more Muslim immigration means
more
Muslim voters and campaign contributors. This is more than simply a
matter
of numbers; because politically active Muslims are so focused on
changing
U.S. policy in the Middle East, and because they are relatively
well-educated and prosperous, their intensity and commitment can have a
disproportionate affect on policy...
A final, longer-term threat to Israel from U.S. Muslim immigration
comes
from the possibility of terrorism fatigue. Muslim immigration helps
facilitate domestic terrorism, with immigrant communities serving, as
Mao
might have said, as the sea within which the terrorists swim as fish...
U.S. support for Israel at a crossroads - we can continue with our
current
policy of high immigration and guarantee a steady erosion of support
for
Israel; or we can reduce immigration, slowing the growth of the Muslim
population and allowing America's powerful assimilative forces to work.
We
can't have both.
SEE ALSO: "The Jewish Stake in America's Changing Demography:
Reconsidering
a Misguided Immigration Policy"
http://www.cis.org/articles/2001/back1301.html
NOTE: An editor of this same publication recently made the "sarcastic"
suggestion that "nuking Mecca" would send a "signal" to Muslims. In
response to Muslim concerns about that statement, major advertisers
considered pulling their ads from the National Review.
SEE: CANCEL MY SUBSCRIPTION
United Press International, 4/8/2002
Word is traveling through editorial circles in Washington and New York
that
a major opinion journal is under fire because of intemperate remarks
made
by some of its writers about Muslims. The story is that some
Islamic-American organizations have been leaning on major advertisers,
complaining about anti-Islamic statements that have appeared in the
magazine and on the Web site since Sept. 11. Some of the advertisers
are
reportedly considering pulling their ads from the journal in response
to
the complaints.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE. The National Review has a
history
of taking one or two hostile comments out of hundreds of messages and
using
them to paint a negative image of Islam and Muslims.)
CONTACT ONE OF THE NATIONAL REVIEW'S ADVERTISERS to express your
concerns
about the anti-Muslim content of the publication in which they
advertise.
CONTACT:
THOMPSON CIGAR COMPANY
5401 Hangar Court, P.O. Box 30303, Tampa, FL 33630-3303
800-216-7107 FAX 813-882-4605
http://www.thompsoncigar.com/
E-MAIL: (through the web site)
COPY TO: jonahemail@aol.com, letters@nationalreview.com,
sbudd@nationalreview.com, cair@cair-net.org
-----
INS ORDERS STATE, LOCAL AGENCIES TO KEEP DETAINEE INFO SECRET
By WAYNE PARRY, The Associated Press, 4/18/2002
NEWARK, N.J. - The U.S. Immigration and Naturalization Service issued
an
order barring state and local governments from releasing the identities
of
post-Sept. 11 detainees.
A New Jersey judge has ordered the identities of those being held in
county
jails to be made public, but gave the federal government until Monday
to
seek a stay of his ruling from a higher court.
Asserting that national security and the safety of the detainees could
be
endangered by releasing their names, the agency issued a new rule
Wednesday, claiming that federal law supersedes any state or local
claims
to the information. The order by INS Commissioner James W. Ziglar
clarifies
what had been INS policy already, according to a government official
who
spoke on condition of anonymity.
It came five days before the deadline set by a New Jersey judge for the
U.S. Justice Department and authorities in Hudson and Passaic counties
to
release the names of detainees being held in their jails.
"This is the government codifying its right to secretly arrest and
detain
people," said Deborah Jacobs, executive director of the Newark chapter
of
the American Civil Liberties Union...
Sohail Mohammed, an immigration attorney who has represented dozens of
detainees, said the INS is making an argument that was already rejected
in
state court.
"The federal government made that argument before the judge, and the
judge
wasn't impressed," he said. "To carve out a distinction for one class
of
prisoners is playing with fire. This is just another roadblock they're
trying to throw up..."
According to the most recent count by the INS, 327 detainees remained
in
custody in mid-February, most of them in jails in northern New
Jersey...
-----
ANTI-TERRORISM BILL FOCUSES ON IMMIGRANTS
Those without papers could be detained
By Trent Seibert, The Denver Post, 4/17/2002
http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,1002,61%257E532293,00.html
The legislature will consider an anti-terrorism measure to give
Colorado
law enforcement officers the power to detain those who may be in
violation
of immigration laws.
"In light of 9/11, we need to do our part to help regulate the illegal
immigrants in this country," said the bill's sponsor, Rep. Don Lee,
R-Littleton.
Critics of his proposal are gearing up for a fight. They say Lee's
House
Bill 1448 gives police too much power and would allow officers to lock
up
immigrants for nothing more than simply forgetting to keep their
paperwork
with them...
-----
PALESTINIANS SIFT THROUGH JENIN RUBBLE FOR CORPSES
By Christine Hauser, Reuters, 4/18/2002
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank (Reuters) - Broken concrete hung
precariously
above dusty Palestinians as they sifted through the rubble of a home in
Jenin refugee camp Thursday in a grisly search for corpses.
"Careful, careful, look for the body parts," said one of the excavators
as
he handed up a sheet filled with dirt to helpers standing on the heaped
remains of the house.
Using household brooms, Palestinians wearing green surgical face masks
to
ward off the stench gently brushed away the dust, gradually uncovering
chunks of flesh and bones. Above them, the upper story of the shattered
building threatened to cave in.
Flies swarmed as what appeared to be a broken rib cage and other body
pieces were lifted from the ruins, loaded onto a stretcher, and carted
off
across the hillocks of rubble that now make up much of the center of
the
camp...
Those nearby handed out perfume bottles to workers to try to sweeten
the
acrid air...
Palestinians have struggled to find enough places to keep the
decomposing
corpses. In the garden of Abu Ghali's hospital, small mounds of earth
mark
the temporary graves of some 15 bodies recovered from the camp...
Islam Abed pulled a shredded Koran from a window sill of one broken
building and leafed through its pages, kissing it gently and touching
the
Muslim holy book to his forehead in respect...
-----
ISRAELI ARMY WAS "MORALLY REPUGNANT" IN JENIN, UN ENVOY SAYS
By CLAIRE SNEGAROFF, Agence France Presse, 4/18/2002
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank, - Israel faced growing scrutiny on
Thursday
over its assault on Palestinians in the West Bank after the UN Middle
East
envoy said the Jewish state had been "morally repugnant."
Terje Roed-Larsen denounced Israel for blocking aid to the wounded at a
Palestinian refugee camp in one of the fiercest battles of its military
campaign, now easing slightly after three weeks.
The accusations came a day after US Secretary of State Colin Powell
wrapped
up a would-be peace mission that failed to hammer out a truce between
Israel and the Palestinians.
"It is totally unacceptable and horrific beyond belief," Roed-Larsen
told
AFP as he toured the Jenin camp. The Palestinians claim around 500
people
were massacred in Jenin, many of them women and children, and that some
were summarily executed after surrendering...
"It is totally unacceptable that the government of Israel for 11 days
did
not allow search and rescue teams to come. This is morally repugnant,"
said
Roed-Larsen, UN Special Coordinator for the occupied Palestinian
territories.
"The stench of death is horrible," he said. "We have expert people here
who
have been in war zones and earthquakes and they say they have never
seen
anything like it."
Meanwhile the US group Human Rights Watch issued a report claiming
Israeli
soldiers have used Palestinians as human shields, forcing them to open
suspicious packages, orchestrate raids on houses, and inform on their
neighbours...
-----
AT STONY BROOK, A CALL FOR PEACE IN MIDEAST
By Olivia Winslow, Newsday (New York, NY), 4/18/2002
http://www.newsday.com/mynews/ny-limusl182674608apr18.story
About 100 people gathered near the fountain on the SUNY Stony Brook
campus
yesterday, their signs proclaiming: "Stop the Apartheid," "End the
Killings," "End Media Bias Against Palestine," "No U.S. $$$ for
Occupation."
The rally for "a just peace in the Middle East" was sponsored by three
student groups: the Muslim Student Association, Students for Peace and
Humanity and Radicals Against War.
"We thought on campus there wasn't a voice heard from the other side,
said
Azlan Tariq, president of the Muslim Student Association. Tariq said
the
group wanted to "bring awareness" to people about the Palestinians'
plight.
The demonstration followed a pro-Israel rally on the campus Tuesday,
which
took note of Memorial Day in Israel, when the nation remembers its
dead.
At yesterday's rally, many speakers said Israel should withdraw its
military and settlers from the occupied territories, and said the
United
States should end military aid to Israel to force it to do so.
Ghazi Khankan, executive director of the tristate chapter of the
Council on
American Islamic Relations and director of interfaith affairs at the
Islamic Center of Long Island, told the crowd that Islam stood for
peace.
He condemned acts of violence and offered condolences to the families
of
Palestinians and Israelis killed in the conflict.
However, he said, "The Palestinians are an occupied people and the
occupation is brutal. It is apartheid."
In an interview earlier, Khankan said, "It's about time we implement
all
the UN Security Council resolutions calling on Israel to withdraw." He
sought students' support for a petition calling on President George W.
Bush
to end military aid to Israel in light of Israel's refusal to bow to
Bush's
demand it withdraw its military from the West Bank...
-----
ISRAEL QUIETLY SETS UP PERMANENT HOMES IN HEBRON
The Associated Press, 4/18/2002
Israel has granted final approval for the construction of permanent
housing
in a Jewish settlement in the center of the West Bank city of Hebron,
defense officials said Thursday.
Palestinian officials in the city did not immediately comment on the
decision, but local Palestinians had tried to block the move in Israeli
courts.
Eighteen homes are to be built on the site in the Tel Romeida
neighborhood,
said a leader of the Hebron settlers, Noam Arnon. The city is divided,
with
Israeli troops controlling 20 percent in the center where about 450
Jewish
settlers live. Palestinians number 130,000...
Nationalist Jews moved into Hebron the year after it was captured from
Jordan in the 1967 war and established the first Jewish settlement in
the
newly occupied territories.
-----
ISRAELI SIEGE OF JESUS' BIRTHPLACE UNITES PALESTINIAN CHRISTIANS
By SEBASTIEN BLANC, Agence France Presse, 4/18/2002
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 18 - Israel's campaign in the West Bank, and
especially the siege of the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, has
united
the dwindling number of Palestinian Christians.
Each day, as the curfew is lifted briefly in this Israeli-occupied
town,
groups of people gather in front of the city's churches. As
humanitarian
aide is distributed, voices rise in condemnation of the army. "The
Israeli
offensive, notably at the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem unites
all
the Christians in the West Bank and upsets those abroad," says one man
at
the Greek Orthodox Convent of the Transfiguration.
Churchgoer Rabab Sous says "the Nativity is not just a building of
stone,
but a sacred place that they (the Israelis) do not respect."
Yacoub Khoury, a priest, says "this war has united us all the more."
Just over a century ago, Christians made up about 13 percent of the
population of what are now Israel and the Palestinian territories, but
emigration has reduced that figure to only about two percent today.
Most of them are Palestinian Arabs.
There are about three million people in the Palestinian territories,
but
only some 50,000 Christians.
Ramallah is an exception to the general rule. Khoury says Christians
were
in a majority there until the war that followed the creation of Israel
in
1948 drove many Muslims out of their homes.
But even today, there are an estimated 10,000 to 12,000 Christians out
of a
total population of about 40,000...
-----
ISRAELI ARMY USING CIVILIANS AS HUMAN SHIELD: US RIGHTS REPORT
By DMITRY ZAKS, Agence France Presse, 4/18/2002
JERUSALEM, April 18 - A leading US rights group issued a damning report
Thursday on the Israeli army's conduct, accusing soldiers of routinely
forcing Palestinian civilians to open suspicious packages and search
homes
of suspected militants.
New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) said witness testimony suggests
discipline among Israeli troops has unraveled severely over the past
six
months, and that some recent army violations on the West Bank amounted
to
war crimes.
The 24-page report concludes that the army regularly ignores
international
conventions by placing the life of civilians in jeopardy by forcing
them --
often at gunpoint -- to help orchestrate house raids and inform on
their
neighbors.
"We think that such incidents continue in more or less every raid
conducted
by the Israeli army on the West Bank," said Peter Bourkhaerdt, a senior
HRW
researcher for emergency situations who led the investigation. "The IDF
(Israeli Defense Forces) must stop using civilians in these very
dangerous
and inappropriate roles," Bourkhaerdt told AFP. "They are placing
civilians
in serious risk."
He said only Russian forces in the separatist Muslim republic of
Chechnya
have been known to engage in similar practices in recent years...
In the Beit Rima raid of October 24, HRW quoted a woman named Radi
Yusuf
Ahmad Hajjaj as saying the Israeli army "broke down the door of my
house,
took my husband, and compelled him to assist them in carrying out
arrests."
In Salfit, Amal, a 30-year-old nurse, reported Israeli soldiers
"pointing a
gun at my son and threatening my husband. They told him they would take
his
wife and children hostage and kill them if he did not do what we say."
The report said Israeli troops demolished dozens of buildings with
civilians still inside in Tulkarem, while in Artas at least one
civilian
was shot after initially failing to lead soldiers to his brother, a
suspected militant.
An Israeli soldier shot Ahmad al-Yas Aysh "in the upper leg in order to
pressure his brother to surrender to IDF forces," the report said...
-----
COMMENTARY: START WITH PALESTINIAN STATEHOOD
A European plan to end the occupation first is the best formula.
By GRAHAM E. FULLER, The Los Angeles Times, 4/18/2002
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000027505apr18.story
Graham E. Fuller is former vice chairman of the National Intelligence
Council at the CIA.
What does it take to recognize failure? Secretary of State Colin
Powell's
trip has ended in complete collapse, as the administration remains
mired in
a "peace process" that is empty of content. We are back to a brutal and
hopeless impasse. The reason for continuing failure? Let's reduce it to
a
bumper sticker: "It's the occupation, stupid." Until that issue is
addressed, nothing else will fall into place.
It is time for some radical new thinking. The European foreign
ministers in
February unanimously backed a proposal that reverses the sequence of
the
whole game, calling for the establishment of a Palestinian state as the
starting point of a negotiating process.
The new state would receive immediate international recognition by the
world's states, including the U.S. and Israel, a seat at the United
Nations
and immediate global financial assistance and would be empowered to
negotiate with Israel on terms of legal equality...
-----
FRESH EVIDENCE OF JENIN ATROCITIES
By Phil Reeves in Jerusalem, The Independent, 4/18/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286197
Evidence of atrocities by Israeli troops in Jenin refugee camp grew
yesterday when a British pathologist said he found "highly suspicious"
wounds during the first autopsy on a victim.
Derrick Pounder, professor of forensic medicine at Dundee University,
who
is working with Amnesty International, visited the ruined camp and
said:
"Claims that a large number of civilians died and are under the rubble
are
highly credible. It is not believable that only a few people have been
killed, given the reports we have that a large number of people were
inside
three and four-storey buildings when they were demolished."
The autopsy on the 38-year-old Palestinian revealed that "he was either
shot in the foot, and then in the back, or shot in the back first -
receiving a fatal wound - and his corpse was for some reason shot in
the
foot," he said.
"Whichever order the shots occurred in, it was highly suspicious..."
Richard Cook, head of operations for Unrwa - the UN agency for
Palestinian
refugees - visited the camp yesterday. He said: "I was absolutely
appalled.
I anticipated it to a degree but the devastation was much greater than
I
expected."
The Foreign Office said "disproportionate and excessive" force had been
used by Israel, and "clearly civilians were not properly protected".
SEE ALSO:
Jenin camp 'horrific beyond belief'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1937000/1937387.stm
Jenin massacre 'evidence growing'
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1937000/1937048.stm
-----
MUSLIM WOMEN BRUTALIZED IN INDIA'S GUJARAT - REPORT
By Sugita Katyal, Reuters, 4/18/2002
NEW DELHI (Reuters) - The day after 59 people were burnt alive in a
train
in India's western state of Gujarat last month, a screaming mob chased
Sultani Sheikh and her family with sticks, swords and cans of kerosene
in
their hands.
"My clothes were stripped and I was left stark naked. One by one the
men
raped me," Sultani, a Muslim woman from Delol village told a panel
examining the impact on Muslim women of the country's worst religious
bloodshed in a decade.
"I lost count after three," a report by the panel quotes her as saying.
"All the while I could hear my son crying."
According to the report by a coalition of women's groups, many Muslim
females suffered the most "bestial forms of sexual violence" including
rape, insertion of objects into their bodies and burning in the
violence.
More than 750 people, most of them belonging to India's minority Muslim
population, have died in a wave of reprisal killings and communal
clashes
in Gujarat since a Muslim mob torched the train carrying Hindu
activists in
Godhra.
The six-member team of women's activists spoke to hundreds of witnesses
and
survivors of the religious mayhem to prepare the report, entitled "How
has
the Gujarat Massacre Affected Minority Women: The Survivors Speak."
"Many of the women who were raped were then burnt to death," Malini
Ghose,
a member of the team, told Reuters on Thursday.
But survivors and witnesses had horrific tales to tell the panel.
Saira Banu, living in a refugee camp in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's main city
which bore the brunt of the violence, says a group of men cut open her
nine-month pregnant relative's stomach, took out her fetus with a sword
and
threw it into a blazing fire.
Medina Mustafa Sheikh, another refugee in an Ahmedabad camp, says she
heard
her young daughter screaming for help as a group of men raped her in a
maize field where her family had hidden to escape a bloodthirsty mob of
500
people.
"My daughter was screaming in pain asking the men to leave her alone.
My
mind was seething with fear and fury. I could do nothing to help my
daughter from being assaulted sexually and tortured to death," Medina
told
the women's panel.
"My daughter was like a flower, still to see life...the monsters tore
my
beloved daughter to pieces," she said.
Activists working at a relief camp in Ahmedabad said many women arrived
naked at the camp.
One woman was brought to the camp unconscious, bleeding profusely, her
body
covered with bites and marks and relief workers dressing her wounds
said
they had to removed pieces of wood that had been pushed up her
vagina...
-----
AFTER 9-11, OFFICIAL TERROR KICKS IN VICTIMS OF THE DRAGNET
By James Ridgeway, The Village Voice, 4/17-23/2002
http://www.villagevoice.com/issues/0216/ridgeway.php
Syed Ali likes to tell the story of taking his family down to
Washington to
attend President George W. Bush's inauguration. He had contributed to
Bush's presidential campaign. As a Pakistani immigrant who came to the
U.S.
more than 20 years ago, Ali is the model immigrant success story,
working
his way up to being a partner in a Manhattan security firm. A
half-million-dollar home in the suburbs, three cars, kids in private
schools, trips to France, Sweden, and Great Britain. He also
contributed
money to Al Gore, but he has a picture of Bush on his computer. He was
waiting for his citizenship papers to come through.
But September 11 brought an end to Ali's dream. He sat in a New York
City
courtroom listening to himself described as a likely terrorist.
He is one of perhaps 1200 Muslim men who have been held in New Jersey
and
New York jails, often on the pretext of violating the immigration laws.
The
FBI, using the INS as a "front," as one attorney puts it, pulled in
every
Muslim it thought to be suspicious. A police check of a car parked in
front
of a fire hydrant led to one arrest. Another detainee had renewed his
driver's license in a Florida motor-vehicle office shortly after one of
the
September 11 terrorists renewed his license. An executive was pulled
over
for a traffic violation and suddenly found half a dozen cops all over
him,
screaming, "Terrorist!"...
-----
FROM TANKS TO TALKS, WILL FUTURE HOLD CONFLICT OR CALM?
By LAURIE DAVIES, The Tyler Morning Telegraph, 4/16/2002
http://www.tylerpaper.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=3867294&BRD=1994&PAG=461&dept_id=226369&rfi=6
With a violent past behind them and a nervous present at hand, one
thing is
sure for the inhabitants of the sliver of land on the coast of the
Mediterranean Sea: They will have a future.
The question is, what kind of future will it be?
Even as U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell reported progress in talks
with Israelis and Palestinians Tuesday, Israeli tanks rolled into three
Palestinian suburbs of Jerusalem and re-entered a fourth West Bank
city.
And while Israelis prepared to observe Israel Independence Day
Wednesday,
Red Cross teams began gathering bodies in what Palestinians called a
"massacre" at the Jenin refugee camp on the northern edge of the West
Bank.
There are those who believe Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat is not a
nation-builder but a bloodstained terrorist.
Then again, there are those who believe Israel Prime Minister Ariel
Sharon
is not a peace-broker but a bully sending tanks to face rock-throwing
protesters.
Will there ever be a solution? If so, what will it cost?...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/19/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: LIGHT UPON LIGHT
* MUSLIM WOMEN IN VA MARK ANNIVERSARY OF RAIDS WITH VIGIL
* REP. MCKINNEY REQUESTS HEARING ON PALESTINIAN RELIEF RESTRICTIONS
* PALESTINIAN SAYS ISRAEL ROADBLOCKS COST BABY'S LIFE (Reuters)
* DOZENS OF BODIES FOUND IN WEST BANK REFUGEE CAMPS (Scottish Daily
Record)
* ONCE-PROUD CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP DEFENDS ATROCITIES OF FOREIGN ARMY
* AGENTS OF INFLUENCE (Antiwar.com)
* POLL: AMERICANS CONTINUE TO PLACE EQUAL BLAME ON PALESTINIANS AND
ISRAELIS
* ARABS FUEL A BOYCOTT OF U.S. GOODS (Wall Street Journal)
* PALESTINIANS IN US LAMENT THE UNHEARD SIDE IN CONFLICT (Los Angeles
Times)
* U.S. CAMPAIGNERS PROMISE BIGGEST EVER PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMO (AFP)
* PALESTINIANS BURY THEIR DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD IN COMMON GRAVES
(Reuters)
* ARE THE ISRAELIS GUILTY OF MASS MURDER? (The Scotsman)
* JENIN CAMP A SURREAL WASTELAND OF SURVIVAL, DEATH (Reuters)
* US MAY VETO U.N. RESOLUTION ON PROBE OF JENIN (Reuters)
* PALESTINIAN SURVIVES 10 DAYS BURIED BENEATH JENIN RUBBLE (AFP)
* FAMILIES SCRABBLE IN THE DUST TO FIND THEIR DEAD (Independent)
* U.S. LAWMAKERS TO PUSH MEASURES BACKING ISRAEL (Reuters)
* SECRECY IS SWEPT FROM HEARING (Detroit Free Press)
* STATES ARE TOLD TO KEEP DETAINEE INFORMATION SECRET (New York Times)
* ISRAELIS REJECT VISIT FROM BAY AREA 'SHIELDS' (San Francisco
Chronicle)
* EXECUTIVE'S SUIT ALLEGES ETHNIC BIAS (San Jose Mercury News)
* FBI's DALLAS BOSS IS RETIRING (Fort Worth Star-Telegram)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: LIGHT UPON LIGHT
God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light
is
as if there were a Niche, and within it a lamp; the Lamp enclosed in
Glass;
the glass a brilliant star, lit from a blessed Tree, an Olive neither
of
the East nor of the West whose Oil is well-nigh luminous though fire
scarce
touched it. Light upon Light! God doth guide whom He will to His Light.
The Holy Quran, Chapter 24, Verse 35
-----
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
MUSLIM WOMEN IN VA MARK ANNIVERSARY OF RAIDS WITH VIGIL
WHAT: On Sunday, April 21, Sisters in Solidarity, an interfaith and
inter-community women's group, will hold a candle-light prayer vigil
and
"teach-in" to mark the one-month anniversary of government raids on
Muslim
institutions and homes in Northern Virginia and Georgia.
Islamic advocacy groups expressed outrage over the March 20th raids and
called them a "fishing expedition" that used McCarthy-like tactics and
unconstitutional procedures against highly-respected members of the
Muslim
community.
At the evening event, civil rights activists will discuss how citizens
can
proactively defend their legal rights and will outline the negative
civil
liberties implications of the Patriot Act.
Event participants will also create a quilt representing "Sisters Stand
Firm" to show strength through unity.
WHEN: Sunday, April 21, 6-8 p.m. (Vigil will take place rain or shine.)
WHERE: Herndon Town Green, Downtown Herndon, 717 Lynn St., Herndon, VA
CONTACT: Tel: 571-217-4034, E-mail: afeefas@aol.com,
umjibreel@yahoo.com
-----
REP. MCKINNEY REQUESTS HEARING ON PALESTINIAN RELIEF RESTRICTIONS
April 18, 2002
The Honorable Ileana Ros-Lehtinen
Chair, Subcommittee on International Operations and Human Rights
2160 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
Dear Chairwoman Ros-Lehtinen:
I would like to request that our subcommittee hold a hearing on
restrictions on the proper functioning of the United Nations Relief
Works
Agency (UNRWA), the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC),
and
other international relief agencies operating in the occupied West Bank
and
Gaza Strip.
Since the start of the violence in fall 2000, there have been numerous
reports of UNRWA, ICRC, and other relief agencies being prevented from
reaching, evacuating, and treating the sick and wounded throughout the
West
Bank and Gaza Strip.
The Jenin refugee camp, for example, which is administered by UNRWA,
has
been the scene of massive devastation and as yet unknown numbers of
civilian casualties. Both UNRWA and ICRC officials, along with other
relief
agencies were denied access to the camp for 15 days while curfews have
prevented the camp's residents from accessing what little aid has been
allowed to enter. UNRWA officials report that many of the wounded have
been
allowed to bleed to death and that many wounded and dead are still
trapped
underneath the rubble. The camp has been without water for more than 2
weeks and there are growing concerns about the spread of disease.
In addition, UN and other international agencies' personnel and
property
have themselves been targets of military attack. UNRWA and ICRC
ambulances
have been shot at and, in some cases, confiscated. Internationally
accredited medical personnel have also been shot at and sometimes are
arrested. UNRWA's facilities in Jenin sustained widespread damage,
including to its school and clinic, and its Camp Services Office and
Sanitation Stores were leveled to the ground.
As you know, international humanitarian law prohibits such attacks, as
well
as restrictions on access to water, food, medicine, emergency
assistance,
and medical attention during times of conflict. Yet these attacks and
restrictions are carried out routinely in the Occupied Territories and
have
increased dramatically since March 29.
The U.S. government has called on Israeli authorities to allow
humanitarian
aid workers and supplies to reach affected civilian populations.
Secretary
of State Colin Powell told reporters in Jerusalem on April 13, "The
United
States is deeply concerned about the serious humanitarian situation of
the
Palestinian people...We call upon Israel to respect international
humanitarian principles and to allow full and unimpeded access to
humanitarian organizations and services to provide basic humanitarian
services, including evacuation of the wounded and deceased. In this
regard,
we are particularly concerned at the humanitarian situation in Jenin."
Likewise, on April 14, President Bush's national security advisor
Condoleezza Rice told NBC's Meet the Press that she too has informed
the
Israeli government "about the importance of getting the International
Committee of the Red Cross into the area as soon as is physically
possible."
The United States contributed $115 million to the ICRC worldwide in FY
2001, and provides over $100 million (or roughly 20-25% of its annual
budget) to UNRWA each year.
A hearing by the International Operations and Human Rights subcommittee
should look at the current restrictions on UNRWA, ICRC, and other
international relief agencies and consider ways to facilitate the
proper
functioning and protection of these international agencies.
Sincerely,
Cynthia A. McKinney
Member of Congress
SEND NOTES OF THANKS TO:
The Honorable Cynthia A. McKinney
U.S. House of Representatives
124 Cannon Building
Washington, DC 20515
Tel: 202 225 1605
Fax: 202 226 0691
E-MAIL: cymck@mail.house.gov
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.house.gov/mckinney/
-----
PALESTINIAN SAYS ISRAEL ROADBLOCKS COST BABY'S LIFE
Reuters, 4/19/02
NABLUS, West Bank, April 19 (Reuters) - A Palestinian photographer said
on
Friday his newborn daughter had died overnight because delays at
Israeli
army checkpoints had prevented him from getting her to a Nablus
hospital.
"I have lost my only baby -- whom I called Dunya, Arabic for life --
because of these damned roadblocks," Nasser Shtayyeh, 32, who covers
Nablus
for The Associated Press, told reporters...
Shtayyeh said he had tried to get the five-day-old infant to hospital
in
the West Bank town of Nablus from the family home in the village of
Salem,
about five km (three miles) away...
-----
DOZENS OF BODIES FOUND IN WEST BANK REFUGEE CAMPS
Scottish Daily Record & Sunday Mail Ltd., 4/19/02
http://www.dailyrecord.co.uk/news/news/page.cfm?objectid=11801450&method=full
MORE horrific evidence of Israel's continuing massacre in the West Bank
emerged yesterday.
In the Nablus refugee camp, 35 bodies were found. In Jenin,
Palestinians
looking for survivors clawed with bare hands at the ruins of their
refugee
camp. They believe hundreds may be buried beneath the rubble.
The UN envoy to the Middle East called the scene in Jenin "horrifying
beyond belief".
Terje Roed-Larsen added: "It looks like there's been an earthquake here
and
the stench of death is over many places where we are standing."
He said 300 buildings had been destroyed and 2000 people left homeless.
He
added: "Not any objective can justify such action with colossal
suffering".
Jenin hospital director Muhammed Abu Ghali said 36 bodies had been
recovered so far.
Israel, who lost 23 soldiers during their two- week military operation,
claim 70 people have been killed - all militants.
US President George Bush, meanwhile, praised Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel
Sharon as "a man of peace."
-----
ONCE-PROUD CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP DEFENDS ATROCITIES OF FOREIGN ARMY
ADL SAYS UN ENVOYS COMMENTS ABOUT CONDITION IN JENIN 'ONE-SIDED'
U.S. Newswire, 04/18/2002
NEW YORK, N.Y., April 18 /U.S. Newswire/ -- The Anti-Defamation League
(ADL) today expressed concern with U.N. envoy to the Middle East Terje
Roed-Larsen's one-sided comments about conditions in the Jenin refugee
camp
without further reference to Jenin's use as a base for anti-Israel
terrorist planning and operations.
Abraham H. Foxman, ADL national director, issued the following
statement:
"Unfortunately, Mr. Roed-Larsen's one-sided comments contain no
reference
to Jenin's use as a planning and operations base by terrorists striking
at
Israeli targets, nor to the fierce battles necessitated by the armed
offensive by Palestinians in these locations.
"Israel is doing all it can to improve conditions in Jenin. However,
the
Israeli Army needed to ensure that the area was safe and that all
threats
from snipers and booby traps were removed before full access to aid
agencies could be granted...
The Anti-Defamation League, founded in 1913, is the world's leading
organization fighting anti-Semitism through programs and services that
counteract hatred, prejudice and bigotry.
-----
AGENTS OF INFLUENCE
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j041902.html
Israel Firsters rally against Bush-Powell peace plan We don't really
need
to know much about the recent "We stand with Israel, now and forever"
rally
held in Washington, D.C., except the following report from Associated
Press:
"A top administration official was interrupted and booed Monday when he
told thousands of people gathered at the Capitol for a pro-Israel rally
that Palestinians as well as Israelis have been victims of Mideast
violence. Deputy Secretary of Defense Paul Wolfowitz was drowned out by
chants of 'no more Arafat' and booed as he told a packed crowd of
thousands
that 'innocent Palestinians are suffering and dying as well. It is
critical
that we recognize and acknowledge that fact...'"
"On September 12th, the day after the terrorist attack on our country,
my
neighbor and friend, Bill Bennett, said to me, 'Now we are all
Israelis.'"Here is the perfect device to evade the present conflict
between
American and Israeli interests in the Middle East: simply deny the
divergence by proclaiming that, somehow, Americans are Israelis. But is
America really analogous to an occupying power, one that, furthermore,
finds itself in natural collision with the entire Arab-Muslim world?...
Israel wants the right to be left alone - as long as the US foots the
bill.
Those IDF tanks, those modern weapons, those bloody bulldozers - all
were
paid for by the US taxpayers. That's $90 billion-plus since 1949. Oh,
yes,
I'm sure they want to be left alone to spend our money on building
"settlements" over bulldozed Palestinian communities - and attack
helicopters to do battle with stone-throwing children - and yet surely
the
US has some interest in not being seen as an accomplice to Sharon's
crimes.
But since "we are all Israelis now," there are no American interests,
only
Israeli interests...
The outrageousness of sending Benjamin Netanyahu to openly lobby the US
Senate, and make a direct appeal to the Democrats - who flocked to
support
him - was equaled only by the nerve of inviting Natan Sharansky,
Israel's
deputy prime minister, to address the rally. The spectacle of a high
Israeli official at an American political rally, on American soil,
not-so-implicitly scolding an American President for his Mideast
policy,
was an act of brazen insolence, the sort of behavior that wouldn't be
tolerated from any other country...
Whether or not the Israeli government was directly involved, or merely
encouraged and indirectly supported these activities, the reality is
that
the Israel Firsters are little more than a small, somewhat wacky,
albeit
vociferous fifth column, whose influence is way out of proportion to
their
actual numbers.
A Time-CNN poll, released April 12, shows that most Americans would
reduce
or completely eliminate aid to Israel if Sharon doesn't withdraw his
troops
from Palestinian areas. 60 percent would cut or eliminate aid; and a
full
75 percent support America's diplomatic initiative.
As such a great believer in the virtues of "democracy," will Bennett
now
accede to the wishes of the majority and accept the end of aid to
Israel? I
thought not...
-----
AMERICANS CONTINUE TO PLACE EQUAL BLAME ON PALESTINIANS AND ISRAELIS
Harris Interactive Survey Shows Only Slight Support For Saudi Arabian
Peace
Plan
ROCHESTER, N.Y., April 19 - (PR Newswire) As U.S. Secretary of State
Colin
Powell heads home, after nearly a week of unproductive "shuttle
diplomacy"
between Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and Palestinian Chairman
Yasser
Arafat, more Americans continue to blame both sides equally for the
violence there. Furthermore, both Sharon's and Arafat's ratings
continue
to be very negative, although slightly improved from their high
negatives a
month ago.
Americans seem to favor -- but only slightly -- the recent peace
initiative
proposed by Saudi Arabia and endorsed by The Arab League which states
that
all Arab states would recognize and make peace with Israel in return
for
the creation of an independent Palestinian state on the West Bank and
Gaza.
A very slight majority (51%) of the American public supports this plan
with
22% opposing it. Just over a quarter (26%) are not sure reflecting,
perhaps, the complexity and the fluidity of the events in the Middle
East.
These are some of findings of the latest issue of The Harris Poll(R),
conducted by telephone by Harris Interactive(SM) among a national
cross-section of 1,021 adults aged 18 or over, between April 9 and 15,
2002.
Other key findings include:
While it seems that Americans are slightly more negative to the
Palestinians, this doesn't mean that support for Israel is increasing.
The
ratings of both Prime Minister Sharon (66% negative, 23% positive) and
Chairman Arafat (85% negative, 6% positive) have worsened in the past
four
weeks. This might be attributed to the perceived intransigence of
both men...
-----
ARABS FUEL A BOYCOTT OF U.S. GOODS
By Hugh Pope, The Wall Street Journal, 4/19/02
Calls for a boycott of U.S. products are spreading in the Middle East
amid
anger over U.S. policies that many Arabs say favor Israel. So far,
boycotts
haven't cut noticeably into sales, say U.S. companies doing business in
the
Middle East.
Still, the persistent appeals differ from past boycott efforts, which
were
often organized by governments. The current efforts arise from women's
groups, citizen committees, trade unions and other grass-roots
organizations -- sources some executives fear will inflict
longer-lasting
damage to U.S. franchises and brand names.
"We expect that it will have an impact," says Ahmed Linjawi, manager of
Procter & Gamble Co.'s joint venture in Saudi Arabia. "The biggest
concern
is our image." Consumers shunning U.S. products could eventually hit
sales,
contributing to a projected 10% to 15% fall in U.S. exports to Saudi
Arabia
this year, diplomats say.
U.S. companies, from Coca-Cola Co. to McDonald's Corp., sold $6 billion
worth of goods and services to Saudi Arabia in 2001 and $3.7 billion
worth
to Egypt -- two of the region's biggest economies. Overall, exports to
the
Arab world make up about 3% of the U.S. total...
"It's not organized," says Saudi businesswoman Suzan al-Dakhil. "I felt
it
from inside. It spreads by word of mouth." Ms. Dakhil says she won't
buy
U.S. goods in supermarkets or eat at Kentucky Fried Chicken outlets.
When
her son wanted to buy a car two weeks ago, she steered him away from
the
GMC Yukon he was considering, she said. He chose a Toyota...
Participants and callers on "For Women Only," a chat show on the
popular
pan-Arab television program al-Jazeera, were unanimous this week on
Arab
women's duty to boycott Israeli and American products. "Women must
break
with American capitalist culture," said Amuza Ghabbash of al-Quds
University in the United Arab Emirates...
-----
PALESTINIANS IN US LAMENT THE UNHEARD SIDE IN CONFLICT
By JOHANNA NEUMAN, Los Angeles Times, 4/19/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-000027973apr19.story
Laguna Beach shop owner Samera Sood is reluctant to discuss politics
with
patrons of her Native American art store. So when a customer recently
noted
her accent and asked where she was from, Sood said simply that she was
born
near Jerusalem.
Taking Sood for an Israeli, the customer said she was glad the
Palestinians
were "getting what they deserved."
Sood told the customer of the recent Israeli assault on the West Bank
town
of Jenin and the 1982 massacre of hundreds of Palestinians by Israeli
allies at refugee camps in Lebanon.
History, she said, should not be repeating itself. Jews, "of all
people,
should stand up," said Sood, who is president of the Palestinian
American
Women's Assn. of Southern California...
"People are being killed," Sood said. "Why is the world not saying
anything? Is their blood so cheap?"...
"The core problem for us as citizens of this country is this disparity:
Every effort by Palestinians to resist occupation is seen as an act of
terrorism and every effort by Israel is seen as self-defense," said
Nihad
Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations
in
Washington.
They are also angry that their tax dollars, in the form of U.S.
military
aid to Israel, are helping finance the Apache attack helicopters and
M-16s
used in the current Israeli offensive, which has resulted in the deaths
of
relatives and the destruction of property.
-----
U.S. CAMPAIGNERS PROMISE BIGGEST EVER PRO-PALESTINIAN DEMO
Agence France Presse, 4/18/02
Campaigners are promising the biggest-ever pro-Palestinian
demonstration in
the United States on Saturday, hoping to wrest influence from the
mighty
pro-Israel lobby in US politics.
Organisers of a coalition of pro-Palestine pressure groups are
promising
that tens of thousands of demonstrators will gather here to denounce US
Middle East policy...
Opponents of US foreign policy in the Middle East believe it is slanted
too
far towards Israel and hope to erode the power of the pro-Israel lobby,
which musters strong support in Congress and the US government.
"It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the Palestinians have
been
suffering at the hands of the Israelis helped by the American
government,"
said Nihad Awad, Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic
relations.
Awad said he has sensed an "awakening" among the US public to the
Palestinian cause during more than 18 months of Israeli-Palestinian
violence.
The Palestinian protest, which hopes to draw marchers from across the
United States, is to begin near the White House (White House Ellipse,
Saturday, 11 a.m.), before tracing a course through the streets of
Washington...
-----
PALESTINIANS BURY THEIR DEAD BURY THEIR DEAD IN COMMON GRAVES
By Christine Hauser, Reuters, 4/19/02
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - Thirty-five Palestinians swathed in
white
shrouds and some decked with purple flowers were buried on Friday in
common
graves in an olive grove on the edge of the Jenin refugee camp...
Hospital officials believe the toll will climb into the hundreds as
corpses
are recovered from the rubble of the camp. Women in Muslim headscarves
sat
on the edges of five trenches carved into the olive field. Men, faces
covered with green surgical masks to ward off the stench of rotting
corpses, stood neck-deep in the trenches, arranging bodies head to
foot...
Women screamed and wailed as flatbed trucks bearing the bodies drove up
to
the graves. They ran up alongside the trucks as they were still moving,
grabbing at the edges to hold on and trying to clutch at the bodies
stacked
on top.
Arabic calligraphy in red was scrawled across the bodies, proclaiming
the
dead as martyrs. It was not possible to confirm how many of the 35
bodies
buried were fighters or civilians. The bodies had been provisionally
covered in shallow soil in the back lot of the main hospital before
being
dug up for a proper burial after Israeli forces withdrew from town.
As women cried, a group of men sat silently with blank stares in a
semi-circle under the shade of an olive tree. Women were carried away
from
the pits, their feet dragging in the dust. Others covered their heads
with
the dirt of the grave and some sobbed silently, turning their heads
away.
Mohammad Ali Ghali, director of Jenin's main hospital, said the final
death
toll could climb to anywhere between 200 and 400 once all corpses had
been
extracted from the rubble...
-----
ARE THE ISRAELIS GUILTY OF MASS MURDER?
By Ben Lynfield And Rory Macmillan, The Scotsman, 4/19/02
THEY left as departing heroes, waving victory salutes and grinning as
they
went. But even as Israel's forces pulled out of the Jenin refugee camp
on
the West Bank, relief workers were claiming the carnage and destruction
left behind was like an earthquake.
They spoke of a war crime on the scale of the Bosnia and Kosovo wars.
The United Nations, allowed access after 12 days during which
ambulances
were turned away and scores of injured bleed to death, struggled to
find
words to describe the devastation.
Terje Roed-Larsen, the UN special envoy, said simply: "We have expert
people here who have been in war zones and earthquakes and they say
they
have never seen anything like it. It is horrifying beyond belief." The
UN
was at last beginning to extract the corpses and search for survivors
beneath the rubble, as well as provide food, water and shelter to camp
residents. Its officials were unable to bring to mind a time when they
had
been so obstructed as they had been by the Israelis.
Peter Hansen, head of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency , who
had
served in the Balkans, said: "I and my colleagues working in crisis
situations for decades do not recall a situation where co-operation
from
the authorities has been less than what we have experienced from the
Israeli government. It is beyond any human decency to let ambulances,
food
and water stand outside the camp, as has been the case."
Mr Hansen said soldiers had shot up the UN clinic in the camp.
Destroyed,
along with everything else, was a storage container for vaccines.
He was shaken by what he had seen: "I today have seen decomposed bodies
dug
out. One was an 11-year-old child, judging from the size of his
rib-cage..."
-----
JENIN CAMP A SURREAL WASTELAND OF SURVIVAL, DEATH
By Christine Hauser, Reuters, 4/19/02
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank, April 19 (Reuters) - What do you say to
a
Palestinian refugee drenched with sweat from the effort of digging out
his
bombed house with a garden hoe, filling bucket after bucket with
rubble?
"Trust in God," were the only words a neighbour found to tell Yahya
Salih
as the 42-year-old stood ankle-deep in a hole he had made atop a
mountain
of dirt and concrete wreckage in the centre of the Jenin refugee camp
in
the West Bank.
"My house is under here," said Salih, straightening up from his toils
under
the hot sun. "This was our bedroom," he said, plucking at an edge of
foam
rubber -- the corner of a mattress still buried deep in the ruins.
"That is our pillow," he continued, pointing to the dusty stuffing
where
his little girl sat watching him from the edge of the shallow pit he
had dug.
"I am trying to find our identity cards at least, and to get to my
wife's
jewellery. My children need their clothes."
For now, all Salih, who had worked as a car painter, had were the tools
he
was using to save his home, wife and children. He sat in the dirt to
rest
next to his five-year-old son Ahmed, who cuddled close to kiss his
father's
dusty beard...
-----
US MAY VETO U.N. RESOLUTION ON PROBE OF JENIN
Reuters, 4/19/200
UNITED NATIONS, April 19 (Reuters) - The United States appeared headed
toward a veto on Friday of an Arab-drafted Security Council resolution
that
demands a probe of the devastation in the Jenin refugee camp by Israeli
troops.
Although the White House said it was not against some kind of
investigation
of Jenin, U.S. Ambassador John Negroponte said Washington wanted no
resolution at all, despite compromises made by Arab delegates after
discussions with Britain.
"Alleviating the situation in Jenin should be our priority humanitarian
objective at this time. Further Security Council action is not the best
way
to meet this objective," he told an open council meeting.
"Rather, we can make more of an impact by working directly with the
parties
on the ground," Negroponte said. Israel has opposed all council
measures,
calling them unbalanced.
Diplomats said Negroponte threatened a veto in private consultations, a
step the United States in recent weeks has been loathe to do,
presumably to
avoid further inflaming tensions in the Arab world...
U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan told reporters on Thursday he would
approve an investigation but his first priority was to help the living
in
the Jenin camp, administered by the Palestinian Authority.
He called on Israel to allow humanitarian workers full access,
describing
the destruction as "horrific."
U.N. officials visiting the camp found "people digging out corpses from
the
rubble with bare hands," Annan said.
"Meanwhile, no major emergency rescue operation has been allowed to
begin.
The destruction is massive and the impact on the civilian population is
devastating," he said.
Despite Israeli and U.S. opposition, Annan also renewed appeals for a
"robust" international force in Palestinian territory to halt the
latest
upsurge of violence that begin in September 2000.
But Aaron Jacob, Israel's deputy U.N. ambassador, immediately said "no"
and
White House spokesman Ari Fleischer said "the president thinks the
purpose
of America's military is to fight and win wars..."
-----
PALESTINIAN SURVIVES 10 DAYS BURIED BENEATH JENIN RUBBLE
Agence France Presse, 4/19/02
JENIN REFUGEE CAMP, West Bank - A Palestinian man was recovered alive
Friday 10 days after being buried beneath rubble in the Jenin refugee
camp
in the West Bank, site of the heaviest fighting in Israel's three-week
military offensive, a Palestinian Red Crescent official said.
Hossam Sharkawi, who is in charge of emergency services, said the
survivor
had been taken to hospital but he had no information on his condition.
He
said it was the first true case of a survivor being pulled from the
debris
of the camp which was devastated during an Israeli army incursion.
"Others were half-trapped in the remains or were afraid to come out,"
he
told AFP, adding an international aid team had arrived in Jenin to
assist
with attempts to locate other survivors.
Sharkawi said 26 bodies had been found in the ruins, including four
children, two women and two elderly people who were more than 65 years
old.
An additional 10 bodies were unearthed from shallow, sand-covered
graves in
the grounds of the camp hospital Friday to be given a formal burial in
the
cemetery. Several other bodies were to be disinterred later...
-----
FAMILIES SCRABBLE IN THE DUST TO FIND THEIR DEAD
By Justin Huggler, The Independent (UK), 4/19/02
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=286615
WHEN THEY found the body it was in pieces and so they gathered it all
up
out of the rubble, great chunks of blackened, rotting flesh with bits
of
bone sticking out, and piled them up on a blanket. The smell made us
retch
and stumble away gasping for clean air. The Palestinians said the pile
of
putrefying flesh and bone was Mohammed Massoud Abu Sb'a.
The people of Jenin refugee camp returned to look for their dead
yesterday
amid the devastation that the Israeli army had made of their homes. The
destruction here was more devastating than an earthquake, yet the
Israelis
have not allowed any heavy lifting equipment in here, so the
Palestinians
dug out the bodies with their hands, scrabbling in the dust and heaving
away the broken blocks. They had brought a stretcher for the body we
saw
being dug up but a stretcher was not needed for fragments so they
bundled
them all up in a blanket and carried them away.
Aid workers and human rights monitors have started to call this ground
zero. The television pictures do not convey the devastation. You have
to
come here to walk over the dust and rubble that used to be people's
homes,
picking your way through the little pieces of their lives, the
children's
schoolbooks and discarded clothing. You have to smell the stench of
death
that clings to certain corners. The piles of rubble tower high above
your
head and the work of removing the bodies is nerve-racking and
haunting...
Another woman stopped us angrily outside the hospital. She was saying
something had happened to her sister, but would not explain what. "See
what
Sharon has done to us," she said hysterically. "America is with Sharon,
Britain is with Sharon."
-----
U.S. LAWMAKERS TO PUSH MEASURES BACKING ISRAEL
By Vicki Allen, Reuters, 4/18/02
WASHINGTON, April 18 (Reuters) - Key members of the House of
Representatives said on Thursday they would seek up to $200 million in
emergency aid to Israel, as U.S. lawmakers pushed bipartisan measures
to
support the Jewish State amid its campaign in Palestinian cities.
Separately, two senators offered a bill that would impose sanctions on
Palestinian President Yasser Arafat and the Palestine Liberation
Organization, and two House members introduced a non-binding resolution
expressing solidarity with Israel and citing Arafat's "ongoing support
and
coordination of terror..."
Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the House
Appropriations
foreign aid subcommittee, said she and other members of the panel would
push for up to $200 million in emergency aid for Israel as part of a
$27
billion counter-terrorism package moving through Congress.
Israel already receives $3 billion in U.S. assistance annually, and had
sought up to $800 million more.
-----
SECRECY IS SWEPT FROM HEARING
By DAVID ASHENFELTER, Detroit Free Press, 4/19/02
http://www.freep.com/news/mich/haddad19_20020419.htm
A U.S. appeals court dealt the Justice Department a blow Thursday in
its
efforts to conduct secret deportation hearings against people swept up
in
the federal terrorism probe.
A three-judge panel of the U.S. 6th Circuit Court of Appeals in
Cincinnati
gave the Free Press and other Detroit-area newspapers access to
transcripts
and documents from deportation proceedings against Ann Arbor Muslim
activist Rabih Haddad.
The judges also said Detroit Immigration Judge Elizabeth Hacker must
open
Haddad's court appearances to the public, while the appeals court
considers
the Justice Department's appeal to keep them private.
The judges concluded that open hearings won't compromise the federal
terror
probe as the Justice Department contends. The appeals judges -- Martha
Daughtrey, Karen Moore and Guy Cole -- said they decided to give the
newspapers immediate access to Haddad's deportation hearings because
the
government isn't likely to win its appeal, which will be heard in
coming
weeks.
The judges said deportation hearings enjoy the same constitutional
protections as civil and criminal trials, which are presumptively open.
-----
STATES ARE TOLD TO KEEP DETAINEE INFORMATION SECRET
By DANNY HAKIM, The New York Times, 4/19/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/19/national/19HEAR.html
The Bush administration ordered state and local officials today not to
release information about immigration detainees even as the government
lost
a crucial related battle in federal appeals court.
The new directive was issued by James W. Ziglar, the commissioner of
the
Immigration and Naturalization Service, in consultation with the
Justice
Department. The rule prohibits state and local employees from
disclosing
the names of immigration detainees in their custody. The regulation
follows
a ruling last month by a New Jersey judge that ordered two county jails
to
release the names of immigrants detained after Sept. 11. The order is
part
of the government effort to keep secret the names of people taken into
custody after Sept. 11 and bar access to their immigration hearings.
That effort was dealt a legal setback today when a federal appeals
court in
Cincinnati said the government must release transcripts of past
immigration
court hearings in the case of Rabih Haddad, a detainee and a co-founder
of
a Muslim charity whose assets the government has frozen.
The court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit,
said
there was just a "slim likelihood" that it would reverse a lower court
decision that compelled the government to open Mr. Haddad's future
immigration hearings.
Michigan newspapers, including The Detroit Free Press and The Detroit
News,
have sued to open the hearing of Mr. Haddad, a native of Lebanon who
lived
with his family in Ann Arbor. The newspapers were joined in the suit by
the
American Civil Liberties Union and Representative John Conyers Jr.,
Democrat of Michigan...
-----
ISRAELIS REJECT VISIT FROM BAY AREA 'SHIELDS'
By Ilene Lelchuk, The San Francisco Chronicle, 4/19/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/04/19/MN140893.DTL
Eight Americans, most from the Bay Area, who tried to reach the
Palestinian
territories this week to act as "human shields" were turned away at the
Tel
Aviv airport by Israeli officials, relatives and friends said
yesterday...
-----
EXECUTIVE'S SUIT ALLEGES ETHNIC BIAS
By Howard Mintz, San Jose Mercury News, 4/19/02
http://www.bayarea.com/mld/bayarea/business/3093849.htm
A former top executive at Advanced Micro Devices sued the chip giant
Thursday, claiming company founder Jerry Sanders and other leaders
humiliated him and forced him out after Sept. 11 because he is an
Arab-American.
Walid Maghribi claims Sanders and AMD President Hector Ruiz repeatedly
directed ethnic slurs and jokes at him, according to a complaint filed
in
U.S. District Court in San Jose.
-----
FBI's DALLAS BOSS IS RETIRING
By BILL MILLER and JACK DOUGLAS JR., The Fort Worth Star-Telegram,
04/18/2002
DALLAS - Danny Defenbaugh, the top FBI official who innovated
anti-terrorism units in North Texas but was sharply criticized for his
role
in the Oklahoma City bombing investigation, is retiring.
Defenbaugh, an Ohio native, has been special agent in charge of the
Dallas
field office since 1998. He joined the FBI in 1969 and became a bomb
expert. He was sent to Beirut to investigate the 1983 terrorist
explosion
that killed 241 U.S. military personnel. Defenbaugh, 51, was
unavailable to
comment Wednesday, but in a Tuesday e-mail obtained by The Associated
Press, Defenbaugh told colleagues: "I have been so fortunate to live a
dream beyond my dreams. I plan on staying in the area and begin my
search
for a new and challenging career."
Council on American-Islamic Relations, praised Defenbaugh's prompt
deployment of the bureau's hate crime specialists when the lives,
property
and mosques of Arab-Americans in North Texas were targeted for
retaliation
after Sept. 11.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/20/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* RALLY FOR PALESTINE ATTRACTS 100,000 AMERICANS
* TENS OF THOUSANDS GATHER FOR LARGEST PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTEST IN US
(AFP)
* THOSE WHO COULD NOT ATTEND THE RALLY CAN STILL HELP STOP ISRAELI
AGGRESSION (Action Alert #328)
-----
RALLY FOR PALESTINE ATTRACTS 100,000 AMERICANS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/20/02) - An estimated 100,000 Americans from
diverse
ethnic, religious and political backgrounds turned out today in the
nation's capital to call for an end to the Israeli occupation of
Palestinian land. The largest-ever national rally in support of the
Palestinian people filled the White House Ellipse and poured into
streets
leading to Capitol Hill during the six-hour gathering.
"Today's event brought together Muslims, Christians, Buddhists, and
Jews,
as well as people from a rainbow of ethnic backgrounds and political
philosophies. The tremendous success of the rally shows that elected
officials who offer blind support for Israel's brutal polices are out
of
step with their constituents," said Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR) Executive Director Nihad Awad, who spoke on the Ellipse.
Awad noted that rally participants included Korean-Americans,
Filipinos,
Native Americans and Hispanics. They chanted: "We are all
Palestinians."
"Today marks the beginning of a national broad-based coalition that
will
seek to put America's interests before those of a foreign government
engaged in an Apartheid-like occupation of another people," said Awad.
CAIR, a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, called on all those at
the
rally to contact their elected representatives and demand an end to
billions of American tax dollars being sent to Israel and an
international
investigation of the Israeli massacre of Palestinian civilians in the
Jenin
refugee camp.
The main organizer of the protest was International A.N.S.W.E.R.
SEE: http://www.internationalanswer.org
NOTE: The rally was carried live on C-SPAN. Go to http://www.c-span.org
to
see if the rally video will be re-run over the weekend.
-----
TENS OF THOUSANDS GATHER IN WASHINGTON
FOR LARGEST PRO-PALESTINIAN PROTEST IN US
By LAUREN GELFAND, Agence France Presse, 4/20/2002
WASHINGTON, April 20 - In the largest pro-Palestinian demonstration
ever in
the United States, tens of thousands of protesters gathered here
Saturday
to condemn what they saw as the US administration's pro-Israeli bent in
the
Mideast conflict...
Police estimated that around 50,000 people took part in the peaceful
protest although organizers, a coalition of pro-Palestinian pressure
groups, put the figure at 100,000. Saturday's pro-Palestinian
demonstration
was billed as an answer to a mass protest by a reported 100,000
supporters
of Israel Monday at the US Capitol, where speakers linked the Israeli
offensive against the Palestinians to the US-led war on terror.
The pro-Palestinian protesters came from across the United States,
including chapters of Muslim American Societies from New Jersey, New
York,
Maryland, Virginia and Michigan, the Muslim Public Affairs Council, the
Islamic American Institute and the Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
While Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz spoke at Monday's
pro-Israel
rally, there was no representative of George W. Bush's administration
at
Saturday's pro-Palestinian protest.
Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, a Democrat from Georgia, was due to
address
the crowd at the Capitol and the protesters heard a tape message of
jailed
former Black Panther member Mumia Abu-Jamal in support of the
Palestinian
cause.
Iyad Hindi, 42, was in a group of some 400 who bussed in from Raleigh,
North Carolina to participate in the event.
Hindi, who belongs to Raleigh's Muslim-American Society, said the crowd
was
in Washington "to tell the Israelis there should be no occupation" of
Palestinian territories -- and "as long as there is (occupation) there
will
be resistance."
The group's "other message is to the United States government to stop
the
clear bias towards Israel," he said...
Speakers took to the podium to decry the two billion dollars in
military
assistance the United States provides Israel annually.
Among the protesters were members of "Orthodox Jews against Zionism"
who
led chants of "Judaism: yes, Zionism: No".
Some families traveled from far to lend their support to the
Palestinian
cause and add their voices to the chorus for peace.
Jesmin Saikh, 15, came with a group of 200 from Gaithersburg, Maryland.
She
said she wears a head scarf at school, and "obviously disagree(s)" with
her
Jewish friends at school over events in the Middle East.
"But the thing that we share is that we know that both sides want
peace,"
she said...
-----
CAIR ACTION ALERT #328
THOSE WHO COULD NOT ATTEND THE RALLY CAN STILL HELP STOP ISRAELI
AGGRESSION
The media and elected officials need to hear from you
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/20/2002) - As Israeli forces rampage throughout
Palestine and attempt to cover-up their massacres in places like the
refugee camp of Jenin, elected officials harm American interests by
blindly
supporting Israel's brutal actions. CAIR is calling on people of
conscience
to take positive steps in defense of the Palestinian people and in
support
of America's real interests in the region.
Take two minutes to make your voice heard. Ask for the following:
* An immediate and impartial investigation of the Israeli massacre
committed in Jenin
* An end to U.S. taxpayer dollars being used to kill innocent
civilians,
including Americans
* An end to Israel's illegal use of American-taxpayer-funded weapons
* An international peacekeeping force to protect the Palestinian people
* A promise not to block U.N. resolutions that seek to investigate
Israeli
atrocities
* A meeting with American Muslim leaders to discuss the Mideast crisis
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:
1) CONTACT: President George W. Bush, The White House, 1600
Pennsylvania
Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20500 TEL: 202-456-1414, Press 1 FAX:
202-456-2461
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov, secretary@state.gov,
cair@cair-net.org
2) CONTACT your elected representatives to make the same point. To
obtain
contact information for your representative, go to:
http://capwiz.com/cair/home/ or call 202-224-3121. Have your Zip Code
ready.
3) CONTACT local and national media outlets to express your concerns.
TALKING POINTS:
* The occupation is the source of the conflict. Until the occupation
ends,
there can never be peace.
* America's true interests are served by standing up for freedom and
justice, not by blindly following the dictates of a foreign government
and
its domestic lobby. American officials must stop parroting the Israeli
line
and step in as honest brokers.
* Palestinians will not stop resisting the Israeli occupation until
they
feel there is a just political solution in sight.
* Israel has committed massacres in places like Jenin refugee camp.
This
fact has been witnessed by the international media, relief agencies and
United Nations representatives.
* Israeli attacks are a form of collective punishment, not strikes on
perpetrators of crimes.
* American weapons are supplied on the premise that they will be used
only
in self-defense, not in revenge attacks or to enforce an illegal
military
occupation.
* This conflict pits one of the world's strongest armies against an
unarmed
civilian population.
* Israeli actions could lead to a wider war in the region.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
NOTE: Please send CAIR e-mail addresses of anyone who would like to be
added to CAIR-NET. Send to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR ACTION ALERT #329
CONGRESS SEEKS $200 MILLION IN ADDITIONAL MILITARY AID FOR ISRAEL
Your tax dollars would reward Israeli aggression
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/22/2002) - CAIR is calling on members of the
Muslim
community and other people of conscience to contact President Bush and
state representatives to ask that they not support an effort in
Congress
going over the president's head to gain an additional $200 million in
aid
for Israel's military.
That aid, if approved, would in effect be a reward for the recent
aggression against Palestinian civilians. The congressional effort came
to
light today in a Washington Post article, "Supporters Consider How to
Increase Military Aid for Israel."
SEE:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25511-2002Apr21.html
The call for additional aid comes as former President Jimmy Carter said
that a possible REDUCTION in American taxpayer aid to Israel could be
used
as pressure to achieve peace in the region. Carter wrote Sunday in the
New
York Times:
"[Ariel Sharon's] rejection of all peace agreements that included
Israeli
withdrawal from Arab lands, his invasion of Lebanon, his provocative
visit
to the Temple Mount, the destruction of villages and homes, the arrests
of
thousands of Palestinians and his open defiance of President George W.
Bush's demand that he comply with international law have all been
orchestrated to accomplish his ultimate goals: to establish Israeli
settlements as widely as possible throughout occupied territories and
to
deny Palestinians a cohesive political existence...
"There are two existing factors that offer success to United States
persuasion. One is the legal requirement that American weapons are to
be
used by Israel only for defensive purposes, a premise certainly being
violated in the recent destruction of Jenin and other villages...The
other
persuasive factor is approximately $10 million daily in American aid to
Israel...The existing situation is tragic and likely to get worse.
Normal
diplomatic efforts have failed. It is time for the United States, as
the
sole recognized intermediary, to consider more forceful action for
peace..."
SEE: America Can Persuade Israel to Make a Just Peace
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/21/opinion/21CART.html
The 2002 foreign aid program provides Israel with more than $2 billion
in
military aid and some $730 million in financial assistance. This is
nearly
one-fifth of total U.S. foreign aid. Israel has been the largest annual
recipient of U.S. foreign assistance since 1976 and the largest
cumulative
recipient of assistance since World War II, according to government
statistics. (AFP, 4/21/2002)
"It is unconscionable that Congress would consider rewarding Israel
with
American tax dollars for its ongoing atrocities in the Occupied
Territories. America is sending relief aid to the devastated
Palestinian
refugee camp in Jenin. Taxpayers should not be forced to send more
weapons
to those who caused that devastation," said CAIR Governmental Affairs
Director Jason Erb. Erb noted that recent polls show public broad
support
for a reduction in aid to Israel. (Time/CNN Poll, 4/12/2002)
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be polite.)
1) CONTACT President Bush to request that he veto any additional
taxpayer
aid to Israel and instead CUT aid to that state and its military.
CONTACT:
President George W. Bush
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW
Washington, DC 20500
TEL: 202-456-1414, Press 1
FAX: 202-456-2461
E-MAIL: president@whitehouse.gov, secretary@state.gov,
nita.lowey@mail.house.gov, jim.kolbe@mail.house.gov, cair@cair-net.org
2) CONTACT your elected representatives to make the same point. To get
contact information for your representative, go to:
http://capwiz.com/cair/home/ or call 202-224-3121. Have your Zip Code
ready.
3) CONTACT local and national media outlets to express your concerns.
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/22/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* GOOD NEWS: MUSLIM MOTHER OF 11 FREED IN FLORIDA
* DANIEL PIPES SMEARS IMAM W.D. MOHAMMED (Worldnetdaily.com)
* WEEKLY STANDARD SAYS "THERE ARE NO PALESTINIANS"
* AMNESTY CALLS FOR WAR CRIMES PROBE OVER JENIN (AFP)
* U.N. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY STANDS BY JENIN COMMENTS (Reuters)
* UN NAMES JENIN INQUIRY TEAM (BBC)
* FRESH KILLINGS IN WESTERN INDIA BRING DEATH TOLL TO 850 (AP)
* TRANSCRIPTS OFFER FIRST LOOK AT SECRET FEDERAL HEARINGS (New York
Times)
* [ISRAELI] SOLDIERS ARE ACCUSED OF LOOTING (Washington Post)
* EVANGELICAL MISSIONARIES UNDERCOVER IN MUSLIM WORLD (Mother Jones)
* APRIL 22ND PROTEST AT AIPAC CONFERENCE
* DEMONSTRATORS RALLY TO PALESTINIAN CAUSE (Washington Post)
* SHARON PLAN FOR WEST BANK CONFIRMED (Washington Times)
* FRONTLINE'S "MUSLIMS" WILL AIR MAY 9, AT 9 PM
-----
GOOD NEWS: MUSLIM MOTHER OF 11 FREED IN FLORIDA
MOM OF 11 FREED; JUDGE QUESTIONS NEGLECT CASE
By Steve Patterson, Jacksonville Times-Union, 4/20/2002
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/042002/met_9195937.html
A Jacksonville woman who was jailed for raising 11 children in a
crowded
house without power or water was released yesterday on a judge's order.
Antoinette Young had been locked up for 11 days, unable to pay a
$25,000
bond. Circuit Judge Henry Davis ordered her released on her own
recognizance and expressed confusion about why Young, 39, is facing a
felony child-neglect charge.
"I'm just trying to figure out the charge...Why is this case in court?"
Davis asked rhetorically during a brief hearing.
At least 10 of Young's children have been in the Florida Department of
Children and Families' custody since April 9, when city housing
inspectors
condemned their rented 828-square-foot home in East Arlington. A
teenage
son is thought to have eluded social workers and left with Young's
husband,
Riccardo Young.
An arrest warrant charges Riccardo Young with child neglect as well,
but he
hasn't been located, Assistant State Attorney Mac Heavener said.
The family's problems have sparked an outpouring of sympathy, with
people
and charities around Northeast Florida offering help. A
Washington-based
Islamic group sought help for the family, who are Muslim.
"We've had a huge amount of support, especially from the Islamic
community," said Barbara Alexander, executive director of the
non-profit
First Coast Family Center, a group trying to aid the family. She said
the
center, which has a Children and Families contract, has received more
than
$6,000 in donations for the Youngs and is trying to arrange for a
larger
home...
The court hearing was attended by members of the Islamic Center of
Northeast Florida, who arrived ready to speak on Young's behalf.
Supporters arranged temporary housing for her and were trying to assist
the
family center, said Shakur Bolden, the Islamic center's president.
Donations labeled as help for the Youngs can be mailed to:
First Coast Family Center
Attention: Connie Fussell
2747 Art Museum Drive, Suite 100
Jacksonville, FL 32207
Make checks payable to "First Coast Family Center." Note on the check
that
the donation is for the Riccardo Young family.
-----
DANIEL PIPES SMEARS IMAM W.D. MOHAMMED
U.S.-Saudi oil imports fund American mosques
By Paul Sperry, WorldNetDaily.com, 4/22/02
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=27327
Bilal is just one of many black mosques funded by Saudi. Most of them,
including Bilal, are associated with Imam W. Deen Mohammed, head of the
Chicago-based Muslim American Society, or MAS, which has been credited
with
helping convert more than a million U.S. blacks to Islam...
Mohammed originally took over the Nation of Islam after the death of
his
father, Elijah Muhammad, who founded the group...But [Daniel] Pipes
notes
that Mohammed has recently been steering MAS toward fundamentalism to
cater
to the growing number of immigrants attending his mosques...
Though he expressed "shock" at the Sept. 11 terrorism, W. Deen Mohammed
didn't categorically condemn the attacks in a statement to MAS
members...
SEE: Who is Daniel Pipes?
http://www.cair-net.org/misc/people/daniel_pipes.html
-----
WEEKLY STANDARD SAYS "THERE ARE NO PALESTINIANS"
Whosoever Blesses Them
The intifada and its defenders.
By Larry Miller, The Weekly Standard, 4/22/2002
http://www.weeklystandard.com/Content/Public/Articles/000/000/001/161yaihr.asp
There are no Palestinians. It's a made up word. Israel was called
Palestine
for two thousand years. Like "Wiccan," "Palestinian" sounds ancient but
is
really a modern invention...As soon as the Jews took over and started
growing oranges as big as basketballs, what do you know, say hello to
the
"Palestinians," weeping for their deep bond with their lost "land" and
"nation."
So for the sake of honesty, let's not use the word "Palestinian" any
more
to describe these delightful folks, who dance for joy at our deaths
until
someone points out they're being taped. Instead, let's call them what
they
are: "Other Arabs From The Same General Area Who Are In Deep Denial
About
Never Being Able To Accomplish Anything In Life And Would Rather Wrap
Themselves In The Seductive Melodrama Of Eternal Struggle And Death..."
-----
AMNESTY CALLS FOR WAR CRIMES PROBE OVER JENIN
Agence France Presse, 4/22/02
Amnesty International called Monday for an international war crimes
probe
into the events surrounding the recent Israeli incursion into Jenin,
following a recent fact-finding mission to the West Bank town.
"We have concluded that very serious breaches of international law were
committed, and we are talking here of war crimes," said Amnesty
delegate
Javier Zuniga, who visited Jenin last week as part of a three-day
survey by
the human rights group.
A second Amnesty delegate, Derrick Pounder, added: "The claim that only
fighters were killed is simply not true -- a mixture of bodies were
clearly
civilians and combatants."
He said what was needed was "the same type of investigation as in the
Balkans."
SEE: Preliminary findings of Amnesty International delegates' visit to
Jenin
http://www.amnesty.org
-----
U.N. MIDDLE EAST ENVOY STANDS BY JENIN COMMENTS
Reuters, 4/22/2002
BEIRUT, Lebanon (Reuters) - U.N. Middle East envoy Terje Roed-Larsen
Monday
stuck by his criticism of Israel's assault on the Jenin refugee camp,
saying he reacted as any decent human being would have.
His remarks came a day after Israel's cabinet discussed cutting ties
with
Roed-Larsen, who Thursday accused its army of using "morally repugnant"
means in Jenin.
The refugee camp was the scene of fierce fighting during Israel's
incursion
into Palestinian areas of the West Bank, which it said was to crack
down on
militants responsible for a wave of suicide bombings against Israelis.
"What I did -- on the basis of what I saw, what I heard, what I smelt
--
was to say that this was shocking and horrifying and I think that any
decent human being with a heart would have reacted the same way I did
and
used similar words," Roed-Larsen said after a meeting with Lebanon's
Prime
Minister Rafik al-Hariri.
"I described what I saw, people with their bare hands digging deformed
bodies out of the rubble," he told reporters. "I stand by what I said."
-----
UN NAMES JENIN INQUIRY TEAM
BBC Worldservice, 4/22/02
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/middle_east/newsid_1944000/1944434.stm
UN Secretary General Kofi Annan has appointed Finland's former
President
Martti Ahtisaari head of a team to probe events at the refugee camp in
Jenin, where Palestinians say the Israeli army "massacred" civilians.
The
commission will investigate claims of human rights abuses during
Israel's
eight-day incursion into the camp.
Palestinians say hundreds of civilians died, but Israel insists the
number
of dead was fewer than 100, and that most of them were gunmen.
Criticism of
Israel has also come the Red Cross and the UN relief agency for
Palestinian
refugees (UNRWA) which on Monday accused it of violating international
humanitarian laws during its operation in the Jenin camp.
The UN commission also includes Sadako Ogata of Japan, former head of
the
UN refugee agency, and Cornelio Sammaruga, the Swiss former head of the
International Red Cross.
Retired US General William Nash, a former UN regional administrator in
Kosovo, will be military adviser to the team, and Peter Fitzgerald of
Ireland, a former UN civilian police officer, will be police adviser.
Mr Annan said: "The team will start its work without delay. It will
first
assemble in Europe this week and then travel to the region as soon as
possible...
The decision to send a commission was agreed by the UN Security
Council.
The US agreed to it on the condition that the team would report to Mr
Annan
and not to the Security Council, which Israel regards as biased against
it.
-----
FRESH KILLINGS IN WESTERN INDIA BRING DEATH TOLL TO 850
By RUPAK SANYAL, Associated Press, 4/22/02
AHMADABAD, India - Police fired into a crowd when Hindus and Muslims
clashed in western Gujarat state. At least 17 people were killed in the
new
wave of sectarian fighting, including nine Muslims who were shot to
death
by officers, officials said Monday.
Sunday's violence took the death toll from India's worst religious
rioting
in a decade to 850. At least 91 people also were seriously injured,
with
burns and bullet wounds, said police in Ahmadabad, the commercial hub
of
Gujarat state. The renewed violence came on the same day that Prime
Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee vowed to protect Muslims...
According to the police control room in the state capital Gandhinagar,
groups were assembling for a Hindu festival in Ahmadabad when clashes
started between Hindu and Muslim neighbors. Stones were thrown and
petrol
bombs were hurled from both sides. Police said they had to fire at the
mob
in an attempt to end the violence. Nine Muslims were killed...
The inability of the state government to stop the rioting, and
allegations
that police have supported the Hindu rioters, have provoked widespread
demands for the dismissal of Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi, the
top
elected official...
The opposition blames the Hindu-nationalist party of Vajpayee and its
ideological affiliates for the carnage. Vajpayee's Bharatiya Janata
Party
has declined Modi's offer of resignation and insists he is doing
everything
he can to end the attacks.
-----
TRANSCRIPTS OFFER FIRST LOOK AT SECRET FEDERAL HEARINGS
By DANNY HAKIM, The New York Times, 4/22/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/22/national/22DETA.html
DETROIT - The first glimpse into the secret immigration hearings of
Arab
men came after the federal government reluctantly agreed on Friday to
make
public partial records of its case against a Muslim cleric.
The cleric, Rabih Haddad, 41, has been held since December on charges
of
overstaying his visa. Mr. Haddad, a native of Lebanon who lived with
his
family in Ann Arbor, Mich., is the chairman of the Global Relief
Foundation, a Muslim charity whose assets were frozen after it came
under
federal scrutiny.
His case file -- parts of which were made public as the result of a
court
ruling -- includes transcripts of his past immigration hearings as well
as
numerous documents and exhibits, though material considered sensitive
by
the government was withheld. In making its case, the government said
Mr.
Haddad had been seen in places affiliated with the Qaeda terrorist
network
during stays overseas in the late 1980's and early 1990's. But a
detailed
account of the charges, made in a declaration by a Federal Bureau of
Investigation agent, was not included in the documents made public.
Mr. Haddad's lawyer, Ashraf Nubani, said in an interview that the
purpose
of Mr. Haddad's travels, mostly to Pakistan, was to take part in relief
efforts.
"At the time he was in Pakistan, Al Qaeda didn't exist," Mr. Nubani
said.
"It was a bunch of people going to fight the Soviets in Afghanistan..."
Mr. Nubani contends that Mr. Haddad is a cleric who has been harshly
punished for a minor offense. The Global Relief Foundation has denied
it
has ties to terrorist organizations and has sued several news media
organizations for defamation, including The New York Times Company. The
group has also brought a civil suit against the government.
Many of the documents that were made public reveal legal skirmishing
over
issues that offer no clear evidence of serious wrongdoing...
Mr. Haddad's immigration file became public after several Michigan
newspapers, along with Mr. Conyers, sued the government to force them
to
open the hearings. They have been represented by, among others, the
American Civil Liberties Union. The suit, and similar ones filed by
news
media organizations in New Jersey, pit First Amendment rights against a
law
passed after the Sept. 11 attacks that permits the secret detention of
immigrants. But Mr. Haddad's case is the first in which the federal
courts
have ruled...
Mr. Haddad's next immigration hearing is set for Wednesday, but the
government could seek to delay it as the federal appeals process
proceeds.
-----
[ISRAELI] SOLDIERS ARE ACCUSED OF LOOTING
By Doug Struck, Washington Post, 4/21/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25727-2002Apr21.html
RAMALLAH, West Bank, April 21 -- Israeli tanks clanked out of the
center of
two major West Bank cities today as Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
declared
"we have finished this stage" of the military operation. Palestinians
said
they found the buildings that had been occupied by Israeli soldiers
ransacked, vandalized and looted...
Office managers said computer equipment had been stolen. Shop owners
said
their businesses had been vandalized. Residents alleged that soldiers
had
taken money or valuables from their homes. Attempts were made to break
open
the safes at a bank.
"I'm shaken. I have no words to say how I feel," said Salwa Diabis, 41,
as
she surveyed her office at Mattin, a human rights organization that
Israeli
troops had left only hours before. The furnishings had been heaped in a
pile and littered with garbage. The fax machine had been thrown onto a
ledge. Photos of Diabis's family had been stripped from the wall. A
reporter saw that in their place was a message written in English with
a
marker, starting with an obscenity and adding: "Arabs, never mess with
us
again..."
Upstairs, in a room strewn with broken glass, Amar Khudiri, a computer
specialist in a white shirt and tie, fussed over his mainframe
computer,
opened and stripped of much of its electronic guts. Seven of eight hard
drives had been taken, as well as the hard drives from about 50 other
computers in the bank, he said.
"This was professional looting. They are thieves," Khudiri said.
-----
EVANGELICAL MISSIONARIES UNDERCOVER IN MUSLIM WORLD
THEIR MISSION: TO WIPE OUT ISLAM
By Barry Yeoman, Mother Jones, May/June 2002
"The Stealth Crusade," Mother Jones magazine's May/June cover story,
takes
readers inside a Southern university where evangelical Christians are
trained to go undercover in the Muslim world and win converts. Reporter
Barry Yeoman wrote the article after attending an intensive two-week
course
at Columbia International University in South Carolina. The CIU course,
taught by Rick Love, international director of a Christian group called
Frontiers, focused on stealth strategies for winning converts while
disguised as teachers, aid workers, or businesspeople.
Love acknowledges that Muslim converts face "imprisonment, torture,
even
martyrdom," and critics point out that stealth proselytizing disrupts
the
delivery of humanitarian aid and fuels resentment of Westerners. "But
to
those at the heart of the movement, including Rick Love's students,"
writes
Yeoman, "any damage done by their work is outweighed by the importance
of
their mission: to wipe out Islam." As one fellow student who worked
undercover as an English teacher in Kazakhstan put it to Yeoman, "Satan
has
deceived [Muslims] away from a relationship with their creator God."
One of the more controversial tactics taught by Love and others is
"contextualization," a technique that calls on missionaries to take on
Muslim names, dress in veils and other local clothing, prostrate
themselves
during prayer, and even fast during Ramadan. As CIU Professor David
Cashin
put it, "We must become Muslims to reach Muslims." This practice is
particularly troublesome to other religious groups that provide
humanitarian relief without proselytizing. As Donna Derr of Church
World
Service told Mother Jones, "Groups that have the need to proselytize
color
us all with the same brush," making it harder to win the trust of
communities her group is trying to help. Mother Jones reports that the
number of missionaries trying to convert Muslims has increased fourfold
in
the past decade, to more than 3,000. The urgency they feel about their
mission is underscored by Warren Larson, who directs Muslim studies at
CIU.
"Islam is biologically taking over the world," Larson told his class.
Excerpts from the article:
"We see Islam as the final frontier," says David Cashin, a professor of
Intercultural Studies at CIU [Columbia International University] who
used
to don Muslim clothing and pursue converts in the tea shops of
Kalioloir,
Bangladesh. Like many of his fellow evangelicals, Cashin regards the
Islamic world as the hinterland that must be penetrated before the
Messiah
can return"
"The issue is the disproportional power relationship," says Ibrahim
Hooper,
a spokesman for the Council On American-Islamic relations, a
Washington,
D.C.- based organization that works to promote a positive image of
Muslims. "They use their resources to coerce people to do what they
want
them to do."
To read entire article, pick up the May/June 2002 Mother Jones magazine
at
your local newsstand or go to http://market.motherjones.com/
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIMS FOR JERUSALEM
APRIL 22ND PROTEST AT AIPAC CONFERENCE
We urge all who are able to attend a protest on Monday, April 22nd at
6:15
PM outside of the Washington Hilton Hotel where AIPAC is holding its
annual
convention. Former Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu will be
addressing the crowd that evening on the topic "Celebrating the
US-Israel
Relationship."
WHEN: MONDAY, APRIL 22
WHAT: Pro-Palestine, Pro-Peace Rally
WHEN: Assemble at 6:15 pm
WHERE: Washington Hilton, Connecticut and T Streets, NW - 4 blocks
north of
the Dupont Circle Metro (red-line)
-----
DEMONSTRATORS RALLY TO PALESTINIAN CAUSE
Arab Americans, Supporters Drown Out Other Issues
By Manny Fernandez, Washington Post, 4/21/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A22230-2002Apr20.html
Tens of thousands converged on downtown Washington yesterday to
demonstrate
for a variety of causes, but it was the numbers and passion of busloads
of
Arab Americans and their supporters that dominated the streets. Eager
to
make their presence felt and their voices heard in the nation's capital
as
never before, Arab and Muslim families marched and chanted for an end
to
U.S. military aid to Israel, overwhelming the messages of those with
other
causes in a peaceful day of downtown rallies and marches.
Young men wore the Palestinian flag around their necks like a cape.
Arabic
was heard nearly as often as English, and cardboard signs held by women
and
children denounced Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon and President
Bush.
Protesters rallying against corporate wrongs and the global economy
found
themselves tweaking Vietnam War-era chants to the Palestinian cause,
shouting, "One, two, three, four: We don't want no Mideast war!"
"The message here is we must support the Palestinian people against a
military occupation and an apartheid state," said Randa Jamal, a
graduate
student at New York's Columbia University who joined thousands at a
pro-Palestinian rally near the White House. She said her cousins were
killed in Ramallah, and her 16-year-old sister has been unable to
attend
school because of the Israeli occupation. "What they are going
through,"
she said, "is crimes against humanity..."
-----
SHARON PLAN FOR WEST BANK CONFIRMED
By Joyce Howard Price, THE WASHINGTON TIMES, 4/22/2002
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020422-8855812.htm
Israel's foreign minister yesterday confirmed a report that Prime
Minister
Ariel Sharon wants to annex up to half of the West Bank. But Shimon
Peres
said he does not see this as a permanent solution to the crisis in the
Middle East.
Interviewed yesterday on NBC's "Meet the Press," the foreign minister
was
asked about the accuracy of a report yesterday in the London Sunday
Telegraph, also published in The Washington Times, that Mr. Sharon has
a
plan calling for Israel to annex 50 percent of land in the West Bank.
"It's
accurate for a while, because that's what Sharon suggests as an interim
agreement," Mr. Peres said. "My judgment is they know this is not a
solution" and that this is an "unofficial proposal."
Existence of the Sharon plan was disclosed by Ephraim Sneh, the Israeli
transport minister, who, like Mr. Peres, is a member of the Labor
Party,
not Mr. Sharon's Likud Party. Mr. Sneh told the London paper that the
annexation plan is "incompatible with a two-state solution" since it
suggests Mr. Sharon wants a Palestinian entity with far less land than
envisioned under other peace plans. "It is not realistic," Mr. Sneh
said.
-----
FRONTLINE'S "MUSLIMS" WILL AIR MAY 9, AT 9 PM
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/
The events of September 11 left many Americans asking how such
atrocities
could be perpetrated in the name of religion: specifically, the
religion of
Islam. Yet even as U.S. opinion polls reflect a collective sense of
mistrust toward a religion few Americans know much about, Islam
continues
to be one of the fastest growing religions in the United States and
around
the world today.
What does it mean to be a Muslim? How does their faith shape their
lives,
identities, and politics? Does Islam deserve its reputation as a
patriarchal, authoritarian, and anti-Western religion? And what role
does
militancy play in the Muslim world?
FRONTLINE and the Independent Production Fund join forces to explore
these
and other questions in "Muslims," a special two-hour film investigating
the
different faces of Islam's worldwide resurgence. Reporting from Iran,
Nigeria, Egypt, Malaysia, Turkey, and the United States, FRONTLINE
tells
the stories of Muslims struggling to define how Islam will shape their
lives and societies...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/23/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: EVIDENCE
* EDITORIAL CARTOON DEFAMES PALESTINIAN MOTHERS (Palm Beach Post)
* MUSLIM CHARITY'S LAWSUIT RAISES 'DISTRESSING' ISSUES, JUDGE SAYS
(Washington Post)
* PUBLIC VOICES DOUBTS ON U.S. MIDEAST ROLE (Washington Post)
* BUSH REACHES OUT TO ARAB WORLD (AP)
* MUSLIM AND ARAB-AMERICANS FIGHT AGAINST DISCRIMINATION AFTER
SEPTEMBER
11TH ATTACKS (CBS)
* A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DIVIDE CLOSES (Christian Science Monitor)
* THE PALESTINIAN SIDE MUST BE TOLD (Los Angeles Times)
* PLAZA HOTEL ACCUSED OF BIAS (New York Times)
* ISRAELI PULL-OUT STRATEGY CRITICIZED (AP)
* WHAT ISRAEL HAS DONE (The Nation)
* ROUNDUP UNNERVES OKLAHOMA MUSLIMS (Chicago Tribune)
* PALESTINIANS SAY TROOPS VANDALIZED, LOOTED WEST BANK (Washington
Times)
* NOBEL REGRETS PERES PRIZE (AP)
* DASCHLE DEMANDS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL (Washington Times)
* CRITICISM LEADS CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS TO PULL OUT OF INTERFAITH
GROUP
(Ecumenical News)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: EVIDENCE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Should I not tell you
of
the best witness? He is the one who produces his evidence before he is
asked for it."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 799
-----
MUSLIM CHARITY'S LAWSUIT RAISES 'DISTRESSING' ISSUES, JUDGE SAYS
By Neely Tucker, The Washington Post, 4/23/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A31094-2002Apr22.html
A federal judge said yesterday that a lawsuit filed by the nation's
largest
Muslim charity raised "significant and distressing allegations" about
government actions in its war on terror.
U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler said in Washington that the
government's
decision to shut down the Texas-based Holy Land Foundation for Relief
and
Development in December -- on allegations that the charity was a
fundraising front for the Islamic Resistance Movement, known as Hamas
--
was a matter of "great significance."
She also warned government lawyers that she would not look favorably on
their request to keep classified information concealed from public
view.
"I'll make no secret that the government is going to have a very heavy
burden to submit information ex parte [in secret, in the judge's
chambers]," Kessler said. "In a case with as many serious ramifications
as
this one, unless the law is crystal clear...everything should be in
public
and on the record..."
The Holy Land Foundation, based in Richardson, Tex., was shut down Dec.
4.
The government alleged that the foundation funneled at least $ 13
million
in 2000 to Hamas, the hard-line Muslim organization that for years has
used
terrorism to combat Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza
Strip...
In an internal memorandum that drew heavily on information supplied by
the
Israeli government, Dale L. Watson, the FBI's executive assistant
director
for counterterrorism and counterintelligence, described the foundation
as
"the primary fund-raising entity for Hamas." Parts of the memo are
included
in Holy Land's legal filings.
But John D. Cline, the charity's attorney, said the allegations are
false,
misleading and may draw on testimony elicited by Israeli intelligence
officers using torture, which would make it illegal in U.S. courts.
"Holy Land unequivocally, flatly denies" the charges, he told Kessler.
"Isn't this much more than an administrative procedures case?" Kessler
asked, not pausing for an answer. "Aren't there very serious legal
issues
involved here?...It seems the government's approach is too
simplistic..."
-----
EDITORIAL CARTOON DEFAMES PALESTINIAN MOTHERS
http://www.gopbi.com/partners/pbpost/opinion/wright_gallerywed.html
The Palm Beach Post cartoon, titled "Kids and Parents" is made up of
four
panels with kids from various ethnic groups stating what their mothers
would like them to be when they grow up. The last panel shows a
Palestinian
child who says: "My mother wants me to be a martyr, exploding into a
thousand pieces."
Please contact the editors of the Palm Beach Post to express your
concerns
about the offensive depiction of Palestinian mothers.
CONTACT INFO FOR THE PAPER:
Letters to the Editor
The Palm Beach Post
P.O. Box 24700
West Palm Beach, FL 33416-4700
Fax: (561) 820-4728
E-MAIL: letters@pbpost.com, randy_schultz@pbpost.com,
don_wright@pbpost.com, lou_ann_frala@pbpost.com,
john_bartosek@pbpost.com
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
Include your complete home address and telephone number, along with a
daytime telephone number, in case our staff needs to contact you?
-----
PUBLIC VOICES DOUBTS ON U.S. MIDEAST ROLE
Poll Finds Blame for Israel, Palestinians
By Richard Morin and Claudia Deane, Washington Post, 4/23/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30757-2002Apr22.html
As the Israeli military operation on the West Bank winds down, the
American
public is wary of seeing the United States continue to take the lead in
brokering deals between the two warring sides, according to a new
Washington Post-ABC News Poll.
A narrow majority -- 54 percent -- said the United States should stand
aside and let Israel and the Palestinian Authority take the lead role
in
crafting a peace agreement. Six in 10 say they want Israel to negotiate
directly with Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat to end the current
conflict
-- a move rejected by Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.
A majority also fault both sides for failing to control the bloodshed
that
has enveloped the region in recent months, the survey found. Most
Americans
blame Israel for not doing enough to prevent Palestinian civilian
casualties during its military incursion into the West Bank and Gaza
Strip.
But an even larger majority fault Arafat for not doing more to end the
wave
of terrorist attacks against Israeli citizens.
In question after question, the poll suggests the American public is
frustrated and largely confused about what, if anything, the United
States
can or should do to bring Israel and the Palestinians closer to peace.
Many
Americans doubt that either side is truly serious about reaching an
agreement...
-----
BUSH REACHES OUT TO ARAB WORLD
By BARRY SCHWEID, The Associated Press, 4/23/2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Reaching out to the Arab world, President Bush
renewed
his call Tuesday for a Palestinian state and said Israeli Prime
Minister
Ariel Sharon should keep pulling back on the West Bank.
Bush, in an exchange with reporters while seeing King Mohammed VI of
Morocco in the Oval Office, also insisted that Palestinian leader
Yasser
Aafat renounce and fight terror. But the weight of his remarks seemed
to
respond to Arab demands.
``Our government means what we say, and we said that the only way for
there
to be lasting peace is for there to be two states, living side by side
with
each other.''
On Thursday, Bush will receive Crown Prince Abdullah of Saudi Arabia,
whose
proposal for a settlement between Israel and the Arabs already has been
embraced by the president...
-----
MUSLIM AND ARAB-AMERICANS FIGHT AGAINST
DISCRIMINATION AFTER SEPTEMBER 11TH ATTACKS
CBS Evening News, 4/21/02
JOHN ROBERTS, anchor:
Arab-Americans and Muslims, in this country, say the alleged
discrimination
that started soon after the September 11th terrorist attacks is still
going
strong. Joie Chen tells us the experience has them frustrated and
angry.
JOIE CHEN reporting:
The man, who plowed his pickup truck into a Tallahassee mosque just
before
evening prayers, said he did it because he hated Muslims. No one was
hurt,
but for many Arab-Americans and Muslims, the attack underlies a growing
sense of discrimination against them.
Mr. IBRAHAM HOOPER (Council on American-Islamic Relations): We hear now
links to this, ties to that. It--it becomes like the Kevin Bacon game,
where no one is more than six degrees away from Kevin Bacon. It seems
no
Muslim is more than six degrees away from Osama bin Laden, and we
object to
that.
CARLSON: Last month, federal agents swept through Islamic homes and
businesses in suburban Washington looking for ties to terrorist
organizations. There were no arrests. And Islamic advocacy groups
accused
the government of conducting fishing expeditions against law-abiding
Muslims.
Ms. LAURIE JAGHLIT (Muslim-American): They had surrounded the entire
house
with their weapons drawn.
CARLSON: Though the warrant didn't spell out exactly why they were
selected, Jaghlit believes it is because her Palestinian husband, a
naturalized US citizen, is a doctor who's done some charity work for
Arab
organizations, including some that the government is keeping a watch on
for
possible ties to terrorism.
Ms. JAGHLIT: What happened here was--is they're basically trying to
terrorize people, citizens, Americans, and it--it's wrong...
-----
A CHRISTIAN-MUSLIM DIVIDE CLOSES
By Danna Harman, The Christian Science Monitor, 4/23/02
http://www.christiansciencemonitor.com/2002/0423/p06s01-wome.html
BETHLEHEM, WEST BANK - The food in the besieged Church of the Nativity
is
running out. The priests, nuns, monks, and friars trapped between
Israeli
soldiers stationed in Manger Square and some 200 Palestinians gunmen
hiding
inside the church have almost gone through their stocks of beans and
spaghetti - and are reportedly rationing pretzels and drinking well
water...
"Before, our identity as a Christian minority within the Palestinian
community was threatened - so we held onto it tight. Today, what is
being
threatened is our national identity as Palestinians, and that is the
important struggle," says Nuha Khoury, a Christian Palestinian
professor at
Bethlehem University.
"Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon never heard of divide and rule,"
she
says sarcastically. "He started with an assault on Al Aqsa," she
explains,
referring to Sharon's trip in September 2001 to the holy Muslim site in
Jerusalem which sparked the current intifada. "And now he is ending
with
the Church of the Nativity. Nothing is sacred to him. We are all the
same
to him. Palestinians. The enemy..."
Peter Qumri, the Christian Palestinian director of Bethlehem's general
hospital points at another aspect of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict
that
is pushing the Christians here closer to their Muslim brothers.
"The support of the Christian right in the US for Israel has
embarrassed us
and forced us to prove our identity and become even more
nationalistic," he
says. Sitting in his office surrounded by a framed photograph of
himself
kissing the pope's hand on one side and a giant poster of Arafat on the
other, Dr. Qumri says that "any Christian that comes to support Israel
is
not a real Christian."
-----
THE PALESTINIAN SIDE MUST BE TOLD
By ROBERT SCHEER, The Los Angeles Times, 4/22/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/opinion/la-000028852apr23.story
Is there media bias against Israel?
The claim, hotly expressed in thousands of angry e-mails and
subscription
cancellations, that the U.S. media are anti-Israel is so absurd as to
suggest hysteria. Are American Jews in such deep denial about the
brutality
of Israel's recent actions that they would damn those who report the
truth?
Certainly the American media are far more sympathetic to Israel than
publishers and journalists in the rest of the world. This is
particularly
true in Western Europe, perhaps reflecting the widespread public
sympathy
there for the Palestinians, as measured in recent polls. Not that
sympathy
for Israelis, bloodied repeatedly by a merciless bombing campaign
targeting
civilians, is not equally warranted...
Moreover, no group is so safely denigrated in the mass media of this
country, particularly in film, as "the Arabs," who became the enemy of
choice in post-Cold War movie-making in such films as "True Lies." And
no
group is as underrepresented in the media work force; there are more
than 3
million Arab Americans, yet it is exceedingly rare to find one working
as a
newspaper reporter or TV news personality...
To humanize a people does not mean to apologize for the behavior of
murderous individuals, movements or institutions representing the dark
revenge fantasies of a people's consciousness, of course. But to
blindly
endorse the outrage of one side while ignoring the pain of the other
does
both a disservice...
-----
PLAZA HOTEL ACCUSED OF BIAS
By Susan Sachs, The New York Times, 4/23/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/23/nyregion/23MBRF3.html
Eight present and former employees of the Oak Room in the Plaza Hotel,
all
of them Muslims, have accused supervisors at the hotel of insulting and
mistreating them immediately after Sept. 11. In a discrimination
complaint
filed yesterday, the employees said they were called terrorists and
"dumb
Muslims," had their work hours cut and, in the case of two men, were
dismissed -- all because of their religion and national origins...
-----
ISRAELI PULL-OUT STRATEGY CRITICIZED
By BARRY SCHWEID, The Associated Press, 4/23/2002
WASHINGTON (AP) - Israel's strategy of keeping some army troops on the
outskirts of Palestinian-controlled territory was rejected on Monday by
the
State Department, which renewed a U.S. demand for a total withdrawal
from
the West Bank.
The department also did not support Israel's demand that the
Palestinians
surrender suspects in terror attacks. Spokesman Richard Boucher said
Yasser
Arafat's Palestinian Authority claims jurisdiction over the wanted men,
and
it is up to the two sides to work out a settlement.
The department's position on Israeli troop deployments and on terror
arrests gave further evidence that, after tilting in Israel's direction
for
months, the Bush administration has taken a more neutral stance.
President
Bush's chief of staff, Andrew Card, told more than 4,000 members of a
pro-Israel lobbying group that "real sacrifices by all sides" are
required
to achieve peace.
-----
WHAT ISRAEL HAS DONE
By EDWARD W. SAID, The Nation, 5/6/02
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020506&s=said
Despite Israel's effort to restrict coverage of its destructive
invasion of
the West Bank's Palestinian towns and refugee camps, information and
images
have nevertheless seeped through. The Internet has provided hundreds of
verbal as well as pictorial eyewitness reports, as have Arab and
European
TV coverage, most of it unavailable or blocked or spun out of existence
from the mainstream US media. That evidence provides stunning proof of
what
Israel's campaign has actually--has always--been about: the
irreversible
conquest of Palestinian land and society...
By what inhuman calculus did Israel's army, using dozens of tanks and
armored personnel carriers, along with hundreds of missile strikes from
US-supplied Apache helicopter gunships, besiege Jenin's refugee camp
for
over a week, a one-square-kilometer patch of shacks housing 15,000
refugees
and a few dozen men armed with automatic rifles and no missiles or
tanks,
and call it a response to terrorist violence and a threat to Israel's
survival? There are reported to be hundreds buried in the rubble, which
Israeli bulldozers began heaping over the camp's ruins after the
fighting
ended. Are Palestinian civilian men, women and children no more than
rats
or cockroaches that can be attacked and killed in the thousands without
so
much as a word of compassion or in their defense?...
-----
ROUNDUP UNNERVES OKLAHOMA MUSLIMS
By Cam Simpson, Chicago Tribune, 4/21/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/nationworld/showcase/chi-0204210346apr21.story
NORMAN, Okla. -- To his friends, Hussein Ali Hassan Alattas was a
gentle
young man who used his precise knowledge of the Koran to tutor children
and
adults alike at the small mosque here. But to law enforcement he became
something more threatening after Sept. 11, when they began
investigating
his close relationship with Zacarias Moussaoui, the man now alleged to
be
the "20th hijacker," and learned of Alattas' apparent interest in armed
jihad.
As federal investigators searched for terrorist cells across America
last
fall, they conducted an intense sweep in this college town. The probe
landed Alattas and at least 17 other Muslims in jail and left in its
wake
fear, anger and disrupted lives.
As the Alattas case illustrates, the law-enforcement actions in Norman,
where Moussaoui attended flight school, were rooted in legitimate
concerns
about national security. But what happened in Norman also provides a
glimpse into the lives of countless others nationwide who, despite
having
no apparent connection to terrorism, were jailed in the frenzy to
thwart
further attacks...
-----
PALESTINIANS SAY TROOPS VANDALIZED, LOOTED WEST BANK
By Betsy Pisik, The Washington Times, 4/23/02
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020423-76370332.htm
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinians returning to homes and offices in
the
West Bank after Israel's pullout yesterday accused Israeli soldiers of
looting and vandalism. They said computers and television cameras had
been
taken and that money was stolen from safes. Reporters saw graffiti
scrawled
in English and Hebrew, much like the graffiti scrawled by soldiers in
other
military campaigns...
Ramallah is the site of Al Quds University, where staff of the Center
for
New Media returned to their offices and television studio on Sunday for
the
first time since learning the building had been used by Israeli forces
as
barracks and for sniper positions. During a tour of the premises
yesterday,
the staff showed a reporter three empty tripods that they said had held
television cameras, an empty classroom where they said 12 computers had
stood, a ransacked library and offices, and graffiti saying, "No
Palestine.
Ever."
Wassim Abdullah, the technical director for educational television at
the
university, described the damage as evidence of "pure hatred."
-----
NOBEL REGRETS PERES PRIZE
By Doug Mellgren, The Associated Press, 4/23/2002
http://www.washingtontimes.com/world/20020423-73728078.htm
OSLO - The committee that awards the century-old Nobel Peace Prize,
spurred
by violence in the Middle East, has broken with a tradition of never
second-guessing itself in public.
Some of its five members are saying the 1994 prize shouldn't have gone
to
Israeli Foreign Minister Shimon Peres.
The trigger was committee member Hanna Kvanmo, a retired left-wing
politician who broke with the tradition of silence in early April.
Replying
to a newspaper's questions, she said she wished Mr. Peres' prize could
be
revoked, because as a member of Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's
coalition government, he was party to the Israeli military incursion...
-----
DASCHLE DEMANDS SUPPORT FOR ISRAEL
By Ben Barber, The Washington Times, 04/23/02
http://www.washtimes.com/world/20020423-99885272.htm
Senate Majority Leader Tom Daschle yesterday said U.S. backing for
Israel
must remain "absolute," and he criticized European, Arab and U.N.
officials
for anti-Semitism and unfairness toward the Jewish state.
"Our commitment to Israel must be unshakable - it must be absolute," he
told a luncheon crowd of several thousand at the American Israel Public
Affairs Committee (AIPAC), the country's largest pro-Israel lobbying
group..."The United States must honor a commitment to preserve Israel's
military superiority," he said...
"As long as I am majority leader of the United States Senate, we will
be a
friend to Israel in fair weather and in foul..."
-----
CRITICISM LEADS CANADIAN JEWISH CONGRESS TO PULL OUT OF INTERFAITH
GROUP
By Ferdy Baglo, Ecumenical News International, 4/23/02
Vancouver, 23 April (ENI)--Canada's most prominent Jewish organisation
has
withdrawn its participation of 30 years from an interfaith consultation
following the appearance of a website message critical of Israeli
policy
written by a church dialogue partner.
The Canadian Jewish Congress (CJC) announced on 10 April that it was
mulling out of the inter-religious Canadian Christian Jewish
Consultation
(CCJC).
A message on the Anglican Church of Canada's website was "the straw
that
broke the camel's back", said Manuel Prutschi, the CJC's national
director
of community relations, who accused the Anglican church and the United
Church of Canada of being "one-sided".
In the message, Archbishop Michael Peers, head of the Anglican Church
of
Canada, wrote: "The current violence in Palestine has deep roots, but
Israeli occupation of Palestinian territory in defiance of United
Nations
resolutions is at its heart...When Israel withdraws from its illegal
occupation of Palestine, when Palestinians are free to return in peace
to
their homeland, when civilians are no longer the targets of terror,
either
for suicide bombers or government tanks, then healing will begin..."
Archbishop Peers expressed regret about the Jewish Congress's decision
to
withdraw from the interfaith consultation. He said the message that
appeared on the church's website was rooted in policies and resolutions
of
the church's synod and in statements by governing bodies of the
world-wide
Anglican communion.
It reflected the church's attempt "to stand with the church leaders in
Jerusalem in particular," Peers said. That's the principle that we have
used in places like South Africa and other places around the world.
That
kind of solidarity is important."
-----
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To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/24/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: DO NOT HATE ONE ANOTHER
* CAIR OFFICIAL MEETS WITH KING OF MOROCCO
* LETTERS: LAND DEAL FOR COTLER (Globe and Mail)
* EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CAIR
* DR. LAURA SAYS MUSLIMS HAVE "PLAN" TO DOMINATE WORLD
* OREGON COALITION CHALLENGES HATE RADIO
- OREGON-WASHINGTON GROUPS CALLS FOR END TO 'HATE RADIO' (AP)
* BATTLE FOR THE TRUTH IN JENIN (The Guardian)
* LETTERS: DRIVEN TO WAR (Dallas Morning News)
* ISRAEL BEGINS WEST BANK CONSTRUCTION (AP)
* PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL AIMS TO HIDE JENIN 'CRIMES' (Reuters)
* ANNAN REFUSES JENIN MISSION DELAY (AP)
* TERRORISM AND NATIONALISM (Washington Post)
* VOA TARGETS WIDER ARAB AUDIENCE (AP)
* FUNDRAISING DINNER FOR MUSLIMS VICTIMS OF GUJARAT VIOLENCE
* MUSLIMS SURROUND POLICE STATION, DEMAND END TO MOB VIOLENCE IN
GUJARAT (AP)
* ABC'S "NIGHTLINE" PROFILES IRANIAN FILM-MAKER
* TIME TO CONSIDER PRAYER ROOMS? (HRFocus)
* SECRETARY MINETA SAYS RACIAL PROFILING IS WRONG AND INEFFECTIVE
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: DO NOT HATE ONE ANOTHER
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Do not hate one
another,
and do not be jealous of one another, and do not desert each other...It
is
not permissible for any Muslim to desert (not speak to) his brother
(because of a dispute) for more than three days."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 91
-----
CAIR OFFICIAL MEETS WITH KING OF MOROCCO
CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad, along with other American Muslim
and
Arab-American leaders, met yesterday with King Mohammed VI of Morocco
in
Washington, D.C. Awad thanked the king for his strong support for the
Palestinian people and offered a briefing on issues related to the
American
Muslim community.
-----
LETTERS: LAND DEAL FOR COTLER
By SHEEMA KHAN, The Globe and Mail, 4/24/2002
http://www.globeandmail.com Search using the term "Sheema Khan."
(Khan is chair of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Canada.)
Ottawa -- Re: Sounding The Alarm On Hate (April 22): While occupiers of
Irwin Cotler's offices were removed within a matter of hours,
Palestinians
have been waiting for 35 years while their occupiers break numerous
United
Nations resolutions, build roads and settlements on their land, uproot
trees, install checkpoints, and receive $10-million (U.S.) daily to
sustain
such illegal activity.
Mr. Cotler has often stated that, in 2000, the Palestinians walked away
from a "generous" offer to reclaim 95 per cent of the occupied land,
omitting the fact that Palestinians would have been left with loosely
connected cantons, rather than a viable state. Would Mr. Cotler have
agreed
to the occupiers of his office returning 95 per cent of his real
estate,
while maintaining control of the doors, hallways, stairs and elevators
in
the building?
-----
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITIES AT CAIR
Position: CHAPTER & INTERNSHIP COORDINATOR
CAIR has an immediate opening for an experienced dynamic person to fill
the
position of Chapter & Internship Coordinator. This person will be
responsible for developing, coordinating and managing chapter marketing
and
development, as well as CAIR's internship program. Successful
candidates
will have a college degree, (Management or related field will be
preferred), substantive organizational and supervisory skills and
experience working with non-profit organizations and Muslim groups will
be
an asset.
This position also requires working knowledge of MS Office that
includes
data management. Experience with developing, organizing and conducting
other internship and training programs will be an asset.
Salary Range: Based on education, skills and experience
CAIR offers an excellent health and dental benefit for its full-time
employees.
All those interested and eligible to work in the U.S. (citizens or
those
with employment visas) are encouraged to apply before May 3, 2002 via
e-mail to: hr@cair-net.org, or by fax 202-488-0833. When applying via
e-mail, please write the position title "Chapter and Internship
Coordinator" in the subject of the e-mail.
Position: WEBMASTER
CAIR has an immediate opening for an experienced web designer
responsible
for developing, and updating CAIR's website. The successful applicant
should have:
1. A bachelors degree or a minimum of 5 years web development
experience,
including advanced experience in ASP (VB script), HTML, Java Script,
SQL,
MS Access and Photoshop.
2. Experience in programming web databases with knowledge of database
driven content management.
3. An eye for developing a clean user interface with experience in
graphics
design using Adobe Photoshop and Macromedia Flash.
4. Familiarity with streaming audio and video using Windows Media
Player
and Real Player.
5. Good working knowledge of how to integrate office components to
create
charts, graphs, and reports using Excel, Word, and Power Point.
6. Ability to work independently and formulate an exhaustive and
extensive
plan to keep the website current and maintaining content that is fresh.
7. An understanding of online security including credit card processing
and
online shopping cart.
8. An ability to juggle multiple tasks and be deadline oriented.
9. Knowledge of Internet applications as they apply to civil rights /
activism driven organization, effective writing, presentation, and
interpersonal skills.
This position requires travel and weekend work.
Salary Range: Based on education, skills and experience
CAIR offers an excellent health and dental benefit for its full time
employees.
All those interested and eligible to work in the U.S. (citizens or
those
with employment visas) are encouraged to apply before May 10, 2002 via
e-mail to: hr@cair-net.org, or by fax 202-488-0833. When applying via
e-mail, please write the position title "Webmaster" in the subject of
the
e-mail.
-----
DR. LAURA SAYS MUSLIMS HAVE "PLAN" TO DOMINATE WORLD
CAIR expressed concern over remarks by syndicated radio talk-show host
Dr.
Laura Schlessinger who claimed today that there is a "Muslim plan" to
take
over the world.
In a letter to Schlessinger, CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim
Hooper wrote:
"Many Muslim listen to your program and appreciate your emphasis on
morality and righteous behavior.
"However, it is my unfortunate duty to bring to your attention our
concerns
about remarks you made on today's program that could negatively impact
the
lives of ordinary American Muslims.
"In a segment promoting the controversial views of Worldnetdaily.com
CEO
Joseph Farah, you claimed that there is a 'Muslim plan' to dominate the
world.
"One has to wonder how you would react to anyone who made a similarly
offensive reference to a 'Jewish plan' to take over America and Europe.
Your comments can only serve to promote anti-Muslim prejudice and
bigotry.
"I would therefore respectfully request that you take a moment on
tomorrow's program to clarify your remarks and to mitigate the damage
done
to interfaith relations. At this time of international crisis and
conflict,
we all must seek to unite, not divide Americans.
"It should also be noted that Mr. Farah is on record as approving of a
proposal to slaughter 1,000 Palestinians for every Israeli death. (He
did
not indicate whether those to be slaughtered would include his fellow
Christians.) Farah wrote that he found the proposal to be 'a very
thoughtful and quite responsible contribution to the Middle East
debate.' I
am sure you do not wish to be associated with such genocidal views.
SEE: 'A real peace plan,' Worldnetdaily.com, 3/28/2002
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=26995
I realize that instead of addressing the issues raised in this letter,
you
could use your program to once again attack our organization, Muslims
and
Islam. But I would ask that you search your conscience and then 'do the
right thing.'
-----
OREGON COALITION CHALLENGES HATE RADIO
WHAT: The Coalition Against Hate Radio, a group of more than 20
faith-based
and community organizations in the Portland metro area, will announce
the
beginning of a campaign against local hate radio, talk and call-in
radio
programs that promote bigotry and prejudice.
WHEN: The press conference will be held at 10:00 a.m., on Wednesday,
April
24th,
WHERE: Portland State University's Campus Ministries (Koinonia House),
at
633 SW Montgomery in downtown Portland.
The focus of the coalition's campaign is Paul Allen's Blazers Station,
KXL
(750AM), and its daily program, Savage Nation, hosted by Michael
Savage.
The Coalition is calling on the station owner, Paul Allen, and on
station
managers at KXL to find an alternative to the hate-mongering
programming of
Michael Savage. Savage's statements against Muslims include declaring
that
the 1.2 billion world Muslim population could handle the extermination
of
200 million given how large the population is; referring to Hispanics
as
'leaf blowers," comparing immigrants to geese who defecate all over the
country, and stating that America was on the wrong side in Kosovo,
apparently meaning that the U.S. should have backed those engaged in
overt
genocide.
For more information, please contact:
Antihateradio@aol.com or (503) 888-7455
SEE ALSO:
OREGON-WASHINGTON GROUPS CALLS FOR END TO 'HATE RADIO'
By JOHN ENDERS, Associated Press, 4/24/02
PORTLAND, Ore. - Church, community and political groups in Oregon and
Washington are demanding an end to what they call 'hate radio' and have
called on a station owned by billionaire Paul Allen to drop talk show
host
Michael Savage.
Savage, whose home base is KSFO in San Francisco, is syndicated on more
than 350 radio stations nationwide. He is featured on KXL radio in
Portland
during the key afternoon drive-time slot, 4-7 p.m.
"The content is an unbroken stream of hate and chauvinism directed
against
women, people of color, liberals, immigrants and in particular people
of
Middle Eastern heritage and people of the Muslim faith. We condemn this
message of hate..." said Tom Nelson, spokesman for the Coalition
Against
Hate Radio.
The coalition consists of the Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon, the
Interfaith Councils of Greater Seattle and Greater Portland, the
Islamic
Societies of Southwest Washington and Portland, the Multnomah County
Democratic Party, the Muslim Educational Trust, Oregon Friends of the
Middle East, Jews for Global Justice, the Catholic Archdiocese of
Portland,
Centro Cultural and several other churches and groups.
"The message that KXL is sending to communities of color, immigrants,
and
in particular to all people of Middle Eastern ancestry and to Muslims,
is
that you are not wanted in this country, that you have no value and
that
you should not expect any respect here," said Mona Goode, spokeswoman
for
the newly formed Coalition Against Hate Radio...
Members of the coalition said they will ask corporate advertisers to
withhold their support from KXL until the station drops Savage.
"We're going to engage with the corporations that advertise on the
radio
station and appeal to their sense of corporate responsibility," Goode
said.
"In a sense, Michael Savage has done us a favor. He's kind of united
the
coalition in and of himself," she said.
-----
BATTLE FOR THE TRUTH IN JENIN
By Brian Whitaker, The Guardian (UK), 4/23/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/elsewhere/journalist/story/0,7792,689398,00.html
Israel insists it has nothing to hide in Jenin. So why is it trying to
prevent the world discovering its innocence, asks Most people would
know a
massacre if they saw one. According to the Oxford English Dictionary,
"massacre" is a noun meaning "general slaughter, carnage; utter defeat
and
destruction" or a verb meaning to "murder cruelly or violently a number
of
persons."
The Israeli government objects to the word "massacre" being used to
describe what happened in Jenin refugee camp earlier this month.
"Only" 40 or so Palestinians were killed, it says, and they were all
terrorists. There are good reasons for believing both these Israeli
claims
to be false but, even if they were true, the nature of the act is no
less
important than its scale.
Both the International Committee of the Red Cross and Amnesty
International
say there is enough evidence to justify a full-scale investigation for
war
crimes.
Amnesty has collected a number of witness statements alleging, among
other
things, that extra-judicial executions took place, that some
Palestinians
were shot while in the process of surrendering or even afterwards, that
detainees were used as human shields and that medical workers were
attacked
in circumstances where there was no reason to suspect they were
terrorists
in disguise...
-----
LETTERS: DRIVEN TO WAR
By Karen de Olivares, Dallas Morning News, 4/23/02
http://www.dallasnews.com/opinion/letters/stories/042302dnedituesdayletters.9ff9c.html
Letter to the Editor:
After listening to how the Israeli army was bulldozing orchards, I
started
to ask questions. Maybe it's because members of my family are farmers
and
ranchers.
I grew up eating fruit from trees my grandparents planted. I spent
vacations watching cattle and wrestling hay bales off wagons at my
great-aunt's ranch. The land will always be part of who and what we are
now. We knew the hard work that went into taking care of what grew on
the
land. Thus, the abject sorrow choking the voice of a Palestinian woman
as
she described the churned-up, bare ground seemed very real. Bits of
broken
branches were all that remained of her family's groves of olive and
fruit
trees. Her pain and anger were as deeply piercing as any victim of this
tragic war.
After I heard about the deliberate destruction of orchards, homes and
farms, I didn't have to think very hard about what my family would have
done if they saw groves of trees falling beneath the blade. Before the
first tree fell, they would have taken out their guns.
I'm not saying that this justifies suicide bombings, but it makes me
wonder
if all of those desperate people can be dismissed as insane terrorists.
It
makes me wonder about cruel and repressive policies that breed
violence.
When you've worked nights trying to save your crop or an animal going
through a difficult birth, when your sweat and tears have mingled with
the
soil, what is anchored in the earth is also rooted in your soul.
Karen de Olivares, Irving
-----
ISRAEL BEGINS WEST BANK CONSTRUCTION
By CELEAN JACOBSON, The Associated Press, 4/24/02
JERUSALEM (AP) - The first stages of construction work are under way to
connect two West Bank settlements by building housing for 480 Jewish
families, an Israeli official said Wednesday.
The settlement linking the Elkana and Shaarei Tikva settlements near
Tel
Aviv will cover about 90 acres, making it among the largest in the
northern
West Bank region, said Marcel Ganz, mayor of the Elkana Council, which
is
responsible for the development.
Ganz said the construction was approved by the Israeli government more
than
two years ago and ground preparations are well under way. Building is
to
start in a few months and families could begin moving in within a year,
he
said.
About 700 Jewish families now live in Elkana and Shaarei Tikva
settlements.
Throughout the West Bank and Gaza Strip, about 200,000 Jews live in 150
settlements among 3 million Palestinians.
The settlement issue is one of the main stumbling blocks in the search
for
a lasting Israeli-Palestinian peace. The Palestinians demand removal of
settlements from West Bank land they consider part of any future
state...
-----
PALESTINIANS SAY ISRAEL AIMS TO HIDE JENIN 'CRIMES'
By Rawhi Abeidoh, Reuters, 4/24/02
JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Authority said on Wednesday that Israel's
threat to block a U.N. fact-finding mission showed its government was
trying to hide its "crimes" in the Jenin refugee camp.
After agreeing to the mission approved by the U.N. Security Council
last
week, Israel said overnight the team would not be allowed to visit
unless
it included military and counter-terrorism experts.
"The Israeli government is trying to hide the contours of its crimes at
Jenin camp and...prevent the world from witnessing its continuous
massacres
against the Palestinian people," the Authority, led by Yasser Arafat,
said
in a statement.
U.N. and European officials have said was Israel's disproportionate use
of
force against Palestinian militants and television footage of houses
flattened by Israeli bulldozers in the Jenin camp.
-----
ANNAN REFUSES JENIN MISSION DELAY
By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press, 4/24/02
UNITED NATIONS - Secretary-General Kofi Annan on Tuesday refused
Israel's
demand to delay and change a U.N. team that will investigate Israel's
assault on the Jenin refugee camp, directing its members to arrive in
the
Mideast by Saturday.
The U.N. Security Council held emergency consultations Tuesday night
after
Israel suddenly announced it was delaying the fact-finding mission...
The secretary-general said the mandate of the team was the Security
Council's resolution adopted unanimously last Friday which welcomes the
fact-finding mission. It also expresses concern at "the dire
humanitarian
situation of the Palestinian civilian population," especially in Jenin.
At the end of a nearly two-hour meeting, the council issued a statement
saying it expects "fast implementation" of Friday's resolution - and
Israel's "full cooperation" with the secretary-general and the team...
-----
TERRORISM AND NATIONALISM
Washington Post Editorial, 4/24/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A38046-2002Apr24.html
ISRAELI PRIME Minister Ariel Sharon has insisted that his army's
offensive
in the West Bank has been aimed at uprooting the infrastructure of
Palestinian terrorism, in the same way that the United States has used
military force to drive al Qaeda from Afghanistan.
That seems a worthy goal, and to some a valid comparison -- and yet it
doesn't explain why Israeli troops would have raided and deliberately
destroyed the civilian ministries of the Palestinian Authority in
Ramallah.
At the Ministry of Higher Education, the Israelis stripped all the
computers of their hard drives, then piled them together and blew them
up.
They also destroyed Palestinian television studios, knocked down radio
antennas and looted Palestinian banks.
Perhaps some of these acts were carried out by undisciplined troops.
But
the pattern of destruction also suggests a crucial distinction between
Israel's campaign and that of the United States. Both invasions are
aimed
at crushing terrorist organizations that have carried out savage
attacks on
innocent civilians. But Israel also has another target: the Palestinian
national movement, which aims at ending the Israeli military occupation
of
the West Bank and Gaza Strip and creating a Palestinian state in its
place.
The problem with equating Israel's campaign against terrorism with that
of
the United States, as Mr. Sharon and some of his American supporters
do, is
that it overlooks this contest for territory and sovereignty underlying
the
Israeli-Palestinian bloodshed...
-----
VOA TARGETS WIDER ARAB AUDIENCE
By GEORGE GEDDA, Associated Press, 4/24/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - Newton Minow, a former chairman of the Federal
Communications Commission, complained not long ago that Voice of
America
broadcasts to the Middle East were so ineffectual they amounted to
"barely
a whisper..."
That may be changing with the advent of VOA's Middle East Radio
Network,
which went on the air March 23 with the avowed aim of getting the ear
of
Arabs from Morocco to Oman - more than a dozen countries. The AM-FM
station
is known in the region as "Radio Sawa," which means "Radio Together" in
Arabic.
The music features American favorites such as Jennifer Lopez and the
Back
Street Boys - and Arab pop stars from Egypt, Lebanon and other
countries.
"Music is a tool," says Norman Pattiz, a member of the Broadcasting
Board
of Governors, the government entity that oversees U.S. foreign
broadcast
operations.
"The target audience is 25 and under. The best way to reach them is
with
music."
If music is the bait, the main dish for listeners, as the U.S.
government
sees it, is the airing of U.S. policy.
Next week, Sawa will begin broadcasting policy programs, editorials and
reviews and critiques of Arab press reports.
-----
FUNDRAISING DINNER FOR MUSLIMS VICTIMS OF GUJARAT VIOLENCE
WHAT: The Tragedy of Gujarat and the Muslim Ummah - A lecture given by
Dr.
Omar Khalidi, Professor at MIT
WHERE: Muslim Community Association, MCA, 3003 Scott Blvd., Santa
Clara
(between San Tomas & Central Expressways)
WHEN: Saturday, April 27th, 7 - 10 p.m.
(Relief funds raised will be given to the Indian Muslim Relief
Committee
[IMRC] for distribution in India)
SPONSORS: Muslim Community Association (MCA), South Bay Islamic
Association
(SBIA), India Muslim Action Committee (IMAC), Muslim American Society
(MAS), Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and American
Muslims
for Global Peace and Justice (AMGPJ)
Dinner will be served at $10 per person at the door; babysitting
provided.
-----
MUSLIMS SURROUND POLICE STATION, DEMAND END TO MOB VIOLENCE IN GUJARAT
By RUPAK SANYAL, Associated Press, 4/24/02
AHMADABAD, India - About 3,000 people, mostly Muslims, surrounded a
police
station in western Gujarat state on Wednesday, demanding officers stop
sectarian violence after rampaging Hindus burned much of the
neighborhood.
The death toll in nearly two months of violence in the state rose to at
least 863 on Wednesday when a body with multiple stab wounds was found
in
the exclusive Law Garden area of Ahmadabad, the commercial capital, and
a
burned body was found near a temple in the Khanpur area of the city,
police
said.
The officers did not know the religion of the two dead or how they were
killed. More than 500 Hindu and Muslim women and children were
sheltering
inside the besieged station in the Shahibaug area of Ahmadabad after
the
night of violence, as India's worst religious riots in a decade
continued.
On Tuesday night, an armed mob of 5,000 Hindus tore through Shahibaug,
blowing up cooking gas canisters to ignite fires in the mostly Muslim
area.
They destroyed 30 shops and a Muslim shrine.
Some of the mob burst into the office of the local police commissioner
and
demanded the closing of a relief camp housing 4,500 Muslims who were
burned
out of their homes earlier in the sectarian violence.
The Gujarat violence began on Feb. 27, when Muslims set fire to a train
carrying Hindu activists returning from a pilgrimage aimed at building
a
Hindu temple on the site of a mosque destroyed by a Hindu mob in 1992.
Since then, most of those killed have been Muslims, many burned alive
and
their businesses and homes destroyed by Hindu mobs.
-----
ABC'S "NIGHTLINE" PROFILES IRANIAN FILM-MAKER
http://abcnews.go.com/Sections/Nightline/
WHAT: 2nd part in four-part series that explores Islam, Muslims, and
the
West. Tonight's program is a profile of Iranian film-maker Bahman
Farmanara. He reflects on recent events and the impact of western
influence
on Iranian and Islamic culture and tradition.
WHEN: Tonight at 11:35 p.m. (Eastern)
-----
TIME TO CONSIDER PRAYER ROOMS?
HRfocus, May 2002
Employers with Muslim employees are beginning to add prayer rooms,
according to Ibrahim Hooper, spokesperson for the Council on American
Islamic Relations (CAIR; Washington, D.C.; 202-488-8787;
www.cair-net.org).
Having a space set aside for prayer can save time and disruption,
Hooper
said, since devout Muslims pray five times a day.
The rooms are usually designated for prayer at the request of an
informal
employee committee, Hooper said. For help in addressing issues related
to
Muslim religious practices and possible accommodations, CAIR has
published
An Employer's Guide to Islamic Religious Practices.
TO OBTAIN A COPY OF CAIR'S GUIDE, SEND A REQUEST TO:
publications@cair-net.org
-----
SECRETARY MINETA SAYS RACIAL PROFILING IS WRONG AND INEFFECTIVE
REMARKS FOR THE HONORABLE NORMAN Y. MINETA
U.S. SECRETARY OF TRANSPORTATION
ARAB COMMUNITY CENTER FOR ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL SERVICES
DETROIT, MICHIGAN, APRIL 20, 2002
http://www.dot.gov/affairs/042002sp.htm
It is very tempting to take false comfort in the belief that we can
spot
the bad guy based on appearance alone. Some are yielding to that
temptation in their arguments for racial profiling, but false comfort
is a
luxury we cannot afford. It is true that each of the hijackers involved
in
the September 11th hijackings had some characteristics in common --
they
were all young men of
Arab ancestry.
But we cannot, we must not, and we will not assume that all future
terrorists will fit that particular profile. Without more information,
we
simply cannot tell -- and it certainly has not been true in the
past...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/25/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* FOR MANY AMERICAN MUSLIMS, COMPLAINTS OF QUIET BUT PERSISTENT BIAS
(New
York Times)
* RIGHTS GROUPS TEAM UP TO AID ARABS, MUSLIMS (Chicago Tribune)
* OPENNESS: THE AMERICAN WAY (Toledo Blade)
* THE NEW YORK SUN'S NOT-SO-BRIGHT DEBUT (Salon.com)
* ONCE UPON A TIME IN JENIN (The Independent)
* PALESTINIANS IN JENIN CAMP TURN DOWN U.S. RELIEF AID (Reuters)
* SHARON'S BEST WEAPON (The Guardian)
* OPERATION DESTROY THE DATA (Haaretz)
* PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY TAKES A RIGHT TURN (Time)
* ADL FOUND GUILTY OF SPYING BY CALIFORNIA COURT (Arab News)
* WHITE HOUSE OPPOSES ISRAELI AID IN EMERGENCY BILL (Reuters)
-----
FOR MANY AMERICAN MUSLIMS, COMPLAINTS OF QUIET BUT PERSISTENT BIAS
By SUSAN SACHS, The New York Times, 4/25/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/25/nyregion/25MUSL.html
In ways large and small, from perceived prejudice in the workplace to a
heightened sense of anxiety at home, the events of Sept. 11 continue to
reverberate in the lives of American Muslims.
State and federal civil rights agencies have been flooded with
complaints
from Muslims who contend that their employers and co-workers openly
denigrated Islam after the terror attacks, sneeringly labeled them
terrorist and, in some cases, fired them solely because of religion or
national origin. Many other Muslims say they see evidence of a quiet
but
persistent discrimination against them in their everyday social
transactions. It is not necessarily tangible. A once-friendly
acquaintance
no longer says hello. A child is repeatedly teased over his Arabic
name. A
customer calls the police to suggest that a foreign-looking merchant
might
be a terrorist...
In a national survey by the Zogby International polling company in
March
2000, 35 percent of the American Muslims polled reported having
experienced
discrimination because of their religion. Thirty-nine of Arab-Americans
polled said they had experienced prejudice based on their ethnic
heritage.
But feelings appeared to have shifted significantly after Sept. 11. In
November 2001, another Zogby poll found that 57 percent of American
Muslims
believed Americans held unfavorable opinions of Muslims and Arabs.
The unease that many people now feel is not necessarily linked to a
concrete event or overt behavior.
"What we have now is a feeling of insecurity, a feeling that I can't
really
describe in words," said Zaheer Sharaf, a grocer and service station
owner
who immigrated from Pakistan six years ago...
-----
RIGHTS GROUPS TEAM UP TO AID ARABS, MUSLIMS
By Oscar Avila, Chicago Tribune, 4/25/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com Search using the Term "Oscar Avila."
Motivated by post-Sept. 11 hostility toward Muslims and Arab-Americans,
a
diverse network of civil-rights groups is starting an initiative to
offer
them better legal education and representation through training and
more
efficient referrals to legal-aid organizations.
Muslim and Arab-American activists say they hope the yearlong project,
to
be announced Thursday, will combine their community connections with
the
legal and political expertise of partners such as the American Civil
Liberties Union and National Lawyers Guild. Launching Project LINC is
vital, they said, in an environment of hate crimes, discrimination and
a
law-enforcement focus on Muslims and Arab-Americans since Sept. 11...
Kausar Ahmad, executive director of the Muslim Civil Rights Center in
Hickory Hills, said the new project formalizes talks that started
before
Sept. 11.
"It's not that the Muslim community has not been reaching out, but this
is
the first massive and unified effort we've had," Ahmad said.
In addition to helping Muslims and Arab-Americans tap into a network of
civil-rights lawyers, the project will enlist the Leadership Council
for
Metropolitan Open Communities to improve the groups' reporting of hate
crimes and housing discrimination...
-----
OPENNESS: THE AMERICAN WAY
The Toledo Blade, 4/25/02
http://www.toledoblade.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=TO&Date=20020425&Category=OPINION02&ArtNo=104250118&Ref=AR
At last our federal courts are showing themselves willing to buck the
Star
Chamber mentality that John Ashcroft's Justice Department has foolishly
tried to establish in the name of fighting terrorism.
Hopefully they will consistently uphold our Constitution as the
department
continues to try to thwart an April 3 decision by U.S. District Judge
Nancy
Edmunds. Judge Edmunds ordered the release of transcripts of
immigration
hearings involving Rabih Haddad, 41, a Lebanese citizen and Muslim
activist
picked up in Ann Arbor in December for overstaying his six-month visa
as a
Chicago-based charity he helped found was shut down. Judge Edmunds
struck
down the department's new policy of keeping immigration court hearings
closed, an act by the attorney general that can only be called anathema
to
the most basic of American ideals.
In reviewing the judge's ruling, which had been stayed briefly, the 6th
U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said it was highly unlikely that
releasing
the data would affect the government's probe of terrorists.
That remark attests to the dangers of Mr. Ashcroft's blanket claims to
secrecy. It also explains why southeast Michigan's Congressman John
Conyers
and news publications in the area - the Detroit News, the Detroit Free
Press, the Ann Arbor News, and the weekly Metro Times - rightly pressed
for
access on behalf of themselves and the public they serve...
-----
THE NEW YORK SUN'S NOT-SO-BRIGHT DEBUT
By Eric Boehlert, Salon.com, 4/25/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/04/25/nysun/index.html
The Sun's president and editor, Seth Lipsky, recently told an
interviewer
that he wanted the Sun's editorial page to champion "limited
government,
individual liberty, constitutional fundamentals, equality under the
law,
economic growth...standards in literature and culture, education." But
the
paper's primary passions are clearly Israel and Jewish causes. Lipsky
once
edited the Forward, the New York Jewish daily newspaper, and has been
described by the New Yorker as a "Jabotinskyite Zionist." The Sun's
worldview was summed up on launch day in an unsigned editorial, "The
War
Against the Jews." Decrying anti-Semitism, "a virus that has claimed
millions of lives over the centuries," the editorial drew a parallel
between the Holocaust and recent pro-Palestinian demonstrations held in
America, because they "are by and large rallies that support an
anti-Semitism that is unthinkable to those who know the history."
Elsewhere in the Sun's limited news hole last week, there were stories
about Jewish book awards, a synagogue cantor facing sexual assault
charges,
Jean-Marie Le Pen wooing Jews in France, an upcoming book about Anne
Frank,
additional editorials about Israel, as well as ads purchased by the
Anti-Defamation League, Peace4israel.com and the Zionist Organization
of
America. And of course there was plenty of coverage of the violence in
the
Middle East. The Sun reported on Page 1 last Thursday that by backing a
U.N. resolution, "Austria, Belgium, France, Portugal, Spain and Sweden
are
throwing their support behind the PLO's terrorist attack on Israeli
civilians."
The next day a Sun headline reported that U.S. "Taxpayers Send $92
Million
More to Palestinians." The accompanying article explained that the
White
House had waived restrictions on aid to Palestinians, but it never
explained where the $92 million figure came from. In fact, the figure
never
even appeared in the article. A related editorial suggested the White
House
waiver "will open the way for something like $100 million in taxpayer
funding to make its way to the Palestinians..."
-----
ONCE UPON A TIME IN JENIN
What really happened when Israeli forces went into Jenin? Just as the
world
is giving up hope of learning the truth, Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves
have unearthed compelling evidence of an atrocity
By Justin Huggler and Phil Reeves, The Independent (UK), 4/25/02
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=288592
The Israeli army insists that its devastating invasion of the refugee
camp
in Jenin earlier this month was intended to root out the infrastructure
of
the Palestinian militias, particularly the authors of an increasingly
vicious series of suicide attacks on Israelis. It now says the dead
were
mostly fighters. And, as always - although its daily behaviour in the
occupied territories contradicts this claim - it insists that it did
everything possible to protect civilians.
But The Independent has unearthed a different story. We have found
that,
while the Israeli operation clearly dealt a devastating blow to the
militant organisations - in the short term, at least - nearly half of
the
Palestinian dead who have been identified so far were civilians,
including
women, children and the elderly. They died amid a ruthless and brutal
Israeli operation, in which many individual atrocities occurred, and
which
Israel is seeking to hide by launching a massive propaganda drive...
-----
PALESTINIANS IN JENIN CAMP TURN DOWN U.S. RELIEF AID
REuters, 4/25/02
JENIN, West Bank (Reuters) - Palestinian officials at Jenin refugee
camp
Thursday turned down a U.S. aid shipment of tents, food and children's
toys, saying the camp had been destroyed by Israel with U.S.-made
weapons.
They said residents refused to unpack the shipment, which included 800
tents and other relief supplies from the U.S. Agency for International
Development (USAID), after it arrived in U.N. trucks Tuesday.
"Residents do not accept this assistance presented by the United States
because their camp has been demolished, its youth killed by American
weapons in Israeli hands," said Fakhri Turukman, a Palestinian
legislator
from the camp.
"We would rather die of hunger than be fed by our killers," said
Ibrahim
Hussein, a member of the camp's relief committee...
-----
SHARON'S BEST WEAPON
Anti-semitism sustains Israel's brutal leader -
the fight against it must be reclaimed
Naomi Klein, The Guardian, 4/25/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/israel/comment/0,10551,690227,00.html
The primary and familiar fear that Sharon draws on, the one that allows
him
to disguise all aggressive actions as defensive ones, is the fear that
Israel's neighbours want to drive the Jews into the sea. The secondary
fear
Sharon manipulates is the fear among Jews in the diaspora that they
will
eventually be driven to seek a safe haven in Israel. This leads
millions of
Jews around the world, many of them sickened by Israeli aggression, to
shut
up and send their cheques, a down-payment on future sanctuary.
The equation is simple: the more fearful Jews are, the more powerful
Sharon
is. Elected on a platform of "peace through security", Sharon's
administration could barely hide its delight at Le Pen's ascendancy,
immediately calling on French Jews to pack their bags and come to the
promised land. For Sharon, Jewish fear is a guarantee that his power
will
go unchecked, granting him the impunity needed to do the unthinkable:
send
troops into the Palestinian Authority's education ministry to steal and
destroy records, bury children alive in their homes, block ambulances
from
getting to the dying, sabotage all international attempts to get at the
truth of what happened in Jenin.
Jews outside Israel now find themselves in a tightening vice: the
actions
of the country that was supposed to ensure their future safety are
making
them less safe right now. Sharon is deliberately erasing distinctions
between the terms "Jew" and "Israeli", claiming he is fighting not for
Israeli territory but for the survival of the Jewish people. When
anti-semitism rises at least partly as a result of his actions, it is
Sharon who is positioned once again to collect the political
dividends...
-----
OPERATION DESTROY THE DATA
By Amira Hass, Haaretz, 4/25/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=155181&contrassID=2&subContrassID=4&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
It's a scene that is repeating itself in hundreds of Palestinian
offices
taken over by IDF troops for a few hours or days in the West Bank:
smashed,
burned and broken computer terminals heaped in piles and thrown into
yards;
server cabling cut, hard disks missing, disks and diskettes scattered
and
broken, printers and scanners broken or missing, laptops gone,
telephone
exchanges that disappeared or were vandalized, and paper files burned,
torn, scattered, or defaced - if
not taken...
Let's not deceive ourselves; this was not a mission to search and
destroy
the terrorist infrastructure....There was a decision made to vandalize
the
civic, administrative, cultural infrastructure developed by Palestinian
society.
-----
PRO-ISRAEL LOBBY TAKES A RIGHT TURN
By Douglas Waller, Time, 4/23/02
http://www.time.com/time/columnist/waller/article/0,9565,233157,00.htm
Who's the current darling of the pro-Israel lobby? Who fired up more
than
2,000 delegates attending the convention of the American Israeli Public
Affairs Committee in Washington on Tuesday morning? Who had them
standing
on their feet cheering after practically every sentence he uttered? Not
a
liberal Democrat, as you might expect. It was a conservative Republican
from Sugar Land, Texas, a born-again Christian whose nickname is the
"Hammer."
Tom DeLay, the take-no-prisoners House Republican Whip, has already
lapped
Democrats in the race to prove who is Israel's strongest ally on
Capitol
Hill...
-----
ADL FOUND GUILTY OF SPYING BY CALIFORNIA COURT
By Barbara Ferguson, Arab News, 4/25/2002
http://www.arabnews.com/Article.asp?ID=14650
WASHINGTON, 25 April - The San Francisco Superior Court has awarded
former
Congressman Pete McCloskey, R-California, a $150,000 court judgment
against
the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).
McCloskey, the attorney in the case, represented one of three civil
lawsuits filed in San Francisco against the ADL in 1993. The lawsuit
came
after raids were made by the San Francisco Police Department and the
FBI on
offices of the ADL in both San Francisco and Los Angeles, which found
that
the ADL was engaged in extensive domestic spying operations on a vast
number of individuals and institutions around the country.
During the course of the inquiry in San Francisco, the SFPD and FBI
determined the ADL had computerized files on nearly 10,000 people
across
the country, and that more than 75 percent of the information had been
illegally obtained from police, FBI files and state drivers' license
data
banks.
Much of the stolen information had been provided by Tom Gerard of the
San
Francisco Police Department, who sold, or gave, the information to Ray
Bullock, ADL's top undercover operative.
The investigation also determined that the ADL conduit, Gerard, was
also
working with the CIA.
Two other similar suits against ADL were settled some years ago, and
the
ADL was found guilty in both cases, but the McCloskey suit continued to
drag through the courts until last month...
-----
WHITE HOUSE OPPOSES ISRAELI AID IN EMERGENCY BILL
Reuters, 4/25/2002
WASHINGTON, April 25 (Reuters) - The Bush administration is considering
additional aid to Israel, which already receives about $3 billion in
U.S.
aid annually, but does not want to include it in a counterterrorism
bill
moving through Congress, the White House's budget chief said on
Thursday.
"From a foreign policy standpoint it's under review, but not right now
and
not in this bill," budget director Mitchell Daniels told reporters.
"This is not the time. We want to confine this supplemental bill to
things
that we feel are immediately necessary," Daniels said after addressing
a
conservative judicial group.
Rep. Nita Lowey of New York, the top Democrat on the House
Appropriations
Committee on foreign aid, last week said she would push for up to $200
million for Israel in the emergency spending bill.
That move was expected to pick up support among lawmakers from both
parties
eager to back Israel in the conflict with Palestinians.
The Republican-led House of Representatives is expected to vote next
week
on a resolution expressing solidarity with Israel and supporting more
aid.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/26/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: CONTENTMENT
* REPORT ON AMERICAN MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS TO BE RELEASED
* U.S. EVADES CURBS IN TERROR LAW (Newsday)
* CAIR-NY OFFICIAL ON CNN'S MONEYLINE WITH LOU DOBBS
* WINNING THROUGH INTIMIDATION (Antiwar.com)
* UNION SEES USF SHIFT ON AL-ARIAN (Tampa Tribune)
* BUSH SAYS NOW IS TIME FOR ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW (Reuters)
* POLICY DIVIDE THWARTS POWELL IN MIDEAST EFFORT (Washington Post)
* CARTOON: ISRAEL V. PALESTINE: WHERE DO YOU STAND? (New York Times)
* ISRAEL'S HISTORIC MISCALCULATION (New York Times)
* BUSH'S DOMESTIC POLITICS AND THE PRO-ISRAELI TILT (Union-Tribune)
* WHITE HOUSE AND DELAY AT ODDS (Washington Post)
* IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER (Haaretz)
* CONFERENCE TO HELP MUSLIM WOMEN, GIRLS DEAL WITH CHALLENGES
(Tennessean)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: CONTENTMENT
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Being rich does not
mean
having a great amount of property, but [it] is being content [with what
one
has]."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 4, Hadith 453
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
REPORT ON AMERICAN MUSLIM CIVIL RIGHTS TO BE RELEASED
Study includes impact of September 11 attacks on Muslim civil liberties
WHAT: On Tuesday, April 30, the Council on American-Islamic Relations
(CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, will hold a news
conference in the nation's capital to release its seventh annual report
on
the status of Muslim civil rights in the United States, titled
"Stereotypes
and Civil Liberties."
The report, the only national study of its kind, details incidents and
experiences of anti-Muslim violence, stereotyping, discrimination, and
harassment during the past year. It also outlines the Islamophobic
backlash
that occurred following the September 11 terrorist attacks and examines
the
impact anti-terrorism policies prompted by the attacks have had on
American
Muslim civil liberties.
Policies examined by the report include passenger profiling, post-9/11
detentions, the closure of Muslim relief organizations, the use of
secret
evidence, so-called "voluntary" interviews of legal visa-holders, and
the
recent raids on Muslim homes and institutions in Virginia and Georgia.
"There is a growing sense of apprehension in the Islamic community
about
what are viewed as unconstitutional policies targeting ordinary
Muslims.
American Muslims have been thrust to the forefront of the civil rights
movement in this country," said CAIR Research Director Dr. Mohamed
Nimer.
CAIR began documenting anti-Muslim incidents following the 1995 attack
on
the Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City. There are an estimated 7
million Muslims in this country and some 1.2 billion worldwide.
WHEN: Tuesday, April 30, 2002, 10:30 a.m. (Eastern)
WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters
1st Floor, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington,
D.C.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
U.S. EVADES CURBS IN TERROR LAW
By Tom Brune, Newsday (NY), 4/26/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/nation/ny-usjust262684101apr26.story
Washington - In its first report to Congress required by the sweeping
anti-terrorism law passed six months ago, the Justice Department said
this
week it has not invoked its new powers to certify or detain any
noncitizens
as terrorists.
The report, one of the few required by the 326-page USA Patriot Act,
prompted a sharp response yesterday from congressional critics and
civil
liberties advocates who have protested Attorney General John Ashcroft's
domestic war on terrorism.
"The entire justification for Ashcroft's dragnet approach to detaining
Arab
and Muslim Americans has collapsed with this admission that he hasn't
been
able to identify a single terrorist," Rep. John Conyers of Michigan
said
yesterday. "I believe it reflects the Bush administration's arrogant
disregard for the Constitution and the haphazard response to Sept. 11,"
added Conyers, the ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee...
The report is not totally surprising, civil liberties advocates and
experts
said, because the FBI has already indicated it had found no Sept.11
accomplices among the 1,200 aliens arrested and detained...
The law that passed and became the Patriot Act allows the attorney
general
to certify aliens as terrorists and detain them. But it also requires
the
government to file charges against aliens in seven days, limits
detention
of them to renewable six-month periods and requires reports to Congress
on
them every six months.
This week's report, Edgar and other civil liberties advocates said,
shows
the Justice Department avoided the law by instead charging aliens under
existing immigration law and using rewritten administrative rules to
hold
aliens without charges...
-----
CAIR-NY OFFICIAL ON CNN'S MONEYLINE WITH LOU DOBBS - 4/25/02
DOBBS: ...We`re rejoined, I`m glad to say, by Rabbi Eric Yoffie. He`s
the
president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations. And Al-Haj
Ghazi
Khankan, executive director of the Council of American Islamic
Relations
here in New York. And, Haj, it is good to have you with us.
HAJ GHAZI KHANKAN, COUNCIL ON AMER. ISLAMIC RELATIONS: Thank you.
DOBBS: Let me begin first with a very simple question. This area, so
important to so many religions, why is religion not making its force
felt
in this conflict? It seems to be the one element in all of this contest
that it is not -- it is not public. It is not at the forefront. It`s
not
the leading expression of view. Haj, could I ask you that question
first?
KHANKAN: Possibly because our cousins don`t recognize that Ismail is
also
the son of Abraham, and indeed, is an inheritor of the gift that God is
giving the children of Abraham. "To thy seed, Abraham, I give this
land,"
includes the children of Ismail. And Ismail is the Arab side of the
equation.
DOBBS: Haj Khankan, the question of the role of humanitarianism and
what
your religion can do to relieve the suffering.
KHANKAN: I think we -- all religion, because the religion with God is
one.
Jews, Christians and Muslims must sit down and talk. But should not use
words that are aggressive and antagonistic. And therefore, we need to
work
together. We do a lot of, through the Islamic Center of Long Island and
other organizations, we do a lot of interfaith dialogue between Jewish,
Christians and Muslims. And when it comes to the problem of Jerusalem,
nobody knows why Jerusalem is so important for Muslims.
And that is a subject by itself which makes many in the United States
think
that it`s only important for Jews and Christians but not for Muslims.
-----
WINNING THROUGH INTIMIDATION
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com, 4/19/02
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/j042602.html
There's a move afoot to stifle political discourse in this country:
Israel's lobby in the US is trying to drag us into a war with Iraq, and
the
entire Muslim world, without a national debate, by smearing anyone who
opposes their agenda as an "anti-Semite." But it won't work. Americans
don't like being told what to think and what to write; they don't like
pushy lobbyists with not-so-hidden agendas - and, contra Tunku, they do
indeed believe the First Amendment serves their best interests, and
aren't
likely to get rid of it any time soon.
----
UNION SEES USF SHIFT ON AL-ARIAN
By BEN FELLER, Tampa Tribune, 4/25/02
http://tampatrib.com/
TAMPA - The University of South Florida's president shows signs she
will
let a banished professor return to work, and the school will almost
certainly be censured if she doesn't, according to a report for the
nation's leading voice on academic freedom.
President Judy Genshaft's recent language and actions show she is
poised to
"back away from the brink' of firing Sami Al-Arian and tarnishing her
school, wrote the lawyer heading the American Association of University
Professors' investigation of USF...
Genshaft said Wednesday the characterization is wrong. She stands by
her
announced intention Dec. 19 to fire Al-Arian, and she said her
deliberate
pace in making a final decision does not mean she is wavering.
Genshaft said she will make a decision by August. The story keeps
moving,
she said, with developments such as law enforcement's confirmed
investigation of Al-Arian. Al-Arian, meanwhile, draws his $67,500
salary
and waits for resolution. His attorney, Bob McKee, said he hopes the
AAUP
report will help show USF it should reconsider...
-----
BUSH SAYS NOW IS TIME FOR ISRAEL TO WITHDRAW
Reuters, 4/26/02
CRAWFORD, Texas, Reuters) - U.S. President George W. Bush on Friday
said
the time had now come for Israel to complete its withdrawal from
Palestinian areas occupied in a campaign to halt suicide bombings.
"There has been some progress but it's now time to put it all together.
It's time to end this. Well, we'll see what happens. I know they've
heard
us," Bush told reporters at his ranch in Texas.
Bush's comments came a day after he met with Saudi Crown Prince
Abdullah
and was warned U.S. ties with the Arab world were at risk over Middle
East
violence.
-----
POLICY DIVIDE THWARTS POWELL IN MIDEAST EFFORT
By Alan Sipress, Washington Post, 04/26/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51099-2002Apr25.html
State Department officials say Secretary of State Colin L. Powell has
been
repeatedly undercut by other senior policymakers in his effort to break
the
Middle East deadlock, warning this has left U.S. diplomacy paralyzed at
an
especially volatile moment...
They partly fault what they said was the administration's unwillingness
to
stand behind Powell, especially in pressuring Israeli Prime Minister
Ariel
Sharon to withdraw his forces from West Bank cities and hold
accelerated
talks with the Palestinians. Department officials said they continue to
face objections as they seek to fashion a diplomatic initiative aimed
at
creating a Palestinian state.
Powell has displayed little public frustration. But his employees'
complaints, reflecting their own exasperation and deep loyalty to him,
reveal the depth of divisions inside the administration, especially
between
the State Department and the Pentagon.
Many in the State Department cite resistance to their diplomatic
efforts
coming from Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, who has more of a
voice
in shaping Middle East policy than his predecessors. The opinions of
Rumsfeld and his key lieutenants, notably Deputy Defense Secretary Paul
D.
Wolfowitz and Undersecretary of Defense Douglas J. Feith, figure
prominently because the Pentagon has been given a seat at interagency
discussions over the Middle East conflict. In recent years, the peace
process was largely the purview of the State Department and the White
House.
The rift in President Bush's inner circle, some State Department
officials
said, has left the administration's policy "dead in the water." These
officials use words like "despondent" and "disheartened" to describe
the
mood in Foggy Bottom, saying they cannot remember a time in recent
years
when they have felt so badly beaten up.
-----
CARTOON: ISRAEL V. PALESTINE: WHERE DO YOU STAND?
http://www2.uclick.com/client/nyt/tr/
-----
ISRAEL'S HISTORIC MISCALCULATION
The New York Times, 4/26/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/26/opinion/_26FRI1.html
Late last week, senior Israeli Army officers called for uprooting
several
dozen isolated Jewish settlements in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip
because of the military burden involved in protecting them. Even though
the
proposal was focused on Israeli security interests, Prime Minister
Ariel
Sharon angrily dismissed it at a cabinet meeting, saying that as long
as he
was in power there would be no discussion of removing a single
settlement.
It is hard to imagine a more dispiriting statement for those hoping for
a
negotiated land-for-peace end to hostilities in the Middle East. If Mr.
Sharon sticks to this view he will leave little hope for peace between
Israel and the Palestinians. We recognize that this is an exceptionally
painful moment in a region where the focus has been on death and human
suffering rather than on land. But ultimately this dispute is over
land.
Just as terror is the greatest Palestinian threat to Middle East peace,
so
are settlements on territory captured in the 1967 war the greatest
Israeli
obstacle to peace. They deprive the Palestinians of prime land and
water,
break up Palestinian geographic continuity, are hard to defend against
Palestinian attack and complicate the establishment of a clear, secure
Israeli border...
-----
BUSH'S DOMESTIC POLITICS AND THE PRO-ISRAELI TILT
By James Goldsborough, San Diego Union Tribune, 4/25/02
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/uniontrib/thu/opinion/news_1e25golds.html
How are Americans to understand President Bush's kowtowing to Israeli
Prime
Minister Ariel Sharon? Told to withdraw Israeli forces from the West
Bank
"without delay," Sharon refused. As Israel reduced the Jenin refugee
camp
to rubble using U.S.-supplied arms, Bush praised him as a "man of
peace."
The man of peace now wants to dictate the composition of a U.N.
fact-finding mission, approved with U.S. support, into Jenin.
As former President Carter pointed out Sunday, presidents don't just
spin
their wheels. Presidents have power levers. In the case of Israel, said
Carter, the levers are two: We provide $10 million per day in aid to
Israel; we supply Israel weapons for defensive purposes only, not for
attacks on refugees...
-----
WHITE HOUSE AND DELAY AT ODDS
By Mike Allen and Juliet Eilperin, Washington Post, 4/26/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A50644-2002Apr25.html
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.) is promoting a strongly worded
declaration of congressional support for Israel over the objection of
Bush
administration officials, who contend it would further alienate Arab
states
crucial to the war on terrorism and the Middle East peace process.
A White House official said the administration has warned DeLay that he
could hamper the U.S. effort to persuade Israel's Arab neighbors --
including Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia -- to help curb Palestinian
violence. "Nobody doubts our support for Israel, but putting it in neon
lights and throwing it in the face of moderate Arab states is not
helpful,"
the official said...
-----
IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER
By Sara Leibovich-Dar, Haaretz, 4/26/02
http://news.haaretz.co.il/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=155638&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y&itemNo=155638
More than 1,000 foreign journalists have arrived in Israel in the past
several weeks. While they have reported from war zones all over the
world,
many say they have never encountered such rough treatment as they are
receiving from the Israeli army.
-----
CONFERENCE TO HELP MUSLIM WOMEN, GIRLS DEAL WITH CHALLENGES
By ANITA WADHWANI, The Tennessean, 4/25/02
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/04/16573935.shtml
Sabina Mohyuddin remembers the day she first covered her head to go to
junior high. It was 1983 and when she walked into J.T. Moore Middle
School,
she became the first and only Muslim girl in Nashville public schools
to
wear the traditional hijab, or head scarf - a symbol of womanhood and
religious devotion.
"It was isolating," she said. The memory of that experience led
Mohyuddin,
now 30, to help organize a conference for Muslim women and girls
Saturday
at Tennessee State University.
The Muslim community in Nashville has changed considerably since
Mohyuddin's childhood, when there was no mosque for area Muslims.
Today,
there are at least four mosques in Nashville, and mosques in
surrounding
counties, as well as prayer rooms in local universities. About 15,000
Muslims live in Middle Tennessee. There is also a Muslim school.
But, while the sight of a Muslim girl wearing a hijab is no longer
uncommon
in Nashville public schools, conference leaders say there are still
many
challenges for Muslim women in the Bible Belt, especially since Sept.
11...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR MOURNS THE LOSS OF DR. HALA MAKSOUD
The board and staff of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
offer their heartfelt condolences to the family of Dr. Hala Salaam
Maksoud
who died Friday after a long illness. Dr. Maksoud served as president
of
American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) from 1996 to 2001.
She held a Ph.D. in political theory and an M.A. in government from
Georgetown University, and an M.A. in mathematics from the American
University of Beirut.She taught courses at George Mason University and
at
Georgetown.
In addition to her academic career, Dr. Maksoud was a prominent
Arab-American leader and participated in the founding of several
organizations, including the American Committee on Jerusalem, the
Association of Arab-American University Graduates, and the Arab Women's
Council.Dr. Maksoud was a nationally recognized advocate of civil and
human
rights, and was the recipient of a lifetime achievement award from the
American Immigration Law Foundation in March 2002.
Dr. Maksoud is survived by her husband, Dr. Clovis Maksoud, former
Ambassador of the League of Arab States to the United States and the
United
Nations, and current professor of international relations at American
University.
-----
FUNERAL ARRANGEMENTS FOR DR. MAKSOUD
A prayer service will be held on Saturday, April 27, during midday
prayers
(1 p.m. EST) at the Islamic Center, located at 2551 Massachusetts Ave.,
NW,
in Washington, DC.A private burial ceremony will be held after the
prayer
service.
The family will receive condolences on Saturday (April 27) in the late
afternoon, Sunday (April 28) and Monday (April 29) at their home
located
at: 2815 Ellicott St. NW, Washington, DC 20008
-----
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http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/
To reach the list moderator, send a message to:
cair@cair-net.org
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/28/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* MORE NEBRASKANS CONVERTING TO ISLAM AFTER SEPT. 11 (AP)
* ISRAEL BANS U.N. MISSION TO JENIN (AP)
* TEENAGERS SHOT BY ISRAELIS, THEN RUN OVER WITH A TANK (Independent)
* ACROSS WEST BANK, DAILY TRAGEDIES GO UNSEEN (Guardian)
* SHOUTING FIRE: CIVIL LIBERTIES IN A TURBULENT AGE (The Nation)
* UP CLOSE: TAYYIBAH TAYLOR (Atlanta Journal)
* CONTROVERSIAL SHEIK DRAWS CRITICISM FOR PRO-ISRAEL VIEWS (Ottawa
Citizen)
* BOOK REVIEWS: FIGHTING SPIRITS (Washington Post)
* PBS FRONTLINE AIRS “MUSLIM” MAY 9
-----
MORE NEBRASKANS CONVERTING TO ISLAM AFTER SEPT. 11
By MARGERY BECK, Associated Press, 4/27/2002
OMAHA, Neb. (AP) - For much of his life, Leslie Craig struggled to
reconcile being a black man with an Anglican name.
Then came the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Little more than a month
later,
the 46-year-old Omaha man became Bilal Rohman Abdul-Shakour. He
officially
converted to Islam and adopted his new name on Oct. 19.
Abdul-Shakour is not the only new Muslim in Nebraska. Islamic leaders
say
more people in the state have converted since the attacks, and many
also
have adopted traditionally ethnic Muslim names.
"As the spotlight has been focused on Islam, people have said, `I want
to
learn more about this.' A number of those people have found Islam to be
something they like and want to follow," said Ahmad Ghosheh, president
of
Islamic Center in Omaha.
Just as the increase in hate crimes against U.S. Muslims can be traced
to
the attacks, so can the growing number of converts, Ghosheh said.
"This gives Muslims in America a chance to show the world what Islam is
all
about," Abdul-Shakour said. "Osama bin Laden is not Islam."
Abdul-Shakour, who was raised Baptist and began studying Islam in
earnest
as a teen during the 1960s civil rights movement, said he took the
attacks
and a car accident he was involved in shortly thereafter as a divine
sign.
"The end is coming, and I'm out here in the cold," he said. "I saw it
as
Allah sending me a message…"
Some officials at the Omaha mosque say the number of converts since the
attacks is about 50 percent to 60 percent higher than the same period
last
year. They did not release exact numbers…
Saidi Liwaru, vice president of the Islamic Center in Omaha, has
noticed an
increase in Muslims in Nebraska adopting habits prescribed by the
Islamic
faith, including more Muslim women covering their hair with scarves.
"Whenever there's turmoil, especially when Muslims are around it, the
increase in the number of people accepting Islam is phenomenal," Liwaru
said.
Zahra Cheema, a 20-year-old journalism student at the University of
Nebraska at Omaha, has been a Muslim all her life, but only began
covering
her head in March.
The terrorist attacks were not the sole reason she made the decision,
but
were a factor, she said.
"After Sept. 11, every Muslim almost became an ambassador for their
religion," Cheema said…
On The Net - Islamic Center of Omaha:
http://www.ico-ne.org/
-----
ISRAEL BANS U.N. MISSION TO JENIN
By JACK KATZENELL, The Associated Press, 4/28/2002
JERUSALEM (AP) - Israel's Cabinet decided Sunday not to allow a U.N.
fact-finding team to come to the region to look into the battle in the
Jenin refugee camp, a Cabinet minister said…
Rivlin, speaking for the Cabinet, criticized the team's composition and
said it was inevitable that the mission's report would blame Israel.
“This awful United Nations committee is out to get us and is likely to
smear Israel and to force us to do things which Israel is not prepared
even
to hear about, such as interrogating soldiers and officers who took
part in
the fighting,” Rivlin said…
In an eight-day battle that ended April 11, the center of the Jenin
refugee
camp was devastated by Israeli bulldozers and tanks. Palestinians
charged
that Israeli soldiers massacred hundreds of civilians…
After an international outcry, the United Nations, following a U.S.
initiative, put together the inquiry team to look into what happened at
the
camp. At first Israel agreed, but then objected to the framework and
procedures the team was to follow, as well as the composition of the
team.
-----
TEENAGERS SHOT BY ISRAELIS, THEN RUN OVER WITH A TANK
By Robert Fisk in Gaza City, The Independent UK, 4/26/2002
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=288987
Two of the schoolboys were 14, the other was 15; they were internet
surfers
in the local cyber cafe, one of them idling his hours away drawing
children's cartoons; all three were football enthusiasts. Hours after
they
had been shot dead by the Israeli army near the Jewish settlement of
Netzarim, their fathers received the three young bodies. They had been
driven over by an armoured vehicle which in 14-year-old Ismail
Abu-Nadi's
case cut his corpse in half…
-----
ACROSS WEST BANK, DAILY TRAGEDIES GO UNSEEN
Suzanne Goldenberg reveals the extent of abuses against civilians in
Israel's four-week military offensive
The Guardian (London), The Guardian (London), 4/27/2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4402751,00.html
Arif Said Ahmed's life ended at 5.05am on April 9 when two Israeli
helicopter gunships soared over the hillside, firing a rocket at him
and
his cousin Naif as they walked home from morning prayers.
The helicopters returned, firing their machine guns for several
terrifying
minutes as Arif's wife, Samira, stumbled out to their bodies with her
infant daughter. Mother and daughter were saved from serious injury by
her
brother Farooq, who flung himself over them.
A bullet pierced his side and fragments ripped his leg.
That was the beginning of the invasion of Dura, a village south-west of
Hebron which marks the southernmost extent of the Israeli army's
offensive
in the West Bank. The Jenin refugee camp, whose physical erasure has
come
to symbolise the devastation and death inflicted by the Israeli army in
the
past four weeks, lies at the northern extremity of the territory.
While the world has been preoccupied with the camp, the stories
beginning
to unfold from the Palestinian cities, towns, refugee camps and
villages
that lie between Jenin and Dura show that the Israeli army has been
engaged
in systematic abuse the length of the West Bank…
-----
SHOUTING FIRE: CIVIL LIBERTIES IN A TURBULENT AGE
By WILLIAM F. SCHULZ, The Nation, 5/13/2002
http://www.thenation.com/doc.mhtml?i=20020513&s=schulz
Alan Dershowitz prides himself on his credentials as a civil
libertarian,
and to judge by most of the essays in his latest book, Shouting Fire:
Civil
Liberties in a Turbulent Age, he has good reason to do so. The Harvard
law
professor has built a considerable reputation on his defense of free
speech, due process and the separation of church and state, to say
nothing
of his propensity for controversial clients and clamorous talk shows…
If this were all Dershowitz had done in Shouting Fire, the book might
have
received its share of kind reviews and headed off to Remainderland. But
in
less than two of the book's 550 pages, he manages to guarantee the
collection a longer shelf life. For in an addendum to a 1989 article in
the
Israel Law Review, Alan Dershowitz, civil libertarian, champion of
progressive causes, counsel to human-rights hero Anatoly Shcharansky,
makes
a case for torture or, more exactly, for the creation of a new legal
device
that he dubs a "torture warrant." And then, through a deft combination
of
newspaper editorials, public appearances and an extended interview on
60
Minutes, Dershowitz has expanded upon that proposition in a way
designed to
make talk of torture routine and, not incidentally, banter about his
book
robust…
-----
UP CLOSE: TAYYIBAH TAYLOR
Muslim magazine gives women a sense of self
By SUSAN HARTE, The Atlanta Journal, 4/28/2002
http://www.accessatlanta.com/ajc/epaper/editions/sunday/business_c3bca72d2022f0190066.html
"I grew up singing 'God Save the Queen,'" says Tayyibah Taylor of her
cosmopolitan Canadian background. The Trinidad native grew up in
Toronto
and has lived in the Caribbean and in Saudi Arabia. It was in Seattle
that
she conceived the idea of a magazine for Muslim women. She began
publishing
the quarterly Azizah in Atlanta a year and a half ago.
"I wanted it to be for all ethnicities," Taylor recalls, "a forum where
the
Muslim woman's interests, issues and voices could find expression. I
wanted
it to be inspiring, informative and filled with ideas for the Muslimah
striving for spiritual and personal growth in today's world."
The contents have touched on a range of topics, including helping
disabled
Muslims, examining successful marriages and investment strategies.
Spotlights have been shone on a doctoral candidate in Islamic studies
at
Duke University, a judge in the Baltimore City Circuit Court and a
clinical
psychologist focusing on depression. The relationship between feminism
and
Islam is examined in the current issue. Future issues will look at
marriage
contracts, AIDS in the Muslim community, acupuncture and Muslim summer
camps for children. Standing features include fashion, food, decor,
well-being, travel, books and money.
Last year, Azizah even made a little money…
SEE: http://www.azizahmagazine.com/
-----
CONTROVERSIAL SHEIK DRAWS CRITICISM FOR PRO-ISRAEL VIEWS
Italian Imam uses Koran to back his ideas, but U.S. expert calls stance
'not credible'
By David Rider, The Ottawa Citizen, 4/28/2002
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/story.asp?id={696C734A-65B9-4E15-BA86-0D62D3A02C5C}
TORONTO -- A Muslim cleric who says Israel should control Jerusalem and
that the U.S. is anti-Semitic for urging Israel to withdraw from
Palestinian settlements is drawing praise and condemnation on his first
Canadian speaking tour.
Sheik Abdul Hadi Palazzi is being hailed as a beacon of sanity by the
Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, which is hosting the tour, and
an
"anti-Islam campaigner" by the Canadian Islamic Congress…
While decrying Palestinian violence, he says Israel is fully justified
in
its current incursion into the West Bank. Complaints about it from
Canada,
the U.S. and the United Nations are fuelled by anti-Semitism, he
says...
The cleric spoke in Montreal last Thursday, and will appear at a
Toronto
synagogue tomorrow and a University of Toronto seminar on Tuesday…
The Canadian Institute for Jewish Research, a Montreal-based
pro-Israel,
think-tank, says hosting Sheik Palazzi is giving voice to a peaceful
Muslim
tradition that is drowned out by fundamentalist voices…
But John Esposito, author of Unholy War: Terror in the Name of Islam
and a
professor of Islamic studies at Georgetown University in Washington,
said
Sheik Palazzi's Koran interpretations are "not credible."
"I'm not too sure who, other than Palazzi, supports his position" that
the
Koran endorses Jerusalem as an Israeli-held capital, said Mr. Esposito,
who
is also editor of the Oxford History of Islam.
"I understand why Jewish groups like him -- he's got a good product to
sell
-- but when you talk about top scholars on Islam, I've never heard his
name
mentioned."
-----
BOOK REVIEWS: FIGHTING SPIRITS
Reviewed by Benjamin Schwarz, The Washington Post, 4/28/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A51282-2002Apr25.html
WHY WE FIGHT
Moral Clarity and the War On Terrorism
By William J. Bennett
Doubleday. 160 pp. $19.95
WHAT'S SO GREAT ABOUT AMERICA
By Dinesh D'Souza
Regnery. 218 pp. $27.95
PERPETUAL WAR FOR PERPETUAL PEACE
How We Got to Be So Hated
By Gore Vidal
Thunder's Mouth. 144 pp. Paperback, $10
A steady stream of books has been chronicling the immediate horror of
the
Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, but only
now
are commentators stepping forward to spell out the wider ramifications
of
the attacks and the ensuing war on terrorism. What does the present
conflict seem to presage for the use of American power across the
globe?
And how does the war on terrorism play out in a cultural framework,
with
all the ways it resonates as a clash of beliefs if not, as is often
asserted, of entire civilizations? To judge by this first trio of such
books, it's still too soon to be hazarding confident answers; patient
readers will be hard-pressed to imagine any less thoughtful and
illuminating efforts to place the dramatically new atmosphere into
perspective…
-----
PBS FRONTLINE AIRS “MUSLIM” MAY 9
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/
The events of September 11 left many Americans asking how such
atrocities
could be perpetrated in the name of religion: specifically, Islam. On
Thursday, May 9, at 9 P.M. on PBS (check local listings), FRONTLINE and
the
Independent Production Fund present "Muslims," a two-hour examination
of
one of the fastest growing religions in the world today. Through the
lives
of ordinary Muslims from Egypt, Iran, Malaysia, Turkey, Nigeria, and
the
United States, "Muslims" illuminates the diverse interpretations of
Islam
and the many facets of its worldwide resurgence.
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 4/29/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: ACTS OF GOODNESS
* DESMOND TUTU: APARTHEID IN THE HOLY LAND (The Guardian)
* ISRAELI TROOPS KILL NINE PEOPLE IN HEBRON RAID (Reuters)
* EDITORIAL: FREE PASS ON CHECHNYA (Washington Post)
* DISCORD OVER KILLING OF INDIA MUSLIMS DEEPENS (New York Times)
* IN HOWARD, IMMIGRANTS WINNING EAR OF POLITICIANS (Washington Post)
* MIDEAST: WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON THERE (Sacramento Bee)
* ARAB CAMPAIGN TO BOYCOTT U.S. GOODS PICKS UP STEAM (Reuters)
* ISRAEL'S JEWISH CRITIC'S AREN'T SELF-HATING (Los Angeles Times)
* HILLEL LAUNCHES PRO-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN ON U.S. CAMPUSES (Ha'aretz)
* "SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY" PROMPTS AUTHORITIES TO TURN US AIRWAYS FLIGHT
AROUND (AP)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: ACTS OF GOODNESS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "He who sets a good
example
in Islam, there is a reward for him for this (act of goodness) and
(added
to it the) reward of those also who acted according to it subsequently,
without any deduction from their rewards."
Sahih Muslim, Hadith 501
-----
DESMOND TUTU: APARTHEID IN THE HOLY LAND
By Desmond Tutu, The Guardian (UK), 4/29/02
http://www.guardian.co.uk/comment/story/0,3604,706878,00.html
In our struggle against apartheid, the great supporters were Jewish
people.
They almost instinctively had to be on the side of the disenfranchised,
of
the voiceless ones, fighting injustice, oppression and evil. I have
continued to feel strongly with the Jews. I am patron of a Holocaust
centre
in South Africa. I believe Israel has a right to secure borders.
What is not so understandable, not justified, is what it did to another
people to guarantee its existence. I've been very deeply distressed in
my
visit to the Holy Land; it reminded me so much of what happened to us
black
people in South Africa. I have seen the humiliation of the Palestinians
at
checkpoints and roadblocks, suffering like us when young white police
officers prevented us from moving about...
Injustice and oppression will never prevail. Those who are powerful
have to
remember the litmus test that God gives to the powerful: what is your
treatment of the poor, the hungry, the voiceless? And on the basis of
that,
God passes judgment...
Desmond Tutu is the former Archbishop of Cape Town and chairman of
South
Africa's truth and reconciliation commission. This address was given at
a
conference on Ending the Occupation held in Boston, Massachusetts,
earlier
this month. A longer version appears in the current edition of Church
Times.
-----
ISRAELI TROOPS KILL NINE PEOPLE IN HEBRON RAID
By Mazen Dana, Reuters, 4/29/02
HEBRON, West Bank, April 29 (Reuters) - ...Palestinian security sources
said nine people, including at least two militants and three security
men,
were killed after Israeli forces backed by helicopter gunships surged
into
Hebron overnight and began house-to-house searches.
In Washington, State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Israel
should "finish its withdrawal" from reoccupied Palestinian areas and
"refrain from further incursions..."
Israeli tanks and armoured vehicles prowled the hilly streets of
Hebron,
where some 400 militant Jewish settlers live in heavily guarded
enclaves
among 120,000 Palestinians.
Troops ransacked homes, smashing equipment and emptying cupboards, amid
loudspeaker warnings a curfew was in force.
"They damaged everything. The children were crying," Ahmed Atiya, a
31-year-old Palestinian policeman said.
He told Reuters 10 soldiers had smashed through his front door. All men
of
fighting age were ordered to stand in the street with their hands
raised
for more than two hours.
-----
EDITORIAL: FREE PASS ON CHECHNYA
By Jackson Diehl, The Washington Post, 4/29/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64783-2002Apr28.html
Watching the rapidly escalating pressure on Israel from the safe
distance
of Moscow -- the hostile delegations of U.N. investigators, the demands
for
an international conference, the talk of European sanctions -- Vladimir
Putin might afford himself a secret smile. Even as Israeli Prime
Minister
Ariel Sharon is pilloried for using a campaign against terrorism to
assault
Palestinian civilians and their self-government, Putin is quietly
getting
away with almost exactly the same crime...
-----
DISCORD OVER KILLING OF INDIA MUSLIMS DEEPENS
By CELIA W. DUGGER, The New York Times, 4/29/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/04/29/international/asia/29INDI.html
NEW DELHI - Leaders of the Hindu nationalist-led government have
warned
Western nations in recent days to stop lecturing India about the
official
failure to prevent Hindu mobs from killing hundreds of Muslims. But the
issue refuses to die.
In the last week, more than 40 people have perished in the continuing
violence, in the western state of Gujarat. The official death toll in
the
last two months has risen to 900. More than 100,000 people, mostly
Muslims,
are estimated to have fled to relief camps. On Tuesday, Parliament will
debate whether the Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party -- which
has
led a national coalition government for most of the last four years and
controls the state of Gujarat, its last major state stronghold -- has
been
complicit in the carnage...
Indian officials were particularly stung by the leak of a confidential
assessment by British diplomats who estimated the death toll at 2,000,
more
than twice the official tally, and said the anti-Muslim violence had
been
planned and carried out with the state government's support...
-----
IN HOWARD, IMMIGRANTS WINNING EAR OF POLITICIANS
By Christian Davenport, The Washington Post, 4/29/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A64364-2002Apr28.html
In many ways, it was just another political fundraiser. Businessmen
passed
their cards around, politicians exchanged gossip and the hosts gave
rah-rah
speeches about how their candidate was going to win the coming
election.
But this event, held recently for Howard County Executive James N.
Robey
(D), was something new -- for him and for the county. The speeches were
laced with Arabic, pauses for prayer and praise for Allah. The
attendees,
in suits and shawls, were members of the new Muslim Council of Howard
County. For them, extending Robey's political career was only part of
the
evening's agenda: The group was also proclaiming its newfound
involvement
and influence in local politics. That night, Robey collected about $
12,000, not nearly as much as the $ 60,000 he got at a previous
fundraiser
hosted by more familiar players in local politics -- developers and
business leaders. But as Robey seeks a second term, he knows he can't
afford to ignore the growing number of immigrants in Howard who are
beginning to stake a claim in the political process...
-----
MIDEAST: WHAT'S REALLY GOING ON THERE
By Ron Unz, The Sacramento Bee, 4/28/02
http://www.sacbee.com/content/opinion/story/2409891p-2860142c.html
In support of this dream [Greater Israel], Israeli governments have for
decades encouraged some 200,000 Jewish settlers to make their homes in
these Palestinian territories, and the ultimate disposition of these
settlers is regularly cited as the most nettlesome part of any future
peace
agreement...
If Ariel Sharon continues to wantonly sacrifice the lives of his people
for
messianic expansionism, then his arms are the ones elbow-deep in the
blood
of innocent Jews. He faces the world not as a David Ben Gurion or as
our
own Washington or Lincoln, but instead as someone whose extremism leads
his
own followers to their doom.
-----
ARAB CAMPAIGN TO BOYCOTT U.S. GOODS PICKS UP STEAM
By Nadim Ladki, Reuters, 4/29/02
AMMAN - From cigarettes to Big Macs, a growing number of ordinary Arabs
are
shunning U.S. goods in protest against Washington's perceived
pro-Israel
policies.
But a grassroots campaign across the Arab world to support the
Palestinians
by boycotting everything American appears so far to be having a
symbolic
rather than economic impact.
Arabs enraged by Israel's crackdown on Palestinians have taken to the
streets of Arab capitals in recent weeks in the most widespread
demonstrations in decades to demand action against Israel and the
United
States. Unable to influence the policies of their undemocratic
governments,
non-governmental and civic organisations, student bodies and
professional
associations have urged citizens to buy local and European alternatives
to
U.S. goods...
Boycott organisers have drawn up lists of companies, mainly American,
that
are alleged to channel aid to Israel.
American fast-food chains appear to be suffering the most. Managers at
KFC
and McDonald's branches in the Omani capital Muscat said sales had
fallen
by 45 and 65 percent respectively since January...
In Bahrain, which has seen some of the most violent protests in the
Gulf
against Israel's military offensive, many ordinary people have started
boycotting U.S. goods following calls by hundreds of protesters during
the
past three weeks. Bahrain is the headquarters of the U.S. Navy's Fifth
Fleet...
Even in Kuwait, the emirate liberated from Iraqi occupation in 1991 by
U.S.-led forces, the boycott call is making waves.
"If we get an offer from a non-U.S. firm we will consider it seriously
and
will now think twice before taking U.S. equipment," a contractor said.
"We
will look and see what is available, no matter who is our partner."
-----
ISRAEL'S JEWISH CRITIC'S AREN'T SELF-HATING
By Michael Lerner, Los Angeles Times, 4/28/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/suncommentary/la-000030064apr28.story
SAN FRANCISCO -- Every day, I receive anguished letters, e-mails and
phone
calls from members of my congregation and others who have been tagged
with
the label "self-hating Jews." Why? Solely because they've raised
questions
about Israel's policy toward Palestinians.
There is something deeply hurtful about that term and about the way the
Jewish community is treating its dissenters, something reminiscent of
the
cultural repressiveness of 1950s McCarthyism and its labeling of
dissidents
as "anti-American..."
-----
HILLEL LAUNCHES PRO-ISRAEL CAMPAIGN ON U.S. CAMPUSES AFTER CRITICISM
HERE
By Yair Heleg, Ha'aretz, 4/29/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=157013&contrassID=2&subContrassID=1&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
The Jewish student organization Hillel has launched a pro-Israel
campaign
on American campuses after the Israeli foreign ministry criticized the
low
level of solidarity demonstrated by Jewish American students in recent
months...
Hillel is also planning half-page solidarity advertisements in dozens
of
American student newspapers under the banner "Zionism is the National
Liberation Movement of the Jewish People." The ads will also express
support for Israel in its "continuing quest for peace" and invite
readers
to visit Hillel's Internet site to find out more about Israel and how
to
take supportive action.
Two weeks ago, Ha'aretz published a report on a meeting between the
foreign
ministry and the Jewish Agency in which the participants criticized the
low
level of pro-Israeli activity on American campuses, especially given
strong
pro-Palestinian activity. Following the criticism, the United Jewish
Communities, the umbrella organization of Jewish communities in North
America, said it would advise Hillel branches on campus to increase
pro-Israel activities...
-----
"SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY" PROMPTS AUTHORITIES TO TURN US AIRWAYS FLIGHT
AROUND
By PATRICK WALTERS, Associated Press, 4/29/02
PHILADELPHIA - The FBI told passengers on a flight forced to return
after
takeoff that their plane was rerouted because several passengers of
Middle
Eastern descent had purchased one-way tickets for cash that day,
passengers
said Monday.
FBI spokeswoman Linda Vizi would not confirm the passengers' accounts
but
said the suspicious passengers on Sunday's Florida-bound flight were
interviewed and released early Monday without being charged.
"We were able to determine their travel plans were legitimate and their
identities were legitimate," Vizi said. "We have checked out the
documentation of these individuals, and everything is in order."
Passenger Glenn Mattes, 48, and Jack Clark, 55, said FBI agents also
told
passengers that two other planes, one in Houston and the other in
Baltimore, were grounded because passengers of Middle Eastern descent
had
bought one-way tickets that day for cash...
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
ANTI-MUSLIM INCIDENTS UP THREE-FOLD IN PAST YEAR
Report shows 60,000 U.S. Muslims impacted by government policies
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/30/2002) - A report released today by a prominent
Islamic advocacy group indicates that reports of anti-Muslim incidents
in
the United States increased three-fold over the previous year. (Up from
366
validated reports in 2001 to 1125 this year.) The only national study
of
its kind also shows that almost 60,000 American Muslims have been
negatively impacted by U.S. government policies since the terrorist
attacks
of September 11, 2001.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations' (CAIR) seventh annual study,
titled "Stereotypes and Civil Liberties," outlines 1516 reports of
denial
of religious accommodation, harassment, discrimination, bias, threat,
assault, and even several murders. That figure represents more than
2,200
individuals targeted because of actual or perceived religion and
ethnicity.
The majority of violent incidents occurred in the period immediately
following the September 11 attacks. If post 9-11 backlash incidents are
eliminated from the count, the remaining reports (525) still show a 43
percent increase over the 2001 study.
CAIR's report covers the period from March 2001, to March 2002. It is
available online at http://www.cair-net.org/civilrights2002/
In addition to the direct acts of discrimination and violence, the
report
shows that the civil rights of almost 60,000 American Muslims were
negatively impacted by government policies instituted following the
9-11
attacks. Those affected include some 1,200 Muslims who were detained
nationwide, mostly on immigration charges, but who were treated as if
they
were terrorists, 5,000 legal visa-holders who were asked to submit to
"voluntary" interrogations and an estimated 50,000 individuals who
donated
to American Muslim relief agencies shut down by the government.
"Muslims, like all Americans, support policies that result in genuine
increases in security. Unfortunately, many of the government actions
prompted by 9-11, particularly those based on ethnic and religious
profiling or stereotypes, merely create a false sense of security and
preclude effective initiatives," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad
Awad.
"Now is the time for the judiciary to step in and reaffirm the
constitutionally-protected rights that all Americans hold dear," said
Awad.
Awad added that Muslims were among the victims of the September 11
attacks,
they died rescuing other victims and they died in the anti-Muslim
hysteria
that followed the attacks.
CAIR issued its first civil rights report, called "A Rush to Judgment,"
within a month of the 1995 attack on the Murrah Federal Building. There
are
an estimated seven million Muslims in the United States.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787, ext. 6058
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
SEE ALSO: IN AFTERMATH OF HIJACKINGS, AIR TRAVEL JITTERS REMAIN
By Dan Eggen and Katherine Shaver, The Washington Post, 4/30/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A3614-2002Apr29.html
At Dulles International Airport on Sunday, flight crews told of 11
Pakistanis acting suspiciously as their flight was delayed by inclement
weather.
Then in Houston, four Saudi men on the way back to Washington were
detained
because they had no luggage. In Philadelphia, a half-dozen passengers
of
Middle Eastern descent had bought one-way tickets to Orlando with cash.
Although none of the incidents was particularly alarming by itself, the
unusual number of incidents on the same day prompted FBI and airline
security officials to delay flights, pull passengers from airplanes and
run
checks of other passengers to ensure that a hijacking was not in the
works.
Also over the weekend, FBI officials in Baltimore were asked to check
the
names of seven Middle Eastern men flying to Dallas. Three Saudi men
were
pulled off a Delta flight at Dulles on Saturday for questioning...
Mohamed Nimer, research director for the Council on American-Islamic
Relations, said most of the discrimination cases reported to the
council
involve "outright prejudice."
"There's no other way to put it," Nimer said. "Some people are not
comfortable flying in an airplane that has people of Middle Eastern,
Arab
or Muslim backgrounds."
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/1/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: ALL CREATURES DEPEND ON GOD
* CAIR CALLS FOR U.S. ACTION ON GUJARAT KILLINGS (Action Alert)
* GUJARAT OFFICIALS TOOK PART IN ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE (Human Rights
Watch)
* USA PATRIOT ACT POWERS PROMPT SECOND LOOK (The Hill)
* JUDGE REJECTS JAILING OF MATERIAL WITNESSES (The Washington Post)
* CHARITY FUNDED TERROR, U.S. SAYS (Los Angeles Times)
* NEWS COVERAGE ON CAIR'S ANNUAL CIVIL RIGHTS REPORT:
- Muslim Group Sees Sept. 11 Backlash (Associated Press)
- Bias Incidents Against Muslims Are Soaring (New York Times)
- CAIR Report on ABC World News Tonight
- President Bush Rejects Hatred of Muslims and Arabs
* COMMUNITY FORUM ON NATIONAL ORIGIN DISCRIMINATION IN ARIZONA
* PALESTINE UPDATE:
- Palestinian Cause Described As 'Just' (Washington Times)
- IDF Admits 'Ugly Vandalism" Against Palestinian Property
(Ha'aretz)
- Arab Boycott Campaign Worries U.S. Business (Agence
France-Press)
- Who is Anti-Semitic? (Washington Post)
- More Bodies, Bombs May Lurk in Jenin Rubble - U.N. (Reuters)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: ALL CREATURES DEPEND ON GOD
"On Him depend all creatures in the heavens and on earth; (and) every
day
He manifests Himself in yet another (wondrous) way."
The Holy Quran, Chapter 55, Verse 29
-----
ACTION ALERT: CAIR CALLS FOR U.S. ACTION ON GUJARAT KILLINGS
GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
INDIA: GUJARAT OFFICIALS TOOK PART IN ANTI-MUSLIM VIOLENCE
By Smita Narula, Human Rights Watch, 4/30/02
http://www.hrw.org/press/2002/04/gujarat.htm
State officials of Gujarat, India were directly involved in the
killings of
hundreds of Muslims since February 27 and are now engineering a massive
cover-up of the state's role in the violence, Human Rights Watch
charged in
a new report released today...
"What happened in Gujarat was not a spontaneous uprising, it was a
carefully orchestrated attack against Muslims," said Smita Narula,
senior
South Asia researcher for Human Rights Watch and author of the report.
"The
attacks were planned in advance and organized with extensive
participation
of the police and state government officials."
The police were directly implicated in nearly all the attacks against
Muslims that are documented in the 75-page report, 'We Have No Orders
to
Save You': State Participation and Complicity in Communal Violence in
Gujarat. In some cases they were merely passive observers. But in many
instances, police officials led the charge of murderous mobs, aiming
and
firing at Muslims who got in the way.
Under the guise of offering assistance, some police officers led the
victims directly into the hands of their killers. Panicked phone calls
made
to the police, fire brigades, and even ambulance services generally
proved
futile. Several witnesses reported being told by police: "We have no
orders
to save you."
Three weeks after the initial attacks, Human Rights Watch visited
Ahmedabad, a site of large-scale destruction, murder, and several
massacres, and spoke to both Hindu and Muslim survivors of the attacks.
The
report also provides testimony on retaliatory attacks against Hindus,
which
Human Rights Watch strongly condemned...
Human Rights Watch also urged the international community to put
pressure
on the Indian government to comply with international human rights and
Indian constitutional law and end impunity for orchestrated violence
against Indian minorities
-----
USA PATRIOT ACT POWERS PROMPT SECOND LOOK
By Noelle Straub, The Hill, 5/1/02
http://www.thehill.com/050102/patriot.shtm
Secret court subpoenas, examinations of bookstore records, revised
immigration policies and other uses of sweeping new powers have some
Senate
Democrats taking a new critical look at the USA Patriot Act, enacted in
the
aftermath of Sept. 11. Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.), the lone senator to
vote against the measure last fall, has been its most vocal critic,
warning
that the act infringes on constitutional freedoms.
"I would cast the same vote today, but even more confidently, as we see
how
law enforcement is beginning to use the new powers in the bill and how
the
Department of Justice has proceeded on a variety of fronts not directly
addressed in the bill," he said last week.
But Feingold is not alone in his concerns. He has been joined by other
Democratic senators, including Judiciary Committee Chairman Patrick
Leahy
(Vt.), Richard Durbin (Ill.) and Maria Cantwell (Wash.).
The act was hurriedly signed into law with overwhelming approval within
six
weeks of the terrorist attacks on New York and Washington - without
hearings or without being marked up by a congressional committee.
Particularly troubling to Feingold is a business records provision that
gives the FBI new powers to subpoena records in its investigations of
international terrorism.
"The subpoenas are obtained from a secret court, and the records sought
don't even have to be records directly connected to a suspect in such
an
investigation," Feingold noted.
"We now know that bookstores and libraries have received such subpoenas
asking for the purchase or lending records of their patrons. It is a
truly
frightening day in America when bookstores are considering destroying
their
records so when the government comes knocking at the door to find out
what
their customers have been reading they will have nothing to turn over,"
he
said.
Feingold and Rep. Patsy Mink (D-Hawaii) joined a coalition of groups to
talk about infringements on constitutional freedoms in the wake of the
act.
Feingold told The Hill that he might hold hearings to examine the
issue,
but that he was not yet ready to announce his plans...
-----
JUDGE REJECTS JAILING OF MATERIAL WITNESSES
By Steve Fainaru and Amy Goldstein, Washington Post, 5/1/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A11562-2002Apr30.html
NEW YORK, -- A key legal tactic employed by the government in its
post-Sept. 11 war on terror is illegal, a federal judge ruled today,
delivering a potential blow to the Justice Department's methods of
detaining suspects and gathering evidence.
The judge, Shira A. Scheindlin, ruled that the Justice Department has
overreached in imprisoning as "material witnesses" men the authorities
believe might have information for grand juries investigating
terrorism.
She dismissed perjury charges against a Jordanian student, Osama
Awadallah,
21, concluding that the information the government collected in its
investigation must be suppressed because the suspect had been
"unlawfully
detained."
"If the government has probable cause to believe a person has committed
a
crime, it may arrest that person," Scheindlin wrote. "But since 1789,
no
Congress has granted the government the authority to imprison an
innocent
person in order to guarantee that he will testify before a grand jury
conducting a criminal investigation."
Legal experts predicted the ruling could have far-reaching implications
because the material-witness statute has emerged as a key tool in the
government's investigation of terrorism after last year's attacks on
the
Pentagon and World Trade Center. In addition to detaining people as
material witnesses, authorities have arrested hundreds of others on
charges
of immigration violations and crimes unrelated to terrorism -- though
the
exact number is not known because of the Justice Department's policy of
secrecy in the inquiry...
-----
CHARITY FUNDED TERROR, U.S. SAYS
By JOSH MEYER and ERIC LICHTBLAU, Los Angeles Times, 5/1/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-000030979may01.story
U.S. authorities arrested the Syrian-born head of an international
Islamic
charity Tuesday, alleging that his group has funded terrorist
activities
for years and has ties to militants who have tried to acquire nuclear
and
chemical weapons for Osama bin Laden.
Enaam Arnaout, 39, executive director of the Benevolence International
Foundation, was taken into custody at his home in the Chicago suburbs
and
charged with lying under oath in documents his group had filed in
federal
court...
It also infuriated Islamic leaders in the United States, who said
Arnaout's
arrest fits a pattern of Justice Department harassment against Muslims
since the Sept. 11 attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon.
"If you've got evidence of him having breakfast with Osama bin Laden,
then
charge him with terrorism, not perjury," said Ibrahim Hooper, a
spokesman
for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Bring the evidence into
court and let him rebut it."
Matt Piers, an attorney for Benevolence International, said the charges
against his client are an unjustified effort by the U.S. government to
make
the public believe it is successfully cracking down on terrorists. He
scoffed at the notion that Arnaout is an associate of Bin Laden, and
said
Arnaout's efforts to cooperate with the FBI were rebuffed...
Charging Arnaout with perjury for defending his group's reputation in
court
"is a back-door legal technicality," said Hooper, of the Council on
American-Islamic Relations. "It creates the impression there's nothing"
of
substance to the government's charges.
"This certainly won't help" the Bush administration's effort to mend
fences
with the Muslim community over the detention and interrogation of
thousands
of Muslim Americans after Sept. 11, Hooper said.
-----
MUSLIM GROUP SEES SEPT. 11 BACKLASH
Associated Press, 4/30/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-us-muslims0430apr30.story
WASHINGTON -- Violence and harassment against Muslims have multiplied
in
part because of the government's war on terrorism, a private group
says.
"Unfortunately, in the past government acts have sent the wrong
message,"
said Nihad Awad, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic
Relations. He said government ethnic and religious profiling as well as
detentions and interrogations "send a green light to mistreat Muslims."
As evidence, his group released a report based on complaints it has
received from Muslims about mistreatment ranging from harassment to
vandalism and murder. The complaints, Awad said, increased threefold
over
the past year to 1,516, the vast majority reported after Sept. 11. Even
without counting the post-terrorism outbreak, anti-Muslim incidents
increased by 43 percent from a year earlier, according to the
complaints.
-----
BIAS INCIDENTS AGAINST MUSLIMS ARE SOARING, ISLAMIC COUNCIL SAYS
The New York Times, 5/1/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/01/national/01IMMI.html
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said today that bias
incidents
against Muslims soared nationwide after Sept. 11, with two-thirds of
the
incidents reported in the last year occurring less than six months
after
the terrorist attacks.
Even the more than 500 cases of discrimination and attacks unrelated to
the
terrorist attacks constituted a 43 percent increase over the preceding
year, when 366 were filed, said an annual survey that the council
released
today. One-fourth of the complaints involved ethnic and religious
profiling
at airports and workplaces, and nearly 20 percent involved government
agencies, including the Immigration and Naturalization Service, the
F.B.I.
and local law enforcement authorities, the report said.
The council pointed to civil rights abuses against Muslims that it
considered results of government policies, including the detention of
more
than 1,000 people and the questioning of thousands of others, the
closing
of Muslim relief agencies and charities and raids on Muslim-owned
houses
and businesses.
Though their number in the United States has generally been estimated
to be
as high as six million, Muslims tend to be more loosely organized than
people in some other major religions and do not often speak with a
unified
national voice, advocates say...
-----
CAIR REPORT ON ABC WORLD NEWS TONIGHT
ABC News: World News Tonight 04/30/2002
PETER JENNINGS, anchor: Just one more item in this regard today, the
Council on American/Islamic Relations reports today more than 1700
incidents of what they call backlash against Muslims in America, last
year,
including more than 300 acts of violence. There were, they say, almost
50
percent more reports of discrimination after the 11th of September.
-----
PRESIDENT BUSH REJECTS HATRED OF MUSLIMS AND ARABS
GEORGE W. BUSH DELIVERS REMARKS ON COMPASSIONATE CONSERVATISM
4/30/02, SAN JOSE, CALIFORNIA
BUSH: ...In America, we've not always lived up to our ideals, yet we
always
reach for them. We believe that everyone deserves a chance, that
everyone
has value, that no insignificant person was ever born. We believe that
all
are diminished when any are hopeless.
We are one people committed to building a single nation of justice and
opportunity.
(APPLAUSE)
America rejects bigotry.
(APPLAUSE)
We reject every act of hatred against people of Arab background or
Muslim
faith...Race and color should not divide us because America is one
country.
-----
COMMUNITY FORUM ON NATIONAL ORIGIN DISCRIMINATION IN ARIZONA
* Have you been refused a job, harassed at work, or fired because of
your
national origin, race, religion, or citizenship status?
* Have you been paid less than what you expected or had lawful work
papers
rejected?
* Have you or your child been denied access to education because of
your
national origin, race, or religion?
* Have you or a member of your family been denied housing, or have you
been
charged a higher interest rate for a loan, because of your national
origin,
race, or religion?
*Have you, a member of your family, or your property been physically
attacked because of your national origin, race, or religion?
The U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division is a branch of
the
federal government that enforces federal civil rights laws. Please join
staff from the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice,
the
U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, and other agencies for a
discussion about your rights and how to file a discrimination complaint
with the appropriate agency. A question and answer period will follow
agency presentations. Materials will be available, and staff will be
present to receive complaints.
WHEN: Wednesday, May 8, 2002 at 7 p.m., Doors Open at 6:30 p.m.
WHERE: Phoenix College, Dome Conference Room, 3310 North 10th Avenue,
Phoenix, AZ
Complimentary parking is available at the Phoenix College campus on
Osborne
Road, between 10th and 11th Avenues. The conference room is wheelchair
accessible. If you need further accommodation, please contact Naheed
Qureshi at (202) 514-3831 or at naheed.qureshi@usdoj.gov by April 30,
2002.
-----
PALESTINIAN CAUSE DESCRIBED AS 'JUST' IN POLICY DEBATE
By Robert Stacy McCain, The Washington Times, 5/1/02
http://www.washtimes.com/national/20020501-91611235.htm
Palestinians have a "just cause" in their conflict with Israel, former
presidential candidate Pat Buchanan said yesterday in a debate on U.S.
policy in the Middle East. The Palestinians "have a right to use force
if
necessary" in resisting Israeli occupation, said Mr. Buchanan, who
twice
sought the Republican presidential nomination before making a
third-party
run on the Reform ticket in 2000.
"The cause of the present intifada," Mr. Buchanan said, referring to
the
Arab name for the uprising that began in September 2000, "is the
Israeli
control and occupation" of Palestinian territory.
-----
IDF ADMITS `UGLY VANDALISM' AGAINST PALESTINIAN PROPERTY
By Amos Harel, Ha'aretz Daily, 4/30/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/objects/pages/PrintArticleEn.jhtml?itemNo=157479
Israel Defense Forces sources have admitted that Palestinian claims of
the
systematic destruction of property, particularly computers, during the
recent military operations in Ramallah are, for the most part, true.
"There
were indeed wide-scale, ugly phenomena of vandalism," a senior military
sources told Ha'aretz yesterday.
The IDF sources explained that because various PA institutions,
including
civil authorities, were involved in terror, some of the computers had
indeed included valuable intelligence. However, the sources admitted
that
in many cases the searches had turned into systematic vandalism,
without
any justification...
"The result," the source continued, "was damage running into hundreds
of
thousands of dollars. Soldiers smashed computer monitors and destroyed
keyboards. There were places in which bank branches were destroyed and
automatic tellers were raided. In some cases, theft accompanied the
vandalism. It was significant damage, widespread and totally
illogical."...
Reservists who served in the Ramallah and Bethlehem areas said they had
witnessed many instances of deliberate damage caused by soldiers to
Palestinian property. Some also spoke of cases of looting.
"The extent of the looting is much greater than could have been
expected in
advance," a senior legal source told Ha'aretz. "This is an ugly and
serious
phenomenon."
-----
ARAB BOYCOTT CAMPAIGN WORRIES U.S. BUSINESS
By Lachlan Carmichael, Agence France-Presse, 04/30/2002
CAIRO, April 30 (AFP) - A campaign by the Arab masses to boycott US
brand
names is intensifying amid growing rage over Israel's invasion of
Palestinian land and alleged US corporate donations to the Jewish
state. It
is especially hurting business at fast food franchises, but also sales
of
soft drinks, as well as a range of supermarket and pharmaceutical
products
in Egypt and other Arab countries, industry sources said.
The campaign is being waged on the television, in the newspapers, by
e-mail
and mobile telephone text messages as well as pamphlets on the streets
and
mosques of Cairo and other Arab capitals.
Lists are circulating with hundreds of brand names to be boycotted,
including McDonald's and Burger King outlets, Tide and Ariel
detergents,
Pampers, Coca Cola and Pepsi, Marlboro cigarettes, and Heinz ketchup.
"Boycott a product, save a Muslim," reads a statement in a leaflet
obtained
in Cairo.
Leading the campaign are religious clerics, members of Arab parliaments
and
leaders of professional associations and unions, including journalists,
artists, pharmacists, engineers, and many others. The campaign also
includes calls to boycott Israeli goods and gives tips about how to
identify Israeli products exported from third countries...
Sales at most of the 562 fast food restaurants in Egypt dropped 20
percent
since Israel's invasion of the West Bank on March 29, on top of the
five
percent decline just after the intifada erupted on September 28, 2000,
he
said.
In the Saudi Arabian city of Jeddah, Ibrahim Mahrous, sales manager at
the
Ben Dawood supermarket, said Coca Cola was the worst hit of all US
brands,
down 60 percent, with Pepsi Cola next at 45 percent, and Procter and
Gamble
products such as Pampers diapers down by 30-35 percent.
In Bahrain, Abdulmunem al-Meer, general manager of the Al- Muntaza
supermarket chain, the biggest in Bahrain with eight stores in the tiny
kingdom, sees sales opportunities in boycotting US goods. "We are not
selling American products anymore, we have cleared our shelves (of one
million dollars in) US products and returned them to the importers," he
told AFP when contacted by telephone from Cairo.
"When we did this, our customers increased in number, and people have
been
calling to express solidarity with al-Muntaza," he said.
-----
WHO'S ANTI-SEMITIC?
By Richard Cohen, The Washington Post, 04/30/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A5425-2002Apr29.html
If I weren't a Jew, I might be called an anti-Semite. I have
occasionally
been critical of Israel. I have occasionally taken the Palestinians'
side.
I have always maintained that the occupation of the West Bank is wrong
and
while I am, to my marrow, a supporter of Israel, I insist that the
Palestinian cause -- although sullied by terrorism -- is a worthy
one...
I cannot say the same about America. Here, criticism of Israel,
particularly anti-Zionism, is equated with anti-Semitism. The
Anti-Defamation League, one of the most important American Jewish
organizations, comes right out and says so...
But that hardly means that anti-Zionism -- hating, opposing, fighting
Israel -- is the same as anti-Semitism, hating Jews anywhere on account
of
supposedly inherent characteristics. If I were a Palestinian living in
a
refugee camp, I might very well hate Israel for my plight -- never mind
its
actual cause -- and I even might not like Jews in general. After all,
Israel proclaims itself the Jewish state. It officially celebrates
Jewish
holidays, including the Sabbath on Saturday. It allows the orthodox
rabbinate to control secular matters, such as marriage, and, of course,
it
offers citizenship to any person who can reasonably claim to be Jewish.
This so-called right of return permits such a person to "return" to a
place
where he or she has never been. Palestinians must find this simply
astonishing.
To equate anti-Zionists or critics of Israel in general with
anti-Semites
is to liken them to the Nazis or the rampaging mobs of the pogroms. It
says
that their hatred is unreasonable, unfathomable, based on some crackpot
racial theory or some misguided religious zealotry. It dismisses all
criticism, no matter how legitimate, as rooted in prejudice and
therefore
without any validity.
-----
MORE BODIES, BOMBS MAY LURK IN JENIN RUBBLE - U.N.
By Mark Heinrich, Reuters, 5/1/02
JENIN, West Bank, May 1 (Reuters) - More bodies are likely to surface
in
the rubble of Jenin's refugee district as it is sifted for explosives
and
cleared for rebuilding after Israel's blitz against Palestinian
militants,
the U.N. said on Wednesday.
Between $20 million to $30 million will be needed to reconstruct Jenin
camp, said Richard Cooke, regional director of the U.N. Relief and
Works
Agency (UNRWA), which cares for Palestinian refugees.
But the hills of rubble in the centre of the once teeming camp would
have
to be swept for unexploded ordnance first, and care must be taken in
removing debris, a task now under way as corpses probably still lay
underneath, he said.
"We do expect to find more bodies under the rubble, but it's impossible
now
to estimate how many," he said. "We have to be very careful removing
rubble
out of respect for the dead..."
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
ACTION REQUESTED: Contact local and national elected representatives to
offer your views on these resolutions.
GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/
-----
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. POLITICIANS "PLEDGE ALLEGIANCE" TO ISRAEL SAY MUSLIMS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/2/2002) - The Council on American-Islamic
Relations
(CAIR) today condemned planned congressional resolutions in support of
Israel's brutal invasion of Palestinian territory that the Islamic
advocacy
group said amounted to American elected officials "pledging allegiance"
to
a foreign government.
Despite President Bush's assertion that such a move would
negatively-impact
American foreign policy interests, Democratic and Republican
congressional
leaders say they would today go ahead with votes on the pro-Israel
resolutions.
Yesterday, White House spokesman Ari Fliescher said the president is
concerned that "no foreign policy can survive 535 different secretaries
of
state."
Associated Press reports that the administration urged that if
introduced,
the resolutions should at least make reference to the need to
"alleviate
the occupation of the suffering Palestinian people."
A statement by CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad read in part:
"It is truly disturbing to see American elected officials falling over
themselves in an unseemly attempt to 'pledge allegiance' to a foreign
government and its domestic lobby. Perhaps these same politicians
should be
reminded that they were elected by American, not Israeli voters.
"At a time when the president and secretary of state are trying to
encourage peace and stability in the Middle East, our elected
representatives are undercutting that effort by engaging in crass
political
maneuvering that promotes their own prospects of re-election over
America's
national and security interests.
"Americans should not offer unconditional support to a brutal invasion
that
even the Israelis admit involved killings of noncombatants, looting by
soldiers, denial of relief supplies to entire population centers, and
the
use of Palestinian civilians as human shields in military operations."
Awad added that the one-sided congressional resolutions send a false
message to the Muslim and Arab world that the American people do not
support justice, human rights or a peaceful resolution to the Middle
East
conflict. He cited a recent USA Today/CNN/Gallup poll in which 71
percent
of respondents said the U.S. government should not take either side in
the
Mideast conflict and asked voters to make their representatives aware
of
that fact.
The most strongly-worded congressional resolution is being sponsored by
House Majority Whip Tom DeLay (R-Tex.), who just last week announced at
the
annual conference of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee that:
"As
long as I'm in Congress, I'll use every tool at my disposal to ensure
that
the Republican conference in the House of Representatives continues to
preserve and strengthen America's alliance with the state of Israel."
Last night on the MSNBC cable news network, House Majority Leader Dick
Armey (R-TX) went further than even right-wing Israeli politicians by
calling for the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people from the
Occupied Territories.
These statements, and the rush to introduce the non-binding
resolutions,
are viewed by many political observers as an effort by both major
parties
to out-bid each other in appealing to Jewish voters and campaign
contributors.
SEE: "Hill Leaders Plan Votes On Pro-Israel Resolutions"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A18084-2002May1.html
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787, ext. 6058
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #330
CONGRESSMAN CALLS FOR ETHNIC CLEANSING OF PALESTINIANS
Muslims urged to contact congressman to demands retraction, apology
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/2/2002) - CAIR is calling on all people of
conscience
to contact House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-TX) to demand that he
retract his call for ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian people. Last
night
on MSNBC's "Hardball," host Chris Matthews had the following dialogue
with
Rep. Armey:
ARMEY: I'm content to have Israel grab the entire West Bank.
MATTHEWS: Well, where do you put the Palestinian state, in Norway? Once
the
Israelis take back the West Bank permanently and annex it, there's no
place
else for the Palestinians to have a state.
ARMEY: No, no, that's not--that's not at all true. There are many Arab
nations that have many hundreds of thousands of acres of land and--and
soil
and property and opportunity to create a Palestinian state.
MATTHEWS: So you would transport--you would transport the Palestinians
from
Palestine to somewhere else and call it their state?
ARMEY: I would be perfectly content to have a homeland, just as--most
of...
MATTHEWS: But not in Palestine?
ARMEY: Most of the people who now populate Israel were transported from
all
over the world to that land and they made it their home. The
Palestinians
can do the same, and we're per--perfectly content to work with the
Palestinians in doing that...
MATTHEWS: Right, no. No, that's not the question and that's not your
answer. The question here is: What is the future of the Palestinians
who
are fighting Israel right now? You say there future is somewhere
besides
Palestine. That runs in the way of US policy going back to 1948. It
runs--it runs completely against the president's policy and every
policy
I've heard a president take, which is that Israel has to give up its
settlements on the West Bank and give it back to the Arabs in exchange
for
peace. You say the deal should be the Palestinians leave?
ARMEY: That's right...I happened to believe that the Palestinians
should leave.
MATTHEWS: Have you ever told George Bush, the president from your home
state of Texas, that you think the Palestinians should get up and go
and
leave Palestine and that's the solution?
ARMEY: I'm probably telling him that right now.
MATTHEWS: Well, just to repeat, you believe that the Palestinians who
are
now living on the West Bank should get out of there?
ARMEY: Yes.
"It is beyond belief that Representative Armey would openly call for
the
ethnic cleansing of the entire Muslim and Christian Palestinian
population,
something that violates every norm of international law and human
rights.
Even the most extreme Israelis are reluctant to publicly advocate such
an
insane policy," said CAIR Governmental Affairs Director Jason Erb.
Erb demanded an immediate retraction and apology from Armey. He said
CAIR
has received many complaints about Armey's remarks.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact Rep. Armey to ask that he retract his call for ethnic cleansing
and
that he apologize for advocating a policy that would violate all norms
of
international law and human rights.
CONTACT:(A personal call is best, followed by a fax, followed by an
e-mail
message. Inform CAIR of what you are told, or how you are treated, by
Armey's staff.)
Congressman Dick Armey
301 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4326
TEL: (202) 225-7772 or 202-225-4000
Fax: (202) 226-8100
(District Office)
9901 East Valley Ranch Parkway, Suite 3050
Irving, TX 75063
TEL: (972) 556-2500
ONLINE: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
E-MAIL: Brian.Gunderson@mail.house.gov, terry.holt@mail.house.gov
COPY TO: cair@cair-net.org
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TENN. MUSLIMS ACCUSE WHIRLPOOL OF RELIGIOUS DISCRIMINATION
Class action lawsuit alleges harassment, denial of accommodation
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/3/02) A group of 16 current and former Muslim
employees at a Whirlpool plant in La Vergne, Tenn., filed suit this
week
against the household appliance giant, alleging a consistent pattern of
religious discrimination. The class action lawsuit, filed in U.S.
District
Court for the Middle of Tennessee, claims that Muslim employees were
denied
the right to pray at work, despite repeated requests for religious
accommodation.
SEE: "Muslims charge discrimination at Whirlpool plant in La Vergne"
http://www.tennessean.com/local/archives/02/05/17022232.shtml
The plaintiffs also allege that supervisors at the plant followed
Muslim
employees to the restroom to ensure that they did not pray during their
breaks. In addition, employees allege they were terminated after being
discovered praying.
According to the complaint, "Whirlpool has created and fostered an
extremely hostile and humiliating work environment for those of the
Muslim
faith, particularly amongst its Somali workers, subjecting them to
personal
humiliation and emotional distress."
The suit was initiated after one of the employees contacted the Council
on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Washington-based Islamic advocacy
group. Repeated attempts at mediation were rejected by Whirlpool.
"CAIR has received numerous reports of discrimination from former and
current Muslim employees of the plant in Tennessee. In each instance,
Whirlpool has refused to engage in any meaningful dialogue," said CAIR
Communications Coordinator Hodan Hassan.
The suit seeks an order forcing Whirlpool to provide reasonable
accommodation for the plaintiffs' religious practices, $310,000 in
compensatory damages, as well as punitive damages for the emotional
pain
and suffering caused by the discrimination.
Whirlpool Corporation is the world's leading manufacturer and marketer
of
major home appliances. Headquartered in Benton Harbor, Mich., the
company
manufactures in 13 countries and markets products under 11 major brand
names in more than 170 countries.
CAIR publishes a booklet, called "An Employer's Guide to Islamic
Religious
Practices," designed to prevent workplace discrimination.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
ACTION REQUESTED:
Contact Whirlpool to ask that they resolve this issue to the
satisfaction
of all parties and that they institute a company-wide policy allowing
reasonable religious accommodation in the workplace.
Mr. David Whitwam
Chairman of the Board and Chief Executive Officer
Whirlpool Corporation
2000 North M-63
Benton Harbor, MI 49022
Phone: (616) 923-5000
Fax: (616) 923-5341
E-mail: monica_r_brunkel@email.whirlpool.com
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
CAIR ACTION ALERT #331
THANK THOSE IN CONGRESS WHO DID NOT VOTE FOR PRO-ISRAEL RESOLUTIONS
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/3/2002) - CAIR is calling on Muslims nationwide to
contact elected representative who did not vote in favor of yesterday's
congressional resolutions offering unconditional support to Israel for
its
recent brutal invasion of Palestinian territory.
A total of 84 senators and representatives did not vote in favor of the
resolutions, including 82 in the House (21 opposed, 29 present, 32 no
vote)
and two in the Senate. Sens. Ernest F. Hollings (D-S.C.) and Robert C.
Byrd
(D-W.Va.), the only senators to vote against the resolution, said it
was
not even-handed in criticizing violence.
SEE: "Lawmakers Endorse Israel's Offensive"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A23459-2002May2.html
In a similar December 5, 2001, vote on a pro-Israel House resolution,
just
49 representatives did not offer their support. This is an indication
that
uncritical congressional backing for Israel's actions is beginning to
decrease.
Political observers say the resolutions, and recent extreme pro-Israel
statements by congressional leaders, are part an effort by both major
parties to out-bid each other in appealing to Jewish voters and
campaign
contributors.
IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:
1. Please review the list below to see if your representative voted
against
HR 392. (You may also go to http://capwiz.com/cair/home/ to find your
elected representatives.)
2. If your representative voted NO, please contact his or her office to
show thanks for supporting a balanced US role in the Middle East, and
for
protecting US interests.
3. If your representative voted PRESENT, please contact his or her
office
to show thanks for supporting a balanced U.S. role in the Middle East
and
to encourage the representative to vote NO on future unbalanced and
counterproductive resolutions.
4. If your representative is not listed below, he or she voted YES on
the
resolution. Please contact his or her office to express disappointment
that
he or she supported a resolution that harms America's efforts to bring
a
just settlement to the conflict and that harms U.S. interests in the
region.
Go to: http://capwiz.com/cair/dbq/officials/
5. Save the list below to stay in touch with your representatives.
- PLEASE ANNOUNCE, POST AND DISTRIBUTE -
NOES - 21
Rep. Neil Abercrombie (D-HI 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/abercrombie
E-mail: neil.abercrombie@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2726
Fax: (202) 225-4580
Rep. David Bonior (D-MI 10th)
Web Site: davidbonior.house.gov
E-mail: david.bonior@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2106
Fax: (202) 226-1169
Rep. Rick Boucher (D-VA 9th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/boucher
E-mail: ninthnet@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-3861
Fax: (202) 225-0442
Rep. Gary Condit (D-CA 18th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/gcondit
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6131
Fax: (202) 225-0819
Rep. John Conyers, Jr. (D-MI 14th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/conyers
E-mail: john.conyers@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-5126
Fax: (202) 225-0072
Rep. Peter DeFazio (D-OR 4th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/defazio
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6416
Fax: (202) 225-0032
Rep. John Dingell (D-MI 16th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/dingell
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4071
Fax: (202) 226-0371
Rep. Earl Hilliard (D-AL 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/hilliard
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2665
Fax: (202) 226-0772
Rep. Jay Inslee (D-WA 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/inslee
E-mail: jay.inslee@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-6311
Fax: (202) 226-1606
Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr. (D-IL 2nd)
Web Site: www.jessejacksonjr.org
E-mail: jjackson@jessejacksonjr.org
Phone: (202) 225-0773
Fax: (202) 225-0899
Rep. Jerry Kleczka (D-WI 4th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/kleczka
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4572
Fax: (202) 225-8135
Rep. Barbara Lee (D-CA 9th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/lee
E-mail: barbara.lee@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2661
Fax: (202) 225-9817
Rep. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA 4th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mckinney
E-mail: cymck@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-1605
Fax: (202) 226-0691
Rep. George Miller (D-CA 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/georgemiller
E-mail: george.miller@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2095
Fax: (202) 225-5609
Rep. David Obey (D-WI 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/obey
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3365
Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX 14th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/paul
E-mail: rep.paul@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2831
Fax: (202) 226-4871
Rep. Thomas Petri (R-WI 6th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/petri
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2476
Fax: (202) 225-2356
Rep. Nick Rahall II (D-WV 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/rahall
E-mail: nrahall@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-3452
Fax: (202) 225-9061
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-CA 45th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/rohrabacher
E-mail: dana@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2415
Fax: (202) 225-0145
Rep. Nick Smith (R-MI 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/nicksmith
E-mail: rep.smith@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-6276
Fax: (202) 225-6281
Rep. Fortney Stark (D-CA 13th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/stark
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5065
Fax: (202) 226-3805
PRESENT - 29
Rep. Tammy Baldwin (D-WI 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/baldwin
E-mail: tammy.baldwin@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2906
Fax: (202) 225-6942
Rep. Bob Barr (R-GA 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/barr
E-mail: barr.ga@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2931
Fax: (202) 225-2944
Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA 30th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/becerra
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6235
Fax: (202) 225-2202
Rep. Sanford Bishop, Jr. (D-GA 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/bishop
E-mail: bishop.email@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-3631
Fax: (202) 225-2203
Rep. Sherrod Brown (D-OH 13th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/sherrodbrown
E-mail: sherrod@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-3401
Fax: (202) 225-2266
Rep. Michael Capuano (D-MA 8th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/capuano
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5111
Fax: (202) 225-9322
1232 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-2108
Rep. Eva Clayton (D-NC 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/clayton
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3101
Fax: (202) 225-3354
Rep. Sam Farr (D-CA 17th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/farr
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2861
Fax: (202) 225-6791
Rep. John Hostettler (R-IN 8th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/hostettler
E-mail: john.hostettler@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4636
Fax: (202) 225-3284
Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-OH 9th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/kaptur
E-mail: rep.kaptur@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4146
Fax: (202) 225-7711
Rep. Carolyn Kilpatrick (D-MI 15th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/kilpatrick
E-mail: carolyn.cheeks.kilpatrick@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2261
Fax: (202) 225-5730
Rep. Ron Kind (D-WI 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/kind
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5506
Fax: (202) 225-5739
Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-OH 10th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/kucinich
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5871
Fax: (202) 225-5745
Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mcdermott
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3106
Fax: (202) 225-6197
Rep. Patsy Mink (D-HI 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mink
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4906
Fax: (202) 225-4987
Rep. Alan Mollohan (D-WV 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mollohan
Phone: (202) 225-4172
Fax: (202) 225-7564
Rep. James Moran (D-VA 8th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/moran
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4376
Fax: (202) 225-0017
Rep. James Oberstar (D-MN 8th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/oberstar
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6211
Fax: (202) 225-0699
Rep. Donald Payne (D-NJ 10th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/payne
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3436
Fax: (202) 225-4160
Rep. Collin Peterson (D-MN 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/collinpeterson
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2165
Fax: (202) 225-1593
Rep. Martin Olav Sabo (D-MN 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/sabo
E-mail: martin.sabo@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4755
Fax: (202) 225-4886
Rep. Bernard Sanders (I-VT At-Large)
Web Site: bernie.house.gov
E-mail: bernie@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4115
Fax: (202) 225-6790
Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA 31st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/solis
Phone: (202) 225-5464
Fax: (202) 225-5467
Rep. Mike Thompson (D-CA 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mthompson
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3311
Fax: (202) 225-4335
Rep. Karen Thurman (D-FL 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/thurman
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-1002
Fax: (202) 226-0329
Rep. Melvin Watt (D-NC 12th)
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
http://www.house.gov/watt/
Rep. Lynn Woolsey (D-CA 6th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/woolsey
E-mail: lynn.woolsey@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-5161
Fax: (202) 225-5163
NOT VOTING
Rep. Doug Bereuter (R-NE 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/bereuter
Phone: (202) 225-4806
Fax: (202) 225-5686
Rep. Michael Bilirakis (R-FL 9th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/bilirakis
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5755
Fax: (202) 225-4085
Rep. Corrine Brown (D-FL 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/corrinebrown
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-0123
Fax: (202) 225-2256
Rep. Dan Burton (R-IN 6th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/burton
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2276
Fax: (202) 225-0016
Rep. Sonny Callahan (R-AL 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/callahan
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4931
Fax: (202) 225-0562
Rep. Chris Cannon (R-UT 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/cannon
E-mail: cannon.ut03@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-7751
Fax: (202) 225-5629
Rep. Eric Cantor (R-VA 7th)
Web Site: cantor.house.gov
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-2815
Fax: (202) 225-0011
Rep. John Cooksey (R-LA 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/cooksey
E-mail: congressman.cooksey@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-8490
Fax: (202) 225-5639
Rep. Philip Crane (R-IL 8th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/crane
Phone: (202) 225-3711
Fax: (202) 225-7830
Rep. Calvin Dooley (D-CA 20th)
Web Site: dooley.house.gov
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3341
Fax: (202) 225-9308
Rep. Terry Everett (R-AL 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/everett
E-mail: terry.everett@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2901
Fax: (202) 225-8913
Rep. Chaka Fattah (D-PA 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/fattah
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4001
Fax: (202) 225-5392
Rep. Peter Hoekstra (R-MI 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/hoekstra
E-mail: tellhoek@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4401
Fax: (202) 226-0779
Rep. Darlene Hooley (D-OR 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/hooley
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-5711
Fax: (202) 225-5699
Rep. Ernest Istook, Jr. (R-OK 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/istook
E-mail: istook@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2132
Fax: (202) 226-1463
Rep. William Jefferson (D-LA 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/jefferson
E-mail: jeffersonmc@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-6636
Fax: (202) 225-1988
Rep. William Jenkins (R-TN 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/jenkins
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6356
Fax: (202) 225-5714
Rep. Chris John (D-LA 7th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/john
E-mail: christopher.john@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2031
Fax: (202) 225-5724
Rep. John McHugh (R-NY 24th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/mchugh
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-4611
Fax: (202) 226-0621
Rep. Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-CA 37th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/millender-mcdonald
E-mail: millender.mcdonald@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-7924
Fax: (202) 225-7926
Rep. John Murtha (D-PA 12th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/murtha
E-mail: murtha@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2065
Fax: (202) 225-5709
Rep. Michael Oxley (R-OH 4th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/oxley
E-mail: mike.oxley@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2676
Fax: (202) 226-0577
Rep. Bob Riley (R-AL 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/riley
E-mail: bob.riley@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-3261
Fax: (202) 225-5827
Rep. Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (R-FL 18th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/ros-lehtinen
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3931
Fax: (202) 225-5620
Rep. Marge Roukema (R-NJ 5th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/roukema
E-mail: rep.roukema@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-4465
Fax: (202) 225-9048
Rep. Charles Stenholm (D-TX 17th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/stenholm
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6605
Fax: (202) 225-2234
Rep. John Sullivan (R-OK 1st)
Web Site: www.house.gov/sullivan
E-mail: ok01.sullivan@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-2211
Fax: (202) 225-9187
Rep. Charles Taylor (R-NC 11th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/charlestaylor
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-6401
Rep. Bennie Thompson (D-MS 2nd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/thompson
E-mail: thompsonms2nd@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-5876
Fax: (202) 225-5898
Rep. James Traficant, Jr. (D-OH 17th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/traficant
E-mail: telljim@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-5261
Fax: (202) 225-3719
Rep. Zach Wamp (R-TN 3rd)
Web Site: www.house.gov/wamp
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/writerep/
Phone: (202) 225-3271
Fax: (202) 225-3494
Rep. C.W. Young (R-FL 10th)
Web Site: www.house.gov/young
E-mail: bill.young@mail.house.gov
Phone: (202) 225-5961
Fax: (202) 225-9764
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/5/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS
* ANN COULTER ATTACKS, DATES MUSLIMS
* QUOTE OF THE DAY: 1-IN-4 SUPPORT RANDOM SEARCHS OF MUSLIMS (Wash.
Post)
* ON WHICH WHAT PAGE WOULD THIS STORY HAVE APPEARED IF MUSLIMS HAD BEEN
INVOLVED?
* A PENCHANT FOR SECRECY (New York Times)
* MAN FACES DEPORTATION AFTER SEPT. 11 TESTIMONY (Washington Post)
* PREJUDICE ALSO CLAIMED VICTIMS IN SEPT. 11'S WAKE (Chicago Tribune)
* U.S. MAGISTRATE DENIES MUSLIM GROUPS' REQUEST (Washington Post)
- Muslims' Evidence Sits Unexamined (AP)
* U.S. SEEKS SECRECY IN MUSLIM CHARITY CASE (Dallas Morning News)
* ILL. MUSLIMS SUPPORT ISLAMIC CHARITY (AP)
* SENIOR REPUBLICAN CALLS ON ISRAEL TO EXPEL WEST BANK ARABS (Guardian)
* ANGER OVER ARMEY'S COMMENTS (Newsday)
* MEDIA COVERAGE OF MUSLIM-WHIRLPOOL LAWSUIT
- Muslims sue Whirlpool (AP)
- Suit Says Company Discouraged Religion (New York Times)
- Muslims allege discrimination at Whirlpool plant (Reuters)
-----
FOR THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS ON GUJARAT, PALESTINE AND OTHER
IMPORTANT
ISSUES, GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
ANN COULTER ATTACKS, DATES MUSLIMS
French Voters Tentatively Reject Dynamiting Notre Dame
By Ann Coulter, FrontPageMagazine.com, 5/2/02
http://www.frontpagemagazine.com/columnists/coulter/index.html
LIBERALS HAVE FINALLY found a people even more worthy of their
admiration
than the adulterous French: synagogue-burning, genital-mutilating,
terrorist-cheering Muslims…
Whenever liberals are frustrated, they accuse their opponents of
"xenophobia" which is, admittedly, a step up from Muslims who express
frustration by strapping dynamite to children…
In addition to mutilating girls and burning synagogues, another popular
Muslim pastime in France is to steal cars, set them on fire and push
them
off cliffs…
SEE ALSO :
Reliable Source: Ann Coulter’s New Muslim Man
Lloyd Grove, The Washington Post, 3/13/02
…Ann Coulter's notorious post-Sept. 11 column for National Review
Online --
in which she suggested that the proper U.S. response to Muslim
terrorists
was to "invade their countries, kill their leaders and convert them to
Christianity" -- is still making waves six months later. But now the
controversy features a jaw-dropping twist involving Coulter's love
life…
We hear that shortly after her September tirade proposing a modern-day
crusade in Islamic countries, she began dating a gentleman of the
Muslim
persuasion, a well-to-do financier in New York. Word is that they met
by
chance four months ago on a Manhattan street and have been an item ever
since.
Coulter, an Episcopalian, declined to comment directly on this
surprising
circumstance. She refused to reveal the lucky guy's identity…
-----
QUOTE OF THE DAY: HALF OF ALL AMERICANS STILL FEEL UNSAFE
By Richard Morin, Washington Post, 5/3/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A24599-2002May2.html
“One in four [Americans] -- 24 percent -- supported giving police the
power
to conduct random searches of "anyone who appears to be Arab or
Muslim."
-----
ON WHICH WHAT PAGE WOULD THIS STORY HAVE APPEARED IF MUSLIMS HAD BEEN
INVOLVED?
The New York Times, May 5, 2002, Sunday, Late Edition - Final, SECTION
1;
PAGE 33; Column 5; National Desk, 920 words, More Pipe Bombs Are Found
In
Mailboxes in Nebraska, By SAM DILLON, TIPTON, Iowa, May 4
The Washington Post, May 05, 2002, Sunday, Final Edition, A SECTION;
PG.
A12, 562 words, Five More Pipe Bombs Found in the Midwest, Robert E.
Pierre, Washington Post Staff Writer, CHICAGO, May 4
Newsday (New York, NY), May 5, 2002 Sunday, NASSAU AND SUFFOLK EDITION,
PG.
A04, 370 words, More Mailbox Bombs Found ; 5 more turn up in Nebraska,
THE
ASSOCIATED PRESS
-----
A PENCHANT FOR SECRECY
By LINDA GREENHOUSE, The New York Times, 5/5/02
http://www.nytimes.com/2002/05/05/weekinreview/05GREE.html
A FEDERAL judge's decision last week that the Justice Department's
detention of a Jordanian student was a misuse of the material witness
statute served as a reminder that nearly eight months after Sept. 11,
the
balance between individual liberty and national security remains highly
unstable.
It was never in doubt that the terrorist attacks would alter the
balance
between these two values. American history is filled with examples of
how
domestic and foreign threats, perceived or -- as today -- real,
provoked
shifts in power away from the rights of the individual and toward the
promise of safety and order. Even against that background, the Bush
administration's pursuit of the domestic war on terrorism into
uncharted
and ambiguous legal territory is striking. Many of its choices reveal
the
same instinct for secrecy and penchant for unilateral executive-branch
action that the administration has displayed on political fields of
battle
unrelated to terrorism.
In fact, long after judges have ruled on challenges to the prolonged
detentions, closed immigration hearings and other policies that
Attorney
General John Ashcroft is defending in courts around the country, the
legacy
of this chapter of the perennial effort to calibrate the balance
between
liberty and security may lie in whatever verdict the political as well
as
the legal system renders on the value of transparency in government.
Secrecy is at the heart of an escalating battle over the identities of
hundreds of detainees, mostly Muslim men from Arab and Asian countries,
being held for the federal government in New Jersey county jails.
Responding to a suit by the American Civil Liberties Union, a state
court
applied New Jersey's right-to-know law and ordered the names made
public.
The secret detentions were "odious to a democratic society," ruled
Judge
Arthur N. D'Italia of Superior Court…
-----
MAN FACES DEPORTATION AFTER SEPT. 11 TESTIMONY
By Brooke A. Masters, The Washington Post, 5/5/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A33701-2002May4.html
Alrababah, 29, says his experiences since Sept. 11 also should serve as
a
cautionary tale. Since he came forward voluntarily, Alrababah has spent
seven months in federal custody -- almost entirely in solitary -- first
as
a material witness and then charged and convicted in an unrelated
identification fraud case. Now, a man who is engaged to a U.S.-born
citizen
and who once hoped to make his life here is facing deportation as soon
as
he gets out of prison.
"It's pretty much been a nightmare," said his 32-year-old fiancee, who
asked not to be named because she fears negative publicity could hurt
her
career as a professional figure skater. "He lost his business. He lost
friends. It's really disrupted our lives completely."
There is no public evidence tying Alrababah to terrorism beyond his
limited
contact with the hijackers, and he passed an FBI polygraph last fall,
his
lawyer, Frank Salvato, said. But federal sources cautioned that they
are
continuing to investigate Alrababah. The U.S. attorney's office
declined to
comment on the case...
-----
PREJUDICE ALSO CLAIMED VICTIMS IN SEPT. 11'S WAKE
By Jon Yates, The Chicago Tribune, 5/5/02
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/perspective/chi-0205050256may05.story
Balbir Singh Sodhi was gunned down Sept. 15 in the flower garden of his
Mesa, Ariz., gas station--targeted, police say, because of his turban
and
beard.
His family considers the 49-year-old Sikh Indian a victim of the Sept.
11
terrorist attacks, just like those who died in the World Trade Center
or
the Pentagon. But so far, neither the federal government nor charitable
organizations agree.
Now, help has come from a most unlikely source: an Evanston activist
named
Anya Cordell who has made it her mission to convince the Red Cross and
the
September 11th Fund that they should pay families of those who died in
backlash hate crimes.
Cordell, 51, calls her effort the Campaign for Collateral Compassion,
and
her argument is simple. Arabs who were killed in hate crimes after
Sept. 11
are victims of terror too…
"I don't think [Almansoop] would have died if his name were John
Smith."
Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations
in
Washington, said hate crimes are difficult to investigate because there
is
often little evidence of bias, but he considers Cordell's efforts
important
and said any effort to discount racial hatred as a motive in some
killings
after Sept. 11 may be misguided.
Hooper points to a case in Dallas of a Pakistani Muslim, Waqar Hasan,
who
was killed while cooking hamburgers in his grocery store on Sept. 15.
"Nobody wrote `death to Arab scum' on the wall," he said. "But the
strong
belief in the community is it was bias-related."
Hooper said victims like Hasan were "just as innocent as those who were
killed in New York and Washington…"
-----
U.S. MAGISTRATE DENIES MUSLIM GROUPS' REQUEST
Return Sought of Property Seized in Va.
By Brooke A. Masters, The Washington Post, 5/4/2002
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A29879-2002May3.html
A federal magistrate judge ruled yesterday that government agents can
continue to examine the property they seized in March from three
Northern
Virginia Muslim groups and 10 homes as part of a terrorism probe.
Attorneys for the International Institute of Islamic Thought, the
Graduate
School of Islamic and Social Sciences, Sterling Management Group Inc.
and
10 individuals had alleged that the raids violated their free speech
and
privacy rights. They asked U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan to
order the 500 boxes of records returned. She denied the attorneys'
request
and also turned down their petition to see the evidence the government
used
to obtain search warrants for the homes and businesses.
"We have students who can't turn in their papers. Our businesses are
harmed. Our customers are going away…It's as though the government
thinks
they can go into people's homes and businesses and take everything away
for
no reason," said Nancy Luque, an attorney for the Muslim businesses and
individuals…
SEE ALSO:
Muslims' Evidence Sits Unexamined
By MATTHEW BARAKAT, The Associated Press, 5/4/02
ALEXANDRIA, Va. (AP) - Hundreds of boxes of evidence seized from Muslim
organizations and homes in northern Virginia during government raids in
March are still awaiting review by investigators, court records show.
Lawyers for those targeted in the raids said the government is still
holding onto children's games and puzzles, cash and computers that it
never
should have seized in the first place.
“This is just an attempt to get our property back. We were shocked as
to
why these houses were searched. We have no idea why,” said Nancy Luque,
an
attorney for three organizations and 10 individuals targeted in the
raids.
At a court hearing Friday, the targets of the raids asked a judge to
unseal
the government affidavits that explain why the homes and organizations
were
targeted.
U.S. Magistrate Judge Theresa C. Buchanan refused to unseal the
affidavits,
saying she was satisfied that the government had reason to conduct the
raids and seize evidence…
No criminal charges have been filed as a result of the March 20 raids.
The
Customs Service said they were conducted as part of an operation to
investigate and cut off terrorist funding...
Luque said the fact that government agents seized so much material
suggests
they were on a fishing expedition, rather than looking for specific
evidence of criminal conduct.
“Clearly they don't know what they're looking for,” she said. “They
could
have avoided taking the puzzles and games of children.”
-----
U.S. SEEKS SECRECY IN MUSLIM CHARITY CASE
By Michelle Mittelstadt , The Dallas Morning News, 5/3/02
http://www.dallasnews.com/waronterrorism/stories/050302dnnatholyland.597d0.html
WASHINGTON _ Tapping a little-used and controversial legal strategy,
the
Justice Department is trying to offer secret evidence to justify the
financial freeze imposed on a Richardson, Texas-based Muslim charity
after
the Sept. 11 attacks.
In a filing late Wednesday night in federal court in Washington,
Justice
Department attorneys said they need to use classified information _
which
is not shared with lawyers for the other side _ to make their case that
the
government was correct when it froze the assets of the Holy Land
Foundation
for Relief and Development.
The foundation, which sued in March to force the government to unblock
its
funds, will "energetically" oppose any attempt to use secret evidence,
said
John Boyd, a Holy Land Foundation attorney…
"We are, of course, going to resist as energetically as we can any use
of
secret evidence to take away the property and funds of an American
organization that is operated by American citizens for charitable
purposes," Boyd said.
"We have, at this point, no idea what secret evidence the government is
referring to, but we are certainly going to take the position that
depriving people of their property based on secret evidence we have no
opportunity to know about _ much less rebut _ is not consistent with
the
Constitution or the American way of dealing with issues."
At a hearing last month, U.S. District Judge Gladys Kessler warned that
she
would not look favorably on any request to keep classified information
concealed from Holy Land Foundation's lawyers and the public, saying
the
government would have a "very heavy burden" in making its case...
"The use of secret evidence just really makes, in most situations, the
legal process a meaningless process," said Niels Frenzen, a University
of
Southern California law professor who has represented several
defendants in
secret-evidence cases. "In our system, we fundamentally believe that
the
truth is obtained through cross-examination. And classified evidence
eliminates that ability."
-----
ILL. MUSLIMS SUPPORT ISLAMIC CHARITY
By DON BABWIN, The Associated Press, 5/3/02
BRIDGEVIEW, Ill. (AP) - Janaan Hashim doesn't care what federal
prosecutors
say about the Benevolence International Foundation. She doesn't believe
the
Islamic charity has ties to Osama bin Laden and terrorists who tried to
get
their hands on nuclear weapons.
“I've worked with them,” said Hashim, as she dropped off her two young
daughters at an Islamic school in this Chicago suburb. “I know what
they do
is help a lot of people, they get into countries and help people where
other organizations don't have access to.”
In Brigeview, where protesters questioned Muslims' patriotism and
angrily
tried to march on a mosque after the Sept. 11 attacks, many Muslims are
not
about to believe the allegations against the charity.
The protesters “said the same thing about us,” said Said Hasan, after
he
drove from his home in nearby Hickory Hills to drop his daughter off at
the
school where she teaches. “Some of us were (soldiers) in Korea and
Vietnam.”
Hasan, whose faith calls on him to give to charity, said he is not
about to
stop giving to Muslim charities…
The Palos Hills-based charity and executive director Enaam M. Arnaout
were
charged with perjury Tuesday for denying they had provided assistance
to
terrorists. Prosecutors say the organization funneled large sums of
money
to bin Laden's al-Qaida network. In December, the U.S. government froze
the
assets of Benevolence and another Chicago-area charity…
-----
SENIOR REPUBLICAN CALLS ON ISRAEL TO EXPEL WEST BANK ARABS
By Matthew Engel, The Guardian (London), 5/4/2002
http://www.guardian.co.uk/Archive/Article/0,4273,4407293,00.html
The most senior Republican in the House of Representatives has called
for
Palestinians to be expelled from the West Bank, which should be annexed
in
its entirety by the state of Israel.
Dick Armey, majority leader in the House, shocked a primetime
television
audience when he said in a chat-show interview, that East Jerusalem,
the
West Bank and Gaza - all occupied by the Israeli army since the 1967
war -
should be considered a part of Israel proper. He was "content to have a
Palestinian state", but argued that such an entity could be set up
inside
other Arab countries. "There are many Arab nations that have many
hundreds
of thousands of acres of land and soil and property and opportunity to
create a Palestinian state. I happen to believe the Palestinians should
leave."
Mr Armey later backed down slightly and said he did not believe
"peaceful
Palestinian civilians should be forcibly expelled" but only those who
supported terrorist acts.
His original extremist com ments underline the extent of President
Bush's
dilemma of plotting a balanced course…
Mr Armey's views have been scarcely reported in America. The only
mention
was a passing reference in the deepest recesses of yesterday's New York
Times and Washington Post.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations called Mr Armey's views
"beyond
belief". Spokesman Jason Erb said that "even the most extreme Israelis
are
reluctant to publicly advocate such an insane policy". When Ari
Fleischer,
Mr Bush's spokesman, was asked for the president's view on what
appeared to
be an argument for ethnic cleansing, he changed the subject.
However, Mr Armey's views were not far out of line with on Thursday
night's
debate in the House, which overwhelmingly passed a 920-word resolution
entirely in favour of Israel, save for a call to pursue peace and a
reference to the "humanitarian needs of the Palestinian people" -
tacked on
at the White House's request...
-----
ANGER OVER ARMEY'S COMMENTS
By William Douglas and Elaine S. Povich, Newsday (New York, NY), 5/4/02
http://www.newsday.com/news/nationworld/world/ny-woarme042693418may04.story
Washington - Even in dealing with a hot issue like the
Israeli-Palestinian
conflict, Osama Siblani considers himself an even-tempered guy not
normally
prone to yelling at his television set.
But Siblani could not contain himself when he heard House Majority
Leader
Dick Armey (R-Texas) declare in a television interview Wednesday that
Palestinians should get out of the West Bank and that Israel should
"grab
the entire West Bank."
"I couldn't sleep all night I was so angry" said Siblani, editor of the
Arab American News in Dearborn, Mich., which has one of the nation's
largest Muslim populations. "A lot of Arab-Americans are angry."
Several
Arab-American groups lashed out at Armey Friday, accusing him of
supporting
ethnic cleansing and advocating an action that they say would amount to
a
war crime.
"Even the most extreme Israelis are reluctant to publicly advocate such
an
insane policy," said Jason Erb, governmental affairs director for the
Council on American-Islamic relations…
-----
MEDIA COVERAGE OF MUSLIM-WHIRLPOOL LAWSUIT
Muslims sue Whirlpool, citing religious discrimination at Tennessee
plant
The Associated Press, 5/4/02
LAVERGNE, Tennessee - Sixteen Muslims have filed a religious
discrimination
lawsuit claiming managers at a Whirlpool plant yanked scarves off
women's
heads and followed workers into restrooms to make sure they weren't
praying.
The current and former workers at the factory sued Whirlpool seeking
dlrs
310,000 in damages, along with a court order forcing the company to
"reasonably accommodate" the workers' religious practices, as required
by
law. Tom Kline, a spokesman at Whirlpool's corporate headquarters in
Benton
Harbor, Michigan, declined to comment.
Hodan Hassan of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington
said workers at the refrigerator and air conditioner plant outside
Nashville had been complaining about discrimination for five years…
---
Suit Says Company Discouraged Religion
The New York Times, 5/4/02
Sixteen Muslims, current and former workers at the Whirlpool plant in
La
Vergne, filed a federal lawsuit against the company, saying supervisors
warned workers not to pray on their breaks, followed them to restrooms
to
see if they were praying, fired those found praying and pulled scarves
from
women's heads. The suit seeks damages of $310,000 each, and "reasonable
accommodation" of religious practices and beliefs. Whirlpool officials
said
that nine similar grievances filed with the Equal Employment
Opportunity
Commission have been dismissed.
---
Muslims allege discrimination at Whirlpool plant.
Reuters, 5/3/02
WASHINGTON, May 3 (Reuters) - A group of current and former Muslim
employees of Whirlpool Corp. are suing the biggest U.S. appliance
maker,
alleging religious discrimination at a Tennessee factory.
A group of 16 employees at a factory in La Vergne, Tennessee, filed a
lawsuit against Whirlpool alleging a "consistent pattern of religious
discrimination," according to a statement released on Friday from the
Council on American-Islamic Relations.
The suit, filed on Monday in U.S. District Court for the Middle of
Tennessee, claims that Muslim employees were denied the right to pray
at
work, despite repeated requests for religious accommodation, the
Council
said. The suit seeks an order forcing Whirlpool to provide reasonable
accommodation for the plaintiffs' religious practices, $310,000 in
compensatory damages, and punitive damages for the emotional pain and
suffering caused by the discrimination.
The plaintiffs in the suit allege that plant supervisors followed
Muslim
employees to the restroom to ensure that they did not pray during their
breaks, the Council said. Employees also allege they were terminated
after
being discovered praying…
Whirlpool said in a statement that the company has not yet seen the
suit
and it does not comment on pending legal action…
Shares of Whirlpool were down 61 cents to $76.98 on the New York Stock
Exchange on Friday.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
U.S. PHYSICIAN DETAINED BY ISRAELIS AFTER REPORTING FROM JENIN
Islamic advocacy group says torture likely, asks American officials to
intervene
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 5/5/2002) An American physician from California who
was
visiting the Occupied Territories on a fact-finding mission for a
medical
relief organization has been detained by Israeli authorities after
reporting on the death and destruction he witnessed in the Jenin
refugee camp.
(MEDIA ADVISORY: A news conference on this issue will be held 9:30
a.m.,
Monday, May 6, in the Murrow Room of the National Press Club in
Washington,
D.C. CAIR has also learned of American citizen from Texas, Dallel
Mohammed
with the relief group Kinder USA [http://www.kinderusa.org], who has
also
been detained by the Israelis. Details of her detention will be
released at
the Monday news conference. For information about the news conference,
contact 202-256-2000.)
The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) tonight announced that
Santa Monica-born Dr. Riad Abdelkarim was detained this weekend at Ben
Gurion Airport and has now been transferred to a prison in Tel Aviv.
The
Washington-based Islamic advocacy group is calling on American
officials to
demand his immediate release and to prevent the Israelis from torturing
him, a practice commonly used in that state’s prisons.
Human rights groups say that the vast majority of detained Palestinians
face torture or abuse. A number of those cases have involved Americans
of
Palestinian heritage. The State Department’s web site says U.S.
citizens
arrested in Israel on alleged security offenses “may be prevented from
communicating with lawyers, family members, or consular officers for
lengthy periods…U.S. citizens have been subject to mistreatment during
interrogation and pressured to sign statements in Hebrew which have not
been translated. Under local law they may be detained for up to six
months
at a time without charges.”
SEE: http://travel.state.gov/israel_westbank_gaza.html
According to his family, Abdelkarim is in the Middle East on a
fact-finding
mission for Los Angeles-headquartered International Medical Corps
(IMC), a
global humanitarian nonprofit organization that supports health care
training and relief programs in a number of countries, including
Angola,
Burundi and Serbia. (In December of last year, IMC was named as one of
the
"100 American philanthropies most likely to save the world" by Worth
Magazine. SEE: http://www.imc-la.com/) A medical colleague traveling
with
Abdelkarim was held and later released by Israeli authorities.
Abdelkarim was detained as he was returning to the United States after
having witnessed the devastation caused by Israeli forces in the Jenin
refugee camp, details of which he reported widely on the Internet.
Though
born in the United States, he is a Palestinian-American whose family
traces
its roots to a village near Ramallah in the Occupied Territories.
“It seems the Israelis will go to any length to hide their war crimes
in
Jenin, including imprisoning medical relief workers. This fits a
pattern in
which Israel forces first prevented aid from reaching the victims in
Jenin
and then blocked a U.N. investigation into their brutal actions in the
camp,” said CAIR Board Chairman Omar Ahmad.
Along with his medical duties, Abelkarim is active with a number of
American Muslim relief and political advocacy organizations. He is a
board
member of the CAIR chapter in Southern California and was on the board
of
the now-closed Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development.
Abdelkarim
also coordinates the Independent Writers Syndicate, an editorial
service
that offers a Muslim perspective on current political, social and
religious
issues. His commentaries have been published in newspapers nationwide.
- END -
CONTACT: Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL - cair@cair-net.org
Ms. Hodan Hassan, 202-488-8787
E-MAIL: hhassan@cair-net.org
-----
FEELING LIKE THE ENEMY WITHIN:
Since the attacks, the Abdelkarims of Orange County have been taunted
at
school and questioned by the FBI. Even a trip to the mall raises fears.
By TERESA WATANABE, Los Angeles Times, 9/20/2001
Her four children in tow, the suburban mom climbs out of her Toyota
minivan
and heads into the MainPlace mall in Santa Ana. She wears a red, white
and
blue button, "USA All the Way!" as a symbol of her loyalty.
But as she approaches the entrance, she murmurs in Arabic: "May God
protect
us."
For all her American trappings, Wijdan Abdelkarim is conspicuous in her
Islamic head scarf, and she knows it.
In fallout that has unnerved countless other Muslims and Arab
Americans,
last week's terrorist attacks have upended the family life of Wijdan
and
her husband, Riad. Wijdan's routine shopping trips are now
tension-wracked
forays into the fearful unknown. FBI agents have questioned Riad, a
prominent Anaheim physician, about his Muslim associations in
encounters he
says first intimidated, then angered him…
The tall, articulate physician, a Santa Monica native of Palestinian
descent, is used to standing up to anti-Arab sentiment and succeeding
despite it. He grew up in Torrance, the oldest of six children. His
father
ran a grocery store in Hermosa Beach named after him, Riad's Market.
One of
the only Arab families in town at the time, the Abdelkarims had to
weather
the Arab oil embargo of the 1970s, the Iranian hostage crisis of
1979-81,
the Persian Gulf War of 1991 and the slurs that went along with such
events: Towel Head. Oil Can. Exhortations to "go back home."
The Abdelkarims' cars were vandalized, their lawn destroyed by thugs
pouring gasoline on it or driving their cars over it. The boys
frequently
got into fights, Riad recalled. And the day he won the local spelling
bee,
garnering front page coverage in the community newspaper, someone
called
his home and terrorized his mother with a false claim that he had been
kidnapped.
All the Trappings of American Success Story
In 1986, Riad made class valedictorian at Torrance High School with a
perfect grade point average. He applied to UCLA, UC Berkeley, Stanford
and
Yale and got into all of the schools. He says he chose UCLA because he
got
a free ride, winning every scholarship he applied for. He graduated
summa
cum laude, went to medical school at UC San Diego, and became a doctor
of
internal medicine. Last year, he made partner with the Southern
California
Permanente Medical Group in Anaheim.
The family bears all the marks of an American success story. Wijdan
drives
the Sienna minivan; he drives a Lexus. Their abode is a perfectly kept,
3,200-square-foot expanse with soaring ceilings, skylights and a
marbled
entryway with stunning city views in an Orange County neighborhood of
$500,000 homes. The yard bursts with color--impatiens, roses, fruit
trees,
all products of Wijdan's green thumb.
Plastic U.S. flags now adorn their front entrance and Riad's office.
At work, Riad appears to be a popular doctor, even with patients he
meets
for the first time…
The physician says the attacks have not caused him any problems at
work; to
the contrary, they have engendered support and sympathy for him. Eileen
Simpson, a nurse practitioner at Riad's medical clinic in Anaheim, says
one
of her first thoughts after the attack was of her friend's safety and
her
fear of a "backlash, big time" against him and other Muslims.
Simpson says the physician has been a good-humored professional mentor
who
has reshaped her views of Muslims. Before, she said, "I thought they
were a
radical group of people who wanted to kill Americans." Now she says she
sees Muslims as simply average Americans.
"We need more people like him in the Islamic community to enlighten
us,"
Simpson says.
Riad spends most of his hours outside his busy medical practice engaged
in
Muslim community activities. His first visit to Palestine in 1986 was a
turning point, he says. As a UCLA student in psychobiology, he began
organizing lectures and other events on the Palestinian-Israeli
conflict…
He also writes and speaks on American Muslim affairs, trying to
demystify
the faith for the broader public.
In these days of terror, that activist role has landed him on the FBI's
radar screen. On Sunday, as he was downing Chicken McNuggets at home,
two
FBI agents knocked on the door.
"I'm a confident person, but my voice cracked talking to them," he
said.
He asked the agents to meet him the next evening at the Council on
American-Islamic Relations' Anaheim office. The agents never showed up.
The
rendezvous was rescheduled for Tuesday at the Tustin Marketplace
shopping
center. This time, FBI special agents Jeffrey Palumbo and George
Krumpotich
were there, conspicuous in their dress shirts, ties and sunglasses.
They questioned him for an hour. Riad later says they asked about his
political views: "Are we the bad guys in all this?" Riad says he told
them
that he condemns the terrorism and wants the perpetrators brought to
justice but that American "one-sided, unconditional, blind support of
Israel" is fueling widespread resentment in the Mideast against the
United
States…
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/6/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: REMEMBERING GOD
* GO TO THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS
* AT $3,100 AN HOUR, SOLIDARITY HAS WINGS (Washington Post)
* CALIF. NEWS CONFERENCE IN SUPPORT OF U.S. PHYSICIAN DETAINED BY
ISRAELIS
* KINDER-USA DEMANDS RELEASE OF AMERICANS DETAINED BY ISRAELI FORCES
* IN MICHIGAN, ANTI-TERRORISM EFFORT GOES PUBLIC (Washington Post)
* CHRISTIANS SPEED EXODUS FROM BETHLEHEM (Washington Post)
* ISRAEL, PATRIOTISM AND THE BIG WHAT NEXT (San Francisco Chronicle)
* MUSLIMS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT FORM NEW GROUP (Washington Times)
* EDITORIAL: LIBERTY VS. SECURITY (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
* SHOWDOWN WITH SHARON (Antiwar.com)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: REMEMBERING GOD
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) narrated: "God says: 'I am to
my
servant as he expects of Me, I am with him when he remembers Me. If he
remembers Me in his heart, I remember him to Myself, and if he
remembers me
in an assembly, I mention him in an assembly better than his...and if
he
comes to me walking, I rush to him at [great] speed.'"
Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 99
-----
FOR THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS, GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
AT $3,100 AN HOUR, SOLIDARITY HAS WINGS
By Al Kamen, The Washington Post, 5/6/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37400-2002May5.html
When congressional delegations (aka codels) travel overseas, the usual
justifications involve fact-finding or attending diplomatic events. So
it
was a bit unusual last week to see Reps. Peter Deutsch (D-Fla.) and
Jack
Kingston (R-Ga.) announce a codel to "show solidarity with Israel."
Early press accounts had Deutsch saying it was "not a diplomatic
mission"
and meeting with senior Israelis was not the goal and there would be no
visits to areas controlled by the Palestinians.
Congressional resolutions of support for Israel last week apparently
didn't
go far enough. No, a better way to show solidarity is to find a bunch
of
members, get a military plane, a security team and a few aides and fly
over
there for a long weekend.
The two lawmakers, joined by Reps. Joseph M. Hoeffel III (D-Pa.) and
Jim
Saxton (R-Pa.), left Thursday (due back today) to go to hospitals and
visit
Israelis and Israeli Arabs injured in the conflict, a Deutsch aide
said.
The aide added that meetings with Israeli leaders had indeed been
scheduled.
Many more members were interested in going, we were told, but some had
scheduling problems and the only plane available was one of those
smaller
Gulfstream beauties. Too bad. The U.S. Embassy in Tel Aviv, no doubt
just
sitting around with nothing to do these days, would have loved taking
care
of a much larger group. The Gulfstream only costs about $3,100 an hour
to
fly over.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact the elected representatives who spent $3,100 per hour of
American
tax dollars to offer blind support to a brutal foreign government.
CONTACT: (Calls are most effective.)
Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL)
2421 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0920
Phone: (202) 225-7931
Fax: (202) 225-8456
Main District Office:
Phone: (954) 437-3936
Fax: (954) 437-4776
E-mail: fl20townhall@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
Web Site: www.house.gov/deutsch
--
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-PA)
1034 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-1001
Phone: (202) 225-5831
Fax: (202) 226-2269
Main District Office:
Phone: (912) 352-0101
Fax: (912) 352-0105
E-mail: jack.kingston@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
Web Site: www.house.gov/kingston
--
Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel III (D-PA)
1229 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3813
Phone: (202) 225-6111
Fax: (202) 226-0611
Main District Office:
Phone: (610) 272-8400
Fax: (610) 272-8532
Web Site: www.house.gov/hoeffel
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/hoeffel/letstalk.htm
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
--
Rep. Jim Saxton (R-PA)
339 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3003
Phone: (202) 225-4765
Fax: (202) 225-0778
Main District Office:
Phone: (609) 261-5800
Fax: (609) 261-1275
Web Site: www.house.gov/saxton
E-mail: jim.saxton@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CALIF. NEWS CONFERENCE IN SUPPORT OF U.S. PHYSICIAN DETAINED BY
ISRAELIS
WHAT: New conference in support of American physician from Orange
County,
California, who was visiting the Occupied Territories on a fact-finding
mission for a medical relief organization and has been detained by
Israeli
authorities after reporting on the death and destruction he witnessed
in
the Jenin refugee camp.
WHEN: Monday, May 6, 2002 at 11 a.m.
WHERE: 3255 Wilshire Blvd, Suite 603, Los Angeles, CA 90015
CONTACT: Sabiha Khan - 714-776-1847 or 714-390-0334 (Cell)
NOTE: This press conference is jointly sponsored by the Council on
American-Islamic Relations, Southern California (CAIR-LA) and the
Muslim
Public Affairs Council (MPAC).
-----
KINDER-USA
Kids in Need of Development, Education and Relief
For Immediate Release
Contact: Dr. Basil Abdel Karim (310) 493-8055
KINDER-USA DEMANDS IMMEDIATE RELEASE OF TWO AMERICANS DETAINED BY
ISRAELI
FORCES
As part of an ongoing campaign to block humanitarian assistance to the
Palestinians, Israeli forces this weekend detained two board members of
KinderUSA, a non-profit relief organization based in the United States.
The
detainees are American-born US citizens. At the time of this release,
Israeli authorities have denied them access to US consular or embassy
officials.
Dr. Riad Abdel Karim, a southern California physician and President of
the
Board of Directors of KinderUSA, had just finished a fact-finding
mission
with the International Medical Corps, which was conducting a
needs-assessment of medical services available to Palestinians in the
West
Bank.
Dalell Mohamed, Executive Director of KinderUSA, had just arrived in
Jerusalem to begin distribution of badly needed food, water and
blankets to
Palestinian refugees recently affected by Israeli attacks throughout
the
West Bank.
These arrests are further evidence of continued egregious human rights
violations by the Israeli government which denies the basic needs of
the
civilian Palestinian population by barring humanitarian aid under the
guise
of fighting terrorism. By harassing and arresting humanitarian aid
workers, Israeli authorities are engaged in a chilling attempt to
terrify
and intimidate Americans and others to prevent them from providing
relief
to Palestinians living under occupation.
As an American organization, we demand that the Government of the
United
States:
* Order the immediate release of Dr. Abdel Karim and Ms. Mohamed from
Israeli detention.
* Obtain guarantees from the government of Israel for immediate and
safe
passage for humanitarian aid workers in the Occupied Territories in
accordance with international law.
* Demand transparency and accountability from Israeli authorities for
the
unlawful arrest of American citizens who must be entitled to unhindered
access to legal representatives and American officials.
KinderUSA is a non-profit, legally registered American organization
dedicated to providing relief and development assistance to Palestinian
children and their families, regardless of religious background. For
more
information, see our website at www.kinderusa.org
KinderUSA, 264 Arapaho, Suite 711, Dallas, Texas 75248-4005
-----
IN MICHIGAN, ANTI-TERRORISM EFFORT GOES PUBLIC
Haddad Case Forces Rare Glimpse of Secret U.S. Campaign
By Dan Eggen and Kari Lydersen, The Washington Post, 5/6/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37210-2002May5.html
When three immigration agents knocked on his apartment door in Ann
Arbor,
Mich., in December, Rabih Haddad already had his attorney on the phone.
Earlier on Dec. 14, federal agents raided the Illinois offices of the
Global Relief Foundation, the Islamic charity that Haddad had helped
found,
freezing its assets and accusing it of funding terrorists. That
afternoon,
they took him into custody. Haddad, 41, has been in jail ever since.
In court papers, U.S. officials have accused him of having contact with
groups and individuals associated with the al Qaeda terrorist network.
But
they have not charged him with a terrorism-related crime, and they have
declined to provide details of the allegations to him or to his legal
team.
They have held him on the comparatively minor charge of overstaying his
visa.
Haddad's attorneys and supporters, including Rep. John Conyers Jr.
(D-Mich.), say he is a gentle man, a Muslim who has worked to bring
together people of different faiths. They say he is a victim of an
overzealous Justice Department that has targeted innocent Arab and
Muslim
men since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Haddad's case is like those of hundreds of other post-Sept. 11
detainees,
except in one important aspect: At least part of his fight is being
waged
in public. Last month, federal judges ordered that documents and
hearing
transcripts from Haddad's immigration case be made public. When the
Justice
Department reluctantly complied, Haddad's case became the first of the
Sept. 11-related prosecutions to be unsealed...
------
CHRISTIANS SPEED EXODUS FROM BETHLEHEM
By Doug Struck, The Washington Post, 5/6/02
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37498-2002May5.html
BETHLEHEM, West Bank, May 5 - Grace and Maher Handal met in the Church
of
the Nativity. They were married there. Their twins were christened
there.
They gave up an opportunity to move to the United States and stayed in
Bethlehem, where the church is so central to their lives.
But today, their Easter, they have had enough. With a ring of Israeli
tanks
keeping them out of the church compound, their livelihood lost to an
Israeli military curfew and their children confined to their house for
a
month by the siege, they are desperate to leave the Holy Land. "I want
to
live a normal life, where my children are not afraid," said Grace
Handal,
27. "Where shells don't go over our house and tanks don't come into our
yard. My kids used to draw pictures of birds. Now they draw tanks..."
Even before tonight's announcement of an agreement to end the standoff
around the church, Christian leaders worried that the hardships of the
past
month would accelerate an exodus that has shrunk the last Christian
enclaves in the places where Jesus is believed to have been born,
preached
and died...
Bethlehem was once said to be 98 percent Christian. Now Christians are
a
minority in the Palestinian-ruled town, as well as in the Israeli city
of
Nazareth, and reduced to a few thousand in Jerusalem. The long Israeli
occupation of Palestinian territories, with its economy-strangling
curfews
and border closures, and an underlying tension with Muslims, have all
fed
the outflow...
Accurate census numbers do not exist, but in the early 1900s,
Christians
were thought to make up about 20 percent of the population of what is
now
Israel, the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Now they are less than 2
percent,
according to Charles Sennott, author of "The Body and the Blood," a
book
about Christian flight from the Holy Land. "It is indisputable that the
Christian presence has dwindled dramatically," Sennott wrote...
-----
ISRAEL, PATRIOTISM AND THE BIG WHAT NEXT
By JON CARROLL, The San Francisco Chronicle, 5/6/02
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2002/05/06/DD93586.DTL
IT IS POSSIBLE to be a patriotic American and still be against the
policies
of the current government of Israel. I'm not sure that point gets made
enough. Hell, it is possible to be a patriotic American and to be
against
the state of Israel as an idea.
American interests are not Israeli interests. Israeli interests are not
American interests. Two different countries. Allies, friends, whatever,
but
different.
Likewise, it is possible to be Jewish and to be against the policies of
the
current government of Israel. The current government of Israel does not
reflect the views of all Jews. Being against the policies of the
current
government of Israel does not make one an anti-Semite...
-----
MUSLIMS IN LAW ENFORCEMENT FORM NEW GROUP
By J.A. Brown, The Washington Times, 5/6/02
http://www.jrn.columbia.edu/cns/2002-04-10/367.asp
A group of Muslim police and correction officers in New York has formed
a
group to improve relations between the community and police as the
country
continues to confront the impact of the terrorist attacks more than six
months ago.
Its founders want the group, the American Muslim Law Enforcement
Officers
Association, believed to be the first such national organization, to
serve
the double purpose of improving police effectiveness and reassuring the
Muslim community.
"We are a communication bridge," said Officer Adil Almontaser, 27, a
Yemeni-American who grew up in Brooklyn and joined the New York Police
Department five years ago. "We wanted to show the community we are
here. We
want them to realize it and feel proud. They don't have to feel afraid
or
feel intimidated."
Although the organization, formed in December, has not begun formally
recruiting yet, Almontaser and the five other founding members estimate
there are around 200 Muslims working in law enforcement in New York and
4,000 nationwide -- as everything from FBI agents to correction
officers...
-----
EDITORIAL: LIBERTY VS. SECURITY
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 5/6/02
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/News/Editorial/D55859D2D7A0390586256BB100406A97
IN this country, we don't imprison people unless there is evidence they
committed a crime. We don't hold detention hearings behind closed
doors. We
don't imprison people for crimes they might commit in the future. All
these
things are fundamental.
Yet since Sept. 11, Attorney General John D. Ashcroft has used the
federal
material witness law in exactly those ways, locking up two dozen
people.
Last week, a federal judge in New York called Mr. Ashcroft's tactics
"illegitimate..."
But even if Mr. Ashcroft's use of the law was justified in the first
confusing days after Sept. 11, it certainly has been abused since.
Consider
the case of Abdallah Higazy, an Egyptian-born student who was arrested
as a
material witness on Dec. 17 when he returned to a hotel near the World
Trade Center to retrieve possessions left behind on Sept. 11. The FBI
confronted him with a ground-to-air radio found at the hotel.
After three weeks of detention, Mr. Higazy seemed to confess and was
charged with interfering with an investigation. But a few days later,
another hotel guest claimed the radio. The government released Mr.
Higazy
in prison garb and with a $3 subway fare.
Compounding these abuses is the secrecy that has shrouded the use of
the
law. The Justice Department won't say how many people have been held as
material witnesses. Nor are the court proceedings involving material
witnesses open to the public.
We all want to be safe, but in this country, we hold certain values
fundamental. The Justice Department's tactics are fundamentally wrong.
-----
SHOWDOWN WITH SHARON
By Justin Raimondo, Antiwar.com
http://www.antiwar.com/justin/justincol.html
Who runs US foreign policy? We'll soon find out....
Who runs America's foreign policy? The answer to this vexing question
seems
to vary, depending on the day of the week - which could mean it has
something to do with the position of the Moon. Some days, it's Colin
Powell
over at the State Department. Other times, control is ceded to the
super-hawks in the Defense Department. And, on occasion, it seems no
one is
at the helm, with different factions of the government each enunciating
their own foreign policy, giving the odd impression of an
administration
talking out of both sides of its mouth...
The recent turn in US policy, away from unconditional support for the
Sharon's policies, and toward a more even-handed position, is a
gauntlet
thrown in Sharon's path - and he did not hesitate to take up the
challenge.
A showdown is imminent. General Sharon has mustered his troops -
especially
the brigade stationed in Washington, D.C. - and I hope George W. Bush
is
prepared for the all-out assault, because it is going to be
merciless...
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
MPAC, CAIR & AMJ Call on U.S. Government to Protect Americans from
Illegal
Israeli Detentions
Joint Action Alert: MPAC, CAIR and AMJ
May 6, 2002
U.S. Government Must Protect Americans from Illegal Israeli Detentions
ACTION: Call and Write Undersecretary of State William Burns,
Congressman
Christopher Cox, and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson and urge that
they
put pressure on Israel to release innocent Americans from Israeli
prisons
and detention facilities.
As members of Congress who represent Dr. Riad Abdelkarim and Dallel
Mohamed, Representatives Cox and Johnson can and should weigh in to
ensure
that their constituents are not being abused by a foreign government.
Please call their offices and urge them to do so.
Undersecretary of State William Burns
Phone: (202) 647-5150
E-mail: askpublicaffairs@state.gov
2201 C St. NW Rm 6242
Washington, DC 20520
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) (Dallel Mohamed's
Congresswoman)
Washington office:
Phone: (202) 225-8885
Fax: (202) 226-1477
E-mail: rep.e.b.johnson@mail.house.gov
1511 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4330
Texas Office:
Phone: (214) 922-8885
Fax: (214) 922-7028
2501 Cedar Springs Rd., # 550
Dallas, TX 75201
Congressman Christopher Cox (R-CA) (Riad Abdelkarim's
Congressman)
Washington Office:
Phone: (202) 225-5611
Fax: (202) 225-9177
E-mail: christopher.cox@mail.house.gov
2402 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0547
Main District Office:
Phone: (949) 756-2244
Fax: (949) 251-9309
One Newport Place, # 420
Newport Beach, CA 92660
CC:
President George Bush
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
E-Mail: secretary@state.gov
Phone: (202) 647-4000
Fax: (202) 261-8577
2201 C St NW
Washington, DC 20520
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Phone: (213) 383-3443
Fax: (213) 383-9674
Contact: Sarah Eltantawi
E-mail: sarah@mpac.org
Council of American Islamic Relations
Contact: Ibrahim Hooper
Phone: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
Email: cair@cair-net.org
American Muslims for Jerusalem
Phone: (202) 548-4200
Fax: (202) 548-4201
E-mail: amj@amjerusalem.org
May 6, 2002
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), the Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) and American Muslims for Jerusalem (AMJ) are asking
all
American Muslims and people of conscience to take the time now to hold
the U.S.
Government accountable for the safety and security of American
citizens.
In a shocking assault on International standards protecting medical
relief
workers, Israeli authorities have detained without charge several
high-profile Americans, sometimes in conditions of solitary
confinement,
for no reason other than their relief work and peaceful activism on
behalf
of besieged Palestinians.
In a packed press conference today at the Muslim Public Affairs Council
in
Los Angeles, American Jewish activist Adam Shapiro, who made
international
headlines when his peace group in the West Bank spent several days in
Yassir Arafat's compound, detailed human rights abuses he personally
witnessed in the Jenin refugee camp. Shapiro also told the story of his
fiancé, Huwaida Arraf, and a British activist, who are currently
detained
by the Israeli authorities outside Tel Aviv with no charges against
them.
According to Shapiro, when Ms. Arraf asked the Israeli authorities why
several international citizens were being detained and dropped off in
the
middle of the night without identification or cellular phones (these
were
confiscated by the Israelis) on the outskirts of Jerusalem, she was met
with a "hard slap". Shapiro, whose wedding was scheduled for later this
month, has found the American consulate and embassy in Israel to be
"slow
to respond and not sufficiently following up on these cases."
Executive Director of MPAC Salam Al-Marayati then detailed the breaking
story of highly respected American Muslim activist Dr. Riad Abdelkarim
of
Orange County, CA, and Dallel Mohammed of Richardson, TX. Dr.
Abdelkarim
and Ms. Mohammed were detained this weekend at Ben Gurion Airport and
have
now been transferred to a prison on the outskirts of Tel Aviv.
Abdelkarim
was detained as he was returning to the United States after witnessing
the
devastation caused by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp, details
of
which he reported extensively on the internet.
According to a statement from Dr. Abdelkarim's family, "Riad has been
denied access to an attorney, and he has not been allowed to contact
his
family. At this time, our family is shaken and frightened by this
incident.
Riad's four children are traumatized and are asking for their father.
Again, we demand Riad's immediate release and request that U.S.
government
officials take steps to protect Riad as an American citizen who was
born
and bred in Santa Monica and the South Bay area."
Americans must rise and demand that our government protect our citizens
against Israel's illegal detentions, not only of Palestinians they
imprison
in a system of apartheid, but now against American citizens whose
relief
work on behalf of Palestinian orphans is not to their liking. Our
government, particularly in the halls of Congress, must stop its
shameful
displays of blind support for any and all of Israel's excesses,
including
the assault and detention of innocent Americans. Enough is enough. Call
the
above governmental representatives now and urge them to demand the
immediate release of these Americans and all Americans unlawfully
detained
by the State of Israel.
-----
SEE ALSO:
ISRAEL ARRESTS TWO AMERICANS ASSOCIATED WITH RELIEF GROUPS
The Associated Press, 5/6/02
WASHINGTON - Israeli authorities have arrested two Americans affiliated
with relief organizations, including a Muslim commentator who recently
described by telephone and in e-mails the destruction he saw in Jenin,
a
supporter said Monday.
Riad Abdelkarim, a physician from the Los Angeles area, was detained
Sunday
at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport while trying to return to
the
United States, said Khalid Turaani of the Washington-based American
Muslims
for Jerusalem. Israeli authorities called his wife in California on
Sunday
and urged her to hire an attorney, Turaani said.
Abdelkarim, who has written opinion pieces on Muslim issues for major
U.S.
newspapers, serves on the board of American Muslims for Jerusalem and
chairman of a new charity, Kinder-USA, organized to provide aid to
Palestinian children. Abdelkarim also is the Western region
communications
director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
The other person arrested during the weekend was Dallal Muhammad of
Dallas,
Texas, Turaani said. Ms. Muhammad is president of the Kinder-USA
organization, he said.
The U.S. State Department could not confirm the arrests, an official
said.
But a U.S. diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed
the arrests and said consular officials in Israel were being given
proper
access.
Turaani said Abdelkarim was touring damaged areas in Jenin with
International Medical Corps, a relief organization based in Los
Angeles.
Abdelkarim's family traces its history to a village near Ramallah,
where
Israeli troops kept Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in isolation for
weeks
during their incursion into Palestinian areas…
---
GROUP SEEKS RELEASE OF CALIF. MUSLIM HELD IN ISRAEL
By Sarah Tippit, Reuters, 5/6/02
LOS ANGELES, May 6 (Reuters) - A California Islamic group said on
Monday
that a Muslim-American doctor has been jailed in Israel after
conducting a
fact-finding mission for a medical relief organization in the
Palestinian
Jenin refugee camp.
The Southern California chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Council
on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said that Dr. Riad Abdelkarim, who
has a
practice in Anaheim, California, about 30 miles (48 km) south of Los
Angeles, was detained at Israel's Ben Gurion Airport over the weekend
and
later transferred to a Tel Aviv jail.
CAIR said that his arrest allegedly occurred after he reported in an
e-mail
to relatives that he saw "death and destruction" in the West Bank camp
that
had been under siege by Israeli army troops seeking to root out alleged
terrorist networks and suicide bombers.
CAIR, which said it did not know what he had been charged with or why
he
was detained, asked U.S. officials to demand Abdelkarim's immediate
release
to "prevent the Israelis from torturing him." A CAIR official said
later
that U.S. diplomatic officials had told the group that he was in good
condition.
Abdelkarim was working for the Los Angeles-based International Medical
Corps, a nonprofit organization that supports relief programs in
strife-torn countries, including Angola, Burundi and Serbia, CAIR said.
A
Medical Corps spokesman confirmed that Abdelkarim worked with the group
but
had no other details.
A medical colleague traveling with Abdelkarim was held and later
released
by Israeli authorities, CAIR said…
A warning to U.S. citizens traveling in the West Bank posted on the
U.S.
State Department's Web site said that U.S. citizens arrested in Israel
on
alleged security offenses "may be prevented from communicating with
lawyers, family members, or consular officers for lengthy periods. The
U.S.
Consulate General and the Embassy are often not notified of such
arrests,
or are not notified in a timely manner…"
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/7/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: A WAY OUT OF DISTRESS
* THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS
* PROTEST ARIEL SHARON'S VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE
* EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AT CAIR: CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR
* THE ISRAELI "ART STUDENT" MYSTERY (Salon.com)
* CONGRESSMEN TELL FOREIGN GOVERMENT TO REBUFF PRESIDENT (Jerusalem
Post)
* HELP THE VICTIMS OF ETHNIC CARNAGE IN GUJARAT
* MEDIA COVERAGE OF ISRAEL'S ARREST OF TWO AMERICAN RELIEF WORKERS
- Israelis arrest two Americans associated with relief groups
(AP)
- Dallas woman arrested in Jerusalem hotel (Star-Telegram)
- O.C. doctor held in Israel (Orange County Register)
- US Muslim group claims Israel arrested American doctor (AFP)
- Israel arrests 2 Americans (Dallas Morning News)
- California doctor one of 3 Americans detained (City News
Service)
- Israeli Detention of 2 Americans Questioned (Los Angeles
Times)
* LETTERS: CIVIL LIBERTIES INCLUDE MUSLIMS (Patriot News)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: A WAY OUT OF DISTRESS
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "If anyone continually
asks
pardon, God will appoint for him a way out of every distress, and a
relief
from every anxiety, and will provide for him from where he did not
reckon."
Abu Dawood, Hadith 599
-----
FOR THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS, GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
PROTEST ARIEL SHARON'S VISIT TO THE WHITE HOUSE
WHEN: Tuesday, May 7, 4-7 p.m.
WHERE: Pennsylvania Avenue and 17th Street at the White House
-----
EMPLOYMENT OPPORTUNITY AT CAIR: CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR
CAIR has an immediate opening for an experienced, dynamic person to
fill
the position of CIVIL RIGHTS COORDINATOR. This position involves
handling
of civil rights cases, researching issues pertaining to civil and
religious
rights in America and maintaining a civil rights database system.
The successful candidate should have a bachelor's degree in a related
field, with general knowledge of the U.S. Constitution and the Civil
Rights
Act of 1964. He or she should be proficient in spreadsheet and database
applications and must be able to communicate effectively, both verbally
and
in writing. Some travel is required in this position.
Salary Range: Based on education, skills and experience
CAIR offers an excellent health and dental benefit for its full time
employees.
All those interested and eligible to work in U.S. (Citizens or proper
work
visa holders) are encouraged to apply in confidence via email to:
jsalaam@cair-net.org or by fax to 202-488-0833. When applying via email
please ensure to write the position title "Civil Rights Coordinator" in
the
subject of the email.
-----
THE ISRAELI "ART STUDENT" MYSTERY
By Christopher Ketcham, Salon.com, 5/7/02
http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2002/05/07/students/index_np.html
HIGHLIGHT: For almost two years, hundreds of young Israelis falsely
claiming to be art students haunted federal offices -- in particular,
the
DEA. No one knows why -- and no one seems to want to find out.
In January 2001, the security branch of the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Agency
began to receive a number of peculiar reports from DEA field offices
across
the country. According to the reports, young Israelis claiming to be
art
students and offering artwork for sale had been attempting to penetrate
DEA
offices for over a year. The Israelis had also attempted to penetrate
the
offices of other law enforcement and Department of Defense agencies.
Strangest of all, the "students" had visited the homes of numerous DEA
officers and other senior federal officials.
As a pattern slowly emerged, the DEA appeared to have been targeted in
what
it called an "organized intelligence gathering activity." But to what
end,
and for whom, no one knew.
Reports of the mysterious Israelis with an inexplicable interest in
peddling art to G-men came in from more than 40 U.S. cities and
continued
throughout the first six months of 2001. Agents of the DEA, ATF, Air
Force,
Secret Service, FBI, and U.S. Marshals Service documented some 130
separate
incidents of "art student" encounters. Some of the Israelis were
observed
diagramming the inside of federal buildings. Some were found carrying
photographs they had taken of federal agents. One was discovered with a
computer printout in his luggage that referred to "DEA groups."
In some cases, the Israelis visited locations not known to the public
--
areas without street addresses, for example, or DEA offices not
identified
as such -- leading authorities to suspect that information had been
gathered from prior surveillance or perhaps electronically, from credit
cards and other sources. One Israeli was discovered holding banking
receipts for substantial sums of money, close to $180,000 in
withdrawals
and deposits over a two-month period. A number of the Israelis resided
for
a period of time in Hollywood, Fla. -- the small city where Mohammed
Atta
and three terrorist comrades lived for a time before Sept. 11...
According to one account, some 140 Israeli nationals were detained or
arrested between March 2001 and Sept. 11, 2001. Many of them were
deported.
According to the INS, the deportations resulted from violations of
student
visas that forbade the Israelis from working in the United States. (In
fact, Salon has established that none of the Israelis were enrolled in
the
art school most of them claimed to be attending; the other college they
claimed to be enrolled in does not exist.) After the Sept. 11 attacks,
many
more young Israelis -- 60, according to one AP dispatch and other
reports
-- were detained and deported.
The "art students" followed a predictable modus operandi. They
generally
worked in teams, typically consisting of a driver, who was the team
leader,
and three or four subordinates. The driver would drop the "salespeople"
off
at a given location and return to pick them up some hours later. The
"salespeople" entered offices or approached agents in their offices or
homes. Sometimes they pitched their artwork -- landscapes, abstract
works,
homemade pins and other items they carried about in portfolios. At
other
times, they simply attempted to engage agents in conversation.
If asked about their studies, they generally said they were from the
Bezalel Academy of Arts and Design in Jerusalem or the University of
Jerusalem (which does not exist). They were described as "aggressive"
in
their sales pitch and "evasive" when questioned by wary agents. The
females
among them were invariably described as "very attractive" -- "blondes
in
tight shorts or jeans, real lookers," as one DEA agent put it to Salon.
"They were flirty, flipping the hair, looking at you, smiling. 'Hey,
how
are you? Let me show you this.'
Everything a woman would do if she wanted to get something out of you."
Some agents noted that the "students" made repeated attempts to avoid
facility security personnel by trying to enter federal buildings
through
back doors and side entrances. On several occasions, suspicious agents
who
had been visited at home observed the Israelis after the "students"
departed and noted that they did not approach any of the neighbors...
On the face of it, this was a blockbuster tale, albeit a bizarre and
cryptic one, full of indeterminate leads and fascinating implications
and
ambiguous answers: "Like a good Clancy novel," as one observer put it.
Was
it espionage? Drug dealing? An intelligence game? The world's wackiest
door-to-door hustle?
Yet the mainstream media has almost entirely ignored the allegations or
accepted official "explanations" that explain nothing. Even before the
DEA
memo was leaked, however, some reporters had begun sniffing around the
remarkable story.
On Oct. 1 of last year, Texas newswoman Anna Werner, of KHOU-TV in
Houston,
told viewers about a "curious pattern of behavior" by people with
"Middle
Eastern looks" claiming to be Israeli art students. "Government guards
have
found those so-called students," reported Werner, "trying to get into
secure federal facilities in Houston in ways they're not supposed to --
through back doors and parking garages." Federal agents, she said, were
extremely "concerned."
The "students" had showed up at the DEA's Houston headquarters, at the
Leland Federal Building in Houston, and even the federal prosecutor's
office; they had also appeared to be monitoring the buildings. Guards
at
the Earle Cabell Federal Building in Dallas found one "student"
wandering
the halls with a floor plan of the site. Sources told Werner that
similar
incidents had occurred at sites in New York, Florida, and six other
states,
"and even more worrisome, at 36 sensitive Department of Defense
sites..."
Post-9/11, this should have been the opening thrust in an orgy of
coverage,
and the scoop of a lifetime for Werner: Here she'd gotten a glimpse
into a
possible espionage ring of massive proportions, possibly of terrorists
scouting new targets for jihad -- and those terrorists were possibly
posing
as Israelis. KHOU's conclusions were wrong -- these weren't Arab
terrorists
-- but at the time no one knew better. And yet the story died on the
vine.
No one followed up.
Just about the same time that KHOU was stabbing in the dark, reporter
Carl
Cameron of the Fox News Channel was beginning an investigation into the
mystery of the art students that would ultimately light the way into
altogether different terrain. In a four-part series on Fox's "Special
Report With Brit Hume" that aired in mid-December, Cameron reported
that
federal agents were investigating the "art student" phenomenon as a
possible arm of Israeli espionage operations tracking al-Qaida
operatives
in the United States.
Yes, you read that right: a spy ring that may have been trailing
al-Qaida
members in the weeks and months before Sept. 11 -- a spy ring that
according to Cameron's sources may have known about the preparations
for
the Sept. 11 attacks but failed to share this knowledge with U.S.
intelligence. One investigator told Cameron that "evidence linking
these
Israelis to 9/11 is classified. I cannot tell you about evidence that
has
been gathered. It's classified information."
According to Cameron, some 60 Israeli nationals had been detained in
the
anti-terrorism/immigrant sweeps in the weeks after Sept. 11, and at
least
140 Israelis identified as "art students" had been detained or arrested
in
the prior months. Most of the 60 detained after Sept. 11 had been
deported,
Cameron said. "Some of the detainees," reported Cameron, "failed
polygraph
questions when asked about alleged surveillance activities against and
in
the United States."
Some of them were on active military duty. (Military service is
compulsory
for all young Israelis.) Cameron was careful to note that there was "no
indication that the Israelis were involved in the 9/11 attacks" and
that
while his reporting had dug up "explosive information," none of it was
necessarily conclusive. Cameron was simply airing the wide-ranging
speculations in an ongoing investigation...
But inside the DEA, the Fox piece reverberated. An internal DEA
communique
obtained by Salon indicates that the DEA made careful note of Cameron's
reports; the communique even mentions Fox News by name. Dated Dec. 18,
four
days after the final installment in the Fox series, the document warns
of
security breaches in DEA telecommunications by unauthorized "foreign
nationals" -- and cites an Israeli-owned firm with which the DEA
contracted
for wiretap equipment -- breaches that could have accounted for the
access
that the "art students" apparently had to the home addresses of agents.
It wasn't until nearly three months after the Fox reports that the "art
student" enigma resurfaced in newsrooms, this time in Europe. On Feb.
28,
the respected Paris-based espionage newsletter Intelligence Online
reported
in detail on what turned out to have been one of Cameron's key source
documents: the 60-page DEA memo. The memo itself, which Salon obtained
in
mid-March, went no further than to speculate in the most general terms
that
the "nature of the individuals' conduct" suggested some sort of
"organized
intelligence gathering activity."
The memo also pointed out that there was some evidence connecting the
art
students to a drug ring. "DEA Orlando has developed the first drug
nexus to
this group," the memo read. "Telephone numbers obtained from an Israeli
Art
Student encountered at the Orlando D.O. District Office have been
linked to
several ongoing DEA MDMA (Ecstasy) investigations in Florida,
California,
Texas and New York..."
Six of the "students" were apparently carrying cell phones purchased by
a
former Israeli vice consul to the United States. According to Le Monde,
two
of the "students" had traveled from Hamburg to Miami to visit an FBI
agent
in his home, then boarded a flight to Chicago and visited the home of a
Justice Dept. agent, then hopped a direct flight to Toronto -- all in
one day.
According to Intelligence Online, more than one-third of the students,
who
were spread out in 42 cities, lived in Florida, several in Hollywood
and
Fort Lauderdale, Fla. -- one-time home to at least 10 of the 19 Sept.
11
hijackers.
In at least one case, the students lived just a stone's throw from
homes
and apartments where the Sept. 11 terrorists resided: In Hollywood,
several
students lived at 4220 Sheridan St., just down the block from the 3389
Sheridan St. apartment where terrorist mastermind Mohammed Atta holed
up
with three other Sept. 11 plotters. Many of the students, the DEA
report
noted, had backgrounds in Israeli military intelligence and/or
electronics
surveillance; one was the son of a two-star Israeli general, and
another
had served as a bodyguard to the head of the Israeli army...
To someone not familiar with the 60-page DEA memo, or to reporters who
didn't bother to obtain it, the fact that a disgruntled employee leaked
a
memo he wrote himself might seem like decisive proof that the whole
"art
student" tale was a canard. In reality, the nature of the memo makes
its
authorship irrelevant. The memo is a compilation of field reports by
dozens
of named agents and officials from DEA offices across America. It
contains
the names, passport numbers, addresses, and in some cases the military
ID
numbers of the Israelis who were questioned by federal authorities.
Pointing a finger at the author is like blaming a bank robbery on the
desk
sergeant who took down the names of the robbers.
Of course, the agent (or agents) who wrote the memo could also have
fabricated or embellished the field reports. That does not seem to have
been the case. Salon contacted more than a half-dozen agents identified
in
the memo. One agent said she had been visited six times at her home by
"art
students." None of the agents wished to be named, and very few were
willing
to speak at length, but all confirmed the veracity of the information.
Despite such obvious holes in the official story, neither the Post nor
any
other mainstream media organization ran follow-up articles. The New
York
Times has not yet deemed it worth covering -- in fact, the paper of
record
has not written about the art student mystery even once, not even to
pooh-pooh it. One or two minor media players did some braying -- Israel
had
been caught spying, etc. ' and the bonko conspiracy fringe had a field
day,
but the rest of the media, taking a cue from the big boys, decided it
was a
nonstarter: the Post's "debunking" and the Times' silence had
effectively
killed the story.
So complete was the silence that by mid-March, Jane's Information
Group,
the respected British intelligence and military analysis service,
noted:
"It is rather strange that the U.S. media seems to be ignoring what may
well be the most explosive story since the 11 September attacks -- the
alleged break-up of a major Israeli espionage operation in the USA..."
In the case of Israel, there are far stronger reasons to hide any
unseemly
cracks in the special relationship. The powerful pro-Israel political
constituencies in Congress; pro-Israel lobbies; the Bush
administration's
strong support for Israel, and its strategic and political interest in
maintaining close ties with the Jewish state as a partner in the "war
against terror"; the devastating consequences for U.S.-Israeli
relations if
it was suspected that Israeli agents might have known about the Sept.
11
attack -- all these factors explain why the U.S. government might
publicly
downplay the art student story and conceal any investigation that
produces
unpalatable results.
The pro-Israel lobby is a vast and powerful force in American politics;
the
American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or AIPAC, is the No. 1
foreign-policy lobby and the fourth most powerful lobby in Washington,
according to Fortune Magazine. Michael Lind, a senior fellow of the New
America Foundation and a former executive editor of the National
Interest,
calls the Israel lobby "an ethnic donor machine" that "distorts U.S.
foreign policy" in the Middle East...
Some of the same pressures that keep government officials from
criticizing
Israel may also explain why the media has failed to pursue the art
student
enigma. Media outlets that run stories even mildly critical of Israel
often
find themselves targeted by organized campaigns, including form-letter
e-mails, the cancellation of subscriptions, and denunciations of the
organization and its reporters and editors as anti-Semites...
The extreme sensitivity of the Israeli art student story in government
circles was made clear to this reporter when, in the midst of my
inquiries
at DEA and elsewhere, I was told by a source that some unknown party
had
checked my records and background. He proved it by mentioning a job I
had
briefly held many years ago that virtually no one outside my family
knew
about.
Shortly after this, I received a call from an individual who identified
himself only by the code name Stability. Stability said he was referred
to
me from "someone in Washington." That someone turned out to be a
veteran
D.C. correspondent who has close sources in the CIA and the FBI and who
verified that Stability was a high-level intelligence agent who had
been
following the art student matter from the inside. Stability was guarded
in
his initial conversation with me.
He said that people in the intelligence committee were suspicious about
my
bona fides and raised the possibility that someone was "using" me.
"Your
name is known and has been known for quite a while," Stability said.
"The
problem is that you're going into a hornet's nest with this. It's a
very
difficult time in this particular area. This is a scenario where a lot
of
people are living a bunker mentality."
He added, "There are a lot of people under a lot of pressure right now
because there's a great effort to discredit the story, discredit the
connections, prevent people from going any further in investigating the
matter. There are some very, very smart people who have taken a lot of
heat
on this -- have gone to what I would consider extraordinary risks to
reach
out. Quite frankly, there are a lot of patriots out there who'd like to
remain alive. Typically, patriots are dead..."
"I will tell you that there is still great debate over what the art
students' specific purposes were and are," Stability went on. "When you
take an individual who picks up a group of individuals from an airport,
individuals who supposedly have no idea what they're doing in-country,
who
fly on over from a foreign land, whose airline tickets could in some
instances total a value greater than $15,000 -- and who get picked up
at
the airport and drive specifically to one individual's home, which they
know the exact directions to: Yeah, you could say there's a problem
here.
You don't need to be a rocket scientist to understand that. The
overarching
item is that a lot of work went into going to people's houses to sell
them
junk from China in plastic frames..."
So let's draw out the chaff ourselves and see if we can at least
speculate.
In intel circles, there are a number of working theories, according to
Stability. "Profiling of federal agents is one," said Stability.
"Keeping
tabs on other people, other foreign nationals, is another. A third is
that
they were working for organized crime -- that's an easy one, and it
almost
sounds more like a cover than a reality. The predominant thought is
that it
was a profiling endeavour, and from a profiling aspect, also one of
intimidation..."
That's where you enter truly dark territory: Theory No. 3, the Art
Student
as Agent as Art Student Smoke Screen. It has major problems, but let's
roll
with it for a moment. This theory contends that the art student ring
was a
smoke screen intended to create confusion and allow actual spies -- who
were also posing as art students -- to be lumped together with the rest
and
escape detection.
In other words, the operation is an elaborate double fake-out, a
hiding-in-plain-sight scam. Whoever dreamed it up thought ahead to the
endgame and knew that the DEA-stakeout aspect was so bizarre that it
would
throw off American intelligence. According to this theory --
Stability's
"Victor/Victoria" scenario -- Israeli agents wanted, let's say, to
monitor
al-Qaida members in Florida and other states. But they feared
detection. So
to provide cover, and also to create a dizzyingly Byzantine story that
would confuse the situation, Israeli intel flooded areas of real
operations
with these bumbling "art students" -- who were told to deliberately
stake
out DEA agents...
What about the crucial Washington Post article, in which anonymous
federal
agents alleged the DEA memo was the work of a disgruntled employee?
"The Washington Post article was a plant -- that's obvious. The story
was
killed," Stability told me. Who planted the story? Stability claimed
the
FBI was behind it. "Every organization is running scared," Stability
added,
"because they're afraid of the next shoe to drop. There are many
smoking
guns out there, many. So consequently every one is at a level of
heightened
anxiety, and when they're anxious they make mistakes..."
-----
CONGRESSMEN TELL FOREIGN GOVERMENT TO REBUFF PRESIDENT
Visiting congressmen advise Israel to resist US administration pressure
By Arie O'sullivan, The Jerusalem Post, 5/6/02
http://www.jpost.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=JPost/A/JPArticle/Full&cid=1020337092750
A visiting delegation of US congressmen believes that Prime Minister
Ariel
Sharon should rebuff attempts by the Bush administration for him to
deal
with Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat.
"Yasser Arafat is a terrorist. He is a leader of the terrorists. As a
matter of fact he is a motivator of terrorism," said Jim Saxton (R-NJ).
"If
I were in [Sharon's] position, I would find someone else to talk to."
Another member of the bipartisan team, Joe Hoeffel (D-PA) said America
needed to seek another leader of the Palestinian people.
"It is time for the United States to indicate that it would look for a
different leadership in the Pales-tinian Authority and that we would
welcome a leadership of the PA that would recognize Israel's
fundamental
right to exist as a Jewish state," Hoeffel said...
A member of the House Appropriations Committee and the Foreign
Operation
Sub-Committee which deals with foreign aid for Israel, Kingston said
very
many Americans don't understand how badly the Palestinians are
violating
the Oslo Accords.
Hoeffel, who is a member of the House International Relations
Committee,
said seeing the weapons made him feel as if Israel was engaged in a
"second
war of independence." "There should be no Yasser Arafat exception to
that
zero tolerance to terrorism rule," he said.
The four congressmen embarked to Israel after successfully working to
push
through a resolution pushing through a strongly worded resolution of
solidarity for the Israeli government in Congress by a vote of 352-21
with
29 abstentions.
Hoeffel said that when he got back to Washington he would seek out
those 21
representatives who voted against the resolution, tell them about what
he
saw here, and try to win them over.
Saxton displayed a copy of the resolution to reporters which he said
they
wanted to "hand deliver" to the Israeli people.
ACTION REQUESTED: (As always, be POLITE.)
Contact these elected representatives to let them know it is
inappropriate
to challenge the policies of their own president while on a
taxpayer-funded
junket to "pledge allegiance" to a foreign government.
The jet that carried the four representatives to the Middle East cost
$3,100 per hour.
SEE: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A37400-2002May5.html
CONTACT: (Calls are most effective.)
Rep. Peter Deutsch (D-FL)
2421 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0920
Phone: (202) 225-7931
Fax: (202) 225-8456
Main District Office:
Phone: (954) 437-3936
Fax: (954) 437-4776
E-mail: fl20townhall@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
Web Site: www.house.gov/deutsch
--
Rep. Jack Kingston (R-PA)
1034 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-1001
Phone: (202) 225-5831
Fax: (202) 226-2269
Main District Office:
Phone: (912) 352-0101
Fax: (912) 352-0105
E-mail: jack.kingston@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
Web Site: www.house.gov/kingston
--
Rep. Joseph M. Hoeffel III (D-PA)
1229 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3813
Phone: (202) 225-6111
Fax: (202) 226-0611
Main District Office:
Phone: (610) 272-8400
Fax: (610) 272-8532
Web Site: www.house.gov/hoeffel
E-mail: http://www.house.gov/hoeffel/letstalk.htm
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
--
Rep. Jim Saxton (R-PA)
339 Cannon House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-3003
Phone: (202) 225-4765
Fax: (202) 225-0778
Main District Office:
Phone: (609) 261-5800
Fax: (609) 261-1275
Web Site: www.house.gov/saxton
E-mail: jim.saxton@mail.house.gov
Copy to: cair@cair-net.org
-----
HELP THE VICTIMS OF ETHNIC CARNAGE IN GUJARAT
The Association of Indian Muslims of America Earnestly requests you to
join
this noble cause.
Fund-raising dinner & Awareness program By Northern Virginia families
WHEN: Saturday, May 18 2002, at 7 PM
WHERE: Sterling Community Center (Near Sterling DMV & First Virginia
Bank),
120 Enterprise St, Sterling, VA 20164.
Speaker: Dr. Islam Siddiqui (Former Deputy Secretary, USDA)
Please attend the dinner, see glimpses of tragic events, meet family
members of martyred Ehsan Jaffrey; former member of
Parliament/equivalent
to US Congressman - mercilessly burned alive with hundreds of others.
For further information, please go to:
http://www.geocities.com/peaceandharmonyinworld
Directions
From Beltway I-495: Take Exit 47 A for Leesburg Pike (Rt. 7 West) for
Tyson's Corner. Drive 10-12 miles turn left on Sterling Blvd (Rt. 846).
Turn left on 3rd traffic light Holly Ave. Turn right on Commerce St.
Turn
left on Enterprise St. and enter into Sterling Community Center.
From Fairfax County Parkway: Take exit for Leesburg Pike (Rt. 7 West).
Turn left on 4th traffic light on Sterling Blvd (Rt. 846). Turn left on
3rd
traffic light on Holly Ave. Turn right on Commerce St. Turn left on
Enterprise St. and look for Sterling Community Center.
-----
MEDIA COVERAGE OF ISRAEL'S ARREST OF TWO AMERICAN RELIEF WORKERS
Israelis arrest two Americans associated with relief groups
By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, The Associated Press, 5/7/02
WASHINGTON (AP) - Israeli authorities have arrested two American
citizens
affiliated with relief organizations, including a Muslim commentator
who
recently described by telephone and in e-mails the destruction he saw
in
Jenin, a supporter said.
Riad Abdelkarim, a physician from the Los Angeles area, was detained
Sunday
at Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport while trying to return to
the
United States, said Khalid Turaani of the Washington-based American
Muslims
for Jerusalem.
The other person arrested during the weekend was Dallal Muhammad of
Dallas,
Texas, Turaani said Monday. Muhammad is president of a new charity,
Kinder-USA, organized to provide aid to Palestinian children, he said.
Abdelkarim's family released a statement calling for his release. He
has a
wife and four children living in Orange, Calif.
"The past 36 hours have been an extremely difficult time for our
family,"
the statement said. "Our greatest fear right now is for Riad's safety,
given Israel's acknowledged policy of using 'physical pressure' in
questioning suspects, including American citizens. We urge U.S.
government
officials and human rights organizations to actively become engaged in
this
case in securing Riad's safe and immediate release."
Abdelkarim, who has written opinion pieces on Muslim issues for major
U.S.
newspapers, serves on the board of American Muslims for Jerusalem and
is
chairman of Kinder-USA. He also is the Western region communications
director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic
Relations.
The U.S. State Department could not confirm the arrests, an official
said.
But a U.S. diplomatic source, speaking on condition of anonymity,
confirmed
the arrests and said consular officials in Israel were being given
proper
access.
Turaani said Abdelkarim was touring damaged areas in Jenin with
International Medical Corps, a relief organization based in Los
Angeles.
Abdelkarim's family traces its history to a village near Ramallah,
where
Israeli troops kept Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat in isolation for
weeks...
---
Dallas woman arrested in Jerusalem hotel
By BILL MILLER, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 5/7/02
http://www.dfw.com/mld/dfw/news/world/3212144.htm
DALLAS - A Dallas woman who has been affiliated with Palestinian relief
efforts in the United States was arrested Sunday by Israeli
authorities.
Dalal Mohammed, a former fund-raiser and spokeswoman for the Holy Land
Foundation for Relief and Development, was arrested in her Jerusalem
hotel
room, according to a supporter.
Khalid Turaani of the Washington-based American Muslims for Jerusalem
said
Mohammed was being held at an Israeli prison, but the reasons for her
arrest were unclear on Monday.
Turaani said Mohammed was in Israel on behalf of a new charity,
Kinder-USA,
based in Richardson and organized three months ago to provide aid to
Palestinian children
.
He said the group's founder, Riad Abdelkarim, was also detained Sunday
at
Israel's Ben-Gurion International Airport while trying to return to the
United States...
"I am really concerned for both of them," Turaani said. "I think the
American State Department should intervene immediately. The fact that
Dalal
is an American citizen won't stop her from facing abuse..."
---
O.C. doctor held in Israel
By VIK JOLLY, ANN PEPPER
and BILL RAMS, The Orange County Register, 5/7/02
http://www.ocregister.com/news/arrest00507cci4.shtml
Israeli officials are detaining a doctor from north Orange County who
Islamic advocacy groups say had just concluded a fact-finding mission
at
the Jenin refugee camp attacked by Israeli forces in April.
Riad Abdelkarim, 34, had completed work for a physicians' group and his
own
relief agency, Kinder USA, when he was picked up Sunday at Israel's Ben
Gurion Airport, the Council on American Islamic Relations and the
Muslim
Public Affairs Council announced Monday...
---
US Muslim group claims Israel arrested American doctor on humanitarian
trip
Agence France Presse, 5/7/02
A leading US Muslim group on Monday claimed that Israel was illegally
detaining an American doctor who had gone to help Palestinian victims
of
violence in the decimated Jenin refugee camp.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) said doctor and activist Dr.
Riad
Abdelkarim, who lives near Los Angeles, and at least one other American
had
been picked up at Tel Aviv's Ben Gurion airport as they tried to leave
Israel.
He was detained as he was returning to the United States "after
witnessing
the devastation caused by Israeli forces in the Jenin refugee camp,
details
of which he reported extensively on the Internet," MPAC said in a
statement. "In a shocking assault on International standards protecting
medical relief workers, Israeli authorities have detained without
charge
several high-profile Americans," it added.
Such prisoners were sometimes being held "in conditions of solitary
confinement, for no reason other than their relief work and peaceful
activism on behalf of besieged Palestinians," the statement continued.
MPAC, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and American
Muslims
for Jerusalem (AMJ) denounced the alleged illegal detentions of US
citizens
by Israel and called on the US government to work to protect them.
The Muslim group quoted the doctor's family as saying that he had been
illegally detained and denied basic civil rights.
"Riad has been denied access to an attorney, and he has not been
allowed to
contact his family," a statement from the family issued by MPAC said.
---
Israel arrests 2 Americans with past ties to area group
Supporters say they are worried about torture and isolation
By MICHELLE MITTELSTADT, The Dallas Morning News, 5/7/02
http://www.dallasnews.com/latestnews/stories/050702dnnatdetain.2ebc.html
WASHINGTON - Two Americans associated with a Dallas-area relief
organization recently established to help Palestinian children were
arrested in Israel over the weekend, supporters said Monday.
KinderUSA's executive director and the president of the board of
directors
were separately detained in Jerusalem on Sunday, the Council on
American-Islamic Relations and others said...
"Our primary concern at this early stage is that they both face
torture.
The Israelis have a long and well-documented history of torture and
abuse,"
said Ibrahim Hooper, a council spokesman...
Dr. Abdelkarim, whose account of the devastation caused by the Israeli
occupation of Jenin has circulated on the Internet, was detained at the
airport while trying to return to the United States, said Nidal
Ibrahim, a
family friend. Ms. Mohmed, who had arrived in Jerusalem last week and
had
not made her way to the West Bank, was arrested in her hotel room,
human-rights lawyer Lea Tsemel said in Jerusalem...
---
California doctor one of 3 Americans detained by Israel
City News Service, 5/6/02
A Southland Islamic group said today that a Santa Monica-born
Palestinian-American physician was arrested by Israeli authorities over
the
weekend after making a fact-finding visit to the Jenin refugee camp.
The Southern California chapter of the Washington, D.C.-based Council
on
American-Islamic Relations said that Dr. Riad Abdelkarim, who practices
in
Anaheim, was detained at Ben Gurion Airport and later transferred to a
prison in Tel Aviv.
The State Department is looking into the matter. "We heard (Abdelkarim)
has
been detained and we're checking into gaining access to him," Kelly
Shannon
of the Bureau on Consular Affairs said in a telephone interview from
Washington, D.C.
There was no immediate comment from Israeli authorities.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations said in a statement that it
is
calling on U.S. officials to demand Abdelkarim's immediate release and
"prevent the Israelis from torturing him."
---
Israeli Detention of 2 Americans Questioned
By GREG KRIKORIAN, The Los Angeles Times, 5/7/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000032382may07.story
Two Arab Americans were detained by Israeli authorities over the
weekend
for unspecified reasons after visiting refugee camps in the West Bank,
government officials and associates of the pair said Monday.
Although a spokeswoman for the Israeli Foreign Ministry said she could
not
confirm the detentions, U.S. government officials and others said Dr.
Riad
Abdelkarim, an Anaheim physician, was taken into custody Saturday at
Ben
Gurion Airport as he attempted to board a plane heading home.
Dalell Mohmed, director of the Dallas-based charity KinderUSA--founded
by
Abdelkarim--was detained on Sunday morning at her hotel in Jerusalem,
according to interviews. Both Abdelkarim, a Santa Monica-born
Palestinian
American, and Mohmed, a second-generation Lebanese American, went to
Israel
as part of separate humanitarian aid efforts, family members and others
said...
"There is a pattern of Israel blocking humanitarian aid to the
Palestinians. They did so during the siege, and now they are hampering
the
efforts of Americans to provide aid," said Khalid Turaani, executive
director of the Washington-based advocacy group American Muslims for
Jerusalem...
In addition to maintaining a medical practice, Abdelkarim is an author
and
lecturer who has long been openly critical of both terrorism and
America's
"one-sided" support of Israel. He is in the Middle East, according to
family members and associates, as part of a fact-finding effort by the
Los
Angeles-based International Medical Corps, a nonprofit organization
founded
in 1984 by volunteer doctors and nurses in the U.S.
The trip was one of many that Abdelkarim, a married father of four, has
made to the region in recent years--a fact that made his current
detention
all the more baffling for friends and family...
ACTION REQUESTED: Call and Write Undersecretary of State William Burns,
Congressman Christopher Cox, and Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson
and
urge that they put pressure on Israel to release innocent Americans
from
Israeli prisons and detention facilities.
As members of Congress who represent Dr. Riad Abdelkarim and Dallel
Mohamed, Representatives Cox and Johnson can and should weigh in to
ensure
that their constituents are not being abused by a foreign government.
Please call their offices and urge them to do so.
Undersecretary of State William Burns
Phone: (202) 647-5150
E-mail: askpublicaffairs@state.gov
2201 C St. NW Rm 6242
Washington, DC 20520
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) (Dallel Mohamed's
Congresswoman)
Washington office:
Phone: (202) 225-8885
Fax: (202) 226-1477
E-mail: rep.e.b.johnson@mail.house.gov
1511 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4330
Texas Office:
Phone: (214) 922-8885
Fax: (214) 922-7028
2501 Cedar Springs Rd., # 550
Dallas, TX 75201
Congressman Christopher Cox (R-CA) (Riad Abdelkarim's Congressman)
Washington Office:
Phone: (202) 225-5611
Fax: (202) 225-9177
E-mail: christopher.cox@mail.house.gov
2402 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0547
Main District Office:
Phone: (949) 756-2244
Fax: (949) 251-9309
One Newport Place, # 420
Newport Beach, CA 92660
CC:
President George Bush
E-mail: president@whitehouse.gov
Phone: (202) 456-1414
Fax: (202) 456-2461
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Washington, DC 20500
Colin Powell, Secretary of State
E-Mail: secretary@state.gov
Phone: (202) 647-4000
Fax: (202) 261-8577
2201 C St NW
Washington, DC 20520
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Phone: (213) 383-3443
Fax: (213) 383-9674
Contact: Sarah Eltantawi
E-mail: sarah@mpac.org
Council of American Islamic Relations
Contact: Ibrahim Hooper
Phone: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
Email: cair@cair-net.org
American Muslims for Jerusalem
Phone: (202) 548-4200
Fax: (202) 548-4201
E-mail: amj@amjerusalem.org
-----
LETTERS: CIVIL LIBERTIES INCLUDE MUSLIMS
By PARVEZ AHMED, The Patriot News (PA), 5/7/02
Parvez Ahmed is Chairman, Central Pennsylvania Chapter of Council on
America-Islamic Relations
A recently released report by the Council on American-Islamic Relations
indicates that anti-Muslim incidents are at all-time highs, increasing
nearly three folds over previous years. The vast majority of these
incidents came after 9-11. Part of the backlash is
understandable. Hate-mongers will use the flimsiest of excuses to
violate
the civil liberties of others.
SEE: STEREOTYPES AND CIVIL LIBERTIES
http://www.cair-net.org/civilrights2002/
The majority of these incidents follow callous statements from several
public figures. The insensitive public statements have ranged from
calculated misinformation to suggesting genocide. For example,
Franklin
Graham, stood by remarks in which he falsely claimed: "The God of Islam
is
not the same God. ... I believe it (Islam) is a very evil and wicked
religion." Syndicated columnist Ann Coulter called for the "mass
deportation of Muslims."
Many including our local congressmen sadly argue in favor of racial
profiling to ensure security. However, most responsible law
enforcement
experts suggest that race is an inaccurate indicator of crime or
terrorism.
When we stand up for someone else's rights we become the defenders of
human
rights. The illusion of security is not worth anything if built on the
silent graves of trampled civil liberties.
-----
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/8/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* HADITH OF THE DAY: GUIDELINES FOR LIFE
* THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS
* ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE FOR JUNE 1ST CAIR-LA LEADERSHIP
TRAINING CONFERENCE
* MEDIA COVERAGE OF DR. RIAD ABDELKARIM'S DETENTION
- Anaheim Doctor Still Held in Israel (Los Angeles Times)
- Israelis Arrest Californian Associated With Relief Groups
(AP)
- California Doctor Arrested in Israel (Orange County
Register)
* SOMEONE EVEN MANAGED TO DEFECATE INTO THE PHOTOCOPIER (Ha'aretz)
* BUSINESSES IN SAUDI ARABIA FEEL PINCH OF "BOYCOTT US" CAMPAIGN (AFP)
* CANADIAN SOLDIERS MIMIC U.S. MOCKING OF ENEMY DEAD BODIES (Edmonton
Journal)
* 'MUSLIMS': A CLEAR PICTURE OF ISLAM (Los Angeles Times)
- 'Muslims' on Frontline, May 9 (PBS)
* THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THIS FILTHY WAR - FOREIGN OCCUPATION
(Independent)
-----
HADITH OF THE DAY: GUIDELINES FOR LIFE
The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said, "God has forbidden you
to be
undutiful to your mothers, to withhold (what you should give), or
demand
(what you do not deserve), and to bury your daughters alive [a
pre-Islamic
practice]. And God has disliked that you talk too much about others,
ask
too many questions or waste your property."
Sahih Al-Bukhari, Volume 8, Hadith 6
-----
FOR THE LATEST CAIR ACTION ALERTS, GO TO: http://capwiz.com/cair/home/
-----
ONLINE REGISTRATION NOW AVAILABLE FOR JUNE 1ST CAIR-LA LEADERSHIP
TRAINING
CONFERENCE
Online registration is now available for the day-long CAIR Southern
California Leadership Training Conference at www.cair-california.org.
WHEN: June 1, 2002, 8:00 a.m.
WHERE: Sequoia Conference Center, 7530 Orangethorpe Avenue, Buena Park,
CA
90621
-----
MEDIA COVERAGE OF DR. RIAD ABDELKARIM'S DETENTION
ANAHEIM DOCTOR STILL HELD IN ISRAEL
By TERESA WATANABE and GREG KRIKORIAN, Los Angeles Times, 5/8/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000032602may08.story
Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday that an American Muslim physician
from
Anaheim has been arrested in Tel Aviv on suspicion of involvement with
terrorist activities.
David Douek of the Israel Consulate in Los Angeles could provide no
details
on the arrest Sunday of Riad Abdelkarim, an Anaheim physician who
associates said had traveled to the Palestinian territories for medical
relief work. Also detained over the weekend on suspicion of terrorism
was
Dalell Mohmed, director of KinderUSA, a Dallas-based charity for
Palestinian children...
Family members of the two detainees expressed disbelief that their
relatives would be involved in terrorism, fear for their safety and
outrage
over what they called Israeli harassment of medical relief workers.
"These are ridiculous allegations," said Abdelkarim's brother Basil, a
Bellflower physician. "There is no evidence to support these claims."
In Dallas, Mohmed's older sister, Alice El-Jundi, said Tuesday that she
was
appalled by the charges. She said her sister is a humanitarian aid
worker
who has delivered wheelchairs to orphans throughout the Mideast and
other
relief to Bosnia and elsewhere.
"If she was involved in terrorism, why would she go back there on a
mission
of aid? Why would she stay there? She's not an idiot," El-Jundi said.
Some details of the detentions were provided Tuesday by Rushdie Abdel
Cader, a San Luis Obispo physician who traveled with Abdelkarim to
assess
the medical needs in the Palestinian territories at the invitation of
the
International Medical Corps, a Los Angeles-based global humanitarian
organization. Cader said that he was also detained at Ben Gurion
Airport
with Abdelkarim but was released 16 hours later after an interrogation.
Cader said Israeli security officials would not allow him to sleep
during
the ordeal and constantly called him a liar when he answered questions
such
as where he had traveled and whether he had brought money into the
Palestinian territories. Cader said he told officials that he had
distributed between $2,000 and $3,000 to needy Palestinians in Jenin
and
elsewhere, money collected from his American neighbors, and was told
such
acts were illegal...
"They said: 'We don't care if you're an American, and we don't care
what
Americans think,'" Cader said. "There is no due process over there.
It's
really scary..."
-----
ISRAELIS ARREST CALIFORNIAN ASSOCIATED WITH RELIEF GROUPS
By CHRISTOPHER NEWTON, Associated Press, 5/8/02
Israeli officials confirmed Tuesday that an Orange County physician has
been arrested in Tel Aviv on suspicion of involvement in terrorist
activity, a charge his relatives called ridiculous.
David Douek of the Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles said he could offer
no
details about why Dr. Riad Abdelkarim and another American citizen were
arrested over the weekend. Both are affiliated with relief
organizations.
Abdelkarim, who was trying to return to the United States when he was
detained, was arrested Sunday at Israel's Ben-Gurion International
Airport.
The Santa Monica-born doctor is a Muslim commentator who recently
described
by telephone and in e-mails the destruction he saw in the Jenin refugee
camp, said Khalid Turaani of the Washington-based American Muslims for
Jerusalem. Abdelkarim is a member of the board of that group and the
chairman of a new charity, Kinder-USA, organized to provide aid to
Palestinian children.
Relatives of Abdelkarim and the other detainee, Dalell Mohmed of
Dallas,
the president of Kinder-USA, strongly denied any links to terrorism
Tuesday.
"Unless it is a crime to aid impoverished people, my brother has not
committed a crime," said Abdelkarim's brother, Dr. Basim Abdelkarim.
In Dallas, Alice El-Jundi said Mohmed, her younger sister, is a
humanitarian aid worker who has delivered wheelchairs to orphans
throughout
the Mideast.
"If she was involved in terrorism, why would she go back there on a
mission
of aid? Why would she stay there? She's not an idiot," El-Jundi said.
Rushdie Abdel Cader, a San Luis Obispo physician, had been traveling
with
Abdelkarim and was also detained, but was released 16 hours later after
an
interrogation.
Cader said he and Abdelkarim were assessing medical needs in the
Palestinian territories at the invitation of the International Medical
Corps, a Los Angeles-based global humanitarian organization...
-----
CALIFORNIA DOCTOR ARRESTED IN ISRAEL CHARGED WITH TERRORIST INVOLVEMENT
By Vik Jolly and Ann Pepper, The Orange County Register, 5/8/02
http://www.ocregister.com/news/arrest00508cci2.shtml
SANTA ANA, Calif. _ A California doctor detained by Israel has been
charged
with involvement with terrorist acts, an Israeli official said Tuesday.
Riad Abdelkarim, 34, of Orange, Calif., was detained Sunday at Ben
Gurion
Airport as he was leaving the region.
David Douek, spokesman for the Israeli consulate general in Los
Angeles,
said he did not know the evidence against Abdelkarim, a physician at
Anaheim's Kaiser Permanente. "It could be either that he was engaged in
terrorism or has helped to support terrorism," Douek said...
Family members said Abdelkarim's attorney _ a high profile Israeli
human
rights lawyer _ was not allowed to see him Monday.
The Santa Monica, Calif.-born doctor has been in the region for nearly
two
weeks, visiting relatives and touring the Jenin refugee camp where
Israeli
forces killed at least 52 people in an anti-terrorist offensive last
month.
He is a father of four, and frequent commentator on Middle East issues
in
major U.S. newspapers.
Abdelkarim was on a fact-finding mission for the International Medical
Corps and relief group KinderUSA. He is also a member of the Holy Land
Foundation for Relief and Development, cited by President Bush as a
front
for terrorism.
"Unless it is a crime to aid impoverished people, my brother has not
committed a crime," said Dr. Basim Abdelkarim.
"Where is the evidence?" said Dr. Basil Abdelkarim, also one of Riad
Abdelkarim's brothers, when he heard of the charges. "Why after 72
hours
are they throwing out an allegation like this?"
Abdelkarim's extended family has rallied to help him as have doctors
from
across Southern California, some of whom are attempting to work out
ways to
assist his patients.
Some patients also have called asking if they can help.
"He's a nice guy," said Anaheim resident Dan Pack, 51. "He'd talk
sometimes
about going to Palestine. He'd say that he was afraid. That he was
afraid
of the danger. Then he decided to go...
Israelis also detained two other Americans, KinderUSA director Dalell
Mohmed of Dallas, Texas, and Dr. Rushdi Cader of San Luis Obispo,
Calif.
Cader was released after 16 hours. Mohmed is being held.
Mohmed's sister, Alice El-Jundi, also of Dallas, said Tuesday that the
U.S.
State Department told her Israeli authorities were checking if Mohmed
was
involved with terrorist activity...
Abdelkarim and Mohmed's Holy Land Foundation work is an excuse for
their
detention, said Salaam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public
Affairs
Council.
"This is a violation of human rights," Al-Marayati said.
"If any other country did that to any other American, if Pakistan did
that
to any other American, we'd be outraged. We're demanding that the
administration do more to pressure for the immediate release of these
individuals."
Al-Marayati said MPAC on Wednesday would ask U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox,
R-Calif., to demand Abdelkarim's release. Cox is one of several
lawmakers
Abdelkarim's family has asked to intercede...
-----
SOMEONE EVEN MANAGED TO DEFECATE INTO THE PHOTOCOPIER
By Amira Hass, Ha'aretz Daily, 5/8/02
http://www.haaretzdaily.com/hasen/pages/ShArt.jhtml?itemNo=159923&contrassID=2&subContrassID=5&sbSubContrassID=0&listSrc=Y
No one deluded himself that the Palestinian Ministry of Culture, which
takes up five of the eight floors of a new building in the center of El
Bireh, would be spared the fate of other Palestinian Authority offices
in
Ramallah and other cities - that is, the nearly total destruction of
its
contents and particularly its high-tech equipment.
...In other offices, all the high-tech and electronic equipment had
been
wrecked or had vanished - computers, photocopiers, cameras, scanners,
hard
disks, editing equipment worth thousands of dollars, television sets.
The
broadcast antenna on top of the building was destroyed.
Telephone sets vanished. A collection of Palestinian art objects
(mostly
hand embroideries) disappeared. Perhaps it was buried under the piles
of
documents and furniture, perhaps it had been spirited away. Furniture
was
dragged from place to place, broken by soldiers, piled up. Gas stoves
for
heating were overturned and thrown on heaps of scattered papers,
discarded
books, broken diskettes and discs and smashed windowpanes.
In the department for the encouragement of children's art, the soldiers
had
dirtied all the walls with gouache paints they found there and
destroyed
the children's paintings that hung there.
In every room of the various departments - literature, film, culture
for
children and youth books, discs, pamphlets and documents were piled up,
soiled with urine and excrement.
There are two toilets on every floor, but the soldiers urinated and
defecated everywhere else in the building, in several rooms of which
they
had lived for about a month. They did their business on the floors, in
emptied flowerpots, even in drawers they had pulled out of desks...
-----
BUSINESSES IN SAUDI ARABIA FEEL PINCH OF "BOYCOTT US" CAMPAIGN
By OMAR HASAN, Agence France Presse, 5/8/02
A grass-roots campaign to boycott US products in Saudi Arabia has
already
taken its toll on many local businesses, with sales dropping
drastically,
executives and activists said Wednesday.
The campaign, a protest against perceived US support for Israel, is
being
conducted from mosques, schools and universities, and through
newspapers,
the Internet and mobile phone text messages urging consumers to shun
products originating from the United States.
The Saudi "boycott US" drive mirrors a similar campaign which gathered
momentum in several parts of the Arab world at the peak of Israel's
invasion of Palestinian lands that began on March 29.
Imams at Saudi mosques have been delivering fiery sermons urging
worshippers to drop US consumer goods in favor of other products,
ruling
that supporting the US economy amounts to killing Palestinians and
other
Muslims under attack. Young Saudi boys stand in front of major shopping
malls to distribute flyers and leaflets containing a long list of brand
names that must be boycotted "in support of our Palestinian brothers."
"I have never seen such an organized anti-US campaign in the kingdom.
It
looks as if everyone is involved, from school students to religious
clerics," a Saudi businessman told AFP.
"Two days ago, a carefully-prepared 20-page file was thrown into my
house,
containing all the information about US products that we should stop
buying. They are organized," the businessman added...
-----
CANADIAN SOLDIERS MIMIC U.S. MOCKING OF ENEMY DEAD BODIES
By Mark Spector, Edmonton Journal, 5/8/02
http://www.canada.com/edmonton/edmontonjournal/
The American military is setting a bad example that Canadian soldiers
are
following in their treatment of Afghan prisoners of war, a University
of
Alberta expert in international law said Tuesday.
"Go through history. Look at the knights of the 12th, 13th, 14th
centuries," Leslie Green recounted at an Amnesty International event in
his
address entitled "What Is a Prisoner of War?" "Yes, they killed each
other,
but they paid (the dead) due respect. And when they found the corpse of
a
soldier, they buried it with military honour.
"They did not put a cigarette in his mouth and a discourteous label on
his
stomach. Nor did they photograph him, or draw a picture of him, to walk
around with for their friends to ridicule."
Green's criticism stems from charges against Master Cpl. Arron Perry,
who
allegedly participated in a "calling card" photograph of a dead Afghan
fighter. A cigarette had been stuck in the corpse's mouth and a sign on
its
chest read "F... terrorism."
One of the Canadian explanations cited by Green was that American
soldiers
took similar photographs of dead adversaries.
"The trouble seems to be that we have become so close to Big Brother,
we
have forgotten what our obligations are towards prisoners of war," he
said.
-----
'MUSLIMS': A CLEAR PICTURE OF ISLAM
By MARK SACHS, Los Angeles Times, 5/8/02
http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/printedition/calendar/la-000032466may08.story
It's taken decades upon decades for the global forces in play to create
a
world-changing event on the scale of the Sept. 11 terrorists attacks.
Yet
in one two-hour block tonight, "Muslims" manages to bring a crystalline
focus to issues of kaleidoscopic complexity, resulting in an
all-too-rare
"special" that is worthy of that tag.
The "Frontline" production (9 p.m., KCET) takes viewers on an
international
tour of the religion's strongholds in places such as Egypt, Iran,
Malaysia,
Nigeria and Turkey, showing the myriad gradations and interpretations
that
exist, helping to shatter the monolithic mask that Islam wears for many
here in the West. "With the events of Sept. 11," says Nigerian attorney
Muzzammil Hanga, "the West is frantically trying to establish two
worlds--the forward-looking Western world and backward, uncivilized
Islamic
world."
But the program also outlines the conflicts that exist within many of
the
countries between Muslim traditionalists and those in the religion who
favor more personal freedom and equality between the sexes.
"We found that it is not Islam that discriminates against women," says
feminist activist Zainah Anwar in Malaysia. "It is not the verses in
the
Koran, it is the way that these verses have been interpreted by men
living
in patriarchal societies who wish to maintain their dominance, and
their
superiority and control over women."
In the second hour, the focus shifts from the taxis festooned with
images
of Osama bin Laden in Nigeria to the cars and homes in the U.S. draped
in
American flags, and what the post-9/11 political climate means to
Muslims
here.
"I look at Muslims in the U.S. as being in a very unique position to be
able to produce a model for how Islam can be lived [alongside] other
religions," says an Illinois man, perhaps echoing the hopes of all of
us.
SEE ALSO: 'Muslims' on Frontline, May 9, 2002
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/muslims/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/press/2020i.html
Send comments about the program to frontline@wgbh.org
-----
THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THIS FILTHY WAR - FOREIGN OCCUPATION
Robert Fisk, The Independent (UK), 5/8/02
http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=292865
Ariel Sharon's "peace" plan presented to President Bush in Washington
last
night - get rid of Arafat, devise a more obedient Palestinian Authority
and
keep building settlements for Jews and Jews only on Palestinian land -
is
fantasy.
That the Americans should smooth his way by claiming that Arafat's need
to
reform his authority is more important than a halt to
settlement-building -
the gormless contribution of Condoleezza Rice, the US National Security
Adviser, to this sterile debate - shows just how out of touch the Bush
administration is...
And if the Palestinians have to go on watching the Jewish settlements
surrounding them on their land, they are not going to make peace with
Israel. And contrary to song, myth and legend, the Israeli army has
been
behaving more like a militia than a disciplined military force. The
reports
of mass looting by Israeli troops in Ramallah, especially of jewellery
and
cash, have reached epic proportions. Israel may publicly claim that
this is
Palestinian propaganda, but the Israeli army's high command knows the
stories are true - one officer referred to it as "the wide-scale, ugly
phenomenon of vandalism"...
The question has to be asked: is this army any more capable of
defending
Israel than the Palestinians are capable of defending themselves? A
seminar
at the Steinmetz Peace Research institute in Tel Aviv threw up some
fascinating data last month. Over 40 per cent of Israel's Jewish
population, the institute found, said they were prepared to have
international intervention in the conflict. More astonishingly, 35 per
cent
of interviewees said that intervention could involve foreign troops who
would physically separate Israel and the Palestinian Authority...
So I'll make a rash, fearful prediction. After Bosnia and Kosovo and
East
Timor, we have grown tired of regional wars. And I think that, in time,
we
will close down the Middle East war. With Russian and EU and UN
support,
there will, eventually, be American and Nato troops in Jerusalem. There
will be a Western protection force in the West Bank and Gaza - and in
Israel. The Israeli and Palestinian armies will have to return to
barracks.
Jerusalem will be an international city. The Palestinians will have
security. So will the Israelis.
Yes, it will be a form of international colonialism. Yes, it will mean
foreign occupation for both sides. But it will put an end to this
filthy war.
-----
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-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-489-5108
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: cair@cair-net.org
URL: http://www.cair-net.org
-----
In the Name of Allah, the Compassionate, the Merciful
-----
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 5/9/2002
-----
HEADLINES:
* VERSE OF THE DAY: BENEFITS OF CHARITY
* AMERICAN DETAINEE IN ISRAEL ON HUNGER STRIKE
* ACTION ALERT: URGE THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND CONGRESS TO SECURE
RELEASE OF
TWO AMERICANS HELD IN ISRAEL
* DETENTION PUZZLES DOCTOR'S FAMILY (Los Angeles Times)
* ISRAEL MAY HOLD CALIF. DOCTOR UP TO 5 MORE DAYS, MEMO SAYS (Orange
County
Register)
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: BENEFITS OF CHARITY
The parable of those who spend their wealth in the way of God is that
of a
grain that sprouts into seven ears, each bearing one hundred grains.
God
gives manifold increase to whom He wishes. God has boundless knowledge.
The Holy Quran (F. Malik translation), Sura 2, Verse 361
-----
AMERICAN DETAINEE IN ISRAEL ON HUNGER STRIKE
The Council On American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has learned today that
Dalal Mohammed, an American Muslim from Texas who was detained in
Israel
since Saturday (5/4/02) is on a hunger strike. Mohammed’s attorney told
CAIR that she has not eaten since she was detained at a Jerusalem
hotel.
Ms. Mohammed, now in a prison outside Tel Aviv, was in the Occupied
Territories on a relief mission to deliver much needed supplies to
Palestinian towns devastated by recent Israeli military incursions.
Also
arrested by Israel was Dr. Riad Abdelkarim, an California physician who
was
on a fact-finding mission on behalf of the international medical group,
International Medical Corps.
“We are concerned for Dalal Mohammed’s health and safety not only
because
of the hunger strike, but also because of the widespread use of torture
in
Israeli prisons.” said CAIR’s Communication Coordinator Hodan Hassan.
Hassan added, “ Various human rights groups have documented the
consistent
use of torture of Americans of Arab descent by Israel. We are urging
our
government to demand the immediate release of Mohammed and Abdelkarim.”
-----
ACTION ALERT: URGE THE STATE DEPARTMENT AND CONGRESS TO SECURE RELEASE
OF
TWO AMERICANS HELD IN ISRAEL
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) and Council on
American-Islamic
Relations (CAIR) urge all people of conscious, Muslims and non-Muslims
to
keep pressure on our administration to free two American hostages in
Israel.
Dr. Riad Abdelkarim, 34, is an Orange County, CA physician born in
Santa
Monica, CA. Dr. Abdelkarim is an exemplary American who is very active
in
the American Muslim community, organizing community forums, publishing
widely in American newspapers, and volunteering for several medical
relief
missions. Ms. Dallal Mohamed is an American-born young woman from
Texas,
whose deep compassion and commitment to helping those less fortunate
have
fueled her involvement in relief missions and charitable
organizations. Both Dr. Abdelkarim and Ms. Mohamed have absolutely no
criminal record and have never been accused by their government, the
United
States, of any wrongdoing. These individuals are humanitarians whose
compassion for the plight of the Palestinian people have taken them to
the
region several times to document destruction and offer relief to the
suffering.
ACTION:
1. Call and write YOUR Congressman/ Senator, with special emphasis on
Congressman Cox (Dr. Abdelkarim's Congressmen) and Congresswoman
Johnson
(Ms. Mohammed's Congresswoman). To find your representative, log onto
www.congress.org or www.mpac.org/action
2. Call the "Israel/Palestine Issues" Desk of the State
Department: (202) 647-3672
3. CC your letters to the Secretary of State, the President of the
United
States, MPAC (sarah@mpac.org) and CAIR (cair@cair-net.org)
TALKING POINTS:
1. Based on telephone conversations between MPAC and Riad Abdelkarim's
family with the State Department, no knowledge of official charges have
been made by the State of Israel against Dr. Riad Abdelkarim of Orange
County, CA or Ms. Dallal Mohammed of Richardson, TX, who have been held
in
a prison outside Tel Aviv since Sunday.
2. News media sources have reported, based on information released by
the
Israeli Consulate in Los Angeles, Dr. Abdelkarim has been charged with
committing "terrorist acts". Both, Dr. Abdelkarim's Israeli lawyer Leah
Tsemel and State Department officials repeatedly denied knowledge to
such
charges. Such attempts aim to morally assassinate the character of Dr.
Abdelkarim and to divert the attention from Israel's crimes that Dr.
Abdelkarim reported during his fact-finding mission. Dr. Abdelkarim's
report on Jenin was distributed while Israel repeatedly blocked the
arrival
of the UN fact-finding mission to investigate the Israeli war crimes
committed in Jenin.
3. Abdelkarim and Mohamed were detained on Sunday, May 5 by Israeli
forces
- Dr. Abdelkarim as he attempted to leave the country, and Ms. Mohamed
as
she was having breakfast in Jerusalem. Dr. Abdelkarim was in the West
Bank,
Palestine on a delegation with a southern California-based medical
relief
to assess damage done to Palestinian civil society and Palestinian
civilians in places like Jenin and Nablus. Dr. Abdelkarim then
publicized
his findings widely over the Internet, probably angering Israel. Ms.
Mohamed was in the region taking preliminary steps to distribute badly
needed relief to Palestinians under the auspices of a new American
relief
organization, KinderUSA.
4. Americans who have called the State Department and their Congressmen
have been told that there is nothing the United States can do to
pressure
Israel. THIS IS NOT TRUE.
A. When two Americans were held hostage in Afghanistan, the United
States
put tremendous pressure on Afghanistan to release them. The same
pressure
must immediately be placed on Israel.
B. The United States has been able to pressure foreign governments in
the
past to release hostages and political prisoners. The United States,
in
fact, has special leverage over Israel. Israel is heavily dependent on
United States foreign aid (over three billion U.S. dollars per year),
legal
support, and U.S. political support against the will of the U.N. and
the
international community. THE UNITED STATES HAS PLENTY OF LEVERAGE OVER
ISRAEL AND MUST TAKE THIS CASE SERIOUSLY ENOUGH TO EXERCISE IT
FORCEFULLY.
5. Israel has absolutely no evidence against these two
individuals. Rumors that Dr. Abdelkarim and Ms. Mohamed are being
charged
with "ties to terrorism" are trumped up and ridiculous. Both
individuals
are American born professionals with scores of witnesses to testify as
to
their exemplary characters.
6. Israel is trying to intimidate Americans from coming to the region
to
gather evidence of the terrible damage it has caused to Palestinians
homes,
institutions and lives. Israel is trying to make delivering
humanitarian
assistance to Palestinians costly and prohibitive. THESE ARRESTS ARE
PART
OF AN ISRAELI INTIMIDATION CAMPAIGN AND AMERICA MUST PROTECT ITS
CITIZENS
AGAINST THIS OUTRAGEOUS BEHAVIOR.
7. The United States cannot send the message to Israel that it can
detain
our citizens with impunity. Enough is enough: Americans are Americans
and
we must all stand up in defense of one another. Our Congress, State
Department and Executive Branch call for the immediate release of Dr.
Abdelkarim and Ms. Mohamed.
Contacts:
Undersecretary of State William Burns
Phone: (202) 647-5150
E-mail: askpublicaffairs@state.gov
2201 C St. NW Rm 6242
Washington, DC 20520
Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (D-TX) (Dallel Mohamed's
Congresswoman)
Washington office:
Phone: (202) 225-8885
Fax: (202) 226-1477
E-mail: rep.e.b.johnson@mail.house.gov
1511 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4330
Texas Office:
Phone: (214) 922-8885
Fax: (214) 922-7028
2501 Cedar Springs Rd., # 550
Dallas, TX 75201
Congressman Christopher Cox (R-CA) (Riad Abdelkarim's Congressman)
Washington Office:
Phone: (202) 225-5611
Fax: (202) 225-9177
E-mail: christopher.cox@mail.house.gov
2402 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, D.C. 20515-0547
Main District Office:
Phone: (949) 756-2244
Fax: (949) 251-9309
One Newport Place, # 420
Newport Beach, CA 92660
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Fax: (202) 456-2461
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Colin Powell, Secretary of State
E-Mail: secretary@state.gov
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Fax: (202) 261-8577
2201 C St NW
Washington, DC 20520
Muslim Public Affairs Council
Phone: (213) 383-3443
Fax: (213) 383-9674
Contact: Sarah Eltantawi
E-mail: sarah@mpac.org
Council on American Islamic Relations
Contact: Ibrahim Hooper
Phone: 202-488-8787
Fax: 202-488-0833
Email: cair@cair-net.org
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DETENTION PUZZLES DOCTOR'S FAMILY
By TERESA WATANABE, Los Angeles Times, 5/9/02
http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-000032899may09.story
For the family and friends of Riad Abdelkarim, these days of waiting
are
filled with questions and dread, questions and fear, questions and more
questions.
Since the Anaheim physician was detained Sunday in Israel and
subsequently
arrested on suspicion of terrorist activities, Abdelkarim's supporters
have
heard nothing about what he has allegedly done wrong...
The silence has magnified the puzzling character of the doctor's case.
Abdelkarim, 34, was a board member of the Holy Land Foundation, a
Dallas-based Islamic charity that was shut down in December by the U.S.
government on charges that it funneled funds to the militant group
Hamas.
But Abdelkarim was found to be clean by the FBI after questioning last
fall
and had frequently traveled to Israel without incident, as recently as
January. Unlike the shadowy men of the terrorist network Al Qaeda,
Abdelkarim was a highly public figure who wrote more than 200 articles,
spoke at community forums and volunteered for medical relief missions.
In
his most recent trip, he had traveled to Israel at the invitation of
the
International Medical Corps, a Los Angeles-based global humanitarian
organization, to assess health needs in the Palestinian territories.
His family says this Santa Monica native of Palestinian descent was a
quintessential American who played Little League baseball, favored
hamburgers over hummus, made high school valedictorian and led his
class in
the Pledge of Allegiance. He was also a typical Californian, his family
says, who swam and bodysurfed growing up around his father's market in
Hermosa Beach and considered himself a die-hard Los Angeles Lakers fan.
"Riad is as American as they come," said his brother Basil, a
Bellflower
physician. "This is almost like a smear campaign to present him as a
terrorist. The most important thing to understand about Riad is that he
is
a humanitarian, and this should not be a crime."
The physician's supporters have engaged in a flurry of activity to win
his
freedom. On Wednesday, the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles
and
the Anaheim office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations asked
Abdelkarim's congressional representative, U.S. Rep. Christopher Cox
(R-Newport Beach), to appeal for his immediate release. Lacking
essential
facts about the case, Cox said it was "not my role" to press for
Abdelkarim's release. But Cox said he was working to ensure that
Abdelkarim
was afforded due process and other legal rights.
In Chicago, Najee Ali said he would represent the Muslim American
Society,
the nation's leading organization of African American Muslims, in
traveling
to Israel next week to make a religious appeal for Abdelkarim's
freedom.
And in Orange County, a retired Christian minister who credits
Abdelkarim
with saving her husband's life said she intends to raise the issue of
how
to help the doctor and his family at an interfaith meeting today.
Connie
Regener of Irvine said the man she knows only as a compassionate healer
had
cared for her husband's diabetes, heart irregularities and other
problems a
few years ago. Now, she said, it was time to return the kindness.
"He was so very supportive and kind to us in our emergency, and now I'd
like to see the same treatment extended to him," said Regener, a member
of
a Christian-Muslim women's group that meets monthly at the Crystal
Cathedral.
As the activities mount, so do questions about what might have
triggered
Abdelkarim's detention.
After U.S. authorities shut down the foundation, Abdelkarim started a
new
charity, KinderUSA, in March aimed at helping children in the West Bank
and
Gaza. The new charity sent out its first e-mail appeal last month for
$1
million to buy food, household items and medical supplies.
In an April 10 e-mail to The Times, Abdelkarim said founders of the new
charity included such prominent U.S. Muslim physicians as Laila
Al-Marayati
of Glendale, a former member of the U.S. religious freedom commission.
The
charity was in no way involved with Holy Land members who were under
the
most scrutiny by investigators, he wrote.
"They have their own problems to deal with," he wrote. "As for me, I'm
'clean' as far as I'm concerned, and I couldn't sit by and watch as the
situation in Palestine worsened, with nobody there to help the people."
Others wonder if an impassioned letter Abdelkarim wrote from the Jenin
refugee camp displeased the Israelis. His April 29 letter spoke of the
stench of death, stories of executions and destruction, and his shame
at
being a U.S. taxpayer subsidizing the Israeli military arsenal.
"They are trying to silence him," said Ibrahim Hooper of the
American-Islamic council in Washington. "To use the bogeyman of
terrorism
is to keep people from assisting the Palestinians and making their
lives so
miserable that they will buckle under."
His four young children's questions are more immediate. Is Dad going to
make the Angels baseball game and the "Star Wars" film opening, as he
had
promised?
As the long days turn into sleepless nights, the children have stayed
out
of school and the family has secluded itself. During a visit to his
Orange
County home this week, the children described how they had decorated
the
home with balloons for his homecoming, and were looking forward to
visits
to Disneyland and the
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