" Its amazing how, whenever the sole Superpower goes after the domination of the energy rich areas of the globe, the Superpower discovers that with every barrel of oil, comes a bearded guy shouting Allahu Akbar! What a frightening scene! That is Terror! So, A global war on terror is in order! eNuri Article October 28, 2007: The Silent Superpower, SOL Islam. Nur

SOS brother you ask: 1) What is the basis for your conclusion that the struggle of ONLF is not in the interest of Muslims relative to the current Ethiopian oppression? Answer: Akhi, the original question I was addressing was the differentiation of Ideology, Morality and Action ( material Support). In my unfinished piece above, I did not yet reach a conclusion, so its natural that the basis of my conclusion is not yet clear to you and I hope you don't assume my conclusion as of yet. I would be very appreciative if you can wait for one. But, let me state a quick note on your question: I am in no way advocating for the ONLF to lay down their resistance, they have a right to resist occupation to the last man, and rightfully so, its more honorable to die on your feet than to live crawling on your knees. Muxibbukum filllaah Nur

Once more, our warlords and their Ethiopian guardians are on the run, defeated and disgraced. As usual, they are not giving up their Khiyaanah of their people so easily, however, the more Sincere Somalis who involve in the affairs of Somalia, the better for Somalia, enough is enough, Somalis are tired of being kept in the dark and being fed bull manure. Nur

A Must See Video on Freedom and Resistance http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=bDe65-nF3FQ

Xiin Bro. I am well aware of the prioritization schemes of Masalix and Mafaasid, the alighnment of Cagl with al Naql, laa darar walaa diraar, etc. We all know that the most important Maslaxa is the establishment of the Deen ( Code of Allah) on our lands, followed by the preservation of lives of our people, preservation of our kids ( through Family Values), preservation of our intellect (From intoxicants and Qaat), preservation of properties ( Sharia of Mucaamalaat), in that order, in this particular question, which i posed for the purpose of scholarly analysis to demarcate aqeedah borders that may touch on this issue, instead of drumming up popular notions, it requires a clear distinction between the terms our brother SOS has differentiated , namely, Ideology, Morality and Material Support. SOS Brother. Let me take you back to the advent of Islam ( Dhuhuurul Islam), Arabia was a divided nation, to the fertile South, in Yemen, the Persians ruled the Arabs, to the fertile crescent of Bilaad al Sham, (Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Iraq) was in the influence of the Romans. When Muhammad SAWS appeared, inter-clan wars was the norms, and the Arabs were morally, politically and socially in a divided mess, very similar to the Mess we Somalis find ourselves in today. Muhammad SAWS, was sent as a mercy for the entire humanity, not only for Arabia, but He had somewhere to start this great job, it happened to be the town of Makkah, which was ruled by Quresih, who controlled the Holy Kaaba as well as trade routes, hence the economy, while slavery and social injustice wa their way of life as well as racial supremacy over other Arab tribes. If you were in Prophet Muhammad's SAWS shoes ( nicaal) where would you start? We could suggest that he starts by liberating Arabia from the scourge of Slavery. We could suggest that he starts with the unification of Arab tribes and the liberation of Yemen, Palestine, Lebanon, Syria and Iraq, thus securing an economic leverage for his mission. We could suggest that he eradicates social illnesses, such as prostitution, gambling and social vices. But, because his mission was destined to reach much farther than all of those short objectives, he started with a non attractive objective: The Declaration that mankind should serve a single Master, Allah, in every sense. The word was the Tawheed. Tawheed. Say Laa Ilaaha Illa Allahu. Amazingly, although at first it was a rough start with such a dry message, all of the above suggestions were met with success within short 23 years. Why ? Because Tawheed is like a stem cell of all good values that Allah SWT wants to instill in humans. Like the stem cells, the kalimah of Tawheed is not specialized at first, but, at every step after its wholesale acceptance, a specialized functionality is born, that governs the new body of an Islamic entity, just like organs in our body. Qureish, knowing all too well that accepting the Kalimah in its totality, and its far reaching effects, rejected this word. Today, the rebirth of Islam is taking many manifestations, and many types of struggles are going on as of this writing, many of these struggles are just causes like the one we are discussing, however, what should be questioned is the expected fruits that will emerge from this struggle, are they going to add to the cause of Islam at the end? , I mean like that one of our Prophet Muhammad SAWS, or are Muslims going to shed blood for a struggle in which secularists will steal its show once victory is declared? Once a charter for a movement is publicly communicated it takes a life of its own, that is why its important to make sure that the charter is Tawheed, otherwise, owners of such movement can be in conflict of interests. I am not questioning the faith of the freedom fighters as they are all Muslims by default, I am just asking if that faith which is empowering them to stand for a just cause is well qualified in terms of its scope, and directed toward the right objectives to add value to the greater Maslaxa which we all want, namely ( Li takuuna Kalimutllahi Hiyal Culyaa) . Because if its not, the desired outcome may be to our detriment as the verse says ( Caamilatun Naasibah, meaning Working Hard In Vain)). Looking from the motivation context, liberation movements differ on their mission and charters, some movements are politically driven, some are grievances driven, yet some are Ideological driven. Occupiers know how to deal with the first two, usually they are rehabilitated and reinstated, juts like the IRA of Ireland, the Basque Separatists of Spain and the PLO Fatah movement. As long as a movement is grievance driven, the occupier can always maneuver to position his interest in advantage against the liberation movement, the resistance can also be divided for the benefit of occupiers since they are Grievances driven and hence can disagree on Maslaxa and Mafsada for the resistance movement at any given intersection during the struggle and negotiations phased with the occupiers. However, Ideologically driven movements represent a big headache for occupiers, they can not be rehabilitated, extermination is the only viable course to get rid of them, just like what Israel is attempting to do to Hamas. Prophet Muhamaad's movement was such a Ideologically driven movement whose core value was the total liberation of man from the oppression of fellow man. Quresih, offered Muhammad SAWS to be their joint leader ( Zaciim, TFG plus Isbaheysiga), if power is what he wanted, they offered him beautiful women of Qureish, if he had a soft spot for women, he was offered anything that can keep Qureish's Ideology superior to Muhaammad's SAWS, or even a compromise between the two Ideologies, to that effect, Allah SWT revealed Surah Qul Yaa Ayuhal Kafiruun. What is very crucial to note is that Ideology ( aka Aqeeda) in Islam is the cornerstone of all Islamic Morality ( aka Al Akhlaaq Al Islamiya), in other words, morality is born out of Ideology, and in turn our actions are naturally based on our morality ( akhlaaq), if our actions are noble, its shows that our Morality ( akhlaaq) to be noble, and hence our Ideology ( aqeeda) In Islam, Ideology is our Charter and Mission for which we exist, live for and are asked to spend our wealth and lives. Our Morality, represents the spirit of our Ideology ( Not The Letter of The Ideology )when we deal with others in action, (i.e. Material Support) we don't rape, kill innocent people, destroy properties, burn villages, carpet bomb entire cities, maim, torture or terrorize the public etc. Simply, all these heinous actions are the Morality of the non Believers of a judgment day and life after death in which Allah SWT will judge all mankind for their actions on earth. Now, The Ethiopian occupiers of Western Somalia ( 5th Kilil), have committed all of the above crimes against humanity as I have posted many times on these pages. We need to ask: 1. Why are the Ethiopians committing these crimes against our brethren? 2. Why are their Western allies quietly approving these crimes? Conclusion The correct answer to those two questions draws the line of the right Ideology, Morality and action plan that can withstand and test of time to realize the aspirations and long term happiness of the our people. Nur

Israel's War of Deceit, Lies and Propaganda By Uri Avnery January 12 "Gulf Times" -- - -Nearly 70 years ago, in the course of the Second World War, a heinous crime was committed in the city of Leningrad. For more than a thousand days, a gang of extremists called "the Red Army" held the millions of the town's inhabitants hostage and provoked retaliation from the German Wehrmacht from inside the population centres. The Germans had no alternative but to bomb and shell the population and to impose a total blockade, which caused the death of hundreds of thousands. Some time before that, a similar crime was committed in England. The Churchill gang hid among the population of London, misusing the millions of citizens as a human shield. The Germans were compelled to send their Luftwaffe and reluctantly reduce the city to ruins. They called it the Blitz. This is the description that would now appear in the history books - if the Germans had won the war. Absurd? No more than the daily descriptions in Israeli media, which are being repeated ad nauseam: the Hamas "terrorists" use the inhabitants of Gaza as "hostages" and exploit the women and children as "human shields", they leave Israel no alternative but to carry out massive bombardments, in which, to Israel's deep sorrow, thousands of women, children and unarmed men are killed and injured. In this war, as in any modern war, propaganda plays a major role. Almost all the Western media initially repeated the official Israeli propaganda line. They almost entirely ignored the Palestinian side of the story, not to mention the daily demonstrations of the Israeli peace camp. The rationale of the Israeli government ("The state must defend its citizens against the Qassam rockets") has been accepted as the whole truth. The view from the other side, that the Qassams are a retaliation for the siege that starves the one and a half million inhabitants of the Gaza Strip, was not mentioned at all. Only when the horrible scenes from Gaza started to appear on Western TV screens, did world public opinion gradually begin to change. War - every war - is the realm of lies. Whether called propaganda or psychological warfare, everybody accepts that it is right to lie for one's country. Anyone who speaks the truth runs the risk of being branded a traitor. The trouble is that propaganda is most convincing for the propagandist himself. And after you convince yourself that a lie is the truth and falsification reality, you can no longer make rational decisions. Falsification An example of this process surrounds the most shocking atrocity of this war so far: the shelling of the UN Fakhura school in Jabaliya refugee camp. Immediately after the incident became known throughout the world, the army "revealed" that Hamas fighters had been firing mortars from near the school entrance. As proof they released an aerial photo which indeed showed the school and the mortar. But within a short time the official army liar had to admit that the photo was more than a year old. In brief: a falsification. Later the official liar claimed that "our soldiers were shot at from inside the school". Barely a day passed before the army had to admit to UN personnel that that was a lie, too. Nobody had shot from inside the school, no Hamas fighters were inside the school, which was full of terrified refugees. But the admission made hardly any difference anymore. By that time, the Israeli public was completely convinced that "they shot from inside the school", and TV announcers stated this as a simple fact. So it went with the other atrocities. Every baby metamorphosed, in the act of dying, into a Hamas "terrorist". Every bombed mosque instantly became a Hamas base, every apartment building an arms cache, every school a terror command post, every civilian government building a "symbol of Hamas rule". Thus the Israeli army retained its purity as the "most moral army in the world". The truth is that the atrocities are a direct result of the war plan. This reflects the personality of Ehud Barak - a man whose way of thinking and actions are clear evidence of what is called "moral insanity", a sociopathic disorder. The real aim (apart from gaining seats in the coming elections) is to terminate the rule of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. In the imagination of the planners, Hamas is an invader which has gained control of a foreign country. The reality is, of course, entirely different. A top priority for the planners was the need to minimise casualties among the soldiers, knowing that the mood of a large part of the pro-war public would change if reports of such casualties came in. That is what happened in Lebanon Wars I and II. This consideration played an especially important role because the entire war is a part of the election campaign. The planners thought that they could stop the world from seeing these images by forcibly preventing press coverage. But in a modern war, such a sterile manufactured view cannot completely exclude all others - the cameras are inside the strip, in the middle of the hell, and cannot be controlled. Al Jazeera broadcasts the pictures around the clock and reaches every home. Hundreds of millions of Arabs from Mauritania to Iraq, more than a billion Muslims from Nigeria to Indonesia see the pictures and are horrified. This has a strong impact on the war. Many of the viewers see the rulers of Egypt, Jordan and the Palestinian National Authority as collaborators with Israel in carrying out these atrocities against their Palestinian brothers. If the war ends with Hamas still standing, bloodied but unvanquished, in face of the mighty Israeli military machine, it will look like a fantastic victory, a victory of mind over matter. What will be seared into the consciousness of the world will be the image of Israel as a blood-stained monster, ready at any moment to commit war crimes and not prepared to abide by any moral restraints. This will have severe consequences for our long-term future, our standing in the world, our chance of achieving peace and quiet. In the end, this war is a crime against Israelis too, a crime against the State of Israel. Uri Avnery is an Israeli writer and peace activist with Gush Shalom. He is a contributor to Counter Punch's book 'The Politics of Anti-Semitism'.

Chronology: Which Side Violated the Israel-Gaza Ceasefire? The Bush Administration and The New York Times v. Amnesty International By Howard Friel January 14, 2009 "CommonDreams.org" -- - Introduction June 18, 2008 Israel has approved a ceasefire to end months of bitter clashes with the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in Gaza, Israeli officials have confirmed. Under the terms of the truce, which is set to begin Thursday (June 19), Israel will ease its blockade on the Gaza Strip. At the same time, talks to release an Israeli soldier [Gilad Shalit] held by Hamas would intensify, an Israeli official said. Hamas, which controls Gaza, says it is confident that all militants will abide by the truce [by not firing rockets into southern Israel]. The agreement is supposed to last six months. (Emphasis added) ("Israel Agrees to Gaza Ceasefire," BBC, June 18, 2008) December 28, 2008 "The United States strongly condemns the repeated rocket and mortar attacks against Israel and holds Hamas responsible for breaking the cease-fire and for the renewal of violence in Gaza." U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice. ("White House Puts Onus on Hamas to End Escalation of Violence," New York Times, December 28, 2008) December 30, 2008 "Israel must defend itself. And Hamas must bear responsibility for ending a six-month cease-fire this month with a barrage of rocket attacks into Israeli territory." ("War Over Gaza," New York Times editorial, December 30, 2008) Ceasefire Chronology: (See November 5 and December 28 Entries Below For Direct References to Breaking the Ceasefire) July 4, 2008 A humanitarian crisis is engulfing Gaza-not the result of a natural disaster but entirely man-made and avoidable. The tightening of the Israeli blockade since June 2007 has left the population, 1.5 million Palestinians, trapped and with few resources. They are surviving, but only just. Some 80 per cent depend on the trickle of international aid that the Israeli government allows in. In the first five months of 2008 some 380 Palestinians, more than a third of them unarmed civilians and including more than 60 children, were killed by the Israeli army, almost all of them in the Gaza Strip. In the same period 25 Israelis, 16 of them civilians, were killed by Palestinian armed groups. A ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups came into force on 19 June and at the time of writing it looked uncertain. Israeli officials however, insisted that Gaza's border remains sealed so long as Hamas does not release the Israeli soldier they are holding. Some 8,500 Palestinians are detained in Israeli jails. Of these, 900 are from the Gaza Strip, all of whom have been denied visits by their families since June 2007. Palestinian armed groups in Gaza continue to hold an Israeli soldier, who was captured in June 2006, and to deny him access to the International Committee of the Red Cross. ("Gaza Blockage: Collective Punishment," Amnesty International, July 4, 2008) August 14, 2008 Some 400 Palestinian students may lose their university places and scholarships unless the Israeli authorities allow them to leave the Gaza Strip before the new academic year, which starts in the next few weeks. The students have enrolled to study subjects including law, sciences, business and medicine. At least 37 of the students have university places and scholarships in Europe and North America, while hundreds of others are due to travel to universities in countries in the Middle East and elsewhere. Several of these students have been denied permission to leave Gaza since last year. ("Freedom of Movement, Right to Education Denied," Amnesty International, August 14, 2008) August 15, 2008 Amnesty International has described as scandalous the Israeli army's account of firing a tank shell that killed Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana as a "sound" decision. The army reached the conclusion as part of a so-called investigation into the killing of the journalist and three other unarmed civilians, including 2 children, on 16 April 2008. The army's so-called investigation lacked any semblance of impartiality and Amnesty International called for an independent and impartial investigation into the killing. The organization said that the army's conclusion can only reinforce the culture of impunity that has led to so many reckless and disproportionate killings of children and other unarmed civilians by Israeli forces in Gaza. Fadel Shana worked for Reuters press agency and was in a car clearly marked as Press. He and his colleague left the car, wearing visible Press flak-jackets and he was killed by an Israeli tank he was filming. The tank fired a shell at Shana, which also hit the civilians, including children, and injured his colleague and others around him. ("Army's So-Called Inquiry into Cameraman's Killing in Gaza a Scandal," Amnesty International, August 15, 2008) August 22, 2008 With the exception of Karima Abu Dalal (who was finally able to leave Gaza through an exceptional arrangement via the border with Egypt after many months' delay to her treatment for Hodgkin's lymphoma) all the critically ill patients named above are still being denied permission to leave Gaza for treatment abroad. The Israeli authorities are refusing to allow these and hundreds of other patients to leave Gaza to obtain specialized treatment unavailable in Gaza, for undisclosed and unsubstantiated security reasons. Dozens of patients have died in recent months following delays to, or denials of, permits to leave Gaza. ("Further Information on Medical Concern," Amnesty International, August 22, 2008) August 27, 2008 With Gaza locked down and cut off from the outside world by a stifling Israeli blockade, 46 peace activists from the world over set sail for Gaza on 22 August to, in their words, "break the siege that Israel has imposed on the civilian population of Gaza..., to express our solidarity with the suffering people of Gaza, and to create a free and regular channel between Gaza and the outside world." The blockade imposed by Israel on the Gaza Strip over a year ago has left the entire population of 1.5 million Palestinians trapped with dwindling resources and an economy in ruins. Some 80 per cent of the population now depend on the trickle of international aid that the Israeli army allows in. This humanitarian crisis is man-made and entirely avoidable. The Israeli authorities argue that the blockade on Gaza is in response to Palestinian attacks, especially the indiscriminate rockets fired from Gaza at the nearby Israeli town of Sderot. These and other Palestinian attacks killed 25 Israelis in the first half of this year; in the same period Israeli forces killed 400 Palestinians. However, the Israeli blockade does not target the Palestinian armed groups responsible for attacks-it collectively punishes the entire population of Gaza. Though a ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups has held in Gaza since 19 June 2008, the Israeli blockade remains in place. Israel has banned exports from Gaza altogether and has reduced entry of fuel and goods to a trickle-mostly humanitarian aid, foodstuff and medical supplies. Basic necessities are in short supply or not available at all in Gaza. The shortages have pushed up food prices at a time when people can least afford to pay more. A growing number of Gazans have been pushed into extreme poverty and suffer from malnutrition. With the ceasefire holding, the suffering in Gaza has fallen off the international news agenda. However, Amnesty International members continue to campaign, calling: on the Israeli authorities to immediately lift the blockade, allow unhindered passage into Gaza of sufficient quantities of fuel, electricity and other necessities; and allow those who want to leave Gaza to do so, notably patients in need of medical treatment not available in Gaza and students enrolled in universities abroad, and also to allow them later to return; on Palestinian armed groups not to resume rocket and other attacks on Israeli civilians. ("Trapped: Collective Punishment in Gaza," Amnesty International, August 27, 2008) August 29, 2008 The Israeli authorities are still denying scores of critically ill patients the authorization they need to leave Gaza for medical treatment that is unavailable in Gaza. Hospitals in Gaza continue to lack vital medical equipment and trained personnel to carry out advanced medical treatment, including many surgical operations and the provision of chemotherapy for cancer patients. Even those patients who are given permission to leave Gaza for treatment are often suffering as a result of delays in receiving exit permits, which contribute to a decline in patient's health and emotional well-being. Interrogation by the General Security Service Over the past year, the denial of permits to seriously ill patients has primarily been based on undisclosed security reasons. Some patients from Gaza testified to Amnesty International that they were openly told in interviews with the Israeli General Security Service (GSS) [israel's counterintelligence and internal security service, also known as Shin Bet] at the Erez Crossing point at the northern border with Israel that they would not receive treatment in Israel unless they become informants for the GSS. As Physicians for Human Rights-Israel (PHR-Israel) describes in a recent report, "patients are detained for interrogation at Erez Crossing, and requested either to provide information or to act as collaborators on a regular basis as a condition for permission to exit Gaza for medical treatment." The report provides testimonies that PHR-Israel has received from a number of patients that demonstrate this practice. According to PHR-Israel, rejection or approval of a patient's request to leave Gaza for treatment almost entirely depends on the GSS who are taking advantage of the vulnerability of patients who have no other means of accessing medical care. Even patients who already have an exit permit from the authorities to cross into Israel at Erez are being denied permission to leave Gaza after an "unsatisfactory" interrogation. This policy by the GSS of questioning patients in exchange for entry into Israel appears to have become a formal part of the exit procedure for patients and is reportedly discouraging some patients from attempting to leave Gaza in the first place. ("Health Professional Action: Patients From Gaza Are Still Denied Access to Medical Treatment in Israel," Amnesty International, August 29, 2008) October 16, 2008 The children named above [ages 5 months, 1.2 years, 1.2 years, 1.5 years, 5 years, and 6 years] suffer from serious heart conditions including congenital heart defects commonly known as holes in the heart. All the children need urgent surgery that cannot be provided in Gaza, which lacks both the necessary medical facilities and specialists. The children were due to be operated on by a team of British heart specialists at Makassad Hospital in East Jerusalem during the week beginning 4 October 2008. They were not able to leave the Gaza Strip because the Israeli authorities refused permissions to their mothers/grandmothers to leave Gaza to accompany them. Soheb Wael Alqasas has already missed six appointments for his surgery in recent months because his mother and grandmother were repeatedly refused permits to accompany him to the hospital in Jerusalem. A team of Italian heart specialists will be conducting a week of paediatric cardiac surgery at the Makassad Hospital from 6 November. It is imperative that the six children are able to attend the Makassad Hospital in time to undergo surgery by the visiting team of specialists. For this to be possible their relatives must be allowed to travel with them to the hospital in Jerusalem. ("Medical Concern," Amnesty International, October 16, 2008) November 5, 2008 A spate of Israeli and Palestinian attacks and counter-attacks in the past 24 hours could spell the end of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire. This would once again put the civilian populations of Gaza and southern Israel in the line of fire. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Gaza by Israeli forces in a ground incursion and air strikes on 4 November was followed by a barrage of dozens of Palestinian rockets on nearby towns and villages in the south of Israel. The Palestinian attacks caused no casualties or damage, but there is a real risk that any further armed actions by either side would risk igniting another deadly campaign. The ceasefire was agreed between Israel and Hamas last June and has been in force since then. It has been the single most important factor in reducing civilian casualties and attacks on civilians to the lowest level since the outbreak of the uprising (intifada) more than eight years ago. The ceasefire has brought enormous improvements in the quality of life in Sderot and other Israeli villages near Gaza, where before the ceasefire residents lived in fear of the next Palestinian rocket strike. However, nearby in the Gaza Strip the Israeli blockade remains in place and the population has so far seen few dividends from the ceasefire. Since June 2007, the entire population of 1.5 million Palestinians has been trapped in Gaza, with dwindling resources and an economy in ruins. Some 80 percent of the population now depend on the trickle of international aid that the Israeli army allows in. (Emphasis added) ("Gaza Ceasefire at Risk," Amnesty International, November 5, 2008) November 14, 2008 The Israeli army has completely blocked the delivery of urgently needed humanitarian aid and medical supplies to the Gaza Strip for more than a week. Very little fuel has been allowed in. Amnesty International urged the Israeli authorities on Friday to allow their immediate passage. "This latest tightening of the Israeli blockade has made an already dire humanitarian situation markedly worse. It is nothing short of collective punishment on Gaza's civilian population and it must stop immediately," said Philip Luther, Deputy Director of Amnesty International's Middle East and North Africa Programme. Eighty per cent of the population of Gaza has been dependent on the trickle of humanitarian aid previously allowed into Gaza until Wednesday, 5 November. Industrial fuel, which is donated by the European Union and needed to power Gaza's power plant, has also been blocked, causing a blackout in large parts of Gaza. The United Nations Relief and Work Agency (UNRWA), the main UN aid agency, which provides humanitarian assistance to close to one million Palestinian refugees in Gaza, announced on Thursday that its supplies had run out. At the same time, the Israeli authorities have been denying access to Gaza to foreign journalists for a week and a convoy of European diplomats were likewise refused entry on Thursday. "Gaza is cut off from the outside world and Israel is seemingly not keen for the world to see the suffering that its blockade is causing the one and a half million Palestinians who are virtually trapped there," said Philip Luther. The breakdown last week of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants in Gaza has generated a renewed wave of violence. The killing of six Palestinian militants in Israeli air strikes and ground attacks on 4 November prompted a barrage of Palestinian rockets on nearby Israeli towns and villages. Five other Palestinian militants have been killed by Israeli forces in recent days. Palestinian rocket attacks have continued. No Israeli casualties had been reported until earlier today, when one Israeli was lightly wounded by shrapnel in an attack on the Israeli city of Sderot. ("Israeli Army Blocks Deliveries to Gaza," Amnesty International, November 14, 2008) November 17, 2008 The impediments faced by Palestinians in Gaza in obtaining access to health care continue to be a cause for serious concern. The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip has caused a further deterioration in the humanitarian situation, health and sanitation problems, as well as extreme poverty and malnutrition. With only a few exceptions, the entire population of 1.5 million people are trapped in Gaza. Students are unable to attend university studies and jobs abroad and critically ill patients in need of medical care that is unavailable in local hospitals are often prevented from leaving Gaza. ("Health Professional Action: Crushing the Right to Health," Amnesty International, November 17, 2008) November 17, 2008 The Israeli army allowed a limited number of trucks carrying humanitarian assistance into Gaza for the first time in two weeks on Monday. However, the long-term nature of the blockade and restrictions on the flow of goods into Gaza has led to a situation where reserves have long been depleted. "What is necessary, at a minimum, is for Israel to allow regular and unhindered flow of humanitarian aid, medical supplies and other basic necessities into Gaza," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. ("Israeli Army Relaxes Restrictions on Humanitarian Aid to Gaza," Amnesty International, November 17, 2008) December 5, 2008 The Israeli blockade of the Gaza Strip is having ever more serious consequences on its population. In the past month the supply of humanitarian aid and basic necessities to Gaza has been reduced from a trickle to an intermittent drip. The blockade has become tighter than ever since the breakdown of a five-and-a-half-month ceasefire between Israeli forces and Palestinian militants on 5 November. "The Israeli authorities might be allowing through enough for the survival of Gaza's population, but this is nowhere near enough for the 1.5 million inhabitants of Gaza to live with dignity," said Donatella Rovera, Amnesty International's researcher on Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territories. As supplies are being further withheld, most mills have shut down because they have little or no grain. People who have long been deprived of many food items now cannot even find bread at times. Reserves of food have long been depleted and the meagre quantities allowed into Gaza are not even enough to meet the immediate needs. Families never know if they will have food for their children the following day. When people do have food, they generally have no cooking gas or electricity with which to cook it. Last week, less than 10 per cent of the weekly requirement of cooking gas was allowed into Gaza. ("Gaza Reduced to Bare Survival," Amnesty International, December 5, 2008) December 28, 2008 Amnesty International has called on Israeli forces and Palestinian armed groups to immediately halt the unlawful attacks carried out as part of the escalation of violence which has caused the death of some 280 Palestinians and one Israeli civilian since December 27. This is the highest level of Palestinian fatalities and casualties in four decades of Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Scores of unarmed civilians, as well as police personnel who were not directly participating in the hostilities, are among the Palestinian victims of the Israeli bombardment in the Gaza Strip. "Such disproportionate use of force by Israel is unlawful and risks igniting further violence in the whole region," said Amnesty International. "The escalation of violence comes at a time when the civilian population already faces a daily struggle for survival due to the Israeli blockade which has prevented even food and medicines from entering Gaza." "Hamas and other Palestinian armed groups, for their part, share responsibility for the escalation. Their continuous rocket attacks on towns and villages in southern Israel are unlawful and can never be justified," Amnesty International said. This latest Israeli onslaught brings the number of Palestinians killed by Israeli forces this year to some 650, at least a third of whom are unarmed civilians, including 70 children. In the same period, Palestinian armed groups have killed 25 Israelis, 16 of them civilians, including four children. The ceasefire effectively ended after six Palestinian militants were killed by Israeli forces in Gaza force on 4 November and a barrage of Palestinians rockets were launched on nearby towns and villages in the south of Israel. (Emphasis added) ("Civilians Must Be Protected in Gaza and Israel," Amnesty International, December 28, 2008) Howard Friel is coauthor with Richard Falk of Israel-Palestine on Record: How The New York Times Misreports Conflict in the Middle East (Verso, 2007), and with Falk of The Record of the Paper: How The New York Times Misreports U.S. Foreign Policy (Verso, 2004)

Great topic bro, I have discussed this issue on another thread, the above instrument belongs to a category in the Islamic ( Mucaamalaat) known as ( Taxaayul) or legal loopholes that utilize ambiguities to bypass legal edicts. Taxaayul is more sinful than outright violation of Islamic law. Nur

SOS bro. You write: "I'm not an ideological supporter of ONLF, but I'm a moral and material supporter of ONLF." Akhi, how can we differentiate our Ideology from our Morality and hence our Material (Actions) Support for any cause? Please elaborate on this a bit more, its a very interesting philosophical issue that even surpasses in relevance to current issue in discussion. This is in fact in the realm of Islamic Aqeeda which I am very much interested to align it with the Quraan and Sunnah, our benchmarks. Abdullatif bro. JZK, well noted akhi. Nur

Warlords! They never seize to amaze me! Barre Hirale was on BBC News Somali Service the other day saying that he was an ally of the ahlul Sunno wal jameeco (note the somali accent) lol Nur

JB Yes! Political Islam is red hot these days, also coming your way, Economic Islam, Social Islam. You see JB, Islam is a code for life, there is even Romantic Islam (For Newly Weds)! Nur

JB Political and Militant movements have a definite purpose for their existence, the ONLF is not different, if I go by their charter, which is noble, as it aspires to free the Somali people in the 5th region from Ethiopian slavery. Reason I have a qualm with the clan name is that its divisive and not unifying as desired. As long as every clan seeks freedom on its own, its assured that they will be played by one on other. And of course, without Islam, Muslims will never win their freedoms, Islam gives any Muslim individual or a community an identity and a purpose to live for and if needed spend wealth and life for its sake. Ayatullah bro. As long as we hide behind " Nationalist" slogans and causes, which is the language acceptable to the western mindset, we will always be forced to play the game on their terms, not ours, and as long we play the game on their terms, they will always win the game. Only Islam can unify the nation to liberate it, which is precisely why Islam is being fiercely opposed by western politicians and their clients. Nur

Ayatollah bro. The charter of the ONLF reads: " The ONLF is a grassroots social and political movement founded in 1984 by the Somali people of OGDN who could no longer bear the atrocities committed against them by successive Ethiopian regimes. Today, the ONLF as both an advocate for and defender of the people is dedicated to resotring the rights of Somalis in OGDN to self-determination, peace, development and democracy" I cant find Islam in their charter, in its place I see Democracy, which is contradictory to Islam, and the clan based name, which takes the place of all Somalis who live in the 5th region who are as oppressed and exterminated as well. Its unfortunate that this movement is acting more secular than the other movements in the region, please educate me more on this organization as my knowledge is quite limited. Nur

Quick answers. Abu Diaby bro. Baatil will never become Xaqq, what was baatil in 2006 is still baatil, and some of those who stood for Xaq in 2006 are stil standing for Xaq,while others have fallen for Sheitan. People can change with time, but the baatil can never change its essence, even if its sponsors and shape changes to confuse those who seek the Xaq. Ayatollah bro. Although the hadeeth that I have quoted was about a saxabi who was not in a leadership position, nor vying for it, leaders as well as subjects are prone to fail if Allah does not make them firm, Allah SWT says in Quraan about Muhammad " Wa lowlaa an thabbatnaaka, laqad kidta tarkanu ileyhim shey an qaliilaa" " and if We have not made you firm, you would have leaned toward their (Quresih) position." So, if the Prophet SAWS was not secure from being tricked with phoney compromises, who else can be? again, I am not advocating for the Sheikh's presidency, I am cautiously exercising the Sunnah way of being prudent when judging others intentions and motivations, otherwise we can fall in the same pit the Khawaarij fell when they killed Othman RAA. Fitna is a dangerous thing, when it comes to an issue between Muslims, we should exercise utmost prudence. In this thread, we are discussing the issue of giving the benefit of doubt to the Sheikh, his motivation, that he is driven by a desire to save Somalia, but may have went about it the wrong way of crossing the line ( which we all agree), hence the analogy of the Hadeeth of the saxaabi. I was in no way suggesting a new leadership role for the Sheikh, as your remarks are aiding what I have said about the Sheikhs( Very Bizarre actions of late). Geel Jire brother Second expalnation is more suitable in the situation at hand, there is another tilt to it, Politicians are promoted to the highest level of failure. Ayoub bro. Allah SWT says: "When Allah alone is sanctified, the hearts of those who disbelieve worry, and when others are sanctified, you find them rejoicing." This vers has far reaching meaning, it means that when a Muslim leader who only considers Allah alone in his decisions, takes the lead, the "International Community" worries, when, another "Moderate" leader who accepts the terms from other than Allah, they rejoice. Imperial King Makers select their appointees ( who rule their empires on their behalf) for the appointees desire for anything but Allah, once they find that a person has "other" interests, or desires, they groom them and package them for wholesale consumption in their Media. The problem is that some of those in the struggle at times, either weaken, break down ( If Allah does not make them firm), or become complacent or out of ignorance cross the unified line of the resistance and think that they can single handedly bridge the gap between those in the resistance and the enemy. Nur

Intisaar sis If the widow did not have any kids for him, nor did he have kids from other marriage, her share from the inheritance is a fourth ( 1/4). ( Suraha Al Nisaa v.12) Wa Allahu Aclam Nur

What an interesting discussion! Xiin, as usual, unleashing his generous accommodating nabd-doon goodwill. ( May Allah accept it, amin) and SOS' dig on "what is next" thought train after the matter of Ethiopian retreat, plus Ayoub's conclusive and patient "SABR AYOUB" lets not jump the gun on the Sheikh. The topic is pregnant with issues, inshAllah I will come back for some of the above. Ayatollah, Mulugetta According to the Hadeeth, the Sheikh deserves 72 benefits of the doubt, how many did you give him before suggesting that he is driven by the greenback? even if he was driven by a personal matter, we have lessons In the Seera that a companion of the Prophet SAWS spied for the enemy, and when asked what was his motivation, he admitted that he wanted to save his family, he was not despised nor hurt for treason after it was clear that he loved Allah and the Messenger. This is not to suggest that all informants for the Ethiopians love Allah and the Prophet SAWS, its about those who have participated in the struggle for establishing Allah's code of life ( Deen) n earth, but for some unknown reason, later acted in a bizarre way, contrary to what was expected from them. We need level heads at times of confusion ( Fitna). Baarakallahu feek. Nur

Living on Borrowed Time in a Stolen Land By Gilad Atzmon January 04, 2009 "ICH" -- Communicating with Israelis may leave one bewildered. Even now when the Israeli Air Force is practicing murder in broad daylight of hundreds of civilians, elderly persons, women and children, the Israeli people manage to convince themselves that they are the real victims in this violent saga. Those who are familiar intimately with Israeli people realise that they are completely uninformed about the roots of the conflict that dominates their lives. Rather often Israelis manage to come up with some bizarre arguments that may make a lot of sense within the Israeli discourse, yet make no sense whatsoever outside of the Jewish street. Such an argument goes as follows: ‘those Palestinians, why do they insist upon living on our land (Israel), why can’t they just settle in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon or any other Arab country?’ Another Hebraic pearl of wisdom sounds like this: ‘what is wrong with these Palestinians? We gave them water, electricity, education and all they do is try to throw us to the sea’. Astonishingly enough, the Israelis even within the so-called ‘left’ and even the educated ‘left’ fail to understand who the Palestinians are, where they come from and what they stand for. They fail to grasp that for the Palestinians, Palestine is home. Miraculously, the Israelis manage to fail to grasp that Israel had been erected at the expense of the Palestinian people, on Palestinian land, on Palestinian villages, towns, fields and orchards. The Israelis do not realise that Palestinians in Gaza and in refugee camps in the region are actually dispossessed people from Ber Shive, Yafo, Tel Kabir, Shekh Munis, Lod, Haifa, Jerusalem and many more towns and villages. If you wonder how come the Israelis don’t know their history, the answer is pretty simple, they have never been told. The circumstances that led to the Israeli Palestinian conflict are well hidden within their culture. Traces of pre-1948 Palestinian civilisation on the land had been wiped out. Not only the Nakba, the 1948 ethnic cleansing of the indigenous Palestinians, is not part of the Israeli curriculum, it is not even mentioned or discussed in any Israeli official or academic forum. In the very centre of almost every Israeli town one can a find a 1948 memorial statue displaying a very bizarre, almost abstract, pipe work. The plumbing feature is called Davidka and it is actually a 1948 Israeli mortar cannon. Interestingly enough, the Davidka was an extremely ineffective weapon. Its shells wouldn’t reach more than 300 meters and would cause very limited damage. Though the Davidika would cause just minimal harm, it produced a lot of noise. According to the Israeli official historical narrative, the Arabs i.e., Palestinians, simply ran away for their lives once they heard the Davidka from afar. According to the Israeli narrative, the Jews i.e., ‘new Israelis’ did a bit of fireworks and the ‘Arab cowards’ just ran off like ******. In the Israeli official narrative there is no mention of the many orchestrated massacres conducted by the young IDF and the paramilitary units that preceded it. There is no mention also of the racist laws that stop Palestinians[1][1] from returning to their homes and lands. The meaning of the above is pretty simple. Israelis are totally unfamiliar with the Palestinian cause. Hence, they can only interpret the Palestinian struggle as a murderous irrational lunacy. Within the Israeli Judeo- centric solipsistic universe, the Israeli is an innocent victim and the Palestinian is no less than a savage murderer. This grave situation that leaves the Israeli in the dark regarding his past demolishes any possibility of future reconciliation. Since the Israeli lacks the minimal comprehension of the conflict, he cannot contemplate any possible resolution except extermination or cleansing of the ‘enemy’. All the Israeli is entitled to know are various phantasmic narratives of Jewish suffering. Palestinian pain is completely foreign to his ears. ‘Palestinian right of return’ sounds to him like an amusing idea. Even the most advanced ‘Israeli humanists’ are not ready to share the land with its indigenous inhabitants. This doesn’t leave the Palestinians with many options but to liberate themselves against all odds. Clearly, there is no partner for peace on the Israel side. This week we all learned more about the ballistic capability of Hamas. Evidently, Hamas was rather restrained with Israel for more than a long while. It refrained from escalating the conflict to the whole of southern Israel. It occurred to me that the barrages of Qassams that have been landing sporadically on Sderot and Ashkelon were actually nothing but a message from the imprisoned Palestinians. First it was a message to the stolen land, homes fields and orchards: ‘Our beloved soil, we didn’t forget, we are still here fighting for you, sooner rather than later, we will come back, we will start again where we had stopped’. But it was also a clear message to the Israelis. ‘You out there, in Sderot, Beer Sheva, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Tel Aviv and Haifa, whether you realise it or not, you are actually living on our stolen land. You better start to pack because your time is running out, you have exhausted our patience. We, the Palestinian people, have nothing to lose anymore’. Let’s face it, realistically the situation in Israel is rather grave. Two years ago it was Hezbollah rockets that pounded northern Israel. This week the Hamas proved beyond doubt that it is capable of serving the South of Israel with some cocktail of ballistic vengeance. Both in the case of the Hezbollah and the case of the Hamas, Israel was left with no military answer. It can no doubt kill civilians but it fails to stop the rocket barrage. The IDF lacks the means of protecting Israel unless covering Israel with a solid concrete roof is a viable solution. At the end of the day, they might be planning just that (link). But this is far from the end of the story. In fact it is just the beginning. Every Middle East expert knows that Hamas can seize control of the West Bank within hours. In fact, PA and Fatah control in the West Bank is maintained by the IDF. Once Hamas takes the West Bank, the biggest Israeli population centre will be left to the mercy of Hamas. For those who fail to see, this would be the end of Jewish Israel. It may happen later today, it may happen in three months or in five years, it isn’t matter of ‘if’ but rather matter of ‘when’. By that time, the whole of Israel will be within firing range of Hamas and Hezbollah, Israeli society will collapse, its economy will be ruined. The price of a detached villa in Northern Tel Aviv would equal a shed in Kiryat Shmone or Sderot. By the time a single rocket hits Tel Aviv, the Zionist dream will be over. The IDF generals know it, the Israeli leaders know it. This is why they stepped up the war against the Palestinian into extermination. The Israelis do not plan upon invading Gaza. They have lost nothing there. All they want is to finish the Nakba. They drop bombs on Palestinians in order to wipe them out. They want the Palestinians out of the region. It is obviously not going to work, Palestinians will stay. Not only they will they stay, their day of return to their land is coming closer as Israel has been exploiting its deadliest tactics. This is exactly where Israeli escapism comes into play. Israel has passed the ‘point of no return’. Its doomed fate is deeply engraved in each bomb it drops on Palestinian civilians. There is nothing Israel can do to save itself. There is no exit strategy. It can’t negotiate its way out because neither the Israelis nor their leadership understand the elementary parameters involved in the conflict. Israel lacks the military power to conclude the battle. It may manage to kill Palestinian grassroots leaders, it has been doing it for years, yet Palestinian resistance and persistence is growing fierce rather than weakening. As an IDF intelligence general predicted already at the first Intifada. ‘In order to win, all Palestinians have to do is to survive’. They survive and they are indeed winning. Israeli leaders understand it all. Israel has already tried everything, unilateral withdrawal, starvation and now extermination. It thought to evade the demographic danger by shrinking into an intimate cosy Jewish ghetto. Nothing worked. It is Palestinian persistence in the shape of Hamas politics that defines the future of the region. All that is left to Israelis is to cling to their blindness and escapism to evade their devastating grave fate that has become immanent already. All along their way down, the Israelis will sing their familiar various victim anthems. Being imbued in a self-centred supremacist reality, they will be utterly involved in their own pain yet completely blind to the pain they inflict on others. Uniquely enough, the Israelis are operating as a unified collective when dropping bombs on others, yet, once being slightly hurt, they all manage to become monads of vulnerable innocence. It is this discrepancy between the self-image and the way they are seen by the rest of us which turns the Israeli into a monstrous exterminator. It is this discrepancy that stops Israelis from grasping their own history, it is that discrepancy that stops them from comprehending the repeated numerous attempts to destroy their State. It is that discrepancy that stops Israelis from understanding the meaning of the Shoah so can they prevent the next one. It is this discrepancy that stops Israelis from being part of humanity. Once again Jews will have to wander into an unknown fate. To a certain extent, I myself have started my journey a while ago.

Hamza walla Waa Sheeko cibrad weyn ay ku jirto, Allaha ka abaal mariyo Umm Cabdallah iyo adigaba, runtii sheekooyinku dareenka dadka si yaab leh bey u dhaqaajiyaan, sida ka muuqata Qisaska xikmadda badan ee Allah Quraanka noogu sheegay, sida Suuradda Yusuf. Baaraka Allahu Feek akhi. Nur

Israel Has No Intention of Granting a Palestinian State If Hamas Did Not Exist By JENNIFER LOEWENSTEIN January 02, 2009 "Counterpunch" - -Let us get one thing perfectly straight. If the wholesale mutilation and degradation of the Gaza Strip is going to continue; if Israel’s will is at one with that of the United States; if the European Union, Russia, the United Nations and all the international legal agencies and organizations spread across the globe are going to continue to sit by like hollow mannequins doing nothing but making repeated “calls” for a “ceasefire” on “both sides”; if the cowardly, obsequious and supine Arab States are going to stand by watching their brethren get slaughtered by the hour while the world’s bullying Superpower eyes them threateningly from Washington lest they say something a little to their disliking; then let us at least tell the truth why this hell on earth is taking place. The state terror unleashed from the skies and on the ground against the Gaza Strip as we speak has nothing to do with Hamas. It has nothing to do with “Terror”. It has nothing to do with the long-term “security” of the Jewish State or with Hizbullah or Syria or Iran except insofar as it is aggravating the conditions that have led up to this crisis today. It has nothing to do with some conjured-up “war” – a cynical and overused euphemism that amounts to little more the wholesale enslavement of any nation that dares claim its sovereign rights; that dares assert that its resources are its own; that doesn’t want one of the Empire’s obscene military bases sitting on its cherished land. This crisis has nothing to do with freedom, democracy, justice or peace. It is not about Mahmoud Zahhar or Khalid Mash’al or Ismail Haniyeh. It is not about Hassan Nasrallah or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. These are all circumstantial players who have gained a role in the current tempest only now that the situation has been allowed for 61 years to develop into the catastrophe that it is today. The Islamist factor has colored and will continue to color the atmosphere of the crisis; it has enlisted the current leaders and mobilized wide sectors of the world’s population. The primary symbols today are Islamic – the mosques, the Qur’an, the references to the Prophet Muhammad and to Jihad. But these symbols could disappear and the impasse would continue. There was a time when Fatah and the PFLP held the day; when few Palestinians wanted anything to do with Islamist policies and politics. Such politics have nothing to do with primitive rockets being fired over the border, or smuggling tunnels and black-market weapons; just as Arafat’s Fatah had little to do with stones and suicide bombings. The associations are coincidental; the creations of a given political environment. They are the result of something entirely different than what the lying politicians and their analysts are telling you. They have become part of the landscape of human events in the modern Middle East today; but incidentals wholly as lethal, or as recalcitrant, deadly, angry or incorrigible could just as soon have been in their places. Strip away the clichés and the vacuous newspeak blaring out across the servile media and its pathetic corps of voluntary state servants in the Western world and what you will find is the naked desire for hegemony; for power over the weak and dominion over the world’s wealth. Worse yet you will find that the selfishness, the hatred and indifference, the racism and bigotry, the egotism and hedonism that we try so hard to cover up with our sophisticated jargon, our refined academic theories and models actually help to guide our basest and ugliest desires. The callousness with which we in indulge in them all are endemic to our very culture; thriving here like flies on a corpse. Strip away the current symbols and language of the victims of our selfish and devastating whims and you will find the simple, impassioned and unaffected cries of the downtrodden; of the ‘wretched of the earth’ begging you to cease your cold aggression against their children and their homes; their families and their villages; begging you to leave them alone to have their fish and their bread, their oranges, their olives and their thyme; asking you first politely and then with increasing disbelief why you cannot let them live undisturbed on the land of their ancestors; unexploited, free of the fear of expulsion; of ravishment and devastation; free of permits and roadblocks and checkpoints and crossings; of monstrous concrete walls, guard towers, concrete bunkers, and barbed wire; of tanks and prisons and torture and death. Why is life without these policies and instruments of hell impossible? The answer is because Israel has no intention of allowing a viable, sovereign Palestinian state on its borders. It had no intention of allowing it in 1948 when it grabbed 24 per cent more land than what it was allotted legally, if unfairly, by UN Resolution 181. It had no intention of allowing it throughout the massacres and ploys of the 1950s. It had no intention of allowing two states when it conquered the remaining 22 per cent of historic Palestine in 1967 and reinterpreted UN Security Council Resolution 248 to its own liking despite the overwhelming international consensus stating that Israel would receive full international recognition within secure and recognized borders if it withdrew from the lands it had only recently occupied. It had no intention of acknowledging Palestinian national rights at the United Nations in 1974, when –alone with the United States—it voted against a two-state solution. It had no intention of allowing a comprehensive peace settlement when Egypt stood ready to deliver but received, and obediently accepted, a separate peace exclusive of the rights of Palestinians and the remaining peoples of the region. It had no intention of working toward a just two-state solution in 1978 or 1982 when it invaded, fire-bombed, blasted and bulldozed Beirut so that it might annex the West Bank without hassle. It had no intention of granting a Palestinian state in 1987 when the first Intifada spread across occupied Palestine, into the Diaspora and the into the spirits of the global dispossessed, or when Israel deliberately aided the newly formed Hamas movement so that it might undermine the strength of the more secular-nationalist factions. Israel had no intention of granting a Palestinian state at Madrid or at Oslo where the PLO was superseded by the quivering, quisling Palestinian Authority, too many of whose cronies grasped at the wealth and prestige it gave them at the expense of their own kin. As Israel beamed into the world’s satellites and microphones its desire for peace and a two-state solution, it more than doubled the number of illegal Jewish settlements on the ground in the West Bank and around East Jerusalem, annexing them as it built and continues to build a superstructure of bypass roads and highways over the remaining, severed cities and villages of earthly Palestine. It has annexed the Jordan valley, the international border of Jordan, expelling any ‘locals’ inhabiting that land. It speaks with a viper’s tongue over the multiple amputee of Palestine whose head shall soon be severed from its body in the name of justice, peace and security. Through the home demolitions, the assaults on civil society that attempted to cast Palestinian history and culture into a chasm of oblivion; through the unspeakable destruction of the refugee camp sieges and infrastructure bombardments of the second Intifada, through assassinations and summary executions, past the grandiose farce of disengagement and up to the nullification of free, fair and democratic Palestinian elections Israel has made its view known again and again in the strongest possible language, the language of military might, of threats, intimidation, harassment, defamation and degradation. Israel, with the unconditional and approving support of the United States, has made it dramatically clear to the entire world over and over and over again, repeating in action after action that it will accept no viable Palestinian state next to its borders. What will it take for the rest of us to hear? What will it take to end the criminal silence of the ‘international community’? What will it take to see past the lies and indoctrination to what is taking place before us day after day in full view of the eyes of the world? The more horrific the actions on the ground, the more insistent are the words of peace. To listen and watch without hearing or seeing allows the indifference, the ignorance and complicity to continue and deepens with each grave our collective shame. The destruction of Gaza has nothing to do with Hamas. Israel will accept no authority in the Palestinian territories that it does not ultimately control. Any individual, leader, faction or movement that fails to accede to Israel’s demands or that seeks genuine sovereignty and the equality of all nations in the region; any government or popular movement that demands the applicability of international humanitarian law and of the universal declaration of human rights for its own people will be unacceptable for the Jewish State. Those dreaming of one state must be forced to ask themselves what Israel would do to a population of 4 million Palestinians within its borders when it commits on a daily, if not hourly basis, crimes against their collective humanity while they live alongside its borders? What will suddenly make the raison d’etre, the self-proclaimed purpose of Israel’s reason for being change if the Palestinian territories are annexed to it outright? The lifeblood of the Palestinian National Movement flows through the streets of Gaza today. Every drop that falls waters the soil of vengeance, bitterness and hatred not only in Palestine but across the Middle East and much of the world. We do have a choice over whether or not this should continue. Now is the time to make it. Jennifer Loewenstein is the Associate Director of the Middle East Studies Program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. -------------------------------------------------- --------------------------- Abu Diaby bro. eNuri is working on a new political dictionary on such terms as "Moderate, Extremist etc" from twp perspectives, The Media and from Islam . Nur

Satire Israel Attacks US By Jerry Ghinelli January 01, 2009 "ICH"' -- The government of Israel today launched a massive air assault on suspected terrorist targets along major coastal cities in the United States of America. In an operation termed “Friendly Enemy,” hundreds of Israeli F-16 fighter jets streaked across the Atlantic in precise formation and fired surgical air strikes at alleged terrorist strongholds in densely populated Muslim communities all along the northeast corridor of the United States. The American-made Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter jets then continued south, inflicting massive destruction in densely populated Muslim communities along many southeastern US states as well. Reaction to the attacks on the US was swift. President Bush and President-Elect Obama both appealed for restraint, but stated emphatically, “Israel has the right to defend itself.” President Bush, who took an oath to defend the US and to preserve, protect and defend it against all foreign and domestic enemies, stated that the War on Terror must be fought anywhere and everywhere in the world, even on US soil, if necessary. “Our close relationship with Israel, our steadfast ally in the War on Terror, requires extraordinary sacrifices by the American people and requires exceptions to both US and international law,” said Bush. President-Elect Barack Obama reiterated, “There is only one president at a time, and President [George] Bush speaks for the United States of America until January 20th…” Obama did, however, declare his “unconditional, unquestioning support of Israel's right to self-defense and to wage preemptive attacks whenever and wherever necessary to combat terrorism.” He said, “There will be no change in my administration when it comes to our unquestioning allegiance to the State of Israel…that is a promise you can [most certainly] believe in,” said Obama. Earlier in the day, the US Senate had passed a nearly unanimous resolution supporting Israel. Even northeast Senators Frank Lautenberg (NJ), Charles Schumer (NY), Joe Lieberman (CT) and John Kerry (MA), whose states were attacked, voted along with 93 other US Senators, backing Israel’s right to “self-defense.” Only Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold voted against the resolution. There were two absentees. In an emergency special session of the US Senate, Hillary Clinton claimed there were terrorists hiding in US cities who had links to Al-Qaeda, Hamas and Hezbollah. Hillary Clinton, President-Elect Obama's incoming Secretary of State, who has been a staunch supporter of Israel during her tenure as senator from New York, pledged her continued unwavering and unquestioning support of Israel. America's position “[when it comes to Israel] is unchanging, our resolve unyielding, our stance non-negotiable,” she emphasized. Vice-President Elect, Senator Joe Biden (DE), who is currently the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, also declared his unwavering support for the Jewish state. “You don’t have to be Jewish to be a Zionist,” Biden declared. Barack Obama’s incoming Chief of Staff, former US Representative Rahm Emanuel, 5th Congressional District of Illinois, who has dual American and Israeli citizenship and is known as the Zionist pit bull, remained uncharacteristically silent. Embroiled in the Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich scandal, Emanuel refused to comment on the Israeli attacks on US cities. Blagojevich was arrested and charged with trying to sell President-Elect Obama’s vacated Illinois senate seat. Congressman Emanuel had made several “suggestions” on who the embattled Governor should appoint. Emanuel has not been charged with any wrongdoing at this time. During the 2008 Presidential campaign, key Democrats, most notably House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, harshly criticized the Bush administration for mismanaging the economy, ignoring the 2001 Bin Laden threats, and botching the Hurricane Katrina relief effort. Now they are criticizing President Bush for not doing enough to investigate potential terrorist sanctuaries in US cities, thereby forcing the Israelis to act unilaterally. The Israeli incursion was the first on American soil by a foreign government since the December 1941 incursion by the empire of Japan. But on June 8, 1967, during the Six-Day War, Israeli jet fighters also attacked a neutral US Navy technical research ship named the USS Liberty, killing 34 crewmen and wounding 172 others. Israel later apologized for the incident, suggesting its forces had attacked the USS Liberty in error. The Israelis claimed it had misidentified the Liberty as an unknown destroyer. Surviving Liberty crewmen claim that the attack was deliberate and premeditated. Israel’s attack on the USS Liberty remains the only major maritime incident in American history not investigated by Congress. Across the US, those Americans unaffected by the Israeli attacks were mainly concerned how this incident might affect the already fragile US economy. Most Americans continued their holiday vacations, largely unconcerned with the massive loss of life but quite concerned whether stricken areas might further impact the plummeting value of their homes. The mainstream media, always cautious of being branded anti-Semitic and thus losing advertising revenue, especially during difficult economic times, repeatedly defended the Israeli attacks as proportionate and justified. Any critics who called the Israeli incursion an attack on the US and demanded retribution were labeled anti-Semites and soft on terrorism. Meanwhile, Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni defended her country’s use of force. “There are no safe havens anywhere in the world when it comes to fighting terror,” said Livni. The American death toll is expected to be “only” in the hundreds, still far below the deaths that occurred on 9/11 by Islamic terrorists. Israeli pilots use only the finest precision weapons. Terrorists use crude devices like box-cutters, suicide vests and IEDs (Impoverished Explosive Devices). “We abhor the death of any innocent Americans killed by our precision air strikes, but you have to lay the blame on the terrorists who are hiding in these crowded American cities,” she rationalized. Livni’s justification for the US incursion relied heavily on US Vice-President Richard “Dick” Cheney’s “1%” doctrine, which treats suspicions of terrorist involvement with a likelihood of even 1% as a certainty. “[if] we think, therefore there are,” she said philosophically. The British and Canadian Prime Ministers, Gordon Brown and Stephen Harper respectively, also supported the Israeli incursion into the US. Both deeply regretted the loss of any innocent American lives. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown called the Israeli incursion “just and proportionate.” President Bush phoned Prime Minister Brown and thanked him for his support during this difficult time. President Bush noted that the American casualties from the Israeli raids were not equal to those killed in terrorist attacks on 9/11. “There is no moral equivalence between those killed in self-defense by Israeli warriors fighting for a democratically elected government and those killed by rogue [Al-Qaeda] terrorists who hate the freedoms we enjoy,” Bush suggested. Despite some minor collateral damage to some synagogues, traditional liberal Jewish-American leaders remained steadfast in their unwavering defense of Israel. There was far more criticism and debate of the Israeli attacks on the US in the Knesset and among the Israeli public than there was in the US Congress or the American Jewish community, respectively. Those few critics of the incursion contend that all Americans are protected by American and international law, and the strikes against the US should be construed as war crimes. US law prohibits the use of American-made weapons to be used for offensive purposes. Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey stated that the war on terror supersedes all constitutional guarantees, and international law does not apply to anyone engaging in or even thinking about engaging in terrorism. Israel’s actions were in self-defense, he added. In the UN, a Security Council resolution introduced by France, condemning the Israeli attacks on the United States was vetoed by the United States. Local hospitals overflowed with American survivors of the Israeli air strikes. This time, though, the victims asked not “why do they hate us?” but “why do we love them?”

" The Mosques are in the hands of the Islamists, the ( Islamists) control the education system and social welfare, they even control the health system, they also control trade and business, they control the Telecoms, they control money transfer business. We ( TFG Government) control nothing!. ( Parliament) must decide this morning what should be done about the Islamists,. Should the Islamists rule the country or should (the Transitional Federal Government ) rule country?. Have you all considered yet ways to contain the Islamists so we can take back all these institutions they control? , (All Members of Parliament in session responded with " YES" . "Are you reconfirming your commitment again?" asks Yusuf. " Yes" (they respnd again). OK, As a man I will support you (to go after the Islamists control of the country) , These ( Islamists) are the enemy, do you hear me? , let us fight back aginst these men ( Islamists), These men ( Islamists) draw their power by controlling all the country's resources, be it Education, Religion, Mosques, Money Transfer, Economy, Telecoms, Business, or FATUUD! which is firmly in their hands, let us take it back from them if you want to see Somalia to be the Somalia (That we all envision)" President Abdullahi Yusuf's Historic and Fateful speech to Warlord Parliament of the TFG (2008). -------------------------------------------------- -------------------------------------------------- eNuri Political Forecasting Service! Presents: The New Somali President. He was a humble man, a school teacher who was educated in Sudan. He became Media darling and quickly rose to prominence during the short stint of the Islamic Courts Union with power in Somalia, as a spokesman for the Islamic Courts Union as well as their executive chief, his Media exposure turned heads of king makers in the west as well as in Somalia. His cool headedness, to-the-point answers and his wise selection of politically-correct answers for tricky questions made him an instant hero both at home and abroad, as a result, his public ratings soared, ( In Somalia there is no official organization to rate public approvals, but Amin Arts is a good gauge). Two years later his ratings are heading south, they are so low ( Again, Amin Arts Cartoons), that even his trade Mark religious cloak is exchanged for a western politican's suit complete with Red Shining Shoes ( Amin, you baffled me here!) His journey to power in the last two years took him to Asmara, Djibouti, Nairobi and Aden, he met many dignitaries, heads of states and Ambassadors. Noteworthy is his historic meeting with The American Ambassador to Kenya right after the toppling of the Islamic Courts Union regime of Mogadishu. The two men met in a Hotel in Nairobi, in a closed meeting. Since that meeting, The Sheikhs's public statements have toned down remarkably, from his defiant call for Jihad against Ethiopians in his hey day as leader of the ICU, to his disapproval of the Shabaab's taking control of Kismayo from the Ethiopians, and now, after the disgraceful sacking of Warlord Abdullahi Yusuf by his Ethiopian handlers, this man is again in the limelight of Somali Politics, as a " Moderate Islamist"! As he assumes power of the ailing TFG synthetic government soon (According to trusted sources) , he is poised to head a parliament of contradictions, the TFG parliament created by Ethiopia (Majority Members of the Parliament are causal drinkers of alcoholic beverages according to an insider) and the "Moderate Islamists", I assume that the USA will also request that feminist groups and gays to be represented to make it a true Democracy a-la-Americana!, which will undoubtedly embarrass the Sheikh. What are the motivations of this man for seeking power? Well, Only Allah knows what is in a heart, we only judge the apparent actions according to the Sunnah, but here are some wild thoughts of eNuri as usual ( please bear with me, I cant help it) The Sheikh might have been motivated by many factors, like any political hopeful, but to be practical, let us narrow them down to only two: 1. Personal, i.e. Money, Prestige etc 2. To Save Somalia. (For Example, The outgoing Warlord Abdullahi Yusuf was motivated by Prestige and Supremacy) In my opinion, knowing the man from what I have read in reliable media and Somali Websites, and from what I have heard from people who know him, he is not motivated by money, I am not sure about his appetite for fame and prestige though. That leaves us with his desire to Save Somalia. Well, if that is the case, then its understandable that in light of a mess like Somalia, many players would take different routes for the same goals, of course not all of them are going to be right, but at least we can reasonably say the Sheikh, a son-of-the-sand paesano, took a long shot form the center court at the last minute at Somalia's problems ( hey, if he scores this three pointer, he will vindicate himself, if he fails, he has nothing to lose as he is already suffering from very bad reputation of a collaborator with the enemy by resistance groups. Looking back at that fateful meeting the Sheikh had in Nairobi with the American Ambassador, here is my imaginative take on the discussion that took place between the two men behind closed doors. Ambassador: Hello, Sheikh Sheikh: Hello, Mr. Ambaasador Ambassador: Do you hate America? Sheikh: NO, I don't, Its America's policies in our region that I am not fond of. Ambassador: Then why are you supporting the Al Qaeda terrorists in Somalia, dont you realize that we are at war with them worldwide?. Sheikh: I don't know anything about al Qaeda, we are under Ethiopian Occupation and we are resisting occupation. Ambassador: OK, then what do you want? Sheikh: A free and peaceful Somalia Ambassador: Well, that is what my government wants too, can we cooperate? Sheikh: Why have you destabilized our country, toppled the ICU and are using the Ethiopians to destroy what is left of my country? Ambassador: Well, I don't have an answer to be honest, its a policy and I dont set policies, my boss does, I will call Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice and will meet with you tomorrow. Next day. Sheikh: Hello Mr. Ambassador, do you have an answer for me today? Ambassador: Sorry, I don't Sheikh: Well, I can help you Mr. Ambassador, Ambassador: Be my guest. Sheikh: Its about your interests in this region, isn't it? Ambassador: You are right, I am glad you understand, now that we see things eye to eye, how can we cooperate?. Sheikh: Well, if that is the case, you don't need the Warlords, the Ethiopians and all of your informants in the ICU and TFG in the region, the ICU can directly work with you, let us do business! if its about interests, we have interest of peace in Somalia too, you scratch my back, we will scratch yours. Ambassador: I am shocked! I didn't expect this from an Islamist, our Neoconservatives would never believe what I am hearing coming from the former Chief of the Islamic Cours Union of Somalia. Sheikh: I am serious!, this is an offer I put on the table, and we believe that we can assist you realize your regional objectives if you assist us with our objectives of peace and development in Somalia, we are simply tired of fighting. Ambassador: OK, if that is the case, then let me call Condoleeza Rice tonight and meet with you tomorrow morning, I appreciate the offer. Next day. Sheikh: Hello Mr. Ambassador, any answer for me. Ambassador: Yes, a good one, the US is ready to work with you if you can secure a unified front of all Islamists and secularists to be behind you, if you deliver your promise, we promise we will get rid of the warlords, the Ethiopians and help you ascend to power as soon as two years, we may even help you claim the Ethiopian occupied Somali lands, as that will serve our objectives of developing that oil rich area. Sheikh: Well, it may not be easy, but I will do my best, can you give me some assurances? Ambassador: Well, I will suggest to Condi Rice that we should get rid of Abdullahi Yusuf in the next year or so, we will take legal action against all warlords and the Ethiopians for crimes against humanity, which will make your path clear for assumption of power, we are even prepared to remove the Al Shabaab from the terror list to give you a strong card to negotiate with them to stop terrorizing American interest in the region. Sheikh: That sounds encouraging Mr. Ambassador, but how can you assist the ICU ( Moderate wing) rise to power without creating further chaos as before? Ambassador: Well, why not involve pacifist elements of the Islamic Groups, like the Sufis? The Sufi seem to have been marginalized and we like to see them represented in the new Parliament? Sheikh: You mean, a non-existent group? Ambassador: They will exist in time, and you will need them to balance the extremists in the Islamic Courts Union and Al Shabaab Terrorists, they will be your allies. Sheikh: How are they going to be mobilized? Ambassador: Well our friends ( Warlords) have already helped them organized ( militarily and politically) to seek their place in the new Parliament, all they need to do is to capture couple of towns in Galgaduud to qualify them for a seat in the government, which will add to the moderates in the Parliament to guarantee that at least an alliance of the Sufi, moderate elements of the Islamic Courts, and the 4.5 Tribal represent-a-thieves can form major political force, recognized by USA, UN , EU, Arab League and AU. We will make sure that all future financial aid goes to this alliance alone. Sheikh: Thanks, Mr. Ambassador, let us work together for the common good of my country and yours. Ambassador: Thanks Sheikh, Let us work for our mutual common interests. Nur 2009 eNuri Political Islam Where a Spade is Called a Spade

Jamal bro. Somali women are the best women on earth if you ask me. I am not saying this only to honor my mom, or to flatter Halimos who read my eNuri threads, I am just fascinated by them, the only problem I had with them since I joined Somaliaonline is their surrealistic expectation of monoplising the Faarahs. I know for certain that they can positively change Somalia's situation without leaving their homes, by raising well behaving futurekids, because todays warlords are the neglected kids of yesterday. Nur

Positive bro. A good question is half the answer. I have read both this piece and the link above and its replies. I believe that you are either knowingly avoiding to pose the right question or are missing the main culprit that is causing the conflict in Somalia today. A bumper sticker on a car reads " Jesus is the answer" one wonders, what was the question? I can only address your question from an Islamic perspective ( I am Muslim and this is Islam Page) Our problems as a nation stem from our collective sins against Allah by rejecting his Sovereignty and hence His Supreme law. Unless we undo that collective sin, we are doomed, the West will not be able to help a people cursed by their maker. Islam is the Only code of life for all humankind . In Allah's eyes there is no other acceptable code of life to live by,( Inna diina cinda Allahi Al Islam) anyone who chooses any other code of life other than Islam, it will not be accepted from him/her ( Wa man yabtaghi gheyral Islami diinan, fa lan yuqbal minhu wa huwa fil aakhirati minal khaasiriin) Our ancestors have accepted this great faith shortly after its advent, it flourished and reached all Somalis to the point that Somalis are known to be 100% Muslims ( Minus Cara and Johnny Boy) unfortunately our ancestors failed to pass the Islamic values that they have accepted to their descendants. This is the crux of the problem today.The Islamic revival that is sweeping the nation is a correction mechanism to put our people back on their Islamic track, and Alhamdulillah, our nation, despite all the difficulties and the tag teams working against their choice of true Islam, are adopting their long lost Islamic identity. Everywhere I go, I see the Islamic symbolism of our dignified women in the Hijab, proud of their identity as Muslims. Wallahi, I am emotionally moved by the sight of our women in Hijab, to me by wearing that dignified Hijab, they are a walking billboard advertising the true freedom of the soul over the body, they have lifted the veil on their minds by wearing it on their bodies. Somali women have led the way, defying western norms and setting the standard of truly liberated women, raising kids with morals, our hope for the future of Somalia. I don't know where you live brother, but Somalia today is a far cry from your classification of your suggested four distinct groups. If you travel in Somalia from Berbera to Kismayo, all you'd see is a non erasable stamp of Islam on faces and places. True, there are still islands and pockets of ignorance here and there, but traditionalists back home as well as Western wannabees back home are an endangered species to be listed with World Federation Of Wildlife, except for the ( Dhaqan celis kids and , Camel boys and goat herding girls scattered in the vast wilderness of our land). The main problem we face in Somalia today is western intervention in domestic affairs of Somalia. If Somalia is left alone, the traitors in our midst will not be able to do any harm anymore, and they will be rehabilitated at eNuri drug rehabilitation Centers. I assure you that there will be no problems, Islam will rule the land and peace will flourish just like we have seen briefly in 2006. Nur

Gaza: The Logic of Colonial Power As so often, the term 'terrorism' has proved a rhetorical smokescreen under cover of which the strong crush the weak By Nir Rosen December 31, 2008 "The Guardian" -- I have spent most of the Bush administration's tenure reporting from Iraq, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Somalia and other conflicts. I have been published by most major publications. I have been interviewed by most major networks and I have even testified before the senate foreign relations committee. The Bush administration began its tenure with Palestinians being massacred and it ends with Israel committing one of its largest massacres yet in a 60-year history of occupying Palestinian land. Bush's final visit to the country he chose to occupy ended with an educated secular Shiite Iraqi throwing his shoes at him, expressing the feelings of the entire Arab world save its dictators who have imprudently attached themselves to a hated American regime. Once again, the Israelis bomb the starving and imprisoned population of Gaza. The world watches the plight of 1.5 million Gazans live on TV and online; the western media largely justify the Israeli action. Even some Arab outlets try to equate the Palestinian resistance with the might of the Israeli military machine. And none of this is a surprise. The Israelis just concluded a round-the-world public relations campaign to gather support for their assault, even gaining the collaboration of Arab states like Egypt. The international community is directly guilty for this latest massacre. Will it remain immune from the wrath of a desperate people? So far, there have been large demonstrations in Lebanon, Yemen, Jordan, Egypt, Syria and Iraq. The people of the Arab world will not forget. The Palestinians will not forget. "All that you have done to our people is registered in our notebooks," as the poet Mahmoud Darwish said. I have often been asked by policy analysts, policy-makers and those stuck with implementing those policies for my advice on what I think America should do to promote peace or win hearts and minds in the Muslim world. It too often feels futile, because such a revolution in American policy would be required that only a true revolution in the American government could bring about the needed changes. An American journal once asked me to contribute an essay to a discussion on whether terrorism or attacks against civilians could ever be justified. My answer was that an American journal should not be asking whether attacks on civilians can ever be justified. This is a question for the weak, for the Native Americans in the past, for the Jews in Nazi Germany, for the Palestinians today, to ask themselves. Terrorism is a normative term and not a descriptive concept. An empty word that means everything and nothing, it is used to describe what the Other does, not what we do. The powerful – whether Israel, America, Russia or China – will always describe their victims' struggle as terrorism, but the destruction of Chechnya, the ethnic cleansing of Palestine, the slow slaughter of the remaining Palestinians, the American occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan – with the tens of thousands of civilians it has killed … these will never earn the title of terrorism, though civilians were the target and terrorising them was the purpose. Counterinsurgency, now popular again among in the Pentagon, is another way of saying the suppression of national liberation struggles. Terror and intimidation are as essential to it as is winning hearts and minds. Normative rules are determined by power relations. Those with power determine what is legal and illegal. They besiege the weak in legal prohibitions to prevent the weak from resisting. For the weak to resist is illegal by definition. Concepts like terrorism are invented and used normatively as if a neutral court had produced them, instead of the oppressors. The danger in this excessive use of legality actually undermines legality, diminishing the credibility of international institutions such as the United Nations. It becomes apparent that the powerful, those who make the rules, insist on legality merely to preserve the power relations that serve them or to maintain their occupation and colonialism. Attacking civilians is the last, most desperate and basic method of resistance when confronting overwhelming odds and imminent eradication. The Palestinians do not attack Israeli civilians with the expectation that they will destroy Israel. The land of Palestine is being stolen day after day; the Palestinian people is being eradicated day after day. As a result, they respond in whatever way they can to apply pressure on Israel. Colonial powers use civilians strategically, settling them to claim land and dispossess the native population, be they Indians in North America or Palestinians in what is now Israel and the Occupied Territories. When the native population sees that there is an irreversible dynamic that is taking away their land and identity with the support of an overwhelming power, then they are forced to resort to whatever methods of resistance they can. Not long ago, 19-year-old Qassem al-Mughrabi, a Palestinian man from Jerusalem drove his car into a group of soldiers at an intersection. "The terrorist", as the Israeli newspaper Haaretz called him, was shot and killed. In two separate incidents last July, Palestinians from Jerusalem also used vehicles to attack Israelis. The attackers were not part of an organisation. Although those Palestinian men were also killed, senior Israeli officials called for their homes to be demolished. In a separate incident, Haaretz reported that a Palestinian woman blinded an Israeli soldier in one eye when she threw acid n his face. "The terrorist was arrested by security forces," the paper said. An occupied citizen attacks an occupying soldier, and she is the terrorist? In September, Bush spoke at the United Nations. No cause could justify the deliberate taking of human life, he said. Yet the US has killed thousands of civilians in airstrikes on populated areas. When you drop bombs on populated areas knowing there will be some "collateral" civilian damage, but accepting it as worth it, then it is deliberate. When you impose sanctions, as the US did on Saddam era Iraq, that kill hundreds of thousands, and then say their deaths were worth it, as secretary of state Albright did, then you are deliberately killing people for a political goal. When you seek to "shock and awe", as president Bush did, when he bombed Iraq, you are engaging in terrorism. Just as the traditional American cowboy film presented white Americans under siege, with Indians as the aggressors, which was the opposite of reality, so, too, have Palestinians become the aggressors and not the victims. Beginning in 1948, 750,000 Palestinians were deliberately cleansed and expelled from their homes, and hundreds of their villages were destroyed, and their land was settled by colonists, who went on to deny their very existence and wage a 60-year war against the remaining natives and the national liberation movements the Palestinians established around the world. Every day, more of Palestine is stolen, more Palestinians are killed. To call oneself an Israeli Zionist is to engage in the dispossession of entire people. It is not that, qua Palestinians, they have the right to use any means necessary, it is because they are weak. The weak have much less power than the strong, and can do much less damage. The Palestinians would not have ever bombed cafes or used home-made missiles if they had tanks and airplanes. It is only in the current context that their actions are justified, and there are obvious limits. It is impossible to make a universal ethical claim or establish a Kantian principle justifying any act to resist colonialism or domination by overwhelming power. And there are other questions I have trouble answering. Can an Iraqi be justified in attacking the United States? After all, his country was attacked without provocation, and destroyed, with millions of refugees created, hundreds of thousands of dead. And this, after 12 years of bombings and sanctions, which killed many and destroyed the lives of many others. I could argue that all Americans are benefiting from their country's exploits without having to pay the price, and that, in today's world, the imperial machine is not merely the military but a military-civilian network. And I could also say that Americans elected the Bush administration twice and elected representatives who did nothing to stop the war, and the American people themselves did nothing. From the perspective of an American, or an Israeli, or other powerful aggressors, if you are strong, everything you do is justifiable, and nothing the weak do is legitimate. It's merely a question of what side you choose: the side of the strong or the side of the weak. Israel and its allies in the west and in Arab regimes such as Egypt, Jordan and Saudi Arabia have managed to corrupt the PLO leadership, to suborn them with the promise of power at the expense of liberty for their people, creating a first – a liberation movement that collaborated with the occupier. Israeli elections are coming up and, as usual, these elections are accompanied by war to bolster the candidates. You cannot be prime minister of Israel without enough Arab blood on your hands. An Israeli general has threatened to set Gaza back decades, just as they threatened to set Lebanon back decades in 2006. As if strangling Gaza and denying its people fuel, power or food had not set it back decades already. The democratically elected Hamas government was targeted for destruction from the day it won the elections in 2006. The world told the Palestinians that they cannot have democracy, as if the goal was to radicalise them further and as if that would not have a consequence. Israel claims it is targeting Hamas's military forces. This is not true. It is targeting Palestinian police forces and killing them, including some such as the chief of police, Tawfiq Jaber, who was actually a former Fatah official who stayed on in his post after Hamas took control of Gaza. What will happen to a society with no security forces? What do the Israelis expect to happen when forces more radical than Hamas gain power? A Zionist Israel is not a viable long-term project and Israeli settlements, land expropriation and separation barriers have long since made a two state solution impossible. There can be only one state in historic Palestine. In coming decades, Israelis will be confronted with two options. Will they peacefully transition towards an equal society, where Palestinians are given the same rights, à la post-apartheid South Africa? Or will they continue to view democracy as a threat? If so, one of the peoples will be forced to leave. Colonialism has only worked when most of the natives have been exterminated. But often, as in occupied Algeria, it is the settlers who flee. Eventually, the Palestinians will not be willing to compromise and seek one state for both people. Does the world want to further radicalise them? Do not be deceived: the persistence of the Palestine problem is the main motive for every anti-American militant in the Arab world and beyond. But now the Bush administration has added Iraq and Afghanistan as additional grievances. America has lost its influence on the Arab masses, even if it can still apply pressure on Arab regimes. But reformists and elites in the Arab world want nothing to do with America. A failed American administration departs, the promise of a Palestinian state a lie, as more Palestinians are murdered. A new president comes to power, but the people of the Middle East have too much bitter experience of US administrations to have any hope for change. President-elect Obama, Vice President-elect Biden and incoming secretary of state Hillary Clinton have not demonstrated that their view of the Middle East is at all different from previous administrations. As the world prepares to celebrate a new year, how long before it is once again made to feel the pain of those whose oppression it either ignores or supports? * guardian.co.uk © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008

Positive Brother Where are you when you are needed most as an envoy of peace and good will? The Sufis and the Salafis are being played on each other in Mudug, I thought they were both united against the Ethiopians and the TFG ( Transplanted Foreign Government)? Brother, If you are not already in Guriceel, or Dhuusomarreb by now to make peace, its about time, let me know if I can help too, we dont need our oppressed people to kill each other senselessly. Nur