Category: World News & Politics

“One day when the peace treaty is achieved, and the Palestinian ambassador presents his credentials to the president of Israel in the Western section of Jerusalem, while the Israeli ambassador presents his to the Palestinian president in East Jerusalem, we shall all have to laugh at the stupidities of our past.

Even as we laugh, we shall have to answer for the spilling of so much innocent blood. But the mothers and fathers of the dead will not be laughing.”

— Amos Oz, Two Stubborn Men, and Many Dead; NY Times, 12th March 2002.

[Via: Lawrence Of Cyberia]

All For Peace is a collaborative Palestinian-Israeli radio station broadcasting online.
The radio station is an effort created by The Palestinian organization Biladi, The Jerusalem Times and The Jewish-Arab Centre for Peace (Givat Haviva).

According to their website, the goals of the project include:

• exposure of the various aspects of each side to the other side
• exposure of interviewees, artists and topics of each side to the other side
• emphasis on the different and the similar
• discussion of common interests such as health, environment, culture, transportation, economy, etc.
• exposure and reporting on joint initiatives and projects and on alternative ideas for the conclusion of the conflict
• providing hope to the listeners
• preparing listeners towards “the morning after” the conflict

“A central aspect of the conflict between the two people arises from the distance and alienation between them. Common sense dictates that the more we know each other the less we will hate, be angry at and fear each other.”

“One of the items most lacking in the Middle East is hope. The loss of hope is also the greatest threat to both peoples.”

All For Peace Radio

I think this is a great effort and I hope many more like it will follow to try and bridge the gaps between the Palestinian and Israeli people, build hope and bring peace a step closer.

[Via: Semitism.net]

Long a symbol of economic prosperity, America for the first time no longer ranks among the top 10 free nations of the world, according to The 2005 Index of Economic Freedom, just released by the Heritage Foundation and the Wall Street Journal.

“The United States is resting on its laurels while innovative countries around the world are changing their approaches and reducing their roadblocks,” said Marc Miles, a co-editor of the book, along with Ed Feulner and Mary Anastasia O’Grady. “The U.S. is eating the dust of countries that have thrown off the 20th-century shackles of big government spending and massive federal programs.”

The top 10 countries are: Hong Kong, Singapore, Luxembourg, Estonia, Ireland, New Zealand, U.K., Denmark, Iceland and Australia, followed by Chile.

[Sources: Heritage Foundation, NewsMax]
[Via: Business Opportunities Weblog]

“The Arabs are worms. You find them everywhere like worms, underground as well as above.”

— Yehiel Hazan, parliamentary leader of the biggest lobby group for Jewish colonists illegally settling in the occupied West Bank and Gaza Strip.

and…

“What is it about Islam as a whole and the Palestinians in particular? Is it some form of cultural deprivation? Is it some genetic defect?”

— Ze’ev Boim, Deputy Defense Minister

This is extremely sickening and dangerous racism!
Only an animal would think and talk like that in the first place. But with animals like that in the Israeli government, it totally explains their racist and sickening approach to the Palestinian people and how they’re totally against a real peace process.

[Via: Yenayer]

Indian authorities have warned people in coastal areas to head for higher ground, four days after giant waves triggered by the massive earthquake killed at least 10,000 Indians.

India’s central alert said there was evidence from foreign experts that a powerful earthquake could occur Thursday afternoon near Australia, triggering another tsunami in the Indian Ocean, according to a report from state-run Press Trust of India.

The U.S. Geological Survey, which monitors earthquake activity around the world, said it had not recorded any major activity that would spawn a tsunami.

There have been more than 70 aftershocks recorded on the Web site from Sunday’s quake. The strongest measured 7.1, but most have been between 5 and 6 in magnitude.
None have produced any more tsunamis.

[More: CNN]

The latest death toll from the Asian tsunami has risen dramatically to more than 56,000 [Update 29/12/04: Now it’s over 80,000] [Update 31/12/04: Now it’s over 120,000].

More countries are reporting casualties from the killer waves, spawned by a magnitude 9.0 earthquake that struck off the western-most portion of the northern Indonesian island of Sumatra early on Sunday.

The devastation stretches from Thailand to East Africa, where the United Nations reports that entire villages have been washed away.

Islamic Relief has launched an appeal to raise

The toll of the earthquake and tsunamis that hit South Asia yesterday has risen to over 14,000 dead, thousands injured, thousands missing and hundreds of thousands homeless in Indonesia, India, Sri Lanka, Thailand and other neighbouring countries.

The earthquake was the strongest in 40 years, and the 4th largest ever. The 9.0 magnitude quake originated 160 kilometers off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island at a depth of about 10 kilometers.

Watching the news yesterday and seeing all the destruction that followed this, hearing about all the loss of lives and homes was really sad.

Having visited and loved some of the places that were hit the worst in Thailand, Phuket and Phi Phi Island, and knowing the great and friendly Thai people, it truly saddens me to even imagine how much damage must have happened to these beautiful places and how many innocent lives were lost.

A dear friend of mine was also in the region just a couple of weeks ago. Thank God she and her family weren’t there when this happened, even though Malaysia wasn’t hit as bad as other places.

Our hearts and minds are with the people of these South Asian countries who lost their homes, their loved one, their jobs and more.
God help them all.

The number of British Muslims who say they experience discrimination has nearly doubled in the past four years, according to a survey.

Eighty percent of the country’s 1.8 million Muslims say they have been discriminated against because of their faith compared to 45% in 2000 and 35% in 1999, the Islamic Human Rights Commission (IHRC) said on Thursday.

Muslim men are now just as likely as women to experience prejudice – a significant change which the IHRC blamed on an increase in the number of police and security checks carried out on Muslim men since the September 11 attacks in 2001.

White British Muslims report more discrimination than any other ethnic group, suggesting Britons are intolerant of people who convert to Islam.

“The anti-terrorism laws are profiling and targeting Muslim men,” Arzu Merali, one of the authors of the report, said. “Our case studies suggest nearly every Muslim man living in an urban area, particularly in London, has either been stopped and searched or knows someone who has.”

Eight percent of the 1200 Muslims questioned in the survey said they experienced some sort of discrimination every day.

Another 8% said it was a weekly problem, 8% described it as monthly, and 55% said they had been discriminated against “on some occasions”.

[Source: Al Jazeera]

The AIPAC spy scandal points to a massive undercover operation.

“In the 1950s, when the cold war was at its height, a series of spectacular espionage scandals

Interesting post over at Lawrence Of Cyberia:

“The truth is that whether the Palestinians under Abu Mazen turn into three million wild-eyed jihadis or three million Mother Teresas, they will not be the deciding factor in whether they remain under Israel’s military rule. The Occupation is going to continue till the Israeli people decide – for reasons of morality or simple cost – that they will finally let go of “Greater Israel” and no longer rule over another people. ”

[Read On: Lawrence Of Cyberia]
[Via: Macvaysia]