The Capitol Building Photo at Night

Livni Indicted War Criminal

http://www.politicsdaily.com/2009/12/18/stalking-tzipi-livni-british-law-emboldens-court-in-war-crimes/

The massacring in Iraq all Started by Bush Invasion

BAGHDAD (Dec. 8) -- A series of coordinated attacks struck Baghdad Tuesday, including two suicide car bombers and another vehicle that blew up near government sites. At least 127 were killed and hundreds wounded in the worst wave of violence in the capital in more than a month, authorities said.\

John Demjanjuk Trial is Germany Barbarism at Large

John Demjanjuk was wheeled into the Munich courtroom on Monday for the start of his trial on charges of helping to murder 27,900 Jews at the Sobibor death camp in 1943.
John Demjanjuk is the one who should sue germany for her crimes against him and forcing him for what during WW II. Germany stinks.
The trial of the 89-years man in Germany is the ultimate savegery.

New Zealand Recognized Kosovo After 3-Months Dry Season

Muchas gracias!!! Dominican Republic Recognition text (July 11, 2009)Kia Ora! NZSL!!! New Zealand Recognition text (November 11, 2009)
63 Countries has recognized Kosovo so far with the bulk of the Arab countries block, rotten heads didn't recognize so far.

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Arrives in Morocco

US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton chats with her Moroccan counterpart Taib Fassi Fihri upon her arrival at Marrakech airport.
US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived on Sunday in the Moroccan city of Marrakech on the next stop in her diplomatic mission to relaunch the stalled Middle East peace process.

In Marrakech the US top diplomat is scheduled to meet on Monday and Tuesday with her Arab counterparts attending the sixth Forum for the Future, jointly organised by Morocco and Italy.

Hillary Clinton on Monday called on Israel to make greater efforts to ease tensions with Palestinians and said the United States still opposes new Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

The Obama administration's position on settlements is clear and unequivocal. It has not changed. The US does not accept the legitimacy of continuing Israeli settlements."

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world/view/1015169/1/.html
http://www.stuff.co.nz/world/europe/3021878/Grateful-Kosovo-unveils-Clinton-statue
http://www.canada.com/life/Kosovo+hails+president+Clinton+unveils+statue/2170038/story.html
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/kosovo/6481057/Bill-Clinton-unveils-statue-of-himself-in-Kosovo.html
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5A01BI20091102
http://www.courant.com/news/nation-world/sns-ap-eu-kosovo-bill-clinton,0,3435978.story

Bil Clinton the Hero of Kosovo

Bill Clinton Cake

Ayaan Hirsi Ali a Fanatic Somali Woman Anti-islam Radical Atheist Lionized by Patt Morrison

PATT MORRISON

Ayaan Hirsi Ali: Feminism's freedom fighter
Patt Morrison interviews

Patt Morrison the voice of anti-Muslims hysteria.

This apostate Ayaan Hirsi Ali is lionized in the Los Angeles Times by the fanatic Patt Morrison. Terms of radical Islam under Georg W Bush is revived again.

Such attacks on Isalm in the American media News Papers will undoubtly creat hatred in response to America by Muslims.

In the final Barack Obama speech in Cairo addressing the Muslim world for reconcilation will evaoprate and become worthlless.

http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/commentary/la-oe-morrison17-2009oct17,0,4346285.story

Death sentences for China rioters at XINJIANG

Death sentences for China rioters

Urumqi has been under heavy security since the July riots
A Chinese court has sentenced six people to death for murder and other crimes during ethnic riots in Xinjiang region in July, state media have said.
Nearly 200 people were killed during the riots between ethnic Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han group.
A seventh person received a life sentence, the official Xinhua news agency said.
These are the first convictions relating to the riots - the worst ethnic clashes in China for decades.
The six sentenced to death at the Intermediate People's Court in Urumqi - Xinjiang's capital - were reported to be Abdukerim Abduwayit, Gheni Yusup, Abdulla Mettohti, Adil Rozi, Nureli Wuxiu'er, and Alim Metyusup.
As well as murder, state media reported that they were convicted of other crimes ranging from arson, leading mobs and causing "economic loss".
Rising tensions
Tayirejan Abulimit was given the lesser punishment of life imprisonment because he admitted to charges of murder and robbery and helped the police capture Alim Metyusup.
Advertisement
Footage of the rioting between Uighurs and Han in July
The government says most of those killed in the riots were Han Chinese, but the exile activist group the World Uighur Congress (WUC) claims many Uighurs were also killed.
Dilxat Raxit, a spokesman for the WUC, said the trial had been a sham.
"The whole process lacked transparency and was unfair. They were not given any kind of legal aid," he told Reuters news agency.
"Uighurs have no protection under the law."
A protest by Uighurs in Urumqi erupted into violence on 5 July, leaving at least 197 people killed and another 1,700 injured.
Shops were smashed and vehicles set alight and passers-by set upon by rioters.
'Heavy police presence'
Hundreds of people were detained after the violence and, according to Xinhua, 21 people have been charged.
The BBC's Quentin Sommerville says 14 people are still waiting to be tried.
"It is a very long way from Beijing but it is one of the most heavily policed parts of the country," our correspondent says.
"The security forces are really keeping the peace between these two ethnic populations in that part of China."
Further ethnic unrest in Xinjiang was provoked in August by a wave of attacks with hypodermic syringes that many Han blamed on Uighurs.
Growing tensions
The initial protest in July was over an earlier fight in a toy factory in Guangdong province - on the other side of China - that left two Uighurs dead and 14 others seriously injured.
On Saturday a court in Guangdong sentenced Xiao Jianhua to death and Xu Qiqi to a life sentence for their roles in the factory brawl.

Nine others were jailed for sentences of between five to eight years for the violence at the Xuri Toy Factory.
Tensions between the mainly-Muslim Uighurs of Xinjiang and Han have been growing in recent years. Millions of Han have moved to the region in recent decades.
Many Uighurs want more autonomy and rights for their culture and religion - Islam - than is allowed by China's strict centrist rule.
According to a government white paper on Xinjiang, released last month, the July riots were caused by Uighur separatists promoting an independent "East Turkestan".
It also noted that during the violence 331 shops and 1,325 motor vehicles were destroyed or burned with many public facilities also attacked.

China sentences three more to death over Xinjiang riots

China sentences three more to death over Xinjiang riots
Nine now face death penalty over Urumqi riots between Muslim Uighurs and Han Chinese which killed nearly 200 people

The fighting in July between Uighurs and members of China's dominant Han ethnic group was the worst ethnic violence in China for decades.
Main ethnic division: 45% Uighur, 40% Han Chinese
26 June: Mass factory brawl after dispute between Han Chinese and Uighurs in Guangdong, southern China, leaves two Uighurs dead
5 July: Uighur protest in Urumqi over the dispute turns violent, leaving 156 dead - most of them thought to be Han - and more than 1,000 hurt
7 July: Uighur women protest at arrests of menfolk. Han Chinese make armed counter-march
8 July: President Hu Jintao returns from G8 summit to tackle crisis

The recent Urumqi and Lhasa riots have shattered the myth of a monolithic China, writes China and Uighur expert Professor Dru Gladney.
Foreigners and the Chinese themselves typically picture China's population as a vast homogeneous Han majority with a sprinkling of exotic minorities living along the country's borders.

Uighur women protest at the arrest of their menfolk
This understates China's tremendous cultural, geographic, and linguistic diversity - in particular the important cultural differences within the Han population. More importantly, recent events suggest that China may well be increasingly insecure regarding not only these nationalities, but also its own national integration.
The unprecedented early departure of President Hu Jintao from the G8 meetings in Italy to attend to the ethnic problems in Xinjiang is an indication of the seriousness with which China regards this issue.
Across the country, China is seeing a resurgence of local ethnicity and culture, most notably among southerners such as the Cantonese and Hakka, who are now classified as Han.
For centuries, China has held together a vast multi-cultural and multi-ethnic nation despite alternating periods of political centralization and fragmentation. But cultural and linguistic cleavages could worsen in a China weakened by internal strife, an economic downturn, uneven growth, or a struggle over future political succession.
XINJIANG: ETHNIC UNREST

Main ethnic division: 45% Uighur, 40% Han Chinese
26 June: Mass factory brawl after dispute between Han Chinese and Uighurs in Guangdong, southern China, leaves two Uighurs dead
5 July: Uighur protest in Urumqi over the dispute turns violent, leaving 156 dead - most of them thought to be Han - and more than 1,000 hurt
7 July: Uighur women protest at arrests of menfolk. Han Chinese make armed counter-march
8 July: President Hu Jintao returns from G8 summit to tackle crisis
New media openness
Q&A: China and the Uighurs
Taboo of ethnic tensions
The initial brawl between workers in a Guangdong toy factory, which left at least two Uighur dead on 25 June, prompted the mass unrest in Xinjiang on 5 July, which ended with 156 dead, thousands injured, and 1500 arrested, with on-going violence spreading throughout the region.
The National Day celebrations scheduled for October 2009, seeks to highlight 60 years of the "harmonious" leadership of the Communist Party in China, and like the 2008 Olympics, its enormous success. The rioting threatens to de-rail these celebrations.
Officially, China is made up of 56 nationalities: one majority nationality, the Han, and 55 minority groups. The 2000 census revealed a total official minority population of nearly 104m, or approximately 9% of the total population.
The peoples identified as Han comprise 91% of the population from Beijing in the north to Canton in the south, and include the Hakka, Fujianese, Cantonese, and other groups. These Han are thought to be united by a common history, culture, and written language; differences in language, dress, diet, and customs are regarded as minor and superficial. An active state-sponsored programme assists these official minority cultures and promotes their economic development (with mixed results).
The recognition of minorities, however, also helped the Communists' long-term goal of forging a united Chinese nation by solidifying the recognition of the Han as a unified "majority". Emphasizing the difference between Han and minorities helped to de-emphasize the differences within the Han community.
The Communists incorporated the idea of Han unity into a Marxist ideology of progress, with the Han in the forefront of development and civilization. The more "backward" or "primitive" the minorities were, the more "advanced" and "civilized" the so-called Han seemed, and the greater the need for a unified national identity.

Teh Han comprise 91% of the population from Beijing to Canton
Minorities who do not support development policies are thought to be "backward" and anti-modern, holding themselves and the country back.
The supposedly homogenous Han speak eight mutually unintelligible languages. Even these sub-groups show marked linguistic and cultural diversity.
China's policy toward minorities involves official recognition, limited autonomy, and unofficial efforts at control. Although totalling only 9% of the population, they are concentrated in resource-rich areas spanning nearly 60% of the country's landmass and exceed 90% of the population in counties and villages along many border areas of Xinjiang, Tibet, Inner Mongolia, and Yunnan.
Xinjiang occupies one-sixth of China's landmass, with Tibet the second-largest province.
Indeed, one might even say it has become popular to be "ethnic" in today's China. Mongolian hot pot, Muslim noodle, and Korean barbecue restaurants proliferate in every city, while minority clothing, artistic motifs, and cultural styles adorn Chinese bodies and private homes.
China's threats will most likely come from civil unrest, and perhaps internal ethnic unrest from within the so-called Han majority
This rise of "ethnic chic" is in dramatic contrast to the anti-ethnic homogenizing policies of the late 1950s anti-Rightist period, the Cultural Revolution, the late-1980s "spiritual pollution" campaigns, and now the ethnic riots in the west.
While ethnic separatism on its own will never be a serious threat to a strong China, a China weakened by internal strife, inflation, uneven economic growth, or the struggle for political succession could become further divided along cultural and linguistic lines.
China's separatists, such as they are, could never mount such a co-ordinated attack as was seen on 11 September, 2001 in the United States, and China's more closed society lacks the openness that has allowed terrorists to move so freely in the West.
China's threats will most likely come from civil unrest, and perhaps internal ethnic unrest from within the so-called Han majority. We should recall that it was a southerner, born and educated abroad, who led the revolution that ended China's last dynasty.
Moreover, the Taiping Rebellion that nearly brought down the Qing dynasty also had its origins in the southern border region of Guangxi among so-called marginal Yao and Hakka peoples.
These events are being remembered as the generally well-hidden and overlooked "Others" within Chinese society begin to reassert their own identities, in addition to the official nationalities.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/oct/15/china-sentences-death-urumqi-riots
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-10/15/content_12237050.htm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8300365.stm

Funny and Interesting Webs

http://curiousphotos.blogspot.com/

The Winner is: Rio de Janeiro for 2016 Olympic games

Brazilians celebrate as Rio de Janeiro grabs 2016 Olympic games

Prime Minister Gordon Brown, "Big Dream for Britain"

Italy Mourns 6 Killed in Afghanistan

German Chancellor Angela Merkel Making Peace in the World

Hearty congratulations for win.

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi Salad Bar Mix of Realities and Fantasies

Libyan leader Moammar Gaddafi 90-minutes of speech at UN assembly meeting September-23-2009 world of fantasies and Realities.
http://www.voanews.com/english/2009-09-23-voa49.cfm?rss=topstories

No to Kosovo Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Yemen

Since this map Kosovo became an independent countries recognized by 62 UN members, as of now.
Although more than one year and half since Kosovo declared her Independence and still the countries of Kuwait, Oman, Qatar and Yemen, Republic have their governments stubborn like mules to recognize this valiant country. Kosovo passed the most difficult and critical months after her Independence with these clown governments thumping their noses.
http://www.newkosovareport.com/200909021913/Politics/Kuwait-Qatar-Oman-and-Yemen-to-recognize-Kosovo.html

Syria Islam No Communist Yes

Extraordinary International Meeting of Communist and Worker’s Parties

Solidarity with the heroic struggle of the Palestinian people and the other people in Middle East

September 28 to 30, 2009 Damascus, SYria

Two Hundreds and Nine Visitors (209) and 3 Clicks Only

Encourage the Advertizers.

The NATO Massacring in Afghanistan September-04-09

KABUL: Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen yesterday pledged to conduct a thorough investigation into an air strike that killed 90 people in Afghanistan. The strike blew up two fuel tankers hijacked by the Taliban in northern Kunduz province and victims included insurgents and dozens of civilians who had rushed to the scene to collect fuel.

Nato officials initially insisted that there were no civilians in the area when the attack occurred, but Rasmussen acknowledged some civilians may have died.

Villagers said their relatives were siphoning fuel from the trucks and were burned alive in a giant fireball.

A senior police officer said the dead included 40 civilians, including a child.
http://www.gulf-daily-news.com/NewsDetails.aspx?storyid=258962

Hosney Mubarak of Egypt Pays a Visit to Barack Obama in the White House

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090819/ap_on_go_pr_wh/us_obama_mubarak

Rabbi Eliyahu of Israel Would Justify Killing One Million Palestinians

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull&cid=1180527966693
All civilians living in Gaza are collectively guilty for Kassam attacks on Sderot, former Sephardi chief rabbi Mordechai Eliyahu has written in a letter to Prime Minister Ehud Olmert.
Eliyahu ruled that there was absolutely no moral prohibition against the indiscriminate killing of civilians during a potential massive military offensive on Gaza aimed at stopping the rocket launching.
According to Jewish war ethics, wrote Eliyahu, an entire city holds collective responsibility for the immoral behavior of individuals. In Gaza, the entire populace is responsible because they do nothing to stop the firing of Kassam rockets.
"If they don't stop after we kill 100, then we must kill a thousand," said Shmuel Eliyahu. "And if they do not stop after 1,000 then we must kill 10,000. If they still don't stop we must kill 100,000, even a million. Whatever it takes to make them stop."
In the letter, Eliyahu quoted from Psalms. "I will pursue my enemies and apprehend them and I will not desist until I have eradicated them."

Griefing Ughur Muslim Woman

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton Visiting Kinshasa, Congo

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton is greeted by members of the government on arrival at the airport in Kinshasa, Congo, Aug. 10, 2009.

Obama, Harper and Caderon Discuss Drug Violence

The leaders of the US, Mexico and Canada have gathered in the Mexican city of Guadalajara for a summit expected to focus on the violence surrounding the cross-border drug trade, as well as the global economic crisis and trade.

Harper, left, Calderon, centre, and Obama, right, are to discuss trade during their talks

Mandela Meeting Inspires Hillary Clinton 090809

4,331 U.S. Military Dead in Iraq War Since March 2003

As of Sunday, Aug. 9, 2009, at least 4,331 members of the U.S. military had died in the Iraq war since it began in March 2003, according to an Associated Press count.
The British military has reported 179 deaths; Italy, 33; Ukraine, 18; Poland, 21; Bulgaria, 13; Spain, 11; Denmark, seven; El Salvador, five; Slovakia, four; Latvia and Georgia, three each; Estonia, Netherlands, Thailand and Romania, two each; and Australia, Hungary, Kazakhstan and South Korea, one death each.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090809/ap_on_re_mi_ea/us_iraq_us_deaths

The Crazy Bombing and Killing in Iraq Continues 090809

String of bombings kill at least 40 in Iraq.BAGHDAD – A double truck bombing tore through a Shiite minority community near the northern city of Mosul, while a series of blasts struck Baghdad Monday in a wave of predawn violence that killed at least 40people, according to Iraqi officialsTwo truck bombs exploded in a Shia village near the northern city of Mosul, killing at least 23 people and injuring more than 100.
http://news.yahoo.com/worldhttp://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090810/ap_on_re_mi_ea/ml_iraq;_ylt=AmfZ7cBBJB8fAGD5aA_jMfhvaA8F;_ylu=X3oDMTI4NXJqdDduBGFzc2V0A2FwLzIwMDkwODEwL21sX2lyYXEEY3BvcwMxBHBvcwMzBHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcnkEc2xrA2Z1bGxuYnNwc3Rvcg--
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/8192669.stm

Turkey Warning to Israel Regarding Eviction of Palestinians from East al-Quds

Turkey has warned Israel that its efforts to evict Palestinians from East al-Quds will have serious repercussions for the Middle East peace process.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, the Turkish Foreign Ministry urged Israel to "refrain from steps that would harm confidence between the parties and change the status of East Jerusalem (al-Quds)," stressing that "this is vital for peace efforts."

"We call for an immediate end to this action," the statement added.

Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families from their homes in East al-Quds on Sunday, which led to clashes in the Arab district of Sheikh Jarrah.

The action followed a decision by Israel's Supreme Court to order the eviction of 53 Palestinians.

The two families staged a sit-in in front of their homes in protest at the evictions, the Press TV correspondent in al-Quds reported on Monday.

Maysun Qawwi, one of the victims of the unlawful act, told Press TV that she was at home with her husband and five children when Israeli police brutally broke into their house and evicted them at around 4 a.m. on Sunday.

Faced with eviction in East Jerusalem, families say they won’t be forced to leave again
Palestine Monitor
7 August 2008

Picture: LRC, Land Research Center Fawzieh Al Kurd spent years renovating her home, located in the East Jerusalem neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah, making improvements and dividing it into smaller sections to accommodate her five children and their families and to provide peace and quiet for herself and her husband, Mohammad Al Kurd, who is partially paralyzed and suffers from diabetes and heart problems.

While caring for her husband in hospital seven years ago, Mrs. Kurd received a phone call from a neighbor, informing her that Israeli settlers, with the help of the police, had broken into her home. Since then, three Israeli settler families have occupied the sections of the house she labored over for her children. And now, following the 16 July order by the Israeli Supreme Court, Mrs. Al Kurd and her husband are also facing eviction.

“Laws are legal, but unjust,” says Kifah Rdaedh, a supporter of the family and Fatah member for Jerusalem district.

For many Palestinians facing eviction, whether in Jerusalem, the West Bank, or elsewhere, it is not the first time. Many, like the Al-Kurd family, are refugees from the 1948 war. They have been forced from their homes once and they are not prepared to have it happen again.

Violating International Law
Settlements in Jerusalem contravene both international law and the Road Map established in the Oslo Peace Accords. The United Nations recognizes East Jerusalem as occupied territory, and therefore subject to the provisions of the Fourth Geneva Convention, and consequently rejects Israeli sovereignty over East Jerusalem.

UN Security Council Resolution 446, Article 3, “Calls once more upon Israel, as the occupying Power, to abide scrupulously by the 1949 Fourth Geneva Convention, to rescind its previous measures and to desist from taking any action which would result in changing the legal status and geographical nature and materially affecting the demographic composition of the Arab territories occupied since 1967, including Jerusalem, and in particular not to transfer parts of its own civilian population into the occupied Arab territories.”

Establishing facts on the ground
Jerusalem remains one of the most important outstanding issues in negotiations for a “final status” agreement between the Palestinian Authority and Israel. And according to Rdaedh, the rate of Israeli settlement and confiscation of Palestinian lands has more than tripled since the Annapolis peace process began. She said international support is urgently needed to counter Israel’s last minute attempts to put “facts on the ground” before a peace settlement is concluded.

"We are aware that this is part of the wider scheme to settle in East Jerusalem and to enhance the small settlements scattered all over Jerusalem and especially in and around the Old City, areas of Wadi Al Joz, the Mount of Olives, Ras Almound, and will eventually connect to the big colonies surrounding Jerusalem,” said Rdaedh. “The ultimate goal is to evict the Palestinians from Jerusalem and annex their land."

Remaining resolute
Despite many years sharing a house with hostile Israeli settlers, paying for their electricity, and even being ordered to pay 120,000 NIS for their legal fees, Mrs. Al Kurd remained composed as she related the history of events. “I have an encyclopedia to tell you of all the harassment,” she said.

While home alone, her husband was sick in hospital at the time, 6 armed Israeli settlers broke into her home. When they left she found a pistol hidden in a bag of papers outside her house, in an attempt to frame her, she said.

She said the settlers would often leave the doors of house open, with stacks of cash or expensive electronics visible, hoping they could tempt her to steal from them. Soiled diapers were left out in the heat for three days outside her door. Twice she returned to her home to find all her belongings removed.

One settler, she said, posted a picture of a Palestinian on the fuse box, gave her young child a plastic gun and told him to shoot at the photo, aiming for the eyes, nose, and throat. “This is how we will get them to leave,” the woman said.

She was offered $10 million dollars by the settlers’ lawyer if she would leave the house. “If you give me the whole world – No,” Mrs. Kurd said. “I will never leave my house.”

The Al Kurd house is part of a housing project built in 1956 by the Jordanian government in cooperation with the United Nations Refugee and Welfare Association (UNRWA) to house 28 Palestinian refugee families who fled their homes in 1948. The 28 families, collectively represented by the Sheikh Jarrah Neighborhood Committee, are all facing eviction from their homes.

A prominent member of the committee representing the families, said, “If this [eviction order] is implemented, we will be next. You won’t see any [Palestinians] here [in Sheikh Jarrah].”

In appealing the court’s decision the families were once again faced with the high cost of legal fees. “They want to bleed us continuously – morally and our pocket,” the committee member said. “They are putting us under pressure.”

But for Palestinians living in Jerusalem, eviction is not the only obstacle they face. A recent university graduate who had received four job offers in Ramallah, on the other side of Israel’s “security fence,” said she couldn’t find a single job in Jerusalem.

Huda Al-Imam, a resident of Sheikh Jarrah and director of the Centre for Jerusalem Studies at Al-Quds University led me on a tour of the neighborhood. She said, “I don’t mind the Israelis living here, but based on justice, equality, freedom. I should be able to go and plant a flag in West Jerusalem in my father’s house.”
http://www.palestinemonitor.org/spip/spip.php?article575

Kosovo News on BBC Radio Service "August-05-09"

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/p003sl3r/Analysis_Kosovo_After_Independence/

Israeli police Evicted Two Palestinian Families in East Jerusalem August 02-09

JERUSALEM - Israeli police evicted two Palestinian families in east Jerusalem yesterday, then allowed Jewish settlers to move into their homes, drawing criticism from the United Nations and the US State Department.
Police cordoned off part of the Arab neighborhood of Sheikh Jarrah before dawn, then forcibly removed about 50 people, said Chris Gunness, spokesman for the UN agency in charge of Palestinian refugees.

UN staff members later saw vehicles bringing Jewish settlers to move into the homes, he said.

Robert Serry, the UN special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, called yesterday’s evictions “totally unacceptable.’’

http://www.boston.com/news/world/middleeast/articles/2009/08/03/50_palestinians_evicted_from_their_jerusalem_homes_action_condemned_by_un_us/

Funeral of British Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe Killed in Afghanistan

The hearse carrying the coffin of British Army Lt. Col. Rupert Thorneloe leaves the Guards Chapel in London. On the first step, from left, are Thorneloe's father, John, a retired army major; wife, Sally; mother, Veronica; and sister, Sally.

700 Killed in Northern Nigeria August-02-09

700 have died in Nigeria unrest
Fighting between police and a radical Islamist sect, Boko Haram, broke out last week. In the northern city of Maiduguri, bodies litter the streets and mass burials are underway.
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-nigeria-violence2-2009aug02,0,3695426.story

6 U.S. Troops Killed in Afghanistan August 3-09

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-afghan-deaths3-2009aug03,0,3594308.story

The Power Play in Tehran Iran

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/

U.S. judge orders Guantanamo prisoner Jawad freed

A U.S. judge on Thursday ordered that one of the youngest detainees held at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, be released for what is expected to be a trip home to Afghanistan, a case that could be a model for dealing with the other 228 prisoners there.

The release of Mohammed Jawad would be the first under new stricter rules set by the U.S. Congress for dealing with the detainees held at the prison at a U.S. naval base in Cuba, which President Barack Obama has pledged to close by mid-January 2010.

WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Thursday ordered that one of the youngest detainees at Guantánamo Bay, Cuba, be released by late August in a case that drew wide attention because of rulings that he had been tortured by Afghan officials and abused in American custody. “Enough has been imposed on this young man to date,” the judge, Ellen Segal Huvelle, said in a courtroom crowded with people drawn by what had become a confrontation between the judge and the Obama administration.

But it was not clear Thursday whether Judge Huvelle’s order will mean freedom for the detainee, Mohammed Jawad, who has long faced American charges that, as a teenager, he threw a hand grenade in Kabul in 2002 that injured two American servicemen and their Afghan interpreter.
Will the Obama administration release Guantanamo detainee Mohammed Jawad, thereby pleasing the ACLU crowd? Or, is it going to move forward with a criminal prosecution, as the DOJ has suggested?

Here is the background, in brief. Jawad is accused of throwing a hand grenade at a vehicle carrying two American servicemen and their Afghan translator. All three were seriously wounded in the attack. A federal court ruled today that Jawad should be released. This comes after that same court lambasted the evidence the Department of Justice was using to justify Jawad’s detention earlier this month. The ACLU, which represents Jawad, and U.S. District Court Judge Ellen Huvelle want Jawad released as soon as possible.

But the Obama administration is reportedly hesitating, saying that they are still exploring the possibility of bringing criminal charges against Jawad. Obama’s DOJ says new evidence has come to light, including possibly eyewitnesses who can identify Jawad as the attacker.

“The criminal investigation is continuing,” Deputy Assistant Attorney General Ian Gershengorn said to Judge Huvelle.

However, the ACLU is under the impression that the DOJ has agreed to release Jawad to his home country of Afghanistan. A statement from the ACLU’s Jonathan Hafetz says, “We are pleased that the Justice Department has expressed a commitment to getting him home so that this nightmare of abuse and injustice can finally come to an end.”

It appears that the Guantanamo judges will be receptive to the Obama administration's request to stay these commissions, as another military judge -- this one overseeing the proceedings against five detainees accused of involvement in the 9/11 attacks, including Khalid Sheikh Mohammed -- just ordered the commissions stayed for 120 days, as Obama ordered his prosecutors to request. And the Swiss Government today announced that it will agree to accept released Guantanamo detainees if that helps close the camp, which Switzerland, like most of the civilized world, considers a blight on Western justice and an ongoing violation of international law. Those are fairly rapid (and encouraging) events for the first 24 hours.

On a related note, AP obtained the draft Executive Order now being circulated in the White House that directs that "the detention facilities at Guantanamo for individuals covered by this order shall be closed as soon as practicable, and no later than one year from the date of this order." A definitive date certain for closing that camp is vital, though the real question is and will continue to be: under what system and rules will the detainees, once transferred to the U.S., be tried?

hamed Jawad – Child Detainee
ISN: 900
Age at time of arrest: 12
Nationality: Afghanistan
Residence: Pakistan
Date of Arrest: 12-17-2002
Arrested in: Kabul, Afghanistan

A judge ruled Thursday that one of the youngest detainees brought to Guantanamo Bay is being held illegally and must be released 6 years after the detainee from Afghanistan says he was tortured into confessing at age 12.



http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090730/pl_nm/us_guantanamo_jawad;_ylt=AjEtvEhm64wMR35F90OlBPQV6w8F;_ylu=X3oDMTJtNzFuOTV1BGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMDkwNzMwL3VzX2d1YW50YW5hbW9famF3YWQEY3BvcwM3BHBvcwM3BHNlYwN5bl90b3Bfc3RvcmllcwRzbGsDanVkZ2VvcmRlcnNy
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/31/us/31gitmo.html?partner=rss&emc=rss
http://www.weeklystandard.com/weblogs/TWSFP/2009/07/clock_is_ticking_on_mohammed_j_1.asp
http://www.weeklystandard.com/SubscribersOnly.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohamed_Jawhttp://www.salon.com/opinion/greenwald/2009/01/21/guantanamo/
http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2007/10/17/the-afghan-teenager-put-forward-for-trial-by-military-commission-at-guantanamo/
http://projects.nytimes.com/guantanamo/detainees/900-mohamed-jawad
http://www.counterpunch.org/worthington10172007.html
http://freedetainees.org/mohamed-jawad
http://content.usatoday.com/topics/topic/Mohamed+Jawad
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/guantanamo

Vice President Joseph R. Biden in Tbilisi, Georgia

Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr. during a welcoming ceremony in Tbilisi, Georgia, on Thursday.

The tragic Murder of Marwa Sherbini in Germany

Pregnant Marwa El Sherbini was murdered in front of her 3-year-old son.





July 6, 2009 — Mira Vogel
This needs to be surfaced. Nearly a week ago in a Dresden courthouse a 32 year old pregnant woman, Marwa El Sherbini, was stabbed to death in a frenzied attack. Her killer was the man against whom she had just won a defamation case for hate speech – she wore a headscarf and he’d called her “terrorist”. Her husband Elwi Okaz, a geneticist, was critically injured when he intervened, and their three-year-old son was present. Bikya Masr says the man, who is reported not to be affiliated to a far right organisation, had a deep hatred of foreigners.

This hate crime was a fatal nexus of Islamophobic sentiment at a time when the veil is being argued over in Europe. Egyptians, including Eman Abdel Rahman, have been disgusted by the media silence.

Posted in Uncategorized. Tags: islamophobia, Marwa Al-Sherbini, Marwa El Sherbini. 82 Comments »
82 Responses to “Marwa El Sherbini”
Paul Siemering Says:
July 7, 2009 at 3:05 am
She was stabbed 18 times in a courtroom? What were the German police, the prosecutor, the judge, ANYONE doing? until i get an explanation i will consider the german injustice system complicit in this crime.
By now many Muslims have heard of the tragic murder of Marwa el-Sherbini, mother, daughter, wife, pharmacist, who lived in Germany while her husband completed his Ph.D. May God give her peace and grant her paradise.

According to the BBC:

Marwa Sherbini, 31, was stabbed 18 times by Axel W, who is now under arrest in Dresden for suspected murder. Husband Elwi Okaz is also in a critical condition in hospital, after being injured as he tried to save his wife. Ms Sherbini had sued her killer after he called her a “terrorist” because of her headscarf.

Sherbini, who was pregnant at the time, had sued and won the case. At this point in time they had been in the courthouse to hear Axel/Alex’s appeal.

According to CNN:

The man, identified in German media as Alex A., 28, was convicted of calling Sherbini, who wore a headscarf, “terrorist,” “bitch” and “Islamist” when she asked him to leave a swing for her 3-year-old son Mustafa during an August 2008 visit to a children’s park.

Subsequently, Sherbini sued W. for his Islamophobic rant.

Christian Avenarius, the prosecutor in Dresden where the incident took place, described the killer as driven by a deep hatred of Muslims. “It was very clearly a xenophobic attack of a fanatical lone wolf.”

He added that the attacker was a Russian of German descent who had immigrated to Germany in 2003 and had expressed his contempt for Muslims at the start of the trial.

The Islamophobic and racist nature of the attack is clear. If one follows the events as reported by the media, it appears clear that this man was driven by a hate of Muslims. He initially referred to her in Islamophobic ways and was thus sued and lost. He then attacked her again, though the nature of the attack is unclear, which resulted in prosecutors seeking a jail term for W. He then murdered Sherbini in the courtroom, yelling “[y]ou have no right to live.”

The “Hijab Martyr”
Sherbini is being hailed by many Egyptians, as well as others, as the “Hijab Martyr” as she lost her life because she was Muslim, a part of her identity made obvious by her hijab.

Newspapers in Egypt have expressed outrage at the case, asking how it was allowed to happen and dubbing Ms Sherbini “the martyr of the Hijab”. - BBC News.

Anger about Sherbini’s death smoldered online, as Twitterers and bloggers pushed the cause.

“She is a victim of hatred and racism,” tweeted Ghada Essawy, among many other Arab twitters and bloggers. Essawy called Sherbini “the martyr of the veil.” - CNN.

According to numerous interviews in Egyptian local papers with el-Sherbini family, the man who stabbed al-Sherbini used to accuse her of being a “terrorist,” and in one incident, he tried to take off her head scarf. Mourners at her funeral called her the “martyr of the head scarf.” - Huffington Post

Some have stated that claiming her to be a hijab martyr is inappropriate as W. did not state that he hated her because of her hijab or that he killed her because of it. But what they forget is that the hijab is what made it obvious that she was Muslim. It is the hijab which led to the initial harassment. Had she not worn the hijab, perhaps she would not have faced Islamophobic comments. Additionally, Sherbini died defending her right to wear the hijab without fear of harassment as a result of it. Therefore, the term “hijab martyr” seems appropriate in this case. The hijab, in this case, serves to function as the proxy for being Muslim.

It’s about Egyptians, not Sherbini
As Maggie Michael of the Huffington Post mentions this story has received little attention in German and Western media. However, the attention that has been given to the case has focused on the anger Egyptians in Egypt, as well as other Muslims and Arabs, have felt over the case.

BBC News entitled their piece “Egypt mourns ‘headscarf martyr‘”. Additionally, they describe the murderer’s initial actions toward Sherbini as “insulting her religion” – an inaccurate statement, as W. insulted Sherbini herself, not her religion. Making such a statement skews the reality of the case and paints the story as the “Muslim angry over insult to Islam” trope. Stating this lie trivializes Sherbini’s very real experience of personal hate and Islamophobia. It diminishes W.’s hateful actions toward a Muslim woman. It ignores the fact that it was human being who was hurt, not a religion.

CNN reported “Egyptians angry over German court slaying“. The article focuses on the anger that many Egyptians are feeling as a result of the incident providing such quotes as:

Many shouted hostile slogans against Germany and called for Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak to take a firm stand on the incident. Egypt’s grand mufti, Mohammed Sayyed Tantawi, demanded the severest punishment to be issued against Alex A.

Berlin witnessed angry protests on Saturday, when hundreds of Arabs and Muslims demonstrated after a funeral prayer that called her killing an outrageous racist murder against Muslims.

The Guardian entitled their piece “Outrage over Muslim woman killed in court” and continued to explain:

Many in her homeland were outraged by the attack and saw the low-key response in Germany as an example of racism and anti-Muslim sentiment.

“There is no God but God and the Germans are the enemies of God,” chanted mourners for 32-year-old Marwa el-Sherbini in Alexandria, where her body was buried.

“We will avenge her killing,” her brother Tarek el-Sherbini told the Associated Press by telephone from the mosque where prayers were being recited in front of his sister’s coffin. “In the west, they don’t recognise us. There is racism.”

The rage that many feel over her death is not just about the loss of an innocent life. But it also reflects an anger at the hate that many Muslims are facing around the world. Sherbini’s murder, and subsequent silence on the part of Germans, appears to demonstrate a disregard for the experiences and lives of Muslims. Therefore, although many could take those statements out of context and attribute them simply to “those angry Muslims”, one must consider that such anger is not just about Sherbini’s murder. It is about the complicity of many Western nations in Islamophobic beliefs and actions, and about the frustration of Muslims regarding this lack of respect for such traumatic experiences faced by Muslims living in Muslim minority countries.

From the Huffington Post:

A German Muslim group criticized government officials and the media for not paying enough attention to the crime.

“The incident in Dresden had anti-Islamic motives. So far, the reactions from politicians and media have been incomprehensibly meager,” Aiman Mazyek, the general secretary of the Central Council of Muslims, told Berlin’s Tagesspiegel daily.

Egyptian commentators said the incident was an example of how hate crimes against Muslims are overlooked in comparison to those committed by Muslims against Westerners. Many commentators pointed to the uproar that followed the 2004 murder of filmmaker Theo van Gogh by a Dutch-born Islamic fundamentalist angry over one of his films criticizing the treatment of Muslim women.

Also from the Huffington Post:

“What we demand is just some attention to be given to the killing of a young innocent mother on the hands of fanatic extremist,” he wrote in his column.

An Egyptian blogger Hicham Maged, wrote “let us play the ‘What If’ game.”

“Just imagine if the situation was reversed and the victim was a Westerner who was stabbed anywhere in the world or _ God forbid _ in any Middle Eastern country by Muslim extremists,” he said.

Yes, imagine. The news would have spread like wildfire and all Muslims would be being condemned.

From the articles, one would assume that it is only Egyptians and/or other Arabs and/or Muslims who are the ones outraged by this Islamophobic murder. And one could assume right. No outrage has poured out from Germans. No outrage from any other Western nations either.

It is here I will ask the same question asked of Muslims every time a Muslim some place in the world commits a crime. Where are the moderate Germans I ask? Where are the moderate Westerners? Where is their outrage at the acts of hate by one of their own? Why is the burden of being outraged at the actions of “one of our own” only placed on Muslims? Why can we not expect fellow Germans as complicit in some manner as all Muslims are assumed to be complicit?

We are thought to be one monolithic entity, barbaric to the point of being complicit in all acts of violence. White Westerners on the other hand are viewed as diverse, understood to not condone violence, therefore not required to express their condemnation of violent acts committed in their name. Of course they would not condone such violence, we are expected to believe. But Muslims, and other minority groups, are not given that luxury. We must prove that we condemn violence. Such condemnation of violence cannot be assumed or expected of us. We are after all barbarians, we are expected to believe.

And this leads to my next and final point.

The lone wolf
In one above quote W. is described as a lone wolf. In this Racialicious post regrading the shooting at the Holocaust museum, a discussion ensued in the comments section regarding the problems with painting a white supremacist criminal as a lone, crazy killer acting on his/her own.

The fact is that such white supremacist beliefs and attitudes do not exist in a vacuum. They do not occur in isolation. They require nurturing and a complicit society. W.’s use of the terms “terrorist” and “Islamist” were not creations of his own imagination. The association of Muslims with terrorism and Islamism was not his creation. His hate of Muslims and derogatory views of Muslims were not his own creation, but rather a creation of the world he lives in. His actions were not that of a lone wolf, but rather of one living in a society full of Islamophobia.

This of course does not shift the blame from him, but rather places his behavior in context and demonstrates how, when one is the powerful group in society, if not the world, then that power means a greater ability to perpetuate hateful views and to cause more damage as those words and actions become just another method of oppression.

Additionally, if one views this portrayal as the one lone criminal in contrast to the ways in which people of color, including Muslims of color, are portrayed as guilty by association, one sees the ways in which people of color are viewed as violent barbarians whereas white, non-Muslims as civilized individuals who would never condone violence.

Conclusion
Sherbini’s tragic murder has reminded us once again of the violent nature of Islamophobia and the lack of regard for a Muslim life. From the ways in which the media reports this tragedy, one would assume that Sherbini’s murder has disturbed only those who share her religion. Not many others have expressed any outrage. Even a “German government spokesman, Thomas Steg, said that if the attack was racist, the government ‘naturally condemns this in the strongest terms’ ” (emphasis mine). Although many more should be outraged, there seems to be a denial among those who have allowed for such hateful views of Muslims to perpetuate of the severity of this case.
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