Dag: 21 juli 2013

Ken jouw profeet!

On: By: KhamakarPress

Deel 3

In het 11e jaar van profeetschap kwamen wat mensen uit Medina naar Mekka voor het verrichten van de Hadj. De profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem ontmoette toen zes van hen en nodigde ze uit naar de islam, waarop zij moslims werden. Zij beloofden de profeet om de islam aan hun volk te verkondigen in Medina en hem het komend jaar weer te ontmoeten.

In Medina woonden destijds veel joden en zij hadden het weleens over een langverwachte profeet en dat zijn tijd is aangebroken. Dus de twee grote stammen in Medina van de niet-joden, genaamd Aows en Gazraj, hadden al gehoord van de komst van een profeet.

In het 12e jaar van profeetschap ontmoette de profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem zoals afgesproken 12 mensen uit Medina tijdens de Hadj in Mina. Waarvan vijf van de eerste ontmoeting. Hij onderwees hen de islam en stuurde met hen Mos’ab ibn ‘Umair -radia Allaho ‘anho- naar Medina om de islam daar te verkondigen en de mensen te onderwijzen. Hij slaagde daar goed in en de islam verspreidde zich in Medina.

Het jaar daarop, 13e jaar van profeetschap, kwam een grote groep uit Medina voor de Hadj. De profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem ontmoette 73 van hen s’nachts in het geheim in Mina. Één van die groep nam het woord en toonde de bereidheid van zijn volk om hun levens te geven voor de steun van de profeet.

Hierop sloot de profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem met hen een verbond waarin o.a. stond dat zij hem zullen steunen wanneer de profeet en de moslims in Mekka naar hen verhuizen.

Zo begonnen de moslims massaal te verhuizen naar Medina en lieten al hun bezittingen achter in Mekka, omwille van hun geloof. Zij werden in Mekka onderdrukt door de polytheïsten (moshrikien) en werden belemmerd met het praktiseren van hun geloof.

De profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem verhuisde als één van de laatste in gezelschap van zijn dierbare vriend, Abu Bakr -radia Allaho ‘anho-. De dag van deze verhuizing (Hidjra) is later door ‘Omar -radia Allaho ‘anho- aangesteld als de eerste dag van de islamitische kalender. Wij leven nu in het jaar 1434, dus deze verhuizing van de profeet naar Medina vond 1434 jaar geleden plaats.

De profeet salallaaho ‘alayhi wa sallem trad eerst het plaatsje Quba binnen, wat destijds net buiten de stad Medina lag. Hij verbleef daar vier dagen en bouwde ondertussen de Quba moskee; de eerste moskee in de islam.

Vervolgens ging hij richting Medina, waar de mensen iedere dag op de uitkijk stonden om de laatste der profeten te ontvangen. Toen ze hem eenmaal in het vizier hadden, werd hij massaal ontvangen en er was overal in de stad lofprijzing voor Allah te horen.

Wordt vervolgd …
Abulfadl, student aan de Universiteit van Medina. Saudi Arabië.

12 Ramadan

Israeli permits hit Palestinian markets

On: By: KhamakarPress

BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — Israel has granted thousands of Palestinians permits to enter Israel for the holy month of Ramadan, drawing shoppers away from West Bank markets, a Palestinian official said Thursday.

Palestinian youths were granted permits to enter Israel from Sunday to Thursday, but not on Fridays or Saturdays, even though worshipers seek to pray in Jerusalem on Fridays during the holy month.

West Bank markets have suffered as Palestinians head to Israel to go shopping.

Jamal Jawabreh, secretary-general of the Chambers of Commerce and Industry, said the Palestinian economy was already suffering from a lack of liquidity, while salaries have dropped and the cost of living has increased.

Jawabreh said Israel was granting Palestinians access on all days except the days of prayer to encourage them to shop in Israel.

He said Israel was trying to counter its own deficit. The Chambers of Commerce has discussed the issue but is unable to stop Israel granting permits, he added.

Economic analyst Yasser Shahine said the permits were directly affecting Palestinian markets, and that Palestinians were buying even basic goods like dairy produce from Israel due to lower prices.

Shahine said the lack of trade rules exacerbated the problem, as Palestinian merchants bought goods from Israel and sold them at a higher price in West Bank markets, rather than trading in local produce. .

(Source / 21.07.2013)

Peace talks plan met by wall of skepticism in Israel

On: By: KhamakarPress

JERUSALEM (AFP) — A US announcement that Middle East peace talks are to resume, possibly as early as next week, was met Sunday with a wall of skepticism from Israeli officials and commentators.

Analysts said the negotiations, announced on Friday by US Secretary of State John Kerry, were doomed to fail, while cabinet ministers and senior officials reacted with caution and even outright opposition to the plan.

“Such talks were held 21 years ago. They failed utterly,” wrote Nahum Barnea, right-leaning columnist for top-selling daily Yediot Aharonot.

“Negotiations aren’t a goal,” he continued. “They are just a means. The way in which Kerry is dealing with the conflict will almost certainly lead to yet another failure, and the resulting crash.”

The center-right Maariv daily agreed: “(Prime Minister Benjamin) Netanyahu … got a process with no peace right from the start; no negotiations based on the 1967 borders with a land swap… (and) no freeze of the settlements,” it said in an editorial.

Palestinians have long demanded that peace talks be based on the 1967 lines that existed before Israel occupied the West Bank, and have stressed that settlement building in the territory must be frozen before they would resume talks.

Israel has insisted that there be no such “preconditions”.

The exact basis for Kerry’s plan remains unknown, but commentators thought it unlikely agreement would already have been reached on such sensitive issues.

“The gap between the objectives of the two sides is unfathomable; mutual suspicion runs high… at the moment there are no conditions pushing the sides… toward painful concessions,” Barnea wrote.

Kerry has given away very little detail of the agreement, which came after months of intense consultations with Israeli and Palestinian leaders, beyond saying both sides had reached “an agreement that establishes a basis for resuming direct final status negotiations”.

Due to the lack of detail about the peace talks, speculation is swirling as to how exactly Kerry managed to convince the two sides to agree to come together.

“There is no Israeli declaration that the basis for the talks is the 1967 borders, there is no freeze of construction in any kind in (the West Bank), and there is no prisoner release before the talks begin,” Yediot quoted an Israeli official as saying.

Maariv reported that Netanyahu might have agreed to an “unofficial” settlement freeze.

And many media outlets latched onto and fiercely criticized the planned release of Palestinian prisoners — announced on Saturday by Intelligence Minister Yuval Steinitz as a “gesture” towards the peace talks — with some rumoring it could happen at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

“Veteran terrorists will go home,” said a Maariv editorial.

Comment from high-ranking Israeli officials appeared to justify the commentators’ cynicism.

“I am against a Palestinian state,” Transport Minister Yisrael Katz, a member of Netanyahu’s own Likud party, told AFP on his way into a cabinet meeting.

“I can (only) support starting talks that are not preconditioned on the 1967 borders or a settlement freeze,” he said.

Steinitz, before the same meeting, said Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas “doesn’t seem eager to negotiate, or strong and determined enough to make the concessions necessary from the Palestinian side.”

Housing Minister Uri Ariel told Maariv he opposed a settlement freeze.

“I will not lend a hand to an immoral and non-Jewish act that will enable a construction freeze in Jerusalem and in the settlements,” he said in reference to occupied east Jerusalem, even vowing to ensure more settlements were built.

The Palestinians too remained cautious.

Chief PLO negotiator Saeb Erekat — who will travel to Washington to begin talks with his Israeli counterpart Justice Minister Tzipi Livni — told Maariv that neither side had yet received the promised invite from Washington.

He added that the US had still not “relayed clear answers to basic questions such as the 1967 borders, construction in the settlements and a prisoner release. It is too early to declare any progress.”

Former negotiator Uri Savir, who led Israel’s team at the talks leading up to the 1993 Oslo Accord, told BBC radio on Sunday that he thinks the planned talks do indeed have merit.

“I think they will (achieve something),” he said.

“One should not look only at the starting point and the very end point of a permanent status peace agreement.”

He likened Kerry’s efforts to those of “Superman”.

“He conducted something that nobody has achieved in three years, which is to bring the sides to talk to each other directly.”

“This is quite an achievement.”

(Source / 21.07.2013)

Former hunger striker Eyad Abu Khudeir released to Gaza

On: By: KhamakarPress

eyad-abu-khudeirPalestinian prisoner Eyad Abu Khudeir was released on Sunday, July 21 to Gaza after 9 years in occupation prisons. Abu Khudeir, who lived in Gaza City prior to his arrest on April 12, 2005, was released in Beit Hanoun in northern Gaza, and was met with a rally to receive him.

Abu Khudeir launched a hunger strike on June 17, protesting the occupation’s failure to release him; his sentence ended on April 12, 2013, but he was not released – he had lived in Gaza since 1999, where he is married and had three children, but was never given family reunification. He held Jordanian nationality, but Jordan revoked his citizenship after his arrest and imprisonment, and so was stateless.

Until his hunger strike, Israeli officials had refused to release Abu Khudeir to Gaza.

(Source / 21.07.2013)

A report on the 23 hunger strikers in Israeli prisons

On: By: KhamakarPress

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5 Jordanian Hunger Strikers in Israeli Jails “Hungry for Freedom”

So Samer Issawi, a Palestinian prisoner, is to be free. He will return valiantly to the place he belongs after an extensive hunger strike that lasted 277 days. His house destroyed and neighborhood demolished, its roots pulled out, not even a room has survived. Yet, he will live in Jerusalem where, I hope, he will be allowed to just be. Samer is not the first hunger striker nor will he be the last.

23 Hunger Strikers

Prisoners’ Club reports that 23 detainees are currently on hunger strike in Israeli prisons. As of May, Abdullah Al-Barghouti is striking with four other Palestinians holding Jordanian citizenship. Having been detained since March 5th, 2003‪, he is suffering from many health problems including “potassium deficiency and several wounds in his feet and hands due to shackles”. His lawyer Hanan Al-Khatib says that since launching their strike, Al-Barghouti and other hunger strikers have been isolated in several jails.

Amani Srahani, spokesperson for the Prisoners’ Club, informed me that two weeks ago “Al-Barghouthi was transferred from Al Ramleh prison hospital to Afola, an isolated prison hospital. This is indeed a sign of his critical condition.” The prisoners are refusing food and are not taking any supplements, depending only on salt and water. When a hunger strike commences, the Israeli Prison Service starts randomly storming the hunger strikers’ cells. They use attack dogs to scare them and intimidate them into halting their strikes. They also grill food and eat it in front of them.

They Deserve Freedom

It is worth mentioning that this strike is not the first for the Jordanian prisoner. In April, 17th, 2012, all the prisoners strike asking for family visit and the end of solitary confinement. Once the Israeli prison forces agree on their demands, they end their strike. Yet, the deal hasn’t been applied to the Jordanian prisoners. They are still prohibited from many rights including family visits.

Adding to the first point, Ayman Hamdan and Emad Al-Batran are protesting their administrative detention. Ayman Al-Tabeesh has been on hunger strike since May 23 when a 4-month administrative detention order was issued against him following his arrest on May 9th. Adel Hareebat has been on hunger strike for 26 days when a 6-month administrative detention renewal was issued for him. He has spent 10 years altogether in occupation prisons, including 3 years in administrative detention. Israel’s random use of administrative detention violates the strict standards allowed an occupying power and as such is odious in the extreme.

Health Conditions

According to Shereen Nafe, spokesperson of the media team supporting the Jordanian prisoners (Fedaa), “As a result of the miserable situations prisoners have to face, no prisoner in Israeli jails escapes from being afflicted by some kinds of illness. Most of the hunger strikers already have health problems prior to the commencement of their strikes.” She adds that the Jordanian hunger strikers are the worst off among the total of 23 hunger strikers. Many have been placed in solitary confinement including Ayman Hamdan who is afflicted with skin diseases caused by his cell being only a few meters away from a trash dump. Some have lost the ability to walk and are in wheelchairs; like Mohammad Rimawi who is suffering from high blood pressure, fatigue, fever, and inflammation. He also has stomach ache, abdominal pain and heart disorder. Sometimes his heart beat is 125 and sometimes it drops to 50 beats per minute. Each of the Jordanian prisoners has lost at least 18 kilograms.

Demands

Addameer Prisoner Support and Human Rights Association’s lawyer‪ Faris Ziyad reports that the demands of the Jordanian hunger strikers are:‪ “First, to be released from Israeli prisons so they can serve their sentences in Jordanian prisons according to the Wadi Araba Agreement between Jordan and Israel. This agreement was previously applied to the case of prisoner Sultan Al-Ajouli, who was transferred to Jordanian custody in accordance with the agreement. Second, the Occupation must disclose the whereabouts of missing Jordanian prisoners, of which there are 20. Third, the Occupation removes martyrs from the ‘numbered graves’, where prisoners who died in custody are currently kept in nameless graves.”

A Final Word

I have spoken to three of the Jordanian prisoners’ families. They affirm the prisoners all have unbelievably strong wills and determination. Every day, they demonstrate in different places in the sun. They speak up for justice sharing one hope, “Hunger strikers will not stop until their demands are met‪.”

(Source / 21.07.2013)

Doua bij iftar / doua vasten verbreken

On: By: KhamakarPress

By Marianna Laarif

Er is aan ons overgeleverd dat de Profeet (vrede en zegeningen zij met hem) de volgende woorden (doua) uitsprak wanneer hij het vasten verbroken had: “De dorst is verdwenen, de aders zijn vochtig geworden en de beloning is vastgelegd met de wil van Allah.”

Doua iftar in het Arabisch
ذَهَبَ الضَّمَأُ وَ ابْتَلَّتِ الْعُرُوقُ, وَ ثَبَتَ الأَجْرُ إِنْ شَاءَ اللهُ
Betekenis van de doua bij verbreken vasten
De dorst is verdwenen, de aders zijn vochtig geworden en de beloning is vastgelegd met de wil van Allah.
Uitspraak doua bij vasten verbreken
Dha-haba addhama-u wabtallatie l-’uruqu, wa thabata al-adjru inshaaAllah.
Extra informatie over de doua
Deze smeekbede bij vasten verbreken is overgeleverd door Abu Dawud en anderen.
Bekijk ook de doua kaart met daarop de iftar doua en verspreid het:
 

16-year-old Palestinian youth sentenced to 15 months in occupation prisons

On: By: KhamakarPress

1228951359palestinian_children_arrestedThe Palestine Information Centre reported that an Israeli district court has sentenced a Palestinian minor Mohammed Raed Siam, 16-year-old, to 15 months imprisonment and 6 months suspended sentence for 3 years.

Mohammed was arrested on January 1, 2013 where he spent 20 days in Maskubiya interrogation center. Under severe torture and huge stress and threats, he admitted that he had thrown stones and Molotov cocktails at Israeli settlements, his father told Silwan center.

The father underlined that the Israeli public prosecutor refused the medical committee’s recommendation to release his son in light of his difficult psychological status due to the interrogation process.

Mohamed’s lawyer has demanded his release during Thursday’s session after his detention in Hasharon prison led to the disruption of his schooling.

A new article by Brad Parker on the detention of Palestinian children and youth is available at 972 magazine: http://972mag.com/justice-denied-prolonged-occupation-and-palestinian-child-detainees/76094/

(Source / 21.07.2013)

Demolition and Eviction of Bedouin Citizens of Israel in the Naqab (Negev) – The Prawer Plan

On: By: KhamakarPress
On 24 June 2013, the Israeli Knesset approved the discriminatory Prawer-Begin Bill, with 43 votes for and 40 votes against, for the mass expulsion of the Arab Bedouin community in the Naqab (Negev) desert in the south of Israel. If fully implemented, the Prawer-Begin Plan will result in the destruction of 35 “unrecognized”Arab Bedouin villages, the forced displacement of up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel, and the dispossession of their historical lands in the Naqab. Despite the Arab Bedouin community’s complete rejection of the plan and strong disapproval from the international community and human rights groups, the Prawer Plan is happening now.
The Prawer-Begin Bill is an unacceptable proposition that entrenches the state’s historic injustice against its Bedouin citizens. Adalah and our NGO partners have been challenging the Prawer Plan before courts, government authorities and the international community, but we need your help to stop what would be the largest single act of forced displacement of Arab citizens of Israel since the 1950s!
Please sign our petition and visit our Facebook page to find out what you can do to Stop the Prawer Plan!
Sign up for Adalah’s Newsletter to stay informed.

What is the Prawer Plan?
Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel, inhabitants of the Naqab (Negev) desert since the seventh century, are the most vulnerable community in Israel. For over 60 years, the indigenous Arab Bedouin have faced a state policy of displacement, home demolitions and dispossession of their ancestral land. Today, 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens live in 35 villages that either predate the establishment of the State in 1948, or were created by Israeli military order in the early 1950s. The State of Israel considers the villages “unrecognized” and the inhabitants “trespassers on State land,” so it denies the citizens access to state infrastructure like water, electricity, sewage, education, health care and roads. The state deliberately withholds basic services from these villages to “encourage” the Arab Bedouin citizens to give up their ancestral land. If Israel applied the same criteria for planning and development that exist in the Jewish rural sector, all 35 unrecognized villages would be recognized where they are.
In September 2011, the Israeli government approved the Prawer Plan, the brainchild of former Deputy Chair of the National Security Council, Mr. Ehud Prawer. The Prawer Plan will result in the destruction of the unrecognized villages and the forced displacement of up to 70,000 Arab Bedouin citizens. This plan was completed without consultation of the local community, and is a gross violation of the constitutional rights of the Arab Bedouin citizens to property, dignity, equality, adequate housing, and freedom to choose their own residence.
Prawer is Happening Now

Despite complete rejection of the plan by the Arab Bedouin, and strong disapproval from the international community, Prawer is happening now. More than 1,000 houses were demolished in 2011 alone, and civil society observed the same practices in 2012.  Since Prawer was announced, the government announced plans that will displace over 10,000 people and plant forests, build military centers, and establish new Jewish settlements in their place.

The Prawer Plan is today being turned into an Israeli law. On 6 May 2013, the Ministerial Committee on Legislation approved the proposed “Law for the Regulation of Bedouin Settlement in the Negev – 2013” (“the Prawer-Begin Bill”, after recommendations by Minister Benny Begin were included). On 24 June 2013, the Knesset approved the Prawer-Begin Bill with 43 votes for and 40 votes against. The bill will now be sent to the Committee for Interior Affairs and Environment to be prepared for the second and third readings.
The international community has repeatedly expressed its opposition to the Prawer Plan. In March 2012, the UN Committee on the Elimination for Racial Discrimination called on Israel to withdraw the proposed implementing legislation of the Prawer Plan, on the grounds that it was discriminatory. In July 2012, the European Parliament passed a historic resolution calling on Israel to Stop the Prawer Plan and its policies of displacement, eviction, and dispossession.
Adalah calls on the Israeli government to:
  • Cancel the Prawer Plan
  • Recognize the “unrecognized villages” and the land claims of the indigenous Arab Bedouin community
  • Halt home demolitions and forced evictions
  • Engage in meaningful dialogue with the Arab Bedouin community and the Arab political leadership to justly resolve the land claims
  • Invest in greater health, education, and employment opportunities for Arab Bedouin citizens of Israel

(Source / 21.07.2013)

Gaza factions call for non-interference in Egypt affairs

On: By: KhamakarPress
GAZA CITY (Ma’an) — Palestinian political factions in the Gaza Strip on Sunday called on their members not to interfere in the internal affairs of Egypt.

“Palestinians, especially in Gaza, must be neutral because Gaza has its own issues and needs. What’s happening in Egypt is an internal matter and we respect the self determination of Egyptians,” Fatah spokesman in Gaza Fayez Abu Aita said.

Islamic Jihad leader Khalid al-Batsh said Palestinians are not involved in Egyptian affairs, but Egyptian media organizations are portraying Palestinians as involved in the current strife by linking Hamas to the Muslim Brotherhood.

On Saturday, Egypt announced it was banning fishing off the coast of northern Sinai as a security measure to stop militants entering the peninsula by sea.

Egyptian security officials told Ma’an that the decision aims to prevent Palestinians and members of militant groups from entering Egyptian territory.

(Source / 21.07.2013)

PLO delegation mourns death of Helen Thomas

On: By: KhamakarPress
BETHLEHEM (Ma’an) — The general delegation of the PLO to the United States on Sunday expressed its condolences for the death of American journalist Helen Thomas, who passed away on Saturday.

“Helen Thomas will be remembered for her courage to ask tough questions to Presidents and political officials,” the statement read.

“A staunch advocate for the rights of Palestinians, Thomas expressed an unrelenting commitment to advancing the Palestinian quest for justice and statehood. She was a true friend to the Palestinian people.”

From her front row seat in the White House press room, Thomas was a formidable, sharp-tongued inquisitor of every US president she covered.

She was such a fixture, she had the unique privilege of a front row seat with her own name on it.

Thomas’ passing triggered a torrent of tributes, including one from Obama.

“Helen was a true pioneer, opening doors and breaking down barriers for generations of women in journalism,” he said in a statement.

“What made Helen the ‘Dean of the White House Press Corps’ was not just the length of her tenure, but her fierce belief that our democracy works best when we ask tough questions and hold our leaders to account.”

Thomas began covering the White House for United Press International in the early 1960s, one of only a few women in a male-dominated Washington press corps.

The daughter of Lebanese immigrants, she had a strong interest in the Middle East and was a fierce defender of Palestinian rights.

“The General Delegation of the PLO to the United States joins the rest of the Palestinian community all over the world in offering its condolences to the family and friends of Helen Thomas, with whom we share a great loss today,” the PLO statement said.

(Source / 21.07.2013)