... the nerve of the [Zionist] Israelis never ceases to amaze me:
"Why did they fire rockets? There was no siege against Gaza. Why did they fight us, what did they want? There was never a day of starvation in Gaza."Really? No siege? No starvation?
GAZA CITY: There was no party, no celebrations when 22-year-old Aida al-Qaddumi finally got married this week.
There were no regrets either -- she said she was marrying to raise "fighters" and asked only that she might die as a "martyr" in Israel.
Three weeks of a deadly Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip forced postponement of the January 7 wedding, but it did not alter her intentions.
Whoever said "time heals all wounds," LIED (or was suffering from a really bad case of denial).
Are you looking for something to do for Palestine? Consider counter-blogging.
[Apartheid] Israel recruits 'army of bloggers' to combat anti-Zionist Web sites
The Immigrant Absorption Ministry announced on Sunday it was setting up an "army of bloggers," to be made up of Israelis who speak a second language, to represent [apartheid] Israel in "anti-Zionist blogs" in English, French, Spanish and German.
The program's first volunteer was Sandrine Pitousi, 31, from Kfar Maimon, situated five kilometers from Gaza. "I heard about the project over the radio and decided to join because I'm living in the middle of the conflict," she said.
. . .
"During the war, we looked for a way to contribute to the effort," the ministry's director general, Erez Halfon, told Haaretz. "We turned to this enormous reservoir of more than a million people with a second mother tongue." Other languages in which bloggers are sought include Russian and Portuguese.
. . .
Within 30 minutes of announcing the program, which was approved by the Foreign Ministry on Sunday, five volunteers were already in touch, Halfon said.
Tomorrow, Friday the 16th, has been designated a National Call in Day for Gaza. We need to get key phone lines ringing off the hook, starting tomorrow.
All we need is 15 minutes of your time.
How important is your participation? MPAC reports that <
Can you imagine that? For every person of conscience who called in solidarity with the Palestinians, the LA Mayor's office heard from 10 people who supported the actions of the murderous state of Israel.
With the death toll now well over 1,000 and hospitals, schools and relief agency headquarters all under unprecedented military attack, 15 minutes is the LEAST we can do.
Please check out the simple instructions included below, and start calling. Then keep calling, AND please spread the word.
----------
Please Circulate Widely!
National Call-In Day for Gaza!
January 16, 2009
We designate Friday, January 16th as National Call-In Day for Gaza. Calling is quick, easy, and effective, and will take about 5-10 minutes. We need to keep the phones ringing non-stop for the duration of the day so that our message CAN NO LONGER BE IGNORED.
Contact in order of importance:
1) Call President-Elect Obama's Transition Team at 202-540-3000.
Ask that President-Elect Obama and his team call for:
1) An immediate cease-fire.
2) An end to the blockade and siege of Gaza.
3) An immediate withdrawal from Gaza.
Be firm and polite and stress the fact that over a thousand people have died and thousands have been injured in Gaza, mainly civilians. This follows months of suffering under a severe blockade that has resulted in shortages of food, fuel and basic medical supplies. When calling, mention (UN Security Council Resolution 1860 that was adopted last week which calls for an immediate ceasefire and unimpeded humanitarian access.
2) Call your Representative at 202-224-3121. Ask how they voted on House Resolution 34 which passed overwhelmingly in the House last Friday, with 390 Representatives voting yes, 5 no, and 22 present. The resolution "recognizes Israel's right to defend itself" and "reaffirms the United States' strong support for Israel."
If your Representative voted "no" or "present" on H.Res. 34, thank them and ask that they cosponsor Rep. Kucinich's upcoming resolution.
(See: http://endtheoccupation.org/downloads/KUCINI_001_xml.pdf)
If your representative voted "yes" on H.Res. 34 state your disagreement with their vote and ask them to co-sponsor the Kucinich resolution.
3) Call your Senators at 202-224-3121 and assert your disagreement with their unanimous vote on Senate Resolution 10 and ask that they introduce a resolution in the Senate that is similar to Rep. Kucinich's resolution in the House.
Please forward this to all your lists and personally contact 10 friends and urge them to make these calls to save lives in Gaza.
Change happens with numbers. That is how Obama became president and that is how we can bring a lasting peace and justice to the Palestinians. As people living in America, we control the discourse and the funding that has resulted in the present massacre in Gaza. Considering the fundamental role that we play in this political situation, our participation is the least we can do.
"The death of children is the death of innocence, and the death of innocence is the downfall of humanity."
– Emine Erdogan, wife of Turkey's Prime Minister, 1/10/09
BEIJING - A 107-year-old Chinese woman who was afraid to marry when she was young has decided to look for her first husband and hopes to find a fellow centenarian so they will have something to talk about, a Chinese paper reported.
Wang Guiying is worried she is becoming a burden to her aging nieces and nephews since breaking her leg when she was 102 and had to stop doing chores like washing her clothes.
"I'm already 107 and I still haven't got married," the Chongqing Commercial Times quoted her saying. "What will happen if I don't hurry up and find a husband?"
Remember all of that excitement about finally having Muslims (yes, plural. We celebrated twice.) in Congress?
It seems, Rep. Andre Carson (D-IN) voted YES on House Resolution 34, while Rep. Keith Ellison (D-Min) answered PRESENT per:
House Clerk
The Library of Congress
What is House Resolution 34? According to the bill title, it is "recognizing [apartheid] Israel’s right to defend itself against attacks from Gaza, reaffirming the United States’ strong support for [apartheid] Israel, and supporting the Israeli-Palestinian peace process."
If we couldn't get them to vote against this, aren't they for the most part useless?
This afternoon, a friend emailed me a picture of a Friday afternoon Gaza protest that took place outside the mosque I grew up attending. I recognized some of the faces; uncle figures who had helped raise me. This small San Gabriel mosque and these people are not the type I would ever imagine affiliated with a protest. But subhana'Allah, the modern day genocide in Gaza has given the silent amongst us voices. Everybody is organizing. Everybody is acting. So, thank you Palestine:
Thank you Palestine for setting us free.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a voice.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a will.
Thank you for giving the masses of Arabs a uniting cause.
They were thrown down the well of humiliation,
Just like Josef; to get rid of them
They were pushed one small step at a time
Mow they are so used to it
Now they cannot tell if it was day or night
But you Palestine set them free
There is no darkness like occupation and
there is no light like liberty.
And that is not all!
Even those who were silenced after 9/11 got their voice back.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a voice.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a will.
Thank you for giving Muslims in the US a uniting cause.
Palestine you have awakened hearts from Caracas to those in a far away sea
Palestine, you have set us free so many times...
So...
When will we set you free.
When ... ?
On Why We Will March for Palestine this Weekend:
Perhaps now more than at any other time in recent memory, we must rally and march for Gaza.
We must march for the babies, the children, and the innocent victims of aggression and mass killing.
We must let the people of Gaza, and all of Palestine, know that they are not alone in this time of existential crisis.
We must march to join hundreds of thousands of global citizens who demand an end to this orgy of killing perpetrated by an Israeli war machine that is trained, funded, and supported by American tax dollars.
We must march to uphold the rule of international law over the appetite of colonialism and ethnic cleansing.
We must march to challenge the unconscionable blockade of Gaza, and to denounce the resulting humanitarian crisis that now threatens the lives of more than 1.5 million human beings.
We must march to demonstrate our call for an end to the root cause of this war-namely, the illegal and violent occupation of Palestine itself.
We must march to build momentum to support the long and difficult work that we must all do to change the one-sided and morally bankrupt policies of the United States that give unquestioned support to the actions of a settler state.
And finally - the most important reason of all - we must march to honor the commandment of our own faith tradition to oppose injustice, with our hands, our tongues, and our hearts.
This national solidarity event will not, in itself, bring peace and justice to the people of Gaza. But it is a necessary part of a larger, and longer, strategy for mobilization to end this war, and support the conditions for freedom and justice for the people of Palestine.
Child Elopers' Africa Plan Foiled
Two German children - aged five and six - have been stopped by police from eloping to Africa to tie the knot in the sun, reports say.
The budding lovebirds, identified as Mika and Anna-Lena, packed bathing costumes, sunglasses and a lilo and headed for the airport.
They even had the presence of mind to invite along an official witness - Anna-Lena's seven-year-old sister.
The three got as far as Hanover railway station before police intervened.
The young couple were "very much in love" and had decided to get married in Africa "where it is warm", police spokesman Holger Jureczko told the AFP news agency.
“Hamas cannot give a truce for free. What is the use of a truce when I stop harming you, while you are killing me and besieging me? During the six-month truce, people in Gaza had not even the basic needs including food, water and fuel,” he said.
. . .
“The people of Gaza had two bitter choices to have a slow death by blockade, or fast death by bombardment,” he said.
The scholar also urged Arab and Muslim countries to support the Palestinians in their fight against Israel. “It is the duty of all Arabs and Muslims to help the Palestinians whether by donating money, giving weapons, sending fighters, or boycotting the goods of Israel and the countries supporting it,” he said.
He also criticised the Arab League stance on the Israeli assault, saying the way the League dealt with the crisis was frustrating. “The Arab leaders have even failed to respond to the call made by Qatar to have an emergency summit to look into ways to tackle the Zionist onslaught on Gaza,” he said.
Any ideas as to what might happen if I started up a website like the one launched by the Combatant Clergy Society of Iran? In the meantime, if you're looking for ideas on what you can do for Palestine check out this post by Huda Shaka over at Muslamics.
Whenever I tell fashion conscious people my name, their eyes light up and they ask "ooh like the store?" To which I respond, "yes, like the store except with an H." And why not be happy to be related in name to a great store that sells cute, classy and relatively hijab friendly store at prices even I can afford?
Instead of respecting employees' right to join a union, since Fall 2007, ZARA has engaged in conduct which may have violated the Quebec Labour Code, including:If you're as bothered as I am by this sad turn of events at a store that I and many other women love, you can take action by sending a message to the President of Zara Canada.
- Firing four employees who supported the union at ZARA's Rockland Mall store in April and May 2008
- Demoting two employees who led a union drive at ZARA's downtown Montreal store in August 2007
- Holding anti-union meetings at three Montreal stores in 2007-2008, in one case telling employees that joining a union is "treason" against the company.
Subject: Respect Zara Workers' Right to Join a Union!
Dear Mr. Pastrana,
Zara is known as a progressive company on the cutting edge of fashion, but when it comes to respect for workers' rights, here in Canada Zara seems to be stuck in the 19th century.
As a Zara customer, I support the right of Zara workers to join a union and want to shop at a company that treats its employees with respect.
Respect Zara workers? right to join a union and commit to negotiating with them in good faith!
Sincerely,
Zahra Billoo
This neighbors hadith came up in a conversation this evening. I'm posting it here as a reminder and also because I'm trying to understand the different ways it can be interpreted.
The Prophet (pbuh) explained to us how to take care of our neighbors in matters of famine and hunger: He is not believing in me, the one who sleeps full while his neighbor is hungry. [Al-Bazar]
Food for thought:
Dec 19, 2008
Senator Barbara Boxer
Constitution Avenue and 2nd Street, NE
Washington, DC 20510-0505
Dear Senator Boxer,
I join with people all over the world in condemning [apartheid] Israel's deliberate starvation of the Palestinian people in Gaza. The U.S. government sends $15 million each day to [apartheid] Israel. In addition to the military attacks against the people of Gaza, Gaza City residents are without electricity for up to 16 hours a day and half the city's residents receive water only once a week for a few hours. These are war crimes, and crimes against humanity. I demand that the United States end all funding for [apartheid] Israel.
Sincerely,
Ms. Zahra Billoo
1505 4th St Apt 203
San Francisco, CA 94158-2270
Send your own letter, it's the LEAST we can do: Act Now
I don't have one wedding story, I have two:
CAIRO: Exasperated by the pressures of a society obsessed with marriage and the production of children, a young Egyptian woman has come to the rescue of her country's stigmatized spinsters. In the hope of changing the prejudices suffered by the unmarried and to shed light on the difficulties of being a woman in a patriarchal society, Yomna Mokhtar set up "Spinsters for Change" about six months ago.
The group came to life on the Internet's social networking website Facebook, which has become a platform for a plethora of social protests in Egypt, and the 27-year-old's group now has more than 550 members. "Society takes a very negative view of unmarried people. It puts great pressure on them and marginalizes them" if they don't marry, Mokhtar, her face framed by an Islamic headscarf, told AFP.
In the conservative country where religion is omnipresent, getting married is an obligation for Christians and Muslims alike. Islamic associations regularly organize mass weddings for those who lack the considerable funds needed for their own lavish ceremony, with the aim of avoiding so-called "deviant" behavior - extramarital relations or homosexuality. Even though they may hold down regular jobs or are studying, unmarried women in Egypt are seen as incomplete, said Mokhtar, stressing the "psychological suffering" endured by some of her single friends.
An Egyptian man said Wednesday he was offering his 20-year-old daughter in marriage to Iraqi journalist Muntazer al-Zaidi, who threw his shoes at U.S. President George W. Bush in Baghdad Sunday,
The daughter, Amal Saad Gumaa, said she agreed with the idea. "This is something that would honour me. I would like to live in Iraq, especially if I were attached to this hero," she told Reuters by telephone.
Her father, Saad Gumaa, said he had called Dergham, Zaidi's brother, to tell him of the offer. "I find nothing more valuable than my daughter to offer to him, and I am prepared to provide her with everything needed for marriage," he added.
Remember the Why Islam project I was very excited about a few months ago? I raved all about it, here. Well, great news: it's coming to San Francisco!
Volunteer, by clicking here.
Donate, by clicking here.
It's like voting: if you don't vote, don't complain about the government. If you don't do your fair share of dawah (this is definitely not the only way; if this does not float your boat, find another), you can't complain about Islamophobia.
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