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Palestinian mental patients get hysterectomies Muslim law permits parents to remove uteruses of mentally ill girls to protect family from shame Ali Waked A debate held by a Palestinian radio station has revisited the issue of female mutilation, with interviewed parents saying they prefer to perform hysterectomies on mentally ill girls in order to prevent them from becoming impregnated. But the procedure is known to be performed in order to allay fears of embarrassment by a similarly ill offspring, and has been sanctioned to this end by both Sharia and the Palestinian Authority. "We can't follow the girls around 24...

The Arab refugee problem was caused by a war of aggression, launched by the Arab states against Israel in 1947 and 1948. Let there be no mistake. If there had been no war against Israel, with its consequent harvest of bloodshed, misery, panic and flight, there would be no problem of Arab refugees today.

Note: The following text is a quote: Eight Area Men Sentenced on Federal Racketeering Charges Involving Conspiracy to Transfer Cash and Checks to the Palestinian Territories ST. LOUIS, MO—The United States Attorney’s office announced today that eight members of a criminal enterprise operating out of five St. Louis area convenience stores have been sentenced on charges of federal racketeering or related charges. As far back as 2000, the RICO conspiracy has involved bank fraud, receipt of stolen property, conducting an unlicensed money transmitting business, purchasing contraband cigarettes for resale, evading reporting requirement on exporting monetary instruments, and transporting monetary instruments...

Un-credible BBC's source is a (terrorists') Hamas blogger   The outrageous BBC excited adhering to a Hamas-nick blogger and pondering responsible Israel's foreign ministry   Though the BBC's Arabist reporting is old news, once in a while they have to hear that ordinary people don't buy their "objective" journalism.   January 23, 2008 [11:30 AM GMT] the anchor ["world updates"] first interviews in an exciting (almost childish like)  tone a Rafah blogger (wow! What a source) that "whines" about "Palestinians" that -- supposedly -- are rushing out to buy "food", and that they are just trying to break the "siege" as...

Extortion payout to the Arab Mafia!Steven Shamrak BrookesNews.Com Monday 7 January 2008 At the opening of the donors' conference in Paris, French President Nicolas Sarkozy emphasised the urgency of creating a Palestinian state by the end of next year (2008). International donors eagerly pledged $7.4 billion, pretending that it will boost PA economy. The list of fake friends of the fictitious Palestinian nation is long: United States, pledged $555 million for 2008, though about $400 million has not been approved by Congress; Britain, $500 million; Norway, $420 million; Spain, $360 million; France and Sweden, $300 million each; Germany, $290; Belgium,...

Dec. 27, 2004 18:03 | Updated Dec. 27, 2004 20:19 Police release Palestinian candidate By ETGAR LEFKOVITS Photo: AP Jerusalem Police on Monday briefly detained Palestinian chairmanship candidate Dr. Mustafa Barghouti for questioning as he campaigned for the upcoming Palestinian Authority elections in the Old City of Jerusalem, police said. Barghouti has a permit to travel through Jerusalem, but not to stay in the capital, Jerusalem Police spokeswoman Sigal Toledo said. He was later released without being charged, and was escorted to a security checkpoint just outside city limits. Barghouti, a human rights activist and a distant relative of the...

A Giant Among Midgets Last week, television news shows took note of the deaths of Donald O'Connor, an actor-dancer; of George Plimpton, a high-toned journalist; and of some rock 'n' roll singer I'd never heard of. Completely missing from the shows I scanned was any mention at all of the death of a giant in this era of mental and moral midgets. I refer to Edward Said, a professor of literature at Columbia University; a Palestinian and a fearless champion of human rights; a musician and a music critic; and a writer of great note. Said died after a long...

Just wanted to make people aware of this ugliness. Note the reference to attacks by "Zionist forces." I wish I was near NJ to go and protest these misguided, or maybe just plain bigoted, individuals. URLs:http://newjersey.indymedia.org/front.php3?article_id=8138&group=webcast http://www.divestmentconference.com/index2.html Despite all attacks - from Zionist forces, from University administration, from the State and the Governor - the Rutgers conference on Palestine, the Third North American Conference on the Palestine Solidarity Movement, is CONTINUING ON and GOING STRONG!! PLEASE FORWARD EVERYWHERE!!- OCTOBER 10-12, 2003 - Rutgers University - NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ NORTH AMERICAN CONFERENCE ON THE PALESTINE SOLIDARITY MOVEMENT Despite all attacks -...

Feb. 20, 2003 PLO political department head slams decision to appoint prime minister to PA By KHALED ABU TOAMEH The head of the PLO's political department, Farouk Kaddoumi, Thursday condemned Palestinian Authority Chairman Yasser Arafat's decision to appoint a prime minister for the PA, describing the move as "ridiculous" in the absence of a Palestinian state, constitution or presidency. Kaddoumi is the first senior Palestinian official to speak out in public against the decision to appoint a prime minister for the PA. Other officials have also criticized Arafat for succumbing to international pressure, but have refused to go public. Their...

22:50 Feb-13-03, 11 Adar 5763 More on Gush Etzion Missile/Bomb Attack(IsraelNN.com) Bomb disposal technicians explain that today's missile/bomb incident near the Gush Etzion community of Efrat was a lesson that ended without injury or death. While it was determined that the Qassam rocket seated in a launcher was a fake, the bomb next to it was quite real. Bomb demolition experts were concerned over the cellular telephone detonation device, adding terrorists are becoming alarming sophisticated in the bombs being used and techniques being deployed. Today's incident was undoubtedly intended to draw the attention of emergency personnel to the rocket, believed...

Hundreds of Palestinians took to the streets in Gaza yesterday to participate in a Fatah-led demonstration in support of Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. The demonstrators chanted anti-US and anti-Israel slogans such as "Lets kill ever American" and "the Christians and Jews must all be killed", they burned flags of both countries and fired shots in the air, while calling on Saddam to attack Tel Aviv The protests, which took place amid attempts by Israeli leaders to negotiate a "Gaza first" ceasefire, were an additional indication of the growing tension in the region spurred by reports that the US is determined...

An Israeli soldier guards two Palestinian men who were captured by Israeli troops near a Jewish settlement in the Gaza Strip July 7, 2002. The Israeli army said the two were part of a squad that tried to infiltrate the Alei Sinai settlement and carry out an attack. (Tsafrir Abayov/Reuters)

<p>NEW YORK, July 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Israel's crack Palnat Company is on the front lines of the war against terror, and last week they offered Newsweek a rare view from their trenches. In the July 15 issue of Newsweek (on newsstands Monday, July 8), Jerusalem Bureau Chief Joshua Hammer reports the men are experienced reservists, and nearly all of them have seen active duty in Lebanon. And while compelled by a sense of duty, their views on the current conflict run the gamut from anti-war campaigners to right-wingers.</p>

Violent anti-American protests have taken place in several Muslim countries in what has been described as "a day of rage". Thousands of demonstrators took to the streets after Friday prayers in Pakistan, Iran, Indonesia, Malaysia and Sri Lanka following calls by hardline Islamic political leaders. And in the West Bank, thousands participated In two anti-US marches. Police and rioters clashed in the Pakistani port of Karachi where a KFC fast-food restaurant was torched and other buildings and vehicles were also attacked. Police used teargas and fired shots into the air to break up the protests as smoke rose from burning...

Jordan’s Foreign Minister Marwan Moasher said during an interview Monday that Palestinian suicide attacks were an inefficient weapon against Israeli occupation, adding that an Arab peace plan was a better tool. "These operations have lost all international support for the Arabs, who are the only countries in the world to support them," Moasher told the Jordanian independent weekly Al-Hadath. "We have a much more efficient weapon than martyr operations to end the Israeli occupation and that is the Arab peace plan," submitted by Saudi Arabia and adopted by an Arab League summit in Beirut in March, he said. "We must...

Press sources in the Jordanian capital Amman confirmed that Jordanian security forces killed one Jordanian and arrested two others in the Aqaba area when the three attempted to smuggle arms to the Palestinians last month. Sources told Albawaba.com Sunday that Jordanian security forces have arrested Riyadh Yousef Amarieh and Osama Zayed Massarweh and killed their third partner, Abu Obadah. The three were caught red handed in an attempt to smuggle arms through the Jordanian port of Aqaba to the Israeli port city of Eilat. The sources said gunfire was exchanged between the three smugglers and the security forces leading to...

As U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell arrives in Israel, it is clear that there are three seemingly quite separate wars being fought in the Middle East at present. For the sake of simplicity let's say that one is being conducted in Hebrew, another in Arabic and a third one in English. Each is clearly illustrated in the media coverage of the conflict in Israel, the Arab world and the West. The basis and subtext of each war is different and one must read between the lines to deduce the true nature of the conflict. The differences are apparent in...

Four prominent Shiite Muslim clerics as well as the commander of Iran's Revolutionary Guards militia expressed support Wednesday for the Palestinian suicide bombings against Israel. "Suicide attacks are justified. Those who carry out such acts die as martyrs and will end up in paradise," Grand Ayatollah Yussef Sanei told an office of support for the Palestinian intifada headed by Parliament Member and former ambassador to Syria Ali Akbar Mohtashami. The organization said three other senior clerics in the Iranian holy city of Qom, south of Tehran, also "justified the attacks and said that support for the intifada is a religious...

Brussels, April 4, IRNA -- About 4000 people took part in a demonstration in the Belgian city of Antwerp, 50 kms from Brussels, Wednesday evening in support of the Palestinian people. The demonstration was organised by the Antwerp-based Arab European League (AEL). In a statement released today, the AEL said that after the demonstration ended riots broke out between groups of Arab youth and the police in the streets of Antwerp. The police used water canons and tear gas to disperse the crowds that reacted in destroying police cars and other cars and shops. ''What happened today in Antwerp is...

BEIRUT In offering Israel terms for peace with Arab states Thursday, Arab leaders encouraged Palestinians to keep fighting. It is much the same mixed message, some diplomats here maintain, that Palestinians are drawing from American policy in the region, and it suggests why Yasser Arafat will have great difficulty enforcing the cease-fire he said Thursday night he was prepared to accept. In ratifying a Saudi peace initiative Thursday, Arab nations held out the prospect of normal relations with Israel, provided it withdraws from all the territory it occupied in the 1967 war and somehow accommodates the refugees of the 1948...