----- Original Message ----- *From:* Anita Bahl <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> *Sent:* Sunday, 11 May, 2008 4:03 AM *Subject:* Fwd: See this film before it disappears
* From: Daljit* <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: 2008/5/11 ** *If Americans knew...* *What Israel is doing!* ** *See this film before it disappears *http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/315.html -- Daljit Singh M.S.,D.Sc. [EMAIL PROTECTED] Home page: Daljiteye.com *The most propagandized country on earth, the US* Sixty years of massive, ongoing, coldly calculated human rights abuses against the Palestinian people. That's the legacy of the State of Israel. Americans pay the bills for this tyranny and our hopelessly corrupt news media and elected officials go along with it because it's politically expedient. Note: The videos of IfAmericansKnew.org are constantly removed by YouTube censors. I have no idea how long this one will be up. . [image: Palestinian Child] *The Three-Thousand-Year Battle for Palestine* *By Aisha R. Masterton* - Freelance Writer - UK http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1171431888700&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout [image: Image] The Holy Land has been fought over for more than three thousand years. Today's battle between Zionists and Palestinians is just the latest chapter. Three books can fill you in with the history: Madina to Jerusalem, Encounters with the Byzantine Empire and Palestine, Beginner's Guide, both by Ismail Adam Patel, editor of Al-Aqsa journal, and A History of Palestinian Resistance by Dr. Daud Abdullah, lecturer in Islamic Studies at Birkbeck College, University of London. Madina to Jerusalem is a short history of the Muslims' expansion in to Sham after the death of the Prophet (pbuh), a period which is not usually written about in great detail. This book is clearly written and suitable for people of a young age, as well as those who do not have much time to read more densely -written histories. Thematically, it is divided into three parts: the first gives an account of the battles over Sham between the Byzantine and Persian empires, up to the seventh century CE; the second tells of how the Muslims gradually spread to the borders of the Byzantine empire and eventually took control of Sham; the third makes an interesting exploration into the motives for Muslim expansion, weighing up the evidence from different historical sources. As Patel explains, the temple of Solomon (as) was destroyed, captured by the Persians, then captured by the Greeks, who dedicated the site to Zeus; captured by the Jews, who ruled it for a century; taken over by the Romans, who built a new temple to Jupiter (Zeus); ruled by the Christians, who banished the Jews; taken over again by the Persians, who, with their Jewish allies, massacred the Christians; then taken over by the Muslims, who allowed both Christians and Jews freedom of worship. Part one is somewhat stiffly written, and could do with more rigorous editing, as there are some repetitions and grammatical errors. Patel also writes as if he assumes that the reader already has some knowledge of Byzantine history, suddenly mentioning the names of certain characters without much introduction. It is when he moves into part two that the writing comes alive and he turns history into a readable narrative, as the Muslims gradually move in on Sham, eventually taking over its towns. Here he gives an interesting account of the rules of engagement and of military strategies. What can be seen from the Muslims' take over, which Patel calls "liberation" – a word that smacks uncomfortably of the Soviet Union – is that it was standard practice for the Muslims to allow the inhabitants of Sham to continue living as they had before: to maintain their property, go about their business and worship freely according to their religion. The strength of the Muslim empire came about, therefore, from allowing a multi-cultural, pluralistic society. There was no interest in forcing that society to become a homogenous Islamic state. In part three, Patel successfully disproves any assertion that the Muslims expanded for material reasons: after they conquered Sham, there was no mass emigration from Arabia. Quite literally, they saw it as their duty to spread the message of Islam or to collect the jizya from those who preferred not to convert. Palestine, Beginner's Guide is set out like a text book and would be ideal for teaching in schools. It is also good for adults who may find the political complexities of the issue difficult to grasp at times. It is divided into thirty-two short chapters, with photos, illustrations, fact boxes and quotations. This is a balanced account, which tells of the history of Jews in Europe and their persecution for the last thousand years ("1391: 50,000 Jews killed on the Island of Majorca; 1420: Jewish community annihilated in Toulouse, France"), but which also gives a succinct and informative account of the architects of Zionism and subsequent Zionist aggression against the inhabitants of Sham, both Muslim and Christian. Some shocking statements include: "In 1941 the US passed new immigration laws, which made it impossible for the persecuted Jews of Germany to enter the USA (107)," and Ben-Gurion's words: "The catastrophe of European Jewry is not, in a direct manner, my business (109)." Zionists have displaced nearly six million Palestinians, who now live in exile around the world. Their terrorist activities forced Britain to finally leave Palestine in 1947. Patel also reveals the strategies employed by the Zionist government in order to justify its invasion of Lebanon in the 1950s, using extracts from the Prime Minister's diary: "Israel should provoke Lebanon's Muslims to attack Lebanon's Christians in the hope of igniting a Civil War in Lebanon" and "The Chief of Staff supports a plan to hire a [Lebanese] office who will agree to serve as a puppet so that the Israeli Army may appear as responding to his appeal to liberate Lebanon from Muslim oppressors (153)." Palestine, Beginner's Guide concludes by calling for Muslims, Christians and Jews to live in peace and proposes not a separate state for Palestinians and Jews, but a single state for all, using ex-apartheid South Africa as a model. A History of Palestinian Resistance, which was commissioned by Patel, is a slimmer volume than Palestine, Beginner's Guide, but is more suited to adult readers, although it also sets out to be text book, with questions at the end of each chapter. It consists mainly of text and is divided into twenty chapters. Again, it begins with a history of Sham, showing clearly that the ancestors of the Jews were not the only ones to have a long history that area: "When [the Israelite tribes] invaded the land of Canaan in the twelfth century B.C. [two thousand years after the Canaanites] the population of the country included […] the Canaanites, the Hittites, Ammonites, Edomites, Moabites and Philistines (2)." The main focus of this book, however, is the history of Zionism and the Palestinian uprising. The style is more emotional and Abdullah overlooks the problems that have existed within the Palestinian resistance itself, entitling one chapter "Fateh Keeps the Struggle Alive," while we now know that Palestinians have voted with their feet because of Fateh's alleged corruption and infighting. Nevertheless, its brevity and conciseness ensure that it remains readable. These books, lucid, surprising and informative, put today's conflict in its three-thousand-year context, making one question: When are we ever going to learn? *Sources:* - Abdullah, Dr. Daud. A History of Palestinian Resistance Leicester: Al-Aqsa Publishers, 2005. - Patel, Ismail Adam. Madina to Jerusalem, Encounters with the Byzantine Empire Leicester: The Islamic Foundation, 2005. - Patel, Ismail Adam. Palestine, Beginner's Guide Leicester: Al-Aqsa Publishers, 2005. - *Aisha R. Masterton* *holds a BA in Japanese language and literature and an MA in comparative East Asian and African literature from the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) in London, UK. She also holds a PhD in Islamic mystical and philosophical influences in West African literature. You can contact her at* [EMAIL PROTECTED] ** *Palestine: A Homeland Lost* By Yosra Mostafa, Freelance Writer - Cairo http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1177155993071&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout [image: Image] *Remains of Saint Anna monastery in Saffuriyya, District of Nazareth. Now an orphanage for Palestinian children (c) Alan Gignoux* Homeland Lost *by reportage photographer Alan Gignoux is a photographic essay that juxtaposes the portraits of individual Palestinian exiles and their families with present-day images of the places they left in 1948.* The above are the first lines on the invitation to the touring exhibition *Homeland Lost* held at Cairo's Contemporary Image Collective (CIC). It took two years, said photographer Alan Gignoux, to locate the exact places where the heroes and heroines of his stories lived almost 50 years ago. Apparently, just as the years have left their marks on the faces of people, Israeli bulldozers have left their "touches" on the land. Asked about his main aim behind the exhibition, Gignoux said that it was to create awareness. And, sure enough, there's a tinge of bitter awareness that dawns on you as you observe the pictures. One, for example, portrays the city built on the area of the notorious Deir Yassin massacre and a rabbi dressed in black crossing a dead street. One man sits on a sofa with a drawing of a young girl hanging on the wall behind him. He had fled with his family to Lebanon, but his daughter Raafat was killed in a 1986 US assault on Tripoli, and all that remains for him is the portrait. A school basketball court was built on the rubble of their past abode, but what kind of spirit will the game teach there! The main feature of the exhibition is the combination of person and place. Besides being interesting, it makes a statement about the identity of people and how they relate to their land and past. Some of the portrayed characters lived in bourgeois houses, some in modest houses, and some in tents or in open fields. But they all have one thing in common: They all lost their homes and cannot return. Gignoux thinks that Arabs in particular have this special attachment to their land, but isn't this so much human nature? You may travel, but there will always be a special place called home. Yet this attachment to one's land, in particular, is not the only thing about Arabs that Gignoux has touched on in his journey. He connected with these people through networking and was met with the famous Arab hospitality. When he was first planning the exhibition, however, everybody warned him to expect Palestinians to be reluctant to cooperate, but that wasn't the case at all. As soon as the idea was explained, they were friendly and helpful, actually happy to be part of his project, Gignoux said. *Abdel Kader Moued. Originally from Saffurriyya. (c) Alan Gignoux. **Click here to see entire picture gallery.*<javascript:openNewWindow('http://www.islamonline.net/English/Multimedia/Library/ArtCulture/2007/04/Homeland_Lost.shtml','win','Top=0,Left=0,height=500,width=700,toolbar=no,scrollbars=no')>In the end, Gignoux has managed to establish the perfect inclusive balance in the exhibition. Everyone is represented in the photos. You see old men and young ones, rappers and athletes, a church and a mosque, unveiled women and a young girl with a hijab and black-and-white Palestinian bandana around her head. Even an aristocrat's portrait is displayed side-by-side with that of a poor man currently inhabiting a tent in a refugee camp. And although the photos are not many, they give the required overview. The black-and-white photos help evoke an aura of a faraway past. The pictures of aging people, sometimes with their grandsons, tell how much time has passed, how many years these people have walked with the weight of having left their home behind resting heavily on their hearts, and how colorless and joyless their life can be in that sense. One picture shows a man with his son and granddaughter - a young lady already - all looking amazingly alike. Naturally, since the exhibition is not about Sabra and Shatila, or any of the other massacres, the horror of the stories is not immediate. But when one sees the pictures and the places, reads the captions and attempts to place oneself in the shoes of these persons, the shock can be felt. It is depressing to think of what memories the people photographed must have of the old days and the loss they still suffer. A story that particularly touched me was of an old man who wasn't permitted entry to Canada to visit his four immigrant sons. Another sad element is the present state of these places, which is not always a brighter picture. One place in Haifa was turned into an ugly settlement for Eastern European settlers, and looks much like the crowded, unaesthetic housing areas of Poland. Another picture depicts an elegant house that, in the past, stood opposite to the house of former British Allenby Barracks. Now it is part of the German Colony in the Upper Boqa serving as a meeting place of past and present occupiers. Gignoux's exhibition does not aim to give a heroic impression of Palestinians; it is completely down-to-earth. It only helps us touch their memories and their lives as human beings just like us. You enjoy the variety, the old buildings, and the landscape, but the burden of awareness is what is left in mind. *Homeland Lost* was shown in Lebanon, Israel, and Egypt. It will be on exhibit the Linen Hall Library, Belfast (dates to be confirmed) and the Spitz Gallery in London, where it will be exhibited from May 7th to 20th. *Yosra Mostafa studied languages in graduate school at Al-Alson department of English at Ain Shams university. Her interest in expression is not limited to language but goes to other forms. She can be reached through [EMAIL PROTECTED] *Click here to see the entire picture gallery<http://www.islamonline.net/English/Multimedia/Library/ArtCulture/2007/04/Homeland_Lost.shtml>. All photographs (c) Alan Gignoux. Reprinted with permission. * *Related Links* *History of Islam: Breathtaking Diversity*<http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658341995&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout> * * *Not Too Far Off the Beaten Track in the Middle East*<http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658342267&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout> * * *Sacco's Comic Book: Visual Account of Palestine*<http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1158658282859&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout> * * *The Road to Palestine (Part 1)*<http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1201957835221&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout> *Look Into My Eyes (Song of the Week)*<http://www.islamonline.net/servlet/Satellite?c=Article_C&cid=1209049695384&pagename=Zone-English-ArtCulture%2FACELayout> *Israel Foreign Affairs Ministry: Lies are Truth<http://palestinethinktank.com/2008/05/10/israel-foreign-affairs-ministry-lies-are-truth/> * *Uri Avnery's 1948 testimony - "It could have been over already"*<http://zope.gush-shalom.org/home/en/channels/press_releases/1210441429/>
