Sunday, June 13, 2010

Full 60-minute footage from Mavi Marmara

MEDIA ALERT:

JUST RELEASED: ONE HOUR OF FOOTAGE FROM MAVI MARMARA

Footage taken aboard largest ship in Gaza Freedom Flotilla in hour before and during raid by Israeli military

New York, NY—

A full hour of raw footage taken aboard the Mavi Marmara in the hour leading up to and during the Israeli attack on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla:





Despite the Israeli government’s efforts to confiscate all of the footage taken during the attack, CULTURES OF RESISTANCE filmmaker Iara Lee was able to smuggle one hour of footage back to the United States and is releasing it raw to the public today.

Yesterday at the United Nations, Ms. Lee presented the footage for the first time to the international press corps after the following statement:

“I want first to thank the United Nations Correspondents Association for organizing this event on such short notice.

“My name is Iara Lee. I am a dual U.S.-Brazilian citizen of Korean descent. I am a filmmaker and a human rights activist.

“I decided to join the Freedom Flotilla after going to Gaza a few months ago and seeing first hand the devastation there. After hearing the pleas of the people living in Gaza to have the blockade lifted, I felt I must do something.

“The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was on a humanitarian mission. We expected to be deterred from delivering our aid to Gazans, but we did not expect to be attacked.

“We started filming from the moment we boarded the Mavi Marmara right through the Israeli assault on the ship. Although all of our equipment was confiscated, we managed to smuggle this footage out.

“Mine is high-definition footage of the Flotilla attack and also the only sustained footage of the ship and its passengers preceding the deadly Israeli commando raid. Watching this raw, unedited footage, you will get a sense of the mood on the ship and of the passengers on it.

“Undoubtedly, many of you will be scrutinizing it for clues to resolve the mysteries that still surround what happened that fateful night.

“During this past week the Israeli government has repeatedly alleged that these passengers -- or some of them -- laid a trap for Israel, duped the Israeli military, and plotted a lynching. Israel has repeatedly alleged that we were anti-Semitic Muslim fanatics connected to terrorist organizations.

“In fact, the passengers on our mission came from many countries and religious and ethnic backgrounds. Our one common denominator was that we wanted to end the humanitarian crisis in Gaza by highlighting the injustice of Israel's blockade.

“Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “This wasn't the ‘love boat,’ this was a flotilla of terror supporters.”

Our footage will help you decide whether we were a love boat or a hate boat. You will see secular and devout passengers. You will see people at prayer and people working at their laptops.

“Was this a lynch-mob moved by hatred of Israelis or was it a cross-section of humanity moved by the plight of Gaza? Did we lay a trap for the Israeli commandos or did they unnecessarily attack us? Did we take them by surprise or did they take us by surprise?

“Do you see a premeditated ambush, or do you see some passengers using items at hand to protect themselves from an unprovoked assault by heavily armed commandos?

“You decide.”

CONTACT:

Iara Lee:

iaralee@culturesofresistance.org

please cc:

assistant@gg3.com

for prompt reply

www.culturesofresistance.orghttp://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100000928581236

Corrie and Dogan: Murdered, American Heroes


Weekend Edition
June 11 - 13, 2010

Their Lives for Gaza

Corrie and Dogan: Murdered, American Heroes

By RANNIE AMIRI

“You [Israel] killed 19-year-old Furkan Dogan brutally. Which faith, which holy book can be an excuse for killing him? ... The sixth commandment says, ‘Thou shalt not kill.’ Did you not understand? I'll say again. I say in English, ‘You shall not kill.’ Did you still not understand? So I'll say to you in your own language. I say in Hebrew, ‘Lo Tirtzakh.’”

– Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, 4 June 2010

In the past seven years, two Americans were unjustly, maliciously and violently killed by the Israel “Defense” Forces (IDF). Both had unwittingly given their lives for Gaza, and in the aftermath of their murders, their government forsook them.

Their names were oft-repeated—if not by follow citizens, then by citizens of the world—as Israel’s horrific assault on the Gaza Freedom Flotilla was discussed. These two young, brave individuals were Rachel Corrie and Furkan Dogan.

Rachel Corrie

A 23-year-old hailing from Olympia, Washington, Rachel Corrie took time off from school in 2003 to travel to Palestine and work on a “sister city” project between Olympia and Rafah, Gaza. While there, she joined the peaceful protests and resistance activities of the International Solidarity Movement, a group committed to nonviolently opposing Israel’s occupation of Palestinian land.

On March 16, 2003 (long before Hamas came to power), IDF soldiers were bulldozing homes in the Rafah refugee camp along Gaza’s border with Egypt. Wearing a bright orange fluorescent jacket with megaphone in hand, Corrie courageously placed herself well in front of an armored bulldozer in order to prevent a home’s destruction. The driver did not stop and she was crushed to death.

Although he claimed to have not seen her, eyewitnesses said there was nothing to obstruct the driver’s vision of Corrie, especially in her brightly-colored jacket and position. The Israeli government deemed Corrie’s death “accidental.”

The Palestinian Centre for Human Rights collected sworn affidavits of those present the day Corrie was killed. As expected, they directly contradict the government’s version of events. As one detailed (abridged):

“Around 4:45pm, one bulldozer, serial number 949623, began to work near the house of Dr. Sameir Massery, a physician who is a friend of ours, and in whose house Rachel and other activists often stayed. I was elevated about 2 meters above the ground, and had a clear view of the action happening about 20 meters away. Still wearing her fluorescent jacket, she knelt down at least 15 meters in front of the bulldozer, and began waving her arms and shouting, just as activists had successfully done dozens of times that day. The bulldozer continued driving forward and headed straight for Rachel. When it got so close that it was moving the earth beneath her, she climbed onto the pile of rubble being pushed by the bulldozer. She got so high onto it that she was in clear view of the cab of the bulldozer. Her head and upper torso were above the bulldozer’s blade, and the bulldozer driver and co-operator could clearly see her. Despite this, the driver continued forward, which caused her to fall back, out of view of the diver [sic]. He continued forward, and she tried to scoot back, but was quickly pulled underneath the bulldozer. We ran towards him, and waved our arms and shouted; one activist with the megaphone. But the bulldozer driver continued forward, until Rachel was all the way underneath the central section of the bulldozer. Despite the obviousness of her position, the bulldozer began to reverse, without lifting its blade, and drug the blade over her body again. He continued to reverse until he was on the boarder strip, about 100 meters away, and left her crushed body in the sand.

“I believe beyond a shadow of a doubt that the bulldozer operators saw her and knew she was there. They knew she was there over 15 meters in advance, and even when they were very close to her, they could see her briefly as she was elevated on the rubble. When she was clearly underneath the bulldozer, he should not have moved, or at least lifted the bulldozer blade. He didn’t lift the blade until a couple meters after he’d drug it over her again, even though it is standard procedure to lift the blade when backing. I believe he knew she was there, intentionally drove over her, and then intentionally backed over her again.”

Just days before her death, Corrie described the dreadful conditions to which Gazans were subjected.

In a fitting tribute, the Irish-flagged relief ship MV Rachel Corrie set sail for Gaza to deliver 1,000 tons of medical supplies and reconstruction materials just after the attack on the Mavi Marmara. The Israeli navy, in seizing the Rachel Corrie, refused to address it by name. Even in death, she remains persona non grata.

Furkan Dogan

Furkan Dogan was a 19-year-old young man who had just finished high school and hoped to one day become a doctor. He held dual United States and Turkish citizenship. He was one of nine killed when Israeli commandos stormed the Mavi Marmara on May 31 as it attempted to transport 10,000 tons of humanitarian aid to Gaza along with five other ships in the Freedom Flotilla.

The unarmed Dogan was, in a word, summarily executed.

Autopsy revealed he was shot five times at close range; once in the chest and four times in the head. The Israeli narrative, just as in Corrie’s murder, was inconsistent with eyewitness testimony. There were no reports Dogan had resisted, fought or attacked the boarding commandos.

The lack of outrage from President Obama, his administration, or the U.S. Congress (with the exception of Rep. Dennis Kucinich) is both striking and appalling. Is the life a legal U.S. citizen murdered aboard a relief vessel in international waters by an elite military unit of a foreign country, not worthy of indignation? Was it his foreign-sounding name, that he was Muslim, or that he lived in Turkey the reason for the absence of even muted protest?

Some will say that Corrie and Dogan were idealists who just got “caught up” in situations beyond their control or understanding.

They were not idealists, they were realists. They operated under simple, practical, honest principles: people’s homes should not be demolished by an occupying power; a besieged population has a fundamental right to food, medicine, clean water and shelter; collective punishment is inhumane and illegal.

Rachel Corrie and Furkan Dogan are American heroes. They were killed upholding human dignity, and their deaths were not in vain.

Rannie Amiri is an independent Middle East commentator. He may be reached at: rbamiri [at] yahoo [dot] com.

Jews to send Gaza blockade-buster ship

Thu, 10 Jun 2010 18:55:52 GMT


A group of Jewish activists in Germany are preparing to send an aid ship to the Gaza Strip, which has been under an Israeli-imposed blockade for three years.

The group, which is the German branch of the European Jews for a Just Peace, plans to send the aid ship by the end of July.

"We want to break the Gaza occupation and end the occupation of the West Bank as well... we as Jews want to bring the Palestinians something other than bombs," Kate Katzenstein- Leiterer, a member of the executive committee of the group, said on Thursday.

The ship will be carrying school supplies, musical instruments, children's clothing and other children items that Israel has forbidden, such as sweets and chocolates, Spiegel Online reported.

About 16 people will be onboard the vessel. However, a lot of activists form around the world are sending requests to join the group, including some volunteers from Israel, Katzenstein- Leiterer said.

European Jews for a Just Peace has been collecting funds for the aid ship since 2008.

After Israel's bloody assault on the Freedom Flotilla on May 31, interest in the project has increased and donations have been flooding to the group, Katzenstein- Leiterer said.

Edith Lutz, another member the European Jews for a Just Peace, said that the group was in contact with Israeli officials.

"We are in contact with the Israeli government and the embassy in Berlin. We informed them a while ago," she was quoted by AFP as saying.

However, the group is concern over the possibility of an Israeli attack on the ship.

Israel has put Gaza Strip under all-out blockade, preventing international aid groups from entering the region.

On May 31, the Gaza Freedom Flotilla, which was carrying food and medical supplies to Gaza, came under fire early in the morning by Israeli navy forces in international waters.

Twenty international activists were killed in the deadly assault and 50 others were injured in the incident.

Source: http://www.presstv. ir/detail. aspx?id=129920&sectionid=351020604

Friday, June 11, 2010

Surat Dari Gaza: "Jangan Lupakan Kami; Kalianlah Yang Kami Miliki Sekarang"

Sumber: Era Muslim

Selasa, 08/06/2010 18:40 WIB



Ummu Taqi, seorang ummahat dari Gaza, Palestina diwawancarai oleh Islam Channel beberapa waktu lalu. Setelah wawancara, Ummu Taqi menulis sebuah surat dalam bahasa Arab yang kemudian diterjemahkan ke dalam bahasa Inggris, surat ini ditujukan kepada kaum Muslimin di seluruh dunia. Berikut isi suratnya:

Assalamualaikum,

Saudara dan saudari yang saya sayangi, saya ingin menggunakan kesempatan ini untuk mengirimkan pesan dari para muslimah di Gaza. Silakan dengarkan situasi kami dan beritahu semua orang.

Situasi yang kami hadapi sangat mengerikan namun iman kami alhamdulillah kuat, walaupun kami tidak memiliki air, dan jika pun ada air itu tercemar dan kami tidak memiliki uang untuk membeli air mineral. Ketika kami punya uang, para penjual air berkata bahwa terlalu berbahaya bagi mereka sendiri untuk berjalan keluar dan mendapatkan pasokan air yang baru. Kami tidak memiliki gas, dan bahkan sama sekali tidak ada selama empat bulan terakhir. Kami memasak makanan kecil yang kami miliki dalam api yang kami bikin sendiri.

Orang-orang kami telah kehilangan semua pekerjaan mereka. Mereka menghabiskan hari-hari mereka di rumah sekarang. Suami saya seharian hanya pergi dari satu tempat ke tempat lain hanya untuk mencari air. Dia biasanya kembali dengan tangan kosong. Tidak ada sekolah, tidak ada bank, hampir tidak ada rumah sakit yang terbuka. Kami selalu sadar bahwa hidup kami sangat riskan walaupun ada di ruangan apalagi di luar. Mereka (Israel) memberi kami jam malam antara pukul 01.00 sampai dengan- 04:00 dini hari. Pada jam itulah kami boleh keluar, dan Israel berkata "silakan cari pasokan untuk kalian," tapi itu adalah dusta.

Kami makan nasi dan roti hanya satu kali dalam satu hari. Daging dan susu adalah sebuah kemewahan. Mereka menggunakan bahan kimia di daerah-daerah yang berada di perbatasan.

Kami diberitahu bahwa orang-orang berdemonstrasi di seluruh dunia. Masya Allah. Kenyataan bahwa kalian pergi ke kedutaan besar dan meninggalkan rumah kalian, membuat kami merasa bahwa kami tidak sendirian dalam perjuangan ini.

Tapi kemudian kalian bisa pulang ke rumah dan mengunci pintu kalian. Kami tidak bisa melakukan itu. Saya harus meninggalkan rumah saya di lantai dua setiap malam dan tinggal dengan kakak saya di lantai dasar. Jika ada serangan, dari lantai dasar, kami bisa pergi lebih lebih cepat.

Ya, kami lelah. Ketika kami mendengar roket dan bom dan melihat pesawat yang terbang terlalu dekat dengan gedung kami, saya berteriak dengan anak saya yang masih kecil dan suami saya merasa tak berdaya.

Dalam semua ini tidak ada satu pun selain Allah (swt) yang dapat menyelamatkan kami. Tetapi ummah juga bertanya-tanya dimana tentara, dimana kemenangan itu? Jangan lupakan kami karena kalian semualah yang kami miliki sekarang. Sumbangan kalian sama sekali tidak sampai kepada kami, dan ketika Israel membuka perbatasan, sumbangan itu hanya untuk beberapa gelintir saja. Teruslah beramal karena Allah dan berdoa bahwa kemenangan akan segera datang, insyaAllah.

Wassalam,

Ummu Taqi.

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Knesset members attacks Haneen Zoabi after free Gaza fortilla

Egypt's Waning Influence


BEIRUT — “This is language that we have not heard since the time of Gamal Abdul Nasser.” Thus wrote the influential chief editor of Al-Quds al-Arabi newspaper, referring to Turkish Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan’s fiery response to the Israeli assault on the Gaza flotilla — adding that such “manly” positions and rhetoric had “disappeared from the dictionaries of our Arab leaders.” He lamented that “Arab regimes now represent the only friends left to Israel.”

There is no doubt that it is President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt, Nasser’s successor, to whom the editor, Abdel Bari Atwan, principally refers. There is no doubt, too, that the “flotilla affair” marks a watershed for Egypt — and to a lesser extent for Saudi Arabia.

Even the notoriously tin ear of President Mubarak to his own people’s sympathy for the Palestinian cause in Gaza could not fail to hear the grinding of the tectonic plates of Middle East change. He ordered the immediate opening of the Egyptian crossing into Gaza.

What we are witnessing is another step — perhaps crucial — in the shifting strategic balance of power in the Middle East: The cause of the Palestinians is gradually passing out of the hands of Mubarak and King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia.

It is the leaders of Iran and Turkey, together with President Bashar Al-Assad of Syria, who recognize the winds of change. Mubarak appears increasingly isolated and is cast as Israel’s most assiduous collaborator. Here in the region, the Egyptian embassies as often as not are the butt of popular demonstrations.

Mubarak’s motives for his dogged support for Israel are well known in the region: He is convinced that the gateway to obtaining Washington’s green light for his son Gamal to succeed him lies in Tel Aviv rather than Washington. Mubarak enjoys a bare modicum of support in the United States, and if Washington is to ignore its democratic principles in order to support a Gamal shoe-in, it will be because Israel says that this American “blind eye” is essential for its security.

To this end, Mubarak has worked to weaken Hamas’s standing in Gaza, and to strengthen that of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas. Indeed, he has pursued this policy at the expense of Palestinian unity — his regular “unity” initiatives notwithstanding. Egypt’s one-sided peace “brokering” is viewed here as part of the problem rather than as part of any Palestinian solution.

Paradoxically, it is precisely this posture that has opened the door to Turkey and Iran seizing of the sponsorship of the Palestinian cause.

But standing behind this sharp Turkish reaction to Israel’s assault on the Turkish ship is a deeper regional rift, and this divide stems from the near-universal conviction that the Israeli-Palestinian “peace process” has failed.

Its structural pillars have crumbled: The Israeli public no longer believes that “land for peace” — the Oslo principle — will bring them security. Rather, Israelis believe those who tell them that further withdrawal will only bring Hamas rockets closer.

The other Oslo pillars also lie broken: The hitherto presumed “reversibility” of the Israeli settlement project and the hypothetical possibility of last-resort American imposition of its own solution are now understood to have been no more than chimeras.

Yet Egypt refuses to budge in these changed circumstances even as the shift in the balance of regional power toward the northern tier of Middle Eastern states — Syria, Turkey, Iran, Qatar and Lebanon — gathers pace.

Egypt increasingly has only its memory of past grandeur on which to stand. In contemporary terms its influence has been on the slide for some time.

Egypt’s one card is that it is Gaza’s other neighbor. It has been Egypt’s acquiescence to the siege of Gaza — encouraged by President Abbas in the West Bank, who shares Mubarak’s desire to see Hamas weakened — that has given Mubarak his stranglehold over Palestinian issues. But the Islamic and regional tide will be flowing ever stronger against him after Israel’s action against the flotilla.

Already the Arab League is talking of supporting Turkey in any legal action against the Israeli assault on the aid convoy to Gaza. The Arab League has also issued a call to other states to break Israel’s siege on Gaza.

It is too early to say that such talk marks any turning point in Arab League politics. The Arab League, as such, is not taken seriously in the region, or anywhere else. But it is rather the shifting of the regional strategic balance that marks the locus from where real change may become possible.

Egypt and Saudi Arabia may conclude that the price of seeing the baton of leadership on such a key and emotive issue pass to non-Arab hands, Iran and Turkey, is too high, and too shameful. The near-universal skepticism directed toward the “peace process” among their own peoples has already left these leaders exposed internally.

For nearly 20 years these leaders have used their involvement in the “process” as justification to curb internal dissent; but it is now a tool that has lost its magic. They are already paying the price of popular cynicism.

This is Mubarak’s dilemma: stay with the siege and hope America will reward him with Gamal’s succession; but flouting the winds of change may imperil Gamal’s very survival. In any event, Egypt’s control of the Palestinian “file” will never be the same again.

Alastair Crooke, a former British intelligence officer in the Middle East, is author of “Resistance: The Essence of the Islamist Revolution.” He runs the Conflicts Forum in Beirut.

Global Viewpoint/Tribune Media Services

Israeli commando raid is a gift to Hamas

Palestinian protesters run from tear gas as they use a replica of  thje Gaza aid flotilla vessel near an Israeli barrier, as they object to  Israel's attack on the flotilla earlier this week, on June 4, 2010 in  Bil'lan, the West Bank.

No one could have predicted the fallout from this week's flotilla fiasco



Patrick Martin

Jerusalem — From Saturday's Globe and MailPublished on Friday, Jun. 04, 2010 10:12PM EDTLast updated on Saturday, Jun. 05, 2010 9:18AM EDT

Israel's ill-fated boarding operation of the Turkish ship Mavi Marmara has become a nightmare for the government of Benjamin Netanyahu, but a dream come true for the leaders of Hamas.

And it's not over yet. The vessel Rachel Corrie, an Irish boat carrying more humanitarian supplies and yet more activists, is on course to arrive in Gaza as early as Saturday. The Israeli government has said it will not allow the vessel to reach Gaza and will board it if necessary.

“It couldn't have gone worse for Israel. In football, we used to call it ‘stumble, fumble and fall. ”— Paul Heinbecker, a former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations

Just a week ago, the whole situation looked dramatically different. Gaza's tiny, shallow-water port was getting a cleanup and the area was decorated with Turkish flags and signs welcoming “the heroes” on board the flotilla then on route to Gaza.

When word arrived that several of the eight vessels in the flotilla had engine trouble, however, it all suddenly seemed pathetic. No one had actually believed the boats would get through the three-year-old Israeli naval blockade, but engine trouble? Even if the hand of the Mossad could be detected, that wasn't going to produce the kind of headlines the Hamas leadership craved.

No one, however, could have imagined the turn of events about to take place, and the consequences that still are flowing from it.

“It was a perfect storm,” said Paul Heinbecker, a former Canadian ambassador to the United Nations. “It couldn't have gone worse for Israel. In football, we used to call it ‘stumble, fumble and fall.' ”

With nine activists killed, its defence forces embarrassed and world opinion arrayed against Israel, the Netanyahu government has begun to pay a price for its action.

U.S. officials, including President Barack Obama, have made it clear that the blockade of Gaza will have to change, and Israel's security needs otherwise assured.

But easing the blockade is just the beginning.

Of far greater importance to Israel is the boost that its dreaded enemy, Hamas, has received.

Israeli efforts to wear down the group, through large-scale bombardment a year-and-a-half ago, through a virtual siege the past three years and through the imprisonment of thousands of Hamas members, have failed. Now, with the events of this week, the Islamic Resistance Movement (its full name) appears stronger than ever.

Israel's hopes of isolating Gaza from the West Bank Palestinian Authority led by Mahmoud Abbas have also been dashed, as Palestinians throughout the West Bank embrace Gaza once again. Even Mr. Abbas has publicly expressed the gratitude of all Palestinians to the Turkish government for supporting the flotilla and standing up to Israel, even though Mr. Abbas detests Hamas for its overthrow of his forces in Gaza in 2007, and fears Hamas's political power.

And it doesn't end there. Just this week, the head of Israel's Mossad intelligence service warned members of Israel's Knesset that Turkey was aligning itself with Syria and Iran and forming a new anti-Israel coalition. That prospect got a lot more likely this week.

The Israeli assault on the Turkish ship “has guaranteed the re-election of the Islamists in Turkey,” said Mr. Heinbecker. “Until this week, the new leader of the opposition, a secularist, had a good chance at winning the next election,” he said. “But now [Prime Minister Recep] Erdogan has been strengthened enormously.”

If Mr. Erdogan has been strengthened, the campaign to invoke tough sanctions against Iran for its nuclear program have been sorely weakened, added Mr. Heinbecker. “People know that the campaign against Iran is particularly dear to Netanyahu, so they're less likely to support it now.”

“The whole campaign could go belly up,” he said.

Globally, Israel may be paying a big price as well, as the worldwide campaign to boycott Israel is sure to grow, said Nehemia Shtrasler in his Friday economics column in the Haaretz newspaper.

Writing about politics and the flotilla may seem strange in a business-section column, but Mr. Shtrasler explains that it is because of “the unprecedented nadir to which Israel's status in the world has sunk – to the point of the delegitimization of the state. That,” he says, “is a strategic threat to Israel.”

To be sure, Israel's weekend press contained lots of congratulatory articles praising the performance of the commandos who boarded the Mavi Marmara (though the large-circulation Yedioth Ahronoth revealed that the military preferred not to release certain videos in which, according to the newspaper, Israeli “soldiers are seen unclothed and bleeding, being beaten badly and crying for help.”) However, every painful setback for the Netanyahu government is a cause for celebration by Hamas.

For three years, its leaders have been telling the people of Gaza to hold on, that better days would be coming, that the siege would be lifted. They tried firing thousands of home-made rockets at Israel to little effect, and weathered a massive retaliatory onslaught by Israeli forces in December-January 2008-09 that killed 1,300 Gazans.

It took the deaths of nine international activists, most of them Turkish, to make a difference.

Easing the blockade is just one way Hamas stands to benefit, said Beverley Milton-Edwards, co-author of a new book, Hamas: The Islamic Resistance Movement. “And they don't even have to raise a finger – Israel is handing it to them on a platter.”

Another way Hamas can gain, she said in an interview, “is by the support it can pick up around the region.”

While Turkey's Islamic-oriented government has always supported Hamas, many of the Arab countries, such as Saudi Arabia, Jordan and Egypt, have sided with the Palestinian Authority of Mr. Abbas in its struggle with Hamas.

Not necessarily any more.

“Khaled Meshaal [Hamas's Damascus-based leader] is playing it very carefully this week,” said Dr. Milton-Edwards, a professor of Mideast politics at Queen's University, Belfast. “He went to Yemen, for example, and made a quiet appeal for regional help.”

The result has been a large increase in support from the countries of the Arab League, including Egypt, which felt the need to open its frontier with Gaza, at least, to a limited degree. (It had been closed in support of the PA.) “The Egyptian government is in a double bind,” said Ezzedine Choukri Fishere, a former adviser to Egypt's Foreign Minister. “It doesn't want to see the growth of the radical view in the region, but it has to stand firmly with the Arab League,” he said.

But the big prize that still awaits Hamas is recognition by the capitals of the West.

“A lot of people are starting to ask themselves if there can be a successful peace process without Hamas,” said Dr. Milton-Edwards. Even the consensus of the Quartet (the United States, European Union, Russia and the United Nations) is fracturing, she said.

“But so far this has not resulted in recognition in the West, only in support of a lifting of the blockade.”

For its part, Hamas is preaching reconciliation.

In a remarkable commentary in the weekend edition of Jerusalem's main Arab newspaper, Al Quds, Ahmed Yousef, the Hamas government's deputy foreign minister, called on all Palestinians to recognize that the correct path for the Islamic movement is to follow the conciliatory approach of Turkey's Islamic party, rather than the violent exclusionary approach of Afghanistan's Taliban.“We are at a crossroads,” Mr. Yousef wrote. “We have to choose between realizing our dreams and suicide.”

Source: The Globe and Mail

Wednesday, June 9, 2010

Tunjuk rasa anti-Israel oleh LL4G di Kedutaan AS 4 Jun 2010

Overnight Traumas

Source: The Palestine Telegraph

Tuesday, 08 June 2010 10:53
Added by PT Editor Omar Ghraieb

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Gaza, June 8, (Pal Telegraph – By Fidaa Abu Assi) How fast everything happens in Gaza. Everything goes very well; however, everything would turn upside down overnight. How hard when you are put in a position where you cannot expect how the next second of your life would look like and if you expected something, you would find the very opposite.

In Gaza, traumatic things happen all of a sudden and this would have an irreparably everlasting effect upon you. In a blink of an eye –hold on! Don’t freak out- you would become homeless, parentless, jobless, ownerless, penniless, hopeless, helpless, lifeless and a long list of an endless-less.


You are one of the top students, working very hard to get a scholarship to study abroad, willing to face all the severe conditions and restrictions for the sake of education. YOU surf the net, apply for a scholarship, work on its application and your CV, send them off via e-mail, receive an acceptance, feel overjoyed, start preparing yourself, your ticket, your visa and all the needed documents, and then you say farewell to your family, shedding tears, promising them to come back very soon with a very promising future. How easy to read such procedures and how hard to get done with a single one of it is! You feel you reach a turning point in your life the instant you warp your arms around your mother's back and place a tender kiss on her cheek while hearing her heartfelt prayers mingled with her heartrending sobs, wishing you the best of the best. You leave your home with many hopes and ambitions.

Have you or have you not forgotten that you are trapped in an impoverished coastal enclave? In Gaza, to implement an implementable thing is un implementable. Well-done Israel!

Don't get disappointed. Your visa is refused; your prestigious Fulbright scholarship is denied; your seat in your appointed university is lost; such golden opportunities are gone overnight and you are still –seemingly forever- besieged. Overnight, you are devastated; your dreams are stolen; your parents are heartbroken; your Gaza is still helpless. After several years of preparation, you receive an overnight trauma by losing an unattainable scholarship.

At times, you go to the sea because it is one of the free-of-charge places available in Gaza and, perhaps, the only place where you have the absolute freedom regarding your food sustenance, your humble outfit and your not-luxurious lifestyle. You can either take a thermos of tea with some simple Thyme Manakeesh OR you can order some expensive takeaways. It doesn't matter. No one is there to judge you. You just go to the sea to enjoy the overwhelming azure scene displayed there; the cool breezes gently touch your face; the melodious sound of the waves eases your ears; even the hot sands that touch your toes give you the sense of freedom while walking barefoot along the beach. Splendid! You go with your parents to have a very intimate atmosphere and spend preciously memorable moments. Have you ever imagined that you might go with your beloved parents and then, out of a sudden, your parents and brothers are no more and you had to return home a fatherless, motherless, and, perhaps, a sisterless and a brotherless orphan. Your whole dear family is callously uprooted OVERNIGHT. In a moment, you are left alone in this mercilessly ruthless world. This is exactly what 10-year-old Huda Ghalia experienced in Gaza four years ago. She witnessed her fathers and siblings dying after a deadly Israeli explosion while picnicking on a Gaza's shore. Her screams makes any living heart bleed to death but in vain! Nothing would console her tiny heart for her losses. Who is going to pay her back? And how? This overnight trauma has taken everyone dear to her.

In Gaza, the so-called Israel can't stop surprise you. In a twinkling, large factories, buildings, houses, mosques, hospitals…etc. would be totally bombarded and completely destroyed. Imagine someone owned a large food factory which employs tens people of large families and then in a few seconds, such a factory is no longer a factory but a devastated rubbles and scattered debris. The owner turns out ownerless, the laborers are left laborless and families end up penniless. These things happen overnight in Gaza. OVERNIGHT and you are what you were not. You go to the university with hopes and ambitions only to figure out that your university is being targeted by the Israeli forces and what's the reason? Only some Israeli fabricated lies!

Israel hates not only you. Israel is ready to kill whosoever supports you. Israel devours everyone cares about you. Israel wants to eliminate anyone thinks of you. Israel targets someone other than you. This time, Freedom Flotilla is the victim not you.

You are chosen as a translator in the governmental committee. You feel excited, not only you, but every one in Gaza feels the same. Many are gathered in Al-Mina, Gaza's Fisherman Port where hundreds mini-boats set sail to greet the Freedom Flotilla which set sail from Europe and Turkey. This massive fleet, loaded with more than 700 solidarity activists, consists of eight ships, carrying thousands tons of humanitarian aid and construction materials, coming in solidarity with the Gazan people in an attempt to break the hermetic siege imposed on the Gaza strip for more than four years. You feel enthusiastic and Freedom Flotilla's members feel so as well. You keep following up their news to know how much left before them to be in Gaza. They are getting closer, closer and closer. After watching many YouTube videos, reading news articles, waiting the Flotilla on pins and needles, you go to your bed early to wake up early to meet those heroes, to express how grateful you are to them, to mutually share different experiences…. God! You can't even sleep, thinking of the coming lovely moments you would spend with them.

Ooh! You only wake up to find out that your excitement dissipated the moment you hear that overnight this Freedom Flotilla turns out to be a savage massacre. The so-called democratic state of Israel attacks them in the international waters, killing tens and wounding dozens. When you watched those Freedom Fighters having such delighted faces, waving the Palestinian flags cheerfully, chanting pro-Palestinian slogans ecstatically and then overnight you see the very opposite of what you have seen for a couple of weeks, what your reaction would be?! A traumatic shock, isn't it?

After spending a considerable period of time planning and preparing, sadly their efforts and yours as well come to naught. Everything turns upside down overnight in Gaza and the reason behind such brutal atrocities is the "lunatic state of Israel".

By: Fidaa Abu Assi

Risalah Mursyid: Gaza menghamburkan percikan kemerdekaan dan kemuliaan kepada dunia

Segala puji bagi Allah, selawat dan salam ke atas Rasulullah, keluarga dan sahabat-sahabat baginda serta semua yang mengikutinya sehingga ke hari pembalasan.

Amma ba’du…

Sesungguhnya kebebasan adalah satu daripada fitrah manusia, anugerah dari Allah untuk seluruh makhluk-Nya. Tidak ada seorangpun – walau setinggi mana kedudukannya - berhak untuk merampasnya.

Hakikat ini sangat jelas. Allah s.w.t. sendiri tidak memaksa sesiapapun supaya beriman kepada-Nya sebagaimana ditegaskan di dalam firman-Nya (لَآ إِكۡرَاهَ فِى ٱلدِّينِ‌ۖ), maksudnya “Tidak ada paksaan dalam agama (Islam)…” (Al-Baqarah:256).

Kebebasan paling tinggi terpapar di persada maya, pada keEsaan Allah Yang Maha Tunggal, mencipta dan mentadbir. Dan perhambaan diri kepada Dia Yang Esa adalah kemuncak kebebasan paling tinggi bagi umat manusia. Dengan mengabdikan kepada Allah, manusia bebas dari menyembah tiga ‘tuhan’ yang sebenarnya tidak layak dilayak disembah: batu, manusia dan hawa nafsu.

Pengabdian diri kepada Allah juga membebaskan manusia dari kongkongan pengabdian kepada adat resam dan budaya bangsa, bebas dari pengaruh manusia dan bebas dari cengkaman nafsu durjana. Dengan mengabdikan diri kepada Allah, darjat manusia terangkat ke mercu ketinggian, mencecah kebenaran, menjadi hamba kepada Yang Maha Benar, Maha Esa dan Maha Tunggal, tempat bergantung segala sesuatu, tiada bandingan dan tiada sekutu.

Sesebuah Negara tidak akan bebas, tidak akan memperoleh kemerdekaan yang hakiki dari sebarang bentuk penjajahan kecuali apabila rakyatnya telah merdeka jiwa raganya. Inilah maksud firman Allah s.w.t. (إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَا يُغَيِّرُ مَا بِقَوۡمٍ حَتَّىٰ يُغَيِّرُواْ مَا بِأَنفُسِہِمۡ‌ۗ ) maksudnya: “Sesungguhnya Allah tidak mengubah apa yang ada pada sesuatu kaum sehingga mereka mengubah apa yang ada pada diri mereka sendiri…” (Ar-Ra’d:11).

Dan bangsa yang paling berhak hidup ialah yang paling banyak berkorban untuk mencapai kebenaran. Sesungguhnya Islam telah datang untuk membebaskan manusia daripada perhambaan kepada selain Allah. Hal ini pernah diungkapkan dengan begitu indah sekali oleh pahlawan Islam Rab’ei bin ‘Aamir: “Sesungguhnya Allah telah membangkitkan kami supaya kami mengeluarkan hamba-hamba-Nya daripada menyembah hamba kepada menyembah Tuhan sekelian hamba, daripada kezaliman agama-agama kepada keadilan Islam dan daripada kesempitan dunia kepada keluasan dunia dan akhirat”.

Kata-kata ini sejajar dengan ungkapan yang pernah ditegaskan oleh Nabi Allah Musa a.s. ketika beliau berjuang untuk membebaskan Bani Israel dari cengkaman Firaun (وَتِلۡكَ نِعۡمَةٌ۬ تَمُنُّہَا عَلَىَّ أَنۡ عَبَّدتَّ بَنِىٓ إِسۡرَٲٓءِيلَ ) maksudnya “Dan budimu memeliharaku yang engkau bangkit-bangkitkan itu adalah kerana engkau telah bertindak memperhambakan kaum Bani Israil.” (Asy-Syu’ara’:22)

Wahai dunia seluruhnya…

Sesungguhnya kebebasan manusia semua tidak akan tegak kecuali di bawah naungan Islam. Islam memberikan kebebasan kepada semua golongan hidup di bawah dakapannya tanpa membeza-bezakan antara manusia berdasarkan agama yang dianutinya, bangsa dan warna kulitnya, status sosial serta darjat keturunannya. Semuanya sama dari segi hak mendapat kebebasan.

Islam berpegang kepada prinsip manusia semuanya berasal dari Adam, dan Adam berasal dari tanah. Tiada kelebihan bagi orang Arab atau Ajam kecuali dengan taqwa. (يَـٰٓأَيُّہَا ٱلنَّاسُ إِنَّا خَلَقۡنَـٰكُم مِّن ذَكَرٍ۬ وَأُنثَىٰ وَجَعَلۡنَـٰكُمۡ شُعُوبً۬ا وَقَبَآٮِٕلَ لِتَعَارَفُوٓاْ‌ۚ إِنَّ أَڪۡرَمَكُمۡ عِندَ ٱللَّهِ أَتۡقَٮٰكُمۡ‌ۚ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ عَلِيمٌ خَبِيرٌ۬) maksudnya “Wahai umat manusia! Sesungguhnya Kami telah menciptakan kamu dari lelaki dan perempuan dan Kami telah menjadikan kamu berbagai bangsa dan bersuku puak, supaya kamu berkenal-kenalan (dan beramah mesra antara satu dengan yang lain). Sesungguhnya semulia-mulia kamu di sisi Allah ialah orang yang lebih takwanya di antara kamu, (bukan yang lebih keturunan atau bangsanya). Sesungguhnya Allah Maha Mengetahui, lagi Maha Mendalam PengetahuanNya (akan keadaan dan amalan kamu).” (Al-Hujurat:13)

Adakah di sana terdapat satu pendirian yang lebih hebat daripada pendirian yang telah ditunjukkan oleh Umar bin al-Khattab ketika dia melayan gabenornya di Mesir, ‘Amru bin al-Aas r.a.? Anak kepada gabenor, telah menampar seorang Kristian sambil berbangga dengan kedudukan dan kemuliaan datuk neneknya. Lalu Umar mengeluarkan perintahnya: “tangkap anak orang yang mulia itu, dan kenakan dia hukuman qisas dengan perintah Umar!” Dan kepada ‘anak orang yang mulia’ itu Umar mengajukan soalan cepu masnya: “bilakah kamu dibenarkan memperhambakan manusia, sedangkan mereka telah dilahirkan ibu mereka sebagai insan yang merdeka?”

Sesungguhnya Islam, sejak dahulu, sekarang dan akan datang merupakan payung rahmat, keadilan, kebebasan, persamaan yang meliputi seluruh persada bumi dan menaungi seluruh manusia, hamba kepada Penciptanya. Kebebasan adalah sesuatu yang difardhukan.

Sesungguhnya Imam al-Banna telah menegaskan sejak permulaan munculnya gerakan dakwah ini bahawa kemerdekaan adalah sesuatu yang difardhukan di dalam Islam.

Beliau berkata: “Apabila kamu ditanya, kamu menyeru manusia kepada apa? Maka jawablah, kami menyeru kepada Islam yang dibawa oleh junjungan kami, Muhammad s.a.w. dan kerajaan adalah sebahagian daripadanya, kebebasan adalah satu fardhu daripada fardhu-fardhunya. Sekiranya mereka bertanya lagi, itu adalah politik. Maka katakanlah kepada mereka, inilah Islam dan kami tidak mengenali pembahagian-pembahagian yang kamu nyatakan itu! Seterusnya beliau menyatakan dengan lebih jelas lagi: adapun kata-kata kami bahawa kami adalah orang politik, yang kami maksudkan ialah kami mengambil berat tentang urusan umat kami dan kami beriktiqad bahawa kekuatan dalam melaksanakan ajaran Islam adalah sebahagian daripada ajaran Islam itu sendiri. Ia termasuk di dalam ruang lingkupnya dan teradun di bawah hukum-hakamnya. Kami percaya bahawa kebebasan politik dan kemuliaan bangsa adalah satu tiang daripada tiang-tiang Islam yang utuh, satu kewajipan daripada kewajipan-kewajipannya.

Dan kami berusaha bersungguh-sungguh untuk menyempurnakan kebebasan serta institusi pelaksanaannya. Dalam kami melaksanakan usaha ini, kami yakin bahawa kami tidak mendatangkan sesuatu yang baru. Semua ini diketahui oleh setiap muslim yang mempelajari Islam dengan betul. Kami tidak mengetahui tentang dakwah kami, dan tidak boleh membayangkan kewujudannya melainkan untuk melaksankan tujuan ini. Kami tidak akan berganjak daripadanya walau seurat rambut sekalipun daripada tugas dakwah kepada Islam dengan makna ini. Islam tidak menuntut daripada muslim berdakwah dengan sekadar memberi nasihat dan peringatan sahaja.

Sebaliknya Islam sentiasa menyeru agar berjuang dan berjihad (وَٱلَّذِينَ جَـٰهَدُواْ فِينَا لَنَہۡدِيَنَّہُمۡ سُبُلَنَا‌ۚ وَإِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَمَعَ ٱلۡمُحۡسِنِينَ ) maksudnya, “Dan orang-orang yang berusaha dengan bersungguh-sungguh kerana memenuhi kehendak agama Kami, sesungguhnya Kami akan memimpin mereka ke jalan-jalan Kami (yang menjadikan mereka bergembira serta beroleh keredaan) dan sesungguhnya (pertolongan dan bantuan) Allah adalah berserta orang-orang yang berusaha membaiki amalannya.” (Al-Ankabut:69)

Wahai pendokong kebenaran,

Inilah din kita. Inilah kedudukan kebebasan di dalam agama Islam kita. Sesungguhnya kita telah merealisasikannya. Dan kita telah jadikan ia benar-benar terlaksana di alam nyata. Maka dunia telah mendapat ni’mat daripadanya, telah mengecapi kebahagiaan dan keamanan dengannya.

Maka apakah sumbangan kalian (wahai dunia barat)?

Apa yang kamu persembahkan adalah serangan yang tidak berperi kemanusiaan.

Apa yang tercatat di dalam deklarasi sejagat tentang hak asasi manusia, pengisytiharan undang-undang yang melindungi hak-hak manusia, semua itu hanya sekadar untuk mempastikan agar rakyat tidak memberontak menentang kezaliman dan penindasan kalian. Kemudian tercatat perkara (3) daripada deklarasi itu: bagi setiap individu hak untuk hidup, kebebasan dan keselamatan diri, dan perkara (5): tidak ada seorang manusiapun yang boleh disiksa, dihukum, dikasari, dilayan dengan cara yang buruk atau dijatuhkan kehormatan dirinya.

Namun dari segi praktiknya apa yang kamu telah sumbangkan kepada umat manusia wahai dunia yang kononnya bertamadun? Semuanya adalah meruntuhkan apa yang telah wujud sebelumnya. Perang dunia sebagai contoh, yang telah menghancurkan segala sesuatu, tidak ada umat Islam yang terlibat walau sekelumit. Bom atom di Jepun, pembunuhan jutaan manusia di Eropah, pengusiran bangsa Algeria dari Perancis, pengusiran rakyat Libya dari Itali, apa yang dilakukan oleh British di Mesir, Syria, Iraq, India, Pakistan dan Afghanistan, menghitamkan titik-titik sejarahnya. Begitu juga apa yang dilakukan oleh Amerika di Vietnam dan Korea. Serangan tiga penjuru (British, Perancis dan Rejim Zionis) ke atas Mesir, serangan Zionis ke atas Mesir tahun 1967, serangan ke atas Afghanistan yang kadang-kadang datangnya dari Rusia dan kadang-kadang datangnya dari Amerika dengan sokongan dunia, serangan ke atas India dan Pakistan, serangan ke atas Iraq, Somalia dan Yaman… Bermacam-macam peperangan ke atas Lubnan, Bosnia, Kosovo, Chechnya, serangan-serangan ke atas Palestin di Jenin, Gaza dan lain-lain.

Secara ringkasnya tiada suatu daerahpun di muka bumi ini melainkan kamu telah tumpahkan darah di atasnya. Dan pada setiap tempat itu pasti berlaku pembunuhan kanak-kanak, wanita, orang tua, orang awam, orang yang tidak bersenjata, perobohan rumah-rumah kediaman, masjid-masjid, hospital, pusat-pusat bantuan mangsa keganasan yang dikendalikan oleh PBB dan sekolah-sekolah.

Apabila terpadamnya satu peperangan dengan izin Allah, mereka nyalakan pula api peperangan yang lain. Semua peperangan dunia, boleh dikatakan merekalah pencetusnya. Maha benarlah Kalam Allah (كُلَّمَآ أَوۡقَدُواْ نَارً۬ا لِّلۡحَرۡبِ أَطۡفَأَهَا ٱللَّهُ‌ۚ وَيَسۡعَوۡنَ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ فَسَادً۬ا‌ۚ ) maksudnya: “Tiap-tiap kali mereka menyalakan api peperangan, Allah memadamkannya dan mereka pula terus-menerus melakukan kerosakan di muka bumi,…” (Al-Maidah:64).

Tentang permusuhan etnik pula, lihat apa yang dilakukan oleh Amerika terhadap Red Indian dan bangsa kulit hitam di Afrika. Begitu juga tindakan Barat mengekang kebebasan umat Islam dan menghalang hak-hak asasi mereka, menceroboh kehormatan mereka, menodai masjid-masjid mereka, membakar dan mencemarinya. Semua itu disaksikan secara terang-terangan dari jauh dan dekat.

Tentang penjara kezaliman, penyiksaan dan penahanan tanpa mengikut undang-undang, lihatlah di Guantanamo, Abu Gharib, penjara-penjara rahsia di Syria, Iraq, Eropah, dalam Negara yang dirampas Zionis Yahudi dan di kebanyakan Negara-negara dunia, Arab dan Islam. Semua itu tidak berhajat kepada bukti akan kewujudan dan kezalimannya. Ia diiktiraf oleh semua Negara, pemerintah, badan-badan dunia dan institusi-institusi antara-bangsa. Itulah erti rahmat kamu kepada umat manusia, keadilan kamu, persamaan sesama manusia, kebebasan dan demokrasi yang kamu laung-laungkan. Palestin – luka yang dalam dan darah yang membuak.

Wahai manusia yang merdeka di Barat, wahai umat yang berakal di seluruh dunia!

Tibalah masa untuk kamu undur dari kezaliman dan keganasan kamu?
Tibalah masa untuk kamu perbaiki apa yang dirosakkan oleh datuk nenek kamu. Kamu telah menanamkan rejim zionis ini secara zalim di atas bumi kami. Maka menjadi kewajipan kamu mencabutnya dengan adil dari bumi kami. Kemudian, telah tiba masanya untuk bangsa yang diusir dari tanah airnya dan rumah kediamannya untuk merasai ni’mat pulang semula ke tanah air, menghirup udara dan mengecapi segala kebaikannya.

Telah tiba masanya untuk bangsa Palestin meni’mati kebebasan, kemuliaan, kehormatan di tanahairnya. Sekiranya kamu tidak laksanakannya, maka daerah itu tidak akan aman, bahkan seluruh dunia tidak akan aman. Tidak akan ada sesiapapun yang berasa aman dan selamat selagi rakyat Palestin tidak mengecapinya. Dan mereka sekali-kali tidak akan mengecapi keamanan melainkan rejim zionis yang merampas itu nyah dari daerah ini.

Angkatan LifeLine 4 Gaza mempunyai alasan di hadapan Tuhannya. Sesungguhnya Gaza telah menyumbang kepada umat Arab dan umat Islam satu gambaran yang hidup tentang apa yang sepatutnya dilakukan oleh setiap muslim, kerajaan dan Negara. Mereka sentiasa melaungkan slogan: jangan kamu takut kepada penguasa yang mengangkat dirinya sebagai raja kepada seluruh manusia, yang menuntut supaya semua manusia tunduk kepada kehendak mereka semata-mata walau terpaksa pengorbankan kebebasan, kehormatan, aqidah dan tanah air sendiri. Mereka mengangkat slogan di hadapan kita: iman yang kuat tidak mungkin dapat dipatahkan, walaupun masa berputar silih berganti.

Bangsa yang teguh pendiriannya pasti akan menang. Kata seorang penyair: Apabila suatu bangsa pada suatu hari telah menetapkan ia akan hidup Maka taqdir pasti akan menyahut kemahuannya itu Malam pasti akan berlalu Rantai-rantai yang mengikat pasti akan terlerai. Sesungguhnya mereka melaungkan di hadapan kita dan di hadapan musuh-musuh kita: sesungguhnya muslimin adalah umat yang tidak akan pupus dan tidak mati. Muslimin akan terus hidup dengan para syuhada’nya, anak-anak mereka akan hidup dengan mengejar syahid.

Kehidupan mereka yang syahid adalah kehidupan bagi umat Islam dan kebanggaannya. Sesungguhnya mereka melaungkan bersama kita: sesungguhnya kebebasan tidak akan diberi oleh perampas, kebebasan tidak boleh ditagih dengan cara rundingan. Tidak pernah terjadi sepanjang sejarah, perampas akan keluar dari bumi yang dirampas kecuali dengan melawan mereka. Satu bangsa tidak akan mencapai kebebasan kecuali dengan jihad. Sesungguhnya sejarah tidak pernah menulis cerita kebebasan dengan dakwat, tetapi dengan darah.

Alangkah tepatnya ungkapan seorang penyair:
Tidak akan tercapai cita-cita dengan angan-angan
Tetapi dunia akan dikuasai dengan perjuangan
Suatu kaum tidak akan sulit mencapai cita-citanya
Andainya mereka tidak berhenti dari berusaha

Mereka berkata kepada kita: sesungguhnya kepungan, kelaparan pembunuhan tidak akan mematahkan semangat pencari kebebasan dan pembebasan, pencinta kemuliaan dan kehormatan. Sesungguhnya dalam perjuangan di jalan Allah dan membebaskan tanah air serta memerdekakannya semua kesusahan enteng belaka.

Mereka melaungkan kepada dunia yang merdeka supaya mengangkat kepungan dan kezaliman daripada Gaza melalui ketetapan antara-bangsa yang adil sebagaimana mereka telah dizalimi dengan ketetapan antara-bangsa yang zalim.

Dan kita berkata kepada dunia seluruhnya: tibalah masanya untuk kamu memukul rejim zionis yang merampas dengan tangan besi, rejim yang tidak henti-henti melanggar ketetapan-ketetapan antara-bangsa ke atas Palestin. Kini kejahatannya makin terserlah di hadapan mata dunia dengan jenayah ala lanunnya yang terbaru, merampas Freedom Flotilla di perairan antara-bangsa.

Sungguh aneh dunia ini. Semua Negara bangkit untuk menghalang lanun di perairan Somalia, Majlis Keselamatan bersidang, mengumpul kekuatan laut dari semua Negara dengan ketetapan yang cukup pantas untuk menghentikan lanun yang berupa individu-individu. Namun pada masa yang sama PBB membutakan matanya, tidak bermaya tangannya, kelu lidahnya untuk menyekat lanun zionis yang mengotorkan tangannya dengan darah puluhan rakyat pelbagai Negara, yang memijak-mijak kehormatan mereka dan menceroboh hak-hak-hak mereka. Seolah-olah PBB dan majlis keselamatan tidak diwujudkan kecuali untuk mewujudkan rejim zionis dengan ketetapan antara-bangsa yang zalim kemudian melindunginya dengan ketetapan antara-bangsa yang zalim.

Kita berkata kepada saudara kita di Palestin:

Sabarlah wahai ahli Palestin, sesungguhnya kemenangan itu akan tercapai dengan kesabaran satu saat sahaja. Fajar pasti menyinsing, janji Allah pasti datang. وَنُرِيدُ أَن نَّمُنَّ عَلَى ٱلَّذِينَ ٱسۡتُضۡعِفُواْ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمۡ أَٮِٕمَّةً۬ وَنَجۡعَلَهُمُ ٱلۡوَٲرِثِينَ وَنُمَكِّنَ لَهُمۡ فِى ٱلۡأَرۡضِ وَنُرِىَ فِرۡعَوۡنَ وَهَـٰمَـٰنَ وَجُنُودَهُمَا مِنۡهُم مَّا ڪَانُواْ يَحۡذَرُونَ
Maksudnya: “Dan Kami hendak berihsan dengan memberikan pertolongan kepada kaum yang tertindas di negeri itu dan hendak menjadikan mereka pemimpin-pemimpin, serta hendak menjadikan mereka orang-orang yang mewarisi (apa yang dimiliki oleh Firaun dan kaumnya). Dan Kami hendak memberi mereka kedudukan yang kukuh di negeri itu, serta hendak memperlihatkan kepada Firaun dan Haman bersama-sama tentera mereka apa yang mereka bimbangkan dari golongan yang bertindas itu.” (Al-Qasas: 5-6)

Wahai Negara Arab dan Islam Wahai pertubuhan-pertubuhan Islam Wahai Jamiah Arabiyyah,

Maralah untuk memecahkan kepungan yang menyekat saudara-saudara kamu di Gaza.
Berjalanlah dalam satu kafilah menuju ke Palestin.
Janganlah kamu takut kepada Amerika yang mendokong rejim zionis, yang menutup jenayah mereka. Jangan kamu gerun kepada rejim zionis. Sesungguhnya telah terbongkar kelemahan mereka dan ketidak upayaan mereka.
Cukuplah bagi kamu berada dalam kehinaan hampir empat tahun, kini Freedom Flotilla pula mendahului kamu.
Mereka telah menghulurkan syuhada’, sedangkan bilangan kamu tidak kurang daripada mereka. Selepas ini orang lain pula akan mengikuti jejak mereka sekalipun angkatan pertama dihalang oleh rejim zionis dengan cara yang tidak bermaruah dan tidak mematuhi sebarang undang-undang dan perjanjian antara-bangsa.
Ketahuilah bahawa kepungan akan dipecahkan dari Gaza sama ada kamu mara atau kamu mundur. Tetapi kami menyeru kamu demi mempertahankan Islam, demi hak persaudaraan Islam, demi hak kejiranan supaya kamu mencapai kemuliaan dan membasuh kehinaan dari diri kamu.
Ketahuilah wahai umat Islam, sesungguhnya jihad sekarang ini adalah fardhu ‘ain. Wajib di atas para pemerintah, jika mereka sendiri enggan mengangkat bendera jihad, jangan menghalang rakyat dari melakukannya. Mereka hendaklah membuka sempadan untuk memberi laluan kepada mujahidin (وَلَيَنصُرَنَّ ٱللَّهُ مَن يَنصُرُهُ ۥۤ‌ۗ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ لَقَوِىٌّ عَزِيزٌ ) maksudnya: “…dan sesungguhnya Allah akan menolong sesiapa yang menolong agamaNya (agama Islam); sesungguhnya Allah Maha Kuat, lagi Maha Kuasa.” (Al-Hajj:40).
Ketahuilah bahawa kebatilan tidak akan menang dalam sesuatu pertempuran apabila kebenaran bangkit menentang. Apabila bertembungnya dua musuh ‘kebenaran dan kebatilan’, pertempuran antara keduanya akan berlaku dalam beberapa pusingan.

Pusingan yang awal kebatilan menang, kemudian pertempuran akan berakhir dengan kemenangan kebenaran. Inilah rahsia firman Allah (وَٱلۡعَـٰقِبَةُ لِلۡمُتَّقِينَ ) “…dan kesudahan yang baik adalah bagi orang-orang yang bertakwa.” (Al-Qasas:83) إِنَّ ٱلۡبَـٰطِلَ كَانَ زَهُوقً۬ا “… sesungguhnya yang batil itu sememangnya satu perkara yang tetap lenyap.” (Al-Isra’:81) وَكَانَ حَقًّا عَلَيۡنَا نَصۡرُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنِينَ “… dan sememangnya adalah menjadi tanggungjawab Kami menolong orang-orang yang beriman.” (Ar-Rum:47) وَيَوۡمَٮِٕذٍ۬ يَفۡرَحُ ٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ (٤) بِنَصۡرِ ٱللَّهِ‌ۚ يَنصُرُ مَن يَشَآءُ‌ۖ وَهُوَ ٱلۡعَزِيزُ ٱلرَّحِيمُ (٥) وَعۡدَ ٱللَّهِ‌ۖ لَا يُخۡلِفُ ٱللَّهُ وَعۡدَهُ ۥ وَلَـٰكِنَّ أَڪۡثَرَ ٱلنَّاسِ لَا يَعۡلَمُونَ “… dan sesudah berlakunya dan pada ketika berlakunya (kemenangan Rom) itu, orang-orang yang beriman akan bergembira; Dengan kemenangan yang diberi Allah. Dia memberi kemenangan kepada sesiapa yang dikehendakiNya dan Dialah jua Yang Maha Kuasa, lagi Maha Mengasihani. Demikian dijanjikan Allah. Allah tidak pernah mengubah janjiNya, akan tetapi kebanyakan manusia tidak mengetahui (hakikat yang sebenarnya).” (Ar-Rum: 4, 5, 6)


Allah Maha Besar dan segala puji hanya untuk Allah.

Artikel asal: http://www.ikhwanonline.com/Article.asp?ArtID=65986&SecID=213

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Antara Penipuan Israel berkenaan Freedom Flotilla

layari halaman Flickr rasmi Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs di sini


Banyak gambar menarik yang menuduh bahawa misi kemanusiaan Freedom Flotilla ke Gaza itu membawa senjata untuk membantu Hamas. Mari kita kaji setiap gambar yang ditunjukkan.

Berikut ialah halaman utama Flickr Israel MFA


Buat makluman, setiap gambar yang diambil menggunakan kamera digital akan memiliki EXIF file yang menyimpan segala maklumat teknikal berkaitan gambar tersebut seperti Shutter Speed, Aperture size, ISO, Metering, tarikh dan macam-macam lagi.

Untuk mengkaji gambar-gambar di website MFA, kita akan merujuk kepada tarikh sahaja.

*******

Mereka kata kapal ini membawa jaket kalis peluru (bulletproof jacket). Tapi cuba tengok tarikh sebenar gambar itu diambil.


Mereka kata Freedom Flotilla membawa senjata iaitu lastik, tapi mari kita lihat tarikh sebenar gambar 'senjata' itu diambil



Mereka ada bukti bahawa orang di atas kapal tersebut membawa senjata berupa kapak dan pepper spray, tapi bukti itu bukannya bertarikh tahun 2010...


Satu lagi gambar senjata Pepper Spray yang bertarikh 2003, tapi dikaitkan dengan Flotilla yang diadakan pada 2010


Ini pula gambar pemotong besi yang bertarikh 2006, tapi telah diedit menjadi 2010, seolah-olah ianya wujud di atas Flotilla. Hebat Israel ni!


Kebodohan Israel dalam menipu dunia juga tidak terhenti di situ. Ini pula gambar Night Vision yang sibuk diwar-warkan dibawa oleh Flotilla, kononnya untuk Hamas.

Yang anehnya, gambar ini bertarikh 2006.


Kepada yang ingin memeriksa keshahihan emel ini, sila layari halaman Flickr Israel Ministry of Foreign Affairs di SINI

Semoga bermanfaat.

Memorandum to the Government of the US from Pakatan Rakyat and NGOs of Malaysia

4th June 2010

President Barack Obama
President of The United States of America
White House, Washington

Mr. President,

MEMORANDUM TO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA
From Pakatan Rakyat and NGOs of Malaysia in respect of the attack on the “Mavi Marmara”
and the Gaza Freedom Flotilla on 31 May 2010

On 31st of May 2010, Israeli military forces attacked the Gaza Freedom flotilla comprising 6 ships containing over 600 peace activists from 37 countries including 12 Malaysians killing 9 Turkish and a Turkish born American on the “Mavi Marmara” and wounding at least 60 of them. This attack by Israeli forces took place in international waters and has been universally condemned as a blatant criminal act in contravention of international law.

The Gaza Freedom Flotilla was in no way a threat to stability and peace to the region. Their objective was only to provide basic humanitarian assistance to the more than a million of besieged Palestinians in desperate need of food and medical supplies and to draw international attention to what was considered as an illegal and oppressive blockade of Gaza by Israel.
The United Nations, the European Union, and countries including Turkey, Sweden, Greece, France, Kuwait and Malaysia, whose citizens were on board the flotilla, have all condemned the Israeli attack.

We are appalled and deeply disappointed by your weak and inadequate response on the matter.
Merely expressing deep regret for the loss of life and saying it was important to understand the facts and circumstances is a tepid and one‐sided response reminiscent of statements issued by the previous Bush administration. Asking the Israeli government to conduct “a full and credible
investigation” comes across as either dangerously naïve or willfully cynical. Such statements
undermine the credibility of the Obama administration globally.

The weak US response will reinforce the perception that it is parroting the Israeli government’s
narrative and sends an implicit and dangerous message of support for the Israeli blockade. You, in your Ankara and Cairo speeches a year ago distanced yourself from policies of the Bush
administration, set out a different vision and reached out to the Muslim world as no president had done before. Now however, the United States is seen to be walking in lock‐step stride with the most right wing government that Israel has seen in years.

We urge the government of the United States to take into account the strong sentiments of
Malaysians on the Palestinian question. You will be aware that because of such sentiments, Malaysia has to date no formal ties with the state of Israel. We bring to your attention the strong bi‐partisan resolution unanimously passed in a special emergency session of the Malaysian Parliament on 12 January 2009 after continuous attacks on Gaza by Israel causing the loss of over 1300 Palestinian lives, including many women and children. A copy of that resolution is appended.

We further urge you and the Government of the United States to recognize that Hamas is the democratically elected government in Gaza and is as such a necessary and major player in any negotiations towards a sustainable settlement of the Palestinian question.

We ask you to recognize that the blockade against Gaza has devastated its infrastructure and people and created a humanitarian and human health disaster which has contributed to the emergence of radical groups which reject a peaceful solution to the Palestinian issue.

We call on you, the President, and the Government of the United States to:

1) Take a clear position condemning the violence inflicted on the Free Gaza Flotilla and also call
for an end to the blockade of Gaza.
2 ) Ensure that an international independent inquiry is held under the auspices of the UN Security Council into the Israeli attack on the Free Gaza Flotilla to establish the full facts and
circumstances of the attack – this inquiry cannot be left to the Israeli government to conduct if
it is to be credible.
3) Recognize that the United States is the country that can take the lead decisively and broker the breaking of the deadlock and the siege of Gaza.
4) Initiate immediate steps to bring all parties to the negotiating table for resolution of the
prolonged conflict and in particular the siege of Gaza.
5) Suspend all existing economic and military aid to the state of Israel as a means to bring Israel
and all other stakeholders to the negotiating table and to resolve this prolonged conflict in the
Middle East.

Thank you.

Yours sincerely,

[signed illegible]

…………………………………………..
Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim
Opposition Leader, Parliament of Malaysia
Party Leader, Parti Keadilan Rakyat (KEADILAN)

[signed illegible]

……………………………………………
Lim Kit Siang
Advisor, Democratic Action Party (DAP)
Head of DAP Members of Parliament

[signed illegible]

……………………………………………
Haji Nasharudin Mat Isa
Deputy President, The Islamic Party of Malaysia (PAS)

Endorsed by:

1. Jamaah Islah Malaysia
2. Angkatan Belia Islam Malaysia
3. Gerakan Mansuhkan ISA
4. Solidariti Anak Muda Malaysia
5. Srikandi Keadilan
6. AMK Keadilan
7. NISA’ Malaysia
8. Solidariti Mahasiswa Malaysia
9. Persatuan Kebangsaan Pelajar Islam Malaysia
10. Majlis Perundingan Pertubuhan Islam Malaysia
11. Gabungan Mahasiswa Islam Se‐Malaysia
12. Salam Selangor
13. Teras pengupayaan Melayu
14. Dewan Perniagaan Islam Malaysia Selangor
15. Youth Center
16. ASASI
17. PITAS
18. Tenaganita
19. Ilham Center
20. Belia Integrasi
21. Budayawan Bertindak
22. Free Public Forum
23. Majlis Muafakat Dakwah Malaysia Kemboja
24. Insaf Humanitarian Relief Malaysia
25. Yayasan Kajian Pemuafakatan Melayu Malaysia
26. Persatuan Darul Fitrah
27. Youth For Change


APPENDIX

SPECIAL MOTION AGAINST THE ISRAELI ATTACKS ON GAZA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE MALAYSIA PARLIAMENT/JAN 2009

On Monday, 12 January 2009, the House of Representatives of the Malaysian Parliament held a
Special Session exclusively for a motion against the Israeli attacks on Gaza. In that session, it
unanimously passed a resolution moved by the Prime Minister as follows:

a. Condemn strongly the Israeli military attacks on the Palestinian Territory of Gaza claiming the lives of Palestinian civilians, including women, children, infants and the elderly, and urges the
full withdrawal of Israel from the Palestinian Territory of Gaza;
b. Urge the United Nations Security Council to compel Israel to immediately cease its military
attacks on the Palestinian Territory of Gaza through a ceasefire and to decide to deploy a United Nations peacekeeping force to enforce the ceasefire;
c. Urge the United Nations General Assembly to convene an Emergency Special Session of the
United Nations General Assembly – “Uniting For Peace” – under Resolution 377A(V) if the
United Nations Security Council fails to implement its decisions as adopted on 8 January
2009;
d. Urge the parties involved to continue efforts towards the peace process as well as implement and adhere to the relevant resolutions adopted by the United Nations on the issue of Palestine and the Arab‐Israeli conflict;
e. Decide for Malaysia to work with the member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference, Non‐Aligned Movement, Arab League and other like‐minded states to uphold the principles of international law and the Charter of the United Nations in addressing the conflict as currently developing in the Middle East;
f. Express the solidarity of the Malaysian people towards the cause of the Palestinian people in
establishing an independent and sovereign Palestinian state;
g. Urge the Palestinian people to unite in safeguarding their inalienable rights and establishment of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state;
h. Appeal to the international community to immediately extend humanitarian contributions to
the people of the Palestinian Territory of Gaza;
i. Urge the United Nations General Assembly to immediately establish an International Criminal Tribunal For Palestine to investigate and prosecute suspected Israeli war criminals involved in the brutal and aggressive acts on the Palestinian people; and
j. Decide to transmit this resolution to all relevant Legislative Assemblies and Parliaments concerned especially the United States Congress, the British Parliament and the European
Parliament.

Helen Thomas ends 5-decade career in palestine controversy

After more than 50 years covering the White House, journalist Helen Thomas announced Monday that she is retiring immediately from Hearst Newspapers, amid controversy over remarks she recently made about Israel.

Hearst News Service broke the news Monday, noting that Thomas' "decision came after her controversial comments about Israel and the Palestinians were captured on videotape and widely disseminated on the Internet."

Since moving from reporter to columnist, Thomas has made her views on Israel and other hot-button issues known. But her recent call for Israel to "get the hell out of Palestine" and have its citizens return to Germany or Poland drew harsh rebukes from political leaders on the left and right. Despite an apology from Thomas, the controversy only grew. Thomas' speakers agency dropped her as a client and a high school canceled her upcoming appearance at graduation. Press Secretary Robert Gibbs said Monday that the comments were "offensive and reprehensible. "

The board of the White House Correspondents Association also weighed in on Monday, calling Thomas' comments "indefensible" and "especially unfortunate in light of her role as a trailblazer on the White House beat."

Thomas has had one of the most distinguished journalism careers over the past half-century in Washington.

She started out with UPI in 1943, and began covering the White House toward the end of the Eisenhower administration. The White House was where she really made her name. Since the late 1950s, Thomas has grilled every sitting president, earning a reputation as a reporter willing to ask tough questions regardless of who's in power.

Cairo refuses to let aid into Gaza


The Egyptian authorities over the weekend turned down a request by Arab physicians to bring aid into the Gaza Strip.

Hamas, meanwhile, announced that it won’t allow the International Committee of the Red Cross to visit kidnapped IDF soldier Gilad Schalit as a condition for the lifting of the blockade on the Gaza Strip.

Khalil al-Hayyah, a senior Hamas official in the Gaza Strip, said the proposal was designed to “distract attention for the crime that was perpetrated against the flotilla aid ships last week.”

He said that the blockade on the Gaza Strip had been in effect before the abduction of Schalit and added that the captors of the soldier have no confidence in any party, including the Red Cross.

The Egyptian refusal came despite Egypt’s decision to reopen the Rafah border crossing in the aftermath of the aid convoy incident last week.

On Monday, a large group of Egyptian parliamentarians plans to “break” the ban of aid by bringing humanitarian aid into the Gaza Strip through the border crossing, sources close to Hamas announced.

Hamas legislator and spokesman Mushir al-Masri welcomed the decision and called on the Egyptian authorities to keep the Rafah terminal open on a permanent basis.

Over the weekend, the Arab Physicians Union submitted a request to the Egyptian government to send 400 tons of food and construction material, including cement, into the Gaza Strip.

The request was turned down by the Egyptian authorities, which did not offer any explanation, said Munir Albarsh, a representative of the union. He said that although the Egyptians had reopened the Rafah terminal for travelers, they were continuing to ban humanitarian aid from entering the Gaza Strip.

The Hamas government said that about 2,000 Palestinians crossed the Rafah terminal in both directions since it was reopened last week. It said that the Egyptian authorities were continuing to ban aid to the Gaza Strip, especially food and construction material. Over the past week, the Egyptians allowed the delivery of more than 7,000 blankets, five electrical wheelchairs and 357 tents to the Gaza Strip.

Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh said he was optimistic that the blockade was nearing its end. He also predicted that the “Zionist project on our lands” was approaching its final stages.

“May 31 was and will be a turning point,” he said, referring to the day of the confrontation at sea between the Israel Navy and the flotilla activists. “It marks the beginning of the delegitimization of the Zionist project in our country.”

He said that Israel had suffered a series of blows over the past two years, especially with regard to Operation Cast Lead and the UN fact-finding mission into the war, headed by South African judge Richard Goldstone.

“The Gaza War, which was won by the resistance, embarrassed the Zionist enemy,” Haniyeh said during the Friday khutba (sermon) at the Omari Mosque in Gaza City. “The Goldstone Report was a big scandal for the occupation, whose leaders are now being chased by legal and popular institutions all around the world.”

He said the flotilla raid would have positive consequences for Hamas and the Gaza Strip, as well as for the entire Palestinian people.

Putting Names To Faces

Lawrence of Cyberia

June 3, 2010

A brief introduction to the nine Turkish people shot dead on 31 May 2010, by Israeli soldiers who attacked the Turkish vessel M.V. Mavi Marmara, as it attempted to transport humanitarian aid to the people of the Gaza Strip.


1. Ibrahim Bilgen, 61, an electrical engineer from Siirt. Member of the Chamber of Electrical Engineers of Turkey. Married with 6 children. (link -link - link - link)
Ibrahimbilgenn2

2. Ali Haydar Bengi, 39, from Diyarbakir. Graduate of Al-Azhar University, Cairo (Department of Arabic literature). Married with 4 children. (link)

Ali haydar bengi

3. Cevdet Kiliçlar, 38, from Kayseri. Originally a journalist, later an aid worker with the Humanitarian Relief Foundation (IHH). Married with two children. See him participating in an IHH African relief project here. See his Flickr photos here. (link - link)

Cevdet Kiliçlar

4. Çetin Topçuoglu, 54, from Adana. Former amateur soccer player and taekwondo champion, who coached Turkey's national taekwondo team. Married with one son. See his Facebook page here. (link - link)

Çetin Topçuoglu

5. Necdet Yildirim, 32, an IHH aid worker from Malatya. Married with a three-year-old daughter. (link)

Necdet yildirim

6. Fahri Yaldiz, 43, a firefighter who worked for the Municipality of Adiyaman. Married with four children. (link)

Fahri Yaldiz

7. Cengiz Songür, 47, from Izmir. Married with seven children. (link -link)

Cengiz songur

8. Cengiz Akyüz, 41, from Iskenderun. Married with children aged 14, 12 and nine. (link)

Cengiz Akyüz

9. Furkan Dogan, 19, student at Kayseri High School; planned to become a doctor. Son of Dr. Ahmet Dogan, Assoc Prof at Erciyes University. A Turkish-American dual national, with two siblings. (link - link - link)

Furkan Dogan

Misi LL4G berjaya capai matlamat strategik

Sumber: Malaysia Harmoni

Isnin, 07 Jun 2010 08:24 A Zaid Omar

a


KUALA LUMPUR - Walaupun niat untuk menghantar sendiri bantuan ke Gaza tidak tercapai, misi Projek Lifeline for Gaza (LL4G) telah mencapai matlamat yang lebih besar dan murni. Menurut salah seorang anggota sukarelawan Malaysia yang terlibat, Ustaz Hasanuddin Mohd Yunus, misi mereka memang dirancang untuk mempunyai unsur strategik yang sangat besar.


“Perkara paling penting yang ingin dan telah tercapai ialah menyedarkan dunia bahawa satu kezaliman yang sangat besar sedang berlaku di Gaza”, ujar beliau yang juga merupakan Pengerusi Aqsa Syarif, sebuah badan kebajikan Palestin yang berpusat di Kajang, Selangor. Beliau berkata demikian dalam sesi pertemuan khas dengan anggota-anggota sukarelawan Aqsa Syarif di Masjid Wilayah Persekutuan semalam.


Menurut beliau, peristiwa ini telah menggegarkan dunia, menyebabkan Israel dikutuk dan dikecam di serata dunia. Malah pemimpin dunia Arab, Islam dan dunia mula sedar dan menyatakan pendirian tegas mengenai kezaliman Israel bukan sahaja kerana menyerang Freedom Flotilla tetapi kerana berterusan mengenakan kepungan ke atas Gaza, termasuk gesaan terbaru oleh Setiausaha Agung Bangsa-bangsa Bersatu. Beliau juga menyuarakan penghargaan di atas pendirian tegas kerajaan Malaysia dalam isu ini.


Sementara itu, ahli Lembaga Pengarah Aqsa Syarif merangkap wakil Pertubuhan Jamaah Islah Malaysia (JIM), Dr Selamat Aliman yang turut menyertai misi tersebut menyatakan bahawa ini adalah kali kedua beliau menyertai misi penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza.


Misi kali pertama beliau pada bulan Januari tahun lepas menemui jalan buntu kerana Kerajaan Mesir tidak mahu membuka laluan ke Gaza melalui Rafah. Tetapi pada kali ini, walaupun berdepan dengan peristiwa yang mengancam nyawa, ia tetap berjaya.


Menurut Dr. Selamat, pada asalnya perancangan pihak Freedom Flotilla ialah untuk berlabuh di perairan antarabangsa berhampiran Gaza dan berunding dengan pihak rejim Tel Aviv untuk membenarkan penghantaran bantuan ke Gaza. “Kami bersedia untuk menunggu kerana kapal Mavi Marmara mempunyai bekalan makanan dan air bersih selama satu bulan setengah. Kita merancang, Allah juga merancang dan perancangan Allahlah yang terbaik.”


“Walaupun peristiwa serangan dan penahanan kami memeritkan, tetapi kami melihatnya sebagai satu kejayaan memperjuangkan isu Palestin dan membela Masjid Al-Aqsa. Ia membuka minda dan mata dunia kepada kezaliman Israel,” ujar beliau. Bukti jelas kemenangan dalam ‘pertempuran’ ini ialah misalnya banyak negara kini sedang menilai semula hubungan diplomatik dengan Israel manakala Mesir telah membuka semula laluan bantuan ke Gaza melalui Rafah.


Majlis pertemuan khas tersebut dipengerusikan oleh Profesor Madya Dr Zin Kandar, Setiausaha Aqsa Syarif dan dihadiri oleh lebih 150 orang aktivis dan sukarelawan Aqsa Syarif dari seluruh negara.



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