Sudan – Breaking News

I am writing to you because we are faced by a totally unexpected crisis which has the potential to force us to cease operations early next month. We received notification the day before yesterday from our bank, the Islamic Bank of Britain (IBB), that Lloyds TSB (their clearing bank) have served notice on IBB to cease all dealings with Interpal. The notice comes into effect on 8 December 2008 (a nice Eid prsent!). After this time “all transactions into or out of Interpal accounts will be blocked and IBB will be at further risk of all its customer payments being suspended.” IBB has offered us its total support but is apparently powerless in this situation, throwing into question the autonomy of Britain’s burgeoning Islamic finance sector.

Read More »Closure of interpals account

Hold Israel to the same standard of civilised conduct as other lands

Mondli Makhanya

As we hugged, kissed, shook hands and made merry on Wednesday night, Gaza was bleeding.

•  Israel pummels the Gaza Strip
•  Gaza’s awful toll on Israel’s soul
•  Gaza’s Bloodiest Days

About 400 of the Palestinian territory’s people had been killed, and more than 2000 had been severely injured during what must rank as one of the most heartless military operations in recent years.

A further 1.5 million were in need of humanitarian assistance as a result of the attacks and an ongoing blockade by Israel.

Since last Saturday, the people of Gaza have been subjected to non-stop bombardment by the Israeli military, ostensibly in retaliation for rocket attacks by Hamas militants. Israel’s response to the “provocation” amounted to a steroid-pumped heavyweight boxer arriving to fight an anaemic midget armed with steel-lined boxing gloves.

Read More »Hold Isarael to the same standard of civilised conduct as other lands

You Decide

Freedom Fighters, Terrorists or Schlemiels?

By SAUL LANDAU

Condi Rice: “What we’re seeing here, in a sense, is the growing birth pangs of a new Middle East.”

Jon Stewart: “Birth pangs? Yes, I believe today’s contraction took out a city block.”

On January 21, President Obama telephoned the King of Jordan, the Prime Minister of Israel, the President of Egypt and Mahmoud Abbas, President of the Palestinian National Authority, before dispatching former Senator George Mitchell to spearhead peace negotiations. He excluded Hamas leaders from his phone tree, although they had won the 2006 election to represent the people of Gaza. Obviously, Hamas has also won the label “terrorist” and, as Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni proudly if not smugly assured members of the National Press Club in Washington DC, Israel would not talk with Hamas. “We do not negotiate with terrorists,” she asserted, moral indignation dripping from her words. (January 16)

Read More »Freedom fighters terrorists or schlemiels?

 : When did we stop caring about civilian deaths during wartime?

  Robert Fisk                                                                       31 January 2009

 The mere monitoring of bloody conflict assumes precedence over human suffering
 
I wonder if we are "normalising" war. It’s not just that Israel has yet again got away with the killing of hundreds of children in Gaza.

And after its own foreign minister said that Israel’s army had been allowed to "go wild" there, it seems to bear out my own contention that the Israeli "Defence Force" is as much a rabble as all the other armies in the region. But we seem to have lost the sense of immorality that should accompany conflict and violence. The BBC’s refusal to handle an advertisement for Palestinian aid was highly instructive. It was the BBC’s "impartiality" that might be called into question. In other words, the protection of an institution was more important than the lives of children. War was a spectator sport whose careful monitoring – rather like a football match, even though the Middle East is a bloody tragedy – assumed precedence over human suffering. 
 

Read More »When did we stop caring about civilian deaths during wartime?