US – Breaking News

Nakba Day…"They Killed Anyone They Saw"
By Khalid Amayreh

"My wish has remained unchanged, it is to return to my village, to die and be buried there," Mohammed told IOL.

OCCUPIED WEST BANK — Mohammed al-Saghir Abu Sharar was 37 when the Hagana and other Jewish terrorist gangs attacked al-Dawayema, a village located 18 kilometers northwest of Al-Khalil (Hebron) in 1948.

"When they came they started killing the civilian population en mass, men, women and children," recalls Mohammed, now nearly 100-year-old.

"They killed anyone they saw. They broke the heads of children and cut open the bellies of women with bayonets. They even raped some women before murdering them."

Read More »Nakba daythey killed anyone they saw

Head of operation of the UNRWA in Gaza Strip John Ging has affirmed that the unjust Israeli economic blockade has inflicted tragic conditions on all aspects of life in the tiny Strip where 1.5 million Palestinians, more than half of them were children, are living.

Ging’s remarks came after he met with PA health minister Dr. Basim Na’im in Gaza, and listened to detailed report from him on the adverse repercussions of the siege on all sectors in Gaza Strip, particularly the health sector.

According to Na’im, the Israeli occupation government blocked entry of badly needed medicines, stopped fuel supplies needed to run vital medical equipments, and banned foreign doctors, planning to train health employees in the ministry, entry into the Strip.

Na’im also explained that tens of the ministry’s projects, including construction of hospitals and medical centers among others were aborted after the Israeli occupation government refused to let cement and other construction materials into the Strip.

In this regard, the PA minister regretted the "clear default" on the part of the international community towards the Israeli "programmed genocide", and the tragic condition it was inflicting on the besieged Strip.

He also pointed out that the Israeli occupation government reneged on its obligations towards the Strip as stipulated in the clam agreement it had accepted in the Gaza Strip, and refused till now to implement terms and conditions of that truce.

For his part, Ging acknowledged the human catastrophe that the Israeli occupation wreaked on the Gaza Strip as he sees sick Palestinian citizens in the Strip "fall one after another" after Israel denied them permits to travel abroad in order to get proper medical treatment.

He also acknowledged that operation of his organization in the Strip was badly affected by the Israeli siege, asserting that tens of its projects in health and education sectors were halted due to the blockade.

However, Ging pledged to bring the true picture in the Gaza Strip to the UN so as to take immediate and swift action to save the people of Gaza after the Israeli unjust siege turned their life into "intolerable hell".
 

Read More »Unrwa Isaraeli siege inflicts real catastrophe on Gaza

 Velvet Revolution impossible in Iran

By Gisoo Misha Ahmadi, Press TV, Tehran
 
The following is Press TV’s interview with Seyyed Morteza Nabavi, a member of Iran’s Expediency Council and Head of the Resalat daily

Press TV:Let’s go back to 30 years ago. In your opinion, what personality traits did the founder of the Islamic Revolution Imam Khomeini have which enabled him to lead the greatest revolution of the century?

Nabavi: Imam Khomeini was a religious, political leader but the deep influence he had over the people had to with his religious characteristics. Imam Khomeini had deep cultural and spiritual insight. People were attracted to his because he spoke of the Divine of Islamic teachings which have been the answer to all our needs throughout history and will never be out-dated.

Read More »Velvet revolution impossible in Iran

By Iqbal Jassat – Chairman, Media Review Network

Saturday, April 9 marks the day South African Muslims shared their grief as the country’s foremost humanitarian activist was laid to rest at Avalon cemetery, south of Johannesburg.

Mohamed Farid Choonara, a doyen of relief aid work across Africa and pioneer of Islamic Da’wah (outreach) breathed his last following a short spell of illness.

Known to many as MF, his contribution to the development of Islam embraced a multifaceted approach. Having emerged as a youth leader in the early ’70s when he played a crucial part in the formation of the Muslim Youth Movement (MYM), the young lad enthusiastically consolidated MYM branches in most parts of the old Transvaal.  

This period and later years when MF was elected as the Movement’s national director was characterised by frequent clashes with the apartheid state’s security thugs. His position as the voice of Muslim youth included the responsibility of ensuring that state organs of repression didn’t succeed in shutting down MYM’s monthly paper ‘al Qalam’ which was frequently raided and banned.

It was during this period – in the prime of his youth – when MF relocated to Durban with his family and directed a host of national MYM initiatives that snowballed into hugely successful projects. Some of these dot the national landscape of Muslim life such as South African National Zakaah Fund (SANZAF), Islamic Movement Press (Impress), Islamic Dawah Movement (IDM) and the landmark of education & training in Braemar, KZN known universally as As-Salaam.

Read More »Obituary mf choonara 3 11 1949 to 9 04 2011