February 2, 2009
A petition seeking justice for 400 wrongfully prosecuted Muslims is to be delivered to President Obama and Attorney General Holder on Tuesday, February 3. Please sign, and pass on information about the petition to anyone you think might also be interested. The petition can be signed online at:
http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/projectsalam/index.html
Details follow…
January 18, 2009
Time to join forces at last.
The moment has arrived for new vision.
Leaders inspire, but you and I must do the work.
Help start the change now.
January 5, 2009
Dec. 29, 2008. Reconciliation assumes that hostilities have ended, that it is time to heal wounds and unite enemies. Such moments are sacred. But not every moment is like this.
When something bad is going on, merely to accept it is craven. Attempting to justify it is worse. But refusing to understand it is monumentally stupid.
I am writing at the moment of the Gaza bombings. My heart is cradling its grief, remembering its visit to that desolate place (on an FOR delegation) in 1998. At that time, the Jews in our party dared not remark above a whisper what the passage inward reminded them of: some thoughts are forbidden. These days I recall 19th century Indian reservations, the Trail of Tears.
It seemed then that things could scarcely get worse. But they have, they have.
December 29, 2008
Israeli Government Desecrates Hanukkah with Blood(Bethlehem, Occupied Palestine) It was not possible to sleep here for two nights now. The events and the images of death and carnage of children, of policemen, of people that look like my mother and my son and my sister and my friends were simply too much. Gaza has run out of stretchers and many are now carried to hospitals (which are running out of supplies) and morgues on commercial street signs, in blankets or simply by their limp limbs. Three mosques were destroyed. I recalled the Israeli attacks on the Church of Nativity which was minor compared to this. I was watching Israel shell the University in Gaza City including its faculty of science and a residence dorm for female students and was thinking of my university and my lab and office at Bethlehem University. I was then shocked into more horrific scenes and news.
December 15, 2008
What borders are made of. Photo: Nadim Audi
Thanks to our friends at the Institute for Middle East Understanding, two op/eds on Gaza were published in major California newspapers this Sunday. The two pieces, which are below, appeared in the Los Angeles Times (Dr. Eyad Al Sarraj, Gaza Community Mental Health Center) and the San Jose Mercury News (Darlene Wallach, Free Gaza Movement).
These op/eds are likely to be attacked and their authors loudly criticized. Please send letters of support to the editor of the LA Times and the editor of the SJ Mercury News. Details and full text of the op/eds follow.
December 8, 2008
(Eid al-Adha, 1429) By the grace of God, the Muslim Peace Fellowship (MPF) 
is once again inviting public membership.
MPF seeks Muslims who are willing to embark consciously on a journey to peace – inner peace, social peace, global peace – that is as necessary as ever. We have much to share. We can train you. Come join us in spreading the Islamic message of peace and justice among Muslims and non-Muslims everywhere, and especially in the US.
December 2, 2008
1 December 2008. An Arabic translation of Right to Life, a book by Iranian human rights defender Emad Baghi, has been published by the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information and the International Campaign for Human Rights in Iran. The book presents groundbreaking research in Islamic jurisprudence and Sharia supporting suspension and abolition capital punishment in countries following Islamic law.
Right to Life has been banned by Iranian authorities and Baghi has been interrogated and imprisoned several times for articles he wrote making the arguments collected in this book.
The book is a comprehensive exposition of Baghi’s research arguing for abolition and suspension of the death penalty in Iran and other Islamic countries. As he wrote in a letter to the head of the Iranian Judiciary in April 2006, “Crime, felony, and executions are the results of and contributors to a culture of violence.” He has been tirelessly promoting abolition of the death penalty in Iran, and demonstrating that neither Qur’anic verses nor Islamic jurisprudence pose obstacles toward this goal.
November 29, 2008
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City of dreams, city of nightmares
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While India has seen an escalation in attacks – particularly over the past year – the recent attack is unique in how it unfolded. Gunmen, some arriving on boat and others dressed in police uniform, targeted disparate targets and landmarks in south Mumbai including the Oberoi hotel, Cafe Leopold, CST Train station, and a hospital in the Villa Parle area. Many witnesses noted that the assailants were deliberately trying to target foreigners, particularly British and American nationals. Ordinary citizens on the ground in Mumbai have liveblogged the attacks and sent updates via Twitter (#mumbai), bringing the horror of the attacks into the lives of the rest of us in a way that wasn’t possible only a few short years ago (the Indian government has pleaded for people not to liveblog military maneuvers).
One eyewitness, a Indian businessman based in Hong Kong named Rakeh Patel, reported two youths – both in their twenties – took a group of 15 to the top of the Taj Hotel and demanded to know if anyone of them carried a US or UK passport. Another witness, Alex Chamberlain, a British national, said that the gunman sequestered a group of around 30 people to a restaurant in the Oberoi and demanded to know their nationality. Chamberlain reported, “They were talking about British and Americans specifically. There was an Italian guy, who, you know, they said, ‘Where are you from?’ and he said he’s from Italy, and they said, ‘Fine,’ and they left him alone.”
Elsewhere in Mumbai, the attacks (though one might call it a siege) shows little sign of abetting. The army has been called into the Taj and Oberoi hotel but little is known about the fate of the hostages or the alleged group behind the attacks, the “Deccan Mujahadeen.” For now, most observers are reserving judgement until more is known about the previously unknown group. But given past incidents, laying the blame at Kashmiri separatists – or Pakistan – seems likely. If past events are a guide, tensions will increase with Pakistan whether there is proof of their involvement or not. However, the civilian government of Ali Zardari – itself a product of political violence – does not have the military baggage of his predecessor, which may now make such a charge harder to stick.
One of those killed was Hemant Karkare, the chief of the Maharashtra Anti Terrorism Squad. Karkare was widely admired for his thorough and fair investigations, including a pending investigation into a September 29, 2008 blast in India that was revealed to be the work of Hindutva supporters. Responding to this news, The Hindu wrote in an editorial: “The revelation that a militant section of the Hindutva network was behind the September 29 bomb blasts in Muslim-dominated Malegaon in Maharashtra and Modasa in Gujarat has shattered the myth propagated by the Hindutva campaign that only Islamist fundamentalism breeds terrorism.”
Meanwhile condemnations from world leaders poured in, including from US President-elect Barack Obama, and Muslim groups as well have also voiced their opposition to the violence. Based on past events, Muslims within India and elsewhere in the region are sensitive to how tensions can spill over into retaliatory violence, such as the massacres in Gujarat in 2002. But in troubling (and yet unsurprising) pattern, hardliners like Shiv Sena head Bal Thackerary have already exploited the violence to whip followers into a communal rage.
Speaking of the violence, Thackerary said, “(Shiv) Sena can’t sit silently when a conspiracy has been plotted against Hindus. The manner in which ATS has been torturing Sadhvi Pragya Singh Thakur and others and the way false cases have been fabricated against them, it is clear that the government is out to crush, insult and humiliate Hindus. Sena is a Hindutva party with the interest of the Hindu community close to its heart. We will lodge our protest loudly and clearly.”
While it is tempting to refute Thackerary’s comments or to expound on the “saffronization” of parts of India, now is not the time. The analysis and theories about what happened today and what it means for India is secondary to the immediate need to care for the wounded, the familes of those who died, and most importantly the 200 or so hostages that still languish in south Mumbai, in addition to preventing tensions from perpetuating past cycles. Now is the time to pray and care for the people of Mumbai and hope that the coming days do not bring more bloodshed.
October 21, 2008
Muslim Peace Fellowship endorses
a presentation by Anne Baltzer & the Palestine Freedom Project :
Baltzer will also be selling and signing copies of her expanded full-color book: Witness in Palestine: A Jewish American Woman in the Occupied Territories. For more information about Baltzer’s book, DVD, and presentations, visit www.AnnaInTheMiddleEast.com
********************* Please Distribute Widely *********************
October 1, 2008
Whatever act of violence has just taken place, we deplore it.
