IAF strike on underground Qassam rocket launching site

From Internet Haganah:

Note the abortive flight of a rocket after the strike.

LGF: Flying Pig Alert: Egypt Blames HAMAS

From LGF:

As Israeli forces prepare to enter Gaza on land, and warplanes continue to attack Hamas targets from the air, the Foreign Minister of Egypt is blaming ... Hamas?

HAMAS's Meshaal: We're going to keep up our violent struggle even if you cave

Hat tip: LGF

UCI's MSU has been and continues to be a full and unequivocal supporter of HAMAS. I'm interleaving my comments with the article. These aren't all of the potential comments I could make, but for time reasons, I'm just writing these right now.

Oh and note Meshaal's email address: khmishal@gmail.com

Our unity can now pave the way for peace and justice


The Mecca agreement gives the west the chance to break with its policy of blackmail and recognise Palestinian rights

Khalid Mish'al
Tuesday February 13, 2007
The Guardian

A historic new phase in the Palestinian struggle for freedom and independence has begun. Last week's Mecca agreement between Hamas and Fatah will pave the way for the first ever truly Palestinian national unity government. Hamas and Fatah, joined by all the other Palestinian factions, will now seek to rebuild Palestinian society following the destruction brought upon it by Israeli occupation and resume the campaign for our national rights.

We are determined to make sure that the recent internal fighting, which appalled our people and dismayed their supporters around the world, becomes history. We firmly believe that it would never have happened had it not been for foreign intervention and the brutal sanctions imposed on our people by Israel and its allies. The crisis would not have existed had international and regional powers respected the results of last year's democratic elections in Palestine.

The Mecca agreement has laid the foundations for a power-sharing process that will produce a functioning government capable of attending to our people's needs. It will also pave the way for rebuilding the PLO to include all the factions and become the legitimate representative of all Palestinian people. The partnership born out of the Mecca meeting is possible because of the consensus among the Palestinians that their primary objective is to win their freedom, and that their struggle should be solely against occupation. It is now up to the international community to respect this accord and the will of the Palestinian people.

We Palestinians have been the victims of invasion, occupation and oppression for almost a century. Yet we have been constantly blackmailed to make concessions and give up yet more of our legitimate rights. Since the elections of January 2006 our people have been boycotted and punished by the international community for exercising their democratic rights. In the meantime, Israel has continued to kill and detain Palestinians on a daily basis, demolishing hundreds of houses and making thousands homeless.

Today Israel has more than 11,000 of our brothers and sisters in jail and continues to deny millions of refugees the right to return to their homeland. It has defied international law by proceeding with the construction of the apartheid wall and building settlements on land expropriated from Palestinians. Meanwhile, excavation resumed last week in the compound of al-Aqsa mosque, and on Friday the mosque, to which access is denied to Palestinians below the age of 45, was invaded by Israeli troops who wounded scores of worshippers.

[Ed: What Meshaal left out was that the excavation work has been recognized as necessary by everybody - Jew and Muslim. Meshaal and others don't point this out because they just don't want the Jews to do the work. On top of that, the work can in no way threaten the Temple Mount. Read more here and see the diagram below, courtesy of the Israeli Terrorism Info Center.]



Now that Hamas and Fatah have agreed to form a national unity government, the international community has no excuse to maintain the siege against our people. We know that many governments around the world are unhappy with these sanctions and want to see an end to them. The Palestinian national accord achieved in Mecca envisages the establishment of a truly sovereign and independent Palestinian state on the territories occupied by Israel in June 1967 - with Jerusalem as its capital, the dismantling of the settlements in the West Bank, the release of all Palestinian prisoners and the acknowledgement of the right of the refugees to return to their homes.

Once translated into reality, this vision will pave the way for real peace in the region. There must be no more blackmail of Palestinians, for there is nothing else they can give away. Global powers should have learned by now that neither sanctions nor any other form of pressure or bribery will force the Palestinians to abandon their struggle for freedom and independence.

All previous peace proposals have failed because they were intended to impose an unjust pro-Israel settlement on our people, and were based on the assumption that the Palestinian struggle was a form of terrorism that the Palestinians had to renounce. The attempt to divide Palestinians into moderates and extremists or peacemakers and terrorists has failed. Now we are united in our determination to seek an end to oppression and occupation.

[Ed: Translation: we'll never give up attacking innocent Jews and the Fatah / HAMAS agreement is just an intermediary step before we completely destroy Israel.]

So, will the international community seize this historic opportunity, require Israel to respect our rights and stop hindering this attempt to turn the Palestinian national agreement into a reality? Or will it remain weak and ineffective in the face of Israeli intransigence and risk alienating not only Hamas but also Fatah and all the other Palestinian factions?

If the latter is the choice, the outcome will be dire indeed: the entire Middle East region will be driven towards another cycle of bloody escalation that may last for many years to come - and an entire Palestinian generation, which might not be willing to accept what we accept today, will be left profoundly embittered.

[Ed: Nothing like a victim complex to keep you going, even when the Jews aren't to blame for the situation.]

The west needs to wake up and realise that time is no longer on the side of Israel and its policies of occupation, destruction and expansion. Time no longer favours the continuation of policies biased towards Israel. It will not serve the best interests of the west to support Israel while it continues to terrorise our people, occupy our land, violate our basic human and national rights and encroach on Muslim and Christian holy places. Such blind support has proven to be very costly for the west and will increasingly damage its vital interests.

It must be understood by all that the people of Palestine have the key to both peace and war in the Middle East. There can never be peace and stability in the region without settling the Palestinian question. And that can only be achieved by ending the occupation and recognising our people's rights.

[Ed: Not sure who said it, but if the Palestinians were to lay down their weapons and give up on claiming the land in the entire state of Israel, they'd have their Palestinian state and there would be peace. If, on the other hand, Israel laid down its weapons, the Palestinians and Arabs would push the Jews to the sea in a heartbeat.

Here's one paraphrased quote I do remember from Golda Meir: To get peace, all it would take would Palestinian and Arab mothers loving their children more than they hate the Jews. 'nuff said.]

· Khalid Mish'al is head of the Hamas political bureau

khmishal@gmail.com

JPost / AP: Gazans fear radio will lead them to civil war

A radio broadcaster can be dangerous in the wrong hands. You don't even need to go back to World War II - barely more than 10 years ago, radio stations were used to further the Rwandan genocide. Keep this in mind when reading the following article.

Gazans fear radio will lead them to civil war
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST Dec. 29, 2006

The recent fighting between Hamas and Fatah did not just play out in the streets of the Gaza Strip. The rival groups also pummeled each other over the airwaves, calling each other's fighters "mercenary death squads," "child killers" and even "Zionists."

The harsh rhetoric, coupled with the stations' ability to quickly rally their armed supporters in the streets, has led to fears that the local disc jockeys could fan the flames of the recent violence into a full-blown of civil war.

"If we wanted, we could burn down Gaza," said a smiling Ibrahim Daher, director of Aksa Radio, the voice in Gaza of the Islamic militant group Hamas.

Hamas and Fatah have been locked in a power struggle since the Islamic group won legislative elections last January, gaining control of most of the Palestinian government from the long-ruling Fatah. The tensions have routinely erupted into fighting, most recently earlier this month after a drive-by shooting killed the children of a senior security official loyal Chairman Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah. That round of fighting killed 17 people.

During two weeks of violence, Hamas' Aksa Radio and Fatah's Radio Shabab enraptured listeners as they reported fierce clashes and angry marches, and gave airtime for their respective leaders to abuse their opponents. Callers routinely incited loyalists against rivals.

On Radio Shabab, callers described Hamas gunmen as "child killers" - a reference to the drive-by shooting - or as "the mullahs" - a barbed jab at the Islamic group's close ties to Shi'ite Iran.

Hamas' Aksa Radio rarely reported aggression by Hamas gunmen, despite deadly assaults on Fatah targets. The broadcasts regularly labeled opponents as "mercenary death squads" and "coup plotters."

One senior Hamas official called his rivals "Zionists" - a virtual death sentence in Gaza's militantly anti-Israel society. In another report, an Aksa correspondent reported - falsely - that Fatah gunmen were firing at their own supporters in the southern town of Khan Younis.

"Radios play at incitement," said Daher. "There's no neutral radio in Gaza, it's all factional."

Even so, Daher and all the other stations said they tried not to incite people against each other.

Ibrahim Abu Naja, head of a mediation committee that got Hamas and Fatah to halt fighting, saw things differently, saying radio was capable of inflaming passions to the point of civil war. Many times, Abu Naja said, he demanded that radio stations tone down their rhetoric.

"We are aware of how major a role radio plays in creating tensions and provoking fighting," he said.

The medium had traditionally played a far different role in radio-crazy Gaza, where 15 stations vie for the ears of 1.4 million Palestinians living on a narrow strip of Mediterranean coastline. The programs go beyond the traditional music and news shows, providing crucial services in Palestinian society.

One of the most popular shows is a call-in program for families of the thousands of Palestinians in Israeli jails. The programs link families with their imprisoned relatives, and the conversations are often heart wrenching. Children tell their imprisoned fathers they're behaving well. Tearful mothers remind their sons to dress warmly, while gravelly voiced fathers send greetings. The conversations often bring the radio hosts to tears.

More recently, radio has also become an effective weapon in the battle against Israel. In November, after Israel ordered a Hamas commander to evacuate his house, saying it would be bombed in 15 minutes, Aksa Radio came to the rescue.

It called on people to flock to the house to prevent the bombing. Crowds gathered on the roof, and the house was saved. The tactic was used to save four other targeted houses.

With a lull in the recent infighting, the radio stations have toned down as well. But with no political solution in sight, the radios may yet wage another battle.
"Radio is in every house, every car and every street. It can cause a revolution or quell one. That's a dangerous role," said Salah al-Masri, director of Al-Quds Radio, funded by the radical Islamic Jihad.

"I bet you, in a few hours, I can orchestrate a protest. The question is what kind. We can launch a protest against the Israeli occupation, or at (Abbas), or fire rockets," he said.

Relevant cartoons

A picture is still worth a thousand words. Click on the cartoons to read the related posts from Cox and Forkum:

Danger on the horizon: The Iraq Study Group / former President Jimmy Carter

No time to make a detailed post. Links of interest:

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2006/12/peace-for-our-time.html

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2006/12/iraq-study-group-report-james-baker.html

http://israelmatzav.blogspot.com/2006/12/errors-omissions-inventions-and.html

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-search.php?searchWith=lgf&searchWhat=entries&searchTime=30&searchString=carter

http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/lgf-search.php?searchWith=lgf&searchWhat=entries&searchTime=30&searchString=iraq+study+group

http://vitalperspective.typepad.com/vital_perspective_clarity/2006/12/blogging_the_re.html

http://www.insightmag.com/Media/MediaManager/Baker_1.htm

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/06/061206204349.qjq06iek.html

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/politics/article2054657.ece

http://www.breitbart.com/news/2006/12/06/061206183540.4da9y9bi.html



And now for something completely different:
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=23571_Democrats_Talking_to_Hamas&only

UCI MSU Alkalima Spring 2004 Editorial

Originally posted May 19, 2007 3:39 PM PST
Original link was "http://www.alkalima.com/article.php?id=0602_editorsDesk"

Editorial

Being a stickler for equal rights, I’ve always believed that leaders
are made, not born. However, last quarter, if someone had told
me that leaders are born, not made, I would have wholeheartedly
agreed with them. Being in a leadership position myself, I
encountered several problems that tested my abilities and
frustrated me to the extent that I resigned myself to the idea that
I was not born to lead people - that regardless of how much I
worked towards it, I would never be the charismatic, dynamic
leader I always wanted to be.

Yet when the Alkalima staff arrived at the theme of "Leaders and Revolution" for its
next issue, I slowly began to reaffirm my initial belief that leaders are, in fact, made,
and not born. True, there are those individuals who have a natural tendency to take
charge and elicit responses from their followers, but being a leader means much
more than being charming and engaging. Acquiring the skills that make a leader
takes time and energy, and a determination to succeed. The mark of a true leader is
perseverance, thriving in adversity and making light of any discomfiting situation that
confronts her. What makes a leader truly exceptional is her ability to create positive
change - change so dramatic that it may even be considered revolutionary. Changing
long-held dictums and challenging the way people think is never an easy
undertaking, but when done effectively by a strong leader, the results are
extraordinary.

No one ever said being a leader would be easy. It takes sacrifice, resilience, and
most importantly patience. Our beloved Prophet Muhammad (saws), the best of men
and leaders, sacrificed so much for the sake of Islam and was a just and patient
leader. He led by example, placing the good of his people before his own. His
complete faith and trust in Allah allowed him to rise above the challenges that
confronted him, for only through Allah’s guidance and mercy does a leader truly
succeed.

"If ye help not (your leader), (it is no matter): for Allah did indeed help him, when
the Unbelievers drove him out: he had no more than one companion; they too were
in the cave, and he said to his companion, ‘Have no fear, for Allah is with us’: then
Allah sent down His peace upon him, and strengthened him with forces which ye saw
not, and humbled to the depths the word of the Unbelievers. But the word of Allah is
exalted to the heights: for Allah is Exalted in might, Wise" (The Holy Qur’an 9:40).

When one does become a leader, however, it is her moral obligation not to abuse her
power, because her people will do whatever she wants and directs them to do.
Currently, the United States suffers international censure - a plight the American
people have to face - because of the mistakes made by the miscalculations of its
leaders. A leader must take responsibility for her actions, for the extent of the
influence that a leader holds over her people is immeasurable. Sheikh Ahmed Yassin,
the face of the Palestinian resistance movement Hamas, carried so much influence
over his people that they were willing to sacrifice their lives because he believed it
would further their movement. He was a frail, nearly-blind 73-year-old who was
paralyzed from the neck down, and yet he held so much pull over his people. Setting
aside his actions and political agenda for a moment, one cannot help but marvel at
the extent of Yassin’s power and influence, especially since Israel thought that it was
necessary to use three missiles to eliminate him.

So many leaders - even those in some "Muslim" countries - have made thoughtless and irresponsible decisions, and thus - regardless of whether they deserve it - an entire people is subsequently labeled as selfish and inhumane.

When you really think about it, leaders incite revolutions. They may not necessarily be violent or political revolutions, but some form of change does result from a leader. What is variable is whether that revolution a positive - an outcome that rests in the hands of none other than the leader and her faith and trust in Allah.

Shahtaj Siddiqui
Editor-in-Chief
Alkalima Newsmagazine