Old Crime and New Year

And so the end of another year - the end of 2017, by the Gregorian Calendar.  "Gregorian what??"  you may ask.  There are many simple things in life, like a Calendar, whose history has been  taken for granted!!

There are as many types of calendars as there are religions and customs.  The Catholic Gregorian Calendar we are using came by courtesy of Christian British  Imperialism - for it was adopted by Protestant England only in 1752, and not without protests and dissensions because Protestantism has always been suspicious of the Papacy and Catholicism; not much different from the present disengagement between the Shias and Sunnis.

The present Gregorian calendar was introduced by Pope Gregory X11 in 1582 mainly so they say, to keep Easter, which is observed on March 21  in sync with the spring equinox, something which the former Julian Calendar (as in Julius Caesar) failed to maintain.

Later in the 19th century, Japan (1873), Egypt (1875) and Korea in 1896 adopted the Gregorian calendar.  This was followed by China (1912), USSR (1918), Greece (1923) and Turkey (1926).

More interesting, Saudi Arabia also switched over in October 2016.  According to The Independent (Harry Cockburn, 4 October 2016) :

"The country had used the lunar-based Hijri Calendar since the Kingdom was founded in 1932, but has switched to the Gregorian calendar to pay civil servants."  As the Hijri calendar has 11 days shorter than the Gregorian 365 days, "the move will mean Saudi civil servants will lose 11 days of payment as salary days are cut.  It is one of many belt-tightening measure announced as the country seeks to reduce its high budget deficit".

Certainly we shall not see a clamour in Malaysia to switch to the Hijri calendar!!!

I do not want to be a wet blanket, but what is the relevance and meaning of  a "New Year" for many people in many parts of the world.  Discounting the annual fat bonuses for the fat cats, the latest revolution in mobile and car technology, the amazing radical changes in choices and of lifestyle for the ordinary folks-in-the-street like .......

........  what's more, 2017 has revealed the mother-of-all sexual predators in the shape of Harvey Weinstein seen here with two of the 21st century's most iconic personalities - Barack Obama and Gwyneth Paltrow.

Barack and Harvey - great political pals, then - to the tune of $600,000 according to UK's Daily Mail.

It's hard to keep in touch with the latest diktat of political correctness and when the former 44th President of the USA (and also the most popular head of state, as ranked in a survey by the International World Leader Index)  made this statement about his pal Harvey Weinstein .........

From the Daily Mail, 11 October 2017

..........  he erred in using such words as "girls" and "boys"  which, in this new "liberal" climate, will discourage children from recognising and acknowledging their sexual identities as being  neither fish nor fowl.

In the case of Gwyneth Paltrow, I am surprised at her ignorance of the politics of sex and success.

Gwyneth and Harvey

It's all old hat to this septuagenarian.  In my time at Singapore University and in the corridors of the teaching profession, we  girls were told, mainly by word of mouth, how to get on with getting good marks and special favours from the men-in-charge : from old and young men, ugly men, repulsive men, men of all shades of colour and religion and highly educated men especially.  They can be nasty, persuasive and wily so as to get what they want.

But then it works both ways.  For the fairer sex, sometimes, all they have to do is to give these predators a dose of manja-manja, feed their ego and more often than not it can bring some reward.  Furthermore there are women who have polished this to a fine art to get what they want and some foolish men fall for it, hook line and sinker!   But then a bigger harvest will require a great deal of 'investment' on the part of the female.

It all depends on how desperate you are to get ahead and to do so without too much effort. It also depends on how desperate you are to keep your dignity, self-pride and honour.

For women in any part of the world and from any culture who want fame and fortune in what is basically a male domain, this is the oldest game in the world!

I guess I was very fortunate because when I reached puberty, my Abah cautioned and warned me that "men are crocodiles".  That really prepared me for the rest of my post-puberty life!!


What can 2018 bring for the ordinary, quiet and decent people of the world?      I am thinking especially of the decent and suffering people of Palestine.

What is in store for their children?

More of the same in 2018?

How many more graves have to be dug?

More visits by The Grim Reaper from Israel?

How many more broken and bloody bodies in 2018?

More casualties to be treated in broken-down hospitals (not for the blues, only the reds)

The great and good of the world are mortified by the unequal distribution of wealth on this planet - how a great deal of fortune is held by a small percentage of the population.  ( In USA, 1% of families own 38.6% of the country's wealth).

So what can we make of this unequal distribution of deaths in Palestine and Israel.  In 2017 there are 8.3 million Israelis and 5 million Palestinians but which country takes the brunt of ending up as the victims, especially among the children of Palestine?

The unequal distribution of deaths.

So, roll on 2018.  Bring on the life and times of the powerful, the wealthy, the victors and the self-righteous.

Publicise the salacious and the banal.

Keep out and rationalise the violence inflicted by the powerful, and the sufferings and deaths of the powerless.


________________________________________________________________________________

I have no greetings for a Happy New Year but do read some of these links.

https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/charts/?eType=EmailBlastContent&eId=ee6cdc7e-7a25-41b5-974a-ae6ab8c9579a


https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/2017deaths/


https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/babies/


https://israelpalestinetimeline.org/children/


But so as not to be a killjoy;  to "celebrate" 2018 with a big bang, look up the following link and watch the video.

https://electronicintifada.net/blogs/ali-abunimah/israeli-army-brags-about-arresting-teenage-girl  (4video)

Furthermore, we are all aware of the norms of political correctness.  Anti-Semitism and any other antipathies must be reviled.  However compare the reaction of the authorities in France to Charlie Hebdo's anti-Islamic trash and to Youpi Bayard's omission.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/french-childrens-magazine-youpi-bayard-withdrawn-israel-not-real-country-north-korea-a8131491.html


BUT THEN, WHAT'S NEW ???? - in this new year or in previous old years and forever?

Babies and Missiles - America's Trump Ca(r)d.

A few days ago we witnessed the might and triumph of the magnificent American Avenger - that of the 45th President of the USA Donald Trump.

President Donald Trump then unilaterally attacked Syria with 59 Tomahawk Missiles - effectively dismantling 20% of Syria's airforce - a very "emotional" response by a caring father and grandfather who by the way does not care two hoots about the plight of the fellow citizens of these victims of chemical warfare in Khan Sheikhoun.  After all he  has endorsed a blanket ban on immigration from Iraq, Syria, Libya, Yemen, Sudan, and Iran.   They are all Muslim majority countries and have been and still are victims of American imperialism - especially the first four.

From Alison Weir

Will the UN and global media ever forget this drama at the UN on 5 April, performed by the American Ambassador to the UN, Nikki Haley?

May my 'umble self suggest more images for the Ambassador to parade?  They are all victims of American and Allied bombings, missile strikes and drone attacks - no grief or crocodile tears for them, no hand-wringing cry of "babies, innocent and beautiful babies."



1.

Remember Operation Shock and Awe in Iraq?

2.  When two American mothers Nikki Haley  and Samantha Power (Samantha Power was Obama's American Ambassador to the UN) stood up in the UN to challenge the 'absence of shame' and the inhumanity of Assad,  we should not forget another American "hand that rocks the cradle" - Madeleine Jana Korbel Albright, President Clinton's US Secretary of State from 1997-2001.

A financial and trade embargo was imposed on Iraq by the UN Security Council (at the behest of USA and her Allies)
to force Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait.  It lasted from 1990 to 2003.  The 2nd Gulf War, Operation Shock and Awe was carried out in 2003.

3.  And now, we have this scenario after the 59 Tomahawk (why do they use words from the Native American vocabulary, why not words like 'chainsaw' or 'Lincoln Continental' ?)  missiles that fell on Syria.

Besides the two swooners above there's the applause from a certain "foreign country" - which itself is responsible for the massacre of countless babies, and which somehow does not get tears or outcry or retribution from the likes of  Donald, Nikki, Theresa and their predecessors.

Three of the four Bakr boys killed by Israel on the Gaza beach in 2014, fleeing for their lives. (From Mondoweiss)

These are just little drops of  dead, innocent Palestinian babies in a huge ocean of  'collateral damage'.   After the last major cleanup of Gaza, groups like Save the Children could not digest the atrocities much more and they came out with this conscience-tickler,  a tad touching but not drastic enough to be accused of anti-Semitism.

What can we expect after this trumped-up farce?  For them Assad will have to go the way of Saddam Hussein and Gaddafi.  Look forward to another cliff-hanger and a pent-up bloodlust scenario in the White House as seen in the "Let's get rid of that SOB Osama"  movie clip.

Obama and Clinton have had their satisfaction - next will be Nikki Haley and Donald Trump.

CRY BABIES CRY !!!!

Hallelujah!!!!

Another Hari Raya

On 1 Syawal  as we celebrate Hari Raya it is worthwhile to re-connect with what Ramadan was all about.  To quote Shaykh Sadullah Khan (Islamicity.com 30.6.2015) :  As we undertake the physical and spiritual responsibility of fasting in the blessed month of Ramadan, we reflect on the words of our beloved Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) who said :  "Your practice of faith will not be correct unless your actions are correct, and your actions will not be considered correct unless your heart is correct."

A "correct heart" I think will find room to ponder on matters that rise above and beyond our personal needs and wants for salvation and success in this world and the hereafter.

Firstly, where are our hearts in recalling the 2014 (July to late August) attack on Gaza by the Israelis?

Israeli army reservist officer in a Jerusalem cafe wearing a T-shirt referring to the Israeli forces' operations in Gaza. From Mail Online 13 Aug 2014 

Aftermath of an Israeli Armed Forces "Operation" in Gaza last year.

"Home sweet home" in Gaza after the Israeli forces left.

Compassion fatigue??

That should not be part of the Muslim's vocabulary.  Especially during Ramadan when we are supposed to  feel empathy with the poor and hungry of the world, where is our belas kasihan  

and Sedekah  for this forsaken land and people?

Please, please do not repeat this rejoinder from worshippers at a surau in Johor during the attacks on Bosnian Muslims by Christian Serbs (1992-1994): "This is God's punishment on them because they are not good Muslims!"

Here's a little snippet on how Gazans prepare for Ramadan.  It bears comparison to the forgotten flood victims in Kelantan.

Secondly, closer to home.    Malaysia is a rich nation, compared to many Third World countries. Bangla Deshis, Indonesians, Cambodians, Nepalis, Vietnamese, Sri Lankans, Myanmarese, and Indians flock to Malaysia for employment and sometimes settlement (legal or illegal).

Why then - seven months after the devastation of the east coast by the floods of December 2014 - are these victims still homeless, still living like the flotsam and jetsam after the floods?

No, this is not a Poster for "Visit Malaysia Year"  - it's a family, victims of last year's floods,  berbuka puasa in their tent.

As for the 80,000 who attended the PM's Open House,  the 30,000 guests of the DPM and the 20,000 at the Johor ruler's palace, how do you fancy a visit to this family to wish them Selamat Hari Raya?

This neglect is CRIMINAL!    Shame on you Malaysia!

I wonder, if this catastrophe had occurred in the plush and wealthy parts of Kuala Lumpur or Georgetown or Johor Baru, would the picture, seven months later. be the same??

How many committee meetings and ceramahs would it take to bring an end to this ignominy?

On this 2015 Hari Raya, nothing rhymes.

Top 10 tips for happiness by Pope Francis

Speaking in the Argentine Weekly "Viva" this week  ( which was also the second(?) or third (?) week of the massacre in Gaza)  Pope Francis shared with the world his recipe for happiness.

Readhttp://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/pope-francis-issues-top-10-tips-for-happiness-9639488.html

1.  ' Live and let live '  which is similar to the saying in Rome ' Move forward and let others do the same."

Image 1

I think it very much depends on who is holding the gun and the money-bag.


2.   "Be giving of yourself to others."   People need to be open and generous ......

Image 2.  "We are left with nothing.  Our vocabulary is full of words:demolition, detention, beatings, killings and closures."  From War on Want, Association of Gaza Artists.  I bought a series of these postcards in the early 1990s.

Well, the Palestinians have been very giving ; of their land, their homes, their livelihood, their children and their lives.


3.  "Proceed calmly in life"

Image 3.  Mor Ostrovski, an Israeli Defence (?) Force (IDF) sniper,  calmly aiming at the back of the head of a Palestinian boy.

Read http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/02/18/israeli-sniper-photo-child-crosshairs-instagram_n_2711977.html

It's easy to be calm when you are holding the gun and clutching the money-bag.


4.  A healthy sense of leisure.  The Pope said  "consumerism has brought us anxiety."

Here's a picture of fulfilling consumerism.

Image 4.  " Spot the baby in the buggy!"  A mother doing her post - Christmas Sale shopping in Leicester.  Picture from the Daily Mail.

 The Pope further added, " ... set aside time to play with the children and turn off the TV when they sit down to eat."

 Looking for sustenance in the rubbish dump in Catholic Philippines.

As for eating in front of the TV, the urban poor of the Philippines survive on food scraps from trash bags.

Read  http://edition.cnn.com/2012/04/30/world/asia/philippines-pagpag-slums/

For the past month or so,  there should be a warning sign about watching TV while eating.  You may just about throw out your stomach contents if you are confronted with this.

 5.   Sundays should be holidays.  Sunday is for family.

As for the families of these children, there will be no dinners on Sunday or Monday or Tuesday etc, etc  only grief and heartache.

As for this Rabbi, he has chosen which children do not deserve the Pope's vision of a family Sunday.

6.  Find innovative ways to create dignified jobs for young people.

Young Palestinians will not face unemployment problems because they have been culled by the Zionists.  For those who survive, there won't be problems like 'drug addiction' and 'suicide' which was referred to by the Pope.  They just live in abject poverty and fear and degradation.

Perhaps the Pope was thinking of young people in United Kingdom, a nation who are great friends of Israel. Their young people have no worries over their tomorrows.

 7.  Respect and take care of nature.  Environmental degradation " is one of the biggest challenges we have."

Often on my trips to New Zealand to visit the spouse's relatives, I have to endure questions or comments about how terrible Malaysia is with regards  to deforestation and environmental vandalism.  But when I observe how treeless NZ is - and how sheep are more populous than humans, I reckon they take the prize for hypocrisy when it comes to deforestation.

Read  http://envirohistorynz.com/2012/08/05/burning-new-zealands-forests/

According to the above article, one small burn-off of forest on the east coast of North Island, in the 1900s, destroyed 30,000 acres of indigenous forest.  We are rapped on the knuckles for cutting the forests for oil palm, the Kiwis do it for sheep.  We are regarded as vandals when the slash and burn technique is used for forest clearance.  Well, the Kiwis did it many, many years ago as from the 1900s because they found this technique  low-cost and efficient.   According to the same article " the rate of forest loss in NZ is the highest in the world."  So, 'goosey-goosey gander, whither shall you wander?  Upstairs and downstairs in the master's chamber.'

I took this photograph of a forest clearance on the road somewhere between Kuching and Lubok Hantu in the mid-1980s.

Now take a look at this one.

The image above shows a clear-cut forest in Oregon (Credit Calibas).

Read http://www.americanforests.org/magazine/article/north-american-forests-in-the-age-of-man/

And here's another self-righteous "green" country - Great Britain - selling off their woodland "to meet financial targets imposed by successive governments."

Read  http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/revealed-the-true-scale-of-britains-woodland-selloff-6278861.html

Sermon for the Day:  People who live in glass-houses should not throw stones.


8.  Stop being negative.  "Needing to talk badly about others indicates low self-esteem."  That means "I feel so low that instead of picking myself up I have to cut others down."

Image 6

Image 6A

Oh dear, if the two groups above do what they do because they suffer from low esteem, where do the Gazans fit in?  According to the Israelis they are no different from cockroaches.



9.  Don't proselytize:  respect other's beliefs.  Bravo, Bravo, Bravo!!!
 -
Long, long ago Christian missionaries came on the coat-tails of Western Imperialism to convert heathens, but especially Muslims to Catholicism and later Protestantism.

See http://anaksihamid.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-camel-and-arab-metaphor-for-allah.html

Today we do not see any less fervour in capturing the souls of  Muslims and others.  The method may have changed but the desire and objectives remain the same.

Read  http://www.christianitytoday.com/ct/2002/september9/1.34.html?paging=off

Sermon forToday :  Fine Words Butter no Parsnips.


10.  Work for Peace. " We are living in a time of many wars."

Peace will not come if there is no Justice.

The Pope further added, " the call for peace must be shouted."  It all depends on who shouts the loudest and on what and whose terms?

The British, the Balfour Treaty and the Zionist State of Israel.

Image 7

Image 8

Image 9

Finally, my gratitude to the Pope for showing me the path to happiness.  I do apologize if  my translation seems jaundiced and unpalatable.  But we do not live in a fair and promising world - especially for the Palestinians and Gazans and many, many others.




                                                  ******************************

I do recommend Mohammed Jehan Khan's blog  http://mohammedjehankhan.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/understanding-israel-history-facts-and-quotes/

It is one of the best on Palestine and Zionism.  Furthermore, he draws his own cartoons - a remarkable young man - wish we could have a homegrown version like him.  Images 1, 4A, 6, 6A, 7, 8, and 9 were taken from his blog.  Thank you Mohammed Jehan Khan.

Cull of 2012 - Part 3c (1987-2012) - Finale

9.  With the Arab nations more or less emasculated by this time and the breakup of the USSR following Gorbachov's Glasnost and Perestroika in the late 1980s, Yasser Arafat and the PLO were now on their own.  The Russian Army had to withdraw from their 'adventure' in Afghanistan (1979-1984) and the symbolic fall of the Berlin Wall in November 1989 left the world with only one superpower.  This strengthened Israel: now with guaranteed support from secular and Christian Zionist US, it had a freer hand in the Middle East.

      The Uprising or the First Intifada against the Occupation of Palestinian territories went on between  1987 - 1993.  It was basically a battle between Israeli tanks and Palestinian stones.  Despite the imbalance in military might between Israel and Palestine, Israel had no problem in winning the hearts and minds of the western media.  It was very easy for Israel to get moral support following "attacks" by Palestinian "terrorists" on its citizens at home and abroad.  Such "incursions" on the health and safety of the Israelis were picked up by the Western media to demonise not just the Palestinian cause but Islam as a whole.  Israel's brutality in the Occupied Territories went unnoticed.

      But if we look back in history, is there really any  difference between the Palestinians' tenacity to fight against  Israeli occupation  and Britain's determination in the Second World War when the Nazis got close to their doorsteps and  they lived in fear of German occupation?

      In 1938, David Ben Gurion observed:

      Let us not ignore the truth among ourselves ..... politically we are the aggressors and they defend themselves ...... The country is theirs, because they inhabit it, whereas we want to come here and settle down, and in their view we want to take away from them their country.
                                                                        (quoted in Chomsky: Fateful Triangle, p. 91-92)              

      And 51 years later, Benyamin Netanyahu, then Israeli Deputy Minister, said this to students at Bar Ilan University:

      Israel should have exploited the repression of demonstrations in China, when world attention focused on that country, to carry out mass expulsions, among the Arabs of the territories.
                                                                   (quoted in the Israeli journal Hotam, Nov.24,1989)

10.  Arafat and Yitzak Shamir signed the Oslo Accord in  1993.  The Israeli PM was soon after assassinated by an  'extremist' Israeli for signing the peace treaty.


11.  Then in 1994, another domino dropped out.  Jordan signed an agreement with Israel.  Also in this year Dr Baruch Goldstein, a New Yorker  Jew, went on a killing spree and shot dead 29 Palestinians at prayer and injured 125 at the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron.    He was not at fault, of course: he was of "unsound mind".


12.  The Second Intifada  (2000 - 2005 )  witnessed a marked escalation of violence.  It saw a tit-for-tat sequence of attacks and counter attacks.  Suicide bombers, hand grenades, light arms, and Qassam rockets were pitted against Israel's tanks, tractors, helicopter gunships and (from May 2001) warplanes - last used in the 1967 War.

      Palestinians called this the Al Aqsa Intifada, because it was provoked by Ariel Sharon's "visit" to the Temple Mount.      But it was more than a visit:  it was a provocative act on Sharon's part to "assert the rights of all Israelis to visit the Temple". He came with his Likud Party supporters and armed bodyguards.    This triggered the 5 years of bloodshed in the West Bank, resulting in the deaths of 1,053 Israeli civilians and 4,789 Palestinians(according to Israel sources).      (Sharon, of course, was no stranger to dirty work: about this time, the Kahan Commission declared him responsible for the massacre at Sabra and Shatila.   He resigned as Defence Minister only after an Israeli died during a demonstration against his policies).

      As part of Israel's reprisals during this Intifada  ( Israel described it as "Operation Defensive Shield" ),  the refugee camp of Jenin in the north of the West Bank was invaded in April 2002.   The BBC reported that ten percent of the Camp was  'virtually rubbed out by a dozen armoured Israel bulldozers'.  Many residents, given no warning, were buried alive.  According to Human Rights Watch, 4,000 people, a quarter of Jenin's residents, were left homeless.

      The death of Rachel Corrie ( an activist from the US)  run down by an Israeli bulldozer in 2003 hit the world's headlines, a story that did not go down well for the Israelis.  But there were also other fatalities like 57 year old wheel-chair bound Kamal Zugheir who was shot and then flattened by IDF tanks and the quadraplegic Jamal Fayid who was crushed to death in the rubble of his home when the IDF bulldozer refused permission for his family to attempt a rescue.  I can imagine the media's attention if they had been Israelis.


      In 2004, Yasser Arafat died from a sudden illness - a big loss for a people who had depended on his leadership for three decades.     It was claimed that he was assassinated by poisoning - but it took eight years before this was taken seriously and Arafat's body was exhumed for tests.     (As for Ariel Sharon, he has been in a coma since January 2006).

      This period also saw the break between the Palestinian Authority and Hamas.   A political fracture between the Palestinians was perhaps an expected consequence of a people, a country and an economy broken apart by wars and siege, and subjected to massive outside interference.     Hamas won the 2006 General Election in Gaza, but their democratic victory only sparked outrage and sanctions from the Americans and Israelis.

13.  Closer to our memory is Operation Cast Lead of  2008/2009,  which used as its justification  rockets fired into Israel from Gaza.

      But it is worth noting that just two months before this began, a crucial piece of legislation became the law in the US.    In October 2008, George Bush signed into law the Naval Vessel Transfer Act.  Behind its modest title, this Act had a momentous significance for Israel.  It placed every US President under a legal obligation to ensure that Israel maintains its military dominance in the Middle East.  Giving Israel its "Qualitative Military Edge" had been US foreign policy for at least 40 years - it had now become law. Where does that place President Obama?

The following graphs and image  illustrate the actual danger the Israelis were facing.

The impact on Gaza and her inhabitants was designed to be brutal and the viciousness of the Israelis was too much for even some of her allies and sympathizers.


14.  Then in November 2012 came Operation Pillar of Defence.  Again a brutal response to rocket attacks from Gaza but not before Israel had broken an informal ceasefire by assassinating Hamas military commander Ahmed Jabari on 13 November 2012.  According to Israeli peace activist Gershon Baskin, Jabari was murdered just hours after he had received the draft of a permanent truce agreement with Israel ."

      To punish their enemy, the Palestinians may blow themselves up as well - and sometimes innocents are caught in the event.      The Israelis are masters of the same objective, but with a very different modus operandi - and with far greater "collateral damage".    From the 1950s  to the 2010s, Israel's Mossad and other security agencies assassinated 78 people - mainly Palestinians -  in Palestine itself or overseas.  But thousands of others - in Gaza especially - have been the innocent "collateral damage".      But in the language of drone warfare, such innocent victims are mere "bug splats" - the Israelis, after all, view the Palestinians as  "cockroaches", to be squashed out of existence.

      Israeli contempt for the Palestinians is unconcealed.    Israel's Deputy PM and Foreign Minister said, "We must blow Gaza back to the Middle Ages."

      However, Ariel Sharon's son Gilad put it more eloquently,  "We need to flatten all of Gaza.  The Americans didn't stop with Hiroshima.  The Japanese weren't surrendering fast enough so they hit Nagasaki too.  There should be no electricity in Gaza, no gasoline or moving vehicles.  Nothing."

But these attacks are not all.  Palestinians are also victims of what Twain described as 'The Long Terror' of sanctions, blockades - especially for Gaza where essential medicines, food and educational supplies and fuel are still arbitrarily subject to Israel's whims.

In the West Bank, since the 1967 War, the Israelis carry on with their Land Grab and illegal settlements - in the name of Eretz Israel ( Greater Israel ).  I shall let the figures speak for themselves.  In the West Bank (excluding Jerusalem) there were 480 settlers in 1948 - by 2009 there were 304,569.  In East Jerusalem,  the number of settlers increased from 2,300 in 1948 to 192,000 in 2009.

The details can be seen here.

According to Ariel Sharon in 1989,  "Everybody has to move, run and grab as many (Palestinian) hilltops as they can to enlarge the (Jewish) settlements because everything we take now will stay ours  ..... Everything we don't grab will go to them." - same source as the earlier Sharon quote.

In the above map, firstly note the little black triangles which represent illegal Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Let me end with the Apartheid Wall  in the West Bank - indicated by a red line in the map above.

The Wall is more sophisticated than the old-fashioned barbed wires and serves the purpose of corralling the Palestinians in the West Bank in the world's largest prison.  Palestine is not even a single territory - it is now a poignant collection of divided and helpless pieces of humanity.

                                   ----------------------------------------------

EPILOGUE

      We are always asked to remember, and rightly so, the holocausts of the past.  In the same way we should not turn our backs on the Palestinians' Long Terror.  After the bloodbath in Gaza in 2008/2009 we made a little extra effort to find ways to beat this terror.    But we must try much harder.

       So I'm posting this video by Lowkey an activist (recently retired) of mixed English and Iraqi descent.  I hope his style and his lyrics will knock  some reality into the minds of our cosy, comfortable youngsters.



Unlike Israel, no one will sponsor the Palestinians with US$7 million a day.  But if each Muslim adult in Malaysia would donate MYR2 each year and every year, we could see more hospitals and schools and public amenities constructed in  the West Bank and Gaza. After all, a drink at Starbucks and a basic burger and fries at MacDonalds cost more than MYR2.

I would also hope that the young ones in my family in Malaysia  (for whom I am writing this post) will make this little effort.  I know that my niece Maria gets her children to donate a portion of their Duit Raya to orphanages in Kuala Lumpur.  It would be wonderful if cucusiHamid could get cicitsiHamid to do the same for the children of Palestine.

 And if this gift is multiplied by another 100 children, 1,000 children and so on - and together with their parents' contribution - then indeed we abide by our Prophet's pbuh  call.

None of you will have faith until he wishes for his brother what he likes for himself.

It is not a matter of Charity but a matter of Faith.