Here's another great piece of article written by renowned law professor, Dr. Shad Saleem Faruqi in today's The Star . Going to the roots of the conflict. If Israel has a right of self defence, so do the starving beleaguered people of Palestine who are the victims of state terrorism and economic strangulation. IN many Western capitals including Washington and Paris, and in some Malaysian minds, there is, regrettably, no sense of outrage at the three-week carnage that took place in Gaza beginning Dec 27. I have heard Malaysians say that Israel cannot be expected to sit idly by as Hamas fighters shoot rockets at innocent Israeli citizens. Indeed, any sovereign nation is entitled under Article 51 of the UN Charter to defend its sovereignty against an armed attack. However, this right of self defence in international law is available only to a state that is under unlawful attack. It is not available to one that is itself an aggressor; that is in unlawful occupation of another land;

Some quotable quotes of Obama's inauguration speech taken from the Internet. " President Obama's first call 'was to President Abbas ' President Obama placed the Middle East at the forefront of his first hours in office yesterday as he sought to make good on his promise of “ushering in a new era of peace.” - Haber27.com "United States President Barack Obama is expected to sign an executive order Thursday to close the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba within a year ." - Bernama.com "Mr Obama, who was sworn in using his full name of Barack Hussein Obama, also spoke directly to those of the Islamic faith, seeking to separate Muslim moderates from Islamist extremists. During the election campaign, Mr Obama said he would travel to a Muslim country in the first 100 days of his presidency. Malaysia, Indonesia and Morocco are understood to be under consideration. " - Telegraph.co.uk Read President Obama's Inauguration Speech in full While I do not want t

Some of my random postings on the Palestine-Israel issue on the local blogosphere. 1. On Hamas rocket attacks on the Jewish settlements; ..As you are aware, West Bank and Gaza is under full Israeli military occupation. Israel controls all land and sea borders. There is no freedom of movement. Their basic rights were denied. Do you expect no resistance at all to all these? Obviously, Hamas knew that their Qassam rockets are nothing compared to the Israeli military might, but what they did was a show of defiance. This is absolutely natural in any fight against colonialism. Furthermore, note that most of the Hamas rockets were targetted at Jewish settlements within Palestinian territories - which was not suppose to be there in the first place! It doesn't make sense for you to build houses in somebody else's territory and expect to live there in peace, do you? Check this out to see how "terrible" the impact caused by the rockets. Something which the Israel used to justify

Kuala Terengganu Crystal mosque. (source: The Star ) So, BN has lost yet another parliamentary seat in less than a year, plus the other two seats previously held by the Sabah based party, SAPP. BN and UMNO leaders should come to their senses and realize that after the 8 March political Tsunami, Permatang Pauh and now Kuala Terengganu, the widely perceived perception is that the people rejected them. After all, perception is more important than the real truth in politics. Personally, I do not think that Najib has the credibility or strong political will to carry out the necessary reforms for BN and UMNO. Even as Deputy PM, he has yet to prove that he is really up for the number one job. Politically, the best thing that I can foresee Najib can do is perhaps to be able to reunite the many factions within UMNO, especially those from the anti-Pak Lah group. UMNO is seriously in a total mess. There is also this huge generation gap between the old leaders and the younger generation and it

More Palestinian cartoons at bendib.com/palestine The article below is by far one of the best analysis on the current Palestine-Israel conflict published in our mainstream media ( NST ). I like the way ISIS CEO, Tan Sri Jawhar Hassan put his views in condemning the Israeli aggression and the way he discerns facts from lies. I also find it intriguing to read the strong words put forth in the article. E.g. commenting on Israel's massive worldwide propaganda - "It is the corruption of truth on a colossal scale." "The real issues are 40 years of illegal occupation , relentlessly expanding illegal settlements, suffocating blockades , closed border crossings, countless UN resolutions contemptuously ignored and violated , and disproportionate and indiscriminate use of overwhelming military force ." "The world must end this gruesome charade and stop Israel from perpetuating this grave injustice. Israel cannot be persuaded. It must be forced to return to its 1967

As mentioned previously, here are some pictures at the " Myth and Reality in Occupied Palestine " forum held in the Bar Council Auditorium, Jalan Lebuh Pasar, Kuala Lumpur. For more details and summary of the event scroll down to previous blog entry . L-R: Hishamuddin Rais , Prof. Gurdial Singh Nijar, Dr. Rosli Omar Dr. Farish Noor "Queer/Feminist Bloc for the Freedom of Palestine" The accidental reunion of 6 Jejarum 1995, Sri Subang ! Hehe. L-R: Fareisha, Sara, unidentified person, the blogger , afzan

Myth and Reality in Occupied Palestine forum, Bar Council Auditorium, Kuala Lumpur (9 January 2009). I'll probably post some of the pictures at the 'Myth & Reality in Occupied Palestine' forum, hopefully soon. It was a great night. Dr. Farish Noor was arguably the best speaker at the forum. Thankfully he made it on time to reach KL from Singapore to attend the forum. In summary, Dr. Farish first talked about the Liberal Conscience and how it tends to delay actions. He spoke of how the American so-called global 'War on Terror' were being transplanted into the context of Gaza. Another point was that the Palestinians in Gaza are the colonized people, therefore, wouldn't colonized people fight against their oppressor? Dr Farish then made clear distinguish between 'fight for victory' and symbol of defiance by Hamas. From another perspective, he said that history should not and cannot be used to justify the Israeli actions. The ancient Kingdom of David a

U.S. Media and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict I Part II Thanks to Yasmin Ahmad for sharing these excellent documentary videos in her blog. She also appeared live on Gala TV on Malaysia's CNN channel, Astro Awani last night where she talked about the Palestinian-Israeli conflict videos (above) posted in her blog and also on the SMS by Dr Jemilah of Mercy Malaysia regarding the current state of affairs in Gaza and the situation in Egypt border where the Mercy Malaysia team are currently stationed. Palestinian issue aside, I think it's pretty amazing to see how influential blogs can be nowadays. In the early days, bloggers used to pick up news from the media and post up analysis or comments, but now it seems to be the other way round. The media are now contacting bloggers to discuss about their blog posts. So, out of curiosity, I visited Yasmin's blog to watch the videos and I think it is probably the best video on the Palestinian-Israeli conflict that I have ever watched,

Prof. Dr. Chandra Muzaffar has yet again written an excellent piece of article in his NST Saturday column with regard to the Gaza air strikes by the Israeli regime. To understand the issues behind the Israeli onslaught better, Dr. Chandra has outlined at least five key points of the conflict, which according to him, the mainstream media has not highlighted. One, even after the so-called Israeli "withdrawal" from Gaza in August 2005, the Israeli army has conducted numerous raids and air strikes in Gaza in the name of fighting "terrorism" which have killed hundreds of civilians including women and children. These assaults intensified after Hamas captured the Palestinian Legislative Council in a free and fair election in January 2006. When Hamas ousted its rival Fatah from Gaza in June 2007, Israel went all out to destroy Hamas through military and non-military means. Two, in spite of Israeli attacks, Hamas, a few violations notwithstanding, observed its June 2008 truc

A compilation of Israeli flags burned all over the world; from Malaysia, India, to the Middle East and Africa and from England to Peru. And in many other parts, the peace loving people of the world, including the Anti-Zionist Orthodox Jews gathered and protested against the Israeli air strikes in Gaza. Burn, burn down the Zionist flag! Johor Bharu, Malaysia ( The Star ) London, England ( Times Online ) Lima, Peru ( Times Online ) Mombasa, Kenya ( Daily Nation ) Cairo, Egypt ( AlArabiya.net ) Amman, Jordan ( UK Reuters ) Baghdad, Iraq ( AFP ) Kuwait City, Kuwait ( AFP ) Kabul, Afghanistan ( AFP ) New Delhi, India ( Times Online ) Last but not least, picture of protest by the Neturei Karta or the Jews Against Zionism group based in New York. New York, USA Some interesting facts about the Anti Zionist Jews organization taken from their website; 1. Neturei Karta oppose the so-called "State of Israel" not because it operates secularly, but because the entire concept of a sovereign

I kick-started the new year by attending Azidi Ameran and Shalin Zulkifli's wedding reception at Shah Alam today. Azidi's mother is mom's former colleague in a local uni, so that's how we got the invitation. Here are some pictures. :) wedding reception at Azidi's house in Shah Alam silat performance before the bride and groom Ayam masywi or "ayam golek". Our local version of Kenny Rogers Roasters Related news - The Star: Shalin seals 14-year relationship with Azidi