Prof. Sami al-Arian fired for speeches made in 1991, support for Palestine
Prof. Mazen al-Najjar Deported: No fault found After Years of Torment
[Message from New Secretary General of Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
[Hispanic Activist Joins Human Rights Group of Jamaat al-Muslimeen]
Palestinian Women in Israeli Prisons: Body Searches by Jews
33rd Anniversary of Jewish attempt to burn down Al-Aqsa

Prof. Sami Al-Arian has been fired from his tenured position at a university in Florida. It's such a high profile case that the notorious Governor of Florida, Jeb Bush, has openly come out against Prof. Arian.

The major media have been showing clips of speeches Prof. Arian made in 1991 in which he is seen urging resistance to Israel.

The witch hunt ending in the firing of a tenured professor began when Prof. Arian accepted an invitation from extreme right winger O'Reilly to appear on his show on Fox News. O'Reilly surprised Prof. Arian with accusations of connection/association with terrorists. After the show, Prof. Arian's university started receiving death threats for him, probably from Jews and Christian fundamentalists.

The university president has kow towed to Arian's attackers by coming up with this twisted logic that owing to the death threats, it would be a problem to keep Arian at his job.

Prof. Arian is fighting back with an attorney.
---------------------------------------------------------
Connected with the "terrorist by association" attack on Prof. Al-Arian, is the tragic conclusion to the long fight put up by Prof. Mazen Al-Najjar. He was imprisoned for years for the same kind of guilt by association. The FBI could find nothing against him. The case was thrown out but the U.S. is in a war against Islam. Without any legal reasons whatever, Prof. Al-Najjar has finally been deported.
-----------------------------------------------------------
EGYPTIAN DISSIDENT AHMED ‘ABDEL SATTAR'S CASE WILL COME UP FOR HEARING in Manhattan federal court on August 29 at 11 a.m. He is a U.S. citizen accused of passing messages to the Egyptian resistance movement opposing the murderous regime of Hosni Mubarak, the dictator of Egypt who is working closely with the White House to stay in power.
------------------------------------------------------
Br. Sulaiman Solano, prominent activist from the Hispanic community, who lives in Brownsville, Texas has joined Jamaat al-Muslimeen's Human Rights Committee for Imam Jamil al-Amin and Shaikh Omar Abdel Rahman. Inshallah, he will start his work on September 1.
-------------------------------------------------------
The new SECRETARY GENERAL of Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Sis. Motisola M. Abdallah, has started her work with the following message in which she introduces herself and her concept of the work to be done:
As salaamu alaikum,

I am truly grateful to Allah for allowing me to be Secretary General of Jamaat al-Muslimeen. I am grateful to the pioneers of Jamaat al-Muslimeen for the many sacrifices they endured to keep JAM alive and fighting thus far and I am grateful to Sister Ashira, former Secretary General, for her tireless efforts and valuable service to Jamaat al-Muslimeen.

My becoming Secretary General is a position and purpose that I take seriously and will carry out vigorously and tirelessly for the sake of Allah. It has been a purpose that has been decades in the making. Allah has a purpose for each and every one of us and it is our duty to seek His guidance to have that purpose revealed.

For almost 30 years, I have been on the battlefield fighting against the ills affecting my community and the poor. I knew not where my efforts were taking me or even why I continue to strive so hard for others. When I looked around and saw the oppression and the degradation, poverty and racism, something inside me became so strong and would not allow me to keep quiet about such issues.

Since the age of 6 or 7, I have questioned the status quo when everyone else seemingly accepted it to be true and just. After coming into the wonderful, peaceful, loving folds of Islam, I wondered why we as a people were not assisting those who were down-trodden, oppressed and unjustly condemned for just being who we are.

My vision and goal for Jamaat al-Muslimeen is first to double our efforts, our resources, supporters, and members. We must continue with more fervor to build our lives, our communities and our Masjids.

Jamaat al-Muslimeen is the way of Qur'an and Sunnah. Our way of life is in and on the minds of everyone around the world. How they see us, is how and who we see ourselves as. We must smash the hell out of falsehood about Islam and our way of life and also recognize it for what it is, The people of the book fear our fearless, moral, peaceful and just way of life.

Most of the world is at the highest immoral and decadent stage of life they can reach, greatly because of the way it treats and views its women. Islam can and will be the way out of what I firmly believe are the ills that the world does not know how to stop.

Even in the face of 911 we can and will be victorious with gaining our freedom, our justice and our rights if each of us practices what our Rabb enjoins on us. Fighting against oppression is prescribed for us. We must continue to support and work with those non-Muslims who support and work for and with us.

One of the best vehicles for disseminating information with truth and no fear is the New Trend Magazine. I would ask that each of you each week and at every opportunity to get this magazine in the hands of our fellow Muslims. New Trend Magazine is the only Muslim publication that prints the truth fearlessly and honestly with evidence from the Qur'an and Sunnah.

There are many issues we have to focus on and spend our time and resources on that we must not allow 911 to divert our attention from. Countless thousands of us have stories to tell of horror and oppression that equals and surpasses 911. Our political prisoners, our charity funds, our constitutional rights, our civil rights, our religious rights, and much more should be our highest priority. Westernized evils must not have us lose sight of our values.

Also, important is that we invest in strong, courageous and loving families. Keep the family strong in deen, self-esteem, equal respect and value for all members of the family in which to serve Allah and to fight against oppression now and in the future.

I am here with love and support for you and I pray we are here for each other. Let me know how I can serve you. Let me hear how and what you are doing. Remember to fight for the rights of our political prisoners and help our refugees. Any one of us at any time could become one.

My mailing address:

Sister Motisola Malikha Abdallah
Ste 1128
3695F Cascade Rd
Atlanta, GA 30331
motisola_3@hotmail.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------
FIFTY WOMEN (6 of them minors) in Israeli Prisons
[Information sent by IAP, Palos Hills, Illinois]
Palestinian female detainees in Israeli prisons are ill-treated. Today, fifty Palestinian women are imprisoned in Israeli prisons and detention centers. Forty female detainees are detained at al-Ramle prison, including six minors. The other female detainees are detained in al- Jalameh and the Russian Compound ('Moscowbiya').

Prison conditions in Ramle do not meet the basic minimum standards. Palestinian female detainees are exposed to humiliating body searches. Those who refuse to undergo this humiliating search are being handcuffed, with the hands on the back, and forced to take off their clothes. There have been cases when Palestinian female detainees were threatened being stripped and searched by Israeli male guards and solitary confinement. Inspections of the cells of Palestinian female detainees are done in an aggressive manner, properties are thrown on the floor, to be left for the detainees to clean up.

Palestinian female detainees are exposed to humiliation, degradation and verbal harassment from Israeli prison guards and Israeli criminal prisoners. Only a metal fence separates political prisoners from criminal prisoners. This has especially a negative effect in terms of psychological problems, in particular, on the detained Palestinian minors. There are only seven cells in Ramle prison. Each cell hosts five to seven Palestinian female detainees. Recess periods depend on the relation between the prison authority and prisoners. Regularly, recess periods for Palestinian female detainees have been reduced or banned completely.

Medical treatment is poor. There is a physician at Ramle prison, but since she is Russian, she does not speak or understand Arabic, which makes it impossible treating psychological problems, which has, in particular, a negative effect on minors. The female detainees are in general not allowed to call their families. Even in the case of Palestinian female detainee is allowed to call her family, the prison authorities record the phone call. She is not allowed to inform her family that the phone conversation is recorded. Palestinian female detainees with Westbank identity cards are prevented from family visits. Family visits are only allowed for female prisoners who carry a Jerusalem identity card.

On Monday, July 29, waste water flooded into the prison cells. Prison guards assaulted the Palestinian female prisoners with teargas grenades and two of the female prisoners fainted. This assault followed a request by the Palestinian female prisoners at the prison authorities of Ramle prison to do something about this.

Prison guards broke into their cells and transferred Amna Mona to al- Jalami prison, and Suad Ghazal (18), who was arrested at the age of 15, to Abu Kbir detention center, and Ahlam al-Tamimi to the Russian Compound ('Moscowbiya') in Jerusalem. The prison authorities placed a number of Palestinian female prisoners in solitary confinement as a punitive measure for protesting the transfer of the three female prisoners. Subsequently, the Palestinian female prisoners started a hungerstrike, which lasted until August 16. As a punitive measure, nine other Palestinian female detainees were held in solitary confinement and Palestinian female prisoners carrying a Jerusalem identity card were also prevented from family visits.

LAW is deeply concerned about the inhuman and degrading treatment of Palestinian female prisoners in Ramle prison. In the same way that Israel is accountable under international law for preventing torture and ill- treatment, it is also required to uphold prisoners' privacy rights as codified in article 17 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

The Fourth Geneva Convention clearly prohibits the transfer of Palestinian detainees from the Occupied Palestinian Territories to Israel. Article 76 states that 'Protected persons accused of offences shall be detained in the occupied country, and if convicted they shall serve their sentences therein'.

Israel's treatment of Palestinian detainees does not meet the United Nations Standard Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, the Body of Principles for the Protection of All Persons Under Any Form of Detention or Imprisonment, and the Basic Principles for the Treatment of Prisoners. These instruments are binding on Israel to the extent that the norms set out in them explicate the broader standards contained in human rights treaties. LAW further calls on the Israeli government to ensure that the rights of detainees are protected in accordance with international human rights and humanitarian law. Moreover, LAW calls on the international community, in particular the member states of the European Union to ensure Israel's respect for the Fourth Geneva Convention and to live up to their legal obligations.

LAW is gravely concerned about the fate of thousands of Palestinian political prisoners who are still in custody, without charge or trial, often under administrative detention orders which may be renewed indefinitely. There is strong evidence that the majority of those detained have been arbitrarily detained, and that thousands of Palestinians have been rounded up, humiliated, ill-treated and held in poor conditions as a collective punishment.
_____________________________
Written by:
LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment is a non-governmental organization dedicated to preserving human rights through legal advocacy. LAW is affiliate to the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ), the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH), and the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT).

LAW - The Palestinian Society for the Protection of Human Rights and the Environment,
PO Box 20873, Jerusalem, tel. +972-2-5833530, fax. +972-2-5833317,
email: law@lawsociety.org,
web: www.lawsociety.org
------------------------------------
From Imam Badi Ali, Greensboro, NC
33rd anniversary of Al-Aqsa Mosque's burning

Wednesday, August 21 was the 33rd anniversary of the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque by Zionist thugs.

On that day in 1969 Zionist aggressors set fire to Al-Aqsa, the first Qibla and the third holiest mosque in Islam, in an attempt to destroy all Islamic landmarks in occupied Palestine.

Muslims all over the world remember this horrendous crime with great anger. Zionist gangs acted with the support of Israeli occupation forces, violating all laws, rules and international resolutions that provide the holy city with special rights and special status in order to preserve all its Islamic cultural landmarks. The criminal act which drew international condemnation gutted the east wing known as the Mosque of Omar, the south ceiling of the Mosque, the Mihrab of Salahuddin and the pulpit of Sultan Nuruddin.

All Arab and Islamic summits as well as conferences of Non-Aligned Movement and the United Nations issued resolutions denouncing the barbarous Zionist crime and aggression both in Jerusalem and in other occupied Palestinian territories. There were calls for the withdrawal of Israeli occupation forces from the occupied Arab territories, one of which is Holy Jerusalem.

The crime of setting fire to the Al-Aqsa Mosque was part of the ongoing Israeli aggressions against the mosque. Israeli occupation authorities have consistently adopted an aggressive policy toward Al-Aqsa Mosque and the holy city of Jerusalem.

In 1969 they demolished the Al Magharba quarter near the Mosque along with a number of other mosques and Islamic schools founded during the Omayyad period. After the occupation of Jerusalem in 1967, Israeli authorities demolished all old Islamic buildings surrounding the Al-Aqsa Mosque with the aim of changing and removing all Islamic landmarks in the city.

The Israeli aggression included building roads at Muslim cemeteries near the Al-Aqsa Mosque and carrying out excavation works in some of them, including Al-Rahma and Al-Yousufiya, and seizing other sites in Jerusalem and transforming them into Zionist military barracks.

Israel continues its attempts to judaize Jerusalem, adopting illegal methods that include the confiscation of Palestinian lands and properties and applying oppressive and aggressive methods against Arab and Muslim inhabitants.

The Israeli government has also promoted Jewish settlements in Jerusalem and encouraged the immigration of Jews from all over the world. With this in mind, Israeli settlers killed and wounded unarmed Palestinian worshipers inside the Ibrahim Mosque in Hebron on the West Bank in 1994.

The anniversary of the burning of the Al-Aqsa Mosque comes this year at a time when Israel is still reluctant to implement peace agreements in spite of the great flexibility shown by the Palestinians. Arab countries have also offered to recognize Israel in return for a total Israeli withdrawal from occupied Arab territories.

This anniversary comes as Israel continues to execute its plans to Judaize Jerusalem, still prevents Muslims from practicing their religious rites, confiscates more land in the city and builds more settlements in and around the city in order to change Jerusalem's demography.

Since the Zionist, Dennis Rohan, committed the crime on Aug. 21 1969, Zionist Jewish spite against Al-Aqsa Mosque has been growing. During the Camp David Summit, Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Barak demanded the establishment of a Jewish synagogue inside the holy Aqsa Mosque compound.

This year's anniversary also comes at a time when Israeli occupation forces continue their military campaign against unarmed Palestinians in Gaza and West Bank, killing innocent men, women and children, destroying homes and property and even arresting youngsters.

Saudi Arabia, the cradle of Islam and the birthplace of Prophet Muhammad (pbuh), which has been privileged by God to contain the Two Holy Mosques, was among the first countries to condemn the burning of Al-Aqsa Mosque. The Kingdom called for a unified stand to stop Zionist violations of Islamic holy sites in occupied Jerusalem.

The Kingdom's unwavering historical support for the Palestinian people and the Islamic holy places in Jerusalem continues on all levels under the wise leadership of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Fahd.

In 1992 King Fahd issued directives that the Kingdom would pay all expenses for the restoration of the Dome of the Rock, Al-Aqsa Mosque and the Mosque of the Caliph Omar ibn Al-Khattab (may God be pleased with him.)

The Kingdom also stood by - and stands by - the Palestinians in their determination to keep their lands and preserve the holy places; the Kingdom has also tried to alleviate Palestinian suffering caused by Israeli oppression and aggression.

Saudi Arabia spearheaded a diplomatic move with the cooperation of other Muslim countries that prompted the Security Council issue Resolution 478 in 1980 that called on all states that have diplomatic missions in Jerusalem to withdraw them immediately from the city. This resolution was considered an Islamic diplomatic victory over the Zionist designs against Jerusalem.

King Fahd donated $10 million to support the Jerusalem Fund during the 21st ministerial convention of the member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference in Karachi in 1993. In February 1994, King Fahd directed Riyadh Governor Prince Salman to launch a fund-raising campaign in the Kingdom to rebuild and save Islamic holy places in Jerusalem. Saudi Arabia has given priority to both Palestinian and Jerusalem-related issues.

King Fahd has said: "The Palestinian issue and the situation in the occupied Arab territories occupy a top position in our agenda and consume a great deal of our efforts and endeavors."

At the emergency Arab summit in Cairo in 2000, Crown Prince Abdullah, deputy premier and commander of the National Guard, proposed the formation of two funds with a capital of $1 billion to protect the Islamic characteristics of Jerusalem and to support the Al-Quds Intifada.

The Kingdom contributed $250 million to the funds. Prince Abdullah also presented a peace proposal at the Arab summit in Beirut in the Kingdom's bid to achieve a just peace settlement in the Middle East.

The Saudi government and its people have always shown their readiness to defend Islamic causes. Earlier this year, the Kingdom launched a major fund-raising campaign in support of the Al-Quds Intifada and collected more than SR500 million. It has already distributed millions of riyals in assistance to families of the Palestinian martyrs.

The Jeddah-based Organization of Islamic Conference, which was formed following the Aqsa Mosque burning, has denounced Israel for continuing its aggressive policy in occupied Arab territories.

It urged the international community to force Israel to abide by international resolutions and resume the peace process at the point it was broken off. Despite international resolutions adopted by the United Nations and the peace calls made by Arab and Islamic countries, Israel continues its aggressive and criminal practices in all occupied Arab territories.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------

2002-08-24 Sat 09:38ct