Tag: #palestine

  • Around 100 Palestinians injured as Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa mosque

    Around 100 Palestinians injured as Israeli forces raid Al-Aqsa mosque

    Nearly 100 Palestinians suffered injuries when the Israeli security forces raided the Al-Aqsa mosque compound on Friday, according to Al Jazeera.

    Al Jazeera reported that the Islamic endowment that runs the site said Israeli Police entered in force before dawn on Friday, as thousands of worshippers were gathered at the mosque for early morning prayers.

    “90 injured were transferred to Jerusalem hospitals and dozens of other injuries were treated in the field,” a Palestinian Red Crescent official told a French news agency, adding that they were due to rubber bullets, sound grenades, or assault.

    The Israeli raid is likely to incite violence as a large number of worshipers are expected today for Friday prayers with “videos circulating online showed Palestinians throwing rocks and police firing tear gas and stun grenades”.

  • ‘Amazed that the sex crimes, child abuse, rape fastest growing crime in Pakistan’: PM Khan tells OIC

    ‘Amazed that the sex crimes, child abuse, rape fastest growing crime in Pakistan’: PM Khan tells OIC

    Prime Minister (PM) Imran Khan said, “We have failed both the Palestinians and the people of Kashmir. I am sad to say that we have been able to make no impact at all.”

    The premier delivered a keynote address at the inaugural session of the 48th Council of Foreign Ministers (CFM) of Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) at the Parliament House in Islamabad on Tuesday.

    “We (Muslims) are 1.5 billion people and yet our voice to stop this blatant injustice is insignificant.”

    “Why was Islam equated with terrorism?” questioned PM Imran

    The premier began his speech by congratulating the Muslim world for the recent adoption of a resolution against Islamophobia by the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA), that proclaims March 15 as International Day to Combat Islamophobia.

    “Why was Islam equated with terrorism?” Imran questioned, and referred to the Christchurch attack on a mosque as a consequence of this stereotyping.

    “Once that happens, how is the man in the street in Western countries, how is he supposed to differentiate between a moderate Muslim and a radical Muslim? Hence, this man walks into a mosque and shoots everyone he could.”

    “What should have been done wasn’t; the heads of Muslim countries should have taken a stand on this. Unfortunately, this narrative of Islamic terrorism, Islamic radicalisation, this narrative went on unchecked.”

    India does not feel any pressure

    The premier said that the international community promised the Kashmiris the right to decide their destiny through a plebiscite. That right was never given to them, he stated.

    He said that it was because India does not feel any pressure.

    PM Imran Khan asked the OIC nations to have a united front or else these abuses will continue.

    The world is “headed in the wrong way”

    In response to this wave of Islamophobia, PM Imran said, some Muslim heads of state said they were moderate Muslims. “When you say this, you automatically say there are some extremist Muslims.”

    The premier also spoke about the global situation, expressing his apprehension that the world is “headed in the wrong way”.

    A new Cold War had almost started and the world could be divided into blocs, he said, stressing that unless 1.5bn Muslims took a united stand, “we will be nowhere.”

    He said it was “extremely important” to stabilise Afghanistan because it was the “only way we are going to be able to stop international terrorism from Afghan soil”.

    “Let’s not be delusional that some other country can come in and fight terrorism through drones. The only way is a stable Afghanistan government that can take care of terrorism.

    “Anyone who knows the Afghan character should be cautioned, please do not push the people of Afghanistan where they feel their sovereignty is being threatened.”

    Pakistan has an increased divorce rate, rising vulgarity, which is because the more society gets permissive, the more it has a direct impact on the family system

    The premier said that when he became the prime minister of Pakistan he asked the police chief about the crime chart.

    “I was amazed to see that the sex crimes, child abuse, and rape are the fastest growing crime in this country.”

    PM Imran Khan went on to say that Pakistan has an increased divorce rate, rising vulgarity, which is because the more society gets permissive, the more it has a direct impact on the family system.

    He said that one of the most important things about Islam is that it protects the family system, it has values like respecting parents and teachers.

    “But [with] the culture that is coming through social media, we really need to think how we are going to protect our generations,” PM Imran Khan said.

    Earlier, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi welcomed the OIC foreign ministers to the conference and said that it is a matter of pride for Pakistan to host the 48th session in 2022, which marks the 77th anniversary of Pakistan’s independence.

    “The OIC is the collective voice of nearly two billion Muslims. It is the bridge among the Muslim nations and between the Muslim world and the international community,” he said.

  • Israeli President visits Turkey to mend ties, Turkey calls it a ‘turning point’

    Israeli President Isaac Herzog met with his Turkish counterpart Recep Tayyip Erdogan on Wednesday for a one-day rare visit to Turkey in an effort to mend fractured ties between the two countries.

    Erdogan described the Israeli president’s visit as “historic” and “a turning point” in Turkish-Israeli relations. He said the country is ready to cooperate with Israel in the energy sector, revealing that the Turkish foreign and energy ministers will soon visit Israel.

    In a statement in Hebrew, Herzog said it is a great honour for both countries to lay the foundations of developing friendly relations between them.

    It is pertinent to mention that Ankara has close ties with Hamas. Despite the rare visit, Turkey has ruled out abandoning its commitment to supporting Palestinian statehood.

    Talking about Palestine, Erdogan said, “I underlined the importance we attach to the historical status of Jerusalem and the preservation of the religious identity and sanctity of Masjid Aqsa.” In response, the Israeli president said, “We must agree in advance that we will not agree on everything, that is the nature of relations with a past as rich as ours.”

    This is the first visit of the Israeli president to Ankara since 2007. In 2018, Ankara recalled its diplomats and ordered Israel’s envoy out of the country.

    The visit was made after Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman’s interview in which he called Israel a “potential ally” of the Kingdom.

    In 2020, two Gulf countries— Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalised ties with Israel.

  • ‘We don’t look at Israel as an enemy’: Saudi Crown prince reveals in rare interview

    ‘We don’t look at Israel as an enemy’: Saudi Crown prince reveals in rare interview

    Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman called Israel a “potential ally” of Riyadh, in an interview with a United States (US) monthly magazine, The Atlantic.

    “But we have to solve some issues before we get to that,” he added.

    “We don’t look at Israel as an enemy, we look to them as a potential ally, with many interests that we can pursue together,” the prince said. Talking about the Palestine-Israel issue, he said that Riyadh hopes that the conflict between them is solved.

    Interestingly, the prince also opened up about Iran, he said, “They are neighbours. Neighbours forever. We cannot get rid of them, and they can’t get rid of us.”

    “Hopefully, we can reach a position that’s good for both countries and is going to create a brighter future for them and Iran,” he added.

    About the assassination of Saudi journalist, Jamal Khashoggi, the prince said that he was unfairly blamed for it.

    “Why would I do it?” he asked, saying that accusations that he ordered the killing “hurt me a lot”. He claimed that he never read a Khashoggi article in his life.

    “In any case, if that’s the way we did things, Khashoggi would not even be among the top 1,000 people on the list,” added the prince.

    The Kingdom does not have diplomatic relations with Israel but the two countries are believed to have ties. In 2020, Israel’s then-prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s secret visit to Saudi Arabia raised speculations.

    Under Mohammed bin Salman, a series of progressive developments have been made in Saudi Arabia, women were allowed to drive for the first time in 2018 in the Kingdom.

    In 2020, two Gulf countries— Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates normalised ties with Israel.

  • ‘Islamophobia has taken a most lethal form in India’: Noam Chomsky

    ‘Islamophobia has taken a most lethal form in India’: Noam Chomsky

    Renowned Scholar and Professor Noam Chomsky, in a video message to a webinar organised by the Indian American Muslim Council, said that India has turned its community of Indian Muslims into a “persecuted minority”.

    He further said, “The pathology of Islamophobia is growing throughout the West, it is taking its most lethal form in India.”

    Referring to the violence in Indian-occupied Kashmir (IoK), the famed activist stated that the situation is painful in particular not because of what is happening but because of what is not happening.

    During the webinar on “Worsening Hate Speech and Violence in India,” Chomsky compared the brutal situation of IoK to Israeli forces occupying Palestine and blamed Indian Prime Minister (PM) Narendra Modi’s right-wing Hindu nationalist regime for it.

    Several other personalities who took part in webinar condemned the barbarous acts by Indian authorities.

    Angana Chatterji, an Indian anthropologist took a jibe Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and stated, “Hindu spiritual leaders are involved in [the] ethnic cleansing of Muslims.”

    According to an Indian author, Annapurna Menon, the situation in IoK is even more dire, where the journalists routinely face police questioning, ban on reporting, suspension of internet services and financial constraints in line with BJP’s recent ‘media policy’.

  • Turkish President Erdogan says open to fix ties with Israel

    Turkish President Erdogan says open to fix ties with Israel

    After years of a fraught relationship, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has indicated mending ties with Israel.

    A joint pipeline to bring eastern Mediterranean Sea gas to Europe was started by Turkey’s rival Greece and Israel which was backed by then-President Donald Trump’s administration. At the time, Turkey strongly opposed the project but last week it was reported that Washington no longer backed the pipeline project.

    Following this, Erdogan said he was in talks with Israel on an old idea to bring Mediterranean gas to European clients via Turkey. “We can still do that,” he said.

    This is not the first time that Turkey has expressed the desire to be on good ties with Israel. In 2020, the President said the country would like to have better ties with Israel but it is impossible to accept their Palestine policies.

    In recent years, Ankara has repeatedly condemned Israel’s occupation in the West Bank and its treatment of Palestinians.

    Erdogan and Israeli Prime Minister (PM) Benjamin Netanyahu have often exchanged angry remarks, but both countries continue to trade with one another.

  • Harry Potter’s Emma Watson shows solidarity with Palestinians

    Harry Potter’s Emma Watson shows solidarity with Palestinians

    British actor Emma Watson recently took to social media to share a message in support of the Palestinian movement.

    The actress who rose to fame for her portrayal of Hermione Granger in the Harry Potter movies — reposted a post originally shared by the Bad Activist Collective on Instagram on January 2.

    Watson accompanied the post with a quote from British-Australian scholar Sara Ahmed, which said “Solidarity does not assume that our struggles are the same struggles, or that our pain is the same pain, or that our hope is for the same future.”

    The quote added, “Solidarity involves commitment, and work, as well as the recognition that even if we do not have the same feelings, or the same lives, or the same bodies, we do live on common ground.”

    Watson’s post garnered widespread acclaim and left many Pro-Palestinian netizens both surprised and elated.

    However, the actor has also been on the receiving end of criticism. Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations Gilad Erdan strongly criticised her post, calling Watson an “antisemite”.

  • Israeli officers kill Palestinian woman after alleged stabbing, open fire on medical help

    Israeli officers kill Palestinian woman after alleged stabbing, open fire on medical help

    Israeli officers fatally shot a Palestinian woman who allegedly tried to stab the officers in one of the streets leading to Al Aqsa mosque, which is considered Islam’s third holiest site.

    An Agence France-Presse (AFP) journalist heard the gunshots and found her body on the ground.

    The alleged attempted attack did not result in any casualties. Later, police opened fire at medical forces who arrived at the scene of her death.

    The police claimed that the 30-year-old deceased woman was leaving the Al Aqsa compound when she approached them [officers].

    In the West Bank, Israeli forces also killed a man by opening fire on him during an operation conducted by Israeli troops and border police. No Israeli forces were wounded in this incident.

    “During the operation, an armed [male] fired at the forces who were operating in the village during a riot,” police said.

    “Border police forces responded with gunfire and neutralised him,” they said, confirming his death to AFP.

    A total of five Palestinians were killed on Sunday after an Israeli raid in the occupied West Bank which sparked gunbattles with Hamas fighters.

  • Israel ‘aiming for a religious war’, claims official Palestinian website Wafa

    Israel ‘aiming for a religious war’, claims official Palestinian website Wafa

    Israeli police clashed with Muslim protestors on Sunday at a flashpoint Jerusalem Old City shrine as Jews were headed there to mark a religious holiday, reports Dawn.

    According to the police, in the early hours of the morning, Palestinian “youths began throwing stones at the Temple Mount esplanade towards police forces, who dispersed them”. There were no official reports of arrests or injuries.

    The incident took place on the Jewish festival of Tisha B’av, when according to tradition, both Jewish temples located on the Temple Mount were destroyed.

    The Waqf condemned the “violations and attacks” carried out by “Jewish fanatic groups, with the support and political cover of the Israeli government,” it said in a statement carried by official Palestinian website Wafa, claiming Israel was “aiming for a religious war”.

    Newly sworn-in premier Naftali Bennett, who is from Israel’s religious right but heads a coalition including leftist and Islamist parties, said he had “instructed that the organised and safe visits by Jews to the Temple Mount continue while maintaining order at the site”.

    In a second statement following the Waqf and PA condemnations, Bennett stressed that “freedom of worship on the Temple Mount will be fully preserved for Muslims as well”, pointing to the upcoming Eidul Azha.

  • Afghan Taliban want China’s friendship, say will not interfere in Chinese affairs

    After seizing about one-third of Afghanistan’s districts, the Taliban this week swept through the northeastern Badakhshan province, reaching the mountainous border with China’s Xinjiang region, reports The Wall Street Journal.

    These days, the Taliban go out of their way to ease China’s concerns, eager to secure Beijing’s acquiescence to their rule.

    “The Taliban want to show China goodwill,” said Qian Feng, head of research at the National Strategy Institute of Tsinghua University in Beijing. “They hope that China can play a more important role, especially after America pulls out its troops.”

    With the American military withdrawal nearly complete, China is also becoming increasingly powerful in the Central Asian states that border Afghanistan to the north.

    “We care about the oppression of Muslims, be it in Palestine, in Myanmar, or in China, and we care about the oppression of non-Muslims anywhere in the world. But what we are not going to do is interfere in China’s internal affairs,” said a senior Taliban official in Doha, Qatar.

    Another official, Taliban spokesman Suhail Shaheen, pointed out that the Islamist group pledged in the February 2020 Doha deal with Washington to not let the country’s territory be used against other nations and to not accept any refugees or exiles outside the framework of international migration law.

    “We will not allow anyone whether it is an individual or an entity — to use the soil of Afghanistan against the United States, its allies, or any other country, and that includes China,” Shaheen said.

    While caring about the plight of the Uyghurs of Xinjiang, the Taliban will seek to help their fellow Muslims through political dialogue with Beijing, he added. “We do not know the details. But if we have the details, we will show our concern,” he said. “If there are some problems with the Muslims, of course, we will talk with the Chinese government.”