Tuesday, August 23, 2005
Ali makes it clear that peaceful settlements are not the preference. "Killing is involved." He explains it all right here -- "once Dar al-Islam, always Dar al-Islam." Clearly, with guys like this running the show, there's no hope for peace and no use for compromise. One inch is too much to compromise. It's a theological imperitive.
Suicide bombers don't murder because they're opressed, or there are checkpoints, or because there's a well here, and not a well there. They murder because they have this man and what he is espousing -- openly, to an enthusiastic interviewer who plays the good student -- as teachers. Watch the video.
Now, lest that put you in an over-foul mood, thinking that the entire disengagement has been without purpose, let's take a look at two op-eds appearing in Asharq Alawasat that, while every sentence wouldn't be as I would write it, are certainly something worth reading. Both links are via Crossroads of Arabia.
The Damaging Parade, by Abdul Rahman Al-Rashed, General Manager of Al -Arabiya television:
The Palestinians have lost much in the past because of divisions among their factions that serve various external quarters, from Iraq, Syria, Jordan, or the Soviet Union. Today, the divisions are among local leaders who wish to compete for power, an audience, and selfish interests.
These groups appeared before the world as if they were eager for a fight at a time when the civilized Israeli side was protesting with its women and children , who held tight to their homes and were carried by their arms and legs out of Gaza. The Palestinian fighters, masked, intimidating, and armed, looked as if they were an extension of the photos of Al-Qaeda and the gangs in Iraq.
They were the worst sight that the world saw on the day of withdrawal...
and Living for God, by Ahmed Al-Rabei
Whenever one of the leaders appears in the media, he speaks of death and martyrdom saying, “we will shake the ground under the enemy’s feet”. Despite the Israeli withdrawal from Gaza raising hopes for the future and for more negotiations with Israel to withdraw from the other occupied territories, the language of war, violence, and verbal defiance still prevails and is dominant in their words.
It is acceptable for a person to die for God's sake in defense of his country, but why do we not live for God by calling for development and reminding people that the aim of a Muslim in this world is to improve the world in which he lives...
Spain will surrender
I really think this mullah overestimates the Spanish when he states that in order to reconquer Andalusia for Islam "Killing is involved." He's probably thinking of the original Muslim conquest of the Iberian peninsula - that required the killing of a lot of Christians. This time, the Spanish will just surrender. Like they did after the Madrid bombings.