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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
Zionis tekan UNESCO supaya batalkan resolusi berkaitan al-Aqsa
The Palestinian Information Center - HALUAN Palestin Pengerusi Lembaga Eksekutif UNESCO, Michael Worbs, berkata mereka memerlukan masa dan dialog lanjutan untuk membuatkan keputusan tentang resolusi yang menafikan kaitan sejarah al-Aqsa dengan kaum Yahudi. Undian telah dibuat oleh 58 ahli Suruhanjaya Program dan Hubungan Luar UNESCO pada hari Khamis lalu. Bagaimanapun undian tersebut perlu mendapat pengesahan oleh Lembaga Eksekutif UNESCO, yang dijadualkan pada hari Selasa. Jumaat lalu, Menteri Pendidikan Zionis Naftali Bennett mengecam resolusi terseut dan mengarah jawatankuasa Zionis di UNESCO supaya membekukan hubungan dengan badan dunia itu. Ketua Pengarah UNESCO, Irina Bokova, juga mengambil pendirian untuk tidak terlibat dalam resolusi tersebut sambil menegaskan bahawa al-Quds adalah kota suci bagi tiga agama – Yahudi, Kristian dan Islam.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
Pakar arkeologi Zionis nafi kaitan al-Aqsa dan Yahudi
Middle East Monitor - HALUAN Palestin Pakar arkeologi Zionis, Meir Ben-Dov, menegaskan bahawa Tembok Ratapan di barat Masjid al-Aqsa tidak mempunyai sebarang kaitan dengan masjid suci itu mahupun kuil purba Yahudi. Kenyataan beliau yang disairkan oleh al-Jazeera pada hari Khamis lalu turut menyebut bahawa Tembok Ratapan, juga dipanggil Tembok Buraq, tidak mempunyai sebarang nilai keagamaan bagi kaum Yahudi. Rejim Zionis Jumaat lalu menggantung semua kerjasama dengan UNESCO apabila badan dunia itu menerima undian satu resolusi yang menafikan kaitan Yahudi dengan Masjid al-Aqsa. 24 negara ahli UNESCO menyokong resolusi tersebut, enam membantah manakala 26 yang lain berkecuali. Amerika, United Kingdom, Lithuania, Estonia dan Belanda membantah resolusi tersebut manakala Russia dan China menyokong.
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News
Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
UNESCO: Tiada kaitan antara Al-Aqsa dan Yahudi
Middle East Monitor - HALUAN Palestin Badan PBB bagi Pendidikan, Sains dan Budaya (UNESCO – United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) hari ini membuat undian ke atas satu resolusi yang menafikan sebarang kaitan di antara Masjid al-Aqsa dan Tembok al-Buraq di Kota al-Quds. 24 negara menyokong resolusi tersebut, sementara enam negara membantah dan 26 yang lain berkecuali. Resolusi tersebut diusulkan oleh Mesir, Aljeria, Moroko, Lubnan, Oman, Qatar, Sudan dan Palestin. Dengan mengambil kira al-Quds sebagai kota suci kepada tiga agama Islam, Yahudi dan Kristian, resolusi itu menyatakan bahawa Masjid al-Aqsa dan perkarangannya adalah tempat suci hanya untuk umat Islam.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
“Singa al-Aqsa” korbankan diri demi al-Aqsa dan Palestin HALUAN Palestin Pemuda Palestin Mishbah Abu Sbeih, 39, menulis tentang cintanya ke atas al-Aqsa melalui bait syair di laman Facebook beliau, “Takkan ada yang aku rindui seperti rindunya aku padamu, takkan ada yang aku cintai seperti cintanya aku padamu. Umurku, hidupku dan semua yang aku miliki ku persembahkan untukmu.” Mishbah yang berasal dari Silwan dan menetap di perkampungan al-Ram memberitahu pada asalnya bersetuju untuk menyerah diri di penjara Ramla pada jam 10:00 pagi, bagi menjalani hukuman penjara selama empat bulan atas tuduhan menyerang seorang anggota polis Zionis pada tahun 2013. Dalam kejadian tersebut, beliau ditahan di kawasan Bab Hutta di luar Masjid al-Aqsa, namun kemudiannya dibebaskan pada hari yang sama. Oleh kerana kes tersebut telah ditutup, beliau berkunjung ke kota Mekah untuk melakukan ibadat umrah. Namun kes tersebut dibuka semula pada bulan Disember 2015, tidak lama selepas beliau dibebaskan setelah merengkok dalam penjara selama kira-kira setahun, atas tuduhan-tuduhan “menghasut” yang berasingan melalui laman Facebook. Antara kesalahannya, beliau menulis, “Kami korbankan jiwa dan darah untukmu al-Aqsa. Kami korbankan anak-anak kami demi al-Aqsa.” Pada 2 Oktober, beliau diharamkan memasuki mana-mana kawasan kota al-Quds untuk tempoh sebulan, setelah diharamkan memasuki Masjid al-Aqsa selama enam bulan. Julai lalu, beliau tidak dibenarkan ke keluar negara untuk tempoh sehingga ke akhir tahun ini. Mishbah dikenali sebagai seorang aktivis yang mempertahankan al-Aqsa dan kota al-Quds dari kejahatan Zionis dan pendatang Yahudi, dan digelar sebagai “Singa al-Aqsa.”Di laman Facebooknya beliau juga menulis, “Betapa besar rinduku dan cintaku, aku ingin pandangan terakhirku adalah Al-Aqsa, aku sangat ingin mencium dan sujud di tanahmu [al-Aqsa]. Aku sangat ingin mencium dan solat di atas tanahmu wahai Al-Aqsa. Akan tetapi kezaliman ini [menghalangiku].”
“Walaupun penjara, kedengkian dan kesombongan mereka sentiasa menghalangi cintaku padamu. Mereka mengatakan, empat bulan dapat memenjarakan cintaku padamu. Maka aku katakan, demi Allah itu sangat sebentar, sebab umurku, hidupku dan semua milikku hanya untukmu. Jika aku tak dapat sampai dengan jasadku, maka jiwaku, hatiku, mataku, takkan dapat dipisahkan darimu. Aku takkan pernah meninggalkanmu, takkan pernah melupakanmu. Cintaku sangat besar padamu, rinduku abadi hingga ajal menjemputku.” Akhir tulisan di Facebooknya bagaikan sebuah pesan bagi semua orang Islam supaya sentiasa menjaga Masjid Al-Aqsa. Beliau menulis, “Al-Aqsa adalah amanah pada semua bahu kamu, janganlah ia tinggalkan sendirian.” Beliau merupakan penduduk Palestin yang ke-232 dibunuh oleh rejim Zionis sejak tercetusnya Intifadah al-Quds.
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News
Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
Gaza Population Exceeds 2 Million; Seven births per hour, ten deaths per day
Middle East Monitor New statistics released by the Gaza Interior Ministry revealed that a birth is registered in the Gaza Strip every ten minutes and that the total population in the besieged coastal strip is close to two million people. The ministry noted that Gaza’s General Administration for Civil Affairs (GACA) recorded 4,983 births during the month of September, at a rate of 166 births per day. It also added that the civil records indicated that seven babies are born every hour, suggesting a rate of more than one birth every ten minutes.According to the statistics released by the Interior Ministry, GACA recorded 291 reported deaths during September, at a rate of ten deaths a day. The crowded coastal Gaza Strip, which has been subjected to a suffocating Israeli siege for the past decade, is suffering from overcrowding and a very high population density. Gaza’s population has almost reached 2 million people.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
Zionis akan bebas Iman Abu Sbeih dengan syarat diusir keluar dari al-Quds
MAAN NEWS _ HALUAN Palestin Mahkamah Majistret Zionis di al-Quds hari ini memutuskan untuk mengharamkan Iman Abu Sbeih, 17, daripada berada dalam wilayah al-Quds selama dua bulan dan mengenakan tahanan dalam rumah ke atas beliau selama lima hari, sebagai syarat untuk dibebaskan dari penjara. Beliau juga akan dikenakan denda sebanyak 2,500 shekel (RM2,730) dan diarah supaya tidak menggunakan internet serta tidak membuat sebarang kenyataan akhbar dalam tempoh satu bulan. Iman, anak perempuan kepada Misbah Abu Sbeih yang ditembak mati oleh polis Zionis minggu lalu, ditangkap oleh tentera Zionis setelah memecah masuk rumah keluarga beliau di al-Ram atas tuduhan menghasut dengan memaparkan rakaman video di mana beliau menyatakan kebangaan dengan bapanya. Selain Iman, tentera Zionis telah juga menangkap dua abangnya, Sbeih dan Izz al-Din, serta datuk dan beberapa bapa saudaranya.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
Was The Women’s Boat to Gaza an Existential Threat?
The Palestinian Information Center By Ramzy Baroud
Lebanon, we thwart Palestinian terror attacks in Judea and Samaria, the West Bank, and we deter missile attacks from Hamas-controlled The Israeli official narrative regarding its Gaza.” conflict with the Palestinians is deliberately confounded because a muddled up discourse In just a single paragraph, Netanyahu has chois a convenient one. It allows the narrator to sen to create an alternate reality, despite the fact pick and choose half-truths at will, in order that: ISIS’ main victims, thus far, have been to create a falsified version of reality. Muslims, never Israelis; Hezbollah, which For instance, this is part of what Israeli is embroiled in a sectarian fight in Syria is a Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said at Lebanese movement that is also at war with the United Nations on September 22: ISIS; the uprising in the West Bank has been “Ladies and Gentlemen: Israel fights this largely led by desperate youth who were born fateful battle against the forces of militant under violent Israeli military Occupation and Islam every day. We keep our borders safe have no trust in their own leadership; Hamas from ISIS, we prevent the smuggling of has not lobbed any homemade rockets at Israel game-changing weapons to Hezbollah in since the destructive Israeli war of 2014, which
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killed 2,251 Palestinians, mostly civilians. While Netanyahu’s statements are not outright lies, the selection of these statements, not keen on dates, devoid of context and lacking in any Israeli accountability or even introspection, makes them simply untrue. Needless to say, utterly confusing as well, especially for those who rarely understand the nature of Israel’s conflict with the Palestinians and its other Arab neighbors. The Israeli Prime Minister’s language at international forums are quite typical, if not predictable. Not only typical of him as a statesman, but of generations of Israeli leaders, past and present. Former Israeli Prime Minister and President, Shimon Peres, who died late September, mastered this Israeli style, bar none. Although he was the architect of the Middle East’s first and only nuclear bomb, he was eulogized by western governments and media, including many in the Left, as a peacemaker, a heroic figure and statesman.
Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
With no legal or political accountability whatsoever, and with unwavering US backing of Israeli actions, no matter how destabilizing or destructive, Netanyahu’s logic, however lacking, will always prevail. But considering that Israel is achieving precisely its intended goals – expanding its illegal settlements, sustaining its Occupation of East Jerusalem and the West Bank, constantly building up its armament and advancing its strategic interests at the expense of its neighbors, and escaping any possibility of legal culpability, why does it always feel as if Israel is besieged and embattled?
Netanyahu’s words give the impression that his country’s very existence is imperiled. In fact, this is the same language that is constantly emanating from most Israeli circles – official, media, academic and even ordinary people. This perception has continued even after Israel expanded its borders by occupying the rest of historic Palestine following the disastrous war of 1967; even when Israel claimed But Peres was the last of the ‘founders of Is- massive swathes of Jordanian, Egyptian, Lebrael’ generation. That generation’s approach anese and Syrian territories. to war and diplomacy was unique and cannot be repeated. They were mostly foreign-born; It seems that the stronger Israel becomes, the spoke various languages; followed a unified larger in size and more destructive in its miliblueprint in politics and had clear, decisive tary capabilities, the weaker and more threatgoals. ened it perceives itself. Even with their tactless approach to diplomaIn contrast, Netanyahu is the first Israeli cy, the new generation of Israeli leaders is still Prime Minister to be born in the country, af- pushing the same mantra: that of a besieged ter its establishment on the ruins of Palestine country facing an existential threat. in 1948. His diplomacy is as violent as is In 2015, following the signing of the Iran nuhis conduct on the ground. He seems fear- clear deal between Iran and the US – along less insofar as his confidence in his benefac- with other countries – Israel was denied the tors – namely the United States government, central component of its ‘existential threat’ which has recently pledged to Israel another discourse. With an Iranian ‘nuclear holocaust’ $38 billion dollars in unconditional military averted – although never convincingly from aid over the course of ten years. the Israeli viewpoint – other imagined threats
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were pushed to the very top of the Israeli agenda. Besieged, bombed out and impoverished tiny Gaza maintained its standing as a major cause for alarm and one of the greatest threats to Israel’s security. But, strangely, the civil society-led non-violent Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement (BDS), was quickly pushed to the top of the ‘existential threat’ pyramid. Modeled around the anti-Apartheid South African boycott movement, BDS aims at isolating the Israeli Occupation of Palestine, and, using non-violent means, ending it. The language used against Iran, Hezbollah, Hamas and others is now being utilized against BDS. In a conference organized by the Jewish National Fund (JNF) in New York last month, Israeli Justice Minister, Ayelet Shaked, called BDS a ‘terrorist organization.’ “BDS is the new face of terror,” she said. “While in Gaza (terrorists) are digging underground tunnels into Israel, the BDS movement is digging tunnels to undermine the foundations and values of Israel. We have to stop these tunnels as well.” Like Netanyahu, Shaked too claimed to be “fighting Islamic extremism”, although BDS supporters come from many countries and profess no particular religion. In fact, many of them are Jewish activists. Yet, that does not matter. It never did, because the enemy, for now, has to remain “Islamic terrorism”, even if it is neither Islamic nor terrorist.
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Minister, Avigdor Lieberman, spun his words to connect the non-violent activists with something else entirely. “We will not accept any (rocket) fire, any provocation, against the citizens of Israel by whoever it might be, or any attack on Israel’s sovereignty. Not rocket fire, and not a flotilla,” Lieberman said in an army ceremony on October 07. The activists atop the boat, included Nobel Peace Prize winner, Mairead Maguire, of Northern Ireland. In Lieberman’s logic, Maguire’s act to end a decade-long blockade on a poor region is equivalent to the firing of a rocket. Regardless of the type of criticism Israel faces and the tactics used to end its Occupation of Palestine, Israel will always connect the proverbial dots to produce the same outcome: Israel’s existence is at stake, all acts of resistance, however symbolic, are terrorist, and Israel has to do whatever it takes to defend itself from looming destruction by rogue terrorists. Nonetheless, unlike Shimon Peres and his generation of leaders, the Israeli story as told by Israel’s new leaders is no longer selling. Gaza, which is rendered uninhabitable by the United Nations come 2020, hardly threatens the existence of Israel, nor are BDS activists, who demand accountability, vile terrorists. Needless to say, a group of women atop a small boat, carrying a symbolic amount of supplies to impoverished Gaza, were not about to take the Middle East’s only nuclear power down.
“The Israeli army then took over the boat. The women showed no resistance as they wanted to emphasize that their mission was peaceful. In a response to the Israeli navy interception, The women cried because they could not reach arrest and deportation of a group of women Gaza,” Al Jazeera reported. who attempted to break the Israeli siege on ‘Terrorists’, indeed. Gaza by using a small boat, Israel’s Defense
Al-Aqsa Mosque (Al-Masjid Al-Aqsa)
The Dome of the Rock (Qubbat As-Sakhra)
Also known as the al-Haram ash-Sharif (the noble sanctuary), the grand mosque includes in its compound the Dome of the Rock. This mosque is the third holiest shrine for Muslims, after the Kaaba in Mecca and the Prophet’s Mosque in Medina, Saudi Arabia. With rows of colonnades and gardens, the compound stretches over one-fifth of the Old City, occupying a vast area of 140,900 square meters. The mosque itself is silver-domed, and was built as a place of worship next to the Dome of the Rock. Originally built between 709-715 AD by Caliph Walid Ben Abdul Malik, al-Aqsa was reconstructed at least six times and very little of the original mosque remains in the present structure.
Situated in the Old City’s Muslim Quarter, It marks the spot where the Prophet Mohammed ascended into heaven following the miraculous journey of one night from Mecca to Jerusalem. known as the Israa and Mirag. It is also the oldest and most exquisite Muslim shrine in the world. Built at the end of the seventh century by the Umayyad Caliph Abdul Malik Ben Marwan, the mosque has a rectangular octagon exterior and a specular gold-covered dome. it is a UNESCO World Heritage Site, along with two nearby Temple Mount structures, the Western Wall, and the "Resurrection Rotunda" in the nearby Church of the Holy Sepulchre.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
East Al-Quds is occupied but the hearts and minds of the children are not
The Palestinian Information Center By Kamel Hawwash
its “eternal united capital”, but the Palestinians too claim East Jerusalem as the capital of their future state. No state, apart from Israel, Jerusalem has a special place in the hearts of considers it to be Israel’s capital and, in the people all over the world. I was fortunate to absence of a Palestinian state, Palestinians can visit it again recently, or rather “return”, as my only dream of it becoming their capital. parents were both born in this great city. The additional reality is that far from it being My first sighting of the Dome of the Rock united, the city is divided into West Jerusalem, never fails to send a shiver down my spine. which is predominantly, if not exclusively, inThere is no other place like it. It is home to habited by Jews today after the expulsion of holy sites revered by followers of the world’s its Palestinian residents by Jewish gangs in three great religions Islam, Christianity and 1948, and East Jerusalem with an overwhelmJudaism. They are literally within shouting ingly Palestinian population but an increasing distance of each other. number of Jewish settlers in illegal settlements which Israel has been building since the capPolitically, Jerusalem is claimed by Israel as ture of East Jerusalem in 1967.
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
One city, two worlds
outings. This is sad because it reduces the opportunities for interaction between the two The contrast between the two Jerusalems communities, especially the children, before could not be starker. As a friend who recent- their characterisation of the other is formed ly visited for the first time told me: “I could through parental or societal influence. not believe the difference between west and east. The west in many places had a western, You have to ask what the municipality preAmerican feel with wide roads, pavements siding over both parts of the city is doing to and grass verges, while the east seemed un- deliver services to the Palestinian taxpayers, derdeveloped, crowded and chaotic." who cannot turn to the Palestinian Authority for them because Israel does not allow it to operate in Jerusalem. Never shall they meet
There are many aspects of the occupation of East Jerusalem that are troubling, including the settlements, the wall, house demolitions, house evictions, arbitrary closures, attacks on Al-Aqsa mosque and lack of permits for Palestinians to build and expand. However, the situation for children is particularly disturbing.
Opportunities for Jewish and Palestinian children to mix at school are almost non-existent. Jerusalem’s only Arab-Jewish school has faced attacks from Jewish extremists including an arson attack in November 2014, anti-Arab graffiti in June 2015, and even had its listing on Waze, a google-owned app changed A quick drive through east and west reveals to “a threat”. almost no playgrounds or parks for Palestinian children in East Jerusalem to use while a While the two populations are largely segrevisitor would encounter many well-equipped gated, the level of poverty in the city affects playgrounds and parks in the predominantly both communities with some 50 percent of JeJewish west. rusalem’s 850,000 residents living below the poverty line including 82 percent of the popuWhile Palestinian families occasionally make lation in East Jerusalem. use of facilities in West Jerusalem, they do so reluctantly, fearing discrimination and harass- The impact of Israel’s “security needs” on Palment by their Jewish counterparts. Instead, estinian children is profound. Every year, hunsome choose to make a journey to Ramallah dreds are arrested and interrogated. Between or Jericho for their children’s and their leisure January and the end of August, 560 children
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
alone were detained by Israel. Many are tak- and belonging that is being waged by Israel en during the night or in the early hours of the on Jerusalem’s youngest residents. morning. They are reportedly often deprived of the presence of a parent or lawyer and someChronic shortage of space times are made to sign confessions written in Hebrew under duress.
In the absence of reasonable provision of leisure facilities and under a brutal daily occupation you would think that children can find some comfort, enjoyment and security in their East Jerusalem schools. Well, on the face of it, this should be possible. However, in reality there is no happy story to tell. Israel, through its occupation, is on a mission to attract the hearts and minds of Palestinian children, to love it, adore it and accept it as the ruling entity over them, without question.
East Jerusalem’s schools suffer from a basic lack of infrastructure and resources. A report published in August by the nonprofit organisation Ir Amim found that the number of East Jerusalem’s Palestinian children studying in the “informal education system” - schools which are publicly recognised, but only partially funded and operated by third parties - has surpassed those studying in both the formal education system, which are fully publicly funded and operated, and those who study in private schools. Ir Amim reported that the shortage of classrooms in East Jerusalem had grown to 2,672 units, stating that “authorities have perpetuated the classroom shortage by not allocating sufficient land to build more classrooms in East Jerusalem”.
During my visit, I witnessed the start of the new school year. Families were busy buying books, stationary and the status symbol school bag for their children. The bag tends to be in the style of the current craze. This year, it seemed anything depicting images from Disney’s Frozen was a must have. The report also worryingly noted that 36 percent of students drop out of school in East One of my young relatives was upset not be- Jerusalem. Anecdotally, the number of boys cause she had not bought a Frozen bag and that drop out is higher than girls. As men are book covers, but because her cousin was also often the main breadwinner in families here, planning to buy the same. “Why can’t she buy this raises a serious question about what the Mini Mouse?” she asked. Children will be chil- boys go on to do with their time, considering dren. She, like most if not all Palestinian chil- their low skill levels and the lack of opportudren, was oblivious to the battle for her identity nities for employment, and its overall impact
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Yayasan Al-Quds Malaysia
on the society.
ebrate what Israel has done since capturing it or, as they refer to it, as its “unification”. This As a result of parent perception of the inade- is only one example of how Israel attempts to quacy of public schools, many are forced to impose its own narrative on impressionable turn to private education. This is extremely young children in early school years. costly, particularly when one considers the economic situation in East Jerusalem characterised by low wages and high taxes. Hearts and minds
My recent experience though tells me that Israel cannot win the battle for the hearts of the children who are Palestinian, feel Palestinian and will grow up as Palestinian. Israel may feel that imposing its own narrative through blackmail may change minds, but it will fail. Palestinian schools may adopt the Israeli curriculum in order to secure funds, but Israel should realise that the industrious and proud The other worrying feature of the current situ- Palestinians will ensure their children think ation is Israel’s attempt to influence children’s Palestinian too. understanding of their identity and how they should view it. It has been trying to do this through the imposition of the Israeli curriculum as opposed to the PA curriculum in East Jerusalem schools. Israel has been trying to do this for years but, having faced severe resistance from parents and the schools themselves, it is now linking the release of investment in schools to the adoption of the curriculum. People I talked to during my recent visit referred to this as “educational blackmail”. Several told me they felt that Israel “was brainwashing our children to forget their Palestinian identity while at the same time becoming ad- East Jerusalem may be under occupamirers of their occupier,” as one put it. tion, but the hearts and minds of the The Israeli curriculum refers to Jerusalem as Israel's capital and encourages children to cel-
children are not