By Laila Al-Arian, AlterNet
Posted on November 26, 2008, Printed on November 26, 2008

http://www.alternet.org/story/108740/

On Monday afternoon, a jury in Dallas, Texas found five Palestinian men guilty of more than 100 charges in the nation’s largest terrorism financing trial since 9/11.

But was this case about prosecuting terrorism, or the Bush administration’s “war on terror?”

Prosecutors never argued that the charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, or any of its officials were ever involved in violence, either through funding it or directly participating in it. Instead, they told the jury that the charity sent money to schools, hospitals and social welfare programs that were controlled by Hamas, a group listed as a terrorist organization by the US State Department since 1995. Read the rest of this entry »

American Muslim groups responded with uncustomary silence on Tuesday to the news that leaders of a Muslim charity shut down by the federal government had been convicted in a retrial of money laundering, tax fraud and supporting terrorism.

The case against the charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, had long revealed a divide among Muslim Americans, leaders say. Some saw the prosecution of the foundation primarily as evidence of anti-Muslim bias by the American government, while others suspected that the charity might indeed have operated as an overly politicized money funnel for Hamas in the 1990s.

The federal government declared Hamas to be a terrorist group in 1995. When the government shuttered Holy Land, which was based in a suburb of Dallas, and seized its assets in 2001, it was said to be the largest Muslim charity in the United States.

“I do believe the community was divided, and I believe the community will continue to be divided,” said Dr. Ziad J. Asali, a retired physician who is the founder and president of the American Task Force on Palestine, an advocacy group in Washington that supports a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians. Read the rest of this entry »

By Tina Susman and Saif Hameed

Los Angeles Times

Sunni lawmakers yesterday listed a host of demands, ranging from sweeping political reforms to amnesty for prisoners, in exchange for supporting a pact to keep U.S. forces in Iraq through 2011, dimming Iraqi leaders’ hopes for a smooth victory when parliament votes today on the measure.

> The Status of Forces Agreement would alter the conditions under which the roughly 146,000 U.S. troops in Iraq operate. Proponents, led by Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, say it would put Iraq on the road to sovereignty by scaling back U.S. troops’ autonomy beginning next year and by setting a Dec. 31, 2011, deadline for a full U.S. troop withdrawal. Read the rest of this entry »

Damage to civilian life and property is making Pakistan’s leaders uneasy

Pakistan’s PM Yousuf Raza Gilani says his government is considering “a number of options” to counter attacks by US drones inside its territory.

His statement came after Pakistan’s air force chief said his force was equipped to tackle the drones militarily.

US-operated pilotless drones have launched more than 20 missile attacks in Pakistani tribal areas since August.

The government is under immense public pressure to defend its territory against such attacks.

The drone attacks are believed to have been largely on-target, hitting Taleban and al-Qaeda hideouts in the north-western Waziristan tribal region.

There have been few civilian casualties, officials say. Read the rest of this entry »

After his controversial embrace with Iran’s Ahmadinejad, UN General Assembly president sparks Jerusalem’s ire once more after calling for international boycott on Israel
Yitzhak Benhorin

WASHINGTON - Israel filed a formal complaint with the United Nations on Tuesday over statements made by UN General Assembly President, Father Miguel d’Escoto Brockmann of Nicaragua, who called for an international boycott of Israel after accusing it of being an apartheid regime. D’Escoto went on to decry the

plight of the Palestinians, describing the failure to create a Palestinian state as “the single greatest failure in the history of the United Nations.”

The United Nations is currently marking its annual International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People, which is set on the anniversary of the 1947 date it adopted Resolution 181, calling for the partition of the land under British control into two states – Jewish and Arab.

Over the course of two days the General Assembly will host a series of anti-Israel venues, including exhibits on Palestinian suffering and films comparing Israel to the Nazi regime.

The pinnacle of the event will come in the form of a marathon of discussions, to culminate with the passing of six resolutions against Israel. These include ones calling for the return of the Golan Heights to Syria and the division of Jerusalem.

In his address on Monday d’Escoto said: “Although different, what is being done against the Palestinian people seems to me to be a version of the highest policy of apartheid.” D’Escoto said the fact that Palestinians still had no statehood represents the “single greatest failure” of the UN.

The General Assembly president called on international institutions to boycott Israel and sever its financial ties to the world, and for the imposing of sanctions against Jerusalem.

Until last year Israel had usually chosen to abstain from taking part in the annual solidarity day. And so Tuesday saw Ambassador Gabriella Shalev take the podium and ask her colleagues how the day the UN voted on the establishment of the State of Israel had become a day of mourning and grief.

Shalev slammed the UN as being disconnected from reality, calling it an organization “that does not

represent or reflect what is truly happening. The real things happen outside the UN.”

Shalev lamented the anti-Israel tone of the United Nations at a time when it is engaged in peace talks with the Palestinian Authority, and said if the discussions were to focus on the Middle East they should also touch on Iran’s repeated threats to destroy Israel, Syria’s armament of terrorists, Hamas’ rocket attacks on Israeli towns and Hizbullah’s growing strength.

“We will not allow this lowest common denominator, of bashing Israel, to dictate these discussions,” the ambassador said.