Cool dude

Making peace is about sitting down and and talking with your enemies, not your friends, so the old saying goes. Of course, sitting down and talking is a prerequisite to the process.

Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid bin Ahmed al-Khalifa said in an interview with the pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat that a regional organization should be formed "even if we don't recognize each other," and that the purpose would be to try to resolve disputes.

In a speech to the UN General Assembly on Tuesday, Sheikh Khaled called for such a Middle East organization to include countries "without exception."

Asked by Al-Hayat if it would include Israel, he replied, "With Israel, Turkey, Iran and Arab countries. Let them all sit together in one group... This is the only path to solve our problems.

"Why don't we all sit together even if we have differences and even if we don't recognize each other? Why not become one organization to overcome this difficult phase?" the paper quoted him as saying.

Mus'ab Hassan Yousef

In a previous post I mentioned the story of Mus'ab Hassan Yousef, son of West Bank Hamas Leader Hassan Yousef, who's converted to Christianity and denounced Hamas in unequivocal terms. In this interview, translated by Memri, he describes how he came to his decision to turn his back on the Islamist organisation his father helped to found.

To view the clip on Memri's website click here or to view a transcript of the interview click here.

Yousef: As a child, I believed that all Muslims are like my father. If you are brought up on Islamic values – how do you turn out? You will be like my father, who is my role model, and whom I love very much. But then, my surprise began. After three days or so, [I began witnessing] greed and avarice, prisoners stealing food from others, prisoners enjoying things that not all prisoners could enjoy, such as visits inside the wings, which were restricted to some leaders of the Islamic movement in the prison. Such things may happen. People may become greedy sometimes, and their faith weakens, and they eat more. This is not our business. But the problematic thing was the interrogation of people suspected of collaborating with Israel. That was one of the most serious things, which led to a fundamental change in my life – not just in my life, but in the lives of many. Beatings, floggings, needles under the fingernails, the melting of plastic on the body, tying people to chairs for days and weeks... Hamas – or to be more precise, the Hamas leadership in prison – all played a role in this. They all praised and applauded the Hamas security apparatus, and even backed them fully when they tortured prisoners. I don't want to mention names. The Palestinian people are unaware of this. To be honest, I am sorry that the Palestinian press, which is supposed to be free, has not shed light on what goes on in prison. These people have made sacrifices. Some of them have been in prison for 20 years. How can you interrogate them, accusing them of collaborating with the occupation? He made sacrifices, just like you and me, and is a human being, like you and me. How can you place yourself above these people, and torture them, flog them, and interrogate them? We are talking about brutal, violent torture. Imagine, all night long... I was only 18 years old, sleeping in my bed under conditions... In a prison of the occupation... But that was not enough – they had to create a prison within the prison, and inflict torture in addition to the [Israeli] torture. For a whole year, I would hear people being tortured screaming all night long. Sometime they interrogated three people at the same time, and they would torture them in the most brutal ways. In approximately three years, no fewer than 16 people were killed. I say to the people of my region, Ramallah, if they are watching this show – who killed brother Muhammad Abu Shaqra? Outside prison, people believed Israel killed him, but in fact, it was Hamas. Later, Hamas paid "blood money" as compensation for its crime.

Iraqi's warmth to Israel exacts a heavy price

I salute this brave man. In 2005 his 2 sons were killed in what many Iraqi's see was as an assassination attempt on his own life because of a previous visit he'd made to Israel. Undeterred, he visited Israel again, attending an International Institute for counterterrorism conference.

He's now at the center of a political storm, in Iraq, after his fellow Iraqi lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip him of his immunity and allow his prosecution for visiting Israel - a crime punishable by death, no less.

It's worth noting that Iraqi children are being and have been treated in Israeli hospitals for all kinds medical conditions.

BAGHDAD (AP) — First his two sons were murdered. Now he faces prosecution. The reason for Mithal al-Alusi's troubles? Visiting Israel and advocating peace with the Jewish state — something Iraq's leaders refuse to consider.

The Iraqi is at the center of a political storm after his fellow lawmakers voted overwhelmingly to strip him of his immunity and allow his prosecution for visiting Israel — a crime punishable by death under a 1950s-era law. Such a fate is unlikely for al-Alusi, though he may lose his party's sole seat in parliament.

Because he had visited Israel, many Iraqis assume the maverick legislator was the real target of the assassins who killed his sons in 2005 while he escaped unharmed.

Now he is in trouble for again visiting Israel and attending a conference a week ago at the International Institute for Counterterrorism.

"He wasn't set to speak, but he was in the audience and conversed with a lecturer on a panel about insurgency and terrorism in Afghanistan, Iraq and Israel," said conference organizer Eitan Azani. "We didn't invite him. He came on his own initiative."

Al-Alusi has a German passport, allowing him to travel without visa restrictions imposed on other Iraqis. Lawmakers accused him of humiliating the nation with a trip to the "enemy" state.

The uproar shows how far Iraq has moved from the early U.S. goal of creating a democracy that would make peace with Israel and remove a critical force from the Arab-Israeli conflict.

"What has happened was a catastrophe for democracy," Al-Alusi told The Associated Press in an interview in his Baghdad home. "Within an hour's time, the parliament became the policeman, the investigator, the judge, the government and the law. It was a sham trial."

Al-Alusi said he went to Israel to seek international support for Iraq as it struggles against terrorism, and insisted that the outcry reflects Iranian meddling in Iraq's internal affairs — an accusation often leveled by Sunnis like himself against Iraq's mostly Shiite neighbor.

"Iran is behind Hamas and Hezbollah and many other terrorist organizations. Israelis are suffering like me, like my people. So we need to be together," he said. "Peace will have more of a chance."

Palestinian Mayor for Jerusalem?

I dare say he, Zohir Hamdan, is unlikely to win the Jerusalem Mayoral election but he does come across as a very interesting character.

Hamdan, 53, the mukhtar (head) of the east Jerusalem village of Tzur Baher who is married to three wives and is the proud father of 18, announced his candidacy on Wednesday. In an interview to Ynet he says: "I was married to a Jewish woman from Tel Aviv, but we divorced about three years ago". His name has been mentioned before as a possible mayoral candidate, but according to Hamdan, those were just speculations; this time, its official.

Hamdan was born in Jordan, and studied engineering in Beirut. "I love this country, that's why I came here in 1974. My father and other relatives were already here. It was a family reunion; it was my duty to come here for my father", he said, describing his love for the country and for Jerusalem. Since his arrival, Hamdan has held several jobs, among them chief negotiator for east Jerusalem.

Tzur Baher, Zohir Hamdan's village, was in the news recently for a different reason. Terrorist Hossam Dwayyat, who killed three people by running them over with a stolen bulldozer, was a resident of the village. However, Hamdan goes about things in the opposite direction, wishing to bring Jews and Arabs closer together. "I'm chairman of the co-existence forum in Jerusalem. I was the first one to bring co-existence into the frey. When the Tanzim were shooting at the Jewish neighborhood of Gilo, I sympathized with the residents of Gilo."

"I have many Jewish friends from all over the country," adds Hamdan. "I go to visit them; they visit me and shop in Tzur Baher. We don't have any problems here. Since I announced that I was running for mayor, the phone hasn't stopped ringing. More Jews call to congratulate me than Arabs".

Read it all.

The joy of Houmous

Anyone who's read up about quantum mechanics (I'm a novice in this regard) will know that the sub-atomic world is very strange indeed. It's a world where Newton's laws are meaningless and even a flummoxed Einstein was reduced to comment that "God does not play dice".

As we all know the Large Hadron Collider is about to be switched on. One of the aims of the project is to try and detect "God's particle" or the Higgs Boson particle which is supposed to explain why matter has mass.

The project has involved scientists from around the world - including Israel and Palestine it would seem. This from Ynetnews:

The project also brought about several unexpected collaborations, with Israeli scientists working side by side with Lebanese, Pakistani and Iranian counterparts. But one cooperative effort stood out the most, that of the warm bonds forged with a young Palestinian scientist from the Birzeit University.

When work on the project ended the Israeli team even organized a celebratory party together with the Lebanese and Palestinian scientists. Both Israeli and Palestinian flags were hung.

One day, Mikenberg recalled, suffering from joint hunger pangs for some decent hummus, the Lebanese, Palestinian and Israeli scientists "swung by Paris and scarfed some down, Israeli and Arab together. Science knows no borders and no enemies. It's a wonderful thing."

Iran's holocaust cartoons revisited

The infamous, and very tasteful, Iranian cartoon competition, about the Holocaust, included an entry from a staunch Palestinian supporting (anti-Zionist but not anti-Semitic, of course) Brazilian cartoonist, Carlos Latuff . As it happens, the party-of-god supporter, Norman Finklestein, showcases his cartoons on his website. Latuff's entry, which earned him second prize and the reward of $4000, depicts a despairing Palestinian lamenting the existance Israel's defensive wall.

Strange, why would someone get so upset about a defensive wall?