Lebanon’s army has put its forces on high alert after Israeli forces made advances toward the area of Shaba farms amid heightened tensions with the Hezbollah movement.
Lebanese army sources said Sunday that three armored Israeli vehicles, accompanied by a civilian car, advanced toward Shaba farms, along southeast borders with Lebanon on Monday,
The Lebanese army, stationed on its side of the border, has also been deploying tanks and positioning soldiers inside fortifications.
Tensions follow an escalating war of words between Israel and Lebanon amid threatening remarks by officials in Tel Aviv about the likelihood of Hezbollah’s inclusion in the new Lebanese government.

Washington — A delegation of European imams and rabbis spent five days in Washington and New York in July to promote interfaith understanding.

The group included some of the most influential Jewish and Muslim spiritual leaders from Britain, Belgium, France, Holland, Italy, Switzerland, Norway and Russia. The trip was cosponsored by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding (FFEU).

It is believed to be the first visit of its kind to involve foreign Muslim and Jewish leaders coming to America, where interreligious ties have a much longer history and record of success.

ISNA and FFEU sought to facilitate a dialogue between the visiting European imams and rabbis and their counterparts in the United States, who have been active in the field of Muslim-Jewish relations.

“Our strength as Muslim Americans [is that] we are able to build relations with other faiths, Christian, Jewish and the others,” said Sayyid Mohammad Syeed, national director of interfaith and community alliances for ISNA. “America has been able to build a society built on diversity. It did not happen all of a sudden; it took America years and years to do it. … Our success in America has given us the faith and confidence to reach out to Europe.”

Rizwan Jaka, one of the event’s organizers and a board member of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS)  and ISNA, said, “The goal was to bring imams and rabbis together for interfaith understanding to stand against anti-Semitism and against Islamophobia.”

Jaka added, “The interfaith dialogue helps all of us to understand one another. We all have to live in this world together; we have to live together in peace and harmony, as our faiths ask us to do. … By knowing one another, [we] will stop fearing one another, will stop the ignorance that creates a gap. By knowing one another, by eating together, by talking together, there can be respect and understanding that can help truly create peace around the world.”

The visiting rabbis and imams viewed a short film at the ADAMS Center in Sterling, Virginia. The film showed the cooperation and peaceful co-existence between Muslim Americans and Jewish Americans in nearby Ashburn, Virginia.

Sayyed Alam, chairperson of ADAMS’ Ashburn Committee, said that “five years ago we were looking for a place to rent for the al-Jumaa prayer and we got a place that is next to the synagogue, where they agreed to rent us the place for the prayer.”

Members of the local Muslim-American community gathered with the delegation of imams and rabbis for a dinner, catered halal and kosher, hosted by the ADAMS Center. “It is a good opportunity for our generation to engage in such events,” said Ibrahim Moiz, a Muslim-American attorney who represented the youth of the ADAMS Center in the event.

ISNA also mounted an outreach to American Christians and Jews in July at its annual conference in Washington, sponsoring an interfaith reception for 400 leaders from various religions.

“The great challenge of the 21st century in interreligious dialogue is to find the path to narrow the gap between Muslims and Jews worldwide,” said Rabbi Marc Schneier, president of the New York-based Foundation for Ethnic Understanding.

The conference fostered mutual respect among participants and underscored shared goals, including fighting Islamophobia and anti-Semitism, said Geneva Chief Rabbi Izhak Dayan. “Together with the Muslim community, we can preserve our religious rights.”

The Weekend of Twinning has the endorsement of the Islamic Society of North America, as well as other organizations including the World Jewish Congress, the Muslim Public Affairs Council and the Canadian Association of Jews and Muslims.

A 23-year-old woman of Ethiopian descent said that the driver of an Egged No. 5 bus in Tel Aviv refused to allow her to board his bus because of the color of her skin.

Speaking to Ynet, Yedno Verka recounted last Wednesday’s incident: “As I prepared board the bus, the driver suddenly shut the door. I banged on the glass, but he ignored me. Then a young woman came running towards the bus, and he opened the door for her. I stayed close to her and boarded the bus. When the driver saw me he said, ‘what, don’t you understand that I don’t allow Kushim (derogatory term for black people) on board? Are you trying to smash my door in? Were there buses in Ethiopia? Why don’t you walk? In Ethiopia you didn’t even have shoes and here you do, so why don’t you walk?’ I was shaking all over; I couldn’t even speak,” she said.
At this point Verka handed the driver the bus fair, but, according to her, he refused to accept. Verka said she responded by saying, “You can’t treat me this way. Treat your mother this way.”
At this point, she said, “He grabbed my skirt and yelled: ‘You don’t talk like that about my mother. A Kushit will not talk about my mother like that.’ I was afraid he was going to hit me, and explained that I did not curse his mother. But he continued: ‘Go back to Ethiopia! You are not even Jews; who brought you all here anyway? You’re ruining our country; you are a stupid people.’
Only then did the other passengers intervene and call the driver out for his racist behavior, said the woman, adding that the driver continued his tirade even after she made her way to the back of the bus.
Knesset Member Shlomo Molla (Kadima) turned to Israeli Transportation Minister Yisrael Katz (Likud), who in turn instructed his office to demand that the Egged bus company investigate the incident and see to it that the driver is punished if it is found that he acted inappropriately.

ISLAMABAD: A historic 17th century Catholic Church in India’s Western coastal state of Goa was desecrated, fuelling concern for Christians; prompting State Assembly Speaker to say “desecration is meant to create communal tension.
According to Christian Post, media reported that St Anthony Church at Cabo de Rama in Southern part of Goa, a coastal tiny state between Maharashtra and Karnataka was seen ransacked by unknown men most probably hindu extremists.
A case has been registered against unknown persons under Sections 295, 295 (A) and 153 (A) IPC. A Special Investigation Team has been set up to probe the incident.
The incident was taken seriously by the Goa State Legislative Assembly on Tuesday. The Speaker Pratapsing Rane Tuesday said increasing instances of religious structures being desecrated reflect a conscious effort by some forces to foment communal tension.
Goa was ruled by the Portuguese since 1510 unlike the rest of India colonised by the British; many of its subjects embraced Christianity making the Christians a formidable force in the state. It became part of India only in 1961 though India got its independence from the British in 1947.
Currently, Christians make up about 27 percent of Goa’s population of 1.3 million people, according to 2001 census of the government of India. Hindus form the largest religious group with 66 percent; Muslims make up about 7 percent in one of the states where Christians influence is felt in all spheres of lives.
Various sources said nearly 30 reported incidents of desecration have rocked Goa in the last couple of years, forcing Goa Police to form a special investigation team (SIT) to probe these. Unable to crack the mystery, the Police have now set up a force in the more remote regions of the state to prevent further incidents of desecration.

Last year, nearly 140,000 people died in Myanmar’s devastating Cyclone Nargis, while over 5 million homes collapsed in the Sichuan earthquake in China.  The Secretary-General underscored the importance of building risk reduction capacities as well as raising public awareness.

“People, poverty and disaster risk are increasingly concentrated in cities,” he said, noting that urban centres that were well-planned 25 years ago are now the scenes of annual flooding. More than half of the world’s 10 most populous cities are in Asia, and most of them are threatened by earthquakes and devastating tsunami waves, Ban said in his remarks to International Conference on Building a Local Government Alliance for Disaster Risk Reduction, also in Incheon.

Rising sea temperatures triggered by climate change, he said, are raising the spectre of ever-more destructive hurricane and cyclones. “And yet,” he said, “we also know the possibility. With concerted action, we can reduce by half the loss of lives from disasters by 2015,” calling for an end to business as usual.

The Secretary-General appealed for a ‘collective effort,’ urging local authorities to speed up their efforts to make their cities safer by conducting risk assessments and encouraging private sector investment.  “By joining forces, we can protect livelihoods, make our schools and hospitals and other buildings safe, and promote a greener, cleaner future.”