Prominent Sunni Islamic scholar Sheikh Yousuf al-Qaradawi has urged the Arab countries to be united for launching a jihad against Israel and back the Palestinian resistance movement by providing them with the needed weapons and money as well as by boycotting both Israel and the US.
Ahlul Bayt News Agency , In his Friday sermon, Sheikh Qaradawi described the 62nd anniversary of what he called the “state of the Zionist enemy” as “a painful experience that is unforgettable”.

“Tomorrow Israel will complete 62 years of its existence. This is the anniversary of the 1948 Nakba (catastrophe) which Muslims and Arabs should never forget. Some people do not even know that 62 years ago Israel had not even existed. There were only a few thousand Jews in Palestine then,” he told a congregation at the Omar bin Al Khattab mosque.

“Nothing has happened since the peace process has been launched. It is just a fairytale and consists of useless efforts. Some of us are still begging for peace from Israel. Resistance should continue and should be supported by all of us since our battle with Israel has military, political, religious, cultural and economic aspects that should be considered,” Qaradawi added.

The scholar urged the Arab countries to back the Palestinian resistance movement by providing them with the needed weapons and money as well as by boycotting both Israel and the US.

“I call upon all the Arab countries and Palestinians factions to be united for launching a jihad against Israel,” he added.

He lamented the steps taken by some Arab states to normalise ties with Israel. After decades of the Arabs’ rejection of Israel, some of them had agreed to have diplomatic ties with the Jewish state while others had opted for secret relationship, he said.

“For decades we have been educated that Israel is just a claimed entity and that it should be wiped off the map. But the situation has become different now,” he added.

“Palestine should not be forgotten by our nations. It is a duty on all of us to support the Palestinians in their fight against the Zionist enemy. Only through resistance we will be able to retain our rights,” he maintained.

About the 62nd anniversary of the creation of Israel and expulsion of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians, the scholar said that the Palestinian refugees, who were displaced by Israel during 1948 war, were under the impression that they would return soon to their homes.

“Some of them kept their house keys believing they will only leave the place for a month or two. They did not imagine that their displacement would continue for 62 years,” he added.

Jafaria News Agency , Human rights defender Mr Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas, aged 30, remains in detention in Saudi Arabia having been arrested on 7 November 2009 by the Saudi Wahhabis’ intelligence service in Al-Dammam, in eastern Saudi Arabia.

Further Information

Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas has been an advocate for Shia minority rights since February 2009. He is the general supervisor for the “Tahara” on-line discussion forum and regularly posted articles and comments on other web forums on the same issue. Despite more than five months in prison, no official charges have been pressed against him.

Two months prior to his arrest, Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas was summoned by the Al-Dammam intelligence service and reportedly ordered to write a pledge to stop his internet posts criticising the government’s treatment of the Shia minority.

His posts urged peaceful action to support his fellow Shias, especially following incidents in February 2009, when Saudi religious police attacked Shia pilgrims in Medina, and in March 2009, when they arrested peaceful Shia solidarity protesters in ‘Awwamiyya in the Eastern Province.

On 7 March 2009, Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas wrote about the “need to continue peaceful and correct media mobilization… to release the prisoners as soon as possible”.

On 7 November 2009, agents of the intelligence service arrested Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas and raided his house, without showing any search warrant, confiscating two laptops, a hard-disk and a digital camera, in the presence of his wife, who is ill, and their two small children.

Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas was held in solitary confinement for four months at the detention centre of the intelligence service in Al-Dammam. His wife was allowed to visit him two months after his arrest, but only so that she could obtain his written consent for her to undergo an urgent medical procedure, in accordance with Saudi Arabia’s guardianship system.

She was allowed to visit him again two months later, shortly after he had been moved to a group cell with other inmates. He told her that his arrest was a result of his internet posts defending the rights of the Shia minority In Saudi Arabia.

Front Line believes that the arbitrary arrest and continued detention without charge of Munir Baqir Ebrahim Al-Jassas is directly linked to his legitimate and peaceful work in defence of human rights, particularly the rights of Shia minority in Saudi Arabia.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency , Lucknow: Muslim scholars and clerics have demanded a ban on the Hindu organizations, against which there are sufficient evidences for their involvement in the terrorist activities.

While grieving about the fact that the government has let off the Hindu organization on the issue of terrorism, they claimed that the Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI), an Islamic student’s organization, was banned only on the grounds of suspicion.

A Shia cleric and a member of the All India Muslim Personal Law Board (AIMPLB) Moulana Kalbe Jawwad lamented that it was the weakness of the Muslim organizations who couldn’t force the government to lift the ban on SIMI. People still question about SIMI, even after it has been banned only on the basis of suspicion, but the government zipped their mouths about the Hindu organizations whose involvement in the terrorist activities can be proved with enough evidences that are already available.

Other clerics, including principal of Nadwatul Ulema Maulana Dr. Saidur Rahman Azmi Nadvi and Deputy Imam of Idgah Aishbagh Maulana Khalid Rashid Firangi mahali, also expressed resentment of the community over letting off the Hindu organizations by the government on the issue of terrorism.

Meanwhile, the clerics appreciated the decision of the Mumbai court for awarding death penalty to Ajmal Amir Kasab for his involvement in the 26/11 Mumbai attack. The Shia clerics, however, questioned about why several other ‘Kasabs’ involved in the killings of innocent people were roaming free in the country. ”Kasab is a ‘kasai’ (butcher) by profession and has committed the crime as per his family tradition, but what will happen about the ‘political’ butchers in the country,” he asked.

Moulana Khalid Rashid Firangi mahali called upon the Muslims to unite and fight for their own cause. ”The Ranganath Mishra report had also suggested that Muslims could get their dues only if they unite and fight,” he said.

He further notified that Muslims are hardly holding 3 per cent government jobs in the present, while they had 30 per cent of the government jobs earlier.

Ahlul Bayt News Agency , A former worker at Israel’s Dimona nuclear facility says that Tel Aviv should abandon its policy of nuclear ambiguity and acknowledge what it is doing at the site.

Former politician Uzi Even told Israeli army radio that the political footwork “by which we fool only ourselves and nobody else, is not good for us any more,” AFP reported on Monday.

“It was good, effective and successful for close to 40 years, but over 40 years many things changed, and now I am telling you clearly, this policy is no longer in our interest,” he added.

“We could open Dimona to international inspection.”

Under the nuclear ambiguity policy, which Israel successfully maintained for years with the help of the United States, Tel Aviv neither confirms nor denies it possesses nuclear weapons.

Since 1958, when Israel began building the plutonium and uranium processing facility, it has allegedly manufactured scores of nuclear warheads at the site, earning it a reputation as the only player in the Middle East with a nuclear arsenal.

Former US President Jimmy Carter has said Israel has between 200 and 300 nuclear warheads.

But now, after years of silence on the issue, the International Atomic Energy Agency plans to discuss Israel’s nuclear activities for the first time at its next meeting in June.

However, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said, “I don’t think there is a real danger or threat to Israel’s traditional position, as it has been expressed over the years.”

Istanbul conference calls for formation of an independent Palestine state.

The Executive Committee of the parliament speakers of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) in a statement called for formation of an independent Palestinian state and independent sovereignty with the holy Qods as its capital.

The statement issued Monday evening after the end of the Executive Committee of the parliament speakers of the OIC, says the lands of the occupied Palestine including Gaza, West Bank and the holy Qods ate inseparable parts of the Palestine and the previous resolutions of the Islamic Inter-Parliamentary Union especially 2009 Istanbul resolution in support of the rights of Palestinians are stressed again.

Istanbul conference expressed disgust over the current illegal measures in Qods and the banning of Palestinians to go to holy sites, and stressed the right of the Palestinian refugees to unconditionally return to their mother land.

The parliament speakers in Istanbul conference also asked the UNSC, Human Rights Committee, and UNESCO to force the Zionist regime into accept the Geneva fourth agreement and other agreements concerning the occupied lands.

The final part of the statement says Istanbul conference calls for the opening of sea and air passages for helping the people of Gaza, and supports measures for lifting Gaza siege. The parliament speakers and representatives of 15 member countries including Islamic Republic of Iran, the host Turkey, Syria, Indonesia, Saudi Arabia, Uganda, Burkina Faso, and Cameron participated in the conference.