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A True Semite Tells It Like It Is COMMON SENS By: Hassan Al-Haifi On the same issue of the Yemen Times that Joshua Hachohen had written his remarks about Common Sense and its stand against Zionism, another letter had expressed the feelings of another Jew, who happened to be the exact opposite of what the likes of Mr. Hacohen represented. It is imperative to point out at this stage that this observer is keen on confirming that he holds no personal grudge against people solely for their religious persuasion, as long as they do not express any animosity towards our national or religious affiliation or find it their life long mission to distort history and to serve unholy causes cloaked in mythology, while on the ground their efforts to create facts on the ground are as unholy as any chauvinist cause is bound to come into conflict with decent moral persuasions that cross all religious and national sentiments, which are free from the arrogance of the kind preached and practiced by the Zionist mob that rules Israel and its blind supporters everywhere. Mr. Ari Ariel is not one of a kind either and his sentiments as shown in his letter to the YT have been seen by this observer on a number of occasions, even by many Israelis this observer has come to be acquainted with over the years, in my travels and living abroad. It is worthy to point out that there were many Jews who emanate from the various countries in the region and many of them obviously recall that they had lived in the region for centuries, not facing any of the kind of hatred and sadistic cravings, like that portrayed by Zionist extremists like Rabbi Ovadio Yosef', from their fellow Arabs (even if they are Jews, they are still Arabs and enjoy our fraternal sentiment accordingly). Thus, it is understood why Mr. Ariel should (not Ariel Sharon, of course) would make it clear that what is going on in the Holy Land and perpetrated by the likes of Ariel Sharon is not morally right by any means and no matter what religious persuasion one follows. The fact of the matter is that it is inconceivable that any religion can condone the killing of four month old babies just so "God's promise" can be fulfilled, for surely such nonsense does no justice to the teachings of all the prophets and messengers the Lord Al-Mighty has been kind enough to ask to deliver His true teachings and to wrest the pledges and covenants of the true believers in God that they will abide by the Ten Commandments and spread the teachings of brotherhood and the equality of all men (and women) everywhere. Moreover, the Holy Land does not belong to any nation or any single religious persuasion. Yet of all the followers of the dominant Monotheistic faiths, it was the Arab Moslems who showed the most tolerance towards other religious persuasions and the fact that the Arab World embraced followers of all the monotheistic persuasions is testimony to this tolerance, not to mention that there are still well over 2 million Arab Jews. When the Crusaders took over Jerusalem, they hacked some 90,000 Moslems residents of the city, piling their skills in pyramid mounds all over the city! There is no record whatsoever to depict that any Moslem Armies ever inflicted any massacres, although they fanned out from the doors of Paris to the gates of China, and never did Moslems force the conversion of people to Islam. In any case, one is not trying to make a case for Islam here, but trying to show that the likes of Mr. Ariel understand that there is no justification for the inhumane behavior of their fellow "Jews", who purport to be Semites, but fail to understand that the Semitic race is characterized by strong moral convictions that cannot accept the kind of behavior we are witnessing daily by the Israeli security and military machine, and therefore does not lend credence to the adherence to the Semitic race by any means of such Zionist demagogues like Ariel Sharon and Rabbi Yosef. On another note, while no one can fail to sympathize with the difficulties of the Palestinians and their right of self-defense, there is no logic for the mysterious killing of Israeli teenagers or unarmed civilians. We are not however convinced that either true Moslems carried out such a crime or that common Palestinian citizens are morally inclined to undertake such crimes. One cannot rule out the kind of indecent behavior of mercenary Arabs working under instructions from the Zionist Establishment, whose motto is the "ends justify the means", and in order to lighten up the damaging public relations image that has tainted the Israelis by the killing of the two Arab infants, they sponsored the killing of the two teenagers accordingly. This may seem far fetched to many, but there are no limits to what the Zionist machine is capable of doing, even if it means sacrificing its own people, and Sabra and Shatila are not far away from the mind, when over 500 Arab unarmed men, women and children were killed in their sleep, by a massacre carried out by Arab madmen working under the direction and payroll of Ariel Sharon. Incidentally, there are also Western Jews, some of whom were holding Israeli passports that went out of their way to express their disgust at the kind of regime that exists in Israel and its chauvinistic arrogant stands, as well as the unholy convictions propagated by the Zionist Establishment in general. On the other hand the American Jewish community is also mislead as to what is going on in the Holy Land, because most of them also are descendants of the East European Jews and have been almost brainwashed by the Zionist propaganda that Israel represents the answer to all the problems of the Jews and the relief from the "Diaspora". If we can assume that arrogance and hatred and the erroneous belief that "God's chosen people" are entitled to any wrong they like, then surely they cannot be regarded as proponents of a Heavenly Cause, nor does that fall within the moral convictions that Semites are almost driven by spirit to adopt and convey to all Mankind. Thank you Ari for your uplifting sentiments and understanding of what it really is all about. You are a true Semite indeed. DEVIL'S ADVOCATE By Sharif Akram Our Islamic world and nations are going through a hard time. We are being sieged not only by non-Muslim enemies who definitely would like to see us weak, but also being duped by our so-called brothers, who seem to be working in the name of Islam but are actually undermining the very existence of our nations. As history has always proved, there is only one country in this world that can be such a menace for Islam and still claim that it is the sole protector of Islam. Whatever it does, whether backing up Hizbullah in Lebanon or organizing a conference for the Palestinians or trying to make counter-propaganda against Imperialists, it is basically serving its own interests rather than serving the interests of the nation of Islam. If we glance at what it is doing in the other parts of the world, especially when we closely examine its relations with its northern and eastern neighbors, we will definitely see that the policies that it pursues has nothing to do with the way that its politicians talk. For example, Armenia is occupying % 30 of the Azarbaijani lands, namely Nagorna-Karabagh for nearly ten years. Armenia has been condemned for of its atrocities by the sensible nations. The brutal attacks of Armenians have caused the Azarbaijanis to leave their homes and flee either to Azarbaijan or to their brother Turkey. The Muslims who remained in Nagorna-Karabagh have been butchered mercilessly and the Armenians ethnically cleansed the whole region. In the middle of this conflict we see our dearest sole protector of Islam, who does not even show sympathy to Azarbaijan, but financially and militarily supports Armenia. Why? Because it has a big Azari minority in its country and it is afraid that one day they might rebel and separate themselves from the country. Of course this is not the only reason. The other reason is that those Azaris are not from the same sect as the rest of the nation. So for them they are not really important! Yet, another issue where we see our sole protector of Islam siding with the Christian Russia against the Muslim Central Asian States in deciding the status of the Hazar Sea. Why? Because the national interests push it that way with the other Muslims states and distribute the wealth of the Hazar Sea in equity among the coastal countries, yet it will not be as profitable as it will be if it is shared with Russia, the number two known enemy of Islam. Not only these solid policies, but the rest is also interesting to investigate. Recently we have been witnessing that our brother the sole protector of Islam has embarked upon a very smooth policy towards us, Arabs. It pretends that it supports the Palestinians. It pretends it supports the Arab causes, but what it does actually is to support its own followers belonging to the same sect. At the same time it also tries to get our support, the Arabs, so that it can get rid of its loneliness in the International Foray. It is destroying and damaging our Arab world as much as the Israelis. It is supporting the discrimination among the Muslims and creating animosity between the Islamic sects. In the civil war in Lebanon, I have witnessed their crimes as much as the Israeli crimes. I have seen them killing innocent people for no reason, (their only guilt is not being from the same sect). Its last attack on a weak and poor country has proved once again that its intentions are not honest and it basically uses the name of Islam for its own benefit. I do not think that brotherhood and common causes mean anything to this sole protector of Islam. Could you now name this dear country? Anyway, this sole protector of Islam recently has been showing a great deal of interest in our country as well. For the last couple of years, we have been witnessing intense efforts from their side to develop bilateral relations. Its officials have being visiting our country and signing agreements. I cannot stop myself thinking about this sudden interest in my country. Their initial target seems to be economic, I basically have no objection to their investments in my country and developing trade relations with other nations. My objection is to their hidden intentions and to the real face of this so-called sole protector of Islam. We have a colorful society, in which all the sects coexist peacefully and we need to keep this delicate balance between the sects. We should not let menace destroy the beauty of our society by planting the seeds of hatred among our people. We need to choose our friends very carefully, as our Prophet (peace be upon him) said "Tell me your friend and I will tell you who you are". Dr. Ali H. Alyami alialyami@aol.com The elevation of the human rights post to a ministerial level and the appointment of Dr. Wahibah Far'e to that post is a mammoth step in the right direction. This is another indication that the Yemeni government is responsive enough to listen to its people's calls, to respond to their needs and to protect their rights from abuse normally committed by governmental institutions and individuals. As I have stated in an earlier article, by continuing its democratization process, Yemen is leading the way, especially in the Arabian Peninsula where governments' grip on and control over every aspect of human lives are among the worst in the world today. The Yemenis' courage to take such a giant stride speaks for itself, regardless of its critics' interpretations and accusations. Moves like this will be harshly criticized and severely resisted from within Yemen as well as from without. From within, there are those who will say it's a government plot to sell itself to the West. It's a Western invasion of their domains, or they may go as far as saying it's anti-Islamic. This indicates a self-inflicted feeling of inferiority because it implies that only the Western nations can protect the rights of their citizens. There are also those who will be hired by outsiders to disrupt political progress in Yemen. These critics and hired hands could serve their country best if they rally behind and support the new minister instead of wasting their time trying to figure out the President's motive for creating a much needed and sensitive post and appointing an educated woman, in a male dominated society, to formulate and execute its formidable duties. Dangerous critics to watch for are those from outside of Yemen. Yemen is surrounded by hard core wealthy dictators whose existence is totally incompatible with any form of democratization. Those antiquated regimes will always be threatened by any political, social and economic freedoms, especially when such progressive values are being initiated and practiced near their borders. Consequently, they will do whatever they can to impede any democratic steps taken by the Yemeni government and people. They will apply financial and military pressures as well as mount social and religious propaganda to distract the Yemenis from moving their nation forward to join the civilized world. The enemies of democracy on the borders of Yemen have had a lot of experience in this field. When the Yemenis decided to rid themselves of one of the most backward and brutal royal families, the house of Hameed Aldeen, and take charge of their own destiny in 1962, the undemocratic neighbors employed their military and financial might to keep Yemen under the yoke of a regime that shares their totalitarian values. The Yemeni government and people prevented them from succeeding and will do the same this time as well. The road won't be easy, but it is the only road that will carry Yemen to a prosperous future. Finally, it's incumbent on those of us who have come to enjoy the fruits of democratic values in the US or anywhere in the world to rally support for the Yemenis and for their efforts to build a democracy where the rights of all Yemenis can be protected. Jalal Al-Sharaabi Yemen Times A group of the People's General Congress Party (PGC) has recently, more specifically at the beginning of this week, announced the establishment of a Liberal Party. The task of the new party is to restructure the PGC in a more proper way and rearrange its cards in a way compatible with the predicted political confrontation in preparation for the coming election of 2003. In my opinion, this move does not exceed a temporal whim to be encountered with many difficulties and obstacles. Probably the fist of these is the traditional formation that governs the decision-making positions within leadership of the PGC. Added to the above point is the tribal composition of this party that, during the 1980's, posed as an umbrella for their parties and during the 1990's, the leader of fractions, supporter of doctoring elections as well as collaboration with its former ally Islah Party at the expense of democracy and the voters' will. The other factor calling for skepticism in capability of a liberal approach in the PGC of effecting a change in this bad reality is the recent composition of the Shoura Council. The Council has included some classical, outdated elements that have been removed from leading ministries and institutions as they proved their inefficiency, and thus to return through windows. The previous periods have represented an open fraud on the people and many years were wasted. Those years should have been used for building the economy and the state. They were squandered in fragile alliances and ambiguous inapplicable strategies. The homeland's future would be bleak, had the situation remained as it is and with the same mentality. They are merely political fightings swaying from right to left and vice versa. These battles would mostly lead to calamities victimizing the citizen and the country groaning under threadbare strategies. What is urgent needed is the uprooting of corruption, checking the lobby that is deforming Yemen's civilization project, opening more room for a multi-party system, freedom of expression and providing a honorable living for the people. Bassam Jameel, Yemen Times The government's decision taken last Tuesday to integrate the budget and curricula of the scientific institutes with that of schools have set forth lots of condemnation and anguish. Yemenis are in need of decisions of the other kind: putting an end to the rampant corruption, holding the corrupt responsible, rectifying weak performance of public institutions, backing up investment, activating the tourist sector, supporting agriculture, devising solutions for unemployment, accelerating the wheel of development, solving the deep rooted vengeance and kidnapping problems and so forth.. The new government's top priority should have been to address problems of the educational system in terms of qualifying the weak cadre, developing the curricula, renovating schools, and setting up new schools to accommodate the ever increasing number of students. Then, why are scientific institutes targeted now? I feel that the only reason is political. It is a way to fight the religious orientation since the scientific institutes offer the same Islamic and Arabic subjects which are not condensed when compared to the two subjects taught in schools. They claim that scientific institutes may create dualism in education leading to a gap of understanding among the young generation. This is far from being the case. Scientific institutes have existed for 25 years and have been graduating students and we have never seen the so called gap. Who is to benefit from closing down the scientific institutes? Mr. Mohammed al-Hashmi, al-Mustakelah newspaper answered this question and said "Those who can not bear the diversity of educational curricula and the wide range of educational opportunities in Yemen; those who do not care much about the religious culture; those who want Yemen to be like many Arab countries, centralized, tyrannical, controlling all the affairs of the people are the ones who may benefit from closing down the scientific institutes. It is a pity that our top officials can't bear these institutes while the Hebrew country is spending a lot to support religious schools. Furthermore, some Islamic schools are being supported by the British government as well." The government seems to busy itself in trivial things setting aside major issues; high standard of living, high rate of unemployment 37%, high rate of poverty 51%, etc. This is the real challenge for the government of Ba Jammal. This is the real development field which they should worry about. However, they are very far from it. The country is continuously deteriorating and every thing is going backward not forward. When will the horse government stop adopting such politically intriguing policies? Crystals By Mohamed Kadri No wonder I have been hearing the public talking about a better era for Yemen. My keen observations show that people here are seriously expecting a great deal of improvement in their living conditions, and advancement in political relationships between Yemen and our brothers in the region! What makes Yemenis hope so? What prompts such a public confidence in Mr. Bajammal, our new Prime Minister? Is he a magician creating a new and prosperous Yemen while his predecessors failed on these scores? My deep reflections led me to share the positive opinions towards Mr. Bajammal. The reasons are simple and are five fold: First, Bajammal, generally speaking, is a personality that fills his chair. His far-sight into general affairs, and his charming personal behavior are sufficient to make him reliable. Second, Mr. Bajammal's past track records, show how successful the man has been, especially in negotiations with rulers of Saudi Arabia. The matter achieved an end to the Yemeni-Saudi border problems, which others hung our resulting backwardness and failure to have a better standard of living on. Third, Bajammal originally comes from Hadramout; where real and factual investors come. And now, neighboring countries waiting for the right person to give them confidence and to work with is here. Fourth, all of us realize well how Saudi and Gulf countries recognize Bajammal, accept him and, and no doubt, will give him a hand! Fifth, Bajammal has been put in a challenging position. I see it as logical behavior for him to work-hard! Mr. Bajammal, our new Prime Minister: Try to rise to the expectation of your people. Try not to disappoint them! |
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