Letters to the Editor, January 31, 2004

Israeli Spy Tannenbaum's recognition of Hizbullah's fair treatment during his captivity should convince some skeptics who's the real terrorist force in the middle east, considering the "nice treatment" that Zionist forces usually give to their Arab guests...

Regards,

Juan Bertucci

What will be the legacy of the Britain's Hutton inquiry?

The legacy of Hutton and his false inquiry, will be a deep and abiding cynicism for the mechanism by which political lying should be exposed and punished. Whitewash is too mild a word to describe this cover-up. It is laughable to inquire as to whether or not someone “sexed up the dossier on Iraqi doomsday weapons,” when the whole dossier was fiction in the first place. With no WMD found, or ever likely to be found, Britain is now in the absurd position of suffering a Prime Minister less honest than Saddam Hussein, who appears to have been telling the truth. It is wrong that capable BBC executives have been slayed for the next-to-nothing offense of exaggeration by subordinates, while Blair and company swim in the blood of British servicemen, slaughtered on the alter of an all too obvious deception. Everyone knows that parliamentary democracy is a facade; but if the establishment behind the illusion is not prepared to do the necessary maintenance – which in this case means getting rid of exposed liars – then we are headed down a new political road, which may not be as agreeable as the current system.

Jane Melling, England

French ruling on dress code II

Dear Mr. Hassan El-Najjar,

Thank you for publishing my letter and for affirming the need to make patriarchy more visible so that men as well as women can benefit from equality.

However, I was disappointed that you took such a negative anti-French stand. Your mission statement calls for inclusiveness of voices. I do not believe you can separate religion from politics or "fashion statements" and anthropologists and psychologists of religion everywhere have grappled with this for decades. I have a problem from a psychological viewpoint too of how women who are 'conditioned' to feel so strongly about wearing this dress does indeed make it extremely political, as well as an issue of comfort and normality, not psychologically neutral to any "choice" being present.

I am not suggesting that I have spent the time that you have on historical affairs of war to be able to comment about your statement of intent from the French. However, I cannot help but admire a race who teach philosophy, the art of questioning things, in primary schools, where I have no knowledge or understanding of any healthy reasons for starting to cover female babies in such drab religious symbols before they are old enough to start using their own minds and choices. This is not to insult, only to raise discussions further. Every nation on earth has done dreadful things and we all continue to come up with solutions that are not worthy but allow us to avoid guilt - but any attempts to open discussions, rather than divide them further, does require compromise and self reflection.

Mena Edwards, Australia

Editor: This was my response to your letter, on the Jan 25, 2004 Issue:

This is a case of religious persecution applied by the state against its citizens. The headscarf is not fashion or a political statement. Rather, it is a religious requirement. These French Muslim women are wearing it with their full freedom. Nobody is forcing them. It's the French government that is violating their rights and violating their body.

It is also male dominance par excellence. Pious Muslim men wear beards. We haven't heard a French objection to men observing this Islamic teaching. The issue is nothing but intolerance and it is the French contribution in the overall Western assault on Islam, in different ways.

Jan 31, 2004:

I don't see how my reply was anti-French. It was a criticism of this sexist and intolerant measure against a minority group in the French society. Concerning your lack of knowledge about the wisdom or rationale of wearing the head cover, I can tell you the following explanation.

It is not a political or cultural statement. Rather, it is an order from God, written in the Holy Qur'an, to women to cover the body including the hair, and to show it only to husbands, children, and unmarriageable males, like close relatives.

The major principle here is decency in clothes to limit the possibility of physical attraction. The ultimate goal is prevention of premarital and extramarital sexuality by several ways, including decent covering of the woman's body.

If adult women are the target of the practice, then why are little girls doing it at school? It's training, protection, and awareness about the sanctity of the human body, particularly in this age of sexually-transmitted diseases and teenage pregnancy.

The same principle is applied to drinking alcoholic beverages. It is prohibited for Muslims to drink them because getting drunk may lead people to be hurt by variety of ways. You may argue saying how about one drink, it doesn't get me drunk! The answer is that total prevention is the guarantee that you won't get drunk. It's the principle of Prevention, that is involved here.

What I'm afraid about here is that this new French Law my lead some Muslim girls to leave public schools to private religious schools. Then, they will be excluded from the mainstream French culture, which may not be what French secularism is promoting.

Israel - A World Problem By Capt. Jakaboski, USN Ret Capt. Jakaboski,

FYI

http://www.cia.gov/cia/publications/factbook/geos/is.html#People

Israel's total population is about 6.1 million and of those about 80% are Jewish. So about 4.8 million rather than 3 million are Jewish.

http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0968395201/qid=1075422457/sr=1 -1/ref=sr_1_1/104-7723032-2667901?v=glance&s=books

According to Mike Taylor's book above about 872,000 Mexicans immigrate each year. At this rate it would take only six years to spring most of the Jews from Israel to the US to New York?

http://www.palestine-un.org/news/may97_jer.html

The original partition of Palestine included provisions to internationalize Jerusalem:

"On 29 November 1947, the General Assembly, in exercise of its authority towards Palestine as one of the areas under the mandate system of the League of Nations, adopted resolution 181 (II), commonly referred to as the "partition plan". This resolution partitioned mandated Palestine into two states, one Arab and one Jewish, and Jerusalem as a corpus separatum, or an internationalized enclave in the Arab state, under the aegis of the Trusteeship Council of the United Nations."

An international Jerusalem - yes. A two state solution for Palestine - no. It will never offer security to either state. There is not enough land, population, or resources to be both free and independent.

I weep for Judaism, not for Zion. It will take a thousand years for Judaism to wash the stain of Zionism from Israel. There is nothing in Judaism that teaches the daily sadistic street thuggery by IOF and IDF members.

Ariel Sharon and others, including much of the Likud party, must be tried at Den Haag.

Yours,

Dan Fritz

The Body Shop.com, a company that helps refugees in the world

As loving friends and family members, we spend a great deal of money

annually on gifts for birthdays, graduations, weddings, anniversaries,

holidays, and other special occasions. With Eid-al-Adha and Valentine's Day

both coming up soon, many of us will be doing a lot of gift-shopping for our

loved ones.

As members of a Palestinian organization, we also want to do whatever we can

to help our cause. Sometimes, such help involves supporting companies that

support causes that we endorse. Most of us are probably aware that there is

a vast number of American companies that contribute to Israeli and

pro-Israeli organizations, and we've been encouraged to avoid purchasing

goods from these companies. Unfortunately, it's relatively rare to find

companies that support Palestinian causes. But whenever we're aware of any

such companies, we should do our best to support them.

The Body Shop, a UK-based company that sells quality skin and hair care

products for men and women at stores throughout the US, makes major

contributions to human rights groups. In fact, protecting human rights is

part of the company's mission statement. In October, 2002, The Body Shop

awarded a share of $300,000 to the National Committee for the Defence of the

Rights of the Internally Displaced, a network of grassroots organizations

committed to the right of return for internally displaced Palestinians (see

press release at

http://www.thebodyshop.com/web/tbsgl/news_article.jsp?index=5

and full report with video at

http://www.thebodyshop.com/web/tbsgl/values_dhr_award_2002.jsp.

The Body Shop deserves our thanks and support for this contribution and encouragement

for future assistance.

To send a message of thanks and support to The Body Shop, please write:

The Body Shop Inc

5036 One World Way

Wake Forest, NC 27587

We can also support The Body Shop by purchasing their products. The products

sold at The Body Shop are high in quality, with reputations much like

products sold at other very popular bath-and-body chain stores. For those of

you intending to purchase such items for your loved ones, please consider

shopping at The Body Shop. If you do not have a store in your area, you can

buy online at http://www.usa.thebodyshop.com. Also, the company has a

network of independent sellers who individually sell products (this system

is similar to other beauty companies in which individuals sell make-up and

skincare products door-to-door or to friends). For more information about

this program, visit

http://www.usa.thebodyshop.com/web/tbsus/athome_become_consultant.jsp.

Thank you for your support, and best wishes for the upcoming holiday.

-Nowal J. Jamhour

Earth, a planet hungry for peace

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

The Israeli apartheid (security) wall around Palestinian population centers in the West Bank (Ran Cohen, pmc, 5/24/03).

Opinions expressed in various sections are the sole responsibility of their authors and they may not represent Al-Jazeerah's.

editor@aljazeerah.info