Free Republic

Born and raised a Muslim, I grew up in Gaza and Cairo at a time when Gamal Abdel Nasser committed Egypt to unifying the Arab world and destroying Israel. Egypt mobilized the Arabs of Gaza and encouraged the fedayeen to make cross-border attacks into Israel. My father, a high-ranking Egyptian officer, was killed as a result of one of these operations in Gaza. After my father's death attention was lavished on our family - for a few weeks. However, widows of shahids, like my poor mother, were left holding the bag alone in a culture that respects only families headed...

No longer will Shiites be assassinated by Saddam's Sunnis if they dare to tell their followers to worship G-d in their own unique way. No longer will Kurds worry about whether their political acts will lead to their children and wives dying unimaginably gruesome deaths. A Stalinist leader who allowed Sunnis to rule by tyranny is in prison, the oppressed are on the verge of being liberated by our country, and the New York Times is bitching about it. What's wrong with this picture?

HARTFORD, Conn. - New England states making more, giving less Mississippi retains its title as the most giving state for the eighth consecutive year, according to the 2004 Generosity Index created by Catalogue for Philanthropy. Following right behind are Arkansas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, Alabama and Tennessee. New England residents continue to earn more and give back less, according to the annual index of charitable giving. Connecticut ranks first when it comes to making money, but joins New Hampshire, Massachusetts and Rhode Island in falling to the very bottom of the 2004 Index. The survey is based on the average adjusted income...

Rowland Plea Deal Expected 8:26 AM EST,December 23, 2004 By JON LENDER, The Hartford Courant Former Gov. John G. Rowland, who resigned July 1 amid a scandal over his acceptance of gifts and favors from state contractors and others, is expected to appear today in U.S. District Court in New Haven to enter a guilty plea under an agreement that would send him to jail, the Courant has learned. The potential plea is the result of sensitive plea negotiations between Rowland and federal prosecutors who were gearing up to seek an indictment of the Republican former governor early next year...

John F. Kerry has indicated through sources close to the Democrat party that he intends file papers supporting the Green Party/Libertarian Party recount effort in Ohio. Kerry's filings will consist of a request for expedited discovery as it pertains to a voting machine system known as Triad Systems, and secondly, a motion for a preservation order to preserve evidence in the same matter. These filings are to be made in the United States District Court for the Southern District of Ohio. Rep. John Conyer of Michigan and the ranking minority member of the House Judiciary Committee, has plans to ask...

WASHINGTON, Dec. 23 - President Bush plans to renominate 20 candidates for federal judgeships who have been unable to win confirmation in the Senate, the White House said today, in a signal that the president is ready for a showdown early next year. "An effective and efficient judicial system is vital to ensuring justice for all Americans," the White House said. "The president nominated highly qualified individuals to the federal courts during his first term, but the Senate failed to vote on many nominations." Senate Democrats have maintained for months that they have routinely confirmed nominees who are not right-wing...

VILNIUS, Lithuania - Lawmakers ratified the newly signed European Union Constitution on Thursday, making Lithuania, a new member, the first country in the 25-member bloc to approve the historic document.Eighty-four members of the 141-seat Seimas, or Parliament, voted to ratify the document, while four voted against it and three abstained. Fifty lawmakers were not present. Under Lithuanian law, it takes 57 votes to approve an international treaty.Members of the bloc signed the constitution Oct. 29 in Rome, and the charter is expected to take effect in 2007.The document must be ratified by the legislatures of all EU states in 2005...

There were eight abstentions and 64 members of the parliament were absent at the time of the vote, according to the BBC. However, the two-thirds majority needed to ratify the Constitution was easily achieved and Budapest becomes the second EU state after Lithuania to ratify the text. The Constitution needs to be ratified by all 25 member states to come into force. If all countries pass the Constitution, it will come into force on 1 November, 2006. Latvia is expected to be next to ratify the Treaty in January. At least nine countries are planning to hold a referendum on...

I can definitely live with Bush as US president — or as the world’s sole policeman — for eight years or longer, but would hate to spend even eight days under the Taliban’s theocracy, Saddam’s dictatorship or a regime of Ayatollahs. I have a strong feeling that the vast majority of people everywhere feel the same way A fellow columnist and friend thinks that I am “soft on Bush”. Considering the degree of President George Bush’s unpopularity in Pakistan and worldwide, it would be an understatement to say that most readers will concur with his view. When Bush is the...

(CNSNews.com) - A weekly TV series now airing in Iran claims the Israeli government is "stealing Palestinian children's eyes." According to the Middle East Media Research Institute, a group that monitors Arab and Iranian TV channels, the TV series premiered in Iran on Dec. 13 and airs every Monday on Iran's Sahar 1 TV station. MEMRI said the drama (called "For You, Palestine," or "Zahra's Blue Eyes") was written and directed by former Iranian education ministry official Ali Derakhshn. The series is set in Israel and the West Bank, and it details an Israeli plot to harvest organs from...

Recently, I wrote to Egypt’s President Hosni Mubarak urging that he take a very dramatic action which would positively impact on the Middle East. My letter reads as follows. December 18, 2004 Dear Mr. President: As you may recall, we first met in Alexandria at President Sadat’s villa on the Mediterranean when he introduced me – I was then a member of Congress visiting Egypt, Syria and Israel with two colleagues from Congress – to you. At the time, you were in your Air Force General’s uniform welcoming us as Vice President of Egypt. Much has happened since then, and...

An Israeli-Arab planned to carry out a suicide bombing attack at an American-owned restaurant in Jerusalem together with his 16-year old fiancee shortly after their wedding, Israel's Shin Bet revealed today. Ahmed Yakub Jazawi, 22, a Palestinian resident of the eastern Jerusalem neighborhood of Abu-Tor who was arrested last month by an undercover police unit, revealed to interrogators a plot to blow up a new Sbarro's pizza restaurant at Jerusalem's busy Jaffa Road pedestrian mall, the Shin Bet said. Jazawi reportedly said he was recruited by a top Hamas leader in Hebron, Mutsab Hasalmon, who he knew from Abu Dis...

Palestinian Media Watch Bulletin December 22, 2004 PALESTINIAN MEDIA WATCH phone: 972- 2- 625-4140 fax: 972-2- 624-2803 material may be quoted, citing PMW as the source subscribe free to PMW reports, details below International Herald Tribune, Dec. 22, 2004: The Palestinian schoolbooks:Planting seeds of the next war By Itamar Marcus One of the most meaningful gauges of the integrity of a peace process and its likelihood for success is the degree to which the "peace partners" educate towards peace. It is for this reason that the entire Palestinian Authority (PA) education apparatus, both formal and informal, has been such a...

The contretemps with the United States over the sale of Israeli-made Harpy assault drones to China is threatening to turn into a crisis with China as well. Washington is demanding that Israel not send back to China some of the drones sent here for upgrading. The drones are already Chinese property. The Israelis who heard the demand were astonished, considering there is no American technology in the drones. However, American sources say Israel will have no choice but to comply with the U.S. demand. The powerful pro-Taiwan lobby is warning that advanced Israeli weapons technologies could be used against U.S....

Top News Story Iran - A New Approach The Committee on the Present Danger Policy Paper Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei of Iran presents a fundamental threat to peace, for all signs point to his determination to develop nuclear weapons. Iran’s people, on the other hand, are our allies. They want to free themselves from Khamenei’s oppression and they want Iran to join the community of prosperous, peaceful democracies. The recent agreement Iran made with France, Germany and Britain to temporarily halt uranium enrichment, while it may slow down its overall program, will do so only briefly. What is needed...

Blair on surprise Baghdad visit UK Prime Minister Tony Blair is in Baghdad for his first visit to the violence-hit capital for talks with Iraqi leaders.

In the 1970's and '80's the issue du jour among human rights groups was apartheid, the hateful South African caste system. The anger certainly was justified, but there was also a degree of hypocrisy associated with the movement. Human rights groups were conspicuously silent about the murders in the Sudan, slavery in parts of Africa, the plight of the "boat people," and other issues. One might get the impression that if a human rights matter embarrasses the United States, it is worthy of concern. If not, the issue doesn't see the light of day among activists. Now, at the beginning...

BANGKOK: Thai premier Thaksin Shinawatra vowed to continue arresting ringleaders of separatist attacks as a volunteer rescue worker became the latest victim of violence that has claimed more than 560 lives this year. Part-time rescue volunteer Phanom Promsa-ard, 46, was killed instantly when gunmen shot him four times as he rode to work in southern Pattani province, said police. Police said the killing was carried out by a gunman riding a motorbike, which they described as a "trade-mark" style of attack for southern insurgents. The slaying came as Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra warned that police would shortly issue a further...

The U.S. military counterattacked in Mosul Wednesday, deploying armored vehicles and infantry to sweep the northern Iraqi city a day after a terrorist attack on an army mess tent killed 22 people and injured 50 more. Hundreds of troops fanned out across several neighborhoods backed up by Bradley fighting vehicles and armored Humvees, reports the Associated Press. Helicopter gunships were observed flying overhead, Military jets buzzed the city at a higher altitude. Some U.S. troops were deployed to blocked Mosul's five bridges over the Tigris River that link the western and eastern sectors of the city, while others conducting sweeps...

WASHINGTON (AP) - 1221bush-mosul Iraqi insurgents have attacked several U.S. military dining hall tents in recent months and the Pentagon was finishing a hardened bunker to replace the dining tent at the base near Mosul attacked Tuesday, military officials said. Days before the hardened dining hall was scheduled to be completed, a 122mm rocket slammed into the tent at Forward Operating Base Marez near Mosul where hundreds of troops were sitting down to lunch. Accounts of the number killed varied, but Pentagon officials said Tuesday night that 22 were killed, including 20 Americans. The toll included 15 military servicemembers and...