Pakistan set to hang acquitted man:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060520/ap_on_re_as/pakistan_rough_justice_1

Mirza Hussain's family migrated to England from Pakistan when he was a boy. In December 1988, after training in Britain's reserve army, the 18-year-old came back to visit relatives living near Chakwal, about 56 miles south of Islamabad. On his way, he claims, his taxi driver stopped the car, produced a gun and physically and sexually assaulted him. In the struggle that followed the gun went off and the driver, Jamshad Khan, was fatally injured. Hussain voluntarily reported the incident to police and was arrested. In September 1989, a sessions court sentenced him to death. The high court revoked the death penalty in November 1992 due to serious discrepancies in the prosecution's case and ordered a retrial. In April 1994 his sentence was reduced to life in prison; in May 1996 the high court acquitted Hussain of all charges. But a week later, while he was waiting for release, his case was referred to the Islamic, or Sharia, court on the basis that the crime he was charged of — "haraabah," or armed robbery — came under its jurisdiction.

Married at two, spurned, Muslim girl battles dilemma:

http://www.newindpress.com/NewsItems.asp?ID=IEH20060520063617&Page=H&Title=Top+Stories&Topic=0&

The latest news on Israel's peace partners:

al jazeera cars torched in Ramallah: http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961381115&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The sources said the Fatah supporters were angry with al-Jazeera because it had not covered an anti-Hamas demonstration in the city by Fatah earlier in the day.

And

 Gaza blast wounds PA intelligence head

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961379202&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Victor Davis Hanson disgusses the hypocrisy of anti-Americanism around the world:http://article.nationalreview.com/?q=N2RlYjRmMGM0NzIyZTA2NjFkZjg2Y2ZjNzI0MjdjMDM=

How does the United States deal with a corrupt world in which we are blamed even for the good we do, while others are praised when they do wrong or remain indifferent to suffering? We are accused of unilateral and preemptory bullying of the madman Mr. Ahmadinejad, whose reactors that will be used to “wipe out” the “one-bomb” state of Israel were supplied by Swiss, German, and Russian profit-minded businessmen. No one thinks to chastise those who sold Iran the capability of destroying Israel.

Hamas screams that we are mean for our logical suggestion that free American taxpayers will not subsidize such killers and terrorists. Those in the Middle East whine about Islamophobia, but keep silent that there is not allowed a Sunni mosque in Iran or a Christian church in Saudi Arabia. An entire book could be written about the imams and theocrats—in Iran, Egypt, the West Bank, Pakistan, and the Gulf States—who in safety issue fatwas and death pronouncements against Americans in Iraq and any who deal with the “infidel,” and yet send their spoiled children to private schools in Britain and the United States, paid for by their own blackmail money from corrupt governments.

Oil cuts a lot of idealism in the Middle East. The cynicism is summed up simply as “Those who sell lecture, and those who buy listen.” American efforts in Iraq—the largest aid program since the Marshall Plan, where American blood and treasure go to birth democracy—are libeled as “no blood for oil.” Yet a profiteering Saudi Arabia or Kuwait does more to impoverish poor oil-importing African and Asian nations than any regime on earth. But this sick, corrupt world keeps mum.

On the other hand, Australian PM John Howard, who has moral clarity and understands who is actually a threat to the peace and stability of the world, courageously stands with America:http://www.canada.com/ottawacitizen/news/story.html?id=2d2c2a68-7c78-49ef-b13c-ff8d1a05a55b&k=16986

The United States is a "power for good" in the world and those who wish it had less influence "should be careful what you wish for," Australian Prime Minister John Howard told a joint session of Parliament yesterday after arriving in Ottawa for a three-day visit. ... As Mr. Howard came to the close of a 23-minute address that lauded the common economic, environmental and security interests of Canada and Australia, he said he wanted to conclude with a few words about "the role of United States in the affairs of the world." "Australia, as you know, is an unapologetic friend and ally of the United States," Mr. Howard began. "I have always taken the view and the majority of my fellow countrymen the same, that the United States has been a remarkable power for good in the world and that the decency and hope that power and purpose of the United States represents to the world is something that we should deeply appreciate," Mr. Howard said. He added that the U.S. shares with Australia and Canada a belief in spreading democracy, individual liberty and free enterprise where the less fortunate are protected by a social safety net. "I would have for those around the world who would want to see a reduced American role in the affairs of our globe, some quiet advice, and that is: Be careful what you wish for because a retreating America will leave a more vulnerable world. "It would leave the world more exposed to terrorism and would leave a more fragile and indeed dangerous world."

How much more evidence do we need to recognize that this, vile, evil, nazi-like regime should not be allowed access to nuclear weapons and that we must do whatever it takes, yes even militarily to prevent that dire outcome? http://www.canada.com/components/print.aspx?id=11fbf4a8-282a-4d18-954f-546709b1240f&k=32073

 "This is reminiscent of the Holocaust," said Rabbi Marvin Hier, the dean of the Simon Wiesenthal Center in Los Angeles. "Iran is moving closer and closer to the ideology of the Nazis." Iranian expatriates living in Canada yesterday confirmed reports that the Iranian parliament, called the Islamic Majlis, passed a law this week setting a dress code for all Iranians, requiring them to wear almost identical "standard Islamic garments." The law, which must still be approved by Iran's "Supreme Guide" Ali Khamenehi before being put into effect, also establishes special insignia to be worn by non-Muslims. Iran's roughly 25,000 Jews would have to sew a yellow strip of cloth on the front of their clothes, while Christians would wear red badges and Zoroastrians would be forced to wear blue cloth.

http://www.jewishworldreview.com/jeff/jacoby051806.php3

More than a few unsettling questions have been raised about the ISB and its mosque project. For example: Why did city officials provide the land for the mosque for just $175,000, when the parcel was publicly valued at $400,000? And where did that $400,000 figure come from, when the land's market value had earlier been assessed at $2 million? What is the Islamic Society's relationship to Yusef al-Qaradawi, a radical Islamist who praises suicide terrorism and endorses the killing of Americans in Iraq? For several years the ISB listed him as a trustee, though now it says that was an "administrative oversight." Was it also an oversight when a videotaped message of support from Qaradawi, who is banned from the United States, was played at an ISB fund-raiser in 2002? After it was reported that another trustee, Walid Fitaihi, had written that Jews are "murderers of the prophets" who will be punished for "oppression, murder, and rape of the worshipers of Allah," why did the ISB drag its heels for seven months before unequivocally repudiating his words?

But if anything should raise eyebrows, it is the decision of the Islamic Society to pursue Mansour for his comments about the ISB at a press conference in 2004. He had gone to pray at the ISB's current mosque in Cambridge, and described at the press conference what he had observed: "I am here to testify that this radical culture is here, inside this society," he said. He had seen "Arabic-language newsletters filled with hatred against the United States." Books and videos in the mosque's library promoted "fanatical beliefs that insult other people's religions." A religious man who prays five times daily, he stressed that he was "not against the mosque. . . . I'm against extremists."

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=22475

In my experience, divestment activists often casually label anything from a fence to a policy, “apartheid.” As someone who grew up in South Africa, I often wonder how many of those who champion the term apartheid could accurately define its meaning or even correctly identify its linguistic origin. To date, I have not even heard the term pronounced correctly (often pronounced apart-hide, the pronunciation that most closely resembles Afrikaans is apart-ate). Too many words have been reduced to catch phrases and sound bites that cheapen their actual meaning and few words have been more abused than apartheid.

South Africa's ambassador to Israel, Major General Fumanekile (Fumie) Gqiba, seems to concur. Ambassador Gqiba, a former commander in the armed wing of the ANC liberation movement recently told a South African paper, “the term 'apartheid' is uniquely South African and devalues the struggle of the black population against one of the worst forms of oppression known to man.”

I'd like just one divestment activist to make the comparison between Israel and Apartheid South Africa to a black South African, such as my friend, Maggie Masipha – a women in her 50s who grew up when apartheid policies were most stringent. Tell her about Israel's "racist" policies that allowed for the appointment of Salim Joubran, an Israeli-Arab judge to its Supreme Court in 2003. Ask her if while she was sitting on the “blacks only” bench she was allowed to go out and vote, let alone play an influential role in her country's judicial process. While Palestinians and Arabs lecture and attend every Israeli University, it was illegal for Mrs. Masipha to attend any South African universities under the National Party's rule. Tell her about how Israel's draconian policies give Palestinian professors like Sari Nusseibeh (who recently opposed the boycott of Israeli universities by the UK's Association of University Teachers) rights to academic freedom. Ask her if these conditions are reminiscent of the oppression she faced.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/opinion/main.jhtml?xml=/opinion/2006/05/17/do1705.xml&sSheet=/news/2006/05/17/ixnews.html

Even if a way could be found to circumvent Hamas, the very fact of pumping more money into the Occupied Territories will make terrorism more likely. Palestinians are already, by some measure, the largest per capita recipients of overseas aid in the world. Yet the level of violence in Gaza and the West Bank has risen in proportion to the amount of assistance received. When Hamas was elected earlier this year, the EU brushed aside American objections and handed over 120 million euros. Palestinians responded by ransacking EU diplomatic missions and kidnapping European citizens. But the EU is less interested in the practical consequences of its subsidies than in the message they send. By firehosing cash at the PA, Europeans signal their opposition to Washington, suck up to their Muslim voters and, above all, vent their dislike of Israel.

And surprise, arafat used foreign aid to buy weapons:

 http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961361493&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull

Do we need any more proof of the mortal danger that massive numbers of muslim immigrants are to the west? Multiculturalism is a disaster which has become a physical danger to Europe as well as undermining the foundation of western civilization. How long before Europe is under sharia law and women are forced to cover themselves or get raped? Europe is being destroyed, but will the left ever acknowledge the disaster it has created?

http://www.city-journal.org/html/15_4_suicide_bombers.html

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=15206

http://www.vdare.com/francis/gang_rape.htm

http://www.vdare.com/fulford/racial_rape.htm

http://www.aftenposten.no/english/local/article190268.ece

http://www.cphpost.dk/get/82118.html

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961349468&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

But on this, the day after what the Palestinians call Nakba Day (when they mark the catastrophe of the creation of Israel), we should not forget that the Palestinians' suffering has been caused by their own leadership, the Arab countries, and, in particular, because so many of them continue to cling to the futile idea of destroying Israel.

The Zionist movement in 1947 was prepared, and today's State of Israel is prepared to make this compromise. The Palestinian national movement, on the other hand, has not agreed to any such compromise. It did not agree to it in 1947, and it does not agree to it today. It is not a question of borders, or of drawing the line dividing the two states; rather of the very principle of two states for two peoples. Most of the delegates to the UN General Assembly took a negative view of this recalcitrant and extreme position, as well as of the leadership of the Nazi mufti, Haj Amin el-Husseini. Had the mufti had his way, the Jewish population of Eretz Yisrael/Palestine would also have been exterminated in death camps - a small addition of 10 percent to the number of Jews murdered by his Nazi partners. FROM THE moment the decision in favor of partition was made, the Palestinian Arabs and Arab nations rose up against the Palestinian Jews. Instead of accepting the compromise decided upon by the supreme international organization, which also had the authority to decide on the future of the areas under the Mandate of the League of Nations, the Arab countries made a declaration of war and began to plan their invasion of the Jewish state by regular Arab armies and a Palestinian Arab army led by the mufti. WHERE DOES this Arab refusal come from? It comes from the same argument that the president of Iran is now making - that the Jews are not a people, and therefore not entitled to a state; and that the Middle East is Muslim and has no place for a state that is not Muslim.

That is the justice of the Zionist cause. It remains far stronger than any pro-Arab claim.

The gangsters and thugs of fatah have threatened violence against the west if we don't pay jizya. http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961350957&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

The Aksa Martyrs Brigades, the armed wing of Fatah, on Monday threatened to strike at US and European interests in response to international sanctions on the Palestinian Authority "We won't remain idle in the face of the siege imposed on the Palestinian people by Israel, the US and other countries," said a leaflet issued by the Aksa Martyrs Brigades in the Gaza Strip. "We will strike at the economic and civilian interests of these countries, here and abroad."

Martin Kramer: "Israel Lobby" authors John Mearsheimer and Stephen Walt have published a rejoinder to their critics in the current issue of the London Review of Books. The careful reader will detect tactical retreats in nearly every paragraph. On the two points over which I challenged Mearsheimer in person three weeks ago in Princeton (while he and Walt were preparing their response), the retreats appear to be total.

http://sandbox.blog-city.com/mearsheimer_walt_retreat.htm

Three perspectives on dealing with hamas:

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Printable.asp?ID=22462

The dubious psychology applies in the other direction, too. In a world where Palestinianism (a term admirably coined by Bat Ye’or) seems to fill empty lives with much of the romance, drama, ideology, and moral passion that are lacking, it could not have been expected that an attempt to penalize the Palestinians for electing uncouth Hamas, to the point of making them “suffer,” would last very long. Twenty years of genocide in Sudan may be quite tolerable, oppression in Tibet not even detectable, but a few images of “suffering Palestinians” are enough to set the whole Western world on edge and prompt urgent conferences on how to get the aid flowing again while “bypassing” Hamas, as if that were possible in the small, corrupt, interconnected world of the PA. The whole attempt to besiege Hamas diplomatically and economically is an evasion of the fact that Hamas, and indeed the PA throughout its twelve-plus years of existence, is a military problem for Israel—and increasingly for the West in general as the litany of jihadist movements, from Hamas itself to Hizbullah to Al Qaeda, entrench themselves in fertile PA soil. Hamas cannot be boycotted out of power, and even if it could be, it would be replaced by forces no less vicious, if possibly more presentable. With Hamas’s military defeat by Israel not even on the radar screen (though it flickered hopefully there in the first part of 2004), what is very much evident is Hamas’s growing strength while the reliably usefully-idiotic West sells, or gives, it the rope.

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961343304&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FPrinter

There are easily 80 developing states that receive virtually no aid and whose people are arguably worse off than the Palestinians. The latter have been given more money per capita than any other group in history. Why not give aid instead to poor, peaceful, relatively honest Third World regimes trying to promote real development? There is also no reason to believe that covering the PA payroll will produce any development or broader benefits. It is one thing to subsidize another society if the recipients do something to warrant support. But the PA got money only because it agreed to make peace and stop terrorism. Since the PA broke that agreement and the new regime has openly rejected it, this leaves zero reason to give it aid. As for fear that the PA is going to collapse, the PA has been collapsing since its inception. The reason it has been in such bad shape is because of the bureaucrats and gunmen - both Fatah and Hamas - who continue to breed anarchy because they put violence ahead of helping their own people. What is striking about all this is that the supposed list of benefits from backing intransigent Palestinian leaders simply does not make sense. Will such behavior ward off terrorist attacks? (Al-Qaida doesn't care how pro-Palestinian Europeans pretend to be.) Ensure the flow of oil? (The sellers just want the money.) More investment opportunities? (Arab regimes and companies prefer doing business with America since its power and technology are more important to them than its policies.) Appease Muslim immigrants? (But France is the only country that has suffered major riots from this sector.) On examination, all of these arguments fall apart. The problems the Hamas regime is facing show that pressure is having an effect, and that such sanctions are the only hope for changing either the regime or its policies. Pressure and force are a key part of international affairs. If you don't like force, you had better like pressure. The idea that the West should subsidize, directly or indirectly, a radical Islamist, innately anti-American, anti-Semitic and genocidal-oriented Hamas regime is crazy. Why should anyone - much less any country - take such a notion seriously?

http://jewishworldreview.com/0506/west051506.php3

The real here question is, Why does the Hamas-run government bear "sole" responsibility? What about its supporters, i.e. the Palestinian voters who gave that Hamas-run government a landslide victory? In the world according to the Bush administration, they remain voiceless victims even after exercising their political will at the ballot box, voting into power an outlaw organization whose charter unfolds under a statement by Muslim Brotherhood founder Hassan al-Banna: "Israel will exist and will continue to exist until Islam will obliterate it, just as it obliterated others before it." Regardless of whether this heinous call to jihad leaves any peace for the so-called "Quartet" to process, Rice continued: "Hamas' policies and actions should not deprive the Palestinian people of their legitimate humanitarian needs." Why ever not? Why shouldn't Hamas' "policies and actions," driven by a Hitlerian plan to "obliterate" Israel, deprive Hamas constituents of their "needs," humanitarian or otherwise — and particularly when it comes to support from civilized nation-states spilling blood and treasure to fend off Islamic jihad in the so-called "war on terror"? There is a strategic and moral senselessness to the administration's willful disconnect. After all, the United States and the European Union cut off aid to the PA two months ago in order to extract concessions — like, for instance, on Israel's right to exist. Hamas' response? No concessions. The United States and European Union are now cranking aid back up — sure, in humanitarian dribs and drabs, but this is probably just the beginning — and still no concessions. This doesn't sound like successful statecraft. On the other hand, it seems that statecraft is no longer the craft of our state. After predictions of cash and gas shortages, and a couple of stories about sick Palestinian babies made the papers — youngsters languishing "because funds have been withheld from the West" (oil-rich Islam is never to blame) — the United States blinked. Or, rather, we teared up. Acting like an emotional individual rather than the leader of the Free World, the United States traded its goals and principles (pressuring Hamas, not supporting terrorists) for a big wet hanky. But notice Hamas didn't get weepy over its own young and decide to "save the children" by simply recognizing Israel's right to exist. Nor did any of Hamas' oil-rich Muslim brethren feel moved to come to the rescue, either. No. Hamas remained true to its creed (Kill the Jews), the Arab-Muslim world sat tight, and the United States gave in on its anti-terrorist stance and agreed to airlift necessities — which is a disgrace.

The hamas run PA, claiming they are unable to provide for food, medical care and other basic necessities, manage to purchase explosives:

Navy seizes explosives off Gaza shore

Navy ship intercepts boat carrying explosives trying to make its way from Egyptian territorial waters to Gaza Strip; 8 sacks containing explosives retrieved from under water
Hanan Greenberg

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3250824,00.html

In other news, Israel's peace partners celebrate the death of American teenager Daniel Wultz:

http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=50203

The death yesterday of Daniel Wultz, a Florida teenager critically injured last month in a suicide bombing at an Israeli restaurant, is a "gift from Allah" Also speaking to WND, Islamic Jihad senior leader in the northern West Bank Abu Amin called Wultz's death a "message from Allah to the unbelievers that he will always be at the side of those who believe and fight for him." Comparing Wultz to the suicide bomber who killed the Florida teenager, Abu Amin said, "Our hero believed in Allah and died while fighting for Allah but your pig was killed in a restaurant in an area full of prostitution."

An example of what we can expect out of the creation of a dysfunctional state of palestine:

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1145961344183&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

"We have been receiving death threats almost every day over the past month," one reporter in Gaza City said. "The threats are coming from both Hamas and Fatah." Most of the journalists who were targeted were accused of biased reporting on the Hamas-Fatah confrontation. On Thursday night, PA security officers beat Bassam Abdullah, a cameraman working for Palestine TV. The attack took place as Abdullah and other reporters tried to cover clashes between PA policemen and militiamen who sabotaged dozens of greenhouses in the former settlement of Morag in the southern Gaza Strip.

http://jnewswire.com/article/902

Indicators observed by independent Iran watchers during the past week are raising the question that nuclear-seeking Iran is not merely playing a serious game of brinkmanship, but is actually preparing to strike at Israel, European and US interests. Headlined "Iran declares war," a May 11 editorial in the New York Sun expressed the belief that a recent letter written by Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, which had been widely interpreted as a peaceful gesture, "is in fact a declaration of war." According to the Sun, a coded message is contained in the closing section of the eight-page letter. While the rest of the message had been translated into English, the salutation in had not. It reads "Vasalam Ala Man Ataba'al hoda" and means "Peace only unto those who follow the true path." Says the paper: "It is a phrase with historical significance in Islam, for, according to Islamic tradition, in year six of the Hejira - the late 620s - the prophet Mohammad sent letters to the Byzantine emperor and the Sassanid emperor telling them to convert to the true faith of Islam or be conquered. The letters included the same phrase that President Ahmadinejad used to conclude his letter to Mr. Bush." Concluded the Sun: "For Mohammad, the letters were a prelude to a Muslim offensive, a war launched for the purpose of imposing Islamic rule over infidels."

In a related story:

Iran supplied al-Qaeda in Iraq with AA weapons

http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/2006/05/iran-supplied-al-qaeda-in-iraq-with-aa.html

http://daily.stanford.edu/tempo?page=content&id=20434&repository=0001_article

The West needs to take the threat of fundamentalist, militant Islam more seriously, controversial British commentator Christopher Hitchens told a predominately older audience at the Geology Corner auditorium last night. ... “You don’t have to be paranoid, racist or a bigot to take alarm,” he said. “There is a civil war within Islam. We are not in a war on terror. We cannot be at war with an expression.” Hitchens, an editor for Vanity Fair, described himself as an atheist and issued a sharp rebuke of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. “Of course, he’s not a prophet,” he said. “He’s an epileptic plagiarist.” He said the Quran — Islam’s holiest book — was full of “evil fairly tales” that were “unimaginably recycled.” “It’s a boring plagiarism of the worst parts of Christianity and Judaism,” he added.