Samir Quntar was a Lebanese prison held for one of the longest terms and was freed in the prisoner exchange between Hizbollah and the Zionist regime. He said: “I will continue to resist until the occupied territories are completely freed and Israel is destroyed.”

 The Saudi Arabian newspaper ‘Akaz narrated that Samir Quntar spent 30 years of his youth in Israeli prisons and wants to return to the occupied territories saying that these lands can only be freed through resistance.

 Quntar said that the years he spent in prison were very difficult but also very special. He said that he could not describe the tortures and being away from his hometown in only a ten minute span though.

Full article: www.insight-info.com

16/07/2008 It is the spot where the resistance community just loves to hear the leader of the resistance. It is the same spot that the resistance community marks the most glorious days. It is the same spot that the Israeli war machine destroyed in its lost war in 2006. It is the Raya playground in Dahye, where Sayyed Hasan Nasrallah, Hezbollah’s Secretary General welcomed the released heroes.
 
His eminence welcomed political, religious and diplomatic personalities as well as the massive popular gathering.
“I welcome you at this national victory. Welcome Samir, Maher, Khodor, Hussein and Mohammed. I welcome the martyrs whom we will receive tomorrow. I welcome Arab and Lebanese martyrs who are the pride of our Arab and Islamic nations,” his eminence said.
 
Sayyed Nasrallah added that in 2006, a group of resistance fighters captured two Israeli soldiers to set Lebanese detainees free.
“On the 16th of July, Samir and his comrades have returned and with them returned the martyrs. Is it a coincidence that dream is fulfilled in July or is it the will of Almighty Allah? How did we reach this result? The main factor is steadfastness and victory in the face of the 2006 aggression and the failure of enemy in fulfilling any of their objectives. Had we been defeated, Samir and his comrades as well as the martyrs would have never returned and everything would have been lost,” the Hezbollah chief explained.
 
In this context, Sayyed Nasrallah recalled that the Israeli enemy was demanding an unconditional release of the two captured soldiers, adding that “we have to remember those who spearheaded the fight on top of which is their brave leader Imad Moghniyeh. We recall the steadfast people who suffered devastation without showing weakness. This steadfastness has materialized victory.”
 
His eminence also explained that there had been other factors that helped during “the tough negotiations.”
“The enemy’s incapability of gaining back the soldiers without negotiations and this had been clear in the outcome of the war.
The enemy’s security and intelligence fiasco. They failed to determine the location and the fate of the soldiers. These had been our points of strength during the negotiations. One more thing: The enemy feared to announce the failure of the negotiations because he feared that this could prompt the resistance to carry out a new operation to capture more soldiers.”
 
Sayyed Nasrallah said that some positions by the detainees during the formal court session in the Zionist entity made him cry. “When one of you was asked if (Nasrallah) ordered you to fight again, would you? He replied: If we saw (Nasrallah) walking towards the sea, we would walk with him without being asked to. These words made me cry and I craved for these fighters who never change even in prisons.”
 
“When Samir Kintar left 30 years ago, Hezbollah was not existent and when martyr Dalal Moghrabi carried out her brave and unique operation, Hezbollah was not existent. Today, Hezbollah gained them back as living heroes and martyrs and this has significant indications…Arab, Palestinian and Jordanian prisoners were always present during negotiations. We used to tell the Israelis that what matters to us is that prisoners return to their families. Hand them to any leader, to any country, this is not an issue. What we want is that they return to their families. In the final stages of the negotiations, we managed to agree on the release of some Palestinians. For us, this a humanitarian and symbolic step, but nevertheless, we insisted that Palestinian prisoners be released in the framework of the swap to underline the unity of the cause. I address Arab and Islamic governments, some of which are the richest in the world. You should not turn a blind eye and say that this is a Palestinian affair. This is wrong. We should recall the suffering of 11 thousand Palestinian prisoners and their families. Today the achievements have been completed. We set tow goals after the 2006 war: To release the detainees and this has been fulfilled today. And to Have a national unity government in Lebanon and this has been fulfilled today as well. Let us put our hands together to build Lebanon and protect it.
I thank President Michel Suleiman who organized this great national reception of the detainees, just like former President Emile Lahoud had done in 2004. Both events took place in and around the airport.
Lebanon has proved that it’s a country worth sacrificing for. All we want is for our land to return to us, and we in Hezbollah, are open to any discussion over the defensive strategy. We insist on discussing it without delay. Lebanon is still in danger and it is important to have this dialogue with a positive mind. We will ask everybody to help us in defending our country and he who abandons this duty is a traitor.
We are ready to tackle any file in a way that serves our national unity.
In the coming days, we will know the fate of those missing in Israeli jails. We will also talks about the file of the Iranian diplomats.” 
 
Sayyed Nasrallah also recalled Imam Sayyed Moussa Sadr who has been kidnapped since 1978. “We want to close this file. If he was dead, give him back to us. No one should forget the founder of the resistance in Lebanon. I call for a real and serious joint Arab-Islamic cooperation to end this matter.”
 
His eminence concluded: “I congratulate you again because this victory is yours and this achievement is yours. Freedom for the prisoners and mercy on the martyrs. All the pride and glory to Palestine, Lebanon and the Umma.”

Dalal Maghribi was the first woman commander in Palestine’s history of resistance. When she was only twenty years old she led around 10 Palestinians into one of the worst martyrdom missions. After killing many Israeli soldiers they faced the Israeli Special Forces on the way back led by Ehud Barak himself. In the end all of them reached martyrdom. This was so bad for the Zionists that Barak was seen on television dragging the corpse of this brave lady through the ground.

Dalal Maghribi was born in 1958 in the Palestinian camp of Sabra from a Palestinian family originating from Yafa who had refugee status in Lebanon. She went to elementary and middle school in Beirut in schools run by agencies trying to help Palestinian refugees.

She started military training while she was still in school. She was familiarized with various weapons and styles of war. At that time she became famous for her bravery and revolutionary spirit.

For more than half a century, those who have been trying to combat the forces that are behind the Israeli paradigm have been identifying Israeli policies and practice with Zionism and Zionist Ideology. I am afraid to say that they were wrong all the way along. Indeed, Zionism’s project dictates the plunder of Palestine in the name of Jewish national aspiration. It is also true to argue that Israel has been rather efficient in translating the Zionist philosophy into a devastating oppressive and murderous practice. Yet, Israelis, or more precisely, the vast majority of Israeli-born secular Jews, are not motivated or fuelled by Zionist ideology. Its spirit or symbols are virtually meaningless to them. As bizarre as it may sound to some, Zionism is either a foreign or just an archaic notion for most Israeli-born secular Jews.

Since the vast majority of Israelis are confused by the notion of Zionism, most forms of criticism that would label itself as anti-Zionist would have hardly any effect on Israel, Israeli politics or on the Israeli people. In other words, in the last sixty years, those who have been using the paradigm of Zionism and its antipode have been preaching to the converted.

A total review of the amalgam formed by Israel, Zionism and Jewishness is now overdue.

Intimate Departure

Once a year around Easter, my family leaves me behind for two weeks. My wife Tali and our two kids Mai (12) and Yann (7) make their way to Israel. My wife calls it a family visit, she insists that the kids must see their close relatives and my views on Israel, Jewish identity and global Zionism should never stand in the way or interfere with family matters. For the obvious reasons, I myself never go to Israel. I had decided ten years ago that unless Israel becomes a state of its citizens, I have nothing to do there.

In our first parental years in London Tali and I had some discussions about her favourite choice of Easter break. Initially I didn’t approve. I insisted that schlepping innocent youngsters to the apartheid ‘Jews only state’ would contribute little to their future well-being, and in fact, it may distort their ethical senses. In those early parental years Tali dismissed my fears, she argued that our kids should be treated as free human beings. They must be entitled to see their family and it is down to them to make up their minds when they are ready to do so.

When our kids were very young, I found it pretty difficult to sustain my argument. Mai and Yann didn’t have any interest in political or ethical complexities. However, as my kids grew up, their journey in and out of the Hebraic shtetl had become a major education chapter for myself more than for anyone else. Observing my kids transformed into light Israelophiles opened my eyes. I happened to grasp the impact of Israel and Zionism through the juvenile eyes of my British kids. I had learned to admit how easy it may be to fall in love with Israel.

My kids love it there. They adore the blue sky, they go on and on about the sea and the sandy beaches. I guess that they love humus and falafel. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that everything I have mentioned so far belongs to the land - i.e., Palestine rather than the state - i.e., Israel. However, it doesn’t end there. They also love to talk in Hebrew surrounded by Hebrew speakers, to laugh in Hebrew and even to get upset in Hebrew. They love the Hebraic Chutzpah that is inherently entangled with the Israeli openness. At the end of the day, Hebrew is their mother tongue.

When Tali and the kids land in cloudy London they happen to be confused and lost for a while. Tali becomes slightly nostalgic about the successful theatrical career she left behind. This obviously makes a lot of sense. The case of my kids is slightly more complicated. They are Brits. Though Hebrew is their mother tongue, English is their first language. In London they clearly miss some liberties they celebrated there: they want to keep on playing in the open fields, to bathe in the glorious Mediterranean sun overwhelmed by the dry spring blossoms. But far more noticeably, Israel resolves what seems as their inevitable emerging identity complex. While here in London they are troubled with their ethnic identity, they can never decide who they are, whether they are ex-Israelis, ex-Jews, Secular Jews, Christian by culture, the descendents of a Hebrew speaking Palestinian, the son and daughter of a notorious proud self-hater and so on. In Israel, and especially with their family around, none of those questions come into play. The Israelis tend to accept you as a qualified brother as long as you are not an Arab. While in multi-ethnic London my kids are often confronted with some obvious questions regarding their origin, questions they find hard to tackle a lot because of myself and my stand, in Israel those questions are non-existent.

full article: www.insight-info.com

Late Imam Khomeini:

“Be like Chamran.”

Martyrs are too great to be in need of any tribute, yet what makes such occasion a must, is to make acquainted the new generations with the thoughts and beliefs of great men in history like Shahid Mostafa Chamran.

Chamran was born in 1932 in Tehran. At 15, he began his activities with Islamic associations, participating in classes of commentary on the Quran by Late Ayatollah Taleghani and those of logic and philosophy by Martyr Professor Motahhari.

Enjoying a government scholarship for talented students, he went to the United States for a period of 14 years and earned his master’s degree from the University of Texas. He then went on to get his Ph.D. in electronics and plasma physics with excellent grades from the University of California at Berkeley. He entered research on satellites and powerful radars with Bell Laboratories.

He had complete mastery over English and Arabic and also knew French and German.

His most important political activities abroad were organizing and training guerrilla and revolutionary forces in Algeria, Egypt, Lebanon and Syria.

Chamran participated in guerrilla activities in liberation wars against Israel and the Phalanges. For eight years he assumed responsibility for managing the Technical School of Jabal-Amel in southern Lebanon.

Full article: www.insight-info.com

At the time of the victory of the Islamic Revolution under the leadership of Imam Khomeini, Chamran returned to Iran. Initially, he became commander of the government division of the Revolutionary Guards. He was deputy prime minister for revolutionary affairs and was later appointed minister of defense.

Which country is the rogue nation? Iraq? Iran? Or the United States? Syndicated columnist Charley Reese asks this question in a recently published article.

Reese notes that it is the US that routinely commits “acts of aggression around the globe.”

The US government has no qualms about dropping bombs on civilians whether they be in Serbia, the Middle East, or Africa. It is all in a good cause – our cause.

This slaughtering of foreigners doesn’t seem to bother the American public. Americans take it for granted that Americans are superior and that American purposes, whatever they be, take precedence over the rights of other people to life and to a political existence independent of American hegemony.

The Bush regime has come up with a preemption doctrine that justifies attacking a country in order to prevent the country from possibly becoming a future threat to the US. “Threat” is broadly defined. It appears to mean the ability to withstand the imposition of US hegemony. This insane doctrine justifies attacking China and Russia, a direction in which the Republican presidential candidate John McCain seems to lean.

The callousness of Americans toward the lives of other peoples is stunning. How many Christian churches ask God’s forgiveness for having been rushed into an error that has killed, maimed, and displaced a quarter of the Iraqi population?

Full article: www.insight-info.com

This is an e-mail that was circulated between a person and a few scholars. I think this issue is important and needs to be discussed further. Please take a minute and read it and lets think of way that we can combat this issue.

InshaAllah this reaches everyone in good health. By the grace of Allah (swt) many active and sincerely devoted youth have begun to connect with each other from all across the country. Through mediums such as email list servs, conferences, face book, and online forums these youth have demonstrated incredible understanding of Islam’s revolutionary ideology. Often times because of their unadulterated view of Islamic tradition, they end up feeling isolated within their own communities and resort to finding young adults through other means. In the last couple of years we have begun to exchange ideas about the future of Islam in America and the necessary steps that need to be taken by communities and their respective leaders. After noticing that many of our communities are facing the same problems, and feeling that the majority have neglected to address them properly, we have decided to take our issues directly to our scholars across the board.

One of these preeminent issues is regarding race relations, and ethnocentricity. The reality of the matter is that racism exists down to the roots of many Islamic centers, pervading even up to the mouths of some religious leaders. The Caucasian, Black and African American, and Latino growing Shia communities are feeling more and more isolated as they continue to search for avenues to practice their new found faith. The masjids are increasingly becoming deficient for our new converts and reverts by failing to provide adequate resources. Often times they naturally bring with them their old styles of dress, hair, and slang. Unfortunately out of lack of insight and patience, many centers stuck in their own cultural ignorance tend to shun and look down upon such ‘foreign’ behaviors. Countless numbers of reverts have turned back from Islam because of this type of attitude.

Full article: www.insight-info.com

By Zahra Hosseinian

TEHRAN (Reuters) - The Revolutionary Guards said Iran would impose controls on shipping in the vital Gulf oil route if Iran was attacked and warned regional states of reprisals if they took part, a newspaper reported on Saturday.

Fear of an escalation in the standoff between the West and Iran, the world’s fourth largest oil producer, have been one factor propping up sky-high oil prices. Crude hit a record level on international markets near $143 a barrel on Friday.

Speculation about a possible attack on Iran because of its disputed nuclear ambitions has risen since a report this month said Israel had practised such a strike, prompting increasingly tough talk of retaliation, if pushed, from Tehran.

“Naturally every country under attack by an enemy uses all its capacity and opportunities to confront the enemy,” Guards commander-in-chief Mohammad Ali Jafari told Jam-e Jam newspaper in some of the toughest language Iran has used so far.

Analysts say Iran may not match the firepower of U.S. forces but could still cause havoc in the region using unconventional tactics, such as deploying small craft to attack ships, or using allies in the area to strike at U.S. or Israeli interests.

“Regarding the main route for exiting energy, Iran will definitely act to impose control on the Persian Gulf and Strait of Hormuz,” Jafari said of the Gulf waterway through which about two-fifths of all globally traded oil passes.

Iranian officials have in the past sent mixed signals about whether Iran would use oil as a weapon. But such threats, when made, have sent jitters through the crude market for fear of disrupting supplies from big OPEC producers in the Gulf.

The Islamic Republic insists its nuclear programme is peaceful and aimed at generating electricity. But the West and Israel fear Iran is seeking to build atomic bombs. Israel is believed to be the only Middle East state with nuclear arms.

Washington has said it wants diplomacy to end the nuclear row but has not ruled out military action should that fail.

‘RIGHT TO RESPOND’

“If there is a confrontation between us and the enemy from outside the region, definitely the scope (of the confrontation) will reach the oil issue,” Jafari said.

The Revolutionary Guards are the ideologically driven wing of Iran’s military with air, sea and land capabilities, and a separate command structure to regular units.

“After this action (of Iran imposing controls on the Gulf waterway), the oil price will rise very considerably and this is among the factors deterring the enemies,” Jafari said.

He said any military action might “be able to delay Iran’s nuclear activities but this delay will certainly be very short”.

Jafari warned neighbours not to let their territory be used.

“If the attack takes place from the soil of another country … the country attacked has the right to respond to the enemy’s military action from where the operation started,” he said.

Kuwait, the launchpad for the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, and Iraq itself, where U.S. troops are now stationed, have both said they would not let their land be used for a strike on Iran. The U.S. military has bases in other Gulf states and Afghanistan.

“Israelis know if they take military action against Iran … the abilities of the Islamic and Shi’ite world, especially in the region, will deliver fatal blows,” Jafari said, adding that Israel was in range of Iranian missiles.

The Revolutionary Guards are the ideological wing of Iran’s military with air, sea and land capabilities and a separate command structure to regular units.

Jafari said Iran’s long coastline along the Gulf, Strait of Hormuz and Sea of Oman meant those attacking Iran or backing such an operation “will be harmed”.

(Additional reporting by Hashem Kalantari, Writing by Edmund Blair; Editing by Charles Dick)

Iran Air Flight 655 was shot down by the US Navy’s guided missile cruiser USS Vincennes on Sunday July 3, 1988, killing all 290 passengers, including 66 children, and crewmembers onboard.

The civilian airliner, carrying passengers from Iran, Italy, the UAE, India, Pakistan and the former Yugoslavia, was en route from Iran’s southern city of Bandar Abbas to Dubai when it was hit by two SM-2MR surface-to-air missiles launched from the warship commanded by Captain William C. Rogers III.

Following the tragic incident, ranked seventh among the deadliest airliner fatalities, unapologetic US officials said their naval officers had mistaken the Iranian Airbus A300 for an F-14 Tomcat fighter.

They went on to claim that the Vincennes crew had been under a simultaneous psychological condition called ’scenario fulfillment’, and had therefore confused their training scenario with reality and responded accordingly.

Iran declared the incident an international crime, saying that even if the warship crew had mistaken the Airbus for an F-14 the tragedy was the result of the US Navy’s negligence and reckless behavior.

Iran further argued that the aircraft was flying within the Iranian airspace and did not have an attack profile, and as the warship crew were fully trained to handle ’simultaneous attacks’ by enemy aircrafts they could have handled the situation in a manner that would not claim civilian lives.

When the matter was taken to the United Nations Security Council in July 1988, the then US Vice President George H.W. Bush defended the Vincennes crew’s action and said that given the situation the officers in question had acted appropriately.
 

Eventually, the UN Security Council Resolution 616 was passed, which expressed “deep distress” over the downing, “profound regret” for the loss of life, and stressed the need to end the Iraq-Iran war.

Full article: www.insight-info.com