Give Peace A Chance
assalamualaikum w.b.t and kia ora…
hello…how’s it going? (in true Kiwi style)…today’s march 31st…today’s my close friend, Ain’s, birthday…happy birthday, Ain…and today is the 12th day of the month of Rabiul-Awwal in the Hijri calendar…which means that today is my beloved Prophet Muhammad’s birthday…happy birthday to Him too…and happy birthday also to whoever’s celebrating their birthday today…i’m going to take this opportunity to wish my older sister "happy birthday" in advance…her birthday’s not until next week…and my younger sister, Naiim, too…her birthday is at the end of April, but i don’t care…so, happy birthday, Naiim and Kak Najah…now i’m satisfied…
there’s a lot of things going on in the Middle East right now…there’s the Arab League peace initiative, which is rejected by the Israeli government…then Ehud Olmert, the PM of Israel, calling Ismail Haniyeh, his Palestinian counterpart, a "terrorist"…then a close ally of Olmert, Haim Ramon, was convicted of sexual misconduct…before this, the President of Israel was forced to take a leave of absence when news surfaced that he had raped one of his female aides and sexually assaulted a few others…Olmert himself is currently under investigation over allegations of cronyism (funny that…he often comdemns the Palestinian Authority for their supposed corruption…looks like a classic example of "the pot calling the kettle black" to me…), then there’s the "kidnapping" of a BBC journalist in Gaza…and the kidnapping of British sailors by the Iranian Govenment…were they or were they not in Iranian waters?…can’t wait to see how this crisis is going to end…
what i’m really interested in at this moment is the rejected Arab League peace initiative…seriously…i think it’s high time that Israel and its Arab neighbours stop fighting…the Arab countries made it perfectly clear in their proposal that they are going to normalize ties with Israel and accept Israel’s existence if Israel withdrew to its pre-1967 border…and accept the creation of an independent and sovereign Palestinian state and accept a just solution to the "Palestinian refugees" problem…sounds like a fair bargain to me…but Olmert has a problem with the withdrawal to pre-1967 border and the Palestinian refugees thingy…so he rejected it and said that it was a "diktat"…how convenient…let me make it clear to you guys…when Israel triumphed over Egypt, Syria and Jordan in the 1967 Six-Day War, it seized the remaining 22 percent of historic Palestine that was not part of Israel proper…some of this area were later annexed into Israel and some (i.e. the West Bank and the Gaza Strip) were placed under Israel’s military occupation…till this day…the Israeli Government disengaged from Gaza at the end of 2005 (the settlers may not be there, but the Israeli Army is still very much there)…the West Bankers still live under military occupation…this year marks the 40th year of Israel’s occupation of Palestinian lands…this occupation contravenes the international law…several international laws, to be precise…the UN has time and again passed resolutions condemning Israel’s illegal appropriation and annexation of Palestinian lands…the Israeli Government needs to withdraw because their hold of these lands is illegal…it’s as simple as that…ILLEGAL…which part of I-L-L-E-G-A-L do they not understand?
the Arab League peace deal is a classic case of quid pro quo…you give us our lands back, and we leave you alone…isn’t that what Israel wants? to be left alone? Israel wants Palestinian "terrorists" to stop bombing Israeli civilians…then Israel has to stop giving them a reason to bomb its civilians…cease your occupation and they’ll desist from bombing you…if the Israeli Army keeps treating the Palestinians like worthless trash (Amnesty reports that everday at least one Palestinian dies under Israel’s occupation), then they are going to be treated like trash too…it’s the first rule of physics, people…there is no action without reaction…so, that’s why i think this whole thing needs to end…the Israelis are weary of living under constant threat and fear for their lives…the Palestinians are weary of living under occupation…the Palestinians living in the Diaspora are tired of being seen as unwelcome visitors and a nuisance to their host countries…i think i’m right in saying that both parties want out of this conflict…if they want out, they’ve got to lose their rejectionist stance…there’s no other way around it…they’ve got to work with each other…Olmert’s refusal to recognize the Palestinian Unity Government as a legitimate negotiating partner won’t help matters….and the Palestinians, for God’s sake, please stop fighting and killing each other…what’s the point of having a Palestinian state if there are no Palestinian left to enjoy it?…you’ve got to stop screwing each other up…you’re all working towards the same goal…you might want to consider working WITH each other…that might help…
on a lighter note, there’s a new movie out called "becoming jane"…it’s about the life of jane austen, my favourite author in the whole wide world…syada, it’s a gorgeous story…you and i are going to love it…i haven’t watched it yet, actually..but i have seen the trailer…and it’s gorgeous…saying that i like jane austen is probably understating it…i adore her works…i adore her style of writing…her wacky witticisms…her cynical view on the society in which she lived…her sometimes pessimistic outlook on human nature…i love it…there’s something refreshing about her…she’s a non-conformist…she dared to defy long-established conventions…she didn’t do things just because other people were doing it…she’s smart…she, in short, had all the qualities that i respect in a human being…this movie, "becoming jane", is about her romance (or alleged romance) with an Irishman, Thomas Lefroy…they actually don’t have enough evidence to suggest that this liaison did happen, but they decided to do a movie on it anyway…funny…but if it did happen, then i know where she got the inspiration to write her brilliant works from…
ok…time to go…it’s a rather long entry, is it not?…i’ve run out of ideas anyway…perfect timing…go watch the movie when it comes out…i’m not forcing you or anything…if you don’t want to watch it, that’s fine by me…i’m actually against the use of force except in cases where serious provocations are involved…so, i’ll say my goodbye now…goodbye!
"Human nature is so well disposed towards those who are in interesting situations, that a young person, who either marries or dies, is sure to be kindly spoken of." (jane austen)
"If a woman doubts as to whether she should accept a man or not, she certainly ought to refuse him. If she can hesitate as to Yes, she ought to say No, directly." (jane austen)
"I do not want people to be agreeable, as it saves me that trouble of liking them." (jane austen)
‘Ainur Rahmah Ellias
