Middle East: Religion vs. Extremism

Score two victories for religious common sense over irrational hatred.

Lebanon:
Patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronite Church lashes out at Hizbullah

“Weapons and democracy cannot coexist,” said Nasrallah Boutros Sfeir, patriarch of Lebanon’s Maronite Church, in an interview to Lebanon’s al-Massira magazine to be published on Saturday.

During the interview, conducted on Thursday, Sfeir lashed out at Hizbullah, maintaining that the Shi’ite organization threatened Lebanon’s security and stability.

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Jerusalem/Israel:
‘Waqf quietly pleased at Salah’s arrest’

Heads of the Waqf Department have quietly expressed their satisfaction with the Israeli authorities’ recent measures against Sheikh Raed Salah, leader of the northern branch of the Islamic Movement in Israel, and top Fatah operative Hatem Abdel Qader, a senior official with the Ministry for Internal Security said on Thursday.

Salah and Abdel Qader have each been arrested by the Jerusalem Police for their role in instigating the latest wave of violent protests at the Temple Mount.

The two have also been banned by the Jerusalem Magistrate’s Court from entering the Old City of Jerusalem for different periods of time.

The official praised the heads of the Waqf Department for their role in “calming the situation” and preventing a further deterioration.

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But we’ve still got a long way to go…

Gaza:
Thousands Rally for Islamic Jihad

Tens of thousands of Islamic Jihad loyalists held a rally in Gaza on Friday to commemorate the group’s slain founder.

Holding plastic models of rockets and wearing masks and mock suicide bomber’s vests, the members chanted “death to Israel” and “Muhammad’s army will be back to wipe off the Hebrew state.”

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Life sentence for Rwandan war criminal

160_desire_munyaneza_070326MONTREAL — (CP) A Canadian judge has imposed the toughest sentence possible on a man convicted of committing atrocities during the 1994 Rwandan genocide, described as the worst possible crime a human being can commit.

In a historic case, Desire Munyaneza was sentenced Thursday to life imprisonment without possibility of parole for 25 years.

Quebec Superior Court Justice Andre Denis handed down the sentence in a case international legal observers followed closely because of the implications it could have on similar prosecutions both here and abroad.

He is the first person convicted under Canada’s Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act, enacted in 2000…

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what someone may have seen this morning

moon jupiter sm

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Iraq seeks UN inquiry into blasts

Tues. Oct. 27, 2009 — AlJazeera.net

Iraq’s foreign minister has called for a UN inquiry into Sunday’s twin suicide bombings in Baghdad which left at least 155 people dead and hundreds more injured.

Hoshiyar Zebari said the inquiry should focus on the support given by foreign countries to insurgents, adding that the attacks reinforced the need for international support to help his country defend itself.

The call came shortly before a reported claim of responsibility for Sunday’s blasts from an al-Qaeda linked group, the Islamic state of Iraq, Reuters news agency reported…

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US to support request at UN Security Council…

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10/26 in History

Selectively sampled from Wikipedia:

  • 306 – Martyrdom of Saint Demetrius of Thessaloniki
  • 740An earthquake strikes Constantinople, causing many deaths.
  • 1689 – General Piccolomini of Austria burned down Skopje to prevent the spread of cholera. He died of cholera himself soon after.
  • 1881The Gunfight at the O.K. Corral takes place at Tombstone, Arizona.
  • 1912 – First Balkan War: The capital city of Macedonia, Thessaloniki, is unified with Greece on the feast day of its patron Saint Demetrius. On the same day, Serbian troops captured Skopje.
  • 1917 – World War I: Battle of Caporetto; Italy suffers a catastrophic defeat at the forces of Austria-Hungary and Germany.
  • 1917 – World War I: Brazil declared in state of war with Central Powers.
  • 1947The Maharaja of Kashmir agrees to allow his kingdom to join India.
  • 1959The world sees the far side of the Moon for the first time.
  • 1967 – Mohammad Reza Pahlavi crowns himself Emperor of Iran and then crowns his wife Farah Empress of Iran.
  • 1977The last natural case of smallpox is discovered in Merca district, Somalia. The WHO and the CDC consider this date the anniversary of the eradication of smallpox, the most spectacular success of vaccination.
  • 1979 – Park Chung-hee, President of South Korea is assassinated by KCIA head Kim Jae-kyu. Choi Kyu-ha becomes the acting President; Kim is executed the following May.
  • 1994 – Jordan and Israel sign a peace treaty.
  • 1995 – Israeli-Palestinian Conflict: Mossad agents assassinate Islamic Jihad leader Fathi Shikaki in his hotel in Malta.
  • 2001The United States passes the USA PATRIOT Act into law.
  • 2002 – Moscow Theatre Siege: Approximately 50 Chechen terrorists and 150 hostages die when Russian Spetsnaz storm a theater building in Moscow, which had been occupied by the terrorists during a musical performance three days before.
  • Dishonourable mention:

    1963On October 26 (10/26), JFK assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald, was residing at a Dallas rooming house located at 1026 North Beckley Avenue. On this day, it had been 10 days since being hired for his job at the Texas School Book Depository; his 2nd daughter was born just 6 days earlier. Twenty-seven (26+01) days later, he would be arrested on suspicion of the murder of Dallas police officer J. D. Tippit, and would afterward be implicated in the assassination of president John F. Kennedy.
    (It’s a veritable conspiracy of numbers! : )
    Here’s the audio from the president’s speech at Amherst College on October 26, 1963. (Running time: 14:30)

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