Condoleezza Rice has got some nerve. First, the US secretary of state had the hutzpa to compare Israel's treatment of Palestinians to that meted out to US blacks during the bad old days of the segregationist South.

Speaking at a private session at the close of the Annapolis conference, America's top diplomat said that having grown up "as a black child in the South, being told she could not use certain water fountains or eat in certain restaurants, she also understood the feelings and emotions of the Palestinians."

"I know what it is like to hear that you cannot go on a road or through a checkpoint because you are Palestinian," the Washington Post (November 29) quoted her as saying. "I understand the feeling of humiliation and powerlessness," she added.

Needless to say, the fact that American blacks were victims of violence and hate, while Palestinians are its proficient practitioners, seems to have escaped the secretary of state's attention.

Moreover, Rice's comparison between Israeli security measures and America's Jim Crow laws is both intellectually dishonest and morally obscene.

There is no similarity whatsoever between Israel establishing a checkpoint aimed at catching Palestinian suicide bombers and the state of Georgia's 1960s era prohibition against serving blacks and whites in the same restaurant.

To suggest otherwise is insulting and offensive, and Rice should know better. After all, by her logic, would Hamas terrorist-in-chief Ismail Haniyeh qualify as a Palestinian Rosa Parks? And yet, for all of her ostensible sensitivity to questions of discrimination, Rice did not hesitate to engage in some bigotry of her own last week when it came to the issue of building new homes for Jews in Jerusalem.

After Israel announced the approval of tenders for the construction of 307 housing units in the capital's Har Homa neighborhood, Her Excellency went into what can only be described as a tizzy.

Speaking at NATO headquarters in Brussels on Friday, Rice told reporters that she had raised the issue of Har Homa with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni - not once, but twice! "I did, in fact, bring up Har Homa, both earlier in a phone call and then today in our meeting," Rice said. "I've made very clear about seeking clarification on precisely what this means. I've made clear that we're in a time when the goal is to build maximum confidence between the parties and this doesn't help to build confidence," she proclaimed.

CONFIDENCE? Did she say "this doesn't help to build confidence?" And what, Madam Secretary, of the constant Palestinian rocket attacks against southern Israeli towns and cities? Do they "help to build confidence"? Or how about the daily incitement to violence on official Palestinian radio and television? Or the murder last month of 29-year old Ido Zoldan by members of Mahmoud Abbas' own Palestinian police force? Strangely enough, not one of these odious deeds merited a public comment from Rice about their impact on the "building of confidence" between the two sides.

And yet, when Israel decides to build some new apartments in an already-existing section of Jerusalem, Rice suddenly finds her voice? Who does she think she is kidding? But what was still more troubling about her statement on Har Homa is that it lends credence to the discriminatory notion that certain places should be off-limits to Jews simply because they are Jews.

Rice herself was born in the city of Birmingham, Alabama. Ironically enough, just 105 miles north of her birthplace lies a town named Jerusalem, Alabama.

Were the Secretary of State to suggest that the right of Jews to live and build in Jerusalem, Alabama, should be restricted in any way, she would immediately be denounced as a racist and an anti-Semite, and rightly so.

Yet when she suggests that Jews should not be permitted to build freely in Jerusalem, Israel because they are Jews, it is inexplicably described as being a "confidence-building measure."

Call it what you will, Ms. Rice, but your opposition to Jewish housing construction in Jerusalem is nothing more than an archaic form of bigotry. You can't post a "No Jews Allowed" sign, and expect us to view it any differently.

To suggest that Jews or any other ethnic group should not be allowed to live and build freely in a certain area because of who they are is something that went out of fashion in the United States four decades ago, and I can't think of a good reason to begin applying it here in Jerusalem today.

The secretary of state knows full well that civil rights for Jews, like any universal human right, cannot be restricted in time or place. They must be applicable regardless of where a person chooses to live.

This is especially true when it comes to Jerusalem, the heart and soul of the Jewish people. Our connection to the Holy City stretches back more than three millennia. Indeed, over 1,500 years before the advent of Islam, Jews were living, working and praying in Jerusalem.

Now, following in our ancestors' footsteps, we have returned to reclaim what is rightfully ours.

So step aside, Ms. Rice, and please do not try to interfere.

Like it or not, nothing can stop this historical process from unfolding.

By Michael Freund

(Well lets see Mrs.Rice as you use your history on racism lets zip on up to the present AND the future as to do with those racist acts that you lived through and many others as well.

First of all lets take a look at what position you hold one of the most powerful and influential positions in the world.Right?

Think there is a chance of any female of your caliber (which is debatable by the way)in the land of Oz that could hold such a position?Nah ,not even close.It's a segregated religion and political entity.

How about any Man or Woman of any other faith? Could they hold such a position in the land of OZ? Nope, never gonna happen.Non muslims can't hold positions of power in the land of Oz.Never ever.It's segregation has many alleyways that lead to everything being segregated.

They can in Israel you Putz.They can in the free world you moron.

I love this guys writing of this article i can see his face just beet red, pissed of and who can blame him. I can tell the Jews why such things are said and done in the manner they are and have been done.Because they allow it to happen.I have said it many times tell the west and especially the U.S. to get the hell out of dodge.The U.S. and many others obviously do not understand the situation.And as i see it they never will.The fact is the U.S. probably needs Israel more than Israel needs us.tell them to go sit down and shut up.At the next meeting what ever that may be don't let them tell YOU what the deal is YOU tell them.

How rich to have a black woman standing before us all ranting about segregation and racism and humiliation,one would think such a person as Condi Rice would be able to recognize those things she mentioned.Perhaps it has been too long since major racism (and it's a two way street ,don't kid yourselves)has occurred in this country that the Blacks living these days don't really know what it is.Which by the way those "upstanding black leaders" have turned the racism card into toilet paper,thank them for it.Don't blame anyone else.

How can anyone that claims to understand Islam,muslims and Palestinians,because that's what they are...muslims living under Islam,(Palestinians is VERY debatable)not recognize slavery,segregation and humiliation?

It's simple they don't understand Islam nor Muslims.All they care about is what all leaders who have put thier dirty little fingers in the mix over the Israeli-Palestinian "conflict" and that is thier place in the history books.Well you can write what you like and you can pay homage to yourselves in your little oligarchy bought and paid for presidential museums,but you won't be writing any pages yourself.

The Palestinians are a breeding death machine who do not desire peace.They do not desire any little part of anything they desire the all of everything.Anyone who thinks different is a fool a down right idiot.Those trying to sell Israel down the river have already left thier marks in history and they drag the rest of our country down to the hell of thier making.

What part is it these people do not understand? The part where islam calls for the annihilation of Israel and the death of ALL Jews and each and everyone of us?The fact that Islam is so far up to thier necks in death and suicide to get what they desire that they teach thier CHILDREN to do thier murdering.

Who is the bad guy here?

Mrs.Rice rants on about how terrible the Jews are treating the poor Palestinians.What rights do the Arabs have that live in Israel? The same rights as Israeli's. What rights do the Jews have in Palestine? Or anywhere else in the muslim hell holes of the world?How about us Americans who are supposed to "get on board" with this BS these people spew.What rights do we recieve under the warming umbrella of Islam?None,absolutely none.People joke about one day our govt. charging for air.Well my friends that's what Islam does to it's non muslim peons. Not one of these morons speak for me.I despise each and everyone of them.

Israel has given up territory.Israel has given up prisoners,legitimate prisoners,you know bad guys who have killed people or who have tried to kill people,can i point out usually and mostly INNOCENT (innocent defined by a sane persons standard) people.Israel has given in every way one can give to show peace,all the while daily rockets intended to kill as many innocent people ,hopefully women and children ,by those good old Palestinian standards of enemy by the way.What have the Palestinians given up much less even budged on? Not a damn thing.Thier people starve and go without the basics of life because if someone isn't GIVING it to them then they have no means to have it.How many billions have we sent over in the name of peace to keep the rockets firing? I'm ashamed simply freaking ashamed.So should each and everyone of you.I hate that thought more than i can say because it's as if i am the one sending over the rockets.

It is pretty obvious that we have sunk to a new low and the racism card that has played so well here at home appears to be our new export on the goings on between Israel and Palestine.

You know i just have to shake my head at all these fools as Islam walks around with a text that is the most racist ,segregating and hate filled literature known to man,the Jews are called racist. What an ignorant joke.What insanity!!!

Israel please stop giving things away,please stop even considering giving things away.Stop playing the fool for the fools.)

For the embedded links visit the original page below

http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1196847313474&pagename=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull

Verse 29 of chapter 9 of the Qur’an, as we saw last week, mandates that the Muslims fight against the Jews and Christians “until they pay the jizya [poll tax] with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued.”

Asad, Daryabadi and other Western-oriented commentators maintain that the jizya was merely a tax for exemption for military service. Asad explains: “every able-bodied Muslim is obliged to take up arms in jihad (i.e., in a just war in God’s cause) whenever the freedom of his faith or the political safety of his community is imperiled…Since this is, primarily, a religious obligation, non-Muslim citizens, who do not subscribe to the ideology of Islam, cannot in fairness be expected to assume a similar burden.” But they pass in silence over the latter part of v. 29, which mandates the humiliation of non-Muslims.

In explaining how the Jews and Christians must “feel themselves subdued,” Ibn Kathir quotes a saying of Muhammad: “Do not initiate the Salam [greeting of peace] to the Jews and Christians, and if you meet any of them in a road, force them to its narrowest alley.” He then goes on to outline the notorious Pact of Umar, an agreement made, according to Islamic tradition, between the caliph Umar, who ruled the Muslims from 634 to 644, and a Christian community.

This Pact is worth close examination, because it became the foundation for Islamic law regarding the treatment of the dhimmis. With remarkably little variation, throughout Islamic history whenever Islamic law was strictly enforced, this is generally how non-Muslims were treated. Working from the full text as Ibn Kathir has it, these are the conditions the Christians accept in return for “safety for ourselves, children, property and followers of our religion” – conditions that, according to Ibn Kathir, “ensured their continued humiliation, degradation and disgrace.” The Christians will not:

1. Build “a monastery, church, or a sanctuary for a monk”;
2. “Restore any place of worship that needs restoration”;
3. Use such places “for the purpose of enmity against Muslims”;
4. “Allow a spy against Muslims into our churches and homes or hide deceit [or betrayal] against Muslims”;
5. Imitate the Muslims’ “clothing, caps, turbans, sandals, hairstyles, speech, nicknames and title names”;
6. “Ride on saddles, hang swords on the shoulders, collect weapons of any kind or carry these weapons”;
7. “Encrypt our stamps in Arabic”
8. “Sell liquor” – Christians in Iraq in the last few years ran afoul of Muslims reasserting this rule;
9. “Teach our children the Qur’an”;
10. “Publicize practices of Shirk” – that is, associating partners with Allah, such as regarding Jesus as Son of God. In other words, Christian and other non-Muslim religious practice will be private, if not downright furtive;
11. Build “crosses on the outside of our churches and demonstrating them and our books in public in Muslim fairways and markets” – again, Christian worship must not be public, where Muslims can see it and become annoyed;
12. “Sound the bells in our churches, except discreetly, or raise our voices while reciting our holy books inside our churches in the presence of Muslims, nor raise our voices [with prayer] at our funerals, or light torches in funeral processions in the fairways of Muslims, or their markets”;
13. “Bury our dead next to Muslim dead”;
14. “Buy servants who were captured by Muslims”;
15. “Invite anyone to Shirk” – that is, proselytize, although the Christians also agree not to:
16. “Prevent any of our fellows from embracing Islam, if they choose to do so.” Thus the Christians can be the objects of proselytizing, but must not engage in it themselves;
17. “Beat any Muslim.”

Meanwhile, the Christians will:

1. Allow Muslims to rest “in our churches whether they come by day or night”;
2. “Open the doors [of our houses of worship] for the wayfarer and passerby”;
3. Provide board and food for “those Muslims who come as guests” for three days;
4. “Respect Muslims, move from the places we sit in if they choose to sit in them” – shades of Jim Crow;
5. “Have the front of our hair cut, wear our customary clothes wherever we are, wear belts around our waist” – these are so that a Muslim recognizes a non-Muslim as such and doesn’t make the mistake of greeting him with As-salaamu aleikum, “Peace be upon you,” which is the Muslim greeting for a fellow Muslim;
6. “Be guides for Muslims and refrain from breaching their privacy in their homes.”

The Christians swore: “If we break any of these promises that we set for your benefit against ourselves, then our Dhimmah (promise of protection) is broken and you are allowed to do with us what you are allowed of people of defiance and rebellion.”

Of course, the Pact of Umar is a seventh-century document. But the imperative to subjugate non-Muslims as mandated by Qur’an 9:29 and elaborated by this Pact became and remained part of Islamic law. In the nineteenth century the Western powers began to pressure the last Islamic empire, the Ottoman Empire, to abolish the dhimma. In Baghdad in the early nineteenth century, Sheikh Syed Mahmud Allusi (1802-1853), author of the noted commentary on the Qur’an Ruhul Ma’ani, complains that the Muslims have grown so weak that the dhimmis pay the jizya through agents, rather than delivering it themselves on foot. In his Tafsir Anwar al-Bayan, the twentieth-century Indian Mufti Muhammad Aashiq Ilahi Bulandshahri laments that “in today’s times, the system of Atonement (Jizya) is not practised at all by the Muslims. It is indeed unfortunate that not only are the Muslim States afraid to impose Atonement (Jizya) on the disbelievers (kuffar) living in their countries, but they grant them more rights than they grant the Muslims and respect them more. They fail to understand that Allah desires that the Muslims show no respect to any disbeliever (kafir) and that they should not accord any special rights to them.”

The influential twentieth century jihadist theorist Sayyid Qutb (1906-1966) emphasizes that these rules should be revived, for “these verses are given as a general statement, and the order to fight the people of the earlier revelations until they pay the submission tax with a willing hand and are subdued is also of general import” (In the Shade of the Qur’an, Vol. VIII, p. 126).

Likewise the Pakistani jihadist writer and activist Syed Abul A’la Maududi (1903-1979) states that “the simple fact is that according to Islam, non-Muslims have been granted the freedom to stay outside the Islamic fold and to cling to their false, man-made, ways if they so wish.” That heads off any potential contradiction between his understanding of v. 29 and 2:256, “There is no compulsion in religion.” Maududi continues by declaring that the unbelievers “have, however, absolutely no right to seize the reins of power in any part of God’s earth nor to direct the collective affairs of human beings according to their own misconceived doctrines. For if they are given such an opportunity, corruption and mischief will ensue. In such a situation the believers would be under an obligation to do their utmost to dislodge them from political power and to make them live in subservience to the Islamic way of life” (Towards Understanding the Qur’an, vol. III, p. 202).

Next week: Why the Jews and Christians are both accursed of Allah.

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