15 Nov 10 | Uncategorized
Waleed Al-Husseini has been making waves and offending religious sensibilities in the Middle East for years. A committed atheist, the 26 year-old resident of the occupied West Bank is known for a prolific online presence — much of which centres on criticisms of all major religions.
Here’s a good example of his writing from his blog The Light of Reason. The headline loosely translates as “The personification of God and the lack of logic in his creation of the universe.” Al-Husseini even created a Facebook page claiming to speak in the name of God, and used his excellent command of Arabic to write altered versions of verses from the Koran.
So perhaps it was no surprise that Al-Husseini’s work infuriated both Muslims and Christians, and only a matter time before he ran afoul of the authorities. He disappeared at the end of October, and finally last week came the official confirmation that Al-Husseini had been arrested. Palestine’s semi-official Maan News Agency reported that security services had “pursued the man for more than two months” before catching up with him in an internet cafe in the West Bank of Qualqiya.
Numerous online defences of Al-Husseini have sprung up, in Arabic and English, demanding his release, and lobbying foreign governments to offer him asylum. Prominent regional blogger Marwa Rakha, who has met Al-Husseini, issued a passionate defence of his right to express himself regardless of whether anyone agrees or disagrees with his beliefs, writing
Waleed did not record his ideas on tapes and force you to listen to them in public transportation… Waleed did not stop you in the street for wearing a veil or for having a beard and force-feed you his arguments. Why are you afraid of him? Is your faith that fragile? Are your religious beliefs that vulnerable?
15 Nov 10 | Middle East and North Africa, Uncategorized
Waleed Al-Husseini has been making waves and offending religious sensibilities in the Middle East for years. A committed atheist, the 26 year-old resident of the occupied West Bank is known for a prolific online presence — much of which centres on criticisms of all major religions.
Here’s a good example of his writing from his blog The Light of Reason. The headline loosely translates as “The personification of God and the lack of logic in his creation of the universe.” Al-Husseini even created a Facebook page claiming to speak in the name of God, and used his excellent command of Arabic to write altered versions of verses from the Koran.
So perhaps it was no surprise that Al-Husseini’s work infuriated both Muslims and Christians, and only a matter time before he ran afoul of the authorities. He disappeared at the end of October, and finally last week came the official confirmation that Al-Husseini had been arrested. Palestine’s semi-official Maan News Agency reported that security services had “pursued the man for more than two months” before catching up with him in an internet cafe in the West Bank of Qualqiya.
Numerous online defences of Al-Husseini have sprung up, in Arabic and English, demanding his release, and lobbying foreign governments to offer him asylum. Prominent regional blogger Marwa Rakha, who has met Al-Husseini, issued a passionate defence of his right to express himself regardless of whether anyone agrees or disagrees with his beliefs, writing
Waleed did not record his ideas on tapes and force you to listen to them in public transportation… Waleed did not stop you in the street for wearing a veil or for having a beard and force-feed you his arguments. Why are you afraid of him? Is your faith that fragile? Are your religious beliefs that vulnerable?
19 Jun 09 | Index Index, Middle East and North Africa, minipost
Palestinian Authority security officials have seized and erased video footage shot by news service Al Jazeera on the outskirts of the West Bank city of Hebron. The erased footage dealt with a prisoners death in a Hebron detention centre and alleged torture. Read more here
18 May 09 | Uncategorized
The visit of a religious dignitary of the stature of Benedict XVI is a delicate matter, fraught with religious and political sensitivities. In particular, Israeli authorities were especially keen not to burden the Holy Father with anything as earthly as political protests, especially protests critical of the hosting state.
Quite apart from the extraordinary reaction to a Palestinian cleric making a few fairly non-controversial remarks, local police have been sparing no effort to depoliticize the visit, or at least not to allow it to be politicized in any way beyond the recognition demanded of the pope for exclusively Jewish suffering.
In one example, two Palestinian citizens of Israel (or “two Arabs”, as most of the media chose to phrase it) were arrested in East Jerusalem on May 9, three days before the pope was due to land, on suspicion of “intending to deal out leaflets calling for a boycott of the Papal visit.” The police did not specify the content of the leaflets and whether they incited to violence of any sort.
Two other men were arrested in Nazareth the following day, also on charges of “intending to hang posters critical of the papal visit.” The local police again refused to comment on the content of the materials, but noted that “we will act decisively against any attempt to interrupt with the visit.” The headline heralding this arrest in one Israeli website was a gem in its own right —- “Two more suspected of opposition to the pope arrested.”
On the day of the visit itself, police proceeded to shut down a Palestinian Authority press briefing organized in an East Jerusalem hotel. The room at the Ambassador hotel was sealed, the attendees politely dispersed and all “documents” found confiscated. The commanding officer remarked the operation went through “without incident.”
Unusually, the arrests were not entirely reserved to Palestinians. A Jewish ultra-Orthodox man was caught throwing paint at a Vatican flag on a lamppost on a Jerusalem street and promptly detained. Police also dispersed the comic relief of the week — several of the most brutal settler activists, including Cahanist MK Moshe Ben Ari demonstrated in front of the presidential palace, demanding the pope “returns stolen sacred artifacts” – namely, the Temple treasures looted by the Romans in 66AD.
However, in marked contrast to the Palestinian protesters arrested through the weeks, prominent Jewish figures — including several rabbis and a left-wing MK — who called to boycott the events around the visiting pontiff were left untroubled by police.
