#GazaUnderAttack : Updates from Gaza

#WestBankUnderAttack Israeli AND #US forces displace villagers from homes for military training in the Jordan Valley

On November 11th Palestinians from the Jordan Valley villages of AelRaesAhemer, AelMaleh, and Ael Meta, were awoken by Israeli occupation forces at 6:00 AM and forced to leave their homes and villages because the military was to use the area for military training.

The villages are part of Area C in the West Bank, and therefore are under full Israeli civil and security control. Palestinians in Area C, which covers over 60% of the West Bank, are practically forbidden to build on their own property; while neighboring illegal settlements continue to expand. The villages undergo constant attacks and threats from either the army or settlers, including home demolitions, physical beatings, destruction of property, etc.

U.S. Forces have recently arrived in Israel and the West Bank to conduct a joint military exercise simulating a war in the Middle East that would require the U.S. to intervene. The drill is considered to be the largest joint military exercise carried out by the two countries, and is severely affecting the lives of Palestinian villagers throughout the West Bank. It also violates Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention which states that “Individual or mass forcible transfers, as well as deportations of protected persons from occupied territory to the territory of the Occupying Power or to that of any other country, occupied or not, are prohibited, regardless of their motive.”

After Israeli occupation forces displaced the villagers out of their homes, they then began to practice shooting tanks, missiles, and artillery into the areas of the villages throughout the day.

According to the information we received from several people, the villagers will be able to return to their homes at 6:00 PM. Some may have to go through this process every day for up to two months, until the Israeli and U.S. Forces are finished with their joint military exercise.“The Military told us that we are not allowed to return to our homes at all. We don´t know what to expect,” explained a Palestinian.

#GazaUnderAttack | Minister: 25 mosques bombed in Gaza

GAZA CITY (Ma’an) –The minister of religious affairs in Gaza said Monday that Israel has damaged over 25 mosques in six days of heavy shelling across the enclave.

“The occupation (Israel) in their aggression did not only commit crimes against civilians, as happened to Salah, al-Dalou, and Azzam families, but targeted mosques, cemeteries and houses of worship,” Ismail Radwan said at a news conference outside Al-Abbas mosque.

“The enemy directly targeted Sheikh Shaban cemetery, the emergency cemetery, in addition to Mahatta, Tal Zatar, and Bani Suheil cemeteries which led to scattering the bodies of the dead and martyrs.

“They also targeted and destroyed completely the Ribat mosque in Gaza City and Al-Rahman mosque in the central Gaza Strip.”

Radwan called on Islamic scholars and imams in Palestine and around the world to pray for the injured and Palestinian fighters.

He called on the grand imam of Al-Azhar, Sheikh Ahmad al-Tayeb, and all his counterparts to visit the Gaza Strip and stand by the Palestinian people.

The minister urged the international community and human rights organizations to put Israeli leaders on trial for war crimes and called on the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation to fulfill their duties and support Palestinians in preserving their holy places.

“The Fall of the Oppressor” ~ A Poem by @DimaEleiwa

The Fall of the Oppressor

They’re trying to mess with my head, psychologically.
Telling me my wife is cheating on me.
I know, he’s lying, the picture is clear.
I know, he’s bluffing, yet the lie still pressures me.
It reminds me of how weak and helpless I am here…

But my faith is strong, I know I will end up outside these walls.
Behind these bars time took a different definition.
The day became an hour, and the minute became a second.
I wasn’t born to live my life here…

I wasn’t born to meet my family behind the glass and on the telephone.
An m16 in the hand of a soldier wanting to teach you manner.s
Want to defend yourself?  Here’s a life sentence.

Who cares about us?

Definitely not my government.
Definitely not the law that never recognized my rights.
You don’t need an expert to tell you how dirty their law is,
When 40% of my people know what it means to be a political prisoner

Sometimes i ask myself why I can’t be optimistic…
The plate gets thrown on the floor, its hardly eatable.
When i was a child they taught me that prison is for the criminal who wants to harm me.

Here my crime is…  being born palestinian
The temperature of the floor
Lets me know if its September or February
Iremember my family, the sky, joy…
As many obstacles they put, I will never forget the seasons.
I won’t forget 48, I wont forget the massacres…

I kept reminding myself I will not rot, I know the day is coming
I am not rotting.  I know the day is coming.

I ask of God to show me the end of this building.
Greet the relatives and tell them I still believe in miracles.
I could have been a doctor, a singer, an engineer.
But fate is pointing a gun to my head.
All my plans are disappearing in front of me.

I’m sitting on a chair, handcuffed from the top and the bottom.
The bread is hard.
Mother I feel i’m getting sick and dizzy…

Yet my focus is on freedom.
I’m isolated far away and hidden from reality

Mother i have a new friend, his name is as mine, and his face is the same as mine
solitary confinement, mother i miss my home.

If I die, take all of my stuff
and throw my coffin at the judge.
The ghosts of my ancestors are calling
demanding their land, where the prisons are, where their children are suffering.

We have to remember the names,
I don’t see one drop of justice, all I see is administrative detention.
I didn’t choose to be here, it wasn’t my choice
keep your head up, your life is valuable.

Their system thought it had everything under control.
But all of a sudden, a hunger strike began.
They thought the human being is hungry and would be greedy for his food.
But the human being is only hungry for one thing:  The fall of the oppressor.

……The fall of the oppressor

~ by Dima Eleiwa

The Need for improvement of Primary Education in Pakistan

According to a recent survey, Pakistan having 5.1 Million Children out of School. The Situation of Primary Education in Pakistan is miserable which is like a question mark on the Nation’s Future. In this Essay I will talk about the need for Primary Education in Pakistan.

“It is More than certain that Pakistan is unlikely to achieve the Dakar Framework of 2000 Education for All (EFA) goal of Putting all children into school by 2015” Says Ismat Riaz,an Educational Consultant, in a recently published article in Dawn Newspaper.[i]

In the Global Monitoring report, Pakistan is also ranked as No.2 Country with Most no. of Children out of School.  The Article published in Dawn quotes the number upto 7 Million¹. These are horrible numbers.

At Primary level the basic Problem arises due to lack of facilities like clean drinking Water, Sanitary facilities, Buildings etc. There Schools exists in which students do not have enough seating facilities and they use to sit on the floor. Reports often occur on news channels showing the primary schools that are turned into cattle farm by the Landlords of the area. It is alarming that when the Education department is consulted they are found unaware of the matter.

DASKA, PAKISTAN, Students attend class under the open sky because the school building of Govt.Primary School Chak Kuka Daska Tehsil was incomplete due to the alleged slackness of concerned officials of Daska education and buildings department on Friday, November 25, 2011. (Abid Mehdi/PPI Images).

A very important factor that is often neglected is the Teachers Training and Certification of Teachers. In our country, Teachers are recruited on the basis of Intermediate, BSC or Masters Level but no discreet training is provided to them to teach them how to teach. The other Major issue is that teachers are still appointed on the basis of Political affiliation or on the basis of experience rather than ability or Motivation. At primary level Excellence is one thing that is like a dream. One that does not get job any where finally chooses to be “Educationist”. This is also an Ethical Dilemma that we are facing these days in Pakistan.

Higher Education is somehow performing well after getting a large proportion of educational budget. HEC has raised the standards to make the higher education in Pakistan up to International level. But the traditional rote-leaning method has not been excluded yet. Students at undergraduate level still use a single book for a particular subject in one semester rather going out in library or online libraries/search-engines to get the required reading material, to readout research journals etc. Instead, they try to make notes or to get from other students to obtain Marks in Exams rather focusing on learning and acquiring skills.

Primary education again shows a worse face. There is no emphasize on qualitative teaching. a study undertaken by the World Bank and Harvard University researchers titled `Learning Levels and Gaps in Pakistan` (2006)[ii] alarmingly indicates that “close to one-half of the three million born in Pakistan will leave school unable to add, subtract, multiply or divide: unable to read and write simple sentences in Urdu; and unable to read a short word like ‘BALL’ in English”. I personally know a person who was working in the same workplace where I was working. He said he had done Intermediate (12^th standard education) but he was unable to even read the simple English sentences and to write Urdu sentences.

“Learning through dialogue, debate and discussion is still a rare occurrence in colleges. Middle and secondary schooling continues to be an exercise in rote learning as teachers are not trained to make students use their reasoning, reasoning and evaluative abilities.” Says Ismat Riaz in the same article.

Government itself doesn’t seem to be keenly interested in improving this situation. Primary education sector becomes the ultimate victim of Government Policies. From the very low educational budget most of the budget is spent upon Higher education and secondary education and technical education etc.Few days ago I read a headline in a newspaper “Punjab spent 15 paisas per child on education in 2011-12”[iii]. On the other hand, world’s smaller countries like Singapore, Finland, Austria spent more on education and in result have stronger economies and more exports than Pakistan.

To survive in the Modern World, it is very much necessary for the developing countries like Pakistan to strongly emphasize on education, not just on Higher education but also on primary education. Special Initiatives must be taken and complete overhauling of the system is necessary especially for Pakistan to accommodate those 5.1 Million Children in educational institutions which will ultimately need more schools, buildings, infrastructure and other facilities which eventually need more budget allocation to this sector. Pakistan must have to treat Education at Emergency level. Pakistan has to increase its educational budget from 2.4% up to 10% of GDP within next 2-3 years. We have the clear example of Malaysia who increased their educational budget within last 30 years up to nearly 30% and now Malaysia is the leading Muslim country in education sector. The system of check and balance must be strong and strict. There must be a system of teachers training, their evaluation and certification. Modern methods of teaching must be utilized instead of traditional rote-leaning method. Primary education must be “Free for All”. It is the need of the hour that all of us Government, people, educationists, civil society, media, you and me must have to play our part for the betterment of Primary education in Pakistan.

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[i] Ismat Riaz, System Failure – Putting education to work, Dawn pg 5, Sunday November 11,2012.

[ii] Jishnu Das, Tristan Zajonc ,Learning Levels and Gaps in Pakistan` (2006), https://openknowledge.worldbank.org/bitstream/handle/10986/8866/wps4067.pdf?sequence=1

[iii] Ali Usman, Save the Children report: ‘Punjab spent 15 paisas per child on education in 2011-12’

http://tribune.com.pk/story/452864/save-the-children-report-punjab-spent-15-paisas-per-child-on-education-in-2011-12/

Letter to Google Executive Chairman to Remove the movie “Innocence of Muslim”

Mr Eric Schmidt,
Executive Chairman,
Google.

Dear Mr Schmidt,

The movie ‘Innocence of Muslims’ and its video trailers and excerpts that appeared on Youtube.com have angered the Muslims the world over. The western world does not realize the amount of hatred which can be created among Muslims on two issues, that of desecration of the Quran and Blasphemy on Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him). Posting of this disgraceful video has already led to many deaths of innocent people throughout the world and would continue to incite more into coming out on the streets.

It is unfortunate that there is no legislation even today in the West to control these clumsy acts of individuals who definitely are on the fringe of society but incite the world, resulting not only to loss of many innocent lives but also in leaving indelible marks on the psyche of huge populations. These hateful imprints of action and reaction may lead to reflection of the same among policy makers turning a lot of them into hardliners years down the road.Google does not allow pornographic images and explicit videos of sexual acts on its website as such an action would hurt the social values of society as it exists today. Neither does Google rightfully show training videos for terror, or for bomb making, because it would lead to further loss of human lives. Let me remind you that in this new era of communication Google has a far bigger role than the role of countries in its impact on society and therefore it must rise to the occasion and move beyond a stereotypical interpretation of ‘Freedom of Speech’.

The Muslims all over the world are angry,protesting against the anti-Islam Film makers.Several countries has blocked youtube,which in turn is injustice with the people but the people and the governments can do nothing.Google must have to feel the responsibility that why Millions of people suffer just because of gang of few ….

I urge you for being a peace loving human being to remove all videos showing trailers, excerpts and snippets from the movie ‘Innocence of Muslims’.Yours sincerely,

Muhammad Aasim,

Muslims Protesting against anti-Islam Film “Innocent of Muslims” in different parts of world..

Massive Protest in Pes hawar,Pakistan on Friday,21st Sep 2012

Women Demonstrators Holding Play-card in London titling “I Love My Prophet”

Malaysian Muslim demonstrators march toward the U.S. Embassy after a Friday mass prayer in Kuala Lumpur.

A Kashmiri Muslim student participates in a protest march organized by a Muslim school on Saturday, September 22, against an independently produced anti-Islam film that has ignited anger in the Muslim world.

Protesters gather to demonstrate against a French magazine that published cartoons of the Prophet Mohammed outside the French Embassy in London on Friday.

Riot police clash with demonstrators in Athens, Greece, on Sunday, September 23. Clashes broke out as Muslims staged a demonstration in downtown Athens’ Omonia Square, to be followed by a march to the U.S. Embassy, in protest of a film mocking the Prophet Mohammed, which sparked deadly protests in the Middle East

Angry protesters in Karachi strike a poster showing a portrait of US President Barack Obama during a demonstration against the anti-Islam film

A Kashmiri Muslim with his face covered burns a mock American flag as others shout slogans during a protest in Srinagar, India, Friday, Sept. 14, 2012.

Protesters in Bangladesh burnt American and Israeli flags and tried to march to the US embassy.

Protests in Dhaka, Bangladesh

Protests Go Global Against Anti-Islam Film

Pakistani student bags gold medal in International IT contest

A Pakistani student from Balochistan province has bagged gold medal in an international contest held in Turkmenistan defeating all the participants from Germany, Canada, Russia, England, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka behind.

Ubaidullah, son of Haji Talib Din, a rice trader, is a class ninth student of Pak-Turk International Schools and Colleges, Quetta has bagged a gold medal from the International Computer Project Olympiad (ICPO) held in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, said a press release.

Pakistan among top 10 nations with Young Academy

Pakistan is among the top 10 nations which have academy for promoting science and technology in the country and is working as a platforum for guidance of young.
researchers from all science disciplines under the supervision of senior scientists National Academy of Young Scientists (NAYS), Pakistan was established in 2009.
The basic aim of NAYS is to give awareness to people about science and give its maximum benefits to the people. The first national young academy was established in Germany with name Die Junge Akademie (the Young Academy), this was followed by establishment of young academy in Netherlands in 2005.

Talking to APP, President NAYS, Aftab Ahmed said idea of Young Academy Movement started and many nations were trying to have their National young academies. He said, now the Global Young Academy was also being established and its first general assembly meeting had been held in March 2011 in Berlin, Germany.

Six Pakistani universities among top Asian universities: QS Ranking-2012

Investment in higher education in Pakistan continues to reap dividends.
According to QS World Universities Rankings 2012, 6 Universities of Pakistan have won its place in the list of top 300 Universities, says a press release.
Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) UK is the world’s most renowned and prestigious ranking agency.
National University of Science and Technology (NUST-108) Karachi University (191-200) AKU (201-250) Lahore University of Management Sciences (LUMS) (251-300) and Lahore University (251-300) are now in top 300 Asian Universities of the World.

Egyptian President Muhammad Morsi’s full 25-minute speech on 25 June 2012 night

The speech is translated to English by Borzou Daragahi on Monday, June 25, 2012 at 5:58am. It is Collected from his Facebook Note.

……………………………….

Mohammed Morsi addresses supporters in Cairo during his presidential campaign. Photograph: Amr Nabil/AP

In the name of God, the most compassionate, the most merciful. Thanks be to Allah, prayers and peace be upon the messenger of Allah. Say: In the bounty of Allah and in His mercy: therein let them rejoice. It is better than what they hoard (Quranic verse). Egyptian people, you who today are rejoicing and celebrating the feast of democracy in Egypt, you who are standing in squares, in the Tahrir Square and in all the squares of Egypt, my beloved ones, my family and people, my brethren and my sons, who are looking forward to the future, you who want good, rebirth, development, stability, safety and security for our country of Egypt. My beloved ones, I address you thanks to God Almighty. We all thank God for reaching this historic moment, this moment which represents a landmark that has been written with the hands and wills of the Egyptians, their blood, tears and sacrifices, this moment, which we are all shaping with these sacrifices. I would not have talked to you today as the first president elected by the free will of Egyptians in the first presidential elections after the 25 January revolution, I would not have been here today with you now amid this sweeping joy, which is sweeping all corners of our beloved homeland, I would not have been here but for God’s help and these sacrifices, the precious blood of our honourable martyrs and our great injured men.

Thanks and salute to the martyrs, to the souls of martyrs, to the mothers and fathers of martyrs, to my people who have lost their dear ones and sacrificed them for the sake of Egypt. My supplications go to these martyrs and the injured people, who watered the tree of freedom with their blood and paved the way for us to reach this moment. I again repeat my appreciation and thanks to the families of all of those who taught their children the meaning of martyrdom and true patriotism and who showed patience for the loss of their dear ones as a price for freedom, who showed patience for the loss of their dear ones as a price for freedom (repetition).

برین ٹیومر۔ علامات اور علاج

Moisture in the Air doesn’t affect swing Bowling, Research suggests

The phenomenon of swing bowling, in which a cricket ball veers sideways during flight, is not influenced by humidity, researchers say.

The widely-held belief that moisture in the air during humid conditions helps make a cricket ball swing has been clean bowled in a scientific study. © AFP/File Jewel Samad

Cricketers and sport scieThe phenomenon of swing bowling, in which a cricket ball veers sideways during flight, is not influenced by humidity, researchers say.

Cricketers and sport scientists alike have long hypothesised that high humidity may increase the swing effect.

But precise 3-D studies of cricket balls under varying humidity showed no effect on the balls’ shapes.

A report due in Procedia Engineering instead suggests that cloud cover increases swing by stilling the air.

Pakistan Military Introduces Takhti 7, An Android Tablet

It appears that Pakistan Aeronautical Complex Kamra (PAC), a unit of Pakistan military, is getting serious with tablet manufacturing business.

After introducing PAC Pad1, PAC eBook1 and PAC nbook 1 PAC is now offering Takhti 7, an android tabled-computer.

Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) said that it has partnered with INNAVTEK International to produce Takhti 7, a better form of PAC Pad1.

Takhti 7 is said to be a sister tablet of PAC Pad1, having enhanced hardware such as double RAM and better ARM Cortex-A8 processor packed with-in it.