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British PM celebrates Israel while Arabs mourn 60 years of occupation |
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Muslim Countries
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Tuesday, 13 May 2008 |
Yemen Times
SANA’A, May 11 — Addressing a special event at a Finchley Synagogue on 8 May 2008 in London, Gordon Brown, British Prime Minister and Leader of the Labour Party stated that "the creation of the state of Israel was one of the greatest achievements of the 20th century”. Consequently, leading British Arab academic, who is located in Yemen to establish cultural engagement in the Arab and Muslim worlds, resigned his membership in the Labour Party because of what the UK Prime Minister said.
In his letter of resignation to Brown, Professor Abd al-Fattah El-Awaisi commented, "While you are celebrating 60 years of the establishment of Israel I am mourning 60 years of the Palestinian catastrophe Nakhbah. Indeed, your statement has offended me personally as a British Arab. Accordingly, I am resigning my membership from the Labour Party with immediate effect".
In a seminar held in Yemen Times, on the occasion of 60 years since the creation of the Israeli state, El-Awaisi, who is also a Follow of the Royal Historical Society – UK introduced his two books on “Islamicjerusalem” as a new field of inquiry of Islamicjerusalem Studies.
“We as Arabs have to stop playing the role of a victim and start creating actions instead of reactions. There is no single course in the Arab or Muslim universities that discusses the history of Islamicjerusalem. Now after 60 years of occupation it is time to reclaim our history,” he said at the seminar.
According to El-Awaisi this occupation has resulted in 6 wars, 6 million refugees, 3 million under occupation, 1.5 million abducted, and 254 km of an Apartheid-Wall.
El-Awaisi explained to Yemen Times that it was high time Britain apologizes for its role in facilitating and creating the state of Israel in the Arab world. Instead, Brown made a public statement that ignores the suffering of millions of Palestinians and hurting the sentiments of Muslims around the world.
“Creation of the state of Israel was a political decision taken to create a buffer state in the Arab world. Now USA is carrying the legacy, which Britain started in the beginning of 20th century,” he said.
The books aim to enable readers to develop their knowledge and understanding of the contemporary academic debates on the nature of Islamicjerusalem, the uniqueness of the Islamicjerusalem region and its effects on the rest of the world in both historical and contemporary contexts, and on the Barakah Circle Theory of Islamicjerusalem. Particular attention will be paid to examining the Islamicjerusalem vision and how Muslims have approached Islamicjerusalem. Several questions will be key to this study, such as: Whose is Islamicjerusalem? Can it be shared? Is it an exclusive or inclusive region? What are the reasons for Muslims having close links and concerns with Islamicjerusalem? What is the significance of Islamicjerusalem to Islam and Muslims? Does it have any special status compared with any other regions? How do Muslims respond to the competing claims of other religions?
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