Tag Archives: Iran

Mar 29 2012

Global March to Jerusalem: damage control begins

Ha’aretz reported the following on March 28th:

“Haaretz has learned that major disagreements have developed between leading, mostly Palestinian, protest organizers in the West Bank and neighboring Arab countries, and other activists identified with Iran, Syria and Hezbollah.

It has also been learned that the protest organizers, who are billing the event as the Global March to Jerusalem, are attempting to refine their protest message and avoid a physical confrontation with Israeli forces.”

…….

“On Tuesday, the organizers of international protest marches scheduled for Friday expressed concern that the demonstrations could get out of control due to the involvement of outside activists, some from as far away as East Asia.

The rift between the initial organizers and the outsiders developed after a delegation of pro-Palestinian activists from East Asia and some Arab countries promoting the Global March to Jerusalem arrived in Iran and met with a senior Iranian adviser to the country’s spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

Iran promised support for the protest, which was not widely welcomed by the initial group of mostly Palestinian organizers of the protest, who wanted to maintain their independence.

Particular concern is being expressed that the outsiders will take over protest marches and seek confrontations on Israel’s borders, particularly the Lebanese and Syrian frontiers, and that the outsiders will convey messages contrary to the original organizers’ wishes.”

These claims are of course disingenuous. On January 17th & 18th 2012, Mustafa Barghouti and other Palestinian representatives attended the Global March to Jerusalem Central Committee meeting held in Beirut. The committee’s final communique clearly stated that:

“The conference was attended by members of the Central Committee and representatives from national and international committees for the march, representing a large number of Arab countries and various continents of the Globe.”

The International Central Committee and the International Executive Committee and National Committees which were ratified at that meeting already included members from Iran and with connections to Syria and Hizballah as well as several representatives from “as far away as East Asia”. George Galloway – a former Iranian regime Press TV employee with links to both Hizballah and the Syrian regime – spoke at the meeting and the event was covered by PressTV, to which at least one committee member gave an interview.

Pre-meeting publicity stated the intention to organize convoys – including from Asia.

“The conference will also discuss the national events and actions that will be launched in all countries starting from mid January, 2012 and until the date of the march towards Jerusalem or the nearest possible point to it, from inside Palestine and the neighbouring Arab countries, as well as the convoys from Asia, Africa and Europe that will converge on the march date.”

Barghouti himself produced a video at the meeting calling for world-wide participation in the march.

However, now apparently some Palestinian GMJ organisers would like to persuade us that they were unaware of the march’s extremist connections. For their benefit, here is the Beirut meeting report which they seemingly neglected to read.

GLOBAL MARCH TO JERUSALEM (G M J) / Beirut Meeting Report
VENUE: DAL AL NADWA, HAMRA, BEIRUT, LEBANON.

As part of our ongoing effort to build an international mass popular movement centred on Jerusalem, we convened our first collective gathering of leading representatives from across 15 nations & 4 continents.

The agenda was to build a people’s movement across the world, wherein the issue of Jerusalem comes to the centre stage of International politics. The Israeli occupation of Palestine, lies at the centre of the geo-political crisis of our times & at the heart of that conflict, lies the core issue of Jerusalem.

The International delegates included:
1) Mustapa Mansour (Malaysia)
2) Feroze Mithiborwala, Gauhar Iqbal & Shaheen Kattiparambil (India)
3) Sabir Ejaz Karbalai & Maulana Qazi Ahmed Nourani Siddiqui (Pakistan)
4) Salim Ghafouri & Roohulla Rezvi (Iran)
5) Yalkin Gok & Omer Kesmen (Turkey)
6) Dr. Ribhi Halloum & Saud Mahfuz (Jordan)
7) Maan Bashour, Isaam Namaan, Nabil Hallak, Dr. Ali Fayyad, Prof Mohsen Saleh, Ali Barakeh, Visam Hassan, Dr. Nasir Haider, Munir Shafique, Rihab Mokahal (& other names that brother Nabil needs to complete & add from the lists) – (Lebanon)
8) Palestinians were present from Jordan, Lebanon, UK & other countries of the diaspora.
9) Dr. Magdy Hossein (Egypt)
10) Khalid Soufiani & MansourI Abdelah (Morocco)
11) Algeria:
12) Zaher Birawi (UK)
13) Paul Larudee (USA)

We also discussed the process with Ronald Kesliris (South Africa), George Galloway, Ghada Karmi, Kevin Ovenden, Rob Hoveman(Britain), Rami Zurayk, DR. Haidar Dekmark, Dr. Yehya Ghaddar, Hisham Yacoub, Dr. Abdul Malaksukkarie (Lebanon), Dr Abbie Bakan(Canada), Fra Hughes (Ireland) amongst others, who we met at the “Palestine Summer University” or then at smaller meetings in Beirut at our hotel.

Continued here, including the expression of clear intentions to have an Asian convoy visit Iran.

 “For example, the Asian convoy starting from India, would have to embark by the 1st of March & wind its way across Pakistan, Iran, Turkey, Syria & into Jordan & plan to arrive atleast 3 days prior to our stated date.”

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Mar 29 2012

Indian members of Global March to Jerusalem detained in Lebanon (Then Released)

As the SE Asia delegation to the Global March to Jerusalem docked in Tripoli, Lebanon, after a ten-hour ferry ride from Turkey, hints of problems began to emerge.

The GMJ Facebook account in Arabic proffered further details:

“Quoting Page Arab nationalists: the ship carrying the delegation Asian participant in the Global March to Jerusalem, carrying one and forty participants from India, the Philippines and Iraq who have not received visas to enter the Lebanese territory to the moment, chanting “the people want the liberation of Palestine” 

Disclaimer: The Lebanese authorities have not allow photography ..”

“News last convoy Asian: Asian Convoy latest news 
is still on board the ship 41 Asian solidarity .. Political views and works to collect their visas from the Lebanese government .. Holy God we claim to be part of every one of them with us in the march … 
Out of one hundred fifty activists on board the Convoy ship GM J. Asian, 41 are still on board as some Lebanese political parties work with the Lebanese Government to get visas issued for them.”

“Caravan Asian: 15 hours in detention at the port of Beirut 
Asian Convoy: The convoy is being held for the past 15 hours at Beirut sea port 
Iraq, and 3 from the Philippines, 37 from India .. Are remaining on board the ship convoy Asian .. And still attempts to obtain visas for them to enter the Lebanese territory .. 
An Iraqi, 3 Filipinos, Indians and 37 are still on board the ship convoy Asian .. “

“Since yesterday at ten in the morning and until the moment the Lebanese authorities are holding 40 international solidarity inside the ship coming from Turkey. And prevent them from entering the territory of Lebanon to participate in the march of Jerusalem Global.”

A more complete account of the story comes from Kunal Majumder – the Indian journalist travelling with the convoy.

“The steamer arrived at the Beirut port early on 28 March carrying the 137 GMJ delegates from 13 countries. None of them were allowed to leave the vessel by the immigration authorities. Immigration officials boarded the steamer and handed out the visa on arrival forms, which once filled were taken away along with the delegates’ passports. After hours of wait, no explanations were given to the delegates for the delay in issuing the visas. As the delegates began to raise slogans in protest on the steamer, the immigration authorities allowed the Indonesian delegates to enter the port once their embassy intervened.

Towards the end of the day, with no fresh supplies of food or water, delegates from counties like the United States, Iran, Turkey were allowed to leave the steamer. Interestingly, citizens of these countries do not need a visa to enter Lebanon. The GMJ’s local contacts had been assured that the delegation would be issued visas on arrival as per norm. It was on this assurance that the Turkish authorities allowed the delegation to leave its port.

They are yet to return the passports and issue a visa on arrival to the Indian delegates. The authorities have not furnished any explanation for the delay in issuing a visa on arrival as promised. Even on day two, the delegates have not been allowed to step off the steamer even as water and food supplies run low and sanitation services are hampered.”

Majumder apparently expects his own government to intervene:

UPDATE: The detainees have apparently now been allowed off the ferry and into Lebanon.

 

Tweet Update:


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Mar 28 2012

Global March to Jerusalem journalist/activist Kunal Majumder’s selective reporting

 Kunal Majumder, journalist for the Indian weekly political magazine, Tehelka, is embedded with the SE Asia delegation to the Global March to Jerusalem which, after having been joined by Turkish activists en route, is currently on its way from Turkey to Lebanon.

In his latest article Majumder appears to have succumbed to the phenomenon of an over-active imagination which seems to be plaguing so many GMJ participants.

“As the Asian delegates prepare to leave for Beirut from the Port of Tasucu in Turkey, the talk among the protesters is whether Israeli forces will follow the Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) ship like it did last time during the Asian convoy to Gaza. A cargo ship carrying pro-Palestinian activists was followed as it traveled from Latakia port in Syria to Al-Areesh in Egypt on 1 January 2011. The memories of the Mavi Marmara massacre in 2010 are still fresh in the minds of the Turks.”

“Even as activists of GMJ use multiple methods to publicise the event, counter publicity stunts allegedly on behalf of Israel is at work. An anti-GMJ website called http://www.gm2J.co has been constantly following the activities of the march and making numerous allegations. It claims to be a forum to expose “the truth about the Global March to Jerusalem.” Among numerous mails and online forums targeting GMJ, the most amusing attack came from “WORLD MUSLIM ZIONIST ORGANIZATION” based in Dhaka, Bangladesh. It claims that there is an extensive history of collaboration of GMJ organizers with the jihadist Palestinian war criminals in Gaza, the Fatah gangsters in Ramallah, and the Hizbullah heretics in Beirut.” The organisers have refused to respond to such allegations.”

Of course Majumder is being somewhat disingenuous here. It is difficult to believe that he does not know of the participation of Ajit Sahi – until fairly recently his former executive editor at Tehelka – in the 2010/11 Asian convoy to Gaza and that Sahi was on board the ship he mentions above as having been followed.

Ajit Sahi (right), senior journalist from India on the caravan

It is also difficult to believe that Majumder is unaware of the fact that among Ajit Sahi’s fellow travelers on that convoy were Global March to Jerusalem organisers Feroze Mithiborwala, Mustapa Mansour, Sandeep Panday, Shaheen Kattiparambil, Gauhar Iqbal, Shaheen Mohideen, Salim Ghafouri and Roohulla Rezvi.

Equally unlikely is the possibility that Majumder is unaware that the Asia to Gaza convoy was aided in its organization by the Muslim Brotherhood and Hamas-linked IHH, or that it visited Iran, Turkey, Syria and Lebanon en-route with its participants meeting senior members of the Syrian Ba’ath party, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, Khaled Masha’al , Ismail Haniyeh and Mahmoud al Zahar in person.

Gauhar Iqbal (first on the left)

Roohulla Rezvi visiting the tomb of Hafez al Assad whilst en route with the Asia to Gaza convoy

Feroze Mithiborwala presenting Khalid Masha'al with a gift in Damascus whilst en route with the Asian convoy in 2010

Mithiborwala meeting Mahmoud al Zahar upon the arrival of the Asia to Gaza convoy

Majumder must also be aware that Ajit Sahi has shown considerable support for and collaboration with both Jamaat-e-Islami Hind and its youth group the ‘Solidarity Youth Movement’. He might even be privy to the fact that even whilst Sahi was still his boss, he was already on the GMJ organisers‘ e-mail list.

He will of course know that just a few days ago Sahi, along with Muthu Krishnan, (both of whom will be joining the GMJ in Jordan) in Hyderabad organized by Hyderabad City Students Islamic Organization and Friends of Palestine in solidarity with the Global March to Jerusalem.

“Addressing the participants of this long March, Mr. Ajit Sahi, Editor Tehelka and a renowned journalist expressed his support for the proposed march and said that the atrocities on Palestinians should be stopped by Israel. He appealed to all the countries of the world to bring Israel to the talking table. It should be imposed many restrictions. Private companies of Israel should not be allowed to transact any business in our country. They should not be allowed to invest money here. Universities and academicians of Israel should also be boycotted. Economic sanctions should be imposed against Israel. Referring to defense deals, he told that all the defense transactions should be withdrawn. All diplomatic ties should be discontinued. Famous columnist Muthu Krishnan condemned the attack on Gaza.

Israel Govt. has deprived the Palestinians of their basic amenities. Even drinking Water and electricity supply has been discontinued. He appealed to the organizers of the rally to express their solidarity to Global Peace March.”

If Kunal Majumder is really unaware of all of the above, one wonders how on earth he got his job as senior correspondent for a magazine which describes itself as ‘investigative’.

If he is better at his job than would seem from his latest articles, then his indignant cries of wolf indicate that he has embraced the role of ‘useful idiot’ for the GMJ convoy and that  ‘unbiased journalist’ he certainly is not.

Further in the above mentioned article, Majumder complained:

“The anti-GMJ activists have even started targeting independent participants, including this writer, through Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites.”

He also Tweeted his displeasure with certain “anti-GMJ activists”.

Tweet by Majumder

Additional Tweet by Majumder:

In fact, one cannot but wonder if his former executive editor’s well established connections to the Global March to Jerusalem organisers had something to do with his getting the gig in the first place.

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Mar 25 2012

Turkish delights for the Global March to Jerusalem in Istanbul.

As previously reported, the SE Asia delegation of the Global March to Jerusalem (which has picked up some Iranian fellow travellers along the way) is currently in Turkey.

One of the Iranian delegates has provided photographs of the caravan’s reception at a sports centre in Istanbul on March 25th.

The event appears to have been hosted by the Turkish organisation ‘Mazlumder’ – otherwise known as ‘The Organisation of Human Rights and Solidarity for Oppressed Peoples’.

Mazlumder is part of the Muslim Brotherhood’s network in Turkey. It was founded in 1991 and declares itself to be associated with Islamist organisations tied to Hamas, the Muslim Brotherhood, Iran and the Jamaat-e-Islami of Pakistan. Its chairman, Ahmet Faruk Unsal was an AKP member of parliament from 2002-2007 and is also a senior member of the Hamas supporting organization, IHH.

Mazlumder collaborated with the IHH and George Galloway’s ‘Viva Palestina’ on a 2010 convoy to Gaza, where its chairman Unsal was received by Hamas  leader Ismail Haniyeh, along with the IHH’s head Bulent Yildirim. Also present on the convoy was GMJ spokesman and known Hamas activist Zaher Birawi.  Ahmet Unsal also took part in the 2009 ‘Masjid Al Aqsa Symposium’  in Istanbul together with Raed Salah.

The wording on the banners decorating the reception’s venue therefore comes as little of a surprise.

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Mar 24 2012

Global March to Jerusalem participant Mansour Kiaei Tweets “Death to Israel”

Courtesy of self-described Iranian “human rights activist” Mansour Kiaei on Twitter, we have pictures of the SE Asia delegation of the Global March to Jerusalem, of which he is part, on the Turkish leg of its journey. Written commentary from another member of the delegation describing the journey – including the demonstration outside the residence of the Israeli Ambassador – can be read here.

* An example of a Tweet by a ‘human rights activist’:

(Note the yellow Hizballah and black Islamic Jihad flags)

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Mar 22 2012

‘Global March to Jerusalem’ participants praise “moral” government of Iran

The South-East Asian delegation of the Global March to Jerusalem should by now have left Iran and moved on to Turkey.

However, according to the caravan’s resident roving reporter Kunal Majumder, some of its members are again having problems obtaining the necessary paperwork. This time the Turkish government appears to have denied entry visas to delegates from Afghanistan and Pakistan. Those delegates will apparently now skip the Turkish leg of the voyage and re-join the delegation in Beirut.

Majumder voices strong criticism of those countries which have exercised their right not to allow entry to certain individuals.

“How serious are Asian countries about Palestine? Most importantly, how serious are Islamic countries about Palestine? Having been on board the pro-Palestine caravan Global March to Jerusalem (GMJ) since 9 March, it amazes me how countries that publicly claim to support the Palestinian cause are doing the maximum damage to weaken the movement.”

In contrast, Majumder has nothing but praise for one country through which the caravan has passed:

“It was astounding to see the contradiction between the claims of many Asian countries— most of them Islamic—on their support for the Palestinian cause and the reality, which couldn’t have been more stark. Iran, of course, is the only country that has come out openly in support of the march. From the president of the country to the speaker of the parliament, to governors of provinces to mayors of cities—almost everywhere the caravan received widespread support. However, organisers have been clear about one thing—support has to be only moral. “We will not accept any political support as it will defeat our purpose,” says Roohulla Rizvi, one of the organisers of the Iranian leg of the event.”

Roohulla Rizvi (also Rezvi) is also a veteran of the 2010 Asia to Gaza convoy who appears to have much more than connections of mere ‘moral support’ with the Iranian regime.

Here he is in February 2012 at the ‘Conference of Youth and Islamic Awakening’ in Iran.

An insight into Majumder’s enthusiastic descriptions of Iranian hospitality can be obtained from some of the pictures of the GMJ delegation’s reception in that country which illustrate the obviously symbiotic relationship between the GMJ admirers of the Iranian regime and their patrons.

The thousands of Iranians murdered, tortured, raped and imprisoned by the current Iranian regime may of course have somewhat different views of its ‘hospitality’ and commitment to justice. 

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Mar 20 2012

Global March to Jerusalem’s SE Asia caravan reaches Iran, meets Ahmadinejad

The South-East Asian contingent to the Global March to Jerusalem arrived in Iran at the end of last week.

On Saturday the caravan members were received by Mahmoud Ahmadinejad at the Presidential Palace in Tehran.

Note the delegates’ cries of ‘free Palestine’, ‘from the river to the sea’ and ‘b’ruh, b’dam’ which is an often-used chant translating as ‘in spirit and in blood we will redeem Palestine’. 

Ahmadinejad told the visitors that “the existence of the Zionist regime is an insult to freedom, justice and all independent nations” and added:

“The Europe and the US spend tens of billions of their wealth on the Zionists each year to help a criminal regime…continue its occupation [of Palestinian lands]”

He also slammed the Western states for showing no tolerance towards questioning the existence of Israel. 

“Despite all liberal claims of the Western states, nobody is ever allowed to ask a question or conduct a research [sic] on how the Zionist regime was established,”

“The issue of Palestine is not an argument between one person and another or a conflict created between the followers of one prophet and another …but the dispute over Palestine is a dispute over dominating and managing the world,”

According to another report, Ahmadinejad also said that:

“..the Palestinians must rule the land. “No matter how strong the enemies are, they will be destroyed and we must prepare for the great day in which arrogance will be wiped from the face of the earth”. 

And:

“The Zionist regime is like a malignant cancerous cell, and even one or two cells are enough to infect the whole body”

Ali Akbar Velayati – who holds the title of ‘chief advisor to Iran’s Supreme Leader in International Affairs’ – said at the reception that:

“Washington and Tel-Aviv have intensified psychological war against Islamic Republic by increasing their accusations; Iran has been the victim of terrorism and has always condemned all kinds of terrorism; any country which has been opposed to Zionist regime and US is accused of terrorism; Zionist regime and US officials have always declared officially that they would use terror to eliminate their opposition around the world.”

Velayati is also reported as having commented that:

“Terror scenarios in India and Georgia and claims by the Zionist regime about Iran’s role in the terrorist operations were also another phase of psychological war against Tehran.

 Iranian officials have strongly dismissed the US allegations as a prefabricated scenario which is totally unfounded and described it as worn-out approaches which are based on the old hostile policies of the American-Zionist axis to sow discord among Muslims.”

And:

“The West aims to break the chain of resistance against Zionist regime and they are not advocates of Syrian nation; Damascus is the pioneer of fight against occupying force of Zionist regime and a big supporter of Lebanese resistance movement, elimination of anti-Zionism thoughts and eliminating Bashar Assad government are the goals of the West efforts,” he added.

Syria has been experiencing unrest since mid-March with organized attacks by well-armed gangs against Syrian police forces and border guards being reported across the country.

In October, calm was eventually restored in the Arab state after President Bashar al-Assad started a reform initiative in the country, but the US and Zionist regime plots could spark some new unrests in certain parts of the country.

Velayati concluded that Global March to Beitol Moghadas [Farsi synonym for “Jerusalem”] shows the Muslim public commitment to free Palestine.”

Members of the convoy visited the Iranian parliament where they were addressed by its Speaker.

“Addressing members of the convoy in Tehran, Iranian Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani noted that even if the UN imposes more sanctions on Iran, the Iranian nation will never stop supporting the Palestinian nation.”  

Larijani (a potential presidential candidate) is also reported as having stated that:

“…the real reason behind the pressure from US, EU and Israel is not its nuclear programme. “One European foreign minister once told me that the real problem is our stand on Palestine. We have refused to allow the Zionist to fulfill their dream. Their nuclear issue is just a farce,” he added.”

According to other reports, Iranian athletes will be joining the convoy in order to take part in the march.

GMJ International Executive Committee and International Central Committee member Feroze Mithiborwala was somewhat coy when interviewed in Pakistan on March 13th about Iranian involvement in the Global March to Jerusalem by a journalist travelling with the convoy.

“A lot of questions are being raised about the Iranian support to your movement. What do you have to say?
We’re very clear about Iran’s support. For us, Iran is our ally, those Arab powers that are anti-American are our allies, Chavez, Putin are our allies. We would like to see the Government of India supporting the anti-Imperialist people movements in South Asia, just as the governments of Indonesia and Malaysia do, although that will be a long time coming. We collect the money from our delegates. They are not from foreign funded NGO backgrounds, they’re not from upper or middle class backgrounds, but are grass root level political activists.

Coming back to the question of Iranian support, what is the nature of help you get from them? Who is sponsoring your event?
We have been very transparent with our activists and the core leadership of the Global March India. Even the first Asian convoy to Gaza had this element of support, but we only took the support of return flight tickets as it was beyond our means. But this time, we have collected money from India. The entire movement in India is being supported by Indians.

Anybody who is working for an anti-Imperialist cause will seek support from sympathetic quarters. Our civil society friends in Iran who have the resources are supporting us. But even other anti-imperialist movements have been getting support from Iran. We’re not foreign funded activists, we’re not FCRA holders, we’re not NGOs. Our support is very clear, from where we’re getting it, be it Iran, be it Lebanon, the people of Jordan, or the people of Egypt—all we’re asking for is support in terms of return tickets. Everyone anti-American is our ally. We seek to build a powerful South Asian anti-imperialist movement.”

After the same journalist had accompanied the GMJ delegation on its visit to Iran, he appeared to have reached his own conclusions:

“Meanwhile, the region is preparing for another major clash between the pro-Palestinian activists who are coming from around the world and Israeli forces on 30 March—the Palestine Land Day. Activists in Asia, Europe and Africa have given a call for a million march to Israeli borders in Lebanon and Jordan. The Iranian government along with Hezbollah in Lebanon has openly supported the call.”

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