"It was like shooting sparrows with a cannon" were the words of a U.N. peace-keeping officer, that was swept aside when Israeli attacked and invaded Lebanon in 1982.(1) And while refugees roamed the wreckage of Beirut in clouds of flies, mothers-eyes filled with terror and distraught-howled..orphans sobbed, and the stench of artillery smoke mixed with rotting corpses filled the air. Asked why Palestinian refugee camps were blasted to ruins, including houses containing women and children, an Israeli army officer explained "...they are all terrorists."(2)
Meanwhile, the U.S. (with its weapons and military advisors) gave its blessings to the armed invasion. Again, a Security Council resolution-with the exception of the U.S.-condemned Israel. While the New York Times trumpeted Israel's "purity of arms" and saluted the "liberation" of Lebanon by Israeli troops, one hundred thousand people were without shelter and food, scavenging through piles of wreckage, surrounded by tanks, gunshots, and hysteria.(3) Blindfolded men were tortured, humiliated, and murdered. Phalangist patrols and Haddad forces torched homes and beat people indiscriminately.(4)
Therefore, and almost thirty-years later, it was significant when Iran's President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad announced that he would visit Lebanon after Ramadan. Ramadan is the ninth month of the Arab Islamic calendar when Muslims fast. Before the establishment of Islam, it was a holy Arab tradition, a month of truce and tribal peace.(5) For most Muslims, the holy month of Ramadan is a blessed time in the year when God's grace seems more closer and more easily accessible.(6) It reveals the principle of mans limitation and dependence on God, along with discerning his will and purposes.
The month of Ramadan and spiritual fasting is also a period when Muslims recognize the unity of the whole Muslim world, emphasized by an inward struggle for spiritual victory. It constitutes purification and a kind of sacrifice leading to renewal and fresh strength.(7) In the realms of politics and economics, Ramadan brings about a direct understanding of, and an empathetic feeling for, those who suffer and hunger and have been wronged.(8) Since it is occasioned by an intensive reading and appreciation of the Qur'an, public justice and mercy is sought after, including civil rights and the opportunities to secure essential food, clothing, shelter, health care, education and employment for others.
As the world awaits for President Ahmadinejad's visit to Lebanon, it is obvious he has taken on a triple mantle. The first one being empowering the poor of his own nation. The second mantle is drawing attention to the plight of Palestinians and correcting past (and current) injustices. Even now as Israel and the U.S. pressure the Lebanese government to try and prevent his visit on October 13, President Ahmadinejad remains undeterred. In the face of punitive sanctions and threats of either an armed invasion or aerial bombardment, President Ahmadinejad remains true to his calling by inquiring into the origin of Israel's existence (not its right to exist) and its Zionist regime.
Coppied by http://article.wn.com/view/2010/10/10/From_Ramadan_to_Lebanon/?section=TopStoriesWorldwide&template=worldnews/index.txt
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