Muslim clerics slammed the Palestinian Authority this weekend over a festival held in the West Bank city of Ramallah as part of the events for Jerusalem -- the 2009 capital of Arab Eighteen dance companies from the territories and around the world took part in the Ramallah performance, which was attended by thousands of people. The show was also viewed by senior PA officials, including Dr. Rafiq al-Husseini, Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas' chief of staff who was in charge of the Palestinian committee tasked with producing the celebrations. The bands drew an enthusiastic response from the crowd, but the Muslim clerics were less enthused, saying that "Jerusalem will not be returned through dancing."
"What do we care whether the citizenry liked it or not? Who cares what they want?"
One of the clerics added
"You're never going to liberate the Holy Land by having fun!"
Sheikh Abdullah al-Shami, an Islamic Jihad leader, said
Well, certainly having a bunch of Arabs dancing isn't going to assert any kind of Arab presence in Jerusalem. You could barely hear the festivities over the unceasing strains of "Hava Negila" emanating from almost every corner of the place.
He expressed his surprise over the fact that "while the PA talks about an economic crisis and cannot pay workers' salaries, it spends huge amounts of money on male and female dancers."
We can well understand why dervishes and dancing girls would tighten the holy turban.
In his remarks, al-Shami sent a particularly
"Better to rely on bombs and bullets, which have worked so well so far, and get the dancing boys and houris after pegging out on a pushcart with a colostomy bag and no face."
Sheikh Hassan al-Jouju, head of Gaza's Sharia courts,
The very utterance of his name is bad jouju!
said that the Palestinians reject with disgust the use of Jerusalem's name as part of "this lawless festival".
"Except for the handful of degenerates who managed to get tickets!"
"Jerusalem is sacred and pure, and its status is derived from what Allah has given to it, and it does not need this nonsense. It needs courageous national standings which will thwart the Judaization schemes and the digging under the al-Aqsa Mosque."
"You guyz are gonna be really sorry when they start playing Hava Negila from our beloved mosque loudspeakers!"
He went on to ask, "Why didn't we hear the
He had good seats? They fixed him up with one of the dancing boys?
Al-Jouju added that "those who approved this event, who let these groups dance on the wounds of our people, on our suffering and the cries of pain of the al-Aqsa Mosque, those who approved this event are not Palestinians."
I'm sure this quote sounds much better in the original Satanic.
"They're... ummm... something else. Athabaskans, maybe."
Senior Hamas member Hamed Bitawi, a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council, said that "this festival contradicts Islamic law.
"There's no place in the Koran where such things are required, therefore they're forbidden! Got that?"
"The Palestinian nation is a nation of jihad and resistance,
"Blood on the streets! Guts on the Zionist windshields! For the greater glory of Allen!"
and this festival damages its image and the memory of the martyrs and their blood. Shame will follow those who approved these cheap festivals."
Translation: Culture and art? Bah! We prefer explosions and death!
RAMALLAH, West Bank - The World Bank signed an agreement on Friday to give $25 million to poor Palestinians hit hard by a Western aid embargo of the Hamas-led government.
RAMALLAH, West Bank - Palestinian civil servants who have received practically no pay for the past six months were on Thursday paid a 340-dollar advance each, officials said.