I agree with the spirit behind your post but just took issue with this. The Palestinian struggle for liberation has little to do with any religious differences. I guess I could agree that "the people who want to fight will always do so" if I was ok with being forced off my land into a refugee camp and denied basic rights, right of return, and humiliated behind a "wall" in the world's most largely ignored occurrence of apartheid. I'd agree with you then.
Speaking of education.. Some of those middle eastern countries have incredible education systems and I dont speak of the madrassas. The state system is actually well planned and accessible. The problem stems from their economies in general. Saudi Arabia has 20% unemployment and no actual economic growth beyond oil money so a lot of educated people have no where to turn for jobs because expatriates from India and Pakistan take up lower jobs for much lower wages and all the white collar/high income jobs are taken and aren't being created very rapidly at all. So you have a bunch of educated people sitting around jobless and some of them decide that drastic change is necessary and must be done through violence of some kind... If the region is going to clean itself up, it requires that its governments actually reform their economies and allow for a competitive and open market economy that allows for real growth. Dubai itself is an excellent example of this. Their unemployment rate rivals ours and it is probably the most liberal city in all of the Middle East. They realized 20 years ago that oil just wasnt going to cut it and now oil money accounts for less than 10% of its GDP.
I totally agree with you. The best example to prove this point is the fact that, contrary to popular belief, Palestinians are not exclusively Muslim. As a matter of fact, there is a sizable percentage that are Christian. Yet, Palestinians, as a whole, are the ones struggling against liberation. It's not just the Palestinian Muslims, but rather all Palestinians.
Saudi Arabia had a similar thing 2-3 weeks ago, where paper cups were found to be Made in Israel and were sent back. The reason to reject is not to appease any one segment of the population. None of the Middle Eastern countries recognize Israel as a soverign nation, or do they particularly like Palestinians (Palestinians have one of the worst reputations here, right after the Kuwaitis - but for entirely different reasons). Plus they are against Israel's existence, thus the "No trade with Israel" stance. It's not so that the Palestinians get a kick out of it or whatever. Same reason why if you want to come to a Mid East country, having an Israeli entry/exit stamp in your passport would make it impossible. Most people I know who wish to goto Jerusalem from Saudi get their visas stamped on a blank piece of paper at the Jordanian border and then destroy it once they're back in Amman.
Umm ... an athiest/polythiest will have the same access to heaven as a monothiest ... are we talking about the same Islam here?!?? And you don't have to be a good Muslim to make it to heaven? The one unforgiveable sin in Islam is shirk, defined as rejection of the oneness or existence of Allah. There is absolutely no way around that one. And, in Islam, the 5 daily prayers are the foundation of trying to get to heaven. Just read Surah Al-Baqrah (2nd) ... I think it states it over a gazillion times in there alone.
i found that funny too...don't know where that dude got his info....i don't think he's talking about Islam though... he 's probably an Aga.
What he basically said negates the point of even being a Muslim or a Christian. In Christianity, you only acheive paradise if you accept Christ. In Islam, the only path to salvation is belief in the oneness of God. From what I know, polytheism is the greatest sin in Islam. There's no pussyfooting around it that "all good people go to heaven." That may be Rockets03's personal beliefs, but that is contrary to even the most basic tenets of Islam.
Israel was supplied with tons and tons of equipment that was formerly in service of Nazi Germany. In fact, they started of with military equipment and arms that were not only used by Nazi's, they were used against Jews! The "Israeli Mauser" is a captured Nazi rifle that still has, in many cases, the clear machine struck swastikas all over them. Think the standard, bolt-action rifle that the SS use to execute the runaway boy in "Schindler's List", you'll remember the scene if you have seen the Movie, and take that very same rifle in put it in the hands of a young Zionist. But I digress, I can't see a compelling reason for this equipment to be sent back-it's foolish
Jordan and Egypt both recognize Israel and have full diplomatic relations. Now in terms of this actual debate about Dubai. Dubai is probably the most confused part of the Middle East. Its the most progressive city and the most liberal. I've seen women there dress more liberally than women here. Also there is a significant European population there and if I'm not mistaken 90% of the people there are expatriates. However, Dubai is still only one of many emirates and the others are much more conservative than they are. If Dubai were an independent country, I wouldnt be surprised if they established relations with Israel. They already have significant trade relations. However, the government is run out of the Abu Dhabi emirate which is more conservative and generally falls more in line with other mainstream Middle Eastern governments. Consequently, there's no way Dubai could accept Israeli medical equipment because of the more conservative central government which it still has to appease and report to. Its a sad situation but unfortunately politics sometimes takes precedence over common sense.
The Palestinian struggle is definitely worth fighting for. I just think if they had a leader like Gandhi and took his approach they would have been much more successfull in garnering worldwide sympathy. Extremist like Hamas (atleast I believe) would not even stop the violence if Israel ceased to exist. By that I also mean the higher leaders of this terrorist group. These old bastards would probably look for any reason to fight. The young suicide bombers is who I feel sorry for. They fall for the propaganda created by the leaders. Once again, education is the key to the problems here.
You say that as if its a bad thing. Firstly I don't represent all "Aga's". I am one though. One of the first things I learned in my religious education classes as a child in jamatkhana (mosque) was to be respectful of other religions. Maybe you did not learn the same thing. I refuse to believe in a God that would deny you heaven (eternal salvation, or whatever else you want to call it) simply because you called him by a different name. Jesus, Allah, Ram, Buddha, Moses....they are all just different ways to reach God. It should not matter much which path you choose. Do you honestly think that on Judgement day you will recieve some kind of a preferential treatment over a moral Christian, Jew or even an athiest?
first of...man i have no problems with aga's....i meant nothing by the way i wrote that post...i apologize if it looked like it....i have a lot of repect for aga's ...i may not believe what you are taught at your mosques but i respect your community(especially how business minded you guys are )....there are way too many of you guys in Toronto for me not to like y'all oh yeah by the way there is huge difference between an atheist and Christian/Jews.......atleast they believe in one god...huge difference in my opinion.
Being respectful is one thing, believing that they're all going to heaven is another. I'm not putting down the athiests or anything, but do I think they're wrong? Most certainly. And there is a huge difference in believing in Allah/God and Buddha, Ram, and the multitude of Hindu deities, it defies the basic tenet of the oneness of God. You can argue all you want that it's the representation of the different attributes of God, but revering an inanimate object as a form of God is wrong. And yes, I honestly do believe that the path I follow will give me the best shot at getting where I am trying to get to. Why else would I follow that path? geeimsobored: You are absolutely correct ... I even contradicted myself saying that you can get to Jerusalem thru Jordan. I meant the GCC bloc of countries ... Oman, Saudi, Kuwait, UAE, Qatar, and Bahrain. Thanks for correcting me. Altho, one of either Bahrain or Qatar has recently indicated that they are willing to open their borders to Israelis.
Hmmm, can we guess who here has had programming experience and who hasn't Can we talk about "Christians" banning Magic Cards in school please? That ruined my child hood.
