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| Olde Tyme Religion |
| Violence casts shadow on Muslim holiday |
| 2006-10-23 |
| Jeez, violence during Eid. Can ya beat that?Where's my tissues? BEIRUT, Lebanon - Women in southern Lebanon wept at the graves of loved ones killed in the Israel-Hezbollah war, while many Iraqis stayed home amid fears of violence Monday at the start of a major holiday marking the end of Ramadan. The three-day holiday of Eid al-Fitr is customarily celebrated with family gatherings, presents and lunchtime feasts, but fighting has cast a shadow this year across much of the Middle East. This year? I thought this was part of the festivities? In the bombed-out villages of southern Lebanon, the mood was somber and the festivities muted. "There is no Eid. There is only sadness and desperation and fear for the future," said Salma Salameh, a 43-year-old teacher in the predominantly Shiite village of Blatt. Sound like Blatt took the splatt. You're breakin my heart, Salma... Many Lebanese gathered in cemeteries to pay their respects to the more than 855 Lebanese who were killed during the 34-day war, most of them civilians. In the southern village of Qana, where an Israeli airstrike on July 30 killed 29 Lebanese, women dressed in black wept over the graves. In Aitaroun, which lost 41 villagers to the war, families laid flowers and read Quranic verses at the graves. In Beirut, many Lebanese left mosques after morning prayers and went to the grave of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, who was killed in a February 2005 car bombing that continues to haunt the country as U.N. investigators pursue the perpetrators. Yeah, a regular whodunnit. Here's a hint. Look for a pinheaded Syrian... Celebrations in the southern village of Halta were replaced with the funeral of a 12-year-old boy who was killed Sunday by an Israeli cluster bomb. U.N. demining experts say about 1 million cluster bombs failed to explode when Israel dropped them during the war this summer. Johnson! Start leaning on those folks in quality control... As if to underscore the tensions, Lebanese security officials said Israeli warplanes conducted overflights Monday as far north as the outskirts of Beirut — a rare occurrence since a U.N.-brokered cease-fire halted the fighting Aug. 14. Happy Eid, Mahmoud! ZOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM... The commander of the U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon has called Israeli overflights a clear violation of the U.N. resolution ending the war, but Israel has said it would continue them because arms smuggling to Hezbollah guerrillas has not stopped. Which, I would guess, is not a clear violation of the U.N. resolution ending the war. The start of Eid al-Fitr, which means the festival of breaking the dawn-to-dusk fast during the month of Ramadan, is determined by clerics based on the sighting of the new moon. While the holiday began Monday in most Arab countries, it will start Tuesday in Egypt, Syria and Jordan. Some Shiites in Lebanon and Iraq also will begin the holiday Tuesday. In peaceful parts of the Middle East, the festivities Monday were joyous. Children in Kuwait and Bahrain dressed up in their new holiday clothes and received sweets, cakes and money from neighbors and relatives. They must mean the parts where they're not trying to kill each other... In wartorn Iraq, however, many Sunni Muslims stayed inside out of fear that they would fall victim to car bombs or gunfire from Shiite militiamen in Baghdad. Bombings and mortar attacks in markets packed with shoppers over the weekend killed at least 28 people and wounded scores. Nadhim Aziz said there were fewer worshippers this year a local Baghdad mosque to perform the early morning prayers on the holiday."We were 50 to 60 in the mosque. Last year, there were about 400," Aziz lamented. Violence also plagued other parts of the Arab world. In the Gaza Strip, Israeli troops shot and killed seven Palestinians and wounded 14 in one of the deadliest days of fighting in months. Security was tightened in the Jordanian capital of Amman ahead of Tuesday's celebrations, with armored personnel carriers manned by gun-toting soldiers being positioned at the main intersections and in front of luxury hotels. Suicide bombers killed 60 people in blasts at three hotels in Amman last November. Happy Eid..INFIDEL! Shiite and Muslim clergymen across Lebanon said they would not be receiving celebratory greetings at their homes or offices this year because of the Israeli-Hezbollah war and the violence in Iraq and the Palestinian territories. Closed for Eid. Sorry, come back later. Unarmed. Lebanon's most senior Shiite cleric, Grand Ayatollah Sheik Mohammed Hussein Fadlallah, warned worshippers in his sermon Monday of the perils facing the Arab world as a result of the "rising international campaign against Islam." Yes! We must kill each other because of the "rising international campaign against Islam"! And don't you forget it, or I'll kill you! |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #1 Shit I'm tired of this. For the record Ramadan is not a muslime holiday. Muhamhead (pieces of pork be upon her) adopted a pagan holiday for his one desert cult. For that matter some of Muhahead's first organized gang thefts were from caravans during Ramadan. This was seen as a terrible cowardly thing to do. Which pretty much sums up Muhamhead as a man. Coward for Allen Ackbarned. |
| Posted by: Icerigger 2006-10-23 18:39 |