[Vision2020] Rage at Drawings Spreads in Muslim World

[J Ford]

I believe this is what Mr. Nisbet has been discussing:


Rage at Drawings Spreads in Muslim World

By IBRAHIM BARZAK

GAZA CITY, Gaza Strip (AP) - Armed militants angered by a cartoon drawing of 
the Prophet Muhammad published in European newspapers surrounded EU offices 
in Gaza on Thursday and threatened to kidnap foreigners as outrage over the 
caricatures spread across the Islamic world.

More than 300 students demonstrated in Pakistan, chanting ``Death to 
France!'' and ``Death to Denmark!'' - two of the countries where newspapers 
published the drawings. Other protests were held in Syria and Lebanon.

Officials in Afghanistan, Iran and Indonesia condemned the publication. In 
Paris, the daily France Soir fired its managing editor after it ran the 
caricatures Wednesday.

A Jordanian newspaper took the bold step of running some of the drawings, 
saying it wanted to show its readers how offensive the cartoons were but 
also urging the world's Muslims to ``be reasonable.'' Hours later, the 
owners of the weekly, Shihan, said they had fired its editor and withdrawn 
the issue from sale, and the government threatened legal action.

Foreign journalists, diplomats and aid workers began leaving Gaza as gunmen 
there threatened to kidnap citizens of France, Norway, Denmark and Germany 
unless those governments apologize for the cartoon.

Gunmen in the West Bank city of Nablus entered four hotels to search for 
foreigners to abduct and warned their owners not to host guests from several 
European countries. Gunmen said they were also searching apartments in 
Nablus for Europeans.

Militants in Gaza said they would shut down media offices from France, 
Norway, Denmark and Germany, singling out the French news agency Agence 
France-Presse.

``Any citizens of these countries, who are present in Gaza, will put 
themselves in danger,'' a Fatah-affiliated gunman said outside the EU 
Commission's office in Gaza, flanked by two masked men holding rifles.

If the European governments don't apologize by Thursday evening, ``any 
visitor of these countries will be targeted,'' he said.

The furor over the drawings, which first ran in the Danish paper 
Jyllands-Posten in September, cuts to the question of which is more sacred 
in the Western world - freedom of expression or respect for religious 
beliefs. The cartoons include an image of Muhammad wearing a turban shaped 
as a bomb with a burning fuse.

Islamic law, based on clerics' interpretation of the Quran and the sayings 
of the prophet, absolutely forbids depictions, even positive ones, of the 
Prophet Muhammad in order to prevent idolatry.

The drawings have prompted boycotts of Danish goods, bomb threats and 
demonstrations against Danish facilities.

The Danish newspaper defended its decision to publish the caricatures, 
citing freedom of expression, but apologized to Muslims for causing offense.

France Soir and several other European papers reprinted the drawings in 
solidarity with the Danish daily. Jyllands-Posten also had put some of the 
drawings briefly on its Web site, and the images still can be found 
elsewhere on the Internet.

The Israeli newspaper Maariv published a tiny version of the Muhammad-bomb 
caricature Thursday, on page 16.

Foreign journalists were pulling out of Gaza on Thursday, and foreign media 
organizations were canceling plans to send more people in.

Norway suspended operations at its office in the West Bank town of Ram after 
receiving threats connected to publication of the cartoons by the Norwegian 
Christian newspaper Magazinet.

``There were threats from two Palestinian groups, the Popular Resistance 
Committees and the Al Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades, against Danish, French and 
Norwegian diplomats,'' Norwegian Foreign Ministry spokesman Rune Bjaastad 
said.

Jan Pirouz Poulsen, the Danish representative office's deputy head, said 
there were six Danes in Gaza and about 20 in the West Bank, and that all had 
been urged to leave.

Raif Holmboe, the head of Denmark's representative office in the West Bank 
town of Ramallah, said the office would be closed Friday and no decision has 
been made whether to reopen Monday. Holmboe said shots were fired at the 
Ramallah office earlier this week while the building was empty. No one was 
hurt.

Palestinian security officials said they would try to protect foreigners in 
Gaza, but police have largely been unable to do so in the past, with 19 
foreigners kidnapped - and released unharmed - in recent months, mostly by 
Fatah gunmen.

Emma Udwin, a European Union spokeswoman in Brussels, said security measures 
have been taken in light of the threats.

Outgoing Palestinian Prime Minister Ahmed Qureia condemned the caricatures, 
saying they ``provoke all Muslims everywhere in the world.'' He asked gunmen 
not to attack foreigners, ``but we warn that emotions may flare in this very 
sensitive issues.''

Sami Abu Zuhri, a spokesman for the Islamic militant Hamas also demanded an 
apology from European countries. However, he said foreigners in Gaza must 
not be harmed.

Thursday's events began when a dozen gunmen with ties to Fatah approached 
the office of the EU Commission in Gaza. Three jumped on the outer wall and 
the rest took up positions at the entrance. The group demanded the apologies 
and urged Palestinians to boycott the products of Norway, Denmark, France 
and Germany.

A leaflet signed by a Fatah militia and the militant Islamic Jihad group 
said the EU office and churches in Gaza could come under attack and urged 
French citizens to leave Gaza. The gunmen left after about 45 minutes. 
Palestinian employees of the EU Commission had not come to work Thursday, 
and foreigners working at the office are based outside Gaza, and only visit 
from time to time.

In Multan, Pakistan, more than 300 Islamic students chanted ``Death to 
Denmark!'' and ``Death to France!'' and burned flags of both countries near 
an Islamic school.

Iraqi Islamic leaders called for demonstrations from Baghdad to the southern 
city of Basra following prayer services Friday.

Afghanistan President Hamid Karzai condemned the images, calling the 
publication an ``insult ... to more than 1 billion Muslims.''

Indonesian Foreign Ministry spokesman Yuri Thamrin said that while his 
country upholds free expression, ``such freedom cannot be used as a pretext 
to insult a religion.'' The Indonesian newspaper Rakyat Merdeka put the 
Muhammad-bomb caricature on its Web site to illustrate its story about the 
uproar but covered his eyes with a red banner to avoid making the image 
``vulgar,'' a caption said.

Iran summoned Austrian Ambassador Stigel Bauer, representing the European 
Union, to protest the publication, the Islamic Republic News Agency 
reported. Bauer expressed ``sorrow'' and promised to convey Iran's protest 
to his government and other EU countries, IRNA said.

The Jordanian newspaper Shihan reprinted three of the caricatures to show 
readers ``the extent of the Danish offense.'' Next to the drawings, the 
weekly said: ``This is how the Danish newspaper portrayed Prophet Muhammad, 
may God's blessing and peace be upon him.''

Later, its owner, the Arab Publishers Co., fired editor Jihad al-Momani, 
saying he had caused a ``shock to the firm and those responsible for it,'' 
the official Petra news agency reported. It said the issue was withdrawn 
from the market and opened an investigation to determine if other staff were 
involved. A spokesman for the publisher confirmed the report.

Government spokesman Nasser Judeh said Shihan committed a ``big mistake'' by 
reprinting the drawings.

``The government strongly denounces this issues, which it considers 
extremely harmful, and demands an immediate apology from the newspaper,'' 
Judeh said. He said the state is reviewing ``all options, especially legal 
action'' against Shihan.

Al-Momani declined comment. Earlier, he had told The Associated Press he 
decided to run the cartoons to ``display to the public the extent of the 
Danish offense and condemn it in the strongest terms.''

``But their publication is not meant in any way to promote such blasphemy,'' 
al-Momani added.

An editorial signed by al-Momani and titled ``Muslims of the world, be 
reasonable,'' noted that the Danish paper had apologized, ``but for some 
reason, nobody in the Muslim world wants to hear the apology.''

The director of media rights group Reporters Without Borders, Robert Menard, 
called for calm. ``We need to figure out how to reconcile freedom of 
expression and respect of faith,'' he said.

Vebjoern Selbekk, editor of Norway's Magazinet, said he had received 
thousands of hate e-mails, including 20 death threats, since printing the 
drawings and was under police protection.

J  :]

_________________________________________________________________
Express yourself instantly with MSN Messenger! Download today - it's FREE! 
http://messenger.msn.click-url.com/go/onm00200471ave/direct/01/