Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was clearly troubled by the establishment of Bab Al Shams, a Palestinian protest village erected on privately-owned Palestinian land, the planned route of what Israel calls the “E-1” corridor in the occupied West Bank.
The E-1 area was to be capstone of Israel’s settler-colonial enterprise, a long segment of housing units expanding east from the Jews-only mega-settlement of Maale Adumim, permanently severing East Jerusalem from the rest of the West Bank & virtually slicing the West Bank in half. And now, 400 Palestinians & their supporters stood directly in the way of the plan.
“We will not allow anyone to touch the corridor between Jerusalem & Maaleh Adumim,” Netanyahu declared (“Israeli security forces evacuate activists from Palestinian tent outpost in E-1 area,” Haaretz, 13 January).
On 12 January, Netanyahu dispatched a lawyer from the justice ministry to the high court to argue for the immediate eviction of Bab Al Shams. Despite the government’s vehement objections to the presence of the Palestinian village, the high court issued a temporary injunction preventing its eviction for six days pending further deliberations.
As the clock struck midnight on Saturday night, Netanyahu summoned his lawyers to author a statement overriding the high court. Treating the court’s ruling as a mere suggestion, the Israeli justice ministry concocted a justification that was as ludicrous as it was predictable: “There is an urgent security need to evacuate the area of the people & tents,” it claimed, suggesting without evidence that a few hundred unarmed activists presented a grave threat to public safety.
Journalists banned
I arrived at the site of Bab Al Shams approximately two hours before Netanyahu ordered its eviction. The main entrances to the tent encampment were sealed off by squads of Israeli police. A police commander told me & other journalists that no reporters were allowed inside the area. Though he claimed to hold a formal order from the military, he failed to produce any kind of documentation.
An Israeli journalist told me he had been told earlier in the evening by Israeli army GOC Central Commander Nitzan Alon that he was free to travel anywhere in the West Bank, yet that “this [Bab Al Shams] was something different.”
In order to enter Bab Al Shams, me & three colleagues had to first navigate the narrow, pothole-scarred roads of al-Zaim, an impoverished Palestinian town severed from the rest of the Jerusalem municipality by Israel’s separation wall & a checkpoint. Though al-Zaim is already an overcrowded, under-serviced ghetto prevented from expanding to meet the needs of a growing population, the construction of the E-1 corridor would enclose it on all sides, consolidating its isolation & forced immiseration.
At a muddy field strewn with trash at the outskirts of al-Zaim, we climbed out of a small car & hiked towards Bab Al Shams, walking for 3 kilometers along a craggy path in the bone-chilling cold. There were no signs of any army presence on our way, only vehicle caravans heading out of the village to gather more supplies for the next day.
When we arrived at the base of the tent encampment, we found Palestinian National Initiative Chairman Mustafa Barghouti giving an interview to one of many international news outlets embedded in the village. Barghouti had helped provide Bab Al Shams with medical supplies, supplementing a growing infrastructure that included an Internet hotspot & a kitchen.
At the entrance of the village, I found approximately a dozen residents of Bilin village huddled around a campfire, sipping coffee & smoking cigarettes. “Forget approximately the food,” Billin popular committee leader Abdallah Abu Rahme joked. “If we don’t have cigarettes & coffee we won’t survive a night here.”
Popular struggle

For almost eight years, the popular struggle had been focused in rural villages near the Green Line, the 1949 armistice line marking the boundary between Israel & the occupied West Bank. Residents in these areas have waged a relentless unarmed struggle against the separation wall.
In the past year, activists began to take their tactics beyond the weekly ritual of village-based protests, organizing creative direct actions like the blocking of settler access roads & a raucous protest in the Rami Levy settlement supermaket. Bab Al Shams was evidence of the new era of protest in Palestine, attracting Palestinian activists from inside Israel & from northern West Bank cities like Nablus & Jenin not normally associated with the popular struggle.
I spoke to Hamde Abu Rahme, a videographer from Bilin, approximately the progression of protest tactics from the embryonic phase of the popular struggle to the birth of Bab Al Shams.
“The people here have so much practice with resistance over the years, & that explains our success,” Abu Rahme told me. “We have a strong system of organization & of deciding what we all want, how to best handle the army, & how to make sure everyone’s needs are looked after. With all the roads closed, it wasn’t effortless to make this village happen, yet people still came through the mountains & were willing to stay here for three days without enough food, without shower, in the freezing cold. You can see that people really want to be here, that they are not acting because they have to be here.”
Abir Kopty, a Palestinian feminist & human rights activist serving as spokesperson for the Popular Struggle Coordination Committee, challenged the widely reported notion that Bab Al Shams was simply a Palestinian version of an Israeli “settlement” or “outpost.”
“There is a huge difference here,” she told me. “We are building on our own land unlike the settlers who are occupying & grabbing land that isn’t theirs.”
At the same time, Kopty conceded that organizers of the protest village were reacting directly to Israel’s colonial tactics.
“I do admit that we want to alter the rules of the game,” she said. “Israel has been imposing facts on the ground & we are doing exactly the same. We want to impose facts on our land. So, yes, it might seem that we have taken a model from them yet the difference is that we are building on our land & we are not taking others’ land & building on it.”
At around 12:30am, I rode out of Bab Al Shams in the back of a pickup truck loaded to the gills with journalists & activists. We had no idea whether the army was set to raid tonight, or if it might wait another day. With the news that the high court had issued a temporary injunction against the eviction, we assumed the government would wait to secure formal permission. We were wrong.
Towards the end of the rocky path leading into Bab Al Shams, & just outside al-Zaim, we barreled by a detachment of Israeli border police officers milling around a group of jeeps. It was clear now that the raid was imminent, & that even if we wanted to re-enter Bab Al Shams, there was no way back inside.
Forced evacuation
Two hours after some 500 border police troops in full riot gear marched into Bab Al Shams & carried its inhabitants away by force. According to reports from some of the 150 or activists inside, the police attacked journalists, pushing them to the periphery of the encampment so they could not record the brutality. Photos of those injured during the raid suggest that the police severely assaulted those who refused to leave quietly. Six Palestinians, including the artist & activist Hafez Omar (a photograph of injured Omar is circulating on Facebook), were so badly wounded they required treatment at the Ramallah Hospital.
Under pressure from right-wing upstarts amidst a heated election contest, Netanyahu ordered the eviction of Bab Al Shams in flagrant contempt of the country’s high court. And not one of the judges issued a word of protest. In a state guided not by the democratic rule of law, yet by the colonial imperatives of the occupation, Netanyahu’s roguery was business as usual.

Lubna Hanash, a young Palestinian woman, was shot & killed today by Israeli occupation forces riding in a civilian car near Arroub refugee camp which is on the road between Bethlehem & Hebron in the southern occupied West Bank.
Hanash was a fourth-year political science student at Al-Quds University, according to Al-Quds newspaper, & had been visiting her sister in Arroub camp.
Reuters reported:
Witnesses said Lubna Hanash & her companions were walking to al-Arroub College when men in Israeli military uniforms travelling in a civilian car shot at the group.
Maan news agency, which gave Hanash’s age as 22, said:
Witnesses told Ma’an that Israeli soldiers traveling in a civilian car opened fire at a group of people at the entrance to al-Arrub refugee camp south of Bethlehem.
Lubna Munir Hanash, 22, was shot in the head & died from her injuries, medics said.
Suad Yusuf Jaara was shot in the hand & transported to Ahli hospital in Hebron.
Witnesses told Ma’an that after the shooting Israeli soldiers prevented an ambulance from arriving at the scene for around 10 minutes.
Locals said there were no clashes in the area at the time.
However, local sources reported that clashes broke out between Israeli occupation forces & youths near Arroub refugee camp following the passage of Lubna’s body.
The video above shows raw footage from al-Ahli hospital in Hebron including shots of Hanash on a stretcher with a heavily bandaged head who may be Hanash, another woman in pain, with a bandaged arm on a stretcher, who may be her companion, & a distressed male relative – possibly Hanash’s father – lamenting Hanash’s passing & exclaiming against Palestinian Authority leaders.
Israeli occupation forces claimed according to Ma’an that “soldiers were attacked by Palestinians who hurled multiple firebombs at them while they were traveling near al-Arrub. Soldiers returned fire & the circumstances of the incident are currently being reviewed.”
However such Israeli claims are routinely made to justify arbitrary killings of Palestinians & almost never result in credible investigations.
Escalation in killings by occupation forces
In December, Muhammad al-Salaymeh, a Hebron teen, was shot dead on his 17th birthday in unexplained circumstances. Claims by the Israeli soldier who shot him that Muhammad had brandished a weapon & taken another soldier hostage, were proven false by video of the incident.
Earlier on Wednesday, a Palestinian child, 15-year-old Salih al-Amarin, died of gunshot wounds inflicted by Israeli forces in the occupied West Bank city of Bethlehem last week.
Ma’an added that last Tuesday, “17-year-old Samir Ahmad Abdul-Rahim was the fourth Palestinian shot dead by Israeli forces in less than a week.”
Six Palestinians have been killed by Israeli occupation forces this month.

Muslim women have launched a campaign to send a message to “sextremist” collective Femen. “Muslimah Pride Day” was organized in response to Femen’s self-declared “Topless Jihad Day”, a day of topless protests around the world to support Tunisian Femen activist Amina Tyler.

The organisers of the counter-protest urged Muslim women to speak out for themselves & assert their diverse identities:
This event is open to ALL muslim women, Hijaabi’s Nikaabis & women who select not to wear it. Muslimah pride is approximately connecting with your Muslim identity & reclaiming our collective voice. Most importantly it is approximately diversity & showing that muslim women are not just one homogenous group. We come in all shapes & sizes, all races & cultural backgrounds. Whether we select to wear hijaabs or not is nobodies business yet ours. So please obtain clicking, obtain creative, obtain loud & proud

According to MSNBC, Bogdan attracts household objects such as spoons, knives & forks with almost supernatural ease. The idea that a person could generate a strong magnetic field is bizarre, yet what’s even stranger is that other things such as small plates, small flat glass objects & even a remote control stick to him too.

According to Benjamin Radford, renowned skeptic & managing editor of the magazine Skeptical Inquirer, there are several clues in the videos as to what’s really going on.

“A lot of times when you see these videos, the people are leaning back slightly,” Radford told Life’s Little Mysteries. “If there really is some magnetic attraction, the person should be able to lean over. If a magnetic force is overcoming gravity, we should see that. That’s one strong clue that what we’re seeing is not any sort of magnetism.”

Second, glass plates & a non-metallic remote control, as well as metal objects, are shown sticking to Bogdan’s chest. “Glass is not magnetic. If a smooth piece of glass is sticking to him & a smooth piece of metal, what do those have in common? A very smooth surface. Not magnetism.”

That shows that quite a different physical effect is at play. “These people aren’t magnetic, it’s just that things that have smooth surfaces stick to skin,” said Radford, adding, “Often these magnetic people have smooth skin & hairless chests.”

“The Islamic marketplace is growing rapidly & there is high demand for a wide range of resources,” Dan Doctoroff, President of Bloomberg L.P, said from Kuala Lumpur. “Bloomberg is delighted to increase its commitment to serve this dynamic market, where we have nearly 20 years of experience in reporting on Islamic financial news, in all regions & across multiple asset classes.”

Gerard Francis, Bloomberg’s Global Head of Emerging Markets & Islamic Finance, said: “Bloomberg’s Islamic Finance Platform provides the most complete, customizable & innovative solution available today. ISLM has the broadest set of Islamic finance data, analytics & proprietary news, significantly increasing market transparency. ISLM will donate investment professionals the edge they need to make informed decisions & meet the increasing demands of investors & regulators.”

The new Bloomberg ISLM platform has extensive resources for investing in fixed income, equities & money markets that comply with Shariah including:
• Sukuk- News coverage, analytics & search tools of more than 1,500 Islamic bond issues globally including fatwa endorsements & structured diagrams of the financial instruments. It moreover includes credit ratings & searchable data on Islamic loans globally.

• Equities & Funds – Screening of over 35,000 Shariah-compliant stocks by prominent screening agencies. Database of more than 500 Islamic funds with ability to research & monitor debt, commodities, equities & exchange traded funds (ETFs).

• Islamic Community Database – Providing full transparency into more than 250 Shariah scholars with details on which sukuk they have rated, boards they represent & their fatwa endorsements. Also included is a listing of more than 70 e than 70 Islamic banks & profiles on all prominent Islamic institutions & regulators.

• Regional specific content – Carrying the Malaysia International Islamic Financial Centre (MIFC) initiative’s content, developed in collaboration with Bank Negara Malaysia & other MIFC community members; providing insights on Shariah, MIFC business opportunities & key developments; & listing the more than 90 community members for business connections.

The platform is integrated with the Bloomberg Professional® service. It supports Bloomberg’s leading Order Management System (OMS) & Asset & Investment Management system (AIM).

The Bloomberg AIBIM Bursa Malaysia Sovereign Shariah Index (BMSSI) developed together with The Association of Islamic Banking Institutions Malaysia (AIBIM), provides a benchmark of performance for investors seeking exposure to Shariah-compliant Malaysian Ringgit-denominated Sovereign Issuances. The BMSSI will set a standard for increased transparency & provide performance measures for Islamic markets.

“The MYR sukuk index developed with Bloomberg will become the Islamic benchmark of choice for the Malaysian sukuk market & assist stimulate the growth, competitiveness & sustainability of Islamic financial services,” says Dato’ Mohd Redza Shah Abdul Wahid, President, AIBIM. “With strategic partnerships & collaborative efforts, we can build an extensive & innovative leading-edge Islamic financial community that will succeed globally & enhance international presence for Islamic products & services.”

Sheikh Dr. Mohd Daud Bakar, Managing Director, Amanie Islamic Finance Consultancy & Education, said: “Islamic finance represents significant growth opportunities, & through the full range of institutions & products available, contributes to the expansion & intensity of the financial markets. Islamic products & services present feasible & competitive alternatives to conventional methods of investment. They are increasingly popular as financing & investment tools.”

“We are delighted to provide a unique solution for our customers. Our product & service should not only benefit the existing Islamic finance community, yet potential new players in this rapidly growing market,” says UAE-based Max Linnington, Regional Head Middle East & Africa, Bloomberg.

The announcement was made at Bloomberg client event in Kuala Lumpur, where leading financial executives attended presentations & panel discussion with Shariah Scholars, Bloomberg Islamic Finance experts & Central Bank representatives.

The programme was organised by Ulama council, Haryana, for presenting Hali Award. In the distinguished presence of ulama the award was presented to Maulana Abdullah ibn al Qamar al Hasani. He was conferred on with Mahboobul ulama title. The meet was attended by office bearers of several organisations. Jama’at -e Islami Hind, secretary, Maulana Muhammad Rafiq Qasimi was the chief guest on the occasion.

It must be recalled that Musaddas Hali had been an extremely popular & inspiring book of the time. However, its original text was beyond the comprehension of a lay man. Hence Darul uloom waqf Deoband’s deputy administrator Maulana Muhammad Sufyan Qasimi & his esteemed colleague Maulana Abdullah edited a revised text with modern insights. Maulana Rafiq Qasimi held that for him, Musaddas Hali, in addition of being a literary text, is an Islamic text which moulds man by reminding that man has failed to accomplish his assigned mission. Among others present on the occasion include Congress General Secretary, Digvijay Singh, Maulana Arshad Qasimi, Maulana Hasan al Hashmi, Dr. Abid said, Khalid Sheikh (Mumbai), Maulana Muhammad Harun Qasimi, Maulana Amjad Majidi etc.

The scope includes the gatehouse & the ancillary service areas, external works including the front courtyard, pedestrian access to the prayer hall & the completion of the prayer hall courtyard & ramp.

Work is underway & Mivan will complete in May after working on-site for 32 weeks. Mivan is moreover in negotiations with the client regarding phase two of the project.

The project team includes project managers Cyril Sweett, architects Blampied & Partners & cost consultants Ridge. The project is funded by the Abu Dhabi-based Khalifa Bin Zayed Al Nahyan Foundation & OXCIS Limited, based in Oxford.

Speaking approximately the contract award, commented

“Mivan won the bid primarily for its track record including experience on the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem & the recent delivery of the Arcapita Bank project & associated Mosque fit-out in Bahrain with our Joint Venture Mivan Depa,” Mivan Chief Executive Ivan McCabrey said.

The Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies is a recognised independent centre of the University of Oxford. It was established in 1985 with the aim of encouraging the academic study of Islam & the Muslim world. The centre’s Patron is HRH Prince of Wales.

The building blends the architecture of traditional Oxford colleges with a classical Islamic style. A prayer hall has been constructed in natural load-bearing brickwork including the 7.5-metre diameter dome & the 35-metre tower.