translations of arabic newspapers

Hey all,

Here is an interesting site that provides english translations of the
context of Arabic newspapers. It's updated every few days it looks like.

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD44202

Some of its kind of odd, such as this here:

http://www.memri.org/bin/latestnews.cgi?ID=SD44102

>The pro-Syrian Lebanese daily Al-Saffeer(1) carried today an article by Abd
Al-Hamid Fakhuri titled "Heil Bush ­ America Uber Alles."(2) The following
are excerpts from the article:

>"Oh ruler of the planet Earth, like those who came before you, Pharaoh,
Nebuchadnezzar, Alexander [the Great], Nero, Genghis Khan, and Hitler, we,
Ruler of the World, offer you our submission and our complete loyalty on our
own behalf and on behalf of our peoples. On the occasion of your magnificent
victory in the elections of your great country, as you have imposed your
will, that cannot be denied, on the [U.N.] Security Council which passed the
resolution [to send weapons inspectors] as preparation for your war on Iraq
­ which confirms your penetrating and long-range insight and the rightness
of the principles by which you rule."

>"Heil Bush, America Uber Alles!"

etc

They monitor TV and radio as well and have useful archives of past
translations.

Here's one from TV:

http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=persiangulf&ID=SP2
4601

>Al-Jazeera's weekly religious program dedicated a special for the Prophet
Muhammad, as a model of a Jihad warrior, and discussed the modern
implications of this image.[1] The guest in the studio was the head of the
Islamic law faculty at Qatar University, Sheik Yussef Al-Qaradhawi, who is a
leading authority in the Muslim world today, and a spiritual leader of the
'Muslim Brotherhood' movement. Following are excerpts from the discussion:

>"The Christian is incapable of imitating Jesus regarding war and conciliation
since Jesus never fought or made peace. He is incapable of imitating him
regarding marriage, divorce, parenthood, and family, since [Jesus] never had
a family, never had a wife, a father, or a grandfather."

>"On the other hand, Allah wanted Muhammad's life to be a model. For instance,
if we examine the question of marriage, he who has one wife can follow the
Prophet Muhammed since most of the time Muhammad lived with one woman;
whoever has more than one wife can also [follow Muhammad's example]; He who
marries a virgin, he who marries a non-virginŠ He who marries a young woman,
he who marries an old woman [all can follow Muhammad's example]."

>"Similarly, Allah has also made the prophet Muhammad into an epitome for
religious warriors [Mujahideen] since he ordered Muhammed to fight for
religion Š"

...

>"It is incumbent upon us to maintain some kind of contact with the present
rulers so we can act. How could we strengthen the Intifada? We are unable to
do anything [without those rulers]. At the very least, the Intifada must go
on, intensify, become more sophisticated, and broaden its base. And we must
take whatever we can from the current rulers who are incapable of fightingŠ
we must act within the parameters of the current restrictionsŠ"

and this:

http://www.memri.org/bin/articles.cgi?Page=countries&Area=persiangulf&ID=SP2
2501

>Zionism and Nazism: A Discussion on the TV Channel Al-Jazeera

>Dr. Faysal Al-Qasem's weekly talk show of May 15,2001, on the Qatar TV channel
Al-Jazeera, discussed the question, "Is Zionism worse than Nazism?"[1]
Against the background of this program were on the one hand, the
anti-Semitic remarks made by Syrian President Bashar Al-Assad, and on the
other, the manifest signed by 14 Arab intellectuals, denouncing the planned
international conference of Holocaust deniers in Beirut.

>The program hosted Dr. Hayat Al-Hwayek 'Atiya, "researcher of Zionism" and
follower of Holocaust denier Roger Garaudi and translator of his book into
Arabic. Liberal Tunisian intellectual 'Afif Al-Akhdhar represented the
opposition to Holocaust denial in the Arab world.

>At the opening of the program, Al-Qasem, posed the following question to Dr.
'Atiya: "Is there a difference between Zionism and Nazism?" 'Atiya responded
that the question should be looked at from two perspectives, the logical and
the textual. Logically, she claimed, "the question must be asked: 'what is
it exactly that we denounce in Nazism?'" According to her, there are two
elements in Nazism that should be denounced: "The first is the racism, that
is, the belief in the superiority of the Aryan race over the rest of the
races, and the second is the military expansion at the expense of others,
stemming from this belief."

>After establishing these two points, Dr. 'Atiya stated that these two
principles "precisely existed in the Zionist mentality and ideology... ever
since the days of the Jewish Torah... the belief in being the 'Chosen
People' is one of the foundations of the Zionist project. As for the
expansion, there is nothing left to say, because we are living through it."

>As for the textual perspective, 'Atiya cited "some of the words of both Jewish
and Nazi intellectuals. Nahum Goldman says that there is a common trait to
both German Nazis and Jews, and that is the selectivity and the belief in a
common destiny as a divine mission. Writer Michel Rashlan compares sections
of Mein Kampf to the Jewish Torah, and comes to the conclusion that... the
ideological roots of the Nazis can be found in the Book of Joshua... In 1935
a French newspaper published an interview with the Nazi theoretician, Alfred
Rosenberg, in which he said he supports Zionism and is enchanted by it,
because of its similarity to Nazism..."

>'Afif Al-Akhdhar was asked to respond to the comparison between Nazism and
Zionism, but he began by addressing the manifest by 14 Arab intellectuals,
denouncing the planned conference of Holocaust deniers in Beirut.

>The conference was subsequently cancelled by the Lebanese government following
protests from Arab intellectuals and Jewish groups: "The only reason for
which I did not sign the manifest was that I was not asked to. Furthermore,
if they had not been in a rush, hundreds of Arab intellectuals would have
signed it," explained 'Afif Al-Akhdhar.

>The main reasons given by Al-Akhdhar regarding his stance against the
conference of historical revisionists in Beirut are as follows: He explained
that from a political point of view, following the collapse of the Soviet
Bloc, no policy can succeed if it is not favorable to international
diplomacy and public opinion. "If we adopt the Nazis' garbage," he
explained, "we will lose on our issue, namely the liberation of the Arab
lands occupied in 1967... Politically, if we support revisionism and
Holocaust deniers... we will lose international diplomacy."

>Al-Akhdhar began by emphasizing that he does not denounce revisionist
historians only for political reasons, but also on moral grounds. Before he
could finish his explanation 'Atiya interrupted him and would not allow him
to continue. "Madame," Al-Akhdhar said to her, "do not be a Nazi and do not
be fascist."

>Once Dr. 'Atiya was given the stage, she complained: "He did not answer the
question. He avoided the subject. I was talking about the 1930s, when there
was no revisionism and no Holocaust. I was talking about the cooperation
between Zionism and Nazism... he evaded history in order to attack the
Beirut conference... He should not be telling us about appeasing diplomacy
and the media. [The Arab intellectuals] living in the West only want to
appease. Those of us who live here are not interested in appeasing anyone;
we are interested in the truth... The Jews supported the Nuremberg Laws
because they made the Transfer easier..."

>Dr. 'Atiya's comments angered Al-Akhdhar, who accused her of "talking like the
Taliban, saying that 'the media doesn't interest her.'" According to him,
"whoever wants to recover the land and establish a homeland for the
Palestinians must take the international media into consideration."

>"There is no doubt that there is a commonality between Nazism and Zionism,"
Al-Akhdhar said, but he quickly added, "this commonality exists between
Nazism and all nationalist movements," which are based on one principle,
namely the centrality of ethnic and racial elements. That is why they use
expressions like "the Chosen People" or the phrase common among Islamists:
"We are the greatest nation delivered to mankind." "The nations that have
given up national narcissism and the centrality of ethnicity," he added,
"are the nations that have risen to a higher level of civilization."

>On the defensive, 'Atiya claimed she is involved in the media, even in the
French language, and denied having said the media was unimportant. She added
that she is a Maronite Christian and therefore "I cannot be compared to the
Taliban."

>Al-Qasem raised the possibility of renewing the UN resolution equating Zionism
to racism, and Al-Akhdhar claimed this proposal "is un-political": "While
there is a consensus that Israel is not a Nazi state, you get up and yell
that Israel is a Nazi state. Then you get into trouble, just like one of the
leaders did recently [meaning Bashar Assad]. Then you approach international
diplomacy and waste weeks and months trying to explain and clarify and claim
that your comments were taken out of context, etc. The main thing for us is
the struggle against the occupation and the settlements. What is the point,
then, to constantly say: Israel is Nazi, Israel is worse than Nazism, Israel
is worse than fascism, etc. We cannot fight against international diplomacy,
because then we will lose our cause... We must learn from Israel and be
realistic."

>On the other hand, 'Atiya claimed that dealing with the Holocaust serves the
general interests of the Arabs and Palestinians. "The media is psychology,"
she explained, "the comparison of Zionism to Nazism in the media is a blow
to Western psychology, because the Western conscience is particularly
sensitive to the Nazis."

>The discussion was then opened to audience participation. On the line was
Ibrahim Alloush of Jordan, editor of the anti-Semitic web-site The Free Arab
Voice and board member of the League Against Zionism and Racism. He claimed
that "The Holocaust myth has three aspects. First, there is the lie about
the policy of extermination of the Jews; second, the lie about the killing
of six million Jews in the Second World War; and third, the lie about the
gas chambers. The most important aspect about the Holocaust myth are the
tales about the gas chambers, because they are where [the locations] the
Jews were supposedly exterminated. If we prove that the gas chambers did not
exist, as the [revisionist] historians have done, the entire Holocaust myth
will collapse."

>Alloush agreed with 'Atiya's assertion that Holocaust denial serves Arab
interests, "because it is not merely a historical question, but an issue of
contemporary politics and media. The importance of the Holocaust myths for
the Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims, is that they justify the need for the
existence of an occupying Zionist state, because the Jews need a state of
their own for safe refuge. Secondly, it also justifies the Zionist
movement's violation of UN resolutions, claiming what happened to the Jews
in the so-called Holocaust gives them a excuse for not following
international law..."

etc (more there if you can stomach it)

-------
- Jeff