Outside the houses of parliament, Bush & Blair are reminded of the
illegal concentration camps they have created for Muslims
in Guantanamo Bay - Camp X-ray and now Camp Delta.

One of the few letters of Moazzam Begg that reached home, sent through the Red Cross. Even these have been heavily censored by the his US jailors

Every few months, a letter manages to get through and arrives at the Birmingham home of Azmat and Gull Begg from their son, Moazzam, himself a father of four, one of the British detainee in Camp Delta. He is among nearly 700 prisoners held by the US, including children and elderly, all held illegally without charge and without access to family or legal representation, who after several years of interrogation and torture are to face secret US military run mock trials.

Since his arrest in Islamabad in February 2002 - the same night his wife Sally had told him she was pregnant with their fourth child - Moazzam has written pages and pages to his family in Birmingham.

But few letters get through, and those that do typically have several passages heavily crossed out by those who monitor goings-on at the prison camp.

"I too write and write, but to judge from his comments, few of my letters are delivered," Moazzam's father Azmat Begg tells a reporter as he fans out his son's missives, written in neat hand-writing on paper supplied by the Red Cross.

Moazzam has yet to meet his fourth child,
a son born after his arrest

November 2002. To Dad, today is the first day of Ramadan and it is going as well as can be expected. Our meals are all arranged, now, to the dark hours. As the weather has become quite cold, now we have been issued with warm thermal underclothes. Boredom here is extreme. I have not seen the sun for over seven months except once, for around two minutes. I wish you all the best for the blessed month of Ramadan and a happy Eid!!! Your son, Moazzam

January 2003. Dear Mum and Dad, I have done a lot of reading in the past few months (45 books or so), just having read about the United States' war of independence and Civil War. I had a discussion recently with someone about the US's major contribution to civilisation (after talking about Ancient Greece, Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, China etc). I pondered for many hours and then came up with the answer - peanut butter (both smooth and crunchy). My co-debater was not amused with the results of my hours of research. I have that every now and then and it tastes fairly good! My salaam and love to you all.

January 2003. The camel spider is the only 10-legged spider in the world and, I believe, it's not an arachnid (technically not a spider). But it grows bigger than human hand-sized, moves like a race-car and has a bite that causes flesh to decay - if left untreated. In the summer there were plenty here, running into the cells and clambering over people; one person was bitten and had to be treated. Thank God it's winter!

Camel Spider From bulletin produced for US troops (by Senior Airman Grace Hall, 379th Expeditionary Medical Group) The name "camel spider" is not entirely accurate. They are not exactly spiders; they are solifugids -- sort of a cross between a spider and a scorpion. They grow to 6 inches and have four pincer-like jaws used for crushing prey. The main risks presented by camel spider bites are shock or infection, but its venom can cause temporary paralysis in the victim. Although they only use three of their four pairs of legs for running, camel spiders are one of the fastest running arthropods and can reach speeds up to 10 mph (5 metres in 1 second!). They rely on this speed to catch prey. They feed on other spiders, scorpions, lizards, mice and some small birds. Once they have caught their prey, they use their crushing jaws to kill it. Camel spiders are nocturnal predators coming out primarily at night in search of food, they are attracted to light. When they do come out during the day, camel spiders avoid the heat by running from shadow to shadow, even if it belongs to a human. If a camel spider runs toward a person's shadow and he or she tries to run away, the spider will chase the shadow. So, it appears to be chasing people when it is actually not. Chemicals such as bug sprays are not recommended as they most likely will do nothing but make the spider angry. Avoidance is the key!

March 2003. Dear Dad, I am doing OK and trying as patiently as possible to overcome despair. These days I have found things getting easier and occupy my time with much of the same activities - exercise, conversation, prayer and sleep. Your son, Moazzam

At 12, Moazzam went to stay with relatives in Pakistan where, his father says, his interests in humanitarian work began. Moazzam, his wife Sally and their young children moved to Afghanistan about a year before the arrest. There they helped install water pumps and tried to set up a school - Moazzam looking after boys, Sally the girls.

When the US bombardment of Afghanistan began, the family moved to an apartment in Islamabad to wait out the strikes. They planned to return when the dust had settled. But Moazzam was arrested and the family's funds - about £8,000 - were seized, leaving Sally and the children to fend for themselves in a country where they did not speak the language.

Azmat Begg fighting for justice for his son

"I got a phone call from Moazzam in the middle of the night. At first I could not even tell if it was him, he was speaking so quietly. He said 'Dad, I've been arrested.' I thought he was joking, or that I was still dreaming," Mr Begg says, his voice dropping as he remembers that night. But Moazzam wasn't joking. Eighteen months on, his son is still held without being given any indication of what charges he is held under.

Meanwhile the British government is doing nothing to secure the freedom of the British detainees. They have admitted that even with the much criticised new anti-terrorism laws, there is nothing under British law with which the detainees could be charged with. It would be embarrassing for America and the "special relationship" if upon their return to Britain the detainees could not be held and had to be set free.

Muslims held illegally by the US in violation of the
Geneva Convention for the treatment of prisoners of war.

 

Since its creation in 1948 Israel has never, not even once, recognized, let alone complied with, a UN Security Council resolution. Assured of unconditional U.S. support, for more than fifty years Israelis terrorized the peoples of Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan and Egypt and perpetrated the most hideous of crimes.

Israel could afford to expand and occupy more land over the years because Arab weakness gave it the green light to do so. After several years of venturing into Southern Lebanon since 1978, Israeli political and military leaders defied all laws and norms by storming, unprovoked, deep into Lebanon in 1982. More than half of the country, including the capital Beirut, came under direct Israeli occupation. Former Israeli defense minister Sharon stood in the heart of Beirut to announce that his troops were there to stay. Indeed, nothing would have compelled the Israelis to withdraw. The UN and international law meant nothing to them and they did not believe the Arabs had the guts to do anything having failed repeatedly in the past.

Soon afterwards, the Israelis discovered they had ventured into a quagmire. Lebanon was to become a graveyard for their troops. Still over confident and blinded from seeing the implications of their adventure, the Israelis created an army of collaborators whom they thought could be relied on for maintaining a buffer zone in the south of the country. The ploy was alleged to have been aimed at protecting Jewish settlements in the north of Palestine from 'terrorist' attacks. But in time neither the army of collaborators nor the so-called 'undefeatable' army of Israel with its sophisticated weaponry and mythical reputation was of any good. In May 2000 the entire world watched with amazement as Israeli troops pulled out under the cover of darkness leaving behind their army of collaborators to disintegrate within hours.

Hizbullah has succeeded where the Arab states have failed. The two decades of Israeli occupation of south Lebanon have exposed Israel and enlightened the world about the real nature of this Jewish colonial enclave in the heart of the Muslim world. The Israeli humiliating defeat at the hands of Hizbullah has proven beyond doubt that the Hebrew state understands no language but that of force. This is an entity that is comprised of Jewish immigrants who came in search of the land of milk and honey and not of pain and agony. Paradise had been promised to them by those who recruited them for one of the most inhumane projects in the history of humanity. Occupying other people's lands and homes turned to hell compounded by the fact that Israeli cowardice and fear of death is met with unique bravery by their victims and love of death in martyrdom.

A Lebanese Muslim girl, victorious and joyful, waving the flag
of Hizbullah, is returning to her adored land - the village of Houla,
which she has never seen before - denied by 18 years of israeli occupation.
A portrait of her beloved leader Sheikh Nasrallah adorns her car.

During the glorious days of the Palestinian Intifada (uprising), former Israeli Prime Minister Isaac Rabin wished that one day he'd wake up from his sleep to be told that Gaza had been swept away by the sea. So deep was the trouble he found himself in although his troops were the ones that broke the bones of stone-throwing Palestinians and shot at them with live bullets. At the time the Intifada had still been restricted to the use of stones and peaceful means of protest. Nevertheless, that was too much for the Israelis who grew accustomed to meeting no resistance and engaging no real fighters except for intermittent guerrilla operations by various PLO factions every now and then here and there. What had boosted Israel's confidence in the past was the fact that all previous wars with the Arabs were no real wars. In 1948, Arab troops, mostly commanded by British officers, only prepared the ground for the creation of Israel and the displacement of the bulk of the Palestinian Arab population.

In 1967, the Arabs were not in a mood for war and had not prepared the least for it. Israel took the initiative while knowing the lack of willingness on the part of the Arabs to engage it. In 1973, former Egyptian President Anwar Sadat embarked on what initially was truly a glorious conquest of occupied Sinai only to effect tactical changes in prelude to making a humiliating U.S.-brokered peace with Israel.

The Intifada made a real difference. It exposed Israel's predicament and restored confidence in the hearts of millions of Palestinians, Arabs and Muslims. Furthermore, it opened the eyes of many millions around the world to the cruelty and inhumanity of Israel. When in response to the massacre of Palestinian civilians by Israeli troops or settlers Hamas and Islamic Jihad introduced military tactics including 'martyrdom' bombings, the Israelis sensed more trouble. Now we know how much concern that escalation in resistance posed for the Israelis. We know more surely because of what has happened in South Lebanon. Simply, Israelis cannot afford to die in combat. Someone else should die but not them. If they are the ones that are excepted to pay, they'd rather relinquish their positions and retreat.

Let us try for a moment to envisage what could have happened had the Lebanese scenario been allowed to unfold in occupied Palestine. Like the Lebanese, the Palestinians were prepared to continue the struggle despite the clear imbalance of power. Like Hizbullah, Hamas and Islamic Jihad had the ability to recruit fighters whose love for death in the cause of regaining their people's rights exceeded the Israelis' love for a life of security, safety and comfort. As in the case of Hizbullah, Arabs and Muslims all over the worlds sympathized with the Palestinian struggle and were prepared to support it until it reaped its fruits. However, unlike the case of Lebanon, the Palestinian struggle was stabbed in the back and betrayed from within. Israel was presented with a golden opportunity by the ailing, corrupt and bankrupt PLO leadership. As a result of the 1993 Oslo agreement between the PLO and Israel, the task of securing Israel against Palestinian reprisals has been undertaken by the forty thousand or so policemen and security agents recruited by the Israeli-sponsored Palestinian Authority (PA). The PA deserves credit, and has indeed been credited by the Israelis, for doing an excellent job hunting down resistance members of both Hamas and Islamic Jihad murdering them, incarcerating them or handing them over to Israel. It is also credited for opening the doors wide open before Israel to establish relations with other Arab countries and with so many nations around the world that until then had refrained from recognizing Israel in support of the PLO. Had Israel not found a helping hand from the PLO, it might have had no option but to withdraw unilaterally from the territories occupied in 1967.

Stoning the Zionists Its become a symbolic ritual for visitors to the liberated land of South Lebanon to stone the zionist soldiers across the border from the Fatima Gate. In this instance (12 Dec 2000) its the former Jerusalem Bishop Ilarion Kabouji throwing a rock on the zionists who kept him in prison for many years for his opposition to the israeli occupation, before they finally exiled him from the Holy Land of Palestine, the land of his fathers, the land of Jesus (pbuh).

Intelligence sources say that at one time, Israeli politicians were seriously considering an offer of truce by Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmad Yassin according to which Hamas would cease its military operations for an agreed period of time in exchange for a total Israeli withdrawal from 1967-occupied territories, the release of all Palestinian prisoners and the dismantling of Jewish settlements in the occupied territories. Israel did not need to spend much time considering that option when Yassir Arafat offered it peace of mind in exchange for some trivial VIP concessions.

Fortunately, it has not taken long for most Palestinians, including many of those who initially welcomed the creation of the PA, to discover the truth. The PA has turned to be nothing but a new Israeli agency of collaborators little different from the disintegrating South Lebanese Lahd's army of collaborators. Year after year since its creation, and from one round of negotiations to the other, the PA has signed away Palestinian rights. Aware of the predicament it led itself into, the PA's response to the defeat of Israel in Lebanon was a mix of disregard, indifference and denial. There is no clearer evidence than the attempt by Yassir Arafat, PA leader, to uplift the morale of Israelis following the most humiliating moment in the history of their state. As if nothing was happening in the region, he flew to Europe to attend a football match between a European team and a joint Israeli-Palestinian team in support of a peace process few people now believe in.

Clearly embarrassed by Hizbullah's historic success, Arafat insisted in a television interview that the Israelis withdrew from Lebanon not because of Hizbullah but because of compliance with UN Security Council Resolution 425, an argument the Israelis themselves found too good to believe and too feeble to present. Clearly Israel's defeat in Lebanon was also a defeat for Yassir Arafat and his PA. In the fate of Lahd's army, Arafat and some of his lieutenants may have seen the end of their unholy enterprise. Perhaps it is time for those of them who still associate with the cause of their people to reconsider their positions before their PA is no more just as Lahd's army is no more.

Today Lebanon is free and tomorrow Palestine will be. This is the essence of the message Hizbullah has sent to the Palestinians by awarding to them its victory.