UPDATE: Muslim peace march sees massive & diverse turnout
The colourful march took off from the Sunday Morning Well with full Police escort as they moved through the streets chanting, “free our children, children and women have the right to live in peace, stop the killing of our people, we want world peace” among others. They concluded with a brief ceremony at the Road Town Mosque.
Addressing the gathering, Brother Hani Husein reminded what their effort was all about, "Today is not about religion; it's about humanity. When you get a chance pray."
He also challenged that persons should not to look at race and culture. "We are all humans, a child has a right to play, be out on the beach without fear for their lives," he added.
Lesville G. Wheatley President of the BVI Islamic Society in thanking persons for their show of support handed over a brand new air conditioning unit to the Family Support Network (FSN) which has been without the vital piece of office fixture for some months now.
They also made two donations of $2K each to the Rainbow Children's Home and the Adina Donovan Home. The latter was a no show to uplift their cheque but according to Brother Wheatley they will deliver the cheque as they are aware of the financial and other needs of the home in delivering a quality service.
He said that giving back is something they do regularly but they are not usually public about it as they believe it is not expedient to let the left hand know what the right hand is doing.
Imam of the Islamic Society of the British Virgin Islands Brother Khalel J. Cave led the ceremony and thanked all for their overwhelming support.
See previous story published on July 29, 2014:
UPDATE: VI Muslims to march today in solidarity with Palestinians
-BVI Islamic Society urges persons to gather at the Sunday Morning Well by 2:30 pm as march starts promptly at 3:00 pm
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – Muslims in the Virgin Islands are expected to come out in a protest march today July 29, 2014 in solidarity with their brothers and sisters in the Gaza Strip, who are being slaughtered by Israeli forces following weeks of shelling.
There is continued bombings and the numbers on the Palestinian side continue to be staggering compared to the casualties on the Israeli side. BBC reports that over 900 Palestinians have been killed so far. In fact, BBC today reports that 100 Palestinians have been killed today Tuesday July 29, 2014.
Today’s march starts from the Sunday Morning well from 3:00 pm, a change from the previously announced 3:30 pm start time.
A member of the Islamic Society of the British Virgin Islands said that the march starts promptly at 3:00 pm. “We will be having our Solidarity March and we are asking that persons come out and support us. Please come out by 2:30 pm so that we can start on time at 3:00 pm,” he said.
The Society is emphasizing that this march should be seen as a humanitarian and not a religious one.
See previous story published on July 25, 2014:
VI Islamic community to march against Israeli atrocities in Gaza
-to hold silent protest march on Tuesday July 29, 2014 to which the general public is invited
ROAD TOWN, Tortola, VI – The Islamic Society of the British Virgin Islands is appalled by the atrocities being inflicted on the Palestinian people as days of intense shelling by the Israeli military have left hundreds dead in the Gaza Strip.
As a result the Society is inviting members of the public to support their silent protest march on Tuesday July 29, 2014. The march will commence at 3:30 PM at the Sunday Morning Well in Road Town.
“First of all our community has a large percentage of Middle Eastern Muslims also so there is a special sentiment to what has been going on in the Gaza Strip but more than this when you look at the bigger picture, more so as human beings we intend to go out there and make a statement representing those oppressed people in that region and oppressed people from any part of the world,” said Imam Khalel Cave of the Islamic Society of the British Virgin Islands, in an exclusive interview with Virgin Islands News Online today July 25, 2014.
“We are hoping that the people of the BVI do not see this as a religious walk but a walk for humanity. So we are expecting that the churches and the people from the various civil society organisations would come out and support us in calling on the authorities to put more pressure on Israel to end the atrocities because the majority of the casualties of this war are kids, women and the elderly,” said Imam Cave.
“So basically we’re going to out there and we will have our banners, have our placards calling upon the authorities to help end this massacre against innocent civilians and hoping that our little voice in this corner will be lent to this international outcry to end this violence against the people in the Gaza Strip, [which] has seen the loss of so many innocent lives,” said Imam Cave.
“The people of the Gaza Strip have been locked into an open prison so to speak…they have no access to getting out of there by land, sea or air. For the past seven years they have been locked in that corner there and the basic human rights of these people are being violated every single day and what should bring peace is not just ending the exchange of rockets or missiles but we are calling on the international community to hear their cries. They deserve all of the basic human rights that we in the Virgin Islands or any other part of the world are enjoying,” he said.
“Currently, this is what the people of Gaza are saying…that they will only accept the peace process that is based on their God-given right, not just to have a cease fire,” said Imam Cave.
Asked whether he thought the international community is doing enough to end the conflict in Gaza, Imam Cave said he does not think so, as Israel is supported by some of the most powerful nations of the world. He is of the view that the conflict could end with as little as a phone call if the powerful nations of the world were of such an inclination.
“Currently we are hoping in Tortola to come out in this little corner of the world and hopefully this adds to the pressure already building on the US and other countries to have Israel understand that these Palestinians are human beings also and they deserve the freedoms that other countries deserve.
He said that it is now not just a Muslim issue but a humanity issue. “At the moment it is not just a matter of Muslims. Throughout the world non-Muslims, Christians, even Jews themselves, people from all walks of life, all ethnicities and all religious backgrounds are coming out and giving their support to the innocent people of Gaza. This situation has reached such a dire state that it is a matter of humanity. It is not just a matter of religion anymore,” said Imam Cave.
152 Responses to “UPDATE: Muslim peace march sees massive & diverse turnout”
Question: "Why were the Philistines and the Israelites always at war?"
Answer: The Philistines were an ancient people, listed in the initial records of those who descended from Noah after the time of the flood (Genesis 10:14). Abraham and Isaac interacted with the Philistines (Genesis 21:33–34). But it was during the time of the Exodus that the Lord promised that the land of Israel would include the territory of the Philistines (Exodus 23:31), meaning some kind of conflict would have to take place to remove the Philistines from the land.
When Joshua was old, he mentioned the land of the Philistines as one of the areas that still remained to be defeated by the Israelites (Joshua 13:1–3). Because the Philistines were not completely removed, they continued as ongoing enemies of Israel.
During the time of the judges, the Philistines were often listed as the group who enslaved Israel before God raised up a judge to defeat them. This pattern continued up to the time of David and Goliath, a battle fought within a larger Israelite-Philistine conflict (1 Samuel 17). David defeated Goliath, initiating a great victory for Israel, yet the Philistines would continue to battle against Israel in the future.
During Solomon’s reign the Philistines were subdued, yet the later prophets note that the Philistines continued to battle against Israel. The Philistines would later be devastated by the same Assyrian kingdom that overtook Israel (2 Kings 18:33–35). Philistia was not completely destroyed until the reigns of the Babylonian and Persian empires.
From the first Hebrew, Abraham, until the deportation of Judah to Babylon, the Philistines were a perennial enemy of the Israelites. The conflict was over more than land but involved divergent worldviews. Unlike the Israelites, the Philistines served human-made deities and were known as a violent, warlike people.
Seven major battles between the Israelites and Philistines are recorded in the Old Testament. They include the Battle of Shephelah (2 Chronicles 28), the Battle of Aphek (1 Samuel 4), the Battle of Eben-Ezez (1 Samuel 7:13–14), the battles at Michmash (1 Samuel 14), the battle involving David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17), the battle at Mount Gilboa (1 Samuel 31), and Hezekiah’s defeat of the Philistines (2 Kings 18:5–8).
The Philistines’ eventual defeat was not due to Israel’s strength or military prowess. As Psalm 44:3 says, “It was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.”
Read more: http://www.gotquestions.org/Israel-Philistines.html#ixzz38lguA8OY
Do unto others as you would like them to do unto you.
missiles, launched by Israel....More than a grain of truth to this, since this is good for their propaganda purposes..
But you ONLY cry out for GAZA, then you are not pro HUMAN RIGHTS, you are ANTI-ISRAEL
Pro human rights, anti-Israel, same thing. Since "Israel" was carved out of Palestine and handed to European Jews by a third party as appeasement for WWII atrocities, and since then the "Israeli's" (transplanted American and European Jews) have continued to grab more and more land by force from Palestine, until there is nothing left of Palestine or Palestinians, and then the Zionists have denied that Palestine or Palestinians ever existed,
What Right Does Israel Have In The Region? And how is this anything but genocide?
Make war on them until idolatry is no more and Allah's religion reigns supreme - 8:39 Fight unbelievers who are near to you. 9:123 (different translation:
Believers! Make war on the infidels who dwell around you. Let them find harshness in you. (another source: ) Ye who believe! Murder those of the disbelievers.... I can go on and on. My consolation is that some Muslims are beginning to modify the koran, taking away those frightening portions. Should a true Muslim follow the book as it is, then blood will boil. There were wars in the old testament of the Bible as well. Idol worshipers were killed. From the little I know about the Bible, it is no longer the case in New testament since. Jesus told Peter: If you kill by the sword, you will die by the sword. I want to know whether all those on the street protesting do believe that the above are indeed part of the Koran. Will they demand that these be enforced here?. The constitution of this land guarantees freedom of worship. Muslims like others, have the right to worship whatever they want. If Koran is to be enforced as it is then ... here we go. We need to know their own translation of these verses. We need to know that there is no Jihad hidden agenda. We need to be told that there will be no sharia where people's hands can be chopped on our streets. Even if you have to evolve a form of Islam that is different from the ones involving honor killing, please do. The fact that you came out to protect against Israel, speaking the same language as Hamas and not against injustice meted against Israelis and Palestinians, I am deeply troubled. When the Christian woman in Sudan was sentenced to death simply because she chose to be a christian, you should have gone on the streets to protest and let the world know that your religion is against the use of force or to compel people to Islam. Peace is treasured like diamond in BVI. I need all Muslims in BVI to openly denounce religious blood letting, sharia, etc and that only the laws of our land will guide their conduct while pursuing their legitimate means of livelihood.
You are free to use the Sunday Morning well of course, we do not discriminate against law-abiding Muslims of any race. But from all indications, there is an anti-Semitic element in this proposed "march for peace" I don't see one specific sentence that speaks to the innocent civilians in Israel who have been subjected to rocket fire from Gaza since 1995.
The Sunday Morning Well is important to BVI people because it is from there that they were officially given their freedom in 1834. As far as I know, no such proclamation was made in any Muslim country or colony. I might be mistaken, but I believe slavery is still legal under Islamic Sharia law. Only Muslims are exempt from this Islamic slavery. Many Muslims world-wide have been agitating for Sharia law, no matter which country they live in.
The BVI is a peaceful law-abiding territory, free of religious violence. The last thing we want to see is the Sunday Morning Well being used to stir up religious feelings. You have seen the comments this one article alone have generated. Have you considered quietly starting the march from your mosque and quietly ending it there?
What Would Jesus Do? Would he respond in the manner some of you are responding? You sound like you're on the playground saying but you never play hopscotch with me why should I be nice to you. Then again I could only hope that children behave more peaceful than some of you shameful "adults".
Are we truly free? Have we really been emancipated when our minds are still enslaved?
You should be ashamed of your behaviour. Downright appalling.
The infrastructure is also being destroyed because those places will take decades to be rebuilt if ever . And the world standby and does nothing.
Until the philosophy, which hold one race superior
And another inferior is finally and permanently
Discredited and abandoned
Everywhere is war, me say, "War"
That until there no longer
First class and second class citizens of any nation
Until the color of a man's skin is of no more significance
Than the color of his eyes, me say, "War"
That until the basic human rights
Are equally guaranteed to all
Without regard to race, but is a war
Read more at http://www.songlyrics.com/bob-...
But you were right to use these words to put this madness into perspective.
No one in this world no matter what religion should tolerate their nonsensical behavior.
Now you want to march here in the Tortola? Go ahead and march all you want but even here in the BVI if you trespass on my property you will get the same.
History says that in 1948 the Palestinian Jews accepted a UN partition plan and declared independence from the British mandate for Palestine and called themselves Israel. Five Arab armies then invaded Israel and started the 1948 war. The Arabs armies told the Palestinians Arabs to leave their homes and come back after Israel was defeated. Today, there is no country named Palestine because the Arabs never accepted the UN partition plan to create a state with that name.
So you see, the heart of the conflict - even today - rests on three questions.
1. Do the Palestinian Jews have the right to exist as Israel in part of the former British mandate for Palestine?
2. Do five million Palestinian refugees (dating back to 1948) have a right-of-return into the state of Israel
as it is today? Bear in mind that Israel is a small country and already has a population of about 6 million Jews and about a million Arabs.
3. Do Palestinian Arabs have a claim to ALL of the land in the former British mandate for Palestine, include what is now Israel?
I hope you can educate us about these specific questions else stop wasting time with vague statements about history.
go back to the history books ,before 1947 there was no place in the word called Israel ,this was a state created to accommodate the refugees of the holocaust who were then empowered by the British on their departure from that land after years of colonizing it , imagine the queen says I no longer want bvi as a colony but then places the entire island in the hands of Guyanese expats . the palestians stood up against this and continue to do so until today but are deemed terrorists . go back to Poland, Germany , and the other European countries you were forced out of you kazars and Zionists .!! # free Palestine .
I can clearly see you are ignorant of that part of history, European Jews also known as Kazarian Jews were imposed onto the indigenous peoples of Palestine namely the Christians,muslims and small percentage of Israelites who for centuries lived as neighbors in harmony . after the Holocaust these Kazarian Jews who earlier had no connection with Palestine except by religion were refugees looking for a state of their own to call home .
Before these so called jews invaded Palestine, they considered other countries to do what they're doing there now. Uganda and Argentina. I urge anyone who is reading this to please read a book written by a jew called " The thirteenth tribe". Simply put, these Khazars or Caucasians, simply adopted Judaism, and now claim blood lineage to a country where they have no historical connection. That's like taking 50 million Chinese Muslims (Which there are) and putting them in Saudi Arabia. It is against nature for these so called jews to be in the middle east. On a leaving note, Jesus once said
"I know thy works, and tribulation, and poverty, (but thou art rich) and I know the blasphemy of them which say they are Jews, and are not, but are the synagogue of Satan. Arabs have a great affinity to the Hebrews, the true people, but these liars are not Hebrews, they are satanic impostors.
1. palestinian jews are discriminated against in israel as they are not of the right ethnicity ie. white
2. according to all accepted convention' YES. there is an inalienable right of return. israel however disregards international law
3. they only have a claim to the lands they lost
id like to clarify that what you perceive as history is erroneous. the history of this conflict did not begin in 1948. it is very convenient for Apartheid Apologists to disregard the terrorism of the Haganah and the Stern Gang pre-independence.
these jewish groups killed hundreds of arab and english civilians before 1948. i encourage you, assuming that your'e a person of colour, to visit israel. i think you would be surprised by how you would be treated.
these crimes against humanity continue to this day as the independent and unbuased Goldstone Report clearly enumerated.
1. you might be forcibly sterilized because you're black
2. you would be denied housing because you're black
3. you're movements would be restricted because you're black
a repudiation of Apartheid is not an endorsement of militancy nor fundamentalism. it is also not anti-semitism. please educate yourself and don't just repeat what you are told
Martin Luther King, Jr.
I know we have good beautiful people here in BVI ,come join us for the "WALK FOR PEACE"
you have no clue of what you are saying. i visited Israel, and the blacks that live in Tel Aviv which most came from Ethiopia are treated like second class citizens. they are discriminated against because of the color of their skins even though they are jewish. Now on the other hand in Dead Sea, Jericho, Palestine, you will see beautiful colors of people who are treated equally because of their ethnicity because they are PALESTINIANS!!!
i hope that these sources will help give you a better picture of how africans are treated in Israel.
http://www.davidsheen.com/racism/
http://972mag.com/a-year-in-review-anti-african-racism-and-asylum-seekers-in-israel/72381/
http://america.aljazeera.com/opinions/2013/12/israel-african-refugees.html
"Israeli society rejects asylum seekers because they’re new, they’re poor and they’re darker-skinned. But over the decades, successive waves of Jewish immigrants also encountered hostility from native Israelis because of the same prejudices. The asylum seekers from Africa constitute the first large group of immigrants to Israel who are not Jews. That is the real reason the government is trying to drive them out."
as for those Ethiopian who are serving in the IDF they are also being attacked due to their skin color, so plz educate yourselves of what is really going on in ISRAEL!!!! the Racist State!!!
Come out and Join us for the sake of HUMANITY
Israel is Israel; in the Bible times until now. I am not talking what I read in a book. I went to Israel for myself so I know.
There is a curse when you come against Israel. Ask the Egyptians.
I'd sincerely like to share with you part of a speech delivered by ex israeli prime minister MANACHEN BEGIN to his cabinet .
" OUR RACE IS THE MASTER RACE. WE ARE DIVINE GODS ON THIS PLANET. WE ARE AS DIFFERENT FROM THE INFERIOR RACES AS THEY ARE FROM INSECTS . IN FACT,COMPARED TO OUR RACE, OTHER RACES ARE BEASTS AND ANIMALS . OTHER RACES ARE CONSIDERED AS HUMAN EXCREMENT . OUR DESTINY IS TO RULE OVER THE INFERIOR RACES . OUR EARTHLY KINGDOM WILL BE RULED BY OUR LEADER WITH A ROD OF IRON . THE MASSES WILL LICK OUR FEET AND SERVE US LIKE SLAVES "
No wonder there is a word like "anti-semitic " ,no word like "anti-black " or "anti gentile " cos we are like animals and insects and human excrement right ?
Think! Is an Israeli prime minister stupid enough to believe, much less say something like that in an official capacity?
And what if he did? It just means Israel had a stupid Prime Minister. It does not mean that 6 million Jews think that way.
"We dont want a 6000 yr old God who lives indoors in a church our creator Jah Rastafari of 13.82 billion yrs spans the entire universe" Bobo Rastafari
@THINK!
Jesus was a Jew ?! Actually he was murdered and tortured by Jews.
Stop that bulls..t
Jesus was arrested, tried and sentenced to death under order of Pontius Pilate. Pilate is believed to have been from the Samnium region of central Italy. He was a ROMAN who, at the time, was Governor of Judea. He was not a Jew. Many, many people had a hand in torturing Jesus, including Jews, Stoics & Pagans but it was the Romans who had him crucified. After ordering his arrest, presiding over his trial and ultimately sentencing him to death, Pilate had second thoughts about crucifying him and washed his hands of it, but did nothing to stop it.
So why don't you stop the bulls..t?
Hamas, Iran and the Palestinians want to wipe Israel off the face of the earth and is provoking Israel by firing missels into Israel from the Gaza Strip. Ask Hamas to stop and sign a peace agreement with Israel like the one that was negiocate between Yasa Arrafat Abass and Clinton
By the way, the Arabs do not belong in North Africa. The black Africans need to take back Africa just like the Jews are taking back Israel.
We have to look out for our selves, as I mentioned in a post a few weeks ago relative to expats from 100 countries living in the BVI,this is what can happen right here in the BVI, because we are out numbered . The government needs to restrict expats from certain counties from taking up residence in the BVI. We need people from countries who share our common goals, quality of life, religion, marriage and the list goes on. If we continue on the current path we will be facing the same problem as the Jews and Palestinians are facing now. Wake up BVI.
There was an Anti-HAMAS demonstration today in Gaza by Palestinians. They protested against their "rulers" who drag them into war for the psychotic dream that they can kill 8 million Israelis and erase Israel off the map.
HAMAS rounded 20 of them and executed them on the spot.
This is HAMAS.
Fighting, war and skirmishes have been going on between the Arabs and the Jews since biblical times. Joining some march is not going to put an end to any of it. They will continue to fight one another. They will continue to precipitate atrocities upon one another until some miraculous day when both sides agree that enough is enough once and for all and they all agree to just get on with life.
There are those that simply don't subscribe to the "Live and Let Live" doctrine. It always my way or the highway for some.
I'll leave them to their fighting and stay well out of the whole mess.
The Arabs vs. The Jews
The Catholics vs. the Protestants
The Hindus vs. The Sikhs
The Sikhs vs. The Muslims
The Hutus vs. The Tutsis
China vs. Tibet
Russia vs. Ukraine
White vs. Black
The Hatfields vs. the McCoys
The list is endless and nauseating.
War and discord always boil down to one of four things: Greed and/or wanting what someone else has, religious and/or cultural differences, power hungry leaders with Napoleon complexes and revenge.
There is no right vs. wrong in these things … there is only WRONG and all of them are covered in the ten commandments. If everyone in this world actually stuck to the CORE VALUES within their various religions, war would NEVER take place.
THOU SHALT NOT KILL, seems pretty clear to me.
I will not march for or against any one nation or group of people when BOTH sides are equally guilty of violence, atrocities, war and hatred for one another.
Isolated incidents where one side is innocent THIS time but guilty the next, mean very little in the big scheme of things. The point is that unless and until one side puts down their arms PERMANENTLY and makes every effort to keep the peace, I will not believe either side is more guilty than the other and therefore worthy of my support. They can fight each other until the cows come home before I will support either side.
Turn the other cheek, declare PEACE with all humanity as a cohesive group and THEN you will have my full support.
you all well know these so called preachers pulling on ayo children pubic hair
, the ones that are coming here are paid by the israeli PR campaign
and they are the furthest thing away from god and christ