The Ottoman Caliphate ruling Jerusalem in the late 19th century, would announce the beginning of Ramadan by firing a canon. Today Israel and its western backers occupying Jerusalem announce the beginning of Ramadan by murdering Muslim babies. وَلَا يَحْسَبَنَّ الَّذِينَ كَفَرُوا أَنَّمَا نُمْلِي لَهُمْ خَيْرٌ لِأَنْفُسِهِمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا نُمْلِي لَهُمْ لِيَزْدَادُوا إِثْمًا ۚ وَلَهُمْ عَذَابٌ مُهِينٌ “Those who are kafir should not imagine that the extra time We grant to them is good for them. We only allow them more time so they will increase in evildoing. They will have a humiliating punishment.” (Al-Imran, 3:178) فَلَا تُعْجِبْكَ أَمْوَالُهُمْ وَلَا أَوْلَادُهُمْ ۚ إِنَّمَا يُرِيدُ اللَّهُ لِيُعَذِّبَهُمْ بِهَا فِي الْحَيَاةِ الدُّنْيَا وَتَزْهَقَ أَنْفُسُهُمْ وَهُمْ كَافِرُونَ “Do not let their wealth and children impress you. Allah merely wants to punish them by them during their life in this world and for them to expire while they are kuffar.” (At-Tawba, 9:55)

Representatives from over 50 nations and international groups convened last week for a US-Sponsored Middle East peace conference at the US Naval Academy in Annapolis, America. In attendance were Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert and Palestinian Authority President Mahmood Abbas along with representatives from most major countries of the world. The goal of the conference was to produce a substantive document on resolving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict along the lines of President George Bush’s 2003 ‘Roadmap to Peace’ with the eventual establishment of a Palestinian state.