al-Ummiyya
1997 (1418 A.H.) - Issue Introductory

(In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate)
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Issues Covered:

  • Iraqi suffering
  • Update on Food for Oil
  • American Gulf Policy
  • Resistance to Inequality
  • Ecocide in the Gulf
  • Dar al-Quds Update
Statement of Purpose:
   Al-Ummiyya (The Common) is a publication dedicated to presenting a Sufi perspective on the conditions affecting the common people of the Middle East. It's focus is on preserving equity in relations among all parties and building an intervention free Middle-East by appealing to U.S. policy makers to abandon intrusive measures not supported by the common people of the Middle East. This introductory issue is focused on the plight of the Common people of Iraq, who are suffering under international sanctions aimed at influencing the Saddam Hussain regime inflicting on the common great losses which surpass the abuse of the ruling elite in Iraq.
   In September al-Ummiyya is planned to debut as a web-zine on the world wide web. We are currently looking for submissions on the issues of human rights and the influence of multi-national corporations. For information please e-mail: sallikin@hotmail.com.
Submissions are requested to be 500-1000 words.

Sanctions Greatest Threat to Iraqi Democratic Rights

San Francisco (Pcnet): According to recent reports from the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization some 567,000 Iraqi children have died as a direct result of nutritional deprivation caused by the isolation of Iraq by U.N. sponsored sanctions. Activists against the sanctions now claim that number could be in the range of 700,000 child deaths or fratricides, they point out that this number does not include the likely deaths of the elderly and sick in Iraq.
   Stanley Heller of the Middle East Crisis Committee in New Haven accounts that "In 1990 Iraqi children were on par with children in wealthy Kuwait and much of Europe. Now the size and weight of children in Iraq is equal to that of children in the very poorest parts of the world. This can be seen graphically in the slides taken of Iraqi children: the worst-off infants looked skeletal with bloated bellies and scarcely human features."
   Dr. Abdullah Matawi of the Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) visited Iraq in April of 1996 he reported to Oneworld New Service that the 24 Doctors and Health Officials from 8 countries witnessed unparalleled public health disasters. He points out additionally, that the Iraqi public health infrastructure (sewage, potable water, hospitals, etc) were decimated by the Gulf War and sanctions prohibit the importing of equipment needed to fix these vital resources. Without this infrastructure food will not be able to stop the dying in Iraq. He points out also that International Law is being violated on this point.
    Thus, it is easy to see with such overwhelming humanitarian problems caused directly by sanctions that any hope of democratic rights is not obtainable as long as such wide spread suffering (Warning! this link contains real images) is maintained by the regime of sanctions. For More Information contact http://www.leb.net/~iac

Israeli Administration Violates International Agreement
New York (UN): After seeing the Israeli government violate the Oslo Accord by initiating new settlements in Arab Jerusalem the General Assembly of the United Nations voted on April 24, 1997 to condemn the Israeli government demanding an immediate halt to the building of an Israeli settlement in Arab East Jerusalem and called for a cessation to all assistance given to "illegal Israeli activities" in the occupied territories. The vote was 134 for the resolution, 11 abstentions and 3 against (U.S., Israel and Micronesia-- a former U.S. territory).
    In related news, the United Nations Human Rights Committee recently condemned the Middle Eastern states of Iraq and Israel for human rights violations. The committee wrote of Israel:

-- deplored continued Israeli violations in Southern Lebanon and the Western Bakaa, in particular abduction and arbitrary detention of civilians, destruction of dwellings, confiscation of property, expulsion of persons from their land, bombardment of peaceful villages and civilian areas, and other practices; called upon Israel to end such practices as air raids and the use of prohibited weapons such as fragmentation bombs, and to implement the Security Council resolution of 1978 calling for Israel's immediate withdrawal from all Lebanese territories.

 -- condemned continued violations of human rights in the occupied Palestinian (dar al-quds) territories, in particular continued acts of killing, detention of thousands of Palestinians without trial, continuation of confiscation of lands, extension and establishment of Israeli settlements, confiscation of properties of Palestinians and expropriation of their land; condemned the opening of a tunnel under the al-Aqsa mosque; condemned the use of torture against Palestinians during interrogation, which the Israeli High Court of Justice had legitimized; called upon Israel to withdraw from the Palestinian territories, including Jerusalem.

-- called upon Israel, in the case of human rights in the occupied Syrian Golan, to comply with the relevant resolutions of the General Assembly and of the Security council, in which the Council decided, among other things, that the Israeli decision to impose its laws, jurisdiction, and administration on the occupied Syrian Golan was null and void; called upon Israel to desist from changing the physical character, demographic composition, institutional structure, and legal status of the occupied Syrian Golan, and emphasized that displaced persons must be allowed to return to their homes and to recover their properties.
ENVIRONMENTAL REPORT:

Hussain Regime Drains Iraqi Wetlands

In 1994 the Saddam Hussain Regime of Iraq drained the marsh lands of southern Iraq. It is largely believed this was done to displace the Shi'a Arab community of the region natural resources which permitted them autonomy of action against the ruling regime of the Ba'th party in Baghdad. Several reports have linked this environmental destruction to additional malnutrition in Iraq. Clearly, this damage is a grave concern not only to the people of Iraq, but to the entire ecology of the Gulf and Fertile Crescent.

U.S. Depleted Uranium Contaminates Iraqi Environment

The Iraq Action Coalition (http://www.leb.net/IAC) recently has drawn attention to the fact that depleted uranium armaments used in the Gulf War is leading to illnesses and environmental decay in the Iraqi eco-system. It is also believed to be a contributing cause to Gulf War Syndrome in U.S. Military veterans that served in the Gulf during operation Desert Storm.

 EDITORIAL SECTION:

Rights in the Gulf

    Although the Gulf of Persia represents a vital world wide economic resource it does not provide the people of the region the resources to inalienable rights of freedom. Routinely, in Saudi Arabia Islamic, Human Rights, and Social activists are harassed, the minority Shi'a Muslims are denied freedom of religion, and non Wahhabi Sunni Muslims are discouraged to propagate their interpretation of the religion of Peace. Women are not permitted the right to freedom of movement, in terms of Islamic and Secular standards, additionally, women are discriminated against in business. Related to this is the issue of the undemocratic government of Bahrain, where the majority Shi'a Muslims have no political representation and the U.N. has condemned the human rights practices of the al-Khalifa ruling elite. This is all precursor to the gravest violations in Iraq where the people suffer under the twin repressions of U.S. led economic sanctions which bring on unsurpassed suffering for the unrepresented in Iraq and the regime of Saddam Hussain which continues arbitrary human rights violations and ecological destruction aimed at controlling the citizens of Iraq not at empowering them. Thus, we call for the immediate end of economic sanctions on Iraq, the backing of legitimate forces of change in Iraq -- free from non-Iraqi influence, and a thorough hearing of U.S. policy on the Gulf and an explanation of why the U.S. places business before human rights.

Iraq Still Faces Shortages Despite Oil-For-Food Deal
Iraq (FAO Report): Estimated cost of food imports for one year Food Stuff Import requirements of Iraq are estimated at 3.106 Billion Dollars.
    The Agreement signed by Iraq and the United Nations allowing Iraq to resume limited sales of oil will undoubtedly alleviate the present serious food shortages in Iraq, according to Food and Agriculture Organizations Global Information and Early Warning System (GIEWS). But oil sales allowed under the agreement will not generate enough income to meet food import needs, according to a special feature in the latest edition of the GIEWS publication Food Outlook.
Graph
blue   -- to Iraq for food purchases;
yellow -- to reparations fund;
red    -- to Special Commission;
green  -- to U.N. for Admin.

     The Oil-For Food deal signed on 20 May permits the sale, under certain conditions of US $2 Billion worth of oil over a six months period. Under the terms of the UN Security Council resolution, substantial deductions will be made from this total to pay for war reparations, humanitarian programs in the Kurdish areas in the three northern Governorates and other UN costs, including those to maintain the special commission for the elimination of weapons of mass destruction.
    Assuming that the agreement were to be renewed on the same conditions for an additional six months, the balance of funds after these deductions would fall more than $1 Billion below the estimated requirements of over $3 Billion for food imports alone.
EDITORS NOTE: See diagrams for breakdown. These monies do not include expenditures needed to fix health care infrastructures estimated at 8 Billion dollars. It is not lack of food that it killing people the most, it is lack of sanitary conditions.


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