Palestine today

[Barbara]

Sunday of the Holy Forefathers [and Holy Foremothers too]

Therefore, it's most appropriate to find this post :

Joke [not funny though] to make the point by analogy what the is not realis try to claim to justify themselves for all their evil actions against the Palestinians :

"The Romans occupied England in the 5th century, so anyone of Roman descent has a historical claim to the land."

It's one of the best sketches I've ever seen, it is so accurate and highlights the situation in Palestine."

https://x.com/CensoredHumans/status/2005210278888432026

[Barbara]

Adame Media always has the best information on this topic

However the narrator needs to learn how to pronounce Cypriots...

"Israelis are stealing land in Cyprus now.

Yes. Cyprus.

This is what happens when you become their “ally.”"

https://x.com/AdameMedia/status/2005035004255261041

[Barbara]

Palestine scene from not today, but pre-World War I, when everyone of different religious and ethnic bacgrounds GOT ALONG under Ottoman rule !

Note the extreme difference over the succeeding decades when other powers got control of the Holy Land...

[Sorry that picture duplicated, but maybe that's for emphasis !]



https://x.com/DailyTurkic/status/2014788234119639260

[Barbara]

Proven all the more relevant today than when King Faisal stated that !

"Saudi King Faisal bin Abdulaziz Al Saud, when asked by a journalist, “What is your wish?” --

replied: “The disappearance of Israel.
Zionism is the mother of all evils, and the Zionists are friends of the devil.

They stand behind deviant and destructive ideas, and through these means they seek to control the world.”

https://x.com/A_M_R_M1/status/2018043122631299391

[Barbara]

When I was looking for a suitable image of King Faisal, greatest of the Saudi Kings [though I prefer the Ottomans, of course, whose rule the House of Saud supplanted in Saudi Arabia], I came across a pic of a frizzy haired man of the 70s generation with that hippie look.

Having read the 1st biography of the influential Saudi King [by an admiring Lebanese Maronite], I recognized that man as the assassin of King Faisal on March 25, 1975.

Here is the wikipedia account :

"Faisal bin Musaid arrived in the United States in 1966 and attended San Francisco State College for two semesters studying English.

Allis Bens, director of the American Language Institute at San Francisco State, said, "He was friendly and polite and very well brought up, it seemed to me."

While Faisal was at San Francisco State, his brother Khaled was killed. After leaving San Francisco State College, Faisal went to the University of California, Berkeley and then to the University of Colorado Boulder. He was described by his peers as "[a] quiet, likable, notably unstudious young man".

University of Colorado Professor Edward Rozek, who had taught him in three comparative government courses, described him as "academically a D and a C student".

In 1969, while in Boulder, he was arrested for conspiring to sell LSD. He pleaded guilty and was placed on probation for one year. In May 1970, the district attorney dropped the charges.

In 1971, he received a bachelor's degree in political science from the University of Colorado and then returned to the San Francisco Bay area. At the University of California, Berkeley, he enrolled in graduate courses in political science, but did not receive a master's degree.

After leaving the United States, he went to Beirut. For unknown reasons, he also went to East Germany. When he came back to Saudi Arabia, Saudi authorities seized his passport because of his troubles abroad. He began teaching at Riyadh University and kept in touch with his girlfriend, Christine Surma, who was 26 at the time of the assassination.

On 25 March 1975, Prince Faisal went to the Royal Palace in Riyadh, where King Faisal was holding a meeting, known as a majlis. He joined a Kuwaiti delegation and lined up to meet the king.

The king recognized his nephew and bent his head forward, so that the younger Faisal could kiss the king's head in a sign of respect. The prince took out a revolver from his robe and shot the King twice in the head. His third shot missed and he threw the gun away. King Faisal fell to the floor. Bodyguards with swords and submachine guns arrested the prince.

The king was rushed to a hospital but doctors were unable to save him. Saudi television crews captured the entire assassination on camera.

Initial reports described Faisal bin Musaid as "mentally deranged". He was moved to a Riyadh prison. However, he was later deemed sane to be tried.

A sharia court found Faisal guilty of the king's murder on 18 June.

Aside from the death of his brother, his other possible motivations remain unknown, but other motives have been proposed. Saudi officials began to state that the prince's actions were deliberate and planned.
Rumours suggested that the prince had told his mother about his assassination plans, who in turn told King Faisal who responded that "if it is Allah's will, then it would happen".

Arab media implied that the prince had been an agent of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency and Israel's Mossad.

Following such claims, a theory started in Iranian media mentioned that he might have been manipulated by his Western girlfriend (Christine Surma) who, it was alleged, might have been Jewish and secretly an asset for the Israeli intelligence services. The rumour was briefly taken seriously by Saudi Arabian officials who informally contacted Surma to question her regarding the assassination, at which point she revealed she was not Jewish and was as puzzled as everyone else regarding the actions of Faisal.

Beirut newspapers offered three different explanations for the attack. An-Nahar reported that the attack may have been possible vengeance for the dethroning of King Saud, because Faisal was scheduled to marry Saud's daughter, Princess Sita, in the same week.

An-Nahar also reported that King Faisal had ignored his repeated complaints that his $3,500 monthly allowance ($16,700/month in 2020 dollars, $200,500/year) was insufficient and this may have prompted the assassination.

Al Bayrak reported that according to reliable Saudi sources, King Faisal prohibited him from leaving the country because of his excessive consumption of alcohol and other drugs and the attack may have been a retaliation against the travel ban"

[Barbara]

The second biography of King Faisal was by a Russian scholar. I just found it now, but it's out of print except for kindle.



"In 1964 Faisal bin Abdul Aziz became king of a country holding a quarter of the world's oil reserves, also home to Mecca and Medina.

He was called "the most powerful Arab ruler in centuries."

Eleven years later, in front of television cameras, his nephew shot him at point-blank range.

In this authoritative biography, Alexei Vassiliev tells the story of a pious, cautious, and resolute leader who steered Saudi Arabia through a minefield of domestic problems, inter-Arab relations and the decline of Soviet influence in the Middle East.

King Faisal maintained ties with both Egypt and the United States through two Arab- Israeli wars and the 1973 Arab oil embargo, which revolutionized the world energy market. Throughout, he staked high hopes on cooperation with the United States, a relationship that is still vital to both countries' interests.

Exhaustively researched and including original documents and interviews in Arabic, Russian, and English, King Faisal of Saudi Arabia: Personality, Faith and Times offers a unique perspective of this seminal figure and is key to understanding the Arab world today.

Alexei Vassiliev is a member of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) and director of the Institute for African Studies (RAS). He is the author of over thirty books, including the critically acclaimed The History of Saudi Arabia, winner of the Choice Outstanding Academic Book Award"