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Militant Islam Monitor > Articles > Muslim Public Affairs Council tries to reroute HLF terrorist funding back to militant Islamist' Palestine Children's Relief Fund'

Muslim Public Affairs Council tries to reroute HLF terrorist funding back to militant Islamist' Palestine Children's Relief Fund'

PCRF director Steve Sosebee aided combatants in Ramallah, and PCRF spokeswoman ran suicide bomber picture website
July 7, 2004

The article and documentation below will show that the Muslim Public Affairs Council is attempting to reroute frozen Holyland Foundation terrorist funding to the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund on humanitarian grounds, and prove that the PCRF actively aids and abets terrorism. (see complete article below).

MPAC has designated the PCRF as the third party referred to here to which HLF funding should be transferred,

What they don't mention is that the PCRF spokesperson, Rosemary Davis aka Shadya Hantouli ran a website with a photo gallery of suicide bombers called "Palestine4Ever".

The PCRF director Steve Sosebee,was quoted in a 2000 news article saying: "I thought that this (the PCRF) was a good way to contribute to the struggle and provide humanitarian service at the same time".http://groups.google.com/groups?q=steve+sosebee+with+tears+from+ramallah&hl=en&lr=lang_de|lang_en&ie=UTF-8&selm=921mnp%24nkv%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&rnum=1

In 2003 at a fundraising dinner held by the American Friends of Palestine, Sosebee won an award for "his work for Palestinian children and said :" I just want to thank you and will continue until Palestine is free". http://www.arab-american-affairs.net/af4p.htm

After a TV program linked the Palestine Children]s Relief Fund to Palestine Islamic Jihad Sosebee disingenously declared "

. "I don't have any politics or any political agenda, so I shouldn't have to feel guilty about anything."http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001602.php

Steve Sosebee needs to be disingenuous since he is hoping to get $50,000, from the HLF funding as the designated third party who treasury officials :

" said that the frozen money legally still belongs to the charities and that they would have to sign off on transferring their assets to a third party" (Associated Press, 10/23/03).


Now that a Muslim charity has agreed to file for this license, it is time for the Treasury Department to follow through on its promise.

The Palestine Children Relief Fund is an open organization that has been praised by dignitaries such as U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland for its continuing efforts to provide free medical care to hundreds of Palestinian children who have suffered from illness or injury." http://www.mcrcnet.org/ENewsletters/ENews_details_2004.htm
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Mission statement and personeel listing of the PCRF

http://www.pcrf.net/perssonel/perssonel.html

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The PCRF has received money from the Holyland and Global Relief Foundations which funded Al Qaeda.

PCRF spokeswoman Rosemary Davis, aka Shadya Hantouli who is also the medical supplies coordinator for the Palestine Childrens Welfare Fund, ran a website called "Palestine4Ever" which contained a picture gallery honoring suicide bombers.

More proof if any is needed of the militant Islamist agenda of the PCRF (and PCWF) which operates on the guise of a humanitarian organisation.

The PCRF is also funded by the UAE based Zayed Foundation For Coordination and Followup, (which also funds "Medicins sans Frontieres".)
In 2003 the Zayed Foundation website was demanded closed down by the US governement because it promoted Holocaust denial, blood libel, and that 9/11 was a hoax.

In 2002 PCRF director Steve Sosebee spoke at the Zayed Foundation and blamed "Zionist manipulation " for Arab problems.

In addition the PCRF receives funding from the Saudis and Prince Bandar.

Sosebee talked about his life as a journalist and the times when he would travel to Palestine and see some of the horrors, including a boy who had lost his legs. "When you see injustice you have to struggle against injustice," Sosebee added.He wanted to help the boy with no legs, especially because he felt an obligation since, as an American taxpayer, he helped pay for the boy's legs being blown off. So he went to help the kid and met Suheila Nassir, who also offered help. Soon they formed PCRF.
Sosebee went on to say that the organization was started from nothing and almost went broke. He sent a proposal to Prince Bandar at the embassy of Saudi Arabia. They helped sponsor the organization for a while because they believed in the cause.
"They were interested in helping kids," Sosebee said of Saudis, reacting to recent criticism the Saudis have faced in the news.
Sosebee also thanked a few people for all of their support including Talal Zarif, Dr. Bahbah and Farid El Asmar, the treasurer of PCRF. He also thanked Ziyad Abujawad and his wife, Dunya for saving the lives of dozens of kids. He then acknowledged the most important person in his life, his wife, Huda, whose love and support over the last ten years has allowed Sosebee to stay strong in his fight for Palestinian children.
"What we have this evening is a message of hope," Sosebee later said, "a great example of what we can do we unify." He concluded by saying that uniting for one cause will help bring needed help and support to Palestine.
http://www.arab-american-affairs.net/af4p.htm

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Sosebee is married to an Arab from Ramallah called Huda Al Masri.

He has made no secret of his virulent hatred for Jews and Israel, and says he sees his work as a "means of aiding the struggle".

Sosebee wrote a series of articles called "With Tears from Ramallah" which lauded adults and children who attacked Israeli soldiers, and told of his experiences in the West Bank.
He also proudly recounted how the PCRF recruited a political doctors and nurses for their aid missions and turned them into staunch proponents of the Arab war against Israel.
Journalist Sosebee arranges press conferences as forum and uses injured Arab children as props to rail against Israeli atrocities .
He also recruits gullible media and medical personeel who are eager to help his effort to provide humanitarian relief for children , and are unaware of his organisation's militant Islamist agenda.I

n 2003 a Belgian doctor who had come on a PCRF mission was deported by Israeli authorities because he posed a security threat.
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In 2000 Sosebee made clear that he felt combining armed struggle and humanitarian help was no contradiction :


"I thought this is a good way to contribute to the struggle and provide
a humanitarian service at the same time," Sosebee said about the
Palestinian struggle to end Israeli occupation of Gaza and the West
Bank.

Sosebee, his wife and daughter live four months of the year in Kent,
Ohio; the rest of their time is spent in Ramallah. A tall,
broad-shouldered man who wears stylish sunglasses, he often drives his
red Audi through the dusty, rough roads of the West Bank.

"I could be back in Ohio watching the NBA every night and eating
popcorn," he said, "but I still truly believe that I want to dedicate my
life to this type of struggle."

When (PCRF treasurer ) El-Asmar addresses potential donors at mosques, he urges them to be
as generous as Sosebee, an American from Ohio.

"Whether he's Muslim or not, whether he's religious or not, whether he's
Palestinian or not, it doesn't make a difference," El-Asmar said. "I'm
convinced that he's going to go to heaven."


http://groups.google.com/groups?q=steve+sosebee+with+tears+from+ramallah&hl=en&lr=lang_de|lang_en&ie=UTF-8&selm=921mnp%24nkv%241%40nnrp1.deja.com&rnum=1

---------------------------------------------------
The granting of HLF money to the PCRF means in essence returning terrorist money to terrorist affiliates.

The director of MIM contributed research to the article below "Palestinian Children's Suicide Funds" which describes the militant Islamist activities and associations of PCRF chairman Steve Sosebee ,and the now defunct website run by PCRF spokeswoman Rosemary Davis, who is the medical supplies coordinator of the PCWF.

The PCWF logo, replete with children flashing the victory sign, was prominently displayed on the 'Palestine4Ever' suicide bomber website homepage.
A Florida connection to Rosemary Davis is the person of Lamyaa Hashim first, or co wife, of the Islamic Center of Boca Raton Imam Ibrahim Dremali. Hashim, aka Um Ahmad, posted two of her poems lauding suicide bombers on her friend Rosemary Davis's website Palestine4Ever.


Besides writing poems about suicide bombers Hashim ran a "charity" called "Health Resource Center Palestine". The HRCP was closed down and Hashim's website was pulled after the director of MIM and an associate discovered that the Gaza coordinator was none other then Ibrahim Dremali's brother Ishaq. The HRCP was soliciting funds for the IAP, Islamic Association of Palestine, aka Hamas.'

For more on the HRCP ties to PCRF see Dr.Daniel Pipes blog below : Lamyaa Hashim:" Supporting Burqas to Suicide Bombers".
Both the site and the archived pages appear to have been pulled: MIM will attempt to get the information and relevant pictures to it's readers soon..
-----------------------------------------

Article detailing MPAC's plans to get frozen HLF assets to the PCRF.


http://www.mcrcnet.org/ENewsletters/ENews_details_2004.htm


American Muslims Demand Release of Frozen Zakat Funds - MPAC


(April 8, 2004) As a result of a meeting coordinated by MPAC with senior Department of Treasury officials in October of 2003, the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), whose assets have been frozen by the US government, will file for a license to direct frozen funds to a third party charity.

MPAC considers this step critical to a final resolution of this matter, which is the release of the Zakat funds and their ultimate dispersal to the intended recipients, impoverished Muslims around the world.

Treasury Department Deputy Assistant Juan Zarate stated that ensuring that Muslim charity money reaches its intended recipients "comports with the administration's very clear message that we are in favor of charitable giving." (Associated Press 10/23/03.)

Later today, HLF will file for a license to transfer a portion of previously frozen funds to the Palestine Children Relief Fund, in accordance with the will of the donors who contributed thousands of dollars to fulfill their religious obligation of Zakat (almsgiving).


Time and again, President Bush and his officials at the Treasury Department and in other branches of the US Government have claimed that the "War on Terror" is not a war on Islam. They have stated that they have no intention of interfering with the rights of American Muslims to engage in charitable giving for legitimate humanitarian causes around the world. In fact, the government argues that it wants to help the
donors be sure that their money does not get into the wrong hands and reaches those truly in need.

In a Washington, DC forum sponsored by MPAC, Zarate stated that the Bush administration felt strongly about the sanctity of charitable giving and encouraged American Muslim and Arab organizations to take much-needed leadership on this issue.

Zarate added that the administration saw American Muslim charities as a possible vanguard to help strengthen transparency in charities abroad and that the government's attempts to stop terrorist funds are not directed at donors themselves.


In an MPAC forum on October 20, 2003 Treasury Department officials said that the frozen money legally still belongs to the charities and that they would have to sign off on transferring their assets to a third party (Associated Press, 10/23/03).


Now that a Muslim charity has agreed to file for this license, it is time for the Treasury Department to follow through on its promise. The Palestine Children Relief Fund is an open organization that has been praised by dignitaries such as U.S. Senator Paul Sarbanes of Maryland for its continuing efforts to provide free medical care to hundreds of Palestinian children who have suffered from illness or injury.


The release of the funds of the Holy Land Foundation in accordance with the wishes of American Muslim donors should mark the beginning of a process that results in the legitimate distribution to those in need. Unfortunately, the assets of the other American Muslim charitable organizations have been depleted by administrative and legal costs. The remaining funds should not be diverted to groups or individuals who are currently using the legal system to achieve dubious political gains on behalf of special interest groups. MPAC will follow up with the Treasury Department and inform the community as the situation develops.

-------------------------------
Note that the PCRF assisting organisations are none other then the Holyland Foundation and Global Relief .
Both 'charities' and several others on the list below , were shut down by the US governement for connections to Al Qaeda funding.
In essence the HLF money which the MPAC is trying to release is going back to the same place !
The PCRF is a wing of the Zayed Foundation and uses the guise of medical assistance to encourage combatants in the intifada . Sosebee himself has recounted his visits to Ramallah in a 4 part series entitled :
"With Tears From Ramallah" where he recounts his joy at seeing well aimed stones hitting Israeli targets .
Sosebee was a guest speaker at the Zayed Foundation together with his wife, who is a Muslim from Ramallah.
He said that the U.S. was manipulated by a "Zionist lobby" and under "Zionist influence".

----------------------------------------
http://web.archive.org/web/20010528050547/www.pcrf.net/who/perspur.html

ASSISTING ORGANIZATIONS
The P.C.R.F. works with other non-profit organizations in the U.S. and abroad to accomplish many of its humanitarian tasks. We would like to acknowledge the support and cooperation of the following groups:

Groups in the United States:

United Palestinian Appeal, 2100 M st. N.W., #409, Washington, D.C. 20037. (202) 659-5007.

The Jerusalem Fund, 2435 Virginia Ave. N.W., Washington, D.C. 20037. (202) 338-1958

National U.S.-Arab Chamber of Commerce, 1100 New York Ave., East Tower, Suite 550, Washington, D.C., 20005

(202) 289-5920

International Relief Organization, 360 S. Washington St., Falls Church, VA 22046, (703) 536-4476

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, 525 International Parkway, #509, Richardson, TX 75081. (972) 699-9868

Global Relief Foundation, P.O. Box 1406, Bridgeview, IL 60455 (708) 233-1473

US Omen Trust, 2530 Park Oak Court, Los Angeles, CA 90068 (213) 465-7388

Children International, 2000 E. Red Bridge Road, Kansas City, MO 64131 (800) 888-3089

Mercy Medical Airlift of Virginia, P.O. Box 1940, Manassas, VA 22110 (703) 361-1191

Angel Flight, 3237 Donald Douglas Loop South, Santa Monica, CA 90405 (310) 390-2958

Project C.U.R.E., 2040 S. Navajo. Denver, CO 80223 (303) 727-9414
· ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

More information on planned transfer of HLF funds to the PCRF.

0http://www.jihadwatch.org/archives/001602.php April 18, 2004

The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, one of three charities whose assets have been frozen because they are suspected of funneling donations to terrorist organizations, has asked the Treasury Department for permission to transfer some of its charitable assets to another nonprofit organization.

If the department approves, the foundation will give $50,000 to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which works to bring medical services to needy children in the Mideast.

"This is the donors' money and it should go where donors wanted it to go, to good, charitable causes," said Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which has been lobbying for the release of the frozen money to other charities.

The Times paints a pretty picture of the group to whom the money would go:

Steve Sosebee, president and chief executive of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, said that if the charity received the money, it would use it to provide immediate relief services like the program it is running in Hebron to deliver powdered milk to malnourished mothers and children.

This year, the fund underwrote 15 medical missions in which doctors from Italy, New Zealand, the United States and elsewhere have performed plastic surgery on burn victims and repaired cleft lips and palates.

It works to match children to medical services around the globe, covering travel expenses, arranging lodging and handling paperwork, among other logistical services.

Mr. Sosebee said the money would be particularly helpful now. The fund-raising environment for charities over all has been difficult over the last three years, and the relief fund has been hit by several other negative trends as well.

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund is an interfaith organization. Mr. Sosebee, its founder, was raised as a Roman Catholic but says he is now agnostic. The fund's name has hurt it somewhat since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon, he said. Revenues had steadily climbed to a peak of $895,000 in 2001 but dropped 33 percent to $598,000 in 2002, according to the organization's tax returns.

Muslims, whose religious tenets oblige them to donate 2.5 percent of their annual income to charity, have been wary of making donations that might attract the attention of the Federal Bureau of Investigation and other authorities.

Mr. Sosebee said the fund had been hard hit by a steep drop in contributions in the Persian Gulf states and other Middle Eastern countries and to a lesser extent among its patrons in the United States.

The organization is also concerned that the NBC movie "Homeland Security," which made its debut last Sunday, is going to have a negative effect on its revenues. In one scene, an investigator asks a professor who is suspected of having links to Al Qaeda about his support for "the Palestinian Children's Relief Fund."

He responds that "P.C.R.F. is a front for Islamic Jihad," a terrorist organization, and vehemently insists that he does not support that organization's policies or tactics.

Mr. Sosebee said he had received many phone calls and e-mail messages after the program was broadcast, asking how the Palestine Children's Relief Fund spent its money.

"This is starting to build up into a big deal because all the organizations working in the Middle East are feeling like we're being attacked," he said. "I don't have any politics or any political agenda, so I shouldn't have to feel guilty about anything."

An NBC spokeswoman said, "We're looking into the situation."

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

http://www.arab-american-affairs.net/af4p.htm

Note the Ashrawi quote :

"People have asked me if (the U.S.) will become part of the Arab League. I don't know," Ashrawi laughed with the audience."

Hanan Ashrawi
Speaks to 1,000 at American Friends
For Palestine Banquet

The American Friends for Palestine (AF4P) held their first Annual Layali Falasteen (Festival), a successful fundraising event on August 23, 2003 in Garden Grove, CA, and featured keynote speaker the renowned Palestinian spokesperson Dr. Hanan Ashrawi. The theme of the event was: "Palestinians working together as one for the children of Occupied Palestine."


The sold-out event was attended by close to 1,000 people and raised nearly $200,000. All proceeds were earmarked and delivered to the Palestine Children Relief Fund.


Rima Nashashibi made the opening remarks and introduced Don Bustany, the banquet emcee.
"You're the people who help the world go round by keeping the wheels greased," said Bustany to the audience, adding that they go about living their lives but don't forget about the people who are less fortunate who need their help.


The chairman of the board for the PCRF, Dr. Musa Nasir, then spoke about the formation of AF4P only four months prior to the event. The different organizations for Palestinian causes came together because "all the organizations felt that unity is strength," said Nasir. Nasir added that they came together in this unity "in order to help our injured and maimed children."


It was for this cause, Nasir stressed , that AF4P was born, and he said, "I'm hoping this infant grows and lives forever and forever."
Bustany then introduced Rabia Hussaini, who has been active for a long time in Palestinian children's and women's issues including Al-Quds University. She spoke in Arabic but Bustany first gave a synopsis of her speech in English for those who did not understand Arabic.


"She will remind us of the importance of being united and building meaningful friendships… and of being true to our human values," Bustany previewed her speech. This will help better the needs of Palestinian children and Palestinians at large, he added.
When Steve Sosebee, one of the founders of PCRF, went up to speak, he talked about how the Palestinians have given him so much , that he could never even begin to give that back. Through Palestinians, he added, he has learned what it means to have courage, compassion and humanity.


Sosebee talked about his life as a journalist and the times when he would travel to Palestine and see some of the horrors, including a boy who had lost his legs. "When you see injustice you have to struggle against injustice," Sosebee added.
He wanted to help the boy with no legs, especially because he felt an obligation since, as an American taxpayer, he helped pay for the boy's legs being blown off. So he went to help the kid and met Suheila Nassir, who also offered help. Soon they formed PCRF.
Sosebee went on to say that the organization was started from nothing and almost went broke. He sent a proposal to Prince Bandar at the embassy of Saudi Arabia. They helped sponsor the organization for a while because they believed in the cause.


"They were interested in helping kids," Sosebee said of Saudis, reacting to recent criticism the Saudis have faced in the news.
Sosebee also thanked a few people for all of their support including Talal Zarif, Dr. Bahbah and Farid El Asmar, the treasurer of PCRF. He also thanked Ziyad Abujawad and his wife, Dunya for saving the lives of dozens of kids. He then acknowledged the most important person in his life, his wife, Huda, whose love and support over the last ten years has allowed Sosebee to stay strong in his fight for Palestinian children.


"What we have this evening is a message of hope," Sosebee later said, "a great example of what we can do we unify." He concluded by saying that uniting for one cause will help bring needed help and support to Palestine.
Unity was indeed a theme of the evening. Before he sang, the renowned Hamid said that seeing all the Palestinian organizations under one roof he felt that was the most important thing.


"They want to kill my children and destroy my home… and they want me to smile about it," Hamid added, saying that this was what his song was all about.
Suhaila Nassir, another cofounder of PCRF, then spoke about the cause and the many people who have helped out through the years. She spoke of the Palestinian children and said that two of the children were there that night.
"Actually, these kids, they are the heroes of Palestine, they are the ones who are making our lives better," she added.
Sami Masheney, Esq., Rima Nashashibi and Joe Dibsi assisted by many volunteers, started coordinating the fundraising drive.
Finally, Bustany introduced the keynote speaker of the evening, Dr. Hanan Ashrawi.


Ashrawi said that the "generosity of spirit" of the people at the event was "heartwarming, touching and humbling at the same time." She went on to add that this spirit, with collective work, was what they "need to liberate ourselves and to liberate Palestine." She added that the expression of collective responsibility is hope.


Ashrawi also discussed the ramifications of September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks and the ripple effects it has had on Palestine, adding that the concept of security has become a military concept instead of a human concept.


"Israel is the only country in the world that claims self-defense from its own victims," Ashrawi pointed out.
She also added that God does not choose sides in this conflict and that God should be taken out of the equation. The conflict is a human created construct.
"People have asked me if (the U.S.) will become part of the Arab League. I don't know," Ashrawi laughed with the audience.
She discussed some grim statistics about Palestine - there is a 30 percent malnutrition rate among the children and 70 percent of Palestinians live below the poverty level. But, she also added that if revenge and retribution is the goal, then Palestine will never be liberated.


"(You) will only be a victim of your own hate," she added. She went on explaining that the American people can be part of the answer. It is important to organize, to lobby "and to let your voices and will be heard," Ashrawi urged.
"The spirit of unity that we have seen here… is the spirit that we need in order to bring about genuine peace in Palestine and throughout the region," she added.


Three awards were presented during the banquet by the AF4P. Joanne Abu Qartoumy presented the plaques.
The first award was presented to Dr. Ashrawi for being "a champion of Palestinian people" and "a strong voice."
Sosebee was given the next award and Abu Qartoumy said it was "in recognition of his visionary work on behalf of the children of Palestine."


"I just want to thank you and I will continue until Palestine is free," Sosebee said upon receiving the plaque.
Dr. Musa Nassir and his wife Suhelia received the third plaque as co-founders and directors of PCRF.
"For the most noble of all causes, the heart directs itself," Abu Qartoumy said in presenting the award to the couple.
Palestine liberation was also a common theme throughout the evening. After Dunya Karam, a young girl, sang, Bustamy turned to her and said, "Dunya, in your lifetime there will be an independent and sovereign Palestine."
The night consisted of speeches on the injured children of occupied Palestine and on the gratitude of all those involved in helping their cause. It also was a night of music. Besides Karam and Hamid, Deema Sosebee, the 6-year-old daughter of PCRF co-founder Steve Sosebee, also sang, singing in Arabic. It ended with the Birzeit youth group performing Palestinian folkloric dance as Haitham Aranki played the nostalgic Arabic flute (Shabbabeh).


A professional videotape of the event was produced by Visual Sound Productions, labeled as the First (AF4P) Annual Layali Falastin Festival taped and edited by Bashir Matin of Crescent Moon Productions.
The American Friends for Palestine (AF4P) is a coalition of 11 established Palestinian American organizations united to extend humanitarian, medical, and educational relief to the needy and the injured in Occupied Palestine. AF4P also seeks to foster stronger ties and better understanding among Palestinian-Arab-Americans and the community at large. The AF4P organizations comprised of: Al-Bireh Palestine Society, Arab-American Friends of Nazareth, Bethlehem Association, Birzeit Society, Nativity Charitable Foundation, Palestine Aid Society, Palestinian American Congress, Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Palestine Solidarity Committee, Palestinian American Women Association, and the Union of Palestine American Women.


The Palestine Children's Relief Fund is a non-profit, non-political, 501(c)(3) tax-deductible established secular charity organization dedicated to relieving the suffering of Palestinian and other Arab children who are the victims of Israeli violent, endless occupation and serious illnesses. It also assists in shipping wheelchairs, medical equipment and artificial limbs for injured Palestinian children; provides funding for American and European surgeons to operate on injured Palestinian children; provides the necessary medical training for Palestinian doctors to perform their professional duties.
To find out more about this charitable organization, visit their website at www.pcrf.net. To read more interesting articles in the Arab-American Affairs Magazine click on subscribe.

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http://www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v2n05/v2n05-2.htm


Politics or Altruism:

An Analysis of Palestinian Children's NGO'sAlthough numerous NGO's dedicated to assisting Palestinian children claim to be apolitical, few actually meet this criterion.

Indeed, the purported political neutrality of Palestinian children's NGO's is often tainted by their sources of funding, the dissemination of virulent anti-Israel propaganda and the controversial activities of their staff.

Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF), an NGO "whose goals are to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine," provides a classic example of the blatant politicization of certain Palestinian children's NGO's. The PCWF mission statement proclaims "the group is a non-political, non-religious enterprise whose aspirations are purely humanitarian."

Yet, the children's charity recently held a drawing contest for young children entitled, Why I love Palestine. The judged rewarded, almost without exception, entries that featured disturbing and vehement anti-Israel themes. The PCWF website also promotes a call for papers and encourages the recruitment of volunteers to the "First National Convention of American Jews for a Free Palestine."

According to the PCWF, "Members of the steering committee are academics, professionals, political and social activists who intend to form a national committee to confront AIPAC and its monopoly in the media over the representation of the Jewish community in the United States.

" In addition, the PCWF website prominently features the political and violently charged lyrics of a song entitled "Olive Tree", performed by the Iron Sheikh, a Palestinian rapper. In his song, the Iron Sheikh declares that, "Trouble began before 1948, when Zionists founded the Israeli state." The Palestinian rapper also accuses of Israel of practicing "apartheid," and graphically describes how he would like to physically assault Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon.

Clearly, the promotion of the above-mentioned convention, contest and musical lyrics are inconsistent with the PCWF's apolitical mission statement, and casts a negative pall over legitimate humanitarian activities carried out by the organization. Similarly, a virulent anti-Israel political agenda overshadows the important humanitarian services offered by the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), "established in 1991 by concerned people in the U.S. to address the medical and humanitarian crisis facing Palestinian youths in the Middle East."

While the PCRF mission statement declares the NGO to be "a registered non-political organization," it is headed by journalist Stephen Sosebee who, in an article published in the Akron Beacon, http://www.ohio.com/mld/beaconjournal/news/editorial/3228073.htm, urged the Bush administration to "pressure Prime Minister Ariel Sharon" to accede to the Saudi peace plan.

Sosebee also speaks extensively at universities and other political "solidarity meetings" where he expounds on classic anti-Semitic, anti-Israel statements. During a lecture at the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-Up (ZCCF), Sosebee charged that a "Zionist lobby and Zionist influence" manipulated the U.S. government, its citizens and media.

In addition, the PCRF received assistance from The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Global Relief Foundation, and The International [Islamic] Relief Organization - all of which were closed down by the U.S. government for funding terrorist groups. I

n sharp contrast to the PCRF and PCWF, Zeina, a Jerusalem based Palestinian NGO established to aid children suffering from cancer, can be described as a truly humanitarian and apolitical organization. According to its website, Zeina was "founded in mid-2001 by a group of parents of children inflicted with cancer, who were undergoing therapy at Hadassah Ein Karem Hospital."

The organization is "concerned with providing psychological and emotional support to the children suffering from cancer and their families. The center aims at helping and counseling their families to face the disease and its side effects and to help ease its effects and to overcome it."

Although Zeina was only founded in 2001, it has already obtained an operation registration from the Israeli Ministry of Interior as a Jerusalem based charitable society, "developed a professional relationship with Hadassah Ein Karem and Sha'reh Tzedek Hospitals," and received "a grant from the French Consulate General in Jerusalem, to fund for the set up of a new center infrastructure, and to cover expenses for practical activities and counseling." Unlike the PCRF and PCWF, the staff at Zeina has chosen to form a positive relationship with their Israeli counterparts.

Rather than engage in counter-productive anti-Israel propaganda via questionable contests, hateful music, and vehement diatribes, the Zeina website offers only a summary of their apolitical accomplishments and goals. While it may be difficult for Palestinian children's NGO's to maintain neutrality in a politically charged environment, Zeina has illustrated that such conduct is possible. The PCRF and the PCWF would do well to follow Zeina's example. Advancing a partisan and ideological cause under the guise of children's education and medical care only contributes to the cycle of hatred dominating the Middle East.

------------------------------

Blog by Dr. Daniel Pipes about Lamyaa Hashim, a colleague of PCRF spokeswoman Rosemary Davis. who published her poems about sucide bombers on Davis's now defunct Palestine4Ever suicide bomber picture gallery website.

The website was pulled after the article "Recruiting for Jihad" (see below) appeared in Front Page Magazine.

http://www.danielpipes.org/blog/187

Lamyaa Hashim, Supporting Burqas and Suicide Bombers. A cartoon about by syndicated artist Sandy Huffaker offers a tongue-in-cheek "suggestion for Britney Spears" - namely that she convert to Islam. The cartoon's left panel, before her conversion, shows a woman in a bikini, legs and arms and hair flying as she sings. The right panel, after her conversion to Islam, shows an inert burqa-clad black lump.

It's perhaps not the most hilarious or subtle cartoon you've encountered, but it does make a point. Well, one reader, a certain Lamyaa Hashim, had an original response to the cartoon, one which she addressed directly to its author:

Hello Sandy,
While you may or may not have meant your Britney Spears cartoon (before and after conversion to Islam cartoon) to be an insult to Islam or maybe to Britney - I, as a Muslima who observes Islamic dress by choice, liked the cartoon. You did call it a message to her - and I think that the message was a correct one - for our Islamic dress gives us respect and dignity. In Islam, the woman is not on display for merchandising - she is a thinking and valuable part of the human race who should not lower and disgrace herself by putting her worth into enhanced sexual features and movements as eye candy for those who have no interest in her worth as a human being nor her soul. So, thank you for that cartoon. It really brightened my day!
Lamyaa Hashim


And who, one might wonder, is this Lamyaa Hashim who would burqa America's beauties? The answer, provided by Joe Kaufman in a May 2003 article at FrontPageMag.com, is an unsettling one:
Lamyaa Hashim, or Um Ahmad as she often goes by, is a well known Islamic poet. Her poetry, including one poem which seems to be about a suicide bomber (‘My Beloved Left for Palestine'), can be seen on such radical sites as palestine4ever.net. The site belongs to the medical director for the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund, Rosemary Davis (Shadya Hantouli), and features a picture gallery of past suicide bombers. Hashim gave permission to put her poetry on the site.


You can also access more of Hashim's poetry on her personal website, ‘Struggle in Palestine,' which contains on its homepage a picture of someone burning an effigy that says on his (the effigy's) chest, "WAR IS HELL, BUSH IS SATAN." In addition, there is a link on her site to an organization associated with the terrorist group Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and a link to a site praising Abdullah Azzam, the founder of the organization that became Al Qaida.

Lamyaa Hashim is also important, because she ran a Deerfield Beach, Florida charity called the Health Resource Center for Palestine (HRCP), which as of late has closed down.
Law enforcement closed down the Florida-based HRCP in April 2002, as I have already noted on this weblog, because of its ties to Hamas.


The moral of this tale? That the distance between endorsing burqas and endorsing suicide bombers is closer than one might wish. (January 18, 2004)

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Below are pictures from Lamyaa Hashim's now defunct "My Struggle in Palestine" website.

The photos had no captions but one can assume they are of Hashim.

Besides stating that seeing Britney Spears in a burqa "really makes my day" Hashim appears to enjoy setting fire to effigies and stroking the turrets of Israeli tanks.

She certainly shows the meaning of "putting the fun into fundamentalism !"

The website and the links below are gone but MIM will try to bring Hashim's suicide bomber poetry to our readers together with the suicide bomber picture gallery on the Palestine 4 Ever website of Hashim's friend and Islamist humanitarian colleague Rosemary Davis.

Hashim's 'charity' the Health Resource Center Palestine" was closed down around the same time as her website . Hashim still maintains a HRCP website . A click to this link reveals a notice which says : Health Resource Center Charity Closure and announces it was due to "unforeseen reasons". http://www.hrcp.org/closure.htm

Rosemary Davis's Palestine4Ever site also met the same fate. http://palestine4ever.homestead.com/

Both website and the bogus 'charity' were exposed by the director of MIM and an associate.

The director of MIM is doing their best to ensure that the PCRF and the PCWF will also encounter "unforeseen reasons" and is hoping that the media and the public will contribute towards that effort.

------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Here is a sample page from Lamyaa Hashim's now defunct "My Struggle in Palestine" website

Poetry of the Struggle (click here for more poetry)

http://members.aol.com/UmAhmad/index2.html

*** Don't hit that search button! There is more... keep scrolling down to see the "sites-of-the-month" links and for more pictures and useful information. When you reach the bottom, continue on to Page Two

[IMAGE]

White House Demonstration
NO LINKAGE - NO DISCUSSION!
The Gulf War was a turning point for Palestinians - a downward spiral giving opportunity for the Israeli's to make many advances while the world was distracted with a mirage of what they thought was going on.

Click here to learn more about Our Struggle on the WEB- These are web sites personally chosen to show various aspects of our struggle. Worth Visiting!

[IMAGE]

The following section is reserved for home pages made by Palestinians - I invite everyone to come look at how each of us looks at our struggle individually. You may learn to see things in a different way when seen thru someone else's eyes. If you want to know about our struggle, don't go to CNN - ask those of us who live it. Each individual has their own story to tell - none any more important than the other....

send e-mail here to request to add your site

[IMAGE]

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MIM Note: Besides running a suicide bomber website, and being spokeswoman for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, Rosemary Davis is also the 'medical supplies coordinator ' for the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund.

. Where are the officers of the organization?

Riad Hamad is the Directing Coordinator over the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund and his responsibilities include recruiting volunteers and specialists needed for projects. Riad Hamad's position is assisted by coordinators over specific projects. Mr. Bob Rossi is the Coordinator for services involving the participation of religious organizations and charitable agencies. Rosemary Davis is the Medical Services Coordinator responsible for donated medicines, medical supplies and medical equipment.

http://www.pcwf.org/faq.htm#where
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http://www.ngo-monitor.org/editions/v1n09/v1n09-4.htm

Humanitarian NGO's in the West Bank and Gaza have links with terrorist organizations

Several humanitarian charities, including the Palestinian Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF) and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF) have links with Palestine4ever.net, a hate filled website, dedicated to the glorification of jihad and the denunciation of Israel.

The medical coordinator of the PCWF, Rosemary Davis, a.k.a. Shadya Hantouli, owns the website and also serves as a spokesperson for the PCRF. PCWF is an Islamic children's charity that works closely with the Holy Land Trust, a Christian nonprofit organization with offices in the U.S., Iraq, and the Palestinian territories. Joseph Farrah, Editor of World Net Daily, described the Holy Land Trust's activities: "The lies this group tells...include the standard lines about Jews robbing the homes of Arabs, stealing their land and brutalizing them in a repressive state of military occupation...even rationalize terrorism."

PCRF is headed by journalist Stephen Sosebee, who writes and speaks extensively at universities and other political "solidarity meetings" where he expounds on classic anti-Semitic, anti-Israel statements. Furthermore, PCRF received assistance from The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, Global Relief Foundation, and The International [Islamic] Relief Organization - all of which were closed down by the U.S. government for funding terrorist groups.

Yet, PCRF proudly claims on its website that it "works with these organizations" and acknowledges their "support and cooperation." PCRF also received funding from the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), and Sosebee has worked closely with the International Action Committee (IAC), International Association for Palestine (IAP), and Center for American Islamic Relations (CAIR). The alleged connections between these groups and terrorism, along with the implications, will be analyzed in the next edition of NGO Monitor

-----------------------------------------------------------


Steve Sosebee pays obeisance to his paymaster, Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.

The PCRF chairman applauded his cohorts at the Red Crescent organisation, blamed the " Zionist lobby" for Arab problems, and spewed anti Israel propaganda .

(The Zayed Foundation also funds "Medicins sans Frontieres' which accounts for their virulently anti Israel agenda.)


http://www.khaleejtimes.co.ae/ktarchive/061202/uae.htm
US scribe praises UAE's support for Palestinians
By Mustafa Barakat


STEVE Sosebee, the American journalist and CEO of Palestinian Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), has praised the humanitarian services done by the UAE for the Palestinian people under the directives of the President, His Highness Shaikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.


Mr Sosebee, during a lecture at the Skyline College in Sharjah, also applauded the initiatives by the Red Crescent Society to support the Palestinians. He said Shaikh Zayed was the only Arab leader who offered support and relief to Palestinians in a noble manner.

He said since the 2000 Intifada, children had become a target of Israelis and, as a result, 21 per cent of the 328 victims were children, 97 of them below the age of 12. In addition, 3,000 children were injured.
Mr Sosebee pointed out that more than one million children suffered due to the curfew in occupied Palestine. Students were deprived of their right to education. "US media depict the facts and conditions of the Palestinians in such a way that most of the American people are confused. They wonder why the US is supporting Israel and supplying them with weapons.


"The American media focus on Israeli victims and highlight their struggle against the so-called terrorism, mainly due to the manipulation of the Zionist lobby."

According to a recent study by the World Bank, about 21 per cent of the Palestinian children suffer from malnutrition.
PCRF, the Washington-based non-profit organisation, established in 1992, receives annual subsidy from Arab and Gulf countries, including the UAE, to support its programmes, which include dispatch of medical teams to Palestine, care for the disabled and treatment of victims abroad.


"Brutality of the Israelis is not a crime against Palestinians or Arabs only, but a crime against humanity. As a result, 80 per cent of the Palestinian children suffer psychological disorders," Mr Sosebee added. He said 72 per cent of the children killed were shot in the head or chest, which is an indication that they were murdered intentionally. According to an Israeli human rights organisation, Salam, 80 per cent of the shootings were attributed to disobeying curfew. Mr Sosebee said many societies and groups in the US denounced barbaric acts by Israelis against Palestinians, yet he wondered why they couldn't influence the US government.


"Two million children in West Bank and Gaza Strip represent two thirds of their population; out of them 300 children were murdered over a past few months, in addition to another 5,000 children who suffer from psychological damages and yet another 500,000 from malnourishment," he added. Mr Sosebee urged the international community to intervene and stop the blood-shed and prevent an attack on Iraq, which will victimise millions of innocent children, women and old-aged.
---------------------------------------------------

Last year the Dallas News published an article about the PCRF and Rosemary Davis.

http://216.239.41.104/search?q=cache:ywxfCyWpDhgJ:www.pcrf.net/pcrfnews/Zanounarticle.htm+rosemary+davis+palestine&hl=en&ie=UTF-8

The director of MIM contacted the journalist and asked if she was aware of who Rosemary Davis really was.

The correspondence follows below together with documentation proving that Rosemary Davis is the spokesperson for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund.

When the Dallas journalist contacted Steve Sosebee to ask about Rosemary Davis she said that he denied knowing who she was !

Neither the journalist nor the editor of the Dallas Morning News pursued the story despite the fact that the suicide bombing website was still on the web at the time.

---------------------------------

Letter:

Here is recent proof that Rosemary Davis, aka Shadya Hantouli, is a spokesperson for the PCRF.

Below you can see that she is the domain owner of the suicide bomber website Palestine4ever . The last URL on the page connects to her site where she lists the PCRF as 11th on her list of links. The fact that your article talking about Rosemary Davis's work with the PCRF was prominently posted on the PCRF site is linkage in itself.

PCRF director Steve Sosebee may be disingenous,and say he doesn't 'really know her" but the documentation proves otherwise.

The MO of the PCRF is to use injured Arab children to provide them with a platform to bash Israel and give them a socially acceptable forum and humanitarian cover for their pro -terrorist agenda and funding . Articles such as the one you wrote is exactly the kind of publicity they seek

.As you can see they were deceptive and dishonest regarding who they really are and concealed their true agenda .They have huge amounts of funding and Sosebee exploits his position as head of an NGO to go into places like Gaza and Ramallah to encourage and aid islamic militants using his "humanitarian work" as a cover .(see "Recruiting for Jihad" article).

Sosebee's denial of knowing the spokesperson of his own organisation speaks volumes about his credibility. Having a spokesperson for a "charity" called "Palestine Children's Relief Fund" who has a website glorifying suicide bombers defies the rules of civilized discourse...

I Suggest you look into who funds the Baylor hospital and other organisations ,individuals, and foundations to which the PCRF is linked.

---------------------------------------------------------

Below email listings and letters showing that Rosemary Davis aka Shadya Hantouli is the spokesperson for the PCRF.

Note that the letter below is adressed to the Islamic Association of Palestine the IAP.

News/message/10260

From: Shadya Al-Hantouli <Shadya@A...>
Date: Wed May 7, 2003 11:01 pm
Subject: Request for Assistance for Palestinian Child receiving Medical Treatment in Dallas, Texas

ADVERTISEMENT
Rosemary Shadya Davis
Spokesperson for the
Palestine Children's Relief Fund
RosemaDu@B...
Shadya2@y...

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*** There is an attachment in this mail. ***


Reply | Forward | View Source | Unwrap Lines
Message 10260 of 12683 | Previous | Next [ Up Thread ] Message Index
Msg #
From: Shadya Al-Hantouli <Shadya@A...>
Date: Wed May 7, 2003 11:01 pm
Subject: Request for Assistance for Palestinian Child receiving Medical Treatment in Dallas, Texas
--------------------------------------------------
Rosemary Shadya Davis
Spokesperson for the
Palestine Children's Relief Fund
RosemaDu@B...
Shadya2@y...

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*** There is an attachment in this mail. ***


From: "Rosemary Davis" <Davis.rosemary@v...>
Date: Wed May 7, 2003 10:47 pm
Subject: FW: Request for Assistance for Palestinian Child receiving Medical Treatment in Dallas, Texas
To: <Shadya@A...>
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Al-Awda-News/message/10260

-----Original Message-----

Note the Islamic Association of Palestine address as well as the Al Awda (Right of Return Coalition)

. [email protected]


From: Rosemary Davis [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Wednesday, May 07, 2003 5:43 PM
To: [email protected]
Cc: [email protected]; [email protected]; [email protected]
Subject: Request for Assistance for Palestinian Child receiving Medical Treatment in Dallas, Texas

Brothers and Sisters,

I would like to request assistance from students and interested volunteers from Dallas, Texas on behalf of the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. The Palestine Children's Relief Fund is sponsoring travel for Ahmed Zanoun and his mother for the purpose of receiving medical evaluation and surgical treatment in Dallas, Texas.

We anticipate Ahmed arriving in Dallas, Texas by the end of May and we expect his visit to last approximately 12-14 weeks. Like any normal child, 4-year-old Ahmed Zanoun was playing with his brothers and sisters outside their home in the Rafah Refugee camp in Gaza last year when an Israeli sniper shot him in the face.

The boy's life was saved when neighbors rushed the injured child to a nearby hospital, where doctors were able to stop the bleeding. His injuries, however, are permanent. Partially paralyzed on the left side of his body, Ahmed has been accepted for plastic and reconstructive surgery at Baylor Hospital in Dallas, Texas.

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund has arranged treatment for this boy for free and local doctors will help repair some of the damage caused by the Israeli bullet. Although we have located families who are willing to host Ahmed and his mother in their homes for the duration of his stay, we still need volunteers to help transport Ahmed Zanoun and his mother to Baylor Hospital in Garland, Texas and Baylor University Medical Center located in downtown Dallas, Texas

. Ahmed may also have doctor's appointments with private physicians. We will do our best to coordinate the arrangements so that travel time is minimal for the volunteers. Any interested volunteers may contact Shadya Davis directly at the information listed below. Volunteers would need to give their contact information prior to appointment times. Please feel free to circulate this email to any interested individuals or organizations.

Thank you.

Rosemary Shadya Davis Spokesperson for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund

[email protected] [email protected] (972)977-4936 - Cell

---------------------------------------------
Palestine4Ever domain owner Rosemary Davis.


palestine4ever.net



Domain Name.......... palestine4ever.net
Creation Date........ 2002-02-05
Registration Date.... 2002-02-05
Expiry Date.......... 2004-02-05
Organisation Name.... Rosemary Davis
Organisation Address. 201 W. Southwest Parkway #1205
Organisation Address.
Organisation Address. Lewisville
Organisation Address. 75067
Organisation Address. TX
Organisation Address. UNITED STATES

Admin Name........... Rosemary Davis
Admin Address........ 201 W. Southwest Parkway #1205
Admin Address........
Admin Address........ Lewisville
Admin Address........ 75067
Admin Address........ TX
Admin Address........ UNITED STATES
Admin Email.......... [email protected]
Admin Phone.......... 972-221-3768
Admin Fax............

Tech Name............ YahooDomains Techcontact
Tech Address......... 701 First Ave.
Tech Address.........
Tech Address......... Sunnyvale
Tech Address......... 94089
Tech Address......... CA
Tech Address......... UNITED STATES
Tech Email........... [email protected]
Tech Phone........... +1.6198813096
Tech Fax.............
Name Server.......... ns8.san.yahoo.com
Name Server.......... ns9.san.yahoo.com This list of links includes PCRF http://web.archive.org/web/20011117184512/www.geocities.com/shadya2/Links.html

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PCRF work with Bosnia

http://www.cco.caltech.edu/~bosnia/help/org_info/children_relief_fund.html

Information on The Children's Relief Fund


(provided by Steve Sosebee)

1) Name: The Children's Relief Fund

2) Mailing Address: P.O. Box 1926
Kent, Ohio 44240 USA

3) Contact Person: Steve Sosebee

4) Telephone:(216) 678-2645

4) Fax: (216) 678-2661

6) E-mail: [email protected]

7) WWW address: : N/A

8) We accept donations in the form of:

a) Money (At the above address)
b) Clothes (same)
c) Other: Medical Supplies, host families for injured youths being treated here, translators for injured youths being treated here, doctors willing to treat injured cases.

9) We are a non-profit organization.

10) We are a non-governmental organization.

11) Donations are tax deductible. Our 501(c)(3) number is: 93-1057665.

12) How do you deliver donations to Bosnia?
We bring injured youths who cannot be treated in Bosnia to the U.S. for free medical care.

13) Which group of people, government do you help?
We also work in Palestine and Lebanon providing free medical care for youths who are injured or sick and cannot be treated there. We provide help to anyone depending on their physical needs.

14) Please list your activities. We arrange free medical care for injured youths who need medical care abroad, we train doctors with short-term courses that will enable them to provide a better quality of medical care, we send medical supplies to medical institutions that are in need, and we initiate projects to improvet he quality of medical care in countries where we work, such as preparing proposals for a new burn unit, organizing a medical delegation to travel there to treat and train.

15) How can other people help you?
We need funds to bring injured kids here, mainly in the form of plane tickets. We also need host families to house kids while they are in the U.S. for Treatment. We also need translators to help with caring for the kdis here. We also need medical supplies to be donated and contacts of medical personnel in the U.S. who might be able to treat injured youths for free. Finally, we need contacts of medical personnel in Bosnia who can help locate cases that need treatment abroad.

For comments please send e-mail to [email protected]/
----------------------------------------------------------------

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund

Contact name:

Mr .Steve Sosebee, President & CEO

Brief introduction and mission statement:

We are a non-political, non-profit humanitarian relief organization sending injured and sick Arab children abroad for free medical care not available to them in their homeland. We also send teams of volunteer surgeons and other medical personnel to provide treatment for injured and sick people in local institutions throughout the Middle East.

Not-for-Profit Federal Tax ID # (If US based):

93-1057665

Method / Procedure to make donations:

By check:
Please mail to:
Attn.: Steve Sosebee
P.O Box 1926
Kent, OH 44240
United States of America

By wire:

The Palestine Children's Relief Fund
PNC Bank
Main Street
Paterson, NJ 07503
United States of America
Account Number: 8103915314
Bank Reference Number: 98113009828

Address:

Attn.: Steve Sosebee
P.O Box 1926
Kent, OH 44240
United States of Ameria

Phone:

(330) 678-2645

Fax:

(330) 678-2661

Email:

ThePCRF[at]aol[dot]com

Internet:

http://www.pcrf.net

http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/ReadArticle.asp?ID=8394
Palestine Children's Suicide Funds 6/13/03


Click here to see the Frontpage Magazine version of this article, Recruiting for Jihad


There is sick, and then there is SICK. The website palestine4ever.net is of the latter variety. It sports:
* a suicide bomber gallery with a web page devoted to each bomber, including intimate details about murders and kidnappings
* a radical poetry section that features one monster's masterpiece entitled 'Rage,' which concludes with the line, "For every two you kill... ANOTHER BUS WILL BLOW UP!!"


* a picture presentation on its homepage, which includes the photos of Sheikh Ahmad Yassin, the spiritual leader of Hamas, and Marwan Barghouti, the Fatah leader that was indicted on charges of killing more than two dozen Israelis
* a quote denouncing President Bush from Jamil abu-Baker, the spokesman of the extremist Muslim Brotherhood, the organization that spawned the terrorist group responsible for the assassination of Egypt's Anwar Sadat


* a whole host of radical links, including a homepage link to www.ruru81.jeeran.com, an extremist site that speaks of those becoming a "Shaheed" (suicide bomber), and on its jihad page states, "Islam also trains all those who volunteer for service to Allah before allowing them to undertake jehad (sic) and establish Allah's rule on the earth."
Palestine4ever.net is owned by Dallas, Texan Rosemary Davis... or is it Shadya Hantouli? She uses both monikers so often that it's hard to tell which one is the real one. However, she claims to be from Silat Daher (a terrorist hotbed located in Israel's adjoining Arab territories), where Hantouli is not an uncommon surname. And she seems to have an affinity for an ex-rock thrower named Tariq with the same last name, who looks as though he's taken one in the head for 'the cause' (commemorated on the homepage as "The Biggest Martyr's Wedding in Silat Daher"). So the correct answer is probably door number two... which would beg the question what's the deal with the first name? Well, to not belabor this point any longer, let's just refer to her as Shadya.


Shadya has a close relationship with two different Islamic children's charities, which is pretty disturbing, because what kind of children's charity would allow someone that proudly glorifies suicide bombings into its organization? She's the medical coordinator for the Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (You can find a huge graphic for it, complete with an image of a lit bomb fuse, right in the middle of the palestine4ever.net homepage), and she's a spokesperson for the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. While reading the rest of this, you will discover why it is not so strange for this woman to be affiliated with these groups.


The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund (PCWF) is one of a multitude of Islamic children's charities whose stated goal is "to improve the living standards of the children of Palestine." One of the ways the PCWF has demonstrated this was to conduct a drawing contest in October of 2002, whereby children won money for drawing gruesome pictures depicting antisemitic and violent images.


The PCWF is headed by Riad Hamad. Hamad's resume includes being fired from Austin Community College for allegedly "making racist slurs and sexist jokes in the classroom." He doesn't agree, though; he says he was fired for "making statements against the U.S. government." Is it just me, or is he not helping his case by saying this? Hamad is currently an instructor at a different school, but states, "I'm a happy school teacher, till I get fired again." Hopefully, next time, there won't be so much of a debate as to the reason for it.
The FBI has on a number of occasions conducted surveillance on Riad Hamad. His neighbors have been interviewed, his co-workers have been questioned, and packages he has sent have been opened. Concerning this, he states, "They're wasting their time." But are they?


Responding to someone's posting of an article to the internet, Riad Hamad stated, "You are assuming that most of us Arabs recognize the right of Israel to exist... Britain allowed several hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants to land in Palestine despite the opposition of the original inhabitants. In our opinion, they (sic) immigrants arrived illegally and will be deported to their nation of origin... sooner or later." It is painfully obvious that Hamad is all for the ethnic cleansing of Jews from the state of Israel.


The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund works closely with the Holy Land Trust, a Christian nonprofit organization with offices in the U.S., Iraq and the territories. Of the Holy Land Trust, Joseph Farrah, Editor of World Net Daily, states, "The lies this group tells in the name of Christianity are big and bold. They include the standard lines about Jews robbing the homes of Arabs, stealing their land and brutalizing them in a repressive state of military occupation. These so-called Christians even rationalize terrorism."


Last December, the co-founder of the PCWF, Bob Rossi, and Margaret Stephens (a.k.a. Margaret Phillips) found themselves held by Israeli authorities in the home of the Executive Director of the Holy Land Trust, Sami Awad, in Bethlehem. Of the event, Rossi states, "One evening, two of our Palestinian colleagues' homes were seized by Israeli forces." One has to wonder what the PCWF's colleagues were doing to have their homes seized. He goes on to say that, later, "the soldiers destroyed a person's home."


Bob and Margaret publish Northwest Ethnic Voice, an Oregonian newsletter that's listed as one of the endorsers of an event protesting President George Bush and Attorney General John Ashcroft put on by ANSWER. According to Newsmax.com (March 19, 2003), ANSWER (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism), is a front for a Socialist group that "advocates violence to achieve political objectives."


On the website to the Northwest Ethnic Voice, there is a link to ramallahonline.com, a radical site that features anti-Israel poems, petitions and pictures of terrorists, including one of Osama bin Laden. There is also a link to the website of rapper The Iron Shiek, who believes that Israel's control of the Palestinian territories is worse than suicide bombings and states in one of his songs, "Ariel Sharon, a real cabron. I'd like to meet him in a dark alley and it's on. He'd be the Penguin and I'd be Batman. My flurry of fists would sink that fat man." The PCWF ordered 100 of his CDs for a recent fundraiser.


Fundraisers are important for the PCWF, because how else can they afford to give out an $8000 scholarship, whereby they force the winner to "wear a Palestinian flag or a pin every day he/she attends classes in the United States"? Hey, one can't depend on U.S. tax-exempt status alone!


The Palestine Children's Relief Fund (PCRF), the other "charity" group Shadya's affiliated with, is headed by Stephen Sosebee. Sosebee, not unlike myself, is a journalist, but while I write my articles using facts and hard evidence, Mr. Sosebee, judging from his compositions, has a writing style that is based in an incredible fantasy world... a world where the Israelis are big bad terrorists who murder at will, and Palestinians are meek and innocent with no means to defend themselves against their Zionist aggressors except by "armed struggle" (i.e. suicide).
Sosebee charges that U.S. government, citizenry and media are manipulated by a "Zionist lobby" and "Zionist influence"... classic antisemitic accusations. He took these assertions with him in front of the Zayed International Centre for Coordination and Follow-up (ZCCF), where he was invited to give a lecture.


Speaking at the ZCCF puts Sosebee in good company (at least when it comes to his simpleton standards). Others that have given lectures at ZCCF include:


* Kurt Waldheim, an ex-Nazi who participated in the deportations and executions of Jews and soldiers in the Balkans during World War II
* Abu Mazen (a.k.a. Mahmood Abbas), who is accused of financing the 1972 Munich Olympics attack, which left eleven Israelis dead
* Theiry Meyssan, a French author who claims that the United States guided planes via remote control to attack itself on September 11, 2001
* Umayma Jalahma, a Saudi Arabian professor who wrote that Jews were using the blood of non-Jews to prepare pastries for the Purim holiday
* David Irving and Roger Garaudy, respectively, English Holocaust denier and French Holocaust denier
* James Zogby, president of the Arab-American Institute and admirer of Hezbollah, the group responsible for the 1983 bombing of U.S. Marines barracks in Lebanon


Shady associations are not unusual for the PCRF. In 1991, the PCRF listed on its website, under the heading "ASSISTING ORGANIZATIONS," two charities that were closed down by the U.S. government for funding terrorist groups (The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development and Global Relief Foundation) and one charity that was raided by the FBI, accused of filtering money to al Qaeda, Egyptian Islamic Jihad and Hamas (International [Islamic] Relief Organization). According to the New York Post, the International Islamic Relief Organization (IIRO) has been named in a lawsuit put forward by the families of the 9/11 victims as having "played key roles in laundering of funds to the terrorists in the 1998 African embassy bombings" and as having been involved in the "financing and 'aiding and abetting' of terrorists in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing." On its website, the PCRF says it "works with these organizations" and acknowledges their "support and cooperation."


In addition, the PCRF received thousands of dollars from the American Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). According to the December 17, 2001 edition of Insight Magazine, "Throughout the 1980s, the [ADC] lent its name to political-support campaigns for Soviet-backed guerrilla organizations around the world from the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and the PFLP to Marxist revolutionaries in Latin America."


On March 17, 2001, Steve Sosebee spoke on behalf of the PCRF, at a 'Conference on Palestine,' held at the University of Michigan. The event was co-sponsored by the Global Relief Foundation (described above), the International Action Center (the parent of ANSWER), the Islamic Association for Palestine (a front for Hamas), CAIR (an off-shoot of the Islamic Association for Palestine), and others. Also speaking at the event was Ibrahim Hooper, the National Communications Director for CAIR and a man that claimed the 1998 bombings of two American embassies in Africa was the result of a "misunderstanding." The event kicked off with the showing of a video entitled 'The New Uprising,' code words for the second intifada against Israel.


In addition, Sosebee represented the PCRF at an anti-war rally held at Kent State University, on May 4, 2002. And he said he doesn't have "any political designs"! The event included a "solidarity speech" made by the All-African People's Revolutionary Party, the group founded by Kwame Ture (Stokely Carmichael), who at my Alma matter, stated, "Zionism is the enemy of humanity." There was also a speech given by the Revolutionary Communist Youth Brigade, the youth wing of the Revolutionary Communist Party, a group that was included in New Black Panther Khalid Muhammad's heavily antisemitic "Million Youth March" in 1998.


Besides his attendance at conferences and rallies, Steve Sosebee is also a thrill seeker. In October of 2000, Sosebee, along with his wife and a team of doctors, trekked all the way to some of the most terrorist-laden areas located within the Palestinian territories. Oh, did I mention that he brought with him his 4-year-old daughter, Deema, too? I guess she's a thrill seeker, as well. Sosebee quipped, "I love life and want to live to see my daughter pitching for the Cleveland Indians in 20 years." With the level of risk he exposes her to, he'll be lucky if she makes it to little league!
Sosebee's personal highlights of the trip included: sightseeing at a police station, where just one day earlier, two Israelis were brutally beaten to death by an angry mob; sitting and waiting for another car to come, "so they could go first and be hit by stones"; Deema busy in the playground, as ambulances sped passed with sirens blaring; putting on a Cuban Che Guevarra t-shirt to ensure his "acceptance among the youths"; driving across a dangerous rocky road, as his wife presses Deema to the floor of the car for protection; and applauding "every decent toss," as Palestinian children hurled stones at Israeli soldiers.


On the trip, PCRF board member, Dr. Imad Tabry, a cardiac surgeon at Holy Cross Hospital in Fort Lauderdale who was implicated in a $2.2 million malpractice suit for the death of an individual (martyr), had some words of advice for his team of doctors and nurses. He stated, "Just be careful how you put it. Israel's supporters in Florida won't leave you alone if you say something they don't like." Hmm, I wonder if he meant me. http://www.bocanews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=8729&category=PUBLISHERS%20DESK

Note: This is a link to a recent article which mentions Imad Tadry,the PCRF and the Islamic Center of Boca Raton,


The Palestine Children's Welfare Fund and the Palestine Children's Relief Fund are two Islamic charities, in a sea of Islamic charities, that claim to be non-political yet exploit national and international politics to the maximum. They keep well hidden under the radar screen (and our U.S. Constitution), which is how they can get away with having partnerships with radical and/or suspicious organizations. This leads one to question their motives. Why would they allow someone into their staff that obviously harbors affections towards the worst violence known to man (suicide bombings)? And into whose hands goes that "welfare" and "relief"? Is it those children that are truly innocent, or is it those that make up Shadya Hantouli's gallery?


"Death is more than escape from occupation, it is the way of life for our courageous countrymen." - Homepage, palestine4ever.net
Click here to see the Frontpage Magazine version of this article, Recruiting for Jihad

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