ASA WR. Ramadan Mubarak, belated, yes. 

I hope and pray that for all of us the Rahmah is in the bag and the Maghfirah is being processed as we speak, act and pray. Let us seriously plan and go into overdrive for the big enchilada around the bend - Nejat! 

For each of us fasting, may the gates of Jahannam be closed for ever and those of Jannah open for ever.

In-shaa' Allah, In-shaa' Allah, In-shaa' Allah! Ameen!!!

Shout! Scream!! Roar!!!! Raise the roof with a thunderous acknowledgement of the Creator thanking Him for His Infinite and Continuing Bounty, recognizing Him for His Loving Presence and Absolute Guidance.

How fortunate are the Unfortunate, today's Muslims, to be graced with a month of organization and discipline, guidance and cure, and fraternity!

In the meantime, it's dja vu all over again. At Gaza! Our brothers and sisters, our boys and girls, our mothers and fathers, our husbands and wives, and our cousins, friends, neighbors and co-workers are all fair targets - guilty by "association".

Age, gender, health, and no-connection with "terroristic" activities are all immaterial. A disingenuous, sanitary descriptor, "Collateral Damage" takes care of all human costs. It absolves responsibilities. It deletes records of the Crime. It makes heroes out of the Poachers.

There is "No Catch and Release" provision in this phishing expedition - say a word, raise any type of hullaballoo, or throw a stick, you will get what is coming to you. You are after-the-fact victim.

No "Endangered Species" clause clutters the style, the glory, or the vendetta of today's stalkers and ultra-modern hunters.

Yes, they stalk for two-three years, let the herd grow, and they hunt to keep the numbers down - culling is what they call it - and mount the trophies of badges, medals and promotions.

If only the Gazans were the Western Lowland or Mountain Gorilla, Asian Cheetah, Black Rhino, Siberian Tiger, Leatherback Sea Turtle, Hawaiian Monk Seal, a lowly Lemur or Dodo Bird, one-time Giant Panda, Grey Wolf, or Eagle, they might have fared better from this type of repeated broad daylight battering. What outrage would have filled the air! What headlines it would have garnered!! We would have shed tears, raised money, and set on podiums and cars next to celebrities. Our selfies might have garnered millions of followers as soon as we twitted them. Oh, we would have been rock stars.

But, alas! The Palestinians are lowly human beings. They deserve not an ounce of quarter. It would spoil the strategic game that is really slated for them, especially the Gazans since Ariel Sharon "vacated" his people's presence there.

There is no hide and seek, really, in this hunting. The ever-lurking flying eyes in sky, the goggles of the night, the piercing search lights, the unnoticed supersonic buzzards make it all a Maharajah-type hunting experience in comfort, pomp and circumstance. Smiles, chatter and high-fives fill the gallery of onlookers as they over and again turn their thumbs down.

If one of those rare species of the wild were to bite or claw, it would not be cited as the cause for its death. The Champion Hunter would display the scars as proud marks of accomplishment. But for the Palestinian fighting back is not allowed. Oh no! Regardless of how toothless and bland his effort is, he must not resist as he expires. Doing so, paradoxically, amounts to his putting his signature on his own death warrant. The prohibition on the Palestinians from doing so even though they are under extreme, incessant, real, deadly threat contradicts US 2nd Amendment to keep and bear arms. But who cares? Double standards are rife when it comes to the Palestinians, might I dare say the Muslims.

Ah, the Jihad! Of course, the Jihad!! They say the Palestinians wage Jihad, and so they, the displaced Europeans, must resort to force in self-defense. Who is doing Jihad? Who has cited the Bible and continues to do so ever since long before the Nakba. If the new Israel is not a religiously "sanctioned" entity, then neither is the "ISIL"!

But the Hamas (some media folks from the US go there and call them Khamas, as if that is a Hebrew word. How ingratiating can they get!) This is one more reason to be hunted down like the Passenger Pigeons of yesteryear USA. Our firebrand US leaders repeatedly agree to this connotation. It does not matter that we once gave a Nobel Prize to the "Catholic" Lech Walesa as he stood up to Communism. And it does not matter that the Likud, which has been basically the mainstay of power in Israel for the last 40 years or more is an ultra-right religious party. Yes, Hamas must go because its faith gives it skills, literally KSA's, which are seeds for re-germination for downtrodden nation, a fallen mass of humanity. Israel can be expected to combine Democracy with religiosity, but the Gazans or their brethren anywhere else cannot. We saw that proof just across the Red Sea from Gaza in 2013. Our Secretary of State then quietly made a strategic statement that we, the US, support the Liberals. Yes, the liberal killers on both sides of the Red Sea. So, wind gathered in the sail of the Nile Liberals as it has always gathered in the sails of the Likud Liberals.

No, I think the Hamas should let the Israelis go the whole distance. Let us see what they are capable of doing. Let them exhaust themselves to a halt much like Muhammad Ali's 1974 Rumble in the (Zaire's) Jungle Rope-a-Dope strategy stopped the formidable World Heavyweight Champion George Foreman. No ceasefire for Israel without restoration of basic rights for the Gazans, much like as in Brussels between P5 + 2 and Iran. The Gazans are dying either way. They will die in the next operation, or they will die in the grueling conditions of Gaza's toiling merciless life. This is akin to the embargo suffered by the Rasul (sm) in the hands of the Quraish so many centuries ago. These brutal hunters' and predators' perspective of Gaza operation must be changed. They are able to repeat themselves because nothing substantially changes in any operation that they conduct there.

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Dr. Shafi A. Khaled is a freelance writer. He teaches and does research in Business & Economics.