There is a huge gap between the West whose view of Islamist as anti democratic and the East who think they should participate in Democratic election. However if you to www.worldopinion.org you will see that inside the Muslim world there is also a split. Pakistanis believe-83% that they should participate but Turkey and Jordan the figure is around 50%. So there is alot of ambivalence about Islamist wining and than canceling the democratic system they used to get into power. The Hamas is a good example of this.

The USA encouraged the election in Palestine but when Hamas won they immediately distances themselves. I think this is a challenging issue, as you can not eat the cake- democracy- and keep it- abolish Islamist parties.

What is your stand on this?

What Muzzammil Hassan has done to his wife is reprehensible, sick and horrendous. But I would not be so quick to label this murder an honor killing. What is an honor killing anyway?  I would not be so quick to conclude that Islam or even Pakistani culture has anything to do with what this man has done. Perhaps he got in a fight with his wife and decided to kill his her then and there.  In America, this is murder, plain and simple.  So let us not blame the murderer’s or the victim’s culture or religion without knowing the facts behind this terrible killing. We should blame the murderer himself, who like other murderers  before him, have put aside all religious and ethical values in committing his crime.

All I can say is Inna lillah wa inna ilayhi rajiun “We come from God and to God we shall return.”

According to National Women Abuse Prevention Project,  34% percent of the women homicide victims over age 15 are killed by their husbands, ex-husbands or boyfriends.

Below are some more interesting statistics that put this case into perspective

The National Crime Victimization Survey found that in 2005:

• Intimate partner violence occurs across all populations, irrespective of social, economic, religious or cultural group. Young women and those below the poverty line are disproportionately affected.

• Nearly 5.3 million intimate partner victimizations occur each year among U.S. women ages 18 and older. This violence results in nearly 2 million injuries and 1,300 deaths.

• 44% of women murdered by their intimate partner had visited an emergency department within two years of the homicide. Of these women, 93% had at least one injury visit.

• Seventy-four percent of all murder-suicides involved an intimate partner. Of these, 96% were females killed by their intimate partners and 75% of those incidents occurred in the home.

You would think that it can not happen in the USA. You could think that if one creates a channel for tolerance and understanding ISLAM, you are a good person. But you never know what lurks under the skin and facade of people. Both of us have been working to break streotypes, and changing perception of the other. This story makes is clearly a challenge. The murder of Aasiya Hassan near Buffalo, NY, is supposed to be some sort of Honor killing. By her husband is the founder of such a TV channel. Apparently he decided that a terrible tradition, that has not been yet eradicated in the Middle East, is good everywhere. I wondered what you know about violence against Muslim Women in the USA? Why and how do some immigrant import such “traditions”? What is being done about it?

David, I think that people always take risks by doing something that is considered unpopular. Certainly, we are both taking risks but if it means being examples of how two people from two totally different backgrounds and perhaps opinions can get along, then I am all for it!

It has taken a long time and many years of working in the same office to get to this juncture and actually posting a joint blog. Living in America, I have always been around people of other faiths, particularly of the Jewish faith. One thing we usually always agreed upon was not to talk politics because we would surely disagree.

It’s my hope that the combination of your chutzpah and my prayers will lead to a substantive dialogue that is a mix of culture, politics, personal ruminations and fun.

Souheila, eyes are the window to the soul. When I look into your eyes I know that I can trust you .This did not happen overnight. It was a process between 2 people who come from very different background and history. As you wrote in my birthday card, you liked my Chutzpa, I saw that a sense of humor helped.

Our openness and mutual respect also helped.Your daily praying during work breaks caught my attention. I was intrigued, as in Israel I would always would be at a great distance from Muslim Women. I interacted only with secular Arab women who appeared on my Tv shows. I think this unique trust could only happen here in the USA–outside the deep polarized and suspicious world of the Mid East.

So looking into your Green eyes I reflect that we are a minority which reaches out and that you might take a risk by making our friendship public.