Sunday, May 17, 2009

  • Sunday, May 17, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
Over the weekend, a Gaza man's body was found in the smuggling tunnels under Rafah.

A woman in her 20s was found stabbed to death near Ramallah.

An 11-year old Gaza boy was killed in one of those "mysterious explosions" we hear about every so often.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 79.
  • Sunday, May 17, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
From The Tehran Times:
AMMAN -- Israel is promoting Iranophobia in the Middle East, but the Zionist regime is the real threat to the region not Iran, chief Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erakat said on Saturday.

“I have come to the World Economic Forum to say that Israel is behind the Iranophobia plot and is seeking to depict Iran as the main threat to the security and economy of the region. Everybody should be aware that the only threat in the region is Israel’s occupation and not Iran,” he told the Mehr News Agency correspondent in Shuneh, Jordan.

“Although this meeting is an economic event, as you see, the dispute between Israel and Palestine is the focus of the discussions,” he added.

The 2009 World Economic Forum meeting on the Middle East opened at the Dead Sea port of Shuneh, Jordan on Friday.

He also said, “One might wonder what a Palestinian is doing among businessmen at a meeting on economy. We are here to deliver a message, and that is peace, security, and economic development in the region can only be realized after the end of the Israeli occupation.

Before the end of the occupation of Palestine, any economic development in the region would be unreal, he noted.
Here we have a classic example of how little Palestinian Arab "leaders" care about their own people, and indeed how "hawks" such as Binyomin Netanyahu care more about ordinary Palestinian Arabs than people who claim to represent them.

Erekat, an accomplished hypocrite and liar, is showing his love for Iran even as many Arab leaders (including Abbas) are increasingly skittish about the mad mullahs who openly support Islamic radicals like Hamas and Hezbollah and oppose obstinately secular movements like Fatah.

Moreover, he is telling his people that they should sit still, continue to take money from the West and do everything they can to avoid prosperity and economic growth because his concept of "peace" is more important than their everyday lives.

This, of course, is all happening at the same time that PA leaders and their relatives grow rich at the expense of these same people with their corruption and nepotism. Apparently, some Palestinian Arabs can take advantage of economic opportunities, as long as they are the right ones in high places. The ones who inexplicably still live in so-called "refugee camps" as well as those who try to make a decent living in Bethlehem and Ramallah must remain patsies of people like Erekat forever, because to him and the rest of their so-called leadership these people are far more valuable as pawns and statistics whose entire purpose is to be used as photo-ops to pressure Israel.

Netanyahu wants to improve the lives of Palestinian Arabs before tackling issues like statehood. One could naively make an argument that the two issues should go forward simultaneously. Erekat's position, however, is that the 61 years of enforced Palestinian Arab misery is an optimal situation and must be prolonged, and his people are only there to be used so he and his fellow "moderate" leaders can continue to make asinine statements like these and still retain the respect of the world.
  • Sunday, May 17, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
Some notes on Gaza alleged victims, if anyone wants to follow these avenues of inquiry, please let me know:

#387, Ayman Yousif Khalil al-Majayda, was apparently a cook for the Al Qassam Brigades. He was killed along with a terrorist at a al-Qassam site in Khan Younis on December 27th, 2008. No one on his memory page calls him anything but a martyr. Are support personnel for military targets legitimate targets themselves under Geneva?

#659, Kamla Ali Mustafa al-‘Attar , an 82-year old woman who died in an alleged Israeli attack in the 'Alatatra area on January 5th. No one else was killed at that time in that area - could she have died from natural causes?

There is a list of 1278 "martyrs" that was widely circulated; one of the Arabic lists can be seen here. In the space of a few weeks the number of "martyrs" that the PCHR said died in Gaza went from roughly 1250 to over 1400. Can anyone try to line up this list with PCHR and see if there are any patterns of the ones who don't match up? If they were mostly males 20-30, it might indicate Hamas trying to hide its casualties; if they are disproportionalty elderly or very young it might indicate that the PCHR was counting natural deaths as victims.

It seems worthwhile to go through the PCHR list based on the location the people were allegedly killed. It can indicate who is a likely militant (if someone was killed at the same time/place as many terrorists) as well as other anomalies, especially people who died in a place/time that no one else died.

Saturday, May 16, 2009

  • Saturday, May 16, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
This is my 6000th post published on this blog.

Cool!

Friday, May 15, 2009

  • Friday, May 15, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
Isaac's Dad brings up some very good points in the comments, and while they have been said in passing, they are important to mention explicitly:

1. Excuse me if I missed it, but can you put a permalink to the PCHR study in a prominent place on your sidebar?
I was thinking about doing something similar to the self-death count. When I find some time....
2. With regards to that study, it struck me that the IDF's explanation for the discrepancy on the total number dead (natural deaths) was insufficient, leading to some further questions:

a. How does the PCHR treat "friendly fire" deaths? It strikes me as odd that I have not seen any reporting on how many Palestinians were killed by Hamas fire during the conflict.
We of course have no evidence either way. The PCHR's methods are to interview families of the dead. The families have incentive to say that their loved ones were "martyred" by Israel because the dead become heroes and the families get money from Palestinian Arab leaders for the rest of their lives. The PCHR also has incentive to demonize Israel. Without being there, we cannot prove that there were friendly fire incidents, but it seems certain that such incidents occurred.
b. How does the PCHR treat casualties as a result of "secondary explosions." We know that Hamas, and other factions, hid reams of explosive material that were targeted by the IDF and have seen the secondary explosions. I assume the IDF does not count deaths as a result of secondary explosions (intentional and unintentional) as their responsibility, and rightly so.
We've mentioned that as well, and it is equally certain that there were deaths from such explosions (not to mention Hamas booby traps that were accidentally tripped by Gazan civilians.) Unfortunately, we don't have anything to prove it. The PCHR says it uses "customary humanitarian law" to determine human rights violations and I don't think secondary explosions are mentioned. Most human rights organizations would lay the blame on the people who caused the initial explosion, not distinguishing between bombing a weapons depot and a fuel depot when assigning blame for deaths. Of course, the weapons depot is a legitimate target but HR activists would probably say that the expected civilian damage has to be proportionate to the miliitary advantage of the attack. It is one of the grey areas that need to be clarified.
3. With regards to Rayyan and his family, I understand that they are counted as civilian casualties by PCHR and that you and the IDF have said Rayyan was a legitimate target (I agree), but the argument should not end there. It was acknowledged in the Palestinian press that Rayyan and his family were aware his compound was to be bombed and had time to leave. It was alleged, and has not been denied by the Palestinians, that his compound was used to store weapons and explosives. Consequently, his home, and those that would protect it were combatatants, but, more importantly, even if his home was mistakenly targeted, Rayyan, and his family members who chose to remain, are responsible for their own deaths, because they chose to stay. In essence they performed a suicide mission by staying, with the media as the target. It should be noted on this point that, unlike many Palestinians in camps who may have had some difficulty finding a place to stay, the Rayyan family is a very large clan with multiple homes, and at least one family member stayed away.
To me, the Rayyan case was a classic case of human shields. Israel dropped leaflets and "knocked" on the roof, and Rayyan pretty much forced his wives and children to stay with him. If we ever get to phase 2 of the analysis of the PCHR figures, we would try to identify human shield cases by comparing last names of militants and last names of women and children killed at the same place on the same day. It would be interesting to know how the IDF classified Rayyan's family, however.
  • Friday, May 15, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
I couldn't find the original story, but Palestine Today quotes an Egyptian newspaper saying that President Obama and his delegation will be "checked" for swine flu upon entering Egypt.

The report by «Egypt Today» Wednesday quoted an anonymous Egyptian official saying that Obama, and the accompanying delegation, which is estimated about one thousand people, would be subject to the procedures established by the Presidency of the Republic. The newspaper did not mention the nature of the checks, but it quoted an Egyptian expert that they will pose questions regarding the extent of the seriousness of the visit and the entry of the virus causing «swine flu» to Egypt as the United States as the top of the list of countries hit by the virus.


UPDATE: Here's the story (h/t A.L.)
  • Friday, May 15, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
In a little-reported story even among the Palestinian Arabic press, Hamas has prevented groups from holding rallies to mark "Nakba day" in Gaza.

The Popular Struggle Front put out a statement saying
Such practices by the security forces of the Hamas movement of preventing the national marches to commemorate the Nakba show the state of division in the Palestinian street, which has overshadowed the work on national unity.

The decision is blow to all efforts to end the division and reconciliation and the restoration of unity.
Leftists across the world denounced Hamas' anti-democratic and anti-freedom actions.

And if you believe that one...

Thursday, May 14, 2009

  • Thursday, May 14, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon

Saudi Arabia held its first beauty pageant over the weekend and already they're embroiled in their own scandal.

Topless photos of Miss Saudi Arabia have surfaced ... you can see her entire forehead.

(from Giglish)

  • Thursday, May 14, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
Go for it.
  • Thursday, May 14, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
From Iran's PressTV:
Iran has arrested individuals behind a scheme to 'smear the government' through importing alleged Israeli oranges into the country.

"We are absolutely certain that the oranges were not imported from Israel and that the stickers were fabricated," Iran's Intelligence Minister Gholam-Hossein Mohseni-Ejei told reporters after a cabinet meeting on Wednesday.

"It is obvious that the move was aimed to smear the government and overshadow its anti-racism activities," he explained.

"[In addition to those detained,] some people have been summoned or invited for further study of the case, the result of which will be announced accordingly," the minister went on to say.

The oranges which were allegedly imported from Israel sparked controversy in Iran, as Tehran bans any sort of dealings with Tel Aviv.

The oranges had stickers with a sign that read Jaffa Sweetie Israel PO. However, they were distributed in boxes bearing 'made in China' imprints.
I like the "anti-racism" line.

(Actually, the Jaffa Sweetie is not an orange, but a pomelit.)
  • Thursday, May 14, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
NGO Monitor has linked to our results along with other researchers.

The Backspin blog of Honest Reporting had also linked to our research.

Someone had posted many of my articles about the PCHR at Cleveland Indymedia.

Richard Landes at The Augean Stables republished my Casualties of Truth article.

Now I have to find the time to learn a content management system so I can create a nice looking website to show our research....and while I am computer literate, even the simple ones take hours to learn and configure.
  • Thursday, May 14, 2009
  • Elder of Ziyon
Ma'an Arabic reports:
The Al-Qassam brigades, the military wing of Hamas, on Thursday morning, announced the death of 20-year-old Khaled Ghalban of Khan Younis during his "mission of jihad in particular."

The announcement said Qassam Ghalbanwas killed in the performance of his duty of jihad, particularly in the task, without giving any details.
That means either he blew himself up or another Hamas member killed him. There have been recent reports of Hamas infighting.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 76.

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