Monday, August 30, 2010

  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
For nearly a week, Lebanese politicians have been reacting to the fatal firefight between Hamas and al-Abbash in Beirut by calling for the elimination of arms in Beirut altogether.

Two groups disagree: Hezbollah and their allies in Amal.

Hezbollah first rejected the idea, saying that Beirut needs to be protected from that constant Israeli threat. Then they said that the only weapons that should be allowed in Beirut are "resistance weapons."

And guess who owns all the "resistance weapons"?

Those who still think that Hezbollah is acting for the good of all of Lebanon are delusional.
  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From The National (UAE):

Mahmoud Abbas, the Palestinian president, faces a crisis of credibility among his own people as he heads into direct talks with Israel in Washington this week.

Perhaps nothing better illustrates this than a rather awkward security crackdown Thursday in Ramallah, when leftist factions convened a meeting to protest against Mr Abbas’s decision to accept the US invitation to the talks. Security officials justified the actions of dozens of plainclothes security officers, who disrupted the meeting and prevented a press conference from being held, as a legal measure against an “illegal rally”.

But privately, Palestinian Authority officials expressed their dismay at what looked to most like an effort by security services to stifle dissent.

And dissent there is.

All Palestinian political factions, bar one, have denounced the direct talks, some in harsher language than others.

Only Fatah, Mr Abbas’s own group, supports direct talks. Even among its members, though, there are plenty of disapproving voices.

Ordinary Palestinians, as well as the political factions, feel they have little influence on the Palestinian leadership’s decisions. The Palestinian polity is broken. There is no functioning parliament. The Gaza Strip and the West Bank are divided under the leaderships of rival factions. The PA government under Salam Fayyad was appointed by presidential decree and elections – presidential, parliamentary and municipal – have all been postponed indefinitely.

Even the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO), which is chaired by Mr Abbas and represents Palestinian interests in international forums, including negotiations with Israel, was not properly consulted about the decision to go to direct talks. The US invitation to the talks was accepted, without a quorum as normally required by the PLO’s rules, at an emergency meeting of its executive committee.

The Palestinian leadership’s subsequent attempts to justify their decision to go to talks have also been clumsy.

“There is a real leadership crisis in the Palestinian arena,” said Diana Buttu, a Palestinian analyst and a former legal adviser to the PLO, adding that it “is not responsive to the people it represents or even the factions it represents”.

“The direct talks will lead to direct failure,” Ms Buttu said. “Failure could lead to another intifada, but not necessarily one against Israel. This one might well be directed against the Palestinian Authority.
And the Quartet, including the US, is willfully blind to all of these issues that are not very far beneath the surface.
  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Al Ahram has a sensationalist article that claims that in recent days, Palestinian Authority prime minister Salam Fayyad has been "crying" and begging Arab countries to help prop up the finances of the PA.

As opposed to Fayyad's public speech last week where he confidently predicted the PA's full financial independence by the end of 2013, in private he has been intensely lobbying and begging members of the Arab League to pay up on their pledges, saying that the PA coffers are empty. The article says that he is writing letters to the Arab leaders with "blood and tears" in his desperation for cash.

The Arab League had pledged some $55 million monthly to the PA and has largely not paid up on those pledges.

Al Ahram also says that of the $500 million pledged in March to strengthen Arab and Muslim institutions in Jerusalem, not a dollar has ever materialized.

According to the article, the US and the EU have "closed off the taps" a few weeks ago in order to pressure the PA to agree to direct negotiations with Israel. I have not seen confirmation of that anywhere else.
  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Over the weekend, Egyptian security forces discovered five separate caches of weapons, explosives and ammunition that were on their way to Gaza.

110 anti-aircraft missiles were found in one area, and 60 more in another. A third contained 100 kg of explosives. The others had ammunition, more explosives and weapons.
  • Monday, August 30, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
A little late to the game, but at least the word is getting out:
The rival Palestinian governments in the West Bank and Gaza Strip have clamped down harder on opponents and critics in recent months — deepening a nasty split that could prevent Palestinian statehood even if peace talks with Israel kicking off this week succeed against long odds.

New reports by Palestinian rights groups highlight a surprising symmetry in the abuse that the U.S.-backed government of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank and his Iranian-supported rivals Hamas in Gaza inflict on each other.

Both governments carry out arbitrary arrests, ban rivals from travel, exclude them from civil service jobs and suppress opposition media, the rights groups say. Torture in both West Bank and Gaza lockups includes beatings and tying up detainees in painful positions.

Hamas and Abbas' Fatah organization have harassed each other ever since the Islamic militant Hamas seized Gaza in 2007. However, the crackdowns have become more sweeping in recent months as each aims to strengthen its grip on its respective territory.

The talks aim to create a Palestinian state, but it appears unlikely any deal could be implemented as long as the split persists, particularly if Hamas — shunned by Israel and the West as a terror organization — remains in charge in Gaza.
I've published lists of the "elephants in the room" - issues that make peace impossible yet are not being addressed by the sacred "peace process."

Number one has always been the fact that Hamas controls Gaza, representing nearly 40% of the Palestinian Arab population. The Hamas/Fatah split has only solidified over the years, and the formerly constant Arab headlines of an imminent agreement have all but disappeared. Yet no agreement can ignore Gaza, even the most anti-Hamas member of Fatah would not support a state without Gaza. The PA continues to pour more than half its budget into the Gaza black hole where their money indirectly supports Hamas but where they can pretend that they still have influence there.  (Some Israeli right-wingers base their new support of a one-state solution on the idea that Jews have a semi-comfortable majority in Israel and the West Bank, excluding Gaza.)

Furthermore, it is ironic that the enlightened, moderate, democratic PA employs methods against Hamas that would enrage the world if Israel would employ those exact same methods. As far as I can tell, no nation has threatened to withhold PA cash on the condition that it starts to treat its potential terrorists with more respect for human rights.Just another double-standard to add to the ever-growing list.

(h/t Backspin, which has another angle as well.)

Sunday, August 29, 2010

  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Mahmoud Abbas made a speech on the eve of negotiations with Israel.

He said that the only reason he agreed to negotiations is because the Quartet publicly confirmed their statement from last March that Israel must withdraw to the 1967 lines, including East Jerusalem. In his words:
The statement confirmed all previous statements of the Quartet ... the statement underlined the need to end the occupation that took place in 1967, including East Jerusalem, and not to recognize the Israeli annexation [of any territory.]
The only problem is, that is not what the Quartet said. The statement did request that Israel not expand settlements and stop demolitions in "East Jerusalem," but it also emphasized:
[T]he status of Jerusalem is a permanent status issue that must be resolved through negotiations between the parties...
And nowhere did they say that the final settlement must be based on the 1967 (really 1949) armistice lines.

In short, Abbas is lying.


He also fails to mention the failure of the PA to hold on to its end of what the Quartet demanded from them - "make every effort to improve law and order, to fight violent extremism and to end incitement."

The PA court system remains in a shambles, and incitement has not gone down at all. Just this month we have seen a PA square named after a terrorist, a state funeral for another terrorists, a summer camp named after a third, publicly claim that Israel poisoned Arafat, and lots more listed at the Palestinian Media Watch site.

Beyond that, he also telegraphed exactly how the negotiations will go, with another probable lie:
I would like to point out here that our attitudes toward the settlements and their legitimacy and to the settlement expansion has not changed. I must say that today, frankly and clearly that we were informed by all parties, including the American sponsor of the negotiations before we agree to participate, that the Government of Israel alone will have to bear responsibility for these negotiations, and the possibility of total collapse and failure, in the event of continued settlement expansion in all its forms and manifestations in other parts of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967.
I find it very hard to believe that the US agreed that Israel would be held responsible if the PA walks away when the settlement freeze expires and Israel resumes building. Yet Abbas is saying, very plainly, that this is what he plans to do, and he is blaming Israel in advance.

If Abbas has no compunction making these lies on the eve of negotiations, why should anyone trust him during the negotiations themselves?
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Saudi customs officials are bragging that they have confiscated over 5000 books that were being smuggled into the Kingdom this year.

Most of them were religiously offensive, although some were merely politically offensive.

Good work!
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From the Scotland Sunday Herald:
Asian shopkeepers in one of the biggest Muslim areas in Scotland are backing a boycott of Israeli produce.

In a move that has worried Jewish groups, Muslim families who own stores in Glasgow’s south side are refusing to stock Israeli goods in protest at Israel’s West Bank settlements and policy towards Palestinians.

Around 30 stores in Muslim communities in Pollokshields, Pollokshaws and Govanhill are supporting the drive and yesterday campaigners took to the streets to applaud shopkeepers who are no longer stocking Israeli products.

The campaigners, who toured stores handing out flyers to shoppers, say shops which continue to stock Israeli goods will be “named and shamed”.

Led by the Scottish Palestine Solidarity Campaign and Friends of Al Aqsa Glasgow, many stores in the area are now displaying posters declaring “No Israeli Produce sold here”.
Imagine the outcry that would occur if a supermarket anywhere in the free world would proudly put up a sign saying "No Arab Products Sold Here."

And furthermore, imagine if shops that did sell Arab produce were publicly "named and shamed." There would be numerous left-wing cries of "McCarthyism" and "bigotry" and "thought police."

If Arab stores don't want to sell Israeli produce, of course that is their right. But a public campaign to pressure other stores to adhere to this boycott is a different matter, and it should not be covered in such an "evenhanded" way.

The Guardian quotes the Israeli ambassador to England, when he heard about a boycott of Israeli dates there:
"Israel will continue to successfully export dates, whilst others choose to export hate," he said. "We encourage Muslim shoppers to ignore this nonsense, and instead double the quantity they usually purchase, to help bring about a two-date solution."
Yet the Guardian's article helpfully linked to a website so that consumers would not accidentally buy Israeli dates. I guess it thinks hat helping consumers avoid buying Israeli goods is a public service.
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
From YNet:
The Consulate General of Israel in Shanghai recently was surprised to discover on the shelves of a local supermarket chain a canned beverage called "The Jew's Ear Juice."

The drink is made of a black mushroom which does resemble a wrinkled ear.

Israel's Consul-General in Shanghai Jackie Eldan stressed that this was not a case of anti-Semitism, as Judaism is considered in China a synonym of success.

According to Eldan, the juice's manufacturer must have thought that linking it to the Jewish ear would be profitable.
This beverage has actually been reviewed on a website:

Really, what sounds more appetizing than juice from a Jew's ear, especially "Quality Jew's ear selected from Changbai Mountain?"

I'm actually pretty nervous to try it. From the Chinese name, 黑木耳露 (Hei1 Mu4 Er3 Lu4), I know that it's wood ear juice. Wood ear (evidently a.k.a. Jew's ear) is a fungus that's pretty common in Chinese dishes, but I would never think about drinking it.

It's a nasty-looking thick semi-transparent cloudy brown liquid. It's smell is weird, like a mix between the apple vinegar drink and turkey gravy. It's a little thick and slimy, but the flavor is actually mild. The flavor isn't anything at all like the cooked wood ear that I'm used to eating.

It's so strange that it tastes like bland, bad, old apple cider, that I decided to check the ingredients. The Jew's Ear Juice is made of: pure water, black wood ear (Jew's ear), haw (Chinese hawthorn), big Chinese date, sugar, honey, sodium of citric acid, and stabilizer.
It all makes sense now, the strange appley flavor is coming from the haw. It does taste similar to hawthorne juice now that I think of it.

Well, the can says that if you drink the Jew's ear juice cold, it's clear and refreshing, but you can heat it up to make it more "densely" fragrant. I gotta try it.

Wow this stuff heats up fast. Granted, I only heated a little bit, but I think due to the thickness or sugar or something, it started boiling after about 20 seconds in the microwave.

They were right about the smell, it is definitely denser. The strange thing is that it now smells more like food, almost like spaghetti-o's. Believe it or not, Jew's ear juice actually tastes better hot. Maybe it's the thickness, but I think it's just that wood ear is usually served cold, and when the juice is hot it reminds me less that I'm drinking fungus juice.

As a special bonus it came with a Jew's Ear Juice Bottle Opener! What a great souvenir. I will be the hit of all the parties from now on.

*Update: Since I've gotten a lot of questions from readers as to what Jew's ear actually is, I found this beautiful picture of one by Jenny Downing. You can definitely see where this fungus gets the name "wood ear. "
(h/t Vicious Babushka)
UPDATE: A reminder from EBoZ that this is perhaps what was bothering this guy:
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
A co-founder of the Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah, who makes no bones about how he wants Israel to disappear, writes an op-ed in the New York Times.

It remains amazing that the "newspaper of record" can deign to publish such absurdities as this:

The United States insists that Hamas meet strict preconditions before it can take part in negotiations: recognize Israel, renounce violence and abide by agreements previously signed between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization, of which Hamas is not a member. These demands are unworkable. Why should Hamas or any Palestinian accept Israel’s political demands, like recognition, when Israel refuses to recognize basic Palestinian demands like the right of return for refugees?
So according to Abunimah, for Israel to ask its negotiating partners to not demand its violent destruction is "unworkable"?

Abinimeh also tries to make a tortured analogy with Northern Ireland, as if the Irish ever demanded that Great Britain be utterly destroyed as part of their negotiating position.

Apparently, Abunimah thinks that Israel should be thrilled if Hamas is willing to negotiate the terms of Israel's destruction. Maybe they'll even be willing to wait a decade or two! Isn't that moderate?

(h/t Balfour St)

UPDATE: Zach in the comments notes that Abunimah has been the "go to" guy for the New York Times when they need an anti-Israel comment. How he has attained such stature is beyond me.
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Three years ago, a woman in a Wal-Mart in Georgia tried to purchase $1671.55 worth of merchandise - with a million dollar bill. She was hoping that the store would give her back $998,328.45 in change.

That same year, also in Georgia, a man tried to deposit a million dollar bill into a bank. As the article says, such a move "would raise eyebrows even in Dubai."

Well, the writer was probably right.

From the Gulf News:

Abu Dhabi Police have arrested a man for trying to exchange two $1-million bills at the UAE Central Bank.

Abu Dhabi Police said the confiscated $1-million bills were not real currency notes but had been used for decorative purposes by a group called the "International club for multi-millionaires" in the US.

Police said the 45-year-old African suspect convinced a European woman that the $1 million bills were genuine and could be exchanged at the UAE Central Bank. He also allegedly offered her 30 per cent commission on the two notes, for acting on his behalf, the police said.

When the woman approached the Central Bank, the department dealing with the counterfeit currency at the bank informed Abu Dhabi Police.

Police said the woman agreed to co-operate with the joint bank and police operation, in a bid to arrest the man.

She then convinced the suspect that the bills had already been exchanged, and arranged to meet him on the pretext of handing the money to him at a hotel in Abu Dhabi.

Abu Dhabi Police said they arrested the suspect during the meeting and that when interrogated he said he got the bills from a gold and diamond merchant in Belgium who had offered him 154 similar bills.
  • Sunday, August 29, 2010
  • Elder of Ziyon
Sometimes, hope can be found in the unlikeliest of places.

An blog entry in Pakistan's Express Tribune newspaper says:

A British tabloid, The News of the World, gleefully revealed the sad truth that has haunted our nation for generations; that our international sporting ambassadors accepted bribes in exchange for altering/shaping their performance. Whether it was bowling a sequence of no-balls or playing out a maiden over, it’s blindingly apparent that they were all guilty. And no, we can’t blame this on a Zionist conspiracy, they don’t even play cricket.
It is an encouraging sign when a journalist in a Muslim country can joke about how his leaders reflexively blame all the country's problems on a "Zionist conspiracy." At least it is a small indication that the people don't always buy what their leaders are selling.

UPDATE: Tundra Tabloids quotes a Pakistani who is a lot less tolerant of Pakistan's hypocrisy. (h/t Paul)

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