PalArab news roundup 1-28-09

The rumors that have popped up in the past day that Mahmoud Ahmadinejad might have some Jewish ancestors - probably cooked up by his political opponents - is resonating in the Fatah-linked Palestine Press Agency. Its readers are not surprised, as they consider all Shiites to be really Jewish.

In PalArab self-death news, a Qalqiya resident was found shot to death in Hebron. A Gaza man was tortured to death by Hamas. And I had not yet counted yesterday's reports that a former B'Tselem worker was also killed by Hamas earlier this month. My latest gross count based on newspaper articles came before that death, so I don't think it is double-counting. So the 2008 PalArab self-death count is now at 41.

The PA's Minister of Social Affairs now counts 63 trucks of aid hijacked by Hamas on the 19th and 20th of this month, something that UNRWA calls "utter nonsense." Which story makes more sense?

Hamas had promised to act like Hezbollah and pay families thousands of dollars in compansation for lost relatives or damaged homes. So far, the families that Hamas paid have received only a fraction of the promised amounts.