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Monday, July 27, 2009

Morning PalArab (and other) news 7-27-09

Remember the explosion last week of a Hezbollah weapons stockpile in Lebanon? Well, the moderate Lebanese government blames it on...Israel, saying that they were Zionist weapons, left behind in Lebanon for some inexplicable reason.

Minister Louis Farrakhan called Michael Jackson a victim of Zionist leaders, the US government and the media.

Three more bodies were found from a tunnel explosion in Rafah over the weekend.

An Arab columnist slammed Arab governments, pointing out that the PA has been building institutions and trying to do what's necessary to build a state, and yet most of its aid comes from the West, while Arab leaders give money instead to Gaza and Lebanon. He argues that a Palestinian Arab state must be economically viable and that Arab governments have been ignoring it.

Hamas says that a Hamas member who was tortured in PA prisons has died in a hospital in Jordan.

Hamas sponsored a wedding for 500 couples, in Damascus.

In a classic example of a tempest in a teapot, Shimon Peres said last week that Zionist pioneer Zeev Jabotinsky was "largely incorrect," giving as an example his desire to see a Jewish state on both sides of the Jordan. Knesset speaker Reuven Rivlin responded by saying that "Jabotinsky was not wrong, Mr. President. He is relevant today more than any other time in our nation's history," but not saying anything about Zionist aims on the East Bank. Today, Jordanian parliament members are calling on freezing the peace treaty with Israel because of Rivlin's comments.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count rises to 125; if there is indications that the Hamas member was really tortured it will go up again.

UPDATE: Two more bodies from the same tunnel; 127.
UPDATE 2: Paltoday has a total death toll of 7 from the tunnel. 128.