Five rockets shot towards Israel last weekend

Gaza's NGO Safety Office writes:

09/28/2013 08:00 28 SEP: Over the past 2 days, Pal. operatives fired 5 HMRs ["homemeade rockets"] from Beit Hanoun, NG, toward the Green Line. 3 rockets exploded prematurely.

The terror groups are still trying to strike at Israel. Just because you don't hear about it doesn't mean it isn't.

This is besides the three projectiles the week before.

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A child wedding (and photo caption bias) in Gaza

From Reuters:

Young Palestinian groom Ahmed Soboh, 15 and his bride Tala, 14, stand inside Tala's house which was damaged during an Israeli strike in 2009, during their wedding party in the town of Beit Lahiya, near the border between Israeli and northern Gaza Strip September 24, 2013.

Reuters, instead of focusing on the child abuse occurring in Gaza where children are told to marry, instead makes this into an anti-Israel story by mentioning that the photo was taken inside a home damaged by Israel during a war Hamas started four years ago.

Why were the children posed in a damaged home? Was this the photographer's idea or the family's? Why could the damage not be repaired for the last four years? Was spackle too expensive?

The entire series of photos, which can be seen at this Italian site, shows that there are other poses in front of damaged buildings (although that site doesn't point it out in the captions):

Here's the sister of the groom:

What a perfect place to take a celebration photo! The dirty laundry adds a true artistic flavor, does it not?

Reuters doesn't bother mentioning that the bride and groom are below the legal age of marriage under the PA as well as under Egyptian law that governs Gaza. It doesn't go into how Sharia law is creeping into Gaza life. No, it specifically turns a purely Arab story into one where Israel can be blamed, no matter how tenuous the connection.

The Palestinian Arabs and the media are in the game together. Truth is not the objective - propaganda is.

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2 rockets, one mortar fired towards Israel yesterday

TOI notes:

A mortar shell from the Gaza Strip landed in an open area near Israel’s border with Gaza on Sunday evening. No injuries or damage were reported.

Aside for a Kassam rocket that landed near Ashkelon last Wednesday, the border with Hamas-controlled Gaza has been relatively quiet in recent months.

However, what the Israeli media didn't notice was that there were also two Qassam rocket launches yesterday - both of those rockets fell short in Gaza.

Gaza-NSO reports:

09/23/2013 08:30 23 SEP, 0800: Pal. ops. fired 1 HMR from N-E of Al Moghraqa area, MA, toward the Green Line; the rocket dropped short. No injuries were reported.

09/23/2013 08:10 MU, 23 SEP: Overnight, 1 Mortar fired from Beit Hanoun, NG, toward the Green Line. 1 HMR fired from E of Rafah toward the Green Line; the rocket dropped short. No injuries were reported.

[HMR="Home-made rocket." MA=Middle Area. NG=North Gaza. Ops="Operatives."]

It looks like Palestinian Arab terrorists are getting restless. The number of articles complaining about Jews visiting the Temple Mount is still increasing (Islamic Jihad is calling another rally tomorrow to protest it) but it seems more likely that these attacks, including the two fatal attacks on Israeli soldiers, are linked more to the "peace talks" and to Islamist groups, losing popularity because of Egypt, and trying to redirect anger into the usual, reliable Zionist enemy. (Avi Issacharoff predicted Hamas stirring things up in Gaza to help get out from under the Egyptian shadow.)

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Egypt closes Rafah again, says it is for Gazans' own good

The inhumane Egyptian siege of Gaza continues:

Egyptian authorities closed the Rafah crossing with Gaza on Saturday, officials said.

"Egypt is concerned about the security of Palestinian citizens as Rafah and Sheikh Zuweid continue to blaze with explosions occurring from time to time," an Egyptian security official told Ma'an.

The crossing had been operating at a reduced capacity since Monday, after being closed for seven days due to the security situation in Sinai.

Isn't it sweet of them to imprison Gazans for their own security?

Meanwhile, Israel issued 1,177 permits for people to cross the Erez crossing two weeks ago.

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Gaza exported Lulavim to Israel

Two years ago, Hamas blocked the exports of lulavim (palm fronds used during the current Jewish holiday of Sukkot) to Israel - and Gaza farmers lost roughly a million dollars.

As far as I can tell, there were no Gaza exports of lulavim last year, but this year - according to COGAT - at least one truckload of palm fronds were exported in August to Israel:

 Exports of lulavim from Gaza and etrogim from Morocco? What would the BDS movement think?

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Tamarod Gaza notes that Israel-PLO talks have been more successful than Hamas-Fatah

The Tamarod Gaza movement, meant to topple Hamas, now has 45,000 Facebook fans and has been getting more media coverage lately.

A message they released today is refreshing in its honesty.

The PLO has negotiated with the Zionist enemy at some length (twenty years) and the negotiations did not reach the desired goal, but it has made ​​some achievements in the political field and there are those who see it and there are those who do not want to see ... a piece of land called Gaza and more the West Bank [are under Palestinian control] and [many countries and the UN] recognize the State of Palestine on paper, etc....

Here, a question arises: over seven years now of the obnoxious division between Fatah and Hamas, they have been negotiating to end the division and they did not achieve anything tangible! How many years they need to negotiate to end the division???

While Tamarod is as anti-Israel as anyone, this is the first time I have seen any Arab, let alone a Palestinian, admit that the Oslo process has helped the PLO achieve enormous gains both politically and in concrete terms. Even the Western media portrays the "peace process" as something that has been at a deadlock forever with Israel often being the party blamed for no progress - but here, in Arabic, at least one group acknowledges (in a backhanded manner) that the PLO has gained a great deal through the process.

Which means that Israel has conceded a great deal during the process.

The PLO? They have given up nothing tangible. Their major party Fatah still says, today, that they have not abandoned "armed struggle" and terror - and it is still part of their platform.

It is interesting that it takes an Arab group to point out what so few Westerners are willing to admit as they continue to blame Israel for everything.

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Egypt arrests Palestinians, keeps Rafah closed (update)

Today is the fourth consecutive day of the Rafah crossing being completely closed by Egypt.

Still no flotillas to Egypt to protest this siege.

Meanwhile, the Egyptian security forces continue to arrest Palestinian Arabs in the Sinai on suspicion of terrorism:

North Sinai Security Directorate forces arrested Egyptians and Palestinians in Arish over suspected involvement in an earlier attack on the city's civil defense building.

Four Egyptians and five Palestinians were arrested in the sweeping operation.

The suspects were arrested inside a mosque near the meteorological authority building, close to al-Nasr Mosque, a supposed haven for jihadi groups in Arish.

Authorities claimed the four Egyptians had been drafted to attack army and police troops in North Sinai.

The Sinai Peninsula has witnessed escalating attacks against army and police since the overthrow of former President Mohamed Morsy. Attacks are largely blamed on extremist groups in the region.

The army said Tuesday it detained 11 suspected terrorist elements, including two Palestinians.

Given the current mess in Egypt, it is impossible to know whether these Gazans are terrorists or if they are just caught up in the army's crackdown on Islamists (and popular opinion against Gaza.) What is clear is that no "pro-Palestinian" group is making much of a stink over this.

UPDATE: Meanwhile, Gazans are protesting - the Israeli "blockade." (h/t Jonathan Schanzer)

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Wikileaks: Concern about IHH in December 2009

In a recently released cable dated December 4th, 2009 it is mentioned that the Treasury Assistant Secretary for Terrorist Financing and Financial Crimes raised concerns about IHH, the Turkish Humanitarian Relief Foundation. The same organization which purchased the Mavi Marmara and joined a flotilla of ships going to Gaza in May 2010.

The cable states that the IHH is "a large NGO providing material assistance to Hamas". [NAME REMOVED] surprisingly said to the Assistant Secretary that he was not familiar with the NGO but would look into the matter.

The same person whose name is removed from the cable states that Turkey and private Turks "sympathize with the needs of people in Gaza" and will send money directly to the people and work to "convince our Israeli friends to send help also".

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When humanitarian aid becomes a political game

Hezbollah's television station Al-Manar mentions that Fatah official al-Ahmad said that the Gaza Strip does not need humanitarian food or supplies as the Palestinian Authority secures the needs of the Gaza Strip on a daily basis.

Al-Ahmad:

“I confidently say that Gaza does not need humanitarian or food supplies because the PA is securing all of this. The PA sends 200 trucks into Gaza, not through Rafah but through other crossings,” he told the German News Agency. “These trucks are always full of food supplies, medicaments, and fuel,” he added.

In case of a so-called humanitarian crisis, you would expect that all aid is welcome. But it's not in the Gaza Strip where aid is not always greeted with enthusiasm as the German weekly Der Spiegel points out:

"People who are not in with Hamas don't see any of the relief goods or the gifts of money," Khadar says. On the sand dune where his house once perched, there is now an emergency shelter. The shelter is made of concrete blocks that Khadar dug from the rubble, and the roof is the canvas of a tent that provided the family with shelter for the first summer after the war. "Hamas supporters get prefabricated housing, furnishings and paid work. We get nothing," Khadar complains. (...)

The reason his family receives nothing: Like many of his neighbors, Khadar is a die-hard supporter of the Fatah party, the sworn political enemy of the more radical Islamists in Hamas. That's why Khadar has little hope of seeing any of the 10,000 tons of aid that the activist flotilla heading for the Gaza Strip tried to bring to Gaza's harbor at the start of this week. (...)

The bulk of the goods, which were temporarily confiscated, have since been released by Israel and brought to the Gaza border. But now there's another problem: Hamas is playing politics. The autocratic rulers of the Gaza Strip have placed conditions on aid delivery. The goods are not to be brought into the territory piece by piece, but all at once. All or nothing. By making these demands Hamas wants to ensure the building materials are all handed over. (...)

And he appeals to aid organizations to do everything they can to try and deliver their goods directly to the citizens of Gaza. Hamas should not be allowed to get hold of it. Khadar becomes particularly enraged when he talks about his neighbors behind the dune. The Hamas prime minister of Gaza, Ismail Haniyeh, recently gave them a brand new house, complete and ready for them to move in.

And indeed, Khadar's neighbor, Aderauf al-Batsch's front door boasts a commemorative plaque celebrating that memorable event. The 35-year-old homeowner does not dispute his relationship to Hamas, but he does dispute any accusations of preference. "The construction ministry held a lottery to win a new home. And I just happened to be the winner," Batsch explains. Does he think it's a strange coincidence that he, the neighborhood's only Hamas supporter, should have won the contest? No. "Sometimes in life you get lucky," he says.

And guess what? If it is not part of a political game, it's bad for business:

There are people in Gaza though who will never be happy about the arrival of the aid. "Everything that arrives here, and is distributed free of charge, is bad for business," says one Palestinian pharmacist, who studied in Germany but preferred not to give his name for fear of reprisals. Every medicine and every toy that well-meaning Westerners donate endanger the few jobs that still remain in Gaza, he explains. A colleague at another pharmacy agrees. "We are being bred into dependency," he says, repeating the universal adage that guides international aid: "If you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day. But if you give him a fishing rod, you feed him for a lifetime."

But even though the internal ideological problems and the oppressive behavior of radical organizations such as Hamas are exposed, they still believe that in order to let the PalArabs to stand on their own feet the Israeli blockade must first end. It is a shame that Der Spiegel did not ask when they think Israel would end its blockade. Because that answer seems obvious: when the hatred and the attacks from Gaza will stop.

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UNRWA teachers overwhelmingly support Hamas

From JPost:

Hamas supporters scored a victory in elections for the school teachers' union of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA) that were held in the Gaza Strip on Wednesday.

The results showed that Hamas won all 11 seats of the teachers' union.

The Hamas victory means that Hamas supporters will continue to control UNRWA-run schools and other academic institutions throughout the Gaza Strip. Hamas has controlled the UNRWA teachers' union for the past 16 years.

Some 10,100 UNRWA workers participated in the election, with the turnout being estimated at more than 97 percent.

The voting was conducted at UNRWA's main headquarters in the Gaza Strip.

Just a small reminder that, no matter what UNRWA says, the people who teach at UNRWA schools support terrorism.

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