UNRWA workers in Gaza on strike

UNRWA workers belonging to the "Union of Arab Employees" in Gaza re now on strike.

Schools, clinics and medical facilities are shut down.

Ma'an reports:

An estimated 11,500 employees of UNRWA's Gaza Strip sub-offices went on strike Wednesday morning, protesting the dismissal of a group of workers, and demanding permanent contracts for staff.

Certain employees of UNRWA, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees, currently renew a one-year contract annually, and when a group of workers lost their jobs at the end of their contract, union officials threatened to strike.

The union called the strike for Wednesday, pulling teachers, doctors, maintenance staff, and security personnel from their posts, and keeping an estimated 220,000 students out of class.

Firas Press adds that the issues also include lack of respect for the "Palestinian judiciary" (this must mean Hamas courts, as the strike is in Gaza) and - if I am reading it right - workers being upset over the possibility of teaching about the Holocaust in UNRWA schools.

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Another dopey Jewish college student opines on Israel

I wonder if you would look back at college newspaper articles written by today's political leaders, were they just as stupid as this sophomore named Jonathan Rich at the University of Georgia?

Zionist actions only spread anti-Semitism

In 1948, the state of Israel was declared in the land of Palestine.

Unfortunately, the indigenous population living in Palestine presented a problem for the Zionist desire for Jewish separatism.

As a result, 725,000 Palestinians were forcibly removed from their homes and sent into exile, according to Israeli historian Ilan Pappé.

Isn’t it ironic that Jews, who were exiled from Egypt in ancient times, were the ones doing the ethnic cleansing?

How dare those Egyptians exile their Jewish slaves! To the desert, no less!

I also love the imagery of Jewish soldiers dragging 725,000 people out of their homes. Amazing they found the time to defeat five Arab armies at the same time. But, hey, it is sourced by a "historian" who admits that he doesn't care about the truth, so it must be true!

Our esteemed editorialist, who says he is Jewish to buttress his credentials, goes on to flaunt his keen understanding of the subject:

If Israel accepted Palestinian refugees as equal citizens, it would force Jews to live and interact with gentiles. And Zionists will not allow that.

Yep, Israel has no gentiles. Certainly no Arabs, no Muslims, no Christians, no Baha'i, no Druze. it is an ethnically pure state, because Zionists will not allow any non-Jews to live there. Of course, they don't want to interact with those filthy goyim who happen to walk the same streets, shop the same stores, and act in the same TV shows.

After all, a Jew who doesn't even know the basic story of Passover says so!

You would think that a college student would be slightly embarrassed to display such sheer ignorance in public.

Well, looking at him...maybe not.

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"Train Station" banners in German, Spanish, French

Thanks to Silke, Suso and Jean, here are the "train station" posters translated into German and Spanish. Click to enlarge.

After I did these, I saw that DO commented that he has translated these and a number of ElderToons into German himself.

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Amnesty official threatens Zionist at anti-Israel event in London

You have to read this post on Richard Millett's blog. Excerpts:

Last night I went to Amnesty International for an event called Deliberate Discrimination Deliberate Deprivation: The Denial of Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories chaired by Kristyan Benedict, Amnesty’s Campaign Manager.

There were five speakers who each gave a ten minute cameo talk on how Israel had stolen Palestinian land, had destroyed and stolen Palestinian water resources, had destroyed Palestinian health care, had destroyed the Palestinian education system and had destroyed Palestinian cultural and political life.

...[They displayed a photo that] was taken in 2003 and shows a Palestinian boy with a Magen David cut into his forearm. The caption reads:

“The soldier, checking student’s ability to bear pain, took a piece of glass and broke it and taking Qasem’s arm, cut into it a Star of David (April 30th 2003)”

After the event I wanted to discuss the provenance of this photo with Ala Abu Dheer. He shook my hand and invited me to visit Palestinian towns with him to show me how the Palestinians were living and promised to email me details of the case of the Palestinian boy.

He asked me what I would do about it and I told him I would try to get Israel to investigate. However, I said that if an Israeli had done this surely we would have seen the photo by now. I asked him what he would do about Hamas’ crimes.

Then events took a surreal turn. An Amnesty official went to get Kristyan Benedict who proceeded to tell Mr Abu Dheer that there was no point in talking to me as I was a war crimes denier. On the way out Kristyan proceeded to tell me, inter alia, that he would “smack me in my little bald head”. As you can hear he also suggested that I put it on my blog, so here it is:

And you can hear the audio of an Amnesty official threatening violence against someone whose views he disagrees with.

Will Amnesty apologize? Will Benedict be reprimanded or fired?

Or is the crime of being a supporter of Israel so heinous that peaceful proponents of human rights just can't help themselves?

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So how many civilians were killed recently in Gaza?

Some great research by Lenny Ben-David at I-Consult:

There in the middle of a silly article about Justin Bieber's visit to Israel, The New York Times' Isabel Kershner goldstones Israel.  

"Last Thursday, a 16-year-old Israeli boy was critically wounded by an antitank missile fired by Hamas militants at a school bus in [SIC] Gaza. That triggered days of intense exchanges of fire, during which 18 Palestinians, about half of them civilians, were killed."

So how much is "about half" of 18?  How many dead civilians? Eight? Nine? Ten?

Actually, the real number of civilians killed is five.  It's relatively easy to find out just by looking at Arab sources in English.  And according to Arab sources, four were in close proximity to terrorists firing missiles at Israel. 


A list of the 18 dead can be found below and on the site of Muslim News. Next to the names, I identified them as "fighters" or "civilians."  That determination is based on linked articles in the Muslim News, the Palestinian Maan News Agency or Human Rights Watch. 

1. Mahmoud Al Manasra, 50, Al Shijaeyya. Civilian
2. Mohammad Al Mahmoum, 25, Rafah.  Fighter
3. Mosab Al Sufi, 18, Rafah.  Fighter
4. Saleh Al Tarabeen, 38, Rafah.  Fighter
5. Khaled Ad-Dabary, 23, Rafah.  Fighter
6. Mo’taz Abu Jame’, Khan Younis.  Fighter
7. Abdullah Al Qarra, Khan Younis.  Fighter
8. Nidal Qdeih, 21, Khan Younis.  Civilian
9. Najah Qdeih, 48, Khan Younis.  Civilian
10. Talal Abu Taha, 55, Khan Younis.  Civilian
11. Raed Shihada, 27, northern Gaza.  Fighter
12. Bilal Al ‘Ar’ir, 23, Al Shijaeyya.  Fighter
13. Mahmoud Al Jaro, 10, Al Shijaeyya.  Civilian
14. Ahmad Ghorab, northern Gaza.  Fighter
15. Mohammad Awaja, Rafah.  Fighter
16. Taiseer Abu Sneima, Rafah.  Fighter
17. Ahmad Al Zeitouniyya, northern Gaza.  Fighter
18. Zuheir Al Bir, Al Zeitoun neighborhood – Gaza.  Fighter

Isabel Kershner promises to research it further, but I can tell you where she got her information from: PCHR.

The same PCHR that determined that so many known militants were "civilians" in Cast Lead seems to be doing the same for those killed now.

PCHR writes:

A number of the artillery shells landed near three Palestinian civilians who were sitting near the Airport. Two of them were killed immediately and the third civilian died of his wounds on the evening of the same day. The dead are:

1. Mohammed Eyada Eid al-Mahmoum, 25;
2. Khaled Ismail Hamdan al-Dabari; 17;
3. Saleh Jarmi Ateya al-Tarabin, 38, who died of his wounds in Gaza European Hospital in Khan Younis city.

We see immediately that all three were fighters according to Ma'an, and I quickly found and linked to the Hamas Al Qassam obituary page for one of them, al-Tarabin. (So far I found 7 obituaries from those two days, but Hamas does not always post them all immediately; some obituaries are posted years after they are killed.)

PCHR is again trying to inflate the number of "civilians" killed.

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Posters for European train stations

From YNet:

A Swiss court has ordered the state's national train service, the SBB, to allow a pro-Palestinian group to hang anti-Israeli posters in Zurich's central train station, the Swiss newspaper Tages Anzeiger reported on Tuesday.

The posters appeared to argue against Israel's right to exist. "Sixty-one years of Israel, 61 years of injustice," the sign read.

"A country without a people did not exist in the Middle East for the people without a country," it claimed. "Israel was established with violence on Palestinian land. The injustice demands resistance!"

From what I can tell, these aren't even paid ads - just banners that Israel haters put up.

Here it is (h/t Dicker):

So why can't the Zionists in Switzerland - and elsewhere in Europe - put up some banners that tell the truth? (I'll be happy to translate them to other languages if someone gives me the text.)

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How Israel must respond to the threat of a unilateral "Palestine"

From NYT:

The United Nations praised Palestinian Authority efforts at strengthening its institutions in a report on Tuesday, describing aspects of its governance as sufficient for an independent state.

In the six areas where the United Nations is most engaged — governance, rule of law and human rights; livelihoods; education and culture; health; social protection; and infrastructure and water — it said that the authority’s “functions are now sufficient for a functioning government of state.”

The report said that the Palestinian economy was helped by Israeli measures to facilitate movement and access, but that further steps were needed.

“I believe Israel needs to roll back measures of occupation to match the PA’s achievements,” Robert Serry, the United Nations special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, said in a statement. “I also stress the urgent need for Israeli-Palestinian peace negotiations on a two-state solution to resume, if the state-building and political tracks are to come together by September.”

The report itself also says:

[T]he institutional achievements of the Palestinian statebuilding agenda are approaching their limits within the political and physical space currently available, precisely at the time that it is approaching its target date for completion.

Notice that Serry's formulation is not that Israel should reward the PA for acting against incitement, or for negotiating in good faith, or for acting to ensure Israel's security needs are met. No, the UN holds that Israel should unilaterally give more and more to the PA so that they can screw Israel and hundreds of thousands of Israelis by unilaterally declaring a state.

Let's look at what Israel has done over the past year to help the PA.

In a report released today (available at the moment here, I received a copy via email,) the Government of Israel says in part:

In 2010, the Palestinian economy continued to grow at a quick pace, with economic growth reaching 9.3%, due to a very quick recovery of the Gaza economy (15%), accompanied by continued growth of the West Bank economy (8% 1). The PA's GDP in 2010 amounted to USD 5,728 million, and the GDP per capita increased by 6.1%, in comparison to the previous year.2 Israeli policy in the West Bank and Gaza contributed significantly to this growth. Increased Palestinian sales to Israel, a higher volume of commercial goods shipped from the West Bank via the land crossings to Israel and abroad, growing numbers of tourists visiting the West Bank, and increased construction, are all additional indications of the growth of the Palestinian economy.

Israel wishes to resume peace negotiations with the PA, with the aim of reaching a bilateral agreement for a two-state solution. Israel lent its support to efforts led by the international community to implement projects and build capacity and institutions in various fields.


...In 2010, Palestinian employment in Israel increased, and the average daily salary increased, due to an expansion of Palestinian employment by Israeli employers (legal employment only). In 2010, there was a 5.4% increase in the number of Palestinians employed by Israeli employers, compared to 2009.


...There have been intensive efforts to upgrade the facilities of the commercial crossings between Israel and the West Bank: in the framework of the biennial budget for 2011-2012, the GoI increased its investment in the Crossings Authority by NIS 120 million over two years. The budget of the Crossings Authority will stand at NIS 230 million in 2011 and a projected NIS 232 million in 2012, compared to NIS 167 million in 2009 22 . At present, the capacity of all .
commercial crossings is greater than actual demand, while the passage time through the crossings has been cut dramatically. No fees are charged for the passage of commercial goods, vehicles or passengers.23

...In 2010, movement in the West Bank became smoother and quicker, due to further Israeli measures in this area:

• 98 roadblocks have been removed throughout the West Bank.
• Roads have been opened, including a number of roads in the Hebron and Ramallah districts.
• The 443 Highway was opened to Palestinian traffic.
• The hours of operation at the land crossings and checkpoints were extended and infrastructure at the land crossings was upgraded.
• A pilot to extend working hours at the Allenby Bridge was made permanent in 2010, contributing for an increased volume of traffic.
• There are 16 checkpoints, most of them operating under "normally open" status.

Permits  were issued in 2010 to facilitate movement between Israel and the West Bank, including:

• 651,734 permits were issued for entry into Israel, a 42% increase compared to 2009. This, in addition to extension of the permits' validity.
• 200 VIP certificates were allocated to the PA in 2010.
• More than 46,000 commercial permits were issued to merchants for entry into Israel. 
• 511 cards were issued to ease the movement of public officials in the West Bank. 
• Approximately 23,000 foreign nationals who were in the West Bank illegally received authorization to remain in the West Bank, for humanitarian reasons. 

It goes on and on, over 40 pages of specific things Israel has done to support a the autonomy of an eventual Palestinian Arab state. It details cooperation on electricity, water, telecommunications, private sector growth, agriculture, tax revenues and more.

Israel has been criminally silent on how much it has done to prop up the Palestinian Authority.

Now, the UN report doesn't discuss on the possibility that the PA might make unilateral moves to declare a state in September, as they have been threatening. Even though that goes against the entire peace process, the UN does not seem to be too concerned. Based on Serry's words, it appears almost as if the UN is supporting such a unilateral move by the PLO.

Israel's path is clear.

Israel must say that all of the concrete actions detailed above that have been done out of good faith in order to help the PA's economy and institution building will end immediately, until the PA goes back to the negotiating table. It is beyond belief that the PA can wantonly threaten to declare a unilateral state at Israel's expense at the exact same time that Israel is doing so much for the PA (despite Robert Serry's implications that Israel isn't doing nearly enough.)

Israel must stress that it continued to support Palestinian Arab state building even as the PA/PLO refused for well over a year to engage in any significant negotiations. That support must end, now, absent any indication of compromise on the PalArabs' part. If Israel doesn't cooperate with the PA, there will be no chance for a viable Palestinian Arab state no matter how much the world says they support it. Until the threat to declare a state in September is withdrawn, Israel cannot continue to do so much to facilitate a move that would cost Israel so much monetarily, defensively - and spiritually.

The PA economy is dependent on two external factors: billions of dollars in aid from the West and continued cooperation with Israel on jobs and trade. Israel can cut the strings without affecting her economy unduly, but the effect on the PA would be immediate and devastating. Unemployment would soar, its GDP would plummet and the EU and US would not be keen on picking up the slack.

If the PLO can act unilaterally, then they are forcing Israel to do the same.

If the UN complains, hey, Israel can just quote Robert Serry's own words that the existing efforts were not considered to be all that significant anyway.

(h/t David G)

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Passover: A celebration of nationhood

The upcoming Passover holiday is, in essence, a celebration of Jewish nationhood. It is the anniversary of the creation of Jewish national consciousness. Its annual commemoration is proof positive that the Jewish people do not merely share a faith, but that we are all part of the historic Jewish nation.

Today's Arabs and their ideological partners have been espousing the myth that there is no such thing as a Jewish nation. Their desire to create a modern Palestinian Arab nationalism, which has no historic basis at all, forces them to deny the obvious: the nationhood of the Jewish people and their millennia-old, deep emotional attachment to the Land of Israel. There is no Arab or Muslim phrase comparable to "Next year in Jerusalem!", and there never will be, despite their fake newfound attachment to a city and a region that Arabs and Muslims roundly ignored and never recognized as distinct for hundreds of years.

The nationhood of the Jews, on the other hand, was well known to even the most dispassionate observer. One of thousands of examples can be seen in this New York Times article on Passover, April 9, 1855, which may be the first description of the holiday in that newspaper. It is a surprisingly good description of the holiday for that time. Highlighted are the parts that show how Passover and Jewish nationhood are intertwined.

 
 
 
 

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Israel hasn't allowed items into Gaza for a week

From Ma'an:

For the sixth day in a row crossings into the Gaza Strip were closed by Israeli forces maintaining a blockade on the coastal enclave, who told Palestinian liaison officers that the closure was for "security reasons."

Closures began on Tuesday, two days ahead of spike in border violence which saw 18 killed by Israeli strikes in Gaza -- including at least six civilians -- and two injured in Israel. The closure continues despite an announced ceasefire deal that went into place before midnight on Sunday.

Perhaps the continued closure is related to this small story out of the Islamic Jihad Saraya website:

At 6 o'clock Sunday morning 4/10/2011, the artillery unit of the Al-Quds Brigades shot 4 80 mm mortar shells toward the site "Karm Abu Salem," [Kerem Shalom] located east of the city of Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, where shells hit their targets precisely, leading to the interruption of electricity to most parts of the site and spreading a state of confusion the soldiers present inside.

Kerem Shalom is one of the major goods crossings into Gaza, and Islamic Jihad was bragging about targeting it.

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Iranian news questions why Bahrain's US ambassador is Jewish

From Iran's Fars News:

The Zionist regime's spy agency (Mossad) is teaching the worst torturing techniques and methods to the Bahraini security forces to help Manama suppress protests in the Persian Gulf country, a Bahraini activist revealed on Tuesday.

"Mossad agents have been teaching torturing methods to the forces of the Al-Khalifa regime," Sadeq al-Jamari told FNA on Tuesday, adding that all torturing methods used by the Mossad agents against the Palestinians are practiced by the Bahraini security forces on arrested protestors and kidnapped citizens.

He underscored the close relations between the Al-Khalifa regime and Israel, reminding that al-Khalifa has signed several security pacts with the Zionist regime.

Reiterating the Al-Khalifa regime's close and rather intimate ties with Tel Aviv, the activist pointed out that Bahraini Foreign Minister Sheikh Khalid Bin Ahmed Bin Mohammed Al Khalifa meets Israeli rabbis and officials on a regular basis, and asked why Manama's ambassador to Washington is a Jewish woman.

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UK's list of "countries of concern" for human rights includes Israel

The United Kingdom Foreign & Commonwealth Office came out with its Human Rights and Democracy:
The 2010 Foreign & Commonwealth Office Report, where they list what the UK is doing to promote human rights worldwide.

It includes a detailed breakdown of the human rights situation in 26 "countries of concern."

And what are these countries?

Afghanistan
Belarus
Burma
Chad
China
Colombia
Congo
Cuba
Eritea
Iran
Iraq
Israel and the territories
Libya
North Korea
Pakistan
Russia
Saudi Arabia
Somalia
Sri Lanka
Sudan
Syria
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Vietnam
Yemen
Zimbabwe

They explain their criteria:

[These are the] 26 countries where we have some of the most serious wide-ranging human rights concerns. When deciding on which countries to include, we also considered whether the country had been the target of a high level of UK engagement on human rights in 2010, and whether it would be likely to effect positive change in the wider region if its human rights record improved.

I don't need to go into why including Israel in this rogue's gallery of states is ridiculous and insulting. Israel compares quite well to Western Europe in its dedication to human rights, and the methods that the report uses to make Israel look bad could be used to make any nation look equally bad or worse. (It does give some lip service to looking at abuses by the PA and Hamas.)

It is worth pointing out that, in the few months since 2010 ended, we have seen uprisings and major protests regarding human rights in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Lebanon and Kuwait - but none of these are on the list. Neither is Turkey, that bastion of human rights, with its institutionalized discrimination against non-Muslims. Nigeria doesn't make the list either.

But hey, seriously. How could the UK even consider a list of human rights abusers without including Israel? There could have been riots!

(h/t Emet)

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Hamas playing Arafat's game (Toameh)

From Khaled Abu Toameh:

Although Hamas has been in full control of the Gaza Strip since 2007 -- and its security forces and militias have been employing an iron fist against any individual or group that defies the Islamist movement's authority -- lately Hamas has lately been trying to avoid responsibility for rocket and mortar attacks on Israel by claiming that other groups in the Gaza Strip were responsible.

By holding others responsible for the anti-Israel attacks, Hamas is signaling to the world that it has learned a thing or two from Arafat and Abbas. But if in the past Arafat and Abbas were allowed to get away with it, there is no reason why Hamas should be absolved of any responsibility for what is happening in the Gaza Strip.

If Hamas is now saying that it does not have control over other groups that are firing the rockets and mortars at Israel, then its leaders should resign and pave the way for a new regime

On a number of occasions, Hamas's armed wing, Izaddin al-Kassam, did take credit for firing some of the rockets and mortars. However, Hamas spokesmen continue to maintain that smaller and more radical groups like the Islamic Jihad were behind most of the recent attacks.

Hamas's line of defense -- "It's not us, it's someone else" -- is not unfamiliar to those who have been closely watching the situation in the Palestinian territories over the past two decades.

For many years, Yasser Arafat used the same argument to explain why the territories under his control were being used as launching pads for anyone who wanted to attack Israel.

Ar first, Arafat said he was unable to stop terror attacks against Israel because they were being carried out by Hamas and Islamic Jihad on instructions from Tehran and Damascus.

Then he said he was unable to take action against the terrorists because of Israel's military response, which also targeted Arafat's security forces in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

So, first Arafat tried to evade responsibility by blaming other Palestinians for the terror attacks on Israel. Then, when the Israel Defense Forces took the initiative to halt terror assaults emanating from the West Bank and Gaza Strip, Arafat put the blame on Israel for "escalating tensions" and foiling his efforts to stop the attacks.

Arafat's successor, Mahmoud Abbas, appears to have endorsed the same policy of putting the blame on others.

Abbas did too little, if anything, to stop the rocket and mortar attacks on Israel after he came to power in January 2005, although he had more than 35,000 armed policemen -- trained and paid for by the US amd Europe -- at his disposal in the Gaza Strip.

He too defended his failure to tackle the problem by first saying it was not his men who were firing the rockets and mortars and, second, blaming Israel whenever the IDF took action to stop the attacks.

In keeping with this policy, Abbas was quick last week to issue a statement condemning Israeli "aggression" after a rocket that was fired from the Gaza Strip hit a school bus, critically injuring an Israeli teenager. Instead of directly and clearly condemning the attack on the bus, Abbas urged Palestinian factions in the Gaza Strip "not to give Israel an excuse" to step up its military strikes.

Actually, in Arabic the Al Qassam website takes credit for lots of rockets, and even has videos of them shooting rockets - from among buildings in a city:



Just another war crime of putting civilians at risk. No big deal.

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