Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, July 06, 2005

Recognize a pattern here?

Just like Hezbollah is claiming more and more land in the north, the PA is now claiming more and more in the south. And they are setting the stage for another round of terror in the name of "Palestinian" land. And the Jew-hating world will think they have a legitimate point.

As I've said time and time again, the only thing consistent about Arab actions vis a vis Israel is the desire to not allow any Jews to own land in the Middle East. Everything else is window dressing.

Palestinian Authority Civil Affairs Mohammed Dahalan, in charge of coordinating disengagement with Israel, has raised questions on the status of the current Gaza Strip border demarcations, according to National Security Council chief Giora Eiland.

A moshav, Netiv Ha'asara, is situated in the disputed area.

According to Eiland, in talks with Israeli counterparts, Dahalan claimed the northern Gaza border had been moved 2 km to the south, and the Palestinians were demanding that it be recognized as such according to 1949 armistice lines.

But Eiland insisted Israel had made it "clear" to the Palestinians that the Gaza border recognized by Israel was set with Egypt in 1950 in a protocol with a map, and the same border was reconfirmed in 1994 under the Oslo accords. He said that the protocol had recognized a land swap in which the territory of the strip had been moved south by 2 km but had also moved to the east.

Another worthless treaty

Hat tip to Ze'ev:

Background: Treaty already obligates Egypt to stop arms smuggling

The Sharon team reportedly wants a written Egyptian commitment to stop the
arms smuggling from Egypt into the Gaza Strip before Israel retreat from the
Philadelphi Corridor - a narrow strip between Egypt and Gaza. It should be
noted that Egypt is already obligated to do this per the Peace Treaty
Between Israel And Egypt signed on March 26, 1979. It is far from clear why
the Sharon team considers the signing of an additional piece of paper to
have significance given that Egypt has ignored the very same obligation for
over a quarter of a century. If anything, the fact that a new piece of
paper is being signed indicates that that is all it is - a piece of paper.

Text follows:
www.knesset.gov.il/process/docs/egypt_eng.htm:

Smuggling weapons to kill Israelis falls into Article III.2.:

'...Article III 2. Each Party undertakes to ensure that acts or threats of
belligerency, hostility, or violence do not originate from and are not
committed from within its territory. . .. Each Party also undertakes to
refrain from organizing, instigating, inciting, assisting or participating
in acts or threats of belligerency, hostility, subversion or violence
against the other Party, anywhere, and undertakes to ensure that
perpetrators of such acts are brought to justice.'

Smuggling through the tunnels - regardless of the purpose is also illegal:

'Annex I Protocol Concerning Israeli Withdrawal and Security Agreements

Article II 2. Access across the international boundary shall only be
permitted through entry check points designated by each Party and under its
control. Such access shall be in accordance with laws and regulations of
each country.'

"Secret documents known as "martyrs' kits" obtained by The Post provide a startling glimpse into the world of suicide bombers, who are recruited with promises that their families will be well taken care of financially.

These kits ensure that the families of Hamas, PLO and Palestinian Islamic Jihad killers get generous "charitable donations" from Saudi Arabia-based organizations and, while he was in power, Saddam Hussein.

The documents reviewed by The Post include a martyr kit for Maher Kamel Hbeishe, a Hamas fanatic who blew himself up on a Haifa bus Dec. 2, 2001, killing 15 Israelis and wounding 40.

Much of the kit's paperwork carries the corporate logo of the Arab Bank — the Middle East's most important and influential financial institution — and the numbers of the accounts through which his family was paid.

The cover on Hbeishe's file — in the records of Saudi relief committees — proclaims: "the martyrs receive reward from their Lord, they and their light."

Replete with florid Arabic tributes to dead terrorists, the paperwork explains the manner of death, making it clear that the bank knew exactly whom it was giving money to and why.

If the terrorist were successful, the family would receive $5,316; being wounded or captured would earn them a lesser amount.

Though small by Western standards, the payments are more than six times the West Bank's average annual income of $850.

To get its money, Hbeishe's family was most likely contacted by the so-called "social welfare arm" of Hamas and instructed to open up an Arab Bank account. Then representatives of Hamas would use the information in the martyrs' kit to provide the bank with the name of the attacker and the beneficiaries getting checks.

The Saudi charities — called relief committees — that provide the funding for the terrorists make no secret of their activities, even taking out full-page ads in newspapers. One such ad listed more than 1,000 individuals who had been wounded or captured by the Israelis during the intifada and whose families were eligible for benefits.

Every ad explicitly directs the family members to go to Arab Bank.

Terrorists on shooting spree demanding jobs as policemen

Once again, the Palestinians move beyond parody.

Dozens of militants linked to Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah group stormed a government building in Gaza on Saturday, demanding he make good on a deal to recruit them into the Palestinian security forces.

About 40 armed militants from the group, some masked, raided the Palestinian Legislative Council building in the town of Rafah to protest the delay in the move, but said they were not using violence or holding anyone hostage.

Also, this:

In Tulkarm on Monday, some 20 Fatah gunmen went on a shooting spree in the center of the city, accusing the PA leadership of failing to fulfill its promise to pay them salaries.

The gunmen went earlier in the day to a local bank to check if the PA had deposited money in their accounts. When they discovered that the money had not arrived, they took to the streets, shooting into the air and chanting slogans against the PA.

Hamas planning on raining rockets on Jerusalem, Tel Aviv

Nice to see how "moderate" they have become.

After the security services identified Hamas efforts to transfer the infrastructure for Kassam rockets from Gaza to the West Bank, an official verification of this trend has arrived. An article on the Hamas website warns: "The Kassam in the West Bank will be the main deterrent weapon in the next phase....The entire distance from Netanya to Tulkarm is no more than 4 kilometers. Ramallah and Bethlehem are adjacent to Jerusalem; the entire distance between Kalkilya and occupied Tel Aviv is no more than 7 kilometers." The article explained that intense efforts have been underway for the last two years in Jenin and Nablus to develop this capability. (Maariv-Hebrew, 5Jul05)

Here's a map of which parts of Israel are vulnerable to Kassams and Katyushas from the Defensible Borders website, which looks like it may become a very nice resource.

We can learn from the French

The poor French. They deal with Algerian terrorists for years, then they finally leave in 1962, and decades later, after years of French appeasement of Arabs, the Muslims are still trying to kidnap and kill them.

French diplomats living in Algeria asserted that the French government is concerned about a possible alliance between the Algerian fundamentalist organization, 'Salafist Group for Call and Combat' and Al-Qaeda in Iraq led by Abu Musab Al Zarqawi. According to the sources, the alliance will target French citizens who live in Iraq and French interests in general all over the world. French diplomats expressed the concerns of their intelligence services to Asharq Al Awsat saying that the Algerian Salafist Group for Call and Combat wish to integrate with global Jihad.

Where are the analysts who predict less terror after withdrawal?

Is there any analyst who has made a serious assessment and determined that Israel's unilateral withdrawal from Gaza will make things any more peaceful?

This is only the latest pessimistic analysis I have seen. But I have read many of them, from people who seem to have stellar credentials in political or military matters. However, I have yet to read any article giving a realistic scenario of Palestinians not increasing their attacks on Jews in the wake of the Gaza withdrawal. Sometimes I'll see a throwaway comment like "Peace negotiations will be kickstarted by the disengagement" but I cannot recall one time that there was any evidence behind it.

If anyone has such an article, please let me know.

Random links - hebrewsports.com and parshablog's Linkify

Been busy at my real work and with various other projects, including yet another side business called hebrewsports.com where you can buy clothing and gifts with Hebrew versions of professional sports logos. (I'm particularly proud of the Knicks logo I made tonight:

and my recent Mets logo:

.)

I'm also going to be going on a few business trips in the next few weeks so posting will be sporadic. My heyday of putting together articles worthy of Havel Havalim seems to be behind me, alas.

But check out parshablog's Linkify, a very cool Mozilla Firefox add-on that notices any reference to verses in the Tanach or Talmud on web pages and links them to the appropriate page on the Mechon Mamre or e-daf sites. Very nice!

Palestinian "Police" work ethic shines through

Just six weeks before Israel is due to evacuate its Gaza Strip settlements, the U.S. general charged with reforming the Palestinian security forces said Thursday that they were not yet ready to enforce internal security or prevent attacks on Israeli targets. Army Lt. Gen. William Ward told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee the Palestinians had not yet forged their disparate security groups into a single force under a centralized command. Ward depicted a Palestinian force that is woefully unprepared to handle internal policing duties or stop attacks on Israel after Israeli forces withdraw from Gaza. The Palestinian security force has more than 58,000 members, Ward said, but no more than 22,000 "actually show up for work."

He said the force was like 'a social welfare net,' with the payroll including officers who do not 'contribute to the day-to-day security situation on the Palestinian street.'

That's where he is wrong. They contribute, all right - just on the wrong side.

The Washington Post adds:

Assistant Secretary of State C. David Welch, who has traveled repeatedly to the region to assist Israeli-Palestinian coordination on the Gaza withdrawal, echoed Ward's assessment. "Overall, Palestinian performance on confronting violence has been far from satisfactory, and this is a real shortfall and area of concern," Welch said.

Ward said he had completed an inventory of the equipment needed by the Palestinians, including vehicles, clothing and basic infrastructure. Some of it will be supplied by the Europeans, and he said he was working to expedite it through Israeli customs.

Israeli officials have drawn the line at providing lethal weapons to the Palestinian security. They have pointedly told their Palestinian counterparts that if they need weapons, they should simply collect the illegal ones on the streets.

Ward demurred when asked whether Abbas's strategy of trying to co-opt militant groups -- rather than confront them -- would work in the long run. He said that he did not "know if I'd do business that way" but that it "has created an atmosphere that is allowing other things that are important to occur."

Like daily terror attacks, shootings, killings, attempted bombings, arms smuggling, allowing terrorists to go free from jail, criticizing Israel for doing the PA police job, encouraging Palestinian kids to become martyrs, and accusing Israel of poisoning poor Palestinians.

War of the Worlds: The Lost Version (Iowahawk)

If you've never read Iowahawk spoofs, this is a great one to start with. Here's an excerpt:

CARL PHILLIPS
Can you tell the folks at home who you are, and what you are doing here?

CAPTAIN LANSING
I’m Captain Lansing of the signal corps, attached to the state militia, and we’re here to give these Martians a taste of hot New Jersey lead.

CARL PHILLIPS
Captain, I think question on the mind of all our listeners is obvious – have you received authorization for this action from the League of Nations?

CAPTAIN LANSING
Well, no, but the President and the War Department have asked us to…

CARL PHILLIPS
If you proceed without the cooperation of Prime Minister Chamberlain or Mr. Stalin or the Germans, won’t the mechano-men have a strong case that this is an illegal, unilateral strike that only serves the interest of the United States, and neo-Venusian masters? Won’t this just anger the Martian community, and provoke them further? What about the brutal New Jersey winter? What about --

CAPTAIN LANSING
Listen, pal, I have to go, they’re shooting death rays at our tanks. You’re welcome to embed with us.

CARL PHILLIPS
With all due respect Captain, that would compromise my integrity as a radio journalist, and a citizen of the solar system. Wait! Ladies and gentlemen, I can hardly describe the horror before my eyes! The Air Corps bombers… and the tanks… they are overwhelming and decimating the outmatched mechano-men! One by one, the mechano-men are fleeing and surrendering!

(TROOPS CHEERING)

CARL PHILLIPS
I think I’m going to be sick.

PROF. PIERSON
Roosevelt lied! Robots Died!

CARL PHILLIPS
(OFF MIC) What..? Are you sure? Ladies and gentlemen, I have just received a wire service report that state militias and police have captured and killed hundreds of mechano-men from Maine to California. How many mechano-women and mechano-children also died in this senseless violence, we may never know. I’m afraid this is it folks… I’m afraid that it looks as if we have lost all hope for mechano-kind.

Israel arrests Palestinian terrorist/"policeman"

Just another shining example of the types of people that Mahmoud Abbas is paying for his "police" force that does no policing.

A Palestinian policeman involved in the October 2000 Ramallah lynching has been arrested. Numerous investigations have shown that Wassim Radi, the Palestinian policeman in question, was directly involved in the murder of Sergeant First Class Yossi Avrahami. Wasam Radi was arrested May 22nd, 2005 in a joint IDF and ISA operation.

Radi is suspected of being directly involved in the Ramallah lynching on October 12, 2000, during which two IDF reserved soldiers were brutally murdered. Radi, a 30-year old Palestinian policeman, is originally from the Gaza Strip and is currently a resident of the village of Beituniya, southwest of Ramallah.

The IDF will continue to hunt all those who were involved in the murders until they are brought to justice.

According to the news, only settlers are "extremist" and only Palestinians are "moderate"

Number of hits in Google News search for the phrase "extremist settlers": 106
Number of hits in Google News search for the phrase "extremist Palestinians": 1
Number of hits in Google News search for the phrase "moderate settlers": 0
Number of hits in Google News search for the phrase "moderate Palestinians": 125

In other words, people who advocate genocide of Jews, who danced on 9/11, who cheered Saddam's SCUD missiles, who burn the American flag regularly, who idolize people who blow up pizza shops, who name public squares after terrorists, who prefer Hamas to any non-Muslim - they don't have an extremist among them!

So what crimes are the extremists in this conflict doing? Read the articles: they are doing such heinous crimes as stopping traffic on Israel's highways, protesting and getting hit by moderate Palestinian stones, building houses, and, um, that's about it.

A reasonable question to all "news" sources would be why wouldn't they use scare quotes when talking about "extremist" Jewish settlers when they will use them while talking about Muslim terrorists?