Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, August 04, 2009

And in other Palestinian Arab news....

Hamas stopped elderly patients, women and children from getting medical treatment in Israel over the weekend, fearing that they are really Fatah members going to the conference in Bethlehem. 55 patients and their families clashed with Hamas forces near the Erez crossing. The PA Ministry of Health says that some 13 patients have died from Hamas restrictions on going to Israel. The ministry also says that since Hamas dismissed PA doctors and replaced them with their own, inferior doctors, more patients have needed to go to Israel for their care, costing the PA tens of millions of dollars.

As Gilad Shalit suffers in an undisclosed location, 100 Palestinian Arab prisoners completed their college degrees this year. They also enjoy hot water, radios, Arab TV and portable music players.

Egypt intercepted a shipment of 70 tons of cement meant for Gaza. It is probably a very small percentage, though, because Northern Sinai is now suffering from a shortage of cement as suppliers are selling it all at much higher prices to Gaza smugglers.

Hamas abducted 20 more Fatah members as the Fatah conference began in Bethlehem.

A Gaza ombudsman (who knew?) reveals the incredible fact that Hamas actually tortures prisoners!

PA finally deciding to stop bankrolling Hamas?

The Palestinian Authority has apparently decided to stop paying for Gaza infrastructure as it has been. It will announce at the end of the Fatah conference that it will only send salaries to the 77,000 workers in Gaza who do no work.

More than half the PA budget goes to Gaza, and on a per-capita basis Gazans get twice as much PA aid [from the West] as West Bankers. Two years after Hamas violently overthrew the PA, the quasi-government still pays Hamas for electricity, water and fuel. A prominent Fatah member and ambassador to Beirut described Hamas (sort of) this way: "We see the lion's teeth, and he ain't smiling."

Another source said "I think that this farce must end, and that Hamas bears responsibility towards the people who they [claim they are] responsible for."

Hamas responded to the threats by saying that this only proves that the PA is collaborating with Israel. A Hamas spokesman said this "indicates that the Fatah movement had lost its senses and has started pouring the bulk of their anger on Hamas and the people, especially after failing in all attempts to impose a de facto policy on Hamas." He said that withholding the free money is "blackmail."

The Fatah conference begins

The sixth Fatah conference started today in Bethlehem.

Mahmoud Abbas claimed that Israel had already committed to giving him all of east Jerusalem and was now reneging. In other words, the leader of the Palestinian Arabs is a baldfaced liar.

Abbas also nostalgically recalled the early days of "resistance," which included hijacking and blowing up international airliners and murdering Olympic athletes, as compelling "the whole world to hear the voice of Palestine."

He also referred to Hamas leaders as the "princes of darkness." Hamas had blocked all Fatah members in Gaza from attending, and some 27 had to sneak out of that "open air prison" that Hamas evidently owns the keys to.

Hamas promised to arrest those attending Fatah members upon their return, and reports indicate that Hamas has stopped nearly all patients from going to Israel in recent days in fear of them attending the conference.

A former Fatah Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades leader who is now on Israel's amnesty list called on the Fatah to adopt a "program of resistance" at the conference. He also said “I am happy that our army is trained in Jordan in Egypt, in Russia, in several countries all over the world. In case there is a future war, we will have some people who will be trained.”

Tuesday linkfest

Anne Bayefsky puts together a strong case that Obama has already resigned himself to a nuclear Iran, as he gives the mullahs all the time they need without any repercussions.

Barry Rubin explains why a settlement freeze makes no sense to Israel, even among Israelis who aren't pro-settler.

A British regulator announced the shocking news that George Galloway's broadcasts on Iran's English-language PressTV violated impartiality rules. Who woulda thunk it? (h/t Suzanne)

Daled Amos emails the US Consulate in Jerusalem, and receives a response that the "Consulate General in Jerusalem is the principal representation to the Palestinian Authority." Putting together the facts that the consulate is in both east and west Jerusalem and not in the West Bank, this indicates that US State Department policy is not that Jerusalem is disputed, or even meant to be an international city, but it is entirely Arab. (Daled Amos has a different take.)

Tunnel collapse!

One dead, two injured, three missing in a new tunnel collapse under the Rafah border on Monday night.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 133.

UNIFIL to build apartheid fence against expansionist Zionist cows

This story's got it all: a fence, a border, water, an impotent UN, and, of course, Zionist cows:

United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) is in the process of erecting a fence in the southern Kfar Shuba area with the aim of preventing cows from Israeli flocks crossing the Blue Line and using Lebanese water supplies, a spokesperson confirmed on Monday.

The fence, which will be erected by the Spanish contingent of the UN peacekeeping force, will be two meters high and surround the Baathaiil Lake once finished in the next ten days.

A UNIFIL spokesperson told The Daily Star that they are assisting the Lebanese authorities by creating the fence “in order to prevent cattle crossing around the Kfar Shuba region.”

Media reports on Monday suggested that the fence, once erected, will allow Lebanese shepherds to pass over to the opposite side of the lake.

This comes a month after a UNIFIL meeting, in which municipality members urged peacekeepers to keep Israeli cows out of Lebanon by any means necessary.

The Lebanese claimed last month that the thirsty Zionist cows are being protected by Merkava tanks.

UPDATE: According to the LA Times Babylon and Beyond blog, the Blue Line extends through the "lake" (really a pond.) So if UNIFIL places the fence south of the pond it is actually depriving the Zionist cows of their rightful water! (h/t Global Freezing)

Open thread

I've been distracted by Real Life® issues lately, but that doesn't mean you have to be....feel free to paste any interesting links you've seen.

US policy on Jerusalem (Ami Isseroff)

From the Zionism-Israel website:

What George Mitchell is asking Israel to do is to give up its capital city. What are friends for after all, if not to oblige other friends with little favors like that? This is an even handed policy. The Saudis are asked to allow Israeli overflights (and refuse) and Israel is asked to renounce sovereignty over its capital city. Everybody is asked to do something for the cause, and to please smile while doing it.

The heart of the disagreement is that the US insists that Jerusalem is just another "settlement," that the US does not recognize Israeli sovereignty in any part of Jerusalem, and that they can and should dictate to Israel what policies to adopt in Jerusalem and when and where to build. The most recent "misunderstanding" was a public and ugly US protest against removal of illegal Palestinian occupants squatting in propery owned by Jews. It may not be wise for Israel to build in areas that might be subject to future negotiations, but it certainly understandable that Israel will enforce Israeli law, backed by a supreme court decision, in an area that is declared by Israel to be under its sovereignty. There is no misunderstanding. The problem is not that the United States wants Israel to negotiate, but rather that the US is telling Israel and the world that there is nothing to negotiate about in Jerusalem, since the city does not belong to Israel according to them, but to a hypothetical international administration or Palestinian state. This is not a disagreement among friends. It is a hostile diplomatic act. In the 19 years of illegal Jordanian occupation of East Jerusalem, the United States did not once protest any Jordanian action, including the building of King Hussein's summer house, or the wrecking of the last remnants of the Jewish quarter and the Jewish cemetery in the Mount of Olives.

Read the whole thing.

Today's PalArab news

Fatah admitted its failure at getting the international community to pressure Hamas to allow Fatah members to go to the Fatah conference in Bethlehem that starts tomorrow. Hundreds of members are being kept in Gaza by Hamas, who also threatened to arrest any who manage to sneak out upon their return. (Egypt is opening the Rafah crossing today.)

For its part, Hamas continues to arrest Fatah leaders and members in Gaza.

A Christian gold dealer in Gaza was murdered and his body dumped at the beach. These murders always send shockwaves through Gaza's tiny Christian community.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is at 132.

Hamas close to recognizing Israel? Um, no.

This week's breathless news of new Hamas flexibility came from The Economist:

“HAMAS is very close on recognition of Israel,” says Ahmed Yousef, the Islamist movement’s deputy foreign minister, speaking from the top floor of a high-rise building in Gaza City. “We show all sorts of ideological flexibility on this.”

And for the umpteenth time, Hamas immediately denies ever saying any such thing, in much more blunt language:

Senior Hamas official Ahmad Yousef said on Sunday that the Islamic movement will never recognize Israel, backtracking on remarks printed by the British magazine The Economist.

Yousef said that the magazine misunderstood him when it quoted him saying that Hamas is close to recognizing Israel. He characterized the report as “totally untrue.”

In a statement to Ma’an, Yousef, who is the deputy foreign minister in the de facto government of Gaza, said that “no law” can force Palestinians to recognize Israel. “We can’t admit the existence of the state and the nation that is occupying us. They are the ones that should recognize Palestinian rights,” he said.

Hamas continues to play the Western wishful thinkers like a violin, saying purposefully ambiguous comments that they know will be interpreted as relatively moderate and then insisting that they are just as radical as ever, explicitly, in Arabic.

A page from the Fatah playbook.

Crashed Iranian plane carrying Hezbollah arms?

From YNet:

An Iranian plane crash two weeks ago – which left 168 people dead – was caused by the explosion of sophisticated fuses slated to be delivered to Hezbollah, Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera reported Saturday, quoting sources in the Middle East.

According to the report, the pilot of the Tupolev plane, which was making its way from Tehran to Armenia, sent an emergency warning 16 minutes after takeoff. Shortly afterwards, the plane crashed in northwest Iran.

According to the sources, the aircraft was carrying a large number of modern fuses composed of 2 kilograms (4.4 pounds) of explosives and electrical instrumentation.

The report is in line with testimonies on explosion sounds heard before the crash. According to the sources, the plane was meant to transfer the fuses from Iran to Armenia, and from there to Syria through Turkey, and then on the ground to Lebanon. This route was chosen, according to exiled opposition sources, so as not to draw attention.

According to the report, the transfer of arms was a special operation of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, and some of its members were among the crash victims. It was also reported that the presence of security forces at the site of the crash was not a coincidence.

This story, released yesterday, has barely made a ripple in the media. I've only seen it mentioned in Israeli media and Al-Arabiya. Even in the immediate post-election Iran, the media is treating the Islamic Republic with kid gloves.

No matter how many people die because of its support of terror.

YouTube video proof that Saudis are really Jews!

If you thought that the video I posted yesterday wasn't proof enough that Saudis really like Jews, then you need to see this YouTube video that proves that Saudis really are Jews!

Because their noses are so similar!