Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, February 03, 2010

The Lebanese AK-47 Index

A fascinating article in The National:

Abu Mahdi spends most of his day sitting in a plastic chair in front of a dilapidated concrete block shack on the outskirts of Beirut’s southern suburbs puffing on a water pipe and pouring coffee for a steady stream of visitors and customers that have come to examine his inventory.

Two of his first customers on a cold winter morning are young fighters in their late teens from the militant Shiite movement Hizbollah who are enraptured with a selection of gleaming new 9mm handguns from Belgium, the United States and the Czech Republic.

But these young fighters make only about US$400 (Dh1,500) a month for their work in “The Resistance”, putting the sleek automatic pistols, listed at $2,000 each, well outside their price range.
Although Hizbollah obviously issues military-grade weaponry to its fighters, the boys say only the highest-ranking members – leadership, undercover operatives, bodyguards and security teams – are given pistols, making them a critical, if expensive, status symbol among the youngest fighters, who have been known to take second jobs or save for years just to add private weapons to their inventory.

The group does not buy its weaponry on Lebanon’s back market, according to people familiar with its acquisitions process, but from the international black market. Hizbollah’s arms also come direct from Iran and Syria.
A few minutes after the Hizbollah gunmen arrive, a jeep from the Internal Security Forces, Lebanon’s federal police force, pulls up outside the shack but neither Mr Mahdi nor his militant customers seem worried. The police officers have arrived to pick up two assault rifles that they ordered a few weeks earlier. They seem to know the fighters and all start happily chatting and playing with the dozens of weapons stuffed in the back of Mr Mahdi’s truck.

...“I am exhausted,” [Mahdi] says, thanks to non-stop business demands. “I am making a lot of money but I have no time to sleep. Anyone who tells you that Lebanon is peaceful and stable is lying. Everyone is buying weapons; I can’t keep up.”

.... Arms dealers have used an interesting metric for judging the stability of the country: the price of the ubiquitous AK-47 assault rifle.
“There were so many AKs in the country at the end of the war that it’s almost pointless to import them, everyone just sells the same guns back and forth,” Mr Mahdi says. “So I can tell you, according to the price of one gun, how Lebanon is looking. And things are not good.”

Just before the death of the former prime minister Rafiq Hariri in 2005, whose assassination ushered in Lebanon’s longest period of chaos since the end of the civil war, a new model AK-47 in very good condition could be bought for $300. A month after his death, the price had doubled to $600. By the outbreak of the July 2006 war between Hizbollah and Israel, it had tripled to $900 as people expected either an occupation by Israel or ongoing civil strife in the aftermath.
“The war was terrible for Lebanon but I made $10,000 profit in just a few weeks,” Mr Mahdi admits. “But prices just kept rising.”
He says the high point for the price of the AK-47 was in the period of major Sunni and Shiite sectarian tension that preceded the May 2008 clashes between Hizbollah and its allies against groups of Sunnis loyal to the government.

“In the days before the action, I knew that something was going to happen because prices jumped to $1,300 per AK,” he said. “It’s come down just a little but business is too much for this peace to last. Everyone is walking the streets acting all good, but they’re lying.”
This prediction is based on several factors, according to Mr Mahdi. The first is a widespread concern by Hizbollah that al Qa’eda-style groups, who cannot resist having their biggest enemies – the Shiite and Israel – in such close proximity, will target Lebanon. The second problem is a lack of faith in Lebanon’s government.
“There is no government, those people are useless,” says Mr Mahdi. “No one trusts them to keep the peace, so everyone buys weapons to protect their homes and families. Normally I sell about 30 to 40 machine guns a month but right now, it’s double that. And the price is $1,200 for a gun in good condition, almost as high as May 2008.”
“But I know there is a real problem on the streets right now not just because of the machine guns but because I am selling so many RPG (rocket-propelled grenade) launchers. People only buy grenades when they think war is coming. An RPG isn’t really a weapon you use to protect your house, but everyone is buying them anyway. Not good.”

A recent study found that Facebook was cited in 20% of recent divorce petitions.

Firas Press reports that in reaction, the Fatwa Committee of Al Azhar University in Cairo is banning Facebook for all Muslims, saying that entering the social networking site is forbidden and that the visitors are sinners.

Maybe I'll start a similar rumor about YouTube, and then all the jihadi videos will be removed...

Work accident!

The Al Qassam Martyrs Brigades announces the martyrdom of Dujana Abdul Rahman, who was killed in a "jihad" mission in Gaza City.

By my count, this is the fifth Hamas victim of a "work accident" this year.

PA prime minister Salam Fayyad has controversially attended the Herzliya conference on Israel's security. In his speech, he stated the oft-cited position that the Palestinian Arabs "only want to live in dignity on 22% of historic Palestine."

We have gone into detail a number of times about the fact that "historic Palestine" certainly includes significant portions to the east of the Jordan river.

But to make it easy for Fayyad, I would like to ask him which tribes were part of "historic Palestine" and which were not?

According to Robinson and Smith in their survey of Palestine in the 1830s and 40s, the tribes around the Jordan Valley at the time included the the Ka'abineh, the Rashaideh, the Ta'amirah, the Mas'udy, the 'Abbad, the Amir, the 'Abbadin, and the Mushalikhah, the ' Adwan, Ibn Ghiiniim, Beni Hasan, the Baharat, the 'Ajarimeh, Beni Sukhr, and Beni Hamideh. Some were to the east and some to the west. Which ones are "Palestinian?"

The Palestine Exploration Fund's survey of eastern Palestine in the 1880s mentions that the Adwan tribe is the strongest tribe east of the Jordan, along with their rivals the Beni Sakhr, and the Hameidi (who would sell their corn in Jerusalem.)

However, the Adwan clan is mentioned in a recent study as being "Palestinian." And the earlier Robinson/Smith study talks about Adwan members who were in Jericho.

So a reasonable person would conclude that the Arab tribes from a mere 150 years ago often fought with and allied with each other depending on the political atmosphere of the day, were often nomadic (many tribes had originally come from as far away as Yemen,) did not think of the Jordan as any sort of political boundary, and did not consider themselves "Palestinian" in the least (the Beni Sakhr stretched up from the eastern part of the Jordan valley to the Hauran area of today's Syria.)

So, Mr. Fayyad, which tribes were "Palestinian"? Specifically, are the Adwans your people? And if they are - why do you say that "historic Palestine" is strictly to the west of the Jordan, using a country boundary that simply didn't exist until the 20th century?

If you care so much about your historic rights, why do you ignore the illegal Jordanian usurpation of your "historic" land?

More to the point - why is the definition of "Palestinian" land, since 1964, always exactly congruent with land controlled by Jews?

More on the 12-year old bride of the 80-year old Saudi

Some more details on the 12-year old bride married to the 80 year old man in Saudi Arabia, partially explaining why the case was dropped. From the Saudi Gazette:

A Buraidah girl, 12, sent shockwaves through the courthouse here when she said that she accepted her marriage to an 80-year-old man because she wanted to obey the wishes of her father.

The marriage has caused a great deal of controversy in the Kingdom and resulted in widespread condemnation from local and international human rights activists. The elderly man paid SR85,000 dowry which the father claims he is holding for his daughter.

The decision surprised Ibrahim Al-Amr, the judge of the General Court in Buraidah on Monday. Al-Amr was expected to issue a verdict in the matter when the girl made the announcement.

During the court session, she said: “The marriage took place with my consent and I accept him as my husband in obedience to my father.”

The child’s statement was not the only surprise of the day. The girl’s divorced mother also dropped a bombshell by withdrawing the lawsuit she had filed to annul her daughter’s marriage to the 80-year-old man.

The girl’s mother has now added a condition to the marriage, that her daughter must be allowed to complete her education and that her former husband should drop previous cases he had filed against her. Also, she stipulated that she be given custody over her son.

So the mother, who previously appeared to be defending her daughter, now looks like she was just using her as a bargaining chip; she willingly sacrificed her daughter to be in a better legal position vis-a-vis her ex-husband.

Truly sick.

This is the logo of the Tehran Emrooz newspaper, and it is causing a controversy in Iran.

Mohammed Ali Ramin, Associate Minister of Culture and Islamic Guidance said in a statement that this logo represents a "soft war" against the regime.

Ever since the riots that followed the rigged elections, the Iranians have been especially sensitive to any perceived uprising or signs of discontent. This logo represents just such an attitude, according to Ramin.

He brought a full-size version of it to the Iranian parliament and said that he has repeatedly asked the newspaper to change their logo, without result.

According to Ramin, the logo is meant suggest a woman dancing ballet and is therefore a manifestation of a quiet protest on the part of the paper.

For the second half of 2008, the newspaper was banned altogether by the government.

We keep finding more fake civilians

Thanks to Hamas' continuously adding new "martyrs" to their list of Al Qassam Brigades members killed during Cast Lead, plus incredible recent research done mostly by PTWatch, our list of people who were called "civilian" who were really members of terror groups keeps growing.

We are now up to 363 "civilians" (according to PCHR) who were really terrorists.

We have identified that fully 75% of the "policemen" killed in Gaza were known members of terror groups. Hamas' obituaries commonly refer to the "police" as "mujahadeen of the security forces" showing that Hamas certainly considered its police force to be jihadists.

If you add together all the "police," the fake "civilians" and the "militants" that PCHR admitted, we now have the names of 672 people who were legitimate targets in Gaza. That is nearly half of all the victims. For a war that was waged largely in urban areas, especially when the opposing side's entire strategy was to maximize civilian victims, was this is an enviable achievement.

And we are not done counting yet.

UAE camel pageant a hit

From RIA Novosit:

The ongoing Al Dhafra Festival camel beauty pageant in the United Arab Emirates challenges the global financial recession with camel sales reaching almost $16.5 million in the first three days.
Emirate camel breeder Hamdan Al Falahi accounted for more than half of the turnover, buying camels worth over $8.7 million.

A total of 1,200 owners from all Persian Gulf states have brought 28,000 of the most beautiful she-camels to take part in the core activity of the festival, a beauty pageant known locally as Camel Mazayen. The winner will get a cash prize of $11.4 million.

Other camel competitions include the best milking camel mare, as well as the quickest racing mare.

The event, which is to last until next Monday, is visited by some 6,000 people daily.

Al Quds adds that a single camel was sold for $2.72 million, a world record, barely beating the previous record from 2008.

12-year old Saudi bride drops divorce petition

A follow-up to this story, from Arab News:

A 12-year-old girl who was married off to an 80-year-old man in Buraidah has dropped her request for a divorce just one day before a court hearing to annul the marriage.
A source at the Human Rights Commission (HRC) said the girl, her mother and legal representative came to court and withdrew the request.
The girl failed to appear in court on Monday when the hearing was originally supposed to be heard. Her legal representative did not provide a valid reason for her absence.
The HRC, which had formed a committee to investigate the marriage, was stunned that the girl had dropped her request. “No one really knows the real reason behind the change of heart,” said the source, adding that although the HRC cannot interfere in people’s personal lives, it would continue lobbying for a minimum marriage age.
The case has attracted a lot of interest. The girl’s father married her off to his 80-year-old cousin in exchange of SR85,000 in dowry money. However, the girl’s mother, who is separated from her father, accused the man of raping her daughter.
The girl had also told a local journalist over the phone that she “doesn’t want him, save me.” When the mother’s lawyer failed to get the marriage annulled, she brought the case to the attention of the Kingdom’s media.

Something fishy is going on....

Egyptian convert to Christianity barking up the wrong tree

From Daily News Egypt:

The lawyer of a man who converted from Islam to Christianity sent a memo to the United Nation’s Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), in a bid to urge the Egyptian government to allow him to change his religious affiliation on official documents.
Ashraf Edward Kirolos called on the OHCHR to intervene in the case of Mohamed Ahmed Hegazy, who converted to Christianity and sought legal action to have his religious affiliation recognized on his national ID card and other official documents.
Kirolos’ memo urged the organization to pressure the Egyptian government into honoring its pledges and international commitments with regards to religious freedom, namely when it comes to converts to Christianity.
“While the government facilitates the conversion from Christianity to Islam, it refuses to recognize citizens who choose to convert from Islam to Christianity, which is a double standard and a violation of citizens’ rights and religious freedom,” the memo read.

He expects the UN Human Rights Commission to actually try to defend human rights?

HRW slams Jordan - but avoids slamming the Arab world

Human Rights Watch just wrote a report slamming Jordan for arbitrarily revoking the citizenship of a few thousand Palestinian Arabs. I had covered the phenomenon here as well as Jordan's absurd defense of the practice.

What is interesting is HRW's legal arguments against Jordan's actions. After the organization goes into detail on the right to nationality, it adds this paragraph:

Prevention of statelessness

In addition to the prohibition on arbitrary deprivation of nationality, the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness provides additional guidance on situations in which nationality must not be withdrawn: states must not "deprive a person of his nationality if such deprivation would render him stateless."[28] To the contrary, article 1 of the convention stipulates that a state "shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless."[29] The convention also declares that states must not "deprive any person or group of persons of their nationality on racial, ethnic, religious or political grounds" and that a "transfer of territory shall include provisions designed to ensure that no person shall become stateless as a result of the transfer."[30] Jordan has not yet acceded to this convention. It is, however, a party to the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which requires it to "respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality."[31]

Jordanians of Palestinian origin whose nationality is withdrawn become stateless because, under international law, Palestine in 2009 is not a state and has not been one at any time since Jordan's independence.[32]

While it is true that HRW's legal arguments are a bit of a stretch - as they mention, Jordan never accepted the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness and indeed most nations did not, including the US (Israel did) - nevertheless it is interesting that HRW is using it as a basis for an argument that what Jordan is doing is wrong.

Because by that very same argument, every Arab country is equally wrong by refusing to grant citizenship to people of Palestinian origin born in their countries - who now number in the millions. Not only is the Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness being violated, but also the Convention on the Rights of the Child, which states:

Article 7

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Article 8

1. States Parties undertake to respect the right of the child to preserve his or her identity, including nationality, name and family relations as recognized by law without unlawful interference.

As HRW notes earlier, "Palestine" is not a nation that is recognized under international law, which means that between the two conventions, every Arab nation is violating international law by refusing to allow children of Palestinian Arab origin to become citizens. (Even if you expand the definition of "nationality" and "identity" to include Palestinian Arabs, keeping children stateless is proscribed in this Convention.) Practically every nation on the planet has ratified the Convention on the Rights of the Child. (Somalia and the US are the only exceptions, UNICEF explains why here.)

Human Rights Watch is not afraid to take on Jordan in defense of Palestinian Arab rights to a nationality. Do they have the guts to take on the entire Arab world - including the Palestinian Arab leadership who oppose the naturalization of their own people in other countries, against their will?

The legal and moral arguments are identical. But it is a lot less politically correct.

Another car bomb in Gaza

There has been a series of car bombs in Gaza over the past month. The latest from this morning targeted the car of Hamas leader Abu Omar.

On January 26, a naval police officer's car was blown up. On January 13th, a police officer's car and another naval police officer's car was blown up.

No serious casualties yet, but there is something going on there.