Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Details from poll of Palestinian Arabs are not encouraging

The full results from the TIP poll reported on last week have been released.

For a lot of the questions, Palestinian Arabs show little enthusiasm. For example, while most support a unilateral declaration of statehood at the UN, most only "somewhat" support it.

They generally tend to be against sharia law as the main source for legislation, but feel Turkey is too secular.

They are not thrilled with Mahmoud Ahmadinejad or Bashar Assad, and Hamas support is tepid at best. But their nostalgia for terrorists of the past is very high, saying they have very warm feelings towards Yasir Arafat, Abu Jihad and Dalal Mughrabi. The lowest marks in that question went to Binyamin Netanyahu, Israel, Jews, Barack Obama, Hilary Clinton and Shimon Peres.

Only19% felt good about a two state solution with a Jewish state and Arab state living side by side, while 59% liked the idea of one Arab state instead.

They support unity between Hamas and Fatah, even with the opinion that it would make peace less likely.

They tend to believe that the "nakba day" incidents in the Golan were not staged by Assad, but legitimately showed Palestinian Arab desire to "return."

While they say that peace with Israel is possible, most do not believe that Israel will exist in 25 years with a Jewish majority.

As previously reported, 67% of those who expressed an opinion stated that "The real goal should be to start with two states but then move to it all being one Palestinian state."

Given the choice of these pairs of statements:

Israel has a permanent right to exist as a homeland for the Jewish people - 7%
Over time Palestinians must work to get back all the land for a Palestinian state - 84%

I can accept permanently a two-state solution with one a homeland for the Palestinian people living side-by-side with Israel, a homeland for the Jewish people. - 30%
The real goal should to start with a two state solution but then move to it all being one Palestinian state - 66%

Homosexuality should be punished by law - 82%
Homosexuality should not be punished by law - 14%

A plurality, but not a majority, thought the massacre in Itamar was wrong.

A majority agree with naming streets after suicide bombers.

A majority support teaching songs in school about hating the Jews.

79% of those who expressed an opinion say it is right to deny that Jews have a long history in Jerusalem going back thousands of years, while 90% thought it was wrong to deny that "Palestinians" have an equally long history in Jerusalem.

89% oppose a Palestinian Arab state being demilitarized.

A majority oppose releasing Gilad Shalit, and a majority support his kidnapping.

"President Obama said there should be two states: Palestine as the homeland for the
Palestinian people and Israel as the homeland of the Jewish people. Do you accept or reject
that concept?" 61% rejected it.

92% say Jerusalem should be capital of "Palestine" only;only3% say it should be capital for both states.

A plurality thought that a third intifada (which most oppose) would be violent.

73% believe this statement from the Hamas Covenant:: "The Day of Judgment will not come about until Muslims fight the Jews, when the Jew will hide behind stones and trees. The stones and trees will say O Muslims, O Abdulla, there is a Jew behind me, come and kill him. Only the Gharkad tree, would not do that because it is one of the trees of the Jews."

80% believe this statement from the Hamas Covenant: "For our struggle against the Jews is extremely wide-ranging and grave, so much so that it will need all the loyal efforts we can wield, to be followed by further steps and reinforced by successive battalions from the multifarious Arab and Islamic world, until the enemies are defeated and Allah's victory prevails. "

62% believe in this Hamas statement as well: "When our enemies usurp some Islamic lands, Jihad becomes a duty binding on all Muslims. In order to face the usurpation of Palestine by the Jews, we have no escape from raising the banner of Jihad. We must spread the spirit of Jihad among the (Islamic) Umma, clash with the enemies and join the ranks of the Jihad fighters."

Some of their other answers seem to indicate an aversion to armed attacks and a desire for peace, but this desire is only when they think that there is no choice. The answers indicate that in their ideal world, there would never be compromise and Jews should have no political rights in the Middle East.

The corollary is that as long as they believe that Israel is strong, they are more likely to seek peace (or, more accurately, detente); if they believe that Israel will not exist for long, they are more likely to keep waiting for it to weaken rather than make peace now.

While they do not come off as supporting terrorism as much as in other previous polls, they also are shown to have very little desire to accommodate living alongside Israel if they believe that there is any other option.

Which means that the best kind of peace possible is one where Israel is unquestioningly strong and understood that it will not collapse. The belief that terror, or politics, might weaken Israel is the very formula to ensure that peace will never happen. Every Israeli concession that is perceived as a defeat pushes peace that much further away.

This is an extraordinarily important poll, one that goes way beyond others in ferreting out the true feelings that Palestinian Arabs have. It should be required reading by every politician, pundit and journalist who want to know the truth about how Palestinian Arabs think, rather than believing the pre-digested lies that are presented by those with an agenda.

Thanks to PLO stunt, terror groups in Gaza readying for next war

From Al Masry al-Youm (h/t Just Journalism):

Leading Islamic Jihad figure Khaled al-Batch is over fifty and has been a part of the Palestinian struggle for years. ...He helped orchestrate a series of bombings in Israel that ravaged the country during the outbreak of the Second Intifada.

And now Batch, sitting barefoot in his Gaza office, says he’s convinced the Third Palestinian Intifada will erupt in a matter of months.

“There are only valid targets over there,” he says, in response to a question about the possibility of attacks on Israeli civilians.

...[N]ow Hamas, an offshoot of the Muslim Brotherhood, expects strong support from Egypt in the struggle against Israel. Egyptian policy change toward the Palestinians has already taken shape. In May, the Rafah crossing re-opened, after five years of blockade.

“They realized the bilateral talks led them to nowhere. This is why they will try a unilateral move with the UN,” says [Hamas spokesman Fawzi] Barhum. “We have agreed to delay the real reconciliation and the forming of the transitional government until the general assembly is over. The US will veto our request for sure. This will generate a vacuum in our political options. The chances for a third intifada are high, ” he adds.

The majority of significantly armed factions in the Gaza Strip, like the Naser Salahadin Brigades and Islamic Jihad, agree with Barhum's assessment. Leaders, such as Khaled Batch, claim they are in the process of readying themselves for armed uprising.

“In spite of all the efforts of Israel, Hamas and its allies managed to get weapons through smuggling,” says Walla Karaja, a journalist working for the UNRWA. “Since the reconciliation, the military trainings have increased in the Strip, and, we heard, that huge quantities of weapons arrived from the outside.”

After several days of negotiations, Al-Masry Al-Youm recently met one leader of Nasser Salahadin Brigades, under strict conditions. In the Laurate woods of Nuseirat, two armed and masked men escorted Al-Masry Al-Youm - after placing a hood over the reporter’s head - to an exit point of one of the Gaza Strip’s largest tunnels.

These tunnels are not made for smuggling. They are constructed to connect all the strategic points of the Strip underground. One brigade member, insisting on using an alias, called himself Abu Seiar, the father of the sword. He had just returned from Syria, after receiving military training there. He was taught, he claimed, how to use anti-tank weaponry, among other skills.

“I was called home because I'm an expert in building non-commercial tunnels,” says Abu Seiar, whose job now is to strengthen the existing tunnels and attach new strategic exits. “Others have returned from Lebanon and Iran. Everyone knows that something is going to happen.”
...
“We haven't felt anything from the so-called border opening yet…business as usual,” says Omar, a proud owner of two commercial tunnels in his home in Rafah. Omar also requested a pseudonym. “But one thing is for sure…Hamas reintroduced the taxing of cigarettes and other luxury products from Egypt, because they badly need money. There is a huge movement in their tunnels at nighttime as well.”

It seems preparations in Gaza are indisputably underway for another round of conflict, but the incident that will spur a call to arms cannot be forecasted.

[T]alking with people on the streets of Gaza, its obvious there isn’t widespread support for another full-fledged uprising. In fact, not one ordinary Palestinian I met leveled support for such a campaign.

“Look at the conditions how we live,” some say. “This is the result of the first and second uprising. If we start a new one, they [the Israelis] will cut our throat.”

The world's complicity for the PLO's September stunt is laying the groundwork for an almost inevitable breakout of terrorism and war. No one will win, and everyone will be worse off than they are today.

Yet, outside the US, no one is seriously trying to stop this train wreck.

Jordanian flotilla contingent blames Turkey for stopping them

One of the unanswered questions about the flop flotilla is - what happened to the Jordanian ship, the Noor, that was supposed to participate?

While no one seriously was worried about violence from the Europeans and Americans trying to reach Gaza, the Jordanian ship - which was to represent many Arab countries - was another matter.

So what happened to it?

A new article in Palestine Today has the organizers of the Jordanian "Lifeline" group that was behind the initiative blaming Turkey for foiling their plans to sail to Gaza.

Apparently, their plan was to sail to Gaza from Turkey instead of Greece. This plan was meant to be a surprise. But the Turks would not allow them into port, instead forcing them to drop anchor three miles out to sea. (While they were there, a Jordanian passenger ship did go to Turkey to dock.)

The ship considered going to Gaza anyway, but now the Bulgarian crew's contract is up, and they want to get a Syrian crew now and perform some repairs. So the story is not completely over yet.

Latest Zionist weapon: Fenugreek seed slander

From The Media Line/Jerusalem Post:

When a European laboratory announced two weeks ago that an infected shipment of Egyptian fenugreek seeds was the source of an E. coli epidemic that killed 48 Germans and a Swede, the Egyptian agriculture minister didn’t apologize, nor did he call for an investigation into the matter.

The problem had nothing to do with Egypt, the minister, Ayman Abu-Hadid, told Egyptian press.

"Israel is waging a commercial war against Egyptian exports," he explained, and with that the case was closed.

Abu-Hadid isn’t the only minister in Egypt's post-revolutionary government to blame Israel for his country's woes. In June, Deputy Prime Minister Yehia El-Gamal told the Lebanese news site Al-Nashra that Israel was inciting sectarian strife between Muslims and Christians in the country.

..."Conspiracy theories are part of the texture of our culture," Hani Henry, a psychology professor at the American University in Cairo, told The Media Line. "Even if we have a democratic government, the problem will not go away."

I need to find out which division of Elders International is responsible for fenugreek seed rumors, so I can send them all Amazon gift cards. (That's how we roll here at the world headquarters of EoZ.)

(h/t IsraelMuse)

Hamas militant dies; Ma'an downplays circumstances

From Ma'an:

The military wing of Hamas, the Al-Qassam brigades, announced the death of one of their members Thursday in a tunnel collapse in the Gaza Strip.

The military wing told Ma'an that Muhammad Junid, 25, from Jabalia died at dawn on Thursday as a tunnel used for smuggling goods collapsed.

Did a Hamas terrorist die in a tunnel that was importing candy bars and car parts?

Let's see how the Al Qassam Brigades described the death. In English:

The brigades confirmed that the Mujahed was martyred during a special Jihad mission in Jabaliya refugee camp, adding that he was martyred after a long bright path of Jihad, hard work, struggle and sacrifice.

They might have made a mistake saying he was killed in Jabaliya rather than that he was from Jabaliya, but they make it clear it was a "jihad mission."

The Al Qassam website in Arabic puts it together: Junaid was killed in the collapse of a "resistance tunnel" - meaning a tunnel to smuggle in weapons from Egypt. Or, perhaps, he was killed in a tunnel in Jabaliya that is meant as a hideout for Hamas weapons and a means to travel underground between houses during the next war.

Either way, Ma'an is downplaying what happened.

Palestinian Arabs get FAR more aid per capita than anyone else

Based on data from the Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2011 that I linked to earlier, and their country population data, here is a chart showing - of the top 20 countries/entities that receive humanitarian aid - how much they get on a per-capita basis:

Are the Palestinian Arabs really an order of magnitude needier than those of practically every other country on the planet?

Top 20 recipients of humanitarian aid, 2000-2009. One entity gets a whole lot.

From the new Global Humanitarian Assistance Report 2011:

In absolute terms, Sudan receives the most aid and "Palestine" the second most (the gap is narrowing in recent years.)

But on a per-capita basis, the Palestinian Arabs receive about 9 times as much aid as the Sudanese do, and of course far more aid per capita than any other people on the planet.

Keep that in mind when the next mall, five star hotel or seaside resort opens in Gaza or the West Bank.

Or ask yourself whether Palestinian Arabs deserve 39 times the aid per capita that residents of the Congo receive.

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

What would an EoZ newsletter look like?

If I had unlimited time and funds, maybe I could put one of these out every day:

Free Gaza scraping the barrel to find fault with Israel's seizure of boat

The Free Gaza movement was sorely disappointed that no one was killed or injured by the IDF on the Dignity. So much so, that they had to find something else to complain about: Israel's disproportionate response!

After being brought back to the port of Ashdod, the passengers were transferred to a retention centre in the city of Holon next to Tel Aviv. They were visited by their lawyers and the French Consul in Tel Aviv before the Israeli authorities took to them to Tel Aviv airport where they spent the night.

The story of the boarding by Israeli journalist Amira Hass who was on board shows how disproportionate was the Israeli operation. 7 commando boats and 3 missile ships with 150 on board to stop 16 unarmed civilians on a 16 ms long boat.

The Israeli boarding happened in International waters is illegal. Even though no shot was fired, diverting a boat and its passengers under the threat of guns, with military boats, is an act of violence.

Let's redefine words in order to maintain our outrage!

Last time I stayed in a luxury hotel, I was attended to by the people on the front desk, a concierge, a bellboy, two waiters, a maid and a turndown service. That was a hugely disproportionate response to only one person staying in a hotel!

"Jewish gangs forcibly converting Christians in Iraq"

From MEMRI, quoting Iraqi daily Al-Mustaqbal:

"Iraqi Christians have revealed the presence of Jewish groups which specialize in operations for killing or expelling Christians from Iraq unless they convert to the Jewish religion. One Christian family said that Jewish groups are pressing toward converting Christian families to the Jewish religion in return for getting support and protection from the dangers that that the Christian minority has been exposed to, for not a short while.

"[The Christian family] made it clear that Jewish groups move and travel regularly under official cover that allows them to move around in areas and residential quarters where majority of Christians are found. Half of the members of that [said] family have emigrated to Turkey and a few are left behind. One of its members said: 'The pressures to which they are subjected to convert from Christianity to Judaism are enormous.'

"In light of what the Christian family has said, Iraqi national security agencies such as mukhabarat [intelligence service] and national security are making a swift pursuit in search of the Jews who spread out in Iraq under multiple covers and identities such as organizations of civil society and [commercial] companies. The source [not identified] has revealed that some Jews carry Kurdish identity cards issued by the Kurdish region. He said they follow various methods with the Christian families to convert some of them to the Jewish religion while those Iraqi Christians who have refused to cooperate with the Jews were killed, kidnapped, or expelled.

"According to the same source, some of the Jewish elements travelled in the past in American military vehicles but now they move in civilian vehicles some carrying the tags 'C.D' - diplomatic corps - and others move around in the capacity of private guards, security companies or investors. The source, who has refused to reveal his identity, said he was awaiting resettlement in one of the European countries [with the help of] Turkey that facilitates the resettlement of Iraqi Christians against large payments amounting to $20,000 per person.

"The source said that he would be meeting with the UN Office for Human Rights in Turkey in the next few weeks. After he receives approval for his resettlement he will reveal the names and characteristics [of those] that bargained with him and his family and other Christian families that he either knows or are relatives of his who reside in Baghdad.

"It is worth noting that the UN Human Rights Office in Turkey is headed by a Jewish employee."

Those Jews and their forced conversions! The circumcisions must be painful.

MEMRI wryly adds that "of the 150,000-strong, vibrant Jewish community that lived in Iraq for 2500 years there remain about 7 elderly individuals."

(I could not find a website for any Iraqi newspaper named Al-Mustaqbal, only a Lebanese paper.)

(h/t NormanF, link h/t Binyamin)

Gazans shut down UNRWA again

Palestine Today reports that Gazans blocked all the doors to UNRWA headquarters in Gaza City, shutting off all services. The reason? Because UNRWA has been reducing services.

There have been a lot of similar Palestinian Arab protests against UNRWA lately, which are all ignored by major media outlets.

Khaled Abu Toameh elaborates:

In recent weeks, UNRWA has come under attack from many Palestinians who fear that the international agency is planning to cut its services to the refugees.

UNRWA has in fact reduced some of its services to refugees – but only due to a $60 million budget deficit.

The reactions of both Hamas and the PLO show that neither party is willing to assume responsibility for the refugees in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

The two parties do not want to provide any services to the refugees, and want UNRWA to do the job for them. Their goal is to keep the refugees in their places so Hamas, the PLO and the rest of the Arab governments can continue exploiting their plight for political purposes.

The anti-UNRWA protests are aimed at extorting the agency and the international community into continuing to provide services and jobs to tens of thousands of Palestinians, exempting Hamas, the PLO and the Arab world from any responsibility.

Instead of threatening UNRWA, the PLO and Hamas should start thinking of ways to help the refugees to improve their living conditions and find jobs.

Instead of demonstrating in front of the UNRWA headquarters in the Gaza Strip, Palestinian refugees should be demanding that oil-rich Arab countries help them.

It is worth repeating that the PA and Hamas have not lifted a finger to dismantle "refugee" camps in territories under their control - inside the area of British Mandate Palestine! Instead of preparing their citizens in camps to be normal members of society, they have been ensuring that they remain second-class and living in misery; refusing to build permanent housing for them.

Saudi anti-witchcraft unit swings into action!

From The Media Line:

When the severed head of a wolf wrapped in women's lingerie turned up near the city of Tabouk in northern Saudi Arabia this week, authorities knew they had another case of witchcraft on their hands, a capital offence in the ultra-conservative desert kingdom.

Agents of the country’s Anti-Witchcraft Unit were quickly dispatched and set about trying to break the spell that used the beast’s head.

Saudi Arabia takes witchcraft so seriously that it has banned The Harry Potter series by British writer J.K. Rowling, rife with tales of sorcery and magic. It set up the Anti-Witchcraft Unit in May 2009 and placed it under the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice (CPV), Saudi Arabia's religious police.

"In accordance with our Islamic tradition we believe that magic really exists," Abdullah Jaber, a political cartoonist at the Saudi daily Al-Jazirah, told The Media Line. "The fact that an official body, subordinate to the Saudi Ministry of Interior, has a unit to combat sorcery proves that the government recognizes this, like Muslims worldwide."

The unit is charged with apprehending sorcerers and reversing the detrimental effects of their spells. On the CPV website, a hotline encourages citizens across the kingdom to report cases of sorcery to local officials for immediate treatment.

In the case of the wolf's head, the Anti-Witchcraft Unit in Tabouk was able to break the spell. The Saudi daily Okaz reported on Monday that the unknown family that had fallen victim to the spell had been "liberated from the jaws of the wolf.”

The Anti-Witchcraft Unit was created in order to educate the public about the danger of sorcerers and "combat manifestations of polytheism and reliance on other Gods," the Saudi Press Agency (SPA) reported.

The belief in sorcery is so widespread in Saudi Arabia, that it is even used as a defense in criminal court cases. Last October, a judge accused of receiving bribes in a real-estate project told a court in Madinah that he had been bewitched and is undergoing treatment by Quranic incantations, known as ruqiyah, a common remedy for the evil eye.

...Belief in sorcery is not necessarily more widespread in Saudi Arabia than in other Gulf countries, Wilcke added. On Monday, the Emirati daily Al-Khaeej reported that Dubai police had arrested an Arab African national on charges of fraud and sorcery, after he charged 15,000 Dirham ($4,000) from a woman whose husband had left her, promising to bring him back using magic.