Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, October 23, 2011

Iran gives up gold medal in Kurash to avoid facing Israeli

From Iran's PressTV:

Iran's national Kurash team has finished as the runner-up in the 8th World Senior Kurash Championships held in the city of Termez, Uzbekistan.

The Iranian nationals bagged one gold, two silver, and three bronze medals to secure its second place, IRNA reported on Sunday. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan stood on first and third places respectively.

While Hojjat Rahnama snatched gold for the Iranian team in the -90 kg category, Saeed Khosravi refused to face a contestant representing the Zionist regime in the final round of the +100 kg category and earned a valuable silver medal.

Two other Iranian contestants also opted against facing the Zionist representatives.

The four-day long games, held in eight weight categories, began on October 19, 2011.

Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling, native to Uzbeks, practiced since ancient times.

The Uzbekistan National News Agency fills in:

The 10th Hakim at-Termizi international tournament in kurash for the prize of the President of Uzbekistan and the 8th international kurash championship among adults completed in Termez, Surkhandarya region.

Athletes from over 40 countries participated in the events, which were devoted to the 20th anniversary of state independence of Uzbekistan.

Grigory Rudelson from Israel, Nojat Rahmajozan from iran and Shuhratjon Arslandov from Uzbekistan won the titles of the world champions among men.

I admit I had never heard of this sport before today, but at the risk of ruffling feathers of the Israeli leftists by acting Zionist....go Israel!

The part of UNGA 194 that the Arabs ignore

Palestinian Arabs and their supporters never cease to point to UN General Assembly Resolution 194 as proof that there is a legal "right to return" for Palestinian Arab refugees of 1948 and their descendants. There are lots of arguments proving that this is invalid - not the least being that UNGA resolutions are not legally binding as well as the conditional nature of the text.

But, astoundingly, the very same paragraph in UNGA 194 also demands the resettlement of Arab refugees in Arab states!

The part of 194 that is always quoted is this one:

Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;

But the second clause of the same paragraph says this:

Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;

The Conciliation Commission definitely interpreted this clause as meaning resettlement in Arab countries.

During the Paris Conference in 1951 (UN document A/1985), the Commission emphasized that taking the "return" portion of UNGA 194 in isolation is not what the resolution intended:

In the Chairman's statement it was noted that experience had shown that concentration on one or the other isolated paragraph of the resolution out of context had not helped in the promotion of peace in Palestine. All the elements were necessary, but they were useful only if linked together according to an over-all plan. For example, the resolution instructed the Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and rehabilitation of refugees, and that instruction had not been forgotten by the Commission when it drafted the proposals for the conference.

And what was meant by "resettlement"?

The solution of the refugee problem proposed by the Commission envisaged the repatriation and integration of some of the refugees in Israel and the resettlement of others in Arab countries.

Keep in mind that Israel offered to accept a portion of the refugees at the time, in full compliance with the resolution, but in context of the other parts of the resolution that were necessary to ensure a full peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

So while it is true that UNGA 194 has no relevance today, those who insist that it is still the basis for the "right of return" need to explain why Arab states have been ignoring its other requirement, that Palestinian Arab refugees who desire to live in Arab countries be allowed to be resettled there.

Their failure to do so is yet another example of Arab hypocrisy.

Will Turkey accept Israeli offer for earthquake aid?

From YNet:

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit near Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday near the border with Iran, Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Research Institute said. Between 500 and 1,000 are feared dead.

The institute said the earthquake struck at 10:41 am GMT and was 5 kilometers (three miles) deep. The US Geological Survey earlier reported that the magnitude was 7.6.

State-run news agency Anatolian said some buildings had collapsed. After shocks continued after the initial quake, Anatolian said.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz has instructed the army to get ready to aid Turkey in coping with the powerful quake. Gantz said that an IDF delegation will head to Turkey once it receives approval from the government.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked the head of the Political-Military Affairs section at the ministry, Amos Gilad to offer Turkey "all the help in needs".

Israel has helped Turkey after other quakes, but that was before the current chill in relations between the two countries.

The question is, has Turkey become so antagonistic towards Israel that they will spurn Israel's offer to help, the way Iran habitually does? If Turkey's rulers hate Israel more than they care about the lives of their people, that would tell us a mot about how important it is to try to bridge that diplomatic gap.

Arab League leader: If Egyptians don't want peace with Israel, rip up Camp David

Egypt should cut ties with Israel if the Egyptian people want it, according to the leader of the Arab League.

Nabil al-Arabi, secretary general of the League of Arab States, said at a economic conference yesterday that "if the Egyptian people request to break off relations with Israel, the government should accept."

He added that he personally doesn't think it is a good idea, but he said that the peace treaty must be "balanced" and not favor one side or the other.

Perhaps he is right. Israel should demand half of the Sinai back so that the peace deal is more balanced. After all, isn't it rather one-sided when only Egypt gained anything concrete while Israel received nothing but promises - promises that could be canceled on the whim of the Egyptian people?

Islamist party expected to win Tunisian elections

From AP:

Tunisians began voting Sunday in their first truly free elections, the culmination of a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule and set off similar rebellions across the Middle East.

Voters — women with headscarves and without, former political prisoners, young people whose Facebook posts helped fuel the revolution — are electing members of an assembly that will appoint a new government and then write a new constitution. They're definitively turning the page on the 23-year presidency of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown by a monthlong uprising on Jan. 14 stirred by anger at unemployment, corruption and repression.

The party expected to come out on top, Ennahda, is a moderate Islamic party whose victory, especially in a comparatively secular society like Tunisia, could have wide implications for similar religious parties in the region.

In May, The New York Times reported that a lot of Tunisians were frightened of this "moderate" Islamic party:

Mistrust of the party remains widespread. “They’re doing doublespeak, and everyone knows it,” said Ibrahim Letaief, a radio host at Mosaique FM, a popular station where he offers withering criticism of the Islamists. Ennahda, he said, has only tempered its rhetoric in a bid to win votes, but in power would impose strict Islamic law.

It is a common refrain here, despite having first been popularized by the reviled Mr. Ben Ali. Opponents have made similar claims, anti-Ennahda Facebook groups have drawn tens of thousands of supporters, and protesters have denounced the party throughout Tunisia. Some of the fear seems to stem from uncertainty about who, exactly, will lead the party; the group’s longtime leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, has said he will not seek office.

A democratic Tunisia depends on the banning of Ennahda, Mr. Letaief said, though he acknowledged, “I’m not going to seem democratic, here.” Still, he said, “Islam is very much anchored in society.”

The first article of the now-suspended Tunisian Constitution decreed Islam the national faith, and 98 percent of the country’s 10.6 million inhabitants are Muslim. Public schools dispense religious instruction. Yet religious leaders have never played a role in government.

Ennahda's leader acknowledged that the party may attempt to ban alcohol in the future.

Tunisia is in the vanguard of the Arab Spring and it is more unified and tolerant than most other Arab nations. If it falls to Islamism, it would be a very bad sign as to what may happen in other Arab states.

At this time, Ennahda is expected to win a plurality but not the majority of votes, forcing it to create a coalition.

Grapel may be in Egyptian prison for two more months

From Ma'an/AFP:

Egypt and Israel are adding the "final touches" to a deal to swap an Israel-American detained in Cairo for Egyptian prisoners detained in Israel, the official MENA news agency said on Saturday.

"MENA has learned that the final touches are currently being made for a deal to swap Israeli spy Ilan Grapel, accused of spying on Egypt for Israel, for about 16 Egyptian prisoners and three detained children," MENA reported.

Later Saturday, Egyptian state-owned daily Al Ahram reported that Egypt had secured agreement for 20 - 30 Egyptian prisoners be returned in exchanged for Grapel, citing a MENA report.

Al Ahram said the deal is likely to take place after a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel concludes in two months, citing an Egyptian diplomatic source.

This is in contrast with earlier reports that the Grapel deal was imminent.

It sounds like Hamas pressured Egypt to link the Grapel deal with the Shalit deal. There is no logical relationship between the two.

And, again, no word about whether Israeli Bedouin Ouda Tarabin, who is also unjustly accused of being an Israeli spy, will be included in the deal. It would be tragic if Israel is ignoring Tarabin's plight.

Palestine Today talked with one of the terrorists released in the Shalit deal, Khaled Gaidi.

Gaidi was sentenced to two life terms in Israel in 1986. (The article says he was sentenced to 4 life terms.)

He claims to have been behind the murders of three Israelis. I could only confirm two of the victims.

One was Haim Azran, 32, a resident of Ashkelon who was stabbed as he shopped in a market in Gaza in September 1986. Yasir Arafat's Force 17 took credit at the time for that attack.

Yisrael Kitaro was a 43-year old taxi driver also from Ashkelon, was similarly stabbed to death in Gaza in October 1986 as he took his car to a garage for repairs.

Gaidi, who is now a member of Islamic Jihad, claims to also have killed another man, Abraham Abu Ghosh.

Gaidi now brags that it only cost three shekels to buy the knife that killed three Israelis.

He called on Fatah to stop negotiations, saying the "the enemy only understands the language of force and Jihad."

"Hawkish" Netanyahu offers partial building freeze, "moderate" PLO rejects it

From Ma'an:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to partially freeze West Bank settlement building if it will bring the PLO back to direct talks, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

But the PLO said it was unaware of any such offer, and said that anything short of a full freeze would not be acceptable.

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu's offer was made on Wednesday in talks with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.

During the meeting, which came a day after she held talks with President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah, Holguin told Netanyahu that Abbas desperately needed a symbolic gesture on settlements if he was to return to negotiations, a senior Israeli official told the paper.

In response, Netanyahu said he would be "ready to make such a gesture if it would return Abbas to the negotiating table" and agreed to freeze all government-sponsored construction and all building on state land.

But he said he would not agree to freeze settlement activity by private developers on privately owned land -- which, according to a recent Palestinian study, constitutes around 80 percent of settlement activity.

The official said the offer would test whether or not Abbas was serious about returning to direct negotiations.

"Netanyahu said he was ready to test Abbas by making the gesture regarding settlements. 'If Abbas is serious about negotiations, he will renew direct talks,' Netanyahu said."

The Israeli official said the new proposal was relayed to Abbas on Wednesday, but PLO official Saeb Erekat on Friday said it was the first they had heard of it, and insisted that only a full halt to settlement, including in annexed East Jerusalem, would suffice.

"We want to hear officially from the Israeli government that they accept to stop settlement on all Palestinian lands, including in Jerusalem and natural growth, and to recognize the 1967 borders," Erekat told AFP.

Notice the precondition that has been added, almost unnoticed by the Western media, that Israel accept the so-called 1967 borders.

And, sure enough, Erekat showed his intransigence and unwillingless to compromise when the offer became official:

PLO official Saeb Erekat has rejected the distinction between government and private construction in Israeli settlements, the premise of Israel's "offer" for a partial building freeze reported by Israeli media on Friday.

Notice how Ma'an put the word "offer" iin scare quotes, as if Netanyahu isn't serious. Of course, there is an easy way to find out if he is - by accepting negotiations.

Will we be seeing any NYT editorials excoriating the PLO for their refusal to go back to the negotiating table?

Ha!

Egyptian Spring: Man jailed for insulting Islam on Facebook

From AFP:

An Egyptian court has sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported.

A Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule online".

The court said his insults were "aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner," the agency reported.

He was arrested in August after police tracked him down through his internet address.

Egyptian law bans insults to religion. The law has been used in the past to try Shiite Muslims.

The specific law states:

Whoever exploits religion in order to promote extremist ideologies by word of mouth, in writing or in any other manner, with a view to stirring up sedition, disparaging or holding in contempt any divine religion or its adherents, or endangering national unity, shall be punished with imprisonment for between six months and five years or a fine of at least LE500.

Do you think that any Egyptian has ever been prosecuted for anti-semitism. which this law would ostensibly make illegal?

Chag Sameach part 2

Because of the final leg of this month's never-ending Jewish holidays, I will not be blogging until at least Saturday night.

Have a great remainder of the "yuntif"!

(h/t Bronfman Center at NYU via email)

BDS organizers get sued by Lebanese businessman!

From Al Akhbar:

Lebanese anti-Israel activists are being sued by a concert promoter for their boycott campaign against a popular British rock group.

Samah Idriss, director of Dar al-Adab publishing house, received a court summons this Thursday from Beirut's commerce court. Idriss is implicated in a lawsuit for his involvement in a Lebanese boycott campaign against the British rock group Placebo last year. Jihad el-Murr, who heads the company that organized the event, filed the suit on 10 July 2011.

El-Murr is suing Idriss, as well as three other groups involved in the campaign: the Aidoun Refugee Rights Center, the Campaign to Boycott the Supporters of Israel in Lebanon, and the Global BDS Campaign in Lebanon. El-Murr, a self-described famous businessman from a prominent family, is demanding US$180,000 compensation for his company’s financial losses allegedly caused by the boycott campaign.

Lebanese activists called for the boycott in protest of Placebo's performance in Tel Aviv four days before their concert in Beirut, that was scheduled for 9 June 2010 at the Forum de Beirut. Only in July 2011, a year after the event took place, did el-Murr notice the ‘financial losses’ he claims were caused by the campaign. He called the campaign against cultural normalization with Israel both “malicious and deceptive.” El-Murr argues that the 1955 Lebanese law supporting a limited boycott of Israel does not apply to the Placebo concert. “The famous rock band does not even deal with politics,” he added.

El Murr described the boycotts as "ridiculous" last year.

Placebo played in Israel on June 5th, and they did play in Beirut on June 9

It does not appear that the boycott effort in Lebanon had any effect because the concert hall in Beirut looks pretty full to me:

Which is a win-win - the Lebanese roundly ignored the BDSers and the only way for the BDSers to counter the lawsuit would be for them to admit that their efforts were fruitless!

(h/t Dan)

Where on Earth could this be?

Here is a photo of a pretty nice looking school. Do you know where it is?

It is in Ras al-Amud, an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, and it is one of the many Arab schools that Israel is spending millions building and upgrading.

From Israel21c:

When the 2011-2012 school year began in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, millions of shekels in sparkling new or renewed classrooms, computers and sports facilities greeted 42,153 students and their teachers.

Many of the 59 public schools approved and budgeted under the Jerusalem Education Authority of the Ministry of Education have been neglected, undersupplied or overcrowded for decades. Since taking office in November 2008, Mayor Nir Barkat has been implementing improvements to get these facilities on par with schools in the western sector of the city, says Stephan Miller, advisor to Jerusalem's mayor.

"The mayor and municipal professionals work regularly with members of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem through the leadership of the community centers as well as organized groups of residents such as the Mayor's Forum of Eastern Jerusalem Principals and the Mayor's Forum for Welfare in Eastern Jerusalem," Miller tells ISRAEL21c.

"The completion of the Mayor's plan will lead to a significant change in education in eastern Jerusalem."

New schools, including approximately 200 classrooms, have been built in the eastern part of the city. The municipality is currently investing the unprecedented sum of NIS 300 million (about $69 million) in the planning and construction of 285 additional new classrooms for Arab schoolchildren.

This year alone, 42 new classrooms will be opened in new buildings, 18 at the start of the year and the remainder in coming months. Six additional kindergarten classrooms were completed in time for September, including one for special education. In addition, more than 40 public school classrooms were renovated and adapted to pupils' needs, with emphasis on the Shoafat refugee area in northeast Jerusalem.

The municipality also built new sports facilities in south central Beit Tzafafa and in Isawiya in the northeast.

Another NIS 750,000 (more than $170,000) per year has been approved for programs to advance gifted and outstanding pupils, strengthen girls' education and reduce school violence. An additional NIS 1.5 million is newly designated for the public schools' organizational expenditures.

The municipality and the Education Ministry have shared costs for these initiatives, says Miller, and further upgrades are still to come.

"As you can imagine, from vision to construction takes time, and the mayor has moved swiftly since taking office to fast-track these plans," says Miller, "which is why they are ready so early in his first term."

New classrooms wouldn't be as valuable without updated equipment inside them. So with the assistance of Israeli branches of companies such as Ernst & Young and Intel, the municipality rang in the new school year by distributing 1,720 mobile and desktop computers to schools, kindergartens and teachers in eastern Jerusalem.

An additional 350 new donated computers were given to schoolchildren to take home.

There was more good news for teachers: Seven classrooms in six schools in the eastern part of the city were converted into technologically sophisticated learning centers with the installation of interactive whiteboards, which can display educational software, web sites, past lessons and other features. Teachers and principals alike have been receiving computer training courses to maximize their use of these new tools.

"We are committed to investing in eastern Jerusalem and reducing the gaps, which are the result of years of neglect," said Barkat upon announcing the improvements at the start of September. "We cannot countenance a situation in which Jerusalem pupils have no classrooms, roads or basic infrastructures. These investments will lead to an increase in residents' quality of life."

If you want to have fun, ask people who claim to be "pro-Palestinian" if they support Israel improving Arab schools in Jerusalem.

By the way, it is possible that the school pictured above is the same one where, before construction, archaeologists found a handle with the name "Menachem" inscribed on it in Hebrew.

(h/t Cheryl)