Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, May 21, 2014

PreOccupied Territory: Obama Defends Inaction On Syria Chemical Attacks: 'Never Said Simon Says'

More from the humor site PreOccupied Territory:

Washington, DC, May 19 - President Obama hit back at critics of his policy on the Syrian civil war today, insisting that he never committed to getting the US directly involved in the conflict even if Basher Assad's forces crossed the "red line" of using chemical weapons, as nowhere in his statements on the conflict did he invoke the no-turning-back phrase "Simon says."

Despite repeated violations of international law by forces loyal to the Syrian president, the international community, especially the US, has been reluctant to commit militarily to the rebels, a significant number of whom are jihadist groups that could threaten American interests. Foreseeing such complications, Obama specifically avoided uttering "Simon says" when addressing Assad, knowing that refraining from the invocation of Simon would leave him with the political and diplomatic wiggle room to opt for letting Assad continue to slaughter his people unimpeded.

Deaths from the Syrian civil war now number more than 160,000, and the number of refugees now exceeds three million. Neighboring countries find their resources strained in handling the exodus, and the United Nations refugee agency lacks the funds and material to tend to the influx properly. Rebels and refugee representatives were incensed that the American president avoided providing serious military aid, but upon hearing his explanation that he never actually mouthed the words "Simon says" in directing Assad to stop committing atrocities, they conceded that Assad could not be expected to comply.

"We get it," said Ahmad Fatuh, a father of six at a refugee camp in Jordan. "I understand now, and it's OK. I thought maybe the deaths of four of my children could serve as poignant markers in the struggle for liberation from a tyrant, but Obama never actually said the magic words. That means there's no ethical bond obligating the US to act to protect the victims. We're cool with that."

In a related development, the United Nation Security Council opened a session on the Syrian conflict. The session began with US Ambassador Susan Rice and British Ambassador Mark Lyall Grant trying to be the first to call, "Not It!"

05/21 Links Pt1: Letting go of Abbas; Oslo Cost 933Bil Shekels; In Iran, You Can’t Be ‘Happy’

From Ian:

Caroline Glick: Letting go of Abbas

The time has come for Israel to show Abbas the door. It would be best if we can do it quietly – offering him the opportunity to relocate to somewhere warm and retain all the loot he and his cronies have siphoned off for their personal use.
Once Abbas is gone, Israel will have to choose between applying its laws to parts of Judea and Samaria and offering the Palestinians outside those areas a limited form of autonomy, or applying its laws to the entire region, conferring permanent residency status on the Palestinians and offering them the right to apply for Israeli citizenship.
Alarmists argue that without Abbas, Israel will go broke having to finance the Palestinian budget. But this is ridiculous.
Once you subtract the hundreds of millions of dollars that go missing every year, and you take into account that Israel managed to govern the areas for 24 years, you realize that this is just one more empty threat – like the demographic threat – made by people who have no political existence without the façade of a peace process.
Abbas is not an asset. He is a liability. It is time to move past him. (h/t Bob Knot)

The Price of Oslo – 933 Billion Shekels and Counting

The failed attempt at regional peacemaking known as the Oslo Process has cost the state of Israel over 900 billion shekels – more than $250 billion – since 1993, and the costs keeps rising, according to a study by the Likud party's Jewish Leadership faction, which is headed by MK Moshe Feiglin (Likud-Beytenu).
By comparison, the total state budget for 2014 has been set at about 400 billion shekels, or about $115 billion.
The numbers came as a shock to the researchers, who recently gave a much lower estimate of the total financial costs of the botched endeavor.

White House Puts New Lipstick on Old Pig a/k/a Unity Government

An anonymous senior White House official allegedly told the left-wing Israeli newspaper Haaretz that the U.S. would cooperated with a Palestinian Unity Government, despite the participation of the terrorist group Hamas.
The way the Unity Government is being promoted, it will be run by “technocrats” and not by representatives of Hamas or Fatah. How anyone appointed by the two parties will not be members of those two parties is difficult to understand, but that is the confection being promoted by those involved, and it is eagerly being ingested by the Americans and others – including 28 European Union foreign ministers – interested in moving forward “peace talks” which also have little grounding in reality.
The Unity Government is allegedly going to be put in place next week.

At a Knesset debate over incitement and violence against Christian recruits for the IDF today, member of Knesset Basel Ghattas insulted and threatened the priest who leads that movement.

Ghattas, a Christian MK of the Balad party, became incensed when Father Gabriel Nadaf arrived to testify. He had to be physically restrained as he hurled insults and threats, saying that Nadaf was a "traitor scum" and a Shabak agent.

Let that sink in: An Arab member of Israel's Knesset is threatening a priest who advocated Christians join the country's army. If joining the army is treasonous to the Arab cause, then what is joining the Knesset? Beyond that, it is beyond belief that the Knesset can tolerate such behavior and attitudes.

Father Nadaf said that Ghattas' words were tantamount to a threat on his life, saying "We all know how Arabs treat traitors. And we know what happened to Yitzchak Rabin when he was branded a traitor."

Christians at the hearing testified about the threats that they have received, Father Nadaf was threatened to be skinned and a "WANTED" poster was circulated offering hundreds of thousands of dollars to kill Nadaf and other Arab Christian Zionists.

Knesset members said that not enough was being done to protect the Christians who support their nation's army, and also that Father Nadaf's protection should be increased as well.

(h/t Yoel)

US might turn a blind eye to Hamas in PA as Hamas says it strengthens "resistance"

Haaretz reported on Monday:

Despite Israel’s position, the U.S. administration is tending toward cooperating with the soon-to-be-formed Palestinian unity government, even if Hamas as an organization does not accept the conditions of the Mideast Quartet to recognize Israel, honor previous agreements and abandon violence.

A senior White House official told Haaretz that as long as the platform of the future government meets the conditions of the Quartet - the United Nations, the United States, the European Union and Russia - the U.S. will be satisfied.

“We want a Palestinian government that upholds those principles,” said the White House official. “In terms of how they build this government, we are not able to orchestrate that for the Palestinians. We are not going to be able to engineer every member of this government.”

On Tuesday, Hamas political leader Khaled Meshal gave a speech in Doha, where he said that national unity "is not a substitute for resistance but it meant to strengthen it."

It is clear that the impending unity government will put on one face to the West and another one to Palestinian Arabs.

As long as the West and the Quartet want to believe the lies, they will.

Divestment fails at UW by lopsided 59-8-11 vote

Last night, the University of Washington voted on their version of a divestment resolution, which said in part:

WHEREAS, the state of Israel, in its ongoing occupation of Palestinian lands , violates International Law and Human Rights…

BE IT RESOLVED BY THE ASSOCIATED STUDENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF WASHINGTON: THAT, the ASUW requests the University of Washington to examine its financial assets to identify its investments in companies that provide equipment or services used to directly maintain, support, or profit from the Israeli occupation of Palestinian land, including a) the demolition of Palestinian homes and the development of illegal Israeli settlements; b) the building or maintenance of the Separation wall, outposts, and segregated roads and transportation systems on occupied Palestinian territory, and c) illegal use of weaponry and surveillance technology by the Israeli military against Palestinian civilian populations, and that those findings be shared with the ASUW…

THAT, the ASUW requests the University of Washington to instruct its investment managers to divest from those companies meeting such criteria within the bounds of their fiduciary duties until such companies cease the practices identified in this Resolution.

The resolution was co-sponsored by Peter Brannan, a 31-year old senior (not a typo, he graduated high school in 2001) and an Arab of Palestinian descent named Amira Mattar.

The main organization pushing the resolution was SUPER-UW, which put together a 68 page booklet with letters of support from dozens of academics and other Israel haters across the country. The initiative was started on Passover to steamroll over objections of Jewish students who actually care about the holiday. They got Seattle alternative newspapers to write articles in their favor. As usual, supporters of Israel had to organize quickly to counter a well-planned campaign of lies.

Here's what happened:

As the Senate plodded through new business, the tension in the room was palpable. By 7:00 pm the AAA committee met in the foyer to hear final arguments and questions. After a brief pro and con and questions session, the committee voted to deliver the resolution to the senate “unfavorably”. This means that the AAA committee frowned upon the legislation but nevertheless was presenting it to the full senate.

At around 7:20 pm the senate reconvened. Those who wished to advocate for the resolution were told to gather in the right aisle, those in opposition to the left. For the next hour and a half the room was subject to a whiplash of perspectives. The pro students offered the usual BDS arguments, mired in stories of personal anguish “my grandfather can’t get his transfusions because of the wall”, Matrix style stories “Arabs and Jews are assigned different bio-metric cards courtesy of HP and Motorola”, and outright lies “The reliable website Mondoweiss reported today that the Israelis ripped out 15,000 dunams of Apple and Pear trees”. One of the most far-fetched assertions of many was the description of huge Caterpillar Tractor war machines (“15 times bigger than a regular tractor”) armed with offensive missile batteries.

There were at least as many students representing the pro-Israel side as there were BDS supporters. The pro-Israel students prepared well and their arguments seem to have resonated with the senators. One student expressed frustration at the unwillingness of the BDS side to enter into dialogue.

“We all support human rights, justice, and fair treatment for all people. I support fair treatment of Palestinians. But this resolution is one-sided, it does nothing to bring the parties together for dialogue. It actually opposes dialogue. And though we’ve tried to talk to the other side, the other side has refused to talk with us.”

One of the highlights of the evening was an articulate statement against the resolution made by UW Sociology professor,Paul Burstein. The professor was the only pro-Israel speaker who called out the BDS resolution as anti-Semitic. He suggested the resolution framers were less than honest as to their goals, and that their true intention was the end of Israel as a Jewish majority state. Pointing out that the resolution demanded nothing tangible of the students or the university, he described it as just an easy way to manipulate the students to appear to support the sponsor’s twisted agenda.

The debate wound to a close around 9:30pm as the President of the senate suggested that the maintenance staff would soon need to service the auditorium. Final tally 59 against, 8 in favor and 11 abstentions.

There was some scattered applause as the final tally was counted, but no gloating came from the pro-Israel side. Most merely heaved a sigh of relied that the battle for now, was won.

As students exited the auditorium, 27 BDS supporters, signs in hand stood outside the auditorium exit in a semi-circle, forcing attendees to walk through their gauntlet as they stood in silent, mournful disapproval.

This wasn't just a defeat - this was a rout.

This year was supposed to be the year of divestment. The BDSers planned to pass many resolutions at universities across the country, and they targeted the most liberal and sympathetic campuses they could. In nearly every case, they lost.

The fact that it happened in one of the most leftist areas of the country, near where Rachel Corrie lived, speaks volumes on how BDS has lost steam in places it formerly appeared to be dominating.

US soldier shot and killed in Jordan

From Stars and Stripes:

A 19-year-old American infantryman deployed to Jordan died in an Amman hospital Saturday of a gunshot wound, said a spokeswoman for Fort Carson, Colorado, where the soldier was based.

Spc. Adrian M. Perkins of Pine Valley, California, was shot at a Jordanian military base and died at the King Hussein Medical Center, spokeswoman Daneta Johnson said.

No further information about the circumstances of the incident was provided.

“The cause of death is under investigation,” Lt. Col. Steve Wollman, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command, said in a statement.

In a news release, the Pentagon described Perkins’ injuries as “noncombat-related” and said he was in Jordan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom, the U.S.-led war in Afghanistan.

Jordan has more than 1,000 military personnel deployed to Afghanistan, according to the International Security Assistance Force, the top NATO command in Afghanistan.

At the same time, roughly 1,000 U.S. personnel are stationed in Jordan “to support our mutual objectives, develop capacity, and provide military assistance to the Jordanian armed forces,” Wollman said.

Perkins, who entered the Army in August 2012 as an infantryman, deployed to Jordan in October as a member of Fort Carson’s 1st Battalion, 67th Armor Regiment, 2nd Armored Brigade Combat Team, 4th Infantry Division. His awards include the Army Achievement Medal and decorations related to his service in the Army and overseas.

Doesn't it sound like there is more to this story?

He was killed Saturday. If it was an accident, either self-inflicted or from another soldier, it should be pretty clear by now what happened. If it wasn't an accident, this is not the sort of story that should be buried. (Suicides are also often classified as "death from non-combat related injuries".)

You can be sure of one thing: if a US serviceman was killed in Israel, this would be all over the news. Not to mention accusations of a cover-up over waiting 2-3 days to release the news, and rumors that Israel did it on purpose.

05/20 Links Pt2: 74% of French Jews mulling emigration; Did Indian election eviscerate BDS?

From Ian:

Recognition of Jewish indigenous rights to Eretz Yisrael

Last night, I learned some great lessons. I learned them from my dear friend, Ryan Mervin, who spoke to us about his impressions of Israel where he has just spent a couple of weeks.
Ryan is a Canadian. More precisely, he is a Meti or what he defines himself as, a member of Canada’s indigenous population. Ryan crystallized to many of us here why it is important for us, Jews, to recognize, define and proclaim ourselves as the Indigenous population of Eretz Yisrael (The Land of Yisrael, AKA Palestine, its arbitrary name, by some).
What struck me most about Ryan’s lecture was the fact that the term “indigenous” is not just about blood quantum which is the amount of blood used to determine an individual’s tribal affiliation and legal rights. According to him, it is also determined, among some other factors, by the preservation and management of Holy sites. And if there is one aspect of our indigenous status that we Jews are good at, it is certainly the way we revere and manage our Holy Sites, some of which are thousands of years old.

74% of French Jews mulling emigration, poll shows

The survey, whose results were released Monday by the Paris-based Siona organization of Sephardic French Jews, encompassed 3,833 respondents from the Jewish community of France, Siona said.
Of the 74.2 percent of respondents who said they are considering leaving, 29.9 percent cited anti-Semitism. Another 24.4 cited their desire to “preserve their Judaism,” while 12.4 percent said they were attracted by other countries. “Economic considerations” was cited by 7.5 percent of the respondents.
In total, 95.2 percent of all respondents to the online survey conducted by Siona from April 17 to May 16 said they viewed anti-Semitism as “very worrisome” or “worrisome.”

Did Indian election eviscerate BDS?

Keep reading. The second-most populous nation in the world will be rapidly expanding trade with Israel and looks to Israel as a political model.
The anti-Israel Mondoweiss website has the same analysis Shalom Modi: India and Israel look to deepen ties following victory of the Hindu right.
The Indian election was accompanied by news of expanded Israel-China academic research ties.
The heart of BDS is in Europe. But Israel’s economy increasingly is looking East, not West. Europe still matters tremendously, but it will be less so in the coming decade.

From Haaretz:

In the dysfunctional state of Israeli-Palestinian relations, the “nuclear option” for the Palestinians would be joining the International Criminal Court as a member state and exercising that membership to launch war crimes investigations against Israel. At least, that’s the view of many in Israel, which, like the United States, is not a member of the ICC.

But to judge by comments made by the ICC’s former chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo — who, even two years after leaving his post in The Hague, remains the controversial court’s most persuasive advocate — Israel has little to worry about.

Last week, on his first visit to Israel, Moreno-Ocampo was full of praise for the local legal system and eager to point out that joining the ICC could backfire for the Palestinians. “Being here in Israel is not liking talking about international justice in Boston or Sweden,” said Moreno-Ocampo, who was here as a guest of the Fried-Gal Transitional Justice Initiative at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem’s law school. “The issues here are not academic.”

But he isn’t at all sure that if the Palestinian Authority were to join the ICC — or if Israel were to join, for that matter — the international court would actually play an active role in the conflict.

The ICC’s job is to investigate and prosecute only in cases in which the local legal system is not performing. “In a dictatorship they can make you disappear and kill you,” said Moreno-Ocampo. “But here, even if the situation is awful, you cannot disappear; you have the rule of law.”

Eugene Kontorovich, in an essay in NRO last year, expands on this:

The ICC has never accepted a situation referred by a member state against a non-member state. Moreover, the ICC has been understood to be a court for dealing with the world’s worst atrocities. Thus it has never pursued crimes that did not involve large-scale murder and extreme brutality. Finally, no international criminal tribunal, from Nuremberg on, has ever prosecuted anyone for settlement activity, despite an abundance of potential targets from Morocco to Indonesia. Thus an ICC investigation, let alone an actual prosecution, would be unprecedented and mark a significant departure from the practice of the court.

Moreover, the ICC simply does not have jurisdiction under the terms of its statute. Since Israel is not a member state, the court could have jurisdiction over its officials only if the settlements were on Palestinian sovereign territory. They are not.

The borders of Palestine, like those of Israel, remain uncertain and disputed. Even the General Assembly’s statehood resolution did not purport to establish borders (which is not part of statehood recognition anyway), and in fact recognized that the territory of Palestine remains to be negotiated. Even if there is territory over which the Palestinian government has clear control (Ramallah, for example), all the settlements fall in the most disputed territory, with the vast majority of construction taking place within a few miles of the 1949 Armistice Line.

..Finally, the court can pursue only “grave” instances of the crimes within its jurisdiction — the worst of the worst. This has thus far been confined to contexts of mass atrocities, involving at least thousands of innocent victims. Settlements may be internationally reviled, but they are not massacres of civilians, or the use of little kids as cannon fodder, crimes with which the ICC has dealt thus far, and it would both trivialize and politicize the ICC to treat them as such. To be sure, some activists have argued for loosening the gravity requirement to include actions upsetting to the international community — specifically to facilitate the prosecution of Western nationals. If the building of houses for civilians constitutes a grave crime, surely a series of errant drone strikes could qualify (Afghanistan is already a member).

A newspaper known to support Turkish president Erdogan is claiming that Jews are behind the disaster that killed hundreds of miners last week.

Yeni Akit, an Islamist paper, says it has revealed Jewish connections with a number of officials of the company that runs the mine.

It says that the original names of some of the members of the Asafra family that are involved in the company were originally Jewish, and they changed them to sound more Turkish (for example, Izak changed to Izzet.)

Some other equally tenuous connections to Jews are mentioned, such as business relationships between company officials and Jews.

None of this would make headlines unless the publisher assumes that Turkey is an antisemitic country.

(h/t Yoel)

05/20 Links Pt1: Pope to meet anti-Jewish PA Mufti; Palestinians Unite to Preserve Corruption

From Ian:

Jpost Editorial: Still on the map

Nevertheless, it is difficult to ignore the celebratory atmosphere that has taken over the nation since last night’s upset. Israel is once again “on the map,” to borrow from Tal Brody’s legendary statement after the 1977 victory over CSKA. President Shimon Peres called to congratulate Maccabi’s players, joking that they nearly gave him a heart attack. Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu urged Blatt to stay on as Maccabi’s coach. Thousands converged on Rabin Square to celebrate. Bars across the nation were packed. Shouts of joy pierced the air in nearly every neighborhood in Israel. Thousands who normally do not follow Israeli basketball rejoiced out of a sense of solidarity with their fellow sports fans.
While it is always pleasant to win, Israel is not in need of a basketball victory to serve as a reaffirmation that the Jewish state is “on the map” and is “staying on the map, not just in sports but in everything,” as Brody so memorably declared 37 years ago. Over the past 66 years Israel has made tremendous contributions to humanity in nearly every field, from science and technology to culture and sport. It has rejuvenated Jewish life and constructed a society with one of the highest standards of living in the world. And it has done this and more while facing formidable challenges.
If it takes a victory by an Israeli basketball team to remind us of all this and inject a dose of patriotism into the country’s citizens, then bring on some more victories.

Rabin Square turns yellow and blue to celebrate Maccabi

Showing remarkable resourcefulness on short notice, the Tel Aviv Municipality on Monday launched a full-fledged street party to celebrate Maccabi Tel Aviv’s clinching of the European Championship in Milan the night before. Revelers, clad in the team’s trademark blue-and-yellow and brandishing flags, vuvuzelas and their children on their shoulders, began flowing into Rabin Square at 7 p.m., just as the players themselves were arriving at City Hall for a reception with Mayor Ron Huldai.
By nightfall, the crowd had swelled into the thousands and was packed into not just Rabin Square but the surrounding boulevards of Ibn Gvirol and Sderot Chen. Police barricades had blocked the area to traffic and local vendors and restauranteurs had set up sidewalk stalls peddling beer, hot dogs and piping-hot pastries to keep the partygoers fueled.

Lebanon-to-Israel run ends with call for peace

Speaking at a reception at Jerusalem’s King David Hotel, he said that when he crossed from Aqaba into Israel, he saw “the innovation of the Israeli people,” who have turned “deserts into oases.” In the Palestinian territories, too, he said, warnings of possible danger proved unwarranted, and he encountered only good will.
Later, speaking to The Times of Israel, Farmer singled out Haifa, Jaffa and Byblos, in Lebanon, as three particular “beacons of hope” where he said runners of all religions joined up and ran sections of his route along with him.
On a West Bank section of the run, however, a group of Israeli runners — organized jointly by the Yesha Council, an umbrella settlers’ group, and Regavim, a right-wing legal nonprofit — were asked to leave the run because the Palestinian contingent accompanying Farmer had fallen back and stopped running in protest at their participation.

How a single settlement apartment can be counted EIGHT TIMES by the media

In the Washington Post, Jimmy Carter wrote another of his ridiculous op-eds where he describes Hamas as the greatest thing since peanut butter while Israel is unequivocally evil.

Others have ripped it apart, but I want to concentrate on one of his factoids:

During the previous nine months of negotiation, 14,000 new Israeli settlement units were approved, more than 3,000 Palestinians were arrested and 50 were killed, provoking troubling examples of Palestinian retaliation, including the deaths of three Israelis.

Notice how in Carter's funhouse mirror universe only Israel is the aggressor and the Palestinians only "retaliate."

But let's look at the part that really gets the world upset: "14,000 new Israeli settlement units were approved." We've seen these numbers in the media as well.

Is it true?

Well, no. It depends on what you mean by "approved." Peace Now counted tenders for 4,868 units and "promotion of plans" for 8,983 units.

What exactly does this mean?

Peace Now helpfully explains it in another link.

Tenders:

A Tender is one of the last procedures before a construction can get started. The tender, which comes only after the approval and validation of a plan, is actually the governmental publication of a call for proposals to buy the rights to build the project. After the bidding process is completed and the contractor is elected, then he or she would apply for a construction permit from the municipality and after getting the permit, they can start the works.

However, not all tenders get turned into housing. Many of them don't go through. Peace Now says that 1,235 additional tenders during the nine-month period were re-issued because no one bid on them.

But when we talk about "approvals" or "promotion of plans" we really get into fuzzy math.

In West Bank settlements, almost every stage of the approval by the Civil Administration Planning Council must be approved by the Minister of Defense. There is no need for any Ministerial approval for plans in Israel or in East Jerusalem.
1) Approval at the local municipality committee - this stage is significant only in Israel and East Jerusalem. After this approval the plan is sent to the Regional Committee for Planning and Construction of the Ministry of Interior in Israel and in East Jerusalem or, in West Bank settlements, to the Settlement Subcommittee of the Higher Council for Planning in the Civil Administration.
2) Approval for “depositing” – the decision of the Regional Committee (in East Jerusalem) or of the Higher Council for Planning of the Civil Administration (in West Bank Settlements) to allow the publication of the plan for public objections. Takes few months until the plan is ready to be published – usually the committee will ask to make some changes before the publication. The Minister of Defense must approve that the plan will be discussed by the Higher Council for Planning of the Civil Administration.
3) Depositing - Publication an ad in three newspapers (two in Hebrew and one in Arabic) announcing that the plan is subject to public objections for 60 days. The Minister of Defense must approve the publication of plans that are deposited for West Bank settlements.
4) Discussion of the Objections – the Regional Committee (in Israel and in East Jerusalem) or the Settlement Subcommittee of the Higher Council for Planning in the Civil Administeration (in West Bank settlements) hears the objections and recommends whether to make changes in the plan or to reject it or not. Here too, the Minister of Defense must approve the Higher Council to convene.
5) Approval for validation – after all the changes are made, the Regional Committee (in Israel and in East Jerusalem) or the Settlement Subcommittee of the Higher Council for Planning in the Civil Administration (in West Bank settlements) again discusses the plan to allow its validation. The Minister of Defense approve the Higher Council to convene.
6) Publication of validation – a publication of an ad in three newspapers (two in Hebrew, one in Arabic) that the plan is valid. The Minister of Defense must approve the publication. 15 days following the final publication the plan is valid. Only after these publications can the plan be implemented.

Any one of these stages is considered "approvals" for the media. Peace Now claims that "in many cases " they are all done at once, but whether that means 20% or 80% of the cases they don't say.

There is another stage too:

When a plan is valid, any initiator who got the rights to build (either by winning a tender or by a private purchase), can apply for a construction permit from the Local Municipality. This is mainly a bureaucratical procedure - to make sure that the construction is according to the approved plan and that all safety, environment, infrastructure etc. requirements are met. Obtaining a construction permit might take a few months, and then the construction may begin.

How about this strange phrase "promotion of plans"?

In the media discourse almost all of the above stages can be described as: “the plan was approved” – sometimes it’s approved to be deposited, sometimes approved to be validated or approved at the local committee. Although the practical meaning of each stage is different, the political significance of each stage is the same: the plan is promoted, and that demonstrates an intention to move forward.

OK, let's count: how many times can a single apartment unit be "approved" or have "promotion of plans"?

According to Peace Now's own documentation, as many as 8 approvals go into every unit (including tenders.)

And not all tenders go through either.

But there is one number that cannot be disputed - the number of units for which construction actually began. Given that Netanyahu has been in power for a long time now, you would think that the pipeline of approvals has been pretty consistent, so the number of actual housing starts should be a bit more accurate than the double, triple and octuple-counting that left-wing Israeli groups are using. If there are 14,000 units "approved" over a nine month period, one would expect that certainly, say, over 10,000 would get built over the same time period several years later, right?

How many units were actually started? For the second half of 2013, Peace Now says the number was only 828.

Peace Now says that the amount of settlement development is "unprecedented." Yet from 2001-2007, some 10,000 units were built - about the same rate as now, and in percentage growth terms the earlier ones were much higher.

To do some back of the envelope calculations: If we generously assume 6 people per unit, and 1500 housing starts in 2013, this means that the rate of units built last year was only half the rate of the Jewish population growth in Judea and Samaria (based on 3% increase from 2009 to 2010).

In other words, the anti-settlement crowd will purposefully inflate the numbers, count a single unit multiple times, and downplay the true amount of construction to grossly exaggerate the idea that the settlers are taking over the West Bank.

But don't take my word for it. Just read the fine print in Peace Now's own reports.

Pallywood again? IDF denies using live fire during "Nakba Day" demonstration (updates - new videos)

Yesterday, a security video was released that seems to show the two Palestinian Arabs being shot and killed during "Nakba Day" demonstrations near Ofer Prison in Bitunia:

The ~~first~~ second one shot was Mohammed Udeh, wearing a green Islamist flag. Here are some close-up photos of him before and after the event, plus a video of him throwing rocks beforehand: (These photos are from AFP.)

I cannot figure out how the second photo above, which must have been taken in the two seconds before he was swarmed by people, lines up with any frame of the video. Similarly, in the video he is taken away immediately, while the photos indicate that he was lying there for at least a minute. (UPDATE: I mixed up the two people in the CCTV video. The videos and the photos are largely consistent.)

Here is video of him beforehand, according to Al Watan Voice. He is clearly seen at 0:17:

This heavily edited jumble of a video purports to show IDF soldiers shooting, but the editing does not allow anyone to determine if that portion was even taken that same day. The green-clad victim is also seen in this video.

Here are photos of the first victim:

Again, I cannot line up these photo with the CCTV video. I don't see the masked man above with the backpack, for example. At no point in the video is he alone, seemingly motionless, with his hand over his chest.

The inconsistencies between the photos and the video indicate that at least one of them was staged.

I see I mixed up the two, the video does seem to track the photos.

Now, the IDF has denied using any live fire that day: (received via email from CiFWatch)

Last Thursday, several violent demonstrations took place throughout Judea and Samaria. In the Bitunia area, a violent demonstration of approximately 150 Palestinians began in which acts of violence took place including the burning of tires and rock hurling.

Security forces arrived to disperse the demonstration using rubber bullets and riot dispersal means.

During the day it was reported that two Palestinians were killed by security forces. An initial investigation revealed that no live fire was discharged during the day.
The incident remains under an ongoing investigation.

The video which has been circulating online in the past hours has been edited and does not reflect the full incident, including the extent of the violence of the rioters in the demonstration.

One more thing: note that the demonstrators in the second video I show are throwing stones in the opposite direction of where the first person is supposedly shot in the CCTV video.

It is beginning to look like there is some serious Pallywood being done here. Where did the shots come from and where were the soldiers?

(h/t Joseph for pointing out my mistake)

UPDATE: Another video that expands on the second one above:

Also, I asked DCI-Palestine (who released the CCTV video) if they would release the entire unedited version, They replied that they gave the unedited version to news agencies.

UPDATE 2: B'Tselem released the entire video, along with the same scenes from the opposite angle. There is no apparent rock throwing at the time, only a burning tire in the street.

The fast reaction to the first incident, with the victim being carried away within seconds towards an ambulance that is only arriving immediately after he is shot in the second CCTV video is very strange (h/t Joe)

(h/t Gidon Shaviv)

UPDATE 3: Some footage I hadn't seen yet:

UPDATE 4: Yenta Press identified where the incident occurred on Google Maps:

UPDATE 5: Found one more video taken that day, heavily edited. I'm still trying to figure out where the IDF soldiers were, there are no videos showing them at the same time as any protesters or obvious landmarks. We can see the direction that the stones are being thrown but no idea of distance.