Israeli government to destroy 25 Jewish communities

Might as well call a spade a spade. This isn't "disengagement"; this is the destruction of Jewish communities. This is Israel doing what generations of Arabs failed to do, not for lack of trying. This is a plan that is based on nothing but wishful thinking.This is possibly the biggest disaster to befall Israel since the 1973 war.

This is not Yamit. Abbas is not Sadat. Hamas and Hizbollah are not going to be fought against by the PA or PLO. This is an irreversible and disastrous move that has no real benefit.

If there was any indication that Israel would never have to give up any land beyond Gaza, I could understand this. If there was any indication that Abbas declares Hamas and Islamic Jihad an enemy, I could almost understand this. If there was any reason to think that Kassam rockets will not be raining down on Jewish communities within the Green Line in a year or two, there may be something to talk about.

But this is unilateral surrender of historic Jewish land. This is a unilateral reward for terrorism. This is exactly the wrong message to send to the Arab world, which has historically used any Israeli concessions as reason to redouble efforts to destroy her.

There may be a very short term reduction in terror. Is this worth the upheaval of thousands of the most loyal Zionists?

This is a very, very sad day in Israel's history. This is a day where Israel says it cares more about what the other nations think than what is best for Israel. And when that happens, Israel is at the mercy of the world community.

And we know how much the world cares about Israel.

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Anti-Semitism, Qatar-style

So what else is new? Another US "ally."
Television show aired in Persian Gulf country replete with anti-Israel sentiments, Holocaust denial

TEL AVIV - A Qatari television show currently airing in the Persian Gulf state features virulent anti-Israel sentiments and Holocaust denial.

The show, which is based on a book by late Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani, was slated to air in Syria and on Hizbullah's television channel, but in light of international pressure aimed at the terror group's TV station the show only airs in Qatar for the time being.

In one scene, a holocaust survivor who appears in the show, and later resorts to prostitution, claims the Nazis did no wrong.
"I didn't see any gas chambers," she is seen saying.

The show, which includes scenes in Hebrew, also depicts supposed massacres of Arabs by Jews, and claims the Zionist plan was to push Arabs into the sea.

At one point, an actor depicting former Israeli Prime Minister Menachem Begin calls on Jews to murder Arab civilians.

"We should kill civilians during the war for the establishment of Israel…in order to scare them," he says.

The show represents the common Arab narrative regarding events surrounding Israel's establishment in 1948, says Yotam Feldner from the Middle East Media Research Institute (MEMRI), which has been following the show.

"Nothing is surprising about the show's content," he told Ynet. "The same themes of Holocaust denial and massacres of Arabs."

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There is a solution

There is an organization that is trying to do exactly this. The only people that would be against this idea are those for whom destroying Israel is more important than helping Palestinians. It is a nice litmus test to ask people who claim to love the Palestinians - would you be for or against Palestinians voluntarily relocating to any other country?

An interesting sidenote: The latest estimate of the cost to evacuate Gaza stands at NIS 4.3 billion, or almost $1B. According to Emigrations.net, the cost to move a Palestinian farmer to a Venezuela is about $1500. So for the same cost, Israel could instead voluntarily transfer over a half-million Palestinians to other countries where they can live in lives of peace and prosperity. Which is more humane?

THERE IS A SOLUTION TO THE CONFLICT

by Martin Sherman

Some time ago, at the Jerusalem Summit, a survey of prevalent attitudes among the Palestinians was made public; it was carried out among a representative sample of the adult population of Judea and Samaria by a well-known Israel institute in collaboration with a respected Palestinian institute. The poll results point to respondents' dissatisfaction with their quality of life, with the performance of their leadership, and with the chances to improve their situation in the foreseeable future.

The survey also showed that more than 40% of the respondents had considered emigrating to another country; only 15% answered that nothing could make them permanently leave their homes. About 70% pointed to some material factor (housing, education, generous financing, etc.) that could bring them to decide to move their permanent place of residency to another land.

For some reason, the survey was received with astonishment. Certain elements, primarily on the Left, tried to cast aspersions on it and even to discount its credibility; it is not difficult to guess why. The findings seriously damage their political philosophy, which is greatly dependent on a myth of the Palestinians' uncompromising attachment to the land. Furthermore, the survey results undermine the argument - currently widespread even among certain segments of the Right - that there is no solution to the demographic problem except retreat from the lands of Judea, Samaria and Gaza.

A finding is taking shape, therefore, that points to the fact that the Palestinians are not so different from other people. When their situation is bad, they are interested in finding their future in a different place. That fact has far-reaching political consequences. In effect, the stubborn persistence of the Palestinian problem can be, to a large degree, attributed to the special status accorded the Palestinians as opposed to the rest of humanity.

Take, for example, the matter of the refugees. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees is responsible for all the refugees in the world - except the Palestinian refugees. For them, there is a separate and unique body: UNRWA. Each of these bodies has a different definition of "refugee". According to the definition of the High Commissioner, the number of refugees decreases over time; while according to UNRWA's definition, their number continually grows with each passing year.

If the definition accepted for the rest of the world was applied to the Palestinian case, the number of Palestinian refugees would be about 200,000 - less than five percent of the number according to the unique definition of UNRWA, which counts 4,250,000 refugees. As it turns out, the ongoing existence of the Palestinian refugees is in large part the bureaucratic product of an organization whose entire existence is dependent on the perpetuation of the problem it was meant to solve.

It should be pointed out that also in the Arab world, the Palestinians suffer discrimination. For example, about two months ago, Saudi authorities announced the easing of restrictions on citizenship for foreigners living in the country - with the exception of the approximately half-a-million Palestinians who live there. The reasoning given by the Riyadh authorities was their desire to prevent the "destruction of the Palestinian national identity."

The spokesman for the Arab League also explained the discrimination against the Palestinians in the Arab world by reference to the need "to maintain their national identity," adding that "if every Palestinian living in a particular country would be absorbed in that state, he would have no reason to return to Palestine." It appears, therefore, that the non-Palestinian Arabs are much more determined than the Palestinians themselves to perpetuate the Palestinian national identity.

The ongoing failure in facing the Palestinian issue demands unconventional thinking in an attempt to settle it, and the conclusions from the foregoing are obvious. First of all, the Palestinian problem is very much an artificial product of the evilness of Arab states (and the foolishness of the state of Israel). Secondly, it appears that by the combination of two factors would make it possible to bring about a dramatic decrease, by non-violent means, in the size of the "Palestinian problem", perhaps even its solution:

1. Pressure must be exercised by the democratic world on the leaders of the Arab states to desist from the gross discrimination against the Palestinians living in their countries, and to absorb those who so wish.

2. Generous financial assistance must be given to those living in Judea, Samaria and Gaza to facilitate their emigration and the building of a new life for themselves and their families in other places in the world.

What could be more liberal and humanistic than the demand to put an end to discrimination against a person because of his background, and giving freedom of choice to an individual - including a Palestinian individual - in deciding the his fate and that of his family?

Martin Sherman was the Academic Director of the Jerusalem Summit, November 2004, and lecturer in Political Science at Tel Aviv University.

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Rose's Story

Read it.

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Iraq leader under threat for Israel views

Sigh.

Baghdad, Iraq, Feb. 17 (UPI) -- After three new attempts on his life, including a firefight in front of his house Wednesday, outspoken Mithal al-Alusi, a Sunni Muslim, is sure insurgents are still out to get him for his views on peace and tolerance.

Al-Alusi's sons were gunned down one week ago in a car in which he decided not to get in at the last minute. Since then, he said his house has been attacked three times, including a fierce firefight Wednesday -- apparently between insurgents and private guards protecting him.

Police were very slow to respond because they don't support his views on peace with Israel, al-Alusi said. The leader of the Democratic Party of the Iraqi Nation has been outspoken in his belief that Iraq must align with other democratic countries in the Middle East, possibly Turkey and others, to accept the current situation and make peace with Israel.

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Freed terrorist tries to attack Jews

Let's release 500 more!

An IDF force yesterday spotted two armed terrorists approaching the Jewish community of Bracha, overlooking Shechem in the Shomron. The soldiers opened fire, killing both terrorists.

One of the two would-be murderers was Atzam Mantzur, 29. He was apprehended by Israel in October 2001, but was later freed from prison in January 2004 by the Sharon government as part of an exchange for captured Israeli Elchanan Tenenbaum and the bodies of three IDF soldiers murdered by Hizbullah.

The other terrorist was 24-year-old Mahyub Yusef Kiny. Both terrorists were members of the PLO’s Tanzim terror group.

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Algerian terrorists targeted Eiffel Tower

Here's how the French love affair with terrorists gets rewarded:

PARIS (AP) - Islamic militants under investigation for allegedly planning an attack on the Russian Embassy in Paris had other targets on their list, including the Eiffel Tower, police and judicial officials said Wednesday.

Three men, all Algerians, were detained Jan. 11 in connection with an investigation into a network of Islamic radicals supporting Chechen rebels, the officials said on condition of anonymity.

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French more pro-terror than Abbas?

Ah, the French. I like this latest excuse, using recent problems in Lebanon as an excuse for their decades-old policy of embracing terrorists. C'est la vie.

In the past two weeks, the officials said, France has rebuffed appeals by Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and the Israeli foreign minister, Silvan Shalom, to list Hezbollah as a terrorist organization, which would prevent it from raising money in Europe through charity groups. The United States has long called Hezbollah a terrorist organization, but the French, American and European officials said, have opposed doing so, and argue that making such a designation now would be unwise, given the new turbulence in Lebanon.

Israeli and American officials say that the Palestinian president, Mahmoud Abbas, has told them that he, too, regards Hezbollah as a destructive force in the Middle East, one determined to undermine peace talks by supporting militant groups that attack Israelis.

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More moderation from Abbas: Execute "collaborators", reward terrorists

Let's see what we have here:

- Abbas decides that those who helped fight against terror in Gaza should be killed.
- Yesterday, Abbas decided that those who tried to kill Jews should be rewarded with jobs and pay and protection from Israel.
- A death penalty - will the American and European left make a statement condemning this?
- A mufti who decides on who can be killed, with no separation of the "secular" Palestinian government and Islam - will the American and European left condemn this as well?

A story filled with irony, but why should we let this stop us rewarding the Palestinians with more money and land?

In the first decision of its kind since he succeeded Yasser Arafat, Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas has ratified death sentences against three Palestinians found guilty of 'collaboration' with Israel.

It is not clear when the three men, whose identities were not revealed, will be executed by firing squad.

However, senior PA officials told The Jerusalem Post that the three were Gaza Strip residents who had been convicted of 'high treason' for tipping off Israeli security forces about the whereabouts of wanted gunmen.

Sakher Bsaisso, a senior Fatah official who also serves as PA governor of the northern Gaza Strip, confirmed on Wednesday that Abbas had authorized death sentences against three alleged 'collaborators.'

Bsaisso said the three had been convicted of assisting Israel in the assassination of a number of Palestinian activists in the Gaza Strip over the past four years, but refused to elaborate.

He said Abbas also approved death sentences passed against scores of Palestinians found guilty of criminally motivated murders.
Bsaisso said Abbas's decision to carry out the death sentences came after PA mufti Sheikh Ikrimah Sabri authorized the executions as required by law.

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Hamas terrorists to join PA "police"

OK, let me get this straight. Instead of the PA arresting known and wanted terrorists, named by Israel - they are paying them and giving them guns and protection from Israel. Sounds like a great confidence-building measure to me!

Fugitives to join PA security forces
By KHALED ABU TOAMEH

About 350 Palestinian gunmen will be incorporated into the Palestinian Authority security forces soon as part of a deal reached between PA Chairman Mahmoud Abbas and leaders of all the Palestinian factions, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The militiamen, who are on Israel's list of wanted terrorists, belong to various factions, including Hamas and Islamic Jihad.

This is the first time that members of Hamas and Islamic Jihad would serve in the PA security forces.

PA Minister of Agriculture Ibrahim Abu al-Naja revealed that the agreement to recruit the fugitives was achieved with the help of a top Egyptian security delegation that visited the West Bank and Gaza Strip earlier this week. The delegation, led by Gen. Mustafa Buhairi, deputy head of Egyptian Intelligence, held a series of meetings with representatives of all the factions and commanders of the security forces.

"The fugitives who will join the security forces belong to all the Palestinian groups and factions," Naja said. "The move is designed to protect them against Israeli assassination attempts."

"The Palestinian Authority does not distinguish between the wanted men," he said. "They are entitled to join the security forces because of their involvement in the resistance."

"There's no reason why Hamas and Islamic Jihad gunmen can't join the security forces," the official added. "They are part of the Palestinian people. The Israelis and Americans should be happy about this move, because it means that these men will stop all of their activities."

"

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Don't dare say hello to your `infidel' neighbor

WASHINGTON - When a believing Muslim is summoned to the United States due to life's circumstances, Saudi Arabian authorities disseminate through a network of major American mosques, like other religious directives, clear ways as to how one should act in his new surroundings.
Take, for example, a document signed by the cultural attache at the Saudi embassy in Washington that instructs Muslims arriving in the United States not to initiate a greeting when meeting Christians or Jews, and never to convey good wishes marking a Christian or Jewish holiday. In general, the attache recommends that the Muslim believer avoid friendships with the infidels, be careful not to imitate their customs (e.g. not to wear a cap and gown at a graduation ceremony), and try not to remain in the country any longer than required. The Saudis feel that a good Muslim can stay in America only for two reasons: acquiring knowledge and capital to promote the objectives of jihad, and lobbying the infidels to accept Islam.

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US taught Palestinians how to be better terrorists

And now it is happening again.

I'm not the type of person who likes to make predictions, but it is so blindingly obvious that the current "peace" initiative is at best a temporary cease-fire. It is a repeat of Oslo, full of optimism and wishful thinking and very short on long-term responsibility on the part of the Palestinians. As I pointed out before, all of Israel's concessions have long-term effects and are hard to reverse; all of the Palestinians' moves can be reversed in an instant.

Let Israel say right now - here are our red lines. No negotiations over Jerusalem. No negotiations over Jewish access to Rachel's tomb and the Cave of the Patriarchs. The West Bank must not be Judenrein. The Green Line will never be returned to. No "right of return." And for all of these, war is preferable to crossing these lines.

Put it on the table. If it is clear that these contradict the Palestinian "red-lines" then why go through the charade of "peace" negotiations that are doomed to fail and that will inevitably put Israel at a disadvantage in the next Oslo war?

Israel is gambling with the lives of its citizens again. It is possible for a right-wing government to make peace - look at Begin - but Sharon is no Begin. And now in the Israeli government and media, the enemy is no longer the Palestinians who dream to destroy Israel...it is the "settlers" who are willing to defend Israel. This is craziness, and worse, it is suicidal.

Bethlehem, West Bank -- In June 1998, somewhere near CIA headquarters in Langley, Va., two rows of men in military fatigues posed for their graduation photo.

All of them were officers in Palestinian General Intelligence Service, charged with hunting down terrorists and preventing attacks on Israel. They had just completed a training course, paid for by the U.S. government, in which they learned firearms and counterterrorist tactics.

But the graduation photo holds a stark warning for the Bush administration as it gets more involved in Middle East peacemaking. Some of the men in the picture later swapped sides and began using the skills they learned in Virginia against the Israelis.

Such training courses, which were suspended with the outbreak of the Palestinian uprising in September 2000, will be an integral part of Washington's aid package for the new government of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas.

"There will need to be some international effort, and the United States is prepared to play a major role in that, to help in the training of the Palestinian security forces and in making sure that they are security forces that are part of the solution, not part of the problem," Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice said earlier this month on the London stop of her European tour.

Lt. Gen. William Ward, Rice's newly named Mideast security coordinator, will visit the region this month to "start looking at how to build Palestinian security forces," State Department spokesman Richard Boucher said Friday.

"What we're really all talking about is helping the Palestinian security forces get organized, get equipped, get trained and get the command structure that allows them to take care of security problems," Boucher said.

The men in the 1998 photo came from Bethlehem, Jericho and Nablus, which all became flash points in the four-year uprising, called the intifada. Kneeling fourth from the left in the front row is Raafat Bajali. In December 2001, Bajali was killed when a bomb he was making blew up in his face. He had become a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the militant wing of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, said some of his comrades in the General Intelligence unit.

Bajali died in a fourth-floor apartment near Bethlehem's Manger Square, the home of Nedal Zedok, a colleague in the Palestinian security forces who also was moonlighting for Al-Aqsa. Zedok, too, was killed in the explosion.

Standing in the back row, second from the left, is Khaled Abu Nijmeh, from Deheisheh refugee camp in Bethlehem, according to two of his colleagues who are also pictured.

By 2001, he had become one of the most-wanted Palestinian militants in the city, suspected of involvement in a string of suicide bombings and shooting attacks against Israelis. In May 2002, he was one of 13 gunmen escorted from the Church of the Nativity siege in Bethlehem, flown to Cyprus and then to exile in Europe. Three of the group, including Abu Nijmeh, were given asylum in Italy.

"I am a member of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and a first sergeant in Palestinian General Intelligence," Abu Nijmeh, now 36, told The Chronicle from his temporary home in Rome. "I personally received a course in antiterrorism and VIP protection.

"I was not alone. Many Palestinian security people were trained by the Americans. We hope they will continue helping us."

Abu Nijmeh and his 12 comrades will be allowed to return to Bethlehem under the cease-fire agreement reached last week between Israel and the Palestinians.

Israeli warnings

As Israeli commentators had been warning for years, the CIA inadvertently helped train future adversaries -- as it has done in other countries, including the anti-Soviet forces in Afghanistan who ended up as Taliban and al Qaeda militants.

"This has proven to be a very risky undertaking," said Israeli political analyst Gerald Steinberg of Bar-Ilan University. "Both the CIA and British efforts to train Palestinians during the Oslo process helped strengthen terrorist capabilities."

A U.S. official, who spoke only on condition of anonymity, said that if previous U.S. aid went to train would-be militants, "obviously steps will be taken so that any future training does not lead to a similar outcome."

The Palestinian security forces were created in the aftermath of the 1993 Oslo accords by Arafat to maintain order in newly autonomous Palestinian territories. The recruits were supposed to serve as the police force for the Palestinian Authority and to prevent terrorist attacks against Israel. The CIA and British intelligence services helped provide training and equipment.

But Arafat also used the new police forces to keep himself in power. Based on longtime loyalties within his Fatah political faction, he created 14 separate, often overlapping, security services -- including a naval intelligence unit in the landlocked West Bank.

Palestinian security forces were doubling as militants in the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades and in Hamas, an Islamic group that has claimed credit for many anti-Israel attacks. Zedok, who was killed by Bajali's bomb, was among those dismissed from the security force after their connections were exposed by Israel. Others, including the Al-Aqsa founder and commander in Ramallah, Khaled al-Shawish, found refuge in Arafat's West Bank headquarters.

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More Palestinian ingenuity on how to kill Jews

They're like the Hong Kong of murder!

(Except that Hong Kong has a higher population density.)

Even as it announced it would maintain the current relative calm, Hamas was using the lull in Israel's offensive actions to stock up on Kassam rockets, mines and mortar shells in the Gaza Strip, defense sources said Sunday.

To overcome a lack of raw materials, Kassam rocket makers have begun using pipes that held up street signs. Because of this there is a dearth of signposts in Gaza, military sources said.

'Their efforts to replenish their stocks of weapons have never stopped,' said an IDF officer monitoring Hamas and other groups. 'Not only that, but they are continuing to operate their smuggling rings during this period to bring in weapons and other materiel.' This, despite reported actions by Palestinian Authority forces to uncover tunnels from Egypt into the Gaza Strip.

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Whining, Lying Palestinian Complains

An amazing fact: every time the Palestinians accuse Israel of something, you can always translate it is "You are not letting us kill you as easily as we want to!"

This one is classic. Israel opens the crossings as it promised, and he is saying because Palestinian terrorists can't walk into Israel without being checked, Israel is violating its agreements!

Ya gotta love the accusation about the x-ray machine "used to check metal objects." Those wily Jews are always inventing something, aren't they?

Palestinian officials Sunday accused Israel of tightening security instead of easing it at the Erez crossing point between Gaza and the Jewish state.

Palestinian Chief of Passages Salim Abu Safiya told reporters that while Israel tells the media it had opened the Erez crossing and allowed Palestinian workers to enter Israel, it was tightening security checks and making the crossing terminal a nightmare for those workers.

Israel had said it was easing its security measures on the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, allowng 207 workers and 95 businessmen to enter Israel Sunday.

But Abu Safiya described the Israeli security measures as arbitrary and tough, forcing the workers to go through very complicated security measures by forcing them into x-ray machines that are only used to check metal objects, not human beings.

He warned the x-ray machines cause serious diseases if humans pass through them.

The Palestinian official accused Israel of not showing any signs of commitment to the cease-fire agreement reached in Sharm el-Sheikh last week, which included an Israeli declaration to open the border crossings and remove check-points.

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A short break

I probably won't be able to post anything until Monday.

But feel free to carry on without me, with comments, voting on the poll, and tagboard messages!

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