YNet: Israel saves the US billions

Another good article for Yom Ha'atzmaut.

by Yoram Ettinger

Statements made by and the conduct of Israel’s leaders since 1993 create the false impression that Israeli-American ties constitute a one-way relationship.

The presumption is that America gives and Israel receives, leading to Israel’s inferior position and the alleged compulsion to follow the State Department dictates.

However, Former Secretary of State and NATO forces commander Alexander Haig refuted this claim, saying he is pro-Israeli because Israel is the largest American aircraft carrier in the world that cannot be sunk, does not carry even one American soldier, and is located in a critical region for American national security.

On our 57th Independence Day, Israel and the United States enjoy a two-way relationship. Israel is like a start-up company that enjoys the kindness of the American investor, but yields much greater profits than the investment.

Every day, Israel relays to the U.S. lessons of battle and counter-terrorism, which reduce American losses in Iraq and Afghanistan, prevent attacks on U.S. soil, upgrade American weapons, and contribute to the U.S. economy.

Senator Daniel Inouye recently argued Israeli information regarding Soviet arms saved the U.S. billions of dollars. The contribution made by Israeli intelligence to America is greater than that provided by all NATO countries combined, he said.

Innovative Israeli technologies boost U.S. industries

Meanwhile, the vice president of the company that produces the F16 fighter jets told me Israel is responsible for 600 improvements in the plane’s systems, modifications estimated to be worth billions of dollars, which spared dozens of research and development years.

Israel’s utilization of American arms guarantees our existence, but at the same time gives U.S. military industries a competitive edge compared to European industries, while also boosting American military production, producing American jobs, and improving America’s national security.

Japan and South Korea, for example, preferred the “Hawkeye” spy plane and the MD-500 chopper, both purchased and upgraded by Israel, over comparable British and French aircraft.

Indeed, innovative Israeli technologies have a similar effect on American civilian and agricultural industries, which view Israel as a successful research and development site.

As early as 1952, U.S. Army Chief-of-Staff Omar Bradley called for the integration of Israel into the Mediterranean Basin area, in light of the country’s location and unique capabilities.

In 1967, Israel held back a radical Arab, pro-Soviet offensive, which threatened to bring about the collapse of pro-American Arab regimes and disrupt oil supply, thus severely undermining the American standard of living.

In 1970, Israel brought about the withdrawal of Syrian forces from Jordan, at a time when the U.S. was tied up by wars in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia, thus preventing the fall of the pro-American Hashemite regime and a possible domino effect that could have reached Saudi Arabia and the Gulf states.

Israel shares counter-terror lessons

The 1976 raid in Uganda that freed Israeli passengers of an Air France flight hijacked by terrorists provided America with a backwind in the war on international terror, while in 1977 Israeli intelligence provided the intelligence information that foiled Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi’s plan to assassinate Egyptian President Anwar Sadat .

Notably, Sadat would later go on to make peace with Israel, paving the way for other agreements between Israel and the Arabs.

In 1982, Israel destroyed Soviet anti-aircraft batteries in Lebanon that were considered immune to American weapons. Israel promptly shared the operation’s lessons, estimated to be worth billions of dollars, changing entirely the global balance of power in the process and contributing to the Soviet Union’s eventual disintegration.

In 1981, Israel bombed the Iraqi nuclear reactor, providing the U.S. with the option of engaging in conventional wars with Iraq in 1991 and 2003 and preventing a possible nuclear war and a terrible price of thousands killed.

In 2005, Israel provides America with the world’s most extensive experience in homeland defense and warfare against suicide bombers and car bombs. American soldiers train in IDF facilities and Israeli-made drones fly above the “Sunni Triangle” in Iraq, as well as in Afghanistan, providing U.S. Marines with vital intelligence.

Without Israel, the U.S. would have been forced to deploy tens of thousands of American troops in the eastern Mediterranean Basin, at a cost of billions of dollars a year. Had Israel been located in the Persian Gulf, the U.S. would have been spared the need to send hundreds of thousands of soldiers to the region, thanks to Israel’s deterrence and operational capabilities.

Indeed, Congress leaders, Vice President Cheney, and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld are aware of Israel’s unique contribution to U.S. interests. In fact, they all wonder why the post-1993 Israel does not use its impressive contribution as leverage, in sharp contrast to the pre-1993 Israel.

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They hate Jews more than they love themselves

I know I should be immune to these sorts of things, but my jaw still drops when I read this stuff:

CAIRO, May 12, 2005 (IslamOnline.net) – A new strategy drafted by the Islamic World Council for Dawaa and Relief (IWCDR) has called on the Arab League to issue an annual report on global Anti-Arabs and Muslims discrimination to counterbalance Washington’s report on anti-Semitism.

The Cairo-based body began on Wednesday, May 11, two days of discussions on the strategy which aims at to counterbalance the US State Department’s report on anti-Semitism.

It urges the pan-Arab body to issue a similar report documenting discriminations against Arabs and Muslims across the world, on the upswing since the 9/11 attacks.

Let's look again at the point of producing such a report. Is it to make the world aware of anti-Arab and anti-Muslim feelings? Is it to combat bigotry? Is it to help their fellow Arabs and Muslims fight discrimination?

No, no, a thousand times no. The report has but one reason, stated twice: to counterbalance the US report on anti-Semitism. Not for any single positive reason, but only because they hate Jews so much, they want to blunt the impact that occurs when Jew-hatred is publicized.

In other words - because they themselves are congenitally anti-Semitic, they don't want anyone to sympathize with Jews one iota! Nothing to do with Zionism, nothing to do with helping their presumably oppressed brethren. Just simple, blatant, explicit Jew-hatred is driving this project.

Amazing, truly amazing.

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Shmuley Boteach: British Jews must stand up to UK Jew-hatred

The point that the AUT is anti-semitic is clear, but Boteach points out that the passive methods used by British Jewry to combat hate are not working.

Britain's attacks on Israel have nothing to do with a specific anti-Israel focus and have everything to do with good old-fashioned anti-Semitism. The country that was once the most enlightened in the world and gave civilization the idea of parliamentary democracy is now witnessing the steady rise of contemptible Jew-hatred.

The Jewish community in Britain is very different than its American counterpart. It believes in being low-profile, not making waves, and always trying to reason with its opponents. There is no British equivalent of AIPAC, for example, a body that exists solely to lobby the American government on behalf of Israel. Several such organizations have attempted, and failed, to garner mainstream British Jewish support, because British Jewry believes that this kind of overt pressure is counterproductive, and may even foster anti-Semitism. For this reason, British Jews usually shy away from calling developments like this new academic boycott anti-Semitism. But this is hardly a time for diplomatic niceties.

But if it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck, then it's probably a duck. When British academics talk like anti-Semites and demonstrate a visceral hatred for a law-abiding and virtuous democracy that happens to be a Jewish state – while showing an affection or an indifference to brutal Arab regimes – then it's a fair guess they're anti-Semites. Israel is the Jewish homeland, and unfounded hatred of Israel is motivated mostly by hatred of Jews.

Not that the British hate Jews per se. They just hate proud Jews. Jews who stand up for themselves. Jews who believe in their own right to nationalism and self-defense. It's Jewish autonomy that drives them crazy and, hence, Israel is their foremost target. They're used to obsequious Jews, and indeed, tons of them, sadly, exist in Britain. Jews who believe that Judaism should be practiced quietly. Jews who believe they are guests in someone else's country, even though such sentiments contradict the very principles of democracy which states that no person is less a citizen than another.

Anti-Semitism in Britain must be combated forcefully. The old way of doing it quietly has failed. Jewish students should get together and organize massive protests against the British Association of University Teachers and call their boycott what it is: out and out Jew-hatred. The ringleaders of the boycott should be named as anti-Semites. Saying that they're merely ignorant of the real facts in the Middle East, which is what we're already hearing Jewish leaders in Britain proclaiming, is preposterous. Academics are not a rabble. They are not ignorant. They're very profession is to know. They have come out against Israel not because they don't have the facts, but because they have malice.

It is time for the world Jewish community – especially in Europe – to pursue a policy of zero tolerance for anti-Semitism and every other form of racial prejudice. Thousands of years of Jew-hated is enough. This can't continue indefinitely. Let us stand up to it, forcefully and effectively. We should learn from our brothers and sisters in the African-American community who will not tolerate an iota of racism. Just imagine what would happen to a group of British academics who decided to boycott Morehouse or Spellman College? They would rightly be called racist bigots. Hatred of Jews should earn no less a condemnation.

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Feminism, Hamas-style

Backspin notes this paragraph in the middle of a Newsweek article on women in Hamas:

In the meantime, some female Hamas loyalists have chosen to take up arms themselves. In January 2004, Re’em Rayashi, a 22-year-old mother of two toddlers, walked toward the Erez checkpoint in the northern Gaza Strip, where she detonated a suicide bomb that killed her and four Israeli soldiers. Some reports said that she had committed adultery, and been forced into the mission by her jealous husband. Whatever the motive, her act was generally praised by local Hamas leaders, a reminder that elections are not Hamas’s only preoccupation. “Women must decide for themselves what their priorities are,” says Sami Abu-Zuhry, a Hamas official in Gaza. “Raising children for jihad, or participating in acts of martyrdom.”

What a progressive movement! Women seem to have even more choices than men in Hamasistan - men can only blow up Jews, but women can also raise boys to blow up Jews!

No wonder the European liberals are so partial to Palestinian aspirations! How many European women are so empowered that they can blow themselves up along with a bunch of dhimmis? How many liberal women are so empowered that they have a socially-acceptable way to erase the stigma of adultery?

Yes, clearly Palestinian society is the darling of progressive movements because they are just so darn progressive themselves.

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Proud to be a Zionist

I wrote the following essay a few years ago on a Yahoo message board, and it seemed appropriate for Yom Ha'atzmaut.

I often do Internet news searches on the word "Zionist" and, not surprisingly, the word is far more often used as an insult than as a compliment. It is way past time to reclaim the term Zionism and for those of us who support Israel to show pride in the term.

Yes, I am a Zionist and I am proud of it.

I know that Israel has the absolute right to exist in peace and security, just like any other country.

I am proud of how the IDF is conducting itself during the current war on Palestinian terror. There is no other country on the planet, save the US, that would try to minimize civilian casualties in such a situation where innocent Israelis are being threatened and murdered in cold blood.

I am proud of how the IDF is performing doing the most difficult type of battle, that of looking house to house for terrorists, while maintaining amazing professionalism under fire and minimizing its own casualties. I defy anyone to find any other nation who has performed as well -- and as ethically -- as Israel has done during the current conflict.

I am proud that Israel remains a true democracy, with a free press and vigorous opposition parties, while in a constant war situation. Any other nation, again besides the US, would have imposed martial law to maintain peace.

I am proud of how Israeli citizens are going through their day to day lives, even while knowing that a despicable terrorist can still make it in to their hometowns.

I am proud of how many terror attacks have been thwarted by the Israeli police and citizens, and how many lives have been saved. For every "successful" attack (if you can use such a term) there have been many failed attempts, and these are truly miraculous.

I am proud that Israel will investigate any mistakes that happen on the battlefield and keep trying to improve its methods to maximize damage to the terrorists while minimizing damage to the Palestinian people. And over the years of the "intifada" we can see that the number of civilians killed accidentally by Israel has gone down dramatically. I challenge anyone to find an example of a country that was as restrained under these circumstances as Israel has been.

I am proud that Israel takes steps to stop vigilante actions from its own citizens living in impossible conditions.

And, of course, I am proud of Israel's many accomplishments in building up a desert wasteland into a thriving and vibrant modern country, with its many scientific achievements, world class universities and culture. In a short period of time Israel made itself into a strong yet open nation that its neighbors can only dream of becoming.

I am proud that the vast majority of Americans support Israel as I do, and that the rabid terror-lovers we see on the Internet are the aberration.

There is a right and a wrong in this conflict, and I am proud that Israel is in the right.

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Why Israel's creation is a "naqba"

Among all of the events of Arab and Muslim history, the establishment of the state of Israel in 1948 appears to be unique.

Muslims have suffered defeats in war beforehand. Christians in Spain defeated the Muslims in the 15th century, Napoleon conquered Egypt, European nations occupied most of North Africa, and the Ottoman Empire kept losing territory and influence from the 17th century until its total disappearance after World War I.

Yet only one event, involving a tiny amount of territory that was all but abandoned by the Arab world for centuries, gets the moniker "naqba", catastrophe.

In what sense is it so important? By any objective measure (number of Muslims killed, number of Muslim refugees, amount of territory involved, the margin of victory), Israel's War of Independence is barely a skirmish in the vast history of Muslim conquests and defeats. (Kuwait expelled more Palestinians in 1991 than Israel did in any war, for example.)

So, what is unique about the establishment of the State of Israel that makes Arab and Muslim blood boil so disproportionately to the actual damage done?

Only one answer makes sense. It is not that the Muslims were defeated, it is who defeated them.

Animosity between Jews and Arabs is as old as the Bible, where the descendents of Ishmael and Isaac always had problems with each other. But as is well known, for many centuries Jews did prosper under Muslim rule more than under Christian rule.

It is important to understand that as a tiny minority in Muslim and Arab countries, Jews posed no threat (and were indeed more similar to the Muslims than the Christians were.) They were clearly second-class citizens, dhimmis. There were still blood libels and other nastiness, but comparatively Jews were well off - as long as they kept their place as dhimmis.

Israel and Zionism changed everything. All of a sudden, the uppity Jews were saying that they had a right to own and control land in the Middle East - equal to the Muslims. The Arab nations could not fit that into their worldview of Jews as naturally second-class citizens, and therefore they attacked the Jews, both in Israel and in their own countries.

What's worse, the Jews had the audacity to be able to fight and win! Muslim pride could not handle such an affront. The weak Jews didn't know their place and this was what caused the Arabs to expel hundreds of thousands of Jews from their midst in the '40s and '50s - an extreme example of pure bigotry that gets next to no mention in the press nowadays.

In some ways, the 1967 war was even worse for Arab pride. They could almost, almost come up with excuses why the hated Zionists beat their combined armies in 1948, but in 1967 they all but guaranteed their people a swift and complete destruction of the Jewish state - and they were routed, by only Jews, with no help from any other country.

More attacks on Arab pride followed: Israel, in a few decades, built a modern and wildly successful society. In the very middle of the failing Arab League nations. They built farms in deserts, they created universities, they built a high-tech powerhouse, they successfully integrated Jews from all over the world. And they did this without any real natural resources. In a short time, Israel's very success at building a nation hurt Arab pride as much as its military successes.

There are two parts of the (specifically) Arab psyche that are at play here. One, as mentioned, is pride. Extreme pride precludes the possibility of admitting mistakes, or adjusting strategy. Even Sadat said that he could not have considered peace with Israel unless Egypt managed to wage a more successful war that 1967 - the Yom Kippur war was a war for pride. (Losing in war is an even bigger deal to Arabs because so much of Arab history revolves around the sword, romanticizing the best warriors.)

The second, related part that needs to be understood is that Muslims in general, and Arabs in particular, seem to have a big inferiority complex. This comes, I believe, from the rise of the West since the Middle Ages. The Arab world went from being leaders in science and art to also-rans, and the Western superiority in all secular areas kept increasing. Now, as long as Westerners stayed West, it is possible to ignore this widening gap. Excuses could be made. But when Israel came about, where a land that had been a wasteland became a modern high-tech mecca (so to speak) in such a short time, it was no longer possible to ignore the obvious lifestyle differences between the West and the Arab world. Everything that the Arab leaders told their people to keep them in place was being shown to be wrong on a daily basis - women could be successful, democracy works, the free market creates prosperity, individualism allows flexibility, Jews are smart and strong, and freedom is a better social model than despotism. Arabs who live in Israel enjoy a higher standard of living and more freedom than any Arab population in the Middle East.

This is why the creation of Israel is a "catastrophe." The threat to the Arab world is not territorial, it is existential - because freedom is not compatible with what Arab leaders want for their subjects. As long as Israel is demonized, they have a chance of convincing the people that Israel is an aberration of history, a speed-bump on the road to eventual Muslim triumph. But the freedom that Israel represents and the quality of life that Israel enjoys is a poke in the eye of Arab pride.

And the fact that it is Jews who managed to perform these miracles makes it all the more painful.

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Plenty to Celebrate (Jerusalem Post)

[...]Ben-Gurion, whose original state contained a mere 600,000 Jews, would have hardly believed that in his own children's lives, this number would grow almost tenfold. He certainly would have been stunned to learn that Zion is only a few years from becoming home to the world's largest Jewish community, a status it has not had not since the Second Temple's destruction, but since the first destruction, nearly two-and-a-half millennia ago.

Ben-Gurion's successor, Moshe Sharett, who founded Israel's Foreign Service, would have been delighted to learn that Israel – in his day ostracized by most of the non-Western world – has since established full relations with China, Russia, India and Egypt as well as the entire former Eastern Bloc and almost the entire Third World.

Sharett's successor and Ben-Gurion's longtime treasurer, Levi Eshkol, would have been in tears had he learned that Israel's per-capita income is higher than half the European Union's, and that the Jewish state has one of the world's most solid currencies and most envied technological industries.

Eshkol's successor, Golda Meir, who was Israel's first envoy to Moscow and as prime minister worked hard to lift the USSR's emigration ban, would have been thrilled to learn that not only the famous Prisoners of Zion on whose behalf she fought, but all of Soviet Jewry has been freed and largely arrived here.

Meir's successor, Menachem Begin, who struggled for the immigration of the Jews of Ethiopia and Syria, would have been overjoyed to learn of their full liberation, and arrival in the Jewish state.

Indeed, even Theodor Herzl, who in 1897 said the establishment of the Jewish state would be accomplished within 50 years at most, would have been dumbfounded to learn that, for now at least, and for the first time since antiquity, that with the exception of Iran, there no is longer a Jewish community anywhere in the world that is formally oppressed by its government.

In the same vein, Chaim Weizmann, who spent decades seeking Arab-Zionist harmony, would have been elated to learn that the Jewish state has signed peace agreements with the two largest Arab states that share its two longest borders.

In fact, Israel's accomplishments are today impressive not only when viewed through such historic prisms, but also when compared with current global trends.

Strategically, Israel is ahead of most countries in tackling the post-Cold War era's biggest menace – terror.

Socially, in a world that is rapidly beset by developed countries failing to either block or absorb immigrations from poor countries, Israel has in just over a decade absorbed a population about a fifth its original size. Unlike initial pessimistic assessments, these immigrants have on the whole found housing, employment and education, and in fact have frequently joined the economic middle class and the cultural mainstream. Demographically, while most other Western populations are shrinking, Israel's continues to grow, thanks to fertility rates that are higher, and marriage ages and divorce rates that are lower, than most other countries in the West.

Economically, in a developed world in which even veteran economies like Germany's and France's are struggling to achieve viable growth rates, Israel has managed to restore its economic growth even after being momentarily debilitated by a vicious terror war.

Lastly, and most importantly, in a world where organic culture is often being overpowered by international commercializing forces, in Israel Hebrew language and culture – which only a century ago hardly existed – are flourishing.

As we celebrate our independence tonight, we should take stock of all this and remember that with all the flaws, setbacks and hardships that involve our existence here – it's worth the effort.

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The Ayn Rand Institute: Betraying the Real Freedom Fighters

Interesting article by the Ayn Rand Institute, showing how inconsistent the Bush administration view is towards freedom. (To be sure, it is more consistent than almost all previous administrations, but counter-examples like this drastically weaken Bush's claim to be pro-freedom.) Hat tip to Israpundit.

Betraying the Real Freedom Fighters

By: Elan Journo

It is a gross injustice that America endorses a sovereign Palestinian state--but shuns Taiwan's claim to independence.

People striving to create free societies properly deserve the moral support of anyone who loves freedom. So it is dismaying that, despite President Bush's rhetoric about freedom, the United States shuns one brave group of people attempting to escape the clutches of a mighty totalitarian regime--but endorses another group seeking to establish a tyranny.

These two groups--the Taiwanese and the Palestinians--both assert that they are entitled to a sovereign state. Observe that the United States did not laud the huge March 26 rally in Taipei protesting China's aggression and upholding Taiwan's independence. But President Bush frequently affirms his support for a sovereign Palestinian state, a sentiment echoed by other world leaders who lately pledged $1.2 billion in foreign aid to the Palestinian Authority. The U.S. contribution to these "freedom fighters" this year is a hefty $200 million. Taiwan, bereft of diplomatic recognition in Washington and other capitals, is decidedly unwelcome at the United Nations, an organization which once invited former Palestinian leader, arch-terrorist Yasser Arafat, to address its General Assembly.

To appreciate the magnitude of the injustice in how the Taiwanese and Palestinians are treated, consider their respective claims to sovereignty.

Palestinian leaders assert that their people would be better off in an ethnic homeland with a sovereign Palestinian government. They demand "liberation" from Israel's supposed yoke, but their claim is belied by reality. Arabs living under Israeli rule have long enjoyed political rights and a standard of living unmatched by any other Middle Eastern country. For example, Arab citizens can freely air their views without fear of retribution; they can serve as members of parliament; they can seek legal redress under a rule-of-law judicial system.

What is the alternative for which Palestinian leaders are clamoring? It is obvious if you look at the Palestinian Authority, the provisional governing body in the West Bank and Gaza Strip. This tyrannical regime has become notorious for systematically trampling its subjects' rights. Critics of the Palestinian leadership have been brutally silenced, their printing presses burned and broadcasting facilities shut down. There is nothing approaching an objective judiciary: arbitrary arrests and imprisonments are rampant. While many prisoners rot in jail without ever being charged, terrorists are quickly set free or allowed to "escape." The several competing Palestinian "security forces" are known to confiscate property and murder anyone who stands in their way. What has kept the Palestinians afloat economically is billions of dollars in foreign aid--the most aid per capita for any "people" in the world--money that has helped fund anti-Western terrorist groups.

There is no right to establish (or expand) a tyranny. Sovereignty will not transform the Palestinian regime into a thriving free society, but perpetuate the regime's hostility to human life. Only those who seek to escape political oppression and create a free state are entitled to invoke a moral right to statehood. That precisely describes Taiwan's struggle.

Threatening war if Taiwan declares independence, Beijing regards the island as belonging to China and insists on "reunification." But Taiwan is justified in seeking to preserve its hard-won freedoms from China's encroachment. Over the last thirty years, the island nation has gradually established a government that protects the rights of individuals. By 1987, more than a decade after the death of its longtime authoritarian ruler, Chiang Kai-shek, martial law was lifted; political dissidents who had been jailed by the government were released; and, two years later, opposition parties were legalized. Today Taiwan is a powerful economic dynamo whose people are free to express their views, to start businesses and keep their wealth, to seek legal redress in the courts, to elect their political leaders.

What would "reunification" with China mean? In the twenty years since government forces slaughtered pro-freedom demonstrators in Tiananmen Square, China has opened itself up to some international commerce--but it remains a dictatorship. Iron-fisted censorship now extends beyond the print and broadcast media to the Internet; those who petition the government for legal redress risk being arrested on ominously vague charges of "disturbing the social order"; "political criminals" are persecuted, imprisoned, and killed. Were it governed by Beijing, Taiwan would see its political freedoms corroded.

Failing to endorse Taiwan's legitimate claim to independence means consigning its people to the predations of a totalitarian regime. Endorsing the Palestinians' baseless demand to a state means condemning its subjects to the living hell of tyranny.

If we truly want to see the spread of freedom around the world, we must reverse the contemptible injustice of supporting Palestinian thugs while withholding our moral support from Taiwan.

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Today is Yom Hazikaron

Israel's Memorial Day

Today is Yom Hazikaron, Israel's Memorial Day for its fallen soldiers. Yom Hazikaron is a somber day throughout Israel. Israelis don't listen to music, and many attend memorial ceremonies for relatives and friends who died in combat.

Air raid sirens are played throughout the country in the evening and again in the morning (days in the Jewish calendar begin in the evening). Upon hearing the sirens, Israelis stand in silence. Drivers stop their cars and stand as well.

The date chosen for Yom Hazikaron was 4 Iyar, the day before Israel's national independence day. Some Israelis found it awkward to put a sad day next to a celebratory holiday, but by doing so the government made it clear: without the soldiers who gave their lives, there would be no Israeli independence to celebrate.

The total number of soldiers and security personnel who fell since the War of Independence is 20,368.
The total including those who fell in the struggle for the state before 1948 is 21,954.
(This number includes disabled IDF veterans who later died from their wounds and non-IDF personnel who fell in the line of duty)
169 soldiers fell since last Yom Hazikaron - 5764.

On This Day, We Honor The Memory of the Young Men & Women Who Gave Their Lives For The Creation And Security of The Jewish State.

With their death they commanded us life!

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How many lies can you find in this article?

Courtesy of the Palestine Chronicle:

VIENNA - The third Palestinians in Europe Convention has strongly defended the inalienable right of millions of Palestinian refugees to return to their homeland.

The final statement urged all Palestinian organizations championing the right of return to act in unison to make the dream of millions of Palestinians come true.

“The right of return is sacrosanct. It is the core of the just Palestinian cause and a bedrock of the Palestinian sovereignty,” Palestinian Chief Justice Taysir Al-Tamimi told the conference, which wrapped up on Saturday, May 7.

“This right derives its legitimacy from UN Security Council resolution 194, which becomes irrelevant if this right is downtrodden,” he added, warning of US and Jewish schemes to settle Palestinian refugees in Arab and European countries.

The participants signed up to symbolic documents, pledging not to give up their right to return home.

Millions of Palestinians were driven out of their homes in the 1948 and 1967 wars and constitute today up to eight million people, according to the Palestinian Statistics Agency.

Most of whom are living in destitution in refugee camps inside the occupied territories, and in bordering Arab states, particularly Lebanon, Jordan and Syria.

The rest are scattered across the Arab world, the US and Europe.

In what has been termed as the Bushfour declaration, US President George W. Bush in April last year said the refugees should be settled in a future Palestinian state rather than what is now Israel.

The first Palestinian atlas was launched in March to document for the generations to come territories usurped and occupied by Israeli troops.

Up to 50,000 maps charting Palestinian sites that date back to 1799 are found in the English-language geographical encyclopedia.

The final communiqué further expressed deep concern at the increasing threats to occupied East Jerusalem “the capital of Palestine and attempts to Judaize the holy city to obliterate its Arab identity whether through annexation or suspicious deals.”

The statement was referring to the sale of Palestinian land to ideologically-motivated Jewish investors by Archbishop of the Greek Orthodox Church Irineos I.

The patriarch was officially fired Friday, May 6, over his involvement in the deal, which was confirmed by his financial aide Nikos Papadimas.

Archimandrite Attallah Hanna, the spokesman for the Greek Orthodox Church, said the conference helps keep the issue of Jerusalem vivid.

“The serious threats to Al-Aqsa Mosque and Christian waqfs in the holy city have sounded the alarm and made us cautious about peace blueprints imposed by the other,” he told the conference over the phone from Jerusalem.

Palestinian experts warned last month that threats by Jewish extremists to storm Al-Aqsa Mosque, Islam’s third holiest site, had a more serious religious undertone as they believed that 2005 was the year for the construction of the so-called third temple.

Archeologists further warned that ongoing Israeli excavations weakened the foundations of the mosque, cautioning it would not stand a powerful earthquake.

The controversial West Bank separation wall was also high on the agenda of the conference with calls for an immediate stop to the continued construction of “this distasteful Zionist project.”

The conference also featured Palestinian nationalist songs by the gifted Al-Itesam group, which allocates its yields to the Palestinian cause.

The first Palestinians in Europe conference was held on March 19, 2003 in the British capital London. The German capital Berlin hosted the second conference in May 2004.

I probably missed a bunch, too.

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Abbott and Costello read the news

Hosni Abu Ghreib figures he has a good deal. The militant, who spent four years on the run from Israeli forces, says he’s hung up his mask in exchange for a Palestinian police uniform and a steady paycheck - and he still has his gun.

The jobs-for-fugitives program is the Palestinian answer to charges that they have failed to crack down on militants, as Israel and the United States demand. The Palestinians reply that they are succeeding in getting the militants off the streets without confrontations.

About 200 gunmen have joined the Palestinian security forces in the towns of Tulkarem and Jericho since they were handed over to Palestinian control in March, said Palestinian legislator Abdel Fattah Hemayel, who is in charge of finding work for the West Bank fugitives - claiming that all the fugitives are off the streets now.

Abbott: Great news, Costello! The fugitives are off the streets now and we don't have to worry about them having guns!
Costello: That's great news! Are they in jail?
Abbott: No, they're off the streets.
Costello: So they are under house arrest then.
Abbott: No, they're off the streets.
Costello: OK, but where exactly are they?
Abbott: They got jobs!
Costello: The terrorists got jobs?
Abbott: Of course.
Costello: What are they doing?
Abbott: They are policemen!
Costello: And where are they working?
Abbott: On the streets!
Costello: And what do they need to do their jobs?
Abbott: Guns!
Costello: So the terrorists are off the streets.
Abbott: Absolutely.
Costello: And they are working in the streets.
Abbott: Naturally, where else?
Costello: And we don't have to worry about their guns.
Abbott: Not at all.
Costello: Because they have their guns.
Abbott: Naturally, what is a policeman without a gun?
Costello: And we are supposed to be happy about this?
Abbott: I'm very happy. The fugitives are gone!
Costello: Where did they go?
Abbott: They got jobs!
Costello: On the street, with guns.
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: Where were they before?
Abbott: On the street.
Costello: With...?
Abbott: Guns.
Costello: So what is the difference between before and now?
Abbott: Before, they were fugitives from the law!
Costello: And now....?
Abbott: They are policemen!
Costello (dizzy): Sworn to uphold...
Abbott: The law!
Costello: So they switched sides?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: Did they sign anything saying they will uphold the law?
Abbott: Costello, I'm surprised at you! Of course not! That would be demeaning!
Costello: Demeaning?
Abbott: Demeaning!
Costello: That's what I want to find out, demeaning of all this!
Abbott: It is all for peace!
Costello: Come again?
Abbott: This is how the Palestinians are enforcing peace!
Costello: By hiring terrorists?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: And giving them guns?
Abbott: Naturally!
Costello: So why is it peaceful now and it wasn't before?
Abbott: Now, they are getting paid to have guns and stay on the streets!
Costello: So, if the fugitives are now peaceful policemen, who are the criminals?
Abbott: Militants!
Costello: Militants.
Abbott: Militants!
Costello: Weren't the fugitives militants too?
Abbott: Naturally.
Costello: And now they are...
Abbott: Policemen.
Costello: Fighting their old friends, the...
Abbott. Militants.
Costello: Say, I have an idea. Why not declare all criminals to be policemen and then there won't be any more crime!
Abbott: Don't be silly.
Costello: Silly?
Abbott: Of course. That can't happen until the EU gives enough money to pay all those extra policemen.
Costello: AAAAAAARGH!

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Havel Haveilim #18 (or #19) is out

The latest wonderful periodic summary of the best of the Jewish/Israeli blogs has been published here.

For reasons perhaps only known to this edition's editor, one of my recent postings is mentioned. So in the interests of fair play and good form, I recommend checking it out, as well as all back issues which are spread throughout the JBlogosphere.

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Sharon: No more prisoner releases until PA acts against terror. AP disagrees.

Notice how AP twists this story to make it look like Israel is raising tensions and that somehow the prisoner release decision threatens the "cease-fire":

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Israel will not release more Palestinian prisoners until the Palestinian Authority takes tougher action against militant groups - the latest sign of trouble for an already strained cease-fire.

Israeli and Palestinian officials discussed the prisoner issue Sunday, but their meeting ended in disagreement. Palestinians charged Israel is breaking a truce that has drastically reduced violence, endangering its continuation and weakening Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. (How this "breaks a truce" is not explained in the AP universe.)
[...]Later, AP decides to quote Palestinian spokesterrorists, and ignore any Israeli comments:
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of stonewalling.

"It seems to me that they will not release the prisoners, they will not hand over the areas, they will not end the question of the fugitives," Erekat said. Instead of imposing delays, he said, Israel should "expedite this process and give peace a chance," he said. (I believe that if you look up "chutzpah" in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of the exerable Erekat.)

Palestinian Cabinet minister Ghassan Khatib cautioned that Sharon's policies "would only lead to the collapse of the recent cease-fire."

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Red-Dead canal planned

Sounds like a win-win.

Ministers from Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority will today sign an agreement to pave the way for the construction of a canal that will link the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

The canal will generate electricity, provide fresh water, and prevent the Dead Sea from drying up.

It will draw water from the Red Sea at Aqaba in Jordan, raise it 170 metres above sea level and then let it fall to the Dead Sea which, at 400 metres below sea level, is the lowest place on earth.

The project will consist of 110 miles of canal, tunnel and piping, and the electricity provided by the water will provide for pumping the water in the initial stages and power a desalination plant.

There are also plans to construct holiday resorts and a water park along parts of the route.

The first stage will be a $20m (£10.15m) feasibility study partly funded by the World Bank with the estimated $3bn cost of the final project also being partly funded by the bank.

Canals linking the Red Sea, Dead Sea and Mediterranean Sea have been discussed since the 19th century, initially for transport, then hydroelectricity and now with the main purpose of desalinating sea water.

As the population in the region has exploded over the past 100 years water has become more and more precious.

As a result the Dead Sea, a lake 10 times more salty than sea water, has fallen by 20 metres leaving wide areas of salt flats. The level of the sea continues to fall by about 80cm a year.

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Jeff Jacoby: Everybody loses in Sharon's Gaza plan

A breath of fresh air from Jeff Jacoby, asking the questions no one wants answered.

GADID, Gaza Strip
[...]
A visitor would have to be strangely obtuse not to sense the deep attachment of Gaza's Jews to the land they live on. In places like Gadid, streets and kindergartens are named for the Bible's seven species. ''Gadid" itself is an old Hebrew word meaning date harvest, and the names of other settlements, like Pe'at Sadeh (''edge of the field") or Netzarim (''sprouts"), similarly evoke the agricultural yearnings of their founders.

When those founders arrived, Jewish Gaza was all yearning and no agriculture: These settlements were mostly built on barren sand dunes where no one lived and nothing grew. Today it is a horticultural powerhouse, supplying two-thirds of the organic vegetables and cherry tomatoes Israel exports, and renowned for its bug-free lettuce and other leafy greens. Gaza's legal status may be complicated (it is technically an unallocated portion of the League of Nations' 1922 Palestine Mandate), but the moral status of this land is as clear as day: As a matter of justice and sweat equity, the Jewish homesteaders whose faith and hard work have made the sand dunes bloom surely have as much right to their homes in Gadid and Neveh Dekalim as the Arabs have to theirs in nearby Khan Yunis and Dir El Balah.

Yet in just 10 weeks, if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ''disengagement" program goes forward, the 8,000 Jews who live in Gaza -- men, women, and a great many children -- will be expelled. Their homes and property will be taken over by the Palestinian Authority. And the green revolution that has transformed Gaza's sandy wastes into a spectacular oasis of hothouses, nurseries, and gardens will almost certainly come to an end.

But Jews won't be the only victims of Sharon's plan.

At Tnuvot Katif, a large produce-packaging plant here, I watch for a while as about two dozen workers, most of them local Arabs, get heads of tall leaf lettuce ready for export. More than half of Tnuvot's 127 year-round employees are Arab; they in turn account for about 2 percent of the 3,500 Arabs employed by Gaza's Jewish firms.

During a break in the shift, I ask some of workers if they like their jobs. They shrug. But when I ask what they think of the plan for Israeli withdrawal, they grow animated. If the Israelis go, they tell me through an interpreter, they'll lose their jobs. If the plant shuts down, they'll be out of work, and if the Palestinian Authority takes it over, they'll still be out of work -- their jobs will go to workers with better connections to the PA's ruling thugs.

''If that's how you feel," I ask, ''why don't you oppose the disengagement publicly? Why don't you tell the PA that you want your Jewish neighbors to stay?"

When my question is translated, the men look at me as if I'm crazy.

''It's forbidden!" replies Randoor, the only one of the workers who would give even a first name. ''We're not allowed to say that!"

I press him: Why not? What would be so bad about saying that Jews and Arabs should be able to live together? But Randoor shakes his head and crosses his wrists, as if being handcuffed. ''They might put us in jail," he says. ''They might call us 'collaborators.' " In the jungle that is Palestinian society, being called a ''collaborator" can be a death sentence. Indeed, the PA's newly elevated security chief -- a cold-blooded killer named Rashid Abu Shabak -- is known in Gaza as the ''collaborator hunter."

Politicians and pundits are applauding Sharon's planned retreat, yet a simple lettuce-packer like Randoor seems to grasp what they cannot: The lives of Gaza's Arabs will not be improved by expelling Gaza's Jews.

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