Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, October 04, 2006

Ramadan chatter?

An AWACS plane has been circling over New York City today.

About 15 years ago, one day at work I had a lot of frustrations with my work and my boss, and an idea hit me - just get into my car and drive east until I hit the ocean.

On the way I stopped off to buy a beach chair, sunglasses, a trashy novel and some shorts, and within two hours I was situated in a pretty empty beach with nothing but sun and sand. I still treasure that day - a true mental health day.

As I came to work today, I realized that today was a perfect day to do the same thing. But I can't - between all the yomim tovim and covering for someone at work who is on maternity leave, I cannot take advantage of the last 80-degree day this year.

So I am asking my loyal readership:

Please take today off , especially if you are in the Northeastern US. Go to the beach, spend the entire day doing nothing, and let me know about it.

Have a great day.

Fatah official: Abbas wants Israel destroyed

Yesterday, Dry Bones blog linked to an older article of mine where I reminded everyone that Mahmoud Abbas is hardly the moderate, peace-seeking person that the world makes him out to be.

Today, we have more proof, thanks to the incomparable Aaron Klein of WND, who seems to be the only reporter on the planet to actually interview terrorist leaders and print what they say in English:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas' stated recognition of Israel's right to exist is part of a "political calculation" aimed at ultimately destroying the Jewish state, a terror group leader and member of Abbas' Fatah party told WND in an interview.

The leader said the Fatah party does not recognize Israel and that any final accord that doesn't include flooding the Jewish state with millions of Palestinians will not be supported by the Fatah party and will lead to Palestinian civil war.

"The base of our Fatah movement keeps dreaming of Tel Aviv, Haifa, Jaffa and Acco," said Abu Ahmed, Fatah member and leader of the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades in the northern Gaza Strip. "There is no change in our position. Abbas recognizes Israel because of pressure that the Zionists and the Americans are exercising on him. We understand this is part of his obligations and political calculations."

The Brigades is the declared "military wing" of Abbas' Fatah party. Together with the Islamic Jihad terror group, the Brigades has taken responsibility for every suicide bombing inside Israel the past two years, including an attack in Tel Aviv this past April that killed an American teenager and nine Israelis. The Brigades also has carried out scores of deadly shooting and rocket attacks against Israeli civilians in recent months.

Brigades leaders are members of Fatah. The terror group's founder, Marwan Barghouti, is an elected Fatah official and is largely considered one of the most popular Fatah figures. Several top Brigades members serve in Abbas' Force 17 personal security detail.

The U.S. and Europe label Hamas a terror group, while Fatah largely is considered "moderate," in part for its purported willingness to accept Israel. The U.S. has given large sums of financial aid and weapons to Fatah since late Palestine Liberation Organization leader Yasser Arafat signed the Oslo Peace Accords with the Jewish state in 1993.

Abu Ahmed explained Fatah itself has never officially recognized Israel.

"It is the PLO, which is a separate entity, that recognized Israel,and this was a step, a tactical step that had as its goal to bring the resistance and the revolution closer to the lands of Palestine," Abu Ahmed said.

The PLO was the official governing body of the Palestinians until the PA was formed following the Oslo Accords. Subsequent Israeli-Palestinian agreements were signed officially by the Fatah-led PA but not by Fatah as a party.

Still, Fatah leaders, including Abbas, have made scores of statements recognizing the Jewish state.

But Abu Ahmed commented, "There is an opportunistic class at the head of the Fatah leadership that for personal and political interests says it accepts the existence of Israel. There is no change in our official position. Fatah as a movement never recognized Israel. It is the PLO who did so for the reasons I mentioned."

The U.S. State Department considers the Al Aqsa Martyrs Brigades a terror organization.

A State Department spokesman yesterday told WND the Brigades is "separate" from Abbas' Fatah party. But Abu Ahmed explained his Brigades group is "one and the same" with the Fatah party.

"We are members of Fatah, and there are normal organic relations between us and the Fatah. We are in the Al Aqsa Brigades because we are Fatah members. We participate in all political decisions making of the Fatah movement."

Abu Ahmed said Brigades members consider Abbas their legitimate leader and answer ultimately to the PA president.

"Of course we are loyal to Abbas. He is our elected leader. We would of course prefer if his policy toward Israel was different, but we understand his obligations and calculations, and we do not consider ourselves limited by these calculations," the terror leader said.

Abu Ahmed explained the difference between Hamas and Fatah is that the Fatah party "is ready to discuss a political arrangement for the Jews."

But he said any arrangement must include the "right of return" of millions of Palestinians to Israel.

"We demand [any agreement with Israel] be based upon the principles that the great majority of our people support and first of all the right of return to the refugees, which mean that there cannot be any recognition of the Zionist entity.

"If any Palestinian government will dare sign a deal without this it means that this government has decided to throw away the fate and destiny of more than four million Palestinian refugees, and we cannot accept this."

The "right of return" is widely seen by Israelis as a ploy to flood Israel with millions of Palestinians, thus threatening the country's Jewish character.

As we have seen before, the Fatah "constitution" indeed never recognized Israel. It's major goal, still on its website today, is "Complete liberation of Palestine, and eradication of Zionist economic, political, military and cultural existence."

So what Abu Ahmed is saying is entirely consistent with known facts about Abbas, Fatah, the PLO and the Al Aqsa Brigades. The evidence that Abbas does not truly seek a lasting peace with Israel is overwhelming. But as the State Department quote above proves, the Western world would rather keep the fiction of a peaceful Abbas alive than abandon the failed, destructive "peace process."

Haveil Havalim #88 has arrived

The new, improved AbbaGav site is where you will find HH88, the finest of the JBlogosphere. Lots of thoughts about the yomim tovim but even a couple of links to my own strange postings.

Check it out! And update your blogroll with his new, easy to remember URL!

(I actually do own elderofziyon.com, but I don't publicize it because I can't see good statistics on people who link to there when I obsessively watch my Statcounter. So please don't use it, even though it is easier to remember. Just forget I ever mentioned it, OK?)

Pakistani charities for jihad

Two very interesting articles in The Times (Pakistan). The English isn't very good but the ideas (and tilt of the writers) soon becomes clear. ("Welfare Trusts" are simply charities):

With the advent of Ramazan, the mobile welfare trusts started their business in different Mohallahs, streets and by lanes on loudspeakers, asking donations for what they announced, that Almighty Allah is always happy with those, who give charity to the destitute, poor and needy people.

People usually used to contribute according to their means without ever getting to know whether or not this money was distributed among the deserved person. These religiously emotional announcements also shook the belief of the common man, a person with least education, and with the fear of God used to give money to these people who were walking around or riding a Suzuki pick-up unhindered.

The govt, reportedly issued an order that announcement of loudspeakers in the mosques is banned to avoid any hate material, but is unable to make accountable these roadside fundraiser for the so-called Madressahs or in the name of construction of mosques, more often than not, cheating people.

This business swells up in the month of Ramazan as being a Muslim, everyone believes that giving charity in the month of Ramazan is worth more and elicits the blessings of Allah Almighty. With this concept in mind, people without any hesitation give away money to these people.

The authorities concerned, especially town Nazims and councillors have the responsibility of keeping a check on these people and certain laws should be framed for their accountability. The govt must have a system of checks and balances in place on these street fund raiser and an account book should also be maintained.

This trend is usually witnessed in low-lying areas, where Suzuki pick-ups also sell the Holy Qura’an on the streets, whereas in somewhat posh areas, these people have somewhat improvised their mode of business by organising Dars (sermons) at home and asking donation for the people which ultimately responded by the upper middle class, as in our society, sham display of wealth has become a fashion.

It is the duty of the administration to compile a list of these roadside donation collecting welfare trusts and double-check their activities and make sure as to for what purpose they were collecting money and other gift items. Besides restricting Madressahs to show their annual accounts, government must also adopt code of conduct on these mobile welfare trusts and monitor their activities as to where they are getting their directions from and on whose directions, they are working in the city right under the nose of administration.

OK, this is not too strange. There are people who use charity to rip off other people all the time and in all organized religions. Calling for the government to oversee these charities makes sense.

A little later comes this other article about these "charities," which is a bit more ominous:

KARACHI: In order to maintain the record of Welfare Trusts, the government has decided to register all of them running in the province and any trust functioning prior to obtaining the license from their respective government would be disbanded, sources confirmed to this reporter.

According to details available, the government has received complaints from the various quarters that these Welfare Trusts were collecting donations to train manpower for Jihad in the war-torn areas of the Muslim world to fight evil forces. The sources said that in the garb of charity collection these trusts fully employed resources for procuring weapons of war and imparting training to the youth for Jihad....

It was however, also learnt through reliable sources, that these trained youth were also sent to Lebanon and Palestine and other Muslim countries to wage Jihad against Zionist forces. These young people, who were briefed on, and made aware of the wily machinations of the imperialist forces, belonged to highly educated families who had become highly motivated and were ready to sacrifice their lives as they said, for the sake of Islam.

As Jihad is the basic and the most important element of Islam to fight against those spreading hate, dividing people along ethnic and religious grounds the parents send their children knowingly or unknowingly to such Dars (sermons) for spiritual refreshment.

However, one could not overlook the fact that many of these so-called trusts were working on the agenda of West and receiving handsome amounts from the foreign donors/agencies for preparing children for confrontation, the source confided. Islam is being used by certain elements for their vested interests who have become tools in the hands of West, whose only aim to eliminate Muslims and defame Islam all over the world as the most facists religion on earth and US President George Bush Jr., has already issued an “edict” in this regard referring to Islam as Fascist Islam.

It is a little unclear whether this author is saying that the Jihadist charities are really fronts for an imperialist Zionist plot to make Muslims look bad, or if there are other charities that the West is supporting that are worse than the Jihadist front charities.

Either way, we can glean a few interesting points:

This article defines Jihad as quite warlike, unlike every Muslim apologist that the West ever sees.
Pakistani Islamic newspapers do not have a clue on the Western attitudes towards Islam.
From this article it appears that the idea of charities brainwashing Muslim youth to fight against the Zionist/imperialist forces is really no big deal, and that the Pakistani government is doing the bidding of the US by trying to crack down on this rather than anything being inherently bad.
It is far preferable to send kids to kill Jews than to think that your charity money might be going to thieving Muslims.

In short, Pakistan is one thoroughly screwed-up place. To think that they are our allies in the war against Islamic terrorism seems to be more a product of wishful thinking and arm-twisting that the reality.

Another "human rights" organization that lies

I just discovered another "human rights" organization that has no real interest in human rights but every interest in making Israel look evil.

Defence for Children International, Palestine Section is a self-styled defender of children that admits it is an :

independent, Palestinian non-governmental organization, which develops its programs and acts according to Palestinian children's needs and Palestinian priorities.

Might there just be a wee bit of a conflict of interest between pretending to care about Palestinian Arab children's needs and saying that they promote "Palestinian" interests - which include exploiting those same children for political gain?

Well, in case you thought not, think again. Their website spares no effort to count every possible Palestinian Arab minor who is injured or killed that they can blame on Israel, and does not mention a single negative word about Palestinian Arab children who are killed by their own people, or who are routinely used as human shields by their "militant" friends, or even who are encouraged to blow themselves up as martyrs , both directly and through the PA-funded media.

No, none of that seems to count to these supposed defenders of the innocent.

But beyond that, their count of Palestinian Arab children supposedly killed by Israel include some outright lies.

For example, I mentioned the PCHR report of two brothers who found a homemade Palestinian rocket , took it home and blow it up, killing one of them. Guess how DCI reports the same event?

On the 28 August 2006, 16 year old Mohamad Khaled Al Za anen found an unexploded shell on his family's land. He picked it up and carried it to his home with the help of his younger brother. Suddenly the shell exploded, kiling Mohamad instantly and severely injuring his brother.

Same dead kid, but this "human rights" organization blames Israel while the PCHR says that it was a locally made rocket.

They also go on to describe many instances where Israeli forces are battling Gaza terrorists, where any stray bullet that kills a PalArab kid is invariably blamed on the Israeli side, often with such objective descriptors as "an Israeli sniper put a bullet in his head."

They count events that are ambiguous at best:

Raja' was playing on a swing. At the same time the Israeli army attacked the neighbouring land, used for training Al Nasser Salah Al Deen militias. As Raja' tried to run, one of the poles from the swing fell on her head, killing her instantly.

Did a shell hit the swing? Or was this one of the swings built on the many Palestinian Arab "metal workshops"? No matter - it is easy to add this to the list of murdered kids, to make Israel look bad.

Or look at this incident:

On 10th July 2006, at around 19:50, a group of children were playing football on a piece of land near the agricultural school in Beit Hanoun. At that time, Palestinian resistance groups launched a missile towards Israeli towns, before quickly leaving the area. Immediately afterwards Israeli airplanes launched a missile towards the children immediately killing three of them and injuring another.

Assuming this is true, do you think that these mighty Defenders of Children will ever say a word about why their heroic resistance fighters are shooting missiles from the immediate area where children are playing soccer?

Also, notice that neither DCI nor PCHR will ever mention anyone killed by Palestinian Arabs shooting towards Israelis. Without exception, it is always asserted that any bullet that kills a child belongs to Israeli soldiers. So my running count of 97 Palestinian Arabs killed by their own people since Operation Summer Rains began is probably way, way undercounted.

But since there are no true human rights organizations interested in such things, no one will ever know.

The PalArab reverence for funerals

Looking at Palestinian Arab news reports I came across this little nugget:

Meanwhile a group of unknown gunmen open fired at residents while taking part in a funeral in Gaza city, Monday morning, inuring several residents.

Remember, it is only bad when non-Muslims do something like that.

Meanwhile, over at the offical Palestinian Arab "News" agency Wafa, not a single word about Arab on Arab violence in the territories. The entire site is dedicated to demonizing Israel - because, after all, that's the only "news" they are interested in telling the world about.

Civil war - complete with civilian deaths

Since my last PalArab self-death count post, four more dead have been added to the list, making the grand total 96 since I started trying to keep track.

Some details on these mature people who the world believes deserve a state of their very own:

In scenes reminiscent of the Lebanese civil war in the 70's and 80's, the confrontation quickly turned into street gun battles, with both sides using automatic rifles, pistols and hand-propelled grenades. At least three of the casualties were identified as innocent passersby, including 15-year-old Hassan Abu al-Hatel.

This is shaping up to be another week where more PalArabs are violently killed by their fellow moderate countrymen than by the "genocidal Zionist occupiers." But don't forget - they are a democracy, and their infighting is the same as in any other democratic country.

Just with RPGs.

UPDATE: 97, 12 dead in the past two days.

G'mar chatima tovah - 5767 edition

My most popular posting today is one I wrote two years ago, saying simply "G'mar chatima tovah." Many people are Googling the phrase today and ending up at this blog.

Someone should tell Answers.com that their translation is not quite accurate; this one is. (Hat tip: Balashon)

It is also very worthwhile to check out the poignant post by Ocean Guy.

So I will take this opportunity to wish everyone a g'mar chatima tovah (and a g'mar chasima tovah as well :) ) . I hope that anyone who I may have wronged during the year forgives me, and I forgive everyone for anything they may have done to me.

May we all be sealed for a great year, and may we all have an easy fast!

The great PalArab self-death whitewash - now at 92

As my readers know, I have been trying to keep a count of how many Palestinian Arabs have been killed by other PalArabs since the kidnapping of Gilad Shalit in late June. At the moment, I have identified 85 (one I missed from August who was executed by the "Executive Force" and an infant girl killed by her brother who found his father's assault rifle, in addition to my running count.)

As far as I can tell, there is no Palestinian Arab source who keeps an official count of dead Palestinian Arabs from infighting, "work accidents" and executions. I know that I am undercounting, because the closest thing to an authoritative source I have has missed some from other sources. For example, today's five injured by a hand grenade thrown by a Hamas member into a Fatah rally is not being reported by any PalArab English source I can find. Also, PCHR never reports on people who have died days after their injuries.

I just spent some time at the Palestinian Red Crescent site, thinking that an ambulance service would surely report on any injuries and deaths that they were aware of, no matter what the source.

But of course this "humanitarian" organization only cares about Palestinian Arabs killed and injured by Israel. For example, their detailed statistics from September show no one killed on September 8, when I know that one was that I reported on. Also September 13 - the PRCS mentions no deaths or injuries, I reported on one death from someone who blew himself up building a bomb and four lawyers injured from some clan clash.

The site is filled with pictures of death and injury from the early days of the intifada, lots of statistics and highlighting of Israeli actions, and not a single word that I could find about Palestinian Arab terrorists blowing themselves up, or children handling bomb belts, or people shot and killed by gunfire during wedding celebrations, or even the three "honor killings" I have mentioned.

It is almost as if even the Palestinian Red Crescent Society doesn't give a damn about Palestinian Arabs killed, unless they can use the deaths to score political points against Israel.

Also, since the PCHR started keeping track, at least 90 more PalArabs were killed between February and late June. One would think that some 180 deaths woudl rate a mention.

Here are links to my articles on Palestinian Arabs killing each other. You won't find these stories anywhere else.

Two Gaza girls on their way to school hit by rocket
Diary of the week's violence
Count keeps rising
Hot time in Palestine
Extrajudicial killing
Don't foozle
Another "honor killing"
Killing each other and blaming Israel
2 honor killings for the price of 1
Grim milestone
Oops!
They keep killing each other
Wedding, funeral, and a couple of clan clashes
Woman and child in a clan clash
A few more
No one cares

UPDATE: 7 more killed since last night, bringing the total now to at least 92.

At least 75 Palestinians – including security officers, passersby, and members of Hamas’ special security force – were hurt in violent confrontations and gun battles that erupted in Khan Younis Sunday morning.
A Palestinian was killed near the parliament building in Gaza, and another four were wounded. Shortly afterwards it was reported that a teenagers who was injured in the clashes died of his wounded. A member of the Palestinian presidential guard was also killed in exchanges of fire in Gaza City. Another four people were killed in other incidents, two of them Palestinian security personnel.

Ball in Siniora's court - if the game was fair

A whopping three days ago:

Lebanese Prime Minister Fouad Siniora on Wednesday called the ongoing Israeli military presence in Lebanese territory the "mother of all ills" and said it must be brought to an end.

"There won't be any valid argument then for the continuation of weapons in the hands of Hezbollah," he told a news briefing when asked about Hezbollah's claim last week to have more than 20,000 rockets after a month of war with Israel.

This of course begs the question of what the valid argument was for Hezbollah to amass such an arsenal to begin with over the past six years.

Luckily, we have the Syrian puppet Lebanese president ready to give an answer:

Lebanese President, Emile Lahoud said on Saturday that if Hezbollah didn't resist aginst the Zionist regime's aggression, a Zionist-affiliated President would now be in office in Lebanon.

In an exclusive interview with channel 3 of Italian state television, Lahoud asserted that Hezbollah was the only force which defended the country against Zionists' aggression and Lebanon can't demand them to be disarmed, adding that Lebanese army only can grant domestic securing and lacks the power to encounter Zionist army which is backed by America.

Makes perfect sense! The Zionist infidel dogs have always been wanting to sink their fangs into juicy Lebanese territory, and only the heroism of the Hezbollah heroes have stopped them.

The President, a Syrian crony, further announced that Lebanese army too ruled out Hezbollah's disarmment and so the UN peacekeeping forces have not the right to do so as there is no reference to this matter in UN's resolution.

Uh-oh, we have a slight contradiction here. Siniora is implying that the Lebanese government will not allow Hezbollah to hold arms as long as Israel withdraws from Lebanon, and Lahoud is saying that it is not an option.

Nasrallah, for his part, has added a new condition before he disarms. Besides Israel leaving the Sheba Farms and some northern Israeli villages, he also wants to make sure that Lebanon has an army that can repel Israel. He also threw in a threat that if Lebanon doesn't turn itself into a more pro-Syrian government, Hezbollah might just have to take over.

Meanwhile, Israel removed its last troops from Lebanon this morning, so Siniora's "mother of all ills" has made his words from last Wednesday become suddenly relevant.

Not that we are expecting him to actually follow through.

Ahmadinejad acknowledges the Elders

Ina fascinating New York Observer article written by Ahmadinejad's interpreter while he was in New York comes this tidbit, during a speech by the Iranian president to an enthusiastic room of Iranian-Americans - who gave him a standing ovation:

“Two thousand Zionists want to rule the world. You can do it elsewhere,” he said, as if speaking directly to the mysterious 2,000, “but not in Iran. It’s impossible—it’s not doable.”

I am privileged to be one of the infamous, mythical Two Thousand.

And, Mr. Ahmadinejad will be frightened to know, our power does not stop at the borders of Iran.

How to get a guaranteed job in the PA

The Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs prints its reservations on the EU resuming funding the PA. Most of the things they bring up are familiar but some details were new to me. In the aggregate, it is hard to conclude anything other than the fact that the "moderate" Fatah party actively supports fighting and terrorizing Israel. (Translation by Daily Alert:)

Is Financial Aid from the West Supporting Palestinian Terrorists? - Jonathan D. Halevi

EU members have been expressing great interest in renewing financial support to the Palestinian Authority. On September 21, 2006, the office of the Palestinian president signed an agreement with the World Bank for the transfer of $46.6 million to maintain basic services in the Palestinian Authority. In order to encourage donating countries to transfer as much money as possible to finance its budget, the PA is striving to magnify the image of a "humanitarian crisis" in the territories. However, without proper supervision, the West's financial aid might directly or indirectly find its way to funding Palestinian terror.

The PA allocates $48 million a year to security prisoners in Israeli jails and to released prisoners. Every Palestinian prisoner or Israeli-Arab in an Israeli prison is entitled to receive financial aid from the PA if he was imprisoned for the struggle against "the Israeli occupation." In addition, a released prisoner is entitled to a government position if he spent more than 5 years in prison. A prisoner who spent over 25 years in prison is entitled to the position of deputy minister and the rank of a brigadier-general in the security forces. The PA also transfers millions of dollars per month to organizations, run mostly by Hamas, that support the families of prisoners, dead terrorists, and the wounded.

This system of support, which aids murderous terrorists, suicide bombers who were caught, and those who launched them, conveys the message that the Palestinian Authority supports the armed struggle against Israel. The West's financial aid to the PA, if renewed without the proper precautions and supervision, might end up supporting thousands of former and current Palestinian terrorists. (JCPA-Hebrew, 27Sep06)

So the longer you are in prison for terror activities, the higher your rank in the peaceful PA.

In other words, the EU wants to give money to a people who explicitly and consistently idolize and support terrorists.

Yeshiva boys rejoice

And yeshiva parents, beware:

Tosfos.com is here.

Hat tip to Junior Elder.

Notable articles about Arabs

Enlightening articles on similar themes:

Observations on Arabs
Tribalism
which is itself a long commentary on this: Why We Will Never See Democracy in the Middle East

I do agree that the Arab psyche seems to predate Islam by quite a long period of time. I would venture to guess that Islam was heavily influenced by this Arab tribalist mindset overlaid with a religious motif.

As a trivial example, I once noted thatArab women covered their faces centuries before Mohammed. Islamic law apparently took the Jewish concepts of female modesty, applied it to justify the existing custom, and then used it to strengthen the laws of Islamic modesty beyond the original legal requirements. The Koranic laws may have been codifying and organizing existing Arab customs and mores.