Lunch break

I'm stuck in an all-day teambuilding meeting that is a complete and utter waste of time, and now all I can do is blog from my Blackberry during lunch. I'm suffering withdrawal symptoms from no Internet.

Tomorrow will be light too as I go on a short business trip.

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Justice, PalArab-style

The irony:

Increasing anarchy in the Palestinian Authority: Wednesday morning, anonymous gunmen shot and killed a judge in Khan Younis, in southern Gaza.

Palestinian sources reported that the four gunmen got out of a civilian vehicle and opened fire at Judge Bassem el-Fara, who was killed on the spot.

This is the second murder of a Palestinian judge this week: Three days prior, Judge Jamal Abu Salim was killed in the same area.

And more:

Officials from the governing Hamas faction said Bassam al-Fara, 28, was a judge in a civil court but also a member of the group’s armed wing.

Ya gotta hand it to the PalArabs. Just when you think that Fatah is depraved for killing a judge, you realize that the "judge" was a Hamas terrorist himself.

It is somewhat interesting to see that there are any people who call themselves judges left in the territories. I recall the "Palestine Human Rights Moniitoring Group" has lists of certain types of verdicts from the PalArab "justice" system (like "collaborators" ) and their lists pretty much ended a couple of years ago. (The site is down as I am writing this.) I believe that this Google cached page has the stats.)

But I suppose that if they have so many pretend policemen, many of whom moonlight as terrorists, it only makes sense that they have pretend judges who are terrorists as well.

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Another argument for a PalArab state

I just stumbled onto a survey of Palestinian Arab attitudes towards "honor killings" and how to preserve "family honor." It was probably done a couple of years ago.

Table 1 is a survey of preferred outcomes in relation to a girl who committed an act which broke her family’s honor. The respondents are classified according to gender.

Table 1: The preferred outcome - by gender.

Total	Females	Males	Preferred Outcome
21.2	16.3	25.9	The family must kill their daughter to erase shame
24.6	25	24.2	Conceal the girl’s action
8.7	8.9	8.4	Make her marry one of her relatives
4.6	4.9	4.3	Neglect and abandon her
28.4	33	24	Guide the girl so that she will not commit the same act again
12.5	11.8	13.2	Other outcomes
100	100	100	Total

*Figures are shown as a percentage

The family has the right to murder the girl who committed an obscene act	Males	Females	Total
Strongly agree	25.3	15.4	20.4
Slightly agree	18.6	16.3	17.5
Slightly disagree	23.1	22.1	22.6
Strongly disagree	30.4	41.5	35.6
Do not know	2.6	4.7	3.6
Total	100	100	100

*Figures are shown as a percentage

A girl should be fully covered and wear and a veil	Males	Females	Total
Strongly agree	46	42	44
Slightly agree	23	20.07	21.09
Slightly disagree	17.06	24.03	20.09
Strongly disagree	11.03	11.06	11.05
Do not know	1.09	1.03	1.06
Total	100	100	100

The entire report is astounding, even for those who have looked into this before. It includes this stunning fact:

The established law in West Bank and Gaza is the Jordanian law of 1960 which was modeled under the old French law of 1807.

The law contains:

i. Quit circumstances: the male assailant goes free without punishment.

ii. Extenuating circumstances: the male assailant is imprisoned for a period of one to six months.

Article 340a of the Penal Code states:

“Every man who takes by surprise his wife or any female relative while committing adultery or fornication with another man and as a result kills, wounds or harms both of them or either of them is entitled to the quit circumstances.”

A complementary article, 340b asserts:

“Every man who surprises his wife or any female relative while being with another man while committing adultery or fornication in an illicit bed and as a result kills, wounds or harms both of them or either of them is entitled to the extenuating circumstances.”

Although article 340a and 340b are similar, the latter covers any gaps that may arise from the former. Article 340b fails to define the word “bed” and many Jordanian courts apply the term so loosely that a bed is not actually required. In the event a man fails to meet the requirement of article 340a, article 340b allows the assailant to receive a reduced sentence.

Nevertheless, the discriminatory law does not entitle women to quit circumstances or extenuating circumstances. On the other hand, the law provides a legal façade for men to defend family honour.

Except in Saudi Arabia, where the rules of Islam are applied, the laws in the Arab countries are, more or less, similar to the Jordanian law.

Sounds like a Palestinian Arab state would be a valuable addition to the family of nations.

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More murders in the PalArab paradise

A seventeen year old youth from Haris Chehab was found naked and tortured (it was not clear what his name was). Just for context, whenever Israel is considered responsible for the death of a 17-year old the youth would be called a "child."

Another Palestinian Arab, Jamal Freih Abu Salim (35), was and killed by those ever-elusive "unknown gunmen," driving a Mercedes. Another was shot and chained at a beach during a carjacking.

Never fear, though: the tens of thousands of Palestinian Arab policemen are investigating. Order will be restored as soon as possible.

My count of PalArabs violently killed by each other since late June stands now at 181.

And here was another gem from al-Hayat: On October 24th, a Muslim cleric was shot in an assassination attempt during his sermon in Ramallah. (Somehow this story flew under the radar.) He was transported to Hadassah Hospital. He has been in a coma and stillrequires much more treatment. Israel wants to transfer him to a different hospital and the Palestinian Arabs are upset, saying that it wil endanger his life (although it looks like he has brain damage.)

And his family is complaining about how long it took him to get transported to the hospital and the quality of his medical care, holding Israel responsible. Not a single word about his would-be Arab assassins!

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Arab psychosis, part 2

We recently highlighted part of an interview with the Al-Jazeerah editor blaming every single problem in the Arab world on Israel.

Lest one think that this is an aberration, look at the final statement that came out of the Gulf Cooperation Summit that just ended (the one where they say how important it is for oil-rich states where the sun shines 365 days a year to develop "peaceful" nuclear energy.)

I could not find a human English translation of the statement, but Al-Ayyam provides one in Arabic which appears to be identical to the words spoken by the Emir of Qatar three weeks ago. So I will use the Emir's wording:

The absence of a just solution of the Palestinian cause and the great sufferings by the brotherly people of Palestine that goes beyond all imagination, are the real causes of the aggravation and diversity of conflicts in the Middle East. Hence it is the obligation of the international community to give top priority to reaching a just solution of this cause in accordance with international legality, since temporary solutions or partial settlements are no longer adequate or acceptable if this area has to enjoy security and stability.

So how exactly do Israeli actions affect people in Qatar, Bahrain and the UAE?

Obviously, because some Jews who live 1500 miles away happen to control a sliver of land. This is very distressing and it causes them not to concentrate in school enough to become the leaders in science and industry that Arabs have been for centuries.

It all makes sense!

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Dhimmi Carter, liar extraordinaire

An absolute must-read article at Jewish Current Issues showing in great detail how Jimmy Carter effectively lies in his book concerning the Israeli positions during the negotiations in the waning days of the Clinton administration. He not only plagiarizes Dennis Ross' maps of each proposal, but he misrepresents the maps as to what they mean.

The article shows that while the Clinton plan was fundamentally accepted by Barak and the Knesset with specific reservations, Arafat rejected it completely. But Carter's book makes it sound like Israel never accepted it at all and did not give a response, while Arafat's rejection was based on an "interpretation" of the Clinton offer that is simply impossible.

Carter's desire to demonize Israel is so ingrained that he cannot even bend the truth to support it - he has to make up facts out of whole cloth.
(Hat tip: Boker Tov Boulder)

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Iran takes aim at American legitimacy

After this week's Holocaust-denying conference in Iran (where they disinvited a Palestinian Arab who runs a Holocaust museum in Nazareth,) Iran is already gearing up for their next conference:

The deputy foreign minister [of Iran] said that his ministry will also host another international conference on February 27th to study genocide of the American aborigines by European immigrants, concluding that there are many world phenomena which require further studies and examinations by the international community and that Iran is always willing to host such debates and discussions.

As I've said before, Iran's main target is the US, not Israel. The same "logic" that says that Israel is illegitimate and colonialist - and must be wiped off the map - is being against the United States.

Jim Baker looks like more and more of an idiot every day.

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Civil war watch

The weekend itself seemed relatively uneventful on the Palestinian self-death front, but the "law of averages" works quite well in the PalArab territories:

GAZA (Reuters) - Unidentified gunmen killed three sons of a Palestinian intelligence official loyal to President Mahmoud Abbas in Gaza on Monday, firing at the car as it dropped them at school, police and hospital officials said.

An adult bystander was also killed in the attack in Gaza City, amid growing tension between Hamas, the governing militant movement and Abbas's Fatah faction.

Angry mourners firing automatic weapons later stormed into the compound of parliament during a funeral procession for the boys, who were aged between 6 and 9. Witnesses said the mourners fired at the building. It was unclear if anyone was hurt.

For those who like to keep track of these things, this comes a day after an unsuccessful attack at a Hamas leader.

Our count of PalArabs violently killed by their own since late June is now at 179. Unlike practically all of those, though, this one has made headlines, even in the PalArabic press.

Meanwhile, a Palestinian Arab "human rights" organization held a seminar in London on the terrible conditions in Gaza - and did not mention PalArab infighting or crimes even once. As usual, it is all Israel's fault.

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"The American Muslim" attempts to show how moderate Islam is. It fails.

"The American Muslim" website is very upset that so many in the West say that Islam is not condemning terrorism consistently and loudly. In response, its editor, Sheila Musaji, has been putting together lists of fatwas and statements and articles by Muslims showing how they do indeed condemn terror.

Unfortunately, their condemnations are very selective, and it is nearly impossoble to find any of these fatwas condemning any terror attacks against Israeli civilians.

It is most disingenuous to quote Sheikh al-Qaradawi's condemnations of a terror attack against a synagogue in Tunisia in 2002 and ignore the same man's support of suicide bombings against Israeli Jewish civilians.

Perhaps Ms. Musaji thinks that no one will actually look at any of the articles she links to, such as this one showing how Saudi clerics differentiate between Jihad and terrorism:

MECCA, Saudi Arabia - Muslim scholars meeting in the holy city of Mecca stressed Thursday that terrorism is alien to Islam, which the West has often associated with terror since the September 11 attacks on the United States.

In a statement issued after a six-day meeting, a group of scholars affiliated to the Muslim World League spelled out their definition of terrorism, saying it applied to "any unjustified attack by individuals, groups or states against a human being."

This includes attacks on a person's "religion, life, property and honor," they said.

The scholars meeting in this Saudi city said "any act of violence or threat ... designed to terrorize people or endanger their lives or security" also amounts to terrorism.

"Damaging the environment and public or private facilities, and endangering natural resources" is equally an act of terror, as are "murder and banditry."

But jihad (holy war or struggle) cannot be equated with terrorism, the scholars said, noting that "struggling against occupiers and colonial settlers who drive people from their land and against those who help them" is legitimate in Islam.

Struggling against "those who renege on their commitments" or prevent Muslims from "peacefully preaching" their religion is a form of jihad, they said.

This definition of jiahd is broad enough to include every Israel man, woman and child. I did nto see one condemnation of Hezbollah's or Hamas' random firing of rockets into civilian areas of Israel.

By extension, this definition of jihad can also include any members of any nation that doesn't ostracize Israel (struggling...against those who help them.) Meaning any citizen of any nation that trades with Israel can be easily interpreted to be "helping settlers and occupiers."

So while she marshals a large number of fatwas against 9/11 or the Madrid bombings, this is hardly the same as saying that Muslims are against terror. Because as long as Muslims consider Israeli civilians as legitimate targets, as countless fatwas attest (see Islamonline.net for many examples, quoting many of the same clerics that Ms. Musaji does,) one must conclude that Islam does indeed support terror - just they would like to pretend that these cases aren't terror at all, but legitimate holy war.

Islam is a legal-based religion, and in legal-based religions each word is very important. As such, without a much clearer definition than the weasly one offered by the Saudis (terror is only an "unjustified" attack against human beings but no definition of what is considered "justification") we can only conclude that this entire list is an example of subterfuge to cover over Islam's real feelings towards terror.

I would define terror as the purposeful targeting of a civilian person for a political purpose. Qaradawi's definition of every Israeli man, woman and child as being in the military is absurd and should be condemned by any real moderate Muslim.

Where are those fatwas, Ms. Musaji? Where are solid definitions that would work consistently for all people? How can we in the West know that the Israeli "occupation" is different from the Spanish "occupation" of former Muslim Andalusia? Who dares to condemn major Muslim leaders who support suicide bombings? What Muslim organizations or individuals condemned Hezbollah or Hamas for their indiscriminate attacks against Israeli civilians?

For that matter, Ms. Musaji - as a representative of moderate American Islam -what do you think? Would you go on the record in your magazine to condemn Qaradawi's reprehensible beliefs? Would you be willing to publicly stand up against Palestinian terror attacks, and condemn Yasir Arafat's campaign of terror from the 1970s through his death? Would you condemn the heroes of the Arab world in your pages?

If you want to show the world what moderate Islam looks like, I'd love to see you put your own words behind what you say you believe, without finding exceptions that seem to only apply to Israel - at least in English.

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The terror supporters who bankroll Jimmy Carter

In the Annual Report of the Carter Center we see a list of a large number of people and corporations who donated more than $1 million to that institution.

The identity of some of the donors can easily help explain how Dhimmi Carter turned into such an Israel-hating putz. Although it is difficult to discern cause and effect....

His Royal Highness Prince Alwaleed Bin Talal Bin
Abdulaziz Al Saud Fund
His Majesty Sultan Qaboos bin,Said Al Said
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
Bakir M. BinLadin for the Saudi BinLadin Group
The Saudi Fund for Development
Government of the United Arab Emirates

To be sure, there are plenty of other donors, ranging from European governments to philanthropic Americans and many Jews. But the interest shown by the Arab governments, especially the Saudis who fund so much terror of their own, indicates that Jimmah is in bed with "friendly" Arab oil states that are ardently anti-Zionist and pro-terror.

Just like Jimmy.

(Hat tip: Seraphic Secret)

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HH XCVII

This week's Haveil Havalim (#97) is out at Jack's Shack.

I am honored to have had one of my postings chosen for this weekly collection of the best of the JBlogosphere.

I am doubly honored to see that in the Jewish Blogmeister interview of Bagelblogger that BB chose this as one of his favorite blogs!

There are lots of other great articles there. Check it out!

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Morons can publish anything and Google calls it "news"

Yet another anonymous incoherent anti-semitic rant. This one is so utterly disjointed and rambling that it makes most similar articles appear to be written by Rhodes Scholars.

It would be really funny if it wasn't for the fact that Google News indexes this article and presents it to the world as legitimately as the Times of London.

This despite repeated emails to Google News that this site ("The People's Voice") is a haven for anti-semitic lunatics.

An Islam free from Zionist subjugation is the last hope of the world

An elite ruling class has risen in Western Civilization — at the top of this elite are the merchant bankers who are Zionist (Jewish supremacist) Jews who believe in racial superiority and class superiority and in the right of power — the power to take control of nations that where liberal republics and, by control and manipulation of the money supply, by the creation of monopolies, especially of capital and land convert these nations into plutocracies where the middle classes are plundered and robbed of political participation and voice – or, as often as not, they have their control from outright conquest –as the defeat of Germany after both world wars, the subjugation of Russian under (Jewish — and covertly banker-controlled) communism. The Jew bankers means of gaining power is ultimately through wars — they create wars — and cold wars — in order to organize all of a nations economy — its “war economy” — under their control.....

I know that many Moslems — I write “Moslems” and not “Muslims” because 50 years ago in the United States publications used the term Moslems, and I remember an English teacher telling me that “Muslims” was a spelling that carried a pejorative cargo, and now I find, in this Jewish age, that “Muslim” is exclusively used by the Jewish media, and so I will still use “Moslems” — just so you understand — now, as I was saying — I know that many Moslems believe that Saddam Hussein was evil because he fought back when the Kurds attempted to overthrow him or that he used brutal tactics against those whom he thought the CIA was using to overthrow his country or because he is Sunni and not Shiite — I don’t know — but for whatever reason some Moslems say they are glad Saddam Huessein is gone — but I look at it differently — to me Saddam Hussein was a nationalist who was for this country and wanted it to be great, wanted its people — all of them — to be great. He did all that was in his power to make Iraq a great and good country. But Saddam Hussein’s nationalism and pro-population view ran counter to the world order that the Jewish bankers want. And so Saddam Hussein was lured into — perhaps the war with Iran (I do not know the particulars here) — but more important he was definitely lured into attacking Kuwait — attempting to reunite a part of his country — as Red China seeks to reunite Taiwan (the Republic of China) with China — or, looking at it anther way — as the Republic of China (Taiwan) would like to reunited the mainland with itself (and, yes, the Jewish bankers supported communist mass-murderer Mao against the liberalizing party of Sun Yat Sen and a nationalist republic — Zhou Enlai murdered Sun Yat Sen.) — but back to Saddam Hussein — Saddam Hussein was a populist — and he was elected to his office — and it is exactly populist nationalist leaders that the Jewish bankers seek to destroy — the Jewish merchant bankers do not want countries where the masses have a high standard of living and a culture (and a faith in God) of their own — the Jewish merchant bankers did not want Saddam Hussein showing the world what a country could do if it devoted its wealth to national development — and so they lured him into a war so that the United States could make war with him in 1990 Gulf War — then US President George Bush actually signaled US permission for Saddam Hussein to go ahead with his invasion over the issue of slant drilling — only after this — and after a flood of Jewish newsmedia propaganda — now all shown to be lies (like the falsely alleged stealing of hospital intensive-care neo-natal isolets — which never happened) and so the Americans led an expedition to slaughter the Iranians. And after that came the sanctions — started under the older Bush and continued by Bill Clinton (both tools of the Jewish Merchant Bankers) — sanctions that starved millions, that prevented Saddam Hussein from furthering his national policies — sanctions, but also the no-fly zones and bombing sortees (more bombing sortees were flown during the eleven years of sanctions than were flown during the actual Gulf War) — sanctions that prevented even current medical journals — during the sanctions hundreds of thousands of Iraqi children under five died during the 1990’s from preventable, curable diseases: primarily water-borne bacteriological infections and acute respiratory infections that Iraq simply lacked the anti-biotic and other medicine to cure (what irony when the US supposedly went to war over stolen infant-care isolets that were never actually stolen!) — prevented from reaching Iraq due to sanctions — whereas in the 1980’s Iraq’s medical facilities were comparable to those in the United States. In the name of preventing Iraq from developing weapons the sanctions destroyed all of Iraq’s industry and trade. But this is as nothing compared to what the Jewish Merchant Bankers are doing to Iraq today.

...So where am I going with these ramblings of mine — I couldn’t sleep and so came down to the basement and typed this out — but it needs a conclusion — and that conclusion is this:

Islam is the hope of the world against domination by Jewish merchant bankers (whose religion is Zionism) — it is my hope — that Islam will triumph — that the truth of this war against Islam will become known to all who have been brainwashed by Zionist propaganda — that the world will see that Islam is attacked because it is good — because it is God’s will for mankind - and not the enslavement of mankind that Zionism, the enemy of Islam, represents.

And I hope for Christianity too — that it may purge itself of Zionist and pagan falsehood — and return to the message of Jesus which directs man to God.

This joke of a "news" site can print whatever it wants, but to be given implicit legitimacy by the largest news gathering site on the planet is simply irresponsible.

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Another "honor killing"

A woman named Saber Bedier was shot in the chest and killed at her home in Kfar Qasim, apparently by her father-in-law and her husband collaborating. It looks like it happened last Monday but of course most of the Palestinian Arab press didn't report it at the time.

To their credit, it was reported recently and in very negative terms by Kul al-Arab and Fasl-Al Maqal.

Also, a mother and son were killed in an explosion in Hebron. The PalArabs are quick to blame some leftover Israeli explosives, but it is not like Hebron is the target of cluster bombs, so it seems much more likely to have been a Palestinian Arab weapon that exploded.

My very undercounted PalArab self-death count since late June now stands at 175.

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Arab psychosis

There was a very interesting interview of the Al-Jazeera editor by a Swiss journalist. The entire thing is worth reading but this part is the most revealing:

(Interviewee Ahmed Shiekh): In many Arab states, the middle class is disappearing. The rich get richer and the poor get still poorer. Look at the schools in Jordan, Egypt or Morocco: You have up to 70 youngsters crammed together in a single classroom. How can a teacher do his job in such circumstances? The public hospitals are also in a hopeless condition. These are just examples. They show how hopeless the situation is for us in the Middle East.

Who is responsible for the situation?

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict is one of the most important reasons why these crises and problems continue to simmer. The day when Israel was founded created the basis for our problems. The West should finally come to understand this. Everything would be much calmer if the Palestinians were given their rights.

Do you mean to say that if Israel did not exist, there would suddenly be democracy in Egypt, that the schools in Morocco would be better, that the public clinics in Jordan would function better?

I think so.

Can you please explain to me what the Israeli-Palestinian conflict has to do with these problems?

The Palestinian cause is central for Arab thinking.

In the end, is it a matter of feelings of self-esteem?

Exactly. It's because we always lose to Israel. It gnaws at the people in the Middle East that such a small country as Israel, with only about 7 million inhabitants, can defeat the Arab nation with its 350 million. That hurts our collective ego. The Palestinian problem is in the genes of every Arab. The West's problem is that it does not understand this.

We've spoken before about Arab pride and how ingrained it is in the Arab psyche. But even though there are many examples of how important "honor" and "pride" is to the Arab people, one can almost wish it away by thinking that it is only a side-effect of being religious, or poor, or oppressed, and not something that is truly inherent.

But here we have Ahmed Sheikh, an educated man, an editor for a worldwide news service, someone who is a journalist and is trained to be careful with his words. And this man is saying with a straight face that if Israel did not exist, the Arab world would not have any problems - and that the reason is this perverse sense of pride.

The clear inference, of course, is that it is Israel's very existence that is the problem from the Arab perspective - not territories, not occupation, not supposed Israeli war crimes.

Earlier in the interview, Sheikh justifies suicide bombings and says how convinced he is that Israel targets civilians purposefully. Again, this is supposedly an objective journalist that represents the mainstream thinking of the Arab world at large - no fringe group, noIslamic cult, no poverty-stricken or easily manipulated Arab street crowd.

This is the Arab intelligentsia.

And it is psychotic. There is no other word for it - there is no way the Western mind can rationalize or comprehend this mental illness.

Too many Westerners are willing to accept this as a fact of life and sacrifice Israel on the altar of realpolitik - which means that the inmates are this much closer to ruling the asylum.

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About "Palestinians"

Bradley Burston in Ha'aretz has been railing against those who say that there are no such people as "Palestinians" in his comment section. He does not attempt to address their arguments, but rather asserts:

I believe that it is a form of racism to tell an entire people, millions upon millions all over the world, that their culture is not a true culture, that their identity is not an identity, that they do not, in fact, exist.

I believe that the reason for denying their existence is to deny the legitimacy of their pain, their aspirations, their longing, the facts of their history, none of which make for a comfortable fit with the history that Zionism originally wrote for itself.

The very idea of the Palestinian Arab represents competition for limited resources of land, the moral high ground, and the self-esteem of long-oppressed peoples.

You can't just wish away the Palestinians.

A actually agree with the last sentence. There is, today, a clearly defined group of people who call themselves "Palestinian" and redefining them or renaming them does not solve their day to day problems.

But to call those who say that there were no historic, separate Palestinian Arab people "racists" is simply a form of censorship and intimidation by political correctness. (In fact, Burston briefly censored many of the commenters.)

It does not serve any purpose to deny history in the name of anti-racism. Facts should be easy enough to discover and verify for themselves and Burston is at least as guilty of trying to wish away history as he accuses his critics of wishing away today's reality.

It is indeed way too simplistic to say that since there has been no historic Palestinian people or culture that the problem is solved. But one cannot solve any problem without defining the problem properly, and like most people who think they know the solution, Burston shows no interest in defining it.

History is an integral part of the Israeli/Arab conflict. To deny that is to deny reality itself. Today's arguments depend to a large degree on historical facts, whether the history is from last year or from 200 or 2000 years ago.

When this blog refers to "Palestinian Arabs" it is not to deny peoplehood, but to be as accurate as possible. There are a not small number of Palestinian Jews who have lived in the area at least as long as most Palestinian Arabs, which from my research indicates a large influx from Syria and other Arab areas in the 1920s. Calling only the Arabs that lived in the area "Palestinian" does not serve the purpose of truth and as such does not go towards solving the problem.

On the other hand, I will not call them simply "Arabs" even though that would have been more accurate in the 1940s. For better or for worse, this group of people have become a separate group since 1948 and have been treated as such, mostly by the other Arabs themselves.

I am not going to go over all the arguments as to the fiction of a historic Palestinian people. I have written many articles on this blog about that topic. But I do not write these articles to be bigoted against a people. I have on numerous occasions written that the PalArabs have been screwed continuously by their so-called "leaders," and only relatively recently have I started blaming Palestinian Arabs themselves for their problems (mostly in the wake of their electing Hamas and the constant polls showing a clear support of terror among them.)

It is not racism to point out that the UN's self-perpetuating definition of "refugee" to include descendants of only a single set of refugees is a tragedy for the Palestinian Arabs themselves. It is not racism to point out that the neighboring Arab countries, by not assimilating them as every single other refugee group in history has been absorbed, have contributed more to the suffering of this people than Israel has. It is not racism to ask that a people that want to have their own country begin to act like responsible members of the world community. All of these are "history" and they are relevant today.

Saying that there is a "Palestinian" people implies accepting the Arab narrative of history in which Israel is a usurping colonialist imperialist apartheid state. Accepting at face value the claims of these people without looking at real facts is not only irresponsible but it can itself end up being a bigoted viewpoint against the Jews of the Middle East.

How can the status of Jerusalem be decided without looking at history? Saying that today's Palestinian Arabs hopes and dreams for Jerusalem has the same weight as the Jews' historic yearning for its holy city is a perversion of both history and of today's reality. One does not have to go back that many years to see how well the PalArabs treated Jerusalem when they did have control. To judge the merits of their arguments without taking a clear-eyed view of history is not helpful towards defining, and therefore solving, the problem.

Scientology was borm roughly the same time that the "Palestinian" people were born. Scientologists are clearly a real group of people with real beliefs. Does this mean that Scientology now has an equal claim of being a religion, should get tax-exempt status, should be taught in history classes in the same manner as Christianity or Buddhism? Of course not. One must look at the context, one must look at history, one must look at the facts. To uncritically accept a people's narrative without history does a disservice to everyone as well as to the truth. And it goes nowhere towards solving the problem.

There is another set of victims that come from uncritically accepting the Palestinian Arab narrative. These are the other peoples who indeed do have long historic or religious histories and aspirations of nationhood. The Kurds and Armenians and others suffer, partly, because the world is giving priority to the problems of a people who do not have nearly the same claims of peoplehood. There are finite resources on this planet and it only makes sense that people with a true history of suffering and discrimination should be taken care of before those who believe, no matter how passionately, in a fiction.

I do not claim that saying that there is no historic Palestinian Arab people magically solves their or our problems. But denying reality has a cost as well. And buying into the ahistorical narrative does a disservice to everyone.

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