Astounding PalArab murder statistic (updated)

As my readers know, I have been scouring PalArab press and websites looking for accurate statistics on how many Palestinian Arabs are killed by each other, and I have been keeping my own count since late June.

Very few of the murders I've uncovered were of supposed "collaborators" with Israel. While we know that Palestinian Arabs actually trying to reduce terror is a capital crime in PA-land (along with the even more heinous crime of selling land to Jews), not too many of these murders have been reported.

But the BBC recently had an article on "collaborators" that includes this astonishing statistic:

According to a Palestinian human rights group, Adel Ahmed's experience is increasingly common.

Amid the growing chaos in the West Bank, it estimates that approximately one person a day is killed having been accused of collaborating.

No-one has been arrested following any of these killings and many Palestinians say that the charges are normally false.

However, with the breakdown in law and order, the accusation has become the excuse for revenge and bloodletting.

One murder a day for collaboration? I see clan clashes, intra-PalArab security fighting, honor killings and the ever-fun work accidents, but are these people all being killed silently?

And which "human rights" organization is saying this? I follow about six of them, and have not come across any statistics of this type.

Let's give these guys a state!

UPDATE: The "Palestine Center for Human Rights" just published a position paper in which, while they do not support the death penalty, they clearly say that any Palestinian Arab who collaborates with Israel is deserving of sever pubishment, and that they opposed the Oslo agreements where collaborators would not be punished.

In other words, this twisted "human rights" organization is telling the Palestinian people that if they know about a terror attack that is imminent that is aimed against Jews, they should not under any circumstances inform Israel to allow her to defend herself and her citizens.

How can a "human rights" organization have such a twisted view of morality?

When it doesn't consider Israeli Jews to be "human," of course!

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EU starting to consider paying PA terrorists directly

Another indication that the "boycott" is crumbling without any concessions on the PalArab side:

RAMALLAH, West Bank, Dec 13 (Reuters) - The European Union will consider making direct payments to Palestinian policemen who have gone without full salaries since Hamas took power in March, an EU aid chief said on Wednesday.

But Hans Duynhouwer, head of the EU programme that provides aid to low-wage Palestinian workers, played down the chances of the EU agreeing to pay security services across the board as requested by President Mahmoud Abbas.

Duynhouwer said it was "a sensitive issue and the EU was not enthusiastic about it".

Abbas asked the EU to expand its so-called Temporary International Mechanism (TIM) to include roughly 80,000 members of the security services, including the police force.

"We have been asked to consider the possibility of making a possible payment of police in blue civil protection and this will be taken up next year," Duynhouwer told Reuters in the West Bank city of Ramallah. "It is difficult to foresee the extension to all security services, but extending it to all civil servants is an option that could be considered."

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said the president was facing a serious problem because his presidential guard and other members of the security services had gone without salaries since March, when a U.S.-led economic blockade was imposed on the Hamas-led Palestinian Authority.

"We are facing a very big and serious problem. We have asked the TIM to extend the mechanism to include the presidential guard and security services," Erekat said. The EU created the aid mechanism in June as a way to deliver aid directly to Palestinians working in critical sectors, like health care, without providing the money to the Hamas-led government.

The mechanism has been expanded to pay 70,000 low-income public sector employees and pensioners. The security services, and civil servants with salaries higher than $600, have been excluded.

The EU aid mechanism has so far provided "allowances" to Palestinians totalling more than 112 million euros ($148 million). EU officials say it has provided access to water, health services and sanitation for 1.3 million Palestinians and paid allowances to around a million people.

So instead of telling the PA that there is no way their terrorist-moonlighting "police" would get a dime from the civilized world, Hans Duynhouwer empowers Hamas by saying that if it can just hang on to power a bit more, the EU will be happy to fill in the gaps in its budget.

See this previous post.

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Gunbattle at Rafah - Fatah kills Haniyeh's bodyguard

The idea of an independent Palestinian Arab state just keeps getting better and better all the time, doesn't it?

GAZA - Gunmen opened fire on Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Ismail Haniya’s convey late Thursday at the Rafah border crossing, killing a bodyguard and wounding five others including Haniya’s oldest son, medics and government officials said.

The violence capped a day of chaos at the Rafah crossing, where Haniya waited most of the day to enter from Egypt to Gaza, carrying a 35 million dollars in cash.

Palestinian Authority Foreign Minister Mahmoud Al Zahar blamed the attack on militants from the rival Fatah movement of President Mahmoud Abbas.

Palestinian eyewitnesses said that militants guarding Haniya’s convoy fired first on Abbas’ own security officials, who guard and secure the Rafah crossing. The witnesses said the presidential guards responded to the sources of fire, where one of Haniya’s bodyguards was slain, and five others wounded including Abul Sallam Haniya.

Added to yesterday's killing of a terror judge, and our count of PalArabs killed by each other since late June is now at 183.

Meanwhile, the nascent civil war inches forward. Wafa/Arabic reports:

• Masked gunmen attacked the headquarters of the General Intelligence Service in Jabaliya
• Major explosion caused by an explosive device, unidentified gunmen in front of a shop in the Galaa Street downtown Gaza.

No wonder every Palestinian Arab with a brain in his head is getting the hell out, leaving behind a higher percentage of people who enjoy and are addicted to violence.

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About Olmert's nuclear slip

Omri writes that Olmert's faux pas is not a big deal, and that it makes sense for Israel to be a bit more explicit about her nuclear capabilities. While I'm not sure I agree with him (why should Israel invite international pressure to sign the NPT?) there is merit in the argument.

But that's not what bothered me about Olmert's statement.

What bothered me was that this was almost certainly not meant as a veiled threat to Iran nor as a well-planned signal to the world. It was simply a boneheaded slip of the tongue, something that a supposed head of state should not be doing.

We have an Israeli government that seems to have lost all sense of strategy or purpose. It stumbles from one crisis to the next, in reactive mode, mouthing the words that have been said for decades and then doing the opposite. It is filled with incompetence and opportunism. Above all, it exudes weakness.

This government seems to have brought the Israeli people into a malaise comparable to Americans under Carter. (Its current Supreme Court is not helping matters.)

Every day that Israelis are subjected to the blustering rule of Olmert is another day of losing their confidence. And one must not underestimate the importance of the people's will.

Israel deserves a leader. Olmert's French interview proves yet again that he is not that person.

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PalArab letter to Ahmadinejad and the lack of Arab critical thinking

A few days ago it was reported that a Palestinian Arab terrorist who was imprisoned by Israel for 18 years before his release this year wrote a letter to Iran's president , telling him that his Holocaust-denial is wrong. Here is the text of the letter in English. While I am not thrilled with some of the wording, at least it shows that some Arabs still have the ability to think.

Other Victims of Denial
by Mahmoud Al-Safadi

Mr. President, I write to you following the announcement of your intention to organize a conference on the Holocaust in Teheran on 11-12 December, and I sincerely hope that this letter will be brought to your attention.

First of all, allow me to introduce myself: Mahmoud Al-Safadi, a former prisoner from occupied Jerusalem. I was released less than three months ago from the Israeli prison where I had been locked up for eighteen years for having been a member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine and having taken an active part in resistance to the occupation during the first Intifada. Since you were elected president, I have followed your declarations with great interest -- in particular those relating to the Holocaust. I respect your opposition to the American and Western injunctions concerning the Iranian nuclear program and believe it legitimate that you complain of the double standard that the world has with regard to the nuclear development of certain regimes.

But I am furious about your insistence on claiming that the Holocaust never took place and about your doubts about the number of Jews who were murdered in the extermination and concentration camps, organized massacres, and gas chambers, consequently denying the universal historical significance of the Nazi period.

Allow me to say, Mr. President, with all due respect to you, that you made these statements without really knowing the Nazi industry of death. To have read the works of some deniers seems to be enough for you -- a little like a man who shouts above a well and hears only the echo of his own voice. I believe that a man in your position should not make such an enormous error, because it could be turned against him and, worse still, his people.

Like you and millions of people in the world -- among whom, alas, are innumerable Palestinians and Arabs -- I was also convinced that the Jews exaggerated and lied about the Holocaust, etc., even apart from the fact that the Zionist movement and Israel use the Holocaust to justify their policy, first of all against my own people.

My long imprisonment provided me with the occasion to read books and articles that our ideology and social norms made inaccessible to us outside the prison. These documents gave me a thorough knowledge of the history of the Nazi regime and genocide that it perpetrated. At the beginning of the 1990s, by reading articles written by the Palestinian intellectuals Edward Said and Azmi Bishara, I discovered facts and positions which contradicted mine and those of many Palestinians. Their writings having piqued my curiosity and given birth inside me to the need to know more, I set about reading accounts of survivors of the Holocaust and the Nazi occupation. These testimonies were written by people of various nationalities, Jews or non-Jews.

The more I learned, the more I realized that the Holocaust was indeed a historical fact and the more I became aware of the monumental dimension of the crime committed by Nazi Germany against the Jews, other social and national groups, and humanity in general. I discovered that Nazi Germany aspired to found a "new world order" dominated by the "pure Aryan race" thanks to the physical annihilation of "impure races" and the enslavement of other nations. I discovered that various "normal" official institutions -- bureaucracies, judicial systems, medical and educational authorities, municipalities, railroad companies, and others -- had taken part and collaborated in the implementation of this new world order. From a theoretical point of view, this objective, just like the victories won at the time by the Nazi armies of occupation, threatened the existence of the Arabs and Muslims as well.

Whatever the number of victims -- Jewish and non-Jewish -- the crime is monumental. Any attempt to deny it deprives the denier of his own humanity and sends him immediately to the side of torturers. Whoever denies the fact that this human disaster really took place should not be astonished that others deny the sufferings and persecutions inflicted on his own people by tyrannical leaders or foreign occupiers. Ask yourself, I beg you, the following question: were hundreds of thousands of testimonies written about death camps, gas chambers, ghettos, and mass murders committed by the German army, tens of thousands of works of research based on German documents, numerous filmed sequences, some of which were shot by German soldiers -- were all these masses of evidence completely fabricated?

Can all that be summed up simply as an imperialist-Zionist plot? Are the confessions of high-ranking Nazis officials about their personal role in the project of extermination of whole nations only the fruit of the imagination of some disturbed spirit?

And all these heroic deeds of the people subjected to the German occupation -- the first among whom were Russians, Polish, and Yugoslavs -- only lies and gross exaggerations? Could the struggle of the Soviets against Nazi Germany be only a phantasm? The Russians continue to celebrate their victory over Nazi Germany and remember millions of their civilian and military compatriots who lost their lives in this struggle. Are they lying, too?

I invite you to read historical studies and serious testimonies before making your public statements. You divide the world in two camps: the imperialists-Zionists, who manufactured the myth of the Holocaust, and the adversaries of imperialism, who know the truth and uncover the plot. Perhaps you think that the act of denying the Holocaust places you at the vanguard of the Muslim world and that this refusal constitutes a useful tool in the combat against American imperialism and Western hegemony. By doing so, you actually do great disservice to popular struggles the world over.

At best, you cover your people and yourself with ridicule in the eyes of political forces who reject imperialism but cannot take your ideas and arguments seriously, due to the fact that you obsessively deny the existence of an abundantly documented and studied historical period whose consequences are still felt and discussed today.

At worst, you discourage and weaken the political, social, and intellectual forces who, in Europe and in the United States, reject the policy of confrontation and war carried out by George Bush, but are forced to conclude that you, too, jeopardize the world by your declarations denying the genocide and by your nuclear program.

Concerning the struggle of my people for their independence and their freedom: perhaps do you regard the negation of the Holocaust as an expression of support for the Palestinians? There, again, you are mistaken. We fight for our existence and our rights and against the historical injustice which was inflicted on us in 1948. We will not win our victory and our independence by denying the genocide perpetrated against the Jewish people, even though the forces who occupy our country today and dispossess us are part of the Jewish people.

This letter implies how difficult it is for Arabs to even have a clue about real world history, as the Arabic literature on secular topics is very sparse. This is a tragedy that is usually overlooked - a billion people who only can read one language are imprisoned by the non-existence of any ideas that are not politically-correct for the Arab world. The UN had a report on this in 2003 that looked at this problem in detail but it watered down the pertinent facts sprinkled among its 217 pages:

Curricula and education methodologies
Typically, educational material is contained in
the curriculum, which comprises a body of
lessons that is ideally a synthesis of the best of
what decision-makers and authors agree to be
worthwhile and necessary for the learning
process. In purely formal terms, curricula in
most Arab countries do not appear to be
greatly different from what many countries
around the world are adopting.
During the last decade several Arab countries
have embarked on educational reform
programmes that concentrate particularly on
revising and making modifications to the content
of curricula and syllabi.

When it comes to
the sciences, content is not usually a controversial
matter, save for some themes that are
perceived to touch on religious beliefs such as
the theory of evolution or on social taboos,
such as sex education. But the humanities and
social sciences that have a direct relevance to
people’s ideas and convictions are supervised
or protected by the authorities in charge of designing
curricula and issuing schoolbooks.
Consequently, such subjects usually laud past
achievements and generally indulge in both
self-praise and blame of others, with the aim of
instilling loyalty, obedience and support for
the regime in power. It is not unusual to find
schoolbooks in many Arab countries with a
picture of the ruler on the front page, even in
the case of textbooks in neutral subjects such
as science and mathematics.

Some researchers argue that the curricula
taught in Arab countries seem to encourage
submission, obedience, subordination and
compliance, rather than free critical thinking.
In many cases, the contents of these curricula
do not stimulate students to criticise political
or social axioms. Instead, they smother their
independent tendencies and creativity (Munir
Bashour, background paper for AHDR 2).

Generally speaking, the assigned curricula,
starting from preliminary school or even
before, embody a concept that views education
as an industrial production process,
where curricula and their content serve as
moulds into which fresh minds are supposed
to be poured.

There are various means for conveying information:
lectures, seminars, workshops, collaborative
work, laboratory work and many
others. In Arab countries, however, lectures
seem to dominate. Students can do little but
memorise, recite and perfect rote learning.
The most widely used instruments are schoolbooks,
notes, sheets or summaries.
Communication in education is didactic, supported
by set books containing indisputable
texts in which knowledge is objectified so as to
hold incontestable facts, and by an examination
process that only tests memorisation and
factual recall.

I couldn't find it in the report, I've seen reported that the number of books translated into Arabic over the past millennium is about 10,000, the same number that are translated into Spanish annually.

Arab rulers are so consumed with power that they are starving their people of the ability to think, which is why creatures like Ahmadinejad have the opportunity to brainwash hundreds of millions of people.

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Weblog awards update

OK, it turns out that I'm not quite as egoless as I like to think I am.

While I have no chance of winning, I do appreciate all votes I get. And it makes the Elders look bad when I can't gather a large number of votes.

So if you think that this blog is the best in its category (Best Middle East or Africa Blog) please remember to vote for it, daily, and spare me the embarrassment of ending up with a measly couple of dozen votes compared to the hundreds and soon thousands that others are getting.

UPDATE: Now that the voting is in full wing and it is clear that I'm not in the running, I have a new goal: to beat The Sudanese Thinker. We've been neck and neck since the beginning but since I first mentioned my goal yesterday he seems to have marshaled his forces and has pulled into the lead. What kind of a Ziyonist conspiracy can I be leading if I can't even make it to fourth place? So help me reach my much more modest goal of beating TST and vote!

And don't forget to consider the other JBlogs that are up for awards as well:

Treppenwitz (in my category)
Jack's Shack/Random Thoughts in The Best 2501-3500
Dry Bones in Best Comic Strip
A Town Crier in The Best 1001-1750

Also, my excellent competitor Sandmonkey was kind enough to link to me so I feel compelled to return the favor.

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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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