Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 08, 2007

Guest post: Humor and Islam

In comments to my post on the Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour, Goon (not Snoopy) wrote an interesting analysis that deserves to be more widely read:
--------------------------------------------------
It is unfortunate that the Muslims have not embraced humor in the way that Jews have but it is not very surprising. Humor is a humanizing defense mechanism for those considered to be lower status. It helps them to deal with that situation and it helps them to get past it. Humor is an equalizer. It brings those of (perceived) higher status down to the level of the others, not by vilification but by humanization.

Humor also requires introspection by those to whom it is directed. Rather than demonize, the humorist simply exploits weaknesses, foibles and idiosyncrasies of those objectified, be they from within the community or those outside of it. The mirror of introspection is held for all to see. It requires a degree of strength to survive looking at the mirror.

Humor always seems to work best when carried out from the bottom upwards; that is, the "lower" pokes fun at the "upper". To do this there has to be an acceptance of "lower" status.

Hope is also at the base of humor but is a hope for ultimate reconciliation rather than retribution. The inferior one does not want to gain superiority, but, rather, attain equality with those objectified and move on together.

Jews have a clear advantage in humor. Introspection is an important facet of being a Jew. It is the foundation of teshuvah. It is also the mother lode of material. We also have few thousand years' experience in being considered a lesser form of life by just about everyone. Yet, despite that we do not vilify or demonize those who persecute and abuse us. Humor allows us to move on and when the abuse and persecution stop we must get along with those who previously did these things to us. Our hope is for reconciliation, not domination.

The true test of any culture is its ability to withstand domination. Humor is the one proven successful method for dealing with this. The best humor comes from those who have been subjected to lower social status. The Irish and Scots have been dominated by the English for centuries but their humor (which is fantastic) keeps them vibrant. The Blacks have been slaves but have many of the best comedians anywhere. Some of the funniest comics around now are new entrants into western society like Hispanics, South Asians and Orientals. These cultures have the strength to look into the mirror of introspection and emerge relatively unscathed.

Perhaps Islamic communities lack this strength. The vilification and demonization that they constantly engage in are the tools of the weak. No society that has resorted to them has ever survived more than a few generations. Hamas and Hezbollah et. al. are certainly irritations but they only manifestations of ridiculous weakness. The development of Arab humor, however, would indicate the beginnings of strengthening. This is, perhaps, more worrisome. We are comfortable with Arabs as terrorists. Can we be as comfortable with them as humans?
------------------------------------------------------

Israel builds killer robot

I know it sounds like a hysterical Arab headline, but it is true:

An Israeli defense firm on Thursday unveiled a portable robot billed as being capable of entering most combat zones alone and engaging enemies with an onboard armory that includes a machine-pistol and grenades.

The Viper, roughly the size of a small television, was invented as part of Israel's efforts to develop weaponry that could reduce the risks to its forces from hand-to-hand fighting against Palestinian or Lebanese Hezbollah guerrillas.

The manufacturer, Elbit Systems, said that the Viper's small size and dual treads enable it to move "undeterred by stairs, rubble, dark alleys, caves or narrow tunnels."

As well as bomb-sniffing and bomb disposal equipment, the Viper can carry an Uzi machine-pistol or plant a grenade. The weapons would be aimed using an onboard video camera.

According to Elbit, which has close links with the Defense Ministry, Israel plans to deploy the Viper among its infantry units after field tests. The robot could also be of interest to foreign police units or U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Now, why would Israel spend millions of dollars developing such a robot?

Because for Israelis, lives have infinite value. And they are battling people who have demonstrated that their own lives are of infinitesimal value.

And - as usual - the major beneficiaries of Israeli technology will end up being the US and its allies, who share Western ideas about the value of human life.

Israel-bashers like to talk about Israel's huge defense system and how unequal the battlefield is. What they fail to mention is that a significant part of Israel's defense budget goes towards weapons that minimize the loss of human lives, both Israel's and its enemies'. Can you imagine Hamas or Hezbollah being interested in smart weapons when the same amount of money would buy hundreds of dumb bombs? Can anyone even fathom an Arab fighter who cares in the least about whether he kills soldiers or civilians?

In the end, the effectiveness of this hugely expensive robot is roughly similar to that of a Jihadist intent on reaching Paradise - and he costs nothing, in the Islamist calculus. To Israel's sworn enemies, the thought of developing such a robot would be absurd when they have a near-infinite supply of indoctrinated Islamic human munitions. They don't want to minimize human losses - they want to maximize them. And that is a much, much cheaper way to wage war.

Which shows again, in a nutshell, the difference between Israel and those who try to destroy her.

Palestinian Arabs and International Women's Day

On the Palestinian Arab "news" sites there are a number of articles about International Women's Day. Most of them try very hard to turn the entire concept of the day around into an Israel hatefest. Hamas' statement was especially funny (autotranslated):

"Hamas" today praised the role of Palestinian women and their struggle and the patience and persistence that struck the finest examples of all women the world is made of martyrs, prisoners and Ahtspthm, receipts generations on the love of the homeland and to praise the principles that preserve dignity and pride.

The movement said in a statement on International Women's Day : Palestinian women are the first example of women in the world of women distinguished in all aspects of political and social life and jihad and others.

The movement for the right of Palestinian women to live in dignity, and the lifting of all forms of injustice and oppression, and the need to open doors for them to participate players in all aspects of the political, social and economic, educational, and positive participation in the development of society.

The Movement warned women to be drawn behind the glitter of empty slogans and false pretext of freedom and liberation of women from the restrictions, in an attempt to portray women body is a good spirit and breath deserve humane care and attention, inviting women to pay attention to the substance of the emancipation of women, including not contrary to the teachings of our religion and values inherent.

In other words, we really support our women as long as they remain covered head-to-toe, don't drive or travel alone, and have lots of kids ready to blow themselves up.

But buried in the rhetoric one finds an interesting statistic that you will never find in the mainstream media:

From January 2006 to end of February 2007, according to the PCHR, 36 Palestinian Arab women died as a result of Israeli actions.

In the same time period, 58 women were killed by Palestinian Arabs themselves.

In other words, PalArabs are killing 60% more of their women than Israel has. (I suspect that even these numbers are wrong - if you assume that the Ghalia family beach tragedy was the result of a Palestinian Arab mine and not Israeli artillery, the numbers become 60-34.)

UPDATE: The UNRWA celebrates today in its own inimitable fashion. Here is part of a speech by its Commisioner General, Karen Koning Abu Zayd:

Today somewhere a young Palestinian university student will miss her classes, waiting hours for the gate to the barrier to be opened. Today somewhere a young Palestinian mother will be stopped at a checkpoint, unable to reach hospital with her sick baby. Today somewhere a Palestinian mother will not let her children play outside, for fear that a stray bullet could strike.

Each of these experiences is a barrier to hope. Each time that access to education, to health, to safety – to basic human rights - is denied, hope is also denied. It is denied, but will not die. Hope lives in the strength of the women of Palestine.

I empathize with your struggle to realize what is best for yourselves and your families. UNRWA is your partner in this struggle, helping to guarantee education and health and other basic necessities for 4.3 million Palestine refugees. We will continue to work alongside you, ensuring the provision of these essential services.

"Struggle" is, of course, a keyword for PalArabs meaning "killing Jews."

Clearly the UN doesn't care much about the honor killings or subjugation of women in Palestinian Arab society - only about what Israel is doing, or presumed to be doing. And just as clearly the UN doesn't notice its own complicity in the fact that, under UNRWA, the number of "refugees" has grown exponentially since 1948.

One would think that UNRWA would want to try to reduce that number - if they truly cared about Palestinian Arabs and their women.

The Israeli-Palestinian Comedy Tour

When I was in Israel in January I saw a CNN piece about the "Israeli Palestinian Comedy Tour." There are four comedians, including a Palestinian Arab American, who are evidently doing a bang-up business telling jokes throughout Israel. (In fact, a couple of them were staying at my hotel in Jerusalem.)

I have no problem with this tour, and I wish them the best. But I can't help noticing that Arab countries do not seem to be on their itinerary.

On the contrary, one of the comedians mentions in his blog a letter received from a Lebanese comedian friend of his which says "there is good reason for the conflict between Palestinians and Israeli’s, it is not as if you can say that palestinians and israeli’s should live in peace and what is going on has no basis, the people of palestine have no country, they are constantly murdered on a daily basis by Israeli aggression, although Israeli media controlled outlets will have you believe otherwise."

Israeli audiences are loving their humor - and Arab audiences want no part of it. It speaks volumes about who truly wants to live in peace and who wants the other side to disappear forever.

US professor in Lebanon freaking out over Jewish textbook

The Daily Star (Lebanon) has this account of a packed lecture hall at the American University in Beirut:

Jewish-American fourth and fifth graders reading from a popular textbook about Israel are treated to an "Alice in Wonderland" version of history, Marcy Newman argued in a lecture at the American University in Beirut on Tuesday.

Reading Chaya Burstein's "Our Land of Israel" - used in 40-45 percent of Jewish schools in the United States - creates "a sense of Alice down the rabbit hole, where everything is turned upside down," said the visiting assistant professor at the Center for American Studies and Research (CASAR).

Among other interpretations, the 1948 Arab-Israeli war is presented as a defensive campaign and there is no sign of the Occupied Palestinian Territories or Palestinian towns on a map of "Israel."

Ah yes, in May 1948 the Jews decided to start a war against every single Arab neighbor. Nothing defensive about it at all!

In what Newman says is an analogy between Palestinians and American Indians, the book informs its young readers that "In the old days, Palestine was like the Wild West." She went on to explain how many similar examples are intended to create a "shared identity between Israelis and US Jews."

And of course it is evil for US Jews to feel an affinity with Israeli Jews. I'm sure that Newman would be equally upset at Michigan textbooks that try to create a shared identity between Arab Americans and Palestinian Arabs.

What's even funnier is her cluelessness: mentioning the Wild West is a simple analogy, a teaching tool. Her reading so much into it to find a nefarious Jewish plot is typical of "anti-Zionists."

By the way, the textbook itself is not a history text: it is meant to teach about modern Israel through children's eyes, including Arabs.

The lecture, titled "Promised Land Propaganda: Jewish American Education and the Zionist Lobby in the US," was given to a full house in West Hall on the AUB campus and was sponsored by CASAR.

Newman is an assistant professor of English at Boise State University. CASAR Director Patrick McGreevy introduced Newman as "a teacher, a scholar, as well as an activist."

No kidding! Her blog indicates that her hatred for Israel is so all-encompassing that she moved to Beirut to show how committed she was to the cause (and yes, her T-shirt there says "end the occupation." And yes, her name is spelled there as " Dr. Marcy /مارسي Newman / نوما ن ".)

According to Newman's research, through the educational system in Jewish schools in America, "Jewish children are indoctrinated with the simplistic dogma of Zionism." Above all, the founding of Israel is "mythicized and romanticized." Such biases, according to the activist, "render the ethnic cleansing of Palestinians invisible."

Yes, fourth graders should not be taught simple concepts.

And the ridiculous assertion that there was "ethnic cleansing" in 1948 is not a "simplistic dogma."

Another far-left looney "academic" who lives in her own bubble, not afraid to say absurd things in public because she has an adoring audience who cannot get enough of it and no one who would ever point out how hypocritical she is.

PalArabs like to kill their women - but it's Israel's fault

Another unbelievable article, this time from the UN's IRIN, about "femicide" in the PalArab territories. As usual, it all boils down to "occupation:"

RAMALLAH, 7 March 2007 (IRIN) - Three Palestinian women were shot dead in the northern Gaza Strip last month – rumours say it had to do with ‘honour’.

The corpses of the women – Ibtisam Mohammad Musallam Abu Qeinas, 31; Samira Tahani Debeiky, 45; and Amani Khamis Hosari, 40 – were found within a 24-hour period in Beit Lahiya and Gaza City, leaving residents shocked.

“People are saying it was an honour killing, that the women were of loose morals. They were not related to one another – but they were all killed in the same way. It’s really shocking,” said Mona Shawa, director of the women’s unit at the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights in Gaza.

So-called honour crimes are the murders of women who are thought to have brought shame on their families by, for example, having sex before marriage or even for having been the victim of rape or incest.

In 2006, 17 Palestinian women were reported killed in so-called honour crimes – 12 in the Gaza Strip and five in the West Bank.

“The general atmosphere here in Gaza is encouraging this – there is no respect for law, no punishment of criminals and everyone has a gun,” Shawa added.

So far so good - the article is describing the problem and mentioning that the lawlessness in Hamastan makes it more likely that men will do what they want and will get away with it, just like the rise in other murders in the territories.

But then it goes into "everything is Israel's fault" meme:

Soraida Abed Hussein, a researcher at the Women’s Centre for Legal Aid and Counselling (WCLAC) in Ramallah, uses the word ‘femicide’ to describe honour killings.

She says Palestinian society is undergoing radical change as a result of the daily violence of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict – and women are suffering as a result.

“Being under oppressive occupation gives you a feeling of low self-esteem, of being less intelligent, less powerful, less of everything,” she said.

“That hits the masculine identity – and women pay the price. Men internalise the values of violence. They replicate the roles of occupier and victim. It will become part of the culture – part of how you see people and they see you. We are now at the stage where it is radically changing our society and structures.”

Hussein told IRIN that the numbers of ‘femicide’ cases had increased from pre-intifada (Palestinian uprising against Israeli occupation) levels and that the true number of killings is not known because they are not reported.

“We can’t rely on the police. And if you look in the court registry of deaths, there are sometimes women whose cause of death is entered as ‘Qada wa Qader’ [literally ‘fate’] – death by natural causes. But the women are young,” she said.

Article 340 of Jordanian Penal Law, in force in the West Bank, rules that a man who kills or attacks his wife or a female relative while she is committing adultery is exempt from punishment. In Gaza, the Egyptian penal code also provides reductions in sentence.

But ‘femicide’ in Palestinian society is a sensitive issue to campaign on, Hussein said, because criticising the society plays into the hands of those who say Arab culture is primitive and violent.

“We leave ourselves vulnerable to those who want to say our society is bad and we are also condemned by those inside our society who say such things should not be brought into the open,” she said.

“At the same time, we are under occupation – so should we be fighting against the occupiers or our husbands? Even if we want to campaign, we are so busy reacting to the new crises in our daily lives that it is hard to get organised.”

Let's recap. Honor killings are increasing in the places where there are no Israelis, namely Gaza. Honor killings increased when Palestinian Arabs started using violence as their major means of expression in 2000. When Israel truly was involved in the day-to-day lives of PalArabs, there were far fewer honor killings.

So the fact that they are increasing now must be Israel's fault!

The interesting wrinkle is that they admit the very people who are most concerned with honor crimes are reluctant to publicize them - because the publicity will damage Arab honor! The idea of "honor" is so pervasive, and so destructive, that even those who want to change the facts of "honor killings" are not willing to confront the underlying cause, which is the honor/shame society that they all live under!

And to top it off comes this quote from Hamas on this problem:

Dr Miriam Salih, the Hamas Minister of Women’s Affairs, said Palestinians themselves could decide on a change to the law on honour crimes.

"Our main priority is to face occupation. When we have an independent state, we will put the law before the people to decide,” Salih said.

Apparently, Hamas cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. Improving society, building an economy, enforcing existing laws and augmenting them to protect women, creating a judicial system - all of them cannot be accomplished until Israel is destroyed first.

After all, there are some priorities in Palestinian Arab society.

Reuters' concept of a "cease-fire"

In an egregious display of redefining a phrase, turning facts around and supporting terror, Reuters reports that those peaceful Palestinian Arabs are considering "extending" their "cease-fire" to include the West Bank:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah and Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas are to sound out militant groups on extending a ceasefire with Israel from Gaza to the West Bank, officials said on Wednesday.

Seven paragraphs later:

Olmert spokeswoman Miri Eisin brushed aside the proposal for a wider ceasefire. "We need to see that you can actually implement the ceasefire (in Gaza) before we can consider an extension," she said.

She said Israel has not responded to rocket fire since the ceasefire in Gaza took effect. "It's about time Palestinians deliver on a promise instead of just Israel delivering on ours."

Even if a ceasefire were extended, Eisin said Israel would not back away from its demands that the new Palestinian government recognize Israel, renounce violence and accept interim peace deals.

"Those principles are not for negotiation," she said.

Abbas wants to widen the ceasefire to include a cessation of Israel's West Bank raids and Palestinian attacks from the territory as part of a deal that would free a captive Israeli soldier and Palestinian prisoners in Israeli jails.

Four paragraphs later:

The November ceasefire largely halted confrontations with Israel in Gaza, although some factions have continued firing rockets into the Jewish state sporadically.

Let's analyze this article, shall we?

Reuters' Nidal al-Mughrabi starts off with the assumption that there has been a cease fire in Gaza since November. A few paragraphs later (not quoted here), he admits that Islamic Jihad never accepted the cease fire. A bit later he quotes an Israeli spokeswoman saying that there was never a cease fire although Israel has refrained from reacting to rocket attacks. And finally in the last paragraph he says that the ceasefire "largely halted" confrontations, although there have been "sporadic" rocket attacks.

As is usual in the wire services, the author is twisting facts and positioning them in such a way as to make it appear that Palestinian Arabs are acting peacefully and that Israel and the PA are equally aggressive and/or restrained. This is the "even-handed" analysis that must shine through in all of AP's and Reuters' articles because their pro-Arab propaganda must outshine the facts, lightly sprinkled within their rhetoric.

There is no cease fire. There never was a cease fire. Palestinian Arab rocket attacks on Israel INCREASED since November compared to earlier months in 2006. Not only Islamic Jihad but Fatah as well have been shooting rockets, almost daily, into Israel. Israel has largely not responded to these attacks but that has not affected their frequency. There were almost-daily rockets throughout December and almost-daily rockets throughout February (I didn't keep a calendar for January.)

There is functionally no distinction between suicide bombings that target innocent civilians and rocket attacks that target innocent civilians - both are terror attacks. The fact that Mughrabi downplays hundreds of rockets and pretends that they are part and parcel of a "cease fire" shows how twisted his facts truly are.

Reuters and Nidal al-Mughrabi are deliberate apologists for terror and they feed hundreds of daily newspapers regular reports that are as skewed and dishonest as this one.

Truthers meet Star Wars

Brilliant.

Elder's Second Rule

In recent weeks I've mentioned Elder's First Rule of Arab/Muslim Projection a number of times.

It it time to unveil a new rule:

Arabs/Muslims hate the West more than they hate each other - especially Israel.

There has been much wishful thinking on the part of analysts recently about how there is the possibility of a coalition of "moderate" Arabs and Muslims, presumably Sunnis, that would be willing to go against Iran's growing Shiite influence.

We've been down this road before. We've propped up one Arab/Muslim group against another only to find that the winners were worse than the losers.

Now, it is certainly possible to construct a scenario where, for purely selfish and short-term gains, some Arabs/Muslims may toe the Western line and help us out. But for each time that happens - for each time the A/Ms are perceived by their proud subjects as kowtowing to the hated West - they become weaker and more susceptible to popular, religious-based uprisings.

This is a corollary to the A/M sense of honor and pride (much more pronounced on the Arab side than the Muslim side, but potent in either case.) The perception that any A/M nation's leader is a puppet of the West means that it is just a matter of time before that leadership is gone. It may take decades but it is still going to happen.

Unfortunately, Westerners tend to think in terms of the short-term (effectively, the election cycle.) Propping up a government like Egypt to the tune of billions a year makes short term sense but there needs to be a longer-term policy where common interests have the chance of influencing behavior more than dollars.

Publicly siding with America is a death sentence in the Arab world and the leaders who do it lose all credibility. And while Saudi Arabia may be very scared by Iran and beholden to Western petrodollars, their seeming to side with the West is a short-term expediency. The average Saudi identifies more with a madman who stands up to America than with a prince who meekly cooperates.

Is there any long-term appreciation of the US in Kuwait for saving it? On the contrary - they hate the fact that they were so weak that they needed US help, an affront to their own pride.

Sunnis might hate Shias who might hate Salafists but they all agree that Islam must rule the world and the details can be worked out later. And in a region where chaos favors fundamentalism, the unintended results from any Western moves will often offset the intended results.

UPDATE: Once again, Shrinkwrapped wraps a marvelous analysis around this matter.

Druze beauty contestant drops out after death threats

Angelina Fares, the Druze contestant in the Miss Israel pageant, has dropped out of the competition after last week's attempted honor killing.

Accompanied by her mother, Dalia, Sheikh Tarif and a pageant administrator, Angelina held a press conference at a Druze center in the village of Julis and announced her withdrawal from the pageant.

Tarif spoke first: "The Druze have a red line too, we are for progress and advancement and technology alongside maintaining chastity and honor. There are many ways to integrate into society while keeping to tradition and values. If we do not preserve ourselves, the values will crumble and what will we be left with? Angelina prevented the defilement of the community's honor."

Angelina explained mournfully that she feels whole with the decision made by the community leaders. "I didn't want to or mean to offend anyone, certainly not the Druze community and its values," she said," life is more important to me."

"It's a very difficult feeling, I innocently wanted to fulfill a dream; I had a dream of being a beauty queen and representing Israel and women with honor. I was shocked when I heard about the plan to kill me. I've been severally traumatized, I didn't know anything (of it) and was surprised," she said.

While there are plenty of ways to honor Israel and women besides beauty contests, it is a shame that she dropped out because of threats to her life rather than her own reasons, and that no one in her community supported her.

Once again, terror wins.

UPDATE: It was unusually hard for me to find a picture of Angelina, but here is one that seems to be from the press conference, from Al Watan:

Yemenite Jews update

As we mentioned in January, the Jews of Sa'ada, Yemen were forced out of their homes when they were threatened by Shi'ite rebels there.

Since then, the government of Yemen has provided them with shelter in Tourist City where they celebrated Purim. It appears that the government is going out of its way to make them as comfortable as possible, providing them with new clothes and food.

One Yemen newspaper, Al-Ray al-Aam, quotes a Kuwaiti newspaper in the theory that the Shi'ite rebels are proxies of Iran and that the Jews were targeted specifically as representing Israel:

Concerning this issue, the news of last week referred to an investigation conducted by the Kuwaiti newspaper Al-Syasah in which it claimed that Yemen has changed into an arena for the dispute between the state of Israel that is formed of sons of dogs that came from the European, Russian and American whorehouses and between the ruling Shiite Mullahs of Iran that are highly ambitious to reform the map of the Arab peninsula and the gulf through what are known to be Shiite groups in Saudi Arabia, Kuwait and Bahrain as well as from the changes that happened following the invasion of Iraq that brought sectarian Shiite rule to the fore. This Shiite minority has become the tool of a destructive war against the legitimate regime at the internal level and represents a regional war through the fatwas (legal advices) made by this minority against the regime and its president and against Yemen in general. They also have been conducting political meetings for serving the Jafari oratory through the Iranian satellite channels directed to the Arab region and through the Shiite satellite channels that have emerged in Iraq following the Shiite groups that seek to strike at the Arab situations and have captured the authority in Iraq.

According to the Kuwaiti al-Syasah newspaper the Israeli-Iranian intelligence war resulted in threatening the Jewish community in Sa’ada by al-Houthi insurgents who threatened to kill them under the pretense of being a source of depravity as was published. They have been threatened to be killed unless they leave the country. This means that the threats against the Jews were a message between the Israelis and the Iranians that are using Yemen as the battlefield for this conflict, the tools of which are the Yemeni Jewish minority and the Yemeni Shiite minority in Sa’ada. If what was published in Al-Syasah is true, it indicates a dangerous default by the concerned Yemeni security authorities.

Notice how Israel is offhandedly referred to in the Kuwait paper as "formed of sons of dogs that came from the European, Russian and American whorehouses." Kuwait is of course one of the more "moderate" regimes, and the nationthat was saved from Saddam Hussein by the US.

But either way, the president of Yemen is to be cheered for how he is handling the persecution of his nation's few remaining Jews.

Another example of PalArab news objectivity

I stumbled onto another English-language Palestinian Arab news site today whose self-description encapsulates the Arab idea of what "news" means:

PalToday (Palestine Today) is a Palestinian local news network, based in Gaza city, Palestine, it was established in Feb 2003,

Mission: aimed at bringing you the latest news up to date and breaking news,

Our Network is your gate to Palestine, history and memory which is impossible to erase, we are your window to Palestineæ Jerusalem, Al-Aqsa, and Holy sites .

Goal: to introduce Palestine to Arab & Islamic nation and to the world and provide information, knowledge and focus on the Israeli terrorism against Palestinian people

Object : unveil the ugly face of the Israeli occupation

We stand with our people in facing the Israeli crimes, occupation actions, collective punishment, killing, assassination, policy of detention & Imprisonment, demolishing homes, annexing lands,Separation wall around the west bank, siege, travel restriction.

credibility and neutrality are our principles in conveying news.

The neutrality is so obvious!

As far as credibility goes, its top story today claims that 4 Israelis were injured in Qassam attacks this morning, according to "Zionist sources." While two rockets did land, every Israeli news outlet I can find says explicitly that there were no injuries.

Well, they never said that they actually lived up to their "principles."

UPDATE: The Israeli media now does confirm four slight injuries.

Book burning by PalArab Education Ministry

Once again, basic human standards of conduct are ignored by the enlightened Palestinian Authority, where a well-regarded book of Palestinian Arab folktales from 1989 is being burned because of some oblique references to sex.

Professor of sociology and anthropology at Bir Zeit University, Ashraf Kana'nah, has commented on the decision of the Palestinian ministry of education to burn copies of the book he collated with his colleague, Dr Ibrahim Mhawi. The book, collated from Palestinian oral narratives, is entitled "Speak bird, speak again". Dr Kana'nah described the ministry's decision as "cultural terrorism"; while the ministry claims that stories in the book contain "immoral expression".

Kana'nah told Ma'an's correspondent in Ramallah that "those who conducted such measures are not related to academia", since he found no more than three references to sexual activity in a 400 page book.

Dr Kana'nah expressed his disturbance over the burning of his book, saying that "every book one writes is continuity of his own ideology, as much as the son is the biological continuity of his father." He added that it was the ministry of culture who decided to distribute the book at the schools, and they also funded the printing of 3000 copies.

I found the book online in English, and while some may seem inappropriate for children, apparently these folktales were meant for children to listen to.

I looked a bit to see if there was anything particularly "Palestinian" about these stories, and could not find much except for some place names.

The folktales themselves are interesting if only because they reflect the traditional male/female roles in Arab society, although the women are somewhat empowered as they are the tellers of most of the tales. Even so, this empowerment is strictly in private.

Also interesting is some of the scatological material.

Here is one of the stories, complete with a section where a woman's brothers try unsuccessfully to kill her because of a perceived slight to family honor:

The Woman Who Fell into the Well

Once there were some men who had been out selling, you might say, charcoal and were on their way home.[1] As they were traveling, one of them said, "God forsake you![2] By Allah, we're hungry!"

"O So-and-So!" they said. "Stop by and ask for something for us."

Stopping by a house to ask for something, he found a woman at home.[3]

"I entreat you in Allah's name, sister," he said, "if you have a couple of loaves of bread, let me have them for these cameleers. We're on the road from faraway places, and we're hungry."

"Of course," she said, and reached for the bread, giving him what Allah put within her means to give—a loaf, maybe two.

And, by Allah, on his way out of the house, he stumbled over a dog tied to a tree. Startled,[4] the man fell backwards, and behold! he ended up in a well that happened to be there. It was a dry well and held no water at all.[5]

"There is no power and no strength except in Allah!" exclaimed the woman.[6]

"O sister," the man cried out, "lower the rope and pull me out!"

Throwing him the rope, the woman started to pull him out but when he almost reached the mouth of the well her strength failed her. His weight grew too heavy for her, and she fell into the well with him.

"There is no power and no strength except in Allah!" exclaimed the man. "But don't worry, sister. By Allah's book, you're my sister!"[7] And they sat together for a while.

Now, her brothers were seven, and with their plowman they were eight, and they were all out plowing the fields.[8] In a while the plowman showed up.

"Hey, So-and-So!" he called out. "Hey, So-and-So!" But she did not answer.

After a while, she called out from the well, "Pull me out!"

When he had pulled her and the man out, she said, "Such and such is the story, and please protect my reputation. By Allah, this man is like my brother. Protect me, and don't tell my brothers. They'll kill me. And come harvest time, when my brothers pay your wages, I'll add two measures to your share. Just don't tell on me!"

"Fine," said the plowman.

A day went and a day came, and they harvested the grain and threshed it. He took his wages, and the sister gave him extra.

"What did you do this year," asked his wife, "that So-and-So's household gave you extra?"

"By Allah," replied the man, "he who protects another's reputation, Allah will protect his reputation in turn."

"Impossible!" she insisted. "You must tell me what happened, or else you'll worship one God and I another!"

"By Allah," he said, "there was a girl who had fallen into a well with a man, and I pulled her out."

Now the wife, when she sat together with the other women, used to say, "Did you know? So-and-So—my husband pulled her out of the well, and she had a man with her!"

This woman told that one, and so on, until her brothers got hold of the news.

"We must kill her," they said.[9]

The girl, catching on to their intentions, ran away at night. Eventually she came to a tent, and lo! there was a young man in this tent, living together with his mother. They let her stay with them, and the mother would bring food in to her.[10]

Now, the man was a bachelor, and his mother said, "Son, by Allah, this girl has filled my eye. She's very nice, and I'd like to approach her for you."[11]

"Yes, mother," he said. "If you want me to marry her, speak with her."

"O So-and-So!" said the mother. "What do you think? My son—I have no one but him. What do you say to my marrying you to him?"

"I'll marry him," the girl replied.

She married him. After that, she became pregnant and gave birth to a boy whom she called Maktub. Then she became pregnant again and delivered, giving birth to a girl whom she called Kutbe. Again she became pregnant and delivered, giving birth to a boy whom she cared Mqaddar.[12]

Meanwhile, her brothers were roaming the countryside looking for her. One day, coming by where she was, they said, "By Allah, it's getting late, and we'd like to take shelter with you for the night." (See how destiny works!) After they came in and sat down, their host prepared them the dinner which Allah placed within his means, and they ate. The father kept saying, "Come here, Maktub! Go over there, Kutbe!" The whole time it was like that, "Kutbe this, Maktub that, and Mqaddar this!"[13]

As they were sitting after dinner, they said, "Let us tell of our adventures."[14] Then they said, "The first tale's on the host."

"All right," he said. "I'd like to tell you about what happened to me in my time. Where are you folks from?"

"By Allah," they answered, "you might say we're from the hills around Hebron."

"By Allah," he said, "I had an adventure when I was a young man of twenty."

"Please proceed!" they said.[15]

"By Allah," he began his tale, "we were salesmen, traveling in your part of the country. One day we were hungry. 'So-and-So!' said my companions, 'Stop off and beg a few loaves for us.' By Allah, I stopped by this girl—May Allah protect her reputation! 'For the sake of Allah, sister,' I begged, 'if you can spare us a couple of loaves of bread! We're camel drivers, and we're traveling.' By Allah, reaching for some loaves of bread, that noble woman[16] handed them to me and said, 'Brother, make sure to sidestep the trunk of that tree. There's a dog tied to it, and it might charge you. Take care not to fall into the well.' And by Allah, folks, she hadn't even finished her words of warning, when the dog rushed at me. And he no sooner attacked than I was startled and fell into the well."

Now the plowman, who was traveling with them, said, "I must go out. I have to pee!"

"No!" her brothers responded. "Don't go out until the host finishes his tale."

"By Allah," continued their host, "when I fell into the well, a girl looked in and said, 'There is no power and no strength except in Allah. There's no one here who can pull you out.' Her brothers were seven and with the plowman they were eight, and they were all out in the fields. 'For the sake of Allah, sister,' I begged her, 'lower the rope and pull me up!' And, by Allah, that decent woman—May Allah protect her honor!—dangled a rope down and started to pull me up, but when I was almost to the mouth of the well my weight was too much for her and she fell into the well with me."

The plowman again said, "I want to go pee," but her brothers answered, "Sit!"

"By Allah," the host went on, "who should show up but the plowman? 'Here I am!' she said, after he had called to her. Lowering a rope, he pulled her out. 'Brother,' she pleaded with him, 'such and such is the story.' "

Now she herself was listening. Where? In the tent she sat, listening to her husband's tale.

"I have to go take a shit!" said the plowman.

"Sit!" the brothers said. "Wait till the host tells his tale!"

"By Allah, friends," continued the host, "the man pulled us out, and I came this way."

No sooner had he said that than she burst out with a ululation[17] from behind the divider in the tent, and then came in to where they were sitting and said, "You're my brother, and you're my brother."

"You," exclaimed the brothers, "are here!"

"Here I am," she answered, "and I've called my children Maktub, Kutbe, and Mqaddar." (All those names are related to fate - EoZ)

The bird has flown, and a good night to all!

I didn't read all of the stories, and the most objectionable part I could find was where a wife was upset that her husband was castrated.

Peaceful PalArab weekend

Not as many deaths as you might expect, but plenty of shootings, bombings and kidnappings. From PCHR:

In the past 3 days, a person was killed and two others, including two children, were wounded in the Gaza Strip in the context of the state of lawlessness and proliferation of weapon prevailing in the Occupied Palestinian Territory.

According to investigations conducted by PCHR:

At approximately 19:30 on Thursday, 1 March 2007, Yasser Fathi Zannoun, 17, from al-Shaboura refugee camp in Rafah, was wounded by a bullet to the left foot when he was checking a gun inside his house.

At approximately 21:00 on the same day, Zuhair Sa’id al-Hilu, 14, from Nusairat refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip, was wounded by shrapnel from a bullet he had played with.

At approximately 22:30 also on Thursday, unknown gunmen opened fire from a traveling car that had no registration plate at Hussein Mustafa Abu Karsh, 18, when he was neat his house in al-Shati refugee camp in the west of Gaza City. He was wounded by a number of bullets to the left foot.

At approximately 02:00 on Friday, 2 March 2007, unknown gunmen fired at a house belonging to Ashraf Mohammed al-Ghaffari, 37, a member of Fatah movement, in Deir al-Balah refugee camp in the central Gaza Strip. No casualties were reported.

At approximately 16:30 also on Friday, chaos prevailed during a football match in Khan Yunis and sounds of shooting were head in the area. The Palestinian police intervened to end the chaos. As a result of the indiscriminate shooting in the area, Fayed ‘Ali ‘Ashour, 42, was seriously wounded by 3 bullets to the right leg. He was evacuated to the hospital, but he died from his wound at approximately 22:30.

At the same time, unknown gunmen traveling in a civilian car kidnapped Shadi Mohammed Hmaid, 30, when he was near his house in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood in Gaza City. Later, the kidnappers dumped him into the southern Gaza Strip town of Khan Yunis after having wounded him with several bullets to the feet.

At approximately 22:40 also on Friday, Tariq Shaheen Shaheen, 27, a member of the Palestinian National Security Forces, from Nusiarat refugee camp, was brought into Shifa Hospital in Gaza City as he sustained bruises throughout the body. Shaheen was kidnapped by unknown gunmen from al-Jalaa’ Street. The gunmen violently beat him and then dumped him into al-Nafaq Street in Sheikh Radwan neighborhood.

At approximately 09:00 on Sunday, 4 March 2007, 4 persons were wounded during an exchange of fire between members of Hamas and Fatah movements:

1) ‘Abdul Rahman Mohammed Msabbeh, 18, wounded by a bullet to the abdomen;

2) Jamal Husni Abu Yousef, 35, wounded by a bullet to the right foot;

3) Maher Ahmed Msabbeh, 20, wounded by shrapnel to the buttocks; and

4) Nidal Jamal Msabbeh, 25, wounded by shrapnel to the hands.

In addition,

Gaza - Ma'an - Palestinian security sources have announced that two Palestinian citizens were abducted by unidentified armed assailants on Monday morning in Jabalia, in the northern Gaza Strip.

The sources added that Yasser Basiouni and Mohammad Wishah were kidnapped at 1.40 am and taken to unknown destination.

Also in the Gaza Strip, at about 4am, an explosion was heard in the area of Khan Younis. The explosion resulted from an explosive device planted at the entrance of a video shop. The shop was destroyed but no casualties were reported.

This is all very surprising for two reasons.

One is that now that there is a "unity government" that everyone is so excited about that will make sure that Hamas/Fatah clashes are a thing of the past.

The other is that both Hamas and Fatah keep on adding more and more and more "security forces" to their bankrolls. With all those armed policemen, all those RPGs and machine guns, all those people dedicated to the noble Palestinian Arab cause - wouldn't you think that the streets would be safe?

It's a real puzzle, I tell ya.

(My counts of how many Palestinian Arabs have been violently killed by other Palestinian Arabs are now at 336 since Summer Rains and 131 since January 1.)

UPDATE: A 24-year old killed while he was trying to build a bomb near a house in southern Nuseirat, Gaza. 337 and 132.

Conditions improve slightly in Syrian prison camps for PalArabs

For reasons only known to Syria and the UNRWA, there are still tens of thousands of Palestinian Arabs living in so-called "refugee camps" in Syria, in very poor conditions. Every once in a while a token gesture is made to make it appear that Syria actually cares about its resident Palestinian Arabs, and today was one of those days:

The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestinian refugees in the Near East, (UNRWA) has appealed for US$26 million to improve the living conditions of some 18,000 Palestinian refugees living in Neirab camp near Aleppo, Syria.

Launching the appeal in Amman on Sunday morning at a regular meeting of UNRWA’s Advisory Commission, Commissioner-General, Karen Koning Abu Zayd, said: “The Neirab project represents a prototype that will empower Palestinians to secure their livelihoods, meet their needs and address their concerns”.

Neirab camp originally housed World War II troops. Six decades later, Palestinian refugees still live in the original barracks and no renovations or rebuilding has been conducted to accommodate the refugee population that has expanded over the years. This has led to overcrowding and unsafe building structures that pose health and safety hazards.

In 2003, UNRWA started a project to relocate 300 families from Neirab to new houses constructed on a plot of land made available by the Syrian government in the nearby camp of Ein Al-Tal. This represented Phase I of the project, but it remains necessary to improve the conditions in Neirab camp.

Phase II will utilize the newly available space in Neirab to reconstruct the camp and develop housing units and community facilities.

The project reflects the co-operation between the Syrian Arab Republic, UNRWA and donor countries, to provide better services to Palestinian refugees. So far, the Syrian Government has been the biggest contributor to the project, donating US$6.5 million.

Hidden from this self-congratulatory claptrap are a few salient facts:

Palestinian Arabs who have been born and raised in Syrian territory over the past six decades are not allowed to become Syrian citizens - by law. The Syrian Citizenship Law #276 of 1969 states that any Arab who lives in Syria and demonstrates financial independence can become a citizen of Syria - with the exception of Palestinian Arabs. (This is true of almost all Arab countries who adopted the 1965 Casablanca Protocol.)
Palestinian Arab men must enter the "Palestine Liberation Army" under Syrian command.
Palestinian Arabs are not allowed to own farm land in Syria.

While there is freedom of movement, clearly Palestinian Arabs are treated in a discriminatory way in Syria and Syria is the major party responsible for the fact that so many still live in camps that have not been updated in decades. So while Syria tries to score political points by saying that they built a few hundred houses over the past four years, it is barely a ripple in the ocean of discrimination that PalArabs suffer in the lands of their supposed defenders and brethren.

The Casablanca Protocol explicitly says that the reason that Palestinian Arabs cannot become citizens of their host countries is to ensure that they "maintain their Palestinian nationality." Even though for centuries, Arabs did not have any national identity and freely moved between areas of the Middle East without any real hindrance, in this one special case the Arab nations got together and said to this one class of Arabs who might want to immigrate to their states - tough luck.

The value of keeping Palestinian Arabs languishing in these camps was unconsciously betrayed by a principal of a Palestinian Arab school in Lebanon, when talking about the need to balance the students' identities as "Palestinian" as well as Lebanese:

"The camps, although they are misery, they keep the identity of the Palestinians," he says.

The Arab states are telling the PalArabs: You, the Palestinian Arabs and their descendants, are more valuable to us as outsiders, as "refugees," as people that we can use as pawns in our war against the Jewish state. If you would become one of us, we have fewer propaganda points. If we allow you to become citizens - even though from all accounts, Palestinian Arabs are harder workers and better educated than most other Arabs - then it means that we may have to concede that we actually lost the war in 1948 and that we have to accept Israel as a reality.

Much better to keep you suffering. Forever.