Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, March 15, 2007

Arabs for book burning

We mentioned last week about a Palestinian Arab folktale book that was being banned and destroyed by the PalArab Education Ministry, because of some fairly subtle sexual imagery (it also had scatological references, but those were not controversial from what I can tell.)

After this hit the international press, the ministry reversed its decision.

Ma'an News Agency has a poll on its English website asking:

Was the decision to destroy the folk story collection 'Speak Bird, Speak Again'

...sensible to avoid corrupting the youth? 5.56% (5)
...indicative of a necessity for censorship? 1.11% (1)
...a "bad omen" for free speech? 93.33% (84)

Not a huge number of replies, but their English speaking readers are solidly against censorship.

But the question they ask on their Arabic website, and their answers, are a bit different:

Do you support the destruction of the book 'Speak Bird, Speak Again'؟

Yesه 48.52% (7093)
Noافه 43.89% (6416)
Don't knowف 7.59% (1110)

Total votes : 14619

Now, this is obviously not a scientific poll, but on the other hand the only people who can participate are those who have access to the Internet and read the most "moderate" Palestinian Arabic news source. And still a plurality of these more modern Arabic speakers support not only the censorship but the actual destruction of the book!

PalArab unity news

Fatah and Hamas are stumbling slowly towards approving a "unity government." Of course, they are still killing each other.

Yesterday's unity news:

Gaza - Ma'an - As Palestinians edged a step closer to having a national unity government, clashes between the rival factions of Hamas and Fatah erupted again on Wednesday evening in the Gaza Strip, leaving one Fatah militant dead, and nine other Palestinians injured, and 12 abducted.

Medical sources in Gaza have confirmed the death of Muhammad T'emeh, 25, an activist in the Al-Aqsa Brigades, the military wing of the Fatah movement. T'emeh died from wounds he sustained late on Wednesday night in confrontations between members of Fatah and Hamas in Beit Lahiya in the north of the Gaza Strip.

T'emeh was shot in his feet which led to the severing of his arteries. He arrived at Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya in a serious condition.

Also on Wednesday evening, a series of tit-for-tat abductions took place between the two sides, Fatah and Hamas. 12 people were abducted in total, of whom four were released and eight remain in custody of their rivals. Of the remaining eight abductees, four are from Fatah and four from Hamas.

At the same time, armed clashes raged between the two sides, which led to the injury of nine Palestinians.

Our count of PalArabs violently killed this year by each other now stands at 137.

UPDATE: A 30-year old PalArab was killed in a weapons smuggling tunnel between Egypt and Gaza. 138.

UPDATE 2: Two members of "Palestinian military intelligence" were taken out of their car in Gaza and shot in their heads. One died so far. 139.

French and German universities host Terror U.

In the wake of yesterday's announcement of University of Manchester "twinning" with An-Najah University (a source of terror and "art exhibits" that celebrate blowing up Jews,) today the Arabic Ma'an News says that the University of Frankfurt and a French university are also adding cultural ties with Terror U. Autotranslated:

As part of a cultural exchange Palestinian French-German delegation participated Najah National University in cultural exchange forum, which was organized in each of the universities of Frankfurt in Germany, Berbinieh in France during the period from February 17-March 5, 2007.

Regarding the goal of this partnership Professor Samer Aqrouk it aims to provide information on all the issues of civil society and democratic life, and the issue of citizenship in the Palestinian society and Palestinian immigrants, their whereabouts, their living conditions, as well as the occupation practices and violations against the rights of the Palestinian people exercised, and the separation wall and its impact on the lives of Palestinian rights, as working papers were submitted by the students participants on topics of religion and state (citizenship), and Islam's position on the State-old and new citizens, between religion and international law, and religious freedom in the Arab and Palestinian artists and Palestinian identity, and good governance (good), women in Islam.

He added that during this participation screening of a series of documentary films namely : immigrants in the country, which exposes the suffering of the students at the checkpoints and in particular the students of the An-Najah University, and a Palestinian film reviews occupation practices, and the olive tree, which addresses the issue of how to falsify Palestinian history, as presented to the lives of immigrants living in the Palestinian territories and abroad journey in the search for identity, in addition to the documentaries the university, and the film title (story), which reviews developments of the Palestinian cause since the year 1917 until the year 2005,

Professor Samer it was during the visit to meet with Vice President of the University of Frankfurt, director of cultural relations and external been put forward a set of ideas for future cooperation.

I'm sure that the "how to falsify Palestinian history" was a mistranslation but it is more truthful than was intended, especially as they feed their European hosts propaganda about Israeli atrocities.

I always find it interesting that for a people with such a long an illustrious history, the Palestinian Arabs always seem to start their history lessons in the 20th century.

And somehow I doubt that An-Najah mentioned how many of its famed alumni died as "martyrs" while murdering Jews.

More unease over fundamentalist Christian support for Israel

I've mentioned before that I have always been a bit uneasy about the support that fundamentalist Christians give to Israel. As I wrote then:

In fact, there were entire societies in England (and Scotland) dedicated to the conversion of Jews to Christianity, that seemed to reach their greatest influence in the early to middle 19th century.

The conversion aspect of Christian proto-Zionists seemed to die out as the actual reclamation of Jews to biblical Israel accelerated mid-19th century, and it was hardly mentioned publicly by 1900. Nevertheless, this history is enough to make one pause as to the true intent of today's friendly Christian Zionists. The idea of mass conversions of Jews may no longer make sense but the thought of an ulterior motive that lines Israel's fate up more with perceived prophecies than with what is actually good for Israel is not something that is so easy to overlook, despite the many sincere friends that Israel does indeed have today among the Christian Zionists.

Today's Huffington Post has an article about a featured speaker at the AIPAC conference, Pastor John Hagee, leader of "Christians United for Israel." It describes him as an "anti-semitic Holocaust revisionist," and while this appears to me to be a gross exaggeration, there is enough about Pastor Hagee that is troubling enough.

This article seems to lay out most of the arguments against Hagee. Reading it critically, one can seen that many of the complaints are a little contrived - it tends to draw lines between what he has said and what the author assumes believes, in terms of the "rapture" and other Christian end-times theology, where presumably most Jews will be killed in a final apocalyptic battle. The problem that liberals have with Hagee are probably far more against his evangelical and conservative beliefs than against his purported anti-semitism.

For the other side of the story, this article shows the face he puts on for Jewish audiences. He explicitly rejects "replacement theology" and claims to be 100% supportive of Jews as well as Israel.

Nevertheless, enough of what he has said and done - including the fact that he set up a Christian broadcasting station in Israel to preach to Jews - makes it worthwhile to ask the question of whether Israel needs supporters like Hagee, not to mention whether he should be greeted as a hero by AIPAC. Politics may make strange bedfellows but that doesn't mean that one will not regret it in the morning.

University of Manchester twinning with Nablus terror college

From Ma'an News:

Nablus - Ma'an - An-Najah National University in the northern West Bank city of Nablus is preparing to twin with the universities of Manchester and London through cooperation between the student unions in these universities.

The University of Manchester Student Union passed a motion in its entirety on 7 March to go ahead with a twinning agreement with their counterparts at An-Najah University.

An-Najah University is where the infamous exhibit reconstructing the Sbarro's terror attack in Jerusalem was held. Here's a video of that exhibit.

In addition, An-Najah has itself produced a few suicide terrorists and is itself a hotbed of Hamas terror. Besides the disgusting Sbarro's exhibit complete with dismembered limbs and the "kosher" sign, Hamas there re-enacted a suicide bombing in an Afula mall and an attack on a bus that killed 10 - all done by terrorists who attended An-Najah.

Not that these facts would matter much to Manchester.

Today's apartheid news

From the European Jewish Press. Notice the people being quoted:

LONDON (EJP)--- At a landmark conference in London this week leading figures within the British Jewish community explored how to increase charitable donations to Israeli Arabs.

Speaking at the day-long event on Thursday, senior community leaders said boosting the status and prosperity of the Arabs, who make up 20 percent of Israeli society, is vital to the country’s democracy.

Significantly, the event was backed by the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organisation, and the Ministry of Education in Israel.

The Pears Foundation, a Jewish organisation which says it "seeks to promote human and civil rights for all citizens of Israel" organised the event, and said it was designed to bring community leaders together to discuss how best to increase funding to the Arab sector.

...
In a letter to the Pears Foundation ahead of the meeting at London’s Lincoln Centre, Yuli Tamir, the Israeli Education Minister, welcomed the initiative as "enlightened and progressive".

"Israeli leaders have long understood the importance of creating an equal and inclusive society," she wrote.

"Enlightened and progressive initiatives such as this demonstrate the commitment and concern that many Jewish people around the world share with the inhabitants of the State of Israel to create a just, stable and democratic country."

Ze’ev Bielski, executive chairman of the World Zionist Organisation and Jewish Agency, wrote to say: "It is my honour and pleasure to offer my blessings on the occasion of the London symposium on Israeli Arabs.”

Yes - Israeli Jews are raising money from Jews abroad to help out Israeli Arabs.

Isn't that exactly what one would expect from an apartheid state and representatives of a racist religion?

Israel gives Hamas money as a "good will gesture"

From Arutz-7:

(IsraelNN.com) A source in the Hamas terrorist organization said Tuesday that its operatives were paid with part of the funds transferred by Israel to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas.

“The [Hamas] Executive Force was a part of the security services which received part of their salaries, just like the other forces,” said the Hamas source. An international boycott of the Hamas-led PA government is still in force inasmuch as the terror group continues to refuse to recognize Israel’s right to exist, renounce terrorism and honor past PA agreements.

Israel released $100 million to Abbas as part of Prime Minister Ehud Olmert’s “good-will gesture” to the PA in the wake of his first meeting with the PA Chairman last December. Abbas aides had no comment on the report.

Remember, the $100,000,000 that Israel gave to Abbas was supposed to be earmarked exclusively towards humanitarian causes. Here's how it was reported back in January:

Israeli officials, speaking on condition of anonymity, have said the money would be earmarked for humanitarian needs and a U.S.-backed programme to strengthen Abbas's presidential guard.

It will not be used to make long-overdue salary payments to Palestinian public sector workers, hard hit by a Western and Israeli embargo of the Hamas-led government, they said.

Abbas aide Saeb Erekat said the funds would be channelled to humanitarian projects and the private sector, but declined to say if any would go towards boosting Abbas's security.

The decision not to allocate funds for salaries angered Hamas, which said the money should be distributed by the Palestinian finance ministry.

"We reject any Israeli conditions on regaining this money. This money belongs to the Palestinian people," Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas told reporters after Friday prayers.

Not to mention that every dollar that goes towards "salaries" frees up more suitcase dollars that go towards weapons.

It has been clear for some time that Hamas completely controls the PA and that Abbas is at best a figurehead president. Every dime that comes to the PA in the form of "aid" is effectively boosting Hamas, directly or indirectly.

And yet it still keeps coming.

Marvin Kalb paper on asymmetrical conflict

Marvin Kalb wrote a scholarly article on "The Israeli-Hezbollah War of 2006: The Media As A Weapon in Asymmetrical Conflict."

This is a topic I mentioned a number of times last summer during the war, and he does a very nice job surveying exactly what happened during the war and how the media portrayed it. Here is a sample:

For any journalist worth his or her salt, this should spark a respectful moment of reflection. Not only did this new and awesome technology enable journalists to bring the ugly reality of war to both belligerents (and others around the world), serving as a powerful influence on public opinion and governmental attitudes and actions; it also became an extremely valuable intelligence asset for both Israel and Hezbollah, and Hezbollah especially exploited it.

If we are to collect lessons from this war, one of them would have to be that a closed society can control the image and the message that it wishes to convey to the rest of the world far more effectively than can an open society, especially one engaged in an existential struggle for survival. An open society becomes the victim of its own openness. During the war, no Hezbollah secrets were disclosed, but in Israel secrets were leaked, rumors spread like wildfire, leaders felt obliged to issue hortatory appeals often based on incomplete knowledge, and journalists were driven by the fire of competition to publish and broadcast unsubstantiated information. A closed society conveys the impression of order and discipline; an open society, buffeted by the crosswinds of reality and rumor, criticism and revelation, conveys the impression of disorder, chaos and uncertainty, but this impression can be misleading.

It was hardly an accident that Hezbollah, in this circumstance, projected a very special narrative for the world beyond its ken—a narrative that depicted a selfless movement touched by God and blessed by a religious fervor and determination to resist the enemy, the infidel, and ultimately achieve a “divine victory,” no matter the cost in life and treasure. The narrative contained no mention of Hezbollah’s dependence upon Iran and Syria for a steady flow of arms and financial resources.

For Hezbollah, the 2006 summertime war was more than a battle against a mortal enemy; it was a crucial battle in a broader, ongoing war, linking religious fundamentalism to Arab nationalism. Will victory be defined as an open door to modernity or to a new caliphate? That is a key question. The whole Arab world is often framed as a “politically traumatized region,” wrote Washington Post columnist Jim Hoagland, caught in the “morbid interim between the dying of an exhausted political and social order and the birth of a still-unknown way of life.”2 Hezbollah saw itself as a resolute leader in shaping the Arab future.

Like Hamas and al-Qaeda, it appreciated the central importance of the communications revolution sweeping through the region. These three radical groups believe, according to Steve Fondacaro, an American military expert, that it is on the “information battlefield” that the historic struggle between Western modernity and Islamic fundamentalism will ultimately be resolved. “The new element of power that has emerged in the last thirty to forty years and has subsumed the rest is information,” he said. “A revolution happened without us knowing or paying attention. Perception truly now is reality, and our enemies know it.”3

It is worth reading. A summary can be seen in the Jerusalem Post article about this paper.

Some of my postings on similar themes at the time:
Bill Maher: The world IS Mel Gibson
The perfect weapon
Three more asymmetries and its companion piece, The elephant in the room of international law.

On money and responsibility

Although we've seen this before, this article in the Telegraph does a good job in describing exactly how screwed up the Palestinian Arab finances are and how it is nearly impossible to fix the problem:

A former World Bank official who is about to become the Palestinian finance minister has warned foreign donors that he has no idea where much of their money has been spent.

In the 14 months since Hamas won elections, Palestinian finances have descended into such chaos that there is now no way to confirm whether aid is going to its stated purpose, according to Salam Fayyad, 54, who is poised to start his second stint as treasury chief once the rival Hamas and Fatah factions finalise a "unity" government.

An estimated £362.5 million has flowed into Palestinian government coffers from abroad since the election that brought Hamas to power and ushered in a period of internal conflict that came close to all-out civil war.

The European Union alone provided £59.5 million last year and sent a far greater sum directly to hospitals, power generation projects and to families in need.

Now, Palestinian Authority spending is out of control, salaries are being paid to workers who never turn up, and nobody can track where the money is going, according to Mr Fayyad.

There was no way to be certain that aid was being used as intended, he admitted. "Please write this: no one can give donors that assurance. Why? Because the system is in a state of total disrepair."

...Ironically foreign aid to Palestinians increased (in 2006), either carried across the border into Gaza in cash-stuffed briefcases by Hamas officials, or through a special financial channel to the office of President Mahmoud Abbas, the leader of the rival Fatah faction with whom the West is prepared to work.

As a result, Mr Fayyad said, incoming funds have been widely dispersed with no central authority to monitor them. Some have gone to people who do not appear on the Palestinian budget ledger. "Where is the control?" asked Mr Fayyad. "It's gone. Where is all the transparency? It's gone."

He said his first objective would be to make the finance ministry the sole conduit for incoming aid, and to reinstate proper audits. That meant no more financial back channels or border smuggling, he said. "It's not my intention to manage the Palestinian budget system through the brown bag." The Palestinian Authority's unchecked proliferation of government jobs - growing by 11 per cent a year - is another threat to its existence, the World Bank said. Mr Fayyad acknowledged that the problem of thousands of absentee employees was "serious", but said it would take up to five years to bring wages into line with income.

He was reluctant to say how he would do that, perhaps understandably, given that unpaid security forces have a habit of barging into government offices with guns blazing, and that gunmen recently shot up the outside of his office.

Now some of Mr Abbas's presidential guard is assigned to his premises - a stark reminder of the connection between restoring security and bringing finances under control. "This will be extremely difficult," he said. "It's virtually impossible."

No doubt the EU will find a solution - give them more money to fix the problems they have of not acting responsibly with their money.

The world community has limited resources to take care of problems. For some unfathomable reason, the corrupt and terror-infested Palestinian Authority and its supporters is a major beneficiary of the world's largesse, and the PalArabs are the highest per-capita recipients of aid - more than Darfur, more than sub-Saharan Africa, more than any place there are truly starving families with no resources at all. What makes the PalArabs so special?

The answer is depressing. The decades of terror plus anti-Israel propaganda has kept the issue of the "poor Palestinians" on the front pages and on the front burner. Infiltrating academia and journalism, aided with a healthy dose of genteel anti-semitism, the idea that the PalArabs are terribly oppressed even as they spend all of their money building bombs and rockets has taken such a hold on the world that it is simply accepted fact.

What is missing from the world's telling of the Palestinian Arab narrative is the idea of responsibility. The PalArabs have a free pass - they can hijack airplanes, they can cheer thousands of American deaths, they can dance as Scud rockets fly towards Tel Aviv, they can praise people who blow up pizza shops and birthday parties - and they get rewarded by the world.

And here's a classic example. They get more money after they elect a terrorist government. They have a long history of squirreling away billions of dollars, of diverting money towards terror, of hiring phantom "policemen" by the tens of thousands, of destroying their own economy.

And yet the world keeps giving them more. The trite phrase "throwing good money after bad" never had more relevance.

No one would treat even family members with such deference.

Is it even possible that the PalArabs would do something so irresponsible that the world community would say "enough!"? Apparently not, because it is hard to imagine them acting more irresponsibly than they already are.

Al-Qaeda and Hamas argue who hates Jews more

One of the surest ways to get someone's attention in terror circles is to call him "Zionist."

Being a murderer is fine; blowing up children is praiseworthy and raping Jewish women is a great way to fight. Even killing your own wife or sister under the correct circumstances has its advocates.

But no crime is so heinous as to imply that you might possibly not be 100% supportive of the genocide of millions of Jews who live in the Middle East.

In the latest episode, Al Qaeda weighed in on the still-fictional "unity government" between Hamas and Fatah. Ayman Al Zawahri accused Hamas of serving US and Israeli interests by saying that they might agree to a cease fire with Israel under ridiculous and absurd conditions.

Evidently, in many parts of the world, them's fightin' words.

Hamas today fell all over itself to reassure Al Qaeda that its terrorist bona-fides are unimpeachable.

‘We will not betray promises we made to God to continue the path of Jihad and resistance until the liberation of Palestine, all of Palestine,’ Hamas said in a statement, in a clear reference to Israel as well as to the occupied West Bank.

In its statement Hamas said it continued to be a ‘movement of resistance, seekers of martyrdom’ and that its ‘principles will never be changed’.

‘Zawahri’s recent statements were wrong ... Resistance is our strategy. How and when? This depends on the reality at the time and our corresponding view of things,’ Hamas said.

‘So be assured doctor Ayman, and all those who love Palestine like yourself, that Hamas is still the group you knew when it was founded and it will never abandon its path.’

Glad they cleared that up.

Although no matter how clearly Hamas says its goal, the EU and Russia still want so very hard to believe otherwise.

The Hamas statement above was a bit too apologetic, and not in the hallowed Arab tradition. Usually one expects something a bit more combative. And sure enough, the Hamas website attacks Al-Zawahri in the time-honored manner, accusing him of not caring about Palestinian Arabs and of helping the Jews:

The director general of palestinedialogue.net, one of the most famous electronic websites of the Hamas movement, who introduced himself as Dr. Othman, has accused Al-Qaeda's second-in-command, Dr. Ayman Zawahiri, of being behind the elimination of the first Palestinian group of Al-Qaeda members and the dismissal of all Palestinians who used to work for Bin Laden's institutions everywhere.

Othman said that whoever knows Zawahiri will know that this man was behind the planned dismissal of all Palestinians and the employment of Egyptians instead. Dr. Othman added that some of these newly-recruited Egyptians were from the Egyptian intelligence.

Othman added that Zawahiri used to deceive Bin Laden by telling him that he has some Al-Qaeda groups working in Palestine; then, when Palestinians contacted Bin Laden, he refused to hire them as Al-Qaeda members because he believed what Zawahiri told him about members of Al-Qaeda already working in Palestine, while this was never true. Zawahiri even had dealings with the Egyptian intelligence, such as handing some of the Palestinians in Egypt over to them to exchange for Zawahiri's friends, Othman added.

Othman also confirmed that Zawahiri has detested Palestinians, and Hamas, for over ten years, when he became the second man in Al-Qaeda. He even used to talk about his hatred to Hamas amongst his followers, Dr. Othman said. "He never tried to understand that the Hamas movement is a huge movement, and it intends to make changes, and it inspires its believers from the great Islam," he said.

Dr. Othman added: "If Zawahiri understands politics, he should play the game from all sides, not only the weapons game; we learned that from the great prophet Mohammad." He also urged Zawahiri to respect others when he speaks about them. Othman said to Zawahri, "We will respect you when you stop attacking Hamas, who are running a revolution in Palestine." He added that he will respect Zawahiri, "When he stops supporting the Jews and stops the incitement against Hamas; it would have been better for him to keep silent instead of throwing out these words about Hamas".

Othman ended by saying: "The people used to like Al-Qaeda because it launched a war on the US, who is supporting the occupation in Palestine, Afghanistan, and now Iraq, but this has gone after Al-Qaeda struck the innocent people in the hotels of Amman. These people, whom we still meet their family members and still pay condolences to them. What happens in Amman is a witness to the blindness of Zawahiri and his group's weapons, which don’t differentiate between people."

You see, Zawahiri? Hamas is trying to destroy Israel not only through terror but also through politics - just like Mohammed!

You've really got to brush up on your Koran!

UPDATE: I found the actual text of the original Zawahiri note about Hamas. He certainly can dish it out!

I am sorry to face the Muslim nation with the truth, and to tell it please accept our condolences for (the loss) of the HAMAS leadership. It has fallen in the swamp of capitulation. In the past, at the time of Al-Nakbah , Hasan al-Banna, whom we pray God would regard as a martyr, and Shaykh Amin al-Husayni, may God have mercy on their souls, gathered the fedayeen groups and marched toward Palestine. Now, at the time of the deal, the HAMAS leadership is handing over to the Jews most of Palestine.
..
The HAMAS leadership has finally joined the train of Al Sadat for humiliation and capitulation. The HAMAS leadership has sold out Palestine, and earlier it had sold out referring to Shari'ah as the source of jurisdiction. It has sold all that to be allowed to maintain one-third of the government.

And what kind of government is this that does not have control over entry or exit, and movement between its two parts without a permit from Israel? It is a government whose prime minister is not allowed to enter his homeland and is not allowed to do so unless the Egyptians mediate between him and the Israeli defense minister. He would stay outside in the cold in front of the Rafah crossing until the Israeli minister gives approval.

For the sake of retaining one third of the seats in this ridiculous government, HAMAS leadership has abandoned the rule of Shar'iah. It has also ceded most of the Palestinian territories. For one-third of the seats of this ridiculous government, they abandoned the resistance movement and accepted the government of bargaining; they abandoned the movement of martyrdom operations and accepted the government of respect for international resolutions; they abandoned the heroic struggler movement and accepted the domesticated beggar government; they abandoned the movement of penetrating the enemy throngs with explosives and accepted the government of playing with words in the halls of palaces. For a third of the seats in t he government, they abandoned the rule of Shari'ah and bowed to the international legitimacy....

Washington Post lionizes far-left Israeli historian

Here is a classic example of a "news story" that serves no purpose but to promote the ideological agenda of the reporter.

In todays' Washington Post there is an article about Ilan Pappé, the revisionist Israeli historian and lecturer at the University of Haifa, by Scott Wilson. While the article starts off as if it is going to contrast the differing ideological journeys of Pappe and Benny Morris, it ends up being nothing but an adoring profile of Pappé - even as the article admits that he has no following in Israel itself:

Ilan Pappé, one of the revisionist scholars known in Israel as the "new historians," began his career in some of the same wartime archives as Benny Morris. But his own ideological journey has taken him to the far shore of Israel's political gulf and nearly complete isolation.

The two disagree not on the facts about Israel's founding that they helped uncover but on what lessons they hold nearly six decades later. Morris maintains the rise of radical Islam is largely responsible for the region's strife; Pappe is virtually alone among Jewish Israelis in blaming the Zionist project to create a Jewish state in the Arab Middle East for the lack of peace.

"Zionism is far more dangerous to the safety of the Middle East than Islam," Pappe says.

The 52-year-old historian is a senior lecturer at the University of Haifa, which overlooks the thriving port where Pappe's parents arrived from Germany seven decades ago. Many of the relatives who stayed behind perished in the Holocaust. Pappe's family was apolitical. He served in the Golan Heights during the 1973 Arab-Israeli War.

What Pappe calls his "journey to the margins and beyond" began at Oxford University, where under the guidance of the renowned Arab historian Albert Hourani he wrote a doctoral thesis that became his first book, "Britain and the Arab-Israeli Conflict." He mixed with Palestinian intellectuals when the Palestine Liberation Organization was outlawed in Israel.

"My research debunked all of the lessons about Israel's creation that I had been raised on," Pappe says.

In his view, Israeli professors were not criticizing Israel's occupation of Palestinian land with the same stridency in academic conferences abroad as they did in the op-ed pages back home. He increasingly believed that land included all of Israel, not just the territories Israel seized in the 1967 Middle East War.

In 1996, Pappe joined Hadash, the mostly Arab anti-Zionist communist party and ran unsuccessfully for parliament. His work two years later organizing campus events to commemorate the 50th anniversary of "the catastrophe," as Palestinians call the 1948-49 war, placed him at odds with the university's politically powerful Land of Israel Studies department.

The university president began calling for his resignation.

"The debate that year prepared the way for the big battle -- the second intifada," Pappe says. "I looked around and I was alone."

Relatives stopped speaking to him over his rejection of the Jewish state in the dedication of his 2003 book, "A History of Modern Palestine: One Land, Two Peoples." He dedicated it to his sons: "may they live not only in a modern Palestine but in a peaceful one."

"When I was struggling against public denial of what occurred in 1948, I was still hopeful," Pappe says. "But the fact that denial has disappeared is even more worrying. It means that my outlook and theirs is unbridgeable. This is a basic problem of morality and ethics now."

Israel's war with the radical Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah last summer convinced Pappe of something he suspected for years: His views are irrelevant inside Israel.

...

He has accepted a post at the University of Exeter in England and will move there later this year.

"It will be an attempt to see if one can live outside this place," Pappe says.

Now, why is it newsworthy to profile a lone Israeli historian, who unsuccessfully ran for Knesset in an Arab Communist list and who calls for Israel to be dismantled? The only possible reason is that the author of the story agrees with him and tries to make him look like a romantic "lone wolf" telling the truth against his hundreds of colleagues who disagree.

Pappé himself hardly has impeccable credentials. As CAMERA shows, he freely admits that he lets his ideology cloud his historical judgment.

There is no historian in the world who is objective. I am not as interested in what happened as in how people see what's happened. ("An Interview of Ilan Pappé," Baudouin Loos, Le Soir [Bruxelles],Nov. 29, 1999)

I admit that my ideology influences my historical writings...(Ibid)

Indeed the struggle is about ideology, not about facts. Who knows what facts are? We try to convince as many people as we can that our interpretation of the facts is the correct one, and we do it because of ideological reasons, not because we are truthseekers. (Ibid)

The debate between us is on one level between historians who believe they are purely objective reconstructers of the past, like [Benny] Morris, and those who claim that they are subjective human beings striving to tell their own version of the past, like myself. (“Benny Morris’s Lies About My Book,” Ilan Pappé, Response to Morris’ critique of Pappé’s book, “A History of Palestine” published in the New Republic, March 22, 2004, History News Network, April 5, 2004)

[Historical] Narratives... when written by historians involved deeply in the subject matter they write about, such as in the case of Israeli historians who write about the Palestine conflict, is motivated also... by a deep involvement and a wish to make a point. This point is called ideology or politics. (Ibid)

Yes, I use Palestinian sources for the Intifada: they seem to me to be more reliable, I admit. (Ibid)

Beyond that, while the WaPo brings up Morris, they fail to even contextualize their disagreements to allow the reader some information on the matters. Morris has said about Pappé:

..Unfortunately, much of what Pappé tries to sell his readers is complete fabrication...

...In Pappé's account, there is no faulting the Palestinians for regularly assaulting the Zionist enterprise...The Palestinians are forever victims, the Zionists are forever "brutal colonizers"...

...The multiplicity of mistakes on each page is a product of both Pappé's historical methodology and his political proclivities...

...For those enamored with subjectivity and in thrall to historical relativism, a fact is not a fact and accuracy is unattainable. Why grope for the truth? Narrativity is all.

Shouldn't an article about Pappé mention some of the real, objective problems people have with him rather than frame it solely as being against his ideology (as reprehensible as it may be)? Especially egregious are Wilson's quoting of Pappe, "My research debunked all of the lessons about Israel's creation that I had been raised on," without a single indication that his research and conclusions are deeply flawed.

Even more unbelievably, the caption under his picture quotes him as saying "Zionism is far more dangerous . . . than Islam," going even beyond his own sickening quote about the safety of the Middle East as if to support the view that Zionism is a threat to the entire world.

This article is incredibly irresponsible journalism - not just shoddy, but ultimately deceptive. It hides more facts than it reveals, and as such it is the exact opposite of what journalism should be.

UPDATE: I didn't realize from my Internet search that this article was a companion piece on a larger article about Benny Morris. Even so, the point remains - the article about Morris is not shy with quoting people who disagree with him and why; it plays up his questioning of the standard Israeli historical narrative and it subtly demeans his more recent skepticism about the prospects of peace with Arabs. In other words, it pooh-poohs Morris' hawkish views while it embraces his findings that make Israel look bad, just as in the Pappe article it embraces his anti-Israel views and doesn't bother to find another viewpoint.

PA draft constitution

I just saw this, even though it is from 2003.

Under pressure from the US, the PA created a draft constitution. It is a very strange collection of lies to placate the West and interesting truths about their goals buried in Western-style rhetoric.

Article (1)

The State of Palestine is a sovereign, independent republic. Its territory is an indivisible unit based upon its borders on the eve of June 4, 1967, without prejudice to the rights guaranteed by the international resolutions relative to Palestine. All residents of this territory shall be subject to Palestinian law exclusively.

How exactly are Gaza and the West Bank indivisible? Or is this a backhanded way of saying that it includes all of Israel?

Article (3)

Palestine is a peace loving state that condemns terror, occupation and aggression. It calls for the resolution of international and regional problems by peaceful means. It abides by the Charter of the United Nations.

This is a prime example of that famous PalArab sense of humor.

Article (4)

Jerusalem is the capital of the state of Palestine and seat of its public authorities.

Notice it doesn't say "East Jerusalem" or "The Old City." Hmmmm.

Article (5)

Arabic and Islam are the official Palestinian language and religion. Christianity and all other monotheistic religions shall be equally revered and respected. The Constitution guarantees equality in rights and duties to all citizens irrespective of their religious belief.

All three of these sentences contradict each other. If Islam is the official religion, it is impossible for other religions to be equally respected. If only monotheistic religions are respected, then there are no equal rights for Hindus or Buddhists. So, which is it? Just read on:

Article (7)

The principles of Islamic Shari’a are a major source for legislation. Civil and religious matters of the followers of monotheistic religions shall be organized in accordance with their religious teachings and denominations within the framework of law, while preserving the unity and independence of the Palestinian people.

Meaning that Islamic law is the basis for all law, and as long as other religious laws do not contradict Shari'a they will be permitted to practice. Sounds very equal to me!

Article (12)

Palestinian nationality shall be regulated by law, without prejudice to the rights of those who legally acquired it prior to May 10, 1948 or the rights of the Palestinians residing in Palestine prior to this date, and who were forced into exile or departed there from and denied return thereto. This right passes on from fathers or mothers to their progenitor. It neither disappears nor elapses unless voluntarily relinquished. A Palestinian cannot be deprived of his nationality. The acquisition and relinquishment of Palestinian nationality shall be regulated by law. The rights and duties of citizens with multiple nationalities shall be governed by law.

The three sentences I highlighted also contradict each other. Can a Palestinian relinquish his nationality or not?

And according to this, there are plenty of Jews who are Palestinians - probably well over a million who descended from the Jews in Israel in 1948, and by the definition here of either parent my guess is that possibly half of Israeli Jews might have a bloodline to a pre-1948 Jew. If they cannot be deprived of their Palestinian nationality, what does PA law say about them? Can they vote? If not, what about the pledge not to discriminate against monotheistic religions?

Article (13)

Palestinians who left Palestine as a result of the 1948 war, and who were denied return thereto shall have the right to return to the Palestinian state and bear its nationality. It is a permanent, inalienable, and irrevocable right.

The state of Palestine shall strive to apply the legitimate right of return of the Palestinian refugees to their homes, and to obtain compensation, through negotiations, political, and legal channels in accordance with the 1948 United Nations General Assembly Resolution 194 and the principles of international law.

Every Arab nation voted against Resolution 194 in 1948.

Not only that, the wording of 194 concerning the refugees says: "...the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date". It is clear that in the nearly sixty years since then, they have never fulfilled that provision.

Also, 194 says that Jerusalem will be under international control. This contradicts the idea of Jerusalem being the capital of "Palestine."

Ah, but look at the words more closely. They are not accepting 194; they are just pretending that a single paragraph written for this non-binding resolution in 1948 supports their right of return and they are explicitly ignoring/rejecting the rest of it.

Article (14)

Natural resources in Palestine are the property of the Palestinian people who will exercise sovereignty over them. The state shall be obligated to preserve natural resources and legally regulate their optimal exploitation while safeguarding Palestinian religious and cultural heritage and environmental needs. The protection and maintenance of antiquities and historical sites is an official and social responsibility. It is prohibited to tamper with or destroy them, and whoever violates, destroys, or illegally sells them shall be punishable by law.

Unless, of course, they are Jewish antiquities.

The entire second section of the draft constitution talks in lofty terms about equal rights and Western-style freedoms that simply do not exist anywhere in the Arab world.

Another Peaceful PalArab weekend

Hamas/Fatah clashes have resumed. And terrorists managed to get their salaries back after shooting and threatening the peaceful PA.

Everything is back to normal.

A senior Hamas militant was killed early Sunday in a shootout with the rival Fatah group in the Gaza Strip, officials from both Palestinian factions said.

It was the first fatality in such factional fighting since leaders of the two sides reached a Saudi-sponsored agreement to form a national unity government a month ago.

Each side blamed the other for starting the firefight in the town of Beit Hanun in the northern part of the coastal strip. Another Hamas gunman and at least two Fatah militants were also wounded in the fighting.

The man killed in the shootout was identified as Mohammad al-Kafarna, a member of the Hamas-led government's Executive Force. Hamas accused Fatah of ambushing his car.

Fatah spokesman Abdel-Halim Awad accused gunmen of the ruling Islamist Hamas movement of ambushing members of the al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade, which is linked to Palestinian Authority Chairman Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah faction.

He said Hamas fighters were attacking a Fatah office in Beit Hanun with rocket-propelled grenades.

Residents said gunfire and explosions were echoing across the town as the Fatah office and a separate Fatah security complex came under mortar fire.

...[Thee was] fresh factional violence in the Palestinian territories Saturday, when gunmen stopped a car carrying a Hamas cabinet minister and opened fire on the vehicle, officials said.

The militants opened fire, hitting the vehicle four times, security officials said. Hamas forces quickly rushed to the scene, and an exchange of fire ensued. The three gunmen then fled, Hamas officials said.

Hamas accused Palestinian security officials with ties to Fatah of being behind the attack. Security officials said they were aware of the incident but did not know who was responsible.

Earlier Saturday, Palestinian militants opened fire at Palestinian security headquarters in Jenin, demanding that they receive long-overdue salaries promised by the government, witnesses said.

The gunfire forced all government offices in this West Bank city to close.

About 20 members of the Al-Aqsa Martyrs' Brigades gathered outside the security building, periodically firing rounds. There were no reports of injuries, and security officers inside the building did not fire back, the witnesses said.

After winning elections in 2005, Abbas promised police jobs to hundreds of militants in order to bring the violent groups under control. The militants participating in Saturday's protest said they were paid several times, but stopped receiving salaries last year.

After about an hour, the militants retreated, saying they had received assurances that their demands would be met.

Zakariye Zubeydi, the local Al Aqsa leader, said he ordered his men to halt their fire after the government agreed to resume payments to families of men killed in violence with Israel, and to open negotiations on paying the militants their back salaries.

"We solved the problem. We stopped shooting," he said.

Our count of Palestinian Arabs violently killed this year is now at 133. (I won't keep the count since Summer Rains, as that number is always going to be 205 more than this year's count.) And unless there is a huge event this week, this post is where I'll keep the death count updated.

UPDATE: In an honor/shame society, murder is preferable to shame. Even infanticide.

Two women killed their newborns in the territories in the last couple of days because they had gotten pregnant "illegally."

The investigators affirmed that the woman confessed to the crime. The defendant said "I gave birth to my baby girl in my father's house and then closed the baby's mouth with my hand so that the baby wouldn't scream, this is what caused the death." She affirmed that she illegally became pregnant. She also admitted that she handed the dead body to the illegal father who was captured while trying to bury the corpse.

In a separate incident, detectives said they have found the dead body of a baby girl on a street in Rafah. After investigations, they could identify the mother from the hospital where the baby was delivered. The mother admitted that she left her baby in the street out of fear of a scandal because the pregnancy was a result of adultery.

135.

UPDATE 2: Hamas leader killed in Gaza. It seems that a man's car was stolen and he found it being used by Hamas. His family and Hamas got into a gun battle. 136. Plus a few injured...

Jimmy Carter quotes fake Mandela latter to prove Israeli "apartheid"

From South Africa's Business Today:

IS ISRAEL an apartheid state? Apparently Nelson Mandela thinks so. In a recent letter to New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman, Mandela lays out the case against Israel with unusual candour. Mandela’s words are now being quoted all over the world. Last month, former US president Jimmy Carter cited the letter in a speech at Brandeis University. And who’s going to argue with Madiba?

Unfortunately for Israel’s critics, the letter is a hoax. It is the creation of a man named Arjan El Fassed, who runs an anti-Israel website called The Electronic Intifada. El-Fassad has admitted that he made the whole thing up, but the Mandela letter has now entered the anti-Israel canon alongside countless other fictions. Yet, much like the Israel-apartheid comparison itself, it is completely spurious.

Read the whole thing.

While it appears that Fassed did not push this hoax, it shows volumes about Jimmy Carter's devotion to truth that he quotes a fake letter that would only exist on anti-Israel websites.

13 weeks in a row

This is the 13th consecutive week that more PalArabs were killed by their own than by Israel (None by Israel according to PCHR, and 2 killed in Gaza by PalArabs, plus one killed accidentally at the Rafah border who I am not counting.)