Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, April 05, 2007

Home is where the violence is

The Palestinian Bureau of Central Statistics came out with a bunch of stats, on PalArab children, on the occasion of something called Palestinian Child Day.

Among the notable statistics (such as 52% of the PalArab population is now under 18) came this one:

The indicators showed that the majority of children were exposed to assault mainly at home followed by school and then the streets.

In the topsy-turvy world of Palestan, the most dangerous places for children to be are their own homes. And their schools are safer than "the street."

On the other hand, 52.2% of the households said that they are able to provide security for their children.

Which of course means that 47.8% of the households cannot provide security for their children.

Sounds like we should give these guys a state!

Chag kosher v'sameach

Thanks to all my readers, and I wish all my Jewish readers a wonderful Chag.

UN declares Gaza "dangerous." Erekat upset.

In a society where lies are truth, Saeb Erekat can do this:

Bethlehem - Ma'an - Head of the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO)'s negotiation's department, Dr Saeb Erekat, appealed against the United Nation's classification of the Gaza Strip as one of the world's most dangerous areas.

Erekat said that this labelling "affects Palestinian lives, and economy in particular."

Erekat added that "such a decision will be destructive and the withdrawal of the UN's employees and programs from Gaza Strip will be disastrous and will hinder the donor countries' projects."

He told Ma'an that such a trend by the UN "will have a catastrophic impact on Palestinian society, which might generate a further collapse in the already deteriorated Palestinian economy."

Erekat called on the UN to retract their decision.

The fact that Gaza is in fact one of the world's most dangerous areas is utterly irrelevant. Rather than working to actually fix Gaza, Erekat wants the UN to endanger its own workers and other foreigners.

Par for the course.

Another peaceful PalArab weekend

Besides the killing of a Salafist sheikh, another PalArab was shot in the head and killed Saturday. There were also some severe clan clashes with many injuries, 2 in critical condition last night.

Also a Hamas member was injured "accidentally."

Our count of PalArabs violently killed by each other so far in 2007 is now at 159.
UPDATE:

At approximately 20:30 on Friday, unknown gunmen in a car fired at Adnan Mansour El-Manasra (35) and Ahed Medhat El-Manasra (22), both from Sheja’eya Quarter in Gaza City. The shooting took place in El-Mentar Street in Sheja’eya. Adnan was killed by several bullets and Ahed was injured by a bullet in the right foot.

160.

UPDATE 2: On Tuesday, a man in Hebron was murdered in front of his house by those infamous "unknown persons." Is the West Bank starting to turn into Gaza? 161.

UPDATE 3:

Palestinian security sources announced on Thursday that the dead body of a Palestinian man, Muhammad Abu Hijaila, was found near the Shuja'iyya market in north-eastern Gaza Strip. The sources reported that the corpse was found riddled with gunshots and the reasons for his death remain unclear.

162.

For Muslims, co-existence=submission to Islam

Every so often, a Muslim writes an article that comes straight out of the liberal playbook, showing oh-so-logically why Jews and Arabs should co-exist peacefully. But scratch the surface and the message is anything but peaceful:

Muslims and Jews: Let us coexist

Azzam Tamimi

Until the Zionist project of creating an exclusively Jewish state in Palestine began in earnest in the latter part of the 19th century, Jews lived in many parts of the Muslim world and enjoyed living conditions not available to their fellow European Jews until recently.

For many centuries, and apart from the first two or three decades of Islamic history when Muslim-Jewish relations were plagued with a series of crises, Jews constituted a natural component of Muslim societies.

The Islamic civilisation was built with Muslim, Christian, Sabian and Jewish hands, by scientists and philosophers from all faiths and religious denominations who found in Baghdad, Cordova, Sicily and so many other cities unprecedented opportunities to think freely, translate literary, scientific and philosophical works of earlier civilizations and produce a corpus of knowledge that became the foundation upon which Europe set up its own enlightenment project.

In fact, Jews - on many occasions - fled European lands where they had been persecuted and sought refuge in Muslim lands.

The centuries-long harmonious coexistence between the Muslims and the Jews could have gone on. However, it was shattered, regrettably, when the Western European powers decided to solve their own Jewish problem by banishing the Jews to Palestine. Western Europe feared an influx of Jews from Russia and Eastern Europe, and the idea of sending the Jews to Palestine seemed to some Christian-Zionist leaders in London to pave the way for the second coming of Christ.

...
To assume that the Jews cannot survive without a state of their own called Israel is extremely foolish. The Jews have been around for thousands of years without a state of their own. There are many nations who similarly see themselves as distinct, whether as a faith community or a race or an ethnicity, but have been in existence, and will continue to be so, without a state of their own.

Jews have a future and a place in the Muslim world; but the future of an exclusively Jewish state in the heart of the Muslim world is in doubt. What is more certain is a reality in which Muslims, Christians and Jews can live together again in peace and harmony enjoying equal citizenship rights; none should be superior to another.
...
Jews can once again put their hands in the hands of the Arabs and the Muslims to build a better future for all provided they dissociate themselves from the injustices inflicted upon the Palestinians by Zionism.
...
Originally published at http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/azzam_tamimi/2007/02/ijv_a_noble_jewish_initiative.html and reprinted with permission.

The subtext, of course, is that for all the talk of equal rights and coexistence, the author is advocating Jews and Christians live under Muslim rule.

Perhaps a counter-proposal is in order:

Jews and Muslims: Let us coexist

Elder of Ziyon

For centuries, the Arab and Muslim worlds have been plagued by infighting and bloodshed. Tribal wars, religious conflicts and battles between Islamic states have been constant and endemic. Even the newfound wealth of petrodollars has not significantly improved the Muslim world as corruption and theft have become the norm in the richest oil states.

There is only one place in the Middle East where Muslims enjoy equal rights, where Muslims can vote for the country's leaders, where Muslims can expect exceptional medical and social services. And that place is Israel.

For nearly six decades, over a million Muslims have lived in peace and harmony in the Jewish state. Significantly, almost none of them have chosen to emigrate to neighboring Arab countries. Their lives are far better in Israel than in any Muslim nation worldwide.

Not only is Israel a great place for Muslim citizens, but even non-Israeli Muslims who live under Israeli control enjoy better lives. The "golden age" of Palestinian Arabs, both Christian and Muslim, was when they lived under Israeli sovereignty, as their life expectancy zoomed and their birth mortality rates plummeted, as universities were built and Palestinian Arabs became the most educated and versatile members of the Arab world.

One only has to look at how the Muslims' lives have gotten worse as Israel withdrew from Gaza and parts of the West Bank to see that even under occupation, Palestinian Arabs had better lives than those of their neighbors. When Arabs have control over their own lives, their citizens suffer.

Let us live together. Let the Arabs and Jews co-exist under a benevolent Jewish regime stretching from the Nile to the Euphrates and beyond. Just imagine the heights such a society can achieve, as industrious Jews can turn oil revenues into a new Golden Age of Islam, where hundreds of millions of Arabs can all benefit from the newfound opportunities that would come in wake of a Jewish-ruled Middle East. Just imagine the flowering of Muslim women, finally allowed to reach their potential in a Jewish state. Islam will be not only tolerated but celebrated and the world will no longer look at Muslims as potential terrorists but rather as full members of civilized society.

Arab nationalism has failed and brought untold misery and bloodshed. Muslims can reap the benefits of living in a Jewish society as Israeli Arabs have learned. Isn't it time to put aside our differences and live together?

There - now doesn't that make more sense?

Car bomb history not quite accurate

Last month, a book by Mike Davis called Buda's Wagon was released, on the history of the car bomb.

While the book itself does not seem to be particularly partisan (a much-shortened version of the book can be read here), one of the author's points is that the first modern car bomb was exploded by the Stern Gang in 1947 (and was immediately copied by the Arabs later that year.) Some Israel-bashers latched onto this fact as evidence of Jewish immorality.

Well, Mr. Davis may have missed some.

I found this in the Palestine Post, July 25, 1938:

Although the attack was not fatal, an Arab apparently purchased the car for the purposes of blowing it up among Jews in 1938.

Notice that the bomb included "screws, bolts, spikes and other iron scraps" - the same recipe that today's Arab terrorist suicide bombers use.

My apologies to those who thought they had another reason to demonize Jews, but it seems that Arabs took the initiative at least this time, and may have been the inventors of an entirely new terror weapon.

The sewage weapon

YNet points out that Gaza sewage pouring into the Mediterranean is far worse than Qassams.

But even more worrying is the fact that this situation will inevitably bring about a spate of improvised and haphazard initiatives from the local inhabitants to contend with the problem - without any planning, supervision or regard for the hydro-strategic damage these initiatives will cause the hated Zionists. Very soon - courtesy of the disengagement and its architects - Israel will find itself impaled on the horns of a nasty dilemma being forced to choose between two very unpalatable choices:
A hydrological/ecological disaster that threatens to cripple the national water system and pollute a large section of its coastline; or

A political/diplomatic nightmare where Israel is obliged to use military force to "physically stop" (in the words of the Water Commission Report) that crippling disaster from taking place, while being portrayed as a callous monster coercing multitudes of unfortunate, fate-stricken Palestinians to endure a life of squalor in swamps of sewage and stench.

Read the whole thing.

Another set of Iranian hostages issuing canned statements

The British hostages aren't the only people in Iran who are writing statements that were clearly written by authorities for propaganda purposes.

Look at this statement supposedly by the Jewish community in Iran, according to the Islamic Republic News Agency:

The Association of Iranian Jews here on Sunday renewed its commitment to defend the national interests of Iranians with the advent of the Iranian new year (1386), which the Supreme Leader of the Islamic Revolution declared to be year of "national unity and Islamic solidarity."

The association renewed its commitment in a message issued on the threshold of the Jewish religious festival of the Passover, which starts Monday night.

"In obedience to the instructions of Jesus, in the new Iranian year, which has been declared year of national unity and Islamic solidarity, Iranian Jews voice their readiness to defend all national interests of Iranians and to observe the guidelines set by Supreme Leader (Ayatollah Seyed Ali Khamenei) for the sake of strengthening national unity and solidarity in the fight against present-day pharaohs," the message said.

It further said that Iranian Jews gave significance to the remarkable coincidence of the Passover festival with the advent of the Iranian new year.

Pesach (Passover) begins on the night of the 15th day of the month of Nissan. This annual Jewish festival celebrates the escape of Jews from the slaughter of the first-born in Egypt.

Of course, in the Iranian fantasy of Islamic supremacy, Jews would issue statements for Passover saying that they follow the instructions of Jesus and the Islamic Supreme Leader to strengthen Islamic solidarity!

Qassam Calendar for March (final)

As with the February calendar, the numbers for each date represent the number of Qassams fired on that day. The numbers in parentheses are those I saw reported by Palestinian Arab media, outside of parentheses are those reported in Israeli media.

The one day highlighted in red is the single day since the "cease-fire" started that Israel reacted to Qassams in Gaza.

March

Liberal admits leftist thinking encourages terror

I disagree with Ha'aretz' columnist Bradley Burston often, but he hit the nail on the head here. Excerpts:

Not a simple issue. Especially for those of us Jews and leftists who were educated at places like Berkeley, where we received our degrees in Selective Blindness, with a minor in Understanding the Roots of Violence when practiced by Muslims.

We were taught to sniff out, publicize, and condemn every instance of racism, violence, injustice, and humiliation practiced by Israeli Jews against Palestinian Muslims. And that was as it should be.

But we were also taught that it was racist to impose our Western values on the acts of Muslims, even, or especially, when it came to the most extreme of Muslims.

We can, with facility, therefore, comprehend all Muslim atrocities against Muslims in Iraq as the direct, understandable, and legitimate response to the American-British occupation.

We were taught wrong.

We can understand terrorism in Bali, in London, in the Twin Towers, as an outgrowth of anger over American expansionism and Israeli military repression.

We were taught wrong.

This is what we should have been taught: Violations of human rights are violations of human rights, regardless of the cultural background of the perpetrator, regardless of the background of the victim.

This is what we should have retained: One way to demonstrate compassion for victims is to stop showing sensitivity to their tormentors. Even if both are Muslims. Because it's our business to cry out. Because the victims are human beings. Because villains deserve to be denounced.

We were taught to feel guilt, when we should have been taught that wrongdoing is the work of the wrongdoer.

In the end, those of us who excuse Muslim fanatics their outrages against their own, those of us who explain away their crimes by blaming them on the West, or on ourselves, are guilty of racism as well.

We are saying, in effect, that they cannot be considered responsible for their actions, as would any other human being.

We are saying, in effect, that we made them who they are.

We are saying, in effect, that the suicide bomber who kills his own, lacks the ability to discern right and wrong. We are also saying, in effect, that they can do what they like, to their own.

There is racism in our view, and megalomania, and arrogance, and cowardice, and weakness. Terrorists know this. They feed on it.

They were taught well.

This is similar to a theme I've mentioned many times, that liberals treat Arabs as if they are mentally ill and need to be "understood," not as if they are adults who have the ability to understand right and wrong. This is racism, as Burston says.

The way to erase terror is to hold people responsible for terror, and for the environment that romanticizes terror. This simple lesson is lost on much of the Left.

Major Microsoft vulnerability

Sorry for being off-topic, but Microsoft yesterday announced a "zero-day" vulnerability (animated cursor files, .ANI) for Windows that is very, very nasty. I expect that this weekend there will be many attacks, and Microsoft does not yet have a patch available.

It affects Windows Internet Explorer, including Vista. Even worse, it affects email, and just viewing an email message can allow someone to do anything they want to your machine.

Every major computer security organization is listing this as a critical flaw. Updated anti-virus software will help with known variants but if someone comes out with something new, you're still in trouble. Details can be read at the Internet Storm Center.

I would not interrupt my blog about this if I didn't think this was a biggie.

There is an unofficial patch from eEye. I recommend installing it until Microsoft gets its act together.

Get it at http://research.eeye.com/html/alerts/zeroday/20070328.html .

Otherwise, have a Shabbat Shalom!

Times-UK editor needs to learn English

Gerard Baker, US editor for the Times of London, writes about Barack Obama:

Of much more interest is the flak that the Democratic senator is taking for some remarks he made about the Middle East. Hillary Clinton, his main opponent for the Democratic presidential nomination in next year’s election, has seized upon them as proof that the senator cannot be trusted with US national security nor as a true friend of Israel.

What exactly, was the young senator’s offence? Did he, in an unguarded moment of adolescent radicalism, say something nice about Yassir Arafat? Did he call on Israel to give back the occupied territories?

Here, for the record, is precisely what he said, in a speech in Iowa a few weeks ago: “Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people.”

The response to this little aside, the shower of invective heaped on Mr Obama from all sides of the political arena, is instructive and depressing. In American political debate, saying something sympathetic about the Palestinians is evidently now deemed unsayable. Even as mild and neutral an observation as noting that Palestinians are “suffering” is considered a gaffe somewhat akin to expressing a kindly word for KGB pensioners.

The potential political penalties for such dangerous talk are well demonstrated by Mr Obama’s own rather pitiful response to the incident. Under pressure for his remarks, his spokesman “clarified” them, saying that what Mr Obama meant was that Palestinians were suffering because of the cruelties of their own, Hamas-dominated leadership. Phew! Thank goodness he cleared that one up. We thought for a horrible moment he might have been offering just the minutest criticism of Israeli policy.

One would expect a British editor to have a slightly better command of the English language than is demonstrated here. One would also expect the United States editor of a major newspaper to understand the US a bit better.

Somehow, he interprets the statement "Nobody is suffering more than the Palestinian people" as "The Palestinian Arab people are suffering." Of course, the first statement is an absurd lie and the second statement is 100% accurate. Yet this paragon of the editorial page cannot seem to distinguish between the two.

For a presidential candidate to say something so stupid is, of course, noteworthy. Perhaps it was disproportionately criticized, especially by Hillary, but somehow I think that Mr. Baker would have been somewhat upset if a major presidential candidate had in decades past declared that "Nobody is suffering more than the Irish people" or "Nobody is suffering more than the Falkland Islanders." In fact, I think that Mr. Baker would be a bit upset if Obama had said that no one is suffering more than Israelis, and he would not have misinterpreted that statement as being just an expression of sympathy for terror victims.

Mr. Baker might be amazed to see that people do criticize Israel every day in the US. He may be astonished that the current Secretary of State is heavily pushing for a Palestinian Arab state and pressuring Israel towards final-status negotiations even with an entity that wants to see Israel destroyed.

But this is nothing that a little remedial English and history cannot solve for the esteemed editor.

PalArab self-death count methodology

Since late June, 2006, I have been keeping track of how many Palestinian Arabs have been violently killed in the territories by each other.

For the purposes of this count, I include:

Deaths in internal fighting
Deaths in clan clashes
"Honor killings"
Accidental or negligent deaths from playing with weapons or explosives
Deaths during terror or criminal activities, such as while digging smuggling tunnels
Deaths from gunshots during weddings and funerals
Extrajudicial killings for "collaborators" or various Koranic crimes

I am not counting suicides, true accidents like car crashes that have nothing to do with terror, or indirect negligence like the sewage "tsunami" deaths.

There is no shortage of "human rights" organizations that obsessively count PalArab casualties from Israeli sources, but essentially no one else seems to count internal Palestinian Arab killings. If they are truly concerned about Palestinian Arab lives, they would show the same attention to detail and accuracy that they do for deaths at the hands of Israel (and even then, they never show context for Israeli actions.)

There are some organizations that partially count some of these deaths. For example, B'Tselem only counts deaths directly related to the intifada, including Hamas/Fatah clashes. Yet their numbers get quoted as authoritative.

My reasons for maintaining this count is to show the hypocrisy of those who pretend to care about Palestinian Arab lives. In fact, my thesis is that they only care about Israeli actions that they can call criminal, and the victims are only important in how they can implicate Israel, not as tragedies in themselves. The fact that Palestinian Arabs have less regard for their own lives than Israel has for PalArab lives is rarely reported.

The sources for these statistics are many Palestinian Arab newspapers (both English and Arabic, using Google auto-translation) and human rights organizations, as well as Israeli papers and other sources. All my postings about this topic include links to the original articles. I far prefer to only count deaths for people that are named, although during particularly violent periods of time this can prove almost impossible so I may rely on reported aggregate figures.

I do try for accuracy, so for example I did not count all of the honor killings mentioned in this article for the reasons I wrote there. On the other hand, when there is a dispute as to who is responsible for some PalArab deaths I will make a decision and I will tend to believe the Israeli accounts more, if only because they have historically proven to be far more accurate (a good example is the killings of the Ghalia family on the Gaza beach last year, which I counted as PalArab self-deaths based on the evidence I saw.)

I have no doubt that these numbers are undercounted. There seem to be many deaths that are never reported, particularly inter-family killings, although things have improved since last year. Ma'an News, in particular, has been fairly honest about reporting internal Palestinian Arab killings.

Terrorists killed in former Gaza settlement

At least one Hamas terrorist was killed and several more injured this morning in a large explosion. According to Ma'an English, it was in a Khan Younis "military post."

Wafa (Arabic) adds that it was in a Hamas "training camp" in the former settlement of Netzar Hazani, and the early reports make it sound like the number of casualties may increase.

This brings the number of PalArabs violently killed by each other in 2007 so far, by my count, up to 157.

UPDATE: Ynet reports one dead, seven injured, some critically. Ma'an now reports eight injured, including a child.

UPDATE 2: A Salafi sheikh was murdered in Gaza City by four gunmen, a relative was injured and an Internet cafe was blown up. 158.

16 weeks in a row

Israel was more aggressive this week against terrorists, and the IDF killed three of them. PalArab sources blame settlers for another death, although I have seen no evidence of that.

Even so, more PalArabs were killed this week by PalArabs than by Jews, for the 16th week in a row. (There were about 10 killed from Thursday to Wednesday, the time period that PCHR uses in calculating their weekly stats.)