I don't know the original source for this story, published a few minutes ago by the Combined Jewish Philanthropies, but Palestine Press Agency had effectively the identical story in Arabic:
The head of the International Committee of the Red Cross said Wednesday that the Palestinian kidnappers of an Israeli soldier may permit representatives of the organization to visit him.
Angelo Gnaedinger made the statement after meeting with the Hamas leader of the Gaza Strip, Ismail Haniyeh.
"We asked for access to him and the possibility for him to communicate through us with his family," Gnaedinger told reporters after the meeting. "We have been told that this is under consideration and that everybody is working on a positive solution for this case and that the humanitarian aspects are being take care of."
In this edition, it is Fatah who threatened journalists. From Ma'an (Arabic, autotranslated):
A journalist bloc said that three Palestinian journalists received death threats from groups Fatah movement, believing that these threats represent bankruptcy nationally and morally.
It accused the Bloc of them said, "Samih Asa'ad groups" to send each of these threats Chief Editor of "Palestine" local journalist Mustafa Sawaf, director of the Office of the Press home, and board member of the bloc, the Palestinian journalist Imad Abdel-Quds newspaper correspondent and local journalist Ahmad Muchehrawi.
Since there are more questions than answers about the Arabic-language public school opening in Brooklyn, here is where to find the details, with links so you can form your own conclusions.
The only subject that has a new curriculum is Arabic language. All the other subjects - math, history (humanities), science, reading - are typical 6th grade public school topics. The high-level curriculum can be seen here.
The Arabic curriculum is described this way:
All students will take a basic introductory Arabic language course that meets 3 times a week and is supplemented by small group instruction 2 additional periods a week.
This is an introductory course designed primarily for non-native speakers and differentiated based on student experience with Arabic and other language study. It will begin with alphabet, phonetics, basic introduction to the language framework, and will continue to include reading, writing, speaking and listening in Arabic.
There is no NYC 6th grade curriculum for the introduction to Arabic. Teachers who were trained at STARTALK, a federally funded professional development program at Michigan State University, are designing the curriculum.
In the initial phase, materials will be created by curriculum teachers based on samples and resources provided by the Arabic Language Instruction Professional Development Program at Michigan State University. As students develop proficiency, they will begin to use the Scholastic My Arabic Library (http://www.scholastic.com/aboutscholastic/worldwide/mepi/english.htm). The library is a set of translations of English language stories into Arabic.
On first glance, the Scholastic Arabic program seems to be fine - the My Arabic library is described as "a set of translations of English language stories into Arabic." If this is true, then there should be no worries about indoctrination or glorifying any problematic parts of Arabic culture.
The Scholastic Arabic site describing My Arabic Library adds a couple of details that one will not find in the English sites:(autotranslated)
It "class library" prepared for the first year until the sixth basic education.
The library includes one thirty to forty interesting titles and five copies of each title, as well as the teacher guide and posters.
These books have been chosen by Arab educators and specialists and translated in the Arab world and ratified by the ministries of education in each of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Lebanon and the Kingdom of Bahrain and the Kingdom of Morocco.
The list of books in the library seems innocuous enough, including The Cat in the Hat, biographies of Amelia Earhart and Louis Braille, a book about volcanoes and a "Mystery at the Museum" - pretty much the same kind of thing that American classroom reading classes have been using for decades.
From looking at this, assuming that the stated curriculum is adhered to, I cannot see anything dangerous about the school at this time. The school seems to be appropriately transparent in its studies and as long as it stays that way - and as long as it does not become a substitute for private Arabic schools - it should not be any more problematic than Spanish or Chinese charter schools. But because the potential downside is so large, it should certainly be observed carefully.
There are still many unanswered questions. While the curriculum does not talk about Arab culture, the Executive Summary of the school emphasizes the cultural aspect of the school. That is the part that we have not heard enough about. It appears that the school will stray into political topics in the ninth grade, and this has the potential of being a disaster.
Another question is what the orientation of the Arab American Family Support Center might be (it is the "Lead Partner" for the school), as they are the initial Arabic-language instructors since there are not enough teachers who know Arabic in the New York public school system yet.
The de facto Palestinian government in the Gaza Strip has decided to ban what they call "political prayer" on Fridays in public squares. The head of the union of Palestinian religious intellectuals in the Gaza Strip, Marwan Abu Ras, on Monday issued a fatwa declaring participation in such prayers a sin.
"The open-air prayers go beyond simply worship and are being used to create chaos and terrorism," the spokesperson of the deposed Ministry of the Interior, Eyhab Al-Ghussein told Ma'an. He pledged that the security services would impose security and order in Gaza Strip by any means necessary.
Abu Ras, who issued the fatwa, explained that during last Friday prayers last week, some worshippers were smoking, wearing golden chains, and even selling food and drink – activities that are not in keeping with the sacredness of Friday prayers. "The purpose behind that prayer was absolutely something beyond worship, " he said.
Tahir Nono, a spokesperson of the deposed government confirmed that his government decided to ban public gatherings on Fridays which he said were held in the guise of Friday prayers.
Of course, Fatah has its own imams who are more than thrilled to create their own opposing fatwas allowing prayer outside mosques:(autotranslated from PalPress):
Presse decreed Samaha Dr. Sheikh Tayseer Tamimi, Chief Judge of Palestine Chairman of the Supreme Judicial Council legitimate passport prayers outside mosques in the open and public squares, stressing that the official is authorized to issue advisory opinions are only Shariah courts or Dar Al-Fatwa.
His eminence pointed out that the fatwa inadmissibility Friday prayers in the open is not based on the text or forensic evidence, stressing that the Koran anecdotes and actual expressly stipulated passport prayer anywhere, he said peace be upon him (and made me land mosques and purifying فايما man farce hammer prayer فليصل) Tellers Bukhari, the Prophet peace be upon him lead prayers holidays and edema and funeral outside Nabawi Mosque in Medina Chapel, located in the open door at the east.
Now that Fatah and Hamas have enlisted both politics and religion into their positions, we can be sure that Friday's prayers will be a blast.
Prime Minister Ehud Olmert told olim who arrived in Israel from North America that Israel "is not an easy country to live in as it has security problems in addition to bureaucratic problems."
Olmert said he was proud and happy that the olim wanted to settle in Israel.
Now, who could possibly be responsible for the security problems?
Maybe the person who told Sderot rocket victims to stop whining about living in a real-life shooting gallery.
Palestine Press Agency has a downloadable video that it claims shows the death of of Mohammed Sweirki, a Fatah officer, by being thrown off the top of a 15-story building in Gaza while handcuffed last June.
I put it on LiveLeak but could not figure out how to embed it here. Thanks to The Jawa Report, I am now able to show it here (warning - graphic violence, as the body actually bounces off the ground.)
(I was going to put it on YouTube but figured that they would censor it anyway...) And for those who love funny autotranslations, the name of the Hamas spokesman in Gaza is autotranslated on PalPress as "Sami Abu Venereal."
UPDATE: Israeli names can get auto-translated in amusing ways too. Here's Tzipi Livni:
There was Clare Short, a member of the British Parliament and Secretary for International Development under Prime Minister Tony Blair until she resigned in 2003 over the Iraq war. Claiming that Israel is actually "much worse than the original apartheid state" and accusing it of "killing (Palestinian) political leaders," Ms. Short charged the Jewish state with the ultimate crime: Israel "undermines the international community's reaction to global warming." According to Ms. Short, the Middle East conflict distracts the world from the real problem: man-made climate change. If extreme weather will lead to the "end of the human race," as Ms. Short warned it could, add this to the list of the crimes of Israel.
Can blaming Israel for earthquakes and tsunamis be far behind?
Portions of what appear to be a carved wall have been seen in the rubble left by the Islamic Waqf as they continue to use heavy machinery to destroy priceless and holy antiquities:
I'm no archaeologist, but this is man-made.
The Waqf is engaging in a crime against Judaism, history and archaeology, and Ehud Olmert is complicit in this crime by allowing it to happen:
Leading Temple Mount archaeologists, including Mazar and Gavriel Barkai, petitioned the Israeli government to immediately halt the dig and allow experts to inspect the emerging wall.
But Mazar and other archaeologists say they are being blocked by the Israeli government.
"The Antiquities Authority tells us to coordinate with the police. The police send us back to the Antiquities Authority," said Mazar, who is a professor of Hebrew University and member of the Public Committee for Prevention of the Destruction of Antiquities on Temple Mount.
Mazar also is the discoverer and lead archaeologist of Israel's City of David, believed to be the palace of the biblical King David, the second leader of a united Kingdom of Israel, who ruled from around 1005 to 965 B.C.
"It's crucial this wall is inspected. The Temple Mount ground level is only slightly above the original Temple Mount platform, meaning anything found is likely from the Temple itself," the archaeologist said.
Fed up, Mazar and other top archaeologists last week ascended the Mount to hold a news conference and inspect the site without government permission, but they were blocked from the trench by the Israeli police.
"It is unconscionable that the Israeli government is permitting the Waqf to use heavy equipment to chop away at the most important archeological site in the country without supervision," Mazar told WND.
"The Israeli government is actively blocking us from inspecting the site and what may be a monumental find and is doing nothing while the Waqf destroys artifacts at Judaism's holiest site," she said.
Rabbi Chaim Rechman, director of the international department at Israel's Temple Institute, was among those on the Mount last week with Mazar. He told WND he attempted to take pictures of the damage the bulldozers are allegedly wrecking on the wall, but his digital camera was confiscated by Israeli police at the direction of Waqf officials.
"If Israel was building a shopping mall and they found what may be an ancient Buddhist structure, the government would stop the construction and have archaeologists go over the area with a fine tooth comb. Here, the holiest site in Judaism is being damaged, a Temple wall was found, and Israel is actively blocking experts from inspecting the site while allowing the destruction to continue," Rechman said.
Rechman charged the Waqf was "trying to erase Jewish vestiges from the Temple Mount."
The last time the Waqf conducted a large dig on the Temple Mount – during construction 10 years ago of a massive mosque at an area referred to as Solomon's Stables – the Wafq reportedly disposed truckloads of dirt containing Jewish artifacts from the First and Second Temple periods.
After the media reported on the disposals, Israeli authorities froze the construction permit given to the Wafq, and the dirt was transferred to Israeli archeologists for analysis. The Israeli authorities found scores of Jewish Temple relics in the nearly disposed dirt, including coins with Hebrew writing referencing the Temple, part of a Hasmonean lamp, several other Second Temple lamps, Temple period pottery with Jewish markings, a marble pillar shaft and other Temple period artifacts. The Waqf was widely accused of attempting to hide evidence of the existence of the Jewish Temples.
The civilized world must write and call the Prime Minister's office and have him stop this crime immediately.
In a most reprehensible example of journalistic bias, a column today in the New Statesman looks at Israeli IDF camps aimed at foreigners and compares them to Hamas camps that indoctrinate campers in terror:
The British children who train to fight in Israel
How each year scores of British teenagers go to the Middle East to learn about soldiering and defending Israel
Matthew Holehouse
In 2001 shocking reports surfaced from Gaza of summer schools being organised by Islamic Jihad, which were teaching Palestinian adolescents to become suicide bombers. The Israeli government denounced the camps as evidence that a new generation was being brought up to hate and to kill.
What went unreported was that at a purpose-built barracks in the Negev desert, every summer hundreds of Jewish teenagers from Europe, Mexico and America pay to spend nine weeks saluting, marching, firing guns and otherwise pretending to be soldiers.
Marva, run by the Educational and Youth Corps of the Israel Defence Force and conducted entirely in Hebrew, simulates the basic training of Israeli conscripts for 18-28 year old members of the Diaspora. Dressed in boots and olive fatigues, and obliged to carry an M16 assault rifle at all times, school leavers on gap years do push ups in the dust, perform night marches with laden stretchers, maintain civil defence shelters, fire machine guns at paper figures and simulate military manoeuvres, as well as taking classes in Jewish identity and the history and values of the IDF. Karaoke and dance-offs also feature.
With the security situation improving, increasing numbers of British Jews, through youth groups such as RSY Netzer and Federation of Zionist Youth, are signing up to one of the four 120-strong sessions held every year. One half are girls, and large numbers come from public schools in Manchester and North London.
Blogs written by participants revel in the camouflage-induced machismo. "By the end of the first week we were beginning to look like soldiers" writes American Joseph Fisher. "Strict discipline is enforced by our mefakdim (commanders). There is a great atmosphere of camaraderie."
Participants deny that the course was overtly anti-Palestinian. "I never heard that sort of comment from an official source – although there were some very right wing individuals taking part," says Mark Fitch, a Manchester student who took the course last year. "There was a lot of debate about the IDF, and whilst obviously by going on Marva they implicitly endorsed the army, a lot of people said that they were torn about using guns and running about."
Since the start of the Second Intifada some aspects of the course have been reconsidered. Sessions on house-to-house fighting have been dropped, as have re-enactments of the Battle of Ammunition Hill, one of the bloodiest engagements of the Six Day War, has been cut. "They're very aware of looking politically correct," says Fitch. "When discussing the Middle East they really do try to present both sides of the story and the overriding message is of striving for peace.
Most recently, British 16 and 17 year olds have been able to take part in Gadna, the week-long course taken by Israeli schoolchildren in preparation for military service and which has recently come under fire for becoming increasingly militaristic. "Shooting an M16 gun… physically lying on the land of Israel, learning how to defend it, gave me an immense sense of pride" writes a breathless Aimee Riese, a London schoolgirl and recent participant, in the Jewish Chronicle.
And this, really, is the objective.
...There's not much to be won in games of moral equivalence and assertions as to which side's indiscriminate attacks on civilians are the more reprehensible. But ask yourself this question: If these were British Muslim 19 year-olds firing machine guns and running assault courses in Pakistan or Yemen, would we not have them all arrested at the airport?
The Islamic Jihad is running a summer school - to teach boys the benefits of becoming suicide bombers.
A new generation of children, Palestinian boys aged between 12 and 15 years old, is growing up amid conflict and violence.
The boys are told not only that it is good to kill, but also that it is good to die.
They learn that suicide bomb attacks have proved the most deadly way to hit the Israelis.
Mohammed, a 14-year-old boy, draws himself with explosives strapped to his body, ready to blow himself to pieces if it means killing Jews.
"Yes," he says, when asked if he wants to be a suicide bomber. "I want to liberate Palestine and be part of the revolution."
The boys are shown pictures of those who have already died in the conflict with Israel.
They are taught that to give their lives is to be guaranteed a place in heaven.
And to be a suicide bomber is one of the highest forms of martyrdom.
They will be greeted in paradise by 70 virgins.
"We are teaching the children that suicide bombing is the only thing that make the Israeli people very frightened. Furthermore, we are teaching them that we have the right to do it," said Islamic Jihad member Mohammed el Hattab, one of the teachers on the programme.
"We are teaching them that after the suicide attacks, the man who makes it goes to the highest state in paradise," he said.
So this moral midget Holehouse is comparing a program that indoctrinates 12-15 year olds into killing Jewish civilians with one that mimics basic training for adults (plus a very short course for 16-18 year olds that he didn't bother mentioning very much.) He finds it supremely offensive that Israel might want to instill pride in Jews worldwide. He implies that the IDF is based on a hatred of Palestinian Arabs even as he quotes denials, while the Jihad camp is clearly based on hating Jews. The IDF course stresses peace and the Islamic Jihad course stresses death -but Holehouse cannot be trusted to report that small inconvenient fact.
And finally he explicitly equates training with the IDF, probably the most moral army in the world, with terrorist training camps.
Obviously Holehouse knows the facts - clearly he read the articles in 2001 about Islamic Jihad - so his specious comparisons are not done out of ignorance but out of pure hatred for Israel and for Jews who identify with Israel.
In late November, Olmert said "we are a little disappointed" that Qassam attacks continued even during a "cease fire" that Israel held to unilaterally.
The Qassams continued.
In December, Olmert wrote a letter to the UN, saying "this restraint cannot continue for much longer."
The Qassams continued.
In February, Olmert said, "We are not going to restrain ourselves forever. The continued attacks challenge Israel's patience. In the end, if the attacks continue, we will respond."
According to the anti-Hamas Palestine Press Agency, Hamas prevented 7 trucks containing 25 tons of potatoes from leaving Gaza. The reason is that the produce was to leave through the Kerem Shalom crossing which is controlled by Israel:
The illegal Hamas militia prevented seven Palestinian trucks loaded with 25 tons of potatoes to export to the outside of the Gaza Strip through the crossing Karam Abu Salem southern sector.
Well-informed sources in Gaza [said] the quantity of potatoes are surplus in the domestic market, explaining that the Palestinian Authority obtained approval to export the Israeli side this quantity of potatoes across the crossing Karam Abu Salem, but the Hamas militia prevented the entry of trucks loaded to crossing Karam Abu Salem for purely political reasons grounds that the government of Hamas, the article dealing with this crossing.
The sources said that "all goods entering the Gaza Strip to pass through crossing Karam Abu Salem, and this is a clear contradiction in the allegations Hamas prevent export and acceptance at the same time the entry of goods through the crossing!" .
The sources confirmed that farmers ground berries, tomatoes and flowers affected by the decision to prevent Hamas response through Abu Salem, asked "of the embargo imposed on the Palestinian people Is the government of President Mahmoud Abbas legitimate traders to facilitate the export of goods and the entry to Gaza, or Hamas, which prevented traders export pretext of Israeli control over the crossing! . "
Last week the UN said that a shipment of export potatoes did cross Kerem Shalom.
The UNrecently released a reporton the state of the Palestinian Arab economy. It blamed Israel for closing Gaza crossings and did not mention the word "Hamas" once.
Plenty of observers have noted the anti-Israel and pro-terrorist bias that "human rights" organizations and NGOs have. One might think that the Palestinian Arabs who are beneficiaries of the money and publicity that they hand out would be a bit appreciative.
However, even as long ago as 1950, the Palestinian Arabs have been distrustful of international aid agencies, viewing them as Western plots against them. Not so much as not to accept the billions of dollars that they have consistently doled out, but enough to be resentful.
According to a Ma'an (Arabic) reader poll, that antipathy towards international aid organizations is alive and well.
The poll question is:
Human rights organizations working on Palestinian territories: 24% Operate freely and sincerely to serve the public 67% Hypocrisies of the party without further as interest 9% I do not know
In order for an insult to be effective, two things must occur: the insult must have at least a kernel of truth, and the person being insulted must be sensitive about the insult's subject.
For example, if I would scream to Shaquille O'Neal during a game, "Hey, skinny, watch that you don't get knocked over by the ball," besides the fact that this is a lame insult, it is unlikely to be effective in getting on his nerves because O'Neal is clearly not a skinny person.
On the other hand, if I would shout "Hey, Shaq, getting a little spare tire around the middle?" it has a somewhat better chance of getting under his skin, because there is a decent chance that he cares a great deal about staying in shape and that he would be sensitive about any comments that may play upon his deepest fears of losing his edge. However, not knowing Shaq in the least, it is entirely possible that he is supremely confident about his physique and such an insult would roll off him without a twinge of pain.
When you think about it, insults only hurt people who are not well-adjusted. A balanced person who knows his or her strengths and weaknesses would hear an insult and either disagree, in which case it doesn't matter, or agree that this is an issue that needs to be raised. Telling Kristie Alley that she is fat today would probably elicit a reaction more like "well, I used to be a lot worse, and talk to me in a few months." The successful Jenny Craig spokeswoman's public persona has been redefined by her successful struggle to lose weight so even if she hasn't reached her goal yet she knows quite well where she is at, and again an insult like that would not have the same effect that it could have on many women who are obsessed with their shape.
People who get insulted easily, though, are those who tend to have low self-esteem to begin with - they already have grave doubts about their own abilities, or skills, or belief systems, and insults hurt them because they bring pre-existing internal painful feelings to the surface and force them to face the truth.
Bullies are notable because they will take insults very seriously, and then they will tend to lash out back at the insulter, often using force. Their own egos are so fragile that they feel that they need to prove their superiority in at least one level, and often that is achieved by using raw, physical violence.
One of this site's themes is that groups of people tend to think in similar ways. When a group of people get insulted to the extent that they threaten violence, then it may be surmised that the entire group suffers from some sort of mass psychosis.
In the past month alone, I can count at least five "insults to Islam" that made the news:
A quite unfunny Opus cartoon was pulled from some American newspapers because it had the potential of being an "insult to Islam."
A Malay man made a YouTube video which, among other things, said that a Muslim call to prayer near his house at 5 AM was singing out of tune and sounded like a rooster. This elicited protests.
Soccer balls decorated with flags of many nations were distributed to Afghans, and many Muslims were insulted because the Saudi flag depicted on the ball includes Allah's name.
A Swedish cartoon depicting Mohammed with a dog's body was strongly protested by Muslims worldwide as a huge insult to Islam.
Some of these incidents are no doubt real insults to Islam, just as there are daily insults to Judaism and Christianity and other religions, not to mention other groups of people.
One difference is in the reaction to these insults. A violent reaction to an insult is a sign of mental instability, and a mass violent reaction is evidence of a pervasive mental health crisis within that group.
To give a simple example: One of the favorite targets of Islam-bashers is Mohammed's relationship with his child bride, Aisha. Now, I have no doubt that referring to Mohammed as a "child molester" is a very deep insult to most Muslims. A mature reaction could be to calmly explain that it is unfair to subject seventh-century figures to 21st century morals, especially since popular concepts of morality can change every decade. (Or to ignore the provocation.) While that explanation may not assuage the insulters, if the person insulted truly believes that he is right, he is unlikely to react violently.
But those Muslims who, deep down, think it is a little bit sketchy for their prophet to be marrying a child are more likely to turn the insult around into a violent reaction.
The other difference between the Muslim reaction to insults and those of most others is hypersensitivity. Muslimshave created an atmosphere where they are insulted at even the slightest provocation, as in the Malay or Opus cases, or in the case of the Afghan soccer balls, being deeply aggrieved at what was clearly an innocent mistake. Such hypersensitivity to the most minute perceptions of the whiff of blasphemy must mean that the supposed insultees' own belief systems are so tenuous to begin with that literally anything can set them off. This is not a sign of piety; it is a sign of serious insecurity.
(For completeness sake, I should mention that there is a third kind of insult that is much harder to brush off, and that is an insult to one's loved ones. The natural anger that results from this kind of insult is partly due to the fact that the subjects cannot defend themselves. But if the mighty Islamic god or prophet is considered too fragile to be able to handle insults on their own, this shows even more strongly that the Muslims who rush to defend them are not very secure in their own belief in their power.)
This blog may be a labor of love for me, but it takes a lot of effort, time and money. For 20 years and 40,000 articles I have been providing accurate, original news that would have remained unnoticed. I've written hundreds of scoops and sometimes my reporting ends up making a real difference. I appreciate any donations you can give to keep this blog going.
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Wednesday, September 05, 2007
Elder of Ziyon
