Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, October 23, 2007

Masking moderation

Palestinian security forces arrest a supporter of Hamas at a protest demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in the West Bank city of Hebron, Monday, Oct. 22,2007.

A Palestinian security force officer points his rifle towards supporters of Hamas, not seen, at a protest demanding the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails in the West Bank city of Hebron, Monday, Oct 22,2007.

Do you think these are police-issue ski masks?

WaPo on Palestinian Arab economy since the Intifada

Some choice quotes from this article in the Washington Post:

According to the World Bank, the Palestinian gross domestic product per capita has shrunk 30 percent -- to $1,129 -- since the uprising began. Unemployment and poverty rates have spiked across the territories, especially during the 16-month international embargo that followed Hamas's election victory.
By contrast, the International Monetary Fund estimates that Israel's per-capita GDP is $31,767, nearly double what it was on the eve of the Palestinian uprising.

It appears that the intifada hurt Palestinian Arabs far, far more than it hurt Israel. Just like in 1947, an attempt to hurt Israel economically (in this case, with terror) backfired badly, hurting the people it was supposedly meant to help. Israel adjusted to the situation to the point that tourism is now back at pre-intifada levels and the Palestinian Arabs, who cheered every bus bomb, are left with nothing.

Even so, rather than see the writing on the wall, they look at the facts exactly backwards:

The Israeli government says the steps it has taken help ensure Israel's security in the absence of a peace deal. But Palestinian officials argue that the impoverishing effects of the economic separation spawn unrest in the territories and increase the potential for attacks inside Israel.

Somehow, they didn't need that incentive back in 2000, when they decided to attack Israel while they still had jobs and money and a future. For some reason they managed to attack random Jews anyway.

On the eve of the uprising, 136,000 Palestinians, or nearly a quarter of the labor force, worked inside Israel or in Israeli-owned enterprises in the territories. ...Today, 47,400 Palestinians from the West Bank, or less than 9 percent of the workforce, have such permits.

Less than 5 percent of Israel's exports are sold in the Palestinian territories. By contrast, roughly 90 percent of Palestinian exports are sold inside Israel.

Half of the Palestinians with Israeli work permits are employed by Israeli-owned enterprises in the occupied territories.

According to these numbers, some 22,000 Palestinian Arabs are now employed by Israelis in the territories. The hated settlers are now responsible for a very large portion of the Palestinian Arab economy!

Just as Gaza suffered huge unemployment when Israel left (well before the Hamas takeover,) the ordinary Palestinian Arabs would suffer huge economic losses should Israel do the same from the West Bank.

The record over the pas century is clear - when Palestinian Arabs work together with Zionists, they prosper. When they choose terror instead, or they force a separation, they are the ones that suffer most. The settlements are not an impediment to real peace - they actually help the Palestinian Arabs who want to support their families in dignity.

Once again, the Palestinian Arab people themselves pay the price for their leaders' shortsightedness and arrogant pride.

Another example of Iranian human rights

From the Becket Fund for Religious Liberty:

The Farsi Christian News Network reports that an Iranian Christian couple were flogged after being declared "Mortad", or apostates. The couple, a woman from an Assyrian-Iranian family and a man who had converted to Christianity, were denied a Christian marriage ceremony due to the rules governing the marriage of ex-Muslims, and thus married in accordance with Islamic law. However, the courts consider marriage by Islamic law equivalent to re-conversion, and when the couple were later found at a Christian prayer meeting, they were denounced as apostates. In September, agents of the Revolutionary Court visited the couple at their home to execute the sentence of flogging. The full article can be found here; please be warned that it contains graphic photos.

I imagine that if they decided not to get married to avoid the appearance of converting to Islam, they'd be flogged for living in sin. Either way, if you are an ex-Muslim in Iran, you are screwed.

PalArabs doing what they do best

Over the weekend we've seen more snapshots of what a Palestinian Arab state would look like, as the death count continues to rise. It cannot possibly be because of the culture of death, or because generations have been raised glorifying violence and martyrdom. Nope, ultimately, it must be because of Israel, somehow. Maybe because of the cigarette shortage.

The latest additions to the hit parade:

An Islamic Jihad member was killed Sunday night by Hamas.
A man died from injuries inflicted by Hamas in September.
A six year old boy was kidnapped for ransom in the West Bank.
A second man in two days was found, tortured and shot, in Gaza. (Here are pictures of the first one, who looks like Hamas gouged his eye out.)
A 18-year old girl was abducted by Hamas.

The 2007 PalArab self-death count is now at 556.

UPDATE: Another body found of a 29-year old man east of Qalqiya. 557.
UPDATE 2: That body was a woman's body.
UPDATE 3: Hamas announced the death Wednesday of a fighter on a "mission," probably in a tunnel collapse. 558.

From YNet:

Iranian police have decided to crack down on "inappropriate behavior of couples in public", the semi-official FARS new agency reported Sunday.

"If someone walks in the street with his partner and commits an offense, we will deal with it," Ahmad Ruzbahani, chief of the morality police, was quoted as saying.

Iranian law forbids women to be seen in public with men who are not family members. However, not all Iranians comply, and many meet their significant others in public parks.

Now police have decided to put an end to the growing phenomenon and forbid couples to hold hands in public. Ruzbahani said married couples were also called upon to "act modestly" in public.

"They should not act in an inappropriate manner or in a way that will attract attention," he said.

Other police officials said kissing in public was also strictly forbidden.

Last week it was reported that a young woman committed suicide after being arrested for a "moral offense". Zuhara Bani, a 27-year-old med student, was caught in a public park with her boyfriend.

She was taken to a detention facility, where she hung herself 48 hours later with a piece of cloth she had found.

Which means, of course, that she was in jail for over 48 hours for her "crime."

Interestingly, a Google News search for Zuhara Bani comes up empty before today.

UPDATE: Ruth points out that Iranian blogger Kamangir has been following the story - the girl was a medical student, she spoke with her parents and seemed OK right before her "suicide," and her boyfriend was going to be released, possibly because he had connections.

MEMRI translates an article about her as well.

But still nothing in the English-language MSM before today.

Don't cry for Khaled Salman Hamdan

Here's an interesting item, that from what I could tell was not reported in any news media whatsoever:

A child was killed and 3 others injured by the Police in Sheja’eya Quarter yesterday evening. The Center’s preliminary investigation indicates that at about 16:00 on Saturday (20 October 2007), a group of youth in Mansour Street in Sheja’eya attacked a policeman and beat him. A police force arrived and fired indiscriminately, killing Khaled Salman Hamdan (8) by a bullet to the chest as he was walking with his mother to a wedding in the area. Three others were injured, including one child who was critically injured.

Hamas "police" firing indiscriminately, killing an eight year old?

One would expect that this would make world headlines. It is, after all, symbolic of Hamas' reckless endangerment of human life, and their culpability for his death is far worse that the hoax of Mohammed Al-Dura. But there will be no intrafada in defense of Hamdan, no world headlines screaming for revenge, no Reuters pictures of his funeral, no apologies to come from Hamas. This is expected behavior, a dog-bites-man story, and if it wasn't for the Palestine Center for Human Rights (which is shamefully biased itself) no one would have ever heard of Khaled Salman Hamdan.

Don't cry for Khaled, because the Arab world and their supposed supporters sure aren't.

The PalArab self-death count for the year is now at 553, including 40 children.

Moderate Fatah would-be assassins against Olmert get two months in jail

From YNet:

A group of gunmen affiliated with Fatah attempted to hit Prime Minister Ehud Olmert's convoy as it made its way from Jerusalem to Jericho for a meeting with Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas on August 6, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told the cabinet ministers Sunday morning.

Israel learned of the plan from intelligence information received several days before the visit. The attack was eventually thwarted by the Shin Bet and the Palestinian Intelligence Service headed by Tawfik Tirawi.

Following the incident, the Palestinians arrested three suspects, who were later released, according to Israeli officials. Two other cell members are being held in Israel.

On Sunday, Israel filed an official complaint with the Palestinian Authority following the suspects' release.

Israeli security sources expressed their anger over the release, which took place "after these terrorists' involvement in the foiled attack was made clear."

The cell included five members who were involved in terror attacks and previous failed attacks in the West Bank. The information was disclosed to the PA, which arrested three of the cell members. The other two were detained by the IDF and the Shin Bet.

Israeli officials claimed Sunday that the PA released the three suspects, whom Israel claims are members of the Palestinian security organizations, on September 26. The three, Ynet was told, admitted to the plot before they were released.

You have to understand that this is a cultural thing - attempted murder in the PA is as serious as graffiti. How dare Israel impose its obscene Western standards on the peaceful Palestinian Arabs!

Another rare photo of a "non-violent" protest

Palestinian Arab terror apologists consistently refer to the weekly protests at Bilin as "non-violent" and they characterize Israeli actions against them at the protest as being completely unprovoked.

Reuters, for once, actually took a photo at last Friday's protests:

Palestinian demonstrators throw stones at Israeli troops during a protest against Israel's controversial barrier near the West Bank village of Bilin October 19, 2007. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun (WEST BANK)

Notice how Reuters refers to using a sling, which is a deadly weapon by any definition, as "throwing stones."

Related story here.

Another PalArab kid killed by PalArabs

This time by Hamas.

From Ma'an:

A Palestinian man and a child were killed on Saturday when armed confrontations erupted between the Palestinian Hillis family and Hamas' Qassam Brigades in the eastern Gaza Strip.

Eyewitnesses reported that thirteen-year-old Palestinian boy Muhammad Al-Susi was killed after receiving a bullet to his head. Al-Susi's brother was also injured during the clashes.

Sources from within the Hillis family announced that Muhammad Hillis was killed and several other family members were injured.

Director of Ambulances and Emergencies in the Palestinian Ministry of Health Dr Muawiya Hassanein confirmed that several people were injured and were transferred to Ash-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City.

Our 2007 PalArab self-death count is now at 548.

UPDATE: A 50-something man's body was found, stabbed and tortured, in Khan Younis. 549.

A woman was killed in Hamas/Islamic Jihad fighting in Rafah - 550.

UPDATE 2: A third person was killed in Saturday's clashes. 551.
A man was killed Sunday in Islamic Jihad/Hamas fighting. 552.

Why the Gazans died

The clashes yesterday between the Hillis family and Hamas yesterday, that left at least 4 dead (I counted five and I think one is brain dead accounting for the discrepancy) was at least for a very good reason, according to the family:

They said the reason for the fighting was that one family member had bought a car from the national security service a year before the Hamas takeover of the Gaza Strip and Hamas were trying to seize the car from its new owner by force.

Once again proving that Palestinian Arab lives really are cheap, by their own standards.

More on the cheapness that Arabs hold of Arab life here and here.

A case study in Jew-hating paranoia

The People's Voice, one of my favorite anti-semitic "news" sites, has a laughable analysis proving that Israel could not possibly have hit a Syrian nuclear facility in September. Check out this impeccable logic, by a writer named "Xymphora":

The timing and nature of the Israeli admissions are all wrong. Normally, this kind of propaganda exercise would have been preceded by background about the Syrian ‘nuclear threat’ in the Jew-controlled press, and followed by a huge Israeli-American psych-op, with pictures and videos and images of heroic Israeli soldiers and pilots. Steven Spielberg would then make a movie about it. The fact that the information had to be pried out of the Israelis proves that the entire story was fabricated to cover up some unsuccessful Israeli military incursion. Add to the circumstances of the admission the rather obvious neocon attempt to upset the delicate North Korean negotiations by bringing the North Koreans into it, and I’d say we have a conclusive case for horseshit. You might also note the trick of using a mistranslation (a common Zionist ploy these days) to implicate the Syrians, and the complete absence of any evidence, even pictures, of a Syrian nuclear establishment.

There you have it! Since Jews and the media and the government sources are all known to be Zionist Jew neocon liars, and since this episode didn't follow the well-established Jew media playbook, it must be just a cover up, a conspiracy with all these players participating!

Thank God for people like Xymphora, who are all-knowing because they know how nefarious the evil Joooooz are.

Today's auto-translated recipe: CD potatoes fried eggs

Sometimes, Google Translate from Arabic is pretty good, but this recipe in the Palestine Press Agency has me scratching my head:

CD potatoes fried eggs

Amounts:
Habtan potato of scale.
Whittan.
Workshop small black pepper and salt workshop.
Some of PARSLEY ON MARKET decorate.
Oil for thee.

Method:

1-Asgay potatoes well.
2--fragment then Ahersiha potatoes in a container filled with the addition of salt, and pepper.
3--Adivi eggs with Flipping hand.
4-After becoming mix Kajeenh coherent, more expensive oil, in Fryer.
5-formality paste by hand and in the form of tablets and then Akulaiha oil.
6-plate Zinni little PARSLEY ON MARKET hot and feet

The hot and feet part sounds yummy!

Abbas tells Rice he'll resign and Al Qaeda will take over if Annapolis fails

The pro-Fatah Palestine Press Agency reports that Mahmoud Abbas threatened to resign as chairman of the PA:

Kuwait-Palestine-Presse (A Kuwaiti newspaper today) revealed that President Mahmoud Abbas threatened to American Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice that he would resign from his post as chairman of the Palestinian Authority, if the "Annapolis" next peace process completed without results, and demanded of Rice, "that there should be a timetable and a clear political agenda before attending the Conference, but it would not be prepared to sacrifice himself to sacrifice for a popular Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert."

According to the Palestinian official, "there was a sharp political rivalry between President Abbas and the American minister stressed that alternative before his resignation and his retirement from political action letter is clear and public will be one of two possibilities bring troubles to the United States and not a political earthquake in the Palestinian territories alone, but in the All-States allies of the United States."

Abbas said that "the absence of its political moderate lead Washington to deal with a third intifada may be impossible. (Without progress) such as a road map or a new international conference, the United States will find that Al-Qaida, which permeates secretly in the Gaza Strip has become enemy number one and deducted face-to-face in the Palestinian territories if not met possibilities together and then the entire region will not be able to achieve anything. "

So it sounds like Abbas is saying that he is the moderate bulwark against terrorism and that if he falls, America will have a wave of terror attacks. He somehow doesn't seem to address the issue that Al-Qaeda came to Gaza on his watch.

This is behavior we've seen before. Just like the explicit terrorists threaten the West if they don't get what they want, moderate terrorists like Abbas threaten that the other terrorists will attack the West if they don't get what they want. It is the Arab version of good-cop, bad-cop - and too many in the West believe what the "good cop" says.

The last group of a total of close to 100 Palestinian refugees who lived in Iraq, but had to flee to the Jordanian desert, have arrived in Brazil. The 25 refugees are being settled in the southeastern state of São Paulo and in Rio Grande do Sul state, in the Brazilian South.
Another group of 36 had arrived earlier this month after the first 35 Palestinians who came to Brazil in September. All of them were sent by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.
The Brazilian government will offer the Palestinian refugees financial help for two years as well as Portuguese classes. They will also be receiving accommodations and medical care.

The refugee agency says Jordan's Ruweished camp, where the refugees lived, will be shut down in the coming weeks.

Many Arab and Western countries with strict immigration policies have refused to host the Palestinian refugees.

The UN has two agencies dedicated to refugees: UNHCR and UNRWA. The UNRWA isdedicated exclusively to Palestinian Arabs, while the UNHCR takes care of everyone else worldwide.

While specific refugee populations around the world have dwindled, only the "refugees" under UNRWA responsibility have increased.

The reasons are simple: UNRWA defined Palestinian Arab "refugees" to include descendants of the original 700,000 refugees, the UNRWA has morphed from an organization that truly wanted to solve the refugee problem into one that only wants to perpetuate it to keep its bureaucracy in existence (it is mostly staffed by Palestinian Arabs,) and the neighboring Arab countries refuse to resettle their Arab "brethren" to live in peace and dignity, preferring to keep them in limbo for 60 years.

This story shows that the UNHCR actually takes its job seriously, trying hard to find a way for its refugees to become normal members of society. It shows that Brazil has more empathy for Palestinian Arabs than any Arab country. Above all, it shows the utter corruption and hypocrisy of the UNRWA and all Arab countries who refuse to truly solve the original refugee problem.

One year ago I found an Arabic editorial upset over the resettlement of some 46 Iraqis of Palestinian origin to Canada, because happy PalArabs mean less "unity". The editorial proved the hypocrisy of the Arab world and how much they want the Palestinian Arabs to suffer as a strategy. I've also pointed out how the Arabs have turned their backs on the Iraqis of Palestinian origin for years.

This story is a damning indictment of the Arab world and the UNRWA, and yet more proof of their pure hypocrisy as they do everything they can to perpetuate Palestinian Arab suffering while they pontificate about how much they love them. Hundreds of millions of Arabs over hundreds of millions of square miles have institutionalized discrimination against Palestinian Arabs for decades, the UNRWA perpetuates the problem, and the world is silent.

Palestinian Arab group succeeds in torpedoing peace concert

An idealistic organization named OneVoice is dedicated to ending the PalArab/Israeli conflict on a grassroots level, through cooperation between the two peoples.

OneVoice planned a set of twin concerts for yesterday, in Tel Aviv and Jericho, to advance its agenda. The Israeli side enthusiastically embraced the idea, but things were a bit more difficult on the PalArab side:

Palestinian civil society groups claimed victory Wednesday after the collapse of a planned pair of concerts in support of negotiations with Israel.

Opposition from Palestinian activist groups and high-profile mismanagement resulted in the cancellation of the OneVoice People's Summit, a concert event planned to take place in Tel Aviv and Jericho simultaneously. The concerts were originally scheduled for Thursday.

The event's stated purpose was to call for the implementation of "a two state solution." The concerts signed on such acts as Canadian rock singer Bryan Adams, and the popular Palestinian hip hop group DAM. The sponsoring organization, One Million Voices, boasted the support of notables including former UN High Comissioner for Human Rights Mary Robinson, US envoy Dennis Ross, and Chief Palestinian Negotiator Saeb Erekat.

A range of Palestinian groups, under the auspices of the Palestinian Campaign for the Academic and Cultural Boycott of Israel (PACBI), succeeded in persuading several high-profile artists, including DAM, to withdraw from the concert.

The major thesis of OneVoice is that most people on both sides want peace. PACBI feels differently.

Like the current crop of Palestinian Arab negotiators, PACBI believes that everything is Israel's fault and as a result the Arab side has no responsibilities. The natural outcome of that is that they are against any group that actually advocates compromise, no matter how vaguely worded.

On their website they have a brochure, in Arabic only, that tries to explain to Palestinian Arab kids not to participate in any joint Arab/Israeli peace programs. The document justifies bus bombings as legitimate "resistance," specifically, "the resistance, in all its forms, is a legitimate right for all peoples of the occupied protected by international law, including international human rights instruments."

Both sides claim the majority of Palestinian Arabs support their side. Apparently, in this case at least, the terrorist supporters seemed to have more clout.