Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, October 25, 2007

Arrest in Lakewood rabbi beating case

Police have arrested a suspect and charged him with attempted murder of an Orthodox rabbi and schoolteacher, who was viciously beaten with an aluminum baseball bat the night of Oct. 9 while walking to synagogue to pray.
Lee Tucker, 37, of Ventura Drive is charged in the attack on Rabbi Mordechai Moskowitz, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon. Tucker was being held at the Ocean County Jail, Toms River, on $375,000 bail, Detective Lt. Joseph Isnardi said.
Tucker was arrested Wednesday afternoon near the Lakewood Community Center, about eight blocks from Princeton Avenue and Carey Street, where the attack occurred.
Moskowitz, 53, of Lakewood, is a third-grade teacher at Lakewood Cheder School, Detective Steve Wexler said. He remains hospitalized in a rehabilitation center for injuries to his face and head.
Moskowitz's nephew, Moshe Rothberg of Lakewood, called the arrest like having a huge weight lifted from the family. Rothberg said the attack had taken a terrible toll on the family, and speculation that it was a bias attack made dealing with it even more difficult.
"We were focusing on him getting better," Rothberg said. "The last thing we wanted it to be was bias. You don't want to think that someone has so much hate that they would do that."
Police had said from the start that they did not believe the attack to be based on bias, although they have not established what the motive might have been, Isnardi said.
Rothberg praised the Police Department and particularly Chief Robert C. Lawson, who worked with the family, assuring them that detectives would solve the crime, Rothberg said.
"He answered every question and had said he strongly believed it was not a bias incident," Rothberg said of Lawson. "The detectives were working double shifts, and now we can finally rest. They went way beyond the call of duty."
Police developed additional leads on Tucker after the Vaad — Lakewood's Council of Orthodox Leaders — and the Anti-Defamation League offered a $25,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction, Isnardi said. People came forward with pieces of information, Isnardi said.

Sometimes it appears that people bend over backwards to deny bias - not because of the facts but because they don't want to deal with the reaction.

As I mentioned previously, one news outlet reported that the attacker was yelling "Jew! Jew!" during the attack. And, interestingly, the Asbury Press article declines to identify the race of the accused attacker - a somewhat relevant fact if it was a bias crime. (He is black.)

More Holy Temple denial

Yet another prominent Palestinian Muslim (probably the same as in this Arabic article from yesterday) is claiming that there was never a Temple on the Temple Mount, and that Jews should not be allowed to worship at the Kotel:

The former mufti of Jerusalem, Ikrema Sabri, has made the claim that there never was a Jewish temple on the Temple Mount, and the Western Wall was really part of a mosque.

"There was never a Jewish temple on Al-Aksa [the mosque compound] and there is no proof that there was ever a temple," he told The Jerusalem Post via a translator. "Because Allah is fair, he would not agree to make Al-Aksa if there were a temple there for others beforehand."

Sabri rejected Judaism's claim to the Western Wall as part of the outer wall of the Second Temple.

"The wall is not part of the Jewish temple. It is just the western wall of the mosque," he said. "There is not a single stone with any relation at all to the history of the Hebrews."

Asked if Jews would ever be allowed to pray on the Temple Mount under Muslim control, he replied: "It is not the Temple Mount, you must say Al-Aksa. And no Jews have the right to pray at the mosque. It was always only a mosque - all 144 dunams, the entire area. No Jewish prayer. If the Jews want real peace, they must not do anything to try to pray on Al-Aksa. Everyone knows that."

"Zionism tries to trick the Jews claiming that this was part of a Jewish temple, but they dug there and they found nothing," Sabri added.

Notice the typical Muslim extremist "logic" - that if you want "peace" you must allow Muslims to take over everything. "Everyone knows that."

I have put here some of the "nothing" found there - Hebrew letters spelling "To the house of the (shofar) blast to..." Josephus wrote that a Kohen would blow the shofar from on top of the Temple every Friday afternoon to announce the coming of the Sabbath, and every Saturday night to announce that the Sabbath was over, and he did this from a high wall of the Temple Mount enclosure in order for most of Jerusalem to hear.

Treppenwitz' comments on this must be read as well.

UPDATE: Aussie Dave at Israellycool mentioned that this former Grand Mufti said the exact same thing four years ago.

The hypocritical Mufti

As we mentioned last month, the Waqf is systematically destroying priceless Jewish artifacts on the Temple Mount, with the permission of the Olmert government. The Israeli Antiquities Authority does have some archaeologists on site to watch the destruction being done with heavy machinery and to possibly retrieve bits and pieces of what doesn't get crushed by the Muslims.

A couple of days ago, in an earthshaking find, some artifacts from the First Temple period were discovered:

The artifacts, which date to the First Jewish Temple period—the eighth to sixth centuries B.C.—were found by employees of the Waqf Muslim religious trust doing maintenance work, the Israel Antiquities Authority (IAA) reported.

The artifacts may be the first physical evidence of human activity at the Temple Mount—also known as Solomon's Temple—in that time.

Jerusalem's district archaeologist Yuval Baruch is supervising the Muslim maintenance project.

Baruch and Sy Gitin, director of the W. F. Albright Institute of Archaeological Research in Jerusalem, Ronny Reich of Haifa University, and Israel Finkelstein of Tel Aviv University, concluded that the finds might help reconstruct the dimensions and boundaries of the Temple Mount during the First Temple Period.

The findings include animal bones; ceramic bowl rims, bases, and body sherds; the base of a juglet used to pour oil; the handle of a small juglet; and the rim of a storage jar, according to the IAA.

The bowl sherds were decorated with wheel burnishing lines characteristic of the First Temple Period.

In addition, a piece of a whitewashed, handmade object was found. It may have been used to decorate a larger object or may have been the leg of an animal figurine.
"This is the first time we have shards from the Temple Mount with a [uniform] date," Haifa University's Reich told National Geographic News.

The find "most certainly" indicates the presence of people in the temple during the late eighth century and seventh century B.C., he said.
"From an archaeological standpoint, this is the first time this has happened," Reich said.
"You can say that this was written in the Bible—but the Bible is a text and texts can be played around with. This is physical evidence."

As one would expect, the Muslims who completely deny that Jews ever lived in ancient Jerusalem - the same ones who deliberately destroy all evidence of Judaism on the Temple Mount - are strongly denying that these finds mean anything. Here's an autotranslation of an Arabic article from Al-Hayat al-Jadida:

Astonished Sheikh Mohammad Hussein General Mufti of Jerusalem and the Palestinian imam and the Al-Aqsa mosque, yesterday, allegations of Israeli occupation authorities and the so-called alleged Temple Mount during excavations carried out by the Waqf Islamic before the close of the extension the electricity cables in the Al-Aqsa mosque.

The Mufti statements issued several months ago on the effects of Israel and which claimed to have found remnants of dust effects in which the Waqf Islamic factions in 1999 outside the Al-Aqsa mosque.

He said: that these allegations are lies and fabrications denying the existence of any implications for the structure of the alleged yards in the Al-Aqsa mosque or the mosque or close to, adding that this earth that the Waqf Islamic factions are superficial and external back to the Ottoman era and not from the Old Testament as they claim.

The Sheikh Hussein that the city of Jerusalem had been many times for demolition and landfill because of earthquakes in Palestine throughout history, so the soil is excavated in recent times have been of the effects they are talking about nothing.

He added that the occupation authorities claimed each time she found the alleged effects of the structure and mean it behind interference in the affairs of Al-Aqsa mosque and the withdrawal of Endowments and the transfer of powers to the conflict and is impeding the restoration.

The discourse and spending excavations carried out by the occupation authorities since 1967 on the Al-Aqsa mosque and the bottom of walls, occupation authorities warned of the consequences of interference in its affairs.

He appealed to all international bodies and organizations to intervene to stop these practices against the Palestinian holy sites, especially the Al-Aqsa Mosque, also called the Arab League and the Organization of Islamic Conference to move soon to stop the campaign Althudi of Jerusalem and Al-Aqsa mosque.

If chutzpah wasn't a Yiddish word, it would have to be invented in Arabic. In the same breath where he claims that there are no problems with excavating directly on the Temple Mount, he calls on the world to condemn Israeli excavations far away from the Al Aqsa Mosque - excavations that are being done with utmost care.

The Mufti's casual dismissal of any finds as being from the Ottoman period - and any sixth-rate archaeologist can easily tell the difference between pottery from the 7th century BCE and pottery from 2400 years later - shows how he is, in the most simple terms, a liar. But his embrace of the destruction of Jewish artifacts while calling on Israel to stop their own work is breathtakingly hypocritical.

Of course, when his purpose is to establish Islamic supremacy and deny any Jewish history in Jerusalem, then his statements are quite consistent, if still as dishonest as can be. Making up fairy tales about Mohammed's flying horse being tied for a couple of hours to the Kotel, which is a story made up entirely by the Grand Mufti in the 1920s in order to get the Jews away from the Western Wall, proves to anyone with an ounce of intellectual honesty that the Muslim claim to Jerusalem is exaggerated specifically in order to de-legitimize Judaism itself.

It is a scandal that the West places equal weight on the liars.

For the Red Sox fans

Once upon a time I made some Hebrew logo equivalents for some sports teams. Here's the Boston Red Sox logo I made:

Not my best, though.

"Kill Jews everywhere"

Another Palestinian Arab terrorist momentarily forgets the fiction that he is only supposed to hate Zionists, not Jews:

Prominent leader of the Popular Resistance Committees Abu Al-Sa'id on Wednesday called on the de facto Palestinian government to hasten disbanding the Palestinian Authority and establish a 'Resistance Authority' instead in the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Speaking during a press conference, Abu Al-Sa'id urged Palestinian resistance factions, particularly the Salah Addin Brigades of the PRC, to "kill Jews everywhere without waiting for permission", in retaliation for the murder of Muhammad Al-Ashqar and the violent treatment of Palestinian detainees at Ktziot prison.

The PRC and Hamas are linked together, there have been numerous cases where they worked together for terror attacks.

Yesterday' s airstrike against a Qassam cell is a case in point:

An Israeli aircraft attacked a car in central Gaza on Tuesday, destroying the vehicle and killing a senior security official in the Hamas government, Palestinian officials said.
Hamas radio identified the dead man as Mubarak al-Hassanat, a senior official in the Hamas-controlled Interior Ministry. The ministry oversees all Hamas security forces in the Gaza Strip.
Al-Hassanat, 37, also was a top member of the Popular Resistance Committees, a Hamas-linked group that frequently fires rockets into Israel.

So Hamas has effectively just declared open season on Jews worldwide. And since the vast majority of Arabs have no problem with Jews, only Zionists, we can expect to see a torrent of Arab and Muslim condemnations against this anti-semitic statement any minute now.

Any....minute....now.....

Meanwhile, I will also wait for any other media outlet to publish this story. At the moment the phrase "kill Jews everywhere" comes up empty on Google News. I guess it is not newsworthy.

The Amnesty report on PalArab infighting

The Amnesty International report I mentioned yesterday is now online. I don't have time to read or comment on the whole thing now, but it can be found here.

From skimming the report it looks to give a decent overview of international law and how it applies to non-governmental fighters, and it also has many first-hand testimonies of some of the most horrible cases of abuse and torture by both Fatah and Hamas, many of innocent civilians.

Islamo-fascism Awareness Week

This week is being called "Islamo-Fascism Awareness Week" on some hundred college campuses. Led by David Horowitz, it is garnering an impressive amount of attention (hundreds of articles on Google News.)

Many are offended by the term itself. Christopher Hitchens defends it in Slate; the Huffington Post responds.

I am not thrilled with the term - it is great for publicizing events like these but it has the potential to obscure more than it illuminates; my preference would be "Political Islam" as it points out that the dangers of Islamism are not so much religious as political, and attacking a political movement is far different from attacking a religion. Alas, it isn't as catchy.

Some notable articles about this week include:

- Zombie's photo essay of Nonie Darwish's speech at Berkeley and the protests around it.
- Darwish's own speech and comments about the atmosphere there.
- The Daily Pennsylvanian on how it turned into "Terrorism Awareness Week" at Penn. Hmmmm.
- Robert Spencer on the entire topic.
- A Columbia U op-ed pointing out that the same people who were for Ahmadinejad speaking are against anti-Islamist speakers
- FrontPage's roundup of Day One.

Amnesty Int'l blasts Fatah, Hamas

From al-Guardian:

Amnesty International has slammed the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas and the rival Fatah group for serious human rights abuses in the recent factional fighting in Gaza and the West Bank.
Hamas is accused in a report published today of "increasingly resorting" to arbitrary detention and torture since its forces took control of the Gaza Strip in June. In the West Bank Fatah security personnel are accused of detaining, abducting and abusing hundreds of Hamas supporters, with help from Israel.
The Palestinian president and chairman of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, is the leader of Fatah and a key partner for Israel, the US and the west. Hamas has been boycotted as a terrorist organisation which refuses to renounce violence, recognise Israel or accept peace agreements.
"The leaders of both the PA and Hamas must take immediate steps to break the cycle of impunity that continues to fuel abuses, including arbitrary detentions, abductions, torture and ill-treatment by their forces," said Malcolm Smart, AI's Middle East director. "The ongoing factional struggle between Fatah and Hamas is having a dire effect on the lives of Palestinians, especially in the Gaza Strip ... exacerbating the human rights and humanitarian crisis caused by Israeli military campaigns and blockades."
Amnesty's report catalogues the infighting that culminated last June when Hamas seized control of PA security institutions in Gaza. Both sides "displayed a flagrant disregard for the safety of the civilian population by launching indiscriminate attacks and reckless gun battles in residential neighbourhoods," it says.
Lawlessness and impunity were already the norms before 350 people were killed. Both sides mounted attacks in and around hospitals and targeted patients in their beds. Fatah activists were thrown from tall buildings.
Amnesty has issued reports critical of Israeli practices in the occupied territories, and says it is anxious to demonstrate that it is not ignoring abuses committed by the Palestinians. "The international community must hold all Palestinian parties accountable to the same human rights standards," said Mr Smart.

The last paragraph is most interesting. It shows that the criticism of Amnesty as being one-sided about alleged Israeli human rights violations has stung, and Mr. Smart is pretty much admitting that it is true.

Of course, Amnesty cannot resist blaming Israel for some of the abuses mentioned above. And clearly Amnesty does not use the same yardstick when criticizing Fatah and Hamas because of the sheer number of reports that target Israel, whose alleged abuses pale in comparison to the daily murder and torture that Palestinian Arabs do to each other. Even so, this proves that shining a light on the absurdly biased condemnations that Israel has suffered, not only by NGOs but also at the UN, can cause enough discomfort to prod these organizations to take a deeper look at how Israel's sworn enemies act.

For an example on how bias still pervades Amnesty, do a search on "Qassam rockets" or "Sderot." Every mention of Palestinian Arab rocket attacks is "in context" of Israeli attacks against terrorists; there are no articles dedicated only to PalArab abuses. But there are plenty that mention only Israeli abuses, with perhaps a passing reference to Israeli "claims" that their attacks against terrorists are in response to rocket or terror attacks.

Still, it is a step in the right direction. As of this writing, the report is not yet on the Amnesty site.

Palestinian Arabs freak over Sarkozy's statements

French President Nicolas Sarkozy yesterday made some statements that have the Palestinian Arabs up in arms:

"Each side should have its own nation-state," he said, according to Israeli officials who were present at the two leaders' meeting. "It is not reasonable for the Palestinians to demand both an independent state and also the refugees' return to the state of Israel, which even today has a minority of one million Arabs."

Sarkozy, who hosted Olmert at the Elysee Palace, expressed strong support for Israel, describing its establishment as "a miracle" and "the most significant event of the 20th century."

"They say that I support Israel because my grandfather was Jewish, but this isn't a personal matter," he continued, according to the Israeli sources. "Israel introduces diversity and democracy to the Middle East. It's a miracle that out of the remnants of the ... scattered Jewish people, such a state has arisen."

"Israel's security is a clear red line, which is not up for negotiation," he added. "That is an inviolable condition, which we will never concede."

Naturally, the Palestinian Arab reaction to the idea that Israel has a right to exist was fast and furious.

IMEMC sniffs in its "news" article about the statements:

In a highly-partisan speech, Sarkozy branded the creation of Israel as a "miracle," arguing that the state "introduces Democracy and diversity to the Middle East," a statement ignoring Israel's record of human rights violations, the fact that the apparently democratic Israel currently refuses to negotiate with a democratically-elected Hamas government, and the associated fact of Israel's continued policy of collective punishment against residents of both the West Bank and Gaza Strip.

Nicloas Sarkoy, the 23rd President of the French Republic, was elected to the position on May 6, 2007 on a right-wing ticket. While he is well-know for his uncompromising and controversial views on law and order and immigration, he is most famous for attending a press conference while apparently drunk.

Do you get the impression that this "reporter" isn't happy?

The PA's own refugee committee demanded an apology for those hurtful words.

Expect to see much more vitriol as Arab editorialists scramble to write pieces on how Jews must be banished from the West Bank while Arabs must be allowed to move where ever they want.

The Bidoon

Palestinian Arabs aren't the only ones who are treated like dirt by the Arab world. There is also a large population known as Bidoon, short for Bidun jinsiya which means "without nationality" in Arabic. Most are Arab.

There are between 110,000 and 120,000 stateless Bidoon in Kuwait. Many have lived in Kuwait their entire lives, but Kuwait reserves full citizenship rights for those who established residence in the country prior to 1920. In some cases, residence prior to 1920 was not sufficient for acquisition of nationality...

The Bidoon in Kuwait are not allowed to work or to receive welfare services. Security ID had been taken from the majority of them leaving them no access to public health care. They are banned from travel. Bidoon children may be denied birth certificates needed to attend school.

(In Saudi Arabia), stateless Bidoon are not given passports.

The UAE also has a population of a roughly estimated 100,000 stateless Bidoon. Despite the fact many of these individuals were born in the U.E., they are not considered to be citizens.

Bahrain, to its credit, did naturalize most of their 15,000 Bidoon in 2001.

The only possible reason we don't hear about the Bidoon is because they haven't embarked on any terror campaigns against Western targets. If they would try to fight for their rights in the lands that they came from they'd be destroyed without anyone really caring - a couple of hundred thousand Arabs being killed by other Arabs is hardly newsworthy. There are no UN committees that condemn Kuwait or the UAE for their "apartheid" against fellow Arabs, no outraged editorials pretending to care about these Arabs' civil rights, no international campaigns for allowing basic human rights to these Arabs. And of course there are no UN refugee camps for these people providing free food and education.

Because the oppressors are Arab, which means that the victims don't really matter.

Egyptian Koran for kids tells them to fight Jews and Christians

MEMRI quotes from an Egyptian article that uncovers a children's Koran that incites against Jews and Christians - and it was approved by Al-Azhar University:

The article stated: "This Koran commentary, intended for children, includes erroneous ideas which incite against the followers of the [other] monotheistic religions. For instance, the interpretation of the Al-Fatiha Sura [the first Sura of the Koran], states that [the expression] 'those who earn Thine [i.e., Allah's] anger' refers to the Jews, and [the expression] 'those who go astray' refers to the Christians. [2] This [rendering] contradicts the tenets and the tolerant character of the Islamic faith.
"We wished to find out who was behind these inciting interpretations, especially since they are intended for children and teach them notions of hatred and extremism. It should be noted that the Muslim scholar Gamal Al-Bana was the first to call attention to this book, in his critical article about various Koran commentaries which contradict the principles of shari'a... [3]
"We discovered that the book was first published 10 years ago by Dar Al-Sahaba Lil-Turat in Tanta, and was edited by Sheikh Magdi Fathi Al-Sayyed. Since then, there have been five more editions, and the book has been translated into several languages, including Indonesian, Malaysian, and Turkish. The question arises: How could the [Al-Azhar] Academy of Islamic Research allow the publication of such ideas? After all, [one of its] duties is to monitor [publications] that misrepresent Islam and disparage the [other] monotheistic religions. Considering [the Academy's] involvement in cultural conflicts, and its persecution of anyone who has innovative ideas in areas of thought, culture and philosophy, its [scholars] ought to revert to their original role.
"The hidden poison [of extremism] has seeped into the pages of this book, which was approved [for publication] by the Al-Azhar Academy of Islamic Research... [after being] examined by four of its scholars. [One of the authors] of the introduction is the president of Egypt's Koranic schools, and a hadith expert at Al-Azhar University, Dr. Ahmad 'Issa Al-Ma'sarawi..."

Deliberate Inculcation of Extremist Ideas
The article continued: "Overall, the book is characterized by incitement to extremism and by extremist interpretations that do not reflect the true meaning of the verses... [For example,] the book divests Islam of its most fundamental principle - [the principle of] peace - and even incites against this [notion] in its interpretation of the [following] verses: 'Forgive them, and overlook [their misdeeds], for Allah loveth those who are kind [5:13]'; 'And if the enemy inclines towards peace, then incline towards it and trust in Allah, for He is all-hearing and all-knowing [8:61].' [The book states that] these verses are abrogated by the 'Verse of the Sword,' which descended later, and which says: 'Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the Latter Day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book [i.e. among the Christians and Jews], until they pay the jizya [the Islamic poll tax on non-Muslims] and they are in a state of subjection [9:29].' [According to the book], peace and reconciliation agreements [with Christians and Jews] have been forbidden since this verse was revealed.
"In its interpretation of this verse, [the book] says: 'Allah commands the believers to fight all the infidels who do not believe in Allah and in the Latter Day [i.e. in the Day of Judgment], who do not follow His instructions regarding what is allowed and prohibited, and who do not believe in the true faith, which is Islam - i.e. the Jews and the Christians'...
"One of the most appalling parts of the book is a section quoting several verses from the Al-Maida Sura ['The Table Spread'], which the book labels as 'proof of the heresy of the Christians.' The ideas planted [by this section] in the children's minds are like a time bomb that will lead to civil war, since the children learn by heart [verses that indoctrinate them] to accuse the Copts of heresy. This is totally inexplicable, and also contradicts [the spirit of] the Egyptian constitution...
"In its interpretation of verse [9:41] - 'Go forth light and heavy, and strive hard in Allah's way with your property and your persons; this is better for you, if you know' - the book says: 'Allah the Almighty told the believers - both young and old - to set out and fight for the sake of Allah.
"In explaining verse [9:66] - 'O Prophet! Strive against the disbelievers and the hypocrites, and be stern with them. Hell will be their home, a hapless journey's end' - the book says: 'Allah commanded the believers to wage jihad against the infidels by [fighting them] with the sword, and to wage jihad against the hypocrites by imposing upon them the punishments and constraints mandated for those who violate the commands of Islam..."
The article further stated: "The expected consequence of this [book] is that, in future, thousands of young children will be willing to blow themselves up [in terrorist operations] against [non-Muslims]. This is the danger [that this book represents]. [The book's aim] is not to interpret verses, but to deliberately instill children with ideas that incite [to extremism]. This is evident from its deliberate ignoring of other verses... that reflect the true [face of] Islam, which does not discriminate among the followers of the monotheistic religions but [calls for] brotherhood among them..."

Notice, of course, that the author of the article proves Islam's peacefulness by showing that 'true' Islam doesn't call for the destruction of Christians and Jews, but only for their subjugation ("until they pay the jizya [the Islamic poll tax on non-Muslims] and they are in a state of subjection.") So while the author is to be commended for showing this incitement in this edition of the Koran, he also shows Islam's bigotry at the same time.
(h/t Yid with Lid)

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.