Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, October 26, 2008

The evil Zionists tried to get rid of good Palestinian malaria!

The hatred that so-called progressive intellectuals have of Israel and Zionism truly knows no bounds. A good example can be seen in this review of a book called "Healing the Land and the Nation: Malaria and the Zionist Project in Palestine, 1920-1947" by Sondra M. Sufian.

It is hard to know how much bias is from the author and how much from the reviewer, but the thesis of the book is, as the article states:

The Zionists imported European and U.S. medical technologies and foreign capital to restore the land to what was in their eyes its original state, with little concern for those who had long made their living from it. The Zionist settlers had no sense of the national rights of the Palestinian Arabs, who they believed had no real attachment to the land. Like European settlers elsewhere, the Zionists considered the indigenous population primitive and backward. The land was a swampy wasteland inhabited by an unproductive people. In this, the Zionists were merely drawing upon racial views of non-European, indigenous populations then prevalent among colonialists. As Sufian points out, Zionists, like other Europeans, saw malaria not as an environmental problem, but one caused by the neglectful, indifferent, and lazy lifestyles of the natives, whose watering holes and leaky irrigation ditches were ideal places for mosquitoes to breed. The Zionists' goal was to drain the swamps and pools of water to eradicate the disease, thereby expanding the land available for settlement and agricultural production. As the author notes, in many parts of world European settlers made this connection between disease eradication, immigration, and settlement. When the Zionists drained the swamps they also reduced the pasture land long used by Bedouins and other Arab agriculturalists for grazing their livestock. Despite stiff resistance, land formerly held collectively by Palestinian Arabs became private land owned by Zionist settlers.

Get it? By working to eradicate a deadly disease, the Zionists exhibited unbelievable selfishness and displacement! How dare they try to improve the land that they were buying at hugely inflated prices! How dare they try to improve the health of the natives - this is the very definition of self-absorption!

An interesting contradiction then comes up:

Sufian also illuminates other contentious aspects of the malaria eradication process. For example, she documents Arab participation in and contributions to such efforts, contradicting the Jewish Agency's claims that the great majority of the eradication schemes were carried out solely at that organization's expense. Much of this is illustrated through the work of Dr. Tawfiq Canaan, a Palestinian Arab and prominent physician before and during the Mandate era, who lectured about malaria in German and English to scientific audiences. In a report to the Mandatory authorities, he stated that Palestinian Arabs had done their share of the eradication work. They had carried out swamp drainage projects and worked as laborers in government malaria control measures.

Apparently, when Arabs drained the swamps it was because they were forward-thinking and modern, but when Jews drained the swamps it was because they were colonialist pigs hell-bent on turning mosquito-infested cesspools of disease into productive farmland. Arab swamp draining improved the lives of the natives, Zionist swamp draining destroyed them.

Clear as day!

You can file this in the same category of recent quasi-scholarly drivel that claims that the lack of Arabs raped by IDF soldiers indicates the Jews' barbarity or that Israeli archaeologists are unprofessional hacks who only work to advance the evil Zionist enterprise.

UPDATE: Commenter Womble points to a great blog post by Imshin that takes a quite different tack on the "colonialism" of draining swamps and fighting a horrendous disease.

Free Gaza freaks set to sail again

Last we looked, the Free Gaza leftards were trying desperately to find a new boat, willing to sell their old boats to anyone strange enough to want them.

Apparently, their please were less than successful, as their press release from a couple of days ago stated:

On October 28, 2008, the Free Gaza Movement will set sail again for Gaza. On board will be a Nobel Peace Prize winner, five physicians, a member of the Israeli Knesset, and a member of the Palestinian Legislative Council. The boat will again carry 26 passengers and crew to the port of Gaza.

"We've spent the past month making sure that our boat is better and stronger, because the weather is getting more severe. Since we promised the people of Gaza we would return, we wanted to make sure we would return safely", said Derek Graham, first mate on board the boat.

The patched boat, now seemingly renamed"Waves of Hope," is supposed to arrive in Gaza on Thursday.

The freakazoids are trying to rectify a problem they had last time. In their first journey, they wanted to show that Gaza should be "free" so they sailed directly there without officially informing Israel. But now they realized that a great part of their narrative depends on the idea that Gaza is "occupied" by Israel, so this time they sent a letter to the Israeli government telling them of their peaceful intentions.

Apparently, Lauren Booth has decided not to visit this time. It seems that she ate enough Gaza food the first time she was there.

Ancient Palestine, according to Palestinian Arabs

The Democratic Front for the History of Palestine, a Marxist group that is part of the PLO, has a history of Palestine on its website that is says came from the Palestinian National Information Center, a part of the Palestinian Authority.

It is a bizarre mix of purposeful pseudo-scholarly lies and Quranic fantasy.

It is almost certain that this is the "history" taught in Palestinian Arab universities.

Here are some relevant parts:

▪ First: Palestine Denomination
Long ago Palestine was known “Canaan Land” as mentioned in the reports of military leaders at king (Marry). It was obviously mentioned on the spire of (Adreemi) king of ALALAKH (Tel Al Atshana) in the middle of the fifth century.

The origin of the word “Palestine” as in Assyrian records of the Assyrian king (Addizary The Third) about (800) B.C. was (Filastia). As he mentioned on his spire that in the fifth year of his regime, his forces subdued (Palasto) and forced the population to pay the tribute.

Almost certainly they are referring to Philistines, who lived in southern Canaan in roughly what is now Gaza, although I could not find this specific reference anywhere. Absolutely no one considers Palestinian Arabs to be descendents of Philistines, but (as we shall see) the Palestinian Arabs are anxious to pretend so, when it is convenient. (The Philistines were not Semitic.)

The denomination formulation (Palestine) was focused at Herodotus on Aramite bases. Sometimes it was known as a place called on the southern part of Syria or (Palestinian Syria) near Finithia to the borders of Egypt.

The Roman historians used this appellation, like A gather chides STRABO and DIODORU.
The name Palestine was called, in the Roman age on all the holy lands and became an official term since Hadrian time.

The truth, as Wikipedia says, is that "The term was first officially used to describe all the Land of Palestine Roman domination of the Hebrew nation. The Romans changed the region's name from Judaea in order to historically disconnect the Jews from their land as punishment for their rebellion against Roman imperialism.^[1] Jerusalem was also re-named to Aelia Capitolina, but this name change did not succeed."

The use of this name was extensively spread in the Christian Church and it was mentioned in the reports of the Christian pilgrims. But in the Islamic time, Palestine was a part of Great Syria.

This is a rare admission that Muslims never considered Palestine to be anything other than a part of Southern Syria.

Semites :
Owing to remnants discoveries in Egypt and Iraq, the Semites were obviously the most ancient peoples known in Palestine. Since the fourth thousand B.C. they have been living on the eastern shores of the Mediterranean.

As for religious part, the Semites-in origin- were the descendant tribes of Sam, the eldest son of Noah, peace be upon him. The original ancient population of Palestine were all Arabs, as they immigrated from Arab peninsula due to the drought. So they lived in their new homeland (Cana’an) for more than two thousand years before the appearance of Moses, the prophet, with his followers, on the scene.

This is known as the Winckler-Caetani theory, and it is by no means universally held, but it is convenient for the purposes of this "history."

Incidentally, Caetani wrote a massive critique of Islam which I don't think the Palestinian Arabs would be teaching in their schools any time soon.

Anyway, the rest of this "history" changes at will the idea that the Philistines or Canaanites are the forebears of today's Palestinian Arabs, whichever is convenient:

Cana’anites were famous in agriculture and industry and excelled in mining as well as in the industry of pottery, glass, textiles, clothes and architecture. Music, and literature were at the top of the Cana’an civilization, as no other sematic peoples were interested in arts and music as the Cana’anites. They derived much of their musical elements from various peoples from the ancient far east because the rites of Cana’anite worship were musically based. Therefore their musical instruments and tones spread throughout the Mediterranean areas.

Nobody can argue that Art and Literature are the symbols of civilization, so it is not strange-through the Israeli writings- to find out the strenuous efforts the Israelis have been exerting to allege they were the founders of the original civilization and the chanters, choristers and singers. They were actually delusive, but the great trusted historians, like (Bristed), in his description of the flourishing Cana’anite cities, which the Hebrews entered, that there were cities with comfortable luxurious houses, and industries, trade, writing, temples and the civilization, which were soon imitated by the primitive herdsmen Hebrews.

In fact, "The urban development of Canaan lagged considerably behind that of Egypt and Mesopotamia and even that of Syria."

They left their tents and imitated them in building houses. Furthermore, they took off the leathers, they wore in the desert, and instead, they put on the colored woolen clothes. After a period of time, one couldn’t differentiate between Cana’anites and Hebrews in appearance, though, since five thousand years (the start of written history) Palestine, until the British Mandate in 1920, knew only three languages; the Cana’anite firstly, the Aramite secondly, (the language the Christ spoke) and the Arabic thirdly.

Notice that this "history" easily refers to ancient Hebrews but purposefully ignores ancient Hebrew!

1200-550 B.C (Mameluke Age “Iron Age”):
At that time, Palestinians considered themselves as legal successors to the Egyptian Authority on Palestine so, they dominated most parts of Palestine. They were often called the population of the Palestinian coast because they founded a number of main cities, as; Gaza, Askalan, Asdod, Akeer, Tal Al Safi and others.

Here again they are calling Philistines "Palestinians," as they do here:

The Judges Age lasted for a century and a half. During this period twelve Judges, ruled country and the last one, was Samue’l. The Israelis agreed to enthrone Sha’al Ben Qays”- according to the Samuel’s advice- to be their king in order to unify their tribes, but he was killed in war with the Palestinians. David succeeded him in (1010) B.C. then Solomon followed in (971-931B.C). Contrary to his father, his period was a time of peace, not war. He was prudent and active in trade.

When king Solomon died, the exorbitant taxes he had imposed, because of the high luxury living he was known during his time were unbearable. By his death, the descendents of Israeli tribe exterminated when the Assyrians defeated them in (724 B.C) . At the time of (Nobukaz Nass’ar) the kaldans replaced the Assyrians and ruled Palestine.

Nowhere in this entire "history" is the Kingdom of Judah mentioned!

The entire purpose of this "history" is to fabricate an ancient "Palestinian" civilization and to erase any vestiges of Jewish life in the area that was not mentioned in the Quran.

There is plenty more in this seemingly official "history" going up to modern times, so this is only a small indication of the indoctrination that occurs in Palestinian Arab schools.

PalArab news roundup

Three Gazans were killed in yet another smuggling tunnel collapse in Rafah.

Fatah plans to celebrate the fourth anniversary of Yasir Arafat's death in Gaza. Not sure yet what Hamas thinks about it.

A "former" Al Aqsa Brigades terrorist was shot multiple times in Nablus.

Supreme Palestinian Judge Sheikh Tayseer At-Tamimi and two other members of the "Islamic Christian Front" gave a long list of grievances about how badly Arabs in Jerusalem are treated - things like inadequate schools and declining house sales in East Jerusalem. Simultaneously, Tamimi gave a fatwa forbidding Jerusalem Arabs from voting in the upcoming municipal elections. This way, they can complain all they want and not have to take any responsibility for it, whuch is pretty much their entire raison d'etre.

A teachers' union in Gaza accuses the PA of firing 300 Gaza teachers for security reasons.

Yesterday, French officials said that a letter was delivered to Gilad Shalit from his parents. Today, Hamas refuses to confirm or deny that they delivered the letter.

Press reports that the Muslim Brotherhood would recognize Israel within the 1948 borders were called "nonsense" by that organization.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count climbs to 205.

UPDATE: On Monday a 32-year old Palarab was found murdered in the West Bank. 206.

18 weeks in a row

For the eighteenth consecutive week, Palestinian Arabs managed to die violently by their own actions in higher numbers than those that were killed by Israel.

According to PCHR, one Palestinian Arab was killed by the IDF this week, from Thursday to Wednesday.

In that same time period, three Palestinian Arabs were violently killed - one "training accident", one murder, and one smuggling tunnel electrocution.

The score since the beginning of September is 47-6.

Whiplash-inducing headline of the day

From the ever-humorous Palestinian Arab Ma'an website:

Israeli peace activists throw Molotov cocktails at Israeli soldiers in Ni'lin

Newspeak is alive and well!

Today's Sharia News

Iranian authorities have confirmed that they will continue to apply the death penalty to minors.

Deputy prosecutor general Hossein Zebhi told a newspaper that under Sharia law only a murder victim's family could commute a death sentence.
He had suggested last week that judges were being told to stop imposing the death penalty on young offenders.
Iran has been widely condemned for being one of the few remaining nations to execute offenders aged under 18.
Amnesty International says at least six youths have been executed in Iran this year alone.
Mr Zebhi was quoted by the daily Etemad-e Melli newspaper as saying: "The principle of retribution... is not up to the government, rather it is up to the private plaintiff."
"Only if the next of kin give their consent can there be a reduction in the punishment," he added.
Critics say Iran's practice of handing down the death penalty to juvenile offenders - those aged under 18 at the time of the crime - is explicitly banned by the International Convention on the Rights of the Child, to which Tehran is a signatory.
Many convicted juvenile offenders have been on death row for years, as negotiations continue over whether victims' families will accept blood money - cash to avoid execution.

In Saudi Arabia, foreigners who work there are playing Russian roulette as to whether they will be found guilty of a crime that has the death penalty.

On Oct. 14, Amnesty International issued its latest warning on Saudi Arabia where "poor foreign workers are literally paying with their lives when accused of capital crimes".
"The death penalty is not only applied unfairly and in a secretive manner, it is discriminatory and used against those who are least able to access their rights. It is little more than a macabre lottery whose consequences, for many, are lethal," Amnesty said.
Three days earlier, three Sri Lankans were sentenced by a Saudi court to public execution for allegedly killing a Yemeni national. Eight others, including two Sri Lankan women allegedly working for the Yemeni as prostitutes, were also sentenced to jail terms and floggings for being linked to the same crime.
All have the right of appeal -- if they can raise the tens of thousands of dollars needed to hire a local law firm to take on their cases.
The average rate of executions in Saudi Arabia is currently two a week. Last year, Saudi Arabia executed more than 143 people, a highly disproportionate number of whom were foreigners.
Pardons for foreign workers in Saudi Arabia are rare, one for every 30 executions. Saudi citizens are eight times more likely to get one, according to Amnesty.

Malaysia's religious authorities just banned women from wearing men's clothing as well as lesbianism:

According to the chairman of the National Fatwa Council, Abdul Shukor Husin, many young women admire the way men dress and behave, which is a denial of their femininity and a violation of human nature.
"It is unacceptable to see women who love the male lifestyle including dressing in the clothes men wear," he complained, adding, "(Masculine behaviour) becomes clearer when they start to have sex with someone of the same gender, that is woman and woman."

"In view of this," Dr Abdul explained, "the National Fatwa Council which met today have decided and taken the stand that such acts are forbidden and banned."

Don't worry, though - these cases represent only a tiny minority of Muslims. I'm sure the vast majority will be putting political and religious pressure on their co-religionists real soon now

The Phillies, Obama and Israel

I became a Phillies fan when the Philadelphia Phillies were pretty much the worst team in baseball.

In 1972, the Phillies ended up in last place in their division. Their lineup consisted of forgettable players who I was enamored with, like Roger Freed and Denny Doyle in the starting lineup.

The Phillies' ugly 59-97 record is most remarkable because a full 27 of those wins were due to a single pitcher, Steve Carlton, who racked up an amazing 27-10 record that season with an inept team. If it wasn't for Carlton, this team may have indeed been the worst ever. (And I remember being incensed after the 1971 season when the Phillies traded my favorite pitcher, Rick Wise, to St. Louis for Carlton, now recognized as one of the most lopsided trades in history.)

It is easy to be a Phillies fan today, as they are leading the World Series. It was much harder to be a fan in the early 1970s.

It is likewise easy in today's political environment to be considered "pro-Israel." Forgetting the infamous "Israel lobby," any US politician can easily claim to be pro-Israel. This is because positions that would have been considered anti-Israel only a few years ago have morphed into Israeli policy under the Kadima banner.

The idea that a Palestinian Arab state would somehow automatically bring peace, the idea that Israel is the only party that needs to make permanent concessions, the idea that the Saudi "peace plan" is seriously worth considering, the idea that Israel must give up the strategic Golan Heights on the one border that has been the most peaceful since 1973, the idea that abandoning the Shebaa Farms will magically make Hezbollah love Israel, the idea of talking with Syria, the idea of dividing Jerusalem, the idea of willingly giving up almost all major Jewish shrines - all considered patently ridiculous by mainstream Israeli politicians of all persuasions in relatively recent times - are now considered sacrosanct. The ideas of Israel's loony left have been co-opted as mainstream by a government that has no mandate, no support, and utter disregard for the wishes of ordinary Israelis.

If the Government of Israel holds these positions, how can they be considered anti-Israeli?

Israel's government has adopted the worldview of the European Left that "occupation" is the primary evil in the region and that surrendering land will inevitably bring peace. Giving Gaza to Hamas brought unprecedented (albeit temporary) levels of support from Europe - and unprecedented numbers of rockets to Sderot. Israel's reclaiming of victim status boosted its popularity among those who feel that strength is inherently immoral.

In such an environment, it is easy to claim to be pro-Israel while advocating positions that would seriously erode Israel's security and virtually eliminate Jewish sovereignty over her own holiest sites.

But as in baseball, the true test of friendship is how one acts when the other party is not so popular.

Every poll for the past couple of years shows that Likud, not Kadima, would win a general election. And Likud is not considered a "winner" in the eyes of the world. On the contrary, the word "Likud" conjures up adjectives that the media has hammered into the world's consciousness - adjectives like "hard-line," "intransigent," and "hawkish." To be pro-Likud, according to conventional wisdom, is to be against peace.

The question isn't which candidate for president supports the Israeli policies that are designed to appeal to world public opinion. It is which candidate would support the Israeli policies that a democratic Israel would support.

The answer to this question is certainly not Barack Obama.

Obama started his political career as highly supportive of an "even-handed" policy between a democratic, peace-thirsty state and people who to this day overwhelmingly support terror attacks. His friendships with radical Palestinian Arab intellectuals are well documented. Only when Obama considered running for national office did his public positions tilt towards Israel. As the co-founder of Electronic Intifada, Ali Abunimah says:

Over the years since I first saw Obama speak I met him about half a dozen times, often at Palestinian and Arab-American community events in Chicago including a May 1998 community fundraiser at which Edward Said was the keynote speaker. In 2000, when Obama unsuccessfully ran for Congress I heard him speak at a campaign fundraiser hosted by a University of Chicago professor. On that occasion and others Obama was forthright in his criticism of US policy and his call for an even-handed approach to the Palestinian-Israeli conflict.

The last time I spoke to Obama was in the winter of 2004 at a gathering in Chicago's Hyde Park neighborhood. He was in the midst of a primary campaign to secure the Democratic nomination for the United States Senate seat he now occupies. But at that time polls showed him trailing.

As he came in from the cold and took off his coat, I went up to greet him. He responded warmly, and volunteered, "Hey, I'm sorry I haven't said more about Palestine right now, but we are in a tough primary race. I'm hoping when things calm down I can be more up front." He referred to my activism, including columns I was contributing to the The Chicago Tribune critical of Israeli and US policy, "Keep up the good work!"

In an unguarded moment, Obama stated what he felt about the Likud in February:

This is where I get to be honest and I hope I’m not out of school here. I think there is a strain within the pro-Israel community that says unless you adopt a unwavering pro-Likud approach to Israel that you’re anti-Israel and that can’t be the measure of our friendship with Israel. If we cannot have a honest dialogue about how do we achieve these goals, then we’re not going to make progress. And frankly some of the commentary that I’ve seen which suggests guilt by association or the notion that unless we are never ever going to ask any difficult questions about how we move peace forward or secure Israel that is non military or non belligerent or doesn’t talk about just crushing the opposition that that somehow is being soft or anti-Israel, I think we’re going to have problems moving forward.

In this quote, Obama betrays his opinion that the Likud - the party that orchestrated the peace treaty with Egypt - is purely militaristic and warmongering.

How would he act towards a Likud government, a very real possibility? His statement indicates that his "pro-Israel" posture is one that conveniently follows the liberal ideas that the only obstacle to peace is Israeli reticence to give back more and more land.

Yes, it is easy to say that you are pro-Israel when the Israeli government has been acting out of the same fear of terrorism as the EU, but how will he act when an Israeli government returns to power that is willing to fight terrorism, despite the criticism of the media and liberals? When Obama reportedly said that "the Israelis must be crazy not to accept" the Saudi "peace plan" that would turn Israel back into a nine-mile wide strip of land, where Ben Gurion Airport and Tel Aviv would be in Qassam rocket range, perhaps it may be considered "pro-Israel" in context of the reprehensible policies of Kadima, but is it pro-Israel according to the majority of Israel's citizens?

I have no problem with people rooting for the Phillies today who have hated them in the past, but I would not call those people "friends of the Phillies." They would just be considered opportunists, not friends. And that is how Barack Obama appears when it comes to Israel.

The US gave $700M to PA this year - so far

From IHT:

The U.S. has transferred $150 million to the Palestinians, exceeding its original pledge of aid to the moderate Palestinian government in the West Bank.
U.S. consul General Jake Walles says Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad asked for the additional assistance last month to help with the Palestinian budget.

A statement from the U.S. Consulate in Jerusalem says American aid to the Palestinians in 2008 now totals over $700 million and exceeds the amount the U.S. pledged at a donors conference in December 2007.

We have already seen that 60% of the PA budget goes to Gaza, where Hamas benefits from the world's largess towards Palestinian Arabs.

So this year the US has effectively given Hamas $420 million this year.

Condoleeza must be so proud!

Do you think that any of the people who pretend to care about US aid to Israel are going to complain when huge amounts are given to Israel's enemies?

Murder of an 86-year old: "Heroic operation"

Palestine Today, a newspaper associated with Islamic Jihad, shows unanimous praise for this morning's terrorist murder of an 86-year old man in the Gilo neighborhood of Jerusalem.

A number of Palestinian factions agreed unanimously that the Gilo attack in the occupied city of Jerusalem carried out by a Palestinian from the city of Bethlehem that it comes within the framework of the natural response to Israeli crimes which have increased in recent times against our people in the city of Acre, and the right of the occupied city of Jerusalem and the Al-Aqsa Mosque.

The factions blessed this heroic operation to "Palestine Today," which comes to confirm that all security measures taken by the occupation authorities in the occupied West Bank and the city of Jerusalem will not discourage resistance to reach its objectives, nor will it discourage our people from the lifting of oppression and injustice themselves.

Daoud Shihab, leader of the Islamic Jihad movement in Palestine, said the Jerusalem attack was a natural reaction to crimes of the occupation in the city of Jerusalem and other towns and villages in the occupied West Bank.

For its part, Hamas considered the incident to be a natural response to occupation practices in the city of Jerusalem itself.

The movement spokesman Ayman Taha said attempts by the occupation government and troops to deter resistance and the displacement of the population of Jerusalem and annex land to build settlements are doomed to fail, to the insistence of the Palestinians to continue resistance and jihad.

He added: "The occupation authorities take repressive measures every day against the population of the city of Jerusalem before and after a heroic operation, while noting that such measures will not discourage our people to continue in the path of resistance and liberation."

The Popular Resistance Committees said the heroic Gilo attackcame after increased Judaization of Jerusalem, and building Jewish synagogues in the Al-Aqsa mosque.

PRC spokesman Abu Mujahid said that any Palestinian and Muslim can not afford to see Msarri Allah bless him and the Jews, and defiles, adding that the process of "Gilo" came to make sure that a popular uprising against the occupation and the policy of arrogance is still on the table and will address all repressive measures in Jerusalem and the occupied city of Acre.

Abu Mujahid said that the occupation does not stop their continuing psychological war after each operation in occupied Jerusalem and threatening the demolition of houses and the withdrawal of citizenship and the displacement of the population, stressing that this war will not stop and heroic martyrdom operations may hit everywhere and at any time.

I commented in July about how the world doesn't consider it strange that Arabs consider murder to be "natural."

Terror attack in Jerusalem; Ma'an gets facts backwards

There was a terror attack this morning in Jerusalem where an Arab stabbed a policeman and a 86-year old man. The terrorist was shot by the injured policeman, and he then stabbed the older man to death before being arrested.

The Palestinian Arab news outlet Ma'an, naturally, gets the basic facts wrong. For the past hour both its Arabic and English sites are still saying that the attacker was shot to death by Israeli police, and its adds some more fanciful fiction as well:

Israeli police then shot the attacker, killing him. One eyewitness reported that the man was detained before he was shot.

Even the version updated at 12:50 PM does not include the fact that the victim died, which was reported an hour beforehand, nor that the attacker is still alive in serious condition but conscious.

Providing yet another example of how even the most Westernized of Palestinian Arab media is filled with baldfaced lies.

Jordanian poet arrested for apostasy

That moderate Arab friend of ours, Jordan, has just arrested a poet for "apostasy" two weeks after Jordan's Grand Mufti declared the artist as an "enemy of Islam."

The poet, 27-year old Islam Samhan, published a collection of his poems eight months ago. Only recently has this been noticed by the Grand Mufti, and Jordan now says that this publication was "illegal" as every published work must be registered with Jordan's Press and Publication Department. Samhan claims that it was registered.

All this comes as something of a surprise to Samhan, whose book, In a Slim Shadow, published eight months ago, is a collection of his best work over the past decade. The ministry of culture even bought 50 copies.

The offensive poems include:

One that compares the poet's loneliness to that of the biblical Joseph, called Yusuf in the Quran. (This one is the one that caught the Mufti's attention.)

In a second, Samhan has a character address God, which his critics say personifies God.

In another the woman is talking to God while lying beneath a see-through sheet. Samhan said he was referring to the gods of Greek mythology.

Again, this is not Saudi Arabia or Iran. This is the Jordan that is often described in the Western media as "cosmopolitan" with a thriving nightlife - and a plethora of massage parlors.

It is instructive that the Mufti made his accusations weeks ago, on literature published months ago, after the author has publicly read from his works to acclaim. Jordan's authorities clearly felt pressure from the religious establishment to cave to 7th century theocratic mores.

PalArab news roundup

An Islamic Jihad terrorist was accidentally killed during "training exercises" in Gaza.

A mortar was shot from Gaza to Israel on Tuesday night.

Hamas claims to have stopped an assassination attempt again one of their leaders in Gaza. "Unknown persons" tried to set a remote-controlled bomb near the leader's house.

A union leader says that Hamas has so far closed some 450 medical clinics in Gaza since the doctor strike started a couple of months ago. Still no word from Doctors Without Borders.

A breakaway Fatah movement has started in Syria called Fatah Uprising. Not surprisingly, this wing of the Fatah movement rejects all attempts at a peaceful resolution.

There is a tomato shortage in the West Bank. The reason? Jews were buying West Bank tomatoes at higher prices for the Sukkot holiday, tripling the prices. Even when Palestinian Arab farmers get rich from Jews, the story at Ma'an gets twisted as if Jews are forcing Palestinian Arab families to starve.

The 2008 PalArab self-death count is now 202.

It looks like Rice really did praise Hamas

In a story that I've been following for nearly two weeks, it appears that Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice may have really sent a message to Hamas that praised them for their actions. From Al Jazeera:

The US state department has denied that Condoleezza Rice, the country's secretary of state, sent a message to Hamas' senior political adviser praising the Palestinian movement for its halt in firing rockets into Israel.

The so-called "verbal communication" between the US and Khaled Meshaal is said to have been received this month through mediators visiting the Gaza Strip.

Moussa Abu Marzouk, a Hamas spokesman, told Al Jazeera on Wednesday that the message also stated US support for the inter-Palestinian dialogue mediated by Egypt.

Al Jazeera's Nour Odeh, reporting from Ramallah, said Hamas is not denying that communications with the US have taken place.

However, the organisation has said that they have not received anything official from the US, she said.

"I would like to inform you that your maintenance of the ceasefire is an absolute Palestinian interest and will be for the benefit of the people of Gaza and of course Hamas, which seized control of the strip," Rice was quoted by Ma'an, a Palestinian news agency, as saying.

"I would also like to commend the measures you have taken to protect the borders with Israel and prevent extremist terrorists from launching rockets at the south of the Jewish state," the message continued.

"I feel it is important for Hamas to be ready to renounce terrorism and to seriously consider living peacefully in two states, side by side in peace and security, allowing both the Israeli and Palestinian sides to live in peace and prosperity.

"I hope this can be the beginning of greater communication with Hamas, after your assimilation into the negotiation process and acceptance of the Quartet committee's demands."

Abu Marzouk said that Hamas considers the message a "recognition" of its existence, although the US still labels Hamas as a "terrorist" organisation.

Ahmed Youssef, a senior political adviser to Ismail Haniyeh, the deposed Palestinian prime minister and a key Hamas member, told the Al Ahram newspaper that the message does not herald a massive change in the current relationship between Hamas and the US.

"It certainly reflects the US administration's sense that the justifications upon which it has long grounded its antagonism towards Hamas and the Palestinian resistance are crumbling," he said.
According to Al Ahram, a source in the Haniyeh government said that communications have been taking place for more than a year between his government and the office of Tony Blair, the Quartet's Midde East envoy.

Mahmoud al-Zahar, the former Palestinian foreign minister from Hamas, confirmed that Hamas had received a message from Rice.

But "this cannot be regarded as a turning point in relations between the US administration and Hamas", he said.

Odeh said these messages are not new.

"Previous US administrations have constantly tried to nudge isolated political parties into mainstream politics," she said.

"It also indicates that the US government cannot deny the influence of Hamas in the region."

The US denials do not ring true - calling it "unofficial" gives plausible deniability - and the contents sound like State Department-speak to make this sound legit.

One more holiday

Home stretch on the holidays - here in the Diaspora we have two more days, for Shmini Atzeret and Simchat Torah.

Play nicely and have a good Yom Tov! I hope to be back Wednesday night.