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AINA: How Sharia law punishes raped women

Melanie Philips: Another banana moment?

MEMRI TV: The Mickey Mouse cleric clarifies his position on cartoon characters:

Muhammad Al-Munajid: I never issued a fatwa about the killing of Mickey Mouse. Nobody asked me for a ruling with regard to Mickey Mouse, and I did not say that it is permissible or necessary to kill Mickey Mouse. None of this ever happened. I was talking about the effect of films on people, how they are used for Christian proselytizing, for spreading atheism, for spreading witchcraft, like in the case of Harry Potter, and for arousing urges, which make people dissatisfied with their spouses. One thing led to another, until we got to the issue of cartoons and their effect. I said that some cartoon characters, such as dogs, pigs, and mice – reprehensible animals according to the Shari’a - are glorified in animated films. I said that it is inappropriate to show such things to people, and that a mouse is a “little corrupter,” which should be killed in all cases. I mentioned Mickey Mouse, or that Jerry, by way of example only. Nobody who knows Mickey Mouse is a cartoon character would ever issue a fatwa that it should be killed. It can only be killed in the world of fantasies, movies, and dreams.

And Barry Rubin: Welcome to MEWorld. The link is down now, so here is the article from his mailing list:

MEWorld stands for Middle East world. It is a realm with its own ideas where the scientific laws of the rest of the world might stand but the political and intellectual standards applied elsewhere just don't happen that way.

Let's begin your visit with a very mild example of what happens when tourists encounter MEWorld. Here is a quote from the New York Times of November 12, 2008, chosen pretty much at random. The author is one of the better reporters covering the region; the topic is the Israeli mayor's election in Jerusalem. See if you can spot the problem:

"Palestinians in East Jerusalem have consistently boycotted city elections in the belief that participating would be tantamount to recognizing Israeli sovereignty.''

If you can understand why this sentence is off it is possible that you might comprehend the Middle East.

The assumption in the sentence is that Palestinians are, like the Western readers, people who live in a social and intellectual atmosphere of free will in which individual decisions are made on the basis of rational calculation. The process goes something like this:

Version A: Khalid: "I'm thinking of voting in the election because I want better schools and roads."

Version B: Khalid: "I'm thinking of voting in the election because I want a candidate to win who will be more dovish and will favor giving this part of the city to a Palestinian state as part of a comprehensive two-state solution."

This is the kind of process which a Western reader would expect. It implies massive voluntary action on the basis of choice. After all, the individual "Palestinians" have a "belief."

In practice, the real issue is that before the decision not to vote is made the Palestinians in east Jerusalem are told:

"Anyone who votes is a traitor. If you vote it is against Islam and you are a heretic; it is against our people, and you are a monster. And if you do vote and we find out about it we will boycott your business, shun you personally, and perhaps someone with a big club will smash down your door one night and hit you upside the head until you pass out or die."

In MEWorld, every Palestinian knows this and the message is repeated before each election. Of course, even without threats not all the Palestinian residents would vote but perhaps, 20 or 30 or 40 percent would.

After I wrote this article I came upon Khaled Abu Toameh's piece on the same story in the Jerusalem Post. After making the same point the Times did, he added--which the Times did not mention--the following:

"The PA issued several warnings to the Arab residents not to participate in the election. Issam Abu Rmaileh, a shopkeeper, said he didn't vote because he was afraid that PA activists would harm him. `I heard that they were standing outside the voting centers and threatening people who wanted to come and vote,' he said. `I would have liked to vote because it's in our interest, but who's going to protect me and my family afterwards?'...

"Graffiti painted overnight on the walls also warned the Arabs against participating in the election. The warnings were issued by masked men belonging to various Palestinian factions, including Hamas and Fatah."

If you don't understand the reality of dictatorial behavior, threats of violence, and a social pressure that forces conformity, anything else that happens in the region is a mystery to you.

Now you are ready for a more advanced course in MEWorld. Let me stress that the following is not typical but it is revealing. On November 12, 2008, MEMRI published its video clip No. 1903 which you can see here: http://www.memritv.org/clip/en/1903.htm. It is from a television show aired on October 31, 2008. First, I will tell you what it says which is profoundly shocking. But then I will give you seven reasons why it is far more shocking than you thought.

The person being interviewed proposes that Arab men sexually harass Israeli women as a new means of resistance against Israel. "They are fair game for all Arabs," the interviewee explains, because they "rape the land" by their very existence.

Might this cause a legal problem if an Egyptian or Jordanian rapes an Israeli tourist? No problem, the interviewee explains, "Most Arab countries do not have sexual harassment laws. Therefore, if [Arab women] are fair game for Arab men, there is nothing wrong with Israeli women being fair game as well."

If an Israeli woman is threatened, abused, or harassed, she has no right to defend herself. They are merely being given a choice: "Leave the land so we won't rape you."

Now you might say that is pretty shocking. Even in the context of Arab political discussion, the above-quoted position is very different. There are many Arabs who would disagree and even ridicule such an idea.

And yet it still tells us a great deal about mainstream thinking and the weakness of moderation. Consider these points:

• The person saying this, Nagla al-Imam is a woman. She obviously has no idea of women's solidarity. Nationalism and religion come first. Her priority is not to demand stronger laws in her country to protect women but the exploitation of such law's absence to lower the level of treatment for all women. The philosophy is: It doesn't matter if you abuse me if you treat the Israelis even worse. Don't take that idea lightly, it defines how millions of people behave.
• She is a young woman. The optimistic idea that time is inevitably bringing about moderation is just plain wrong. All too often, the younger generation--especially since it is imbued with Islamist ideas and much more intensively propagandized--is more extreme than its parents. I remember here the anecdote, and this is not a joke but a real story, in which a Saudi girl pretended to play Brittany Spears records to appease her wealthy, educated parents but when they weren't around put on radical Islamist diatribes about martyrdom by becoming a suicide bomber.
• She is a secular young woman, obviously not, judging from her rhetoric and clothing, an Islamist or even a traditionalist living in a previous century. Thus, while Islamists are most radical, their basic thinking is often duplicated by Arab nationalists and permeates among the less pious as well.
• She is a lawyer, meaning she has a high level of modern education and intelligence. She is of the middle class at least and not an illiterate peasant or fanatical cleric. While people in the West are still babbling that poverty causes terrorism, the most extreme are often the best-off and most-schooled. Being poor usually requires spending most of your time in the practical pursuit of economic survival. Education does not necessarily mean discovering the wider world and the humanity of the "other." It teaches people to hate systematically and justify their inner beast with an ideological gloss.
• She is from Egypt, not Saudi Arabia. Egypt is a country which has been formally at peace with Israel for almost thirty years and an ally of the United States. Extremism is found in all Arab states. Even the most moderate either refrain from opposing such ideas to avoid confrontation or--more often--actively fomenting them to muster popular support and a blind eye toward their own failings.
• The interview appeared on al-Arabiyya, arguably the most moderate of the main Arab satellite television stations. The opinion spectrum is much skewed to one side. This is clear on al-Jazira television programs where there is a moderate and a radical speaker, followed by phone-ins during which every single caller favors the extremist position and the host insults the moderate to side with the radical guest.
• The interviewer asked reasonable questions but did not seem to find this suggestion shockingly extreme or something that had to be angrily rejected. People are not signaled toward moderation by their political leaders, teachers, clerics, intellectuals, and other authority figures. On the contrary, these are often sources for the most violent, hate-filled, and anti-reality ideas.

Now, if you believe that MEWorld is going to make peace with Israel, love America, and become democratic or moderate in the near-term future--even to please President Barry Obama-- consider the intellectual, political culture, and social atmosphere that breeds Nagla al-Imam as a person who thinks as she does even though she fits the profile of someone who should be, according to the conception of reality held in WestWorld, a booster of the opposite worldview.

The same applies if you think you are going to win over such people and their societies by kind words, apologies, concessions, appeasement, confidence-building measures, or even dramatic policy shifts.

"Oh you, who philosophize disgrace/And criticize all fears/Take the rag away from your face/Now ain't the time for your tears." --Bob Dylan

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Madrassa science

From the UAE's National:

In the mid-1980s, my father’s cousin, a noted scholar, travelled to madrassas along the Pakistan and Afghan border that were heavily funded by the Saudi government. These schools were the lynch pins of the jihad, because they taught the children of Afghan refugees and churned out thousands of fighters.

My cousin observed that teachers who taught history or basic scientific concepts – such as that the earth revolved around the sun – were fired and replaced by mullahs who knew only a few verses of the Quran and the “importance” of killing the infidels.

The ignorance of these men was highlighted by one particularly dumb question posed to my cousin by a mullah: “How can anyone know the distance between the earth and the sun? No one has created a ruler long enough.”

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Whoops! A Toronto mosque gets caught with hate-filled website

The Toronto Star reports:

A mosque asking that Canadian workplaces respect a strict Muslim dress code is at the same time disseminating slurs against Jews and Western societies, and warning members against social integration.

The Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque near Kipling Ave. and Rexdale Blvd. serves as the religious authority for eight Somali women complaining to the Canadian Human Rights Commission that UPS Canada Ltd. violated their religious rights at a sorting plant. The mosque, founded in 1990 and serving upwards of 10,000 people, preaches strict adherence to sharia, or Islamic law, and no compromise with the West.

Teachings on the mosque's website, khalidmosque.com, refer to non-Muslim Westerners as "wicked," "corrupt" and "our clear enemies."

Sometimes Jews are singled out.

"Is it permissible for women to wear high-heeled shoes?" begins one posting in question-and-answer format. "That is not permissible," comes the reply. "It involves resembling the Disbelieving Women or the wicked women. It has its origin among the Jewish women."

Modern pastimes are condemned.

"What is the ruling on subscribing to sports channels?" another question begins. "Watching some of the female spectators, when the camera focuses on them time after time" stirs "evil inclinations," the lesson reads. "Some (players) may not even believe in Allaah."

Mosque leaders refused repeated requests for an interview.

A disclaimer on the website says questions and answers do not necessarily reflect the mosque's views. But the About Us page says: "All questions and answers on this site (are) prepared, approved and supervised by (the mosque's imam) Bashir Yusuf Shiil."

A few days later there was a follow-up article:

The Toronto mosque that once warned its members to avoid wishing others "Merry Christmas," equating it with murder, is once again pitted in controversy.

And now the Muslim Canadian Congress is calling on Ottawa to strip the charitable status of the Somali Islamic Society of Canada, which owns the Khalid Bin Al-Walid mosque in Etobicoke, founded in 1990 and serving more than 10,000 worshippers.

Congress president Farzana Hassan said postings on the mosque's website are "in contravention of what a moderate Muslim should stand for."

Asked for specifics, Hassan cited the site's "statements about women." For example, she said, "they say female circumcision is honourable and yet they find piercing your ears reprehensible, wearing high heels reprehensible, laughing objectionable. It's very disconcerting that their priorities are where they are."

But the mosque defends its postings, arguing in a statement posted on its website that "different scholars of Islam may have differing opinions on the same subject."

The statement, signed "Khalid Bin Al-Walid Mosque Management and the Board of Directors," continues: "We try our best to enrich Islamic knowledge for anyone who visits our web site and show to them the differing views of Islamic scholars on a particular subject."

The mosque's website has since cleansed itself of all problematic references. Yet on its front page, it threatens the author of the original article with an open letter, written before the article was published:

We are very concerned by the tenor of your questions that you may unintentionally harm the image of Somali Muslims in Canada with the words you write. As the Board of the Khalid Bin Al-Walid mosque, we are preparing ourselves for the inevitable backlash of hatred and threats that will come with the suggestion that we support radical Islam and that we are therefore terrorists. While we have become accustom to this form of racism, we never get used to it and it is very harmful to our people. We will reserve judgment on your article until after it is published and we are hopeful that it is accurate, fair and balanced. If it is not, we will seek the appropriate advice from our legal counsel.

Thank you, may Allah guide you to right path.

Some vestiges of the original articles remain in Google's cache, but they seem to be disappearing fast. Here's one:

A man stood o­n a branch of a tall and expansive tree. He began to saw off the branch that he was standing o­n. Instead of sawing the tip of the branch, he was sawing the branch at the place that it was attached to the tree. This put him directly in danger of falling. Yet, whenever someone tried to instruct and warn him that by cutting the branch at that location he was harming himself, he would not allow him or her to speak or take their advice.

This is a direct example of the situation that the Muslim woman is in today when she follows the unknown theories (destructive Western arguments) that are being perpetrated. She never asks herself why she is willing to follow these ideas. Not knowing that these ideas are what have taken away her personality and change her perception of reality. She becomes like a ball that is batted around with no control of her own. She becomes completely immersed in these illicit arguments that possess her completely. The o­nly way of saving herself is by isolating herself from those destructive opinions, and by turning to her trusted and verified Sharee‘ah.

Her Fitra (natural inclination to believe in Allah and do good while abandoning evil) protects the Muslim woman of this era, from dissolving into evil. Even though she is in an ominous predicament.

This quickly changes o­nce she becomes introduced to the wickedness of Western ideology and concepts. She quickly begins to sink into a void of restlessness and misguidance.

The Muslim woman may become so infatuated with their Western culture and practice, that she begins to abhor her own culture and dress. She becomes fixated o­n trying to appear and act like her “role models” of corruption. This is something that Western companies and factories are more than willing to capitalize o­n.

“Lo! You are the o­nes who love them but they love you not.” Ali-‘Imran 3:119
Only the o­ne with Islamic intuition and direction can see the pattern of Zionist influence and behaviour upon the many nations and people. They are morally, religiously, and ethically destroying society after society.

Muslim women’s identity has been under attack as a way of destroying her self-image. The Jews have shown their determination in trying to destroy Hijab. This habit is not new. During the life of Rasool-ul-Allah (saaw) a group of Jews uncovered a Muslim woman in the market place of Bani Qainuq‘a. To this day their intentions and habits are the same, they intend the defamation of our Muslim woman. They know that destroy the woman equals destroying the society that she is a part of.

Saddening indeed is the situation of the Muslim women who have relented to the calls of those who are our clear enemies. Many have been brainwashed into believing the words of the disbelievers. Some have accepted the concepts and ideology of the disbelievers in their hearts while their tongues profess Islam. They strive to remove Hijab from our woman while calling to so-called “Islamic Feminism.” Surely they attract those who hate what Allah has revealed, the worshippers of woman and lust.

Also, know my Muslim sister that to conceal your face and allow your eyebrows, cheekbone, and bridge of the nose to remain uncovered is clear error. Some women use this as a ploy to cover up their inadequate features. They will uncover what they like and cover what they dislike. If our woman folk exit their homes having beautified themselves, uncovering more that what they cover, perfumed, while using their eyes and movement to attract the attention of men, they are indeed calling to deviance and disorder.

Here's something I didn't know:

o­n the authority of Jaabir who said: "The Jews used to say that if a man entered his wife in the vagina but from behind, their child would be cross-eyed! Then Allaah revealed the verse: "Your wives are as a tilth unto you; so approach your tilth when or how ye will;" [al-Baqarah 2:223]. The Prophet said : "From the front or the back, as long as it is in the vagina". [Al-Bukharee and Muslim]

And:

...this despite their hearts containing different shades of jealousy, arrogance and hatred towards their brothers. In this there is a clear resemblance to the Jews.

This article makes it clear who these Canadian Muslims considered their enemies:

Indeed, fear is a weapon, which Allah implants in the hearts of His enemies. This is why the strength of the Muslims, is not in their great numbers - weapons or wealth - but it is in their aqeedah (belief) and their adhering to it. For today there are plenty of Muslims, but they are like foam, like the foam carried by the waves. And their riches are many but cannot be for them. Rather, it has become the possession of their enemies. For example: The Muslims today approximate over o­ne billion and they grow in number everyday. However, at the same time they are the weakest of nations in every country they are in, being persecuted - why?

Because they have become like foam, like the foam o­n the waves. Also, the lands of the Muslims possess many riches and minerals, but where does it all end up? With the disbelievers in Europe or America, or it goes to the jews of palestine. The Muslim oil constitutes approximately o­ne third of the world's reserves, but the Muslims are the poorest of people - why?

The mosque has now apologized to the Canadian Jewish Congress about these postings, but it has not come even close to repudiating them.

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Top five possible reasons for uranium in Syria

The IAEA, in its infinite wisdom, has said that the fact that they found processed uranium in Syria where Israel bombed them last year was not proof that Syria was actually building a nuclear facility there.

Because, after all, there are many possible reasons to find enriched, processed uranium there:

5. Some old atomic worker relieved himself at the site.
4. Mahmoud Ahmadinejad misplaced some on his last visit.
3. A meteorite landed in Syria.
2. Syria imported bottled water from Connecticut.
1. Obviously, Israel bombed the site with uranium!

Given these likely reasons, it is absurd to even consider that Syria might have been trying to develop any nuclear weapons. Thank God we have Mohamed ElBaradei to put things in context.

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Some unreported news

It appears that despite being under constant rocket barrages, Israel allowed some 33 truckloads of food to Gaza, including "15 trucks of dairy products and frozen meat destined for the private sector and 18 others shipping aid for UNRWA and international organizations."

Rafah, however, seems to be enjoying a bazaar atmosphere as the starving Palestinian Arabs are freely selling food, clothing, TVs and motorcycles. Arutz-7 shows a series of photos, including these:



But while Gazans can feel free to publicly sell their smuggled goods, their leaders are a bit less likely to be seen in public. Hamas leaders are in hiding in underground bunkers out of fear of Israeli airstrikes against them.

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Nice shooting

The Firas Press website is very upset at Hamas for publishing this picture of dead PRC members next to a rocket launcher, killed in an Israeli airstrike.

Firas thinks that Hamas is giving up too much intelligence information by showing where the rocket launchers were.

But that doesn't stop this from being a nice picture to look at:

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The holy crow of Fatah

The messages at the pro-Fatah Firas Press site are humming over the sight of a crow pecking at the Hamas flag on the anniversary of Arafat's death:



Some commenters are calling the crow a "hero!"

Another commenter claimed that he was a Hamas member but left the movement after seeing the crow nip at the Hamas flag.

Many are saying this is a sign from Allah that the Hamas movement will be destroyed.

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The Quran can cure cancer!

You learn something new every day.

From Daily News and Analysis (India):

Emphasising the relevance and importance of Islam, religious leaders from across the country said it was meant for the “governance of humanity”. People following Islam ensure that actions taken by them are in the best of the interest of mankind, they said.

The religious leaders spoke at a press conference held on the sidelines of the 10-day Islamic Peace Conference (IPC), which began on Friday at Somaiya ground in Sion (East).

“This religion was introduced to tell people how to govern humanity,” said Maulana Abul Waheedi. Maulana Fuzail-ur-Qasmi of Amir Jamaat-e-Hind, said: “There are grave problems the world faces and Islam can provide a solution to these.”

“The Quran can be a panacea for all problems, including medical problems,” said Maulana Ashfaque Salafi.

Who can resist?

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Peaceful PalArab weekend

The West's favorite "moderate" politician, Mahmoud Abbas, peacefully threatened Israel saying that if Israel doesn't go back to the pre-1967 "Auschwitz borders," there will be perpetual war.

Which goes to show that the PLO letter to Israel at Oslo that solemnly promised to abandon violence was not worth the paper it was written on. And brings up the question that people are afraid to ask: what is to say that any "peace agreement" will not be torn up as well?

Fatah is planning a conference to debate this exact issue - whether to stay with supposed peace while supporting terror implicitly, or to return to supporting terror explicitly.

A "work accident" killed 2 terrorists in Beit Hanoun, but predictably the PalArabs blame an Israeli airstrike. After a lull, the 2008 PalArab self-death count rises to 213.

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Candles and streetlights

Snapped Shot notices that one of the AP's carefully crafted shots of candlelight protestors in Gaza didn't adequately crop out the background:Palestinians hold candles and placards during a protest against Israeli sanctions, at the main road in Gaza City, Thursday, Nov.13, 2008. Gaza officials shut down their only power plant, cutting off electricity to much of the city of 300,000, after Israel canceled plans to ship in some diesel fuel for the plant as well as 30 trucks full of humanitarian supplies. The Israeli move came after Gaza militants fired at least eight rockets and some mortar shells at Israel on Thursday, according to the Israeli military.

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The terror professor

From CTV:

The RCMP has arrested a Canadian man in Quebec at the request of France, which accuses the man of being behind a bomb attack that killed four people at a Paris synagogue in 1980.

The Department of Justice confirmed to CTV.ca that Hassan Diab, 55, was arrested at his home in Gatineau, Quebec Thursday.

Diab is a part-time sociology professor at the University of Ottawa, CTV News has learned. According to the university officials, he teaches one class at the undergraduate level.

Diab is also listed as a contract instructor in the department of sociology and anthropology at Carleton University for the fall of 2008. Carleton officials could not be reached for comment Thursday evening.

Two French anti-terrorism judges travelled to Canada earlier this week according to The Associated Press. Investigators are searching Diab's home and office for clues, including DNA samples.

A year ago the story broke that Diab was being investigated by French authorities. He told French media it was a case of mistaken identity.

Three French citizens and one Israeli woman were killed outside a synagogue in a posh area of Paris when a bomb went off minutes before a crowd of people were due to emerge from the synagogue. Twenty others were hurt.

The attack took place on a Friday evening, at the start of the Jewish Sabbath.

The Ottawa Citizen adds:

As one of the first contemporary terrorist strikes on a synagogue outside the Middle East, the blast led to the fortification of Jewish community sites across Europe and North America and a massive wave of anti-Semitism across France.

The break in the case came in September 2007 when German authorities discovered an old membership list for the now-defunct PFLP-SO, prompting a new French magistrate to reactivate the investigation.

A month later, Le Figaro, quoting unnamed sources, reported that French authorities suspected Mr. Diab was the leader of the small commando team responsible for the attack and asked Canada for assistance with their investigation.

The main Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine group, blacklisted by the Canadian government as a terrorist group since 2003, is described as a secular Palestinian group, purportedly guided by Marxist ideology, that is responsible for the 1968 hijacking of an El Al flight en route from Rome to Tel Aviv, as well as car and suicide bombings in Israel.

The Globe and Mail is sympathetic with the professor:

Until last year, Hassan Diab was leading the quiet life of a Canadian sociology professor.

Prof. Diab was teaching at both Carleton University and the University of Ottawa, was said to be a popular colleague and teacher. After leaving the violence of his native Lebanon and earning his doctorate in the United States, Prof. Diab, 54, received his Canadian citizenship and appeared to settle into Ottawa.

There, friends said he was a secular man with an interest in sociology and Middle East studies, and was not without a warm side.

"He has a great rapport with students," said Carleton professor Nahla Abdo, a friend of Prof. Diab's. "He's intelligent, he's smart, he's witty. ... I really think highly of his academic skills."

But just before noon yesterday, the RCMP showed up at a home in Gatineau, Que., and arrested Prof. Diab on behalf of French authorities, who allege he was an integral part of the bombing of a Paris synagogue 28 years ago.

Today, Prof. Diab will appear in court in an extradition hearing. He steadfastly maintains his innocence, saying he wasn't in Paris at all that year, his name is very common, and that French investigators simply have the wrong man.

"It's a case of mistaken identity," his lawyer, René Duval, told The Globe and Mail last night. "I'm telling you he's innocent, and we'll fight that up to the Supreme Court of Canada."

The first allegations against Prof. Diab surfaced last November, when a French newspaper, Le Figaro, received a leak that Prof. Diab built the bomb in the 1980 attack. The story made news across France and Canada.

For Mr. Diab, life hasn't been the same since. He has been harassed, followed, and had one person attempt to break into his apartment, his lawyer alleges. None of the specific charges against him have been made openly and French authorities have not attempted to contact Mr. Duval.

The Globe and Mail takes pains to make it sound like a secular professor couldn't possibly be a terrorist, without noting that the PFLP has a secular Marxist ideology.

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Haaretz' wishful thinking

On November 8, Ha'aretz had a sensational headline:

Haniyeh: We will accept Israel within '67 borders

The article text, however, didn't really say that Haniyeh would accept Israel. His exact quote was "A Palestinian state will not be created at this time except in the territories of 1967."

Ha'aretz realized that its wishful thinking was once again affecting its news policies and silently changed the headline to

Haniyeh: Hamas willing to accept Palestinian state with 1967 borders

The original headline was cached in Google News for a while, and can still be found in some blogs.

It is obvious to anyone who isn't blinded by ideology that Hamas has no interest in recognizing Israel. Yet there will always be that set of influential people who will ignore the thousands of Hamas statements that explicitly call for the destruction of Israel and the murder of Jews and instead desperately parse statements that could be twisted into sort of looking like something less than completely genocidal intent.

Yet even after Haaretz noticed its gaffe, it has repeated it today, with another non-story that it is breathlessly peddling:

Haniyeh recognized Israel in 2006 letter to President Bush

And what did letter say?

Haniyeh wrote in the missive, "We are an elected government which came through a democratic process."

In the second paragraph, Haniyeh laid out the political platform he maintains to this day. "We are so concerned about stability and security in the area that we don't mind having a Palestinian state in the 1967 borders and offering a truce for many years," he wrote.

Haniyeh called on Bush to launch a dialogue with the Hamas government.

"We are not warmongers, we are peace makers and we call on the American government to have direct negotiations with the elected government," he wrote. Haniyeh also urged the American government to act to end the international boycott "because the continuation of this situation will encourage violence and chaos in the whole region."

The exact same thing - Hamas "moderate" plan for the destruction of Israel in stages - is again being hailed by Haaretz as a huge breakthrough.

One would think that they would be somewhat embarrassed by now for continuously being proven wrong about how peaceful Hamas is, but it is difficult to underestimate the hopeful stupidity of the Israeli "peace camp."

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Status quo: Jews lived in all quarters of the Old City

The recent re-opening of the Ohel Yitzchak synagogue near the Temple Mount has again ignited protests from Arabs who claim that Jews are trying to "Judaize" the Old City of Jerusalem.

What most people don't realize is that Jews have lived throughout the Old City, not just in the so-called "Jewish Quarter."

A description of Jewish places throughout Jerusalem was written by the late Rabbi Yaakov Goldman in 1975, and it is a fascinating and important article with many photographs. Here are some excerpts:

Many say to us Jews that, even in the best of days before the establishment of the State, Jews only lived in one section of the Old City, called the Jewish Quarter, and, since there are four quarters, and we have had only one, what claim do we have to sovereignty over the whole of the Old City? Unfortunately, I find that not only non-Jews, but even Jews seem to accept this apparently reasonable 'fact.' We Jews also speak of the "Jewish" Quarter. Even the Israeli government has laid down special regulations about the Jewish Quarter, regarding settlement of Jews, which do not equally apply to the other quarters. I see in this a false assumption, and a great danger if we accept such a way of thinking. For, in actuality, the entire Old City, all four quarters, has been inhabited by Jews for at least the last few centuries. And Jewish population has been, if not a majority, a substantial minority in these quarters, at various points in history.

The 'Moslem' Quarter

The Moslem Quarter is described in detail by one of the great rabbis of Jerusalem, who died ten years ago, Ben-Zion Yadler. Rabbi Yadler would go to the Kotel on Tisha B'av at midnight, when he would begin teaching Midrash. Up till twelve o'clock he wouldn't appear - there were too many 'Zionists' who used to come. But at twelve we would all gather together and he would tell us about Jerusalem. I remember once that Arabs began throwing stones at us. He said to us in Yiddish, "Don't be upset. You wanted them to give you back Palestine; they're giving it to you stone by stone."

He writes a full description of what is today called the Moslem Quarter, and says as follows: Not only did the majority of Jews of Jerusalem live in the so-called 'Moslem' Quarter, but, also the more important Jews lived there, rather than in other sections of the city. And he goes on to describe twenty-two synagogues (I've been able to locate practically all of them), many mikvaot and yeshivot, among them, the biggest yeshiva in that part of the city - which is fortunately still standing - Torat Chaim. As you come from Damascus Gate, it's on the left side of El Wad Road. Very strange: it is right on the Via Dolorosa part of the street. (The Via Dolorosa curves at one point, and part of it is on El Wad Road.)

Then you have another big yeshiva, Chaye Olam, with a Talmud Torah of twenty-two classrooms -- each classroom today is an Arab home. (A Talmud Torah consists of eight grades, and here there were three parallel classes.) Part of the building is now unused. That part was never finished because the Arabs brought a case against it in 1927 when the yeshiva wanted to start a new wing. They weren't able to finish it, so they just have the walls up. The yeshiva is close to what is the holiest part of Jerusalem for Jews.

There is another building, very close to the golden-domed mosque, which a Hungarian Jew, who arrived here about a hundred years ago, put up. In that building were two yeshivot called Mishmarot (Watches) because twenty-four hours a day Torah was studied there. Rabbi Yadler described how at midnight one group would come from the farthest corners of Jerusalem and another group would go home at that late hour to a place called Bab-el-Hota, close to the Lions Gate. I was still able to find one or two Jews who lived there in their youth. A synagogue was there, but it's been abandoned for over forty years. You can still see the building near two Turkish baths. One is on the corner of the Bab-el-Katunin, and is called Hamam-el-en; and closer to the Temple Mount, very close, is the second bathhouse. Both of these bath-houses had good mikvaot under the supervision of rabbis. The Arab owners didn't want to lose Jewish trade, and they made special arrangements for mikvaot.

The article also describes many of the Christian holy places in the Moslem quarter and other Jewish sites in the Armenian and Christian quarters. And it has this pertinent observation:

Control

Once again, people are reviving the issue of international control of Jerusalem. Even such an authority as Dr. Kissinger has said that Jerusalem is holy to the three religions. There is a very great distinction. However, for the Christians and Moslems there are holy places in Jerusalem. But the city, as a whole, is not holy to them. However, to Jews the city itself is holy. We have the regulations in the Mishna: "The whole world is holy to Jews; Eretz Yisrael is holier, Jerusalem is still holier, the Temple Mount is holiest." There is a special sanctity that pervades Jerusalem as a city (irrespective of whether there happens to be there synagogues or other holy sites) which is not the same for Islam or Christianity.

Read the whole thing to learn things about Jerusalem that you will not find anywhere else.

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PalArab press: "Livni threatens to attack mosques"

Here's a perfect example of incitement in the Palestinian Arab press.

The headline at Palestine Today says,

At the UN "Dialogue of Religions" Conference, Peres discusses peace while Livni threatens to attack mosques and "extremists" in war

And here is what Livni really said:

The Middle East conflict is not the cause of extremism. The conflict and the violence are a result of the manipulation of religion and believers by extremist leaders who try to reap political benefits at the expense of innocent believers. The ones who pay the price are the believers themselves.

Today's event sends a very important message to the region, but messages alone are not enough. It's a necessary beginning, but certainly not the end. The beginning of a common struggle against extremists, before it's too late. The Middle East is paying a price because of the extremists living there. Israel will fight extremists, terror and extremism and, at the same time, continue to negotiate, as we are determined to do; we must continue these parallel tracks of counterterrorism and negotiation.

A piece of paper is not enough to achieve a genuine peace; we need to change the message conveyed in the mosques, prayer houses and schools. Extremism is not a gratuitous idea. The fight against extremists is common to the region's leaders. I know that some of the leaders in neighboring countries think it will be easier to live with the extremists, but they had better understand that when they shut their eyes to the hostility emanating from the mosques and the schools, it works against you as a leader, against your people, and against the possibility to bring peace. The change must happen also in our states.

We will continue to negotiate, we will continue to fight terror and extremism, and only when we do both simultaneously will there be peace.

For people who consider the preaching of terrorism in mosques to be mainstream Islam, I guess that her statements do sound like a declaration of war against all mosques.

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Fun with the PalArabic press

This morning, four heavily armed Hamas terrorists tried to breach the fence into Israel, and alert Israeli forces killed them:

According to military sources, gunmen approached the fence in an area east of Khan Younis and were about to enter Israeli territory when a paratrooper force identified them and opened fire at them.

Four Palestinians were killed in the clashes and several were injured. One soldier was lightly injured in his hand and was evacuated to Soroka Medical Center in Beersheba.

The force uncovered Kalashnikov rifles and grenades on the gunmen's bodies.

Ma'an English, of course, reports things completely differently, based on those ever present "eyewitnesses":

Witnesses said Israeli warplanes fired two missiles during fighting between the armed men and Israeli tanks who had invaded. One missile was fired at a mosque, and the other exploded near a school, where the fighters were located.

Other witnesses reported a different version of the airstrike. According this account, three missiles landed near houses belonging to two families named Aal Muhanna and An-Naja, and another landed near the Al-Islah mosque.

It is amazing how "eyewitnesses" can see completely different things, and how they consistently find that Israel is shooting at schools and mosques and never at terrorists. Of course, coincidentally, "resistance fighters" usually are the only ones who happen to be killed while Israel supposedly attacks these mosques and schools.

But Ma'an Arabic shows how Arabs really feel:

Four Martyrs in Israeli shelling east of Qarara sector

...The medical crew found the body of the martyrs...

The Qassam Brigades announced the death in a statement about the martyrs, promising to respond harshly to Israeli aggression.

Ah, they weren't just "fighters" - they were on a holy mission!

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