Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Sunday, June 28, 2009

Jordan taking away citizenship rights from some Palestinian Jordanians

Over the past two decades, Jordan has been quietly consistently and methodically restricting citizenship rights for its Palestinian Arab residents. These deliberate moves have been essentially invisible to the West.

Most people don't realize that, although Jordan extended full citizenship to Palestinian Arabs on both banks of the Jordan river in 1950, they revoked the citizenship of West Bank Palestinian Arabs in 1988 (except for those in UNRWA-run camps.) This affected some 750,000 people, ironically roughly the same number who became refugees in 1948 to begin with. King Hussein justified this move of turning three-quarters of a million people stateless by saying it was "with the aim of enhancing the Palestinian national orientation, and highlighting the Palestinian identity."

As a result, Jordan adopted a tiered passport system, giving some citizens full rights but restricting West Bank Palestinian Arabs to either "yellow card" (five year) or "green card" (two year) status, effectively reducing citizenship rights into travel documents. (There are also some 150,000 Gazans in Jordan who have "blue card" status with no citizenship rights.) Those with green cards can only travel to Jordan with specific work permits or to visit family on a temporary basis.

In recent years, Jordan has been tightening these restrictions even further, often swapping the five-year yellow cards with two-year green cards for its Palestinian Arab residents.

In 2006, Jordan admitted that it had a policy that anyone who held a Palestinian Authority passport would lose their all their rights as Jordanians. Apparently this policy has been accelerating even more recently.

Al-Quds today quotes a Jordanian newspaper with specific cases of East Bank families losing their Jordanian citizenship for merely having had visited the West Bank in the past decade. From the interviews and the comments, it is apparent that Jordanian Palestinians are upset and angry at their dwindling rights. It is equally apparent that Jordan is doing everything possible to marginalize and exclude their Palestinian Arab population.

Yet the world is completely silent at these actions by Jordan. As long as the Arab kingdoms can justify their systematic discrimination against their Palestinian brethren as being for the Palestinians' own good, they are immune from criticism by the West. And the Palestinian Arab leaders will not publicize their suffering that comes directly from Arab regimes so as not to dilute their blaming Israel exclusively for their six decades of pain.

Human rights organizations are particularly quiet about this methodical discrimination against Palestinian Arabs in the Arab world. In fact, Jordan is the country that treats Palestinian Arabs far better than any other, even though its bigotry against the Palestinian 60% of its population is transparent and obvious.

You will never find anyone calling Jordan's purposeful disenfranchisement of over a million Palestinian Arabs a "naqba."

Al-Arabiya reports that the Saudi Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice is soon to gain a new weapon in protecting Saudis from the horror of indecent behavior:

Saudi Arabia's religious police caused a stir this week after they told a parliament session they planned to install cameras in shopping malls to monitor and catch people committing what they labeled as "indecent behavior."

But the religious police defended their suggestion, which they said they were asked to do by the mall administrators.

"Firstly the decision is still open for discussion," Abdul-Mohsen al-Qafari, a spokesman for the religious police, said, adding "mall security officers will be in charge of surveillance and only in case violations or suspicious behavior would they contact the committee."

The committee's deputy chief, Ibrahim bin Suleiman al-Howaimel, denied press reports that the Shura Council had rejected the decision and said only some members had reservations.

Howaimel added that so far surveillance cameras have been a success in several malls in the capital of Riyadh and the holy city of Mecca, where cameras were installed two years ago.

"The decision aims at making the committee do its job as it is supposed to be by monitoring people's behavior. This is for the benefit of everyone," he added.

The committee has field officers all over the kingdom and their job is to make sure that unrelated men and women do not mingle and that stores close during prayer times. They also cooperate with the police to combat the use of alcohol and drugs.

Our heroes at the Muttawa have their defenders for this idea as well, as this letter to the Arab News attests:

Some say the commission is trying to strengthen its presence and power in malls by taking away personal freedoms. But are these cameras any different from security cameras aimed at preventing theft? Why do some consider cameras for monitoring sexual harassment a bad idea?

In Islam, protecting a person’s dignity is very important. So which is more important: monitoring against shoplifting or guarding against the theft of a woman’s dignity?

Fairness demands that we look at this issue with logic and reason. I am sure the commission is not going to use these cameras to blackmail shoppers or violate their freedoms. There are many women who in the Arabic press call for installing cameras in streets and shopping places to put an end to sexual harassment.

The letter writer is right - the religious police wouldn't even think of violating people's freedoms.

He leaves one question unanswered, tough: if the reason the Saudis force women to wear burqas and abayas is to make them immune from sexual harassment, why is there still so much sexual harassment that forces the Muttawa to install cameras? Has any study been done that shows a correlation of Muslim women dressing modestly and their safety from harassment? Or, perhaps, a reverse correlation?

UPDATE: The Muttawa now denies any plans to install such cameras. It now is focusing on the next real threat: immoral haircuts and jewelry:

Al-Homayyel said the Hai’a would work with the ministries of Education, Culture and Information, Municipal and Rural Affairs, and the General Presidency of Youth Welfare to fight alien customs such as “strange hairstyles, western clothes and sexual harassment.”

The Strategic Studies Center affiliated to the Hai’a has conducted a series of studies on what it called “alien habits” manifested in haircuts and neck chains worn by some teenagers influenced by Western fashion.

"We will Knock on the doors of Paradise with the skulls of Jews"

In the Hamas Al-Qassam Brigades English forum, there is a "martyr" section where the signature of every posting looks like this:

Ezzedeen Al-Qassam Brigades
We will Knock on the doors of Paradise with the skulls of Jews

But don't you dare call them anti-semites. They get very offended.

By the way, the Arabic Al Qassam Brigades site continues to stealthily add more and more names of their terrorist members who were "martyred" in the Gaza operation over five months ago. We now have identified 302 people who the PCHR called "civilian."

Party of God News

Yesterday:

Speaking about his party's relations with foreign countries, [Hezbollah deputy leader, Sheikh Naim Qassem] said Hezbollah was open to talks with representatives of all Western governments except the United States.

"Several US officials at different levels and more or less close to the administration have asked to speak with us but we have refused," he said.

"It is useless to have any dialogue with the Americans since they regard us as terrorists," Qassem added. "The Europeans for their part have a role to play, especially as they are taking a different approach from the Americans."

Today:

Hizbullah has a greater capability of staging a mass casualty terrorist attack in the US than al-Qaida does, and military action against Iran might trigger exactly that, according to a top counter-terrorism official with the New York police.

So, when will we be reaching out to Al Qaeda?

Terror group celebrates anniversary of murder

From Ma'an:

The armed wing of the Popular Resistance Committees said on Friday it would consider capturing further Israeli soldiers for future exchanges.

As long as one Palestinian prisoner remains in an Israeli jail, the Salah Ad-Din Brigades said in a statement to Ma'an, capturing Israeli soldiers "will remain among the most important of our priorities for the present and coming stages."

The brigades' statement came on the three-year anniversary of the capture and killing of an Israeli pre-military yeshiva student and settler, Eliyahu Asheri, in the northern West Bank.

Asheri was a civilian, plain and simple. Calling him a "pre-military yeshiva student and settler" is the Arab way to whitewash a war crime.

And the murderers were not only from the PRC, but mostly from the "moderate" Fatah movement.

PalArab news roundup 6-26-09

Amina Abbas, the wife of the PA president, spoke at an Arab women's conference in Tunisia. of course, she didn't talk about "honor killings" or the dangers to women's rights posed by radical Islam or anything like that - she spoke about Israeli "brutal aggression." Interestingly, she said now that "over 1500" were killed in Gaza. The lies keep increasing...

A Palestinian Arab media organization blasted both Hamas and the PA for infringing on freedom of the press - arresting journalists, stopping distribution of newspapers they don't agree with, and intimidation leading to self-censorship.

While Reporters Sans Frontieres did not report on this, they did mention that the PA erased video footage from an Al Jazeera reporter two weeks ago about a case of alleged torture in a West Bank prison.

One was killed and four are missing in another smuggling tunnel collapse. The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 108.

The Jews of Jerusalem, 1871

Sometimes I like looking through Google Books to see what life was like for Jews in Palestine in the 19th century. Here is a description of both prayer at the Kotel as well as how the Muslims treated the Jews at this pre-Zionist time.

Narrative of a Modern Pilgrimage Through Palestine on Horseback, and with Tents By Alfred Charles Smith, Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (Great Britain),

On another occasion we paid a visit to the outer wall of the Haram, a spot in the Tyroposon where several courses of huge bevelled stones, such as I have mentioned above, are confidently asserted to be a fragment of the south-west wall of the Temple, but would be more correctly described as the base of the wall which supports the west side of the Temple area;4 at all events, it is the nearest approach which the Jews can make to the remains of their ancient sanctuary, and it is sheltered from observation by high walls and narrow passages.1 This is well known as the Jews' " wailing-place," and here may generally be seen two or three Israelites weeping and praying ; but on the afternoon of Friday, when we visited it, after threading our way through the intricate, not to say filthy, lanes which lead from the "Dung gate" through this crowded portion of the city, there must have been sixty or seventy Jews of both sexes assembled for the very touching service which is held here every week just before their Sabbath begins. We found the men assembled at one portion of the wall, the women at another; all were provided with Hebrew Scriptures, and first the minister read one portion, and then the people responded in loud voices, while all rocked their heads and swayed their bodies, and bowed again and again, after the manner peculiar to the Jews of every country. Then it was touching to see them handling the venerated stones of the beloved Temple ; old men and women feeling them with reverent and caressing touch, patting them, putting their fingers in the interstices between the several blocks, and kissing them with passionate earnestness,2 while tears streamed down their furrowed cheeks, and the lamentation was hearty and sincere. The younger portion of the community did not appear so demonstrative in their grief, though there were unmistakable signs of an intensity of feeling on every face ; and, doubtless, amongst that devout congregation there was nothing of hollow appearance or formal pretence, for, in accordance with the prophecy of Isaiah,3 they mourn over the departed glory of their race with most genuine sorrow, and they pray for the happy restoration of their country, for which they so ardently long, with such a vehemence of devotion, and with their whole souls so absorbed in the work, as to testify to their firm faith in the efficacy of united supplication.
With many authors it has been the habit to ridicule this weekly lamentation of the Jews over the desolation of their beloved Temple as a mere superstitious and idolatrous veneration of the glorious fabric long since destroyed; but, to my mind, then: persistent reverence, their ardent longings for restoration, their eager hopes for the future, far from exciting ridicule, bespeak our warmest sympathy; and if they do cling to the spot which recalls their past glory with the stubborn obstinacy for which the race is notorious, surely it is not only an excusable, but a very praiseworthy and patriotic tenacity, and is calculated to command respect and admiration for a body generally disliked and despised. It was certainly the most affecting scene we witnessed throughout our tour, and one which has impressed itself very deeply on my memory; for it was no exceptional service, no extraordinary outburst of overwrought feelings, such as sometimes accompanies religious revivals in England, but which rarely has any solid foundation on which it may rest when the excitement of the moment is passed away; but here was a congregation assembled from all parts of the world, meeting together regularly week by week—as has been the custom for many ages—on every Friday in the year, and their tears and their sobs showed how genuine was their lamentation, and how in real truth they mourned over the rough foundation stones of their revered Temple.
The Jews at Jerusalem were singularly forbearing with strangers, and—considering their general antipathy to all Gentiles—were almost civil and obliging. This unnatural good-will might perhaps be due in part to my escort, the well-known Yakoob ; perhaps, too, in part to their own despised condition, for, scarcely tolerated and often persecuted as they are by their Muslim rulers, they dare not show an illiberal spirit, or display any tokens of religious hostility or rancour through fear of retaliation ; still more, may we not say, in all probability to the kindness and charity and good feeling shown towards them by the Anglican and American missions, of whose disinterested goodness and large-hearted benevolence towards them they have had ample proof, and of which they are, for the most part, fully sensible.

Example #69,823 of Palestinian Arabs lying

A new book just came out called "Arafat and the Dream of Palestine: An Insider's Account," by Bassam Abu Sharif.

The prologue is available on Amazon and it talks about Arafat's plan crash in the Libyan desert and how Sharif reacted to the news. Sharif speaks reverently about how Arafat heroically handled the crash, taking care of the survivors personally. One detail of the story is very interesting, though:

Sharif says that he had to call The White House. He got connected to President Jimmy Carter, who was at his Georgia home, who within 15 minutes found out exactly where Arafat's plane was and communicated the coordinates back to Sharif. Thanks to the quick thinking of Sharif and Carter, Arafat's life was saved.

One small problem is that, according to Sharif, the plane crash occurred on April 8, 1993, over twelve years after Jimmy Carter left office.

If Sharif called ex-President Carter in 1993, is it possible that Carter would still manage to get that information to Sharif in 15 minutes? Is it possible that he could completely circumvent The White House, the State Department, the CIA and everyone else necessary to get satellite intelligence so quickly?

Well, it turns out that Sharif is quite simply a liar. First of all, the crash happened in 1992, not 1993. And according to the New York Times,

In Washington, Bush Administration officials said a feeling of ambivalence about Mr. Arafat's fate led to indecision on whether to use American satellites to try to find the P.L.O. leader's downed plane. A Palestinian official had sought American help through former President Jimmy Carter, but the White House had not reached a decision by the time the plane was found. The State Department insisted it played no role in the rescue, saying: "We did nothing. Nothing."

They lie as naturally as they breathe. And one can assume that this worshipful book about Arafat is as filled with lies as this first anecdote is.

Hamas reveals more about Carter's love of terrorists

Palestine Press Agency quotes a Hamas official giving more details of what Jimmy Carter told them during his visit.

Hamas parliamentary spokesman Salah al-Bardawil quoted former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, during his visit to the Gaza Strip recently, as saying to Hamas:"Help us to help Obama to overcome the Zionist lobby.... What can you do to help Mitchell, and even help Obama, so that everyone can make the policy change to the terms that the "Quartet" demands ofthe Palestinian people?!"

He added that Carter said, "Mitchell is waiting on pins and needles, and if did not receive this letter [I assume to accept a Palestinian Arab state in the territories, not recognizing Israel, and accepting the Arab peace initiative - EoZ], I think that your fate will be very, very difficult, and even if elections have taken place so you will not be allowed entry [accepted as legitimate] .. I am so sad .. I do not want this, but the decision is not in my hands."

The next paragraph is not so clear; I will reproduce the autotranslated version and my interpretation:

Bardawil stressed that "the game is clear: Obama launched .. .. Netanyahu invest Carter plays in relationships and networking to take advantage of direct reactions in practice."

"The game is clear: Obama sent Carter to make judgments directly from Netanyahu and others' reactions to trial balloons."

Baradawil continued, "Carter does not come to the area by chance, as a man without a decision ... Carter was certainly under orders from Obama personally; because Obama was Carter's pupil, and Mitchell was his student as well."

Just as a reminder, the Quartet conditions that evidently have Carter so steamed are that Hamas should oppose violence, accept Israel's existence and honor past agreements. Apparently Carter has problems with all three.

Hamas says it doesn't know if Shalit is alive

From Xinhua:

The Islamic Hamas movement on Thursday said it cannot confirm or deny if the captive Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit is still alive.
"The crazy war on the Gaza Strip wiped out everything so we don't know if Shalit is still alive or if he has died," Osama al-Muzini, a Hamas official authorized to speak on this issue, told Xinhua, referring to a 22-day Israeli offensive against the Hamas-controlled territory in January.
Al-Muzini, however, said Israel has to go ahead with talks to exchange Shalit for a number of Arab prisoners "whether the soldier was dead or alive."
"The Zionist enemy has to pursue negotiations without any signal confirming or denying this argument," al-Muzini added.
Thursday marks the third anniversary of Shalit's capture by Hamas-led Gaza militants in a cross-border raid at his military base near the Gaza Strip.

This is even more barbaric than Hamas' refusal to let the Red Cross visit Shalit. The torture that Hamas puts Shalit's family through is sickening.

Hamas has every reason to show signs of life from Shalit, as it helps their bargaining position. Their denying knowledge of Shalit's condition - as clear a lie as is possible - indicates that these murderous scum are not in a hurry to purchase their next "birthday cake" for him.

B'Tselem and Hamas' excellent adventure

YNet reports:

A B’Tselem ad calling on Hamas to release IDF soldier Gilad Shalit "immediately and unconditionally" has been banned in Gaza, according to the Israeli human rights organization.

The group spokeswoman said the ad was published on Thursday by the Palestinian newspaper Al-Quds, which is circulated in the West Bank, but the Gaza-based daily 'Palestine' refused to print it.

"We wanted to publish the ad in the Gaza Strip as well, but we were unsuccessful," the spokeswoman told Ynet.

"They ('Palestine' newspaper staff) did not give us a reason for the refusal, but we assume it's because the issue is a complex one (in the Hamas-ruled territory). The press in Gaza is apparently not so free. The ad was published in Al-Quds, and we hope the residents of Gaza will read it there."

B'Tselem, a human rights organization, will not hesitate to condemn Israel at the drop of a hat, but look how difficult it is for them to say anything bad about Hamas.

"We assume."
"It's complex."
"Apparently not so free."

Not "We were refused" but "we were unsuccessful."

This episode illuminates B'Tselem's mindset far better than it illustrates Hamas'.

UC Santa Barbara clears lying, anti-semitic professor

From YNet/AP:

A committee at a California university has cleared a professor who sent an e-mail comparing Israel's policies in Gaza to the Holocaust.

Officials at the University of California, Santa Barbara, sent a letter Wednesday to sociology professor William I. Robinson saying the committee had closed the matter.

In January, Robinson offended some students and others with an e-mail to his "Sociology of Globalization" class that juxtaposed grisly photos from the Nazi era with a recent Gaza offensive.

Robinson has said his justified criticism of Israel's policies should not be confused as anti-Semitism.

As I reported then, the media screwed up this story big time.

First of all, Robinson sent out an email with 42 pictures juxtaposing Nazi-era pictures with pictures of Israelis and Arabs. While it was characterized as if it was source material for a class, it was nothing of the sort.

Secondly, while the university seems to have been fixated on whether this was anti-semitic or not (and it clearly is,) it ignored that his "facts" were provably wrong. Robinson didn't just tell his students his opinions; he told them lies as if they were factual.

When a university has such a disregard for the truth, it loses all credibility. This episode does not just damn Robinson - it damns the entire University fo California Santa Barbara as a serious institution of higher education.

Today's PalArab news, part 2 (6-24-09)

There are rumors that Israel's release of Hamas politician Aziz Dweik is an initial move towards Hamas releasing Gilad Shalit in Egypt in two weeks. We've seen these sorts of rumors before, though.

Sources in Jordan's Interior Ministry are saying that there is international pressure for Jordan to naturalize Palestinian Arabs living there, with Jordan refusing to do so - of course, in the name of preserving "Palestinian identity." I wonder if they gave a referendum among Jordanian Palestinian Arabs, asking what they might want?

The former Secretary-General of the Arab National Conference, Maan Bashour, said in a conference in Syria that all of Jerusalem is the undivided historic capital of Palestine. Yes, he is claiming western Jerusalem as well.

More on Mizrahi Jews

I wrote on Monday about a Cambridge conference on Mizrahi Jews that downplayed the Arab role in their cultural disappearance.

This great article at ZioNation, a response to a different article by a "progressive" Sephardic Jew, explains things very well:

I would like to respond to "Why Jews left Arab Lands" a Progressive Sephardic view by David Shasha.

Allow me to briefly introduce myself. My name is Israel Bonan, I am a Mizrahi Jew. I was born in Cairo, Egypt in the mid 1940s. I was expelled from Egypt in 1967, and left with a torn shirt on my back, and a pair of mangled glasses, broken intentionally, on my face, and with very little else.

I am considered by any descriptive measure, a bona fide "refugee", a designation echoed by the United Nation High Commissioner of Refugees UNHCR, on behalf of the more than 800,000 displaced Mizrahi Jews fleeing the Arab countries (expressed twice, in 1957 and subsequently in 1967). I currently reside in the Boston area in the US.

I have been familiar with Mr. Shasha's views for quite sometimes now, and I find it disquieting that his positions, which run contrary to the factual history of the era and the conventional wisdom of the Mizrahi community, or as he prefers to call us "the Arab Jews", are taken as representative, when they are not.

It never ceases to amaze me, that Mr. Shasha who likes to refer to himself as an Arab Jew, though born in the US, has such a meager understanding, of the history of the era and about what constitutes a refugee or to dwell with any depth about their lot. Be that as it may.

I find that Mr. Shasha's logic and the common thread in his writings, have always consisted of three major assertions; making his discourse monotonously predictable and invariably repetitive.

One, life was always rosy for the Jews living in Arab lands and Israel's creation, as a cataclysmic watershed event, is the only cause for disrupting such an idyllic life.

Two, Israel as a product of an Ashkenazi culture, that is European by nature, has always suppressed, repressed and maligned the Mizrahi community and treated them as second class citizens; though they do represent, according to Shasha, the most effective group to undertake any peace initiative and dialog with the Arabs, having shared their culture, albeit without the author postulating any specific ideas as to the who, the why, the what, the when or for that matter, the how.

Finally, and he shares that notion with his counterpart (and much quoted resource in his writings) Professor Yehuda Shenhav; that it is unconscionable nay, immoral, to compare the plight of the Mizrahi Jews with that of the Palestinian Refugees.

Once again in the cited article, he did not disappoint, neither did he deviate from his usual template, but merely continued his revisionist approach to the Mizrahi historical narrative.

Extremism by its very nature does not allow for a tempered view of events or for cogent reflective analysis. The end result is always black or white; so regardless of how carefully and temperately Mr. Shasha seems to preface his views, the end result is always the same … black or white, all or nothing.

It is strange to note that in Mr. Shasha's attempt at historical fairness and balance, he used the following 26 words, in an article of more than 3300 words: :

Some arrived of their own free will; others arrived against their will. Some lived comfortably and securely in Arab lands; others suffered from fear and oppression.
That was the extent of defining what really happened to the Mizrahi Jews in an article titled: "Why the Jews left Arab lands," and you know what, Mr. Shasha is right!! Now if we can only take those 26 words and flesh them out a bit more with the historical facts of the matter, we get a totally different unfolding narrative that is not steeped in demonizing a country or a refugee class, or in cataclysmically defining some watershed events while glossing over others.
I took pains to chronicle my own personal Exodus ordeal, in "A Personal Exodus Story" after more than 35 years of silence. Shasha wrote:

It is curious that in a world that has largely ignored the voices of Arab Jews, the few we hear are filled with anger, resentment and hostility toward Arabs.
I invite Mr. Shasha to read it and to tell me, how much hate he can attribute to me vis-à-vis my Egyptian tormentors or Arabs in general, after reading it. By my accounting, none; yet I will let him be the judge. It is not hate, nor rancor or anger that motivates us to speak out as the "Forgotten Refugees". It is done out of fairness not retribution, it is about justice after having our human rights trampled upon and above all to record our own history that should not be denied us.

In a co-authored article with Dr. Rami Mangoubi titled: "Zionism for the ages", we rebutted the first two of Shasha's stated positions and in my article titled: "The Banana Jews"I took Professor Shenhav to task in rebuttal to his article "Hitching a ride on the magic carpet" about the third topic you both share.

In a nutshell, and again I happen to agree with Mr. Shasha, the Jews of Egypt participated fully and in greater proportion to their numbers in all aspects of life in Egypt; they more than made their mark on the cultural and economic landscape of the country. Where we disagreed with David Shasha, is that he choose the watershed event of the creation of the State of Israel as the turning point without which life in Egypt (and ergo the rest of the Arab countries) would have remained idyllic.

Idyllic indeed, when law after law (as far back as 1869), before even Zionism was spoken of, was enacted to limit access to citizenship for the Jews of Egypt in the country of our birth. through successive Nationality decrees and laws (of 1929).

Idyllic indeed, when law after law was enacted, to economically ethnic cleanse the Jews and other minorities by passing the Company law (of 1947) to restrict Jews and other minorities from access to work in the private and public sectors.

Idyllic indeed, when the Nationalization law (of the mid 1950s) was enacted, to deprive the members of our community of their remaining assets and businesses. Lest I forget and be judged guilty of omission, many other minorities at the time also suffered through this ordeal.

We also touched on the issue of the class system that favored the Ashkenazi community over the Mizrahi community; only to find ourselves citing some top government leadership roles that are today studded and replete with Mizrahi Jews. Mr. Shasha, class struggles are just that, they are struggles to improve ones status and to raise the ante for the whole country to improve, through an honest and thriving competitive spirit; and it will always will be and better be, a work in progress; for everyone's sake.

In my rebuttal of the third point, I wrote at length of my experience and that of my parents' experience and about what a refugee is, because it is not about being an arm chair apologist or being a Monday morning quarterback. It is about the suffering experienced, the dislocation, the angst associated with what was left behind and for one having to start rebuilding a life in one's old age. It is also about leaving behind a culture, a way of life and the familiar. Undoubtedly the older refugee generation has suffered, more so, than the younger one.

But then, what could I expect from Mr. Shasha, the Arab Jew, with his non-refugee status; or from Professor Shenhav, who as a Moroccan Jew by birth, had actually left with his family, of their own volition to settle in Israel, and with all their assets intact (Morocco being the only country out of 10 Arab countries that allowed such largesse). Are we being intentionally obtuse and blind to the fact that it is more than just assets and businesses that matter to a refugee, especially the ones that were left with nothing to call their own?

That takes me back again to the famous 26 words I alluded to earlier, and Shasha's attempt to cover all the bases for historical completeness; and in the process Shasha saw only what he wanted to see and felt what he could only touch; and the rest to Shasha, remained conceptual, at arm length and clinically sterile indeed.

As part of my public speaking educational campaign about the Mizrahi Jews "The Forgotten Refugees", I always stress the fact that the Middle East narrative has been one sided for far too long and that our history needs to be disseminated. I also never neglect to touch on the issue of the two refugee populations, as a study in contrasts; the same event (the creation of the State of Israel), that affected two classes of refugees, The Mizrahi Jews, the "Forgotten Refugees" and the Palestinian refugees and what became of them, after the fact.

They both started undeniably with a lot of hardships. The Mizrahi Jews who left for Israel, had to live in tents and ma'abarot (refugee camps), but not for long and in the process they helped and were part and parcel of creating a new country.

The Mizrahi Jews who were resettled elsewhere, invariably found the Jewish community at large eager to help, to get them started in their new life and they rebuilt their lives in the country of their choice.

On the other hand the Palestinian refugees, for the most part, were denied absorption in the Arab countries; they were left in camps as wards of the UN for over 60 years and they passed their refugee status much like an inheritance to the fourth generation. All this dehumanizing behavior on the part of their Arab brethren was simply for political expediency and never once did the Palestinian refugees' dignity entered into anyone's consideration.

This is my narrative, this is my parent's narrative, this is the Mizrahi Jews' narrative and we will not be denied our history. It is pathetic to hear Shasha suggest that he speaks for me or for the Mizrahi Jews; his perspective is flawed and does not add much value to the historical narrative of the era.

Arab Jewish voices have today largely been silenced, and with that silencing has come the lamentable absence of a perspective that could allow us to see the Middle East in different ways.

One last note, that is conspicuously absent from Shasha's writings, save for the inherent braggadocio without any real substance, which has to do with the sensitivity of the discourse vis-à-vis the Arabs. I again happen to share Shasha's notion, as I truly believe that the Mizrahi Jews are in a unique position to enhance the dialog between Israel and her Arab neighbors.

To resolve an ongoing feud, as ingrained in the Middle Eastern culture, both sides have to acknowledge and fully account for what they had done to each other. Admission and full accounting, is a prime imperative to reach a "sulha" or a sustainable peace. Yet we find the Arab governments in total denial about having harmed their Jewish communities.

A peace solution needs to include a priori such an acknowledgment phase, before they can reach a forgiveness phase and eventually a sustainable peace. It is paramount for both sides to acknowledge that there never was only one injured party, after so many years of feuding.

That simple detail was not lost on the Israeli Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, when he had the courage to apologize to both refugee classes, the Mizrahi Jews and the Palestinians for what they had to go through. Can Mr. Shasha find it in his heart to follow suit? I, for one, will not hold my breath.

Israel Bonan

PalArab news roundup 6-24-09

Hamas' crackdown on the media continues, as they kidnapped the editor of a Gaza newspaper and confiscated is computer. Which makes their little "visit" to Ma'an even more transparent.

A Fatah member was similarly kidnapped from his home by Hamas, and they took his computer and his (and his wife's) cell phones.

The only place to find stories like these is the Palestine Press Agency. The rest of the Palestinian Arab media are way too frightened to write stories against Hamas.

A Rafah man accidentally killed himself while cleaning his gun. I count this as a "self-death" because the PCHR includes deaths like these as "misuse of weapons."

Another man from Hebron was found dead "under mysterious circumstances" south of Ramallah.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is at 107.