Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, July 06, 2009

More on Hamas' latest "martyr"

The militant wing of the Hamas movement on Monday announced the death of one of its fighters, Saleem Yaser Abo-Shenar, 18.

In a statement, the Al-Qassam Brigades said the young man from the As-Sabra quarter of Gaza City "was killed in the line of duty and jihadi preparation and training."

The group also said that he died following a long career of resistance in the brigades.

An 18-year old with a "long career" in terrorism?

I wonder at what age he began his illustrious career before ignominiously offing himself.

Also, I seem to have missed another Hebron clan-clash murder from last week, so the 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 114.

A peek behind the Free Gaza hypocrisy

Today, yet again, Hamas was accused by the PA of torturing many of the Fatah prisoners, beating them and depriving them of sleep.

No one seriously doubts that Hamas, and the PA, torture prisoners. The evidence - and body count - is testimony enough to that.

However, the Free Gaza group is utterly silent about that. To them, only Israel tortures anyone. This despite the fact that the Red Cross routinely visits Arab prisoners in Israel, as opposed to any Hamas or Fatah prisoners in the territories.

A Free Gaza email that was sent today by leader Greta Berlin again ignores Arab torture, instead accusing Israel of torturing 11,000 Palestinian Arabs and saying "Israel outdoes the U.S. in torture, imprisonment and brutality. Where do you think the U.S. learned how to torture?"

Another member accidentally responded to the entire list saying "I recommend to drop the last sentence."

After all, FGM is trying to put world pressure on Israel, not to reveal their anti-American feelings to the world. Saying bad things about the Obama-led US might impact their fundraising efforts.

And, of course, they have no interest in protecting the Palestinian Arabs they pretend to care about from the real torture that they receive from their own people.

So Free Gaza goes on its merry way, pretending to be a humanitarian organization while shielding real terrorists from scrutiny.

Today's PalArab news roundup (7-6-09)

There are reports that Israel approved the PA receiving 1000 Kalashnikov assault rifles.

An 18-year old Hamas man was killed "while doing an act of jihad" in Gaza City. Work accident!

A 22-year old man was stabbed to death in Khan Younis. A suspect in another murder was caught trying to escape through a smuggling tunnel.

Hamas continues to arrest Fatah supporters in Gaza (just as Fatah is doing to Hamas members in the West Bank.)

On Saturday, PA "Prime Minister" Fayyad disingenuously said that the PA is willing to give rights to Jews who choose to live in "Palestine." Another leading PA figure who is negotiating with Hamas in Cairo, Dr. Abu Samhadana, responded that the Fatah position is not to allow a single Israeli to live in the West Bank and East Jerusalem.

The Neturei Karta wrote a letter to Hamas giving them advice on how to destroy Israel.

The 2009 PalArab self-death count is now at 113.

Egyptian sheikh in trouble again

Remember last December, when there was an uproar in Egypt over published pictures of Al-Azhar Sheikh Tantawi shaking hands with Shimon Peres?

Reactions were furious that such an awful thing could have happened. Even the Western media soon took notice as Tantawi was advised to decontaminate his hands.

Well, Tantawi is in hot water again, this time for sitting near the same Shimon Peres at an interfaith conference in Kazakhstan.

Here is the incriminating picture. Tantawi is separated from Peres merely by the human mechitza, the President of the Republic of Kazakhstan.

Of course this is unacceptable, for as we all know Muslim clerics must be separated from unclean Jews by 30 kilometers.

The reaction in Egypt mirrors that from late last year.

Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri described what happened as "a scandal in every sense of the word." He said that Tantawi should have withdrawn from the conference as soon as he knew that Peres was going to attend.

A deputy minister, Hazem Farouk, said that Tantawi "sat next to the blood-stained butcher of Arabs and Muslims."

Can't you feel the love?

Fayyad talks of Jews' rights in "Palestine"

From the Aspen Daily News:

Palestinian National Authority Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said Saturday that Jews would enjoy freedom and civil rights in a future Palestinian state.

Fayyad addressed the subject in response to a question from former CIA director James Woolsey at the Aspen Institute’s Aspen Ideas Festival, which included a day of panels on different aspects of the current state of the Middle East.

Woolsey said there are a million Arabs in Israel, accounting for one-sixth of the Israeli population, and that “generally they enjoy the guarantees that Americans look for in the Bill of Rights.”

“Now, if there is to be the rule of law in a Palestinian state, and if Jews want to live in someplace like Hebron, or anyplace else in a Palestinian state, for whatever reasons or historical attachments, why should they not be treated the same way Israeli Arabs are?” Woolsey asked. “That would be, there could be a sixth of the population consisting of them. They could vote for real representatives in a real Palestinian legislature, freedom of religion, freedom of speech, and most importantly, be able to go to the sleep at night without worrying someone is going to kick down the door and kill them.”

Fayyad responded by saying, “I’m not going to disagree with you. And I’m not someone who will say that they would or should be treated differently than Israeli Arabs are treated in Israel.

“In fact the kind of state that we want to have, that we aspire to have, is one that would definitely espouse high values of tolerance, co-existence, mutual respect and deference to all cultures, religions. No discrimination whatsoever, on any basis whatsoever.

“Jews to the extent they choose to stay and live in the state of Palestine will enjoy those rights and certainly will not enjoy any less rights than Israeli Arabs enjoy now in the state of Israel,” Fayyad said.

The crowd at the Greenwald Pavilion applauded enthusiastically.

Anyone with eyes will see that the "equal rights' given to Jews would be the same "equal rights" that dhimmis have had in Muslim countries for centuries - meaning, they would be clearly second-class citizens with nothing close to equal rights.

But let's look at the Constitution of "Palestine" and see exactly what kinds of equal rights we are discussing here:

ARTICLE 1

Palestine is part of the large Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.

Meaning that non-Arabs are clearly excluded from being member of the "Palestinian People."

ARTICLE 2

The Palestinian People are the source of all power, which shall be exercised through the legislative, executive, and judicial authorities, based on the principle of separation of powers, and in the manner set forth in this Basic Law.

And if you are not a "Palestinian" by their definition - meaning, you are not an Arab - then you do not share in being the "source of all power."

ARTICLE 4

Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.
The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.
Arabic shall be the official language.

Well, that's pretty clear.

ARTICLE 9

All Palestinians are equal under the law and judiciary without discrimination because of race, sex, color, religion, political views, or disability.

Not "citizens of Palestine" but "Palestinians." Meaning, again, if you are not a "Palestinian" by their definition you do not enjoy these equal rights. Since we've already defined "Palestinian people" as being Arabs in Article 1, it is clear that Jews would not fit under this definition.

ARTICLE 18

Freedom of belief and the performance of religious rituals are guaranteed, provided that they do not violate public order or public morals.

And the definition of these public morals was given in Article 4 - Shari'a. Meaning that public shows of any religion besides Islam can be shut down according to this pretend-pluralistic constitution.

ARTICLE 24
4. Private school and educational institutions shall comply with the curriculum approved by the Palestinian National Authority, and shall be subject to its supervision.

So the chances that the Palestinian Authority would allow Jewish schools to teach Talmud, for example, are pretty much zero.

ARTICLE 27

Establishment of newspapers and all media means is a right for all, guaranteed by this Basic Law. However, their financing resources shall be subject to law.
Freedom to audio, visual, and written media, as well as freedom to print, publish, distribute, transit, together with the freedom of individuals working in this field, is guaranteed by this Basic Law, other related laws.
Censorship on media shall be prohibited. No warning, suspension, confiscation, cancellation, or restrictions, shall be imposed on media except by law, and in accordance with a judicial order.

We've seen dozens of examples of how this applies in practice, most recently with an Al Jazeera reporter whose videotape was erased by the PA because they didn't like what he was reporting.

ARTICLE 35

Before assuming the office, the President shall take the following oath before the Legislative Council, and in the presence of the Speaker of the Palestinian National Council, the Chief of Supreme Court “ I swear to Allah Almighty to be faithful to the Homeland and to its sacred places, and to the people and its national heritage, and to respect the Constitutional system and the law, and to safeguard the interests of the Palestinian people completely, as Allah is my witness “.

Sounds like a non-Muslim cannot become president of Palestine.

ARTICLE 49

Before taking on any responsibility, every Member [of the Palestinian Legislative Council] shall swear the following oath before the Council: "I swear by Allah Almighty to be faithful to the Homeland, and to preserve the rights and interests of the people and nation, and to respect law and perform my duties in the best manner, as Allah is my witness".

Sounds like a non-Muslim cannot become a member of the Legislature.

ARTICLE 97

The Judiciary branch shall be independent, and shall be assumed by the different types and level of courts. The structure, jurisdiction, and rulings of the courts shall be in accordance with law. The rulings shall be announced and executed in the name of the Palestinian Arab People.

Sounds like a non-Arab cannot become part of the Judiciary.

So even if Fayyad is only saying that Jews in "Palestine" would have rights similar to those of Arabs in Israel, the Palestinian Constitution shows him to be a liar. After all, Israel has had Arab members of Knesset, Arab Supreme Court justices and even, for a short time, an Arab President.

And the constitution is an idealized vision of the most liberal an Arab Palestine ever could be. In reality, such a state would not come close to anything resembling the Western concepts of freedom that it attempts to approximate, and history shows that any Jews who try to gain any political power in an Arab Palestine would be more likely to be massacred than accepted.

Today's PalArab news roundup 7-5-09

Hamas Vice: A female Arab journalist was arrested in Gaza for laughing in public and dressing immodestly. Hamas has a vice squad patterned after the religious police in Saudi Arabia.

Violence in Hebron, not a Jew in sight: Two unrelated murders in Hebron bring the self-death count up to 111. (There was also a clan clash in the Jerusalem, with one dead, but I don't count Arab murders in areas under Israeli control.)

Tit-for tat PalArab accusations: Hamas accused the PA of arresting 14 of its members, the PA accused Hamas of smuggling arms, cash and explosives to the West Bank.

UNRWA summer camps accused of being too tolerant: A Hamas official slammed UNRWA-run camps in Gaza, saying that they were attempting to corrupt an entire generation of Gaza children into accepting Israel as well as teaching boys and girls together.

Gaza cafe torched: Returning to the days before Cast Lead, Islamists in Gaza destroyed a cafe which presumably did not meet their standards for morality.

"Pro-Palestinian Paris bookstore attacked" - Al Arabiya reports a French Arab bookstore was "trashed" by Jewish extremists, possibly from the French Jewish Defense League. The photo of the store shows no damage at all.

Iranian woman flips off Ahmadinejad? UPDATE: No.

I just saw this photo in a Palestinian Arab newspaper:

I didn't see this anywhere else, the source is not given and it might very well be Photoshopped, but it is worth investigating.

UPDATE: Miriam from the Shearim blog knows the scoop - it is Photoshopped, and here is the original picture from FARS next to the altered one:

Free Gaza protests fizzle

Both the Free Gaza movement and the pro-terror ISM from whence it came called for protests outside the Israeli embassies in various European capitals on July 3.

I cannot find a single mention of any protest happening at any Israeli embassy worldwide on that day. Even their own websites don't have stories about any protests.

Which goes to show yet again that they are great at getting publicity, lousy at finding real supporters.

Yup - Bahrain did make a state visit to Israel

Looks like I had a scoop this morning. From Ma'an:

In the Gulf nation's apparent first state visit to Israel, Bahraini officials arrived in Tel Aviv on Friday to accompany five nationals awaiting deportation.

"[T]he Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Interior sent a mission to Ben Gurion Airport to receive the Bahrainis detained," according to the Bahrain News Agency.

All 21 crew members of an aid ship bound for Gaza, including the five Bahraini citizens, a Nobel laureate and former US congresswoman and the ship itself, were seized and towed to the Israeli port city of Ashdod on Tuesday afternoon.

Friday's official visit was arranged by Bahrain's Foreign Affairs Ministry, according to the news agency, which "contacted several organisations and international bodies along with friendly countries to secure the release of people detained in Israel."

"The efforts resulted in the approval of the Israeli authorities to hand over detainees to the representatives of the Kingdom of Bahrain," the agency reported, adding that its recently returned citizens "were received by the mission from the Israeli authorities and are safe and in good health."

Israel and Bahrain share no formal relations, although the predominately Shiite Muslim Gulf state does have a small but thriving Jewish population, of which one woman is the country's current ambassador to the United States.

So the Free Gaza people actually accomplished something in advancing the relationship between Israel and an Arab nation.

Of course, this is the last thing they wanted to do!

UPDATE: More from the Gulf News:

The extraordinary development marked the first time that Bahraini activists, three women and two men, were held by the Israeli navy and also the first time that a Bahraini official delegation sets foot in an Israeli airport.

Pseudo-vacation open thread

I need a break. You guys take over.

Jordan's identity crisis

An important article was published in Al Quds this week, reprinted from Al Jazeera, that uncovers the problems that Jordan has with its Palestinian Arab population that rarely gets any Western coverage. Here is my translation:

There has been a dramatic debate in recent years in Jordan on the issue of national identity, but recently some important politicians have, for the first time, recognized the existence of an identity crisis in the kingdom which is inhabited by six million people of whom 42 percent are of Palestinian origin. [Usually, this figure is reported as over 60%. Perhaps they no longer include West Bank Palestinians? - EoZ]

At a symposium held last week, the former Jordanian Prime Minister Abdel Raouf Rawabdeh spoke of the division of the national identity between the Jordanians and the Palestinians, in an explicit recognition by a leading politician of the State's failure to find the identity that covers the main groups in the country.

Writer and political analyst Mohammad Abu Rumman says that today more than ever, Jordan is beset by an identity crisis. He said that it is no longer possible to cover up the crisis between the two main groups of Jordanians and Palestinians, saying that without a dialogue now there may be a new political conflict between them in the future.

According to Abu Rumman, Jordan is still dealing with the problem of identity in response to the legacy of the events of 1970, the events known as "Black September" which the army of Jordan faced after the Palestinian militant groups were accused of trying to undermine the state.

He says the State is responsible for the identity crisis, and said that "the State evades the questions and answering the common concerns of Jordanians and Palestinians."

However, writer and political analyst Oraib Rantaoi did not see that there is an identity crisis in Jordan since it now universally accepted in the nation that Jordan is Jordan and Palestine is Palestine.

Rantaoi said: "Now there is the emerging Palestinian identity, Jordanians clearly can not talk about a crisis between the identities."

Strikingly, Rantaoi said that talk about identity crisis is "a modern and noisy debate between the elites, not the ordinary citizens, whether Jordanian or Palestinian descent."

During the recent years has become known in the media as "the Likud of Palestinians in Jordan", in a clear reference to politicians and writers who described the perceptions of "racism" in the dialogue between the Palestinians and the Jordanians.

The opinion of the minister and former MP Abdul Rahim Malhas is that the identity crisis in Jordan "will be resolved only by solving the Palestinian issue."

Malhas said Jordan's quest to solve the two countries' aim is to transform the Palestinian citizens in the state to enjoy the rights of residence in the Kingdom. [after a Palestinian state? -EoZ]

However, Malhas is pessimistic of any solution to the Palestinians to go to their homeland, saying, "The image of a Palestinian state is one of a repressive police state that does not respect freedom and, consequently, would be a repellent for the rest of the day, and this is what constitutes a threat to the Jordanian and Palestinian identity."

He recognizes that what Palestinians and Jordanians are talking behind closed doors is different from what they say in public about "national unity."

It almost sounds like some Jordanians are pinning their hopes on a Palestinian Arab state that would allow them to ask their Palestinian citizens to move there. This would be consistent with the increasing restrictions that Jordan has been imposing on Palestinian Arab citizenship.

But notice what this long article is missing: any interviews with Palestinian Jordanians! No one is asking what they want, whether they want to become full Jordanian citizens and not looked upon as second-class. No one is asking them if they have any interest in moving to "Palestine" - or even if they want to have more political rights in Jordan. The entire article, thoughtful as it is, betrays the deep bigotry against Palestinian Arabs inJordan today by not even deigning to ask them what they think, and assuming that the Jordanian elite knows what is best for them.

Notice also the phrase "emerging Palestinian identity." If the Palestinian Arabs have had national aspirations for decades, why is it considered "emerging?" This is just more proof that Palestinian Arab identity has been imposed from without, not grown from within. If the Arab nations hadn't treated PalestinianArabs like second-class citizens or worse, they would have disappeared as a "people" the way that the many Arab tribes of the 19th century have assimilated into their larger nations.

Direct flight from Israel to Bahrain?

The latest Free Gaza email starts off with:

This morning, the five kidnapped passengers from Bahrain left Israel via a private jet sent by their king. The two Al Jazeera journalists will be freed sometime today, their equipment given back to them but not the footage of the Israeli terrorist frogmen boarding the boat and roughing up some of the passengers.

Once you get past the vitriol and lies (I bet there is no such footage,) does this mean that there was a jet that flew directly from Bahrain to Israel and back? Or did it stop over in Jordan or somewhere else so as not to acknowledge Israel's legitimacy?

I see nothing about this in any news source.

Free Gaza irony

The ultra-left, Israel-hating program "Democracy Now!" had a special treat yesterday - Mairead Maguire, Irish Nobel peace laureate and Free Gaza freak, called in from the jail in Israel to tell grateful listeners just how evil Israel is for stopping the latest publicity boat from landing.

Maguire spouts the usual lies and absurdities: that Israel threatened to shoot them, that Israel is breaking "every international law in the book," that she thinks that Israel used depleted uranium weapons, that Israel doesn't allow any human rights workers into Gaza, that the moonbats were "in grave danger of actually being killed" and "I really thought that we were all going to drown," and so forth. Somehow she doesn't mention that the Free Gaza people lied to the Cyprus authorities as to their declared destination, or otherwise they wouldn't have been allowed to sail altogether.

Besides the irony of a Nobel Peace Prize winner whose group routinely supports Hamas terrorism and happily poses with and hugs mass murderers, there is a further irony:

This evil Israel, the object of her hate and loathing which she claims it treating the freaks of Gaza so badly, is letting her call up an anti-Israel radio show with an audience of millions from her jail. How many democracies, let alone police states, would allow that?

(h/t Veet)

Why Jews cannot (easily) become citizens of Jordan

I received an email today from someone asking me about any restrictions I was aware of against Jews having Jordanian citizenship or owning Jordanian land. I responded

My understanding is that Jordan specifically excluded Jews from its citizenship even if they adhered to all the other requirements when they allowed Palestinian Arabs to become citizens in 1950. See page 73 of this.

As far as land ownership is concerned, I don't know of any specific law banning sales to Jews, but it appears that the rules for transferring land in Jordan are sufficiently restrictive against non-Jordanians that effectively no Jew could possibly buy land legally.

He responded back with a source that shed more detail on the land question in Jordan:

Under the direct instructions of King Husayn23, the government of Jordan in 1973 passed the "Law for Preventing the Sale of Immovable Property to the Enemy."24The "enemy" is defined in Article 2 as "any man or judicial body [corporation] of Israeli citizenship living in Israel or acting on its behalf." Under Article 4 of this law any Jordanian citizen who sold land in Jordan or the West Bank to the "enemy" faced the death penalty and forfeiture of all his property to the state:

The sale of Immovable property against the provisions of this law constitutes a crime against state security and well being, punishable by death, and the confiscation of all the culprit's Immovable and moveable possessions.

In addition, Article 3 deemed the sale of land to any alien (i.e., a non-Arab) without permission from the Council of Ministers a security offense punishable by death.

According to PA Attorney General Khalid al-Qidra, Jordan had sentenced 172 people to death under this law.25 Amnesty International reported that as of 1988 many of the convictions were in absentia and that there had been no executions.26 However, PA Justice Minister Meddein claimed that Jordan had executed 10 violators.27

Whatever its application, the Jordanian Parliament repealed the 1973 law in 1995, following the peace treaty between Israel and Jordan. Milder statutes adopted in its place still effectively bar Israelis from purchasing or leasing land in Jordan. The Law on Economic Boycott and Banning Dealing with the Enemy (Article 6) states that "it is impermissible for foreign persons or corporate entities that do not hold an Arab nationality to purchase, lease, or own directly or indirectly any immovable property in the kingdom."28 The only exceptions require high level political authorization.

So while I do not believe that Jordan has or had specific laws banning Jewish ownership of land the laws in place effectively make it impossible for Jews to become landowners in Jordan.

Further research shows that the Jordanian citizenship law does indeed still specifically exclude Jews.

In 1933, a number of prominent Arabs in Transjordan asked Great Britain to allow Jews to settle there, to help its ailing economy, and Zionists were enthusiastic about the idea. But since the British saw the riots that were happening in Palestine at the time they didn't want to worry about more problems of that type, so they created a law banning Jews from living there.

This policy was ratified — after the emirate became a kingdom — by Jordan's law no. 6, sect. 3, on April 3, 1954, and reactivated in law no. 7, sect. 2, on April 1, 1963. It states that any person may become a citizen of Jordan unless he is a Jew. King Hussein made peace with Israel in 1994, but the Judenrein legislation remains valid today.

So, yes, Jordan really has a law banning Jews - not Zionists, but Jews - from becoming citizens. And the original source of this law was none other than Great Britain.

UPDATE: Here's the law: (h/t british18)

The following shall be deemed to be Jordanian nationals:
(1)Any person who has acquired Jordanian nationality or a Jordanian passport under the Jordanian Nationality Law, 1928, as amended, Law No. 6 of 1954 or this Law;

(2)Any person who, not being Jewish, possessed Palestinian nationality before 15 May 1948 and was a regular resident in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan between 20 December 1949 and 16 February 1954;

(3)Any person whose father holds Jordanian nationality;

(4)Any person born in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan of a mother holding Jordanian nationality and of a father of unknown nationality or of a Stateless father or whose filiation is not established;

(5)Any person born in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan of unknown parents, as a foundling in the Kingdom shall be considered born in the Kingdom pending evidence to the contrary;

(6)All members of the Bedouin tribes of the North mentioned in paragraph (j) of article 25 of the Provisional Election Law, No. 24 of 1960, who were effectively living in the territories annexed to the Kingdom in 1930.

But what if a Jew wants to become a naturalized citizen? Well...

Any Arab who has resided continuously in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for not less than 15 years may acquire Jordanian nationality, by decision of the Council of Ministers taken on a proposal by the Minister of Internal Affairs, if he renounces his nationality of origin and the law of his country permits him to do so...

UPDATE 2: Hasbara Buster pointed out a later article I had overlooked, that seems to show that anyone can become a Jordanian citizen if they pass muster from the Council of Ministers:

Article 12
Any person other than a Jordanian who is not incapable by law may apply to the Council of Ministers for grant of a certificate of Jordanian naturalization if:
(1)He has been regularly resident in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan for a period of four years preceding the date of his application;
(2)He intends to reside in the Hashemite Kingdom of the Jordan.

Maybe a Jew-turned-Muslim like Uri Davis could become a citizen under those circumstances, so I cannot say that Jordanian law completely excludes the possibility of Jews becoming citizens. In reality, it would appear to be very unlikely.

Any way you look at it, non-Arabs are discriminated against by Jordanian naturalization law.

Quick PalArab news

There are reports that Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud al-Zahar secretly visited Switzerland and met with Swiss officials.

The Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan charges that some Israeli produce sold in Jordan is grown in West Bank farms, and calls for a boycott.

For those wondering, the Red Cross regularly visits Arab prisoners in Israeli jails. It announced its July visit schedule.

Egyptian forces yet again killed Somalis trying to get into Israel.