Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, January 20, 2011

UNRWA's Hamas loophole

In August, the Congressional Research Service released a report called "US Foreign Aid to the Palestinians." it goes into great detail how much the US gives and in what forms.

The paper discusses methods that the US uses to ensure that money that is earmarked for the PA or Palestinian Arabs are not diverted to terrorist organizations. For direct aid, they have made progress compared to the past, although it is far from perfect.

The section on UNRWA aid is most revealing.

The US has given over $4 billion to UNRWA since its inception, and the amount has been increasing. Of course, the US is UNRWA's biggest donor, by far.

UNRWA tries to assure the US that funds are not going to terrorists, but there is a significant loophole. Here's the relevant section:

The primary concern raised by some Members of Congress is that U.S. contributions to UNRWA might be used to support terrorists. Section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (P.L. 87- 195), as amended, says that “No contributions by the United States shall be made to [UNRWA] except on the condition that [UNRWA] take[s] all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of terrorism.”

The May 2009 GAO report said that, since a previous GAO report in 2003, UNRWA and the State Department had strengthened their policies and procedures to conform with Section 301(c) legal requirements, but that “weaknesses remain.”33 Neither report found UNRWA to be in noncompliance with Section 301(c), and to date, no arm of the U.S. government has made such a finding. The following are some points from the 2009 report and subsequent developments related to it:

...UNRWA said that it screens its staff and contractors every six months and that it screened all 4.6 million Palestinian refugees and microfinance clients in December 2008 (and intends to make this a routine procedure) for terrorist ties to Al-Qaida and the Taliban, pursuant to a list established pursuant to U.N. Security Council Resolution 1267. UNRWA said that it is unable to screen those of its beneficiaries who are displaced persons from the 1967 war because it does not collect information on those persons.37

UNRWA’s UN 1267 terrorist screening list does not include Hamas, Hezbollah, or most other militant groups that operate in UNRWA’s surroundings. UNRWA is unwilling to screen its contractors and funding recipients against a list supplied by only one U.N. member state. Nevertheless, UNRWA officials did say that if notified by U.S. officials of potential matches, they would “use the information as a trigger to conduct their own investigation,” which led to the report’s recommendation that the State Department consider screening UNRWA contractors. In response, State says that it now screens quarterly against the Excluded Parties Lists System (EPLS, which is a list of parties excluded throughout the U.S. government from receiving federal contracts)....

This means that while UNRWA will happily check to ensure that none of its contractors or other beneficiaries of aid are members of Al Qaeda or the Taliban, they refuse to check for membership in Hamas, Islamic Jihad, Fatah's Al Aqsa Martyr's Brigades, the PFLP, the DFLP or any of other known terrorist groups. The ones that are actually based in areas that UNRWA works!

The report touches on other problems with UNRWA as well, and dismisses them:

In Gaza, most observers acknowledge that the role of UNRWA in providing basic services (i.e., food, health care, education) takes much of the governing burden off Hamas. As a result, some complain that this amounts to UNRWA’s enabling of Hamas and is an argument militating for its activities to be discontinued or scaled back. However, many others, U.S. and Israeli officials included, believe that UNRWA plays a valuable role by providing stability and serving as the eyes and ears of the international community in Gaza. They generally prefer UNRWA to the uncertain alternative that might emerge if UNRWA were removed from the picture.29

The footnote points to a document justifying the US foreign policy budget, with these words:

U.S. government support for UNRWA directly contributes to the U.S. strategic interest of meeting the humanitarian needs of Palestinians, while promoting their self sufficiency. UNRWA plays a stabilizing role in the Middle East through its assistance programs, serving as an important counterweight to extremist elements.

Nowhere does the footnote say that UNRWA is serving any constructive role as the "eyes and ears of the international community in Gaza" - and that is a dubious assumption, since practically all UNRWA employees are Palestinian Arab. Also, nowhere does it say that Israeli officials agree.

Elsewhere the budget documentsays (sorry, it doesn't allow copy/pasting, but it is on page 88) that if the UNRWA wouldn't provide the services, then extremist groups would, especially in Gaza and Lebanon. But what this also means is that Hamas would have to divert some of its budget that now goes towards weapons into basic services for its people!

From all appearances, while Congress seems to be trying mightily to oversee US funds to UNRWA, it is not enough. UNRWA's pushback on not vetting for Hamas or Islamic Jihad terrorists is unacceptable, especially to the major donor country of that agency. And no real evidence has been provided that UNRWA is in fact acting as a moderating factor against terrorist influence in Gaza or elsewhere.

A typical Iranian speech, blaming Zionists for EVERYTHING

This sort of article is literally a daily occurrence in Iran's English language media:

Zionists' footprints seen in Islamic world mishaps: IRI Parliament Speaker

IRI Parliament Speaker Ali Larijani said here Wednesday Zionists' footprints are clearly seen in many of the Islamic world crises.

Iranian Parliament Speaker, Larijani, made the comment during his meeting with the officials of the Islamic Republic of Iran's representatives in UAE, referring to the recent developments in Tunisia, Palestine and Lebanon, reiterating, 'Surveying the developments in those countries, signs of the international intriguing factors and opportunist elements are seen very easily.'

His logic for the Tunisian case is simply brilliant:

Larijani meanwhile focusing on the people's uprising in Tunisia, reiterated, 'Some western countries, such as the United States, were opportunistically trying to ride the wave an to impose an alternative plan to the Tunisians, but working out of such plots is far from the realities, as the west is too deceitful to be successful in such scenes.'

The parliament speaker elsewhere in his comments found similarities between the recent developments in Tunisia with a long tale behind which a Zionist-US-British scenario was laid.

But then later he said...

On the recent collapse of the Tunisian government, Larijani said that the United States and some other Western countries opportunistically shifted their policy and withdrew support for their former ally (Zine El Abidine Ben Ali) to pretend they are supporters of the Tunisian nation.

Of course the two accounts in the same speech pretty much contradict each other, but why should that matter?

Syria's Assad nervous about Tunisia-style uprising

From Intelligence Online (registration required):

The intelligence services in Syria are doing everything possible to prevent a copycat uprising in the country, following the overthrow of Ben Ali in Tunisia.

President Bashar Al Assad held a meeting with the principal as well as regional heads of Syria’s security services on January 16. On the agenda was how to ensure that the current wave of opposition in Tunisia, Algeria and Egypt does not spread to Syria’s streets.

In a bid to preempt unrest, Assad ordered a crack-down on corrupt officials. He also told the security services to position their officers in meeting places throughout the country, in the souks and in town centres, ready to deal swiftly with any demonstrations of opposition. Military security was also told to increase the pace with which it takes down satellite TV dishes (IOL 632).

The various units in charge of phone tapping are going to increase their presence in call centres, and they are going to set up an emergency plan that, in case of trouble, will isolate a village, a town or even a region from the rest of the fixed and mobile telephony network.

On January 17, Assad took a highly rare meeting with Interior Minister Saed Samour, police officials from the different regions and the heads of Criminal Security branches: usually, the president only takes meetings with the interior minister and the head of Political Security.

If Assad is good at anything, it is staying in power.

Hamas is always good for a laugh

From Ma'an:

Hamas leader Salah Al-Bardawil reiterated Wednesday the movement's insistence that there was no Al-Qaeda presence in the Gaza Strip, after an Israeli security official said there were some 500 active "militant activists" operating in the territory.

Bardawil said that "The aim of these Israeli statements is to create animosity between Hamas, the Palestinians in Gaza and the Western world."

"Such statements are not new, they get reproduced not and again to create animosity," he said, adding that the claims that Al-Qaeda is getting deeper into Gaza "borders on incitement."

You gotta love when the people behind children's characters like Farfur the Genocidal Mouse accuse Israel of "incitement."

PA "state-building" is a myth

YNet published this important article by Gil Kol a few days ago:

More than 60% of the Palestinian Authority's Gross National Product comes from the United States, European Union, United Nations, World Bank and others countries, according to a study conducted by economic analyst Eyal Ofer in cooperation with President of Financial Immunities consulting firm Adam Roiter.

According to the study's findings, during 2009 and 2010 the PA's reliance on donations increased – with a 20% growth in donations, totaling some $3.96 per year.

In real values, the scope of donations more than doubled within a period of four years.

The research, similarly to OECD reports, points to the PA's steadily increasing dependence on donation funds. In fact, the Palestinian people receive the largest amount of donations worldwide.

For every Palestinian citizen, the PA receives an average of $1,000 per annum, which amounts to an average of ILS 2,000 (about $560) per family, per month. The data reinforces the claim that there is no Palestinian economy, and that in reality is almost exclusively supported by the donation industry.

Yes, an economy can be built from donations – if these are allocated for development, production and infrastructure, but this is not the case.

"The donations toward the entrenchment of government institutions instead of the development of infrastructure, industry, human capital etc'," explained Roiter. "What we have here is a schnorrer country, without which it does not exist," he added.

Ofer and Roiter noted that since 2000 – when the rate of donations reflected 10.47% of total GNP – there has been a steady increase in the scope of foreign donations. The most significant boost began in 2007, immediately after Hamas gained control of the Gaza Strip, and following the PA's claim that it needed more funds to establish its regime.

Palestinian Prime Minister Salam Fayyad's links with the International Monetary Fund, as well as his "Western" rhetoric vis-à-vis transparency, the building of government institutions and preventing market monopolies have helped him with the task of fundraising.

However, according to the study, the facts on the ground indicate that the governmental apparatus and international aid organizations impede the growth of the business sector, while donations are used to preserve the ruling party rather than build a separate economy that is not dependent on foreign donations.

The study points to the absence of an industrial sector in the Palestinian Authority. "Employers lack the ability or the will to go into industry or development, because they cannot compete with the salaries of governmental organs and that of the aid workers on the ground," said Ofer, adding, "In reality, their economy is solely based on the trade of services."

Even grants that are specifically designated for "projects" throughout the Palestinian Authority are only partially used for their original purpose, claimed Ofer.

I have a copy of the study, written in Hebrew and not yet available publicly. It breaks down the sources of the nearly $4 billion that the PA gets annually, this besides the money UNRWA gets.

The study also partially debunks the myth of the PA being ethical in its use of donor money. The head of the PA banking system is the son of Abu Jihad. While the World Bank claims that the PA is adhering to money laundering laws, it "forgot" to delve into money laundering for terrorism. In fact, the PA doesn't have the word "terror" in its regulations (and only uses that word when referring to Israel.)

For example, in 2007 the PA sent $3 million to Hamas bank accounts in Gaza, and attributed it to a "computer error" - but there has been no investigation or trial in the matter.

The study also notes what I have mentioned a number of times - that some 60% of the PA budget goes to Gaza, and it is Western trust in Fayyad that allows this to happen without proper oversight.

The study says that the PA is happy with the status quo. Fayyad's power is increasing because the inflow of money is dependent on him, and an entire layer of bureaucracy has been created to funnel cash to various targets, which do not involve anything that can possibly make the PA truly independent. Nothing has been done yet to create a Palestinian Arab currency, for example, which would be a pre-requisite for independence. And if the Israeli tax dollars that help prop up the PA would disappear, the PA would not be able to survive.

So Fayyad will continue to make his statements blaming everything on Israel, which does not cost him a dime, and do everything necessary to keep the foreign aid coming.

(h/t QuasiPundit)

Falk claims ignorance of Arab discrimination against Palestinians

On the topic thread on Richard Falk's blog, he wrote:

Palestinians have been living in intolerable conditions in refugee camps and under occupation for decades. In contrast, Israelis live under conditions of relative prosperity, freedom of movement, the rule of law, while Israeli settlements daily encroach upon the 22% of historic Palestine set aside after the 1967 War for an eventual Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital.

Who exactly "set aside" the territories for a Palestinian Arab state after 1967? Certainly not Jordan - at least not until some 21 years later. Just more misinformation from a world-renowned "expert."

I won't even go into his ridiculous use of "historic Palestine," as if the Jordan River was ever a border of any representation of Palestine before 1921. It's just another lie. Move along.

But since he mentioned how Palestinian Arabs are suffering in "refugee" camps, I asked him:

Have you ever publicly called for Arab countries and the PA to dismantle these camps and move their residents into normal housing? You do realize that it is not Israel that keeps anyone in camps, but their Arab hosts, do you not?

Would you say that Palestinian Arabs should have the right, if they choose, to become full citizens of their host Arab countries (Lebanon, Syria, Saudi Arabia, etc.) as any other Arabs can? If you do, have you ever publicly called for the Arab nations to rescind their laws, on the books today, that specifically discriminate against Palestinian Arabs in areas such as naturalization?

His answer:

I have not, and do not know too much about the Arab discriminatory laws against Palestinian refugees that you mention. I have had a good deal of contact with the refugees themselves, and I can honestly say that I have yet to meet a Palestinian refugee that wants to resolve the issue via the Arab governments. At the same time I have in the past and will continue to criticize Arab governments for abuses toward refugees living within their territories.

So Falk admits he never called for Arab countries to dismantle the camps. He obviously knows that it is the Arab nations and the PA and Hamas that keep the Palestinian Arabs in camps to begin with. Yet he trots out the camps on every possible occasion as proof of Israel's bigotry against Palestinian Arabs. A slight problem, no?

And this person who has studied the topic of Palestinian Arabs for decades never heard of the Arab League Council resolution 1547, adopted March 9, 1959, that Arab nations do not give citizenship to Palestinians "to avoid dissolution of their identity and protect their right to return to their homeland"? He is surely aware that West Bank Arabs only became citizens of Jordan and no other Arab country allows them to become citizens. he is certainly aware of hundreds of thousands of Palestinian Arabs, many quite well off, living in Gulf states but still stateless. And no doubt he is aware of the current Jordanian policy to strip Palestinians of their Jordanian nationality if Jordan suspects that they have family in the West Bank. I have a feeling he knows about the expulsion of hundreds of thousands of PalArabs from Kuwait, or the murder of thousands by Jordan a bit further back.

Falk disingenuously says that he has never met a Palestinian Arab "refugee" who wants to resolve the issue that way (who would ever admit to that?), but he neatly sidesteps the real questions: how many of them would choose the benefits of citizenship in their host countries if it was available? And isn't their forced statelessness at the hands of the Arab League massively depriving them of their rights to a nationality?

There is no way Falk is not aware of systematic discrimination against Palestinian Arabs by their hosts. He just chooses to ignore them in his zeal to demonize Israel. Which proves that he is yet another hypocrite who pretends to care about human rights for Palestinian Arabs but really uses that as a bludgeon against Israel while he cares little about the "refugees" who, in his mind, would rather retain that refugee status forever.

Finally, perhaps he has occasionally criticized Arab governments for abuses towards refugees, but he sure hasn't done it very much. I'can't find a single criticism amongst the avalanche of his anti-Israel statements and articles that span the Internet.

Fatwa: don't drive Christians to church

From Translating Jihad, quoting a fatwa published Wednesday in Islamweb.net:

Fatwa No.: 147,523

Title: Ruling on transporting Christians to their churches

Date: 19-1-2011

Question: A bus driver occasionally drives Christians to their churches to perform religious rites. He then goes to the mosque and performs his prayers. When they finish their rites, he drives them back home. Of course he doesn't always do this, but he does do it sometimes. At times he also drives Christian dance teams, who are performing some rites associated with Christian holidays. What is the ruling on all of this?

Fatwa: Praise be to Allah, and prayers and peace be upon the prophet of Allah, and on his family and companions, etc.

It is not permissible for this man to drive Christians to their churches, nor to drive those who dance on their holidays. For if the Christians are confessing their religion, it is not permissible to support them in their vain and perverted rites and religion. This is according to the saying of the Most High: "Help ye one another in righteousness and piety, but help ye not one another in sin and rancour" [Qur'an 5:2]. This is the general view, which is contrary to the view of the Hanafis, who hold that it is permissible to do such things for employment.

Did Abu Rahma get sick from a pesticide?

The IDF is releasing a report on the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, and FreznoZionism has a very interesting take:

The IDF has completed its investigation of the death of Jawaher Abu Rahma, the woman that was alleged to have been killed by IDF tear gas used against demonstrators at Bili’in on December 31, 2010. The Jerusalem Post report almost makes sense:

Jawaher Abu Rahma, the woman who Palestinians claimed was killed in late December from IDF-fired tear gas during an anti-security barrier demonstration near Bilin, died as a result of the medical treatment she received at a Ramallah hospital, the IDF probe into the incident has concluded.

Abu Rahma, IDF sources said on Saturday, did not actively participate in the demonstration but was inside a house about 500 meters away from the site of the demonstration. She was however evacuated to a hospital in Ramallah sometime later in the day and after the demonstration where she was treated for an unclear ailment.

“According to our findings Abu Rahma died as a result of the medical treatment,” an source in the Central Command said on Wednesday.

Medical documents obtained by the IDF show that Abu Rahma received unusually high doses of Atropine, a medicine that is commonly used as an antidote to nerve agents such as nerve gas. Israeli gas mask kits used to be distributed to the public with shots of atropine inside.

According to the IDF’s findings Abu Rahma died of medical complications due to the medical treatment she received that was not connected to tear gas. The IDF has also uncovered documentation which hints to the possibility that Abu Rahma was sick with cancer and had been hospitalized several weeks before her death. — Jerusalem Post

This is strange indeed. Atropine? Nerve gas? Why would they treat her for exposure to nerve gas? Israel does not even use nerve gas against enemy troops, not to mention demonstrators. And Atropine isn’t a treatment for cancer.

I think there is a better explanation.

Atropine is an antidote for aldicarb pesticides, such as temik. Aldicarb is highly toxic. When I lived in Israel in the 1980′s it was commonly used, although there were very strict rules about how it is applied, protective gear, etc. It would not surprise me in the least if Arab farmers also use it, and perhaps are somewhat less careful.

Atropine also might be given as an antidote to organophosphate pesticides like malathion, also highly toxic. This would explain ridiculous initial statements that Israeli soldiers or police had used ‘phosphorous’ on the demonstrators, and the mentions of nerve gas. Most military nerve agents are based on organophosphates.

The Palestinian doctors probably were quite familiar with pesticide poisoning. My guess is that Abu Rahma was somehow exposed to a pesticide like temik or malathion. Unlike tear gas, they are deadly, so relatives rushed her to the hospital — where someone accidentally gave her more than a safe dose of atropine.

I think he might be onto something.

While I don't know if Jawaher or members of her family were farmers, Palestinian Arabs definitely use a variety of organophosphate insecticides. I found a few papers about insecticide poisoning in the territories. It happens relatively often and Palestinian Arab doctors are no doubt familiar with it.

This study is most relevant, as it talks about the extensive use of organophosphates in the West Bank. It even lists the banned organophosphates used there: Azinphosmethyl (Cotnion), Dichlorvos (Divipan), Parathion (Folidol) and Dimethoate (Rogor).

These pesticides, when misused, act as nerve agents.

A great majority of Palestinian Arab farmers were reported as keeping these pesticides stored in their houses, often under dangerous conditions. 72% mixed the pesticides in their own homes, and 84% stored them at home.

Symptoms of organophosphate poisoning mirror the symptoms that Abu Rahma was reported to have had: shortness of breath, vomiting, excessive sweating, excessive tearing, confusion, and tremors.

I do not know how quickly these symptoms appear.

In many ways this theory relies on a few too many variables for me to be comfortable with. But it would neatly explain why she was treated with atropine and with her symptoms. And organophosphate pesticides are many orders of magnitude more deadly than tear gas. If, as the IDF is now saying, Abu Rahma was in her home at the time she fell sick, this theory makes far more sense than tear gas poisoning.

Certainly, many residents of Bil'in are farmers - their main complaint about the separation barrier is that it keeps them from their farmland. So one would expect a fair amount of pesticides stored in people's homes.

The bigger question is: was any banned pesticide stored in Abu Rahma's house?

My comment to Macy Gray (UPDATED)

On Monday, performing artist Macy Gray posted this on her Facebook page:

I'm booked for 2 shows in TelAviv. I'm getting alot of letters from activists urging/begging me to boycott by NOT performing in protest of Apartheid against the Palestinians. What the Israeli government is doing to the Palestinians is disgusting, but I wana go. I gotta lotta fans there I dont want to cancel on and I dont know how my NOT going changes anything. What do you think? Stay or go?

There have been 2000 comments since then, and counting. Her Twitter account has likewise been swamped with comments, pro and con.

At this point I doubt that she will read all of them, but I added my voice to the cacophony.

The people of Israel love you. Not only that, but they love music, they love the arts, they love culture, they love science, they love people - and they love life.

Those who are demanding that you not perform, hate. They hate Israel, and their hate is so deep that it extends to Israeli people, to those who support Israel, and to countries that are allied with Israel. The comments here show only a tiny part of the hate they have.

It is usually a good bet to side with the lovers.

See also Balfour Street's post.

UPDATE: She seems to have decided to go to Israel after all. (h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

UPDATE 2: After the BDSers started attacking her for her decision, she wrote a classic tweet that says what I was saying, in a somewhat blunter manner (h/t CHA again):

Wikileaks: German think tank advised US to sabotage Iranian nukes

From a Wikileaks cable, January 2010:

XXXXXXXXXXXX argued that the only effective sanctions which could positively impact the regime's security calculations on the nuclear dossier would be a ban on sales of conventional arms. Only such a move could shift the security calculation for the regime from the longer term goal of achieving nuclear capability to the shorter term goal of maintaining a conventional capability. He warned that ineffective sanctions could be worse than no sanctions, especially if they send more money to the IRGC's pockets (through increasing necessity of procurement on the black market which is dominated by the IRGC.) In the interim XXXXXXXXXXXX recommended that a policy of covert sabotage (unexplained explosions, accidents, computer hacking etc) would be more effective than a military strike whose effects in the region could be devastating.

Stuxnet was already on deployed at that point.

More from The Guardian.

Jews bribing PA police to access Joseph's Tomb?

From Arutz-7:

As the IDF restricts Jewish access to Joseph's Tomb (Kever Yosef), a small group of determined Jews are finding creative ways to reach the holy site anyway, according to the IDF magazine B'Machaneh.

Members of the Breslov chassidic sect told the magazine that they have taken to bribing Palestinian Authority officers in an attempt to gain access.

“Once we saw that the Palestinians now have control over the tomb, we understood that we would need to act differently than before,” a chassid who went by “M” said.

“There was a certain period where nobody tried to sneak in, because we had an arrangement with the IDF,” he continued. However, he said, “Recently our cooperation with them has dwindled, and we started to feel like we were being shut out.”

“We did everything we could... but there's been a change in our relation with the army and until things change, we're going to keep working with the PA police,” he concluded.

Another Breslov man said of the PA officers, “They are still our enemies, this is cooperation solely for an important purpose. We aren't afraid of them, and we know Shechem [Nablus] better than we know our own houses.”

Leaders in the Breslov community said they believe the illegal entry to Joseph's Tomb will stop once relations between the community and the IDF are restored.

An IDF captain in the region said the Breslov chassidim in particular enter the area despite the general prohibition on Jewish access because the community “seeks out challenges” and has “a strong desire to get into Joseph's Tomb privately.” The captain said IDF officers had asked their PA counterparts to look into the issue.

For some reason no one is asking the question of why access to a Jewish holy site is restricted to begin with, in violation of the 1995 Oslo interim accords which called for "free, unimpeded and secure access to the relevant Jewish holy site[s]."

A German journalist describes Ha'aretz' Gideon Levy

Ingo Way, who wrote that great article on camps in the PA, has a German-language article in Cicero magazine on Israeli leftist self-loathing. He describes Ha'aretz' Gideon Levy wonderfully:

To the extreme in this attitude is Gideon Levy. The star columnist of the daily newspaper Haaretz has for years been posing as a lonely prophet, who is in his own world - this despite the fact he is among the highest paid journalists in the country. Levy has gone so far as to claim that the Palestinians will end up in concentration camps. He apparently did not count on the resentment that this forecast would create,and he answered back that he would not compare Israel with Nazi Germany, but rather ... "At best, with the Germany of 1933, as the disenfranchisement and marginalization of the Jews started off slowly."

This is precisely what Levy had written eight years ago in Haaretz. And if 1933 was 2003 for Israel, if Levy's analogy is any good, now it's 1941. And still there is no National Socialism in Israel and no concentration camps, and he, Levy, can cheerfully publish his articles.

(h/t Silke)

EoZ competing in Round One of Pro-Israel Blog-Off

The contestants in the 2011 Pro-Israel Blog-Off, being run at Israellycool and co-sponsored by Honest Reporting, are now set.

In the first match-up of the first round, my entry will go up against posts by Life Through My Eyes and Liberty's Spirit.

The ultimate winner in the 24-player competition will get an Apple iPad.

You will be able to vote next week, as reader votes will combine with the opinions of the four esteemed judges.

Britain encouraged a Greater Syria that it could dominate

From JPost:

[D]ocuments, uncovered in French archives...shed new light on the covert activities of the British in the Middle East. They reveal that British intelligence agencies played a key role in shaping Britain’s policy by securing the tacit collaboration of prominent Arab nationalist leaders in Syria and Lebanon after helping them attain power.

They also disclose that British agents were behind the schemes to integrate Syria in an Iraqi-led Hashemite confederation, or with Transjordan in a Greater Syria federation that was to include Palestine. The documents include a secret agreement from May 29, 1945 revealing that Syrian president Shukri al-Quwatli was coerced into tacitly granting Britain a dominant strategic and economic position in Syria in return for its help against the French army attack on Damascus (provoked by British agents themselves).

The Syrians’ claim that their country was the first Arab state to secure complete independence from colonial rule is therefore debatable. In this regard, it is worth quoting a telegram of November 5, 1945 from the Syrian minister in Washington to his foreign minister in Damascus referring to statements made by American diplomats: “As far as British influence is concerned, the American government asks, ‘Did we recognize your independence just for you to put yourselves in the hands of Great Britain?’ Having reminded them that Great Britain delivered us from French oppression, they said to me, ‘Is that deliverance? They freed you in order to use you themselves. Great Britain, under the pretext of delivering you from the French, wants to annex you. We will not allow feudal Syrians to sell their country to Great Britain.’”

YET-TO-BE-PUBLISHED documents from 1945-1947 indicate that after their success against France in Syria, British intelligence agents, who enjoyed even greater freedom of action in the Middle East under the Labor government, employed similar tactics against the Zionist movement.

In fact, the “Zionist card” became a vital instrument used by British agents in securing their country’s influence in the Arab world by playing on the Arabs’ fears of the Zionists’ aspirations for a Jewish state.

It was also exploited to deflect the Arab nationalists’ hostility from Britain and justify Britain’s continued influence in the Arab world.

Constantine Zurieq, a diplomat in the Syrian legation in Washington who later became a leading Arab nationalist intellectual and the first to apply the term “nakba” to the 1948 Arab defeat, quoted in a telegram to Damascus on November 7, 1945, the warnings of an American official in the State Department: “Great Britain wishes to exploit the Arab-Jewish conflict because it is the only way for it to remain in Palestine, to dominate all the Arab countries. The American government strongly desires to find a friendly settlement between the Arabs and the Jews. But it is convinced that the British colonial authorities will do everything to prevent that, as Great Britain wishes for incidents to worsen in Palestine and for disorder, where blood is spilled, to take place.”

The entire paper can be seen here. It includes some new source materials. For example, here are some of the arguments against Greater Syria given by a Syrian diplomat in London to Syrian Foreign Minister Mardam:

On several occasions I noted the little respect that we enjoy here, because the English, as I already knew and as you know also, do not respect those who are smaller than them, especially those whom they consider to be their servants. I regret to tell you that I feel strong emotion taking hold of me when I think of the situation I am in and how people regard us behind their smiles of diplomatic courtesy.

I return to the plan for Greater Syria. In a few days I hope to obtain a copy of the plan which I will send to Your Excellency. For my part, I strongly rejected the possibility of the Syrian Government's agreement to such a plan or to any other plan that ushers the Zionists into our country - as if we don't have enough disasters visited upon us by God, France and the misfortunes it has brought us, in the end to see the Jews coming into Syria after having taken Palestine.

I hope I have conveyed the point of view of the Syrian Government with regard to this grave matter.

(h/t Elder of Lobby)

Arabs tell West to shut up about persecution of Christians

From al Masry al-Youm:

Leaders participating in the Arab Economic Summit issued a statement rejecting foreign interference on the issue of minority rights in the Arab World.

The summit opened Wednesday in Egypt's Sharm el-Sheikh resort.

Earlier this week, Egyptian Foreign Minister Ahmed Abul Gheit said Egypt planned to demand that the summit denounce external meddling in its domestic affairs.

The call was triggered by an appeal made by Pope Benedict XVI along with a number of Western states urging the protection of Christians in the Arab world following deadly attacks on churches in Iraq and Egypt.

The statement said that Arab leaders reject attempts by foreign powers to intervene in Arab domestic affairs.

It added that such attempts demonstrate an ignorance of the history of the region, and reflect a lack of understanding of the nature of terrorist attacks, which have not neglected any area of the world.

The disappearing Christian minority in every Arab nation is testimony to how well the Arabs are handling this issue on their own.

And it gives me reason to quote another section from the Martha Gellhorn article on Palestinian Arabs in 1961:

I directed myself toward the nearest church steeple, rang a doorbell beneath, and was admitted by an enormous, rotund priest in a brown cassock. He looked like an Arab but was an Italian. He had lived in this country for nearly thirty years and had learned how to survive: by laughter. He laughed at everything, and it was an awesome sight, as if a hippopotamus broke into silent mirth....

With another mute roar, he told me that the Arabs said, First we will finish with the Shabbaths, and then with the Sundays. They never changed their ideas. They went around looking at the women and the houses they would take when they managed to get rid of the Jews and the Christians. He laughed himself into a good shake over this one.

Unfortunately, the Arab Christians who are the targets of the Muslims are no more tolerant themselves towards Jews:

I asked about the Eichmann trial and the reaction of his Roman Catholic parishioners. Well, his Christian Arabs thought Eichmann was right, because the Jews were the enemy of the German state. They were always the enemy of the state; the Pharaohs had to drive them out of Egypt, the Persian King tried to clear them out, Ferdinand and Isabella kicked them out of Spain. No one could live on good terms with them, so Eichmann was right. (Horrified, really horrified, I said, "Surely. that is not a Christian attitude to the most appalling murders we know about?" He found it terribly funny that I should expect a Christian attitude from Arabs.)

(h/t Just Journalism)