Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 02, 2011

Will Abu Amr replace Fayyad as PA prime minister?

Al Manar is reporting that Dr. Ziad Abu Amr, who lives in Gaza, is a frontrunner to replace Salam Fayyad in the new "unified" PA government.

Abu Amr is a former foreign minister for the PA. He is said to have good relations with both Hamas and Fatah as well as other terror groups. In fact, he wrote a book called "Islamic fundamentalism in the West Bank and Gaza: Muslim Brotherhood and Islamic Jihad" which looks, at first glance, to be fairly well done.

He received his masters' degree and doctorate from Georgetown.

Abbas never responded to Olmert's peace offer in 2008

An important document analyzes the Palestine Papers and shows, once again, that the Palestinian Authority has never had any serious interest in peace.

Here's the executive summary:

Earlier this year Al Jazeera released the “Palestine Papers” -- nearly 1,700 files of documents authored by Palestinian negotiators and advisors, memorializing a decade of Israeli/Palestinian peace talks. Christians for Fair Witness on the Middle East has carefully reviewed the Palestine Papers,including those documents concerning the comprehensive peace offer Israeli Prime Minister (“PM”)Ehud Olmert made in 2008.

There has been a good deal of “hype” and sensationalism surrounding the media coverage of the Palestine Papers. Therefore, it is important for the public to read the documents for themselves when making any assessment of the course of the actual negotiations.

Some news reports and articles about the Palestine Papers have “fail[ed] to differentiate between official positions and explorations or polemical rhetoric during the course of negotiations . . .” as former chief Palestinian negotiator Dr. Saeb Erekat wrote in a recent article. In the words of Dr. Erekat, the “‘Palestine papers’ have not revealed a single official agreement or document that offers concessions.” (Id.) We agree.

In spite of claims by some commentators that there were “far reaching proposals” on each side, the Palestine Papers indicate that Palestinian Authority (“P.A.”) President Mahmoud Abbas did not make a counter-offer to Olmert’s “package offer” and so ultimately the possibility of a final status agreement in 2008 was allowed to die.

(h/t Noah)

Islamists in Jordan handing out sweets for OBL's "martyrdom"

Jordan's Ammon News reports that Jordan's Islamists are celebrating "the martyrdom of Sheikh Osama Bin Laden," saying that he left the world the way he wanted to.

Salafi jihadist Abu Qutaybah Majali recalled that Bin Laden was "anathema to the Americans and Jews and their allies."

Majali accompanied Bin Laden in Afghanistan from 1986 to 1991.

He vowed to "continue the jihad until the Day of Resurrection."

Salafists in Maan, an Islamist stronghold 250 km south of Amman, handed out sweets to celebrate his "martyrdom." That is usually done there where relatives of community members get killed in Iraq.

A town west of Amman had some shops close and raise black flags in a sign of mourning.

A spokesman for the Muslim Brotherhood in Jordan, Jamil Abu Bakr told Al Jazeera "Osama bin Laden, may God have mercy on him, chose this path knowing the cost of confrontation and resistance to America and its allies the dictators in the region."

He continued, "Although we disagree with bin Laden in his approach, he stuck to his principles until the last moment, and stood in the face of the most powerful global force for ten years and did not appear in any waiver of his beliefs."

"We believe that as long as there is injustice and aggression, there will be resistance with multiple approaches to this resistance."

Political analyst and expert on Islamic groups, Dr. Muhammad Abu Rumman, said Osama bin Laden is more popular in the Jordanian street than his second in command, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, who is from Jordan.

He told Al Jazeera that polls showed bin Laden's popularity even after the Amman bombings claimed by al-Zarqawi in 2005 and stated that this is because Bin laden didn't criticize Jordan and his focus was instead on Americans and Jews and the Western powers.

Terrorist convention in Cairo this week

It is not only Hamas and Fatah delegations traveling to Cairo to sign their latest temporary "unification" agreement.

They are being joined by some equally illustrious partners who will participate in this great event (although they are not signing anything):

A Gaza Strip-based delegation with members of the Fatah party, the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) and the Islamic Jihad sit on a bus at the Rafah border terminal in the southern Gaza Strip on May 02, 2011 before crossing to Egypt, as Palestinian factions will ink a reconciliation deal in Cairo intended to repair ties between Hamas and Fatah and end a bitter divide between the West Bank and Gaza.

How wonderful that all the terrorist groups, including Fatah, are acting so inclusively with each other! (The Hamas leadership traveled last night.)

Video of interior of Bin Laden's compound

From ABC News via Weasel Zippers:

(h/t jzaik)

The Auschwitz photo album

From Yad Vashem:

The Auschwitz Album is the only surviving visual evidence of the process of mass murder at Auschwitz-Birkenau. It is a unique document and was donated to Yad Vashem by Lilly Jacob-Zelmanovic Meier.

The photos were taken at the end of May or beginning of June 1944, either by Ernst Hofmann or by Bernhard Walter, two SS men whose task was to take ID photos and fingerprints of the inmates (not of the Jews who were sent directly to the gas chambers). The photos show the arrival of Hungarian Jews from Carpatho-Ruthenia. Many of them came from the Berehovo Ghetto, which itself was a collecting point for Jews from several other small towns.

Early summer 1944 was the apex of the deportation of Hungarian Jewry. For this purpose a special rail line was extended from the railway station outside the camp to a ramp inside Auschwitz. Many of the photos in the album were taken on the ramp. The Jews then went through a selection process, carried out by SS doctors and wardens. Those considered fit for work were sent into the camp, where they were registered, deloused and distributed to the barracks. The rest were sent to the gas chambers. They were gassed under the guise of a harmless shower, their bodies were cremated and the ashes were strewn in a nearby swamp. The Nazis not only ruthlessly exploited the labor of those they did not kill immediately, they also looted the belongings the Jews brought with them. Even gold fillings were extracted from the mouths of the dead by a special detachment of inmates. The personal effects the Jews brought with them were sorted by inmates and stored in an area referred to by the inmates as "Canada": the ultimate land of plenty.

The photos in the album show the entire process except for the killing itself

Women and children being taken to Crematoria IV and V by way of the BII sector of the camp. The elderly and the young children were almost always sent immediately to the gas chambers as they were deemed "unfit for work".

Jews "unfit for work" and selected for death, shortly before being sent to the gas chambers.

(h/t Daily Alert)

Arab American welcomes Bin Laden death - because he was a Zionist!

"Killing Osama Bin Laden is the right thing. Period." is the title of a piece in Palestine Note written by PalArab American Sami Jamil Jadallah.

It starts off this way:

I celebrate and congratulate the American Special Operation unit that killed Osama Bin Laden. I congratulate both America and the Muslim world for this great success. No man and no organization in recent memory, perhaps in the last 500 years had done more damage to Islam and the Arabs than Osama and his Islamist Jihadists including Alqaeda, Taliban’s and other small fringe group of killers and murderers.

But don't be fooled into thinking that Jadallah, who says he is a US Army veteran, hated Bin Laden because he was against America. On the contrary:

To most people in the Arab and Muslim world, they tend to forget that Osama Bin Laden was the creation and invention of the American CIA and the American Zionist NeoCons, and he was their partner not only in Afghanistan when he was fighting the Soviet Union, but I believe he was their partner and ally during the September 11th attack on America. No one can convince me or hundreds of millions like me in the US and around the world that a group of 18 people can do what they did without key assistance from the inside.

Osama Bin Laden was a bonanza, a windfall for the world Zionists and NeoCons, and the September 11th attack was what was needed by these Zionist NeoCons to have their new world order and to take charge of both US domestic and foreign policy and to have their imprint on US “anti-terrorism” agenda. An agenda that has created animosity for America around the world not only in the Muslim world, and is driving America to the verge of bankruptcy while creating a windfall for Israel as the primary beneficiary of US war on terror. The war on terror has served Israel very well, it served it agenda in the American Knesset, and it served Israel well with its industry and intelligence services and the ability to have its Fifth Column in the US by invitation.

Another moderate Arab American that we hear so much about.

Some real world Arab reaction to OBL death

Found on the comments section of Palestine Press Agency:

From Afghanistan:
Bin Laden is alive and will shortly appear on a YouTube video. And bin Laden will appear and talk about the latest news of Libya, will talk about the death of Qaddafi's son Seif al-Arab so as not to say that the video was done beforehand.

From Gaza:
Revenge from Al Qaeda of the people of monkeys and pigs!

From Gaza:
It is a Jihad Jihad, victory or martyrdomGod bless Sheikh Mujahid Osama bin Laden ....Oh God, bring him into His paradise, O Lord of the Worlds ....We as Muslims, we say a response is coming, God willing, the Almighty

From Gaza:
The doctrine of jihad and martyrdom has the love of the afterlife of eternal life and not a fake mortal life.Thus are men like Osama bin Laden.

From Gaza:
There will be reprisal for the spirit of the martyr Sheikh Osama bin; we will not forget you for what Sheikh sacrificed for the people, but you, O our sheikh and we will take revenge for you, O our sheikh

From Mesopatamia:
So long, master of martyrs.

What makes this especially interesting is that Palestine Press Agency is a pro-Fatah newspaper. This doesn't mean the readers are all Fatah supporters, of course, but it is interesting that not one Fatah supporter has commented that Bin Laden was anything but a saint.

Hamas leader calls on the PLO to withdraw recognition of Israel, increase terror

Hamas' al Qassam website reports that Hamas "prime minister" Ismail Haniyeh is calling on the PLO to withdraw its recognition of "the Zionist entity" and to emphasize terrorism ("resistance.")

Again I quote Jimmy Carter from last Friday:

The Carter Center commends the representatives of Fatah and Hamas for having the vision to begin the process of reunifying the Palestinian people. Mediated by the Government of Egypt, the agreement provides a framework for resolving long-standing issues regarding reform of the Palestine Liberation Organization, Palestinian governance, elections, human rights abuses, and the security sector. ...

President Carter said, "This agreement, and the promise of elections in the next twelve months, has the potential to arrest the spiral of intra-Palestinian human rights violations and preserve Palestinian democracy. It can also lead to a leadership representing all Palestinians capable of negotiating peace with Israel. Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome. I encourage the international community to respect this decision by the Palestinian leadership and to view it as part of the larger democratic trend sweeping the region."

Probable satellite image of Osama Bin Laden compound (updated)

It appears that this is it: (UPDATE: No, it isn't - here it is)

Zentelligence is pretty sure about this, and already people are putting up dozens of funny reviews of that compound in Google Maps.

Here you can see how close OBL's hideout was to the Pakistan Military Academy:

Muslim Brotherhood condemns killing of Bin Laden

From Hamas' Palestine Times newspaper. See how many contradictions you can find.

The Muslim Brotherhood described Osama bin Laden as a 'Sheikh' and condemned the method of his assassination. In an official statement, it called on the Western world, peoples and governments to stop linking Islam with terrorism and to correct this erroneous image which has already been deliberately promoted for several years.

The statement stressed that the legitimate resistance against foreign occupation to any country is a legitimate right guaranteed by divine laws and international conventions, and to confuse between legitimate resistance and violence against innocent people was intended by the Zionist enemy in particular.

The Brotherhood called for the United States and NATO and the European Union to quickly declare an end the occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq and recognize the legitimate rights of the Palestinian people and it called on the United States to cease its intelligence operations against the violators, and to desist from interfering in the internal affairs of any Arab or Muslim country.

The Brotherhood said in a statement: "The Muslims especially suffered from a fierce media campaign conflating Islam with terrorism and violence by Muslims, by attributing the 11 September attacks to al Qaeda". The Muslim Brotherhood announced they are against the use of violence in general and against the methods of assassinations and there should be a fair trial for anyone accused of any crime whatsoever.

Misleading Hamas statement on EUBAM

After I wrote an article yesterday about whether EUBAM will return to Rafah, JPost/Media Line reported:

Hamas doesn’t object to the reinstatement of European Union observers at the Rafah border crossing between Egypt and the Gaza Strip, a Hamas official told The Media Line.

"We don’t mind if the Europeans are involved as long as the Egyptian side agrees to this," Ahmad Yousef, a political adviser to Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, told The Media Line on Sunday. "The only objection we have is to Israeli involvement. This is an agreement between Palestinians and the Egyptians," he added.

This is purposefully misleading.

The agreement that brought EUBAM to Rafah was between the PA, Israel and the EU. Egypt was not a signatory. The entire point was that the PA would be responsible for the border, the EU would observe and Israel would observe remotely via cameras.

Details here.

This is the agreement. If the PA acquiesces to Hamas demands, then the PA will be violating a signed agreement. Allowing Europeans to observe without allowing them any responsibility is a smokescreen.

(h/t T34)

Hamas condemns US for killing Bin Laden (updated)

From AP:

The leader of the Palestinian militant Hamas government in Gaza has condemned the United States for killing al-Qaida chief Osama bin Laden.

Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh says the operation is "the continuation of the American oppression and shedding of blood of Muslims and Arabs."

Haniyeh told reporters in Gaza on Monday that although Hamas had its differences with al-Qaida, his group condemns the assassination of "a Muslim and Arabic warrior" and prays that bin Laden's "soul rests in peace."

(Update: In Arabic he called Bin laden a "mujahid" - a holy warrior.)

This is the group that Jimmy Carter believes is the key to peace.

Based on my years of contacts with Fatah and Hamas, I am confident that, if handled creatively and flexibly by the international community, Hamas' return to unified Palestinian governance can increase the likelihood of a two-state solution and a peaceful outcome.

Jimmy believes that a group that considers Bin Laden a warrior and hero, and that shoots guided missiles at schoolbuses, is going to make peace. What a tool.

Meanwhile, Islamic Jihad's Palestine Today's headline on Osama Bin Laden's death reads "Martyrdom of "the leader of al Qaeda" bin Laden through a precise operation, and the United States has his body."

Islamic Jihad, it will be recalled, hosted a reconciliation meeting between Hamas and Fatah last week. So they must be a great group by Carter's standards as well, since they also encourage the PA to include radical Islamist terror groups into its government.

Someone should really ask "The Elders" what their official position on the assassination of Bin Laden is. Since their entire shtick is that they are so old that they can speak their minds without any political pressure (sort of like Helen Thomas), it would be most enlightening to see if Carter condemns it as an extrajudicial killing in another country and an illegal act.

Galloway calls killing Bin Laden "illegitimate" (UPDATE: it was a hoax)

Last night I jokingly tweeted if Human Rights Watch would denounce the US killing Bin Laden because he was a civilian (he didn't wear fatigues, did he?)

I guess I got the human rights issue wrong.

Pro-Palestinian campaigner George Galloway has denounced the killing of the world's most wanted man as "illegitimate".

Speaking hours after President Barack Obama announced that Osama bin Laden had been captured and killed in a US operation in Pakistan, the former Respect MP said it was always illegitimate to somebody in somebody else's country.

He added: "No state which carries out [extra judicial killings] can remotely be described as democratic."

President Obama said in his address that bin Laden had been responsible for thousands of deaths, but Mr Galloway denied this was justification for the US' actions.

He said: "We can't allow our foreign power to send out death squads to assassinate whoever they see fit. That must be illegitimate.

"They could have kidnapped him and taken him for trial, couldn't they. To murder someone in somebody else's country has to be...an absolutely illegal series of acts."

It will be interesting to see if other far left terror supporters start taking up this line of reasoning.

UPDATE: I had originally gotten this from TheJC (forgot to include the link) but they have corrected the story:

A hoax video has been posted on YouTube claiming that George Galloway described the death of Osama bin Laden as illegitimate.

The video, based on old footage about a different matter, was posted this morning and circulated around the internet and on Twitter.

A spokesman for the former MP said they were urgently contacting YouTube to have it removed and that the issue was in the hands of Mr Gallowayâ€™s lawyers.

Clashes reported as Hamas stops Gazans from leaving

Palestine Today reports that Hamas has stopped hundreds of people from leaving Gaza to visit Egypt, causing the travelers to clash with Hamas police.

Police arrested some of them.

According to the article, Hamas severely limits the number of people allowed to exit Gaza every day.

Maybe Gaza is a big prison...and the warden is Hamas.