....And nuclear materials in Libya

From Al Arabiya:

Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) will reveal some facts about the recent discovery of banned weapons in Libya in a press conference on Monday, Al Arabiya reported.

According to Libya’s interim premier Mahmoud Jibril, the issue of the chemical weapons will be referred to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) once the facts are officially announced.

Mohammed al-Saeh, an NTC official, told Al Arabiya that the discovered materials are nuclear. He said that the NTC held contacts with the IAEA to confirm the nature of the discovered materials.

I have not seen any follow-up after the announced press conference yesterday. Asia News dismisses the claim saying these were old nuclear material and waste that everyone knew about.

(h/t Yoel)

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Secret nuke site in Syria

From AP:

U.N. investigators have identified a previously unknown complex in Syria that bolsters suspicions that the Syrian government worked with A.Q. Khan, the father of Pakistan's atomic bomb, to acquire technology that could make nuclear arms.

The buildings in northwest Syria closely match the design of a uranium enrichment plant provided to Libya when Moammar Gadhafi was trying to build nuclear weapons under Khan's guidance, officials told The Associated Press.

The U.N.'s International Atomic Energy Agency also has obtained correspondence between Khan and a Syrian government official, Muhidin Issa, who proposed scientific cooperation and a visit to Khan's laboratories following Pakistan's successful nuclear test in 1998.

The complex, in the city of Al-Hasakah, now appears to be a cotton-spinning plant, and investigators have found no sign that it was ever used for nuclear production. But given that Israeli warplanes destroyed a suspected plutonium production reactor in Syria in 2007, the unlikely coincidence in design suggests Syria may have been pursuing two routes to an atomic bomb: uranium as well as plutonium.

Details of the Syria-Khan connection were provided to the AP by a senior diplomat with knowledge of IAEA investigations and a former U.N. investigator. Both spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the issue.

If you want to explore the site yourself on Google Maps, where you can zoom in pretty well, here it is.

View Larger Map


(h/t Israel Matzav)

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It's about time: PalArab terrorist database to be compiled

From JPost:

The Almagor Victims of Terror Association plans to launch an online database of the terrorists with descriptions of their crimes in an effort to prevent future prisoner swaps, The Jerusalem Post has learned.

The head of Almagor, Meir Indor, believes by connecting the names of the terrorists to the specific terror attacks they committed, the public will be less likely to support prisoner swaps in the future.

“We are taking the law into our own hands so that terror victims can get updates on the terrorists who are responsible for specific attacks,” said Indor.

The database, called “Justice for Terror Victims,” will collect information that is available to the public, such as arrests and court transcripts, and compile it in a searchable database.

The Foreign Ministry and some private bloggers have partial lists, but this is the first initiative to have a comprehensive center of information.

More than a dozen volunteers working around the clock in shifts of three have already compiled full entries for 270 terrorists released as part of the Gilad Schalit deal.

It will be uploaded later this week onto the organization’s website, al-magor.com.

The prisoner list released ahead of the Schalit swap by the Prisons Service had dry descriptions for each of those released such as “involvement in unknown terror organization” and “assisted in murder.”

Indor believes that more specific descriptions, such as “the driver who brought the suicide bomber to Sbarro,” will resonate with the public on a deeper level and encourage more of an outcry against future swaps, which was fairly muted in the Schalit deal.

“Personalization works,” said Indor, noting that one reason the Schalit campaign was so successful was that it created an image of Schalit the average Israeli could relate to as a son and a soldier.

He added that the database, which will start with the terrorists released as part of the Schalit swap, will be updated if there are future swaps or if a terrorist is rearrested for committing similar crimes.

I had put something quickly together based on information from the IDF, IPS and Wikipedia which as far as I know had been one of the better databases out there, but I am very glad that this is being done comprehensively.

(h/t Tamar)

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Latest member of the Zionist Attack Zoo: Puffer fish!

From the Daily Star Lebanon:

Before returning to Ain al-Mreisseh’s small port in the capital, fishermen take a moment to remove a few fish from their net, stab them and throw them overboard.

Fishermen say that all puffer fish invariably receive the same treatment, especially since the Agriculture Ministry issued a decree in July that bans catching,selling and consumption of the extremely toxic fish. The move came after at least seven people died and many were poisoned over the past few years after consuming it.

Playing cards with other fishermen in Ain al-Mreisseh is 66-year-old Adnan Oud, one of many who ate the fish without knowing the danger. A few hours after his meal he recalls, he suddenly “felt numb.”

“I couldn’t walk or raise my hand … I was worried I was having a stroke,” he says. Oud spent four days in a hospital and says doctors never discovered the cause of his illness. But he’s certain the puffer fish was responsible as the moment he felt better, he visited the friend he had shared his meal with, who reported similar symptoms. “I’ve been crawling up the stairs … I couldn’t even carry my tools,” Oud recalls his blacksmith friend telling him.

Oud says many fishermen were skeptical of his story. “Some didn’t believe us, so they fed the fish to the cats. None of them survived, except for one, now walking on two legs.”

“Since then, no one has eaten it,” he says. “But the sea is full of it, and there is no way to get rid of it.”

The puffer fish was first seen in the Eastern Mediterranean some eight years ago. Since then, American University of Beirut marine biology professor Michel Barriche says, “the number of puffer fish [in the Mediterranean sea] exploded” and there are now “millions and millions.”

“The introduction of the new species can be compared with rats, cockroaches,” he explains. “They can live in any environment and eat a wide variety of food.”

...One kind of puffer fish is well known in East Asia, especially in Japan where daredevils like to consume “fugu” fish, a dish that can lead to a fast and brutal death if prepared incorrectly.

A myth circulating among Lebanon’s fishermen says that the fish appeared in the Mediterranean after Israel, which was supposedly raising fugu in fish farms for Japan, released them into the sea when Japan had enough domestic supply of fugu.

The idea that Japan needs Israel to supply it with fish is hardly believable.

(h/t Serious Black)

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Goldstone - yes, Goldstone - defends Israel from "apartheid" slander

From the New York Times, an op-ed by Richard Goldstone, author of the infamous Goldstone Report that slandered Israel:

THE Palestinian Authority’s request for full United Nations membership has put hope for any two-state solution under increasing pressure. The need for reconciliation between Israelis and Palestinians has never been greater. So it is important to separate legitimate criticism of Israel from assaults that aim to isolate, demonize and delegitimize it.

One particularly pernicious and enduring canard that is surfacing again is that Israel pursues “apartheid” policies. In Cape Town starting on Saturday, a London-based nongovernmental organization called the Russell Tribunal on Palestine will hold a “hearing” on whether Israel is guilty of the crime of apartheid. It is not a “tribunal.” The “evidence” is going to be one-sided and the members of the “jury” are critics whose harsh views of Israel are well known.

While “apartheid” can have broader meaning, its use is meant to evoke the situation in pre-1994 South Africa. It is an unfair and inaccurate slander against Israel, calculated to retard rather than advance peace negotiations.

I know all too well the cruelty of South Africa’s abhorrent apartheid system, under which human beings characterized as black had no rights to vote, hold political office, use “white” toilets or beaches, marry whites, live in whites-only areas or even be there without a “pass.” Blacks critically injured in car accidents were left to bleed to death if there was no “black” ambulance to rush them to a “black” hospital. “White” hospitals were prohibited from saving their lives.

In assessing the accusation that Israel pursues apartheid policies, which are by definition primarily about race or ethnicity, it is important first to distinguish between the situations in Israel, where Arabs are citizens, and in West Bank areas that remain under Israeli control in the absence of a peace agreement.

In Israel, there is no apartheid. Nothing there comes close to the definition of apartheid under the 1998 Rome Statute: “Inhumane acts ... committed in the context of an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group over any other racial group or groups and committed with the intention of maintaining that regime.” Israeli Arabs — 20 percent of Israel’s population — vote, have political parties and representatives in the Knesset and occupy positions of acclaim, including on its Supreme Court. Arab patients lie alongside Jewish patients in Israeli hospitals, receiving identical treatment.

To be sure, there is more de facto separation between Jewish and Arab populations than Israelis should accept. Much of it is chosen by the communities themselves. Some results from discrimination. But it is not apartheid, which consciously enshrines separation as an ideal. In Israel, equal rights are the law, the aspiration and the ideal; inequities are often successfully challenged in court.

The situation in the West Bank is more complex. But here too there is no intent to maintain “an institutionalized regime of systematic oppression and domination by one racial group.” This is a critical distinction, even if Israel acts oppressively toward Palestinians there. South Africa’s enforced racial separation was intended to permanently benefit the white minority, to the detriment of other races. By contrast, Israel has agreed in concept to the existence of a Palestinian state in Gaza and almost all of the West Bank, and is calling for the Palestinians to negotiate the parameters.

But until there is a two-state peace, or at least as long as Israel’s citizens remain under threat of attacks from the West Bank and Gaza, Israel will see roadblocks and similar measures as necessary for self-defense, even as Palestinians feel oppressed. As things stand, attacks from one side are met by counterattacks from the other. And the deep disputes, claims and counterclaims are only hardened when the offensive analogy of “apartheid” is invoked.

Those seeking to promote the myth of Israeli apartheid often point to clashes between heavily armed Israeli soldiers and stone-throwing Palestinians in the West Bank, or the building of what they call an “apartheid wall” and disparate treatment on West Bank roads. While such images may appear to invite a superficial comparison, it is disingenuous to use them to distort the reality. The security barrier was built to stop unrelenting terrorist attacks; while it has inflicted great hardship in places, the Israeli Supreme Court has ordered the state in many cases to reroute it to minimize unreasonable hardship. Road restrictions get more intrusive after violent attacks and are ameliorated when the threat is reduced.

Of course, the Palestinian people have national aspirations and human rights that all must respect. But those who conflate the situations in Israel and the West Bank and liken both to the old South Africa do a disservice to all who hope for justice and peace.

Jewish-Arab relations in Israel and the West Bank cannot be simplified to a narrative of Jewish discrimination. There is hostility and suspicion on both sides. Israel, unique among democracies, has been in a state of war with many of its neighbors who refuse to accept its existence. Even some Israeli Arabs, because they are citizens of Israel, have at times come under suspicion from other Arabs as a result of that longstanding enmity.

The mutual recognition and protection of the human dignity of all people is indispensable to bringing an end to hatred and anger. The charge that Israel is an apartheid state is a false and malicious one that precludes, rather than promotes, peace and harmony.

As night follows day, we can expect the rabid anti-Israel Left who embraced Goldstone as their messiah two years ago will issue vicious condemnations of this piece, and charge Goldstone with being a tool of the Zionist lobby, tomorrow.

But as bad as the Goldstone Report was - and its flaws were so numerous as to border on the malicious - it was not in the same league as the anti-Zionist Left who routinely accuse Israel of "apartheid." These people are not interested in facts or in arguments. They are inherently dishonest and their interest in the truth is nil. They have one purpose and one purpose only - to destroy Israel. It is mindless hate.

And it is a shame that their lies have gained such currency that someone like Goldstone even feels compelled to answer them.

If I had to do some armchair psychology, my guess is that he saw people used his report in ways he never intended, mostly people who didn't even bother to read it themselves. Very possibly, he did not want to be associated with such haters who pretended he was one of them, sort of like Benny Morris after his early works on Israel's history.

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More on the Palestinian Arab culture of martyrdom, plus two more posters

This is a followup to my previous post discussing whether it is accurate to describe Palestinian Arab support for terrorism as an example of its culture.

In 2008, Palestine Media Watch gave lots of evidence that the (secular) Palestinian Arab Ma'an News Agency would routinely use the word "martyrs" in its English language articles describing the death of terrorists.

In response, Ma'an said, "in the Palestinian cultural/religious tradition, the martyrdom aspect is significantly different from the Judeo-Christian understanding. Those who die as martyrs may be defending their wives or their property, not necessarily engaging in the Western notion of a holy crusade. The PMW interpretation, while undoubtedly held by some religious individuals, is not necessarily the general interpretation of these terms."

So Ma'an is saying that it is merely following the Palestinian Arab cultural (not religious) tradition when referring to people killed by Israelis as "martyrs" in Arabic. But if they died directly because of a terror act, does this Palestinian Arab cultural tradition still allow them to be called "martyrs"?

Let's look at a Ma'an article to find out.

On January 18, an Al Qassam Martyr's Brigades member killed while he was engaged in a "jihad mission." Not defending his family, not minding his own business, but engaged in a purely offensive mission, and he appears to have accidentally killed himself while performing his jihad.

And Ma'an in Arabic called him a "martyr" both in the headline and in the article.

If you believe Ma'an, when Palestinian Arabs glorify terrorist acts, it is cultural.

But you don't even have to go that far to see how Palestinian Arab culture glorifies terrorism. All you have to do is look at the songs and dances at the annual Palestinian Cultural Festival!

In 2010, a dance troupe held rifles and danced to the idea of dying, using lyrics like

He who offers his blood doesn't care if his blood flows upon the ground.
As the weapon of the revolution is in my hand, so my presence will be forced [upon Israel].
My weapon has emerged.
My weapon has emerged

And in attendance was the PA Minister of - you guessed it - Culture. The dance was shown multiple times on Palestinian Arab TV.

And in September of this year, at another edition of this cultural festival, singers sang:

He sacrificed his life for the land.
They wrapped him in white cloth with a flower.
He shouted and said: "How sweet is Martyrdom."
Meeting his Lord was his choice.
He adorned his land with the purest blood.
Tears for him are [tears of] joy. [His] mother makes sounds of joy.
[The Martyr] a groom and his wedding - Martyrdom and heroism.
Oh hero, rest in peace, do not worry.

So for anyone who thought my first poster was offensive - here are two more:

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Another UNESCO poster, and a discussion of culture

A blog-friend was offended by my last poster (which said "Palestinian culture.") It led to a spirited debate on Twitter over whether it is fair, or bigoted, to say that "Palestinian culture" can be symbolized by a bus bomber.

(Others wildly misinterpreted the poster as saying I was calling all Palestinian Arabs suicide bombers, which is ridiculous.)

My contention is that it was an accurate caption, although posters force me to be more brief (and therefore open to misinterpretation.) I regard posters a a form of political cartoon, where a point is often made by using exaggeration.

Nevertheless, there wasn't much exaggeration here.

One of Wikipedia's definitions of culture is:

The set of shared attitudes, values, goals, and practices that characterizes an institution, organization, or group

The word "culture" perfectly describes the Palestinian Arab attitude of support towards "resistance." And, yes, that means terrorism. From the political leaders on down, you will not find many significant Palestinian Arab voices who are actively against political violence for moral reasons - only for pragmatic reasons.

How many examples have I given over the years, of schools and camps and town squares named for terrorists? Not terrorists who turned into political leaders, but people who were nothing but terrorists. If Palestinian Arab culture found these people abhorrent, where are the op-eds and protests against them?

Samir Kuntar is a hero among Palestinian Arabs If there are any who find him to be a monster, they certainly aren't making themselves heard.

And poll after poll has shown that Palestinian Arabs support terrorism. The number has gone down in recent years when the questions were asked in the abstract, but when specific terror attacks were mentioned (like the massacre at Mercaz HaRav) the percentages were overwhelmingly pro-terror.

Just last week, Mahmoud Abbas said that Hamas' kidnapping of Gilad Shalit - not technically an act of terrorism, but a violation of multiple Geneva Conventions - was a "good thing," and he agreed that armed "resistance" was a necessity for negotiations. How many Palestinian Arabs would disagree with this?

It is a culture that glorifies terror attacks, where masked terrorists are cheered, where killers are feted, where no distinction is made between prisoners who have done no violent crime and those who have been instrumental in mass murder - they are all heroes.

No doubt there are other facets to Palestinian Arab culture. They have plays, art, crafts, clothing and books that have nothing to do with terrorism. But to deny that glorifying terror is part of today's Palestinian Arab culture is to deny reality.

Wishful thinking will not make this ugly truth go away. It is a serious problem in today's Palestinian Arab society, and pointing out that PalArabs are friendly when you visit Ramallah does not lessen the immensity of the problem.

And I think there is a solution. But that is for another post.

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Iranophobia-palooza!

I first noticed the term "Iranophobia" last year, but in recent weeks Iran has been using the term a lot more:

October 13:

"The repeat of ineffective and stupid methods by hapless and distracted policy-makers in the West (to spread) Iranophobia will again bear no result," Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said in an army base in the western city of Kermanshah, the official IRNA news agency reported.

October 25:

US and Europe Seek to Promote Iranophobia

October 28:

'US using Iranophobia to shield Israel'

October 29:

Iran's top investment official says despite the West promoting Iranophobia, the country's foreign direct investment (FDI) index has seen a 124 percent growth in the past two years.

I think there is a great merit in engaging in Iranophobia - the fear of Iran - since Iran is literally threatening the world with destruction. Iranophobia is a healthy and normal reaction to the idea of an unstable nuclear Islamist state headed by irrational people who are consumed with hate and obsessed with destroying their enemies and turning the world into an Islamist 'ummah.

What is interesting, though, is the seeming conscious use of the term by Iran. It appears to me that they see how Westerners are scared of accusations of "Islamophobia" and will react to that charge by overcompensating and overlooking Islamist dangers. They want to create that same dynamic - hoping that the West will vigorously deny this charge of "Iranophobia", because it sounds vaguely racist, and therefore will bend over backwards to distance themselves from anything that seems slightly "Iranophobic."

The irony, of course, is that Iran is rabidly Ziophobic, yet few would consider that term an epithet. That is a very sad commentary on the world today.

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"Palestine" at UNESCO: The Poster

Well, they didn't invent falafel...

UPDATE: If you want to see my exhaustive defense of why this poster is accurate, see this and this.

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Abbas: "I am against terror (wink, wink)"

From MEMRI, from an interview with Mahmoud Abbas on Egypt's Dream TV:

Interviewer: "Don't you think that it was the resistance that managed to liberate a thousand prisoners?

"Negotiations must always be accompanied by a measure of force. There can be no negotiations without resistance. This has been shown by the experience of people – in Ireland and all countries."

Mahmoud Abbas: "That's true, but our circumstances are different. We are not able to wage military resistance.

"Hamas kidnapped – or rather, captured – a soldier, and managed to keep him for five years, and that is a good thing.

"We don't deny it. On the contrary, it’s a good thing that on a small strip of land, 40 × 7 kilometers, they were able to keep him and hide him." [...]

You see, the "moderate" Abbas that the West sees is against terrorism and "armed resistance." But he knows quite well that there is always the Al Aqsa Brigades, Al Quds Brigades or Al Qassam Brigades who are willing to do the dirty work of actually killing Jews, and he applauds them. The terror groups do what he wishes them to do, but he can claim that he is personally against such actions (at this time, of course.)

And the Western media swallows the myth of a moderate Palestinian Arab leader whole, mostly because they want to believe in it so darn much.

By the way, did you notice that Abbas never condemned the murder of Moshe Ami in Ashkelon, killed by a Grad rocket on Saturday?

(h/t CHA)

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This IsReal (video)

Nice short film by Matthew Brown.

A road trip straight through Israel. Had no idea what the complexities and diversity of the cultures were, but I got deeper and deeper, seeing all walks of life living together in this amazing land. The conglomerate of things happening in that tiny, but EPIC country (it's smaller than New Jersey!) packed a punch like a bustling beehive. I was overwhelmed and totally let Israel envelope me. I bonded with every flavor of person there... they were all Israeli. They were all beautiful people. (By the way, the title isn't spelled wrong, lol...read it again ;)

Shot with the 7D and edited with Sony Vegas
I edited this video with a fever, kidney infection, and $4 headphones! LOL.
Music by the amazing John Adams (Harmonielehre_ Part III - Meister)

I have got to get myself a new digital SLR - the quality of the videos made with these cameras is fantastic.

(h/t DM)

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What will happen next with UNESCO?

As was obvious, UNESCO voted to admit a fictitious state:

Palestinians won a crucial vote to enter UNESCO as a full member on Monday, scoring a symbolic victory in their battle for statehood ahead of a similar vote at the UN General Assembly in New York.

"The general assembly decides to admit Palestine as a member of UNESCO," said the resolution adopted by 107 countries, with 14 voting against and 52 abstaining.

"This vote will help erase a tiny part of the injustice done to the Palestinian people," Palestinian foreign minister Riyad al-Malki told the assembly as the vote took place.

France, which had voiced serious doubts about the motion, approved it along with almost all Arab, African, Latin American and Asian nations, including China and India.

Israel, the United States, Canada, Australia and Germany voted against, while Japan and Britain abstained.

The United States and Israel are set now to withdraw their funding from the UN cultural body, while other UN agencies may have to debate the thorny issue.

So will US funds be stopped? HuffPo wrote up what looks like a comprehensive description of the legal issues involved.

Back in the earliest days of the peace process, when Congress was not entirely behind White House efforts related to Madrid (and subsequently Oslo), Congress passed a number of pieces of legislation intended to block normalization of Palestinian relations and activities in the international community. These included the following provision of law -- which notably does not include authority for the president to waive the requirements of the law, even in cases where vital U.S. national security interests are at stake.

22 USC 287e as amended by PL 101-246

MEMBERSHIP OF THE PALESTINE LIBERATION ORGANIZATION IN UNITED NATIONS
AGENCIES.

(a) PROHIBITION- No funds authorized to be appropriated by this Act or any other Act shall be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof which accords the Palestine Liberation Organization the same standing as member states.

(b) TRANSFER OR REPROGRAMMING- Funds subject to the prohibition contained in subsection (a) which would be available for the United Nations or any specialized agency thereof (but for that prohibition) are authorized to remain available until expended and may be reprogrammed or transferred to any other account of the Department of State or the Agency for International Development to carry out the general purposes for which such funds were authorized.

A few observations are in order.

First, if UNESCO were to upgrade the PLO's status, but not to a point that gave the PLO equal status (in terms of rights/privileges) to member states, 22 USC 287e would not apply.

Second, even if UNESCO were to upgrade the PLO's status to the same as a member State, Congress is not simply the helpless victim of a law passed 21 years ago during a much different era. If members of 112th Congress wanted to, they could pass new legislation to amend this 22 USC 287e to avoid a cut-off in funds.

Third, the chances of the 112th Congress amending 22 USC 287e to avoid a crisis at the UN are low to non-existent, despite the fact that cutting off funding to UNESCO and other UN agencies would clearly be detrimental to U.S. interests.

...Fifth, even if UNESCO and the Palestinians were to come to some agreement on an upgrade of status short of a status comparable to a member state (thus avoiding sanctions under 22 USC 287e), Congress would likely act to strengthen U.S. law to ensure that even in such a case, U.S. sanctions would apply....

And finally, it should be emphasized that the U.S. funding for UNESCO that is at issue here includes funding from the United States' assessed contributions to the UN, as opposed to voluntary contributions to UNESCO. This means that if Congress and the White House determine that under the current (or some future) law, funding to UNESCO (or later on WIPO, or the IAEA) must be cut off due to that organization's treatment of the Palestinians, the U.S. will not only be removing itself from participation in a key international body, but will be in violation of its treaty obligations with respect to UN funding.

I cannot imagine that the White House will not find a way around this, but it is a stickier situation than it first appeared.

UPDATE: The US announced it stopped funding UNESCO:

The United States said on Monday it had stopped funding UNESCO, the UN cultural agency, following its vote to grant the Palestinians full membership.

US State Department spokeswoman Victoria Nuland told reporters the United States had no choice but to halt funding because of longstanding US law, saying Washington would not make a planned $60 million transfer that was due in November. (Reuters)

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Jordanians plan to sue Netanyahu

From Ammon News:

Jordanian farmers from the Jordan Valley intend to file a lawsuit against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in international courts over the fires Israel reportedly sets ablaze at the borders with Jordan, causing major damages to Jordanian border farms.

Head of the Jordan Valley Farmers' Union Adnan Khaddam said that the farmers also intend to file lawsuits against Israeli Ambassador in Amman Danial Nevo over the fires that Israeli authorities regularly set ablaze at border regions with Jordan.

Khaddam said that farmers are seeking financial compensation for damages to their farms and equipment as a result of the repeated fires, Assabeel daily newspaper reported.

The latest fire was occurred last Friday in the border Manshiyyeh region, which extended to over 15 dunums burning over 90 citrus trees and woodland areas, and damaged irrigation infrastructure of Jordanian farms in the border region.

Khaddam added that most of the fires in the past several years were caused by light bombs fired by the Israeli army to monitor the borders, and to detonate mines and burn weeds off wire fences of border patrol sites, citing "security reasons, border patrol, and preventing smuggling."

Jordanian farmers have repeatedly complained about the fires which extend to Jordanian farms and cause major damages. The Jordanian government had also voiced objection over the fires and the material damages caused to Jordanian farms, yet Israel continues to refuse to compensate Jordanian farmers, UPI reported.

I don't know where the Manshiyyeh region is. Practically the entire border between Israel and Jordan is the Jordan river and the Dead Sea, so while I suppose it is possible for burning embers to go across the water and start fires, this seems strange.

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Jordan says Hamas will not move to Amman

From Ammon News:

The leadership of the Hamas, including the political bureau, will not move to settle in Amman, Minister of State for Media Affairs Rakan Majali said on Sunday.

Majali, who is also government spokesperson, denied reports that Hamas' political bureau would move its offices from Damascus to Amman, explaining that discussions are underway to have "a normal relationship between Jordan and Hamas, just like other Palestinian factions."

"Jordan deals with Hamas in a positive way, just like other factions, we respect Hamas and recognize its importance and presence in Gaza and respect what it represents," Majali added.

The Minister explained that what is proposed is dialogue and meetings just like our relations with other movements, "the difference here is that Hamas is a big organization, and I hope that this is not misunderstood to be at the expense of Jordan's relationship with the Palestinian Authority."

Jordan's ongoing relations with the PA are "official," because it represents the awaited Palestinian state, "and our relationship with the PA is ongoing."

Regarding normalized relations between Jordan and Hamas, Majali expressed that this means that Hamas officials may visit Jordan, meet with Jordanian officials, "but the idea of moving the political bureau to Amman is not proposed in the meantime," noting that the option was not proposed by Hamas either.

Others in Jordan believe that the entire idea to move Hamas' headquarters to Amman is an American plot! Here's part of an unhinged op-ed from yesterday - written by a Jordanian Palestinian Arab:

Hamas is being ejected from Syria and it’s also being rejected and denied a foothold by other countries in the region. Because of that, Jordan and its leadership are at the receiving end of very vicious arm twisting, threatening and blackmailing by the U.S. and some corrupt Arab governments to force it to host HAMAS on its territory.

I am extremely opposed to any Palestinian political presence in Jordan under any name. Just as much, I am also opposing any political meddling-if there is any- by Jordan in Palestine. Giving our special relationship, all this can be changed once we, the Palestinians, liberate Palestine. Until then, Jordan must be protected from the sick designs of the Zionists and their sponsors who are hell bent on turning Jordan into a battle ground for Palestinian factions and their backers. In Hamas case its Hezbollah and Iran who will end up getting a foothold In Jordan. In the PA case, it’s ironically, Israel and the US which already have a foothold in Jordan.

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Islamic Jihad mother happy that her fifth son is "entering Paradise"

The Islamic Jihad website Saraya has an article about Khansa Fatima Sheikh Khalil, a Gaza mother who has had five of her terrorist sons killed "in martyrdom."

She is looking forward to joining her sons in paradise.

The article says that she did not cry for more than five minutes upon news of her son Ahmad's death on Saturday.

She expressed joy and praised Allah for what happened, and expressed hope that her sons are all accepted into Paradise where they would be, presumably, happily screwing a bunch of virgins for eternity.

Khalil also expressed her fervent wish that Islamic Jihad continue to create Jewish widows and orphans. She called on Allah to grant success to the "resistance" and to defeat the Jews for "our land."

She has two more sons left, as well as two daughters. Ahmed also leaves behind three wives.

One of Ahmad's remaining brothers said "we always expected him to be killed."

You see? Terrorist families are just like everyone else. You just have to understand their culture, and show empathy for them.

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