Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Monday, May 09, 2005

Havel Haveilim #18 (or #19) is out

The latest wonderful periodic summary of the best of the Jewish/Israeli blogs has been published here.

For reasons perhaps only known to this edition's editor, one of my recent postings is mentioned. So in the interests of fair play and good form, I recommend checking it out, as well as all back issues which are spread throughout the JBlogosphere.

Sharon: No more prisoner releases until PA acts against terror. AP disagrees.

Notice how AP twists this story to make it look like Israel is raising tensions and that somehow the prisoner release decision threatens the "cease-fire":

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon said Sunday that Israel will not release more Palestinian prisoners until the Palestinian Authority takes tougher action against militant groups - the latest sign of trouble for an already strained cease-fire.

Israeli and Palestinian officials discussed the prisoner issue Sunday, but their meeting ended in disagreement. Palestinians charged Israel is breaking a truce that has drastically reduced violence, endangering its continuation and weakening Palestinian leader Mahmoud Abbas. (How this "breaks a truce" is not explained in the AP universe.)
[...]Later, AP decides to quote Palestinian spokesterrorists, and ignore any Israeli comments:
Palestinian negotiator Saeb Erekat accused Israel of stonewalling.

"It seems to me that they will not release the prisoners, they will not hand over the areas, they will not end the question of the fugitives," Erekat said. Instead of imposing delays, he said, Israel should "expedite this process and give peace a chance," he said. (I believe that if you look up "chutzpah" in the dictionary, you'll see a picture of the exerable Erekat.)

Palestinian Cabinet minister Ghassan Khatib cautioned that Sharon's policies "would only lead to the collapse of the recent cease-fire."

Red-Dead canal planned

Sounds like a win-win.

Ministers from Jordan, Israel and the Palestinian Authority will today sign an agreement to pave the way for the construction of a canal that will link the Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

The canal will generate electricity, provide fresh water, and prevent the Dead Sea from drying up.

It will draw water from the Red Sea at Aqaba in Jordan, raise it 170 metres above sea level and then let it fall to the Dead Sea which, at 400 metres below sea level, is the lowest place on earth.

The project will consist of 110 miles of canal, tunnel and piping, and the electricity provided by the water will provide for pumping the water in the initial stages and power a desalination plant.

There are also plans to construct holiday resorts and a water park along parts of the route.

The first stage will be a $20m (£10.15m) feasibility study partly funded by the World Bank with the estimated $3bn cost of the final project also being partly funded by the bank.

Canals linking the Red Sea, Dead Sea and Mediterranean Sea have been discussed since the 19th century, initially for transport, then hydroelectricity and now with the main purpose of desalinating sea water.

As the population in the region has exploded over the past 100 years water has become more and more precious.

As a result the Dead Sea, a lake 10 times more salty than sea water, has fallen by 20 metres leaving wide areas of salt flats. The level of the sea continues to fall by about 80cm a year.

Jeff Jacoby: Everybody loses in Sharon's Gaza plan

A breath of fresh air from Jeff Jacoby, asking the questions no one wants answered.

GADID, Gaza Strip
[...]
A visitor would have to be strangely obtuse not to sense the deep attachment of Gaza's Jews to the land they live on. In places like Gadid, streets and kindergartens are named for the Bible's seven species. ''Gadid" itself is an old Hebrew word meaning date harvest, and the names of other settlements, like Pe'at Sadeh (''edge of the field") or Netzarim (''sprouts"), similarly evoke the agricultural yearnings of their founders.

When those founders arrived, Jewish Gaza was all yearning and no agriculture: These settlements were mostly built on barren sand dunes where no one lived and nothing grew. Today it is a horticultural powerhouse, supplying two-thirds of the organic vegetables and cherry tomatoes Israel exports, and renowned for its bug-free lettuce and other leafy greens. Gaza's legal status may be complicated (it is technically an unallocated portion of the League of Nations' 1922 Palestine Mandate), but the moral status of this land is as clear as day: As a matter of justice and sweat equity, the Jewish homesteaders whose faith and hard work have made the sand dunes bloom surely have as much right to their homes in Gadid and Neveh Dekalim as the Arabs have to theirs in nearby Khan Yunis and Dir El Balah.

Yet in just 10 weeks, if Prime Minister Ariel Sharon's ''disengagement" program goes forward, the 8,000 Jews who live in Gaza -- men, women, and a great many children -- will be expelled. Their homes and property will be taken over by the Palestinian Authority. And the green revolution that has transformed Gaza's sandy wastes into a spectacular oasis of hothouses, nurseries, and gardens will almost certainly come to an end.

But Jews won't be the only victims of Sharon's plan.

At Tnuvot Katif, a large produce-packaging plant here, I watch for a while as about two dozen workers, most of them local Arabs, get heads of tall leaf lettuce ready for export. More than half of Tnuvot's 127 year-round employees are Arab; they in turn account for about 2 percent of the 3,500 Arabs employed by Gaza's Jewish firms.

During a break in the shift, I ask some of workers if they like their jobs. They shrug. But when I ask what they think of the plan for Israeli withdrawal, they grow animated. If the Israelis go, they tell me through an interpreter, they'll lose their jobs. If the plant shuts down, they'll be out of work, and if the Palestinian Authority takes it over, they'll still be out of work -- their jobs will go to workers with better connections to the PA's ruling thugs.

''If that's how you feel," I ask, ''why don't you oppose the disengagement publicly? Why don't you tell the PA that you want your Jewish neighbors to stay?"

When my question is translated, the men look at me as if I'm crazy.

''It's forbidden!" replies Randoor, the only one of the workers who would give even a first name. ''We're not allowed to say that!"

I press him: Why not? What would be so bad about saying that Jews and Arabs should be able to live together? But Randoor shakes his head and crosses his wrists, as if being handcuffed. ''They might put us in jail," he says. ''They might call us 'collaborators.' " In the jungle that is Palestinian society, being called a ''collaborator" can be a death sentence. Indeed, the PA's newly elevated security chief -- a cold-blooded killer named Rashid Abu Shabak -- is known in Gaza as the ''collaborator hunter."

Politicians and pundits are applauding Sharon's planned retreat, yet a simple lettuce-packer like Randoor seems to grasp what they cannot: The lives of Gaza's Arabs will not be improved by expelling Gaza's Jews.

Palestinian officials are calling a US House of Representatives offer of $200 million in tentative aid for the Palestinians passed on Thursday a 'huge slap in the face,' due to restrictions placed on the spending of that money.

The measure restricts the money from going to the Palestinian Authority or its leader, Mahmoud Abbas, and instead calls for the money to be channeled through American aid agencies, nongovernmental organizations (NGO's) and philanthropic groups.

Amazing how people who are so "desperate that they need to resort to suicide bombings" are so picky on how they can get money to help them.

Amar case: How many JBlogs are "dan l'kaf zechut"?

Arutz Sheva - Israel National News

Many Jewish blogs are jumping on this story as some sort of "proof" that religious Jews are corrupt. Besides the fact that the only people who clearly broke the law are a secular Jew and two Arabs, it is very disturbing to see that Jews who will bend over backwards (generally accurately) to portray IDF actions favorably have no hesitation to bash the religious.

No one knows yet what happened. Police in Israel and the US have been known to make arrests that in the end were wrong. If a criminal act was done by the religious, it should be treated exactly the same way that any other criminal act must be treated, but the Jewish world can stand a little more tolerance and to give others the benefit of the doubt.

Strange definition of "cease-fire"

Palestinians on Friday morning fired an anti-tank rocket on Friday morning at school bus carrying children outside the southern Gaza Strip settlement of Kfar Darom, shaking the fragile lull in violence. The rocket failed to hit the bus.

A mortar shell also hit a Gush Katif settlement. No damage or casualties were reported in either case.

Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip fired four Qassam rockets at the southern Israeli town of Sderot predawn Friday. The Magen David Adom ambulance service said that several people had been treated for shock.

Ha'aretz editorializes:

As long as the Qassam rockets and mortar shells fired intermittently from the Gaza Strip to Jewish settlements do not take a toll in lives, it is unlikely that Israel will respond with force. However, if there are casualties, Israel will not be able to stay its hand.

This is also the case if the Palestinians open fire during the disengagement itself. In the history of the Israel Defense Forces, it has never restrained itself, as it has recently, in the face of violence. In any case, the Palestinian firing of Qassams and mortars indicates just how fragile the cease-fire is.

Um, how about "how non-existent the cease-fire is"?

At any rate, what sense does it make to wait until Jews are killed before responding? If the enemy intends to kill Jews, why wait until tthey succeed before trying to stop them? The only reason the Kassams haven't killed anyone isn't because Hamas has decided to purposefully aim at open fields. The intent is clear, and the idea of a "cease-fire" is fiction.

It is distressing, at the time of Yom HaShoah, to see Jews with a strong army waiting for casualties before defending themselves. Who would have thought that Jews in Israel would end up with a Galut mentality?

Engagement/Disengagement Blog

Yoel Ben-Avraham has set up a blog with this stated purpose:

It is my firm personal belief that the manner in which the "debate" is being managed is potentially more damaging to the future of Israeli's society than any other aspect of this inner conflict! The polarization and acrimoniousness is reaching new levels never before experienced. Whether the "Disengagement" takes place or not, we all have to continue living together in the same country the day after.

I'm realistic to recognize that reading articles or ewxchanging emails is unlikely to change people's log held opinions, but possibly it might open participants up, if not to agreement, as least a better understanding of the other side, where they are coming from and why! In a real way I would have prefered to call the site "Engagement". I challenge all sides of the "Disengagement" debate to "engage" their oponents in words and with reason.

I invite you to join others and myself in what appears to be a unique initiative in an atmosphere of growing divisiveness. Join me in encouraging all sides to this debate to contribute their views to one central forum where we hope to encourage:

every opinion to be represented
everyone with an opinion to be represented
honest and open dialog between all sides

I strongly agree with the stated purposes of the blog. I only had a chance to glance at it as of yet; it appears to be more heavily weighted against disengagement rather than for, at this point. But it is indeed true that the biggest danger is not the actual decision to stay/leave Gaza but the divisions that are occurring in Israel as a result of the debate (and actions to stifle debate.)

So check it out!

Some Palestinian Aid to go to Hadassah, Israel

Congress is making clear what everyone knows but no one wants to say: Like most pre-teens, the Palestinians are not mature enough to handle their own money.

Yet for some reason everyone is convinced that they are mature enough to have their own state.

Congress imposed the tight restrictions on aid to the Palestinians that President Bush had announced with fanfare in his State of the Union address, possibly dealing a blow to U.S. efforts to support new Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

In the emergency spending bill that lawmakers completed late Tuesday, the White House had sought $200 million 'to support Palestinian political, economic, and security reforms,' as the president said in his February State of the Union address. But the fine print of the document gives $50 million of that money directly to Israel to build terminals for people and goods at checkpoints surrounding Palestinian areas. Another $2 million for Palestinian health care will be provided to Hadassah, the Women's Zionist Organization of America, while the allocation of the rest of the money is tightly prescribed.

The bill appears to make it difficult for the White House to give any of the aid directly to the Palestinian Authority, as Palestinians had hoped. Instead, the assistance must be funneled through nongovernmental organizations.

While in theory the White House could seek some sort of waiver on the restrictions to direct aid, a congressional official said the State Department had assured lawmakers that Bush would not seek that authority.

Flags and pictures of Palestinian candidates from the extreme Islamic group Hamas fly in the sky during a rally two days before the Palestinian local election at Rafah camp in Gaza Strip.

United Arab Emirates get world's best F-16

Who exactly is the enemy that the UAE is defending itself against with F-16s that are better than any in Israel's - and the U.S.' - air force?

Just one year after Israel, the United Arab Emirates this week took delivery of the most advanced F-16 ever produced.

The first batch of US-built 80 F-16 "Block 60" fighters landed at an official, but quiet ceremony in Abu Dhabi.

Neither the US nor the UAE announced the delivery. But reports from AFP as well as the UAE's Khaleej Times said the event took place on Tuesday and was attended by Abu Dhabi's crown prince, Sheikh Muhammad bin Zayed al-Nahyan. They did not specify the number of planes received.

The UAE is paying $6.4 billion for the 80 jets, produced by aerospace giant Lockheed Martin at its plant in Fort Worth, Texas.

These F-16s are more advanced than the newest Israeli F-16 I "Block 50+" and even any US F-16 model. It is one of the few weapon systems in the hands of an Arab state qualitatively superior to that in the Israeli arsenal.

The new F-16's major difference is the Northrop Grumman APG-80 multimode radar, for improved tracking of multiple targets. The Block 60 configuration is the most extensive change in the history of the F-16 program. Its unique features include new cockpit displays and a new mission computer.

The UAE F-16 will be called Desert Falcons. The delivery to the UAE marks the first time the US allowed its sale outside of NATO countries.

The UAE F-16 can just barely reach Israel without mid-air refueling. But should it ever be deployed closer in another Arab country, it would be a formidable foe for the IAF since it is technically an aircraft superior to the IAF's best.

PA: We don't have to honor commitments, only Israel does

How long before the world pressures Israel to continue making concessions despite the PA's explicit announcement that terrorists will remain heroes?

Oh, sorry, it has already been happening for decades.

The Palestinian Authority reiterated Wednesday it had no intention of disarming militants despite constant Israeli calls for such a move and a recent pledge to crack down on unlicensed weapons.

The announcement came amid growing friction between armed factions and security forces following the arrest of two Hamas men after a gunfight Monday night. The militants were accused of planning to attack Israel in defiance of a cease-fire.

'We have no intention of withdrawing arms of resistance,' Rashid Abu Shbak, the head of the internal Preventive Security Service, told a news conference in Gaza.

Abu Shbak specifically rejected Israel's request for a start to disarmament before it hands over the last three of five West Bank cities it was to return to Palestinian security control under a February truce agreement.

Blatant anti-semitism at official PA press site

You don't have to know Arabic to see that there is nothing "anti-Zionist" about a cartoon of a hook-nosed, side-curled stereotypical Jew blowing a Shofar. And this is published on the website of the Palestinian National Authority Press Center.

(The cartoon has either been removed or the website is screwed up; here is a copy:)

Palestinians claim evil Joo-Rays kill elderly woman!

No, it's not the National Enquirer! It's not Weekly World News! It's something far more entertaining - it's the quasi-governmental (emphasis on the "mental" part) Palestinian International Press Center!

Note the complete lack of knowledge of English, the hysterical tone, and the absolute absence of any sense. With the extra dose of whining, these guys are funnier than the Onion nowadays!

GAZA, Palestine, April 30, 2005 (IPC+Agencies) ---An elderly woman Fatama Mahmoud Abu Obeid, 65, entered the Egyptian controlled lounge at Rafah crossing border linking Gaza strip with Egypt, died just half an hour for being screened by a USA-made 'advanced portal using millimeter wave holographic technology to screen passengers for weapons and explosives.

A well -informed sources at the Rafah crossing told Al Ayam newspaper that the elderly woman Abu Obeid has finished its travel check up at the Palestinian party then moved to the Israelis where she had been screened by the naked spy machine as it 'photographs Palestinian civilians completely naked, and before she had headed to the Egyptian run lobby she pronounced dead shortly awhile before completing her travel papers.
[...]
In a press conference, in Gaza, the health minister Dr. Thohni Al Wuheidi warned Thursday that the continued use of the Israeli naked spy machine at Rafah border terminal violated the Palestinian people's rights for proper health and privacy.

"What is certain and what we saw with our own eyes during our traveling was shocking. We asked some colleagues who were screened and they told us that they were photographed by the device for more than 10 times, indicated by the ticking of the camera, while orders are given to the screened individual by a microphone inside the room. The ticking sounds suggest the use of radiation inside the device," the Minister said.

The health minister added "The new information we obtained indicate that they can take photos penetrating the skin into the deep layers of the body, reaching to the bones. Even if we hypothetically assume there wasn't any harm in that, we are looking at an appalling infringement of the Palestinian people's human rights and religious codes," Dr. Wuheidi condemned.

Abbas' "Iron Fist" more like Arafat's revolving door

Yesterday, the PA trumpeted how it arrested Hamas members who were en route to set off rockets towards Israel. Reuters mentioned the "iron fist" promise that Abbas used in referring on how he would crack down on "militants."

Well, that didn't last long!

Palestinian police released a Hamas rocket squad operative Tuesday, despite a pledge to get tough with those who break a non-formal cease-fire with Israel.

The release came after intervention by outraged Hamas leaders and Egyptian diplomats. The suspect was set free even though he and two other Hamas terrorists had fired at officers during Monday night's arrest, and a rocket launcher and firearms were found in the gunmen's car.

And also just yesterday, it was reported that two Palestinian prisoners "escaped":

The Palestinian Authority (PA) reported this week on the "escape" from prison of the two terrorists arrested after the Tel Aviv suicide bombing in February that killed five Jews.

According to Itamar Marcus and Barbara Crook, researchers for Palestinian Media Watch, the "escape" is yet another indication that Mahmoud Abbas is using the same strategies of duplicity that were used by the Arafat regime.

Arresting terrorists immediately after bombings, only to quietly report their "escape" after the bombing was no longer a news item, was an effective tool used by Arafat. Because of this approach, the West praised him as a terror fighter, while he was praised at home as a terror supporter.

Luckily, Israel killed one and captured the other. Unluckily, it came at the cost of the life of one Israeli soldier.

PLO Political Director: Violence the only way

Once again, the leading "political" Palestinian faction shows its true colors.

And once again, the Western press ignores such "moderate" statements because it doesn't fit into the script that the press prefers to peddle.

Farouq Al-Qaddumi: I don't trust Israel. Israel can only be opposed with bullets. This is the only way. As I've said, I support the truce, or rather, the 'calming down.' I say that after every difficult struggle, people must go back to their daily lives.

Interviewer: What about the amendments to the PLO charter? Amendments were made in order to start negotiations…

Farouq Al-Qaddumi: I do not accept any amendments, made in 1996, to the charter. We who opposed the Oslo Accord do not accept any change to the charter.

A wild Gaza theory

Since I cannot fathom why Sharon wants to push forward with his plan to expel all Jews from Gaza, and since I try to give everyone the benefit of the doubt (and also since I never really liked conspiracy theories like "Sharon is using the explusion to divert attention from his own scandals"), here is a theory I just made up:

Sharon completes the "disengagement." He has a secret agreement with President Bush that Gaza will be a test environment, a model statelet for Palestinians. The Palestinians will have some fixed period of time to turn Gaza into a miniature democratic Palestine - no Hamas gangs, truly free elections, the building of a real infrastructure, no attacks against Israel from Gaza, the building of industries and exports to other countries. In other words, here is the last chance to see if Palestinians can act like adults.

If the Palestinians pass the test, then Israel continues withdrawing from other territories. If not, game over - Israel redraws the West Bank (and perhaps Gaza) on her own terms and says "See? Why should we want to create a state for people who are clearly not mature enough, after decades of whining, to run one responsibly?"

Now, even if this is the plan, it is folly. But maybe this is what is going on. I could at least understand something like this, even if I don't agree.

Jerusalem, 23 Nissan 5765
May 2, 2005

Prime Minister Ariel Sharon
Office of the Prime Minister
Jerusalem

Dear Mr. Prime Minister,

I am writing to inform you of my decision to resign as Minister of Diaspora Affairs and Jerusalem.

As you know, I have opposed the disengagement plan from the beginning on the grounds that I believe any concessions in the peace process must be linked to democratic reforms within Palestinian society. Not only does the disengagement plan ignore such reforms, it will in fact weaken the prospects for building a free Palestinian society and at the same time strengthen the forces of terror.

Will our departure from Gaza encourage building a society where freedom of speech is protected, where independent courts protect individual rights and where a free market enables Palestinians to build an independent economic life beyond government control? Will our departure from Gaza end incitement in the Palestinian media or hate-filled indoctrination in Palestinian schools? Will our departure from Gaza result in the dismantling of terror groups or the dismantling of the refugee camps in which four generation of Palestinians have lived in miserable conditions?

Clearly, the answer to all these questions is no.

The guiding principle behind the disengagement plan is based on the illusion that by leaving Gaza we will leave the problems of Gaza behind us. As the familiar mantra goes "we will be here, and they will be there". Once again, we are repeating the mistakes of the past by not understanding that the key to building a stable and lasting peace with our Palestinian neighbors lies in encouraging and supporting their efforts to build a democratic society. Obviously, these changes surely will take time, but Israel is not even linking its departure from Gaza upon the initiation of the first steps in this direction.

In my view, the disengagement plan is a tragic mistake that will exacerbate the conflict with the Palestinians, increase terrorism, and dim the prospects of forging a genuine peace. Yet what turns this tragic mistake into a missed opportunity of historic proportions is the fact that as a result of changes in the Palestinian leadership and the firm conviction of the leader of the free world that democracy is essential to stability and peace - a conviction that is guiding America's actions in other places around the world - an unprecedented window of opportunity has opened. Recent events across the globe, whether in former Soviet republics like Ukraine or Kyrgyzstan, or in Arab states like Lebanon and Egypt, prove again and again the ability of democratic forces to induce dramatic change. How absurd that Israel, the sole democracy in the Middle East, still refuses to believe in the power of freedom to transform the world.

Alongside my concerns, about the danger entailed in a unilateral disengagement from Gaza, I am even more concerned about how the government's approach to disengagement is dividing Israeli society. We are heading towards a terrible rift in the nation and to my great chagrin, I feel that the government is making no serious effort to prevent it.

As Minister I share collective responsibility for every government decision. Now, when the disengagement plan is in the beginning of its implementation stages and all government institutions are exclusively focused on this process, I no longer feel that I can faithfully serve in a government whose central policy - indeed, sole raison d'etre - has become one to which I am so adamantly opposed.

I would like to thank you for our productive cooperation over the last four years. In particular, you sensitivity toward issues of concern to the Jewish People and the strong backing you gave to my efforts to combat anti-Semitism and to strengthen Israel's connection with the Diaspora made possible for the State of Israel to forge the many successes which we achieved together in these areas.

I would also like to take this opportunity to thank you for the central role you played in integrating Israel B'aliya into the Likud, a historic step of great national importance.

As in the past, I will continue my lifelong efforts to contribute to the unity and strength of the Jewish People both in Israel and in the Diaspora. I will also continue to advocate and promote the idea that freedom and democracy are essential to peace and security.

Sincerely,

Natan Sharansky

If only the other coalition members who criticize the disengagement plan would have the guts to actually put their money where their mouths are.

British hate Israel more than Palestinians

Buried in an article about the disgusting boycott of Israeli universities by the British AUT teachers' union is this fascinating tidbit:

In addition, Al-Quds University in eastern Jerusalem also came out against the academic boycott of Israel.

'We are informed by the principle that we should seek to win Israelis over to our side, not to win against them,' said the university, which is headed by Dr. Sari Nusseibeh.

'Therefore...we believe it is in our interest to build bridges, not walls; to reach out to the Israeli academic institutions, not to impose another restriction or dialogue-block on ourselves.'

In other words...the British are more anti-Israel than the Palestinian academics are!

Isn't it romantic?

Many blogs and other sites have shown their disgust at this series of pictures of President Bush getting, um, chummy with the Saudi dictator Crown Prince Abdullah. I gotta agree; here is the government that is at the very least partially responsible for 9/11 and it sure appears that Bush is still bending over backwards to not offend these murderers and bankrollers of terror.

2005_04_25 - bush-abdullah2.jpg

2005_04_25 - bush=abdullah4.jpg

This is especially bad in light of these latest revelations (not surprising revelations, but always shocking) that the Saudi chief justice is encouraging Arabs to kill Americans:

Is Saudi Arabia an ally or enemy of the United States in the war on terror?

The question is raised with the disclosure of secretly recorded comments from the kingdom's chief justice encouraging young Saudis to travel to Iraq to wage war against Americans.

Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan (NBC News)

"If someone knows that he is capable of entering Iraq in order to join the fight, and if his intention is to raise up the word of God, then he is free to do so," says Sheik Saleh Al Luhaidan in Arabic on the October audiotape from a government mosque, obtained by NBC News.

While Luhaidan warns Iraq is risky because "evil satellites and drone aircraft" watch the borders, he stresses making the trip to fight Americans is religiously permissible.

"The lawfulness of his action is in fighting an enemy who is fighting Muslims and came for war," says Luhaidan.

"This statement shows the real face of the Saudi government," Saudi dissident Ali Al-Ahmed of the Washington-based Saudi Institute told NBC, noting Saudi officials, including Luhaidan, publicly oppose holy war in Iraq, but send a different message in private.

"He is telling Saudis it's OK to go to Iraq and kill Americans and Iraqis and they won't be punished for doing that," says Al-Ahmed.

When a Saudi spokesman denied the authenticity of the tape, the network contacted Luhaidan himself in Saudi Arabia to play the tape.

"Yes, this is my voice," the sheik confirmed in Arabic.

But Luhaidan said he meant to convey the message that it's "not worth it for young Saudis to go to Iraq and that the Iraqis are capable of fighting on their own," according to NBC.

The revelations on the tape come the same week Saudi Arabia's crown prince met with President Bush in Texas to discuss oil-related and economic issues, and extremism was also said to be discussed.

Last month, responding to a report revealing Saudi exportation of religious extremism to the U.S., 15 senators sent a letter to Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice demanding the Bush administration take stronger action against Riyadh.

New York Democrat Charles Schumer was among the signers of the letter, which called for the U.S. to define its relationship with Saudi Arabia more clearly.

Schumer stated: "It is a massive contradiction that a country we call an ally could be both so regressive in their own country and so brazen in its propagation of anti-American, anti-women, anti-Semitic books, publications, and practices. American security is undermined as the Saudi government exports these hateful commodities to millions beyond its borders, planting the seeds for new generations of terrorists and totalitarian Wahhabi leaders."

It is a very sad state of affairs when the Democrats make more sense about an aspect of foreign policy than the Bush administration. And in regards to energy policy (which is, in reality, a defense policy), the US has dropped the ball big-time. It is hard to escape the thought that Bush has a sweet spot for Arab oil oligarchs, and this is blinding him from the conclusion that the US needs a Manhattan project for alternate energy sources, that could eliminate any need for Arab oil within ten years - not only energy independence for the US but for Europe and other Western nations as well.

UPDATE: Friends of Micronesia adds some good links and observations.

UPDATE2: Apparently, His Royal Highness' entourage includes a wanted terrorist.

CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) - A member of Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdul Aziz's delegation was denied entry into the United States after authorities found he was on a government "watch" list, a US official said.

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The US Department of Homeland Security, in a routine check of the delegation passenger manifest, found that one traveller was on a government list meant to screen out possible terrorists, the official said on condition of anonymity.

"This information was shared with our interagency partners, including the State Department," the official said. "My understanding is that the State Department denied that person a visa and so they did not enter the country."

The official could not confirm whether the person was a reporter or a Saudi official or even what nationality the person was, but another US official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity, said he was a Saudi.

The second official also said the individual's name had appeared on a US government "watch" list.