Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Wednesday, January 26, 2011

A small example of how Fatah does propaganda

Fatah newspapers have been furiously publishing articles supporting the Fatah leadership and attacking Al Jazeera.

One article in Al-Ahd shows a gimmick that we have seen even mainstream newspapers use in order to push forward propaganda as news. See if you can spot it:

The masses of refugees in camps in the West Bank confirmed their support for President Mahmoud Abbas and his policy aimed at the creation of state institutions through the establishment of a Palestinian state and Jerusalem as its capital.

A spokesman for the refugee camps in the West Bank, Imad Abu Simbel, said "All the services committees in the refugee camps and all the masses of refugees in the West Bank reaffirm their support for President Mahmoud Abbas and the Palestinian leadership under media attack waged by Al-Jazeera against the Palestinian leadership and the negotiating team."

Who is this "spokesman for the refugee camps"? He is, of course, a Fatah member! And one can rest assured that he didn't take a poll of the camps to see if the residents were happy or unhappy with the reported leaks. As the official (or maybe even unofficial, it doesn't matter) "spokesman" he has taken the right of speaking for the people - and saying whatever he wants.

This happens all the time, in one form or another. UNRWA documents from the 1950s would state authoritatively that the refugees did not want citizenship in their host countries, but they never commissioned a poll nor did they pro-actively go into people's homes to ask them. They would only deal with the "officials," those who were politically active to begin with and who would say the party line. And they wouldn't even entertain the thought that these self-appointed leaders' interests could be at odds with those of the people they pretend to represent.

The fact is that people who are interviewed by the media are to a large extent self-selecting and therefore they are, by definition, not representative of the people they claim to represent. This case with Abu Simbel is clear, but every interview in every news medium goes through a vetting process to ensure that the person will say what the interviewer wants them to say, otherwise their words get downplayed or ignored.

Protests continue in Egypt Wednesday

Some headlines from Al Masry al-Youm today:

Egyptian police fired teargas on Wednesday to disperse hundreds of demonstrators in Ramses, Cairo’s busiest square, eyewitnesses said.

A group of around 600 protesters managed sneak into downtown Cairo by tricking security forces which were blocking the roads. They gathered in Ramses chanting anti-government slogans, activists and eyewitnesses told Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Egyptian police fired teargas canisters towards roughly one thousand protesters on Wednesday evening as the latter marched down Cairo's 26 July Street towards Tahrir Square, the site of a massive protest on Tuesday that was only dispersed early Wednesday morning.

Security forces used batons to beat back protesters.

Groups of demonstrators headed towards the city's downtown district, with several hundred chanting, "Get lost, minister of torture," in reference to Egyptian Interior Minister Habib al-Adli.

They also chanted: "The people want to oust the regime," "Mubarak get lost," and "Revolution in the streets of Egypt until we achieve victory."

Egyptian authorities on Wednesday prohibited the underground metro from stopping at Sadat Metro Station in central Cairo so as to prevent demonstrators from arriving to Tahrir Square.

A planned protest in front of Cairo University on Wednesday was aborted after security cordoned off the facilities and arrested eight people while high-ranking officials and more than ten police trucks waited around.

The eight people included six activists, an Al-Masry Al-Youm reporter and a British reporter. The reporters and a female activist were released after officers took their information. The remaining five people were driven away.

Also, Egypt has blocked access to Twitter.

Wikileaks: The Qaddafi Soap Opera

From a Wikileaks cable written in February 2010:

A local political observer XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that the Qadhafi family has been consumed in recent weeks by efforts to control the damage from Mutassim and Hannibal's recent headline-grabbing behavior. National Security Advisor Mutassim al-Qadhafi kicked off 2010 in the same way he spent 2009 -- with a New Year's Eve trip to St. Bart's -- reportedly featuring copious amounts of alcohol and a million-dollar personal concert courtesy of Beyonce, Usher, and other musicians. Mutassim seemed to be surprised by the fact that his party was photographed and the focus of international media attention. XXXXXXXXXXXX, his carousing and extravagance angered some locals, who viewed his activities as impious and embarrassing to the nation. Others took the events and rumors surrounding it as further argument that Mutassim -- often considered to be a rival of brother Saif al-Islam to succeed his father -- is not fit to be the next leader of the country. The Egyptian ambassador recently told the Ambassador that the Egyptians had been bracing for retribution after an Egyptian newspaper published the report of Mutassim's carousing.

Days before Mutassim's extravagant display, international press reported that his brother Hannibal had physically abused his wife, Aline, in a London hotel room over Christmas. XXXXXXXXXXXX told us that Aline had threatened to leave Hannibal a few weeks before the incident and had fled to London. When Safiya, Hannibal's mother, heard the news, she pleaded with Aline by phone to return to Tripoli, promising to give her "whatever she desired," in exchange. Hannibal pursued Aline in London, and the encounter ended in assault. When Safiya and Hannibal's sister, Ayesha al-Qadhafi (at that time many months' pregnant), heard the news, Ayesha traveled to London to intervene. Both Qadhafi women -- Safiya by phone and Ayesha in person -- advised Aline to report to the police that she had been hurt in an "accident," and not to mention anything about abuse. London press reported that Hannibal was allowed to leave the UK discreetly, on diplomatic immunity.

In the meantime, heir-apparent Saif al-Islam has been opportunely disengaged from local affairs. ... Saif's Qadhafi International Charity and Development Foundation has recently been active in the Haiti relief effort, sending hundreds of tons of supplies. ... Young Libyan contacts have repeated over the last few weeks that Saif al-Islam is the "hope" of "Libya al-Ghad" (Libya of tomorrow), with men in their twenties saying that they aspire to be like Saif and think he is the right person to run the country. They describe him as educated, cultured, and someone who wants a better future for Libya. By comparison, when asked about the prospects of Mutassim, Hannibal, or the other brothers as leaders of country, young contacts shake their heads and point to their famously irresponsible behavior as more reason to hope that Saif will succeed his father.

Mid-day link briefs

Benny Morris:

Whatever happened to the image of the hardboiled, cynical journalist, who believes no one and questions everything?

Just Journalism: (h/t Folderol)

Osama Hamdan offers an official Hamas response to the Palestine papers in The Guardian today, in which he claims that had the Palestinian Authority reached a peace deal with Israel based on the compromises laid out in the exposed documents, it ‘would have represented the biggest act of treason in the region’s history.’

Palestine Press Agency: A man tried to set himself on fire in Gaza.

Backspin:

Israeli officials who favor concessions to the Palestinians — get labeled by Big Media as “pragmatic,” “moderate,” and “dovish.”

What about the Palestinian officials outed as favoring concessions to Israel? Is the MSM describing them as “moderates,” “doves,” and “pragmatic” now?

Daphne Anson: An Aussie Doc’s Role in the Birth of Israel

Alan Dershowitz:

Although I have opposed Israel's civilian settlements in the West Bank since 1973, I strongly believe that the United States should veto a resolution currently before the U.N. Security Council that would declare illegal "all Israeli settlement activity in the Occupied Palestinian Territory." This condemnatory resolution is being supported by all members of the Security Council other than the U.S.

(For WSJ articles, first find it in Google News by doing a search on "Dershowitz UN gangs up on Israel again" and then click it in order to bypass the paywall.)

Bernard Henri Levy:

[BDS is] a skilfully orchestrated but calumnious, bellicose, anti-democratic and, in a word, perfectly despicable campaign.

Alana Goodman on the PLO flag - and Taiwan.

JPost on Google making Yad Vashem Holocaust database more accessible.

Holocaust denial on Iranian TV (MEMRI)

Now you can burn your own Al Jazeera/Zionist flag!

From AP:

Palestinian Fatah supporters burn banners fashioned to look like Israeli flags, with an Al-Jazeera logo at their center instead of a Star of David, during a rally in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday, Jan. 25, 2011.

Do you think you are missing out on the fun because you don't have one of those nifty Al Jazeera Zionist flags?

Well, you are in luck!

Firas Press has been using a similar flag to illustrate the "Palestine Papers" articles, so here it is, suitable for printing - and public burning!

Another public service for our Arab friends by EoZ.

UPDATE: An email correspondent mentioned that I need to include this video:

Hamas bans "un-Islamic" books from Gaza bookstores

PCHR reports that Hamas has been engaging in a little book censorship in Gaza.

At approximately 13:30 on Sunday, 23 January 2011, 4 persons, one of whom was wearing military uniform, who introduced themselves as members of the GIB, confiscated copies of two novels – Alaa al-Aswany's "Chicago" and Haidar Haidar's "Banquet for Seaweed" – from Ibn Khaldoun bookstore opposite to al-Azhar University in the west of Gaza City. The GIB members presented a decision issued by the Ministry of Interior in the Gaza Strip ordering confiscation of a number of novels, including the aforementioned ones. They also informed the owner of the bookstore to refer to al-Abbas police station to obtain a document proving the confiscation of the two novels. They further claimed that the two novels violate the Islamic Shari'a (Islamic Law).

At the same time, 3 persons wearing civilian clothes, went to al-Shorouq bookstore. They introduced themselves as members of the GIB and presented an order issued by the Ministry of Interior ordering confiscation of 3 novels: "Chicago;" "Banquet for Seaweed;" and "Forbidden Pleasure." They confiscated copies of the first two novels as the third one was not available in the bookshop. They also informed the owner of the bookstore to refer to al-Abbas police station to obtain a document proving the confiscation of the two novels.

Earlier, two persons wearing civilian clothes, who introduced themselves as members of the Internal Security Service, went to Sameer Mansour bookstore opposite to the Islamic University in Jamal Abdul Nasser Street in the west of Gaza City. They requested an employee to show them the two novels - "Chicago" and "Banquet for Seaweed." When the employee showed them copies of the two novels, they ordered him not to sell them until necessary measures are taken with regard to them.

Major Ayman al-Batniji, spokesman of the Palestinian police, told a PCHR field worker in a phone call on Monday, 24 January 2011, that he had no information about such measures, but he digressed claiming that these novels violate the Islamic Shari'a.

I'm sure that the media will be all over this outrageous act of banning books, just as they would if Christians or Jews did this. I look forward to the "Comment is Free" piece on this issue.

LOL: Iran reveals Israel's project "Al Quds 2020"

By apparent policy, the Iranian media refuses to say the word "Jerusalem," instead referring to "Al Quds."

This can result in some interesting pseudo-news stories.

Gaza's religious affairs ministry expressed concern over a project to build 58,000 Jewish settler homes in occupied Al-Quds by 2020.

Meanwhile, Zionist regime is announcing Al-Quds as the capital for Jewish people and allocating funds to attract Jews in a project dubbed Al-Quds 2020, the ministry said in a statement Monday.

Israel would name a project "Al Quds 2020"?

(By the way, the 2009 master plan that was at one time called Jerusalem 2020 included thousands of apartments for Arab residents of the city.)

Fatah accuses Qatar of telling Israel about 2002 weapons ship

Fatah's anger at Qatar for allowing (or encouraging) Al Jazeera to release the "Palestine Papers" is increasing.

Their latest charge is that Qatar was behind Israel's capture of the Karine A weapons ship in 2002.

The Karine A, it will be recalled, was a ship that was purchased by the Palestinian Authority and loaded with weapons they bought from Iran. The cargo included such peaceful, moderate items as Katyusha rockets, anti-tank missiles, anti-tank mines and pure explosives, with a total value of some $15 million. People involved in the shipment were sprinkled through all levels of the Palestinian Authority hierarchy, from Yasir Arafat down to the Palestinian Naval Police.

Fatah leader and member of its Revolutionary Council, Bassam Zakarneh, told a press conference that Qatar had tipped Israel off about the ship - and this paved the way for the "assassination" of Arafat!

Interestingly, Arafat had denied having anything to do with the Karine A, and Zakarneh's statement seems to confirm that the PA really was behind it and that Arafat was lying.

And while the world is misinterpreting the "Palestine Papers" as to how moderate and flexible the PA is, it is worth remembering that the Karine A episode happened after substantive "peace" negotiations with Israel and proved that the PA's desire for peace was nonexistent.

Latest PalPapers lies: Michael Brull, ABC (Australia)

The number of anti-Israel lies in the left-wing media concerning the Palestine Papers is astounding, and they are likely to continue. Here are a few from Michael Brull of "Independent Australian Jewish Voices" writing in ABC Online:

The interesting thing about what the Palestine Papers reveal is also in relation to public relations and private diplomacy. The standard theme of Israeli propaganda after negotiations collapsed after the 2000 Camp David negotiations was that Israel had offered the Palestinians everything, but the intransigent and ungrateful Palestinians had rejected it all, proving that the Israelis had no partner for peace. The Palestinian leadership never bothered with public relations, and it was largely left to academics and left wing Israeli negotiators to reveal that this story was far from the truth. For example, after the Camp David proposals, the two parties negotiated at Taba (negotiations ended unilaterally by Israel). Israel’s chief negotiator at Taba, Shlomo Ben Ami, said if he were a Palestinian he would have rejected the Camp David proposal. The Palestine Papers include maps of the Camp David proposal. They show clearly how Ariel and Maale Adumim are used to dissect the West Bank into three non-contiguous cantons, with settlements dotting the landscape, connected by roads, further dividing Palestinian towns and areas from each other. Perhaps this will finally put an end to the favourite Zionist myth of Israeli generosity, met by Palestinian intransigence and rejectionism.

This is only one part of a longer story that the Palestine Papers reveal.

Here's the map that Brull says that the Palestine Papers reveal:

If you look at the small type on the bottom of the maps, you will see that their source is "Jerusalem Task Force, Orient House". These maps have been public for years, and they were made by a Palestinian Arab organization. They were not "revealed" by the Palestine Papers, and Brull is using Al Jazeera's copying of an old map as a way to bash Israel.

And the maps are a complete lie.

Dennis Ross, who was there, said no map was drawn, but he shows the fake Palestinian Arab version of the map, along with what the Camp David offer really looked like:

The real offer - which was sweetened significantly at Taba - was already for a quite contiguous state.

Now that we see that Brull is not averse to lying, we can find more gems in his screed.

He goes through his Palestinian Arab version of history:

Israeli historians confirmed that the Palestinians who did not flee were driven out of Palestine through a mixture of measures including Zionist terrorism, psychological warfare and outright expulsions.

He of course does not mention the percentages of Arabs who fled versus those who were forced out. No one knows the actual numbers, but the vast majority were not expelled. Most Arabs never saw an Israeli soldier and fled because of wild Arab rumors of atrocities that never happened or that were vastly exaggerated. The wealthier Arabs left almost immediately after the partition vote, as they did in the 1930s, expecting to return after the fighting ended - and leaving their poorer cousins behind without leaders. And some (but not most) were indeed told to leave by Arab leaders themselves.

There is a third category that Brull ignores, though: those that stayed and became citizens of the state. An option that was simply not available for Jews in the Old City or Gush Etzion. Those people prove his claim that those "who did not flee were driven out" to be, again, a lie.

If there was one side that adopted the concept of "ethnic cleansing" from the start and continued throughout the 30 years of Mandate history, it was the Arabs - at Tel Chai, Petah Tikva (failed attempt), Hebron, Gaza, Jenin, Shchem/Nablus, Jerusalem's Old City (beginning in 1936), Atarot, Neveh Yaakov, Bet HaAravah and the 4 Gush Etzion Bloc kibbutzim. [h/t YM]

Israel proceeded to conquer the remaining 22 per cent of historic Palestine in 1967.

Whenever you see the words "historic Palestine" you know that you are dealing with a liar. Historic Palestine includes part of Jordan and Lebanon, parts that today's "Palestinians" have no desire for. For the same reasons they had no desire for a state in the West Bank while Jordan controlled it.

It goes on from there. The article is filled with half-truths and lies. Brull is rabidly anti-Israel and he uses the release of the papers as a reason to get op-ed space that simply uses the papers as a peg to bash Israel.

And Australia's ABC is more than happy to host the lies.

Funniest joke of the day

From Daoud Kuttab writing in The New York Times:

Palestine television, which falls under the president’s powers, was totally revamped and cleaned of anti-Israeli incitement.

Here are examples of the newly cleansed shows.

From November:

December:

And January:

(h/t YM)

A better winter picture

A few weeks ago, I took a photo of a frozen lake near me, trying to match a great picture I took in the autumn of the same spot. At the time I had no idea that this winter would be so snowy so I wanted to grab something to reflect the season.

Luckily, today, I got a better shot.

Here's the autumn shot:

And here is the (probably) definitive matching winter shot. Click to enlarge and see the snowflakes.

Again, all photos are being taken by my camera phone (Nexus One), so I am trying to compensate for lack of quality of the equipment.

The difference between the "peace process" and peace

To me, the biggest surprise in the "Palestine Papers" released so far is that, unless they are a massive hoax (and I don't believe that,) the Palestinian Arab negotiators were much more flexible and forthcoming in the talks than they are in public.

This is not to mean that even their more flexible demands can be accommodated by even the most dovish Israeli government.

The most important memo, so far, is this June 2008 meeting between the two sides and Condoleeza Rice. It is really fascinating. Here are some parts over which Jewish areas east of the Green Line the PA wants :

Livni: I want to understand one thing, since you have come back to 1967 borders. At that time there was no Palestinian state. Today we want part of this land and we think that you deserve to be compensated for what we want. My question is: Do you have a problem because of the area of Ma’ale Adumim or its location?

Abu Ala’: Our problem is not in the kilometers, but the settlement block Jerusalem from the East, and from the south there are Kidar and Jabal Abu Ghneim settlements that block Jerusalem. There is a settlement belt around Jerusalem.

Livni: I think I mentioned in the last meeting on borders that there is a misunderstanding and the idea we have is not to block Jerusalem completely.

Abu Ala’: - We do not want to live in enclaves. We want people to live in peace and to fight against terrorism.

Perhaps Ma’ale Adumim will remain under Palestinian sovereignty and it could be a model for cooperation and coexistence. We may also have international forces and make security arrangements for some time. It is the location of Ma’ale Adumim not its size.
There is also Ariel settlement which was set up on the largest water basin. It was not set up simply to provide Israeli with housing units but rather to control the water basin.

Livni: - The idea behind our desire to annex Ariel settlement was not to get more water but because thousands of people live there. We want to have an answer for those who have lived there for forty years.

Future borders will be complicated but clear. I have seen in Yugoslavia how areas can be connected. The matter is not simply giving a passport to settlers.

Abu Ala’: Having Ariel under our control means also that the water basin will be under our control.

Livni: We have said that even if we agreed to have Ariel under Israeli control, we have to find a solution to the water issue.

Abu Ala’: We find this hard to swallow.

Rice: - Let us put Ma’ale Adumim and Ariel aside. I am not trying to solve them here.
...

Livni: - When we decided on the annexation, we made it clear to the Palestinians that we will not compensate them with land that is part of Israel now.

The issue now is that the Palestinians will not accept that some locations become part of Israel.

Rice: This is exactly what I am saying.

Livni: Are you talking about two locations only?

Abu Ala’: There are more than two locations. There are Ma’ale Adumim, Ariel, Ephrat, Giv’at Ze’ev, Jabal Abu Ghneim (Har Homa).

Abu Ala’: Ariel goes for 19 kilometers into the West Bank, and this impedes geographical contiguity and enables Israel to control water resources.

Saeb: Our proposition will allow for the inclusion of 70% of settlers, that is about 310,000 settlers.

Rice: Did you see their proposition?

Livni: We looked at it. There are no Ma’ale Adumim, Ephrat, Ariel, Giv’at Ze’ev or Hara Homa (Jabal Abu Ghneim).

Saeb: Why do I not say the opposite, that there are Zakhron Ya’cov, the French Hill, Ramat Eshkol, Ramot Alon, Ramat Shlomo, Gilo, Tal Piot, and the Jewish Quarter in the old city of Jerusalem.

These show that Livni was pretty much ready to give up on all Jewish towns that were not near the Green Line, except for Ariel. The PA wanted a number of Jewish suburbs of Jerusalem, especially Maale Adumim, which no Israeli leader could possibly consider giving up.

The sections that "everyone knows" would be a part of Israel is represented as a major concession by the PA. Meanwhile, no one is even discussing the dismantling of dozens upon dozens of Jewish communities - with schools, shops, recreation centers, parks, playgrounds, cemeteries - that Livni is so easily giving up.

Even so, the PLO is appearing to be cognizant of Israeli requirements and needs, and to be willing to work with them. This is a far cry from how the PLO acts in public.

And therein lies the problem.

No Israeli is going to be surprised by what Livni is giving up (in fact, her insistence on some security issues is fairly strong even as she is willing to give in on other areas.) But the violent reaction to these leaks in the PA underscores the major issue, the latest elephant in the room to be added to the long list:

The Palestinian Arab leadership has never prepared their people for peace.

While I admit to being initially impressed with what Erekat and Abu Ala have to say in these memos, a little further reflection shows that all of these moves are cosmetic. Even if an agreement would have been reached, the people are not part of the process.

At the exact same time that these two sides were joking and trying to narrow the gaps between them, the official PA media continued to incite its people with TV shows extolling jihad, with schoolbooks that eliminated Israel, and with talk about the "return" of millions to Israel.

Israelis are acclimated to the idea of compromising for peace. Hell, they've done it numerous times, often very painfully.

The Palestinian Arabs, on the other hand, haven't even been taught the basic concept of compromise. Their leaders have never said a word about the necessity of a middle ground where Jewish parts of Jerusalem and major settlement blocs will remain in Israeli hands, where millions of people will not be moving to Israel, and where - inevitably - Arab nations will need to finally step up and offer to naturalize their Palestinian Arab "guests."

There has been no groundwork to change the process from a theoretical exercise into a concrete reality. There has been no reduction in incitement and no attempt to acclimate people to peace with Israel.

Why not?

Is the "peace process" is a farce, meant solely to appease the US? Is it simple fear on the part of the PalArab leadership not to tell inconvenient truths to their people? Is it fear of Hamas taking advantage of the tumult that would follow?

I can't say for sure. But what is certain is that no peace is viable if the people do not buy in to it.

The official PA incitement and glorification of terror is far more important than what Erekat says behind closed doors with Rice and Livni.

In an open society like Israel's, the leaks are more or less what everyone expected. But to the PA they are a bombshell. And that dissonance between reality and the fantasy that the PalArabs have been fed for decades is the entire problem.

The leaders' reactions to this problem are telling. Rather than stepping up and explaining the context, they have into full blown denial-and-blame mode.

I have yet to see an Arabic op-ed saying, "Duh, what do you think they talk about in the negotiations?" Instead we are seeing full-scale attacks - on the PA if you are aligned with Hamas, on Al Jazeera if you are aligned with Fatah.

All of this proves that real peace is not, and never was, a priority for the Palestinian Arab leaders. If it was, then these leaks would not be a big deal - everyone would have known it already.

If a Palestinian Arab leader starts telling people the truth, that would be impressive. (Ironically, it would also make Israel much more flexible in her demands as well. ) Until then, however, the entire negotiations track is divorced from reality, and doomed.

Video: Anti-government protests in Egypt today

From Al Masry al-Youm:

Around 15,000 protesters have occupied Tahrir Square, Cairo’s biggest square, in one of Egypt’s biggest demonstrations in decades.

Eyewitnesses said protesters chanted anti-Mubarak slogans.

Observers believe the protest is the biggest since the bread revolt in 1977, where Tahrir Square was again the scene of demonstrations scene.

A new venue for my writing

I have started to write original material for the NewsRealBlog site, in a new pro-Israel section they created called "Right To Exist."

My first post there is called "Palestine Papers Show One Way the Anti-Israel Media Sets the Agenda."

Feel free to check it out!

Meanwhile....Iran hangs two protesters

From Naharnet:

Iran hanged on Monday two activists it said were members of an exiled group opposed to the 2009 presidential poll result, despite U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton urging that they be freed.

The executions were the first reported hangings of protesters who staged demonstrations against the re-election of President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad in a poll they said was rigged.

The Tehran prosecutor's office named the pair as Jafar Kazemi and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei. It did not say where the two men were hanged.

"Two elements of the Monafeghin (hypocrites) cell named Jafar Kazemi... and Mohammad Ali Hajaghaei... were executed early today," the prosecutor's office said on its website, referring to the Iranian exiled opposition group, People's Mujahedeen of Iran (PMOI).

Mid-day links

Raymond Ibrahim on how the media downplays Christian persecution (h/t Daled Amos)

Czech PM tells JPost that Israel's outreach in Europe is "miserable."

A YNet op-ed shows, again, the anti-Israel bias of Human Rights Watch.

Major protests in Egypt today.

Archaeologists finally completed a dig of an ancient tunnel that goes alongside the Temple Mount and to the City of David. it was originally a drainage channel. The tunnel will be open to tourists.

Al Jazeera's show trial (Toameh)

Hamas logic: Palileaks proves Arafat was assassinated

A Hamas leader, Salah al-Bardawil, told a Jordanian newspaper that the "Palestine Papers" prove that Arafat was assassinated.

The weird logic goes like this: Since Arafat refused to negotiate over Jerusalem, and since the documents show that the PLO was negotiating Jerusalem, it proves that Arafat was killed so that others who were more flexible could take his place.

Doesn't it seem that the Arab mind is hardwired to find conspiracy theories?

Burning an Israeli flag with "Al Jazeera" written on it

Here's a nice glimpse into how Arab leaders think.

Egyptian newspaper al-Mesryoon is being quoted as saying that Abbas asked Egypt to intervene with Qatar in order to stop what he considered an attempt to tarnish the image of the Palestinian Authority before Arab public opinion, despite the fact that he has briefed all Arab countries on all developments in negotiations with the Israelis at all stages.

Sources reported that Egypt expressed support for the position of the Palestinian Authority in seeking ways to contain the crisis.

An Egyptian official, Rakha Ahmed Hassan, told the newspaper that Arab parties, including Egypt, might intervene in order to prevent the escalation of tension between Qatar and the PA.

The implication, of course, is that there isn't even a pretext of freedom of the press in the Arab world. It is simply common knowledge that a government can dictate what any newspaper may or may not publish.

But it's a cultural thing. To criticize it betrays Western imperialistic thinking about non-Arab concepts such as "freedom."

Erekat: "If memos are true, why is there no agreement?"

Saeb Erekat gave a rambling, sputtering statement slamming Al Jazeera for publishing the so-called "Palestine Papers" that show an inside look at the negotiations between the PLO and Israel.

Besides his conspiracy theories about Al Jazeera, he rhetorically asked more than once, "If our positions are as they claim, why didn't Israel agree and why we did we not reach an agreement with them?" In other words, Erekat is admitting that Israel would have taken the offers seriously, as opposed to how The Guardian is spinning it!

Most of his rant is aimed at Al Jazeera and the vast conspiracy that is behind the channel.

Some highlights:

Al Jazeera's shame is unprecedented in Arab history....

The Palestinian Authority cannot solve the refugee issue; it is up to the refugee to decide to return to the territories of 1948, or the State of Palestine, or to accept compensation. This is the official Palestinian position, we do not agree with Israel on anything concerning this.

Al Jazeera is part of a terribly serious criminal act, planning to destabilize the Palestinian people, whether in Jordan or Palestine or Lebanon or Saudi Arabia...such incitement is serious.

What is going on is the process of punishment for our steadfastness and our positions, especially after we went to the UN Security Council and our refusal to negotiate with Israel without a halt to settlement activity, which has always been what we insisted and we will continue to uphold our rights as approved by international law.

Everything published so far does not exceed two or three pages that were cherry-picked with malicious intent to destroy the position of the steadfast Palestinian negotiators on our inalienable rights according to international law.

[Al Jazeera's] aim is to topple the Palestinian Authority because we refuse to return to negotiations and refuse to continue the negotiations while there is continued settlement [construction] and we insist on going to the UN Security Council and we wants the world to recognize the state of Palestine.

Al-Jazeera planned this...The selectivity and distortion, alteration, and forgery is apparent in every aspect.

We will reveal all our documents and challenge them to publish them.

A group of lawyers is now considering how to deal with the theft of these documents.

The media machine (referring to Al Jazeera) and spent hundreds of millions of dollars to tarnish our reputation.

If our positions are as they claim, why didn't Israel agree and why we did we not reach an agreement with them?

Al Jazeera calls for a... revolution against the Palestinian Authority to bring down the Palestinian political system.

This region is moving toward a more dangerous situation .. not only in Palestine...there are plans in Washington and elsewhere for this region and this tool (Al Jazeera) has a very large role to play in this direction.

These documents are incitement to murder and assassination, this may lead us to go to what is more than an ordinary court.

What is being done by Al Jazeera is done on behalf of Benjamin Netanyahu and Lieberman and Washington as a nasty incitement....

This incitement comes from the administration of Al Jazeera and those who stand behind them. We have lots and lots of documents that will show who is behind this channel .. these documents are not forged, but the truth .. [showing] what is going on between them and the Americans and Israelis.

Et tu, YNet?

I've been showing how Al Jazeera and the Guardian are purposefully misinterpreting the leaked "Palestine Papers" to make Israel look as bad as possible.

Even though they link to the actual memos that prove their distortions, their false spin is what gets into print. And most people dont bother to check the original.

Apparently, "most people" even includes Israeli reporters!

From YNet:

Leaked confidential documents published by Al-Jazeera and the Guardian reveal that during her tenure as Israeli foreign minister in Ehud Olmert's government, Tzipi Livni pressed for the "transfer" of some of Israel's own Arab citizens into a future Palestinian state as part of a land-swap deal that would exchange Palestinian villages now in Israel for Jewish settlements in the West Bank.

Here is the talkback I gave to YNet:

If you actually read the memos, you will see that Livni was asking that villages that straddle the Green Line be unified, one way or the other. She didn't want another Ghajar.

The anti-Israel Guardian and Al Jazeera said she meant "transfer." And now a YNet reporter evidently believed them and didn't bother reading the memo itself and do real reporting.