Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, May 08, 2007

Mosa Al Ghriz: my kind of martyr

The Hamas Al Qassam website is an unending source of mirth and merriment. Especially interesting is the "Martyr" section, where brief biographies of the lives and grisly deaths of Hamas terrorists are detailed.

I just stumbled onto the biography (not autotranslated - this is from the English website) of Mosa al Ghriz:

Name: Mosa Abed Al Fattah Mohammed Al Ghriz.

Resident: Rafah.

Hometown: Maghar.

Birth

Mosa Abed Al Fattah Mohammed Al Ghriz was born in 1968. His roots back to "Maghar", which was occupied in 1948. He was brave since his childhood. His mother died since he was a child and he never saw her. His father raised him on the good manner and virtue. He was careful to obey his father.

Education

He finished his primary and preparatory studying in UNRWA schools in Rafah. He finished his high school with high marks. But the difficult situation didn’t give him the opportunity to continue his studying . He got married to his cousin. He has five children, one of them is disable. He worked in a social association that was interested in helping the poor families.

In Al Qassam Brigades

He joined to Al Qassam brigades in the first intifada in 1987. the brigades leadership saw his courage and his commitment so they agreed to let him a member in the Brigades. He participated in defending many areas in Rafah as "Al Salam", "Brazil" neighborhoods, and the east side of Rafah. He was the friend of the martyrs "Ayed Al Bashity" and "Yousif Al Mallahi".

Life full of actions

He participated in digging many tunnels as " Hardon" military location, "Tarmid" military location near Salah Eddeen gate in Rafah. Mosa participated in sniping the Zionist soldiers on the border. He also was watching the Zionist vehicles near Al Salam neighborhood. He shared in digging a tunnel for Rafah cross. His friends said that he was always ready for any an emergency situation. They added "he was a leader".

Interested actions in his life

He was guarding his neighborhood. Suddenly, a man come and started to shout on him. And pronounced with bad words towards Mosa. But Mosa didn’t become nervous. He talked to him quietly. The man understood why Mosa and his friends stood in that position.

Before Martyrdom

Before a day of his martyrdom, he came back to house and found that his children playing with the family pictures. He stand and said" don’t play with it, you will need it ". He told his elder son "keep the land, even if the Zionist army destroyed the house". He said to his wife " today is the last day" as he was knowing that he is going to be a martyr.

The martyrdom day

Mosa went to execute a mission against Zionist tank. He went with two of his friends to shell RBG rocket toward the tank. The rocket wrongly exploded and caused his martyrdom .

Don't you love happy endings?

I'm only disappointed that they didn't provide the date that he met with his virgins so I could verify that I had counted him as one of the PalArab self-deaths.

Man kills sister in Gaza in an "honor killing"

From PCHR:

On Tuesday morning, 9 May 2007, the Palestinian police arrested ‘Alaa’ ‘Owaida after he had murdered his sister in the southern Gaza Strip town of Rafah allegedly to save “ his family honor.”

According to investigations conducted by PCHR, at approximately 02:00 on Tuesday, 9 May 2007, the police arrived at a house in Tal al-Sultan neighborhood in the west of Rafah after receiving information that a woman was killed for “family honor.” The police found the body of Khawla Ahmed ‘Owaida, 35, inside the house. She was killed by a gunshot to the head. Her brother, 32-year-old ‘Alaa’, confessed committing the crime to save his “family honor,” and the police arrested him.

This brings our count of PalArab victims of PalArab violence this year up to 198; 16 of them women.

Time to show that PalArab peace flag again:

UPDATE: A 32-year old. Salim Al-Sharabi, shot dead in Nablus by those "unknown gunmen." 199.

Also a clan clash in Gaza; 9 injured, one critical.

Burning down charities? No biggie!

An interesting follow-up on the UN Gaza school shooting Sunday:

Unknown gunmen have burnt a charitable association affiliated to the fundamentalist 'Salafi' Islamic group in Rafah refugee camp in the south of the Gaza Strip.

One of the Salafi group's spokesmen said in a phone call with Ma'an that the association had been totally burnt down with no injuries.

At the same time, the condemnations continue of the attack on a school run by the United Nations agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, in Rafah on Sunday. Armed men opened fire on the school during a celebration, attended by high-level UNRWA staff, which the Salafi group considered to be contrary to Islamic traditions.

So the revenge that PalArabs exact against the Salafists who are suspected of the school violence is to burn down their charity organization building.

And while everyone is condemning the attack at the school, nobody says a word of condemnation for this little bit of arson.

Which means that either Arabs burning Arab charities is not very important news, or that even Palestinian Arabs know that some charities are not really charities.

Hamas lie of the day

The Hamas Al Qassam website asks "Why does Al Qassam target civilians?"

The answer? It doesn't!

Sheikh Salah Shehada , the first general leader of Al-Qassam Brigades , was asked "What is the criteria of a selecting any target? And what do you say about killing civilians?"

He replied " We do not deliberately target children, the elderly or houses of worship despite them being houses that teach hatred against Muslims. We do not target schools and do not order the killing of children. We do not target hospitals although they are easy targets for us. We do not fight Jews because they are Jews. We fight them because they occupy our land. We don’t fight them for their faith but for taking our land. And if children fall during operations, it is beyond our control.

I leave it as an exercise for the reader to see if Hamas ever targeted civilians.

Today's Kasrils hypocrisy

The more one reads of Ronnie Kasrils, the South African "intelligence" minister, the more one sees what a complete hypocrite he is.

Today:

A South African cabinet minister, who is himself Jewish but also an outspoken critic of Israel, on Monday defended his invitation to Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh to make his first visit outside the Muslim world, saying it was "myopic" to reject opportunities for dialogue.

Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils provoked controversy last week when he extended the invitation during a visit to the Palestinian territories. He said South Africa's own experience showed the need to talk to all sides.

"Those who myopically object to such invitations merely show that they have learnt nothing from South Africa's transition," Kasrils said in a statement.

"Such logic as they espouse would not have allowed (apartheid era president) PW Botha to have met with the imprisoned (Nelson) Mandela nor his release by (former president) FW De Klerk as a partner in negotiations."

Yet I could not find in his itinerary that he attempted to visit Israel or speak to any Israeli government official while he was in the area. Isn't that strange from someone who extols the virtues of "dialogue"?

In fact, in 2002 in an astoundingly bigoted Al Ahram interview, he said:

I was invited several times to visit Israel and I declined because of what Israel is doing to the Palestinians.

I guess that his belief in "dialogue" does not apply when he disagrees with the people who would like to speak to him.

Ein al-Hilweh: The proto-Gaza

Lest anyone think that the chaos in Gaza that intensified after Israel left the area is an anomaly, let us present Ain al-Hilweh, the largest Palestinian Arab "refugee" camp in Lebanon.

Ain al-Hilweh, which literally means "the eye of beauty," is a camp in Lebanon that holds 70,000 PalArabs in only 1.25 square kilometers. And the Lebanese army refuses to enter this camp.

To know how Gaza will turn out should see how Ain al-Hilweh is doing after decades of purely Palestinian Arab rule.

For years this camp has seen assassinations, huge amounts of crime, and Islamic fundamentalist influence. The PLO nominally led the camp from 1969 until a few years ago when the fundamentalists took over. For the past few years it has been considered the center of Lebanon's Al Qaeda faction. Just today, two more Fatah "officers" were assassinated in that camp. At this time there are no fewer than 5 competing groups trying to take over this hellhole.

Is it a coincidence that when you put a lot of Palestinian Arabs in an enclosed area that, rather than trying to make the best of the situation, they start acting like animals?

If I find the time, I intend to write an article to explain why they act the way they do.

I wonder if Disney will sue

The Disney company, famous for jealously guarding its trademarks, may have to decide what to do about Farfur, the Islamic Domination Mouse:

On a Hamas children's show, Farfur and his child co-host Saraa' say things that may have been beyond Walt's original vision:

Farfur: "We are setting with you the cornerstone for world leadership under Islamic leadership. Isn't it so, Saraa'?"

Saraa': "Yes, our beloved children.

Farfur: "You must be careful regarding your prayer and to go to the mosque for all five [daily] prayers. I say, in the mosque and in the first rows, until we can lead the world."

Saraa': "We remind you that we, the great ones, started this program to lead this world. The nucleus, with the will of Allah, will be from here, from Palestine. We will carry the concern of this [Islamic] nation that awaits us."

Farfur: "From Palestine, oh Saraa', what do you mean? From Gaza, Jerusalem, Ramallah, or from all of Palestine?"

Saraa': "Yes, from all of Palestine" [i.e., all of Israel -- editor].

Farfur: "If so, my beloved young ones, with the will of Allah, we will lead the nation from here, from Palestine."

Saraa': "Our beloved children, many say that we had glory [in the past], and we had culture, and the Muslims had greatness and respect. But with the will of Allah, we, tomorrow's pioneers, will restore the glory of this nation."

Farfur: "Yes, we, tomorrow's pioneers, will restore to this nation its glory, and we will liberate Al-Aqsa, with Allah's will, and we will liberate Iraq, with Allah's will, and we will liberate the Muslim countries, invaded by murderers."

Saraa': "Yes, they are children occupied by the Jews, but with the will of Allah, we will resist and protect against the Zionist occupation."

Farfur: "Until we win, with the will of Allah, we will resist until we win."
[Al-Aqsa TV, April 16, 2007]

You can watch the zany antics of Farfur here.

The PLO blames the Joos for journalist violence

Lying is like breathing to members of the PLO:

Bethlehem – Ma'an – The Department of Arab and International Relations of the Palestine Liberation Organisation (DAIR-PLO) on Sunday issued a press release urging that "Israeli Occupation crimes against the Journalists must be halted."

The statement said that Israel has escalated its crimes against local and international journalists and media organisations. DAIR reported that Israeli measures greatly disrupt and often severely endanger the lives of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories.

Journalists, DAIR reported, are often held for hours at checkpoints, denied entry to military zones and are subject to arrest, physical abuse and assassinations.

DAIR says that the Palestinian territories are the second most dangerous place for journalists internationally, after Iraq.

DAIR concluded its statement by declaring that it "calls for the immediate and unconditional release of Alan Johnston, the Palestinians' ally, such crimes serve only the Israeli occupation, and oppose the Palestinian interests in peace and freedom."

Just last week the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms published a report about the dangers journalists face in the territories:

It said at least 12 Palestinian journalists were wounded in attacks by militiamen, thugs and Palestinian Authority security officers during April.
...Referring to the attacks on the journalists by Palestinians, the center said: "What is dangerous about these assaults is that they are often carried out by guards of the Palestinian Legislative Council and the Palestinian prime minister. It's also worth noting that some Palestinian armed groups in the West Bank are trying to copy the assaults that are taking place in the Gaza Strip by attacking journalists and media institutions.
...
According to the report, six Palestinian journalists were wounded after being beaten by bodyguards accompanying PA Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh in Gaza City on April 2.
On April 10, Palestinian gunmen stormed the studios of the Zein Radio Station in Jenin and destroyed all the equipment, the report said. A week later, another six journalists were wounded when security officers attacked a peaceful demonstration outside the building of the Palestinian Legislative Council.
On April 21, prominent Palestinian writer and journalist Ashraf Ajrami was moderately wounded when Hamas militiamen hurled a hand grenade at him near his home in the Jabalya refugee camp in the northern Gaza Strip.
The center expressed deep concern over the safety of the BBC correspondent, noting that this was the longest abduction of a foreigner in the Gaza Strip. (I guess Gilad Shalit isn't a foreigner - EoZ) "The fact that he has been held for so long [since March 12] raises doubts as to whether the Palestinian Authority is making a serious effort to release him," the report noted.
"Palestinian journalists are living under very bad conditions," commented the independent Palestinian Maan news agency. "They are being beaten and their equipment is being destroyed. They are receiving death threats and some have been kidnapped."

So who is making the journalists' lives more difficult? The ones kidnapping them, threatening and stealing their equipment, or the ones who sometimes delay them at checkpoints?

Leftists lying with numbers

I just read this gem of an article at a bizarre leftist site called MWCNews.net, by a Dr. Gideon Polya:

THE HUGE HUMAN COST OF ISRAEL
Using UN Population Division data [1] it has been possible to calculate the avoidable mortality (technically, excess mortality) for every country in the World since 1950. Avoidable mortality (excess mortality) is the difference between the ACTUAL mortality in a country and the mortality EXPECTED for a decently-run country with the same demographics [2]. The post-1950 avoidable mortality has totalled 1.3 billion for the World, 1.2 billion for the non-European World and 0.6 billion for the Muslim World (a Muslim Holocaust indeed). These horrendous figures are corroborated by independent calculations of under-5 infant mortality for every country in the World since 1950 - thus the total comes to 0.9 billion of which all but 25 million deaths have occurred in the non-European World and about 90% have been avoidable.

The First World (notably the US, UK, France, Portugal and Russia) have had major complicity in the huge avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in the Third World in the post-war era, mainly through impositions such as colonialism, neo-colonialism, malignant interference, militarization, debt, corrupt indigenous client regimes, war, civil war, economic exclusion and economic constraint [2]. Analysis of avoidable mortality (excess mortality) can determine the actual human cost of specific militarist enterprises such as illegal Zionist expansion in the Holy Land and the illegal US invasions and occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan.

What has been the human cost of Israel and US occupation of Iraq and Afghanistan?

The 1950-2005 avoidable mortality (and expressed as a percentage of the current population in parentheses) has been 0.1 million [1.4% of the 2005 population] (Israel), 0.7 million [17.7%] (Occupied Palestinian Territories), 19.8 million [26.5%] (Egypt), 0.6 million [11.0%] (Jordan), 0.5 million [14.2%] (Lebanon), and 2.2 million [11.8%] (Syria). Further, the 1950-2005 avoidable mortality in countries attacked but not occupied by Israel has been 5.3 million [19.9%] (Iraq), 0.8 million [13.6%] (Libya), 1.6 million [15.8%] (Tunisia), and 11.1 million [40.3%] (Uganda).

The 1950-2005 under-5 infant mortality (and expressed as a percentage of the current population in parentheses) has been 0.09 million [1.4%] (Israel), 0.3 million [7.7%] (Occupied Palestinian Territories), 14.1 million [18.9%] (Egypt), 0.3 million [5.8%] (Jordan), 0.2 million [6.3%] (Lebanon), and 1.7 million [9.2%] (Syria). Further, the 1950-2005 avoidable mortality in countries attacked but not occupied by Israel has been 3.4 million [13.0%] (Iraq), 0.6 million [10.9%](Libya), 1.6 million [15.8%] (Tunisia) and 6.3 million [22.8%] (Uganda).{mosgoogle right}

The 1950-2005 avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in Israel's neighbours total 23.9 million and 16.7 million, respectively. The 1950-2005 avoidable mortality and under-5 infant mortality in all countries Israel has attacked militarily total 42.6 million and 28.7 million, respectively (these estimates excluding the USA by setting aside the 1967 Israeli attack on the defenceless USS Liberty that killed 34 Americans and wounded a further 172)

Threat, militarization, war and consequent economic distortion have clearly contributed to the horrendous avoidable mortality in countries with which Israel has been in conflict. While Israel is clearly complicit in the huge avoidable mortality in its neighbours, the actual extent of Israel's responsibility is difficult to assess. However the Ruler is responsible for the Ruled and accordingly Israel has an unequivocal responsibility for the avoidable mortality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories since the Israeli invasion in 1967. Using UN Population Division data [1] it has been estimated that the post-1967 avoidable mortality (excess mortality) and under-5 infant mortality in the Occupied Palestinian Territories have been 320,000 and 170,000, respectively.

It goes on and on, but the gist of it is that the difference between the mortality of Palestinian Arabs and what he thinks the expected mortality of Palestinian Arabs comes out to some arbitrary number of about a half million.

The holes in his theory are larger than the numbers he is claiming.

First of all, he is blaming the mortality of third-world countries on first world countries. Practically all of what he terms "avoidable mortality" occur in poorer countries, and he lists a litany of sins to blame the West for almost all of them. In other words, he first has a thesis that all Third World deaths are the West's fault, and then he tries to find any numbers he can to prove it. This is not science - this is activism pretending to be science.

Secondly, his main sources are the UN World Population Database and his own website. The UN provides raw population data but gives no indication of "expected mortality." Those numbers, according to his footnotes, can be found on his own website, and a quick review of his website shows literally no statistics to back his claims up. He is so dishonest that he writes articles, footnotes his own work and doesn't give any indication of any primary sources for his entire major statistic.

If anything, the UN statistics on infant mortality in the Palestinian Arab territories show an amazing drop in infant mortality during that horrid "occupation" from 125 per 1000 births in 1965 to 25 per 1000 in 2000.

And, assuming PalArab population figures are accurate, I calculated 1.6 million more PalArabs alive today because of Israel!

Now, I am no statistician nor a demographer. (I suspect that the PalArab demographic claims are way overstated and therefore my numbers are as well.) But - surprise, surprise - neither is Polya. Even though he writes lots of articles based on this completely bogus and probably imaginary statistics, his PhD is in biochemistry and his BS was in zoology and chemistry.

In other words, we have an Australian professor at a German university, who is not a mathematician, statistician or demographer, who clearly already has rabid anti-Western views, making up statistics and giving them to people who know nothing about mathematics where they happily reproduce it as if it proves, scientifically, that the West is evil incarnate.

Sadly, this travesty of science and mathematics seems to be more the norm in the liberal world than the exception.

Bishara's hypocrisy

I finally got around to reading Azmi Bishara's self-righteous article that was printed in the LA Times titled "Why Israel is After Me."

Along with the absurd fact that he compares himself with Dreyfus, he pretty much says that Arabs in Israel are discriminated against and his mentioning it is what makes Israel uncomfortable, to the point of wanting him arrested for treason.

As ridiculous as it is to read a (now former) Arab member of the Jewish state's Knesset whine about how hard his life is, one must wonder about the hypocrisy of his mentioning that there are various laws in Israel that favor Jews over Arabs (I'm not sure if allowing Arabs to skip army service is considered one of those laws.)

The draft PA constitution includes the following:

Palestine is part of the Arab nation. The state of Palestine abides by the charter of the League of Arab States. The Palestinian people are part of the Arab and Islamic nations. Arab unity is a goal, the Palestinian people hopes to achieve.

Arabic and Islam are the official Palestinian language and religion.

The principles of Islamic Shari’a are a major source for legislation.

When I hear Bishara complain about these parts of the PA constitution (draft as of 2003, before Hamas entered the government) I can believe that he truly cares about discrimination.

And for those who care, here is the background of the case against Bishara:

If Bishara returns, he will be indicted for spying on behalf of Hezbollah during the second Lebanon war by providing them with with targets for their attacks, as well as with classified military information.

Bishara will be accused of assisting the enemy in a time of war, maintaining contact with a foreign agent, passing information to an enemy, money laundering and terrorist financing.

The first of those charges, assisting the enemy in a time of war, is one of the rare offenses punishable by death in Israel - a clause which has never been used.
Bishara did not make contact with Hezbollah in secret. He openly traveled to Damascus and to Beirut during the Hezbollah missile attacks on Israel last summer.

Israeli intelligence officials have placed their hands on what the former MK allegedly transferred to Hezbollah, in terms of information, predictions, assessments and recommendations, which included selected targets in northern Israel that Hezbollah fired on at the specific instructions of Bishara.

It has now been revealed that the Israeli Supreme Court issued confidential authorization to Israeli intelligence to tap Bishara's telephone conversations, a tactic that can only be employed with the court's approval. The investigation was conducted in conjunction with the office of the Israel Attorney-General's office.

According to Israeli intelligence officials, Bishara received detailed missions from Hezbollah, which he carried out.

He also allegedly transferred military information to Hezbollah that, according to Israeli intelligence, he knew to have been classified by the IDF censor. Bishara also allegedly informed Hezbollah of what he called "Israel's intention to target Hezbollah leader Sheikh Hassan Nasrallah."

Bishara was questioned by the Israel Police's International Serious Crimes Unit on March 22 and 23 in Petah Tikva, in two three-hour sessions.

ISCU head Lt.-Cmdr. Amichai Shai said Bishara was confident when he arrived for the first day of questioning. But when the MK understood that the allegations against him were more serious than he had thought, there was a noticeable change in his behavior.

During the questioning, Bishara said he planned to travel abroad for several days. Due to his parliamentary immunity, authorities were unable to prevent him from leaving the country. Police continued to communicate with Bishara's representatives, extending the deadline for the MK's return until April 24.

Bishara is also accused of receiving at least hundreds of thousands of dollars illegally. The money was transferred from a money-exchange office in Jordan to another in east Jerusalem in envelopes, and from there to his home in Beit Hanina. In some cases, he received the funds in dollars, and in other cases in shekels. Each transfer was equivalent to $50,000.

On April 26, after his resignation went into effect, police searched Bishara's homes in Beit Hanina and in Haifa, as well as his office in Nazareth. Earlier this week, police searched Bishara's office in the Knesset after receiving special permission.

Writing in the Los Angeles Times on Thursday, Bishara tried to defend himself in an op-ed entitled, "Why Israel is after me."

In that LA Times piece, Bishara describes himself as a new "Dreyfus," to conjure up the image of the French Jewish officer Dreyfus who was wrongly accused of treason against his homeland in France.

Yet Bishara, given the platform of the LA Times editorial page, does not refute the charges leveled against him, preferring, instead, to point out that "Hezbollah - Israel's enemy in Lebanon - has independently gathered more security information about Israel than any Arab Knesset member could possibly provide."

HH CXV + CoH LII

This week's Haveil Havalim is hosted by BARBARA'S TCHATZKAHS, and while I did nominate one posting this week, Barbara also mentions another.

Check it out!

I also nominated a posting of mine that appeared in the Carnival of History this month. (I nominated an article for the Carnival of Insanities but we'll see if it made it in.)

Palestinian militants opened fire at a festival at a U.N.-operated elementary school in the southern Gaza Strip on Sunday, killing a bodyguard of a local Fatah leader and wounding seven other people, medical officials said.
There was no immediate claim of responsibility. But Muslim extremists had earlier visited the school, warning authorities not to hold the festival, U.N. and security officials said.

A number of foreigners, including John Ging, head of the U.N. Relief and Works Agency in Gaza, were inside the school when the shooting broke out, a U.N. official said. Ging was not hurt, but remained holed up inside the school, said the official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he wasn't authorized to speak to the media.

Palestinian medical officials identified the dead man as a bodyguard of Majid Abu Shameleh, a senior official in President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah movement. Abu Shameleh was leaving the event when the shooting erupted. No children were hurt.

Isn't it lovely to see PalArabs attack the one organization that helps them the most? UNRWA only exists for them. (Paltoday says that people threw hand grenades at the festival.)

In other news, an alleged "collaborator" was extrajudicially executed:

Sabri Rajawi, 26, was murdered Saturday night by Fatah terrorists who claimed he confessed to helping Israel by passing information about Fatah’s terrorist groups.

Members of Fatah’s Al-Aksa Brigades said Rajawi helped Israel arrest local terrorist leaders and even established a terror cell solely to turn over its members to Israeli security forces.

A second PA man was handed over to one of Hamas’s PA militias.

There may have been a third murder this weekend, as PalArabs claim Israel killed an Arab in Gaza but no independent source verifies any Israeli actions there. But that story may have been made up altogether, as the dead man was not identified.

Our count of PalArabs violently killed by PalArab actions for the year now stands at 196.

Which makes this picture from IMEMC one of the most unintentionally ironic graphics in history:

UPDATE: The body of a Jerusalem Arab missing since last Wednesday was found in Ramallah on Monday. 197.

G.ho.st - what peace should look like

An Israeli Jewish entrepreneur and his Palestinian Arab partner have created an interesting Internet company called g.ho.st which is a virtual Web-based operating system. Right now it is in alpha test so it is a bit rough around the edges, a bit slow an it doesn't have too much functionality. But the purpose is to be able to have a computer desktop that is accessible anywhere there is a web browser.

What is interesting is that almost all of his employees are Israeli Arabs or Palestinian Arabs.

An abbreviation of Global Hosted Operating System, G.ho.st is a free 'Virtual Computer' - a Web-based operating system that allows users to access their on-line desktop from any browser. G.ho.st aims to "to complement and eventually replace Windows", according to its Website.

Israeli internet entrepreneur Zvi Shreiber is the founder and chief architect of the project which he privately funded, partly using profits from the lucrative sale of his company Unicorn to IBM.

With offices in Jerusalem and Ramallah, almost all of G.ho.st's 15 employees are of Palestinian or Israeli Arab origin.

In an interview with Ynet, Shreiber said that he was the mastermind behind the original idea for G.ho.st and he met his Palestinian business partner Tareq Maayah through a common acquaintance.

Academically educated in the United States, Maayah gained expertise in the field serving as CEO of Siemens Information and Communication Technologies and on the Advisory Board to the Palestinian Ministry of Post and Telecommunications.

G.ho.st and its team support collaboration – not just on-line but in real life as well.

Shreiber and Maayah don't just prove that co-existence is possible, they promote the idea financially as well, pledging 10 percent of earnings to the non-profit G.ho.st Peace Foundation. Their goal is "to promote peace in the Middle East through grass-roots social and commercial collaboration between the individuals on both sides," the Website says.

We have seen that much of the incentive that Palestinian Arabs have for weapons tunnels and shooting rockets is financial, not political or religious. Israelis have always grasped what Arab leaders have not - that true peace means real normalization and real economic partnerships that are mutually beneficial. The "golden age" of Palestinian Arabs was during Oslo - not because of the illusory "peace" but because they were economically better off than at any other time of their short history. The Intifada was a disaster for them because it devastated their economy.

Money makes the world go 'round, and any real peace, if it is at all possible, will occur because of the win-win that an economic relationship can encourage. An Internet-based company where people can work in virtual space is an ideal place to start because physical security is not a concern (no doubt network security is a concern, but those issues can be addressed.)

I look forward to seeing if g.ho.st can turn into a real, usable virtual OS.

Flip side of zero-sum game shows true hypocrisy

I mentioned previously that even educated Arabs, and many Israel bashers, look at the Arab-Israeli conflict as a zero-sum game, where anything good for Israel is bad for Arabs and vice-versa. Truly progressive people want to find "win-win" solutions where everyone ends up better off. True peace is "win-win," the "peace process" is guaranteed to be a win-lose.

Ronnie Kasrils, the "intelligence" minister for South Africa, has long berated Israel for many perceived crimes:

How much longer will the world permit Israel to get away with land theft and child murder? The sieges and check-points, the collective punishment and targeted executions, the house demolitions and ethnic cleansing...

Taking these absurd accusations at face value, one would think that Kasrils is against land theft, child murder, checkpoints, targeted executions and so on.

Yet now he is inviting Hamas leader Haniyeh to South Africa:

South Africa has invited Palestinian Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh of Hamas to visit this country, in what would be his first trip outside the Muslim world.
Haniyeh would like to meet Nelson Mandela during the trip, according to a Haniyeh aide.
The invitation was issued by Intelligence Minister Ronnie Kasrils, who met Haniyeh in Gaza City yesterday.

"We stand by you and support you," Kasrils said of the new Palestinian unity government, a coalition of Hamas and the Fatah movement of moderate Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas.

Now, is Kasrils so uneducated as to not know that Hamas practices routine assassinations, targets Jewish children, steals land, encourages children to kill themselves, persecutes Christians, practices misogyny, condones "honor killings," shoots rockets indiscriminately at civilians, and who knows how many other crimes?

Of course he knows that. So it is clear that his problem is not with Israeli crimes, but with Israel itself. If it wasn't, he would be against Hamas' existence as he is against Israel's.

But his worldview, like the mentally defective Arab worldview, is that the conflict is a zero-sum game. And if he is against Israel, then he must be on the side of those who want to see Israel destroyed.

All his talk about Israel's "crimes" and "racism" is so much hypocrisy - his hate came way before his illogical justifications for that hate, and his invitation to a terror group to visit his nation as an honored member of the world community proves that beyond a doubt.

Another infant girl shot in the head

No biggie, though - because it wasn't done by Israel:

A 7-month-old girl, Shahed Khalil, was seriously injured on Friday as a result of gunfire from unidentified armed men in Jabalia in northern Gaza.

Palestinian sources reported that the infant was shot in the head while she was in her house. She was transferred from Kamal Adwan Hospital in Beit Lahiya to Ash-Shifa' Hospital in Gaza City.

As usual, if Shahed Khalil should die, it will probably go unreported in the PalArab press, because it really isn't that important.

If she had been shot by a stray Israeli bullet, though, she would have music videos made about her martyrdom.

Life isn't important in Pallywood - your status is defined by how you die.

Worth reading

Zionist Youngster writes a huge riff on an earlier article of mine.
Soccer Dad compares Tom Friedman to Scrappleface
Omri is a bit concerned about when British law will be replaced with Shari'a

Sheikh Qaradawi praises Israel

I had never seen this MEMRI clip from last year. It features Sheikh Yousuf Qaradhawi, an explicit supporter of suicide bombings in fatwa after fatwa, slamming Arabs for their laziness and backhandedly praising Israel:

Dr. Yousuf Al-Qaradhawi: We use trains and planes, but they are not our trains or planes. The (Westerners) manufacture them and export them to us. True, we can buy the most magnificent things in the world products for our homes and for ourselves. Our people can buy the most luxurious cars, Rolls-Royce or Mercedes 500 or 700, models S, M, and L with all the luxuries. We own them, but we don't manufacture them. We don't even produce a single nail in any of these cars. Others do this for us.

The income of the entire Arab world, including the oil-producing countries, does not reach the that of a European country, such as Spain. Spain – let alone Germany, France, Britain, or Italy. Just Spain, which is at the bottom of the list of industrial countries... The income of the entire Arab world does not reach it. How come? Because we don't work, and if we do work, we don't do it professionally.

They conducted a survey of the average time that a government employee spends working in a certain Arab country. The average was 27 minutes a day. 27 minutes! The rest of the time he drinks coffee, reads newspapers, and goes on errands here and there. Only a small number of people work. The rest do not.

In the mid 1970s I went to Germany. We arrived during in the morning. I asked the guy who took me from the airport to the convention hall… As I was passing through the empty streets, I asked him how come the streets were not busy, like in our countries. He said: "People are at work." After 7 p.m. he took me back to the hotel, and the streets were empty. I said to him: "What's going on, the streets are empty again." He said: people are back home from work, and they are exhausted. All they want is to eat their dinner, watch the news, and then go to bed, because early next morning they have to wake up for hard work. They commute more than an hour to work and back, and spend an hour at lunch. They work non-stop.

We are a nation that doesn't work. How can we develop if we don't work? When we do work, we don't do it professionally. We keep saying "Don't worry, later, later…" Islam teaches us to do things professionally. Doing things professionally is a religious duty. The Prophet said that Allah ordered to excel in everything. He imposed excellence and professionalism. Professionalism must be followed in everything. "If you kill, do it properly, and if you slaughter, do it properly." Even when killing, you must do well.

Unfortunately, we do not excel in either military or civil industries. We import everything from needles to missiles. This is our nation. We still haven't manufactured an engine in our Arab countries. We assemble parts, but have no manufacturing industries. India has manufactured a car, and even a plane, while we still go around in circles like a bull in who turns a grinding mill or a water wheel until it reaches exactly where it started.

How come the Zionist gang has managed to be superior to us, despite being so few? It has become superior through knowledge, through technology, and through strength. It has become superior to us through work. We had the desert before our eyes but we didn't do anything with it. When they took over, they turned it into a green oasis. How can a nation that does not work progress? How can it grow?

Gaza garage sale: Kids selling guns and grenades

Click here to see all the pictures.

H/T Gateway Pundit via Daled Amos.

US official praises Palestinian Arab press

A US official in the American Consulate in Jerusalem celebrated World Press Freedom Day in Ramallah:

Today, 3 May, is the United Nations' World Press Freedom Day, celebrated around the world. The United States consul for press affairs in Jerusalem, Micaela Schweitzer-Bluhm, invited members of the Palestinian press to a special celebration in the West Bank city of Ramallah to honour the achievements of Palestinian journalists.

In her speech, Schweitzer-Bluhm applauded the Palestinian journalists for their "dedication to service", "commitment to getting at the truth" and "solidarity and bravery in the face of intimidation."

She particularly expressed her appreciation of the obstacles Palestinian media personnel must overcome to carry out their jobs, mentioning roadblocks, checkpoints, accusations of bias, threats, violence and gunfire. "Despite these obstacles, you do get the news out every day," she congratulated.

She applauded Palestinian journalists for challenging their own government, governments of neighbouring countries and the government of the United States. "Your inquiries and reports are a required part of a democratic Palestinian society," she said. "You are providing your fellow citizens with the information, the tools, to make decisions and be active members of their society. I urge you to continue to question and investigate and report."

Schweitzer-Bluhm described all attacks on journalists and freedom of speech as "despicable", adding, "And to those who would try to intimidate you or curtail your freedom of speech, I say no one is free if there is not freedom of information," she said.

Now, I spend a fair amount of time reading Palestinian Arab news sources in both English and autotranslated Arabic. With one exception, every major news source is clearly aligned with a political party, and the news is slanted that way (for example, Fatah-leaning newspapers will refer to Fatah victims of intraPal violence as "martyrs", and Hamas-leaning papers will do the same for Hamas victims.) With one exception, even basic journalistic standards of unbiased reporting is completely ignored in the Palestinian Arab media. Wafa, Al-Ayyam, Al-Hayat al-Jadida, Paltoday - all of them have the journalistic standards of the National Enquirer.

The one exception is Ma'an News, which to its credit will take on PalArab corruption and internal violence. Ma'an is not afraid to report negative things about the PA.

But its impartiality ends at the Green Line. While a Reuters or an AP may highlight and believe every absurd claim of violence that PalArabs have against Israel, they will at least mention if Israel denies the accusation. Not so for Ma'an - any random "witness" is believed completely when the accusation is against Israel, and no attempt is even made to confirm these stories.

I don't know whether the reason for Ma'an's partiality is because their reporters have no interest in the truth, or if they are afraid to report the truth, or if they are simply so brainwashed that they can't even conceive that there might be another side to the story. But there is simply no Palestinian Arab news outlet that can be said to be helpful in advancing the cause of peace with Israel.

And Ma'an is the best of the lot. One only needs to read Palestinian Media Watch or MEMRI to see the blatant anti-semitism, lionization of death and murder, and absurd hate that permeates the Palestinian Arab media.

And for this US official to praise this supposed press freedom without any reservations is very troubling indeed.

UPDATE: Islamic Jihad celebrated World Press Freedom Day with a statement that perverts the entire idea of freedom. Autotranslated from Paltoday:

Demanded that the Islamic Jihad Movement in Palestine today, the occasion of World Press Freedom Day today, Thursday,, the masses of journalists, to focus on the fundamentals it meets all our people away from the differences and contradictions Media battalion is developed in all our battles.

The movement said in a statement the "Palestine today," a copy of which, the role played by the media in highlighting the novel and impose national, and avoid discord and show Unionist voice of our people.

The movement said in a statement "the day World Press Freedom Day, journalists live atmosphere of persecution and oppression and gagged and confiscated liberties, spared no prosecutions were kidnapped and killed and arrested, at the hands of the enemies of freedom around the world, topped by the head of the evil American and pampered State of the Zionist entity."

Nice of them to tell the media what they should cover to advance their cause. The fact that they have RPGs to back up their request shouldn't be a problem at all.

Reasons for decline of the Muslim world (Husain Haqqani)

This article, by the Muslim director of Boston University's Center for International Relations, tells the straight truth about the Muslim world today.

So why is it only being printed in the Brunei Times and the Gulf News?

Reasons for decline of the Muslim world

Husain Haqqani

03-May-07

THE Muslim world seems to be in the grip of all kinds of rumours. The willingness of large numbers of Muslims to believe some outrageous assertions reflects pervasive insecurity coupled with widespread ignorance.

The contemporary Muslim fascination for conspiracy theories limits the capacity for rational discussion of international affairs.

For example, a recent poll indicates that only 3 per cent of Pakistanis believe that al-Qaeda was responsible for the 9/11 attacks in the United States, notwithstanding Osama bin Laden and his deputies have taken credit for the attacks on more than one occasion.

The acceptance of rumours and the readiness to embrace the notion of a conspiracy does not apply exclusively to the realm of politics.

Villagers in rural Nigeria are refusing to administer the polio vaccine to their infant children out of fear that the vaccine will make their offspring sterile.

Some religious leaders in Pakistan's Pashtun tribal areas bordering Afghanistan have also voiced concerns about a "Western-Zionist conspiracy" to sterilise the next generation of Muslims as part of what they allege is an "ongoing war against Islam".

Mobile phones and the Internet, the pervasiveness of which is often cited as a measure of a society's progress and modernity, have become a means of spreading fear in the Muslim world.

Text messages, originating from the Pakistani city of Sialkot, recently warned people of a virus if people answered phone calls from certain numbers.

The virus would not hurt the phone, the messages said, but would rather kill the recipient.

The panic caused by the rumours forced the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority to issue a denial. Phone companies sent out text messages urging people to be calm.

A newspaper rejected the rumour but featured the headline, Killer Mobile Virus.

A text message widely circulated in an Arab country claimed that trucks carrying a million melons had been smuggled across the country's northern border and the melons were contaminated with the HIV virus, which causes Aids.

No one paid any attention to the fact that the HIV virus cannot be transmitted by eating melons.

The Muslim world has a high rate of illiteracy but ignorance reflected by the readiness to believe unverified (and sometimes totally outrageous) claims is not just a function of illiteracy.

It is a function of bigotry and fear. Literate Muslims, such as those involved in the text message rumour-mongering, are as vulnerable to ignorant behaviour as illiterate ones.

Conspiracy theories have been popular among Muslims since the twilight years of the Ottoman Empire as a way of explaining the powerlessness of a community that was at one time the world's economic, scientific, political and military leader.

The erosion of the leadership position of Muslims coincided with the West's gradual technological ascendancy.

The Persian, Mughal and Ottoman empires controlled vast lands and resources but many important scientific discoveries and inventions since the 15th century came about in Europe and not in the Muslim lands.

Ignorance is an attitude and the world's Muslims have to analyse, debate and face it before they can deal with it.

The 57-member countries of the Organisation of Islamic Conference have around 500 universities compared with more than 5,000 universities in the US and more than 8,000 in India. In 2004, Shanghai Jiao Tong University compiled an "Academic Ranking of World Universities", and none of the universities from Muslim-majority states was included in the top 500.

The Muslim world spends 0.2 per cent of its GDP on research and development, while the Western nations spend around 5 per cent of GDP on producing knowledge.

The tendency of Muslim masses to accept rumours as fact and the readiness to believe anything that suggests a non-Muslim conspiracy to weaken or undermine the Muslims is the result of the overall feeling of helplessness and decline that permeates the Muslim world.

Most Muslim scholars and leaders try to explain Muslim decline through the prism of the injustices of colonialism and the subsequent ebb and flow of global distribution of power.

But Muslims are not weak because they were colonised. They were colonised because they had become weak.

Conspiracy theories paper over the knowledge deficit and attitude of ignorance in the Muslim world. It is time for a discussion of the Ummah's decline in the context of failure to produce and consume knowledge and absorb verifiable facts.

Husain Haqqani is director of Boston University's Centre for International Relations, and Co-chairman of the Islam and Democracy Project at Hudson Institute, Washington DC. He is author of the book "Pakistan between Mosque and Military".

There is something seriously wrong when repressive Muslim regimes can print something like this but the liberal US media, supposedly dedicated to free speech, wouldn't touch it with a ten-foot pole.

PalArabs extend winning streak to 21

During the week from April 26-May 2, Palestinian Arabs managed to kill at least 6 PalArabs. The mighty IDF, perhaps demoralized by the Winograd report, only managed to kill 2, according to PCHR.

(One of those 2 is denied by the IDF so it is probable that the score is really a 7-1 rout.)

This marks 21 consecutive weeks where Paleos managed to kill each other in greater numbers than the "genocidal" IDF.

Many Gazans prefer occupation

Ha'aretz on Sunday published one of the most detailed articles about how bad things are in Gaza that I have ever read. It's worth reading the whole article by Avi Issacharoff - it details the murders, honor killings, clan clashes, prostitution, drug dealing and all the other chaos in the Strip.

Two points from the article are worth noting, and both are never mentioned in any media:

The [Palestinian Arab Gaza] journalist adds: "There are two options today that could take us out of this situation: Someone strong in the Gaza Strip who does not care about a confrontation with the clans, or an Israeli occupation. Many people in the Strip hope that Israel will reoccupy it because these phenomena were not prevalent during the Israeli occupation."

In the reality that is Gaza, where economic hardship screams out, there are quite a few Palestinians who wish to send Qassam rockets at its northern neighbor - and not necessarily for ideological reasons. The head of a unit of launchers gets $5,000 from the organization that sends him on his mission for releasing a salvo of rockets - an enormous sum in Gazan terms. The members of the unit receive several hundred dollars. The economic temptation is immense. It is less important to those launching the rockets whether the target is actually hit. That may be important only to those who wish to see the IDF return as an occupier to Gaza.

These two items - that many Gazans are hoping for Israeli re-occupation, and that rocket crews get paid huge amounts - are facts that you will never see in a Western newspaper. Because, once again, the facts upset the narrative of a Zionist-oppressed Palestinian Arab people that is the basis of nearly all journalism about the area.
(Hat tip: EBoZ)

A new twist on an old lie

We've seen before that Palestinian Arabs will blame Israel for any deaths that cannot be 100% proven to be internal.

Today, a PalArab was killed near the Gaza border fence. That is about all that is known for sure.

PalArabs are claiming that he was shot by an IDF patrol, who then arrested his brother who was with him as they were gathering scrap metal. The IDF denies shooting, or arresting, anyone in the area.

We have seen many times how Palestinian Arab "witnesses" make up lies on the spot. We have also seen Israel readily admit their operations. Given the track records of both parties, I am counting this is a Palestinian Arab internal murder - the second time this week that PalArabs claim an Israeli kill that Israel denies.

This is the first time I've ever seen a claim of an arrest as well. My guess is that the brother killed the victim and this is a coverup.

The incentive on the PalArab side is obvious - stirring up hatred against Israel and claiming that Israel is routinely entering Gaza.

It will be interesting to see if tomorrow's PCHR report blames both these claimed deaths on Israel.

The 2007 PalArab self-death count total is now at 193.

UPDATE: A more traditional killing in Khan Younis: 3 men in a Subaru shooting a 24-year old woman, Raghda Al- Ghalayeeni. 194.

Ahmadinejad in hot water over kissing woman's gloved hand

Once again, no matter how crazy you are, there are always crazier people:

Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinajad is being slammed by Iranian newspapers and Islamic groups after he kissed his teacher's hand during a celebration, on the occasion of Iranian teacher's day.

The Tehran-based "Hezbollah newspaper" considered the Iranian president's behavior contradictory to Islamic law, "which prohibits the kissing the hand of any lady, if she is not one of the man's family members, and to whom he can not get married."

The newspaper went as far as saying, "the Iranian people have never witnessed such a violation of the Islamic rules since the Islamic revolution in 1979, and such inappropriate behavior could have very serious influence on the sacred Islamic principles and values."

It is noteworthy that, when the Iranian president kissed his teacher's hand, she was wearing gloves, and so there was no contact with her flesh.

UPDATE:

(H/T Memri Blog)

The Kurdish example for Palestine (Marty Peretz)

From TNR (H/T Soccer Dad):

THE KURDISH EXAMPLE FOR PALESTINE:
For years the Kurds were my favorite lost cause. I do not mean this at all cynically. I gave to Kurdish charities. I wrote about them, and others wrote about them in TNR, too. I bored dinner table conversations about the justice of their cause and the injustice of their oppressors. What the Dalai Lama was to Richard Gere (forgive my pretension), the Kurds were to me. But Tibet is truly a lost cause, having fallen into the grisly grip of the Chinese who will never let go. Never.

But I don't want to compare the Kurds to the Tibetans who have no one but celebrities behind them, and people driving Volvos. I want to compare the Kurds to the Palestinians. This comparison arose in the middle of a public discussion last night with Martin Kramer, a fellow at the Olin Center for International Studies at Harvard University. He and his audience were talking about the United States in the Middle East after Iraq. One of Kramer's points was that the Middle East was about to break down, whether we like it or not. Another was that the "city-state" will be a more common form of government than what it is now. And, in the discussion, it became clear that Kurdistan, whether it had formal independence or not, was a real state and its people were a real people.

So my lost cause was no longer a lost cause. And those who loved the Kurds, but never loved them the most, have also been rewarded for whatever decent loyalty they had and expressed. The fact is that, aside from us lost causers, nobody really wanted the Kurds to have a state, which they did have for less than a year after World War II until the Soviets turned on them and the U.S. did not help. So some people loved the Kurds but everybody got an acid attack when the name Kurdistan was mentioned.

Still, consciously or not, and I believe consciously, the Kurds followed the example of what the Zionists did from the twenties on. For several decades, even under the raging reign of Saddam Hussein, they built an educational system and a health system, they had a working Kurdish government that no one recognized, they paid attention to all of the requirements for civil society. There is a vibrant economy and it is generating serious foreign investment. It is true that, for the last dozen years or so, their ambitious ventures were implicitly and explicitly carried out under the protection of the U.S. Yet it was as if nobody noticed. The international system paid no attention, except to warn that there should not be a Kurdish state. There should not be a Kurdish state. There really should not be a Kurdish state. Yet there is a Kurdish state, and it will get along with Turkey.

Contrast the Kurds with the Palestinians. Everyone is passionate for a Palestinian state. There have been at least two declarations of independence proclaiming it. 120-odd countries have already recognized the state of Palestine. The Palestinians have embassies all over the world, and the world's countries have representation in it. Even the government of Israel wants there to be a Palestine, and three of the previous governments have also expressed support and worked for a Palestinian state. In fact, I suppose I want a Palestinian state, too. But the Palestinians don't have a state, and it's not because Israel failed to give them one or negotiate one with them.

The contrast is startling: no one wants a Kurdish state and yet there is one. Everyone wants a Palestinian state, people are willing to die for it and, what's worse, kill for it. Mahmud Abbas is president of the state, and there is an elected parliament with a designated prime minister and a "unity" government. But let's face it: the state of Palestine simply does not exist. There is even a question as to whether the Palestinian people really exists, except in the realm of conflicted ideology. That is not enough. I'll wager a bet. The Kurds will be represented as a state in international councils long before the people of Palestine stop killing each other.

The latest scam allowing money to PalArab terrorists

Let's put the pieces together:

From Reuters:

Palestinian officials expect to start receiving a major new injection of aid from Saudi Arabia to ease a year-old embargo imposed by Israel and Western powers, Finance Minister Salam Fayyad said on Tuesday.

A package of $250 million of Saudi money -- equivalent to some six weeks of the Palestinian Authority's basic funding needs -- will start arriving soon, Fayyad told Reuters as he lamented delay in resolving technical snags to other aid flows and Israel's refusal to hand over Palestinian taxes it collects.

...While the Western powers and Israel still refuse to help Hamas as long as it does not renounce violence or recognise Israel, Fayyad won a pledge from the United States to help ease technical difficulties for those donors still making payments.

A key element of this was an assurance from Washington to banks that they would not be penalised for making transfers to an account run by the Palestinian Liberation Organisation, run by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas of Fatah.

This is not a one-time deal. From The Jerusalem Post:

The Palestinians want to establish a new fund that would allow donor countries to send them aid while formally maintaining their boycott of the Palestinian unity government, a senior official said Wednesday.
Under the arrangement, foreign aid could be sent to the PLO, in which Hamas is not represented. The Palestinian government, a coalition of Hamas and the Fatah movement of Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, could then draw money from the PLO account.

This is great for Finance Minister Fayyad, and there will indeed be a bit more accountability for the funds rather than the suitcases full of cash that characterized 2006.

What is Hamas' take on this? Well, Haniyeh is just tickled pink, as he addressed a bunch of EUdiot parliamentarians who met with him to give Hamas a bit more legitimacy in the world's eyes:

Haniyeh stressed to the delegation the need for the world to deal with the Palestinian national unity government as the representative of the Palestinian people. He also emphasized that aid and support should come direct to the Palestinian ministry of finance.

So instead of upsetting Hamas, Hamas seems very happy that the money is going to the Finance Minister via the PLO. At the very least, it reduces pressure on his government to actually act, you know, responsibly. And it is entirely possible that Hamas' "military wing" is being paid directly from this same fund.

However, there is another wrinkle in sending all this money to the PLO:

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas chief Khaled Mashaal agreed on a scheduled mechanism to reactivate the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO), a Hamas official said on Sunday.
Abbas and Mashaal, who met in Cairo on Friday evening, "agreed to rebuild and rehabilitate the PLO," Yehia Mussa, a Hamas lawmaker, told reporters in Gaza.
Mussa denied press reports that the ruling Hamas has given its final acceptance to join the PLO. However, he confirmed that Hamas will enter the PLO as soon as it is reformed.

And Hamas will not just join the PLO as an ordinary group member, but rather as the senior partner:

Hamas is threatening to withdraw from the national unity government if it does not secure appropriate representation in the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO), Fatah spokesman Jamal Nazzal has claimed.

In a press statement, Nazzal said the Hamas delegation to the Damascus and Cairo dialogues "hinted that they will not continue in the government, as the Mecca deal reads, if their share is not the largest in the PLO."

Put the puzzle pieces together and what do you have? A concerted effort by Hamas to take over the PLO - and the hundreds of millions of dollars that the US is now allowing to flow to that "moderate" organization.

And the fact that the US is allowing this loophole to exist will ensure that the PalArabs will not pay for voting for Hamas - and will not have any reason not to vote for Hamas again. The entire logic of the boycott has been turned on its head by the well-meaning "humanitarian" gestures that will ultimately lead to new weapons, new terrorism and less hope for PalArabs.

PalArab journalists claim that a bulldozer tried to assassinate them

WAFA and Paltoday report (in Arabic) of a deliberate Israeli attempt to murder them - with a bulldozer:

Jenin-5-2-2007-A number of Wafa photographers, journalists, dawn today, survived from certain death, when detained by an army bulldozer in a closed area inside the camp of Jenin in the northern West Bank, tried searched.

Seif Aldahlah colleague, photographer, "Wafa" in Jenin, said said that while he was filming the raids and arrests that took place in the city and camp at dawn today, with a number of photographers, pursued by an army bulldozer in one of the alleys of the camp, more than once, where the driver tried deliberately searched.

He added that the occupation soldiers tried to prevent us from before photography, fear of the transfer of the real picture and barbaric exercise during storming operations of houses unarmed citizens.

Photographers and journalists stressed that such practices, the term deliberate Israeli policy, which aims to target journalists and media crews, and prevented them from disclosure practices of the Israeli army atrocities against the Palestinians.

Let's get this straight:

Israel tries to stop them from telling their stories even though they manage to print stories about Israeli actions - real or imagined - many times every day.
Israel decided to target these "journalists", not with bullets or rockets, but with a slow moving bulldozer, chasing them around the streets of Jenin like a Three Stooges film.
They all ran away from the deadly bulldozer as a group instead of spreading out.
Jenin's citizens are unarmed.
And while Israel tried so desperately to assassinate these "journalists" with a piece of earth-moving equipment over the course of perhaps 15 minutes, they couldn't shoot a single video or photograph showing this event.

Here's how I predict the trajectory of this story going in English:

First, IMEMC will publish it.

Ma'an might skip this one, but even Ma'an takes any claims against Israel seriously no matter how absurd, so that's about 50-50.

Then some rabidly "Zionist" hating sites like uruknet will mention it in context of a much larger story detailing "Zionist crimes."

And some moonbat next year will mention it as proof that St. Pancake herself, Rachel Corrie, was targeted by a deliberate Israeli bulldozer policy.

UPDATE 1: Here's the promised IMEMC story.

UPDATE 2: It's funny to see that when the PalArab media tries to spin a story like this, they won't mention the violent acts of their own people - which the terrorists brag about at the same time.

The Islamic Jihad website claimed to torch an Israeli jeep in Jenin during this operation, and published this picture (no idea if this picture was actually taken this morning):

I guess that the "journalists" had to choose between telling the truth and bashing Israel. Easy choice when your entire purpose is propaganda.

Elder scoops Arutz-7

Arutz-7, May 2, 2007: PA Arabs Forbidden by Muslim Leaders to Flee Street Violence

Elder of Ziyon, April 30, 2007: Fatwa against PalArabs emigrating

Might as well toot my own horn once in a while.

Ahmadinejad tries to battle the International Zionist Web

As my long-time readers know, I am the founder of the International Zionist Web, whose existence was publicized by Mad Mahmoud Ahmad Inejad a year ago:

But now, he is trying to create his own media conspiracy to battle those of us who have controlled the news for so long.

DAMASCUS -- Participants in the Third International Conference of Arab and Islamic Media to Support the Palestinian People, which is currently underway in Damascus, have pointed to the need for Islamic media outlets to draw up a common strategy.

In the opening speech on Monday, Syrian Vice President Farouq al-Shara described the situation in the region as very sensitive and said Israel is using “software and hardware” methods in an attempt to turn world public opinion against Islamic and Arab nations.

On the responsibility of the Islamic media to counter the U.S.-Israeli plot against Muslims, he said that Islamic media outlets should perform their duty by compiling a common information dissemination strategy and proving to Westerners that Islamic nations are in the right.

A delegation from Iran comprising media directors and experts on Palestinian affairs, including the managing directors of the Mehr and Fars news agencies, and the managing directors of the Tehran Times, Iran, and Al-Vefaq newspapers, are also participating in the meeting.

During the conference, 13 expert committees will draw up a draft resolution for final approval and will prepare a strategic formula for making the world more aware of the suffering of the oppressed Palestinians.

Subjects such as Syria’s Golan Heights, which is occupied by the Zionist regime, and the role of media in differentiating between resistance and terrorism will be discussed in the meeting.

Although the media have a unique status in international developments, unfortunately, the media outlets of the Islamic world have failed to adopt a united approach to confront the Western conspiracies, he noted.

Zarghami mentioned the call of Leader of the Islamic Revolution Ayatollah Seyyed Ali Khamenei for Islamic solidarity, saying the ulema should formulate strategies for Islamic unity and the media should play a more active role in this regard.

Palestinian Information Minister Mostafa al-Barghouti, Al-Manar TV Director Abdullah Qassir, who is also a Hezbollah MP in the Lebanese Parliament, and the Arab League deputy secretary general for media affairs all emphasized the necessity of devising a practical plan to establish an Islamic-Arab front to counter Western media propaganda.

Syrian Information Minister Muhsen Bilal told the delegates that unity among Islamic media outlets would isolate Israel politically.

“Today, reliable and precise information and the presentation of a common Islamic media strategy for countering propaganda by the West and Israel can be effective for politically isolating this regime (Israel),” the Syrian minister told the Mehr News Agency.

In order to maintain their independence and Islamic identity, Islamic countries should employ soft approaches, he said.

Let me give them some free advice: If you want to create a good media conspiracy that won't get detected by the gullible infidels, purposefully make some of the Islamic media pretend to be pro-Israel. This will weaken the arguments of those that claim that there is a monolithic Islamic press that is being controlled by an all-powerful set of key players. It will also deflect the dhimmi arguments that there is no real independent Islamic press. A consistent, common message can only occur when a significant number of the messengers pretend to disagree.

This method has been fabulously successful for the Imperialist/Zionist Alliance - so many of the Zionist media routinely trash Israel that you literally cannot tell that they are on our side.

This is just a taste of some of the brilliance that comes from 3000 years of controlling the world.

(If you want to join the IZW, just put the logo on your website with a link back to the original IZW article and let me know in the comments with your URL.)

State Department whitewashing Fatah

The annual Country Reports on Terrorism publication for 2006 was released yesterday by the State Department. Here is a list of Palestinian Arab terror organizations that it listed:

Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade (al-Aqsa)
The Islamic Resistance Movement (HAMAS)
Palestine Liberation Front (PLF)
Palestine Islamic Jihad (PIJ)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP)
Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine-General Command (PFLP-GC)

While Hamas and Islamic Jihad both have "military wings" (the Al Qassam brigades and the Al Quds Brigades) they are not listed separately - they are considered part of the larger terrorist organizations, as they should be.

But the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, the "military wing" of the Fatah terrorist organization, are listed as a terror group - and Fatah is not.

It seems that politics in supporting Abbas is more important than accuracy for the State Department.

Boy, does the truth hurt!

Last week, during a Yom Ha'Atzmaut ceremony, acting President Dalia Itzik directed comments towards Israel's enemies:

"Our advice to you is replace your Katyushas and Qassams with computers and loving education, the smile of a boy that has a future, and neighborliness.

"We hear the sharpening of swords and voices of war from near and afar. In distant Iran, in nearby Syria, in the Palestinian Authority at out doorstep, there still reside fiery zealots of hate-ridden leaders that believe in their ability to harm the state of Israel," Itzik said, adding that "the citizens of Iran, Syria and the Palestinian Authority should think twice about why they are so thirsty for battles and blood.

"Isn't the blood that you have already spilled enough?"

The wiser PalArabs didn't bother to mention this speech, as it was a very accurate and damning indictment against the society of violence and hate that they have built over the decades. But that doesn't mean that the dumber ones can't react.

Here is what one terror-advocate wrote in response, at the "People's Voice" website where anyone can write their own "news", in an article called "Israel's Pornographic Lies":

Well, it is manifestly clear that Itzik's remarks are void of even an iota of truth and honesty. Their mendacity and brazen hypocrisy cry out to the seventh heaven.
Indeed, urging Palestinians to trade their Qassams, the primitive, ineffectual home-made projectiles, for computers, and appealing to them to stop bloodshed would have made sense had it come from a decent and peaceable state that respects human rights and observes the rule of international law.

But coming from Israel, the international pariah and perpetual violator of international law, Izik's homily can be compared to a veteran whore exhorting others to celebrate her chastity.

Well, who is occupying whose land? Who is murdering whose children? Who is demolishing whose homes? Who is narrowing whose horizons? Who is stealing whose land? And who is barring whom from accessing food and work?

More importantly, who has been committing a slow-motion genocide against whom? There are thousands of other questions that Itzik should have answered before indulging in this verbal fornication....
It is indeed lamentable that instead of urging her people to walk in the path of peace and stop killing and oppressing the already thoroughly tormented Palestinians and stealing their land and narrowing their horizons, Itzik chose to indulge in wanton lies as if lies are Israel's oxygen.

It is also especially sad that Itzik's outrageous speech went unanswered and unchallenged, neither by Israeli officials, nor by the Israeli intellectual community, nor, indeed, by the Israeli media.

This shows that the Israeli society is still suffering from a collective psychosis, a serious moral morbidity that needs a long time to heal.

Whew! While I didn't quote his entire meandering set of "facts" to prove that Israelis are bloodthirsty rapists towards a peaceful Palestinian Arab people, it sure looks like Itzik hit a nerve with this guy. And yet, in his entire screed, he couldn't point out a single "lie" that Itzik said.

(The part about a "collective psychosis" is just the latest example of Elder's First Rule of Arab Projection. His obsession with sexual analogies is perhaps a topic for another day.)

Once again, rather than admitting that the Palestinian Arab policy of unremitting violence has been counterproductive and has hurt PalArabs more than anyone else; instead of agreeing that perhaps computers are better than Qassams, we have a clueless terror apologist who just fumes and rants uncontrollably when confronted with a very simple truth.

May Day whining

It comes as no surprise that there is much unemployment in the PA. But one can always count on the infantile whiners there to put the blame anywhere but on themselves. The ridiculous "International Middle East Media Center" makes up some facts:

Unemployment is up and thousands who found work as part of the Israeli cheap labor force can no longer reach jobs due to closure, the Wall and an campaign of arrests.
In the public sector, strikes have at times over the course of the year crippled government offices, the education and health systems, security and municipal services. Trying to reach work within the West Bank and East Jerusalem has become even more difficult with the Wall completely blocking access for some, while others are forced to find lengthy routes around it. Israeli forces have destroyed or shut-down many factories in both the West Bank and Gaza Strip....
Unemployment is rising among Palestinians with an overall rate around 50 percent. There are areas where it is as high as 85 percent.

Too bad the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics disagrees, putting the unemployment rates at 18.6% in the West Bank and 34.8% in Gaza Strip. The West Bank numbers are not too much out of whack with Jordan's 14% unemployment rate.

But nowhere, and I mean nowhere, will you find a single article in Palestan that sees a correlation between PalArab terror and PalArab unemployment.

They might mention that they no longer have as many jobs in Israel as they used to, but they'll never say that perhaps some Israeli employers got rid of their PalArab workers when the workers started blowing up.

Nowhere will you see them noticing that Gaza unemployment soared when Israel left Gaza.

Nowhere will you find someone saying that it's been over six years since the terror campaign replaced Oslo, how come the Paleos haven't managed to build any real industry in that timeframe? How come they destroyed the state-of-the-art greenhouses that American Jews bought for them in Gaza? How come they constantly attacked the Erez industrial zone, killing many and forcing Israeli companies to leave?

Taking responsibility is not something that these people are capable of. It is a culture of whining and blaming others and perceived entitlements.

Mosques applying for Fed money meant to protect synagogues

The Department of Homeland Security started a $24 million grant program on adding security systems for non-profit organizations "who are deemed high-risk of a potential international terrorist attack."

This is obviously a response to repeated threats made by various Islamic terror organizations against all Jews worldwide, and because of real attacks against synagogues and other Jewish institutions in the West carried out by Muslims.

But guess who is trying to get this money? Yup, your favorite terror front organization, CAIR!

Because of all those Mossad agents targeting mosques in the US, no doubt.

Many more details at Debbie Schlussel.

Fatwa against PalArabs emigrating

It appears that the recent mass emigration of Palestinian Arabs away from that hellhole is starting to make the muftis nervous.

In this fatwa printed in the Islamic Jihad Arabic website, a fatwa is printed prohibiting leaving Palestine except for specific reasons. Here's the auto-translation from the "Association of Palestine Scholars":

God Almighty says : "O ye who believe, if you come across someone who disbelieved the march do not turn your backs to them," Qur'an 40:51.

It was observed in the past few months the migration of large numbers of our people especially the youth to foreign countries such as the United States, Europe, Canada and Australia and with the complicity of the occupation, on the pretext of crimes of the Zionist occupation incursions, assassinations, arrests and demolition of houses and the unjust embargo and the many barriers, and also because of security problems and murders, thefts, and others.

The seriousness of this phenomenon on our people, religiously, politically, socially and where we are still in a battle with the occupiers militarily, politically and economically, and it is heart-rending arrival of thousands of Jews to Palestine month despite their suffering.

Good legitimate in this case : There is impermissible for any of our people stationed migration to a foreign nation it is a Administrating day crawl only legitimate reason, such as education, treatment and other infrastructure, repatriation and parents.

What all of us patience and Almassabreh stationed resistance and the unification of the occupation forced to leave the country and the migration of Quranic verse, "O you who believe, be patient and fear steadfast, fear Allah, that ye may prosper." Qur'an 40:51

Relief is just and victory is coming soon, God says, "God will make yet given him"

"He said the Messenger of Allah and peace be upon him, "I know that victory with patience and with anguish and vaginal lining"

OK, I somehow doubt that the "vaginal lining" part is an accurate translation, but this shows how nervous these guys are, despite the bravado they display for the West.

Update on the Kotel ha-Katan

In January I blogged about the Kotel ha-Katan, a little-known part of the Western Wall that is even closer to the holiest part of the Temple.

Earlier, I had blogged an extremely disturbing story about someone who was arrested for blowing the shofar at the Kotel ha-Katan last Rosh Hashanah - by Israeli police.

It looks like it is finally starting to receive the attention it deserves.
From Arutz-7:

Unknown to most visitors to the Western Wall, the remnant of the Holy Temple compound extends to the north far beyond what they can see - and a campaign is underway to publicize this.

The Western Wall is a supporting wall of the Temple Mount complex, on which the two Holy Temples were built approximately 2,850 and 2,350 years ago, respectively. Though it is technically outside the Temple area, it has special sanctity; the rabbinic Sages taught that the Divine Presence would never leave the Western Wall.

Of the nearly 500 meters of length of the Western Wall, roughly 200 meters of the southern end [to the right of the worshipers] are easily accessible today - but the remainder is just as sacred. Another 100 meters or so are included in a tour of the Western Wall Tunnels. Above these tunnels, near the Iron Gate entrance to the Temple Mount and on Temple Mount floor level, is an open area facing a short segment of the Wall. This is the area known as the Kotel HaKatan.
One Would Not Know It
Though it is off the beaten track, the Kotel HaKatan is actually slightly more holy than the familiar Western Wall plaza, because of its closer proximity to the Holy of Holies of the ancient Temples. However, one would not know this upon visiting it - for it is hard to get to, has no trappings of a holy site, and is not even protected 24 hours a day.

An ad-hoc committee named Kotleinu, "Our Wall," is working to promote and improve conditions at the Kotel HaKatan. The committee comprises mostly residents of the Old City of Jerusalem who are concerned that the area is not treated with the respect it deserves.

The group says that of late, for the first time ever, the Tourism Ministry department in charge of Holy Sites has committed to upkeep the Kotel HaKatan. Deputy Director-General Rafi Ben-Hur acknowledged that the Ministry is responsible for the area, but said that special budgeting must be obtained before this responsibility can be actualized.

Despite this, some recent improvements at the site include a police presence during daylight hours, a security camera monitoring the area and the access road, municipality-provided street-sweeping - and even a sign that says "Do not litter."

"A no-littering sign is an improvement," an active Kotleinu member told Arutz-7, "but what we really want is a sign saying that this is a holy site and that it should be treated appropriately."

Prayer Services and Arab Bicycles
Yeshivat HaKotel maintains a daily afternoon prayer service there, and other groups and yeshivot also pray there on Shabbatot. This, despite the fact that there are no chairs or prayer stands at the site; even prayer-books cannot be stored there, as there is no security at night. Sometimes, Arab children pass through there with their bicycles, or Arab women with their shopping bags - reminiscent of the scene of the "regular" Western Wall up until several decades ago.
"If the Ministry sees that tourists from both in and out of Israel frequent the place and are interested in it," Kotleinu feels, "this will provide an incentive to upgrade it. This is why we have started a letter-writing campaign to this effect."
Kotleinu asks concerned citizens and tourists to join the campaign for improving Kotel HaKatan conditions by visiting the Small Wall and by writing to or faxing (02-6496157) Tourism Minister Yitzchak Aharonovitch. A recommended sample letter can be seen here.