Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, July 26, 2007

Gazans happy three girls are dead

A followup on the three sisters killed in Gaza over the weekend, from Newsweek:

When I asked him about the case of the Juha sisters, he grimaced and seemed almost as dismissive as his counterparts from Hamas. "Look, we have information from intelligence sources that they have been committing sins," the attorney general explained. He told me that he had taken a personal interest in the case, and ordered "forensic work" to be done on the bodies. "After the work was done, it was determined that they were not virgins," he continued. "We could detect that there were recent sexual relationships." He lifted his hands and cocked his head, as if to say: case closed. "Of course, this is not a pretext to kill them," he added. "Nobody is allowed to take the law into his own hands." The attorney general sounded very much like he was trying to convince himself.
After two days of asking around about the case, I realized that I knew almost nothing solid about the lives of the three young women. I stopped by the apartment complex where they had lived, a split-level gray cinderblock structure in the heart of Gaza City. A neighbor who identified himself as Abu Ahmad said that the three had lived alone; their father had died years before of a heart attack, an older brother had been killed as an Israeli collaborator in the 1990s, and their mother had also been murdered. "They used to talk to boys in the street," the neighbor recalled. "They used to go without a headscarf. Now we're rid of them." Relatives I visited were no more helpful or sympathetic. Not a single family member was willing to talk about the girls. Mahmoud Juha, the family mukhtar—the head of the clan—explained that he would have nothing to say about the young women or their murders. When we stopped by his home, he told my translator firmly: "I advise you not to talk to anyone else."

The article shows that both Fatah and Hamas members are equally blasé about the murders.

If you are a non-virgin single girl in the Palestinian territories, you very well may get killed.

UPDATE: An-Najah student dies of wounds from intra-university fighting earlier this week. The PalArab self-death count for the year is at 492.

Harry Potter, Zionist Plot

You just knew this would happen.

From MEMRI blog:

In an article, the Iranian daily Kayhan, which is identified with Iranian Supreme Leader 'Ali Khamenei, criticized Iran's Culture and Islamic Guidance Ministry for approving the distribution of the new book in the "Harry Potter" series.
The paper said that "Harry Potter" was a Zionist project in which billions of dollars had been invested in order to disrupt the minds of young people.

Source: Kayhan, Iran, July 26, 2007

Congress tried to stop UNRWA support for terror in 1961

I just stumbled across a fascinating tidbit of American history.

In section 301(c) of the 1961 Foreign Assistance Act (PL 87-195) as amended, Congress has directed that "No contributions by the United States shall be made to [UNRWA] except on the condition that [UNRWA] take all possible measures to assure that no part of the United States contribution shall be used to furnish assistance to any refugee who is receiving military training as a member of the so-called Palestine Liberation Army or any other guerrilla type organization or who has engaged in any act of terrorism."

Apparently, organized Palestinian Arab terror predated the PLO by a few years, enough so for the US to recognize that it was potentially funding terror by funding the UNRWA.

In 2003, this law was dusted off and the General Accounting Office started making reports as to whether UNRWA funds are going to terrorists. So far, from what I can tell, the results have officially been too inconclusive (or perhaps politically inconvenient) for them to make that determination, so the funding continues. UNRWA's response was pretty much "hey, we don't ask the people we help if they are terrorists." But from the definition above, even that is inadequate - the law stipulates that the UNRWA take "all possible measures" to assure that no "refugees" who are members of terror groups get any help.

In addition, Israel informed the US of actual employees of UNRWA who had been convicted of terror activities, and while it is noted in GAO attachment 5, it did not stop the US from continuing to fund UNRWA.

It seems pretty clear that by continuing to fund UNRWA, the US is effectively breaking its own laws.

I wonder if anyone is looking at Fatah al-Islam in Lebanon to see if their members were getting aid through UNRWA.

Today's anti-semitism in The People's Voice

Fans of the People's Voice - get ready to cry about "censorship" again, as I reveal yet another piece of Jew-hating filth on its Google News-indexed website:

Abe Foxman's outrage at Catholic prayer for his conversion candidly expresses his Jewish attitude toward the basic heart of Christianity. He is threatened and incensed that some believe (and dare to say) we all--Jew and Gentile, male and female, foolish and wise--must convert and become like small children, humbly trusting the mercy of our Maker to be saved from sin. In a word, he is outraged by Christ.
To unconverted Jews like Foxman, the gospels are every bit as abhorrent as the Catholic mass. In their minds, the apostle Paul is a traitor who deserved his persecution. In reality, Paul deeply and tenderly loved his Jewish brothers and sisters. Witness his heartbroken words, "I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh..." ( Rom. 9:2,3)

Before Christ confronted him on the road to Damascus , Paul acted as a sincere Jew ... by persecuting Christians. Afterward he acted as a sincere Christian, by peacefully and zealously preaching for the conversion of eternal souls, whether carried by Jewish or Gentile bodies. If you sincerely believe Christ is our only hope against God's scorching anger, you can do no less! For his trouble, Paul was mobbed, flogged, imprisoned, and driven through countless hardships.

Today, the message Paul spread in self-sacrificing love is treated as hate speech by Abe Foxman and other activist Jews. If the ADL succeeds with hate crime legislation, all Christians who express such "hateful" concern--who witness to the most central heart of our faith, as compelled by conscience--will be locked up and silenced.

Through hate crime laws, modern, organized Jewry (led by ADL/B'nai B'rith) thus seeks to excommunicate Christianity from public life. Catholics are the first target, because they are in some ways the easiest. They are lesser in number than evangelicals. They have been historically plagued with scandals and abuses of power. They hold some beliefs considered odd even by other Christian denominations.

But--most galling--Catholics have frequently been the only Christian source of real criticism of Zionism, the state of Israel , western Jewish activism, and the neocons' Mideast war agenda. As Catholics are targeted, evangelicals should not feel safe. The moment they awaken to the real nature of racist, Christ-persecuting Talmudic Judaism--and speak against it--they too will be called the enemy.

Previous examples of outright anti-semitism at TPV can be seen here, here and here. A previous complaint to Google News resulted in the de-indexing of a single article, and for a couple of days the site wasn't indexed altogether but Google relented when the nutcases complained.

If you want to complain to Google about indexing this filth, click here.

UK inching towards Hamas acceptance

In the Guardian today, Ismail Haniyeh states that Britain has increased diplomatic ties with Hamas:

The British government has expanded its links with Hamas in recent weeks, according to the militant organisation's leader, Ismail Haniyeh.
Mr Haniyeh, who was the Palestinian prime minister until last month, claims that contacts between Hamas and Britain have increased since they worked together to free Alan Johnston, the BBC Gaza correspondent, who was held captive in Gaza for almost four months.
"I cannot deny that there are now other contacts, other channels of communication with the UK and these involve people of high rank, although I am not personally involved," he claimed in an interview with the Guardian.
"The main aim of the contacts is to improve our democracy and governance. This is just part of the many contacts that are going on with other governments around the world."
He added that Britain wanted to keep the contacts secret.
Officials at the Foreign Office and the British consulate in Jerusalem denied that there had been political links with Hamas and insisted that any contacts had been purely "humanitarian and consular". They said it was possible that Mr Haniyeh had misunderstood the work of British non-governmental organisations such as Forward Thinking and Conflicts Forum, which have established contacts with Hamas. Both groups work with former government advisers and civil servants and members of the House of Lords.

Actually, Conflicts Forum includes a member of the House of Lords.

Conflicts Forum is interesting from another perspective. It recognizes that Islam is political Islam, and wants to talk with both "non-violent" Islamists and terrorists. Reading a little further into the website it is apparent that it does not only want to engage in dialogue - it is meant to be a cheerleading section for terrorists. Its last newsletter said: "Western leaders can neither match nor relate to Haniyah's stature as a politician and a human being."

Forward Thinking, on the other hand, "aims to promote a more inclusive peace process by engaging the religiously motivated Palestinian and Israeli political parties who have been previously excluded from ... dialogue." Yet from its website I could not find a single reference to them speaking with any religiously motivated Israeli parties, nor any pictures of them speaking to any Jews in yarmulkas. It also appears to be a front for advocating Islamist interests under the guise of peaceful resolution.

But let's look further into what the Guardian has to say:

The British government has sanctioned unofficial visits to the UK for senior Hamas officials in Gaza over the past 18 months. In one of the first Ghazi Hamed, the former editor of Al Risala, the Hamas newspaper, visited the BBC and the Guardian. Ahmed Yusef, an adviser to Mr Haniyeh, has also visited the UK.

The Johnston kidnapping forced Britain to change its policy of not publicly meeting Hamas officials. Richard Makepeace, Britain's consul general in Jerusalem, twice travelled to Gaza City to request Mr Haniyeh's help in freeing Johnston. Mr Haniyeh assured Mr Makepeace that he would do everything in his power to free Johnston and Mr Hamed was asked to head the negotiations with the kidnappers.

In May Mr Hamed was again invited to the UK and attended a Hay festival event that was also attended by Gordon Brown, then chancellor. The two did not speak.

Johnston was freed on July 4 after Hamas surrounded the compound of the Dogmush family, the kidnappers.

David Miliband, the foreign secretary, thanked Hamas for its help in freeing the BBC correspondent. Mr Haniyeh said he was pleased with the respect and gratitude shown by the British government and organisations for Hamas's assistance.

"The deputy consul came to thank me personally and the consul general and the foreign minister thanked us in press conferences that were broadcast all over the world. In addition we have received thanks from the Johnston family, British NGOs and the British media. They have shown us a lot of respect," he said. "In addition, 20 members of the British parliament signed a motion to renew contacts with Hamas."

And he's not lying about the 20 MPs who want to talk to Hamas, either.

All in all, it appears that Haniyeh is telling the truth and the British denials are ringing hollow.

And what does Britain get out of this relationship? Haniyeh again:

Mr Haniyeh said that Hamas intended to enforce law and order in Gaza but admitted that the kidnappers of Johnston, who also kidnapped two journalists from Fox TV in Gaza last year, remained free. "But they are being watched closely and are subject to other controls which I can't tell you," he said.

Ah, they are under double secret detention!

Time magazine implies Israel is the obstacle to peace

In an article about the pseudo-Arab League meeting in Israel, Time magazine says:

The problem with Olmert's approach is that the Arab world has run out of patience. It is well aware that the Oslo process floundered, at the end, not over customs arrangements and the Palestinian economy, but over borders, Jerusalem and refugees, and those issues are the ones that must be resolved if the process is to be about anything more than marking time.

Time is not saying that this is the Arab world's perception - it is saying that it is a fact that the Arab world is "well aware" of.

In other words, Palestinian Arab terror attacks, daily rocket attacks, infighting, constant incitement, Hamas' election and takeover of Gaza have no bearing whatsoever on whether there should be a continuing "peace process." No, Time believes that the real issues are "borders, Jerusalem and refugees": the Arab demands and Israel's refusal to acquiesce to them unilaterally are the only issues stopping progress towards peace!

Similarly, look at this paragraph about Syria implying again that Israel is the obstacle to peace with Syria:

Likewise, time may have run out for peace between Israel and Syria. Since the end of last year, Syria has been repeatedly calling for a resumption of the peace talks of the late 1990s premised on Israel returning the Syrian Golan Heights, captured in 1967. But while Olmert has largely evaded the overtures — questioning their sincerity, quibbling about who if anyone should mediate — Syria may have given up. Last week, the Israeli press was filled with rumors that Iran gave Syria $1 billion to purchase weapons in return for abandoning peace overtures towards Israel.

Syria's providing arms to Hezbollah, its deals with Iran, its threats about its own ballisitic missile capability - all ignored by Time. Only Israeli intransigence is at fault.

The entire article does not mention the word "terror" even once.

More on PalArab survey

More from the Pew research survey:

62% of Palestinian Arabs have a favorable opinion of Hamas (more than any country but Bangladesh)

76% have a favorable opinion of Hezbollah (far more than any other country, Lebanon was at 35%)

56% percent say that the influence of religious leaders in the territories are good.

79% have confidence in Hassan Nasrallah as a leader in world affairs, far more than any other country

Once again, the polls show that ordinary Palestinian Arabs are far more extremist than they are portrayed in the Western media.

Let's reward them with a state!

Palestinian Arabs overwhelmingly support terror and Bin Laden

A new survey done by the Pew Global Attitudes Project shows that, almost alone among all Arabs, Palestinian Arabs solidly support terror:

Among the most striking trends in predominantly Muslim nations is the continuing decline in the number saying that suicide bombing and other forms of violence against civilians are justifiable in the defense of Islam. In Lebanon, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Indonesia, the proportion of Muslims who view suicide bombing and other attacks against civilians as being often or sometimes justified has declined by half or more over the past five years.

Wide majorities say such attacks are, at most, rarely acceptable. However, this is decidedly not the case in the Palestinian territories. Fully 70% of Palestinians believe that suicide bombings against civilians can be often or sometimes justified, a position starkly at odds with Muslims in other Middle Eastern, Asian, and African nations.

The decreasing acceptance of extremism among Muslims also is reflected in declining support for Osama bin Laden. Since 2003, Muslim confidence in bin Laden to do the right thing in world affairs has fallen; in Jordan, just 20% express a lot or some confidence in bin Laden, down from 56% four years ago. Yet confidence in bin Laden in the Palestinian territories, while lower than it was in 2003, remains relatively high (57%).

Opinion about Hezbollah and Hamas varies among Muslim publics. Views of both groups are favorable among most predominantly Muslim countries in the Middle East and Asia. And Palestinians have strongly positive opinions of both militant groups. But majorities in Turkey have negative impressions of both Hezbollah and Hamas.
...
Palestinians See Suicide Bombings as Justified

But support for suicide bombing is widespread among Palestinians: 41% say such attacks are often justified while another 29% say it can sometimes be justified (no comparative data from 2002 are available). Only 6% of all Palestinians say it is never justified, by far the smallest proportion in any Muslim public surveyed.

Acceptance of extreme terrorist tactics in the Palestinian territories is remarkably uniform across major demographic groups, including roughly equal proportions of men (44%) and women (38%), Palestinians under the age of 30 (41%) and those 50 years old or older (47%), as well as among those who are the most committed to Islam (38%) and Palestinians who are less religious (45%).

This is remarkable. The rest of the Muslim world is recognizing that supporting terror is a dead end, but PalArabs overwhelmingly support it - across demographic lines! Young and old, religious and secular, men and women - they have managed to create a culture that is not only at odds with all of civilized society, but also at odds with the rest of the Arab world.

The reason is that decades of the worst kinds of incitement in Palestinian Arab media glorifying terror have paid off. Palestinian Arabs have managed to create their own unique identity in the Arab world - and that identity is based on support for violence. Now, they are truly a people.

This explicit support for terror would be the ideological basis for a Palestinian Arab state.

Relativistic terror

Another magazine has noticed the new chumminess between the UN and Hezbollah:

The UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) was increased from 2,000 to 13,300 peacekeepers after the month-long war last summer between Israel and Hizbullah. The UN peacekeepers are led by elite European troops and are charged with helping the Lebanese Army ensure that the tense border remained calm.
But a year on, UNIFIL still finds itself under threat, not from the Shiite Hizbullah, but from suspected radical Sunni militants possibly inspired by Al Qaeda. And in a bizarre twist, some UNIFIL contingents are now seeking the cooperation of the powerful Hizbullah, which also views militant Sunnis as a threat, to help provide tacit security for the peacekeepers, Hizbullah and UNIFIL sources say.

Last month, six Spanish and Colombian soldiers serving with UNIFIL's Spanish battalion were killed when a car bomb exploded beside their armored vehicle, the deadliest attack in UNIFIL's 29-year history.

Last week, a UNIFIL jeep was damaged when a small bomb exploded nearby, confirming fears that last month's bombing was not a random act. In both attacks, radical Sunnis are the prime suspects.
The growing threat of attack by Sunni radicals apparently spurred the leading European troop-contributing states to seek the Shiite Hizbullah's cooperation. According to UNIFIL sources, intelligence agents from Italy, France, and Spain met with Hizbullah representatives in the southern city of Sidon in April. As a result, some Spanish peacekeepers subsequently were "escorted" on some of their patrols by Hizbullah members in civilian vehicles, the UNIFIL sources say.
A day after the six peacekeepers were killed last month, Spanish foreign minister Miguel Angel Moratinos spoke with Manucher Mottaki, the foreign minister of Iran, Hizbullah's main patron. According to a Hizbullah official in south Lebanon, there has been at least one meeting between the Shiite party and Spanish UNIFIL officers since the bombing.

So while Hezbollah may not have changed its pro-terror positions one iota, since a supposedly worse terror group has emerged, they are now considered pretty good by comparison.

A similar phenomenon is happening in Gaza. Both Fatah and Hamas are claiming that the other side is hosting Al Qaeda in Gaza, and the existence of that group there - or any other group that can be claimed to be more extreme than Hamas - ends up bolstering those who want to ease up on Hamas terrorists, like these parliamentarians in the UK.

In a report to be published on Tuesday, a subcommittee of the House of Lords' European Union Committee said that the EU should avoid an "undesirably rigid" approach to dealing with Hamas that would risk undermining progress in building viable and democratic Palestinian institutions, a prerequisite, they say, for any peace settlement.

Still, in the report, entitled "The EU and the Middle East Peace Process," the committee asserts the EU is "right" to require Hamas to renounce violence, recognize Israel and accept existing agreements.

A spokesman for the Foreign Affairs subcommittee, one of seven subcommittees of the European Union Committee, said that Hamas must be "clear on renouncing violence" and that while pressure should be put on the group to recognize Israel and accept previous agreements, "progress should not be scuppered because of this."

This should not be surprising. Fatah is an extremist terror organization by any objective yardstick, but compared to Hamas and Islamic Jihad, it is "moderate." Say the word "moderate Fatah" enough times and people start to believe it.

But if you imagine Jews who hold symmetric positions as Fatah - that only Jews should live in the territories, that the Arabs should move, that 100% of the territories are Jewish, that no compromise is possible, that those who kill Arabs are heroes - they would be considered extremist, militant, terroristic and racist to boot. So would saying the same things about Israel.

This lack of objective standards is one of the major problems in the Middle East. Behavior that any civilized nation would consider beyond the pale is welcomed when done by Arabs - because many of their compatriots would act even worse. Rather than expecting and enforcing a single standard for human behavior, the West is willing to give Arabs much more slack, with the unspoken bigoted assumption that Arabs just don't have the ability to act the way enlightened human beings do.

Here's a short guide on how to make terrorists look moderate without forcing them to actually change their positions, or even to lie:

Have them wear ties and jackets.
Put someone even more bloodthirsty next to them.
Have them elected to any office.
Teach them to use ambiguous language (like "Of course we recognize that Israel exists.")
Have Jimmy Carter, or any of the "Elders," praise them.

Voila! Instant moderation!

Syria occupying 4% of Lebanon - today

A scary followup in the Wall Street Journal to an earlier report from Michael Totten of Syrian occupation of Lebanon:

As of this minute, Syria occupies at least 177 square miles of Lebanese soil. That you are now reading about it for the first time is as much a scandal as the occupation itself.
The news comes by way of a fact-finding survey of the Lebanese-Syrian border just produced by the International Lebanese Committee for U.N. Security Council Resolution 1559, an American NGO that has consultative status with the U.N. Because of the sensitivity of the subject, the authors have requested anonymity and have circulated the report only among select government officials and journalists. But its findings cannot be ignored.
In meticulous detail--supplemented by photographs, satellite images, archival material and Lebanese military maps predating Syria's 1976 invasion (used as a basis of comparison with Syria's current positions)--the authors describe precisely where and how Lebanon has been infiltrated. In the area of the village of Maarboun, for instance, the authors observed Syrian military checkpoints a mile inside Lebanon. In the Birak al-Rassass Valley, they photographed Syrian anti-aircraft batteries. On the outskirts of the village of Kossaya they found a heavily fortified camp belonging to the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine, in violation of U.N. resolutions and Lebanese demands.

...Last September, Mr. Annan paid a visit to Syrian dictator Bashar Assad after the latter had declared he would treat any attempt by the U.N. to deploy peacekeepers along the Lebanese-Syrian border as a "hostile act." To defuse the impasse, Mr. Annan simply accepted Mr. Assad's assurances that Syria would police its border and prevent arms smuggling. "I think it can happen," said the diplomat at a press conference. "It may not be 100%, but it will make quite a lot of difference if the government puts in place the measures the government has discussed with me."

What happened, predictably, was the opposite. In May, Fatah al-Islam, a terrorist group whose leadership was imported from Damascus, attacked Lebanese army outposts outside the Palestinian refugee camps of Nahr El-Bared and Biddawi, causing a bloody standoff that continues till this day. In June, current Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon issued a report citing numerous instances of arms smuggling from Syria to Hezbollah and the PFLP. Yesterday, Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah boasted that he once again has missiles that can reach Tel Aviv--missiles he could only have obtained via Syria. Israel confirms his claims.
Mr. Ban's report is notable for its clarity and seriousness. Taken together with the border report, it paints an alarming picture. Though the land grabs are small affairs individually, they collectively add up to an area amounting to about 4% of Lebanese soil--in U.S. terms, the proportional equivalent of Arizona. Of particular note is that the area of Syrian conquest dwarves that of the Israeli-occupied Shebaa Farms. The farms, which Israel seized from Syria in 1967 and which amount to an area of about 12 square miles, are claimed by Hezbollah as belonging to Lebanon--a useful pretext for it to continue its "resistance" against an Israeli occupation that ended seven years ago.

Needless to say, Hezbollah--which purports to fight for Lebanese sovereignty--makes no similar claims against Syria. For his part, Mr. Assad refuses to agree to a demarcation of his border with Lebanon, just as he refuses to open an embassy in Beirut. The ambiguity serves him well: He can seize Lebanese territory without anyone appearing to take notice, supply terrorist camps without quite harboring the terrorists, and funnel arms to Hezbollah at will--all without abandoning the fantasy of "Greater Syria" encompassing Lebanon, the Golan Heights and Israel itself.

It would, of course, be nice to see the Arab world protest this case of illegal occupation, given its passions about the subject. It would also be nice to see the media report this story as sedulously as it has the controversy of the Shebaa Farms. Don't hold your breath on either score. In the meantime, the only countries in a position to help Lebanon are France and the U.S. They could strike a useful blow by closing their embassies in Damascus until such time as Damascus opens an embassy--with all that it implies--in Beirut.

The author makes a great point - Hezbollah will arm itself with tens of thousands of Katyushas under the pretext of Lebanese sovereignty from an expansionist aggressive Israel, but when Syria grabs land that is unquestionably Lebanese this concern holds no water.

Tisha B'Av, 1948

(I am keeping this post on top until the end of Tisha B'av on Tuesday night.)
Tonight and tomorrow, Jews worldwide will commemorate Tisha B'Av, the anniversary of the destruction of both Temples in Jerusalem as well as other calamities throughout Jewish history.

Jews in Jerusalem have commemorated Tisha B'Av for centuries by visiting the Western Wall in Jerusalem and crying over the Temple's destruction and the daily desecration of this holiest of Jewish sites by the Muslims who built their mosques on its site as a symbol of Muslim supremacy.

But in 1948, for the first time in recorded history, Jews could not visit the Wall. While for the previous two years the British disallowed visits to the Wall during the fast day, there were always at least a few who managed to get through.

In 1948, for the first time in the history of the city, no Jews were allowed to live in the Old City of Jerusalem and no Jews were allowed to visit.

Old Jerusalem was Judenrein. Dozens of synagogues had been destroyed by the Jordanians within days of their occupying Jerusalem, including the famous Hurva synagogue.

The Jordanian commander reported to his headquarters, "For the first time in 1,000 years not a single Jew remains in the Jewish Quarter. Not a single building remains intact. This makes the Jews' return here impossible."

Even after the synagogues were destroyed, the BBC on June 5 "reported" that the Jewish holy places were safe:

This was how Tisha B'Av was for Israel's Jews in 1948.

These actions of the pro-Western, pro-British Transjordanians in 1948 are irrefutable proof that Arab animosity towards Jews had little to do with Zionism and everything to do with Jew-hatred. This is besides the facts that other synagogues in Arab countries were being destroyed at the same time, that Transjordan defiled hundreds of Jewish graves, that Jews were being killed and expelled in Arab countries and all the other anti-semitic crimes by Arabs that occurred in the years surrounding Israel's independence.

Is there any doubt in even the most clueless leftist's mind that, given the opportunity, the Palestinian Arabs would do exactly the same to the synagogues of Jerusalem that their Jordanian forefathers did in 1948?

Today, the Hurva synagogue is being rebuilt yet again:

May it be for the last time.

Academic freedom, PalArab style

An-Najah university is back in the news.

This august institution of higher learning has made the headlines before. It was, after all, where they put up an "art exhibition" celebrating the Sbarro's pizza bombing, complete with body parts:

It has been recognized as a hotbed of terror, boasting many suicide bombers from its alumni.

More recently, it was "twinned" with Manchester University and added cultural ties with universities in France and Germany as well.

With such stellar credentials, who would be surprised when it decides to suspend classes because the students started shooting each other?

Dozens of Palestinian students were wounded, some seriously, in clashes that erupted on Tuesday at An-Najah University in Nablus between Hamas and Fatah supporters.
Eyewitnesses told The Jerusalem Post that some of the students fired from pistols and Kalashnikov assault rifles during the melee, which was described as one of the worst incidents of its kind on a Palestinian campus in the West Bank.
"The students turned the campus into a real battlefield," said one eyewitness. "They fought each other with chairs, knives, swords and everything they could get their hands on."
Following the clashes, the university administration decided to suspend studies until further notice and advised all students to stay away from the campus.
Rami Hamdallah, president of An-Najah University, accused Hamas-affiliated students of instigating the clashes.
"The Islamic list on campus has been planning these clashes for a long time," he said. "They are trying to disrupt the educational process on West Bank campuses as they did two weeks ago in Bir Zeit University.
Bir Zeit University was also closed down earlier this month following severe clashes between Hamas and Fatah supporters. Tensions have been running high on all West Bank campuses ever since Hamas's violent takeover of the Gaza Strip last month.

We're still waiting for the condemnations from people who support free speech and academic freedom.

Any minute now!

Haniyeh and Zahhar just got their paychecks - from Israel

Israel gave $120 million to Mahmoud Abbas' fake government in early July.

Today, some of that money is going to pay Hamas members of the "Palestinian Legislative Council."

The Palestinian caretaker government has resumed payment of members of the Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC), including Hamas members such as deposed Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh and former Foreign Minister Mahmoud Zahhar. The caretaker government, headed by Prime Minister Salam Fayyad is also meeting today in Ramallah to discuss the plight of more than 6,000 Palestinians stranded in Egypt at the Rafah border crossing with the Gaza Strip.

Official sources in the PLC said that all members have received a portion of their salaries, which were not disbursed at all in the last period.

The Palestinian daily Al Hayat quoted caretaker Information Minister Riyad Najib Al-Maliki saying, "The Government transferred part of the employees' salaries in addition to the PLC members' without any exclusions." He also said : "No one can seize the salary of any PLC member because of his political views. The salary payment is part of the job of the Palestinian Authority."

Which means that Abbas still considers Hamas to be part of his government.

Hamas' killer bee

For those who haven't been keeping up with Hamas' children's TV:

After Farfur the terror rat was murdered by an Israeli soldier, his cousin, inexplicably a bee named Nahoul, has joined the cast of that same children's show named Pioneers of Tomorrow:

Hostess Saraa’: “Who are you? And where did you come from?”
Nahool: “I am Nahool [the bee], Farfur’s cousin.”
Saraa’: “And what do you want?”
Nahool: "I want to continue the path of Farfur, the path of “Islam is the solution”. The path of heroism, the path of martyrdom, the path of the Jihad warriors. Me and my friends shall continue the path of Farfur. And in his name we shall take revenge upon the enemies of Allah, the murderers of the prophets [i.e. the Jews], the murderers of innocent children, until Al-Aqsa will be liberated from their filth.”
Saraa’: “Welcome! Welcome Nahool.”

The following episode, aired last Friday, goes even further in its indoctrination of children into terrorism, anti-semitism and hatred:

Nahool: “You and we will liberate the sad Al-Aqsa that is waiting for us. Yes, we will liberate Al-Aqsa from the filth of the criminal Jews, who killed my grandfather, and killed Farfur, and history will bear witness to that…”

A young caller, Sabah, is asked what she wants to be when she grows up.
Sabah: “Journalist.”
Saraa', girl in studio: “Wow, journalist! Nahool, we need journalists.”
Nahool: "Why? So that… so that they will photograph the Jews when they are killing Farfur and the little children?
Saraa’: “Yes, Nahool.”
Another young caller says: “We will go on [the path] of Jihad when we grow up.”
Nahool: “Yes, we are all Jihad warriors.
Saraa’: “Allah willing.”

Petro-Arabs gone wild - in Cairo

Here's an interesting follow-up to my posting on Saudi summer marriages - how oil-rich act during their Cairo vacations:

For Arab tourists, Cairo can be sin city

As the sun set on another day of "Arab Season," Amr Khouli leaned on the cushions of his boat as it moved to the gentle waves of the Nile.

This time of year, Mr. Khouli spends days on his faluka, one of the many motorboats that cart tourists up and down the wide river that cuts through this city, catering to a growing number of Arab tourists who have passed up violent Lebanon and opted for safer Egypt for summertime holidays.

In 2006, 13 percent more Arab tourists came to Egypt and stayed 12 percent longer than the year before. This season is shaping up to be another banner year because of the Lebanese instability, says Hala el-Khatib, spokeswoman for the Ministry of Tourism.

But while Khouli welcomes the influx of money that comes with the uptick in tourism, many Egyptians complain that Arabs coming from nearby countries, such as religiously strict Saudi Arabia and Libya, are using Cairo as their own city of sin.

To be sure, tourists of all stripes in Egypt drink more than their share of the locally brewed Stella beer, but the exceptional wealth of the Arab tourists coupled with what Egyptians see as violations of religious rules grates more than the bad behavior of Westerners.

"It's very [strict] in Saudi Arabia because of the religion, so we like to come here to see different countries and different religions – it's not so [strict] as in Saudi Arabia," says Hossam Mohamed al-Shariff, who works in the Saudi embassy here.
...
The expansive garden area in the Marriott Hotel in Cairo's Zamalek neighborhood is a popular hangout for visiting Arabs. It's also know to be a place where many come looking for prostitution.

On the night this reporter visited, two women wearing heavy makeup and enveloping black robes sat at a table. A man wearing the dishdasheh robe, typical in Gulf countries, and a baseball cap walked by and dropped a piece of paper on the women's table.

What it said only the women know. But it's a common tactic to write down a room number and a dollar amount and discreetly toss the slip in the vicinity of a subtly apparent prostitute.

Mr. Shariff says that because Egypt is just a short trip from Saudi Arabia, it's an easy spot for vacation. "I like to visit the tourist places and visit the cafes here, and it has an Arab flavor … we like to come and join these parties that have Arab singers," he says.

As Shariff spoke to this reporter in the Marriott garden, a waiter approached and said he and a foreign journalist could not conduct an interview there.

"Don't worry. I'm not telling them about the hashish and [a drug called] bangao and Leil [nightclub]," he laughs, and waves him away.

Leil is a particularly famous club on Cairo's Pyramids Street, an area well known among Arab tourists for the good times to be had.

The Arab tourists "increase every year because we are very loving to them and we give them very good service and high quality. So they prefer to come here," says club manager Sami Nasherti, crowing that Leil is the only club to have received five stars from Egypt's Tourism Ministry. Leil provides "everything they like," he adds. "They eat and drink and see the belly dancers."

Unlike the grittier clubs on the strip that cater to men, Leil serves "mainly families," Nasherti says.

But even with five stars and a dedicated second level for families, Leil still represents the two sides of the "Arab Season."

Two women in the bathroom, when asked, say vaguely that they are working. In the large mirror, they give a final once over to their sparkling lipstick, long strands of fake hair, and tight, midriff-baring clothing, then head out into the dark main room where the entertainment is under way and the seats are reserved for single men.

Where's Egypt's Rachel Corrie?

Last month, Congress voted to freeze $200 million in its annual aid to Egypt unless it started fighting the huge wave of illegal arms and explosives smuggling to Gaza. This was a long-overdue move, and one that Egypt of course bitterly opposed. The bill still needs to be approved by the Senate and the President.

Egypt is taking this seriously. Now, Egypt is planning to raze houses in Rafah near the border to find some of the smuggling tunnels. It has already expelled residents who live within 50 meters of the border and will expand this zone to 150 meters.

This proves three things.

Firstly, it shows that US aid to despotic governments are almost completely ineffective as a carrot to align their actions with US and Western interests.

Conversely, it shows that withholding that same money can be an extremely effective, at least in the short term, as a stick - and that Arab governments are more likely to respond to the stick than the carrot.

Finally, it proves yet again, as if it needed proving, that the "human rights" community is utterly divorced from any claim to evenhandedness and morality. When Israel demolished houses on the Rafah border for direct self-defense purposes, these organizations would routinely condemn Israeli actions. Arms smuggling for the express purpose of killing Israeli citizens was not a human rights issue to these hypocrites - only the defense against that smuggling.

But when Egypt plans to do the same thing, they are silent.

There are no Rachel Corries willing to stand in front of Egyptian bulldozers. There are no heart-wrenching articles about the Egyptians who are losing their houses. There are no calls for UN sanctions against Egyptian violation of human rights.

Now, why would that be?

Teaching the "Naqba" to Israeli Arabs - and Jews

YNet reports:

The Education Ministry has authorized Arab schools to use a history book featuring the establishing of the State of Israel as a disastrous to the Palestinians, Israel radio published Sunday.

The third-grade book, Living together in Israel, states that some Arab residents were driven out of their homes and became refugees and that Israel confiscated many of their lands.

The book's authors made it a point to state that it was the Arabs that refused the United Nations offer to divide the land between the Palestinian and the Jews (UN resolution 181), while the Jews accepted it.

"When the war ended, the Jews prevailed and Israel and its neighbors signed a truce… the Arabs call the war the 'Nakba', meaning the war of disaster and destruction. The Jews call it the War of Independence."
...
Tamir's decision sparked harsh criticism: National Religious Party Chairman MK Zevulun Orlev called on Prime Minister Ehud Olmert to fire Tamir immediately saying her decision was "anti-Zionist and goes against the very existence of Israel as a Jewish state."

Strategic Affairs Minister Avigdor Lieberman slammed Tamir's decision as well "Tamir is like Avraham Burg. She expresses not only the post-Zionist spirit but also political masochism. The political left is constantly looking for ways to justify the other side, when we have nothing to apologize for."

Both sides are wrong.

It is impossible to be completely objective when writing anything, and schoolbooks are no exception. The overriding concern when writing schoolbooks must be the truth, an important secondary concern must be that the children are being taught to be good citizens of the nation that they belong to.

As my continuing Palestinian Arab history series shows, 1948 was a catastrophe for most Arabs in Palestine. But the reason that it was so disastrous for them was not because the Jews managed to avoid being pushed into the sea as the combined Arab world so fervently desired. The reason it was a Naqba was because the Arabs of Palestine were treated like dirt by their own leaders and by the leaders of the Arab world. They were used as pawns by Amin al-Husayni, the Mufti of Jerusalem, for his own aggrandizement and anti-semitic aims; they were used as pawns by the Arab League, they were used as pawns by the Arab nations who committed them to refugee camps, and (as we will see as the series continues, iy"h) they were and are continuing to be used by the UNRWA for its own self-preservation. (From the pan-Arab perspective, 1948 was also a tragedy - because weak dhimmi Jews winning a war against the proud Arab nation was the ultimate disgrace. Histories must emphasize the honor/shame society of Arabs as well in explaining why this was a "naqba.")

No one should discount the fact that Israel did end up destroying many Arab villages after 1948 but at the same time no one should disregard that the reasons that most of the Arabs fled were more due to fear of fighting in general and the conviction that other Arab nations would take care of them rather than from any sort of Zionist policy of expulsion. Yes, most Arabs ended up leaving their homes - that should not be denied - but the context can and must be taught. Israel has little to be ashamed of in the 1948 war, as the infant Zionist state had to make decisions to ensure its survival first. The proven examples of how Zionists tried to stop Arabs from leaving Haifa , how outside Arab armies forced the Arab residents to leave Tiberias, how the residents of Abu Ghosh aimed at peaceful relations with the Jews, - all these need to be taught, just as Deir Yassin must be taught in the proper context for the right age groups.

Classic Zionist histories have ignored some events that muddy the waters in the Paul Newman/"Exodus"-style histories. "Post-Zionist" histories have swung the pendulum too far in the other direction, blaming the Jews for events that overtook them and for decisions that had to be made quickly in the context of their very survival (as well as looking at 1948 through the lens of 21st century multiculturalism.) The truth must be the main concern when writing textbooks, and both sides have not spent nearly enough effort describing what the Arabs of 1948 knew on their own - the major reason for Palestinian Arab suffering is their treatment by their Arab "brethren" and self-anointed "leaders," and to a large extent this remains true today.

There is no reason why the true story of 1948 cannot be taught, warts and all, to Israeli Arabs and to Israeli Jews. In the end, when one looks at the facts, Israel's War of Independence is nothing to be ashamed of.

Freedom of the press, Saudi-style

The Saudi-based Arab News notes:

A 49-year-old Makkah institution was bailed out of financial troubles with a SR10 million cash infusion from Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Abdullah’s personal account yesterday.

Al-Nadwa, which has chronicled the daily life of Islam’s holiest city in modern times, has been unable to meet payroll for the past three months, according to Hesham Kaaki, the 30-year-old editor in chief of the newspaper.

“King Abdullah ordered the payment of the amount to the Al-Nadwa newspaper from his personal account to help it overcome its current financial crisis,” said Culture and Information Minister Iyad Madani in a statement to the Saudi Press Agency.

The culture and information minister said that the kind gesture is proof of the king’s support for the Kingdom’s media. Madani added that he hopes the newspaper will regain its glory and competitiveness through the king’s donation.

And we are all sure that Al-Nadwa will continue its hard-hitting editorial policies with this cash infusion from the King.

Peaceful PalArab weekend

The bodies of three women were found, stabbed and strangled to death, in the Gaza Strip. There are reports that it is a mother and two daughters but the names nor the ages have been released yet (the news was in Ma'an Arabic and Palestine Press Agency - Arabic. As of this moment it has not hit any English news sites.)

Since I don't know the ages, I will count them all as women in the 2007 PalArab self-death count, now at 490.

UPDATE: Ma'an English adds more detail:

Gaza – Ma'an – A jeep disposed of three corpses in a deserted area of Deir al Balah, in the central Gaza Strip, and attempted to cover the bodies in soil, reported eyewitnesses and Palestinian security sources on Sunday.

The Hamas-affiliated Executive Force and medical staff discovered the bodies of three females. The cadavers were transported to Al Aqsa Martyrs Hospital in Deir al Balah.

According to Palestinian medical sources, there was evidence of knife wounds and suffocation on the corpses.

A Palestinian security source informed Ma'an that the corpses were identified as three sisters aged between 17 and 22. One of the women was married to a resident of Deir al Balah, the others lived in Gaza City.

UPDATE 2: A car was blown up in Gaza, and another person died from the Fatah/Hamas infighting last month. 491.

The effectiveness of a "goodwill gesture"

From Ma'an:

Minister of detainees' affairs, Ashraf Ajrami, has said that the release of 255 Palestinian prisoners, "is a very small step, and is not enough, especially when there are over 11,000 Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails".

Can't you just feel the appreciation?

"The Elders" have done their first good deed

Looking at the pompous, self-righteous website of "The Elders" I at least got something good out of it:

A neat looking logo that I ripped off.

Unfortunately, I may be running afoul of their enlightened and progressive Terms and Conditions:

We own, or are the licensee of, the intellectual property rights in the content of our site, including text, photos, graphic designs, images, audio, video recordings and any data entered or submitted by you.

ELDERS and the Elders’ logo are trade marks owned by us and The Virgin Foundation, a company registered in England and Wales under company number 02155645 and whose registered address is at Hanover House, 14 Hanover Square, London W1S 1HP.

For styling themselves as Elders of a Global Village, this seems sort of petty. Real Elders elicit respect from their actions, fake Elders demand it from others.

Pure Jew-hatred from Hamas Russian website

As much as Hamas claims to not have any problems with Jews, only Zionists, the facts show otherwise.

The Intelligence and Terrorism Information Center in Israel has looked at Hamas' websites in multiple languages, and noticed that the Russian Hamas site is filled with venomous Jew-hatred, much of it recycled from Iran.

The Russian version of Palestine-info, supported by Russian Internet companies, carries a large number of anti-Semitic (and anti-Western) cartoons which do not appear on the portal's other language sites. In our assessment that is because Hamas' propaganda policy is based on the assumption that the Russian-speaking target audiences (in Russia and the independent republics in Central Asia ) are ripe for anti-Semitic and anti-Western propaganda. It also stems from the expectation that such cartoons can promote the absorption and assimilation of other Hamas' messages of radical Islam, support for terrorism, hostility toward the United States.

Looking at the site itself indeed shows the anti-semitic cartoons taken from Iran's Holocaust cartoon collection. The "Israelis" portrayed almost invariably sport large noses, and the beards, payos and clothing of the European shtetl - exactly how Jews were portrayed in Nazi literature.

A glance at the autotranslated Russian site shows also that the word "Jews" is used interchangeably with "Zionists" and "Israelis", without the care that anti-semites normally use in trying to distinguish between the groups. There are three headlines on the main page saying "Jews demolished houses," for example.

Hamas, knowing of the latent anti-semitism endemic in Russia, is purposefully fanning the flames of Jew hatred there in order to score propaganda points.

(h/t EBoZ)

Some of the prisoners released were Hamas members

While Israel stated that none of the 255 prisoners released in a "goodwill gesture" were affiliated with Hamas, it turns out that many were.

YNet reports that 30 were members of Hamas, 2 more from Islamic Jihad, and as many as 38 from PFLP and DFLP. In addition:

According to the guidelines approved earlier in the week by a special Israeli governmental committee headed by Prime Minister Ehud Olmert, the prisoners release do not have any "blood on their hands".

Those released were jailed for lesser charges, including weapons trafficking, illegal possession of firearms, belonging to an illegal organization, attempted murder, attempted manslaughter and aiding and abetting fugitives.

While technically people who failed in their attempts to kill Jews may not have "blood on their hands," it is the height of folly to allow them to get another chance. In fact, their motivation to return to terror has increased, as their earlier failures can be seen as shameful that must be avenged.

Even though Hamas members were released, they are also being greeted personally by Mahmoud Abbas in Ramallah.

Israel's Justice Ministry admits that 17% of released prisoners end up resuming terror activities. This means that at least 42 of the released prisoners can be expected to terrorize again.

Since the intifada began, 179 Israelis have been killed by former prisoners released in earlier deals.

To the current Israeli government, a goodwill gesture is something that puts Israeli citizens at risk for their lives - all to prop up an impotent Abbas who allowed Hamas to win Gaza without a fight.

Saudi "summer marriages": another form of legalized Muslim prostitution

From Arab News:

JEDDAH, 20 July 2007 — The summer season is known as a primetime for male Saudi tourists to marry women from other countries while on holiday abroad. These marriages are generally unplanned. Most men undergo such marriages with an intention of enjoying their vacation in the company of women who are “religiously” legal for them.
The marriages are ones of convenience. While men look for fun, the women are usually experiencing financial difficulties and see summer marriages as a way to be spoilt and have money spent on them. The real victims of such marriages are their children.
According to Abdullah Al-Hamoud, chairman of Awasser, a Saudi charity that looks after the welfare of Saudi families abroad, the Kingdom protects the rights of children from marriages between Saudi men and non-Saudi women. He added that such marriages are usually done without the prior-permission of the Interior Ministry. (Saudi law demands Saudis seek permission when marrying abroad).
“Such marriages are not only restricted to the summer season,” he said. “They happen throughout the year. Sometimes Saudi husbands don’t want to bring their foreign wives to the Kingdom. They prefer keeping them outside the Kingdom and frequently fly abroad to visit them,” he added.
The charity has offices abroad at Saudi embassies in Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Yemen, Morocco and Indonesia. The organization also runs awareness campaigns for Saudis, warning them against visiting unscrupulous matchmaking offices.
“Children from such marriages are entitled to come to the Kingdom and be registered in their fathers’ family cards. However, wives can’t come unless they’re accredited. They also can’t get listed in their husband’s family card until then,” said Al-Hamoud.
“In cases of fathers denying they are related to a child, we make them undergo DNA tests to prove their identity. However, we haven’t faced such a scenario as of yet,” he added.
Awasser has also found that 70 percent of Saudis living abroad are the children of cross-cultural marriages. The society has succeeded in bringing 32 poverty-stricken children of Saudi fathers into the Kingdom in the past 18 months.

This article is as notable for what it ignores as for what it says.

Notice that there is no interest in the welfare of these women - presumably Muslims who cannot legally marry unless they get divorced.

While the Saudis claim to take care of the children of these sham marriages, only 32 have managed to join their fathers - presumably their mothers are left high and dry.

It is also interesting that no one expects Saudi men to go on vacation abroad with their own Saudi wives!

And most stunning of all is the 70% statistic. The rest of the world would consider these children illegitimate. The fact that a vast majority of foreign Saudis effectively are fatherless and being brought up by women who rent themselves out to rich visitors is glossed over.

The misogyny displayed in this article is chilling.

Harry Potter will bring Jews to Arab bookshop on Shabbat

From the Jerusalem Post:

Want to get your hands on Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Jerusalem only hours after the worldwide release at midnight on Friday? You won't find it in west Jerusalem, not even at Steimatsky's.
Instead you will have to take a trip down Jerusalem's Diagon Alley, otherwise known as Salah A-Din Street in the east of the city and visit Imad Muna, owner of Educational Books, who is opening his store four hours earlier than usual, at 5 a.m. on Saturday morning, to sell the last installment in the series. And Muna is willing to take pre-orders for those who do not handle money on Shabbat.
In fact, according to a Jerusalem Orthodox rabbi who asked not to be named, if Harry is paid for before Shabbat, no Jews work in the store, and the store did not open specifically for Jews, then it is permissible to walk there on Shabbat and get the book.
"I expect a lot of people from west Jerusalem," Muna told The Jerusalem Post on Thursday.
Usually, he gets few Jewish customers, but he hopes that his stock of 120 Deathly Hallows will attract them. If a customer purchases the book in advance, he or she will be given a receipt to present on Saturday morning.

There's a win/win!

Jews seem to feel a great affinity with Harry Potter. Soccer Dad managed to get an early copy (but remains mum on whether he will read it early); Gil at Hirhurim compared Dumbledore to Rabbi Akiva (check the many, many comments), and someone wrote an entire book on Harry Potter and the Torah.

My review of Book 6, written exactly two years ago today, is here.

UPDATE: Soccer Dad takes the high road. Impressive!

A Psychological History of Palestinian Arabs, part 10

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Part 9

In many ways, the story of Palestinian Arabs is a story of the selfishness of Arab leaders at the expense of the people they were pretending to care about. Almost without exception, these Arab leaders were not of Palestinian origin themselves.

The Arab League was created for the purposes of Arab unity but it found itself divided over every major decision, and invariably each member would act in ways that would be good for his nation (or his leader) and at the expense of the unity that they swore to uphold. The Palestinian issue was no exception.

Amin al-Husayni, the ex-Mufti and the League representative for Palestine who was born in Syria, remained ready to sacrifice all of the Palestinian Arab lives necessary to help his own sense of honor and to rid the land of Jews. His fanaticism andsingleminded Jew-hatred can be seen in his memoirs:

"Our fundamental condition for cooperating with Germany was a free hand to eradicate every last Jew from Palestine and the Arab world. I asked Hitler for an explicit undertaking to allow us to solve the Jewish problem in a manner befitting our national and racial aspirations and according to the scientific methods innovated by Germany in the handling of its Jews. The answer I got was: 'The Jews are yours.'”

Yet the biggest conflicts in the Arab League came between King Abdullah of Jordan and everyone else, not only Husayni. Abdullah came from the Hashemite family that had traditionally controlled Mecca and Medina; his brother was installed by the British as King of Iraq at the same time he was designated Emir ofTransjordan. Abdullah enjoyed good relations with the British and he never hid his ambitions of becoming ruler of Greater Syria, which would include Transjordan , Syria, Lebanon and Palestine. Both his Western friends and his territorial ambitions troubled his Arab neighbors, especially Syria, greatly.

Abdullah's biggest bargaining chip was the Arab Legion, the British-trained Transjordanian army that was by far the most effective Arab fighting force. The other Arab nations knew that they were unlikely to win the battle for Palestine without his army, but they were skeptical about his pro-British and pro-Western outlook.

The desires of the Palestinian Arab people themselves never entered the equation. While their erstwhile leaders would pontificate about the will of the people, everyone knew that the Palestinian Arabs were pawns in this entire exercise.

The combined Arab armies did not have their heart in the fight. With the exception of Transjordan's Arab Legion, they were filled with soldiers who did not care about their mission and had no battle experience. The last two Palestinian Arab army commanders were AbdulKader Husseini, who was killed in April of 1948, and Hasan Salameh , who fled Palestine in disgrace after a disagreement with his superiors in the same month. The rest of the 1948 war was led by Iraqis, Egyptians, and Jordanians - but no Palestinian Arabs.

Meanwhile, the Palestinian Arab refugees were causing great alarm in the neighboring Arab states. These nations for the most part were not that stable to begin with; the influx of refugees was regarded as a real threat to these regimes. This was one of the reasons that Egypt, Syria and Lebanon showed no interest in integrating their "brothers" into their borders. Beyond that, Egypt would take the fleeing male refugees and force them to turn around and fight the Jews. One can only imagine how little thesepeoplewanted to fight, while their families huddled in the refugee camps with little food and no political support at all.

The tug of war between Abdullah and Husayni continued as 1948 wore on, as Husayni wanted to build a provisional Palestinian Arab government. He had the backing of most of the Arab League, butTransjordan's ruler threatened to use his army against any such government. As a result Husayni decided to create it in Gaza in September, 1948.

It was a fiasco. The "government" unsurprisingly chose Amin al-Husayni himself to be their first President, as he arrived in Palestine for the first time since the British expelled him in 1937. There were immediate protests, not only in Amman but in other Arab capitals as well. One of the objections to this pseudo-state was that by declaring a government, the Palestinian Arabs had effectively accepted the hated partition formula.

The protests against this quasi-independence didn't only come from other Arab countries but from the West Bank itself, with protests in East Jerusalem,Nablus and Ramallah. Even in 1948, the differences between the Egypt-oriented Gazans and the Jordanian-oriented West Bankers were apparent.

Husayni kept his "government" going despite the opposition, and even received recognition from Egypt, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Iraq (formerly allied withTransjordan .) This was the only time in history that Palestinian Arabs sort of had a state that was recognized by other countries. Knowing his personality, it should come as no surprise that one of his first acts was to give himself absolute power.Abdullah acidly pointed out that Husayni needed Egyptian troop protection to move about his own Gaza "state."

In an interesting concurrent episode, Transjordan seized truckloads of supplies sent by Iraq for refugee relief as punishment for Iraq's support of Husayni. Even though Abdullah also claimed to be doing things for the sake of Palestinian Arabs, his actions showed otherwise.

This was only one of the hardships endured by the refugees. The Nablus mayor accused the Arab nations of extorting money from the Palestinian Arabs. The richer refugees that reached Lebanon were denied the right to drive while the poorer ones suffered from severe food shortages. There was no consensus on how to deal with the new refugee problem: in August, the Arab Higher Committee as well as Iraq and Syria opposed their return to Palestine whileAbdullah wanted their return to be a pre-condition to peace talks with Israel.

While the Zionists didn't actively work to push the Arabs out of Israel, they showed little interest in letting them back. Some were aghast at the site of their Arab friends and neighbors actively fighting them and the women ululating their support of the Arab armies trying to destroy the Jews.

By November there were an estimated 500,000 Arab refugees with the majority in Syria, Lebanon, Transjordan and the non-Jewish Palestinian areas. Only a few thousand were in Egypt. (There were also about 7000 Jewish refugees as a result of the war, as well.)

This left many of the Palestinian Arabs in limbo. They left Palestine with the expectation of either coming back with the victorious Arab armies, or of resettling in those same countries that preached so much about Arab unity. But now, the majority were homeless. And, in 1948, most of them blamed the Arab nations for their predicament (and some blamed the British for allowing outside Arab armies to roam freely in the months before they quit Palestine.) The West, however, looked to the Jewish state to solve the problem.

By and large, Palestinian Arabs were more ambitious, more educated and more pragmatic than their Arab brethren. Many had moved to Palestine in only the previous generation or two in order to find a better life for their families. While they had more than their share of anti-semitism, the majority was able to live peacefully with the Jews. It is indeed ironic that these people, who should have been in the vanguard of an Arab nation, ended up being used by opportunistic and selfish so-called "leaders" who led them to disaster. It is doubly ironic that the very people who felt they could move easily within the Arab world - who trusted the Arab nation to always be there for them, no matter what - were the ones who have become pariahs in that same world.

By December, a large rally and conference in Jericho showed that the Palestinian Arabs of the West Bank seemed to favor the idea of being ruled by Transjordan's Abdullah as opposed to the discredited and much despised ex-Mufti. The idea of Palestinian Arab self-governance had been extinguished.

Iraq is a proxy war for Iran (Omedia)

Great analysis that is sorely lacking in the West:

On July 9, 2007 it was reported that the Iraqi government of Dr. Nouri Kamal al-Maliki had failed to meet many of the benchmarks set for it.[1] Although there are mixed reports about the success of the “surge”—significant successes in bringing Sunnis to battle against al-Qaéda[2]versus horrific daily casualty rates from suicide car-bombings[3]—it should not come as a major surprise that the current Iraqi government is not fulfilling its duty to produce a greater success rate and to foster reconciliation among the three major Iraqi ethnic/religious groups.
Why? Why shouldn’t we be surprised at al-Maliki’s failure to meet fully even one US benchmark?

First, let’s review a little bit of background information. Iraq’s multi-party political system seems to be difficult for many Westerners to understand. It is essential to overcome this failure of comprehension and come to a realization that within Iraq’s three major ethnic/religious communities there are many, many different political parties and groups.[4] However, one major dividing line within Iraqi society is not that between ethnic/religious communities (Shi‘ite, Sunni, and Kurd) but rather between fundamentalist and non-fundamentalist interpretations of the Islam that is the common religion of the bulk of Iraqis.

Although the political groupings and coalitions remain complicated, one basically may say that the non-fundamentalists are willing to build a united independent Iraq; the radical fundamentalists desire to resurrect the Muslim caliphate. As such, these fundamentalists[5]—be they Sunnis tied to al-Qaéda, Kurdish members of Ansar al- Islam/Ansar al-Sunna, or Shi‘ites supporters of Abdul-Aziz al-Hakim’s SCIRI/SIIC (Supreme Council of the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, aka Supreme Islamic Iraqi Council) or Moqtada al-Sadr’s Jaish al-Mahdi (the al-Mahdi Army, which is the militia of the al-Daawa Party, and not coincidently also Nouri al-Maliki’s political party)—these Iraqi radical fundamentalists are supported by[6] and beholden to the government of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Put simply: al-Maliki is not independent; he receives support and is subservient to the mullahs of Tehran. As long as al-Maliki and his radical fundamentalist Shi‘ite coalition lead the Iraqi government, Tehran will be calling the shots.[7] It doesn’t matter that Dr al-Maliki and his colleagues wear ties and western suits—they are still Islamist radicals nonetheless and allies of the Islamic Republic of Iran.[8]

Given the overwhelming evidence of Iranian support[9] for both the extremist militias of the Sunni al-Qaéda and the Shi‘ite Badr and Wolf Brigades and al-Mahdi Army[10] that have caused so much chaos and destruction to Iraqi society[11], it should be a clear sign that Iran is in control when both Iraqi President Jalal Talabani[12] and Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki[13] make frequent visits to Tehran to consult with Iranian President Ahmadinejad and Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. It should not come as a great surprise that the al-Maliki government is not meeting its commitments to the US. Ayatollah Khamenei doesn’t want to see America help create a real democracy in Iraq,[14] and al-Maliki is following Khamenei’s orders to prevent the rise of an independent, secular Iraq.[15] Although subservient to Iran, al-Maliki’s radical Shi‘ite government currently holds the reins of power and is content with such an arrangement in which the Sunnis remain odd-man out. No wonder that there has not yet been any success in enacting a law for equitable distribution of the oil wealth among the three ethnic/religious communities.

Read the whole thing, including what can be done to fix this.

The Elders of Zion-haters

Amateurs:

Combining serious statesmanship and a large measure of audacity, former South African President Nelson Mandela and a clutch of world-famous figures plan to announce Wednesday a private alliance to launch diplomatic assaults on the globe's most intractable problems.

The alliance, to be unveiled Wednesday during events marking Mandela's 89th birthday, is to be called The Elders. Among others, it includes retired Anglican Archbishop Desmond Tutu, former U.S. President Jimmy Carter, retired UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, and Mary Robinson, the human-rights activist and former president of Ireland.

Many, including Mandela, have been harsh critics of President Bush and U.S. foreign policy, particularly toward Iraq and the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The group's members and backers insisted in interviews, however, that they are guided neither by ideology nor by geopolitical bent.

Mandela states in remarks prepared for Wednesday that the fact that none of The Elders holds public office allows them to work for the common good, not for outside interests.

"This group can speak freely and boldly, working both publicly and behind the scenes on whatever actions need to be taken," the stateement says. "Together we will work to support courage where there is fear, foster agreement where there is conflict and inspire hope where there is despair."

How many weeks before their first "bold" pronouncement that Israel is an evil apartheid state? Because, obviously, they have been too intimidated by the worldwide Jewish conspiracy to hold that position publicly before they joined forces.

They'll first have a pronouncement that AIDS or poverty in Africa is bad, to establish their Elderliness, and then they'll be empowered to do what they really want to do - go after that intractable problem that is all the fault of those pesky Zionists who just love oppressing Arabs.

Meryl Yourish has already detailed the amazing coincidence of their "non-partisan" opinions:

Mary Robinson, who led the UN Human Rights Commission during the infamous Durban conference: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel.
Jimmy Carter, whose latest anti-Israel screed is a best-seller: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel.

Nelson Mandela, who never met a Palestinian terrorist he didn’t like: Anti-Israel. Anti-American.

Desmond Tutu, who thinks all the world’s problems can be traced to the U.S. and Israel: Anti-Israel. Anti-Israel. Anti-Semitic?

July Qassam calendar

While Qassam rockets have slowed down, they are still fired often enough to terrorize Israeli citizens in Sderot, not to mention that they sometimes still hit buildings and injure citizens.

This calendar does not count mortars.

Earlier calendars:
June
May
April
March
February

Freedom of the press, PalArab style (V): Fatah gets in the game

It is not only Hamas that is harassing and threatening journalists. Yes, even the "moderates" from Fatah and the PA seem to do the same thing:

Palestinian security services personnel on Wednesday dispersed a rally organised by Hamas women. They arrested five people, including journalists. The rally was being held to support the families of political prisoners from Nablus. The families took also part in a meeting before the rally.

Photojournalist Nasser Shtayya told Ma'an that members of the security forces attacked him, and his colleague Samir Khweira, while they were covering the rally, staged in front of the Nablus police department. Shtayya's camera was destroyed in the process.

Eyewitnesses stated that Palestinian Legislative Council (PLC) member Ahmad Al-Haj delivered a speech in which he heavily criticised the Palestinian Authority. This incited his audience, who demanded he apologise for his words.

In order to control the situation, Palestinian security services decided to intervene and disperse the angry crowd. Three Hamas loyalists, Mu'ath Sarkaji, Imad Tanbour and Rami Nasser who were near the rally, were arrested.

Members of the Fatah-affiliated Al-Aqsa Brigades from the nearby Balata refugee camp protected the PLC member, who is connected to Hamas.

Notice how the neat divisions between Fatah and Hamas that the MSM want everyone to believe breaks down with only a little research: The pro-Hamas PLC gets protected by the Fatah-affiliated Al Aqsa. At a Hamas rally in the West Bank.

More context from PCHR, including that the speaker was also arrested. Which is directly related to Natan Sharansky's definition of a fear society vs. a free society:

If a person cannot walk into the middle of the town square and express his or her views without fear of arrest, imprisonment, or physical harm, then that person is living in a fear society, not a free society. We cannot rest until every person living in a "fear society" has finally won their freedom.