Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Saturday, March 12, 2011

Horrific slaughter of Jewish family in Itamar

A mother, father and three of their children were stabbed to death late Friday night by at least one suspected terrorist who infiltrated the Itamar settlement southeast of Nablus.

The killings occurred shortly after 10 p.m., when one or two attackers jumped the fence that surrounds Itamar and broke into the home of Ruth and Udi Fogel, aged 35 and 36, respectively. The attackers went room to room, stabbing the parents, a three-month-old girl, Hadas, and two boys, Elad, three, and Yoav, 11.

Two other children – aged two and eight – were in a side room but were not attacked.
The family’s oldest child, 12- year-old Tamar, was out of the house at the time.

The IDF immediately launched searches in nearby Arab villages as Palestinians reported that a faction of Fatah’s al-Aksa Martyrs Brigade had claimed responsibility.

Israel Peace Week at Berkeley

Nice to see some pro-active Israel advocacy in the belly of the beast:

I doubt I'll have much access to a computer this weekend, but I have a few posts queued up for Saturday night and Sunday so you'll at least have something to read.

Posting will probably be pretty light on Monday as well.

Have a Shabbat Shalom and a great weekend!

Egypt and Syria make nice

From People's Daily Online:

Syrian President Bashar al-Assad voiced readiness to work with Egypt to maintain cooperation relations between the two countries, Syria's official SANA news agency reported Thursday.

In a message sent to head of the Supreme Council of Egypt's armed forces, Field Marshal Mohammed Hussein Tantawi, Assad expressed his hopes that Egypt would restore its normal role in the common Arab work, expressing Syria's readiness to consult and closely cooperate with Egypt in all fields.

The message, SANA said, came in reply to that sent by Tantawi to Assad, in which Tantawi has confirmed the solid relations between the two countries and the imperative to open a new page based on the well-known, aspired-for firm principles.

With all this goodwill, it is probably only a matter of time before Iran offers to build uranium-enrichment facilities in Egypt...

Where's the outrage at Arab apartheid? (Khaled Abu Toameh)

From Hudson NY:

Mohammed Nabil Taha, an 11-year-old Palestinian boy, died this week at the entrance to a Lebanese hospital after doctors refused to help him because his family could not afford to pay for medical treatment.

The tragic case of Taha highlights the plight of hundreds of thousands of Palestinians who live in impoverished refugee camps in Lebanon and who are the victims of an Apartheid system that denies them access to work, education and medical care.

Ironically, the boy's death at the entrance to the hospital coincided with Israel Apartheid Week, a festival of hatred and incitement organized by anti-Israel activists on university campuses in the US, Canada and other countries.

It is highly unlikely that the folks behind the festival have heard about the case of Taha. Judging from past experiences, it is also highly unlikely that they would publicize the case after they heard about it.

Why should anyone care about a Palestinian boy who is denied medical treatment by an Arab hospital? This is a story that does not have an anti-Israel angle to it.

Can anyone imagine what would have happened if an Israeli hospital had abandoned a boy to die in its parking lot because his father did not have $1,500 to pay for his treatment?

The UN Security Council would hold an emergency session and Israel would be strongly condemned and held responsible for the death of the boy.

All this is happening at a time when tens of thousands of Palestinian patients continue to benefit from treatments in Israeli hospitals.

Last year alone, some 180,000 Palestinians from the West Bank and Gaza Strip entered Israel to receive medical treatment. Many were treated despite the fact that they did not have enough money to cover the bill. In Israel, even a suicide bomber who is -- only! -- wounded while trying to kill Jews is entitled to the finest medical treatment. And there have been many instances where Palestinians who were injured in attacks on Israel later ended up in some of Israel's best hospitals.

Lebanon, by the way, is not the only Arab country that officially applies Apartheid laws against Palestinians, denying them the right to receive proper medical treatment and own property.

Just last week it was announced that a medical center in Jordan has decided to stop treating Palestinian cancer patients because the Palestinian Authority has failed to pay its debts to the center.

Other Arab countries have also been giving the Palestinians a very hard time when it comes to receiving medical treatment.

It is disgraceful that while Israel admits Palestinian patients to its hospitals, Arab hospitals are denying them medical treatment for various reasons, including money. But then one is reminded that Arab dictators do not care about their own people, so why should they pay attention to an 11-year-old boy who is dying at the entrance to a hospital because his father was not carrying $1,500?

But as the death took place in an Arab country – and as the victim is an Arab – why should anyone care about him? Where is the outcry against Arab Apartheid?

Critics of Syria disappear - in Lebanon

From Babylon and Beyond:

Human-rights groups are becoming increasingly concerned about the fate and whereabouts of three Syrian brothers who disappeared in the Lebanese capital about two weeks ago after they distributed fliers calling for demonstrations for democratic change in Syria.

On Thursday, U.S.-based Human Rights Watch called on Lebanon in a statement to immediately launch an independent probe into the matter.

The circumstances of the brothers' disappearance are murky. According to Human Rights Watch research, agents from Lebanon's Military Intelligence took at least six members of the Jasem family into custody on Feb. 23 and 24 after they handed out pamphlets calling for more democracy in Syria, a country ruled by the Assad family for decades.

One of them, construction worker Jasem Mer`i Jasem, then disappeared in the early hours of Feb. 25 along with his two brothers, who had gone to pick him up from a police station in Beirut's Baabda district, according to the rights group.

Family members worry that the brothers might have been sent back to Syria, where, rights groups say, authorities regularly arrest political and human-rights activists, block websites and detain bloggers.

I haven't checked lately, but I'm sure that college campuses worldwide have lots of programs calling on Syria to embrace freedom and liberal ideals, and to stop interfering with its neighbors.

(h/t David G)

My "Apartheid?" posters have officially gone viral (updated)

My "Apartheid?" poster page has now gotten over 5000 pageviews, with links to that page coming from all over the world and many emails from people who appreciated them, or have made suggestions for more.

It received over 250 Facebook "Likes."

Other websites have reproduced the posters on their pages, adding thousands more views.

The YouTube video I threw together with some of the posters has done OK, with over 2200 views itself.

I'm still waiting for more people to send photos of how the posters have been used on college campuses. I hear that some turned them into postcard-sized handouts.

UPDATE: A Google search of "Apartheid week posters" shows many of mine towards the top. Nice!

Israel saving the world, again

From Dore Gold in the Jerusalem Post:

The British-based World Energy Council reported in November 2010 that Israel had oil shale from which it is possible to extract the equivalent of 4 billion barrels of oil. Yet these numbers are currently undergoing a major revision internationally.

A new assessment was released late last year by Dr. Yuval Bartov, chief geologist for Israel Energy Initiatives, at the yearly symposium of the prestigious Colorado School of Mines. He presented data that our oil shale reserves are actually the equivalent of 250 billion barrels (that compares with 260 billion barrels in the proven reserves of Saudi Arabia).

Independent oil industry analysts have been carefully looking at the shale, and have not refuted these findings. As a consequence of these new estimates, we may emerge as the third largest deposit of oil shale, after the US and China.

OIL SHALE mining used to be a dirty business that used up tremendous amounts of water and energy.

Yet new technologies, being developed for Israeli shale, seek to separate the oil from the shale rock 300 meters underground; these techniques actually produce water, rather than use it up.

The technology will be tested in a pilot project followed by a demonstration stage. It will be critical to demonstrate that the underground separation of oil from shale is environmentally sound before going to full-scale production. The present goal is to produce commercial quantities of shale oil by the end of the decade.

This particular project has global significance.

For if Israel develops a unique method for separating oil from shale deep underground, that has none of the negative ecological side-effects of earlier oil shale efforts, that technology can be made available to the whole world, changing the entire global oil market. The effect of the spread of this technology would be to shift the center of gravity of world oil away from Iran, Saudi Arabia and the Persian Gulf to more stable states that have no history of backing terrorism or radical Islamic causes. (In the Arab world, Jordan and Morocco have the most significant oil shale deposits.)

WHEN WILL the West begin to treat Israel as a powerful energy giant and not as a weak client state that must be pressured? In the case of the Saudis, when the US realized the true extent of their oil reserves, after America’s reserves in Texas and Oklahoma were depleted by World War II, it sought to upgrade its military and diplomatic ties with the Saudi kingdom even before its production capacity was fully exploited. The US-Saudi connection grew as massive infrastructure investments for moving Saudi oil to Western markets were made, like the Trans-Arabian Pipeline (TAPLINE).

It is a little premature to celebrate, but if all the "ifs" get worked out, but this could be the most important news for the next fifty years.

(h/t The Muqata)

Peres: "Gaddafi wears strange hats and crappy dresses"

From YNet:

President Shimon Peres on Thursday made unusual comments on Libyan President Muammar Gaddafi during a meeting with students in the Bayit VeGan boarding house in Jerusalem.

Peres said that in his opinion Gaddafi should work for the Dior fashion house, whose chief designer John Galliano was recently fired over anti-Semetic slurs.

"Who needs this Gaddafi? I think he should have gone to work at Dior. He changes his outfit everyday, investing thousands of dollars in strange hats, crappy dresses, wasting his money… Who needs him? You tell me, what for?" Peres said.

I sort of like his dress. Reminds me of another:

(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)

Join the Facebook cause for a tenth Intifada!

I am no expert on Facebook, but I set up a new page to make fun of the "new Intifada" pages that are cropping up.

Here is the rationale for the Tenth Intifada page:

Palestinian Arabs have tried to use "resistance" (what the enlightened world calls "terrorism") since the late 19th century to make sure that Palestine is a Jew-free land.

We attacked Jews in 1886 in Petah Tikva. It was glorious!
We attacked Jews in Tiberias in 1901 and 1904. It was fantastic!
We attacked Jews in Jerusalem in 1920. It was phenomenal!
We attacked Jews in Hebron, Jerusalem and Safed in 1929. It was gorgeous!
We attacked Jews continuously from 1936 to 1939. Even though we ended up killing more Arabs than Jews, it was one of the finest chapters in Palestinian history. We attacked Jews in 1947 hours after we rejected a UN resolution that would have given us that state we want so badly. While attacking the Jews then was really great, we call the end of that little episode "the Naqba." We celebrate that every year.
We attacked Jews continuously throughout the 1950s, through our Fedayeen. It was glorious!
We attacked the entire world in the 1970s, but since the target wasn't specifically Jews, we won't call that an intifada. It was really majestic, though.
We attacked Jews in the late 1980s. It was marvelous!
We attacked Jews right after rejecting another plan that would have given us a state. It was epic!

But now, we have Facebook, so we must call for the biggest, best intifada of all: Intifada Number 10!

Because if there is anything we are good at, it is not learning the lessons from the past!

So go ahead and "Like" the page!

Saddam's disgusting gift to Donald Rumsfeld

From Donald Rumsfeld's website:

In December 1983, I traveled to Baghdad as President Reagan’s Middle East Envoy and met with Saddam Hussein. At the conclusion of our meeting he presented me with a gift. Such gifts can be unusual, but even so I was shocked by this one. Saddam had given me a three-minute videotape documenting alleged Syrian “atrocities.” The blurred, choppy footage shows young Syrians biting the heads off of snakes and stabbing puppies, to the apparent applause of then-Syrian dictator Hafez al-Assad. Saddam’s message was clear: The Syrian regime was barbaric. Though his evidence was hardly convincing, his conclusion was a tough one to dispute.

WARNING: This video depicts graphic violence. Some viewers may find it disturbing.

I actually linked to a better version of this video here, but it didn't have the same killing of the puppies seen in the Rumsfeld video (in my link I also show a Syrian taking a big bite of a puppy.)

(Corrected the name of the dictator...h/t Solomon)

PFLP joins Hamas in denouncing Holocaust education

From Palestine News Network:

The leftist Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) joined Islamist party Hamas in condemning a plan to teach the Holocaust in West Bank and Gaza Strip schools run by the UN Refugee and Works Association (UNRWA).

A PFLP statement sent to PNN said that to teach the Holocaust would be a “big mistake” and an “attempt to beautify the ugly face of racism.” He said the “Zionist entity” would use their victimization by the Nazis to justify their crimes against Arabs and Palestinians.

“The Zionist entity extorts the world by exploiting the victims of the Nazis, which has no relation to its odious, racist project,” said the statement. “It is AJDAR by UNRWA to impose the teaching of this continuous MHRQA against our people since the 1948 Nakba and the suffering of Palestinian refugees in the Diaspora.”

The PFLP also stressed the importance of forming a national council of professors, researchers, and specialists to oversee the Palestinian curriculum, focusing especially on national history and geography and human rights, national resistance against the occupation, and the Palestinian national identity, “instead of a culture of normalization, surrender, and distortion of facts.”

Hamas, which runs the Gaza Strip, announced on March 1 its intent to defeat the UNRWA proposal with a similar statement, saying the plan was “an attempt to impose on us the culture of normalization with the occupation.”

The statement from the Hamas Ministry of Culture, however, described the Holocaust as “tales and lies.” At least one representative from Fatah has described the Holocaust, in which 6 million Jews died, as “a big lie,” but no official statement from Fatah has come out about the UNRWA plan.

UNRWA ignored my request for a statement, as it appears to have done for Islam Online.

It is entirely possible that UNRWA never planned on a curriculum that included the Holocaust; it floated the idea in 2009 and faced strong opposition then as well.

Report: Molotov cocktails hurled near Rachel's Tomb

Firas Press reports that "Palestinian youths" threw Molotov cocktails at soldiers near Rachel's Tomb this afternoon.

This must be part of that non-violent resistance that we hear so much about.

The world accepts Palestinian Arab violence as natural

José Ramos-Horta, President of East Timor, visited Israel recently and wrote about his trip in the Huffington Post.

The article is a mixed bag of good, bad and naïveté, and there is a lot to comment on. But one throwaway sentence within the following two paragraphs grabbed my attention:

Visiting Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Ramallah, Bethlehem, including walking along a "refugee" area, with the infamous concrete security wall towering above me, and shaking hands with a number of youth, I was struck by the relative calm in the area. As someone all too familiar with situations of subjugation and despair, I could sense that this is a very fragile peace. Violence will flare-up if the much promised and much delayed Palestinian State does not become a reality within the next two years. Nevertheless, at this particular point in time, Israel and Palestine (West Bank) form an oasis of tranquility in a region in turmoil.

Visiting the West Bank I envied the relative prosperity of the Palestinians and the progress being made in their State-building exercise. Palestinians in the West Bank are far ahead of most Sub-Sahara African States, and indeed well ahead of my own country, in economic well-being and the development of the State institutions.

He visits, he sees that things are doing remarkably well, that terrorism has gone way down and the West Bank economy is way up.

But he says, with certainty, that "Violence will flare-up if the much promised and much delayed Palestinian State does not become a reality within the next two years."

Why? Why would people whose lives are visibly improving want to go back again to a disastrous terror spree, one that cost them thousands of lives and tens of thousands of jobs?

Let's see if this similar sentence makes sense:

Violence will flare-up if Gilad Shalit is not released within the next year.

Sounds weird, doesn't it?

But it sounds perfectly normal to state, as a fact, that Palestinian Arabs will choose violence if they don't get their maximal goals - even after they have already rejected compromises that would have led to their state they supposedly want.

The only explanation is that the world expects Palestinian Arabs to be naturally violent.

To the current politically correct mindset, the relative peace we have now is considered an aberration, something counter to the Arab personality. Isn't it wonderful that Palestinian Arabs have managed to avoid sending suicide bombers into Israel for a few years? Let's all applaud their superhuman effort to temporarily overcome their normal, warmongering personalities for a few years! Give them a cookie! We know it is an act, and that if we stop treating them as "special" children they will of course go back to their wild, murderous ways. But if we keep throwing money and promises to pressure Israel at them, they'll stay in line for a couple more years, just enough time to give them their reward.

And if they erupt in their natural violence again, well, that must be Israel's fault.

(h/t Colonel R for the idea)

Abbas: "My threats to quit are my strength"

We've mentioned how many times Abbas has threatened to quit, and how the West cowers when he makes these threats.

He has now said fairly explicitly that he uses those threats as the main weapon for his continued intransigence.

In a press conference at the end of his three-day visit to England (one wonders why no leftist tried to have him arrested as a terrorist,) Abbas said,

I often ask myself, "Who are you to say no to the Americans when you are living on their assistance, as well as from European aid,"... but there is a reason that I am in a position of strength. I am not stuck to the chair [of the presidency,] and I can leave at any moment that I want; I will not nominate myself in the upcoming elections, and I will not sell out, I will not give up and I will not do something I am not convinced is right.

It is way past time to call his bluff.

The Guardian: "We bring you only the news you want to hear"

A great pickup by Just Journalism:

In an incredibly candid blog entry on media self-censorship by veteran Guardian journalist and staunch Israel critic Michael White, he confesses:
‘middle class ill-ease in going after stories about immigration, legal or otherwise, about welfare fraud or the less attractive tribal habits of the working class, which is more easily ignored altogether.’
By contrast, in, ‘Media self-censorship: not just a problem for Turkey,’ Israel is put forward as one of the archetypal ‘targets’ of The Guardian:
‘Toffs, including royal ones, Christians, especially popes, governments of Israel, and US Republicans are more straightforward targets.’
White, who has been at the publication for 30 years, also alleges that positive stories about Tony Blair are rarities despite other ‘tyrants’ being granted positive coverage:
‘Nor has it been easy to smuggle anything creditable about Tony Blair into the paper for several years now, though tyrants with more convincing leftwing credentials sometimes get the benefit of the doubt.’
In his final comments he implies that The Guardian – in common with other publications – has an overwhelming tendency to simply tell its readers what they want to hear, rather than produce journalism which might challenge their ingrained prejudices and preconceptions:
‘And remember, dear reader, that we are also striving much of the time to tell you what you’d rather know rather than challenge your prejudices and make you cross.
‘As the old saying goes, we are all guilty.’

Of course, those old prejudices were instilled by the same pseudo-journalists at The Guardian to begin with, so even in this surprising mea culpa, White does not take the full responsibility that his newspaper has for anti-Israel sentiment in England.

Danish minister sacked for doing what EVERY Arab country does (updated)

From AFP:

Danish Prime Minister Lars Loekke Rasmussen said Tuesday he fired his integration minister over a scandal involving 36 young, stateless Palestinians who were wrongly denied citizenship.

"Birthe Roenn Hornbech is leaving her post as integration minister and church minister and thus withdraws from the government," he said in a statement, prompting a small government reshuffle.
The integration ministry, he said, failed to brief parliament in a timely manner on "36 stateless persons being wrongly denied Danish citizenship."

Danish media had recently accused the minister of knowing since 2008 that Danish immigration authorities were not respecting a UN convention which stipulates that stateless people born and raised in a country have the right to obtain citizenship there before they turn 21, as long as they are not convicted of any serious crimes.

But 36 Palestinians who were eligible to obtain Danish citizenship had their requests turned down.

Every single Arab country (with the partial exception of Jordan*) explicitly denies citizenship to all Palestinian Arabs born in their countries, in opposition to that same UN convention, which is the Convention on the Rights of the Child.

It states in Article 7:

1. The child shall be registered immediately after birth and shall have the right from birth to a name, the right to acquire a nationality and. as far as possible, the right to know and be cared for by his or her parents.

2. States Parties shall ensure the implementation of these rights in accordance with their national law and their obligations under the relevant international instruments in this field, in particular where the child would otherwise be stateless.

Every Arab state has signed, ratified or acceded to this Convention. Yet they all ignore it, purposefully keeping Palestinian Arab children stateless.

Where is the world outcry over this denial of the human rights of every Palestinian Arab child in an Arab country?

UPDATE: Apparently, the Convention that she was sacked over was the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness, not the Rights of the Child. (h/t Guan)

Article 1:

1. A Contracting State shall grant its nationality to a person born in its territory who would otherwise be stateless. Such nationality shall be granted:

(a) at birth, by operation of law, or

(b) upon an application being lodged with the appropriate authority, by or on behalf of the person concerned, in the manner prescribed by the national law. Subject to the provisions of paragraph 2 of this article, no such application may be rejected.

It is stronger than the Convention on the Rights of the Child in that it explicitly says that the child has a right to the host country's nationality, something not said explicitly in the Rights of the Child and possibly the loophole that Arab countries use, saying that Palestinian Arab children have the rights to "Palestinian" citizenship.

The Reduction of Statelessness convention is not ratified by any Arab country, but it is ratified by Denmark.

Jordan has been tightening up its rules on citizenship for Palestinian Arabs whose families originated in the West Bank, but it has never accepted the concept of naturalizing those from Gaza.

Galloway: Cast Lead comparable to World War II

Once again, beyond satire:

George Galloway has said Hamas are not tyrants and defended elections in Iran during a lecture about the fall of dictatorships.

Speaking to LSE students on Monday, the former Respect MP called Israel an “apartheid” state and compared scenes in Gaza after Operation Cast Lead to those in the Second World War.

He described Operation Cast Lead at the end of 2009 as a “savage assault on a captive people so ferocious that not since the Second World War are we seen anything like it.

He praised the Palestinian elections in 2006 which saw Hamas elected as the “only free and fair election” in the Arab world.

“Hamas won the only democratic election ever held in the Arab world so how they can be tyrants I really don’t know,” he said. “I am not in favour of Hamas but I am in favour of democracy.

“There are many things wrong with Iran. One thing they do have is elections. They elected a president that you or I might not have voted for but I am in no doubt that Ahmadinejad won the presidential election. He won it because he appeals to the poorest workers, peasants, the most religious sectors of the Iranian population.”

He denied giving money to Hamas despite video footage showing him handing bags of cash to leaders.

He was questioned about video footage during a Viva Palestina convoy to Gaza in 2009 where he is seen saying: “We carried a lot of cash here. We are giving you now 100 vehicles and all the contents. We are giving them to the elected government of Palestine. Here is the money. This is not charity. This is politics. The government of Palestine is the best people where this money is needed.”

But on Monday he said: “I did not give bags of cash to Hamas. I gave money, ambulances, wheelchairs, medicine, food, children’s clothes, teddy bears to the 1.6 million Palestinian people under siege in Gaza.”

A nice video for Israel Peace Week

Forwarded to me by the creator:

A Facebook call for a third intifada

Recently I mentioned that the Ma'an newspaper was taking tiny Facebook campaigns with fewer than a couple of hundred people and it was trying to make them sound much bigger and impressive. Ma'an is evidently trying to position Palestinian Arabs as being innovative in non-violent protests against Israel.

But there is another Facebook campaign that Ma'an has ignored...perhaps because it is not quite as non-violent as Ma'an prefers. Too bad, because this campaign already has over 44,000 members, and is adding them at a rate of a thousand an hour.

This campaign is to start a new intifada against Israel.

Sounds just like Martin Luther King, doesn't it?

Afternoon links

Eli Lake in TNR finds that the US does have a checkered diplomatic history of dealing with Islamists.

Gaddafi calls Qaradawi a "jurisprudent dervish." There's a celebrity death-match I'd love to see.

A Palestinian Arab child dies in Lebanon, because of Lebanese apartheid.

Palestinian TV on how the Jews love money. And grabbing land, of course.

Women might not yet have as many upper-management jobs as men in Israel, but Israel is way ahead of almost every other Western country in that regard.

Apartheid alert: The first female Bedouin in Israel to earn a doctorate.

An op-ed in Asharq Al Awsat looks at the dangers confronting the Arab world. Israel isn't mentioned once.

Israeligirl reminds us that the BDS movement that it is illegal for US companies to boycott friendly countries.

Is it possible for the UN Human Rights Council to be even more of a joke than it already is? Well, yes. Syria is running for a seat.

Now, this is politically incorrect - and funny. From a Carnival parade in Dusseldorf, Germany:

(h/t Nevet, Yerushalimey, Zvi, UN Watch, Serjew. Apologies for the missing hat tips.)

The map that lies - and one that doesn't

Anti-Israel (and now other*) organizations are fond of showing the following graphic on their websites:

This map is a lie.

The first panel has the biggest lie:

While I presume that the white sections are indeed the land that was privately owned by Jews, the land in green was not privately owned by Arabs.

Only a tiny percentage of land in Palestine was privately owned. The various categories of land ownership included:

Mulk: privately owned in the Western sense.

Miri: Land owned by the government (originally the Ottoman crown) and suitable for agricultural use. Individuals could purchase a deed to cultivate this land and pay a tithe to the government. Ownership could be transferred only with the approval of the state. Miri rights could be transferred to heirs, and the land could be sub-let to tenants. If the owner died without an heir or the land was not cultivated for three years, the land would revert to the state.

Mahlul: Uncultivated Miri lands that would revert to the state, in theory after three years.

Mawat (or Mewat): So-called “dead”, unreclaimed land. It constituted about 50 to 60% of the land in Palestine. It belonged to the government. ...If the land had been cultivated with permission, it would be registered, at least under the Mandate, free of charge.

By the early 1940s Jews owned about one third of Mulk land in Palestine and Arabs about two-thirds. The vast majority of the total land, however, belonged to the government, meaning that when the state of Israel was established, it became legally Israel's. (I believe that about 77% of the land was owned by the government, assuming 6 million dunams of private land as shown in this invaluable webpage on the topic from which I got much of this information.)

To say that the green areas were "Palestinian" land is simply a lie.

Now the next one:

While this is an accurate representation of the partition plan, it has nothing to do with land ownership. The entire purpose of this map is to make it appear that Israel has been grabbing Arab land consistently, to serve as a bridge between maps 1 and 3. What is not said, of course, is that Israel accepted the partition and the Arabs did not, so as a result Israel in 1949 looked like it does in map 3.

Map 3 is still a lie, however, because in no way was the green land "Palestinian" at that time. Gaza was administered by Egypt and the West Bank annexed by Jordan. No one at the time spoke about a Palestinian Arab state on the areas controlled by Arab states - only in Israel.

In other words, this progression of maps is a series of lies meant to push a bigger lie, and it is tragic that a lot of people believe them to be the truth.

Here is a small attempt on my side to show a more accurate picture of Israel's giving land it controlled up for peace since 1967:

This map shows that Israel gave up control of the Sinai, Gaza, Southern Lebanon and much of the West Bank over the years. Rather than falsely accusing Israel as a land-grabbing rogue state, it accurately shows Israel as perhaps the only state in history that has voluntarily given up more than two-thirds of the areas it controls in exchange for nothing more than a paper agreement - or sometimes not even that. All at the risk of serious security concerns for her people, no less.

This is all because Israel wants, desperately, to live in real peace with her neighbors. This desire is not reciprocated by those neighbors, unfortunately.

The real map shows the truth of Israel's incredible concessions in the often vain hope for peace.

*I saw this one at a Colin Firth fan-site, as he is planning to star in a movie about The Stern Gang.

Roger Cohen's Hypocrisy (NewsRealBlog)

My latest article in NewsRealBlog takes apart Roger Cohen's self-righteous piece in yesterday's New York Times.

See how wise Cohen is? Iran, Hezbollah and Hamas are the good, democratic choice for the Middle East! Hezbollah, which has had a crucial role in turning Lebanon from a cosmopolitan and tolerant society into an Iranian satellite state armed to the teeth against Israel, is the model for all Arab states. Islamist Hamas, which chose to shoot rockets into Israeli communities after Israel withdrew every single resident and soldier, should be propped up with Western gifts and recognition. Arabs need to learn about free and fair elections from Iran. Hateful rhetoric against Jews and Israel are mere words, but Roger Cohen enjoying coffee with Islamic fundamentalists prove they are really the good guys. As he wrote, “Perhaps I have a bias toward facts over words, but I say the reality of Iranian civility toward Jews tells us more about Iran – its sophistication and culture – than all the inflammatory rhetoric.”

Cohen’s thinking is simple: Western-backed authoritarian governments=bad. Iranian-backed Islamist authoritarian governments=good.

Read the whole thing.

A quote from the Arab mayor of Jerusalem, 1899 (updated)

I came across this partial quote by Yusuf Diya al-Khalidi, the mayor of Jerusalem, in 1899: "Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine? Good Lord, historically it is really your country."

By doing a little research, and playing some games with Google Books snippet view, I was able to find the full quote:

The idea itself is natural, fine and just. Who can challenge the rights of the Jews in Palestine? Good Lord, historically it is really your country. What a wonderful spectacle that will be when a people as resourceful as the Jews will once again be an independent nation, honored and complacent, able to make its contribution to needy humanity in the field of morals, as in the past.

He wrote this in a letter to Zadok Kahn, the chief rabbi of France.

When Benny Morris quotes it in One state, two states: resolving the Israel/Palestine conflict, he distinguishes this quote as an exception to the Palestinian Arab denial of Jewish claims that rose concurrently with the idea of Palestinian Arab nationalism. It is not an exception, however, since the quote pre-dates popular Palestinian Arab nationalism by at least a couple of decades.

But Morris does make a good point:

An apt indication of this denial was provided by the Jerusalem Christian Arab educator Khabil al-Sakakini, when he fulminated in 1936 that the British Mandate's new radio station referred to the country in Hebrew as "eretz yisrael" (the Land of Israel), "If Palestine [falastin] is eretz yisrael, then we, the Arabs, are but passing strangers, and there is nothing for or to do but to emigrate," al-Sakakini jotted down in his diary.

In other words, denial of history is an integral part of Palestinian Arab nationalism. The movement is, to a great extent, predicated on a very basic lie.

Arabs like Khalidi knew Jewish history in the Land of Israel very well, but it became virtually forbidden to acknowledge this history a mere three decades later, because that very fact helps to undermine the entire Palestinian Arab national enterprise.

Yet the British did not have that sensitivity, as the initials for Eretz Yisrael could be seen in Mandate-era coins and stamps in Hebrew even before Sakakini noticed it:

UPDATE: Elder of Lobby tracked a more complete version of the Khalidi quote, from Morris' "Righteous Victims," showing that the mayor was hardly happy about the prospect of Zionism:

"It is necessary, therefore, for the peace of the Jews in [the Ottoman Empire] that the Zionist Movement ... stop.... Good Lord, the world is vast enough, there are still uninhabited countries where one could settle millions of poor Jews who may perhaps become happy there and one day constitute a nation.... In the name of God, let Palestine be left in peace."

Abbas hints, yet again, at resigning

From Ma'an:

President Mahmoud Abbas hinted Tuesday that he would resign if an independent Palestinian state was not established by September.

Abbas' remarks came at a joint press conference with British Foreign Minister William Hague in London.

Ma'an doesn't mention that this is at least the 16th time that Abbas has threatened to resign.

Must be a nice job where you can threaten to resign without any intent to actually do it...and no one calls you on it.

Two important articles from Commentary

From Evelyn Gordon:

In an interview in today’s Wall Street Journal, Ehud Barak announced that Israel might ask Washington for another $20 billion in aid due to the unrest now sweeping the region. As an Israeli, I’m cringing in shame.
The U.S. currently faces a massive deficit that threatens the country’s very future, and Congress is slashing ruthlessly in an effort to curb it. Almost nothing has been spared the ax — with one glaring exception: a sweeping majority of Congress still opposes any cut to the annual $3 billion in American aid to Israel, because at a time when Israel is facing an unprecedented international delegitimization campaign, Congress doesn’t want to do anything that might imply faltering support for America’s longtime ally.
It’s an extraordinarily generous gesture, and as I’ve written elsewhere, the only proper response would be for Netanyahu to do what he did during his first term as prime minister 15 years ago: announce a phased, multi-year cutback in aid at a joint session of Congress. Precisely because it is such a tangible expression of American support, American aid sends an important message to Israel’s enemies; thus, eliminating it altogether might be unwise. But Israel’s economy is certainly strong enough to cope with a cutback, and if it were an Israeli initiative, it wouldn’t imply faltering American support. On the contrary, it would strengthen the relationship by showing that it’s not a one-way street, that Israel is also sensitive to America’s needs.
Instead, as if he were blind, deaf, and dumb to everything that’s happened in America over the past few years, Barak declared that he wants to seek an increase in aid. As if America were nothing but a cash cow, with no urgent monetary needs of its own. This is a public-relations disaster, one guaranteed to alienate even Israel’s strongest supporters in Congress unless Netanyahu makes it immediately and unequivocally clear that his defense minister’s proposal is unacceptable.
But it’s also a strategic disaster.

And from Rich Richman:

[I]n July 1977, when Zbigniew Brzezinski presented Begin with a draft statement regarding the just-concluded U.S.-Israel meeting[,] Begin told Brzezinski that the draft was acceptable — “except for two sentences.” Brzezinski asked what they were:

“Please delete ‘The United States affirms Israel’s inherent right to exist.’”

“Why so?”

“Because the United States’ affirmation of Israel’s right to exist is not a favor, nor is it a negotiable concession. I shall not negotiate my existence with anybody, and I need nobody’s affirmation of it.”

Brzezinski’s expression was one of surprise. “But to the best of my knowledge every Israeli prime minister has asked for such a pledge.”

“I sincerely appreciate the president’s sentiment,” said Begin, “but our Hebrew Bible made that pledge and established our right over our land millennia ago. Never, throughout the centuries, did we ever abandon or forfeit that right. Therefore, it would be incompatible with my responsibilities as prime minister of Israel were I not to ask you to erase this sentence.” And then, without pause, “Please delete, too, the language regarding the commitment to Israel’s survival.”

“And in what sense do you find that objectionable?”

“In the sense that we, the Jewish people alone, are responsible for our country’s survival, no one else.”

Read them both, now.

Egypt's hate for Israel is hurting - Jordan

Egypt has not resumed pumping gas to Israel since last month's sabotage of the gas line that goes to Israel and Jordan.

Yesterday, a Jordanian official said that Egypt would be raising its price of gas to Jordan to be more in line with the going rate. Egypt was selling the gas at reduced rates to both Israel and Jordan under existing agreements.

An Egyptian source is quoted as saying that the Egyptians cannot resume pumping gas to Jordan and not to Israel without causing an international incident. Therefore they are preferring not to pump gas to Jordan altogether - just to hurt Israel!

Jordan is now losing $2.4 million a day by the loss of Egyptian natural gas.

Work accident! Plus - Beauty salon bombing!

From Ma'an:

Hamas' armed wing the Al-Qassam Brigades announced the death of a fighter on Tuesday, saying in a statement that the 20 year old was killed in a "jihadist mission in the Rafah district."

The young man was identified as Abed Al-Hamid Naser Abu Ghali from the Rafah refugee camp. A statement from the brigades said Abu Ghali joined the group in 2007, at 16, and would be buried following a funeral procession on Wednesday.

Israeli news site Ynet reported Wednesday that a tunnel between Egypt and Gaza collapsed overnight, killing one man.

The man killed in the tunnel collapse was not the same.

Notice that he joined the Al Qassam Brigades at 16 - something that is not unusual, as we documented 22 of the "civlian children" killed in Gaza during Cast Lead were in fact fighters.

Also at the same Arabic link, someone bombed a beauty salon in Gaza City. Because women looking good is a major threat to the morals of society.

As many as 6 Copts killed in Egypt

From Bikya Masr:

Conflicting reports are coming out of Egypt on Tuesday evening concerning violence and death in a Cairo neighborhood between Coptic Christians and religious conservatives who allegedly attacked a peaceful demonstration.

According to eye witnesses in the Manshiyet Nasr area – a poor shantytown on the outskirts of the city – at least 6 people have been killed, and over 200 injured from live ammunition and blasts that caused bricks to fall on people.

One eye witness, Talaat Ibrahim, told Bikya Masr that the army was responsible for the shooting and killing of Coptic demonstrators.

However, Masrawy news website, reported that the military intervened to end the clashes, which are still ongoing, between what they called “Salafist young people” and the Copts.

The exact details remain murky, but the violence and deaths have been confirmed.

The army has been reported to say that the situation is “under control.”

“At least 12 vehicles and four homes have been burned, all Coptic homes, by the angry Muslims,” said Ibrahim.

Egypt’s Copts took to a main thoroughfare that connects downtown with suburbs late in the afternoon, blocking the road. The army then arrived and told them that they could not block the Autostrad.

The Coptic demonstrators agreed to the order and unblocked the road to allow millions of Egyptians passage. The protest, however, continued.

“In less than 45 minutes a group of young people from areas such as Abagiya, the Cairo Citadel, Sayyeda Aisha and Basateen, began arriving,” Ibrahim continued.

These groups of young people, he said, began with around 500 people, but within an hour had grown to nearly 3,000. They began to attack the Copts with glass and bricks, forcing the military to intervene.

While the army was closing in on the protesters, it began attacking the protesters with live ammunition, Ibrahim said he witnessed.

As CAMERA asks, how long will it take before these escalating attacks start getting real coverage?

Update on my "Apartheid" posters

I've been getting good feedback for my "Apartheid?" posters (and the video I made from them.)

I had an interesting phone call yesterday with a director of the Northwest branch of Stand With Us, which is probably the best organization anywhere for teaching people about Israel's point of view. He really loved the posters, which was very nice to hear.

But he had never heard of this blog.

I like to think that I am well-known, but in fact, outside the Jblogosphere and a tiny slice of the Internet, this blog is still small potatoes. Certainly the 4000-5000 hits I've been receiving daily is nothing to sneeze at, but that is still really minuscule compared to the audience I need to reach. And the thought that even a well-known hasbara organization had never heard of me (the exact words were "Okay, first, who the heck are you? The posters are great!") is sobering, and a reason to think about how I can more effectively get the message out. The blog goes only so far.

Anyway, I just spent an hour doing something slightly unethical. I went to the Hillel site and figured out a way to harvest the email addresses of every officer at every Hillel on North America. I then spammed them all with a link to the posters, so they could use them during these Israel Hate Weeks. We'll see what the feedback is from that, and if some pro-Israel activists will then use my blog as a resource for their own programs and initiatives. After all, while it is not as well organized as I like (it is a blog, after all) I do have a lot of material at this site - enough to fill an encyclopedia.

Early indications are that the recipients of the email are clicking; I just got about 100 hits on that page in the past half hour, and so far it has received over 3300 hits and climbing fast.

Oh, I also got some rare hate mail today. I don't usually get them probably because I tend to write in a low-key, non-confrontational manner, but someone did take the time out to call me an "imbecile." He then gave the links to two sites that couldn't be more different, but were both anti-Israel (a Neturei Karta site and a hip-hop radio station.) I was amused.

Might as well make this an open thread....

Maldives opposition says government is "implementing Jewish policy"

From Minivan News (Maldives):

The opposition’s coalition partner, the People’s Alliance (PA), has publicly accused the Maldivian government of trying to implement the agenda of “Zionist Jews”.

In a statement published in Dhivehi on the party’s website, the PA, led by the half brother of the former President Maumoon Abdul Gayoom, Abdulla Yameen, claimed that “the UK, France and the US are selecting individuals from Islamic countries, whom they want to be the ruler, and are training them to implement Jewish policy.”

Unfortunately, I do not have a translator for Dhivehi to see if the actual document (presumably this) is worse than what is being reported.

NPR gets stung by fake Muslim Brotherhood "donors"

From NPR:

NPR's then-senior vice president for fundraising Ron Schiller is seen and heard on a videotape released this morning telling two men who were posing as members of a fictitious Muslim Action Education Center that:
— "The Tea Party is fanatically involved in people's personal lives and very fundamental Christian — I wouldn't even call it Christian. It's this weird evangelical kind of move."
— "Tea Party people" aren't "just Islamaphobic, but really xenophobic, I mean basically they are, they believe in sort of white, middle-America gun-toting. I mean, it's scary. They're seriously racist, racist people."
— "I think what we all believe is if we don't have Muslim voices in our schools, on the air ... it's the same thing we faced as a nation when we didn't have female voices." In the heavily edited tape, that comment followed Schiller being told by one of the men that their organization "was originally founded by a few members of the Muslim Brotherhood in America." There's no sign in the edited tape that Schiller reacted in any way after being told of the group's alleged connection to an Islamic group that appeared to be connected with Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood.
— That NPR "would be better off in the long run without federal funding," a position in direct conflict with the organization's official position.
Schiller is also heard laughing when one of the men jokes that NPR should be known as "National Palestinian Radio."
NPR, as you'll see below, has called Schiller's comments appalling.
The video comes from Project Veritas, and is another in political activist James O'Keefe's undercover exposes (he most prominently took on ACORN — the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now). In the video, Schiller and NPR institutional giving director Betsy Liley are at lunch in Washington with two Project Veritas "investigative reporters" identified as Shaughn Adeleye and Simon Templar, who posed as "Ibrahim Kasaam and Amir Malik." They were allegedly interested in having their organization donate $5 million to NPR. O'Keefe's organization says the recording was made on Feb. 22.

The video is fascinating, as the NPR executives joke about how racist Republicans are, how newspapers are owned by Jews, and lots of other similar stereotypes.

Commentary has more.

Ben-Dror Yemini's open letter to Roger Waters

Washed up rocker Roger Waters from Pink Floyd has been obsessed with Israel's separation fence, perhaps thinking that his album "The Wall" was somehow prophetic.

Anyway, Waters has come out in favor of BDS, using the usual pretentious and absurd arguments we are all too familiar with.

Ma'ariv's Ben Dror Yemini has a nice rejoinder:

Support for the boycott campaign against Israel in effect is support for the prolonging of the occupation and suffering of the Palestinians. An open letter to the rock star who is calling for a boycott of Israel.

To Roger Waters, Greetings.

Look Mr. Waters, the Jewish People is already used to blood libels. From using the blood of children for baking Passover matzah, to directing world Communism, to directing world capitalism, to controlling the media, and in the last generation, committing genocide, ethnic cleansing, and crimes against humanity. A generation passes on and a generation arrives, and the number of blood libels forever exist.

Israel, Mr. Waters, is not exempt from any criticism. We're the world champions of self-criticism. There isn't another nation in which, in every field - not just the Israel-Palestinian conflict - there is so much biting, roiling criticism - often false and vicious. But even to this we've grown accustomed. Usually we're proud of our democracy, even when it's biting. But sometimes, Mr. Waters, we're fed up. We've simply had it. Not from the criticism; it's essential for every community, every society, every nation, like air to breathe.

We're fed up with the lies. For most of us - if you can read a little beyond the slogans - were fed up with the occupation. So if that's your thing you would find lots of partners in Israel - most Israelis. But that's not the story - not for BDS, of which you've become a great supporter, and not for the Hamas in Gaza, which only a year ago you announced your support for those who went there to cheer them - another campaign of useful idiots.

Let's start with the occupation. Only in the last decade Israel announced its willingness to end it, again, again and again. Completely. This began with the Camp David talks. The Palestinians backed away from a serious discussion. Then Clinton offered his proposal, which would have granted the Palestinians a state on 95% of the territory. They decided to say"no". Right after that, at the Taba talks all the giants of the the Israeli Left showed up. They went another big step towards the Palestinians, but even that didn't help. Two years ago another generous offer was made by Prime Minister Olmert. He didn't even get a reply from Abu Mazen.

Back to the BDS. Listen to the leaders of the campaign. Read their manifesto. They don't want two states for two peoples. Not the end of the occupation, but the end of Israel. You can hear it in their own voices. Yes, there are Israels among us who support this campaign. That's how we are. Runaway democracy. Everything goes. So instead of marvelling at our unparalleled democracy, you take advantage of the fact that Israeli democracy allows demonstrations like this, and you go and join the gang that is fighting against the very existence of the national home of the Jewish People. That's the position of Ahmadinejad, Al Qaida and Hamas. Is that your position? Have you gone crazy?

Are you in the peace camp, Mr. Waters? Here's a simple test for you. Very simple. Ask your friends in the BDS one question: "Do you support an agreement of two states for two peoples?"

We've got news for you: They oppose it. They don't want a Palestinian state alongside Israel, they want a Palestinian state in place of Israel. That's what's written in the manifesto of BDS. Read it, it's in English. They write in it, "Right of Return", which, loosely translated means "Destruction of Israel". To remove any doubt, they have the right of return--to a Palestinian state alongside Israel, not in place of Israel.

You and your ilk, Mr. Waters, are simply prolonging the suffering of the Palestinians. You are encouraging the peace refuseniks among them. You are encouraging their illusions.You are creating a new chapter of the Palestinian disaster. Who knows, if it were not for this support - by so many useful idiots - the Palestinians would have emerged from their position of refusal. But when they see you, and you join up with them, they continue to refuse peace.

So this is an opportunity for you, Mr. Waters, to prove that you're a humanitarian and human rights activist. It's not complicated. Tell the Israelis and Palestinians and BDS people one thing: the end of the conflict will come only if the two sides recognize the two-state solution. The side that refuses is the side that must be pressured, even boycotted. Only when you say this simple thing to both sides will you truly be in the peace camp. If you continue to support BDS, you are supporting refusal and the continuation of occupation and suffering.

A reply from you Mr. Waters, will be greatly appreciated.

(h/t אורי פלג)

"Eighth International Conference on Al Quds" - FAIL

The Eighth International Conference on Al Quds took place on Sunday and Monday in Khartoum. I had posted about Khaled Meshal's opening speech, calling for Jihad against Israel.

The Director of Information at Al-Quds International Foundation, Hashim Yagoub, said in a press conference held at SUNA regular news forum that representatives of 28 countries would take part in the conference along with representatives of the civil society organizations.

As lofty as this sounded, in reality it appears that the conference was a bust.

The keynote speaker was supposed to be Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the popular Qatar-based sheikh - but he bowed out at the last minute. Hurriyet Sudan noted this, saying his snubbing of the conference "raises questions."

As far as I can tell, only three speakers have been publicized: Meshal, Sudanese president Bashir (who said "What is going in the region is a prelude to the battle for Jerusalem"" and Gaza Hamas leader Mahmoud Zahar who gave the closing speech.

This is not a very big room for an international conference.

And it appears that a lot of the participants were reporters, based on the ridiculous number of microphones on the dais:

Where are all the representatives from the Arab world?

Perhaps they have other things on their minds lately besides Palestine.

How Gazans celebrate International Women's Day

Today is the hundredth anniversary of International Women's Day.

Naturally, Palestinian Arabs are celebrating along with the rest of the world. For example, the Guardian published an article about how a Gaza women's advocate marks the day:

Women in Gaza love life as much as other women across the world. Although we lack basic rights, partly due to the blockade and unfair policies, we are strong. We hope the world will pay extra attention so that Gaza's women can help rebuild Palestinian society.

The celebrations have a bit of a different flavor in the Arabic media, however.

Palestine Today marks the occasion by profiling a woman, Mrs. Dadhouh (not sure of her first name), whose main claim to fame is the fact that three of her children were Islamic Jihad terrorists that were killed by Israel.

Mohammad Al Dahdouh was a senior Islamic Jihad member killed in May, 2006. His brother Khalid Al Dahdouh, also known as Abu Walid, was killed three months earlier, and a third brother Ayman was killed in 2005.

Mrs. Dadhouh is, of course, proud of her sons:

I do not regret that three of my children are martyrs; we all must have the Certificate [of martyrdom], and be ready to continue on this path for Palestine and for the redemption of Jerusalem and the Aqsa Mosque....Palestinian women are willing to sacrifice and give all that they possess for Jerusalem and to walk on the path of the martyrs.

I wonder why the Guardian didn't interview Mrs. Dadhouh?

UNRWA youth facility names sports event after suicide bomber

The Al-Amari youth center, an UNRWA youth facility in the West Bank, has announced a football tournament for youth to be held later this week, named after the first Palestinian female suicide bomber Wafa Idris, Palestinian Media Watch reports. The Al-Amari youth center was established in 1953. Since its creation the center has been a subsidiary to the UNRWA youth club centers system.

Wafa Idris was the first Palestinian female suicide bomber. She blew herself up in Jerusalem, killing one and injuring more than 150 on Jan. 27, 2002. She was a volunteer for the Palestinian Red Crescent and as such, she was able to bypass Israeli security and enter Jerusalem in a Palestinian ambulance. Since her bombing, Israel has been forced to delay Palestinian ambulances entering Jerusalem at security check points.

The official PA daily, Al-Hayat Al-Jadida of March 6, 2011 the following announcement of the Wafa Idris Tournament was made:

Headline: "Al-Amari plans to launch the 'Shahida (Martyr) of Honor, Wafa Idris' youth tournament."
"The administration of the Al-Amari youth center has announced its plans to launch a youth tournament (for 19-year-olds) to be named 'Shahida (Martyr) of Honor, Wafa Idris [tournament].'

The Al-Am'ari administration is maintaining contacts with the Palestinian Football Association for permission. [The tournament] will commence on March 10. Twelve teams will be participating."

Moreover, Palestinian Media Watch lists some more samples of how the Palestinian authority repeatedly presents Idris as a hero and role model in the past.

And the UNRWA continues to see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil....