Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Thursday, August 04, 2011

The imaginary state (Foreign Policy)

A very good article in Foreign Policy that demolishes the idea of recognizing a Palestinian Arab state in the desired borders:

In a few weeks, an overwhelming majority in the United Nations General Assembly will likely vote for collective recognition of a Palestinian state. But which Palestinian state? Of the three Palestinian states the assembly could recognize, two are real and arguably could meet the requirements for statehood. But it is the third, purely imaginary one that the assembly will endorse, one that neither has a functioning government nor meets the requirements of international law.

According to the prevailing legal standard, the 1933 Montevideo Convention on the Rights and Duties of States, a "state as a person of international law should possess the following qualifications: a) a permanent population; b) a defined territory; c) government; and d) capacity to enter into relations with the other states." Both the Hamas-controlled Palestinian entity in Gaza and the rival Fatah-governed Palestinian entity in the West Bank can be said to meet all four of these criteria of the law of statehood. The one on which the United Nations will vote does not.

In Gaza, Hamas controls a permanent population in a defined territory (i.e., Gaza within the armistice lines of 1949). Gaza has a functioning, if odious, government. And Hamas-controlled Gaza already conducts international relations with a large number of states. From a narrowly legal point of view, the Hamas Gaza entity could become a state, another miserable addition to a very imperfect world.

...The Fatah Palestinian entity in the West Bank also could meet the legal requirements for statehood, and it would have more international support. It has a functioning government in the Palestinian Authority (PA), a permanent population, and international relations with a very large number of states. It also controls a defined territory, which comprises what are called areas A and B as defined under the Oslo II agreement of September 1995, plus additional territory subsequently transferred by Israel in agreed further redeployments. (Area A is the zone of full civil and security control by the Palestinian Authority, and Area B is a zone of Palestinian civil control and joint Israeli-Palestinian security control.) The Fatah West Bank entity within these lines also could be recognized as a state under international law.

But Fatah, the PA, and the broader PLO do not seek statehood for this West Bank entity that arguably could meet the legal requirements. Their minimum demand is a state that includes Gaza along with the West Bank, the eastern part of Jerusalem, and all the other parts of mandatory Palestine that were under Jordanian and Egyptian control before 1967. Fatah, the PA, and the PLO are demanding title to lands and authority over populations they do not control, being as they are under the rule of Hamas and Israel.

Unlike the two Palestinian entities that already exist, either of which could be recognized as a Palestinian state because they seem to fulfill the legal requirements, the Palestinian entity that a General Assembly majority will recognize as a state this September does not actually exist on Earth. It is imaginary and aspirational, not real. And it does not meet the legal requirements.

...So there you have it. The General Assembly will make a remarkable decision about all this in the next few weeks. Instead of recognizing either of the two state-like entities that already exist, each having many of the attributes of statehood required by international law, the General Assembly will create an imaginary state that has two incompatible presidents, two rival prime ministers, a constitution whose most central provisions are violated by both sides, no functioning legislature, no ability to hold elections, a population mostly not under its control, borders that would annex territory under the control of other powers, and no clear path to resolve any of these conflicts. It is a resolution that plants the seeds for civil and international wars, not one that advances peace.

Read the whole thing; it does a great job documenting how dysfunctional the proposed state government would be. And this is without even going into the financial issues.

(h/t Folderol)

Administrivia: Advertorials

Advertorials are advertisements that look like normal editorial content. Newspapers and TV stations have been running advertorials for many years, and it is an accepted part of the media as long as it is made clear that the content is in fact an advertisement.

I'm going to test out advertorials at EoZ.

I do not want to just publish press releases. That would not be fair to my readers. So here are the rules for EoZ advertorials:

I must approve of the item being advertised. If I don't believe in the product or service, I won't pretend I do.
The product or service must be relevant to EoZ readers.
I write the article, in my style, as honestly as I can.
Obviously it will not be critical towards the item being advertised, but I will not write anything I do not believe. I will treat it as a blog post; use my own angle on the product or service, and do my own research if needed.
The article will be approved by the advertiser.
The article will be clearly labeled in the title and within the post as being an advertisement.

I think that this is fair; it allows me to make a little money but it should not detract from the blog experience. If you don't want to read an ad, you can skip it, but if you do read it the post will hopefully be as educational and entertaining as any other blog post.

The first one will probably be posted in the next couple of days.

If you have a relevant product or service you would like to have me write about, just contact me.

UNIFIL confirms that IDF did not cross Lebanese border

The Daily Star (Lebanon) buries the lede:

U.N. Special Coordinator for Lebanon Michael Williams warned Tuesday that a war could erupt between Lebanon and Israel as a result of this week’s minor exchange of gunfire on the tense border.

In the meantime, Prime Minister Najib Mikati said Lebanon was determined to defend its rights and protect its sovereignty by all legitimate means against Israeli threats.

In response to the Wazzani incident, Foreign Minister Adnan Mansour said: “Lebanon will file a complaint against Israel through its mission at the United Nations tomorrow for its violation of [U.N.] Resolution 1701 and the infiltration of its soldiers into Lebanese territory in the Wazzani area yesterday.”

Twelve paragraphs later:

Meanwhile, a UNIFIL official denied reports that Israeli forces violated Lebanese sovereignty near the Lebanese border village of Mais al-Jabal Tuesday.

“Israeli troops were carrying out routine maintenance work on the Israeli technical fence near the village of Mais al Jabal. There was no violation of the Blue Line. A UNIFIL patrol was sent to the area. The situation is quiet,” UNIFIL spokesperson Neeraj Singh told The Daily Star.

Of course, this information is still not available on the UNIFIL website.

Al-Qaeda group claims responsibility for two rockets

From YNet:

Two Grad rockets were fired from Gaza late Wednesday evening after a period of relative calm in the south.

The first rocket exploded at around 10:30 pm in an open area between Sderot and Kiryat Gat, near a town in the Lakhish Region. The second exploded some two hours later at the entrance to the southern city of Ashkelon. No injuries or damage were reported in either case.

Palestine Press Agency says that the Abdullah Azzam Brigades took responsibility for these attacks.

The same group took responsibility for a Grad attack in April. They are affiliated with Al Qaeda.

It is pretty much impossible to smuggle Grad rockets into Gaza without Hamas' knowledge and permission, so the "good cop, bad cop" routine that Hamas has been playing with the Islamist groups is mostly theatre. No doubt they have their differences but Hamas is well aware of their possession of, and use of, Grad rockets.

Israel releasing 200 security prisoners today

From JPost:

Israel on Thursday released some 200 security prisoners due to overcrowding in prisons, Israel Radio reported.

Among those freed was Hassan Yusuf, a senior member of Hamas in the Gaza Strip. Yusuf, who had served six years in prison for his activities as part of the terrorist organization, was scheduled to be released in a month and-a-half.

The overcrowding reason seems unlikely. After all, the number of security prisoners today is roughly half what it was in 2007. Ha'aretz says it was a gesture for Ramadan (and gives more background behind Hassan Yusuf.)

It does look like most of the released prisoners did serve all of, or close to, their full terms, so this does not seem to be related to any Shalit negotiations, unfortunately.

Assuming that Israel released prisoners in May, June and July at the rates they did earlier this year, this means that there are now less than 5000 security prisoners in Israeli prisons.

The politics of honor/shame: PalArabs unlikely to drop UN bid

From AFP:

THE PALESTINIANS are unlikely to agree to drop their UN membership bid in exchange for new peace talks based on the pre-1967 lines, Palestinian officials and analysts say.

On Tuesday, an Israeli official confirmed that Israel has been working with Washington to hammer out a framework for new peace talks that both countries hope could convince the Palestinians to drop their bid for United Nations membership.

But Palestinian officials and analysts said the Palestinian leadership had already invested heavily in the bid, and would face public disgrace if it agreed to drop the much-touted plan. They described the new framework for talks as little more than a public relations exercise for Israel, allowing it to show willingness to resume talks while attempting to torpedo the UN membership campaign.

This is only a minor example, but the shame culture dynamic among Arabs gives them an advantage in any negotiations with a "guilt culture" adversary.

They can always fall back on the importance of honor and fears of disgrace to avoid doing things that are necessary.

In this case, as is often the case, the threat is exaggerated. Yes, Abbas would lose face if he backs down, but it would not be fatal to his hold on power.

What people are not discussing is the downside of going through with the UN stunt. Already, the PLO is planning mass demonstrations on the eve of the vote (under the guise of being "popular demonstrations," of course:)

Palestinian officials said Monday they plan to begin mass marches against Israel's occupation of the West Bank on Sept. 20, the eve of a largely symbolic U.N. vote expected to recognize their independence.

Palestinian official Yasser Abed Rabbo said leaders hope to attract millions, and the protest will be the first of a prolonged effort. He said the campaign would be called "Palestine 194," since the Palestinians hope to become the 194th member of the United Nations.

"The appeal to the U.N. is a battle for all Palestinians, and in order to succeed, it needs millions to pour into streets," he said.

It seems likely that these PLO-organized demonstrations will become PLO-organized "resistance" in short order. And while the PA is not likely to start an armed third intifada, it will have little incentive to stop Hamas and other terror groups in the territories from rebuilding their terror infrastructure and attempting to escalate attacks against Israelis. And even the PA considers rock throwing and Molotov cocktails to be "non-violent resistance."

This UN stunt, in other words, will cost many lives. Most of them will be Arab.

The stunt will also set back the chances for real peace by another decade. The relative security and prosperity that Arabs enjoy in their autonomous areas will disappear. It may be as disastrous for Palestinian Arabs as the second intifada was.

Yet no one is talking about the downside - and one reason is because no one wants to offend the "honor" of Abbas.

(h/t Mike T)

The cluelessness of Nick Kristof

From Nicholas Kristof in the New York Times:

Next month, Palestinians are expected to seek statehood at the United Nations. It’s a stunt that won’t accomplish much for anybody, but it’s more constructive than throwing rocks at Israeli cars — or, on the Israeli side, better than expanding illegal settlements.

Yet the American House of Representatives voted 407 to 6 to call on the Obama administration to use its diplomatic capital to try to block the initiative, while also threatening to cut the Palestinians’ funding if they proceeded to seek statehood.

Similarly, when Israel stormed into Gaza in 2008 to halt rocket attacks, more than 1,300 Gazans were killed, along with 13 Israelis, according to B’Tselem, a respected Israeli human rights group. As Gazan blood flowed, the House, by a vote of 390 to 5, hailed the invasion as “Israel’s right to defend itself.”

Such Congressional tomfoolery bewilders our friends and fritters away our international capital. It also encourages the intransigence of the Israeli government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and reduces the chance of a peace settlement.

Kristof apparently believes that an explicit abrogation of the Oslo Accords is praiseworthy.

He also apparently believes that Netanyahu was Prime Minister during the Gaza war.

He also believes that it has been Israeli intransigence, not the Palestinian Arab adding preconditions to negotiations in 2008, that has been the obstacle to moving forward towards an agreement.

And he believes, like many, that Israel has been "expanding" settlements - one of the biggest lies out there. Israel has not been building Jewish communities on land outside existing boundaries for many years, and the lie that Jewish communities are today continuously encroaching upon and taking over Arab-owned land is one of the more brilliant propaganda victories of the anti-Israel side.

(A good argument could be made that Israel should indeed do that - because that would lend some urgency to the PLO to restart negotiations. As it is, adding more apartments to existing communities does not affect Palestinian Arabs in the slightest way - except for providing many of them with construction jobs. )

In other words, Kristof has swallowed the Palestinian Arab lies completely and without the slightest bit of even-handed skepticism that one would hope a journalist would exhibit.

In the last few years, a former government official named Jeremy Ben-Ami has been trying to change the political dynamic in Washington with a new organization — J Street — that presses Congress and the White House to show more balance. Ben-Ami has just published a book, “A New Voice for Israel,” that is a clarion call for American reasonableness in the Middle East.

“If things don’t change pretty soon, chances are that the two-state solution to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict will slip through our fingers,” Ben-Ami writes. “As that happens, the dream of the Jewish people to be a free people in their own land also slowly disappears.”

Only the Israeli side has made real concessions since Oslo. J-Street, and Kristof, are adamantly against pressuring the Palestinian Arab side to meet Israel halfway. And yet they claim, incongruously, that it is only Israel that needs to be pressured to give up even more!

American Jews have long trended liberal, and President Obama won 78 percent of the Jewish vote in 2008. Yet major Jewish organizations, like the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, or Aipac, embrace hawkish positions.

Since when is supporting a Palestinian Arab state "hawkish"? AIPAC's - and Netanyahu's - plans for a Palestinian Arab state effectively addresses all of Ben-Ami's stated fears. The problem isn't that Israel and AIPAC don't accept a two-state solution - it is that Abbas and the PLO don't accept the idea of compromising for peace. And Kristof gives them a free pass on their intransigence while calling Netanyahu a "hawk."

Kristof also shows his intellectual dishonesty on other ways:

There’s also some evidence that young American Jews are growing disenchanted as Israeli society turns rightward.

And the "evidence" he links to is the famous Peter Beinart article making that claim, with little proof - and there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.

And look how Kristof characterizes "Jewish Voice for Peace":

[JVP] supports divestment campaigns against companies profiting from the occupation of Palestinian territories.

JVP also supports the "right of return" which is a code-word for destroying Israel. Why doesn't Kristof mention that? Why does he make it sound like it is merely an organization that is against "occupation"? Is he ignorant - or is he trying to hide the facts?

Kristof also throws in this nugget:

(Whenever I write about Israel, I get accused of double standards because I don’t spill as much ink denouncing worse abuses by, say, Syria. I plead guilty. I demand more of Israel partly because my tax dollars supply arms and aid to Israel. I hold democratic allies like Israel to a higher standard — just as I do the U.S.)

The US also gives Kristof's tax dollars to the Palestinian Authority, where it is being used to pay salaries to terrorists and to the families of suicide bombers, where more than half of its budget goes to indirectly prop up Hamas' hold on Gaza. US aid is a much higher proportion of the PA budget than of Israel's. Kirstof's tax dollars helped pay for the second Intifada.

The principled Kristof, if he is to be consistent, should be demanding that US aid to the PA be conditional upon their continuing with existing agreements and not doing things that abrogate those agreements.

Which is exactly what Congress is doing - and what Kristof is calling "tomfoolery!"

Consistency is not what Kristof wants, though. He wants Israel to be pressured to do things that will inevitably bring more conflict to the region, not less, because he is so convinced that he knows better than most Israelis what is good for them.

Beautiful new gold coin depicts the Kotel

From YNet, in what appears to be a press release::

While coins have been issued by the Bank of Israel since the early days of independence, Jerusalem Day 2011 was special. Israel Coins & Medals Corp. (ICMC), exclusive distributor for coins of the Bank of Israel, launched a new coin, in gold bullion, which trades based on its precious metal content.

This is the second such bullion coin, called "The Western Wall", in the “Jerusalem of Gold” Series, each of which depicts a significant historical site in the eternal city. The initial coin, still available for purchase, was "The Tower of David", in 2010.

Each bullion coin is 32 mm (1¼ inch) and contains exactly 1 troy oz. of .9999 fine gold, with a face value of 20 new shekels. The Israeli bullion is different from more familiar coins, like the Canadian Maple Leaf, South African Krugerrand or the American Eagle, in that its mintage is limited to only 3,600 coins.

The coin is available for purchase 24/7 via the ICMC website (www.israelmint.com) or by phone (972-4-821-2807) from Israel, or can be ordered directly in the USA at toll free 1-888-421-1866, during east coast business hours. All orders are processed and delivered within a maximum 6 weeks from the date received. Each bullion coin comes delivered in a handsome display box and is accompanied by a Certificate of Authenticity.

The actual coin is strikingly beautiful. The obverse, which remains constant in the series, portrays the famous Lion of Megiddo, with its stylized curved tail, taken from an ancient seal dating to the 8th cent. BCE and excavated in the ancient Israelite city of Megiddo (Armageddon in the New Testament), in the Jordan Valley.

The seal belonged to Shema, servant of the Israelite King Jereboam II. The lion was also the symbol of the Biblical tribe of Judah and of Israel's eternal capital, Jerusalem. The same Lion of Megiddo appeared in the past on Israel's 5 Lira banknote (1958), 5 Lira coin (1978) and half shekel coin (1980). Above the figure of the lion is the State Emblem and below it the word "Israel" in English, Hebrew & Arabic. The obverse side design is by artist Meir Eshel.

The reverse shows the Western Wall ("Kotel" in Hebrew) itself, which is the retaining wall of the Temple Mount and the sole remnant of the Second Holy Temple in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Romans in 70 CE. It is reputed to be close to where the Holy of Holies once stood and, at this sacred place—the most significant site in the world for the Jewish People—the Divine Presence is believed never to leave.

Hamas propaganda: "Gilad Shalit fasting during Ramadan"

Here's a disgusting attempt by Hamas to use Gilad Shalit.

The Hamas-affiliated Ar-Risala website reported Wednesday that captured Israeli soldier Gilad Shalit has decided to fast during Ramadan.

The report comes as talks have stalled between Hamas and Israel over the possible exchange of hundreds of prisoners for Shalit, who was captured in a 2006 raid.

The report seemed to be intended to increase pressure on the Israeli government, whose prime minister has faced criticism over his perceived failure to prioritize reaching a deal with Hamas.

“A popular proverb goes that if one lives in a community for more 40 days, he becomes one of them. This seems to have come true in the Gaza Strip," the report in Ar-Risala said.

After years in Gaza, Shalit has become "embarrassed to ask for food during Ramadan despite the fact that his captors do not deny him that right,” the report, in Arabic, continued.

Shalit thinks the government "lost interest," it said, and he "abandoned Jewish traditions to mimic Muslims after the good treatment he received from his captors, even while they are fasting.”

The Israeli government, added Ar-Risala, is too busy with the demonstrations and protests in Tel Aviv, and so Shalit could not hear recently on Israel’s Channel 1 TV station any news about him.

The report claims Shalit noticed the protests against housing problems became too big, and that caused him "depression and disappointment. He lost hope of any prisoner swap deal that can secure his freedom."

He seems to be saying, “Shalit wants to topple the regime,” the report claimed.

Even if the blatant lies in the report were more believable, the story is still obviously garbage. Hamas is doing everything it can think of to keep Shalit's whereabouts secret, and no one who knows details about Shalit's captivity would dare speak to a newspaper about it.

It is a transparent, and sickening, attempt to influence Israeli public opinion.

However, I would not be surprised if Shalit fasts during the ninth day of Ramadan, and even the night before when the Muslims are feasting.

(h/t Folderol)

Nivea website excludes Israel, includes "Palestine Territories" (updated x3)

(see bottom for updates)
Here is a list of countries in the Middle East according to cosmetics manufacturer Nivea:

MIDDLE EAST

A screenshot:

Isn't that interesting?

An outraged former customer wrote to them:

Hi there,

My name is Rebecca Griffin, I am an Israeli-American that used to use your products-but never again. I believe in "Never say Never", but in this case it is fair to say that I will never buy your products, and I will make sure that others don't either.

"Why?" I hear you ask? Well, the answer is quite simple. I don't support racism and I don't support Anti-Israeli propaganda.

I was very surprised to find out that according to you, my country, Israel is good enough to sell your products in, but not worth being a part of the rest of the world. When asked to select my location on your website www.nivea-international.com/pages/int-country-selection I couldn't do so.

Israel, an entity recognized by the UN as a country, does not appear on your website. The Palestinian Authority however, appears, even though it is not recognized as a country. I would love to understand why you choose to eliminate us off the map of the world? Such behavior reminds me the history of your country, Germany, and the Nazi Regime. Or is it the Iranian regime that denies the holocaust and calls to wipe us off the map that you support? Is it the terror groups such as Hamas, Hizballah and IHH to name just a few that you wish to keep happy? Or is basic business- there are more 'Arab customers' than Israelis, so you would rather risk losing our business than theirs?

I simply cannot believe that I am even writing such a letter in the year 2011.

You should be ashamed of yourselves and yes, this will not go away quietly, or ignored.
You make me feel scared, and sick to my stomach.

I usually end letters with "Thank you" but I will not thank you for discriminating me, my people, or my country.

Nivea has a "Nivea Official Israel" Facebook page, but they have not yet responded there.

Their "Contact" page drop-down menu has Israel and "Palestine" listed.

It appears that Israel was listed under "Middle East" last year.

The Nivea Middle East Facebook page features a special Ramadan application.

This will probably get fixed in a day or two - but why did it happen to begin with? A corporate level decision or a single Israel-hating web designer?

But you can always go to Estee Lauder's Israel page.

UPDATE: Israel is now there, but it points to a blank nivea.co.il page.

UPDATE 2: Nivea has issued a letter explaining itself:

Today on Thursday August 4th, a discussion took place on the NIVEA-Facebook site concerning the lack of a link to an Israeli website on www.nivea-international.com. Background information: the homepage contains an overview of all currently available local NIVEA websites. The Israeli website is currently being constructed and is therefore not yet listed.

Unfortunately the lack of a link to an Israeli website was misinterpreted by some users as a possible non-recognition of Israel as a country. Beiersdorf quickly clarified that this is not the case in an own post on its NIVEA-Facebook-site. Beiersdorf pointed to the fact that the list of links on the homepage does not represent a list of the countries NIVEA is present in, but solely presents the currently available local NIVEA websites.

Beiersdorf develops new country homepages on a regular basis, which number is growing from year to year. Next to Israel there are numerous other countries and regions which do not yet have own local websites, such as Indonesia, Singapore, Tunisia, Taiwan or Luxembourg. The construction of an internet site for Israel in Hebrew and English has already started and will be launched in the fourth quarter of 2011 the latest. In the meantime a temporary website will as planned be online soon, so that Israeli consumers can already get basic information about NIVEA.

Sorry, but this does not ring true. The "Palestine Territory" page and the other Middle East country pages link to a generic Nivea Middle East website in English or Arabic. Israel could have easily linked to the same page.

Also, as I noted, there used to be a link to Israel last year.

Plus, here is a map of the Middle East according to its parent company Beiersdorf:

See anything missing?

UPDATE 3: They just put up a hasty webpage. The comments in the source show that it was created today.

I vote for a free market

YNet reports on Binyamin Netanyahu's reaction to the "tent protests."

"Populism is sweeping through the country. There is a serious expression of plight and not-so-serious suggestions for solutions," Netanyahu said.

Netanyahu said that while Israel enjoys great successes in some field, it also suffers from plights that must be addressed. However, "anyone can benefit from the economy," he said.

He stressed the solutions must be devised responsibly, "In a socially and economically founded and solid manner," which would maintain a free market.

Netanyahu mentioned European countries as a model for what should not be done, economy-wise. "If what happened in Europe happens to us, the consequences in our case will be direr in our case," he said.

The prime minister spoke at length about the importance of a competitive market, comparing it to a tree: "The tree bears fruit which are ripe for the picking, but if after three years of picking you haven't tendered to the tree, it will wither and give less and less fruit. We cannot cut down the tree if we want to enjoy its fruits," he said.

The prime minister added that his government had reduced unemployment, invested in higher education while Europe was imposing budget cuts in the field, and "made sure the periphery is connected to the center".

He added that the cries on the street were real, as Israel is currently ranked number 40 in global individual income while ranking number 20 in cost of living.

Netanyahu explained that the discrepancy is being caused by a lack of competition in markets. He added that indirect taxation is an important issue he plans to address.

Forgetting politics, all of this makes sense to me. I am no economist but it sure appears that Israel's economy has prospered in the past decade precisely because it has been abandoning socialist economic concepts and embraced the free market. While I am sympathetic to those who cannot afford housing, a free market would say that they should move to a more affordable area. The inconvenience is more than outweighed by the benefit to the entire nation. Governments do not always do a great job at regulating prices.

Housing is expensive because it is scarce. It appears to be scarce because of the ridiculous amounts of red tape one must go through before building. The root cause must be addressed, which will take time, but a quick fix would almost certainly cause more problems than solutions.

Obviously social programs need to exist - I am not advocating a perfectly free economy, and that model would fail as well. A safety net needs to exist for those who would otherwise be homeless. But given a choice, a free market is the direction to go. Now is probably a good time to investigate and invest in areas around Tel Aviv that are affordable, as those prices will go up.

Given Israel's socialist history, I can see the romantic appeal of socialism as hearkening back to "the good old days." However, I am not so sure that nostalgia is accurate.

Tzipi Livni's response to Netanyahu was pure politics:

In response to Netanyahu's statements, Opposition Leader Tzipi Livni turned to Netanyahu saying: "They are populists? You're a populist. The government is one big political lie. The seeds of mistrust sprouted from every seat Netanyahu gave out."

According to Livni, "The government is deceased even if the obituary has yet to be published. The public understands that this government represents everything that is ugly from day one, its ministers and deputy ministers are redundant.

"Sowing fear of external threats, muzzling, an impervious government - for all these reasons we went out to the streets with one message and different reasons, for social justice and against Benjamin Netanyahu."

I cannot imagine that this screed enamored her to the protesters at all, even though most aren't fond of Bibi.

There seems to be no doubt that the protests are ready-made for the hard left, who are already pushing socialism both politically and economically. I'm not following the story so closely, but there is evidence that they are trying to hijack the protests for their own political purposes. This doesn't mean that the protests are necessarily illegitimate, but it should give one pause before believing that this is completely a people-driven revolution. As the Knesset debate shows, no one is above politicizing everything.

More details on the Knesset debate - and the transparent attempts to politicize them - at JPost.

WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS HASBARA

For those whose worldview does not admit that Israel is anything but completely evil, it may be dangerous to continue reading this. This post is complete, 100% hasbara, and as such you will be forced to either denounce it as lies, or ignore it. We are not responsible for any cognitive dissonance or spontaneous brain embolisms that may come about from reading this post. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED!

From Israel21c:

The CleanTech 2011 mega-event in Tel Aviv displays Israel's advanced water, solar, wind and natural gas energy solutions.

Judging by the number of companies that have already signed on for next year's expo, Haim Alush, CEO of CleanTech 2011, says this year's event must have been a good place for people to do business with Israeli clean-tech companies.
The event, held annually in Tel Aviv for the past 15 years, brought out about 20,000 people from 85 countries. Early reports suggest some NIS 250 million (about $75 million) worth of business transactions were made during the course of CleanTech 2011.
The foreigners at the event comprised powerhouse delegations organized by countries including Canada, the United States, Africa, Poland and even nearby Jordan, which has strained political relations with Israel.
"We see that the clean-tech event was interesting people from all over the world," Alush tells ISRAEL21c. "There was very big business happening. The biggest success was that exhibiters want to exhibit again next year. We also have some companies that did not exhibit this year that want to exhibit next year. We'll have to open another hall to hold them; the biggest hall is already fully booked."
Solar still heating up the room
On the agenda was the opportunity to explore green building applications for the homeowner, like the solar walls produced by SolarOr, as well as other Israeli solar energy technologies such as Solar By Yourself, Ralco and SolarEdge.
Also on display were wind energy solutions, gray-water recycling tools, water technologies and environmentally compatible techniques for natural gas extraction, process and delivery.

And:

"What would you do for a fiver?" That's the question Israeli startup Fiverr asks in big letters on the site's home page. The answer: A lot of really weird stuff.

Ever wonder what it would look like to throw a toaster off a tall building to see how it smashes? There's someone on Fiverr who'll do that.

Want to see your face drawn as an "angry bird" (after the uber-popular mobile game)? $5 is all it takes.

Is a loved one craving a bedtime story? Hire someone at Fiverr to read you (or your kid) a Dr. Seuss book.

Need to promote a new product? One Fiverr member is offering to get the word out to his 40,000 Facebook fans.

Spending the weekend in Munich and don't know what to do? There are world travelers out there ready to share their expertise for just, you got it, $5.

If it's not clear yet, the idea behind Fiverr is dead simple: If you have a service you'd like to offer to the public, you can post it as a "gig" on Fiverr. Buyers can search by category, popularity or user rating. Fiverr takes $1 out of every transaction and the buyer doesn't pay until the seller has verified in some way that he or she did what was contracted (for example, posting a video of that smashed-up toaster).

If Fiverr sounds like a lightweight concept, with appeal to a limited number of loony users, consider that the site has thousands of gigs and some sellers are generating hundreds and even thousands of dollars a month.

And:

The physical deterioration of old age and illness is often manifested in what doctors call chronic wounds - wounds that just will not repair themselves. Petah Tikvah-based MacroCure has a product that aims to do what the body can't: Heal wounds that have festered for months, if not years.

CureXcell is unique in a number of ways, says Dr. Mitchell Shirvan, company CEO. "We believe that we have the most comprehensive approach to the problem of chronic wounds, showing a very significant reduction of the mortality rate in patients with deep sternal wound infections and a markedly improved healing rate for severe pressure ulcers."

CureXcell is made with white blood cells from healthy donors, using a safe and natural resource. Most important, says Shirvan, "our product is on the market in Israel, and it has already been administered by physicians to over 4,500 patients with severe chronic wounds that would probably have remained with them for years."

And:

A simple mobile-phone imaging system developed in Israel for diagnosing and monitoring malaria has won its developers a $100,000 grant from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

The grant is shared by biomedical engineer Dr. Alberto Bilenca of Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) and his research partner, Dr. Linnie Golightly of Weill Cornell Medical College in New York.

Now in the prototype phase, this new inexpensive weapon against Africa's second-leading cause of death will be tested in the field in 2012. This will be a welcome advance in Africa, where the mosquito-borne disease causes an estimated 1,900 deaths every day in children under the age of five. This age group accounts for about 85 percent of malaria-related deaths.

Using an ordinary mobile phone camera with a $15 specialized lens, the system can detect malaria by imaging the eye or the skin to look for hemozoin, a pigment generated by the malaria parasite when it digests red blood cells. This pigment changes the orientation of light reflecting back from the tissue.

Significantly, the eye imaging also allows the system to determine the stage of the disease by measuring blood flow to the brain. Hemozoin blocks blood vessels and therefore slows the flow as greater amounts of it are released from the parasite. Monitoring blood flow in the brain is critical to checking the patient for cerebral malaria, the most serious form of the disease.

And:

At the offices of Keshet: The Center for Educational Tourism in Israel in Jerusalem, things are humming with activity. Every summer the organization's staff of 33 swells three fold, and this July is no exception.

Already 10 busloads of American Jewish high school-age students are exploring Israel with Keshet guides, alongside half a dozen synagogue and church groups from the US, Mexico and Europe.

And work is underway on Start-Up Nation tours, an ambitious new tour program launched this summer, which will be hosted by Keshet in collaboration with Dan Senor and Saul Singer, bestselling authors of Start-Up Nation: The Story of Israel's Economic Miracle.

The idea is to bring the lessons of the bestselling book to life through visits to high-tech companies, meetings with CEOs and discussions with prominent venture capitalists. Participants will examine the cultural factors and government policies that have positioned Israel as a world leader in innovation and entrepreneurial initiative.

Yitzhak Sokoloff, a Boston-area native, began Keshet 16 years ago to offer inspirational identity-building educational experiences in Israel for Jewish students from across all spectrums of American Jewish affiliations. "We are one of the largest operators in the field," says the founding director.

This is only a sampling of stuff from the last few days that is happening in a tiny, amazing country.

Video of "Mubarak is Dead, Zionist Double took over" claim

Hamed Seddik, who claimed in court today that Mubarak had died in 2004 and was replaced by a Zionist double, spoke at Tahrir Sqaure afterwards.

Here's the video:

The circus has come to town.

(h/t A7)

PalArab homes demolished. One killed. Media silent.

Last Sunday, a Hamas policeman was killed. The story did not get much attention; the English language Palestinian Arab media did not seem to cover it.

It turns out that the circumstances were even more interesting:

At approximately 23:30 on Sunday, 31 July 2011, medical staff at al-Shifa Hospital in Gaza City announced the death of Majed Hamdan Karam, 23, a police officer from al-Tufah neighborhood in Gaza City. Karam died of wounds he sustained that afternoon in an armed clash in Juhor al-Dik village. He was on duty with Palestinian police and they were accompanied by officials from the Ministry of Awqaf (religious affairs) and a bulldozer in order to enforce the court ruling. The force headed to a plot owned by the Ministry of Awqaf. The plot was used by the Abu Thaher family who built three houses on the plot. Three families lived in the houses. As the force started bulldozing the three houses, members of the Abu Thaher family and members of the Abu Hein family intervened to stop the demolition. The police arrested four persons, and partially destroyed the houses which are now uninhabitable. While the police were leaving the village, gunmen who are relatives of two of the detainees approached them. The gunmen are believed to be members of a Palestinian armed group. An armed clash took place between the police and the gunmen. Two of the gunmen and three policemen, including Karam, were wounded as a result. The wounded were transferred to the al-Shifa Hospital for medical treatment. The wounds of Karam were gravely serious and he was pronounced dead on the same day.

It is only an outrage to evacuate and bulldoze illegal buildings when it is Jews doing the evacuation and demolition. If Arabs do it, well, hey, it's the law.

By the way, if Gaza was really occupied by Israel, then Israel would have the right to demolish homes there as well. Occupiers by definition are ultimately responsible for administrative issues like zoning and building.

Just sayin'.

(h/t My Right Word)

A new UNRWA lie?

From Ma'an:

The link between Israel's settlement expansion in the West Bank and the displacement of Palestinians from their homes is now "abundantly clear," UNRWA spokesman Chris Gunness said Tuesday.

"Many displacements are taking place where settlements are expanding and with it we are seeing an upturn in vicious attacks by Jewish settlers. Palestinians are being thrown off their ancestral lands to make way for settlers," Gunness told Ma'an.

I believe that this is a complete lie.

With rare exceptions, Jewish communities in Judea and Samaria have stayed within their municipal limits ("blue lines") for about a decade now. What anti-Israel groups call "settlement expansion" is all occurring within these already-existing borders.

And I am almost certain that no Jewish communities are expanding into land legally owned by Palestinian Arabs.

If Gunness is going to make such an accusation, he had better back it up with specifics.

(The press release from UNRWA seems to show that the demolitions have mostly been against Bedouin who have been setting up illegal instant communities in areas that are unquestionably within existing Jewish community boundaries. As far as I can tell, the Bedouin do not and never did own the land.)

(h/t YM)

Jeffrey Goldberg's list of terror attacks he fears (updated)

At Bloomberg, Jeffrey Goldberg listed the three potential terror attacks he worries about the most:

1. Jewish extremists attacking the Dome of the Rock
2. "An assault by a white, Christian extremist agitated by the imagined specter of worldwide Muslim domination, either against a government target, in the Oklahoma City and Oslo manner, or against a Muslim target [in America.]
3. Another attack by Lashkar-e-Taiba of Pakistan against Mumbai.

Why these three?

In the first case "the Muslim world would ignite." In the second, an attack "would do irreparable harm to America’s image as a diverse and welcoming refuge, and could trigger the clash of civilizations extremists (both anti-Muslim Americans and anti-American Muslims) so desperately seek." And in the third, well, there is a potential for nuclear war since India would have a hard time not retaliating against Pakistan.

Goldberg is not worried about the effects of the attacks themselves - a few hundred people killed - but of the larger repercussions that could result.

Going through his list, I can understand being frightened of a nuclear war. I don't think there is any question that an Islamic attack on India is a valid concern.

As far as the Temple Mount goes, I think that the threat of the Muslim world "igniting" is overstated - it has been a threat hanging over the heads of Westerners for a long time, and one that the Muslim world is happy to use to intimidate the West to do its bidding. I call it "The Diplomacy of Fear" and there are countless examples of its use, old and recent. This is not to say that the repercussions of such an attack wouldn't be unpleasant - imagine the Mohammed cartoon riots multiplied by a hundred - but I can't see the Muslim world being much more upset at Israel than they already are.

But the fear of a Christian US terrorist is, simply, absurd. If you are going to worry about a lone terrorist, there are a lot of scenarios that are more frightening than "doing harm to America's image" - especially when Americans would be the victims! In fact, an al-Qaeda style attack in Chicago would be far more likely to turn Americans against Islam and increase the "clash of civilizations" than an American Christian Islamophobe killing Americans would do. This scenario is bizarre, to say the least.

If an American would pull a Norway-type attack in Mecca, OK, that might be something to fear. We could worry about Iran developing a nuke that they would ship to Hezbollah or Hamas. We could worry about a dirty nuke placed in Chicago's water supply. We could worry about a massive sarin attack against New York subway lines. We could worry about a Stuxnet-type attack against the electrical grid that could amplify the Northeast blackout of 2003. History shows that an assassination of a national leader can often change the course of history more than any conventional terror attack against civilians.

There is an interesting subtext to this article: that only liberal Westerners can be expected to act peacefully.

Conservative Westerners ("anti-Muslim Americans"), according to Goldberg, would jump on the side of an American anti-Muslim terrorist - a really bizarre and almost slanderous thought. Who has supported Breivik's actions?

Goldberg goes on to note that Indians and Muslims would react to attacks with much wider violence, despite India's forbearance after the Mumbai attacks.

So the reason that Goldberg isn't overly concerned about a Muslim attack against a Western country is because he believes that the West can be counted on not to retaliate. Obviously this doesn't include warmongering Bush, but the more enlightened current resident of the White House.

This is a good piece of information for potential Islamic terrorists to know.

UPDATE: Viktor Shikhman rips apart Goldberg's characterization of "radical" "messianic" Jewish "terrorists."

Al Qaeda in the Sinai seeks an Islamic state

From Bikya Masr:

Reports on Tuesday allege a pamphlet being distributed to residents in Egypt’s Northern Sinai city of al-Arish are calling for an Islamic state. Disturbingly, the pamphlets are being reported to be from the international terror group al-Qaeda.

Egypt’s youm7.com reported that the document, titled “A statement from al-Qaeda in the Sinai Peninsula” includes verses of the Qur’an and argues that Islam is the only religion of truth and “should be pursued.”

The leaflet goes on to criticize the Camp David treaty, which disarmed Sinai and established peace between Egypt and Israel.

The statement questioned the role of Egypt’s Supreme Council of the Armed Forces (SCAF) to suspend drug smuggling to Sinai. It also said the discrimination against Sinai’s Bedouins and the theft of Sinai’s wealth should be fought against.

The reports of the letter come only days after masked gunmen launched an assault against a local police station in Arish, leaving at least three people dead, including a 13-year-old boy caught in the crossfire.

It heightens the growing fears sprouting up across Egypt that Islamic conservatives are playing a larger role in determining the political and social future of the country.

Last Friday, some one million Islamists converged on Cairo’s Tahrir Square. Their main theme was that Egypt was an “Islamic state.”

Islamists thrive where there is chaos. Egypt, and particularly the Sinai, is now fertile ground for them to make serious gains.

(h/t Yoel)

"Mubarak died in 2004; a Zionist agent replaced him"

From The Daily Telegraph, covering the Mubarak trial that is just underway:

11.32 Surreal moment as a lawyer calls out that Mubarak died in 2004, and that this court appearance is a conspiracy on the part of America and Israel. He is calling for a DNA test to prove that it's the real Mubarak and not a lookalike.

Various lawyers ranting at the judge, who wearily asks one: "What does what you're saying have to do with the trial?"

...A little more detail on the odd conspiracy-theory stuff about Mubarak being a lookalike who took over when the real one died in 2004:

Conspiracy lawyer is named Hamed Siddik, and he filed this very case in 2004 ... that Mubarak died and this is an imposter.

During Ramadan, Arab networks often air sensational TV series. I don' t think that this trial will have any ratings competition in Egypt.

(h/t Jameel)

AFP article on PalArab "honor killings" not as positive as it seems

A couple of months ago, the body of a young Palestinian Arab woman was found near Hebron, the victim of an apparent "honor killing," and it caused an uproar. It caused Mahmoud Abbas to somewhat change the Jordanian law that allowed leniency for such killings.

But as this article shows, there is a long, long way to go - and even the reporter, Samih Shahine, is clueless.

From AFP/Ma'an:

Aya's remains were found bound, decomposed at the bottom of a well more than a year after she vanished without a trace, leaving her family beside themselves with worry.

The university student's disappearance in April 2010 left her relatives increasingly ostracized in their southern West Bank village, an area known for its deeply conservative traditions and morals.

Neighbors assumed the worst -- that their daughter had run away with a lover.

Note that "the worst" is not that Aya was killed.

But the mystery was solved in May when police found her bones several miles from the family home in Surif, northwest of the city of Hebron -- and triggered an unprecedented public outcry.

Within days the story emerged in a Ma'an report: her uncle and two of his friends apparently slayed the 21-year-old student of English in what he claimed was an "honor killing" -- murder in the name of protecting a family's reputation.

The uncle, Ekab Al-Baradiya, and his alleged accomplices were arrested and are awaiting trial.

"This is an atrocious crime," said Hebron police chief Ramadan Awad.

"They tied her to the back of the car and dragged her to the well before beating her, tying her up and throwing her into the well, still alive," he said.

Such murders are not uncommon within conservative Palestinian society where close contact between men and women is frowned upon, and where the law affords leniency to a father, brother or uncle who kills a close female relative in order to "protect" the family's honor.

But an unanticipated wave of outrage followed this particular murder, and forced president Mahmoud Abbas to amend a decades-old law under which those citing "honor" as a defense could expect to receive a jail sentence of no more than six months.

Aya Al-Baradiya had been tied up and thrown down the well while she was still alive, police said, in a gruesome death sentence for a lively and ambitious young woman who loved to paint.

The news broke the family, their grief and outrage spilling out into the local community and moving them to action --- in complete contrast with the wall of silence and shame that normally surrounds such crimes.

The family have absolutely no doubt that she was wrongly accused.

Walking haltingly towards the well where her sister's remains were discovered, 25-year-old Hanin could not hold back her grief.

"Aya's honor was as pure as this cloth," she screamed, tears coursing down her face.

"She was pure -- this had nothing to do with honor," insisted her mother, Fatima. "These are a bunch of criminals."

The horrible implication is that even the mother and sister would have understood it if they felt that Aya had in fact done something to besmirch the family honor. Their rage is not because it was an honor-killing - it is because it was a wrongful honor killing.

Under the Jordanian penal code, a man who "surprises his wife or any close female relative" in an act of adultery or fornication may invoke a defense of "crime of honor" if he murders her.

If convicted, the perpetrators tend to receive a maximum sentence of six months.

The amendment, however, empowers the judiciary to decide whether or not the defendant's claim that the killing was to defend a family's "honor" is valid.

According to this article, the change in the law is not to criminalize "honor killings" but to allow a judge to determine whether it is a legitimate honor killing! The leniency is still there but the murderer can no longer assume that his claim will be accepted at face value.

"The president's decision is the culmination of the feminist struggle," said Amal Al-Jubeh, coordinator of the Women's Centre for Legal Aid and Counseling in Hebron.

"The horror of this crime, the solidarity of the people and the immediate mobilization of feminist groups, coupled with extensive media coverage, were the main factors behind this historic decision," she said.

"The case of young Aya was the straw that broke the camel's back," said Hassan Al-Awra, a legal adviser to Abbas, adding that the amendment must still be approved by the Palestinian parliament.

But Rania Al-Sinjilawi, who works in a legal aid center for women, fears the amendment "does not contribute much to stop the killings because the question of whether the motive was honor or not remains at the judge's discretion."

Exactly.

Women who dare to have relationships with someone the family deems unsuitable, or who marry someone that their parents disapprove of, are still facing the possibility of being murdered with little penalty to the killers. Abbas' change to the law did not erase distinctions between "honor killings" and other murders, and until that is done, such self-congratulatory articles are premature.

Foreskin Man gets creamed by Capt. Israel

Remember the anti-semitic comic Foreskin Man?

It looks like he got soundly defeated - appropriately enough, by Capt. Israel:

He looks a little...limp.

Artist page here.

(h/t Israellycool, more here.)

Syrian news is hilarious

I have heard stories about how Pravda used to be when the Soviet Union was around, but never got to see it first hand. However, thanks to the Syrian SANA news agency, we can all get a flavor of what Pravda was like in the old days.

Here's the news:

An official military source on Tuesday said the armed terrorists groups in the provinces of Hama and Deir Ezzor continue terrorizing citizens through spreading false rumors with the aim of distorting the image of the Syrian Arab Army and soiling its reputation in order to sow sedition among the Army and the citizens.

The source called upon the citizens of the two provinces not to listen to the rumors circulated by the terrorist groups.

The rumor they are referring to is almost certainly reports that soldiers have defected to the rebels.

The Syrian TV on Monday evening broadcast videos of masked armed terrorist groups walking the streets of Hama City, setting up roadblocks dominating the City's main squares and targeting the army, the law-enforcement members and the citizens with guns, firearms, cold steel weapons and pump-action rifles.

These armed groups are well-equipped with advanced weapons, machineguns, pump-action shotguns and RBGs.

Here's their proof of how well-armed the "armed groups" are:

An obligatory quote from an outside expert:

Former Lebanese President Emile Lahoud on Tuesday underlined that Syria is facing a conspiracy that targets its national and pan-Arab stances to serve the Zionist and U.S. interests.

In a statement issued by Lahoud press office, the Lebanese President said "no sane person can be confused with what is going on in Syria …it is obvious that Syria is facing from attacks launched by armed groups."

He added that what is going on in Syria is part of the U.S. and Israeli plots which attempt to undermine Syria's role and its resistant stances against the Israeli expansionist, racial and colonist schemes.

The Palestinian Arabs in Syria are feeling the heat:

The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) on Tuesday denied completely what some biased mass media sources – including al-Jazeera and some Syrian opposition figures – claimed about participating in confronting protests in some Syrian cities.

In a press statement, an official source at the PFLP said that these allegations are part of a campaign of instigation that aims at distorting the nature of the relation between Syria and its allies in the resistance, noting that those who made these allegations made similar claims regarding other sides.

The source said that these accusations constitute political and media deception to twist reality and distract from the nature of the foreign conspiracy that targets Syria and its unity and national and pan-Arab role.

This is one of those stories about Syrian Palestinians that are making Syria nervous.

The regime is also trying to gain some eleventh hour support from Islamists:

Syrian religious TV channel Nour e-Cham started experimental broadcast on Saturday evening on Nilesat: frequency /10911/ and on Arabsat: frequency /12054/.

The Channel is to broadcast Friday sermons and various religious programs in a way to provide a right understanding of Islam and the Islamic rules.

And where is Bashir Assad?

President Bashar al-Assad on Monday visited a number of wounded army and armed forces personnel at Tishreen Military Hospital who were injured in the line of duty.

President al-Assad checked in on the personnel, listened to their stories about how they were inured, and inquired supervising doctors about the injured men's health conditions, wishing them a speedy recovery.

Wasim Mohammad Jabal said President al-Assad's visit was a balsam for their injuries, saying "we are determined to return to our army units and defend our lands and people."

Abdul-Kafi Hamada, who was hit by a bullet in the neck that led to a quadriplegia, had no ability to shake hands, apologizing through a smile, but he said that President's al-Assad's visit has raised his morale, particularly after President al-Assad had assured him that he will recover and return to his normal life.

He's a miracle worker!

Links!

Claire Berlinski asks - who is running Turkey's military?

Guess who David Duke blames for the Norway massacre!

Krazy Ken O'Keefe is really good at ticking off his fellow moonbats. What a shame.

Israel Matzav looks at one of the "homeless" protest leaders in Tel Aviv. She's ...rich.

A new hasbara initiative (that I've already seen the anti-Israel leftists tweet furiously about.)

What are the Palestinian Arabs planning to do after September? And are they going to ask for compensation while they are at it, as the PLO has said they would?

Yisrael Medad puts forth his radical plan: maintain the status quo.

The US Supreme Court will hear a case where an American citizen born in Jerusalem wants to have "Israel" listed in his passport as "Place of Birth." You can read the legal brief here. (He was born on the Israeli side of the Green Line.)

NGOs published baseless and false accusations against Israel during the Lebanon war five years ago, a new study finds.

Is it time for Israel to end Oslo?

Some revisionist history noticed by Evelyn Gordon.

Nah, you don't have to worry about Islamic extremists.

(h/t Silke, LW, Yoel, Serious Black, jzaik)

How to solve the PA's budget problems

From Ha'aretz on Sunday:

The Palestinian Authority will pay its employees' salaries in full in August but still faces a financial crisis which forced it to pay only half wages in July, Prime Minister Salam Fayyad said on Sunday.

Earlier on Sunday, the head of the public sector workers' union had raised the prospect of a strike in protest at the wage cuts. The union was due to meet on Monday to take a decision on possible industrial action.

Fayyad, who is also finance minister, said he expected full salaries to be paid on Tuesday.

"In view of the continued financial difficulties, payment of the salaries in full will greatly limit the ability of the PA to meet other needs during the coming month," he said in a statement, without going into details.

Fayyad has blamed a fall in aid from Arab states for largely causing the financial crisis. The PA continued to seek the foreign aid needed to overcome the problem, he said on Sunday.

The PA relies on help from foreign states to pay the salaries of about 150,000 Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip and monthly allowances to another 75,000 people.

It looks like Fayyad's move averted the strike, as there is no mention of the strike in the Arabic media today.

But Fayyad can save much of the budget earmarked for wages and "allowances" without penalizing a single worker.

The PA still pays its employees in Gaza - people who are not working at all ever since Hamas took over Gaza. But even after supposed "unity" these workers are still doing nothing. Either put them to work or take them off the payroll.

Gaza altogether gets some 60% of the PA budget, and a lot of that must be these non-working employees.

Similarly, the 75,000 people who get "allowances" are the prisoners who get salaries and the families of "martyrs" who get paid. These people should not be getting a dime, let alone prioritized salaries!

Add it up and it looks like Fayyad can cut his payroll budget in half without any reduction in services. (What are the idle Gaza employees going to do - strike?)

And, of course, it will never happen.

Djinn news wrapup

From Emirates 24/7:

A Saudi man is believed to have been gripped by jinn (ghosts) during a picnic with his friends in a valley which is reputed to be haunted. But he was later treated in an exorcist-style session by the Gulf Kingdom’s religious police.

The unnamed man and seven friends from the western town of Makkah were vacationing in the nearby Taif city when they decided to descend into Wadi Al-Amak (the deep abyss) despite warnings by local people.

After a short evening trip in the valley, the colour of the man’s began to change and his behavior became aggressive before he lost balance and fell down.

When his friends tried to talk to him, he shouted and pushed them away while his eyes were fixed at an area deep in the valley.

“Friends then overpowered him and washed his face with cold water…it was clear the man was haunted by a jinn,” Sabq Arabic language daily said.

“They then decided to carry him back to town…they were told that the valley is haunted and that there were two similar cases in the past.”

The paper said the man was taken to the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice, the most influential Islamic law-enforcement authority in the conservative Moslem Gulf nation.

“The Commission brought experts in such cases and subjected the man to a session of Koran recitation and incense burning until the jinn was forced to get out of the man through his hand…once the session was over, the man began to restore his strength…after a while he fully recovered and started to ask his friends why he was brought to that place.”

And earlier this month:

An Egyptian man suffered from severe burn injuries after a blast jolted his apartment and shook the entire building in Kuwait City. Police and civil defence units rushing to the site neither found a trace of fire nor could they explain the explosion while a newspaper wondered if it was an act of jinn (ghosts).

Ibrahim Al Dasouki, 61, was ablaze as he stumbled out of the building and collapsed just near the entrance after Saturday’s explosion that was heard and felt by all inhabitants of the building and other residents of the area. He was rushed to the intensive care unit and doctors believe he has little chance to survive.

Police and civil defence experts examined the apartment of Dasouki, an education ministry adviser, but found no traces of fire.

“They also could not find an explanation for the explosion that rocked the flat and shook the whole building….there was no gas leak and no power failure…yet the glass in Dasouki’s flat on the fifth floor was shattered all over, his front door was smashed and flung towards the other apartment and part of the balcony fell off on trees surrounding the building,” Alwatan Arabic language daily said.

(h/t jzaik)

IDF pays $150K to family of Gaza Cast Lead victims

From PCHR:

The Legal Aid Unit of the Palestinian Center for Human Rights (PCHR) was able to ensure reparation for the family of Raya Salama Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 64, and Majeda Abdul Karim Abu Hajjaj, 37, from Juhor al-Dik area, southeast of Gaza City, who were killed by Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) during “Operation Cast Lead” (27 December 2008 – 18 January 2009). PCHR was able to conclude a settlement with representatives of the Israeli military prosecution, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS (approximately US$ 147,000) would be paid to victims’ family in return for closing the claim. Procedures to hand this amount to the family are currently ongoing.

On 04 January 2009, during IOF’s ground operation in various areas in the Gaza Strip, IOF seized control over the northern entrance of Juhor al-Dik village, southeast of Gaza City, and fired a number of shells at Palestinian civilians and property. IOF then ordered residents of the area to leave it. Soon, many civilians, mostly women and children, got out of their houses raising white flags. When they got as close as to 100 meters from the Abu Hajaj family’s house, Israeli soldiers positioned in the area opened fire at them. As a result, Raya Abu Hajaj, and her daughter, Majeda Abu Hajjaj, were killed. IOF denied access of medical crews to the area. When a ceasefire was declared on 18 January 2009, medical crews were able to evacuate the bodies from the victims from beneath the debris.

On 19 February 2009, the Abu Hajjaj family referred to PCHR and granted it a power of attorney to take necessary legal action concerning his death. PCHR submitted complaints to the compensation officer of the Israeli Ministry of Defense and the Israeli military prosecution of the southern command, in which it demanded opening an investigation into the attack and holding the perpetrators accountable.

To ensure reparation for the family, on 14 July 2010, PCHR filed a compensation claim before the Magistrate Court of Haifa demanding compensation for the family for the death of the two women by IOF. PCHR supported its claim by evidences confirming IOF’s responsibility for the two women’s death. Consequently, the Israeli prosecution sought to close the claim through a settlement, under which an amount of 500,000 NIS would be paid to al-Sawarka’s family in return for closing the claim. The court approved this settlement.

This is a judicial precedent, as it is the first time that PCHR is able to ensure compensation for victims of “Operation Cast Lead” in the Gaza Strip. PCHR is following up hundreds of claims on behalf of victims of the Israeli offensive on the Gaza Strip, known as “Operation Cast Lead.”

I wonder what would happen in victims of rocket attacks would sue Hamas in a Gaza court? Maybe PCHR can represent them and fight for a fair trial.

Ramadan photo quiz

One of these photos was taken in the impoverished, prison like concentration camp knows as Gaza, the other in the Arab Spring-infused, newly free Egypt.

Can you tell which is which?

Actually, the Gaza photo was taken last year, when things were even worse!

Syria updates (Zvi)

From Zvi:

24 more people (unverified) were killed in Syria on Monday (Syrian Observatory for Human Rights). 150 more were arrested. 6 more were killed early on Tuesday. Reuters, quoting a source in Erbin: "People marched after the nightly Ramadan prayers. Security cars and pick-up trucks with machineguns mounted on their beds entered Erbin around midnight and assembled at the main roundabout before branching out in the streets and firing at neighbourhoods."
Guardian column that includes a photo of Friday's (big) anti-regime protest in Hama:

Italy has withdrawn its ambassador to Syria.
The UK has ruled out using force against the Syrian regime. Because, you know, it's very important to take out the nut-case dictator of oil-rich Libya, but the Baathist regime in Syria plays a very important role as the switchboard and logistics hub for terror and instability in the Levant and the junior partner of pre-nuclear Iran; G-d forbid that THIS regime should be removed.
Turkey is becoming increasingly frustrated with Syria. The Turkish FM said that nobody can remain silent when "more than 100 people were killed in one day." The Turkish president said that he was "horrified" by the footage that he had seen.
The UN Security Council still can't even bring itself to condemn the Syrian government for the ongoing slaughter of well over 1500 people. Russia, China, India, South Africa and Brazil are protecting the dictator, and thereby supporting the deliberate slaughter of noncombatant protesters.
Russia is in a hard place, torn between protecting its long-time client regime and customer on the one hand, and the knowledge that many people in the region are becoming increasingly upset by the carnage on the other.
EU's Catherine Ashton is a moron if she really thinks that the Syrian regime cares that others want it to "protect the population". Otherwise she's just a puff of stale air.
Al Jazeerah Engish interviews a prominent Syrian human rights activist. He's frustrated with the hypocrisy of the world's response.

Arkansas jihadist also attacked homes of rabbis

From The Tennessean:

Abdulhakim Muhammad had just returned from a failed attempt to firebomb a home he believed belonged to a Nashville rabbi when he opened fire on an Army recruiting station here, killing Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounding Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula.

Opening statements have concluded in the capital murder trial against Muhammad, who was born Carlos Bledsoe in Memphis, Tenn., but changed his name after he began practicing Islam in Nashville while attending Tennessee State University.

And AP just discovered this:

A man who pleaded guilty to shooting two soldiers outside a military recruiting station in Arkansas says in a letter to the FBI that he also targeted the home of a rabbi in Little Rock.

In a handwritten confession mailed to the FBI, Abdulhakim Muhammad says he fired 10 rounds at the home of Rabbi Eugene Levy (LEE'-vee) days before he shot and killed Pvt. William Andrew Long and wounded Pvt. Quinton Ezeagwula (ee-ZEEG'-wuh-luh).

A jihadist who is also a Jew-hater. What a shock.

(h/t jzaik)