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| You never know when you will need to stop blowing up Jews and start praying. |
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| Like now, for instance. |
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| A "work accident" just waiting to happen. |
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| What playground did they steal this from? |
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| Allah hu akbar! We blew something up! |
Elder of Ziyon![]() |
| You never know when you will need to stop blowing up Jews and start praying. |
![]() |
| Like now, for instance. |
![]() |
| A "work accident" just waiting to happen. |
![]() |
| What playground did they steal this from? |
![]() |
| Allah hu akbar! We blew something up! |
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonWe very much regret to inform you that Just Journalism is closing down. Despite our extremely modest budget it has become increasingly difficult to financially sustain the operation in the current economic environment.This is a major loss. It is a shame that anti-Israel NGOs can effortlessly gain funding from any number of foundations or nations, but the other side must beg for crumbs.
We are extremely proud of the work we have produced since we launched and of the impact it has made all around the world. This would not have been possible without your help and support.
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonPresident Mahmoud Abbas said Sunday that he has not scheduled to meet with US President Barack Obama during the 66th session of the UN General Assembly in New York, but is open to the possibility.Did Obama promise a Palestinian Arab state?
“Neither I, nor Obama asked for a meeting, so I don’t believe we will meet. However, if we meet, I will remind him that he promised last year that the state of Palestine would be a full member of the UN this year, and I came here on the grounds of the promise I heard,” Abbas told a Ma'an delegate.
Last year, I pledged my best efforts to support the goal of two states, Israel and Palestine, living side by side in peace and security, as part of a comprehensive peace between Israel and all of its neighbors. We have travelled a winding road over the last 12 months, with few peaks and many valleys. But this month, I am pleased that we have pursued direct negotiations between Israelis and Palestinians in Washington, Sharm el Sheikh and Jerusalem.Obama did not come close to promising anything. He said if the negotiations that just started that month would bear fruit, then by September 2011 there could be an agreement that would lead to an eventual Arab state in Palestine. And that ultimately it was up to the Palestinian Arabs and Israelis themselves to make such an agreement, not for it to be imposed externally.
...[W]e all have a choice to make. Each of us must choose the path of peace. Of course, that responsibility begins with the parties themselves, who must answer the call of history. Earlier this month at the White House, I was struck by the words of both the Israeli and Palestinian leaders. Prime Minister Netanyahu said, “I came here today to find a historic compromise that will enable both people to live in peace, security, and dignity.” And President Abbas said, “We will spare no effort and we will work diligently and tirelessly to ensure these negotiations achieve their cause.”
These words must now be followed by action and I believe that both leaders have the courage to do so. ...
The conflict between Israelis and Arabs is as old as this institution. And we can come back here next year, as we have for the last 60 years, and make long speeches about it. We can read familiar lists of grievances. We can table the same resolutions. We can further empower the forces of rejectionism and hate. And we can waste more time by carrying forward an argument that will not help a single Israeli or Palestinian child achieve a better life. We can do that.
Or, we can say that this time will be different -- that this time we will not let terror, or turbulence, or posturing, or petty politics stand in the way. This time, we will think not of ourselves, but of the young girl in Gaza who wants to have no ceiling on her dreams, or the young boy in Sderot who wants to sleep without the nightmare of rocket fire.
This time, we should draw upon the teachings of tolerance that lie at the heart of three great religions that see Jerusalem’s soil as sacred. This time we should reach for what’s best within ourselves. If we do, when we come back here next year, we can have an agreement that will lead to a new member of the United Nations -- an independent, sovereign state of Palestine, living in peace with Israel.
Elder of ZiyonTurkish hackers attacked dozens of Israeli websites over the weekend, only to find out that the sites belonged to Palestinians.This was not as sophisticated as the Turkish DNS attack earlier this month that redirected hundreds of sites (not all Israeli) that was seen as a "test run."
The confusion was caused due to the fact that the Palestinian sites, which have a .ps web suffix, use Israeli web servers.
"The hackers left anti-Israel messages on 70 Palestinian sites," said Shai Blitzblau, the head of Maglan-Computer Warfare and Network Intelligence Labs. "Most of them discovered it when it was already too late. Only after they broke in and sabotaged the websites did they found out these were Palestinian sites."
The message, which featured an image of an Israeli soldier washing blood off of his hands, read: "Because you voted on behalf of Israel on Blue (Mavi) Marmara report… We will suspend this site. You will apologize Netanyahu, you will apologize Israel."
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonIsrael should have either put out its own peace plan or tried to shape the U.N. diplomacy with its own resolution that reaffirmed the right of both the Palestinian and the Jewish people to a state in historic Palestine and reignited negotiations.From Al Arabiya, quoting Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh:
“We repeat today that we are with the establishment of a Palestinian state on any liberated part of Palestinian land that is agreed upon by the Palestinian people, without recognizing Israel or conceding any inch of historical Palestine."Like the PLO and others, these people use the phrase "historic[al] Palestine" as if it is identical to the boundaries of British Mandate Palestine after August 1922 when Transjordan was split off from the Mandate.
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Elder of ZiyonRecent college graduate Reem Qadan is exactly the kind of young, energetic West Bank resident the Palestinian Authority hopes will hit the streets this week when it makes its historic case for U.N. membership and statehood recognition.So when we see the Western media breathlessly report about huge rallies in the territories this week, remember that all public employees and many schools are taking holiday just to inflate the numbers. Popular support is tepid at best, even in the Fatah stronghold of Ramallah!
But rather than use her Facebook page to coordinate plans with friends to join the rallies, the 21-year-old is posting critical messages dismissing the United Nations bid as a “tale of collective mismanagement” by Palestinian leaders. Many of her Facebook friends echoed the sentiments and said they planned to skip the rallies.
In stark contrast with the flurry of diplomacy and international attention being focused on the U.N. campaign, the mood so far on the streets of the West Bank is surprisingly apathetic and sometimes even a little hostile.
“People simply don’t care,” Qadan said.
Critics said it was unrealistic to expect Palestinians — who have been disappointed by failed peace initiatives many times — to suddenly embrace the U.N. bid. But that hasn’t stopped the Palestinian Authority from launching an aggressive campaign to change that.
The authority recently distributed thousands of Palestinian flags and urged everyone to put them on their homes and cars as a sign of support. So far, only a few can be seen in the streets of Ramallah. Even government vehicles are not flying the flags.
Giant rallies have been scheduled for Wednesday and Friday.
To ensure a good turnout, Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has called upon members of his Fatah movement, the largest political faction in the West Bank, to attend. About 80,000 government workers will be given time off, and some schools will closed. Thousands of Palestinians are expected to take part in the rallies.
Elder of ZiyonPraying in the streets of Paris is against the law starting Friday, after the interior minister warned that police will use force if Muslims, and those of any other faith, disobey the new rule to keep the French capital's public spaces secular.The French did negotiate, however:
Claude Guéant said that ban could later be extended to the rest of France, in particular to the Mediterranean cities of Nice and Marseilles, where "the problem persists".
He promised the new legislation would be followed to the letter as it "hurts the sensitivities of many of our fellow citizens".
"My vigilance will be unflinching for the law to be applied. Praying in the street is not dignified for religious practice and violates the principles of secularism, the minister told Le Figaro newspaper.
The ban came into effect after announcing an agreement to offer Muslim worshippers the use of a disused fire brigade barracks instead.Meanwhile, in the Netherlands:
The agreement was made with two local mosques for the state to rent out the disused barracks on Boulevard Ney with floor space of 2,000 sq m (yds) for three years.
To encourage believers to use the new space, prayers would not be held inside the existing mosques for the first few weeks.
"We could go as far as using force if necessary (to impose the ban), but it's a scenario I don't believe will happen, as dialogue (with local religious leaders) has born fruit,” Guéant said.
"All Muslim leaders are in agreement."
The Dutch government said Friday that it would ban face-covering veils worn by some Muslim women because the garments flout the Dutch way of life and culture.
Prime Minister Mark Rutte also announced tougher rules for immigrants and asylum-seekers who want to pursue Dutch nationality; in the future, he said, they will have to show that they have income and that they have not received financial assistance or benefits for at least three years.
The country’s reputation as relatively tolerant and open to immigration has changed over the last decade, reflecting voters’ concerns over a large influx of Muslim immigrants.
“The government believes the wearing of clothing that completely or almost entirely covers the face is fundamentally at odds with public life, where people are recognized by their faces,” the government said in a statement.
Elder of ZiyonWhat happens if, while abroad, you make a friend who happens to be Israeli? What if you are attending an event with participants from the Jewish State and shake an Israeli representative’s hand? What if you bought a magazine that was printed in Tel Aviv and wanted to bring it back home?
These questions may seem superfluous to non-Lebanese, but for natives of the Land of the Cedars, engaging in any activity with an Israeli, physically or not, can land you in hot water.
That is because relations between Israelis and Lebanese are governed by two half-century-old laws: the 1943 Lebanese Criminal Code and the 1955 Lebanese Anti-Israeli Boycott Law, the former of which forbids any interaction with nationals of enemy states, and the latter of which specifies Israelis.
To boot, because in the laws’ eyes Lebanese nationality takes primacy over any other, a Lebanese who has dual citizenship and is involved in an exchange with an Israeli anywhere in the world can be legally prosecuted in a Lebanese court.
NOW Lebanon asked Salim El Meouchi, senior partner and chairman of the Beirut-based law firm Badri and Salim El Meouchi, just how far the laws extend.
Can a Lebanese citizen who Is physically In Lebanon, or can any resident of Lebanon, engage in a conversation with an Israeli citizen who is physically in Israel? What if the Lebanese has dual citizenship?As far as the question on sports competitions, the answer seems to be that Lebanese cannot even compete against Israelis - and must forfeit their matches, the way Iran does.
No in both cases, and the same applies if the person the Lebanese is talking to is Arab-Israeli. However, a Lebanese can legally call the Occupied Territories. Israelis can also call Lebanon, though engaging in a phone conversation should be avoided and would be considered illegal.
Can a Lebanese citizen who is in Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli citisen who is outside of Israel?
No, not even through an intermediary or institution, though “If you are discussing non-threatening issues such as social small talk, and if you happen to be in another city, the case could, in principle, be defended," said El Meouchi.
Can a Lebanese citizen who is outside of Lebanon engage in a conversation with an Israeli who is outside of Israel?
No, though "In the case of spontaneity, tortuity and the discussion of non~threatening issues, it could be defended," noted El Meouchi.
Can a Lebanese who only holds a Lebanese passport marry an Israeli citizen, dual or not, outside of Lebanon and some back to Lebanon?
No. Article 1 of the Anti-Israeli Boycott Law prohibits any type of relation with Israelis, though it basically has to do with commercial and business transactions. As such, it could he argued that marriage is not a commercial or business transaction, said El Meouchi, However, such an argument may not convince the Lebanese government.
Can a Lebanese man marry an Israeli woman who gives up her nationality and transfer his Lebanese citizenship to her?
Yes. In principle this is possible, though the Lebanese government could take a negative position on a case-by-case basis, the lawyer said.
Can a Lebanese citizen do business from abroad with an Israeli who Is In Israel?
No.
Can a Lebanese buy an Israeli publication or product abroad and bring it back to Lebanon?
No.
Can a Lebanese citizen participate in a conference, festival or sporting event where an Israeli citizen is also a participant?
Yes, as long as they are not in direct communication.
Can a Lebanese publish in a journal in which an Israeli also published?
Yes, as long as the publication is not Israeli, does not publish from Israel, does not belong to an Israeli or a person residing in Israel, and as long as the Lebanese and Israeli did not communicate directly on the published work.
Can a Lebanese Iriend an Israeli on Facebook?
No, because technically speaking, any Facebook activity with an Israeli would still be considered a violation of Article I of the Anti-Israel Boycott Law.
Sixteen-year-old Christopher Finan’s Tae Kwon Do coach has very high hopes for him. The teenager, who trains in Champville, north of Beirut, started to learn the Korean martial art when he was 10 and has rarely lost a match. Competing in the 2010 World Junior Championships in Tijuana, Mexico last month was a dream-come-true for the Lebanese junior champion. He paid for his own training and even bought his own ticket – which cost over $1,000 – to reach Mexico, but he was in for an ugly surprise.According to that older article, Lebanon has the most restrictive anti-Israel laws of any country - including Iran!
Finan’s first opponent at the championship was Gil Haimovitz, an Israeli teenager. Finan had to forfeit the match, for as a Lebanese, he is not allowed to not touch, speak to, deal with or compete against an Israeli citizen, even if that citizen is just a 15-year-old boy.
No other Arab countries that take part in international competitions have national laws stipulating boycott with Israel in sports competitions, while Iran allows players to boycott as an individual decision.It would be a real shame if Israelis should start conversations on, say, Sayed Nasrallah's YouTube page or on the talkbacks at his Al Manar channel. No matter what insult they hurl at him and his Lebanese Shi'ite buddies, they couldn't legally answer without breaking the law.
Elder of ZiyonUPDATE: Commenter Donkeyrock put them all together in one e-book, and I uploaded it to Scribd so you can read it or download it in one file here: Israel's Rights as a Nation-State in International Diplomacy
Overview
Amb. Alan Baker
The National Rights of Jews
Prof. Ruth Gavison
“An Overwhelmingly Jewish State” - From the Balfour Declaration to the Palestine Mandate
Sir Martin Gilbert
Self-Determination and Israel’s Declaration of Independence
Prof. Shlomo Avineri
The United Nations and Middle East Refugees: The Differential Treatment of Arabs and Jews
Dr. Stanley A. Urman
Israel’s Rights Regarding Territories and the Settlements in the Eyes of the International Community
Amb. Alan Baker
The Historical and Legal Contexts of Israel’s Borders
Prof. Nicholas Rostow
The Misleading Interpretation of Security Council Resolution 242 (1967)
Prof. Ruth Lapidoth
Defending Israel’s Legal Rights to Jerusalem
Amb. Dore Gold
Palestinian Unilateralism and Israel’s Rights in Arab-Israeli Diplomacy
Dan Diker
Is the Gaza Strip Occupied by Israel?
Col. (ret.) Pnina Sharvit-Baruch
The Violation of Israel’s Right to Sovereign Equality in the United Nations
Amb. Alan Baker
Countering Challenges to Israel’s Legitimacy
Prof. Alan M. Dershowitz
Elder of ZiyonEU-candidate Turkey will freeze relations with the European Union if Cyprus is given the EU presidency in 2012, Deputy Prime Minister Besir Atalay was quoted as saying by state-run news agency Anatolian late on Saturday.When are we going to see hysterical op-eds that insist that the EU must apologize to Turkey? After all, as everyone knows, without an apology the EU will become increasingly isolated in the world community!
The comments were the strongest yet by Ankara over its opposition to the Cyprus presidency and could mark the start of a new low point in ties between the European Union and Turkey which began accession talks to the bloc in 2005.
The comments also come at a time of heightened tension in the eastern Mediterranean where Turkey is locked in a row with Cyprus over potential offshore gas deposits. Turkey's relations with one-time ally Israel are also at a low.
"If the peace negotiations there (Cyprus) are not conclusive, and the EU gives its rotating presidency to southern Cyprus, the real crisis will be between Turkey and the EU," Anatolian quoted Atalay as telling Turkish Cypriot Bayrak Radio and TV at the end of a trip to northern Cyprus.
"Because we will then freeze our relations with the EU. We have made this announcement, as a government we have made this decision. Our relations with the EU will come to a sudden halt."
The internationally-recognized Greek Cypriot government is due to take on the six-month rotating EU presidency in July 2012.
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Elder of ZiyonEight people, including several girls, were arrested on Friday on suspicion of blasphemy and drug possession in Mount Lebanon.I believe the penalty in Lebanon for blasphemy is a few years in jail. In Saudi Arabia, it's death. (h/t Dan)
The National News Agency said the suspects are devil worshippers and are self-harming.
Military Examining Magistrate Saqr Saqr is expected to charge the eight on Saturday, NNA said.
Lebanese law prohibits blasphemy and immoral conduct.
Elder of ZiyonBell Pottinger has begun providing public relations counsel to the organization that represents the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) in the US.So (as I had mentioned in an update to this story) when Areikat got in trouble for saying that Jews could not live in Palestine, almost certainly it was Bell Pottinger that swooped in to do the damage control - and Politico fell for it.
According to documents filed earlier this month with the US Department of Justice, Bell Pottinger USA has been contracted to provide “advice on strategic communications, public relations, media relations and congressional affairs” to the General Delegation of the PLO to the United States.
The appointment of the agency comes ahead of a critical UN vote on Palestinian statehood next month. However, Bell Pottinger USA president David Sowells declined to comment on whether his agency’s work would involve this issue.
According to the DoJ filing, Bell Pottinger is reporting to Maen Rashid Areikat, chief representative of the PLO in the US. Areikat serves an ambassadorial function to the US, with a particular focus on the Arab-Israeli conflict.
Bell Pottinger is no stranger to controversial Middle East assignments. The Holmes Report revealed earlier this year that the firm’s work for the Bahrain government had been suspended in light of the conflict in that country. The agency has also handled public sector work for Yemen and Qatar.
Elder of ZiyonWhat we want is to end the occupation and tend legitimacy for, occupation and practices is the nightmare that is holding our hearts, as reflected these practices continued raids and arrests and the building of walls and demolition of houses, and the intensification of settlement activities, and attacks the settlers of Bakla trees and burning of mosques and the latest training dogs to attack us and send the wild pigs to wreak land corrupt, three things which the settlers will confront us: When any person Siatdon find it, well its streets and dogs, and pigs for the uprooting of trees, in addition of course to the tanks.(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)
Elder of ZiyonPalestinian officials are rolling out the welcome mat for Jews to come to a new Palestinian state.Proof that Jews could never have equal rights in "Palestine":
Trying to tamp down a controversy over whether a Palestinian state would be Jew-free, Mahmoud Habbash, the Palestinian minister of religious affairs, said a future state would be open to people of all religions, including Jews.
“The future Palestinian state will be open to all its citizens, regardless of their religion,” Habbash said, according to USA Today. “We want a civil state, which in it live all the faiths, Muslim, Christian and Jews also if they agree, (and) accept to be Palestinian citizens.”
Maen Areikat, the Palestine Liberation Organization’s ambassador to the United States, told POLITICO that his comments earlier this week which some interpreted as meaning Jews would not be welcome were misconstrued.
“In no way was there a suggestion that Jews cannot enter Palestine or be in Palestinian state in the future,” Areikat said.
Palestine is part of the large Arab World, and the Palestinian people are part of the Arab Nation. Arab Unity is an objective which the Palestinian People shall work to achieve.Meaning that non-Arabs are not treated as equals with Arabs. it may also mean that non-Arabs cannot become citizens.
Islam is the official religion in Palestine. Respect and sanctity of all other heavenly religions shall be maintained.Jews do make it to dhimmi status, as their religion is one of the "heavenly" ones. But if you are Hindu or Buddhist, watch out.
The principles of Islamic Shari’a shall be the main source of legislation.
Elder of ZiyonA UC Irvine professor overstepped his boundaries when he told students that no disruptions were allowed during the Israeli ambassador's visit on campus last year, according to testimony given Wednesday in the so-called Irvine 11 trial in Santa Ana.Professor Terada's thesis is that, apparently, anyone has the right to stop anyone else from speaking in the name of "free speech."
UC Irvine professor Rei Terada, an expert on the history and guidelines of free speech, told the Superior Court jury that fellow professor Mark Petracca, the event's emcee, had no authority to set stringent ground rules.
Before bringing Israeli Ambassador Michael Oren to the stage on Feb. 8, 2010, Petracca told the audience that he expected the highest civility.
"This is, after all, not a street corner; it is a university," Petracca said in a video of the event shown in court. "It is not the British Parliament; it is a university. And it is not even a joint session of Congress hearing the president of the United States. It is a university."
Terada said that in her 20-year career she had never seen someone attempt to impose such rules during a politically charged event on a university campus, especially one that had been expected to attract protests.
Orange County Deputy Dist. Atty. Dan Wagner challenged Terada, pointing out that what Petracca said echoed statements from UCI Chancellor Michael Drake. Terada, however, said neither Drake nor Petracca had the authority to set that standard. "They were saying what they wanted to happen," she testified.
The 10 defendants, seven of them UC Irvine students and three from UC Riverside, are charged with a misdemeanor for allegedly conspiring to disrupt Oren's speech and a misdemeanor for allegedly disrupting his speech.
Elder of Ziyon
Elder of ZiyonPolitical rivals Fatah and Hamas met Thursday evening in Gaza City, in a surprise discussion which touched on the upcoming Palestinian bid for membership of the UN.In English: They met, and they didn't agree on a single real issue. But they did agree to keep the farce of "unity" alive so as not to anger fed-up Palestinian Arabs who might rise up against them.
Fatah national relations commissioner Diab al-Loh told Ma'an that officials from both factions discussed the reconciliation agreement which has faltered in implementation since its signing in May.
Hamas leader Ismail Radwan said the meeting focused on the unresolved facets of the reconciliation, and insisted that the issue of political detainees should be addressed first.
On the UN bid, Radwan said each party has its own point of view, but the main priority is the protection of national unity.
The Hamas official added that parties talked about making further efforts to have more meetings.
Elder of ZiyonA Bethlehem journalist is facing trial after the city's governor filed a complaint against him for "slander and defamation."Can there be any worse slander than the existence of Israeli juices at a department meeting?
George Canawati, director of Bethlehem Radio 2000, was summoned to the Palestinian Authority Prosecutor-General's office on Sunday after he criticized local medical services in a report.
Bethlehem governor Abdel Fattah Hamayel summoned Canawati to his office and requested he remove critical comments from the Sept. 8 report on his Facebook page, the Palestinian Center for Development and Media Freedoms (MADA) said.
Canawati's report detailed indifference and neglect at the health directorate and noted Israeli-made juices provided at a health department meeting, contravening the Palestinian Authority’s call to boycott Israeli products.
The Bethlehem radio-journalist told MADA he had removed the Facebook notes prior to the charges.
The King of Jordan, Abdullah II, delivered a speech on September 11, in which he mentioned the Jordanian civil war of 1970 for the first time ever: "There are not any issues we are too embarrassed to discuss, even if there is someone who wants to discuss the incidents of 1970, this is a part of history; let us think of the future and not the past."That Wikileaks cable he refers to doesn't only mention a minority of Palestinian Arabs in Jordan who privately believe that "return" will never happen and who want compensation instead - it also mentions East Bankers who want to use the "right of return" to kick out the Palestinian Arab majority:
Commenting on the fear of Jordan's Bedouin minority -- who make up the king's military and are the protected class -- that Jordan might become the Palestinian majority's homeland -- a plan dubbed "the alternative homeland" by the local media -- the king said: "I would like to assure everyone that Jordan will not be an alternative country to anyone. Is it even logical that Jordan will become an alternative to anyone while we sit there and do nothing? We have an army and we are willing to fight for our country and for the future of Jordan, and we must speak vigorously and not ever allow this idea to remain in the minds of some of us….We have fought Israel before many times."
"Jordan and the future of Palestine," he added, "are much stronger than Israel today; the Israeli is the one who is afraid….When I was in the United States, I spoke to an Israeli intellectual; he told me that what was happening in Arab countries today is in the interests of Israel. I told him, 'I think it is the opposite: your situation today is much harder than before.'"
King Abdullah also mentioned the need to address the issue of "national identity" in Jordan -- a phrase associated with isolating the Palestinians, who make up 80% of the population, in favor of the Beduin minority, for whom he would establish Jordan as a purely Bedouin state: "We must speak with a loud voice about the Jordanian identity," he said, "yet national unity is a red line." In other words, the king openly supports talk about imposing a Jordanian Bedouin identity on the country, while at the same time prohibiting any "unity" with the Palestinians -- a notion he had previously denounced.
The king, in his speech, was using a common Arab political trick of saying an undesired thing to the public -- reminding the Palestinians of the civil war in which they were slaughtered -- and then, in the same sentence, ostensibly defusing the threat of another slaughter by adding that he would spare the Palestinians so long as they accept the situation as is, where they are citizens, but still treated as refugees and outsiders in every way.
Although it is common for Arab regimes that are pro-Western to talk tough about the US and Israel every now and then -- to rally their people behind them by threatening these cost-free targets, and thereby divert anger away from their own repressive regimes onto other countries -- this time the context was different: The King's speech, aired on Jordanian national television, came two days after Wikileaks released several US Embassy, Amman, cables that described the testimonies of some Jordanian Palestinians officials who were complaining to Embassy officers about the discrimination against the Palestinians in Jordan. One cable, entitled, "The Grand Bargain," mentioned a Palestinian political leader's belief that the "right of return" was unfeasible - signifying the Palestinians' willingness to accept a permanent home in Jordan --rather than in hoping to return to Israel, as the refugees and five generations of descendants are continually being promised -- in exchange for finally attaining civil rights in Jordan.
The government-controlled Jordanian media expressed anger at the US Embassy -- to the point of issuing calls for a protest against both the American and Israeli embassies in Amman, which they called "the espionage beehive."
The King's talk sounded provocative and terrorizing to the Jordanian Palestinians, who are already discriminated against and disenfranchised politically by the Hashemite regime. The Bedouin-dominated town of Kerak in Southern Jordan, for example, has ten parliamentary seats for fewer than 150,000 voters, while the Palestinian-dominated Amman has barely twenty parliamentary seats for three million voters.
What made matters especially threatening was the way Jordan's Bedouins seem to have understood the King's remarks. The King's statement, for instance, that he would "not feel embarrassed to address any issue including the civil war," seems to have been understood by the Bedouin military as permission to go out and target the Palestinians. Comments on Jordanian social websites, such as Facebook, appeared, with disturbing messages of incitement: Jordanian Bedouins began calling for violence against both Israel and the Palestinian majority. One of commentators said on Facebook: "We shall give the Palestinians another Black September," said one, "only this time we will make it red." Another said: "Those Palestinians are worse than Jews. I could never make out the difference. We will march to kick [the Palestinian] out [of Jordan] and we will knock down the Israeli embassy." Still another said, "You do the killing, guys, just leave the hot Palestinian chicks for me; I will rape their little girls." While this anti-Palestinian sentiment is not new in Jordan, after the King's speech it reached a new extreme.
It seemed as if the king was threatening Israel with a war, and the Palestinians in Jordan with a civil war. This perceived threat translated into protests: one against the American Embassy in Amman on September 15th, and one against the Israeli Embassy for Friday, September 16th. Both protests were called for and organized by Nahid Hattar, a Christian Bedouin writer, who has been calling for ousting the Palestinians from Jordan, and who has openly admitted his direct one-on-one connection to the former chief of the Jordanian Intelligence Department while the latter was in office.
East Bankers have an entirely different approach to thinking about the right of return. At their most benign, our East Banker contacts tend to count on the right of return as a solution to Jordan's social, political, and economic woes. But underlying many conversations with East Bankers is the theory that once the Palestinians leave, "real" Jordanians can have their country back. They hope for a solution that will validate their current control of Jordan's government and military, and allow for an expansion into the realm of business, which is currently dominated by Palestinians.
¶12. (C) Palestinian-origin contacts certainly have their suspicions about East Banker intentions. "If the right of return happens, East Bankers assume that all of the Palestinians will leave," says parliamentarian Mohammed Al-Kouz. Other Palestinian-origin contacts offered similar observations, including Adel Irsheid and Raja'i Dajani, who was one of the founding members of the GID, and later served as Interior Minister at the time of Jordan's administrative separation from the West Bank in 1988. Dajani cited the rise of what he called "Likudnik" East Bankers, who hold out hope that the right of return will lead to an "exodus" of Palestinians.
¶13. (C) In fact, many of our East Banker contacts do seem more excited about the return (read: departure) of Palestinian refugees than the Palestinians themselves. Mejhem Al-Khraish, an East Banker parliamentarian from the central bedouin district, says outright that the reason he strongly supports the right of return is so the Palestinians will quit Jordan. East Banker Mohammed Al-Ghazo, Secretary General at the Ministry of Justice, says that Palestinians have no investment in the Jordanian political system - "they aren't interested in jobs in the government or the military" - and are therefore signaling their intent to return to a Palestinian state.
¶14. (C) When East Bankers talk about the possibility of Palestinians staying in Jordan permanently, they use the language of political threat and economic instability. Talal Al-Damen, a politician in Um Qais near the confluence of Jordan, the Golan Heights and Israel, worries that without the right of return, Jordan will have to face up to the political challenges of a state which is not united demographically. For his part, Damen is counting on a mass exodus of Palestinians to make room for East Bankers in the world of business, and to change Jordan's political landscape. This sentiment was echoed in a meeting with university students, when self-identified "pure Jordanians" in the group noted that "opportunities" are less available because there are so many Palestinians.
¶15. (C) The right of return is certainly lower on the list of East Banker priorities in comparison with their Palestinian-origin brethren, but some have thought the issue through a little more. NGO activist Sa'eda Kilani predicts that even (or especially) after a final settlement is reached, Palestinians will choose to abandon a Palestinian state in favor of a more stable Jordan where the issue of political equality has been resolved. In other words, rather than seeing significant numbers return to a Palestinian homeland, Jordan will end up dealing with a net increase in its Palestinian population.
¶16. (C) As with their Palestinian counterparts, conspiracy theories are an intrinsic part of East Banker mythology regarding the right of return. Fares Braizat, Deputy Director of the Center for Strategic Studies at Jordan University, told us two of the most commonly held examples (which he himself swears by). The first is that Jordanians of Palestinian origin choose not to vote because if they were to turn out en masse, Israel (and/or the United States) would assume that they had incorporated themselves fully into Jordanian society and declare the right of return to be null and void. The second conspiracy theory, which has a similar theme, is that after the 1994 peace agreement between Jordan and Israel, the Palestinian leadership in the West Bank issued a deliberate directive to "all Palestinians" residing in Jordan to avoid involvement in Jordanian politics so as not to be perceived as "going native." The main point of both theories is that Palestinians are planning to return to a future Palestinian state, and therefore have nothing substantive to contribute to the Jordanian political debate - a convenient reason for excluding them from that debate in the first place.
Elder of Ziyon
If you want to know the depths of cynicism of the Palestinian Arab leadership towards their people, you must read this article in The Daily Star Lebanon:Palestinian refugees will not become citizens of a new Palestinian state, according to Palestine’s ambassador to Lebanon.Let's read that again, shall we?
From behind a desk topped by a miniature model of Palestine’s hoped-for blue United Nations chair, Ambassador Abdullah Abdullah spoke to The Daily Star Wednesday about Palestine’s upcoming bid for U.N. statehood.
The ambassador unequivocally says that Palestinian refugees would not become citizens of the sought for U.N.-recognized Palestinian state, an issue that has been much discussed. “They are Palestinians, that’s their identity,” he says. “But … they are not automatically citizens.”
This would not only apply to refugees in countries such as Lebanon, Egypt, Syria and Jordan or the other 132 countries where Abdullah says Palestinians reside. Abdullah said that “even Palestinian refugees who are living in [refugee camps] inside the [Palestinian] state, they are still refugees. They will not be considered citizens.”
Abdullah said that the new Palestinian state would “absolutely not” be issuing Palestinian passports to refugees.And make it easier for Palestinian Arabs to achieve their real goal - the end of the Jewish state.
Neither this definitional status nor U.N. statehood, Abdullah says, would affect the eventual return of refugees to Palestine. “How the issue of the right of return will be solved I don’t know, it’s too early [to say], but it is a sacred right that has to be dealt with and solved [with] the acceptance of all.” He says statehood “will never affect the right of return for Palestinian refugees.”
The right of return that Abdullah says is to be negotiated would not only apply to those Palestinians whose origins are within the 1967 borders of the state, he adds. “The state is the 1967 borders, but the refugees are not only from the 1967 borders. The refugees are from all over Palestine. When we have a state accepted as a member of the United Nations, this is not the end of the conflict. This is not a solution to the conflict. This is only a new framework that will change the rules of the game.”
Elder of ZiyonIt is very easy to rise up and be angry after the incident at the Israeli embassy in Egypt; it was a case of extreme violence that has no place and should be condemned. The Egyptian people, especially its younger generation, are in a period of identity crisis, after the coup. They are trying to find their place and vent their frustrations after many years of suffering. At the same time also here we have a generation that wants to live in a a fair and better world that opposes hatred and tyranny and that fights for the basic rights and a deep desire to live a better life in a better world ... It's time we stop hating based on money and religion. We all want a better world, and it will happen only if we do it together! Let's put out a call to the Egyptian people of peace and love, and tell them that we don't want to fight them or hate them. On the contrary, we want to live as good neighbors with love, and together make life in the Middle East and the world better.... Let's show them our real faces, and perhaps open their minds .. Friday, 12:30, show love and support peace at the Egyptian Embassy.This initiative is being appreciated by many Egyptians, some of whom are writing messages of support on the Facebook page and on Twitter.
Elder of ZiyonHe seems to be one of those people who speak differently in Arabic and in English:Speaking about Iran's nuclear capability in an interview on Lebanese television in June 2007, Atwan stated, "If the Iranian missiles strike Israel, by Allah, I will go to Trafalgar Square and dance with delight."
In March 2008, Atwan said that the Mercaz HaRav shooting, in which a Palestinian gunmen killed eight students (aged 15 to 26), "was justified." He added that the Mercaz HaRav yeshiva is responsible for "hatching Israeli extremists and fundamentalists" and that the celebrations in Gaza following the attack symbolized "the courage of the Palestinian nation."
Atwan described the the attacks on Israelis in Eilat as correcting "the course of the Arab revolutions and refocused them on the most dangerous disease, namely the Israeli tyranny. This disease is the cause of all the defects that have afflicted the region for the past 65 years."
Following an October 2003 article in which Atwan claimed that the U.S. is to blame for the Arab world's hatred of it, a Yemenite journalist and columnist for the London Arabic-language daily Al-Sharq Al-Awsat, Munir Al-Mawari, stated: "The Abd Al-Bari Atwan [appearing] on CNN is completely different from the Abdel Bari Atwan on the Al-Jazeera network or in his Al-Quds Al-Arabi daily. On CNN, Atwan speaks solemnly and with total composure, presenting rational and balanced views. This is in complete contrast with his fuming appearances on Al-Jazeera and in Al-Quds Al-Arabi, in which he whips up the emotions of multitudes of viewers and readers."
In response to Atwan's legitimization of the Mercaz HaRav shooting in March 2008, Lior Ben-Dor, a spokesman at the Israeli Embassy in London, said: "The problem is that when addressing the British public, he tends to hide his true opinions and ideology - his support for terror and the murder of civilians. This article reveals Atwan's real colors, a supporter of fundamentalism and terror, and hence he should be treated accordingly."
On 17th April 2011, speaking on BBC News Channel's Dateline London, Atwan claimed that "We know that Eastern area of Libya is almost a hotbed of extremist Al-Qaeda people. I know that personally".
It appears that his opinions on Libya were a bit...tainted.
Elder of ZiyonNot many people know this, but the Israeli Embassy was not the only one attacked in Cairo last weekend.Indeed, the Saudi ambassador to Egypt complained, saying that he was assaulted, a number of Saudi embassy vehicles were burned and people tried to break into his embassy.
The Embassy of Saudi Arabia was also stormed by a mob. Strangely the Egyptian media mostly kept quiet about it. The Muslim Brotherhood, which welcomed the assault on the 'murderous Nazi Jewish invaders' had nothing to say about the Saudi incident.
Several cars were set alight but there was only minor damage to the building. however, it begs the question - why the Saudi Embassy?
...The spark which led to the weekend's violence came in the first week of September when thousands of Egyptians were trapped in Jeddah airport while trying to return home after undertaking the minor pilgrimage of the Umrah.
The Egyptians claim they were deliberately held back for days because of the January uprising against Mubarak. Some said officials insulted them and referred to the ongoing trial of the former President.
Tempers flared and Jeddah airport was treated to the unprecedented scene of a mass protest in the terminal. The final insult came as the Egyptians arrived back in Cairo to discover that hundreds of pieces of luggage were missing.
The violence of Friday/Saturday has not been repeated, but there have been smaller peaceful protests outside the embassy demanding the Ambassador leave the country.
Elder of Ziyon...A strong and sometimes violent dislike of Israel is a fact of Egyptian life, something I was unfortunate enough to discover after a cross-border raid by Israel killed several Egyptian security personnel.(h/t Challah Hu Akbar)
The Israelis had been chasing a group of gunmen who had attacked an Israeli bus close to the border between the two countries.
While walking in the street someone pushed me from behind with such force that I nearly fell over.
Turning around, I found myself surrounded by five men, one of whom tried to punch me in the face. I stopped the attack by pointing out how shameful it was for a Muslim to assault a guest in his country, especially during Ramadan.
Relieved that a seemingly random assault was over, I was appalled by the apology offered by one of my assailants. "Sorry," he said contritely, offering his hand, "we thought you were a Jew."
Shaking his head in disbelief on hearing the news, an Egyptian friend sympathised: "That's stupid, you are obviously not a Jew."
The chilling implication I was left with was that, had I been Jewish, the assault would have apparently been justified.
Elder of ZiyonAt the headquarters of the Palestinian postal service in the West Bank city of Ramallah, excitement is growing over the bid to see UN membership for a Palestinian state.Again? Was there an Arab-run Palestine post office in the past?
The post office has already inked a deal to begin extricating its delivery system from Israeli supervision, and is eagerly preparing for the reality that could emerge after the Palestinians go to the United Nations next week to seek full membership for their state.
... The new system might seem like a small step, but the postal service considers it enough of a revolution to be issuing a new logo with the words: "We emerge again."
The postal service is also planning to switch the currency marked on its stamps from the Jordanian dinar to the Palestinian pound, which existed before Israel's establishment in 1948, though it is no longer in circulation.As CAMERA notes linking to an older post of mine, the Palestinian pound was also British currency with Hebrew and Arabic written on it:
Elder of ZiyonA senior official in the Foreign Ministry said that the security assurances from Jordan have reduced fears of a serious attack against the embassy, Israel Radio reported Thursday, despite evacuations of the mission on Wednesday evening.On Facebook and Twitter, the evacuation of the ambassador is already being celebrated as a victory.
The evacuation occurred hours before a Facebook organized march under the banner (in Arabic) of "No Zionist embassy on Jordanian territory."
Unlike in Egypt, where diplomats lived with their families, in Amman the Israeli delegation serves without their families, and comes home for weekends.
Elder of ZiyonBoaz Ron-Zohar, a high-school physics teacher from the Western Galilee, has officially identified an asteroid previously unknown to the scientific community. Ron-Zohar discovered the asteroid in July, while conducting a research project with Israeli high-school students as part of the international Faulkes Telescope Project. Ron-Zohar and his students are now requesting the Israeli public's help in naming the asteroid.What name would upset the anti-Israel crowd the most?
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PROTOCOLS: EXPOSING MODERN ANTISEMITISM
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The Apartheid charge, the Abraham Accords and the "right side of history"
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