Elder Of Ziyon - Israel News

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Media has lots on the prisoners, little on the terror

A week ago, Yahya Dabassa Ibrahim was on a hunger strike, rotting away in an Israeli prison where he expected to spend the rest of his life.

But the Oct. 18 prisoner swap between Israel and the Palestinian militant group Hamas landed the Bethlehem native in a surreal place: the Gaza Strip’s brand-new luxury hotel.

The eight-story Al-Mashtal Hotel, which opened in late July, is an oasis of fluffy white duvets, stunning ocean views, steaks cooked to perfection and sparkling swimming pools. Its splendor is startling in this blockaded territory where dozens of bombed buildings lie in ruin, heaps of garbage dot nearly every street and the Mediterranean shoreline is speckled by evidence of the tons of raw sewage dumped into the ocean every day.

As he sat in the hotel’s dimly lighted courtyard on a recent evening, Ibrahim, a convicted bombmaker, struggled to describe how dramatically his luck had changed.

Ibrahim, 50, served roughly 10 years of a life sentence. He was among the prisoners who went on a hunger strike in recent months after Israel took away certain perks, including access to television, and limited visits by relatives.

He was accused of manufacturing explosives that were used in attacks in Israeli cities, according to news reports. Ibrahim said he didn’t want to discuss the incidents that led to his incarceration, but he made it clear that he didn’t regret participating in militancy.

“We sacrificed part of our lives not to stay in hotels like these, but to liberate Palestine,” he said.

This terrorist is Yihya Ibrahim Abd al-Hafez Daamsah, who helped coordinate the Cafe Moment bombing of 2002. He was serving a life sentence. Since the Washington Post doesn't want to delve into the details of exactly why he was in prison, I will.

From Israel's MFA:

11 people were killed and 54 injured, 10 of them seriously, when a suicide bomber exploded at 22:30 PM Saturday night, March 9, 2002, in a crowded Moment cafe at the corner of Aza and Ben-Maimon streets in the Rehavia neighborhood in the center of Jerusalem. Hamas claimed responsibility for the attack.

The bomber walked into the cafe, located at the corner of Aza and Ben-Maimon streets about 100 meters from the prime minister's residence, and detonated a powerful explosive charge that completely gutted the restaurant.

The names of the victims:

- Limor Ben-Shoham, 27, of Jerusalem;
- Nir Rahamim Borochov, 22, of Givat Ze'ev;
- Danit Dagan, 25, of Tel-Aviv;
- Livnat Dvash, 28, of Jerusalem;
- Tali Eliyahu, 26, of Jerusalem;
- Uri Felix, 25, of Givat Ze'ev;
- Dan Imani, 23, of Jerusalem;
- Natanel Kochavi, 31, of Kiryat Ata;
- Baruch Lerner-Naor, 28, of Eli;
- Orit Ozarov, 28, of Jerusalem;
- Avraham Haim Rahamim, 29, of Jerusalem

Limor Ben Shoham	Nir Borochov	Danit Dagan	Livnat Dvash
Tali Eliyahu	Uri Felix	Dan Imani	Natanel Kochavi
Baruch Lerner-Naor	Orit Ozerov	Avraham Rahamim

(h/t Allan)

Intransigent Abbas keeps on adding preconditions to talks

From The Telegraph:

The Quartet – which comprises the United States, the European Union, the United Nations and Russia – will hold separate talks with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators on Wednesday, the first contact of any kind that the two sides have had in 10 months.

But hopes for a breakthrough, never high to begin with, suffered a further setback as it emerged that Mr Abbas intended to hold Israel to a pledge made three years ago to release hundreds of Palestinian prisoners as a gesture to his moderate Fatah party.

Desperate to wring concessions of his own, Mr Abbas has reminded Israel of a promise made by its former prime minister, Ehud Olmert, to follow up any prisoner swap with Hamas by a similar deal with Fatah. Ahmad Tibi, an Israeli Arab MP with close links to Palestinian officials, said that Mr Abbas would now have no choice but to make fulfilment of the Olmert agreement a condition for renewing talks.

Or, as Ha'aretz wrote:

At the Knesset on Monday, MK Ahmed Tibi (United Arab List-Ta'al ) said that Israel should not be surprised if the two current conditions the Palestinians have set for restarting talks - a halt to construction in the settlements and recognition of the 1967 borders as a basis for negotiations - become three, the third being the prisoner release.

Of course, Olmert's conditional promises in the context of 2008 negotiations that Abbas himself broke off are meaningless today, as they were not an official Israeli offer (and from the context it sounds like it was meant to help Abbas give incentives to Hamas to release Shalit, something he didn't do.)

Over the summer, Abbas had three other preconditions that may still be in force: that the EU supports for reconciliation talks between Hamas and Fatah, that the EU supports the UN stunt, and a statement from the EU that the statehood stunt is not a contradiction to negotiations.

The upshot is that Abbas and his cronies are continuing their strategy of saying "no" to Israel, in hopes that by doing so they will get everything they demand without compromising. And as long as Western governments and the media do not call them on this duplicity, they have no incentive to change this strategy.

(h/t CHA, David G; see also Seth Mandel)

Iraq floated swapping 100,000 Jews for Palestinian Arabs in 1949

An amazing article in The Palestine Post from October 1949:

Jews in Iraq had been persecuted throughout the 1930s and they suffered a major pogrom in 1941, known as the Farhud.

This persecution continued throughout the decade, as this 1961 Israeli MFA article (that skeptically mentions the swap offer) notes:

How the Jews of Iraq Became Refugees

An eye-witness account, written by a visitor from overseas early in 1949 shortly after the conclusion of the Arab war against Israel, presents a graphic picture of the position of Iraqi Jewry at that time: “The Jews of Iraq” it stated, “are in a state of panic. They have been attacked in the streets, have had their businesses broken into and an alarming number have been murdered in cold blood. They have been dismissed from all branches of public and civil service, must submit to a curfew every evening and have been barred from most of the general amenities available to the ordinary citizen. Many have made desperate attempts to escape, but without success.”

When the United Nations Economic Survey Commission for the Middle East visited Baghdad in October 1949, the then Iraqi Premier was reported to have proposed that 100,000 Iraqi Jews out of some 160,000 to 180,000 be sent to Israel in exchange for 100,000 Palestine Arab refugees. The Jews were to leave their property in Iraq and take over the property in Israel of 100,000 Arabs. If this suggestion of a population transfer and mutual financial compensation was really made, it was soon dropped by the Iraqi Government. It was apparently found easier to terrorize the Jews into leaving by fixing a time limit for their departure and enacting legislation to seize their possessions for the benefit of the Iraqi exchequer.

In the third week of December 1949, a second wave of anti-Jewish pogroms began. Thousands were imprisoned on charges of “Zionism” or taken into “protective custody.” When, as expected, large numbers thereupon applied for exit permits to Israel, legislation was rushed through freezing Jewish accounts in the banks and forbidding the sale of property without special permit. Jews were permitted to leave with only 50 kgs of luggage per person. On 10 March, 1950, the Iraqi Government issued a decree blocking the property of all Jews who, on leaving the country, “had relinquished their nationality.” A special custodian of Jewish property was appointed, who began immediately to sell it by public auction.

To speed up the departure of the Jewish community, the Iraqi Government set a time limit for it, fixing 21 June as the final date. As a further incentive a series of laws was enacted designed to make the position of the Jews in the country untenable. Restrictions were imposed on their movements. They were barred from schools, hospitals and other public institutions. They were refused import and export licences for carrying on their business. At the same time the arrests continued. So effective were these oppressive measures that by mid-July 1950 over 110,000 Iraqi Jews had registered for emigration and by June 1951 had left for Israel. By the end of 1951, the number of Iraqi Jews transferred to Israel amounted approximately to 125,000. Most of them were brought over by chartered aircraft. They arrived utterly destitute, carrying small bags which held all their belongings. Such was the end of what had been for centuries the most prosperous and cultured Jewish community of the East--a community which could trace its history back for more than 2,000 years, centuries before the Arabs had come to Iraq.

And, no, the anti-semitic slander that Jews were behind some of the anti-Jewish attacks in Iraq at the time has been proven a lie.

Anyway, the offer itself is most intriguing. Chances are that the Arab League at the time forced Iraq to withdraw the offer in order to keep the refugee issue festering, the way that Arab leaders had been doing for decades.

But imagine if Iraq's initial 1949 offer had been matched by Egypt, Syria, Lebanon and the Gulf states.

The refugee issue would have been solved sixty years ago.

"Foul Palestinian recipe" - by Durra

From The Telegraph, in their continuing series of amusing signs and labels found by their readers:

Since the entire second intifada was fueled by the Al Dura hoax, calling it a "foul Palestinian recipe" seems about right.

Durra is a Syrian food company. This product isn't on their website, but you can find their foul Lebanese recipe there if you want as well as all of their foul products.

(h/t ploni)

Hamas earthquake article an object lesson in Arab paranoia

The Hamas-run Palestine Times newspaper has an article praising Tayyip Erdogan for refusing Israel's offer to help after Sunday's earthquake. This article is a perfect example of Arab paranoia, of seeing schemes and conspiracy theories everywhere.

Although Recep Tayyip Erdogan is long known for his courage against Israel, what Netanyahu did not expect was for the Prime Minister of Turkey to be smarter when he rushed to abort his plan to exploit the earthquake to achieve political gains at the expense of the blood of "freedom flotilla" martyrs.

Israeli President Shimon Peres held a telephone conversation with his Turkish counterpart Abdullah Gul during which he expressed his condolences t the deaths of citizens in the Turkish earthquake. Not only did he offer condolences, but Israel also offered to provide assistance. Yet it received a blow when Ankara strongly refused, and thus Netanyahu missed an early opportunity to to exploit the tragedy of the earthquake to end the isolation of the Zionist entity and to circumvent the demands of Erdogan regarding the flotilla massacre , which includes an apology and compensation for victims.

Given that Turkey was among the first countries that provided assistance to Israel to extinguish a massive fire that broke out in the forest of the Carmel Mountains near Haifa in December, and also Tel Aviv provided aid to Turkey in the aftermath of an earthquake several years ago, many interpret Erdogan's decision in the earthquake disaster as a new message to Netanyahu that the relations between them will not return to normal at all without an apology for the massacre of Freedom Flotilla.

Some also see a link between Erdogan's new anti-Israel position and mention in some Turkish media about the involvement of the Mossad in simultaneous attacks waged by the PKK on October 18 on the eight sites of the Turkish army in the province of Hakkari, near the Iraqi border, which resulted in 24 Turkish soldiers killed and wounded about 20 others. The PKK did not resume its attacks on Turkish forces until after Erdogan's challenge to Israel.

Parsing Bad RachelA - did she call for "genocide"?

The anti-Israel left is putting on a big show of fake disgust at a blog post by Rachel Decter Abrams (wife of Elliott Abrams, half sister of John Podhoretz) where, they claim, she is advocating genocide against Palestinian Arabs.

They then go on to demand that any group or person associated with her denounce her awful, terrible, rhetoric.

As is usual (with both sides), this is an attempt to score political points more than any real expression of outrage. However, it is worth looking at exactly what Rachel Abrams wrote.

Here is the entire post:

GILAD!!!!!!!!!!

He’s free and he’s home in the bosom of his family and his country.

Celebrate, Israel, with all the joyous gratitude that fills your hearts, as we all do along with you.

Then round up his captors, the slaughtering, death-worshiping, innocent-butchering, child-sacrificing savages who dip their hands in blood and use women—those who aren’t strapping bombs to their own devils’ spawn and sending them out to meet their seventy-two virgins by taking the lives of the school-bus-riding, heart-drawing, Transformer-doodling, homework-losing children of Others—and their offspring—those who haven’t already been pimped out by their mothers to the murder god—as shields, hiding behind their burkas and cradles like the unmanned animals they are, and throw them not into your prisons, where they can bide until they’re traded by the thousands for another child of Israel, but into the sea, to float there, food for sharks, stargazers, and whatever other oceanic carnivores God has put there for the purpose.

Admittedly, the last paragraph is a very poorly written run-on sentence, and not easy to parse.

Here I will put in parentheses and color to try to clarify Rachel's meaning and extract her asides and asides to asides from her main point:

Then round up his captors (the slaughtering, death-worshiping, innocent-butchering, child-sacrificing savages who dip their hands in blood, and use women [those who aren’t strapping bombs to their own devils’ spawn and sending them out to meet their seventy-two virgins by taking the lives of the school-bus-riding, heart-drawing, Transformer-doodling, homework-losing children of Others] and their offspring [those who haven’t already been pimped out by their mothers to the murder god] as shields, hiding behind their burkas and cradles like the unmanned animals they are,) and throw them not into your prisons, where they can bide until they’re traded by the thousands for another child of Israel, but into the sea, to float there, food for sharks, stargazers, and whatever other oceanic carnivores God has put there for the purpose.

To make it easier, I'll take out the extraneous stuff:

Then round up his captors - the savages who dip their hands in blood, and use women and their offspring as shields - and throw them not into your prisons, where they can bide until they’re traded by the thousands for another child of Israel, but into the sea,...

A little analysis shows that this must be the correct intention. Her use of dashes as parentheses show that "women and offspring" are being used as human shields by the terrorists, although she makes an exception for those who are terrorists in their own right ("those who aren't strapping bombs..." and "those who haven't already been pimped out...")

In short - Rachel Decter Abrams was calling for the death of Gilad Shalit's captors, period.

While admittedly the sentence structure is terrible, before someone accuses another of genocidal intent, it would behoove them to make an effort to actually read what was written. Otherwise, the accusation is simply slander.

But I have a feeling that these poseurs who are so quick to accuse another of genocidal intentions will not have the ethics to admit that they were wrong, and to apologize to her. Ethics are for the other guys.

Australian professor warns research with Israelis could offend Muslims

From the University of Sydney:

The Office of Deputy Vice-Chancellor, International will be hosting the University of Sydney- Israel Research Partnership Forum: “Shared Challenges, Future Solutions” on 31 October 2011. The Forum brings together academics from the University of Sydney and leading Israeli institutions to discuss research innovations in key thematic areas including medicine; water, food and agriculture; pedagogy of teaching second languages and Dead Sea Scrolls; energy and information technology. The aim of the Forum is to acknowledge and develop new research collaborations in areas of mutual national and global concern.

Date: Monday, 31st October 2011
Time: 9.00am to 5.45pm
Location: Theatre 101, New Law School Building Annex, Camperdown Campus
Cost: Free

An associate professor at the university and self-styled expert on "peace journalism" thinks this is a bad idea - because it might offend Muslims:

UNIVERSITY of Sydney scholars set to exchange ideas with visiting Israeli experts on neuroscience, tissue regeneration and other cutting-edge research areas are being warned the event will offend potential Muslim undergraduates.

Associate Professor Jake Lynch, director of the university's Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies, has urged his colleagues to withdraw from the research gathering, and the university administration to cancel it.

Not surprisingly, Lynch is a supporter of BDS - and a purveyor of bizarre "Jewish lobby"-style conspiracy theories.

But usually when he attacks Israel he represents his position as being his own. Here, he seems to be pretending that this is the position of the Centre for Peace and Conflict Studies.

And even though Lynch is a strident critic of Israel, note how he is framing the argument - that potential Muslim students would avoid applying to the university because they are so offended!

Which means that, by his logic, if any potential students at U of S may be offended by anti-Zionism as well as by illogical arguments from a member of the faculty, then the university is duty-bound to fire him.

(h/t sophie)

Palestine Today reports that prominent Saudi Sheikh Awad al Qarni has offered a $100,000 reward to anyone who kidnaps an Israeli soldier.

He made the offer on a Facebook page that has some 700 fans so far.

In 2009 he issued a fatwa to attack all Israelis and Israeli interests anywhere in the world.

How Turkish diplomats saved Jews from the Holocaust

From Hurriyet Daily News:

“Turkish Passport” is an unusual story about the Holocaust; it is unusual simply by having the word “Turkish” in its title, since Turkey was a neutral country during WW II. The documentary, directed by former advertisement director Burak Cem Arlıel and written by Deniz Yeşilgün and Gökhan Zincir, is a surprising recount of Turkish diplomats in France and other European countries who had saved the lives of tens of thousands of Jews by issuing them Turkish passports.

Based on extensive research of four years, “Turkish Passport” tells the story of Turkish diplomats and those saved by them through interviews with the survivors, the relatives of the survivors and the relatives of the Turkish diplomats, as well as re-enactments. It was definitely a period when Turkish bureaucracy was not as stalled, and when a Turkish passport was literally a lifesaver.

The film recounts stories of Turkish diplomats like Behiç Erkin, Turkey’s ambassador to France, who issued passports to French Jews of Turkish ancestry and helped ship them off to Turkey in rescue trains. The diplomats issued passports to anyone who could utter a few sentences in Turkish...

The "tens of thousands" is an exaggeration but certainly many Jews - in the hundreds - were saved by a network of Turkish diplomats. Most of them, but not all, were Turkish Jews.

Here is a news story about the film:

And the trailer:

The website for the movie has some fascinating material.

Erekat's lie of the day

Chief PLO negotiator and Western darling Saeb Erekat just can't help himself. He lies every time he opens his mouth.

The latest example comes from Palestine Press Agency:

Saeb Erekat said the statements of Foreign Minister Avigdor Lieberman, who claimed that President Mahmoud Abbas is the biggest obstacle to peace and must be removed, are extremely dangerous and an invitation to assassinate and kill President Abu Mazen.

Erekat told the radio station 'Voice of Palestine' that he made contacts with both the United States and the European Union and Russia to have them denounce these dangerous statements.

Erekat said, "We understand that there is a price for everything, but when it comes to public incitement to kill President Abu Mazen, this is what we reject."

Here's what Lieberman said:

If there is a true stumbling block to peace, it is Abu Mazen. When [Abbas] talks about quitting, it’s not a threat, it’s a blessing, I can only hope that he leaves soon. Anyone who replaces him will be better than he is.

Incitement to kill Abbas?

After all these years, Erekat knows that Western diplomats and the media will not call him on his astounding record of lying, so he will continue to do so with impunity.

Turkey still refusing earthquake help (updated)

From Reuters:

Turkey is much better placed to deal with its latest earthquake since overhauling its emergency operations in the past decade, but international experts questioned on Monday its decision to rebuff many outside offers of help.

The country has plenty of experience in dealing with earthquakes after living through a "seismic storm" over the past century, but that hasn't always translated into prompt relief.

Disaster response has much improved since a 7.6 magnitude quake in the Western city of Izmit killed 17,000 people in 1999.

Nevertheless, experts said the region's rising economic power still lagged the level of organization seen, for example, in Japan -- raising questions about Ankara's rejection of foreign help after Sunday's 7.2 magnitude quake in southeastern Turkey.

"It would be better to accept all the help you can get," said Matthew Free, immediate past chairman of the Institution of Structural Engineers' earthquake field investigation team, who helped after the Izmit quake. "It's not a good time to be proud ... saving lives is the top priority."

Prime Minister Tayyip Erdogan, who flew to Van in southeast Turkey to assess the damage from the Ercis quake, said the country could cope by itself.

He declined offers of help from, among others, the United States, Britain and Germany, as well as neighboring Israel and Armenia, which both have strained relations with Ankara. Turkey has accepted help only from Iran, Azerbaijan and Bulgaria.

How many lives could have been, and still could be, saved?

While it does not appear that Turkey is singling out Israel in refusing aid, it is acting irresponsibly with the lives of its citizens.

UPDATE: Turkey is now asking for equipment from Israel and other countries.

One of the most important collections of ancient Islamic texts is in Israel

From Ha'aretz:

The National Library in Jerusalem is to begin displaying old Muslim religious texts from its collections, including some that are quite rare. Among the texts to be displayed as part of a special series on the history of Islam, are also two Korans from the ninth century, just 200 years or so after the writing of the first Koran.

In addition, the public will be able to view three Korans from the 11th and 12th centuries that come from Antalya, Andalusia and Persia. Most of the manuscripts are part of the collection of the Jewish scholar Abraham Shalom Yehuda. Upon his death, Shalom Yehuda, a prominent early 20th century Islamic studies researcher, donated his collection to the National Library. The collection includes 1,184 old manuscripts, of which around 100 are Korans, and is deemed one of the Western world's most important collections of ancient Muslim manuscripts.

Several of Shalom Yehuda's are among the most beautiful of the ancient Korans and feature unique decorations. "He had a great eye for books," says Dr. Raquel Ukeles, the curator of the National Library's Islam and Middle East collection and the initiator of the series.

The rare manuscripts will be displayed as part of a series of seminars at the library. Each day of the program will also feature the participation of researchers or Muslim clerics. According to Ukeles, there were no rejections of her invitation to come to the National Library from Arab clerics, only enthusiastic favorable replies. "Most Jewish Israelis, and even the Muslim Israelis, don't know much about Islam. For me, it's an opportunity to create an encounter between the university and other worlds, where they can get acquainted with each other," she said.

The program is part of the library management's relatively new policy which is aimed at opening its collections to the general public and not just to researchers. However, Ukeles also notes that even Muslim scholars are unaware of the Shalom Yehuda collection and its importance. "I discovered that it's a secret of sorts; hardly anyone knows about it. Part of the fun in the series is that we are opening it to the general public," Ukeles said.

Abraham Shalom Yahuda was one of the most important collectors of Islamica in the world before his death in 1951.

If some of those ancient Korans deviate at all from today's accepted text, this could become very interesting.

Daily Show take on the conflict (video)

I had missed this very funny bit from The Daily Show last month:

(h/t Ruchie)

Egypt, Israel agree on Grapel deal

From Al Arabiya:

Egypt and Israel said Monday they have finalized arrangements to exchange an alleged Israeli spy for 25 Egyptians held in Israeli jails, on the heels of a Hamas-Israel prisoner swap.

“Egypt has agreed to release Ilan Grapel and at Egypt’s request Israel has agreed to free 25 Egyptian prisoners,” Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's office said in a statement.

According to the statement, the Egyptians lined up for release –including three minors – are not security prisoners.

Egypt’s official MENA news agency said the swap is expected to take place “in the next two days.”

The deal is subject to the approval of Israel's 14-member security cabinet which is due to convene on Tuesday, the statement said. But it is highly unlikely to reject the agreement.

Ouda Tarabin is still not being discussed.

Partial list of terrorists released by Israel - and what they did

Here is my quick attempt to put together information from the IDF, Israel's Prison Service and Wikipedia to come up with the most comprehensive list of prisoners released by Israel last week, what they were charged with and any details I could grab about their acts of terror, when available.

I auto-translated the Hebrew for the charges, which is why it sounds a little weird.

List of Prisoners Released by Israel 10-15-11 v1

Taking apart a Guardian idiot

The Guardian published a jaw-droppingly stupid article last week, by Deborah Orr:

It's quite something, the prisoner swap between Hamas and the Israeli government that returns Gilad Shalit to his family, and more than 1,000 Palestinian prisoners to theirs. The deal is widely viewed as a victory for Hamas, the radical Islamist group that gained power in Gaza after years of frustration at the intractability of the "peace process". Conversely, it is being seen by some as a sign of weakness in Israel's rightwing prime minister Binyamin Netanyahu.

All this, I fear, is simply an indication of how inured the world has become to the obscene idea that Israeli lives are more important than Palestinian lives. Netanyahu argues that he acted because he values Shalit's life so greatly.

Yet who is surprised really, to learn that Netanyahu sees one Israeli's freedom as a fair exchange for the freedom of so many Palestinians? Likewise, Hamas wished to use their human bargaining chip to gain release for as many Palestinians as they could. They don't have much to bargain with.

At the same time, however, there is something abject in their eagerness to accept a transfer that tacitly acknowledges what so many Zionists believe – that the lives of the chosen are of hugely greater consequence than those of their unfortunate neighbours.

I don't know, but I think that Israel would have accepted a deal where they only release one mid-level Hamas militant in exchange for Shalit, which would be a 1:1 exchange and might make Deborah Orr much happier that the lives of "chosen" aren't worth so much.

But rather than fully fisk her here, you can read the many articles that destroy her imbecilic piece:

Honest Reporting
Pro-PalArab Simian Ovoid
CiFWatch
Professor Alan Johnson
Normblog
Jeffrey Goldberg
Alan A at Harry's Place

BBC publishes article by Hamas terrorist cheerleader

The depths of disgusting at the BBC:

Palestinian Nasser Ziad explains why he thinks the [Shalit] deal was right.

Among the hundreds of Palestinian prisoners released by Israel in the first stage of their exchange for Gilad Shalit, there was my close friend's father, Omar al-Ghoul.

I was very happy for all the prisoners and their families as they were reunited after years of unlawful separation and inhumane treatment, but especially for the al-Ghouls who live in Mughraga, central Gaza, close to the former Israeli settlement of Netzarim.

Omar al-Ghoul was a member of the al-Qassam Brigades, the military wing of Hamas. He received a triple life sentence from an Israeli court 24 years ago for his role in attacks on Israeli targets in Gaza and for joining a secret cell of fighters.

My friend, Ibrahim al-Ghoul, was born six months after his father was detained. Until this week, he had not seen him for 10 years, since a prison visit in 2001.

Since talk of a possible prisoner exchange with Israel began five years ago, following the capture of Cpl Shalit, I have seen his face light up with hope only to turn to sadness each time a deal appeared imminent but then fell through.

It has been difficult to grow up without getting to know his dad. "It's like you are told you have a father but you have never seen him," Ibrahim told me.

There is so much catching up to do that he still does not know what stories he and his father will be able to share. "Let's see if I will get used to him quickly," he says.

Ibrahim's mother, Suheir al-Ghoul, has done her best to raise her children and look after 18 grandchildren in her husband's absence. For a long time, she depended on intermittent visits to the prison to see him and allow him to assume some fatherly duties. However the Israelis suddenly blocked these for the whole family 10 years ago.

Suheir has always said that her husband Omar is not a murderer, but a hero. He was fighting for our freedom and our dignity. He never wanted to fight anyone but living under the Israeli occupation is very tough.

She turned up at Rafah to meet her husband with her two sons, both wearing the uniform of the al-Qassam brigade.

As a Palestinian, I also perceive Omar and all the Palestinian prisoners as national heroes. They have sacrificed themselves for the Palestinian struggle.

I also believe Gilad Shalit was a legitimate target for capture.

I don't know the specific attacks that al Ghoul participated in. A triple life sentence indicates that at least three Israelis were killed as a result of his attacks.

Omar al-Ghoul's father Mahmoud and uncle were terrorists ("majahadeen") in 1948, and his brother Adnan was one of the founders of the al-Qassam Brigades terror group, a top bombmaker and one of the developers of the Qassam terror missile. Omar founded a Hamas cell with Adnan.

Omar, according to Hamas' website, was involved in various attacks against "Zionist forces" as well as helping to kill "collaborators." A Hamas forum post brags about how his cell killed many Jews and collaborators.

Omar's sons also followed him in terror; one was killed by the IDF and another imprisoned.

The entire family has been involved in three generations of attacks against Jews. The idea that Omar "never wanted to fight anyone" is a transparent lie - he was raised to become a terrorist and in turn he raised a new generation of terrorists.

While the BBC allows a cheerleader for terrorists to weep over how Omar's mother missed her son, it doesn't bother to spend any time explaining exactly why he might have been sentenced to three life sentences. Apparently Omar's mother deserves more sympathy for knowing her son was in prison than his victims' families do for never having a chance to see their loved ones again.

(h/t hakunamatata)

Your tax dollars at work: PA to pay released murderers

From JPost:

Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas has decided to honor Palestinian prisoners who were released in last week’s Gilad Schalit exchange deal by rewarding them financially, Prisoners Affairs Minister Issa Qaraqi announced over the weekend.

Hamas representatives, meanwhile, called for kidnapping more IDF soldiers so they could be traded for the remaining Palestinian prisoners in Israel.

Qaraqi said that all prisoners would benefit from the grants, including those who were deported to the Gaza Strip, a number of Arab countries or Turkey.

PA governors and some “national institutions” have begun distributing the money to the released prisoners in accordance with PA regulations and laws, he said.

Qaraqi did not say how much each prisoner would get from the PA government.

Abbas’s decision follows a similar move by Hamas Prime Minister Ismail Haniyeh, who decided to give each prisoner a $2,000 grant.

Meanwhile, the prisoners who were deported to the Gaza Strip are staying at a five-star hotel at the expense of the Hamas government.

And here they are at their luxury Gaza hotel in a photo series at Palestine Times:

Natural gas pipeline from Egypt to Israel re-opens

From Ma'an:

The flow of natural gas from Egypt to Israel has resumed after a cut of several months due to repeated militant attacks, Israel's National Infrastructure Ministry said on Sunday.

It said gas began to flow in reduced quantities on Thursday night to test the system, before a resumption of full levels.

Egypt's Sinai desert pipeline which connects to Israel has been attacked by militants six times this year, and an Israeli official said the state has not received gas through the pipeline since a bombing in July.

Egypt supplies 43 percent of Israel's natural gas, which generates 40 percent of Israeli electricity.

National Infrastructure Minister Uzi Landau said in April that his country would have to find alternatives if the Egyptian gas exports did not resume.

I think it is a safe bet that there will be more attacks on the pipeline in the near future.

Israel seems to be fast-tracking the use of gas fields in the Mediterranean, which are still a couple of years away.

Abbas, the failed leader (video)

Free Middle East made another very nice video, attacking Mahmoud Abbas for his cozying up to Hamas at the expense of his people:

Turkey refuses Israeli quake aid - but accepts it from Iran

Yesterday I wondered whether Turkey would accept any offers by Israel to help after the devastating earthquake in Van.

Initial reports said that Turkey declined aid from all nations that offered, including Israel.

From Reuters yesterday:

Turkey declined an offer of aid from its former strategic ally Israel Sunday after a powerful earthquake struck southeast Turkey, Israeli Defense Minister Ehud Barak said.

"I am under the impression the Turks do not want our help," Barak told Channel 2 News. "Right now (their answer) is negative but if they see they need more aid and don't have it, or if they rethink it, we have made the offer and remain prepared (to help)," he said.

A Turkish foreign ministry official said later that Turkey had received offers of help from dozens of countries after the magnitude 7.2 quake, and had so far declined assistance from all of them.

This is stupid, of course. When lives are in the balance it is ridiculous to act macho at the expense of human lives. But if Turkey decided that it can do it alone, that is their right.

Unless...they say they declined all help in order to avoid being indebted to Israel as well as Armenia.

Because here is what Al Arabiya is reporting:

Iran’s Red Crescent has sent rescue teams, ambulances and a field hospital to Turkey to help out in the wake of a devastating quake there, the state news agency IRNA reported Monday.

Mahmoud Mozafar, the head of the Iranian Red Crescent Society, was quoted as saying that “Turkish officials have defined an area in the Van region for Iranian rescuers to bring medical assistance to the injured.”

Iran has sent 20 rescuers, 20 ambulances, a field hospital, food supplies and 50 tents for emergency shelter to the quake-hit region in Turkey, which lies just over the border with Iran, Mozafar said.

Iranian Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Salehi telephoned his Turkish counterpart, Ahmet Davutoglu, to express his condolences over the loss of life suffered in the disaster.

After visiting the quake zone, Erdogan returned to Ankara, where he is expected to chair a cabinet meeting to discuss the response to the disaster.

He said Turkey was able to meet the challenge itself, but thanked countries that had offered help, including Armenia and Israel, two governments that have strained relations with Ankara, Reuters reported.

CNN adds:

Tents and rescue teams have come from as far away as Iran and Azerbaijan.

So Turkey is accepting aid.

Just not from countries it doesn't want to be associated with.

How many prisoners signed an anti-terror pledge? Not many.

I noted last week that IMRA reported the text that released Arab prisoners signed, pledging not to join terror groups or incite against Israel,and that if they do they can be forced to resume their prison sentences.

There is concern among the Palestinian Arabs that this would allow Israel to re-arrest released terrorists for things like traffic violations or building without a permit, not to mention participating in anti-Israel demonstrations.

A lawyer for at least one prisoner is trying to get Egypt to force Israel to cancel the pledges.

However, Hamas spokesman Mushir al Masri claims that most prisoners refused to sign the pledge to begin with, except for the few that live in Israel itself. The Egyptian ambassador in Tel Aviv also claims that Egypt did not pressure prisoners to sign any declarations, and that the pledges were not part of the deal.

The Christian Science Monitor seems to confirm this, reporting that a mere 5% of the released prisoners signed any sort of pledge:

Fifty-five of the detainees were required to sign documents promising not to return to terrorist activities and to obey the security conditions of their release. The security restrictions vary based on a risk assessment completed by the Israel Prison System, with some barred from leaving their village or city.

Those Israel is less concerned about will only be required to present themselves every two or three months at the nearest office of the Israeli Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, says spokesman Maj. Guy Inbar.

For Nael Barghouti – who served 34 years in an Israeli prison, making him the longest held Palestinian detainee – that will mean visiting the Israeli settlement of Beit El.

Mr. Barghouti returned to his village of Kobar, near Ramallah, on Tuesday, and will not be allowed to leave the area again for three years. If he violates these conditions, Barghouti will have to return to jail to finish the life sentence he was given for his role in the death of an Israeli soldier in the West Bank in 1978.

Some say the restrictions are unfair, and that if the prisoners are truly freed, they should not be so tightly controlled.

“It’s not fair to make special conditions for some prisoners,” says Ziad Abu Ein, Palestinian Authority Deputy Minister of Prisoners’ Affairs, pointing out that many prisoners will not even be able to travel to neighboring cities for work. “You released him, so you should give him all the opportunity to live like other people, to be married and have a house.”

Those with special security arrangements will essentially remain under direct monitoring of Israeli authorities, says Mr. Abu Ein. Israeli forces, who patrol the West Bank, will decide if prisoners broke the conditions of their release, he says.

But Israel says these restrictions are necessary to protect its citizens because, left alone, some of the former prisoners may soon begin plotting attacks again.

Today's Maariv also confirms that most prisoners refused to sign the release form. The story is that one of the prisoners told Israeli security that he has no problem scuttling the entire Shalit deal by refusing to sign, and word got around to the other prisoners about his refusal, so they followed suit, some saying "we will free ourselves anyway." The Prime Minister's office, somewhat defensively, said that signing the form was never part of the agreement.

US Ambassador Robert Ford leaves Syria (updated)

In June, I presented one argument to recall Syrian ambassador Robert Ford by Tony Badran:

President Obama already lent American prestige to Assad when he decided to recess appoint Ambassador Ford. Awarding normal diplomatic relations with a superpower to a rogue regime is a legitimating act on its own. If the Obama administration is serious about ratcheting up the pressure against Assad, it should first state publicly that it is done dealing with the Syrian dictator, then follow that with a declaration that it is withdrawing the US ambassador from Damascus.

A few days ago, The New Republic gave the opposing argument:

Since the Syrian people began their uprising against the rule of Bashar al-Assad, Americans have been told repeatedly that there is little they can do about the situation. Experts in think tanks, universities, and the halls of U.S. government have been eager to remind us that the conditions in Syria—with its fractured opposition, brutal and loyal military forces, and fragile regional neighborhood—simply didn’t leave much room for Americans to make a difference.

But Robert Ford, our ambassador in Damascus, never seemed to accept this simplistic line of thinking. By bearing witness and speaking out relentlessly from inside the country, Ford has, at great personal risk, kept world attention focused on the crimes of the Syrian government. More so than either President Obama or Secretary of State Clinton, both of whom have been far too tepid in their public pronouncements, Ford has been an exemplary spokesman for liberal values and human rights.

Certainly Ford has not been shy about speaking out against the Assad regime in social media, but that is not the job of an ambassador. An ambassador is supposed to communicate US policy directly to the leaders of his or her host country, and Ford has been unable to meet with anyone important for months.

And the idea that Syrians love Ford may be a bit exaggerated as well:

US ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was hit with eggs and tomatoes Friday while he was going to a mosque in the central al-Midan neighbourhood here, Xinhua reported.

The al-Midan neighborhood has witnessed anti-government protests over the past seven months.

Ford has visited many restive areas in Syria in a show of support to anti-government protesters. But the visits have angered many residents as well as the government.

On earlier occasions too, eggs and potatoes have been hurled at Ford.

Well, it looks like that may have been the last straw, as Al Arabiya is reporting:

The United States has pulled its ambassador out of Syria over security concerns that have arisen during a seven-month-old popular uprising against President Bashar al-Assad, Western diplomats said on Monday.

Robert Ford left Syria over the weekend, they told Reuters.

As many as 22 people were killed by the fire of security and military forces across Syria on Sunday, Al Arabiya reported on Monday citing the Syrian Local Coordination Committee, as Damascus welcomed to host national dialogue conference under the sponsorship of the Arab League.

The State Department only commented today about it, and made clear it was not for political reasons:

US Ambassador to Syria Robert Ford was brought back to Washington because of "credible threats against his personal safety in Syria," the State Department announced Monday.

"At this point, we can't say when he will return to Syria," deputy spokesperson Mark Toner said.

"It will depend on our assessment of Syrian regime-led incitement and the security situation on the ground."

By positioning this as a security concern rather than a strong protest against the Syrian regime, and by essentially burying this story, the White House has wasted another opportunity to convey a strong public message to Damascus. And as TNR noted:

Because he was named to his post via recess appointment, Ford will have to give up his ambassadorship if the Senate does not confirm him by December. The GOP line coming from senators like Marco Rubio and Tom Coburn is that we should punish the Assad regime by removing Ford from Damascus.

If this is Obama's plan on how to get Ford out of Damascus permanently - by citing "security concerns" and then relying on him not being confirmed by the end of the year - it is an example of passive-aggressive politics rather than leadership.

UPDATE: Syria pulled their ambassador as well
(h/t jzaik)

Libya's interim leader acts fast to implement Sharia

From The Telegraph:

Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, the chairman of the National Transitional Council and de fact president, had already declared that Libyan laws in future would have Sharia, the Islamic code, as its "basic source".

But that formulation can be interpreted in many ways - it was also the basis of Egypt's largely secular constitution under President Hosni Mubarak, and remains so after his fall.

Mr Abdul-Jalil went further, specifically lifting immediately, by decree, one law from Col. Gaddafi's era that he said was in conflict with Sharia - that banning polygamy.

In a blow to those who hoped to see Libya's economy integrate further into the western world, he announced that in future bank regulations would ban the charging of interest, in line with Sharia. "Interest creates disease and hatred among people," he said.

Libya is already the most conservative state in north Africa, banning the sale of alcohol. Mr Abdul-Jalil's decision - made in advance of the introduction of any democratic process - will please the Islamists who have played a strong role in opposition to Col Gaddafi's rule and in the uprising but worry the many young liberal Libyans who, while usually observant Muslims, take their political cues from the West.

Well, that was fast.

Despots or imams - take your pick. Because liberal western-style democracy sure doesn't seem to be on the horizon.

(h/t Weasel Zippers)

Hamas used 19 white Toyota 4x4s to hide Shalit

A video from Hamas showing the motorcade used to obfuscate which truck Gilad Shalit was being transported in:
:

What crushing poverty Gaza suffers.

Second Temple-era ritual bath discovered

From Israel's MFA:

A plastered building, probably a ritual bath (miqve), dating to the Second Temple period (first century BCE-first century CE) was exposed in an archaeological excavation the Israel Antiquities Authority conducted prior to the installation of a water line by the Mekorot Company at an antiquities site, about two kilometers north of Kibbutz Zor'a.

The excavation revealed a square structure that has three walls treated with a thin layer of plaster that facilitated the storage of water. A channel used to drain water into the ritual bath was installed in a corner. In addition, a plaster floor and three stairs that descend from it to the west (toward the hewn openings in the bedrock) were exposed.

According to archaeologist Pablo Betzer, excavation director on behalf of the Israel Antiquities Authority, "This is the first time that any remains dating to the Second Temple period have been exposed in this region. We knew from the Talmud and from non-Jewish sources that on this ridge, as in most of the Judean Shephelah, there was an extensive Jewish community 2,000 years ago that existed until the destruction of the Temple in 70 CE. Yet despite the many surveys and excavations that have been carried out to date no remains from this period have been discovered so far." According to Betzer the name of the Jewish settlement that the ritual bath belonged to is still unknown.

Zora (Tzora) is about 20 km west of Jerusalem.

(h/t Dan)

Iran gives up gold medal in Kurash to avoid facing Israeli

From Iran's PressTV:

Iran's national Kurash team has finished as the runner-up in the 8th World Senior Kurash Championships held in the city of Termez, Uzbekistan.

The Iranian nationals bagged one gold, two silver, and three bronze medals to secure its second place, IRNA reported on Sunday. Uzbekistan and Tajikistan stood on first and third places respectively.

While Hojjat Rahnama snatched gold for the Iranian team in the -90 kg category, Saeed Khosravi refused to face a contestant representing the Zionist regime in the final round of the +100 kg category and earned a valuable silver medal.

Two other Iranian contestants also opted against facing the Zionist representatives.

The four-day long games, held in eight weight categories, began on October 19, 2011.

Kurash is a form of upright jacket wrestling, native to Uzbeks, practiced since ancient times.

The Uzbekistan National News Agency fills in:

The 10th Hakim at-Termizi international tournament in kurash for the prize of the President of Uzbekistan and the 8th international kurash championship among adults completed in Termez, Surkhandarya region.

Athletes from over 40 countries participated in the events, which were devoted to the 20th anniversary of state independence of Uzbekistan.

Grigory Rudelson from Israel, Nojat Rahmajozan from iran and Shuhratjon Arslandov from Uzbekistan won the titles of the world champions among men.

I admit I had never heard of this sport before today, but at the risk of ruffling feathers of the Israeli leftists by acting Zionist....go Israel!

The part of UNGA 194 that the Arabs ignore

Palestinian Arabs and their supporters never cease to point to UN General Assembly Resolution 194 as proof that there is a legal "right to return" for Palestinian Arab refugees of 1948 and their descendants. There are lots of arguments proving that this is invalid - not the least being that UNGA resolutions are not legally binding as well as the conditional nature of the text.

But, astoundingly, the very same paragraph in UNGA 194 also demands the resettlement of Arab refugees in Arab states!

The part of 194 that is always quoted is this one:

Resolves that the refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbours should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date, and that compensation should be paid for the property of those choosing not to return and for loss of or damage to property which, under principles of international law or in equity, should be made good by the Governments or authorities responsible;

But the second clause of the same paragraph says this:

Instructs the Conciliation Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and economic and social rehabilitation of the refugees and the payment of compensation, and to maintain close relations with the Director of the United Nations Relief for Palestine Refugees and, through him, with the appropriate organs and agencies of the United Nations;

The Conciliation Commission definitely interpreted this clause as meaning resettlement in Arab countries.

During the Paris Conference in 1951 (UN document A/1985), the Commission emphasized that taking the "return" portion of UNGA 194 in isolation is not what the resolution intended:

In the Chairman's statement it was noted that experience had shown that concentration on one or the other isolated paragraph of the resolution out of context had not helped in the promotion of peace in Palestine. All the elements were necessary, but they were useful only if linked together according to an over-all plan. For example, the resolution instructed the Commission to facilitate the repatriation, resettlement and rehabilitation of refugees, and that instruction had not been forgotten by the Commission when it drafted the proposals for the conference.

And what was meant by "resettlement"?

The solution of the refugee problem proposed by the Commission envisaged the repatriation and integration of some of the refugees in Israel and the resettlement of others in Arab countries.

Keep in mind that Israel offered to accept a portion of the refugees at the time, in full compliance with the resolution, but in context of the other parts of the resolution that were necessary to ensure a full peace between Israel and its Arab neighbors.

So while it is true that UNGA 194 has no relevance today, those who insist that it is still the basis for the "right of return" need to explain why Arab states have been ignoring its other requirement, that Palestinian Arab refugees who desire to live in Arab countries be allowed to be resettled there.

Their failure to do so is yet another example of Arab hypocrisy.

Will Turkey accept Israeli offer for earthquake aid?

From YNet:

A magnitude 6.6 earthquake hit near Van in southeastern Turkey on Sunday near the border with Iran, Turkey's Kandilli Observatory and Research Institute said. Between 500 and 1,000 are feared dead.

The institute said the earthquake struck at 10:41 am GMT and was 5 kilometers (three miles) deep. The US Geological Survey earlier reported that the magnitude was 7.6.

State-run news agency Anatolian said some buildings had collapsed. After shocks continued after the initial quake, Anatolian said.

IDF Chief of Staff Lieutenant General Benny Gantz has instructed the army to get ready to aid Turkey in coping with the powerful quake. Gantz said that an IDF delegation will head to Turkey once it receives approval from the government.

Defense Minister Ehud Barak asked the head of the Political-Military Affairs section at the ministry, Amos Gilad to offer Turkey "all the help in needs".

Israel has helped Turkey after other quakes, but that was before the current chill in relations between the two countries.

The question is, has Turkey become so antagonistic towards Israel that they will spurn Israel's offer to help, the way Iran habitually does? If Turkey's rulers hate Israel more than they care about the lives of their people, that would tell us a mot about how important it is to try to bridge that diplomatic gap.

Arab League leader: If Egyptians don't want peace with Israel, rip up Camp David

Egypt should cut ties with Israel if the Egyptian people want it, according to the leader of the Arab League.

Nabil al-Arabi, secretary general of the League of Arab States, said at a economic conference yesterday that "if the Egyptian people request to break off relations with Israel, the government should accept."

He added that he personally doesn't think it is a good idea, but he said that the peace treaty must be "balanced" and not favor one side or the other.

Perhaps he is right. Israel should demand half of the Sinai back so that the peace deal is more balanced. After all, isn't it rather one-sided when only Egypt gained anything concrete while Israel received nothing but promises - promises that could be canceled on the whim of the Egyptian people?

Islamist party expected to win Tunisian elections

From AP:

Tunisians began voting Sunday in their first truly free elections, the culmination of a popular uprising that ended decades of authoritarian rule and set off similar rebellions across the Middle East.

Voters — women with headscarves and without, former political prisoners, young people whose Facebook posts helped fuel the revolution — are electing members of an assembly that will appoint a new government and then write a new constitution. They're definitively turning the page on the 23-year presidency of Zine El-Abidine Ben Ali, who was overthrown by a monthlong uprising on Jan. 14 stirred by anger at unemployment, corruption and repression.

The party expected to come out on top, Ennahda, is a moderate Islamic party whose victory, especially in a comparatively secular society like Tunisia, could have wide implications for similar religious parties in the region.

In May, The New York Times reported that a lot of Tunisians were frightened of this "moderate" Islamic party:

Mistrust of the party remains widespread. “They’re doing doublespeak, and everyone knows it,” said Ibrahim Letaief, a radio host at Mosaique FM, a popular station where he offers withering criticism of the Islamists. Ennahda, he said, has only tempered its rhetoric in a bid to win votes, but in power would impose strict Islamic law.

It is a common refrain here, despite having first been popularized by the reviled Mr. Ben Ali. Opponents have made similar claims, anti-Ennahda Facebook groups have drawn tens of thousands of supporters, and protesters have denounced the party throughout Tunisia. Some of the fear seems to stem from uncertainty about who, exactly, will lead the party; the group’s longtime leader, Rachid Ghannouchi, has said he will not seek office.

A democratic Tunisia depends on the banning of Ennahda, Mr. Letaief said, though he acknowledged, “I’m not going to seem democratic, here.” Still, he said, “Islam is very much anchored in society.”

The first article of the now-suspended Tunisian Constitution decreed Islam the national faith, and 98 percent of the country’s 10.6 million inhabitants are Muslim. Public schools dispense religious instruction. Yet religious leaders have never played a role in government.

Ennahda's leader acknowledged that the party may attempt to ban alcohol in the future.

Tunisia is in the vanguard of the Arab Spring and it is more unified and tolerant than most other Arab nations. If it falls to Islamism, it would be a very bad sign as to what may happen in other Arab states.

At this time, Ennahda is expected to win a plurality but not the majority of votes, forcing it to create a coalition.

Grapel may be in Egyptian prison for two more months

From Ma'an/AFP:

Egypt and Israel are adding the "final touches" to a deal to swap an Israel-American detained in Cairo for Egyptian prisoners detained in Israel, the official MENA news agency said on Saturday.

"MENA has learned that the final touches are currently being made for a deal to swap Israeli spy Ilan Grapel, accused of spying on Egypt for Israel, for about 16 Egyptian prisoners and three detained children," MENA reported.

Later Saturday, Egyptian state-owned daily Al Ahram reported that Egypt had secured agreement for 20 - 30 Egyptian prisoners be returned in exchanged for Grapel, citing a MENA report.

Al Ahram said the deal is likely to take place after a prisoner swap between Hamas and Israel concludes in two months, citing an Egyptian diplomatic source.

This is in contrast with earlier reports that the Grapel deal was imminent.

It sounds like Hamas pressured Egypt to link the Grapel deal with the Shalit deal. There is no logical relationship between the two.

And, again, no word about whether Israeli Bedouin Ouda Tarabin, who is also unjustly accused of being an Israeli spy, will be included in the deal. It would be tragic if Israel is ignoring Tarabin's plight.

Palestine Today talked with one of the terrorists released in the Shalit deal, Khaled Gaidi.

Gaidi was sentenced to two life terms in Israel in 1986. (The article says he was sentenced to 4 life terms.)

He claims to have been behind the murders of three Israelis. I could only confirm two of the victims.

One was Haim Azran, 32, a resident of Ashkelon who was stabbed as he shopped in a market in Gaza in September 1986. Yasir Arafat's Force 17 took credit at the time for that attack.

Yisrael Kitaro was a 43-year old taxi driver also from Ashkelon, was similarly stabbed to death in Gaza in October 1986 as he took his car to a garage for repairs.

Gaidi, who is now a member of Islamic Jihad, claims to also have killed another man, Abraham Abu Ghosh.

Gaidi now brags that it only cost three shekels to buy the knife that killed three Israelis.

He called on Fatah to stop negotiations, saying the "the enemy only understands the language of force and Jihad."

"Hawkish" Netanyahu offers partial building freeze, "moderate" PLO rejects it

From Ma'an:

Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is ready to partially freeze West Bank settlement building if it will bring the PLO back to direct talks, an Israeli newspaper reported on Friday.

But the PLO said it was unaware of any such offer, and said that anything short of a full freeze would not be acceptable.

According to Haaretz, Netanyahu's offer was made on Wednesday in talks with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angela Holguin.

During the meeting, which came a day after she held talks with President Mahmud Abbas in Ramallah, Holguin told Netanyahu that Abbas desperately needed a symbolic gesture on settlements if he was to return to negotiations, a senior Israeli official told the paper.

In response, Netanyahu said he would be "ready to make such a gesture if it would return Abbas to the negotiating table" and agreed to freeze all government-sponsored construction and all building on state land.

But he said he would not agree to freeze settlement activity by private developers on privately owned land -- which, according to a recent Palestinian study, constitutes around 80 percent of settlement activity.

The official said the offer would test whether or not Abbas was serious about returning to direct negotiations.

"Netanyahu said he was ready to test Abbas by making the gesture regarding settlements. 'If Abbas is serious about negotiations, he will renew direct talks,' Netanyahu said."

The Israeli official said the new proposal was relayed to Abbas on Wednesday, but PLO official Saeb Erekat on Friday said it was the first they had heard of it, and insisted that only a full halt to settlement, including in annexed East Jerusalem, would suffice.

"We want to hear officially from the Israeli government that they accept to stop settlement on all Palestinian lands, including in Jerusalem and natural growth, and to recognize the 1967 borders," Erekat told AFP.

Notice the precondition that has been added, almost unnoticed by the Western media, that Israel accept the so-called 1967 borders.

And, sure enough, Erekat showed his intransigence and unwillingless to compromise when the offer became official:

PLO official Saeb Erekat has rejected the distinction between government and private construction in Israeli settlements, the premise of Israel's "offer" for a partial building freeze reported by Israeli media on Friday.

Notice how Ma'an put the word "offer" iin scare quotes, as if Netanyahu isn't serious. Of course, there is an easy way to find out if he is - by accepting negotiations.

Will we be seeing any NYT editorials excoriating the PLO for their refusal to go back to the negotiating table?

Ha!

Egyptian Spring: Man jailed for insulting Islam on Facebook

From AFP:

An Egyptian court has sentenced a man to three years in jail with hard labour for insulting Islam in postings on Facebook, the official MENA news agency reported.

A Cairo court found that Ayman Yusef Mansur "intentionally insulted the dignity of the Islamic religion and attacked it with insults and ridicule online".

The court said his insults were "aimed at the Noble Koran, the true Islamic religion, the Prophet of Islam and his family and Muslims, in a scurrilous manner," the agency reported.

He was arrested in August after police tracked him down through his internet address.

Egyptian law bans insults to religion. The law has been used in the past to try Shiite Muslims.

The specific law states:

Whoever exploits religion in order to promote extremist ideologies by word of mouth, in writing or in any other manner, with a view to stirring up sedition, disparaging or holding in contempt any divine religion or its adherents, or endangering national unity, shall be punished with imprisonment for between six months and five years or a fine of at least LE500.

Do you think that any Egyptian has ever been prosecuted for anti-semitism. which this law would ostensibly make illegal?

Chag Sameach part 2

Because of the final leg of this month's never-ending Jewish holidays, I will not be blogging until at least Saturday night.

Have a great remainder of the "yuntif"!

(h/t Bronfman Center at NYU via email)

BDS organizers get sued by Lebanese businessman!

From Al Akhbar:

Lebanese anti-Israel activists are being sued by a concert promoter for their boycott campaign against a popular British rock group.

Samah Idriss, director of Dar al-Adab publishing house, received a court summons this Thursday from Beirut's commerce court. Idriss is implicated in a lawsuit for his involvement in a Lebanese boycott campaign against the British rock group Placebo last year. Jihad el-Murr, who heads the company that organized the event, filed the suit on 10 July 2011.

El-Murr is suing Idriss, as well as three other groups involved in the campaign: the Aidoun Refugee Rights Center, the Campaign to Boycott the Supporters of Israel in Lebanon, and the Global BDS Campaign in Lebanon. El-Murr, a self-described famous businessman from a prominent family, is demanding US$180,000 compensation for his company’s financial losses allegedly caused by the boycott campaign.

Lebanese activists called for the boycott in protest of Placebo's performance in Tel Aviv four days before their concert in Beirut, that was scheduled for 9 June 2010 at the Forum de Beirut. Only in July 2011, a year after the event took place, did el-Murr notice the ‘financial losses’ he claims were caused by the campaign. He called the campaign against cultural normalization with Israel both “malicious and deceptive.” El-Murr argues that the 1955 Lebanese law supporting a limited boycott of Israel does not apply to the Placebo concert. “The famous rock band does not even deal with politics,” he added.

El Murr described the boycotts as "ridiculous" last year.

Placebo played in Israel on June 5th, and they did play in Beirut on June 9

It does not appear that the boycott effort in Lebanon had any effect because the concert hall in Beirut looks pretty full to me:

Which is a win-win - the Lebanese roundly ignored the BDSers and the only way for the BDSers to counter the lawsuit would be for them to admit that their efforts were fruitless!

(h/t Dan)

Where on Earth could this be?

Here is a photo of a pretty nice looking school. Do you know where it is?

It is in Ras al-Amud, an Arab neighborhood of Jerusalem, and it is one of the many Arab schools that Israel is spending millions building and upgrading.

From Israel21c:

When the 2011-2012 school year began in the Arab neighborhoods of East Jerusalem, millions of shekels in sparkling new or renewed classrooms, computers and sports facilities greeted 42,153 students and their teachers.

Many of the 59 public schools approved and budgeted under the Jerusalem Education Authority of the Ministry of Education have been neglected, undersupplied or overcrowded for decades. Since taking office in November 2008, Mayor Nir Barkat has been implementing improvements to get these facilities on par with schools in the western sector of the city, says Stephan Miller, advisor to Jerusalem's mayor.

"The mayor and municipal professionals work regularly with members of the Arab neighborhoods of Jerusalem through the leadership of the community centers as well as organized groups of residents such as the Mayor's Forum of Eastern Jerusalem Principals and the Mayor's Forum for Welfare in Eastern Jerusalem," Miller tells ISRAEL21c.

"The completion of the Mayor's plan will lead to a significant change in education in eastern Jerusalem."

New schools, including approximately 200 classrooms, have been built in the eastern part of the city. The municipality is currently investing the unprecedented sum of NIS 300 million (about $69 million) in the planning and construction of 285 additional new classrooms for Arab schoolchildren.

This year alone, 42 new classrooms will be opened in new buildings, 18 at the start of the year and the remainder in coming months. Six additional kindergarten classrooms were completed in time for September, including one for special education. In addition, more than 40 public school classrooms were renovated and adapted to pupils' needs, with emphasis on the Shoafat refugee area in northeast Jerusalem.

The municipality also built new sports facilities in south central Beit Tzafafa and in Isawiya in the northeast.

Another NIS 750,000 (more than $170,000) per year has been approved for programs to advance gifted and outstanding pupils, strengthen girls' education and reduce school violence. An additional NIS 1.5 million is newly designated for the public schools' organizational expenditures.

The municipality and the Education Ministry have shared costs for these initiatives, says Miller, and further upgrades are still to come.

"As you can imagine, from vision to construction takes time, and the mayor has moved swiftly since taking office to fast-track these plans," says Miller, "which is why they are ready so early in his first term."

New classrooms wouldn't be as valuable without updated equipment inside them. So with the assistance of Israeli branches of companies such as Ernst & Young and Intel, the municipality rang in the new school year by distributing 1,720 mobile and desktop computers to schools, kindergartens and teachers in eastern Jerusalem.

An additional 350 new donated computers were given to schoolchildren to take home.

There was more good news for teachers: Seven classrooms in six schools in the eastern part of the city were converted into technologically sophisticated learning centers with the installation of interactive whiteboards, which can display educational software, web sites, past lessons and other features. Teachers and principals alike have been receiving computer training courses to maximize their use of these new tools.

"We are committed to investing in eastern Jerusalem and reducing the gaps, which are the result of years of neglect," said Barkat upon announcing the improvements at the start of September. "We cannot countenance a situation in which Jerusalem pupils have no classrooms, roads or basic infrastructures. These investments will lead to an increase in residents' quality of life."

If you want to have fun, ask people who claim to be "pro-Palestinian" if they support Israel improving Arab schools in Jerusalem.

By the way, it is possible that the school pictured above is the same one where, before construction, archaeologists found a handle with the name "Menachem" inscribed on it in Hebrew.

(h/t Cheryl)

Freed would-be suicide bomber Wafa al Bass tells Gaza kids to be like her

Ynet reports:

"A would-be Palestinian suicide bomber freed by Israel in the prisoner swap for soldier Gilad Shalit told cheering schoolchildren in the Gaza Strip the day after her release on Wednesday she hoped they would follow her example.

"I hope you will walk the same path we took and God willing, we will see some of you as martyrs," Wafa al-Biss told dozens of children who came to her home in the northern Gaza Strip.

Biss was travelling to Beersheba's Soroka hospital for medical treatment in 2005 when Israeli soldiers at the Erez border crossing noticed she was walking strangely. They found 10 kgs (22 lbs) of explosives had been sewn into her underwear.

A member of al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigades, an offshoot of President Mahmoud Abbas' Fatah party, Biss was sentenced to a 12-year term for planning to blow herself up.

After she spoke, the children cheered and waved Palestinian flags and chanted: "We will give souls and blood to redeem the prisoners. We will give souls and blood for you, Palestine."

How nice, refreshing and peaceful.

In case you forgot who she is: