Thursday, August 19, 2004
Elder of ZiyonI will be on vacation Thursday through Monday, so probably no posts until I am back.
Have a great weekend!
Have a great weekend!
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Thursday, August 19, 2004
Elder of Ziyon
In a breathtaking display of moral inversion, a British "philosopher" calls America's actions in Iraq immoral terrorism but Palestinians blowing up babies are morally justifiable.
A leading radical philosopher, who has been compared to Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre and praised by Noam Chomsky, says Palestinian "terrorism" is a moral response to Israeli ethnic cleansing.
Ted Honderich, a professor of philosophy at University College London, plans to take the same message to the Edinburgh International Book Fair on Thursday, where tickets to hear his speech have already sold out.
The philosopher plans to begin his talk at the Opus Theatre with a close look at definitions of terrorism, particularly when it applies to Palestine and the expansion of Israel outside its 1967 borders.
He concludes it is "killing and maiming for political and social ends … illegal in terms of national or international law", and suggests Iraq could also fall into this definition.
"America is now engaged, as I say, in the principal piece of moral stupidity of this time … it is as if the causes of terrorism that are neo-Zionism and Palestine do not exist," he added.
However, defining "neo-Zionism" as the movement to expand Israel outside its pre-1967 borders, he condemns some Israeli policy today as an "ongoing rapacity of ethnic cleansing, the violation of the remaining homeland of the remaining Palestinians".
"It dishonours the great Jewish moral and political tradition of resolute compassion for the badly-off, a tradition now exemplifed by Noam Chomsky."
"This rape of a people and a homeland is in its wrongfulness a kind of moral datum … and issues in a moral right on the part of the Palestinians to their terrorism," he concludes.
A leading radical philosopher, who has been compared to Bertrand Russell and Jean-Paul Sartre and praised by Noam Chomsky, says Palestinian "terrorism" is a moral response to Israeli ethnic cleansing.
Ted Honderich, a professor of philosophy at University College London, plans to take the same message to the Edinburgh International Book Fair on Thursday, where tickets to hear his speech have already sold out.
The philosopher plans to begin his talk at the Opus Theatre with a close look at definitions of terrorism, particularly when it applies to Palestine and the expansion of Israel outside its 1967 borders.
He concludes it is "killing and maiming for political and social ends … illegal in terms of national or international law", and suggests Iraq could also fall into this definition.
"America is now engaged, as I say, in the principal piece of moral stupidity of this time … it is as if the causes of terrorism that are neo-Zionism and Palestine do not exist," he added.
However, defining "neo-Zionism" as the movement to expand Israel outside its pre-1967 borders, he condemns some Israeli policy today as an "ongoing rapacity of ethnic cleansing, the violation of the remaining homeland of the remaining Palestinians".
"It dishonours the great Jewish moral and political tradition of resolute compassion for the badly-off, a tradition now exemplifed by Noam Chomsky."
"This rape of a people and a homeland is in its wrongfulness a kind of moral datum … and issues in a moral right on the part of the Palestinians to their terrorism," he concludes.
- Thursday, August 19, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
As with most things in Hollywood, a new fashion statement has made its way down to the masses. Those red-string kabbalah bracelets you've seen Madonna and Demi Moore wearing are now sold at Target for $25.99.
Madonna says she's now a devout practitioner of kabbalah (the interpretation of Judaism in terms of the workings of the 10 powers of God through which God created and interacts with our world). But those who study it say calling them kabbalah bracelets is misleading.
"They have nothing to do with kabbalah; that's the trick of the marketing," says Eliezer L. Segal, a professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary. "The public that's being catered to doesn't know any better."
Segal says the red string dates to Greek and Roman times, and the practice was later adopted by Jews. The only mention of red string in Jewish texts, says Segal, is in the Tosefta, a supplement to the Mishnah, a book of oral laws. It's in a section that discusses superstitious practices -- which ones are forbidden and which are accepted. Putting on red strings is one of the things that's forbidden.
In Eastern Europe, families nevertheless tied the red string to cribs to divert diseases such as scarlet fever. There it was called a bendel ribbon in Yiddish. They also attached it to the clothing of older children. Now they are used to keep away "the evil eye."
These days they're available in gold, too -- the red string is weaved into a gold chain. For those who have been to the Old City of Jerusalem, the fact that they're going for $25.99 is laughable: Visitors can buy them in Israel for about 22 cents.
Madonna says she's now a devout practitioner of kabbalah (the interpretation of Judaism in terms of the workings of the 10 powers of God through which God created and interacts with our world). But those who study it say calling them kabbalah bracelets is misleading.
"They have nothing to do with kabbalah; that's the trick of the marketing," says Eliezer L. Segal, a professor of religious studies at the University of Calgary. "The public that's being catered to doesn't know any better."
Segal says the red string dates to Greek and Roman times, and the practice was later adopted by Jews. The only mention of red string in Jewish texts, says Segal, is in the Tosefta, a supplement to the Mishnah, a book of oral laws. It's in a section that discusses superstitious practices -- which ones are forbidden and which are accepted. Putting on red strings is one of the things that's forbidden.
In Eastern Europe, families nevertheless tied the red string to cribs to divert diseases such as scarlet fever. There it was called a bendel ribbon in Yiddish. They also attached it to the clothing of older children. Now they are used to keep away "the evil eye."
These days they're available in gold, too -- the red string is weaved into a gold chain. For those who have been to the Old City of Jerusalem, the fact that they're going for $25.99 is laughable: Visitors can buy them in Israel for about 22 cents.
- Thursday, August 19, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
SRINAGAR, India, Aug 19 (Reuters) - Gulzar Ahmad, owner of a handicraft shop near scenic Dal lake in Srinagar, the main city of Muslim-majority Kashmir, recently changed the language of his outlet's signboard from English to Hebrew.
It was another sign of the new acceptance of visitors from Israel. For the second successive year, Israelis top the list of foreign tourists visiting a region where tens of thousands have been killed in a revolt by Muslim militants against Indian rule.
"Seventy percent of my customers are Israelis," 50-year-old Ahmad, a Muslim, told Reuters. "So I changed my signboard to attract more Israeli customers."
On the face of it, Kashmir, once a tourist haven but now the centre of a bloody Islamic insurgency, seems like a most unlikely destination for Israelis who are themselves battling Palestinian Islamic militants at home.
However that, and the fact that Kashmir is now one of the most violent regions in the world with daily gun battles between troops and militants, grenade attacks and bomb blasts, has not apparently reduced its attraction to Israeli tourists.
"Kashmir is an amazing place and so are its people. They are Muslims but not hostile to us," said Rita Katzir, a 28-year-old computer software engineer from Israel.
"Now, violence can touch you anywhere, in any part of world. I can die anywhere -- in Washington, in Jerusalem, here in Srinagar or in Tel Aviv or any other city.
"Death is destiny."
A Kashmir tourism department officer said 960 Israelis had arrived so far this year compared to 1,097 last year.
The Chinese were second with 700 visitors to the Himalayan region known for its lush pines, snow-capped mountains, lakes and streams, houseboats and picturesque trekking routes.
Most foreigners, including the Israelis, come to Kashmir despite advisories by their countries to avoid the region.
Kashmiri rebels have targeted Israeli tourists in the past. They abducted 6 Israelis from Srinagar in 1991. One of the captives was killed, four escaped and the last was set free.
"I know about the trouble here, but I respect rules and act by the rules. After it gets dark I go to my hotel," said Ronan Madiani, a 32-year old lawyer from Israel, who was staying with his wife on a houseboat on the calm Dal lake.
Visitors say few places in the world can compete with Kashmir for the tag of being a paradise. But locals say that the 15-year revolt, which has killed more than 40,000 people, has turned an idyllic corner of South Asia into paradise lost.
"We know what trouble means and how painful it is when it spills blood," said Adam Koaz, a student form Tel Aviv. "I have full sympathy for the people of this beautiful part of world. I can only pray for them."
It was another sign of the new acceptance of visitors from Israel. For the second successive year, Israelis top the list of foreign tourists visiting a region where tens of thousands have been killed in a revolt by Muslim militants against Indian rule.
"Seventy percent of my customers are Israelis," 50-year-old Ahmad, a Muslim, told Reuters. "So I changed my signboard to attract more Israeli customers."
On the face of it, Kashmir, once a tourist haven but now the centre of a bloody Islamic insurgency, seems like a most unlikely destination for Israelis who are themselves battling Palestinian Islamic militants at home.
However that, and the fact that Kashmir is now one of the most violent regions in the world with daily gun battles between troops and militants, grenade attacks and bomb blasts, has not apparently reduced its attraction to Israeli tourists.
"Kashmir is an amazing place and so are its people. They are Muslims but not hostile to us," said Rita Katzir, a 28-year-old computer software engineer from Israel.
"Now, violence can touch you anywhere, in any part of world. I can die anywhere -- in Washington, in Jerusalem, here in Srinagar or in Tel Aviv or any other city.
"Death is destiny."
A Kashmir tourism department officer said 960 Israelis had arrived so far this year compared to 1,097 last year.
The Chinese were second with 700 visitors to the Himalayan region known for its lush pines, snow-capped mountains, lakes and streams, houseboats and picturesque trekking routes.
Most foreigners, including the Israelis, come to Kashmir despite advisories by their countries to avoid the region.
Kashmiri rebels have targeted Israeli tourists in the past. They abducted 6 Israelis from Srinagar in 1991. One of the captives was killed, four escaped and the last was set free.
"I know about the trouble here, but I respect rules and act by the rules. After it gets dark I go to my hotel," said Ronan Madiani, a 32-year old lawyer from Israel, who was staying with his wife on a houseboat on the calm Dal lake.
Visitors say few places in the world can compete with Kashmir for the tag of being a paradise. But locals say that the 15-year revolt, which has killed more than 40,000 people, has turned an idyllic corner of South Asia into paradise lost.
"We know what trouble means and how painful it is when it spills blood," said Adam Koaz, a student form Tel Aviv. "I have full sympathy for the people of this beautiful part of world. I can only pray for them."
- Thursday, August 19, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
Silencing truth, By Debbie Schlussel
Excerpts:
The bloody Games must go on.
To date, the IOC refuses to allow any memorial to these athletes who gave their lives for this "holy" commercial extravaganza, which today might be called the BALCO Games (in honor of the steroid producer who seems to be unofficial chief sponsor).
At the 2000 Sydney Summer Games, IOC officials loudly disavowed any connection to a memorial to the slain Israeli athletes, and worse, denounced the memorial. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the IOC refused to organize a commemorative ceremony for the slain athletes, lest the Olympics dare offend the new Palestinian Olympic Team. (Unlike the rest of the world, the IOC already recognizes "Palestine" as a state.)
"It's not the IOC's policy to stage special ceremonies," IOC director general Francois Carrard told USA Today.
Not surprisingly, that's a lie. At the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the IOC spent lavishly on an exorbitant Alvin Ailey choreographed dance tribute to memorialize the late Olympic Gold Medalist Florence Griffith "Flo-Jo" Joyner -- even though, unlike the murdered Israeli athletes, her death was not Olympic -- or even sports-related.
In contrast to the dead Israelis who still have no Olympic memorial or any Olympic recognition whatsoever, the IOC and the rest of the world consistently worships and sacrifices at the alter of the terrorists who murdered them.
Just months after he masterminded the murder of the Israeli athletes, Arafat and his Palestinian terrorists were rewarded with an official Palestinian mission to the United Nations. Terrorism pays.
As if it's not bad enough that there is now an official Olympic delegation for the contingent whose leader coordinated the murder of an entire delegation in 1972, the Olympics practices ethnic apartheid against the successors of that murdered delegation.
Because Arabic countries and the Palestinian contingent don't want the "embarrassment" of playing and possibly losing to Israeli teams, the IOC forces Israel to play in regional qualifying playoffs outside its region -- against European teams -- for virtually every sport in which it participates.
The bloody show must go on.
The Games have a history of pandering to the worst malefactors in the international "community," to the point of absurdity.
Today, it's Islamic terrorists. Yesterday, it was the Nazis.
In 1936, Jewish athletes were banned from the Games in deference to the Third Reich.
American Jewish athletes, like late track star and New York sports announcer Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, were pulled from the U.S. 400-meter relay team at the Berlin Olympics rather than embarrass Hitler if they won. A concentration camp was being built contemporaneously with the "Nazi Olympics." Two days after the games, Capt. Wolfgang Fuerstner, a German army officer who built the Olympic village committed suicide. He was dismissed from the military for having Jewish blood, according to the Aug. 20, 1936 New York Times. American newspaper headlines, on display at Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, showed the true "Olympic spirit": "Olympics Leave Glow of Pride in the Reich."
Some things never change. Today the Games show the glow of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaida, and the butchers of the 1972 games. American athletes are warned against "exuberant" flag-waving and celebrations if they win medals. Syria -- where Jamil Al-Gashey, the only surviving terrorist of the 1972 massacre, lives freely and under government protection--has an official Olympic delegation. The bloody games must go on.
Excerpts:
The bloody Games must go on.
To date, the IOC refuses to allow any memorial to these athletes who gave their lives for this "holy" commercial extravaganza, which today might be called the BALCO Games (in honor of the steroid producer who seems to be unofficial chief sponsor).
At the 2000 Sydney Summer Games, IOC officials loudly disavowed any connection to a memorial to the slain Israeli athletes, and worse, denounced the memorial. At the 1996 Atlanta Games, the IOC refused to organize a commemorative ceremony for the slain athletes, lest the Olympics dare offend the new Palestinian Olympic Team. (Unlike the rest of the world, the IOC already recognizes "Palestine" as a state.)
"It's not the IOC's policy to stage special ceremonies," IOC director general Francois Carrard told USA Today.
Not surprisingly, that's a lie. At the 2002 Winter Games in Salt Lake City, the IOC spent lavishly on an exorbitant Alvin Ailey choreographed dance tribute to memorialize the late Olympic Gold Medalist Florence Griffith "Flo-Jo" Joyner -- even though, unlike the murdered Israeli athletes, her death was not Olympic -- or even sports-related.
In contrast to the dead Israelis who still have no Olympic memorial or any Olympic recognition whatsoever, the IOC and the rest of the world consistently worships and sacrifices at the alter of the terrorists who murdered them.
Just months after he masterminded the murder of the Israeli athletes, Arafat and his Palestinian terrorists were rewarded with an official Palestinian mission to the United Nations. Terrorism pays.
As if it's not bad enough that there is now an official Olympic delegation for the contingent whose leader coordinated the murder of an entire delegation in 1972, the Olympics practices ethnic apartheid against the successors of that murdered delegation.
Because Arabic countries and the Palestinian contingent don't want the "embarrassment" of playing and possibly losing to Israeli teams, the IOC forces Israel to play in regional qualifying playoffs outside its region -- against European teams -- for virtually every sport in which it participates.
The bloody show must go on.
The Games have a history of pandering to the worst malefactors in the international "community," to the point of absurdity.
Today, it's Islamic terrorists. Yesterday, it was the Nazis.
In 1936, Jewish athletes were banned from the Games in deference to the Third Reich.
American Jewish athletes, like late track star and New York sports announcer Marty Glickman and Sam Stoller, were pulled from the U.S. 400-meter relay team at the Berlin Olympics rather than embarrass Hitler if they won. A concentration camp was being built contemporaneously with the "Nazi Olympics." Two days after the games, Capt. Wolfgang Fuerstner, a German army officer who built the Olympic village committed suicide. He was dismissed from the military for having Jewish blood, according to the Aug. 20, 1936 New York Times. American newspaper headlines, on display at Washington's U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum, showed the true "Olympic spirit": "Olympics Leave Glow of Pride in the Reich."
Some things never change. Today the Games show the glow of Fatah, Islamic Jihad, Al-Qaida, and the butchers of the 1972 games. American athletes are warned against "exuberant" flag-waving and celebrations if they win medals. Syria -- where Jamil Al-Gashey, the only surviving terrorist of the 1972 massacre, lives freely and under government protection--has an official Olympic delegation. The bloody games must go on.
- Thursday, August 19, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
By Jerusalem Newswire Editorial Staff
JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Arabs continue to exploit their own children as pawns in a deadly game to eliminate the Jewish presence in the Middle East, Israeli security officials reported last week.
The latest example of this all too common phenomenon involved a teenage “Palestinian” boy being arrested by IDF troops in Samaria Sunday after they found more than 900 M-16 shells in his possession.
“Palestinian” women and children have been increasingly involved in terrorist activity over the past two years, as Israeli security measures mature and the ability of adult male terrorists to penetrate Jewish population centers wanes.
Common practice
Security sources quoted by Arutz 7 last week said that in the past three months, Palestinian Arab terrorists had on at least three occasions used children as direct participants in terrorist operations.
In one instance, a group of teenage Arabs between the ages of 11 and 14 were caught smuggling weapons across the Gaza-Egypt border.
On another occasion, a 17-year-old “Palestinian” blew himself up prematurely en route to carry out a homicide bombing in a large Tel Aviv suburb.
In the final cited incident, three Arab youths aged 13-15 were prevented from perpetrating a shooting attack in the Galilee town of Afula when soldiers at a northern Samaria military checkpoint stopped and inspected them.
The security sources said the three examples were but a small sampling of the widespread use of Palestinian Arabs children as weapons in a campaign to murder Israeli Jews.
Indoctrination of death
They blamed the sadistic indoctrination taking place in PA-controlled schools, where “Palestinian” kids are taught to idolize dead terrorists and aspire to a “glorious” death in the battle to free their “homeland” from Jewish “occupation.”
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Yasser Arafat and his PLO were supposed to revise “Palestinian” schoolbooks in order to teach local Arab children to seek peaceful coexistence with Israel’s Jews.
Recent surveys of the textbooks currently used in PA-controlled schools revealed that, more than 10 years after Arafat made “peace” with the Jewish state, the above stated commitment has still never been met.
JERUSALEM - The Palestinian Arabs continue to exploit their own children as pawns in a deadly game to eliminate the Jewish presence in the Middle East, Israeli security officials reported last week.
The latest example of this all too common phenomenon involved a teenage “Palestinian” boy being arrested by IDF troops in Samaria Sunday after they found more than 900 M-16 shells in his possession.
“Palestinian” women and children have been increasingly involved in terrorist activity over the past two years, as Israeli security measures mature and the ability of adult male terrorists to penetrate Jewish population centers wanes.
Common practice
Security sources quoted by Arutz 7 last week said that in the past three months, Palestinian Arab terrorists had on at least three occasions used children as direct participants in terrorist operations.
In one instance, a group of teenage Arabs between the ages of 11 and 14 were caught smuggling weapons across the Gaza-Egypt border.
On another occasion, a 17-year-old “Palestinian” blew himself up prematurely en route to carry out a homicide bombing in a large Tel Aviv suburb.
In the final cited incident, three Arab youths aged 13-15 were prevented from perpetrating a shooting attack in the Galilee town of Afula when soldiers at a northern Samaria military checkpoint stopped and inspected them.
The security sources said the three examples were but a small sampling of the widespread use of Palestinian Arabs children as weapons in a campaign to murder Israeli Jews.
Indoctrination of death
They blamed the sadistic indoctrination taking place in PA-controlled schools, where “Palestinian” kids are taught to idolize dead terrorists and aspire to a “glorious” death in the battle to free their “homeland” from Jewish “occupation.”
Under the terms of the Oslo Accords, Yasser Arafat and his PLO were supposed to revise “Palestinian” schoolbooks in order to teach local Arab children to seek peaceful coexistence with Israel’s Jews.
Recent surveys of the textbooks currently used in PA-controlled schools revealed that, more than 10 years after Arafat made “peace” with the Jewish state, the above stated commitment has still never been met.
Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
Kuwaiti Daily: Iran Delivered Missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon via Syria
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa recently reported that Iran has delivered missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon via Syria, and that Iran and Syria are cooperating closely in missile development and deployment. The following are excerpts of the article: [1]
"Two cargo aircraft landed on the morning of Wednesday, August 4, 2004, at one of the Syrian military airfields in north Damascus. There to greet the planes were Iranian Ambassador to Syria Riza Baqiri and Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mas'ud Idris."
Al-Siyassa also reported that "several Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers had arrived the previous day from their headquarters at a Hizbullah military camp near the town of Qasrbana in al-Buqa' in order to unload a significant number of surface-to-surface missiles."
According to information received from the Syrian opposition in London on Saturday, August 14, the missiles "are of the most recent and improved Iranian model, with a 250- to 350-kilometer range, with which it is possible to hit any target in Israel." The sources also reported to Al-Siyassa that the two deliveries comprised 220 missiles "that Iran had not so far supplied to any foreign entity…
"Over Thursday and Friday [August 12-13], the missiles were transported in civilian Syrian and Lebanese trucks to three Hizbullah military bases" in the regions of Jenta and Yahfufa near the Syrian border, as well as to southern Ba'albek.
The Syrian opposition said that according to information they claim to have received from a senior source in the Syrian military in Damascus, "the alert level of the Syrian missile corps, deployed mostly in the North and East of the country [i.e., Syria], has been raised to high after commanders in military intelligence and in the Ba'th party in Damascus received information about the possibility that the Israeli Air Force would attack the nuclear reactors in Iran via Jordanian, Iraqi, and Turkish skies."
It was also stated that in the event of such an Israeli attack, "Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon overseeing the deployment and maintenance of thousands of missiles of various ranges would fire these missiles at cities in the Hebrew state, which could expand the aerial attacks on the nuclear, chemical, and biological installations and uranium-enrichment plants in Iran, such that the attack would also include Syria and Lebanon." In the same article, Al-Siyassa reported that a "Syrian military source told the Syrian opposition in London that an Iranian military delegation specializing in missiles had accompanied the two deliveries to Syria, in order to oversee the deployment of the missiles in the various regions in Lebanon."
The Kuwaiti daily Al-Siyassa recently reported that Iran has delivered missiles to Hizbullah in Lebanon via Syria, and that Iran and Syria are cooperating closely in missile development and deployment. The following are excerpts of the article: [1]
"Two cargo aircraft landed on the morning of Wednesday, August 4, 2004, at one of the Syrian military airfields in north Damascus. There to greet the planes were Iranian Ambassador to Syria Riza Baqiri and Iranian Ambassador to Lebanon Mas'ud Idris."
Al-Siyassa also reported that "several Iranian Revolutionary Guards officers had arrived the previous day from their headquarters at a Hizbullah military camp near the town of Qasrbana in al-Buqa' in order to unload a significant number of surface-to-surface missiles."
According to information received from the Syrian opposition in London on Saturday, August 14, the missiles "are of the most recent and improved Iranian model, with a 250- to 350-kilometer range, with which it is possible to hit any target in Israel." The sources also reported to Al-Siyassa that the two deliveries comprised 220 missiles "that Iran had not so far supplied to any foreign entity…
"Over Thursday and Friday [August 12-13], the missiles were transported in civilian Syrian and Lebanese trucks to three Hizbullah military bases" in the regions of Jenta and Yahfufa near the Syrian border, as well as to southern Ba'albek.
The Syrian opposition said that according to information they claim to have received from a senior source in the Syrian military in Damascus, "the alert level of the Syrian missile corps, deployed mostly in the North and East of the country [i.e., Syria], has been raised to high after commanders in military intelligence and in the Ba'th party in Damascus received information about the possibility that the Israeli Air Force would attack the nuclear reactors in Iran via Jordanian, Iraqi, and Turkish skies."
It was also stated that in the event of such an Israeli attack, "Hizbullah and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards in Lebanon overseeing the deployment and maintenance of thousands of missiles of various ranges would fire these missiles at cities in the Hebrew state, which could expand the aerial attacks on the nuclear, chemical, and biological installations and uranium-enrichment plants in Iran, such that the attack would also include Syria and Lebanon." In the same article, Al-Siyassa reported that a "Syrian military source told the Syrian opposition in London that an Iranian military delegation specializing in missiles had accompanied the two deliveries to Syria, in order to oversee the deployment of the missiles in the various regions in Lebanon."
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
The journalist and former Kuwaiti Communications Minister, Dr. Sa'ad Bin-Tafla, said that violent tendencies in Arab culture have deep roots and are not a product of the conflict with Zionism.
"I believe we are all responsible for this culture and Zionism and Imperialism have no part in it," Bin-Tafla declared in a recent interview with Jordanian television, "It is incorrect to say that violence is the result of the occupation. The French occupation left Algeria after a million victims fell, and then 100,000 Algerians were slaughtered by other Algerians, in the name of Islam, within less than ten years. That is to say, sadly, more than even Israel could have killed during the period of the intifada. This violence has cultural roots, unconnected to the occupation....
"The number of killed in Algeria and those killed by other Arab regimes is greater than the number of Palestinians killed by Israel..." the former Kuwaiti minister explained, adding, "There is a culture of violence that existed before the Americans arrived in Iraq and the Gulf, and even before the Israeli occupation in Palestine; before the American occupation in Afghanistan...."
Bin-Tafla stated, "the slaughter, the destructive abuse, the anarchy and the bloodshed do not approach in any way the legal definition of Jihad or resistance. It is anarchy and terrorism and is indicative of frustration and a culture of collective suicide reminiscent of whales [which beach themselves]. Such a culture stems from objective and personal reasons."
Bin-Tafla traces the source of much of the frustration among Arab youth to "an extremist religious stream" in the Islamic world. "It tells [the youth], 'You must achieve one of two things - martyrdom or victory,'" the Kuwaiti journalist explained, "It prettifies the culture of violence and describes it as resistance and Jihad."
Bin-Tafla also lays the blame on the Arab media: "Unfortunately, many in television, radio and print media... pushed these youth towards frustration and caused them to die needlessly, killing others with them, and to divide the world into black and white."
"I believe we are all responsible for this culture and Zionism and Imperialism have no part in it," Bin-Tafla declared in a recent interview with Jordanian television, "It is incorrect to say that violence is the result of the occupation. The French occupation left Algeria after a million victims fell, and then 100,000 Algerians were slaughtered by other Algerians, in the name of Islam, within less than ten years. That is to say, sadly, more than even Israel could have killed during the period of the intifada. This violence has cultural roots, unconnected to the occupation....
"The number of killed in Algeria and those killed by other Arab regimes is greater than the number of Palestinians killed by Israel..." the former Kuwaiti minister explained, adding, "There is a culture of violence that existed before the Americans arrived in Iraq and the Gulf, and even before the Israeli occupation in Palestine; before the American occupation in Afghanistan...."
Bin-Tafla stated, "the slaughter, the destructive abuse, the anarchy and the bloodshed do not approach in any way the legal definition of Jihad or resistance. It is anarchy and terrorism and is indicative of frustration and a culture of collective suicide reminiscent of whales [which beach themselves]. Such a culture stems from objective and personal reasons."
Bin-Tafla traces the source of much of the frustration among Arab youth to "an extremist religious stream" in the Islamic world. "It tells [the youth], 'You must achieve one of two things - martyrdom or victory,'" the Kuwaiti journalist explained, "It prettifies the culture of violence and describes it as resistance and Jihad."
Bin-Tafla also lays the blame on the Arab media: "Unfortunately, many in television, radio and print media... pushed these youth towards frustration and caused them to die needlessly, killing others with them, and to divide the world into black and white."
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
Read it carefully - he never actually says he made a mistake, but the relieved press still acts as if this is news.
By Haaretz Service and Agencies
Yasser Arafat, in a rare nod to pressure for reforms in his Palestinian Authority, said Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership has made 'mistakes' and promised to correct them.
He did not, however, say what these mistakes were.
The remarks were among Arafat's strongest since Palestinian areas were rocked by unprecedented internal turmoil last month amid a clamor for reforms to security forces and the removal of officials accused of graft.
Arafat made the comments in an address to Palestinian lawmakers at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
'There were wrong actions ... by some institutions, and some were irresponsible and misused their positions,' Arafat said in a speech to Palestinian lawmakers. 'There is nobody immune from mistakes, starting from me on down. Even prophets committed mistakes.'
The veteran Palestinian leader said 'We need to move together to correct and reform all the mistakes.'
But he made no promises of specific action.
By Haaretz Service and Agencies
Yasser Arafat, in a rare nod to pressure for reforms in his Palestinian Authority, said Wednesday that the Palestinian leadership has made 'mistakes' and promised to correct them.
He did not, however, say what these mistakes were.
The remarks were among Arafat's strongest since Palestinian areas were rocked by unprecedented internal turmoil last month amid a clamor for reforms to security forces and the removal of officials accused of graft.
Arafat made the comments in an address to Palestinian lawmakers at his headquarters in the West Bank town of Ramallah.
'There were wrong actions ... by some institutions, and some were irresponsible and misused their positions,' Arafat said in a speech to Palestinian lawmakers. 'There is nobody immune from mistakes, starting from me on down. Even prophets committed mistakes.'
The veteran Palestinian leader said 'We need to move together to correct and reform all the mistakes.'
But he made no promises of specific action.
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
Video shows Barghouti break hunger strike:
A secretly filmed videotape, released by the Prison Services Wednesday, shows Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti breaking the hunger strike
Many cases of strike breaking have been reported on the fourth day of the Palestinian security prisoner hunger strike, including imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other strike leaders, who have been put together in separate cells.
The Prison Services released a film Wednesday filmed by a hidden camera that shows a man, apparently Barghouti, eating in his cell with the door and window covered by a cloth.
Marwan Barghouti, the highest ranking Palestinian in Israeli custody, is serving five consecutive life terms after being convicted of involvement in fatal attacks.
Barghouti, the West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, was one of the organizers of the hunger strike.
The black and white film carries a date of Aug. 17 in the lower right corner. It shows a bare-chested man who looks exactly like Barghouti washing his hands and then eating.
Prison Services spokesman Ofer Lefler said Barghouti asked wardens for the food and ate without knowing that a camera was filming from a small hole in the wall. Israel wanted to show fasting prisoners how their leader was behaving, Lefler said.
'I want to show the world and the Palestinians that we are dealing with terrorists,' Lefler said. 'Barghouti is sitting on a pot of meat and he sends his friends to die.'"
A secretly filmed videotape, released by the Prison Services Wednesday, shows Tanzim head Marwan Barghouti breaking the hunger strike
Many cases of strike breaking have been reported on the fourth day of the Palestinian security prisoner hunger strike, including imprisoned Fatah leader Marwan Barghouti and other strike leaders, who have been put together in separate cells.
The Prison Services released a film Wednesday filmed by a hidden camera that shows a man, apparently Barghouti, eating in his cell with the door and window covered by a cloth.
Marwan Barghouti, the highest ranking Palestinian in Israeli custody, is serving five consecutive life terms after being convicted of involvement in fatal attacks.
Barghouti, the West Bank leader of Yasser Arafat's Fatah movement, was one of the organizers of the hunger strike.
The black and white film carries a date of Aug. 17 in the lower right corner. It shows a bare-chested man who looks exactly like Barghouti washing his hands and then eating.
Prison Services spokesman Ofer Lefler said Barghouti asked wardens for the food and ate without knowing that a camera was filming from a small hole in the wall. Israel wanted to show fasting prisoners how their leader was behaving, Lefler said.
'I want to show the world and the Palestinians that we are dealing with terrorists,' Lefler said. 'Barghouti is sitting on a pot of meat and he sends his friends to die.'"
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
What is the world coming to when you cannot trust bloodthirsty murderers to keep their promises?
Haaretz Flash News: "13:54 Leaders of Palestinian security prisoners` strike, among them Marwan Barghouti, seen eating in secret in their cells"
Haaretz Flash News: "13:54 Leaders of Palestinian security prisoners` strike, among them Marwan Barghouti, seen eating in secret in their cells"
- Wednesday, August 18, 2004
- Elder of Ziyon
By Doron Almog- Middle East Quarterly - Summer 2004
The term "smuggling" does not do justice to the problem of the Philadelphi corridor, and indeed, of the entire length of the Egyptian-Israeli border. Of course, some of the cross-border smuggling, overland or by tunnel, involves contraband and drugs—economic smuggling that occurs across all borders (and all of Israel's borders). But in Gaza, this smuggling has a strategic dimension. It involves the illegal importation into Gaza of significant quantities of arms and materiel, on a scale sufficient to turn Gaza into launching pad for ever-deeper attacks against Israel proper. Armed militias, awash with illegal weapons, could also undermine the balance of forces within Gaza itself, creating a situation of near-chaos and dangerous spirals of terrorist attacks and reprisals.
But however worrisome these prospects, there is one that eclipses them all. Given the position of Gaza, sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, it is not difficult to imagine scenarios in which these events could produce international crises of the first order. Smuggling and infiltration have the potential to endanger the Israeli-Egyptian peace accord and threaten the stability of the whole region. This might be even more likely in certain post-disengagement scenarios, in which Egypt would assume responsibility for the border area or the Gaza Strip itself.
This article will outline the scale of the problem, consider its recent evolution, establish its political context, and ask what can be done to neutralize it.
The term "smuggling" does not do justice to the problem of the Philadelphi corridor, and indeed, of the entire length of the Egyptian-Israeli border. Of course, some of the cross-border smuggling, overland or by tunnel, involves contraband and drugs—economic smuggling that occurs across all borders (and all of Israel's borders). But in Gaza, this smuggling has a strategic dimension. It involves the illegal importation into Gaza of significant quantities of arms and materiel, on a scale sufficient to turn Gaza into launching pad for ever-deeper attacks against Israel proper. Armed militias, awash with illegal weapons, could also undermine the balance of forces within Gaza itself, creating a situation of near-chaos and dangerous spirals of terrorist attacks and reprisals.
But however worrisome these prospects, there is one that eclipses them all. Given the position of Gaza, sandwiched between Israel and Egypt, it is not difficult to imagine scenarios in which these events could produce international crises of the first order. Smuggling and infiltration have the potential to endanger the Israeli-Egyptian peace accord and threaten the stability of the whole region. This might be even more likely in certain post-disengagement scenarios, in which Egypt would assume responsibility for the border area or the Gaza Strip itself.
This article will outline the scale of the problem, consider its recent evolution, establish its political context, and ask what can be done to neutralize it.
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